Twas nearly a month after Xmas ....
I'm overdue here folks, ordinarily I'd have listed off all my favorite films and perhaps even listed all the movies I want to see this year , well whatever.
Firstly and most bloggingly , I've had followups on my cholesterol checkup that resulted in a bruised long some 6 months ago. Seems my cholesterol is still high, a little higher then it was in fact but curiously it seems my thyroid is out of wack. In a normal functioning individuals body the TSH level (that is Thyroid stimulation hormone, produced in the pituitary gland) is supposed to be between 0.2 and 4.0, mine was nearly 29.0. Further testing discovered the level of actual thyroid hormone in my body to be just over 10, normal ranges are between 9.5 and 20 roughly. I cant' recall the exact numbers, regardless I was on the low end of things. So a followup test was ordered and this second bloodtest gave me a test result of 21.0 for TSH, lower then the last one yes but still WAY to high. So as of this morning I've started a 3 month daily dosage of artificial thyroid hormone.
A rough explanation for those who haven't read through medical websites is as follows- if food and air and water is the gasoline for the human body then the thyroid is like the ignition switch or the car keys. A lack of thyroid hormone means your body metabolizes food poorly or too slowly which leads to a myriad of problems. The most common and obvious one is weakness/fatigue. You'll feel tired all the time / get tired easily and probably sleep alot. Secondly it seems difficulty controlling weight is a big issue , since the body is metabolizing food slowly it stays in the body longer and gets converted to fat easier , the slow metabolism means you aren't getting energy fast enough and may be hungry more often and well more eating equals more weight gain, and lack of energy means a lack of excercise. Furthermore going down the list of complications you can have mental side effects including depression, irritability or even a poor libido. There are a few more issues that can arise and well basically I've suffered from many of them for a few years but never thought of them as being related. So hopefully this pill does something, the alternative is that my pituitary gland has a benign tumor on it causing it to produce too much TSH and also obstructing the ocular nerve leading to vision problems. Basically get physicals and blood tests done annually folks, nip this stuff at the bud so you don't wind up in the ER when you're 40 or 50 with a barely operable life threatening malady.
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So with that out of the way on to the fun news.
The Movies I wound up seeing theatrically in 2007-
Hot Fuzz,Grindhouse, TMNT, 300, Spiderman 3, Shrek 3, Pirates 3, Knocked up,Fantastic four 2, Ratatouille, Die Hard 4, Simpsons, Transformers, Balls of fury, Superbad, Resident Evil 3,30 days of night, Eastern Promises, Shoot 'em up, Beowulf, I am Legend, Aliens Vs predator 2 ... I'm still missing a couple but basically the best films I watched were -
Hot Fuzz - A hilarious followup to Shawn of the Dead, I've since seen it 2 more times and it's lost nothing
Ratatouille- Leave it to Brad Bird to top my longstanding pixar favorite "The incredibles" with his second pixar movie. There's just and undeniable charm to the whole premise of a cooking rat helping an incompetent yutz run a resteraunt. Movie of the year for me actually.
Transformers - It was awesome the first time, a little long the second time and really nice looking on imax for the 3rd viewing. I'm not in a huge rush to see it a 4th time but I still enjoyed it to list it among my yearly favorites.
Superbad/knockedup - interchangable judd apatow comedies, both are funny for different reasons and it's really hard to me to choose my favorite. Nice followups to 40 year old virgin.
Shoot 'em up - Seems my surprise hit film of the year is the most polarizing movie released in 2007, you are either like me and consider it a lovingly crafted homage that mixes looney tunes with john woo or you are like the haterz who think the humour isn't funny and the action goes to far. To decide which camp you reside in ask yourself this question - Do you find the idea of clive owen taking a carrot and ramming it so hard into a guys neck that is punctures and goes through followed by clive saying "eat your vegetables" funny or retarded ? If you answered funny then watch shoot em up if you answered retarded then avoid.
My final pick of the year is Eastern promises- Following in the more subdued tradition estlished by history of violence we have another cronenburg masterpiece. If you enjoyed the way history of violence was done there's not really any question of whether you'll enjoy eastern promises. It's only wether you'd prefer 1 to the other. I'm still unsure myself.
---
So the 2008 movie preview.
January : Currently cloverfield just opened but I'm not overly interested in it, if people wind up going I'd probably tag along but it's not something I'd go out of my way to see. The rest of january is a crapshoot.
February : Diary of the dead- a low budget throwback to romero's older zombie flicks, matt will likely be going, I'm unsure if I'll go or not. Be Kind Rewind- The latest jack black movie, this time he and Mos def team up to run a vhs rental store where all the tapes get erased so they set about remaking every movie themselves. The premise sound hilarious to me so hopefully it pans out. That about does it for feb. for me.
