Love Me Dead

a new favorite …

Feb 24, 2010 | random, song of the day | Leave A Comment »

addictions are a terrible thing

Man, I have a problem. I am simply incapable of not buying cheap movies. Augh, what is wrong with me? I broke down and bought another 5 today, in addition to the 3 I bought a few days ago … I am now completely out of shelf space for all my movies. Though I must admit, I’m pretty proud of my collection. Proud enough that yes, I’m going to list all my movies on here … because I can. Feel free to judge me based on my movie choices. I’d do the same to you.

Lord was that not ridiculous? And I just know you read through that entire list … riight. I really just wanted to test the double column html code, and it seems to be working. Jot me a comment if the columns above are looking funky on your screen, much appreciated.

Feb 19, 2010 | random | Leave A Comment »

additional tunage

a little more tunage for you … just a gathering of a few random songs I’ve added to my collection lately

Black & Gold – Sam Sparro

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Blizzard Woman Blues – The Daze

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The Scientist – All Angels (Coldplay cover)

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Move You – Anya Marina

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F.E.A.R. - Ian Brown

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Locked Up – Ingrid Michaelson

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Running Up That Hill – Placebo

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On My Own – Vincent Vincent and the Villains

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Naive – The Kooks

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Money Honey – Lady Gaga

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Instantly Gratified – People in Planes

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Time After Time – QuietDrive (Cyndi Lauper cover)

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Everybody – Ingrid Michaelson

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So I just got done watching 17 Again again. Huh. Thanks movie title for making me look like a stuttering moron. Anyway. I had forgotten just how hilarious I find that movie. Yes, it has some dorky parts (I mean, come on. the janitor spirit guide?) But ignoring those retarded bits, I am seriously almost laughing through that entire damn movie. I also forgot about how the movie makes me feel mildly creepy because DAMN is Zac Efron sexy as hell in that movie. Yes, he supposed to be a high schooler. Whatever. Still uber hot. And in real life, I think he’s only a few years younger than me, so I’m not really that pervy after all, right? (Of course I’m right, I mean, it’s not like I’m a middle-aged housewife using the image of Edward Cullen in her head to help her get it on with her schlubby hubby. Thinking Mr. Zacquisha is fucking sexy? So does not even compare.)

I mean, come on …



… pretty.

Feb 02, 2010 | random, song of the day | 1 Comment »

book to film – Garden Spells, The Sugar Queen

Garden Spells and The Sugar Queen by Sarah Addison Allen


WHAT IS IT

Garden Spells tells the story of a Southern family known as the “odd ones” in their small town of families known for their familial traits and stereotypes. It follows two sisters, one who has lived a steady and uneventful life in her grandmother’s old house in town, living up to her family name; the other who has done everything she could to run away from her family name, leaving home after high school and traveling across the country, engaging in the typical rebellious acts – waitressing in diners, stealing from customers, sleeping with bosses, eventually falling in with an extremely abusive man who gets her pregnant and reduces her life to a tiny existence made up of submission and fear. This sister finally escapes and makes it back home, the last place anybody would look for her, as she hasn’t gone by her real name or told anyone her real past since she left home. The sisters now have to learn to live together again, and of course we’ve got some subplots of romance blossoming for each sister, all edged with the threat of this horrible man finding them.

The Sugar Queen is about a young woman, Josie, who grew up in yet another small town as the daughter of the richest man in town, known by all to have been a terrible child that threw the worst tantrums for no reason. Growing up with this over your head, it doesn’t matter how nice and pleasant you turn out as an adult, in a small town like that, everybody will still see you as that nasty little kid. Josie also has to take care of her aging mother, a beauty that’s loosing her bloom and is disgusted to see that her daughter is growing into her looks … beautiful children are much harder to control than ugly and therefore grateful children. Again, we’re treated to some romance, both for our main character and a few minor characters, as well as some interesting family issues (particularly daddy issues).

Both books have just a hint of whimsy thrown in there to compliment the dramatic elements – a magical apple tree with a strong personality, whose apples show the consumer the biggest event in their life; books that magically appear when needed; etc.

