Let the Right One In
Had heard about this one a while ago but never got the chance to see it. But glad I did - quite good.
Kind of a sweet love story. But certainly kept my attention. I liked the Swedish setting.
Apparently Hollywood will attempt a remake. I do not see why they feel the need to do this; aside for money. I doubt the remake would be as good.
Sunday, June 28, 2009
punishment of self in movie form
After a very long, exhausting week, and some misadventures in an attempt at camping on Saturday, we ended up back home at 11pm, tired, dirty, smoky, and in need of a drink & a laugh.
So, decided to try out our netflix on-demand & see some comedies.
I should have known better with these titles, but part of me was holding out that these were un-noticed gems. I was wrong.
1. Almost heroes
Chris Farley & Matthew Perry star. Christopher (Spinal Tap & Best in Show) Guest directs. Sounds like it should be awesome on paper. Something seems to have gone awry. Each scene seemed to be a setup for some little gag, and sure enough, some super cliched and obvious joke comes in. And that's it, onto next scene. I gave it a full 10 minutes and then decided to move on.
2. Bob the Butler
Tom Green. Post 90's Tom Green. Again, I was hoping for something brilliant/inspired to happen...but after 20 minutes, I just saw Tom Green being awkward, Brooke Shields being a corporate bigwig that was really busy for some reason, and then some kids that were brats around other babysitters but yet got along with the misunderstood non-conformist laid-back Tom Green. Again, waited for something inspired (Freddie got Fingered style) to happen, but instead a lot of tired sight "gags".
We weren't laughing, so we went to bed.
Maybe will have better luck with something else.
So, decided to try out our netflix on-demand & see some comedies.
I should have known better with these titles, but part of me was holding out that these were un-noticed gems. I was wrong.
1. Almost heroes
Chris Farley & Matthew Perry star. Christopher (Spinal Tap & Best in Show) Guest directs. Sounds like it should be awesome on paper. Something seems to have gone awry. Each scene seemed to be a setup for some little gag, and sure enough, some super cliched and obvious joke comes in. And that's it, onto next scene. I gave it a full 10 minutes and then decided to move on.
2. Bob the Butler
Tom Green. Post 90's Tom Green. Again, I was hoping for something brilliant/inspired to happen...but after 20 minutes, I just saw Tom Green being awkward, Brooke Shields being a corporate bigwig that was really busy for some reason, and then some kids that were brats around other babysitters but yet got along with the misunderstood non-conformist laid-back Tom Green. Again, waited for something inspired (Freddie got Fingered style) to happen, but instead a lot of tired sight "gags".
We weren't laughing, so we went to bed.
Maybe will have better luck with something else.
Saturday, June 13, 2009
hiking today
Went up to the first lookout point on Rattlesnake Ridge outside of Seattle. It was good. Went up with a group of people and had good converstaions all the way up and down. Dim Sum for lunch.
Going to see "The Hangover" later. Solid weekend so far.
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
random note - geeky again
Started watching "Death Note" on Hulu. The series seems okay, aside for that it (hulu) is a little taxing on the Atom-powered box that I have hooked up to my TV. I should really try getting my older motherboard & graphics card hooked up in a working case again...just have been bad at justifying a reason to go to spend money on new equipment that I don't really need and don't really have room for.
Monday, June 08, 2009
Should do an update - so here goes...
Haven't updated blog in a while. So feel like I should. Now I'm getting re-acquainted with it, like a friend you haven't seen in a while.
I've been a little better about doing a Twitter post every day or so, but lately have been slacking on that too.
The thought process behind doing a 160 character tweet vs a potentially unlimited blog post is certainly different, and I guess I feel like it's time to balance out the super-brief posts I had been doing with something that offers, well...at least 300 characters. :)
Some thoughts:
1. Getting sick - not sure how this happens, but it's crazy how one day you can be feeling pretty good and the next day suddenly run down. I think the wife was stealthily contagious.
2. Apple Keynote today - I admit, I was quite interested with news concerning the latest iPhone (and potential significant firmware upgrade for people with the 3g). Contrasting it with the flurry of attention around the Palm Pre has made for some interesting podcasts to listen to. My take: Palm Pre may have the more compelling OS & software but it needs to quickly gain a lot of adoption by customers and developers in order to remain viable. I really hope it works out for them, but I'm currently only 4 months into a new 2-year contract; I'm not about to go anywhere from that. Apple has shown that they've been really good at pushing new functionality onto their iphone platform and keeping upgrades steady. I figure that they're a safer bet. The iphone will also be getting a version of PlecoDict at some point, which is still my personal "must have" app. Hopefully I'll be in a position sometime in the next year or so where I will need to use Chinese more often during work or travel.
(Also, after living in China and dealing with the convenience and freedom of using GSM phones, the prospect of becoming really locked down to a CDMA provider with gimped phones like Sprint & Verizon offer seems very unappealing...yeah, I know that the iPhone is locked down too but it's still trivial to unlock should you wish to travel with it and not be tied to "the man").
