Four Brothers

On theThursday(Aug.18th), following Save The Green Planet, Pslam, Scoop and myself went to see a throwback movie.

That movie was Four Brothers.

Do you like the 70's?
Do you like movies?
Do you like revenge?
Do you like revenge movies from the 70's?
Then my friend this movie for you.

Lemme just get this outta the way first. I loooooooved this flick.

It's a nice revenge flick.
An old lady is gunned down in a robbery in a corner store, thus bringing her four (adopted) children back together. They decide to find the killers themselves.

The movie proper starts out with a car trailing the camera with some 70's tunes playing.
Classic. Sets the mood.
As I said earlier, its a throwback film.
The soundtrack is mostly classics, including 4 Marvin Gaye tracks, and a few new tracks.
I'm trying to think of things that I din't like about this movie, but nothing comes to mind. Took to long to write this it seems. Good excuse to see it again.

This flick hit the spot. It was what I was looking for.
Everybody fit their roles. Nobody stuck out like a sore thumb.
Andre 3000 was good, better than in Be Cool. But that movie suuuucked.
Marky Mark was great as the leader of the group.
Tyrese was smooth as the playa.
The latina chick was smokin'.
The bad guy was evil.
Terence Howard makes a show as a cop that knew the boys from their childhood and he as always grounds the movie in its' reality.
The people that you were supposed to root for, you did .
The people that you were supposed to hate, you did.
When this movie was done, you just wanna go bust some heads.
In a good way.

I'll update this review, once I get my head screwed on properly. Hopefully by next week.

Sleep Deprivation

So I haven't posted in awhile, as you can see. But I got about 4 movie reviews waiting in the wings.
Been having trouble with putting words on the screen.
Mind not functioning smoothly. - more on this later.
Had an interesting wknd. All blended together into one lump due to a lack of sleep. Doesn't help that I wore myself out on top of the not sleeping. Amazing how much you can run around without sleep and proper amounts of food in your system.

What's even more amazing is that I had a wicked game of field hockey. I also had a wicked amount of bruising from said game.
Got smashed in the arch of my left foot 4 or 5 times with the ball. So walking sucks.
Then I got my left thumb busted up twice. So my thumbnail is all bruised up as is my index finger.
Then my left palm is bruised from the butt end of my stick.
Enough injuries to make me bitch (like I need an excuse) but not enough to stop me from hitting up a theatre.


So here's a question for you:

When someone you know has a problem/situation and you are trying to help them out, how selfish can you be in your advice?

Now, I'm not one for being selfish when helping out people and giving advice. I'm known for being quite objective and giving both an outsider and insider point of view.
And dammit, I'm good at it too.
In this case though, the results of the decision at hand kinda effect me as well. Not anywhere as close as it will effect them, not even.
But enough that it changes the relationship that is currently going on.
Problem is that it is not a conscience change. It's just a matter of priorities and things like that.
In this case, I would not be a priority. Pushed to the side I would be. Which would eventually lead to a total lack of communication.
Which is to bad, cause I liked where this one was going or not going as the case would be.

Suggestions? Opinions? Help......?

Save The Green Planet.......Or Is It???

On Monday Scoop and moi went to Cinematheque to check out the Korean film, Save The Green Planet. Or did we?!

My oh my!
What an interesting movie it is. Or is it?!
Save the Green Planet doesn't fall into any single genre. It's a mix of them.
It's part horror, sci-fi, thriller, mystery, comedy, etc.
The movie is about this guy (the guy in the poster) who kidnaps the CEO of a company that he used to work for.
Why you ask?
Because the CEO is an alien.
Or is he?!

As the movie goes on, it jumps from genre to genre easily depending on the info that you were just given.
At one point the guy is torturing the CEO, but is the CEO an alien or a figment of the guys deranged pill popping imagination.
Does the CEO really have telepathic powers that are controlled by his hair?
Who knows?
The movie has some disturbing moments, but it also has some very funny moments.
One of the best sight gags I've seen in awhile. Involving killer bees and a desperate cop with a gun.
Those crazy Koreans. Or are they?!

I can't remember any of the names in the movie. Think they have been overwritten by the movie I saw Last night. Or did I?

