Super Bowl

Posted on January 26 2003 by Mickey
    Aaahh…a day based around food, beer, and TV.
    What’s not to love?
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SFG Time Killers

Posted on January 23 2003 by Mickey
    I am actually still at work, despite the ridiculously late hour. And, fighting off boredom if not delirium, I’ve found needed diversion in the many quizzes found at In Flash.com.
    They are quite entertaining, although the spelling is sometimes atrocious. Not to mention the fact that question 14 of the Star Wars quiz is wrong as are questions 3 (debatable) and 4 of “Name That Movie Star”
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A Tribute to Heroes

Posted on January 22 2003 by Mickey
    I have two new role models. In a time where stupidity and crudity seem to be celebrated, I am thrilled to learn about these two inspirational people.
    My first hero is Patricia Heaton, costar of Everybody Loves Raymond, who, disgusted by what she saw at ABC’s American Music Awards, refused to go onstage and participate with the show’s hosts, the Osbournes. “I’m no prude, but this was such a vulgar and disgusting show,” says Heaton, quoted in the Cleveland Plain Dealer. “What was passing for humor basically ranged from stupid to vulgar, and I just thought, ‘I’m not going to be part of this.’ So I walked out.” I wish a lot more people would follow her example and walk away from the Osbournes — especially, hopefully, the crew that tapes their show.
    My other hero is U.S. District Judge Robert Sweet. Today he dismissed the suit which alleges fat people are too stupid to know eating fast food is fattening. This suit claims that McDonald’s does not inform customers how unhealthy their food is, apparently ignoring the signs which say such information is available on request and is also sometimes printed on their paper placemats. Their stupidity is a black eye to right-thinking fat people everywhere — who have enough physical problems to be self-conscious about already, thank you very much. Judge Sweet rightly points out that “nobody is forced to eat at McDonald’s.” And McDonald’s spokesman Walt Riker rightly adds “Common sense has prevailed.”
    Bless both these great American heroes.
Posted in Food, News, TV | 1 Comment

Everybody Loves Homestar Runner!

Posted on January 20 2003 by Mickey
    They love it to such an extent that the site has become too popular. Mondays are the worst, when Strong Bad’s latest e-mail is unveiled. Today was particularly bad, since traffic was so great the site has been knocked offline. The Message Bored is still up, but I haven’t seen the homepage for several hours.
    In the interest of helping out those who might not have been able to see this week’s e-mail, I am mirroring it here. This is a blatant breach of copyright and is extremely naughty, but I do it with good intentions and will remove the link and the files once H*R is back up and running.
    Update: Yay! Homestar Runner.com is back up and running. The Flash animation I was mirroring has been removed, and the link above now points to its official location. A nicely informative explanation of the outage can be found here.   [01/22/03 5:32 PM]
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Picking on Towers Again

Posted on January 18 2003 by Mickey
    It must seem like I have a grudge against this movie, since I pick on it so much. I swear I don’t — in fact, I’m probably overly obsessed by it. But the thing is, I discovered another goof-up in The Two Towers. First it was last year’s car in the cornfield. Most recently, it was finding out Liv Tyler showing up at Helm’s Deep. And now, I just spotted a bit of film equipment showing up in a battle scene.
    Any film is bound to have mistakes and continuity errors, and it’s a testament to the filmmakers that a movie as ambitious as The Lord of the Rings doesn’t have more. That said, pay close attention to the bottom left corner of this movie clip of the Orcs revealing their battering ram. You can plainly see the lens flags of a secondary camera as it dollies out of shot.
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…oyaghblahurgh…

Posted on January 17 2003 by Mickey
    So is it possible to give the flu to yourself? I thought I only had a migraine yesterday morning, but when the discomfort started traveling south last night I suspected it was something more insidious. I haven’t done much more than work and sleep this week — and I work in a small, isolated room — so it seems quite bizarre that I could develop some strain of self-activating flu. Unless, of course, I was infected by one of the fast-food places listed to the right (McDonalds, Burger King, or KFC), which, if so, could be even more fodder for those class action lawsuits.
    Thankfully I’m starting to feel better now. I’m sounding less like an eighty-year-old Jewish man when I get out of a chair. I’m still looking forward to spending the entire weekend sleeping, though.
    Incidentally, this week\’s E-mail of the Week is from dan@knakedtraffic.com, who presents the conundrum “Naked News at 50% off”.
Posted in Personal | 4 Comments

Disorderly Conduct

Posted on January 16 2003 by Mickey
    At least 47 million American adults — or more than one in five — have a disorder that often includes a beer belly, high blood pressure, poor cholesterol readings and high blood sugar, according to a new study.
      The disorder, called metabolic syndrome, has been recognized since at least the 1920s. It is not a single disease but a cluster of health problems, and despite its name, does not necessarily mean a person\’s metabolism is defective.
    Though experts say the syndrome may be caused by a combination of lifestyle and genes, habits such as overeating and a lack of exercise are probably the most important factors, said Dr. Earl Ford of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.
    Ford led the study, published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
    Metabolic syndrome greatly increases the risk of diabetes, heart attacks and stroke. The disorder often features a disproportionate amount of abdominal fat — the so-called beer belly — as well as elevated blood pressure, blood sugar and triglycerides, or fats that circulate in the blood, and low levels of HDL, the good kind of cholesterol.
    The CDC analyzed data from 8,814 men and women who participated in a 1988-94 health survey.
    Though about 22 percent of U.S. adults were calculated to have the syndrome, rates range from 6.7 percent among those in their 20s to 43.5 percent of adults in their 60s. The rates among men and women were 24 percent and 23.4 percent, respectively. Personally, this brings my tally of known disorders to three.
    From the Associated Press by way of The Detroit Free Press
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Geek News of the Week

