J&J Hot N' Cold

G-O-D

Me: "Are you down with G-O-D?"
Mel: "I like dogs."

I have no idea why I asked that to begin with but the response was hi-larious.

Phantom of the Whatsit

Things I knew but didn't care to register:

Music of the Night and All I Ask of You from Phantom of the Opera are not the same song. True story.

 

Review comment on Twilight

From Rotten Tomatoes:

"Unlike the 'Harry Potter' series... the 'Twilight' series appears to be in capable hands right off the bat."

Okay, I will begin by saying 'Twilight' was absolute shite! This isn't coming from the fan of the books. If anything, I think they should have worked with the story of the book but not rely on its popularity or melodramatic dialogue that really doesn't translate well when you say it out loud (though, let's face it, the film flick will make a lot of money this weekend). This is coming from someone who has working eyes, ears and a brain. I'd like to think even the 'tweens will be insulted by this but then again, when in my 'tweens, I was loving 'Reservoir Dogs' and 'True Romance'.

This wasn't mean to be a review of the movie but I have to say this: you know when shows get a script and everyone does a round-table read-through? It's as though THAT was filmed and half-assed edited and then distributed.

But I digress.

My point about the above is this: Ummm, let's forget that you deluded yourself into believing you saw a half-decent movie. Did you just slam 'Harry Potter'? If one film (or series of films) made a smooth transition from books to screen, it's that one. That is all.

Slinky Cat!

Yes, We Can. Yes, We Have.

Adam (Garner) on Paul Newman

Adam says: (9:06:32 PM)

i liked that salad dressing mogul

Adam says: (9:06:40 PM)

i hear he acted a bit too

Creative Writing 101 - "Dear Diary"

Dear Diary,

Pages of a diary

Breathe louder than any voice,

Speak the ramblings of a troubled mind,

One that cease to speak.

Lonely are the words,

Frantically scribbled along a path,

Having no direction,

And seeking for an end.

Does it help to cry?

When no one will hear.

And how much is your mind put to rest?

Never weep against the wind.

Never moan in its wake.

All it will pass to you are the echoes of your pleas.

Pages of a diary;

Fragile still yet strong,

Can contain the thoughts of a thousand men

Or sing the song of one.

Creative Writing 101 - Blast From the Past

Going through some of my old CDs full of my work from college (believe it or not, I was heavily into Flash actionscripting and animations at one time of my life), I stumbled upon a folder from my creative writing class, an elective in my 5th semester. Among the works were some free verse poems, sonnets, short stories, even a play that I remembered was well-received when my group performed it.

Thing is I'm starting to see a theme in my works: they all center around death or loneliness yet I recall being very happy in those days. How pretentious of me...

So as a touch of nostalgia, I think I'm finally ready to share these with you and let you jump into the creative mind of a 22-year-old me.

PS: There is one poem that was more of a spoof... however it does involve killing a stripper.

I need help :|

Totally Looks Like... Harry Potter Edition

Thought these were uncanny:

MelBot QotD: At Ikea

Me: "So should I go with the bamboo or the fake flowers?"

Mel: "Bamboo, definitely bamboo. Bamboo is very hard to kill... though I guess fake flowers are hard to kill too." 

Wilfred Brimley Cat vs. Skeptical Cat

Quote worth blogging:
Wilfred Cat is dour and gruff. He's dismissive outright from bigotry and grit.

Skeptical cat will still listen to what you have to say before he shoots you down.
- Mike Mazza

Blogging the Emmys

To further illustrate my point...

My Cats May Be Gay

In a world...

RIP Don LaFontaine!

A Muppet Morning

Enjoy!

Mahna Mahna


Classical Chicken


Ode to Joy


Habanera


Oh Danny Boy

Baman and Piderman

Omigod. Shoes.

Super-Spider-Man?

I'm pretty sure this is false:

The "Anytime" Movie List

Inspired by Pollyprissypants' post, I got to thinking what movies I considered my "anytime" flicks. You will noticed from the below list that a lot of them are musicals. What can I say, they are the best thing to have playing in the background in your apartment while you bake. The others on the other hand, well, let's just say they mesh well with my "anytime" mood. Unlike Pollyprissypants, I decided to put them in order:

10. Anastasia
Perhaps it's the magical songs that add to a very classically staged musical that's animated. A fantasy twist to a famous and tragic moment in history tacked on with the wonderful casting of John Cusack, Meg Ryan, Kelsey Grammer, Bernadette Peters, Christopher Llyod, Hank Azaria and Angela Landsbury. This film would in no way make it to my all-time top 10 films, but there is always a warmth to it when I watch and I find myself singing along (if I'm in my kitchen, I may be dancing... you don't know!)

