Headzup, true believers. SciFi's running a first-six-episodes HEROES marathon tomorrow evening (I think it starts at 6pm here). Cancel your card game with Sasquatch, Hypnotoad, and the Space Pope (invite them over, instead), or set your Tivo's accordingly! =)
I know my earlier HEROES post was love/hate... well, more like love/annoyed... which really, isn't that just love...?
Right. Well, my earlier post was what it was, but frustrating clunkiness aside, these episodes are all set-up, groundwork, for some good superheroic crossover/team-up action. I'm still one episode behind on Monday airings, but can tell you that last week's show definitely picked the pace up.
When you get to the DAYBREAK time slot, well, I don't know what to tell you. Record them both if you can. =)
Keep on keepin on~
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
BORAT: "Agreement not necessary..."
Totally unimportant, but also, at least as ridiculous... Hey, Bob Ritchie, what's up with it, vanilla face?
Keep on keepin on~
p.s. Clicked across some interesting behind-the-scenes/backstory on the BORAT experience through the eyes of Vanilla Face.
Keep on keepin on~
p.s. Clicked across some interesting behind-the-scenes/backstory on the BORAT experience through the eyes of Vanilla Face.
Saturday, November 25, 2006
one year ago...
Ahhh... Chick Fil-A in the Jersey burbs...Stupid pickles.
Otherwise... Yum =)
Keep on keepin on~
Thursday, November 23, 2006
Not so tough NOW, eh, turkey?
In his belly you will find a new definition of pain and suffering as you are slowly digested over a thousand years.---C-3PO
Actually, it wasn't tough at all. Quite tender, tasty, and juicy, actually. Well brined and cooked, Professor!
Of course, the quote from Threepio has nothing to do with the above photo. Heh. In an attempt to placate and subdue a rambunctuous niece and nephew-in-law I let them choose a movie to watch. I had FORBIDDEN PLANET on to start out with, but they weren't going for it. I was hoping they'd pick THE INCREDIBLES, but they went with RETURN OF THE JEDI. It was kind of good for them, cuz they'd seen the original on video many many times, but hadn't seen the special edition. Good because those bits were new to them, so they paid attention when they realized that, not good because the special edition stuff is good... cuz mostly, it's ridiculous. Thank Yoda they didn't ask for STAR WARS, or I'd have had to skip or explain how the frack Greedo fires first. Bleah! : P
So, that kept them mostly calm...But not for long...
=)No class jive turkey to all y'all!
Keep on keepin on~
"Rudy, you're like Thanksgiving vacation..."
"...No class jive turkey!"
—Russell, of the Cosby Kids
Look! A veritable cornucopia of... well, whaddyaknow? It's an ACTUAL cornucopia! Thanks, Mom! =)
Our newly installed kitchen peninsula will be getting a serious workout this long holiday weekend, baptized in gravy as we host a double turkey dinner for fifteen. Wack. That'll be In, Rowan, myself, and all of Rowan's immediate family, including a niece- and a couple of nephews-in-law. Heckuva way to break in the improved homestead.
The pink boxes in the back there contain two delicious Petsie Pie desserts. I highly recommend them for all your delicious baked goodies needs. In Somerville, they're right next door to the Shaw's on Beacon Street, between Porter and Inman. The cream-filled chocolate frosted cupcakes are aMAzing =)
[Insert Homer Simpson drooling "Rarrrrr...." here.]
Here you see Rowan, a fully trained Archaeologist, dropping the broth down on a couple o' turkeys. Awwwwh yeah...
My sister and Rowan tag team Thanksgiving's ass!
Me, I'm the Marquis De la Side Dishes, and don't really have any heavy lifting to deal with until tomorrow, and even then, the heaviest it gets is two cups of milk to be added to the mashed potatoes from a can. =)
One more look at the cornucopia...
In this view, doesn't it strike you as something a bit Miyazaki? Some giant colony life form or even a small town, travelling all brownian and feelery like a snail across the landscape...?
No? Just me then? Right.
Happy Thanksgiving, bitc#es!
=)
Keep on keepin on~
—Russell, of the Cosby Kids
Look! A veritable cornucopia of... well, whaddyaknow? It's an ACTUAL cornucopia! Thanks, Mom! =)
Our newly installed kitchen peninsula will be getting a serious workout this long holiday weekend, baptized in gravy as we host a double turkey dinner for fifteen. Wack. That'll be In, Rowan, myself, and all of Rowan's immediate family, including a niece- and a couple of nephews-in-law. Heckuva way to break in the improved homestead.The pink boxes in the back there contain two delicious Petsie Pie desserts. I highly recommend them for all your delicious baked goodies needs. In Somerville, they're right next door to the Shaw's on Beacon Street, between Porter and Inman. The cream-filled chocolate frosted cupcakes are aMAzing =)
[Insert Homer Simpson drooling "Rarrrrr...." here.]
Here you see Rowan, a fully trained Archaeologist, dropping the broth down on a couple o' turkeys. Awwwwh yeah...
My sister and Rowan tag team Thanksgiving's ass!Me, I'm the Marquis De la Side Dishes, and don't really have any heavy lifting to deal with until tomorrow, and even then, the heaviest it gets is two cups of milk to be added to the mashed potatoes from a can. =)
One more look at the cornucopia...
In this view, doesn't it strike you as something a bit Miyazaki? Some giant colony life form or even a small town, travelling all brownian and feelery like a snail across the landscape...?No? Just me then? Right.
Happy Thanksgiving, bitc#es!
=)
Keep on keepin on~
Wednesday, November 22, 2006
This look crooked to you?
I guess you don't really see it so much looking straight down from the top with the hand flat, or perhaps compared to the wonkiness of my dislocated-relocated pinky everything else looks fine, but it's the middle finger I'm referring to. Yeah, I "jammed" it Thursday night at volleyball. It happened as I put my hands up to meet a pass that was a little more AT me than TO me and it pretty much deflected full force off the tip of my middle finger. Not exactly the form they try to teach you at volleyball camp.Or at least, I'd guess it's not, never having been.
Of course, I downplayed the pain and played the rest of the evening with it swelling and not-quite-right. Besides, I had the cut under my left eye to distract me. Yeah, it was a banner night at vball on Thursday. =)
After volleyball, I iced my finger in a glass of water at IHOP. Well, for a dozen minutes or so, until Glen did the smart proactive thing and asked the waiter for a bag of ice. I get the feeling they get that request more than once in a while. Thanks, Glen! Heh, later on, Glen looked at the glasses of water on the table and asked me which one was mine, the one I'd soaked my finger in. So, I told him. He ended up asking for a new glass of water. Go figure.
Well, I iced it again once I got home, and the next day taped it to my ring finger for some back-up/support. The swelling was way up, but the pain was down significantly. I cut out from work early to do some pre-Thanksgiving errands with Rowan, and he asked about the taped-up finger. I explained what happened and he shook his head a bit and asked if I'd had it checked out. I distracted him and dodged the question by buying an LCD TV.
That night I went and got dinner with Paris Jen and she took a smart look at it and noticed that it was bruising on one side. I hadn't noticed that. The way it was darkening was a bit unusual in my experience of finger "jams." Jen alerted me that it could be more damaged than I wanted to shake it off as, and advised me to get it checked out. Intellectually, she convinced me. Practically... well, I've not been to the doctor in a couple years. Why break my streak?
On Saturday while cleaning and rearranging about the homestead, in preparation for our hosting Thanksgiving here for most of his family, Rowan noticed that I still had my fingers taped up. I showed him the latest. He winced and gasped at its shiny puffiness and asked if I'd gone to the hospital for it yet. I'd bugged him repeatedly to go when he hurt his hand (well, okay, when *I* hurt his hand) playing vball at Nahant one weekend this past summer, so he was only returning the favor. When I showed him, I realized the bruising had gotten more pronounced, and the knuckle more walnutty. Bleah.
I managed to ignore the discomfort thru Saturday evening—scarfing down popcorn at CASINO ROYALE (very fun, and smart, but could've been even smarter in parts—Craig is excellent), and clapping with an attached finger monster puppet at the BUFFY SING-A-LONG (disappointingly, not sold out, but a wonderful musical experience, bonus points for having BUFFY fan friends Jill and Mary in the posse), all day and night Sunday—shopping Home Depot for some home improvement items and continuing to primp and prep the place for Turkey day guestivities, all day Monday—working from home while waiting on a no-show electrician, and Monday night—managing to manipulate a hefty burger and fries at the B-Side without blacking out.
I'd given up on the taping by Monday. I needed my dexterity, slightly limited as it was, to tap away on the keyboard and mouse about for workywork. Tuesday, today, at the office, I was again without tape-age, but found myself wincing when picking up my bag or my laptop. At rest, there was no pain, but when supporting or pushing weight, or at the extremes of flexing, completely flat or closed in a fist, I'd get some sharp zaps. And, it was looking more and more like my finger was settling into a crookedness that I didn't much like the looks of. I decided to hit an e/r and have it checked out tonight.
I ended up getting to the e/r at the Cambridge Hospital near Inman Square a little before 8pm. I got my hand x-rayed and then a doctor told me that I didn't have a fracture of any kind, but had basically shocked the muscles and cartilage of my finger and should constrain it to help it heal, but also flex it periodically as well. I think my taping it up for those couple days might've slowed down my recuperation, bleah.
Oh, I neglected to mention that it was three hours before I was able to see Dr. Lai. Lucky for me they had Fox25 news playing in the waiting area to keep me entertained. Foo. I felt dummer for having been exposed to the "reporting." A giant Christmas tree held up traffic as it banged and knocked down street signs and ultimately got caught beneath an overpass. It eventually made it to its destination in Worcester, but had to be cut down to fit in its new home. There was something about a junkie who was apprehended by police after trying to get away, then, once subdued and in transit in a cruiser, managed to smash a rear window and wriggle his way out. At the end of this shorter rundown, two bystanders helped restrain the guy by sitting on his legs while the policeman secured him. Apparently the guy is crying "police brutality." Oh, and the reporter couldn't have said "Skyfox" many more times and still spoken complete sentences. The news was very proud of how its Skyfox video recorded the chase scenes and was entered as evidence for the case in court. Also, very important, the secret service failed to protect one of the first daughters' cellphones and purse while touring Buenos Aires. I wonder who's going to get their hands on the numbers in that cellphone... Do you suppose W knows how to txt msg? Heh. Not bloody likely. And, so VERY contraversial, apparently, people, or at least one person, are outraged over how a YMCA would try to pass off a Tina Turner impersonator as the actual Tina Turner at some fundraiser or other type of event. O, the humanity...!
* (This paragraph added 11/26) Wow, apparently I completely blocked out this delicious news bite. Lucky for YOU some SURVIVOR talk with my sister and Rowan brought it back to me. Some somethin-or-other (which the news didn't make clear) was offering a scholarship to BU specifically for a caucasian student! The fine print said "one-quarter caucasian." There was no clarification on the criteria in the report other than that. Of course, student-on-the-quad interviews were conducted and all expressed some kind of WTF? sentiment. Then some guy behind a desk apparently said something along the lines of, "It's too bad that..." I didn't quite suss whether he was for it or against it or maybe just liked sitting behind someone's desk. Why would someone offer this? I can only think that it's a hail-mary distraction from some truly despicable shenanigans going on...
See how I'm dummer?
Ha, now you're dummer, too!
There was a girl waiting for her turn with a doctor being exposed to this as well. She explained to her mother how THIS is why she can't stand the news on television, and always reads the news. "At least then I can control how much crap I'm taking in." Or something to that effect.
Dr. Lai was kind enough to give me a parting gift...
Why a Keith Haring sculpture? I don't know...=)
It's a pretty nifty moldable splint/brace that I wish I'd had Thursday night. I'm supposed to wear it whenever possible for the next week.
Stupid finger. Bleah.
Keep on keepin on~
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
Philips ate my balls...
A little too late* I found this post with a host of very helpful, sympathetic, and how-to-repair comments. I did many, regular, even, for weeks, google searches on my set once it winked out on me a month or so ago, looking for troubleshooting/repair advice, but I swear I never saw this come up before. I got hits at ask.com and answers.com and saw the same general advice in many places, but never a post or article about my exact problem. WTF?
Some kind of hysterical blind spot?
Frack. I was ready to give it up to freecycle tonight. Instead, I'll hafta hit Radio Shack, re-fuse the TV, and then figure out where I can put the 27" flat tube set now... **
It's a bit ridiculous.
Keep on keepin on~
* Too late to not go ahead and buy myself a HD-ready LCD TV. Frackin heh.
** Alas, its old spot in the living room has been usurped by its svelter successor.
Some kind of hysterical blind spot?
Frack. I was ready to give it up to freecycle tonight. Instead, I'll hafta hit Radio Shack, re-fuse the TV, and then figure out where I can put the 27" flat tube set now... **
It's a bit ridiculous.
Keep on keepin on~
* Too late to not go ahead and buy myself a HD-ready LCD TV. Frackin heh.
** Alas, its old spot in the living room has been usurped by its svelter successor.
home improvement...
Our kitchen...
... in May. We're sizing it up, imagining additional storage in cabinetry and a breakfast nook or island.
... in August. Moving in and stocking up. Ongoing paint job by Rowan and my sis.
... in progress earlier this week. Monday, I think. Rowan took advantage of the musical appliances to paint the walls behind the big ticket items. That pretty much finished up the paint job for our sunny kitchen space.
... and today. The sink's been relocated to make room for our dishwasher. The contractors ended up taking away the old countertop and cabinetry. I wonder where those things ultimately end up.
... and hey, look at that! A breakfast nook type thingie. And storage for all of my tupperware! Also, behind the lower cabinetry, there is a compartment for my guns! At least, that's what I told our Home Depot design consultant we would use it as. In practice, I believe it's currently full of garbage bags and cleaning paraphernalia.
Yeah, we went with what we felt was a practical path of little resistance. At Home Depot we were able to find a very helpful kitchen designer, cabinetry that matched the almost-new cabinets already installed in our kitchen, and a not-too-expensive countertop that we liked. Our designer helped us find the matching cabinet design, and wherever possible advised us on options to maximize storage and minimize cost. Once we decided on a design, Home Depot recommended a number of contractors to execute. We ended up going with a husband-and-wife team who gave us what we thought was a reasonable estimate. There were some mixxups as far as shipping and delivery of the materials went, but in the end, everything came together on time and in time for us to have our upgraded kitchen ready for Thanksgiving. Not bad at all.
