Not the crappy American horror movie from the 80's or the medical drama with Hugh Laurie, but the bugshit crazy Japanese movie from the 70's.
I don't know if words can convey what watching this movie is like.
It seems like whoever wrote this film, directed this film and edited this film had never been involve with film before. This is a film of wild exuberance. An everything and the kitchen sink approach. The film shifts so rapidly between tones that it may give you whiplash. I can see how people may hate this film.
So what is it all about? A girl and her friends (stereotypes all, with names like Gorgeous, Melody, Professor and such) invite themselves to the girls aunt's house for a summer vacation. The girl, Gorgeous, has not seen the aunt in years and may have only met her the once. The girls go the house and things go crazy.
How crazy? Deadly futon attacks. A dude turns into a pile of bananas. Flying heads biting bottoms. Pointless nudity. Bizarre editing and sub-amateurish special effects. Pointless green screening. Freeze frames and dissolves for no reason. Music that makes no sense mixed poorly with the dialogue.
So crazy. Impossible to describe. There is no real through line to follow, the people involved just seemed to shoot whatever came to mind and then threw it all together.
It sounds like it should be a disaster, but it is so unlike anything else that it is definitely worth a watch. I might even buy it on Blu Ray, especially if there is any sort of commentary track.
Monday, August 23, 2010
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Raderday
One Saturday, not so long ago, we watched a couple of 'classic' 80's movies. Rad and Thrasher.
Rad is about BMX biking whilst Thrasher is about skateboarding.
Rad is better at conveying what BMX biking is was all about at the time. The opening and closing credits have dudes pulling all kinds of tricks off on their bikes. The hoppy, near stationary, climbing all over the bike in ways a bike was not meant to be climbed all over kind of tricks. There's off road races, track races, ramp tricks. And there is bike dancing. Just about anything being done with a bike in the 80's is in this film somewhere.
Also in this film? Adrian, and Uncle Jesse's hot wife from Full House. And My Favourite Martian. Truly a cast well studded with stars. And there were probably some famous bikers in there too.
The bikers were good at their biking. This is a couple decades old and some of these tricks are still impressive.
So the movie is good, when people are on their bikes. Off the bikes, the movie ain't so great.
Luckily, people spend a lot of time on bikes. They even dance on their bikes. The bike dance is just awesome.
There is nothing awesome in Thrashin' (not Trasher, I've been referring to it by the wrong name forever. Oops)
It ain't bad, it is a good example of an 80's sports movie, but there is nothing all that remarkable about it. Now let me make some remarks about it.
Josh Brolin has always looked older. Always. And he may have been allergic to shirts back then. At the very least, he was allergic to buttons. The female lead in this came of poorly in direct competition with Rad's Full House lady. No real impressive skating in this film. Not a lot of board tricks. Barely any grinds. The only half pipe in this film gets burned down before it ever gets used. Mainly it's just Josh and his gang goofing off on their boards around L.A. Then the Chilli Peppers show up.
And there's some skateboard jousting and downhill racing. None of it shot with any real energy.
What is it about the 80's, man? The 70's gave birth to some of the greatest films ever. Timeless classics. FIlm making as an art form made a couple giant leaps. And then the 80's showed up and forgot all that. The nicest thing I can say about the style and craft of these two films is that they are charmingly inept.
Rad is about BMX biking whilst Thrasher is about skateboarding.
Rad is better at conveying what BMX biking is was all about at the time. The opening and closing credits have dudes pulling all kinds of tricks off on their bikes. The hoppy, near stationary, climbing all over the bike in ways a bike was not meant to be climbed all over kind of tricks. There's off road races, track races, ramp tricks. And there is bike dancing. Just about anything being done with a bike in the 80's is in this film somewhere.
Also in this film? Adrian, and Uncle Jesse's hot wife from Full House. And My Favourite Martian. Truly a cast well studded with stars. And there were probably some famous bikers in there too.
The bikers were good at their biking. This is a couple decades old and some of these tricks are still impressive.
So the movie is good, when people are on their bikes. Off the bikes, the movie ain't so great.
Luckily, people spend a lot of time on bikes. They even dance on their bikes. The bike dance is just awesome.
There is nothing awesome in Thrashin' (not Trasher, I've been referring to it by the wrong name forever. Oops)
It ain't bad, it is a good example of an 80's sports movie, but there is nothing all that remarkable about it. Now let me make some remarks about it.
Josh Brolin has always looked older. Always. And he may have been allergic to shirts back then. At the very least, he was allergic to buttons. The female lead in this came of poorly in direct competition with Rad's Full House lady. No real impressive skating in this film. Not a lot of board tricks. Barely any grinds. The only half pipe in this film gets burned down before it ever gets used. Mainly it's just Josh and his gang goofing off on their boards around L.A. Then the Chilli Peppers show up.
And there's some skateboard jousting and downhill racing. None of it shot with any real energy.
What is it about the 80's, man? The 70's gave birth to some of the greatest films ever. Timeless classics. FIlm making as an art form made a couple giant leaps. And then the 80's showed up and forgot all that. The nicest thing I can say about the style and craft of these two films is that they are charmingly inept.
Saturday, August 14, 2010
The Expendables
I think that this film may have made more sense if I was mainlining Human Growth Hormone. Or this flick is HGH for the eyes. Or both.
I had fun watching this film. But I knew that I would. Yeah, this is that kind of film. If you think you're going to like it, you probably will. If you know you're going to hate it, you ain't wrong. This is a film that rips the heart out of some nameless mook and then proudly wears it on its sleeve. You've seen the list of names. You know whether you are going to like this film.
