and...it was directed by Frank Oz. Muppet Show/Dark Crystal Frank Oz! who knew he was still alive?
Kite Runner is based on a great novel. Most of the tale is set in Afghanistan and Pakistan, which automatically created a visually stunning backdrop for the story. They perfectly cast a few of the main characters (the little boy Hassan looked EXACTLY as I imagined!) and Shaun Toub (Ironman, Crash) was an excellent choice for Rahim Khan. Still, the impact of the movie was not as strong as the novel... therefore I recommend sitting down with the book first.aww, man, I had to go to my cousin's wedding tonight. cool, a fun-filled family event, right?
nay. weddings have reception lines. which means I had to face the horrifying moment of truth: handshake or hug?
my own sense of personal space steers me towards the handshake every time, but sometimes you just know the situation calls for a hug...but in case you have not experienced the full Katie weirdness, hugs with me are awk.ward! I can't help it! Hugs mostly turn into this weird a-frame side-hug thing, and I can't help but pat the other person's back when I feel that the hug has invaded my personal space for long enough, all "back pat means let go, back pat means let go, BACK PAT MEANS LET GO!" Plus I'm short, so there's this weird height factor that I haven't figured out how to compensate for yet...
the worst part of this particulary reception line was my uncle(?), whom I haven't seen in 10 years. he used to be my favorite uncle, but in the past 10 years has divorced my aunt and been revealed as a total abusive asshole. but...he was my favorite uncle, and he wasn't an asshole to me. so... handshake or hug? do I still call him uncle, or has he been stripped of the title? in the end we did both the handshake and the quick hug, which I think covered all stages of our relationship, from favorite uncle to I-will-probably-never-see-you-again-in-this-life-but-thanks-for-that-Christmas-present-when-I-was-six person.
they should teach hugging ettiquette along with driver's ed in school. so complex, yet so useful.
Two pilots in New Zealand ran out of fuel during a flight, and prayed for help. They landed their plane safely ... right next to a billboard reading, "Jesus is Lord" ...
dear God, and I mean DEAR GOD! I'm really bad at watching scary movies (I only got 30 minutes into '1408' before turning it off and promptly returning it - and I LOVE John Cusack). But I just finished watching the entire movie 'Stephen King's The Mist'. (The fact that Frank Darabont directed (Shawshank Redemption, Green Mile, Majestic) was what prompted me to check it out.)
and yes, the monsters were scary (at least to me they were scary: there were bug-type monsters. I hate bugs). I spent most of the middle part of the movie jumping up off the couch and running around the living room shrieking at the characters to "HIT IT! GET IIIIITTTT! RUNNNNNNNN!"
however, the last 30 minutes of the film were spent frozen on the couch in horror, and it had nothing to do with blood or guts or ghosts or bugs or bug-monsters or fear of the dark. this was ultimately a movie about the horrifying darkness lurking within the human soul. it was thought-provoking, grim, awful...impossible to recommend, yet impossible to deny that it was a film worth watching.
we went to the midnight show of Prince Caspian last night! Caspian has never been my favorite of the books (Horse and His Boy and Last Battle are my faves), but I found myself wishing that they had remained a little more faithful to it - if they HAD, they would have done a better job of introducing us to the character of Caspian, making him less of a 2D character. Instead, his Inigo Montoya accent is distracting, and in the end you kind of want the Pevensies to stay in Narnia rather than leaving the throne to this Caspian guy.
at this point, we're used to the visual translation of Narnia's beauty and magic, and so there's less of the "aww" factor this time around, which is too bad. The powers that be also seemed to feel the need to insert extra battle sequences and humor into the story, much like Two Towers. unfortunately, Two Towers' Peter Jackson is much more adept at delivering battles that get you in the gut, and Chronicles versions felt like knockoffs.
and here's the real offense: they used Reepicheep's character as a 'comedic' foil (see Gimili in Two Towers). at least they didn't give him an Alvin & the Chipmunks-style voice. (oh, and just so you don't spend the whole movie wondering like Andrew and I did: Reepicheep's voice was done by Eddie Izzard)
still, the four siblings were perfectly cast, and they do a good job of redeeming Edmund's character from past treachery, of highlighting Peter's pride, and of touching on Susan's vanity. I thought they handled Aslan's farewell to the older Pevensies well - overall I just really liked the last few minutes; the sendoff from Narnia back to 'real life' was touching.
