a broken lull.

since i don't have anything to post Mary just conveniently gave us a Monday Madness challenge.

This week, I'm asking you to choose a letter of the alphabet. Now, list the ten items below that begin with the letter you chose....

A family member: Andre
A movie: As Tears Go By, by Wong Kar-Wai
A game: Agassi Tennis Generation (PS2) (you wanted a game. never said anything about ever having played it.)
An automobile: Audi
Fictional character: Alabama, from True Romance
A famous person: Alexander the Great
A food: Artichoke
A household item: -
A book: American Psycho, by Bret Easton Ellis
A song: As Heaven Is Wide, by Garbage

btw, it's weird but i can't find an album to play that i agree with this morning. oh well.

btw, yesterday, in the mail, i got a couple of Zip discs and that was it.
seeing as i'm obsessive about getting stuff through the mail, and am waiting for a couple of things, i always stop by the mailbox on my way back home after work (i work evenings). i always check but come up empty. well, last night was different as the Doinel Box Set was waiting for me!!! i guess the mailman forgot to put the keys to the lock box and came back. yay. surprise gifts rule!

two quietly fascinating online diaries i recently discovered:
Billy Corgan and Kevin Smith.

Posted by Anonymous | 10:20 AM |

the ex was supposed to call me at 12:30 today. i woke up at noon. it didn't feel like i'd overslept but i went to bed at 1:30 am ! 10 hours of sleep. damn. anyway. i cleaned up the apartment because she would be coming soon enough, or at least would be coming after we went rollerblading. well, 12:30 passed and no call. i did my things and no call. logged off the internet around 1:30 pm and had two messages on my machine. she got home around 12:00 but had stuff to do, then a roommate went online so she couldn't call me, then she forgot. oops. her bad; i'm pissed. seems all the roommates were going out for an improvised picnic this afternoon and she was going with them. she would bring her rollerblades and if i wanted to i could go join them. yeah right. being around her friends is not my idea of a good time, post-semi-breakup. i'd like some time to talk with her, you know. so i went out rollerblading on my own at my favorite place with my trusty iPod :) tonight it seems they're going to a movie. i'm invited but again - i don't wanna be with her friends right away (maybe she's scared of my reaction. i dunno). and she's going with them. of course. i'm feeling really bitchy right now :)

anyone from Canada ever order from Threadless before? what can i expect, customs-wise?

8:16 PM

talked with the ex tonight. it was good. seems she wasn't going with her roommates to the movies tonight, she knew i was interested in the film and since they were going, she offered it to me and she'd go along. but we're not doing anything together tonight. i had my mind set on watching one of my films. and it's better this way. she agreed. we talked for a long time. she's as torn up about it, btw, which makes me feel both good (i'm not as alone as i was in this) and guilty about seeing her like this. talking makes things easier, is all i wanna share, i guess :)
have a good evening.
ps. what are you doing tonight?

Posted by Anonymous | 4:17 PM |

ah. another lazy, hazy day. the skies were clouded and the air cool but the sun poked its funny head out from time to time. woke up early and spent the afternoon at the ex-roommate's place outside of the city. but first i swung by HMV to get a cd (which ended up being two thanks to cheap prices - HMV, who knew?).

GORILLAZ - DEMON DAYS - Limited Edition (ha. i actually got the Murdoc cover thinking it was 2D (ie. Albarn). nice packaging, though.)
VERVE//REMIXED3 & UNMIXED3 ($14.99. not bad. reviews haven't been that great but the remixers, and the series, are always, at the very least, engaging and fascinating.)

