Wednesday, 25 February 2004: I'm gonna let you all in on a little secret... I'm not necessarily as big a geek as you may think. I will admit to having collected comic books in the past and still being interested in comic art despite not wanting to spend the exorbitant amount of money on them that they cost. I have an unabashed love for the original Star Wars flicks. I loved all three of the Lord of the Rings films. I still buy the occasional toy or two to use as decoration in my office.

Okay, so I am somewhat of a geek.

However, I can't say that I've been completely on board with all the motion picture adaptations of comic books that have been released lately the way most geeky fanboys would be. I didn't care for last year's Daredevil or The Hulk. Spider-Man was an enjoyable flick, yes, but I haven't seen it in its entirety since it was in theaters. I'm not a big fan of any of the Superman films beyond the first. And the same goes for the Batman films. I did, however, like both of the X-Men movies.

What I'm getting at is that, despite all this, I am completely and utterly stoked about the next Batman movie. The film is slated to be released on July 1, 2005 and is supposed to be calledBatman: Intimidation Game and will be directed by Christopher Nolan of Memento fame (a movie I liked a lot despite my wife and everyone else I know hating it). This is a bit of a prequel movie and may show some of the Bat's origins.

The cast is what really gets me, though. They have put together a cast list that reads like a Who's Who of Hollywood Royalty. Check this out...

• Batman/Bruce Wayne - Christian Bale (Reign of Fire, American Psycho)
• Alfred Pennyworth (the butler) - Sir Michael Caine (Cider House Rules, Quills)
• Ra's Al Ghul (the villain) - Ken Watanabe (The Last Samurai)
• Ducard (couldn't tell you who this is) - Liam Neeson (Schindler's List, Star Wars: The Phantom Menace)
• Lucius Fox (head of Wayne Enterprises) - Morgan Freeman (The Shawshank Redemption)
• Officer Jim Gordon (now known as Commissioner Gordon) - Dennis Quaid (Frequency, The Rookie)
• Rachel Dodson (the love interest) - Katie Holmes (Phone Booth, "Dawson's Creek")
• Dr. Jonathan Crane (I think he's some sort of villain as well) - Cillian Murphy (28 Days Later)

This cast just keeps getting better every day.

If you'd like to keep track of what's happening as well, check out Yahoo! Upcoming Movies' Batman 5 page.

Tuesday, 24 February 2004: Katie was listening to the news this morning and heard that on Thursday, a special ceremony is going to be held at Harry Caray's restaurant in downtown Chicago. Now, this may not be the sort of ceremony that you'd expect. No, it's not Harry's birthday or anything. What's happening is that some people obtained the foul ball that was caught at the Cubs playoff game last season by a fan instead of by Moises Alou and they're going to have a special breakfast before completely destroying the ball. Of course, this is meant to be a way to avoid any sort of additional curse.

Now if only they had gutted that damn goat.

Monday, 23 February 2004: I found a fun little website today. It's called Hollywood Stock Exchange (HSX for short) and it's a site where you start out with a certain amount of credit and you buy stocks in movies and celebrities. These stocks go up or down based on their performances, how they're perceived in the Hollywood eye, new acting gigs they sign up for, etc. Each week, their stock value is reevaluated and your investment goes up or down accordingly. You can pick whatever stocks you want and you can, of course, buy, sell, and trade just like the real stock market. Even movies that are just ideas are included here. So you kinda gamble on whether or not the idea will become a reality. Of course, casting decisions and the choosing of a director will affect their cost, so you must be careful.

Yes, this is absolutely free so what more could you ask? Check it out.

God, I sound like a paid advertisement. Sorry.

Sunday, 22 February 2004: I couldn't have asked for a better ending for Sex and the City. Yes, it can be argued that it was a bit more cliche than the show has ever really been. But, this was the finale. You needed happy endings. You needed some cliches. You even needed a bit of cheese. We got it all. And most of us loved it. Katie and I did, that's for sure.

Now, if only the season six DVD set would contain this documentary that HBO aired before the finale as well as all three of the endings that they taped, I'd be a happy camper.

Friday, 20 February 2004: Ah, I finally get to have some fun with the Web again. Fantasy baseball has commenced. And, this year, I am a part of two leagues. One random public league and one private league with some friends.

What's cool about the private league is that we only have six teams and our pool of players only consists of National Leaguers. This should be interesting and fun. I'll definitely be learning a lot about NL rosters this season. That's for sure.

Wednesday, 18 February 2004: I feel like I lost a brother.

My good friend and co-conspirator at work, Eric, had his last day of work yesterday. He's moving back to the evil homeland of Michigan because his wife got a law job there. Since her job pays more, he's doing the following. I would do the same for Katie. But it still sucks that he's gone. He's one of my last good friends.

