Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Monday, August 25, 2008
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Wall-E
Jen and I took Zoe to see Wall-E on opening day with my dad on opening day (06/27 - yeah, ok, so this is a little late). Zoe had a pretty good time, though anything over 30mins puts her to a bit over the limit, but it is a fun experience and she still gets in free, so that is cool.
I thought it was the best Pixar film to date and certainly the most "adult" in nature about the polar opposite of the talking characters in CARS; this was very real, in the sense that they humanized the robots and the story was very moving. As my Pops said at one point, "you almost forget that it is a CGI film." The print, on the other hand sucked and the last reel had a ten minute section where the bottom horizontal fifth of the picture was on the top and made a chase scene very confusing. I sent an e-mail to Penn (the owner) complaining about it and I have some free tickets waiting for us at the box office now. Score! Bring on The Dark Knight....
Friday, July 11, 2008
Monday, June 30, 2008
Monday, April 28, 2008
Barnstormers Opening Day 2008
Our friends Nate & Jamie had 2 extra tickets for the opening home game for the Lancaster Barnstormers and they were awesome front row seats. Now neither Jen and I are big baseball fans, but we had a great evening none-the-less. I sorta enjoy the Americana - "Bull Durham" aspect to a small ballpark. Zoe had a great time, in fact Jen and I warned our friends, that we may only make it a few innings before Zoe got bored or beligerant or both, but it worked out really well. In fact, we stayed for the whole game and even watched the fireworks at the end. Zoe enjoyed that as well as the elephant that they had there for their circus theme. She really fell in love with the team mascot, Cylo who came over and gave her hugs and kisses a few times. It was a beautiful evening out weather-wise as well and we really had a good time.
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Spoilers for Every Movie Ever Made
Warning! Spoilers!
He dies.
She dies.
Pretty much all of them die.
She and the cat live, the rest of them die.
She and the girl and the dopey marine live, the rest of them die.
She finally dies.
She lives again.
He dies, she sings over the body.
The other guy's mother forgives him and then he dies.
Some of them die, but the rest kill the monsters.
The wizard dies.
The wizard returns.
The king returns.
They live!
They live, but are reduced to savages.
They live by eating each other.
He gets Lou Gehrig's disease.
He leaves her; she goes home.
He stays; she leaves with her husband.
He leaves without her; she stays with her husband.
He goes home.
She goes home, with her little dog too.
They have a problem, but they get home.
He was home all the time.
Germs.
He wins.
He loses.
He wins the rematch.
He loses, but that makes him a winner.
The only way to win is not to play.
He goes the distance.
He becomes a martial arts genius and kicks their butts.
The shoe fits.
They get married.
They don't get married.
The day is saved.
The city is saved.
The world is saved.
The spy saves the world single-handedly and gets the girl.
The spy saves the world with the help of some ninjas and gets the girl.
The world is destroyed.
The boat sinks.
The Russians think the boat sinks.
The boat blows up.
The boat turns upside down.
The tower catches fire.
There's an earthquake.
He warns of danger, but the mayor refuses to listen.
They prove his innocence.
He proves his own innocence.
They escape from the Nazis.
Freedom for Scotland?
Freedom for whales?
The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the one.
There's only one.
There isn't only one; he's an alien.
His mother's dead and he's nuts.
Her son's dead and she's nuts.
Her favourite author is injured and she's nuts.
He's nuts, and now he's on the loose.
He's nuts, and still on the loose.
He's tragically misunderstood.
She was sealed in a well, but it was because she was evil.
She's a guy!
He's a girl!
He's a wizard!
He's Batman.
She's the direct descendant of Christ.
The government buries it in a warehouse.
They are all unwitting organ donors.
They get off the island.
He gets off the island.
His father saves his life.
He saves his father's soul.
Ollie's in another fine mess and Stan is sorry.
It was really the good sister that tried to kill the bad sister.
'Twas beauty killed the beast.
They killed the wrong ape.
He coulda been a contender.
Mr. Blandings builds his dream house.
He built it; they came.
They built it on top of an Indian burial ground.
He wants to live again.
He wants to be a real boy.
It's made from people.
It's made of lead.
It's a sled.
There are snakes on the plane.
The monsters are mutated humans.
The humans are mutated monsters.
The butler did it.
The good guy did it.
The one we all thought was dead did it.
