-=kenneth's rants and other things=-

Mon, 28 Feb 2005

Oscars or Golden Globes?

Hey, who were your favorite four presenters at the Oscars?

wow

Sun, 27 Feb 2005

Hrm, I hate it when I lose track of my schedule due to using too many different calendars. Jodi just informed me that we don't leave for Buenos Aires on Tueday, but rather on Wednesday. Sure enough, she is right. Some of my calendars start the week on Monday, others on the standard Sunday. So the next time you de-synch* your Palm, your desktop backup *and* your Yahoo! calendar- make sure you reset them all to be in the same format.

*By de-synch I mean screw up somehow, most likely through user error. Yes, I'm dumb. . .

27 Feb 14:26 | /general | 0 comment(s)

Tue, 22 Feb 2005

Stupid Volvos

I hate volvos, especially the wagons. Well, I hate the drivers. I don't want to rant about them (again) but I came home and this jackass parked her volvo ... nevermind, let it go.. . .

I thought I had something clever to type, but I don't.

Work was super-busy today, which sucked. I'm all scatterbrained now even though I went for a nice slow (and short) jog after work in the park and Presidio.

Damn it was nice out today. A great break from the @$%$#@ rain and gloom.

Only Seven days left 'til vacation!

Another random thought- was just looking at my hitmap- I don't know who in S.Africa (or Oz for that matter) is reading (or read) my blog- but hello! Biltong donkee ausibleef meelee mit sos!

22 Feb 21:48 | /rants_and_raves | 0 comment(s)

Tue, 15 Feb 2005

Villa Teresa Prosecco

This week's/day's/month's random wine recommendation is Prosecco Villa Teresa.

I'm not actually sure if that's the right name. I'm staring at a bottle, but when I google for it, I find the sample cellar entry I wrote when I was testing out bottlecount.com.

Anyway, I bought this stuff from The Wine Club on Harrison a few years ago, then couldn't find it. I was there a while back* and saw it again for a great price per usual ($7/btl?) so I gobbled up the remaining case. Go look for it. It roxors. Then tell me the real name

*I can't find my notebook from a few years ago when I bought this originally, but I'm almost 99.99% sure it's the same sparkling wine.

15 Feb 20:52 | /food_and_drink | 2 comment(s)

Sun, 13 Feb 2005

Blueberry - **

Okay quick, name two Michael Madsen movies that feature the mariachi classic Malagueña Salerosa! Well shit if I knew either, but by sheer luck I wound up finding both of them and watching them within 24 hours of each other. How odd is that?

Just for the record- The first one is Kill Bill vol2 and the other is Blueberry.

Wait, you mean this movie has both
Ernest Borgnine *and* nudity? Zut Alors!

But enough of music trivia, let's talk about the flick. I wasn't sure about the flick a few hours after I watched it but it did pass my 3DMT (tm). I originally picked this up on dvd as a possible movie night selection, because it sounded like it'd have all the ingredients of a great flick: it's about a cajun marshall (western), it's a revenge flick (aren't they all?), it's a foreign production in a US setting (a soft spot of mine), it stars Vincent Cassel (star of The Crimson Rivers and the husband of the hottest woman on the planet, Monica Bellucci [gis]), Michael Madsen AND Eddie Izzard (one of the best comedians evar!), it has nudity (the quite lovely, but tragically named, Vahina Giocante) and features peyote-induced hallucinations! What else could it need??!? Oh yeah, now I remember- better editing and a tighter story. All in all, not too bad a flick, but it had more going for it than what came out in the end.

Speaking off the record- in college my roommate Jon used to let me listen to my headphones on his stereo (long extension cord). One afternoon I fell asleep on my floor while listening to the Peter Gabriel soundtrack for The Last Temptation of Christ. I remember this for two reasons- 1. I don't really nap ever unless I'm sick or really tired and 2. I had a fucked-up dream because of that. I fell asleep as the end credits were rolling for Blueberry and had a fucked-up dream as well. What does that mean? I don't know.

13 Feb 22:10 | /movies | 0 comment(s)

Fri, 11 Feb 2005

Kill Bill vol2 - *****

I picked this up on dvd finally and watched it again last weekend. Damn, I forgot how good it was.