WHY IT WOULD KICK ASS ON THE BIG SCREEN

There’s not a doubt in my mind that the weepy women of the world would just love these movies. We’re talking date-movie here, folks. So not only would the filmmakers get money from the solitary women desperate for a little romance in their lives, but they’d also snag the crowd of women dragging their men into the theaters. Not to mention the DVD sales. This is just the type of movie that most every romance fan would want on her shelves, to pop in to offer a little variety between their Nicholas Sparks movies.

WHY IT’LL NEVER SEE THE INSIDE OF A THEATER

The books didn’t really gather a huge following with their release, so I doubt they’d get noticed in the Hollywood scene. It’s sad how many great book adaptations will never happen simply because they’re never read by those in charge of the filmmaking.

*sigh*, why can’t these people pick up a book now and then? And something not always on the BUY ME BECAUSE THE PUBLIC DEMANDS IT tables in Borders. But then, I guess they’re busy making movies and such. You know, doing they’re jobs and all that.

Jan 15, 2010 | random | 2 Comments »

book to film – The Shades

The Shades by Betsy Brock

WHAT IS IT

A fun children’s book about a boy who goes to visit some distant relative living in a great mansion with a rich history. Upon entering the garden and instantly going for a swim in a giant dolphin fountain, he discovers that the water that falls from the dolphin’s mouth onto one’s eyes enables you to see these shade people … fantastical people created by the shadows of everybody who enters the garden. Of course, nowadays, it’s rare for a new shadow person to be created, the old ones just sort of squish and stretch themselves to fit whatever person they happen to be shadowing. Our young boy gets to know the group of shadows, who have gathered together into a sort of familial unit and call themselves the Shades, and their life there in the garden. And as the plot conflict – an evil man wants to take the dolphin statue and have it replaced with this statue of a woman, that for some reason is evil. The young boy must stop this from happening, mostly on his own of course, since his new friends are insubstantial and therefore slightly less than helpful.

WHY IT WOULD KICK ASS ON THE BIG SCREEN

What little kid wouldn’t love this movie? For that matter, what older kid wouldn’t secretly love this movie while outwardly displaying indifference? It’s just a simple, fun kid’s movie with just the right level of fantasy. Not so much that the kids don’t even buy it, but enough that with a little childish acceptance (of course there are shadow people living in the garden, of course the dolphin fountain is magic) the movie would be true and simple fun.

WHY IT’LL NEVER SEE THE INSIDE OF A THEATER

Yet another case of “nobody’s ever heard of this thing.” I mean, you can’t even find a copy of this book to buy online. I was searching for just a picture of the book cover to put here and I couldn’t even find that. The almighty Google doesn’t seem to have ever even heard of this Betsy Brock character, let alone her little book The Shades.

Jan 15, 2010 | random | 2 Comments »

book to film – The Giver

The Giver by Lois Lowry


WHAT IS IT

Set in a futuristic Utopian society where everything is mediocre and bland, down to the tiniest detail. The people don’t even see colors, that’s how bland shit is. Everyone lives with an assigned family unit (not natural families, of course, all births are created via artificial insemination and the brood of mothers – young women who are assigned to this “career” – and they’re all kept separate) and if a new baby doesn’t seem up to snuff, it’s killed. This is a dark secret, of course, definitely not general knowledge. But even if it were, I doubt anybody would care. Well, within this horribly boring society, there’s one man who acts as the caretaker of memories. He is in charge of remembering things that have long since been eliminated from their society. He’s basically only there for consultation, not repeating history’s mistakes and such. Well, he’s getting old, and we certainly can’t have him dying and releasing those horrible memories into the public. So a young man, as his career assignment, is told he will become the new caretaker. He will receive all the memories from the old man, known now as “The Giver.” Of course, as the process of transferring memories progresses, our young man gains knowledge that makes him begin to question his “perfect” society, especially once he learns that the town leaders happily kill infants that don’t make the cut.

WHY IT WOULD KICK ASS ON THE BIG SCREEN

Movies about future societies are numerous, but this future seems pretty original. The closest I can think of is the emotionless world of Equilibrium. So not only would this be an interesting take on the future, which I’m sure people would enjoy if not only for the “what if” questions it would elicit, but it’s got a nice element of tragedy thrown in there. Everyone would love these characters – the old man burdened by these memories, the boy growing to question the world around him. And in this movie we would get everything from fights for injustice to a awkward, sweet, and frustrating childhood romance to an exciting escape from the town compound and a thrilling flight through the surrounding woods.

