Sunday, 01 May 2005, 21:32:50 EDT
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I went to see The Hitchhicker's Guide To The Galaxy yesterday afternoon. Overall, I liked the movie; there were some rather funny parts but it wasn't hilarious like I thought that it would be. I suppose I should just break down and read the book to get the much lauded humor. After the movie, my room mate and I went over to Media Play to waste some more time. When we had tired of walking around the store I went to pick up Midnight Club 3 (MC3). However, on the way to get it I noticed another, cheaper, game on the shelf. I ened up buying it instead of MC3.
What game did I buy? One of the craziest and oddest sleeper hits to ever come out of Japan — Katamari Damacy. I realize that most people who read this site have already played this game but, believe it or not, there are those who do that haven't so... In this game your character is about 1cm tall. The character's father is the "king of the cosmos" and is about as tall as a whole planet. It seems that the king went a bit crazy and knocked all the stars out of the sky. Since this is not a "good thing," the king commissions you, the prince, to restore the stars. To do this you have to roll a ball, called a "katamari," ranging from 1cm to 5cm in diameter, around earth. This ball has the unique ability to pick up items that are small than it is. As you pick up items, the ball "grows." That is not to say that the ball actually gets bigger but the items make it bigger so that you can pick up progressively bigger items. While the ball gets bigger, the character pushing it, you, do not. So, it ends up that a character smaller than a mouse can push a ball with cruise ships, sky skrapers, islands and even rainbows around. When you amass a ball large enough to meet the levels requirements the ball of junk is then transfered to space and becomes a star.
... (view rest)
Sunday, 02 January 2005, 21:49:29 EDT
Jay and Jacky (permanent links will be added later) gave me the Alien Quadrilogy for the holiday that just past. Needless to say, I was astounded and overjoyed; I have been wanting this thing since I found out it was going to be produced. I love the Alien series and this collection was made specifically for people like me — die hard fans of the series. So far I have only watched the alternate cuts of Alien³ and Alien: Resurection.
Alien³ is probably my favorite out of the four movies. I like it for several reasons. I think Sigourney Weaver is hot in it, particularly after she shaves her head; I have no idea why, I just do. I think the alien in the movie is the coolest in the series. The atmosphere of the movie is great and I like Ripley's John Wayne attitude about the situation. That being said, I don't particularly like the alternate cut of this film. Let me be quite clear, the alternate cut of this film is exactly that — a wholly new movie! The director was basically railroaded in to creating this alternate cut, as all four evidently were for their respective movies, and it is very clear why he prefers the original theatrical release. I can't really tell you about this movie and why I don't like the alternate cut without ruining the surprise that is this movie. Don't get me wrong, this movie is still good, it just isn't the movie I like as Alien³.
Alien: Resurection I had only seen once. I like the movie minus the twist at the end. Ripley is even more awesome in this movie than she was in Alien³ which probably explains why I like this movie. The alternate cut of this one is rather good. They basically went back and finished all the scenes that they did not have the technology to finish originally and stuck them in the movie. The added scenes don't detract from the movie but they do alter the outcome. The original cut of the movie is much more definitive while this new cut leaves it open for another movie. I would love to see another Alien movie but I don't think it is going to happen; it really shouldn't happen to tell the truth. Any way, the extended version of Resurection is rather good.
I have not had a chance to watch the other two yet but I will write a review of them. That isn't completely true. I have seen the extended version of Alien when it was released in theatres but I will wait to write a summation of it. On to some CD reviews!
Last Wednesday I went to Media Play to get a new wall calander. Media Play is the last place I should have gone for such a thing. Media Play has the best techno selection in town and nine times out of ten when I go to that store I end up buying at least one CD. This visit was not the tenth time. Along with my lovely Maxim wall calander, I walked out of the store with Orbital's last album, the Blue Album, and Tiësto's Parade Of The Athletes.
