Rigel

A Geek Tragedy - in collapsing tongue depressors

Wed, 06 Jan 2010 01:06:45 GMT

Via xydexx. Notice that the vast majority isn't dominos. It's a finely-crafted perpetual collapse of tongue depressors.

More here: http://www.lunatim.com/kinart/videos/videos.htm

Movie Reviews (1/4/10)

Tue, 05 Jan 2010 02:07:55 GMT

TV: Powerpuff Girls [Season 6] (2003-2004)
Rating: **** out of *****

Movie: Entry Level (2007)
Review: This simple indie film could be confused for a Hallmark or Lifetime made-for-TV movie if it weren't for an abundance of swearing. As a romantic comedy about a career chef and restaraunteur who abruptly decides to switch to a desk job, it's generally light and fluffy without much in the way of tension or crisis. Where it excels is in the cast of Coen-esque supporting characters, each a comical caricature of a stereotype that elicits some genuine laughs: the apathetic 60 year old nearly-retiree, the fiercely disgruntled ex-manager (Taylor Negron's interview scene alone is almost worth the rental), and the deeply cynical and flippant love interest playing hard-to-get. Where it falls flat is the abrupt and unexpectedly misogynistic ending that completely distorts what had been a cutesy relationship. With a better finale, this could've been a pleasant outing, but the unexpectedly poor payoff leaves it solely appreciable for the comic relief.
Rating: **1/2 out of *****

Movie: Black Book (2006)
Review: There are so many WWII-era nazi spy films out there, it seems like a new one is being released every month or two. Many of them are particularly good, so it's hard to weed out the truly exceptional from the merely above-average. Black Book, the story of a Jewish rebel heroine in Norway who infiltrates the regional Nazi headquarters, falls right in the gap between. It's extremely well produced and authentic, conveys a solid amount of drama, suspense, and adventure, and the performances are top notch. Dramatically, however, the last quarter ends up feeling convoluted and Dickensian. Towards the end, I felt like I was watching Oliver Twist crossed with James Bond. It became difficult, but not impossible, to keep track of some characters, their motivaions, and the meaning of the titular prop. There is also an extensive amount of full frontal nudity, male and female, to a degree you rarely see without slipping into NC-17 territory. I guess the censors erred on the side of caution due to the gravitas of the subject matter. Definitely worth checking out, regardless of the wobbly bits.
Rating: **** out of *****

Movie: 1408 (2007)
Review: Apparently, the DVD for 1408 comes in two versions: the theatrical version, and the unrated version. The latter is the Director's Cut, featuring a completely different ending that scored badly with test audiences and so was replaced with the more Hollywood-esque finale for the big screens. This was not clear when I queued the rental, so I wound up with the unpopular option. While this ending isn't terrible, it's the getting there that deserves the most credit. The Stephen King short story about a skeptical haunted hotel traveloguist who finally meets his match in room 1408 is at its nervous-giggles best in the first 20 minutes after John Cusak's character, channeling Bill Murray's Ghostbusters years, checks in. Mysterious appearances, strange happenings, and malicious phenomena results in a fantastic and inventive gothic horror in the heart of NYC. Unfortunately, this pace can't be maintained and the film sputters down into gameshow-esque This-Is-Your-Life, relationship woes, and treacly family drama. By the end, we haven't learned a thing about the whys, hows, or whats of 1408. Worth it for the funhouse/madhouse bits. Oh yeah, and Samuel Jackson gets overpaid and overbilled for ten minutes of screen time.
Rating: *** out of *****

Movie: Avatar (2009)
Review: It's pretty much what you've read everywhere else: great visuals, but merely a passable, forumulaic plot. In terms of the CG environment, there's so much to nitpick, from the psychedelic blacklight jungle, to the questionably divergent biology, to the poor facial CG on Sigourney Weaver's avatar. But they're all just nitpicks - the real respect for this film (and the Oscars) should go to Stan Winston studios for the creatures and environment. Not so much for the originality - the pack of alien "hyenas" sound like hyenas, and why does a completely alien planet have domesticated "horses"? - but for the design and implementation. Very crisp, realistic, and believeable despite the Disneyworld's Animal Kingdom locale. The Na'vi themselves take some getting used to, but it's a huge step forward in mo-cap animation, graduating from uncanny valley to merely unsettling, which is easily adapted to considering they're aliens. Script-wise, it's a black and white morality tale - one side is right, the other side is wrong. There are no twists and it's entirely straightforward and predictable. It mainly stays on track with only occasional lapses into excessive cartoonish absurdity, like when a giant mechabot wields an oversized knife. But otherwise, it's a story you've seen in many other films, just told with new characters in a new environment. Some writing credit should be given to portraying the planet and its residents as a giant bio-internet, despite the fact that the component interfaces are sex organs (where's the moral outrage at "interfacing" with the local wildlife?), which brings into question the necessity of loincloths, blah blah blah. Regardless, it's eminently watchable, featuring some epic-scale engrossing action, some pretty harsh scenes of disaster and destruction, and plenty of rote drama.
Rating: **** out of *****

A word (or more) about 3D: Avatar was the first film I was willing to shell out a premium to see in 3D. Now that I have had the opportunity, I can say that it's not worth it. I'm not saying that the effect was poorly implemented or otherwise bad - to the contrary, it added a unique angle and was an interesting way to present a feature. However, considering films at the theater are already heinously overpriced for simple matinees, the effect was not worth the added cost. 3D is good for 20-minute rides/shows at amusement parks as a gimmick attraction, but after 30 minutes of Avatar I forgot that I was watching 3D. Which means that after 30 minutes, I was no longer getting my money's worth - I might as well have been watching the movie in 2D. Add in the dislike of being made to flinch away from 3D projectiles, the fact that the split-level effect during the height of action sequences makes them very hard to follow, the effects' distraction causing the viewer to miss plot points, the reduction in luminosity due to the required glasses, and the mild eyestrain after 150 continuous minutes of the effect makes me question the value of shelling out an additional premium for what is essentially an optional topping on an exorbitantly-priced finished product.

