Category Archives: Movies

Lowell, Movies, Music

Fuzzy Warbles

“What you got back home, little sister, to play your fuzzy warbles on? I bet you got, say, pitiful, portable picnic players. Come with uncle and hear all proper! Hear angels’ trumpets and devils’ trombones. You are invited!”
– Alex DeLarge (A Clockwork Orange)>

If you are a lover of high quality music, angel trumpets, and/or devil trombones then I have some good news for you. The Boone Big Band is going to be having a show this Saturday. Don’t take my word for it, read the following blurb I stole from their invite that I’m now trying to regurgitate as if it was a press release. I learned that trick from the fine reporters at the Boone News Republican.

The Big Band of Boone will be performing at their annual autumn Hangar Dance on October 27th, 2007 at 7 p.m. in Boone, Iowa.

Many members of the Big Band also perform each summer with the Boone Municipal Band and are either current or former music educators or professional musicians. Big Band members Connie Younger and Paul Navara recruited 18 other talented central-Iowa musicians from Ames, Ankeny, Boone, Madrid, Ogden, Osceola, Renwick, and Stanhope to participate. The band’s repertoire includes classic 40s and 50s era big band music as well as contemporary arrangements of well-known hits.

Big Band members include the following:
Saxophone Section: Connie Younger, Dick Humeston, Laura Britton, Christine Heintz, and Joel Jacobson.

Trumpet Section: Bill Martin, Dan Sprengler, Deidre Malmquist, Linda Younger, Jo Howell, and Steve Weigel.

Trombone Section: Dave Richardson, Larry Moeller, Dale Schoening, Lowell Davis, and Ted Erickson.

Rhythm Section: David Howell on Piano, Dave Swenson on Bass, Mark Astleford on Guitar, and Paul Navara on Drums.

The Hangar Dance will be held on Saturday, October 27th, 2007 at the Boone Municipal Airport in Boone. CY Aviation is co-hosting the event with the Boone Area Pilots Association. Dancing and music begin at 7:00 pm. Seasonal snacks and beverages will be provided and pop will be available for purchase. Dancers and music lovers of all ages are invited to attend. Admission is $10 per person and tickets are available at the door.

When: Saturday Oct 27, 2007
7:00 PM

Where: Boone Municipal Airport
BOONE, IA 50036
The United States of America

Now I haven’t decide whether or not I’m going to attend, but if YOU’RE not there, I’m not even going to bother. Or will I?

Animals, Movies, Nature

The Third Crack

“Oh bliss! Bliss and heaven! Oh, it was gorgeousness and gorgeousity made flesh. It was like a bird of rarest-spun heaven metal or like silvery wine flowing in a spaceship, gravity all nonsense now. As I slooshied, I knew such lovely pictures!”

– Alex DeLarge (A Clockwork Orange)

I might have written that a few weeks back that a certain Tuesday was the greatest New Release Tuesday of the year. When I wrote that remark it was true. However, today’s New Release Tuesday has eclipsed that previous greatest day. What was released today to set a new high water mark? Today is the day that the Stanley Kubrick boxed set was released.

I do own all of the Kubrick movies on DVD already (except for Fear and Desire* which is unavailable in any format), but when his Warner Bros. movies were released a few years back the job that was done on the movies was sub-par at best. The transfers were not cleaned up in the slightest bit. The transfers were not anamorphic. The soundtracks were mono. There wasn’t an extra feature to be found on any disc. To cap off the indignity, since most of these discs were released by Warner Bros. the discs were housed in their terrible cardboard boxes.

I could deal with the lame boxes and the dearth of special features. I could handle the soundtracks being mono because Kubrick released his movies with mono soundtracks. (Not because he feared surround sound soundtracks, but because he did not trust the sound systems of most theaters to divide the tracks properly so he released his movies in mono because they would sound good even on the worst theater’s sound system.) The fact that the pictures were not anamorphic was tolerable because I did (and do not) have a television where such a thing would be painfully evident. However, the wretched state of the transfers was sickening. The scratches and the marks. The loss of color. It makes me nauseous thinking about it right now.

