Be cool

I don't pay utilities in my apartment. As a consequence to that, building management controls when to switch over the central ventilation system to AC. They usually do it on memorial day, but perhaps because of rising oil prices they have yet to do it.

It has topped 95 every day this week.

This is not a good combination. There's a desert/rainforest effect going on in my pants. It never stays any one ecosystem for any discernible length of time. It's pretty much pot luck.

As a result of this, I refuse to go home after work. And really, wheres the best, cheapest place to spend a disturbingly hot day? That's right, the library. I decided to go to the movies, however; books are for squares.

So in 3 days I've seen Zohan, Indy 4, Speed Racer, Baby Mama, and What Happens in Vegas. I was fairly close to seeing Redbelt as well, but I was getting sick of whoppers (the delicious malted candy, not the delicious flame broiled patty). I'm pretty much movied out at this point. Luckily, I didn't feel any of them were a waste of time. Speed Racer did seem to have a few too many anti-capitalist monologues for a kids movie. Fortunately there was a chimp.

Now I'd say I'm pretty caught up this movie season (I think the only movie I wasn't able to see thus far was the Forbidden Kingdom). This weekend I'll probably catch the Incredible Happening. Both of them have the potential to be good, but the buzz on M. Night isn't too promising, nor is the buzz from Ed Norton. We shall see...

New movie idea...

I saw this really good pitch online, and I may steal it for myself if enough people agree with me regarding its potential for greatness:

"I just had a dream last night about a movie I want to come to theaters called Suicide Horses. It's about people jumping out of planes on horses to their tragic deaths. Here is a visual of my idea:





Maybe an alternative title could be Skybiscuit. I think it would be an amazing and tragic movie to watch skitty [sic]."

Eerie Indiana

So I recently began a viewing regiment for the Indiana Jones series in preparation for the upcoming sequel. I’ve channel surfed my way past Raiders several times over the years, but I probably haven’t watched any of them the entire way through since they were first released. My impressions of the series have changed a bit as a result of these repeated viewings, though.

First of all, and I’m sure this has been brought up repeatedly, but I have no idea how these movies are rated PG. There’s more murder and blood in these movies than some horror movies released these days. Indiana alone probably kills as many people per movie as a Rambo or a Jigsaw. And quite nonchalantly to boot. I could maybe understand if it was cartoon violence, but again, if a death is accompanied by blood, it no longer falls in the “comic mischief” category.

Secondly, I didn’t particularly like Temple of Doom. Most of the scenes I remembered, or thought I remembered, from throughout the entire series all wound up showing up in Raiders, which I thought was a good thing at the time. I thought “wow, now the other two movies are gonna be surprises all the way through!”, which would have been a good thing if the cheese meter wasn’t dialed up so high (I have yet to get Last Crusade, so I’m not sure how that one will turn out).

The Temple of Doom was sexist, racist, ageist, and some scenes just plain ignored several of Newton’s Laws. I wanted to shoot the love interest for ¾ of the movie, and the last quarter I wanted to shoot Indy for repeatedly saving her.

Quite honestly, as of right now I think that National Treasure is better than either of the first two films in the series. Raiders definitely beats out National Treasure 2 though. And Temple, well the list of things that beat out Temple is too long to put in one blog entry. I know I haven’t really written anything bad about Raiders to explain why I’d put Nat’l Treasure above it, but that’s because I don’t think there was anything bad. It was a great ride. I just had more fun with Treasure, partly because I liked Cage’s supporting crew more. It’s more of a peanut butter and jelly vs. peanut butter and jam type of thing. Both delicious, but given the choice you just gotta go jam.

Tech $ux

I like having money. I also like shiny things. This obviously creates a conflict of interest. I understand that a lot of technological products have absolutely no use; nevertheless, I’m powerless every time I pass by a Best Buy. What I don’t understand is why the pricing for some products are so varied. I mean, with cell phones, I recognize the whole carrier subsidization thing, but there’s still such a huge disparity in pricing amongst the full price versions.

