So I used to be this guy that used to write all kinds of movie reviews here and publish all the latest movie news. I don't know what happened to that guy. I still LOVE movies. I haven't been to the movie theater since The Dark Knight. Yeah. There's a ton of stuff I want to see but I think I'm going to wait for the DVD. But then those DVDs have to compete with TV shows and video games.

I've definitely been in a video game frame of mind lately. I've been playing a lot of GTA IV and Duke Nukem 3D online. I'm also finally trying to beat GTA IV. I'm a bit stuck on the very last mission on the Revenge storyline. You have to chase this guy who is on a boat while you are on a bike and I'm just having a hard time on the bike. Perhaps I need to practice.

TV is back in full swing. I'm currently watching Fringe, The Office, SNL, Heroes, The Sarah Connor Chronicles, How I Met Your Mother, and True Blood. It's a little hard to keep up on everything but I really like The Sarah Connor Chronicles so far this season. How I Met Your Mother has had a great start too. I haven't caught up on Heroes yet but I've heard some very mixed things. We'll see. I tend to disagree with the popular opinion, not on the fact that it's popular but it just seems that historically I have an odd taste.

So what are you guys into right now, as if I needed any more ideas?

After seven years, Christmas on Mars is finally going to be released on November 11. Happy birthday to me!

Just to remind you, this is the feature-length film that is completely homemade by The Flaming Lips. Wayne Coyne wrote and directed it himself, built the sets in his backyard, and invited his bandmates and friends to act in it.

And, naturally, The Flaming Lips performed the original score, which means we also get an album's worth of new music. The tracklist alone is characteristically mind-blowing:

01 Once Beyond Hopelessness
02 The Distance Between Mars and the Earth -- Part One
03 The Horrors of Isolation: The Celestial Dissolve, Triumphant Hallucination, Light Being Absorbed
04 In Excelsior Vaginalistic
05 Your Spaceship Comes From Within
06 Suicide and Extraordinary Mistakes
07 The Distance Between Mars and the Earth -- Part Two
08 The Secret of Immortality: This Strange Feeling, This Impossible World
09 The Gleaming Armament of Marching Genitalia
10 The Distress Signals of Celestial Objects
11 Space Bible With Volume Lumps
12 Once Beyond Hopelessness

Mark my words: this will be the greatest Christmas-themed psychedelic sci-fi rock music film ever made.

Geoffrey Canada may be the most ambitious social and educational reformer in America. Not content to help just some of the poor kids growing up in Harlem, he has made it his stated goal to change the very culture of the inner city and thereby transform an entire community. My initial reaction when I heard this was "Good luck!"

But it's impressive to hear what Canada has been able to accomplish so far, through an entire system that include charter schools, health clinics, parenting classes, and more. Terry Gross did an interview with him in which he makes some excellent points about how to address social problems in inner cities. I don't agree with his reliance on high-stakes testing, but I have to admit that his rationale makes some sense (he argues that for poor black children to compete for college admissions and jobs they have to do well on tests).

What I thought was even more interesting was the story at the beginning of This American Life last week. It again explains the overall vision of Geoffrey Canada's project, but it focuses on his efforts to intervene in the lives of children starting at birth. Basically, he's teaching poor parents in Brooklyn to raise their kids the way middle class parents do, with lots of emphasis on language, reading, and progressive approaches to discipline.

After teaching low-income kids in rural communities for several years, I am convinced about how important those early years are in shaping the rest of their lives. In my English classes I often ask about the kids' reading experiences as far back as they can remember, and the ones who struggle with reading the most are the ones who say their parents never read to them. I think that the subsequent inability and an unwillingness to read is the greatest barrier that kids in poor communities face, but I've never thought anything practical and sufficiently broad could be done about it.

That is what is so special about Geoffrey Canada. Where other people see unchangeable social trends he proposes solutions. It's truly remarkable.

Two of these videos are beauty pageant contestants trying their best to form coherent sentences. The other is a parody. I'm not sure which is which.

My sister and I have been meaning to start visiting the opera on a regular basis but have always been lazy about it. I'm hoping to start making it a more regular habit and start learning more about it. This fall I have been bombarded with advertising on all sides, from NPR to KUSC to email, and once I heard that Woody Allen was directing one of the operas, I was even more interested. We finally caved in and bought the cheapest seats in the house - the next-to-the-last row in the 4th balcony of the Dorothy Chandler. We made it there in a rush, ate a quick sandwich, and got inside just in time for the show.

