Paul's journal

Over the weekend I was going to hire a couple of DVDs but circumstances changed, what with borrowing season three of Deadwood from the library and a free temporary trial of some of the Foxtel movie channels. I thought about going to the cinema but the current list of releases is pretty shocking.

I did watch two movies though. One was a melodramatic telemovie called Gracie's Choice or something like that, staring Kristen Bell as the teenage daughter of drug abusing Anne Heche who has to become 'mom' to her younger brothers and sisters. You know you're in for something unique when the opening credits say "based on an article in Reader's Digest"

I also saw "An Inconvenient Truth" which didn't win me over to Al Gore. I just don't like him. I liked the use of a Futurama sequence but they missed my favourite earlier Futurama joke about climate change: "It's a good thing global warming never happened" "Actually It did, but thank God nuclear winter cancelled it out".

Over night I taped Crash and Mirrormask, both movies I've seen before but would like to see again.

I saw a bunch of movies over the weekend on DVD and one at the cinema. Secret Window was alright and although the mystery was easily solved the ending wasn't. Sunshine was a pretty good sci-fi film. Rogue was an okay monster horror film but the characters did't seem to have the emotional reactions normal human beings would to the situation unless the plot needed it.
The Good German had nice tricks to make it look like an old film but it distanced me from getting too involved. Miss Potter left me scratching my head over a lesbian subtext and just how alive did the author think her characters were.

I am in dangerous crush territory. I am falling. It's been a while.



I've just seen a face,
I can't forget the time or place
That we'd just met, he's just the boy for me
And I want all the world to see we've met
Na na na na na na

Had it been another day
I might have looked the other way
But I had never been aware
And as it is I dream of him tonight
Na na na na na na

Falling, yes I am falling
And he keeps calling me back again

Two weeks ago when I saw Year of the Dog there was a preview for a 60's period film about an American guy, his best friend from England who falls for his sister, and the inevitable draft to the Vietnam war. Looked like a familiar story until the trailer suddenly became an all-singing all-dancing affair.

I went and saw it this morning and absolutely loved it. Sorry Hairspray this is the movie musical of the year. All the songs are Beatles songs mixed into the dialogue very nicely (although things get a bit fruity when some of the Beatles' more drug-referencing songs get a play). The makers of 'Viva Laughlin' should have seen this film as an example of the proper way to use known songs to progress plot and establish character.

I have to get the soundtrack. Never been a Beatles fan, but I loved most of the songs and the performances of them. I never realised how powerfully romantically longing "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" could be.

The dance performances had some fantastic moments: dancing gridiron players, a dance of office workers walking the streets, the dancing on water.

And the two male leads, gorgeous, particularly Jim Sturgess as Jude.

When I woke up this morning I decided that I'd pass on seeing Sicko today. It might be good but it also might make me too squemish. I don't mind hospital dramas, but people talking about real medical conditions make me go vagel-vagel. Instead I went shopping down south, from Cranbourne, to Frankston and all the way to Rosebud. It was a nice drive but I only got a few things (like the plush transformers) and a couple of minicons for some of the other guys. Once I got home I spent a while playing KH2. I'm getting close to the end of it. Then I went online for a few hours. Found I'd been outbid on one of my two auctions and regretted not getting on earlier to check. I ended up watching Forrest Gump which I'd never seen before. I thought it was quite alright once you get past all those overused out-of-context quotes.

I saw a preview for Nicole Kidman's new film The Invasion this morning. I know trailers don't always have the completed special effects but there was one shot of a couple falling off a building that was such a horribly bad green screen job.

After a meeting today I'm a bit concerned about the new website and out avility to deliver. It's going to be an interesting couple of weeks.

I went out at lunch and got the new X-Factor book. It fell off my list when I did a rushed order update from Los Angeles. I'm glad I got it though, it had some good stories although the mixed art was a bit annoying.

Tonight I watched Firewall, taped the other week. Not a great film, and a little silly in parts, but I enjoyed it. I ended up setting a tape for 24 tonight as it was the episode where Chloe gets to let loose with a machine gun. The whole chase is one of the highlights of the show.

