I was introduced to the wonderful world of HBO on demand the other day. I can watch hbo programming whenever I want? what? and I’m already paying for it?

so I went and did what I had to do: watch the entire first season of extras in one sitting.

I had seen the first episode before and thought “meh” but as the season wore on it just kept getting progressively better. ricky gervais knows how to play one character and he plays it better than anyone else.

here’s an example of andy millman (gervais) talking with patrick stewart.

Patrick Stewart: I will “Make It So.”
[blank look from Andy]
Patrick Stewart: You’ve seen “Star Trek: The Next Generation?”
Andy Millman: I haven’t, no.
Patrick Stewart: Why? Your wife won’t let you have it on?
Andy Millman: I’m not married.
Patrick Stewart: Oh, your girlfriend then?
Andy Millman: I haven’t got a girlfriend either. I live alone.
Patrick Stewart: You’re not married, you haven’t got a girlfriend… and you’ve never watched “Star Trek?”
Andy Millman: No.
Patrick Stewart: Good Lord…

that is, as they call it, slice of fried gold.

caught brothers of the head last night. VERY good stuff, even if I did get a little motion sick from the hand-held shots. it’s not just “hey look it’s conjoined twins in a band” — the story goes much deeper than that. and the soundtrack is fantastic.

is the lady in the water.

this distinction was prior held by joe versus the volcano. that means the top spot held firm for 16 years (!) until this pile of shit was projected on the big screen.

congratulations, m night. I still love the sixth sense though.

the new york asian film festival, ie: my week+ of seeing a film every night, has come to an end.

in a word it was a BLAST. I was glad I made a conscious decision to watch as many of the films as I could.

as expected linda linda linda kicked ass. I’m definitely going to get a copy of it even if it’s going to be like $40 + shipping. I read that the bootlegs out there don’t have english subs so keep that in mind if you’re looking for one…

what else did I like? well there was that whole lovefest over it’s only talk, my obsession over shinobi, the absolute absurdity and hilarity that was ski jumping pairs: road to torino, the innocent love story of a feather in the wind, the highly stylized korean revenge drama a bittersweet life, and pacchigi!: a tale of 60’s japan that involves a romeo & juliet-esque romance of a japanese boy and a korean girl, gang fights, and a country awakening to freedom.

can’t wait till next year’s.

…walked into a movie theatre to see a film you barely knew anything about, slowly and gradually fell in love with the care that was taken into every small detail in this film, and about third of the way through came to the realization that you are indeed watching what will become one of your favorite movies of all time unfolding right in front of your eyes for the very first time?

that was what it was like to see it’s only talk last night at the ny asian film festival.

so I hit up two films this past weekend at the new york asian film festival: the great yokai war and shinobi (no mike, this movie isn’t about the video game).

the great yokai war was silly as expected. a young boy teams up with comically useless spirits of japanese folklore to take on an army of killer robots. chiaki kuriyama (you may remember her as gogo from kill bill) also stars in this somewhat family movie, and she definitely does not stab a guy in the crotch in this one (as you may recall from kill bill and perhaps battle royale).

now shinobi on the other hand is a whole ‘nother story. I had no expectations going in, as all I knew was it had elements of romeo and juliet in a feudal japan backdrop with ninjas and special effects fight sequences.

…well, uh, it blew me away.

my friends with whom I saw this seemed to so-so like it, and at the time I felt “yeah, it was pretty good” but the more I thought of it and obsessed over it I realized I was completely consumed by it. so I did the only sensible thing to do: bought a copy in chinatown and watched it again tonight. yeah, I fucking love it.

ok so go watch the trailer now that I’ve completely hyped it up.

other films I’m looking forward to checking out:

+ linda linda linda (if I see anything else it would be this one)

+ feather in the wind

+ always - sunset on third street

+ a bittersweet life

what’s curious is the absense of a single hong kong entry in this year’s lineup. what gives?

