This always seems to happen on nights when I'm already in a time crunch to get home.
This is 494 and County Road 6 in Plymouth, MN.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Why I LOVE Minnesnowta!
This always seems to happen on nights when I'm already in a time crunch to get home.
This is 494 and County Road 6 in Plymouth, MN.
Sunday, February 24, 2008
I got no fish...
Her dad gave me a pole and some gear for my birthday. So far they're not working for me, but I'll have to try try again, as they say.
I'm not really feeling it...
...it being my age. Don't get me wrong, having just had a birthday, I know that I'm yet another year older, and trust me, my opinions haven't changed about being 27 at all. However, I'm guessing I must be a little more at ease with my age or something.
Yesterday, being my birthday, was fun. First, we went to Pannekoeken Huis for breakfast. Pannekoeken are something you should try and experience at least once in your life. They are just plain tasty, if not a little strange.
Pannekoeken Huis is a small restaurant chain that has been in Minnesota for many years, however, they've been vanishing. If you look at this map, you'll see that letter D is in Plymouth, however, upon arrival there, we discovered that it's now a Broadway Pizza. It was a little disappointing, but we were able to go letter C on the map, St. Louis Park, and still enjoy ourselves some Dutch pancakes.
Afterward, being close enough, we went to the Micro Center (the only one in Minnesota) and wandered around. I finally got to check out the Asus EEE PC in person. I was surprised by its speed and responsiveness, and also by it's size. It really is small. I hadn't expected the keyboard to be so tiny, but it only took a moment to figure out how to hit the keys well, and so I imagine it wouldn't take long to become fairly proficient with it in time.
Afterward, we kinda bummed around town, going shopping to burn up some birthday gift card goodness. I got some great books to help fill out my collection, and stopped at Kohl's to get a couple new pairs of jeans, and a brand new Hopeful Sweater, which I wore last night.
We went to dinner at Olive Garden (seriously, I love the place, whether you do or not). It was a fantastic (although typical) hour long wait, so we had time to shoot the shit for a while. We finally got a table, and our server was, we decided, a Romulan. Also, she was a bitch and incapable or responding to our queries and requests. It was still a better experience than the one I had at Denny's the night before, but I really don't have time to explain all the ways that place failed miserably right now. On the plus side, she kept the Rum & Cokes coming one after the other, so the experience got better as the night went on.
After Olive Garden, we went over the Dave & Busters and enjoyed some over priced Chuck E. Cheese like action. (Seriously, they want $14 an hour to play pool?) It was a good time, and we had a lot of fun stumbling around playing random games. One game, however, has become my nemesis, and I will have my way with it. It's called Flaming Finger, and while it conjures images that aren't natural, it's basically just an LED touchscreen maze that costs about a dollar to play. The premise is simple, you drag your finger through the maze before the time runs out. The problem? It said, several times, that I'd lost just as I was reaching the end, even when all 4 of us saw there was still 3-5 seconds left on the clock.
It gives you tickets either way, but still... I hate that game. It was also less entertaining than the Virtual Jumprope game...
Eventually my birthday was over, and people went back to not giving two shits about me... Melissa and I stumbled home, drank some water, and went to bed.
Today I'm going fishin' / snowmobilin'...
Yesterday, being my birthday, was fun. First, we went to Pannekoeken Huis for breakfast. Pannekoeken are something you should try and experience at least once in your life. They are just plain tasty, if not a little strange.
Pannekoeken Huis is a small restaurant chain that has been in Minnesota for many years, however, they've been vanishing. If you look at this map, you'll see that letter D is in Plymouth, however, upon arrival there, we discovered that it's now a Broadway Pizza. It was a little disappointing, but we were able to go letter C on the map, St. Louis Park, and still enjoy ourselves some Dutch pancakes.
