At the Moment...

I'm a too stuffed up at the moment to form much of a coherent thought for an update (my sinuses being as sensitive as they are).

Still, thought I'd stop by to say that I caught "Wolverine" on the weekend and thought it was pretty decent. Not a great film, but pretty enjoyable and fun all the same. Wish Deadpool was a little truer to the comics (at least during his appearance later in the film -- Ryan Reynolds nailed the part during the first bit), but it's a good enough set up for a spin-off film. Not really getting all of the bad press and feedback the movie's been getting, but to each their own I suppose. I'd recommend it.

Anyway, I'm feeling a little too bowling ball-ish to say much else, so I'm going to sign off. See you.

Random/Useless Thoughts of the Moment

What's the appeal of Saved by the Bell? It wasn't a very good show, and yet it's been running continuously since it first aired twenty years ago. I like to think I'm a fairly intelligent person with an eye for quality television, and yet, if it's on, I'll watch it, even though I know it's not that great. Even when it was still airing new episodes, I knew it wasn't that great. I remember thinking as a ten year old that it "really went downhill once Screech's voice changed". It always bugged me too how every non-main cast member student was some sort of stereotype, and how all of the classes seemed to be held in that one room across the hall from Mr. Belding's office, and how 75% of all classes were taught by Mr. Tuttle or Mr. Dewey. And still, God help me, if I come across an episode, odds are I'll stay with it at least until the commercial break. Maybe they have some kind of hypnotic thing going on, like that episode where Zack put a hidden message in a song to get Bayside's female student body to fall for him during that Valentine's Day, heart-swapping thing.

Now I don't know what's worse. That I admitted to watching Saved by the Bell*, or that I made reference to an episode.

*I caution to add that that's infrequently, if ever. Just so we're clear.

Declarative George Sez...

Things I Kind of Wish Were Still Around: Volume Three: Addendum

Here're a few Stella shorts from the live stage show the Stella trio used to perform back in the day. I caution that the material in all of the shorts might not be exactly... family friendly, but they're funny as all get out.

(By the way, the first short, "Audition", is probably my favorite of the lot, and closest to the "Stella" TV show.)

Things I Kind of Wish Were Still Around: Volume Three

Stella was one of those shows that was under (and badly) promoted and died before it had a chance to catch on. Which is a real shame, since it could've found a "Flight of the Conchords"-esque following if it had been given half a chance. A simple enough premise -- and curiously not unlike Conchords -- a trio of idiots living in New York and their various, outlandish misadventures. More 'out-there' than Conchords, it's easy to see why it didn't catch on. I have a friend who enjoyed Conchords and eagerly watched every new episode, but he couldn't handle more than half an episode of Stella. Thing is though, once you get past the uneven pilot episode, Stella gets really great. In fact I still eagerly bring out the DVD collection of the show at least once a year to re-watch (and it's worth noting here that if you are interested in checking out this 2006 DVD release that you're in for a bit of work there -- it was hard enough to find when it was new, and even then I think I had it special ordered).

The best episode of the ten episode run was probably "Meeting Girls", which has the three leads that make up comedy trio Stella, Michael Ian Black, Michael Showalter, and David Wain, finding romance in a New York redneck bar after winning the respect of the bar's patrons with a Coyote Ugly style dance on the bar counter. I'm reluctant to go into greater deal to avoid revealing too much of the episode (and because my description sounds kind of lame and I'd hate to put anyone off from wanting to watch the show).

It's hard to write about Stella in such a way that'll draw people into the show, because it really is one of those things you have to see for yourself. If you have a good sense of humor, you'll probably enjoy the show. It was really cut off at the knees and given enough time could have found an audience, especially as the Apatow-style of comedy (which wasn't so far off from Stella) started to become popular a short time after the end of the show (in fact David Wain, one of the Stella trio and director of several episodes of the show, is probably better known now for his successful film "Role Models").

If you want to check out episodes of Stella you can find them at the Comedy Central page for the show (or the Comedy Network page for the show, if you're Canadian). Check it out. It's an all right show that I wish was still around.

Saturday Morning Flashback Fun With Youtube

Am I the Only Person a Little Irked By This?

Have you seen this, have you heard about this? Apparently "Slumdog Millionaire" star Freida Pinto is being considered as the next Bond-girl in the upcoming 23rd James Bond film. Now it might just be me, and stop me if I've said this before, but is it so difficult to find an actress to play a Bond-girl opposite Daniel Craig who doesn't look like she's young enough to be his daughter? Now I'm not saying that Daniel Craig is an old guy or anything, and at age 40 he's pretty much as old as the other Bonds in their prime, but look at him:

The guy is craggy, man. And make no mistake, it works for the character. But when you're casting women in their early twenties, it really makes him look old and them look young. And personally, yeah, it's a little creepy for me. To say nothing of the fact that guys dating women nearly years younger than them in real life has never really sat well with me anyway.

It worked in "Casino Royale" because they had the time to build up the Bond relationship with Eva Green's Vesper Lynd to the point where I bought the fact that they might find some romance with each other, but that didn't stop me from making the lame joke about James Bond and his daughter (and Craig, twelve years older than Green, did look like her old man). Olga Kurylenko, who's only a year older than Green actually, looked more age-appropriate in "Quantum of Solace", but you still had the bit about Bond bagging Gemma Arterton's Agent Fields. And since Craig actually is old enough to be Arterton's father, well that... yeah, it didn't sit 100% with me.