The first and second performances were directed by William Friedkin. Il Tabarro, which is the story of a woman, her lover, and her husband, can't possibly end well for those involved, and is thus a tragedy. The set was beautiful, complete with moving water in the background, and a ship that actually sailed up to the deck where the action took palce. The lighting was particularly effective here, with a sunset as the backdrop to the story. I loved the flowing violins of this opera. The ending is very abrupt, and is pronounced by stark lighting, which made it much more effective. Overall, the story and music didn't stand out as much as in the other operas, but I did get pulled into it and the end gave me chills.

The second was Suor Angelica, about a nun named Angelica who has a secret - she was once a princess and had a child out of wedlock and was sent to be a nun to atone for her sins. When her aunt, who was particularly sinister and cold, visits her after seven years at the nunnery, she finds out that her child died two years before. Stricken with grief, she decides to kill herself so she can go be with him in paradise, only to realize after she's taken the poison that in the world of Catholicism, she is damning herself to hell. She repents to the Virgin Mary and begs for forgiveness and to see her son. Mary consents and welcomes Angelica into heaven in the presence of her son. The set was sensible, but the substance of both the music and the emotions of Sister Angelica were what made this story. And again, the lighting at the end of the movie was amazing. We couldn't quite figure out how they made the characters glow in Heaven, but it was awesome. The music from this opera was much more impressive and moving, and this was my favorite of the night.

Last but not least was Woody Allen's Gianni Schicchi, about a family in need of help when a family member dies and leaves the family inheritance to the local friars. Gianni Schicchi is a schemer whose daughter wants to marry into the family, but has no dowry to offer. Schicchi offers his services and takes the dead man's place in the sick bed and assumes his identity long enough to dictate a new will that leaves all of the possessions to the family.. and the best of the inheritance to the departed's "good friend" Gianni Schicci. Haha. Allen knows how to make his opera audience laugh. He started the show with a projection screen and fake opening credits to get the ball rolling. When the curtains opened on this set (all three were designed by Santo Loquasto, who has worked on a huge amount of Allen's films), the audience gasped and applauded. The fact that there was only a 15 minute intermission between each opera made this set seem impossible. The setting was updated to a 40s-esque Catholic Italian family's sort of run down home with two stories and a spiral staircase, as well as a neighborhood street outside. Loquasto definitely saved the best for last. The story itself provides plenty of opportunity for humor, but Allen fins the sneakiest ways of adding in even more, including taking a boy who has only one line in the whole opera and leaving him on stage for almost the entire act. He's always in the background getting into mischief, and was an audience favorite to be sure. I had no idea that the famous "O mio babbino caro" was from this opera, and was in such a light-hearted story. It always sounded so serious to me; it was really funny here, while the music was still very beautiful. Allen had his characters ham it up, and everyone enjoyed it a great deal.

Overall, we had a fine time in our far-away seats, except for the elderly lady who sat behind us and had to be whispered to the entire night by her daughter because she couldn't read the subtitles. Director James Conlon brought the music to life along with all of the fine performers, and I really felt like it was a special treat, like getting three for the price of one. I would like to sit a little bit closer in the future to be able to see the expressions a little bit better and not feel like I was missing out on seeing some of the set. But at $210 a piece for the first balcony tickets, it may be a while before I get any prime seating at an opera. :)

Well, last weekend was the final weekend before our big trip. But before I ran around trying to get us more prepared, I went to the final performance of Il Trittico, which is a series of one-act operas by Puccini. Review to follow.

On Saturday, I got up early (that's 9:30, which I'm aware isn't all that early to several of you) and went to recycle bottles. All of my hard work and four big trash bags got me $19.20. Woo. I was going to deposit some money at the bank and needed an extra quarter roll, so I stopped by Ric's parents place only to find that Ric's uncle and aunt had made a surprise visit. I ran to deposit my money at the bank (as opposed to all the people who were there to take out money) and then Ric and I met up with them to have lunch at Sizzler. They're a lot of fun. It was a great surprise to see them. After that, I was nearly out of gas, so went to fill up, called my sister, picked her up, and went to Brea to check out some shoes I was interested in for the trip. Of course, they were out of my size, so we drove to the Santa Ana mall to see if they had them there. I found them and bought them. We hadn't been there in ages and decided to browse. I got a new purse for sixteen bucks (that's how I roll) and then we went south on the 5 in search of Babies 'R' Us, which we thought was somewhere down there. We were right, and spent forever browsing for baby shower gifts. When I finally got home, I had to rest for a bit. We were planning to go to a movie, but Ric and I were both too tired. I drove over the Wii to my sister and said goodbye for a few weeks! Then I came home and pretty much crashed.