Afterward, being close enough, we went to the Micro Center (the only one in Minnesota) and wandered around. I finally got to check out the Asus EEE PC in person. I was surprised by its speed and responsiveness, and also by it's size. It really is small. I hadn't expected the keyboard to be so tiny, but it only took a moment to figure out how to hit the keys well, and so I imagine it wouldn't take long to become fairly proficient with it in time.
Afterward, we kinda bummed around town, going shopping to burn up some birthday gift card goodness. I got some great books to help fill out my collection, and stopped at Kohl's to get a couple new pairs of jeans, and a brand new Hopeful Sweater, which I wore last night.
We went to dinner at Olive Garden (seriously, I love the place, whether you do or not). It was a fantastic (although typical) hour long wait, so we had time to shoot the shit for a while. We finally got a table, and our server was, we decided, a Romulan. Also, she was a bitch and incapable or responding to our queries and requests. It was still a better experience than the one I had at Denny's the night before, but I really don't have time to explain all the ways that place failed miserably right now. On the plus side, she kept the Rum & Cokes coming one after the other, so the experience got better as the night went on.
After Olive Garden, we went over the Dave & Busters and enjoyed some over priced Chuck E. Cheese like action. (Seriously, they want $14 an hour to play pool?) It was a good time, and we had a lot of fun stumbling around playing random games. One game, however, has become my nemesis, and I will have my way with it. It's called Flaming Finger, and while it conjures images that aren't natural, it's basically just an LED touchscreen maze that costs about a dollar to play. The premise is simple, you drag your finger through the maze before the time runs out. The problem? It said, several times, that I'd lost just as I was reaching the end, even when all 4 of us saw there was still 3-5 seconds left on the clock.
It gives you tickets either way, but still... I hate that game. It was also less entertaining than the Virtual Jumprope game...
Eventually my birthday was over, and people went back to not giving two shits about me... Melissa and I stumbled home, drank some water, and went to bed.
Today I'm going fishin' / snowmobilin'...
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Movies...
Today's post will be mostly about movies. I've watched quite a few movies lately, more than I've had time to really talk about. The goal of this post is to alleviate some of the extra thoughts in my head regarding these. It doesn't help that it's currently -8° outside with a wind chill in negative double digits. Again I wonder why I live in Minnesota, but that's neither here nor there. The other issue that's plaguing me is that I've been having some terrible back spasms that just won't quit, and this means that I'm stuck in an upright sitting position to prevent the pain. Again, this is not important, so we'll get on with the movies...
You Move You Die
I figured that I would start with the movie I watched most recently.
You Move You Die is an extremely difficult movie to give an opinion about. YMYD is a unique movie, it was written, produced, directed, shot, edited and finished entirely in New Zealand. It's a low budget movie that does a reasonably good job hiding it. Looking at the iMDB page, you get a sense of the mixed reactions people had for this film.
I personally thought it was pretty brilliant. It was shot in a short time span (only 5 days) with a very minimal budget. The entire movie is done with a steady cam with long, continuous, takes that last up to 9 minutes each. There are some obvious editing gimmicks being exploited throughout the movie, while some of them are a bit campy, I don't think they detracted too much. The script has some weak points, which comes from the long scenes requiring a lot of 'banter,' but these are the exception. The plot is reasonable, although not exactly a brand new idea, I felt it was pretty well executed. I know they were fishing for a twist for the ending, and it came off pretty well over all.
Overall, I have to say I was pleasantly surprised watching this film. I wouldn't call it the greatest film ever made, but all things considered, and I really mean considered, it was a good movie. I'd recommend giving it a watch.
Rambo 4
Rambo. Wow. This was, far and away, the goriest film I've seen in a while. It was also one of the stupidest movies also. Of course, it is the long overdue fourth installment of a series of bad movies.
I have to admit, though, that I do appreciate the fact that Stallone actually wanted to show some of the 'realities' of war. the fact you actually see women and children being massacred by soldiers as they invade a small village is compelling (and revolting).
