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September 30, 2007

What's New? A Movie Review of "The Kingdom."

For this movie review of "The Kingdom," The Dude on the Right waited patiently for the action to start, like he saw in the trailer. His wait was about an hour and a half, and then all hell broke loose for our FBI investigators. The rest of the movie is all about getting along and working together. How nice.

Posted by Rightdude at 2:18 PM | Comments (0)

September 29, 2007

The Chicago Cubs New Magic Number is 22? And I'm Still a Geek.

By: The Dude on the Right
So last night, with some help from the Milwaukee Brewers, the Chicago Cubs finally clinched the National League Central Division and now it's time for the playoffs.  Yay!  The thing is that now, what is their new "Magic Number?"  The news stated it was 11, but isn't that wrong in Magic Number lore.  It's supposed to be the combination of wins of your team with the losses of the team you are up against to advance to the next stage of the season, at least that's my understanding, so even though the Cubs need to win 11 games to win The World Series, isn't the Magic Number to win it all actually 22?  In any case I do know that with the Cubs in the playoffs, well, my TV viewing is being thrown into even more turmoil than it was last week, especially since two new shows, after watching them and reflecting on an event last week, reminded me of something.

Even after being 2 scores old, I'm still an insecure geek.  And fine, go ahead and insert the word "nerd" for "geek" if you prefer.

The two shows I'm talking about are "The Big Bang Theory" and "Chuck."  In "The Big Bang Theory" this smoking hot dudette moves into the apartment next to a couple of uber-geeks, actually surpassing me in the geek-dom of being a geek, but there he was, the one dude, doing all he could to impress the hot dudette.  And in "Chuck," Chuck is a nice guy, implanted with the spy secrets of the government, and a smokin' hot government agent enters his life to at first find out what he knows, faking to be interested in him, and Chuck gets his hopes up.  The basic part of the story is the same: Geeky guy is interested in the hot girl but doesn't know how to be cool enough to work it.

So how did this remind me of my geek-dom?  It was last week and Stu Gotz's buddy was turning 40 (what a great age).  To celebrate, Stu set up a small, lunch, get-together including Stu, Mama Gotz, Stu's buddy and the buddy's wife, and me, at the Rock Bottom Brewery in Orland Park, south of Chicago.  We all end up at the bar and the bartendress is very cute, with a great body, great butt, nice boobs, and a perfect smile.  You would look at her and say "Dude, she is so out of your league."  As lunch went on a question came up, namely who was the girl who turned into a blueberry in "Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory," and none of us could remember.  As the conversation between the couples went on (mostly about kids and their houses), I took out my iPhone, Googled "blueberry girl in Willy Wonka" and announced "Her name was "Violet Beauregarde."  Somehow "iPhone" came up in the conversation and the cute bartendress pretty much denounced anyone who would buy an iPhone, that she wasn't a gadget girl, and that her cell phone was older than the hills but she knew how to send text messages.  As a geek, pretty much everything she said also indicated "I've got no shot in hell with her."  But then Stu's buddy said something to me, something like "Dude, dare her to let you text her."  I shook off his suggestion, then he said something like "Dude, then let me dare her to let you text her."  And I shook him off again.  He seemed flabbergasted, kinda like "Why the hell not?", and after we left, and after seeing "The Big Band Theory" and "Chuck," I realized I should have taken him up on his offer to try and get her phone number.  Even after all of these years I was still an insecure geek, and what's the worst that would have happened, other than she lets me text her, her Ultimate Fighting boyfriend sees a weird text on her phone, he hunts me down, and he beats the living daylights out of me? At least I would have had her phone number.

So, I don't have the cute bartendress' phone number, I still have my iPhone that isn't bricked and somehow has my personal ringtones even though I upgraded to Firmware 1.1.1, and I think I have come to realize that I will always be a geek.

Or maybe just a nerd.

Is there a difference? (No comments from you, Sis.)

That's it for this one!  I'm The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!

Posted by Rightdude at 7:05 PM | Comments (1)

September 27, 2007

What's New? A Podcast of: The Cubs' Magic Number is Still Three, A TV Season is in Full Swing.