Next: Battlestar Galactica (Season 4.5), 28 Weeks Later, Rowan Atkinson Live, Surf's Up

Top Ten of 2009

Thu, 31 Dec 2009 01:48:54 GMT

As requested by arrowtwolf, here's a collection of my top ten films I saw in 2009.

10. Movie: The Last King of Scotland (2006)
Rating: **** out of *****
Notes: Well produced, well performed, very watchable.

9. Movie: One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest (1975)
Rating: **** out of *****
Notes: Always good to catch up on a classic.

8. Movie: Outsourced (2006)
Rating: **** out of *****
Notes: An under-the-radar surprise. Charming, funny, and relevant.

7. Movie: Curse of the Golden Flower (2006)
Rating: ****1/2 out of *****
Notes: Visually-stunning traditional asian war epic meets Alfred Hitchcock.

6. Movie: Hairspray (2007)
Rating: ****1/2 out of *****
Notes: Better than the original, guaranteed to delight.

5. Movie: Behind the Mask - The Rise of Leslie Vernon (2006)
Rating: ****1/2 out of *****
Notes: Another unexpected indie surprise. Giggly fun and so many tongue-in-cheek in-jokes!

4. Movie: Deja Vu (2006)
Rating: ****1/2 out of *****
Notes: Super-fun hi-tech fantasy whodunnit with a great twist and a very unique car chase.

3. Movie: Children of Men (2006)
Rating: ****1/2 out of *****
Notes: Shockingly harsh dystopian epic drama that nails you to your seat.

2. Movie: Watchmen (2009)
Rating: ***** out of *****
Notes: No film has ever turned my expectations around so much. Hated the book, loved the movie. Perfect.

1. Movie: District 9 (2009)
Rating: ***** out of *****
Notes: Best sci-fi film of the decade.

Honorable mentions:

TV: Lost [Season 2] (2005-2006)
Rating: ***** out of *****

TV: Samurai Jack [Season 3] (2003-2004)
Rating: ***** out of *****

TV: Battlestar Galactica [Season 2.5] (2006)
Rating: ***** out of *****

Worst of 2009:

7. Movie: Darwin's Nightmare (2004)
Rating: *1/2 out of *****
Notes: Meandering, unfocused, unnarrated. Help?

6. Movie: No Country For Old Men (2007)
Rating: *1/2 out of *****
Notes: The trend of trying to be like Haneke bugs me.

5. Movie: Ever Since the World Ended (2001)
Rating: *1/2 out of *****
Notes: A pretty boring end of the world.

4. Movie: Silent Running (1972)
Rating: *1/2 out of *****
Notes: Zzzzz...*snork* Wha? Is it over?

3. Movie: The Ice Pirates (1984)
Rating: *1/2 out of *****
Notes: Ten bucks, a trash can, and a halloween costume will get you Ice Pirates 2.

2. Movie: Warlock 3 - The End Of Innocence (1999)
Rating: * out of *****
Notes: Unrecognizable as a relation to the franchise or as an exercise in D-grade filmmaking.

1. Movie: Thunderpants (2002)
Rating: * out of *****
Notes: Should never have been made.

648 series!

Wed, 30 Dec 2009 03:38:59 GMT

194 + 212 + 242(!!!) = 648 series!

I would've had 263 for the third game (beating my high of 254 from when I was a teenager) except, on what should've been my seventh of nine strikes in a row, one pin slid halfway across the lane without falling down. Everyone went "Awwwwww!" The pinsetter knocked it over, mercifully.

Still, best 3-game series ever!

Video Reviews (12/26/09)

Sat, 26 Dec 2009 23:46:06 GMT

TV: Lost [Season 5] (2009)
Rating: **** out of *****

TV: NOVA: Rat Attack! (2009)
Review: Every 48 years like clockwork, in a tiny state in India you've never heard of called Mizoram, rats descend on the citzens' crops in a plague they call "mautam". Why does it happen so precisely on schedule, and what natural process allows it to occur are the questions addressed by this NOVA special. If you're squeamish about rats, obviously this isn't for you, but even rat fanatics can be squicked by scenes of dissections and rat cannibalism. Getting past that, the documentary is engaging and put together like a disaster epic, building up to the big event with the well-being of the local farmers in the balance. Due to quirks of timing, you never get to see the flood of rodents decimate a town overnight, but they do a good job of filling in on all the details in the meantime, and the mystery does get solved in the end, thanks to science!
Rating: ***1/2 out of *****

