Monday, February 27, 2006

Good News

Hi all,

Well, the good news is that the movie nights shall continue. There were enough numbers at the recent screening of The 40 Year Old Virgin to make sure that movie nights will continue for the forseeable future. It was fun to sit there and be entertained by the lowest of lowbrow films. Quite funny, but I certainly wouldn't recommend it to anybody due to the crudity and coarseness of its comedy style.
Also watched Flight Of The Phoenix last night. That was a cool film, although slightly hampered by ordinary scripting. The film look fantastic on DVD, and sounded great too. I rate it an 8/10 for adventure.
Not a lot has happened since I blogged last, so there's not going to be much more here to read today. I'm off to surf the web now.
Catchya next time.

Friday, February 24, 2006

A movie night, birthdays, and other ramblings....

Well, the time has come. Tomorrow night, Saturday 25th February, the New Pad hosts another movie night. This week, the film of choice is The 40 Year Old Virgin. Apparently, its a good film. Hopefully, we get a good crowd, although I am unaware of exactly who is and isnt coming.... i have a few idead, but no definite numbers yet. At this stage, I am thinking that the crowd numbers will tell me whether there is a market for the movie nights or not. Low numbers, and I might call it quits on the idea, but if enough people turn up, then, I guess I can start planning for more.
Lisa and I are in negotiations with our feelings about whether we transfer our allegience to Trinity City to the new plant at Hove. Not too sure what's going to happen in this area, but hopefully this weekend we shall attend Trinity Bay and see whats what. People are starting to move on, away and around within our social group and this is making Lisa and I feel a little isolated and out of the loop with certain people: we try and socialise as much as possible but often plans conflict and we can't always do what we want.
Lisa has been going to the gym ever since The Biggest Loser started on TV the other week, and she's loving it. Apparently, busting your ass on a treadmill is much better than trying to diet and not succeeding. I am so proud of her for sticking with it even though she's working nights at the moment. Plus, she's starting toe firm up a bit, which, is not entirely a bad thing. I know she's feeling a lot better about things at the moment. Mind you, her trainer told her she didn't need to lose weight, and I had to laugh because I've been telling Lisa that ever since we started dating! Now she's more nterested in firming up the thighs and calves and buttocks etc etc. Its given her something to focus on and thats not a bad thing.

Rang my sister for her brithday on monday, and reminded Box about it on tuesday. Gulp, is he in the bad books? Forgetting Kezia's birthday? Well, probably. As long as he doesnt forget nephew Alex's 3rd birthday this saturday, he might escape the firing squad.

Watched Serenity on wednesday, and Sin City last night. Both good films, although Serenity wasn't as good as I had hoped it might be. Still, a worthwhile exercise in sci-fi and a couple of damn fine fight sequences make this a good saturday afternoon romp. Sin City on the other hand, is brilliant. Violent, edgy and alternating between funny and terrifying, Sin City is resitution for Robert Rodriguez after making the...lets face it, ABYSMAL film Once Upon A Time In Mexico. Bruce Willis is great, but Mickey Rourke (who last did anything resembling acting in the Enrique Iglesias filmclip for Hero, and the aforementioned OUATIM) steals the show as the ugly but "heart in the right spot" Marv. Its shot digitally, just like Star Wars, but has both heart and soul (unlike Star Wars) and a wonderful feel of noir to the proceedings. If you havent checked it out yet, do yourself a favour. But be warned: it is highly violent, so prepare yourself.

Thats about it for now. Will report in about the success of the movie night after the weekend. Enjoy yourself.

Friday, February 03, 2006

Superman's Kryptonite

Why is it that people like different things? Take movies for example: some people can't stand action films, others cannot handle scary films... whilst others revel in hiding behind a quilt in the beanbag on the floor, squealing in terror.... how can people all like/hate different things.

I had a conversation last night with my wife about Smallville.... you know, the TV show about the teenage Superman/Clark Kent. She said, and I quote, "it's shit". Now, thats a fairly wide blanket to throw over a show she's never watched. So I asked her to justify it. She replied by saying she hated sci-fi, and that Superman (in all his film and TV incarnations) fit neatly into that genre. I asked her to tell me why she hated Superman (and for that matter, Wonder Woman, another name she brought into the mix) not just reiterate that she hated all programmes thusly related. "They are stupid... I hate sci-fi, Star Wars, Star Trek, Stargate, Starship Troopers". Okay, but still not an answer. Hating something, as well as liking something, should be able to quantify why. Superman might be childish to most people, but as an avid comic book reader for ten years of my life, i found the attitude to be wholly dismissive with little reason. Just hating something for no apparent reason is not good enough. If I hate something, I can at least explain why I hate something. What I find repulsive, or repugnant about what it is that I hate. Just saying "i hate that" without backing it up is pointless and often annoying.

I guess this hilights the fact that many people around the world "hate" things for different reasons, no matter how trivial those reasons are. Hating other races or religions, hating different colours or technologies, hating people for driving too slow...... you know when you meet somebody that for some reason, you just dont like? They haven't done anything wrong, and they are probably very nice people, but you just dislike them? That doesnt happen often, but I often think about the "why" in what I don't like about them. Why don't I like somebody, should never be followed up with the simplistic line of "they're shit". If you are going to dislike something, be it a person, TV show, Movie, style of music, type of food or even a model of car, then you should be able to justify it without the almight "I don't know, its just crap" line. Too many people dont think about what they are saying when they say they "hate" something in an off the cuff remark like "i hate that TV show", but when asked why, they struggle to justify that statement.

hating Superman is like hating Santa Claus. You dont have to read the comics, or watch the movies, or even appreciate the history of the character, but just to say "it's shit" without backing that up with a why you think it's like that shows a lack of understanding or appreciation for other peoples opinions.

Another thing that annoys me are people that walk up to pedestrian crosssings, press the button, and then cross the road without waiting for the lights to change. Then, when the lights change, all the cars have to stop for no reason. Happened to me this morning, so I wound down my window and thankked the inconsiderate so-and-so for wasting my time taking her dog for a walk. nice leash by the way. If you want to cross the road at a pedestrian crossing, wait for the lights to change. Otherwise, go somewhere else and cross and hope you don't get skittled.

Anyway, back to work for me now.

PS: Just wanted to type Emmas last name, on the record, for the last time before she changes forever tomorrow morning at about 10:45am. Emma Murphy, all the best for tomorrow and the future.