Ginger's follies, foibles and fixations.
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| You Listen to Me, Mr. Kick-Ass Ginger's follies, foibles and fixations. |
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Saturday, May 24, 2003 ...and the thatched roof COTTAGES!!! From John: Yep. In the face of apocalypse, several characters decide to spend the evening playing Dungeons & Dragons. (And really, who wouldn't?) The monster they're fighting in the game is named "Trogdor the Burninator." So there you have it kids: Homestarrunner has officially entered the mainstream. Well, sort of. I think Wil deserves a great deal of credit for that meme. At least for the 29-and-over set. 20x6 Someone managed to make a seven-minute call to Guyana on my home phone line while I was at work. Has anyone you know run into this before? I got Working Assets to clear the charge for me "this one time," but they warned me that subsequent calls might be charged, and I'd have to check with my local company to see if there are some crossed wires. Weird. A 'Who the Hell Cares?' Friday Five 1. What brand of toothpaste do you use? Tom's of Maine with flouride, peppermint baking soda flavor. 2. What brand of toilet paper do you prefer? Seventh Generation. 3. What brand(s) of shoes do you wear? All kinds -- way too many, actually. My favorite brands tend to be Nine West, BØrn, Sketchers, Steve Madden, Giraudon...and whatever is on sale. 4. What brand of soda do you drink? I almost never drink soda, except an occasional selzer. When I do indulge, it's usually mixed with an alcoholic beverage, and is usually some variety of coca-cola. 5. What brand of gum do you chew? I don't. This just proves that one's inner hippie never dies, she just gets more expensive... posted by Ginger | 4:44 PM Wednesday, May 21, 2003 Buffy the Burninator! My pal Pat has a question for you all: I just watched the last episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (also the first episode I have ever watched at it's air time)... and I swear they said "Trogdor" at least once, perhaps more. I need to you ask your reading public for confirmation. So there you are... can anyone confirm? That is, if I even have a reading public, which is debatable... posted by Ginger | 12:13 PM Sunday, May 18, 2003 Done! Just in Time for Summer  I dunno, maybe I should have made it longer... posted by Ginger | 8:28 PM Yippee! I Rock ...so they tell me, anyway. Nothing (much) to see there yet, but at least I finally got it working. Am not understanding Speakeasy's directory structure, tho. posted by Ginger | 8:14 PM What is The Matrix? A fucking bore, that's what. As much fun as was the first one, I had grave doubts that the second would have anything new to say about the world of people with dour expressions and funny names. These doubts, unfortunately, were only reinforced by the film itself. What could we expect? After years of pale imitations and car commercials, how could another look into that world come off as anything but derivative? In 1999, we had never seen such a thing as a goofy sci-fi movie that took itself seriously without being all annoying about it. Four years later, Reloaded comes off as just another Matrix wanna-be. This is the problem with creating such a film - it begins as a pop-culture revolution, and becomes history. My inner monologue constantly chorused "So WHAT?" Every ponderous bit of bullshit comic-book philosophizing, every nervous mention of the approaching enemy, every empty conflict drummed up between characters who are so pompous and irritating that we would be just as happy if they all got blown to hell. I did not care about any of these people, and the movie never gave me a reason to. My sister and I wondered if it would have been possible to make a satisfying sequel. I'm not sure. The key to the first one, I realize now, is that Neo was someone you could relate to, a disaffected geek stuck in cubicle-land with the vague sense that something, somehow is not quite right in the universe. Who in 1999 couldn't understand that? The joy of The Matrix was Neo's journey into and eventual mastery of this increasingly unbelievable world, the guy who got out. The neato-keen special effects were there to serve the story; the fights, for the most part, servicing Neo's growth and discovery. That monumental "bullet-time" shot on the rooftop meant something about Neo's development into The One, not (as is painfully frequent in Reloaded) just an excuse to watch people