Wallace and Grommit - Curse of the Were-Rabbit - 4.0

I dislike this movie for the same reasons I dislike The Incredibles. It's clearly impeccably made, but ...

• It's more cute than funny.
• It's frequently slightly ammusing, but never laugh-out-loud funny.
• There are tons of puns, but most of them fall flat.
  
• There are several action sequences that aren't exciting.
  

In general, this genre just doesn't do it for me. If you're going to make an animated movie make it crazy enough that it couldn't have been live-action. Don't try to make me identify with clay, it isn't going to work.

Grizzly Man - 6.5

Grizzly Man had great source material, but I didn't really like the way the movie was constructed. It's about Timothy Treadwell, a documentary film-maker who lived side-by-side in the Alaskan wilderness for 13 summers before he gets killed. There are incredible scenes that feature Treadwell interacting with the bears, and one 5 minute fight scene that will make any action movie seem tame. The problem is that the documentarian put himself and his opinions into the action entirely too often, and that really didn't work for me. The movie worked best when the Treadwell and bears were onscreen, not when the director is waxing poetic about Treadwell violating the laws of nature.

Serenity - 4.5

It was a pretty good sci-fi flick. Better dialogue than Star Wars. Nothing too memorable though. I fell asleep for a little while in the middle of it which is never a good sign. Watching the TV series first (Firefly) probably would've helped.

A little off

You know you're a little off when you mistake a flower pot on the window sill for a human head.

Bishop Allen - Things Are What You Make of Them

(download)

One more Bishop Allen song for you.

Bishop Allen - Ghosts are Good Company

(download)

Unfortunately, I have a long-ass meeting during Trafton's radio show every week (listen here at 1pm EST on Mondays). Fortunately, the guy after him is pretty good too. He played this Bishop Allen song which I really like.

Also, I think the guy before Trafton drops acid in both eyeballs before he goes on the air. It is quite amusing.

Lasik

I'm scheduling an appointment for Lasik sometime tomorrow, so if you know any horror stories now is the time to let me know.

Monica

My girlfriend just had Valentine's Day dinner with Monica Lewinsky in London. I'm not quite sure where that sets the bar for future Valentine's days, but I'm pretty sure the holiday will never be quite the same.

Avenue Q - What Do You Do With A B.A. In English

(download)

This one is for Patrick and my ex-roomie (who probably doesn't even read this, but oh well). I'm far from a show-tunes type guy, and I haven't seen it in person, but I really like the music from Avenue Q. Most of the songs are either funny or heartfelt or both, and this track gives you a good feel for the play as a whole I think.

Whitey

If anyone wants to buy me a National Bloggers Day gift. This shirt would be excellent.

J.J. Rad

California Games was a series mini-games that I used to play when I was young and JJ Rad was my official CG nickname. I had to pull that little nugget out to prove that I was a child of the 80's during an arguement at work. It worked --- it also pretty much caused a stunned silence, but I certainly proved my point. There is a wonderful description of the game, with screenshots, at this site. You can even downloard it and re-live my youth. Yes, now you too can have an embarassing nickname. Tubular Trafton, anyone? Jammin' Jonrick? If you're too lazy to click the link, here is a picture of Borut doping it with the footbag for you to enjoy.

Dear Orange Asics,

Why did you flush 3 times before you'd finished using the bathroom? I do not understand.

Sincerely,
Jeremy

UNC vs. Duke

In honor of tonights game (which I will be attending!):

ACC announces agreement to call a foul on Duke this week

Greensboro, NC

Atlantic Coast Conference Commissioner John Swofford announced today that a foul is tentatively scheduled to be called against Duke sometime in the first half of their game with UNC in Chapel Hill, next Tuesday, February 7th.

In a joint press conference with Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski, and ACC Director of Officials John Clougherty, Swofford said an agreement had been reached for a touch foul to be whistled on as-yet-to-be-determined Blue Devil player around the 7:00 minute mark during the first half of the game at the Smith Center.

"We are very excited to arrange something that hasn't been seen in our conference since 1998," said Swofford. "I want to personally commend Mike {Krzyzewski} for agreeing to this unconventional deal. We all know how reluctant he has been to allow any calls to go against his team."

Krzyzewski insisted that this move was purely a gesture of generosity aimed at rehabilitating his public image in light of recent lip-synching fiascos during several nationally televised games. "The camera did not catch me really uttering the BS-word during my argument with the official the other night. Those really were my lips moving but I wasn't really yelling the word. I'm sure our fans will understand."

"Mike is being a really good sport about this," noted UNC coach Roy Williams. "This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to play them with a foul being called against their squad, and to have it happen here in front of the home crowd will be especially enjoyable for our fans."

Clougherty says that unless unforeseen intimidation happens during the game, that the scheduled foul should occur without a hitch. "It all depends on whether Coach K holds up his end of the bargain and promises not to harass our crew that evening."

