seriously, imagine Walken saying, "needs more anal probing"

Circus of the Damned, by Laurell Hamilton. Woo! Exciting. Anita Blake is my heroine. Kind of the silly-tshirt wearing of Gaby McAslan with the badassery of Buffy, but with the hardness of Cassie Suthorn. Though I agree about the Richard love interest, now, I get how she’s taken in by chemistry and attraction, but ditch him, Anita! I’m curious where Hamilton is going to go with the rookie animator/executioner – will he become badass, or die horribly? Lots of the usual twists and turns and original creatures and Blake’s calm tenaciousness, and the kind of ending where you go, how the hell could this possibly be resolved in anything but a horrible manner? And then it is resolved, in a way that’s horrible but still good. I did feel a bit jipped that some of the weight of that ending felt stolen, since it was exactly the same last trick as in the previous novel in the series, just much more bloody and violent. Oh, and Edward is interesting as a total sociopath interacting with relatively normal characters, it’s fascinating each time. And will she encounter the crazy-horny-scary lamia anymore? Probably so, as it was hired by Jean-Claude. If I didn’t have other novels I’m obligated to read first, I’d definitely go get the next book.

Communion, with Christopher Walken, and anal probing. Actually, I was disappointed there wasn't more anal probing. I can see how the film might be iconic in some ways (though it could have been iconic in different ways with more anal probing), and I can definitely tell how it’s autobiographical. You can see how the movie is mirroring scenes someone wrote about themselves. And in that, alas, I think it just gets self-indulgent; it doesn’t help that for much of the narrative the main character is something of a dick, and there’s less narrative, in truth, then a loose string of related experiences without an arc driving them. I think it would have been served, especially with the wonky special effects (though, points for attempting to use an alien blowup doll of sorts, I wonder if one could auction that off for fetish purposes), by limiting any need for special effects by doing it in an Asian horror movie style – less show and tell, more psychological tension and hinting. That also would have helped to take the movie from just randomly purposed and timed alien encounters, in that, in that horror style the purpose (which, granted, of the aliens is unknown) is less important than them just being creepy.


Olympic cheerleaders are so weird.

Drillbit Taylor, with Owen Wilson and two kids who are like the opposite of the evil twins of the kids from Superbad. The good twins? In a sense this movie is kind of the opposite of Superbad – first day of high school rather than last, nice kids versus jerks. Then there’s the adult aspect of the movie, with Wilson…not sure what to say about that. It’s basically Wilson’s trademark humor, which is fine – not amazing, not boring. I got kind of sick of the humiliation humor, that doesn’t really do it for me. And it just seemed long, for a comedy. But it was sweet. Not the greatest movie ever, but eh, fine.

more human than human?

Schismatrix, by Bruce Sterling. In a sentence, I think it’s like the Lord of the Rings for posthuman narratives, in the sense of, it was the original gangsta progenitor for those themes. Deus Ex, the Rifter trilogy and Blindsight, Dresden Codak, I would suspect sprang one way or another from seeds from Sterling’s writing. Using a singular character in a population spanning the solar system, he runs through a gamut of identities that includes too many variations of what humanity-could-become to count, and moreover the permutations and evolutions of those across literal centuries. Not quite a character study, but not just world-building-with-a-narrator, either...I’d go so far as to say it takes the posthuman theme and applies it to itself, making a, say, post-character study? Heh, ok, the label doesn’t work, but one gets the idea, I hope. Aesthetically, it probably is a bit too meandering and almost directionless-seeming at many points for most casual scifi readers, but a cyberpunk or hard science fiction fan will appreciate it, I think.

a matter of perspective

Jacob's Ladder, with Tim Robbins and Elizabeth Pena. Would have helped if I'd known what Jacob's Ladder is, durr, though it also might've stripped the ending of a lot of weight, and maybe even given away the whole movie. There seemed to be a certain skill of the creators of skimming in downright disturbing demonic imagery into seemingly normal environments, but it never really got look-away horrifying...more grotesquely fascinating, eerie, even downright disturbingly erotic at one point. I think part of it was the mystery and paranoia pervading the movie, it left me always looking for the key, the hint to understanding what was real and what was not, who was demon or angel or human. I really want to talk about the ending, heh, which was basically the only way you could pull off...bah, but I don't want to give anything away. Ask if you're curious and not worried about seeing the movie.