Movie: Knocked Up (2007)
Review: I must be one of the few people who's neither a big fan of star Seth Rogan or director Judd Apatow. His approach to filmmaking, involving making up the script at he goes along and allowing the actors to improvise their dialogue, strikes me as lazy in much the same way as Christopher Guest's projects do. Throughout this story of a slacker who impregnates a one-night stand, there's so much content unrelated to the plot that too many half-assed attempts at laughs drown the real humor buried within. It's primarily a situational comedy rather than a slapstick or joke-driven film, and it's epic at over two hours. The relationship the main characters develop is unexciting and unsurprising, not taking too many risks, and ending up pretty much where you think it'll go. Mildly amusing and otherwise forgettable, Rogan's performance as himself in a vehicle written for himself, and Apatow's unfocused story could barely hold my interest for its duration.
Rating: **1/2 out of *****

Movie: The Other Side (2006)
Review: It's amazing what you can produce on a budget of $15K these days. Recalling concepts from Terminator and other bounty hunter storylines, this road/chase/buddy horror/action story about a guy who escapes hell chased by bounty hunters while looking for his girlfriend does a remarkably good job as the director's first feature. While the film is grainy and captured on handicam, the action is competent, the gore is professional, and there are even a few not-horrible CG bits and moments of comedy relief in a well-balanced mix. The performances are a bit b-grade, reminding me of Robert Rodriguez's El Mariachi, but we all know where he went since then. Worth taking a look if you feel like experimenting.
Rating: *** out of *****

Next: PowerPuff Girls (Season 6), Black Book, 1408, 28 Weeks Later, Avatar

Hey, Metro-DC people! Do you like snow?

Fri, 18 Dec 2009 01:16:24 GMT

Heads up, mid-Atlantic friends, from Philadelphia to Richmond - hope you don't have any plans for Saturday!

http://wxcaster4.com/nam/CONUS1_MESO-ETA212_SFC_ACCUM-SNOWFALL_75HR.gif
http://raleighwx.easternuswx.com/models/nam/18znamp72_NE084.gif
http://www.nco.ncep.noaa.gov/pmb/nwprod/analysis/namer/nam/18/images/nam_p36_066l.gif

Yeah, that's 20-30" of snow. Models are ranging from 6" to 71". I'm betting 12", but I thought we were going to get 0" two weekends ago, so...

Some pretty solid models should come out around 11pm EST.

darkwolfie

Wed, 16 Dec 2009 00:59:26 GMT

Video Reviews (12/13/09)

Sun, 13 Dec 2009 17:17:31 GMT

TV: Battlestar Galactica [Season 4.0] (2009)
Rating: **** out of *****

Movie: The Valet (2006)
Review: This romantic comedy of a wishy-washy valet in Paris who has to pretend he's married to a supermodel is about as inoffensive as it gets. It's interesting to compare today's popular American romantic comedies, filled with fart jokes and gross-outs, to French ones which tend to be chaste and go for light conversational humor. The main character is unenergetic and portrays no particularly outstanding traits other than being a completely pleasant, quiet, and apparently extremely moral individual, while those around him express a little more color, albeit only to the level of a stage play. The female lead is likeable in a Julia Roberts crossed with old school Daryl Hannah kind of way. It's pretty run-of-the-mill and takes very little in the way of risks, so if you're looking for something pleasant that goes down without a fight, it'll at least give you a few chuckles.
Rating: **1/2 out of *****

Movie: Bug (2006)
Review: The only thing that keeps me from giving this film less than two stars is the excellent and thoroughly energetic acting of the lead characters. They put their all into what feels like little more than a script written by a delinquent goth high school kid in detention - angry, domestically violent, and nihilistic in a nobody-understands-me sort of way. Two damaged strangers enact a romantic tryst in that spontaneous, backwoods American way in which one participant's madness infects the other. In the attached featurette, the director indicates that the film deliberately leaves many elements of the story unexplained. At least it has a resolution, but the associated loose ends are such a mishmash of mismatching puzzle pieces that, rather than creating a mystery, it leaves the viewer wondering why the story even bothered. Is there a point? Is there a moral? Somehow, this managed to leap from a popular off-Broadway run to the screen, so this sort of storytelling must appeal to some segment of the moviegoing public.
Rating: ** out of *****

Next: Lost (Season 5), Knocked Up, Black Book

December 2009 Mix

Sun, 13 Dec 2009 00:17:28 GMT

Latest mix is up! This is a bit of a mish-mash of varying styles, focusing on a little silliness for the holidays. Enjoy!

Direct download from HERE. MP3, 128kbps, 61m44s, 60MB

Tracklist (artist - "title" [style])
1. Coldcut - "Coldcut's Christmas Break (12" Version)" [Breakbeat]
2. Skeewiff - "That Was A Penalty" [Breakbeat]
3. Bushy & Professor vs. Sonic Boo - "Sqezy Soul" [Trip Hop]
4. Dimitri From Paris - "Sacré Français! (Zulu B-Boy Jam)" [Breakbeat]
5. Eddie Skratch & DC - "Dusty's Sermon" [Breakbeat]
6. Boca 45 - "Down to Mexico" [Hip Hop]
7. Torpedo Boyz - "Are You Talking To Me (Skeewiff Remix)" [Big Beat]
8. Sparky Lightbourne - "Where You Goin' Chicken (12 Tree In Da Coup Mix)" [Big Beat]
9. Lailove (Laila France and the Maxwell Implosion) - "Superstar" [Synth-Pop]
10. Angry Mexican DJs - "Disco Call" [Big Beat]
11. Stereo De Luxe - "Aerocyclette" [Synth-Pop]
12. Mint Royale - "Who's Your Daddy?" [House]
13. Robosonic - "Technologic Creeps" [Breakbeat]
14. Malik - "You Don't Know Malik (Big Beat Boutique Mix)" [House]
15. The Bees - "Chicken Payback" [Indie Rock]

Video Reviews (11/30/09)

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 01:48:49 GMT

We interrupt our regularly scheduled NetFlix queue for a few instant-view titles...

