Yesterday Pigern and I were walking around Hollywood and Highland and went to the Sanrio store there. I realized Sanrio is pretty cool but the stuff I grew up on was cuter. So I was wondering -

Last night Darth and I headed to Dodger stadium to see the Dodgers face off against the Cincinnati Reds. The game moved along fine up until the 7th inning. That was when not a single run was scored in the tied game (5-5) until the 16th inning. The game winning run was by Ramon Martinez when he homered, just barely, on the first pitch. The crowd, what was left of them, was cheering like mad for the Dodgers winning the game and allowing us to go home.

A total of 461 pitches were made in the game that lasted 4 hours and 54 minutes. The Dodgers ended up using 20 players and the Red 22. At inning 14, after the 14th inning stretch by singing "Take Me Out To The Ballgame" (didn't know they really did this), I turned to Darth and asked if we were really going to stay until the end. Luckily we did and it was worth it but I'm pretty tired.

I'm glad the blog is 742 Evergreen Terrace again. But then, by saying that, it will probably be changed back. HA!

(M) Snakes On A Plane. (David R. Ellis, 2006) Overall Grade:C+ / Camp Grade: A+

Thoughts: With lines like "Do as I say and you'll live!", and "Remember, time is tissue" how can this movie go wrong. As Darth said as a horror film it was pretty decent hence the C+ BUT as a campy b-rated movie it is an A+. The wonderful and cheesy lines, the no sense random plotline, the cardboard cut out no brain characters ... much like the tagline reads Sit Back. Relax. Enjoy the Fright. Oh yea!

(M) Kicking and Screaming. (Noah Baumbach, 1995) Grade: B-

Thoughts: A handful of white recent college grads spend time talking a lot and thinking about what to do with their lives. I can't say I loved the movie because I get tired of watching films with no minorities bitch about their life but at same time I know what they were bitching about because I was at the point - a college grad with no idea what I was going to do. I knew I had to work but how and where and what and why were thoughts in my head. Overall, the film was alright and funny at times. This was directed by the same guy who did The Squid and The Whale which I also avoided watching because I pretty much guessed the plotline for that film.

(M) The Graduate. (Mike Nichols, 1967) Grade: A-

Thoughts: A great and classic film and it is almost 40 years old. A very young and attractive Dustin Hoffman is Benjamin Braddock, a recent college grad confused on what to do with his life. He starts an affair with Mrs. Robinson (Anne Bancroft) only to fall in love with her daughter Elaine (Katharine Ross). The acting throughout the movie was great and the soundtrack even better - all the songs were by Simon and Garfunkel. I thought Anne Bancroft and Katharine Ross were beautiful and wondered how come actresses don't have that classic beauty anymore. Now a days most of the popular actresses are too skinny or drugged up. Oh well.

(M) Obeo Deo Reinbou (Over the Rainbow). (Jin-Woo Ahn, 2002)Grade: B+

Thoughts: Hedwig I think you would like this movie. It is a very cute and romantic Korean movie about a guy looking for the girl he loves because he lost part of his memory. It is very simple and sweet and totally worked. The guy is played by Jung-Jae Lee who was in Il Mare.

Count: 83 movies

Here is a thought for the day. I use to bitch at my last job about having to talk to my co-workers and how I like to be left alone but at this current job no one talks to me. I've joked with Darth that I work in a library. So the question at hand is - is it better to talk to coworkers that sometimes lead to drama and issues and office gossip and basically trouble or to no one where at times it can be lonely and boring. I go for the latter. In the long run it is better than drama and talking to people requires effort and caring neither of which I do well. Here is a Dilbert comic to entertain you.

For work I had to write a brief article about an upcoming Van Morrison DVD, which required research since I knew nothing about him. His description got my attention: singer/ songwriter, Irish and “Brown Eyed Girl” is great. So I started to give him a listen, and I think he is my new obsession. Astral Weeks is fantastic.

(M) 11:14. (Greg Marcks, 2003) Grade: C-

Thoughts: A forgettable film that had a semi-interesting concept and decent cast which included Barbara Hershey, Hilary Swank, Colin Hanks, Ben Foster, Patrick Swayze and Rachael Leigh Cook. The story follows a chain of events all leading to 11:14 pm from five different charters and perspectives. It was really nothing special and coming in at less than 90 minutes it was almost pointless.

