Superman Returns

We went to go check out Superman Returns last night in IMAX 3D and it was great! The movie was even better than I thought it would've been. The ladies will dig it since it's basically an action chick flick. I thought all the actors did a good job in their lead roles: Brandon Routh, Kate Bosworth, and Kevin Spacey. How did the 3D work? The movie only had 20 minutes of 3D in it, so they put up a little warning when you should put on and take off your 3D glasses. It worked out pretty well. The only complaint I had was that I was waiting for when Superman would call out "Up, up , and away!"

That's 9 summer movies down. Next up... Pirates of the Caribbean 2!

Transformers !

It's coming next year and the teaser trailer is already out! Check it out! (LINK) The movie's website has a countdown to the release of the teaser trailer, but apparently it leaked out early. The trailer doesn't give you much, but it got me excited for the movie.

2006 Hot Dog Eating Contest

It's that time again. It's almost the 4th of July which means it's almost time for the 2006 Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest! I'm sure by now that you are all familiar with Takeru "Tsunami" Kobayashi and his world record of eating 53 1/2 HDBs (hot dog and buns) in 12 minutes. He set that record 2 years ago and dominates this field of competition. I followed the live footage last year (Pre-Game and Post-Game) and am eager to watch it again. Kobayashi won last year with 49 dogs, giving him the title (and mustard yellow belt) for the 5th year in a row.

Last year, Sonya "Black Widow" Thomas set a US record (and women's record) with 37 HDBs. Finishing 3rd was Joey "Jaws" Chestnut with 32. But just last month, Joey Chestnut took down 50 hot dogs in the Las Vegas qualifier, setting a new American record. Will the US fight back this year and take the title from Kobayashi?

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Catch all the action live on ESPN (and ESPN HD) on Tuesday July 4th at 9am!

Lakers get Farmar !

In the NBA Draft yesterday, the Lakers had a #26 pick and selected Jordan Farmar from UCLA! Farmar was UCLA's point guard last year and helped take UCLA to the NCAA Championship game. Hopefully the Lakers can help clean up his defense enough to give him some play time next season.

Spiderman 3

Superman Returns comes out today, but I won't be seeing it until tomorrow (in IMAX 3D!). I heard the reviews are good, so now I can't wait to see it. In addition, they should be showing the teaser trailer for Spiderman 3 (which doesn't come out until May 4, 2007)! If you can't wait, you can watch it now from the convenience of your own computer. The trailer has the Black Spiderman in it! (No, it's not Venom...or is it?) (TRAILER)

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Stupid Wind

Apparently a heavy storm took down the 140 year-old Elm tree that stood in front of the White House. They better replant a new tree or you better start throwing away your outdated $20 bills.

Baby Hirotsu Update

And now some news from in the womb...

Baby Hirotsu is in his/her 10th week now and everything is going fantastic! The pod (amniotic sac) is way bigger now and the little bambino is now almost an inch long! We definitely saw legs, a head, a body, and of course, the heartbeat. Our next update won't be for another month and we're getting closer and closer to finding out if it's a him or a her! The circle at the top of the pod is the yolk sac and to the right is our little teddy bear lying down with its head to the left. (It's sleeping)

Save Lego !

Apparently Lego has had some challenges lately. Their toys are finding it harder and harder to compete with electronic gadgets. This article says that they plan to lay off 1200 people early next year and close their manufacturing plant in the US, so they can relocate to Mexico. I didn't even know until just today that Lego no longer owns their 4 Legoland amusement parks in California, Denmark, Germany, and England (and yes, I've been to all 4 of them). (ARTICLE)

RPS Championship Recap

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If you didn't get around to watching the Rock Paper Scissors Championship this past Saturday (which is just about all of you), I will provide you with all the great details. Apparently the USARPS (USA Rock Paper Scissors) League just recently started in January 2006, so this was the first annual USARPS Championship. It's great to be able to get in on the bottom floor of history in the making. Here is what I learned by watching this 1-hour TV special:

- The tournament is single-elimination with 64 contenders competing for $50,000.
- Each throw of rock, paper, or scissors is considered an engagement. The best of 3 engagements is a set. The best of 3 sets is a match.
- Each throw is performed with 3 pumps and a throw. 1-2-3-throw, not 1-2-throw.
- "Paper" can only be thrown horizontally. If it's palm up, it's called "serving the subpoena."
- Three "Rocks" in a row is called a "Caveman."
- 50% of all people start with Rock. 53% of all women start with Scissors. 68% of all women with short hair start with Scissors.
- Just about every contender has a nickname and costume.
- Like every good sporting event footage (including the spelling bee), background stories of select competitors were shown.
- Always release your throw at the last moment. Rookies often release their throw too early, allowing the opponent to telegraph their throw. This move is called "The Western Union."

Still questioning the strategy of RPS? Look here for the Science of RPS. (LINK)

The highlight of the tournament was when two guys were on their third set, each with 1 win. The next throw determined their fate. They then threw down 9 ties in a row with the last 4 throws being rocks. Then, on the same throw, one threw paper in attempt of covering the repeating rock. Expecting his opponent's move, the other guy came back with scissors to take the win. I give that one the RPS Play of the Game.

In the end Dave "The Drill" McGill took down Robert "Fast-Twitch" Twitchel in the third set with paper covering rock. Watch the final round here.

Nacho Libre

We got to watch Nacho Libre Friday night. The audience was pretty much laughing hysterically the entire movie. You just gotta love Jack Black. If you're not a Jack Black fan, I don't necessarily recommend this movie. Nachoooooo!!!