Stallone still can't act, and unfortunately, that means the Casting Director has the most difficult job in the entire film: trying to find people to actually make him look good. I have to applaud the Casting Director, because it did manage to find a group of people that couldn't act any better than Stallone.
Overall, though, this is decent enough installment, and if you're looking for a pointless hour and a half filled with zero story and lots of bullets, this certainly is a way to do it. If you're looking for a well written story with brilliant acting and camera work, what would you even consider Rambo?
Untraceable
Untraceable was doomed from the beginning. I understand the appeal in trying to write a movie like this. It sounds so good when you're in the meetings, wracking your brains over what might be a good idea, something fresh, something different. The problem is, you can't write a movie like this because it is about something impossible.
Here's an article that might illuminate what I mean. This /. contributor might not cover all the loopholes and implausibilities, but he does hit one nail right on the head:
Truth be told, I happy to see that they didn't go too overboard with this movie in the tech aspect.
My frustration with this movie came more from the fact that it was yet another movie that tried too hard to drive the 'thriller' aspect down our throats. They tried, and they failed. I give them credit for trying to do something different, and I give them credit for the fact that they still had a reasonable message about people watching death and such. However, they still didn't write a very good movie overall. I know that generally killer's in these types of movies are always clearly going overboard. But this character's methods and motives move into the realm of laugh ability, and in the end when they try to string the whole thing together, I couldn't help but laugh out loud at the stupidity.
Overall, I have to say that it wasn't a terrible movie, but it was pretty bad. I just don't recommend seeing this one, though.
That's it for now...
but I'll be back later. I may be reviewing some really old flicks soon since I seem to be on an 80's / 90's movie kick.
You Move You Die
I figured that I would start with the movie I watched most recently.
You Move You Die is an extremely difficult movie to give an opinion about. YMYD is a unique movie, it was written, produced, directed, shot, edited and finished entirely in New Zealand. It's a low budget movie that does a reasonably good job hiding it. Looking at the iMDB page, you get a sense of the mixed reactions people had for this film.
I personally thought it was pretty brilliant. It was shot in a short time span (only 5 days) with a very minimal budget. The entire movie is done with a steady cam with long, continuous, takes that last up to 9 minutes each. There are some obvious editing gimmicks being exploited throughout the movie, while some of them are a bit campy, I don't think they detracted too much. The script has some weak points, which comes from the long scenes requiring a lot of 'banter,' but these are the exception. The plot is reasonable, although not exactly a brand new idea, I felt it was pretty well executed. I know they were fishing for a twist for the ending, and it came off pretty well over all.
Overall, I have to say I was pleasantly surprised watching this film. I wouldn't call it the greatest film ever made, but all things considered, and I really mean considered, it was a good movie. I'd recommend giving it a watch.
Rambo 4
Rambo. Wow. This was, far and away, the goriest film I've seen in a while. It was also one of the stupidest movies also. Of course, it is the long overdue fourth installment of a series of bad movies.
I have to admit, though, that I do appreciate the fact that Stallone actually wanted to show some of the 'realities' of war. the fact you actually see women and children being massacred by soldiers as they invade a small village is compelling (and revolting).
Stallone still can't act, and unfortunately, that means the Casting Director has the most difficult job in the entire film: trying to find people to actually make him look good. I have to applaud the Casting Director, because it did manage to find a group of people that couldn't act any better than Stallone.
Overall, though, this is decent enough installment, and if you're looking for a pointless hour and a half filled with zero story and lots of bullets, this certainly is a way to do it. If you're looking for a well written story with brilliant acting and camera work, what would you even consider Rambo?
Untraceable
Untraceable was doomed from the beginning. I understand the appeal in trying to write a movie like this. It sounds so good when you're in the meetings, wracking your brains over what might be a good idea, something fresh, something different. The problem is, you can't write a movie like this because it is about something impossible.
