Stone of Destiny - Some Scottish kids steal a stone from Westminster Abbey in 1950. Kate Mara is all hot and stuff, but I'm bored to death.
Columbus Day - Val Kilmer phones in his role as a thief who has pulled off a big score. And I actually mean phones it in. He spends almost the entire movie on the phone. And I'm bored to death. It happens on Columbus Day. Which is some American thing.
Home - A really interesting, really strange French film about a family who live an idyllic life until the freeway gets built next to their house. Then they slowly start going insane, one by one. Absurd, but if you speak French it's worth taking a chance on this one. Some good nudity too, from Adelaide Leroux.
La Jeune Fille Et Les Loups - Again, a French-only movie. Again with some good nudity, this time courtesy Laetitia Casta. However, the movie sucks. And there is not enough boob to make it even close to worthwhile.
Galapagos: Les Iles Qui Ont Change Le Monde - Again, French-only. How tough would it have been to add an English narration track on this nature documentary? Really. The filming is spectacular though, in any language.
Monday, June 29, 2009
Friday, June 26, 2009
The best reason to hate the 24-hour news cycle - Michael Jackson
Yesterday my girlfriend ran downstairs to tell me that Michael Jackson was dead. Well, not really dead, or not yet, but maybe, and probably, and he wasn't breathing, or at least she thinks, and possibly in the hospital or perhaps not and he may or may not be in cardiac arrest. She wanted me to come upstairs and help her watch television, since I know what channels are all-news. A "Breaking News Announcement" had interrupted whatever Oprah-related show she was watching, then disappeared. So I started flipping between CNN, MSNBC and FOX "News". At the time, there wasn't much happening except for the news ticker at the bottom of the screen. Wolf Blitzer was wheezing his way through a piece about Iran, Chris Matthews was taking a deeper look at the philandering Governor Sanford, and Glenn Beck was having a "who's-crazier contest" with the (possibly) equally insane, (and definitely more stupid) Michelle Bachmann.
As the Michael Jackson story took off, Blitzer was the first to switch to constant coverage. Still breathless and wheezing, he turned the screen over to a few people who may or may not have had any information about the incident. All they really knew was that he had been taken to a hospital, and that there was a chance he wasn't breathing. However, they had to fill the next half hour. So I got to see an animated explanation of cardiac arrest. There was this big artery on the screen, you see...and Blitzer was going through the various things that could have caused Michael Jackson's cardiac arrest, if he had indeed suffered a cardiac arrest, but of course we still don't know for sure...
Then I started seeing people comparing Michael Jackson to Farrah Fawcett, who had also died earlier in the day, and how "we Hollywood watchers" were expecting the death of Fawcett, but not the illness of Jackson, and he was thinking about a comeback so we all thought he was OK...blah blah blah...you can find pundits for everything. I do feel bad for Farrah Fawcett though - this was a pretty big upstaging here. But seriously. How many times can people tell me that Michael Jackson's Thriller was a popular album? Or that he was once acquitted of child molestation? Or that he was famous for his white glove? I know this. I don't need it forty times while the networks wait for an actual story to develop. Go on with your scheduled programming until you have an actual story.
I ended up going to bed long before he actually died. Or, at least, long before his death was actually reported. And the long, boring coverage had apparently been going all that time. Now I see, this morning, (on wikipedia!) that his cause of death was "cardiac arrest". Seriously. Thanks, wikipedia, but "cardiac arrest" cannot possibly be the cause of death. Something else has to cause the "cardiac arrest". How do I know this? From Wolf Blitzer's helpful little animation! Cardiac arrest is merely the stopping of the heart, which happens during death anyway, but could be caused by a myriad of factors - heart attack, bear attack, snack attack, stroke, lung failure, skin failure, shock, rattlesnake bite, eating rat poison, or a few other things. Thanks Wolf Blitzer! The only thing I hate more than your 24-hour news cycle is wikipedia.