WHY IT’LL NEVER SEE THE INSIDE OF A THEATER

Actually, the book’s been adapted for the stage by a children’s theater group in Oregon (Oregon Children’s Theatre) into a one-hour production which premiered in 2006 and has popped up on small, unknown stages across the country but never anywhere with any sort of prestige. In 1994, Bill Cosby and his production company actually got the ball rolling on a motion picture adaptation of The Giver, but over the years, the project has changed hands so many times, sometimes gaining a fairly large following of people willing to actually make the movie, but so far nothing that could be called progress has been made towards actual production since ’94. If you look on IMDb, you can see that this movie is shown with a release date of sometime in 2011, but obscure movies like this are often shown to be in the works and then inevitably fall apart despite the hard evidence on the IMDb page that says it’ll be coming soon to a theater near you. example: The Last Unicorn live action version, The Brazilian Job … RELEASING SOON (read “NEVER”)

Jan 15, 2010 | random | 1 Comment »

book to film – Dancing on the Edge

Dancing on the Edge by Han Nolan

WHAT IS IT

Another unknown book by some unknown author. The main character is a young girl who lives with her grandmother (who runs a spiritual business, contacting dead relatives and such, and actually believes her own garbage) after her prodigy writer father melts. Yes, melts. Her grandmother told her granddaughter that her father melted, and that’s why he’s gone. Not that he got sick of his mom’s shit and left, no. He melted. Well, this poor girl is already kind of fucked up from growing up with this old bat in close proximity (constantly reminded that she’s a miracle because she was born from the body of a dead woman … her mother was hit by a bus crossing the street while pregnant and her little girl was delivered via C-section after the mother was declared dead … thus creating this horrible mindset that she was born from death, is basically a non-entity) and the addition of a melted father – well, you can imagine. The story follows the girl as she follows her grandmother around, moving around to various different houses, until she winds up in the mental ward of a hospital after she receives third degree burns while trying to melt herself to join her father. Thankfully, this is a great wake-up call for her (wait a tick, people don’t melt, we burn. Huh, who’dathunkit?) and we start to see her gain independence from her grandmother and achieve a slightly higher level of sanity in the process.

WHY IT WOULD KICK ASS ON THE BIG SCREEN

With all the movies made of troubled teens, this would make a great addition. It’s got all the great heart-wrenching elements you’ll find in most movies of this type, but it’s got enough of a twist to make it original and interesting.

WHY IT’LL NEVER SEE THE INSIDE OF A THEATER

Again, I doubt anybody’s heard of this young-adult novel. But if it suddenly fell into a screenwriter’s lap, I can’t see why this movie couldn’t get green-lit.

Jan 15, 2010 | random | Leave A Comment »

book to film – Fallen

Fallen by David Maine


WHAT IS IT

The story of the first family … no, not the president, dumbass. Adam and Eve and their various offspring, specifically Cain and Abel. Don’t worry about annoying and unwanted religious themes in this book, it’s purely a character study. The book follows these primitive people and shows the nitty gritty of what it must have been like being kicked out of paradise, full grown, and being forced to suddenly survive with absolutely no survival skills. And of course, it goes further as we get to Cain and Abel, going through the jealously and rage that lead up to the murder, and shows all the aftermath. Oh, and the most interesting part … it’s told in reverse. Yes, chapter one begins with Cain on his deathbed, at the end of his life as a wandered reviled by everyone, and every subsequent chapter jumps us back a little further in time, telling the story in a cause-effect manner, with the ending telling of the boot from Eden that started the whole damn mess that is our sinful society.

WHY IT WOULD KICK ASS ON THE BIG SCREEN

As I said, it’s a pure character study. You know how Hollywood throws out something like this every now and then – something serious and dramatic, basically created for the purpose of getting an Oscar nod. Well, this would be the perfect contender for said serious piece.

WHY IT WILL NEVER SEE THE INSIDE OF A THEATER

Well, for starters, it would be confusing as hell. I mean, it’s told in reverse for christ’s sake. And with no time-stamps given, you’d have to hope you’re audience is smart enough to get it. Which, let’s face it, the average movie audience isn’t.

