the soul at hazard

Last year I read Cormac McCarthy's 'The Road' and thought it was an amazing novel. So, knowing that 'No Country For Old Men' was adapted from a Cormac McCarthy book, I was not surprised by the grim outlook and the dark tension of the story.

I liked the independence of the characters, talking to themselves not for the sake of exposition to the audience, but because they are loners who talk to themselves.
I just didn't expect Chigurh (Javier Bardem) to be SO scary! The hollowness with which he dispatched those that 'fate' tossed his way... not to mention his hair...

I've got the book ordered from amazon.com, because I feel like I missed something that should have made Bell's dream about his father at the end make more sense (yep, I am one of those people who watches the movie THEN reads the book. get over it). McCarthy DOES seem to have a recurring theme in his novels of lonely travelers carrying light down a dark road; maybe it's just his favorite metaphor for the struggle between good and evil.

better than caffeine...

...early morning speed typing.

114 words

Speed test

nice day for a white wedding

congratulations to Andrew and Danae!

...and special thanks to Andrew for leaving Rock Band at our house whilst honeymooning...we'll take reeeeeal good care of it!

hulk hero hubbub.

"Deadline Hollywood Daily’s Nikki Finke is reporting that “Norton and Marvel are clashing over how to cut the pic.” An insider told Finke, “There’s a lot of posturing going on between Edward’s camp and Marvel over how you edit the final version.” Norton has had clashes like this before, most notably with “American History X” director Tony Kaye, who was basically locked out of the editing room. However, in this case Finke reports that Norton was “promised tremendous involvement and access” by Marvel at the beginning of the process. Norton also re-wrote Zak Penn’s screenplay."

...and? have they SEEN American History X? it's fantastic. beat that director down, Ed! if a studio efs up this version of The Hulk, the green guy may never recover.

"Next to being shot at and missed, nothing is really quite as satisfying as an income tax refund.”

I'm going to post this just because...it's useful. The IRS is processing stimulus returns by the last two digits of your SS#... let the random lottery begin!

Here's the schedule for direct deposit payments:

#00 - 20 May 2
#21 - 75 May 9
#76 - 99 May 16

Heres' the schedule for paper checks:
#00 - 09 May 16
#10 - 18 May 23
#19 - 25 May 30
#26 - 38 June 6
#39 - 51 June 13
#52 - 63 June 20
#64 - 75 June 27
#76 - 87 July 4
#88 - 99 July 11

a case of the Mondays

My neck/back was really stiff/sore when I woke up this a.m. I must have pinched a nerve sleeping weird, or something. so I called in sick, at least for the morning.

I LOVE calling in sick, especially on Mondays! (actually, I e-mailed in sick, since I can't find my phone!)

thanks, weird nerve! I owe you one...

congrats!

You remind me of the babe
What babe?
The babe with the power
What power?
The power of voodoo
Who do?
You do!
Do what?
You remind me of the babe!*

Congratulations to Erik & Andrea on new baby Aaron! he's a keeper!! (edited 3/31 to add a picture)


*1,000,000,000 bonus points to the person who can guess the movie that the above song lyrics came from!

my day off...

so, after the craziness of Easter weekend, I refused to go to work today. hell, I barely got up off the couch. I'm making my way thru a Divx disc Kurtis gave me; so far I have watched Atonement, August Rush, Dan in Real Life, and Enchanted (yes, I am watching them in alphabetical order)...



August Rush is sappy and some (ok, ALOT) of the time is just super twee. however, the soundtrack by Mark Mancina is fantastic and interesting, and the actors do deliver some charming moments. (although, admittedly, I might have been influenced by my HUGE crush on Jonathan Rhys Meyers - I even watched the entire movie 'Velvet Goldmine' because of it)



Dan in Real Life isn't the funniest movie Steve Carell has been in, but it was a good solid performance by him. I think in the realm of romantic comedies about screwball families, The Family Stone is a much more solid movie all-around, but still...I'd watch it again. and I'd probably enjoy it too!