fight in slow-motion. So once Neo embraces his messiah-ness, we lack a way into the movie. No matter how befuddled and dazed Neo appears as he navigates the path to his destiny, he is no longer Everygeek. Meanwhile, the other characters remain in orbit around Neo, defined more by their proximity to him than their own (generally dull and/or unpleasant) personalities. Although I am pleased that The Matrix is shaping up to be the most racially-integrated sci-fi epic trilogy in history, there no characters to hang onto. Monkish robes and designer sunglasses do not equal character development. That said, there was one moment of joy for me in the film, one that broke free of the sulky nonsense and achieved, for a moment, the type of trancendant absurdity that infused much of the first film: the restaurant scene. Lambert Wilson's Merovingian is a delight who manages to make Reloaded's leaden mumbo-jumbo go down as smoothly as a bite of chocolate cake. Even Persephone's cheeseball "temptation" was good for a harmless laugh, not to mention my favorite Trinity moment to date. The Keymaker is fun, and I like those spooky twins, but that's the problem; Reloaded has a handful of enjoyable moments, but as a whole it's just pointless. Which brings me to the action scenes. Reloaded makes abundantly clear that "action" cannot exist in a vaccum and still be compelling. Again and again we're subjected to yet another scene of Neo (or Trinity, or Morpheus, or someone) engaged in meticulously-choreographed fisticuffs with a handful of faceless henchmen until such time that the fight is determined to be over because one of the parties escapes, or dies, or falls, or whatever the hell. But so what? No doubt that some of the scenes are "spectacular" in the technical sense, but to me a true spectacle moves you, is successful because you are emotionally invested, makes you want to watch because you care about the result. After the third time Morpheus fell off the top of the semi, I was ready for him just to go splat, already, so we could get this fucking movie over with. The only action scene with any resonance was Neo's battle with the "Agent Smiths," but even that had little to offer besides more...more...MORE. The repetition - combined with the most unconvincing CG effects I've seen in years - made it ultimately fall flat. Only Hugo Weaving's delicious delivery ("Mister AN-derson...") added much-needed fizz. So, if you haven't already seen Reloaded, go. I mean, you can't really miss it, can you? But make sure that you see the far more satisfying X-Men 2, too. posted by Ginger | 5:32 PM The I Just Haven't Been Very Into My Computer Lately Friday Five! I usually prefer to skip a week of questions rather than answer the ones I don't like. I think these are pretty lame, but I figure it will get me warmed up, and John made me feel guilty about not blogging, so... 1. What drinking water do you prefer -- tap, bottle, purifier, etc.? Clean, preferably. I usually drink whatever is around and cold and free (ie. my Brita at home, the water cooler at work). If I end up buying some and I have a choice, I usually get Dasani because I like the pritty bottles. 2. What are your favorite flavor of chips? If we're talking American-style I like Terra Chips, especially the sweet potato ones. I also like Salt & Vinegar flavor of the potato variety, but I haven't had those sorts of "normal" chips in a long time. 3. Of all the things you can cook, what dish do you like the most? Ooh, that's tough. I think I'm an okay cook, but I usually find the flaws in what I make more often than I revel in the successes. However, lately I've been making a pretty great Teriyaki salmon with green-tea rice (thanks, Real Simple!), and I used to make an amazing halibut with orange-butter sauce (oy!), but I have misplaced the recipe. And once I did make a truly remarkable garlic/lemon steak, but I think that was probably more the quality of the meat and luck than my particular skills. 4. How do you have your eggs? Since I'm on the pill, I don't think I have eggs anymore. Oh, you mean to eat? Ah. Scrambled I guess - well done, no gooshy bits :P 5. Who was the last person who cooked you a meal? How did it turn out? Cudgel cooked me a meal the other night before a cocktail party. It was simple, but very nice! And no, no funny business going on there, my friends. Strictly palsy-walsy which is A-OK with me, thank you. posted by Ginger | 4:25 PM |
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