March :Doomsday- the new movie from the brit that brought us dog soldiers and The decent, looks like a modern day take on Mad Max actually. Run Fatboy Run- another simon pegg showpiece it doesn't look as good to me as their previous efforts but I'll still give it a shot. Superhero movie- From david "airplane" zucker we have a superhero spoof film, this is a blank listing on RT so for all I know a trailer will make it look terrible so it may get pulled but airplane remains one of the funniest comedies ever.
April : Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay- yes folks you read that right, a sequal to the most underated comedy of the last 5 years. The title kind of explains the whole premise really.
May : Iron Man- Sure the trailer makes it looks pretty stupid but I'll see it for the casting alone I mean robert downey as tony stark? could it be any better? Speed Racer- Okay I'm seeing this on principle alone the fact that a studio greenlit a 100 million dollar summer flick based on a cheesy 60's anime and that the matrix brother and sister signed on to direct is all I need as motivation , even if it gets a 0% metascore. Indiana jones and the temple of the crystal skull- Da dee dada da dee day da de dada da de da da day doodle dee do da dee do da doodle dee do da dee day!
June : Incredible Hulk - I'm willing to give hulk another shot after the dissapointing mess ang lee shat out of his arse a few years ago. This time bruce banner is played by edward norton and it's being billed as a "non origin franchise restart" which basically means we can pretend the other hulk movie doesn't exist while watching this one. Wall-E - Pixars next film about a silent robot that's been cleaning up earth for a 1000 years while humanity has evolved into giantly obese fat creatures living on a space station, here's hoping it's charming like ratatouille and not commercialistic mediocrity like cars.
July: Hancock- Will smith stars as an alcoholic superhero who hires an image consultant and winds up falling for the guys wife. The trailer makes it look funny. Hellboy 2- I enjoyed the first one and I'm sure this new one will be atleast as good. Batman Begins 2 : The Dark knight- This is basically my most anticipated 2008 movie, I very excite indeed.
Given the lack of concrete release dates and such I'll stop there though I do know later in the year the second bond featuring daniel craig is due out before the end of the year and I'll go see it. Anyway folks, that's the end of this ginourmous update, see you again in 2 months. Unless I catch a cold or something worth updating for happens in the meantime.
Firstly and most bloggingly , I've had followups on my cholesterol checkup that resulted in a bruised long some 6 months ago. Seems my cholesterol is still high, a little higher then it was in fact but curiously it seems my thyroid is out of wack. In a normal functioning individuals body the TSH level (that is Thyroid stimulation hormone, produced in the pituitary gland) is supposed to be between 0.2 and 4.0, mine was nearly 29.0. Further testing discovered the level of actual thyroid hormone in my body to be just over 10, normal ranges are between 9.5 and 20 roughly. I cant' recall the exact numbers, regardless I was on the low end of things. So a followup test was ordered and this second bloodtest gave me a test result of 21.0 for TSH, lower then the last one yes but still WAY to high. So as of this morning I've started a 3 month daily dosage of artificial thyroid hormone.
A rough explanation for those who haven't read through medical websites is as follows- if food and air and water is the gasoline for the human body then the thyroid is like the ignition switch or the car keys. A lack of thyroid hormone means your body metabolizes food poorly or too slowly which leads to a myriad of problems. The most common and obvious one is weakness/fatigue. You'll feel tired all the time / get tired easily and probably sleep alot. Secondly it seems difficulty controlling weight is a big issue , since the body is metabolizing food slowly it stays in the body longer and gets converted to fat easier , the slow metabolism means you aren't getting energy fast enough and may be hungry more often and well more eating equals more weight gain, and lack of energy means a lack of excercise. Furthermore going down the list of complications you can have mental side effects including depression, irritability or even a poor libido. There are a few more issues that can arise and well basically I've suffered from many of them for a few years but never thought of them as being related. So hopefully this pill does something, the alternative is that my pituitary gland has a benign tumor on it causing it to produce too much TSH and also obstructing the ocular nerve leading to vision problems. Basically get physicals and blood tests done annually folks, nip this stuff at the bud so you don't wind up in the ER when you're 40 or 50 with a barely operable life threatening malady.
---
So with that out of the way on to the fun news.