Sunday we went to church with the Andersons, grabbed a bite at Del Taco, and came home to rest a while. I headed uptown to buy my shampoo and conditioner at the only store that sells it for a decent price and they were closed. Boo. I'll have to try it again when I go to the library this week. I went to Target to wander for more baby things with no success except a gift bag, and bought some groceries while I was there. Of course, they were out of kitty litter, so I had to go next door to PetSmart, where, of course, they only had the massive bags of it and I had to haul one of them around. I came home and whipped up a tasty (tasty = using real garlic instead of just the powder!) pasta for myself and set in to watch Parent Trap, the original, until Ric was ready to go to the track with me. Well, he was too tired, so I ended up going alone. That was good though, because it gave me time to listen to the final tape of Return of the King. I have now listened my way through the Hobbit and the LOTR trilogy, and I must say that it will be added to my shopping or wishlist soon, because I can envision it being a great thing for family road trips one day. I love hearing the songs being sung. After a few miles and a sad attempt at 100 consecutive pushups (70) I went home and rested by watching some WKRP with Ric.

I'm tired. My back didn't handle Saturday very well, and I'm not sure whether the best thing to do for it is to give it rest or keep it moving. I'm hoping that it will feel much better for the trip.

Up this week: making lists, checking them twice, packing, and leaving for the U.K.!

I found this while Stumbling around today. If any poor soul ever tries to defend Batman & Robin or say that Joel Schumacher is a capable filmmaker, just show them this highlight reel of the film's worst scenes.

I feel like I have to take a shower now.

I'm teaching a creative writing class this year. I haven't taught this before, and I'm really enjoying it. So far they've produced some good stuff. I'm making an effort to keep up with the students, writing the same things that I'm assigning. I figure this way I'll better understand some of the problems they are facing as they write. The other result is that I've written some poems that I'm pretty happy with. I'm know I'm no poet, but I think I can carry a tune, so to speak. So I figured I'd share some of these with the world. Here's the first.
-----

embracing the chaos

I stick my head inside Will's room.
Has a bomb has gone off?
Hot Wheels,
scraps of paper,
shoes, trading cards.
Action figures stare up at me.
Has he even been working on this?

Above the clutter,
He's on the bed,
reading comics.

"Dude, get to work! Done in twenty minutes or no swimming!"

Eight years earlier this boy on the bed is
strapped to my stomach, wide eyed, taking in the chaos,
wonder of a third-world airport.
Ukrainian guards in high hats - "He needs his visa."
Questions at the gate - "I thought we had everything."
Confusion - "He says we don't."
Nervous glances between his mother and I.

From the hallway I step into his mess.
"Come on. I'll give you a hand."
He smiles,
hops off the bed,
gathers up an armful of super heroes
and drops them into the toy box.

Bush binges; his successor will pay

This is an article from Politico. It is interesting in that it makes this claim:

Barack Obama says a John McCain victory would amount to a third term of the Bush presidency. What he doesn’t say: an Obama victory would, too.

With all the political talk going on, I would like to hear an opinion from someone else on this article.

Happy Birthday, Wanda June by Kurt Vonnegut

"I'll be home for Christmas...."

We'll be flying in and out of St. Louis on December 21 and January 1. Somewhere in the middle there we'll head over to Kansas City, and there will likely be a stop in Jefferson City as well, I am told. We're excited to come back for a bit, although we're still trying to figure out who's going to watch Eden while we're gone.

Speaking of, here are a couple of pictures from today:

1) McCain did a lot better than I expected. I'm actually impressed.

2) John McCain would probably be the best Republican president our country could have.

3) I'm still voting for Obama.

Not sure I mentioned the water heater drama at our condo, but I have spent tons of time waiting around for water heater inspectors in the past month. One didn't show, claimed he couldn't find the place (impossible), gave me plenty of attitude, and then later tried to overcompensate by giving me a lot of compliments. I was incredibly upset about him and my experience with him since I lost about eight hours of work sitting around for him. Then I had to wait around for the water heater installer to fix the problem the water heater inspector found, and then I had to wait around for another inspector to come and make sure the problem was fixed. Many hours later, I've got no personal time left until next July, so any car maintenance or appointments for the condo will be vacation time. Whoopee.

Anyway, the first water heater guy got me so upset that I considered calling in to complain about him, but then I had a humbling walk where I thought about how I could have tried to talk to him in a different way to make things go more smoothly. I decided, as Amy often says, to be about "the love of Christ" and let it go. Come to find out, the guy was laid off soon after he inspected our place. Perhaps the overwhelming feeling that I should let it go saved this guy the trouble of having a complaint against him right before he got laid off. I don't know. But I am glad I did let it go.

And now, we have an officially okayed water heater at home! Finally!

Apparently there's no need to watch the debate tonight.

John McCain has already let us know that he won.