Anyways.

Good movie, I recommend it, unless you don't like scenes with torture or implied torture.
Actually, no, I recommend even then.
Or do I?!

Kingdom of Heaven: Supplemental

Last Wednesday I saw Kingdom of Heaven.
I also had some cake.

Juice baked me a cake and brought it to the flick. They made us put it in the fridge.
The bastards.

I made Juice get some rootbeer.
So we watched the movie and discussed cake and how orlando bloom wasn't as annoying as he usually is.
This was do to his lack of talking, I came to realise.
The rootbeer was tasty.
The theatre was cold.

We left the theatre and picked up our cake.
The bastards.
We discussed what to do next.
I pointed out how there is a lovely rootbeer stain on her shirt.
That crazy Juice! What a waste of rootbeer.
We headed over to wal-mart. Helped some venezualens cross the street.
The girls ran into some friends. Our services were no longer required.
Job well done.

Juice got some clothes.
I watched some Ghostbusters.
We caught a cab, went to Smitty's.
We had some wings. She had a beer or 3 and I had a rootbeer.
The wings were alright.
Not great, not bad.

We left Smitty's and went to the bus shack across the street.
Why you ask?
Simple really.
We put on our bday hats, lit the candles and woooooooooo!
Par-Tay!

The people who went by on the bus as we were doing this were sooooo jealous.
So jealous.
And why shouldn't they be.

I had me some cake!

oh, and a friend who can make them.

Yah.
That's important too.

Holy Crap!

Q: You're doing Get Smart with producer Charles Roven, correct?

Carell: Actually, they're still writing it. They have an outline and the next step is to actually script it.

Steve Carell that is.
That would be awesome.
Taken from an interview from the always great CHUD.

Kingdom Of Heaven

I love Ridley Scott.

I liked Kingdom of Heaven.

Only real problem I have with it is that I know that an hour or so was cut form the flick. So now I wanna see all the political intrigue that is missing.

I for once, had no problem with Olando Bloom. 3/4 of the way through the movie, I realized that it was most likely because he didn't really talk all that much.
Edward Norton was cool as the King of Jerusalum.
Jeremy Irons is always good.

I saw this movie last Tuesday. I couldn't really think of much to say about the movie then and I don't have all that much I can really think of to say about this movie now.
It was good, I enjoyed it.
I will enjoy the extended version that is sure to come, even more.

Nuff said.

Splooooosh!

On Saturday night, I went to a couple of more pavilions with some folks.
It was the last night of Folklorama.

We went to the 9:45 show of the Scandinavian pavilion.
In celebration of Hans Christian Anderson, the theme this year was fairy tales.
Titled "Once Upon A Time".
They danced a bunch and sang a bunch. Most of which you really couldn't make out.
It had it's amusing moments, such as the robbers of cardamom city or somesuch.
The kids were singing, attempting to really. They were giggling throughout the performance as they were handed more and more ridiculous things.
There was a rat thing that Pslam was convinced was a demon and that Constantine was gonna show up and send it back to hell.
Other than that, it was alright.
The chowder was good. The deserts, not so much.

We checked out the cultural displays before hand. The was Finland, Sweden, Norway and Denmark. And I'm so missing one here.
We checked them all out. Heckled and protested at the Danish one. Telling them off and letting them know that it's our island.

After that we went to the Portuguese pavilion.
It was the only one that was within range that we could get to before the last show of the night.
11pm the show started. After midnight it finished.
3 or 4 different groups doing there dances with 2 songs thrown in between.
Nothing spectacular really.
Dances kinda were simliar.
Do love those castanets though.

There was one thing other than the castanets though, that caught my eye.
The theme was something to do with villages, I wasn't really listening.

Anyways, at the back of the stage there was a cutout thing.
You know, one of those boards with a picture painted on with people. The faces and sometimes hands cutout so that you can put yours in them. Ya know!?!

Well, at the Portuguese pavilion, there was a guy hiding out behind the cutout and for every other song or so, he would stick his face into the guys headspace and sing into the mike.
This was followed by him sticking his head into the womans headspace and singing in a high pitched woman imitation voice.
Humourous indeed.
This went on all night long.
Good times.
Reminded me of the guy from Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. He was the guy in the town (windfall island) that had the battleship type game.
Good times indeed.

