a broken lull.

terminator 3: rise of the machines | jonathan mustow | 2003

a bunch of stuff i managed to write down about the film during the day (i wasn't in the mood to write out something that made too much sense).

the film starts with many (read: one every minute) homages to the previous two james cameron films. some of them are 'wink wink' type of things, others are more obvious and groan-inducing. enough with the "tributes" and on with the movie already.

the first thing you notice is how inadequate nick stahl really is in the role of john connor. or at least, compared to edward furlong's angsty and natural performance. of course john is now a young adult and is less of a teenager in his actions, but still, stahl, a good enough actor usually, just kind of walks around, says the lines, and plays the action. nothing wrong with that. but furlong gave us so much more (or was it cameron, compared to mustow?).

kristanna loken's t-x makes for one lame villain. the steely expression is good but there's no real fear being brought upon the unsuspecting public, no real threat. there's barely even an ounce of respect for the character. i get the feeling there was also nothing on the page for that part except for 'female cyborg, dressed in red leather'. that's pretty much it.

as so many people have mentioned before, the biggest thing lacking in t3 is the scale of the thing. t2 had some big ass scale. this one, not so much. it's pretty much an action film with arnold winking at the camera and some cool action moments.

but that is until the end.
around the third quarter mark the film changes gears and nicely dovetails into something... different. nah, not the right word. there's no drastic change, but as the film moves along it does get better and you settle into it quite nicely; the switch to the last part of it isn't jarring because you realize it once you're in it. it's all done very effectively and effortlessly. and there's an unquestionable honesty that the first hour and 20 minutes lack. the earth tones, so beautiful, took me by surprise. i was shocked. i was also taken by the ending. i'd read about the twist ending but this is no flakey put-on, this is where the heart of the film comes from. don't expect a big shocking revelation like linda hamilton coming on in the last 5 minutes. it's not like that. like i told you - it's one slow, incredibly well thought out moment. and it makes for one very satisfying ending to an uneven movie.

ps. if you've seen the film, go ahead and read rod's excellent abridged script.

pps. xander berkeley (woohoo -- another canuck! :) was eddy furlong's step-dad in t2 :)
(oh my god, he's in heat??)

Posted by Anonymous | 12:58 PM |

i rented terminator 3 late this afternoon (don't ask too many questions) because the roommate was 75% sure she'd be going out tonight.

nah. won't happen. weather's too bad out.

so we got into a fight. which she ended in the same way she usually does - by saying she'd spend the entire evening locked up in her room (oh my, how sad the martyr looks). but wait. i asked her if that's what she wanted to do, to spend the evening in her room. i just wanted to get it straight so she couldn't bring it up later on. she said that, no, she didn't wanna do that but i left her no choice. bullocks (i'm becoming english by this point). i told her i could watch the film later on tonight or tomorrow morning (not an ideal but doable nonetheless). anyway. she ranted on about me always doing this to her, etc etc. i flipped her off and told her to shut up and locked myself up in my room.

i was fuming. but i was determined to overcome this and enjoy what evening i still had left.

so i started reading nick hornby's "how to be good". just for fun and because i needed something new, something fresh to throw myself into. i just wanna make clear that there was no self-pity involved in this new plan. i wasn't pouting in my room. i was trying to enjoy myself. such is the new goal.

i'm telling you all this to get to this -- i just zipped through the first 90 pages of hornby's novel and i'm having a blast :) too bad im becoming weak with hungry or else i don't think i would've come out of my room for another couple of hours :)

this made me decide that i would get his previous books - adored filmed incarnations be damned. his writing's what matters to me now.

Posted by Anonymous | 7:36 PM |

okay.
i'm not ready to talk at length about my trip to montreal yesterday but here are the main lines:

we drove through a pitch dark countryside at 3:30 pm. the rain, aided by strong winds, was making it rough anytime a car passed by. we made it, though.

(i won't even go into how amazing "the love below" really is. i hadn't listened to it yet but the roommate wanted to listen to "hey ya" in the car so i brought it. against my will i even put it in as the first cd we'd listen to on our way to montreal. hot damn! that is some serious shit. and against the rain hitting us every which way (in the dark, no less), it was the most perfect album to put on. some jazzy shit i hadn't expected, and a damn near 4-song coda that seemed a bit long but also very... perfect. one damn fine album by andre 3000.)

cd esoterik.

kind of a letdown because they didn't have death cab for cutie's "we have the facts and we're voting yes" and "the photo album". i'll just have to learn to get cd's when i see them. dammit.

and they overcharged me (i realized this once i got back home -- way too late) - $21.99 for a $12.99 cd. it was an honest mistake but it pisses me off because i can't take it back - i'm 90 minutes away and the receipt doesn't have the album titles so they wouldn't have any way of knowing if i was telling the truth or not. i'm moving on.

so, here are the albums i did manage to get at the store:

death cab for cutie - transatlanticism
bonnie 'prince' billy- i see a darkness / master and everyone
do make say think - winter hymn country hymn secret hymn
spoon - girls can tell

"girls can tell" was a bit of a surprise as i'd been looking for it for a good year now - i even managed to forget about it for the past 6 months. so i decided to get that one instead of the spiritualized cd.

i was a bit disappointed that they didn't have do make say think's "goodbye enemy airship" but after the overcharging incident i'm glad i didn't buy it from them -- constellation put a leaflet inside the new album with all ther albums in it. $13 each -- and that includes shipping and taxes!! i'm so ordering their first two albums this week.

before leaving for montreal i finally managed to snag a copy of ryan adam's "love is hell pt. 1".
finally.

and at the show i got myself a copy of martha wainwright's factory ep (the girl's got a voice).

not a bad day after all, music-wise.

.::.

rufus.

have you ever seen this dude live?
why not?? what's wrong with you, fool?

there's no way i can do justice to this man performing live. you'll just have to experience this for yourselves if you wanna know how it is.

i don't know if this is magnified when he's playing montreal but the man, even when he's so obviously spent from a 4-shows-in-4-days stretch, just puts on a show that, even if there are faults, are always a blast, always a treat to experience.
the shows are never perfect. never. but he takes you in, he's so charming and he barely has to work the crowd; you're just there for him. and it looks like he's 5 again, putting on a show for his folks and friends. not in an obsessive, attention-seeking way - he just loves performing. and i've rarely seen that live in other people, it being so part of his personality and all.

it feels so effortless. there's probably not much effort needed on his part; he was just so obviously born to do this.

that's probably as much as i wanna say right now. words would fail me.
was it the best show i've ever seen? nope (radiohead, montreal, august 2001).
was it the best i've seen from rufus? nope. that was back in 2002 for poses.
did you laugh, shed a tear, think of something else, have four encores and clapped for moe? definitely! yes yes yes!

it's a family affair, in every sense of the word -- all the wainwrights were there, minus dad; but us fans are always welcomed with open arms and treated to one fine ass kids show.

how are his shows outside of montreal? please tell me. i'd really love to know.

Posted by Anonymous | 2:07 PM |

whoa! bush's visit to iraq was planned after they learned about hillary's trip.

She also acknowledged that the missile attack earlier this month on a German DHL cargo plane had almost caused the White House to scrap Bush's visit, which was planned for weeks starting in mid-October...