Movie: Make The Yuletide Gay (2009)
Review: What do you get when you remove the lasciviousness from a gay college romance flick? Innuendo, smarminess, and afterschool special material. Boy is not out to his June Cleaver mom and pot-smoking, spacey dad. Boy's boyfriend drops by unexpectedly for the holidays. Wacky hijinks ensue as boy tries to keep from bursting into flame in front of his parents. Honestly, tho, despite the PG-rated chastity and high school production values, it does have its moments for those of us who have been there and does a good job of capturing undergrad boy-on-boy yearning. If feel-good coming-out dramas are your thing, this is for you. Watch for a cameo or two from Gates McFadden (remember her?).
Rating: *** out of *****

Movie: Outsourced (2006)
Review: From the never-saw-that-coming files, "Outsourced" is a totally unexpected sneak attack of awesome. Outsourced guy has to train his replacements in India. It starts as a fish-out-of-water story, with the protagonist having to overcome his culture clash and learn about India, followed by a rather enjoyable, light romance that supplements, rather than replaces the plot. Despite being an independent film, it maintains high production values throughout and genuine laughs as a comedy as well. Oftentimes, the window on the geography and people are utopian and naive, but with a few exceptions - I winced in disgust when our hero takes a swim in the river used for public washing and bathing - otherwise adds to the charm. The upbeat, can-do positivity of the characters in the film is infectious and makes for a real sleeper hit.
Rating: **** out of *****

Movie: The Ice Pirates (1984)
Review: Did I actually like this movie when I was a kid? What was in my Kool-Aid? Robots made from buckets, donkeys and anteaters on alien planets, space herpes, robots who fight with swords, knights in chainmail firing laser pistols watching roller derbies, spandex, Bruce Vilanch as a disembodied head surrounded by amazon women warriors... This script just had to have been written while seriously high. Barely intelligible and not even slightly funny, "Ice Pirates" did not age well at all. It seems to have had a budget in the range of pocket change, plus whatever could be stolen from the janitor's closet. Hard to believe this actually starred Robert Urich, Ron Perlman, John Carradine, and Anjelica Huston. Only maintains value for bad, bad, bad movie festivals.
Rating: *1/2 out of *****

Next: Powerpuff Girls (Season 5), Battlestar Galactica (Season 4), The Valet, Bug (No, really. I mean it this time.)

Streaming

Sun, 29 Nov 2009 06:44:04 GMT

I usually don't rave about technology - I'm about 5-10 years behind everyone else on mobile devices, computers, and websites. I still haven't joined Facebook or Twitter, and my phone can barely handle text messages. So when Best Buy was offering an Insignia Blu-Ray player a few weeks ago for $99, I bought one years ahead of my internal schedule.

This weekend, xydexx is up in NY. Normally, since we watch our NetFlix rentals together, I'm usually stuck pulling something from our collection that I've already seen a dozen times (but I love to show off to guests) when he's away. I was staring at the DVD rack a little despondently when I suddenly remembered: the blu-ray player I bought is NetFlix-enabled. This means that, if you have a NetFlix account and high-speed internet access, you can instantly stream any film NetFlix offers in that format to your TV in HD and stereo.

My DVD library is about 240 titles. NetFlix offers 12,000 instant-streaming titles. No additional fee. Unlimited, repeat viewing. Turn on the tv, connect to NetFlix, press Play - boom, watching a movie. Unlimited streaming access is available for plans as small as $9/month. I will never be at a loss for something to watch again. This is the best $99 I've ever spent on A/V hardware.

Video Reviews (11/28/09)

Sat, 28 Nov 2009 20:03:39 GMT

Movie: Hairspray (2007)
Review: Back in 2007, I gave a lukewarm review of Jon Waters's original "Hairspray" and was expecting pretty much the same from this 20th-anniversary remake. Imagine my surprise at how much more I enjoyed this version! Gone are the seedy undertones (with the exception of Waters's cameo as a flasher), the shoestring feeling, and even Baltimore (it was filmed in Toronto). They are replaced with recognizable, seasoned pro actors, a crisp plasticized production, and optimism that pings 9.5 on the cheer-o-meter! (OMG, did I just write that?) The songs and dances are mixed and mashed every which way for an almost constant stream of mostly uptempo numbers that tops the 1988 version. It's a hoot to see Travolta dancing cheek-to-cheek with a very understated Walken, and Pfeiffer does a fantastic Cruella de Vil interpretation. Only a few split hairs, such as Taylor Parks's muted relative performance and Amanda Bynes's dance-preventative wardrobe, mar an otherwise picture-perfect performance.
Rating: ****1/2 out of *****

