If You Can't Take the Heat..

Summer of 2000, I had turned eighteen and was going to get a job – my first.  With high school a couple months behind me and no college in sight I truly felt free.  The summer treated me well the highlight being a road trip to Alabama with my friend Spanky.  That’s no typo that’s his name.  We traveled by RV with a man named Bobby, my step dad at the time, and a couple of his friends.  Those couple of weeks were very fun but that’s a different story for perhaps another time.

            This is about the week of August 26, 2000, at my first job.  It started off much like the rest of summer, fun.  My friend Spanky used his pull at a restaurant, House of Pizza, to get me hired.  He worked there as well – things couldn’t be better.  In a way Spanky was like an older brother to me in those days.  I never thought of it until now.  A good guy that Spanky.  Anyway I worked in the back, making the pizzas, a perfect job for an eighteen year old that grew up during the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles era.  It was a busy restaurant in those days and early on I was just trying not to mess up.  I was one of many youths working in the back so that gave me some comfort.  I was quiet in those days more so than now.  One night I had to work a shift without Spanky, which helped me to not rely on him for everything at this job.  It was busy as usual and hot, very hot – it felt smoldering to me..

            I wasn’t used to such temperatures especially in small poorly ventilated areas.  This place had a giant six shelf, rotating oven that churned the heat out.  At the tail end of the dinner rush I asked my manager if I could go outside and get some air, I was dying.  I couldn’t fathom how the others could take it.  This was hell.  She looked at me with cold eyes, which seems impossible considering heat waves were rippling out from the oven nearby.  She asked if I could wait until the orders were caught up but I couldn’t.  I wanted to leave and never come back to be honest.  I wasn’t comfortable there it wasn’t for me.  I had to get away.

            She granted me leave although I know she thought little of me at that point but I could care less.  I hurried outside to get a welcoming blast of fresh air.  I breathed, relaxed and looked beside me.  There was another chap squatting near me also complaining of the heat – I wasn’t alone.  His name was John Wright he was a bigger fellow.  He didn’t last much more than month there.  I quickly gathered myself and returned to my station for fear of taking too long.  I, as usual, finished my shift quietly and walked home as I did in those days.  I thought long and hard (that’s what she said!) about continuing to work at that restaurant.

            I arrived home and talked with my mom about how work went.  She understood although I had mentioned I wanted to quit numerous times.  All she told me was to try it out for a few more days and see how it goes.  If worse came to worse I could quit.  I accepted that, not easily but I did.  Now what I failed to realize at the time was she probably didn’t want me to quit so soon especially due to the fact that earlier in the summer I never showed up to an interview for a local grocery store.  She was very upset at me that day – I remember it all too well, it wasn’t one of my finer hours.  Ask Spanky he was there – I was terrible in my laziness that moment.

            Being young none of that came to my mind though, I never even thought about that no show interview.  Instead I pressed on and put my nose to the grindstone and worked extremely hard from then on out.  It earned me two pay raises in the next month alone.  I quickly became one the best at my job behind Spanky of course.  I went on to work there on and off for the next six years.  I don’t often think of this moment in my life but it poked my brain the other night and now I feel as if I have no choice but to write it down.

            Is there a moral to this story?  I’d say if someone gives you honest advice digest it and try it out.  I have some fantastic memories as well as woeful ones I gained from that job that are something I value now.  I learned a good many things over my tenure there and out of all the places I’ve worked since I dream of this one the most.  In those dreams I’m always returning to pick up where I left off on the pizza line.  It’s but a dream but I like to think that it means something.  And remember if you can’t take the heat – give it another try.

Respect Epic

It is a preposterous notion to defile someone or anything for that matter without due cause.  To do so means an utter lack of honor for the target.  We know to defile a family member is quite inappropriate and the mere thought disgusts the majority but how about an object?  Certainly to defile property would be against anybody’s better judgment so no need to consider that either.  What if we go beyond the physical realm?  No, not spiritually or religiously but the world that lives among us and is a part of our everyday life, language.  Would it be proper to defile say, a word?  This does not have an immediate yes or no trigger in response does it?  You pause to think, can a word be subjected to being defiled?  Is there reason to be considerate of a word?  Does it have feelings?  Is it somebody’s property?  We’ll get into it to find out.