Warner Bros. has tried to atone for their past sins by releasing 5 of Kubrick’s last 6 movies. Curiously absent from this boxed set is Barry Lyndon. Perhaps not so curious since nobody loves that movie. The new boxed set is anamorphic, has 5.1 soundtracks, 4 out of 5 are are 2 disc special editions, and are in real cases. What about the transfers?

As I sit typing this entry out, I have cracked into the A CLOCKWORK ORANGE disc. It is easily the best transfer of this movie I’ve ever seen. The video is pristine and the colors are wonderful. I can’t wait to crack into 2001: A Space Odyssey, Full Metal Jacket, Eyes Wide Shut, and The Shining. I’m also excited to watch the documentary about Kubrick included in the boxed set.

My hope is that some other studios (and Warner Bros. because they still own the rights to some of his other movies) release some very good DVDs of his other movies. As of right now there are really only passable DVDs of Spartacus and Dr. Strangelove. I would definitely like to see improved versions of one of my personal favorites Paths of Glory, Lolita, and even the much maligned Barry Lyndon. I can handle the current versions of The Killing and Killer’s Kiss, but I wouldn’t mind seeing better versions of those movies as well. I guess I’ll have to wait and see what happens.

To sum up my feelings about the new boxed set in terms that Alex DeLarge would understand, “It makes me feel real horrorshow!”

Enough about Kubrick, below are some pictures from Saturday.


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This was thought to be a lost film, and one researcher, Mark Carducci, had suggested that Kubrick destroyed the negative following the death of Joseph Burstyn, the film’s distributor. Bootleg copies abound, however, and there is one (legal) print in all of the Americas. It is located in the Kodak archives in Rochester, New York; the Kubrick estate allows viewing of the film with the provisos that it is screened by individuals (not groups), that the print never leaves the building in which it is housed, and that it cannot be duplicated in whole or in part.

Jay, Movies, Video

Possible Preview

This might just be a preview for a new feature of this website or at the very least, a new endeavor for yours truly and Mr. Janson. If you do not see a video below, your boss is blocking YouTube.


VIDEO DELETED – HOPEFULLY

I am planning on going to see Things We Lost in the Fire this Sunday, so the review could conceivably be up some time next week.

Football, Iowa State, Movies

Texas Sized Beatdown

“Sorry don’t get it done, Dude. That’s the second time you hit me. Don’t ever do it again.”

-John T. Chance
Rio Bravo (1959)

The Iowa State-Texas game was over about 2 minutes into the sad, sordid affair. It was a rainy, gloomy day. The pictures from this debacle are up on the website any way. I think the highlight of this new gallery might be a picture of Jay on his way to a lumberjack competition.

Iowa State vs. Texas

Andree, Baier, Derrick, FNSC, Jason, Jay, Jaycees, Jen, Monica, Movies, Music, Russell, Sara, Shannon, Sports, Suzie, Willy, Work

Johnny Consumer

I’d like to think that I had a better than average week this week. It started out poorly as the Padres lost to the Rockies in a play in game and despite the fact that the umpire blew the call that gave the Rockies the win, I accept the loss because the umpires also blew a call that would have given the Rockies another run and ended the game in their favor after 9 innings.

Tuesday night I got the pleasure of changing the spark plugs in my car. So now when I’m cruising up the entrance ramp on my way home from work the engine doesn’t misfire or hesitate. Then on Wednesday night I changed out both front wheel bearings on the car, so now instead of listening to an intense grinding noise where ever I go, I hear only the sweet hum of my engine and whatever tune is currently emanating from the iPod.

In all honesty (I worry that I’m pointing out my honesty too much lately, which might make me seem like a less than honest person. Truth be known, I’m an honest person face to face. It is only in these blogs that I tell half truths [such as there is no Book of Maximum Overdrive – at least one that isn’t a prophetic text] to slightly skew the perspective of these tales.) it is my brother-in-law Jason that actually changed the spark plugs and the wheel bearings, but I did stay in the garage to provide enlightening and engaging conversation, in addition to moral support.