Enchanted is Disney-rific! James Marsden is particularly preening and funny, and the main female character (no idea what her name is) was just way too perfectly cast as a Disney princess. Patrick Dempsey's charms are pretty much lost on me (nope, I don't watch Gray's Anatomy), and I expected to end the movie wanting to slap the face off of him. but he was ok. however: the chipmunk? I want whoever came up with and executed that 'character' to be...executed.


anyway...a good lazy movie day. my favorite!




p.s. - happy birthday Casey and Heather!

new death cab out May 13th

http://streamos.atlrec.com/wmedia/atlantic/deathcabforcutie/audio/i_will_possess_your_heart_album_version.wax

(it's linked to a windows media player file, sorry mac dudes and dudettes...)

you wouldn't like me when I'm angry

guess who is my favorite actor of all-time?
hint: he's playing Bruce Banner in the upcoming Hulk (2008-lets-just-pretend-the-crappy-2003-version-never-existed) movie!

you are a better blogger than me

You know those lists on the right side of right side of your blog? The ones that give links to other cool people's blogs? They are neat. I travel in much cooler social circles on the web than I do in 'actual life' because of them. Why don't I have one on my blog? Because, just know that I will forget to include someone!

so, thanks for the lists, webfriends. I'm counting on you to keep those up to date so I don't have to!

live without shame

I loved Ian McEwan's book, Atonement, and have been dying to see the film. well worth the wait.

Atonement is a consciously crafted epic - driven by powerful performances, small moments filled with large emotion, and extended tracking shots, all of it lit carefully to convey its own splendor. fortunately, it lives up to its grandiose sense of self.

the soundtrack is haunting and beautiful and winds itself around the story.

the epilogue might feel too jarring or confessional for some - in that case, I suggest you read the book. to quote Atonement "and only in a story could you enter these different minds and show that they had an equal value..."

this is katie after the retreat.

any questions?

staff retreat

there's a 'staff retreat' for my job Sunday pm-Tuesday am this week. I'm excited about not working for a couple days...
you know that episode of 'The Office' where Michael takes them all to the 'beach' and plans weird group activities, including firewalking? We won't be doing anything nearly that fun.

However, I have a plan: I am mentally casting my fellow employees as 'Office' characters, which IS entertaining.

The good: maybe I will learn to view the ridiculous events at my job as humorous hijinks

The bad: I just realized that I might work with Andy Bernard and Dwight Schrute

cats die. it's what they do.

My cat died about 2 months ago (well, technically the vet killed him due to an extreme bout with stomach cancer), and I didn't tell anyone until this week...I can't talk about my dead pets for at LEAST a month without crying about it, and nobody likes a crying Katie! (I don't have any digital pictures of him that I can post; he was an awesome cat, though. just look a the video in the next post, and picture a big black cat with awesome white whiskers and angry yellow eyes. )

Luckily, I still have my favorite pet, Hero, to console me. cutest bulldog in the world...


Anyways, Jessica was appalled that I didn't tell her about The Tale of Doby and the Stomach Cancer until this week.

...so, Jess, when Hero dies (she's 8, and bulldogs generally live to be 9 or 10 tops), I promise I will tell you. you won't be able to understand it at the time, so allow me to give you a preview of the conversation, so can translate:

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA*sniff* *cough* AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

mrow?

Weary with toil, I haste me to my bed...

sad. Brett Farve is my favorite player.

probably because he's the only football player I know besides Payton (Peyton?) Manning.

the challenge: damn you drake!

Kurtis challenged me to post a list of movies that I am embarrassed to admit that I like. Which, actually partially depends on who you're talking to. Some movies are universally embarrasssing; others are more so based on the tastes of the other person.

But, I'll do my best to come up with a generalized list of universal embarassment. And we all love lists, don't we?


One requirement: if you post a reponse to this (I'm going to resist the urge to defend each movie on the list; the fact that I'm listing them means I acknowledge that they are indefensible), you have to list at least 3 of your own movies in return...


1. Armageddon
2. Con Air
3. The DaVinci Code
4. Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants
5. Shall We Dance
6. GI Jane
7. The Cutting Edge
8. Steel Magnolias
9. Newsies
10. Daredevil
11. Godzilla
12. I Know What You Did Last Summer
13. The Craft




...there are more, but I've reached my limit of vulnerable honesty...

academy awards 2008

so, not only did I miss watching the Oscars, but out of the winners, the only films I had seen were Juno, Once, Bourne Ultimatum, Lars & the Real Girl, Elizabeth: The Golden Age, and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. I am laaame!

...

I'm not surprised that Juno didn't win for best picture/director/actress/etc. In fact, I'm kind of glad - it was a well-written, well-acted vehicle, and I loved it, but it just wasn't very...Oscar-y.

- I have heard that No Country is spectacular, but I was sick when Mitch went to go see it with a buddy. damn you, stomach flu!

