Friday, July 28, 2006

Movies I've seen since the last time I told you about movies I've seen

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I'm not much in the writing mood lately so here's Movies I've seen since the last time I told you about the movies I've seen:

The World's Fastest Indian everybody-wants-to-hate-but-has-to-love-adorable-old-man Anthony Hopkins. that's the whole movie. oh ya, he races a speedster motorcycle.
Awesome: I F**kin' Shot That! - Beastie Boys give 50 crappy video cameras to fans.. have them shakily tape a run-of-the-mill Beastie Boys show.
Mr. Death: The Rise and Fall of Fred A. Leuchter Jr. - AWESOME Erroll Morris documentary about an electrician who made death penalty devices for states, then hired to disprove the holocaust, ruining his career and.. well.. quirky coolness.
Protocols of Zion - frustrating documentary wherein director interviews and debates with idiots who believe Jews caused or were aware of 9/11 before it happened.
Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story - British mockumentary that's first 20 minutes bored me silly so I stopped watching.
The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill - AWESOME documentary on the.. guess? wild parrots of San Francisco's telegraph hill and the quirky dude who takes care of 'em.
Fast, Cheap & Out of Control - AWESOME Erroll Morris documentary. see it.
The Matador - Pierce Brosnan and Greg Kinear are fairly entertaining.
Murderball - GREAT documentary on parapalegic wheelchair rugby players.
Underworld: Evolution - I saw the first Underworld, I didn't like it, so why would I rent the second one? I dont know.
16 Blocks - As much as you wanna not like Bruce Willis, he's still got it. Damn entertaining son of a bitch. at what age will you stop being such an awesome bad-ass, Mr. Willis?
Cache - borrrrrring and needlessly artsy. coulda been 25 min's & told the same story.
Madea's Family Reunion - this showed up in the mail, i thought "why the F did I rent this??" and then didn't watch it.
Ultraviolet - Oh Mila. you're still beautiful but you sure do make sucky movies lately.
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang - AWESOME. Best action movie I've seen this year. Val Kilmner and Robert Downey Jr are (what's the word of the day?) ENTERTAINING beyond belief. see it!
Sarah Silverman: Jesus is Magic - Who's your favorite sexy comedian Jew? Really?? you said Seinfeld??? what's wrong with you? Ms Silverman made me giggle to tears.
Munich - AWESOME and Highly Accurate rendition of the book I read when I was 14, Vengeance by George Jonas. Wow. See it. great, great movie.
Wet Hot American Summer - HILARIOUS and funny-people-packed summer camp movie.
A History of Violence - Purty good thriller that feels like a gritty novel.
Brokeback Mountain - Yeesh. finally saw it.. what's all the hubbub about bub? Oooh, gay sex, oh no! it must be a controversial and brilliant film! whatever. it was ok.
The Producers - for some reason I rented and returned this without watching.
Everything Is Illuminated - for the same reason I rented and returned this without watching.
Mad Hot Ballroom GREAT documentary on urban schoolkids learning to ballroom dance.
Shopgirl - decent Steve Martin book-to-movie. I'd rather see a the Pleasure of My Company made though.
Dirty Pretty Things - lured in by Audrew Tatuo,.. I still couldn't bring myself to watch it.
Eddie Izzard: Unrepeatable - AWESOME ... any/all Eddie Izzard stand up is AWESOME
Aeon Flux Ehhh. sexy looking sci-fi, not so sexy script.
The Weather Man Why do I rent these things if I'm not gonna watch 'em?
Hostel - Good god... horrrrrrrible, lame, not interesting, not scary, just stupid. avoid.
Good Night, and Good Luck Good stuff. a little stuffy & full of itself, but definitely recommended
Stay Pretty good thriller with Ewan McStarWars and other good peoples
Breakfast on Pluto seriously, why rent if I'm not gonna watch? Oh yeah, netflix queue.
The Squid and the Whale For a learned, UES sad-gedy, it was pretty good stuff.
Hustle & Flow It's a hard knock life for a pimp, but darned fun to watch.
King Kong Ohhh good action films, you do so entertain me.
A Sound of Thunder Hmm.. a good back-to-the-future-Oops-you-changed-everything film.
Paradise Now AWESOME and intense movie about two Palestinian "suiciders"
The Legend of Zorro Yeesh. please dont make any more of these. please?
Close-Up it sounds way better than it was: ostensibly a documentary about an impostor of another Iranian director, Mohsen Makhmalbaf. Kirostami's done way better.
