movies – Page 8 – commonplacebook.com

Weekend Update: King Kong at IMA

Post author:HFM
Post published:August 1, 2005
Post category:Health Journal Movies My Photos

Stephanie and I saw King Kong with Dan and Doug, Josh, and David and Garrett on the Terrace at the IMA. It was great fun; the sound was much better than in the past, and I love seeing movies with Dan and Doug; I haven’t done that much recently, and I miss it. I spent a few minutes in the giftshop of the IMA while I was waiting around to buy tickets. They don’t carry as many art books as they used to, but it all looks very nice. I’m looking forward to visiting the IMA to see exhibits.

George and Timmy enjoy Kong

Photo Set: Pictures from the King Kong.
On Saturday, I got a lot of weeding done (I filled my entire trash dumpster with weeds) and managed to put a few items on eBay, so I rewarded myself with playing Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets on Xbox. It’s an older game I got used, but it’s a lot of fun. Stephanie and I caught up on watching Big Brother 6 in the evening.
Sunday morning, I mowed the lawn for the very first time since my surgery. I felt fine and really had fun doing it. I love mowing the lawn. I also did more weeding and cleaned up the side of the house where we broke out the stairs a bit. There’s lots more to do there, but it looks better. And I spent the afternoon at Stephanie’s house helping her and her dad get her basement organized and building shelves for her VW collection.
I’ve been feeling much better lately; like I did before the surgery, only with more energy. There were times before where I was doing something active and I felt like I was climbing a steep hill; now I can do the same things and have energy left over. I’m not as strong as I used to be; I can’t lift things like I could before. But that’s just because I was fairly inactive for four months. I’ll regain muscle as I keep working.

Weekend Update 2004-01-06

Post author:HFM
Post published:January 6, 2004
Post category:Books Books I've Read House and Home Journal Movies

Over the long New Years weekend, my friend Cate, who was in from Germany, came over and we went to Dan and Doug’s New Years party (photos soon!) along with Kathy and had a good time. Cate and I went to the Catholic supply store downtown and got religious medals (I know, I know, I was just saying below that I’m not a fan of the Catholic church. I still like the saints, though. They never did anything to me.) and went to the 62nd Street antique mall. It was great to see Cate again, and I hope it’s not two years before I see her again. I’m hoping to visit my sister in England, though, and if so, maybe Cate and I can hang out in London.

I went to see House of Sand and Fog with Melissa. Deeply depressing. If you see this, do it on a bright sunny day, not a dark gloomy one like we did.
And I did more painting in my living room. I also read ALOT. I finished Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides, and read Angels and Demons, by Dan Brown, the guy who wrote the DaVinci Code.

Middlesex was excellent. Angels and Demons was good, but not off the charts good. If you liked the DaVinci Code, you’ll enjoy this. I had it figured out well before the end, though, and it basically followed the same formula the other: Langdon as hero, girl as intrepid side-kick, a race against time to solve a puzzle, with an anonymous, unknown bad guy who turns out to be someone familiar to you in a wild twist at the end of the book. The appeal for me is the idea of clues to mysteries hidden in plain sight, amongst objects you see every day, with a scavenger hunt like puzzle attached. And I love the idea of secret societies, unusual iconography, etc.

Onion: Non-Widescreen Version Of DVD Received As Hanukkah Gift

Post author:HFM
Post published:December 18, 2003
Post category:Movies

The Onion wries a news story that sounds vaguely like my friend Douglas:

A hilarious story about a kid who’s disappointed to receive the “full-screen” version of the Matrix Reloaded as a gift, as opposed to the more desirable letter-boxed, or “wide-screen” version.

“With approximately a third of the movie’s visual content missing, thanks to ‘pan-and-scan,'” he added under his breath.”

“Mary Sue” in Online Fan Fiction

Post author:HFM
Post published:December 8, 2003
Post category:Art Brain Food Movies Television Writing

MARY SUE (n.):

1. A variety of story, first identified in the fan fiction community, but quickly recognized as occurring elsewhere, in which normal story values are grossly subordinated to inadequately transformed personal wish-fulfillment fantasies, often involving heroic or romantic interactions with the cast of characters of some popular entertainment.

