early in the morning of jan22, i read the first page of james joyce's "finnegans wake." this is but a dent in the possibilities of the english language most people only begin to unlock upon their arrival at the end, the final destination, the awfully big adventure.

twas important (for/to me) to note the start of reading the steve martin novel because i watched "cheaper by the dozen" monday morning before work. except for a few idiot scenes and unnecessary puking, it was a solid family comedy. martin's bad form during his macho jogging entrance during the credits was pretty much the first thing that struck me. happily, it was pretty much uphill from there.

tuesday morning was "conspiracy" time. when i spotted the dvd, i thought it was about the plot to assassinate hitler. didn't bother reading the summary on the back. turned out to be a reconstruction of the meeting that resulted in the "final solution." very awesome film. krista's seen it five times! it was only as i babbled about it at jim during our wednesday evening walk-and-talk that i realized the full import of the story kenneth branagh's character recounts near the close of the film. it connects back to something about his father that i had thought was never fully resolved -- but that was only because i didn't understand the point of the story. i guess i was somewhat like stanley tucci's evil eichmann in that regard. fortunately, i seem to have unraveled it. powerful dialogue-driven flick, highly recommended.

they took my car away tuesday morning. it would only go 30 mph on thursday, and even then it was redlining pretty much the whole time. that evening, i found out it had no reverse when i tried to leave the library with jim z. i still took him to tahramy's for movie night ("the fifth element" -- hell yeah!) and drove him home. what a day. dad took it to the mechanic friday, it was pronounced dead saturday morning. if it was a cartoon, kids would've gladly been in school instead.

the tow truck arrived just as i was leaving for work, so i didn't have time to snap more than two shots. here's the "better" one. the tiny figure in the background is the currently despised mother figure (yay for "uncle buck" references!).

rip in time and space, you great 1986 mazda 626lx. i still think the guy who created "lilo and stitch" named the alien after you.

why did a guy named peter gay write the biggest book on sigmund freud that we have at our library?

yesterday morning, i read the first nine pages of steve martin's latest work of longish fiction, "the pleasure of my company." i laughed a bunch. it has a great cover. witness:

i refuse to link to amazon for a larger version. this is plenty whoring for one post.

here are my votes in the best and worst of 2004 polls at the internet movie database, cut-and-pasted for your viewing pleasure. voting requires registration, but if anyone has suggestions for changing my choices, feel free to try to convince me. i really had it in for "van helsing" and "king arthur," even though i like most of the people involved. would've voted for bill murray for best actor, but i figure he'll get another shot next year. he's on a roll. johnny depp's been way too consistent for a long time now.

best films poll
Best Picture (English language) Finding Neverland (2004)
Best Foreign Language (non-English) Film Un long dimanche de fiançailles (2004)
Funniest Movie Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle (2004)
Scariest Movie The Village (2004)
Best Action Movie Collateral (2004)
Best Family Movie The Incredibles (2004)
Best Independent Film Garden State (2004)
Best Popcorn (Most Entertaining) Movie National Treasure (2004)
Best Documentary (skipped)
Best Animated Feature Team America: World Police (2004)

best people poll
Best Actor Johnny Depp for Finding Neverland (2004)
Best Actress Bryce Dallas Howard for The Village (2004)
Best Supporting Actor Thomas Haden Church for Sideways (2004)
Best Supporting Actress Kate Winslet for Finding Neverland (2004)
Best Director Wes Anderson for The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004)

worst films poll
Worst Picture Van Helsing (2004)
Worst Screenplay King Arthur (2004)
Worst Song The Polar Express (2004)
Worst Visual Effects White Chicks (2004)
Worst Title Christmas with the Kranks (2004)
Worst Poster Garfield (2004)
Worst Trailer Garfield (2004)

worst people poll
Worst Actor Clive Owen for King Arthur (2004)
Worst Actress Julia Roberts for Closer (2004/I)
Worst Supporting Actor Richard Roxburgh for Van Helsing (2004)
Worst Supporting Actress Keira Knightley for King Arthur (2004)
Worst Director Stephen Sommers for Van Helsing (2004)

