"Vacancy" Review

Well finally, I got the chance to see "Vacancy".

Before we go on, I must advise I will try my best not to give the story away. However, I’m quite terrible at expressing my opinion without giving certain things away. Therefor, Spoilers contained!

Acting

Kate Beckinsale

-While it doesnt persist entirely through the movie, this has got to be the least likable character I’ve ever seen Kate Beckinsale play. For the first half she plays quite a bitch (although you find out her attitude is understandable)

-Her acting is very good in this movie and while I found myself disappointed not hearing Kate’s beautiful accent, she played her American role very well. Her American accent was perfect (as in "Click")

-For nearly all of the film, Kate looks, sounds and acts near frightened to death and as she’s said in interviews, it was a very tiring to do so. I imagine it was!

Dare I say it’s one of her better acting roles? I think I would. As far as I care, the “Underworld” films didn’t really display her true acting skills, nor did “Click” (although she was great in both). The character of Amy Fox is far less likeable and because of that I believe it’s a better display of her acting talent.

Luke Wilson

I've always liked Luke Wilson, so I wasn't surprised by his acting talents. I think he did a great job in this movie, even when the script demanded he play a more serious role than he's used to (IE. Old School & Blue Streak)

He’s definitely the more likable of the two characters, playing the heroin for nearly all of the film.




The other cast members of the film put on an impressive act too, especially the night manager who is downright creepy (and who you'd like to beat with a hammer..)

Story

The story of this movie is actually pretty frightening too. It’s not the most elaborate or original story ever written, but it keeps you on you’re toes (or at least mine..)

The constant bickering between Kate and Luke is actually kind of depressing, but once they get into the hotel it’s instantly a scare. I found myself jumping from the first scene within the hotel room, not because it was necessary scary, but because it was more a mindset scare. Good starting trait if I may say so. The overall scare is enhanced by dark film and dreary film sets. Speaking of which, the cinematography in this film is rather excellent.

Anyways, the film starts out with the Fox’s being stranded because of car problems, but they shortly find themselves in a hotel where they end up watching terrorizing videos which they soon find out have happened in the hotel.

This movie has been panned by the critics, but I don’t understand why. Now before we go on, I must say my Kate bias is pushed away (I swear). Honestly I didn’t think “Underworld 2” was a good film, in fact I thought it was rather terrible. “Vacancy” on the other hand is downright gritty. I have a feeling the reason it was panned was because it was more of a mindset scare (rather than the "in your face" scare)

Soon enough they find themselves trying to get out of this hotel. Yet with every move, “the hotel” is steps above them.

Luke soon devises a plan to leave Kate to distract the eyes watching behind the camera while he goes out and tries to stop this, but of course that soon fails and the two of them end up on the run.

If I may be honest there are a few ridiculous scenes, such as Luke Wilson running from his own BMW 5er (driven by God knows who) and leaping into his hotel room (literally..)

Anyways, my biggest issue with this movie is it's low budget look and feel. Perhaps that's a little harsh, but it's true. You can tell it was a (very) low budget film. Also worth mentioning, it feels a little rushed. I think that could have been avoided if the movie happened to be longer. As it is, 1 hour and 25 minutes is not the ideal amount of time to play this story out. But then again, the budget...

The End

As the movie comes towards as close it’s quite brutal for Luke Wilson’s character. Can’t say anymore without giving anything away, but I’ve heard many complaints about the ending and how it should have been more happy and cheerful, but that’s where this movie is more “Hitchcock” than "M. Night Shyamalan". Perhaps that's another reason it was panned.

Even with a few shortcomings, I found it more entertaining than the typical film in this genre (thanks to its good actors and great cinematography). Is it a must watch? If you’re expecting “The Shining” you’ll be ever so disappointed. Fans of either Kate Beckinsale and/or Luke Wilson will probably appreciate the movie for its situation in which its characters are put in.

Overall I’d give “Vacancy” 7.5 out of 10. Perhaps it sounds a little generous to some, but I think it’s appropriate. My new favourite Kate movie? I'm afraid not. That award still belongs to the first Underworld.


Spoiler/partial warning:

There is a point in this film where Beckinsale and the night manager get in a toil and it leads to the manager knocking down Kate. Then the manager repeatedly punching Beckinsale in the face. While the actual view of it was cleverly limited (with the use of a curtain) it was extremely violent. Shortly after that Kate gets slapped around and dragged up against the wall. Soon follows the night manager filming her face (with a handheld) as blood pours (well ok, streaks) from her face. Nonetheless, seeing a defenseless women get beaten is not my thing. Very sickening in my mind as well as very infuriating. If I may say so, the prick deserved a more brutal death.

I Hate Future Shop

I hate it.