Bush's visit overshadowed a similar one a day later by Senator Hillary Clinton. A source familiar with the planning of her visit said the administration was informed in late September that she would go.

nice. i knew details would be coming out in the days after this thanksgiving photo-op.

btw, anyone notice the way bush tapped this one soldier's shoulder a couple of times and had a look on his face of "yeah yeah, move". lol. now that's priceless. mastercard should do a commercial with that image. or, wow, the democratic party should do one :)

the guy's in baghdad, finally meeting with the soldiers who are either, depending on your view, a) fighting for him, or b) dying for his stupid ass/cause, and he just slaps this guy aside so he can get to the turkey and then a quick exit back home.

.::.

in other news, most notably - mine, i'll talk about the rufus show and what i got later on today. i don't have the words right now :)

Posted by Anonymous | 11:01 AM |

pick you up at 8.

okay.

oh, and wear something completely evil.

so horns, tail, and my wolfowitz t-shirt?

-- gilmore girls

how can a show still be so consistently amazing after four seasons? it's mindboggling. shows usually start to suck - bad - after only two.

Posted by Anonymous | 12:01 PM |

oh, shirley, glorious shirley. go read her journal, it's finally been updated again.

tales of jack white, justin, and something she calls '24 hours' on tv :D

go read it.

Posted by Anonymous | 10:36 AM |

updated/edited post:

well, friday i'm going to see rufus wainwright in montreal.

i saw him for the poses tour and he was fantastic. of course the crowd was all made up of gay guys and young girls but who cares. lol. his fans love him. and he had a great time. he's playing two shows in montreal - thursday and friday. i got the tickets for friday because i'm assuming that'll be the party/homecoming show. i'll get my star-gazing sunglasses ready.

oh, last time (feb 2002?) i was able to get the setlist. oh no, strike that, rufus' setlist :) from his piano. i'm gonna try to repeat that feat tomorrow night.

anyway.

i managed to devise an evil plan where the roommate will let us swing by cd esoterik before going to the show (when in montreal...). so i made up a list of albums i wanna get. not all of these are absolutes but i should be taking home about 5 albums (probably more like 6 :) from this list.

and i need your help and advice.

i'm looking for thought or comments on these titles, or any other suggestions you may have.
as for death cab and do make say think -- which album would you get first for each artist?

thank you very much.

the list:

#1 / the almost absolutes.

death cab for cutie - we have the facts and we're voting yes / the photo album / transatlanticism
spiritualized - ladies and gentlemen we are floating in space
bonnie 'prince' billy - i see a darkness / master and everyone
do make say think - goodbye enemy airship the landlord is dead / winter hymn country hymn secret hymn

#2 / the 'if i can't find enough from the almost absolutes list'.

explosions in the sky - earth is not a cold dead place
wire - send
britta philips and dean wareham - l'avventura

Posted by Anonymous | 12:00 PM |

24: day 3: 5:00 pm - 6:00 pm.

go.

.::.

jay-z rates jay-z.

surprising admission on the blueprint 2 too.

Posted by Anonymous | 10:09 AM |

hey, anyone notice how the main line from timmy's "(oh no) what you got" (justin) is really similar to the one in his "indian flute"?

i was listening to the timbland (& magoo) album a few minutes ago. i've been meaning to listen to his three tracks from justin's album for a week now 'cause i could only remember "cry me a river". and that melody just stood out.

Posted by Anonymous | 5:54 PM |

i knew it! it looks like bush's new ad - which includes images of him making his state of the union address (complete with swelling music to underscore the severity the leadership role) - was faked!

i had a feeling as we see portions of bush's speech intercut at about 3 intervals during the ad. you see two people behind him, hands and feet because the shot is from an overhead angle; there was something too simple about it. and bush's performance was too presidential and grave; there was nothing of the smug, smirking chimp we all witness every day.

now people are starting to say this footage was re-shot for the ad.
oops.
(the republican national party says they just tweaked the audio and video. yeah. right.
it's still a big fuckin' oops.)

the photo-op/videotape president strikes again.

if you've got a president who stumbles on every other word his speechwriters give him, just don't re-shoot the footage from his most well-publicized speech, okay? thanks.

Posted by Anonymous | 5:46 PM |

can anyone confirm the release of both gerry and the eye on dvd this past month???

especially gerry.
okay. i have to admit i was thinking elephant when i saw it, but still. gerry. gus. come on.

am i the only who didn't hear about this coming?

Posted by Anonymous | 2:33 PM |

today is missy elliot - this is not a test! day

do your part to support one of the great artists and have your ass shaking at the same time.

.::.

btw, stop promoting this new anti-piracy bullshit (the one that includes missy). "i download", i believe is the name.
i'm writing about this because i just visited missy's site and you could hear tracks from the new album in advance (ooh.. you mean tracks i was gonna be able to hear when it came out? that's exclusive shit, yo). but -- they were scattered on various websites and you had clues that led you to those very lucky websites. and guess what -- they're mostly anti-piracy websites. lol

okay. i can respect missy doing this. it's her opinion and she's entitled to it. i'm not ragging on her. not at all.
but -- get your shit together. if you want people to buy your albums (i'm talking to you, riaa) -- why not focus on that? what you're doing is basically a war on the downloaders. your customers. customers, who, according to you, are not into buying anymore. so what you're doing right here is hitting them over the head while they're hanging onto the counter, still ready to give you some of that money you're so in need of these days (first off, cramming albums with filler has backfired on you; second, let the artists do their thing, we're gonna buy; third, if it's the artists you're so worried about, give them better contracts. period. you can let at least one trip to the virgin islands go this year, right? do your fuckin' job and stop being so greedy).

focus on what you want them to do - buy albums.

personally, if i were to download on a regular basis it would be to see if i liked an album enough to plunk down my hard-earned cash.

you've been propped up on easy money and now you're used to it, we understand; but you raped us up the ass on a regular basis for the past 20 years with inflated prices and filler crap. gives us some time. and don't believe the heyday of those profits is the norm. you were robbing us. blind.

stop fuckin' with your customers.

and i don't want to pay a dollar a song. i buy my albums. i don't want no lesser-quality (i won't even start on the highly superior sacd quality) song for a buck.

we taped and traded before.
okay, so maybe the internet is a bigger community, but you need to embrace it instead of trying to stifle it like you're john fuckin' ashcroft.

we're music-lovers.

.::.

i finally found a copy of bend it like beckham (widescreen edition).

1. why the fuck are they promoting this like it's a olsen twins-type film?
2. video stores who only stock up on full screen editions are idiots.

Posted by Anonymous | 12:53 PM |

more on that buck 65 interview on musique plus i mentioned yesterday.

i just caught the part i missed last night -- the damn kid actually got an apartment in montreal 2-3 weeks ago and it's now his main residence (i believe).

i don't think he can get cooler now.

Posted by Anonymous | 11:20 AM |

ha. this is what's wrong with the current u.s. administration's texas-style dumbass swagger -- "Queen's fury as Bush goons wreck garden".

"The Queen has every right to feel insulted at the way she has been treated by Bush," said a Palace insider.

aw... and that was your closest ally?
even when they're on their best behavior they manage to royally (no pun intended) fuck things up.

a bunch of elephants in a china store (or something like that).