9:54 pm

...and of course, once you open up the Limited Edition booklet, you can switch between all four character shots :P lol ...yay.

i just went running and it felt hella good. there won't be anymore messing around (apparently) between the ex and i. i just asked her on the phone earlier tonight if, after rollerblading tomorrow afternoon, she'd like to have dinner, watch a movie and sleep over. she said probably not. i asked her if she would ever sleep over again. she said probably not. we're officially, officially, broken off now. see, she's been avoiding it the past couple of weeks, even when she would stay over late to watch a movie, she'd always find an excuse (although they were always real) to go back home. i kinda knew but i didn't think she'd have the courage to actually stand up and take a stand for both of us. see, we both knew it would end at some point. we couldn't work as a couple. we knew that much ages ago. but messing around and hanging out was fun and we both had someone there for one another. i was both hurt and pissed when i hung up. not pissed at her, though, just at the situation, which, as crappy as it might be, is the best way it could end, really. my initial reaction was to be passive-aggressive and make her feel guilty about it. but it was manipulative and i want to move on from that (i can be manipulative when i feel hurt. that was my little way of getting back). but i decided, after laying in my bed and dozing off a little, that i would try to run it out. i took my iPod and went outside. Jet's Get Born, which i got for the ex-roommate last week and never really listened to since, was the best running mate i could've asked for tonight. wow. it blew my mind and instantly filled me with joy and made me feel hopeful (i know it's corny, believe me, but it's true!). it felt like such a geeky movie moment but there it was, happening to me as the sun was setting down. they took me right out of my brand new blues (which i was consciously trying to fight anyway). but not by entertaining me, the songs are actually about loss and moving on. it was quite stirring.
so that's it. end of story :)
have a good evening.

Posted by Anonymous | 5:16 PM |

holy shit. Tarantino and Rodriguez to make double-feature Grind House flick for Spring 2006.

today's a rainy day. and glad it is too. Future Roommate was suppose to call me up this morning to start bringing in some boxes and maybe talk the landlords into renting us a rug cleaning machine. thankfully the landlords haven't gotten back to me yet and Future Roommate either. so i have the day off before going to work tonight.

i'll probably go buy some groceries and then look at my ZipList from time to time to see what they'll ship me, watch a dvd or listen to some of my recently-acquired music (it's piling up :) have a great afternoon.

Posted by Anonymous | 1:25 PM |

i've been tracking my Amazon order since getting that email sunday night about it finally being processed (and getting a complimentary upgrade). but nothing's moved since then. last night i noticed that my package was finally accepted at the Post office. yeah, great. move it, folks. i just checked and it's still stuck there. i just heard a car pull up and loud cb radio crackling. i look outside ... and see an Xpresspost truck parked in front of my apartment!! :D here's what i got:

The Decemberists - Picaresque
Antony and the Johnsons - I am a bird now
the books - Lost and Safe

yay! :)

on top of that i ordered Criterion's Jules and Jim two-disc set today, which is coming out next week, from DVDPacific, hoping they would get the sets in early. well, they did :) the order hasn't shipped yet but they just filled out that part of the order. nice.

Future Roommare dropped by earlier today with Cute Girl. he wanted the apartment's address and phone number to switch his stuff over for next month (and it's official -- we're gonna have Bell ExpressVU ! :D i'm not necessarily a fan of Bell per se but i can't wait to navigate the world of satellite tv :). he also wants to get the rugs cleaned by this weekend so he can start bringing some boxes in. he's a positive guy and cool to be around. we'll have fun together. he's also a bit older than my usual crowd and we get along great so it should be fun to have a new best friend ;)

this ain't helping my desperate music-lover's search on Sleater-Kinner /The Woods/Dave Fridmann i had going late monday night.

Ismail Merchant has passed away.

Posted by Anonymous | 2:50 PM |

24
4:00 AM - 7:00 AM / Season Finale

Naked Mandy !!! i wasn't sure at first, i thought maybe it was the chick that was with the pilot earlier this season. happy to see Mandy back, and to have her involvement with Palmer's poisoning come out, but introducing her naked in bed once again is getting a bit lame and old. she's an assassin, she doesn't just sleep with her victims to get them. have more respect than that.

the season's finally over. i'm a bit sad, actually. a lot of it didn't gel, some of it was inspired. it was better than Season 3 but still well under par from what they started out with. bringing back the old players made it feel like they couldn't fly without them. a bit weak. fun, but still weak.