Jan 15, 2010 | random | Leave A Comment »

book to film – Water for Elephants

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen


WHAT IS IT

Anybody who’s happened through an airport or sat in on a book club or wandered through the featured tables at a bookstore has probably come across this book. It got a pretty big response after its release, maybe not extremely mainstream popularity, but well, better known than Pilgrim at least. This story is told by an old man in a nursing home, going back and forth between his pathetic excuse for living that is known as “old age” and his younger days as a vet-school dropout making his living (and falling in love) on a circus train during the Depression.

WHY IT WOULD KICK ASS ON THE BIG SCREEN

Well, come on. An old man reliving his days on a Depression-era circus train? A period piece with exotic animals, mustached ringleaders, and clowns? Not to mention the affects of Prohibition on the people of the 20s – this means speakeasies and secret parties broken up by the fuzz. Oh, and the love story between this man and a beautiful woman trapped in an abusive marriage. Really, need I say more?

WHY IT’LL NEVER SEE THE INSIDE OF A THEATER

Honestly, no idea. I can’t imagine why anyone wouldn’t want to make this movie. But, knowing my luck and the often-displayed stupidity of Hollywood, I’m not holding my breath on this adaptation.

Jan 15, 2010 | random | Leave A Comment »

book to film – Pilgrim

Pilgrim by Timothy Findley


WHAT IS IT

The tale of an man who has lived forever and cannot die, no matter how much he may want to. Admitted into a Swiss insane asylum after his latest suicide attempt (failed, of course), the man, known only as Pilgrim, is submitted to evaluation by Carl Jung (yes, this character is based on the actual real-life Jung). Is Pilgrim really an immortal being who is wearying of his endless life … or is he just fucking nuts?

WHY IT WOULD KICK ASS ON THE BIG SCREEN

This would make one helluva character drama, and you can just imagine the nominations they’d hand out to whatever talented actor could pull off the Pilgrim character. Hell, even Jung could make it for a supporting character nomination. The interplay between the two is wonderfully interesting, and the stories we’re told of the past lives of Pilgrim are so fantastic (did you know the Mona Lisa is actually a portrait of Pilgrim? and when it was stolen from the Louvre, that was just Pilgrim sneaking in to grab what he considered his.) There’s even a subplot about a married Jung fooling around with various nurses.

WHY IT’LL NEVER SEE THE INSIDE OF A THEATER

Well, first off, I bet nobody’s ever even heard of this book. It’s a little hard to adapt something you don’t know exists. Secondly, the book is pretty hefty. It would take some major paring down to fit the story into a manageable movie length, and I just don’t see anybody tackling that beast anytime soon.

Jan 15, 2010 | random | 2 Comments »

book to film – Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn

Now, I thought I wasn’t bummed enough by some of the shit Hollywood does, so I decided to go through some of my favorite books that I think would make wonderful movies (that all will most likely never happen *tear*):

Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn
(series of 3 books … technically 4: The Dragonbone Chair, The Stone of Farewell, and To Green Angel Tower Part 1 and Part 2) by Tad Williams


WHAT IS IT

An epic fantasy about a group of misfits that typically must save their kingdom from their horrible king, his creepy Dark Arts-loving advisor, and all sorts of baddies called forth by said advisor.

WHY IT WOULD KICK ASS ON THE BIG SCREEN

Well, for starters, it’s similar to the Lord of the Rings, only BETTER. Yes, better than LOTR. I believe the critics have likened it to a fantastical version of War and Peace. It’s that great. The story’s got everything – it’s a coming-of-age tale of a young boy who grows from a pimply kitchen hand into a true hero, there’s a sweet romance, lots of fights between goodies and baddies (and the baddies are pretty awesome, I can just picture the FX men drooling over their concept sketches), and, most importantly, it’s EPIC. We’re talking an easy 4-picture deal with this adaptation. And the story would definitely suck in enough of the LOTR crowd to make money and keep ‘em coming back for more (though I’m sure the die-hard Ringers will whine about how this is just another Tolkein ripoff and they would never deign to see it.)

