Remember Escape to Witch Mountain? I enjoyed it as a child, especially all the powers the kids seemed to have. I bought a double-feature DVD (shock) of this and it's sequel, Return from Witch Mountain. Haven't re-watched them yet. But someday (maybe this weekend, the reason becoming more apparent after reading further).
Woke up this morning at 2 a.m. and had trouble getting back to sleep, so I thought I would surf a little, read some email, do my typical computer stuff for a bit. One of those daily things I like to do is the daily trivia question on imdb.com. On the main page are links to some trailers of upcoming movies. And today I saw Race to Witch Mountain listed as one of the movies. I wondered if it could at all be related to the aforementioned Escape, so I watched the trailer (what else would one do?)
Disney has done a remake of Escape to Witch Mountain, starring The Rock (aka Dwayne Johnson — what a totally ordinary, nerdish name for his persona, something I would never tell him to his face. Just kidding, Mr. Johnson. Friends? At least please don't pummel me, okay?) and two kids (the two kids from the original movies also make appearances here, as a waitress and sheriff). A remake of Escape is not something I would have high on my list of things to do (and probably not even on my list of things to do when I'm desperately trying to think of things to do), but after seeing the trailer, I'm pretty stoked to see it.
This certainly seems to be a decent-enough modernization of the story, though I'm kind of saddened that it appears you know the kids are aliens early on, certainly from the trailer. That was the hook for me in Escape, that these kids had these powers, and then you find out eventually they're aliens. Perhaps I'm misremembering; that's why I might watch this weekend to refresh my memory. Otherwise, it looks pretty rocking, another movie in a long list of releases this year I'm looking forward to plunking down some cash (more like transferring electrons) to see on the big screen.
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Thursday, January 08, 2009
An update
Did you really think I would/could keep up a daily posting schedule? I certainly did not, nor did I expect to.
Cat Ballou was pretty good, even if it did have the traitor in it. Lee Marvin was pretty good in his dual role, though one of them wasn't much acting. overall, the movie was pretty funny, and it does raise some questions about the nature of justice and such, should one care to think upon such things.
As I type, I'm watching Ivan the Terrible Part II. It's hard to type and follow on a Russian film reading subtitles. Part I was pretty good if incomplete (the presence of "Part I" is a good clue, though not necessarily conclusive — look at The History of the World, Part I; there was no Part II).
In one section of the movie, we see Ivan as a child. This made me think about a story either with a good child king followed by a bad child king (or vice versa), or maybe co-rulers with one being "good" and one being "bad". Like most of my other story ideas, that's about as far as they ever get.
Anyway, the live-blogging will have to be based upon an English-speaking movie, not a foreign-language one. Just typing this is quite difficult. So, I'll close now.
Cat Ballou was pretty good, even if it did have the traitor in it. Lee Marvin was pretty good in his dual role, though one of them wasn't much acting. overall, the movie was pretty funny, and it does raise some questions about the nature of justice and such, should one care to think upon such things.
As I type, I'm watching Ivan the Terrible Part II. It's hard to type and follow on a Russian film reading subtitles. Part I was pretty good if incomplete (the presence of "Part I" is a good clue, though not necessarily conclusive — look at The History of the World, Part I; there was no Part II).
In one section of the movie, we see Ivan as a child. This made me think about a story either with a good child king followed by a bad child king (or vice versa), or maybe co-rulers with one being "good" and one being "bad". Like most of my other story ideas, that's about as far as they ever get.
Anyway, the live-blogging will have to be based upon an English-speaking movie, not a foreign-language one. Just typing this is quite difficult. So, I'll close now.
Sunday, January 04, 2009
What inspiration
I can't believe I'm making my fourth blog entry for the year already, and it's still January. Last year just really sucked, I suppose, so much that what little inspiration I ever had to write anything just slipped away behind an iron wall. Maybe in 2009, Obama has given me hope to write again. It is to laugh.
(He actually has inspired hope in me, hope that we as normal, hard-working Americans don't get screwed too badly in whatever grandiose schemes he comes up with to "save America".)
Anyway, posting every day is not one of my resolutions for the year. One of my goals, however (remember, semantic games and all), is to write more often on this here blog, at least one post per week on average. I guess I'm all caught up for January now. ;-)
Another of my goals is to write 20 mini-reviews of movies I see throughout the year. One down, nineteen more to go. (I'll write more if so inspired, but this goal is my minimum.)
