blog.circusgeek

a personal blog with nerdy bits thrown in

Category: Movies

  • (the rest of) May, and April (so far)

    The past month and (almost) a half, quick style:

    March 17th (St Patty’s Day): Spent the evening at Moon & Sixpence with friends. First time there for St. Patty’s Day and it was a lot of fun. Live Irish music played in one corner, and loads of friendly people, all in good spirits despite how crowded it was.

    March 27th: Got a lot of yard work done, and was able to break out the BBQ and do my first grill of the season. Great day ’round the house.

    April 8th: Went in for some oral surgery to fix up some gum disease I’d developed over the years of not seeing a dentist (brush your teeth kids, and go in for your regular cleanings!). This led to a week of stitches, and about two weeks of discomfort. I’m only now starting to feel back to normal. I have a photo of the stitches I took with my MacBook’s camera, but I won’t show it since it might make you feel a bit ill.

    April 17th: Did some more yard work including my first lawn mowing of the season. The work I’d been doing over the previous few weeks, coupled with some unusually warm spring weather has resulted in fast lawn growth. I also picked up a keg of the delicious Irish ale Kilkenny (which has only been available in the States for about a year). This means Guinness has been supplanted. Mmm, beer.

    Today: I managed to tackle some of my chore list: repaired my busted up front fence gate (which involved replacing a slat, some sanding, painting, re-hanging, etc), installed some much needed shelving in the utility room, replaced some burnt-out light bulbs both on the front porch and the kitchen, cleaned some windows, and cleaned up the garage. Good, productive day.

    Other stuff: I continue watching Lost, Fringe, FlashForward, Stargate Universe, and Doctor Who, and have seen a few decent films including Empire, Up In The Air, and Franklyn.

    I also learned of a blog that’s worth adding to your RSS reader: Sleep Talkin’ Man. It’s about this English man who talks in his sleep, and his wife records / jots down some of the nonsense he mutters, leading to some awesome quotes such as:

    • “I’m gonna have a great day…. Don’t you fuck it up.”
    • “Headstands are for girls only. When they wear skirts.”
    • “If I’m gonna be in charge, I need a cape. You can’t do the job without a cape. Take me to the cape tailor.”

  • A long week & The Road

    I’ve been very busy this past week with work. I’ve spent many late nights trying to clean up code and finish features (including a marathon on Monday, working until 4:30 AM; I was on a roll and couldn’t stop). I’ve managed to get a lot done, but there’s a lot more left to do. It’s probably going to be a long couple of weeks. C’est la vie! (Ou, c’est la travaille).

    In my breaks between working, Kelly and I spent a couple hours at our old haunt Moon & Sixpence on Wednesday for a few pints, and then last night we caught The Road at Living Room Theaters. For anyone who hasn’t read (or seen) The Road, it’s a post-apocalyptic story of a man and his son struggling to survive in a lifeless wasteland. It’s depressing, somewhat scary, and very touching. Kelly hadn’t read the book, but since her reaction was very similar to mine after having read the book, it’s a good indication that the film did a good job adapting the story. Worth watching (or reading).

    We’ve also continued to keep caught up with Lost, Heroes, Fringe, and Psych. That’s about it for now.

  • CoD5, and Men Who Stare At Goats

    Spent most of my day playing Call of Duty: World at War (aka CoD5). It’s a fun game, and I’m glad that I finally picked it up.

    Kelly peeled me away from it for long enough to run over to Kennedy School to watch The Men Who Stare At Goats, which was pretty funny. Quirky and ridiculous, but fun. Jeff Bridges even channeled a bit of The Dude in his role.

    However, since it’s early enough on this Sunday evening, it’s back to CoD for a little more shooting at baddies.

  • Recap: work, movies, games, etc

    Returning to work after 2 weeks of time off always means a lot of catching up to do. That means, as always, I fail to post. Sheesh. So here we go with more recappy goodness of the past couple weeks…

    Kelly and I have watched a few decent films; the animated film 9, Charlie Wilson’s War, and just this evening, Michael Clayton. We’ve also continued to hang out from time to time at a recently discovered bar a few blocks from my house, NePo 42. They’ve got a decent beer selection, good grub, and free pool on a table in the back. The only downside are game nights when the Portland Trailblazers are playing (the place fills up with dudes that get drunk and like to loudly holler at the TV).

    And today I freed up enough hard drive space on my PC to finally pick up Call of Duty: World at War off of Steam. Since I refuse to buy Modern Warfare 2 (no dedicated servers, no lean, etc – read more if you care), and I enjoyed the demo of World at War, I dropped my $39 on it and am currently gobbling up my bandwidth waiting for it to download and install. Game on!

