"Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" First Trailer

John's DVD pick of the week (September 27th 2011)

Hey guys sorry for the delay. My dad had control most of yesterday. This week I chose an epic mini series it's

Carlos

That's right the mini series divided into three parts is my pick for the week. The only big release out this week is the blockbuster sequel Transformers: Dark Of The Moon. (Which is one of the worst movies of the year in my opinion.)

My vintage pick is, In honor of this weeks release of 50/50, I'm recommending a few dramadies done by the cast they are (500) Days Of Summer, Funny People, and Up In The Air. I recommend all three  

Guest Post Alert!

My blog pal Morgan of La Chapstick Fanatique asked me to do a lil' guest post.  So I did one on rubber stamping/heat embossing!  Do, please, check it out!

Amazing Race Recap (9/26/11)

Sunday was the season 19 premiere of The Amazing Race. A starting line task occurred, the teams were given six letter (PEIWAN) and find out their first destination (Taiwan). The last team that completed the task would receive a Hazard, an extra task that would have to be completed before checking into the pit stop. Unfortunely Vegas Showgirls Kaylani and Lisa received the penalty. For the first Roadblock one team member had to find a payphone, then dial 1-800-CONFUCIUS. The phone would then play one of Confucius  proverbs ("In all things success depends on previous preparation, and without such previous preparation there is sure to be failure."). Without taking notes, he or she would then have to repeat the proverb verbatim to a temple monk. Then teams had to go to Dajia Riverside Park and join a Dragon Boat Team. One team member had to beat a drum while the other had to paddle with the crew. The pit stop was at Martyrs' Shrine. Team placements were

1st - Ernie and Cindy (Won Express Pass)

2nd - Jeremy and Sandy

3rd - Justin and Jennifer

4th - Ethan and Jenna

5th - Amani and Marcus

6th - Laurence and Zac

7th - Andy and Tommy

8th - Ron and Bill

9th - Kaylani and Lisa

10th - Liz and Marie 

Last - Bill and Cathi (Saved. Must do Speed Bump next leg)

Who will survive the double elimination next week? Any favorite teams?

Humour about the Equipment

Here's my take on XKCD: Once upon a time in a land far away, there lived a king who was a vainglorious peacock. He spent vast sums of money on his wardrobe, and spent more time then he should have consulting with tailors, cobblers, seamstresses and the like. One day two con-artists presented themselves to him as magic tailors from far away. They claimed to the king that they had created a fabric with a wonderful quality. It had, they claimed, the ability to appear invisible to people of shall we say not high moral standings. The king asked to see this cloth, and the con-artists then mimed pulling out a bolt of cloth, pretending they were holding the fabric in question. The king, not wanting to appear low, immediately enthused over the quality of the cloth and commissioned robes of state from the false tailors for a large sum of money.

Once the tailors 'finished' their work, they bade the king strip to his undergarments so they could drape the robes about his person. The king then pronounced he would undertake a royal procession through his city, so all the people would admire his new clothes, and also, root out the bad eggs in his kingdom. He then set out on his procession, clad only in his underwear. The people on his parade route murmured in appreciation of the king's finery, themselves not wanting to appear base and low. Just then, a little boy stuck his head out of the crowd and said:

XKCD is a overrated mess of stick figures making math jokes. The problem is that creator Randall Munroe set himself a premise wherein the characters make increasingly obscure math, science, and computer programming jokes. To the presumed amusement of people who have interest in those disciplines. I like to imagine some drone who works with Excel spreadsheet programs crossing his fingers and hoping Randall will make a strip about Excel spreadsheets next time. Because XKCD's humor is based on making increasingly obscure references to scientific disciplines, Randall's setups become more convoluted, and the comedic payoff becomes less rewarding. "Geek" humour shares a quality with 'Stoner' humor in that it's jokes about the equipment. For instance, in an old 'Cheech and Chong' routine, a stoner is on a satirical game show where he's asked, 'How many joints are in a lid?' The stoner replies 'Two." If you're a pot smoker from the 70's, it's a funny gag in that you presumably buy lids of pot that contain from four to a dozen joints. (I've never heard the term 'Lid' used in that context in twenty years. Yeah, I've smoked pot. Wanna hang out and discuss Hesse's Siddhartha and make plans to visit next year's Burning Man festival?)

