10 Year Old Singing Sensation!!!!

I Don't Understand Sometimes

There are a few things I understand on this planet. I understand how to be a student as I have been a college student for around a decade now. I am sittin here, right now as I type, watching Jersey Shore. I just don't understand why in the world I love this show. I am breakin' down laughing so hard at these cats.

In any given night this show is on, you can guarantee the words grenade, land mine, situation, gym, tan, and laundry. Also, you can count on a vicious fight between an on and off again couple. This is classy TV. One person calls the other word the b-bomb (or biatch), then the other person leaves cuz they are extremely sad and pouty. Following this barrage of swearing, booze is sipped and dancing is exchanged...As I am watching now, the words "Bronx Zoo and hyena" were just used as they are tossing around a fake boob that reminded one of them of a "chicken cutlet." I frickin love this show, for the shear mindlessness that it produces. As I am sitting here giving you a play by play of the action, I don't really have to even think about what to write about.

So, in honor of the Awesomeness of Jersey Shore and delinquent behavior...I am giving myself a nickname. I am thinking "The Exclamation." I'm that long extended line with a dot under it that makes any statement scream with both meaning and enthusiasm. I am the same level of the punctuation you need to use when you want to yell. If you want to really scream via typing...you can type in all caps and have many exclamations...like so...BOOOOYYYYYYAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!! Notice me...all those exclamation points after booya...notice how I am putting the awe in awesome. I am the grammatical tool you use to proclaim all that is righteous and "bangin."

In closing, I have no idea why or how I even like Jersey Shore...but Damn it is hilarious.



Narcosleepy Out

Movie of the Day: The Trigger Effect

If you follow the news and/or weather at all, you probably saw some stories about "Historic Flooding" in Iowa today.  The majority of that flooding occurred in the city where 75% of this blog's staff lives; Ames, Iowa.  As far as I know, the three of us are alive and well, and didn't face too much damage from the runaway water.  If we know what's good for us, we won't be drinking tap water for some time (Thanks a bunch, broken water main!), but we're going to live on despite the inconveniences to our daily routines.

As the events of the day in Ames unfolded - and as I worked to deal with a myriad of transportation, sanitation, evacuation, and problems during a 13+ hour shift at work - I was reminded of the society-gone-astray thriller The Trigger Effect.  It's a movie that landed on my radar back in the summer of 1996 (Which is completely my favorite year, but that's a different story for a different time) thanks to the presence of my beloved Elisabeth Shue and a mixed review from Siskel & Ebert that got me interested in the idea of the film.

Written and Directed by David Koepp, The Trigger Effect opens with a wonderful tracking shot that shows how easily anger can be transferred from person to person in a populated setting.  A waiter trips over a cord, spills on a man who doesn't speak English, who then bumps into someone else, who then argues with someone else, and so on.  It's all simple human frustration; the kind of thing that happens every day.  But it's something we rarely stop to witness, and Koepp's camera does a fine job of pointing out the ease with which our frustrations can boil into aggression.

What happens when we let these frustrations gain momentum?  What if we always take the easy way out and avoid them?  Those are the questions raised as The Trigger Effect moves on to its setting event, a blackout that shutsdown large portions of L.A. and its subrubs and leaves a married couple (Kyle Maclachlan and Shue), their sick daughter, and a family friend (Dermot Mulroney) fighting for their survival against a sea of troubles.  The movie references predators that feed on the weak in early scenes where we see coyotes eating dead animals and get a quick glance at George Romero's Night of the Living Dead (another film in which normal people let their frustrations boil over while facing a change in their reality), but shocks us by making the human condition the host of predatory behavior.

And that's what made me think of The Trigger Effect today.  As the river banks rose and conveniences that we take for granted disappeared, rumors spread throughout the town.  People took to the streets in search of safe water, and I'm sure more than a few people cursed their neighbor in frustration.  While I have faith in my town to not reach the extremes of The Trigger Effect - which definitely has its characters act in a highly metaphorical and illogical manner - I think the message the film sends rings true for Ames today.

In extreme conditions, we have to remember that most everyone is having a bad day.  We seem to lose sight of that too often.  We point fingers at others and believe that everyone's out to get us, but deep down inside we're all just fighting to survive and trying to feel like we still have some control over our lives when the things we thought were certain suddenly become variable. 

The Trigger Effect never quite understands these facts entirely, the same way most people - including myself -  don't understand them entirely.  But I like where its heart is.

Also, I love Elisabeth Shue SOOOOOOOO MUCH.

Quote of the Day

“The only thing that stops God from sending another flood is that the first one was useless.”

Chamfort

Morning Music: Over the Hills and Far Away

And now, the oddity that is/was Nightwish.

 

Artist: Nightwish 

Album: Over The Hills and Far Away

Quote of the Day

Remember, sex is like a Chinese dinner. It ain't over 'til you both get your cookie.

Alec Baldwin

Trailer Alert! The Avengers (Premake Edition!)