For more reasons than one. Anyways, yesterday I went to Future Shop to purchase a new CD (still a few days until Snakes & Arrows hits the streets..) and I went there with the mission of completing my Rush CD collection. Last time I checked that particular Future Shop (a month ago) they had fifteen copies of a certain Rush CD. (Rush - Gold)

It's a fantastic album no doubt, but I've already got it, hence not purchasing it again.. When I went yesterday they had the exact same fifteen or so Rush CD's. No stock update...For f*** sake, update the stock already.

I then preceded to my next choice, Tom Cochrane & Red Rider, Hoping they'd have some of those great 80's albums. I was extremely disappointed because they had twenty copies of Cochrane's new "No Stranger" album and I wasn't planning on purchasing it. They did have one "old" album though.."Mad Mad World" - but I already have it.

I then decided to check out some of my other favourite bands. Frozen Ghost and Thompson Twins. Now if you haven't the slightest idea who they are, I won't blame you. The Thompson Twins are an British 80's Synthpop band while Frozen Ghost is an 80's Canadian prog-rock band.

Did they have them? Nope. Did they have fifty Johnny Cash CD's? Yes. Did they have forty Neil Young "Live in Massey Hall" CD's? Yes, they did.

In fact, looking over the stock they had it's clear they focus on new releases only. Whores!

In the end, I did end up buying Tom Cochrane's new album, "No Stranger".



Impressions? Well it's good, but a mere "good". Not excellent like previous Cochrane albums. At times it feels quite on dimensional and even a little flat. Definitely not typical for Tom Cochrane, especially with kick ass albums in the past like Ragged Ass Road, Mad Mad World and Victory Day.

Starting out impression was that they used a tad too much voice layering.

Highlights? Song composition is well thought out and I love the use of Piano in this album. Features much acoustic guitar and Red Rider's Ken Greer makes more than a few appearances on the album.

Song highlights at the moment are: "Didn't Mean", "White Horse", "Deep Breath" and "Rough and Tumble"

The one song that I'm still deciding whether I like is "Northern Star". It's a good tune, but it sounds a little too country for my tastes..

Weekend Video's (#6 - Instrumental Special)

Yet another special, folks!


Pink Floyd - Marooned (live, unknown year)



Rush - YYZ (live in 2002)



Tom Cochrane & Red Rider - Saved By The Dawn (1988)

Ding, Ding!

Living in an actual apartment with one main entrance has it's perks. For example, no solicitation.

However, I am not living in that type of apartment. I am currently living in a "basement suite", which is essentially a house with divided spaces. There are three separates units within it and each have their own door (everything in Vancouver is like this..) So then, the other day the door bell rang (on a Sunday) and as I was expecting someone it didn't occur that I should look through the "peak hole". When I opened the door it was not who I expected, it was the Jehovah's Witness. For those unfamiliar, it's a Mormon church group, based through out the world (like the Christian's, but with different beliefs).

Anyways, I wasn't too happy. I had seen them going door to door last Sunday and when they last dropped by, I didn't answer the door.

You see, I'd consider myself an Atheist. Although I'm not completely disbelieving of God-like miracles and the Bible, but overall, I don't think twice about it.

Now, I'm not one who likes to be ignorant or mean to people (although I have been), so instead of just telling them to go away, I stood there (for 15 minutes) and listened to what they had to say.

Although there were two men, only one spoke and I guess he must have had hours of training to get his "catch" correct. I can't remember how it started, but eventually it went onto him explaining what they did and the misconception with religion. He chose the Middle East to explain how the world is heading down a terrible path and how those "terrorists" do not represent proper religion. He also explained how Christian's made religion look bad (in a nice way..)

He said, "people get the wrong idea about religion and automatically assume it's concept and followers are insane "

He's bloody right. That is part of the reason I am not religious, nor ever have the desire to be.

Anyhow, he started to annoy me and as a result, I started finishing his sentences. There's nothing I hate more than being talked to like I'm stupid. I'm obviously not an idiot and I completely aware of what is happening in today's world. Probably better than he does.

He even read a few passages from the Bible (which he had on cue). In particular, a part where it talks about the end of world and how the sinners would be cast from the earth and how the "good" people left to roam it. Nice scare tactic, but then that wouldn't be a new thing in the world of religion, would it?

The whole thing was overly annoying. He asked if I had a Bible? I said, "no I do not". So then, he asked if I wanted a Bible (I couldn't say no..) so he gave me his (I'm sure he had a temple of them in the trunk of his car). He then asked me If I knew I how to read it and I of course, said no. He then gave me a lesson on how to read the Bible..

So yeah, that's the fifteen minutes I'm talking about. Looking back, it might have been closer to twenty.. Either way, had I just lied about having a Bible I could have saved time, but I hate lying. Anyways, he said he'd come back next weekend at the same time. Although I did say I will be here, I won't be. So then, I suppose I did lie after all. Hmm...

