Vikings rule.

Jomsviking You scored 79% Berserker, 86% War Chief

"Congrats!" Perhaps the Greatest Warriors that ever lived you are one of the Jomsvikings. the saga tells of an island city Jomsborg, a harbor guarded by a Giant Iron gate, which can dock 300 dragon ships, and a fortress home to the Mightiest warriors that ever lived. Every Jomsviking is a hero in his own right, in Jomsborg you devot yourself to war. So strick is your code that no women are aloud in the city to distract you during your training. no single man can best you in combat and you are feared even more so then the terrible berserkers. you are the stuff of Viking legend your name would have gone down in the Viking Sagas and stories of your deeds would have been told throughout the generations.

My test tracked 2 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 80% on Bloodlust You scored higher than 94% on Leadership

Link: The Viking Test written by Thorshammer246 on OkCupid, home of the The Dating Persona Test

Jason = Blogging inspiration!

I was doing my monthly check of Jason's blog and saw a couple things I wouldn't mind doing on my own blog. The two lists of movies that he included inspired me to see how "movie literate" I am. Although looking over the first list, I'm going to have to call shenanigans on movie critics in general...

http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060420/EDITOR/60419010

* 2001: A Space Odyssey
The 400 Blows
* 8 1/2
Aguirre, the Wrath of God
* Alien
All About Eve
Annie Hall
* Apocalypse Now
* Bambi
The Battleship Potemkin
The Best Years of Our Lives
The Big Red One
The Bicycle Thief
The Big Sleep
*Blade Runner
Blowup
* Blue Velvet
Bonnie and Clyde
Breathless
Bringing Up Baby
Carrie
* Casablanca
Un Chien Andalou
Children of Paradise / Les Enfants du Paradis
Chinatown
* Citizen Kane
* A Clockwork Orange
The Crying Game
The Day the Earth Stood Still
Days of Heaven
Dirty Harry
The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie
Do the Right Thing
* La Dolce Vita
Double Indemnity
*Dr. Strangelove
Duck Soup
* E.T. -- The Extra-Terrestrial
Easy Rider
* The Empire Strikes Back
The Exorcist
* Fargo
* Fight Club
Frankenstein
The General
* The Godfather, The Godfather, Part II
* Gone With the Wind
* GoodFellas
* The Graduate
Halloween
A Hard Day's Night
Intolerance
It's a Gift
* It's a Wonderful Life
* Jaws
The Lady Eve
* Lawrence of Arabia
M
Mad Max 2 / The Road Warrior
The Maltese Falcon
The Manchurian Candidate
Metropolis
Modern Times
* Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Nashville
The Night of the Hunter
Night of the Living Dead
* North by Northwest
Nosferatu
On the Waterfront
Once Upon a Time in the West
Out of the Past
Persona
Pink Flamingos
Psycho
* Pulp Fiction
Rashomon
* Rear Window
Rebel Without a Cause
Red River
Repulsion
The Rules of the Game
* Scarface
The Scarlet Empress
* Schindler's List
The Searchers
* The Seven Samurai
Singin' in the Rain
Some Like It Hot
A Star Is Born
A Streetcar Named Desire
Sunset Boulevard
* Taxi Driver
The Third Man
Tokyo Story
Touch of Evil
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
Trouble in Paradise
Vertigo
West Side Story
The Wild Bunch
* The Wizard of Oz

So I beat Jason by... a few. I got 32. So I'm a noob when it comes to movies. Honestly, a lot of "must see" movies are tremendously overrated. Of the "classic" movies on this list that I've seen, I would only watch a few more than once. 8-1/2, Casablanca, Dr. Strangelove, The Graduate, It's A Wonderful Life, Rear Window, and that's it. Seven Samurai is terrible, as is Citizen Kane and the Godfather movies. Sure, they were groundbreaking films, but they've aged noticably and don't stand up to new movies at all.

Then there's the second list, compiled but what I'm assuming is NOT a movie critic. We'll see how I fare on this one...