Gosh Darn Technology

I reverse out of the driveway.
The driveway being located at Langside and Broadway.
The tunes are a playin'.
Unfortunately, they are oldies and not the good kind. So while Cinamon Stick is closing the gate, I attempt to change the station.
Key word here is attempt.

I push the preset buttons, one at a time.
Nothing doing.
I push them harder.
Nope.
Try the seek button, the tune button.
Still Oldies.
AM/FM button.
Nothing seems to respond.
I turn the power off - A reset always helps things.
Turn the radio back on. Notice a #1 in the little screen, so I try pushing #2 and 3.
Notta.
CS gets into the car by this point. I look at her and tell her "I can't change the station."
CS: "what!"
Moi: "The station won't change, I tried all the buttons"
SO she goes at it now. Pushing the buttons one by one. Faster until she is just mashing all the buttons on the display.
Nothing doing.
"Nooooooooo" she yells as she starts banging on the dashboard.
I concur with her sentiment.
She turns the radio off.
CS: "We won't be listening to anything then"

Off we go.

We are cruisin' south having our usual nonsensical conversations and no matter what she says, it was funny.
I start to hear a beat drop. I'm going "what the hell?!"
Looking at the radio that nobody touched. Then I realise that the beat is coming from the ringing cell phone in Cinamon's purse.
Crazy phones and their crazy ring tones.

We get to the 'south end'.
Quotes are there due to the fact that the 'south end' is more south/central.
You know, with all the gangstas and fried chicken shops around. Corn bread stands on hydraulics.
weee-oooh, weeee-oooh.
One side of the street has the sweet potato pie. The other, the collard greens crew. And you don't wanna get caught in that crossfire.

Anyways, we get to where we were going. I jump outta the car.
5 or so minutes later I jump back in.

CS is on the phone.
A beat is bumpin'.
Wait, what.
A beat is bumpin'
I take a look at the deck. A slight look of shock crosses my face... a tape is sticking out of it.
For christ sakes.
CS gets off the phone.
Moi: "It was a bloody tape?!"
CS: "I KNOWW!,......miscelaneous loud stuff"
She didn't actually say 'miscelaneous loud stuff'. But you get my point.
Driving now to the actual south end of the city, southwest if you look at the city map thingy.
Talking about how we can't believe that it was a tape.
eahhhhh.
I'm like "I came in and music is going and there's a tape"
CS: "I know I saw your face, so hard not to laugh on the phone"
Some more jibber jabber back and forth.

Then we get to Batty's going away bash, after a quick stop off at BK.
Mmmmm, tendercrisp with spicy sauce.
Par-tay!

One Of Those, You Had To Be There Things

So I gets on the bus and open the window at the seat in front of me.
A couple of stops later this chick gets on, that seems familiar.
I wasn't sure if it was her, since back in the day, she came into class exclaiming how she had to take the bus to school one day and actually hold on to a rail.

omg! How horrible!

But I noticed that she was wearing a Birthright Israel shirt.
So it had to be her. Except a little larger.
I guess the post high school syndrome kicked in for her as well.

That's not the funny part.

So she is sitting in the seat in front of me yapping away on her cell when she decides to have a listerine pack thingy.
Unfortunately for her, the window is open and blowing her hair into her face ever time she tries to put the strip in.
This went on for a few moments until she gave up.
Eventually the call ended, thus allowing her to concentrate on the difficult task at hand.

Man this was so much funnier when it happened and when I din't have to explain it.

Oddly enough, I saw her sister on Saturday at Earls.

Fire Fighters Will Never Look The Same

I saw the gayest video in the world last night.
I can't remember the name of the song, but the video consisted of washing a fire truck and squeezing the sponge out all over yourself.
Now while the guys are rubbing themselves down, you are also shown clips of the blonde doing stuff. I can't remember what, just take my word for it. Stuff was being done.
The worst part is, The most attractive of the bunch is barely in the video.
For shame!
Alcazar I believe they be called.

Magnus and Andreas. Wtf!?