I really don't want anything to do with religion (Christian, Mormon, etc) - It's simply not my thing. I have my own beliefs, I don't need to be fed any.

Amazing Hair..

you have there..

It has occurred to me more than a few times that a good head of hair turns me on. Wait a minute, WTF did you just say?

Ok, let me re-phrase that. One of the most attractive qualities (in my eyes) of any woman is her hair. As I have stated before, one of the strongest qualities about Kate Beckinsale is her utterly beautiful hair. The same could be said for so many other women.

I generally find a woman's hair to be just as beautiful as her face, in fact I consider it to be just as important. As for the particular style? I'm not overly fussy... In terms of length, short (Cuthbert) or long (Beckinsale) is fine with me and I love tied back hair.

As for hair colour, Redheads and Brunettes FTW! But in my eyes, nothing compares to a Brunette that goes with blond/golden streaks.

Examples? See for you're self. Before we go on, yes I realize these women have had they're hair prepped, fixed, etc - but honestly, others shine brighter than some.

From Left to right: Petra Nemcova, Claire Forlani, Jennifer Love Hewitt & Kate Beckinsale

The Unforgettable Fire

Yesterday I got the opportunity to listen to U2's 1984, The Unforgettable Fire album. I must say it had been a long time since I last listened to not only the entire album, but even an individual song from the album.

Honestly, I've done my best to stay away from U2. Why you ask? Because I'm not happy with Bono's political agenda. Yes, it's for a good cause in all, but coming from a guy who wears yellow sunglasses and a cowboy hat - I find him a little hard to take serious.

As for they're new music.. meh. It's not terrible, but as far as I see it Coldplay can outclass them (no pun intended either, I like Coldplay)

Regardless, I decided to play the CD and listening to it really brings back memories of when I first got it (about ten years ago)

U2 might have gone rotten, but The Unforgettable Fire proves they were once true musicians. It's an incredible album, in fact I'd say it's one of my top five favourites.

Now the Joshua Tree (also an album which I own) is great, but it's clear that it was more commercially driven than UFGF. The UFGF is a much stronger album, both lyrically and musically. One thing that always bothered me about The Joshua Tree is that a lot of it's songs subjects were based on love. Not a bad thing, but The Unforgettable Fire is less one dimensional.

One thing that I absolutely love about this album is the use of drums by Larry Mullen Jr. They are very strong through out the entire album and in particular, the title track and "Pride".

Adam Clayton's bass work is very frequent through out all of the songs. I'd say his highlight is within the "4th of July" (an instrumental), where the bass is infectious. Bono's lyrics and vocal level is strong. And of course, The Edge's Guitar notes are simply amazing.

On a guitar note It's interesting to hear the difference between Rush's Alex Lifeson and The Edge. The Edge's guitar notes are much shorter than Lifeson's... Anyways back to the album,

"Pride" is a superb song, as is the title track. "A Sort of Homecoming" is intoxicating, as is "Wire"

"Promenade" and "Bad" are emotionally charged, while "The 4th of July" manages to be emotionally charged, amazing and even sad. The fact that they never will make another piece of music like it again is deeply saddening.

"MLK" (It's alright) and "Elvis Presley and America" (vocals and chorus are terrible) happen to be my least favourite tracks on the album. My favourite? That would have to be "Indian Summer Sky" and in that song, one line is as follows "To lose along the way, the spark that set the flame, to flicker and fade"

Funny, that's exactly what I think has happened to U2.

Snakes & Arrows Drum Kit

Peart's new drum kit design and colours for the Snakes & Arrows tour are here! Looks awesome (as expected). Thinking back over Rush history, Peart has had many red kits before. All of the following tours have had red kits - Moving Pictures, Grace Under Pressure, Power Windows, Vapor Trails, Signals and Test For Echo.



Thanks to rushisaband.com for the above.

Red again?! I'm not complaining, remember Neil's absurd pink and gold kit from the Hold Your Fire tour?! =)




For those unfamilar with Neil Peart, his final drum kit will end up looking something like this (below, the 2004 R30 kit)



And when his kit is complete, he can do this:

Avril..Ughh..

Oh no. Here's another "fashion" post.. (check out my Kate Beckinsale blog if you don't know what I mean)

But I could not resist on commenting

I personally find Avril Lavigne quite good looking, but there is a point when bad taste overthrows beauty. What in the blue hell was she thinking dressing up like this?


I know it was at the release party for her new album, but this is just terribly hideous and tasteless. I think the pink streak though her hair looks cool, but the eye liner and general eye makeup are out of this world (in a bad way..)

That dress is just horrendous by the way ..

Weekend Video's (#6)

The English Beat - Save It For Later(1982)



Barenaked Ladies - One Week (1998)



Talking Heads - Once In A Life Time (live in 1984)

No Cable Television!