Posted by Anonymous | 6:10 PM |

oh my fuck!!!!!

first off -- anyone catch buck 65 on musique plus just now? he's fabulous. the most charming, down-to-earth, poet/hip hopper out there. he was nice.

he did two songs ("sore" and "463") on his own, complete with scratching.

anyway.
he talked about the shoot for the new single ("463") in vancouver and before he left he mentioned he's going down under next week.
but right before leaving, the host reminded him that he'd be coming back to do some shows around quebec in the not-too-distant future. he took out his little post-it note and said the three dates -- quebec city, montreal, and ... get this -- the granada theatre right here in fuckin' sherbrooke!!!!!!!!!!!!!

feb 7 2004 i think is the date. dammit.
and there i was, watching him perform doing his thing - a scratch table, a mic, and playback for all the other instruments - thinking this guy must be really cool to see live if he can make this crappy set-up feel amazing. ha!

ooh... and it's a saturday... :)

Posted by Anonymous | 5:49 PM |

whale rider it is.

tomorrow i'll try to rent something else as the roommate just told me she's gonna be spending the night in montreal :)
trying to cram in as much cinema as possible into my two days off.

Posted by Anonymous | 4:23 PM |

well this is interesting news.
back in the day, i used to check on the garbage discography every other day. but i haven't done so in quite a while because there haven't been any new garbage news lately outside of shirley's journal and the site seemed like it was waiting for some fresh news (ie. buzz leading up to the new album) to update.

well, i managed to miss this little bit of news that caused quite a bit of a shitstorm -- info on a new 1-track promo cd-r surfaced on the site last month and chrysalis/emi went apeshit over it, first saying the site was infringing on their copyrights and then declaring it wasn't a garbage track at all.

garbage (co-written by john lowery) - "never be free"

john lowery is probably marylin manson guitarist john 5. shirley had mentioned him working with the band a few months ago.

Posted by Anonymous | 1:43 PM |

i just finished watching last night's fox lineup.

the malcolm episode was... gutsy, by today's fox/right-wing america, anyway. a 16 year-old almost had sex, and they made it out to be so casual. as far as i know this woulda been his first time but they handled it very well, like it's no big deal. very cool. (and then the condom???)

and i've made up my mind -- i will continue watching arrested development. this was my almost-third time watching it and they're getting way better each time (the first episode i watched was a nightmare of amateurish camera work and weird editing).

and i thought the girl looked like portia de rossi but i only realzed today that... she is portia de rossi :) nice.
and the writing was extremely tight and i'm getting the flow now.

Posted by Anonymous | 12:09 PM |

well, if you haven't read any blogs in the past week, here's the onion/rza interview.
go read it. i just finished reading it and it's got some really good shit in it.

Who else? Leonardo DiCaprio. Oh, man, this nigga knew all my shit. That fucked my head up.

.::.

check out the new belle & sebastian website.
looks good.

.::.

anybody got suggestions for which dvd i could rent for today?
i was thinking about bend it like beckham but somehow i'm not super-excited about the idea.

Posted by Anonymous | 10:10 AM |

this just in -- georgian president eduard shevardnadze has resigned :)

Posted by Anonymous | 11:50 AM |

oh my god, this was my nightmare when i was younger!!!

Homeowner Discovers Uninvited Guest Living In Attic.

shit.
i think it was in 1990. we went to visit our relatives in ottawa for easter weekend like we always did every year. when we came back we saw that we'd been robbed. it's a traumatic experience. and then you're checking every inch of the house before you go to bed that first. and we'd come back around 9 that night. urgh. creepy. and we had woods behind our house and my bedroom was the only one facing there. the thieves (robbers?) probably ran that way. again - urgh.

but after a day or two, a thought/sick fantasy entered my mind -- he/they could be in our attic. i mean, we never went there, we never checked. so every time i passed near the trapdoor that led up there i fuckin looked at it to make sure no one was looking at me. aw, fuck, i'm getting the creeps again. lol

anyway. i'd never heard of this (nor did i ever want to) but someone actually got caught living in someone's attic (and eating their food when they were out!!! how creepy is that?); the guy had been living there for six whole weeks!!

[ thanks to babybot for the link ]

Posted by Anonymous | 10:35 AM |

this is how you keep fraudulent politicans in check.

thousands rushed the city of tbilisi, georgia after elections held two weeks ago were found to have been rigged. eduard shevardnadze was named president anyway. the crowds rushed the parliament today. you've got to see the video footage of this, it's an amazing sight.

this is how you keep politicians honest.
bush might not want you to see this footage.

Posted by Anonymous | 2:08 PM |

thom yorke chat transcript [ friday november 21 2003, guardian talk ].

Posted by Anonymous | 12:19 PM |

it's a beautiful thing.

i present to you the molson canadian heritage classic.

the nhl is starting to toy with the idea of playing a few games outdoors, just like when we were kids.
personnally, i think this is a fantastic idea (i don't think anyone thinks it's anything but).

they built the rink right in the middle of the commonwealth stadium field.
i heard they're expecting a 60,000-strong crowd. that's a shitload of people. nhl arenas usually have around a 20,000 capacity.

the montreal canadiens are gonna play the edmonton oilers tonight.
before the game the ex-habs are playing the ex-oilers; gretzky and lafleur included. it's gonna be big. it's a classic in the making. enjoy it.

Posted by Anonymous | 11:36 AM |

+ my favorite radiohead member, colin greenwood, gives a short interview to manchesteronline.

while nothing new comes out of the interview, he does mention what's making those sounds at the beginning of "hail to the thief" (i'd guessed the guitar, but).

I like the sound of Jonny plugging in his guitar and laptop at the start. It’s like ‘let’s go to work’ - very direct and clear.

nice. now i'll see jonny whenever play the album :)

+ i was rather underwhelmed by 28 days later. not dissappointed - underwhelmed. i think i had high hopes for it and, although it's really more than a horror film, which i knew going in, it didn't bring more to the table than what i'd expected.

watching some of the extras on the dvd this morning i did realize what may have helped in my non-enjoyment - it doesn't seem to have a big central emotional core. it's more of a cerebral thing. there's some viceral stuff in the attacks, absolutely, but i didn't care all that much about the main characters -- or rather, i didn't care //enough// about them. it looked more like an exercise in screenwriting than anything else. nothing wrong with that but i was just expecting a bit more out of it.

but it's still nice to see really good filmmakers trying their hands at non-commercial stuff.
and the godspeed thing was pure genius.

i'll be giving it another spin in the future, i'm sure. i was going through the alternate endings this morning and it made me realize that it's definitely not a boring film.

so, there, those are my thoughts right now.

Posted by Anonymous | 1:25 PM |

ha!
Bush, Blair Express Anger Over Istanbul Bombings [ thanks to billmon ]:

As part of the briefing, Bush startled many by indicating that he could send more troops to Iraq, raising questions about Pentagon statements that the number would be reduced rather than increased in the coming year. He said he would do "whatever is necessary to secure Iraq," whether that means fewer troops or more troops.

His comment appeared to take even top aides by surprise. As the president spoke, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell and national security adviser Condoleezza Rice glanced pointedly toward the press corps assembled inside Britain's Foreign Office, as if to suggest that there might be some clarification coming.

Later a top aide to Bush, who briefed reporters on condition that the aide not be identified, said that Bush was not announcing a change in policy and that expectations remained that troop levels would be reduced. "There is simply nothing to suggest that the number of American forces would need to increase," the aide said. "In fact, the conversations with the commanders have gone the other way."

i loved how the monkey was, once again, blissfully unaware of the mess he was creating just by opening his fuckin' mouth, and how the handlers had to control the situation for him afterwards :)

Posted by Anonymous | 10:39 AM |

oh, we are happy, folks :)

behold.