2k5jan17 @ 12:45 am

clive owen's character was perhaps the most like me in "closer." not that we're all that close, but holy hell, did i see reality in that performance. too bad all four lead roles were scum of some species or another. thomas hayden church's goofball groom in "sideways" displayed such a joie de vivre (pronounce it the way space ghost does, it's way funny), it was impossible not to love that assclown (and still cheer when he literally got the snot beaten out of him by a helmet). jamie foxx was almost under the radar in "collateral," in a good way, but he got what was coming to him in the more prestigious category, so it's ok he didn't win here. david carradine managed to annoy the hell out of me in "bill." every time one of his stupid monologues starts on that soundtrack, i want to throw the disc out. just kidding -- me like "good night, moon" too much. but seriously, he's way too oily for me to support in any way, shape, or form. at the golden globe awards last night, clint eastwood called morgan freeman the best actor on the planet or something. now, aside from the very kriszty-esque hyperbole, i guess i can accept the feeling behind the assessment. he really did rule in "glory." and "levity" (one of the few soundtracks that dork e from the eels executed a near-perfect score from start to finish and did not annoy me a single time). and "the power of one" (one of the best hans zimmer soundtracks ever). and "street smart" (thank you, tom reilly).

natalie portman played two too many pathological liars last year. perhaps that's what she is in real life (i have this hypothesis that a lot of actors gravitate to roles that are stupid-easy for them to slip into; witness great nut jobs like oldman, dafoe, walken, hopper, gibson). the lame rip-off of "the usual suspects" ending totally blew, especially because it was at the graveyard memorial thing jude law's character said he hadn't visited since he was a kid. uh, he frickin' writes obituaries but he never goes to places where the aura of the dead hang out. i know, i know, it's probably some oh-so sly commentary on how journalists don't bother to step out of their offices to get a story -- gee, you only hear about that problem once every eight hundred years. shut up and kiss me.

virginia madsen displayed more than some talent in "sideways," but neither of the women leads made a huge overall impression. what's with the crappy roles for women these days? i swear, i'm not intentionally sexist, but i must be, because i haven't seen most of the stuff the supposedly good performances were in. i guess i only sought out the mediocre acting by women last year.

best director went to mr. aystwoad. what's up with that? isn't he a republican-type doohickey? i know the hollywood press tends to lean a bit more right than the academy of motion picture arts and sciences, but wowzers. or maybe "million dollar baby" really was that good for these people. was it as good for you as it was good for me? (too bad "gratitude" isn't on the oingo boingo album that's playing.)

obviously, i would've voted for marc forster and "finding neverland."

screenplay's always struck me as a weird category. up until the last half hour, the adaptation of "sideways" from a novel was very clever, so i'm ok with that win. "closer" had bigger problems than a doofy story and crap characters. couldn't tell you about "the aviator" and "eternal sunshine of the spotless mind" may have been sleeker than "adaptation," but it sure didn't impress me with its ideas as much (though i think i agree with its conclusions -- or what i feel its conclusions are -- more). "finding neverland" was adapted from a play, putting it in the same class as "closer." far superior. i wish they'd separate the previously existing material stuff from the original.

i love "old habits die hard." i love mick jagger. i love krista. i love "accidentally in love." i love adam duritz. i love krista.

if memory serves, none of howard shore's score for "the aviator" is on the bleah soundtrack i own. he did such a beautiful job on the "lord of the rings" trilogy and on "gangs of new york," i'm guessing he excelled here as well, but i sure didn't collect any evidence with my own ears. i thought jan a.p. kaczmarek should have gotten this with no contest. the spinning, whirling, flying, soaring sensations his score attached to certain scenes in "finding neverland" truly married audio to visual in everlasting union. it was hard to tell if hans zimmer's work in "spanglish" was what i liked, or if it was some of the additional licensed music listed during the credits. i'll check on it, but there was a chase-like scene with paz vega and téa leoni (twas very funny to me, being a dilettante runner) that had a great, speedy, latin-flavored ditty.

