Author: brian

my boss sort of insisted i take a day off last week while she was out of town in return for all the long nights lately. i took her up on it and mostly wasted the whole day, except for being free to see a discount matinee (only $4.75? it’s like i’m back in the 80’s!) of the freshly released kill bill. oh man.

kill bill: volume one – 4 stars

dead-on macho soundtrack. foxy lead assassin chick. swordfights. blood everywhere. if this were a badass-rating system and not a movie-rating one, it would get a five for sure. i loved this movie, and the two hours flew by so i couldn’t believe that it was over when the credits dropped (and did they ever drop on this one or what?). i think i would have rather sat through a four-hour movie all at once because it was so delightful to watch. i think my only complaint is that since it was only half a movie i really thought it needed more of everything to feel complete, but perhaps after being able to view it all as a whole it will gain what it’s missing. i suspect though that even seeing both halves will leave me with the same opinion: it’s more of an exercise in style than content, but goddamn is that style a blast to kick back and watch for two (or four or five) hours.

lost in translation – 5 stars

okay, objectively, maybe it doesn’t deserve such a high mark. but i give five stars to movies i plan to buy and watch multiple times, and this is one such film. the mood is set with perfection to the loneliness and longing of being surrounded by millions of strangers. bill murray is terrific as usual and scarlett johansson is cute as hell with a lot of personality on screen. i’ll admit it right now, movies that make me laugh and feel sad in the space of a few minutes always get a little bit of favortism from me, and even if people tell you it’s slow in parts they must not be realizing that that’s kind of the point. now i want to visit tokyo, or failing that, go see this movie again.

wonder boys – 3 stars

it was solid, it was about writing and lying and wasted talent, so i can say that i liked it for sure. katie holmes seemed out of place as a character that also seemed out of place in the film’s story — are there really students that rent a room in their professor’s house? — but i did laugh. michael douglas looks like a wreck though, i can’t believe he gets to sleep with catherine zeta jones on a regular basis (in theory).

a fistful of dollars – 4 stars

i don’t think you can not like this movie and still claim allegiance to the united states of america. even though having seen yojimbo first and knowing this was essentially a remake with guns and italians-posing-as-mexicans instead of swords and robed japanese men, i am having a hard time deciding which version i liked better. clint might win on the grounds of two pieces of evidence though: one, telling the bad guys they should apologize to his mule before shooting them dead, and two, the metal plate scene where he just won’t die and taunts the hell out of his nemesis (before also shooting him dead).

[now hearing this: the avalanches]

yesterday was a big deal. sure, as everyone knows, california recalled their governor (which i voted against), and installed an action movie star in his place (which i also voted against). but on the very same day that new music by several of my favorite bands come out — it’s almost too much for a night. but being a good citizen, i rushed home from work to cast my ballot. it went smoothly and quickly. then being a good scenester, i went smoothly and quickly to amoeba to pick up the new hey mercedes, on top of the new ted leo, and wishing i had enough money for the new dismemberment plan or new death cab for cutie. oh, decisions.

it’s a whole big deal of a week, in fact, cause this friday, a new quentin tarantino and a new coen brothers movie comes out… holy geez my media gauge is overloading. how’s a guy supposed to keep up with all this good shit coming at once?

and speaking of some good shit, here are a few movies i have seen recently that i pass on to you as recommendations…

[now hearing this: ted leo – ‘tell balgeary, balgury is dead’ EP]

let’s put some coal back in the ol’ train, shall we? i missed you the past week, ol’ girl. didn’t get any quality time together, did we. well, we’ll ease back in with some easy stuff.

a wild sheep chase – haruki murakami – 4 stars

the single longest session i spent reading this book was a friday night when all my friends were doing other things or out of town. friday nights with no one to talk to get kind of weird, i think, because you spend all week gearing up for it and when nothing happens you feel so detached. your insides are ready to get up and go and your outsides have nothing to tell them. so i walked a half mile or so down to the barnes and noble at the yuppie mall, sat in a corner with a blended coffee drink, and ripped through this book for about an hour and a half. my thinking was that sitting alone and reading in a public place is at least slightly less lonely than sitting alone at home and reading.

that’s the sort of feeling that went perfectly well with this book, too. i imagine the nameless protagonist — whose anonymity i only realized halfway through during a conversation about nicknames between he and another nameless character — feeling exactly the same way for the better part of the book. he’s not unhappy, but he’s not excited about anything. he’s clever and funny but he doesn’t seem to have any direction or goal or preoccupation for himself even though he wishes he did. so he drifts into this little adventure that’s sad and interesting but most importantly, something to do.

