Month: October 2002 (Page 1 of 6)

Things that go ‘clunk’ in the night

When I was in high school, a freshman, I played Dr. Van Helsing in Richland Center High School’s production of “Dracula.” We couldn’t afford the license fee for the more traditional version, so we ended up performing a knock-off that included things like Dr. Seward’s wacky sister (played by the wonderful Val Schutzkus) that didn’t appear in the novel or any other version. Still, we had fun. I wore a 30s-style suit we bought at the thrift store for $5, and munched on an empty pipe to give me that professorial look.

None of us were even decent actors (although Val was hilarious). But Greg Kidd’s rendition of Jonathan Harker will haunt my dreams forever. When I was trying to come up with a Halloween tagline to go with the orange graphics, I thought of him turning to his beloved and bellowing “THERE ARE NO WOLVES HERE, MINA DARLING!” like he was ordering at Jack-in-the-Box through a malfunctioning speaker.

That was my last high school theater production.

Unbelievable update: After I wrote this post, I decided to see if my old high school had a web site. And in doing a simple search on Google, I found that they did the same play again this year. With the same director, the inimitable Ken Beatty. The more things change…

Last night I watched the debate episode of “The West Wing” on tape delay, because John, Matt, Sparky and I were out watching “Spirited Away” at last. While I didn’t think the episode was nearly as kick-ass as it could and should have been, it still caused me to form a 100% serious question in my mind:

Can anyone give me a reason why we wouldn’t be better off with Martin Sheen as the President instead of the current occupant? (I’d also love to have Stockard Channing as the First Lady, but that’s another issue.)

I’m dead serious about this.

Happy Halloween!

In my endless quest to find a movie that will scare me, I have “Rosemary’s Baby” sitting on the counter (on VHS, sadly) ready to go. I’m actually amazed I haven’t seen it before now. And my Japanese “Ring” DVDs arrived yesterday. So the search continues.

What’s the scariest movie you ever saw? Tell me a story to entertain me on Halloween.

Writing a review of Paul Thomas Anderson’s “Punch-Drunk Love” is difficult, since so much of the experience is beyond description. I will say I haven’t seen a more original, thought-provoking and emotionally affecting movie this year. Anyone looking for a traditional brainless slapstick comedy starring Adam Sandler will be terribly disappointed, and so much the better.

One of the remarkable things about this movie is that Sandler plays just a variation of many of his other characters – a barely-there man-child with serious rage issues. But in this movie, he’s a revelation. You feel the anguish of this borderline agoraphobic, autistic man so keenly it can be painful at times. You also feel his bursting joy when he meets a fellow tortured soul played by Emily Watson, whose hip-swinging walk and sparkling eyes would make anyone fall in love with her.

Along the way, there are car crashes, harmoniums in the street, plungers with dice on top, phone sex workers in Utah, music from “Popeye,” and other magic I’ll let you discover for yourself.

Go. see. this. movie.

Scenes from a movie concession stand (all true)

Me: I’d like a medium regular Coke, please.
Concession worker (11 years old): [long pause] Water?
Me: No, a medium regular Coke.
11-year-old: Now, would you like regular water, or flavored?
Me: No. No water. A regular Coke. Medium.

He finally gets that it’s a fountain drink, and slowly, slooowly grabs the paper cup, puts it vaguely under the spigots, and looks back at me.

11-year-old: Cherry Coke?

Had a fine time playing video games with Sparky tonight, even though he gave me a savage drubbing at every game we played. (We also watched “Punch-Drunk Love,” a review of which I will attempt tomorrow after my mind quiets down a bit.) My virtual brains were littered across miles of Halo ground – although I did manage to blow up his jeep several times, which was satisfying. I remain convinced that I’m too old for video games, and should be prohibited by state law from playing them in front of anyone. Sparky was gracious about it, which I appreciate.

Damn kids and their video games. 🙂

Further adventures in meta-gaming

For reasons that I don’t entirely understand, I’m quite intrigued by The Game Neverending, which I just got access to in beta. Actually, I’m in equal measure intrigued and baffled. The best way I can think to describe it is The Sims Online programmed in Hypercard. You wander around, exploring areas and picking up strange stuff. Paper (just paper, not paper money) seems to be the main mode of currency in this made-up world. You can also chat with other players and become their official “acquaintances” or “friends.” The interface, all in Flash, reminds me of Apples eWorld. It’s quite simplistic, but also witty and odd enough to make it strangely compelling. Has anyone played/seen this “game”?

Quotable Quotes from tonight’s Anna Nicole Show

“Are you flexible on age – after the last one?”
-Millionaire dating service matchmaker, to Anna

“Turns out Kimmy’s birthday was on Halloween this year.” -Anna

“On the way to the party, we picked up my friend Rip Taylor.” -Anna

“The male stripper rubbed up against me, and I had all this sweat and baby oil all over my face.” -Kim

“I need to puke again – get the hat!” -Kim

After months of hard work, my latest project is finally live on the web. There are a lot of things that I personally would have done differently, but web design is a collaboration, right? The thing I’m most proud of is reorganizing the site so the information important to the different audiences is kept in its own section. The site is due to be linked by a big food site, FoodFit.com, on Monday, so hopefully I can get some exposure out of this.

I really like Fox’s “Firefly.” The premise is cool, the scripts are wry, and most importantly, the appealing cast has scads of chemistry with each other. Offhand, I can’t think of a new show this season that I want to watch, other than this one. Clearly, that’s the universe’s way of saying, “this show isn’t going to last long.”

The future of “Firefly” seems in doubt, but “According to Jim” is still on the air. Will wonders never cease.