It has been a few weeks since I have been able to go out on the boat. The last trip out, I broke my rudder, but that was all fixed -thanks to Bill at Fleet 119-. My sister surprised me with a visit this weekend, so I decided to take her out for a ride on the Hobie. Sunday morning I get up and track Karen down. I also get Mordiki -my crew for the boat- to join us since he has had the most exposure to sailing the boat.

When we get to the boat, I put the rudder back on and prep it for launch. We take it down to the beach and raise the main. I was a bit worried about the weather, it had rained all morning and the wind was very strong. Lake Erie can be rather unpredictable, there were about 3 - 4 foot waves -if not larger- and I was slightly concerned about the sailing conditions. We were the only ones on the water, no one out on their boats for as far as the eyes could see. This meant that if an emergency was to happen, we would have been in dire stress.

Not to fear, I've been becoming a fine skipper and was very confident in my skills. I felt it would be safe to explore and pressed on out into the lake. The water was rough, I placed Karen in the middle of the boat to keep her out of the way and she was being splashed and pushed around by the waves coming over the bow. It was very intense, the boat was up on one hull and we were reaching speeds I have yet to reach. Suddenly the boat began to raise much to high. The mast was almost laying on the water and my sister had already slid off the middle of the boat. Mordiki bailed off the starboard hull, and I fell into the main sail. We had turtled the boat and been over powerd by the wind. Quickly Mordiki and I hopped up on the port hull and began tugging the writing line to lift the boat back. This was a very strenuous task. We tugged and tugged, Mordiki began screaming "I can't hold on, I am losing my grip!"

"Hold on man, it's coming up, I can see it, just a bit longer we can do it!" I screamed as my sister floated in the warter behind us. We finally got the boat righted and boarded it again. Now understanding the strength the wind had, I took a much more tender approach for the rest of the adventure.

After some time out in the lake, the wind picked up more and the waves grew larger. I felt that it was time to head back to shore. With our adrenaline still flowing madly through us, we sailed the "Blue Torpedo" back to shore and celebrated the most radical trip we've had yet.

So sorry for the delay, but I have been so busy these days moving into my new place (pictures of that coming soon). Well here they are, the long awaited pictures from our camping trip on the 4th.

The whole trip started off great, then after sailing with a few friends I broke a rudder coming back into shore. So the boat was out of commission for the rest of the trip. Still we all had a great time.

[See pic set after the jump]

Mike Brand, author of Brand Knews.com is now an authority on the great game of lacrosse. Well so says he in his post boasting about his write up on Island Dispatch.

I have had the pleasure -well pleasure could be a strong word- of playing the game with Mike in my youth. We played against each other in high school, we were on the same college team for while, finally for a number of years I played ether with him or against him in the annual Beaneater Tournament in Buffalo NY. Mike knows allot about the sport and coaching at Grand Island is a goog gig for the guy. Now I don't think his team would like to see images like this, but then again Mike is the type of guy who shares that information.

Good luck with the site Mike, and lets gat WNYLAX.xom up and running.

A while back I posted about the Aeon Flux flim starring Charlize Therone. Now I am pleased to link the first preview of the film in production. Therone looks amazing, and is truly working harder in this film than ever before. The stunts look incredible and Therone is completing many of them. This is a highly anticipated action film which is based on the Mtv cartoon. Yes; Aeon Flux will be the first live action movie spawned from the Liquid Television series on Mtv. I personally think this will be the best comic book type movie released in a very long time. Aeon Flux is strong, smart and most importantly, extremely sexy.

What are your thoughts? Tell me what you think of the idea, what you think about Therone and if you feel this movie will be interpreted on the big screen.

I am trying to become a better writer. Not that I think I am a poor one, but I could use some help on topics like style, grammar and spelling. It can be tricky using hyphens correctly and knowing when to use third person masculine. So I did some searching and came up with a few links to help those like myself. The following can help the amateur fine tune his skills and meet standards practiced by professionals:

• Web copy style


• The Chicago Manual of Style


• News Room 101


• The 2005 edition of the AP Stylebook


• Defeat Writing Sins


• Stephen King on writing


• tinySpell spell checker

Recently the release of Tim Burtons newest interpretation piece "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" has been recieving grand reviews. If you Google Movies it, you will find that the majority feels that this is an all around success for both the director and the cast. But I care little of those reviews, and I am mainly interested in what Ebert Thinks and he has posted his thoughts on his home page, which I must say I was surprised by his take.

"Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" succeeds in spite of Johnny Depp's performance, which should have been the high point of the movie.

Can this be so? Ebert is truly disapointed in the performance of Johnny Depp's Willy Wonka. Not only was he turned off by his portrayal of the odd candy man, but he also questions Depp's influence for the character>

Johnny Depp may deny that he had Michael Jackson in mind when he created the look and feel of Willy Wonka, but moviegoers trust their eyes, and when they see Willy opening the doors of the factory to welcome the five little winners, they will be relieved that the kids brought along adult guardians. Depp's Wonka -- his dandy's clothes, his unnaturally pale face, his makeup and lipstick, his hat, his manner -- reminds me inescapably of Jackson ... What was he thinking of? In "Pirates of the Caribbean" Depp was famously channeling Keith Richards, which may have primed us to look for possible inspirations for this performance. But leaving "Pirates" aside, can anyone look at Willy Wonka and not think of Michael Jackson? Consider the reclusive lifestyle, the fetishes of wardrobe and accessories, the elaborate playground built by an adult for the child inside. What's going on here? Bad luck that the movie comes out just as the Jackson trial has finally struggled to a conclusion.