For this podcast The Dude on the Right is screwed up in the head because his Chicago Cubs can't seem to clinch their division, and with the Fall TV premier week, well, The Dude has a lot of shows on TiVo to catch up with, new shows he loves ("The Big Bang Theory"), old shows he still loves ("How I Met Your Mother"), and is a little perturbed at "Dancing With the Stars" and "The Biggest Loser" for taking too much of his TV time, even though he likes them. TiVo scheduling is almost more important for him right now rather than watching shows when they actually air, like "Reaper."

Posted by Rightdude at 8:13 PM | Comments (0)

September 24, 2007

What's New? A Podcast of: Stu & The Dude's Weekend Wrap-Up! A Family Outing, Watching Movies, Chicago Sports, and Breaking in Shoes.

For this podcast of "Stu & The Dude's Weekend Wrap-Up!", Stu Gotz is back from traveling with the family in his tenement on wheels, we catch up on the Chicago Bears loss and the Chicago Cubs wins, and he saw some DVD's, namely "Shooter" and "Invincible," while I saw "Good Luck Chuck." I bought new shoes which Stu tells me his method for breaking in, and we are both excited about the return of "Heroes" but were disappointed in the Christian dudette on "Survivor." If we only had more time we could have talked about O.J. Simpson and Stu's coffee palate.

Posted by Rightdude at 6:42 PM | Comments (0)

September 23, 2007

What's New? A Movie Review of "Good Luck Chuck."

For this movie review of "Good Luck Chuck," The Dude on the Right saw so much potential for this movie wasted by the movie folks who just made it crude and rude. Jessica Alba was cute as Cam, and Dane Cook did okay as Chuck, and when they were just trying to be in love The Dude thought the movie was cute. Then came Dan Fogler as Stu, Chuck's buddy, who brought a grapefruit into the mix, and suddenly the movie veered into crude territory it didn't need to find. Too bad.

Posted by Rightdude at 6:03 PM | Comments (0)

September 20, 2007

Dear The Mystery Dude and Tosh - Thank You for Springsteen!

By: The Dude on the Right
When I went for my walks over the past weekend I got to listen to something I haven't been able to in years, so I've got to give a big shout-out to a couple of fraternity brothers, namely our own staff member The Mystery Dude as well as another brother, Tosh. It all stems to, back in the day, when we had to walk to school, both ways, in the snow, and how we used to copy music and share it with our friends. That's right, the time of that plastic thing called a cassette.

In any case, one of my favorite concert recordings of all time was of Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band doing the 10th Anniversary Concert for WMMS at The Agora in Cleveland. I don't believe I heard the original broadcast as I was eleven years old in 1978 when it aired and really don’t remember much of anything when I was eleven except a crush on a girl in my sister's class, but I ended up with a copy of the show which I really can’t remember how I got it, either. Maybe I recorded it off of the radio during a re-broadcast, maybe I stole it from my brother, or maybe it was God, but it is still one of my favoritist concert recordings of all time. Then, in college, either I made a copy for The Mystery Dude, or he borrowed my tapes to make a copy (The Mystery Dude is a Deadhead, so tape collecting of concerts comes second nature to him), but, as the CD world started to proliferate into my life, suddenly all of those cassettes found their way into a cardboard box; in fact, I still know where they all are, yet they are never played now.

Continuing on - With the other Bruce concert recordings I have gotten over the years, well, the box set of "Live/ 1975-1985" and some live stuff from "Tracks," every time I heard one of those songs I yearned for listening to that show from 1978 where Bruce explains that on the way to find God (during the song "Growin' Up") he bumps into Kid Leo (radio DJ extraordinaire from WMMS), who was "Prayin’ for more watts. I gotta blast this baby all the way to New Jersey." Bruce Springsteen, always the storyteller, but I left his storytelling from 1978 in my head and in a box of tapes, and I was too lazy to do anything about it.