I went to see The Simpsons Movie on Sunday and my expectations were low, and I found I did enjoy the movie and found it pretty funny. I thought it was very family friendly with laughs for all ages.

The use of the Futurama 3D animation techniques made it look different from a regular episode. I wonder if we'll see that tool used in the future series. I also wonder if the movie was the last we saw of one character, but I did read the pig will be back.

I thought the comparision of the movie to "a feature-length version of the South Park 'Simpsons Already Did It' episode" has some valid points.

The last few years of the show have been pretty dreadful. Once in a while a good one episode will appear -- I liked the recent Santa's Little Helper becomes a police-dog episode, and the 24 episode was good -- but even they retreaded familar scenarios.

Since Sunday I've been thinking 'What are my favourite Simpsons episodes?" I've had that thought before but there's so many to choose from that the it's a daunting question.

Once upon a time I used to say Series 4 was the best overall series, but series 4 through 7 are the source of what I consider the best episodes.

In no particular order some favourites that spring to mind include: "King Size Homer", "Who Shot Mr Burns" (Both parts; I'm pretty sure that's still the only two part episode), "Marge vs the Monorail", "Boy Scoutz 'N the Hood", "Homer's Triple Bypass", "Treehouse of Horror III", "The Springfield Files", "Sideshow Bob's Last Gleaming", "22 Short Films about Springfield", "Homer Badman", "Lisa's Wedding", "Bart gets an Elephant", and "Homer's Phobia".

I returned some of my library books today and took out a few more, including Chuck Palahniuk's new one. I did a bit of shopping, trying to find some cable for our TV but couldn't find the right length. Did pick up alternator Ricochet though.

Then it was to the movies. They were overwhelmed with people thanks to The Simpsons Movie. The queue was out the door at 130 with the 2pm session sold out. The 3pm one sold as I waited in the queue and it looked set to follow that pattern all afternoon. Lots of kids out to see it. Shame they didn't release it during the school holidays.

I bought my tickets for an early session tomorrow morning. We decided that would be better when my sister and I looked up the available seats last night. With so many prebooked it was clearly going to sell out. I went for a second encore screening of Transformers (about a month since I last saw it) and enjoyed it again. I might squeeze one more session in before it goes off the screens.

I saw the new Fantastic Four movie this morning. Firstly I must comment that Southland's VMAX is a joke and not worth paying an extra dollar for. Go to a more recently built multiplex and it's smallest cinema would be a match.

The movie was ok for what it was, a light-hearted family/kid friendly superhero movie. It's much more the type of superhero film I'd take (hypothetical) kids to. There were some nice action/chase scenes. There were some nice subtle hints at the original comics (like Frankie Raye).

But in all the film wasn't fantastic, but it was a fine 90 minute diversion.

1.Name a movie that you have seen more than 10 times: Transformers The Movie (1986)

2. Name a movie that you've seen multiple times in the theater: Star Wars Episode 2 Attack of The Clones, got to four times with that one

3. Name an actor who would make you more inclined to see a movie: Jake Gyllenhaal

4. Name an actor who would make you less likely to see a movie: George Clooney

5. Name a movie that you can quote from: Aliens

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I was reminded tonight of why I don't like going to sell out sessions of movies -- You just can't get away from all the annoying people in the cinema. I like sitting in front so I can tune out the other people in the audience anyway but tonight I couldn't do that so ignoring the kids with no internal censor, the teenagers making out, the women going out to the toilet, the guys who think the big fights are cool and don't grasp the underlying meaning of some them. Sigh! It made up my mind about Transformers, I'll be seeing that in gold class. The first time anyway.

On the plus side I finally ran into Sam and it was nice to see her. Lauren was also around and I had a quick hi with here too.

Eric Bana and Rachel McAdams are set to star in the film version of The Time Traveler's Wife. I'm quite happy with that casting. I'm not sure if I will ever love the movie as much as I love the book, but these two should make a respectful Henry and Clare.

In less positive movie news, Grindhouse will now be released as two films outside the US. I saw the preview for it last weekend and the on purpose 70s look made it look like it would be an interesting couple of hours. I don't know if I'd go see the two movies separately now. Maybe just Death Proof.

Crossover man has made a long list detailing which of the top 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die he's seen and hasn't.

