Archive for January, 2008
If watching a bunch of pretty rich people whine about love while they sleep around behind each other’s back for two hours is your idea of quality entertainment, then this is the movie for you.
This movie was dull, shallow, and a waste of my time (and it takes a lot to waste my time). The acting was decent and it was well put together, but I just didn’t care. There was nothing likeable about any of the characters. They were rich, pretty, and crude, and that’s as far as their personalities went. From what I saw, it’s supposed to be about love, or the trials of love, but in the words of Alice (Natalie Portman), “Where is this love? I can’t see it, I can’t touch it. I can’t feel it. I can hear it. I can hear some words, but I can’t do anything with your easy words.”
- Negative 3.2 arbitrary stars
Tags: clive-owen, closer, jude-law, julia-roberts, love, Movie Reviews, Movies, natalie-portman, waste-of-time
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I feel a little sheepish writing a review about a movie that’s been nominated for an Oscar. For what it’s worth, I first wrote this before the nominations came out. I said I wouldn’t be surprised if it was nominated for an Oscar. Ellen Page certainly deserves it and the script is phenomenal. It was nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress in a Leading Role, and Best Original Screenplay. I am officially not surprised.
Juno is about a young girl struggling to find a place in an adult world. It takes place in what could be any small town in America and centers around a bitingly sarcastic 16-year-old girl named Juno (Ellen Page, aka Kitty Pride from X-Men 3). The film begins with Juno chugging a gallon of Sunny D as she walks to the local convenience store to take what we soon learn is her third pregnancy test of the day. It’s positive. Juno is pregnant.
We then follow Juno as she goes through the roller coaster that ensues thereafter. She eventually decides to keep the baby and put it up for adoption. Looking through the PennySaver, she finds the perfect couple, played by Jason Bateman and Jennifer Garner. What happens for the remainder of the movie can best be described as Juno “dealing with things way beyond [her] maturity level,” as she uses her sarcasm to shield her from the reality of her situation. Juno’s classmates turn on her and she turns to Mark (Jason Bateman) as the only person who sees more in her than a pregnant belly, or so she thinks.
Juno is a movie with heart, but that doesn’t keep the punches from flying. This movie is hilarious without being crude. This is a very adult movie, shown through the eyes of a sarcastic 16-year-old girl. The director, Jason Reitman, is very true to those eyes and because of this, no emotion is cheapened. You feel every hit. In the end, Juno is about a 16-year-old girl trapped in an adult world who discovers that love can be “really beautiful but really mean. Like Diana Ross.”
- 432.7 arbitrary stars
Tags: academy-award, diana-ross, ellen-page, jason-bateman, jason-reitman, jennifer-garner, Juno, love, Movie Reviews, Movies, oscar, pregnant
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I rolled this out once already, but then my brother’s server crashed and I lost both this post and my first review. I can’t complain though, he’s giving me free server space and technical support. Besides, it was a lot more detrimental to him. His websites are one of his main sources of income.
Anywho, when I first wrote this post, I went on and on about how because I have a film degree, people are always asking me what I think about this movie and that. I whined about how I never have an answer right away because I’d rather not just say it was good or bad; how I prefer to look at what the movie was trying to do, and whether or not it was successful in its aims. I pontificated about how I sometimes sit for hours after a movie as I reflect on how the different aspects of a film affected me as a viewer. The bottom line, however, is that I watch a lot of movies, I need more regular content on this site, and I need to write more, so I’m going to start posting reviews to movies I watch throughout the week, whether on DVD, Laserdisc (yes, I own a Laserdisc player and yes, it is beautiful), or in theaters. You can find them all in the menu above (click the little button) under the category, Movie Reviews.
Tags: Announcements, dvds, laserdisc, Movie Reviews, Movies, Rental, Theaters
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It all started last year when I joined a Virtual Stock Exchange competition with a bunch of friends. We were to play the stock market for a year straight using $10,000 of fake money. Whoever had the biggest gain by the end of the year would win. I came in second, right behind a guy who made some last-minute shortsells, and I have Google to thank for it. I almost doubled my fake money.
I bought their fake stock about 6 months or so ago and it rose slowly in the next months. Then, rumors started about a Google Phone soon to be released and their stock exploded. It rose even higher after they actually released the “Google Phone” and continued to rise after that. What makes them so special? Release after release of easy-to-use, life-easing web applications. Let me just share a few that have struck my fancy.
1. Google Maps
“Google Maps is the best! / Trudat! / Double True!”
Andy Samberg and Chris Parnell knew what they were talking about. Even if Lazy Sunday was a year or so ago. I use it at least once a day without even thinking about it, it has become that much a part of my life.
What makes Google Maps so great is their constant innovation. I once used street view to prove the accuracy of a photo sent to me in an email (Proof here). I just used Satellite view last Sunday to see if there was anywhere to park near our new church building. Over the holidays, I used the route-drag feature to change my driving directions to use the Merrit Parkway to get from Boston to New Jersey, and then to add a pit-stop in Manhattan on the way back. For our wedding, I made my own embedded Google Map that contained markers for all the important venues in the area around our reception. I can’t wait to see what they do next!
