Wednesday, April 29, 2009

DVD UPDATE: 4/28/09

Holy canoli! It's the last week of April! AHHHHH!!!! That sure flew by didn't it? Well, amidst Herbie's 40th, getting a new job, which by the way, if you ever want to drop by and visit or even participate in a screening, come on by! My schedule, at least for pilot season right now is Tue.-Fri. 3pm-10:30pm and Saturdays 10:30am-7pm. Television City is located in the waaaay back of the MGM Grand Hotel just before you arrive at the swimming pool where Wet Republic is.

Anyways, now onto what this blog's all about, UPCOMING DVDS!!!!!

June 9
*
June 16
*
June 30
*
July 7
July 21
*
August 4
(WHOA!!! A childhood favorite!)

August 25
*
*
*

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

A Blog Time Comin'!

Hey everyone! Long time no see! Or in this case, long time no read eh?

I know you've all been wondering "What happened to Phil?" or "Where's Phil been?" Well, the answers will all be written about in this brand new blog, which of course will also contain a new DVD UPDATE as well!

First of all...when we last left me, I was about to head off to Florida for 'Herbie's 40th.' The event was awesome. One of the best times I've ever had! I'm sure many of you have seen the pictures I posted, but probably only a select few of you have managed to see the VIDEOS I took! For those of you who haven't seen them, go to this link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVcbZEwta0w

and then simply follow along the related videos titled 'Herbie's 40th Part ___'!

Recently, I have been on a bit of a Thompson bend. Hunter S. Thompson to be precise.

About a month ago, I took out the book Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas from the local library and started reading it.

To those of you have never read the book but have seen the film adaptation of Fear and Loathing, you are missing something that is just completely bona-fide journalistic gold. Gonzo journalism...what a concept. The man just speaks about whatever he wants while on the influence of some heavy alcohol and drugs, yet somehow it all has meaning. Reading the book and even listening to it in audio format (yes, I got out the audiobook version too!) and recently re-watching the DVD, makes me realize just how much this great city I live in had to offer back in 1972...the wild and crazy antics of Raoul Duke and Dr. Gonzo...as they took to the Vegas locales like Circus Cirucs, the Flamingo, and of course, the dreaded North Las Vegas all night diner, where as Mr. Duke put it, "is where you go when you've fucked up once too often on The Strip and when you're not even welcome in the cut-rate Downtown places."

It just boggles my mind to hear this stuff especially right when I'm driving past it on my way to work! Hunter really knew how to write even while on the influence of drugs and alcohol. I think one of his best quotes was said best in the "other" movie based on his life starring Bill Murray and Peter Boyle, 'Where the Buffalo Roam,' which I recently watched.
"I hate to advocate weird chemicals, alcohol, violence or insanity to anyone... but they've always worked for me."

What a line! Anyways, I also recently decided to make a copy of the recently released biographical film of Hunter S. Thompson, 'Gonzo.'
I've yet to watch it, but it'll be quite an experience to see just how this man came to be what he became!

I'm also now interested in reading Thompson's other works like Hell's Angels, Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail, and the soon-to-be-made into a feature film with Johnny Depp, The Rum Diary.

Sometimes I feel like becoming just like Thompson, minus the drugs and alcohol. Just flat out writing about the stuff I'm experiencing everyday in this wild and crazy town. Hell, I'm creative enough to come up with even weird chapter names like 'Spam and Macaroni, the Porcelain Puts Up a Good Fight,' '13 Volkswagens, A Former Child Star, A Movie Mechanic, and the Best Three Days of My Life,' or 'One Drink Over The Line, A Night in the Slammer.'

I've even thought now of dressing up like Hunter S. Thompson for Halloween this year! Anybody care to be my partner in crime, Dr. Gonzo???
Moving right along, another thing I've recently gotten into, or rather person I've gotten into (and NO, that was NOT meant to sound sexual you pervert!) is comedienne, and 'Queen of Mean,' Lisa Lampanelli!
I don't know about anyone else, but I find Lisa to be friggin' HILARIOUS! I can't believe she just recently did a show here in Vegas! It doesn't look like she's coming back anytime soon sadly. I'd love to catch her act live! I've already listened to her CD Dirty Girl,
and I am hoping to watch her DVDs 'Take it Like a Man' and 'Long Live the Queen' soon! Lisa is not only a great comedienne, but (and if she's reading this, oh boy...) an absolute GODDESS of a woman! Lisa Lampanelli is beautiful! At almost 50, she is smokin'!!! What a mouth on that lady, she knows how to get right to the heart of insult comedy and she does it like nobody's business! Keep up the great work, Lisa and hopefully we'll see ya again in Vegas!

