#13

L. and I watched 2 aussie movies this weekend, 1 new and 1 old. The new movie we watched was Ned Kelly. It felt like the writer/director crew attempted to make another Braveheart style of movie. It is a long epic about a local hero who defies the curropt Victorian Coppers in the name of the people. The movie was fine and somewhat slow. However, the ending is nowhere near as powerful as Braveheart. Instead, Ned wears a silly costume and walks around and it is very weird. Check it out if you have time. Chris will not necessarily enjoy this one, but you do not need him there to make it entertaining.

The second movie we watched is an old movie called Gallipoli. It is directed by Peter Weir (The Truman Show, Dead Poet's Society), but it is old. Mel Gibson is in it. I am so happy I made L. watch this movie. It looked old and the Austrailian supporting cast was not good. The movie is slow, but there is something about it that was entertaining for me. Perhaps it is because Mel is in it. Perhaps it is because I like long boring old movies more than the next guy. It is possible the infusion of crappy technotronic music made the film more interesting for me. Anyway, the thing is long and I cannot endorse it to anyone otherwise you would never give credence to my movie reviews again. But know, on some level I enjoyed this movie. Chris would make this movie more fun to watch, but it would piss him off to make him watch it.

Been listening to Aqualung recently. A great album. 1 of the songs combines a flute solo with chanting. This is the sort of bold music writing I can appreciate from Ian Anderson, even though I feel silly listening to it now. Wondr'ing Aloud has a great line in it: "And it's only the giving that makes you what you are..."

#10 Detention

I would like to begin with a decent movie L. and I watched over the weekend called Penelope. It stars Christina Ricci, who I have a crush on despite the largeness of her forhead (or fivehead). It is a modern fairy tale that is charming and for the most part entertaining. Not sure this one is going to bring down the house, but it is a decent movie, and you will not need Chris to watch it.



On the same night we also watched a movie called Zoom: Academy for Superheroes. This has Tim Allen and was a complete waste of time. Well, maybe not a complete waste of time...there was a Biff siting early in the film, and I certainly appreciated that. Biff is getting up there in years, but it made me happy to know he is still alive and in the business. Chevy Chase was also in the movie, but seeing him did not have the same effect. His acting was creepy, and I did not like it. Don't get me wrong, his acting was still better than Kiefer in 24, but not good enough to warrant watching this movie, unless Chris is there and you have a large bottle of whiskey to share.



I want to add a feature to this catalog of worthlessness that I think will be interesting. I do not have a name for it but it is going to be a small list of memories I have from Childhood that you guys may or may not remember. It is possible I remember stuff slightly differently than it really happened, and if this is the case feel free to chime in and let me know what you remember:



* In junior high Chris, Dugat, Chris Dupree and I played tag in the hallway between classes. Anytime we saw each other we were forced to run, just in case that person was it and trying to tag you. I am pretty sure we looked stupid running from each other in the hallways and I am also sure we got a detention or two as a result (All the detentions I got in Junior High were because of Dugat by the way)



* Speaking of Detention, in our 6th grade yearbook Craig is only in 1 picture other than his mug shot. It is a pic of detention with an article about bad kids and punishments. Craig is the largest figure in the picture sitting at a table by himself in the lunchroom.



* I remember the day Craig and I learned to play quarters. Mark arrived home with a friend (I cannot remember his name but he bit a hole in a beer can) and played quarters with us until they left to go out. This was the first night of drinking games in my life. We made silly rules, like the run around the couch before drinking rule, which incidentally did not work too well. We did not like the taste of beer so we brought pieces of bread to chase the beer down with. I can't remember who, but one of us threw up after drinking a sip of beer and eating a piece of bread. I think it may have been me. Later that same night we rigged a ping pong table out of of the dining room table and we used children's books as our paddles.

#7 The Lost Boys

This weekend L. and I watched a couple of films that need to be discussed. First we saw Lucky You, with Eric Bana and Drew Barrymore. I went into this movie thinking it was a romantic comedy. It sort of was, but it was more a poker movie. And it had a lot of poker in it. The movie was okay, but I would not spend money to watch it.

The other movie we watched was The Lost Boys. I made L. watch this, and I am very glad I did. Though the movie is not as cool as I remembered it, I enjoyed the nostalgic value. Here are a couple of things I noticed that are important:

* Bill S. Preston Esquire is in the movie.

* There is a sweaty saxophone player in it.

* Kiefer is young and still can't act, though he is much better than his acting as Jack Bauer.

* Corey Feldman is terrible and all of his lines suck.

* We get to see hard rockin' vampires explode and stuff.

See Bill?

It is definitely worth seeing, but I suggest watching this one with Chris. It will be more fun that way.

An update on Doodle: Stephen came to Tyler to pick Belle up. Last night we released the cats from the back room, careful to make sure Doodle did not attack Polly again. If he did, we vowed to make him an outside cat. So far things seem to be back to normal, which means we are not pushing so hard to get rid of the cats. I know that makes all of you happy.