Movies Preview September 2008

Back with surprisingly interesting movie trailers I've watched.

Soul Men
Samuel L. Jackson, Bernie Mac
Watch out for, Isaac Hayes and John Legend.

Two guys who were formerly in a performing group reunite and attempt to tour around the country as a tribute to their member who died. Now what makes this movie interesting was that it made me curious as to watching probably one of the final film that featured the late Bernie Mac and Isaac Hayes who passed away not too long from each other. The trailer does not promise much, it might not be as great as I would expect it to be, but I hope there will be a feel good factor towards the end.

Bedtime Stories
Adam Sandler

By now most people should know who Adam Sandler is and what kind of movie he's in. I actually made a statement before saying that his pieces have improved as years go by and had higher and higher expectations from him. Until I watched You Do Not Mess with the Zohan. I am really hoping that film was not his idea as it was put together rather poorly and left much to be desired. Anyways back to this one. Seeing that it is produced by Disney, it should have some minimum level of standards. Watching the trailer, it does look promising. Just be warned there will be a lot of parodies and rip off from other famous movies and stories. The challenge here is to see if Disney can pull it off tastefully. Knowing that it is a movie with Adam Sandler, expect a lot of famous appearances throughout the movie.

My Best Friend's Girl
Dane Cook, Kate Hudson, Jason Biggs
Watch out for Alec Baldwin.

In Jay and Silent Bob Strikes Back, Jason Biggs played himself as a guest appearance making fun of himself implying that he was always stereotyped into a particular character. The sad thing is that it may be true. The movies I've watched starring him always had him be the underdog who gets the girl because of his goody-goodness. In this film he plays the typical nice guy and a girl (Kate Hudson) he's dating gets bored of him and puts their relationship on hold. He then turns to his best friend (Dane Cook) whose profession is to be a douchebag boyfriend for hire, which he hopes would get the girl to see how nice of a guy Jason Biggs is and eventually come back to him. Things of course don't go to plan whereby the more assholic Dane Cook behaves, the more Kate Hudson likes it. Expect some American Pie'ish gags to appear.

Sex Drive
Josh Zuckerman, Amanda Crew, Clark Duke, Seth Green, James Marsden

Okay the only two names I recognize here are Seth Green and James Marsden. Who is James Marsden? He is the douchebag Cyclops from the X-men movie franchise. It is about some guy (Josh Zuckerman) having a fake persona online which attracts an unknown pretty girl who wants to meet up with him. He steals James Marsden's car to drive across country to meet her. James Marsden looks pretty different now I could not recognize him until I checked out the cast information. Seth Green plays an amish in this one. Should be interesting to see how it turns out. Probably one of those average teen movies.

The Lucky Ones
Rachel McAdams, Tim Robbins, Michael Peña

Three soldiers somehow end up traveling together in a car to a common destination for respective purposes. Together they face all kinds of stereotypical misconceptions of serving their country while also having to deal with their own personal problems. Looks to me like those heartwarming hallmark channel feel good kind of movie.

Bolt
John Travolta, Miley Cyrus

Not much else is known about the rest of the cast. This 3D animation is about a dog actor (John Travolta) who has been onstage all his life acting as some superhero dog. This in time has made him think that he is actually a dog with superpowers. He gets accidentally shipped to New York and now has to find his way back home. Along the way he makes friends with a cat and a hamster/guinea pig in a ball. The cat is reluctantly forced to help Bolt while the hamster thinks he is a real superhero and is over enthusiastic on facing the dangers of the adventure.

Ghost Town
Ricky Gervais, Téa Leoni, Greg Kinnear

Ricky Gervais plays a dentist who is intolerant of other people. That caught my attention because that sounded like me, only that Ricky Gervais is worse in a sense his attitude affects others physically. Like stealing a cab or not holding the lift for someone. After a trip to the hospital he suddenly is able to communicate with the dead. Greg Kinnear plays the main dead guy who pesters him to help all the other dead people. Greg Kinnear then cuts a deal with him saying that if Ricky Gervais can stop Greg Kinnear's ex-wife (Téa Leoni) from marrying a bad person, he will not bother Ricky Gervais anymore and will make the other dead people go away.

RockNRolla
Gerard Butler, Gemma Arterton, Thandie Newton and more
Watch out for Chris Bridges aka Ludacris!

I am sure the cast has more recognizable talents, but I also think they are mostly British so yeah... I wouldn't know. Sorry. I am not really sure as to the basis of the story. Apparently its a bunch of people who are involved one way or another in the underworld and they are all trying to get their hands on some money somebody made. Kind of unclear at this point. Kind of like Layer Cake. Explosive action is to be expected of this show which includes gangters, guns and explosives.

