Looking back at my personal highlights of 2006, as posted in my blog.

- Got myself a new laptop (01/28)
- Attended the Wizard World Los Angeles for the first time (03/19)
- Saw an IMAX movie for the first time (03/26)
- Went to the KROQ microbrew festival for the first time (04/09)
- Went to the band "Angels & Airwaves" very first concert (04/13)
- Finally asked my girlfriend to marry me! (04/18)
- Met my fiances' parents for the first time (04/22)
- Attended E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo) for possibly the last time (05/12)
- Went to my acquaintance's band "Darvoset" concert (05/13 09/23)
- Went to the KROQ Wienie Roast Y Fiesta music festival (05/14)
- Played "laser tag" for the first time (06/13)
- Finally switched from cable to dsl for my internet needs (06/24)
- Attended Anime Expo (07/04)
- Went to the Van's Warped Tour music festival for the first time (07/08)
- I'm an uncle again to a new niece (07/13)
- I turned 30! I'm not in my 20's anymore... (07/16)
- Another great year at the San Diego Comic-Con International! (07/19 - 07/24)
- Went to the "bloc party" concert (08/03)
- Went to "the living end" concert (08/17)
- Went to Legoland California for the first time (08/22)
- Went to Catalina Island for the first time, also that "finger incident" (08/27)
- Went to see "Meg & Dia" in concert several more times (09/14 09/20 11/30)
- I decided to move in with my fiancee (10/01)
- Finally cancelled my home phone number, officially cell-phone only now (10/14)
- Went to the "Bamboozle Left" music festival for the first time (10/15)
- Disneyland in Halloween (10/21)
- After a decade, I finally made a music video again (10/24)
- I had a ghostly encounter? (10/26)
- I had a cool encounter with band members from Reel Big Fish (11/01)
- First time me and my fiancee hosted a family gathering (11/26)
- Attended the "Heroes initiative" (12/03)

one low point this year... Had a car accident with a biker (02/10 02/11)

This past 2006 year was a huge year for me on a lot of things that I've done for the first time in my life. 2007 has a lot to follow up on.

My annual trip to the San Diego Comic-Con is already here!

Read about my experience in my blog HERE.

Also check out the photos I took HERE.

That's it, I've decided that I'm not going to bother cutting and pasting my blog from xanga to here anymore.  There really is no point. SO, if you want to read my blog, just go to where my blog first started at...
xanga.com/patrick005

you can also just go to my own webpage...
patrick005.com

Well, I was on the air today with the "what is your deal" segment of the Kevin & Bean radio show.  Unlike last time, they did not hang up on me! I think I was a little shock of actually being on the air that I stuttered a bit, so I  still made a fool of myself. I called saying that I was able to see the first episode of the WB show Supernatural, and that it's actually pretty scary for a TV show. Kevin did most of the talking at that point, but then proceeded to ask me how I was able to watch it in advance.  Yeah, that's the question I was dreading since it'll bring me back to the reason they hang up on me the first time around. In avoidance, I kinda gave a "half answer" to the question but he figured out how I was able to see it (via a comic-book convention).  After I was released from the broadcast, I could have sworn they made a joke about how I came from the future or something to have seen it already or something like that. huhn... Maybe next time, I'll be able to call them with no embarassment on my part.

While I'm on the subject of TV, I've got to say that the past decade has produced a lot of quality shows that exceeds any decade before it. I'll go as far and say that the past ten years have given me a lot of my personal favorites in the almost three decades of my life. There are more diverse programs that cater to everybody, and serialized stories only help elevate the medium into a more involving form of entertainment.

The 2005 fall/winter season is now upon us, and there's lots and lots of shows that I'll be following.

I've got sit-coms, dramas, and dramedies to follow...
Arrested Development, Navy NCIS, Supernatural, the Office, Law & Order SVU, Lost, Everybody hates Chris, Joey, CSI, Malcolm in the Middle, Numb3rs, Veronica Mars, Alias, Smallville

I'm not above watching quality animated shows either...
South Park, Drawn Together, Ghost in the Shell, the Batman, Naruto, Justice League Unlimited, Inu-Yasha, Full Metal Alchemist, the Simpsons, Family Guy, American Dad

I also enjoy the special interest variety shows...
Ebert & Roeper, X-Play, Icons, Best Week Ever, Fresh new music, the Daily Show

Attila Random

fireworks + dog (video)

iTunes Cell phone disappointing? (link)

sheep reaction (flash game)

anchorman woes (video)

California Legislators Pass Video Game Bill - Will Arnold Sign It? (link)

police caught looting (video)

Dr.Carter (flash game)

Smoke Breaks Boost Memory (link)

cooking pan vs strong man (video)

sheepish (flash game)

Korean, Transsexual Popstars: What Next? (link)

The Drunk Dial (video)

In one of the forums I frequent, somebody made a statement saying that "Hollywood" movies are all considered to be horrible. I rebutted saying that isn't necessarily true, because it's not WHERE the movie is made that makes it bad, it's HOW it's made that determines that. So I was asked what IS a "Hollywood" movie?

here's my answer...