9. The Commitments
This film also has an equal "anytime" soundtrack - one where no matter what my mood, popping in the soundtrack brings me to my happy place. And in this place, it really is the working man's music that makes this film a comfort to watch anytime... mixed of course with crude Irish humour :)

8. Shaun of the Dead
Though not the first nor the last collaboration between Simon Pegg, Nick Frost and Edgar Wright, Shaun of the Dead's blend of many genres makes this the perfect film to place on anyone's "anytime" list. Why? Want some comedy? These gents have perfected it. Looking for a little romance? You see the fall and rise of it here. Is there room for drama? Pegg will surprise you. Yeah, but what about zombies? Funny you should mention that 'cause we got them by the droves!

7. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
Do I really have to go into it?

6. Guys and Dolls
As I mentioned, (and this is only the tip of the ice berg) but musicals, to me, make the best anytime movie viewing. Why? Because they don't require a lot of attention. The mood and songs tell you the story and you don't even have to listen to the lyrics. What makes this musical great to watch (or at least be around) over and over again is its Broadway feel... that and Brando and Sinatra!

5. On the Town
A fantastic Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra film with a supporting cast that you just fall in love with! The songs are fun and singing along with it just makes this girl happy. It's worth noting that this MGM musical was one of the first (if not, THE first) musicals to be filmed on location and managed to combine sound stage numbers with the wonderful backdrop of New York City in 1949.

4. Firefly/Serenity
Taking a short break between rampaging musicals, I present you with one of the smartest sci-fi films ever. And yes, I say films because Firefly (the short-lived TV series that preceded the film Serenity) really was 14 movie-quality episodes. It was an amazing show that had the ability to make it through to at least 3 amazing seasons followed by maybe 2 or 3 more solid seasons that would've still been better than most of the crap out there.

3. Singing in the Rain
Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor and Debbie Reynolds - COME ON! This musical is the ultimate musical as it takes place when the silent film era was dying and being taken over by talkies, thus bringing musicals to the big screen. Most of the songs were not written specifically for this movie but were taken from other musicals and blended in the film (much like Moulin Rouge - a film that would've been in my "anytime" movie list 5-7 years ago). When one thinks movie musicals, this is your go-to film.

2. The Empire Strikes Back
This is my favourite movie of all time so I may be copping out (and being bias) when I give my reasoning for placing this on my "anytime" movie list but it really is THE GREATEST MOVIE OF ALL TIME!

1. Jaws
I consider this movie a masterpiece where the musical score tells the story as much as seeing what's on screen. There is one part in the film that gets me everytime (and I bet those who are reading this know exactly which scene I may be referring to). When Hooper is under water investigating the abandoned fisherman's boat and the head of said fisherman floats into frame... everytime I know to expect it and everytime I jump.

A Moment in American Humiliation History

Not a review. Not a spoiler.

This is not a review. I will say this: for the most part, "I liiikkkeeedddd it....but!" I was looking for an old-fashion, swashbuckling adventure movie and Steven Spielberg still knows how to make one.

Here are some qualms I had entering this movie:

1. It will be a disappointing finale
   TRUE - Let's face it, The Last Crusade is a tough act to follow let alone to have a worthy successor as a finale.
   
2. It will be hard to watch Harrison Ford get back into the role of Indiana Jones
   TRUE... then FALSE - It started rough (almost forced) but he eventually broke out his inner Indy.
   


3. Shia LeBoeuf will ruin this movie
   A very surprising FALSE - He in no way made the movie but he didn't ruin it. In fact, he was more or less handled in a way to tell the audience: yes, Indy has aged.
   


4. Cate Blanchett will be distracting in this movie
   TRUE - What can I say? It's Cate-fucking-Blanchett!


5. I am really excited to see Karen Allen as Marion Ravenwood again
   TRUE - I really don't have anything to follow this up with.
   