(M) Brick. (Rian Johnson, 2005) Grade: A-

Thoughts: A well done modern day film noir film. Brendan (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is a loner outcast at an OC high school. One day his ex girlfriend Emily calls him up panicking and asking for help. The next day she turns up dead and Brendan is on the case to figure out what happened. He enlists the help of The Brain (Matt O’Leary) to get info about his fellow classmates – The Pin (Lukas Haas) - the school drug dealer, Laura (Nora Zehetner) – the mistress / temptress, Tugger (Noah Fleiss) – The Pin’s bodyguard, Kara (Meagan Good) – the actress and Dode (Noah Segan) – the strung out druggie. It is a whodunit with all the right twists and turns; very enjoyable.

(M) Dung Che Sai Duk (Ashes of Time). (Wong Kar Wai, 1994) Grade: B

Thoughts: I thought I could watch this film quickly enough but I should have known better. This is a Wong Kar Wai film meaning you have to sit down and truly absorb all of it. The storyline is confusing and complex but I still enjoyed it. I would need to re-watch the film a few more times to get the full impact. Apparently Wong Kar Wai got so stressed out during the editing process of Ashes of Time that he wrote and directed Chungking Express to recover. Oh and Chungking Express is a masterpiece so yea go figure.

(M) Little Miss Sunshine. (Jonathan Dayton & Valerie Faris, 2006)Grade: A-

Thoughts: What a cute and charming film about a family taking their young daughter to California for a beauty pageant. Olive (Abigail Breslin) has won a chance to compete in Little Miss Sunshine. The only problem is how to get there. The whole family decide to load up their yellow VW bus and drive out there cross country. Paul Dano as Dwayne was awesome to me because his character did not talk until the last third of the film. Alan Arkin as the Grandpa was funny, Steve Carell as Uncle Frank was strange but in a good way and Greg Kinnear as the dad was alright. I was really happy to see Toni Collette because I love her as an actress. Go see the movie if you can.

(M) Ultimo Bacio, L' (Last Kiss). (Gabriele Muccino, 2001)Grade: B-

Thoughts: I basically only watched this movie because the US version starring Zach Braff is coming out. I'm not sure how the US one is going to play out BUT if it is like this film then I won't be a huge fan. Almost 30 Carlo (Stefano Accorsi) has a beautiful girlfriend who is pregnant with their child and going to buy a house soon. So why at his friend's wedding does he see 18 year old Francesca (Martina Stella) and want nothing else but to bone her. Personally I think because men are dogs but you are suppose to think it is because he is lost and not ready to grow up yet. Oh and all his friends are the same way. The ending was a let down but whatevers. I think I'll just rent the US version and save myself 10 bucks.

Count: 79 movies

Snakes on a Plane (Dir. by David Richard Ellis, 2006): B+

Okay, I know you are all saying, what the heck, how can you give this movie such a high grade? Well it’s easy, I expected a fun, cheesy movie, and that is exactly what I got. In terms of horror/suspense movies, it actually kept my attention longer than many others have of recent memory. I give props to Samuel L. Jackson for refusing to be in this movie unless it was called "Snakes on a Plane". The original title of Venom just doesn't do it for me either. Anyway, the movie isn't as predictable in terms of who is bitten and such. I was a little disappointed by the ending as it has one of those Jurassic Park III, endings where everything is just tied up off-screen and you just assume everything went to plan. All and all, if you want to laugh, and jump out of your seat occasionally (not me, but the loser sitting next to me), then I highly recommend Snakes on a Plane. And seriously, any movie that has the line: "I've had it with these mother fucking snakes on this mother fucking plane!" has to be good right?

YAY!! 24 won for best drama and Kiefer Sutherland won for best actor in a drama series on the Emmy Awards yesterday. YAY!!