Where the Emperor's New Clothes metaphor comes in is in the implication that if you don't like XKCD, it's because you're too stupid to get XKCD. I don't think this was Randall's attempt to 'critic-proof' his comic strip, but the implication is still there. "I get the gags in XKCD, and therefore, I'm part of the tribe. People who don't like it are too stupid because their tiny Neanderthal brains can't wrap their head around the profound concepts described therein." The problem with this line of thought, besides it coming from a geek asshole, is that in this day and age, one can simply Google an obscure reference in order to 'get' it. My point is, if one has to go through all this effort for a stick-figure comic, why even bother in the first place?

I wouldn't be so hard on XKCD if Randall displayed some acuity in his drawing. While using stick figures and pie charts and graphs and actuarial tables to illustrate a joke are all well and good, Randall's limited drawing skills constrict his jokes, so if he needs those tools in his toolbox, they aren't there for him to use, so he has to abandon a gag that he wants to tell on account of it'll demand a level of draughtsmanship he simply doesn't have access to. Eventually, he'll get to the point where he'll have to make a multi-page observation tying in the writing of Douglas Hofstader with Xeno's paradox and throw in Fibonacci's equation,... and the punchline will be.."A dog wearing a hat." or something equally banal. Then he'll be making 'shaggy dog' jokes until his comic drops out of favor, then he'll abandon the whole enterprise.

Look, to illustrate my point, here's a comic by Kate Beaton:



And here's an unfair but accurate rendering by me in the style of Randall Munroe:


While the XKCD pastiche works as a gag, it's clearly inferior to the original Beaton strip. While Beaton's line has a very sparse, sketchy quality, she manages to convey a world of intent in it. (God, I love that look of sarcastic disdain Rose gives her co-workers in that third panel!) When you reduce everything in the comic to a stick figure, there's layers of narrative within a gag that you just will not have access to. Also, Beaton's main source of humor is history, and the stories she tells have a funny, literate quality to them. So you learn something instead of having your insider's knowledge of computers or math stroked.

The Sunday Blahs

Does anyone else just get completely side-swiped by Sundays?  I mean, it's like Friday nights and Saturday mornings are glorious.  But the whole time there's this little gnat in my ear.  And its name is Sunday night.

It's saying, "Enjoy it while it lasts, sucker.  I'm coming for ya."  And tonight, I said two things.  The first was: I'm off tomorrow, so take that.  2. I'm gonna light some damn candles.

This was not, like, a seance for weekends past or anything.  It was just something cozy to do.  I put them on top of my fridge.  Just 'cause. 

I remember getting the Sunday blahs way back in grade school.  I'd try to stay up as late as possible on Sunday night, just to hold on to the weekend.  Then I'd be a little bespectacled zombie clear through to Tuesday or so.  (Shhhh.  Sometimes I still do that.)

But I try to remember that I am fortunate enough to have a job to go to on Mondays.  And if I stayed at home all the time, it wouldn't be nearly as special.  I hope you have a great week!

Review: Shark Night 3D (*1/2)

This movie stars Sara Paxton and Katherine McPhee among other unknown people. The stars are not important. What we have here is a PG-13 shark movie. Something that is so unnatural, I'm surprised that it even exists.

A group of unlikeable college kids go to a lake and get eaten by sharks released by crazy hillbillies. Everyone was unlikeable. Joel David Moore is probably the most likable. He's the most entertaining part of this movie.

Before I saw this movie I was wondering how they were going to pull off the death scenes with a PG-13 rating. As expected, there is a lot of thrashing around in the red coloured water before they are pulled down under. As long as they don't show the blood pouring it's okay. There was a scene when a guy lost his arm and except for the blood on his clothes, there was no bleeding to be seen. I wanted to see some gory shark kills. There was only one cool kill in the whole movie that would have been elevated if this was R- rated.

The 3D in the movie is really only good underwater. Everywhere else it's not used enough to be worth the extra price. Just don't see it in 3D.

This movie is completely predictable from start to finish. After 10 minutes, you learn who the primary characters are and you realize that they will be safe the entire movie. Everyone else except for those characters are fair game for shark attacks. And that's exactly what happens. So any suspense that they try to go for is completely useless. There is no suspense.

The filmmakers took this movie way too seriously. The way to make this movie is like Piranha 3D. Everything is ridiculous and over the top and Piranha 3D embraced that. Shark Night didn't have any fun with it's absurd qualities. Lack of fun is a big problem.