The question is whether you will like it as much as me. Notice the word like, not love. That's deliberate. There was thought put into that word choice. Not sure how much thought went into the script for this film, other than thinking up awesome ways to kill dudes. It's basically like Stallone's last Rambo but with more dudes. The Expendables plays like the latest instalment of a franchise that has been going strong since the 80's. The characters are less than sketches, they are drunken doodles. The subplots add up to less than nothing, they are there to pad out the running time.
These are not complaints, I liked these characters, which is to say I liked these actors. I liked the non action beats the script forced them through. Charisma Carpenter is in this film solely to be another strong Whedon woman who needs rescuing. She needs to be beat up so Statham can beat the dude who beat her. And that is the least senseless of the violence in this film.
The Expendables get involved in this film's plot because a pretty girl asked them Sly to. You can tell that Stallone likes this girl because he raises he eyebrows. That's a joke. You see, because dude's face has been pulled so tight that the most developed muscles on his whole body must be his eyelids. He's looked better. They all have. Which is kind of the point. If a film like this can have a point.
Wait. No. The point of this film is the violence, the gore and the explosions. And they are all present and accounted for. Plenty of shooty shooty stabby stabby kicky punchy slammy 'splodey. At least a few points where the audience I was with all turned to each other to ask 'Did that just happen?'
It did.
There is a lot of violence against the human body in this film, all filmed for maximum impact. There's a little bit of the too tight, too shakey, too edited to tell what the hell is going on, this mainly happens during the Jet Li fight scenes. Stallone is good at capturing gun and knife violence but his kung fu filming skills are weak. Which is too bad because I think his fight scene with Dolph Lundgren was pretty cool. I think it was, but I can't be sure. That Dolph, he's a big boy.
These are all big boys (even Eric Roberts who looks like a cross between Vince McMahon and Cuella DeVIlle), and they all hurt things and get hurt. Sometimes in cool ways, sometimes in cliched ways, but you knew all that just by watching the trailer.
I had fun watching this film. But I knew that I would. Yeah, this is that kind of film. If you think you're going to like it, you probably will. If you know you're going to hate it, you ain't wrong. This is a film that rips the heart out of some nameless mook and then proudly wears it on its sleeve. You've seen the list of names. You know whether you are going to like this film.
The question is whether you will like it as much as me. Notice the word like, not love. That's deliberate. There was thought put into that word choice. Not sure how much thought went into the script for this film, other than thinking up awesome ways to kill dudes. It's basically like Stallone's last Rambo but with more dudes. The Expendables plays like the latest instalment of a franchise that has been going strong since the 80's. The characters are less than sketches, they are drunken doodles. The subplots add up to less than nothing, they are there to pad out the running time.
These are not complaints, I liked these characters, which is to say I liked these actors. I liked the non action beats the script forced them through. Charisma Carpenter is in this film solely to be another strong Whedon woman who needs rescuing. She needs to be beat up so Statham can beat the dude who beat her. And that is the least senseless of the violence in this film.
The Expendables get involved in this film's plot because a pretty girl asked them Sly to. You can tell that Stallone likes this girl because he raises he eyebrows. That's a joke. You see, because dude's face has been pulled so tight that the most developed muscles on his whole body must be his eyelids. He's looked better. They all have. Which is kind of the point. If a film like this can have a point.
Wait. No. The point of this film is the violence, the gore and the explosions. And they are all present and accounted for. Plenty of shooty shooty stabby stabby kicky punchy slammy 'splodey. At least a few points where the audience I was with all turned to each other to ask 'Did that just happen?'
It did.
There is a lot of violence against the human body in this film, all filmed for maximum impact. There's a little bit of the too tight, too shakey, too edited to tell what the hell is going on, this mainly happens during the Jet Li fight scenes. Stallone is good at capturing gun and knife violence but his kung fu filming skills are weak. Which is too bad because I think his fight scene with Dolph Lundgren was pretty cool. I think it was, but I can't be sure. That Dolph, he's a big boy.
These are all big boys (even Eric Roberts who looks like a cross between Vince McMahon and Cuella DeVIlle), and they all hurt things and get hurt. Sometimes in cool ways, sometimes in cliched ways, but you knew all that just by watching the trailer.
Friday, August 13, 2010
Cop Out
Is not a good movie. It is a bad movie. The worst of Kevin Smith's career. It looks better than a lot of his earlier stuff, he's become a better visualist, but that doesn't mean much when everything else is so substandard. The story is a non-starter. I can't quite recall what all happened, actually. There were buddy cops, a wedding, a rare baseball card, and it all flowed together not at all. It's like someone once saw a buddy cop movie and thought it was neat so they tried their hand at writing one. It didn't turn out so good.
And maybe the original script was good. This film makes it impossible to tell. Maybe Smith was trying to test himself, stretch himself, expand his horizons because it seems like half the dialogue in this film is improvised. I don't know if Tracy Morgan is capable of remembering lines. Or he is so good at seeming spontaneous that he's got me fooled. And maybe a lot of his improv was funny, but I couldn't understand most of it. I like Tracy Morgan. He's great in 30 Rock and I've enjoyed some of his other roles but I don't know if he's cut out to be a leading man.
Especially if the other lead is as lackadaisical as Bruce Willis. You'd think he would have hit this role out of the park as both WIllis and the part he plays in this film are mainly just interested in getting paid. His near catatonic performance cancels out Morgan's spittle fuelled anarchy.
This film just... it's just bad.