On Thursday night I got myself a haircut from Monica. During that time I learned that Monica had briefly dated a guy that played the bagpipes. I couldn’t believe that she had broken up with a piper. I know the strong spell that the sound of bagpipes put on the women folk, even though this “fact” was called into question by some women folk on Saturday night, I stand by my assertion.

After the haircut, I attended an Ames Jaycees meeting with Shannon. It is the contention of Shannon that if I were to join the Jaycees, I could take pictures of “ground zero” at next year’s Independence Day fireworks display.

The meeting took place at the Jaycees haunted house which is just north of the Halloween “Bootique” in North Grand Mall. The meeting began with a tour of the haunted house. This year they are having a pirate themed haunted house that is sure to scare the “ship” out of you. Don’t blame me if you didn’t like that play on words. I’m just reporting the facts.

After the tour everybody was guided back to an extremely large bathroom where the meeting was held. I think that Shannon thought that this aspect would be my favorite part of the meeting. This aspect was amusing, but it wasn’t my favorite part of the meeting.

A little while back I (at least I believe) mildly offended Shannon by calling her hyper-organized. She confessed (yes I’m acting like being organized is a crime) to be organized, but not to an insane degree that one would need to use or even manufacture a label such as “hyper-organized” and apply it to her.

Shannon is a Jaycees bigwig. Although I don’t believe that I’m revealing any Jaycees secrets by letting you know that in fact the bigwigs do no wear big wigs, to indicate the amount of power within their grasp. They just sit at the front of the room.

There were times when the meeting would seem to lose its focus. I would describe the meeting as having gone off on a tangent because of my love for mathematics. Others in the room would describe such a set of circumstances as “chasing rabbits” based on their love for Jefferson Airplane. Regardless of what euphemism you would use to describe the situation, on at least three occasions Shannon had to redirect the meeting to bring it back to its agenda prescribed focus or to point out some error the meeting had made in parliamentary procedure. Each time, despite a game effort to conceal it, she clearly displayed an amount of irritation. These moments were my favorite aspect of the meeting. But she isn’t hyper-organized.

After the meeting I went out to supper with Monica and Suzie. It was an excellent opportunity to learn more about the piper. However, it was slightly disappointing as it turns out the piper never once fired up the bagpipes for Monica. Although he did once show her is rather large and extensive collection of bagpipe CDs.

FNSC met at Dublin Bay. There is not a tremendous amount to report from those proceedings. Just the usual. Trying to get Willy to sign off on one of us wearing a bear suit and jumping out and surprising the people he hikes with on Saturdays so that he could look like a hero in front of them when he wrestles the bear and wins.

On Saturday night I was spared listening to the Cyclones thrashing by Tech by going out to eat with Russell, Andree, Jason and Janelle to celebrate Janelle’s emancipation from Dasher Mismanagement.

This was a good time as I learned that Jay “Mr. Secret” Janson has been keeping a secret from me, again. You have to keep an eye on that guy and that Janelle is actually more over insured than I am.

It is always an enjoyable night with those guys as I get to listen to Russell reveal one crackpot sports opinion after another. (Texas Tech is a top 25 team, Nebraska is going to be good this year, Bill Calahan is a good coach, Terrell Davis isn’t a Hall of Famer, the Celtics are winning the East next year) Then Jason gets to try to defend the Chiefs and Andree provides the only other voice of reason. Janelle is a Cubs and Bears fan, so it is was a good time watching the Diamondbacks eliminate the Cubs. The highlight of the night being when the Cubs loaded the bases with one out and some Cub grounded into a double play to end the inning. As for the Bears? Just discussing the NFL in front of a Bears fan is usually punishment enough for them. Some of them actually thought the Bears were going to be good this year.

After the Emancipation Celebration, I hopped into my quiet smooth running car for the trip down to Beaverdale for Sara’s birthday party. I had been charged with the task of inviting her Boone County friends to the party. Although I was diligent in my duty, I was also derelict in my execution.