            A word that has been figuratively raped by the populace today to destroy what was once and in my eyes still can be, not just another word.  This word is epic.  Some words are best used seldom to maximize its definition meaning when used properly.  It’s not reasonable to throw around a word like epic in daily communication nor does it make sense.  ‘How was your breakfast son?’  ‘It was epic!’  How so?  Did you have to raise the pig for the bacon?  Collect the eggs from a chicken coop?  Forge your eating utensils in due preparation for the meal yet to come?  I fear not to lose you yet so let’s keep these questions in reserve for now. Let’s rediscover what epic truly means.

Epic is grand in stature, spanning over many events a great many things.  A poem can be epic when written in length describing a hero’s journey, see Homer’s Iliad.  It need not be poetry as many novels have vast storylines of characters embarking on fantastical feats that culminate into an incredible climax thus encouraging the use of epic to sum up such massive storytelling into one compelling word!  Not just breakfast.  When I heard the word epic in my younger years I instantly thought of films such as: Stars Wars or Indiana Jones since they cover much material over the course of many years.  Ask yourself if epic fits to these movies or to any other film or book series.  A word can only be credible if you treat it with respect.  It serves only to degrade oneself mentally when attaching a trendy word to your vocabulary for the sake of fitting in with society.

            Why is epic being diminished?  Overuse of a word leads it down a path it doesn’t want to go.  How tiresome is it to speak with an individual who reuses the same two or three curse words over and over from sentence to sentence? Epic doesn’t want to become that, it’s a slap in the face to be categorized with mere swear words.  Today it’s broadly used to describe a singular event that may or may not have any grand aspect to it at all.  You’ve seen the epic fail posts no doubt, but are those accurate?  Perhaps it’s a runner face down on the ground feet from the finish line with ‘epic fail’ stamped across the image.  Is this an epic fail though?  It can’t be summed up so simply without knowing the story that leads to the runner face down.  That’s why Darth Vader tossing the emperor over the side leading to his demise isn’t an epic fail in itself.  It’s rather the events leading to it that create the emperor’s entire plot from episode one to six as being a failure of epic proportions.  To sum it up in that single instance, and leave out the rest of that world isn’t justifiable.  Star Wars is epic, one scene is not.  It would be as stating that a man shot and killed with a gun is – epic death.  You need an entire series of occurrences to support the time of death for it to attain epic status.  It’s not due to any one isolated event.  Using epic this way is demeaning to its inherent being.  Being epic is not as commonplace as the trend today suggests.

            To leave epic on the shelf and use it scarcely is its function.  If the overuse continues, its probable there are those who will want to remove it from their vocabulary altogether for want of not coming across as an idiot.  Let’s prevent epic from going the way of a hit single record.  Put some respect into what you say and you may learn to appreciate what a word really is.

            No this article is not epic.

The Ghost on the Bus

HK Livin’

Overcast looms for a third straight day accompanied by a drizzle of rain.  The humidity is enough to make you feel like you’re on a hike, huffing in mouthfuls of air.  People stand in their customary places single file lurching forward with blank expressions, doing so in routine not even taking in their surroundings anymore.  Occasionally someone will glance behind them down the ever-busy street, hoping with the slightest chance they’ll see their deliverer yet again.  There are those who have shoved their face into glowing rectangular stones but that same blank expression still occupies their face.  It’s yet another day awaiting street side in Hong Kong for a bus to take them on their way.

