Category: Movies

Eat eat gain gain

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

Fatblogging check-in:

  • Original weight: 233
  • Weight last week: 226
  • Weight this week: 227

Not great, but not unexpected. Vacation for three days, dinner out a few times, no exercise…yeah. That’ll do it. Now that I have my hard cast I think my wrist can handle the jolt of running, so I’m going to the gym tomorrow morning. Time to get back on the horse treadmill.

.:.

We just finished watching Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (imdb | rotten tomatoes). It was better than I expected. It got dragged up off the bottom of my Zip list, so I wasn’t that keen to see it, but we felt like watching a movie tonight and got a pleasant surprise. The story was pretty formulaic (and was explained as such…very meta) but parts of the script were quite funny, especially Val Kilmer’s. Not a must see, but worth a watch if it’s lying around.

[tags]fatblogging, kiss kiss bang bang[/tags]

The good, the bad and the criminally dumbass

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We saw The Bourne Ultimatum (imdb | rotten tomatoes) last night after work. It was really, really good. Almost surprisingly so, considering it’s a spy/action movie. Probably the best of the three films, in my opinion. It echoed the second film and retraced an important theme from the first. There was subtlety and subtext to go along with the fight sequences and super-agent stuff. It was well-paced and well shot (I like Paul Greengrass’ hand-held style). Great cast too.

Well worth your ticket price…and with a 94% on Rotten Tomatoes I guess I’m not the only one who thinks so.

.:.

At the other end of the film spectrum we find Bratz (imdb | rotten tomatoes) which is moving at a 9% clip on RT and inspired the following analysis:

“This is one of the worst movies I’ve ever seen. I’ll go as far as to call it one of the worst movies anyone’s ever seen. Bratz is one the worst movies a stillborn chicken in Peru has ever seen.” [Cinematical]

“But if your daughter feels far too good about herself or has bought into all this ‘It’s what’s on the inside that counts’ bullshit, then you not only owe it to your daughter to take her to this, but you owe it to the 20 or so guys that in ten years will be tagging her while she lies face first in a puddle of her own vomit. These girls don’t make themselves. They need your help, Dad. They need Bratz.” [Ain’t It Cool News]

“If you ever wanted a movie to put in the time capsule so future generations can puzzle over the bankruptcy of our current kiddie culture, Bratz is it.” [Boston Globe]

.:.

Let me give you an example of a big reason I wanted to move away from small-town Nova Scotia. This CBC News story is about a town very close to where I grew up.

Truro won’t be flying a rainbow-coloured flag at the town hall to support gay pride activities, unlike two other nearby Nova Scotia municipalities.

…

Council voted 6-1 against raising the flag to coincide with next week’s gay pride activities in Pictou County. Mayor Bill Mills is standing by the vote, saying, as a Christian, he simply could not support the request. “God says I’m not in favour of that and I have to look at it and say, I guess I’m not either,” Mills said.

The mayor said gays and lesbians already have equal opportunities and work and pension benefits, so he wonders what else they’re fighting for. By raising the rainbow flag, he added, that might open the door for other groups. “If I have a group of people that says pedophiles should have rights, do we raise their flag too? I don’t want to lump them in with homosexuals, but that’s the point, the issues, and that’s my feeling.”

Wow. That is some well-thought-out shit right there. He wonders what else they’re fighting for? How about a mayor who doesn’t imply they’re sexual deviants? Pedophile flags? Pedophilia’s illegal, you idiot. Although, it does raise the question: what kind of equality flag would homophobic public officials fly?

For every reason I love my home province, there’s some jackhole troglodyte like Bill Mills to remind me why I can’t move back yet.

[tags]bourne ultimatum, bratz, truro, mayor bill mills[/tags]

The scariest movie I've seen since The Ring

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I spent my last 24 hours of freedom relaxing and watching a bunch of movies. Two of them were just dumb piles of action: Banlieue 13 (imdb | rotten tomatoes) was remarkable for the all the Parkour-ish action, while Smokin’ Aces (imdb | rotten tomatoes) was remarkable only for the extreme hotness of Alicia Keys. Both were fun to watch, but gone from my head the second they ended.

However, this afternoon I watched a documentary called Deliver Us From Evil (imdb | rotten tomatoes), and it’s going to stay with me for a long, long time. It was at the film festival last year and I wanted to see it then, as documentary filmmakers always shed more light on their films in person at festivals. However, the finished product is more then enough for me.

