Author: Aaron F.

Father of one with many interests, including a passion for craft beer, bourbon, and coffee. I also enjoy reviewing recipes that I find online, to share my experience cooking as a novice. I am also a screenprinter.

Who’s totally excited to stare at things? We are.

   Nicole and I have a guilty pleasure.  One night we were sitting on the couch relaxing, and I sat there flicking through the endless amounts of crappy Netflix movies searching for something to watch.  Finally I stopped on something..and decided to watch it…

Oh yeah…..it was amazing.  Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t amazing in that it was REALLY good.  It was amazing in that it was dumbest thing on earth yet oddly captivating.  Every one of these movies uses the “recorded video” effect weather it be a surveillance tape or an annoying character who needs to tape everything that goes on in the house.
   There are so many times in the movie were you just find yourself sitting there..staring at the TV…waiting for something to move or happen.  Minutes will go by, and then you catch yourself doing it…and realize how ridiculous you look!
   I think my favorite part about these films, are the people in them.  Somehow the craziest shit happens in the house; horrific spurts of craziness….and when the spurt ends, there’s always the one asshole that goes, “Lets just go back to sleep, it was nothing.”   Its the best.  It’s so stupid.
  Nicole’s favorite aspect of these movies is the ongoing story.  They have managed to keep the story going through four movies about this demon terrorizing this family over years and years.  When we saw the trailer for the 4th one that was just released, we could not wait to see it.  I’m guessing sometime next week.  If you are looking for something hilarious to watch, check this out, it’s mind numbingly great!
   Sorry about the lack of posts this week, it’s been a crazy week on both a personal level and a business level.  Christmas orders are already coming in, it’s going to be a great year!
   

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First Year in the House Retrospect: The Dining Room

    The dining room was a big job.  Between the new floor, the leveling of the floor, the plaster removal, the water damage repair, and the hard stuck-o ceiling, this job was long and tiring.  We had to use a steamer to get the old wallpaper off which had to be like 30 years old or more.  We were able to turn this dining room into something pretty awesome.  All we have left is the floor molding.

This bay window was totally messed up.  There was a leak in the roof which leaked down in to the dining room and destroyed the plaster.  It all has to get ripped down and drywalled along with stopping the leak.

The table we ordered from worldmarket.com.  We always wanted a table like this with the old style wood.  The chandelier we bought for a few bucks at the thrift store.  Nicole touched it up and painted it, like new. 

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First Year in the House Retrospect: Kitchen and Floor

    I haven’t had many posts the past few days mainly because I had taken a few days off to devote my time to working on the house.  With the summer gone and the cold weather approaching, I’ve moved the focus back into the house.  Nicole and I have been in this new house for a little over a year now and the amount of work we’ve done while working full time, is pretty crazy.  This week we are finishing off (minus some molding etc) another big section of the house.  I should have pictures of the finished product sometime this weekend.  For the next few days leading up, I figured I’d post everything we’ve done this year in consecutive posts as a recap.
Looking back on this, its amazing to me still.  This kitchen was unbelievable.  It was astonishing to me that people actually lived here in the shape it was in.  There was a weird basin sin on the wall that looked like it was from 1942 and everything else was in really awful shape.  This room and the bathroom were definitely the worst rooms of the house.

This wall of the kitchen has wooden built-in cabinets.  I remember Nicole and I being torn on weather or not to keep them, but after numerous opinions from other people, it turned out that the wood used to build them was considered to be the cheapest, lowest grade, product of its time.  Combining that with the fact that it was pretty beat up, we decided to get rid of them.  Looking back on it, I’m glad that we did.

The wall on the left we decided to knock out and open up the kitchen.  The kitchen was a little cramped and with the larger appliances of today, it would have been worse.  This would make it feel less crammed and open the room up with light.

Unfortunately, like most of the house, there is no insulation.  I’ve made it a point to throw insulation in the walls at every importunity given.   You learn a lot doing this stuff and I was lucky enough to be able to work on and off with the kitchen contractor and learn even more.