It's like the life has been drained out of this office. Everything is so much more quiet. No more of Eric's screaming, singing, bodily noise emission, etc. So different. So not cool.

Of course we're gonna keep in touch via e-mail, phone, and the occasional burned CD that we will send back and forth. But it's not the same as having him in the next office.

Tuesday, 17 February 2004: My Public Service Announcement o' the Week...

This is what can happen when you fall asleep while driving, folks.

[MISSING PHOTO] This is what remains of my brother in law Scott's Chevy Cavalier after a girl who was behind him coming home from school fell asleep at the wheel. Nailed him and sent him spinning. Thankfully, nobody was following the two of them so no secondary collision occured. It's also a good thing it happened where it did because he was a mere half mile from a ravine up the road.

If you're tired, pull off the side of the road. Don't go pulling this shit on anyone else out there. Scott was lucky. But this should not have happened because this girl who hit him should never have been on the road.

Monday, 16 February 2004: Happy Birthday, Katie!! Yes, folks, she's 27 today and don't let her tell you otherwise (funny how I have to keep making this point year after year after year).

The only thing I don't like about this year's birthday is that I'm at work until 5 and Katie'll be at work until well after 9 tonight. That's not a whole heap of time to really celebrate. But I'm going to try to make it good anyway. Wish me luck and wish Katie a Happy Birthday.

And, no, I'm not telling you what I got her until tomorrow (maybe). So don't even ask. She does read this site so I don't want to ruin anything.

Sunday, 15 February 2004: "Go get our girl back."

That has to be one of the best lines in recent sitcom history as spoken by Miranda Hobbes (Cynthia Nixon) to Mr. Big (Chris Noth) in tonight's next-to-last episode of "Sex and the City."

If you didn't watch last night's episode, I'm not going to ruin it by describing it, and the backstory, in detail. Just relax in the knowledge that this season should be out on DVD before the end of the year so you, too, can revel in it. 

Saturday, 14 February 2004: Happy Valentine's day to you, Kate. I love you.

And to the rest of you out there, I hope you're having a good one as well.

I bought the coolest Valentine in the world for Katie on Wednesday. It is just one of the most original V-Day cards I have ever seen in my life and I love it and I just couldn't pass it up.

And to add to my personal belief that this is the coolest card around, my coworker Eric came bounding into my office on Thursday announcing that he had found and purchased the "coolest Valentine's Day card" for his wife. Upon just a brief description of the card, I realized it was the same one I got for Katie. When I told him that our cards were one in the same, we just both smiled knowing that we both have impeccable taste in cards.

Friday, 13 February 2004: According to a news report on the radio this morning, the City Council in San Francisco made gay marriages legal. As a result, a flock of gay couples went straight to City Hall to get married before any sort of higher court rushed to overturn this decision.

I applaud San Francisco for making this decision and I don't see why gay marriages are so "wrong" in the eyes of the law. Why is it wrong for two people who are in love to get married? I just don't understand why people are so against it.

I know that some people are going to say that it's against God's divine wisdom and that the Bible effectively calls it immoral, unjust, or any number of other words. But, doesn't the Bible say it's also wrong to covet thy neighbor's wife? What about incest, rape, murder, etc.? The Bible says all these are wrong, but that hasn't stopped members of the Church (ahem... Catholic Priests) and members of our very own government from taking part in such activities whether knowingly or in complete ignorance. Yet they're going to have the "strength of moral conviction" to say that gay marriages are "just wrong."

Bunch of raving hypocrites. I swear.

Thursday, 12 February 2004: It's time to lay it bare for you all since you're likely to discover this factoid anyway come time for the next installment of the Kapgar.com Primetime Awards... I am an O.C. junkie.

There it is. I said it. My guilty pleasure. I love the show. I have since day one. If you think less of me for it, so be it. Katie loves it, too. It's one of the few shows that we just enjoy the hell out of each week and miss when it's not on (well, okay, Survivor as well).

So, Katie and I were watching the episode last night and freaking out when Luke (Chris Carmack) nearly put the moves on Julie (Mindy Clarke). Thankfully, it was cut short by Julie. But it looks like it will continue to get steamier next week. Any other fans out there feeling the same way?

For those of you not in the know, The O.C. follows the life of Ryan Atwood (Ben McKenzie) as he's lifted out of his dysfunctional life on the wrong side of the tracks... well, you get the point. He wins the girl, Marissa (Mischa Barton), from the school stud Luke (Carmack), etc.

What's so freaky about Luke hitting on Julie? Well, Julie is Marissa's mom. That's what. Luke slept with Marissa and now he's putting the moves on her mom?!? How wrong is that? Even Katie started singing the chorus to "Mrs. Robinson."