3. Conan O'Brian making fun of Twitter - I'm a fan of (but not obsessed with) Twitter. I found the recurring jokes last week at the expense of Twitter to be very funny. A good contrast to its treatment in mainstream media otherwise, which tends to be fluffy, fawning, or dismissive by people who don't quite get it.
4. Hiking - when the weather is nice in Seattle, there's really no acceptable excuse to be inside. There are so many trails & hikes to do around here (for very cheap), it's a shame to not see them. So Marsha and I are finally getting started with that.
5. Long days - one benefit of living in a very northern location is that the summer days last a long time. Still having twilight at 10pm is just fine by me.
I've been a little better about doing a Twitter post every day or so, but lately have been slacking on that too.
The thought process behind doing a 160 character tweet vs a potentially unlimited blog post is certainly different, and I guess I feel like it's time to balance out the super-brief posts I had been doing with something that offers, well...at least 300 characters. :)
Some thoughts:
1. Getting sick - not sure how this happens, but it's crazy how one day you can be feeling pretty good and the next day suddenly run down. I think the wife was stealthily contagious.
2. Apple Keynote today - I admit, I was quite interested with news concerning the latest iPhone (and potential significant firmware upgrade for people with the 3g). Contrasting it with the flurry of attention around the Palm Pre has made for some interesting podcasts to listen to. My take: Palm Pre may have the more compelling OS & software but it needs to quickly gain a lot of adoption by customers and developers in order to remain viable. I really hope it works out for them, but I'm currently only 4 months into a new 2-year contract; I'm not about to go anywhere from that. Apple has shown that they've been really good at pushing new functionality onto their iphone platform and keeping upgrades steady. I figure that they're a safer bet. The iphone will also be getting a version of PlecoDict at some point, which is still my personal "must have" app. Hopefully I'll be in a position sometime in the next year or so where I will need to use Chinese more often during work or travel.
(Also, after living in China and dealing with the convenience and freedom of using GSM phones, the prospect of becoming really locked down to a CDMA provider with gimped phones like Sprint & Verizon offer seems very unappealing...yeah, I know that the iPhone is locked down too but it's still trivial to unlock should you wish to travel with it and not be tied to "the man").
3. Conan O'Brian making fun of Twitter - I'm a fan of (but not obsessed with) Twitter. I found the recurring jokes last week at the expense of Twitter to be very funny. A good contrast to its treatment in mainstream media otherwise, which tends to be fluffy, fawning, or dismissive by people who don't quite get it.
4. Hiking - when the weather is nice in Seattle, there's really no acceptable excuse to be inside. There are so many trails & hikes to do around here (for very cheap), it's a shame to not see them. So Marsha and I are finally getting started with that.
5. Long days - one benefit of living in a very northern location is that the summer days last a long time. Still having twilight at 10pm is just fine by me.
Sunday, May 10, 2009
geeky note - star trek & other things
Haven't posted about something fairly geeky for a while, so here goes:
1. Star Trek (the new movie) - saw it, liked it. Pretty well done, respectful to the original yet making it fun & approachable for people new to the series. No big complaints about it at all...good start for a summer movie season (and it seems like there's a few more movies worth seeing later on...Terminator & "Year One" are looking potentially quite sweet).
I like the fact that in the film, Iowa is a center of interstellar ship construction. Why not?
2. What is up with people applauding in a movie theater when they see scenes that they like? (Get off my lawn, you damn kids!)
I just don't get this.
Not to say I begrudge these other people the right to enjoy their film - just wondering what effect applause is intended to have when in a theater at a 3:30 matinee showing and no bigwigs or actors are there and only a smattering of die-hard fans are in attendance.
It's not the Rocky Horror picture show; it's not an interactive experience. It's not like when there's a comedy & something funny happens and people laugh.
It's like they have to let people know they are happy someone famous is on screen? It escapes me.
I'm glad that they're happy Leonard Nimoy makes an appearance, but if their applause is drowning out dialogue...lame - their behavior is encroaching on my enjoyment of the movie.
So yeah, again - get off my lawn, you damn kids*!
(*ignoring the fact that many of the fanboys attending ranged in age from 18 - Fiftysomething)
3. Wii games
Just saying, it's somehow much more fun playing a video soccer game when your whole team is made up of big-head versions of your friends and random characters/celebrities.
1. Star Trek (the new movie) - saw it, liked it. Pretty well done, respectful to the original yet making it fun & approachable for people new to the series. No big complaints about it at all...good start for a summer movie season (and it seems like there's a few more movies worth seeing later on...Terminator & "Year One" are looking potentially quite sweet).
I like the fact that in the film, Iowa is a center of interstellar ship construction. Why not?
2. What is up with people applauding in a movie theater when they see scenes that they like? (Get off my lawn, you damn kids!)
I just don't get this.
Not to say I begrudge these other people the right to enjoy their film - just wondering what effect applause is intended to have when in a theater at a 3:30 matinee showing and no bigwigs or actors are there and only a smattering of die-hard fans are in attendance.
It's not the Rocky Horror picture show; it's not an interactive experience. It's not like when there's a comedy & something funny happens and people laugh.
