Articulated Vulgarities

AMC Best Picture Showcase: Day 2 Recap

The AMC Best Picture Showcase finished in spectacular fashion last night.  The two-day event (in the Detroit market) was capped off with the two front-runners for Best Picture, while the rest of the day was filled with films that seemed to only get better upon repeat viewings.

I'm happy to report that the overall quality of the prints used this week was far better than last.  There were some occasional color fluctuations, and Inception went wonky for a few minutes when the projector seemed to display the bottom half of the picture on the top of the screen and vice versa, but it was quickly remedied. 

I'm also happy to say there was a much larger, much more mature crowd in attendance, with none of the obnoxious inappropriate laughing or drinking that occurred last week.

Things kicked off right at 11 once again with Winter's Bone, an emotionally taxing tale about a 17-year-old tasked with taking care of her family in the Ozarks.  Her mother is nearly catatonic, and her father, a meth cooker, is on the run from the law.  In order to post bail, he signed away his house and land, and if he doesn't show up for his court date, the family gets thrown out.

Winter's Bone is a bleak movie, with dreary, shady, and sometimes frightening characters.  Though it's set in present-day, it almost feels like another time and place.  Where civilized society aims to be courteous, particularly to women, this self-contained world of drugs and relative poverty solves its problems with violence, and it doesn't matter who they hurt.  Several scenes are difficult to watch, not because of any excessive gore, but because the very nature of the acts being committed.  Through it all, Jennifer Lawrence keeps her chin high and never backs down in her outstanding performance, but as good as the overall film was, it never struck me as being in the same class as most of the other nominees.

Second in line was Black Swan.  Directed by Darren Aronofsky, whose amazing The Wrestler was also a Best Picture nominee, and starring Natalie Portman in a role that is almost sure to win her a much-deserved Oscar, Black Swan is a subtly disturbing, psychologically complex film that was enjoyable the first time around, but exceptional the second.

Portman plays ballet dancer Nina Sayers who has just been cast as the Swan Queen in a new production of Swan Lake by her stoic, temperamental director, Thomas (pronounced "Toe-MAH", and played note-perfect by Vincent Cassel).  Nina is dedicated to perfection, but repressed and unable to handle the mounting pressure of everyone expectations, including her overbearing mother who treats her like a child and lives vicariously through her daughter.  As she goes deeper and deeper into the production, trying to find the center of the production's evil twin, the black swan Odile, Nina becomes more and more unstable.

I call Black Swan "subtly disturbing" because there are numerous visual tricks in the film that you may not even be sure you saw.  The expression of a painting shifts, a reflection in a mirror lags a half-second behind the real person in front of it, Nina's face appears on strangers she meets, and all sorts of other unsettling things show Nina's reality slipping away from her.  Aronofsky's direction is nothing short of brilliant, with sweeping camera motions to simulate Nina "flying" during her dance routine. 

Even the now legendary masturbation scene, the reason I'm sure a lot of guys consented to see the movie with their girlfriends in the first place, has a deeper meaning as Nina discovers her mother sleeping only a few feet away - as though she can never escape her watchful presence, become an adult, and just let loose.  Black Swan was a film I didn't think should have had any legitimate chance to win Best Picture until yesterday afternoon.

Up next was the two and a half hour marathon that is Inception.  Ironically, though I saw the film on the day of its original release and loved it, this was the film I was looking least forward to.  Much like Black Swan, however, Inception also gets better upon repeat viewings. 

Christopher Nolan's science-fiction action-thriller is so dense, watching it again helps make sense of the story, and where everything is taking place.  It speaks to the strength of the story that when it was over, I was still discussing the ending, and discovering new theories that may prove or disprove the reality of it all. 

It's nearly impossible to do a synopsis of a picture this long and this layered, but the basic premise is that Dom Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his team are tasked with implanting an idea into the head of a young businessman who has just inherited his father's empire.  For Cobb, this last, nearly impossible task is a way back home to see his family after being forced to leave America to escape a murder charge. 

As you might expect, things don't go smoothly or easily for Cobb's team.  Inception has a lot of big action setpieces, and a lot of the type of dialogue you'd expect in a Christopher Nolan film where losing focus for one second can be the difference between understanding and not understanding the picture.  It's immaculately shot, the visuals are stunning, and Hans Zimmer's score is remarkable, but once again I felt like it was only nominated because they needed a tenth film on the ballot.  As much as I love Inception, and Nolan's work as a whole, it just never felt like a film of Best Picture caliber.

After a delicious dinner break at Buffalo Wild Wings, we returned for my personal favorite film of the year, The Social Network.  Visionary director David Fincher has long been one of my favorites, and I am a stalwart fan who feels he has yet to make a bad picture.  The Social Network, however, isn't just good - it's miraculous.  With Aaron Sorkin's fantastically verbose, sharp-witted script, The Social Network is a true American classic - a film that captures a space and time in our generation, tells an interesting and twisty story, as well as being a phenomenal character study.