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Rock Paper Scissors Championship

Paper will be cut. Scissors will be crushed. Rock will be covered...by paper.

Just so you know, we all missed the Rock Paper Scissors Championship that happened this past Monday. The good news is that it will be on A&E tomorrow at 9am. Needless to say I will be checking this one out. Everyone is already aware of my obsession for marginal sporting events. I have to know what makes this "sport" tick! (LINK)

World Cup Soccer !

Get angry if you must, but I'm still trying to get into the sport that is attempting to take the nation by storm...Soccer. And I think this Simpsons clip says it best. Thanks, Dobby. (LINK)

Root Beer Float

Last night, I happened upon a new Suicide drink recipe: Root Beer Float.

Check it out when you have a chance.

Root Beer Float
3/5 Mug Root Beer (or Barq's)
1/5 Sierra Mist (or Sprite)
1/5 Wild Cherry Pepsi (or Cherry Coke)

And don't forget my other classics:

"The Necco"
1 part Dr. Pepper
1 part Cactus Cooler
1 part A&W Root Beer

"Dr. Sproke"
1 part Dr. Pepper
1 part Sprite
1 part Coke

Cars

We went to check out Cars on Friday night in Downey. The bummer was that 2 of our friends were supposed to meet up with us, but were waiting for us at The Bridge! (the movie theater we normally go to) Sorry it didn't work out, Shuji and Lori. Next time.

Anyway, I thought the movie was pretty good. Classic Pixar. You can tell Pixar is getting even more advanced with their animation. The racing scenes were amazing! You could see the rubber burn off the tires! It was great. (I can get excited about any movie with cars in it) The story was pretty good, but the movie was a little long (almost 2 hours). It could've been edited down a bit more in the beginning. I'd recommend the movie if you haven't seen it already. Cars made $60 million this past weekend...not as much as their recent successes. If you go out and see it, there's stuff at the end of the credits (albeit not as interesting as the X3 ending).

Bun in the oven.

Great news! I'm gonna be a daddy! And Joanne's gonna be a mommy! Recently we found out that in just 9 months our lives will be changing forever. Buster found out that he wasn't going to be an only child for long. We've just recently shared the information with our family and we thought we'd celebrate by making it public on the internet!

The due date of our baby is set for January 24, 2007, so we have quite a while to prepare for this wonderful event.

Here is Baby Hirotsu's most recent picture (via ultrasound). He/She is the one that looks like the little worm with a halo. That halo isn't actually the head...it's the yolk sac. The little embryo is only 4.9 mm in length...and that "huge" pod it's in is only 1 inch big. (Joanne says it's an amniotic sac...apparently babies don't grow in pods) We saw our baby's heart beat...that was just amazing.

We're so excited and we'll be spending the next several months gearing up for the big day...you'll be sure to hear updates along the way.

Happy Flying !

Don't you love travelling by airplane? Oh, really? Well, if it's because you hate being cramped in your tiny little seat, check out this website. At least you can have a more educated guess when it comes to choosing your seat. (LINK)

The Omen

To continue the movie madness, I went to go see The Omen last night (too bad it wasn't on 6-6-06). I had seen the original and I thought they did a pretty good job of redoing it. Sure, it didn't HAVE to be redone, but I'm sure lots of people never saw the original anyway. I'm definitely glad I went to go see it in the theater. Movies like this benefit from the movie theater experience.

The Break-Up

Went to go see The Break-Up this past Sunday (gotta support opening weekends). I thought it was pretty good because I was expecting it to be a typical chick flick...not that there's anything wrong with that. :) It definitely had its funny parts since Vince Vaughn played his part well. Some people weren't on board, but I thought it was pretty good. Can it wait for DVD? Yeah.

The hottest game in town

That what it was this past Saturday, as we sat in 95 degree heat at Dodger Stadium. The Dodgers beat the Phillies 8-2! It was a slaughter and we had great seats right behind home plate on the field level (how am I so lucky?). We were so close that my camera couldn't zoom all the way in without cutting off the player's feet! Thanks, Glenn (and Mr. Panda), for the great seats.

What do you think of the embedded slideshow feature? (Thanks Ferg for the tip)

You can speed up the slideshow...5 seconds is a little slow.

X-Wing Honda !

Check out this bad boy I ran across the other day. It's street legal and it's capable of destroying the Death Star with a single proton torpedo!

World Cup Burger

Finally...a bigger Big Mac. Coming soon to a McDonald's near you: The World Cup Burger in honor of the FIFA World Cup starting this week. Available for six weeks, this burger will be 40% larger and promises 667 additional calories compared to the Big Mac. People are already starting petitions against it. Hooray! (LINK)

Happy Doughnut Day !

Get yours today!

U-R-S-P-R-A-C-H-E

Proto-language may either refer to a language that preceded a certain set of given languages, or to system of communication during a stage in glottogony that may not yet be properly called a language.

Kerry Close won the 2006 Scripps National Spelling Bee last night by spelling the word ursprache correctly in the 20th round.

Some said I got a little too into it last night since I was clearly cheering against other spellers. Sorry, but I was happy to see Jonathan Horton go. He was really bugging me.

The saddest news of the day yesterday was the fall of Samir in the 7th round. Unbelievable. The good news is that he'll be back next year (for his 5th year)! Here is some footage of him during the 5th round yesterday. (LINK)

Happy Blog Anniversary !

That's right. It's been 1 year since we made our first blog entry. Unbelievable. 343 entries...that's almost an entry a day. Not too bad. I went through the blog and pulled out some of the blog's greatest moments. If you want a flashback, you can click on each picture. Each one has a caption, some have other embedded goodies. Happy Anniversary!