Revolutionary Blood Fringe

I felt like shit today emotionally and I did very little. None of you care, so let's not pretend.

I picked up a late lunch and re-watched Revolutionary Road from the old To-Watch Pile, something I'd picked up a few months back. The film remains as depressing and real as I remembered; truly great performances by all involved, especially Michael Shannon as the crazy Realtor lady's son. Which is to say that he play the Realtor lady's son, who happens to be cray and puts our leads on edge; Realtor lady isn't unbalanced and I don't know where you'd get that idea, unless you've typecast Kathy Bates in your mind as that nutty bitch from Misery. Great film, suffice to say, well worth your time if you haven't already seen it.

Since I was feeling kinda half depressed anyway, I decided to continue the downer movie trend with another re-watch: the stunning There Will Be Blood off the stack of Blu-rays beside the bed that's been there forever. This is a perfect film to me, it hits on every level, emotionally, visually, hell, even the music is killer. Daniel Day Lewis blows me away with his performance, the guy is so wrapped up in his role that it kinda fucks with me when I see him in normal photos, such a great role all the way around.

The wife was out for the evening at a fundraiser, so I wrapped my evening with the latest Fringe off the DVR in the bedroom. The wife got home late, we caught up a bit while watching random shit on cable, then I headed to the bedroom to dick around with this nonsense.

I'm out kids.

Be seeing you.

Tag, you're it, Baggy Eyes! Depression, Movies, To-Watch Pile, Revolutionary Road, Michael Shannon, Kathy Bates, There Will Be Blood, Blu-ray, Daniel Day Lewis, Television, Fringe, DVR

Like Rats From A Sinking Ship

I read about half of the new David Sedaris book last night, it's a fun, breezy little read, as I expected. Honestly it just makes me want to read something new by the man that isn't quite this short. I dunno if he has anything else forthcoming at this point or not.

I grabbed some lunch this afternoon since the wife had plans of her own and returned to watch a little something from the To-Watch Pile. I settled on Single Room Furnished, which is the last movie Jayne Mansfield ever finished, and man what a way to send out such an iconic figure. It was a helluva lot of melodrama and shabby acting, completed after her death and padded out with a half-assed plot about other tenants of the building that her tragic character lives in. She begins the film as a fresh faced young bride, then transitions into a waitress, then an unstable prostitute in later years.

Checking e-mail in the late afternoon I got some news that kind of felt like the other shoe dropping on something I've been doing for awhile now, which was the news from Skinny in no uncertain terms that he's pretty well done with dealing with the whole Big Suck Loser website idea, as his time constraints and interests lie (understandably) elsewhere. I've known this was coming for some time, as the distance between us (literal, not in reference to our friendship), his having a real job and a fairly large family and responsibilities to deal with has all but removed his involvement with the site, leaving him to post reviews as I submitted them, which seems rather pointless in the grand scheme of things. When the site started out we had about four people reviewing stuff, it's slowly dwindled down to me, as I have the time and inclination while others have lives and responsibilities. I don't know exactly what is going to happen, as there's talk of migrating things to a different back-end that'd leave me with less to deal with and the ability to upload stuff myself, but I'm honestly considering just going a different direction altogether and starting a fresh site (most likely a blog) on my own to dump everything into.

I have to say that this is a little daunting to me, as I have sweet fuck-all knowledge of building a website, but I'd really like to do something that's completely my own if I have to start this process over again, as I would rather not have anyone else drop out at any stage in the future. I have had a couple of Twitter folks offer to help me out, but I'm honestly not sure what I would even need from them at this point. I really do see me retreating back to Blogger and starting something there after some tinkering with their template builder, but that may drive me apeshit if I can't get it to look like I want it to. We've kinda talked about setting something up at a similar site with me migrating things over to try and maintain the status quo of the site, but I also kind of feel as though it's just time for me to do this all on my own and be done with it.

I dunno.

The wife and I watched a few things in the evening, including Ghost Hunters from last week, then a couple more things off the To-Watch Pile. The Pom Pom Girls and Malibu Beach were presented as a double feature on the next disc in the set I've been digging through and they were a mindless, fun way to pass the evening. Corny late 70's comedies filled with pranks, beaches and a generous does of T & A, they served to lighten my mood, as I was feeling a bit stressed over the whole web thing.

I guess the reviews are one of the few things that I truly put my time into and to have that whole thing feel like it's going up in smoke make me feel a bit unsettled, which isn't a feeling I'm exactly happy with. A part of me also knows how very little any of the reviews matter in the grand scheme of things, so a big part of me thinks it's time to pull the plug on all that shit entirely and do something else with my time, but I don't know what that would be. I think the sticking point on this whole thing is that I would like to hopefully maintain a certain guise of visual professionalism to a website that I don't know I truly have the ability to create at this point. Oh well, if all else fails I suppose I can just throw some money into the project and have it done professionally, as I have at least a few online buds who do it for a living.

I'm out kids.

Be seeing you.

Tag, you're it, Baggy Eyes! Lunch, Movies, To-Watch Pile, Single Room Furnished, Jayne Mansfield, Movie Reviews, Interweb, Web Construction, Television, Ghost Hunters, The Pom Pom Girls, Malibu Beach

Mysterious Squirrels

I was surprised to see that David Sedaris has a new book hitting stores today, so I made sure to run and grab that this afternoon. I'm now the proud owner of a copy of Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk, something that I'm sure I'll read and enjoy, then see on the bargain tables within the next calendar year if my luck with this man's books holds true. Oh well, I wanna read it now, not after Christmas, so screw it, I'm in. I rarely buy any books the day it comes out anyway, so I feel like it's okay to treat myself on this one since I spend most of my time in the bargain bins.