        Ghosts exist, they move as freely as the dominant people of Hong Kong although but a fraction in number.  It’s quite possible to go days without ever seeing one in person.  They’re not as portrayed in those vial horror films or even a grotesque scary story, no they go about their existence much the same as anyone else.  Having said this it’s not uncommon to see them sitting alone on a bus, with but one empty seat remaining and yet no taker.  That is the solitude a ghost in Hong Kong faces on a daily basis, the struggle to blend in is never ending and most likely not plausible.  The locals call these ghosts, who have not always been a part of life in Hong Kong but have been accepted despite past digressions, gweilo.  It can mean a few different words in the English language but in this passage ghost will serve.

        There is a ghost that frequents a particular bus stop in Choi Hung but the fact is, even being a familiar figure to those around him remains spooky enough to not share a two-space seat.  Chances are the four single seats get occupied first upon people cramming into the sardine can on wheels, unless the ghost is one of the first four to six passengers squeezing in he’ll be delegated elsewhere.  Many times has he watched the ensuing people step into view on the narrow aisle way only to avoid the space open to his left.  There have been bus rides where he gains the entire seat to himself even with others waiting in line outside.  He doesn’t complain of extra space but the wonder of why someone would rather wait for the next bus is puzzling.  It’s not that he is saddened by lack of want to have someone so readily sit next to him but rather curious as to why it is the way it is.  The fear does not show on the faces or actions of the people but is there something hidden within them that cowers at his mere presence.  Perhaps there is a dreadful feeling that death comes to those who spend too much time in close quarters with a gweilo.  

        In the reverse spectrum, that is to say when he is filing in last onto the bus that he must choose where to sit, he often notices the despair on the faces of those who have an open space next to them.  The way they tightly grasp the safety handle on the sit directly in front of them, the fidgety way they play with a purse strap or pull out their seeing stone tablet and quickly slide a finger this way and that.  It’s also been seen that one will turn away to look out the window at the falling rain, passing traffic or nothing in particular at all but just to not look into the ghost’s eyes by miss glance.  When he does sit its common that the person will try to force their way over although plenty of room remains between them.  Does the spectral force of the ghost do things he knows not to the living?  It’s an interesting study to be sure.

        A few occurrences that warrant a couple words are the chance cases when the final two seats together house ghosts.  As the ghost steps into the bus and sees the other ghost there is no hesitation, true it’s the only place to sit but fellow ghosts seem to have similar acceptance of one another as the other people do to one another.  The other is in regard to how well a ghost can see or possibly its overall awareness when compared to local populace.  A ghost frantically hop’s into the bus dings a card that transfers money to the preservation of octopi* everywhere, and quickly steps halfway down the aisle, spins and discovers there are no remaining seats.  Flabbergasted the ghost disappears out the door ignoring the chatter from the driver.  It is either lack of vision caused by the paleness of their body or an act of charity, donating 3.4 HKD for a ride not to be taken, as before it is a study worth undertaking.

        In conclusion, as a ghost among you, rattle the cage and make the choice to look for a gweilo to share a two-seater with.  It’s true their hair isn’t as consistent a color as everyone else.  They’re often too tall which causes unnecessary ‘mind your head’ signs to be posted and they’ll never be in the same class of ping-pong as the locals but they’re mostly harmless.

*Octopus card is a multipurpose card used to speed up transactions of several purposes throughout Hong Kong, including the bus as read here

Return of Book

Introduction

Have you ever experienced the feeling of wanting to do something again that you once did?  Activities such as sewing, painting art, writing a daily blog, building models for show or even reading a book are some of the hobbies that at one time brought a certain joy to your life but what happened?  Your job requires more hours, you’re in a more demanding relationship, a new hobby has dominated your time or you decided to take a brief break but never returned to it.  There may come a moment in the future when an opportunity presents itself to take back that activity, what would you do?