As the Michael Jackson story took off, Blitzer was the first to switch to constant coverage. Still breathless and wheezing, he turned the screen over to a few people who may or may not have had any information about the incident. All they really knew was that he had been taken to a hospital, and that there was a chance he wasn't breathing. However, they had to fill the next half hour. So I got to see an animated explanation of cardiac arrest. There was this big artery on the screen, you see...and Blitzer was going through the various things that could have caused Michael Jackson's cardiac arrest, if he had indeed suffered a cardiac arrest, but of course we still don't know for sure...
Then I started seeing people comparing Michael Jackson to Farrah Fawcett, who had also died earlier in the day, and how "we Hollywood watchers" were expecting the death of Fawcett, but not the illness of Jackson, and he was thinking about a comeback so we all thought he was OK...blah blah blah...you can find pundits for everything. I do feel bad for Farrah Fawcett though - this was a pretty big upstaging here. But seriously. How many times can people tell me that Michael Jackson's Thriller was a popular album? Or that he was once acquitted of child molestation? Or that he was famous for his white glove? I know this. I don't need it forty times while the networks wait for an actual story to develop. Go on with your scheduled programming until you have an actual story.
I ended up going to bed long before he actually died. Or, at least, long before his death was actually reported. And the long, boring coverage had apparently been going all that time. Now I see, this morning, (on wikipedia!) that his cause of death was "cardiac arrest". Seriously. Thanks, wikipedia, but "cardiac arrest" cannot possibly be the cause of death. Something else has to cause the "cardiac arrest". How do I know this? From Wolf Blitzer's helpful little animation! Cardiac arrest is merely the stopping of the heart, which happens during death anyway, but could be caused by a myriad of factors - heart attack, bear attack, snack attack, stroke, lung failure, skin failure, shock, rattlesnake bite, eating rat poison, or a few other things. Thanks Wolf Blitzer! The only thing I hate more than your 24-hour news cycle is wikipedia.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
My backyard is so full of life.
There is a lot of wildlife in my backyard. I think the lady who in my house before used to be all about feeding the birds. I think this because when I moved in the trees where jammed full of bird feeders and there were birdbaths in the corners. I'm quite the sleuth, aren't I? Now, the birds keep coming because the bugs are everywhere, and I don't have to remember bird feeders, so everyone wins. (The bird feeders appeared to actually be squirrel feeders anyway - maybe she was all about feeding the squirrels, and I'm not a brilliant deducer after all). So I've got bugs (which my dog eats), birds (which my dog chases), chipmunks (she stalks those), rabbits (she scares them) and squirrels (they scare her).
But now, I have two favourite animals in my backyard. One is a crow that often sits on top of my shed. This bird, although it's a crow, and they're pretty darn ugly and unpleasant and they sometimes chase the cute little chipmunks which distresses my girlfriend, is awesome. It's awesome because it has become the nemesis of my dog. And Muffin desperately needed a nemesis. She has several protectors, several subservient rabbits and chipmunks, and a couple of rabbits who occasionally join her on play dates. But my dog is an angry, barky little jerk, and she needs a nemesis, a wisecracking alter-ego, a Joker to her Batman. And this crow fits the bill (no pun intended!) and then some. It sits on top of the shed, and it barks at her. In fact, it sounds almost exactly like my dog. And Muffin barks back. And the crow looks down, (way down - she's about seven inches high) and cocks it's head, laughs at her a bit, then barks some more. And it's hilarious.
