This was good. A bit predictable, and it felt more than a little like a extended Twilight Zone episode, but that's okay - I like the Twilight Zone. The ensemble cast was good, with the female lead a big suprise - she will go somewhere, I'd be willing to bet. Not a huge amount of scares or twists, but it kept my interest. There were a few really cinematic moments that worked very well, and it all came together nicely. Overall, liked it more than Signs for sure. I wish more Hollywood movies were this intelligent and reserved.
Napolean Dynamite : saturday
The characters were great, it was very funny, but I kind of wish there was more movie here. Still, it made me laugh more than once, and I really liked the characters, presentation and so forth... I just kinda would have liked to see all of those elements AND an interesting plot. If it there was one, this would probably be a favorite of mine, and not just a fun movie to watch.
Spartan : sunday
Wow. This was pretty gripping. Mamet movies are kind of a genre of their own, and I think this is one of the most succesful, and perhaps most accesible, ones so far. Kilmer does well here, like everything in the film seeming to exist purely in Mamet's world. The supporting cast is excellent, and the plot takes several twists and turns that - for once in a Hollywood film - don't seem contrived. So often in his films, Mamet takes us through a con and then has a revelatory moment at the end when the main character (and us, the audience) suddenly understand they've been had. This doesn't happen here - at least not in such a bold way - the con of the film is pushed more to the background, or perhaps the world that the characters live in involves so many cons and shades of gray, you can't even sort through them all. Recommended.
My landlord called today and said he'd have to terminate our lease due to the following things.
A.We have not cut the grass.
B. The cops have been called multiple times for noise violations.
our neighbors who are 1000 years old are responsible for the complaints. We cut the grass, and bagged it last week. In the 2 1/2 years we have lived there, the police have never been there once. Not for noise, not for anything. I wish there was something I could do. There is not. Every three months or so, the landlord calls about this. I always tell him, the cops have NEVER come. Today, I am going to tell the old people off. I may just let the air out of their tires tonight after they are asleep.
John: the third party never comes close
Meredith: which sucks ass
Meredith: I'm all for a third party
Meredith: we definately need one
John: yeah, I'd like to be, but it just feels like a waste of time to support it
Meredith: never a waste of time to support something you believe in
John: right
John: It's like being a Saints fan. You support them your whole life and they still lose every year
Meredith: heh, yeah
Meredith: except for the one year that they were doing really good
Meredith: back when I was 12
John: Every year I say that I'm not going to follow the Saints anymore, but then I find myself yelling at them on tv again
John: yeah, I was in boot camp when they had that good year, so I missed it
Meredith: I was at the last game that they won that year
John: funny
John: you jinxed them
John: I go to a couple of Saints games every year.
Meredith: ha ha ha!
Meredith: I only ever went to that one
John: you need to go back and un-jinx them then
Meredith: perhaps I'll do that sometime this year
Meredith: I'll put it on my list.
John: you should pray for the Saints
Meredith: My list of wrongs that can only be righted by my presence.
Meredith: I shall. I shall pray by chanting Who Dat!
John: I love it when people dress up like the Pope at games
Meredith: Who dat say dey gonna beat dem Saints?!
Who dat! Who dat!
John: You know, that year that they were good, the Pope had actually been in New Orleans that year and he blessed the Superdome. Ever since then, fans have been coming to the games dressed up like the pope
Meredith: Ha! I didn't know that!
Meredith: the pope blessed the superdome
Meredith: that tickles me
John: yeah, some of them stand out front and act like they're blessing the superdome before they walk in
Meredith: hee!
Meredith: Perhaps I'll go dressed up like Mary.
John: I once had a guy sitting by me who was dressed like a Monk, and he would stand up and act like he was praying whenever the Saints were kicking a fieldgoal.
Meredith: that's hilarious
My boss mentioned twice that I should take a week vacation before the semester starts back up. So here it is. Here's my in-town vacation.
Last night I slept so horribly that I built a shortwave receiver. There's nothing worse than realizing at 3am that you just wasted duct tape and paper clips on a something that can only pick up a dicussion on Hulk Hogan and the WWF. I finally got to sleep and woke up for good at 6:30am. Then I went into work for half a day.
Next time I'm going to DC to get everyone evicted from the Dirt Farm and polish the trip off by calling the cops on Blake.
So, I finished all of the Ghatti books that I mentioned (much to everyone's amusement) earlier. I've ordered the remaining ones from half.com, but they're going to take forever to get here.
I am lost.
And even when they come in, it will only be a matter of time before I've finished all of them.
The long and short of it is, I need new books to obsess over. I'd be most grateful if everyone listed the titles that made you, nay, FORCED you to read them constantly. I'm not talking just good, enjoyable reads, I'm talking obsessive reading.
That's right, Electric Light Orchestra; I am suddenly aware of the amazing genius of. I am ELOnlightened. Thanks to soundtracks like Eternal Sunshine and others, I began searching for more ELO songs and found several that are really incredibly brilliant. Maybe it's just that I was a child of the 70s, but it speaks to me in a language I forgot I understood.
Top 5 I-want-to-make-sweet-disco-hybrid-candy-love ELO songs (I've discovered so far):
Mr. Blue Sky
Livin' Thing
Strange Magic
Turn To Stone
Love Is Like Oxygen
other good ones:
Sweet Talkin Woman
Telephone Line
Can't Get It Out of My Head
Showdown
Blinded By the Light
Don't Bring Me Down
Anyone know of any that I've missed?
not the horrible: Fifth of Beethoven.
(Disco in it's lowest form. Falco's Rock Me Amadeus is a masterpiece compared to that.)
Sorry i didn't get this done before she got back from australia...
more heads will hopefully pop out of the head factory soon...
comic journal will probably go up in the next week or two. i haven't been posting much cos I'm kind of obsessed with it. anything i would post is going into badly drawn little squares. it's over 150 panels long right now. should be cool. so many fun stories: water gun fights, summer camp follies, bar room animals, ninjas & pirates, comicon, drunken motorcycle rides, greyhound bus stories, incredible hulk encounters, swimming with sharks, paying crackheads to pick me flowers, seeing cricket be dolly parton, inebriated laser tag birthday party, hobo fights, paying girls to eat lots of candy, coke barricades, keeping in touch with my friends as best i can and making new ones wherever I've been...
things have been wild and out of control. things have been good. i think this last month has been one of the best months of my entire life, and it just seems like things will get better and better in the next couple months. i'm glad to have captured it in badly drawn comic form. i hope you'll like it...
Today I took a two-hour lunch with my friend Maryann. We both work at the same place, albeit in different departments. Anyway, we headed up to 34th street to eat at a place called Minado, Japanese Seafood Buffet. It was $15.00 for all you can eat grilled salmon and red snapper, tempura, various Japanese salads, and almost every type of delightful sushi imaginable. My absolute favorite is simply the salmon sashimi over rice. I also love avocado and crabmeat rolls. Mmmmm...
We also stopped at the Manhattan Mall a few blocks away from the restaraunt to partake in one of my favorite rituals, the photobooth!