I spread the word, but I spread the wrong time. In fact, it wasn’t until late Saturday afternoon that I learned that I had spread misinformation. Due to a new set of signs(indicating the need for quiet to facilitate or respect the “world class support” going on in our midst) at the computer mine, I now have my phone on vibrate all the time and now I never get my calls.

I missed a call from Jen. She called to tell me that the party was at 8, which was super since I told everybody 7, and asked if I would like to carpool with them down to the social event of October. However, I would not be able to reach her at home because she was going shopping. I would not be able to reach her on her cell phone because the battery was dead. Furthermore, I would not be able to reach Derrick on his cell phone because he had left it at home. Therefore I was to call Derrick at work and reveal my answer.

Sara’s party was yet another stunning success. I can’t lie. Sara goes through a dizzying array of Des Moines friends. They usually range from intolerable to “how has this person not been choked to death?” Sara’s party last year was a quick adventure for me. I made it 5 minutes before it was time for me to leave.

However, the current crop of Des Moines friends are keepers. I look forward to seeing them at social engagements in the future. I even learned their names for future reference. Something I’ve never done in the past.

Also, I got to discuss the movie “Once” with Derrick. That was another win for me, because at this time, I really enjoy discussing this movie.

Now might be a good time to discuss the future. Not the important future. Just the future of where some of my money is going to go.

As everybody knows, Tuesday is the day that new movies, CDs, and books get released. This coming Tuesday might be the greatest Tuesday of 2007.

Why?

Two great things are being released on Tuesday. First is Stephen Colbert’s new book “I Am America (And So Can You!)”. Secondly, a new Post Secret book is being released. I can’t wait.

I’m so excited I just think I might embed a video about Post Secret.


VIDEO DELETED

Jay, Johnathan, Movies, Railroad, Shorty

Thomas the Scam

1 Comment

Every year I feel myself compelled to go down to the B&SVRR when they are scamming small children and draining the coffers of their parents with Thomas the Tank. I admit that it really isn’t their doing. They put on a pretty good show. There is a magician and a petting zoo. There are characters from the show. There is a funnel cake stand. Actually it is “the funnel cake stand”. If you’ve never had a funnel cake from the Kruse funnel cake stand my friend, you’ve never actually had a funnel cake at all. Plus they have real train rides like their dinner train or their excursion train. However, Thomas the Tank is a lie. He is no train engine. He is a glorified caboose and the kids fall for it every time.

I’m a firm believer that a person shouldn’t lie to their children. There is no reason to have your children believe in things like Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, or the Tooth Fairy. It just sets them up for a lifetime of disappointment when they realize that other mythical objects like social mobility and the American Dream are as real as a 7 foot rabbit that hides eggs on the day that Christians celebrate the resurrection of the Son of God. Although it does teach them to learn at an early age that authority figures (employers and the government) will lie to you at every conceivable opportunity. Perhaps there is something to lying to your children.

It is because of this that I think that parents should make it very clear to their children that Thomas the Tank is nothing but a glory hound. He isn’t doing any real work. The real work is being done by that engine in the back. It doesn’t have a face, but it is the one that deserves your respect.

Why is it that I feel compelled to go see this charade every year? I admit that Thomas does have a certain allure. For not doing anything, I feel compelled to look into his eyes to make sure that this isn’t the beginning of the machine revolution. The one foretold in the book of Maximum Overdrive. I believe you may have seen the movie they made based on this prophetic text starring Emilio Estevez. What I saw when I looked into Thomas’ eyes this year is that we are still at least a year from the coming of the semi with the green face.

Also, I go down there to see Shorty. He always volunteers for the B&SVRR when Thomas is in town. He is also going to do the Santa Express again this year. However, I got a surprise when I found out that Johnathan was going to be volunteering. He has never been a community service type of chap, so this I definitely had to see and digitally record.


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Football, Iowa State, Movies

A Cold Mountain

So Saturday was a pretty horrible game. Iowa State got completely smoked by a Division 1-AA opponent on its home field. Please don’t give me the line that if we hadn’t committed all of the turnovers or missed the field goal and the extra point we could have won the game or the score would have been closer. All of those things are part of the game and it doesn’t change the truth. That truth is that we flat out got smoked. We flat out got smoked by a Division 1-AA school. We got smoked on our own field. This is the equivalent of getting beat up by your little sister. No make that this is the equivalent of getting beat up by your little sister while all of your friends are watching it happen. Plus all her friends are watching it happen. Plus your mortal enemy is watching it happen and he gets to fight you next week.