The Brown Bunny - bore + ing does not = "controversial". it = avoid.
Bubble - slow but awesome soderberg flick about life in/around a Southern doll factory.
Junebug Hmm.. not the best movie in the world but recommendable, definitely.
Da Ali G Show: Season 2: Disc 2 (2-Disc Series) - AWESOME, as always
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Less entertaining with each new potter incarnation.
Project Grizzly this dude is NUTS, but I didn't need 1.5 hrs to be shown it.
Jarhead AWESOME flick... war sucks.
Prime Rented it, didnt watch it, what made me think I would????
Immortal Very surreal sci-fi flick, part computer animation, part live actors, VERY interesting script. still, somehow slightly hard to sit through.
Domino AWESOME action flick. girls kick ass!
MirrorMask See Immortal and avoid this one.
Broken Flowers The bill murray worship continues... decent, I guess.
The Girl from Monday way low budget and sorta film school feeling. I watch a bit & turned it off
Zathura AWESOME - most underrated flick of the past few years I'd say. EMMININTLY entertaining, fun, great, awesome, all that good stuff. SEE IT.
Thumbsucker Semi-artsy but not too-much-so flick about.. guess... guess??? a thumbsucker
Womb Raider I rented this as a gag - the title is just too funny. the movie turned out to be soft kissy kissy lesbi-porn.
Serenity Good stuff. I didn't see any of the tv series Firefly but ya didn't really need to with the way they did the movie which is always worth a thumbs up to a the director
Doom who doesn't love the Rock? man, he's funny. sadly, this movie was lame (minus the 5 minute first person scene at the end)
The Brothers Grimm read the book.
2046 Slowwwww and not too interesting... i turned it off, I must admit.
The Transporter 2 the first one was Top Notch Action. is there such a thing as bottom notch?
Lord of War Pretty darned good Nick Cage. good bio on the arms trade business.
The Aristocrats Most OVERRATED cult film I've seen in a long time and NO - Bob Sagat is NOT hilarious, just gratuitous and his laughing at how funny he thinks he is makes me wish I were a rattlesnake in his shoe closet.
Melinda and Melinda Funny stuff - when is Will Ferrell NOT funny stuff?
Permanent Midnight I still think drug films are laaaaame. this was no exception, sorry Ben
Sky High decent action hero flick.. fun. very watchable.
Wedding Crashers Overrated. moderately funny but not that funny.
Grizzly Man WOW. Poor Timothy Treadwell, you loved those bears so. they loved eating you so
The Baxter AWESOME .. hilaaaarious! from the kids who brought you Stella.
Saving Face slightly-better-than-decent heartwarming flick.
The Dukes of Hazzard Uncle Jesse is rolling over in his grave.
Stacy You know I LOVES ME the zombie films!! Stacy was... eh... but in normal-movie-rating-mode, that equals AWESOME!
Jay and Silent Bob Do Degrassi - ok, NO. you've gone too far. see Dogma or Mallrats if you need your Kevin Smith fix.
The Island Not Too Shabby. then again, not too awesome, either.
Fantastic Four GOOD stuff... very entertaining.
Versus: Director's Cut Ehh, they lured me in with hints of zombies. not so.
War of the Worlds Tom Cruise is the Howard Dean of acting
Errol Morris' First Person: The Complete Series: Disc 1-3 (3-Disc Series) AWESOME! MOST ENTERTAINING and bizarelly educational thing I've seen in... ever. My Erroll Morris love is born of this. s-e-e i-t.
Martin & Orloff hilarious and entertainingly annoying. much recommended.
March of the Penguins AWE-cute-SOME. nuff said.
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory fugging PUKE. what an insult to the original.
Star Wars: Episode III: Revenge of the Sith Best of the three, I'd say.
Me and You and Everyone We Know MOST excellent. definitely recommended.
Stealth catch a few minutes of this when it aires on regular TV. Firefox, it is not.
Man with the Screaming Brain Bruce Campbell is my hero. is the man. is THEE man.
Bewitched Nicole Kidman is my daydream wife, but avoid this movie. see the original.
House of Wax Paris Hilton is my daydream goomah, but it wasn't enough to make me see this. Returned it without watching.
Herbie: Fully Loaded Lindsay Lohan is my daydream girl that kissed me at 6 grade camp, but avoid this one too & see the originals... wait.. no need. skip the originals too.
Kingdom of Heaven blehhh. Kingdom of chick flick masquerading as historical drama/action.
The Ladies Man Oh Tim Meadows... why aren't you in more movies?