Director Amy Berg told the story of Oliver O’Grady, a catholic priest who sexually abused children in California in the 70s and 80s. She used extensive interviews with O’Grady himself (more on him in a minute) and with a few victims and their families, as well as deposition interviews with various members of the church. There was also analysis from lawyers, theologians and even a reformist priest. From a craft standpoint, Berg worked the story up perfectly from the small details to the bigger picture, including the dissection of how catholic doctrine and hierarchy could allow — even enable — this abuse to happen, and making sure not to absolve the highest of levels…even the current pope himself was connected to the scandals at the highest levels. Expertly done, and completely gripping.

O’Grady himself was difficult to watch. There can be no doubt that the man is a sociopath, but he seemed to hover on the fine line between disturbed and monstrous. I could never quite determine if his actions were the result of horrid intent or uncontrollable disease, but I never felt as if he were anything but evil. But he was one man, and he could have been stopped. For years the church protected itself by protecting him, moving him from one town to the next, giving him opportunity after opportunity to abuse and rape adults, children and even infants. While the film shows O’Grady through an unfiltered lens — the man needs no help in damning himself — the accusatory finger is firmly leveled at the California diocese and the church itself.

If you can stomach the subject matter — and it is very disturbing to watch O’Grady, because the man not only exhibits an utter lack of remorse, he still seems truly menacing — then I cannot recommend the film enough. And if you’re worried that it unfairly attacks Catholics, it doesn’t; it attacks self-serving power structures. As the afore-mentioned reformist priest said, “Real Catholics are revolutionaries, like Jesus. Did you ever notice that the only time Jesus got mad was when he went to church?”

[tags]banlieue 13, smokin’ aces, deliver us from evil[/tags]

It was pretty funny when H-Simp punched N-Flan

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I’m liking my new blog template. If you notice any bugs (beyond the broken links in the consumption/mp3 widgets in the sidebar; already noticed those ones) let me know.

.:.

The Simpsons Movie (imdb | rotten tomatoes): pretty good. Little dopey toward the end, but solid laughs throughout. Much more sophisticated visuals than I’m used to seeing in the show, and humour a little more in the pratfall/timing style of the early seasons than in the more recent absurdist style. Good escapism for sure.

.:.

Daily Dose of Imagery has (yet another) very cool shot of downtown Toronto, including our condo. The perspective is misleading; our building (on the far left) is actually dwarfed by the big bank towers).

.:.

The whole athlete nickname thing where they use their first initial and the first syllable of their last name (e.g., A-Rod, J-Kidd, T-Mac, etc.) has gone too far. It was already silly when it got to J-Dub, but now that it’s reached Man-Ram, it’s just torn the ass out of the whole thing.

[tags]wordpress templates, simpsons movie, daily dose of imagery, toronto, athlete nicknames, manny ramirez[/tags]

I want off

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

I left work about 90 minutes ago. I ran down to Volo to meet Nellie and a friend, but the service was so slow I had to cancel my food order. I got plain M&Ms, the first thing I’d eaten since a croissant at 9:30. Now we’re waiting for the Simpson’s movie to start.

I’m not having fun.

[tags]simpsons movie[/tags]

How ironic…the one time I want to punch somebody…

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I am not a happy man. Nor am I fully functional. While playing basketball tonight, some fuckwit, some asshat we don’t even know or like or want to play with, he does his signature move: he runs into me at full tilt, shoulder first. I go flying (230 pound guys do not fly readily, so you can imagine how hard this smacktard hit me) and land awkwardly on my wrist. I get up and swear at him a bit but keep playing, thinking I just jammed it. After a few seconds, though, I can tell this isn’t just a jam. I can’t dribble the ball. It’s hurt. I get the ball and I’m open so I take the shot. It goes in, but my wrist goes from numbness to searing pain. It’s hurt bad.

I can’t bear the thought of losing or letting this twat think he knocked me out of the game, so I finish, playing with one hand. Playing badly. To make this guy just a little bit more of a shitbag, he won’t play defense…he just cherry picks. So I hang back on offense to guard against that, and make sure to bump him a few times whenever possible. My team picks it up and we win the game. I get my bag and leave. My wrist is swollen as hell. I can’t even open my bottle to pour some cold water on it. Frosty kindly gives me a ride to a major intersection where I can catch a cab. Even getting myself and my gym bag into a taxi using only my left hand is a chore.

Now, as I (very, very slowly) type this with my left hand, my right hand is stuck at a 30 degree angle, pointing toward the floor. Moving a finger hurts. I can’t even pick up my Blackberry, let alone hold it. It’s probably not broken, but it’s clearly not functional. Obviously this is not my summer. I need to find a cave.