Here's an article that might illuminate what I mean. This /. contributor might not cover all the loopholes and implausibilities, but he does hit one nail right on the head:
screenwriters can't win with these movies, because they'll get grief for getting too much stuff wrong, but if they explain things correctly, it breaks the reality when we can feel the writers telegraphing their knowledge to the geeks in the audience
Truth be told, I happy to see that they didn't go too overboard with this movie in the tech aspect.
My frustration with this movie came more from the fact that it was yet another movie that tried too hard to drive the 'thriller' aspect down our throats. They tried, and they failed. I give them credit for trying to do something different, and I give them credit for the fact that they still had a reasonable message about people watching death and such. However, they still didn't write a very good movie overall. I know that generally killer's in these types of movies are always clearly going overboard. But this character's methods and motives move into the realm of laugh ability, and in the end when they try to string the whole thing together, I couldn't help but laugh out loud at the stupidity.
Overall, I have to say that it wasn't a terrible movie, but it was pretty bad. I just don't recommend seeing this one, though.
That's it for now...
but I'll be back later. I may be reviewing some really old flicks soon since I seem to be on an 80's / 90's movie kick.
Friday, February 8, 2008
I hope it isn't lost...
The irony of my earlier post, I mean.
Days like today make me question why I live in Minnesota. It's cold and getting colder, snow is making the roadways hazardous, and supposedly we'll have worse this weekend. A week ago it was in the high 40's and the week before that it was -30 degrees with wind chill.
Why would anyone wantonly live here?
Days like today make me question why I live in Minnesota. It's cold and getting colder, snow is making the roadways hazardous, and supposedly we'll have worse this weekend. A week ago it was in the high 40's and the week before that it was -30 degrees with wind chill.
Why would anyone wantonly live here?
Morning....
I have been plagued with getting up too early in the morning lately. This would be, as I'm told, the perfect time to get some writing done, yet I still can't seem to be productive. Since I'm not being productive, I generally just spend the time catching up on my RSS feeds and e-mail. Today however, was different...
Today, I spent some time looking at cases and accessories for my phone, and trying to decide which vendors listed on Google are more reputable than buying off eBay, even if only measurable by a micrometer.
Seriously, I imagine the purveyors of cell phones goods as being similar to the long mustachioed villains of the old silent movie days, cackling, only visibly, while they cram a cheap 30¢ piece of plastic junk made in a third world country into a box and ship it priority mail for less than a dollar after charging me $6.95 shipping and handling. Inevitably, it will arrive either broken, or not doing as is claimed, and the run around will begin. Why? Because deals that seem too good on eBay as anywhere, typically ARE too good, but it doesn't make the practice any less villainous.
I will probably be going for this case as soon as I hear back from any of the vendors that I've emailed about it. It appears to be on several websites, and is advertised simply as a 'black metal case', but it seems, from the images, that it is the Monaco case, the problem is that I want to be certain about whether it is or isn't. Also, it seems strange that there isn't ONE website that has ALL the good deals. I can find a case I want for $9.95 on one site, but the battery I want will be $32.99, while the same battery is $11.95 on another site, but they either don't carry the same case or are charging some other figure that's more.
And really, I would just go to a store and spend a little more money if I could only see these things, and know I would have a place to go if I have problems... but there aren't a lot of stores around me that retail aftermarket cell phone supplies, and so far, none of them have had anything for my phone.
Oh well... time to get ready for work.
Today, I spent some time looking at cases and accessories for my phone, and trying to decide which vendors listed on Google are more reputable than buying off eBay, even if only measurable by a micrometer.
Seriously, I imagine the purveyors of cell phones goods as being similar to the long mustachioed villains of the old silent movie days, cackling, only visibly, while they cram a cheap 30¢ piece of plastic junk made in a third world country into a box and ship it priority mail for less than a dollar after charging me $6.95 shipping and handling. Inevitably, it will arrive either broken, or not doing as is claimed, and the run around will begin. Why? Because deals that seem too good on eBay as anywhere, typically ARE too good, but it doesn't make the practice any less villainous.