I so want one...mmm....bacon

systema notes - rained out

-yeah, lightning directly overhead a park filled with tall trees was probably a good marker for having booked it when we did, not to mention the deluge that followed immediately thereafter
-I still don't really get the, punch to stop them from sitting up thing...I get the basic idea of relaxing working muscles, but the how of it entirely escapes me
-also, going "deeper" with a punch without making it "sharper", but it's not a push either....argh.
-getting better with the fist-pushups, at least, finally learned how to distribute my weight across my knuckles so I didn't bruise this time
-nipples.
-when absorbing, you don't do "heroic" movements and try to twist out of the way, there's a trick of returning to equilibrium, as overcompensating in rolling or twisting with something will just put you in a vulnerable position
-I didn't get the limbo-roll-under-stick drill, either...again, thought I saw the concept of rolling it across muscles surfaces for fine body control and safe-reflexes, but...doing it...ah well, not my best day

I learned about the Miracle Fruit in this webcomic
(the more recent ones are straight up laugh-out-loud, the older ones are more hard-honest autobio)

I...well, actually kind of do want one. I like the in-dark-ending best. Rolly-polly!

a one, two, or three hot dog bouncer?

The Boys and Girls Guide to Getting Down, with a bunch of struggling actors trying to make their mark. But hey, kudos to them for living the dream, natch. Also I think that title is missing apostrophes? Anyway, it has its funny moments. Also, it's pretty shallow and insipid, though of course, the subject matter is...though! Though. If I'd realized this earlier I would have been mildly more interested, it basically is trying to be Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy for the LA 'scene,' down to the style of narration. So...kind of a clever premise, points for trying, nice job random indie people. Kind of.

Like that horse painting project, but more evil

shout out to Jayk and Zoombie...for the one person who would get that reference, who I'm sure does not read this blog, heh

The Laughing Corpse, by Laurell Hamilton. Ok, I am officially back into the Anita Blake novels. Normally I'd say it's the adeptly expanded setting that hooked me, but I really enjoy even more the confidence and moxie of the leading lady. Though it might be in the vampire chick lit section, I'd say it's quite not, this is more in the badass chick lit section. Yes. I think I also clicked more with this second novel than with the first as it was just less busy, this one only had zombies and zombie related activity (with a simultaneously creepy and badass ending); the first had vampires, lycanthropes, and zombies, which are all well and good, but would have been better served having established each of the categories first. Also, this book cemented my resolve to get some practice in with pistolry.

Got to give the dude kudos, painting accurately having been born without eyes

systema notes - el-dog-o edition

-first thing was jogging combined with breathing exercises; it didn't actually alter my ability to run at all to alter my breathing pattern consciously, I'm used to doing that on my own, but I did notice I have this huge difficulty really extending my exhale, I find it curious
-a battery of pushups to strenghthen the structure of our arms, and learn how to consistently keep the wrist aligned; staying in a pushup position while someone else does pushups on you works the most random muscles isometrically
-squats on other people lying down, front and back - pops the back nicely, interesting for the squatter's balance, and the bottom person's breathing-under-duress
-doing systema-situps while being hit, to work on moving under duress, and also learning how to pick where to hit to stop a given movement
-agility drills that looked like breakdancing combined with rolling, then rolling to evade and absorb someone trying to kick you while you're down - I think at this point my parents' dog randomly arrived to tackle me and then do figure-8s around the class, to everyone's amusement
-then most of the class was working on attempting to feel and achieve the "heavy hand" state so important to systema strikes; to be honest I didn't quite ever really feel it, that's definitely still a work in progress for me, I'm going to guess I need to relax my shoulders more
-I came closest to it when I was advised to let my hands just be dead-weight in a wingchun-esque drill; then, like aikido, it didn't even feel like I was doing anything when I was apparently (by his reaction) hitting immensely harder
-when it got too dark to see well for punch-for-punch, we switched to sitting shoulder to shoulder and trying to hit each other, like siblings on a roadtrip...quite fun, and a great skill to develop, to boot, really gets you rolling with punches to the head and thinking up unorthodox strikes
-apparently I've improved a lot in relaxing, but still have a lot of work to go...a little blow to my ego, but I'm excited to see what drills the teacher said he'd give me to work on it

his little boat looked like fun

Charlie Bartlett, with Anton Yelchin, Robert Downey Jr, and Kat Dennings. And, yeah, she's pretty damn hot. At first I couldn't quite get into it...something about drugs being the easy quick fix for things and making people like Charlie and there being no better answer than popularity...like, I felt it was good and funny but couldn't agree with it. But then it picked up and deepened progressively more and more towards the end, so I guess I ended up liking it and agreeing with the sentiments expressed by then. The main characters' relationships are very cute, Downey is great as usual, Dennings is wonderfully curvy and charismatic. I'd almost say it's kind of a very oblique tangent to Igby Goes Down in some senses - just much more uplifting, purposeful, and pleasant.