The action isn't horrible, but there is nothing memorable about it. I surprised myself by laughing maybe twice, but I felt dirty afterwards. The only thing of note about this film, other than how bad it is, is the soundtrack. It sounds like an 80's buddy cop movie, all cheesy synths and such. I enjoyed it, but it didn't seem to fit the film at all.
Which is the main problem of this film, there are a lot of great things about this film in theory. Tracy Morgan's whirligig of crazy off the cuff comedy. Bruce WIllis' gun and quip slinging chops. The crazy synth soundtrack. Kevin Smith's love of words and characters and how characters use words. These are all good things, these are all things I like. And they are all in this movie, but none of them seem to be in the same movie. This film is like oil and water and vinegar and baking soda. A big messy explosive misfire.
And maybe the original script was good. This film makes it impossible to tell. Maybe Smith was trying to test himself, stretch himself, expand his horizons because it seems like half the dialogue in this film is improvised. I don't know if Tracy Morgan is capable of remembering lines. Or he is so good at seeming spontaneous that he's got me fooled. And maybe a lot of his improv was funny, but I couldn't understand most of it. I like Tracy Morgan. He's great in 30 Rock and I've enjoyed some of his other roles but I don't know if he's cut out to be a leading man.
Especially if the other lead is as lackadaisical as Bruce Willis. You'd think he would have hit this role out of the park as both WIllis and the part he plays in this film are mainly just interested in getting paid. His near catatonic performance cancels out Morgan's spittle fuelled anarchy.
This film just... it's just bad.
The action isn't horrible, but there is nothing memorable about it. I surprised myself by laughing maybe twice, but I felt dirty afterwards. The only thing of note about this film, other than how bad it is, is the soundtrack. It sounds like an 80's buddy cop movie, all cheesy synths and such. I enjoyed it, but it didn't seem to fit the film at all.
Which is the main problem of this film, there are a lot of great things about this film in theory. Tracy Morgan's whirligig of crazy off the cuff comedy. Bruce WIllis' gun and quip slinging chops. The crazy synth soundtrack. Kevin Smith's love of words and characters and how characters use words. These are all good things, these are all things I like. And they are all in this movie, but none of them seem to be in the same movie. This film is like oil and water and vinegar and baking soda. A big messy explosive misfire.
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Shoot Em Up
Finally saw this flick.
When it was good it was great, but it was pretty bad in the in betweens. The action is the highlight, of course, but the one liners are horrible. I know that is the point, but...
I know that a lot of one liners in action movies are stupid, but movies with nothing but shitty one liners are usually the shitty action movies. Each action classic has at least one or two line that hit. Shoot Em Up has no memorable dialogue.
Weird that I nit pick the writing, but that's kinda what I do. Let's continue with the negatives: this film doesn't look all that nice. Kinda blah. Don't remember any of the music either.
I do remember a lot of the action beats. Which is the most important part. I remember shooting with the carrot. I remember the baby on the playground, the hideout shootout, the gun warehouse shootout. There is some crazy inventive stuff in here. Enjoyable crazy nuttiness. And the bad guy is a real scumbag. And I like the protagonist's hatred of jerks and douchebags.
So while I wasn't blown away by Shoot Em Up, but I'm glad I finally saw it.
Man! The text on this MacBook screen is tiny!
When it was good it was great, but it was pretty bad in the in betweens. The action is the highlight, of course, but the one liners are horrible. I know that is the point, but...
I know that a lot of one liners in action movies are stupid, but movies with nothing but shitty one liners are usually the shitty action movies. Each action classic has at least one or two line that hit. Shoot Em Up has no memorable dialogue.
Weird that I nit pick the writing, but that's kinda what I do. Let's continue with the negatives: this film doesn't look all that nice. Kinda blah. Don't remember any of the music either.
I do remember a lot of the action beats. Which is the most important part. I remember shooting with the carrot. I remember the baby on the playground, the hideout shootout, the gun warehouse shootout. There is some crazy inventive stuff in here. Enjoyable crazy nuttiness. And the bad guy is a real scumbag. And I like the protagonist's hatred of jerks and douchebags.
So while I wasn't blown away by Shoot Em Up, but I'm glad I finally saw it.
Man! The text on this MacBook screen is tiny!
Friday, August 06, 2010
Inception
Inception, though I've only seen it the once may be my favourite film of...
Quite some time, let's say.
I cannot stop thinking about it. Snatches of scenes continually float through my brain. And a lot of people, most of whom are better thinkers and writers than I have clicked a fair amount of keys discussing all sort of Inception minutiae. So I won't do that.
I'll just mention a couple things. One: the main complaint against the film is that it is a little cold, the emotional thrust of the film is a little muted. To this a have a few responses. The first is that I don't agree with them. It worked for me just fine. The scenes with the wife near the end got to me. I wasn't bawling, but I was moved. Also: this is a frikkin Nolan film! He ain't known for his melodramatic weep-fests. He has a style. And Inception fits his oeuvre perfectly. Finally...
Let's look at Joseph Gordon-Levitt's character, Arthur. Within the dreams, he's all business. In the waking world he is also all business. Other characters mock him for his humourlessness. But when you see him asleep, working in the dream, he has a beatific, untroubled smile on his face. He's having fun, but only we (the audience) know this. The people, their job is to invade other people's dreams, they try to blend in so as to not alert the mind's defences. Bringing your own emotions into other people's dreams ain't the best idea.
Also: the ending.
I don't think the point is wether he's dreaming or not. The point is he doesn't care.
Quite some time, let's say.
I cannot stop thinking about it. Snatches of scenes continually float through my brain. And a lot of people, most of whom are better thinkers and writers than I have clicked a fair amount of keys discussing all sort of Inception minutiae. So I won't do that.
