Such a GOOD weekend! 2005

Creatively productive day Friday. That Certain Someone picked me up after work. Dinner at Citrus Club on Haight. Sitting in bed surfing the web. Spooning.

Farmers' Market at the Ferry Building Friday morning. Aidells Maple & Smoked Bacon sausage sandwich with Seeds & Suds mustard. Fresh snap peas. Tasting cheeses and balsamic vinegars. Selecting and eating Recchiuti chocolates - Peanut Butter Puck, Honeycomb Malt, special of the day (Fleur de Sel caramel topped with pecan encased in bittersweet chocolate; simply fucking incredible. One of the top ten chocolate experiences of my life.), Fleur De Sel, Cardamom Nougat, Tarragon Grapefruit, Bergamot Tea - on a bench looking out at the bay. Sailboats. Clouds. Sunshine. The Bay Bridge. Yerba Buena Island.

Walking up Sacramento to Mason and down to Geary. Buying tickets at the Curren for "I Am My Own Wife" (about which more in a couple weeks no doubt). And then seeing Kung Fu Hustle at the Metreon.

Stop what you are doing now and go see Kung Fu Hustle. It's got more life and fun and excitement in it than the last 10 American films I've seen. If I could pre-order the DVD today, I would, and I'll definitely be seeing this one at least twice in the theater.

Grinning like maniacs. A Manhattan and a cheese plate at The View atop the Marriot Hotel looking at, well, the view. Trying to figure out what was going on at the ice rink. Walking across Yerba Buena Gardens to find it was a demonstration game of sled hockey. Very cool. Chatting briefly with a player as he got back into his wheelchair. Coming home and watching the original Star Wars "A New Hope" (laser disc version, not this bullshit "Greedo shoots first" crap).

Sleeping in. Languid lazing around. Puttering around the house. Soup for dinner. The win-win debate: movie or play a game?

Damn. Damndamndamndamndamn. 2003

Back in June I pre-ordered the Extended Edition DVD of Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.

This weekend I read two weblog entries by people who'd already watched it, so I expected that it would be waiting for me today at work (where I have things shipped since we haven't got a mailslot in our door). I was already anticipating the bliss of the extra 43 minutes of footage, of hours & hours of special features, after waiting 6 months to be able to pre-order it and 5 months for it to be released.

This morning (why not weeks ago, Amazon? Huh? why not weeks ago? or when I logged in to place other orders?) I got a notification from Amazon that they hadn't shipped my order because the credit card I used to pre-order it had expired.

Don't expect me to be cheerful today.

Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003) 2003

I highly recommend the new film Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World to any fans of the original books. Crowe and Bettany give beautiful portrayals of Capt. Jack Aubrey and surgeon Stephen Maturin.

One piece of advice, though, for any viewer of the film: recognize that it is one of those pieces of music which combines two very different themes, one brisk and lively, one slower and more contemplative. It is as much character portrait as it is historical action film.

Oh, and the ship is beautiful. Amazing what you can achieve when you really build something.

Attention: LOTR fans 2003

There will be theatrical showings of the extended versions of Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers this December. Tickets are available from Fandango. Probably from other sources as well.

There's also going to be back to back showings of those two films plus the first showing of Return of the King, but that's already sold out and who wants to see ROTK for the first time when your ass is sore and your senses are numbed by the prior 7+ hours of film?

Worth Your Time 2003

I just got back from seeing Party Monster. I thought I'd enjoy the fabulous costumes and pretty boys kissing and endure the connecting bits. I did get some of the former to please me - though many of the costumes were more outrageous than beautiful - and pretty much none of the latter, but it turned out to be the masterful portrayal of the two main characters which leaves me strongly considering seeing it again. I really enjoyed Seth Green and Macaulay Culkin's performances. Green has more range than I realized and Culkin can be much darker (then again, if you're a millionaire former child star, perhaps playing someone who believes the world should be his on a plate isn't such a stretch...)

Reading the reviews on IMDB which range from "Excellent!" to "Sucks!" you get an accurate sense that this film isn't for everyone or perhaps even most, but I think it's very worth seeing and it certainly leaves me excited about what these actors will do in the future. It's playing at the lovely Castro Theater through Thursday, and even though I have stuff going on Monday, Wednesday and Friday nights, I will probably make time for it.

Daft, but intrigued 2003

I just met someone who's working on Spiderman 2. Neat guy, nice talking with him, but because the connection is that he did a bunch of illustrations for icons for one of my products when it was first developed, I was thinking "artist". As a result I spent the whole conversation thinking "animatics" every time he said "animatronics". In retrospect some of my comments must have seemed particularly lame & confused. *sigh*

Oh well, at least I know there will be cool stuff in the next movie.