Thirty-six Stratagems from Sun-tzu - chock full of interesting little anecdote-stories of sheer cleverness winning battles and wars.

"dibs on the mountain guide!" - see? funny, but also, treats her like an object

Ten Monkeys, Ten Minutes, by Peter Watts. As usual with Watts, interesting and disturbing, real make-you-think sort of pieces (it's an anthology of short stories). But I wanted more, damn it! Each of the stories seems to me a perfect seed for a bigger story or novel (especially so in the first chapter of Starfish being included, but that just helps my assertion, I think). Weather that's 'alive' and aware in some sense and trying to exterminate humanity? Entropy taking on a faster pace, breaking down the very patterns of things? A scarier, shiver-inducing take on Jasmine from the show Angel (with same name, even)? Of course there was a miss or two maybe (the hate/fractals story) and a humorous one off (hippies + hungry orcas = hilarity) - all in all, worth a read, it's quick and snappy.

Journey to the Center of the Earth, with Brendan Frasier, Josh Hutchinson, and Anita Briem. Oh man. Dumb. But, great for kids. The 3D aspect actually didn't even seem that prevalent for a lot of it, more of an interesting complement to the cinematography than anything, but became more interesting with pop-out-of-screen scares and getting to watch little kids reach playfully for the illusion. Makes me wonder whether 3D might eventually become a standard complement to regular movies, just as an accenting thing, like an extension of HD or something. Anyway, I think this would have been better as a regular, epic kind of movie, I wanted more of the underground environment! I'll also note the female character who starts off (though in skin tight clothing) as more competent and effective than the male characters, though as the narrative becomes more dangerous, she becomes less competent and more reliant on the males, and her clothing becomes progressively less and less, then she gets wet, then is attacked by tentacled plants....heh, I didn't mind it, but at the same time, it seemed blatant undercutting of a female character.

slightly nsfw, actually kind of badass pattycake

the gelatin one is the most interesting and disturbing, to me, if you imagine that as a body

shawarmaball?

but, what about :P?

I totally want one just so I can name it Shawarma:
"The Rock Hyrax has been jokingly referred to as a "Shawarma Bear." This references its size and shape, which resemble shawarma."

but: is there a Ms Reef calendar for me?

that is so metal

dang, wish they'd thought of that earlier - Palestinians shooting cameras

systema notes, again: monsoon season

-wow, never occurred to me, but practicing martial arts outdoors with a cool stormy breeze, thunder nearby, and a fiery brilliant sunset is lighting up the palm trees like torches is...well, pretty effing awesome
-still getting used to doing pushups only on fists; my middle knuckles are a little bruised, which I think indicates I need to disperse my weight across more of my fist (which, I realize, is naturally more like a systema punch, than a 'standard' 2-knuckle punch)
-some built up strength in my lower arm structures and connective tissues will be nice, for both the above conditioning and for feeling more confident in that kind of, relaxed-half-fist the systema punches seem to use
-tricky: an extension of the extreme non-telegraphing movement (to the point of not telegraphing even on more subtle levels), to hit without rancor or intent to hurt...say, to punch someone hard enough to basically shut them down or knock them out, but without any negative or harmful intent beyond moving them the way you want...hard to explain, obviously
-interesting sensitivity drill of feeling another's breath/heartbeat, and extended from that, a very subtle point of directing another's attention by touch
-plastic man! man, if we'd had that back in the day....basically just letting another person manipulate you gently as if you were moldable plastic, to figure out how the human body-structure works, where it loses balance, how to make it lose balance, etc...that would have revolutionized all of our prior training in jujitsu and aikido if we had done for 10 or 20 minutes every class
-short work: working with continuously flowing strikes with an opponent at within-arms-length range, the goal being to get them to be shut down right at your feet. for some reason I kept standing my opponent back upright, heh, it was pretty funny, it was like I was helping him back up after knocking him down

Talking monkey, yeah, yeah. Came here from the future, ugly sucker, only says "ficus".