After ten years of producing some of the best music ever the brothers Hartnoll, Paul and Phil, decided to create one last album and move on to solo projects. This last album, as I have already mentioned, is titled the Blue Album. The album has been out for a while I just had not purchased it due to budgeting. This album is nothing short of amazing. It is completely different than their first album, the Green Album, yet strangely similar. Just as the Green Album was a "collection of tracks compiled over the years" the Blue Album is a collection of tracks that spans the evolution of their music. Everything is included. The dark tracks, dark and angry tracks, wispy and ambient tracks, the quirky tracks, and even some acid tracks. Heck, track seven is titled Acid Pants which sounds like they either hung out too much with Josh Wink or just had too much fun with a TB-303. If you are an idle fan of Orbital you will probably enjoy track nine, One Perfect Sunrise, the most. The rest of the album you probably won't dig too much; this album is really for the fans throughout the years — sort of a parting gift you might say. Personally, my favorite track is number five, You Lot. You Lot, is their political track for the album. It features a sample from The Second Coming that is quite profound; I like it. I could sit here and talk abo ... (view rest)
Thursday, 09 September 2004, 21:41:18 EDT
...How happy is the blameless vestal's lot!
The world forgetting, by the world forgot.
Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind!
What can I say? I am stunned. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is a tremendous movie. I am Joel and hopefully one day I will blunder in to what he ... (view rest)
Monday, 05 July 2004, 21:39:25 EDT
Yesterday I went out to Covington to spend the fourth with an old friend as I do every fourth of July. We went swimming in the river down the road as we usually do. About an hour after we got back to the house my ear started hurting really badly and I had to go home early because I just couldn't hang out in such pain and be good company. When I got home I tried laying down and watching television hoping the pain would subside enough for me to get to sleep. At about 9:45PM I decided that it was just hurting too badly for entirely too long and went to the hospital. As I was sitting in the hospital room waiting for the doctor the pain stopped. I am very glad that it stopped hurting before I was treated because I just can't afford a visit to a doctor right now.
Today was an extremely lazy day. I have lain in bed pretty much all day watching television. At 6:00PM I decided to finally get up and do something; I decided that I would finally burn off some of the stuff eating up my hard drive space and went to CompUSA to buy a stack of DVD+Rs. It seems that I got in the door just in time because they closed at six today. Since I don't have too much cash to spend on DVDs I looked around for the best deal I could find. I ended up finding some Memorex ten disc stacks for, what I thought to be, $6.99 per spindle. After I completed the purchace I realized that the final price was twice what I was expecting to pay. When the cashier and I went over to check the price I noticed that the ten disc spindles were hung under a three pack price tag. Since I didn't feel like wasting anyone's time arguing that they should be placed under the appropriate price. Instead, I returned the three spindles I had just purchased and bought a twenty-five disc spindle which had a $20.00 instant rebate making them $20.00. So, now I have thirty DVD+RWs and five DVD-RWs and a lot more free space on my hard drive.
Since I was freeing up space I decided to see what I could download. I thought about downloading the Cannes screener of Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 since it is officially sanctioned by Michael Moore and Lion's Gate studios. Well, maybe not sanctioned but they don't really care nor are they going to track people down that download it. I decided not to download it because I could only find a copy that was acquired through a personal video camera. If I could have found a workprint or something I would have acquired a copy as I really want to see this film.
While looking for a good quality version of Farenheit 9/11 I found the complete Æon Flux series available for download. I fully intend to buy the ... (view rest)
Sunday, 16 May 2004, 22:20:39 EDT
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Yesterday I went to see Troy with my mother. Overall I liked the movie; they did a good job adapting the book to screen. Brad Pitt played a very good Achilles and Eric Bana did a decent job with Hector, much better than he did with the Hulk. The person that played Priam did an excellent job, particularly when he went to Achilles' tent to ask for Hector's body. Probably my favorite scene in the movie is when Ajax fought Hector. Ajax wielded his war hammer excellently and was just damn cool. I believe it was better than the fight between Achilles and Hector; that is not to say that fight was not awesome, it had to be awesome as that is the pivotol point of the story and it was indeed awesome. I did have a problem with some of it though. After Hector killed Patroclus there should have been a large battle over the body but instead Hector called and end to the fighting. I also didn't like the portrayal of the relationship between Achilles and Triopas. There are a few other things that were off kilter, such as the distorted time frame, but overall this movie was very well done and I enjoyed it quite a bit.