The worst part is that I wanted to tell this fuck not to play. We all did. None of us wanted him there, but we were all too nice to say it. If I’d said it my wrist would be fine. So let that be a lesson to you, kids. Never be afraid to tell an asshole that he’s an asshole.

.:.

On a sunnier note, my feeds tonight produced excellent examples of irony, balls, wit and whimsy.

And now, back to the pain. ‘Night, everybody.

[tags]wrist injury, basketball, polyps, darjeeling limited[/tags]

"She was the still point of the turning world, man."

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The shortlist for the Polaris Music Prize is up. It’s very, very good. You’d have to think the odds are with the Arcade Fire or Feist albums, but my dark horse is…well, The Besnard Lakes Are The Dark Horse.

.:.

The Virgin Suicides gets better every time I watch it. The scene near the end where they play music to each other over the phone just kills me.

.:.

Create your own Simpsons avatar over at the official movie site. I made one last night but it’s on another computer and (you guessed it) I can’t be bothered to go gittit. [via Showcase Sideshow]

.:.

Maybe more than any other show, The Shield just stays at an incredibly high level. There’s never really a lull or a down episode; it just stays good.

[tags]polaris music prize, the virgin suicides, simpsons movie, the shield[/tags]

Spiderpig

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

More progress from a daily-life standpoint: I actually got to the gym this morning. The plan was to go yesterday morning, but the Monday Night Downstairs Dance Party ™ made that impossible. I didn’t know how much energy I’d have at 6AM, especially since I played ball for two hours last night, and even more especially since I haven’t run in months, but I kept it light (just 1.5 miles). I was worried about the pain in my knee at first, but it turned out to only be bruised from last night (must’ve gone knee-on-knee with someone and not noticed at the time) and not a strain. I’ll go again tomorrow morning; gotta work myself back up to at least 3mi/5km if I’m to lose any weight at all.

The tricky part is cooling down before I have to strap myself into a suit and walk out into the Toronto summer. Yech.

Movies, exercise…I’m almost starting to feel normal again.

.:.

The ending of this trailer for The Simpsons Movie made me howl. H-O-W-L.

[tags]exercise, fatblogging, simpsons movie[/tags]

In which I join the club. The pudgy, pudgy club.

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

Let the banners fly and the champagne flow: we actually went to see a movie today! Gasp wheeze snort! Yup, a real live honest-to-Hollywood movie, our first in a theatre since seeing 300 in way back in March. We saw Knocked Up (imdb | rotten tomatoes), which was pretty good.

It just feels good to be back in the game.

.:.

The least surprising thing I’ve heard this week: George Bush has commuted Scooter Libby’s jail term.

US President George W Bush has intervened to prevent Lewis Libby, a convicted former vice-presidential aide, from serving a prison term. President Bush described as “excessive” the 30-month sentence Libby was facing for obstructing an inquiry into the leaking of a CIA agent’s name.

Do you ever wonder if Bush does this stuff just to fuck with Tony Snow?

.:.

I have decided to join the fatblogging club. I’m no good at self-motivation so I figure telling the world that I’m about 40 pounds overweight and then living in fear of the mockery will help things along.

See, the last time I was a normal weight — about 190 pounds — was back in 2001. Back then I was single and didn’t eat regular meals (as I do now that I’m married), didn’t eat as a social occasion (as I do now that I have a foodie friend or two), exercised a lot more, didn’t work nearly as much and didn’t have an MBA on my plate. I figure I have to reverse/correct at least a few of those trends, and soon — I’d like to buy a new suit in a couple of months. So, to recap:

  • I’m currently about 233 (which puts me just below “obese” on the BMI scale)
  • I should be about 194 (to get my BMI back into the “normal” range)

Clearly I won’t cover 39 pounds in two months short of some creative surgery, so I’ll aim for 214 (the halfway mark) by Sep 1. I’ll give weekly updates. I await your praise/scorn.

[tags]knocked up, scooter libby, fatblogging[/tags]

48.473%

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

Apparently Bruce Burger of Venice, FL has never seen the movie Happy Gilmore. If he had, this never would have happened:

One-eyed gator pulls golfer into pond [CNN]

Chubbs!!

.:.

I love my group. We are blazing fast because we occupy the tricky ground between lazy and efficient. And, dare I say, a little brilliant.

Well, no, I daren’t say that. But we’re not messing around, that’s for sure.

[tags]one-eyed alligator, happy gilmore, mba[/tags]