I also plan to update my list of movies I've never seen (to the actual list, not just a sampling), watch more Netflix movies (three movies Sep-Dec last year!), and post more of whatever I see, at least just a listing and maybe a brief comment. One day, I want to do a live-blogging experiment. I experimented with the mechanics of it in 2007 sometime, but never did anything with it (I also deleted the post since it was just testing). Kind of like the BD-Live thing Warner Bros did with The Dark Knight on Dec 18 (maybe — I didn't participate, so I'm just guessing).
[A few years ago, one of my online friends had never seen Edward Scissorhands. He told me he rented it one night, and we hit on the idea of starting it at the same time, and then he would tell me what he thought afterward. Of course, he loved it. It's a great movie! Too bad we couldn't discuss as we were watching it.]
Tonight, I'm watching Cat Ballou on Netflix watch instantly. The picture's a little blurry, but I get the gist enough. Yeah, downloads, while cool in theory, will still leave a lot to be desired to try to replace hard media like DVD and Blu-Ray. The demise of Blu-Ray is greatly exaggerated.
Oh, I did aerobics tonight. I thought I would die. Some of the steps I couldn't figure out; I know what the people were doing, but somehow the steps didn't make sense to me or seem to fit into a rhythm I could do. My lack of physical coordination strikes again. The next ten pounds are going to be kind of difficult. With God's help, though, I can do it.
(He actually has inspired hope in me, hope that we as normal, hard-working Americans don't get screwed too badly in whatever grandiose schemes he comes up with to "save America".)
Anyway, posting every day is not one of my resolutions for the year. One of my goals, however (remember, semantic games and all), is to write more often on this here blog, at least one post per week on average. I guess I'm all caught up for January now. ;-)
Another of my goals is to write 20 mini-reviews of movies I see throughout the year. One down, nineteen more to go. (I'll write more if so inspired, but this goal is my minimum.)
I also plan to update my list of movies I've never seen (to the actual list, not just a sampling), watch more Netflix movies (three movies Sep-Dec last year!), and post more of whatever I see, at least just a listing and maybe a brief comment. One day, I want to do a live-blogging experiment. I experimented with the mechanics of it in 2007 sometime, but never did anything with it (I also deleted the post since it was just testing). Kind of like the BD-Live thing Warner Bros did with The Dark Knight on Dec 18 (maybe — I didn't participate, so I'm just guessing).
[A few years ago, one of my online friends had never seen Edward Scissorhands. He told me he rented it one night, and we hit on the idea of starting it at the same time, and then he would tell me what he thought afterward. Of course, he loved it. It's a great movie! Too bad we couldn't discuss as we were watching it.]
Tonight, I'm watching Cat Ballou on Netflix watch instantly. The picture's a little blurry, but I get the gist enough. Yeah, downloads, while cool in theory, will still leave a lot to be desired to try to replace hard media like DVD and Blu-Ray. The demise of Blu-Ray is greatly exaggerated.
Oh, I did aerobics tonight. I thought I would die. Some of the steps I couldn't figure out; I know what the people were doing, but somehow the steps didn't make sense to me or seem to fit into a rhythm I could do. My lack of physical coordination strikes again. The next ten pounds are going to be kind of difficult. With God's help, though, I can do it.
Saturday, January 03, 2009
A Curious Case
wow! Look, three posts this year!
So, after a trip to Sam's Club and mailing a birthday card to my best friend from college, I went to see The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, starring Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett, directed by David Fincher (of Seven, , Fight Club, and Panic Room, oh and Alien3 (I'd include Zodiac, but I haven't seen it yet). I mention David Fincher merely because this movie is so far outside of his traditional fare.
Benjamin Button runs nearly three hours but doesn't really seem that long; the story moves right along. The plot is essentially about a guy who ages backwards through his life. He looks like an old man at birth with associated old-man physical frailties like arthritis, hearing disability, bad vision, etc. As he grows, little by little he begins to de-age (handled pretty well and subtly throughout). Benjamin falls in love with Daisy at first sight as a young boy, a young boy who just happens to look like someone in his 80's.
The story is full of heart. You always root for Benjamin throughout his travails; your heart breaks with his, and in turn swells with his. He's somewhat the innocent like Forest Gump, but not with the mental challenge. Because of his aged appearance, he gets treated much differently than someone who looks his actual age. Daisy, however, appears to be the only one who recognizes him as he truly is, not just what he looks like.
So, how do you see people? Do you see only what's on the outside and go no deeper? And how do you see yourself? One of the other themes addressed is continuing on in the face of failure or setbacks. Is it ever too late to start over? How long can one live in the past? (And these are all good questions for me to ask myself.)
While watching this movie, for the first time in my life, I missed New Orleans (the setting of most of the movie). Growing up there was pretty rotten, and I was oh-so-very-happy to move away. I had no friends, was rejected at both school and church, and was pretty much miserable the whole time. But there were some cool places to go to (field trips). New Orleans is an old city (not ancient-Rome old or anything, but relative to the U.S., it's on up there), and has great architecture and character. And that stuff I kind of miss.