It's like they have to let people know they are happy someone famous is on screen? It escapes me.
I'm glad that they're happy Leonard Nimoy makes an appearance, but if their applause is drowning out dialogue...lame - their behavior is encroaching on my enjoyment of the movie.
So yeah, again - get off my lawn, you damn kids*!
(*ignoring the fact that many of the fanboys attending ranged in age from 18 - Fiftysomething)
3. Wii games
Just saying, it's somehow much more fun playing a video soccer game when your whole team is made up of big-head versions of your friends and random characters/celebrities.
Sunday, May 03, 2009
saw the 2008 movie Appaloosa
Interesting movie.
At first felt as if it was a cliched western; but it took a turn off in another direction altogether.
Pretty good. Feels pretty timeless; it's not a re-invention of the western; just a well-done story - clearly with love for the genre.
I appreciate the attention to historical detail; didn't seem like they glossed over too much.
Felt like it was almost going to be epic, but felt almost more like a character study.
Not a bad film; Ed Harris, Vigo Mortensen (sp?), Jeremy Irons, and Renee Zweliger (sp?) are all pretty solid too.
At first felt as if it was a cliched western; but it took a turn off in another direction altogether.
Pretty good. Feels pretty timeless; it's not a re-invention of the western; just a well-done story - clearly with love for the genre.
I appreciate the attention to historical detail; didn't seem like they glossed over too much.
Felt like it was almost going to be epic, but felt almost more like a character study.
Not a bad film; Ed Harris, Vigo Mortensen (sp?), Jeremy Irons, and Renee Zweliger (sp?) are all pretty solid too.
Saturday, May 02, 2009
getting adjusted
So, have been back in the US for just over a week now; after a 10-day trip to China.
I guess the re-adjustment period coming back this time was not too difficult; culturally or in terms of jet-lag.
Starting a new job probably added some extra complication & motivation.
I'm not used to getting up at 6:15 am every day (not to whine, just sayin').
But that + jet lag + all day training sessions where I'm doing a lot of listening & not so much talking/doing is a little strange.
Culturally, the new company is a little different than where I worked before (not a surprise or anything). While there still are people in the office who enjoy video games, just seems like that's not as common a topic for discussion as before. Also, I get to wear "real" work clothes. Real business casual. Not so much of the sandals+shorts+t-shirts that were quite tolerated before. Will take a little getting used to but not that big of a deal.
The "novelty" of ironing my pants & shirts has worn off though.
New office is pretty close to the place we're renting. Depending on how favorable the crosswalks are, I can walk there in 15-20 minutes.
Being in China was really good...good to see & feel the energy there and meet & talk with so many ambitious people. Heartening to see that things are being done.
Back home, it seems like people are tired (fatigued, even) & constantly running in damage control mode. I suppose that's necessary, given the hemorrhaging of the US financial system & the nasty complications that have ensued. I hope that, despite everything, people over here do not lose sight of their ambitions, goals, and plans to grow and thrive.
To put it bluntly, although the situation is kind of a kick to the _____ (nuts, face, stomach, pick one), we as a nation need to dust off, pick our selves up, and keep moving onward & upward. If we choose to sit idly and whine on by, then we will fade - there's lots of people out in the world who are keeping up with the keeping on, and it is not our time to rest yet.
Meh.
BTW - this swine flu coverage is annoying. If you're sick, stay home. If you're fine; go out & live. Wash your hands often. End of story.
I guess the re-adjustment period coming back this time was not too difficult; culturally or in terms of jet-lag.
Starting a new job probably added some extra complication & motivation.
I'm not used to getting up at 6:15 am every day (not to whine, just sayin').
But that + jet lag + all day training sessions where I'm doing a lot of listening & not so much talking/doing is a little strange.
Culturally, the new company is a little different than where I worked before (not a surprise or anything). While there still are people in the office who enjoy video games, just seems like that's not as common a topic for discussion as before. Also, I get to wear "real" work clothes. Real business casual. Not so much of the sandals+shorts+t-shirts that were quite tolerated before. Will take a little getting used to but not that big of a deal.
The "novelty" of ironing my pants & shirts has worn off though.
New office is pretty close to the place we're renting. Depending on how favorable the crosswalks are, I can walk there in 15-20 minutes.
Being in China was really good...good to see & feel the energy there and meet & talk with so many ambitious people. Heartening to see that things are being done.
Back home, it seems like people are tired (fatigued, even) & constantly running in damage control mode. I suppose that's necessary, given the hemorrhaging of the US financial system & the nasty complications that have ensued. I hope that, despite everything, people over here do not lose sight of their ambitions, goals, and plans to grow and thrive.
To put it bluntly, although the situation is kind of a kick to the _____ (nuts, face, stomach, pick one), we as a nation need to dust off, pick our selves up, and keep moving onward & upward. If we choose to sit idly and whine on by, then we will fade - there's lots of people out in the world who are keeping up with the keeping on, and it is not our time to rest yet.
Meh.
BTW - this swine flu coverage is annoying. If you're sick, stay home. If you're fine; go out & live. Wash your hands often. End of story.
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