Musings From New York

On the one-year anniversary of my blogging, I am moving my blog to TypePad's services. I was quite bugged with Blogger the other day for not giving me any control over the layout of my page ... and signed up for the free 30 day trial at TypePad. After 5 days, I can definitely say I'm sticking with it.

So please point your browsers to, and bookmark:

http://bloreboy.blogs.com

This is the funniest comic strip I've seen to date.

Yesterday, one of my guildmates, a rogue named Crono, got himself a tuxedo stitched. He was so kicked that we took a bunch of photos outside Ironforge. Frostrane (a guild Paladin) and Caterin (another rogue) were in Ironfroge too, and posed as well.

Yes, a year before the Academy Awards, the hunt for the next host is on.

IMDb reports that "Bruce Davis, executive director of the Academy Of Motion Picture Arts And Sciences, is thrilled with how Rock handled his chores, but that he he has huge doubts he'll be asking the funnyman back - at least not next year."

Thank the Gods, I say! I didn't like Chris Rock's hosting - I thought it was toned down, and frankly ... lame!

You know who would make a good host? Seinfeld! Can you imagine Seinfeld-episode-ish shorts sprinkled through the whole Oscar show ... and stand-up routine at the beginning? That would rock!

Jay Leno might be good too. Conan O'Brien is probably too fringe for the Academy crowd though.

So yesterday I was going through a mock-run of a presentation I gave today to a client. The presentation was about my firm's consulting methodologies. During my presentation, I used the phrase "the final solution document" ... as in, "outputs from these activities will be used to create the final solution document".

Someone told me not to use the phrase "the final solution", as it was what Hitler used to justify the Holocaust. I am now teaching myself to say "final version of the solution document."

Now, I like to think I'm sensitive to other cultures and sensibilities. But this is ridiculous.

Now, to be fair, I must say that I love Noir, and I love the Tarantino/Rodriguez camp of movie-making. And I haven't read any of the comic books (though now, I plan to!) But damn, what a movie! In fact, this is probably the first non-mainstream comic-to-movie adaptation that's worked. For example, I loved The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (the comic), but the movie sucked!

Thinking about it, you could say that Sin City in similar to Tarantino's Kill Bill Vol. 1: both movies distill the essence of their genre into this highly concentrated, and highly potent mix, that kicks like a mule and leaves you dazed as you exit the theater ... OK, I'm struggling with this metaphor here, and I hope you understand what I'm trying to say!

The look of the movie is great - the gritty, shadowy world of noir is really brought to life. The shadows take on multiple shades of black, with the only color in sight serving to emphasize a character or situation. It's the most visually appealing movie I've seen since ... Sky Captain & The World of Tomorrow.

The movie is quite violent - but hey, it's Robert Rodriguez, the guy who made the El Mariachi trilogy & From Dusk Till Dawn! The movie really pulled me in, immersed me in the feel of Sin City, and that's no mean feat considering how jaded I've been about movies recently.

Two mentions about the acting: Bruce Willis as the weary old cop, Hartigan; and Clive Owen as the troubled soul seeking redemption by helping the leather-wearing, machine-gun & katana-toting hookers of Old Town. I hope the top dogs at Sony take a look at his acting here and reconsider casting him as James Bond after Brosnan retires.

Ever feel like you can't get started in the morning? Banana-Strawberry smoothie not cutting it anymore? Get that familiar bitter taste when you have your morning cup of joe? Well maybe you ought to grab one of these!

Anyone else having issues with loading pages, publishing posts, etc.?

Yes, I know I've promised to write up about Robots for at least 2 weeks now .. but hey, better late than never.

Now - before I defend the low score let me just say that I laughed .. a lot! The look of the movie is great - kitschy retro-look from back in the 50's & 60's. The colors are bright & vivid, the gigantic robot city in particular has been beautifully realized. In my opinion, this s the best "conceptual" movie since "Monsters, Inc.". There are a lot of jokes & references to, for example, Star Wars & Lord of the Rings (some are not so obvious, BTW). All in all, it's just beautiful, beautiful eye candy! And Robin Williams excels as Fender. Just watch his rendition of "Singin' In The Oil"! It's a classic I tell ya! If I'm not mistaken, it's Robin Williams return to animation since "Alladin" (oh boy, was that an amazing performance!).

Now the reasons why the movie fell short. The script was clearly sacrificed at the altar of eye-candy! On two counts: first, the plot is a little too stock ("Be yourself. Find your strengths. Stay true to your friends." etc. etc.). This might be OK for the wee ones in the hall, but to the adults, it's a little lame. Secondly, there are some inconsistencies with the "romances" in the plot. The "heroine" isn't present for most of the movie ... the audience thinks that the "hero" will wind up with someone else ... but is suddenly back together with the "heroine" ... consistency, people! A thirdly, and perhaps most unforgivingly, Robin Williams does not have enough screen time. Admitedly, when you're working with such a long list of A-Class stars, you have to find screen time to satisfy everyone. But to not deliberately not give Robin Williams enough screen time in an animated movie ... c'mon people! Get with the program here!

So ... it's definitely a movie to watch on the big screen. But you'll come away wanting more! Extra scenes in the DVD, perhaps?

Wing's website does exist! I thought initially that it was a hoax website - I wasn't able to access it when it was displayed on last weeks' episode of South Park.

Now, with all due respect to Matt Stone & Trey Parker - why did they pick this woman to ... butcher ABBA's Dancing Queen? To listen to a clip, click on "Download MP3s", and check out any of the songs. I can honestly say that the high-pitched singing is #2 on my list of agonizing sounds, right below "fingers on a blackboard".

At the end of it, you can't help feel pity ... and perhaps admiration, for the Wing to have put herself in the public eye.