Return of Book

A tall slender man in his late twenties walked around in yet another mall in Hong Kong.  He was still amazed at how many different ones he had been to in this city, the land of many malls he liked to think of it as.  He didn’t have much interest in most stores but he wasn’t a man of many interests anyway.  He had his certain likes and stuck to them.  His girlfriend was with him, she was about his age but Chinese instead of white like him.  He received all sorts of looks from the people around but mostly since he was so tall compared to the average bystander.  He didn’t pay much attention to the stares and didn’t let it bother him either.  He was curious as to where his girlfriend was leading him though and became rather intrigued when he did find out.

She entered a bookstore which was a less common sight in this city.  There were plenty of them but compared to the mass amount of all stores it felt like a small number.  He followed her as he often did in this foreign part of the world.  She was at home though and moved freely about.  He let her know he was fine and she could go browsing about.  He looked around near the entrance and noticed the store was actually bigger than most, meaning he didn’t have to walk sideways through the aisles or duck his head.  The rows of shelves with books weren’t as tightly packed either which made him feel more comfortable.  He wasn’t claustrophobic by any means but he did enjoy the spacious confines of American stores better.  What didn’t change though was the amount of people packed inside this store; it seemed every store in this city had at least twenty people in it.  He had gotten used to that over time and worked his way around to the English section.

A little boy walked by with his eyes fixed upon him, his head turning round still watching as he walked away.  The tall man smiled briefly as he knew he must be quite a sight.  Most people in the store didn’t pay him much mind and probably thought him to be a university student at the nearby school.  He looked off to his right and saw his girlfriend crouched down by a rack; he returned his gaze forward and spotted something of interest.  He saw various books by Jules Verne in paperback and continued to stare at them.  He had always wanted to read Verne, in particular A Journey to the Center of the Earth because he thought dinosaurs of some kind may be in it.  He fancied stories of dinosaurs since he was a kid and a skeleton head of one of them was near the top of the front cover.  He stared on for awhile longer and almost drooled.  It was a rekindled emotion for him that he had not felt for years.

He was fascinated to see books that he suddenly wanted to pick up and read.  What had caused such an interest though?  He picked one of them up to get a closer look.  The summary on the back cover really sparked his desire to read it more.  He had an idea of what the book was about but what really spoke to him was did the people really make it to the center of the earth?  He loved adventure and fiction stories very much but remembered it had been years since he even picked up a book.  He thought of the many still sitting on his shelves back home collecting dust.  He thought back to the time when he did read more often and those stories began to sprout up in his memory.  Jurassic Park took precedence since it was the first novel he had ever read and he loved every word of it, it took him only a few days to read it and he was barely a teenager if that.  He felt an urge begin to overcome him.

He put the book back down and walked around the store in search of his girlfriend.  He couldn’t find her right away and began to look at more books.  He paced side to side while staring at book after book with the Verne novels flashing in his mind.  He lost focus on his browsing while thinking about them.  He stopped looking and found his girlfriend nearby.  He liked to consult with her as she supported his decisions much of the time.  He knew he could simply pick up the books and purchase them but discussing it with her was always fun to him.  He liked to see her happy smile while he shared interests he had that she may not yet know he even had.  She urged him to get the books which he knew she would say anyway.  She often thought of him as an excited kid at a toy store when he saw something he wanted but was debating whether or not to get it.  She grabbed a few Chinese books and watched him walk to get his.

There were several Verne stories but he grabbed the one he had previously read the summary of first.  It was his now he thought as a rush of fresh joy filled his eyes.  He felt compelled to not just stop at one though, he had never read Verne before and had no way of knowing he would even like it but picked up another one anyway.  20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, now that’s an adventure with Captain Nemo!  He knew of this one as well but not much other than that submarine on the front cover.  He felt an even greater feeling of happiness as he held two books now.  He continued to look at the rest of the books and saw The Mysterious Island.  He had never heard of this one but a moment took him and he seized it.  He grabbed the final book without knowing anything of it and felt a satisfaction with the three he selected.  He always wanted to read Verne and now he had a chance, fate had put him in a position to not stand idly by while opportunity was there.  He had to retake control of the old habits he once knew that had been replaced by various other occurrences he didn’t even care for anymore.

