Friday, July 27, 2007
The Simpsons Movie: The Official Review
My pre-screening fear that it would suck and forever stain the series' legacy was baseless. The movie was, in fact, "excellent." I left with a smile on my face (this is an actual photo of me right after the movie ended).
My big question is whether the recurring character that was killed off (with a final twist on one of my favorite catchphrases) will come back on the show. I mean, it's The Simpsons... they tend to "forget" about previous plot lines.
And I must recognize that the movie boasts an Oscar-worthy performance. You heard it here first: "And the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor goes to ... Spider-Pig!" (thunderous applause)
Posted by Brian at 5:56 PM
Comments (2)
Category: Music/Movies/TV
Saturday, July 21, 2007
Revenge of Cedric Diggory
The last Harry Potter book is available now. I've not read any of them, nor do I plan to. But I have seen all the movies, including the just-released "Order of the Phoenix," and enjoyed them a lot more than I expected I would.
But now that the series is complete and the characters' fates sealed, I'm just waiting for some jerkass 24-hour news anchor to bleat out the ending, thereby ruining my future Harry Potter moviegoing experiences. As an advance warning to whichever talking head spoils it for me, I will hunt you down and punch you in the face. You listening, Blitzer?
- Posted by Brian at 1:09 AM
- Comments (5)
- Category: Music/Movies/TV
Saturday, July 14, 2007
Betting on history
I bet on baseball last night. I bet $20 that Barry Bonds will break (or at least tie) Hank Aaron's all-time home run record on Saturday, August 4, in San Diego.
Just to be clear, I don't like Bonds and would love nothing more than for his career to end (how're those knees holding up, Barry?) before he can break Aaron's record. However, that isn't going to happen so I checked the Giants schedule and did the math. The Giants have played 87 games this year, and Bonds has 17 home runs, which means he hits one approximately every 5 games. That August 4 game is 21 games away, and Bonds is four away from tying Aaron's record, five from breaking it. If Bonds' average holds, that's about right.
So I bought a $20 ticket in the lower right-field bleachers, which is the area where the lion's share of Bonds' home runs land. You know, just in case. I'm not above punching a 10-year-old to snag a ball that will be worth the equivalent of 30 times my yearly salary.
And I realize the odds of Bonds hitting the magic number in that exact game is slim despite the averages, but I'll still get to boo a guy who either is about to break or just has broken one of sports' most revered records.
- Posted by Brian at 1:03 PM
- Comments (2)
- Category: Sports
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Spiderpig, Spiderpig...
Does whatever a Spiderpig does. 16 more days.
I don't know what happened to Homer's arm. It was like that when I got there. Really. I didn't steal it. What would I do with just an arm?
- Posted by Brian at 10:52 PM
- Comments (3)
- Category: Music/Movies/TV
Saturday, July 7, 2007
New addition to the family
She was delivered Monday, July 2 at 10:35 a.m. weighing 5.1 pounds with 2 full GB of RAM. Beautiful, no?
(And look! In the background of the photo, you'll notice a creature testing the boundaries of what I call "The Dismemberment Zone." Don't be fooled by the innocent look; that is pure destruction in feline disguise.)
The MacBook does not yet have a playmate in the form of an iPhone. I had the opportunity to analyze one at an Apple Store last weekend, and I think it lived up to the hype. However, before I could finish my research, a certain someone physically dragged me away, muttering something like "You want an iPhone or a wife? 'Cause you're not getting both."
- Posted by Brian at 12:24 PM
- Comments (2)
- Category: Tech/Geek
Wednesday, July 4, 2007
One shall stand, one shall fall
"Celebrate the independence of your nation by blowing up a small part of it." - Kwik-E-Mart clerk
I didn't take this single-appearance Simpsons character's advice today, but I did the next best thing: I went to see enormous transforming robots blow up quite a bit of it. (Note: When it's 117 degrees, outdoor Independence Day activities have a significantly smaller freedom quotient.)
The movie was better than I expected. Lots of action, lots of explosions, a few flashes of actual humor. Took a little long to get into the action (how many not-so-subtle clues do we need that the banged-up Camaro the kid just bought is really Bumblebee?). But once it got going, it kept going until the end. I give it the ol' thumbs up.
I even did research to prepare. A couple nights ago, I watched the animated Transformers: The Movie. I'd never seen it since my Transformer-collecting days had ended by 1986, when the movie came out. Good thing I held off a viewing until I became a mature adult because who knows how much therapy I'd need after watching my entire toy collection get killed off in one 84-minute span. And even at 32, I'm still a bit traumatized that one of the characters yells "Oh shit!"
- Posted by Brian at 7:30 PM
- Comments (4)
- Category: Music/Movies/TV