Anyway, I give The Curious Case of Benjamin button an8.257.25 out of 10. Update 1/5/2009 12:30 a.m.: Dropped rating one point due to moral concerns. Strictly as a story, I give it the 8.25, but with total lack of legitimate consequences and the total humanistic outlook, I had to drop it a notch.
So, after a trip to Sam's Club and mailing a birthday card to my best friend from college, I went to see The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, starring Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett, directed by David Fincher (of Seven, , Fight Club, and Panic Room, oh and Alien3 (I'd include Zodiac, but I haven't seen it yet). I mention David Fincher merely because this movie is so far outside of his traditional fare.
Benjamin Button runs nearly three hours but doesn't really seem that long; the story moves right along. The plot is essentially about a guy who ages backwards through his life. He looks like an old man at birth with associated old-man physical frailties like arthritis, hearing disability, bad vision, etc. As he grows, little by little he begins to de-age (handled pretty well and subtly throughout). Benjamin falls in love with Daisy at first sight as a young boy, a young boy who just happens to look like someone in his 80's.
The story is full of heart. You always root for Benjamin throughout his travails; your heart breaks with his, and in turn swells with his. He's somewhat the innocent like Forest Gump, but not with the mental challenge. Because of his aged appearance, he gets treated much differently than someone who looks his actual age. Daisy, however, appears to be the only one who recognizes him as he truly is, not just what he looks like.
So, how do you see people? Do you see only what's on the outside and go no deeper? And how do you see yourself? One of the other themes addressed is continuing on in the face of failure or setbacks. Is it ever too late to start over? How long can one live in the past? (And these are all good questions for me to ask myself.)
While watching this movie, for the first time in my life, I missed New Orleans (the setting of most of the movie). Growing up there was pretty rotten, and I was oh-so-very-happy to move away. I had no friends, was rejected at both school and church, and was pretty much miserable the whole time. But there were some cool places to go to (field trips). New Orleans is an old city (not ancient-Rome old or anything, but relative to the U.S., it's on up there), and has great architecture and character. And that stuff I kind of miss.
Anyway, I give The Curious Case of Benjamin button an
Friday, January 02, 2009
Saturday Mornings
I like animation quite a bit. And for quite a few years, I've enjoyed watching many cartoons on Saturday morning. I was sad when Superman was taken off to be replaced by one of three showings of Pokemon, which I did watch but didn't really enjoy. I could see the appeal of it to younger children, but it wasn't for me.
Not having cable or satellite, my cartoon watching is limited to whatever is shown on broadcast networks. The WB, UPN, the CW, and ABC, all provided cartoons worth watching to some extent or another for the past few years. Beginning this current season, though, there's just nothing on any more that I want to even waste my time with. It's very sad indeed.
While I was at my mom's house for Christmas, I got to watch some Spongebob (he's a sponge, you know), and some other stuff that I don't recall titles for. I did get to see The Brave and the Bold, a cartoon starring Batman and having special guest stars teaming up with him (mega excitement to see Plastic Man) patterned after the comic book of old. My initial perceptions of this show were negative, mostly due to the style of the cartoon, very reminiscent of the 60's TV show, which I enjoyed, but that's over and done, at least in that style. I was pleasantly surprised, though, and maybe next year it will show up on broadcast networks.
Pondering: why don't I have cable or satellite? Well, my cable company has steadily reduced offerings and increased pricing, but they have increased the number of Spanish stations, so what am I complaining for? And satellite I believe would be too restrictive (you can only record what the box is tuned to, and you can't watch other shows (or so I understand)). Either way, I'm not ready to spend money on everything when I only want a few channels.
Not having cable or satellite, my cartoon watching is limited to whatever is shown on broadcast networks. The WB, UPN, the CW, and ABC, all provided cartoons worth watching to some extent or another for the past few years. Beginning this current season, though, there's just nothing on any more that I want to even waste my time with. It's very sad indeed.
While I was at my mom's house for Christmas, I got to watch some Spongebob (he's a sponge, you know), and some other stuff that I don't recall titles for. I did get to see The Brave and the Bold, a cartoon starring Batman and having special guest stars teaming up with him (mega excitement to see Plastic Man) patterned after the comic book of old. My initial perceptions of this show were negative, mostly due to the style of the cartoon, very reminiscent of the 60's TV show, which I enjoyed, but that's over and done, at least in that style. I was pleasantly surprised, though, and maybe next year it will show up on broadcast networks.