2. A distinctive type of character appearing in these stories who represents an idealized version of the author.

3. A cluster of tendencies and characteristics commonly found in Mary Sue-type stories.

4. A body of literary theory, originally generated by the fanfic community, which has since spread to other fields (f.i., professional SF publishing) because it’s so darn useful. The act of committing Mary Sue-ism is sometimes referred to as “self-insertion.”

Sounds dirty.

Making Light’s lengthy article on the concept of “The Mary Sue” is well worth reading.

Narnia Movie

Post author:HFM
Post published:December 3, 2003
Post category:Books Books I've Read Movies

Narnia Unicorn They’re doing a film version of the Chronicles of Narnia.

That’s so cool. I loved these books when I was a kid, and I bought the boxed set a few years back and re-read them. The film version is being done by Peter Jackson, the producer of the Lord of the Rings, and will use some of the same production and design people, which is so fitting, because Narnia’s creator, C. S. Lewis was a lifelong friend of J. R. R. Tolkien.

2022-03-13 Update:
I saw this movie later and wasn’t especially impressed by it. It seemed to hit hard on the Christian themes, which ruined it for me.

The Magdalene Sisters is at Castleton

Post author:HFM
Post published:October 8, 2003
Post category:Journal

There’s tons of stuff going on this weekend, and I have to buy a truck bedliner and cover, but I really really want to see the Magdalene Sisters at Castleton. I wonder if I can make time?

The Magdelene Sisters
1:30, 4:15, 7:00, and on Friday and Saturday night only at 9:40

2014 Update: I never saw it, but caught it later on Netflix.

I don’t care how “sexy” Ben Affleck is…

Post author:HFM
Post published:September 3, 2003
Post category:Movies

He simply does not cause lesbians to want to have sex with him. Believe me. Icky. Icky. Icky. I’m sorry, but the culture police need to write him a ticket for Gigli AND Chasing Amy. Seriously, if Ben Affleck wanted to have sex with me, I might auction the option off to my gay male friends, but that’s the closest I would EVER come to considering the idea.

Mel Gibson is a Total Nutjob

Post author:HFM
Post published:July 23, 2003
Post category:Movies

Holy crap. What a fucking moron.

Gibson’s theology, writes Christopher Noxon in the New York Times, “is a strain of Catholicism rooted in the dictates of a 16th-century papal council and nurtured by a splinter group of conspiracy-minded Catholics, mystics, monarchists and disaffected conservatives — including a seminary dropout and rabble-rousing theologist who also happens to be Mel Gibson’s father.”

In the 1992 El Pais interview, Gibson said that “For 1,950 years [the church] does one thing and then in the 60s, all of a sudden they turn everything inside out and begin to do strange things that go against the rules.

“Everything that had been heresy is no longer heresy, according to the [new] rules. We [Catholics] are being cheated. … The church has stopped being critical. It has relaxed. I don’t believe them, and I have no intention of following their trends. It’s the church that has abandoned me, not me who has abandoned it,” he said.

I will never see any of his movies again.

(2014 Update: And I haven’t, either.)

Tipping the Velvet

Post author:HFM
Post published:May 21, 2003
Post category:Books Books I've Read Television

If you haven’t read the book, you should. It’s delicious. But short of that, catch the three-part mini-series on BBCAmerica, starting Friday, May 23rd at 10 p.m. ~~I’m buying a new video tape just for the occasion~~. I have the DVD now.

“A lavish tale of life and lesbian love in 19th-century London. Nan Astley (Rachael Stirling) falls in love with captivating performer, Kitty Butler (Keeley Hawes). They move to London and begin a romance, but Kitty has a terrible secret.”

Kong Is Back

Post author:HFM
Post published:March 31, 2003
Post category:Monkeys

Peter Jackson of LOTR fame will remake one of my favorite movies ever: King Kong. It’s bound to be a great film. I can’t wait to see it. I wonder, though, what tall building in New York he’ll end up climbing… since the World Trade Center towers (from the 1974 movie) are no longer there.