Far – a long long way to run
What a fun video. Now I want to watch the movie and learn the dance.
Where The Wild Things Are Trailer
Wow. I have a million images in my head. I’m struck by how much it looks like the book – the colors, especially, are exactly like the color palettes in the book, and the hand drawn font evokes the like quality of the book, too. Interesting.
So… what would the opposite of koumpounophobia be?
Why do I ask? No reason, really. Ahem.
I’m really looking forward to Coraline hitting theaters!
(My weird obsession with buttons started when I was a little kid. The pillowcases my grandmother made had tiny button closures, and I would play when them while falling asleep. It’s a comfort thing.)
Oprah interviews Kate Winslet
Oprah interviewing Kate Winslet after her two golden globe wins for Revolutionary Road and The Reader. In this clip, Oprah is talking about scenes from The Reader.
Note – in searching for links for this clip, I couldn’t find news sites that DIDN’T make double entendres with their “Winslet’s Golden Globes!” headlines. Golden indeed. Dorothy Snarker provides lots of pictures of Kate and her assets.
Quote of the Day: Reform
Courtesy “O Brother Where Art Thou“:
Reform? I’ll reform you, you soft-headed sonofabitch! How we gonna run reform when we’re the damn incumbent!
Y’ignorant slope-shouldered sack a guts! Why we’d look like a buncha satchel-ass Johnnie-Come-Latelies braggin’ on our own midget! Don’t matter how stumpy! And that’s the goddamn problem right there – people think this Stokes got fresh ideas, he’s oh coorant and we the past.
links for 2008-04-03
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metafilter reviews the games of “Outside” and “First Life” and gives them decent ratings.
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Cool designs.
Design is Dead says Phillippe Starck
The hilarity of this recent news item is only enhanced by my having just finished watching the movie Art School Confidential mere moments before I read it:
BERLIN (AFP) — Renowned French designer Philippe Starck says he is fed up with his job and plans to retire in two years, in an interview published in a German weekly on Thursday.
“I was a producer of materiality and I am ashamed of this fact,” Starck told Die Zeit weekly newspaper… Everything I designed was unnecessary… I will definitely give up in two years’ time. I want to do something else, but I don’t know what yet. I want to find a new way of expressing myself …design is a dreadful form of expression.”
Starck, who is known for his interior design of hotels and Eurostar trains and mass consumption objects ranging from chairs to tooth brushes and lemon juice squeezers, went on to say that he believed that design on the whole was dead.
“In future there will be no more designers. The designers of the future will be the personal coach, the gym trainer, the diet consultant,” he said.
Starck said the only objects that he still felt attached to were “a pillow perhaps and a good mattress.” But the thing one needs most, he added, was the “ability to love”.
Laser Eye Surgery: Suddenly, I See
I woke up this morning with much improvement in my vision. It’s still not 20/20, but I can read text at a distance, and such. I’m back at work – one thing I’ve noticed is that I still can’t see facial expressions at a distance, so I can’t tell what my co-workers are doing/expressing when they’re walking down the hallway toward me. But that will clear up soon, I’m sure.
While I was home puttering around, I was okay to watch movies and such. So I saw a few things that I could add to my movies list.
- The Big Lebowski – DVR’ed from cable. I wish I’d seen it earlier; I think I should have added it to my pop-culture lexicon before now.
- The Aristocats – I’ve had this on DVD for several years and never popped it in. I loved it as a kid, but there are sure some slow spots as an adult.
- Nancy Drew, Reporter (1939) – on DVD – Stephanie got me this from the dollar bin a while back; it’s very cute, although I’d quibble with Nancy needing to be rescued so often.
- The Ice Storm – on DVD. Stephanie owns this one – she really liked it, and I did as well.
Laser Eye Surgery: Getting my eyeballs replaced
As someone at work put it. I’m getting laser surgery (specifically PKR) done on my eyes tomorrow by Dr. Waltz of TLC of Indianapolis. I’m doing my traditional “Stress relief by just not thinking about it” form of denial, so I don’t freak out. It couldn’t possibly be worse than the surgeries I’ve already had. Anyways, I’m taking several days off work – tomorrow, Tuesday and Wednesday (with bonus MLK day on Monday) to hang out around the house. My eyesight is pretty darned bad, and in the last few years my allergies have made contacts a pain to wear on an all-day basis. I’m completely looking forward to not being near-sighted; to be able to see while swimming, shave my legs in the shower without guesswork, and see the alarm clock better in the morning.
On Monday, I went out with some friends and saw National Treasure: Book of Secrets, starring Nick Cage, with his toupee in a prominent but uncredited role. There’s a fellow that’s had some surgery – and not in a good way. You can tell he’s going for the “Indiana Jones/Harrison Ford rakish grin” in some scenes, but it ends up looking a bit like he has gas.
And I just finished up The Dangerous Book for Boys by Conn Iggulden and Hal Iggulden, finally. That took me awhile, mainly because I just wasn’t into it after I got part way through. I gotta say, I did completely pooh-pooh the people who were dissing it as a sexist tome, but after reading it, I see what they were on about. There were several sections that really should have been written a bit less – I dunno, anti-feminine? It’s great to be all “rah rah” masculinity, but not at the expense of “rah rah femininity.” The sections on Famous Battles was great for getting me to fall asleep – if I’d been sitting in a class on it, I’d be at the back intoning “boooooooooorrrrrrrrrring!” under my breath.
Weekend Update – Movies
We managed to add two movies to our viewing list this weekend, along with dinner at Ralph’s Great Divide on Friday and Mama Carolla’s on Saturday, an overly sweet bottle of Reisling, much work on Stephanie’s part, and my reading the Sunday paper, a book and lots of blogs.
Murder By Death (1976)
Eileen Brennan, Truman Capote, James Coco, and Peter Falk, Alec Guinness, David Niven, Maggie Smith
A Neil Simon murder-mystery spoof from 1976 that tacked every funny genre conceit of murder mysteries with an ensemble cast of stars. It was very funny, and I’m not sure how I missed this one before, given my teenage love of Agatha Christie novels. It was clearly the inspiration for another favorite comedy of mine – Clue. Strangely, I don’t own clue, although I remember it being in the $5 bin at Target. Wonder why I never picked that up.
Failure to Launch (2007)
Sarah Jessica Parker, Matthew McConaughey
This was a lot funnier than I expected, although I say that with reservations, lest someone think I’m approving of the recent misogynist cinematic trend of “Guys who refuse to grow up and still get the girl.”
Wait a minute here… Matthew McConaughey was born in November 4 1969? He’s younger than me? He looks like he’s in his late forties. I had so much trouble with the idea of him still living at home, because he looked so old.