Category Archives: Flicks

Background Entertainment

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Things that kept me company yesterday and today while I worked on a secret project. Generally I stick with old, old many-times-watched favorites for situations like this.

  • SModcast #55 (not old, but too damn funny)
  • SModcast #56 (and the same)
  • Bull Durham (still quirky and fun on the gazillioneth watch)
  • Streets of Fire (my love for this movie knows no bounds)
  • The Thomas Crown Affair (the Brosnan/Russo one, sexy sexy)
  • Lara Croft Tomb Raider (Angelina Jolie, best female action star ever?)

The bold of which is possibly my favorite movie IN THE WORLD and I am SHOCKED, s-h-o-c-k-e-d shocked, that there is no Snip entry on it to link to. My Gods, People, What Have I Been Doing with My Time?

DadReaction: The Strangers

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Sooooo scary/good. A real psychological terror/thriller. Really well done.

Classic “things that go bump in the night”. NOT a gorefest.

Dad to you, random reader who can handle scary movies and maybe even thinks they’re fun: Go see it! Totally worth it!

Dad to me, scaredy freakshow, especially if she sees them a) alone or b) at night or c) any other time: Do.Not.Go.See.This.Movie. Do.Not.

DVD: Rendition

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Powerful. Emotionally moving. And extremely fucking depressing.

This IS what is going on ALL THE TIME in our world today and fuck who wants to live in a world like that.

p.s. Do Peter Sarsgaard and Jake Gyllenhaal have some clause in their contracts that they have to be in at least 90% of each other’s movies?

À la Super Eggplant, currently, I am…

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Eating: All I want to eat is crap. Particularly the Special Dark Hershey’s Chocolate Kisses that I bought to send to Max (and Alison) and then never put in the mail…Whoops. Their loss, my ass’s gain.

Making: Almost done with the second thick woolly sleeveless vest (WHATEVER!). Hoping to finish the top of Kysa’s Friendship Star quilt (a.k.a. Friendship Star #2) and then sandwich/baste/and quilt BOTH that AND the quick baby quilt top I whipped up over the weekend and get them in the mail to her by the 9th, which is supposedly the date on which the baby boy is going to pop out. I’m hoping he’s late (although I’m sure she’s not!!).

Reading: Was supposed to start July’s challenge book yesterday (!), but picked it up and almost had my arm drop off due to the weight. Guess I won’t be reading that one in transit!! So instead I’ve started “Trespass” by Valerie Martin which is prickly and dark and promises to get moreso.

Watching: Since my dad started watching BSG, I started watching it ALL OVER AGAIN (I know!) so that when he calls me and says OH MY GOD I CAN’T BELIEVE THIS JUST HAPPENED, I know specifically what episode he’s talking about (and in what order) and I don’t accidentally give away a spoiler like I almost did the other night… Of course I have way more time in my day than he has in his, so I’ve already gotten past where he is. Maybe I’ll wait for him to catch up. I mean, I so would, except for there being fucking nothing else for me to watch right now. And I saw “Wanted” which I loved as much as I thought I would and maybe I’ll write a post on that for ya say over the long-ass holiday weekend during which I HAVE TO WORK ON SUNDAY and will not be in Southern Illinois with all my Blonde K-Cousins as I like to call ’em. Waah.

Listening: I listened to Matt Costa (which I mentioned here and here among other places) all weekend long, over and over, after introducing someone to him on Thursday night when we were at my house “playing DJ” since we thought we were going to see Meg Hutchinson at Uncommon Ground but she wasn’t there (???) and instead there were these really pretty mediocre singers basically doing karaoke and I’m sorry but Alanis Morrisette “You Oughta Know” done on acoustic guitar with a husky Melissa Etheridge wannabe voice and admonitions to the audience to please “Join in!” ??? I don’t think so.

But now I’m listening almost exclusively to the NEW! Earlimart “Hymn and Her” out yesterday that is AWESOME. Oh I love me some Earlimart (for example, this is how much I loved their previous album and here is where they were in my favorite albums of 2007) and Hello! Score! coming to Chicago on the 26th at the teeny tiny Hideout. Woot. Yes, I bought tickets. Yay! (Or, as a former coworker would say “I’m stoked!”)

Oh and while the whole “Meg Hutchinson not being playing although that’s the only reason we went” issue sucked, I did have some incredible pistachio-encrusted tilapia that pretty much blew my mind and this wacky french Apple-flavored beer that was DELISH. So there’s that.

Big Screen: The Fall

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Visually stunning.

