Cult of Personality

As a self professed fan of Harry Potter, the subject of which movies are “cult movies” or not is a recurring topic on our show.  My co-host Jesse seems to be under the impression that it includes any movie in which he has no interest that makes lots of money.  LOL.  Let’s take a second to clear up the confusion…

From Wikipedia: A cult film is a film that has acquired a highly devoted but relatively small group of fans. Often, cult movies have failed to achieve fame outside of the small fanbases Cult films often become the source of a thriving, obsessive, and elaborate subculture of fandom, hence the analogy to cults. However, not every film with a rabid fanbase is necessarily a cult film.

The term cult film is used to describe a film that has had little to no success commercially and critically upon its initial release but has later spawned a small, but devoted and usually obsessive fanbase.

So movies that Jesse considers cult movies
Dark Knight – $158 million opening weekend – $997 million total.
Harry Potter (we’ll just the first movie) – $88 million opening weekend – $878 million total.
Lord of the Rings (again… just the first one) – $47 million opening weekend – $870 million total.
Pirates of the Caribbean (yep… 1st one) $46 million opening weekend – $654 million total.

Movies he digs:
Friday Night Lights – 20 million opening weekend, 61 million total.
Road House – $5.9 million opening weekend – $30 million total.
Animal House – $276 thousand opening weekend.  141 million total.

So, if we are sticking to the definition of what cult films are rather than what is perceived to be cool… I don’t appear to be the one in the cult.  Ha ha ha…

I’ll check in with you next week, I have to go pick up my Hogwarts uniform from the cleaners.  Grif-fin-dor!

Bring on the Batter…

As many of you know, I’ve been working on some weight loss for over a year.  With the help of Slim 4 Life, I’m 40 pounds lighter than I was at this time last year.  I’m at the weight I should be now and pretty much just have to watch my portions and be careful of the food I eat.  As I tell my 8-year-old, you never stop being on a diet.

The hardest thing when watching your weight is eating out at restaurants.  Now the truth is, any and all restaurants have healthy(er) options on the menu for you to choose.  These are NOT those options… I came across a list of the Worst Food in America of 2009 according to Men’s Health magazine.  Keep in mind while reading this that the average adult should consume about 2,000 – 2,500 calories DAILY!

The Worst Food in America: Baskin Robbins Large Chocolate Oreo Shake 2,600 calories 135 g fat (59 g saturated fat, 2.5 g trans fats) 263 g sugars 1,700 mg sodium

Worst Pasta of 2009: Romano’s Macaroni Grill Spaghetti and Meatballs with Meat Sauce 2,430 calories

Worst Appetizer of 2009: Uno Chicago Grill Pizza Skins (full order) 2,400 calories 155 g fat (50 g saturated) 3,600 mg sodium

Worst Pizza of 2009: Uno Chicago Grill Chicago Classic Deep Dish Pizza 2,310 calories 162 g fat 123 g carbohydrates 4,470 mg sodium

Worst Ribs of 2009: Outback Steakhouse Baby Back Ribs (full rack) 2,260 calories

Worst Sandwich of 2009: Quizno’s Tuna Melt (large) 2,090 calories 175 g fat (31 g saturated fat, 2.5 g trans fats) 2,190 mg sodium

Worst Breakfast of 2009: Bob Evans Stacked and Stuffed Caramel Banana Pecan Hotcakes 1,543 calories 77 g fat (26 g saturated; 9 g trans) 2,259 mg sodium 198 g carbs 109 g sugars

Worst Burger of 2009: Chili’s Smokehouse Bacon Triple-The-Cheese Big Mouth Burger with Jalapeno Ranch Dressing 2,040 calories 150 g fat (53 g saturated) 110 g protein 4,900 mg sodium

Worst Mexican Entrée of 2009: Chili’s Buffalo Chicken Fajitas with The Works (Ranch Dressing, Guacamole, Sour Cream, Cheese, and Pico de Gallo + 4 tortillas) 1,730 calories 117 g fat (31 g saturated fat) 5,690 mg sodium

Worst Chinese Entrée of 2009: P.F. Chang’s Tam’s Noodles 1, 678 calories 93 g fat (17 g saturated fat)

