philly420pdx

The Movie Timeline.

Edit: Holy crap, it mentions Highlander II: The Quickening. Iiiiiit's that kind of list.

Mom and Dad got me home this morning, as I needed a ride back from their place after Christmas. Dad and I then spent some time with my long-neglected car, jumping it, running it for the first time in a couple of months and then taking it for a several-block spin around my neighborhood. Dad, much better at car stuff than I, gave me some pointers on what it likely needs, some of which I knew. It wouldn't start after that, so we jumped it again, and I let it run for a while. I've been letting it run on and off this afternoon, glad that it has plenty of gas and hoping that it keeps running. And it has gotten enough charge to be able to start again. So far I've let it be stopped for the length of a Lost episode, and it started again. This week: Get a couple of things checked by professionals, and (if all goes well) get its oil changed and start driving it regularly again.

I both miss driving and know that I need to retrain myself driving. I drove some last month -- a company car for a work errand (as in, Portland to Auburn, Wash., 150 miles one way), and a MUCH SHORTER trip into Newberg when I was staying with my folks at Thanksgiving -- and a little earlier this month, when I gassed up a company car. But the longest road trip I did this year was to Eugene back in February, and the longest trip after that was to go to Tigard for the Star Trek preview screening. Otherwise, very little driving. This year I've likely driven the least of any year I've been a driver. If this works, I can do longer trips again. I've missed doing that.

A blast from the past: This 1999 chat is apparently the last interview writer-director John Hughes ever gave. Talks about his films, the music for them, and some of the people influenced by him, like Kevin Smith:

I brought up Kevin Smith, writer/director of Clerks and Chasing Amy, who has more than once mentioned Hughes as an influence, even going so far as to base his upcoming Dogma around a quest by his recurring characters, Jay and Silent Bob, to find Shermer, Illinois (a mythical Chicago suburb where many of Hughes' teen films were set). "Someone mentioned that to me," Hughes says. "I saw Clerks, and it made me a little jealous. I wanted to do something similar. I like how he stays in New Jersey and retains that regional flavor. I admire what he's doing."

Via Kevin Smith, in fact; someone passed him along the link on his Twitter feed.

Thursday night was my first-ever viewing of White Christmas. Nice flick, and it impressed me with the long takes -- sometimes with somewhat complicated action, other times with action more complicated like THAT GUY DANCING BACKWARDS UP STAIRS. I was tired enough that I faded before the ending, but it's safe to assume All Worked Out, 'cause it's that kind of film. And maybe my favorite dance was "Choreography."

The film didn't replace Singin' In The Rain in my heart, though. (I really want to see Singin' In The Rain again.)

Yesterday the family watched a bit of the sixth Harry Potter film, but our big Christmas Day '09 film? The Dark Knight. Devastatingly bleak for the win! (Hey, in the past the films this family's watched on Christmas Day are the Gary Sinese-John Malkovich Of Mice and Men and, another year, Three Days of the Condor. Hey, it's set at Christmas!)

( So I finished reading 'Breaking Dawn.' )

P.S. My review of the first book. Maybe one of these days I'll read and talk about Meyer's still-unfinished book from Edward Cullen's POV, see what I think of her writing in that. Meanwhile, on to reading other books.

We're all easing into Christmas here at my folks'. No mad scramble to open stuff. Food, drink (tea for me, coffee for Mom and Dad), and the paper. Plus my brother T.J. calling from family Christmas over in Philadelphia.

May your Christmas be gentle.

Washington D.C. sports broadcaster George Michael has died. He was 70.

You may have heard of him. He hosted what became The George Michael Sports Machine, a nationally syndicated sports highlight show. And you may have heard him without even knowing it: he had a cameo in The Silence of the Lambs, appearing on a newscast ("I'm Gene Castle with sports"), because director Jonathan Demme was a fan of Michael's from his days in rock radio (he'd broadcast in Philadelphia then New York).

Here is the Washington Post obit for Michael.

I hope there's some mention or acknowledgement of him in Sunday's Redskins-Cowboys game.

*raises glass*

Last Christmas present: taken care of.

A ride to my parents' home for Christmas: coming soon.

Happiness of all sorts, no matter what you celebrate.

VoicePost 245K 1:13

“Good morning, everybody, and calling in from work, as I get settled. Haven't started yet, and I wanted to check in, and describe what I can see, which is almost nothing because there's a lot of fog in Portland this morning. Thick enough that when I was crossing the Ross Island Bridge on the bus, I could not see to the Marquam Bridge, the next bridge to the north, and usually I can. So from our view -- I *am* near a window, so I usually have a view -- I can see almost nothing at the moment. Still, it's kind of neat. It will be a relatively -- this will be a shorter day than normal. I don't know exactly how long it'll be. But after that, I'll be home, and then after that, I'll get picked up and taken out to Mom and Dad's for Christmas. And I hope I'll be ready for Christmas. Be in the right mood for Christmas. So anyway, I wanted to check in, and I hope it's as good a day as it can be for all y'all.” Transcribed by: chris_walsh

Where do you stand on opening Christmas presents early? For, against, have more complicated feelings about it?

My family's done very little of the early gift-giving. It never became a tradition; I think we did it maybe once or twice. Earliest tends to be the stockings (candy and a Mad or Cracked magazine), which kept me and my brother T.J. distracted -- well, distracted somewhat -- in the morning while Mom and Dad worked to awaken.

You?

Why is "Train in Vain" by The Clash called that? What's the character in the song training for? Was it just called that because it rhymes?

True. It's a very Shane Black Christmas.