- Michael Clayton might be good, but it LOOKS like a snooooooze-fest, due wholly to the fact that it has the worst trailer ever. Cue generic drama music, Mr Movie voice quoting critic after critic about George Clooney's swoon-worthy performance, undercut by serious shots of George Clooney, a pale and androgynous Tilda Swinton, aaaaand done. Not a single line of dialogue or miniscule hint of what the hell the film is even about! terrible trailer.

- I really want to see There Will Be Blood - Paul Thomas Anderson is generally a great director. I've heard that it's slow, but I don't think that slow always = bad. PTA has the wisdom and patience to allow the story and characters build within a natural rhythm. I'll probably go see it in the next week or so.

- Atonement is one of those movies that tortures me, because it's a type of film I LOVE, but that I never get to see in theatres. (I can drag Mitch to a movie like Juno, but Atonement...not so much). So, if you want to see Atonement, for the love of God, e-mail me! otherwise, I'll have to wait for rental. which is a bummer, because I lack patience regarding the delay between the big screen and release on DVD. (additional bummer on waiting for rental: James McAvoy + big screen - Narnia costume = HOT!)

TV is chewing gum for the eyes

My Name is Earl is back on March 17
CSI is back on April 3
30 Rock & Office are back on April 10
House is back April 28

the big movie weekend!

I love Wes Anderson movies. I just finished 'The Darjeeling Limited' (thanks Kurtis!) and although it didn't topple 'The Royal Tenenbaums' as my all-time-favorite of his films, I believe it will bump The Life Aquatic for the #2 slot.

Something about the color and stylistic choices of his films just make me happy - from the vibrant and thematic colors, to the wardrobe and sets carefully (yet vaguely) combined from somewhere betwen the 1940's the 1970's, the perfect soundtracks, and the joy he finds in examining the broken relationships that we call family.

---

I also watched 'Lars and the Real Girl'. I thought it was going to be a straight comedy (and seriously, the first scene when they introduce the doll, I laughed for 5 minutes straight, so loud I'm pretty sure my neighbors could hear). But then somehow morphed into a sometimes poignant look at mental illness and relationships and love, and how the people around you get you through the worst and best parts of all of them. In the end it was probably a fairly ridiculous movie, but Ryan Gosling is always amazing, but Emily Mortimer and Paul Schneider were particularly effective as the older brother and pregnant sister-in-law coming to grips with their roles in Lars life and illness.

...and now I'm going to catch up on the Lost episodes I've missed online. Good weekend!

be vewwy quiet, we are hunting wabbits!

Mitch & Ben are going rabbit hunting over the weekend. Mitch assures me that they are not cute and cuddly, but are "more like rats."

I like to picture the Monty Python killer rabbit...makes me feel better about the whole thing.

Television has proved that people will look at anything rather than each other. ~Ann Landers

...thanks for that Ann...now go away so I can watch new episodes of my favorite returning shows!

if Pushing Daisies and Heroes don't survive the aftermath of the strike, I'll be UNhappy. nobody wants that...

I'll mac you...

want.to.throw.macbook.across.office. what's up with all the keyboard shortcuts, anyways?

We're pushing the frontiers of transcendental perception.

So, I didn't really intend for this blog to become so movie-centric, but it's what I love so it's what I talk about.

So. Latest movie to love: Across the Universe. It's a musical, so not everyone will. (love it, that is.) But, it's a musical featuring Beatles music, thus making it much more palatable to the general public. Yes, they generalize and gloss over much of the politics of the late 60's...but the music is the point. And they do it well. It's interesting how they can take popular Beatles songs and transform them, sheerly through style of delivery. I never realized how sad/angry/helpless/political/f-ed up some of the more well-known Beatles hits are, masked as they were by pop-y tunes.

Examples: 'I Wanna Hold Your Hand' is changed from a feel-good tune to a song of pure longing and perhaps loss. 'Revolution' is a snarling challenge. 'If I Fell' is an intimate reflection upon the potential risks of allowing love in.

...'I am the Walrus' is still a ridiculous acid-trip, but at least it's a ridiculous acid-trip starring Bono.

and there are some incredibly choreographed sequences. 'I've Just Seen a Face' is just flat fun. 'Come Together' (a Joe Cocker cameo) is very groovy. 'I Want You' is particularly awesome, as we watch a legion of iron-faced military recruiters send their drafted men through an identity-stripping assembly-line process before packaging them and shipping them off to Vietnam.

and what Beatles musical would be complete without the ultimate (possibly cheesy but still heartwarming) conclusion that 'All You Need is Love'?

