Friday, 03 July 2009

  • Currently
    Black Hawk Down
    By Hans Zimmer
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    Movies in My Life

    Today actually felt like a vacation day, but that might have been in part because I slept in because of last night's activities.

    Had chicken egg foo yong for "lunch" which turned out to be my only meal for the day. I'm disappointed in myself because I said I was going to walk every day this week and now it looks like I will have walked only Friday and Sunday. Boo!

    I got my license renewed today even though it still had another two months before it expired. This means that my license will now expire Aug 1 instead of Aug 30. I am not happy about this change. I did something else today that I meant to get done, but for the life of me, I can't remember what it was.

    Speaking of not being able to remember anything, the beer I drank last night is called Hoegaarden. Kudos to Kelly for saving me from my blunder. [info]ehowton, have you had this beer? Any thoughts?

    Speaking of [info]ehowton, he interviewed me and it's a good read if I do say so myself. Unfortunately, only one of his subscribers can read. Just mindless name calling and pot shots. Well fuck the infantiles who still play in the sandbox.





    So I watched Black Hawk Down today 'cause I've suddenly gotten on a war flick kick not being at work. But when I went to pull out my Bose around-ear heaphones the assembly on the earcup had broken, but not as bad as last time. If you rigged them up just right, they could still be warn, but really, the right earcup wasn't attached to the headband anymore. I called support and they are sending me a new pair free of charge despite being seven months out of warranty.

    Because this is the second pair that has broken like this and I take these headphones with me everywhere I go, I came up with a solution: Bose in-ear headphones. Why? Because I think they will work slightly better for me at work. It seems to be the case that as soon as I start to listen to music, I get asked 10 different questions by 10 different people, so that means taking the phones on and off. Plus, I have to take the around-the-ear headphones off to use the phone because we use headsets and once you put the phone headset on, you can't get the headphones off your person.

    Another reason for the in-ear headphones is that I think they will be more durable and suitable for travel. In both cases with the around-the-ear headphones the speakers haven't ceased to work, the headband assembly broke. Obviously, in-ear headphones don't have a headband assembly to break and for that very reason should be more durable for excessive travel. Smaller footprint too. Oh, and did I mention that the in-ear headphones are $50 cheaper?

    The major complain with these headphones is losing the rubber tips that you put on the speakers so they fit in your ears. I don't anticipate having this problem, but we'll see. I tried them in the Bose store in the Summit last year before Sidewalk, so I know they will fit well and put out good sound. But I'm also seeing some chatter about the wiring not being up to snuff. We'll see how I fare.





    Watched Full Metal Jacket for the first time tonight. Not impressed. The beginning scenes of Basic Training were great, but the narrative floundered after that. You can't quite call FMJ a character piece either because you're not really experiencing the action with the central character nor are you introduced that that character well enough to empathize.

    I will review Public Enemies shortly. I'll do my best to not drag it out like I did Angels & Demons. I'm skipping The Taking of Pelham 123 in the theater.

    Gran Torino
    would have been a grate movie if it would have been half as long. It took too long for Eastwood's character to change, bond and develop; the plot moved at a snail's pace. All of this would have been fine except the ending was so anti-climatic that it doesn't rate discussing dramatically. But here's the kicker: the ending was one of the best morals I've seen in film in quite some time. Gran Torino is worth a watch, but it's not something you should expect too much from when you sit down to watch it or you'll be disappointed like me.

    Defiance is a fairly straight-forward thriller/drama that delivers on what the trailer advertised: the horrors of a group of Russian Jews that hid in the woods during WW II. Defiance will keep you on the edge of your seat with anticipation, but the film does peter out as the war ends and they are no longer hunted due to the fall of the Third Reich.

    Though I may loose manly points for this one, I really want to see Julie & Julia. (trailer) This looks like it will be less of a chick flick and more of a solid drama. Ironically, it comes out on my birthday. I should find someone to take to see it.

Comments (4)

  • cmdr_keen

    Awesome update!

    I like how you were able to incorporate answers to peoples questions through this blog too; that's nifty.

    As for the review of Public Enemies: Get on and do it already! Slacker. XP

  • cmdr_keen

    Oh, and I agree with you on FMJ: IT really did meander and not really go anywhere. It reminded me of Thin Red Line as well in the way it just petered out, more or less.

    Black Hawk Down was interesting to watch in terms of it not portraying the American military in the best light and actually staying true to the events as they happened. In a side note, it was because of this failure that meant that then-President Bill Clinton avoided getting American troops involved with any conflicts around the world. As a consequence, America stood by in 1994 as the Rwandan Massacre occurred.

    Cause and effect, it's interesting to see it in action.

  • ProfessorTom

    @cmdr_keen - 

    Interesting that you mention Thin Red Line. That was the most pointless movie I've ever watched.

    Black Hawk Down trivia: This movie was the closest that the Armed Service has ever worked with Hollywood. Additionally, the actors were a bit perturbed with the filmmaking process because Ridley Scott would have up to nine cameras rolling at once with squibs going off everywhere along with projectiles and helicopters.

    Clinton was an idiot that was able to party in the White House because of Regan
  • villainwasright

    The Real Story of Black Hawk Down on The History Channel is really good too.

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