I don't really recommend Shark Night 3D.

Review: Our Idiot Brother (***)

I will admit that my hopes were quite high for this flick. No pun intended. Like most, Paul Rudd is a favorite comedic actor of mine. As I expected, he did a splendid job with this flick. The supporting cast also seemed to be quite good. Elizabeth Banks, Emily Mortimer, and Zooey Deschanel played the three sisters of Rudd's character. Hence the title of the movie.

The story starts out with one idiotic move by Ned, portrayed by Paul Rudd. Ned is a biodynamic farmer and happens to be selling his crops at a local market. A police officer approaches him and asks for some "green." After Ned insists that he takes the marijuana for free, he is arrested.

The character development in this movie was probably my favorite part. Although frustrating at times, all the characters had that little something about them that was genuine and unique. In addition to learning a lot about Ned (like how he doesn't cheat or lie and trusts others too much), we also witness quite a bit from his sisters too. I really think if we saw the sisters together more often, then I'd laugh a bit more. Although Our Idiot Brother was funny at times, it wasn't the comedy film I was hoping for. I really thought that I'd be laughing more. Perhaps another viewing at another time will perspire such laughter, but I digress.

As alluded to earlier, Ned has three sisters. Miranda (Elizabeth Banks), Liz (Emily Mortimer), and Natalie (Zoeey Deschanel). After he's out of jail, Ned tries to live with his mom (Shirley Knight), but that doesn't work out so he looks to his three sisters.

From there the plot begins to unfold. It's hard to discuss it without giving away spoilers. You'll just have to see for yourself.

Also, Adam Scott, Steve Coogan, and Rashida Jones all have an active role in the film. Very fun.

Although not the movie that I wanted, it was pleasantly likable and worth a watch.

My Favorite Price

That would be free.  And here are my latest freebies that the WWW has to offer.

My new blog pal Erin of Better Than Bland turned me on to Picnik.  It's my favorite of the bunch, and here's why.  It's like a free (!) online (!!) Photoshop (!!!).  You don't even have to sign up, and you can upload and edit pictures.  If you do sign up, the site keeps track of your five most recent pics. 

My favorite edit button is "Auto-fix" because it magically corrects all evils with said photos.  (You know how oft I lament my dire apartment lighting situation.)  I was considering the purchase of a new camera or Photoshop/lessons to operate Photoshop.  But no longer. 

Actually, I've gone back to some of my homemade pictures on older blog posts and corrected them with Picnik.  Tah.  Der.

I stumbled upon The League of Moveable Type when searching for cool fonts.  This is a great place for them.  Gratis!

Evernote is a site I found through Real Simple.  Go figure.  It's a one-stop destination for corralling virtually anything, from shopping lists to pictures to websites.  And it links up and syncs up across all of your devices.  Home PC.  Space phones.  iPad/Pod.  Laptop.  Dental fillings.  JK.  Not too shabby.

J. Edgar - Trailer

Thoughts?

John's DVD pick of the week (September 20th 2011)

Hey guys once again it's Tuesday. This week there's only one big release but it's one of my favorite films of the year its

Bridesmaids.

That's right the Judd Apatow produced wedding comedy is my pick of the week. As I said there is no other big releases this week.

My vintage pick is, in honor of this weeks release of Moneyball, I'm recommending Aaron Sorkin's previous film which won him an Oscar, it's The Social Network, it was number three on my best of the year list last year and I'm reading the book based on it now.

'We Bought A Zoo' Trailer is here

Thoughts?

John's DVD pick of the week (September 13th 2011)

Well guys it's Tuesday therefore it's my dvd pick of the week. This week we have the first summer blockbuster out this week it's

Thor.

That's right the Marvel comic book movie is my pick of the week. Others films out this week is The Joseph Gordon Levitt dramady Hesher, and two classic films hitting Blu Ray for he first time. Citizen Kane on a 70th anniversary edition, and The Star Wars Saga. The prequels to Star Wars are nothing special but the original three are classics and are must sees.

My vintage pick is, In honor of this weeks release of Drive, I'm recommending two of Ryan Gosling's best films they are Blue Valentine and Half Nelson. Both were in my top 20 of those years and are worth checking out.

Life Is Great...