Dear Mr. --- ,
Thank you very much for taking the time to e-mail us concerning the format
of 24. While in the past we have revised the break structure for 24
slightly, our editor had gone to great lengths to ensure that the break was
smooth and natural. I can assure you that no content was removed from the
program.
I am happy to advise you that it has been decided that effective immediately
this practice will stop and the show will air with the breaks where they
were originally created by the producer.
Thanks for your comments.
Sincerely,

Karen Macdonald

:D

anyone else email them about this?

Posted by Anonymous | 5:10 PM |

description of a day off.

wake up happy - it's a day off.

go online.

watch the gilmore girls from last night.
laugh a lot during the episode.

go online.

start dishwasher.
do laundry.

go online.

go jogging for half an hour before your resolve completely vanishes like it's been doing for the past week.
accomplish this and be happy.

take a shower.

go get some groceries. but first check bank account and credit card to see what can be bought and with which account.

get the new jay-z album because you can't stand it being out (and cheap) and not having it. you are a shopaholic.
go buy the album, it's cheap.

go online.

make dinner. watch 28 days later while roommate is out.

9 pm: watch the montreal vs. calgary game because a) it's the habs, and b) your brother's there for his first nhl game.
be extremely happy for said brother.

Posted by Anonymous | 4:58 PM |

thom yorke emailed the nme last week to urge people to protest bush's visit to the uk.

"(...) make Blair squirm over his decision to take us into a illegitimate war (In Iraq) and follow this religious lunatic (Bush) toward a dangerous future for the whole planet.

Both of these men are liars. We have right to call them such, they are putting our children’s future in jeopardy. They are not controlling the terrorist threat, they are escalating it.

I expect they will use the threat of terrorism to suppress whatever they choose, intimidate and arrest whoever they wish."

[ thanks to green plastic ]

Posted by Anonymous | 1:28 PM |

i like this description [ original post by norton; edited by styro on enemyster ]:

racism

1 : a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race
2 : racial prejudice or discrimination

Posted by Anonymous | 1:14 PM |

War critics astonished as US hawk admits invasion was illegal. [ guardian unlimited ]

International lawyers and anti-war campaigners reacted with astonishment yesterday after the influential Pentagon hawk Richard Perle conceded that the invasion of Iraq had been illegal.

In a startling break with the official White House and Downing Street lines, Mr Perle told an audience in London: "I think in this case international law stood in the way of doing the right thing."

so now it's official, they're no different than terrorists, right?

Posted by Anonymous | 1:02 PM |

hey, folks. how you all doing today?
me, i'm doing fine. this is my day off. i was looking forward to this one.

anyway. bits and pieces:

+ tonight, the montreal canadiens play the calgary flames.
if you can, please watch the game - my brother's gonna be there :) and it's his first nhl game.

+ speaking of my brother -- we've been emailing a lot more this past week because of this game (i'm gonna watch it on tv). he told he's gonna be hosting an amateur/pirate radio show with a friend of his from now on (his first show should be in the coming days) on cellular pirate radio :) please listen in if you can (his name's vince).

i just went to their site. i'm gonna try and find out which show he's gonna be hosting on.

+ the lost in translation dvd details are already out:

In other news, Universal plans to release Focus Films' Lost in Translation on February 3rd (SRP $26.98). Extras will include the Found in Conversation featurette with Bill Murray and director Sofia Coppola, deleted scenes, and an extended scene ("Matthew's Best Hit TV").

Posted by Anonymous | 10:54 AM |

the bush interview that never happened. [ daily kos ]

Posted by Anonymous | 1:21 PM |

24: day 3: 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm.

you know what to do.

Posted by Anonymous | 12:04 PM |

+ doesn't it strike anyone as a bit hypocrit and coward that bush will visit with the families of the british victims of 9/11 and he never -ever- did that with his own people?

i don't have any other choice but to ask the question - why does bush hate americans so much?

oh, and in the same slap-in-the-face news, bush to meet families of british troops killed in iraq.

yeah.
why can't the candidates/dems in the senate stir a shitstorm over everything this man does?

btw, it came out really clear to me these past few days - doesn't bush just look like a 5 year-old?
i'm not trying to bring him down or nothing, but look at him waving around like a proud child finally (*finally*) sent by his mom to run an errand as he boards air force one, as he speaks to people, as he tries to convince people of his plans, how he always has that look of being way in over his head, how he's been handed everything in life by other people (and everything he touches immediately turns to shit), and how he never holds himself responsible for any of his actions (and we could even put how he views the world as either good or evil in there, how it's either or black or white). the dude is in arrested development. seriously. i think something happened to him in childhood and he's stuck there.

+ bush critizes gay marriage ruling, citing

said he would work with Congress to "defend the sanctity of marriage."

uh... yeah, us heteros have been giving marriage a great name these past couple of decades. sheesh, is he still drinking?
i wonder how cheney's daughter, who's gay, can join this dumbass' re-election campaign.

+ go read a short chretien interview to see the differences between the canadian and the bush government. very cool interview.
you'll be kicking yourself silly if you're currently living in the u.s. :)

+ uh ... michael kamen died.

Posted by Anonymous | 10:32 AM |

ohmygawd!

"cop that shit". timbaland + missy.

this is the first time i've heard it.
whoa.

so, yeah, i was finally able to find myself a copy of the timbaland & magoo disc.
but - i got the one and only copy in the city. weird, uh? how much of a hick town is this, really?

hey, btw, when the hell did kylie's body language get released???
i just saw it at the store. i'm thinking this is the uk import but it was very reasonably priced (same as the other new releases). i'm gonna read a couple of reviews and then i'm seriously thinking of getting it this weekend (unless there's a special domestic version in the works).

damn. allmusic says it's gonna get released over here feb 10 2004.
i'm not waiting that long :)

it was released yesterday in the uk.

Posted by Anonymous | 2:02 PM |

hello.
for a blogger, i've been kinda quiet these past couple of days.
no reason, really. i just didn't have anything to say (not that it usually matters).

a couple of things this morning.

+ the lord of the rings: the two towers (extended edition) 4-disc and 5-disc sets are out today. go out and buy 'em.

+ also out is the new timbaland & magoo - under construction, pt. ii, with the most god awful, high school collage cover ever. come on timmy, you got some money. (oh, okay. i kinda take back some of it - it looks like they airbrushed the two on the cover. that makes it just a tad less amateurish.

+ here's a nice site following mr bush's much-awaited visit to britain:
interwebnet.org - amnesty & friends of the earth make demands

+ go take a look at the comments at daily kos about bush's official "visit" (does bubble really know how much he's hated?).

btw, bush has refused to go to the british parliament because he didn't want to have to answer questions from the british mp's (who are real people, compared to the dems at the u.s. senate).

Posted by Anonymous | 10:27 AM |

.:: is it just me or does it feel like the friends writers (and i'd also throw in the actors too as their performances have been rather bland and lame for the past year or two) are just biding their time until the finale? it feels as if they're just wasting time until the last one. and this started, for me, two seasons ago; right around the time they started saying it was their last season, each and every year.

i think i'm done with them.