Video: American Carny (2008)
Review: You could easily be forgiven for being confused by the content of "American Carny" which is not so much about carnival workers as it is entirely about sideshows, specifically Todd Robbins's own off-broadway sideshow that ran for a few years. The good news is that Robbins is a veritable treasure trove of historical information on the subject matter and is more than happy to share with the viewer at length. While this leads to a significant amount of talking heads, it does involve the purveyors of other active sideshows on the mid-atlantic seaboard, as well as introduces you to a number of working acts and self-made freaks, albeit no true freaks. Some of the acts are ho-hum, such as snake ladies or jumping on crushed glass. Others, such as hanging weights from eyelids or anvils from pierced nipples, are squirm-inducing. By the end of the documentary, it has primarily become a biopic about Robbins which, while mildly interesting, goes a bit off track by covering his romantic life. It's somewhat unfocused, but probably the best non-fiction film regarding the dying art of the sideshow out there.
Rating: ***1/2 out of *****

Movie: The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button (2008)
Review: Perhaps I'm just misinterpreting the story, but am I supposed to be endeared to Benjamin Button, who has affairs with multiple married women, abandons his partner and child, and only comes back when he needs to be taken care of? The performance and production of this nearly three-hour feature is certainly excellent, and I was willing to accept his luring women to infidelity as a romanticized character trait, but when the protagonist completly fails to learn one of the film's primary lessons, failing to take responsibility for his child in the same way his father did, I really started to dislike him. It really doesn't help that the film primarily focused on the exhaustive romances and trysts of a rather dull individual with the only mildly-interesting trait of aging backwards whose adventures are brushed by with little more mention than in a postcard. It felt much more like a watered-down "Forrest Gump" crossed with Pitt's earlier and much more enjoyable epic drama "Meet Joe Black". Pitt's Death certainly wandered the corridors of this film, with a body count rivaling many horror outings I've seen. If you're interested in great acting and production values, make yourself comfortable, but be sure to bring a caffienated beverage to stay awake.
Rating: ** out of *****

Next: Powerpuff Girls (Season 5), Battlestar Galactica (Season 4), The Valet, Bug

Thu, 26 Nov 2009 16:48:01 GMT

Words I never thought I'd have to say in all seriousness in my lifetime until yesterday:

"They're shooting at us!"

Remember this guy?

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 00:21:04 GMT

Police: Ky. census worked staged death as homicide

On the surface it all seemed like a gruesome hate crime in a rural part of Kentucky with a history of disdain for the government: a census worker found bound with duct tape and hanging from a tree, the word "fed" scrawled across his chest...

Investigators said Tuesday what they had been hinting at for weeks, that Bill Sparkman's hanging was a ruse to mask his suicide for a big insurance payout.

Video Reviews (11/24/09)

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 00:05:46 GMT

TV: The Universe [Season 1] (2007-2008)
Review: I'm always up for a good documentary about astronomy, astrophysics, or whatnot, so I couldn't possibly turn down an entire series dedicated to such a theme. From the History Channel, each episode regards a different subject matter, be it a planet, a phenomena, or an area of study. It gets narrated rather slowly, leaning heavily on its CG sequences which are not only repeated and reused from episode to episode, but even within individual episodes. Some imagery is reused over a dozen times during season one alone. Luckily, the information related is interesting to its target audience, albeit sensationalized to a degree. A few theories are misrepresented as outright fact, but that can be forgiven in cases like the big bang, which is the leading theory to date. It's all capped off with a 90-minute feature-length doc on the historic evolution of understanding of the universe itself. Altogether an engaging series that could stand a few more original FX sequences.
Rating: ***1/2 out of *****

Movie: Severance (2006)
Review: Have I mentioned I'm a sucker for horror-comedies? I didn't have particularly high hopes for this one, being both foreign and indie, but it surprisingly manages to deliver. The production is very professional, feeling like a full budget effort, and there are plenty of dry-wit laughs. The antagonist isn't really clear, and the script can't seem to make up its mind as to who or what is after our business leaders on their team-building exercise in Bulgaria, even after the big reveal in the finale. The gore level, of which some of the FX are a little amateur, is tolerable but higher than necessary, including some excessive scenes of inexplicable torture porn. Overall, it's genuinely enjoyable in its camp and giggly scares, delivering a refreshing experience that at least doesn't feel like its gone back to the well.
Rating: ***1/2 out of *****

Movie: 2012 (2009)
Review: Take Independence Day, strip out all the aliens, and for the most part you have 2012. It features a more inventive ending of a neo-future survivalist nature, but primarily consists of the same airplane escape sequence from ID4 repeated no less than three times. I found myself asking the screen, "Got anything else?" These episodes are separated by some of the most gratuitously treacly Disneyana broken-family afterschool special material that could've been dished out - totally formulaic and frequently laughable: Hey, kids, there's a fence with military signs that say no tresspassing around an empty, smoking lakebed filled with the carcasses of dead animals...let's go play on it without any thought or hesitation! Deservedly, extraneous characters who would make the ending awkward are killed off haphazardly and for no good reason. But what did we really pay $10 to see? Not the tortured script, nor the cornball acting (although Oliver Platt was pretty good in this new angle), but the overachieving scenes of barely-explained carnage and fantastically excessive catastrophe, which is delivered in spades, although you already saw 90% of it in the trailers. Nevertheless, the destruction is the star, featuring explosions, eruptions, tsunamis, collapses, crashes and more on an epically detailed scale that I would hazard has never before been seen in theaters. Science, script, acting be damned, this made for a fun experience, if totally loaded with empty calories. If you can manage the herculean effort necessary to leave your brain at the door, this is pure schadenfreude entertainment.
Rating: ***1/2 out of *****

Next: PowerPuff Girls (Season 5), The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, American Carny, Hairspray (2007)

Em Eff Eff '09 Report

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 23:03:26 GMT

Thursday

Despite the FAA scheduling snafu that morning, we were able to board our plane on time. On time enough to sit on the tarmac for 45 minutes, that is. Luckily, we met Kodian and his companion who happened to be seated directly in front of us.