The scariest part to me is that some Cyclone fans are starting to panic. They are starting to panic because it is already 2 games into the season and the realist is looking at our schedule and it is dawning on them that we are very likely looking at an 0-12 season.

That is a hard pill to swallow. Even Jim Walden never had a season where he lost every single game.

It is my sincerest hope that some of the what I like to call “New Age Cyclone Fans” that ran Dan McCarney out of town last year noticed what happened in Auburn last Saturday night. While UNI was making us punch ourselves in the face while saying “Quit hitting yourself”, McCarney was helping his new team beat nationally ranked Auburn. You can try to minimize his contribution to that victory if you want, but it is only a matter of time before you have to admit that he can coach. He did things at Iowa State that were considered practically impossible. Yet after falling 1 field goal short two years in a row of winning the Big XII North and then having a bad year, he was run out of Ames like he was Frank Solich.

I’m not saying that I don’t think Chizik won’t get it turned around. I just want it noted by some Iowa State fans at some point that Dan McCarney could coach and was not treated fairly. Essentially he was run out of town based on inflated expectations that wouldn’t have existed if he hadn’t made the Cyclone program into a program that had expectations.

I don’t expect this to happen. I hear the same people that ran McCarney out calling the call in shows and they are angry. They don’t get why we are this bad. They don’t get why a team with a first year head coach with no previous head coaching experience could be this bad. Why a team with virtually no talent on the offensive line could struggle. Why a team with no defensive line depth can’t get pressure on the quarterback or stop the run.

They have their scapegoats already. They already are demonizing Meyer. They think if we just threw the ball to Blythe more everything would work out. These people remind me of a quote I often think of when I see somebody that has created a bad environment, but don’t understand why bad things keep happening. This quote is from Cold Mountain and it is a reference to the South and the Civil War, but I think it applies to this Iowa State football season and the “New Age Cyclone Fans” that keep calling radio shows and clogging up message boards completely confused by why we are so bad this year:

“They call this war a cloud over the land. But they made the weather and then they stand in the rain and say ‘Shit, it’s raining!'”

If Dan McCarney wasn’t the high class person that he is, I would swear that he is sitting in his Tampa home laughing his ass off.

Don’t get me wrong, because I didn’t agree with the decision to fire McCarney doesn’t mean I didn’t agree with the decision to hire Chizik. After the betrayal had been completed, somebody had to pick up the sword. We had to hire somebody. I think Chizik is an excellent coach, but when you hire somebody without any head coaching experience, you need to realize that there is going to be growing pains. We are essentially paying him to learn on the job. The first few seasons might be pretty brutal. Eventually I have no doubt that he will get us back to being as good as we were under McCarney. Perhaps even a little further than that. Cyclone fans just need to be patient and lower their expectations. They just have to realize the criteria for success this season is not going to be wins and losses. The criteria is going to be whether or not we improve as the season continues. I just hope that we can keep filling the stadium.

The pictures from the game have been posted. I also posted a couple seemingly random bee pictures and a couple of pictures from the Pufferbilly Days 5K. I was going to combine the ISU-UNI pictures with Pufferbilly Days pictures, but in the end there weren’t many Pufferbilly Days pictures because I slept through the parade and I didn’t stay out on Saturday night because I had church in the morning and my Aunt Linda was going to be there and I hadn’t seen her for awhile. So I guess it is kind of random.


Iowa State Cyclones versus Northern Iowa Panthers

Faust, Football, Iowa State, Movies, Russell, Willy

Brush with Fame

I don’t have the pictures from Saturday’s butt whooping that UNI put on us put together yet, but there was one story that occurred on Saturday that I wanted to share right away.