Posted on January 14 2003 by Mickey
    Apart from my purchase of a DVD±RW burner, this is a pretty big news story in my short fat world. Remember when we found out the role of Arwen would be expanded in The Lord of the Rings movies? There was talk she would be a “warrior princess”, that she would fight alongside Aragorn at Helm’s Deep? Many purists, myself included, were horrified at the thought that this mostly unseen character in the book would be so drastically altered. But then it was explained that this was a concept from the old Miramax days and had since been abandoned.
    Nevertheless, Liv Tyler would talk in interviews about how she had taken fight lessons, or a call sheet would be uncovered which showed she had been on the set for that sequence. Most recently Brian Sibley, author of the movie’s companion books, mentioned he’d heard the computer artists at Weta Digital talking about digitally removing Arwen from Helm’s Deep. At first he thought this was a joke, but now it looks like they might have been quite serious. The Council of Elrond.com (by way of The One Ring.net) has spotted Arwen in some freeze-frames from the climactic charge at Helm’s Deep: http://www.theonering.net/perl/newsview/2/1042493150   [11:23 AM]
    Update: What can I say — I was bored. I created this animation of the scene in question. It’s been rumored that Arwen was converted into Legolas in some shots, and perhaps the reason Arwen shows up here is because Legolas is in the same shot:

Posted in LOTR, Movies, Video | 1 Comment

SFG’s Oscar Season Round-Up

Posted on January 13 2003 by Mickey
    I’m finally forcing myself to do something I’ve always wanted. To see every Best Picture nominee before the Oscar winners are announced. I’ve gotten a headstart, anticipating which movies might possibly be nominated. Here are some capsule reviews.
    Adaptation: Being John Malkovich was so blissfully bizarre that I was looking forward to seeing this movie. Unfortunately I do not like it as much. It’s still witty and has a lot to offer, but it might be too clever for its own good. It’s nice to see Nicholas Cage acting again and Meryl Streep has fun with her role. But the movie is not very funny and although the Hollywood action movie ending is foreshadowed it’s still an unsettling disappointment when it happens. Who would’ve expected though that this movie would boast two very cool car crashes?
    Gangs of New York: I ended up liking this movie more than I expected. I was put off by the fast edits and rock music in the preview, but those clichéd and anachronistic touches aren’t that bad in the movie (or maybe I just got used to them). The production design is fantastic and, as far as I can tell, the movie has a great sense of period detail. I know little about this part of American history, so I was floored by how completely, anarchically, dangerously corrupt it was. Seeing how evil New York was then it’s a wonder there’s still an America left.
    I’m not crazy about the plot though. It’s not that DiCaprio is a bad lead actor, it’s just that his character is such a cypher. He’s there only as a plot device, and he’s treated so much like an Action Movie Hero (Movie Trailer Voice: who must avenge his father’s death!) that what happens to him is of little interest (and the requisite romance is even of less interest).
    All in all, it’s an impressive movie. A huge sprawling epic with a lot of great dialogue and a wild performance from Daniel Day Lewis. But I still think that after trying to make it for thirty years, Scorsese would’ve worked on the plot a little more.
    Catch Me If You Can: DiCaprio does a much better job here, presenting a more well rounded human being, worth caring about. Tom Hanks is his usually likable self, a smart script, a bouncy score, etc. However, I guess I’m so spoiled by Spielberg movies that I keep expecting Gravity and Greatness every time. It’s almost not enough that this is merely an enteraining, lighthearted romp.
    The Hours: Notable for its great female cast: Nicole Kidman, Julianne Moore, Meryl Streep; aided by Jeff Daniels, Ed Harris, and John C Reilly. Some scenes are excellent. The dialogue is beautiful. But I’m unsure what to make of the movie; when all is said and done, I don’t know what it’s trying to say. Since two characters kill themselves and another attempts it, this might be the classiest movie ever to try and bring nobility to suicide. I’m not sure that’s not quite the intent, but it feels like it.
    Chicago: I really enjoyed this a lot. It kind of lags near the end, but that’s probably because the bulk of the movie is so energetic as to be exhausting. Screw Moulin Rouge — this is the movie that resurrects the great movie musical. I knew nothing about the story and only knew one song, but this is a very likable and fun movie with catchy songs. All the he-men who swear off musicals might even like it too, since it takes place in a women’s prison for leggy statuesque girls in skimpy clothes who can also do some really athletic dancing.
    About Schmidt: A very nice movie, although I wish they would’ve resisted the urge to throw in the unbelievable sitcom-type gags. It’s nice to see Jack Nicholson acting his age. A nice sweet movie; sad, but in a good way. Beware, however, of the naked Kathy Bates!
    Narc: a tough gritty movie, with “in-your-face”® camera work and editing. An involved story might make this confusing for some viewers (such as I), but Jason Patric and Ray Liotta put in riveting performances.
    Far From Heaven: the story is such a cliché and the movie-making is so studied and mannered that this movie, well-made as it is, still comes off like some kind of Saturday Night Live parody played straight. Dennis Quaid puts in a strong and tortured performance. Julianne Moore is as good as always; and Dennis Haysbert is a rock. Despite all it strengths — lovely cinematography, a lush score, a clichéd but still effective story — the movie still comes off like a stunt or experiment.
    Coming up: The Pianist.
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Bookmark

Posted on January 9 2003 by Mickey
    Here’s a link I need to remember: Urban Dictionary.com. At the risk of sounding cranky and showing my age, I have to keep reminding myself that all the message board gibberish and misspellings are sometimes (for good or ill) intentional.
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