Somebody: "Did you see that episode of Lost last night? It was awesome"

Me: "Lost, wtf is that?"

Don't take that literally, because I know what Lost is. I just thought that would be a good lead in..

As if my lack of drinking wasn't strange enough, I am here to tell you how strange I am again. I don't have Cable Television and I haven't for three years. The next question which should immediately follow is, "how the hell do you live without T.V.?"

While this sounds crazy to you T.V. addicts, everyone could live without television. It's not hard, nor do you go insane. After a while you get used to not having it, and hell, I don't mind not having to watch a bunch of garbage (whether that be news or badly directed shows) But then I suppose I am rather old school.

There are many reasons why I don't have Cable T.V. - let's start off. Firstly, even through the years when I had Cable I felt there was never anything to watch. Honestly, I've only found three new shows in the last 10 years which I thought were any good. Those being, The Trailer Park Boys (which is now ruined..), DaVinci's Inquest and Curb Your Enthusiasm (which is also ruined)

From the newer generation of shows, CSI does happen to be one which I watch more than others (when I have access to T.V), but I still find it so bloody repetitious. The cast and characters are ok, but they always seem to be the same little cliche story.

-Family member kills family member > CSI investigates > bad guy is caught > bad guy does his speech: "you have no evidence" > which leads to the CSI guys saying "oh but we do!"

Trumpet plays! blah, blah, blah

Other

Survivor has been on for like seven years..? Well guess what, I've never seen one full episode. The most I've seen of it is about five minutes and I didn't like it. 24? Yes, I've seen one episode and I thought it was interesting, but haven't followed up since.

Lost? Lol, no, I've never seen an episode. Actually one of the only mainstream shows I used to watch when it was on was The Apprentice. Of course, that's when it started off and now everything on TV is a carbon copy "reality" show.

I hate them with a passion. Yet another byproduct of a materialistic world - but then I don't want to go into that.

The worst culprit - American Idol! What a piece of garbage. Do people not see it's nothing but a business? Sure, people are displaying their talent, but the truth is American Idol is one of the smartest money making operations ever. By ensuring people to vote for their favourite they have guaranteed album sales for the individual. Click!

Of course you could always turn on the music or the news channels - but then you're most likley to be fed fear and/or have to listen to talentless hacks.

So yeah, I really find no reason to watch Television. Anyways I find going on the computer a much better use of time. It's more entertaining, especially if you're part of a website forum, etc. Aside from that, while surfing (how trendy!) and posting on the internet I can listen to music. All of that, is a much better use of my time than watching Televsion.

That's not to say I don't have a T.V. though, because I do. I use it to watch DVD seasons of older shows, watching movies and concerts as well as playing video games. Speaking of which, I need a new T.V... My 16 year old, 32 inch Toshiba tube is finally starting to wear out. Aside from the visual connection (when connected to a console) randomly going on and off (thanks to somewhat faulty plugs in at the rear, but are easily fixed when you reposition the hanging cord) the sound system is starting to wear out. Ocassionally, the right speaker will stop functioning. Thankfully, all it takes for it to start evenly splitting the sound between the speakers is a good ol' tap. Actually, both of these problems have been on going for nearly seven months, but they are both issues which aren't serious enough stop the Television from operation. Despite the issues, I have no plan to buy a new T.V. until this one is completely shot.

Oh noes, what will I do?!? I'm not up to date with the "styles". That's true too - hell I didn't even know what a Blackberry was until six months ago when I heard somebody talking about them on the radio (yes, I listen to that "old" device) On second thought, I don't have a Blackberry, or an MP3 player or even a Cell Phone.

I better stop now, I'm getting into my "no bullshit" attitude and that ladies and gentleman, is off topic.

Rediscovering Loreena and Rushing

Yesterday, out of the blue - Loreena McKennitt popped into my mind. I used to listen to her quite frequently, but haven't heard any of her music for about five years. Today I decided to type her name in YouTube and see what I could bring up.

The Mummers' Dance was the first song I remembered. I can't believe I haven't listened to her for so long. Her music is just beautiful. The celtic beat is utterly innovative and of course her voice is something heavenly.





Meanwhile Rush has released yet another sneak peek clip at "Snakes & Arrows". This time it's a 50 second clip of "Spindrift".

The guitar tone is very dark, similar to that of Time & Motion, but I also hear a little bit of - call me crazy - The Weapon.

Sounds pretty awesome. In fact the wait for May 1st has just gotten even longer.

If you'd like to listen to the clip, click here

Dissapointed Gamer

Aren't the current generation of video games disappointing? Perhaps you don't think so, but I do and here's why.

Only my true friends will know I was once a gaming junkie. Oh yes, I was addicted. I more than often anticipated new game releases and frequently visited gaming sites like Gamespot & IGN. However, two years ago I decided I would no longer fall victim to the video game market.

