Month: January 2003 (Page 4 of 6)

“Equilibrium” is a prime example of the “so bad it’s good” movie genre, of which there are precious few examples these days. Plenty of “just bad” wastes of millions of dollars out there, but not many where you just sit back and marvel at, as Matt said, its utter wrongness.

Putting about 12 other movies in a blender (1984, Fahrenheit 451, Logan’s Run, The Matrix, Total Recall, Gattaca), this screenwriter’s-seminar concoction stars Christian Bale as a future cop who must enforce people taking an emotion-dulling drug. And guess what happens? If you’ve ever seen a movie before, you already know.

“Equilibrium” tops itself off with at least two “So Bad It’s Good” Awards:

Most Flagrant Use of a Puppy for Plot Development
Best Gratuitous Face-Slicing-Off Scene

Recommended, but for all the wrong reasons.

Latest lucky8ball site launch:

Corneillelaw.com

I’m especially pleased that they are using a weblog format for their case news. Now I just have to convince some other law firms in town that this would be a good way to go.

As much as I enjoyed a whole episode centered on C.J. Cregg, last night’s “West Wing” seemed a little off. The storyline with her father seemed to be wrapped up too neatly, and despite being almost the same age in real life (IMDB to the rescue), Matthew Modine seemed much too young to be Allison Janney’s classmate. Janney and Donald Moffatt, as her Alzheimer’s-afflicted father, had some good scenes together. I was just expecting more from a C.J. episode. I wouldn’t mind seeing Stockard Channing once in a while, either.

Comic Book Guy: Last night’s ‘Itchy & Scratchy’ was, without a doubt, the worst episode ever. Rest assured that I was on the Internet within minutes, registering my disgust throughout the world. As a loyal viewer, I feel they owe me.

Bart: What? They’ve given you thousands of hours of entertainment for free. What could they possibly owe you? If anything, you owe them.

Comic Book Guy: [Pause] Worst. episode. ever.

“I think the most un-American thing you can do is say someone is un-American.”

-John Perry Barlow of the EFF, lambasting the Patriot Act on TechTV

Barlow had a great appearance on The Screen Savers tonight, with lots of quotable lines. My other favorite was when Leo Laporte, doing his best “devil’s advocate” impression, said, “Well, it’s customary in times of war for the government to have expanded powers.” To which Barlow shot back, “Who exactly are we at war with?” (He stole my line.)

I was also reminded again that Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis, was the only senator to vote against the Patriot Act. Russ for President!

I can’t remember ever seeing a movie where things turned to crap before your eyes with the stunning quickness of “Adaptation.” One minute you’re watching a mildly diverting movie where even Nicholas Cage playing twins doesn’t seem too irritating, and the next, you’re waist-deep in junk.

The Russian-doll meta-ness of the movie, where a screenwriter puts himself in his own movie to satirize the self-indulgence of hack screenwriters, finally collapses under its own weight. (And that’s just one of about 15 self-referential plot threads in the movie.) Paraphrasing my friend and movie companion Nicole, this movie was written for other screenwriters – and most of us are not screenwriters.

This is a movie that encourages you to pat yourself on the back when you “get it.” (He invents a twin brother, gives him screenwriting credit on the movie, and then has the twin brother in the movie write a schlock script about multiple personalities. Get it?) Well, I got it. And I want to send it back.

Stay away.

One of my clients, the estimable Rochelle Kelvin from Protected Harvest, recently sent me this postcard she got at the Guggenheim Museum in Las Vegas, of all places. I thought it was cool and worth sharing.

Absolute Favorite Weblog Post of the Week,
or Maybe the Month

“Why is Tony Danza so freaking talented?”

-Kevin Thompson, Observations

I’m a compulsive proofreader. I’ve been known to point out errors on restaurant menus, movie marquees, billboards, and lots of other things. So when the Isthmus posted a review of “About Schmidt” where they called Jack Nicholson’s character “Albert Schmidt,” I felt I had to say something. Don’t you think they would want to have someone tell them that the character is actually Warren Schmidt? Doesn’t it make them look foolish to print an error like that? So I sent them an e-mail through the (well-hidden) feedback form on the site.

Either they don’t read those feedback form submissions, or they didn’t care, because the name is unchanged on the site. Of course, it’s also in the printed version of the Isthmus. The sad thing is, maybe no one else will notice it but me.

Proofreading extra
Misspelled word that currently annoys me the most when I see it everywhere online: definately.

Horoscope of the Week: Cancer

Stir other people’s details into something rich and beautiful.

Here’s a question for all you out there who do frequent business on eBay. I recently won an auction for a video game, where the postage was listed as $5 for a tiny cartridge. Apparently then he sent the thing regular mail, and two weeks later it hasn’t arrived. So there’s no way I can prove he didn’t send it, and no way to prove I didn’t receive it. In this situation, am I just out of luck as the buyer? Or does the seller have a responsibility to get the item to me? And thus, has to either refund my money or resend the item?

I don’t do much business on eBay and this has never happened to me before, so I don’t know what the rules are. Any thoughts?