Apparently in an effort to make yourself healthier, it is possible to over do it to a certain point where you push yourself back into being uninsured.

Over the years, before I lost all my weight, I was told repeatedly I couldn’t get health insurance until I got in shape.  Once I started working my behind off (literally), I was hoping I could finally get some insurance, but then I wasn’t in a position to afford it.  I continued to work on getting in shape, and eventually my weight started to go back up due to building muscle mass.

I now bench press more than I ever have, I can do seated leg presses of more than I ever weighed, and while I still look heavy, and have gotten some weight back, I’m healthier than ever.  I’m also now where I can afford health insurance again, so, surely, I can get it with no problem!

… not so much.

I applied for health insurance last week online, and this morning I received a letter saying I was rejected due to my height/weight ratio.  I called the insurance company to explain it isn’t fat, and that I’ve worked hard to get where I am, and I’m told it didn’t matter if I had zero body fat, my height/weight ratio precludes me from being insured by them.

In Jan. 2007 I started this journey to lose weight, and while I have had my slip ups here and there, I am extremely proud of how far I’ve come.  And now I’ve been told … it doesn’t matter.  I’ve apparently gotten too healthy.  I’ve apparently worked too hard at getting into shape, and unless I’m some skinny, weak rail, I won’t be insured.  Instead I’ve found something that makes me mentally happy, and it gives me some time each day that’s just mine.  For 30 to 60 minutes a day I get to shut out the world, and know that I’m betting myself … or so I thought.  Somehow I’ve learned that in the eyes of insurance companies I was swinging myself back into bad territory without knowing it.

And now here I am.  Do I give up something that has made me happier, in a better mood, healthier and I feel has just improved my life just so I can be insured?  Do I let all of this work I’ve been trying for slip away?

To say I’m angry, annoyed, hurt and insulted would be an understatement.  It was the first thing I saw in the mail this morning, and it tainted my entire day.  Thanks, insurance company.  Apparently doing right by myself was wrong in your eyes, and now I have to decide to give up something I now love so I can fit some stupid chart of yours that has no brain, and has no ability to discern muscle from fat.  Let me see if I can fit in your little mold.

Yeah … I’m loving life today.

The Super Bowl has one big thing going for it every year … movie trailers.

As I stated the other day, I’m not a fan of the Super Bowl, but I do enjoy the insane movie marketing blitz that comes with it each year now.  While I think it is silly how much they charge for these ads now ($3 million for a 30-second ad this year), at least it puts all of the commercials for the new summer films in one place.

I’ve gathered up a few of the film commercials, skipping things like Rio, Super 8 and Fast Five.  They’re out there if you want to find them, but somehow I can’t bring myself to care about a fifth installment in The Fast and the Furious franchise when I didn’t care about the first four.  And, oh yeah, they’re already planning a sixth.

Click below for the trailers of Cowboys & Aliens, Thor, Captain America: The First Avenger, Transformers – Dark of the Moon and Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.

Continue Reading ->

A total of 32 published this week, the smallest week in quite some time.

FunJug.com

• Mario Kart Crash
• Funny Talking Animals – Walk On The Wild Side Preview
• The Roast of Mario
• Star Blazers Dance
• Dueling Cellists Play “Smooth Criminal”
• Volkswagen Commercial: The Force
• Foursquare For Sex
• Saturday Shorts: Health – Your Posture

SeanPAune.com

• Henry Cavill Cast As Superman
• Ashley Blumenshine Accused Of Having Sex With Student
• John Woo’s The Killer To Get The Remake Treatment
• 2011 Blizzard Traps Me In The House
• Super Bowl XLV
• Scattercast Episode #131: Blizzard
• Arrested Development To Be Released This Year?

TechnoBuffalo.com

• Android Tablets Eat Away At iPad Market Share
• LG Optimus 3D Handset Pictures Leaks
• Motorola XOOM Superbowl Ad Takes Shot At Apple
• iHome Unleashes Multiple iOS Compatible Docks
• Digg Redesign Coming To Bring Back Old Users
• HTC Inspire 4G Coming To AT&T Feb. 13th
• Samsung Galaxy S 4G Officially Comes To T-Mobile
• LG G-Slate Tablet Officially Comes To T-Mobile
• Google Chrome Market Share Breaks 10% For First Time
• Google Announces Google Body For Honeycomb
• Google Announces Android Market Web Store
• A Video Tour Of The Daily (video)
• News Corp. Looks To Sell MySpace
• Motorola Atrix Gets Date & Pricing On AT&T
• Flashback Friday: What Is The Internet, Anyway?
• SoldierKnowsBest Weekly Recap Video For Feb. 4th
• iPad 2 Announcement Possibly In March

Arrested Development creator Mitch Hurwitz says we may see a movie as early as this year.

I’m getting to where I feel like an abused girlfriend when it comes to the Arrested Development movie.  It seems like every few months a new hint that the movie is really going to happen comes up, and then everything goes silent again.  The last we heard was back in Oct. of last year when the script was supposedly in the works, and then, as always, everything went silent again.

Now speaking with Digital Spy, Mr. Hurwitz said, “We’ve started that process and it is our sincere hope to shoot it this year and get it out this year.  That’s what we’re hoping, but a lot of things have to fall into place for that to happen.”  I’m not holding my breath, but perhaps I can have a bit more hope?

Hurwitz went on to add:

I want to keep whatever it is we end up with as a surprise, which kind of betrays the fact that we might not have the whole thing worked out!

But I don’t like to toy with the affections of our fans. They’ve been so supportive and we’re so grateful, so I kind of hate to answer the question until I can say, ‘Yep, we’ve shot it, it opens next week’. Otherwise it feels like we’re toying with people and we do not mean to do that. It has just taken a while to get it going.

