A.J. Wood | Page 79

July 12, 2003 by A.J. Wood

Movie Review – The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

Well, it was a toss up between this movie or Pirates of the Caribbean. Seeing as Mich3lle had already read the LXG graphic novel it was lady’s pick tonight.

(Listen up fellas, when your woman wants to see Sean Connery best you just nod & smile)

Mich3lle mentioned some reviewers are calling this film an 18th century ripoff of the X-Men; it’s nothing of the kind. The characters are all familiar (Allan Quatermain, Dr. Jekyll, The Invisible Man, Tom Sawyer, Mina Harker, Captain Nemo & Dorian Gray). These peeps were around long before the X-Men plus there isn’t a mutant in the bunch. (Heh, who remembers Richard Chamberlain & Sharon Stone from the 1987 Allan Quatermain film?)

But don’t let that stop ya, The LXG is plenty disappointing on its own. Just another action picture that moves along with loose dialogue and an even looser plot. I admit being thoroughly amused at the mention of other fictional characters such as Phileas Fogg. My third grade teacher Mrs. Evans would be so proud as I did my first book report on Around The World In 80 Days. But that’s where the amusement ends. The movie clips along at a decent pace, but once again I will draw attention to the D+ cinematography used during the fight scenes. The public already knows that the average person cannot move as fast as Jet Li so there’s no use jiggling the camera, using quick zooms in & out while twisting camera shots at weird angles. It just looks bloody stupid. Also night scenes are not the best for fast moving action sequences.

As with all budding franchises they left the movie open for a sequel, but I wouldn’t start printing those t-shirts just yet.

Grade: C+ (Peta Wilson was cool as a vampire chick)

in Arts/Media 6 comments

July 11, 2003 by A.J. Wood

ebb & flow

Sometimes the support you need comes from the most unexpected people. Michelle & I recently announced that we are postponing our wedding which was scheduled for this November. The Cliff Notes version is the crappy economy isn’t helping us out any. Most of you have caught the brunt of my mood here as I’ve drudged up a lot of angst in my attempts to maintain a calm & reasonable persona. But I digress….

My stepbrother Brad was the first person to pick up the phone and call to see how things were going. I would not have been so moved except Brad & I rarely speak unless it’s Christmas. Oh sure, there have been the occasional e-mails every nine month or so, but the Brady Bunch we’re not. However, it was really good to hear from him and I’m thankful for all the supportive things he said on the phone. Lord knows he doesn’t owe me shit from Cheyenne.

That conversation led me to reevaluate a lot of things going on lately. All my life I’ve been a people pleaser. Ron> tells me I’m generous to a fault and it would seem no matter how many times I get my toes stepped on I’m anxious to do it again. My fault for being overly optimistic about human nature. I guess I was waiting for people to rally around me while I was wallowing in self-drama when I should have been dusting myself off more. Now don’t get the wrong idea, I was hangin’ in there pretty good for a while, but there are only so many rejections a person can handle before mental stamina gives out. Instead of focusing on what I wasn’t getting, I should have been searching out what I could get.

Despite circumstances I am thankful for what I have been able to accomplish and typing this entry is testament to the fact that I’m better off than a lot of folks. I’ll try and remember that before I go to bed and tomorrow when I continue job hunting.

Aidan made this cool Flash portal for his blogging buddies | Christilina has photos for sale | Congrats to Julie who’s expecting baby #2

in Editorial 1 comments

July 10, 2003 by A.J. Wood

linkfest

I need to clean out my IExplorer Favorites because I’ve added too many damn blogs. Here’s a list of random websites you should visit:

Acidman – I admire any man who has a bionic penis and writes about it.

This Chick – Props to Sarah whose website I came across while searching the MT forums this morning for answers on how to add the category ID to my blog entries. Thank you!

Bill Palmer, Mac Guy – Bill knows his Mac and he doesn’t lay the smack down when us PC folk badger him with questions.

Postcards at intherain.org – The photos impressed me, but I was also motivated by the PHP gallery layout.

Brain Farts – OK, I dug the hipster layout, but Sean gets linked for the Options & Water Fountain story (HINT – snap a photo of the water fountain and post it on your blog).

Purrz.net – Hey I found a cat blog… err cat gallery… err a pretty cool cat website. Mi gatos will be quite jealous.

Quira.net – Gets props for the online art. Anybody that actually can pull off a vector drawing gets a thumbs up for actually using the skills I have yet to acquire.

Someone Called James – I should have linked and worshiped James long ago when I lifted the correct syntax for a “New Window” checkbox from his site. My apologies for not having the genius to code my own shit.

Tales From The City – Because Homer Simpson quotes are funny and I wish MT could spice up my comments like Blogger.

Chirish.com – I would have been Uber-Computer-Graphic man had there been cool computer classes when I was in school.

Two Muses – Added to my Favorites during that whole May Day Project thing as I thought their entry was very unique design-wise.

OK, that should do it. If I make the list too long you won’t get a chance to visit those links. Still plenty to do offline; anybody got friends in Dallas needing to hire a super groovy computer guy?

in Editorial 6 comments

July 9, 2003 by A.J. Wood

I have no sympathy for stupid people.

Who can blame today’s kids for being apathetic & rebellious? I’d be pissed too if my rights kept being violated. It was a little over a year ago that some school official decided thong checks were in order before a school dance and now you can’t even go to an off-campus party without the principal calling for STD testing the next day. It’s no wonder that teens need their own lobbyist group.

In unrelated news, can we just shoot all the stupid people please? Two years ago I was surprised by the number of children being left in unattended vehicles and today IT’S STILL A PROBLEM. I would venture that I read about this type of death on average every two to three months. What the hell? Are people so consumed with their own personal issues that they can’t focus on anything else for more than two seconds?

HELP!!! Somebody stop the insanity!!!

in News 5 comments

July 8, 2003 by A.J. Wood

Cats don’t have navels….

I’ve got the schizophrenic blues,
No I don’t… Yes I do.

There are days when I question my mental health, but then I realize the true problem is I think entirely too much. By that I mean my mind is constantly processing every moment, analyzing each detail, calculating the probability of a positive outcome or checking my list of disaster recovery options in the event of a some unforeseen accident.

Thank God for Yahoo’s gaming site. Sure my European counterparts have marijuana (O the envy), but after playing Collapse for six hours straight I get the same zoned out look and the need for pizza & beer.

I envy my cats. They must sleep at least 16 hours each day. They get two meals a day guaranteed, in-house gym equipment, luxurious sleeping quarters and they can have all the kitty dope they want without fear of showing up on an episode of Cops. (Back in the day we tried rollin’ a fatty out of some catnip, almost as smart as whippits)

Cats don’t suffer from anxiety (Bailey being the only documented exception). Cats don’t have to have goals. Cats aren’t overwhelmed with a sense of responsibility nor do they have neato super hero outfits.

If you or any of your friends can find the point to this entry, comment quickly before reasonable thought takes over.

in Editorial 5 comments