While I was out.
My blog squatters are back and since I am not confident I can hang with that kind of competition, I’m going to jump in earlier this time.
Work picked up and blogging opportunities have escaped me, so here’s some of what you missed:
1. We all saw Jerry Seinfeld’s “The Bee Move”. I have tried to find time to sit down with my boys and write a review with them, but have not yet made that happen. So, before I get around to that and before it leaves the theater, let me say a couple things about the movie. First, go see it. It’s good and well worth seeing. From my family’s experience I would say kids 3-37, at least, would like it. Second, if you like Seinfeld, then you should really have already seen it, I mean, c’mon. Third, there is a line in the movie where the adolescent bee hero of the film is trying in vain to get his parents’ attention and says something to the effect of: “I could say anything right now couldn’t I? I think I’m going to get an ant tattoo. I think I’m going to pierce my thorax. I think I’m going to get a gold tooth and start calling everyone dawg.” That is followed by the hand motions that Sammy Sosa used to do whenever he hit a home run back when people cared. For those of you who didn’t know, those hand motions mean: “I thump my heart in honor of the peace sign and point to the sky so everyone knows that I believe that the God I have ignored for years has decided to intercede in my homerun swing.” It is always a moving gesture.
Well, my 3 year old repeats the last part of that line about 100 times a day, saying “I’m gunna start calling everybody dawg” and flashing a complicated set of gang signs that would most likely get us firebombed if we wandered into the wrong neighborhood and he wasn’t so dang cute. Anyway, the Bee Movie is funny, but not half as funny as my youngest calling you dawg. Now if we could just dosomething about the gold tooth….
2. I also saw the movie “Hitman.” Hitman is based on a video game and that is about all you need to know. I’m not going to waste the time to do a full review. Just don’t bother. It has exactly two moderately cool action sequences, one leggy eastern European Bond girl in training and then….actually, that’s it. If that’s enough for you to plunk down 9 bucks and take 2 hours away from life then, more power to you, but otherwise, take a pass on this one. It does raise the interesting question of whether there has ever been a movie based on a video game that was a genuinely good movie. People keep saying “Tomb Raider” when I ask that question, so I guess the answer must be no.
3. Staying with movies, I feel the need to make a public service announcement about the movie “I Am Legend.” This movie is a remake of Omega Man which was a remake of some other movie I don’t remember which was based on a book. I’m concerned that the previews are very misleading. The previews make it look like the movie might be like Tom Hanks’ “Cast Away” but set in a post apocalyptic and abandon NY City. I haven’t seen it and I didn’t even see Omega Man, but I think it is more like Cast Away if there was a legion of vampire/zombies on the island with Tom. I could have that description wrong and I don’t mean that to be a spoiler, but I think Will Smith is going to be battling for his life against some kind of humanesque creature. I bring this up as a warning. I bet that movie starts out kind of calm and introspective which is what they show on the preview and ends up a violent action movie. Maybe that makes it more appealing, but I’m concerned that people like my Mom are going to go see it because hey it’s Will Smith and looks kind of cool only to discover that it’s really not what it appeared on the preview. You’ve been warned.
4. One last movie note. I am really excited to see The Golden Compass. I think it just looks spectacular. There seems to be a fair amount of controversy about this movie because of the apparent anti-religious intent of the author. I will admit to being somewhat amused whenever I hear criticism like this of a movie. I would never criticize anyone for choosing not to see a movie for any reason and especially if that decision was based on a belief that it would offend their faith or values. I am, though, sometimes critical of the seemingly arbitrary approach some people take to deciding when to care about the author and when not to. I mean, so many artists lead lives that are so counter to my moral principles and values, that there would be virtually nothing for a Christian to see or hear if he limited himself to only enjoying the creative works of people who are like minded. Mozart was famously immoral and I still enjoy his symphonies. The Golden Compass may be a little different in that the author of the books on which the movie was based has at least been accused of trying to promote his anti-religious agenda through his stories in the same way that CS Lewis tried to promote his religious opinions through his books….only different if you know what I mean. I don’t know if that is true or justified or whatever, but I’m pretty sure no movie is going to change the way I feel about God and if the worst you can say about a movie that is otherwise tremendous, is that it promotes a value system with which I disagree, well then, I would say you could say that about 95% of the tremendous movies ever made. Translation: I’m going to see this one.