I had to hit up the post office again with a few more Swap A DVD items, then ran a few errands including picking up the Sedaris as well as poking around Big Lots in Odessa to see what was new, finding a couple things but nothing that I was really blown away by. I also encountered at least 2 people in that store that looked like they were in the process of recovering form car accidents, it was somewhat off-putting. I will definitely watch my ass coming and going to the car from now on; that's obviously a dangerous parking lot to traverse unawares.

The wife was out with her various errands and meetings until just before 6:00, so I picked up a late lunch/early dinner for myself as I got back into town, simply because I didn't think I wanted to try and wait to eat until the evening. I ate my food and caught up on this week's Venture Brothers, then the wife got home a bit early and we caught up on our respective days.

We eventually settled into the den in the evening to check out the Criterion Blu-ray of Jim Jarmusch's Mystery Train that came out recently, just to try and nip away at the To-Watch Pile a bit. The wife had never seen the film before, so I was curious how she'd like such a quiet, observational flick that never really builds a ton of momentum, instead following a disparate group of oddballs as they pair up or are traveling through Memphis. The Blu-ray looks amazing, sharp and brilliant and all of the colors really pop; this is definitely the edition to check out if you've never seen the film before or have been waiting to give it another day in court. I was rather amused by the fact that Jarmusch's version of Memphis appears to be populated by about 17 people total, as his characters drive or walk down the most deserted streets I've seen since Vincent Price was the Last Man On Earth, it was just a little funny, considering that it's obviously a town people visit for tourism every day of the year. Hell, some of the characters are even hitting up the tourist spots like Sun Records and there's a whopping 3 other people there with them; when we visited we had a huge tour group piled into a tiny room praying that the tour guide's spiel wasn't too long, lest someone pass out from the lack of oxygen.

Regardless, it's a great watch, well worth a look.

We breezed through the new Mad Men and Sunday's Desperate Housewives, just because I'm gonna ride that bitch down to the bitter end. I have to admit that they have me intrigued slightly by the first episode set-up, but I'm sure that will change as the weeks wear on.

Be seeing you.

Tag, you're it, Baggy Eyes! Books, Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk, David Sedaris, Errands, Television, TiVo, Venture Brothers, Movies, Blu-ray, To-Watch Pile, Mystery Train, Jim Jarmusch, Criterion Collection, To-Watch Pile, Vincent Price, Last Man On Earth, Mad Men, Desperate Housewives

Westerns In The Air

I was happy to actually sleep over six hours last night and awake somewhat rested; a nice change of pace, all things considered.

I've been taking a trip down memory lane with a collection of the old Jonah Hex comics for nostalgia's sake, something I recall doing...hell, it might've been ten years or so ago the last time I read any of this stuff. It was one of my favorite comics as a kid and while I eventually shitcanned the stuff I'd originally collected (or more accurately: traded them off at a used bookstore), I'd gone back and sought out the small handful of material that our local comic store had to offer out of curiosity as to how it held up. I'd hate to think of trying to look for stuff now, as I'm sure the recent movie has anyone owning this old crap thinking they're sitting on a goldmine, regardless of how badly that movie tanked. The point of the nostalgia ramble is that I'm still enjoying the books, but have to admit that they are every bit as hokey as I recall, full of phonetically spelled western drawl and some fairly simple plots that I'm sure were much more entertaining to me as a kid.

The wife had her standard battery of meetings and other nonsense lined out for the afternoon, so she and I said 'hi' and 'bye' shortly around 10:30 this morning and then she was out the door. I got some writing done for the first time in what has to be at least 2 months if it was a day, I'm hoping to get back into that habit this week after a long unintended time away. Feeling kind of pleased with that I made the usual lunch plans with EL and started getting the recycling ready to be dumped off. Lunch was good, we riffed back and forth about the usual stuff and then I split to run my errands, recycling, post office, etc.

I spent some time picking up a bit around the house and organizing in the kitchen a bit just to clear the counters of some crap that'd piled up, then headed back into the Office to polish up the review I'd written and started going over notes for a second one.

The wife and I watched Up In The Air this evening off the To-Watch Pile, which I think I enjoyed more than she did by the time it was all said and done. I'm kind of a mark for Clooney and find Vera Farmiga weirdly attractive, so I was predisposed to enjoy it. I'd also heard vague allusions to what kind of note it might end on, so maybe I was better prepared to see where it went than the wife was, or maybe she just wasn't all that into it. Great cast and performances all the way around though, give it a peep if you're into the leads.

We wrapped up the night with a look at the season premieres of both Eastbound & Down and Bored To Death, both of which were really good. I particularly enjoy the exploits of Jonathan Ames in his guise as Jason Schwartzman's character, he manages to work in a bit where he charges into the offices of his boss in a leather gimp suit whilst his boss is trying to secure a merger to keep his magazine afloat; funny stuff.

We called it a night and I headed to the web to dick around with this stuff while listening to a live recording of the (Cool) Shite stuff and working on a little something for their site as well.

Be seeing you.

Tag, you're it, Baggy Eyes! Comic Books, Jonah Hex, Lunch, Errands, Friends, Movies, To-Watch Pile, Blu-ray, Up In The Air, George Clooney, Vera Farmiga, Television, Eastbound And Down, Bored To Death, Jonathan Ames, Jason Schwartzman, Podcasts, Cool Shite

Sunday Was Televised

The sinuses pulled one of their surprise attacks late last night as I tried to fall asleep, driving me from the bed every 30 minutes to an hour for the entire night. I finally slept after finally throwing up around 9:00 AM this morning. Basically the tickle at the back of the throat and congestion in the chest refused to give up until I'd coughed to the point of no return, but once I actually barfed I was immediately able to go straight to sleep and remain so for about 5 hours. This gave me a meager amount of rest, but also basically pissed the day away, so there you go. I awoke groggy and irritable after losing most of the day to vomit and jackassery.

