digital addiction

digital addiction

I have been absolutely taken out of commission for the past few days. Why? I finally got my computer cooled enough to play games again without crashing. The name of my addiction was Thief: Deadly Shadows. I literally spent the past two days--all of them--working on this game. I finally finished it this morning, so now I can resume a normal life. Unfortunately Doom 3 went gold the other day. I give my normal life a few weeks, and then I become a shut-in again. *sigh* Better get my groceries now.



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The Wong Kar-Wai Express: or I Believe This is Where You Get Off, Mr. Tarantino

The Wong Kar-Wai Express: or I Believe This is Where You Get Off, Mr. Tarantino

I've had been meaning to re-watch one of my favoritest films ever, Chungking Express, so I could write a review of it on Film X3000! and so I did. I had forgotten that my copy is a complete piece of crap. It's a Hong Kong bootleg where the subtitles are hardcoded into the actual picture. It's got mangled English and, I believe, Japanese that, most of the time, don't run off the edge of the frame. That's when it has subtitles anyway. Sometimes it makes you guess. That's fun, too.

I guess I'm just going to have to pony up the cash for Tarantino's release of the film, which has a Tarantino intro and wrap-up on the disc. As much as I respect his work as a filmmaker--generally speaking--I could give a rat's ass what he thinks about movies. Besides, did director Wong Kar-Wai put himself at the beginning and end of the film to ease the viewer in and out? No, because that's not how he wanted the film. It's just an extra feature on the disc and everything, but it's the principle that Tarantino is even on there in the first place that bothers me. And here's where I stop being a prententious film geek...done.

I'll get that review up as soon as I get my hands on a better copy. As a preface: everyone in the world should see this film.

D

And also:
This blog has become audio-ready. The future is tinny and vocal, and that future is now. Stay tuned...

Have I...talked about cheese without realizing it?

Have I...talked about cheese without realizing it?




This was the ad banner two seconds ago on my site. I'm...not sure why. But I'll tell ya: I've got a great place you can go to get super fresh cheese curds. 

D

The Battle of the Blinds

The Battle of the Blinds

After Raymond Shaw and his summer (and only) love sit together after getting married in The Manchurian Candidate, he remarks to her as she walks up to him the morning after in a bathrobe and flips on the television: "It strikes me that there are two types of people in the world: those that automatically turn the television on, and those that automatically turn the television off." There's a similar phenomenon in my apartment. I wake up in the morning. I take a shower. I open the blinds to my room. I open my bedroom door, walk to the living room windows, open the blinds. I walk to the kitchen windows, open the blinds. I like to be able to sit in my own home with the door unlocked because I feel safe in my home. My apartment-mate (not my roommate) has the opposite tendencies. Even when people are home--even when he himself is home--he not only locks the door, he bolts it. He closes all the blinds, then he goes to his room and shuts the door. It, frankly...is driving me bat-shit insane. I don't want to rock the boat and open the blinds right after he closes them or anything because I'm really just borrowing his space for a few months, but I feel like I'm in a goddamn lockdown whenever he walks in. Far be it for me to feel safe living in Brentwood...with an automatic lock on the front door...and on the elevator and stairwell...and with everyone around us making upwards of $60,000 a year. I'm pretty sure if there's a killer smart enough to know which direction to point a gun, he (or she, let's be fair here) would be smart enough to know that robbing us would be a waste of time. In fact, it'd fucking idiotic. Grrr...

Oh, by the way I've been offered work as an extra on this September's new TV series "LAX". As you all will undoubtedly watch the show, you can do a Where's Waldo search for me. If you see an out of focus blob that looks like--in the right light and squinting--it could be me, there'll be a slight possibility that it is. At least it's a paying gig, right? Right.

Unfortunately I discovered the correct (out of eight) VH-1's that has "I Love the 90's" today. *sigh* I'm done for.

D

What did I learn today?

Haircuts are way too damn expensive in Los Angeles, thus my hair has yet to be shorn.

