Monday, 17 July 2006
11:45am
I
t's weird how certain songs can just take you back to another time. Not always a good time, but not always a sappy one either. People can say what they like about how your sense of smell is supposed to trigger more memories than anything else, but for my money nothing hits you quite like pop music. Dongo and I got to talking about that Huey Lewis and Gwyneth Paltrow song the other night so I, ah, acquired it. Strange to think I only heard it once before when it was all big on the radio and everything. On the other hand, that was a pretty eventful weekend. I drove around a good bit of Texas following a certain band around for basically all of their Texas shows. Wow, that was five years ago! I felt like a kid! I was a kid! I had no idea what I was doing, in terms of life, and was scared senseless! Ya know what else is strange? That was a pretty crappy overall period in life, but I have overall fond memories of it. I mean, yeah, things really sucked for a while but it all lead up to today. And I like today. I've noticed that some people have epic lives with some really intricate events, some being more important than others. Mine kinda lacks that. It was pretty much a linear series of events that were all unavoidable. There really was no shatterpoint when things could've gone one way or the other. Both of my brothers, on the other hand, did have shatterpoints, sort of a fork in the road where hard decisions had to be made. I guess everybody has their own individual path to follow, but it just seems like mine was a bit more mundane than most people. So wow, we're not even talking about pop music anymore, haha!
In other news, I saw Click with Don the other night. It was pretty good, but if you've seen It's A Wonderful Life, the Family Man or A Christmas Carol, well, there won't be any new themes explored here. It was good, don't get me wrong, and it was absolutely hillarious in some parts, but I was hoping for something more. The ending was predictable (unless you're a total cultural numbnuts and you've never seen those other movies) and I thought the middle part dragged on from one negative moment to the next without any humor or anything to break things up a bit. I suppose it wasn't helped that some idiot parents brought their little hellspawn to the theater and they did nothing but make noises, chase each other around and beat each other up. I thought about helping them with that last part, but self-control got the better of me. Anyway. The movie was okay. See it if you want, but don't see it if you don't.
In the late 80's, a new Supershow debuted on TV. I prefer to think of this as the chapter in Superman history that time forgot. And, in many ways, it's a chapter many a fan would like to forget! Well, the first season DVD's came out a few weeks ago and I knew sooner or later I'd buy at least those. I'll be honest, I was pretty leery of it because I loved the show as a kid, but we all know how subjective young minds can be. Often you remember something as being better than it actually was. That's the case here too somewhat, but some of those episodes really do hold up. Sure there's cheesy dialogue aplenty, lots of contrived stories, but on the whole this isn't a bad season. The basic premise is that Clark has just started up at Shuster University in Orlando, Florida and, when crises erupt, he puts on a pair of tights and becomes Superboy... I guess because he's not old enough to buy alcohol yet (although, c'mon, if the guy came to your liquor store, would you card him?). The parts that I enjoyed the most were when Clark, Lana and TJ (the three central characters of the show) just sat around talking to each other. In fact, scenes like those give the show a sorta neurotic edge. It seems to want to be a cartoon with thin characters, but then you get a lot of dialogue-heavy scenes with those three while they wrestle with pretty serious issues. Hmm. Really, the only differences between this and modern Smallville are the costume and a non-bwitchy Lana. A likeable Lana alone makes the season worth buying! One kind of interesting thing is how John Haymes Newton (who played the title role) had no real acting experience prior to the show and only auditioned on a whim. He delivers his dialogue pretty naturalistically. In fact, his delivery is so low-key that he ends up serving the character perfectly. Superman (or boy, in this case) is someone who's self-confidence level is so high that he wouldn't freak out about very many things. So Haymes Newton's style fits like a glove. Moreover, it's sort of nice to see a well-adjusted Clark who doesn't angst about everything all the time. Here's a guy who goes skateboarding with his friends, has a healthy relationship with his normal parents and is basically a normal guy. The show isn't exactly high art or anything, but for an 80's action show, well, it's not bad. Even better, the flying was largely done with wires so that adds a whole degree of realism to the show. Even Lois & Clark didn't do the flying stuff this well! Buyer beware though, the cheese factor is huge!