I picked up lunch and asked the wife if she'd care to return to the quasi-depressing world of Sterling/Cooper/Draper/Price with me and she kindly agreed, so we started catching up with the last three episodes of Mad Men that we had on the TiVo. I was wanting to get those out of the way (so to speak) because I know that we have the new seasons of a few HBO shows starting up, as well as the highly anticipated Dexter season five. We made our way through those eps pretty quickly, though we had one of those odd drop-ins by the Middle Sister and her family in the middle of things that kinda set us back about an hour or so by the time it was all said and done.

The season has been pretty damned impressive, and while the wife has found the whole divorce storyline to be somewhat emotional (inasmuch as its effect on the children), we both are slightly puzzled by the interweb's backlash at Betty Draper. I mean, she's definitely something of a bitch since the divorce, both to Don as well as the kids (don't get me started on her douchey new husband), but unless we missed something major in the two (three?) episodes we missed this season, it's not as if she's started burning the kids with cigarettes or something. The vague stuff I'd read was giving me the impression that she'd thrown a baby down a well in a fit of irritation over a burned roast or something, so I'm curious as to why she's suddenly being thrown under the bus by everyone with access to a computer.

The wife made a little something for dinner and then we settled in for the Fox animation premieres that aired this evening, then we moved into the bedroom to catch the new Dexter, as the TiVo was tied up with other recordings. I love the fact that the television programs we watch are all concentrated on two days out of the week, Sunday and Thursday, leaving us forced to still record shit in the bedroom as there's only so many channels that TiVo can deal with. In an ideal world the bedroom DVR would be solely for the wife's crafting shows and shit like that, but I still find myself trying to find an available channel for certain stuff to record on. This is precisely why I'm kinda going out of my way to avoid new shows, though I'm sure I'll still end up falling for a few new things as the season goes on.

Okay kids, I'm off to try and sleep for a change this evening, so wish me luck with all that, unless you're the spiteful, hating type, in which case you should probably go slam your naughty bits in a car door, just for being so callous.

Be seeing you.

Tag, you're it, Baggy Eyes! Sinus Issues, Insomnia, Television, TiVo, Mad Men, Fox Animation, Dexter

Super-Saturday?

The wife got up a bit earlier than I did, due to Yorkie insistence, I myself was able to sleep in until 11:00 or so, then the dog got the better of me as well. It really makes me want to nag the shit out of her as she tries to sleep in the couch in the afternoon, give her a taste of her own medicine.

We spent the day at the house, which was nice on the whole: the wife napped here and there while I marathoned my way through the episodes of the 5th season of Supernatural that I still had on the TiVo. I took the time to pick up some lunch in the middle of the day and the wife was so kind as to grab our dinner; otherwise, we saw hide nor hair of anyone.

I was pretty content with the way that the 5th season ended (as I'd expected to be, I'd heard good things about it even being originally considered as the series conclusion), though it might've been slightly anti-climactic on some levels as far as how things resolve themselves. I mean, it was a satisfactory ending, but I somehow expected it to be slightly larger in scope, given the build up and considering that it was originally meant to be a series capper as I understand things. And as with a lot of others online, I could've been perfectly content with the series ending with the 5th season, so I'm curious where this new season will take us.

We watched the 1st episode of the new season this evening, which was simply okay, introducing new characters, new dynamics between existing people and it sort of left me feeling a bit 'off' with it by the times credits rolled. I kinda feel like they're already hinting at a larger picture behind things, which left me feeling like they should've left it with a smaller scope, more like what we had in the first season, since this feels like a re-boot anyway. Oh well, it's definitely nice to be able to caught up and checking things out with no real fear of spoilers, as we'll be with Mad Men after the next few episodes.

Overall it was a pretty decent way to while away a Saturday.

Be seeing you.

Tag, you're it, Baggy Eyes! Yorkie, Lunch, Television, TiVo, Supernatural, Mad Men

Carry On My Wayward Son...

Thanks to an interweb pal pointing it out, I've TiVo'd a handful of the 5th season of Supernatural that were airing in a marathon last night, and straight on into this afternoon, in anticipation of the show's 6th season that began this evening. The really dumbass, frustrating thing of this marathon is that it's obviously in anticipation of the show's return, yet instead of showing only episodes from the 5th season, they instead skipped around within several seasons of the show, airing only about 10 out of the 22 episode 5th year. Their programmer should be shot.

I figure I can get the general gist of the 5th season, since they had the good sense to at least air the final 5-6 eps in the correct order, then give the whole season a proper once over once I pick up the DVD's, which will happen at some point in the future when they hit a decent sale price.

I ran a few errands this morning and then met a buddy for lunch. I spent a good hour and a half catching up with him and what has been going on in his life, then I headed home to see what the wife was up to. We exchanged details about the day thus far, then she caught a bit of a nap while I dove into the Supernatural stuff on the TiVo to see what episodes I actually had, pausing in between each one I watched to skim the episode list on the iPhone for what I might be missing out on, continuity-wise.

The wife and Brian had made dinner plans earlier, so he arrived around 6:00, we went for some Chinese, grabbed a dessert item afterward and then chilled at the house with a few odds and ends off the TiVo, including Ghost Hunters and a new episode of The Soup.

Brian split shortly after The Soup, the wife headed to bed and I started in on this nonsense.

Be seeing you.

Tag, you're it, Baggy Eyes! Television, TiVo, Supernatural, Errands, Lunch, Friends, Dinner, Ghost Hunters, The Soup

The Fringes Of The Babysitter Boulevarde

I awoke to more of the same with this gross fucking grey weather, as we've apparently transported to the Pacific Northwest without anyone really noticing. I grabbed a shower and split to run a couple errands before I was supposed to go and see the Hairdressers at the shop and get shorn before things get out of hand.

I caught up with the ladies a bit, then hit a bookstore to try and finally track down this month's issue of Horrorhound Magazine that I'd been after since the 1st of the month, then picked up a late lunch and headed to the house.