Why? Because now a days the industry is much more quantity than quality.

I'd like to start with the game consoles themselves. Remember the days of the Nintendo 64? I do and what great fun they were. The system it's self was superb - sure, it wasn't the technological time bomb like the current systems (as expected with evolution) but it was pure quality. What I mean by quality is reliability. In the total of six years which I owned my N64 I suffered no technical issues whatsoever. Occasionally it froze or required the game cartridge to be blown out but nothing which required me to pump money out. In fact the only thing I was spending money on was new games and new controllers to replace worn out ones.

Now forwarding to the last generation of gaming systems. Nintendo remained rather faith full with reliability, as did Playstation, but newcomer Microsoft suffered terrible reliability issues.

To be fair, the newcomer is always going to have problems, but even today's XBOX 360 is suffering from poor reliability. Just ask it's owners.

I personally went with a toil having owned four (yes, four) of the first generation XBOX's. I am indeed on my fourth, the first was the faulty "Thompson drive", the second stopped reading discs entirely, while the third resulted in a warped and partially melted disc tray (which the second one also started to suffer from) and now, onto the fourth one (which I bought used) is a yet another "Thompson drive"

I guess I shouldn't have bought a used XBOX, especially with a "Thompson drive" - but then it's kind of hard to tell when it's in a package...As it is now it refuses to play CD's and cannot successfully run Splinter Cell or Project Gotham Racing 2.

Meanwhile my Playstation 2 is working excellent - except for the fact that there is a recall for the power adaptor on all PS2 models built in August 06. Which happens to be when I bought it..

So yeah, the gaming companies seriously need to work on technical issues. What's even worse than the terrible technical issues is the absurd price at which these consoles are being sold at. Anyone remember the first XBOX that came with the built in harddrive? As most now know, 360 requires you to buy a "special" XBOX to have something that was standard on the base model of the first generation XBOX.

Although I wouldn't want to stop at the console systems, because game quality has also gone down the toilet. Ever since the online fad hit the gaming market, companies no longer feel it's important to make a game with single player playability. "Don't worry chums, screw the single playing gamer and focus on multiplayer"

Can you blame them? Yes and no. No, as in the online fad has in turn brought in a ton of a money for the game company, but also for the game console developers which runs the online world(s)

Nearly every new game has been hampered by online playing and quite simply, if you don't have "online" the games are substandard. That's not how things were like in the past - but oh my, should I swallow a shoe and accept evolution? No way. Games such as: MarioKart, Mario 64, Golden Eye and Perfect Dark did not require this. They were great as they were and thankfully there are a few games I have found which carry the traits of those N64 greats.



Above, Perfect Dark in action

I suppose most are expecting Halo to be brought up and I will. I've got Halo 2, but before we go on, I think Perfect Dark crushes it. Halo is a good game indeed, but I feel Halo suffers from repetitive motion, quite badly in fact.

At this time, I would like to talk about some of my "greats". When it comes to racing games, Forza Motorsports and Project Gotham Racing 2 are my drug (even though I can't play PGR at the moment..) I find them both to be highly addictive and entertaining, further to that they have tons of re-playability. Both of these games feature online play, but I've never used it on either of them. No need to.



Also in Bruce's "great's" is SSX Tricky and Splinter Cell. SSX is highly addictive and having played it for four years I now consider myself a professional.

Arguably you could say Splinter Cell lacks replay, but as far as I see it, the sequel's which followed focused on multiplayer and completely ignored the story line. Aside from that, I feel they tried to go overly complex with features.

I never could see the appeal of a multiplayer Splinter Cell, In my opinion that was always reserved for Rainbow Six.


Above, the brilliant Splinter Cell

Of course, any game collection would be incomplete without at least one first person shooter. As I mentioned earlier, I do own Halo 2 - but honestly, I much prefer the TimeSplitters series (both 2 & 3) They are both fantastic! If you didn't know TS2 was developed by the same team who developed both Perfect Dark and Golden Eye (Rareware). TS3 on the other hand was developed under the supervision of Electronic Arts. Having said that you'd usually assume anything made under the EA badge to be garbage and while TS3 did retain some of EA's traits, it remained Rareware at heart.

Despite featuring an online multiplayer, the story was good - IE: there was one.

When you don't feel like playing "story" mode you can always choose a pre-developed "challenge" - IE: kill sixty guys in five minutes. When you're done with that you can always advance onto the "arcade" mode where you can set up your own gun fight. Options including level selection, weapons selection and even the ability to choose the exact number and difficulty of the bots which you fight against. Even the game type is selectable, whether that be "Capture the Flag" or "Team Deathmatch" it's all up to you. Obviously an "arcade" mode is not a new concept, In fact Perfect Dark had done it back in '99, but the question remains - why the hell does Halo not have this feature?

Is it because they are bloody money hounds? Perhaps so.