"mar adentro" ("the sea inside") sounds like a great film, and i bet it won as kind of a consolation prize for bardem not getting an acting award. not! i don't think any voting block does that. i still think "un long dimanche de fiançailles" ("a very long engagement") should have won. i wager with myself that the ernesto guevara movie wins the oscar, just because of the title character. silly people.

no clue which episodes qualified the television series for awards, since the stuff from this season is so minimalish. what, half of the episodes have aired? come on, cats and dogs, get real. heard plenty of the "desperate wives" buzz, haven't seen the show yet. "arrested development" hasn't been super-hot this season, but it's slowly ramping up. i saw most of one episode of "nip/tuck," twas cool. haven't watched "24" since the end of the first season. have yet to find "lost." and so on.

i am ecstatic that geoffrey rush and "the life and death of peter sellers" won their respective categories, because i don't doubt he did a great job in that film. shame it didn't get a theatrical release. i have wait for the dvd! fast-forward to five minutes after the previous sentence: now i've read some words from people who've seen the thing, and it sounds like the hype machine foiled me again. i'm still only borrowing the film before going full-on looney tunes and making the purchase. heard "iron jawed angels" was really good and "the lion in winter" remake really wasn't. i love the original anyway. such great lines.

peter o'toole as henry ii, reading james goldman's script: "i've snapped and plotted all my life. there's no other way to be alive, king, and fifty all at once."

john castle as prince geoffrey, reading james goldman's script: "i know. You know I know. I know you know I know. We know Henry knows, and Henry knows we know it. we're a knowledgeable family.

yes, the crazy dude who wrote this was william "i wrote the effing princess bride book/movie" goldman's brother. it's like they were twins.

it's great jason bateman finally got nominated and won for "arrested development." i just hope the show doesn't go the way of "monk," and pretty much abandon its premise in favor of coasting on the mere presence of its cast.

not only is ian mcshane alive and well, he won for best actor in a tv drama! i remember him from "lovejoy" on a&e way back. it's not on dvd here in the states yet, but the uk and germany have it. weirdos.

hey, denis leary got nominated for "rescue me"! i guess i should start watching that show. he tried cops before firefighters, but "the job" got cancelled right quick. idiots at abc didn't know what a great show they had. or maybe they did, but the country didn't. yay, america!

christine lahti also received a nomination, for her acting on "jack and bobby." i hope that show survives for a while. me like. oliver platt (major underrated, reporting for duty) received a wave hello for his work on "huff," which i don't get to even think about watching because i don't get showtime. i miss "deadline."

charlize theron and emily watson got nominations for "the life and death of peter sellers." i had no idea! nice going, ladies. watson had a weird role in "equilibrium," which i didn't super-enjoy on thursday night (jan13).

end 2:47 am

oingo boingo's farewell: live from the universal amphitheatre, halloween 1995 album

happy 11th anniversary! if it weren't for the northridge earthquake, i would be unhappy.

i love attributing things to chaos theory. it's the right thing to do. yay, edward lorenz!

mark knopfler "stand up guy" (how appropriate)

2k4jan16 @ 11:20 pm

reaction pieces contain all the elements required for fun: knee-jerkiness, overanalysis, and mindless chatter. here's my almost-monday-morning-quarterbacking of this year's golden globes.

didn't see the best picture winner, partly because the soundtrack was a pick of some truly bleah jazz. maybe it all hangs together in the context of the film, but as a cd, not really. stupid "the aviator." i still need to see the howard hughes film that starred tommy lee jones. yikes.

i liked "finding neverland" better for best picture. :( even "hotel rwanda," unseen. i wish i'd seen "million dollar baby" and "kinsey."