The wife was between meetings, so we caught up a bit, then I finally had to excuse myself to eat my rapidly cooling cheap food that I'd left in the kitchen. I got back into the Drive-In Cult Classics Volume 3 with a little cheapie called Weekend With The Babysitter. First of all, it's nowhere near as James Bond exciting as that poster might lead you to believe, so calm down. Some poking around online tells me that the same guy who starred in this as well as last night's viewing choice The Babysitter (which incidentally was played by a different girl; the films aren't connected in any way except by theme = young pussy) was also a producer and helped write the screenplay, which must be a great pitch meeting to listen in on.
"I've got this idea about a fella, say he's about my age, and he inexplicably starts banging the little hippie gal who babysits his kids while his shrewish harpy of a wife is out of town. I have someone in mind for the male lead..." Cue shit-eating grin aaaand scene.

Long story short, director's distant wife leaves for weekend to see her mom, he falls into an affair with the sitter, but it's revealed that his wife is a drug addict (?!?) who has actually ditched her kid to go see her dealer. Dealer then strong-arms her into using the family boat to meet his supplier while her hubby smokes grass with the sitters hippie entourage and bangs her in front of the fire. Where their fucking kid is at this point is anyone's guess, presumable the back of a milk carton. The flick was amusing, if only for the dialog and somewhat silly twists, but taken as one of these cheap sets, it's a decent little watch.

From the same set I watched something that I'd seen trailers for at least a couple years ago and was happy to see included on this set: Van Nuys Blvd., a light-hearted flick about the cruising culture of the late 70's in California, which follows a group of 20-somethings in their pursuit fun driving up and down the street and avoiding the increasingly intolerant cops. Cute film, has vans racing, a full-blown disco night out and a visit to an amusement park; it's like a cheap vacation on a disc. I think this may actually be something I'll re-visit with the wife at some point, as I know she'll be amused by it.

The wife arrived home from her meeting with some deli stuff for dinner and we ate in the bedroom while watching the season premiere of Fringe, a series that continues to make me happy with each episode. I'd almost say that it's one of the few things I'm actually excited about this Fall television season, aside from Dexter. There's a good number of shows that we watch that are clever or well-made, but a lot of it I could almost be watching out of habit at this stage (I'm looking at you, Desperate Housewives) and I may have to start doing some housecleaning as far as all that goes, if only because I'm noticing that there are some scheduling conflicts coming in the next few weeks.

The wife crashed soon after we had our late meal, as she was up early this morning and had been out and about most of the day. I headed to the web to do dumb shit like this, as is my custom.

Be seeing you.

Tag, you're it, Baggy Eyes! Errands, Hairdressers, Shopping, Horrorhound Magazine, Movies, To-Watch Pile, Drive-In Cult Classics, Weekend With The Babysitter, The Babysitter, Van Nuys Blvd, Television, Fringe, Dexter, Desperate Housewives

Another Day, Another Annoyance

The wife had to drop her car off to get it serviced this morning, so Morris offered to pick her up and bring her back to the house to plan the rest of the day. I showered and tried to bounce back from the cumulative misery of another night of 5 hours or less of sleep. Believe me, the miserable grey day outside wasn't helping a whole helluva lot.

We went and grabbed some lunch once they got back to the house, pausing so I could run into the post office and mail a couple things. The wife's car still wasn't done, so she was to end up borrowing my car to run a couple errands she had in the afternoon, monkey-wrenching some things I had sorta kinda planned in the back of my head.

Between the grey day (which normally depresses me) and the annoyance with the car situation, I kinda took something amazingly pointless a bit more personally than I normally would. The wife had posted something earlier in the day on Facebook about 'Happy 1st Day Of Fall', which led to people saying that they also looked forward to Fall, one asking if the day was correct and then another acquaintance casually correcting her that it was actually tomorrow. This irked me, as a quick web search stated that it was indeed today, so I posted as much on Facebook myself, as I was already in a blah mood and bristle pretty easily at anyone kinda talking down to the wife. The same person snipes back with timezones and technicalities about when the date actually rolls over for us, which instantly makes me glad that I rarely add anyone I know in 'real life' as a Facebook acquaintance, because it helps me avoid interactions like this with people who like to be right. In the end the wife was technically wrong given our geographic location, but I have to say that it simply shits me up the wall that such a casual 'happy day' comment draws people correcting you rather than just saying thanks. I suppose it was made even more annoying because it was from someone I know personally, as I'm used to the web being filled with faceless know-it-alls, but would possibly expect less hassle from people who are supposedly friends of ours.

The phrase 'fuck em if they can't take a joke' comes to mind. I suppose that it is just a symptom of the web ( and life in general to a greater extent) that if you say something pleasant and harmless you'll have someone pop up to piss on it for whatever pleasure it gives them to correct you in a public forum. In a related note, I'm probably burning bridges in a public forum here, just to maintain the nature of the incident in question.

...anyway...

The wife did her meeting running around in the late afternoon, I picked up the house a bit and tried to shake the funk I found myself in, something that never really happened, to be perfectly honest. We eventually found out that the assholes who had her car wouldn't have it finished until about a quarter to 6:00 in the evening, at which time she'd be smack in the middle of her final meeting, so I offered to see if Morris could drop me off to pick it up.

He agreed, so we ran to do that, the idea being that he'd come by later in the evening after getting his mother squared away for the evening and we'd go grab a bite to eat. I turned the car over and noted that it was sitting dead on empty, so I stopped on the way home to fill it up with gas. I'm standing by the car while it fills up and get approached by a kid asking for a few bucks to get something to eat, so I gave him a couple bucks since I happened to have cash on me, which rarely happens. I would note that I was amused that I never get hit up while in the Maxima, but then I drive the Mercedes 10 feet and have a kid bugging me for a handout. I definitely don't think I need a luxury car, I would feel like a heel telling everyone to piss off because I don't usually carry any cash on the average day.

