State of the Jimmy: End of May 2013

I've been lazy lately when it comes to blogging.  I've probably had time to blog, but I just wasn't in the mood.  I've been spending my time getting moved in my our new bigger place and, because of the move, catching up on TV.

TV

I got really behind on Once Upon a Time and I got slightly behind on The Office, which just aired its last ever episode last week.  It was an emotional finale, but it was one of the most satisfying finales (and overall last seasons) I've ever seen.  Steve Carrel even made a small cameo as Michael Scott!  I definitely recommend this season and the entire series to watch (or binge watch).

Once Upon a Time on the other hand is probably the most average of the series that I am currently watching.  It is good, but not as mind-blowing as similar series (Like LOST, Fringe, etc.).  It just ended a couple weeks ago and I'm intrigued, but the entire series feel so gimmicky to me.  I still like it enough to keep watching, but I don't look forward to it as much as the other shows I'm watching.

Revolution's first season will be wrapping up in a couple weeks and I've been really impressed with the grittiness of this show.  The concepts are really amazing and they've really blossomed as of late, but the execution really went in a war-like and violent direction that was a bit unexpected for me, but in a good way.  I'm also pleased that it was renewed for another season.

Another show that was renew, even though I didn't expect it to be, is Community.  The 4th season started in February and ended a few weeks ago.  It was funny, but it wasn't by any means its best season, but it was must have been good enough for NBC to renew so I'll be watching.

Psych has really been awesome.  I'm glad there was been at least a couple more seasons of this hilarious and addicting comedy.  There are a couple more episodes this season and I'm excited for what is going to happen.

My wife and I have been watching Firefly, which is a very good show that we can stream on Amazon Prime.  Space cowboys.  Enough said.

Finally, I've started watching The X-Files and I'm already hooked.  It reminds me of Fringe in a lot of ways.  (I know that Fringe came much later, but I watched it first...)  Amazon Prime with my Roku is awesome.

Movies

I haven't seen any new movies lately, but I'm really looking forward to seeing Iron Man 3, Star Trek 2, Man of Steel, World War Z, The Wolverine, and After Earth.  The only downside of having kids is that you need to get a babysitter to go somewhere...otherwise parenthood is awesome.

Camping/Backpacking/Outdoors

I'm looking forward to camping this year, we're going car camping a bunch of times already this year, starting with next weekend.  I'm pumped.

I've also been slowly acquiring some backpacking gear, you saw my tent, but I've also acquired a Sawyer filter water bottle (which has a 1 million gallon guarantee), some para-cord, and a foam sleeping pad.  I decided to go foam with the sleeping pad because it was cheap and I do like a firm sleeping surface.  I'll try it and see how it goes.  Plus, I won't have to deal with leaky air mattresses.  

I'll be getting a backpack from my father-in-law, and hopefully that fits me.  Otherwise, I've got my eye on a Kelty Trekker external frame backpack as a backup.  I'm also going to get a lightweight, compressible sleeping bag from Suisse Sport for a great price.  I'll probably also get a fixed blade knife, but for now my folding Buck knife will suffice.

Honestly, I won't have the best gear, and I don't have backpacking experience, but I've got to start somewhere.  I enjoy car camping and the outdoors, I really want to get into backpacking as well.

Finally, I'd like to shout out to my beautiful and talented wife for getting me this t-shirt (and for being awesome in general!):

My $40 Home Media Server Setup

I made one purchase on Black Friday, and I didn't even leave the comfort of my own home.  I fought off the online crowds at Amazon to pick up a Roku HD for $40.  We have Amazon Prime and the Roku works great for streaming Prime video.

My Roku HD

I also, though, have a USB TV tuner for my computer, which I use with Windows Media Center to record TV shows or movies.  After it is recorded I use MCEBuddy to compress the video (which is usually a couple GB) and remove the commercials.  MCEBuddy runs in the background and works automatically after the initial setup.  Needless to say I have a decent collection of movies and TV shows in video file format.

This lead me to search for a solution to use my Roku to watch the videos I recorded earlier.  Since my tube TV does not have any HDMI connections, I can't plug my laptop directly into it.  Plus, that isn't the most convenient.

The old laptop-turned server, fits nicely under my TV

I came across a free channel for the Roku called Plex.  It works in conjunction with the free Plex Media server application that runs on your computer.  After I got it working on my main laptop, I thought it might be nice to have something running that can always be on and not have to run from my main laptop.  I decided that my wife's 6 1/2 year old laptop that was just sitting around in a drawer would be the perfect candidate.  It is slow, the power button needs excessive force to use, and it was not being used by us. I stuck an extra hard drive I had that was 3 times bigger than the one she had, installed JoliOS (which I used to make my old netbook useful again), and set it up as a shared server on my home network.  I then installed the Ubuntu version of Plex (JoliOS is a custom lightweight version of Ubuntu), and got my media server up and running.  I use the free home-use version of Teamviewer if I ever need to log into the server to restart it or change some settings.

The other feature with Plex that I love, is the ability to "Publish" your server to the internet for access via Plex's website or one of their mobile/tablet apps.  I can watch my content anywhere with an internet connection, just as long as my server, router, and home network are all online and functioning properly.