  • Avatar

    After two failed attempts (sold out shows), Kelly and I finally got to see Avatar last night. We went out to a small, independent theater in Northeast Portland (Roseway Theater) where it was playing in 3D, and had the bonus of being cheaper than the big chains ($9 each, as opposed to $13.50).

    In short, I enjoyed the film a lot. Sure, some of the dialog was cheesy (a couple lines were downright lame), and the story wasn’t groundbreaking, but I was immersed in the world for the full 2 hours 40 minutes, and the CG was good enough that it wasn’t distracting, even the Na’vi (the blue aliens) were. The 3D in the theater helped a lot too. It’s a fun movie. Go see it big, and in 3D.

    After getting home I was so curious on how it was pulled off, so I found this short video. Pretty interesting stuff. Actors were motion captured (body and face) in a big white empty room, sometimes seeing live rough digital renderings of the Avatar world while ‘filming’. Once the actors were finished, James Cameron could wander around with a virtual camera (which plays back the rough digital render), which allowed him to record at whatever angles, motion, or distance he wanted. Pretty cool technology. Spoiler warning: If ya haven’t seen the movie, you might want to avoid the video.

  • Laugh it up, fuzzball

    Kelly forwarded this gem my way: Star Wars Meets Facebook.

    Starbook

  • The new Star Trek film: very good

    Kelly and I went to see the new Star Trek film today, and it was very good. I wasn’t disappointed. For Trek fans, the casting, special effects, and nods to the classic TV series are all there, but the story, acting, and balance of humor, romance, and action should make the film thoroughly enjoyable for anyone. Two geeky thumbs up.

  • In the spirit of Trek

    Since today is the opening day for the new Star Trek film, I thought I’d post this little gem I found via Digg.com just now. Some fella in England converted his 500 square foot flat into a very impressive (if a bit overboard) Star Trek ship interior.

    trekflat

    Check the photos (13 in all).

    The new movie started here in Portland about a half hour ago, and some of my coworkers are seeing it now.  I’ll have to wait a day or two before Kelly and I will have time go watch it, but from what I’ve heard it’s pretty good and I’m looking forward to seeing it.

    Oh, and none of you jokers better say a word about it to me until I’ve seen it. That is all.

  • The past few weeks

    Yeah, it’s been a few weeks since my last post, which means it’s recap time!

    Work has been keeping me plenty busy. Many long hours and late nights. It’s been good, but very exhausting.

    We had a petty nasty wind storm a couple weeks back. The large tree in front of the house lost about five 8-9 foot long branches. The front yard looked like a war zone. Branches, twigs, and needles blanketing everything. It took a good few hours of sawing and raking to get it mostly cleaned up.

    On the morning of Obama’s inauguration I had to rush into a dentists to get a filling replaced (one that’d started breaking loose from a molar a few months ago). It wasn’t what I would call fun, but it’s all good now.

    Portland got a bit more snow earlier this week. Just enough that my bus got stuck trying to go up an incline (the bus wasn’t chained up). After getting stuck, I got off and walked back home and worked from there for the rest of the day. The strangest part was by 5pm it was 40 degrees and all the snow was gone.

    My kid brother C turned 24 this week, and he and brother T came over to my pub (my garage) for a few beers, some pizza, and some dart throwing. Happy birthday C!

    Tonight Kelly and I met some friends at the Goose for some dinner and beers. Yum.

    I picked up a Roku (used for $80) earlier this week. So far I’m pretty impressed, the streaming quality is pretty good. Kelly’s watching An American in Paris as I write this. She’s quite excited.

    Oh, and I got another keg of Guinness today (after the last one ran dry about two weeks ago). I swore I was going to get something different, but I couldn’t help it, Guinness is just too delicious. Yum!

    Other than that, I’ve been watching Lost and Battlestar Galactica now that those are both back on, and as I said above, working.

    That pretty much covers it, I think.

  • A day at home, a night at Goose & Moon

    Yesterday I got a few Blu-ray discs I picked at Amazon.com for fairly cheap (on black friday). Watched two last night, Batman Begins and Sunshine. Can’t wait until Dark Knight is delivered in a week or two, I’ve been waiting to see that again since I saw it in the theater.

    I woke up early today and got quite a bit done around the house. It was a nice sunny, and cold winter day, and was good for puttering about the house while Kelly was out shopping with friends. Among all the housework and bill-paying and other nonsense, I discovered how easy Handbrake makes it to convert DVD’s to iPod-friendly files, and added a movie to my iPod Touch. Hooray!

    Tonight Kelly and I went back to the famous Goose Hollow Inn for dinner and drinks with friends. Had a great time out, eating reuben sandwiches, drinking beers, and chatting the night away out on the heated patio. After we left for home, Kelly and I stopped at our local pub (Moon & Sixpence) for a couple more pints before heading home.

    Had a great day, and a great night out.