so I had a good week to sit down and have quality time with these songs. the four tracks that were released prior to the full length were more straight forward; a very seamless marriage of two songs with very little effects and elements mixed in.

such wasn’t the case for the rest of the songs.

with expectations of the songs being straight forward like the songs I had heard, it was a surprise to hear the generous usage of new beats and even featured rapping by the likes of KRS ONE. at first I didn’t know what to make of it. but as I peeled back the layers I saw what really is the genius at the core of legion of doom.

my current faves are lolita’s medicine [from autumn to ashes vs dead poetic] and ebola in memphis [every time i die vs norma jean f/ krs one]. thing is I don’t even like every time i die or norma jean and I REALLY like how these two songs are fused together. same deal for devil in a blue dress [coheed and cambria vs senses fail] — I really don’t like coca.

on the other hand the tracks I was really looking forward to, thrice vs alkaline trio and my chem vs static lullaby didn’t blow me away. but thanks to TLOD I have new found respect for some of these bands, presenting a new angle for me to check them out.

verdict: good times.

after speaking venting with several people today about the giant time-waster finale, I came up with a one-line take of the whole season:

a guy from nashville goes to a french restaurant and orders a chicken fried chicken.

the end.

what the fuck??

that’s right. travis picked sarah tennessee. the girl who shouldn’t even have lasted beyond the french riviera, let alone WIN this fucking thing.

why??

because sarah represents every girl he’s ever known (including his mom I’m sure). because he’s only dated girls like her and he’s too chickenshit to experience anything outside of what he’s familiar with. he looks at her and he sees home (direct quote).

this season was shaping up to be one of the best seasons ever, only for it to completely fall apart in the end because the bachelor decided to chickenshit the most important decision.

tonight we learned you can take a guy out of nashville but you can’t take the nashville out of the guy. what a waste of a perfectly good season of the bachelor.

it’s surprising how little you get done when you have a day off. for the entire day I had planned on doing only 3 things:

- pick up a copy of beyond therapy for my acting class
- pick up a gift under $20 for secret santa
- go see an early showing of the lion, the witch, and the wardrobe

I figured I’d get out to the theater early so I can stop by the borders next door and get that play. I should be out by 1-ish, which would give me plenty of time to pick up my secret santa gift. I’d chill at home, give hayley some love, then off to acting class. bada bing bada boom.

well…

I managed to miss that 11 o’clock showing and talked myself into waiting for the next digital projection showtime which was 3 hours later. I farted around a bit, IMed with co-workers stuck at work and played with hayley. made some poor decisions on the two online games I’m playing (urban dead and the aforementioned project rockstar) that set me back a few days’ worth of activity. got a wrap from the downstairs deli.

got to the theatre early so I stopped by the borders next door. BORDERS. in a small shopping complex. what was I thinking? they’re not going to have my playscript! and of course they didn’t. sigh.

the 2:15 showing of the movie somehow didn’t start showing trailers until 2:30. 20 minutes’ worth of trailers later (they were all either remakes, sequels, or just plain useless) the movie began.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
at this point I’d like to offer my opinions on the movie.
I’ll start with the PROS:

- EXCELLENT creature effects and makeup (much respeck to weta)
- british accents

and the CONS:

- obvious religious overtones, undertones, allaroundtones
- unconvincing acting in manufactured snowy conditions (a new pet peeve)
- many scenes were so fucking dark I couldn’t see what was going on
- digital creature hordes in wide shots were sketchy
- several scenes straight out helm’s deep from the two towers
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

anyway I left the theatre around 5. dark and wet and slushy outside now. my boot (and subsequently, my exposed socked toes) got wet and I had absolutely no desire to go to class (especially since I don’t have the book or any work to present). or to pick up the gift as it’s mobbed by after-work friday mob.

so I accomplished 1 out of 3 things today. I’ll be taking every friday off for the rest of the month to burn up my vacation days (use ‘em or lose ‘em), and hopefully my next one will be more productive.