2. Google Reader
I used to spend hours every week just checking my friend’s various blogs to see if they had updated anything. After a while I just gave up, it was too much to keep track of. I had heard of reader programs, but never tried any because they seemed so foreign. It wasn’t until I installed Lifehacker’s Better Gmail Firefox extension that I realized how great a reader program could be. It put Google Reader right there in my Gmail window (the new version does not have this feature yet, they’re waiting on someone to come up with an updated Greasemonkey script). I had to try it out.
Basically, like any other reader, it stores your blogs in one central place and updates when your blogs update. But what makes Google Reader so great (besides seamless integration with all the other Google products) is their new sharing feature. I can mark blogs that I think will be useful to my friends without having to email them a link to the site. I just click “share” and move on. Then it’s up to them to look or not.
My wife shares a lot of design possibilities to try in our house after we move and I’ve been exposed to a world I never knew existed with my brother’s programming blog shares. Sure, there’s programs like del.icio.us, digg, and StumbleUpon that do similar things, but with Google Reader, it’s all right in front of me as I read my blogs, no need to bookmark or install anything else.
3. GMail + Google Talk
Before I moved to New York City, I mainly used AOL’s Instant Messenger. I’ve had an account with them since junior high when AOL was the way to the internet. A few of my friends were on MSN Messenger, so I started using programs like Trillian (for PC), or Adium (for Mac) to talk to both in a single program. When I moved to New York, I discovered that I was years behind. Sure I had a gmail account, but I was not on Google Talk. Everyone was on Google Talk. I decided to check it out.
What makes Google Talk so great, is the fact that you don’t have to install any additional software, it’s right there in your web browser. This means I can chat with just about all my friends no matter where I am, whether on my computer or not. My wife uses it at work because it’s so easy to hide. It just looks like you’re typing an email. In fact, that’s how we got to know each other at first. She never would’ve married me if not for GTalk. Sure I use Adium for all my chatting purposes, but that’s only because a few of my friends still have not moved over to Google.
There’s not much to say about GMail that you probably don’t already know except that it’s great. I have about 4 different accounts that forward to one master account for easy labeling on emails like work, family, and online accounts. I use that same account to check my business email using POP, and I have most of my contacts grouped for quick mass emails.
So there it is. Call me a fanboy if you want, but I heart Google. Honorable mentions include iGoogle, Google Calendar (my wife and I share ours to keep up on each other’s appointments), and Google Text. Google Info has potential, but I have yet to see it give me reliable results.
And while I’m linking, check out www.japanesebugfights.com. Yes, it’s exactly what it sounds like.
Tags: adium, Articles, better-gmail, gmail, google, google-maps, google-reader, google-talk, greasemonkey, lazy-sunday, stocks, street-view, trillian
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It’s a new year and with it came a lot of new stuff. I thought I’d start things off with a semi-detailed account of the loot one spoiled white boy from Texas hauled in over the holidays, or at least a few of the highlights.
Megan started things off with a spark:
a leather bound edition of my favorite book, Fahrenheit 451.
Oh yeah, and it’s signed by Ray Bradbury himself.
Her parents surprised me with a fancy new toy I’ll be sure to use often after Megan and I move to Las Vegas:
a fancy picture-hanging level.
We then went to my parent’s house near Boston where my parent’s surprised me with another fancy new toy I’ve secretly been dreaming of:
a snazzy LED headlamp for all my forays in spelunking.
Michelle, being ever-so-thoughtful, gave me a brand new edition of Scene It, that I then used to once again prove my unmatched genius as I defeated everyone in a quick round.
Before any of this occurred, however, I was already somewhat jaded because as good as her Christmas presents were, Megan set the bar high with her wedding present to me:
An antique pocket watch from 1898 monogrammed with my initials.
Now, as great as all these gifts were, the greatest gift I received over the holidays could never be topped:
Tags: Articles, christmas, fahrenheit-451, LED-headlamp, marriage, picture-hanging-level, pocketwatch, Ralphie, Ray-Bradbury, Shameless Self-Promotion, signature, Wedding
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You may have noticed a few changes to the website. I grabbed a new Wordpress theme (Wordpress is the blogging software my website uses) and Megan made me a snazzy new header. I think it’s pretty sweet, but then again, so is she, so I shouldn’t be that surprised. Check her out, she changed her layout too. It’s pretty snazzy.
I’m still working on a few things for the site, like that little menu button in the top right corner. I want to change that little graphic, but haven’t found anything I like yet. Any ideas? I’ve got a few ideas for blog posts working up in the old noggin, and I’ll try to get those up soon, but the main reason for this post is to try out the new comments area. I decided to enable comments finally, mainly because of the cool little comment guy that comes up, so hopefully this works. I’ll keep it up as long as battling spammers doesn’t get too difficult.
Tags: Announcements, blog, comments, header, Shameless Self-Promotion, wordpress
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We’re back and better than ever!
This week: animation.
Junior Senior – Move Your Feet
The Knife – We Share Our Mother’s Health
Softlightes – Heart Made of Sound
Tags: animation, Favorite Video Friday, junior-senior, Music-Videos, softlightes, the-knife
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