King of Kong - documentary - Hell yes you should watch this.  I strongly recommend this film to everyone; it’s about a lot more than video games.  I’m not surprised that the story is being adapted into a feature film as well.  The story is a classic good guy versus bad guy, david v goliath, etc, et al.  You’ll quickly get sucked into the world of arcade game records.  Very compelling.

Cocaine Cowboys - documentary - Good history of the rise of cocaine in Miami, especially how the trade pumped billions of dollars into the local economy.  Everything was kosher until one crazy lady started killing anyone and everyone who offended her, and the government was forced to step in and go after the traffickers.  Before the violence, everyone seemed happy with the situation.  Interesting side note - one of the main traffickers discussed taking boats loaded with coke through the Haulover Causeway, and he rented  an apartment in the Harbor House (which overlooked the causeway) to spot customs and DEA boats on patrol.  The Harbor House was where my wife and I lived back in 2000…great memories. Too bad they tore it down (which was also shown in the movie).  Not the best doc I’ve ever seen, but good, and it definitely had a special appeal for me.

I had an unspoken goal to provide a brief written review of the many dvd’s to cross my netflix path. I’m behind on that goal (read: never started). Let’s get to it.

Sweeney Todd - three stars - It just didn’t do it for me. Great set design, great actors, interesting story, but it never came together for me. Probably a character issue - there isn’t much to identify with or even remotely like about Barker.  I really wanted another amazing Burton/Depp experience, like Edward Scissorhands.  I have a love/loathe relationship with the new Willy Wonka; Depp’s character work was incredible (the quiet menace in his eyes) but I absolutely loathed the Oompa Loompa dance numbers.

The Darjeeling Limited - four stars - Good, not great. The performances are strong overall, but this didn’t get me like Tenenbaums or Rushmore, which are both very high on my list of favorites. Anderson disappointed me with Life Aquatic, and Darjeeling was better, but I’m still waiting for another incredible experience a very talented filmmaker. As expected, the art direction was incredible.

Deliver Us From Evil - documentary - I don’t like giving stars for documentaries; there are certainly differences in storytelling and craft between them, but the subject matter has so much to do with my experience that I can’t rate the director on what the reality of a situation is. That said, this was a disturbing yet worthwhile look at a California priest who sexually abuses children, repeatedly, and the bishop simply covers it up and moves him to another parish. Very moving interview footage, including the priest himself being candid and only partially apologetic for what he did.

For the Bible Tells Me So - documentary - An examination of religious groups using the bible to hate homosexuality. Good subject matter, decent presentation. Too many characters are introduced to make a narrative flow. The expert interviews were very interesting, which made the whole thing worthwhile. I just realized that I’ve already reviewed this, sort of.

There Will Be Blood - four stars - Greedy oilman takes on an orphan to make himself appear more sympathetic, then gets into a power struggle with a small town preacher. Simple story, great performances. Daniel Day Lewis provides his usual bravura and I was thoroughly sucked into the setting. I definitely liked the film, but I have this sneaking feeling that it didn’t quite live up to the hype it was given.

Lake of Fire - documentary - Do not watch this. It’s an examination of abortion from all sides, including at least two sequences of actual abortions. I’m getting ill just remembering it. Deeply disturbing to see. I didn’t even finish it. The story was very interesting, but I just can’t get those images out of my head. Ughh.

Fall from Grace - documentary - I probably wouldn’t recommend this…because it’s just too long. Fred Phelps and his family are the stupid fucks who believe homosexuality is a curse from god and soldiers are dying in Iraq because god is pissy about it. They protest military funerals with a variety of incredibly outlandish signs. It is literally a church based on hate. I think Fred Phelps, the preacher, is gay. I’m not making fun of him…I just think he’s lashing out with anger over feelings within his heart. Horrible man, horrible family. But the documentary goes on for something near 105 minutes…but it’s incredibly repetitive. Could have been done in 30 minutes.

Volver - four stars - Pedro Almovodar tells a very enjoyable story about a woman who returns from the dead to settle things in her family. But the movie should have been titled: “This is Penelope Cruz and she’s really hot and you should look at her tits.” The director does everything in his power to make her look like an impossibly beautiful single mother - she just consumes every scene she is in. Overall, good film.

King Corn - documentary - Definitely worth watching. Somewhat related to my post about In Defense of Food, we are made of corn. Corn is an over-produced crop that is only profitable with pointless government crop subsidies. Two college grads grow an acre of corn in Iowa and attempt to follow their crop into the food chain. Interesting points abound, including the fact that most of our corn is used to feed livestock (which shouldn’t be eating it) and fattening them really quick. If you eat food, you’ll enjoy it.

After a day of listening, I can confidently recommend the new album from The Roots: Rising Down.  It’s really well made, featuring strong performances from all vocalists, and the lyrics are pretty damn good.

As a white guy, I can enjoy The Roots because of their political messages, which might make me feel like a cultural hypocrite (things ain’t so bad for me), but it’s a lot better than the nonsense “mainstream” rap about bitches, thug life, and shawty doing nasty things.

A whopping 17 years ago, when I was in the 6th grade*, I won the school spelling bee.  Hundreds of grade-schoolers stood and clapped with glee, probably because it freed them from watching a bunch of smart kids sweating about words.

Nick Nowak misspelled “kerchief”, opening the door for me to put him out of his misery with the correct spelling of “appetizer”.  It was exhilarating - the kind of public affirmation I wouldn’t receive again until screening my crappy projects in film school.