I headed home, half-assed watched some television until the wife got in, then we waited for Morris to join us and finally headed out for a late dinner. The meal was great, though we did encounter a puzzling wait for a table, considering how late in the evening it was.

We headed home, visited some more with Morris and then said our goodbyes, lest we not have a chance to see him before he leaves tomorrow.

I'm out kids.

Be seeing you.

Tag, you're it, Baggy Eyes! Car Repairs, Lunch, Errands, Facebook, Irritation, Television, Dinner

Little China Choking

We had the Maid underfoot this morning as the wife split for various errands and meetings, so I found myself in the Office piddling around waiting for her to be done with...whatever it is she does for us.

The wife was kind enough to bring me some lunch when she came home in the early afternoon; the Maid split shortly afterward. Morris came over for a bit, then he and the wife went o catch a movie, which I elected to pass on, as I figured the latest Drew Barrymore vehicle would be something I could stand to see on cable at a later date. I popped in the Blu-ray of Big Trouble In Little China, which I'm sure I've seen before but recall very little about. It was a fun little watch, then I shook up a martini and headed back tot he office, as the wife's PC had begun acting funky this morning and I'd said that I would give it a look and see if I could figure out what the deal was.

The wife and Morris were so kinda as to bring me a pizza for my dinner and we hung out and visited for a bit while watching Choke off cable, a film that stars Britta (Gillian Jacobs) from NBC's Community as a stripper named Cherry Daquiri, so I was kinda weirded out to realize that I've seen her boobs and didn't even realize it. I really love the film and remain surprised by the amount of sheer perversion and weirdness that survived from the novel to the screenplay.

Morris split to check up on his mother, who seems to be recovering well if her ability to annoy her son is any indication. We have plans to goof around with him tomorrow, as I believe that he's leaving on Thursday.

I'm out kids.

Be seeing you.

Tag, you're it, Baggy Eyes! Maid, Movies, To-Watch Pile, Big Trouble In Little China, Blu-ray, Choke, Gillian Jacobs, Television, Community

Surgery, Confidentiality, Madness

I managed to sleep for about 4 hours and change last night/this morning, waking with the alarm at 9:00. The wife got up and showered to go and meet Morris to sit with him while his mother had her surgery, I made some coffee and caught up with a few things online.

I eventually met EL for some lunch, then headed back to the house and basically spent the afternoon piddling around here, picking up the house a bit and cleaning out the fridge. The wife and Morris kept me appraised of the progress at the hospital via a series of text messages and the wife eventually arrived home with a change of plans.

The original idea was that Morris' mother would stay overnight at the hospital and he'd hang out with us in the evening and most likely spend the night on the Guest side of the house. Instead his mother was discharged in the late afternoon (presumably a good sign) and he would spend the evening looking after her. Since the other shoe had dropped as to what my evening was looking like, I popped in the Blu-ray of L.A. Confidential from the To-Watch Pile and chilled out with that in the den. Such a great flick, it makes me want to re-read the novel again and I think I may even have one of James Ellroy's other books hanging around here somewhere as well.

The wife had an evening meeting, returning with some deli sandwiches for dinner and we blew through a few things off the old TiVo, finally digging into Mad Men season 4, which the TiVo had suddenly begun suggesting a few weeks before we started watching the earlier seasons. It's nice to be almost caught up, as I have a feeling that somewhere on the web someone will find a way to blurt out some detail or twist that I'd rather not know.

We called it a night around 11:00, squeezing in almost the first half of the season via full episodes and the little 5 minute re-caps of the ones we were (frustratingly) missing, eps 3 and 5 to be exact. Why TiVo decided to record EVERYTHING ELSE from this season and yadda yadda over those two is beyond me, but at least now we have a season pass to take care of us.

Be seeing you.

Tag, you're it, Baggy Eyes! Surgery, Friends, Lunch, Movies, To-Watch Pile, L.A. Confidential, Blu-ray, James Ellroy, Dinner, TiVo, Television, Mad Men

Television, Killing And Zeros

I slept in a bit today, waking around noon to find the wife playing around on the web. I spent some time updating the blog that I'd bailed on the night before, then we went and picked up a late lunch

The wife and I spent the afternoon with some odds and ends off the TiVo, including an impromptu marathon of Ace Of Cakes, then caught the last episode of Being Human to wrap up the second season. I would describe the finale as similar to the way True Blood ended the first couple seasons; somewhat anti-climactic.

We spent the evening with the usual Fox animation re-runs while recording Boardwalk Empire, which I felt kinda obligated to record even though my interest in it is passing at best. Perhaps a viewing will sell me on the idea of following the series, but right now I'm curious at best.

Morris is in town for the surgery his mother is meant to have tomorrow morning, so he dropped by in the late evening to visit with us for a bit. We caught up and half-assed watched Natural Born Killers on cable, a film that I can watch any time, any place. It kinda made me want to upgrade the copy I own to Blu-ray, but I honestly have watched it more on cable than DVD in recent years, for whatever reason.

Robert Downey Jr's turn as Wayne Gale in Stone's film caught Morris' attention, so I popped in Less Than Zero, a film that I love but have numerous issues with due to the various digressions that it has from the source material. Ellis' rather gray morality is tossed in favor of a more typically 80's anti-drug message and while I enjoy the film for what it is I would be curious to see a more literal adaptation of the novel. We gave that a spin and called it a late night shortly after midnight.

I'm out kids.

Be seeing you.

Tag, you're it, Baggy Eyes! TiVo, Television, Ace Of Cakes, Being Human, True Blood, Boardwalk Empire, Friends, Movies, Natural Born Killers, Robert Downey Jr, Less Than Zero, Bret Easton Ellis

I Smell Sex And Comedy Here

With apologies to Marcy Playground...