The first guy who really did die did it.
They all did it, and get away with it.
Nobody did it.
The mysterious character doesn't exist; the protagonist is actually responsible.
The traitor is the colonel who sent them on the mission in the first place.
After a desperate battle, the Zulu give up.
The Germans lose the war.
It was all a dream. Or was it?
It was all an implanted memory. Or was it?
He's a replicant. Or is he?
He is destroyed by his own hubris.
He is destroyed by the creation of his own hubris.
He swallows his pride; she overcomes her prejudice.
He's one of the dead people the kid sees.
He's dead, but he still protects his girlfriend.
He regains his faith.
The nuns sing.
The sailors sing.
Everybody sings.
It's the present day.
It's the future.
It's full of stars.
It's a test, and he gets the chocolate factory.
One robot survives to garden in peace.
The police chief is on the take.
The stepmother is behind it all.
The boy shoots the dog.
They shoot the deer's mother.
He shoots this guy, 'cause he... well, there was this girl, who thought she was his daughter, and... well, it's complicated.
They find it, the rainbow connection, the lovers, the dreamers, and him.
They raise the money just in time.
He makes sure his mother falls in love with his father.
He makes sure the mother lives, and becomes the father.
He commits the final sin.
The band gets back together.
The kids are his opus.
They ride off into the sunset.
They live happily ever after.
He dies.
She dies.
Pretty much all of them die.
She and the cat live, the rest of them die.
She and the girl and the dopey marine live, the rest of them die.
She finally dies.
She lives again.
He dies, she sings over the body.
The other guy's mother forgives him and then he dies.
Some of them die, but the rest kill the monsters.
The wizard dies.
The wizard returns.
The king returns.
They live!
They live, but are reduced to savages.
They live by eating each other.
He gets Lou Gehrig's disease.
He leaves her; she goes home.
He stays; she leaves with her husband.
He leaves without her; she stays with her husband.
He goes home.
She goes home, with her little dog too.
They have a problem, but they get home.
He was home all the time.
Germs.
He wins.
He loses.
He wins the rematch.
He loses, but that makes him a winner.
The only way to win is not to play.
He goes the distance.
He becomes a martial arts genius and kicks their butts.
The shoe fits.
They get married.
They don't get married.
The day is saved.
The city is saved.
The world is saved.
The spy saves the world single-handedly and gets the girl.
The spy saves the world with the help of some ninjas and gets the girl.
The world is destroyed.
The boat sinks.
The Russians think the boat sinks.
The boat blows up.
The boat turns upside down.
The tower catches fire.
There's an earthquake.
He warns of danger, but the mayor refuses to listen.
They prove his innocence.
He proves his own innocence.
They escape from the Nazis.
Freedom for Scotland?
Freedom for whales?
The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the one.
There's only one.
There isn't only one; he's an alien.
His mother's dead and he's nuts.
Her son's dead and she's nuts.
Her favourite author is injured and she's nuts.
He's nuts, and now he's on the loose.
He's nuts, and still on the loose.
He's tragically misunderstood.
She was sealed in a well, but it was because she was evil.
She's a guy!
He's a girl!
He's a wizard!
He's Batman.
She's the direct descendant of Christ.
The government buries it in a warehouse.
They are all unwitting organ donors.
They get off the island.
He gets off the island.
His father saves his life.
He saves his father's soul.
Ollie's in another fine mess and Stan is sorry.
It was really the good sister that tried to kill the bad sister.
'Twas beauty killed the beast.
They killed the wrong ape.
He coulda been a contender.
Mr. Blandings builds his dream house.
He built it; they came.
They built it on top of an Indian burial ground.
He wants to live again.
He wants to be a real boy.
It's made from people.
It's made of lead.
It's a sled.
There are snakes on the plane.
The monsters are mutated humans.
The humans are mutated monsters.
The butler did it.
The good guy did it.
The one we all thought was dead did it.
The first guy who really did die did it.
They all did it, and get away with it.
Nobody did it.
The mysterious character doesn't exist; the protagonist is actually responsible.
The traitor is the colonel who sent them on the mission in the first place.
After a desperate battle, the Zulu give up.
The Germans lose the war.
It was all a dream. Or was it?
It was all an implanted memory. Or was it?
He's a replicant. Or is he?
He is destroyed by his own hubris.
He is destroyed by the creation of his own hubris.