I'll just mention a couple things. One: the main complaint against the film is that it is a little cold, the emotional thrust of the film is a little muted. To this a have a few responses. The first is that I don't agree with them. It worked for me just fine. The scenes with the wife near the end got to me. I wasn't bawling, but I was moved. Also: this is a frikkin Nolan film! He ain't known for his melodramatic weep-fests. He has a style. And Inception fits his oeuvre perfectly. Finally...
Let's look at Joseph Gordon-Levitt's character, Arthur. Within the dreams, he's all business. In the waking world he is also all business. Other characters mock him for his humourlessness. But when you see him asleep, working in the dream, he has a beatific, untroubled smile on his face. He's having fun, but only we (the audience) know this. The people, their job is to invade other people's dreams, they try to blend in so as to not alert the mind's defences. Bringing your own emotions into other people's dreams ain't the best idea.
Also: the ending.
I don't think the point is wether he's dreaming or not. The point is he doesn't care.
Thursday, August 05, 2010
Maybe I shouldn't try to go day by day
We didn't even really try to watch a movie on Tuesday. We lazy.
Instead, the wife and I stayed home and watched I Love You Man. Decent enough movie, but no one mentioned how cringey a lot of the humour is. Not vulgar or gross, just a dude being uncool. Not the biggest fan of the cringey humour. But Paul Rudd is much better in such a film than, say, Ben Stiller.
Instead, the wife and I stayed home and watched I Love You Man. Decent enough movie, but no one mentioned how cringey a lot of the humour is. Not vulgar or gross, just a dude being uncool. Not the biggest fan of the cringey humour. But Paul Rudd is much better in such a film than, say, Ben Stiller.
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Monday Again
The Monday after a cabin weekend is usually spent getting back to 100%. But thanks to the water and gatorade, I felt no ill effects, even on Sunday.
So Monday was spent doing nothing.
So Monday was spent doing nothing.
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Friday is When the Weekend Starts
We spent a fair bit of Friday morning cleaning up and packing. Still. Everything seemed to take longer than it should.
I got up at 6:30, fer goodnessakes! Went to a bootcamp, trying for a bit of preventative medicine. An hour of sweating more than balance out an entire weekend of eating and drinking to excess, right? So I got up early and got my motor running, and still we didn't get out of the city till after 2. I thought for sure that someone would be out there already, waiting for me. Luckily, that was not the case.
We unloaded the car and waited for others to show. After about an hour, Trev Kim and Nate showed up. They brought the rain with them. The rain didn't stick around too long, it just kept the heat of the day away.
Others arrived and soon the cabin was filled with the sound of laughter and booze.
Shut up, booze does so have a sound.
I think there may have been over 30 people out at some point. They didn't all stay overnight, thank goodness.
What were the highlights? Hard to say...
The food, as ever, was delicious. Cabin air makes food taste better. This is a fact. Science would back me up on this, but it is too busy eating delicious food.
I think I may have mentioned that instead of buying many steaks we instead bought one big slab of meat that we cut ourselves. It seemed less solid, more squishy. Less easy to juggle. But it cooked up just fine. Better than fine. SUPA FOINE! reddish pink all the way through. Best steak I've had all year. And potatoes to go along with it.
Breakfast each day was greasy and good. Jury is still out on the ham steaks, some liked 'em, others thought they were over-rated. I liked 'em.
Speaking of breakfasts, morning this year were not as bad as last year. No puke at all this year. Big change from last year. Big change. Really cut down on the clean up time. Gatorade and a massive jug of water are permanently added to the roster.
Back to food - stir fry also rocked. That griddle is god send.
Some people, not I, ping ponged.
Actually spent a decent amount of time on the baech this year. The lack of puking and hangovers this year probably helped. The not stupid heat was also nice. And I got to go for a swim. I would like to go for a couple more of those before the summer is done.
What else...?
Oh yeah, THIS!!!!!
Most fun anyone has ever had because of Family Circus. There is some truly filthy stuff in there. Provided you provide the filth. Which I always do.
The time just flew and before I knew it I was in an near empty cabin with too much food and booze left over and a whole lotta empties.
I got up at 6:30, fer goodnessakes! Went to a bootcamp, trying for a bit of preventative medicine. An hour of sweating more than balance out an entire weekend of eating and drinking to excess, right? So I got up early and got my motor running, and still we didn't get out of the city till after 2. I thought for sure that someone would be out there already, waiting for me. Luckily, that was not the case.
We unloaded the car and waited for others to show. After about an hour, Trev Kim and Nate showed up. They brought the rain with them. The rain didn't stick around too long, it just kept the heat of the day away.
Others arrived and soon the cabin was filled with the sound of laughter and booze.
Shut up, booze does so have a sound.
I think there may have been over 30 people out at some point. They didn't all stay overnight, thank goodness.
What were the highlights? Hard to say...
The food, as ever, was delicious. Cabin air makes food taste better. This is a fact. Science would back me up on this, but it is too busy eating delicious food.
I think I may have mentioned that instead of buying many steaks we instead bought one big slab of meat that we cut ourselves. It seemed less solid, more squishy. Less easy to juggle. But it cooked up just fine. Better than fine. SUPA FOINE! reddish pink all the way through. Best steak I've had all year. And potatoes to go along with it.
Breakfast each day was greasy and good. Jury is still out on the ham steaks, some liked 'em, others thought they were over-rated. I liked 'em.
Speaking of breakfasts, morning this year were not as bad as last year. No puke at all this year. Big change from last year. Big change. Really cut down on the clean up time. Gatorade and a massive jug of water are permanently added to the roster.