'Chocolate' has creepy center

~Sun Times

[Read the parts Ebert liked after the link]

I do apologize to all my readers -hi Mom- for the lack of posts. I recently moved into a new house and have been swamped with fixing up the place and unpacking. Just yesterday I got my high speed connection up and running, and things are finally coming together. I have so much to share as of lately and I need to get off of my ass and update the site. Here are a few items I will be posting in the coming days.

• 4th of July Fleet 119 Party & Camping Trip.


• My new house and how the family neighborhood I moved into is going to hate us.


• Gawker Media gives Gizmodo a facelift.


• New BerfNet title coming soon!

So my apologies once again for the hiatus, but I will be catching up soon.

~The Berf

This past Fourth of July a number of close friends and I went camping at Evangola State Park (pictures coming so check back) to hang out on the beach and of course do a little bit of sailing. I arrived on the 3rd in order to set up the camp site and prepare for the Holiday weekend of festivities. My Fleet was also having their 4th of July BBQ that day and my friends were invited to join in on the food and drink.

After introducing my gaggle of misfits to the rest of the fleet members and completed a bit of winch work on my boat trailer, I trackered the "Blue Torpedo" down to the beach and set the main. Now it was just a matter of choosing who I could take out for a pleasure cruise. Of course I never just go out for a pleasure cruise - each adventure on the water as of lately has brought some excitement and I was a bit worried about my cargo.

My buddy Pete and his girlfriend Kelly joined me and we headed out about 2 miles from shore in order to catch the offshore wind. This had proven to be successful -thanks to the tutelage of my fellow fleet members- and I was sailing with the strongest wind I have encountered before. At times we even had one hull out of the water and if Pete knew what to do, it would have bee trapeze time for him. Instead we just leaned into the port hull for counter weight and let Kelly man the Jib as she drug her feet along the rushing water.

After sailing back and forth a few times we decided to go back to shore so I could pick up a few new passengers for another pleasure cruise around the lake. Due to the wind I was heading into shore much faster than I was use to and was unclear on when to furl the Jib and pull up the dagger boards. Once I reached a close enough distance to shore I furled the Jib and pulled up the dagger boards, forgetting about the rudders. As I landed on the beach I heard a crack N' Snap which worried me. I knew it couldn't be good and that I shouldn't even turn around to look at what had broken, but I did and I saw that I had broken one of my rudders in half right at the gudgen.

I held my composure well - like all skippers should, because this is the nature of the sport and things will break when mistakes are made. Thanks to the assistance of my fleet, the rudders will be ready for this weekend, but for the rest of the camping trip there was no more sailing on the "Blue Torpedo".

This is a really cool boat if you ask me, and I am seriously jealous of all of the crew who will be sailing it in Volvo's Ocean Race Around the World. For those of you who have no idea what I'm writing about here, the Race around the World is held every three years and has been going on since 1973. The fleet of yacht racers from all over the world ship out of SANXENXO (GALICIA) and finish up 8 months later in ROTTERDAM (NED). This years US crew is being sponsored by Disney to help promote the sequel to "Pirates of the Caribbean".

Dick Cook, chairman of The Walt Disney Studios, said: 'We're excited to be participating in the prestigious Volvo Ocean Race, which is very much like the 'formula one' of yacht racing. This is a fun and unique way to remind viewers all over the world that Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest will be sailing into theatres next summer. Given the film's high seas adventures and nautical themes, this marathon sporting event is a great way to make some waves and generate awareness among the millions of viewers.'

The 'Pirates' campaign will be headed by Atlant Ocean Racing, the syndicate company of Richard Brisius and Johan Salen.

Well the verdict is out, and the critics are giving Marvels latest big dollar picture a super powered whomping. Thats right, the movie has not impressed many -if any- in the movie pundit business. Some one included in that list of dissatisfied movie know all's is none other than the man himself Roger Ebert.

And the really good superhero movies, like "Superman," "SpiderMan 2" and "Batman Begins," leave "Fantastic Four" so far behind that the movie should almost be ashamed to show itself in the same theaters.

Damn; Ebert not holding back at all. Personally I have yet to see the movie, and now I am unsure to when I actually will. I mean I will see it eventually but I'm not in any major hurry after reading all of the negative reviews about the soon to be super flop. Reviews from both comic and movie dorks seem to be disappointing on both entertainment and fan areas. Here are some hard hitting thoughts from Eberts review.

Are these people complete idiots? The entire nature of their existence has radically changed, and they're about as excited as if they got a makeover on "Oprah." The exception is Ben Grimm, as the Thing, who gets depressed when he looks in the mirror. Unlike the others, who look normal, except when actually exhibiting superpowers, he looks like -- well, he looks like the Hulk, just as the Human Torch looks like the Flash, and the Invisible Woman has some of the same powers as Storm in "X-Men."

Fantastic Four
~Sun Times

So the big question is if you agree and if reviews like this will detour you from seeing the movie on the big screen or catching it on HBO inDemand?