Then stop toying with us! Just get this lined up, shoot it and release it!

While the series did wrap up pretty much all of the storylines, you just want to see another adventure of the Bluth family.  You want to watch as Michael (Jason Bateman) tries to hold this insane family together and save them from themselves, all while laughing at them.

Please, just get this on the screen already, because it does feel like our affections are being toyed with.

It’s episode #131 of Scattercast … and Scattercast is snowed in!

Talk of the blizzard, of course.

Some talk about the new Superman movie and the remake of The Killer.

The PTC needs to shut up about Skins.

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subscribe to Scattercast via iTunes.

Supposedly something called a “Super Bowl” is being played this Sunday, and apparently people get excited over it?

I’ve never understood the fervor people show over the Super Bowl.  In the past I would tune in for the commercials they show, but since those started showing up online, why should I bother?

While I have nothing against the game of football, I just don’t get the excitement show over the professional version of the game as it’s just one time delay after another.  When you get up the Super Bowl it gets even worse.  The overblown production of everything down to the coin flip, the silliness surrounding the over produced half-time shows … I just don’t get it.  This game happens once a year, why in the world does it matter so much?

The Olympics?  The World Cup?  Those I get as they only happen once every four years, but people treat the Super Bowl as some sort of religious experience, and it just completely flies over my head.  I can even give you some wiggle room if your usual team makes it, but there are people that could care less normally about the teams that are playing, but yet become huge fans of them for the Super Bowl.

Honestly, if you like the game, fine by me, just don’t look at those of us who couldn’t care less like we’re got a second head and you can’t believe I’m walking around in public with “the normal folks”.  I don’t look at you weird because you still “don’t get” soccer, or actually think the Super Bowl is the biggest sporting event in the world (it isn’t), just watch your game and realize some of us couldn’t care less and that doesn’t make us somehow “wrong”.

I can’t wait to watch some movies on Sunday …

The 2011 blizzard may have now passed out of the Midwest, but the impact will be felt for some time to come.

As you all know, a monster blizzard passed over the Midwest on Tuesday of this week, and while it didn’t drop an enormous amount of snow (only 14-inches here officially) compared to what other places are used to, it was the winds that killed us.

As you can see in the following pictures, it will be a long time before I get all of those removed, and for now the only place I can get out of the house is going through the basement door to the backyard, and the dogs are plowing their own route from there.

Here are some pictures, all can be clicked o see a much larger view.

My back deck door on the night of Feb. 1st.  I had spent all day fighting to keep the deck clean, but about four hours after I gave up the fight, this is what I opened the door to find.

Looking towards the north from the deck door on the night of Feb. 1st.

Looking to the south from the deck door.

The one door I can use to get out of the house on 2/2/11 is the basement door under the deck, but there is a giant ass drift blacking part of it off.

I was barely able to open the front door, so I put my hand out, shot blind, and this is what I see.  Somewhere under there is my front porch.  At least my car looks surprisingly clean.

It has been announced that an English language remake of The Killer by John Woo is in the works.

Yet another in the endless line of films being remade that don’t need it comes the news that John Woo’s 1989 Hong Kong film The Killer is being remade in English … in 3D.

For those who have never seen it, the film stars Chow Yun Fat, a staple of John Woo’s films, as an assassin with a conscience … and that’s all I’ll say about it.  It is truly an amazing film and easily ranks in my top ten of all time.  The directing is perfect, the script is perfect and Chow Yun Fat … is Chow Yun Fat.  That man could make doing the dishes look exciting.

Now comes the sad news of the remake.  Not only is it being remade, but it’s going to be in 3D and somehow John Woo is involved as a producer.  Excuse me while I go cry in a corner.  This is such a monumentally bad idea that I can’t even grasp it.  This is just wrong, and I can say with ease that I will never watch it.

Do yourself, find the original, watch it, but don’t watch this travesty.  Here’s the press release for those that care.

Los Angeles, 31 January 2011: Essential Entertainment has joined Lion Rock Productions in its remake of THE KILLER in 3D, currently in pre-production, which will be directed by John H. Lee (A Moment to Remember, Saying Good-bye Oneday) and written by Josh Campbell. Jung Woo-Sung (Reign of Assassins, The Good, The Bad, The Weird) will star in this English language re-telling of John Woo’s iconic action masterpiece, with additional cast to be announced shortly. The film will be produced by Woo (Face/Off, Mission: Impossible II) and Terence Chang under their Lion Rock Productions banner. Essential Entertainment will be handling worldwide sales.

Producer John Woo said: “While all my films are special to me, THE KILLER is truly one of my favorites. We are thrilled to reinvent it as an English-language film and know it’s in capable hands by the incredible visual style and tender emotion John H. Lee brings to all his films.”

John Fremes, President of Worldwide Distribution at Essential Entertainment said: “John Woo’s THE KILLER is one of the most influential and classic action films of all-time. The 3D version will no doubt appeal to fans of the original as well as capture a new generation of enthusiasts.”

Set in present day, an elite Asian assassin risks everything to protect a beautiful singer that he unintentionally blinded, but can only do so with the help of an LAPD detective who is trying to catch him.

THE KILLER in 3D was brought into Essential Entertainment by attorney Howard Frumes from Alexander, Nau, Lawrence, Frumes, & Labowitz, LLP.

Lion Rock Productions has also independently produced, in addition to its numerous studio films, RED CLIFF, the highest grossing film in China at the time of its release, as well as the upcoming martial arts swordplay drama REIGN OF ASSASSINS, released by The Weinstein Company.

In addition to THE KILLER in 3D, Essential Entertainment is handling the international sales on Barney’s Version, The Expatriate, A Good Old Fashioned Orgy, The Music Never Stopped, and Red Dog, which will have its world premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival— screening in competition as part of Generation 14plus.