WHY IT’LL NEVER SEE THE INSIDE OF A THEATER

Well, as I mentioned, it’s pretty similar to LOTR. Not truly, but close enough that it might turn off filmmakers who would see it as just a copycat. Though really, think how easy it’d be to make? Just raid the WETA Workshop’s warehouses and do a quick ravamp of most of the Rings’ props/costumes. Boom, done. Also, even though it’s made good headway recently, the fantasy genre is still the nerdy kid in the Hollywood family. Despite a few awe-inspiring displays of coolness (Lord of the Rings, Stardust, the Harry Potter franchise, etc), there’s still no way our fantasy dork can compete with the explosions/sex handed out by his action-packed brother and the serious intensity of his dramatic sister.

Jan 15, 2010 | random | 2 Comments »

book to film – intro

With the massive number of remakes and adaptations we’ve seen Hollywood hand out in the last decade has led me to believe that there is truly no imagination and innovation left in Tinsel Town. Now, I’ll give them this – they do turn out a great original every now and then, but still. They’re few and far between nowadays.

Don’t get me wrong, there have been some great reboots/remakes/adaptations out there, they’re not all soulless attempts to suck more money out of the public without actually thinking up anything original. For example, some favorite remakes from the last decade, in no particular order:

Disturbia (Rear Window – 1954)
Hairspray (movie – 1988, stage show – 2002)
I Am Legend (The Omega Man – 1971, The Last Man on Earth – 1964)
3:10 to Yuma (same title – 1957)
The Departed (Infernal Affairs – 2002)
King Kong (same title – 1976 and 1933)
The Ladykillers (same title – 1955)
The Italian Job (same title – 1969)
Chicago (Roxie Hart – 1942)
Gone in Sixty Seconds (same title – 1974)
Anna and the King – from 1999, but I’m including it because it’s so awesome (The King and I – 1956, Anna and the King of Siam – 1946; stage show – 1982)
Wicker Park (L’Appartement – 1996)
The Ring – (Ringu – 1998)
Tortilla Soup (Eat Drink Man Woman - 1994)
Ocean’s Eleven (same title – 1960)

I could list some favorites that are based on books … but that list would be much longer, as Hollywood has been quite prolific in their novel adaptations in the past decade.

to be continued …

Jan 15, 2010 | random | Leave A Comment »

damn the rom com

Wow, nothing like rum and several romantic comedies in a row to make you feel way lonely. It’s pathetic. I mean, wow, I love being single, but fucking movies. They’re bastards, getting us women to dream about these perfect men that don’t really exist, even when you know you don’t really want one around all the time. As I said, rum+rom com=patheticness.

Stupid Hollywood creating impossible and outrageous expectations for women everywhere, getting us happily single gals loving your stupid movies about happy and quirky romance.



Way to fuck us over from childhood on. sneaky bastards. Actually, no, they’re not even sneaky about it. bastards.

Jan 09, 2010 | random | 2 Comments »

wtf … nature

Jan 04, 2010 | random | Leave A Comment »

I’m sorry – what?

wow … must share my complete astonishment and horror with the general public:

The have taken a fantastic movie, Death at a Funeral, a hilarious British wonder from 2007, directed by the great Frank Oz, full of some of the best comedic performances I’ve ever seen … and they are remaking it. Same title, exact same story line, just three years after the first. Yes, friends, the new Death at a Funeral comes out in 2010 – let me just list the main cast and you will share my horror.

Chris Rock
Martin Lawrence
Tracy Morgan
Loretta Devine
Danny Glover
Zoe Saldana
Luke Wilson
James Marsden (with huge shoes to fill as he’s playing the character wacked out on hallucinogens – played utterly without fault the first time around by the amazing Alan Tudyk.)

Also upsetting is that the hilarious and diminutive Peter Dinklage will be reprising his role as the gay lover of the deceased. With the cast they’ve got and the level to which they’ve dragged the movie, they’d be better off with Verne Troyer. Yes, Mini-Me. I went there.

Here are the two trailers, just to compare for you.

The original British wonder (which of course, doesn’t show the full greatness of the entire movie)

And here’s the monstrosity they’ve created *shudder*

And just by browsing around on the IMDb message boards, apparently I’m not the only one both pissed and saddened by this horrible creation. At least I know I’m not alone in my disgust.