The wife and I got up around 8:30 and went to pick up some breakfast, which might be a developing trend for the weekends? I dunno, but it's how things have worked out the past two weeks.

We ate and just generally bullshitted about the week while the Yorkie patiently begged for the scraps that were not to come. The wife eventually took a nap a few hours later after fielding a couple phone calls, while I retired to the den to try and dent that To-Watch Pile for a change.

I'd picked up a special edition of Monty Python And The Holy Grail late last year, and while I'd never seen the flick I was familiar with it, as the popularity has driven it into the popular culture to the point that I basically couldn't escape certain lines or set-ups even if I'd tried. As clever as the film probably was when it was new and fresh, I honestly didn't laugh aloud even once while watching it, though a few bits did make me smile here and there. Oh well, it was a decent watch, I just wish I could see it with the eyes that so many others can, but I suppose it'll never happen at this late date.

Since I was in the days of yesteryear with my viewing (so to speak), I decided to pop in something else set during the same approximate time period, something I was at least familiar with: The Italian sex-comedy Ubalda, All Naked And Warm, starring the unGodly gorgeous Edwige Fenech in the lead role. I maintain my initial impressions that the film is slightly appalling in that it kinda makes light of rape at several turns, but overall it's an amusing little romp and features some tremendous nudity from Fenech and the other female players. I was reasonably amused by the parade of breasts, so I decided to continue with this theme as the afternoon went on.

The wife got up from her nap around this time and joined me for a re-watch of Hardbodies, a film that I recall being on the local channels late at night when I was in my formative years, leaving a certain impression on me by the time things were all said and done. I've commented to the wife that I have a strange jones for certain 80's hairstyles and looks, including the knee socks, crimped hair and high-waisted panties and swimsuits of the era and I'd wager that this film, along with Flashdance are probably to blame as far as installing those buttons, especially given the time-frame in which I would've discovered them. This may be more than you wanna know about your humble narrator, oh me brothers, but it's true and that's my mission statement to you: never a lie from these lips. The long and short of it is that this isn't a good movie by any means, but there's a ton of boobs and it's nostalgic as all hell for me, so I still get a kick out of it to this day.

On the other hand, the sequel (which is included on the same disc) is pretty fucking corny, featuring the same two lead characters (played by different actors) in what feels like a sequel but doesn't really acknowledge anything about the earlier film at all. It does manage to co-star a couple of recognizable people (James Karen, Fabiana Udenio) but never really amounts to much aside from the random nudity that begins in the opening credits, which I honestly can't fault it for, for obvious reasons.

We continued the sex-comedy theme with Fraternity Vacation, which starred Stephen Geoffreys (of Fright Night fame) and Tim Robbins as frat brothers in Palm Springs, where we run across a nude Barbara Crampton in one particularly memorable scene (man, that broad was down for whatever in the 80's, God bless her!) and see the later outed Geoffreys date fellow Fright Night star Amanda Bearse, a relationship that is going nowhere fast, sorry folks. It also featured the standard plot device of guys making bets about who can bed a certain girl faster and the ensuing lies that follow to try and save face, another staple of this type of film. All in all it was an amusing flick, not too shabby of a trade from Swap A DVD.

We wrapped up the evening with Spring Break, another one of those films from my youth that was always in re-runs on late night television and that I hadn't seen in years. I had picked it up during one of those month long Anchor Bay sales that Deep Discount runs, so it's been hanging around for a few months at the very least. The story of two mis-matched pairs of friends thrown together as roommates in a cheap hotel during Spring Break (duh), they bond, chase tail and (in a 'we have to save the rec center' type of move) manage to help the hotel owner get her hotel back from her shifty brother, who's been trying to steal it away from her since the film began. It held up about as much as I would've expected it to; I'd prolly lump it in with Hardbodies as far as nostalgia goes.

The one thing that I have to note about our adventures into the sex-comedy genre is how familiar everyone on these films feels, which I guess is a nice way of saying that they're pretty generic as far as actors go. I spent the afternoon scrolling through IMDB on the iPhone, tracking through each of the significant characters filmographies and was rather surprise to find that most of them made a handful of films at best, generally in this same b-movie genre and then disappeared off the radar. I would have sworn up and down that at least a couple of the guys in these things were in television or that the gals had turned up in supporting roles in later films, but alas, my memory is simply playing tricks on me.

Ah, nostalgic boobs, you'll live forever in my heart. Oh, and can I just end on a completely crass note and say how nice it is to see real breasts in a movie and not the silicone nightmares that populate any film made after the mid to late 80's? There was ONE single woman with a boob job in all of these movies and the wife and I paused to lament the fact that those fakes titties were probably what killed her in later life.

R.I.P., random changing room girl.

I'm out kids!

Be seeing you.

Tag, you're it, Baggy Eyes! Movies, DVD, To-Watch Pile, Monty Python And The Holy Grail, Ubalda All Naked And Warm, Edwige Fenech, Sex-Comedy, Hardbodies, James Karen, Fabian Udenio, Fraternity Vacation, Stephen Geoffreys, Tim Robbins, Barbara Crampton, Amanda Bearse, Fright Night, Swap A DVD, Spring Break

Cop Killers In The Tenement

The wife spent the day tied up with the interviewing process that's due when they hire a new executive director for one of her non-profits, so I ran a few errands on my own, but for the most part was at the crib hanging out with the Yorkie.

The Mother In Law's Maid and Groundskeeper turned up with a rug and other stuff that the MIL "thought that the wife would want", which was the first that I heard about it. In retaliation I sent a couple boxes of the MIL's stuff back with them that'd been stored here for some time for whatever reason, just to see what she says about it.