Hidden behind the plaster wall was this brick chimney.  We decided to go with it and figured it would add something unique to the room.  The amount of work involved in bringing this to life made me second guess my decision. but I went with it.  About 8 hours, a chisel, wire brush, and some hydrochloric acid, I scraped and uncovered that brick like it was some ancient artifact.

When it comes to colors and decor, I step aside and let Nicole do her thing.  She spends hours looking at stuff like this and has a pretty good eye.  Basically, for most things, she will narrow it down to a few choices and then we decide.  I’m not good with most of this stuff.

These lamps, Nicole had found online.  We weren’t sure they would work when we saw them in person, but they ended up looking awesome. 

Bamboo flooring.  One lesson learned from this is that Bamboo flooring is not much cheaper then hardwood and a bigger pain in the ass to put down.  Even worse, it is not very resistant to dents and scratches.  The home improvements channels would speak about bamboo like it was this easy thing to use.  It’s totally not.  The rest of the house will NOT be bamboo.

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New baby onesie!

    I’m rolling out the last few of the new of items before we shift into holiday mode.  The first of the new items is the new Robert Smith Cure Onesie.  Our Smiths onesie was such a hit that I wanted to take a similar approach with yet another ridiculous onesie using Robert Smith.

Sizes and Styles
Long Sleeve 0-3 Months $11.00 USD Long Sleeve 3-6 Months $11.00 USD Long Sleeve 6-9 Months $11.00 USD Long Sleeve 12 Months $12.00 USD Long Sleeve 18 Months $12.00 USD Short Sleeve 0-3 Months $11.00 USD Short Sleeve 3-6 Months $11.00 USD Short Sleeve 6-9 Months $11.00 USD Short Sleeve 12 Months $11.00 USD Short Sleeve 18 Months $11.00 USD

    I also put out a variant of the design in the form of a Toddler T.  Your kid will look insanely hip rocking this T-shirt at school while the rest of the kids stroll around with Thomas the Tank shirts.

Sizes
2T $13.00 USD 3T $13.00 USD 

Both items are available in our Etsy and eBay stores (links to the right of the blog) and will soon be on our main site.  

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New Jazz Legend Tribute: John Coltrane

    New item in the shops this week, we decided to pay tribute to one of the greatest jazz legends ever, John Coltrane.  We had several requests from customers that bought some of the other shirts from our jazz legends series for a Coltrane Tribute, so we decided to put one out.  This is already listed in our eBay and Etsy stores.

The design is screen printed on a gray or “gravel’ colored T-shirt.  We have also made it available to buy right here on the blog.

Sizes
Small $17.00 USD Medium $17.00 USD Large $17.00 USD X-Large $17.00 USD XXL $18.00 USD

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Action 100: "Stone Cold"

    The next movie on this magnificent list was “Stone Cold” starring Brian Bosworth.  As soon as I watched the trailer for this movie, I couldn’t wait to watch it.  I did something that I normally don’t do when reviewing these great films, I turned it on in the living room…at night….during what normally is prime time TV watching. Luckily Nicole must not have had anything in mind to watch, because she didn’t even complain once, in fact she was watching on and off as she surfed the web.  
     The description of the movie is as follows:

Brian Bosworth stars as Joe Huff, a tough Alabama cop who is frustrated with a system that handles criminals with kid gloves. Currently, Joe is on suspension for displaying excessive violence toward criminals.
After stopping a supermarket robbery, Joe is summoned by Agent Cunningham (Richard Gant), whom he meets in a vacant underground parking garage. Cunningham proceeds to blackmail Joe into going undercover, by threatening to turn his three week suspension into six months without pay.
Cunningham wants Joe to go undercover in Mississippi and infiltrate “The Brotherhood,” a white supremacist biker gang linked to the murders of government officials and suspected of dealing drugs to the mafia. The Brotherhood is led by a violent psychopath named Chains Cooper (Lance Henriksen).