The standard features now are usually some sort of camera, mp3 functionality, some sort of web browser (either mobile or full html). All other things should be basically cost negligible (calculators, notepads, different sized address books, etc. And yet, the cost range between phones sold at full price can be as much as $500. The only varying factors are, I guess: camera resolutions, internal memory, GPS functionality, and interface (I’m not including smart phones in this group).

Now, I’m going to eliminate internal memory since the percentage of phones that have any relevant amount is relatively small. Concerning camera resolutions, most phones don’t have the highest quality of lenses, so that factor becomes moot, and the actual camera features are usually pretty slim. And since if you look at the digital camera market right now and take something generic like a 6MP camera, the prices range anywhere from $100 to $350. The higher ranges tend to go to those with slimmer profiles and advanced features. So back in the phone realm, one has to assume phone cameras blow and are more so in the $100 range, and thus cancel out.

With interface, there are multiple screens, screen sizes, screen resolutions, touch screens, etc., but in no way could the difference between the cheapest combination and the most expensive be more than say, $200. So why do all the things I want cost an exorbitant amount of money? Especially when a PSP has most of the features of pretty much any phone or mp3 player, yet costs under $200? Why are you still reading this?

Book review

I've been meaning to do this for a while, I just haven't gotten around to it. As such, this book isn't exactly new (several years old), and it isn't exactly a book (so much as it is fan-fiction from the internet). But review it I shall anyway.

Goku/Anne Frank: Until the End of Time

This mashup between Anne Frank, whose titular diary became a beloved classic, and Dragonball, a popular manga/animated program originating in Japan in the 1990s, has tons of potential but ultimately squanders it through incomplete plot progression and a general lack of chemistry between the two romantic leads.

The story introduces both Anne and Goku without much exposition; those unfamiliar with the two characters will be immediately lost. Anne's character does express an unfamiliarity with the events that occur in the opening moments, a feeling the reader most likely shares, but Gofer-chan (the author) never rectifies this oversight for us nor the young girl. The attraction that follows is strictly juvenile and strangely out of place, even considering it happens within the opening lines of the story, when the reader may not actually have a sense of the mood the author is trying to invoke. The two are separated almost as soon as they're thrust together, again confusing both poor Anne and poor me.

The story definitely picks up in the second half, though. It seems as if Gofer-chan took a lot of time off between the two halves of the tale. Perhaps to hone his storytelling ability. The addition of several plot twists and thrilling, edge of your seat action transforms this yawn-fest into a masterpiece. I hate to give spoilers, but let me be the first to tell you your eyes won't leave the screen once Super Saiyan Hitler hits the scene.

The story almost falls apart at the end, since the resolution arrives almost simultaneously with the climax, but I walked away satisfied nonetheless. Overall, highly recommended for all fans of either aliens highly skilled in martial arts or innocent children psychologically tortured by mass genocide.

Grade: B+

Breakfast and beds

This past weekend the lady friend and I went down to Cape May for a little R&R. Little did we know during the planning of the trip that it's more of a summer locale. As a result, it was pretty much a ghost town while we were there. Though it was still a great time, it made me think about how sucky it must be to live there regularly. Especially as a kid.

Our first night out there we went to this bar for a late night snack and were able to witness the off-season nightlife. Needless to say, it was pretty lame - yet simultaneously funny. The fashions on these kids (I'd put them in the early 20's range) seemed stuck in a different era. For the guys, a little Bud Bundy meets Kevin from the Wonder Years. For the ladies, a little Molly Ringwald in her heyday meets a buffet. Well that's a little harsh I suppose; there was only one whale in the bunch. What there weren't were attractive people. Male nor female. And yet one could still see the gears grinding in people's heads as they considered the prospects on hand (and there weren't even that many people in this place, and it was literally the only place open in town). I kind of felt sorry for them. Then again, maybe all the cool kids in town were hanging out in someones house playing dollar tournaments...

Another funny thing was that all the other guests at the B&B we were at were older and had either teenage kids or grandkids. They were all discussing problems they had with their (grand)kids or how happy they were to have the house to themselves again. They assumed the gf and I were married as well, and we played right along. They were worried that they were going to discourage us from having kids, and I tried to play that angle as well, but I don't think I did it with a straight face. Old people are weird.