I didn’t do my normal tailgating on Saturday. Instead I went to see 3:10 to Yuma with Russell. After we had spent the appropriate amount of time discussing the movie, I made my way to my normal tailgating party. The kickoff for the game was at 6 pm. I made it to the tailgate at about 4:45.

By this time Corey and Willy had moved their tailgate closer to the stadium by combining their tailgate with the tailgate of Corey’s friend Chief. No sooner had I tracked them down when B-Ross from SoundOff! walked by. I didn’t see him, but one of the other people in our group yelled his name as he walked by.

B-Ross came back and shook my hand and asked us who we were. I introduced him to Corey and Willy. Then I told him that he needed more airtime. When Andy left for Kansas City I knew it was going to be a major blow to the show, but the week that B-Ross co-hosted he showed that he was the best person to replace Andy.

For whatever reason, they decided to give the co-host job to Heather Burnside who is actually quite wretched and the show has suffered.

B-Ross told me that I should tell that to Keith Murphy.

I told him if I ever see him I’ll let him know.

B-Ross said, “Let’s go.”

So the Willy, Corey, and I followed B-Ross down to another tailgate where Keith Murphy was hanging out with his family.

B-Ross told him that we had something to tell him, so Keith Murphy got up and walked over and shook our hands.

I told him that B-Ross needed more airtime.

Keith looked at B-Ross and asked him, “How much did you pay these guys?”

I told him that he didn’t need to pay us anything and if I was ever lucky enough to win the Chili’s gift certificate (for answering the weekly trivia question) I would be honored to take B-Ross with me.

Keith said, “Nobody has ever done that.”

Then Keith saw my camera and asked if we wanted our picture taken with B-Ross.

We all wanted to. So Keith Murphy took the picture below:


Iowa State vs. UNI

After the picture, we talked about how years ago, Keith Murphy had compared Willy to Chewbacca after he and Jesse were interviewed before the Iowa/Iowa State game. Keith and Willy laughed over this story and he told me that with my beard I would have to be our Chewbacca now.

Then we bid them a fond adieu and Willy and I headed into the stadium. This awesome story helped take some of the pain of the loss away.

Movies, Russell

Once


It finally happened. I finally saw a movie that is worthy of being referred to when I utter the phrase: “that was the best movie I saw in 2007”. I don’t know why it surprised me that it took so long for me to actually see a movie that made me immediately want to see it again as soon as the credits began to roll. A movie that made me want to stay in my seat and watch the credits roll not because I was being blackmailed into staying there by the promise of a post credits scene (I’m talking about you Pirates 3), but because it is the best way I know to express my admiration for the people involved in the production of the film.

The last two years perhaps filled me with false hope. True my favorite movie of 2006, “Pan’s Labyrinth” didn’t come out until late in the year. The same could be said about my second favorite “The Prestige”. However, my third favorite movie to come out last year was “Little Miss Sunshine”. That movie was released during the summer.

Perhaps even more amazing was 2005. All three of my favorite movies from 2005 came out in the summer. “Crash”, “Hustle & Flow”, and “The March of the Penguins” all came out in the summer. As I stare at that last sentence, I’m blown away. When I compare these movies to the flotsam that I’ve seen in the theaters thus far, it seems unfathomable.

This summer was the summer of the threes. It was a summer of sequels. It was a summer of disappointment. I never look forward to the summer movie season. I have often classified the movies that come out during the summer as being filled with “shiny things to entertain the stupid people”.

In my naivety, for the first time I can remember I had high expectation for the movies filled with shiny things that were coming to the local multiplex. True it was certainly a ton of sequels, but these were sequels in some of the best franchises that Hollywood had produced in the last 20 years. We are talking about Harry Potter, Jason Bourne, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Spider-man. Plus there was the potential for makeup pictures. A sequel that could help make up for how dreadfully bad the previous sequel had been. “Shrek 3” could atone for the sins of “Shrek 2”. “Oceans 13” could wash the bad taste that “Oceans 12” had left behind.