This home improvement business is easy!
At least, it *looks* easy when these other nice people are doing it for me. =)
Keep on keepin on~
... in May. We're sizing it up, imagining additional storage in cabinetry and a breakfast nook or island.
... in August. Moving in and stocking up. Ongoing paint job by Rowan and my sis.
... in progress earlier this week. Monday, I think. Rowan took advantage of the musical appliances to paint the walls behind the big ticket items. That pretty much finished up the paint job for our sunny kitchen space.
... and today. The sink's been relocated to make room for our dishwasher. The contractors ended up taking away the old countertop and cabinetry. I wonder where those things ultimately end up.
... and hey, look at that! A breakfast nook type thingie. And storage for all of my tupperware! Also, behind the lower cabinetry, there is a compartment for my guns! At least, that's what I told our Home Depot design consultant we would use it as. In practice, I believe it's currently full of garbage bags and cleaning paraphernalia.Yeah, we went with what we felt was a practical path of little resistance. At Home Depot we were able to find a very helpful kitchen designer, cabinetry that matched the almost-new cabinets already installed in our kitchen, and a not-too-expensive countertop that we liked. Our designer helped us find the matching cabinet design, and wherever possible advised us on options to maximize storage and minimize cost. Once we decided on a design, Home Depot recommended a number of contractors to execute. We ended up going with a husband-and-wife team who gave us what we thought was a reasonable estimate. There were some mixxups as far as shipping and delivery of the materials went, but in the end, everything came together on time and in time for us to have our upgraded kitchen ready for Thanksgiving. Not bad at all.
This home improvement business is easy!
At least, it *looks* easy when these other nice people are doing it for me. =)
Keep on keepin on~
an elegant weapon...
... for a more civilized age...
Thanks to Jim for the nerdy fanboy goodness. =)
Keep on keepin on~
Thanks to Jim for the nerdy fanboy goodness. =)Keep on keepin on~
Sunday, November 19, 2006
iDon't know...
...know what the iPod is saying, but iLike it.
Just found this a hop, click, and a jump away from a favorite at YouGle, and I don't understand any of the dialogue, except some of the song lyrics of course, but still, it spoke to me.
=)
In the ad, is the bit with the iPod apparently being stolen, and then not playing (at least not for long) for the thieves, a demonstration of digital rights management? Or some sort of lojack security?
Unterhalt auf an halten~
p.s. Zorky, any ruling on that translation? =)
Just found this a hop, click, and a jump away from a favorite at YouGle, and I don't understand any of the dialogue, except some of the song lyrics of course, but still, it spoke to me.=)
In the ad, is the bit with the iPod apparently being stolen, and then not playing (at least not for long) for the thieves, a demonstration of digital rights management? Or some sort of lojack security?
Unterhalt auf an halten~
p.s. Zorky, any ruling on that translation? =)
Saturday, November 18, 2006
some alternative weekend movie options
GLOBAL VOICES: the 5th Annual United Nations Association Traveling Film Festival.
Check out the films and check the showtimes and locations. They films are programmed in blocks—"Humanitarian Voices," "Women's Voices," "Voices of Identity," "Voices of Youth," "Voices of Dissent," and "American Voices"—and are programmed to play at each venue on different days and times. Over the course of the weekend, if you're T-able to Boston, they'll probably play somewhere commuter-convenient to you, in Cambridge or Boston.
And tix are only $5 per screening session! (Only available at the doors.)
Thanks to Tarah for the headzup on this film showcase!
___________________________________________________________
The so-called HORRORFEST.
WTF kind of promotion/marketing/distribution is going on with this "fest?" There are several films in here that I'd really like to see. I looked them up earlier this week and the only "local" venue they were scheduled at was Showcase Revere. And one film—REINCARNATION, by the JU-ON director—was only playing at 4.30 on Friday?!
WTF? Bleah.
Well, since I last checked thru Fandango on Thursday, other venues have been added at the Horrorfest site, including Fresh Pond. Not AWEsome, but at least convenient. Something that would've been more useful had it been brought to my attention days ago, tho.
Frack. Fresh Pond via Fandango, the Phoenix, or Boston.com, doesn't actually LIST the Horrorfest screenings. Bleah. Someone's lying to me. And on the internetz! Can you believe it?
Well, the films are still the films, and like I said, the offerings look pretty decent, foreign and indie horror pictures you otherwise wouldn't be able to see on a big screen. Check them out, if you can!
If you can actually find them playing near you and get to them... Not if you can handle the shock and horror, cuz I don't really care if you can do that.
=)
___________________________________________________________
BUFFY SING-A-LONG!
The Coolidge site still lists tickets available for Saturday night's show... Whether that's accurate and your purchase will be processed, well, that's for you to find out! Good hunting.
Keep on keepin on~
Check out the films and check the showtimes and locations. They films are programmed in blocks—"Humanitarian Voices," "Women's Voices," "Voices of Identity," "Voices of Youth," "Voices of Dissent," and "American Voices"—and are programmed to play at each venue on different days and times. Over the course of the weekend, if you're T-able to Boston, they'll probably play somewhere commuter-convenient to you, in Cambridge or Boston.
And tix are only $5 per screening session! (Only available at the doors.)
Thanks to Tarah for the headzup on this film showcase!
___________________________________________________________
The so-called HORRORFEST.
WTF kind of promotion/marketing/distribution is going on with this "fest?" There are several films in here that I'd really like to see. I looked them up earlier this week and the only "local" venue they were scheduled at was Showcase Revere. And one film—REINCARNATION, by the JU-ON director—was only playing at 4.30 on Friday?!
WTF? Bleah.
Well, since I last checked thru Fandango on Thursday, other venues have been added at the Horrorfest site, including Fresh Pond. Not AWEsome, but at least convenient. Something that would've been more useful had it been brought to my attention days ago, tho.
Frack. Fresh Pond via Fandango, the Phoenix, or Boston.com, doesn't actually LIST the Horrorfest screenings. Bleah. Someone's lying to me. And on the internetz! Can you believe it?
Well, the films are still the films, and like I said, the offerings look pretty decent, foreign and indie horror pictures you otherwise wouldn't be able to see on a big screen. Check them out, if you can!
If you can actually find them playing near you and get to them... Not if you can handle the shock and horror, cuz I don't really care if you can do that.
=)
___________________________________________________________
BUFFY SING-A-LONG!
The Coolidge site still lists tickets available for Saturday night's show... Whether that's accurate and your purchase will be processed, well, that's for you to find out! Good hunting.
Keep on keepin on~
snapshots from this week's commuting
This makes me want to agree on our safety word...
That, or demand my lawyer...
And habeas corpus.
This week several Red Line stops with CharlieCard gates went "completely automated." That is, the old booths were covered up, with their windows tinted and blacked out. What are they now? Storage sheds... Soda fountains... Tanning booths... TARDISes...?
Say... does that look like a gun port to you...?
Maybe the WOPR is running the show now...
Have you noticed that there are wheelchair-friendly CharlieCard gates guarding wheelchair-unfriendly T station exits?
Welcome, wheelchairing commuters! Exit here to advance to your destination!
Not! Ha! Got you now! No elevator for you!
Maybe their installation is regulated? Required? In response to the intersection of the Americans with Disabilities Act and the "largest population on the planet" honor the United States seems to have earned.
Hey, Christmas tree beached in the Common...
Poor thing... Science has yet to determine the cause of this phenomenon, but the beached Christmas tree seems to be increasing in frequency over time, peaking each year in the winter, regardless of geography. Tragically, this peculiar occurrence is almost always fatal for these majestic creatures, as they are unnaturally uprooted, relocated and dressed and decorated against their wills.
Deck the frickin halls.
Keep on keepin on~
That, or demand my lawyer...And habeas corpus.
This week several Red Line stops with CharlieCard gates went "completely automated." That is, the old booths were covered up, with their windows tinted and blacked out. What are they now? Storage sheds... Soda fountains... Tanning booths... TARDISes...?
Say... does that look like a gun port to you...?Maybe the WOPR is running the show now...
Have you noticed that there are wheelchair-friendly CharlieCard gates guarding wheelchair-unfriendly T station exits?
Welcome, wheelchairing commuters! Exit here to advance to your destination!
Not! Ha! Got you now! No elevator for you!Maybe their installation is regulated? Required? In response to the intersection of the Americans with Disabilities Act and the "largest population on the planet" honor the United States seems to have earned.
Hey, Christmas tree beached in the Common...
Poor thing... Science has yet to determine the cause of this phenomenon, but the beached Christmas tree seems to be increasing in frequency over time, peaking each year in the winter, regardless of geography. Tragically, this peculiar occurrence is almost always fatal for these majestic creatures, as they are unnaturally uprooted, relocated and dressed and decorated against their wills.Deck the frickin halls.
Keep on keepin on~
psssst....
I love Tina Fey!
Or... is it that I love Alec Baldwin, and... I'm projecting...?
Whoa. I've got some thinking to do...
Meanwhile, watch 30 ROCK. It's not a laugh-riot, but it's got some great choke-to-death-alone-in-your-apartment moments. =)
I wish that she and Aaron Sorkin could've figured out a way to make both their shows the same show. Have the same cast characters appear in both shows with intersecting plots, background action, and dialogue, but still have Fey's show be the half-hour comedy and Sorkin's be the one-hour drama.
Crazy talk.
Or IS it...?
=)
Keep on keepin on~
p.s. I've been crushing on Tina Fey for years on SNL. Why did she do the wet T-shirt thing in MEAN GIRLS?
Or... is it that I love Alec Baldwin, and... I'm projecting...?
Whoa. I've got some thinking to do...
Meanwhile, watch 30 ROCK. It's not a laugh-riot, but it's got some great choke-to-death-alone-in-your-apartment moments. =)
I wish that she and Aaron Sorkin could've figured out a way to make both their shows the same show. Have the same cast characters appear in both shows with intersecting plots, background action, and dialogue, but still have Fey's show be the half-hour comedy and Sorkin's be the one-hour drama.
Crazy talk.
Or IS it...?
=)
Keep on keepin on~
p.s. I've been crushing on Tina Fey for years on SNL. Why did she do the wet T-shirt thing in MEAN GIRLS?
Friday, November 17, 2006
DAY BREAK: decisions... consequences...
Just watched the pilot of DAY BREAK, the new bit of prime time fantastical fiction looking to benefit from a bait-n-switch with Wednesday's LOST.
Taye Diggs's GROUNDHOG DAY. Or 24, but inside-out. Or maybe more like MEMENTO, flipped on its head.
However you want to boil it down, so far, I LIKE it =)
Diggs has always impressed me on screen, and is probably most memorable for me in GO and EQUINOX. I'm glad to see that he's more gritty than pretty boy in this as officer Hopper. Good to see The Man They Call Jane getting some work now. Mitch MODELS INC (okay, "Skinner") Pileggi, too. Even if he does have to start out as a jerkass. Nurse Rita really started out as quite expendable in my eyes, but she's growing on me. I like the change-ups from daybreak to daybreak in pace and tone.
Daybreak 3 had some pretty solid standalone film-worthy action and drama in it, and for some reason reminded me of the more cloak-and-daggery MILLENIUM episodes. Strange association, but if you watched any of MILLENIUM, you might know what I mean. Conspiracy theories tinted with a bit of the supernatural, y'know? And some cool and smart tactics and gunplay.
I'm a sucker for the guy in the middle of the road with a pistol facing down a pursuing car of gunmen.
In spite of TANGO AND CASH. Heh.
And stakeout time in daybreak 4 let Hopper slip up and admit that their first date was actually a stakeout. Surprisingly acceptable mushy relationship development.
The first couple of times the OBVIOUS unwitting meta-dialogue came up, I winced. But after the first hour I could roll with it. It's exactly what the show is about. The writers would have to work hard to avoid everyday phrases, or the occasional intentional dramatic turn, that also work as GROUNDHOG DAY-type double entendres, y'know?
Innocent, well, innocent-ish, phrases you hear everyday become ways for fate to instruct Hopper on the rules of this rerun game, and for the show to clue in the viewer as well.
"Sorry, we're going to have to try it again..."
"Anyone's capable of anything..."
"For every decision, there's a consequence..."
"What if I pull the wrong block?" "Then we start the game over..."
"You believe in second chances...?"
"This day is over... You gotta worry about tomorrow..."
It'll be fun to hear the same line delivered by every character in different daybreaks, donchathink?
I wonder if we'll get 5 minutes of a daybreak where Diggs is just Sick Of It All and goes around knocking everyone out or even off. =)
I like the extra long pause on crazy guy. We see him in the first daybreak at the station when Hopper's being booked. Then, in the second daybreak, Hopper's already booked and gets his phone call. He gets to the phone and we get to see crazy guy nearby, apparently staring right at him. I so want to believe he's not some kind of red herring. =)
That this guy is swept up in the same replay somehow. Or has been reliving the day for longer than Hopper and has noticed that Hopper has done something or shown up somewhere that he never has in HIS previous daybreaks.
That's like a bit of one of my favoritest X-FILES ever. It's a GROUNDHOG DAY scenario involving a desperate bank robber (played by the kid from NORTHERN EXPOSURE), and his girlfriend, who is apparently doomed to live it over and over again. Only on the nth time around, for some odd reason, she notices that Mulder shows up when/where he's never shown before, acts and reacts differently to events around him. It's SUCH a genius idea and brilliant writing, cuz the "odd reason" turns out to be a leak in his waterbed. A waterbed that was purchased and moved into his apartment by Michael McKean's Maverick Area 51 type guy when he switched minds/bodies with Mulder in a localized alternate timeline. It is an awesome episode for Mulder character development and reflection. =)
It's hard to describe without basically retelling the whole story. If you've seen it, you'll remember it. If you want to know more about it, leave me a comment and I'll try to piece it together better in an next entry.
Interesting, altho potentially damn unfair, rule—having anything that happens to Hopper's physical body (at least, any damage, for certain) in one daybreak be carried into the next (and every one after that?). I mean, there's that classic bit of joke dialogue, "One day you're gonna wake up and find yourself dead!" Well, with this rule in effect, that could basically actually happen to our man Hopper.