Moral of the story: Don't count your chickens before they hatch.

P.S. - I suggest everyone take this test, and all the others on the page.

Oscar wrap up

It was a pretty good oscar show overall I'd say. I didn't even come close to winning the pool (I think I only picked 11 right), but I'm not bitter - I swear...

Best Documentary/ Short film/ Foreign film
I actually had the opportunity to catch a screening of all of the nominated short and animated films. That lost out to an intense Rock Band session though. The documentaries/foreign films just weren't widely available enough to view in a timely manner. As such, these categories were guesstimated, as usual, and I lost no sleep over the choosing of the eventual winner.

Best Picture
This choice was no surprise. No Country was a great movie, with only one or two minor flaws. A fine choice given the competition.

Best Director
This usually goes to the Best Picture winner. It didn't hurt that it was the best directed picture anyway. Pretty much a lock.

Best Actor
I called this one, too. He had won in just about every other awards show, and he is well respected by the academy. I'm still not sure how I feel about Danny as a person though. Like, I don't think I'd wanna share a beer with him over lunch. Still think Viggo could've won this as well, though.

Best Actress
Biggest upset of the night, I think. Marion did put in a heck of a performance, but it had been the general consensus of those in the industry that Julie Christie would win, especially considering her previous award wins this season. Maybe Hollywood is trying to go more international and wanted more people on stage with unintelligible accents.

Best Supporting Actor/Actress
Javier blew me away in this role, mainly because I had never heard of him before. His win was most appropriate. And I haven't gotten the chance to see Charlie Wilsons War quite yet, but I hope sometime in the movie they explain Philip Seymour Hoffman's appearance. I bet they don't though...

My previous declaration of a Michael Clayton shutout was pretty close to occurring before Tilda came along. The thing is, after further thinking I realized she probably did have the best performance given her competition, and I actually picked her. Go me. I'd put Amy Ryan as second in this category, over manCate.

Best Screenplays
This is another category in which my initial feelings were defeated by my common sense. The characterization in Lars was still excellent, in my opinion, but that may have been more because of the acting than by the script compared to a Juno, so I correctly made this pick as well.

The Coen sweep was completed by the Adapted category. Really wasn't hard choice if you thought about it for a second.

Best Animated Film
Ratatouille. Nuff said.

Best Special Effects
I was watching a time delayed Tivo broadcast of the awards, while conversing on various message boards. At one point I noticed a topic declaring that "Transformers was robbed", and my heart sank. I refused to click on the topic and I refused to fast forward the show, in hope that the internet world existed in some alternate dimension where travesties such as this could transpire. Alas, this proved untrue. Another piece of me died inside when I saw that it was The Golden Compass that had beaten the mighty autobots, and not At Worlds End. The academy should be ashamed.

Best Score/Song
More categories in which my original picks won out. Before the nominations even were released I felt I knew what the winners should be. The 3 songs from Enchanted kind of annoyed me, too. I'm sure they came off well in the movie because of the whole spoof angle, but when performed it just seemed cliche.

Best Costumes

*sigh*

C'mon academy. Are you serious? Do the voters just look for the movie with the biggest dress and funniest hat? I mean they've been using these same costumes for every period piece since the 70's. There's no originality there, no creative thought whatsoever.

Best Makeup
I had no interest in this category either. But I guess there's a whole industry of people out there that do this so they've got to include it. Yay for them?

Best Cinematography/Art Direction
For these I depended a little too much on critics and not enough on my gut. I haven't seen the Diving Bell and the Butterfly, but heard good things (which effectively screwed me).

Even with that failed pick, I knew There Will Be Blood should win one of these categories, I just picked the wrong one.

Best Sound Mixing/Editing
These two categories overlap so much its hard to differentiate between them. Either of them can be done during the process of the other; its just all so silly. Anyways, Transformers should have gotten one of them because I said so. Maybe Hollywood just hates Michael Bay for some reason.

Best Film Editing
Another misguided Diving Bell pick. I'm really going to have to stop taking one persons fascination with a movie as a be all end all critique. Oh well.


P.S. - Congrats on the win, Jose.