that ring of confidence

I'm tired and Shia LaBeouf is blackmailing someone

these last few days I've just been feeling really tired. Part of it is trying to squeeze in time to do my freelance writing and part of it is that I've just not had any chance to slow down since Las Vegas. Granted also staying up past one in the morning playing Rock Band with Nathan also contributed a bit to it [jks].

Today is a day off, but it's also a day that I'm going to be up late at a drive-in movie. At least that's the plan. Drive-ins used to be a fairly regular thing for my family, well maybe I'm exaggerating a bit. They were still special occasions, but when we were young and lived in Edmonton I'd go to sleep early then get up and my parents would take us to the Drive-In. The only movie that I know I watched there was Gremlins, but since they're generally double features there must have been more than that one.

Lydia and I went last year to the Twilight Drive-In in Langley, the one we're going to again tonight, and saw The Departed and Beerfest. The Departed was first and it was great. If you've not had a chance to see it go out and rent it. That's right, stop reading this go and rent it and this will still be here to read once you've done watching the movie.

Beerfest was okay, though I think by that point we were both too tired to really enjoy it.

Tonight we're going to see Ghost Town and Eagle Eye. Ghost Town should be good, since anything with Ricky Gervais in it tends to be quite funny. This is his first staring role in a film, and the first major thing he's done that he hasn't had a role in writing so we'll see how he does as just being an actor.

Eagle Eye is the newest film with Shia LaBeouf in it. He's the kid from Transformers and he was in the latest Indiana Jones movie as Indy's son. He must have some dirty photos of Steven Spielberg because Spielberg produced Transformers and Eagle Eye and of course Indiana Jones is Spielberg and George Lucas' pet project with Lucas producing and Spielberg directing.

Without Steven LaBeouf might not be getting any work, so blackmail is the obvious answer.

They shot a movie once in my home town

I generally like living in a city where movies and television shows are filmed.  I don't work in the industry, but it's kind of cool to be able to spot locations from my everday life in the media I consume.  Watching Smallville and seeing the Vancouver library a few blocks from where I used to work is fun.  I don't mind the tax incentives given to studios to film up here, it's a generally clean industry and a better way to make money than running puppy mills or breeding dragons.

My enthusiasm does wane a bit when they install a giant flood light just outside of my bedroom window.  Thankfully they were shut down filming by just a touch after 11, otherwise the proximity of this light along with another pointed directly at my living room, would have gotten more annoying than it was.

I'm not sure what they were filming, though judging by the number of extras and police cars they were using I had the feeling it was a feature film as opposed to a television show.  The doorman at my building said it was something called Samuri Bride, but Google doesn't recognize that name (and if it's in production than it would be on IMDB). 

Hot Fuzz: Best movie ever?

Is Hot Fuzz the best movie ever?  I can't say for sure but I certainly laughed more at than I have at any other movie for quite some time.  I think the last movie I laughed at anywhere near as much was Borat and this is by far a better film than that. 

The humour, as well as style, of the film is similiar to Shaun of the Dead which you'll notice features the same two actors.  Simon Pegg is great fun, and if you have ever laughed in your life you should go and see it.  I you have never laughed in your life then maybe you should also go to see the film, just so you can feel what laughter is like.

I'll be going again tonight with Lydia, since I had promised to go with her but cheated on her with my brother and MC last night.  Maybe if they will let me I'll move in and live in the theatre, living of hot dogs, pop and popcorn and spend my days watching this movie.

Trust me, it's that good.

Something just for the peeps

I thought I'd drop you all a note instead of cross-posting from Vox, because I don't particularly like how the cross-posts appear on this site when I do them.

The move to the downtown store has been put on hold, possibly until late September or early October, which is disapointing.  I'm anxious for a change and cutting out an hour of commuting would be a very nice change.  So it's just a wait and then wait some more game for now.  No news is good news, right?

I leave you then with this old clip of Kermit the Frog on The Daily Show.  You can clearly see it's an early episode with Jon Stewart and he's thinking about how this might actually be a low point in his career.  This is the sort of interview that they make Craig Ferguson do now.

If you didn't hate me, we'd never talk

I spoke with Nathan at lunch, he apparently has seen Mr. Aaron Peck at UBC and Aaron's back in Vancouver.  I had been thinking of phoning Aaron's parents to try to get a contact number in Toronto for him, but since Nathan now has that and an email address for him I've just got to work on Carter.  Carter of course wants something in return, though I roughly told him that I don't negotiate with terrorists, and thus I've yet to recieve it.