He walked up to the cashier and set down the books.  After everything was paid for and his girlfriend and he left the bookstore he looked back and saw a moment that he dominated.  He had become someone who dreamed but never pursued, someone who thought of acting but rarely did, someone who thought he could do it later and ignore it for now, someone who began to let laziness grow over him like a vine and squeeze.  He now woke from that dream, bought those books, set before him what he could do now and ripped the vine from his once weakened spirit.  A change had happened to him as he decided to set out in life and do those things his heart longed for.  He would no longer take things as they come but instead go out and take what he always wanted.  That’s not to say giving into all desires set before him but rather he would now face life as he always actually wanted to, not how he imagined it should be.  As far as books were concerned he read those three shortly upon returning home to America and has been reading daily ever since. 

Jurassic Park 4

I present to you a 100% fake spoilers list of what will occur in the recently announced Jurassic Park 4 film.  If you follow my posts or simply have the misfortune of knowing me personally (har har) you will know what the Jurassic Park franchise means to me.  It’s no doubt if I had to be any other creature in this world of ours we call Earth I’d be a velociraptor.  You might be thinking why I would create such a harsh set of events to occur in the fourth installment though, well again if you know me than you know I have tendencies to try hard to be humorous.  I fail at times but I succeed often enough to be deemed, dare I say, funny.  I laughed myself stupid, if that’s possible, typing out these ridiculous scenarios.  Are they the most creative possibilities imaginable?  I’d answer a quick no.  I’m not the only creative mind on this Earth and I implore you to add some of your own below because I love a good poke of fun at the things you otherwise think are untouchable.  Those books, shows, or moments in your life that you feel to be sacred but have always wanted to slip the tongue and wonder why a script was once made for raptors to be trained to fire automatic machine guns.  I answer to that – why not make the velociraptors zombies as well or the overly popular vampire velociraptors.  Enjoy the post and please don’t drink soda while you read unless you like the burning sensation of it through your nose.

John Hammond as a cyborg – What we didn’t know was Mr. Hammond recovered Robert Muldoon’s dead lifeless hand and teased pursuing velociraptors with it as they escaped in a jeep at the end of the original film.  Hammond was seen with his body still intact but that was added with computer effects as the scene was cut due to the disgusting nature of it.  Imagine if you will Hammond leaning outside the jeep feeding the velociraptors like it was Jaws or something.  Steven Spielberg declined comment.

Dr. Grant as a foul mouthed alcoholic – After his last venture to a dinosaur infested island Dr. Grant receives publicity but not the kind he thought he might get.  The media, as it often does, spun the series of prehistoric events Grant has been troubled with as a desperate cry for funding for his digging.  Nobody would support his paleontology anymore and accused him crazier than Ian Malcolm.  After learning that he hit the bottle hard and ultimately was involved in the disappearance of Billy (you know, his right hand man from JP3).  It was never proven Billy was murdered but Grant was quoted as saying, “If a pteranodon (the flying dinosaur for the commoner) can’t kill him then what makes you think I could?”

Dr. Malcolm, the gay elementary school teacher – He has a catastrophic meltdown as chaos theory is proven to be a hoax for its inherent nature of destroying the notion that complex ideals will collapse on themselves.  It is later proven that dinosaurs are responsible for that which leads Dr. Malcolm to pursue the opposite direction for his life.  He abandons mathematics, black and gray cloths, humor and his own natural sexual preference to become a homosexual art teacher in a public elementary school.  Instead of solving math equations he decides to join a profession (art) where there is no wrong way to perform it, burns his black and gray clothing in exchange for anything showing the colors of the rainbow and ditches humor for a mere lisp.