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, with Robert Downey Jr, Val Kilmer, and Michelle Monaghan, who still doesn't do anything for me, really. I mistake her for that girl in Lost, I guess, that's about it. I'm glad I finally got to see this one, despite having forgotten it to the point of only the name being vaguely familiar when we glanced at the dvd. I actually had to consciously stop myself from trying to imitate the cadence of Downey and Kilmer's wit after the movie was over, but hey, it really was hilarious. It was odd to watch another movie with metafiction in it in such quick succession, but here it was less central and more an amusing sidenote. Only downside of the movie for me was the ending, which was ok, but kind of trailed off in a meandering, uncertain way, like they couldn't pick just one ending...though, the wit remained, I suppose, in the kind of self-conscious narration about it. So there's that.

eeep - hate to imagine that happening in the diner, we had enough trouble back when that fermented ketchup splattered the walls

but, how can they top DK for a sequel?

Funny Games, with Tim Roth and Naomi Watts. Interesting in theory...it's the kind of movie, I think, that's a lot better in being talked about, but, I'm not sure it's all that great to sit through to get to that point. That is, it's artsy, in long cuts that have purpose and nice cinematography and great acting. But it's also gratuitously violent....well, but not really, because it never actually directly shows any of the violence, all of it taking place off-frame...just the effects of it in the characters' emotions and psyches. The real highlight of the film, though, is the metafiction and breaking of the fourth wall, which I think had there been more of, it would have elevated the film and made it available to a wider audience - are the boys demons? Travelers from "reality"? Just insane in that extra-insightful way? Just plain insane? See, fun to talk about, not so fun to watch.

The Dark Knight, with the Batman Begins cast, plus the wonderful replacment of Katie Holmes with Maggie Gyllenhaal. Well, it was long, but it never quite felt like it. Ok maybe in a few points where I was kind of going, "Where are they going to go now?" - but note that that's not "Where are they going with this?" Actually, wow, just noticed on imdb the rating's at 9.6...I wonder if that's unprecedented. I was a bit mollified by at least improvement on being able to see what Batman's doing when he's fighting, and twisty plot and characterization and shudder-inducing (and yet, laughter-inducing at inappropriate moments) Joker and acting. Nice.

Investigating Farscape, by Jes Battis. See my review on Amazon in the link when it goes up in a day or two, couldn't help but to respond to a doof.

waaaaiiiit a second....

Further thoughts on Step Up 2 the Streets:
-again, why in the hell was all the dancing illegal? Was that a really oblique attempt at political commentary about the danger of the Bush regime being so fascist or something?
-it says in the trivia that Hoffman actually participated in underground dancing to prepare for the movie...so it's real? That's pretty cool, I suppose, how do we find it? Or does it just mean he was dancing with mole people or....gasp! No, not the monsters from The Descent! Now there's a sequel. (seriously go watch the extra features on that latter movie, do it now.)

"be like...I don't know how to say...jello?"

notes from Systema! and stuff.
-it was hella muggy. Moist, if you will. Park + humid = itchy.
-there were more Russkies than Amurricans...one was supercute, though
-passing a knife from hand to hand while doing pushups (without tossing or rolling the knife) is incredibly challenging
-getting stabbed by a blunted metal knife still hurts a lot. I'm not dead or bleeding copiously, but yeesh.
-achieving that relaxed and sensitive state needed for being able to turn with a slashing blade, or sense one getting drawn in closequarters in failing twilight, requires being nigh meditative while fighting. This is going to take some practise.
-bigger "sticks" (ie, large clubs) are preferred to little kali sticks (which apparently don't hurt enough to be proper incentive to move). Metal pipes are popular in Russia.
-it's frustrating being with other students who rely on previous martial arts experience, rather than doing the non-technique drills, when I'm expending noticeable energy trying to unlearn bad habits (yes, you used to be a ninja. I used to be the opposite of a ninja. moving on. actually that person wasn't so bad it was more the tkd person.)
-the other frustrating thing is a general lack of instruction; yeah, I get that it's like creative writing, and you really can't tell someone how to improvise, but the lack of instruction I mean...actually, it's not the teacher, when working with him, his instruction is great (if confusing in a koan-way), it's just working with others and the wild inconsistency in what they do at times (not in skill, just...hitting hard, hitting soft, trying to hit vs trying to show, moving feet vs not moving feet...)

