30 October 2004 – 7:53 pm +0800
Two days ago, a cold strutted up to me and challenged me to an arm wrestling match. I declined politely and turned away, but it grabbed my shoulder, spun me around, and said “You’re funny, boy, actin’ like you got a choice.”
It ended in a draw, more or less, but left me rather tired.
Yesterday [...]
30 October 2004 – 8:31 am +0800
Megan McCardle discourses on the various chains of reasoning that led her to choose for whom to vote.
But Frank J. does it with stick figures and pithy wit:
We need four more years of tax cuts and dead terrorists.
See? Pretty simple, really.
29 October 2004 – 10:55 pm +0800
(subtitle: Return of the Taoist Rap!)
You might think that this would be “more of the same.” Same director. Same producer. Same principle cast, excepting the villain and two additions. And, largely, the same design sense and art direction.
But no. Not the same. In fact, very different.
Leslie Cheung is back [...]
28 October 2004 – 2:17 pm +0800
Through less than reputable means, I have two tracks from the soundtrack album for Miyazaki’s upcoming film Howl’s Moving Castle. Tracks 2 and 5, “Wizard of the Moving Castle” and “Moving Castle,” respectively. Composed and conducted by Joe Hisaishi, Miyazaki’s longtime collaborater.
“Wizard” has a forboding, militaristic feel, with some playfulness added in. [...]
27 October 2004 – 2:11 pm +0800
I may, or may not, say more about this during the next month, but in case I seem a bit on edge after 1 November, it’s because I’ve decided to do something moderately insane.
That is all.
27 October 2004 – 11:34 am +0800
Shame on me for never seeing this before.
Esthetically, this has everything I have always loved about Hong Kong films, and in fact it epitomizes the style of what I term the golden age of HK film. The cinematography is energetic and extreme, the special effects are a bit creaky, but usually covered up by [...]
26 October 2004 – 10:06 pm +0800
…but this one’s a classic, an utter classic.
The producer called us in, saying he only had a few minor notes that would only take a few minutes on the computer.
“I just need a tiny polish,” he said. “Just a few little nips and tucks.”
“I’m ready,” I said, having already figured out where I was going [...]
24 October 2004 – 9:45 pm +0800
The Old China Hand, or O.C.H.—let us stop to picture him, for he is important as your only authority on China. …[T]o my mind, he is a vivid personality, and one can now easily picture him in the imagination. Let us make no mistake about him. He may be the son of [...]
22 October 2004 – 10:50 pm +0800
Number 6: Welcome friend, I’m number 6.
Number 15: I’m number 15. What number are you?
Homer: I am not a number! I am a man! And don’t you eve… oh wait, I’m number 5. Haha. In your face, number 6!
Number 6: Myeees… Well done.
I spent a little time trying to explain that one to my most [...]
21 October 2004 – 10:33 pm +0800
Ahhhh, finally a good movie.
When it came out, of course, the critics said it sounded like a misfire, but managed to be quite good. Right on both counts.
The premise of the script by Larry Cohen (of Maniac Cop infamy) is tight. Last phone booth in one section of New York. A too–slick [...]
20 October 2004 – 11:44 pm +0800
“You are in Hell, little man. And I am the devil.”
“You’re not the devil… you’re practice.”
Being a Batman fan from around the time of Frank Miller’s one–two punch of Batman: The Dark Knight Returns and Batman: Year One, I tell you this: I am worried.
Warner Brothers is setting up a revival of [...]
20 October 2004 – 9:36 am +0800
“Actually it’s German. It means ‘The, Monster, The!’”
Darn it, I thought this would be a respite from badness.
American International Pictures’s string of Edgar Allen Poe and H.P. Lovecraft adaptations from the early 1960s are old favorites of mine (especially House of Usher and The Raven, though I’m also keen on The Pit and the [...]
18 October 2004 – 10:59 am +0800
Have no illusions: this movie is crap.
I don’t want any emails telling me “I rented this because of what you wrote, but I hated it,” so I’m warning you now.
This movie is crap.
A sequel done by the same writer and director as the original (reviewed here last June), Jeepers Creepers 2 manages [...]
14 October 2004 – 11:42 am +0800
Professor Reynolds writes:
Question for Kerry: I wonder if it was a Republican who put up this sign, which I saw downtown the other day?
As you can see, the photo includes the URL infowars.com, so I bopped on over for a look–see, and guess what:
THE ROAD TO TYRANNY EXPOSES:
HOW DOZENS OF FBI AND DEFENSE INTELLIGENCE AGENTS [...]
13 October 2004 – 10:57 pm +0800
Did I mention that I also have a DVD of Jackie Chan’s New Police Story? I am reserving it also for a Spook–A–Thon break.
Pthpbthpbphbbttttt!!!