(G) Sunset Junction; Aug. 26 Grade: B
I’ve attended this event for the last four years and it’s always a pretty good lineup. I got to see The Elected, The Eels and BRMC all for $12. A treat since I’ve never seen the former two and even better, I’ve never seen BRMC perform tracks from their first album, as I’ve only seen them twice during the Howl tour. A notable improvement was the sound system, which is usually spotty and poor. But the best thing about the day was all the free alcohol supplied. The Living Room gave out free Sierra Nevadas as a promotion and the new recording studio near Malo had a BBQ in the back with two kegs. (I also learned how to use a keg. Ah, pump and pour. Ace.)



(G) Wolf Parade @ Wiltern;
Aug. 25 Grade: B
I bought my tickets for this show so long ago that by the time it rolled along, it felt anti-climactic. Frog Eyes opened the night and I realized I didn’t enjoy them as much as I thought. Wolf Parade was entertaining but nothing spectacular. I think Apologies to the Queen Mary is a great record but it’s also one I forget I own. I like this picture of the band next to the robot though. Extra points for that.

Happy Birthday Stuart!!!!!

Now here's some serious B.S. Pluto is no longer a planet. Pluto just got bitch slapped by Earth. You know what irks me most is that in elementary school I had to memorize the NINE planets... as if these young bastards weren't lazy enough, now they only have to learn EIGHT!

(A) Back to Basics, Christina Aguilera (2006) grade: A-

I got this album a couple weeks ago, but considering it's a double-disc, it took me a while to really get through it all a couple times. After having enjoyed her last album, Stripped, as a departure from the teen pop that was her debut album, I knew I had to pick this one up.
The first disc is the "modern" disc, utilizing a lot of old samples, giving it that old jazzy feeling. For the most part, she accomplishes the goal. I especially like the song "Understand" off this disc. I also like that she has a track called "F.U.S.S." which stands for F**k You Scott Storch, a reply to his uproar after not being invited to contribute to this album (he had produced many of the tracks from Stripped).
Disc 2 is Christina trying to record in the style of the 20s, 30s, and 40s. She does this rather well, with some catchy tunes. I'm not sure how authentic she sounds, for me it's more like she's trying too hard. But still a good listen.

(A) Danity Kane, Danity Kane (2006) grade: B

So after being a fan of MTV/Diddy's "Making The Band 3", I HAD to pick this one up. I also love the first single, "Show Stopper". As FTC knows, I had a hard time finding it: all the retailers in my area were sold out (2 Targets, 2 Best Buys, Tower, and Amoeba). Finally, I got it when Target got a new shipment.
As far as the music, this album is a good effort. It boasts some of the best producers out there: Timbaland, Rodney "Darkchild" Jerkins, Scott Storch, Bryan-Michael Cox. The tracks are okay to listen to but nothing stellar. The girls have delivered a decent debut to build on in the future...I just hope they don't fade out like the previous Making The Band products (Ashley Parker Angel anyone??)

(M)Million Dollar Baby (Eastwood, 2004)
Grade: A

I'm keeping my reviews short and sweet.

The movie in one sentence: That movie was freakin' sad!

Best part: When Maggie(Hilary Swank) finally told her family off tied with Scraps(Morgan Freeman) beat the sh*t out of that guy in the gym.

Worst part: When Danger, the dumb guy asks how they get ice through the small hole in the water bottle.

I found these comics somewhat amusing. Some girl does this stuff. You can see it here.

Some DM news... (all get A+ from me)

• Touring the Angel: Live in Milan (DVD, Sept 25)
• The Best of Depeche Mode, vol. 1 (Nov. 13) featuring the new track "Martyr"

Remasters: Oct. 2

• A Broken Frame
• Some Great Reward
• Songs of Faith and Devotion

(already released Remasters: Speak and Spell, Music for the Masses, Violator.)

I have come to the conclusion I am a strange person. I'm completely fine with that I just am stating this before I go into this posting. Due to a slow week at work I decided to count how many movies I have reviewed for 2006 thus far. The tally - 74 films, 2 rewatched films and 2 television shows. Sad part is I still have a few more to reivew so that 74 number is going up before this month ends.

The stupid lady next to me is bugging me. She always talks on the phone loud and makes work her stupid life. I hate people like her. She always sighs extremely loud and acts as though she is super busy or super important. She takes pictures of birds and has them all over her cube and on her desktop. In addition, she is obsessed with her toy poodle and two cats. I have named her crazy dog lady.