I still haven't mmmmmmmtechnically graduated because of universtity bureaucracy.

Community college course are expensive when you're not a state resident.

I'm not as indifferent to Dustin Hoffman as I once thought.

No matter how careful I am, everytime I open my computer something always goes wrong once I put it back together.

Librarians at the West Los Angeles Public Library branch aren't mean, but they're also not really nice. They're more like...spitefully benign.

Brando

Brando

I just read this letter to Roger Ebert involving Marlon Brando and a teacher's writing assignment. Man, what a classy guy. May he rest in peace.

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Avalon High

Avalon High

I'm not sure if I've posted about this one or not (and mostly I'm too lazy to go back and check), but there's another great online comic out there called Avalon. It's a web comic about high school--and college subsequently, I think, although I haven't gotten that far yet--that's funny, has great character development, and is actually very witty and funny. Check it out. I'm sure you'll find it very familiar in a nostalgic way. The art might not be fantastic, but there's some mean writing going on here. Check it out.

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"It's called 'jogging' or 'yogging'...it could be a soft 'J'"

"It's called 'jogging' or 'yogging'...it could be a soft 'J'"

It's amazing how fit you feel when you actually go out and get some exercise. I feel fit and full of vigor. And that's why I'm eating this delicious Hot Pocket. It's Ham 'N' Cheese (and the cheese isn't real--it's like melted Velveeta Cheese), and booooy how that Crisping Sleeve™ works! Mmm-mmm.

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It's like The Langoliers

It's like The Langoliers

Have you ever had one of those days where you're waiting for the world to catch up to you? I'm waiting on two people to return phone calls. I'm waiting for tomorrow to make another one. I'm waiting for the 14^th so I can finally get a production meeting finished. I'm ready, where you bitches at? Oh that's right: waiting to catch up to me. What do I do in the meantime, you ask? I clean my keyboard and mouse. That's right. I'm that bored. The silver lining? I put on some music I got recently (namely Beck, One Foot in the Grave; The Eels, Beautiful Freak; and The Doves, Lost Souls) and keeping my hands busy kept me from touching that dial, a terrible habit of mine. Whether it's skipping ahead to the next song because I'm not feeling one song's intro or obsessively listening to one track on repeat, I can't not have my hands all over my music playlist (in usually a purely platonic way). I got through two hours of playlist by cleaning my peripherals. Two hours of flipping out little keys and scrubbing with alcohol (of the isopropyl variety) with a cotton swabs (not, I might add, Q-Tips®). This is what happens when you're ahead: you go through minutia like cleaning computer peripherals down to the individual keys and making a distinction between generic and name brand. Ye gods, let tomorrow come!

D

Listening to:

All About Lily Chou Chou OST

Beck, One Foot in the Grave (By the way, am I crazy or doesn't the song "Asshole" sound remarkably like an Elliot Smith song?)

The Doves, Lost Souls

The Eels, Beautiful Freak

Post this, Post-it

Post this, Post-It

I don't know how I've survived without them in my life thus far, but I have finally seen the light; Post-it notes are the greatest invention ever. I mean, for a guy with a terrible memory, these things are a lifesaver. Instead of just having a little notebook (which I now reserve for taking notes on movies), I have all my notes at my fingertips on my monitor, desk, etc. I've got everything from errands to run (I need toothpaste) to phone calls to make (call the cinematographer, call another contact, call the university) to tasks I want to finish (clean keyboard & mouse today). It's easy to ignore this stuff when it's in a notebook in a bag, mostly because I forget it's in there. (Yes, I realize the irony of forgetting I have the notebook that I write things in to remember them. I also realize the awkwardness of that last sentence.) 3M, Post-it Division: if you're reading this, thank you!, and send me some money!

D

And that's movie-making magic

And that's movie-making magic

I just had a conversation with my friend, Nick, about a movie we think should be made. It started off as an innocent conversation about the movies I rented (Erin Brockovich and The Kid Stays in the Picture) and complaining about how Darren Aronofsky hasn't released a film in four years, and went downhill pretty fast. Here're some highlights...

