Thursday, November 14, 2002

Go Go Gadget DVD player.

I watched the Lord of the Rings Extended version and most of the scenes are pretty descent. Yeah the opening shire portion got longer, but it still is not out of whack with the length of the shire section in the books. They could have done with more between Bree and Rivendell. Ehh.. What are you going to do? The added hobbit fart part... Lame. Could have done without it.

I ran amok at Oracle World for a day. Ehhh.. Nothing too exciting. I guess Database and Database support systems did not tickle my fancy. I did get to see AMD's new processor, the Opteron, in action. Got a few little trinkets. Got me a squeezeble linux penguin. Speaking of which how is Red Hat treating you Elric? I have been using it more and more lately. Still the usual shit bugs me about it. If you want a program, chances are you find that it works only on another distro or you need to download five other dependencies from other sources, only to find a bad link or that it will not run on your distro. The market it is too fragmented yet. Out of the box capabilities for non desktop use is pretty good though.

Car damage? $7800 is the current estimate. D'oh! Stupid crash. This is one of those rare opertunities to actually enjoy insurance. SO far my company has been reasonable. ETA for completion? 11/21. Suck balls. Three cheers for SF public transportation.

Getting up early is pretty good isnt it? I used to hate it, but I have become quite used to it. Gotta get up go to work at 6am. Yeeha...

Saw Taxi Driver for the first time just a few days ago and Vertigo too. Yeah go ahead and tell me I am dumb. Whatever. At least I am trying to get out of the hole or rock I was hiding in. Fuckers. Vertigo was interesting, but, it was more of a showcase of new technology, ideas, and camera work. I can see where a lot of movies made use of ideas. As far as plot or characters... well it was interesting but that is definately not why the movie is considered a great. At least in my opinion. Taxi Driver... That was pretty cool. Chalk up another crazy psychotic DeNiro character, but I guess this was one of his first. Very cool setup and the development of his disconnection from humanity. I really like the subtle music and narrative used throughout the movie. DiNero had some good lines. What was really creepy is that later on I learned that the attemtped assination of Ronald Reagen was very likely inspired by the movie. The man who attempted the assination even had a bad case of obsession for Jodie Foster. Also this seems to be one of those rare movies that really draws a lot of its strength from its prophetic views of society in the future.

Rented Evil Dead recently. Another movie I have not seen... Shut it! I had the damn movie for 7 days and I still managed not to see it. Stupid. I always seemed to find something I had to do until I had no time in the evening left. Returned it out of frustration. Will try later.

My hands smell like garlic.
Go take your date to see Cats. Works everytime.

-xXx (Triple-X)
The Stone on the Hill

Brilliant was the person that wrote the story on Sysihpus. Everyday, we toil, pushing that rock up the hill, only to see the rock roll back down. It all depends on the interpretation. Sometimes I feel great, I've got a steady job, decent place to stay, no girlfriend, but interpreted differently most of the time, I feel I am getting nowhere. I have to put in my time at the job, but the looming question is how much time till I get a real opportunity? Or will I be forever cursed in a low paid grunt work for the rest of my life? And that's pretty much what I think about everday. I mean, for how much they pay me, I don't mind the lame shit I do. But eventually that won't work anymore and personal growth outweighs mediocrity.

Have any of you ever heard of the play monachio? or Horoun of the sea stories? They are playing up in berkeley and I want to take a date but I don't want to be stuck watching a horrible play for 80 bucks. Any info, please let me know ASAP.

jael
Itemized Stream of Consciousness

- I am striking a much needed balance between both feeling like a parasite on the earth's oxygen supply for not having a job, and enjoying the hell out of waking up at 6.30 every morning and making the most of my day before 11am. I surf, and by the way had one of THE BEST sessions EVER today, I eat, I take care of bills (ugh...), I apply for grad school, I apply for jobs, I read a little, I go to the vet, I poop.... and then have the rest of the day to sit and ponder my doom.

- I agree with Jon's brief, yet uninspired, take on Jackass. It is a force of nature, not a movie -- and more than that, it is a TV show inside a movie theatre. As far as getting the most laughing bang for your buck, this movie is the way to go. Virtually non-stop laughter from the beginning, for 9 bucks. Other movies provide laughter, but I think you would be hard-pressed to find another that has the same percentage of time spent on laughter as this one. And I'm not just being lame Eric on this one, I was with Jon when he saw it and he laughed almost all the way through. True, there is somewhat of a hollow feeling in your soul after watching it, but man, seeing a guy getting a papercut across the corners of his mouth is just funny. (Note to Aaron: there are VERY few skits that mess with the public, and even those are rather light-hearted-- most of the flick is them hurting themselves... good stuff, see it.)

- So far the Extended Version of LOTR is good. The Fellowship just escaped Moria. Neat. The reason Aragorn doesn't have Anduril is explained, he doesn't want it. Boo.

- How's the mix of the songs coming Rudy? We are anxious to hear how much we r0x0r'd as a band and how much of teh a$$ you kicked producing us!