Now, Luke, I know that we're talking about Jessica Priest here (see Spawn to get the reference), but you slept with her daughter. Get the net and move on, man!

Yeah, okay, so we got a little into the episode last night.

Wednesday, 11 February 2004: Normally, I might file this one under "Darwinism Missed Me" but I thought a new award might be in order here, instead.

Specifically, the "Person Least Likely to Ever Get Laid Again" award.

MSNBC posted a brief news bit yesterday where Mel Gibson effectively said that his wife is going to burn in hell because she's not a Catholic.

Here's the text of the article (courtesy of MSNBC)...

Mel Gibson says his wife could be going to hell

Mel Gibson has come under fire for being hard on Jews in his film “The Passion of the Christ” — but apparently, he feels that Protestants are also doomed to damnation. In fact, it looks like Gibson, a conservative Catholic, believes that his Episcopalian wife could be going to hell.

Gibson was interviewed by the Herald Sun in Australia, and the reporter asked the star if Protestants are denied eternal salvation. “There is no salvation for those outside the Church,” Gibson replied. “I believe it.”

He elaborated: “Put it this way. My wife is a saint. She’s a much better person than I am. Honestly. She’s, like, Episcopalian, Church of England. She prays, she believes in God, she knows Jesus, she believes in that stuff. And it’s just not fair if she doesn’t make it, she’s better than I am. But that is a pronouncement from the chair. I go with it.”

Gibson also said in the interview that he was nearly suicidal before he made his controversial film. “I got to a very desperate place. Very desperate. Kind of jump-out-of-a-window kind of desperate,” he said in the interview. “And I didn’t want to hang around here, but I didn’t want to check out. The other side was kind of scary. And I don’t like heights, anyway. But when you get to that point where you don’t want to live, and you don’t want to die, it’s a desperate, horrible place to be. And I just hit my knees. And I had to use ‘The Passion of the Christ’ to heal my wounds.”

Gibson’s rep wasn’t available for comment.

Now, I know that many media outlets were making it sound like he said she should burn or it doesn't bother him that she will or something along those lines. Obviously, he doesn't think it's fair or right, so why buy into the mantra? Wouldn't this sort of declaration be enough to help change your belief system?

How many non-Catholics are there in the world? And how many of those declared Catholics are actually actively practicing or are they just casual Catholics? If Catholicism were the main requirement for entry to Heaven, then Hell is going to be pretty overpopulated pretty quickly.

This is my numero uno reason for my lack of respect for organized religion and denominational division within the church. Everybody's out to get everybody else. It's ridiculous and pathetic and makes a joke out of religion.

Tuesday, 10 February 2004: It's official and I'm one disappointed little dreamer.

In an official news release from Lucasfilm Ltd., the original Star Wars trilogy is being released on DVD on September 21. It will be a four-disc set with one disc for each movie and a fourth disc with added features and documentaries. This set is being produced with the Indiana Jones box set as its mold.

The problem is that this set will be the 1997 Special Edition releases of the movies and not the original 1977, 1980, and 1983 versions that originally came out in theaters. In my opinion, that is pure crap. We're getting all the new changes that Lucas wants and he's not catering to the fans who made him who he is.

Does this mean I won't buy it? I haven't really decided yet. If this is the only version of the movies that will ever be released on DVD, I may not have a choice. I'd prefer the originals, of course. And I'm actively seeking out ways of transferring my original versions from VHS to DVD. Plus, I've got a friend in Toronto who says he might make copies of his laserdisc versions of the originals on DVD and send me a set. We shall see. If I do buy the DVD set that is being put out for sale, I'll probably buy it used from Amazon Marketplace, eBay, or some local used DVD store so Lucasfilm won't see any additional profit from my purchase.

If I can find a way around further supporting the evil empire that is Lucasfilm Ltd., then I'm going to put all the effort I can into doing so.

Ironic that a guy like me who is such a SW fan is now referring to the man who created them and his company as an "evil empire", isn't it?

Monday, 9 February 2004: It's going to be a few weeks of some severe foreign film watching for me. I just discovered this past Friday that our university's library has a collection of VHS and DVD on the racks. I had no clue whatsoever that they were there. And I, being a staff member, am eligible to check them out for a week at a time without paying one red cent. You best believe I'm taking advantage of it. Right off the bat, I checked out City of Lost Children, Hable Con Ella (translation: Talk With Her), and Amores Perros (translation: Love's a Bitch).

