I’m feeling a bit mopey, but there’s nothing to be done about it right now.

I had a quiet weekend dog-sitting, going for short walks in the oppressive humidity and heat, watching movies and eating herbed goat cheese on crackers, in salad, with pasta… what can I say? I enjoy goat cheese.

I saw Hellboy 2. It was pretty good. I give them much credit for use of Barry Manilow alongside creepy-ass monsters (oh, Guillermo, Guillermo, Guillermo! such imagination!) and special effects. And I paid a mere $6 to see it since (unbeknownst to me) AMC Cinemas have this “A.M.” Cinema deal where any show before noon on a Friday, Saturday or Sunday is $6. The rest of the week, anything before 4pm is a matinee, but that’s still a hefty $8.

With those perceived savings, I went shopping at Century 21 (not the realtor; the fantastic department store with an unfortunate/annoying web site). While I didn’t find shoes, I did find a work-friendly little black dress (or, LBD) that I can wear tomorrow.

Now I am trying to purchase tickets for The Dark Knight in IMAX. Most regular times are sold out, which is fine. I’m thinking of a 10 a.m. showing on Sunday; it’s not sold out (yet). I’m just waiting to hear back from friends and see if that works for them. It would mean we’d have to meet up at about 8:30 in the morning to allow time to get to the theatre (45 minutes away), get seats and enjoy the film.

And just to provide some balance to this comic book-based movie orgy… well, I can’t even say that. I just watched David Cronenberg’s A History of Violence, starring Viggo Mortensen, Maria Bello and Ed Harris. It’s based on a graphic novel by John Wagner and Vince Locke. Yes, I am aware of the differences between a comic book and a graphic novel; it just struck me, though, that a lot of the movies I watched this weekend (Hellboy 2, Tank Girl, A History of Violence) were based on some illustrated story form or another.  The big movie most people are clamoring to see next weekend also fits the bill.

Well, shyeeeet.

I guess I’ll watch something Jane Austen-based, just for the contrast it provides.

Since Friday, I’ve inhaled more dust (and, consequently, experienced more nosebleeds) than ever before. There’s been intensive cleaning - like, down to vacuuming out the insides of the baseboard heaters the tops of books on my shelves, and filling up a box with books I know I’ll never look at again and using the space from those to house newer books I WILL read again.

The first day back at the office after four days off is always hard. But I’m home now, watching “The Simpsons Movie” and about to do my Pilates DVD since I don’t have it in me to go running today. Anyways…

• A fun little piece called, “Five Things I Learned from WALL-E“. Includes the (vary accurate) statement, “CG robots are better at expressing emotion than Lindsay Lohan, Hayden Christensen, and Katie Holmes combined.”
• Ooh! Photos from the upcoming “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” movie!
• An interesting tidbit about how wine stores are organized in relation to pricing. It’s common sense and not surprising at all if you know a bit about retail merchandising or have read Why We Buy by Paco Underhill, but I always like corroborating stories: “They Always Buy the Ten Cent Wine” from Wine Economics.
• One of the best wines I’ve found in recent times was a $15 bottle -Marques de Riscal Rioja Riserva (2003). I brought it to a dinner party along with another well-rated wine (a Shiraz) that was twice the price; everyone enjoyed the Rioja a great deal more. Maybe because the bottle was prettier
• Oooh²! A snazzy infographic about NAPS and NAPPING! I often feel that American workplaces should institute naptime and provide comfortable environs for it, but that’s a pipe dream… for now.
• And another reason I love me some Gmail - they just introduced a super cool security feature that allows you to sign out remotely (if you happen to have logged in at, say, the office and then gone home without turning off your computer). You can read all about it at the Official Gmail Blog.

I went to Target today looking for some shorts and “The Untouchables” on DVD. I succeeded on both counts, and even found an extra pair of shorts, an extra DVD and some new mascara to try. Anyway, back to my story.

Target is currently running a promotion of DVDs tied in to VH1’s “I Love the 80s” for $7.50 each. The wall display included seminal 80s movies like “Airplane!”, “Pretty in Pink”, “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”, “Better Off Dead”, “Crocodile Dundee”, and the two I purchased: “The Untouchables” and “The Explorers.” I’d have squealed with joy if “Flight of the Navigator” was also there, but it wasn’t.  There were many more, but I thought two would be enough for today. Other positives: good selection, low price, and each comes with a CD of some 80s music.