Top Five Things Not to Say On A First Date
  1. You're not going out like that, are you??
  2. My grandmother has one just like that!
  3. Your sister was the best kisser ever! Mmm... Say, is she still single?
  4. I think we'll skip the dessert, it looks like you've had enough calories for one day... or several days.
  5. I think the waitress has a thing for you! It's cool, I'm openminded. Hey, wanna find out when her shift is over?

it's alright,
just follow the light
and don't be afraid of the dark.
in the moonlight,
you'll dance til you fall
and always be here in my heart.

Saturday, 22 July 2006
4:02pm


this is a gratuitous picture of Thora Birch. Enjoy!

I'm not even supposed to be here today.
S
aw Clerks II with Don on Friday night. I was pretty concerned about it actually. The original Clerks is pretty much a classic movie in my mind and certainly many of the conversations and things that the characters have in that film very much resemble things that friends and I have discussed with each other. In fact, my brief stint as an employee of Kirkland's could've been used as a model for some elements of Clerks. Bottom line- it means a lot to me. That's why the idea of a sequel that attempts to advance the storyline kind of disturbed me. I mean, how could it compare to the first one, right?
But really, it truly is a sequel in that it takes the characters in the first film and brings them to the logical conclusion in their lives based on the people they were in the original film. This movie isn't about sitting around being a slacker like the first movie is. It's about dealing with the consequences that you suffer in making that choice with your life. Working a clip-on job is fine when you're young or if you honestly have no interest in moving forward with your life... but if those are the choices you want to make, you can't really be surprised when your peers go on to achieve greater success and leave you behind. All that and there dick and fart jokes aplenty! I guess that's what has been the key to Kevin Smith's success. His films are never sweet and sincere or completely vile... there's always a bizarre mixture of the two to make the bitter pill (whichever of those two you find less appealing) go down easier.
I wouldn't say that Smith is the most visually stimulating filmmaker of his (or any) generation, but by that same token there are few out there who can match his eloquence. What his movies lack in style they make up for in substance. As with many of his films (except possibly for Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back), there's a lot of substance to deal with in Clerks II. This is why Smith is on my MySpace friend list and why I own many of his DVD's. I think anybody can learn how to direct a very slick and stylistic movie, but eloquence is a gift you either have or you don't and, in my opinion, Smith is one of the top writers of this generation. I'll be interested to see where he goes from here. I'm game if he ever wants to make a Chasing Amy II.

10:24pm
That's the 30GB Creative Zen Vision mp3/video player over there. I just ordered one off Amazon. The bigger storage and video capabilities immediately put it ahead of my comparatively meager 20GB audio-only iPod. It's a long, drawn out, boring story as to how I got here but basically this is not exactly what I wanted to buy. But since a handheld device seems to be my only realistic choice for listening to mp3s in my car, well, why not have video too, ya know? Not for the car so much, but maybe something else. I dunno. The Zen supports the AVI, DivX 4, XviD4, MPEG and WMV9 formats among others so that's a nice start. It'd be nice if it supported Apple's .mov format, but somehow I doubt Apple would ever issue a license to a direct competitor.
I've got some cartoons, boxing matches, TV shows and a few other odds and ends on my computer that might be good candidates for the Zen (besides more mp3s than I know what to do with). To be honest, I doubt I would've bought this thing if it didn't support DIVX and AVI since most of the files I'd want to watch use one or both formats. I'll write up a review and stuff when it arrives, which should be on Friday or thereabouts.
As for what I'll do with my iPod, I suppose I'll give it to my mom, knowing that I'd want to upgrade eventually (because I'm a big geek). If she doesn't want it, though, it probably wouldn't be too hard to find someone out there who'd be willing to buy it. We'll see...