Dec 13, 2009 | random | Leave A Comment »

the universal language of mankind

I’ve been discovering lots of new (or at least, new to me) music this week that I thought I’d share with you all. Listen and enjoy, friends! Be sure to make it all the way to the end for my all-time favorite!

Ain’t No Rest for the Wicked by Cage the Elephant

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Black Coffin by His Orchestra

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Saturday Fantastic by Diamond Nights

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Boys With Girlfriends by Meiko

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Under My Bed by Meiko

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Samson by Regina Spektor

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Crazy by The Kooks (Gnarls Barkley cover)

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Little Black Sandals by Sia

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Mind’s Eye by Josh Ritter

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Train Song by Feist and Ben Gibbard

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Ruby by Kaiser Chiefs

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The Captain and the Hourglass by Laura Marling

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Manic & I by Laura Marling

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I found this gem on a great blog (that everybody should check out) – Made in England by Gentlemen. The song’s called I Say Fever by Ramona Falls. I was going to post just the song, which I do love, but the video for this song is so amazing that I had to share. It makes the song a million times better in my opinion, not to mention that the animation and visual style is really interesting. It’s slightly weird but wholly awesome; just roll with it.

Well that was fun. I haven’t seen too many newer movies of late, so nothing to review for now. And now my stomach is informing me that I didn’t have lunch and supper time is drawing near. Wish me luck on my hunt for sustenance!

Dec 05, 2009 | random, song of the day | 2 Comments »

four and a half days

Hooray for the holidays! Mainly the one where you’re allowed to gorge yourself without guilt. Wait, what do you mean, that doesn’t really narrow it down? sigh I mean Thanksgiving, silly. Since I already had a turkey celebration with family earlier this month, I stayed home for the actual event. This means that with the time off I took yesterday combined with the two days we get off for the holiday plus the weekend … four and a half days of glorious nothing. I don’t have to even leave the house. Yes, I’m aware that makes me sound like a loser, but, well this is me caring.

And so with my four and a half days, whatever shall fill my time? Well, I’ll be sleeping in a lot, reading, eating (yes, I’ll be stuffing my face. In honor of the pilgrims and Indians of course) but I’ll probably also spend much of my time watching the long list of movies I’ve built up in my queue. What does this mean for you, you might ask? Why, random reviews of course! I’ve got a bit of a line up for you here, so I’m keeping them brief. Well, mildly brief. I’m not good at really brief, as we’ve discovered from some of my other “brief” reviews on here. Oh, and be warned, I might let some spoilers slip without noticing. Without further ado:

The Brothers Bloom
Confidence at its best, where not even the players know what’s the truth and what’s the lie. And while I loved the brothers themselves, one can’t overlook the women in their lives – Bang Bang (cannot even begin to say how great she is) their explosives expert, and Penelope, their rich mark whose hobby is collecting hobbies. This movie was quirky, smart, interesting, action-packed … all around great. There were times it seemed a little long-winded and overly complex, as if the characters all knew what was going on and weren’t letting me in on it. But this all just adds to the feeling that you’re almost in on the con, “almost” being the key word. You don’t know what exactly happened until the end, but it’s almost better that way. It kept me extremely interested right up to the end. (Oh, and one random note: when you hear “the Brothers Bloom, you think their last name must be Bloom, right? Well, they never say their last name, and the younger brother’s name is Bloom. Stephen and Bloom. So is the kid’s name Bloom Bloom? Are they calling him by his last name? Why call the younger by the last name and not the older? Anyway, I was just curious. The title didn’t quite make sense to me.)

Whitechapel
Never heard of this one? Me either. It’s a British miniseries about a police force trying to solve a series of murders occurring in Whitechapel in 2008. Though they really don’t want to admit it as first, these murders seem to be exact recreations of the Jack the Ripper murders from 1888. Though I usually don’t expect much from the acting from British TV, this miniseries was fairly well done. Nothing was too over the top nor too bland, and the story itself was really interesting. The killer doesn’t just recreate the murders themselves, he recreates the world of the original murders, leading the modern-day coppers down the same roads as the investigators from ’88. It’s really fascinating, not to mention that I learned a lot about Jack the Ripper. Or at least, the version that these writers were following, as there are many different theories about Jack out there. But no matter what theory of Jack takes your fancy, this was definitely fun to watch, and definitely better than From Hell, despite the lack of Johnny Depp.