Of course, he could also use it to his advantage. Maybe get a tattoo with a message or image that he could use to convince his nurse, partner, nurse's ex, or pursuing detectives, that his situation is very unusual, help convince them to help hiim figure his daybreaks out without having to spend hours explaining and winning them over. I mean, tattoos of the detective's names—Spivak and Choi—wouldn't seeing their names on Hopper clue them in that there's more going on than they know?
The bullet was removed, but the wound remained. If it hadn't been removed, would it have appeared in the wound the next day? If the daybreak restart ejects foreign objects from his body, that might include ink. Bleah.
Still, a tattoo without ink would leave the punctures and scars, right?
If foreign objects aren't rejected, he could *ick* y'know, swallow stuff. Important keys, maybe?
Boy, wouldn't it be great and harsh if they pulled a BSG and fast forwarded a year of daybreaks? Hopper maybe grows a beard. Or spends four months of relived time just working out at a gym. Or taking Muay Thai or Taekwondo.
Cosmetic surgery and get a new face? Change his fingerprints?
Allright, enough crazy talk. I ended up dropping THE NINE after three episodes, but I'm gonna keep DAYBREAK. So far it's been two TV hours of fun.
Keep on keepin on~
Taye Diggs's GROUNDHOG DAY. Or 24, but inside-out. Or maybe more like MEMENTO, flipped on its head.
However you want to boil it down, so far, I LIKE it =)
Diggs has always impressed me on screen, and is probably most memorable for me in GO and EQUINOX. I'm glad to see that he's more gritty than pretty boy in this as officer Hopper. Good to see The Man They Call Jane getting some work now. Mitch MODELS INC (okay, "Skinner") Pileggi, too. Even if he does have to start out as a jerkass. Nurse Rita really started out as quite expendable in my eyes, but she's growing on me. I like the change-ups from daybreak to daybreak in pace and tone.
Daybreak 3 had some pretty solid standalone film-worthy action and drama in it, and for some reason reminded me of the more cloak-and-daggery MILLENIUM episodes. Strange association, but if you watched any of MILLENIUM, you might know what I mean. Conspiracy theories tinted with a bit of the supernatural, y'know? And some cool and smart tactics and gunplay.
I'm a sucker for the guy in the middle of the road with a pistol facing down a pursuing car of gunmen.
In spite of TANGO AND CASH. Heh.
And stakeout time in daybreak 4 let Hopper slip up and admit that their first date was actually a stakeout. Surprisingly acceptable mushy relationship development.
The first couple of times the OBVIOUS unwitting meta-dialogue came up, I winced. But after the first hour I could roll with it. It's exactly what the show is about. The writers would have to work hard to avoid everyday phrases, or the occasional intentional dramatic turn, that also work as GROUNDHOG DAY-type double entendres, y'know?
Innocent, well, innocent-ish, phrases you hear everyday become ways for fate to instruct Hopper on the rules of this rerun game, and for the show to clue in the viewer as well.
"Sorry, we're going to have to try it again..."
"Anyone's capable of anything..."
"For every decision, there's a consequence..."
"What if I pull the wrong block?" "Then we start the game over..."
"You believe in second chances...?"
"This day is over... You gotta worry about tomorrow..."
It'll be fun to hear the same line delivered by every character in different daybreaks, donchathink?
I wonder if we'll get 5 minutes of a daybreak where Diggs is just Sick Of It All and goes around knocking everyone out or even off. =)
I like the extra long pause on crazy guy. We see him in the first daybreak at the station when Hopper's being booked. Then, in the second daybreak, Hopper's already booked and gets his phone call. He gets to the phone and we get to see crazy guy nearby, apparently staring right at him. I so want to believe he's not some kind of red herring. =)
That this guy is swept up in the same replay somehow. Or has been reliving the day for longer than Hopper and has noticed that Hopper has done something or shown up somewhere that he never has in HIS previous daybreaks.
That's like a bit of one of my favoritest X-FILES ever. It's a GROUNDHOG DAY scenario involving a desperate bank robber (played by the kid from NORTHERN EXPOSURE), and his girlfriend, who is apparently doomed to live it over and over again. Only on the nth time around, for some odd reason, she notices that Mulder shows up when/where he's never shown before, acts and reacts differently to events around him. It's SUCH a genius idea and brilliant writing, cuz the "odd reason" turns out to be a leak in his waterbed. A waterbed that was purchased and moved into his apartment by Michael McKean's Maverick Area 51 type guy when he switched minds/bodies with Mulder in a localized alternate timeline. It is an awesome episode for Mulder character development and reflection. =)
It's hard to describe without basically retelling the whole story. If you've seen it, you'll remember it. If you want to know more about it, leave me a comment and I'll try to piece it together better in an next entry.
Interesting, altho potentially damn unfair, rule—having anything that happens to Hopper's physical body (at least, any damage, for certain) in one daybreak be carried into the next (and every one after that?). I mean, there's that classic bit of joke dialogue, "One day you're gonna wake up and find yourself dead!" Well, with this rule in effect, that could basically actually happen to our man Hopper.
Of course, he could also use it to his advantage. Maybe get a tattoo with a message or image that he could use to convince his nurse, partner, nurse's ex, or pursuing detectives, that his situation is very unusual, help convince them to help hiim figure his daybreaks out without having to spend hours explaining and winning them over. I mean, tattoos of the detective's names—Spivak and Choi—wouldn't seeing their names on Hopper clue them in that there's more going on than they know?
The bullet was removed, but the wound remained. If it hadn't been removed, would it have appeared in the wound the next day? If the daybreak restart ejects foreign objects from his body, that might include ink. Bleah.
Still, a tattoo without ink would leave the punctures and scars, right?
If foreign objects aren't rejected, he could *ick* y'know, swallow stuff. Important keys, maybe?
Boy, wouldn't it be great and harsh if they pulled a BSG and fast forwarded a year of daybreaks? Hopper maybe grows a beard. Or spends four months of relived time just working out at a gym. Or taking Muay Thai or Taekwondo.
Cosmetic surgery and get a new face? Change his fingerprints?
Allright, enough crazy talk. I ended up dropping THE NINE after three episodes, but I'm gonna keep DAYBREAK. So far it's been two TV hours of fun.
Keep on keepin on~
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
BORAT and STRANGER THAN FICTION
I tapped the following comments out in an email I sent to friends promoting the films (along with BUFFY sing-a-long action =). They turned out to be somewhat run-on, but pretty decent bite-sized write-ups. See previous blog entries for the super-sized ramblin...
___________________________________________________________
BORAT is wickedly, painfully, incredibly funny! I DO think that if you've never seen Sacha Baron Cohen's Borat before, you should sample him online, or on dvd or inDemand via the ALI G SHOW, and find out how his style of unapologetic guerilla comedy sits with you, before diving into the 90 minute deep end and finding yourself so offended and uncomfortable that you can't laugh. His M.O. *is* mean and unfair. It counts on duping his costars into buying into his character's put-on sexist, racist, and ignorant beliefs, and then revealing their darker sides. Some of his marks wholeheartedly embrace Borat's prejudices while others play along to a degree to humor him or just get through their conversation, and others still are decent and principled individuals with only so much patience for ignorance and give him nothing to work with and laugh at except himself.
For many in the audience, it's not an easy thing to get past that element of deceit in Borat's ambush comedy, and that's not a bad thing. But if you can adjust to it, try to see it for the comic swiss army knife that Cohen wields it as, you will be shocked, dismayed, and tickled by what some people will reveal about themselves when Borat gives them the opening, and you will gasp, giggle, and laugh—a lot! And y'know, as much as his hapless interviewees may entertain you, what Borat reveals about himself in this film, to you, your fellow moviegoers, as well as a convention hall of mortagage bankers, may actually get the biggest laughs of all.
___________________________________________________________
STRANGER THAN FICTION is wonderfully executed surreality, sweetly funny and charming. Will Ferrell is perfect as Harold Crick, the mild-mannered IRS agent with a routine life who one day realizes that he may not be in control of his life, that he is, in fact, a living, breathing character whose every decision and moment is determined by an unknown author's imagination. Unfortunately, this particular neurotic writer's-blocked headcase of an author has a thing for killing off her characters. Maggie Gyllenhall as bakery owner Ana Pasquale is a fiery and sexy crusader with a soft spot for the nice guy. She injects passion and desire into Crick's hohum life, just as he finds out about his creator's death fetish. It's all about timing, donchaknow. Don't let the premise scare you off. The whole I'm-a-character-being-written-in-my-own-life phenomenon is not all that the film is about. In fact, it's just a starting point for storytelling that's about everyday human relationships and connections. Good crack.
___________________________________________________________
Keep on keepin on~
___________________________________________________________
BORAT is wickedly, painfully, incredibly funny! I DO think that if you've never seen Sacha Baron Cohen's Borat before, you should sample him online, or on dvd or inDemand via the ALI G SHOW, and find out how his style of unapologetic guerilla comedy sits with you, before diving into the 90 minute deep end and finding yourself so offended and uncomfortable that you can't laugh. His M.O. *is* mean and unfair. It counts on duping his costars into buying into his character's put-on sexist, racist, and ignorant beliefs, and then revealing their darker sides. Some of his marks wholeheartedly embrace Borat's prejudices while others play along to a degree to humor him or just get through their conversation, and others still are decent and principled individuals with only so much patience for ignorance and give him nothing to work with and laugh at except himself.
For many in the audience, it's not an easy thing to get past that element of deceit in Borat's ambush comedy, and that's not a bad thing. But if you can adjust to it, try to see it for the comic swiss army knife that Cohen wields it as, you will be shocked, dismayed, and tickled by what some people will reveal about themselves when Borat gives them the opening, and you will gasp, giggle, and laugh—a lot! And y'know, as much as his hapless interviewees may entertain you, what Borat reveals about himself in this film, to you, your fellow moviegoers, as well as a convention hall of mortagage bankers, may actually get the biggest laughs of all.
___________________________________________________________
STRANGER THAN FICTION is wonderfully executed surreality, sweetly funny and charming. Will Ferrell is perfect as Harold Crick, the mild-mannered IRS agent with a routine life who one day realizes that he may not be in control of his life, that he is, in fact, a living, breathing character whose every decision and moment is determined by an unknown author's imagination. Unfortunately, this particular neurotic writer's-blocked headcase of an author has a thing for killing off her characters. Maggie Gyllenhall as bakery owner Ana Pasquale is a fiery and sexy crusader with a soft spot for the nice guy. She injects passion and desire into Crick's hohum life, just as he finds out about his creator's death fetish. It's all about timing, donchaknow. Don't let the premise scare you off. The whole I'm-a-character-being-written-in-my-own-life phenomenon is not all that the film is about. In fact, it's just a starting point for storytelling that's about everyday human relationships and connections. Good crack.
___________________________________________________________
Keep on keepin on~
BUFFY SING-A-LONG this weekend!
At the Coolidge Corner Theater this weekend—the BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER "Once More With Feeling" Sing-A-Long! Buffy and the gang singing, dancing, and staking their way into your heart at midnight on Friday and Saturday!
I'm definitely gonna hit the Saturday show with at least one fellow Scoobie. Maybe Friday too if anyone steps up and absolutely needs a spotter. Who's up for it? Advance tix are available online at the Coolidge site, and these events do have history of selling out, so I'd advise getting your ticket by Thursday at the latest.
The fan mob musical experience is pretty powerful stuff for Scoobies and non-fans alike. Way more fun than speaking in tongues. Be there and be square!
If you're not a fan, you might want to study up a bit before the Sing-A-Long.
Keep on keepin on~
p.s. [Mutant Enemy] Grrr... ARrrrrgh!
I'm definitely gonna hit the Saturday show with at least one fellow Scoobie. Maybe Friday too if anyone steps up and absolutely needs a spotter. Who's up for it? Advance tix are available online at the Coolidge site, and these events do have history of selling out, so I'd advise getting your ticket by Thursday at the latest.The fan mob musical experience is pretty powerful stuff for Scoobies and non-fans alike. Way more fun than speaking in tongues. Be there and be square!
If you're not a fan, you might want to study up a bit before the Sing-A-Long.
Keep on keepin on~
p.s. [Mutant Enemy] Grrr... ARrrrrgh!
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
relationshapes...
From the makers of MNFTIU, MNFTIU, and GET YOUR WAR ON, it's...
RELATIONSHAPES!
As the promo copy puts it (and puts it best, I'd say)...
It's relationships from "a new point of view"—
—the point of view of motherfuckin' GEOMETRIC SHAPES.
=) !
Keep on keepin on~
RELATIONSHAPES!
As the promo copy puts it (and puts it best, I'd say)...
It's relationships from "a new point of view"—
—the point of view of motherfuckin' GEOMETRIC SHAPES.
=) !Keep on keepin on~
BORAT: "Nobody likes my neighbor..."
site | trailer | miceSpace
Went and saw BORAT on Thursday night with Rowan and my sister. Saw it again on Saturday night with Dan and Ray and a posse of their friends. That's right, I saw it twice! I like! You like?
It is incredibly, wickedly, hilarious! I have to say that I think it's probably funniest and best experienced if you're already somewhat familiar and acclimated to Borat's M.O. If you're going in with NO previous experience with Borat's shtick, jumping into 90 unrelenting minutes of it in one sitting may not agree with you.
And what is Borat's M.O.? Borat is one of three alter egos created and played by Brit actor and comedian Sacha Baron Cohen, all featured in guerilla interview segments on his ALI G SHOW (which I only know in its HBO-ready incarnation). Borat, a Kazakh news correspondent, is on assignment in America (the "U.S. and A.") to educate his Kazakhstan viewers on the ways of the west. In this film, he continues to explore various aspects of American life and culture, this time in documentary film form. His exploration takes him from New York City, where he visits with a veteran feminist group and a comedy coach, to the heart of Texas and an antique shop showcasing Confederate paraphernalia, to Los Angeles, and a BAYWATCH star's appearance at Virgin Records. All-American, no?
Most of the laughs are a release for the shock and disbelief at the reactions, comments, and advice Borat's personality manages to illicit from average Americans in their native environments. For the most part, they are at the expense of his subjects, but it all comes out of Borat playing the sexist, racist, intolerant, and ignorant fool—a central Asian Archie Bunker travelling across America and through Americana. Call the results inappropriate, taboo, or politically incorrect, the way Borat manages to ambush some of his interviewees is just plain mean. It's natural at first blush to sympathize with his clueless "marks." I think this is the biggest obstacle to enjoying this brand of comedy. It's Andy Kaufman, only, not as polite.
