Lord of the Rings, a tearjerker

In the last couple weeks, I've been geeking out and watched all three movies in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Each of the three movies spans over two discs and is four hours long. It's totally worth the time. I kind of love these well done fantasy movies...and there are hot men in costumes. Funny thing is I don't think any of them are that attractive outside of these movies (i.e. sans LOTR garb).

I've watch the movies three times now, and every single time, there's a part that chokes me up. I know, shut up. I can't help it. At the end when Aragorn gets crowned as king of Gondor (and awkwardly sings in a Tolkien language), he walks up to the four hobbits and they bow to him. Aragorn, being the humble king that he is, says "My friends! You bow to no one." Then a wide shot of the entire courtyard and everyone is bowing to the hobbits. I mean, come on, that has to be the most touching scene in cinematic history...isn't it???

Judge for yourself:


(link here)

Also, fans take the story into their own hands. Oh my.


No, that's not Liv Tyler, that's Orlando Bloom.




What the hell?

Will Arnett, I love you

Gob was definitely my favorite character on Arrested Development. An irresponsible, wannabe magician wins my heart every time. Yesterday I watched Blades of Glory for the second time at Kelsey and Micah's and tonight I saw Let's Go to Prison per Micah's suggestion. Will Arnett tends to play the villain that you empathize with. He's an ass, but you love him anyway. That, and I kind of have a crush on him. Amy Poehler, you're a lucky bastard.

UPDATE: I also forgot to mention that he's in a new movie I want to see, which was kind of the whole reason for the post in the first place. My good friend Ross, in his cute roundabout way, has just volunteered to see it with me, I think.


Will Arnett bargaining for his life with a white supremacist in Let's Go To Prison with forks in his legs.


One of my favorite outfits from Blades of Glory. Will and Amy Poehler as a brother-sister figure skating team.

The man is out to get me

I got an email from my internet provider yesterday asking me to stop using peer-to-peer programs to download/upload NBC material. The letter pretty much asks my ISP to send me a reprimanding email and tell me to stop pirating. So all of you downloading episodes or seasons of The Office better stop it now.

In other news, is it shallow that I listen to Sufjan Stevens because I think he's kinda hot? No? Ok, good. Also, I think he looks like a young Clive Owen.

Lost Highway, Part. I

After reading David Foster Wallace's essay on David Lynch, I was inspired to go out and buy everything Lynch on DVD. Luckily, I only got was Eraserhead before realizing I can just rent them since I don't really watch my DVDs after the initial viewing.

Last night Ross and Nicole were having dinner at Herbivore (see "Things I hate" in sidebar) so we planned to meet at the local coffeeshop after they were done. That didn't really pan out, but they did meet me at the video store where I got Lost Highway. Ross left me with a cryptic message: "He gets more pussy than a toilet seat."

I went over to Corky's to watch the DVD after parting ways with Ross and Nicole. It's been about a decade since I saw it on the big screen, so I really don't remember much about the movie except that it thoroughly confused me. About 10 minutes into the movie, Corky and I were completely freaked out. I don't remember it being this scary. Nothing is more ball-shriveling than seeing Robert Blake's face superimposed on Patricia Arquette's body while in bed with Bill Pullman. Corky screamed a few times and freaked me out even more.

We ended up stopping the movie about half way through because we were both tired (I was secretly afraid that I might get spooked on the way home). We'll have to finish it during daylight hours.

Also, we both agree that Lynch's Bob character from Twin Peaks reminds us of our friend Eugene. See below.

Here are a couple shots of Bob lurking at the foot of the bed:



Here are pictures of Eugene lurking behind various plant life:

300 = Sea of muscly pecs and abs

Today, the most beautiful day in the city, was spent indoors watching 300. It's a Zach Snyder adaptation of a Frank Miller graphic novel about Spartans who accompanied King Leonidas to fight off the invading Persians. Going into the movie, I had some expectations; I love stylized films, fantasically choreographed fight scenes and period costumes. Fortunately, I wasn't disappointed.