The question in your mind at the moment might in fact be "has this guy ever tried online multiplayer?" The answer to the question is yes, I used to be a frequent online multiplayer of Alien Vs Predator 2. It's great fun no doubt, but that doesn't give companies the right to make substandard rubbish with no story or replay value.

Virginia Tech Shooting

Unbelievable. Usually I don't write two posts in one day, but I feel compelled to write this message to send my condolences out to the families who have suffered a loss on this terrible day.

Little did they know they would face a terrible end.

RIP

Weekend Photography

I took some interesting photographs over the weekend which I wanted to share.





Above - Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder in "Celeste Phoebe"

Weekend Video's (#5 - Canadian Special)

This week I focus the spotlight on four Canadian bands! I also felt it was important to capture them doing live performances.



Rush - Force Ten (live from 2004 R30 Tour)



Neil Young - Old Man (live from 2006)



Gordon Lightfoot - If Could Read My Mind (live from 2005)




Avril Lavigne - Nobody's Home (live from 2005)

Comic Based

I can't even tell you how much I hate Marvel comic based films and they're is certainly not shortage of the bloody things. In fairness, I won't pick on Batman, which I believe was the first of the "comic to film" things.

Other than that, it seems as if most everybody has got to make a penny from a Marvel comic. Let's see: Fantastic Four, Punisher, and lastly, that bloody SpiderMan. I shall get SpiderMan out of the way first - I cannot stand those movies.

Even though I've only seen one of three, I'll stand the judgement of calling them absolute rubbish. The story line, acting and whatnot is always terrible. Of course, that's just my opinion.

I do have a confession though, there has always been one of these Marvel movies which I have really enjoyed. And it is - X-Men.

Perhaps I have a bias, because I was always the kid who was more interested in X-Men than SpiderMan, but honestly, as an overall movie I think the X-Men series' are the far better films. Aside from having stronger and more developed plot lines, the actors are far, far better. I'll take Hugh Jackman & Halle Berry over Tobey Maguire & the awful Kirsten Dunst anyday!

Also adding to that cast is Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen, both of which are great actors (and I'm sure most would agree)

Just the other night I finished watching X3: The Last Stand (the final of the trilogy) and I found it to be pretty good. Obviously not "Academy Award winning Shawshank Redemption" amazing, but in more of a "I'm simple minded and this is too, and because of that I enjoy it" good.

Other observations: Halle Berry and Anna Paquin were always good looking gals, but I'm glad to see another good lookin' chick join them. Ellen Page, now 19, who ironically starred on The Trailer Park Boys when she was 15.



** Spoilers **

- I liked the way the trilogy finished off as well. Interesting how they killed off Xavier and took away Magneto's powers (or did they..?)

- Good to see Juggernaut make an appearance. Would have liked to seen Night Crawler though.

A subjective rating (in this genre) - I'd rate it 8.5 out 10.

===

Hmm..I feel like I'm 10 years old again! (is that good or bad?)

Malignant Narcissism!

What the hell is that?

That my friends is the name of one of Rush's 2 mintue instrumentals (from Snakes & Arrows) which has leaked. Yes, that's right.

I've just listened to it, about twenty times. It is, excuse my language - f****ing incredible. The overall tone is hard rock, but the sounds have been individually marked out. It very much harks back to Rush's 1996's Test for Echo album. The drums are always frequent, Alex's guitar is hefty and deep and Geddy's bass is just amazing. I love it, I love it!

While Rush never stopped making great music (even with Vapor Trails) I'd say it's safe to say the boys have "returned". This blows Vapor Trails away and I have a feeling, just about every album back to Power Windows. When Alex said, "Snakes & Arrows is one of our best works, if not our best" - he wasn't joking.

Someone has put the clip on YouTube for everybody to enjoy. Mind you, quality isn't excellent (like everything else on YouTube)

May 1st cannot come soon enough!

Vancouver vs Calgary

If you haven't followed my blog since my first post, or aren't a GermanCarZone member - you wouldn't know that I recently moved from Calgary, Alberta to Vancouver, British Columbia.

So then, how does Vancouver compare to Calgary - and how do I like it?

The cultural differences between the two are bigger than most would expect (not me though ;-).. I'm used to "cultural shock"

The people of Vancouver all appear as if they have a very layed out, cool vibe. When in truth, they are just as, if not more so hectic and insane as people from Calgary. It's quite a bullshit vibe actually, but then that isn't hard to pick up on.

What I've also noticed is that despite the massive Asian influx which Vancouver had in the 1980's, more racism exists here than it does in Calgary. The hostility still exists and it doesn't stop at out of country immigrants. They tend to have a strong disliking for Albertans ;)

I was recently at a store when I was required to show my Identification and said, here's my Alberta's licence - she remarked, "they have those up there Alberta"

I remarked - "yep and so much more."