What’s very disappointing is what they’re doing with the marketing. I’m not a marketing guru by any means, but it’s what I do for a living (I was actually promoted earlier this week, but that’s work life, so I didn’t blah-blah all about it here - but I must be doing something right). Back to my analysis of their marketing efforts.

The packaging is kind of lame and 80s - and that’s actually fine by me; I get it. They want to tie them together as a series, so each DVD has a similar design treatment framing the actual movie art, as seen below:

If they’re actually supposed to be related to the “I Love the 80s” show (which is what the overly helpful Target clerk said, after practically spitting in excitement over the fact that they included “Friday the 13th”) they should have included a VH1 logo; it would’ve made the artwork seem a bit less cheesy and bit less “some dude designed these to match a pair of swim trunks he owned in 1985.”

Perhaps it’s not actually tied into the show or perhaps Viacom didn’t want to use the VH1 trademark/brand identity in that way. All the movies (at least the ones I could remember and checked on IMDb) are from Paramount (which merged with Viacom not too long ago) so they’re all the same company in the end and I don’t think there would be too much trouble getting that done. Either way, fine - this is just my observation and opinion. I would’ve leveraged that brand and placed the logo somewhere on the package.

In any event, I wanted to look them up and see what other movies were being released in the series, so I went to the website listed on the outside of the DVD case (The80sonDVD.com).

It’s a lame-ass landing page on many accounts. Shot from today, below (I’m HOPING that it will change this week):

Yes, The80sonDVD.com was designed by a 3rd grader using Microsoft FrontPage.

Never mind that it’s July 6th and the awesomeness should’ve started almost a full week ago. Never mind that the site should be about the series, and not just the one DVD. Never mind the retina-searing use of lime green and the lamest headline ever. If you’re going to make the promise of total awesomeness, you’d best deliver on it, my friends.

Lastly, if you click on Matthew Broderick’s youthfully mischievious face, you’re taken to a Facebook page (!!!) where you can become a fan of the movie. That’s it.

Opportunities missed: countless. A simple site with a bit of content would have been a good move; nothing extravagant - say, a list of movies to be included in the series, plot synopses (the usual stuff you’d see on Amazon, etc.) and perhaps some movie trivia.  The wastefulness bothered me enough that I was moved to devote an entire post to it. So there!

Also - that bonus music CD? Four songs, and you get the same CD with every DVD you buy. And I already owned two of the four songs. Boo-hiss.

Still, I’m glad I got these movies. I’m going to watch “The Untouchables” right now for a little Connery/Costner/Pacino fix.

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Go, pay the money, see Wall-E.

Just do that for yourself. It’s as good as “they” say it is. It’s as good as I say it is. I laughed and my friend was laughing so hard she snorted. I didn’t notice if she was crying, but I was damn close - and THAT DOES NOT HAPPEN. TO ME!

It is, as the title of this post states, a charming dystopian vision. I’m not going to tell you anything you wouldn’t learn from a preview or a non-spoiler review - but it’s quite stunning and has been called “subversive.” I don’t know if I’d go that far, but I suppose if your political leanings are along the conservative pillar, you might.

Picture it: the future. The planet Earth is one big garbage dump - literally. Our rampant consumerism has taken us to a point where we can’t handle our own garbage anymore, so we just up and leave the Earth and decide to come back once the robots have cleaned up. Here’s where we meet Wall-E - Waste Allocation Load Lifter, Earth-Class. He’s one of the robots left behind to clean up the mess; actually, he’s the last robot left to clean up the mess. The others have run down and he’s working the place alone, save for his pet cockroach-type insect. He’s fascinated by our detritus; watching this little robot investigate our trash with child-like glee (yes, even for a computer-animated robot - he’s quite expressive) cemented a smile on every face in the theatre.

Anyway - he’s going about his business, doing his job, when a spaceship lands near where he’s working. It leaves behind a shiny new robot (who was designed/conceptualized by a designer for Apple - there are many Apple connections and references throughout) named EVE (Extraterrestrial Vegetation Evaluator). Wall-E is enamored of her instantly - but she’s all business and on a mission. From there on, it sort of becomes your traditional “robot meets robot, robot falls in love with robot, robot loses robot, robot must save robot” story.