Pondering: why don't I have cable or satellite? Well, my cable company has steadily reduced offerings and increased pricing, but they have increased the number of Spanish stations, so what am I complaining for? And satellite I believe would be too restrictive (you can only record what the box is tuned to, and you can't watch other shows (or so I understand)). Either way, I'm not ready to spend money on everything when I only want a few channels.
Thursday, January 01, 2009
Welcome, 2009!
I officially welcome 2009 to the world. Not first, not splashy, just ... welcome. 2008 turned out to be a pretty horrific year for me personally. With my father's brain tumors returning leading to his ultimate death, my mom's nearly fatal collapse, and work becoming more and more stressful with little hope economically of being able to change jobs, my apartment being an overwhelming mess, and my own personal health failureschallenges (the onset of high blood pressure and diabetes), I have been truly ready for a new year to come along, accompanied hopefully by new attitudes (my own and others, too), new determination to change what I can, and a hint of an idea of being more selfish and less so at the same time.
I'm neverI've never been good at keeping resolutions in the past, so why set myself up for failure? I can and do fail miserably easily enough on a daily basis. A couple of years ago I came up with the idea of setting goals, but that turned out to be merely a semantic game I did not win.
But, I have to change. Apparently, I've suffered insanity the past few years: I've done the same things I always do, yet nothing seems to be different. And it's frustrating now to the point that I lash out in anger at the silliest of things (and bigger things, too, like apartment management changing the gate entry system to a new code-based rather than apartment-based keypad entry, and failing to put my apartment into the list — along with a friend's — and did I mention that they failed to notify me that they had changed the system? par for their course).
So, anyway, if you think about it, say a prayer for me as I plan subtle changes (because big ones will never be successful at this point) that will add some variety and more importantly improvements to my life.
Thanks, and may 2009 be your Best! Year! Ever!
But, I have to change. Apparently, I've suffered insanity the past few years: I've done the same things I always do, yet nothing seems to be different. And it's frustrating now to the point that I lash out in anger at the silliest of things (and bigger things, too, like apartment management changing the gate entry system to a new code-based rather than apartment-based keypad entry, and failing to put my apartment into the list — along with a friend's — and did I mention that they failed to notify me that they had changed the system? par for their course).
So, anyway, if you think about it, say a prayer for me as I plan subtle changes (because big ones will never be successful at this point) that will add some variety and more importantly improvements to my life.
Thanks, and may 2009 be your Best! Year! Ever!
Saturday, December 20, 2008
A Christmas Missive
I contributed to my DVD horde today by purchasing some Gilmore Girls (I'm not afraid to admit that I like this show) and the two volumes of Warner Bros. Holiday DVD Collection. My, that's a lot of DVDs in my collection. Anyway, I watched the first disc in Volume 1 of the collction, Boys Town (and on the flip side, Men of Boys Town. What a great movie or two. Both of these spoke to something in my heart, but more of that later.
I started watching A Christmas Carol from 1938 with Reginald Owen as Scrooge. And I got to thinking about our life in America today, what our expectations are about things, and all that kind of thing. In particular, about Christmas. I could go on about how commercialized Christmas has become and how we might just as well call it X-Mas for all we don't think about Christ and His birth. (And yes, I know the "x" really does stand for Christ, but in today's world, it's not understood or generally meant as a substitute for Christ). And to be honest, I've played a bit into this commercialism this year, but I do it out of love rather than obligation. ($200 isn't too much to spend on my mother, but don't let her read that! LOL.)
What is Christmas for beside a celebration of the birth of our Savior? I think spending time with family is important. In the past, I've always looked forward to Christmas. This year, though, with the death of my father, I've been dreading these holidays. When I think about it, that he's gone, it truly brings me to tears. And my poor mother, all alone now. She and my father had made plans, well, not so much plans as enjoying being with each other, and they were looking forward to retirement.
Again, I know I'm not the first person to lose a parent, and I'm blessed that he was around for as long as he was. And still, it hurts more than I can tell. As a friend who has passed this way told me, this is not something you can practice for or really even prepare for. You can expect it, but that's it. I know he's out of his suffering, and still it hurts. I can only trust that God will see us all through.
I started watching A Christmas Carol from 1938 with Reginald Owen as Scrooge. And I got to thinking about our life in America today, what our expectations are about things, and all that kind of thing. In particular, about Christmas. I could go on about how commercialized Christmas has become and how we might just as well call it X-Mas for all we don't think about Christ and His birth. (And yes, I know the "x" really does stand for Christ, but in today's world, it's not understood or generally meant as a substitute for Christ). And to be honest, I've played a bit into this commercialism this year, but I do it out of love rather than obligation. ($200 isn't too much to spend on my mother, but don't let her read that! LOL.)
