Mainer

I'm glad that people like this are keeping Maine in the news.

King Kong

King Kong will be in theatres soon. The team behind the Lord of the Rings is back.

2046

This finally came out on DVD and is the sequel of sorts to one of my favorite films of last year, In the Mood for Love. In years to come these two films will be looked on as classics. The cinematic, music and sets are among the best ever seen. The acting is superb and the writing is second to none.
Hollywood is finally taking notice. 2046 will be released in the States in August while much of the cast are now busy making American films. Entertainment Weekly ran an article this week on Zhang Ziyi, calling her one of the next big stars. I have yet to see her in a film and not been blown away. Most would recognize her from House of Flying Daggers or Crouching Tiger.
This is a powerhouse film as far as star power, kind of like an Oceans 11 film. It took four years to make and many said it would never be done. If you have seen the movie Hero you have seen the cast of this film if you add Gong Li. They are much better here than in Hero.
The Chow Mowan character ranks up there with the best Bogart or Clark Gable. This is a complex character, one of the best I have ever seen. Tony Leung is mostly know as an action star in films like Hero. He really is a great actor and hopefully will do more great roles.
These films have a sense of style all their own. It is tough to describe but they take the normal brilliant Chinese cinematography and mix it with 1940's Hollywood then compose a soundtrack that is among the best ever made. Every shot in this film, every room and every actress has their own color. An example would be we see some roses near the camera. We see an actress at a bar in the distance with a red dress. The scene never leaves the view from the roses but we can see the colors of the actress being enhanced by the roses. I don't know if that makes sense but it comes out well in the movie.

That being said, this movie will bomb in Theatres. It is too slow, a love story, and not in English. I doubt you will see this except in a few art house cinemas. I loved it but the end was a bit dragged out. This is still a classic film and a redemption of sorts for Kar-Wai after making the Pulp Fictionesque Chunking Express.

Summer!

So busy. I have a bunch of things to do, e-mails to get to etc etc.
I'll probably be at the lake all weekend but will hopefully do some posts soon.

Its tough sometimes. I don't like doing all that much on the computer when I can go outside.
I need a portable computer or something like a sidekick where I could do both, hang out on the lake and surf the net at the same time.

I'll get around to removing the silly read mores at the bottom of each post. I want to use them but only sometimes.

I also need to change the name of this site at some point. Having the site as my name has too many negative aspects, especially considering all of my clients. I am unable to have anything questionable. This will eventually just be a picture site with occasional info.

Superballs used as office pranks

Superballs!

Ketchup Mishap

Wanna play a bad game?

More Office Pranks

This is interesting, gross but interesting

Worst Father's Day gift ever?

Exploring the Davinci Code

I recommend this documentary that is available on Netflix.
This is not really about the Davinci Code, being made in 1999, but it is one of the better historical studies I have seen. Utterly original.

Acadia Pictures

Another trip to Acadia National park. I believe this is five years in a row but I love the place. I stayed at Hutchins Cabins this year and was very happy. The Bar Harbor area was very nice and not crowded this time of year. We spent many a night at a local Thai bar and had a blast. Mostly this was a trip to do some serious hiking, relax, get some sun etc.

Pictures

Backstroke of the West

Star Wars is a bad movie but here is some superior dialogue from a bootleg.
I would have enjoyed this version much more.

The New World

Back from my Acadia trip and will have a few pics soon. Just saw this new Malick trailer that looked pretty cool. I'm not sold on any of his previous films, but perhaps this could be his big hit:
The New World

Acadia (again)

Leaving on Saturday to go to Acadia yet again. I will have no TV, phone, computer etc. I am getting a cabin for seven nights and can't wait. I'll mostly hike, bike, canoe and be lazy.
I would have liked to take a better trip but for now this will do. This is more a relaxation vacation.
I absolutely love this place. The cabin has five beds and I have a few buddies coming to visit so it should be a nice time. I am lucky. After seven straight weeks of rain this week looks to be nice.

See you in a week.

Davinci Code

I can't wait for this movie to come out although I read the filmmakers are being banned from the churches they were originally going to film in. I did a search on Netflix and there are already five DVD's discussing the history associated with the novel. This is pretty cool as it gets a lot of people interested in history and turns a small cult genre more mainstream.

I still love the works of Jane Jensen. I doubt you can buy her works anymore, but back in the 90's she published the best historical fiction games ever made. Gabriel Knight 2 was one of the greatest games ever made. After playing I went out and purchased books on Wagner, Bavaria, Ludwig II just to get a deeper understanding. This game was made before the horrible 3d games we see now started hitting the market. Every location was a real picture and all the actors were actual people. The computer industry had to stop making games like this due to the excessive costs.

Anyways, the Davinci code was by no means the first book to look at history and weave a great story around certain beliefs.