.:: well, the canadiens actually managed to outscore the sens 3-2 last night. and that's even though they were outshot 40-13!! (and they usually can't score more than one goal a game *and* can't hold onto a lead to save their lives.)

i'm telling you, every time they scored felt like i was cinderella. it was so weird.

.:: oh, so last night we started watching finding nemo but only got to the half-hour mark. the disc was dirty and it kept doing its little freeze/skip dance. i cleaned it up but then i saw that it was also scratched a bit. also cleaned those up but there were tiny scratches left and i couldn't get rid of them and they made watching the film wholly a frustrating experience. so we stopped and returned it at 11 pm.

we're gonna rent it another day; the roommate talked about buying it if she liked the film. she told me she liked the first 30 minutes, so i think that's what's gonna happen :)

.:: alec baldwin is always a lot of fun to watch when he's hosting snl.
and this was only the second time i was hearing missy's "pass that dutch" (how cool is that song??). the fun of the song wasn't even lost through the snl bland mix that usually craps up rap/hip hop acts.

i didn't care much about her doing "work it" (again). i don't like bands playing "old" hits just for the hell of it. even though, admittedly, i did sit through it and the song was still a lot of fun. play something new, something we haven't heard before.

Posted by Anonymous | 10:38 AM |

10 minutes in and the montreal canadiens have actually managed to score two goals; 36 seconds apart, no less!

it was weird, it felt like i was watching a highlight reel 'cause as soon as they replayed the first goal, the game came back on, there was a shot and ... a goal! what?

now it's 2-1 montreal 'cause they suck. lol

_
forgot to mention this last week but tonight on snl: alec baldwin is hosting -- with missy elliott bringing some much needed funky music!
(that's weird. her official site still has the "under construction" theme. no changes and the new album gets released in one week.)
i'm crossing my fingers for a timmy cameo.

Posted by Anonymous | 8:03 PM |

well, the christmas shopping season has started.
today wasn't too bad, what with being a saturday and all, but scratch the weekends off the shopping list from now on. it's gonna hectic. it was hell trying to drive around in the slushed parking lots, with everyone driving around.

but
i did find some cool cd's (couldn't find the jay-z album, though; anyone got their hands on it?):

+ ryan adams - rock n roll // i finally got this after trying to find the store that had the lowest price on it
+ vincent vallières - chacun dans son espace // friend of a friend who i got to know a few years back. this is his 3rd album

btw, that's a nice site. ryan's.

oh, and i finally found a rental copy of finding nemo :)
i'm happy 'cause the roommate actually set aside tonight as movie night and we've been meaning to see finding nemo for a while now.

happiness ensues.

Posted by Anonymous | 4:06 PM |

please know that

+ the sudden/new bush exit strategy in iraq is only designed to get president bush some kind of hope for re-election; it is not designed this way because the iraqis are now able to run everything. hell, the bush admnistration's army can't even hold the country secure, how do you suppose a new iraqi police force are supposed to do it? the bush administration does not care about 'raqis; they only care about themselves. this is pretty obvious with this new turn of events (remember when they kept saying they didn't wanna rush the turnover? that was this summer).

+ the bush administration is having special "free speech zones" created in london, hidden well away from the president's route, for when the president comes into the country (the iraq invasion is really not popular in the country and its people actually let their representatives know about this). bush administration: we're pussies so we'll try and control everything -- even in your country.

+ president bush still hasn't authorized the whole truth about 9/11 to come out to the public. he is obviously hidding something.

+ saudi arabia were the ones who attacked the u.s. on 9/11, but that, because of the bush's close relationship with the saudi royal family, the white house isn't going after them. instead it decied to go against an old chip in its shoulder and attacked a country that had oil - iraq.

+ iraq had //nothing// to do with 9/11. nothing.
it had absolutely no ties to al-qaeda.
saddam and osama hated each others' guts.
saddam had no weapons of mass destruction.
the u.n. was doing a fine job monitoring the country on its own before the u.s. bombed the hell out of an innocent country.
now terrorists flock from all over to go kill the hell out of americans stationed there.
president bush created this terrorist magnet. innocent iraqis die every day because of this.

sorry about going all michael moore on your asses but i needed to have a post with all those things in (and since it's about the bush administration's mismanagement of everything, it does get boring and repetitive to write about each and every detail in their slimy agenda every day).

Posted by Anonymous | 11:53 AM |

well, i didn't die yesterday. woohoo!! so i'll be able to enjoy the free weekend :)

see, i don't have my snow tires on just yet. that'll be done monday morning.
but god decided to drop us a shitload of snow (okay, not necessarily a shitload per se, but the winds made up the rest of the blizzard-like weather we got) thursday night and yesterday looked like white hell.

i seriously considered not going into work. the thought got worse when i saw the local news and they mentioned the school buses not doing their rounds and the numerous cars going off the roads.

i didn't wanna die going to work.

i did. thought i'd go slowly and cross my fingers.
well, things went pretty smoothly, actually.
i was happy.
and coming back was also an experiment in careful, keep-your-feet-on-the-break-pedal driving.

but i survived.
and this morning the streets look good. it should all melt away this week. so i'll be good.

_
today i wanna check out some new releases i haven't been able to get to just yet: jay-z - the black album that just came out yesterday, maybe look up death in vegas - scorpio rising, hope to find a copy of ryan adams - rock n roll at future shop because they have it at the lowest price in town, and, shit, there was another one. dammit. i knew i should've written it down.

oh well. we'll see how it goes.
maybe i'll swing by the used record stores downtown first. or tomorrow, since the parking meters'll be free and the snow'll be nicer to me.

Posted by Anonymous | 11:09 AM |

jean chrétien will be honored at tomorrow's liberal party convention in toronto, which is supposed to confirm paul martin as the next prime minister of canada.

oh, that's not the news; no, no, no.

bono will be attending.

that's :: b o n o ::, people!!

apparently bono struck a political relationship with martin a few years ago around the subject of third world debt and aids relief. he said something about martin that's got me relaxing a little bit about him becoming our next prime minister:

"He (Martin) struck me as more than a money man, actually, he had some vision about it,"

Posted by Anonymous | 12:41 PM |

lmao!

you know that dream-giveaway.com thing?
lol

i just went to fill the form they sent me. i only have to fill out my snail mail info, no biggie there. but then i came to this little section:

Due to several winners that have been impersonated, we now require that you pay for shipping as verification that you are the actual winner. We apologize for this inconvenience but it is to make sure that YOU get your X-Box, not someone else!
You will only be charged for the shipping option that you select below. The X-Box itself is of no charge.

lmao!
and of course they're asking that i pay for this with my credit card :)

can anyone find a microsoft contact address? their site is having me jumping through hoops to get to any kind of info.

Posted by Anonymous | 11:11 AM |

george soros, a man the world never thought could exist.

okay. i read about this man pledging $5 billion to moveon.org the other day and didn't think much of it except of course for, 'good for them'. but today i read billmon's article and the bit is explained further. george soros is on a mission - to oust the bush administration in 2004. and he's got money. and he's also recruiting his hella-rich friends in to help.

yes, they're from the left.
dunno if there are strings attached or not (although, giving money to moveon.org is a brilliant move since they're not a political party per se) but this is a nice change of events. finally someone with enough money, and seemingly enough sincere willpower, pushing to oust bush in '04.

more power to him and i think we've just gotten a huge shot in the arm on our mission. i hope we hear more from this guy as the race to next year closes in (and i do believe once the dems settle on one candidate for the presidency almost every democratic/leftist alliance will shift to this one guy no matter what - the ultimate goal is a bush/cheney-free white house next year, and outside of the various candidate bickering every democrat still knows this).