He swallows his pride; she overcomes her prejudice.
He's one of the dead people the kid sees.
He's dead, but he still protects his girlfriend.
He regains his faith.
The nuns sing.
The sailors sing.
Everybody sings.
It's the present day.
It's the future.
It's full of stars.
It's a test, and he gets the chocolate factory.
One robot survives to garden in peace.
The police chief is on the take.
The stepmother is behind it all.
The boy shoots the dog.
They shoot the deer's mother.
He shoots this guy, 'cause he... well, there was this girl, who thought she was his daughter, and... well, it's complicated.
They find it, the rainbow connection, the lovers, the dreamers, and him.
They raise the money just in time.
He makes sure his mother falls in love with his father.
He makes sure the mother lives, and becomes the father.
He commits the final sin.
The band gets back together.
The kids are his opus.
They ride off into the sunset.
They live happily ever after.
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
She's a Rainbow......
So, Zoe and I were playing on the bed in the dark with glowsticks listening to XPN when The Rolling Stones "She's a Rainbow" came on and I thought, I wonder what pictures of this would look like, well, wonder no more. I like how they get more abstract as they go...
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Friday, February 22, 2008
Margot at the Wedding
Jen must have said "These people are nuts!" 2-3 times during our time watching this movie on dvd. I think that statement sums up this film quite well.
The second effort from Noah Baumbuch whose first feature was THE SQUID AND THE WHALE; another excellent film. This movie dealt with one of my all-time favorite subject matters for films and books: broken people and the connections that they try to make. Although it is mainly a character piece, you had this sense of anxiety that you didn't know what the hell was going to happen and I absolutely LOVE that feeling when it happens since it seems that at least half the crap that comes out is aimed at the lowest denominator. Nicole Kidman and Jennifer Jason Leigh were fantastic as these estranged sisters that get together for a weekend wedding between Jennifer and Jack Black. Yes, I know, but don't be scared. As god-awful as Jack was in King Kong, he is pretty good here, though he is playing a bit of an annoying asshole, so maybe it's not much of a stretch?
This is the first movie in a while that still has me thinking about it days later. Check it out if you love great films.
BTW- You can google to find out about any movie, I am not going to write a plot synopsis for a movie that I blog about!
Check it out....
http://www.margotatthewedding.com/site/index.html
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences
I had off for President's Day, so we decided to go to a museum that we had nevr been to before and had my dad (Pap to Zoe) come along with us. It is located in center city Philly diagonally across the street from the Franklin Institute. It was difficult to walk past that one since they apparently have a cool "The Tech of Star Wars" exhibit there right now and cool 2 story high banners with the Death Star, TIE and X Wings on it and Darth's helmut in the stairs (the part that you don't walk on), so it had a cool optical illusion look to it. But Zoe is a little young (YET) for that so we moved on.
The Academy was pretty cool. It turned out to be bigger than it looked from the outside with exhibits on 4 levels. At first I was a little leary since the first section we visited was animal diaramas with stuffed moose, tigers, etc. and Dad and I joked that it looked like the Zoo of the Future ala Soylent Green. This is what animals used to look like!
As we discovered the museum, Zoe loved the life-size T-Rex and other dino skeletons as she loved this picture book (with no text) about a bird that visits a dino museum and imagined the dinos coming to life. There was also a butterfly room that you could walk through that was really cool. A few of the big ones were bigger than some birds. All in all, a good day and the almost 6o degree temp made for a nice, albeit weird feeling day to be walking around in un-typical Feb weather.
The Acadeny of Natural Science's Website
http://www.ansp.org
The Academy was pretty cool. It turned out to be bigger than it looked from the outside with exhibits on 4 levels. At first I was a little leary since the first section we visited was animal diaramas with stuffed moose, tigers, etc. and Dad and I joked that it looked like the Zoo of the Future ala Soylent Green. This is what animals used to look like!
As we discovered the museum, Zoe loved the life-size T-Rex and other dino skeletons as she loved this picture book (with no text) about a bird that visits a dino museum and imagined the dinos coming to life. There was also a butterfly room that you could walk through that was really cool. A few of the big ones were bigger than some birds. All in all, a good day and the almost 6o degree temp made for a nice, albeit weird feeling day to be walking around in un-typical Feb weather.
The Acadeny of Natural Science's Website
http://www.ansp.org
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