for a japanese novel, it was either translated or written extremely well, because i had to keep reminding myself to picture the characters as japanese, and the book’s language was part of why i enjoyed reading it so much. the way they talk and the things they think are so honest and likeable, i wanted to spend time with them. i don’t know if i gained any insight into life as i know it from reading this book, but i was sure glad to have someone so pleasant to pass that friday night with, even if he was fictitious.

taking some spare minutes at work to catch up on california politics. i got some piece of mail yesterday and realized, ‘oh shit, the election is next week and i don’t know what i’m voting yet.’ well, problem solved, i think. looks like i’m going green on this particular ballot mostly because the other choices for major/serious candidates are a far-right republican, the second to the governor-to-be-booted, and kindergarten cop. plus i like the idea of someone who is for encouraging solar power, gay/lesbian rights and marriage, and decriminalizing marijuana on top of auditing the state economy.

it’s hard to take it too seriously though when my polling place is ‘precious hair & nails’ on wilshire. what the fuck is that, they didn’t have any schools or libraries we could use for this little democratic inconvenience?

[now hearing this: mars volta.]

contrast can really screw up your perceptions. six weeks ago i was sort of going crazy because i didn’t have enough work to do and for the first time, my work day was dragging and making me doubt myself. then it turned into september and i’ve been working 10-12 hour days consistently. last weekend i worked nine hours on sunday and then a full normal week, but we got everything done we needed to. now by comparison, just having a few moments to collect my thoughts feels like vacation in comparison. luckily, everybody likes vacations, right?

the weekend, being two days instead of one, felt equally luxurious, and i feel rejuvenated and relaxed and happy in its wake. it was somewhat uneventful as far as action-packed nights on the town, but still good. friday night i walked a mile down the street to a yuppie mall to use my apple store gift cards (ipod car charger for the matrix, extra firewire cable for the backpack in case of emergency downloads & uploads to my work computer). i figure, with free money i can buy things i would never pay real money for otherwise without guilt. similarly, i bought more comic books with an amazon gift certificate my boss got me for working so much overtime last week. i can’t wait to read watchmen after hearing everyone in the world pretty much nut over allan moore’s masterpiece.

saturday i was even up 3 bucks at nickel poker (i have learned to prefer texas hold’em over 5-card draw), which went directly toward some mozzarella sticks at the nearest IHOP at 3am. can you believe jack in the box had the nerve to take them off their menu? now i can only get them if i go to a sit-down restaurant! if anyone knows another fast-food chain or even short-order stand that has good cheese sticks, please please help ease my pain.

and to top it all off, with all this seemingly-vast-in-comparison amount of leisure time, i went to lunch and a movie with my dear friend emily, dinner with my dear friend jen freshly back from japan (she even bought me this totally sweet shirt that will be sure to impress the hipster chicks), re-entered my netflix habit, AND finished a book! for a weekend of lounging i really packed it in, n’est pas?

hence, expect reviews of lost in translation, wonder boys, and a wild sheep chase to follow tonight or tomorrow.

[now hearing this: braid – frame and canvas. and after years and years, i still can’t say i’ve heard many cd’s better than this one either.]

so damn busy. and exhausted. even having fun is tiring me out lately. i think i must needs spend a healthy amount of time this weekend doing very very little. by way of recuperation. and hopefully catch that lost in translation movie, cause bill murray is a genius and that young ms. scarlett is a fine young thing. talented, i mean. used sparingly in man who wasn’t there and still i somehow loved her in that part. that’s how you know.

oh, i have reviewed very few movies because i haven’t watched enough lately. i’m feeling the onset of what i knew would be inevitable: the netflix guilt. i pay by the month, what if i don’t watch enough this month! the incremental cost will go up to 3 or 4 or 5 instead of 2! holy fuck i better get working!

but here’s a half-assed review for you:

american splendor – 3 stars

i’ve been meaning to see this for weeks cause i have friends that said it was really good. guess what? it was really good. and i’ve been on a comic kick lately. the right ingredients made it enjoyable and if you feel any similar affinites i bet you’d like it too. toby is a riot though. i wish they had white castle here in california.

beforehand we saw a trailer for elephant. that kind of disgusted me. how hard is it to make a shocking and chilling tale of a high school shooting when it’s based on an actually true, very shocking and chilling reality? it seems like a cheap way to be poignant to me. perhaps i should see it and find out.

[now hearing this: cex – being ridden]

cool shit….

it’s wednesday and i am drunk. courtesy of wired magazine. let me tell you how this works, in case you don’t know:

1–advertising agencies buy ad space in magazines, also known as providing them their main source of income

2–to encourage advertising space buyers to pay for ad space in their publication instead of others, what we call ‘media reps’ treat advertising media buyers to fun, free, alcohol-included events

3–sometimes those benefits trickle down to others at the agency, i.e. me.

and so this is why i got to go on a crazy treasure hunt with GPS units and pocket PC’s and flashlights and what have you (similar to geocaching, only in a competitive way with a time limit in a small area, i.e. santa monica pier and promenade), then return to find we got second place good for a $25 gift certificate to the apple store — $50 if like me, your teammate doesn’t want hers… bonus! — and free dinner and several rounds of shots and heineken chasers, all thanks to wired magazine.

i quite enjoy working in advertising.

