'Saw 2' Review
Topic: Movies
My girlfriend and I decided to go see Saw II on its opening night (last Friday). She seen the first one and liked it. I didn't see the first one, so I only knew a very little about the story. Nevertheless, even without seeing the first one, the second one is quite enjoyable.

Since it was opening night, the theatre was packed with people. The majority of them being teens clearly under the age of 18. I thought this was an R-rated movie? Apparently the rule about having a parent/guardian accompany you if you're under 17 wasn't followed. Oh well. I guess Cinemas today are interested in the money instead of protecting innocent eyes? Obviously since they packed nearly every seat in the rather large theatre (the building has a total of 8 screening rooms). LOL, I don't want to go off on a rant about that, so carrying on... Even though the audience consisted of nearly all young teenagers, they behaved quite well. This is a movie that you need to pay close attention to afterall.

Okay, so the movie opens with this great scene with a guy wearing this spiked mask contraption on his head. Well lets just say he doesn't make it out of it, and we get to see an awesome death. Oh, by the way, I love horror movies. That might be the reason why I liked this movie so much. They don't water things down in this movie. The deaths are quite gory. If you can't stomach gruesome scenes, I'd say stay far away from this movie!

From that scene on we meet a cop who ends up angrily telling his son to go stay with his mom. Those are the last words he gets to say to his son. Later he finds out his son is a part of the game set up by the "killer" in this movie. The reason that's in quotation marks is because this guy hasn't actually killed anyone. Sure he leads them into killing themselves. But he does none of the actual killing. He sets up these scenarios where the unwilling participants in his sick game screw up and end up killing themselves. Of course if they play the game right they would of spared their life and escaped. Lucky for the audience, nearly no one makes it out alive. So the cop finds the killer and tries to save his son. Of course he doesn't pay close attention to the rules of the game, and he ends up putting his son's and his own life in jeopardy!

The ending is not a closed one. In other words it sets up a possible part 3 quite well. And that's all I'm going to say about that. I don't want to give much of the plot away.

If you like horror movies, or like to see gory deaths, I recommend you check out this flick. You might want to do it the proper way and see part one first. I did end up seeing part one right after watching this movie. I have to say I do like part 2 a little more. If you've seen the first one and liked it, I'm sure you'll more than likely like this sequel. Sequels usually get a bad rep because they usually aren't as good as the original. But this one isn't bad at all when compared to the first film.

'Just Like Heaven' Mini-Review
Mood:  blue
Topic: Movies
Now I usually don't watch chick-flicks, but I was with a group of people, the majority of them being girls. So we decided to see Just Like Heaven, starring Reese Witherspoon.

This movie is basically a romantic comedy with a few dramatic parts to get the girls (and some sensitive guys) teary-eyed. I didn't find the scenes strong enough to make me tear up though. Although I don't cry much when watching dramatic movies unless the plot is very serious and heartbreaking.

Anyways, Reese Witherspoon's character is a doctor that overworks herself. After working 25 hours straight, her co-workers and boss tell her to take off some time to relax a bit. So she drives home and falls asleep at the wheel crashing into a truck. In the meantime, a guy rents her uninhabited apartment and finds that she is a ghost that appears there. It takes him some time to convince her that she's really a ghost.

The movie has some nice laughs, but I wouldn't say its an excellent comedy. Its an okay movie, but not one worth watching again and again. Of course this might be my opinion because this type of movie is geared towards ladies for the most part.

Donal Logue from the Fox/WB TV series "Grounded For Life" is in the movie as well. He provides some of his brand of humor which adds to the laughs a bit. You may remember Donal first on TV with those crazy Mtv ads. You know the creepy looking guy that drives the taxi around NYC?

Also, a sexy chick that used to have a regular part on the short-lived HBO series, "Mind of the Married Man" has a small part in this movie. She tries to seduce the guy renting Reese's apartment. There's this great scene where she shows up at his door telling him she locked herself out of her apartment. She's wearing these sexy hip-hugging jeans. She walks towards his couch and her ass crack is nearly on display. Damn, she looks great in those jeans! So that scene is clearly the highlight for perverted guys trying to sit through this movie. There's also a scene where she's in a hallway with just a towel. She drops the towel, but since its a PG-13 movie, we don't get to see her backside completely.

Another actor with a small part in this movie is the lead character from the movie Napolean Dynamite. Here he plays a spirtual/hippy type guy that works at a bookstore. You can still see a bit of his Napolean character creep through his performance. Its a nice touch if you liked the humor in Napolean Dynamite.

Overall, Reese Witherspoon looks quite cute in this movie as well. Of course, I found her the sexiest in Freeway and Twilight.

But I'd say if you're looking laughs, watch Napolean Dynamite rather than this movie. Keep in mind this movie is both romantic and comedic with some drama, so if you want full on laughs go for Napolean Dynamite.

Nudity & Adult Language on Basic Cable
Topic: TV
Its refreshing to see that some of the nation's non-premium cable networks are offering more adult-oriented programming.