why the hell are musicals and comedies lumped together? i remember when musicals had tons of comedy, but this is like excluding some comic books from "literature" because of their graphics-heavy format. i adored "ray" but also rather enjoyed the hell out of "the incredibles." what am i supposed to do, not vote? screw that. spoiled ballot, here i come. "eternal sunshine of the spotless mind" was pretty good (but not a lot of credit goes to composer jon brion, whose "i [heart] huckabees" work sounds far and away better), but only entered ultra-brilliant territory in the last five minutes or so. "closer" possessed similar verisimilitude, but was populated by entirely unlikable, antagonistic protagonists.

"sideways" won though. its last half hour kind of screwed things up and actually managed to hollywoodize the story, sugar-coating things for a happy ending that was obviously ambiguous enough for the bleeding hearts who voted for it.

leonardo dicaprio sometimes bothers me something terrible. every now and then, he's invisible. but i still wanted johnny depp to win. hell, even don cheadle or javier bardem (a kickass felix in "collateral") or liam neeson, because they ooze charisma. it's hard to forgive don for participating in "mission to mars" or "after the sunset," even if he was one of the coolest things about either. i bet "sunset" was why he didn't win this year.

man, i can't really talk about the best actress category because i only saw one of the films from which there was a nominee. uma thurman was not one of the things i liked about "kill bill: vol. 2." thanks for almost ruining my initials, quentin tarantino.

jamie foxx deserved his win for "ray," i'm pleased as punch for him. jim carrey was a bit too subliminal for much of "sunshine" for my taste, i liked him better in "the truman show," i don't care how cloying that flick was. paul giamatti always kicks major boot-ee, and did just that in "sideways" (but his sidekick was even better). kevin kline and kevin spacey both got nominated for playing old, dead american music personalities notorious for their sexual proclivities. i have cds related to both films. i'm scared for the world.

kate winslet should have won for "sunshine," but i thought she was also relatively subdued for such a supposedly wacky film. maybe i'm just so off-kilter that the whole thing didn't strike me as particularly abnormalische. i was going to tell people all weekend long that though i could really relate to her character a helluva lot, i was actually nothing like her. i imagine i am sometimes, but i'm not. i think. i hope. i promise.

the rest will arrive "soon."

2k5jan17 @ 12:03 am

mark knopfler's "shangri-la" album (very mellow, in a very good way)

the last few scenes of "eternal sunshine of the spotless mind" saved the film. that never happens.

the polyphonic spree's "light and day" basically does not appear in the film. why the hell not?

when you can't string together four letters to form a simple word, you are in love.

it's too bad charlie kaufman feels so sorry for himself that each film with his name attached is just a bundle of mary sues (that's a pluralized "sue") interacting. i think what i hate about every one of his films is they remind me of the parts of me i wish i didn't have.

thursday night, i watched "equilibrium." friday afternoon, one of the last books i shelved was "brave new world."

after "eternal sunshine," i took my clothes off and stared at the flesh and blood. i realized for the eighty trillionth time this week that i am happy to be alive.

this post took ten minutes to write. smashmouth slows me down.

never listen to their "get the picture?" cd while typing. ever. again.

i love all of you despite and because of it. see you later!

saturday morning, i had a good 30-minute run/10-minute jog, making a goodly roundtrip between mistral and madonna to that funky elementary school with too few chain-link fences and its surrounding area. once i reached the school though, i went around it. i would say circumnavigate, except it wasn't spherical, and i went in the wrong direction down (zig) heil, and wound up at bolsa chica. hey, as long as i get exercise and not too lost, i'm ok. defensive running involves going along the wrong side of the street, so on-coming traffic is able to avoid the runner. well, there was an older lady in a minivan waiting to exit from a parking lot who showed why respect remains a two-way street. she only bothered to look to her left before slamming on the gas. fortunately, i reached the driver's side's headlights by then, and so startled her. her coupling of open-mouthed gape and quick engagement of the brakes impressed me, as did my dodge of the near-busted-body experience, so i gave her a big grin as i sped past. thank you, master adrenaline, for getting me the hell out of there.