Of course, it only "succeeds" when his unwitting costars allow it. That is, when someone is inclined to agree with Borat's skewed and boorish point-of-view, it's usually funny. When someone decides that Borat's attitude on a subject is too conservative, well, that's a bit frightening. Like a clown. With a bazooka. That shoots clowns out of its barrel. And, when someone walks away, well, they're likely offended, and rightly so. Borat is a prejudiced fool, and being a foreigner, a guest in our land, can buy him only so much hospitality.
The ultimate expression of Borat's mad methods in his segments on the ALI G SHOW can be found in the clumination of his quest to learn about country music and write and perform a country/western song. Aghast? Amazed? Laughing? Nervous about it? Yeah, that's about right.
Yes, this is where a lot of the laughs come from, but not all of them. There's a decent amount of really smart and clever bits, as well as some truly dedicated follow-thru on grade school humor. I'm not even going to attempt to describe the inCREDible fight and chase scenes that will have you in physical pain, either from wracking laughter or shudders and shakes of horror.
They must be seen.
Yeah, there's some fallout, lawsuits launched at Sacha BC in the wake of his film's release and success. Some of his costars are not very happy with how they were treated. (Note that the preceding links will take you to articles that mention some of the guests and describe set-ups and scenarios from the movie—not totally spoilery, but if you're already more likely to see the movie than not, skip the links =)
Some do not like the way they are portrayed, either due to their own uncensored appearance on film, or to some unflattering editing meant to move along the film's plot and/or get a laugh. Others believe that they are entitled to more than they were given in compensation for their participation in what they were told was to be a foreign documentary film. In reality, it's a highly successful American release that is on its way to setting comedy box office records.
I wonder how far any of Borat's litigious unwitting guests from the ALI G SHOW got in the way of apologies, muzzling, settlement, or reward...?
I'm a little surprised that a certain driving instructor is putting up anything like a serious fuss. But so long as he's not out for blood, well, I guess I can't blame a decent regular guy for looking for a piece of the action if the opportunity presents itself.
Girls Gone Wild to the frat boys: Cry us a river, dunderheads. What-the-F-EV, fellas. You're drunken college boys driving across country who felt up to signing some sort of legal doc/waiver and agreeing to appear as representatives of America in a documentary film for Kazakhstan. What-the-F-ev...
The bed-and-breakfast owners. I don't feel like Borat really put anything over on them. They were kind and thoughtful hosts, and that Borat returned that kindness with distrust and paranoia is not a negative reflection on them. Although I didn't think twice about it while watching the film, once I read about it in the news, I totally understand how the film misrepresented their home, painting it in an unflattering, and perhaps financially damaging, light. I hope that Sasha BC can do something materially, or editorially, in an effort to do right by them.
My quick smartass plug-pitch for this film... Just like JESUS CAMP, only, more homophobic!
My single favorite comedic moment from the film doesn't come from any of Borat's ambush tactics...
*SPOILER*
Following a frightening encounter with some murderous Jews, Borat seeks to purchase protection. He visits a gun shop, but is disappointed to find that they won't sell a foreigner any firearms. He then considers acquiring an animal for protection and visits an exotic animal farm. The film cuts to a giant tortoise, and Borat standing over it, beside the exotic animal ranchers. Borat asks, "What kind of dog is this?"
Heh heh. It gets better! The big blast comes a few seconds later when he inquires, "Is it... a cat... in a hat?"
*THAT* is frickin FUNNY! I mean, that is so frickin frackin brilliant! It's, like, a perfectly reasonable question! I don't know how better to explain it. Perhaps it's more telling of my madness than Sasha's genius, but I really do think it's the funniest single joke in the film. =)
*END SPOILER*
Hilarious crack. Check it out! =)
Chenquieh.
Keep on keepin on~
Went and saw BORAT on Thursday night with Rowan and my sister. Saw it again on Saturday night with Dan and Ray and a posse of their friends. That's right, I saw it twice! I like! You like?It is incredibly, wickedly, hilarious! I have to say that I think it's probably funniest and best experienced if you're already somewhat familiar and acclimated to Borat's M.O. If you're going in with NO previous experience with Borat's shtick, jumping into 90 unrelenting minutes of it in one sitting may not agree with you.
And what is Borat's M.O.? Borat is one of three alter egos created and played by Brit actor and comedian Sacha Baron Cohen, all featured in guerilla interview segments on his ALI G SHOW (which I only know in its HBO-ready incarnation). Borat, a Kazakh news correspondent, is on assignment in America (the "U.S. and A.") to educate his Kazakhstan viewers on the ways of the west. In this film, he continues to explore various aspects of American life and culture, this time in documentary film form. His exploration takes him from New York City, where he visits with a veteran feminist group and a comedy coach, to the heart of Texas and an antique shop showcasing Confederate paraphernalia, to Los Angeles, and a BAYWATCH star's appearance at Virgin Records. All-American, no?
Most of the laughs are a release for the shock and disbelief at the reactions, comments, and advice Borat's personality manages to illicit from average Americans in their native environments. For the most part, they are at the expense of his subjects, but it all comes out of Borat playing the sexist, racist, intolerant, and ignorant fool—a central Asian Archie Bunker travelling across America and through Americana. Call the results inappropriate, taboo, or politically incorrect, the way Borat manages to ambush some of his interviewees is just plain mean. It's natural at first blush to sympathize with his clueless "marks." I think this is the biggest obstacle to enjoying this brand of comedy. It's Andy Kaufman, only, not as polite.
Of course, it only "succeeds" when his unwitting costars allow it. That is, when someone is inclined to agree with Borat's skewed and boorish point-of-view, it's usually funny. When someone decides that Borat's attitude on a subject is too conservative, well, that's a bit frightening. Like a clown. With a bazooka. That shoots clowns out of its barrel. And, when someone walks away, well, they're likely offended, and rightly so. Borat is a prejudiced fool, and being a foreigner, a guest in our land, can buy him only so much hospitality.
The ultimate expression of Borat's mad methods in his segments on the ALI G SHOW can be found in the clumination of his quest to learn about country music and write and perform a country/western song. Aghast? Amazed? Laughing? Nervous about it? Yeah, that's about right.
Yes, this is where a lot of the laughs come from, but not all of them. There's a decent amount of really smart and clever bits, as well as some truly dedicated follow-thru on grade school humor. I'm not even going to attempt to describe the inCREDible fight and chase scenes that will have you in physical pain, either from wracking laughter or shudders and shakes of horror.
They must be seen.
Yeah, there's some fallout, lawsuits launched at Sacha BC in the wake of his film's release and success. Some of his costars are not very happy with how they were treated. (Note that the preceding links will take you to articles that mention some of the guests and describe set-ups and scenarios from the movie—not totally spoilery, but if you're already more likely to see the movie than not, skip the links =)
Some do not like the way they are portrayed, either due to their own uncensored appearance on film, or to some unflattering editing meant to move along the film's plot and/or get a laugh. Others believe that they are entitled to more than they were given in compensation for their participation in what they were told was to be a foreign documentary film. In reality, it's a highly successful American release that is on its way to setting comedy box office records.
I wonder how far any of Borat's litigious unwitting guests from the ALI G SHOW got in the way of apologies, muzzling, settlement, or reward...?
I'm a little surprised that a certain driving instructor is putting up anything like a serious fuss. But so long as he's not out for blood, well, I guess I can't blame a decent regular guy for looking for a piece of the action if the opportunity presents itself.
Girls Gone Wild to the frat boys: Cry us a river, dunderheads. What-the-F-EV, fellas. You're drunken college boys driving across country who felt up to signing some sort of legal doc/waiver and agreeing to appear as representatives of America in a documentary film for Kazakhstan. What-the-F-ev...
The bed-and-breakfast owners. I don't feel like Borat really put anything over on them. They were kind and thoughtful hosts, and that Borat returned that kindness with distrust and paranoia is not a negative reflection on them. Although I didn't think twice about it while watching the film, once I read about it in the news, I totally understand how the film misrepresented their home, painting it in an unflattering, and perhaps financially damaging, light. I hope that Sasha BC can do something materially, or editorially, in an effort to do right by them.
My quick smartass plug-pitch for this film... Just like JESUS CAMP, only, more homophobic!
My single favorite comedic moment from the film doesn't come from any of Borat's ambush tactics...
*SPOILER*
Following a frightening encounter with some murderous Jews, Borat seeks to purchase protection. He visits a gun shop, but is disappointed to find that they won't sell a foreigner any firearms. He then considers acquiring an animal for protection and visits an exotic animal farm. The film cuts to a giant tortoise, and Borat standing over it, beside the exotic animal ranchers. Borat asks, "What kind of dog is this?"
Heh heh. It gets better! The big blast comes a few seconds later when he inquires, "Is it... a cat... in a hat?"
*THAT* is frickin FUNNY! I mean, that is so frickin frackin brilliant! It's, like, a perfectly reasonable question! I don't know how better to explain it. Perhaps it's more telling of my madness than Sasha's genius, but I really do think it's the funniest single joke in the film. =)
*END SPOILER*
Hilarious crack. Check it out! =)
Chenquieh.
Keep on keepin on~
I never claimed to be highbrow...
Snapped on my drizzly walk to the T...Hey, lookitthat...
The holiday lights are up at downtown crossing.Happy frickin holidays.
Keep on keepin on~
Sunday, November 12, 2006
STRANGER THAN FICTION: "Little did he know..."
site | trailer
A really charming film. See it!
I caught it this afternoon at Fenway with Earth-Shattering KaBOOM teammate, boy-Jacky (not to be confused with girl-Jackie). We had a really rough day at a volleyball tournament at Emmanuel. Went 0-6, an impressively consistent showing which won us the privilege of reffing the first round of playoffs. At least we were pretty efficient about coming in last and were out of the gym by about 2.15. It was a CR B- and we were a bit under on paper, but our performance on the court was definitely less than the sum of our ratings. I think we pushed our opponents to 26 (games to 25) in two matches, but we also had a game that—as one of our opponents put it afterward—was about us versus the net, and had nothing to do with the other team doing anything. When your goal is to break into double digits on the scoreboard, well, things aren't going very well, y'know?
Yeah, it was a rough day. I managed to talk Jacky into hitting FICTION in an effort to turn it around a bit (didn't really have to twist his arm). I'd say we succeeded. A chicken sandwich at Boston Beerworks didn't hurt any either. =)
Will Ferrell is an excellent straight everyman... Well, y'know, provided everyman is a well-meaning ambitiousless IRS auditor/agent, and aren't we all, really? Deep down? Yeah, I thought so. Maggie Gyllenhall is wonderful and sexy in overalls as the plucky bakery owner whose refusal to pay part of her taxes (the part that funds killer robot snakes and other warmongering development) has won her a fabulous audit. Emma T. is a very good neurotic writer's-blocked author. Perhaps a little too good, as just seeing her harried chain-smoking writer on screen can be a little exhausting. Queen Latifah. Errr... Fine, but a little distracting. She doesn't really get to build her character, or have a lot of character to build it sems, so she just registered as, well, Queen Latifah. Dustin Hoffman is an excellent professor of literature turned existential detective. Between this and I [HEART] HUCKABEES he may be the only actor in the world who could put anything like a case together for being typecast as a metaphysical gumshoe.
Not a bad thing if you ask me.
I hope Will continues to mixx things up with his roles. He doesn't need to be Frank the Tank or ANCHORMAN in everything, y'know? Not that he should stop that, but he's got the chops for drama. I think the success of comedic actors in roles in other genres and flavors totally proves the old adage, "Death is easy, comedy is hard." Bill Murray, Steve Martin, Robin Williams, Jim Carrey (altho I haven't *really* seen him shake the Jim Carrey-ness since DOING TIME ON MAPLE DRIVE), and now, Will, are excellent with their straight, and even heavy, performances, because comedy in many ways is above and beyond drama, y'know? I don't know how a trained thespian would describe it, but once you've done comedy, it seems to me like if you can learn to dial it down in just the correct way, you end up in the realm of drama, and with some work, fine tune into the full range of serious emotion and character.
Like I said, I dont know how to describe this notion properly.
FICTION. The premise seems a bit Charlie Kaufman-y (ADAPTATION and BEING JOHN MALKOVICH—Did anyone else hear he's scripting SAW 4? Wack!) in its outlandishness and what-if?'ed real world, but boiled down, it's pretty simple—there is this man, living in the world, who also happens to be a character in a story in progress, and has recently become aware of it. That's not so hard, is it? The film builds on this fantastic premise very consistently and matter-of-factly, in the mode and attitude of the story's hero, Ferrell's dutiful borderline OCDisorderly tax man, Harold Crick. And it works so very well.
The reference to ADAPTATION should *not* scare away those who don't love or easily tune into Kaufman's stories and sensibilities. FICTION is definitely more accessible, lighter and not so twisty and twisted.
You visual nerds out there, you'll get to see the next-gen version of what FIGHT CLUB did with type and graphics on top of film, and—part MINORITY REPORT, part FIGHT CLUB—I think it's really pretty gorgeous and elegant.
I hafta admit the film jerked some tears out of me (in the bus scene). So if you're a sentimental sap like me, beware.
Perhaps Crick's life situation and set-up resonates a little more with me than the average moviegoer... in a bass-ackwards romantic way...
Romantic as in fantasy, not so much as in, like, love life. Cuz let me tell you, when I try anything that Crick does, typically, it's tazer time. Perhaps it's my delivery...
Yeah, I've said it before... I need a new writer.
Even if the rest of the film sucked (which it totally doesn't), I'd hafta give it a lot of points for a scene with Maggie's baker, Ana Pasquale, making the case for the Goodness of cookies.
Also, some powerful motivation to learn to play (even just one song on) the guitar. =)
STRANGER THAN FICTION makes for the movie equivalent of a good pan of slightly gooey buttery just-out-of-the-oven chocolate chip cookies, great any day, but even moreso on a grey one. Check it out!