Accepted (2006, Directed by Steven Pink) D+
Okay, for starters the only reason I saw this movie was because New Wave had said that while I was on vacation for 9 days we should both go to the movies by ourselves and watch a really lame movie. Biting the bullet for the team, I purchased a ticket for Accepted. Seeing as how I was one of the older people in the theater I knew I was in for bad times. For starters I should have realized the error of my ways when I saw the movie was PG13. If it had been R there would have at least been some funny language or gratuitous nudity. Alas there was neither. Instead I got a movie that tries to teach a lesson about how everyone deserves to get an education, how different people learn different ways, and how everyone should at least get the option to feel "accepted" at some point. (See what I did there? I threw the movie's name in my review...see? Huh? man I’m hilarious) Anyway the movie is pretty predictable, there were very few times I actually laughed out loud, and the plot was very unbelievable. So if you are into lame movies then go see this one. If you need more info you can "Ask me about this wiener!" - see cause the guy is dressed like a hot dog and says that in the movie.....man I’m on a roll today.

Okay now we shall all wait with great anticipation for the lame movie that New Wave went to go see.............................................. oh wait.

must blog....so was watching "The Outsideers" on ABC and they were talking about these pre-teen twins who call themselves "Prussian Blue." They sing about white supremacy etc etc. That's disturbing enough right? Then they showed that they liked playing video games. This was one of the video games they played.

Ethnic Cleansing

The video game lets you play as a skinhead or a Klansman and you can kill Mexicans and Black people. Apparently the black people grunt like gorillas. Freaking disturbing!!!

(M) Good Night, and Good Luck. (George Clooney, 2005) Grade: B-

Thoughts: George Clooney sure does love himself some himself and being all smug (according to South Park). I guess he has a right to be since he directered and co-wrote this film about the Joseph McCarthy Communist threat / “Red Scare” in the early 1950s. Edward R. Murrow (David Strathairn) and his producer Fred Friendly (George Clooney) decide to go after McCarthy and his unfair hunt for communist through their CBS program. I would have enjoyed the film more but I think Clooney had trouble deciding if he wanted to make a movie or a documentary. Overall, not great but David Strathairn does an amazing job.

(M) Tsotsi. (Gavin Hood, 2005) Grade: B+

Thoughts: The storyline is incredibly simple but the film was shot beautifully and the soundtrack was excellent so I gave it a better grade. Tsotsi (Presley Chweneyagae) is a low lever gangster with not dignity. With his crew he goes around robbing and sometimes killing people. One night he steals a car from a rich lady and finds a baby in the back. By caring for the baby Tsotsi learns to be a human being again. The film won an Oscar last year for Best Foreign Film.

So maybe I am over-stepping the bounds by posting this but somebody else blogged about it and I found it humorous and I thought I'd share it with the people here.

The Da Vinci Load
The Truth Cums Out!

Operatives of the Priory of Semen discover that Leonardo da Vinci painted the Mona Lisa using his own sperm. These keepers of the truth fuck in the name of art and kill anyone who gets in their way.

I love Cable TV.
Reason #3: On E! Network -
The Soup:

When: Fridays at 10pm, repeated during the weekend.
What: This is a revamped version of Talk Soup that focuses on recaps of various pop culture and reality show moments of the week with host and co-writer Joel McHale providing sarcastic and biting commentary on the various clips. (from Wikipedia.)
Why: So before this was The Soup it was Talk Soup which had it's fair share of host. The hosts included Greg Kinnear (1991-1995), John Henson (1995-1999), Hal Sparks (1999-2000) and Aisha Tyler (2001-2003). E! ended up cancelling the show but in 2004 E! brought it back. I like the dry humor of Joel McHale and I'm always amazed at how many reality tv shows have developed in the past few years.

Reason #4: On VH1 -
Best Week Ever:

When: Fridays at 11pm, repeated during the weekend.
What: Best Week Ever (BWE to fans) is a weekly television program on the United States cable/satellite network VH1. It started airing in 2004. On the show, comedians analyze the past week's developments in pop culture, including recent happenings in entertainment and celebrity gossip.(from Wikipedia.)
Why:I don't think I have to state why.