I will probably be going for this case as soon as I hear back from any of the vendors that I've emailed about it. It appears to be on several websites, and is advertised simply as a 'black metal case', but it seems, from the images, that it is the Monaco case, the problem is that I want to be certain about whether it is or isn't. Also, it seems strange that there isn't ONE website that has ALL the good deals. I can find a case I want for $9.95 on one site, but the battery I want will be $32.99, while the same battery is $11.95 on another site, but they either don't carry the same case or are charging some other figure that's more.
And really, I would just go to a store and spend a little more money if I could only see these things, and know I would have a place to go if I have problems... but there aren't a lot of stores around me that retail aftermarket cell phone supplies, and so far, none of them have had anything for my phone.
Oh well... time to get ready for work.
Thursday, February 7, 2008
Hooray for WiFi
After this, I can connect to my computer at home and listen to music, or watch one of dozens of movies... and this is just from my phone.
I think Mike could be right... I'm becoming a cyborg.
Sunday, February 3, 2008
Blood, and whether there will be any or not...
There Will Be Blood....
Eventually.
We went to see There Will Be Blood the other night and found it was excellent in almost every way, except the length.
The good points are glowingly positive, and I must say that this movie deserves all the praise that it's received. The story is different, something you don't see on the big screen everyday. The acting is phenomenal by the entire cast, though there are some obvious stand-outs we'll talk about a little later. The cinematography is stunning all throughout, there's a spectacular dolly shot that seems to last forever that might not seem like a big deal to most people, but for me definitely showed a level of commitment to the scene that I found impressive.
Those points are good.
There are some things that I didn't like. First, the music in this film is enjoyable at first, but after a while it begins to grates on your nerves. It's all very progressive with it's off key violins and out of tempo drum beats. I can't say that any of it feels out of place at all, it's simply annoying after a while.
Second, and trust me, I'm going to need this new paragraph, the pacing and length are almost unbearable as you're nearing the end. To preface, this movie is nearly 3 hours long. For a movie called There Will Be Blood, there wasn't really any blood until the last 5 minutes of the film. In the first scene, there's a little splatter when a drill bit crushes a man, but to be honest I couldn't tell if it was oil or blood. Later, in the second act, a man dies during drilling and again, there's a bit of blood there. The remainder of the film has pretty much no blood. Perhaps there is some sort of subtext to this that I'm not understanding, and it's really not that big of deal. It just bothered me a bit.
Pacing, though, is what really brought down my opinion of the movie. Basically, this story is a cross section of a man's professional career in oil drilling around the turn of the century leading into the great depression. We see him striking oil for the first time, and then follow him as he grows from precarious wood rigs to fancy high-end pneumatic drills. The pacing in the story tends to drag a long for a majority of the movie, something that would be forgivable if there was a real high note that we'd been building too. And it should be said that the final scene was certainly powerful, but it almost felt too little too late.
As an afterthought, though, I think it appropriate to mention that I went into the movie without the expectations of being as long as it was, and I was extremely exhausted from the day. I think my opinions might have been somewhat clouded by this, but I don't think it completely negates them.
Now, I mentioned performances and those who stand out. Obviously Daniel Day-Lewis gives an incredible performance, his character's personae as a hard as rock oil man with a deep loathing for all man-kind and constant battle for supremacy is nothing short of powerful.
The performance I wasn't ready for was Paul Dano's portrayal of Eli Sunday. His first appearance in the film is as Paul Sunday, but the remainder of the film is spent in his role as Eli. When Paul Sunday first comes on screen I spent a moment trying to remember where I'd seen him before. When I remembered his role as 'Klitz' in The Girl Next Door, I chuckled. When next we see him, he's Eli Sunday, and he's determined to make money for his church. It's not until well into the second act that we see his real power as a Fire and Brimstone up and down the aisles evangelical preacher of the Church of the 3rd Revelation. His performance was amazing, and certainly not what I expected from him. His range of emotion in the film is brilliant and well received.
