Kia Soul - The Choice is Yours

They played this commercial during the previews for The Karate Kid on Saturday:



And after I stopped laughing, I'm pretty sure I'm driving the cardboard box and need to get a Kia Soul.

Sunday

Well this day felt much more productive. I purged and donated a carload stuff off to GoodWill. I crossed a few more items off my list but it still seems to have made only a tiny dent...

I started running out of gas by 10 tonight, doing laundry and going through my bathroom drawers:

I was briefly sidetracked when I found some lipstick and "detoxifying" masks I totally forgot about as I pondered how to sort the stuff...

I eventually got my bathroom drawers sorted out and hey--another New Year's Resolution down-3 to go!

And I certainly hope I can have more productive days like this--with or without the detoxifying mask and new lipstick...

Side-tracked/The Karate Kid (2010)

Unfortunately, my good intentions have been thwarted by distractions. Last night, I started sorting out old magazines and ended up doing the crosswords in them while eating stacks of Oreos:

This morning I did accomplish cleaning the floors but then I took the girl and her friend to see a movie:

We discussed:

Though the movie felt long (which it is, clocking in over 2 hours), I have to say Jackie Chan totally redeemed himself for the turd that was "The Spy Next Door". His character's revealing fight scene totally reminded me of classic Hong Kong Jackie Chan. And I have to say that it was nice change to see Chan in a more dramatic, less clownish role--I can't say I missed the goofy mugging that normally comes with his movies and I definitely didn't miss the awkward romantic scenes from "The Spy Next Door". It was a moving moment when he reveals his character's big loss and young Jaden Smith was a nice foil for him. There were moments clearly meant to parallel the original Karate Kid--some worked (e.g., Chan's Mr. Han's sad confessional) and some seemed more forced and awkward--e.g., the "updated" version of the famous "Wax on, Wax off" is now a long version of "hang up your jacket". Oh and the new Karate Kid, Jaden Smith? I'm sure we'll be seeing more of him.

Then back to house for a little Wii time. The girl demonstrated Big Game Hunter 2010:

And her friend quickly picked it up:

To cap off the day--UFC 115 at Buffalo Wild Wings with a friend and fellow fan, Mr. F:

Can you believe Cro Cop is only 35? Don't worry, despite the screen behind me--he won. He's not the same devastating kicker from his Pride days, but tonight he was trying new things (yes, he threw out a couple of side kicks) and got submission of the night. The glaring white elephant in the room is the caliber/experience of his recent winning match-ups: Pat Barry was incredibly effusive to be in the ring with him, smiling and high-fiving often and was thisshort of squealing "I'm in the ring with Cro Cop!" He eventually gassed out--in the choking arms of Cro Cop--the final vignette featuring an exhausted, splay-legged Cro Cop appearing to have just rescued a drowning Pat Barry.

The big fight of course was Rich Franklin's KO of Chuck Liddell with a short right, after Liddell had broken Franklin's left arm with one of his famous kicks. Shoot, poor Chuck Liddell. I'm sure that's not how he pictured his last fight, which sadly, this probably was.

Overall the card was great--did not expect Martin Kampmann (does anyone else thinks he looks like a young Dolph Lundgren) to beat Paulo Thiago and the first fight between Carolos Condit and Rory MacDonald was exciting from start to decisive end.

Now, I'm sure to have a productive day tomorrow...

Preparing for the weekend

Please, please, please let some of this stuff soak into my brain and body and do stuff this weekend.

Better

Well today was better than yesterday, though it did start with this:

(Yes, that's a dead fly sinking in my coffee. God grant me the dignity that I noticed this before I drank from the mug.)

I managed to get some things done afterwork, including a bit of purging and replacing a broken microwave with a working one:

Which included pulling out the behemoth old one out:

And wha-la!

Perfect fit.

Man I hope I can continue getting things done this weekend...

Herr Franziskaner

Herr Franziskaner, please make tomorrow a better day.

Mike Stilkey Show

Last night, the girl and I checked out the new Mike Stilkey installation, which also happened to be the inaugural exhibition of the new Hurley )( Space Gallery here in Costa Mesa.

Currently his work are book sculptures, where he takes unwanted/unused books and creates some art with it:

Incorporating upcycled materials speaks to me--I love it:

The exhibit included two huge pieces, totaling 5000 books:

I was surprised/impressed by some of the books donated to the project. Can you believe someone gave away the hardback to V.C. Andrews' "Flowers in the Attic"? That was a classic during my adolescent years.

I was glad the girl was inspired by the art too:

With all the inspiration these last couple of weeks, kind of makes me want to make something...