ending with Jack Bauer 'dead' was brilliant. i haven't read the forums this season so i don't know if that means Bauer's out or just his identity. will he come back next season? (hypothetical question - i don't wanna know anything.) i'm hoping he comes back as a black ops for Tony and Michelle or something. (before he escaped i thought they were setting up Season 5 with the Chinese and US Government hunting him down.) i thought we were gonna see Black Ops Jack this season given that the Government was after him at the end of last season (for helping Ramon escape?). hopefully they go with it full-on next season. it would be cool to get out of CTU. they've gotta do it. plus, how many times can the US be threatened on its soil? come on. they promised us a brand new start for Season 4, but they brought Jack back into familiar territory; even bringing back the old gang (hey, Kim didn't make an appearance after all! how weird, actually). hopefully this one's the right one. (saving the world from the confines of CTU is getting a bit old by now. i'd like to see them follow Jack but make it smaller this time around.)

oops, forgot about these two - 1. i was scratching my brain real hard when Secretary Heller was able to find out that, after 10 full minutes, his son Richard was either bi or homosexual. whew! great unnecessary reveal/digression, geniuses! but then, this was the only way to reveal Mandy - or was it? shit. they could've just posted her portrait like they did with the guy and we would've been as happy and excited about it than finding her in bed. anyway. 2. the missile takedown was the most anti-climactic thing i've ever seen in a 24 episode. thank god they had another half hour left for something else to happen and end the season with.

ps. i just read the Kansas City Star interview with Carlos Bernard and it reminded that nothing can take away from the fact that this is the season that brought us the electrifying moment of Tony's terrific return to 24. i will always remember my reaction when 1. i got all agitated and frenzied when they cut to commercial, leaving us with Jack's immortal words, 'the only person i can trust', and 2. got a mini orgasm when the garage door opened and Tony shot those baddies down, saving Jack and Audrey ...sigh... :P

12:47 am

damn. i've been getting lost in TheForce.Net's Jedi Council Forums ... and it's making me seriously itch for another veiwing of Revenge of the Sith! :D i'll probably give my friend/work partner a call tomorrow to see when he plans to go :)

btw, my Blogger Template got fucked tonight. i was able to recover most of it (after what feels like hours of searching and editing) but i can't get same-day posts to appear in separate boxes (instead of just being divided by a line). can anybody help me out? thanks.

Posted by Anonymous | 10:41 PM |

you wanted my thoughts on Revenge of the Sith:

if you're not going to see it (and you even have just a vague interest in Star Wars), i'm going to fucking hunt you down and kill you with my bare hands.

are you out of your fucking mind ???!!!

at some point i might be able to find the words to describe what i saw tonight. but not right now. i'm too exhausted. and i gotta let it sink in (or maybe see it a second time :)

in other news, Mary sent me this music meme:

1. Total volume of music files on my computer?
let's see. i gotta check because i don't hold much music on my harddrive. i like cd's.
134 MB. told ya it wasn't much. as soon as i encode an album for my iPod, if the ex-roommate doesn't want it on hers, i delete it immediately.

2. The last CD I bought was?
last cd... got my Merge package -- Spoon's Gimme Fiction and M. Ward's Transfiguration of Vincent and Transistor Radio.

3. Song playing right now:
none. just got back from a very noisy movie;)

4. Five songs I listen to a lot or that mean a lot to me (in no particular order):
hmm. shit. i'm more into albums but if i had to pick 5 songs off the top of my head...
NERD - Rock Star. always gets me going. always.
Garbage - Why Do You Love Me. this songs never fails to get me singing at the top of my lungs.
Garbage - You Look So Fine. their closing songs are always favorites of mine just because they've got this serene quality to them. this one, though, with the extended instrumental coda, just rocks. live it was pure heaven.
Radiohead - You and Whose Army. because of Thom's demented live performance. (Amnesiac rocks. hard.)
Radiohead - Myxomatosis. almost all of Hail to the Thief but if i had to choose one it would be this one in particular.

5. Which 5 people are you passing this baton to, and why?
Karen, Teresa, and mishie ...because they're my musical friends.

i had an email waiting for me from Amazon.ca when i got home -- my order shipped today ... sunday!! what? i didn't know that was possible. but this wasn't the best part -- it was sent via Canada Post Xpresspost (complimentary upgrade). wtf?? i waited about 3 days for these in stock items to ship; maybe that's the reason. anyway. don't care. this is cool enough:)

5:13 pm

off to my 24 Season Finale night. we have last week's episode left to watch and i'm gonna order us some Pizza Hut to celebrate :)
enjoy yourselves now.