During the turbulent ascent, there was a bright orange flash outside the airplane and a mmm-WHOMP sound. Everyone was silent for a few seconds, doing the equivalent of an internal check on the plane, waiting to see if it was an engine failure or just lightning (which doesn't really bring down planes anymore). When we determined we were still ascending normally, everyone let out a collective sigh of relief. Exiting the plane, I asked if that had been lightning and was informed that it was electrostatic discharge, or ESD. Here's some info on it, but basically it's like lightning from the plane due to built up static by the A/C and other electrical components, in this case facilitated by the rain clouds we were flying up through.

On landing, we all shared a taxi to the hotel. xydexx and I unexpectedly napped in the room for three hours and woke up around dinner time. We hooked up and went to the Ram Brewery with bohor, torrle, normanrafferty, lukas_otter, ZombieBunny, mirkowuff, nikvulper, and several other people who were at the other end of the table. While the company was wonderful, this is a good time to note that I think the food options around the Wheeling location were sub-optimal. Looking at restaurants near the new location at the Hyatt Regency O'Hare next year, I'm not convinced the improvement will be more than marginal, but any change will be for the better.

We met up with leonard_arlotte and played Monkeys On The Moon in the Zoo/not-yet-open Con Suite until late. The Zoo/Con Suite was in the old Osteria di Tromonto's, a budget version of the fancy Tramonto's next door, which closed nine months ago but still had all its furnishings. It was an excellent place for a Zoo, but turned into a feeding trough as soon as the Con Suite opened the next day, making it tough to find a clean space anywhere.

Friday

Slept in and grabbed lunch with X, roxikat and ben_raccoon at Claim Jumper. Then spent most of the afternoon sitting in the lobby doing Sudoku puzzles because I couldn't find anyone to play games with. I ended up doing this multiple times during the con, for hours on end. This has to stop. Next year, I'm going to apply to host a bunch of games in the game room, like Snorta and Zooloretto, because I frankly cannot continue to justify spending $1000 to play Sudoku all weekend because I don't know enough gamers, I don't have enough friends to hang around with, and I don't really think much of most of the Programming at furry cons - a personal thing, not in any way a statement regarding the quality, content, or capabilities of the Programming staff.

Eventually, I was able to nail down X, Rafferty and Darkwolf (I don't know which one) to play To Court The King, and then Notre Dame with Darkwolf and X in the Zoo. We flailed around a bit for dinner options and eventually went back to Ram again (ugh) with Darkwolf.

At 9pm was my Lupus In Tabula event which went quite well. We played three consecutive games of 14-17 people and ended up running overtime until 1:45am. Lots of new players who are now new addicts.

Saturday

Had a 9:30am breakfast/board meeting with all the Anthrocon board members attending the con in Tramonto's, which had a very nice buffet for $11. We traded info around and probably had more to discuss than we originally thought we would've.

More sitting in the lobby playing Sudoku. Eventually, I got X, halfelf (Kiva), and a guy from last night's Lupus to play To Court The King in the Zoo again. We picked the location because the fursuit parade was scheduled to go through there - even got a table right against the parade route. Ten minutes before the parade, they announced that the show would no longer be going through the Zoo. At that point, the route was already a mob scene and we were invested in the game, so we missed the whole thing. For the record, that was a real disappointment.

The group broke up and I went up to the room to, essentially, mope. Around dinnertime, X and I picked up Rafferty and Kiva and we went to India House a few miles away because Kiva had a car, thank goodness. That was good stuff. We tried to squeeze in a game of Stone Age, but it ran into my midnight dance time and wasn't turning out to be popular, so we cut it short.

Regarding my Saturday dance: the less said the better. Thanks are in order to hartree, djgenki, and even tekfox for enabling it to go on at all despite miscommunications and missing equipment. I managed to clear out pistolpup's full dancefloor in short order. I didn't think what I was playing was that bad, but I couldn't figure out how to lower the bass on the foreign equipment set up for hard house to make my breaks sound right, and my placement of lower-bpm funk was a jarring transition. I probably should've been either first or followed up a fursuit dance.

Sunday

More sleeping in, followed by more Sudoku in the lobby. During an aimless wander, I found many of the players from Friday's Lupus game trying to run Looney Labs' basic version by themselves in the game room. They asked me to moderate, which I was honestly desperately thankful for. Ended up running multiple more games of table-based Lupus until Closing Ceremonies.

Following that, it was back to the game room to play Bandu with shakaldraconis, jarylanvulpine, rikoshi, Kiva, and X. Then we all went out to dinner at Buca di Beppo, adding on Sunata, where we ordered way too much food and had to bring it back and dump it in the Zoo, where the locusts descended upon the leftovers like...furries.

Finally, I traded off games of Kingsburg, To Court The King, and Witch's Brew with Rikoshi, Jarylan, Shakal, Darkwolf, Leonard, Kiva, Sunata, X, and one or two others who dropped by until 2am.