Vince Vaughn being lasered to death by velociraptors with "friggin lasers on their heads" – Nick Van Owen (Vince Vaughn) is back and ready to get the big moment he was robbed of in Jurassic Park the Lost World.  He reportedly wanted his chance to photograph a velociraptor in the flesh but was held against his will to flee for his life on a helicopter.  Now the velociraptors are back and have laser mounted guns on top of their heads and have him in their sights.  Escape is impossible but he does get one photograph of them before he meets his fate that turns out to be later stolen by Roland and sold for millions.  Roland was caught up with in Europe as saying, “The bastard stole my bullets when I was hunting the tyrannosaur, one good turn deserves another.”

Tim & Lex discover John Hammond is their father – The reality hits them when, after so many years, that pursuing knowledge of dinosaurs can’t be stopped.  Tim and Lex find themselves burying themselves in books to learn anything dinosaur.  The worst began to occur when they started to prefer tropical climates and living outside scavenging for food.  It was later revealed at InGen that they are clones of the original Tim and Lex (with traces of Hammond’s DNA) who were killed in a horrific car crash in their toddler years.  Hammond took their DNA and blended it with dinosaur DNA thus bringing them back to life.  The result is as maturity progresses they are discovering they are more and more dinosaur then they originally thought.  Tim first discovered that when browsing in a pet store he shot a venomous spit from his mouth to hit an unsuspecting animal.  The last reports of them are only that they were last seen on a boat headed toward Las Cinco Muertes (the five deaths).

William H. Macy reveals he is Ned Flanders – How this relates to Jurassic Park is by technicality only.  Paul Kirby (Macy) notices he resembles a certain animated cartoon character and wishes to know the truth once and for all.  He goes to all sorts of genetic laboratories across the country until he arrives at one owned by Hammond.  He discovered the shocking news that he was originally a cartoon character named Ned Flanders and was successfully genetically transferred into reality.  He believes it to be true since he has no memory prior to Jurassic Park 3 but only in dreams of saying, “Okilee-dokiely.”

Dennis Nedry comes back to life as a zombie – This shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone considering all the zombie/vampire flicks out there in recent years.  Dennis Nedry, only partially eaten by the dilophosaurus but nonetheless dead, reanimates to life as the embryos he stole somehow enter his body causing unexpected results.  He is captured by scientists and eats Mr. Ludlow (Hammond's nephew for you lax JP fans) in a horrific experiment gone terribly awry.  Ludlow was only partially digested by the baby rex and found alive in rancid condition on the deck of the ship that transported the adult rex and baby rex back to the islands.  Nedry broke free of the lab and remains on the loose.

Rex sits on a toilet while the spinosaurus eats him off of it – The baby rex from The Lost World, who irritated us all with that terrible cry, is reaching the potty training years.  One night as a torrential downpour is ‘happening’ it locates a toilet to relieve itself.  The baby rex limps slowly while dragging its leg.  As the baby rex enjoys the comfort of mankind’s modern plumbing system the ferocious spinosaurus, upon smelling the defecation of the baby rex’s stool, get’s an easy meal.  This twist of fortune for the rex family should come as no surprise considering M. Night Shyamalan will be indeed directing his first Jurassic film.

Robert Muldoon obtains a dragonball – Muldoon returns from the afterlife upon attaining the magnificent crystal ball that resurrects anybody.  I’m not sure how a dragonball works but Muldoon deserves a second chance.  He returns in the flesh to blow the crap out of zombie Nedry and end his horrible existence once and for all.  He then sets off to hunt down the beast in this treacherous world that managed to best him, the velociraptor.  How clever he has become will be the only question left to be answered.

Free for all – Dr. Sattler, Sarah Harding and Amanda Kirby (Tea Leoni) have a three way death match proving who the most worthless female character in the franchise.  The battle rages as Sattler uses the prehistoric venom of plants to blind her adversaries, Harding insists she correctly fixed the baby rex’s leg and Kirby simply runs around screaming while flailing her arms.  It’s a critical moment in the film you will have to see to believe.