    Bosworth is awesome in this movie and the film itself is packed with action. Lance Henriksen, like always, is a great villain – this film does not disappoint.  Here are a few notes:

  • Bosworth’s outfits are amazing in this and it became apparent to me that Dog the Bounty Hunter must worship his style.  From the ridiculous shirts or leather tops (both usually exposing the entire chest), to the awful bleached mullet style hair, and the dangling earring.  Their styles are very similar, only one was relevant to the time period, and the other isn’t even close.
  • There is loads of nudity in the film, mainly gratuitous nudity from biker sluts and strippers.
  • Great unrealistic action scenes that can put a smile on anybody’s face.  
  • More dialog using bad language in sentences that nobody would ever use.


Notice how I don’t have too many notes?  Because the movie ruled.  I enjoyed the film so much, the very next day we decided to pay tribute to the movie with a limited edition shirt!  This shirt will be on a limited run so get it while you can.  Its quantities are set on ebay and etsy, so visit our stores from the links on the right side of the blog and look for the “Stone Cold” shirt.



Also, the opening scene of “Stone Cold”. Tell me this doesn’t make you wanna run out and get this movie!

 

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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2012 Reboot

    While watching wrestling last week, they gave a sneak preview of the new Ninja Turtles Cartoon that started last Saturday with a 60 minute premiere.  I decided to watch it being a fan of franchise.  Even when they randomly released an animated movie years back, I was at the theater opening weekend.  It’s one of those nostalgic things that I haven’t let go of.
    The new series is computer animated, which doesn’t mean much these days because everything is, but this show looks more like a video game.  Being someone who has seen the turtles from the very beginning, this style was drastically different and I didn’t think I’d be able to get used to it.  That lasted all of 5 minutes.  The show was so good, and so well done, that I totally forgot about the new animation style and was wrapped up in the show.  The show seems to be a total reboot and seems to focus on the early years of the turtles.  Master Splinter tells them the story of their origin while also establishing that they are currently only 15 years old.  The flashback sequences they do in the show are pretty awesome as well, as it switches to a totally different style animation, almost bearing the resemblance of comic book art.  I didn’t really catch on that it was the “early years” until they introduced April, who is only a little girl in this cartoon (she may be a young teenager, they didn’t really say and its kind of hard to tell).
    The fight scenes in the show are pretty awesome, using well timed slow motion occasionally (without being overbearing) to show special techniques.  The premiere spends most of the episode establishing “The Krang” which is obviously a gang of villains run by the alien Krang.  Don’t worry, right when I thought that maybe Shredder wasn’t going to be in the show, he is introduced at the very end.
    Overall the show is well done and I actually found myself looking forward to the next episode, something I haven’t had happen watching a cartoon in years.  If you are or were a fan of Ninja Turtles, be sure to check this out on Nickelodeon Saturday mornings. That’s right….Saturday morning cartoons!

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Action 100 Continues: "Stone Cold"

    Later this week, I’m going to be continuing my quest to make sure I’ve seen everything on the AOBG 2011 top 100 action movie list.  I find myself at around number 62 with the next movie on the list being, “Stone Cold” starring Brian Bosworth.

 

    I’ll probably have my take on this movie later in the week so if you haven’t seen it yet, you have some time to find this baby and check it out.  The trailer for this movie looks totally sweet.  It was always one of those action movies that slipped by me and I never ended up seeing.

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Action Movie Review: "To Live and Die in L.A."

    Oh my god…this movie was terrific.  Out of all the action movies I’ve reviewed since starting this, “To Live and Die in L.A.” was the most fun to watch.  Let’s take a look at the basic plot of the film:

Richard Chance and Jimmy Hart are United States Secret Service agents assigned as counterfeiting investigators in its Los Angeles field office. Chance has a reputation for reckless behavior, while Hart is three days away from retirement. Alone, Hart stakes out a warehouse in the desert thought to be a print house of counterfeiter Rick Masters. When Masters and his bodyguard kill Hart, Chance explains to his new partner, John Vukovich, that he will take Masters down no matter what.

