Gun Run

This is a pretty cool run and gun style game that uses the keyboard and the mouse. Definitely good for a few minutes of fun. Thanks StumbleUpon!

I'm testing a new blogging extension for Firefox called Performancing. It has a cool WYSIWYG editor along with lots of other stuff. It pretty much sets up itself. You can get all the info here.

We live in the great state of Colorado. State motto: "Nothing without the Deity", except Colorado is so awesome that the motto is actually in Latin ("Nil Sine Numine"). Take that Rhode Island. And, the state dino is the Stegosaurus (wassup Maryland!).

In other news, here is a rundown of how our summer has begun:

1. Lucas finished 2nd semester of grad school. Stuff goes well.
2. Kelly finishes school, but not before her digital camera is stolen by a representative of one of the preschoolers. LOW! But, her first year was fantastic.
3. Lucas did not get an internship, which is sadness.
4. We signed up for a kickball league, which should be dope.
5. Lucas' car battery died, so we got a new one. But, the new one died. $500 later there is a new alternator.
6. Lucas' car, the day after the new alternator and an oil change, may have a bad oil pump. Mechanic's advice? Get rid of the car.
7. We have been working out every weekday since joining the city rec center. Lucas is now strong enough to pedal his car Flintstone-style. Oil pump has been rendered moot.
8. Watched season 2 of Curb Your Enthusiasm and some movies on Netflix.

Oh yeah, I also have become a grill master.

Bam.

My brain must be in summer mode. I keep forgetting to post.

Ric and I saw this over the weekend. I was particularly interested in this movie because the script and score were written by Nick Cave, of whose music I'm a fan. Cave has an uncanny way of giving his lyrics a touch of Johnny Cash, Edgar Allan Poe, and a beautiful way of balancing thoughts of romance and death. A lot of his songs give me a feeling of long-lost English ballads, but the music also gets dark and heavy as well. It's an interesting combination, which is why the thought of seeing what goes on in his head up on the big screen intrigued me.

The Proposition is referred to a lot as a western. That's a misnomer: it's a sometimes violent drama that features a gang in Australia in the late 19th century. The movie doesn't operate as a western at all, so it's good to get that idea out of your head before you see it, if you're planning to.

Guy Pearce stars as Charlie Burns, who is captured with his brother Mikey by the local law enforcement at the beginning of the emovie. The captain presents him with a proposition: he can save his younger brother's life if he kills his older brother, Arthur, who is the meanest of the gang. We spend the rest of the movie following Charlie and wondering what he'll do, as well as watching the captain, played by Ray Winstone, as he tries to shield his wife from the horrors of his vocation while receiving a lot of pressure from the town to capture and kill the gang members.

The movie's score is interesting. I actually liked some of the whispered lyrics Cave inserted while Charlie is wandering through the dry lands. The lyrics ask the question "when" in a couple of scenes, while Charlie wanders, and when he bursts into action later, the lyrics answer, "now!" For the most part, I enjoyed how the score was constructed, but when electric guitar began to play during a couple of scenes, it yanked me completely out of the mentality that I was watching a 19th century story. I was also frustrated that the whispered lyrics were about 50% unintelligible.

The art of the movie is fantastic. I loved how carefully constructed the scenes were, especially the ones featuring the captain's wife, played by Emily Watson. A lot of the scenes look like the stills could be framed as artwork. The more violent scenes are very effective, sometimes very harsh, but always appropriate to the characters. The final sequences of the movie are handled very well, often letting the idea of what's happening affect the audience, rather than having to show the violence.

I really enjoyed the casting as well. While Charlie's character has little dialogue and emotion, Pearce is able to convince the audience that he isn't boring. Winstone and Watson are a perfect pairing, and Danny Huston is very capably both terrifying and enjoyable. John Hurt also provides a creepy side character role who is very memorable.