Despite this potential, I left almost every movie this summer shrouded in disappointment. I don’t want to go into much detail, but I should have known that the summer was in trouble when “Spiderman 3” turned out to be so dreadful. I skipped “Shrek 3”, but Pirates of the Caribbean fell far short of expectations. Which was especially sad considering how well it started. “Oceans 13” was better than 12, but so is watching a bug zapper. “Transformers” confirmed my belief that Michael Bay will never make a movie that doesn’t suck. Harry Potter wasn’t bad, but was definitely the worst of the last 3 and took some real unnecessary liberties with the book.

The summer wasn’t completely devoid of entertainment. Two raunchy sex comedies provided me with plenty of laughter and guffaws and hearkened me back to my youth of watching “Porky’s” on HBO. “Knocked Up” was funny and sweet and only suffered when Seth Rogen was asked to do a little bit of acting. “Superbad” was perhaps even funnier, (which is to be expected, because Seth Rogen was back in a supporting comedic role and the kid from “Arrested Development” was in it) but really lacked a coherent story and the profanity really sounded forced and inauthentic at times. Similar to the swearing of Bill Wentworth if you know that cat.

There were two movies I saw that were actually worth dragging myself out of bed to go see. “Ratatouille” and “You Kill Me” both really hit the spot. “Ratatouille” was both beautifully animated and well written. Which of course is actually the most important part of the movie. You can have all the shiny things to entertain the stupid people you want, but without a well written story, you don’t really have anything at all. It is sad that Hollywood realizes this less and less. It is only a matter of time before screenwriting is relegated to a minor technical category at the Academy Awards.

“You Kill Me” is also well written and acted. Ben Kingsley plays a hitman attending AA meetings and falling in love with Tea Leoni. Although Kingsley is brilliant, Leoni is a slight miss as she spends large chunks of the movie staring off into space trying to look deep or tortured or something. She really looks just kind of vacant.

Then there was “Sicko”. I really hate Michael Moore movies. They are usually so filled with factual errors and his techniques are so sleazy that they are pretty much unbearable. Even if I agree with the political aim of his movie, I just can’t stand watching a propaganda whore like Moore manipulate facts even if I want to agree with where he is trying to go.

“Sicko” isn’t quite so bad. In fact I would say that it is easily his best film. Although the movie clearly has too much of Michael Moore’s “look at me I’m so clever” style. It isn’t as much as in previous movies. The movie does cloud the facts and praise everybody’s health care system a little too much and I was going to say bash our health care system a little too much, but the more I consider that statement I’m not sure you can bash our health care system too much. However, he was still playing fast and loose with the facts. Enough so that the Clinton News Network even called him on the carpet for it.

As entertainment, “Sicko” works. As propaganda, it hits the ball out of the park. As a documentary it falls short.

>Recently I’ve been to the theater to see “The Bourne Ultimatum” and “Balls of Fury” and “Stardust”. The “Bourne Ultimatum” is the best of the “3”s to come out this year. However, it still isn’t as good as the first two. “Stardust” is very bland and boring fantasy. There is nothing to really hate about this movie (except for perhaps Robert DeNiro’s highly overrated performance which looks more like gay stereotype than full dimensional character) but there also isn’t anything to really love about this movie. It is bland city.

“Balls of Fury” on the other hand is absolutely dreadful. As I was sitting in the theater I began to wonder how one of my friends could have made a better ping pong-martial arts parody movie when they were 15 than whatever this was on the screen. There is nothing about “Balls of Fury” that doesn’t scream straight to video. Although I have no doubt that it is a future “Employee Pick” at my local Family Video.

It was a summer that made me awful happy that I don’t pay to see many movies.

My inside man at the Varsity leaked me some bad information on Sunday. He told me that “Once” was leaving after Thursday. I had been wanting to see this movie all summer. It had finally came to Ames and I was in danger of missing it because my schedule was not lining up to see it.

Fortunately I had Thursday night free and I made the way to the Varsity with my sister Teresa. As it turns out, this movie is staying another week along with “Becoming Jane”, but I didn’t know this fact and I’m glad I didn’t wait to see this movie.