Need For Speed Underground 2 will be out this fall and it sounds really bad ass. I particularly like the fact that you will be able to adjust gear ratios and such with the cars. If it is even half as good as Gran Turismo is in that aspect I am going to be able to make some seriously awesome cars. I love being able to tweak a car to drive just like I like it; it helps me play the game a great deal better. And if that isn't enough Midnight Club 3 is in production now and will probably be out around the ... (view rest)
Saturday, 13 March 2004, 23:18:59 EDT
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I just got back from seeing Mel Gibson's movie The Passion of the Christ. It is a really interesting movie and definitely deserves the rating that has been applied to it - leave the kids at home. We got there late because, well, you know how slow women can be at times; we walked in about ten minutes in to the movie. I didn't realize that there would not be any trailers but now that I think about it, why would an independent film have trailers? So, if you plan on going get there on time. I will come back to this point in a minute, on with my opinion of the movie.
I think that the movie was filmed superbly. While the movie is definitely filmed from a religious perspective it is also filmed in such a way as to show the politics behind the story of the movie (I am being objective, don't flame for it). As a result, it is a good movie for anyone that likes good movies to go see. I do think that some scenes were drawn out a little long. For example, the procession through town to the crucifixtion site. I don't believe it needs to be quite as long as it is. I got the point pretty early in, he has quite a burden to bear and he is going to be beaten even more whilst doing it. The scene did not need to be thirty minutes long to get its point across.
Back to me getting to the movie late. That is insanely rude and I don't feel too bad about it when I am walking in on trailers. But, when I walk in while the actual movie is running that is just ridiculously rude. The amazing part? What I did is nowhere near as rude as the rest of the fuckheads that were there. I swear they were sending text messages to each other on their phones with the sounds turned on. I don't understand how people can go to the movies and think ... (view rest)
Sunday, 07 March 2004, 01:22:28 EDT
Yesterday evening I went to see Hidalgo with my mother and little half-brother. The day before I watched a special on the History channel which left me with the impression that this movie is based on a legend rather than a true story as the promoters will lead you to believe. Don't get me wrong, this is a very good movie, I just don't think they should be pushing it as true when no one can find any substantial evidence to prove it thus. Aside from that, I really liked this movie. There were a few slow parts and a couple scenes where I could tell that they used CGI in place of real action but what movie doesn't do that now *sigh*. The overall story is one that seems to be more and more common now - a mixed Native American, in this case Sioux and white man, becoming jaded after a terrible act and then finding himself by embarking on a soul seeking journey. I have mixed feelings about this scenario. The movie studios are actually showing the way things really happened, that being the U.S. screwing over the original tenants of the land, but they are also using the story to make a quick buck. I dunno, it sort of (loosely) hits close to home.
Before we went to see the movie we hit up Truett's Grill. They have a new menu item there - Buffalo Chicken Strips. Basically it is a plate of six Chick-Fil-A chicken strips with a cup of some thick buffalo style hot sauce to dip them in. It is simply awesome. If you go there I highly recommend you get it; you won't regret it.