I haven't seen many of these but at least I know what most of them are even if I haven't seen it. Some of older one's I've seen were because of school, or my teenage sci-fi obsession.

My total tally was a poor 118/1000 (or 12%).

I spent a lot of this morning clearing out some old emails. It's the kind of work you do when you're not motivated to do other work. I went to Borders at lunchtime and found that's not the best idea given how long the queue gets! I picked up a California guidebook with my last 40% off coupon (leaving The Complete Far Side on the shelf for now).

Then I went to Minotaur and picked up the first two issues of the movie prequel, the Soundwave one shot and the latest New Excalibur and New Avengers books. I had a flick through the new Buffy comic. I had considered buying the first issue in pamphlet form but I was put off by the ads. Shame Dark Horse couldn't follow IDW method and put all the ads at the back of the book. It does look good though.

I had a couple of meetings outside the office and one of them involves getting someone else to help with the work. Usually that annoys me but in this case she seems to have a bit of a clue so I'm not so annoyed.

I was surprised to see Village dropped another dollar of their tickets for this week. So I will be seeing TMNT and Becoming Jane for $7.50. I might also reconsider seeing Hollywoodland and try to work out how to get to a good session of The Host.

Got home to find out K-Mart had called to tell me that my rainchecked DVD finally came in. Well thanks for telling me a month after I bought it from your store when you did get it in. I gave you back my raincheck slip and explained the problem but obviously your system needs some work.

I also received my passport! Only a few more to do items left now before my holiday.

According to the MX, Emma Watson won't be joining Daniel and Rupert in the final two Harry Potter films. I hope this story isn't true or she changes her mind. Her Hermonie is one of my favourite things in the films and it would be a shame if another actress takes the role on in the last two movies.

Firstly I took my sister to Fountain Gate and we saw Hot Fuzz. There was a 'Walking with Dinosaurs' baby Rex downstairs. It's an impressive puppet. Myrna and Tim were working in the box and because it was quiet I got to talk to Myrna for a while which was nice.

I also had brief chats with Tim and Darren who are two of the newer staff. I slipped up talking to Darren and said "I didn't know we were showing that". I don't work there anymore!

I went to Rivoli for the second film of the day and that was a big mistake. The audience was craptacular. There was an old guy there who seemed off his head - someone opens the door and he'd laugh his head off. It was so annoying. There were also three young boys sitting close to the front who were clearly bored and pissed me off when they started holding their phones up filming the screen. That was my breaking point and I went out to podium to complain but the one staffer there was too busy tearing tickets so I let it go.

I picked up a book from Borders with my 40% off coupon and headed home. Spent most of the night on the net which was a bad repeat of many another weekend.

If you watch Raising Helen you get a preview of what The Devil Wears Prada might have been like if Helen Mirren had played Miranda instead of her Oscar winning portrayal of The Queen.

I'm having a pretty productive day today, tearing through my to do list. Maybe last night's class energised me? The short week is helping too. It felt great to come to work for the third time this week and know there's only one more day to go.

I'm going to be hitting the cinema a lot this weekend. All tickets are $8.50 so I'm going to try to see Hot Fuzz, The Host, Hollywoodland and Scoop over the next seven days and make the most of the discount.

Today was the first time back at old my workplace in ages. I have been putting it off because it always feels funny going back as a customer. I barely know anyone there now. I had a quick chat to Maysanna, a hello to Paige and a longer chat with Tania up at podium. There were a few familar names on the roster: Ashwin, Chris R, Amanda P, Myrna, but all on tonight. It's been a year since I worked there and I do miss the people and the job.

Getting to the movies seemed to be an almost impossible task. As a thunderstorm began to the west we headed east so I thought it would fine. Cheltenham Road was slowed to one lane at 40Km so we ended up doing a U-turn and going another way. Still it could have been worse: if we'd gone to Karingal we would have faced delays caused by a van on fire!

I looked at some shops at Fountain Gate, seeing the second wave minicons and the third wave deluxes at Big W and borrowing several books from the library. I also called into Hampton Park's library and got some more there too! When we got home I wasn't sure what to do so I decided I'd use my other free movie ticket and headed off again.