Keep on keepin on~
p.s. Man, I am just HATing on commercials and "behind-the-scenes" segments before films these days. Bleah.
p.p.s. Saw BORAT on Thursday night with my sister and Rowan, and then again on Saturday night with Dan with a group of people for his friend Ray's birthday. If you're familiar with Borat's thing from the ALI G SHOW, you'll love the film. If you're not, you might want to prep yourself with some pre-movie samples online or recorded. It's just like JESUS CAMP, only, y'know, more homophobic. =)
If you've already seen the movie, check out the press on Borat's unwitting co-stars. I wonder how any litigattion targetting the ALI G SHOW went...?
p.p.p.s. Got a trailer for SMOKIN ACES before my first BORAT viewing and damn I wish I'd had a chance to come up with/write that story. It looks like it's gonna be a ton of fun. Also, Jason Bateman! =)
A really charming film. See it!I caught it this afternoon at Fenway with Earth-Shattering KaBOOM teammate, boy-Jacky (not to be confused with girl-Jackie). We had a really rough day at a volleyball tournament at Emmanuel. Went 0-6, an impressively consistent showing which won us the privilege of reffing the first round of playoffs. At least we were pretty efficient about coming in last and were out of the gym by about 2.15. It was a CR B- and we were a bit under on paper, but our performance on the court was definitely less than the sum of our ratings. I think we pushed our opponents to 26 (games to 25) in two matches, but we also had a game that—as one of our opponents put it afterward—was about us versus the net, and had nothing to do with the other team doing anything. When your goal is to break into double digits on the scoreboard, well, things aren't going very well, y'know?
Yeah, it was a rough day. I managed to talk Jacky into hitting FICTION in an effort to turn it around a bit (didn't really have to twist his arm). I'd say we succeeded. A chicken sandwich at Boston Beerworks didn't hurt any either. =)
Will Ferrell is an excellent straight everyman... Well, y'know, provided everyman is a well-meaning ambitiousless IRS auditor/agent, and aren't we all, really? Deep down? Yeah, I thought so. Maggie Gyllenhall is wonderful and sexy in overalls as the plucky bakery owner whose refusal to pay part of her taxes (the part that funds killer robot snakes and other warmongering development) has won her a fabulous audit. Emma T. is a very good neurotic writer's-blocked author. Perhaps a little too good, as just seeing her harried chain-smoking writer on screen can be a little exhausting. Queen Latifah. Errr... Fine, but a little distracting. She doesn't really get to build her character, or have a lot of character to build it sems, so she just registered as, well, Queen Latifah. Dustin Hoffman is an excellent professor of literature turned existential detective. Between this and I [HEART] HUCKABEES he may be the only actor in the world who could put anything like a case together for being typecast as a metaphysical gumshoe.
Not a bad thing if you ask me.
I hope Will continues to mixx things up with his roles. He doesn't need to be Frank the Tank or ANCHORMAN in everything, y'know? Not that he should stop that, but he's got the chops for drama. I think the success of comedic actors in roles in other genres and flavors totally proves the old adage, "Death is easy, comedy is hard." Bill Murray, Steve Martin, Robin Williams, Jim Carrey (altho I haven't *really* seen him shake the Jim Carrey-ness since DOING TIME ON MAPLE DRIVE), and now, Will, are excellent with their straight, and even heavy, performances, because comedy in many ways is above and beyond drama, y'know? I don't know how a trained thespian would describe it, but once you've done comedy, it seems to me like if you can learn to dial it down in just the correct way, you end up in the realm of drama, and with some work, fine tune into the full range of serious emotion and character.
Like I said, I dont know how to describe this notion properly.
FICTION. The premise seems a bit Charlie Kaufman-y (ADAPTATION and BEING JOHN MALKOVICH—Did anyone else hear he's scripting SAW 4? Wack!) in its outlandishness and what-if?'ed real world, but boiled down, it's pretty simple—there is this man, living in the world, who also happens to be a character in a story in progress, and has recently become aware of it. That's not so hard, is it? The film builds on this fantastic premise very consistently and matter-of-factly, in the mode and attitude of the story's hero, Ferrell's dutiful borderline OCDisorderly tax man, Harold Crick. And it works so very well.
The reference to ADAPTATION should *not* scare away those who don't love or easily tune into Kaufman's stories and sensibilities. FICTION is definitely more accessible, lighter and not so twisty and twisted.
You visual nerds out there, you'll get to see the next-gen version of what FIGHT CLUB did with type and graphics on top of film, and—part MINORITY REPORT, part FIGHT CLUB—I think it's really pretty gorgeous and elegant.
I hafta admit the film jerked some tears out of me (in the bus scene). So if you're a sentimental sap like me, beware.
Perhaps Crick's life situation and set-up resonates a little more with me than the average moviegoer... in a bass-ackwards romantic way...
Romantic as in fantasy, not so much as in, like, love life. Cuz let me tell you, when I try anything that Crick does, typically, it's tazer time. Perhaps it's my delivery...
Yeah, I've said it before... I need a new writer.
Even if the rest of the film sucked (which it totally doesn't), I'd hafta give it a lot of points for a scene with Maggie's baker, Ana Pasquale, making the case for the Goodness of cookies.
Also, some powerful motivation to learn to play (even just one song on) the guitar. =)
STRANGER THAN FICTION makes for the movie equivalent of a good pan of slightly gooey buttery just-out-of-the-oven chocolate chip cookies, great any day, but even moreso on a grey one. Check it out!
Keep on keepin on~
p.s. Man, I am just HATing on commercials and "behind-the-scenes" segments before films these days. Bleah.
p.p.s. Saw BORAT on Thursday night with my sister and Rowan, and then again on Saturday night with Dan with a group of people for his friend Ray's birthday. If you're familiar with Borat's thing from the ALI G SHOW, you'll love the film. If you're not, you might want to prep yourself with some pre-movie samples online or recorded. It's just like JESUS CAMP, only, y'know, more homophobic. =)
If you've already seen the movie, check out the press on Borat's unwitting co-stars. I wonder how any litigattion targetting the ALI G SHOW went...?
p.p.p.s. Got a trailer for SMOKIN ACES before my first BORAT viewing and damn I wish I'd had a chance to come up with/write that story. It looks like it's gonna be a ton of fun. Also, Jason Bateman! =)
Saturday, November 11, 2006
SMOKIN' ACES!
I've only seen the trailer once, but already I can't wait to see this flick! You know why? Cuz it's CANNONBALL RUN, only, instead of winning a race, it's to frickin kill a guy!I guess I could just say that it's a 21st century update of CANNONBALL RUN, cuz, unless it's Tokyo Drift (haven't seen it), racing is tired. To get people in the seats these days, you've gotta kill someone.
Or how bout this? It's MURDER BY DEATH, but upside-down!
Or should that be... inside-out?
Flipped horizontal? Inverted? Converted?
But you get it? It's whippin up and chuckin every supercool over-the-top assassin archetype you've seen in the movies and comic books and pointing them at one incredible sleazebag of a target! That's a frickin good time! =)
Oh yeah, that's right... That's Michael Bluth all future-Biff greasy and sketchy charactered up! And Jeremy Piven as the mark. I didn't catch everyone they're throwing into this film, but I like the looks of all of them. This is gonna be a ton of fun. AWEsome, even. Even if it sucks, it'll suck AWEsome!
=)
Keep on keepin on~
Friday, November 10, 2006
rounding up to 40...
Some recent acquisitions... Stories, in digital dvd and analog "book" form. Also, Pocky sticks! And what flavor? I'll tell you what flavor! *MEN'S* Bitter Chocolate! That's what flavor, bitches! Just pimps. No hos.Heh. My sister tells me there's also a Women's SWEET Chocolate. Men's Bitter, Women's Sweet. Check out the ice in the package background imagery. I suppose the sweet chocolate has flowers? Man, the Japanese are so much more advanced in the snack and candy sciences than the U.S.
Y'know, I'm not so sure about this new-fangled retro "book" format. Sure, it's like dvd—you can pause, play, skip forward, and rewind—but it takes so much longer to watch. There *are* some advantages—third-party peripherals that allow you to mark your place if you need to pause indefinitely, and "books" are highly portable, with a player built right into each one. Also, I must say, I'm very impressed with the battery life. I mean, the words haven't faded or so much as flickered, not once. I guess the sleep mode must be super-efficient. Or perhaps there are solar cells embedded in their cases? It's a mystery. Still, with such a clunky interface, using "page" and "ink" technology (apparently some kind of e-ink derivative), how long can its popularity last? Unless Apple decides to rework this "book," I'd say it's a fad, probably won't even last as long as the tubes of the internetz.
Still, I suppose they could age into decent collector's items, right?
Was in disbelief upon spotting this tonight in Harvard Square...
Fer realz? Wack.Didja know that "ihop" spun upside-down is "doh!"? Go ahead and turn a menu over next time you're Rootin' Tootin' Fresh and Fruitin' =)
Keep on keepin on~
Oldboy
Thursday, November 09, 2006
demotivation for November
And in unrelated news... or is it?
THE DAILY SHOW's Moment of Zen last night was a clip of Rumsfeld walking down a hallway in slo-mo to some K-Fed somethin or other! Gen-genio-gen-gen-genius =)
Thanks to Hil for reminding me to...
Keep on marchin on~
* Just found the photos from the Brattle's EVIL DEAD 2/Halloween costume contest online! =)
a LOST dropping...
Frack. My Brattle membership expires today (Thursday) and the theater's closed for the Amy Sedaris special event. And, once again, I let a whole year of membership go by without using my coupons for free popcorn and soda, or for the free t-shirt. Ridiculous, no?
O well...~
I caught tonight's LOST—the last new one for two months, until February sometime, when ABC promises "16 NEW EPISODES IN 16 WEEKS, NOT ONE RERUN" (isn't that ridiculous promo copy?)—but don't think I've assimilated it quite long enough to tap out any new kooky ideas on it.
I DO have a bit of conjecture on some LOSTness from earlier this season. The premiere, to be exact. I was watching some Garth Marenghi I saved on replay (I caught a few in their super-convenient early am timeslot on SciFi this summer—or maybe it was a piece of a marathon?—in any case, I really hope that SciFi will play those again! =) and watched their CARRIE spoof episode. If you're not familiar with GARTH MARENGHI'S DARKPLACE, it's... well... it's like a British spoof of THE KINGDOM mixed with... umm... NIGHT STALKER? Maybe? And presented in a retrospective sort of form, hostd by the creator. DARKPLACE is a show created, written, starring, directed and somewhat scored by horror writer Garth Marenghi, and takes place in Darkplace hospital, where lots of weird X-FILESy stuff happens to a tight cast of two testosterony studly doctors, a bubbly nurse, and a shotgun-toting administrator played by Marenghi's manager/agent-turned-actor. I'm sure my words are not doing the show justice (especially the very excellent ADR and slo-mo =). You've just gotta see it.
Anyhow... ummm... What was I saying...?
Oh, right Garth Marenghi's DARKPLACE does Stephen King's CARRIE. How does this relate to LOST? Well isn't it OBVIOUS?
No? Well, scarily, in my head, it is. Seeing the CARRIE bit on DARKPLACE—when Liz is repeatedly taken for granted and underappreciated at work, her latent telekinetic powers are triggered, and directed by her vengeful subconscious, she terrorizes her coworkers with levitating cutlery and flying garbage cans—got me thinking of how a lot of Stephen King's supernatural riffs are very much in line with superpowered storylines. That is, he tells the story of special people developing comic book hero type powers, but in not-very-comic-booky environments. FIRESTARTER, CARRIE, THE STAND, and THE SHINING. There's some scary horrorific shite in there, but a good chunk of it has its origins in or hinges on one character's unusual super-human abilities. Introduced as "paranormal" or "psychic," non comic book readers will just think of these powers as things to be tested in labs with biofeedback and cards with squiggly lines, but make no mistake, you put Carrie White or Danny Torrance in a yellow and black costume and mask, they'd make great New Mutants or New X-Men.
So, given the notion of Walt's special abilities, Desmond's precognition, maybe Juliet's favorite book ever, the Stephen King novel she has the book club read, could be more about supernature than alternate dimensions and still be very LOSTy. CARRIE, anyone? Science fiction and religious hokum? Whaddyathink?
And movies-wise, aesthetically... Can't you totally see Juliet in her prom dress, covered in offal, telekinetically wacking everyone at the LOST Island High School Prom? =)
Hey, remember on VERONICA MARS when Dan "Homer Simpson" Castellanata leaves a scene with a "D'oh?" Well he does the exact same thing in an episode of ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT when he plays "the best doctor in southern California," who conducts some unnecessary surgery on poor Teen Wolf Too Bluth.
Yeah. That's important.
Walking home in the rain tonight...
Keep on keepin on~
O well...~I caught tonight's LOST—the last new one for two months, until February sometime, when ABC promises "16 NEW EPISODES IN 16 WEEKS, NOT ONE RERUN" (isn't that ridiculous promo copy?)—but don't think I've assimilated it quite long enough to tap out any new kooky ideas on it.
I DO have a bit of conjecture on some LOSTness from earlier this season. The premiere, to be exact. I was watching some Garth Marenghi I saved on replay (I caught a few in their super-convenient early am timeslot on SciFi this summer—or maybe it was a piece of a marathon?—in any case, I really hope that SciFi will play those again! =) and watched their CARRIE spoof episode. If you're not familiar with GARTH MARENGHI'S DARKPLACE, it's... well... it's like a British spoof of THE KINGDOM mixed with... umm... NIGHT STALKER? Maybe? And presented in a retrospective sort of form, hostd by the creator. DARKPLACE is a show created, written, starring, directed and somewhat scored by horror writer Garth Marenghi, and takes place in Darkplace hospital, where lots of weird X-FILESy stuff happens to a tight cast of two testosterony studly doctors, a bubbly nurse, and a shotgun-toting administrator played by Marenghi's manager/agent-turned-actor. I'm sure my words are not doing the show justice (especially the very excellent ADR and slo-mo =). You've just gotta see it.
Anyhow... ummm... What was I saying...?
Oh, right Garth Marenghi's DARKPLACE does Stephen King's CARRIE. How does this relate to LOST? Well isn't it OBVIOUS?
No? Well, scarily, in my head, it is. Seeing the CARRIE bit on DARKPLACE—when Liz is repeatedly taken for granted and underappreciated at work, her latent telekinetic powers are triggered, and directed by her vengeful subconscious, she terrorizes her coworkers with levitating cutlery and flying garbage cans—got me thinking of how a lot of Stephen King's supernatural riffs are very much in line with superpowered storylines. That is, he tells the story of special people developing comic book hero type powers, but in not-very-comic-booky environments. FIRESTARTER, CARRIE, THE STAND, and THE SHINING. There's some scary horrorific shite in there, but a good chunk of it has its origins in or hinges on one character's unusual super-human abilities. Introduced as "paranormal" or "psychic," non comic book readers will just think of these powers as things to be tested in labs with biofeedback and cards with squiggly lines, but make no mistake, you put Carrie White or Danny Torrance in a yellow and black costume and mask, they'd make great New Mutants or New X-Men.
