4 posts tagged “wtf”

I will never forget the first time I heard of this vague concept called "Shoot 'Em Up" and I was intrigued. But then I saw the preview. It is as if Corporate Marketing folks in a secret chamber said "Horror of horrors! Mr. Njudah is not buying enough movie tickets! How can we get him and similar cool connisseurs of Pop Culture into our stupid movie theaters?"

After furious amounts of research, fueled by Red Bull and whatnot, they realized "Oh, wait! here's the formula! Guard it with your lives:

-put Clive Owen in the movie

-put Monica Bellucci (on whom Mr. Njudah has been carrying a torch for since BEFORE the Matrix trilogy)

-have lots of amazing examples of how to kicks ass and take names

-oh and just to frak with him, put in Paul Giamatti as the bad guy

-wait, did we forget to mention have LOTS OF AMAZING ACTION and stuff?

End of Memo"

But here is where mere words and reviews do not do justice to the film itself. I mean, sure, I can tell you that in the first 5 minutes Clive Own skillfully delivers a baby while shooting down like, 15 bad guys with the other hand but me saying it is stupid. You seeing it is like "omg, it's like they looked into Njudahs brain and wrote down exactly what he wanted to see on Friday afternoon!"

I hate spoiler-y reviews so I shan't ruin it for you. All I will say is this : whenever I've seen a Die Hard or simliar film and they have all sorts of silly mayhem and serious ass kicking, I and my trusted colleague Mason Powell dub it a "total McBain moment", in honor of the character played by Rainier Wolfcastle on The Simpsons.

This film was McBain on frakking steroids, caffiene, guarana, and God Knows What Else. And you know what? I LOVED IT.

My biggest regret of my short sojourn in Los Angeles was not somehow waiving a magic wand and getting to produce awesome films, which would star awesome actors like Clive Owen some day, and more important, allow me but a few moments with the lovely Monica Bellucci so that I might take in her awesome acting skillz and hotness in person.

But hey! Maybe she reads the N Judah Chronicles. You never know, right?

It does not take a genius to realize that I don't drive often, I being the the "Muni Blogger", and the fact I don't own a car. That said, I do have occasion to drive, usually when a friend goes out of town. When I do, I go back to my roots and start listening to the radio, usually NPR. Since I don't drive often, I don't listen to NPR often. So, if what I'm about to blog about is old news, well, you understand.

Anyway, so I'm listening to some thing on The News and they go to the sponsorship part and the dude at KQED who was clearly a little flummoxed when he read that....the evening news was in part spnosored by...."Pabst Ribbon". (He meant Pabst Blue Ribbon, of course).

Now, this is not totally surprising - the story of how Pabst Blue Ribbon reinvented itself over the last several years and sponsored art shows and the like is old news, but still - PBR on NPR?

I guess the next question is - what is the truly hip, low cost but not totally awful beer out there the cool kids are drinking these days? I'm a bit behind the curve on this one, so anyone? anyone?

It's weird. Lately I've actually been going to the theater lately to see movies, on a semi-regular basis. Is this because so much of what's out is so compelling I can't wait for freakin' Netflix?

Or is it just because I get bored too easily?

Who knows? However, when I had an unexpected respite from work to go to the movies on Friday, I did so to see Live Free or Die Hard (Aka Die Hard 4) in the theater, hoping for an opening weekend crowd experience. It did not dissapoint. Again, this stuff ain't a sensitive indie feature with angst ridden kids in weird glasses, but so what? Bruce Willis did what he does best (even with a PG 13 rating, that limited the Yippie Kay Yay Mother F**ker references, but hey, when he DID, it rocked) and Justin Long once again showed why he's more than just a Mac. (remember him in Galaxy Quest?)

However, being the eternal bargainhunter (cheapskate) that I am, when I left LFODH, I wasn't in the mood for my usual sandwich at Tommy's Joynt (a rarity), and noticed I could just walk on in to Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. Now, I had haerd this one was like. a million times better than the craptastic first film, but I ended up going in mostly because it was "free." (insert your righteous indignation at me denying Ioan Gruffud one more ivory back scratcher here).

If you accept that a) the horrible way The Man has tried force Jessica Alba to be a blonde, blue eyed skinny white chick, a crime against humanity that can't be forgiven because she's way hotter when she's not wearing contacts and bleached hair, and b) that this really is just a Stan Lee Comic come to life with all the banalites therein,  then this was actually pretty fun to watch, and had a few good moments. Plus, casting Michael Chiklis as The Thing was like, genius.

The most fun? Seeing a new trailer for the Simpsons Movie, and Yet Another Trailer for Superbad, which always makes me laugh. That kid from "Accepted" is just too funny.

Transformers, though, can go to hell. Seriously, wtf?

I really should be updating my "real" blogs (I have some good stuff for both) but it's the end of a nice sunny day and I'll post those pieces shortly. For now, it's time for some good old fashioned nerdy anime chatter. My pimpslap of the Bay Guardian and a look at the latest plan to "save" MUNI will come later, in more formal forums....

Thanks to the anime reviewer at Memento I found out about what looks to be a very interesting anime from Japan, Dennou Coil . Although I am not watching this in HD (an 867 mhz G4 12" powerbook just can't do it without hiccups), it's been said that if you DO get an HD copy, it looks really good. Looks aside, what makes this series interesting is the world it posits, just a decade (or perhaps a decade and change) from our world . In the world of Dennou Coil, people (in this case kids) wear special visors that add a layer of the virtual world on top of the physical world.

Thus, in this series, a young girl has a pet "dog" that only exists in the virtual world, and without the clear visors, one cannot see nor interact with it. However, the "dog" interacts with the physical object of the world outside, walkign around obstacles and the like if he was real (although sometimes he gets clobbered with an object and the dog's "body" gets all  static-like).

This series just started in Japan a few weeks ago, and I'm getting the unlicensed version via BT for now. I don't know that this series will be imported into the US ever - for a US market that wants More and More Craptacular anime like "Naruto" and other similar teenage tripe, a "Family" show like this may not make it past the US importers.

Thus, it is up to the "fansub" folks at this website to give us a chance to see what is possible with animation these days.

Helpful Unrelated Hint: When you write a really long and involved posting with lots of links, for that blog everyone seems to like , whatever you do, temper your enthusiasm to get it done "fast" and bypass your Rule About Not Composing Online. You can avoid a MUNI Style Screw Up really easily that way!