Back to food - stir fry also rocked. That griddle is god send.
Some people, not I, ping ponged.
Actually spent a decent amount of time on the baech this year. The lack of puking and hangovers this year probably helped. The not stupid heat was also nice. And I got to go for a swim. I would like to go for a couple more of those before the summer is done.
What else...?
Oh yeah, THIS!!!!!
Most fun anyone has ever had because of Family Circus. There is some truly filthy stuff in there. Provided you provide the filth. Which I always do.
The time just flew and before I knew it I was in an near empty cabin with too much food and booze left over and a whole lotta empties.
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Thursday
Once upon a time there was a plan that involved us being out at the cabin starting on Thursday. That plan did not bear fruit.
Right. Forgot to mention something about Wednesday, the day before this day not the acclaimed film. We stayed up finessing my lovely lady's resume and cover letter. She did most of the finessing, I was mainly there for moral support.
It was a late night/early morning.
Apparently I didn't look too great on Thursday. Pale, faded, worn out. Best thing to go when you feel like that?
Costco!
We went to Costco and wandered around Costco preparing for the cabin weekend. We spent close to 300 bucks on foodstuffs. Way more fruit and veggies than one would expect for a drunken weekend. And a lot of meat, too. An 80 dollar hunk o' rib steak.
Just as we were leaving, it started to spit. It was raining by the time we got home. It was pouring by the time we finished unloading the groceries. Thank goodness for garages.
The raining turned to hailing. So Trev helped me finish DeathSpank.
I beat DeathSpank. The ending is... not so much.
The rest of the day was spent packing and cleaning and watching more HIMYM.
Right. Forgot to mention something about Wednesday, the day before this day not the acclaimed film. We stayed up finessing my lovely lady's resume and cover letter. She did most of the finessing, I was mainly there for moral support.
It was a late night/early morning.
Apparently I didn't look too great on Thursday. Pale, faded, worn out. Best thing to go when you feel like that?
Costco!
We went to Costco and wandered around Costco preparing for the cabin weekend. We spent close to 300 bucks on foodstuffs. Way more fruit and veggies than one would expect for a drunken weekend. And a lot of meat, too. An 80 dollar hunk o' rib steak.
Just as we were leaving, it started to spit. It was raining by the time we got home. It was pouring by the time we finished unloading the groceries. Thank goodness for garages.
The raining turned to hailing. So Trev helped me finish DeathSpank.
I beat DeathSpank. The ending is... not so much.
The rest of the day was spent packing and cleaning and watching more HIMYM.
Wednesday
I don't know if I have mentioned this before, but I once made a film called wednesday.
On Wednesday, we went out to the cabin for some eatering. There was meat. And potatoes. And corn. Maybe some salad. Visited with my aunt who I haven't seen in forever. She looks great. It's good to see how good she's doing.
It's good that she's good and I'm glad that she's good.
Good.
On Wednesday, we went out to the cabin for some eatering. There was meat. And potatoes. And corn. Maybe some salad. Visited with my aunt who I haven't seen in forever. She looks great. It's good to see how good she's doing.
It's good that she's good and I'm glad that she's good.
Good.
Tuesday
I don't mean this Tuesday, as in tomorrow, but last Tuesday as in last Tuesday.
Last Tuesday the plan was to go see Despicable Me. That plan did not come to fruition. As is often the case, when we plan on going out to see an animated film, we end up drinking instead. We drank.
Also, we planned for the cabin weekend.
I think that was about it.
Last Tuesday the plan was to go see Despicable Me. That plan did not come to fruition. As is often the case, when we plan on going out to see an animated film, we end up drinking instead. We drank.
Also, we planned for the cabin weekend.
I think that was about it.
Friday, July 23, 2010
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Sunday Happened A Few Days Ago
Maybe not quite a few, but slightly more than a couple. Is there a word for that?
Sunday was full of food and drink and visiting.
It seems I have been in training all this month for the upcoming cabin shenanigans.
We went out to the cabin around ten on Sunday morning to have a delicious breakfast with mom and Jerry. Everything seems to taste better out there. Plus everything Jerry cooks seems to taste awesome to begin with. So everything that morning tasted more awesome. And all I had to do in return was move about some barbecues and dishwashers. And Guillaume was there to help out with the moving and the eating. He's a cool cat, that one.
And after the eating and the moving there was the chatting and the planning. Will be out at the cabin again on Wednesday to visit with an aunt I haven't seen in yonks. Looking forward to that.
To work of some off the food (and to take a break from Dragon Quest IX) I walked to the top of the hill to give my dad a call.
The reception at the cabin is not the greatest. Better than at Lafleche, which is to say that there is some. Some, but not usually enough.
I was calling dad because he lives just down the way from the cabin and because it was his wife, Diane's birthday on Saturday. I was calling to apologize for not calling a day earlier.
Dad invited us out for dinner at this place.
So we went to his place for dinner. I apologized to Diane in person. Which was unnecessary. Her birthday is not on the 17th, but the 18th!
I always thought it was the 17th. Like, that date is stuck in there as her birthday. I'm probably going to get it wrong again next year, so entrenched is that misplaced belief.
They cooked up some delicious food and kept pouring delicious plonk and their friends Butch and Diane showed up and we all had a fine time.
Mayhap too fine, as Carla and I had to rush home to beat the Craven traffic, which we barely did. At that special time of night when all the bugs are out and magnetized to windshields.
Sunday was full of food and drink and visiting.
It seems I have been in training all this month for the upcoming cabin shenanigans.