I found my second netflix... the public library. I never thought of going to a library to rent movies. The best part is that they're FREE!! I figured I could take care of some of my netflix list by hitting up the old public library. I got The Graduate, Guys and Dolls, On The Waterfront, and Nights Of Cabiria. Thank you public library, you allow me to be a hermit more than netflix did!!!

(B) JPod (Douglas Coupland, 2006)
Grade: B+
According to my friend, there are two types of people who read this book: geeks and people trying to understand geeks. I’m the latter. Example: The buzzword is so horrible that I have to spell it out in ASCII: {101, 100, 103, 121} (I had to ask; it spells “edgy.” And if you already knew that, you’re a geek.) Nevertheless, I appreciated Coupland’s unusual prose, interrupting his story with e-mails, advertisements and variants of typesetting. And I enjoyed the social commentary: What we describe as “character” and “personality” are not so much spiritual or cosmic states of being, but rather, an overall effect by clusters of overlapping brain dysfunctions. Geek out!

This irks me. First The Smiths and now this. Grr...

(G) French Kicks (Cafe Du Nord, San Francisco, 8/19/06) grade: B+

So, despite this awful venue (you hear me FTC?!), I thought the Kicks did a good job. I never got around to reviewing their latest album, Two Thousand, but Pigern did a nice job. I don't think the album is as strong as the previous one, BUT they sure did play the hell out of the songs last night, making them sound better than the recorded songs. They played a few songs from the previous album, which was great. (Although the first time I saw them, they did a cover of New Order's "Regret", which was a nice touch...so they lose points this time for no good cover song). Afterwards, they invited the audience to stick around and dance while they DJ'ed, which I thought was pretty cool (since I don't like the Cafe Du Nord crowd, i quickly exited the building). All in all, a good show.

Hilarious. Two chinese boys to Jessica Simpsons "Public Affair"

Probably the only person tha might care is Darth, but 93.9 KZLA Country is no more. As the article states, NY and LA are now left without a country station. It will be replaced by "Movin' 93.9" which will play "rhythmic pop." Rick Dees will run the morning show. I'm predicting it will be a watered down KIIS? Like we need more of those. Oh well, at least I will still have K-frog 95.1 since i'm in the I.E.

I was looking at my netflix queue and my reviewed movies and I was thining of the documented hours I've spent watching movies. Now... not EVERY movie I've seen has been rated and some of the movies I've rated I've seen many many time. However, I have reviewed 1,273 movies. If you average the running time of a movie, lets say 1 hour and 45 minutes, that means I have spent upwards of 2,228 hours watching movies. That's 93 days of my life watching movies. Again, this doesn't account for movies I've seen more than once or the other movies I have seen but have not documented and it doesn't account for television.

I currently have 192 movies in my queue, that's 336 hours, or 14 days worth of movie watching. It seems a little ridiculous, but then I guess I could be doing worse things like spending 336 hours on myspace or something.

All that being said, I've gone out and checked out a couple Cliffs Notes from the library. Remember these things? They're what you'd read so you wouldn't actually have to read the novel. I decided to get some on books I've read to refresh my memory as well as some on books I am planning on reading. Here's what I got: The Stranger (Camus), The Plague (Camus), The Fountainhead (Rand), Atlas Shrugged (Rand), Waiting For Godot (Beckett).

I also just finished a really interesting book on the progression of world views. It basically talks about how the western worlds history and its evolution from theistic thought which then progressed toward deism, followed by naturalism, which lead into nihilism, existentialism, and the current postmodern world view. It also touches on eastern pantheism and the new age movement. Quite an interesting read.

(TV) So You Think You Can Dance: Season Finale
Grade: B

Cat Deeley: Really people, who dresses this woman? Can we get her an image consult? First of all, she's wearing velvet which can only accentuate the bad stuff(like her pooch on her tummy) and second of all, it's a turtleneck....in August. This is the freakin finale! Step it up a little! Lauren Sanchez DANCED in the finale last year and she looked smokin' hot. C'MON! You're fired.

The show: Your typical regurge of the whole season. The benefits of that were that those who didn't watch the season got to see some of the awesome past performances. The crappy part was that you have to watch the crap performances too. And why was one of the repeat performances one from last week? Ciara's performance was entertaining. Fergie's was not. (On a side note, I don't understand her song "London Bridge"...I just don't get it. haha.)