Yes Man
Jim Carrey

Jim Carrey as a person who always says no in his life takes up the challenge of saying yes instead. This opens up a whole new world of new different experiences he could not possible have if he was in his old ways of saying no to everything. Sounds strangely similar to Liar Liar except that in this one instead of being compelled to tell the truth, he says yes to things.

Appaloosa
Viggo Mortensen, Ed Harris, Renee Zellweger, Jeremy Irons

Its not just one of them western cowboy shows anymore. This has real promising stuff such as Aragorn, Ed Harris and Jeremy Irons. JEREMY IRONS! You don't hear his name in many films these days. He probably is pretty picky with his movies so this should set the expectation bar quite high. Its a couple of cowboy dudes (Viggo Mortensen and Ed Harris) who are hired to rid a town of a bad guy (Jeremy Irons) and his bad guys.

What Just Happened?
Robert De Niro, Sean Penn, Catherine Keener, John Turturro, Robin Wright Penn
Watch out for Bruce Willis!

Robert De Niro as a Hollywood Producer faces all sorts of crises in his day job as well as his life. That's pretty much it. You'll have to watch the trailer to get the details of this in elaborate and emphasized manner. But it's good.

Death Race
Jason Statham
Watch out for Robin Shou

A NASCAR racer gets framed for murdering his wife and gets put in jail. The head of the jail is a woman who created a game show where the prisoners are forced to compete which is a race to the death. Whoever wins gets to walk out of prison free. So she makes Jason Statham compete in the game for his freedom. Think The Transporter but with machine guns, napalms and stuff on the car. This should bring more excitement than one of them fast and furious type shows. It has cars, it has guns, it has fight scenes and chicks. What else do you want?

Max Payne
Mark Wahlberg, Mila Kunis, Beau Bridges, Ludacris, Chris O'Donnell
Watch out for Nelly Furtado

Adapted from the famous computer game, Max Payne a police agent goes beyond the law to avenge his family's death making him wanted by both the law and the bad guys. Now I never completed the first Max Payne game because my computer was lousy back then. But the movie trailer did show some supernatural elements and there was talk about the devil building an army and searching for something God is hiding. The trailer had effects and elements reminding me of Constantine that starred Keanu Reeves. Whats funny is that Max Payne computer game had effects similar to the Matrix which starred Keanu Reeves who also did Constantine.

Forgot the Word

Narcissist or in a more crude term, attention-whores. They are everywhere. Most of them can be easily found in... most of them can be easily found. Obviously because they make it easy to find them. Such species are airborne going wherever they can. However their natural habitat tends to be online communities, such as Facebook, Friendster and MySpace.

I read an article where researchers claim they could use Facebook to detect narcissism, by observing the type of images and words that they use. I think anybody with a decent brain would know its already far too obvious and you do not need science to show it. The saying I can currently think of at the moment is "where there is smoke, there is fire." When people behave in a certain way, you can be sure the behaviour will fall under certain types of category.

Read the original article here.

Somewhere Over My Guitar

These are old and I have probably linked some of you these video files before. However I rediscovered them and felt like they needed to be shared once again because they are just too good to let by.

Jake Shimabukuro plays the Beatles' song; While My Guitar Gently Weeps with a ukulele. That's right. A ukulele. Imagine me already having a difficult time trying to play this song on a normal 6-string guitar. This guy does it on a small 4-string. I actually prefer this version over the original for its feel.



Later I discovered that Jake actually played this song together with Tommy Emmanuel. Which sounded like they had so much fun.



Wanting to listen to more of Tommy's stuff, I found this video of him playing his version of Somewhere Over the Rainbow. It was so heartwarming.



What would I give to be able to play like them.

P&R 15.09.08

peonxian v.01d says: (5:14:41 PM)
for you... i think as long as your brain doesn't register it as shit, you'll eat it

Rzeznik Janczyk says: (5:15:33 PM)
wtf

Rzeznik Janczyk says: (5:15:34 PM)
oh yea

Rzeznik Janczyk says: (5:15:38 PM)
i eat frog vagina yesteday

peonxian v.01d says: (5:17:01 PM)
see i didn't need to know that

Rzeznik Janczyk says: (5:17:30 PM)
frog vagina is expensive - i was told, so its a delicacy which comes with shark's fin

peonxian v.01d says: (5:17:54 PM)
and because you were told it was expensive and a delicacy, you just had to eat it?

Rzeznik Janczyk says: (5:22:56 PM)
no cause its comes inside the sharkfin soup

Rzeznik Janczyk says: (5:23:03 PM)
i din relised it until i finished y protion

peonxian v.01d says: (5:23:29 PM)
lol... might as well have unicorn's horn in there

Rzeznik Janczyk says: (5:24:25 PM)
yesteday got pig's fallopio tuib

* * * * *

All that and he's afraid of vegetables.

Who is Paying?