6. This movie will be more in the vain of Temple of Doom
   FENCE - Like Temple, it didn't involve an epic quest of, pardon the expression, Biblical proportions. And also like Temple, there was a grotesque scene involving a hord of insects. Though Temple still remains the far more superior movie (despite having a Willie Scott instead of a Marion Ravenwood).
   
7. There will be a lot of "yeah right"s in the audience
   FALSE - There was a happy suspension of disbelief, the kind you should have when entering an adventure picture.

What bothered me (at the top of my head):

1. The actual Crystal Skull and its legend
   Luckily for me, I made it secondary in my mind (despite it sharing the title with our protagonist). Or maybe, as I mentioned earlier, no matter what its story, it was not going to match that of The Last Crusade, even as a stand alone episode.


2. The Beginning
   It was just hard for me to get back into that world at first even though I started my Indiana Jones week on Monday with Raiders of the Lost Ark. The look and feel of it didn't catch up with me until I saw Dr. Jones in his class teaching (weird, I know). From there, I saw him meld back into the role, hat and whip and all. I welcomed it finally.
3. Gratuitous use of 50s music
   Well, technically there were only two scenes, But we get it! We are no longer in the 30s.
4. Too many people along for the ride
   Indy had an entourage.

What I liked (at the top of my head)

1. The fear is still alive
   Ya know what? After all those years, I'm glad that Indy never got over his fear of snakes.


2. Music by John Williams
   The main theme? The Ark theme? Let's get serious!
   
3. His dry, cool wit
   Some things don't go away with age.


4. Tip of the hat to Marcus Brody and Henry Jones Snr.
   But where's Sallah?


5. A lot of LOL moments
   I'll admit, this one was very funny. Not in the 'categorize as a comedy' sense, just that good ol' Steven Spielberg humour I both love and miss.
6. Hearing Indiana Jones say "I have a bad feeling about this."
   Knowing we will never hear Han Solo say that popular Star Wars catch phrase ever again, hearing Harrison Ford say it again as the one and only Indy makes me feel all squishy.

And finally, Fun Facts:

1. Commies are funner than Nazis
   True story. They dance and drink vodka while Nazis burn books and search for historic Christian artifacts.


2. The guy behind us in the theatre is hilarious
   [opening credits: "LucasFilm Ltd"]
   girl: Is that George Lucas?
   guy: No. It's his brother Roger Lucas.
3. This is TOTALLY a review!
   So to summarize my exhausting points: It neither ruined nor added to the Indiana Jones franchise simply because I separated it from the "other holy trinity" (the first "holy trinity" of sci-fi/fantasy film for me being the original Star Wars pictures.). I liked it enough as an enjoyable movie and some bits are tasty treats for the fans but am not fully convinced it was an Indiana Jones movie.

Title vs. Title

I don’t understand why franchise movies must put some stank in their titles and thus making them very cartoony. I find it hard to take them seriously that way, much like adding “The Wacky Adventures of…” to any given title. This blog is inspired by the announcement of the new X-Files movie…

Here are some examples:
X-Files: I Want to Believe
Though this is really to get the common household X-Phile juiced in the pants, I don’t know if I’m warm to it. It does seem more personal and perhaps that’s what they were going for. I’d be content if it was called X-Files: Believe… Hell, I’d be ecstatic if all movies were titled Piper Maru.

X-Files: Fight the Future
Lame. This movie came out when X-Files the series was at its peak. I guess Fight the Future was referring to its slow downward spiral.

Star Wars: The Phantom Menace
Grr!

Star Wars: Attack of the Clones
Makes it sound like the most expensive B-movie ever.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Okay, I get the campiness of it though I never associated Indy as being super campy. I don’t know, could be my childhood talking. But, I will say Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, both as a film and film title, is a tough act to follow.

James Bond titles
Quantum of Solace
Die Another Day
The World is Not Enough
(yes, I’m aware the James Bond titles are based on books – calm down)

I also don’t care for these:
LXG
T2
X2

Honourable Mention: Don’t Play with the Math
Alien³ = only one (1) alien

Honourable Mention: Don’t Play with the Chemistry
H2O – What seems to be cunning wit is actually just stupid. What it’s trying to tell you: 20 years after the original Halloween. What it was marketed to tell you: WATER. Scared yet?

No doubt I’m missing a bunch… not really taking too much time researching these. If you think of any stupid titles, let me know!

Oh Gaius...