Posted by Anonymous | 12:23 AM |

i dunno where the info surfaced but here it is. mishie mentioned it in her blog but i forgot to ask her about it before she left for New York. Coldplay are rumoured to play 5 songs on tonight's SNL Season Finale (maybe to keep host Lindsay Lohan out of the picture as much as possible :) and hopefully we spot mishie :)

i just finished Empire, and damn was it good.
there's no way Lucas was able to bring it all back (i'm hating Episodes I and II so much right now) for Episode III, but i'm hoping he did. ::hope hope hope::

on to Jedi now :)

Posted by Anonymous | 8:24 PM |

my Merge order just came in!

SPOON - GIMME FICTION - limited edition, 2cd
M. WARD - TRANSFIGURATION OF VINCENT
M. WARD - TRANSISTOR RADIO

that is all for the day. tonight's my last shift for the week. the ex and i actually started our Star Wars marathon last night after work (now the differences between the old trilogy and the new one are clear as day for me. hopefully Episode III is able to bridge some of the gaps between the two series, ie. full-on cgi=awful / live action=rocks). ps. i think it had been eight years since i'd last seen Episode IV (and i don't think i'd even watched the other two special editions that came out after that). i've been used to the new films for the past, what, six years now. it freaked me out how much magic and power the old films contain and how i'd forgotten about the damn spell they have on you. i missed that. i actually got excited again -excited like a kid again- watching a (Star Wars) film. Episoe I and II were okay, the cgi was brilliant, but they weren't as clunky or real, and certainly the performances and characters weren't as real as the ones from the previous trilogy. well, i'm gearing up for the weekend. still waiting for a final answer from my friend about sunday night.

we've got Oldboy !!!!!!!
with original Korean language (and french subtitles)!!
ohmyfuck. and me and my crowded weekend. goddammit. i'll try to fit it in an afternoon next week before work.

Posted by Anonymous | 1:56 PM |

scratch that Mercury Rev order with Amazon.ca -- i won the damn album online!!! :P imagine my surprise this morning when i opened my mailbox and an email informed me i'd won the uk limited edition cd/book and two singles. i changed the order around this afternoon. i'm still getting some cool cd's, though. winning the album opened things up so i could dig deeper into new and interesting music. i'm very happy about that.

gearing up for the Star Wars extravaganza this weekend. i thought i'd see it with my work partner but he's right in the middle of his two-week vacation. the ex has only seen Episode I. today i got the risky idea of watching all four films (no Ep I) with the ex starting friday and ending sunday evening, then we'd be able to go see Episode III at the theater sunday night (you can't go see that film without knowing the full emotional baggage that comes with it (i'm expecting a few emotional moments on my part)). hopefully she won't get too numbed by the crash course. she actually agreed to this. this should be grand. i left a message tonight on my partner's machine to ask if he and his girlfriend would like to join us sunday night. they usually go see movies in the afternoon and they're on vacation so i'm not expecting a yes but it'd be really cool if they would.

a friend from work should be getting out of the theater as i'm writing this. he left work early tonight so he could catch the midnight showing. (btw, why the fuck did they release this on a thursday??? why not a wednesday, or friday, like everyone else?)

1:16 pm

i got my Star Wars tickets for sunday night :)
and when i came back i had a message from my work partner and they were interested in my little offer. but they thought it was for saturday night or afternoon. i left them a message detailing our tight Star Wars Schedule. hopefully they'll still want to, and be able to, sunday night.

Posted by Anonymous | 2:16 AM |

Coldplay will be at the Montreal Bell Centre August 3.
according to Frank chromewaves, Rilo Kiley will be supporting the band on their Toronto gig the day before so i assume it will be the same for the Montreal show.