A bunch of mini-reviews from movies I've seen in 2012 and early 2013

So guess what?  I'm employed.  At a great company with great people doing stuff I love.  This means that I'll be able to blog more.  First, though, I need to play a little catch-up.

The Avengers (2012) was a great action comic book movie.  It is really jam-packed full of action, the plot is a little thin, and Hulk is actually done well, thanks to Mark Ruffalo after one bad and one mediocre attempt at feature film.  It is pure comic superhero entertainment.  Thumbs up to Joss Whedon.  I give it 9 ramheads out of 10.

Next up, another comic book flick, The Dark Knight Rises (2012) was the close to a great Batman trilogy from Christopher Nolan.  It tied up loose ends, brought everything full circle (many Batman Begins and The Dark Knight nods), and features more real character development than in the past.  All the acting, action, and plot were top notch.  I like the film better than its predecessors, though it wasn't quite as shocking as The Dark Knight.  This was probably my favorite film of 2012.  10 ramheads out 10.

Not comic-booky at all, Will Ferrell's Everything Must Go (2010) features a Will Ferrell acting, not too much unlike his performance in Stranger than Fiction.  This time his character is an alcoholic who hits rock bottom.  His wife leaves all his stuff on the lawn, changes the locks, and then leaves.  He works it out.    Funny.  Sad.  And shows some of the effects of alcoholism on a guy.  I enjoyed this one.  I'll give this one 7 ramheads out of 10.

My Amazon Prime subscription led me to watch a few films that I wasn't sure about.  I had a good experience with Everything Must Go, but not so much with Melancholia (2011).  I only made it half through.  The part I saw was a couple at their weird wedding reception with a weird family and the new bride was going back and forth from being happy and depressed.  Then she sleeps with a random guy, not her husband.  I still don't get the point of this depressing crap, and I know I wasted 45 minutes of my time.  1 ramhead out of 10.  I really don't recommend seeing this.

Another Amazon Prime flick that was very highly regarded with critics and award shows, was Winter's Bone   (2010).  This is Jennifer Lawrence's foray into popularity, even if it was more of an indy film.  While I can't say that I enjoyed it, it was very interesting.  The gist of the it: in southern poverty a 17 year old girl (Lawrence) has to find her drug-addicted father, who owes money, otherwise they will lose their land.  Her mom is severely depressed and pretty much useless, so Lawrence's character is also raising her younger siblings.  Her character is very similar to Katniss in The Hunger Games.  The culture of drugs, family, and poverty is really what strikes the middle class Midwesterner that I am.  It is an honest picture of a world I'll never know.  I give it 6 ramheads out of 10.

The final film in this post is another Prime watched film.  Into the Wild (2007) is a film about a young college graduate with a tough past and a very high intellect, just disappearing on a quest of sorts traveling across America and ending up living in solidarity in Alaska.  He's trying to figure out life and how to be happy.  His final conclusion is very interesting.  Into the Wild is based on a true story.  I give it 8 ramheads out of 10.

A Zombie with Heart

I've always enjoyed post-apocalyptic films, television, and literature.  So when I saw the trailer for Warm Bodies, I was intrigued.  A comedy about zombies.  Zombies with a heart?

I won't go so far as to say it was a romantic comedy, because aside from a select few (noteably, Crazy, Stupid, Love) the genre itself is lame.  Plus, the main character is a zombie, impressively played with blank zombie look for most of film by Nicholas Hoult (X-Men: First Class's Hank McCoy/Beast).

I won't go too into the story, because most of it is in the trailer:


I will say though, that this is the freshest, most unique take on the Romeo/Juliet story I've seen in a long time and the most creative movie I've seen since Inception.  (I know that Warm Bodies was based on the book of the same name, but it was still an excellent movie.)

The music was great, the jokes were funny, the acting and makeup was stellar, and the plot was very original.  There was a bit of language in this PG-13 film, not suitable for younger kids.  I give this excellent film 9 ramheads out of 10.  (P.S. I'm sorry, I review so many good films...I just don't like wasting my money or time on bad ones. But look forward to my mini-review roundup.  I know there will be at least 1 bad film in there.)

My New Backpacking Tent: the Kelty Gunnison 3.1

Just a quick update on my backpacking gear:  I got my new backpacking tent!  It is the Kelty Gunnison 3.1 three person tent.  I was exicited, because I got a great deal on it since they just introduced the new model version of it.  I paid essentially half price.

I just set it up in my living room and it looks to be a great size for me alone or for me and one other person, which is what I expected based on the dimensions.

Straight away I'm impressed with the quality of the tent.  The aluminum poles are very light and very strong.  Way lighter than my family tent's heavy duty fiberglass poles (my Cabelas Westwind Tent, which I previously reviewed and love).

The tent materials are high quality and I'm eager to use it and get the vestibule on it (there was not enough space in our living room, and we couldn't stake it down).

It weighs in at 6.5 pounds, which is great since I don't plan on doing ultralight, minimalist backpacking.

Take a look: