"Winner of the coveted Weeping Monkey award at the Beijing Film Festival: 'Satan's Alley'"
Assorted brief items:
- Tropic Thunder was quite a hoot. This is a case where the funniest stuff in the movie isn't in the trailer because it couldn't be. It also gives new meaning to the term 'playing with someone's head.' The entire cast are fantastic, and while Robert Downey Jr. does stand out, the show is stolen by Tom Cruise, whom I didn't even know was in the film beforehand.
- One of my chief concerns with the new contract was the prospect of having to change my medical coverage. As it turns out, that is not going to be an issue; the new and de-improved medical plans are only for new hires, which means that I keep my Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield, which I am content with. It's still a giveback, but at least I'm okay (for now).
- Pineapple Express proves that James Franco has been wasted in the Spider-Man movies. The man has a true gift for comedy.
- Aha! I have finally located rules for flurst, a card game I enjoyed very much as aerolyndt's guest at the 2004→5 N.Y.E. party. Unfortunately, it was so complicated that I while I could play quite well once having learned it, I didn't have time to internalize the game. I had not been able to import it back to the East Coast... until now.
- I received my copy of the Hip-O Shaft in Africa soundtrack album in preparation for the mix I plan to make out of FSM's Shaft Anthology (it is the only one of the theatrical scores not included in that set). It came in a very nice heavy cardboard sleeve that is a reproduction of the original LP art. The only problem? It is about a half an inch too tall to sit comfortably on the shelf!
- Now that I've finally introduced young Ethan Rayne to school_is_hell, and thus premiered my young Ethan icon in proper context, I can start using it for myself.
- It seems that work on Superman: Man of Steel has stalled, and now there are discussions at Warner Brothers on how to make more 'dark' comic book movies of out of DC properties, including a reboot of Superman with a similar tone as The Dark Knight. Um... while Superman Returns wasn't perfect, at least Man of Steel sounded like it was on track. Call me crazy, but "Dark Superman" is a contradiction in terms.
- So I was right. The Mars Bar has been discontinued in the United States, with Snickers Almond being posed as its replacement. It took a recent viewing of Total Recall for me to notice that this staple of the candy rack had disappeared from the American landscape.