***

(18:18:08) ME: I'm complaining that what's-his-face hasn't made a movie.
(18:18:11) ME: Ghandi.
(18:18:27) NICK: Richard Attenborough?
(18:18:33) ME: That is one pacifist who should've gone Hollywood.
(18:18:38) ME: No the actual Ghandi.

***

(18:20:09) ME: Shit, man! They [Ghandi and the current Dali Lama] should've teamed up! A buddy-cop-comedy film. Who wouldn't want to see that?
(18:20:15) NICK: and get two of the three Beastie Boyz to convert
(18:20:22) NICK: HAHAHA
(18:20:33) NICK: Gandhi 2:Back in Action
(18:20:49) NICK: Starring Mohatmos Gandhi as Sgt Brick MacGavin
(18:21:01) NICK: and The Dali Lama as Det. Patrick Dakota
(18:21:26) NICK: One is the exiled son of an Indian King, the other a dedicated vegan/ladies-man
(18:21:33) NICK: Together. They Fight Crime!
(18:24:13) ME: That is so fucking sweet, man! I can't believe no one thought of this earlier!

***

(18:24:42) ME: "THIS TIME, IT'S PEACEFUL!"
(18:25:52) NICK: can we get Dennis Farina to play their Captain
(18:25:59) NICK: and he;s pissed cause they dont play by the rules
(18:26:27) NICK: If we get John August to write it, and McG to direct, why.. its printing money
(18:27:00) ME: Yeah. He wants them to shoot first and ask questions later, but they never take their guns with them!
(18:27:31) NICK: and they some how not only GET their collars without much of a chase, but they dont find the need for handcuffs
(18:27:40) NICK: also, the robes are starting to tick him off something fierce

***

(18:28:33) NICK: who is their main baddie?
(18:28:53) ME: No-no. Their robes conceal their pacifist gadgets! They've got Bond-like non-lethal gadgets they use.
(18:29:10) ME: Lex Luthor.
(18:29:20) NICK: thats copywright infringement
(18:29:23) NICK: you wanna get sued?
(18:30:11) ME: Dude, if we do it at the studio that owns the rights to Superman, we're gravy.

***

(18:31:24) ME: Wait, wait. Not only is Lex Luthor the main bad guy, the secondary one is John Wilkes Booth! It's a time travel story!
(18:31:42) NICK: Gary Oldman as JOhn Wilkes Booth!
(18:31:46) ME: YES!

***

(18:32:38) NICK: Lex gets JW Booth and Aaron Burr to help him destroy America!
(18:33:18) NICK: he promises Booth the south, Burr the west, and Lex the East... and of course once Lex takes over the world he just... nuked Burr and Booth.. but lets save taht for the sequel
(18:34:42) ME: Maybe the third one. We should introduce new baddies in the second so we can score on the merchandising.
(18:35:04) NICK: so we save Burr for the second?
(18:37:32) ME: Exactly.
(18:37:42) ME: Him and Plato.
(18:37:52) NICK: why Plato?
(18:38:52) ME: Because Plato will be able to use his special Philosophication powers to confuse them while Burr makes off with the goods.
(18:39:00) NICK: ah
(18:39:03) NICK: okay
(18:39:09) NICK: Burr wants to rule America
(18:39:43) NICK: Luthor wants to control the geopolitical capitalist stock market
(18:39:59) ME: Who doesn't, man? The goods are America. Plato's one of the biggest philosophers of all time, man. He can handle it.
(18:40:00) NICK: this way... they team up for the third movie

***

(18:40:35) NICK: well, in the first, Luthor wants to take over the world by controlling the flow of goods. services. etc. as he is the ultimate capitalist
(18:40:50) NICK: in the second, Burr is staging a coup de tate.
(18:41:33) ME: I'm feeling it...
(18:42:32) NICK: so in the third,, with Booth dead, and Plato now working with Gandhi and the DL, Burr and Luthor team up to destroy earth
(18:43:02) ME: And take over the Moon.
(18:43:15) NICK: indeed
(18:44:47) NICK: who will be their obscure henchmen in the third?
(18:44:55) ME: So they can put a space motor on it and zoom about the galaxy destorying other planets after Earth! That's why they must be stopped!
(18:45:07) NICK: YES!!!