5. Also, while I was off the blogging map, my buddy Jeff and I went to Atlanta. Jeff works for a prep school in LA that he has somehow managed to convince to fly him all over the country touring colleges so he can better advise his students on where they should go. If that’s work, then I just misunderstand the whole concept. Anyway, Jeff had the brilliant idea that I join him on a tour of Atlanta colleges and then we could hang out and catch some football.
We arrived in “Hotlanta” (the dumbest city nickname in history) on Thursday afternoon and somehow found our hotel in spite of every street or road in the city having the word “peach” in the title to cause maximum confusion for tourists. From there we walked down to Georgia Tech where they happened to be playing Virginia Tech in football. For Jeff’s research, we decided we needed to grab some tickets and see the game. After the game, we went to ESPN zone (or Heaven’s restaurant as I like to call it) where we spent the rest of the evening watching the West Coast NBA games. Faaaaaantastic.
The next day we toured Agnes Scott, a women’s college. There were no men allowed, but many of the women appeared to be compensating for the lack of masculine influence by deciding not to shave. Lovely. Then we went on to Emory which was absolutely stunning. Friday night we drove to Athens where it was homecoming for UGA. We watched a homecoming parade which someone from a foreign country would have no doubt understood to be a sacred ritual in the cult of the English bulldog. Those people take UGA football very, very, very seriously. I mean very.
Saturday we toured campus and went to see UGA play Troy with 90,000+ insane fans. It was spectacular. Great times.
Saturday night we drove back to Atlanta and back to ESPN to watch the Ducks (such a sad end to a great season) smack Arizona State around. What a day for a football fan. Almost too good to be true, but it was true and I still have the hot-dog and southern junkfood indigestion to prove it.
Sunday we went to watch the Falcons play the Niners. Always fun to watch football, but it was admittedly a bit of a let down after UGA. Plus the Niners are unwatchable and the dome where the Falcons play is a dump. Still it was great fun.
It was one of the best non family vacations I have ever had. Next year, I think Jeff needs to tour Ohio State or maybe Michigan. Here are some other observations:
a. People in Atlanta are obsessed with peaches and Coca-cola. Finding Pepsi in Atlanta is something like finding a double-breasted suit at Oregon’s anarchist convention. (Yes, Oregon has an organized meeting of anarchists….you figure it out).
b. Georgia Tech has a great campus if you are in engineering. Those science/math/engineering buildings were beautiful. If you want to major in Celtic Studies with a minor in folk dancing, please apply elsewhere. Oh, and brace yourself for poverty.
c. Georgia Tech football fans are to Georgia football fans as a 13 inch black and white TV is to a 72 inch state of the art plasma. I.e., quite lame.
d. If you are ever at a “Women’s College”, don’t call it a “girls’ school.” You will be cursed and demonized and not invited to taco day at the school cafeteria after your tour.
e. The students at Emory are better than you. They just are. Deal with it.
f. At all the tailgating that I witnessed you could always find this great beanbag toss game. I must have this great beanbag toss game. It is not optional.
g. If you can find an excuse to watch 3 live football games, 2 other full games on TV and parts of a dozen basketball games with your best friend in a single weekend and you don’t do it, well then you are lost my friend and no one can help you.
6. A lawyer in my office has a picture of a sign on a glassware store in Czechoslovakia and under the name of the store it says, “probably the best.” You have to appreciate that kind of honesty in advertising even if it does make you question why you would buy anything there.
7. I’ll end today’s post with yet more movie news. I saw a preview for the next Rambo movie. I don’t even have a joke here. Ok, maybe I do, I think for Sly maybe it was time to stop getting work done when there were more people that look like Sylvester Stallone than he does now. I mean when I first saw his face, I thought it was a new Texas Chainsaw Massacre preview.
More soon I hope.