Monday

Went home.

November 2009/MFF 2009 Mix

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 21:24:14 GMT

Sorry for lateness, but here's the newest mix up for grabs. It's based on my set from this year's Midwest Furfest 2009. This doesn't include everything that was played at MFF or in the same order but it includes some extras that didn't make it onto the final playlist due to mood and time constraints, indicated by asterisks. The actual MFF playlist can be found here.

Direct download from HERE. MP3, 192 kbps, 61m32s, 89MB

Tracklist (artist - "title" [style])
*1. Paul Oakenfold - "Starry Eyed Surprise" [Breakbeat]
2. Krafty Skillz - "Music Sounds Fatter With U" [Breakbeat]
*3. Stereo MCs - "Lost In Music (Ultimatum Remix)" [Hip Hop]
4. Arthur Baker - "Breaker's Revenge (Freestylers B-Boy Mix)" [Breakbeat]
5. Ursula 1000 - "Electrik Boogie (Fort Knox Five Remix)" [Breakbeat]
*6. Gene Kelly - "Singing (35th Street White Label)" [House]
7. Fatboy Slim - "Sweet (46th Street White Label)" [House]
8. Fort Knox Five - "Spirit of '75" [Big Beat]
9. The Ragga Twins - "Let It Burn" [Breakbeat]
10. Deep Impact & The Autobots - "Ultrafunkula" [Breakbeat]
11. Way Out West - "Killa (Orkidea vs Dallas Superstars Mix)" [Trance]
12. $.C.A.M. - "Retail Therapy (North On 41 Mix)" [Pop]

Video Reviews (11/15/09)

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 17:05:46 GMT

Movie: Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007)
Review: Pure sugar and absolutely no nutrition is what quantifies this sequel. If I didn't know any better, I would think it was a weak chinese ripoff of the Fantastic Four characters and storyline, with key elements changed to allow it to dodge plagiarism charges. It follows the classic Silver Surfer/Galactus storyline loosely and with such b-grade camp that it never rises above the level of its 60's pulp roots. It's enjoyable to watch the attempt be made, there are a few clever one-liners, and the action is tolerable, but the cheese overwhelms. Jessica Alba as Susan Storm has all the depth of a scream queen, particularly. And Julian McMahon as Dr. Doom is so painfully mishandled - in fact, I think the Surfer (spoken by Laurence Fishburne) and Doom should switch voices to correct the dissonance when hearing them talk. Comical and comic-booky, it never rises above its original material which, unlike more polished exercises such as Iron Man, leaves the viewer with all the satisfaction of reading an old 22-page silver-age comic book today.
Rating: **1/2 out of *****

Movie: Religulous (2008)
Review: A good step towards making this film more credible would've been if Bill Maher hadn't needed to trick the subjects of his interviews by giving them a fake title of the documentary and not telling them who was starring in it before meeting with them. He then doesn't so much interview them as he does ridicule, oftentimes laughing at them to their faces derisively. Unlike Michael Moore who finds something wrong and corners the perpetrators by asking them to explain wherein the subject hangs themselves for him, Maher brings his own noose, shouts his subjects down with feeble stand-up jokes, and then hangs them himself. It's a credit to those he meets with that he's not thrown out because of his insulting tone more often. Now, I get where Maher is coming from. I agree with the points he's making for the most part. But he's not so much trying to convince the audience with evidence as he is shoving a bunch of religious leaders into mud puddles with heavily-edited and heavily-spun footage in his favor. Refocused, this could've been an excellent and damning documentary. Instead, it's "Bill Maher punks religion".
Rating: **1/2 out of *****

Movie: Paprika (2006)
Review: Reminding me again why anime simply does not appeal to me, Paprika is another in what seems like an endless series of pretentious abstractions. From what I could figure out, a psych doctor with an alternate dream-personality must discover who is invading the dreams of scientists who work on a technological project to allow psychologists to share the dreams of their patients. And that's before things start getting complicated. The culture seems to flourish on unexposited non-sequiturs, every other line attempting to be delivered as oracular-sounding wisdom. And, of course, it all ends up with a naked girl being assaulted by tentacles - surprise, surprise. Especially towards the climax, too many events go unexplained, trying to be waved off by the excuse that it's a dream where anything can happen and doesn't need to be rational. That works only to a point, but falls apart when those events are the core plotline. Add in that it's the same limited animation, character design, and low framerate of just about every other anime I've seen, and it's just one more reason for me to pass on most anime offerings.
Rating: ** out of *****

Next: The Universe (Season 1), Severance, Powerpuff Girls (Season 5), American Carny, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Hairspray (2007)

...and for my boardgamer friends going to MFF...

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 23:02:04 GMT

Here's the tentative list of board games I plan to lug to MFF this year, depending on what fits in the tub (parentheses are maybes):

(A Touch of Evil), Aye Dark Overlord!, (Galaxy Trucker), (Ingenious), Kingsburg, Lupus in Tabula, Niagara, Notre Dame, On the Underground, Samurai, Small World, Stone Age, To Court the King, (Torres), Witch's Brew

Back at the dance!

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 22:54:27 GMT

I will be DJing again at MFF, hooray! My set is from 12am-1am on Saturday. Set is planned, mix is made for post-con. Gonna be funk-ay.

