booty - 'boot-ay' - (noun)

Copied from an email response to Mr Andrew-

The proper booty, you see, or 'bootay' if you will has just the ratio between muscle and cushion. Enough muscle is important in that that it is firm and juicy, yet just enough cushion all the same that there is a bit of feminine 'give' (sometimes known as more cushion for the pushin'), or jelly, for a sexy jiggle. But! One must be careful that there is not too much on the cushion side of the ratio, as we all know what that leads to; both aspects, of course, also contribute to the keystone of the matter, shapeliness. Thus, we have the perfectly smackable, grab-able, push-able (as it were) booty. One might note as a postscript that it doesn't matter whether a gal is slender or more curvy, as both can interestingly have that shapely tush.

Verily: meowmeows and dizzawgs

The Truth About Cats and Dogs, with Uma Thurman and Janeane Garofalo. Interesting! Like The Sure Thing, it's not really an average romantic comedy, but this is being approached from a different path entirely, that is, the riff on Cyrano de Bergerac path. Heh, which I was slow enough not to realize till I read that in text. Much to my chagrin. It's interesting in that the genders are reversed, which has some interesting effects (though I'm still not quite understanding why Garofalo later 'disowned' the movie on the grounds of it being anti-feminist, but I'm working at that).

One is that where ye olden Cyrano is quite apparently physically unattractive on account of his big schnoz (though wow, I never thought of that in phallic terms...whoa), Garofalo is actually quite attractive. It would have been interesting, certainly, for her to have been made physically unattractive, and much more true to the point of the story, but I just don't think it would have panned out with audiences (and now I start to see Garofalo's issue). Two, and building on that issue, is Thurman's character's sweet-but-dumb characteristic - that is, her own self-doubt is interestingly developed, but the horribly unfortunate aspect of that is that it is never really rectified. She just accepts the fact of 'being stupid,' and in a sense, her character is subtly almost tragic in that way, almost more than how Christian dies uselessly in the original play. Anyhoo, I could go on, I'll stop there.

Chris: King of River Shotgunning

The Sure Thing, with John Cusack and Daphne Zuniga. Pretty laugh out loud funny, I have to say. I think a couple things are interesting about this movie that elevate above a general romantic comedy. One, I was initially puzzled by Cusack's character, as he seemed something of a dick; but as the character progressed through the movie (and his own development), the more Cusack-esque character aspects shined through. So, in a sense, it wasn't just a growing-up thread, but a growing-up-into-a-Cusack-character thread. And fans of the actor will know what I'm talking about, I think. And in that, except for the cardboard cutouts of the pretty girl and the plaid boyfriend at the end, lies the other interesting thing, that at least the two main characters have a good bit more depth to them, and if one wants to argue that, at least an earnestness to them that is lacking in a lot of romcoms. Take the ending, say - there's no deus ex machina nor is there a spectacular save-the-day, but rather, the boy in question didn't do something, and then exerts his creativity in an understated manner to simply give the girl an opening. Nice, and in relative terms, subtle. And furthermore! The two characters meet halfway by the end of the movie, neither really sacrificing, and both gaining. Well played, movie. Well played.

Things of Note - A Lemony Weekend

-since when do people race on the upper roads of Mt Lemmon at two in the morning? What the hell was that about?
-we don't need no steenking hot dogs!
-double pirouettes while staring at stars: the new drunk test...just don't fall over while doing the prep
-yay Wyatt's lantern and other camping stuff, without which we might have been somewhat screwed!
-everyone freeze when the dogs start sprinting (though it would be pretty funny to see someone just get taken out)
-what was with that woman's eye? Was she just messing with us, or did she have an actual twitch?
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-I bet this could totally be turned into all sorts of scifi-fantasy stories (I'm thinking bouyant plants that somehow float into the air, say, or some outerspace variation...)

Things of Note - A Real Rollercoaster of a Weekend

-Wienersnitchzel...I have no idea if I spelled that right....wow, I really didn't...is pretty good; I'd just been put off by a bad college experience (slash, it was funny in retrospect)
-I just learned that wiener schnitzel actually has nothing to do with what that restaurant sells
-we watched plenty of rom-com this weekend
-Kim's sister can rock "I Will Survive" in karaoke
-would someone please tell Kevin and I where we know those incredibly familiar girls from?
-yay Bobo's! slash, the M word
-why is there such stubborness about this TV issue?
-alternating between The Simple Life and The Sixth Sense is kind of funny

Post-Collapse-Week TriviaBall

I think this is great idea, especially in the aikido principle of meeting a person where they're at - blending - in order to really connect with them, and in this case, resolve an issue

Who knew little blocks could turn creepy? Slash, do they still sell legos, even?