- I picked up D20 Modern and it made me want to play some fun role-playing games with you gents again... alas, that ain't gonna happen though.... boo.

- Godzilla: Destroy all Monsters is fun!

- Rudy: You should pick up Greyboy: Mastered the Art, on Ubiquity records. Some of the stuff on that old beats CD of yours sounds a lot like some of this guys stuff. Check it out, its really good!



Wednesday, November 13, 2002

Emotion Review: Extreme Work-Related Anger

Cheers: On the plus side, you get to work on your angry smolder, which is a key part of the "attitude" which is so crucial to your "rep." You also get to avoid speaking to all people at work, at all times, guilt-free. You can also base angry reactions to such triggers as seeing people, hearing people, etc., on all the deeply irrational stereotypes you can think up: "I don't like that person because she's a bisexual and bisexuals like skiing and I really hate people who ski," etc..

Jeers: Can be hard on the old pocketbook.

Final Grade: R+
Movie Review: Second Sight
This movie was not great, but okay. The special effects seem to do alright. But Bronson Pinchot as the psychic Bobby, does a serious amount of over acting thats not even funny. The way he does it, he looks like he did over a dozen takes. And Stuart Pankin's character Preston who is Bobby's care taker, is such an idiot, you were waiting for somebody to smack him upside his head. Seems it is John Larroquette is the only one who is funny as the uptight and cynical detective Wills. His funny performance saves the movie from extermination. Bess Armstrong seems to hold her own, has the nun who is helping them on the case. An alright film. Blood.Cum.Rust. lololololoool

Quickie Reviews:
The Others: Eh. Was alright I suppose. Grade: C.

The Skulls Since it was directed by the same guy who did Fast And Teh Furipus and xXx (Triple-X), I had high hopes for this movie, but, sadly, it sucked the dog pretty good. I like the idea of crazy Yale secret-societys (is Harris or whatever-the-fuck friend of yours guyses who went to Yale in a secret society? If he is, ask him- if he walks out of the room without answering, he is! HAHA BUSTED! This movie kinda sucked. Grade: B-

xXx
Movie Jon-A-Thon

Ahh yes the Jon/Johnny dynamic continues. This is nothing to be feared it is just part of the continuum of existence. Do be careful of spoilers though Johnny my good man. Not everybody has seen this fine film, "The Sting Ring of Fireington."

Lord of the Rings Extended Edition While Really Tired
there are a lot of added scenes in this edition like in the beginning when they talk more about hobbits and they zzzz

all manner of scenes get tweaks and extensions, even some small scenes help add to the general vibe of the zzz

already-exciting sequences like the battle at balin's tomb in moria zzzzz

lothlorien

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Jackass: the Gathering

This was some pretty funny shit. Really it's more of a force of nature than a movie. Some of the skits are kinda sad and depressing, most of them are amusing, some are side-splittingly hilarious. All in all a good movie to see when zzzzz

Monday, November 11, 2002

The Curse Grows...

The Bore Ring - Jon and I, historically has not seen eye to eye in many of movies. In fact, I think our views have always been at opposite spectrums. And this case, the curse continues. First, my concession, the Ring is probably one of the better movies out there right now, compared to 8 miles or pathetic teeny boppy movies like that. Also I think the special effects, however limited, was quite vivid, wasn't nearly enough. But when it comes down to scariness scale, the ring does not measure up to the time. Great was the media hype, great was not of the movie. The plot of the movie was not scary at all. Video tapes?? Pleez. Did they have video tapes when they were thrown into the well? Perhaps she had a camcorder with her as she plummeted into the depths of oblivion? Supposedly this mysterious video tape came crawling out in a pile of old movies that no one ever watched. Beats me. Maybe I'll run into something like that at blockbusters. maybe. So I should be really scared next time I go to the cabins up in the mountain, and probably should stay away from the rental racks, or just not watch tapes without labels on them.
Second, perhaps my age has wisened me a little, but freakish makeup, just does not cut it anymore. Gone are the days of Freddy Krueger, Return of the living dead, which would have caused many sleepless and tormenting nights. Psychologically, this movie was pathetic. There was no antipation of looming death, as we knew she was safe until 7 days later. Even Freddy could kill you at any moment or turn of a corner. Review grade C-

Shallow Hal: I like. Situational comedy like Aaron said earlier, but lots of good laughs, ronchee male pickup gags, and lots of good sarcastic comeback jokes. May have made me realize how shallow I am, but I guess I'm choosing path 1. Don't know your paths? Well perhaps watch the movie and you'll find out. Of course I just got rejected this weekend. But bounce right back and into the saddle!! YEEEHAA! Eventually, she'll get tired of my antics and submit to my control. Review Grade A-

Eric & Jon, when are you guys planning to visit? I need you guys to make a brookhurst run for me on some PBI equipment.

Mike U-La is probably getting laid.

Nothing new in this email, I'll try to write a better one next time.