Rango (A-) There's a lot of reasons to like this movie, but here's the main one for me: Non-Pixar animation studios are starting to get the message. In this case, the studio getting the message is ILM, Lucas' go-to guys for CGI. Oh, and the message is that you can do an animated CGI film that's really good, and it doesn't have to be made under the Disney banner. In the case of Rango, they gave the job to Gore Verblinski, who is not known for doing animated films. Neither is screenwriter John Logan, for that matter. And they brought the Coen brother's long-time DP, (Name) So you get an animated film that doesn't look like a typical animated film. (I like to imagine the fights Verblinski and co. had with the execs at Nickelodeon over the colour palette of this film:

'So no primary colours?"

"Nope. It's going to be shot like a classic Spaghetti Western." "Well, how are kids going to know it's for them?" "Sigh. Funny thing about kids is, they're smarter then we tend to give 'em credit for...")

While the story is one we've seen before- It's High Noon mixed with Chinatown- It's Logan and Verblinski's abilities, and Johnny Depp, and what they bring to an animated film that makes Rango so entertaining. Put it this way: Howard Hawks' Rio Bravo has a story that you've seen in a million other westerns, the cast makes me cock an eye, (Dean Martin?) but it's one of the best westerns I've ever seen. In Rango's case, the story isn't what the film is about, it's about the lead character's discovery of the heroic qualities within himself. While I usually complain about the logic of hiring A list actors to do voice overs in animation-Jack Black in Shark Tales, for instance- Depp's done a damn fine job here. I don't think the film's relative success is owing to just bringing non-animators on board. I think it's because both ILM and Verblinski had enough faith in the animation staff to do the job that they were asked to do. Heads will explode. It's a wonderful antidote to the crap like "Yogi Bear' and 'The Smurfs' that's been rammed down throats all year.

(I have one minor quibble with the plot of Rango, though: Wouldn't it have been better to establish Rattlesnake Jake's presence earlier on in the film? His return would've been a cause for genuine dread among not just Rango and the townsfolk, but the viewer as well. As it is, while he's an intimidating presence, he seems more like an anti-Deus Ex Machina plot device than an actual character.)


Conan The Barbarian (C+) Actually, not too bad. I mean, of course, the one with Ah-noldt, that bodybuilding chick, the surfer dude and James Earl Jones. Not that recent one with the Kevin Sorbo look-alike. Haven't seen that one. God, no. I like to imagine screenwriter Oliver Stone doing a line of coke and going back to his typewriter after getting an angry phone call from Dino DeLaurentis, ordering him to 'take out that scene where Conan surfs onto the beach of the island where Thusa Doom's castle is!' They're shooting this in Romania, director John Milnus! There's no surfing in Romania! I kid because I care.

It's the type of High Fantasy movie that works because it takes itself as seriously as it has to, no more, and no less. The temptation for jaded film types like Milnus and Stone is to put a bunch of tongue-in-cheek, yes-we-know-this-is-goofy-just-enjoy-the-ride stuff in it, but thankfully, they didn't. (There's one scene of Conan drunkenly punching out a camel-couldn't resist, eh, fellas?) The success of this movie, however, led to the whole genre of High Fantasy Sword and Sorcery film in the 80's of which I monotonously bitched about earlier. (If you can't be bothered to click the link, let me give you a TL:DR, as the kids say: Instead of making variations within a genre, they remade 'Conan'. Again. And Again. And Again. And Again. and-well, you get the idea...)

High Fantasy came out of the world of Pulp Fiction, where hacks got about a penny a word to crank out hard boiled fantasies about cynical gumshoes, soldiers of fortune, ghost-hunters, and of course, swashbuckling barbarians. At this point in history, we can all write pastiches of the pulp genre in our sleep. Well, I can, anyway. The dime store 'dreadful', as the press used to call them, went the way of the buggy whip maker on account of movies and T.V. If one is tempted to look back on those days with rose-colored glasses and sigh about why we don't bring back the simple, nerve-tingling excitement of those pulp adventures in our modern media, the answer is simple. 1) Why crank that shit out for a penny a word when the Screen Writers Guild will pay you points for a multimillion dollar movie these days, and 2) Believe me when I tell you, most of that stuff was not just cranked out shit, but utter shit. (For a penny a word, editors got their money's worth.) Herein lies the impending fate of the superhero genre.



