iHappy

So thanks to planets aligning or hell freezing over or some other anomaly, I'm FINALLY out of my Verizon contract and was able to pick up an iPhone today from a friend of mine at AT&T for an insane discount. Verizon did the whole sweet talk/up the ante schpiel, but it's actually cheaper for me to go with AT&T than to stay with them. Only issue is the texting plan for the iPhone, but otherwise it's great. As a recent Apple convert, I'm incredibly happy with it so far and the App Store is a thing of genius. All it needs is a solid GPS system and you couldn't really ask for much more out of a phone.

Saw Quantum of Solace last night and it was great - not as solid as Casino Royale, but still really good. It was like the writer's strike affected the story not being very fleshed out, so they just cranked the action up 20 notches to make up for it. What story is there is good and advances the plot and characters we've met thus far, but it would've been nice for some more narrative. I've seen every Bond film and am really happy with the way that they've relaunched the franchise.

We also got to view the teaser trailer for the upcoming Angels & Demons film, which I am ecstatic about seeing. The film is an adaptation of Dan Brown's book, which was superior to The DaVinci Code, in my opinion, and lends itself better to being a film so I'm excited to see what the studio will put out there. I'm curious to see if Brown's newest work, The Solomon Key, will make it out sometime in 2009 as well.

I'm guessing Twittering is officially the new cool thing to do. I've just gotten into it and it's kind of nice because it's like a mini-up-to-date blog for those of us you can't regularly update their own blogs (as Pete so consistently points out). Between that and Facebook, it may just be easier to drop this blog and maintain the other two. We'll see.

As always, CSz is starting to get really busy as we enter the Holiday season - which is good news for me (I'm curious if Corey & Mo are going to be able to join us for some shows this year as their own show, The Union, has landed dates for a run in Chicago @ The Annoynace - be sure to check it out if you're up there!). In addition to that, I've gotten some recent offers to audition for a couple films and commercials coming up before New Years, so I'm hoping that will lead to something fun.

Over at Dogsbreath Productions, we've got a couple of first drafts floating around for some new pilot ideas and are hammering out a realistic filming schedule for it as well - hopefully we can get something committed to film before 2009.

Hope you're all staying warm. It's about to start snowing here....allegedly.

Boo? Yeah!

When I was in high school, there was a group of us that went to pretty much every haunted house in the Q.C. & surrounding area our junior & senior year. We got these little punch cards for all the Jaycee's houses and even went an hour out of town just to hit them all. Needless to say, I got a touch worn out on them and have not stepped foot in one since.

Halloween night rolls around and we're debating what to do, and end up agreeing to go to at least one haunted house and then maybe a party or two. We popped online to do some crash-course research and found this place in Orion, IL, that was getting some favorable reviews called Torment at Twelve Hundred. I'll be honest, I was not that enthused to go, but I also didn't want to do nothing on Halloween. Plus, this place was ranked in the top 10 on HauntedIllinois.com, so I figured it must be doing something right.

The night got off to an inauspicious start as we met up with some friends and promptly got lost while making the long & somewhat more-confusing-than-it-needed-to-be drive. (which was really our fault, in the end) We passed many barns & cornfields, but eventually discovered the plot of land at 1200 about 45 minutes before it was closing. It also had a Doggie Styles hot dog kiosk right next to it. (yes, I like the name too)

As we're making our way to the entrance, one of the security guards spies that someone in our group is wearing flip-flops, which is an apparent (and very understandable) no-no in the world of haunted houses, as are any open-heeled or open-toed footwear. The two of us that drove proceed to ransack our vehicles in search of any footwear we may have that would pass inspection, but to no avail. Incidentally, I found one shoe in the junkyard I call my trunk - which makes me very curious where his partner ended up. As the scavenging continued, our friend ended fashioning her own pair of shoes using a combination of duct tape and socks, but alas, this did not pass inspection either. We had made almost an hour drive & I'll be damned if we weren't getting into this haunt now.

So we came up with a potentially useful solution: we went to the Doggie Styes kiosk and asked if we could swap shoes with an employee for the next hour so that we could go through and then swap back when we were finished. Luckily, the great people there were more than accommodating and we had to perform minor surgery getting the duct tape shoes off of our friend. So with feet firmly crammed into shoes that were two sizes too small, we finally made it past inspection and gained access onto the grounds. This was to be my first haunted house experience in over 14 years & after everything we had gone through in the last hour & a half, I would be remissed to say that I didn't think it was going to be very exciting.

Holy crap.

That place was AWESOME! Haunted houses have come a LONG way since my memories of them back in the mid-90's. It was such an immersive experience and it started even before you paid the admission fee. As we weaved our way towards the entrance, we were abruptly greeted by Kirby - a portly, unshaven man-child wearing a hospital smock with blood stains, a bicycle helmet with the his name scratched across the front, and eating the nastiest looking Oreos I've ever seen. He also only communicated using four phrases: "What?" "Mama!" "Want some?" & "O.k." It was amazing how just those four phrases ended up being so hysterical as we attempted to communicate with him.

We were then treated to a video (which was more comical than creepy...and I don't think that was the desired effect) that set up the storyline for the haunt, and eventually made our way outside through a forest maze containing a multitude of zombies, creatures, and gravediggers popping out at random times causing the women in our group to scream ad nauseam. Next, we went back inside through the creepiest, yet frighteningly accurate looking trailer I'd ever seen which belonged to what can only be described as a knock-off Buffalo Bill from Silence Of The Lambs.

Unfortunately, this awesome ambiance led to our least favorite part of the haunt, which was also one of the main plot points of the established storyline...I think. We entered into a doctors quarters which, I feel, was just used in the wrong way. The over-the-top/community theatre performance of the doctor really took us out of the moment and we just hurried our way through the section and back outside to another maze. I think this area could be better utilized in the future - for instance, having the doctor irate that we interrupted his work and then just staring us down as we pass through while his nurse and caged "experiment" do their things. Anything more along those lines would be better than the Svengoolie act we were given.

Following a second outdoor experience, we went through the final part of the haunt, which was the sanitarium - & it was VERY well put together. Body bags, psycho clowns, spitting toilets, and creepy people the followed you around just long enough to be uncomfortable. It culminated with a spinning, black hole walk that created a sense of vertigo before dropping you off right back at the Doggie Styles kiosk.

With our adventure complete, shoes returned, and my faith in haunted houses restored, we headed back to the Q.C. and encouraged everyone that we could to go check the place out - which I am also doing here. Obviously, it's closed for the season, but if you're anywhere in the area, you should definitely check the place out next Halloween. I know we will.

Yes We Did

Barack Obama is the 44th President of the United States.

Not much else to say right now as I'm having a hangover from the rally.

Later.