May 9th, 2008
A lot ’twas accomplished yesterday (well except a lot of sleepery): Mom and I did battle with the NJ DMV to get the car and trailer titles transfered into her name, got a visit from Holly and her niece Dana with Mr. E, mailed the box of Barbies and movies to the kids (so no more movies with those toys), did some shopping for pet necessities, fixed some more aesthetic stuff for the NitroVideo Perl script (and then made more fixes after owner review), read some more of the grieving book (which has been fairly useless thus far), talked to the kiddos, did yoga, and watched a couple of pretty decent movies.
Movie reviews…
Starting Out in the Evening - this is film was a wonderfully character driven piece of art about connections, literature, and being human. The acting in this film is really amazing, Frank Langella is great (although the touching scene with Adrian Lester taking care of him and helping him out of a bath not only showcased his ass but the silhouette of his wiener too - I included that note for you Franki), but I was most impressed with Lili Taylor. This film is a lot like reading a book, it’s slow and fine to happily fall asleep to before bed.
I’m Not There - now this film hit home with me, big time. The concept is fucking brilliant, 6 different actors of various ages, ethnicities, and race depict various portions of Bob Dylan’s life. Of the different Dylans, Cate Blanchett really stood out and I was so friggin’ happy with the cameos by Richie Havens and Kim Gordon.
Posted in PERL, books, family, friends, movies, music, weather, wine, yoga | 5 Comments »
May 8th, 2008
When I came home, I was crashing badly and for seemingly no good reason. I had originally planned on running and getting a bunch of work done for NitroVideo. I had zero energy though, something happened on the way home. This was a downer, because my back was actually feeling well enough for a run.
But needless to say, I rallied and after eating dinner, I did a load of laundry, installed three new WP blogs, fixed a Perl script for Nitro, talked to the kiddos, got stretched out, added a new guitar student (starting next week) and went for a moonlit 4 miles through the woods. I came home all endorphingasm’d up. I read a few chapters of On Grieving the Death of a Father (given to me by my counselor - it’s OK, a little too religious-y for me so far) and then watched a so-so movie with a glass of shiraz.
Movie review…
September Dawn - boy, this movie had a chance to tell an amazing story and draw readily seen parallels between religion and violence, but it fell horribly flat, tripping on it’s own ABC After School Special dialog and weak character development. The story is about the Mountain Meadows massacre, where 120 men, women, and children were killed by Paiute braves and Mormon militiamen disguised as Native American Indians. Like I said the historical story itself is very interesting, this movie just shoehorned in a love story and made the demon deacons just too bombastic to be believable (all apologies Jon Voight - but since you made Angelina Jolie with your man goo, I’ll give you a pass on this piece of crap).
Posted in MySQL, PERL, blogging, books, family, health, movies, php, running, wine | 24 Comments »
May 7th, 2008
Posted in music, whiskers | 21 Comments »
May 6th, 2008
Yesterday was pretty busy : appointment with Rebecca, my grief counselor (she gave me a book on grief for myself and one for my mother), got my permanent crowns put in (not that bad - well except for the bill at the end), went to the library, got groceries, cleaned cat box, folded load of laundry, worked on a Perl script for NitroVideo for a few hours, helped write an ad for some programming help for Nitro, had dinner (leftovers from her amazing cooking friend Lisa) with Mom (she gave me a couple bottles of wine to take home with me - one of the infamous Three Buck Chuck Shiraz), read a bit more of Illusions, and watched a couple decent films too.
Movie reviews…
Michael Clayton - this is a thriller, but not necessarily thrilling. The acting is unbelievably good and the story is really cool. This is the best effort I’ve seen by George Clooney and I like Sydney Pollack and Tilda Swinton (who won a Best Support Actress for her role in this film) every time I see them in a film. But this film will put you to sleep unless you really enjoy the nuances the actors use to convey their character flaws.
Sweeney Todd -this was great! I was really surprised by this film. I’ve enjoyed Tim Burton’s films but never thought them to be much beyond a nichey novelty of a one trick gloomy pony. Burton does the same gothic trick direction, but he seems to have really gotten it down on this film. The music was great as expected, but the sets and the acting were perfectly sinister and flawed. There is an excess of gore, but to me it wasn’t gruesome given the nearly comical blood fountains gushing (think Kill Bill) during musical sequences - so if blood offends you, this probably isn’t the film for you.
Some additions to the house from Dad’s boat… the ship’s clock now in my living room…
Another clock for Bub’s room…
Posted in MySQL, PERL, books, family, movies, wine | 37 Comments »
May 5th, 2008
Well, my back was feeling fine. That was before a softball double-header yesterday. My sasquatch sacroiliac joint is hurting again. Luckily, this weekend there are no games, so I’ll be able to give it a break.
I did this last night, it’s a product review for GE Caulk Singles. I’m pretty happy with it, since it shows the Swedish Chef for what he truly is, a straight-up pimp.
Movie reviews…
Beowulf - I was ready to hate this movie, but it was definitely entertaining and the voice acting was very good (didn’t know the cast was quite so star-studded). I really liked the Grendel character played by Crispin Glover, a more pained and sad Golem. The only complaint I had about the animation were the eyes and mouths didn’t have an adequate level of detail to make them truly believable… oh, and after seeing The Polar Express (also shot in the same CGI blue suit technique) I was waiting for the dancing waiters to come out dancing and singing “Hot Chocolate”.
Juno - this film was really good. I’ve read some movie reviews where folks were annoyed with Ellen Page’s character. To each their own, but honestly, after reading the words of these reviewers, they strike me as the type of people that a smart ass tomboy would take pleasure in pissing off.
Posted in friends, health, home improvements, movies | 22 Comments »