So I don't know if you guys have ever noticed this, but I tend to overextend myself when it comes to taking on new projects and responsibilities. I wouldn't have it any other way though. Phil and I are working on two new sites: a webcomic called Brax the Alien Rocker and a community for Doritos Fans. Yeah, I'm serious. Niche websites are where the money is. Also, it's fun and helps build my portfolio.

In addition to these projects I'm also doing some outside work. You already know about the Propeller Geek Group but I've also taken on the webmaster duties at Culture Shoq, a site which my friend Matt works for. They even gave me a column which I'm already slacking on.

Yes, on top of all of this I have a day job as well as school and the whole pop.vox.music thing, which is in an upswing. I guess I'm trying to say that I feel very productive right now. I'm sorry if this blog is suffering because of it. I also know I have really been neglecting my XBox friends, but if you send me a message or email we'll schedule something. I'm up for any kind of deathmatch.

The Mirror of Love by Alan Moore

Hey, what do you know? This is the first Stanley Kubrick movie I've watched without getting sleepy or falling completely asleep! Haha. This movie is a sort of two-parter. In the first act of the movie, the story is about basic training in the Marines. The new recruits are subjected to all sorts of personal insults by Sergeant Hartman, whose job is to whip them into shape and be prepared for war. The second act follows one of the recruits into his journalistic role and the experiences he faces when the Marines he is working with face opposition in an almost-abandoned area near the city of Hue.

I started off liking this movie a lot. Sergeant Hartman, though rough, is very funny, and I got the impression that all of the tasks and insults he gave were given in a sincere effort to help the recruits separate themselves from their civilian lives and toughen their skins for the life they will experience in Vietnam. Filled with humor and scenes of physical activities, it makes one appreciate what any armed forces recruits experience, even at the very beginning of their experiences. Sergeant Hartman chooses a particular recruit to pick on - a bigger guy who's a little bit slow, whom he nicknames Pyle. One wants to root for Pyle instantly, but as the training continues, one also wonders how he can take all of the negative attention he receives while also feeling a little bit annoyed by his slowness to catch on. The results of his training close the end of the first act. I thought they were a bit far-fetched and that Vincent D'Onofrio, who plays Pyle, went a little overboard with his acting. I appreciated the efforts of all involved, but didn't feel very satisfied with how this segment ended, purely on the basis of believability (or lack thereof).

What I did appreciate about the first part of the movie was that it tried to develop character. Now, I understand that the point of the movie seems to be focusing on the dehumanization of the men who are sent into war, but that doesn't mean that the movie had to give up on making us feel anything for any character in order to show that. The second half of the movie simply travels on the surface. Joker isn't a particularly likable guy, and he's pretty much the only person focused on. The situations he gets placed in are interesting, but ultimately I didn't feel a vested interest in whether he lived or died. I did like the final sequence, which is a showdown between several men and a single sniper. It was full of tension and felt like an aspect of war that I don't get to see often because war movies are so often all about bombs exploding all over the place. It does fall prey to some of the bad habits (in my opinion) that Platoon also had, which include a lot of slow motion and overexpressed sentiments when someone is getting shot.

While watching the movie, I was always aware of a careful hand in the chosen camera angles and atmospheres of each scene. It always looks great, and the pacing is nice and steady. I guess it seems to me that style won out over substance. I thought the first half was wonderful even though it was flawed, but the second, while interesting, wasn't all that moving. In the end, I have a half-and-half reaction to it and would have to say that it's probably not one I'll watch again, although I am glad I gave it a try.

Man, these YouTube guys sure work fast.

Hat tip to Cinematical.

A friend asked me what I thought of the message of Jesus. Here's my response:

If Jesus had a single coherent message, it was "Repent, for the Kingdom of God/Heaven is at hand." Jesus (assuming he really said it) probably meant it just like all the other apocalyptic preachers of the time. He meant that God was going to restore the glorious kingdom in Jerusalem and right all the wrongs Israel had endured. He was dead wrong, of course, and things got worse for the Jews rather than better. Later Christians read different ideas into his words and we can probably assume they selectively passed on his sayings to support their revisionist interpretations. Now the Kingdom means the church or the second coming or heaven or something else. There's not even a consensus of what it means.

He spoke in riddles and parables and again there's still disagreement about what some of them mean. Seems like he could have taught more clearly if he really had something important to convey. That was his one chance at direct contact with humans. Pretty unimpressive.

Once you look past the kingdom talk and the unclear stuff, there are some good ideas. Pride and hypocrisy are bad, especially in religion. Forgiveness and peace. Sharing of wealth. Love. Reciprocity. Nothing groundbreaking or original, but certainly some ideas that any humanist (secular or otherwise) can appreciate.

