06.03.10
Bashert Hospitality
If you can’t beat them, might as well feed them. (Quicktime, 19MB)
05.22.09
Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My
I’m on a conference call this morning and Jeff rushes in and is pointing outside. I get up, head still connected to my douchy headset and see Jeff pointing out the window at the bear who has lumbered out of the woods and over to our tree that has a bird-feeder in it. I’m wildly throwing things at Jeff like: the CAMERA and the VIDEO CAMERA. I believe, however, that Jeff is actually wanting me to “take care of it”.
It doesn’t take long for the bear to realize it’s being gawked at so it kind of lumbers on around our workshop and then Jeff hollers that it’s going for our trash we keep in there. He runs back into the kitchen and comes out banging two pots together which is about all the bear-instruction we’ve ever gotten living out here (other than ‘don’t approach it…it won’t be a friendly bear’) and I’m running after him, screaming “NOT THE CALPHALON POTS!!! DON’T BANG THOSE TOGETHER, YOU’LL SCRATCH THEM”.
So you know…it’s about priorities and safety at our place. Eventually the bear dropped the bag of trash it was going to start mauling and lumbered off into the woods. And now I have to order new Calphalon pots.
That's a bear
03.14.09
Always one late to the party
I actually believe I emailed Shel when he was ringing the bell for Twitter before just about anyone else to ask, “what is the point?”
Who knew that was the point?
I’m still Twittering, though, am I not? Yes, yes I am. Anyone can know more useless and uninteresting things about me than could have ever been mined out of my blog.
My latest obsession that I just discovered last night (thanks guys from 619 Bearcast) and to which I fully acknowledge that I’m again, late to the party, is the Photoswap app for the iPhone. The basic idea is take a picture and send it out randomly to the universe. It goes out to a random person and you get one back from another random person. You can reply to a received picture or choose not too but unless the person has a small profile with contact information or posts a picture with their information, there is no way to get a hold of them. It’s so weirdly random and almost unnerving at how temporary and fleeting the images are. No way to save them and once you choose to not reply to someone, they’re gone forever.
It’s so fascinating I wasted an entire battery charge playing with it last night. I walked around the house shooting dust bunnies, trays of drying paint, and my feet along with various angles, corners and reflected surfaces that didn’t make me look fat. I got back shots of pets, shelves of books, a large breast, a French military officer, a cock shot, and a few grinning bear cubs…so all in all, a pretty good evening. As those tricksy hipster smarties with too much time on their hands tend to do, someone actually came up with a game for it and developed a scavenger hunt where they take a picture of a list items/body parts looked for and received and you can choose to play along if you have something they’re looking for. My two item requests from two separate games last night were a flexed bicep and a jock. The Gays, apparently, have adapted and made this our own.
06.27.08
Totally. Must. Have.
I thought I could somehow justify this because it is awesome and Max wants it so bad so it MUST be cool. But honestly, Jeff will overlook a lot of my shit but I’m not sure even I could get a $400 Lego DeathStar past him.
But THIS is perfection and it’s pre-ordered and I don’t care if it’s divorce in a perfectly executed, perfectly packaged, mint condition goodness. I mean, seriously, it has attacking birds. Just stop it!
05.15.08
The Fall
I was watching film trailers online as I like to do in my down time and came across a movie I’d heard nothing about. What caught my eye was the director, Tarsem, who’d directed “The Cell“, a movie I still can’t get out of my head and not because it had J.Lo in a rigid metal neck color lacquered red (but it does). It was so visually arresting and beautiful that I find myself still watching to this day though usually without the sound.
In his new film, The Fall, he apparently shot it over the course of years and all over the world and then couldn’t find any distributors though it was a favorite at film festivals. Now it finally found a home in the US and was released last week. I snuck out and saw it last week and loved it. It’s a simple story set in a California hospital in the early 20′s about a patient who spins a wild tale to a small Romanian girl also recovering at the hospital. It’s as visually stunning as “The Cell” and really showcases Tarsem’s visions. Plus it has Lee Pace from “Pushing Daisies”.