Jael




Sunday, November 10, 2002

Jo Momma love me long time... She give me sucky sucky.

Eric: Yeah that 99.9 is looking more like 98 or some shit like that. I have found 10d6 and Studio 9 one 2 down a few other times here and there too. Fargin bastages. I like clowns. Maybe I will swing by for the funhouse. Three cheers to the "fog" machine.

Spent a fun evening of movie watching and screwing around with Johnny Khan & Company yesterday. My reveiws are as follows:

Supertroopers: Ummmm.. Yeah I trusted several people I normally have common opinions with for comedy. I was let down. This movie was not funny at all. I think I chuckled maybe two or three times, and my cohorts Aimey and Johnny agreed. This movies SUCKS! I thought it was stupid when I saw the trailers, but I was convinced otherwise. The hypnotic spell only lasted about 2 minutes before I was aghast at its lack of humor. Grade: F

Shallow Hal: Yeah I am on a roll here. Both Johnny and Aimey convinced me that we needed to rent this movie. Well I say it is not as bad as I had suspected it to be, I still was not a fan. Probably the biggest factor in my lack of interest in the movie is that the whole situational crap. As Jon is so fond of pointing out, Enron does not like uncomfortable situations in movies (ie Rushmore or Election Day). If anything, the movie does have one redeeming quality... Jason Alexander (George Castanza) has a sweet toupe. Grade: C-

Naan n' Curry: Okay one thing I do not like about SF is the price of food. Going out eat is not exactly cheap, so good cheap eats are a hard to find. Indian food has been no exception. If you thought it was bad in LA you were mistaken when compared to the level acheived here. The last place I went to was something like 11.95 for a Chicken Tikka, that was small and not so tender. I felt pretty cheated by the time I walked out of that place. So I went back on the hunt and found this Naan n' Curry hole in the wall joint with Aimey. We got a Chicken Tikka Masala, Saag Paneer, Shish Ka Bob (Which looked like human shit on a platter with garnish), Two orders of Rice, Two orders of Garlic Naan (Each about the size of a Bobboli), and a Mango Lassi. Pretty tasty shit. The Tikka Masala was good but maybe a bit buttery flavored, everything else was great. All said and told, we paid $20.00 total out the door and I was stuffed. The odd part about the place is that we sat in an area that used to be kitchen at one point but was converted to dining area with a partition from the kitchen cleaning area that did not go floor to ceiling. Thus we could here the hispanic crew in the back washing dishes and listening to Salsa shark & Techno music. In the front kitchen area was your typical Indian music. The resulting clash of music genres was quite a sound to behold. Great fun.

Jon: Tell me if that book is anygood. I actually wanted to check it out after seeing the movie, but I had forgotten about it until I read your post. I have been on a reading kick lately. With all the public transportation time and the extra time at work I have been getting a lot of reading done. Hell I am even half way through Atlas Shrugged. Three Cheers to The Fountain of Poo story and the Zues comment. Yeah wasnt Sting Ring creepy. Grim shit. Aimey tried to leave in the middle of the movie she was so freaked out. I really want to see the Japanese version. I do suggest you see Dark Water if you can find it. That was the one made by the same director who created the original Sting Ring.

Elron




TEST TEST TEST IS THIS WEBSITE WORKING???

Nah- no crazy art orgy (pretty much all the chicks there were MILFS, and the few who weren't were RUFFS.) JP led half the party through the mud into his neigbors TeePee where a bizzare drum-circle erupted for a few minutes (it was pretty funny.) Lots and lots of beer and wine. I told everyone there that my friend had a story in a ZOMBIES book- don't prove me wrong! Anyways, that big painting he was working on was done and it was pretty sweet.

What the fuck ever happened to Count Mike-U-La ???


The Sting Ring is the Last Thing You Will See

Yeah, I wanted to go to JP's BYOEA fiesta (bring your own easels and alcohol) but four-thirty came and the weather was shit and I just didn't feel like getting on the freeway. So instead I bought a shitload of books (Seven Pillars of Wisdom T.E. Lawrence, which inspired Lawrence of Arabia, a book of rules on Go whose first edition was written in 1934 and in which the author writes, vis a vis Japan, that "any nation which plays this game is one to watch out for, an Elmore Leonard book just 'cause I've never read him, a swimsuit magazine, and a copy of Official Xbox Magazine), then I went to Bed, Bath, and Beyond, then I went and had a daiquiri, then I saw the Ring and got the willies scared out of me.

The last time I got that panicky at a movie was at In the Mouth of Madness. I'm not saying this is either better or worse than that movie, but it is good and there are a couple of images in the Ring that are right up there with "kid on bike."

Although I did think that probably there was some weird art orgy going on at the party, did I miss out on that?
Review:JP's Partay

Got myself nice and drunk. Boo to Jon for not going. Also, congrats on your story Jon- hope it makes it into that 2nd anthology.

test test test

The (sting) Ring

This movie scared the shit out of me. Good stuff.

Go see it!