What kills me is how expressive the animation team was able to make these robots through (not despite) their limited vocabularies/speech (the entire movie is very light on dialogue and EVE’s entire vocabulary, for example, consists of only four words) and through their eyes since they have no other facial features - mouths, ears, noses… it’s all about the eyes. And I’m a sucker for that anyway, so I was basically conquered when I saw the trailer months ago.

Sometimes, working within constraints and limitations (whether actual, artificial or self-imposed) leads to incredibly good results.

Anyway - yes. The love story is sweet. The hero story is noble. The social commentary is wicked. When the people of the future resemble the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man more than actual human beings and the world of the future resembles what Mike Judge presented in Idiocracy, something is being said.

Next up: might see “Mongol” tomorrow… and will definitely be ponying up the extra cash to see “The Dark Knight” in IMAX two weekends from now.

Last night, I printed up four of my favorite photos (from the photos I’ve been posting these last few weeks) on my inkjet photo printer. I cropped them to square dimensions, just because I like that look.

Today, I took down all the craziness I used to have hanging above my desk at work and replaced it with the four photos and a postcard of a Charles Rennie Mackintosh botanical illustration which had been hanging there, but was surrounded by xkcd comics, book covers, and pictures of animals from CuteOverload.

I like that I will have my own photographs hanging at my desk; granted, they’re not framed or anything, but they’re lovely all the same and I’m proud of them.

There’s other excitement happening tomorrow at my desk. It will be a good day.

(Also, to bring me back from emotional wreckitude from “Away from Her”, I’m now watching Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell in “His Girl Friday”. It’ll cure what ails ya.)

My name is Eva and I endorse this film.

It’s just good.

And the soundtrack features Cee-Lo (of Gnarls Barkley superfame, recently) and Jack Black covering “Kung Fu Fighting.” FUN.

Below are some choice bits from the initial reviews of the Sex and the City movie. I was spitting a little vitriol at work yesterday when asked if I was going to go see it. The answer, in short, was “FECK NO.” Except I wasn’t saying those words like Father Jack on “Father Ted.”

Important to note also is that I did tell my friend Theresa that I would see it with her as a matinee because she is a huge fan of the series and her show/movie-viewing buddies are in New Hampshire and England. Theresa is my dear friend and this would mean a lot to her. I also believe in knowing thine enemy. Therefore, I might end up seeing it. But I’ll have to sneak in a little airline bottle of rum (or 2), pour it into my Coke, and enjoy it that way. Because, DAMN. While I’m not a drinker per se (the last drink I had was at a business dinner a few weeks ago; before that, it was my birthday in April), desperate times call for desperate measures.

For professional reasons, maybe I should’ve been more neutral in my response at work and said that I simply don’t care for the series. But this and the Super Bowl both elicit visceral reactions from me. Visceral, angry, “no wonder the rest of the world thinks we’re stupid” reactions. I’m just not very good at hiding my emotions when they’re strong.

Anyway, despite shitty reviews, many of the theatres in the NYC metro area were sold out and experiencing ridiculous amounts of group ticket sales (no, I am not surprised - just sadly aware). Here are some of the review bits I liked:

This movie provides no good reasons to revisit “Sex and the City,” except to fulfill fans’ desires for one more for the road and add millions to Time Warner’s coffers. Be careful what you wish for.

Yes. Well said. “One more for the road” because people just cannot get over the loss OF A TELEVISION SHOW. The phrase “beating a dead horse” comes to mind.

Montage after montage after montage with each and every problem finding a solution by the fabulously dressed four getting together, squee-ing in a pitch that will deafen dogs and neuter most of the males in the audience, and realizing that friendship will get you through any bout of rampant self-absorption. Oh, so this is what happens when you leave Bratz dolls in the sun too long.

Ha ha! Bratz dolls reference = key. It’s the same market - except 10, 20, 30 and 40 years older. And with more money to waste on cheap plastic shit, like knock-off Coach purses because you KNOW you have to have the insignia print. You just do.