Who won: It was kind of obvious that if you got to dance a solo at the beginning of the show, you were getting kicked off. I don't know why they do it like that. No suspense really until you got to the top 2. Between Benjie and Travis, I really didn't have a preference who won. However, I thought Travis was going to win. To my surprise, Benjie ended up clinching the votes. After he found out he won, there was a super fake pre-recorded congrats from none other than Celine Dion!(ze greatest singer in ze whole world!)--one of the prizes was to dance in her Las Vegas show, which I hear Cher is taking over soon(what?).

Overall a pretty entertaining season. I still think Allison should have been in the top 4, but America voted....oh America.

For those of you who don't care: This is what you get when I don't have boards or school to think about....I blog about this crap. Haha enjoy!

(O) Wicked (Schwartz, 2003) Grade: A+

Wicked: It's the new "RENT". Well, for me anyway. I haven't seen it yet because the Orange County Performing Arts Center sucks, but that's another story. I bought the CD for my cousin on her birthday since I couldn't take her to the actual musical. I burned a copy for myself and listened to it on the way home from SD and....I fell in love with it! The music has a pop feel to it and the story line(from what I can decipher) is pretty interesting.

Here's the synopsis from the website(sorry i'm lazy):

Long before Dorothy dropped in, two other girls meet in the Land of Oz. One, born with emerald-green skin, is smart, fiery and misunderstood. The other is beautiful, ambitious and very popular. How these two unlikely friends end up as the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good Witch makes for the most spellbinding new musical in years.

WICKED, the untold story of the witches of Oz, features music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz (Godspell, Pippin, Academy Award winner for Pocahontas and The Prince of Egypt) and book by Winnie Holzman ("My So Called Life," "Once And Again" and "thirtysomething"), and is based on the best-selling novel by Gregory Maguire. With musical staging by Tony Award winner Wayne Cilento (Aida, The Who's Tommy, How To Succeed...), WICKED is directed by 2003 and 2004 Tony Award winner Joe Mantello (Assassins, Take Me Out, Frankie & Johnny in the Clair de Lune)

So....I'm gonna get that book since the musical isn't playing here in the near future.

______________________________________________________________

On that same note, I was browsing through YouTube looking for clips of the musical, when I discovered that people have way too much time on their hands. WAY TOO MUCH TIME! Here is a video clip of the song "What is this feeling?(Loathing)" from Wicked, the musical with 80's action figures playing the characters. She-ra plays Glinda who will become the Good Witch and Evilyn plays Elpheba who becomes the Wicked Witch of the West. Enjoy!

She-ra Vs. Evilyn

(M) Vampire Hunter D. (Toyoo Ashida & Carl Macek, 1985) Grade: B

Thoughts: I’m trying to get into anime but I’m not sure it is working out. D is a vampire hunter hired by Doris Rumm to kill Count Magnus Lee who is trying to make her his bride. There was tons of gore and killing and random cartoon nudity which was not necessary. The idea of getting off on naked cartoon characters disturbs me a bit but that is anime for you. Considering this was done in 1985 the animation was pretty standard so the main focus was the story which was decent.

(M) The Producers. (Mel Brooks, 1968) Grade: B+

Thoughts: The Producers is funny, really funny. It was smart and sharp humor that is funny even after 38 years. Max Bialystock (Zero Mostel), with the help of his new accountant friend Leo Bloom (Gene Wilder), get old ladies to give them their money to finance the worst play ever – Springtime for Hitler. They hire the worst director, the worst actor and worst screenwriter, so what could go wrong. How about the play is a smash hit. Gene Wilder is great but Zero is awesome. I’ve never seen the musical production but I’m fine with just seeing this.

