Merry Christmas!

Who knew Ralphie was so disturbed?

I got a lot of problems with you people

Happy Festivus!

Quick movie reviews

Yo.

I've been pretty derelict in putting up movie reviews lately, so here we go.

The Departed: So I wasn't totally convinced that a 14 year old girl could portray a cop that infiltrates the mob, but other than that it was a great movie. Jack seemed to have a lot of fun with his role. I used to think Matt Damon was kind of a Streisand, but he kicked ass. Hey, Scorsese, the Stones made more songs than just "Gimme Shelter."

The Prestige: I was expecting Batman and Alfred vs. Wolverine, but got an extremely grim rival magician movie...with David Bowie. There's sort of a sci-fi twist at the end, which was a bit unexpected. Dark, but good.

Flushed Away: Very enjoyable. The CGI convincingly looked like claymation. Slugs rock. I think Bill Nighy is my new favorite Old British Actor.

Borat: Quite overhyped, but hilarious nonetheless. I think most of those that are lavishing praise on the film never caught him on HBO, so the character was fresh to them. Nice.

For Your Consideration: A complete let down. I lurve all of Christopher Guest's movies, but this one just did not deliver. Fred Willard was funny, as usual, but most every scene he wasn't in was kind of off.

Rocky Balboa: AWESOME! I didn't realize I was that much of a Rocky fan until I watched all five previous movies last week. Yeah, he's old now, but that makes this film a perfect bookend to the beginning of the series where Stallone's boxer was such a sad sack. The only way you could not enjoy this movie is if you're a Communist.

DVD Picks:
Love Actually: A bit long and some of the couples' storylines could've been excised completely, but perfect for Christmas.

Art School Confidential: It started out really funny, but once it started to develop a murder mystery plot, it just fizzled.

Inside Man: Clive Owen should've been Bond*.

*Well, I haven't actually seen Casino Royale yet, but I still maintain that Daniel Craig looks like a Bond villan.

Your inspirational thought for the day

Crush of the Week: Martine McCutcheon

This week's Crush is actress (and singer?) Martine McCutcheon. The only thing I've seen her in is the most excellent Love Actually (which I saw for the first time this weekend).



What a tasty bird.

Happy Chanukah!

Hey hey!

Office chatter

Tonight's episode of "The Office": "A Benihana Christmas"

Strife on the party-planning committee results in two competing Christmas parties; Michael gets dumped for the holidays.

Discuss.

(Considering the brilliance of last year's Christmas episode, it has a lot to live up to.)

Every time a list is compiled, an angel gets its wings

Given the time of year (and taking a cue from an NPR story), I thought I'd compile my list of top Christmas movies:

1. It's a Wonderful Life
2. National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
3. A Christmas Story
4. Elf
5. Millions
6. Scrooged
7. Die Hard
8. Santa Claus Conquers the Martians (MST3K version)

So, what are yours?

EDIT: Well, I made a glaring omission - Trapped in Paradise. I'd give it an honorable mention. Not a cinematic masterpiece, by any means, but it does have that warm holiday vibe (and the smokin' Madchen Amick). Plus, it is easily found in Wal-Mart's $5.50 bin.

And based on your strong recommendations (and the fact that it's been one of those movies that I've been wanting to see - loves me a good rom-com), I picked up Love Actually. I'll give it a view this weekend.

Requiem for a curmudgeon

R.I.P. Peter Boyle, 1935-2006.



You're part of a different dream team now.

Walking in a winter wonder-nanny state

What will NYC bust Santa for next?

Beverage of the day

Finlandia Wild Berries Fusion vodka with a splash of diet tonic water.

Possibly outdated 1950's notion of an after-work drink? I'm bringing it back.

I think I'm going to have a baby...

...just so I can buy the lil' pooper these clothes. Oh, wait. I have a brand new baby nephew. Scratch that whole "bein' a dad" thing.

Blessed are the Italian-American pugilists

Rocky as a Christian theological study? Now I really have to see this movie.

In other news, make way for the U2Charist.

Guess who's two

December 2nd is an important historical date: Napoleon was crowned emporer of France (1804), the first controlled nuclear chain reaction was demonstrated at the University of Chicago (1942), a Protestant and Catholic cabinet convened for the first time in Northern Ireland (1999), Enron filed for bankruptcy (2001), and Micah World was established (2004).

Yes, this past weekend my lil' blog turned two years old. And it's in good birthday company: William Randolph Hearst, Charles Ringling, Cathy Lee Crosby, Lucy Liu, and Britney Spears.

Thanks for reading. Here's hoping I'll survive another year to blog about movie reviews, attractive women, music geekery, and other non-essential information.

Vote for this podcast (please)

A message from my brother:

hello friends/family/coworkers/former coworkers/etc,

in my science classes this year my good pal monty and i have started up this podcasting project with some of my students in which they create podcasts covering the topics we have investigated in class and then post them on the web. they do all the work - they write it, record it, and produce it all on their own.

in the beginning of the year, as a kick-off to this project, some of my students entered this NASA podcast competition in which the question was posed "how will space travel affect your future?"

well, turns out, one of my girls is among the top 10 finalists in the nation for this competition. her name is quinyawna and she rocks. she takes her academics very seriously, works very hard, has an awesome personality, and is going places in life. voting for the top 3 ends this week. i would LOVE to see her take this thing...and monty and i think she has a very good shot after listening to all the other finalists.

so if youre feeling generous, hit the link below and scroll down to "quinyawna's podcast" and hook her up with a vote. and if youre feeling REALLY generous, forward this along to some others.

vote here

voting ends DECEMBER 8th!!!

thanks guys.

hope all is well with everyone
much love,
chris

You're beautiful. And dead.

According to a recent UK poll, James Blunt's "Goodbye My Lover" tops the list of songs requested to be played at people's funerals. If any of the songs from Dirty Dancing or Beaches (both on this story's list) are played at my funeral, bring me back to life and then kill me again.

I'll take this opportunity to reiterate my funeral wishes: "Amazing Grace" on the bagpipes, someone to play "Keep Me In Your Heart", and for my funeral to be a party.

Make it happen.