Ever got invited to join a birthday dinner at a very nice place? You glance through the menu and realize that the prices are beyond what you would pay for, most likely due to it probably not being worth or should not be costing that much. So you try to order reasonably, selecting foods that are as decently priced as possible. You then notice everybody else ordering the nicer stuff. You would think whatever they order is not really any of your business as it would not affect you.

Then comes the bill. Without prior arrangement as to how to go about paying, someone just suggests that the bill is split evenly. That is when you think you just got ripped off. In that kind of situation it is pretty difficult because everybody else who ordered way more in terms of pricing compared to yours will think you are cheap or calculative if you raise the matter.

I have experienced this all too often. I have resolved not to participate in these events because personally, I cannot afford it. Or some might say I am too cheap. Either way it is my money. I decide how to manage my money. I work for my money and I decide what would be "wise investments."

Here is the article I came across which motivated me to write.
Welcome to my party - now pay up!

What Disney

Just a sample of what my daily conversations are about with my friends at their own work place.

* * * * *

Rzeznik Janczyk says: (4:50:47 PM)
u know, i bought miskey mouse ears and wore it in japan
peonxian v.01d says: (4:51:33 PM)
did you just say miskey mouse
Rzeznik Janczyk says: (4:52:34 PM)
i mean kickey mouse
Rzeznik Janczyk says: (4:52:39 PM)
wait MICKEY mouse
peonxian v.01d says: (4:53:48 PM)
lol wtf
Rzeznik Janczyk says: (4:54:04 PM)
its damn hard to type
Rzeznik Janczyk says: (4:54:19 PM)
miskey mouse is kinda catchy
peonxian v.01d says: (4:54:42 PM)
yeah this is going in my blog

Do You Really?

Salutations.
This is in response to a comment left on one of my older articles... a little bit late but I never turn down the opportunity to interact with readers who take time to read what I write. This is in regards to the artificials that go to church to be seen, that go to church to fulfill their weekly ritual to feel better of themselves.

I don't think I was targeting any age generation in particular. I address all ages, because as surprising or unsurprising as it may seem... most people do not grow up. Most people do not change. Why? Because they do not see anything wrong with themselves. Most people see themselves fine the way they are. Until of course, God slaps them hard in the face getting them to wake up. Some people are not aware of this. All they can see is life being bad for them and they are dealt a heavy hand of misfortune and their lives are a big mess and a big drama. They might even proceed to go emo and be all dramatic about it.

You do not learn and get to know God better by singing songs. That is not what worshiping God is about. Striving to reach the next level of worship and offering to God is a challenge? Since when did worshiping God sincerely with all your heart and soul became a difficult thing until it became a challenge? You either are sincere about it or think you are. This is the problem with people these days. They make something look so grand and difficult as if it is a huge deal being able to successfully pull off. If you are right with God and if you are sincerely wanting to improve for the better, not just for that duration of song, for good. You will find no problems whatsoever. I think the hardest part is to be convincing enough for the "moments that matter." I know of "Christians" who put up a huge drama show over how difficult it is for them to fast. Is that something one should really be telling others? Why the need to show the world that they are suffering? What are they trying to gain? The approval of men?

It would be pretty narrow-minded of me to "judge" all the "Youth" based on a few people. It is not something that I do. If you knew me even a littlest bit you would know very well that I uphold integrity. You may know many of "them" who are "actually on fire and all out for serving" but how well do you know these people? Being all fired up and wanting to do things for God is very different to actually doing those things. Instead of giving reasons of hindrance. People can put up grand shows. People can always be in the "spur of the moment". If you are not strong in your foundation, you will crumble.

All in all the comment only touched on a very minor part. Perhaps it was selective acknowledgment. Perhaps it was just overlooked. Perhaps it was a mild attempt to voice disapproval.

Until the day it is greatly shown that there are more actions than just words or desire to act, nothing has changed. This fire as I say will die off after a short while.

* * * * *

Humans are imperfect yes. We all make mistakes? Yes. However "mistakes" that take years to come into fruition, in some cases, carefully planned? Unacceptable. Those are mistakes that could have been rectified, preventing the situation from worsening. I will expand more on this another time.

Ignorant Optimism will not cover the fact that some people intentionally do not wish to change. That some people actually like being in the situation they are. Especially those that are receiving all the attention. What is this attention for? I can go on and on about how action speaks louder than words, that if you cannot or do not want to put your money where you mouth is, then please do not go around making it look otherwise. Whatever a person of a certain faith say and do, will be observed by everybody else. Especially even more so on the internet. If you give people room to comment, criticize and judge, it is by your own doing. Everybody has their right to call stuff as they see. It is our responsibility to make sure that we do not give them reason to find fault with us. You cannot do as you please and expect people to be silent about it. That would be oppression. That would be willfully intending to deny the fact of events that happened. Such is the price of attention.

I always look forward to views of readers. More intellectual responses feeds my brain!