Also, tonight begins the AU Department of Diversity's French Film Festival. Usually I don't like to stay at work after my work day ends. Heck, who does? But, since Katie is working Monday nights and these films are Monday nights at 7 p.m. for the next three Mondays (and they're free of charge), I figured what have I got to lose? Tonight is Betty Fisher et Autres Histoires (translation: Alias Betty), next Monday is Chaos (you can translate that yourself), and the Monday after that is Le Placard (translation: The Closet).

Who am I to pass up free movies?

I feel weird about next Monday, though, being February 16 and Katie's birthday. I don't feel like I should be going to see this even though she will be working on her birthday. Call it guilt, I don't care. Not that we'll actually be celebrating on her real birthday since we'll be doing so the day before when we both have the day off. Should I feel weird about this?

Sunday, 8 February 2004: Well, I just had to go in and retype all the dates for the last week. Only today, when I read an e-mail from my grandma did I realize that I was still typing "January" instead of "February". Hey, you people gotta get my back on this. Can't go looking like a jackass all month long now, can I?

Okay, don't answer that.

Thursday, 5 February 2004: Have you figured out yet who you would like to support of the present crop of presidential candidates? Well, here's a fun site for all you junior politicos out there. It is the AOL Presidential Match Guide. No, it is not a dating service for Presidential candidates. It's a questionnaire with all sorts of issues listed that you can rank based on their importance to you personally. Then, when all is said and done, the program will rank the available candidates based on how closely they match your own views.

It really is quite interesting to be honest. Based on how I think (or "don't think" as some may argue), the best candidate for me, with a 100% compatibility match, is John Kerry. I knew that my beliefs had a much greater democratic lean, but 100%? Jeez.

Bear in mind that this is not at all scientific. The 100% doesn't mean that I share a brain with Kerry or anything. But it is fun to read and participate in this survey.

Here's how the rest of the candidates fared in my survey...

• Dennis Kucinich - 98%
• Howard Dean - 96%
• Wesley Clark - 93%
• John Edwards - 88%
• Rev. Al Sharpton - 87%
• President George Bush - 67%

If you do opt to take this survey, please e-mail me your results. I'm intrigued.

Tuesday, 3 February 2004: Absurd question of the day...

If you have sex with an hermaphrodite, does that make you bisexual?

I don't know where the hell that came from. Weird day.

Monday, 2 February 2004: Now for my take on the Justin Timberlake ripping off a vital piece of Janet Jackson's costume...

No, I did not happen to see that little bit. Saw the performance, but I must've looked away at the wrong moment. C'est la vie. However, I don't see what the big deal was. This is the perfect moment for family bonding. Hear me out in these hypothetical situations.

Father and Son:

Father: "Son, did you get that on tape?"

Son: "You bet, dad!"

Father: "Good boy. Now rewind and hit pause."

Mother and Daughter:

Daughter: "Mom, do you think I can look like that when I grow up?"

Mother: "Sure you can, sweetie. But you'd better start saving your money now. Surgery's expensive."

Father and Daughter:

Daughter: "Daddy, why are her's so big?"

Father: "uhhh..."

Mother and Son:

Son: "Dang, look at the size of those..."

Mother: *thwack*

Mother and Father:

Father: "Dang, look at the size of those..."

Mother: *thwack*

See? There's an upside to everything.

Sunday, 1 February 2004: Time for the Super Bowl recap.

Okay, the game was decent. I would like to note that the final quarter of the game was a nice cliffhanger of a finale if ever there was one. Ranks up there with the Giants-Bills game in which the kicker muffed it and then two years ago when Vinatieri first booted the winning field goal for the Patriots to win it against the Rams. Officially, I wasn't really rooting for anyone to win it. I have no strong allegiance with either team. Although I will admit that I, like Katie, was pulling for the Panthers being that they were the underdogs in this contest. They held strong but fell in the final four seconds. At least it wasn't a rout.

Now, for the commercials. Yes, I did have my faves and here they are in descending order from my most favorite commercial on down (no, not all of them are listed here). I still believe that the overall quality of Super Bowl commercials has gone downhill. And those highly overhyped Orange County Chopper commercials for AOL High Speed sucked. Well, anyway...

1. Pizza Hut with the Muppets and Jessica Simpson - "Step away from the frog."
2. NFL Network - Annie "Tomorrow" song - "As of tomorrow, we're all undefeated."
3. Pepsi - James Marshall Hendrix, age 11 - "Whew, that was a close one."
4. Subway - Eating bad vs. being bad - "Sorry Wang Chung, no reunion concert."
5. HR Block - Willie Nelson Advice Doll - "Willie says 'I'd do it'."
6. Sierra Mist - Marilyn Monroe vent spoof - "That's just wrong, dad."
7. Bud Light - dogs fetching beer - "Fetch Bud Light, boy."