But the core of his message was just wrong. There is no Kingdom.

Somehow in the midst of all the movies I have seen, there are some that it seems like everyone else in the world has seen that I have somehow missed. I'm sure now that I've just watched Platoon, Full Metal Jacket, and Apocalypse Now, a lot of references are going to make a lot more sense! In fact, it would have been great to watch all of those right before going to see Tropic Thunder. At any rate, I'm not sure I had seen very many movies about the Vietnam War until just now, and Platoon was the first of the batch for me. This movie follows Charlie Sheen as Taylor, a young soldier who is new to the war and learning the ropes of what war is like in Vietnam. There's a struggle for authority between men played by Tom Berenger and Willem Dafoe, who each live by a different moral code, and Taylor faces a choice of which way he will live his own life as a soldier.

Oddly enough, I didn't even realize Platoon was directed by Oliver Stone when I watched it. Looking back, it makes sense, but this still feels fairly subdued to me. Usually the Stone movies I've seen have been more outspoken or outrageous. Here, one can see the evils of war without necessarily feeling like the director is instructing them to condemn it. My overall experience was more that Stone was exploring the challenges and different moral situations of war. It isn't until Taylor's final decision at the end that a side is finally chosen. But I had the sense that it could have gone either way, and so it didn't feel like a heavy-handed conclusion.

The scenes of warfare in this movie were what probably impressed me the most. I couldn't help but feel completely overwhelmed when the characters are basically trapped on all sides and an insane sequence of fighting takes place. Being the person that I am, I probably would have played dead just to avoid dealing with the situation. It's so amazing to me, to think that real men actually face these types of situations head-on.

Now, I can't stand Willemm Dafoe, and almost felt that since he's such an unenjoyable person to look at that it would have made more sense to play the role that Tom Berenger played. But that's just me. It's easy to dislike the ugly one and root for the better looking one, but perhaps the casting was a conscious decision. But it really was hard for me to feel an emotional investment with Dafoe's Elias, a central character in the morality triangle.

When all of the dust settled in the movie and in my brain, I was left thinking that I had just watched a classic war film that showed me the complexities a soldier faces in war and that the insanity of warfare pushes men to discover who they really are. It's no wonder that so many men come back completely changed. Sheen played his character levelly and the other two stars were right on target as well. I thought this one was great.

I just spent my lunch hour playing Duke Nukem 3D deathmatch on XBLA. I feel 16 again. Things were a little laggy on some levels but 8 player Stadium madness is pretty fun. Kudos to 3D Realms for also including the Plutonium Pack expansion and its zany levels. Hopefully folks will keep playing and it won't become a ghost town like Doom deathmatch has.

You're welcome.

If someone was "let go" from their job, what would be a good way of including that on someone's resume? I am assuming that the severity of said firing would have to be worded very carefully. It's obviously not something that can be omitted should a potential employer contact a past employer.

I guess just came up with your own reason for being dismissed and how you would spin it.

I am just wondering.

Who is the hero and who is the villain?

It's a Bible-believing[tm] preacher ranting about how another preacher is too accepting and non-judgmental. This guy made Joel Osteen seem like a nice person who's not too caught up in the uglier parts of his religion. I guess when you're immune to hocus pocus stuff you just see that one is a nice guy and one is an angry pompous ass (that comes at 9:19 if you just want to skip to the shouting).

Okay, I know I've been bad and haven't shown any pictures on here of what our condo looks like. I guess I thought we'd get it fixed up quickly and I could show before and after photos and it would all look great. Turns out, work takes time! So, I'm going to start showing photos of our work in progress, starting with our kitchen. I think looking at these photos helps me realize we have made progress, even though it sometimes seems as if we'll never be done!

Unfortunately, we didn't take a lot of BEFORE photos. Here's one, from the living room. You can hopefully see that the kitchen is yellow, has flowery paneling on the right wall, and looks kind of outdated.

The first thing we did in the condo was to rip out the paneling on the right wall, which also extended through the whole living room. We had to hire a painter to repair the drywall, retexture, and paint that area. The paint color is a light beige. Since the kitchen opens right out into the living room and we wanted a neutral color in that room and the hallways, the kitchen was given the beige color as well. That's the one thing we paid to have someone else do. Here's the kitchen after the initial repair job (note the brown cupboards):

I decided to go sanding and painting crazy, because the cupboards felt grimy and had water stains. Here I am, all geared up (thanks to Amy for the headphones and lots of other supplies) for sanding:

And then the kitchen looked like this, with white cupboards, but still outdated appliances (and still a bit of an odor in the condo):

We ordered new appliances. In order to install them, we had to uninstall the oldies. Here's our microwave in the middle of the living room floor. It has something under it because the whole thing was covered in a layer of grimy grease:

And here is the egg that was in the air duct. Yes, an egg. As it turns out, a group of pigeons has bored a hole somewhere in the building structure and they are able to nest right above our kitchen ceiling. We hear them coo. I should show you sometime with a video. I know I've got one somewhere around here. One day, I'll get sick of it and report it to the HOA. For now, they put Pip on edge, which I think is funny.

