Ryan's Top 5 Summer Movies

So summer is finally drawing to a close, bringing an end to my favorite time of year for movies (except of course for James Bond time - Nov. 14th). I figured this would be a good time to reflect back on some of the best films from the summer, so without further ado, here is my Top 5 from Summer 2008.

5. Kung Fu Panda

If I had to imagine would Jack Black would look like if he were animated, I would probably picture a fat panda who can't do anything, which is what makes this role perfect for him. I didn't go into this movie expecting a whole lot, but it was really hilarious, the action scenes were incredibly fun to watch, and the animation was great. I think everyone was pleasantly surprised, and glad to have something from the Dreamworks studio that wasn't another Shrek movie.

4. Indiana Jones and Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

This movie had everything going for it. Indiana Jones was back. The whip cracking was back. The gross bugs were back. An annoying sidekick was back. It had everything I was looking for to be number one on my list of perfect summer films, except for one fatal flaw: it was kind of a crappy movie. Parts of it just didn't make sense, and Indiana looks like he's ready for a nap after most of the fight scenes. For anyone who hasn't seen it yet, my advice to you is to rent the movie, watch the first hour and a half, and then turn it off. Trust me.

3. Wall-E

This is without a doubt the greatest movie about robot love I have ever scene (unless you consider Short Circuit a robot love story). The sound effects were all done by the same guy who made the sounds for R2-D2 in Star Wars, and that guy knows how to make you sympathize with robots. The movie itself is flawless. It had endearing characters, a great story, and delivers a good message without coming off as preachy. This is the movie on the list that came closest to making me cry (except for when I watched the last thirty minutes of Indiana Jones and realized how bad it was), and it really had a lot of heart.

2. The Dark Knight

This movie rocked. The action sequences were all amazing, and the story (at the risk of sounding cheesy) really brought up some interesting viewpoints on morality and responsibility. But what really drove this move were the characters. The Joker was incredibly creepy, and sometimes hilarious in a very macabre, gruesome way. And the pretty boy face-off between Christian Bale and Aaron Eckhart wasn't too bad either. All in all, this was perhaps the best movie of the summer, but maybe not the most fun (which is what being a summer movie is all about). Which brings us to my number one...

1. Iron Man

Any movie that starts off playing AC/DC's "Back in Black" is already off to a really good start for me, so maybe I am bit biased. The movie was incredible. The actions sequences were stunning, and it suceeded in one area where almost every other superhero movie fails: comedy. The movie kept me laughing almost the entire time, and it managed to do that while still being an action movie. Most superhero films (i.e. X-Men, Hulk, Ghost Rider) make incredibly lame attempts to be funny, but this movie pulled it off beautifully.

So that rounds out the Top 5. If there are any you think should have been on there, feel free to let me know. Oh, and one final note. The new James Bond movie will probably be the greatest film ever, and will blow all of these out of the water.

Furniture Photos!

This is our new coffee table. Now we can eat while watching Jeopardy. Our lives are complete.

This is the buffet that almost killed me, but I'm happy to say we're still friends.

Also, I have a beard now, which is inexplicably a completely different color than the rest of the hair on my head. I think my beard might be Irish.

CUPCAKES!!!

Sarah is competing in a cupcake competition! She's got some amazing cupcake baking skills, so she'll put them to the test at a local contest on the 25th. I'll be the official taste tester in the family, so I'll keep you posted on how delicious everything is. Also, I finally found a way to put pictures on the blog again. Hooray! Here are some pictures of chocolate chip cheesecake filled cupcakes with chocolate ganache. Enjoy looking at them!

IKEA: The furniture I love to hate, and hate to love

So, I have lost the cord that connects my camera to my computer, so I have no way of uploading pictures until I find another solution. But Sarah and I bought some awesome stuff at IKEA last weekend. We bought a coffee table, and something called a buffet, which is like a big side table (which presumably you could use to lay out your very own buffet if you so chose). It looks really cool, and if you really want to see it, I guess I can take a picture of it with my phone and send it to you.

I love the furniture now, but I definitely hated it last week. Not only did it threaten my own sanity, but it threatened my marriage as well. Something about trying to find the right wooden peg to put in a piece plywood can really bring out the worst in people, and Sarah and I fell victim to the IKEA madness. Fortunately, we only actually came to blows once or twice, and once the buffet was completely assembled, it seemed to restore harmony and peace to our home.

So I guess it's safe to say the most confusing and frustrating thing I have had to do since starting law school is put together that rediculous buffet (which I love so much), so I guess that's a good thing. School is going well, and the cases I have to read every day are pretty hilarious. Who's sues a bus company for being assaulted in the face with exhaust fumes? People are crazy!

Well, that's all for now. I'm going to go home and play with my buffet, seeing as were best friends now.