I loved it. This is my favorite movie to come out this year. This is the type of movie I wish filmmakers like Tony Scott, Michael Bay, and Uwe Boll were tied down and forced to watch over and over again until they got it. “It” being that it doesn’t matter how many shiny things you have, the most important thing is the story. The production qualities in this movie are almost nothing, but you love the characters, you love the music, you love the story, and you don’t want it to end.

This movie cost barely over 100,000 dollars to make and it is exponentially better than big budget tripe like “Transformers”. You can’t stop thinking about this movie after you leave the theater. When I left “Transformers” the only thing I could think about is why Bumblebee let Even Stevens make out with that chick on top of him. Bumblebee is into some sick stuff and that was only for a fleeting moment.

“Once” is a love story crafted around the music being composed by the two people that are falling in love. The story begins with Guy standing on a street corner singing a song about the girlfriend that left him. Girl stops to listen and when he is done she begins asking him lots of questions about the song.

Even though guy is frustrated she keeps asking him questions until he reveals that he is a vacuum cleaner repairman. She asks him to fix her vacuum. The next day she shows up in front of him pulling her vacuum cleaner behind her.

A relationship forms and you learn that Guy lives with his dad and works for his dad. Girl is a Czech immigrant that has moved to Ireland fleeing a bad marriage with her daughter and her mother.

Guy is content to just play his songs on a street corner. Girl is also a musician and seems content to just play a piano in a local music store because she can’t afford a piano for herself.

Girl believes in Guy and pushes him to make a real recording of his music. He consents and forms a band with Girl and more street musicians. I think the key scene in the movie occurs when Guy and Girl go to the ocean. He asks her how to say “Do you love your husband in Czech?” She teaches him how. When he asks the question, she responds “Miluji tebe”.

I would tell you what that means and what happens afterwards, but I think it would spoil the movie for you and I wish for you to discover the beauty of this movie for yourself.

It is simply one of the most beautiful love stories I’ve seen in the movies in a long time. It is a movie when you can feel the longing between the characters. It is heart wrenching. It is beautiful. It reeks of desperation. It is like real life.

Great story. Great music. It is more than enough to make a great movie.

To see more, watch the trailer below:<

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I’m just beginning to compile my list of movies I want to see in the fall. Tomorrow I cross “3:10 to Yuma” off my list. I’m attending this film with Russell as he is also a big fan of westerns, so he is just as excited to see this movie. Perhaps there will be another review in the near future.

Movies, Nature

Watch the skies, everywhere! Keep looking. Keep watching the skies!

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The final lines from one of my favorite movie is the title of this entry. I will give 2 points* to anybody that can tell me the title of the movie from which that quote came. However “my favorite movies” isn’t the topic of discussion of this brief foray into the world wide web. It is the sky.

To put it in plain English, it is what you will see if you look at the sky tomorrow. A lunar eclipse.

Want to see the lunar eclipse? Then check the graphic below (that I lifted from the NASA website) for showtimes in the CST!



I know a lunar eclipse isn’t as impressive as a solar eclipse just like how a moonroof isn’t as impressive as a sunroof. However, there won’t be a solar eclipse anywhere near Boone or one of its suburbs (Ames, Ogden, Madrid, Zook Spur, Frasier, Jordan, Ridgeport, Logansport, or Boonesburough) for a little less than 10 years. Even that solar eclipse will require a Boonie to hop in their hydrogen car and drive about 200 miles southwest. Most of Iowa will only be in the cruddy 80% solar eclipse zone.

Regardless of a lunar eclipse’s inability to blind you with its brilliance, I believe I might try to drag myself out of bed and head out into the country to enjoy it.

I am currently taking reservations for Bennett’s Skywatch. What I’m saying is: anybody else out there want to sit out in a field at 4 in the morning?

*I don’t really give away points or even have a point system. The two points aren’t redeemable for merchandise in the Photography 139 store. The two points is a baldfaced lie. Of course I am currently sort of in my naked face mode and it is well documented fact that you can’t trust a naked face. The best I can do is try to dig some Marlboro points out of the garbage can at work for you. Please don’t make me do that. But please let me know if you know the movie or want to join me in watching the sky.