Posted by Anonymous | 9:38 AM |

okay. i need your opinion on something.

is this dream-giveaway.com legit?

take a look and let me know. i just got an email. i'm pasting it here so you can tell me whether or there's something fishy here, or if there could be any problem with doing what they're asking in the email.

Greetings,

This email address was entered into our November Microsoft X-Box promotional competition
by either yourself or a friend, or perhaps a family member, at www.dream-giveaway.com

This is a prize draw, you have actually won a brand new Microsoft X-Box Gaming Console!

Your package also includes these top 5 games:
- Halo
- Metal Gear Solid 2
- Max Payne
- Splinter Cell
- Panzer Dragoon Orta

You are now invited to simply login to our website and claim your prize that you have already won
There will be only 9 winners in total this month, out of thousands of emails. So do count yourself lucky!

We have provided the following web link for you, it is temporary and expires in 72 hours.
If you do not login within this time your winning shall unfortunately be returned to the prize pool.

Here is your link!
http://www.dream-giveaway.com/................ [ link deleted ]

On this page you will need to enter this pass code number to proceed:

[ code deleted so no one else can claim this prize if it does indeed end up being legit :) ]

This is very important. Do not lose that number!
Put in your address, and we will send your X-Box to you.

We hope that you will enjoy your new X-Box gaming console.

Congratulations on winning,

>From Microsoft and the Dream-Giveaway.com team!

thanks.

Posted by Anonymous | 11:26 PM |

here it is again -- the 24 watercooler (or notepad, if only one or two of us end up hanging out here).

once again - consider the comments section spoiler-filled.

Posted by Anonymous | 10:01 PM |

i keep seeing the ads for tonight's show and let me tell you - something will happen tonight on 24.

(this was my little weekly reminder for you to watch the show.)

Posted by Anonymous | 6:37 PM |

hmm. okay.
i don't know how to go about talking about yesterday, a splendid day spent driving around on my own in montreal.
let's see.

first off, i managed to get the fuck out of my apartment by 12:30 pm. i usually go down to montreal later on in the day but i was seeing two movies and the first one was at 5:25.

map in hand i decided to try cd esoterik first so i could check out their selection and then go to l'oblique to finish off my list since i knew they'd have most of what i was looking for indie-wise at cheap prices.

i managed to park on ste-catherine. i walked the guy/st-marc(?) blocks to see where the store was, back and forth, couldn't find it. i also couldn't find a public phone with a phone book. went in a convenience store and looked through their phone book. ah! 1841c ste-catherine ouest. remember that address, folks, 'cause it's gonna come in very handy next time you're in town.

i'd actually parked 3 parking meters away from the place!! lol. i went in. whoa. okay. the place is small-ish. but damn if i didn't feel like the kid in a candy store!! everything. they had everything (okay - minus the new explosions in the sky). shit. i actually had to put some back in order to get other ones, etc etc. i left with 5 cd's ($103, not bad. btw, 4 of the 5 albums i got were $18.99 - how amazing is that?? they're usually $25-$27 at my sotres -- if they even have them; which they usually don't).

i could've gotten at least two more but i was holding off for l'oblique - holding off so i could maybe get them for $2 less. what was i thinking? the gas alone to get on the other side of town was close to that amount anyway. fucker. needless to say, later on i get to l'oblique and they're closed on mondays... i should've gotten those two albums abck then. i almost went back. lol. next time i know where to go shopping :)

here's what i got at cd esoterik:

the decemberists - her majesty the decemberists, matmos - the civil war, out hud - street dad, the postal service - give up, the silver mt. zion memorial orchestra & tra-la-la band with choir - "this is our punk-rock," thee rusted satellites gather+sing,

i also managed to pass by archambault and hmv, and even though by the time i was at hmv i was trying to find something to buy 'cause it was my last place, i couldn't. i also didn't want to get just anything for the sake of it, you know? i've matured :) i was actually successful in holding off buying anything just because i had money to spend.

at the archambault i was able to find the "first" gza album, liquid swords, which i immediately snatched up (again, $18.99) 'cause i'd never seen it around here and these are usually high-priced oldies anyway.

then i went on to the cinema du parc to check out my two films.
i actually got the membership card - 8 movies for $48. $6 a film. not bad. that's their matinee prices. the card's good for a whole year.

i'll start with the 2nd film i saw.

the eye ("jian gui") | pang brothers | 2002

i was let down. the film's not bad but you can't follow lost in translation with a "horror" film. unless it's really really scary, which i was hoping it was. but it's not. there are 2 or 3 scares really good scares. really good. creepy. takes hold of your chest for you kind of scares. really good. but the acting is so-so. the story's kinda good with the spiritual/philosophical aspects it treated. but i thought i was going into a roller-coaster hong kong horror film from start to finish. which it's not.

now. the film i should've ended my evening with.

lost in translation | sofia coppola | 2003

hmm. this is another one of those weird movie experiences where i don't really care or know what to say about the film. it's just... this thing. perfect in it's own world. magical. perfect.

i dunno. scarlett johansson blew me away this time. i've always found her a bit off before, but this time she was perfect. and i loved her role/performance, how it was mostly a silent performance. she was just looking, experiencing, taking in the sights, the people, and the life. it's a touching and extremely beautiful performance.

and now bill murray as bob harris. wow. this is a new bill murray. you've never seen this kind of performance before. subdued. dead, but you can see glimpses of the man from time to time (mostly when charlotte is near :)

god i loved this film!!! lol.
sorry, i just had to blurt it out. damn if i wasn't involved in these characters' relationship and how i wanted to be there, how i was there with them.
the film hinges on the performances, on the relationship so much. but sofia makes it all look so effortless. it amkes you wonder what all those other filmmakers are doing, really.

that's it.
i won't talk about the film anymore.
that's the weird thing with these types of film, the ones you fall in love with -- you don't feel the need to justify or explain them. they just are and they're yours.

aw damn. no words can describe them.

Posted by Anonymous | 10:52 AM |

well i'm about to start getting ready for my little montreal adventure now (btw, for those who've been following this mutli-part story - i won't be going to ikea today. sorry to those of you who thought they'd catch a glimpse me there today).

today i shall: buy a lot of good indie albums, catch lost in translation and the eye, and then come back home to enjoy my riches.

this way, with ikea out of the way, i won't be so tight with my money today. i won't splurge it all but $120 will be better as money than a dresser today. and it'll also give me more time to shop the indie stores and look around.

i've been listening to the yeah yeah yeahs album for two straight days now and i couldn't be happier about it. i'd only listened to it a couple of times before but it always seemed not to fit with the mood i was in or i found it too abrasive at the time. but now i'm finding that it's not abrasive at all if you don't crank it all the way up. it can be a nice waking up album.

but it's too damn short. it is. you press play and it feels like after a couple of songs you're already down to the stellar "maps", which means you've only 2 songs left after that. the hidden song's really good.

oh, hey.
i meant to blog this.
watch the diane sawyer interview with jessica lynch this tuesday (abc, 9:30 pm) (to go along with the boycotting of last night's horrible tv movie). actually, private lynch seems pissed and not all that happy about how she's been spun into this war hero to drum up support for bushco's war effort.