Once the new items were delivered, they had to be installed. Here's Ric installing the new dishwasher. Hats off to youtube for providing instructional videos, since the Big Book of Home How Tos didn't have all the details he needed. Ric also installed a new disposal, and we found that the stink in the house largely came from the old disposal and dishwasher. Things smell a lot better around here now.

Ta-da! Things are looking a little more chipper, especially with my Martha Stewart canisters atop the fridge and some art by Ryan that gron bought us for our wedding.

Let's do a little side-by-side comparing, shall we?

The sink/dishwasher area:

The pantry:

The microwave/stove/fridge area:

I've spent many an hour in this room, probably more in painting than in cooking. The touch-up process took a long time around the edges of the ceiling and the cupboards, and I discovered a lot of places where the painters missed spots. I also put in caulking around the edges of the cupboards that had once had paneling next to them, and then painted over it. That got rid of an awkward looking gap between the cupboards and the wall.

Things left to do: The old flooring is torn up and stained, and the counter tops gross me out because I can't get the grout clean in between the tiles. The old owners didn't seem to clean the kitchen at all. So, our plan is probably to install new flooring and counter tops next spring. We'll probably get a new fridge too, because the trim that keeps the fridge door sucking to the rest of the fridge is messed up, and the motor doesn't sound like it's going to last much longer. That will be our big project next year. We plan to have the professionals handle the counters, which won't be anything special - probably laminate - because we don't plan to live here for the rest of our lives.

And that's our kitchen in a nutshell! It's really small, which is sometimes frustrating, but it can also be nice because everything is usually easily reachable.

Oh man, I can't wait. I really wish Amy Ryan would become a series regular. She's incredible. I also hope her storyline with Kevin continues because I haven't laughed that hard in a long time.

Hey!

Sorry, I forgot to blog the last couple days of last week. We were in software training and I managed to whip out a few movie reviews, but it was probably best that I focus on work.

Last Wednesday night was a long day at work. Fortunately, there was bocce ball at lunch and my team had the week off, so I got to rest on a picnic blanket. Otherwise, my day consisted of sitting in training all day, sitting in traffic, sitting at a concert, and sitting in training again. My sister and I went to see Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds at the Hollywood Bowl. Catpower and Spiritualized opened. They were both really great, and unfortunately they outshone the headliner. I think it's because this was one of the first shows of the tour, but Nick Cave's band was sluggish and he himself was lazy with his melodies, which ended up making him look a bit like a washed up lounge singer. But there were moments when the essence of cool just exuded from him like the good old days. And it was a beautiful night with a bright full moon, so we had a good time despite the slight disappointment. I may wait until he does another "best of" tour before seeing him again, though.

Thursday was work. I took the night to rest because I knew I'd be busy on Friday. On Friday, as soon as work was over I ran out to work out, and as soon as that was done I met up with my sister and went to Disneyland, which is mostly decorated with its Halloween spirit. It was fun to see some of the new things around the park. I also went on the Finding Nemo submarine for the first time, went on Storybook Land for the first time (as far as I can remember), and was able to catch Alice in Wonderland with an unusually shorter line. We had fun watching the craziness of tired kids at an amusement park, especially when a live band was playing outside the food plaza in Tomorrow Land. They were absolutely gaga.

Saturday I was determined to sleep in. Although there were many things that woke me up in the morning, I mostly got my objective accomplished, and didn't get out of bed until noon. I had to run a bunch of errands, picking up clothes from the tailor, returning clothes, and hunting for a new purse and some walking shoes for the trip. Let me just say, I hate the majority of purses and shoes out there these days. I wandered around for several hours and then headed home. Ric and I spent the evening with the Andersons. We barbecued meat, made Yo's awesome cheese bread, and ate ice cream in front of a backyard fire pit. We love hanging out with them, especially because they're so smart. And it's not often I hear the news talking about any of the things that Colin has to talk about regarding the military, so it's great to feel a little bit more informed.

Sunday we went to church with the Andersons, then had a bite at KFC. I did a few finances and dabbled online for a while and then went shopping again. I still hate most shoes and purses. Ric's brother came into town, so we all went to eat at Mexico 1900. I'm not much of a Mexican food fan because it's so greasy, so I had a better time when we got back to Ric's parents' house and his mom made us some cookies to snack on while we chatted. That night when we got home, Ric and I watched Network on the Roku.