So, given the notion of Walt's special abilities, Desmond's precognition, maybe Juliet's favorite book ever, the Stephen King novel she has the book club read, could be more about supernature than alternate dimensions and still be very LOSTy. CARRIE, anyone? Science fiction and religious hokum? Whaddyathink?
And movies-wise, aesthetically... Can't you totally see Juliet in her prom dress, covered in offal, telekinetically wacking everyone at the LOST Island High School Prom? =)
Hey, remember on VERONICA MARS when Dan "Homer Simpson" Castellanata leaves a scene with a "D'oh?" Well he does the exact same thing in an episode of ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT when he plays "the best doctor in southern California," who conducts some unnecessary surgery on poor Teen Wolf Too Bluth.
Yeah. That's important.
Walking home in the rain tonight...Keep on keepin on~
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
"Be able to resign..."
From "Rumsfeld's Rules" :
Be able to resign. It will improve your value to the president and do wonders for your performance.
Kind of like ballast...?
Thanks to Jess and boingboing.net for the current events candy! =)
Keep on keepin on~
Be able to resign. It will improve your value to the president and do wonders for your performance.
Kind of like ballast...?
Thanks to Jess and boingboing.net for the current events candy! =)
Keep on keepin on~
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
Vote-diddily-ote
I just heard some commentator-head on CNN, talking at Wolf, I think, in their mid-term election redecorated news bunker or whatever it is... Referring to Representative Don Sherwood, he imparted the following words of wisdom, a highly insightful analysis of political strategery...
"What you don't want to do is start off your campaign with an ad with you admitting to cheating on your wife, but denying that you ever beat that woman. That's not what you want to do..."
Man, I *know* the world is far from the best possible, thanks in large part to the great steward of the environment currently sitting in the White House and his team of very special interests, but it sure makes for some magickal inappropriate absurdist laughs, no?
F'in F'd the F up!
Rock the vote, tip the vote over!~
Keep on keepin on~
"What you don't want to do is start off your campaign with an ad with you admitting to cheating on your wife, but denying that you ever beat that woman. That's not what you want to do..."
Man, I *know* the world is far from the best possible, thanks in large part to the great steward of the environment currently sitting in the White House and his team of very special interests, but it sure makes for some magickal inappropriate absurdist laughs, no?
F'in F'd the F up!
Rock the vote, tip the vote over!~Keep on keepin on~
Monday, November 06, 2006
HEROES: meanwhile...
I've been watching the show on a replayTV delayed schedule, and having to watch the Friday SciFi rebroadcast, cuz the Monday night airtime conflicts with... ummm... this other show I watch...
What show? Well, y'know, what's that really good show that's on Monday nights? That one. Yeah, it's on at the same time, so I had to choose... What's that? You don't know which show I mean? errr... umm...
PRISON BREAK, allright? THERE! I said it! PRISON BREAK!
Yeah, Brett Ratner crapped on the X-MEN franchise, but he manages to cobble together some pretty entertaining televisional candy. The transitions to commercials are really crappy now compared to previous seasons'—you're seeing like cornfields and street intersections and suburban tracts instead of the pipes and tunnels and wetwalls of Fox River, not nearly as cool. Regardless, check it out if you've got some Monday nighttime to kill, preferably with some idiot who's already watching it. =)
Anyhow, HEROES!
Being a hack of a comic book type fanboy, I was a bit annoyed with the show after the first three episodes. I totally dig what the show wants to do, but felt that it was way too clunky. Having Mohinder's voice open the show just screamed UNBREAKABLE to me, too. I got over it soon enough, but, well, do you see how that's kind of annoying? The Nikki storyline w all the mirrors was probably most annoying. Well, that, and Mohinder (apparently) not getting that his dad's lady friend is a mole for Father Knows Best.
When Nikki found the other bodies in the desert, I thought one of them was DL—I think there was a shot of a ring and she seemed to recognize it—and that she had killed him. Then I thought it was DL who had the power, and someone else kiled him, and that he somehow jumped into Nikki to take revenge and hide out. Right up until I saw her "switch over" and go back and get freaky with the future Congressman "Prophet" Petrilli.
A couple episodes ago, tho, the show totally won me over. It was when Nikki was coerced by mobster Linderman into making a sex tape with the flying candidate. I swung over to committing to enjoying HEROES when Petrilli went high altitude on Father Knows Best and his telepathic bouncer and then zipped away. That was pretty kickass. =)
The skidding to a landing by the diner in the desert was pretty good, too.
I'm a little annoyed that the half DNA or RNA string keeps showing up everywhere. At first I kind of liked it, scribbled, or tattooed, but it showed up in the pool when the telepathic detective first manifests. The only way I'll be okay with that is if Hiro's been doing more time travelling to go back in time and give everyone some hints, to prep them for their team-up, give them a subconscious visual to key in on, perhaps even rally around as a team.
Maybe it's a subconscious trigger?
I really like that DL *does* have a power, which totally sets Micah up to be a young supertype, a Tinkerer or Mechanic. I also dig that he took out Nikki, because her Enchantress problem would surely be an issue with a team of do-gooders. All she could be is someone who volunteers for a suicide mission, to "hold the line" somewhere, or take someone else's bullet. That it happened in the episodes about evolution being about survival, and not good and evil, not bad.
Also, DL is just a thief, and not a killer. So he's got the potential to be a good guy. A step up from his schizo wife.
Wishful thinking that she's passed tense, I'm sure. Can't kill off the internet stripper so early in the series, right? And only half of her is chaotic. The other half is a single mom trying her darnedest to raise her kid, right? So, she'll recover from whatever DL did to her by phasing into her abdomen (kinky, no?) and then have to let her dark side take control to find him and their son.
Micah's no dummy. How much does he know about his two moms?
I *do* like seeing the show execute on the DOOM PATROLy superhuman idea of a secondary personality with its own super-abilities. In its kickass surrealist hero days, the PATROL had a superheroine with... I forget how many, but a LOT, of personalities, each with his or her own power. Genius.
The close call/not quite crossovers are all getting pretty annoying. Teases, y'know? And that Hiro's the only one who seems po-mo enough to get that they're in a comic book, and are OF comic books. I mean, Peter as much as SAYS so out loud to the painter when he's placing the paintings in order—"like a comic book!" But they just ignore it. And painter neglects to mention that he actually writes and draws 9TH WONDER...?
*sigh*
Frack. I'm talking myself into being annoyed with the show again.
The time travelling with Hiro is Good. And I love Hiro's direct references to comic books and comic book tradition. I'll allow the choice of character name. It amuses me enough.
I originally thought that Syler (is that how it's spelled? What a crappy name : P) was Father Knows Best. That he must be a newly developed "homo superior" who hooked up with Mohinder's dad early in his research and theorizing and discovered that his particular abilities could be augmented by assimilating (eating, processing, bathing in, taking) the lives of other metahumans. So, he's been using Mohinder's dad's research and map to hunt them down and cut open their heads and extract their brains.
Once I saw Father Knows Best teamed up with another meta, his telepathic enforcer, I felt like the Syler thing broke down. Syler wouldn't be working with anyone else. Or at least, no one would agree to work with Syler, knowing what he was doing. So Father has got to be something else. Maybe government. Maybe associated with some drug company that created a supplement or pain killer or something for pregnant mothers in the 60s that was taken off the shelves due to some wacked out side effects. Turns out that the children of mothers who took this whatever-it-is have a very high chance of developing zany powers. (See SCANNERS =)
And Father is tracking them down. Catalogging them? Researching? Maybe putting together a network of agents to call on for the government? Maybe policing them? I don't know. Will have to see more still. Thing is, he openly plays the menacing guy with some of hits meta-marks.
Maybe he can make duplicates of himself.
How freaking annoying is it that Peter keeps saying he can fly? He's a mimic, not a flyer. Dumbass!
*sigh*
Again with the annoying...
When I started rambling, I really did like the show.
I'm so confused.
Keep on keepin on~
What show? Well, y'know, what's that really good show that's on Monday nights? That one. Yeah, it's on at the same time, so I had to choose... What's that? You don't know which show I mean? errr... umm...
PRISON BREAK, allright? THERE! I said it! PRISON BREAK!
Yeah, Brett Ratner crapped on the X-MEN franchise, but he manages to cobble together some pretty entertaining televisional candy. The transitions to commercials are really crappy now compared to previous seasons'—you're seeing like cornfields and street intersections and suburban tracts instead of the pipes and tunnels and wetwalls of Fox River, not nearly as cool. Regardless, check it out if you've got some Monday nighttime to kill, preferably with some idiot who's already watching it. =)
Anyhow, HEROES!
Being a hack of a comic book type fanboy, I was a bit annoyed with the show after the first three episodes. I totally dig what the show wants to do, but felt that it was way too clunky. Having Mohinder's voice open the show just screamed UNBREAKABLE to me, too. I got over it soon enough, but, well, do you see how that's kind of annoying? The Nikki storyline w all the mirrors was probably most annoying. Well, that, and Mohinder (apparently) not getting that his dad's lady friend is a mole for Father Knows Best.
When Nikki found the other bodies in the desert, I thought one of them was DL—I think there was a shot of a ring and she seemed to recognize it—and that she had killed him. Then I thought it was DL who had the power, and someone else kiled him, and that he somehow jumped into Nikki to take revenge and hide out. Right up until I saw her "switch over" and go back and get freaky with the future Congressman "Prophet" Petrilli.
A couple episodes ago, tho, the show totally won me over. It was when Nikki was coerced by mobster Linderman into making a sex tape with the flying candidate. I swung over to committing to enjoying HEROES when Petrilli went high altitude on Father Knows Best and his telepathic bouncer and then zipped away. That was pretty kickass. =)
The skidding to a landing by the diner in the desert was pretty good, too.
I'm a little annoyed that the half DNA or RNA string keeps showing up everywhere. At first I kind of liked it, scribbled, or tattooed, but it showed up in the pool when the telepathic detective first manifests. The only way I'll be okay with that is if Hiro's been doing more time travelling to go back in time and give everyone some hints, to prep them for their team-up, give them a subconscious visual to key in on, perhaps even rally around as a team.
Maybe it's a subconscious trigger?
I really like that DL *does* have a power, which totally sets Micah up to be a young supertype, a Tinkerer or Mechanic. I also dig that he took out Nikki, because her Enchantress problem would surely be an issue with a team of do-gooders. All she could be is someone who volunteers for a suicide mission, to "hold the line" somewhere, or take someone else's bullet. That it happened in the episodes about evolution being about survival, and not good and evil, not bad.
Also, DL is just a thief, and not a killer. So he's got the potential to be a good guy. A step up from his schizo wife.
Wishful thinking that she's passed tense, I'm sure. Can't kill off the internet stripper so early in the series, right? And only half of her is chaotic. The other half is a single mom trying her darnedest to raise her kid, right? So, she'll recover from whatever DL did to her by phasing into her abdomen (kinky, no?) and then have to let her dark side take control to find him and their son.
Micah's no dummy. How much does he know about his two moms?
I *do* like seeing the show execute on the DOOM PATROLy superhuman idea of a secondary personality with its own super-abilities. In its kickass surrealist hero days, the PATROL had a superheroine with... I forget how many, but a LOT, of personalities, each with his or her own power. Genius.
The close call/not quite crossovers are all getting pretty annoying. Teases, y'know? And that Hiro's the only one who seems po-mo enough to get that they're in a comic book, and are OF comic books. I mean, Peter as much as SAYS so out loud to the painter when he's placing the paintings in order—"like a comic book!" But they just ignore it. And painter neglects to mention that he actually writes and draws 9TH WONDER...?
*sigh*
Frack. I'm talking myself into being annoyed with the show again.
The time travelling with Hiro is Good. And I love Hiro's direct references to comic books and comic book tradition. I'll allow the choice of character name. It amuses me enough.
I originally thought that Syler (is that how it's spelled? What a crappy name : P) was Father Knows Best. That he must be a newly developed "homo superior" who hooked up with Mohinder's dad early in his research and theorizing and discovered that his particular abilities could be augmented by assimilating (eating, processing, bathing in, taking) the lives of other metahumans. So, he's been using Mohinder's dad's research and map to hunt them down and cut open their heads and extract their brains.
Once I saw Father Knows Best teamed up with another meta, his telepathic enforcer, I felt like the Syler thing broke down. Syler wouldn't be working with anyone else. Or at least, no one would agree to work with Syler, knowing what he was doing. So Father has got to be something else. Maybe government. Maybe associated with some drug company that created a supplement or pain killer or something for pregnant mothers in the 60s that was taken off the shelves due to some wacked out side effects. Turns out that the children of mothers who took this whatever-it-is have a very high chance of developing zany powers. (See SCANNERS =)
And Father is tracking them down. Catalogging them? Researching? Maybe putting together a network of agents to call on for the government? Maybe policing them? I don't know. Will have to see more still. Thing is, he openly plays the menacing guy with some of hits meta-marks.
Maybe he can make duplicates of himself.
How freaking annoying is it that Peter keeps saying he can fly? He's a mimic, not a flyer. Dumbass!
*sigh*
Again with the annoying...
When I started rambling, I really did like the show.
I'm so confused.
Keep on keepin on~
Remind Your World: Vote Tomorrow!
For info on registration and polling locations, check out Election Impact. (The locator should be good for locations by zip code anywhere in the 50 states.)
Thanks to Camstar for keeping me on my political toes. =)
Keep on keepin on~
Thanks to Camstar for keeping me on my political toes. =)
Keep on keepin on~
Living With War—Neil Young
The image link will take you to YooGle. It's available in Quicktime from the Neil Young site as well.Also, have a look at "Because Of Iraq..."
Thanks to BUSHFLASH for doing the online legwork. Go there to check out Eric's consisently thought-provoking and insightful words and pictures...
Jersey represent!
Keep on rockin in the free world~
Saturday, November 04, 2006
tussin' along at home...
Robitussin (aka CVS's Tussin)... Gotta love it.