This evening I decided to try my hand and making a pizza. I went to the local Publix since I just wanted to pick up a few things without having to stray too far from home. Damn that place is retarded. Trying to find things there is like trying to find a specific grain of sand at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. Regardless, I picked up a Boboli pizza crust, a can of Heinz tomato pureé, some Italian seasoning, two fresh ja ... (view rest)
Monday, 02 February 2004, 12:28:14 EDT
When did DVDs become so expensive? I remember when they were about a maximum of $15 for a special edition (discounting boxed sets). Now they are outrageous. I want this one and this one. Sadly, I won't be able to get them both at the same time because of their insane price tags. I will probably pick up Lost In Translation this week because I have not been able to see it yet and I really want to see it; Bill Murray was a good dramatic actor in The Razor's Edge so why wouldn't he be good in this one?
When I got the email from Amazon.com that The Gods Must Be Crazy was coming to DVD th ... (view rest)
Tuesday, 16 December 2003, 14:13:00 EDT
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Lots of stuff today.
Sunday I went to see The Last Samurai with my mother. This movie is intensely better than I thought it would be; I say "intesely" because I think it is a rather intense movie. The movie has a very good story associated with it and Tom Cruise does a heckuva lot better job acting in this movie than he has in any other movie. I think the aspect of the movie I like the most is the poignant way it depicts why guns are dishonorable in battle. To tell the truth, the last ten minutes of the movie kept a lump in my throat that would not go away until credits rolled.
I would have posted this "review" last night but the phone lines in my area were jacked up ... (view rest)
Monday, 01 December 2003, 18:43:54 EDT
Why must they keep producing items that I must have? I need someone to give me a weekly budget of like $100 just for buying DVDs an ... (view rest)
Sunday, 16 November 2003, 09:36:00 EDT
Yay! The Gods Must Be Crazy is finally coming to ... (view rest)
Monday, 13 October 2003, 19:43:10 EDT
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Most of you that know my know that I am a huge fan of Quentin Tarantino's movies. Several of you have asked if I have seen Kill Bill: Vol. 1. The answer is yes. I went and saw the first showing available at my local theathre - the 1:15PM showing (their first movie of the day). I found it to be a VERY good movie. I am not a fan of Kung-Fu movies in the slightest, I do not like the fanciful flying through the air crap, but this one was very good. It isn't so much a Kung-Fu movie as much as it is a movie with Kung-Fu in it. There were only a couple scenes that I did not like because of the fancifulness.
I ... (view rest)
Saturday, 04 October 2003, 22:58:40 EDT
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The Braves and the Cubs are definitely taking things down to the wire - literally. The Braves finally came around today and played baseball. The whole series they have been up against some damn good pitching but they have not been playing the baseball they played all season. They were making the Cubs fight but they were not showing them how to hit. Tomorrow is going to be a really tough game; Wood will be back on the mound for the Cubs and Hammond, who pitched two nights ago, will be tossing for the Braves. Wood is just too damn good.
Braves 2 - Cubs 2
I bought the Willow special edition DVD today. ... (view rest)
Sunday, 14 September 2003, 23:12:51 EDT
You must go see Once Upon A Time In Mexico. The movie fuckin' rocks! It is very much like Desperado in that, while it is a sequel, it is also a stand alone movie. It is also an action flick while at the same time a well made movie. You can either just sit back and enjoy the action or try to figure out all the symbolism.
I went up to Elijay, Georgia for a friend's bachelor party this weekend. It was a blast. We played pool, video games, and messed around on the lake. I LOVE playing on the waver runner. I had never ridden on one before and I am astounded at the toll it can take on you physically. My arms and legs are sore from using the thing but damn did I ever have fun. I almost threw myself off of it once when I did a really sharp turn - but that was fun as well. I tried to wa ... (view rest)
Tuesday, 26 August 2003, 22:33:45 EDT
PCU is probably one of the funniest movies I have ever seen. It has been available on VHS for about ten years now. It seems they are now finally going to release the coveted DVD. I can not wait to get a copy of this thing. I think that ... (view rest)
Friday, 22 August 2003, 23:41:30 EDT
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I just want to say that this movie is going to fuckin' rock. I love the first two and this one looks like it is going to blow them both away ... (view rest)