Questions we have after watching the original Ocean's 11 2003

- Is it strictly necessary to hear "Ain't That A Kick In The Head" three times in a row?
- Was the dialog actually written by goats?
- Did people in 1960 not cringe when Dean Martin & Frank Sinatra were talking about bringing back slavery?
- What was up with the David Lynch mortuary chapel with a giant glowing clock on the front?
- Did people really think those Christmas decorations were attractive?
and, most of all,
- What the hell does "E.O. Eleven" mean?

Beware. 2003

Here's my friend Al's review of LXG (the new movie based, very very loosely, on Alan Moore's excellent graphic novel The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen):

(using Lovecraftian-going-insane tone a la the end of "Dagon")

HOLY DUMBNESS! THE CYCLOPEAN GOBS OF HOLY-SHIT-THAT'S-FUCKIN'-DUMB...NESS! SO BAD...POWERS...FADING...MUST...WARN...OTHERS...I NEED TO TOSSSSS MY HOLY SALAD OUT THE WINDOW...AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

Yeah, it sucked. WHAT THE FUCK IS A VAMPIRE DOING IN SUNLIGHT...WITHOUT ADDRESSING HOW SHE CAN DO THAT?!?!? But...although the original Nautilus is dear to my heart, the shitty movie version was kinda cool.

I was so upset, I ended up going to see "Pirates of the Caribbean" later last night...and to quote Tony Le Tigre, it was g-r-r-r-r-r-rEAT! Johnny Depp is the man.

Goof or just something I missed? 2003

Over the weekend I watched the remake of Ocean's Eleven and enjoyed it very much. George Clooney and Brad Pitt work very well together and can deliver this sort of slick dialogue with humor and style. The rest of the caper team were fun and Andy Garcia made a nice foil for them. Still can't say Julia Roberts does it for me, but the out-of-character stuff with her laughing on set gives me a clue why her co-stars think she's the bee's knees. Would have been nice if her character showed some of that human charm.

I have one question though and it's a spoiler, so see the comments if you've already seen the movie.

Wilde 2003

This weekend I'm very much enjoying the DVD of the movie Wilde, starring the wonderful Stephen Fry. It is a masterfully drawn portrait of a man whose life has had a tremendous impact on attitudes about beauty, morality, fame, and sexuality over the last hundred and twenty-five years or so.

Amusingly, Oscar's biting wit seems to rub off on the makers of the film as evidenced in this bit of discussion in the commentary track:

[They are discussing how one of Oscar's presumed lovers, John Gray, the man who perhaps inspired The Portrait of Dorian Gray, eventually converted to Catholicism and became a priest as did one of the "rent boys" who, I think, testified at Oscar's trial]
Screenwriter Julian Mitchell: "Well, there was a great sort of overlap between high camp and high church."
Stephen Fry: "Which remains to this very day, let's be honest."

Good Fun 2003

Chris and I just went and saw The Italian Job. We had a great time. It's a nice classic caper, well-directed and well-cast. I recommend it (unless you're the kind of person who doesn't enjoy a good story well told again).

Be yourself. 2003

Here's a toast to Richard Chamberlain (who came out today) and his partner Martin. Health and happiness, gentlemen!

No TiVo. No VCR. Heck, no TV at all. 2003

I checked the Daily Show website. I googled for this to no avail. Anyone have or know a URL to the clip from The Daily Show where Stephen Colbert visits one of those people who claims to be able to make gay people straight. I really want to hear him say this line again: "Right. We don't hate gays. We're just angry at the ones who turn us on so much."

LXG 2003

So, if you, like me, read Alan Moore's League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and then saw the trailer for the upcoming film based on it and were a wee bit confused about who those extra characters were, I have an answer.

It's Dorian Grey and Tom Sawyer.

Um. Okay.

Okay, I can work with that. It's clearly not going to be the book or high art, but it still looks like a lot of fun.

What A Ride 2003

Chris and I just got back from seeing the second Matrix film. Good stuff. I liked it a lot and I'm very glad I don't have to wait a year until the next one. Carrie-Ann Moss rocks. The chases and fights are beautifully choreographed. Oh, and the clothes! Sweet mutha of gawd, I wish I had those clothes and the body to wear them. Heh, and the french swearing is quite delightful.

Before the movie, there was a different trailer for Terminator 3 and to my astonishment, the PR folks appear to have pulled this one out from the trashbin. The first one we saw someone in the crowd said "Give it up, old man!" when Arnie came on doing his schtick. The second trailer was just as bad. This time it's completely reworked and it actually makes the movie look good. Somebody deserves a promotion because they just made their company at least an extra million dollars opening weekend.

Idle hunting big pretentious game 2003

Now this sounds really good. Eric Idle has written and will direct a film called The Remains Of The Piano, a spoof of Merchant-Ivory films "with a large ensemble cast assembled led by Geoffrey Rush as Hopkins, a middle-aged British aristocrat".

Hee hee hee.

