WW(TF)II

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I went to see Tarantino's latest this past Friday afternoon.
Since I was in SE, I decided to catch it at CineMagic on Hawthorne. I get to Cinemagic maybe once a year, and every time I go I ask myself the same question -- why don't I head to this place more often??? A $4.50 matinee and popcorn and soda totalling $5.75 means a complete theater experience for just over $10.00 [this would be the part where I say something like, Fuck You, Regal Cinemas! -- but, I'll more than likely be overpaying for a movie at a Regal theater again before too long]. And, any concession stand that sells moonpies gets an A+ in my book.

As for the film itself...it was OK. It's certainly not Tarantino's best, but it's a worthy attempt, nonetheless. It's epic and grandiose and a little overeaching and very heavy-handed and kinda silly and incredibly bloody and violent. And Brad Pitt's accent sucessfully took me out of the experience every time he was on screen. Whenever his character was around, I was very aware that I was watching a movie. It wasn't a bad character, it was just a bad fit for the actor.
And, after serving up such genre-homages as Kill Bill and Death Proof, it's strange to see a more-straightforward offering from the man. But then again, he claims that this is his "spaghetti western," and seeing as how that's not I genre I know much about, I probably missed all of the signifiers a more trained eye would have spotted. Oh well. It was a worth it.
Check it out.


And if you're in Portland, be sure to give Cinemagic some business sometime. You might like it.

another lump post

This week, I ended up having breakfast three times at the Little Red Bike Cafe in north Portland. It's quaint and cute and the food is yummy and kinda heavy but not too heavy (eggs, bacon, and cheese seem to be big with this place).
And in a few weeks, once the rain sets in, a nice breakfast outside anywhere in Portland will be something to remember rather than experience.

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Also this week, it seems the spirits have been doing their best to remind me what a complete prick I can be -- intentionally or not.
Just when I think I've improved on that, it seems I've merely reset to default settings.

Once again, I find myself living in a David Bowie song.

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District 9 is OK. It's not perfect, but it's not completely flawed.
The Room is the most amazing piece of celluloid shit I've ever seen.
Purple Rain is probably the second most amazing piece of celluloid shit I've ever seen.

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Crisis on Infinite Earths is good, but slightly dated.
And now that DC has returned to the concept of the multiverse, it's incredibly irrelevant to today's audience.

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If it gets approved, I'll be taking a follow-up darkroom class, as well as a fun(-sounding) class on pinhole photography which will cost me (after what my employer will subsidize) $10 out of pocket.

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I think I finally got everything worked out, I will be a volunteer during MusicfestNW.
Woohoo!

catching up on life

Thursday:

After work, met up with Mike and Michael for a trip to Arts on Alberta's Last Thursday celebration. It's been a while since I'd taken part in it all -- in the few years since, it's nearly reached critical mass. It's still fun and enjoyable, but it's starting to get that New Orleans Mardi Gras vibe: to some people, it's more about saying you went rather than taking part. But, regardless, there was a lady selling lemonade in 10+ different flavors, yummy pulled pork, a robot costume with a fully-functioning Atari in its belly, a cow-suit on rollerblades, delicious eye candy, and some thing called "art"...whatever that means.

From there, we headed over to the Hollywood Theatre for Ink.

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Friday:

Started dogsitting the two puppies in SE. It's been going a lot smoother than anticipated, which is nice. Plus, the apartment has A/C and a PS3, which is nicer. But rather than trying out Metal Gear Solid 4 or something more capable of pushing the PS3's limits, I've been locked onto Lego Batman. I tried picking up Uncharted, but threw my hands up during the first full-throttle run-n-gun.

Had dinner with Jay, then he and I met up with Vadim, Kevin, Mike, and Michael at the Hollywood for a screening of The Wiz.





An overlong, bloated fabulous mess of a film filled with costume designs that have inspired generations of drag queens, as well as incohesive set designs and locations. Each different piece or scene feels like it's cut from a different film. But, it was fun...even if I was distracted throughout by Michael Jackson's unnecessary prosthetic double chin.

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Saturday:

Attended my first sitting with the Graphic Novel Book Club in the morning.
We were supposed to discuss B.P.R.D., vol 1, but since the group consensus was "M'eh..." we didn't discuss it for very long. We did talk about other books though, and a few other random things. And I found out that I wasn't the only fan of the Josie & the Pussycats movie.
It seems like a nice, fun group and I'll definitely be going back for next month's meeting.

After that, I spent the majority of the day with the doggies and playing more Lego Batman.

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Sunday:

Started back to my work week.

Had a wonderful lunch with the wonderful Stephen who came down for a brief weekend stint.
And afterwards, I spent a bit of [Portland Bookstore]'s dime walking around the store and discussing/recommending books with him.

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And that's all I got.
I start my beginner's Photoshop class on Thursday.

And I'll probably play some more Lego Batman.

weekend

Friday:

-- far too early appointment with my therapist. Recently, she's been pushing me to get out more and meet more people. There are a few things coming up in the wings that I'm looking forward to, so we'll see how things go.

-- interview for a position at the [Portland Bookstore] website warehouse -- pulling orders, packing boxes, shipping things out, etc.
I got to the area far too early (the driving directions made it sound ridiculous, but it was 2 turns off HWY 30), so was able to walk around the industrial area, finishing off the roll of film in the Holga, as well as work on the roll in the Clack.
The interview went OK, I'd say. I got a bit nervous going in, so my vocabulary failed me for most of it; lots of "ummmmmmmm"s, "errrrrrrrr"s, "weeeeeeeelllllllll"s, etc. Hopefully I'll hear the results by Monday or Tuesday.

-- lunch with Vadim.

-- got things set to start my 10-day housesitting gig at Doug & Jim's place. I need to check on the hottub to make sure: a.) it's turned on, and b.) that all the chemicals are balanced for human participation.

-- met up with Vadim, Kevin, and Mike for a $6 double feature at St. John's Pub & Theater.

-- X-men Origins: Wolverine -- quite possibly the worst movie I've ever seen. Boring, ridiculously convoluted, overly cliche -- and incredible mess and 2 hours that I will never get back.




Vadim and Kevin left after the first movie. They claimed the theater was a bit too warm. I think they were embarrassed to be seen with me after Wolverine. It was that bad.


-- Drag Me to Hell -- an incredibly fun, campy, grossout return for Sam Raimi that holds up pretty well upon a second viewing.


Saturday:



I picked up two Kodak Super 8 movie cameras.
I have no knowledge about these cameras, nor about Super 8 film at all. And from what little I can find out with a quick, simple google search, it seems Kodak may have discontinued any film that was compatible with either of these cameras.
But, there is a pretty big Super 8 community in Portland, so I may be able to find some support with these cameras if I snoop around enough.





I also picked up these two 35mm cameras -- a Minolta Freedom 101 and a Ricoh FF-3 AF Super.
Two more cameras I don't know anything about, but it should be fun playing around with them.


And all four of these only set me back $20.
Awesome.