ThanksKilling (2009) – Movie Review

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coverSince today is the official start of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia I’m going to be in the true Olympic spirit and give this movie, ThanksKilling, a Steelers Star Gold Medal (for stupidity in a film!)  In fact, this movie won all the medals in the Bad Movie competition with the Bronze, Silver and Gold.  ThanksKilling makes you feel dumber for simply watching 1 1/2 hours of this So-chi-T!  I have to give credit where credit is due and considering there was probably about a grand total of two hours pre-planning put into this movie and this resulted in 90 minutes of movie, again, they get credit for making the most out of nothing.  If there was to ever be a great team assembled of terrible movie writer/producers then the ‘talent’ that created ThanksKilling should win Gold for the next 4 Olympics with this disaster of a movie. Who says quality counts anyhow?

bronze_smallThe Bronze goes to the absolutely horrible acting that didn’t even begin to try and be serious.  Surprisingly enough it did not bother me as it typically would.  Something about this particular set of Olympic/Actor wannabees is curiously fun.  The characters were so ridiculous that you didn’t even have one iota of believe-ability with these Turkeys (Thanksgiving pun intended).

silver_smallNext, the Silver medal for ThanksKilling goes to the ridiculous plot of the movie.  A killer Turkey, are you serious?  Somehow every 505 years the killer Turkey comes back to terrorize the human race.  The over-dramatic scenes are simply awesome.  With just a bit more gravy (Turkey pun intended) the plot itself might have been worthy of the Gold medal.

gold_smallHowever, only one Gold medal can be awarded and this goes to the killer Turkey himself.  His foul-mouth language, rotten behavior and witty remarks were simply a s’mash’; potato (more Turkey/Thanksgiving pun intended).  Classic lines from Turkie (a.k.a. Killer Turkey who is the main character) spoken include “I quit him cold Turkey!”, “She got stuffed!” and “I’m making a Turkey sandwich”.

So, for this one exception I deem the award for this movie in Steelers Star Olympic Medals with 8 out of 10 stars (but don’t be a Turkie you yams!).

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An ABBsolutlYY great day with ABBYY USA!

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This past Saturday, January 25th, was the ABBYY USA Winter Holiday party held at Wente Vineyards in Livermore, California.  Founded 130 years ago, Wente Vineyards is the country’s oldest, continuously operated family-owned winery.  The Vineyard itself is absolutely gorgeous with other excellent attractions such as a Bar & Grill, full service restaurant, wine tasting tours and, my personal favorite, a stunning 18-hole Golf Course!

vineyard

The party itself was scheduled to start that evening at 6pm with a pre-dinner wine tasting  tour starting at 5pm so a couple ABBYY golf addicts and myself were quick to put two-and-two together and a morning golf tournament was born.  There were a grand total of fourteen players that joined the tournament and we played best-ball format.  My group consisted of two long hitters and myself.

golf course

Hole #10 was particularly noteworthy.  Our strategy was for me to tee-off on each hole because I could generally put the ball ‘in play’ although I wasn’t terribly long.  Then the next two guys could be more aggressive and try to put us in a better position.  It worked out well and especially on the 281-yard tenth hole.  I tee’d off and put the ball ‘in play’ about 180 yards, leaving only roughly 100 yards to the hole so this gave us three additional chances to improve.  The next guy in our group, Steve, had a very nice shot that traveled roughly 210 or so yards which only left us about 70 yards, so this was a slight improvement.  Therefore we had two shots to be most aggressive.  Our next guy, Ruben, took the third shot and drove it out of bounds but we had one more chance.  Ruben also took our fourth shot.

hole 10 ruben

We all agreed that he would ‘grip-it and rip-it’ and he did just that as we had little to lose.  His shot ended up only about 10 feet from the hole making his tee shot roughly 270 yards and directly on target. It was nearly a hole-in-one on a par 4 hole.  It was an amazing shot by Ruben and one to remember for a lifetime!

ruben and steve 10 hole

After a great morning of golf with the group that went a bit longer than expected I had less than an hour to rush back to the hotel room I had rented, shower and return for wine tasting.  So Marc, who was also staying at the same hotel, and I hauled it to the hotel to check-in and get ready.  Since Marc wasn’t planning on attending the wine tasting he was nice enough to lend me his car which was much appreciated.  I made the wine tasting event just as it was starting at 5pm so a bit a relaxation or short nap was, obviously, not in the plans.  The wine tasting consisted of a guided tour where the history of the Vineyard and Wente family was explained which was interesting.  Then they took us into the “cave” (their terminology), which was actually a large storeroom/warehouse which stored all the barrels of fermenting wine where the process was explained in detail.  It was a great experience.

wine tasting the cave

Lastly, after the wine tasting tour, it was time of the main event and the Winter Party/Dinner.  There was all the usual chit-chat and conversations you might expect.  At about 7pm we all sat down for dinner, which was absolutely delicious.  Drawings for prizes were held through-out the evening and many people won wonderful items but, unfortunately, I was not among the winners.  Nevertheless I got around to say hello to nearly everyone which I sincerely enjoyed.  I also had the chance to meet many of my co-workers significant others and/or family members for the first time which was great as well.

dinner

Overall it was a busy, but wonderful day/afternoon and evening.  Thanks to ABBYY USA for sponsoring such a terrific event and especially thanks to all the organizers!