Work picked up and blogging opportunities have escaped me, so here’s some of what you missed:
1. We all saw Jerry Seinfeld’s “The Bee Move”. I have tried to find time to sit down with my boys and write a review with them, but have not yet made that happen. So, before I get around to that and before it leaves the theater, let me say a couple things about the movie. First, go see it. It’s good and well worth seeing. From my family’s experience I would say kids 3-37, at least, would like it. Second, if you like Seinfeld, then you should really have already seen it, I mean, c’mon. Third, there is a line in the movie where the adolescent bee hero of the film is trying in vain to get his parents’ attention and says something to the effect of: “I could say anything right now couldn’t I? I think I’m going to get an ant tattoo. I think I’m going to pierce my thorax. I think I’m going to get a gold tooth and start calling everyone dawg.” That is followed by the hand motions that Sammy Sosa used to do whenever he hit a home run back when people cared. For those of you who didn’t know, those hand motions mean: “I thump my heart in honor of the peace sign and point to the sky so everyone knows that I believe that the God I have ignored for years has decided to intercede in my homerun swing.” It is always a moving gesture.
Well, my 3 year old repeats the last part of that line about 100 times a day, saying “I’m gunna start calling everybody dawg” and flashing a complicated set of gang signs that would most likely get us firebombed if we wandered into the wrong neighborhood and he wasn’t so dang cute. Anyway, the Bee Movie is funny, but not half as funny as my youngest calling you dawg. Now if we could just dosomething about the gold tooth….
2. I also saw the movie “Hitman.” Hitman is based on a video game and that is about all you need to know. I’m not going to waste the time to do a full review. Just don’t bother. It has exactly two moderately cool action sequences, one leggy eastern European Bond girl in training and then….actually, that’s it. If that’s enough for you to plunk down 9 bucks and take 2 hours away from life then, more power to you, but otherwise, take a pass on this one. It does raise the interesting question of whether there has ever been a movie based on a video game that was a genuinely good movie. People keep saying “Tomb Raider” when I ask that question, so I guess the answer must be no.
3. Staying with movies, I feel the need to make a public service announcement about the movie “I Am Legend.” This movie is a remake of Omega Man which was a remake of some other movie I don’t remember which was based on a book. I’m concerned that the previews are very misleading. The previews make it look like the movie might be like Tom Hanks’ “Cast Away” but set in a post apocalyptic and abandon NY City. I haven’t seen it and I didn’t even see Omega Man, but I think it is more like Cast Away if there was a legion of vampire/zombies on the island with Tom. I could have that description wrong and I don’t mean that to be a spoiler, but I think Will Smith is going to be battling for his life against some kind of humanesque creature. I bring this up as a warning. I bet that movie starts out kind of calm and introspective which is what they show on the preview and ends up a violent action movie. Maybe that makes it more appealing, but I’m concerned that people like my Mom are going to go see it because hey it’s Will Smith and looks kind of cool only to discover that it’s really not what it appeared on the preview. You’ve been warned.
4. One last movie note. I am really excited to see The Golden Compass. I think it just looks spectacular. There seems to be a fair amount of controversy about this movie because of the apparent anti-religious intent of the author. I will admit to being somewhat amused whenever I hear criticism like this of a movie. I would never criticize anyone for choosing not to see a movie for any reason and especially if that decision was based on a belief that it would offend their faith or values. I am, though, sometimes critical of the seemingly arbitrary approach some people take to deciding when to care about the author and when not to. I mean, so many artists lead lives that are so counter to my moral principles and values, that there would be virtually nothing for a Christian to see or hear if he limited himself to only enjoying the creative works of people who are like minded. Mozart was famously immoral and I still enjoy his symphonies. The Golden Compass may be a little different in that the author of the books on which the movie was based has at least been accused of trying to promote his anti-religious agenda through his stories in the same way that CS Lewis tried to promote his religious opinions through his books….only different if you know what I mean. I don’t know if that is true or justified or whatever, but I’m pretty sure no movie is going to change the way I feel about God and if the worst you can say about a movie that is otherwise tremendous, is that it promotes a value system with which I disagree, well then, I would say you could say that about 95% of the tremendous movies ever made. Translation: I’m going to see this one.
5. Also, while I was off the blogging map, my buddy Jeff and I went to Atlanta. Jeff works for a prep school in LA that he has somehow managed to convince to fly him all over the country touring colleges so he can better advise his students on where they should go. If that’s work, then I just misunderstand the whole concept. Anyway, Jeff had the brilliant idea that I join him on a tour of Atlanta colleges and then we could hang out and catch some football.
