friday
- alayna and i hit up fazoli's with rick G and the weekly top 40
- alayna and i saw eternal sunshine of the spotless mind with jessica
saturday
- alayna made us breakfast
- we tried to get a racquetball court but were unsuccessful due to a handball tourney
- hit up hastings, got pattern recognition (recommended by dustin) and ender's game (recommended by hoang), and rented wonderland and school of rock
- ate at black eyed pea
- watched school of rock
- burned some cd's for alayna
- 100% unexpectedly out of nowhere got completely fucking drunk
sunday
- passed out for about 11-12 hours after vomiting twice
- woke up, made a pizza and watched tivo'd mini golf madness off the travel channel
- put off doing anything academic
- watched wonderland
- continued nothingness...
yeah, it was a pretty standard weekend i guess. it wasn't really good or bad, just average, but that's fine for me. i guess the highs are getting to do shit with friends, alayna being overly sweet, and seeing some movies; the lows would be the interesting sensation of throwing up creme de menthe and talking myself out of doing anything remotely academic.
eternal sunshine was just fuckin good, man. alayna thought it was alright, jessica thought it was pretty good, and i thought it was damn good. it just had the right style i think. the right direction, the right cast, the right length, etc. the ending could have been a bit better, but i still enjoyed it. walking out of the theater i gave it an 8.5, pretty high for me usually, but then got back and saw that IMDb's average for it was 8.5 as well, heh. i just really dig michel gondry's work, and this was the perfect project for his weird visual style. i thought carrey himself did an excellent job in the lead role, and i'm sure as hell glad nic cage didn't get the role as originally planned. kate winslet was good too, but didn't really blow me away or anything. i didn't like the side story with kirsten dunst though. i realized they were an integral part of some elements of the movie, but her character didn't really interest me. if you go see it, see it only partially for a good story but more for some well thought out visual effects. at about an hour and 45 minutes, it wasn't too long, a little slow at parts, but solid nonetheless. i'll prolly grab the dvd when it comes out later this year, i think it was good enough to want to watch again, to try to make more sense of it.
alayna and i both enjoyed school of rock. i wouldn't say it's rare that we both like a flick, but i'd say it definitely happens probably only half the time. i think it helped her that we didn't watch it too late and had a bowl of popcorn to keep us upright. i fall asleep in about 1 in every 100 movies i watch, but she falls asleep at some point in a movie a good 90% of the time, heh. but the movie moved along enough to keep it pretty interesting and there were few real slow parts. honestly, i think jack black is twice as funny when the movie's rated R, but he pulled this part off pretty well. the kids themselves were funny as well, and the songs they played were actually pretty catchy. it came off as more of a feel-good flick than a really funny comedy, but it was still enjoyable nonetheless. i did notice a few holes and shite dialog in mike white's script, but they were overlooked for the most part. i do like this writing, but i don't think they guy can really act for shit actually. i'm still convinced being friends with several people in the business is the only way that guy ever gets any screen time. IMDb gives it a 7.5, although i think that's a bit too much JB worship going on there, so i'll give it a 7.0.
i watched wonderland myself today, which was about the wonderland avenue murders that involved the porn king john holmes back in july 1981. IMDb gives it a 6.4 i believe, although i'd put it closer to 7.0 myself. it was entertaining and actually pretty short, so it was easy to get through, but i thought it was lacking for the same reason as everyone else: basically that it didn't tell you who the hell john holmes was. it mentioned that he was a big porn star before the movie even began, but it didn't give you at all an impression of just what a god he was to some people. i think the flick was supposed to leave people more surprised that such a successful guy could get so wrapped up in such a mess, but they didn't adequately explain to us what a fall from grace he had had. there was some good mtv-style edits and cuts, well-directed (in my pro mtv-style [but not mtv-content] opinion), but i didn't understand the casting for shit. val kilmer kicked ass as holmes (he proved he could play a strung-out junkie in the salton sea) and kate bosworth was believable as his girlfriend, but some of the other choices sucked in my opinion. i saw carrie fisher as cast because of her role as a nun in jay & silent bob strike back, and ted levine cast as a detective for his same role in the fast & the furious. it had the mechanic from the italian job as a detective, another weird choice. i have no idea why lisa kudrow was cast as john's wife, as well as janeane garafalo and christina applegate in cameoesque wasted bits.
this movie proved to me that i have a big soft spot for movies with a big emphasis on drugs. i don't really know why that is, but several movies lately have revolved around the LA drug scene of past & present, like the salton sea, boogie nights and blow. for some reason, LA in the late 70's and early 80's is really interesting to me, even bret easton ellis's book "less than zero" was really fascinating to me. i think it's just interesting to see how fucked up people become when their entire lives revolve around drugs and the things they'll do just to get their fix.
this is a pretty shitty week for me, with a speech to give and an automata test, but i'll be home for easter weekend. i guess that'll be about 7 weeks since i last went home, or saw my parents. so the timing on that is probably about right. it also kicks ass that the NHL playoffs start this week, definitely pumped for that. guess i'll throw out some series predictions, to see if anybody surprises me this year.
west
(1) detroit vs (8) nashville - are you kidding me? detroit in 5, only cuz their goalie problems will screw them for at least 1 game.
(2) san jose vs (7) st louis - sj's just too hot lately. i don't think StL should have gotten into the damn playoffs. SJ in 5.
(3) vancouver vs (6) calgary - i think this is the one with the biggest chance for upset. i don't like vancouver without bertuzzi, and calgary was pretty hot at the end of the year. i say flames in 6.
(4) colorado vs (5) dallas - i'm a little pissed that dallas only finished 5th, despite our early season problems. i wasn't impressed with the avs at all the last part of the season, they've got solid goaltending but their forwards haven't scored nearly as much as they should have, and i don't think they're as good as they were in the last 3-4 seasons. i'm not really sure i can pick against the stars, and i think they had a real strong end of the season, despite turco's suspension. i predict it'll be the best series of the first round in the west, a good battle. i'll pick dallas in 7, cuz i think it's gonna be tight.
east
(1) tampa bay vs (8) ny islanders - i still can't believe the always-pitiful lighting are the #1 goddamn seed in the east, man. i'm glad they're a real contender now, but it's still a bit weird seeing those black & white jerseys as a really good team. islanders owned TB in the regular season, so i'll say tampa bay in 5.
(2) boston vs (7) montreal - boston's got thornton hurting with a wrist injury, but montreal was pitiful at the end of the season. bruins in 5.
(3) philadelphia vs (6) new jersey - should be a solid series. the last few years, philly has tanked in the playoffs, but i'm pulling for them to do better this year, mostly cuz i'm so goddamn sick of hearing about the fucking devils and their trap system and "mar-tan bro-du-eh" every sweet fucking year, and i don't think they're nearly as good as they used to be. flyers in 6.
(4) toronto vs (5) ottawa - canada must be loving this series, man. ottawa's fun to watch in my opinion, but the leafs have a solid team, including former stars niewy and belfour. i gotta root for ottawa here, but i think toronto will move on. another tight series, i say toronto in 6.
we'll see how right or wrong i am in the next couple weeks. hope i see some stars car flags when i'm back in dallas!
think that's enough for now...
--justin
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