Jack learns paw-shakin’!

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So proud of my son, Jackson Neal, and his new paw-shaking learned trick! He was great and now shakes on-command but this was not easy for him.

Touching his paws has been nearly off-limits after he experienced a terrible nail-trim at PetSmart where they cut his nails too short and made him bleed and in great, obvious, pain. Ever since Brandee and I have been working with him constantly to gain trust for even simply touch his paws. He reluctantly has started to allow us to rub his paws but just a little bit at a time, which was absolutely heart-breaking that progress was slow but nonetheless, it was a step in the right direction.

Finally, tonight, after working with him for many years to get him comfortable for us touching his paws and getting him to somewhat comprehend a ‘shake’ command, and then HE DID IT!!!….and a few times consecutively of ‘sit’, then ‘shake’, ‘sit’, ‘shake’. Each time his paw was clearly on the ground and he had to make a serious effort to shake. So awesome Jackie!

Jack was helping us put up the holiday lights today.
Jack was helping us put up the holiday lights today.

Nine Dead (2010) – Movie Review

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Nine Dead (2010)Nine Dead Review by Brandee
Genre: Crime, Drama, Horror

Nine Dead starring   and , is a movie about nine men and women from all walks of life who awake to find themselves abducted and chained to poles in the proverbial freakadelic room. Professionally, the characters run the gamut from a merchant and a deputy district attorney, to a police detective and a common street thug. We round out this crew with a Roman Catholic Priest and a Chinese woman who can speak no English. Seemingly, there is nothing these people could possibly have in common… they better figure it out, however. Because every 10 minutes their captor intends to kill them in a very precise order, one by one, until they either make the connection between them or they’re all dead.

This movie could have been great, but it wasn’t. It had a good story line, plot and the ending would have almost made it worth watching. Bad casting, overacting and terrible camera work killed this movie from the beginning. In fact, it was so bad I only agreed to do this review for my husband if he promised to never make we watch it again.

Think of Nine Dead as a sad, watered down version of SAW with less gruesome gore and intricate fabrications. We can only pray that unlike Saw, the makers of Nine Dead know when to quit and never make another chapter of this miserable movie.

steeler_star_smallsteeler_star_small 2/10 Steeler Stars

Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead (2010) – Movie Review

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Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead (2010)Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead – Review by Brandee
Genre: Documentary, Health and Wellness

Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead follows the journey of a man, , who has a goal of reaching a healthy weight, ditching all of the medications he is on for high blood pressure and a rare debilitating autoimmune disease called chronic urticaria. He intends to accomplish this by consuming nothing but organic, raw juices he juices himself.  Raw food is defined as food that has not been heated above 112 degrees Fahrenheit (a temperature that certain experts claim is the point at which healthy food enzymes die).

I found myself immersed in this documentary because I, too, have a chronic autoimmune disease. What a dream if would be to reach for the stars following this man’s philosophy! He did it; why couldn’t I? However,  not all autoimmune diseases are created equally. Because mine is a digestive and gastrointestinal in nature, juicing turned out to be something my body could not withstand, I was unable to complete my mission.

The science behind this method is rather solid. It’s also rather common sense. It  incorporates walking as start off exercise and as you gain strength, you’ll want to do more simply because you can. This will hold true with any diet plan that feeds your body what it needs in the healthy proportions it needs it. The 5 days I was able to follow the plan, I felt better. I had more energy and my steroid weight began to melt at a quick pace.

What separates this documentary from the hundreds like it, is that it was clear to me early on that Joe Cross was not out to make a million dollars- he already had it many times over. He was interested in making himself well because he truly was fat, sick and nearly dead. Joe discovers along the way, that his story not only inspires others, but seeing him go through the paces sets a fire under even those who are not overweight and simply feel bad for various reasons. I think Joe surprised himself. I think he had no idea what he had started. And what he has done since, is proof that he was never out to do anything more than help himself and others navigate our world of fast food, titanic proportions, astronomical medical bills and cut the cost of human life.

Rating: steeler_star_smallsteeler_star_smallsteeler_star_smallsteeler_star_smallsteeler_star_smallsteeler_star_smallsteeler_star_smallsteeler_star_small 8/10 Steeler Stars