People.com is reporting (exclusively!) that Gidget--the chihuahua that "charmed millions" in a series of Taco Bell ads in the late 1990's--passed away Tuesday night. She was 15.
According to the release, Gidget was "a consummate pro" who "delighted the crew with her playful nature."
She is survived by her trainer, Sue, as well as two gorditas and an Enchirito® value meal. A fund has been set up in her name, in my wallet. Donations are welcome.
The Region 1 release of The Mighty Boosh is fast approaching! The three seasons will be released as individual 2-Disc sets on July 21. However, the 7-Disc complete series set wont be released until October 13. Am I expected to buy the three individual sets on Tuesday to tide me over until the cheaper, prettier, special feature loaded, and all-around superior complete series set comes out? If I had a disposable income, the answer would be yes. Alas, I do not.
What do you think the motives are behind releasing all three seasons on the same day...then waiting another three months to release the series set? Other than driving me insane.
I have a confession to make. I am not a big Harry Potter fan. Therefore, I have not read all 7 books (blasphemy!). I read the first two around the time The Sorcerer's Stone was released in theaters. I wasn't remotely interested in either of them. A movie (or book) like Harry Potter didn't have a place alongside my regular diet of movies like Aliens, Heavy Metal, and Akira. It wasn't until the theatrical release of The Prisoner of Azkaban in 2004 that I was willing to give the boy wizard a second chance. Of my group of friends, I was the only one who didn't loveHarry Potter, so even if I were to protest, I'd still end up seeing it at some point. After reading/watching the first two and not liking them, I was amazed at how unbiased I was going into the third film.
I loved it!
It was at that point I decided I would read the books after I watched the movies. So I read Prisoner of Azkaban later that week. I found a copy of Goblet of Fire at the thrift store, but sat on it until after I'd seen the movie. This method seemed to be working in my favor. Then Order of The Phoenix came out...and I freakin' hated it. I was so displeased with the movie, I lost all motivation to read the fifth book. Harry Potter was no longer welcome in my life. I stopped reading. I stopped caring.
Last night, I went into Half-Blood Prince feeling much like I did with Prisoner of Azkaban, scorned by the two prior installments yet having no sway or bias one way or the other. Guess what? I liked it! I was pleasantly surprised by the sixth chapter and can only hope the two-film Deathly Hollows will be of the same calibur. Sure, there are nitpickey things I can address, but there's no need to. It was easily my favorite "summer movie" this year and may have to make a repeat viewing soon (after the nutso crowds die down, of course). My only real complaint is of the franchise as a whole and that is that they aren't accommodating to viewers who haven't already read the books. Three and six are the only movies that stand alone as movies without requiring a reference manual by your side. A movie shouldn't require you to fill in the blanks with information not given to you within the film itself. The Lord of the Rings didn't have that problem, Potter! Learn from it.
So I've decided I'm picking up where I left off. I'm going to read Half-Blood Prince and maybe, just maybe, I'll do a complete 360 and actually read Deathly Hollowsbefore the movie comes out. Wouldn't that be wild?
Note: You may have noticed this wasn't a review for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. I do, however, have plenty to share about the film. So if you're interested, hit me up some time.
Haha. I LOVE that Garrett will HATE this. I am so cruel!
Look at Shia's stupid face! It rules!
Also, I never saw the first Transformersmovie (and by "first Transformers movie," I clearly mean the Michael Bay-directed, Megan Fox-sexified Transformers, i.e., the only one ANYONE CARES ABOUT) (I'm not even going to link to the totally-forgotten animated movie's IMDb page--suck on that, Garrett!). So, if you could, maybe let me know what happens in that atrocity fun movie. In, like, 8 words.
Anyone who was watching animated features in the early 90's should be familiar with Little Nemo: Adventures In Slumberland. Now, I doubt that it's anyone's favorite film, but it has it's moments. The animation is fluid, the characters are endearing, and most importantly, it's fun. With that said, what could have made Little Nemo better? The love and care (and immense talent) of Studio Ghibli, perhaps?
In pre-Ghibli 1982, Hayao Miyazaki (Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke) and Isao Takahata (Grave Of The Fireflies, Pom Poko) were developing the then titled Nemo as an American/Japanese joint project for TMS Entertainment. One of the duo's key animators, Yoshifumi Kondo (Whisper Of The Heart), put together this test pilot, which in under five minutes, far surpasses the version that we ended up with.
The production folded due to creative differences (i.e. Big American Dollars = Our Way Or The Highway), and Miyazaki and co. decided to pursue other projects. Namely, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind; the movie that sparked the formation of Studio Ghibli. Although I admire them for leaving a production that compromised their integrity...I really, really wish they made it anyway! Little Nemo: Adventures In Slumberland holds a little place in my heart, but it's a little place. Not a BIG place like Ghibli's phenomenal library. C'est la vie.
Little Nemo didn't get a US theatrical release until 1992...a decade later! It's production is a bit of a legend in Hollywood animator circles due to the vast number of "hands" the movie went through before it's completion. Oh, and remember this?
Jimmy Page. The Edge. Jack White. Three generations of guitar virtuosos. Three of the best rockers to touch finger to string. They live music. They are music. Each has created a sound that is instantly recognizable. Each has built his own guitar(s). Each are worthy of praise. I'm very excited for this film!
Warning: You may find this blog boring. If you choose, you may skip to the section labeled "My point."