Action
*Raiders of the Lost Ark
*Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
*The Terminator
*Scarface
*Goodfellas
*The Matrix
*Saving Private Ryan
*Braveheart
*Equilibrium
*Sin City
*Full Metal Jacket
*Speed
*Blade
*The Boondock Saints
*Charlie’s Angels
*Batman Begins
*The Last Samurai
*Underworld
*Spider-Man
Demolition Man
Kick Boxer
Enter the Dragon

Scary
*The Shining
*Aliens
*The Sixth Sense
A Nightmare On Elm Street
Scream
The Exorcist

Kids
*A Christmas Story
*E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
*The Lion King
*Toy Story
*The Incredibles
The Karate Kid
*The Neverending Story
*Pirates of the Caribbean
Gremlins
Ice Age

Drama
*Rain Man
*The Shawshank Redemption
*Schindler’s List
Hotel Rwanda
Million Dollar Baby
Crash
Murderball
Cinderella Man
*Interview with the Vampire
*The Godfather Trilogy
*Jerry Maguire
*Good Will Hunting
*Rounders
Blood in Blood Out
Two for the Money
The Devil’s Advocate

Comedy
*Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
*Airplane!
*The Blues Brothers
Practical Magic
Wedding Crashers
How To lose a guy in 10 days
*Monty Python and the Holy Grail
*Dumb and Dumber
*There’s Something About Mary
*Meet The Parents
Dodgeball
*Miss Congeniality
Spanglish
*The Wedding Singer
*50 First Dates
The Evil Dead
*Top Secret

Thriller
*Pulp Fiction
*The Usual Suspects
*The Silence of the Lambs
*Fight Club
*Reservoir Dogs
*Se7en
*American History X
*Trainspotting
*The Green Mile
*V for Vendetta
The Craft
*The Game
The Net
*Dracula
*The Bourne Identity
*Ocean’s Eleven
*Twister

Foreign
La Vita è bella (Life is Beautiful)
*Cidade de Deus (City of God)
*Lola rennt (Run Lola Run)
*Ying xiong (Hero)
*Wo hu cang long (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon)
*Le Pacte des loups(Brotherhood of the Wolf)
Diarios de motocicleta (The Motorcycle Diaries)
El Crimen del Padre Amaro (The Crime of Father Amaro)
Amores Perros (Love is a Bitch)
*Akira
*Kôkaku kidôtai (Ghost in the Shell)

72, not too bad. Although I disagree with many of the choices. Time will tell... Since I've got nothing better to do, I'm going to compile my own list. It's going to be a lot shorter though, since I think you can get a good grasp on american cinema (I'm only going to include American movies, with a separate section for some noteworthy foreign films) with less than 102 movies. I've also given the reason I think the movie is a must see.

Modern Films (fairly recent movies that have yet solidify themselves as "classics") -
Fight Club - Arguably Fincher's best movie, as well as showcasing the talents of Brad Pitt and Edward Norton
The Lion King - Superlative Disney animation and voice acting
Pulp Fiction - Tarantino's best, also has Sam Jackson in one of the most famous roles ever, along with John Travolta, a modern day film great
Say Anything - John Cusack's breakout role, and a good example of an 80s teen flick
The Breakfast Club - John Hughes best, showcases teen star brat pack Molly Ringwald, Emilio Estavez, Anthony Michael Hall, and ubiquitous character actor Paul Gleason
The Terminator - One word: Arnold
The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring - This is how we do epics in the modern day
Office Space - Poignant yet hilarious commentary on the American office culture, supreme example of a quotable script
Braveheart - Mel Gibson for the win, also an excellent example of the historical epic
Wall Street - Charlie Sheen, Michael Douglas, Sean Young, Daryl Hannah, all the 80s stars, with Oliver Stone at the helm. Also examines the excess of the 80s from a financial as well as social standpoint
American Pie - Redefined the teen comedy genre
Memento - One of the most original movies ever made, with the Batman franchise rejuvenated, Christopher Nolan is going to be huge
The Big Lebowski - The Coen brothers' best, Jeff Bridges and Philip Seymour Hoffmann giving outstanding performances, and another example of a quote-worthy flick
The Princess Bride - I think pretty much everyone has seen this, one of the most quotable movies ever
Die Hard - Good example of the "stupid action movie", influenced Michael Bay/Jerry Bruckheimer, made Bruce Willis a star
The Usual Suspects - Supreme example of the surprise ending, almost put Sixth Sense here
The Silence of the Lambs - Example of the serial killer movie and one of the best psychological thrillers ever. Anthony Hopkins is one of the greats, Jodie Foster isn't too bad either
Forrest Gump - Tom Hanks is at the top of his game here, and lots of quotes/history lessons within