A "Hollywood" movie is a film done in an uninspired way by following the standard formula of what supposedly makes an entertaining film. Basically a movie that will have cliche plot formulas and scenes that are purposely made to incite a positive reaction from the audience. A Hollywood movie cannot be confusing to the base audience and can't be too controversial in it's direction. A Hollywood movie has to always keep the pace of the movie moving forward without slowing down with slow moments that feels out of place. A Hollywood movie is cut and dried with likeable heroes and detestable villains. A Hollywood movie always has a positive and straight forward conclusion.

Not all Hollywood movies are bad (ex: Red Eye was pretty entertaining), it's just the ones that are really bad (Resident Evil: Apocalypse) that really cry foul.  The only reason why people call crappy films "Hollywood movies," is because despite the rich budget of the studios in Hollywood, a lot of bad movies are still constantly being made over there.

Random Greenface

Breakfast helps girls stay slim (link)

dancing breakfast (video)

Barbara Bush: It's good enough for the poor (link)

go **** yourself, Mr.Cheney (video)

Mazda Ditches Cylinder Locks in Favor of USB Key (link)

rocket bob (flash game)

wikipedia growth (link)

flip flop attack (video)

Microsoft readies 'Pinoy Windows' (link)

balisong Xtreme videos (video)

Troy's pure love mixtape (audio)

take to the streets (flash game)

One of my work friend apparently used to work with *that* model friend of mine that I've mentioned before. He found out I knew her when he noticed the picture I have of her in my pocket PC.  Well recently he encountered her at work. They chatted about working together back then and ofcourse yours truly was mentioned.

The way he described me was somebody who although "loves his girlfriend very much, thinks that you are one of the most beautiful girls around." When he told me he told her that, I was all.... "wh-wh-wh-WHAT?!" Then he even mentioned how he saw her picture in my pocket PC, and she apparently embarassingly inquired if it was the pictures of her in pigtails that I must have gotten. He told her that he wasn't sure, but it's "whatever he could download from the internet." I proceeded to do a second "wh-wh-wh-WHAT?!" and added a "dude, she's going to think that I'm some kind of freak!" My friend reassured me that she gave me nothing but compliments about how I'm a sweet guy and how SHE'S embarassed that I see her in the worst time of day (5AM) when she isn't made up (no make up, hair's not exactly done). Then to top it off, she told him that she's going to give me an autograph picture of herself! My friend see's all these as a positive thing, but I see it more like an embarassing thing (if you are reading this, thanks, I know you meant well).

So I see her at the normal time and place.  At first there was no mention about my friend at all, so I had to bring up how she talked to him and proclaimed how "he must have embarassed me pretty well." She ofcourse reassured me that wasn't the case, and we talked a little bit more about my friend and when they worked together. We went our separate ways, when I realized that she didn't bring me that autograph picture after all. Well, I figured she would have forgotten about it anyways, and besides, do I really want one? Oh, to give this story a little more juice, it has to be mentioned that unlike how it normally is when I see her, this time she totally had make up on, with her hair was done and all.

The following day was back to normal with her with no mention of my friend or autographed pictures. But the next day, my friend inquired if she ever gave me that picture, so I had to tell him no, and "please don't mention it to her." With that, I had no choice but to bring it up with her when I see her next. I then mentioned it to her in a very delicate way to avoid embarassment.  She told me that she did intend to look for a poster of her to give to me.  I told her that she really didn't have to, and that's when she gave me a straight up question... "If you don't want it, I won't bother." I actually hesitated for a second or two and answered "no, you don't have to, because if I had something like that, I would JUST be one of your fans, rather than a friend." She responded in disagreement to my conjecture, and she left it off at that, said good bye, going our separate ways.

I won't be seeing her until next week, so we'll see if this particular story continues on...

What I'm listening to this week...



1) Franz Ferdinand - self titled
2) Pennywise - Full Circle
3) Trivium - Ascendancy
4) Five for Fighting - America Town
5) Metallica - Master of Puppets

Your Hidden Talent

You have the natural talent of rocking the boat, thwarting the system. And while this may not seem big, it can be. It's people like you who serve as the catalysts to major cultural changes. You're just a bit behind the scenes, so no one really notices.

Throughout the years of seeing ad spaces in web pages, I've noticed a lot of growth in that department.  A growth of annoyance that is. I was okay with just simple banner ads that takes up a small portion of the screen, but now we have these flash enabled ads that interferes with your browsing a little too much.

You've got the "if you hit this, you will get" ads, that are generally avoidable.  You've got the "we'll show an animated presentation and then disappear" ads that would be okay if it wasn't for the fact that they usually hi-jack the middle of your screen for several seconds. Then you've got the flash ads that contain video or audio that turn on by themselves and they make it hard for you to turn it off.

But I suppose the worse offense these flash ads do, is that they take up your computer's memory for all of them to play. Go into a website that has a ton of flash ads and you risk the chance of your web browser hanging up from taking up too much memory.  If you are stuck like that, then the only solution is to stop the application process.  This becomes a problem when other applications wants to use that memory that the flash ads are eating up.

Damn you flash ads!