Clougherty also said not to expect any more fouls to be called against Duke this season, but did not rule out the possibility of another one being called in an exhibition game in November 2006. "The Duke AD told me that they are trying to schedule Marathon Oil for a pre-season game next year and we are in discussions about perhaps calling another foul against Duke in that match-up if everyone can come to terms."

The officiating crew for the Duke vs. UNC game will not be announced publicly prior to the game in order to protect their privacy. Swofford said he anticipated a media barrage and did not want the referees to be distracted from their big task at hand. "This is a big deal and a momentous occasion for the league. We need our employees to remain focused so that they can complete their jobs in what could end up being
a very diffucult situation."

Game Notes: If the foul occurs on February 7th, it will be the 27th foul called against the Blue Devils in their basketball history...........Dick Vitale and Mike Patrick will be handling the TV play by play for ESPN. Vitale says he has no idea what he will say when the foul is called against Duke but he has been placed on a prescription
sedative as a preventive measure. (Patrick could not be reached for comment, and was last seen entering a tanning salon in Durham with a picture of JJ Redick)......... A CBS 60 Minutes television crew is planning to attend the game to catch the event on tape for an upcoming expose on the Duke Basketball program and how Mike Krzyzewski uses friendships and loyalty to advance his own agenda.

Hummingbird vs. Praying Mantis

In the same vein as yesterday's post, one of my coworkers forwarded this:

Hummingbird vs. Praying Mantis

Celebrity Death Animal Planet

I've been toying around with an idea for a game/reality show, that is a combination of Celebrity Death Match and Animal Planet Shows. The basic premise is that you would throw a set of angry creatures into an enclosed space and see who lives. It provides endless watercooler conversation. For example, who would win:

1) A Rhino vs. an Elephant?
2) 3 Giraffes vs. a Lion
3) A Grizzly Bear vs. a Hippo in 3 feet of water.
4) My co-worker Susheel, covered in Peanut Butter vs. 14 Angry Squirrels

You get the idea...

Of course changing the venue helps also, having any of those contests in the ball pit at McDonalds would make them that much more interesting. I bring this up because it looks like someone has staged one of these fights. I present to you:

Spider vs. Snake

(via apostropher)

Brokeback Mountain - 8.0

Crap, I wrote this review yesterday, and somehow managed to delete it today.

Basically I think Brokeback is a very good movie, and despite the obvious surface differences, I see a lot of thematic similarities to Ang Lee's other great movie, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. The best thing about Brokeback is that it manages to thrive in the face of incredible scrutiny. Any moderate slip-up would've torpedoed this movie, but only one scene comes off as awkward ("Jack Nasty",) and the rest of the film is heartfelt and believable. It's one of the best movies of last year, and deserves whatever Oscars it wins.

Broken Flowers - 4.0

I'm all for movies that lack resolution. In fact, I think resolution can ruin a lot of movies. If a bunch of crazy shit happens, then tacking on a simple conclusion seems contrived more often than not. Still, in a movie like Broken Flowers where not too much happens, having no conclusion seems a bit like a cop-out. Sure, the scenario in this movie probably would've played out the same way in real life, but who really cares. I do boring shit every day, and no one makes a movie about it, and if they did, the movie would probably suck and I'd give probably give it a 4. Skip it.

P-P-P-Powerbook

This story is crazy (via Ryan)

Concerts

The next few months are shaping up quite nicely concert-wise, so I think I am going to end my concert-going hiatus and make a return to indie-dom. I'll go to several of the following, if you're interested in coming let me know.

2/28 - Of Montreal
3/5 and 3/6 - Wilco
3/9 - Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
4/7 - Ghostface (or) Franz Ferdinand and Death Cab for Cutie
4/14 - Wolf Parade
5/10 and 5/11 - Built to Spill

What Fantasia character are you?

I was just informed that I play basketball like a Hippopotamus Ballerina. I can't really disagree with that analysis.



Anyone else?

Crushing

It's fairly common to see those car-carrier trucks full of new vehicles headed for car lots, but when I was driving home from DC a few months ago, and I saw a flatbed truck piled high with crushed cars. I thought it was odd, but I suppose there must be some reason to move crushed cars from place to place. What was really weird (and the reason I remember this three months later) was that I saw two similar trucks on the same drive. Was there like a crushed car clearing house? Has anyone ever seen this before? Odd.

Something's Gotta Give - 4.5

Watched this a few moths ago, and I only remember 2 things,
- A very old Diane Keaton got very naked.
- The ending was horribly out of place with the rest of the movie.

The 40 Year Old Virgin - 7.5

This was just a very funny movie. I don't recommend watching it at a family reunion with relatives ranging from age 5 to 50 in age, but pretty much any other situation is acceptable. The chest waxing scene is hands down the funniest thing from a movie this year. It'll be my honorary top 10 comedy when I (finally) post my top 10 list from last year.

Quick Reviews

I'm way behind on movie reviews, so I'm going to post a bunch of short ones over the next day or 2 to catch up.