Monthly Archives: November 2005

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Movies

I could ramble on for a few hundred words, but who wants to read that. Here is my mini review:

Great movie. You just have to accept that the book had to basically be cut in half to fit into movie form. The pacing of this one is really fast, it hits all the major points and is quality film making in every regard from start to finish.

I’m bummed that some things were cut or shortened considerably (the final contest should have been longer, a whole lot was cut from the second as well) but it just had to be done. What did make it is exceptional, and in fact the climax scene was handled amazingly well. Ralph Feins hits Voldemort (and his look is fucking rightous) dead on perfect. A truly intimitating and scary villian.

My biggest question is how the fuck are they going to do book 5? I consider it the worst book (long for no reason, Harry becomes a serious tool), but I haven’t read it since the first time when it came out. There is going to be some serious slash and burn going on for the next movie.

After watching Goblet I can’t shake the feeling of how different the movies are from the books now. I think the best way to describe it is that the movies are simplified and streamlined versions of the Potter story. There have been huge plot cuts (Harrys’ parents time at Hogwarts, the relationship between Padfoot, Prongs, Wormtail and such, Rita Skeeters involvement, Dobbys role in the story and on and on). If anything, I guess the movies just make the books even stronger. I’m very thankful though that the quality of the movies has done nothing but improved.

I’d also like to make take a moment to piss of a few hundred thousand nerds. The Harry Potter universe shits all over that Star Wars trash*. This is how you make a fantasy story that isn’t festering with retarded and corny dialog, boring as hell characters, and big ass plot holes.

*My hate is mainly aimed at episodes 1-3. I have sworn to myself that I well never watch Episode 1 ever again.

Tech Upgrade

Uncategorized

We just got Optimum Voice and IO Digital. My initial impressions are thus: they are both really cool. I now have more TV channels than I know what to do with. I’m getting a lot of channels I’ve never seen before and the picture quality is definatly better than standard cable.

QUOTE OF THE DAY:
“Hi! I’m Corey’s Cousin!”

Still not a millionaire

Everything, News

Damn the lottery for me not winning it. The Mega Millions in NJ was up to 260 million and I didn’t win. No one did and it’s now at a mind boggling 310 million dollars. Better believe I’m going to play again.

I’m still fighting off that bug I got last week. I think it’s allergies more than a bug. I don’t feel shitty, but I got some weird ass cough thing going. I sleep fine so that’s a plus.

Let’s see, what else? Potter 4 hits theatres on Friday and I can’t wait. I haven’t looked foward to a movie like this in awhile. All the buzz say it’s amazing and I got my IMAX tickets waiting for me. Expect a review after I see it. Last movie I went to was Saw II with John and I thought it was a worthy sequel. Aside from one character going bat shit insane for no reason, it was good.

In an effort to make some money, I’ve bought some shares in Sirius Satallite Radio. For me that’s like sleeping with the enemy, but this could turn in to some money. I already have XM stock as my investment but I’m getting in on SIRI on the cheap end and if things go the way I think they will, I’ll be able to sell it early next year and make some money. If it takes off that would be completely bad ass. In some what related news, I still think Howard Stern sucks and Opie and Anthony kick his ass every single day of the week.

Oh, I have 3 Gamecube games up on ebay for mad cheap so look up scudnick and buy em. They’re up till Wednesday night.

Lastly, my sister and nephew are in town for the week. Danny continues to grow into the complete pimp that is just waiting to get out. He charms everyone, he’s really smart (kinda scary actually) and he’s funny. If you’re unsure of where you belly button is, he can let you know. I’ll put up some pictures sometime this week.

QUOTE OF THE DAY (oh man, I found my Ramapo quote file. Be prepared for a lot of these.)

“Hey Bagels…how do you like your meat? In your fist?”
-Mr. Moe (week of November, 2001)

On my day off

Everything, Music

I felt like ass again today and since I barely slept, I called outta work today. Woke up really late and did a lot of nothing. But, I did some serious maintainence on my computer. Cleaned it out, updated all the software that keeps it running like a champ. I spent at least 3 hours on my MP3 library. Used MusicBrainz to get the proper tags for my collection and it renamed everything correctly. Then I organized the shit out if it, made some new folders, combined things, got rid of broken and dup files. My MP3 folder looks tight as hell now. Then I did the necessary changes to Winamp making/changing the lists I have. I also looked for a new Winamp skin but the 3 year old MMD3 still remains far and away the best one available. You may be asking, why didn’t I just use iTunes for this? Well I hate apple and anything that looks like brushed metallic. More than that, I’ve tried iTunes 3 times and everytime it would lose the tracks in the list and simply not work. So fuck ’em I say. Winamp does everything I need, barely uses resources and kicks ass in general. For those curious it, I have 1400 mp3s. I still have CDs I haven’t ripped, but that is the bulk of it.

Oh and I recieved the first disc for Outlaw Star and watched it today. One of my top 5 animes and I’m not sure if I’ve seen the whole series. It’s been awhile since I watched it on Adult Swim (and the DVDs are uncensored). Speaking of DVDs, I’m getting an upgrade from Netflix for a month from a class action lawsuit settlement. Holla.

Stay frosty my friends.

Nip/Tuck ramblings

TV

The show is just become far too fragmented. Most notably is Kit being attacked and ending that episode with Christian starting the consultation. And then that’s it. For going on 3 weeks. The whole Carver reign of terror (for lack of a better term) has been going on for months (in the show) but it’s like it’s pushed to the side and just forgotten until there’s an episode that needs filling.

That said, I do like the split between Sean and Christian. They’re like parallel people. They’re both miserable, but each one is walking on a the other side of a fence. Sean has lost everything and now feels empty and is trying to find what he’s missing. He’s broken away from everything he’s known, but keeps filling that void with the wrong thing. There is no way this Witness Protection chick will do anything but fuck him up further. And Julia is just as fucking dumb as he is. Now Christian is settling down and becoming more of a whole person. He now weighs his options more, he’s dealing with ethics…more like the way Sean was (as Quentin pointed out). And Kimber looks to be that one piece he’s always been looking for. And you better believe that’s not going to end well either.

While I don’t like the crazy paths the show is on now, I still care about the characters and want to know what’s going to happen. I’m hoping they’ll start really focusing in on the threads they have going now and tie them together into some fucking crazy last half of a season. There’s still like 10 episodes left in the season so there is plenty of time for things to come together.