We went out to the cabin around ten on Sunday morning to have a delicious breakfast with mom and Jerry. Everything seems to taste better out there. Plus everything Jerry cooks seems to taste awesome to begin with. So everything that morning tasted more awesome. And all I had to do in return was move about some barbecues and dishwashers. And Guillaume was there to help out with the moving and the eating. He's a cool cat, that one.
And after the eating and the moving there was the chatting and the planning. Will be out at the cabin again on Wednesday to visit with an aunt I haven't seen in yonks. Looking forward to that.
To work of some off the food (and to take a break from Dragon Quest IX) I walked to the top of the hill to give my dad a call.
The reception at the cabin is not the greatest. Better than at Lafleche, which is to say that there is some. Some, but not usually enough.
I was calling dad because he lives just down the way from the cabin and because it was his wife, Diane's birthday on Saturday. I was calling to apologize for not calling a day earlier.
Dad invited us out for dinner at this place.
So we went to his place for dinner. I apologized to Diane in person. Which was unnecessary. Her birthday is not on the 17th, but the 18th!
I always thought it was the 17th. Like, that date is stuck in there as her birthday. I'm probably going to get it wrong again next year, so entrenched is that misplaced belief.
They cooked up some delicious food and kept pouring delicious plonk and their friends Butch and Diane showed up and we all had a fine time.
Mayhap too fine, as Carla and I had to rush home to beat the Craven traffic, which we barely did. At that special time of night when all the bugs are out and magnetized to windshields.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Saturday
If I keep going at this rate I'll be blogging about tomorrow next week and next week next month and next month next year.
That sounds about right.
Not much happened on Saturday. Played some DeathSpank (totally worth the 15 bucks) and Dragon Quest 9 (totally worth the 3 bucks I spent on it).
Neither the name of, nor the engraving on my iPod were my idea. I just know awesome people.
Also watched a lot of How I Met Your Mother. Enjoyable show. Nothing earth-shaking or genre-breaking, but filled with likeable folk interacting in often enjoyable ways. The earlier seasons had a greater hit to miss ratio tho.
On the way home on Awesome Friday we were treated to some great lightning. One in particular was like nothing I had ever seen before. It was like lightning erupted from the middle of the cloud. Bolts shot out in all directions, covering a large expanse of sky. It was pretty cool.
That sounds about right.
Not much happened on Saturday. Played some DeathSpank (totally worth the 15 bucks) and Dragon Quest 9 (totally worth the 3 bucks I spent on it).
Neither the name of, nor the engraving on my iPod were my idea. I just know awesome people.
Also watched a lot of How I Met Your Mother. Enjoyable show. Nothing earth-shaking or genre-breaking, but filled with likeable folk interacting in often enjoyable ways. The earlier seasons had a greater hit to miss ratio tho.
On the way home on Awesome Friday we were treated to some great lightning. One in particular was like nothing I had ever seen before. It was like lightning erupted from the middle of the cloud. Bolts shot out in all directions, covering a large expanse of sky. It was pretty cool.
Sunday, July 18, 2010
A Day Late and a Dollar Short
I think I like having a day's distance between my life and this blog. Lets things stew in the brain juice.
Not that any great bursts of insight occurred to me about Friday.
Friday was a good day. My ipod touch arrived in the mail. I shall call it iPodcalypse Now and on its shiny backside is inscribed "Byte my shiny metal apps." It is a good pod and I love it.
Haven't actually touched other than to get it grubby with my fingerprints, I'm not gonna do anything major with it till it is safely ensconced inside some sort of... thing.
I downloaded Deathspank on my PS3 and continued playing Dragon Quest 9 on my DS. So I'm getting my RPG itch scratched quite nicely.
Saw Inception.
Inception is the best film I have seen this year, which is damning it with faint praise, so let me try to give my praise some smelling salts or some such.
Inception is impressive on every level. Looks great, sounds great, great performances, great writing.
Great great great.
After I see it a few more times I may write more about it, but I don't want to go into any sort of detail just yet. As watching how it all unfolds is a great part of its charm.
This film would be compelling even if all the action were absent, but the action elevates it.
The film works on as many levels as there are levels.
After the film we all went to Montana's. Which I keep forgetting is my favourite of the chain restaurants. The beef ribs put it over the top. I had some beef ribs. And half a chicken. And cornbread and veggies and twice smashed taters. And a couple desserts.
Plus Carla let slip that it was basically my birthday, so they made me put on a big stupid hat and sang at me. Not even that could put a dent in this day.
It was a good day.
Not that any great bursts of insight occurred to me about Friday.
Friday was a good day. My ipod touch arrived in the mail. I shall call it iPodcalypse Now and on its shiny backside is inscribed "Byte my shiny metal apps." It is a good pod and I love it.
Haven't actually touched other than to get it grubby with my fingerprints, I'm not gonna do anything major with it till it is safely ensconced inside some sort of... thing.
I downloaded Deathspank on my PS3 and continued playing Dragon Quest 9 on my DS. So I'm getting my RPG itch scratched quite nicely.
Saw Inception.
Inception is the best film I have seen this year, which is damning it with faint praise, so let me try to give my praise some smelling salts or some such.
Inception is impressive on every level. Looks great, sounds great, great performances, great writing.
Great great great.
After I see it a few more times I may write more about it, but I don't want to go into any sort of detail just yet. As watching how it all unfolds is a great part of its charm.
This film would be compelling even if all the action were absent, but the action elevates it.
The film works on as many levels as there are levels.
After the film we all went to Montana's. Which I keep forgetting is my favourite of the chain restaurants. The beef ribs put it over the top. I had some beef ribs. And half a chicken. And cornbread and veggies and twice smashed taters. And a couple desserts.