We arrived in “Hotlanta” (the dumbest city nickname in history) on Thursday afternoon and somehow found our hotel in spite of every street or road in the city having the word “peach” in the title to cause maximum confusion for tourists. From there we walked down to Georgia Tech where they happened to be playing Virginia Tech in football. For Jeff’s research, we decided we needed to grab some tickets and see the game. After the game, we went to ESPN zone (or Heaven’s restaurant as I like to call it) where we spent the rest of the evening watching the West Coast NBA games. Faaaaaantastic.
The next day we toured Agnes Scott, a women’s college. There were no men allowed, but many of the women appeared to be compensating for the lack of masculine influence by deciding not to shave. Lovely. Then we went on to Emory which was absolutely stunning. Friday night we drove to Athens where it was homecoming for UGA. We watched a homecoming parade which someone from a foreign country would have no doubt understood to be a sacred ritual in the cult of the English bulldog. Those people take UGA football very, very, very seriously. I mean very.
Saturday we toured campus and went to see UGA play Troy with 90,000+ insane fans. It was spectacular. Great times.
Saturday night we drove back to Atlanta and back to ESPN to watch the Ducks (such a sad end to a great season) smack Arizona State around. What a day for a football fan. Almost too good to be true, but it was true and I still have the hot-dog and southern junkfood indigestion to prove it.
Sunday we went to watch the Falcons play the Niners. Always fun to watch football, but it was admittedly a bit of a let down after UGA. Plus the Niners are unwatchable and the dome where the Falcons play is a dump. Still it was great fun.
It was one of the best non family vacations I have ever had. Next year, I think Jeff needs to tour Ohio State or maybe Michigan. Here are some other observations:
a. People in Atlanta are obsessed with peaches and Coca-cola. Finding Pepsi in Atlanta is something like finding a double-breasted suit at Oregon’s anarchist convention. (Yes, Oregon has an organized meeting of anarchists….you figure it out).
b. Georgia Tech has a great campus if you are in engineering. Those science/math/engineering buildings were beautiful. If you want to major in Celtic Studies with a minor in folk dancing, please apply elsewhere. Oh, and brace yourself for poverty.
c. Georgia Tech football fans are to Georgia football fans as a 13 inch black and white TV is to a 72 inch state of the art plasma. I.e., quite lame.
d. If you are ever at a “Women’s College”, don’t call it a “girls’ school.” You will be cursed and demonized and not invited to taco day at the school cafeteria after your tour.
e. The students at Emory are better than you. They just are. Deal with it.
f. At all the tailgating that I witnessed you could always find this great beanbag toss game. I must have this great beanbag toss game. It is not optional.
g. If you can find an excuse to watch 3 live football games, 2 other full games on TV and parts of a dozen basketball games with your best friend in a single weekend and you don’t do it, well then you are lost my friend and no one can help you.
6. A lawyer in my office has a picture of a sign on a glassware store in Czechoslovakia and under the name of the store it says, “probably the best.” You have to appreciate that kind of honesty in advertising even if it does make you question why you would buy anything there.
7. I’ll end today’s post with yet more movie news. I saw a preview for the next Rambo movie. I don’t even have a joke here. Ok, maybe I do, I think for Sly maybe it was time to stop getting work done when there were more people that look like Sylvester Stallone than he does now. I mean when I first saw his face, I thought it was a new Texas Chainsaw Massacre preview.
More soon I hope.
Comments
Hmmmmmm...
Well, work is going to "pick up" for me starting about 4:00 on December 21st. I will maintain my demanding schedule through January 6th,2008.
Good to see you again as one of our Radio Jocks says on his local Sports Talk Show.
When I saw the first preview I had a flash (cue the theme from Kung Fu) back to the 70's when I first saw "The Omega Man."
I wonder if Smith's blood is the cure in this version of the movie?
Peggy, for a lawyer all of that is hard work. They suck the fun out of us in law school, so having that much fun takes a herculean effort.
Cwinwc, So how was Omega man? I'm tempted to go back and watch it. You have to love Heston.