Nick Van Owens detailed demise - After being lasered to death by velociraptors Vince Vaughn gets trampled by stampeding triceratops then picked up by pteranodons to be feed to their babies while the scraps are eaten by lowly procompsognathus (compy’s to the commoner) beneath the high standing pteranodon nest.  Do you accuse me of not being an admirer of Vince Vaughn?  Well if that’s what you were thinking than I’m glad I made it so obvious. 

Mr. Arnold (Sam Jackson, again for you lax peoples out there) reemerges – Arnold was never dead in that bunker he was last seen in, although he does have one arm missing.  His anger and rage are directed at Muldoon who he doesn’t know died but is back to life anyway to have a final showdown with him for not escorting him safely to the shed in the first place.  Arnold never finds Muldoon but finds himself in a similar situation Muldoon was in against the velociraptors.  Samuel L. Jackson doesn’t think they’re clever girls but rather, “You %$*& @#$% piece #@$@ snakes *#(#$* ahhhhhhh!”  Muldoon then shot the unsuspecting velociraptor in the back of the head completing his vengeance.

The finale consists of the island being over-run with this apparent disastrous turn of events mentioned above leaving everyone horribly dead except for Dr. Grant since nobody bribed him to come to the island for a 3rd time - he lives a miserable 50 more years as the oldest drunk ever recorded in the history of mankind.

The true question is why even bother with a fourth film after so long a time period.  I’d rather see a fresh take on it with a new plot and characters for the new generation of viewers.  It was a solid trilogy in its time but I can’t see where a fourth would lead us.  It’s been many a failed script these last ten years and if they couldn’t continue the story by now then it probably won’t work out.  Sometimes an audience demanding a sequel isn’t the correct motivation to make one unless money is involved but even then you could start over. 

The third film ended so horribly that you’d have to assume the military would be involved in some fashion which would just destroy the vibe the entire franchise has.  The more people know about these islands the more attention it will draw and the natural world feel to it will be gone.  Perhaps we can say Jurassic Park 4 – Dinosaur Survivor Island!  Who wouldn’t love seeing reality “stars” being eaten?  I may be onto something. 

A few links to other Jurassic Park articles I've wrote including, movie reviews.

Jurassic Park
Jurassic Park - How's it bonded with my DNA

Top 100ish Movies - BLOG

What I have here is my master list of all the movies I've watched since deciding to review them.  Would like to know what you think about the listing or what order you may put them in.  Discuss, it makes it more fun.

These are my rated 10 movies

1)     Jurassic Park                                                                   

2)     Gremlins

3)     IP Man 

4)     What about Bob?      

5)     Predator      

6)     Moon    

7)     The Prestige

8)     Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Movie                                          

9)     Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back                                  

10)   The Others

  

    These are my rated 10 but yet to be reviewed movies                                                   

11)   What’s Eating Gilbert Grape?  