Wednesday, July 26, 2006

Amsterdam .. Esra's pictures part 3

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Something appears to be really funny. It's probably me.
Oh my god, Kory's captions are HIL-AAAA-Rious!!!! Hooo! Oh, hey, look out the window. it's a bridge! see what I mean? hilaaarious.
The girls pose it up in the houseboat. Hey look, it's still the bridge outside! ok, fine - bridges aren't funny.
In Vondelpark. I'd give your... lessee.. what do you have left? umm... let's go with your right boob, y'know.. for symmetry... to be there right now.


Duckies.
Esra eats alien fruit that she first had in Malaysia (but which I now associate with Amsterdam) - rambutan - ever heard of it? Good stuff.

Hay-Ohhh. the one armed bandit snaps a blurry-but-otherwise-perfect-one-arm-er. Damn you're good, One Armed Bandit.
These ducks swam away from me in the middle of a conversation.
R-UUUUUDE!



Esra had to hold me back from jumping in and kicking their asses. I do not take social snubs lightly. nice reflection, eh?

I was told later that Dutch water conducts reflection better than American waters. The person who told me this wore a very official looking white suit with arm straps, so I was inclined to believe him.




Esra hides in almost plain sight in the Vondelpark rose garden.


Let's see... trading... your... how'bout your 401k. Yes.. your 401k to be there right now.



I play chef making brussel sprouts with Jutterje (tastes like a refined perfection of Jager) and balsamic vinegar and .. 3 other dishes, none of which rocked the house(boat) like the brussel sprouts.

Sandy's laughing. I must have said something hilarious.

Dylan waits for food and photos.

And photos of food. and us. delicious delicious us.
Marisa demonstrates the fine Dutch art of of venetian blind raising.




Papa (or mama?) mallard takes the long voyage across the canal to look cute & score more food from us.


the view out the front of the houseboat. hey, look! the bridge.

juggling is considered the sport of kings in Holland.

Esra's perfect day - kickin' back by the canal, beer in hand (well.. close to hand), reading, relaxing, sunning. Most importantly, sunning.



I have nothing funny to say here. Only your kidneys to trade.


the little paddleboats are the bumbling-tourists of the canal waters. Big yet nimble canal boats raider shoulder them aside with often comical results (to me, probably frightful results to the paddleboaters)



Some paddeboaters just give up and steer for the walls. the rental companies come get them at the end of the day.




Old and new. - ... make that new and old. Yes, that building was built in 1724.

I think this was my favorite houseboat of the canal cruise. not visible to the left is probably another 50 feet worth of (the same) houseboat. Yeah. hee-uuge.




the Amstel river leading into Amsterdam and the canal cruise. even the boring stuff is beautiful. and not boring.