end 2:14 am

track 129 - somebody - "she's my sister"

almost forgot to write a tiny bit about what i did thursday morning. at 11:42, after watching one episode (the premiere/pilot, which still made me crack up 8 million times, as fresh as it was almost five years ago), i flipped to the end of the second. the line was there, the dad yelling as a moose chases him off. closed-captioning rules.

everybody the swordmaiden (who, like a ninja, is totally sweet!) can tune out now.

the line goes: "andy, tell your mother i was BRAVE."

tell andy to buy it for you, or buy it yourself. the descriptions of the episodes were enough to have me rolling.

weird al yankovic "hardware store"

shopping at vons wednesday night for a fruit juice drink was fun. faith hills' "this kiss" was on, then tom petty and the heartbreakers' "cabin down below." it's been so long since i'd heard either. wheeee.

what the hell is up with vons? i wound up swinging by the one across and down the street from home, and all they had was 20-ounce minute maid. pink lemonade or regular! basically no nutritional value to speak of. i wound up buying some weird sunny delight sports drink for kids. "intense sport" comes in six-packs of 11-ounce squeezy bottles with water bottle snap twisty tops (holy schnikes, that's confusingly phrased, kriszty). since there was a buy one, get one free deal, i did. the lemon-lime one is excellent (artificial flavors notwithstanding), i'll try the raspberry ice soon. at least they have vitamin c and a smidgen of a couple of b's.

it's been years upon years since i had a lemon-lime drink. whenever they discontinued serving carbonated fizzy-lifting drinks in my body. i don't think i've even encountered non-carbonated lemon-lime until this one. go sunny delight!

the cashier's name was kristina. the whizened white guy (initially rendered memorable by his gold earring) in front of me called her krista just as i was mentally conversing with her ("hey, my girlfriend's name is krista"). no, i did not mishear.

earlier in the day, oviatt library mook wayne cohen got his los angeles public library card today. there's irony for you (the morisette kind, don'tcha think?).

weird al yankovic "bob," "e-bay," "i'm a genius in france"

at 9:05 pm, wednesday night, i opened a letter from the city of los angeles personnel department thingamabob agency and peeked inside. once my eyes fell upon the word "congratulations," i chucked the thing aside and laughed at my parents. i was actually laughing with them, but they didn't know they were supposed to be laughing. gosh, they're so not with it sometimes. maybe i'm just hard for them to read. flesh-and-blood doesn't help, i guess.

a score of 81 out 100 puts me the 14th ranking, which i gather translates to the 86th percentile. i'll put some other numbers up later. not bad for a so-so night of sleep and no real studying. i wonder how heather and alithia did. nick already found out over the weekend that he missed passing by about 8 points.

september 25 is the gift that just keeps on giving. i frickin' love, y'hear?

sleepytime!

lucia micarelli and leigh nash "she is like the swallow"

no, i'm actually going to hit the road now. no e-mails. sorry for being such a tease, you three, four, five.

please, please, please don't rain on my parade.

the belt can now fasten a notch tighter. message received, people. eat more, sleep more. i've lost five friggin' pounds without noticing.

i was going to exercise some self-restraint and wait to reply to some e-mails. i'll leave at least one for later, how about that?

as you can see from the signs below, i did not sleep a lot.

that means i'll be crashing when midnight rolls around. my profuse apologies to anyone who plans on wagging tongues with me past that hour. :( yes, yes, i'm taking all those lovely people's advice and watching out for my well-being for a few days.

jim gave me my 8:20 wake-up call. mom handed me the phone and i skillfully accepted it, rolled my eyes, and flipped it so the wrong side was next to my ear. i know, i know, even on your best days, you guys can't be so smooth.