Now as something of a Bond afficionado (I suppose beginning with 1991's James Bond Jr., I'm somewhat ashamed to admit), I'm aware this sort of thing is par for the course with the Bond films. In fact Roger Moore (who I'm not the least ashamed to admit was always my favorite James Bond), decided to step down after realizing he was older than the mother of his View to a Kill Bond-girl (I have mixed feelings about admitting "View to a Kill" being the first Bond film I saw, what with the pluses of Christopher Walken and Grace Jones). But still. Doesn't sit well with me. Just figured I ought to be the first guy to say that, even if everyone else seems fine with it.

Post-Script: I assured you that when I described Daniel Craig's appearance as "craggy", I was in no way attempting a joke or anything. I want to make it perfectly clear, dear reader, that I am not that lame. I just went with "craggy" because, at the time, it sounded better than "grizzled". I suppose it still does, which explains why I opted to add this after a read-through instead of simply changing it.

Oh, by the way, "Slumdog Millionaire" -- pretty good film. I see why it won the Oscar.

Right then.

My Update

Caution: The following post was written while under the effect of alledgly "non-drowsy" allergy medication and may be subject to randomness, a rambling tone, and curious uses of the word "bowling ball".

I haven't had a chance to check in in a little bit, the primary reason being that I'm visiting my mom in BC and find myself depending on a ten year old Compaq Presario for internet access. The bright side is that I have the perspective that using a computer that would have seemed cutting edge when I was in high school really isn't all that great, and that, really, my computer back in Hamilton, for all it's problems, really isn't too bad. It can actually play videos, for one thing.

The other reason why I haven't been around lately is I've found myself unable to think clearly without regular doses of Sinutab and aspirin, and even then I'm still feeling pretty bowling bowl-ish. No idea why this is the case -- I don't experience sinus headaches when I get colds, but I've been getting those "cold sweats" and general feelings of disorientation for a few days now. I suspected it might have to do with the dust that collected in my old bedroom (which would be the only thing that could affect my allergies since it's been raining since I got here), but as it is, I'm at a loss and feeling pretty out of it.

The trip has been worth it though, since it's been nice seeing my mom and all my stuff, and I've been enjoying Teletoon Retro, which I still don't get back in Hamilton. It's been great fun watching all the Looney Tunes, Rocky and Bullwinkle, and other programs. I've even caught a few episodes of Superfriends, but gosh, is it ever a messed up show. The first episode had Superman fall through a black hole and travel back in time to Krypton before it exploded (now I'm no scientist, but even I know they don't work that way), and through the use of some deus ex machina, prevent Krypton's destruction. When he goes back through the black hole and into the present he learns that because he was never on earth the Legion of Doom successfully took over the world. So naturally, instead of doing something as simple as sending his own younger self to Earth, Superman removes his device and lets Krypton blow up. Which is really messed up, if you think about it. And I figure since Superman didn't bother thinking about it, one of us may as well.

The last segment in the episode which had Aquaman and Black Vulcan stop the Titanic (which, naturally, sprung to life and began attacking people), by sending into an iceberg in the same area it originally crashed was pretty messed up too, but I can't decide if it was more messed up because of the whole 'real-world' aspect. Either way, the guys who wrote for that show were all kinds of sick, man.

Anyway, I'll try to check in soon. Bye for now, then.

My (Almost) Frustration

Last Friday I decided to get a copy of the first Scott Pilgrim book (Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life), having noticed some of the press surrounding the currently-filming, Edgar Wright-helmed production currently being shot in Toronto. And it was really terrifically well-done -- I burned through it in a few days. A really solid mix of video game surrealism and superbly honest and fully-realized characters.

On Thursday I got the second volume, which I finished today. Realizing how far along I was with the second volume (Scott Pilgrim vs. The World), and not wanting to lose any of my reading-momentum, I got volumes three and four yesterday (Scott Pilgrim and the Infinite Sadness and Scott Pilgrim Gets It Together). Which was a wise decision because volume three picks up moments after the end of volume two. In fact, I can't even imagine having to read the volumes with the year-long gap folks had to put up with when the volumes were originally released.

That said, I can't help but feel it's a bit of a kick in the head that I've jumped on the Scott Pilgrim bandwagon at this particular moment. The fifth volume, (Scott Pilgrim vs. The Universe), just came out and it'll likely be another year-plus until the sixth (and final) volume is released. And even then, it'll likely be timed to come out with the movie, which, as I've learned today, won't be out until the summer of 2010. And since I've been on a real Scott Pilgrim kick this past week, this is not that good. Still, the books are extremely well done and incredibly entertaining, so it's cool having all that to enjoy. And even if I still have a year to go I still have the fact that my friends have yet to realize how cool the whole thing is, so once they do finally hear about Scott Pilgrim I can act all cool and such because I was aware of it first. Not that I'll be a wiener about it or anything, but it's nice being ahead of the curve.

"Woman Calls 911 After McDonald's Runs Out Of Nuggets"

Have you heard of this? Do you know about this?

Apparently the story doesn't live up to the headline -- I got as far as the first few paragraphs before realizing this -- which is a real shame since it honestly sounds like the best news story of the year. Not only is it utterly ridiculous, but it involves one of my favorite words: McNuggets. I think the world would be a much better place if people said "McNuggets" more. It really is a fun word.

Prior to this, my interesting/anecdotal/stupid news interest was drawn toward a story involving a local florist who was scammed out of $22,000 by "Reverend Benjamin Wallace" of Ghana's Christ the King Cathedral. Apparently the florist was contacted and asked to make 850 gift baskets and wreaths, and, failing to question why a church in Ghana would hire a small Canadian florist to handle this, was majorly ripped off.

""If I come out even - no further ahead, no further behind -- I'm happy with that," said Yeomans.

""And lesson learned.""

I suppose all you can do at times like that is laugh -- you've got to admire taking it in stride and all that. I can't help but be curious why a con-artist is interested in $22,000 worth of gift baskets and wreaths though.