Apparently our house has a magic closet. I put all of my warm weather clothes in there last fall and they all shrunk!!
...maybe if I start sleeping in there I'll shrink too!! I guess this means its time to dust off the treadmill.
yessss! The Cure have announced that they will release a new single each month leading up to the release of their 13th studio album in September.
and Bones 
both had stellar Part 1 of 2 episodes this past Monday, and I'm looking forward to next Monday for the conclusions! now is your chance to be heard! next Thursday is a 'free week' for all groups; how should we spend said free time?
vote on the poll element to the right, or write in your suggestion here!
Ruby tagged me; here's the answers!
Four jobs I've had:
1. collation monkey at Oregon Appraisal Group
2. sweeper extraordinaire at Enchanted Forest (I think it counts, even though I quit after 2 days)
3. grass seed tech at AgriSeed Labs (probably my favorite job of the bunch)
4. secretary at Jefferson Baptist Church
Four movies I've watched more than once:
1. The Royal Tenenbaums
2. Amelie
3. Rent
4. 28 Days Later
Four places I've lived:
1. Boise, ID
2. Tigard, OR
3. Salem, OR
4. Jefferson, OR
Four places I've been:
1. Florida
2. Minnesota
3. Thailand
4. Maui
Four TV shows I watch:
1. The Office
2. Lost (online)
3. Heroes (just caught season 1 on DVD)
4. House
Four people who email me regularly (doesn’t include blogging comments):
1. my dad
2. Jake Dorr (re: Dox)
3. co-workers
4. Andrea Torres
Four of my favorite foods:
1. fresh pineapple
2. chocolate & peanut butter combined
3. taco bell (classy, I know)
4. Cinnamon Life. best.cereal.ever!
Four places I would like to visit:
1. India
2. Greece
3. Italy
4. England
Four things I'm looking forward to in the coming year:
1. swimming with dolphins in Florida next March
2. the parades at Disneyworld ""
3. summer action movies! 'The Happening' & 'The Hulk' both come out on June 13th!
4. the economic stimulus check!
Four friends I'm tagging:
1. Shannon Duke
2. Danae Jones
3. Heather Sexton
4. Crystal Kelley
...he was willing to sit through two hours of this:
Mama Mia at the Hult Center in Eugene last night. I love musicals, and he doesn't. So, the compromise: went to see Ironman (very testosteron-y) at midnight on Thursday and then went to see this (not so much with the testosterone) at 8pm on Friday.
apparently I post about movies way too much. But I like movies. Plus, really, it's all I've got. I am embarrassingly uneducated about political issues. No one wants to hear me bitch about my job (not even me!). I am ever-unsuccessful in my attempts to run more than 3 miles in a week, and therefore I cannot triumphantly post about that. I never remember to take pictures of ... anything. I don't go snow camping or have a baby tell nap stories about...and I'm not campaigning mercilessly for a scooter to the chagrin of my spouse. although maybe I should...
anyways...here goes the movie freakout TM Katie. It cannot be helped. I tried all last week to post on...not movies. and thus...did not post. drumroll please...
does anyone else have ritual websites that they visit everytime they get online? mine are (in order - yes, I check them in THIS order...ocd much?):
1. http://www.yahoo.com/ (it's my homepage, homeboy.)
2. http://www.relevantmagazine.com/ ('slices' on the right hand side of the webpage are always entertaining and sometimes even informative)
3. http://www.televisionwithoutpity.com/ (I like the snarky reviews of TV shows, regardless of the fact that I do not watch most of them...)
4. http://www.tomatonation.com/ (really entertaining writing)
5. blog stalking! (yes, this means YOU! lately, http://www.lewisandruby.blogspot.com/ is my favorite. lots of updates...)
6. if I have time, I then usually head over to http://www.amazon.com/ to see if any books, movies, or music are calling my name
7. if I have even more time, I may also head to http://www.abc.go.com/ or http://www.nbc.com/ or www.fox.com/fod/to check out their full episodes online.
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.
"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.
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...
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!
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...)
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!