Lupus In Tabula (Advanced Werewolf) at MFF - Friday/Saturday, 11/20,21 @ 9pm @ Maple

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 22:50:43 GMT

Alkali and I will be running the traditional series of Lupus in Tabula games on Friday (me) & Saturday (Alkali) night (11/20,21), each starting at 9pm in the Maple room.

Thanks to MFF for scheduling it this year!

Trailer: How To Train Your Dragon

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:43:22 GMT

Via cartoonbrew...

Video Reviews (11/2/09)

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:06:46 GMT

TV: MXC [Season 5] (2007-2008)
Rating: *** out of *****

TV: The Amazing Johnathan - Wrong On Every Level (2006)
Review: So you like your stage magic crazy, zany, and madcap, eh? That would be The Amazing Johnathan to a "T". Master of comedic distraction, along with his empty-headed assistant Psychic Tanya, his wild escapades cover up what are, for the most part, a handful of rather shabby magic tricks that he only manages to get away with due to a level of self-awareness, as if it were part of the gag. Bordering on the ghoulish, several of his bits are not for the faint of heart, surprising the viewer with abrupt and over-the-top fountains of fake blood, for example. But for the most part, he's like a kid off his Ritalin who got into Carrot Top's closet. This Comedy Central program, complete with commercial breaks, includes a good dose of his other appearances which are unfortunately very similar to each other, but fortunately high on audience participation which provides varied results. Definitely worth seeing for a good laugh, even if it is rough around the edges.
Rating: **** out of *****

Movie: A Life Less Ordinary (1997)
Review: After "Millions", "28 Days Later", "Trainspotting", "Slumdog Millionaire", and now "A Life Less Ordinary", I think I can safely say that I'm not really a big fan of director Danny Boyle's work, each of which has elicited little more than a "Meh" from me. In ALLO, two angels are instructed to make a lowly janitor and a haughty heiress fall in love through a kidnapping. Billed as a romantic comedy, the disjointed plot, superficial characters, and Bergman-esque ending instead result in a downward slide to insanity, and not in a good way. What begins as a light fantasy ends up with one of the granddaddies of all cop-outs which it at least earnestly tries to make the viewer believe. Plenty of big names contributed to this experiment, including Cameron Diaz, Ian Holm, Ewan McGregor, Holly Hunter, Stanley Tucci, Tony Shaloub, and more. Some may consider this one of Boyle's stepping stones to greatness, but not I.
Rating: ** out of *****

Next: The Universe (Season 1), Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, Severance

Halloween 2009

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 20:17:23 GMT

This Halloween, we were joined by Bengali, Tig, Provo, Furio, neogeen, and deejayawesome for neighborhood costuming. NeoGeen and DJA arrived first and I introduced them to Ticket To Ride while we waited for others. The weather was high-risk because a warm front was due right during prime Trick-Or-Treat hours. Luckily, it broke up over the Blue Ridge and all we got were a few showers.

Kids started showing up at 5:30 instead of the usual 7pm. This may have been due to a combination of the weather and the fact that Halloween fell on a weekend. Since it caught us off guard, we missed the first third of the rush while everyone was suiting up, having arrived around 6pm. But the rest was fun, as everyone hung out in front, each with their own bucket of candy, and posed for photos and such. Total kids this year: 89.

Afterwards, we went out to La Chozita Grill for dinner, followed by "Behind The Mask" and "Below" for late-night scary movies. This morning, those who crashed overnight joined us for breakfast at Bob Evans before heading home.

All in all successful! We'll be on again for Halloween 2010!

Video Reviews (10/26/09)

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 23:02:56 GMT

TV: The Simpsons [Season 9] (2000-2001)
Rating: *** out of *****

Movie: Year of the Dog (2007)
Review: For a movie predicated on the death of a beloved pet, this dramedy manages to competently hang onto its goal and only goes off the rails a little bit. Pencil, Peggy's beagle, is her anchor in all things, to the degree that it's a well-secured freak flag. When he dies, she tries to find a new outlet, and starts falling to pieces the longer it goes on. While I didn't entirely agree with Peggy's final destination or certain portions of her descent, I'm not certain you're really meant to. The moral seems to be that you should determine your own path, not let others dictate your direction, and not try to dictate others' directions, which is pretty cool. It's eminently watchable because the characters are very strong, almost like old-school Coen Brothers films. The humor is very dry, deriving from each players' characteristics rather than dialogue or slapstick. Also beneficial is if the viewer is an animal lover, specifically of dogs, which may assist in making a connection with the story. It's a different kind of romantic comedy that is unique in its own way.
Rating: ***1/2 out of *****

Movie: Ruthless People (1986)
Review: This film gets the rating it does purely out of nostalgia. It's so unrelenting 80's that it elicits more laughs from the wardrobe and set design than it does from its dated humor (I think I only gave a solid laugh once). Sam, played by Danny DeVito, wants to kill off his wife (Bette Middler) for money, but she's kidnapped and held for ransom, to his delight. Bill Pullman makes an appearance as a completely unbelievable bumbling accessory to a subplot, wearing a most ridiculous retro hairdo. It plays out like a silly soap opera, with gaping plot holes and set equipment visible in some shots. Cheap, simple, late-night movie-of-the-week. Oh yeah, and there's the requisite gratuitous boobies. Those were the days.
Rating: **1/2 out of *****

Next: MXC (Season 5), A Life Less Ordinary, The Amazing Johnathan: Wrong On Every Level