Top Almost Twenty-(ish) Movies

On a whim the other day I went through some of my old draft posts and realised it was getting kind of cluttered. It was full of thoughts that never got finished and half formed ideas that I never got around to. Most of them were unpublishable, either due to the moment passing or me just not remembering where I was going with the ideas. I ended up deleting a large amount because I know I’ll never get back to them and their time is gone but I kept a few to work on over the next few weeks.

This is the first one that I’m performing thread necromancy on. I’ve polished it off as best I can and added a few bits here and there. Let’s see how it goes.


So a little over a year and a half ago (Holy crap, I swear it was just yesterday! – Editor), some of you may remember that I did a 7 day book challenge on Facebook. Seven covers of books posted without explanation. Of course I followed up here with the explanation as to why they affected me so.

When it ended, I said I would revisit the topic because there are so many more books than 7 that have affected my life. The more I thought about it though, I realised that every book I’ve read has shaped my life in some form or fashion. Even the ones I hated.

So, what else could I do. Well, this being the modern age and me being a typical Gen-X-er. Why movies of course. I grew up in the middle of the movie rental era (heck come to think of it, I witnessed the whole lifespan of the movie rental phenomenon right to the bitter end, but that’s a blog post for another day.) Back in the days when “please be kind, rewind” actually meant something, I’m pretty certain that I watched most of these movies before it was age appropriate for me to do so. It didn’t do me any harm beyond fuelling my already overactive imagination. Movies may not have had the same impact as books on my young life, they certainly stoked the fires already there.

So without further adieu, here are some of the movies that shaped my youth (In no particular order)

Continue reading “Top Almost Twenty-(ish) Movies”

The Written Word!

Ahh spare time, oh how I miss you!

If you’ve been paying attention at all to my blog you’ll have noticed that the little widget down at the bottom left that is supposed to show images for all the books I’ve read/am reading/etc. hasn’t changed much in the past … 6-8 months. I’m sad to say that I have not read a book for about 2 months. I feel somewhat dirty and shamefaced for admitting this. I just haven’t had the time.

The widget is more than a little out of date however and a pain in the arse to update so I’m just going to say…. Scott Lynch’s Gentlemen Bastards Saga is good. I highly recommend the first book, The Lies of Locke Lamora, and while the 2nd book, Red Seas Under Red Skies, wasn’t quite as good in my opinion, it still was a damn fine read.

I’ve got a couple of books on the go at the moment. By on the go or “reading”, I mean that I have opened the book and scanned more than the first couple of pages but not much more than that. I’ve got A Madness of Angels going but I haven’t drawn any conclusions about it yet. I’ve started Joe Abercrombie’s The Blade Itself but it really hasn’t appealed all that much to me. There’s just something about it that seems stilted or flat. I might give it another read at some point. I also started on Gail Z. Martin’s The Summoner just cause the cover looks cool (yeah I’m a cover whore) but again, I’m not far enough into it to make any comments.

I had other books that I was going to comment on but I just looked at the clock… WTF I swear I just got home from work 10 minutes ago, not 3 hrs ago. Gah. Anyways, This is  my attempt to return to a semi-regular posting schedule. I shall post more later.

In other random news. The trailers for Legion and I Shall Sell The Dead look good. Watch them.

Who Watches The Watchmen?

Wooo! Watchmen Trailer

I’m moderately enthused to see this. I’ll be honest and say that I’m a little nervous about the look of the movie. I fear that it will be yet another butchering of Moore’s work but from what I can see there, it looks very faithful to the original and that querrelous auld git named Alan Moore will like it despite himself.

At first glance however it seems a little too glossy and shiny. In my mind’s eye, the Watchmen world was far darker and grittier but we’ll just have to wait and see. Casting, well I’m going to leave that one alone. Many people far, far nerdier than me have already spent hours in their batcaves and “command centers” designing the perfect dream cast of this movie and while I’ve dabbled here and there and have my opinions (*cough* Jeff Goldblum as Dr. Manhattan *cough*), I’m going to go in with an open mind and see how it works.

Speaking of comic adaptations. No, I still haven’t seen Dark Knight yet but I did see Hellboy II. It was a fun romp through cheesetastic cinema and funky creature designs from del Toro’s head. Personally I enjoyed it. It’s nothing immensely serious and overall I think I preferred the first one but this one is fun too.

Alright. Off to the land of showers and breakfasts I go.

… And We’re Back

Woo!

Yay, I don’t have to wade through 10 months of archived posts trying to salvage things. It looks like my web host actually came through and found my missing sql databases. Hooray! Still no clue what all happened but right now I’m happy enough not to care and can now continue blissfully in my sporadic postings of deranged enlightenment.

In other news, I managed to see Iron Man yesterday. I figured I’d get it out of the way before Indy hits. It was good, but there were times that Robert Downey Jr.’s performance was just a little over the top and it grated ever so slightly. Still a great adaptation and it sets the stage for the sequel and the addition of Rhodes as War Machine. If you have the chance, I highly recommend seeing it.

A Miscellany

Just a brief and mindless couple of comments tonight as I’m sick as a dog and nursing the mother of all colds.

Guh!

Snot should not be virulent yellow. At least I have two days off to enjoy my NyQuil. Yup, it’s green death fucking flavour. *grin*

Err, anyways, before I go off on my Denis Leary Nyquil homage I am happy to announce that my Laptop shipped today… about an hour ago actually according to my email, so here’s hoping that come monday morning I have a shnazzy new toy to play with. I don’t have a shipping # yet though so I can’t obsessively track it to find out where it is and when exactly it will get here.

In other news… WTF?!?!? Honestly, just WHAT. THE. FUCK?

Also Here are some hillarious muppet bloopers!

Continue reading “A Miscellany”

New Iron Man Trailer

For those of you who haven’t seen it yet. They released a new trailer for the upcoming Iron Man movie with Robert Downey Jr. as the titular character. It looks good. I’m really looking forward to this movie.