A while back, a really cool trailer - pieced together from a bunch of '50s films - showed us what The Empire Strikes Back would have looked like in the 1950s.  Now, with The Avengers movie coming our way in just under two years, a "premake" of that film has a trailer online!

Feel like you didn't get everything in that video?  Didn't catch the significance of Uatu the Watcher, or know why Yul Brynner looks like Charles Xavier?  This version of the video comes with some notes that spell out all the Marvel action at play in the video!

 

Awesome, right?

IMDB goes Mobile! (aka, The Mike Can Leave His Apartment And Feel Safe!)

OK, maybe it won't display EXACTLY like that (my guess is that somebody f'd up the word "nikto"), but IMDB has finally released its own mobile website (m.imdb.com) for phone-based browsers.

This has long been one of the biggest thorns in the side of movie nerds, or at least in the side of a movie nerd named The Mike.  But really, we've all been there.  We're with friends, watching whatever we're choosing to watch, and someone goes "Isn't that the guy from Trog?" or "Where have I seen that detective before?".

Now, I've long been a big fan of what I call "the phoneternet" - I actually went about two years without actual internet thanks to it.  But for some reason, IMDB has never made that transition to this awkward medium of information sharing that I've grown to love.  So when those questions come up and the laptops aren't handy, or when you're arguing over who played the Predator in that 1987 classic (No, it wasn't Jean Claude Van Damme, alright!  He dropped out of the movie and was replaced by Harry himself, Kevin Peter Hall.) at dinner, it was difficult to get to the info.  Wikipedia was the easier source to use, too!  And they're totally not as reliable as IMDB!

Now, despite what appears to be a toddler version of the mobile page, those questions can be answered with a bit less frustration.  Thus, we say thank you to you, IMDB!  You've made the world a better place for nerds and cinephiles everywhere, and you've made us as excited as that weird chick from Harry Potter!

No hablo?

I Want Me Some Of That MONSTERS Action.

The fine folks over at Magnolia Pictures and Magnet Releasing were kind enough to send the first images of the US poster for the independent monster film that's simply titled Monsters. This was already one of my most anticipated films of the year, and a breathtaking poster only adds to the mystery of what looks to be a potential companion to Cloverfield and District 9.

Directed by Gareth Edwards and starring a two person cast of relative unknowns Whitney Able and Scoot McNairy, Monsters will premiere via On Demand services September 24th.  The theatrical premiere in the states will follow on October 29th, following the same release schedule Magnet has used for the likes of District 13: Ultimatum, George Romero's Survival of the Dead, and Neil Marshall's currently on-demand Centurion.

What say you, members of the (O)PP Brigade?  Check out the official site and/or the trailer below, and let us know what you think!

Quote of the Day

Several hard-core Star Wars fans who had tickets for the first showing actually said that when the movie finally began, they started crying. Mainly because they realized that it's 22 years later, and they still haven't lost their virginity.

Conan O'Brien

For the Cyclone Fans!

Quote of the Day

It's official, Arnold said he will enter the race for governor. At least that's what everybody thinks he said.

David Letterman

In movie news...........

Why does Hollywood feel the need to remake classics?!?!? Money??!? Lack of ideas?!? Most likely it is both. There are soo many remakes over the years that have upset me, I could go on and on! When Tim Burton remade Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory in 2005, I boycotted the film and am still boycotting it to this day!! I just recently got wind another remake that will be added to the mix is My Fair Lady! A spectacular film that should never be touched! Emma Thompson is committing a crime by writing the screenplay. In addition to that, Emma recently had the audacity to criticize Ms Hepburn. Here is what she had to say:

"I was thrilled to be asked to do it because, having a look at it, I thought that there needs to be a new version. I'm not hugely fond of the film. I find Audrey Hepburn fantastically twee. Twee is whimsy without wit. It's mimsy-mumsy sweetness without any kind of bite. And that's not for me.

"She can't sing and she can't really act, I'm afraid. I'm sure she was a delightful woman - and perhaps if I had known her I would have enjoyed her acting more, but I don't and I didn't, so that's all there is to it, really."


I have loved Emma throughout the years, but her distaste for the fabulous Audrey makes me question my admiration of her. Does anyone else share these feelings of remakes/My Fair Lady?

Morning Music: I Wish I Was The Moon

It's been like two weeks since I used Neko here. No mas.



Artist: Neko Case
Album: Blacklisted

Comedy Corner: Sunday Night Saturday Night Live

Because, like us, it's just a bit off.

Quote of the Day

Giving up smoking is the easiest thing in the world. I know because I’ve done it thousands of times.

-Mark Twain

For the Sports Fans

Tim Tebow gets a Friar Tuck 'do from his veteran Broncos teammates this week at training camp.

Quote of the Day

There are only two reasons to sit in the back row of an airplane:
Either you have diarrhea, or you’re eager to meet people who do.

Henry Kissenger former US Secretary of State

Morning (?) Music: Lawyers, Guns and Money

Few things make me happier than the lyrics of one Warren Zevon.



Artist: Warren Zevon
Album: Excitable Boy