Me, Dead Dad, & Alcatraz
Also posted on BookCrossing.
Me, Dead Dad, and Alcatraz by Elvin Bishop
Mr. Suave
Mr. Suave: This is a silly movie. From the inspiration (Gerardo’s song “Rico Suave”) to the premise (Rico Suave is sort of a Latino Austin Powers who can attract the ladies but then sends them screaming in terror as soon as things get intimate) to the ending (you’ll just have to watch the movie, but look out for midgets), this film is bursting with ludicrous amounts of sheer absurdity. There were times when I was laughing out loud. Definitely recommended if you can get your hands on a copy.
PostCrossing
Like postcards? Then check out Postcrossing, an international postcard exchange site. You’re likely to receive postcards from other countries, even if you’re American – the USA has only the third most users, behind Germany and Portugal. I especially like the maps section, which show not only where all the members are located, but also where their postcards have gone.
FSM
I’m usually pretty skeptical, but I think I may have to convert to Flying Spaghetti Monsterism. You’ve got to admit, that graph is pretty compelling.
Google Moon
In honor of the anniversary of the first moon landing, Google presents Google Moon. Be sure to zoom in all the way.
Wolfpointe by Rick Buda
Wolfpointe
Despite the otherwise interesting premise, I had a lot of trouble getting through this book. To say it was poorly edited is an understatement. The grammar is awkward and often incorrect, as in this sentence from the very first paragraph: “He’d dreamed of; of it, again.” Though Buda is far from the first author I’ve wanted to pelt with copies of Strunk & White, I found myself stopping too often to decipher sentences, disrupting the flow of my reading and distracting me from the story. However, the punctuation flaws and numerous typos are easily fixable, as are the more general writing errors (e.g., needlessly repeated details). Buda shows real promise as a storyteller; I can only hope his next book is more technically sound.
Also posted on BookCrossing.
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: What a strange movie. I can’t decide how to feel about it. For those of you who haven’t been paying attention for the last few decades: Willy Wonka is the reclusive owner of a famous candy company who invites five children from around the world to tour his factory. With the exception of sweet Charlie Bucket, the children are little monsters who ultimately get what’s coming to them (this is a Roald Dahl story, after all). Each time a child leaves the group, the Oompa Loompas do a little song and dance. These performances were clever and quite entertaining but I had trouble understanding a lot of the lyrics.
Wonka is portrayed as an insecure, socially inept child in a man’s body (as opposed to a grown man reliving his childhood). The awkward moments are abundant as Wonka interacts with the first people since closing his factory years before, which causes him to have flashbacks to his unhappy childhood. Frankly, I got a little tired of feeling embarrassed for him all the time. Pity isn’t funny to me.
The children were all wonderful with one bizarre exception: Augustus Gloop often looked computer-generated, most notably in his interview with the reporters. Perhaps he was just wearing too much makeup. The sets and costumes were amazing, but that’s to be expected. Overall, it was a pretty good movie, I guess. Just not one I really want to watch again.
War of the Worlds
War of the Worlds: If you’re familiar with the book, you know the storyline is ultimately pretty pointless, but the fun is in all the carnage along the way. I laughed inappropriately (but pretty hard nonetheless) at the beginning as the alien rays turned people into Kleenex, but there was plenty of serious tension later, even to the point of having to remind myself that Spielberg doesn’t kill children.
If you like your violence with a message, I would advise against this one. But if you can enjoy a bunch of stuff blowing up for the sake of stuff blowing up, go for it. I enjoyed it, even though every time I watch one of these disaster-type flicks I am reminded that if it happened in real life I would be one of the first to go. A building would fall on me during the first wave of tremors/attacks/storms, or maybe a car would land on my head. Either way, I’m a goner.
Napoleon Dynamite
Napoleon Dynamite: I finally understand the polarized response to this movie. Either you get it or you don’t. There are no jokes, and very little plot – the humor comes in the ridiculous behavior of the characters, in my case because they were all just so gosh darned familiar. From the clothes to the hobbies to the speech patterns, Napoleon and his cohorts are the embodiment of all the obliviously awkward traits of all the weirdos I’ve ever known. And yet I found myself rooting for them. Laughing at them, but rooting for them all the same.
A bit of trivia for y’all: when I was 16, I wore the exact same dress as Trisha wears to the dance, except mine was navy blue. About made me fall out of my chair. I’ve been told adamantly that this story is supposed to take place in modern day but with the exception of a 1999 Backstreet Boys song, this movie has early 90s written all over it.
Give this movie a shot. You’ll either love it or wonder what all the fuss is about. I personally thought it was awesome. Either way, this movie is the birthplace of several catchphrases which show up on t-shirts and elsewhere, so if nothing else you’ll be in on the joke.