i hung up and pulled the covers over my head. stayed for a good 20 minutes. ate a power bar, drank a glass of apple juice.

the drive was frickin' freezing. i could see my breath in the bloody car. it's been a while, my sweet.

we began the run at 9:15 (considerably later than the proposed 9 am start time) and returned an hour later. we only took one short shoe-tying break, so things are going swimmingly (except that we're not really dealing with puddles of any size). did a great 10-minute stretchy cool-down. on the way back, the a&w seafood restaurant gave off the foulest, most gag-worthy stench i've had the misfortune of wading through in eons. payback for the heaven of yesterday's pudding aroma, i suppose.

on the drive back, i saw my first honest-to-pritpal indian taxi driver. he had the huge beard and headdress and everything. i've probably seen people like that in taxis before, but i sure don't remember.

i know i'm forgetting something, but i can't remember. otherwise, i wouldn't be forgetting, huh? i'll see all you dears in a few hours.

mom "chopping green beans"

my mind is at once tired and abuzz.

let's see if i can remember the weird stuff.

in-fighting at our branch: some want the underlings (me) to rearrange some collections in the absence of she who made them the way they are now. nick repeated over and over, much to my delight and laughter, "we have to move 'em before the return of caddy." i wonder if katy knows how much fun we're having at her expense.

right before that exchange, i'd walked in to the workroom to use the bathroom (just to wash up, since i never pee). on my way to that door, i hear leslie talking about "jumping on the funeral pyre." uhhhhh-huh. as i exit, she says something about "hiring a hitman to off susan's husband." i give her bug eyes and a goofy smile and complain that it was disconcerting to hear about so much plotting and death in between taking care of business.

it didn't rain tues, though there was a mysterious invisible mist. jim and i ran through our exercise regimen in about an hour again (4:50 to 5:50/6:00). my ass hurts from all those track workouts i did. we took a breather at the northwest corner of the kinesiology building to do some stretchies and yoga. once finished, i was eager to take off. jim saved me from revealing to the grass and cement gods what a total fool i am with a friendly reminder to pick up my keys.

early on in the run (or maybe it was during the second circuit), we encountered a largey group of people headed to the parking lot west of manzanita hall. i happened to recognize elizabeth w. among them, though i had to call out her name several times before one of her companions gave her the nudge to pay attention to me. yeah, we didn't really stop to talk. "been a long (time/while/whatever), hasn't it?" zoom.

the drive home was uneventful, except for an unusual number of cop cars (three, i think ... i actually forgot) and the intersection of nordhoff and canoga. an amazing smell wafted in and enveloped me as i turned that corner. it was like vanilla pudding and very exciting.

all-american rejects "happy endings," "the last song"

it was a mechanical monday. i fairly threw books on the shelves. yes!

sometimes, it pays to not care how much pain exercise can cause you.

jim and i know. we had a kick-ass run/cool-down exercise-program-combo thing for a full hour. who's awesome? we are.

i sped to work in the afternoon really late, thanks to my new addiction to checking people's blogs and the like. thanks to low clouds consuming surprisingly lushly green mountains, the drive to work (in a record 10 minutes, on wet roads) was beautiful.

savage garden "break me shake me," "thousand words," "promises"

ha, ha, i'm official and you're not. wait, maybe you are. i don't know who's reading. i would've been official from day one, but i'm not that needy (lie), can't read (mostly lie), nor am i brave (no lie). better this way. never trust your guts. sometimes they digest butterflies, and that's just mean.

vertical horizon "under water"

thank you, one and all. i had the most amazing time.

best. new. year's. ever.

honey, that's a "simpsons" reference, and one we're going to have to hammer home. time to make an appointment with lori's box sets. i teared up while reading your latest message. hypersensitive disposition and all that. *snif* i wuv!

now it's sleeptime. i'll send messages to everyone and their mothers after i've had a bunch of sleep. been up since 11 am on dec31.