So work! The new job! I now work exclusively at the MGM Grand at a place owned by CBS called 'Television City' where I am a Teleivision Moderator/Recruiter (another two-part position). As a Moderator, I lead the sessions in which people come to watch and rate new and pre-existing television shows. As a recruiter, I am trying to bring in people walking by in the area of Television City to come to a session. It can be tough sometimes, but interestingly enough, where we are, people must walk by to get to where to MGM Grand pool is along with its pool club, Wet Republic.

So luckily, we get plenty of people walking by and even if someone at least comes over just to ask "What's this all about?" I am happy to have something to do. Apparently there's even been some celebrities wandering our hallway. About two weeks ago, Kim Kardashian was there to promote a party at Wet Republic and last Saturday, Lauren Conrad from The Hillz was also hosting a party. I was in a session at the time that Kim was walking the hallway, but I didn't see Lauren at all. My biggest wish is for Robin Williams (who has an upcoming show next month at the Garden Arena) to come by and I would get just one small opportunity to talk to him in person! A man can dream right?

My job can be boring at times if nobody is walking the hallway or just flat out not giving you a second glance, but moderating really makes the day go by fast seeing how they run about an hour long. My schedule is Tues-Fri 2:45pm-10:15pm and Saturdays 10:30am-7pm and then that is followed immediately by me driving to PTs Gold up at Ann and Revere and hosting karaoke from 9pm-1am. Saturday's obviously my longest day, but it definitely makes it worth it to know that I have Sunday and Monday off. Nice balance I think.

New APARTMENT! Lisa and I have now moved into our new place at Tivoli! Our number's changed though and new pictures will posted soon. But our new address is
4650 N. Rainbow Blvd. Apt. 2030 Las Vegas, NV 89108.

It's a 2-bedroom, 2-bathroom apartment with a pretty nice view of the mountains and the rest of the complex, lots of space, a nice kitchen area, plus a nice setup for the living room area, a outdoor porch, and we've got a really nice pool and jacuzzi area as well! You could throw a pretty cool party out there!

Still got some stuff in boxes but we'll be making it look more and more like a place to live in the next couple of days.

Other stuff...well, it's been a bit hectic. You see, financially right now I feel like I'm about to lose...lose in the game of life. I've still got to pay rent one more time at Dolce and also pay the rent for Tivoli. There's about to be tons of bills, and my parents can only do so much for me, in terms of money. I don't know if I'm going to win or beat the system at this point. Lisa and I feel like we've been going against the so-called "society's demands" and doing our own thing, but it feels like it's hopeless sometimes.

I know that on May 3rd, it'll be what I am calling 'Judgement Day,' the day that will be the last available day to pay rent before I start getting late fees or potentially eviction notices.

I'm worried, but I don't look it, at least not all the time. I try to keep my head held high but really, it's not going to do much. I don't know...I just want things to work out right and not explode in my face metaphorically. Is that too much to ask, really?

Jeez...
Well, in an attempt to make myself feel a little bit better, I will post the latest in upcoming DVDs courtesy as always of The Digital Bits.

April 28
*
*
May 5
*
*
*
May 12
*
*
May 19
*
*
May 26
*
June 2
*
*
*
*
June 9
*
June 16
*
*

(YEEEEAHHHH BABY!!!)
*
June 23
*
*
June 30
July 7
July 21
*
-WHEW!-
Well, it's now almost 3:10 am and I think that this blog will have sufficed in terms of everything it set out to do! So, to all of you out there, thanks for reading as always, comments always welcome, and definitely at this time, well wishes for both Lisa and I.
Good night!

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

XXL DVD UPDATE: 3/24/09

Seeing how I wasn't here last week, this week's DVD UPDATE will be XXL!

Enjoy!
May 5
*
May 12
*
May 19
*
*
May 26
*
*
June 2
*
*
*
*
June 9
June 16
**
July 7