In need of some serious tightening up, the flabby picture does what the old Samantha would have never done: It keeps hanging around, pushing for a long-term relationship.

Again, “beating a dead horse.” When has this series NOT been about hanging around and pushing for a relationship? For all the fans’ pontificating about how empowering it is, how can they not see that it’s always been about a “happily ever after”/”GET THE RING!!!” ending? Who else was around for when The Rules was a runaway self-help bestseller? I was a bookseller in those days and I remember railing against it then. I rail against it just as much when it’s dressed up in Vivienne Westwood and on the TV/silver screen.

It’s as long as five series episodes, a big sweet tasty layer cake stuffed with zingers and soul and dirty-down verve (it’s not above having one of the girls poop her pants). Given the running time, though, not that much happens, and what does has several shades more gravitas

“Stuffed with zingers and soul”? “Dirty-down verve”? Oh, one of the girls poops her pants, huh? I heard a woman on the radio yesterday (NPR was interviewing people who had gone to the premiere) say she loved the series because it made her see that all these incredibly successful, well-dressed NYC women were “just like us”, accessible and also had problems. That they worry about the same things that “we” do.

I pity her. I don’t think she’s ever fully realized that the things she sees on TV and the movies aren’t really real.

Sigh. I’m going to do some of the glamorous things that real women sometimes have to do - take my car for an oil change! Put some laundry in the wash! Change the sheets on my bed! All while wearing these sexy-ass pajama pants I bought at Target. That’s right. I’m living the glamorous life.

Post title inspired by Bob Dylan. Kind of.

Tonight, I watched “I’m Not There” - the highly stylized biopic about Bob Dylan. I’m glad I watched it with a friend who is a Dylan fan (inasmuch as she feels you can call yourself a Dylan fan - what she’s got is a love/hate thing - but the fascination is there) and has knowledge about his life; I am not what you’d call a Dylan fan. I’m aware of him: I know some songs, I recognize his voice and will occasionally mock it, I recognize some of his mannerisms and such - but I knew nothing about his life.

I guess you can say that I still don’t really know anything about his life since it was all a bit surreal and removed from reality - very loosely based on his life.

I don’t think there was a point where he was a young black boy playing the guitar for some suburban housewives and talking about wanting to go to Hollywood.

But there was a point where he, like the young black boy version of himself, went to visit Woody Guthrie in an asylum. I had to keep asking my friend, “Was that something that actually happened?” and “And who is that character based on in real life?”

All in all, though, it was good. I enjoyed all 2.5 hours of it. The performances by Cate Blanchett, Christian Bale, Heath Ledger and Charlotte Gainsbourg were impressive - especially Blanchett. Hence the Academy Award nomination, I guess.

The “chaos and watermelons” thing is from a scene where one of the iterations of Dylan (”Drew Quinn”, the one played by Blanchett) is giving an interview to a British music show host while they’re driving around in a limo. It’s just before Cate/Bob/Drew says, “Everyone knows I’m not a folk singer…” and then turns to the camera (audience) and slowly breaks into a teasing Cheshire-like smile. Oooh - breaking the fourth wall.

Anyway - it’s getting late. Today was a pretty demanding day at work, so watching a movie and eating Chinese take-out (delicious Jade Green Delight - I was craving veggies) with a friend was just what the doctor ordered. To add to the fun, I painted my nails an obnoxiously summer-inspired shade of pink and I’m ready for Friday, dammit.

I think some people might be watching “Lost” tonight; it’s some two-hour finale thingie. I’ll think about catching up online tomorrow night. For now, go go gadget sleep.

On Friday night, some friends and I went to see Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. We had free movie passes from the last time we went to see a movie together (Iron Man - the projector broke… twice… everyone in the theatre received two free movie passes) and this seemed like a perfect way to use one of them - on a solid eye-candy summer flick.

It did not disappoint in that regard.