[now hearing this: dntel – ‘the dream of evan and chan’. i know i’ve used this before but instead of lying and being different i was being honest and just telling you what was actually playing on winamp shuffle right now.]

a few pretty interesting things happened to me this week, despite the first one, being that i worked until 9 or so almost every night this week. as a matter of fact, i’m at work right now. yes, it is 7:30 on sunday. the world’s just a crazy place sometimes. i think i’m going to take next friday off though with a blessing from my boss. that will be nice and make the week easier.

the first notable thing was that i did manage to get to golden apple on wednesday after work before they closed to grab endless nights, which they weren’t sold out of at all. excellent. but the fun part wasn’t just getting the comic book, it was seeing brian posehn there too! you may know him as the tall goofy looking guy with glasses from mr. show, or the tall goofy looking guy from just shoot me. and he wasn’t just picking something up, he was flat out hanging out in a comic book store. i figured a serious comic book store guy doesn’t deal well with being approached, although i sort of wish i had at least told him i thought he was hilarious, because i figure serious comic book store guys also could use some extra confidence. maybe next time.

thursday night was crazy too. LACMA was having a special end-of-summer all-night museum party, and admission was free and there were giveaways and music and stuff. i figured i’d get home, swing by there for a while and see some art for free, and head home satisfied without even having to stay late into the night. well, that didn’t happen because to my utter surprise, there was a line that stretched all the way around a city block just to get in. since it was already 11 when we even walked up and realized this, we settled for just walking along and seeing all the types of people waiting. it was probably one of the coolest gatherings i’ve ever seen in this city, and just the atmosphere was great walking along the sidewalk. there were older cultured types, young party kids, artsy hipsters, students, young professionals, all over the board. the vibe in the air was great. i wish walking down the street were like that every night.

i also played my first game of literati (i.e. online fake-scrabble) with a new friend in indiana, and won by a single letter, thus proving to myself that i am the smartest person alive.

the rest of the weekend was unremarkable but okay; i spent a lot of time with my friends which i love doing, and yet here i am still at work at almost 8 on a sunday which is keeping me from spending more time with them. sad, isn’t it?

additionally, i think this may be one of the most poorly written blog entries in a while for me, so i am sorry if you’d come to respect me or my writing. guess i fooled you, didn’t i?

[now hearing this: minus the bear – this is what i know about being gigantic]

so, being a registered california voter, i received a handy dandy guide to the upcoming recall elections (oct. 7th! mark your calendar!) in the mail this week. in it, the petitions and rebuttals that brought about this special election, then a list of the candidates, then statements from the candidates, then some explanation of some propositions being tacked onto the ballot.

the sad thing isn’t that i read through the booklet — i am making at least some attempt to be an informed voter for the first time in my life out of simple civic duty. the sad thing is that all the statements sounded surprisingly like elementary school essays handed in for the prompt, “why would you want to be governor some day?” They all either went through some lame laundry list of qualifications or took quick stances in the allotted space to appeal to those who hear a cause and latch onto it. and honestly it was hard to tell the serious candidates from the people who were just running for the hell of it. although i did find an early favorite: trek thunder kelly.

Dear Voters, Please vote for me, thus breaking the Seventh Seal and incurring Armageddon. I will legalize drugs, gambling, and prostitution so they may be taxed and regulated, the funds derived would subsidize the deficit, education, and the environment. I believe in peaceful resolutions backed by a strong military; I don’t care who you marry or have sex with.

and if the election isn’t enough of a joke to you already:

• you can read any of the other personal statements here, assuming they accepted the voluntary spending limit (schwarzenegger didn’t, sadly).
• the trek thunder kelly website
• there are ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY FIVE registered participants. gallagher, the ‘comedian’, is one of them.
• one is a porn star. one is larry flynt. (i actually thought for a second about voting for him, to be honest.)
• on this certified list, all their professed occupations are included. aside from your typical businesspeople/attorneys, we have a nice selection of backgrounds including some college students, a retired meatpacker, a railroad switchman, a custom denture manufacturer, a golf professional, a used car dealer, and — i shit you not — a “middleweight sumo wrestler”. i would never consider a middleweight for governor though. i mean come on.
• i think i’ll stick by the “marijuana legalization attorney”.

i’m so proud of my state. i foresee the declaration of marshall law in a manner of weeks.

[now hearing this: the new saves the day single has been in my head a lot lately. i need to get the mp3 on my work computer so i can fight fire with fire.]