Posted by Anonymous | 1:59 PM |

tired. i took the day off from work. i have a couple of horrible knots or pinched nerves in my back and neck that appeared yesterday morning. i woke up with them and they made it hell working last night so i decided to today off and rest a little. today's also tuesday so we know what that means -- new releases! here's what i got:

MEMPHIS BLEEK - 534
TEAM AMERICA: WORLD POLICE (UNCENSORED)

for some reason Future Shop didn't have the System of a Down disc, and, as expected, Mercury Rev's Secret Migration (limited edition, 2cd).

used record store finds:

JET - GET BORN (for the ex-roommate, who, surprisingly, kept falling for every single song released from this album last year)
R. KELLY - HAPPY PEOPLE/U SAVED ME
SANS PRESSION - RÉPLIQUES AUX OFFUSQUÉS
LUCINDA WILLIAMS - CAR WHEELS ON A GRAVEL ROAD (which was the reason i went back today)

i'll use tonight to take care of myself and probably watch a film or two.
take care of yourselves.

5:42 pm

since FutureShop.ca won't have the Mercury Rev record and i'll be in no mood to check the store every other day (although, there is a nice new little feature on the FS site - Store Stock, where you enter different stores and, i think, the item's availability shows up from now on everytime you go to an item's page), i just put an order with Amazon.ca. only $4 more than FS. i'll let you know the full order when i get it (hopefully before the week is out).

24 renewed for two more seasons! (i gotta watch the last two episodes; then it's monday night's two-hour season finale, baby!!)
just jared dot com |

Posted by Anonymous | 5:01 PM |

ALFIE
Charles Shyer, 2004

8.0
the film starts out rather weak, relying on Jude's charm to work on us but Alfie is a bit of an ass and is thus kind of hard to like. but there's a point where it starts to settle into its groove. that's when i started noticing all the subtle work done by the actors. it's quite amazing, really. on the surface there's this easily identifiable film about a charming guy who won't commit. but underneath all of it director Charles Shyer is working out small moments. after a rather shaky start, the film ends up being surprisingly affecting. it's never manipulative nor syrupy, it works much more honestly, having Alfie discover his own self along the journey. and Alfie's self-awareness is quite refreshing as well. moments and feelings (like he mentions in the film, in fact) just creep up on you. i have a feeling the original script had all of that in it. and i think the fact that Elaine Pope and Charles Shyer, who adapted the screenplay for this remake, being producers on this film had a lot to do with the fact that it retained such class and honesty. a surprisingly moving film helped by Jude's rather melancholic performance. we know he can be the most blazingly charming man on earth, and he was rightly cast for this job, but there's also this aching side that Alfie discovers about himself that Jude excelled at in this film. kind of like a quiet heartbreak. enjoy.

Posted by Anonymous | 7:16 PM |

hello. yesterday the ex and i went shopping. she brought one of her roommates with which i get along quite well. tremendous fun was had by all. at the end of our run we stopped by the used record stores downtown and i was actually able to find some cool stuff at this one tiny store and a Ron Sexsmith cd i'd been looking at for the past couple of weeks at another:

THE ROOTS - THE ROOTS COME ALIVE - limited edition, 2cd
THE ROLLING STONES - METAMORPHOSIS - abko remastered series, cd/sacd
RON SEXSMITH - RETRIEVER

got this at FS:

BRITISH SEA POWER - OPEN SEASON

i didn't even know the live Roots cd was out as two editions. i saw that once i got back home and realized i'd lucked out once again and had bought the limited edition :)

okay. here's my huge used find, folks. somewhat controversial because the film is right up there with Braveheart, actually holding the number one spot, as my most reviled and despised film of all time. the tiny record store holds a few used dvd's but they're mostly full screen versions of crappy popular films and i always see the same ones everytime i'm there. so imagine my fucking total surprise when i saw the following for a mere $14 CDN, taxes included:

ARMAGEDDON (THE CRITERION COLLECTION) (2 DISCS)

!!! lol. i know, i know :P but i had to. it's a fucking Criterion and at $14 not too big a loss, is it? (Amazon.ca is selling it for $78.39!!!) i'm so not regretting buying it. this is the freak release of the Collection, but that's one of the reasons that make this set so special. i could not pass it up. and whatever anyone says about it, it looks damn good in my collection :)