Funny People
This is up there as one of the best roles Adam Sandler has ever played. Definitely not the top (Reign Over Me, Spanglish) but really good nonetheless. He plays a rich and famous comedian, basically a huge sell-out, who discovers he’s dying of a form of Leukemia. Taking on a personal assistant/joke writer, he goes about getting back to his stand-up roots while closing up shop around the house. The first part of the movie is watching him accept his sickness and eventual death, taking stock of his life up till then. And then, BAM! The experimental medicine he was hopelessly taking actually works. Surprise, you’ve just reached the “acceptance” stage but no matter, you’re no longer dying. Awesome! And so the rest of the movie we get to watch Sandler run around with a new lease on life, determined to get the woman that got away. (She didn’t really get away, he cheated on her a lot and she left, with good reason.) The movie was good, funny at times, serious and sad at times, a good balance of both.
However. This movie was TWO AND A HALF HOURS LONG. Dear god, why? The movie wasn’t that good. It definitely wasn’t lively enough to keep my eyelids from drooping after about an hour and a half. So besides the long-ass unnecessary length, this was a pretty good movie. Not my favorite semi-serious Sandler role, but as I said, it’s up there.

My Sister’s Keeper
Yeah, I’ll admit it, I can be a major sap for weepy movies like this. And yes, this movie made me cry. Who doesn’t cry at a cancer movie? Heartless soulless people, that’s who. This movie was based on a book, but if you read the book and haven’t seen the movie yet – don’t expect the same ending. At all. I’m not going to spoil it for anybody because … well, because I don’t want to. But yeah, the movie would have had a completely different tone if they had kept the book ending. As it was, the movie was basically about a girl with Leukemia (wow, two in a row here on my blog … could this be considered a cancer cluster? lol, wow that was a bad joke, sorry.) as she slowly dies, full of flashbacks of the progression of her disease and how she lived with it. It’s all very standard and weepy, Lifetime movie material, but whatever. Still made me cry, even if I hate the girl who plays the younger sister. She’s apparently one of the great new child stars nowadays, but I don’t enjoy her. So anyway, in a nutshell, this is a good movie for a good cry, it even has the interesting subplot (well, maybe not subplot, it’s the main story, but the flashbacks take up most of the movie) with her sister, though if you have a brain at all you can see the truth behind this whole story line, taking a bit of the bite out of it, but it’s nothing amazing.

Alrighty, I’m getting tired and hungry now, must feed. Peanut chicken for me, methinks. mmm. I’ll have to finish the rest of my reviews in another post. But before I leave, here’s a fantastic music video I discovered plus a few new songs for your pod. Happy Turkey Day!

“Koop Island Blues” – Koop

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“1901″ – Phoenix

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“Wake Up” – Sliimy

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“Oxford Comma” – Vampire Weekend

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Nov 26, 2009 | movie review, random, song of the day | Leave A Comment »

No one needs a vacation so much as the person who has just had one.

Well, I just got back from a four-day vacation to northern California to visit a friend. Flew into Sacramento on Wednesday (via Denver, my very favorite airport) and we immediately drove out of town to visit Apple Hill. We at at the Apple Cafe and had some burgers that were truly traumatizing. I mean, wow. Avoid the Apple Cafe, my friends. My friend had eaten there once before and it apparently wasn’t that bad, but I wouldn’t risk it. But we did get to go to a fun little fair at one orchard and visit a few others, one of which (pictured below) had a particularly great name.

That night we walked through a large and very confusing outlet mall, buying nothing but thoroughly exhausting my jet-lagged self even more than I thought possible. The next night I basically did nothing while my friend worked, then we met up with a friend of hers for dinner that night. Friday we took the obligatory Napa Valley trip, as if I would skip that. It was really beautiful and despite the fact that I had to drink more wine than I normally would (not a big wine fan, honestly) it was way awesome.