Plus Carla let slip that it was basically my birthday, so they made me put on a big stupid hat and sang at me. Not even that could put a dent in this day.
It was a good day.
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Sorry About That, Thursday
I missed a day of blogging.
There was a bit of a car trip and then a movie and then some eating and then some sleeping.
The car trip was from Lafleche. Our bellies still full from a fantastic brunch and my muscles still sore from a fair amount of digging and large appliance moving.
Just in case my satedness subsided, I packed myself a delicious roast beef and bacon sandwich on homemade bread. Just before Moose Jaw (and just after I had passed an ancient woman slowing traffic to a crawl on the non divided highway) I decided I would like a bite of my sandwich.
Carla is scent sensitive and asked if I could wait till we got home before I masticated. Her query came too late as the zip-locked was now neither. The delicious scent of my delicious sandwich filled the car. Being a thoughtful husband I rolled down the window to let in some fresh air. There weren't no fresh air anywhere. The succulent sandwich smell was sucked out and replaced with the overpowering stench of cow shit.
Cow shit lingers.
It lingers.
Like a ling.
Exit Through The Gift Shop is not the easiest film to describe. But I will give it a try. There is this frenchman with an English sounding name that is spelled all weird because he is French who lives in L.A. He sells old clothes for way too much money to people with way too much money. He also videotapes everything. Everything. Not that he is all that great a videographer but he can't be beat, prolifically speaking.
By chance this strange man has a cousin who is an up and comer on the street art scene, and by virtue of the fact that he tapes everything the strange frenchman documents his cousin's exploits. Which leads to him documenting the exploits of many other prominent street artists.
Meanwhile, there is this street artist by the name of Banksy who is making a name for himself. He is talented, daring and anonymous. His path gets tangled with the strange frenchman's. They hang out. They help each other out.
The frenchman, at some point during all of this said that he was going to make a film about all of this. Everyone thought this was a great idea. Until the strange frenchman actually made the film.
I've been to a lot of student video festivals, the frenchman's film wouldn't have made the cut at most of 'em.
Banksy sees this film and decides this new street art movement deserves a better filmic representation and decides to make a film using all the frenchman's footage (he couldn't do any worse). To keep the strange frenchman distracted, Banksy encourages him to make his own art, put on an art show.
So the strange frenchman does, adopting the nom de plum Mr. Brain Wash.
Mr. Brain Wash rents out a space, buys screen priniting equipment, hires artists to make his art. He leverages himself out the brown hole to do all this. And a lot of his art looks like it came out of said hole. Soul-less Warholian aping drivel. Of course the public eats it up.
The film that Banksy made is this story. It's a film by man A about man B who tried to make a film about man A and failed and then fluked into artistic success.
Exit Through The Gift Shop is an interesting film. It shows a lot of the work that goes into making street art. It's funny. It's painful. It raises a lot of interesting questions about the nature of art and artists. I highly recommend it.
I do not recommend Orange, the first izakaya style establishment in Regina. If you want authentic izakaya food in Regina, let me know and I'll cook you up something good. The takoyaki was all wrong, the okonomiyaki was worse, the gyoza was a fucking insult.
Of course we all said it was fine when asked by the server if everything was good. Our server had no idea how to pronounce any of our dishes. Bad dining experience.
Orange is short for Orange You Glad You're Not Eating at Orange.
Holy crap! It's not even Friday any more. I wanted to write about Inception, but I think I'll sleep on it first.
There was a bit of a car trip and then a movie and then some eating and then some sleeping.
The car trip was from Lafleche. Our bellies still full from a fantastic brunch and my muscles still sore from a fair amount of digging and large appliance moving.
Just in case my satedness subsided, I packed myself a delicious roast beef and bacon sandwich on homemade bread. Just before Moose Jaw (and just after I had passed an ancient woman slowing traffic to a crawl on the non divided highway) I decided I would like a bite of my sandwich.
Carla is scent sensitive and asked if I could wait till we got home before I masticated. Her query came too late as the zip-locked was now neither. The delicious scent of my delicious sandwich filled the car. Being a thoughtful husband I rolled down the window to let in some fresh air. There weren't no fresh air anywhere. The succulent sandwich smell was sucked out and replaced with the overpowering stench of cow shit.
Cow shit lingers.
It lingers.
Like a ling.
Exit Through The Gift Shop is not the easiest film to describe. But I will give it a try. There is this frenchman with an English sounding name that is spelled all weird because he is French who lives in L.A. He sells old clothes for way too much money to people with way too much money. He also videotapes everything. Everything. Not that he is all that great a videographer but he can't be beat, prolifically speaking.
By chance this strange man has a cousin who is an up and comer on the street art scene, and by virtue of the fact that he tapes everything the strange frenchman documents his cousin's exploits. Which leads to him documenting the exploits of many other prominent street artists.
Meanwhile, there is this street artist by the name of Banksy who is making a name for himself. He is talented, daring and anonymous. His path gets tangled with the strange frenchman's. They hang out. They help each other out.
The frenchman, at some point during all of this said that he was going to make a film about all of this. Everyone thought this was a great idea. Until the strange frenchman actually made the film.
I've been to a lot of student video festivals, the frenchman's film wouldn't have made the cut at most of 'em.
Banksy sees this film and decides this new street art movement deserves a better filmic representation and decides to make a film using all the frenchman's footage (he couldn't do any worse). To keep the strange frenchman distracted, Banksy encourages him to make his own art, put on an art show.
So the strange frenchman does, adopting the nom de plum Mr. Brain Wash.