Your move, crazy rich lady. ;-P

I decided to finish out the Grindhouse Psychos set in the afternoon, so I settled in for Copkillers, a fairly average 'drug deal gone wrong' type of film that I think could've been something exceptional had it starred more capable actors. Instead it's somewhat plodding as two drug smugglers essentially gun down some cops and spend the film's running time on the lam fromt he cops while trying to deliver their dope and collect their cash from another middle man, taking a hostage along the way. It was an okay time-waster but I dunno if I'd recommend that anyone go out of their way to track it down unless you just enjoy watching unkempt young gentlemen argue amongst themselves. The high point of the film is when one of the guys is hiding from a cop behind some boxes or whatnot and then springs out to kick him in the balls; it's a strangely juvenile move for a stone cold 'copkiller', y'know?

My sweet wife arrived home as I was starting to dig into Roberta Findlay's Tenement, a movie that alleges to be 'too violent to be rated', and while I don't know about all that noise it's certainly the best film out of this particular set. A gang is turned in to the cops by the tenants of a (duh) tenement and find themselves on the streets within hours, hankering for vengeance. The tenants of the building are forced to defend themselves by any means necessary, which gets rather brutal pretty fast. This one is well worth a look, and since the 3 disc set it came in was priced around the $12 mark I felt pretty good about this purchase, in spite of being so-so on two of the three films.

We called it a somewhat early night, as the wife had been up early this morning.

I'm out kids.

Be seeing you.

Tag, you're it, Baggy Eyes! Unwelcome Deliveries, Errands, To-Watch Pile, Movies, Grindhouse Psychos, Copkillers, Tenement, Roberta Findlay, DVD

Stay The Hell Out Of The Woods Altogether

The wife had another fundraiser (yes, another one; I know, right?) to help set up, so I ran some things by the museum for her while she got ready to go and deal with a project that basically ate up her afternoon by the time it was all said and done. I ran a couple other errands while I was out, then made myself a lunch of some leftovers back at the house while I popped in something kinda average from the To-Watch Pile.

Don't Go In The House was a flick that I had a copy of via the Grindhouse Psychos set from Shriek Show, one of those cheap triple features that seem to remain on sale constantly. The film was one of two being reviewed on an episode of The Blackfoot Lounge this week, and since I actually happened to own both films that they were covering, I decided to try and squeeze in a viewing of each before I listened to the show. The film isn't anything all that new, just another story of a guy with an overbearing mother who eventually goes apeshit crazy; though rather than going the standard Norman Bates route he instead builds a weird metal room and burns women alive with a flame-thrower, which seems like a lot of hassle to go through, but who am I to judge his neuroses, right?

The wife called with a minor crisis, so I ran up to the building where she was doing her set-up to drop off her checkbook so that she could pay a vendor or some such shit, then headed back home to try and finish up my double feature.

Don't Go In The Woods is a terrible film that doesn't really have a lot of redeeming factors unless you just get off on poking fun at inept film-making. There's a ton of people in the woods, many of which get unceremoniously killed by an unseen person, we follow a group of annoying friends as our 'leads', none of whom make us care if they live or die, and somewhere around the halfway point of the film we finally see the crazy mountain man who's doing the killing. Except there's no explanation of why he's doing it, it's actually a little comical to me that it's never even hinted as to the reasoning why any of the countless murders are taking place.

That flick ended and I launched into the 2nd feature on the disc, knowing full well that I wouldn't be able to finish The Forest before I was supposed to meet the wife for the event in the evening, but I figured I'd get as far into it as possible before I had to start getting my clothes together. I will say that this flick was more engaging than the other one, involving a murderous cannibal in the woods, but throwing his ghost children and spouse into the mix to keep things kinda fresh compared to the average slasher crapola. I watched about half of this flick, then started getting cleaned up for the evening.

I arrived a little early, just in case the wife had anything she needed done at the last minute, but thankfully the event was about to go off without a hitch. We began mingling, visiting with the usual assortment of folks that you run into at any sort of local fund-raiser, greeting our table-mates as they arrived. The evening passed quickly, the food was good and we visited with a lot of people over the course of the meal. The event seemed to be a success and wrapped shortly after 9:00 in the evening, the wife stayed a bit later to wrap up a few details as they took stuff down, so I headed home to check on the Yorkie and finish up the last bit of the movie before calling it a night.

And now I'm doing this dumb shit.

Be seeing you.

Tag, you're it, Baggy Eyes! Charity, Fundraiser, Movies, To-Watch Pile, Dont Go In The House, Grindhouse Psychos, Shriek Show, Podcasts, The Blackfoot Lounge, Dont Go In The Woods, The Forest

Reversing Our Osmosis

Last night I started reading the mammoth Captain America Omnibus that I picked up awhile back before I crashed out for the evening, and I have to say that I'm pretty well blown away by the story and art so far. Ed Brubaker has managed a fairly 'real world' tone in spite of the superhuman characters he's dealing with and I breezed through the first 8 issues in quick succession. I also picked up the 2nd Omnibus last week, which kinda prodded me in the direction of finally giving these stuff a day in court and I can happily report that these were well worth the cash.

Weird aside I've noticed about myself of late: I don't bother with monthly comics anymore, because who the fuck has the room (and we've got a good sized house, FFS!) to store this nonsense anymore, but I do enjoy picking up collections and graphic novels, particularly if I can catch them on sale. I've recently noticed that my buying habits tend to consist of modern era Marvel material from the past decade and older DC material that I already possibly own in the original issues but have no desire to dredge through the collection to find and re-read. Not sure what this says about me, but I find it interesting that I tend to seek out more DC material out of nostalgia even though I would have thought of myself as something of a Marvel guy.

Anyway...

