What can I say? Lots of idiot talk, one impressive SFX scene, one *ridiculous* villain. Some positively embarrassing kitsch scenes. Your typical Star Trek: The Next Generation movie.

Utterly forgettable.

A brilliant little movie to incite Americans to vote.

I know this will only interest me, but I’ll indulge in a little nostalgia. Today is Saint Lucy’s day, a Swedish holiday. The eldest daughter of each household wears a white gown and a crown of lit candles, symbolizing Saint Lucy. She brings in the light, hopeful time of the holidays after the dreary, dark month of November. Songs are sung, special saffron buns and glögg are served.

When I was in Lund, we celebrated this at the town’s medieval stone cathedral after nightfall. We sat in the pitch dark until Lucy and her following entered, singing and illuminating the place with their crowns of candles.

It’s days like these I wish I worked for Ericsson or Ikea. I dag saknar jag Sverige.

Up to a month ago I bought my 21 weekly meals in restaurants. To save money, and vary my diet, I decided to start buying groceries, and cook everything for myself.

Yesterday marked the one-month anniversary of this new regime, my day of reckoning. It seems that over the past month I’ve saved about 279$ and lost 5% of my body weight.

It’s the little things…

So it’s now less than a week before The Two Towers opens. I want to see it as soon as possible, and I’m trying to figure out what the best viewing conditions are. The Tuesday midnight show is out of the question. I’ll be too wiped to appreciate.

Should I skip work and go in the afternoon of the 18th? If I go for a noon show, that will mean standing in line for a seat in the cold, before the theater opens. Should I simply go that night? Crowds. Downtown or one of those big burb multiplexes?

It’s all very complicated.

Before e-mail, what was the purpose of the @ character?

Some genius has rigged a staticky speaker system over which really bad, canned Christmas carols are wafting… I think if I find an inventive way to destroy this, I’ll become the office hero…

Today’s guest blogger is Doctor Wank. Be nice to him.

I figured what with all the “vs.” movies floating around (well, okay two) I’d start giving movie reviews that pit two movies against one another. Here goes.

So… Nikki and I went to see Breakfast at Tiffany’s at the Halifax cinema festival. The movie itself is… well, a little odd. For starters, there’s this “humourous” chinese guy played by a white actor in face paint who mugs an overbite, squints his eyes, and plonounces arr his r’s as l’s and vice-velsa. Ya, I know it was made in the 60’s or whatever, but it was still hard to watch without cringing.

Then the main character, Holly Golightly (love the name) is an escort who doesn’t put out and can only get happiness from hanging out at a jewellery store (this quality is supposed to be endearing, I think). Turns out she got married at 14, had four kids (or had to take care of them at any rate), ran away from her responsibilities to Hollywood, almost made it there but decided to run away to New York and catch herself a rich man. Ya, I have a lot of sympathy for this character.

Then there’s the George Peppard character (yes, the leader of the A-Team!), a gigolo who dreams of being a writer except he’s too busy pleasuring this carnivorous rich litch bitch for money. Hmm…

This is all portrayed in an innocent candy-apple way that just makes the actual events seem totally surreal. In the end it’s your typical romantic comedy formula, but with this whole different feel to it.

So anyway… we got these coupons at the BaT’s showing for a free DVD rental. Feeling like “well, it’s free, I should get something I wouldn’t normally get” I rented “The Predator”. Nikki hadn’t seen it, and I feel it is my duty to educate her in all the little cultural clichés/quotes we get from movies. This one is of course the source of <ah-nold>”Stick around”</a> and <Jesse the Body>”I ain’t got time to bleed”</J> as well as <J>”Fuck! Bunch of limp-wristed faggots around here! This stuff’ll turn you into a god-damned sexual Tyrannosaurus!”</J> (One of my faves!)

Well! If BaT’s was dated, this was almost worse, at least for the first half. There’s this whole goofy group of army guys, each of whom gets a single scene to define their “character”: there’s “tells goofy jokes” guy, and “the inscrutable navaho” and “all-business black guy”. Arnold really. can’t. act. at. all. I had forgotten.

Then there’s fucking Carl Weathers! Remember him? Eye-liner guy? No, not Billy Zane! The black one! Ya, him! Man, he’s a riot! He’s there solely for this whole “CIA screws over Arnold’s team” plot-line that goes exactly nowhere because pretty soon the Predator comes along and it’s all moot! I really can’t figure out what the writers were thinking on that one. Probably something along the lines of “Duuuude… yaaaa…”.

Oh, and then there’s the goofy soundtrack! Constant, constant “march” music with these little “dramatic” violin peaks. Weird.

But the second half saves it. Once the Predator starts laying into them and it’s just one-on-one between it and Arnold, then things get good. Ah, the IR-absorbing mud, the spike traps, the explosive arrowhead made from carved wood and a left-over mortar round! Good stuff. I remember thinking the Predator looked goofy when I first saw him way back when, but now I think he’s amazing! Eight feet tall and ugly as hell! I dunno, maybe I’m just grateful he isn’t a “forehead problem” alien from Star Trek.

So, between Predator and Holly Golightly, I’d say it’s a win for the Predator, but not a crushing victory. BaT’s wins for the first half, but Predator pulls ahead in the end.

I love it: the Law and Order CD-Rom game! Time to start a Christmas wish list, I think…

About an hour ago, I packed up my stuff, put on my jacket and gloves, said goodbye to my boss and left the office. I got in my car and noticed then that it was only 3:30. Messed up, I realized that my computer, which I was using as a clock (and not much more today, admittedly) was still on Venezuela time, 4:30.

So I got out of the car, back up the elevator and back to the office. Explained to the coworkers what had happened. “We thought it weird that you were having a hot pasta lunch at 10:30 this morning, but we didn’t say anything…”