But then, when a group of us got together to see "The Transformers" movie, The Mystery Dude handed me a CD jewel case and there it was, a copy on some CD’s of the copies of the cassettes of the Bruce Springsteen concert I had given him over a decade ago. If I have the story correct, Tosh offered to convert The Mystery Dude's collection of cassettes to the digital age, and made his way to the Springsteen copy. The Mystery Dude, being pretty cool, made a copy for me, which I proceeded to burn to my hard drive and put on my iPhone, and there I was, walking, being transported back years and years and years, and even though not fully remembering the origins and passing on of my tapes of the Bruce Springsteen concert, I was still knowing every word from the broadcast, from Kid Leo's opening of "And welcome, to the WMMS 10th Anniversary Concert. I’m Kid Leo, and I have the, ah, duty and the pleasure of welcoming, ladies and gentleman, the main event. Round for round, pound for pound, there ain’t no finer band around. Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band!", to Bruce explaining going to Utah and driving to Reno and seeing a house an Indian had sculptered from stuff in the desert that had a picture of Geronimo with "Landlord" over it, and a sign pointing down a dirt road that said "Thunder Road," to Bruce explaining "fraternity rock," and the crowd understanding in its loudest.  Damn, it was so good to hear that show again.

So, Mystery Dude and Tosh, I would like to thank you for bringing that concert back into my life. And as I was listening, as I do every time I listen, I still wonder who Jay Cox from Cincinnati is, and why is Bruce dedicating "Darkness on the Edge of Town" to him?

Thinking about it, maybe I should give Tosh my box of old cassettes. I know I’ve got a bootleg of a Meat Loaf concert in there, as well as maybe George Thorogood, but I'm guessing The Mystery Dude was given copies of those as well, so maybe one day I'll relive those days. I suppose I could also get off of my lazy ass, hook up the old tape deck, and dub them myself, the old fashioned way, but then what would The Mystery Dude surprise me with the next time a bunch of us get together to see a movie?

That's it for this one!  I'm The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!

Posted by Rightdude at 8:04 PM | Comments (3)

September 19, 2007

What's New? A DVD Review of "The Darwin Awards."

For this DVD review of "The Darwin Awards" The Dude on the Right finds there aren't many things making the DVD special, but he did find some scenes in the movie kind of funny. The problem is that he also found a lot of the DVD predictable since it's about The Darwin Awards, so when you have a scenario of stoner dudes climbing a fence at a Metallica concert, well, it can't be good. He also thought the film folks shouldn't have given away the fate of Harvey (David Arquette) early in the movie because, well, not knowing his fate would have at least given way to some suspense as to how he was a Darwin Award Winner. The Dude also would have liked to have seen Winona Ryder in the shower scene rather than Jospeh Fiennes. The Dude on the Right can be a stalker sometimes.

Posted by Rightdude at 8:07 PM | Comments (0)

September 17, 2007

What's New? A Podcast of: O.J. Simpson, The Bears, The Browns, Mr. Woodcock, Once, The Emmy's, and No Stu.

For this podcast The Dude on the Right is left alone for the weekend wrap-up, normally done with his buddy Stu, but Stu Gotz is leading the family through an adventure in their RV. The worst part is there is a whole bunch of stuff that happened this weekend, like O.J. Simpson getting arrested, the Cleveland Browns scoring a billion points, the Chicago Bears winning, The Dude seeing "Mr. Woodcock" and "Once," and Fox bleeping Frog, a.k.a. Sally Field, and others, during the Emmy Awards' broadcast. "We don't know what we can really show on TV" TV has truly hit the airwaves. I guess "God damn" and "screwing" are bad words now.

Posted by Rightdude at 6:50 PM | Comments (0)

September 16, 2007

What's New? Movie Reviews of "Once" and "Mr. Woodcock."

This weekend The Dude on the Right went to see a couple of movies. One was a current film called "Mr. Woodcock," even though it isn't that current since its been advertised for almost a year now. The Dude knows that when a movie takes that long to get released there are problems, and he thinks he knows how he would have fixed it. He also saw an Indie film called "Once," and there isn't anything that was needed to fix this one. Nope, he gives "Once" 5 stars out of 5. It's one of the best love stories/musicals he thinks he has ever seen. And, oh yea, he says "Once" got robbed by getting an "R" rating for using the F-bomb.