Classics (films that are well regarded as classics, or are at the top of their genre) -
Snow White - Excellent example of an older Disney animated film
Rear Window - Hitchcock's best, also has Jimmy Stewart, one of the all time greats
Dog Day Afternoon - One of Pacino's best roles, and Sidney Lumet is one of the best directors ever
Full Metal Jacket - Kubrick's best film, and one of the best war movies ever
The Empire Strikes Back - Self explanatory
Lawrence of Arabia - Some of the best cinematography ever by Freddie Young, best directing ever by David Lean, and Alec Guinness, Anthony Quinn, Peter O Toole, and Omar Sharif make this one of the best cast movies ever
To Kill a Mockingbird - Gregory Peck in one of the greatest roles ever, shows why he's one of the best of all time
2001 - A Space Odyssey - Another Kubrick classic, this time in space: defined the modern day science fiction epic
Alien - Ridley Scott's greatest, defines the sci-fi thriller
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory - An example of how a trippy adult thriller can appeal to kids as well, Gene Wilder is amazing
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly - I've never seen it but I've heard nothing but good things, and I needed an example of the spaghetti western, and Clint Eastwood needs to be represented
Raiders of the Lost Ark - Harrison Ford's greatest role other than Han, great example of a well-paced action-adventure "popcorn" movie
Blade Runner - Another Ridley Scott classic, redefined what a science fiction movie set on Earth should look like
Back to the Future - Example of a stupidly entertaining movie that you can watch over and over, also made Michael J Fox a star
A Christmas Story - Self explanatory
The Graduate - Dustin Hoffman is one of the greats, also one of the most easily identified with movies ever

Some foreign films that are must see:
Monty Python and the Holy Grail - Most quoted movie ever, defines much of geek/gamer culture
Lola Rennt - Superlative German cinema
8-1/2 - Fellini was tremendously influential, and this is his best
Ghost In the Shell - One of the best examples of Japanese animation available
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon - Good example of modern day asian filmmaking
Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels - Modern day British cinema at it's best, very quotable
Cidade de Deus - Modern latin cinema
City of Lost Children - Modern french flick

Ok, I'm tiring of this. Let me know of any glaring omissions...

SOTM: Mellowdrone - Oh My
MOTM: Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex
BOTM: Modelo (from a can!)

Holy christ...

Talk about a lack of updates! Various things have happened, and others have not. Things that have happened:

Michelle and I broke up. Not a huge deal, we both agreed that it was for the best. It was fun, but we both realized that there wasn't really any feelings left and it was pointless to carry on. So I'm single and on the market again.

I signed a lease for my new pad for next semester. I'll be living with an old resident of mine, Marcus, and his girlfriend along with one of his old roommates, Phil. It's going to be an interesting semester, as we've pretty much decided that there will be parties on a semi weekly basis. Rock on.

I've been jocking at the station quite a bit and it's a lot of fun. I've made a bunch of new friends, and everyone who works there is very cool, with a few obvious exceptions.

New bands (at least new to me) have happened! Morningwood (catchy raunch-rock that's perfect for parties), Funeral For A Friend (post-hardcore alt rock, check Sonny and End Of Nothing out), Isis (epic melodic death metal influenced by Godspeed You! Black Emperor), Arch Enemy (metal that I actually like, the riffz are awesomez!), Stellastarr (amazing band, similar to The Bravery mixed with Joy Division and a little bit of Depeche Mode... I think. Basically totally original, totally catchy, buy their Harmonies for the Haunted cd NOW), Talking Heads (I watched the performance DVD "Stop Making Sense" and it blew. my. mind.), Depeche Mode (currently listening to Question Of Time right now... 80s new wave techno fucking ROCKS), Flyleaf (like Avenged Sevenfold mixed with a really hard version of Avril Lavigne... sounds horrible, but it works), 3 (Alien Angel kicks ass), Tool (not new, but their new single Vicarious is amazing... I'm really looking forward to the new cd on May 2, 10,000 Days). Et cetera.

