How do they do it? Over the past fifteen years, Pixar has given the world eleven movies. Of those eleven, the only one I haven’t seen is ‘Cars’. As far as I’m concerned, these are some of the best movies that have been produced over that time. Don’t take my word for it, take a look at the rankings from Rotten Tomatoes (RT):

- Toy Story (1995): 100%

- A Bug’s Life (1998): 91%

- Toy Story 2 (1999): 100%

- Monsters, Inc. (2001): 95%

- Finding Nemo (2003): 98%

- The Incredibles (2004): 97%

- Cars (2006): 74%

- Ratatouille (2007): 96%

- WALL-E (2008): 96%

- Up (2009): 98%

- Toy Story 3 (2010): 98%

Fifteen years and only one movie (that I haven’t seen so can’t comment on) scored less than 90%. That’s an impressive stat no matter what way you look at it. Now RT may not be the most credible or lucrative reviewing source out there, but I’ll be damned if those stats don’t mean something.

The movies that they continually put out are entertaining to people at so many different levels. Children get a kick out of the bright colors and cute characters, while their parents and any other young adult in the room can enjoy the diverse story and sub-plots that the children likely don’t understand. The humor is complex enough for the older crowd to to get a kick out of it, while at the same time being riddled with comedy for the young ones. The Pixar movies aren’t riddled with fart-humor and poop jokes, but rather a solid attempt is made to reach a broader audience.

As well, the story telling in these movies is second to none. There’s a plot for the children, and there’s a plot for the grown ups. The plot intended for children is light and easy to follow, while the plot for the grown-ups is deep and tugs at your heartstrings. They don’t even need words to do it! The first 15-minutes of WALL-E gets you attached to this lovable little robot who doesn’t talk, yet you just want someone to hold his hand…

I’m going to cut my Pixar-loving-cartoon-huggin’ monologue short, because I keep getting distracted by things going on around me, and it’s starting to bug me that this isn’t posted yet. BEST EXCUSE EVER. Moral of the story, go see Toy Story 3, especially if you grew up with the first two.

-T

I really need to remember to keep updating this, but it’s just so hard to remember to update everything.

Then again, maybe there is someone who reads my blog, and in my post-absence they think I’ve either gone missing or worse (read: died) and they’ll alert the authorities and cause pandemonium over nothing.

Now even though that’s really not that likely, I’ll still let you know what I’m up to.

Went long boarding for the first time two nights ago, and I went again last night. Probably one of the most fun things I’ve picked up in a while, and I can see myself going out to purchase a long board for the fun of it. Good exercise, and it does sort of feel like I’m snowboarding, which is an added benefit. I’m not crazy yet, but one day I hope to be like these guys…

But for now I’ll just cruise down Lenore Dr. at a nice relaxing pace. That’s all for now, and my one piece of parting advice:

Go long boarding.

-T

This is the first post of hopefully many posts that will come in the near future.

From funny pictures, cool videos, interesting links, my thoughts, your topics, whatever you’d like to see on here we can probably make it happen. To lead things off, let’s look to the future…

The date range of Sept. 20th – 30th eats up the majority of my extra brain power, and is looking to be one of the most exciting periods of my life to date. Here’s the reason why it has the potential to be so:

http://bit.ly/aeqNAs

Minnesota Twins vs. CLE (20th)
Milwaukee Brewers vs. CIN (21st)
Chicago Cubs vs. SF (22nd)
Cleveland Indians vs. KC (23rd)
Pittsburgh Pirates vs. HOU (24th)
Philadelphia Phillies vs. NYM (25th)
New York Yankees vs. BOS (26th)
Toronto Blue Jays vs. NYY (28th)
Chicago White Sox vs.BOS (30th)

That’s 9 games, 9 outdoor stadiums (with the possible exception of Toronto), 11 days, and 15 different teams. It’s not the baseball road trip of a life time (Or #TBRTOAL for those of you on Twitter), but it is definitely the biggest trip I will have ever taken in my life, and not one to gawk at. It’s over 7,000km’s worth of driving, but hopefully will prove to be a lot of fun.

Starting things off with a bang hey? Not really, but it’s exciting to me and being my blog, why not start off with something that really gets my juices flowing? Maybe the next one will be about something you’re interested in, but for now this will have to do.

–T