3 or 4 types of building architecture, side by side.




Bridges. pretty.



Artsy photo taking sometimes demands that safety NOT come first. (I am hanging out the side of the boat here)


built in 1590. repeat: 1590


Canal cruise sunset(ish).


Esra peeps in on Marisa who unlike a good victim of peeping-Tom-ery, waves enthusiastically at us.


At the front door of our houseboat, looking left. you're seriously running out of body parts.


Awwww. Friends.


A great pic, if I do say so myself even if I didn't take it myself even if it looks like I might have one armed it myself.

Friday, July 21, 2006

Amsterdam .. Esra's pictures part 2

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Raymond took us out to an amazing Indonesian dinner. Good lord it was good.

After dinner, we headed back to the bar that ended up being across the street from our houseboat & had a drink. There was a guy playing keyboard with a lady (not this one pictured) singing - normally, public singing is enough to annoy me right out of a place.. the fact that it was all in Dutch just made it... cute. Oh and we were nicely buzzed on delicious beers. This lady (pictured) took the mic in between songs and with a little "do you know ___?" to the keyboardist, belted out some awesome tunes. Here, she's singing a song about Amsterdam.. coincidentally called "En Amsterdam".


One of a million billion amazing churches we ran across.

Speaking of churches.. these automats were my holy shrine to deliciousness. See all those little windows? They all contain tastiness! All of them. Get some coins and go nuts.


Esra tries her hand at guessing what the hell she's about to eat. She proclaimed the verdict to be: Scrumptious.

The one-armed bandit, now refreshed by automatty goodness, springs into rare form - capturing in the picture everything he intended to.



No, just one more! no, it's ok, really. We've done so much walking! we're gonna ... Hey, look over there - something distracting! [plink go the coins!]
As if to prove how small Amsterdam is (or how much we really walked last time I was here).. I found another of my well-remembered places. It's not 100% clear, but that's a Moby-Dick-ish (hee hee) whale planter.

The cool shopping road leading from cheese shop to the whale.

Esra makes a friend near the whale.

I have no pants on in this photo. Shhhhh!!

Window shutters! it doesn't get much more Dutch than this.


A piece of one of the few moveable bridges (near our houseboat).
Ok, this isnt the real poezenboat - (which just got towed away, it seems cats dont pay rent too well) - sidenote, there's a lotta cats in Amsterdam. people let 'em roam around, it's awesome (for me)


All over Amsterdam, buildings will often have a graphic sign placed on the stone placed either on the house's front gable or lower (here) that told a quick tale of what that family might have done for a living. This family apparently made horses.


Our favorite tree, on the way to & from Hennie's place.


Kickin' it canal-side.





Looking super cool, canal-side.

Esra calls upon the power of the sun.
I would give your left boob to be right there right now.
Rembrantplein (park)

Esra tried to steal this statue but settled on a different one.

outside the Rijksmuseum Oh wait, that's me!


Esra strikes the statue's pose.














I am (sterdam) kinda annoyed 'cause I had to pose and pose again for 5 full minutes so Esra could get the perfect shot that wasn't perfect. I swear, woman! I love ya but just take the damn photo!
I made Esra backtrack about 10 blocks so she could take a picture of this cool statue I ran across.


"We've secretly replaced all Dutch flowers with these wooden flowers.. let's see if they notice!"

So many churches, they grow on trees! HA! Ah. ha. ... ha. ha ha. umm... ....ha?

Still life with cafe accoutrements
Many believe this to be a monument to Amsterdam's sex industry (no really, they do). It's actually the national monument to the victims of WWII. It just.. um.. happens to look like ... well... yeah.
Pictured to the right is the Hotel Krasnapolsky
In that hotel is the Winter Gardens.. the glass roof pictured here.
And hooooooo! who's got the artsy photoness goin' on??? The camera is actually upside down & pointed at a huge mirror. One armed photo mastery!! Holllllannnnd!