Up this week: food shopping tonight, movie night on Wednesday, hopefully Indiana Jones at the cheap theater on Thursday, and possibly the Woody Allen-directed opera on Saturday. Hope you all have a great week!

WTF I keep trying and trying but everytime I come close, Madagascar is the only country left STOP CLOSING YOUR FUCKING BORDERS AND DIE ALREADY JESUS CHRIST

here's a link teehee: http://www.crazymonkeygames.com/Pandemic-2.html

A few weeks ago I bought tickets to an event being held at the UCB Theatre that was simply titled "Judd Apatow Presents An Evening of Comedy." All that the description said was that Judd would be bringing us an evening of stand-up featuring surprise guests. Considering that Judd Apatow has a lot of funny friends and how much fun I had at his event at PaleyFest (which featured Gary Shandling and Andy Dick as surprise guests) I knew I had to go. Read on for the full report.

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Plain View #92 - Aug 28, 2008 - part 2

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Would Sarah Palin bring back witch hunts?

I think Nader's finally lost it

Blankets: Recordings for the Illustrated Novel by Tracker

About a year ago one of my best friends committed suicide. I know most of you didn't have the pleasure of knowing Greg Dunlevy, but in the brief time I knew him he was one of my best friends. He helped me come to terms with a lot of things about myself and he was there for me during a really rough transition period in my life. We met on a parade shift one day at Disneyland and we were pretty much friends from then on. It's still rough, I'm not going to lie. I think a lot about why Greg did what he did and I can't come up with any answers that make sense. I don't think there ever will be any. I guess I just miss my friend.

I just wanted to take a little time to give a shout to the friends we have lost over the years. If we keep them in our hearts, they will never truly be lost. So this is for Greg, for James, for Mark and any friends and loved ones who are no longer with us. We miss you and we love you.

Peace.

Thanks, Best Week Ever!

Heathers: Limited Edition Locker Set (US - DVD R1 | BD RA) in News > Releases at DVDActive

The Limited Edition Locker Set contains: a numbered locker, a 20-page hardcover Heathers year book, an 'awesome' T-shirt, 14 locker/fridge magnets, a collectable Westerburg algebra book, the BD and two DVDs. Those DVDs will present the film in an anamorphic 1.85:1 transfer with Dolby Digital 5.1 sound and contain the features highlighted above in addition to an original ending screenplay excerpt accessible from DVD-ROM. We will provide more details as it becomes available.

The price is quite steep especially since it doesn't look like there's much in the realm of new special features, not to mention I don't have a Blu Ray player, but I still must have it. Something from Comic-Con 2008 that I forgot to mention was that I met Daniel Waters, the screenwriter for Heathers. He was insanely cool. Yes, insanely.

Heathers is one of my favorite movies. It's probably the first dark comedy I ever watched. It also solidified my love for Winona Ryder and my hatred for Shannen Doherty. Hatred in the sense that I love to hate her. Jeri and I used to have this game where we would send each other postcards and somewhere on the card we would put a Heathers quote. I had totally forgotten about it but when I was moving I found a couple post cards from her and on one there was the line "Is that pate?" I recently watched the movie again on DVD and it's still just as great as I remembered. It also reminded me how far Christian Slater has fallen after this, Pump Up the Volume, and True Romance. It's easy to forget these days that at one point he wasn't a joke.

Come back to us J.D., we need you.

Michael Greenberger on Fresh Air yesterday:

We privatize profits; we socialize losses. That is to say, if AIG were booming nobody would ever say that you and I should have the opportunity to take it over. But when it collapses and threatens the entire economy, it becomes our problem.

Top 10 Reasons I Don't Believe in God @ Greta Christina -- This is an excellent list and lines up well with my reasons, too. Read it. If you like it, Digg it.

Here we go again! Unfortunately, for some reason, Netflix doesn't have the fifth installment of the Planet of the Apes movies available, so for now, Ric and I will have to be satisfied with having seen four of them. Maybe I'll set up the TiVo to automatically record it. Anyway, this is the fourth of the POTA movies, and as the title implies, it's all about conquest. In this case, the apes are the conquerors. The setting is around 1990, and apes are being used as servants, and one of them, who is more advanced than the others, gradually moves from disapproving of the treatment of apes to organizing their revolt.