O Coward conscience, how dost thou afflict me!

just watched 'the assassion of jesse james by the coward robert ford'. (sorry Kurtis!)

i loved it, although it was admittedly long, and for people who can't handle movies that progress slowly it will be torture. however, for me, the film was beautiful and oddly affecting. Casey Affleck and Brad Pitt turn in powerful performances as men behind the legend.

ash wednesday

Remember, O man, that you are dust, and unto dust you shall return. (Latin: Memento homo, quia pulvis es, et in pulverem reverteris.)
—Genesis 3:19

I'm curious about the ash wednesday dox gathering tonight! see you all there!

Once

http://www.relevantmagazine.com/pc_article.php?id=7596

word. this movie was amazing, unique, and was propelled by a soundtrack that demands to be downloaded.

Katie

p.s. - Mitch is SO happy that the Giants won. yay for Mitch. "No, Yay for Kevin Boss!" says Mitch...

see below post for explanation of list...

...here are some additions that occurred to me as I was falling asleep last night. lists (about movies) are fun!


- Fried Green Tomatoes
- The Transporter
- all Jackie Chan movies (yes, Rush Hour, this means YOU)
- Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
- Charlie's Angels
- Charade/The Truth About Charlie
- Planet of the Apes (the new one with Mark Wahlberg)
- The Langoliers (wtf, Steven King?)
- One Hour Photo
- Saw 1-100 (ok, so I haven't actually seen them, but they look altogether horrifying)
- Rambo
- The Fly
- Funny Girl
- The Way We Were
- Predator
- She Devil
- I Hate Trouble
- The Hulk
- The Mask
- Tomb Raider
- Thelma & Louise
- Eyes Wide Shut
- Endless Love
- The Blue Lagoon
- The Client
- Fast Times at Ridgemont High
- K-PAX
- Kingpin
- Indecent Proposal - Save the Last Dance
- Here on Earth (eeeeeewwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!)
- Pearl Harbor
- Election
- Turner & Hooch
- Starman
- Scary Movie 1-1,000,000
- Funny Farm/Caddyshack/Fletch
- My Girl
- My Fair Lady
- Blue Velvet
- Jurassic Park 2&3
- Breaking the Waves

my movie hit list (that's 'hit' as in kill...)

someone recently suggested that I like all movies shot on film (I think they were insinuating that I have no taste when it comes to movies). And while I am a unquestionably a movie enthusiast with a broad range, it's just impossible to not come across some movies that you just loathe, be it because they are out-and-out crap, or maybe that they just don't suit you.
so: here are the movies that are rattling around my head as movies that I dislike, loathe, am creeped out by, or just couldn't sit through, in no particular order...

- Field of Dreams
- Saving Private Ryan (I am aware that this is THE war movie of all movies, but I just don't like it, due to multiple factors including the seasickness-inducing gore sequence at the front, the systematic picking off of any and all likeable characters, and the Spielberg need to provide a bookend with an extra dose of closure to his films)
- Star Wars Episodes 1-3
- Harry Potter 1&2
- Austin Powers 2&3
- Pocahontas
- How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days
- The Invisible
- Anything with Christian Slater, Richard Dryfuss, or Marisa Tomei in the cast
- Notting Hill
- 4 Weddings and a Funeral
- Tron
- La Vita e Bella
- The Devil Wears Prada
- Big Daddy
- Happy Gilmore
- The Aviator
- AI
- The Ring (this movie scared the $*% out of me!)
- American Splendor (sorry Paul Giamatti)
- Apocalypto
- Men in Black 1&2
- Batman (all of them prior to Batman Begins, which was FANTASTIC!)
- The Insider (i know it's fantastically filmed, directed, scripted, and acted, but I just couldn't sit through the thing!)
- Closer
- The Bourne Supremacy
- Dirty Dancing
- X-Men 3
- The Butterfly Effect
- any and all James Bond movies
- Cinderella Man (don't hate it, it's just kind of "meh")
- Pay it Forward
- Insomnia (yes, I know that this is actually a great movie, but it mimics the feeling sleep-deprivation so well that I feel like a crazy person every time I watch it)
- Ghost
- Indiana Jones: Temple of Doom
- Apocalypto
- Dodgeball
- anything with Freddie Prinze Jr, Paul Walker, or James Franco (important exception: Spiderman) in the cast
- Freedomland
- The Good Girl (or any other movie where a main character compares themselves to Holden Caulfield)

...I'm sure there are many more...
Katie