Monday, March 29, 2004 ::: Television without Pity has started doing recaps of Wonderfalls. The show is good, if poorly timed on friday nights, the recapping could be a little better, although I think that the worse the show, the better the recap when it comes twop.
Sunday, March 28, 2004 ::: The Washington Post Style Invitational, which had been slipping of late, has come out with some quality material this week. Well, maybe not quality exactly but worth a quick read. It's a shame that Richard's Poor Almanac isn't available on the post web site, or anywhere for that matter.
mozarts requiem: good
the coral double album: first album good, second album not so good.
martina topley bird: very mediocre, especially considering that I ordered it on import and had to pay extra money.
Wednesday, March 17, 2004 ::: scrubbles has a post about dvd commentary. I loooove DVD commentary. Best commentary on any DVD so far has to be for Gosford Park - there are separate tracks for screenwriter Julian Fellowes and director and buddy Altman and Balaban. Very interesting in looking into not just the making of the movie, but really every aspect of the film. It helps that Gosford Park is a movie that's meant to be watched and rewatched and improves with every viewing.
I recently bought an iPod - here's the lowdown: very nice for being able to carry around my entire cd collection wherever I go. the 20G is a nice, decent size for that sort of thing with plenty of room to go. By the time I need another 20G, they'll be available for cheap.
Things that are not good:
creating playlists on the go is sort of a pain. Also you can't resort your smart playlists. Or maybe you can and I just don't know how, but if you can it's not in a way that is intrinsically obvious.
for some reason, the slightest human touch makes an iPod incredibly greasy and the metal side absorbs fingerprints and looks unsightly therefrom.
Monday, March 15, 2004 ::: so busy lately. lots to do. I've been hearing back from schools and trying to figure out how it's all going to work out with aid and all that. more on that when things get finalized.
Saturday, March 06, 2004 ::: Last weekend I saw the Lost Skeleton of Cadavra, a loving parody of low-budget fifties sci-fi and it delivered on its promises of hokey entertainment. It has what is probably the funniest dinner party ever, the guests consisting of the hosts, a nice fifties couple, a mad scientist and his half-animal creation who has been given a brief 10-minute lesson on dinner-party etiquette, and two socially awkward aliens in disguise who are doing their best to fit in like normal earthlings, and failing miserably despite a gracious hostess who is kind enough to overlook their eccentricities and offer more unspecified grey meat and mashed potatoes. The aliens also do not have much of a tolerance for earth drinks like scotch and soda. The rest of the movie doesn't quite match up, I think owing to being a little too gentle in its satire, but it's still pretty entertaining.
unfortunately, there isn't much there on the imdb quotes page aside from Aliens? Us? Is this one of your Earth jokes?
Last weekend was quite busy with houseguests and other out-of-towners, and I'm looking forward to a fairly relaxing weekend.
I also went to a concert on thursday - grant-lee phillips at iota - which was superb. I'm always a little disappointed when I go to a concert by someone I'm not so familiar with and it turns out that aside from one or two hits everything else is mediocre, which made it all the more surprising to go see grant-lee phillips and hear well-crafted song after well-crafted song. I'm a sucker for strummy guitar and resonant baritone voices, so I guess it's pretty much tailor-made for my tastes.
Thursday, March 04, 2004 ::: I read the post every day. I also read the post express sometimes, and find it interesting to compare and contrast the two and see which stories are in which. I noticed that there are articles which appear in the post express which do not in the regular paper - often short, humorous ones a la obscure store. I also found that these stories are often not posted online, including a transcription of the ad shooting scene from lost in translation, which I will excerpt:
Director: Mr. Bob-san, you are relaxing in your study. On the table is a bottle of Suntory whiskey. Got it? Look slowly, with feeling, at the camera, and say it gently - say it as if you were speaking to an old friend. Just like Bogie in Casablanca, Here's looking at you kid - Suntory time.
Translator: Ummm. He want you to turn, looking at camera, OK?