Early reports had Lynch fighting her attackers Rambo-style and suffering knife and bullet wounds.

She said, "I did not shoot, not a round, nothing."

oops.

Posted by Anonymous | 9:45 AM |

that's it. lost in translation it is. thanks.

Posted by Anonymous | 2:26 PM |

oh my fucking god. it's a beauty.
daily kos - the US has waged a war of words to undermine the Council:

The United States is deeply frustrated with its hand-picked council members because they have spent more time on their own political or economic interests than in planning for Iraq's political future, especially selecting a committee to write a new constitution

and

"They just don't make decisions when they need to."

this is brilliant; even for the cheney administration.
the u.s. fucking *hand-picks* this council, the one that will represent the iraqis in their brand new, shiny democracy - finally, no more dictatorships, right? (btw, isn't a dictatorship when someone "dictates" what other people should do?) well there goes your pretense of democracy.

Posted by Anonymous | 2:18 PM |

i check metacritic to see the scores they gave to elephant and lost in translation, to help make my mind up for tomorrow - and they give lost 92! elephant gets 74.

well, it's not a clear victory since i'd really love seeing elephant and i know i'd so fall for it, but my mind's (semi) made up - i'm gonna go for lost in translation :)

also, anyone have any thought about this chest of drawers thing i wanna get at ikea?

let me know what you think about it because i loved it in the catalogue but every time i take a look at it online i'm not sure anymore.
thanks.

Posted by Anonymous | 11:04 AM |

random bits and pieces today:

stylus reviews gordon downie's battle of the nudes.

please make sure you don't watch nbc's horrible saving jessica lynch sunday night.
does anyone really believe the "saving" aspect of this story anymore?? didn't the media debunk that bullshit months ago as nothing more than the wussy staged "rescue" it all really was? she was in no danger in that hospital; the staff even tried to give her to the americans at one point but were turned away.

come on. i can't believe no fuss as been raised about this in the mass media.

Posted by Anonymous | 12:39 PM |

okay. here's the cbc newsworld story on the chrétien tribute i was babbling on about this afternoon.

shit. there's almost nothing compared to what i witnessed this afternoon.
i wish there was a transcript of this thing. it was nice to see the house of commons letting their collective guard down and bathing in such a free lovefest.

Posted by Anonymous | 9:39 PM |

well, damn. just as i was settling into the idea of seeing lost in translation next monday (along with the eye), i catch a bit of le septieme on tv and they're fuckin' talking about gus van sant's elephant, praising the damn thing like every serious film theorist is doing. there was nothing new said, they were extremely eloquent and sensitive when talking about the film -- it was just not the right time to about it like that.

now i'm confused again. lol

_
never swear you won't see a certain film. never do that. not even to yourself.
of course it's oscar contention was overblown, hold bob and harvey weinstein responsible for that, but damn if i just didn't have a great time watching chicago and damn if it didn't just zip by in no time.

and renée zelwegger can act her way out of a paperbag. she can quip jokes, she can act, she can dance. bravo to her for pulling this thing off. and the other star of this show, richard gere, the one-face man, actually dazzled me more than once. thank a great script, good songs (that kinda all sound like the same one), and great choreography for that. oh, and yes, rob marshall, i will admit, knows how to direct a fuckin' flick (but a musical -- i'll reserve judgement on other genres when i see what he does with them). but yes, i loved the direction. and the editing. and the sound design (the atmosphere was all around me!).

last mention goes to taye diggs who nailed his part even though it was probably a total of 5 minutes of screen time. and that script, again. i know nothing about the musical so i'll credit the script for them but the little taye diggs/christine baranski "voiceover" bits were tremendously fun and they helped nail the feeling of the piece.

very nice.
here ends my personal feud with rob marshall and his chicago.
it was still not worthy of winning 150 oscars earlier this year but he simply won me over.

Posted by Anonymous | 8:49 PM |

i just watched about half an hour of cbc newsworld where canadian mp's paid tribute to out-going prime minster jean chretien today. it was something to see. i would've loved to have been there. i was just moved by it and proud to be canadian (anybody got an idea where i could put a small maple leaf outline tatoo?).

anyone can find a transcript, or even news, of this?? i can't find shit and i've been looking through the cbc newsworld site for 10 minutes now.

_
i saw chretien defend his ideas at the house of commons a couple of days ago on tv and i couldn't help but think how you guys down south really don't have a "president". you guys have a monkey, a stringpuppet, but not a real president who can actually talk on his own, have his own ideas to lead the country, or debate intelligently. i know this has been obvious but watching bush for a solid year on tv you kinda lose the idea of what a real leader is and how he speaks.
get someone with his own brain next year, okay? promise.

Posted by Anonymous | 4:10 PM |

well, everybody's blogged this by now - general wesley clark's rock the vote commercial.

at least one of the candidates not named al sharpton has a sense of humor.
i mean, while everyone was busy trying to hype it up with "techno" music and fast cuts (because that's what kids want these days. yeah), general clark takes a few seconds of the precious 30 seconds to talk about outkast. nice... :)

Posted by Anonymous | 12:47 PM |

yeah. this morning while posting i thought it was a slow news day, iraq/bush-wise. but oh, how wrong i was.

go read up on the new reports over at counterpin about iraq wanting to meet with the u.s. just weeks prior to the god-awful invasion about amazing concessions the country was willing to give.

i hope we hear more about this. if this turns out to be the truth, some heads are definitely gonna roll now.

Posted by Anonymous | 12:00 PM |

okay. i got a question for everyone - it looks like next monday i'll be going to montreal for some quick shopping and then catch a movie or two. the cinema du parc has a nice lineup. too much, maybe, because they're showing three films i'd love to see. but i can only catch two of 'em.

it's official - i wanna see the eye.
but which one should i see between elephant and lost in translation?

send me your thoughts. no spoilers, please.
_
last night i realized that november 28th, when we'll be going to see rufus, will be my one-year car anniversary :) brilliant.

_
oh, yesterday i finally put on bubba sparxxx' dark days, bright nights after sleeping on it for some time now (about the time deliverance came out; i finally got his debut but, as with all albums i'm looking forward to and have a potential of falling in love with, i tend to not throw myself into it right away because there's always this fear at the back of my mind telling me it can't be that good. lol. silly me). but damn! would you believe me if i told you i never heard one thing from bubba's albums?? not even "ugly". and can i tell you the joy i felt when that song came on? whoa, shit! and the missy part at the end?? pure genius on timba's part, i say :) anyway. i haven't listened to it the whole way through (on my way to and from work last night) but i had the biggest grin on the whole fuckin' time. this is cool. this is what i wanted. this is so good.