It was the usual Indiana Jones treatment but:

WWII : Nazis :: Cold War : Russians

Hat : Indy :: Hair : Mutt

There are other analogies I could strike, but then I’d be revealing the plot. The plot that was a little ridiculous even for an Indiana Jones movie. Which is not to say that I didn’t enjoy it, but I did find myself muttering, “WTF???” on several occasions and laughing out loud during moments of suspense because they were just so over-the-top. Suspension of disbelief, yes… but Shia LaBeouf (Mutt - Indy’s greaser son) suddenly going all Tarzan, inspired by some cute little monkey and swinging (his CGI self) across acres of rainforest in about two minutes? Or pulling some storyline and special effects from “The X Files” movie? And just how many dead languages does one need to pull into a movie to make up for 15 years of Indiana Jones-lessness? Answer: a lot. Pictograms, too.

It was a leeettle heavy-handed at times, e.g. “Knowledge was their great treasure!”

Overall, though, enjoyable. I’d see it again. Especially since I didn’t have to pay for it this time. Also, it’s a solid two hours, which does seem pretty long in this day and age, but it’s well-paced (maybe even a little too fast) and this viewer did not find herself checking the time.

I never wrote about Iron Man, which I liked very much. Robert Downey, Jr., is terrific and deserves a lot more credit for his acting chops than I think he’s gotten overall. I know he’s had some critical acclaim, but it hasn’t turned into a nomination or anything bigger - and Iron Man certainly won’t be that movie for him, either. But it should throw him in the way of other roles that will. And I get that that might not be his goal, but come on… it’s the trajectory. If he wasn’t hoping for some commercial and professional success, he could’ve stuck with roles like Fur (excellent, excellent film, by the way), where he played a man with hypertrichosis.

He and Christian Bale are following a similar path at the moment - both doing their big action hero roles for summer 2008, while toiling away on toothy “Actors’” roles elsewhere. Well done, gentlemen.

I’m looking forward to seeing The Dark Knight when that comes out. There was a longer trailer prior to Indiana Jones; it gave me goosebumps, and that was even before Heath Ledger was on the screen. I don’t have the whole, “Oh, poor dead Heath” thing… but between the music, the overall darkness of tone, Christian Bale’s voice, Ledger’s voice and the 10 or 15 seconds of the trailer where Ledger actually appears, I got some chills. Ledger as the Joker conveys something really unsettling and unstable; it’s going to make him scary as hell in that role.

Maggie Gyllenhaal looks about as useful as Katie Holmes was* in Batman: Beyond, so that’s too bad because she’s a good egg.

There were some other good previews before Indiana Jones - including one for Hancock, the upcoming Will Smith super-hero action/comedy. I’m torn. The concept is a little hokey, but I begrudgingly admit that Will Smith is charming and funny and wins me over in spite of myself, even if I don’t like the movie he’s in.

And the preview for Hellboy 2: The Golden Army sucked me right the f— in, even though my friends were totally disinterested. That’s OK. I’ll geek out to it solo. Guillermo del Toro does amazing things with fantasy worlds - he and his partners in crime have visions of monstrous beauty. Literally and figuratively. I’ve now seen some of the Spanish-language horror films he did before Pan’s Labyrinth and they’re equally frightening and lovely. He also wrote the first Hellboy (screenplay adaptation, anyway), Pan’s Labyrinth and Devil’s Backbone. He gets it, man. I’ll check it out.

And I’m done. I still haven’t even touched on books and music for this weekend’s media fix. Tomorrow.

* word around these parts was that her role could’ve been played by a squirrel

Two more pictures - some lovely silver hoop earrings I bought today:

And secondly, a bobble-head ninja for my car:

The story: my old car had a bobble-head maneki-neko (Japanese lucky cat) I kept on the dashboard. I’m not superstitious; however, since that car ended up smashed into the back of a parked SUV after I had an unavoidable skid across wet leaves on a rainy October night - and since my sternum and ribs were bruised and required a visit to the ER, bed rest, and a prescription for Percocet - I’m thinking I don’t want to mimic that pattern or set-up: driving a Mazda with a bobble-head cat.

I am driving a different Mazda, and a ninja is a better figurehead.

It’s raining. Tomorrow will be a day for spring cleaning; tonight will be Netflix night. I have I’m Not There (the movie in which six different actors, including Cate Blanchett and Christian Bale, portray Bob Dylan), Sunshine (potentially bad sci-fi movie with Cillian Murphy/his ridiculously lovely blue eyes) and Wristcutters: A Love Story which I watched last night with friends, but merits re-watching.