Posted by Anonymous | 8:49 AM |

back from the bar and saying bye to our friend/coworker. we actually fooled him. that was nice to pull off because things always have a way of slipping out. but this time it was cool. not a big turnout but we were expecting a small group. the ex was there (actually got there around the time i was suppose to arrive; she was at another bar with her roommates). cute girl was the first person i spotted. then future roommate (who's been hanging out, but doesn't want to go out with, cute girl) came up to me and we talked. it was nice because although he's moving in in a month we haven't really talked since signing the lease at least a month ago. our schedules are just that fucked up. he was nice but i couldn't get around to going up to everyone else :P cute girl then came up to me while he was talking to me. she was cute. damn. of course she's too immature for me (although that, of course, doesn't show up when you just hang out with her once every few months) but damn am i jealous of Future Roommate. he's a nice guy, though. gotta ask about their thing. talked about having her move in but having to do chores or wearing bikinis all the time. he wasn't jealous and dove right in with us. nice. lol. anyway. i just wanted to share what my quick night out was like beofre taking my shower and going to bed. later.

11:28 am

Mercury Rev's Dave Fridmann-produced The Secret Migration is coming out next tuesday ($11.99 at Future Shop). everyone knows that. but what i didn't know was that a 2cd limited edition is also on its way (although a bit pricier). FS has it for $16.99. in other new release news - Memphis Bleek finally drops his 534 album next tuesday. FS has it for $11.99. it can sound like i'm working for Future Shop but i'm really not :) it's just that they usually have the best prices on new stuff and these two were suprising to me (especially the Mercury Rev record).

01:06 pm

Zip has finally opened its ZipRewards programs for all to see! members have been accumulating points for a few months now but we weren't able to see how many we had or even redeem any of them. this is cool. an Extra Rental only costs 250 points. check out the rest of the Rewards. the start of the program (Redeeming) begins in a few days.

Posted by Anonymous | 3:09 AM |

we'll be going out after work tonight. a coworker, who's been with us for, i'd say, 3 or 4 years now, is going back home in Ontario next week. tonight is his last evening of work. he can be a bit annoying so not everyone is going, but most of us (ie, our gang) is. if only because it's the last time we'll see the dude. no point in being an ass about it. so it should be fun. he doesn't know we're doing this, though. another coworker, who became a friend of his outside of work last summer, organized it last week. [ quick sidenote - his sister (our friend's not the dude leaving) is cute girl from work i talked about at some point earlier this year. we don't have the same work schedule so we haven't seen each other in a while but she said she'd be there only if my ex (she did call her by her name:), my work partner, and i were there :) cute. i'm trying not to think too much about that because, although we have fun when we're hanging out, it wouldn't work out for too long. ] so that's it. tonight we're gonna go get drinks for a dude's last night of work. it is a bit sad. he keeps saying he's glad he's leaving, but most of it is ego. i dunno if he's just not saying it or not acknowledging it but he's gonna feel it at some point. i wouldn't wanna be in his shoes tonight.

Posted by Anonymous | 12:24 PM |

oh my god, they've all got a black man!
it's amazing how tv executives' understanding of racial diversity works.

see where all your favorite '90s semi-movie stars are.
also, Seth Meyers totally has a brother who's trying to get into the biz (Peep Show).

Posted by Anonymous | 11:04 AM |

rentadvd.ca folds up!

sad news. please give Mark your regards. he was (and still is) one of us, one of the good guys. it's sad to see renta go. i wasn't a member anymore but it wasn't for lack of selection (Criterions, arthouse and rarer films, double-disc sets counting as single items) or great customer care (Mark -the owner, for christ's sake- was always there if you needed him). i switched over to Zip because of the shipping times. but, as i told Mark, i will always have a soft spot for renta and it will always be my first love.