Careful with the link, you must prepare yourself when entering the castle!.....dum dum duuuum!

Worlds Colliding

So, on Saturday I went out to Earls on Main to see a friend of mine(Juice)that I haven't seen in a long while.
Wow! I just looked at the website. They got horrible pics on the front page. Wow!
Anyways. I get there and I find out it is for this guys(Mike = M2) birthday.
In the above chart, I am M1. Juice is F1.
The numbered folk were at the event, the non-numbered folk were not.

Collision of worlds!

From there we went to the new Tavern by the Phonebooth.
This time though, we were upstairs. Half of the space is for VLTs. The other half has a pool table, a couple of couches and a tv. As well as the required tables and chairs for easy drinking. Don't remember seeing any dart boards though.
Good times were had and that guitar busker guy was out front providing some entertainment as well.
Most importantly, I think I'm getting some cake on Tuesday.
I better, or there is gonna be some juice that is gonna go bad....
ta, ta taaaaaaa!.....

In other news:

My feet are bruised. Which sucks like a mofo.
1. Inside left arch
2. Outside right heel-ish
3. Outside right just below the pinky toe.

I hate field hockey sometimes.
There is this one guy who has the uncanny ability to smack the ball right into my foot. Luckily for me, I was wearing my new kicks that I got for my bday. Thus the bruising isn't so bad and it only hurts when I move my foot.
His response is, as always, "I'm just testing your shoes"
Arggs.
Damn that field hockey ball being rock hard.

Anyways, something rather..I don't know anymore, I forgot what this was supposed to be about.
Oh well.
Another time perhaps.

Oompa Loompa Indeed

Willy Wonka came to visit!

Went to Folklorama last night.
For those of you that don't know, Folklorama is the largest and longest running multicultural event in the world!
Rock!
Saw the Spanish and the Indo-China pavillions.

A run down of my night:

After getting home from work(4:30-ish), I went to sleep. Phone rang, P.slam wanting to know if I'm up for anything. I say sure. He's says 6 'o clock. I go back to sleep until 5:45.
Get up and get ready I do.
Hit the LC for a program guide and then head over to Scoops.
Chill there for a bit. Tell his younger brother, Bry Bry, Happy birthday!
Embarass the youngest bro, Robbie, in front of his older girl.
Then we are off.
We get to the pavillion, which is next to Sargent Park Pool.
Got some food. Was good and filling, unless there is 3 of you, then it is good and almost but not quite filling. Chicken and rice and cake and shrimp and mussels.
mmm, tasty.

The show was alright.
The first dance would have been better if they had music that didn't sound like it came outta a looney tunes cartoon. The second would have been better if it didn't sound like it was from the fifties. You'd think they would have better quality sounding music to play with the dances. Cause whats gonna happen when these tapes go bust?
No more traditional music I guess, and that will be the downfall of Spain.
One of the servers there, was an old teacher of the fellas. Her daughter was performing in the show you see. Supposedly Scoop got the thumbs up from her to go after the daughter. But he of course thought it best if he went after the teach.
Shows done. He gets some Sangria, after some peer pressure, he gets another for the teach.
Gives it to her and kinda wussies out.
tsk tsk.
Me and P.slam get him embarrassed outside by hollering at a way to young girl in a very short green skirt.
Good times.

From there we meander our way to Portage Place.
We make are way to the 3rd floor to the Praire Theatre Exchange, for the Indo-China Pavillion.
Here we skipped the very bland, very very, oh so bland looking chinese food. With the exception of the deserts. We got some green jelly things that had a corn flour centre.
Not bad.
The show was very entertaining. Interesting at times, humourous at others. If you ask the fellas, they'll also tell you that it was 'dangerous'.
They flinched quite a bit when the weapons came out. Given that they were within in 4 feet of us, but still.
Good show over all.
On the way out, we stopped so Scoop could get some pics taken with his friend, Alice, who was a perfomer in the show. (pics to be a comin')