The first problem I have with this movie (and there are many) is the believability factor. I know, I know. I'm watching a sci-fi movie a and am talking about believability, but there still has to be a certain level of explanation that satisfies the movie viewer's sense of logic. In this story, we hear the actual history of how apes moved from being animals in the wild or in the zoo to doing regular human activities. The writers would like us to believe that all normal pets die from a disease and apes replace them as household pets, then they are given tasks to do, and eventually they are trained to do specific manual labor, and one of them even learns speech... all in the course of about eight years. Since they teach us that evolution occurred over millions of years, the brief time span here is a bit of a deal-breaker for me.

But beyond that, the movie is also prone to bringing up some disturbing images that seem to compare the plight of the apes to the black race. The only friend to the apes is a black man (on a side note, I did like that he knew what humanity's destiny would be if he helped them but still did it anyway), and there are many uses of language that suggest that his people went through what the apes are going through. I can see what they're getting at, but I don't like the comparison, especially since in a sadder part of history, people actually compared the appearances of the two.

And, while the sets (pretty sure they drained the moats at the L.A. DWP) are creative and the music and special effects are well-done, the movie loses its appeal as the revolt begins. These last parts of the film are filled with continuous action that often feels direction list. We see shot on top of shot of apes beating on security. And that, too, doesn't seem all that realistic, because men with guns are somehow unable to kill of a lot of apes who don't have guns.

It's also a very slow movie, and even though it takes its time, our protagonist seems to make the transition from a nice guy to an angry killer all too quickly. I didn't feel his pain and I didn't understand how he didn't confront his own hypocrisy in giving the humans the same treatment he despised of his own kind. The only redeeming factor was that he chose not to kill a couple of people.

I'm interested to see where the next movie takes things, but while this one could have turned out to be a much more interesting and effective story based on its premise, the way it plays out was less than impressive for me. It's definitely my least favorite of the series so far.

The comments tore the story to shreds but I just wanted to document my first submission to hit the front page of Digg. No, I didn't write it and all I really did was click a button, but it's still a cool geek achievement.

The Mother Tongue: English and How It Got That Way by Bill Bryson

What we are witnessing in the economy right now is nothing short of the total and devastating failure of the Republicans' policies of financial deregulation.

If you are still unconvinced that Barack Obama is the right candidate for president, please watch this video. The running time seems long, but the most timely stuff is at the beginning. If you're busy, turn your computer volume way up and listen to it as you do work around the house.

(On a sidenote, anybody who says Obama gives no specifics about his plans has never listened to one of his speeches)

Barack Obama: If you think those lobbyists are working day and night for John McCain just to put themselves out of business, well, then, I've got a bridge to sell you up in Alaska.

That's a hell of a good line. Some speechwriter deserves a pay raise for that.

We waited to see Hancock at the dollar theater. Since superhero movies are more and more common these days, it's nice when we get to see one about a hero we've never seen in comic books. This one, played by Will Smith, is a guy who has superhero powers, but doesn't tend to abide by normal rules of etiquette when he tries to use those powers for good. For instance, when Hancock saves a guy named Ray from being hit by a train, he causes a train derailment. The general public doesn't care for Hancock because of the damages he causes and because he seems to be a bum when he's not doing anything else. And since they don't care for them, he doesn't hold much regard for being careful around them.

Ray is actually in the public relations business and decides he can help Hancock out by teaching him how to improve his image with the public. Jason Bateman place Ray and his dialog is always very funny. It's nice to see him in a big role in a big budget movie. And oddly enough, there are way too many moments in this movie that make the AD fans think about their beloved show.

It's funny to watch Ray try to transform Hancock into a modern view of what a superhero should be. I really enjoyed watching the transformation process. Overall, the writing is crisp and moves the story along quickly, and always keeps a wry sense of humor.

As the movie progresses, the tone does change, and I know a lot of people weren't huge fans of where the story ended up. I actually didn't have a problem with it because I liked the idea it was trying to get at as to the origins of Hancock's powers. Some of the editing was a little bit heavy towards the end, but all in all I was actually a lot more satisfied with the results than I had anticipated.

I'm not sure if it would exactly become a classic, but I actually thought Hancock was an interesting character with potential for future movies, and hopefully if he returns, we would still be able to see Bateman's character as well, since the two work so well off of each other in this movie. Glad I made a point to go out and see it before it left the cheap theater!

One great thing about the Roku is that you can actually view the DVD cover art of the Netflix movies you are watching. I know I can see those things online, but once the movie arrives in the mail, it's in a little, boring envelope. With the Roku, you can browse through and look at the artwork and the movie descriptions, nice and big on the tv screen (if you have a big tv screen). I have to admit, this is often what helps me pick which movie I feel like watching. When I saw the figure of Aguirre, read that the movie was directed by a German director (Herzog) and told a story about 16th century Spanish conquistadors who were in search of gold and El Dorado, the combination was too e