There you have it. What exactly you have now, I don't know, but there it is. I liked the movie. It definitely wasn't what I expected going into it, but having seen it, I'd like the chance to watch it again. I think I'll enjoy more the second time, this time more mentally equipped to watch it.
That's it for now...
There are a lot of things going on in my world, and I hope I'll have time to talk about them soon. Right now, though, it's time that I get some sleep.
Eventually.
We went to see There Will Be Blood the other night and found it was excellent in almost every way, except the length.
The good points are glowingly positive, and I must say that this movie deserves all the praise that it's received. The story is different, something you don't see on the big screen everyday. The acting is phenomenal by the entire cast, though there are some obvious stand-outs we'll talk about a little later. The cinematography is stunning all throughout, there's a spectacular dolly shot that seems to last forever that might not seem like a big deal to most people, but for me definitely showed a level of commitment to the scene that I found impressive.
Those points are good.
There are some things that I didn't like. First, the music in this film is enjoyable at first, but after a while it begins to grates on your nerves. It's all very progressive with it's off key violins and out of tempo drum beats. I can't say that any of it feels out of place at all, it's simply annoying after a while.
Second, and trust me, I'm going to need this new paragraph, the pacing and length are almost unbearable as you're nearing the end. To preface, this movie is nearly 3 hours long. For a movie called There Will Be Blood, there wasn't really any blood until the last 5 minutes of the film. In the first scene, there's a little splatter when a drill bit crushes a man, but to be honest I couldn't tell if it was oil or blood. Later, in the second act, a man dies during drilling and again, there's a bit of blood there. The remainder of the film has pretty much no blood. Perhaps there is some sort of subtext to this that I'm not understanding, and it's really not that big of deal. It just bothered me a bit.
Pacing, though, is what really brought down my opinion of the movie. Basically, this story is a cross section of a man's professional career in oil drilling around the turn of the century leading into the great depression. We see him striking oil for the first time, and then follow him as he grows from precarious wood rigs to fancy high-end pneumatic drills. The pacing in the story tends to drag a long for a majority of the movie, something that would be forgivable if there was a real high note that we'd been building too. And it should be said that the final scene was certainly powerful, but it almost felt too little too late.
As an afterthought, though, I think it appropriate to mention that I went into the movie without the expectations of being as long as it was, and I was extremely exhausted from the day. I think my opinions might have been somewhat clouded by this, but I don't think it completely negates them.
Now, I mentioned performances and those who stand out. Obviously Daniel Day-Lewis gives an incredible performance, his character's personae as a hard as rock oil man with a deep loathing for all man-kind and constant battle for supremacy is nothing short of powerful.
The performance I wasn't ready for was Paul Dano's portrayal of Eli Sunday. His first appearance in the film is as Paul Sunday, but the remainder of the film is spent in his role as Eli. When Paul Sunday first comes on screen I spent a moment trying to remember where I'd seen him before. When I remembered his role as 'Klitz' in The Girl Next Door, I chuckled. When next we see him, he's Eli Sunday, and he's determined to make money for his church. It's not until well into the second act that we see his real power as a Fire and Brimstone up and down the aisles evangelical preacher of the Church of the 3rd Revelation. His performance was amazing, and certainly not what I expected from him. His range of emotion in the film is brilliant and well received.
There you have it. What exactly you have now, I don't know, but there it is. I liked the movie. It definitely wasn't what I expected going into it, but having seen it, I'd like the chance to watch it again. I think I'll enjoy more the second time, this time more mentally equipped to watch it.
That's it for now...
There are a lot of things going on in my world, and I hope I'll have time to talk about them soon. Right now, though, it's time that I get some sleep.
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