Boy Wonder Book Whore

200 musicians performing the ENTIRE Fellowship of the Ring soundtrack? The complete movie projected on a 60 foot screen? In a hockey arena?

5-Second Movie Reviews!

Okay, I need to ease back into writing, so what better way than a collection of quick-and-easy movie reviews!

Wet Hot American Summer (2001), directed by David Wain. The first 20-30 minutes were great, with clever camper stereotype jokes mixed in with "Whoa, that person is in this movie?" (Bradley Cooper, Paul Rudd, Elizabeth Banks, Ken Marino, Amy Poehler, etc.) Then it kind of dies when it tries a little too hard to cram in parodies of every genre of movie, and the final third is an unfunny mess. On the whole, though, worth watching.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows, Part 2 (2011), directed by David Yates. At the time, probably the most enjoyable of the HP movies. At least, it was the first one where I wasn't complaining about the omissions it made from the book. Some really cool scenes, including the good wizards making the force field around Hogwarts, were impressive. The real pleasure was the unintentionally (?) hilarious epilogue, where there was just no way to stretch your imagination into thinking that the child actors, with awful haircuts and unfortunate facial hair, could be believable 30-something adults. That, and Voldemort hugging Draco, were some of the highlights. Good stuff!

Ip Man (2008), directed by Wilson Yip. I don't expect a lot from my martial arts movies. A skeleton plot that allows the characters to move from fight to fight, and maybe a couple of decent jokes thrown in. Even classics like Enter the Dragon are not strong in storytelling. Ip Man tries to be more by inserting nationalistic pride and some tenuous family drama, but it's still all about the fighting. And the fight scenes are great, no doubt. Trying to manipulate my emotions at the end, though, just takes away from the overall effect.

It is time to start writing again. I know I should really avoid doing any writing during work, but that's when I have the time and the motivation, so at the very least I'll germinate some ideas.

I want to write better, and more thoughtfully if possible, because I want to improve. I'm actually finding that I write a lot during work and I like what I write, for the most part. Unfortunately, the types of things I write are not intellectually stimulating, unless you consider performance assessment plans exciting (hint: you do not).

People get excited that unemployment is under 9%, but this is an article outlining the flaws of that number and how many people out there are still looking for work. If you include unemployed people looking for a job who are not counted in the statistics and "underemployed" people (those working part-time because they could not find full-time work), the number is closer to 20%.

In honor of Lookout Landing's post about Tim Lincecum, I am doing a Lookability Sequence of my cat Atticus.

Lookability- 10. Can look at. A cute cat in the middle of licking a piece of plastic.

Lookability- 9. Can look at. Adorable use of slipper, but taken down a notch by scratch above eye.

Lookability- 6. Can look at. Wide-eyed and comfortable, but chin acne slightly displeasing.

Lookability- 3. Can't look at. Unattractive facial expression.

I recently finished reading High Fidelity, by Nick Hornby. I'd tried watching the movie when I was in Jr. High, I think, but my mom was alarmed by the amount of swearing and made me turn it off. The book was okay, and I started watching the movie and got bored because it was exactly like the book (although the casting was good, especially Dick the record shop employee), but it did provide some good food for thought. For example, what are the best first tracks of albums ever? John Cusack's character chooses "Smells Like Teen Spirit" by Nirvana and "Let's Get It On" by Marvin Gaye, and he is promptly lambasted by Jack Black's character for being too obvious. So what would I pick? (and I realized that this completely goes against my stated objective to not write about music, but whatever)

1. "Search and Destroy" by the Stooges, off of Raw Power

2. "First Breath After Coma" by Explosions in the Sky, off of The Earth is Not a Cold Dead Place

3. "Needle in the Hay" by Elliott Smith, off of Elliott Smith

This is one of many, many pictures of the Giants winning and/or celebrating their World Series Championship of 2010. The Giants won the World Series. That feels so amazing to write.

*wipes drool* So there's a post in here somewhere! I still think about the Giants, and their World Series, and the entire amazing postseason run pretty much everyday. It never fails to make me feel like the world is a perfect place and I will be happy forever. Sometimes I watch highlight videos of the 2010 Giants World Series Championship-winning team set to ultra-dramatic/uplifting music (like the Rudy theme song) and get goosebumps and a sloppy smile all over my face. Life is good.

Luckily, the Giants won the World Series, in 2010, in the last year that I lived in the Bay Area. This was fortuitous, as I was able to bask in the shared glory of an entire metropolitan area (except for most of the East Bay, but I got to bask in their oh-so-jealous rage), go to the stadium, and soak up all of the coverage. It was good timing. But that doesn't mean I'm not still a fan! I will be a fan forever, of course, and I have gone to at least one game a year for a bunch of years in a row, either at AT&T (always Pac Bell to me) or down in San Diego, at Petco, while I went to school there. So the question now is, where should I watch the Giants play now that I live in the OC?

There are several options:

1. Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles. This is the closest National League stadium to me, and is also a wretched hive of scum and villainy. Wearing a Giants hat to Dodger stadium is an open invitation to have peanut shells and insults hurled your way all night (if you're lucky) or your hat stolen and peed on and a knife made out of a toothbrush sticking out of your abdomen (if you're unlucky). Giants and Dodgers fans do not like each other. This is a rivalry that goes back about 100 years, more or less, and it isn't going to change. Part of me wants to experience this and shove the eternal glory of 2010 in their faces, and the other part wants to live to the ripe old age of 30. It's a possibility.

2. The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim stadium, whatever it is called, Anaheim. This stadium is about 5 miles down the freeway from me, which is convenient, but the Angels play in the American League and they do not play the Giants this year. Phooey. I would like to see a game there, though. Maybe when the Mariners come to town, so I could wear my "Ichiro" jersey and make some Japanese baseball fan friends. Based on the rotating interleague schedule, the Giants should play the Angels next year.

3. Petco Park, San Diego. I've watched something like 4 games at Petco Park over the years. It's a decent, solidly average stadium that always has lots of Giants fans when they play here. It would be cheaper and safer than Dodger Stadium, but also farther away and less exciting. When you consider the traffic getting into and out of LA, and the stadium in particular, the distance is negligible. This is probably my best bet, because I have a diehard Padre fan who lives in Socal and I could probably meet up with him and gloat.

4. AT&T Park, San Francisco. Ah, the beautiful ballpark by the bay, nestled along the Embarcadero, delicious aromas of garlic and victory floating throughout. I would love to go to a game here, of course. If it is at all possible, it will happen.