I didn’t qualify for the county bee, by the way, because Laurence Fishburne never showed up to teach me about the etymology necessary to spell at a higher level.  I was left trying to memorize every long word I could find.

*In case you were wondering, the greatest fear for a 6th grade boy is an ill-timed erection.  There is little-to-no control or warning, and, in the days of Umbro shorts, nothing to conceal it.

The film was released simultaneously with rival film The Forbidden Dance; neither was well received, though Lambada was called “the better of the two”

Synopsis - A Beverly Hills school teacher by a day, Kevin Laird (J. Eddie Peck) journeys at night to a warehouse in East L.A, where a group of barrio kids gather to dance the lambada.

Using his dazzling dance moves to earn the kids’ respect and acceptance, Kevin then teaches them academics in an informal backroom study hall. It’s the best of both worlds, but then Sandy (Melora Hardin) a jealous and lovestruck student exposes Kevin’s double life, his two worlds collide, threatening his job and reputation.

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She is an exact hybrid of Bruce Willis and Demi Moore.  She looks like a walking example of photoshop.

Or, as my coworker just put it, “if you cover the center of her head, you’ve got Bruce Willis with boobs.  And if you cover those parts, you get to see Demi Moore’s face if it was stuck on a potato.”

When I lived in Miami (future post coming), I worked as a valet at a very, very expensive community.  One of the head valets swore he had been called to Bruce Willis’s villa, on multiple occasions, and saw Mister Bruce walking around in tighty-whities while carrying a pistol.  Not sure if it’s true, but, still, good times.

Weekend Roundup - quick style.

Friday: dinner at our favorite mexican place, ended up meeting with three coworkers who had driven the 20 miles from Raleigh. Shared a half pitcher of margaritas with the wife (I had to drive) and talked with the work-friends over delicious mexican fare until it got too cold on the patio.

Saturday: Took care of a bunch of minor stuff around the house. Spent $80 on fresh produce at the market, then washed and prepared everything. Got fresh (still warm) corn tortillas, Karen made bean-cheese-corn quesadillas with our homemade salsa. Yum, though I decided I just don’t like corn tortillas as much as flour. Sorry, corn. Also made a pitcher of margaritas, intent on making the perfect drink at home. After realizing the sour mix was the key issue, I did some research. Store bought mix is food coloring and high fructose corn syrup…and way too sweet for our needs. Made my own sour mix (boil water and sugar, then add lemon juice - I did 4:3:3 for less sweet, more tart) which was the difference. Add in the tequila, grand marnier, and the juice of a fresh lime and you’ve got the perfect, basic margarita. Got a little buzzed and watched Roman Holiday while Karen passed out. Natalie Portman is Audrey Hepburn.

Sunday: I’m starting to forget what I did yesterday. I definitely cooked breakfast, I do remember that. Took the dogs for a walk, packed stuff to sell on eBay, took out the trash. Karen made a fresh pasta sauce using our fresh onions and tomatoes…very good. Peter called around midday to suggest getting MarioKart for the Wii. And that’s what I did. A quick $200 at Best Buy* netted me a copy of the game, extra Wiimote (which I needed for a while), and a new router. My Wii had never connected to the internet before, and I tried everything short of replacing the router to make it happen. Well, I really wanted to play MarioKart online, so I decided to try a new router. I bought the AirPort Express…holy shit, why didn’t I do that sooner? My old router was kind of a pain to set up, and I was always having to reboot it or the cable modem when our laptops were turned on or off in a specific order. One of the two couldn’t handle the mac/pc combination. I’m once again thrilled to have paid a little more for the Apple product. Setting it up was so freaking easy and the network speed and signal strength increased noticeably. And it’s smaller and better looking. Can’t believe I didn’t buy it sooner. So I started playing MarioKart and finished off the pitcher of margaritas. Drunk driving is never okay…but it’s fucking hilarious when piloting a cartoon go-kart through a shopping mall while an angry donkey kong is throwing shells at you. Good times. Good weekend.

By the way, I wrote all this because I have three scripts to write today and I need to get my mind in the writing mood…and this actually does help.

*I asked the Best Buy games employee to recommend a wireless router that worked well with the Wii. He said the Wii doesn’t have wireless capability: I should buy a WLAN adapter. What?  So wrong.  C’mon. I’m not asking about some minute detail on one of the 65 different televisions sold there - I’m asking a core question about one of the THREE main game systems you deal with. Learn your product.

I could spend all day in there.

Ahh, to be young.

You May Now Kick The Bride

I’ve been published on the 6 Sentences site three times, the most recent being today.

The other two are here and here.

In my haste to exit the house this morning, I simply could not find my phone.  I thought I had left it on the coffee table.  Nope.  Perhaps I left it my pants pocket.  Nope.  Finally I get the bright idea to call the phone and chase down the noise (unless I left it on silent).  It rings all the way through to voice mail.  Damn.

Thirty seconds later, the house phone rings back - it’s the wife, on my phone, from her office.  Seems she took it with her by mistake (we have the same phone).  She was also in fits of laughter.  My phone had rung while she was in a crowded elevator with some executives she didn’t know.  She thought the ring tone sounded familiar, then realized she had taken my phone, and the phone was buried in the bottom of her tote bag where she couldn’t get to it.

So the whole elevator was treated to my ringtone: “Damn It Feels Good To Be A Gangster” by The Geto Boys.

Working an 8:30 to 11 day is either blissfully short or murderously long.  Since I’m interviewing someone in Singapore, today falls into the latter.  This thing doesn’t even start until 10pm.  I’ll be lucky to leave at 11…