The last few years the television industry has been very cautious not to offend any one. With the the FCC crackdowns on what is or isn't considered indecent - edgy programming has almost disappeared from broadcast TV (NBC, ABC, CBS, Fox, WB). Here's one example: "NYPD Blue" was tamed. "NYPD Blue", the show that used to air on ABC at 10pm, and featured brief nudity and adult language.

Luckily, a few of the cable networks have some adult oriented programming at night. Being an adult, its good that I have a choice to see this programming available to me.

FX features edgy series like "Rescue Me", "Nip/Tuck", "The Shield" and the upcoming "Over There". These shows feature brief nudity, violence, adult language and themes. There is a big warning screen before they begin to air. So there's the disclaimer to warn folks for children.

BBC America is also beginning to air some of the British shows in near or exact unedited form. For example, this past Sunday, a British series called "Footballers' Wives" began to air on BBC America. This series contains nudity and adult language.

There's even a show from Canada on the Oxygen TV network called "Bliss". This show tells stories about sex and features some nudity as well.

And even Comedy Central airs comedy specials and movies completely uncensored on Saturday Nights.

Its refreshing to see this type of programming finally being offered to Americans without a hefty premium movie channel fee. So if you're interested in some adult series - be sure to catch the shows mentioned above. Whoever says regular non-premium TV is without nudity or vulgar language obviously hasn't seen any of these shows.

HEAT WAVE!!!
Mood:  on fire
Topic: Weather
So its only June and we have already had temperatures in the 90s here in New York! It really sucks too because I don't have an AC at the moment. My living room was up to 91 degrees for the last few days during the day. Its like living in HELL!! Of course, its also hard sleeping at night when its so damn muggy. I really hope the whole summer isn't going to be hot and humid. Here in Central NY we aren't really used to several days in the 90s. August is usually the hottest month. I sure hope its not 100+ degrees in August! I think I'd dieeee! Well, there is some relief ahead anyways. Its suppose to be only in the upper 60s during the day near the end of this week. I was hoping for that!!

SIRIUS Satellite Radio
Topic: Electronics
So I recently switched back to Dish Network Satellite. Time Warner Cable was pissing me off.

With Dish Network I get access to the music channels on SIRIUS Satellite Radio. So here's a little review of them:

Well I'm a fan of rock music, so I mostly just listened to the rock channels so far. But there are channels for Top 40 hits, '50s, '60s, '70s, '80s and '90s music, country, rap, jazz, classical, dance, and even a channel that plays nothing but Elvis.

Their big claim is that they are commercial free. Indeed they are. Sure some of the channels have little announcements between songs (to let you know what station you're listening to), but zero advertisements.

Some of the channels have DJs as well. They are actually not bad. I used to listen to Music Choice on digital cable and that got boring because it was just like a jukebox - no human interaction at all. Its nice to have a DJ to tell you about certain songs.

The channels I listen to are Octane, Alt Nation, Hard Attack and sometimes Faction. Octane plays mostly current hard rock songs. They have some interesting DJs like the sexy voiced Kayla. She's always interesting to hear. They have a show called "Pump Your Own Octane" - which is basically a Top 5 countdown show. Its on weeknights and its the top 5 most requested songs. This is similar to what FM radio does, and I happen to like it. They also play "mash ups". These are basically a rock song and a rap song "mashed" together. Like The Prodigy and Eminem - "Breathe" & "Superman". That's the first one I have heard. They are kind of interesting to hear. Alt Nation plays alternative music (new and some from the 90s), but some of the music on Octane can be heard on Alt Nation as well. Alt Nation also has DJs. Hard Attack is where the metal is. They also have some cool DJs that give you info about bands. Sometimes on these stations they have artists live in the studio as well. Note that XM Satellite no longer has an all-metal station (they got rid of XM Liquid Metal), so SIRIUS is the only satellite radio service currently with a metal station. Faction is basically a channel for extreme sports enthusaists (like skateboarders, snowboarders, etc.) They play a mix of punk, rock and hip-hop. It can get annoying if you don't like hip-hop. But I tune in every now and then because they play some good rock and punk.

SIRIUS basically plays a lot of singles that can be heard on FM radio. While I have heard that XM plays both singles and deeper cuts off albums. Although, there are occasions when SIRIUS will play the additional songs off albums and not just the singles or hits from a certain band. Seems that if a person requests a song that isn'ta single - they will actually play it.

SIRIUS also has a tendency to repeat new songs a lot. Which is kind of nice if you want to hear a new song, but it gets annoying after you have heard it a lot. But I have been reading online forums about SIRIUS - like SIRIUS Backstage. And they claim on there that SIRIUS is expanding its playlists. So that is good. It seems they are currently working to improve their stations, and I fully welcome it.

Overall, I am satisfied with SIRIUS. Like I said, the DJs are refreshing to hear after getting so used to the jukebox-like Music Choice channels on digital cable. The fact that they have basically 4 stations that play newer rock is nice as well. The sound quality of the channels on Dish Network is actually quite good. I have heard some people complaining about the sound quality on the SIRIUS receivers, but it seems fine when heard through Dish Network.