Drew and I are getting slightly into anime. We watched Ghost In The Shell II: Innocence and it was bloody good. So we're netflixing Ghost In The Shell Stand Alone Complex, Full Metal Alchemist, Hellsing, Cowboy Bebop, you know, the classics.

Things that haven't happened:

Beer reviews. I can't get the energy to do anything but enjoy said beers. So trust me when I say that the following are worth trying: North Coast Old Rasputin, New Holland The Poet, New Glarus Road Slush, Capital Dark Doppelbock, Rogue Hazelnut Brown Nectar, Shakespeare Stout, Chocolate Stout, and Juniper Pale Ale. That's it from the top of my head.

Exercise. I need to get in a rhythm of working out. That, or I can just wait until the summer where I'll inevitably drop about 15 pounds without even trying. Working at a grocery store will do that to you.

Armageddon. I think this is a good thing.

So that's about all I have the time for right now. I have to get some naptime and gametime in before work tonight (I have a feeling that it'll be more game than nap, but sometimes you just have to play some NFL 2k5). Go Brewers!

Wow, so long time no blog. Not really anything exciting in my life to blog about. I got a bunch of new beers to try, although my idea of reviewing every last one of them is failing miserably so I'm going to go ahead and not do that anymore k thx bye. If anything blows my mind I'll let y'all know. Umm, we watched Eurotrip last night, good times. I applied for a job at WSUP, the campus radio station. If I think of anything else I'll throw it up (not as in the vomiting way, well you know...). Speaking of vomiting, I had food poisoning on Sunday and it sucked big time. Here's a word of advice to anyone who may read this: DON'T GET FOOD POISONING. There you go, consider that my good turn for the day. Ok, well we're watching Scrubs right now so I'm going to go. Later.

SOTM: ZZ Top - Sharp Dressed Man
MOTM: Scrubs (TV series, but it's on DVD so I'm going to say it counts)
BOTM: Central Waters Satin Solstice Imperial Stout

TREOS - The War Of All Against All

Look alive, gentlemen
Or fake your deaths; your wounds undressed beneath your costumes.
Some are so well rehearsed
For hearses it hurts, always the first to wave the white flag
And barricade themselves
In false pretenses, fox holed in trenches.
Forged casualties with casual pleas,
Dying to please the enemy
We die to stay alive, We kill to survive

We are the corps of corpses,
We are up in arms and armed
Bring all the king's horses and all the king's men

Push on, plod on, these legs like pistons pumping forward motion.
Convalescent men in uniform.
We have fallen to friendly fire, shrapnel freckles our spine.
Still our feet fall one by one.

We were led to lead lovers, while marching to the beat.
We were led to lead lovers, we kissed so well.

The cannon's calling our name,
I hear her singing to me
In morse code,
"This is our revolution!
To arms! To arms!
This is a revolution!"

We are the corps of corpses,
We are up in arms and armed.

Delicious beer Pt. 2

So about me reviewing beer every other day, not gonna happen. Instead, here's a smorgasboard of beer I've already had:

Rogue Mocha Porter: A very good porter, stronger coffee taste than others I've had. VERY dark and strong, this beer could suffice as a meal, which is what they were orginally designed to do.

Left Hand Milk Stout: A decent stout, but then all stouts are pretty decent to me.

Samuel Smith Oatmeal Stout: This was amazing. Probably the best stout I've ever had. Mellower than Gray's and Guinness Extra, very good with a meal.

Victory Golden Monkey: Ugh, didn't like this at all. Tasted a little like a Barleywine, which is why I didn't like it. Try mixing Miller with Dr Pepper and you might get something like this.