The wife and I got a text this afternoon from our friend Kno1, who has been working here in town with his Father-In-Law for the past few months. He was inquiring about lunch plans, so the wife and I agreed to meet him at a little Italian place across town. We ran into the Middle Sister and her husband as we were being seated, they seemed to be doing well, which is a relief I suppose, then Kno1 joined us and we spent the meal catching up and hearing about their plans to move back to town as early as next summer, which is something to look forward to.

The wife and I grabbed a coffee on the way home, then were invaded by the R.O. Water Guy, who was supposed to actually call before he came to the house but instead turned up at our door unannounced, enraging the Yorkie to no end. The wife and the pup retreated to the bedroom to avoid the stress of having a workman in the house while I picked up the kitchen a bit and went through the junk mail and other shit on the counter top that needed to be sorted. It was taking the kid longer than I expected it to and I ended up in the Office for a bit, updating a couple documents on the computer before he finally let me know that he'd finished, apologizing for the time it took, but it was apparently "a bitch " to get off there, phrasing that seemed at least remotely inappropriate to use in front of the customer, but hey, I guess every business is different. Maybe people in his field are respected for calling a spade a spade, or occasionally, a motherfucking shovel.

I ended up popping in the Criterion version of Jim Jarmusch's Night On Earth in the evening, just to grab something random off the To-Watch Pile. That's a helluva solid film, and I hadn't seen it in at least 5 years or more, so it was familiar and fresh at the same time, as I pretty much remembered the general story of each vignette if not the actual details. I was really amused to notice that the grouchy blind woman in the Paris story was played by Beatrice Dalle, who I would later come to know as that 'crazy child-stealing bitch' in the horror film Inside.

We were beset by torrential rains around this time, which naturally sent the Yorkie over the edge; she's still not dealing well with the elements when it gets loud outside.

We ate dinner while that film wrapped up, then I popped in another random selection, the low budget horror flick Population 436, something that I'd originally rented and enjoyed based on Skincarver's recommendation years ago. I'd found it in Big Lots and figured I'd get at least another viewing or two out of it for my $3, so we gave it another spin tonight. It holds up pretty well and features a pretty decent acting turn from Fred Durst of all people.

We called it a night around 10:00, as the Yorkie had something of a rough day between the R.O. Guy and the weather.

Be seeing you.

Tag, you're it, Baggy Eyes! Comic Books, Captain America, Ed Brubaker, Lunch, Friends, Movies, To-Watch Pile, Night On Earth, Jim Jarmusch, Criterion Collection, Beatrice Dalle, Inside, Population 436, Fred Durst

Being Residential, With Ghosts

Today was a quiet day around here, as the wife had stuff keeping her out of the house for most of the day. I picked up lunch and spent the afternoon with some stuff that's been piling up on the TiVo, as I'd somehow managed to get 4 episodes behind on Being Human on BBC America.

The show is centered around a ghost, a vampire and a werewolf trying to live what passes for a normal life in Bristol (Heya Ultra!) and I enjoyed the first season well enough, so when the 2nd started airing I was happy to be able to jump right back into it, so I was kinda surprised to realize that the season had kinda gotten away from me recently. The episodes I watched this afternoon lead into the season finale that airs this Saturday night, so I'm curious what the final endgame will be, as this felt as though it had more an overall story arc than the 1st season, but I could just be misremembering; perhaps it was more dense than I recall off the top of my head.

The wife got home this evening shortly after I'd been fished into the first Resident Evil flick on cable, and since she's not enough of a jerk to just outright shame me into not watching it we cuddled up on the couch and gave it a look. I've seen it a few times, but Milla is one of those actresses whose wrongs are all forgiven with me, so I'm sure I've seen this series of turkeys more often than any human really should. Oh well, it's not as if I have a bunch of movies just piled up unwatched or anything, right? Oh, and the wife and I had to spend some time marveling at the fact that Michelle Rodriguez somehow manages to constantly look as though her brow is taking over her fucking face, no matter what angle you see her from. It's like her mother was stepping out with Karloff's Frankenstein. Yuck.

We rounded out our quiet evening at home with the last couple episodes of Ghost Hunters, then the new IT Crowd before calling it a night.

Be seeing you.

Tag, you're it, Baggy Eyes! Television, TiVo, Being Human, BBC America, Movies, Resident Evil, Milla Jovovich, Michelle Rodriguez, Ghost Hunters, The IT Crowd

No Sho Nuff For Me

With today being Monday I got back on track with my usual lunch plans with EL, as we'd taken Labor Day off this past week. We met at our usual little Mexican food place and got caught up on the happenings of the past few weeks, which included a funeral that he and his wife had to attend for one of her students, which I have to say is a fucked up thing to launch into as you're settling down for a meal. We ate in a nearly empty restaurant, then said our goodbyes and I headed over to Odessa to poke around a bit, as I'm on the hunt for a copy of The Last Dragon which some web acquaintances have turned up at Big Lots for $3.

I picked up the new Rue Morgue at a bookstore, then found a few other items at Big Lots, though naturally not the one I was actively looking for, because nothing's ever that simple, right?

Since I have dozens of them on the iTunes I gave a listen to a couple of older SModcasts in an effort to try and catch up on that show, though I have a feeling that this will never happen, as it feels like Smith and Co. now crank out at least three shows a week. I eventually made my way back to the house, where the wife and I caught up a bit before she headed out to an evening meeting.

I checked e-mail and then settled in to watch the newest episode of The Venture Brothers and cleaned up the TiVo a bit before the wife got home with some dinner. We settled in to eat and re-watched Iron Man, a total wild hair that I'd had as I was driving home; it just sounded like a fun flick to give another look.

We called it a night around 10:30, and now here I am doing this shit again. You're welcome.

Be seeing you.

Tag, you're it, Baggy Eyes! Lunch, Shopping, Big Lots, DVD, The Last Dragon, Magazines, Rue Morgue, Podcasts, SModcast, Kevin Smith, Television, TiVo, The Venture Brothers, Movies, Iron Man