Inspiration: A review of Safety Not Guaranteed

Yesterday, I saw Safety Not Guaranteed.  It was a great movie.  It's about a girl (Aubrey Plaza), who is an intern at a magazine.  She gets picked to help an overconfident writer (Jake M. Johnson) work on a story about an article he sees in the classified section of a neighboring town.  The article is a man looking for a partner to travel back in time with him. 

The film ends up being about relationships with people.  How first impressions aren't always correct, how things don't work out sometimes, and sometimes they do work out when they were never expected to. 

The movie was great in the way that it was inspiring.  It was made by the Duplass Brothers, who also made Cyrus and Jeff, Who Lives At Home.  Safety Not Guaranteed made me feel like doing things, not traveling time or anything, but it gives that anything is possible feeling.  That kind of feeling that tells you to go for whatever you had in mind.  It made me want to write, play music, chase dreams and to be happy, and live without regrets.

I have not been in a lull or anything, but I feel this movie would be great for somebody who is.

Progress.

I've come a long way.  I've been working my ass off and making great progress.  I am proud of myself.

I had some setbacks this week.  My wrist was sore from lifting so I took some time off from it, I also tweaked my knee, so no running.  I did a little time on the bike the other day, that's about it.  I don't think this break is going to hurt, it may actually help.  Not being able to work out has been kind of hard; I've been wanting to, but know its better not to.

These setbacks won't be stopping me or slowing me down.  I plan on easing back into it starting in the morning, and pushing until I can go full steam again.  Nothing can hold me back. 


 

It's July!

I'm getting ready to go work out, listening to this new album Summer of Steve by Donald Glover's (Childish Gambino) little brother, Steve G. Lover III.  It's a decent album, It's got a great track called "Make Em Mad" featuring Childish Gambino.  The album as a hole is decent, its free online, if you want it you can find it.  I'm looking forward to seeing Gambino at Lollapalooza.  Steve joined him at Bonnaroo, as well as Heems from Das Racist.  If I'm lucky, they'll show up at Lolla, too.

Ted was a great movie.  Funny flick about friendship and growing up and having to let your friends grow, but keep your meaningful ties, because without them, you aren't yourself. 

I went to a show last night in St. Louis at the Gramophone.  My first time at that place, I liked it.  Nice little bar with a good setup for the stage (outside of one inconveniently placed pillar).  The Forecast were the headliners, and it was good to see them again.  They put on a good show, as usual.  The other bands were definitely worth checking out, too.  One even covered "Everybody Wants To Rule The World" which was awesome.

Anyway, time to hit the gym in a few.
Stay fresh kids.

Summertime.

It's officially Summer now, my favorite season of the year.  Mine isn't looking to be very special, but I'll enjoy it nonetheless.  I finally got to see Jeff, Who Lives At Home this week, since it came out on DVD/BluRay.  I didn't get a chance to see it in theaters as I live in the Midwest and am a busy man.  The movie was very enjoyable as I wanted it to be.  If you don't know anything about it, it was made by the Duplass brothers who made Cyrus with Jonah Hill and John C. Reilly.  One of brothers is also starring in this summer's Safety Not Guaranteed which I'm looking forward to seeing.

Jeff, Who Lives at Home stars Jason Segel and Ed Helms as brothers who have nothing in common.  Segel plays Jeff, who has no job and still lives with his mom and believes in fate and following the signs life sends you to get where you're supposed to be.  Ed Helms' character thinks he has it all together with his job and wife and his new Porsche.  It turns out neither of them quite have it all together.  It was a highly enjoyable film about different kind of people and learning to work together and respect each other.  The movies also features Susan Surandon as the mother of the two, and how she deals with getting older and her sons growing up and not being the perfect lovable tikes they were when they were younger.






I also recently saw the movie Goon, which was written by Jay Baruchel (Knocked Up, She's Out of My League).  It was a delightful movie about hockey.  I'm not a huge hockey fan, as my favorite sport is basketball and I'm usually following the NBA while the NHL season is happening.  The movie centers around a guy, Doug (played by Sean Willam Scott (American Pie, Role Models)), who is a bouncer, goes to a hockey game with his friend and ends up fighting a player who charges into the crowd after some trash talking from his friend (Baruchel).  After the fight, he's contacted by a minor league hockey team and gets added to the team as an enforcer even though he doesn't know how to skate or anything.  His parents don't approve of what he's doing, and there's a glimpse into the future of what he could become in a character played by Liev Shreiber. It's a good movie with good humor and a little heart.

