A Good Review

I’ve never read much of Ty Burr, but this review is really well though out. Give it a read.

Music: Temps Mort

MC Solaar is super hit or miss, but this song is sick. You need to listen with good speakers though, because the bass adds a lot to the chord voicings. Even though the chorus ends with “temps mort,” this song always makes me happy when I listen to it.

Anticipation: The Hurt Locker

This movie is getting really good reviews, and I am super pumped to see it. I’m in the mood to watch a war movie after watching Enemy at the Gates last night. I had my first day of work today, I am exhausted, and heres the trailer.

Me: Blogging

panera.com

So I’ve been doing this for about two weeks. It’s been a lot easier than I expected, and I’ve started to enjoy it. I start work next week, so we’ll see whether I keep it up when my schedule gets a little crazier, but I’ve been keeping on top of it so far.

I don’t think I will be posting on weekends just so that I don’t burn out to quickly. I have a tendency to lose focus with whatever I decide to start, so this is becoming more of an exercise in self-discipline than I had planned.

One thing that has been making the process easier for me has been Panera’s Iced Coffee (free refills!). I have developed the habit of drinking coffee and writing until I have to hit the bathroom about every 15 minutes (by this point I start fearing for my laptop’s safety) and consequently call it quits. I am tripping balls on caffeine right now, so it’s probably about that time.

Before I go, does anyone else think the name “Panera Bread” is redundant? Granted, “Panera” isn’t a real word, but still….

Web: Stumbleupon

geekpedia.com

Whenever I get sick of thinking about movies and any of the other illustrious trappings of my mind, I go to stumbleupon.com for a little mind-numbing relief. It may be cheating to look for a random page and then write about it here, but it’s not cheating if I tell you about it… right?

Today I found a few cool things. Since I don’t know anything about art or web design, this website caught my eye. Color Scheme designer generates complementary colors for a website, which would save me the grief of what would most likely be a six month process of trial and error. The only problem is that, along with my inability to know what looks good, I also would not be able to implement said color scheme because I’m such a web noob (yeah, I just used the word “noob”… I guess I have found my calling after all).

I also found this website which has a bunch of free classics to read. Right now I have plenty of books lined up, but when I run out I’m definitely coming back to catch up on my Mark Twain.

Movie: No Man’s Land (7/10)

moviegoods.com

This was a really depressing and refreshingly realistic war movie. I don’t know why I’ve been drawn to foreign films recently, but I promise my next review will about something that was in English. Now, down to business.

I felt a little lost because I don’t know the history behind the conflict between Bosnia and Herzegovina (I think this was set in the early 90′s), and little was done in the film to fill me in on the situation. Despite my ignorance, it was easy to glean that the story was more about depicting the pointlessness of war, and the bitterness of conflict.

The premise is that two soldiers from opposing sides are stuck in no man’s land (surprise), and the film focuses on their interactions with each other and on the UN’s eventual involvement. The whole situation was portrayed in a seemingly accurate way, although as I said I am unfamiliar with the related history. I will be better able to justify my rating if I discuss what bothered me about the movie.

I had a difficult time connecting with the characters involved, possibly because of the language barrier. This may have been intended, because many of the characters had trouble connecting with each other for the very same reason; however, intended or not, I failed to feel invested in the characters and their choices/fates. Another aspect to this was that the English dialogue seemed unconvincing (much of it was in newscasts etc., so I’m not going to make a big deal out of this). The movie was slow paced and I was sleepy by the end, but all in all I would recommend it (especially to any multilingual reader : P ). I loved that the movie just told a story, and didn’t overreach its potential in doing so.

Heres the sub-par-give-too-much-away-piece-of-crap trailer:

Pictures: Glennz T-shirts

Glennz?! I hate it when anything ends in an unnecessary “z.” I thought these were cool though. Somehow I always find pictures that are Star Wars related.

TV: Merlin

Hulu.com

All these fantasy shows are getting on my nerves; they never have enough of a budget and they almost always overdo it.

“Merlin” could be different, although not in the budget category. The special effects (one dragon makes a regular appearance) are laughable. I also noticed one anachronism–theres some modern chemistry glassware in one scene… oh right, nobody cares.

My expectation was that this show would be pretty similar to “Legend of the Seeker” (a show which I do not recommend). It is, but the characters are more believable (“Seeker” portrays personalities that approach caricature), and as it stands I think that Merlin will be more popular in the long run.

I’m also worried that “Merlin” will end up in the same class as “Kings” and other shows which have good pilots (Kings’ pilot was fantastic) but then fail to maintain its following. In my experience this occurs when the plot lines are drawn out a bit too far, and the momentum of the show decreases significantly. Hopefully “Merlin” will manage to pick things up a little in the next few episodes.

Anticipation: Half Blood Prince

The Harry Potter films are never as good as I expect them to be, yet I’ve been excited for every single one. I have read the books so many times that many key plot elements of the films seem boring to me after one or two viewings. As far as adaptations go, the Harry Potter franchise has in my opinion done really well, despite some translational difficulties (#4 elucidates Harry’s movement under the invisibility cloak by showing a lollipop floating through Hogsmeade… what?!).

The best part of these movies is the art direction, and from the looks of this trailer the sixth installment promises to be no different.

There are a few hopes/thoughts that I have about the direction and content of this film. I really hope it manages to avoid any awkward Hermione moments (“Now off to bed, both of you!”). And I really really hope that the storyline is much too complex and long for them to write Moaning Myrtle onto the screen.

Also, anyone else surprised that Ginny could be hot?

Movie: Gran Torino (9/10)

This movie started as one thing for me and ended completely differently. It will be hard for me to briefly explain what I liked without giving away too much of the plot, but I’ll try my best.

The film starts with Walt Kowalski (Eastwood’s character) at his wife’s funeral, and this sets the stage for his brooding character development. There are a ton of racist remarks thrown around, and some of it made me pretty uncomfortable. Anyway, his Hmong neighbors have problems with a gang, and Walt gets involved.

At every point in this movie the story went in the opposite direction from what I wanted. I loved the story though, and after every major event I found that I was satisfied with the plot’s momentum. The characters were great, and I laughed a whole lot more than I expected to.

By the end there was a clear feeling that the filmmakers didn’t try ridiculously hard to impress anyone, they just told a really good story really well. I just wish Clint Eastwood hadn’t sung over the end credits. It was like hearing an old, white, tone deaf Louis Armstrong.