The next day was my final day, and it was spent mostly around San Francisco, where my outbound flight was. My friend was on the phone a lot working, which was perfectly fine, but that combined with getting lost via the GPS in her car made us slightly late (the getting lost … that’s a story I can’t even get into … let’s just say

… imagine this is a road instead of stairs:

and we drove up that and several more like it in this beast:

Basically, it was awesome. I love fearing for my life like that, picturing myself trapped in a steel box rolling down a mountain, taking out trees left and right, to land in a bloody pile of metal. Fun times. But seriously, it was pretty entertaining.

And while, yes, entertaining, it did however kill some major time that morning. So we were late getting to our first destination, the Muir Woods (for those who don’t know, this is one of the redwood forests in California – i.e. huge ass old trees). This place, while crawling with far too many tourists that seriously damage the tranquility you might otherwise feel walking through a forest like this, was truly beautiful.

Once leaving the forest, it was back down the mountain and off to the Golden Gate Bridge, where I basically just got out, stood and looked, took tons of pictures, and then returned to the truck. I’m a boring tourist, but really, what else was there to do? How long am I supposed to stare at this thing? Don’t get me wrong, it’s cool and all, but really. So then we drove down along the piers, saw an awesome homeless lady that was wearing what could only be magic pants because nothing short of abracadabra could have kept those pants hovering so perfectly halfway down her ass without falling completely off.

And then it was time to get thee to an airport. A scummy airport that I was told was nice, but then I compare all airports to the Denver airport which is far superior than most.

On the flight from SF to Phoenix I got stuck next to a woman who was far to chatty for my tastes, definitely not my ideal for a single-serving friend (name that reference!) but whattaya gonna do. Assigned seats and all. Well she was asking about my job and such, told her I work for a company that photographs marathons and graduations, and the guy on the other side of her was like, wait … MarathonFoto? Apparently he runs marathons all the damn time and is a big fan of our work. Hooray for meeting random happy customer. Oh, and he was a spine surgeon, funny. (funny in that I’ve been watching Lost recently and the doctor character on that show was a spine surgeon. I felt much safer with the knowledge that in case my flight crashed somewhere between California and Arizona and we were stuck on a deserted island … in a lake somewhere … we had a doctor who of course would perform all the responsibilities we laid on him, just like his tv counterpart. While looking all hot and sexy.)

My flight from Phoenix to Des Moines was delayed by a freaking hour and then we had to fly that almost 3 hour flight in what can only be described as an SUV with wings. The type of plane that was so small that it wasn’t even tall enough to make it to the normal gate. We had to exit the actual terminal, walk on the tarmac, and board the plane the old fashioned way. Awesome. I’ve been on a plane like this before, of course, but it was a tiny commuter plane and the flight lasted maybe half an hour. Not three fucking hours. What the hell. But whatever, I didn’t die. I was freaking tired when I finally landed though.

I spent that night with my cousin and her three … sorry, four … cats. She says she has four, and I have seen pictures of this elusive fourth, but I have never physically seen said cat. Sunday was spent driving north to visit the family for an early Thanksgiving, which was fun in that I got a quick chat with everybody, I got to hold a beautiful sleeping baby for a really long time, and, most importantly, I got to stuff my face with fantastically bad-for-you food. Ahh, the holidays.

And now, sadly, vaca is over. Let me just say that Monday sucked ass. Back to the daily grind that is life. Woot.

Oh, and side note – my eye keeps twitching. Annoying as fuck. And the ‘a’ on my keyboard apparently likes it rough because if I don’t pound it hard it says FUCK YOU and doesn’t work, more than annoying as the ‘a’ is used more than a little in the English language.

Here’s a few sign off treats for you:

A fantastic blog I discovered that I feel is worthy of my pimping: http://benandgod.tumblr.com/

And a few fun songs (only for the nerdy and truly clever):

Star Wars a Capella (challenge: name all the John Williams tunes used) – oh, and this is one guy, recording each part separately … not just nerdy, but way impressive *EDIT* I just found out the guy in the youTube video I plucked this from did not actually sing the song, he was just lip-syncing … the actual song was recorded by an a Capella band called Moosebutter. Yes their name is that awesome. They’re not as entertaining to watch as Corey Vidal, the performer in the youTube video, nor is it as impressive as one guy singing that song alone, but still. Credit where credit due.