I feel like I could see in the Proposition the interesting balance of the beautiful and violent that comes across in Cave's music, but in a different way than I expected. The strongest examples came in gang members who sing beautifully and recite literature, an English woman who recreates an English home in the middle of a dry and dirty land, and in general, a beautiful looking movie featuring a lot of ugly events.

The movie is sometimes prone to wander a bit and can be a little slow here and there, and the odd bits of the score sometimes cause a disconnect, but I actually thought this was a well-made and interesting movie. Not for the light of heart, I wouldn't recommend it to just anyone, but for the right person, it could be a movie worth seeking out.

Persepolis 2 : The Story of a Return by Marjane Satrapi

Persepolis : The Story of a Childhood by Marjane Satrapi

Skip (Elizabeth Skipper, one of our close friends) got great seats to a Dodger game through work, so we went tonight to see the Dodgers play the Mets with Skip and Luz. We were in the ninth row directly behind the plate. Like I said, great seats.

Anyway, about three or four rows in front of us a camera guy found Mandy Moore, which inticed the guy two rows behind us to call out her name in between Pedro Martinez taunts. "This isn't little league!" and, "You f-ing suck!" were staples in his repetoire, whether he was yelling at Mandy or the Mets. Actually, I think that guy was Nick Nolte. Is he Latino? Maybe it wasn't him, now that I think about it.

One of us remembered that Mandy is dating Zach Braff, so we looked for him to no avail. We had given up hope on a bonus celebrity sighting, and I was considering throwing myself from the third deck if only I wouldn't have to expend so much energy getting up there (again, great seats). Then we noticed that the guy next to her plays Jim on the tv show "The Office" on NBC. His name is John Krasinski, and he and Mandy are shooting a movie called "License to Wed" with Robin Williams. In fact, they were shooting on location in Pasadena recently.

I asked for his number, he punched me in the face, end of story.

PS: We saw someone from American Idol (from a couple of seasons ago). He didn't win the competition, but he got to sing the national anthem anyway. Later, Luz made out with him (if you call shaking hands making out, and who doesn't?).

PPS: Orel Hershiser threw out the first pitch. Later, Skip tried to teach us to pronounce 'Orel' and 'oral' correctly. They sound alike to the three of us, but Skip kept saying with increasing vexation, "It's not 'oral,' it's 'Orel.'" Or was it the other way around?

So something finally molded in my apartment. That is all I have to say.

I should be getting a digital camera soon. Like Monday. Then I will begin my adventure to take a bunch of pictures and start my new blog feature. Hopefully I will actually do it.

I enjoy the idea of working more hours at work, but it just hasn't happened yet. The Buyer/Planners are buying more and more stuff everyday, but it is just not being delivered every day, hopefully the orders will pick up and the deliveries will. That equals more hours at work, where I already get 40, I am wanting 47.5 a week.

I need to meet people my age that share my beliefs and ideas about a lot of things, unfortunately, my social circles are small and either much older than me or younger than me, so it is hard to develop something from nothing. Arrgh.

So really, what is the deal?

I kind of like Perry Como.

How is it that I probably couldn't sit down and eat 12 pieces of bread, but when it comes to french toast, I can?

I need to buy more eggs, I bought four dozen about a month ago, now I need more.

I made a lot of spaghetti tonight.

Does anyone want to come over and have cookies with me?

I think I want to go on a date. Not that I want a girlfriend, I think that I just want to have an evening out where I can talk to someone and do something with someone my age. I really wouldn't care if it was called a date or not, I just want to get out actually, heck I would even pay for it all.

I want to date a six foot tall girl. I want to take a picture of my scar now. I want to make an awesome dinner for someone special. I want someone I can grow close too. I want to eat something sweet. I really want to have children someday.

Some days I just want to get in a fight. Some days I want to blow something up. Some days I wish I would just do instead of thinking of some days.

People should find me odd, yet so intriguing.

I find most things pleasing, so long as they are legal.

Do you have any sugar?