So Happy Christmas.

I haven't blogged in awhile and I felt like writing, so here we go.

The NBA is back!
I'm very excited about this, but I know not everyone who may be reading this is.  I won't talk much about it here as I will be starting a new and solely NBA inspired blog soon.

It's the holiday season, and I'm very in the mood.  As an adult, I never really got into the Christmas spirit until the last couple of years, and now I thoroughly enjoy it.  I finished my shopping early this year and just finished wrapping all of the gifts whilst watching Hoosiers (I'm thinking of making this an annual tradition.)

I'm working quite a bit lately, I've been super busy between the two jobs.  With the NBA starting back up, I am also working more.

I recently got to the cinema to see The Sitter.  I enjoyed it a lot.  It wasn't groundbreaking, but a solid film with good humor.  I plan on purchasing it when it comes out on bluray.





It's been a bit, but I also saw A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas.  It was a fun movie, if you enjoyed the other 2, this one shouldn't disappoint.  It features Danny Trejo as Harold's disapproving father-in-law, an underage party, drugs and a baby.

Anyway, that's all for now.  Stay posted about my NBA blog.  Merry Christmas to all.

Stay fresh and Keep Calm,
KK

So I was informed last night that there is a live-action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles reboot in the works.  I was excited, then i read rumors that Michael Bay was involved.  My excitement dropped off significantly.  They also originally had the writers of Iron Man 2 writing it, then decided to get some dudes who write a crappy TV show and Mission Impossible 4 instead.  My excitement dropped more.

The NBA Lockout is still going on.  The meeting tonight (currently in progress, over 10 hours) is supposedly going positively, but I've lost hope and am not all that interested since the media gets fans hopes up, then cuts them down.  I'll be pleasantly surprised if they have any form of a season, if not I'll find other things to do with my time.

I went to Chicago for Halloween, it was a very fun time.  I saw friends I don't see nearly enough, went to a Blackhawks game on Halloween night, people in costumes at hockey games are a good time (One of my favorites was a Care Bear with the Blackhawks logo on its tummy).  If you're wondering, I dressed as The Macho Man Randy Savage.  Chicago has been a great time every time I've been there.  I'm hoping to relocate there this Spring.

Childish Gambino's CAMP comes out Tuesday!

The Nuggets have seen 3 of their free agents sign in China, which means they can't come back to the NBA until that season is over (which will be toward the end of the NBA season) even if the lockout is lifted, and multiple other players are playing overseas with out clauses, which means they can return if the lockout is lifted.  

I'm in favor or players going over and playing, expanding their game and learning to play different ways, and strengthening parts of their games that may be weak.  Of the 3 players from the Nuggets who signed in China, at least 2 of them weren't expected to sign again anyway, and the other I believe can be replaced.  

Even if Nene leaves, as he suggested testing free agency and chasing a ring in and interview, I think they'll be okay.

As it stands right now, the Nuggets don't have enough guys to man a roster, but I think they can be fine if the lockout is lifted.  They have a strong front court with Ty Lawson and Arron Afflalo (currently a free agent who has shown interest in staying), then you throw in Gallinari and the two seven-footers (Timofey Mozgov and Kosta Koufos), the promising Kenneth Faried and the scorer Jordan Hamilton who dropped to them in the draft and you have a young core with promise to build together and play as a team.  They also have Gary Forbes who is a free agent, and has shown interest in staying.  He wasn't the greatest last year, but showed glimpses of high quality, and has shown he can play in multiple pickup and street games featuring other NBA players this summer.  He's young and could turn out to be an asset.

I understand the concerns about the go-to guy who can take over a game when needed.  I also think some of the Nuggets players could step up to be that guy (Afflalo and Gallinari come to mind, possibly Nene if he signs, maybe even Jordan Hamilton).  If not, I think they have a solid core to drop a special player into.  The Nuggets payroll is low now, with Carmelo and Chauncey now in New York, so they could pick someone up or possibly make a trade.  

If they can run with this team state of mind they've started, maybe they can make some noise with undervalued guys.  I'm personally excited about the team.  Maybe I'm just a fan with rose colored glasses, but I like to think they've got a chance to build something great out of what they have.  These guys are young and can grow together.

I have faith in Masai Ujiri and Josh Kroenke.  I think they know what their doing.  At least, it seems like they do.