12.12.07
Juno
“Do you want a free condom? They’re boysenberry flavored. My boyfriend uses one every time we have sex and it makes his junk smell like pie.”
-Disenfranchised chicklet working the front desk of the abortion clinic
Juno is hilarious in the best way possible. When it goes into wide release, go see it.
11.21.07
Beowulf
For our date night last night, Jeff and I treated ourselves to the 3D IMAX version of Beowulf and WOW, WOW, WOW. So obviously, the story is the story, loosely based on the actual story of Beowulf. I think Neil Gaiman did a good job with the story over all but it didn’t stray too far into unwritten territory. I think the real win for this movie is obviously the advancing technology of CGI-generated characters. Beowulf, while obviously CGI, is one step closer to not being able to tell the difference between real and not…but it’s not there yet. Still, both Jeff and I were thoroughly entertained and being able to watch it not only in 3D but on the 7-story IMAX screen was incredible, especially the climactic battle at the end.
And all the naked flesh of Beowulf and Grendel’s mother (A very perky, naked Angelina Jolie) was nice.
The 3D immersion technology has really come far and now that you don’t have to wear those goggle helmet deals, it’s that much better. Here is me in the new 3D glasses waiting for the movie to start:
03.11.07
300
We took in ‘300‘ this evening. My. God. So many ab-tastic dudes walking around in leather speedo’s and harnesses, and Gerard Butler as King Leonides in a beard. Yeah there was blood and gore for the other men in the audience but for us, it was all about men in underwear ’cause we’re just that shallow.
12.18.06
Dreamgirls
Jeff and I were invited to catch one of the limited engagement pre-national release showings of “Dreamgirls” being held that Ziegfeld Theater in mid-town last night. For the $25 ticket we each bought, we got to see the movie in reserved seats (which RAWKS!), collected a limited edition, signed and numbered official movie lithograph (to be sold on eBay shortly), and a commemorative program that was all glossy. Also, I was seated in front of some Dreamgirl fanboys who literally “Woof, woof, woofed” through several acts as if we were at some beer-soaked, tailgating sporting event in New Jersey. For God’s sake, we’re homo’s and it’s DREAMGIRLS…in a movie theater. Who the hell are you asking to let the dogs out?
All that being said and only being eleven and in the wilds of Ohio at the time of its Broadway debut, I was pleasantly, thoroughly entertained through the whole movie. Everything they say about Jennifer Hudson’s performance was pretty right-on for me. The girl can sing. I had gone into the movie expecting Beyonce’s role to be a throw-away, something they offered to her just to get her name in the headlines, but again, was surprised at the work she did to carry out her part. She by no means deserves the top billing she’s contractually getting, but I feel justified because Jennifer is blowing everyone away, whether she’s top billed or not.
Between savage Mayan cannibals or snazzy divas in glittery, shiny dresses, go for the girls, boys.
07.04.06
Super-Duper
I took Jeff to see ‘Superman Returns‘ last night after seeing it for myself last week. We were packed into a Manhattan theater on 86th street with several hundred of our closest strangers so the movie starts out just fine and we settle back into our uncomfortable seats for the next three hours.
And then the New York City moving-going experience starts. There is a REAL Superman fan who, after Superman rescues the crashing jetliner, instructs everyone loudly that we should all be clapping because, “Yo, that’s Superman! Damn straight that is Superman. Clap, y’all!” So everyone snickers and claps. Then this very enthusiastic lady continues to bark out pro-Superman comments the entire movie. As if we’re not all excited to have Superman back and have a decent, watchable movie (albeit some rather glaring deviations from the Superman legend, several of which she apparently agreed with which marked her in the eyes of fanboys as total phony. I was in that camp).
I give the movie a B+ for carrying on the flag of the original two movies and great FX. I give the Manhattan movie going experience of seeing Superman Returns a big fat D.