Posted by Rightdude at 7:24 PM | Comments (0)

September 15, 2007

What's New? A Podcast of: A Mean Niece, Messing with Telemarketers, and Sports - Complete with Testicles.

For this podcast The Dude on the Right thought he was done with The Plain White T's, but thanks to his sadistic niece he is back to going nuts. And speaking of nuts, thanks to the story of an Oklahoma Sooner fan grabbing the twig and berries of a Texas Longhorn fan, he's also worried about some of his friends who are USC Trojan fans even though they didn't go to USC . The Dude also likes being nice to telemarketers because it tends to confuse them. He's a weird dude.

Posted by Rightdude at 3:59 PM | Comments (0)

September 11, 2007

What's In My Head? Bob Uecker vs. Aly & AJ

By: The Dude on the Right
As I continue to question my sanity, and finally able to get the "Hey There Delilah" song by the Plain White T's out of my head, probably thanks to my fantastic parody song I recorded during a previous podcast, now comes a dream last night, which, and I can't figure out why, had me trying to analyze the popularity of sports announcer Bob Uecker. Yup, that's right, Bob Uecker.

In the dream my dude-mobile is parked in a parking garage and between my car and another car is a Mercedes. The Mercedes is sort of wedged between our cars with nearly no clearance, and the driver of the Mercedes begins to pull forward. Sure enough the driver turns too soon and scratches my bumper. It's not dented, just scratched, and the Mercedes driver gets out, gives me his business card and tells me to send him the bill (I really wish, though, that I could remember the information on the business card, that would be even more exciting to investigate, but anyway, I digress). As simple as this dream starts, suddenly the dude asks me for my analysis of the popularity of Bob Uecker.

And I actually answer him, and I based my analysis on how old people are or if they are a rabid baseball fan.

Baseball fans who pay attention to various team announcers generally will know who Bob Uecker is, he’s the play-by-play man for the Milwaukee Brewers that the Chicago Cub's folks allow to sing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" and desecrate it. Simple enough. Others might not know him by name, but if you say he’s the play-by-play man in the "Major League" movies they’ll know exactly who you are talking about. Then I explain to the dude that a generation of young kids will have no idea who he is, but that the rest of America, even if not a baseball fan, but as long as they watched TV or listened to the radio during the 1980's, will know him by name simply from the Miller Lite commercials he was in, and it is because of him we say silly things when heading to our seats like "I must be in the front row!" even as we find ourselves heading to what we now call the "Uecker Seats." And then, as if on cue, I break into the jingle "Bob Uecker, Bob Uecker, Bob Uecker's his name; should be in the Hall of Fame. The guys all like him; don't forget us gals! Buy him a Lite, and be his pal! Uecker, Uecker, Uecker it's The Bob Uecker Show!"

And with that, like all good dreams, I wake up, wonder to myself "Self, how in the hell do you still remember that Bob Uecker jingle?"  Then, of course, what song has been pulsing through my brain all day? Yup, you guessed it, "The Bob Uecker Show" jingle. I don't know if I can write a parody of that thing to clear it from my head, but I guess, as a dude, it's better to have that stuck in my head rather than the latest Aly & AJ song. No more humming "You're not livin' - 'til your livin', livin' with me," now I’m stuck humming a jingle from the ‘80’s, complete with a higher pitch for "Don’t forget us gals." Now I just worry about what song will be stuck in my head next.

That's it for this one!  I'm The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!

Posted by Rightdude at 6:56 PM | Comments (0)

September 10, 2007

What's New? A Podcast of: Stu & The Dude's Weekend Wrap-Up! Britney's Mom-Ass, "Shoot 'Em Up" Talk, and Smelly Coffee.

For this podcast episode of "Stu & The Dude's Weekend Wrap-Up!" Stu Gotz is trying to deal with his allergies, and his weekend was sort of boring except he is amazed at the ability of his son to recognize various smells. The Dude on the Right saw "Shoot 'Em Up," but for the most part the boys talk about the MTV Video Music Awards that had Britney Spears not losing her mom-ass yet, and Sarah Silverman doing stand-up that would have went over great in a club, just not so much at the award show. At least The Dude didn't have to talk much about watching the Chicago Bears and the Chicago Cubs both lose.