Worst “Healthy” Sandwich of 2009: Blimpie Veggie Supreme (12”) 1,106 calories 56 g fat (33 g saturated fat) 2,831 mg sodium

Worst Breakfast Sandwich: of 2009 Hardee’s Monster Biscuit 710 calories 51 g fat (17 g saturated) 2,250 mg sodium

Worst Dessert of 2009: Romano’s Macaroni Grill Dessert Ravioli 1,630 calories 74 g fat 33 g saturated fat 1150 mg sodium 223 g carbohydrates

Worst Kids’ Meal of 2009: Chili’s Pepper Pals Country-Fried Chicken Crispers with Ranch Dressing and Homestyle Fries 1,110 calories 82 g fat (15 g saturated) 1,980 mg sodium 56 g carbohydrates

Worst Fast-Food Chicken Meal of 2009: Dairy Queen 6-Piece Chicken Strip Basket 1,270 calories 67 g fat (11 g saturated

Worst Salad of 2009: T.G.I. Fridays Pecan Crusted Chicken Salad 1,360 calories Fat: unknown (The company refuses to disclose the nutritional content of the food they’re serving you.) Sodium: unknown

I eat at all of these restaurants and love their food.  You should too, but make smart choices!  And drink lots of water.

(Click) I Do!

Shotgun Weddings are back this Valentine’s Day.  It’s one of my favorite events of the year.  If you’re new to the show or the blog, each year on Valentine’s Day I “tie the knot” for a few couples live on our show.  It’s a fun time for all of us on the show.  I perform the actual ceremony, Jesse is the Best Man and Vicky is the honorary Maid of Honor.

Jesse and I are both ordained ministers, but “Jesse Weddings” aren’t funny.  LOL.  The stations promotions department always puts together some great prizes from local clients and gives our winners a pretty terrific package.

If you are thinking about getting married, sign up to win at 925thewolf.com.  Already happily married?  Tune in for the fun Friday morning, Feb. 13th.

Qwest for Service

Over 165 countries are connected to the Internet. The number grows everyday, but it is estimated that approximately 47.5 million people use the Internet in the US alone.  We are all connected in one way or another to the information we get online, whether it’s sports scores, weather information or movie times.

I try to claim that “it’s for work”, but I’m online probably at least three to four hours a day.  Checking emails, reading gossip blogs, updating facebook, etc.  So this weekend was especially painful when my internet service was down ALL WEEKEND.  I actually had to spend time talking to my wife and kids!  Seriously though, everyone expects to get a blip in service from time to time, but for two solid days is ridiculous.  I finally got on the phone with their service people yesterday from their pleasant call center overseas and after almost an hour on the phone she informed me that after double-checking my address that there was an outage in my area that was as yet unresolved.  That’s a crock of bull.  Fix the damn thing!

As of this morning, still no internet service at my house.  My first call to the service department was pleasant.  They won’t want to hear from me today!

Facebook status: “Shotgun is- a little past irritated”

Space time continuum?

(From wikipedia) The concept of spacetime combines space and time within a single coordinate system, typically with three spatial dimensions: length, width, height, and one temporal dimension: time.

Now I didn’t finish college, so I don’t really understand that stuff, but I can surely grasp the concept of time slowing down to a crawl at the beginning of a new year.  At my house the countdown to Christmas starts a few weeks before Halloween.  Seems early, but bear with me.  My girls are still young enough to be excited about trick-or-treating, so the countdown is always on for that.  My birthday is in early November.  My oldest daughter’s birthday is around Thanksgiving.  Two weeks later we’re celebrating the youngest daughter’s birthday, and then it’s just a short two weeks to Christmas.

Just about everybody looks forward to the holidays.  Even the people who rally against religious holidays can look forward to a couple free days off(Hypocrites).  Things just seem to slow down.  We all take more time to think about family and friends.  Sure the gift buying and traveling can be hectic, but especially between Christmas and New Years Eve we all find ourselves dozing off on the couch while watching football.

Then, just as our bodies start to get used to sleeping in, staying up late, and lounging around… it’s back into the rat race.  And nothing to look forward to until Memorial Day weekend.

No wonder this week is moving so slow.