12)   Dumb & Dumber 

      These are my rated 9.5 movies                                                                       

13)   Terminator 2: Judgment Day  

      These are my rated 9 movies

14)   Prometheus                                                               

15)   The Muppets                                                                    

16)   Semi-Pro                                                                                

17)   Real Steel                                                                       

18)   Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi                                       

19)   Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith                                      

20)   The Devil Wears Prada                                                          

21)   Everybody’s Fine                                                                

22)   Event Horizon

      These are my rated 8.5 movies

23)   Alien                                                                            

24)   District 9  

25)   Battleship

      These are my rated 8.5 but yet to be reviewed movies

26)   Jurassic Park 3

27)   Batman Begins   

    These are my rated 8 movies

28)   Constantine                                                                   

29)   Catch Me if you Can                                                         

30)   Taken                                                                        

31)   Mortal Kombat                                                               

32)   Cop Land                                                                    

33)   Robin Hood Prince of Thieves                                                

34)   IP Man 2                                                                    

35)   Rush Hour                                                                   

36)   Home Alone                                                               

37)   Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones                                   

38)   The Blues Brothers                                                        

39)   Super 8                                                                      

40)   Aliens 

    These are my rated 8 but yet to be reviewed movies

41)   Accident                                                                      

42)   Wolverine: Origins                                                          

43)   I, Robot                                                                   

44)   The Dark Knight                                                        

45)   The Punisher                                                                

46)   Jumper                                                                  

47)   Alien vs. Predator                                                        

48)   Independence Day                                                           

49)   Resident Evil                                                             

50)   The Fifth Element                                                     

51)   Speed                                                                     

52)   Ghostbusters                                                              

53)   Ghostbusters II                                                           

54)   The Hangover                                                             

55)   Click                                                                        

56)   The Lost World: Jurassic Park                                                   

57)   The Gift                                                                   

58)   Hide and Seek                                                              

59)   Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze                          

60)   The Day After Tomorrow                                                      

61)   I Am Legend                                                                 

62)   Hancock                                                                      

63)   League of Extraordinary Gentlemen 

                                            

      These are my rated 7.5 movies

64)   The Amazing Spiderman                                                     

65)   The Terminator                                                               

66)   Replicant                                                                      

67)   Gremlins 2                                                                  

68)   The Muse   

     These are my rated 7.5 but yet to be reviewed movies

69)   Napoleon Dynamite                                                         

      These are my rated 7 movies

70)   Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope                                        

71)   Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace                                  

72)   Sleepy Hollow                                                                

73)   Predators                                                                     

74)   Saving Private Ryan                                                         

75)   What Lies Beneath                                                            

76)   The Blind Side                                                             

77)   You’ve Got Mail                                                               

78)   17 Again                                                                     

79)   Valentine’s Day 

    These are my rated 7 but yet to be reviewed movies

80)   Irresistible                                                                    

81)   Fearless                                                                 

82)   The Benchwarmers                                                            

83)   Alien vs. Predator Requiem                                                     

84)   Kung Fu Hustle                                                                 

85)   Wyatt Earp                                                                  

86)   Pitch Black                                                                  

87)   Yes Man                                                                   

88)   Rush Hour 2                                                                  

89)   Baby Mama                                                                   

90)   Dark Crystal                                                                  

91)   Blades of Glory                                                             

92)   Resident Evil 2                                                               

93)   Resident Evil 3                                                              

94)   X-Men 3                                                        

      These are my rated 6 movies

95)   Double Impact                                                                  

96)   16 Blocks                                                                        

97)   Kickboxer                                                                    

98)   40-Year-Old Virgin                                                           

      These are my rated 5.5 but yet to be reviewed movies

99)   Watchmen                                                                     

      These are my rated 5 movies

100) Home Alone 2 

      These are my rated 5 but yet to be reviewed movies

101) Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III                                                

102) Love Actually                                                               

      These are my rated 4.5 movies

103) Thor              
                                                          

      These are my rated 4 movies

104) Dark Shadows   

105) Hollow Man                                                                  

106) Darkman                                                                  

107) Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian                               

108) Bloodsport                                                                     

      These are my rated 3.5 movies

109) Commando

      These are my rated 3 movies

110) The Expendables 

    These are my rated 3 but yet to be reviewed movies

111) Curled

       These are my rated 1 movies

112) Mortal Kombat Annihilation 

     These are my rated 1 but yet to be reviewed movies

113) Borat  

                                                                                              

*rating subject to change

1-24-2012

                This current list is incomplete and only to serve as a rough draft.  It will be periodically updated as I watch new movies or re-watch old ones.  The current order is only correct as far as the top two spots are concerned.  The movies on this list are subject to being taken off at anytime pending a re-watch. 

Top 100 list – Animated

1.       Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within                                                  10-reviewed

2.       The Secret World of Arrietty                                                      10-reviewed

3.       Turtles Forever                                                                   10-reviewed

4.       TMNT                                                                           8-not reviewed*                                                

List of movies I tried to watch but failed to be able to finish due to poorness

                                I.            Snow White A Tale of Terror

                              II.            Stone