First off, it's a violent, gorey film. Despite the stabbing, lancing, slicing and flying blood and limbs throughout the movie, however, the gore added to the stylization of the film. I thought the contrast was cranked up just enough, the color was desaturated to the right level, and there was nothing too gimicky to make me cringe. Let me just say that the contrasty quality of the film accentuated every actor's bulging pectoral and abdominal muscles. Now imagine that with some leather bikini-type undies and a big red cape and you've got yourself a Spartan. I must admit, it was pretty hott. See below.



The storyline wasn't spectacular and was nothing I couldn't have predicted. But, again, it was well executed so it was more than watchable. Also appreciated was the lack of a overly dramtic love story. Check out the official site for a bunch of extras about the movie including a production blog and video journals. Here are some more shots from the movie:

I'm a bad, bad, yucky man

It's been a while since I've seen Peter Shaffer's Equus on PBS. The part that I could never watch is when he mutilates the horses with a sickle or pick or some sharp metal...stuff. It featured a psychiatrist and his patient who diefies horses, then wants to do the hanky with their pankies.

Recently there's been talk of the new play in London starring Daniel Radcliff, aka Harry Potter. Like Hair, Equus is known for its nude scene (before and during the horse hacking), and I was kind of grossed out about the thought of Harry Potter running around naked on stage. Grossed out until recently...until I saw the promo shots. It's still kind of disturbing, and yes, I feel extremely dirrty, but I found the photos kind of hot. Sure, he's 17, but he's legal in the UK, yeah?

Ok, I've thoroughly disgust myself for the bad thoughts. But check out the awesome poster for the play. The typography is lacking, but the image is brilliant.

Netflix update...fuck 'em

I won't have to worry about Netflix anymore, I cancelled it. I checked the status of my pending first DVD shipment and not surprisingly, the date was pushed back yet again. I pride myself on having a significant amount of tolerance when it comes to customer service, but Netflix definitely broke through my threshold level. I think that if they didn't post what day my DVD would go out and then change it each day, it wouldn't have pissed me off so much. I enjoy a bit of stick-and-carroting to keep things interesting, but it gets old pretty quick.

Did I get throttled by Netflix?

It all started last Wednesday when I got a piece of what should have been junk mail. It was a fun direct mail piece. There was a miniature Netflix envolope glued onto the front, you pull it off and on the back was a code for a 30-day free trial. I used Netflix years ago and didn't think the service was all that bad, so I thought, "Why not? It's a month of free movies...I'll just rent as many as I can and burn them."

I loaded up my queue with about 20 movies (Netflix advises to keep your queue full so your movies keep coming in the mail). Immediately, it said that my first DVDs would be sent out on Thursday, which was the next day. "Awesome," I thought, "I'll have movies for Friday." I logged onto Netflix to find the promise of a Thursday shipment had been pushed to Friday. Then on Friday, instead of actually sending out my DVDs, the shipment was again delayed until the following Monday because Netflix doesn't ship on weekends. Well, Monday turned into Tuesday, Tuesday turned into Wednesday, and now it says my first DVDs are expected to ship on Thursday...again. We've come full-circle and I'm still without DVDs. My month-long trial is now a 3-week trial at best.

I mentioned this to Audrey a few days into the waiting and she sent me a link about Netflix throttling. Supposedly, Netflix slows down the shipping process for those who return their movies too fast. I kind of doubt that I'm a victim of throttling since I'm a trial user and they should be on their hands and knees trying to impress me with their service. A concerned email was sent a couple days ago and I have not heard back from them.

Damn you, fancy junk mail!

Note: I believe Netflix uses Gotham as its corporate font...or is it Verlag? I can't tell, they all look the same.

Entertainment news

I found out recently that The Jesus and Mary Chain, one of my favorite bands, will be reuniting(!!) and playing Coachella(!!!!) this year. I've never seen them live, I can't wait. The last (and only) time I've been to Coachella was the first year in 1999. I went with Rubi and Jason and had my first hit of E. Needless to say, it was an amazing experience. Spiritualized played an amazing set (too bad you weren't there, Helena). The main attraction for me that year was Morrissey, of course, but the whole experience was unforgettable. I plan on having a better time this year with my main bitches.

Other noteworthy appearances on the list for Friday (the day I plan on going) are: Björk, Jarvis Cocker and Sonic Youth.

Also, Reno 911! is now a movie. I hope it's not as disappointing as the Strangers With Candy movie.