Xenophilia 2003

I highly recommend X2 - the second X-Men movie. Very enjoyable. I even managed not to be bothered by Halle Berry as Storm this time around. My favorite characters were even stronger and the new characters, particularly the fabulous Alan Cumming as Nightcrawler, were great. Go see it!

The art and pleasure of acting 2003

One thing I really like about DVDs is the amount of extra material which is included in them. The extended version of Fellowship of the Ring is the best I've found so far. The longer cut of the movie is far better than the theatrical release to my mind plus there are 4 different commentary tracks and two full discs worth of additional content about the work that went into making the film.

I really appreciate the actors and crew putting so much time over the past couple years into just sitting and talking about why and how they do what they do. The more I learn about what goes into a project the more I appreciate it. In the case of Lord of the Rings, the love and respect that everyone involved brought to the project is simply phenomenal; the process is perhaps as awe-inspiring as the result.

More is shared by some of the actors on their personal sites. I've mentioned Sir Ian McKellen's site before and call your attention now to his many and varied essays. A new discovery this week is Billy Boyd's site which includes many audio interviews conducted by a friend of his who runs the site. Perhaps because Billy's talking to a friend, his tone in these interviews is easy and personal.

This evening I listened to interview 7 now where he talks about parts he'd like to play and what makes a part interesting. It reminds me of something an actor friend of mine told me once. I'd just watched him in a production of "Into The Woods" in which he'd played the baker and was commenting on how much of a wrenching ride the story was for that character and he kind of smiled and said "Yeah...well...I think I like it best playing a character who basically gets emotionally raped by the story." I had to laugh, he'd said it in such a dreamily cheerful way, but it really taught me a lot about how an actor stays engaged and excited by what he's doing.

The interviewer asked Billy about parts he'd like to play and that got me thinking "Who would I like to see Billy Boyd play?" The first story to come to mind is my favorite book, Little, Big, by John Crowley. It won the World Fantasy Award in 1981 and has drifted in and out of print since. A lovely book, but written in a somewhat convoluted way that makes it harder to get into the first time, but increasingly rewarding on re-reading it. It's sort of fantasy realism with a sense of the world in decline and, at the same time, great magic in the works. There are a couple characters that I could see him playing: either of the two main male characters Smoky or his son Auberon, each lost in their own way. I think he'd find either pleasing. Possibly also Uncle George Mouse, but some of his best scenes are when he's older, so maybe not.

If it hadn't already been done, and done so well, I would say Steerpike from Gormenghast.

The father (and the other father, of course) in Neil Gaiman's Coraline. Hmm, and as far as I know that isn't cast yet... better call Henry Selick. :) The audiobook with Neil reading it is absolutely lovely. I was fortunate enough to see him read it - the whole thing! - live in Berkeley, California last summer.

Hee hee, the "who would you cast as..." game is fun even when turned on its head!

I should note that Billy Boyd's site also includes a forum area which I advise you to venture into with caution. The fans are very enthusiastic which is in some cases nice and in other cases really scary. I truly hope that the ones who most radiate "I HAVE AN OBSESSIVE CRUSH" are very young because if they're not it makes me nervous. Perhaps that nervousness is fear of slipping into that kind of unreality. I've certainly spent some time in that realm at hard times in my life, but I'd like to think I've outgrown such stuff. Then again perhaps the nervousness is just a natural fear of sig file images incorporating hobbits, hearts and care bears.

Billy has my sympathy for this alarming side effect of fame. I get a little tiny taste of it every now and then when one of those letters shows up which could be summarized as asking something akin to "If Chris dies, can I be your new boyfriend?" but it's nothing compared to people who want to marry Pippin.

Could You Repeat That? 2001

How often do you watch a movie that is so astounding you want to turn around and watch it again?

Distracted by new job & teaching 1999

I neglected this journal again. Tsk tsk.

I am now working with International SoftDevices. Monday, we begin a project management contract with HP's e-services group. I'm excited about the work though it will be hard.

Only 5 more sessions left of my class. As much as I'm enjoying it, with all the other things going on in my life it will be good to get done. Grading web sites is slow work.

Weather in Sunnyvale is good, but the smog is terrible and terrifying. It's time for humans to move on from fossil fuels. This particular human is still driving her car, of course, but next year when the lease is up I'll be checking out the alternative fuel choices.

Oh, if you haven't seen the Southpark movie yet, I'll warn you: it's vulgar, irreverent and crass.
I laughed my ass off through the whole damn thing.

First viewing & another fantasy 1979

Saw Monty Python and the Holy Grail. VERY, VERY, VERY strange!?

I fantisize [sic] about having a great lot of money and giving away to people and various causes (like Synergy! [my school])

Heh. I'm not too different 24 years later 1979

I watched "Kind Hearts and Coronets" again tonight. Third time I've seen it. I'll probably watch it tomorrow too.

I tripped and messed up my knee today. Ouch.

I saw [boy o' the moment] when we were getting signatures for the anti-P.G.&E. plant next door to the school.

Byeee!