(18:45:13) NICK: someone call Trouma!
(18:45:20) ME: I'm on hold right now!

***

And they say alcohol destroys brain cells. Pah! I'm going to go eat chicken. I'll give you some time to think about this one.

D

[UPDATE: By the way, I'm absolutely enthralled with the third song on the All About Lily Chou Chou OST called "Erotic". All of the songs are fantastic, but this one is positively hypnotising me for some reason.]

Times, they are a-changin'...but not really

Times, they are a-changin'...but not really

If you're following the Tour de France and thinking, "My God! Lance Armstrong in 33^rd place? Why, he's been unstoppable for years now! He's a biking machine! Things are changing such that I can no longer keep up with them!", know that things aren't moving as fast as you might think. You can still hold the sands of time in your fist for a while before they trickle out. Why? Because people are still doing dumbass historical re-enactments. You'll need to register at The New York Times On-line to view this puppy. Sadly enough, my own hometown had its own run-in with this odd, semi-educational form of entertainment/commemoration: the 1994 re-enactment of the Illinois Senate debate between Abraham Lincoln and Steven Douglas (Douglas won). I'm not proud of it, but it's still one of the most haunted cities in America. Ghosts, of course, being another indication of the world's immutability; people may die, but they remain on this earthly plane...hanging out in Alton.

A bit of a non-sequitur, but speaking of hometowns and ghosts: do you think the other dead souls look down (literally and/or metaphorically, depending on your system of belief) on ghosts? Are ghosts like those friends that never leave their hometown to other dead people? I can just picture it:

DEAD SOUL #1
I just got back from Earth, man, and ya know, it's nice to visit the terrestrial plane and everything, but--

DEAD SOUL #2
--it's a little depressing--

DS #1
YEAH! Totally, man. Ya see all these people you used to hang out with, and they're still there, ya know, getting their kicks by moving furniture and glowing and shit. Scaring the locals, right?

DS #2
It seems really immature. Juvenile.

DS #1
Exactly, man. Exactly. All the stuff they do...it just seems so insubstantial. And they're all like, "Hey man, let's go make this lady's clothes dance around while she's watching TV," and I'm all like "Dudes, why don't you grow up?" Ya know?

DS #2
Totally, man. To-ta-lly.
Beat.
So you want to go on a panty raid?

DS #1
Dude, you know I'm on that shit. I'll get the beer.

...hmmm...

Wow. This post went completely awry. Abandon ship! I'm going for a jog. Peace out, and keep a close eye on your panties, folks.

D

Listening to:

Spoon, Kill the Moonlight (I'm sure many of you have been listening to these guys for years, but I'm just getting to know them...and love them.)

Kanedaaaaaaa!

Kanedaaaaaaa!

So I'm finally getting around to reading the Akira mangas I've had for a while. I just finished the fifth (of six) volume, and the story and art are absolutely outstanding. With six phonebook-like volumes to expand the story and develop the characters, the manga moves in a completely different direction than the anime. The art and the energy are about comparable though. It's incredible how much force Otomo packs into static pages and how on par with the film version it is. Borrow them from somebody. They're pretty kick ass. It's like a telekinetic version of Godzilla except on a larger scale with heavier themes. In this story, nukes have taken a backseat to the power we can get from DNA. This is, without any doubt, the premiere epic in the comic world.

D

Listening to:

Spoon, Girls Can Tell

Yoko Kanno, Mizu no Onna

Ghost in the Shell: Innocence & Stand Alone Complex OST's GET9

All About Lily Chou Chou OST #1