Especially if you walk home at 2 in the morning in what was reportedly 35 degrees and then cough yourself awake repeatedly a few hours after you crash. I think I shall have to take a bottle with me to the movies tonight when I go back for more PUSHER fun.
Because of my serial hacking, I ended up bailing on a friend's short film shoot. I was gonna be a gaffer type I guess, y'know—tote that film barge, lift that film bail, or whatnot... I really didn't have anything else "on deck" so the morning sorta slipped away wrapped up in bed, dosed with tussin, and flipping thru comic books.
I spent a chunk of the afternoon looking up TV repair places, but the most favorable-looking candidates are all out of business, or at least, have changed their frickin phone numbers. Stupid internetz. Can anyone recommend a repair shop or service? This is not a speciality HD/flat screen/plasma/projection TV (there were a couple services that specialized in house calls, but only on the level of "home theater" equipment, bleah). It's just a large tube, with a flat (not curved) surface. I tried calling Philips's help line, which according to their website was supposed to be operating today, but got a message I'd have to call back during their regular weekday hours. I was hoping to get some leads by getting the names of local authorized Philips service whatchamacallits...
Not to be.
Once I got myself consistently vertical (I could look up repair info online from the futon w the laptop, and the phone is cordless =), I pretty much puttered around the homestead all day... Assembling some organizer-type Target purchases and moving my stuff around... half-assedly, but making baby steps progresswise in the whole settling-in campaign. I put together my Ikea boxy shelf thing in my room last weekend (or was it two weekends ago?), but haven't yet populated it. That's coming along now...
Slowly...
Bleah. Allright, mostly I've been wrapped in a blanket in front of one screen or another watching my stories, nyeah : P
Big Saturday. Hoo-ah!
Keep on keepin on~
Especially if you walk home at 2 in the morning in what was reportedly 35 degrees and then cough yourself awake repeatedly a few hours after you crash. I think I shall have to take a bottle with me to the movies tonight when I go back for more PUSHER fun.
Because of my serial hacking, I ended up bailing on a friend's short film shoot. I was gonna be a gaffer type I guess, y'know—tote that film barge, lift that film bail, or whatnot... I really didn't have anything else "on deck" so the morning sorta slipped away wrapped up in bed, dosed with tussin, and flipping thru comic books.
I spent a chunk of the afternoon looking up TV repair places, but the most favorable-looking candidates are all out of business, or at least, have changed their frickin phone numbers. Stupid internetz. Can anyone recommend a repair shop or service? This is not a speciality HD/flat screen/plasma/projection TV (there were a couple services that specialized in house calls, but only on the level of "home theater" equipment, bleah). It's just a large tube, with a flat (not curved) surface. I tried calling Philips's help line, which according to their website was supposed to be operating today, but got a message I'd have to call back during their regular weekday hours. I was hoping to get some leads by getting the names of local authorized Philips service whatchamacallits...
Not to be.
Once I got myself consistently vertical (I could look up repair info online from the futon w the laptop, and the phone is cordless =), I pretty much puttered around the homestead all day... Assembling some organizer-type Target purchases and moving my stuff around... half-assedly, but making baby steps progresswise in the whole settling-in campaign. I put together my Ikea boxy shelf thing in my room last weekend (or was it two weekends ago?), but haven't yet populated it. That's coming along now...
Slowly...
Bleah. Allright, mostly I've been wrapped in a blanket in front of one screen or another watching my stories, nyeah : P
Big Saturday. Hoo-ah!
Keep on keepin on~
check out the PUSHER films@the Brattle!
Just got home from seeing the first film—PUSHER—and it is frickin kick@ss non-stop drug dealing underworld harshness! *With* some snappy dealer-buddy dialogue. *And* it happens in Copenhagen, with subtitles! So it'll feel like culture! =)
This film plays again at 1pm Saturday, and the second and third PUSHERs play as late shows Saturday (2 & 3) and Sunday (just 3). Check them out if you can. I imagine they'll each work just fine as standalone rollercoasters thru hell. Don't miss big screen opportunity to see this Danish Tony Soprano-meets-Tom Sizemore drug-dealing nogoodnik try to get himself out of the worst kind of jam...
Fun!
Check out the trailer and the Brattle schedule and get thee to the theater!
Y'know, unless you've got, like, something, y'know, real and human going on...~
Keep on keepin on~
This film plays again at 1pm Saturday, and the second and third PUSHERs play as late shows Saturday (2 & 3) and Sunday (just 3). Check them out if you can. I imagine they'll each work just fine as standalone rollercoasters thru hell. Don't miss big screen opportunity to see this Danish Tony Soprano-meets-Tom Sizemore drug-dealing nogoodnik try to get himself out of the worst kind of jam...Fun!
Check out the trailer and the Brattle schedule and get thee to the theater!
Y'know, unless you've got, like, something, y'know, real and human going on...~
Keep on keepin on~
Friday, November 03, 2006
LOST: (imploded) but not forgotten...
No more spooky UV map. Except what Locke manages to scribble from memory... Stupid imploded hatch! Bleah.And, hey! What Desmond knows/remembers. Snowman, and (granted, invisibble) painting onlooker, and all... The Pearl *was* a surprise to him, but according to the map, it would have been, right?
We also lost those murals in the corridor! Although no survivors ever really gave them too much consideration on the show. Still, they looked kind of CANDYMAN spooky to me. Did Desmond paint those? Kelvin? Razinksy or whatever-his-name-was who splattered himself on the Hatch ceiling? Will Locke ever bring up the UV map in convo with Desmond?
Frickin frackin sazzafrazzin TV show... GET OUT OF MY HEAD!
*sigh*
I realized something after posting my last LOST entry. The Others do the costumed-as-savages thing for the benefit of the Dharma Hatchlings. Could be costumes, for their assigned act, or disguises, to cover their island activities and engender underestimation of their resources and threat level. Kelvin referred to them as something snarky, like "the natives," when he discouraged Desmond from exploring outside the hatch on his own. Other civilized Dharma Hatch tenders would think of them in the same way—wacky natives. I don't think any of the orientation films or vids have referred to island denizens, so maybe Dharma has them active on the Island as part of whatever simulation/psych experiment they're running on the Hatchlings (was there any reference to them in the excerpts from the pile of notebooks?), OR, perhaps Dharma doesn't know about them at all, which would mean that the Others are a group APART from Dharma that periodically need to mess around on the island, but appear to be "natives," stranded castaways without access to tech or sophisticated tools and materials...
Black Cloud. Dharma guard dog? Dharma guard dog gone rabid? Dharma experiment? Dharma experiment gone haywire/escaped subject? A god? A god complex? Does it care about Good and Bad and guilt and repentance...?
Thanks (for nothing!) to enabler Kirsten for the map to the map! =)
Keep on keepin on~
my feelgood hit movie weekend...
The PUSHER trilogy plays as the late shows at Brattle this weekend. Anyone wanna check it out?
Also, keep a close eye on the Brattle schedule for the next few weeks as they continue to screen classic foreign film fare from the Janus Films library.
I remember the two-faced doorway God's image with the logo appearing before all the Kurasawa films I watched on VHS way back when. If you see anything coming up that piques your interest, but you don't think you can finish a large popcorn by yourself, do get in touch and I'll see what I can do to help you out. =)
This weekend—PUSHER!
Keep on tweakin on~
Also, keep a close eye on the Brattle schedule for the next few weeks as they continue to screen classic foreign film fare from the Janus Films library.I remember the two-faced doorway God's image with the logo appearing before all the Kurasawa films I watched on VHS way back when. If you see anything coming up that piques your interest, but you don't think you can finish a large popcorn by yourself, do get in touch and I'll see what I can do to help you out. =)This weekend—PUSHER!
Keep on tweakin on~
Thursday, November 02, 2006
Halloweenerds =)
Some pretty nifty and nerdy costumes. Submissions to WIRED's gallery of Techie Halloween Costumes.
Keep on geekin on~
Keep on geekin on~
LOST: You speak to me as if I were your brother.
Well! Fina-frickin-lutely! The return of the Black Cloud!
And... those frickin second stringers. Maybe they'll be like STAR TREK's "red shirts," more disposable human shields than characters? Well, I can hope. Well, okay, just the guy. We can keep the girl, right? =)
When she was speaking up down in the Pearl (two birds, one stone), I wondered if the writers wanted to advance some of the second stringers as "voices of the fans," y'know? The show's g(r)eek chorus, bringing up questions and events that the Cool Kids have repeatedly ignored, for whatever reasons, but viewers, and people with a few hundred less issues, have *got* to be asking...
As long as they're entertaining and/or helpful, I'll suffer them.
Guy with the eye patch. WTF? Do we need another mystery person manning another mystery hatch? I'm pretty sure we don't. Looked like it could've been the setup for another EM containment hatch, eh?
And was that eyepatch dude the craggy guy from PROFILER and lately STARGATE and one of the bad guy sons from GOONIES? Eyepatch...
Echo. I'm going to miss him. Y'know, until the Island (or the Black Cloud) decides to reanimate him to communicate with other survivors.
The way that Yemmi and the Cloud tag-teamed Echo made it appear like they were one and the same. Especially when they one-two him at the end. WTF up with that? Echo "faced" the Cloud down last season and walked away. What changed?
Something that occurred to me early on in this episode... The Black Cloud was likely already on the island before Oceanic 815 (I thought maybe it was Walter's Id, and maybe it is, I'm just talkin here, another theory, y'know), but not necessarily before Echo's brother's plane. It could have been created by the small plane's crash, or delivered, somehow. Maybe it's a kind of Ju-On Curse...
Just talkin...
Something that I was hoping for before this episode... That the spinal x-rays were of Locke, not Ben. Even when Jack confronts Ben about it, I was still hoping that Ben was just playing dumb/along to not give anything up.
I would really like for there to be some internal problems regarding Ben's leadership of the others, but of course, it could all just be more of the brainwashing/breaking game...
Bastards.
So, the x-rays *could* still be Locke's, and the tumor the cause of the loss of the use of his legs in the real world... They could persuade Jack to operate, and then do a switcheroo on the patients, with the body covered by hospital sheets or whatever, with a cutout for the spinal area that needs to be worked on. Could be a test to see if Jack would actually let Ben die under the knife. Or maybe just paralyze him.
Oh, that would be FUN! =)
The politics within the Others' camp... Interesting. A distraction from real Island mysteries, of course, but interesting. It's a pretty consistent set-up, when you recall the smartass "guess I'm out of the book club" remark/non-sequitur from the premiere, followed thru with Ben treating Juliet as expendable, and Juliet pretty obviously not appreciative of being ordered around.
Ben's proof of God is nice and LOSTy...
How many other wishes were fulfilled by Desmond not entering those numbers in time?
I would like some clarification on what Locke believes in each episode now. I've accepted that he's flipped back to being a true-believer after being All Wrong about the numbers and his hatch, but it's a bit annoying that it hasn't been addresed by himself, Charlie, Desmond, or even Echo, all of whom were present at the hatch implosion, y'know?
Maybe Wendy or Marvin will get around to asking them about it.
Does BURNING a corpse give it over to the Black Cloud's realm of control? And death without immolation offers it up to the Island's authority? We've seen Jack's dad, Anna Lucia, Boone, and Echo's brother appear post-mortem, to Jack, Echo, Locke, and Locke and Echo, respectively, apparently benevolently. This is the first time that we've seen the identity of a dead body on the Island used to deceive and punish a survivor.
They burned Colleen's body.
I really don't think that Juliet looks *uncannily* like Jack's ex-ED-wife, do you?
Not even cannily.
Even tho he'd killed quite a few people in his life, Echo's name was on a list. A list of the "good guys" that the Others wanted to abduct. Were those somehow righteous/justifiable kills? After clubbing two of the Others, does he no longer make that list? The Black Cloud didn't touch him even then.
Where are the newbie Others? Y'know, abductees from Oceanic 815? Smashing rocks?
This second island business... So unnecessary, bleah. Is it invisible from the survivors' island? Is it on the UV painted map? Is it b.s., and the island that Ben showed Sawyer is some kind of meteorological reflection phenomenon?
Nah. I suppose it's there. A smaller island within sight of the big LOST island. Does it share all the strange properties of the big island? Does the healing/pain-killing/mind-over-matterness of the big island also apply on the small one? Did the polar bears swim over? What's up with the sub? Seemed like Jack was led out of his aquarium cell to the viking funeral (and also to surgery last episode) pretty quickly/directly, with no reference or glimpse of a sub.
If the island will repair sickness or damage that is less than severly traumatic/catastrophic, i.e. a bullet to the brain or decapitation—look at Rose(?) and Locke, right?—shouldn't it save Ben? Or is it "saving" him now, but what that amounts to is his being able to do everything he believes he should be able to while the tumor continues to grow?
The Others' village is on the big island (the end of the opening scene of the season premiere).
Echo hallucinates/Black Cloud takes the form of the gangsters he wacked in his brother's church and then the little altar boy, who does a Walt "shush" with a little more...
Shhh... confess...
Taking those forms also fed my theory of the Cloud coming to the island with the heroin plane.
So not fair wacking Echo like that. A crappy way to go. At least, I guess, it didn't take a bite out of him. I do love Echo's non-confession to his non-brother. Well said.
Helluva way to reveal some bad mojo.
Assuming that Black Cloud was playing the part of Yemmi, that Cloud really wanted Echo to confess. It was judging him as guilty, a sinner, but was ready to be pleased with/appeased by Echo's confession. This thing wants people to be good, or at least some kind of good. Maybe the difference between their earlier "face-to-cloudface" encounter and this one is that Echo did feel guilty then, but no longer.
Keep on keepin on~
And... those frickin second stringers. Maybe they'll be like STAR TREK's "red shirts," more disposable human shields than characters? Well, I can hope. Well, okay, just the guy. We can keep the girl, right? =)
When she was speaking up down in the Pearl (two birds, one stone), I wondered if the writers wanted to advance some of the second stringers as "voices of the fans," y'know? The show's g(r)eek chorus, bringing up questions and events that the Cool Kids have repeatedly ignored, for whatever reasons, but viewers, and people with a few hundred less issues, have *got* to be asking...
As long as they're entertaining and/or helpful, I'll suffer them.
Guy with the eye patch. WTF? Do we need another mystery person manning another mystery hatch? I'm pretty sure we don't. Looked like it could've been the setup for another EM containment hatch, eh?