Posted by Anonymous | 9:21 PM |

ROCKED WITH GINA GERSHON (2 DISCS)
Seth Jarrett, David Roma, 2004

8.0
i admire Gina Gershon. i think i've only seen one of her films. but i admire her for what she tried to do with Prey for Rock & Roll, a film she honestly believed in, and the appallingly strenuous promotion that followed its release. she produced an indie film and then was made to go on the road for a short rock tour to promote the film. she's got guts. and that's one of the reasons i was interested in this IFC series. the other? Girls Against Boys :) let me make a short digression, if i may. they're one of those bands i personally have a soft spot for. they opened for Garbage on the 2.0 tour so i got to see them play quite a few times. i got into them and bought all of their albums (even bought 200 Cigarettes because they appeared in one scene). i even got to meet them after a show and they were, for the 5 minutes they afforded us, really cool guys (Alexis even came up and hung out with us for a bit). as i said, i've got a soft spot for them. enough said. on with the show. so Gina Gershon gets thrown onto a short rock tour by a shitty distributor to promote her film. she brings along Girls Against Boys to round out the band. she hopes for the best as they rush through an intense couple of weeks of media promotion for the film during the day and rock and roll gigs at night, finding out that indie money is really no money at all. i had to adjust to the series in the beginning because everything went by so quickly that the filmmakers are only there to witness the tour and don't ask questions or get to develop themes. so that gave it a superficial nature that made it hard to get into at first. but then something happened. as i watched episode 4 i started to feel part of the gang, and the rest of the series was just plain fun. the voiceover by Gina can be irritating at times because it makes it feel like the producer is imposing her vision of events. but that's the only major negative thing i can think of. other than that, don't go in expecting a life-altering experience (although there are some incredibly touching moments to be found). just go in to see what Gina and her band did, what she set out to do, and get a glimpse of what it's like to get an indie film made and distributed. this is the grunt work. Maxim, People, and FHM don't show you these things -- this is the real world where people, yes, even Gina Gershon, work. given how my feelings about the series were at the beginning, this actually turned out into quite an admirable effort.

Posted by Anonymous | 8:33 PM |

6IXTYNIN9
Pen-ek Ratanaruang, 1999

7.5
i was actually expecting to be taken away a bit more by this film. it's a nice little movie, don't get me wrong, but it's nothing more. but -- it contains one of the most impressive, stellar performances i've seen in recent months. it comes courtesy of (then-) newcomer Lalita Panyopas. the film should be seen if only for her strangely serene performance (the film is also very good, just not as stellar as its reputation had me believing). she gives such a quietly wide-eyed, yet strong, performance. her face remains passive through most of the film, and yet, she's so transparent and emotive that you feel and see her working out every little thought; taking it all in, working it out as it comes along. but they never make the mistake of having her become a heroic or righteous character. she's never ahead of the curve as, say, a John McLane would be in a Die Hard flick. she can be pro-active but never overly or unbelievably so. oh, please try not to watch the film as a Pulp Fiction knock-off, because it will fuck you up big-time. i know it did with me. the references are there but it's not as ludicrous as Tarantino's films (and not mean to be, either, i don't think). i guess on paper it has the feel of one (outlandish events happening to ordinary people) but Ratanaruang and Panyopas deal with it in such a quiet and introverted manner that make Tum seem to absorb events and actions rather than breaking out of them and giving the film a larger-than-life nature. here they make it about an ordinary woman trying to work things out. there is one scene towards the end that made me momentarily give up my theory about it not being a knock-off (you'll know when it happens), but aside from that silly little trangression this is one stylishly quiet film. and once again, Panyopas owns the screen. too bad she seems to have fallen off the face of the earth after this stunning debut.
looking forward to watching Ratanaruang's Last Life in the Universe next. looks and sounds like he was just revving up with this one.

Posted by Anonymous | 9:43 AM |

hi, i spent the afternoon with the roommate. took a long walk, did some shopping, then stopped at my mom's on my way home to surprise her with flowers for Mother's Day :) sweet gesture, i know ;) i wasn't a momma's boy when i was growing up. i got along fine with my her but she and my brother had a closer bond. and i was fine with it. but these past few years have been good to me. i'm finding out, now that i've been out on my own and settling into what feels like the start of my real adult life, that i'm instinctively more understanding towards my mother than i've ever been, and that these small gestures are actually coming to me quite naturally. i've surprised myself a lot over the past 5 or 6 years. and that's one of the many reasons i love growing up.

i just got home. got some KFC as a guilty pleasure. the last time i ate KFC was at least a full year ago, if not more. and i got sick for two days. lol. we'll see how my body reacts this time around :)

hmm. i have a dilemma. Criterion are releasing The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou this tuesday (get the 2-disc set). of course i pre-ordered it. i'm not a fool. but Future Shop is giving away free red tuques to customers who buy the film. the sets are only a buck more than what i'm getting it online for. but the hats? hmm. i don't know. the ones on the poster don't look too good. and i don't need another tuque. okay. done. i'm going ahead with the existing pre-order.