Similar to Pan’s Labyrinth, the audience watches the fairytale playout of a child’s imagination. Lee Pace is quite good here, very John Cusack-feelin’. Gorgeous, rich, saturated landscapes in beautiful locations (with every new scene, I thought: “WOW, where was THIS filmed???”). A sweetly charming (and ongoing) visual Indian vs. Indian joke.

Enjoyable enough plot; truly beautifully filmed.

Best of May

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The best movie I saw in May was Iron Man and it was fucking awesome and definitely the best movie I’ve seen this year (not that I’ve seen many) and it’s so good that even the second time around when you go to a crap ass neighborhood theater and the projector breaks and you have to watch the middle 20 minutes in two-minute increments, it’s STILL brilliant. Are you coming to Chicago? I’d be happy to go to it again!

The best books I read in May were the one-two punch of Dragon Bones and Dragon Blood by Patricia Briggs. Magical and mysterious and yet so human and irresistibly attractive. If only I could have jumped into these books and become an auxiliary character (Another “cousin” for Ward? A romantic interest for Oreg?)… She ranks right up there with Elizabeth A. Lynn as my favorite current fantasy writers.

The best gig I went to in May was probably a tie between the Long Blondes (for actual “best”) and Crowded House (for playing some of my all-time most beloved songs).

My favorite tunes in May….Honestly, I was soooo busy watching BSG over and over (see below), I really didn’t do much listening in May. Which would be why I’m now working on listening to all the many many albums I bought but did not listen to in April, May and (thus far in) June all at once. Doh!

Random personal highlights: MDS&W, not the greatest, but I did get to see my peeps. I watched like* every episode of Battlestar Galactica. Twice. (Or more, depending on how much I loved the episode and how much screen time my Future Husband had ha ha ha ha ha.) I went to visit my nephews. Met my newest cousin! And I got many back/shoulder massages at physical therapy (but see lowlights as well).

Lowlights? Physical therapy: a) the need for it, b) the stretching and lifting and pulling, ow, ow, ow, c) the ice. Hate the ice!! Had to skip a concert (Avett Brothers). Continuing buttloads of stress at the secondary browsing location.
*like used purely for valley girl emphasis, and not to approximate any less than ALL.

Big Screen: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

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As lame and predictable as you would expect. Total schmaltz. Some of it was fun because it pointed back to those old (much better) movies: say, for example, the bit with the snake. But some of it was so ludicrously off pitch, it stuck out like a sore thumb: say, for example, the bits with the gophers. And the monkeys.

I always expect lame dialogue from anything that George Lucas is in anyway connected to, but the animal bits were pure Disney channel. Trying to attract a younger audience? Then perhaps you should have rethought using your original star, who certainly looks his age, if not more.
It was fine for staying in out of the alternate periods of a) torrential rain and b) torrential heat that strafed the city yesterday. Enjoyable enough for that, I guess. But unless you find yourself in similar straits, I couldn’t recommend it.

Big Screen: Sex and the City

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Bittersweet. Disappointing.

  • Given the events of the middle, I thought the unspoken “message” of the end was complete crap.
  • Charlotte really got gypped in terms of storylines; hers had no tension whatsoever.
  • It felt both superficial and rushed, and considering it went over two hours, it should have been neither.

That said, the other six girls in our group (no I do not know seven girls to go to the movies with in Chicago; I knew one of them) all seemed to like it. So take from that what you will.

Best of April

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Just in time for June!!

The best movie I saw in April was Leatherheads, which might seem like it’s not saying much since how hard is it to be the best of only two, but on the other hand, I thought it was really really good. It’s not its fault my lack of movie viewing didn’t give it much competition.

The best book I read in April was Belong to Me, by Marisa de los Santos but Monsters of Templeton by Lauren Goff was also good and a bit more high-brow if that’s what you’re looking for.

The best gig I went to in April was Bon Iver. A beautiful album done even more beautifully live.

My favorite tunes in April…. You know, at this point I’m not sure what I was listening to then, probably stuff I bought in February and/or March. The memory, it ain’t what it used to be.

Random personal highlights: The yearly trip to Portland, yay, including burgers, beers and brunch; trying out my new camera (Hasselblad, yo). Not much else good happened; it was a rough month.

Lowlights? Had the punes; which seemingly caused a mysterious shoulder injury (look for “physical therapy” in May’s highlights); had a LOTLOTLOT of stress at the secondary browsing location. And, I’m sure, airport delays on the way to Portland because you KNOW planes are delayed in every direction if I am flying on them.