Watch almost any of his flicks for Christmas! Sex, violence, quips, hot people, all good.

(I am bad. I have not seen either The Last Boy Scout or The Long Kiss Goodnight.)

Ever heard of The Aristocrats (supposedly the rudest joke ever told*, and a subject of a really jaw-droppingly funny and overwhelming film)?

Think Sam Kinison ever told a version of it?

I wonder about things like that. The deeply wrong premise would likely have darkly amused him; on the other hand, it was a vaudeville routine that kept going through the comedy scene throughout the decades, and maybe it was too "old-school comedy" for him. I have trouble imagining Kinison getting into vaudeville.

Still: maybe once or twice or more times than that, Sam Kinison idly or seriously said "So, this guy walks into a talent agency..."

Or maybe they tell the joke in Comedian Heaven. Or Comedian Hell, depending on wherever you think Kinison wound up.

---

* I say "supposedly" because the fullness of time may possibly yield AN EVEN RUDER JOKE. As Sam Kinison himself once said, "People in the audience are going 'Jesus, God, that's the sickest, most disgusting joke I've ever heard on stage.' WRONG! I can top it."

Modern science fiction, reimagined as steampunk. Via ixzist.

Like this:



And, also, like this, which I actually think is really lovely:



And this, which I think is hot:

( It's a large shot. )

(Warning: there's at least one 9/11 reference amongst this work.)

This Sunday night at Portland's Mount Tabor Theater, the people at 7th Planet are hosting a double feature of Mark Hamill (Cock-Knocker himself! Oh, and, also, the star of these Start Wars or something films) that they shall comment on. They're showing the science fiction action film Slipstream, the one with Beard!Hamill and Bill Paxton in a post-apocalyptic blasted land (score by The Magnificent Seven's Elmer Bernstein!), and Time Runner, where Hamill fights time-traveling, planet-invading aliens.

Sunday night from 7 to 11, Mt. Tabor Theater at SE 49th and Hawthorne. Free. I'm tempted.

Here's a laugh (a historical laugh!) written and drawn by beatonna.

Did some writing tonight that won't be online (at least not yet) in a way y'all can read. Won't say what it is, but some of you may be able to guess.

Productive week at work so far. Productive lunch today, too: I indeed reached the new food cart Big-Ass Sandwiches and happily ate a toasted roast beef sandwich topped with fries and Bechamel [sp?] cheese sauce, washed down with a mango Jarritos. I can get there and back to work with time to spare. Good for potential future visits to Big-Ass Sandwiches; I want to support them!

Meanwhile, don't mind me, I'm going to be asleep and thus less interesting for a while.

Mind continues to bend under the weight of Lost, now that I'm watching Season 2. (I have the DVD sets through Season 4, thanks to friends of my folks. My parents, both Lost fans, are amused I'm finally experiencing it. As Mom said, "Confused yet? You will be.")

There was a potentially more-than-slight impediment I had to get past in order to like the show. At some point in Season 1 I had the thought Am I supposed to like anyone on the island? That season, at it throws the island's mysteries at you, also throws the characters' issues at you. Deep, dark secrets, all around, except for maybe Vincent the dog, and they're not dealing with those deep, dark secrets all that well as they're getting swamped with the new secrets of the island, and of course their being CRASHED AND STRANDED in a horrific, violent way is gonna throw anyone off. Not a happy time. So people's issues, because it's understandable in the situation and because it's required for Lost's plot, become more prominent and affect how these characters behave. But there was SO MUCH of it that, especially with me powering through the show, it became a little wearying. (Plus I knew that some of the plot questions raised in Season 1 STILL haven't been answered as of Season 5.)

It took just powering through, and letting the show's ideas, emotions and flashbacks accumulate, as it were, for me to get past that. More sympathetic details eventually come out for each character, not just the dark and difficult stuff. And as the characters get farther from the traumatic event that brought them to the island, they get both more functional and more cognizant of when their fellow survivors aren't functioning well. More of the characters are looking out for each other. I think I needed them to get to that point. Makes it a more complete experience, not just seeming like the setup of a vast cosmic joke. (Though I did find the opening scene of Season 2 to be a nicely-delivered joke. Mama Cass! And come to think of it, that opening scene kind of pulls off something Douglas Adams tried to do sometimes, which was have something that was funny at first and then show that it's something serious, which if successful makes the situation more dramatic: "Oh...you meant this." So it works.)

I'm now about a quarter of the way through Season 2, just kind of letting it wash over me. Whatever issues I may wind up having with Season 2 (I know its reputation as a season that almost drove away a lot of fans), I'm invested now. Which I wasn't sure I'd be when I was about halfway through Season 1.

"She's the sexy kind of round."

(Okay, NOW to bed...)

The solstice happened earlier today. We've now started climbing out of the dark.

No, the night won't look brighter because of that, 'cause it's night. Tends to be dark, except in the Antarctic Circle right now where it's light all the time, but you know what I mean.

In other good news, something good started today: former DJ Lisa Wood (on Twitter as Lisa Effin' Wood) and her husband Brian Wood joined Portland's burgeoning food cart scene with their sandwich cart, Big-Ass Sandwiches. The shortest day of the year and they were out feeding people with tasty, cheesy, french-fry-laden sammiches (yes, the fries are among the toppings). I plan to be there at lunch tomorrow to have one such sammich. Sandwich. I should say "sandwich." Me saying "sammich" just sounds wrong.

In other other good news (the repeating word thing must be from all that watching of Monty Python and the Holy Grail when I was younger), my work day was productive. I should keep that up.

And this is getting random enough that I'll take it as a sign that I should go to sleep.