(M) Jersey Girl. (Kevin Smith, 2004) Grade: D+

Thoughts: Bored one night I saw Jersey Girl was starting on Dinner and a Movie on TBS. Considering I’ve seen most of Kevin Smith’s other films I thought I should watch this. What a mistake. Ollie (Ben Affleck) and Gertrude (Jennifer Lopez) get married and have a child. While in labor, Gertrude dies and Ollie is left to raise his daughter alone. Fast forward to seven years later, Ollie has lost his high profile PR career and is now living with his dad Bart (George Carlin) and taking care of his daughter Gertie (Raquel Castro). The whole thing is cliché and typical and not as funny or raunchy as I would like it. Obviously, Kevin Smith was making a movie about him being a dad, which is great but not fun to watch. Oh and Ben Affleck is a terrible actor. Jennifer Lopez isn’t bad and she should go back to it.

(M) (Green Street) Hooligans. (Lexi Alexander, 2005) Grade: C

Thoughts: The film started off strong, complete look into male aggression, but got super melodramatic and all feelings at the end. Matt Buckner (Elijah Wood) gets kicked out of Harvard a few months before graduating due to a crime he did not commit. He heads to the London to see his sister Shannon (Claire Forlani) who is now married with a child. There he meets Pete (Charlie Hunnam) his crazy football (soccer) loving cousin. They instantly become close (not believable) and Pete teaches Matt how to stand up for himself. The movie could have been great but it really lost steam at the end.

So my friend and I were talking about how Darth is on vacation and how lame government workers are because they get so much time off. Then we wondered how much other countries have on average. Our findings:


I am moving to Italy now!!

I love Cable TV.
Reason #2: On Cartoon Network - Futurama:

When: Typically 10:30-11:30 pm on Cartoon Network.
What: While on his job as a pizza delivery boy on New Year’s Eve, 1999, Philip J. Fry is accidentally frozen. When he thaws out 1,000 years later, Fry manages to form a dysfunctional family of sorts with co-workers Bender, a robot with a bad attitude, and Leela, the pilot of their Planet Express delivery ship. (from Cartoon Network)
Why: When Fox Network unofficially cancelled the show back in 2003 I was pretty disappointed. I did not watch the show continously when it was on Fox but when I did catch it, I thought it was great. Eventually Cartoon Network picked up the show and I caught the reruns and loved it. I loved it so much I went and bought the whole series on dvd but I still catch the eps on Cartoon Network if I am up.

(M) Chalk. (Mike Akel, 2006) Grade: B-

Thoughts: Back in July, this was the only film I caught during the LA Film Festival. The movie was a funny and exaggerated look at teaching done mockumentary style. It follows the lives of three teachers and one teacher now asst. principal at a high school in Texas. It really made you realized how difficult teaching is because you can’t learn how to teach – you either can do it or you can’t. Mr. Lowrey (Troy Schremmer), a new teacher at the school, experienced that and it was interesting to watch. Did you know 50% of teachers quit in the first three years of teaching?

(M) Trees Lounge. (Steve Buscemi, 1996) Grade: C+

Thoughts: Tommy (Steve Buscemi) has hit rock bottom – he lost his long time girlfriend to his once boss/friend Rob (Anthony LaPaglia), he doesn’t have a job, he lives above a bar which he goes drinking at all day and messes around with his friend’s 17 year old daughter Debbie (Chloe Sevigny). Trees Lounge is a movie about a loser directed by an actor who often plays losers in movies. I enjoyed it but nothing really happens, if anything it was a good character study film.

(M) Help!!! (Lat Sau Wui Cheun). (Johnny To & Ka Fai Wai, 2000) Grade: D+

Thoughts: Silly, insane, all over the map, crazy Chinese film that blends together M*A*S*H, ER and any other medical drama together and tries to make it funny. I can’t say I hated it but yea it was not great.

(M) Bleak House. (Justin Chadwick & Susanna White, 2005) Grade: B+

Thoughts: This mini series was epic clocking in at 8 hours which is not surprising given the book written by Charles Dickens is over 900 pages. It took me awhile to get through it all but when I was finished I was pleased. British productions are a bit on the cheesier and over dramatic side and Bleak House was no exception but overall well done and acted. Mainly I watched the series for Gillian Anderson who got an Emmy nomination for her role as Lady Deadlock. I know she is not Agent Scully anymore but in my mind she will always be. Oh and Anna Maxwell Martin who played Esther was great and is actually going to be in this movie based on Jane Austen’s life called Becoming Jane. The upsetting part is Jane Austen is being played by Anne Hathaway which is strange because she is not even British.