_
alright, the weather's getting with the program so i can go to montreal monday. no snow and the temp's going up a bit. no urgent need for snow tires!! i think this means i'm close to officially going now :)

Posted by Anonymous | 10:24 AM |

my thoughts on 24 - day 3: 2 pm [ swipe for spoilers ]:

i liked how they came back with jack still fighting his problem.
i really give kim props for going to her father with her relationship with chase. that was a cool moment and now jack is a dad for one of the first times in a while. humanized him more than any bomb threat ever will. good. we need more of that, less of jack throwing himself into the fire and coming out unscathed.
and as i've mentioned somewhere else - they really could kill off jack now. i really think chase would be a great replacement if the time ever comes. before you couldn't see jack dying; they didn't have anyone else to push the show with (tony excluded - we still know close to nothing about him and he makes a great ctu director. it would be cool to see him go in the field with jack for a couple of hair-raising episodes but not now - i'm too giddy about chase for now.

oh, and something i forgot to mention when the season started - they got my favorite film waitress -- lucinda jenney :) she's the waitress talking to harvey keitel in the parking in thelma & louise. i noticed her even back then.
i like how her family's problems are not one-dimensional (the "drug dealin' son"); i feel the same with hector's girlfriend. but hector could still use a few more humanizing touches 'cause as of right now i'm only pulling for the girlfriend.

hey, and how much more of an asshole bad guy could you make salazaar out to be, uh? i don't like that performance much. not human enough. they could still be assholes without having the "bad guy" label hanging over their heads every time we see them.

all in all, i really liked this episode. the crackhouse sequence was intense (i really thought the possibility of killing off jack was there) and they seem to be getting the hang of these now. it had a nice flow to it. there's this settling down feeling about it that i don't think was there in the previous two seasons. we were pretty much just shocked and awed with bomb threats and police sirens. this one they're slowly working towards something and it feels great.

Posted by Anonymous | 1:04 PM |

wow.
you know, it must feel like shit being an american journalist these days. other other countries just constantly kick your ass in terms of reporting.
last night i caught this fifth estate (kind of a 60 minutes but with more of a journalistic bent) piece entitled "conspiracy theories" on the relationship between the bushs and the saudis on cbc newsworld.

just click on the link. now.

i didn't know there was an online version of this. this is so cool. go - now.
read it.

it's pretty damaging stuff.
of course we knew about the relationship but this piece goes into detail, starting with bush the first right up to now - including campaign contributions from the bin ladens to bush the first's (through their american lawyers so it wouldn't count as illegal foreign contributions).

this is some excellent reporting.

Posted by Anonymous | 10:26 AM |

reminder: 24 - season three, 2 pm airs tonight. (oh yeah, i'm gonna do this every week while the show is hot.)

_
well, dang. it's that time of year again. i'm itching for montreal shoppin'.

i have this thursday off but the cinema du parc only has lost in translation that'd be cool to see.
but -- next monday they have: elephant, lost in translation, and the eye. and apparently, according to a friend of mine, i need to see the eye.

i also wanna swing by ikea and then this cool indie record store so i can stack up on recent releases.

_
anyone watch last night's daily show with jon stewart?
thanks for the props, dude.
and it feels to finally be able to watch that show. every fuckin' night.

Posted by Anonymous | 12:07 PM |

fox put the bernie mac show right between the simpsons and malcolm!!?? fuck yeah, i say.
wow. i'll finally stop fast-forwarding the half-hour between the two shows.

Posted by Anonymous | 10:31 PM |

they should've let him inject himself.
that woulda been such an "oh... fuck." moment. and they can do whatever the hell they want to, it's only the beginning.

enough said.

Posted by Anonymous | 10:21 PM |

whoa.
okay. so i went out late this afternoon to do the music store rounds and get a few cd's since i had a lot money floating around.

i stopped by the bookstore first. they didn't have the books i wanted but i ended up buying 3 books that i'd been meaning to get. two usually very expensive hardcover books - michael moore's stupid white men and dude, where's my country? (both at 30% off. nice) - and then nick hornby's how to be good - for good measure :) i'm becoming such the literate type. lol (i know, i'm just starting and those are quite far from being considered "literate" novels. but i've never been into books as much as i seem to have become these past few weeks.

after running around a couple of stores and not finding anything useful, i stumbled in to the archambault. after checking out the various genres for cd's on my list (and not having any goddamn luck with it), i heard a friend of mine who works there. so i chatted a bit with him. then i stumbled another friend/acquaintance who works there and we got to talking about music we've been listening to lately.

we talked for about 15-20 minutes, going through hip hop, electro, and jazz. and since i didn't have any luck finding any of rza's earlier works, i asked him about gza, not knowing anything other than his affiliation with the wu-tang since they had two of his albums.

so that's what i went away with, gza/genius's beneath the surface and legend of the liquid sword.

i'm happy. at least i got those without paying *too* much.

oh, another thing i wanted to share. i think this one girl flirted with me. lol. yep. i think it was the wool sweater i was wearing that i've been told looks good on me. anyway. she works at the store, been working there about a year now. i noticed her before, of course. i think she may be a singer, i've never been sure if that was her or not.

anyway, so yeah, she was finishing up with the customer in front of me at the register, and i felt her turn to me so i looked up and she gave me the nicest smile and said 'hi' to me. i said 'hi' back. she wasn't even done with the other customer. so then it's my turn, we smile at each other (i think by this point, i may have been unconsciously getting shy. who knows). so she asks me again how i'm doing. lol. 'pretty good', i say. lol. what else can you talk about? i mean, if you're a dufus like me, that is :)

but anyway, i'll make sure i go back in the next few weeks. she's nice but that's the first time she's really made a point of being extra nice to me, you know?

that's it.

Posted by Anonymous | 6:43 PM |

quote found on bartcop today:

"We no longer live in a free country according to definition of Dubya:
On October 3 this year, he said,
'See, free nations are peaceful nations.
Free nations don't attack each other.
Free nations don't develop "weapons of mass destruction.' "
-- Alex Mnats

does bush really listen to himself? the double-talker. i just hope he doesn't really believe what comes out of his mouth, 'cause if he does, you guys are really in deep shit.

and then you have this, from daily kos:
wolfowitz spoke at georgetown university friday and then took some questions.
go check it out. it's fun.
it's weird but it's at times like these that you see that georgie boy has actually aquired a real skill by being able to deflect real lines of questioning (even though he makes it look lame and horribly obvious) and staying close to the script. it makes wolfowitz look like he's doesn't get as much press experience as he should.

Posted by Anonymous | 12:20 PM |

oh my god. i finally showed the roommate the last two episodes of last season's 24. woohoo! mission accomplished (banner courtesy of some sailors).

and the best thing is, even though those two episodes were not some of the best ones to ever air (granted -- they did have some amazing moments that i believe outshone the overall quality of the writing), the roommate got so into it by the end (and you people who saw the last 5 minutes of last season know what i'm talking about). man, i believe she was covering her mouth with her hand :) nice...

okay. so now that i've watched the season two in its entirety again, i have some questions (argh, no. actually, scratch that. i don't want them answered just yet in case the new season answers some of them :) thanks, though).

Posted by Anonymous | 10:03 PM |

is your team in need of some goals? just come in and play our very own montreal canadiens, they'll be very accommodating.

the habs lose 5-1 against the rangers tonight.

Posted by Anonymous | 9:46 PM |

aw, there you go!
i knew tonight's snl had a cool musical act - it's outkast, people.

Posted by Anonymous | 10:47 AM |

good morning, everyone.

well, my thinking paid off in the case of the two week trial over at dvdflix.ca; yesterday they received the first two dvd's i sent back on tuesday (that's fast. i'm in quebec and they're out in b.c.).

anyway, here are my next two (still free) dvd's:

enter the dragon
chicago (widescreen)

chicago was a lasf minute pick because a friend of mine told me i'd like it, and since i didn't wanna have to pay to rent it, here it is.

Posted by Anonymous | 10:25 AM |