I did some further reading about the movie before watching it only because the trailer looked so incredibly terrible.  While looking through numerous websites, I found this review for the movie:

“William Friedkin briefly revived his faltering career with this sleek, bleak thriller of a pair of secret service agents on the trail of a counterfeiter. William L. Peterson is the hotshot protégé of a career agent killed by the ruthless, almost feral counterfeiting genius Willem Dafoe (Platoon). Now Petersen, teamed with the smart but still green John Pankow (TV’s Mad About You), is ready to twist arms, lean on criminals, steal, and even murder to exact his revenge. The harrowing chase through the streets of Los Angeles that climaxes on the freeway at rush hour, where Friedkin’s brilliant twist sends them heading the wrong way, careening through a sea of cars coming straight at them, is still one of the most breathtaking car chases ever filmed. Friedkin’s edgy crime thriller, stylishly shot in steely blues against hazy red and orange skies by Robby Muller (Paris, Texas), paints a very thin line between the good guys and the bad guys, and Wang Chung’s techno soundtrack sets the proper mood–jumpy and alienated. It’s a cynical and very brutal look into the world of law enforcement (adapted by Friedkin and former Secret Service man Gerald Petievich from his novel) and a cold portrayal of the power games between cops and feds, and cops and informants. John Turturro, Dean Stockwell, and Robert Downey Sr. are featured in supporting roles. –Sean Axmaker”

Why did I post this review?  Because it makes this movie even better.  This movie was absolutely horrendous yet 100% amazing!  William Defoe plays the lead villain and is great.  Here are a few notes that I took while watching this thing:

  • The actor that plays the heroic cop sworn to get revenge is almost severely bow-legged, and he wears tight jeans and cowboy boots which only accents how ridiculous he looks.  Plus he is supposed to be this bad ass with a loose cannon attitude, which  makes everything he does and says in the movie, more hilarious. 


  • There is gratuitous male nudity in the movie including a full frontal view of the bow-legged cops entire set.  


  • A masterful collection of terrible lines.  Here were some of my favorite quotes:

      –Richard Chance: Guess what? Uncle Sam don’t give a shit about your expenses. You want bread, fuck a baker.

      –While a cop is chasing a suspect:
       Card Counterfeiter: Why are you chasing me? 
       John Vukovich: I don’t know, why you running? 
       Credit Card Counterfeiter: ‘Cause you’re chasing me.

                -Richard Chance: You know what this is? 
        Thomas Ling: What’s the game? 
        Richard Chance: It’s no game. Just walk. 
        Thomas Ling: Why? 
        Richard Chance: Why? Because if you don’t, I’ll blow your fucking heart out!
                -Richard Chance: [to Vukovich] You ain’t my partner! You ain’t even my fucking friend. In fact, let me give you a little piece of advice: you better get your ass into protection, baby! Because you ain’t shit on the streets! You understand that? You ain’t got the nuts! Kiss my ass! Pussy motherfucker!
        
I could fill a page with the amazing lines in this movie. It was almost like watching “Grand Theft Auto:Vice City” in movie form.
  • There is a repeated effect that they use in the movie for the multiple people that get shot directly in the face.  The effect looks as if someone fills a water balloon with fake blood and then just throws it at the actor’s face.
  • Perhaps one of my favorite scenes in the movie, (without saying who or giving away spoilers) a character in the movie gets shot in the face from 4 feet away, by a 12 gauge shotgun.  A friend of the person that got shot finds him laying there and shakes his body screaming, “Talk to me!!”
    This movie was terrific.  If you are in the mood for a doozie, I suggest finding this movie and watching it…fast!  “To Live and Die in L.A.” is totally on my list of all time best cheesy actions films.


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