Posted by Rightdude at 7:19 PM | Comments (0)

September 9, 2007

What's New? A Movie Review of "Shoot 'Em Up."

For this movie review of "Shoot 'Em Up," The Dude on the Right thinks the movie lives up to the title, and then some. He also thinks Neo's shooting skills in "The Matrix" pale in comparison to those of Smith in this movie. "Shoot 'Em Up" also gives new meaning to the phrase "It's raining men" and shows that a carrot can actually cause you to lose your eyesight.

Posted by Rightdude at 3:17 PM | Comments (0)

September 8, 2007

What's New? A Podcast of: A Parody of "Hey There Delilah," Baggy Pant Laws, and What's Up With Rick Ankiel?

For this podcast The Dude on the Right worries about the humiliation ammunition he has just given his niece and nephew, and hell, the rest of the world, for his parody of “Hey There Delilah” from The Plain White T’s. He calls his song “I Hate Delilah,” and decided to do it a cappella since he’s lazy. Nice timing for him since he wrote this song after it has already hit its popularity peak. He also spouts about Eddie Griffin dropping the “N”-Bomb, is worried about his Chicago Cubs, and is troubled by towns making laws about wearing pants that show your butt-crack. And, oh yea, what was Rick Ankiel with the St. Louis Cardinals doing with HGH (Human Growth Hormone) a few years ago. We all want to know.

Posted by Rightdude at 8:25 PM | Comments (0)

September 4, 2007

What's New? A Podcast of: Stu & The Dude's Weekend Wrap-Up! Stu is Leaking at Both Ends and The Dude Walks 10 Miles.

Labor Day caused an extended weekend so Stu Gotz and The Dude on the Right have extra to say for their "Weekend Wrap-Up" podcast. Stu was leaking, and so was his basement, causing him a strange weekend. The normalcy ensued by giving his kids a good sugar buzz at a Chicago Cubs game. The Dude tried to exercise by walking ten miles over the weekend, cleaned the dude-pad, and also finished "The Movie Theater" building on their Second Life property. He also saw some movies, including the box-office winner "Halloween."

There's more, so go ahead and listen.

Posted by Rightdude at 6:59 PM | Comments (0)

September 3, 2007

Entertainment Ave! has a Movie Theater in Second Life.

By: The Dude on the Right
My Labor Day Weekend has been fun-filled, and I’ll talk with Stu Gotz about it tomorrow for our “Stu & The Dude’s Weekend Wrap-Up!” podcast, but one of the things I did accomplish was actually build something in the Internet realm of Second Life. Our staff member, The Dude on the Left, says Second Life is dead, but Entertainment Ave! has some virtual property, and a sort of vision for it, so with property in hand, and limited building skills, our first building to be functional is “The Movie Theater.”

As I slowly work in building our little virtual community, “The Movie Theater” seemed like the easiest to begin with, allowing virtual people to view, on our virtual big screen, our latest episode of “Stu & The Dude Reviewin’ the Movies for You!” as well as marquees directing people to our Interneted posted reviews.

If you’re not a Second Lifer, I suppose this blog doesn’t mean much to you, probably just wondering “What the hell is ‘Second Life’ and why does The Dude on the Left think it’s dead?” But Entertainment Ave! now has a virtual building, and it works, and although it doesn’t show movies, only reviews, we still call it “The Movie Theater.” If you are a Second Lifer, and you want to chill for about five minutes, head to our Movie Theater, relax in a seat, and see why Stu Gotz pissed me off while reviewing "Blades of Glory."

That's it for this one!  I'm The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!

Posted by Rightdude at 7:29 PM | Comments (0)

September 1, 2007

What's New? A Movie Review of "Halloween."

For this movie review of "Halloween," The Dude on the Right thinks Rob Zombie did a great job with a movie in line with the horror genre of the late 1970's and early 1980's, complete with lots of screaming and topless girls, but thinks Zombie missed the boat by not having a full-blown prequel truly detailing the perfect storm of abuse that creates the monster that is Michael Myers.

Posted by Rightdude at 6:17 PM | Comments (0)