Posted by Anonymous | 6:21 PM |

btw,

24
1:00 AM - 3:00 AM

Palmer's back :) too bad i'd caught Access Hollywood or some other bullshit show playing a clip of an interview with him with the phrase 'Explosive 24 Twist' or some shit splashed across the screen. ah well. i knew they couldn't go on without bringing back almost everybody from the real 24. glad to have Dennis and his deep grovel voice back, though. makes a stark contrast with the new President (which was, i must say, wonderfully played by Gregory Itzin; instead of making him smarmy or entirely weak, he made him somewhat surprisingly understandable as the man becomes the President of the United States during such hellish circumstances). at least the logic works (so that's why they brought back Mike!). (speaking of which - it's time to bring back William Devane! i'd so forgotten about him.)

second, Chloe gunning down a bad guy was the best 10 seconds of my life. totally unexpected and truly breathtaking. the very definition of bad-ass. go Chloe! (they somehow managed to pull that one off and make it believable.)

and finally, Jack is definitely not getting any at the end of this season. and that was some moment the director let him have there. we usually get a shocker at the end of every episode. but this time, they decided to let Jack's face take control of the screen. he could not escape. it was amazing seeing him shaken like that as he struggled with such a surreal and gut-wrenching consequence. outstanding.

only four to go :)
and, with the exception of the return of Palmer, i managed to make it through the entire season without any spoilers whatsoever.
life is grand :)

Posted by Anonymous | 2:25 AM |

i'm late on the Kasabian bandwagon but i just saw them on Letterman and i must say i was kind of impressed by them. of course they're nothing new, the first thing that came to mind (after really liking the music i was hearing) was Primal Scream - they've got the same kind of energy and they seem to pull it off well. they seem to be making exciting rock music and that's what i responded to. anyway, i wanted to know your thoughts on the band and the album. thank you.

Posted by Anonymous | 12:35 AM |

Ryan Adams & The Cardinals - Cold Roses
Nine_Inch_Nails - [With_Teeth]

my Future Shop order still hadn't shipped as of this morning. the Ryan Adams discs was out of stock (they never had it in stock) and the Nine Inch album went from 20 in stock down to 0 this morning. i emailed them but said fuck it. i went in the store myself, got them (was afraid they wouldn't have the Adams discs) and cancelled my order promptly :) i'm happy, though. i got what i wanted and it was the exact same price as online.

btw, mishie, don't know if you knew but Rachel Rachael Yamagata is on the Adams & The Cardinals discs :)

happy shopping!

Posted by Anonymous | 1:49 PM |

Garbage will be on Letterman's Late Show May 12.

CSI creator Anthony E. Zuiker was on CBC's The Hour (a cool little show that i wanna try to get into more) and talked about Tarantino's Two-Hour Season Finale. it will air May 19. i'll tape the next couple of shows to get into it. it's Tarantino. oh, and the show ain't too bad either, apparently :)

speaking of finales, 24's will also be a two-hour Season Finale. May 23 is the date. my mind was made up as soon as i found the date. i'm calling in sick that evening so i can watch it 'live'. in lesser-but-still-24-news: Elisha Cuthbert is apparently appearing on one of Radio-Canada's morning shows today (the ex-roommate told me this) but i can't find the show or any info about her appearance.

update, 2:00 pm -- ah, the roommate just cleared things up. it wasn't on Radio-Canada tv, it was Radio-Canada radio. damn.

oh, monday i received my mymusic package

eels - blinking lights and other revelations
of montreal - the sunlandic twins
Belle & Sebastian - Dear Catastrophe Waitress

and my DVDPacific package

ANDRZEJ WAJDA: THREE WAR FILMS (THE CRITERION COLLECTION) (3 DISCS)
DIVORCE ITALIAN STYLE (THE CRITERION COLLECTION) (2 DISCS)

as you can imagine, me was veeery happy :)

Posted by Anonymous | 3:11 AM |