Mr. Brain Wash rents out a space, buys screen priniting equipment, hires artists to make his art. He leverages himself out the brown hole to do all this. And a lot of his art looks like it came out of said hole. Soul-less Warholian aping drivel. Of course the public eats it up.
The film that Banksy made is this story. It's a film by man A about man B who tried to make a film about man A and failed and then fluked into artistic success.
Exit Through The Gift Shop is an interesting film. It shows a lot of the work that goes into making street art. It's funny. It's painful. It raises a lot of interesting questions about the nature of art and artists. I highly recommend it.
I do not recommend Orange, the first izakaya style establishment in Regina. If you want authentic izakaya food in Regina, let me know and I'll cook you up something good. The takoyaki was all wrong, the okonomiyaki was worse, the gyoza was a fucking insult.
Of course we all said it was fine when asked by the server if everything was good. Our server had no idea how to pronounce any of our dishes. Bad dining experience.
Orange is short for Orange You Glad You're Not Eating at Orange.
Holy crap! It's not even Friday any more. I wanted to write about Inception, but I think I'll sleep on it first.
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Wednesday
I wrote and directed a movie called Wednesday once.
Today was my birthday. I spent it digging trenches.
My hands and feet and everything aches.
My reward was an awesome dinner. I ate so much. Delicious deliciousness. Roast beef and new potatoes and corn and I am so damn full. Plus two deserts.
I think of things to write about during the day and then I sit at the computer and wonder where those thoughts went.
Stupid thoughts.
Today was my birthday. I spent it digging trenches.
My hands and feet and everything aches.
My reward was an awesome dinner. I ate so much. Delicious deliciousness. Roast beef and new potatoes and corn and I am so damn full. Plus two deserts.
I think of things to write about during the day and then I sit at the computer and wonder where those thoughts went.
Stupid thoughts.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Howdy Tuesday
I cannot think of the last book I read. I've started a few, but i just kinda forgot to finish them.
Digging trenches through dirt that has been used as a driveway for over half a century is not the most pleasant of things. And then it storms and fills in all our hard work. Well, maybe not all. I haven't checked, I'm kinda scared to.
I am trying to think of more stuff to write about. And failing.
But at least I wrote.
Digging trenches through dirt that has been used as a driveway for over half a century is not the most pleasant of things. And then it storms and fills in all our hard work. Well, maybe not all. I haven't checked, I'm kinda scared to.
I am trying to think of more stuff to write about. And failing.
But at least I wrote.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Hello Monday!
This is the week wherein I turn 35.
Crud.
So this is me writing. Because I really should do that more.
It is a sad sad thing that the highest grossing movie of the year was Alice in Wonderland. That was a horrendous movie, a misfire on every level. And I didn't even see it in 3D, which would have added an extra dimension of suck.
Whenever a word contains a doubled letter, I rarely double the right letter, I usually double the letters on one side or the other. I wonder if there is some sort of scientific name for that?
Back to what I was talking about before, I'm glad that Toy Story 3 is now the highest grossing movie of the year. I haven't seen it yet but there is no way it could be worse than Alice in Wonderland. Good year for Disney it would seem.
Whenever I go into an electronics store, I always point all the youtubes towards my Japan videos. That's just how I role.
The thing that I liked most about The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo was that it didn't over explain things. A lot of stuff happened and the film just assumed you could keep up. I liked that.
I liked that because I have seen a couple otherwise enjoyable flicks this summer that insulted me with their...
The A-Team could have been about 10 minutes shorter because it spends about that much of its running time repeating itself. It flashes back to stuff that was onscreen not 15 minutes ago. Just in case you weren't paying attention. Hey A Team: I wasn't paying all that much attention and I still found all that repetition pointless and stupid.
I never thought that my biggest beef with the A Team movie would be that it talked down to me.
Most laptop keyboards are not all that great for typing. That seems almost criminal, when you think about it.
Knight and Day was not as insulting as A Team, but I don't need the characters onscreen to read aloud and remark upon every bit of text that appears onscreen.
That Dragon Tattoo movie sure did have a lot of rape, boy howdy.
Crud.
So this is me writing. Because I really should do that more.
It is a sad sad thing that the highest grossing movie of the year was Alice in Wonderland. That was a horrendous movie, a misfire on every level. And I didn't even see it in 3D, which would have added an extra dimension of suck.
Whenever a word contains a doubled letter, I rarely double the right letter, I usually double the letters on one side or the other. I wonder if there is some sort of scientific name for that?
Back to what I was talking about before, I'm glad that Toy Story 3 is now the highest grossing movie of the year. I haven't seen it yet but there is no way it could be worse than Alice in Wonderland. Good year for Disney it would seem.
Whenever I go into an electronics store, I always point all the youtubes towards my Japan videos. That's just how I role.
The thing that I liked most about The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo was that it didn't over explain things. A lot of stuff happened and the film just assumed you could keep up. I liked that.
I liked that because I have seen a couple otherwise enjoyable flicks this summer that insulted me with their...
The A-Team could have been about 10 minutes shorter because it spends about that much of its running time repeating itself. It flashes back to stuff that was onscreen not 15 minutes ago. Just in case you weren't paying attention. Hey A Team: I wasn't paying all that much attention and I still found all that repetition pointless and stupid.
I never thought that my biggest beef with the A Team movie would be that it talked down to me.
Most laptop keyboards are not all that great for typing. That seems almost criminal, when you think about it.
Knight and Day was not as insulting as A Team, but I don't need the characters onscreen to read aloud and remark upon every bit of text that appears onscreen.
That Dragon Tattoo movie sure did have a lot of rape, boy howdy.
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