However we did also speak of movies with Nathan wondering if I'd seen Napoleon Dynamite, and me saying that no I had not.  I then asked him if he'd seen the even more enjoyable Garden State.  He had not, and from his reaction as I related the scene where Natalie Portman burries a hampster it seems that he may never.  Which is probably for the best as he's married now apparently and the last thing he needs to do is fall in love with Natalie Portman (or at least her character in the movie).

Meanwhile the chance of me spending the night alone in a bathtub watching season 7 episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer is increasing by the minute.  I wasn't able to get in touch with Melissa last night by calling the theatre, and I can't seem to get her (or anyone else) at her home number.  Their answering machine also either has no outgoing message or has died.  I thought I may have screwed the number up while syncing my phone with Outlook but a quick check on 411.ca confirmed that I have in fact been calling the right number.  A method I tried to use on Nathan Carter just now to get his home address, to no avail.

This commercial was filmed in Toronto: an ad before a movie

Note: I wrote this while watching the staff show of Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle, which has Dougie Howser's Neil Patrick-Harris in a very funny role as a drugged up version of himself.

I have, I suppose, been guilty of not using this blog to discuss personal topics. It chronicals the events of my life, without examing the meaning. If that makes sense.

It's a movie review that describes the plot but doesn't tell you if the film is any good.

For anyone who knows me in person, as opposed to the cyber shadow of myself which I cast here, knows that I don't date much. I was on one date during the past school year, and it was fairly uneventful.

"Ah, I see," you say, "this is about girls. Nothing more meaningful or spiritual than that."

It's true, my interests are fairly shallow. But adding to the typical "no girlfriend" woes is "shit I've got a job that pisses me off" and the "I have no career path".

I have, however, a end date to my epic career as an undergrad. That date is in December. December of 2004.

So I've started checking out the Vancouver job market to see what sort of jobs were open. There were a few editorial, copy editor type jobs. All of which probably pay less than either my current post or what I could make pushing cell phones in Vancouver. Being paid less would be a trade off from not having my soul crushed little by little.

Ah so there is the potential for employment beyond being yelled at. "But what," the audiance survey asks, "about the women. You opened with that, plotline aren't you going to pay it off?"

No, sadly.

I am interested in someone but like the pre-Pavel Bure Vancouver I have no finish. It is beyond me how one moves from being 'friends' to being something else.

There should be an instruction manual for that sort of thing. Something that explains how after taking a wine tour together and having a nice dinner one does... I don't know... something.

And so here we are, at the end of the rambling pointless state of the co-op address.

9/11 tops American box office

JAM! Movie Box Office | North America

Fahrenheit 9/11 is the #1 top grossing movie in America this week. It is the highest opening for a documentary ever, surpassing Michael Moore's previous film Bowling for Columbine.

This despite the fact that it was given an 'R' rating to keep minors out, and despite (because of) a conservative efforts to block theatres from showing the movie.

iPod / iRobot

In an interview with Wired Wil Smith talks about his favorite new technology which happens to be the iPod.

You play a technophobe in I, Robot - are you a Luddite?

No, I'm not like that at all. This guy is the opposite of me. He had a bad experience with technology, which changed his life. Del Spooner understands the three laws, and it makes sense to him logically, but intuitively he also understands that you can't legislate choice. So if you create an intuitive machine that's going to make choices, it's going to stand directly opposed to the logic you want to confine it to.

What's your technological soft spot?

The iPod is the gadget of the century. I have every model. My CD collection from my entire life is on them. I probably have 52,000 songs.

So that's good news right? Plus he says his new movie iRobot is going to be pretty cool. And Wil Smith wouldn't lie to us right? Which means it's going to be pretty cool. Though it also looks pretty hot in the trailer so that's two sources backing it up.

Secret Agents of Social Change: An Illustrated History Without Pictures

Okay, so this entry is going to be all over the place, so if you've come here for focused thoughts on specific matters, come back tomorrow. If you're okay with a little leaping around, then we're good to go.

computer vs. the music

The real excitment of today is that I jury rigged my university schedual so that I have more time to work and so I don't have to take Geography 111 as my science credit. Rather I get to take Computers in Society which is also a lab science course.