The Movies I wound up seeing theatrically in 2007-
Hot Fuzz,Grindhouse, TMNT, 300, Spiderman 3, Shrek 3, Pirates 3, Knocked up,Fantastic four 2, Ratatouille, Die Hard 4, Simpsons, Transformers, Balls of fury, Superbad, Resident Evil 3,30 days of night, Eastern Promises, Shoot 'em up, Beowulf, I am Legend, Aliens Vs predator 2 ... I'm still missing a couple but basically the best films I watched were -
Hot Fuzz - A hilarious followup to Shawn of the Dead, I've since seen it 2 more times and it's lost nothing
Ratatouille- Leave it to Brad Bird to top my longstanding pixar favorite "The incredibles" with his second pixar movie. There's just and undeniable charm to the whole premise of a cooking rat helping an incompetent yutz run a resteraunt. Movie of the year for me actually.
Transformers - It was awesome the first time, a little long the second time and really nice looking on imax for the 3rd viewing. I'm not in a huge rush to see it a 4th time but I still enjoyed it to list it among my yearly favorites.
Superbad/knockedup - interchangable judd apatow comedies, both are funny for different reasons and it's really hard to me to choose my favorite. Nice followups to 40 year old virgin.
Shoot 'em up - Seems my surprise hit film of the year is the most polarizing movie released in 2007, you are either like me and consider it a lovingly crafted homage that mixes looney tunes with john woo or you are like the haterz who think the humour isn't funny and the action goes to far. To decide which camp you reside in ask yourself this question - Do you find the idea of clive owen taking a carrot and ramming it so hard into a guys neck that is punctures and goes through followed by clive saying "eat your vegetables" funny or retarded ? If you answered funny then watch shoot em up if you answered retarded then avoid.
My final pick of the year is Eastern promises- Following in the more subdued tradition estlished by history of violence we have another cronenburg masterpiece. If you enjoyed the way history of violence was done there's not really any question of whether you'll enjoy eastern promises. It's only wether you'd prefer 1 to the other. I'm still unsure myself.
---
So the 2008 movie preview.
January : Currently cloverfield just opened but I'm not overly interested in it, if people wind up going I'd probably tag along but it's not something I'd go out of my way to see. The rest of january is a crapshoot.
February : Diary of the dead- a low budget throwback to romero's older zombie flicks, matt will likely be going, I'm unsure if I'll go or not. Be Kind Rewind- The latest jack black movie, this time he and Mos def team up to run a vhs rental store where all the tapes get erased so they set about remaking every movie themselves. The premise sound hilarious to me so hopefully it pans out. That about does it for feb. for me.
March :Doomsday- the new movie from the brit that brought us dog soldiers and The decent, looks like a modern day take on Mad Max actually. Run Fatboy Run- another simon pegg showpiece it doesn't look as good to me as their previous efforts but I'll still give it a shot. Superhero movie- From david "airplane" zucker we have a superhero spoof film, this is a blank listing on RT so for all I know a trailer will make it look terrible so it may get pulled but airplane remains one of the funniest comedies ever.
April : Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay- yes folks you read that right, a sequal to the most underated comedy of the last 5 years. The title kind of explains the whole premise really.
May : Iron Man- Sure the trailer makes it looks pretty stupid but I'll see it for the casting alone I mean robert downey as tony stark? could it be any better? Speed Racer- Okay I'm seeing this on principle alone the fact that a studio greenlit a 100 million dollar summer flick based on a cheesy 60's anime and that the matrix brother and sister signed on to direct is all I need as motivation , even if it gets a 0% metascore. Indiana jones and the temple of the crystal skull- Da dee dada da dee day da de dada da de da da day doodle dee do da dee do da doodle dee do da dee day!
June : Incredible Hulk - I'm willing to give hulk another shot after the dissapointing mess ang lee shat out of his arse a few years ago. This time bruce banner is played by edward norton and it's being billed as a "non origin franchise restart" which basically means we can pretend the other hulk movie doesn't exist while watching this one. Wall-E - Pixars next film about a silent robot that's been cleaning up earth for a 1000 years while humanity has evolved into giantly obese fat creatures living on a space station, here's hoping it's charming like ratatouille and not commercialistic mediocrity like cars.
July: Hancock- Will smith stars as an alcoholic superhero who hires an image consultant and winds up falling for the guys wife. The trailer makes it look funny. Hellboy 2- I enjoyed the first one and I'm sure this new one will be atleast as good. Batman Begins 2 : The Dark knight- This is basically my most anticipated 2008 movie, I very excite indeed.
Given the lack of concrete release dates and such I'll stop there though I do know later in the year the second bond featuring daniel craig is due out before the end of the year and I'll go see it. Anyway folks, that's the end of this ginourmous update, see you again in 2 months. Unless I catch a cold or something worth updating for happens in the meantime.