The miVi Top Ten Films of 2007 - an introduction

In 2006, while going through all the movies I saw that year, I was very impressed with how many actually left me pleased and yearning to discuss them further. This lead me to create blog entries dedicated to my top 10 favourite films of 2006:
#10 - An Inconvenient Truth (I later watched The Departed months after creating this list so that would've likely bumped this one.)
#9 - Brick
#8 - Curious George (that's right!)
#7 - Children of Men
#6 - Pan's Labyrinth
#5 - The Queen
#4 - Clerks 2
#3 - Superman Returns
#2 - Stranger Than Fiction
#1 - Little Miss Sunshine

Now a new year has passed for me to reflect on the films that wowed me for the last 365 days. Thing is, I hardly went to the movies or rented anything and the few I did see were mediocre at best. There are definitely enough to make up a top 10 list but in all honesty, numbers 4-10 would be fillers. So now I present to you my Top THREE (3) favourite films of 2007.

Naturally though, I must begin with my least favourite. And calling them "least favourite" is being polite. I HATED these movies (in my defence, two of them were rentals picked by someone else.)
Music & Lyrics
I Think I Love My Wife
Spiderman 3

Spiderman 3 was a movie that also inspired me to write an extensive blog entry but I never finished it. Who knows? Maybe one day I will share with you my thoughts on that movie in a thesis titled: "Why a Third Addition In a Comic Book Movie Franchise Always Sucks".

Honourable Mentions for 2007 are:
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Hot Fuzz
(Don't ask me why I couldn't slot these in to round out an handsome Top Five list. I guess they were great and I will watch them again and again but they didn't seem like they belong on a Top Five list.)

Anyway, stay tuned for my entries on the films that made Top 3 for me!

WONDER TWIN POWERS, ACTIVATE!

Phone call with my mom...

Mom: Hi. I have a question... That Malibu rum you bought at New Year's... is it still good?
Me: Should be.
Mom: What do you have it with?
Me: You can try Coke. One sec... [aside] Mel? What would you put with Malibu rum?
Mom: Oh Mel's there?
Mel: HI!
[I hand over the phone]
Back and forth conversation between the two involving Mel's new cat, Mel's mom who's in the Philippines as well as the answer her Malibu rum question...
Mel: Oh just juice... hahaha... okay, did you want to talk to Michelle again?... Oh, okay... bye.
[click]

PWN3D

Pet Peeve of Mine...

When I forget to close brackets in MSN coversations.

The Return of my 90s Crushes

Pre-writers strike, I started noting a couple of shows that starred some of my favourites from the 90s. It's nice to see them getting some work.

Oh Tim Daly! Once you were the Sense to Steven Weber's Sensibility as Joe Hackett on Wings. Nice to see you play a very attractive doctor on Private Practice. Though I was never into Grey's Anatomy, its spin-off isn't horrible.

Just recently I discovered Northern Exposure reruns on the APTN channel and they are currently in the early seasons where Dr. Joel Fleishmann played by Rob Morrow was still the hot-tempered Jewish doctor from New York. This made me very happy. I caught one episode of Numb3rs strictly by accident one evening and it pleased me to see Morrow working again. However, I will not continue to watch this show; it is afterall, still a show about solving crime... with math.

Not only did David Duchovny come out from post X-Files oblivion for Showtime's Californication, but he's jumping back into X-Files fandom with a new X-Files movie. I don't have to tell you how happy this makes me.

Also, I thought of removing Gillian Anderson from that picture of Mulder and Scully, but who am I kidding? She too was a 90s crush of mine.

What's In Your Locker?

While dining with my friend Emma, we got to talking about pictures we had in our high school lockers. My locker contained the following:

Various Farside comics from a desk calendar - These pretty much tiled a good portion of the inside door of the locker. Oh Gary Larson... you think funny!

I geek; therefore, I am - I was AM a fan of The X-Files. I would pick up any entertainment rag that had Mulder and/or Scully on the cover. One photo in particular I had was this one, clipped from a magazine. Yup, that just happened! (Oh but make no mistake - I was equally a fan of Gillian Anderson)



Le pièce de résistance! - Moe's their leader :)

So kids... what was in your locker?

Things I learned from my first visit to the IHOP

1. I don't think I'm a fan of grits.
2. I don't think I'm a fan of having a plethora of loose-leaf cheese piled on top of my omelette.
3. I am a fan of butter pecan syrup.

Stoner Cats