Whether it was intended as a joke or not, it pissed me off. Oh, and don't worry, I'm not some shit kicking Albertan.

Also worth noting is the daily newspapers. They are much different than Albertan ones, in fact, unlike Alberta papers they most always feature an article on global warming.

Conservatives vs Liberals!

How the hell is this turning into a politic war? Well that's the truth, ain't it?

Actually I'd rather see articles about global warming than articles about Ralph Klein's ball cap. Which leads to the next question, am I Liberal or a Conservative? Well I believe in Kyoto and other actions inforced by the Liberals, but I'd say I stand by a few of the Liberal actions.

So I'm a: Conservalib

Vancouver

Stores:

One thing that really pisses me off about the big V is that the cost of land is so high that 80% of the people here are renting. The cost of land is way, way to expensive.

What's also very different from Calgary - is that stores of any sort are the size of a closest. Because the land is too expensive and the land space limited, Home Hardware (a Home improvement store) is forced to rent out 1600 square feet, rather than the 5000 or so square feet which they'd usually rent in Calgary. Everything is like that. Mind you, Starbucks tends to have some of the bigger lots and holy smokes, they've got many, many stores.

Weather:

Weather has been quite fantastic. When I first arrived it rained like a mofo, in fact - it rained for five days straight which in turn caused floods downtown and everywhere else. Even I had terrible internet outages and issues. Over the last couple of weeks it's been great though. Currently into spring, Vancouver's sunny days rarely get hotter than 25 degrees Celsius. The last weeks have graced with 20 degrees - perfect for shorts and t-shirts.

One thing that severely annoys me is than when it rains, I seem so depressed. Same with everyone else I suppose, but I must be honest, that's where snow is better. It's nice and white (or muddy) On the other hand, I hate my hands freezing.

Cars:

Calgary has a lot of expensive vehicles, but Vancouver blows it away. From my current housing location I've seen two Bentley Flying Spur's (following each other!!) and more than twenty 911's (all generations)

Everyday you're guaranteed to see something awesome.

Despite some of the ranting, I like Vancouver and can't wait to see what else it has in store.

22 Days Away..

Just 22 days until the release of Snakes & Arrows and I cannot wait.

I'll be at the door of a Future Shop, Monday morning - May 1st. First on the playlist will be The Main Monkey Business (6 + minute instrumental)

Weekend Video's (#4)

Week four update.

Rush - Show Don't Tell (1989)



Cat Stevens - Moonshadow (1971)



Big Country - Wonderland(1984)

Wowzer! My Hair is Getting Long!

Big f***ing deal, eh?

Yeah, that's true. Who bloody cares. Nonetheless, I haven't been to a barber for approximately a month and two weeks.

I'll liking the departure and judging by the impression of girls which I pass (on the street, whatever..) - they seem to like it to.

Here's a picture of my growing hair.. Actually, it's not quite up to date. I took that picture on April 1st..

Anyways as you can see in that picture my totally awesome side burns are starting to cover my ears!

Musically Addicted

It has occurred to me I have an addiction with music. I'm sure that sounds lame, but honestly, I can not get enough of it.

Over the last month I have gotten in the routine of a daily walk (around 20 mins long), but over the last week it has been extremely hard to carry out my daily walk. Especially because I have discovered yet another awesome 80's band, Big Country.

I've had the last couple of days off and as a result I've been listening to music non-stop. I wake up at 6:30am and I immediately start listening to music. I look around on the Internet for a "few" hours, but generally I like to go out for my walk at around 12:00pm. On Tuesday I was so immensed by my music I didn't even go out for a walk. That's only the third time (in the last month) I haven't got out for a walk (!!!) The other two times were because I was inside with a bad flu/cold.

Yesterday I woke up at the regular time and went on the Internet, and I remember seeing 10:00am on the clock. I told myself: "I've got to get ready for my walk" and I turned the shower on, and I left it running for 10 minutes... and then I decided to turn the shower off and get ready in another 15 minutes... The next time I looked down at the clock, it was 12:00pm!

I hadn't even been in shower, let alone go for a walk! So, I finally dragged myself away from the music. Once I got out of the shower, I went back on to the computer and I once again, fell victim.

Time passed, I looked at the clock it was 2:00pm, I then promised myself to get ready and I looked at the clock and it was 4:00pm. At that time, I decided to tear myself away from the computer.

I did go out for my walk. While on my walk, I could only think how exciting it will be once I get back and can listen to music again. I started singing/humming a Big Country tune on the way.

The above probably makes me sound like I'm insane (which I probably am) I get such an adrenaline rush listening to music.

I get emotionally attached and begin to savour every drum beat, every guitar strum and every vocal note. My heart gets pounding and there's no stop. Please note, I'm not in a downtown nightclub, I am in my house - in a computer chair.