Victory Prima Pils: Good Pilsener, basically tasted like Urquell. I'm really becoming a fan of hoppy beers, like Pale Ales and Pilseners, especially along with meals. It's hard to drink without food, however.

Great Divide Titan IPA: EXCELLENT IPA, probably the best I've had. Better than Sierra Nevada, better than Alpha King. Although AK is quite different...

Three Floyds Alpha King Pale Ale: Not too bad, kind of sweet towards the end which I'm not a huge fan of. Would be better along with some food, I think

I think that's about it.

SOTM: ZZ Top - Give Me All Your Lovin'
MOTM: Adaptation
BOTM: Rogue Mocha Porter

Thanks for giving

Thanksgiving break went well. I ate a ton of turkey and whatnot, stuffing, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie, oh. my. god. So good, I must have gained like five pounds over the last few days. It was good to see my mom and sister, since I hadn't seen them in a few months. Michelle met my mother, and I met her parents, and all went well. APPARENTLY Michelle's mom Google'd me and found my blog... So basically she thinks that all I'm about is beer and women's butts. Well, that is a large part of what I'm into, but I assure you, Mrs. Harmon, I'm into much more than just that. She was even so nice as to buy be a sixer of Gray's Oatmeal Stout (an excellent Stout, if you're into that sort of thing). Shocking, to say the least. But I am NOT an alcoholic and am NOT out to corrupt your daughter. That having been said...

Beera Claus has come to the apartment in the form of a copious selection of newly purchased alcoholic beverages! I'm going to TRY to review one of these beers every other day until I'm done with the list. I picked some out based on the type of beer they were (my favorites are Stouts and Porters), and some I just picked out at random. The store I went to (Sentry's Liquor in Waukesha) had a pretty good selection (not quite the selection that Woodman's in Madison had) and some of the beers even had their beeradvocate.com rating right on the shelf, so I based some of my selections on those. Here goes in no particular order...

Samuel Smith Oatmeal Stout
Samuel Smith Taddy Porter
D. Carnegie Stark Porter
Stepan Razin Porter
Sierra Nevada Porter
Three Floyds Alpha King Pale Ale
Fish Tale Poseidon's Imperial Stout
Rogue Mocha Porter
New Glarus Unplugged Imperial Stout
Great Divide Titan IPA
Weihenstephaner Hefe-Weissbier
Victory Prima-Pils
Dogfish Head 90-Minute Imperial IPA
Left Hand Milk Stout
Victory Golden Monkey
Shmaltz He'Brew Messiah Bold (best name EVER)
Samuel Adams Holiday Porter
Rogue XS Imperial Stout
Ayinger Celebrator Doppelbock

Most of the aforementioned brews I got in single bottles, so if I hate them, I'm not out $8 for a sixer. Then again, if I love them, I've only got one bottle, so I'll be sad. It'll balance out, hopefully. In addition, I have some random stuff leftover from a few weeks ago, like Pilsner Urquell (an excellent pilsner, a good choice if you've always drank beast or Miller or the like and want to get into "better" beer), New Glarus Tail Wagger Barleywine (weird fruity taste, like beer mixed with Hawaiian Punch, I want to like it but I can't), and McEwans Scotch Ale (similar to the Tail Wagger but a stronger alcohol taste and a hint of hard liquor thrown in, just can't get used to it). If you'd like to trade for the Tail Wagger or McEwans (through mail, or if you're in the PVille area, in person), send me an email and we can set something up. I'm thinking of getting into the microbrew trading scene on ratebeer.com, but I'm not totally sure how you get started in that...

Anyway, that's it for now. Peace.

SOTM: Cold - Happens All The Time
MOTM: American History X (top 10 for me, the ending just blew me away the first time I saw it, and one of the few movies that made me cry)
BOTM: Pilsner Urquell (from the Czech Republic (!), an excellent Pilsner with a very crisp taste, goes well with a meaty meal like a burger or steak, or just throw one back for the hell of it. Like I said above, it's a good choice if you're looking to drink "good" beer, but isn't too drastic of a change from Miller or Bud.)