I have "do the humptyhump" stuck in my head for some reason

Step Up 2 the Streets, with Briana Evigan and Robert Hoffman. And in a random bit of nicely un-contrived continuity, the main guy from the first movie, who's acting was hugely better. Actually, almost all of the acting was better in this one; granted, there was less character development in that in the first one there was a bit more asshole-ery from main characters, but hey this movie is the equivalent of a tasty flaky pastry. A rare occassion where the cream filling wins out over character development for me.

Amazing dancing, a range of cute characters and moments (the prank the MSA crew does is hilarious), and hopeless-romantic moments...yeah, they're all stereotypical characters (and what's with the consistent two white leads with multiracial backup?) but again....they're pretty! And sweet! And the good guys win in an honorable way, and everyone gets a girl (or guy to flip that), and...in other news, Evigan is now on my "list," as it were. Mmmm hot ass.

Oh wow, ew, and they jump? The hell?

wanton douchebaggery

Mama's Boy, with Jon Heder, Diane Keaton, and Jeff Daniels. Ah, Keaton, adorable as usual. Daniels....put on some weight, but he's kind of funny, and does a nice not too-over-the-top motivational speaker. Heder, an asshole, as usual. I don't get his main character type - the relatable asshole? You're supposed to feel sympathy for him, while he's a complete jerk to everyone around him, till the last five minutes of the movie? Because he's inadvertantly funny, it's ok? I guess one could make the same arguments about Will Farrell's characters, but I think Farrell's characters are usually fanciful enough that it actually is ok, whereas Heder's are just kind of sickeningly petulant. And I think where Farrell's characters fail is when they drop into that, and where Heder's do better (though I still don't like it) is when they're more fanciful, like in Hot Rod.

Disturbingly funny.

Things learned in watching Deadwood: zodiacal light

inky comedy

Little Miss Sunshine, with Abigail Breslin, Greg Kinnear and Toni Colette. Wow, a movie that actually pulled off uncomfortable/awkward humor and that I found funny. Usually I'm so drawn into feeling uncomfortable that it overrides the humor, but something was just sincere and sweet enough about these characters that I was okay with it. And they are interesting characters, with a quirky, but not actually too eccentric net of relationships. I am so glad the ending was heartwarming rather than tragic, that would have just been a bad investment of all that they'd drawn me into empathizing with the family.

Igby Goes Down, with Kieran Culkin, Ryan Phillippe, and a slew of other good actors. Wow. This one is definitely much more on the tragic end of the tragicomic scale, but it's definitely a thinker. Not an upper, though. I viewed it as something of a riff on Catcher in the Rye, but with a more noble and intelligent main character. Of course, by his actions and behavior in the movie he hardly seems noble at all, but it's there, just the context has twisted his best attempt at nobility into something sad. Sad nobility equalling tragic, I suppose, which is what keeps the film from being horribly depressing, and maintains it as literature.

Random, but would be a fun night activity

Apparently Bruce Lee invented these, if I recall correctly. Yow.

Huh, I thought inchworms were just a kind of worm. And there're carnivorous ones?! Creepy.

"The importance of A. oryzae has led to its recognition as Japan's national micro-organism ("kokkin"), just as the sakura cherry blossom as Japan's national flower." -- wow, I wonder if we can find someone who majored in MCB to tell us what other countries should be, heh

One more insect thing, which is kind of horrifying, and now I oddly feel compassion for locusts

a Rice Boy plushie would be nice, but would make me melancholy

Rice Boy - strange, unearthly beautiful, and oh so bittersweet and goosebumpy

With Honors, with Brendan Fraser and Joe Pesci. Kind of a silly premise at first glance, it's still worth a see on a relaxing afternoon or evening. At first, I thought, why should I care about these oh-so-clever college students....but yeah, I really liked each of them in turn. Except for the douche-y guy, he only moderately grew, the rest did much more, though. Teared up in a good way by the end. Oldie but goodie, yay VHS!

Red rain sounds a little creepy when one finds out it's not sediment but little organic almost-beasties....

nice spice primer; I love spices