Pinocchio by Winschluss (B+) So onto comics. Winschluss has a wavy, Peter DeSeve-line style which suits the satrical tone of the book nicely. It's also all done in pantomime, which is tougher to pull off in an extended narrative then you might think. (The only dialogue we get comes from a drunken reprobate Jiminy Cockroach, who takes up residence in the Pinocchio robot's head and has about as much influence on the robot's conscience as-well, yeah.) It's an extended piss-take on the treacly goodness of the classic Disney films, where Gepetto invents the robot to hopefully sell to the military, the robot separates from Gepetto owing to Gepetto's wife tragically mistaking Pinocchio's nose-a flamethrower-for a marital aid. From there on every trope in the original is gleefully subverted. Even Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs are brought into the story. It's crass and vulgar and perverse and I was sorry to see it end.

Limited Time Offer: Suze's Gift to Us

You all know by now that I heart Suze Orman.  Yes, she's crazy.  And she's loud.  And sometimes she gets so excited that she fumbles her words.  But she is smart.  And honest.  I also love that Kristen Wiig impersonates her rather accurately.

But the point of this post is to share with you a gift from Suze, which she provided on the latest episode of her show.  If you go to this link, click on the Gift Code button, and enter 'CNBC', you will get a free will and trust kit.

When I tried, I got a screen stating that the server has been overwhelmed with requests but that they are extending the offer for a week (previously it was set to expire at midnight Pacific Time on 9/13/11).   If you have not yet completed the advance directive form, please follow the preceding link to my blog post.  However, that form is included in this free kit as well. 

If September 11th of 2001 taught us anything, it's that we should not take tomorrow for granted.  I hope that this post finds you in good health and good spirits.  Thank you, again, for taking the time to visit Specs Appeal.

We Remember.

Ten Years Later.

Behold the trailer for The Big Year

Thoughts?

A Little More Peace of Mind

That wakeup call a few weeks ago is still front and center in my mind.  I've continued to read and research, and today I found a really useful site called Caring Connections. 

On this site, you can download (for free) the state-specific advance directive form that applies for you.  This is basically a document that you sign (and typically have witnessed and/or notarized, depending on the state) that tells your wishes.  Do you want to be kept alive on machines if, God forbid, something terrible happens in your young life?  What if you develop a serious condition when you're older? 

The fact is that no one can predict what will happen, and when you need to make use of an advance directive, it will already be too late.  This site makes it very easy to download, print, and proceed with completing your advance directive.  It is a document that every legal adult should have.  And it's free.

I try not to be too preachy with my blog, but when I come across information that I feel is vital to be shared, then I am going to share it.  It's because I care about each of you whom I know personally, and I also want other readers to be in the know.

Note: This is by no means a substitute for legal or medical advice.  I feel compelled to add that little jewel.

John's DVD Pick of the week (September 6th 2011)

Hey guys it's Tuesday, therefore it's my DVD pick of the week. Like the last two weeks this was a film that came out of a festival it's.

Everything Must Go.

That's right Will Ferrell's dramady about a guy losing his job and his home is my pick of the week. Other big films this week are Hanna, and X Men - First Class (which doesn't come out until Friday). Both are overrated and don't recommend them.

My vintage pick is, in honor of this weeks release of Contagion, I'm recommending Steven Soderbergh's best film to date, its Traffic, it was #2 on my best films of 2000, and #6 on my best of the decade, so give it a rent.

Laboring Over a Hot Stove

It was a delightfully restful Labor Day for moi.  I made these soft and chewy chocolate chip cookies (recipe by Martha), and I have to say that they rank among the best ever.  (Shhh...they're even better than these.)  From her cookbook, I found a variation on the recipe linked above.  Substitute half of one of the sticks of butter with a 1/2 cup of peanut butter.  It's the best combination of flavors.

Nums.  Of course the irony on this holiday is that they were really easy to make and even easier to enjoy.  Now, the ease of burning them off?  A different story. 

Care for a Danish*?

I just love this--from the cool Scandinavian lines of the table to the stripes on the rug.  I'd probably do something different for chairs, but these do the trick fairly well.

At a cool G, the Oslo table would be a bit of an investment for me, but it should last a really long time.  Plus it seats, like, 30 with the extension.  :)

Thanks, Crate.  Thanks, Barrel.  I heart yaz both.

*(I realize that Oslo is in Norway, and my title refers to Denmark, but it was cheeky. And I was feeling it.)