And was that eyepatch dude the craggy guy from PROFILER and lately STARGATE and one of the bad guy sons from GOONIES? Eyepatch...
Echo. I'm going to miss him. Y'know, until the Island (or the Black Cloud) decides to reanimate him to communicate with other survivors.
The way that Yemmi and the Cloud tag-teamed Echo made it appear like they were one and the same. Especially when they one-two him at the end. WTF up with that? Echo "faced" the Cloud down last season and walked away. What changed?
Something that occurred to me early on in this episode... The Black Cloud was likely already on the island before Oceanic 815 (I thought maybe it was Walter's Id, and maybe it is, I'm just talkin here, another theory, y'know), but not necessarily before Echo's brother's plane. It could have been created by the small plane's crash, or delivered, somehow. Maybe it's a kind of Ju-On Curse...
Just talkin...
Something that I was hoping for before this episode... That the spinal x-rays were of Locke, not Ben. Even when Jack confronts Ben about it, I was still hoping that Ben was just playing dumb/along to not give anything up.
I would really like for there to be some internal problems regarding Ben's leadership of the others, but of course, it could all just be more of the brainwashing/breaking game...
Bastards.
So, the x-rays *could* still be Locke's, and the tumor the cause of the loss of the use of his legs in the real world... They could persuade Jack to operate, and then do a switcheroo on the patients, with the body covered by hospital sheets or whatever, with a cutout for the spinal area that needs to be worked on. Could be a test to see if Jack would actually let Ben die under the knife. Or maybe just paralyze him.
Oh, that would be FUN! =)
The politics within the Others' camp... Interesting. A distraction from real Island mysteries, of course, but interesting. It's a pretty consistent set-up, when you recall the smartass "guess I'm out of the book club" remark/non-sequitur from the premiere, followed thru with Ben treating Juliet as expendable, and Juliet pretty obviously not appreciative of being ordered around.
Ben's proof of God is nice and LOSTy...
| ___________________________________________________________ | |
| Ben: | Do you believe in God, Jack? |
| Jack: | Do you? |
| Ben: | Two days after I found out I had a fatal tumor on my spine, a spinal surgeon fell out of the sky... And if that's not proof of God, I don't know what is. |
| ___________________________________________________________ | |
| ___________________________________________________________ | |
| Locke: | Echo's heading for the plane that crashed on top of the entrance to the Pearl station. |
| Desmond: | Well, that's quite a coincidence. |
| Locke: | Don't mistake coincidence for fate... |
| ___________________________________________________________ | |
Maybe Wendy or Marvin will get around to asking them about it.
Does BURNING a corpse give it over to the Black Cloud's realm of control? And death without immolation offers it up to the Island's authority? We've seen Jack's dad, Anna Lucia, Boone, and Echo's brother appear post-mortem, to Jack, Echo, Locke, and Locke and Echo, respectively, apparently benevolently. This is the first time that we've seen the identity of a dead body on the Island used to deceive and punish a survivor.
They burned Colleen's body.
I really don't think that Juliet looks *uncannily* like Jack's ex-ED-wife, do you?
Not even cannily.
Even tho he'd killed quite a few people in his life, Echo's name was on a list. A list of the "good guys" that the Others wanted to abduct. Were those somehow righteous/justifiable kills? After clubbing two of the Others, does he no longer make that list? The Black Cloud didn't touch him even then.
Where are the newbie Others? Y'know, abductees from Oceanic 815? Smashing rocks?
This second island business... So unnecessary, bleah. Is it invisible from the survivors' island? Is it on the UV painted map? Is it b.s., and the island that Ben showed Sawyer is some kind of meteorological reflection phenomenon?
Nah. I suppose it's there. A smaller island within sight of the big LOST island. Does it share all the strange properties of the big island? Does the healing/pain-killing/mind-over-matterness of the big island also apply on the small one? Did the polar bears swim over? What's up with the sub? Seemed like Jack was led out of his aquarium cell to the viking funeral (and also to surgery last episode) pretty quickly/directly, with no reference or glimpse of a sub.
If the island will repair sickness or damage that is less than severly traumatic/catastrophic, i.e. a bullet to the brain or decapitation—look at Rose(?) and Locke, right?—shouldn't it save Ben? Or is it "saving" him now, but what that amounts to is his being able to do everything he believes he should be able to while the tumor continues to grow?
The Others' village is on the big island (the end of the opening scene of the season premiere).
Echo hallucinates/Black Cloud takes the form of the gangsters he wacked in his brother's church and then the little altar boy, who does a Walt "shush" with a little more...
Shhh... confess...
Taking those forms also fed my theory of the Cloud coming to the island with the heroin plane.
So not fair wacking Echo like that. A crappy way to go. At least, I guess, it didn't take a bite out of him. I do love Echo's non-confession to his non-brother. Well said.
| ___________________________________________________________ | |
| Echo: | I ask for no forgiveness, father, for I have not sinned. [Yemmi looks a bit ticked off at that.] I have only done what I needed to do to survive. A small boy once asked me if I was a bad man. If I could answer him now, I would tell him, that when I was a young boy, I killed a man to save my brother's life. I am not sorry for this... I am proud of this. [kneeling] I did not ask for the life that I was given, but it was given, nonetheless, and with it, I did my best. |
| Yemmi: | You speak to me as if I were your brother. |
| ___________________________________________________________ | |
Assuming that Black Cloud was playing the part of Yemmi, that Cloud really wanted Echo to confess. It was judging him as guilty, a sinner, but was ready to be pleased with/appeased by Echo's confession. This thing wants people to be good, or at least some kind of good. Maybe the difference between their earlier "face-to-cloudface" encounter and this one is that Echo did feel guilty then, but no longer.
| ___________________________________________________________ | |
| Sayid: | What did he say, John? |
| Locke: | He said, "We're next." |
| ___________________________________________________________ | |
Wednesday, November 01, 2006
maybe next year...
I waffled/slacked hard on assembling something resembling a Halloween costume this year. Typically I sit this unholyday out, but I quietly talked myself into considering perhaps possibly thinking about putting a little bit of something together this time around. With a week to go I scrambled to get a mask and half-assed outfit for some possible Saturday zombie socializing, then for a possible Sunday outing, and ultimately for a trip to the Brattle for some EVIL DEAD 2 action. Alas, Saturday and Sunday whatnot didn't happen, and I just couldn't mobilize to get things put together for tonight's Brattle session. I think I've got all the pieces...
I tried putting together the mask bit using foil, tape, and paint, but that worked out to be less than lovely. The foil made for a decent form fit, but the tape and paint created a scrubby surface, bleah. Then I tried using yellow craft foam, which was more what I was hoping for. Although creating a foam mask that would also work with my wearing glasses posed a serious problem. In the end, I decided that I'd combine both materials—the foil and tape would be the "inside," which could work with glasses, and the foam cutout would be the "outside"/front/surface. Of course, I didn't get around to executing on this, but I think it sounds good in theory, at least. No?
I hadn't seen it on the big or little screen in years I think. It's really amazing how satisfying it is even after dozens of viewings. Of course, at the Brattle on Halloween, there were a lot of fans—two dressed as decent Ashes =) — but from the crowd reaction, there were also a decent number of newbies in the nearly sold-out crowd. So it was a great, fresh, mob audience experience, y'know?
I was a little surprised that there was nary a chuckle at the part where Ash is in the cellar, you can hear his right-hand chainsaw purring, and he reaches up into the pipes above him to grab some of the missing pages of the Book of the Dead... WITH HIS RIGHT HAND! Maybe that's no big whup to diehard ED2 fans? Or maybe there just weren't that many diehards in the room...
Scene after scene, I could hear Zorky's comments and laughs and our shared awe and observations on the film from our own screenings and discussions. How does Bruce Campbell not get an Oscar for "Best Fight With One's Hand?" Or greatest ADR one liner? And the plot itself, it's so damn tight and clever, just like the smallest cabin in the woods you'll ever see, with the most doors and rooms ever, heh.
The movie is just so frickin entertaining! =)
In and Rowan and Glen made it to the 10pm showtime, which was preceded by a costume contest. My sister, channelling Velma of the Scoobies, is in the running. I guess the Brattle will post photos soon and then the contest results [*November 9: found the photos posted!]. There was also a pre-show audience choice costume award. There was a peasant-dressed and old-school roller skated Kyra, from XANADU. There was a Wash from FIREFLY, carrying around miniature dinosaurs. There was a guy with a giant right hand, which I totally dug. Flashed me to THE SIMPSONS of course, where Homer is walking thru the corridors of the power plant reading what he's written on his hand to say to Mr. Burns. He passes this guy walking the other way who's also reading from his hand, but it is giant-sized, and he's reading, "...I'm tired of the comments about my enormous hand..." Heh heh. That show really did usedta be awesome...
*sigh*
There was also a guy in a green shirt and a green ski cap with green, like, spikes on it—"I'm asparagus." Also, he danced. A little. There was an Ash, alas, sporting only a _toy_ chainsaw. There was a decent Mario and Luigi combo. When Ned held the mic up to them to identify themselvs, Mario triggered some recording of the game music he had in his coveralls pocket. Too bad they didn't set up any boxes, heh. Then there was a computer... *with ethernet!* SCAARY =) Also, a well-dressed zombie. And finally, the audience award winner, a frightful and prettily done up melting china doll. This girl was dressed and made up quite perfectly in a china doll way, white face, painted/inked in features and expression, but had blackened/charred out half her face makeup and done SOMEthing to her hair to make it look quite burned up and once-molten. Pretty amazing.
My sister and I were at the theater for the 7pm KWAIDAN also, which is gorgeous. Four spooky short stories set in the good old peasant and lord days in Japan. I think it was released in 1965, and it may feel a bit slow for the average 21st century movie-goer, but man, the atmosphere is timeless and the visuals gorgeous. More spooky and haunting than outright jump-out-of-your-seat scary. A lot of the wide-open action must've taken place on giant sound stages, on which giant fields, sprawling temples and homes, tumultuous seas, and snow covered woods were re-created, against beautiful painted skies. I could see the origins of "hair horror" in one of the stories, and another I *know* I've seen ripped off by TWILIGHT ZONE or OUTER LIMITS in a modern version with Rae Bleah Chong as a "perfect girlfriend" to a not-so-starving artists.
Me go lie down now...
Keep on keepin on~
I tried putting together the mask bit using foil, tape, and paint, but that worked out to be less than lovely. The foil made for a decent form fit, but the tape and paint created a scrubby surface, bleah. Then I tried using yellow craft foam, which was more what I was hoping for. Although creating a foam mask that would also work with my wearing glasses posed a serious problem. In the end, I decided that I'd combine both materials—the foil and tape would be the "inside," which could work with glasses, and the foam cutout would be the "outside"/front/surface. Of course, I didn't get around to executing on this, but I think it sounds good in theory, at least. No?___________________________________________________________
EVIL DEAD 2 at the Brattle tonight was AWEsome! =)
I hadn't seen it on the big or little screen in years I think. It's really amazing how satisfying it is even after dozens of viewings. Of course, at the Brattle on Halloween, there were a lot of fans—two dressed as decent Ashes =) — but from the crowd reaction, there were also a decent number of newbies in the nearly sold-out crowd. So it was a great, fresh, mob audience experience, y'know?
I was a little surprised that there was nary a chuckle at the part where Ash is in the cellar, you can hear his right-hand chainsaw purring, and he reaches up into the pipes above him to grab some of the missing pages of the Book of the Dead... WITH HIS RIGHT HAND! Maybe that's no big whup to diehard ED2 fans? Or maybe there just weren't that many diehards in the room...
Scene after scene, I could hear Zorky's comments and laughs and our shared awe and observations on the film from our own screenings and discussions. How does Bruce Campbell not get an Oscar for "Best Fight With One's Hand?" Or greatest ADR one liner? And the plot itself, it's so damn tight and clever, just like the smallest cabin in the woods you'll ever see, with the most doors and rooms ever, heh.
The movie is just so frickin entertaining! =)
In and Rowan and Glen made it to the 10pm showtime, which was preceded by a costume contest. My sister, channelling Velma of the Scoobies, is in the running. I guess the Brattle will post photos soon and then the contest results [*November 9: found the photos posted!]. There was also a pre-show audience choice costume award. There was a peasant-dressed and old-school roller skated Kyra, from XANADU. There was a Wash from FIREFLY, carrying around miniature dinosaurs. There was a guy with a giant right hand, which I totally dug. Flashed me to THE SIMPSONS of course, where Homer is walking thru the corridors of the power plant reading what he's written on his hand to say to Mr. Burns. He passes this guy walking the other way who's also reading from his hand, but it is giant-sized, and he's reading, "...I'm tired of the comments about my enormous hand..." Heh heh. That show really did usedta be awesome...
*sigh*
There was also a guy in a green shirt and a green ski cap with green, like, spikes on it—"I'm asparagus." Also, he danced. A little. There was an Ash, alas, sporting only a _toy_ chainsaw. There was a decent Mario and Luigi combo. When Ned held the mic up to them to identify themselvs, Mario triggered some recording of the game music he had in his coveralls pocket. Too bad they didn't set up any boxes, heh. Then there was a computer... *with ethernet!* SCAARY =) Also, a well-dressed zombie. And finally, the audience award winner, a frightful and prettily done up melting china doll. This girl was dressed and made up quite perfectly in a china doll way, white face, painted/inked in features and expression, but had blackened/charred out half her face makeup and done SOMEthing to her hair to make it look quite burned up and once-molten. Pretty amazing.
My sister and I were at the theater for the 7pm KWAIDAN also, which is gorgeous. Four spooky short stories set in the good old peasant and lord days in Japan. I think it was released in 1965, and it may feel a bit slow for the average 21st century movie-goer, but man, the atmosphere is timeless and the visuals gorgeous. More spooky and haunting than outright jump-out-of-your-seat scary. A lot of the wide-open action must've taken place on giant sound stages, on which giant fields, sprawling temples and homes, tumultuous seas, and snow covered woods were re-created, against beautiful painted skies. I could see the origins of "hair horror" in one of the stories, and another I *know* I've seen ripped off by TWILIGHT ZONE or OUTER LIMITS in a modern version with Rae Bleah Chong as a "perfect girlfriend" to a not-so-starving artists.
Me go lie down now...
Keep on keepin on~
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