The Raging Tech

James McAvoy & Ron Perlman in New Hobbit Movie

Tags: LoTR, movies

British Knights are Back!

The shoes that every kid used to nag his parents over when I was a child, British Knights (or BK) were discontinued, sometime shortly after the likes of MC Hammer and Vanilla Ice put down the microphone in the ’90s. I don’t know the exact date or time, but they seemed to fade out in the background, like so many stars of the ’80s and ’90s.

Recently, I’ve heard that the New Kids on the Block are reuniting, most likely under the moniker “The Block” since they’re obviously not kids anymore. Some of the fan favorites will still be performed, like staple “The Right Stuff,” while several members are working on new material.

What is it with the ’90s coming back? I realize it was cool and trendy to throw back to the ’70s, and we recently have had plenty of ’80s throw-back movies and trends. I guess the college kids and high school kids that are in school now were born in the ’90s or late ’80s, so they feel a closer bond to that time period.

Kylara really loves the ’80s, she was born near the middle of the decade. I have a closer affinity for the ’70s, even though I was born in the early ’80s. (Yes, I realize a lot of you will read this and go, wow, RT, you’re just a youngin’.)

What decade do you relate to the most? Is it the decade from your childhood, from your teenage years, or later on on life? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Tags: '80s, 90's, decade, fashion, MC Hammer, movies, NKOTB, Shoes, Vanilla Ice

Hot Date: Olive Garden and Baby Mama

Last night I had a hot date with my girl. I showed up at her place and I was dressed up to try and look good for her, but it was pretty irrelevant next to the sight I saw when she opened the front door. She was gorgeous! She wore this little black dress she has borrowed from a friend. It’s a little low cut but tasteful, straps, bows, etc. and an open back. She had her hair down but back, and she was glittery (she calls it shimmer). She was also wearing fish nets and combat boots. Yeah, that’s my girl! Be jealous.

We drove out of town, because our small mountain town doesn’t have too many good restaurants, and went to an Olive Garden, which happens to be one of our favorite restaurants. The breadsticks were delicious as usual. I had the potato and sausage soup, which was delicious but I burnt my tongue - my own fault. She had salad. She ordered the Tour of Italy (basically three entrees: lasagna, chicken parmigiana, and fettuccine alfredo) and I had the Steak Gorgonzola over fettuccine alfredo. We followed that up with dessert (and more than half our food in boxes) - tiramisou for me and a black tie chocolate mousse cake for her.

The waiter came by with the check and said “Oh, by the way, don’t tell anyone, but dessert is on me.” That must have been about $12 worth of free dessert he just gave us. Overall, our dining experience was awesome. The waiter gave us excellent service, and I spent the money I would have spent on dessert on his tip.

We left Olive Garden (or the “OG” as I refer to it) and went to Books-a-Million to window shop. Kylara picked up some bargain bin books, and I picked up Cracking the GMAT (2008 with DVD) to help me study and pass the GMAT sometime soon. I think I’m going to have to use my Economic Stimulus Payment to cover the test cost - it’s about $250 to take it, and I don’t intend to have to take it more than once.

We finished up our evening away by seeing “Baby Mama” - the new movie with Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Dax Shepherd, Steve Martin, Sigourney Weaver, and Greg Kinnear - where Tina Fey needs someone to be a surrogate mother, so she hires lower-class white-trash Amy Poehler’s character to do the job. There are some other plot twists that weren’t mentioned in the trailers, but certainly make it slightly more interesting than it looked in commercials. I enjoyed the movie and laughed a lot - but if you’re on the fence about seeing it in theaters or waiting to rent the DVD - wait to rent it.

Tags: books, date, hot, Kylara, movies, olive garden

Well, I Was Going to Rent Juno

I thought the trailers for “Juno” made it look pretty good, but then I read this post over at Cracked.com, and while hilarious, makes me think I might not enjoy it. (Warning, some adult language on that linked site)

Indie films are often pretty enjoyable productions, and can even be thought-provoking works of art. And then some of them can be pretentious crap. I think I’m still going to rent “Juno” via my Netflix queue, but I may not put a rush on seeing it right away.

Anyone who’s seen it, let me know in the comments what you thought of it.

Tags: independent film, indie film, indie music, Juno, movies, pretentious