From here we took a stroll to back to the car, but stopped in to the new Tavern United, located next door to the Phonebooth, or as it's known around town, the new arena.
Hostess was very nice, as were the waitresses. The napkins they have at the old Tavern, it seems, are what the waitresses use as skirts at the new one.
Quite lovely.
Other than that though, it was quite a cock fest to put it bluntly. Even with a stagette going on.
The place has got 2 floors and the pool tables are located upstairs. Don't know about the darts though.
We had a pitcher of Carlsberg and some nachos. Very good nachos. The cheese was hot and melting until the very last bite. Had a nice kick from the jalepenos as well.
From here we got the car and headed over to Shannon's Irish Pub, for Bry Bry's birthday.
Once we got a parking space, after driving down a one way street......the wrong way. This driving in the wrong lane type thing seems to be a somewhat recurring theme, when us 3 are together. But I digress.
We headed into the pub. Pretty dead it was.
That sucked.
What made it worse was that we had to get memberships.
$5. No big cost, but we hardly ever go there and we didn't wanna spend the money.
Got Bry a sicilian kiss, and P.slam & Scoop had a boiler maker each.
We then had to decide if we wanted to go see Emily at the party at the Argentinan pavillion or get some burgers.

Off we went to Vj's Drive In.
Here we notice some chick passed out on the fence in the parking lot next to Vj's.
Wish we had a camera
Got some burgers and Fries. Nothing to crazy, unlike Burton Cummings, who was in line behind us. He got a double special, a double chilli cheese dog special, fries extra crispy and a banana shake.
Crazy, soon to be fat man.

As we finsh our food, some lovely ladies get there. For once the attractive ladies were outnumbering the guys. Who would have thought it would be here.
The passed out woman is starting to awake. That or she is twitching.
We jump into the car and make our way over to the Salsa Bar & Grill, across from the U of W.
The Patio is packed and there is a dancin' going on inside. We meet up with some folks and shake our booty.
Unfortunately, we are tiring out. So while Emily is out having a drag, we shuffle our way out the door, say our goodbyes and head back to the car.
Zoom over and drop off Scoop.
Get almost to my place when I notice this, ummm, let's go with hottie. Yes, I notice this hottie walking down the street. As we get closer I notice that it's Shannon!
We turn around and give her a lift home.
Lookin' good Shans!
Then I am dropped off.

Thus ends another night.

The Day Shift

For some god foresaken reason, I agreed to take an early morning shift.
7am to be precise.
Meaning I gotta get up at 5:30 to go catch my bus that gets me here for 6:30-ish.
bah.
At least it was only for yesterday and today.

Last night I slept.
Got home, slept.
Aunt came over, so I got up. Had a muffin. She said "Happy birthday!".
I said "thanks".
Went back to sleep.
Woke up. 9/10-ish. Finished watching Snatch.
Went to sleep at midnight.
Tried to anyways. Don't know what time I eventually nodded off though.
Woke up multiple times throughout the night.
Alarm goes off, J-lo and LL are a singin'. Turned the volume down and went back to sleep.
Woke up.
6:03am.
Bus arrives at 6:10am.
fuck.
Made it though.

Day is done now. Off to ze bed I go.
Now all I gotta do is find something to do tonight.

word

A Fellow Leo

Happy Birthday Lindsay!

Deep No Suga

That's right, you heard me.
Deep no suga.
The girls, well, as we all know.
Girls Dem Suga.
But that is another story.

So the results are in. Kinda. The doc didn't actually have the results. He had to call to get them, because the lab didn't send them. Either way I was given good news I guess. My fears were not realized
Now I can go out and celebrate! Gonna get wasted!
Wooooooooo!
Oh, wait. Nope, no can do.
Liver Infection. Maybe.
That or I might be allergic to alcohol.
Rock!
Gotta go back in 6 weeks for another check up. Which sucks, cause I was hoping to get my physical out of the way.
Alas, I cannot.
Not yet.

Is all good though. I'm gonna go out and drown my sorrows with some root beer.
Word!

Staring You Right In The Face

Fear is a funny thing, no?
Only emotion I can think of that you can not be aware of.
It disguises itself. Hides behind other moods.
Sadness, indifference, needy, Denial or in my case anger.

Realized it last night.
Was talking on the phone and it hit me.
Had the shakes I did.
Even said so on the phone. Which tells you how shaken up I was. Me telling shit like that over the phone. Hell, even in person. I'd deny it to your face if I had to.
Not this time though.