BTW, as I write this blog, I'm listening to music.

My New Kate Beckinsale blog

I have decided to open a Kate Beckinsale blog.

You can read why and see it here:

http://katebecks.blogspot.com/

A Little Taste of Canada

Isn't Canadian television excellent? I mean seriously, who else could have come up with anything as a brilliant as the Trailer Park Boys? Nobody, is most likely the correct answer, and not to mention, what other country would accept something so "vulgar" and "offensive"?

Ok well to be fair, the Europeans might allow it on television - but the Americans..well it does play in America but it's on very late.

Trailer Park Boys is yet another example of brilliant Canadian television. It's quirky, rude, vulgar and lastly unique. It's amazing that such a low budget show with no-name actors has already risen to the "Canadian Cult" section.

I bet Mike Clattenburg (TPB's producer/creator) had no idea it would be such a hit, but Barry Dun (another producer, Ricky's dad in the show - Ray) knew it had great potential. In fact, it was Dun's idea to get Trailer Park Boys on television, he thought it would make a great comedy. What do you know? Here we are 6 years after the release of the original film festival movie and TPB is one of the most well known T.V. shows in Canada. Talk to anyone you know (assuming you're Canadian) and I'll bet you if they haven't seen it, they've at least heard of it.

The first question: what makes Trailer Park Boys so great? Well it's obviously hilarious and it features more swear words than you or I can muster (actually probably not..)

However, the often criticism about TPB is that it's swearing and the criminal acts it's characters portray are sending a bad message to younger kids. I don't really want to go into that, but I of course disagree with that.

Trailer Park Boys is far more than a bunch of swearing. It's more a display of an artist's work. For instance, the character are all tailored to the park.

Characters

Mike Smith (Bubbles) is the bomb diffuser, he's the Innocent little bugger. He occasionally acts like a 5 year old kid, ex: likes to play "space", he likes kitties and he is even scared of "shit ropes" and "samsquanch" (I think that's how he says it ;-) )

Rob Wells (Ricky) plays the part, as Mike Clattenburg put it, "the smart guy who never learned anything" He constantly mispronounces words. Further to that his styling characteristics are quite unlike anything we've seen. Where else do you see somebody with a pompadour wearing a hounds tooth shirt? No where.

And what about the mastermind behind the schemes? John Paul Tremblay (AKA as Julian) is an essential part of TPB. In my opinion John-Paul isn't quite as good as an actor as Wells or Smith, but he still brings a big peice to the party. His naive attitude is classic, his looks unmistakable (black shirt, black pants and black sunglasses and of course, his trademark rum glass)

The three of them make the most unique criminal team you've ever seen. Of course, we most certainly must not end it at that. Jim Lahey and Randy are classic T.V. villains. Both of these guys are amazing actors with versatility which you find no where else. Others such as J-Roc, Ray, Cyrus, Lucy & Sarah are must haves.

Other than the actors, the story plots and fantastic backdrops make Trailer Park Boys so entertaining to watch.

Plot

The story lines which Clattenburg and company come up with are always classic. They are always greasy and ridiculous, but always hilarious! Where else do you see a group of criminals syphoning gas and opening an illegal station, kidnapping Alex Lifeson (oh yes..lol) and making a hash driveway which is later shipped in shopping cart handles? No where and in the future, I don't think you can expect to see anything like that. That's part of what makes Trailer Park Boys such a fantastic show - it's an original concept.

Backdrop

Because the production cost of TPB is so low, the arts department is actually left to picking things out alleys which people throw away. As a result, the sets come out looking even better and more trailer park. If you haven't seen any of the 5th season of TPB you won't know, but because they had previously used four real trailer parks, by the time the 5th season arrived it was time for them to build their own - where they could do whatever they wanted (fire off guns and whatnot)

The perfect example is Jim Lahey's trailer: It's has the most disgusting wallpaper, dated 70's couches, a liquor cabinet and lastly, a picture of the Queen.

It's all because of these noticeable features (which you can truthfully only understand if you watch the show) that makes it so great. Never has there been a T.V. show likes this before.

Seasons/Episodes/End

Now to be fair, I have seen about 3 or four episodes of the new season and in my opinion they are downright terrible. Not funny, not ingenious and far too contrived. Perhaps that's the price that the show payed with it's great success (and recent release into the United States)

However I am willing to forgive the team. Simply, how could I not? For 5 straight seasons they gave me (and a whole other bunch of Canadians) unrivaled entertainment and hilarity. Honestly they gave me something to be proud of, and I am proud that Trailer Park Boys is Canadian. It's a cult classic and the efforts of the boys will not be forgotten.

Weekend Video's (#3)

Weekly weekend video update!

The Fixx - Red Skies (1983)



Tom Cochrane - Life is A Highway (1991)



Big Country - In A Big Country (1983)