I've seen this movie four times now I think, twice in the theater* when it opened and twice on dvd [*When's the last time you've seen something twice in a theater?] and each time I watch it I find something new to enjoy. budd

When I watched this last weekend what I focused on most was not Uma (mmmm Uma) but the supporting characters Bill, Budd and Elle. Michael Madsen's Budd (codename Sidewinder) is by far one of the most interesting characters and one hell of a well-acted one at that. Sure Budd's a vicious and dangerous dude, but the scenes where he's being addressed by Bill and then later by his creepy-ass boss, played by Larry Bishop, show his soft-side if you will. Maybe not his soft side, but just makes the guy become more sympathetic I guess.

Rent or buy it and just watch Budd- even when he's banging that last nail in . . . in some sick way, ya feel for the guy. You even feel for him during his demise too. Shit, I'm rambling, I'll shut up now. But you get my point- you could not pay attention to any of the characters, or just watch Budd's scenes, or Bill's scenes for that matter- they're that good.

Rent it or buy it now. Then go back and watch Once Upon a Time in The West and some other westerns or revenge flicks. You'll see this ranks among the best even when it's being self-referential or "silly".

11 Feb 15:54 | /movies | 0 comment(s)

Ong Bak - ***

I think I've "reviewed" Ong Bak before, and I know I've recommended it. Hell, I even bought a Thai VCD of it w/ no subtitles so I can watch it whenever I want. I've seen it a bunch. I've seen it so many times that I turned down an offer for free passes last night to see the SF premiere of the US/re-released/touched-up/whatever version.

Well it turns out that my decision to not go was retarded. Eunice went and said Tony Jaa was there and he did a martial arts demo, took photos and signed posters. Damnit. She had fun though.

11 Feb 09:36 | /movies | 0 comment(s)

Tue, 08 Feb 2005

PBF = Funny Stuff

Check this out.

08 Feb 16:38 | /humor | 0 comment(s)

The Eye ***

I've gotten past my three day waiting period for some flicks I saw recently. I'll be adding them one at a time today. The first one up is The Eye. I'm not going to write a full-blown review, you can search and find those elsewhere.

But I did like this horror flick. I thought it was a pretty original ghost story tale/thriller and recommend it. I'm sure when Tom Cruise's company redoes it this year, they'll ruin it, but that'll be a different review.

Some quick thoughts though- I don't think the flick is low-budget, but in a way it has that feel. But it's not a distraction at all- and I'm not sure why I'm bringing it up- but it was good to see a HK flick that doesn't use the "wide-angle rising crane shot" constantly. They did use it at least twice that I noticed but not nearly as much as other movies. I think they blew the budget in this one on some special effects (cgi) towards the end.

One thing I did like were some attempts at being subtle with the reflections. I won't ruin the movie, but you'll notice what I'm talking about, especially the subway ride after the funeral.

But all in all, an original story and good acting. I'd recommend renting this one. ***

08 Feb 13:05 | /movies | 0 comment(s)

Sat, 05 Feb 2005

new happy hour pics

I put up a few shots from last night's happy hour @ the bitter end up in the pics section. Obviously I remembered my camera, but I didn't take that many photos. Nice night out. Thanks to those that came up. If you want to get alerted about the next event just send me an email and I'll add you to my invite list. Just remember, this is just a happy hour, not Kenneth's Movie Night (tm). Kenneth's Movie Night (tm) has a difficult application process to get on the invite list.

Now that I think about it, I haven't had a Movie Night in a while, I think it's time to do so, I should start planning one before my vacation.

05 Feb 12:52 | /general | 0 comment(s)

Thu, 03 Feb 2005

Musa The Warrior - *

D00d Zhang Ziyi is hawt nshit mofugga. L0lz. I have h3r pic as my wallpap3r on my work machine hehehehehe. Whatever. As hot as she is, Zhang can't carry this flick- Musa the Warrior, a joint Korean-Chinese production about a Korean envoy trapped/exiled in China that decides to escort the (rescued) princess to safe harbor in order to get her assistance in getting back to Korea.

Musa's not that bad a flick, it's also a pretty interesting story from a historical perspective - but it's a bit long and predictable. Oh well. I did like the storyline between the two groups of Korean soldiers. They should've expanded that.

Eunice pointed out that this is a typical "bratty princess" role for ZZ [hrm, referencing Zhang could open a slew of ZZ Top jokes, but I'm not feeling that clever today]. And I'd carry that sentiment of 'typical' to the whole movie. Only one star for you!

Liked Musa? Then go watch The Hidden Fortress

03 Feb 13:02 | /movies | 0 comment(s)

Months
Jan	Feb	Mar
Apr	May	Jun
Jul	Aug	Sep
Oct	Nov	Dec

kenneths.org | kenneth's blog