Come to think of it, my little dog, if she were a huge dog, would be a savage maniac. Perhaps she's the villain here - like, she's Moriarty and the crow is Sherlock Holmes. Wow, that was a weak analogy. The other animal I love in my backyard scares the hell out of the dog. It's a bumblebee, which is pretty normal, but it's the size of my fist. My girlfriend recently commented that she could see this bee all the way across the yard. I thought that was an understatement. I could see this bee from space. It's monstrous. It was in the basement, flying around, when we met the first time, and with some help from the kids, I managed to trap it in a Maytag box and release it outside. Now, it hangs around and I see him every day. And for such a large bee, it's pretty sneaky. I would think you could hear it flying, like a Spitfire buzzing the tower, but no. It's stealthy. Which means it sometimes flies right past my head, and I think someone's throwing a baseball at me. And the dog takes off across the lawn as though Freddy Krueger just showed up in the backyard. (Freddy Krueger, I assume, started with dogs like all serial killers. I also assume that Muffin knows this.) And the crow laughs at her some more.
But now, I have two favourite animals in my backyard. One is a crow that often sits on top of my shed. This bird, although it's a crow, and they're pretty darn ugly and unpleasant and they sometimes chase the cute little chipmunks which distresses my girlfriend, is awesome. It's awesome because it has become the nemesis of my dog. And Muffin desperately needed a nemesis. She has several protectors, several subservient rabbits and chipmunks, and a couple of rabbits who occasionally join her on play dates. But my dog is an angry, barky little jerk, and she needs a nemesis, a wisecracking alter-ego, a Joker to her Batman. And this crow fits the bill (no pun intended!) and then some. It sits on top of the shed, and it barks at her. In fact, it sounds almost exactly like my dog. And Muffin barks back. And the crow looks down, (way down - she's about seven inches high) and cocks it's head, laughs at her a bit, then barks some more. And it's hilarious.
Come to think of it, my little dog, if she were a huge dog, would be a savage maniac. Perhaps she's the villain here - like, she's Moriarty and the crow is Sherlock Holmes. Wow, that was a weak analogy. The other animal I love in my backyard scares the hell out of the dog. It's a bumblebee, which is pretty normal, but it's the size of my fist. My girlfriend recently commented that she could see this bee all the way across the yard. I thought that was an understatement. I could see this bee from space. It's monstrous. It was in the basement, flying around, when we met the first time, and with some help from the kids, I managed to trap it in a Maytag box and release it outside. Now, it hangs around and I see him every day. And for such a large bee, it's pretty sneaky. I would think you could hear it flying, like a Spitfire buzzing the tower, but no. It's stealthy. Which means it sometimes flies right past my head, and I think someone's throwing a baseball at me. And the dog takes off across the lawn as though Freddy Krueger just showed up in the backyard. (Freddy Krueger, I assume, started with dogs like all serial killers. I also assume that Muffin knows this.) And the crow laughs at her some more.
This is great too.
Thought I'd throw this video up too - hilarious. some of the most memorable sports press conference moments, mixed down into a song. Fantastic!
Playoffs? Practice?
Playoffs? Practice?
Unbelievable.
I have a Guitar Hero video game at home because the kids like to play it. I like it too, if only because there are some good tunes. And it's fun to play with the kids. Even if they keep skipping over "Holiday In Cambodia". I don't have this Rock Band thing though, because I figured having one of the two was good enough. I'm starting to think otherwise, though. I think I may have to pick up Rock Band, at least when the Beatles version comes out. It would be worth it just for this:
http://www.thebeatlesrockband.com/cinematic.php
That's what they call the "opening cinematic", I guess the screen that loads up when the game begins. It's directed by the guy who did all the animation for the Gorillaz - remember the "Clint Eastwood" video? Probably not...I'll throw that in here:
All of this is pretty cool. Looking forward to The Beatles: Rock Band in a big way - you catch the yellow submarine in there? Or the "Blue Jay Way" poster? Very cool.
http://www.thebeatlesrockband.com/cinematic.php
That's what they call the "opening cinematic", I guess the screen that loads up when the game begins. It's directed by the guy who did all the animation for the Gorillaz - remember the "Clint Eastwood" video? Probably not...I'll throw that in here:
All of this is pretty cool. Looking forward to The Beatles: Rock Band in a big way - you catch the yellow submarine in there? Or the "Blue Jay Way" poster? Very cool.
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