With modern video game consoles and their wide array of online content (i.e. Wii's Virtual Console or Xbox 360's Live Arcade), I have noticed a resurgence of classic gaming...and I love it! Be it re-release or remake, keep 'em coming. Top prize goes to Mega Man 9, which is a completely brand new game in glorious 8-Bit, made to be an original Nintendo game. Of course, they didn't distribute cartridges, so it's only available as a download. But I'm not complaining about that. Quite the opposite. I love my Nintendo more than a limb or any family member. So to get "classic style" games in the midst of big, graphically lavish, 20 minutes to load, explodie modern games, is a dream come true. Maybe I'm getting old? "Back in my day, we only needed two buttons, sonny!"
As much as I adore the Nintendo Entertainment System, I can't deny there were some terrible games that came out for it. And there were fan favorites that just never seemed very interesting. If you were to fill a room full of nerds and have them make a list of the best NES games, everyone's list would be somewhat similar. They would all have Super Mario Bros. 3, The Legend of Zelda, and Metroid and then seven of their favorite titles (that are probably just as universally adored). One such game that could likely rank on these hypothetical lists is a game I could never get into, no matter how hard I tried. A Boy And His Blob. I know, I know, you're thinking, "Get to the goddam point, please."
A Boy And His Blob is about a boy...and his blob...Blobert, actually, who when fed jellybeans can transform into a useful object that corresponds with the respective treat. Licorice jellybeans turn Blobert into a ladder and tangerine turns him into a trampoline. You use these abilities to progress through the levels collecting treasure (and more jellybellys). You and Blobert must face the evil emperor to save Earth and Blobolonia. Sounds...okay? It was actually pretty boring. I don't know if I ever figured out how to get out of the first stretch of sewer, literally, at the beginning of the game. Again...what's your freaking point?!
My point: Although I'm not a fan of the original, I'm really excited for the Wii sequel to A Boy And His Blob! It has its own style yet retains the flavor of the original. It looks immersive, adorable, and fun.
I think a majority of my excitement may be rooted in my love for these classic style games, and it makes me forget that I never liked the original...this may be no exception. But I'll give it a whirl based on principal. 2D games are still hanging on in the 3D age(Braid and Mega Man 9 sales reflect this), but they're few and far between. More than anything I just want more games like this and fewer first-person-shooters. Thanks for indulging me.
Away We Go follows Burt (John Krasinski) and Verona (Maya Rudolph), an unmarried couple who are preparing to have a child together. They live in the middle of nowhere in a house that looks like a sneeze could blow it over. They can work from home (or via telephone) so the only real tie to their current residence is that it's close to Burt's parents. With Verona's parents deceased, they want to be close to Grandma and Grandpa. But when Burt's folks announce they'll be moving overseas, the couple decide to take up stakes and go searching for "home". They plot a course hitting up major cites that have one acquaintance or another that could be their friends if the choose to start their new lives there. As you'd expect, misadventure and hijinks ensue.
Away We Go is certainly a charming little film. Its characters feel like real people in real life situations. Granted, they're strange, uncomfortable situations with odd-ball (and often loose) acquaintances, but never anything outlandish. Or least it wouldn't feel that way if the film treated them a little more seriously. With the exception of the leads, Burt and Verona, every character feels heavy handed. I don't blame the characters in the script so much the actor's use of the characters. It's like they read the script thinking they would be alongside Maya in a series of SNL sketches. That sort of over-the-top caricature acting works if that's what the source material is requiring. Take Christopher Guest movies, for instance. But I don't feel that's what Away We Go was trying to be. It' a sweet, poignant film about love, family, and the meaning of home. Oh, and being scared silly of bringing a life into the world. How can you care for a life when you don't even know how to live your own? As their journey progresses and they encounter bad parent after bad parent, you start to realize they're going to be wonderful parents. This hits you during an impromptu puppet show the two give for Burt's neice as they are tucking her into bed. Maybe love is family and family is home?
Overall, I enjoyed this film. It was hard for me to warm up to it, and again, I wish it took itself a bit more seriously, but the good bits outweigh the bad. Don't force jokes to try and make things funny. Let the humor of the situation reveal itself. You may want to strangle almost everyone Burt and Verona meet along the way(Maggie Gyllenhaall's character LN! Ugh!), but that makes you love the couple all the more. Life can be scary and nobody has all of the answers. People are different and there is no definitive right or wrong way to live your life or to raise a child. In this case it took a cross country trip and a lot of soul searching to come to a conclusion they knew all along. As The Beatles say, "All You Need Is Love".
People.com is reporting (exclusively!) that Gidget--the chihuahua that "charmed millions" in a series of Taco Bell ads in the late 1990's--passed away Tuesday night. She was 15.
A Boy And His Blob is about a boy...and his blob...Blobert, actually, who when fed jellybeans can transform into a useful object that corresponds with the respective treat. Licorice jellybeans turn Blobert into a ladder and tangerine turns him into a trampoline. You use these abilities to progress through the levels collecting treasure (and more jellybellys). You and Blobert must face the evil emperor to save Earth and Blobolonia. Sounds...okay? It was actually pretty boring. I don't know if I ever figured out how to get out of the first stretch of sewer, literally, at the beginning of the game. Again...what's your freaking point?!
I think a majority of my excitement may be rooted in my love for these classic style games, and it makes me forget that I never liked the original...this may be no exception. But I'll give it a whirl based on principal. 2D games are still hanging on in the 3D age(Braid and Mega Man 9 sales reflect this), but they're few and far between. More than anything I just want more games like this and fewer first-person-shooters. Thanks for indulging me.