As much as these illusions (most of which are interactive!) are fun, they also play into stuff I've been going through lately, in that it's funny how what we think might be absolutely true absolutely isn't, with even a slight tweak of perspective and interpretation

From Ms Xuemei, a very funny geographical progression

Two thoughts: one, I didn't realize she was pretty hot...two, I'll give her points for pulling off a one-woman show this way

pretty action and not-pretty action

Appurushîdo, with many Japanese voices, because I refuse to listen to the English voice-track. Wait, hang on, I'm still giggling at remembering them saying the title during the movie....Appuuurushiiiido. Ahem. Okay, I'm done. From the start, there's gorgeous, original action sequences, with a pretty rocking techno soundtrack. The setting seems interesting, though I wish they would have expanded it a little more; not because the story needed it, I don't think, but just because I was left wondering what the rest of the world besides the one city was like. There's a full bevy of science-fiction concepts to think about (I suddenly wonder how much a bevy is), but that doesn't save a kind of oddly paced plot and and stumbly ending. If you need some eye-candy action, it's cool, though. Heh, apuuruushiido.
-oh, I guess I should note, that's an Engrishing of 'appleseed'

Platoon, with Willem Dafoe and Charlie Sheen. Platoon is famous, and with reason - it's a damn good movie. Just not a happy one. I can't really point to any flaws in it on a first viewing, but I'll just note a random trivial thing (or maybe not trivial?) - did anyone else notice any homoerotic undertones in the underground-smoking-scene? Actually, wait, I will note that reading a book on alleviating depression, with all its positive and idealistic aspects, is quite an odd contrast to watching this movie - that is, I couldn't fathom how the poor soldiers could be helped, in the midst of the situations they were in. Except, perhaps, in Dafoe's character, who maintained some level of compassion and idealism, somehow.

Things of Note - Almost Monsoon? A Weekend.

-has anyone else ever noticed that Bookman's has a "Pornoire" in the corner? Is anyone else kind of curious what's in there?
-funny how playing a video game can be stressful enough that it can make its own good point about how horrible war is; if the game can be that anxiety-inducing, yeesh....
-and was Bookman's always that busy on Sundays?
-I got my car washed. Then a bird shat upon it.
-financial director: wow, unexpectedly wolf-whistle gorgeous
-the semi-legendary Wierd Plant Sale pretty much turned out to be a succulent/desert plant sale...still, they had a few odd succulents, I guess, but pretty much all succulents are a bit odd
-and were Friday nights always Mexican family night at Hollywood Video?

-a tour of Dante's Inferno, I love the interface

ker-bang!

Shooter, by Gunnery Sergeant Jack Coughlin, Captain Casey Kuhlman, and Donald Davis. If you're interested in military-history books, this is pretty much about as close to a 'current-events' version as one might find. I found especially interesting the manner of Coughlin's formation of the concept of the mobile sniper team, and wish there was a way to see if that really bloomed after the initial fighting in Iraq. That was also another interesting aspect of the book, that is, getting a nicely paced and described first-hand view of the beginning of that recent war, from pre-deployment through the final assault, and all the attendent feelings and aspects of the in-between, as well. All in all, just chock full of interesting stuff, and with a pace that gets you hooked.

Determine your ayurvedic constitution (but what the hell does it mean when whenever I try to do this, I'm almost exactly even across all three variants - am I balanced, then, or just...flat?)

Babies and other oddities

Knocked Up, with Seth Rogen and Katherine Heigl. Very funny, and yet, very sobering, especially to watch while sitting next to your girlfriend. I think it struck a pretty solid balance between those two aspects, though, without becoming saccharine or stupid. Well done, I say! The other interesting thing I thought was nicely done was the spacing out of events over a nine month period, and furthermore, the interesting cast of supporting characters. And they showed way more of the birth than I expected, that was pretty interesting. And from now on, it doesn't matter what role he's in, I'm going to giggle at that actor from Firefly, purely because he was in Firefly, so I'm just going to imagine it's that character pretending to be another person.

Hm. I think I'll hold off on explaining why my thesis advisor once gave a forty-five minute lecture on his theory that babies are ontologically creepy.

On strange, strange animals: a turtle (sort of)

Slash, I suddenly feel odd about eating escargot, which I sometimes get a craving for

mmm, boys...

As much as I know I'll get the usual jibe from Ms Kim for that title, we sure are excited that The Boys is back in print, aren't we, Mme Penguin? In other news, we naturally have the next volume of Empowered on pre-order: also sexy. Just like you, Mme Penguin. Ker-wink.

Anyway! X-Men 199 kicked some ass, using Bachalo's loose art to its best effect to portray the desperate fight against the Hecatomb. And man, is that some crazy action - and with a crazy creepy ending, to boot, with Rogue's power changing to a scary extreme. Damnation Crusade 4, on the other hand, continues to be an interesting snapshot of the 40k setting, but where the hell are the plot and characters? As much as it's a great author writing it, it just seems like some loosely connected scenes thrown together. For another turnaround, however, we have Gutsville 1 - a Puritan town constructed quite literally in the belly of a gigantic sea creature, it's hard sci-fantasy at its setting-centric best! Yay indie-comic high-five, Mme Penguin! But, another somewhat downturn, Fallen Son: Captain America, which is supposed to represent bargaining in the stages of grief, was mildly interesting in its exposition of Hawkeye, but...yeah, we'll go with mildly interesting. But, to end on a higher note, Nova 2 was something of a set-up issue, but how fun will Nova versus the Thunderbolts be in the next? Fun, slash, very fun, is the answer.