My ramblings the other night eased(?) my mind enough to let me sleep. More likely it just tired me out, allowing me to sleep.
This time, I just rambled on the phone.
Just knowing that I was bothered by my forthcoming results, eased me somewhat.
The phone call cheered me up more than it would have, if I had not come to that realization.
But then again, Caw is good at doing that.

Slurred Mind.

I have 3 aunts who live near each other, with the farthest being a 5 min walk away.
2 of the houses are practically behind each other with the 3rd down the street, just around the bend.
Now, I'm just as much family as the rest of my cousins, but then again I'm not.
Don't have the bond that they do, understandable, since they all grew up together, while I just made guest appearances like a holiday episode of a sitcom.
SO I kinda grew up alone. Nothing wrong with that, except when you know what you are missing out on.

That shaped me into who I am. Just like how your childhood shaped you. Most likely why I have no problem getting a long with other people. I'm readily accepting of them and the friendship that they will/may provide. Almost naive, you could say.
Problem is, there is a lot of bullshit out there. Learned that growing up. That among other things added to my bitter, angry persona.
But I'm still accepting, just hoping that the bullshit will be on the low side. Treating folks like the brother/sister/cousin, I never had.
Wish I had.
Trying hard not to fall back into the only child again. Maybe trying to hard.
maybe.

Am I making excuses for myself.
Most probably.
Is this the answer?
Most probably not.
Did the above really shaped me?
Doubt it. More like the lack of. Gotta throw some bullshit sometimes and see what sticks.
Mind is fuzzy. Tired.
Tired the way that only the beach can make you.
Just ramblings in hopes of stumbling upon the real answer. Gotta sift through the bullshit until you find the bull.

I don't know what that means either.

I've been pissed off.
Don't know why, just am. Not at any particular person or thing. Just in general. But I've been kinda taking it out on people. Been lashing out I have. Thus in the process, I might have pissed off some people as well. Normally, this would make one feel good, cause as we all know, misery loves company.
Might have lost some friends for awhile or at least I won't be seeing/hearing from them in awhile. Too bad. Good friends are hard to find.

A lot harder to make friends nowadays. Haven't made any in awhile. Lemme rephrase that, Haven't made and good friends in quite awhile.
Now my grumpy-ness has been here for a little bit. At least a week. The people that I tell my shit to, the ones that help me work it out, don't even know all of it. Just the big things that I have to face the consequences. Actually, I shouldn't say big things. More like the things that worry me more. Big things don't necessarily translate in to worriness.

At the time I though it was how my day started but I realized, not soon enough mind you, that the 1st event just made me snap, I guess and the 2nd event just sealed the deal.
I'm angry, so I took at myself to figure out why, but my angry cloud makes it hazy and I only see how disgusted I am with where I'm at. Cause I know I can do better and I know I should be doing better. But I'm not, which only fuels my anger.
The cycle continues.

Trying to snap outta it but haven't found the thing to do it. Don't know the key to the door or the missing piece of the puzzle if you will. Doesn't help that I'm angry, (separate form the original anger), with the way I played out things, while full of said anger, but, shiit.
Too late now.

Hell, the cake didn't even help.
Seemed off.
Movies aren't as good. Can't decide on what to watch at home. They aren't as entertaining. Ain't doing it for me.
I barely laughed when I went to see the Wedding Crashers.
Don't get me wrong, it's a funny movie and I know it's a funny movie. I can even think ahead to when I'll own the dvd and how I'll bust a gut laughing.
But not this night. Didn't do it for me.
It did lighten up my mood somewhat though. So, it might have worked a bit.
Shows you how pissed I was by the little effect it did have.
Even still, the combination of the flik and the goofy night on the town with the fellas, I dunno, cheered me...up...?? enough so that I was tolerable.
Or so I hope.

Had some tasty chinese food to boot.

Does this make any sense? Ah, who knows. I'm tired. I'm rambling. My words are starting to slur in my mind. You know you should sleep when the words are slurred and you aren't even speaking them.

I gonna go and see if this has emptied my head enough so that I can catch some zzzz's.