What is Christmas for beside a celebration of the birth of our Savior? I think spending time with family is important. In the past, I've always looked forward to Christmas. This year, though, with the death of my father, I've been dreading these holidays. When I think about it, that he's gone, it truly brings me to tears. And my poor mother, all alone now. She and my father had made plans, well, not so much plans as enjoying being with each other, and they were looking forward to retirement.
Again, I know I'm not the first person to lose a parent, and I'm blessed that he was around for as long as he was. And still, it hurts more than I can tell. As a friend who has passed this way told me, this is not something you can practice for or really even prepare for. You can expect it, but that's it. I know he's out of his suffering, and still it hurts. I can only trust that God will see us all through.
Friday, December 12, 2008
Existing all the things
I've had so many ideas for blog posts lately, but I haven't done anything about it. I do have a draft about Jesus, but it's not flowing together completely, so I still need to work on it.
Anyway, I get several different emails daily from Google Alerts. (Aside: this is a great service, kind of like an automated Google search delivered right to your inbox every day; you should really check it out. note: this is not a paid advertisement.) Through some of the alerts over time, I've discovered some kind of movie-review 'bot (robot) that's kind of "engrish", except more like "ind-rish".
One particular alert item that came across today was for one of my 50 favorite movies, Charade, starring Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant. This is the Hitchcock film that Hitchcock didn't make but wishes he could have. [Editor's Note: While this is one of my favorite movies, it could be a gross inaccuracy to state it is one of my 50 favorite movies. I have not counted, nor have I ranked, movies beyond say my top five.]
This is the quote that showed up in my inbox (when I went to get the quote, I discovered it's for a movie, Wait Until Dark, starring Audrey Hepburn (as a blind woman) and Alan Arkin. Very suspenseful. On with the quote:
Doesn't this seem like some kind of Mad-Libs type thing, where someone picked out some adjectives which were selected at random?
Anyway, I get several different emails daily from Google Alerts. (Aside: this is a great service, kind of like an automated Google search delivered right to your inbox every day; you should really check it out. note: this is not a paid advertisement.) Through some of the alerts over time, I've discovered some kind of movie-review 'bot (robot) that's kind of "engrish", except more like "ind-rish".
One particular alert item that came across today was for one of my 50 favorite movies, Charade, starring Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant. This is the Hitchcock film that Hitchcock didn't make but wishes he could have. [Editor's Note: While this is one of my favorite movies, it could be a gross inaccuracy to state it is one of my 50 favorite movies. I have not counted, nor have I ranked, movies beyond say my top five.]
This is the quote that showed up in my inbox (when I went to get the quote, I discovered it's for a movie, Wait Until Dark, starring Audrey Hepburn (as a blind woman) and Alan Arkin. Very suspenseful. On with the quote:
Wait Until Dark was grateful! You have to detect this movie! A egregious performance by Audrey Hepburn & Alan Arkin make Wait Until Dark a “have to twig” movie! The eye-opening cast includes Audrey Hepburn, Alan Arkin, Richard Crenna,
Doesn't this seem like some kind of Mad-Libs type thing, where someone picked out some adjectives which were selected at random?
Tuesday, December 02, 2008
Friday, November 21, 2008
Wondering
I always wondered what I would think or do if I ever encountered my ex-fiance again. Well, through the magic of Facebook, she contacted me tonight.
I went cold, because our parting was a tad one-sided, or make that one-decided. She just kind of dumped me with no real explanation. When she got married a few months later (within the year), it kind of dawned on me that maybe, just maybe, she had met someone else that floated her boat more.
Which I could handle. I was more upset that, with her being my best friend for so many years, she just shut me out cold. It's not like we had imaginary conversations or anything. I actually talked to her in person and on the phone, and she talked back. Until she discarded me.
Anyway, I realize now it's better that we didn't get married. But that was a really big wound that just kind of scarred over after a long long time. (add a few more "long"'s to get a better picture -- then double it)
I went cold, because our parting was a tad one-sided, or make that one-decided. She just kind of dumped me with no real explanation. When she got married a few months later (within the year), it kind of dawned on me that maybe, just maybe, she had met someone else that floated her boat more.
Which I could handle. I was more upset that, with her being my best friend for so many years, she just shut me out cold. It's not like we had imaginary conversations or anything. I actually talked to her in person and on the phone, and she talked back. Until she discarded me.
Anyway, I realize now it's better that we didn't get married. But that was a really big wound that just kind of scarred over after a long long time. (add a few more "long"'s to get a better picture -- then double it)
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