Jesse Eisenberg's performance as Facebook founder Mark Zuckerburg is enthralling, and far cry from the lighthearted, goofy kid he has played in most of his other films.  However, it's an absolute crime that neither Andrew Garfield or Justin Timberlake were nominated for Best Supporting Actor for their respective roles as Facebook co-founder and former CFO Eduardo Saverin and Napster founder Shawn Parker.  Timberlake is especially surprising, playing the slick, fast-talking, seductive Parker, who manages to ensnare Zuckerburg with his glitzy, glamorous lifestyle.  Zuckerburg wants to be that guy that everybody around town knows, and it's easy to see why he lets Parker drive a wedge between him and Saverin.

Fincher's direction is as perfect as it's ever been, relying on his usual dark and somewhat gritty look, and the cinematography by Jeff Cronenweth (son of the legendary Jordan) is astoundingly beautiful at times, particularly during night scenes and the opening credit sequence. 

What's most impressive about the film is that it works on multiple levels, and is never once boring or drags.  Sorkin scripts are always heavy on dialogue, but always enthralling, and this one is no different.  The idea of a movie based on the creation of Facebook may not sound appealing, but at its heart The Social Network isn't really about Facebook so much as it is the site's creator.  Some have criticized the film for over-dramatizing certain events, and for a few instances of complete fiction, but let's not forget that this is a movie - not a documentary - and its first aim is to entertain. 

The Social Network is a movie about a man desperate for something more, desperate for validation.  He doesn't want to be another face in the crowd, and his determination isn't driven by greed.  The irony that a man who created the world's most popular social networking site is socially inept himself, and he doesn't seem to care who he steps on to achieve his goal. 

Even after five viewings, including two in less than 24 hours, The Social Network still keeps me riveted to the screen, picking apart every line of dialogue, every facial expression, and every piece of scenery.  It's just that good.

So good, in fact, that I was sure the much-ballyhooed King's Speech would be a letdown.  Nothing could be further from the truth, however, as both Geoffrey Rush and Colin Firth give marvelous performances as speech therapist Lionel Logue and Prince Albert, the Duke of York, respectively. 

Set mainly in the 1930s with World War II approaching, Albert - who later becomes King George VI - searches for a doctor who can help him overcome his embarrassing stammer.  He meets Logue through his wife, whose unorthodox methods seem silly at first, but eventually take hold and help build a friendship.

Much has been made of Firth's performance - his explosive bouts of anger, his realistic stammer, and his excellent dramatic scenes - but Rush stole the picture for me.  His sense of humor is disarming and designed to make his patients feel at ease, and he eventually wins over the stoic Bertie (Prince Albert's nickname).

Once again, the cinematography is beautiful - from locations around the country, to Rush's simple yet attractive home - but the score by Alexandre Desplat was the real standout.  Gorgeous orchestral arrangements ranging from whimsical to introspective, and a few traditional English and classical pieces thrown in for good measure, fill the film and sell the emotion of every scene, whether they're supposed to be funny or sad. 

By the time it was over, I found myself questioning what my favorite picture truly was.  The King's Speech deserves every accolade it has received, but The Social Network is still ultimately my favorite - though I can't say I'll be disappointed if either of them, or Black Swan wins the coveted golden statue.

After twelve hours in a theater, I was still ready for me, but alas the event was over.  Minor quibbles aside, it was an incredible experience and I definitely plan on making it a yearly tradition. 

AMC Best Picture Showcase: Day 1 Recap

I'm baaaaack...!  That's right, folks.  I'm going to get back into this here blogging thing.  Or at least I'm going to try.  After all, I'm still paying for the blogs, so I might as well use them, right?

As I type, I'm desperately trying to dislodge a piece of popcorn kernel from between my teeth.  It hurts, but I suppose it's a small price to pay for the 11 hours of entertainment I enjoyed today at my local AMC Theater, where my friend Chris and I took part in the AMC Best Picture Showcase.

For those of you who are unfamiliar, for the past five years AMC Theaters has put on an all-day film festival where they show all of the films nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars.  Since the Academy recently increased the number of nominees from five to ten, some markets split the event over the course of two days, which is what they're doing in Detroit. 

I had previously seen six of the ten nominated films, and three of those were only on poor quality bootleg, so I was excited not only to see the four films I hadn't seen at all, but also the ones I hadn't seen on the big screen yet. 

Two-day passes are only $60, and with that you not only get access to all ten pictures, but a nifty little lanyard, $20 worth of AMC giftcards ($10 per day), and a theater-sized poster featuring artwork from all ten nominees.  I was hoping for something on the artistic side, but was disappointed to find it was little more than cutting and pasting smaller pictures of each film's individual poster, but I suppose I can't complain since it was free. 

This being a long event and showcasing films that aren't necessarily part of the mainstream moviegoer's interest level, I was hoping it would be free of douchebaggery.  Alas, one can never be free of such things because douchebags breed like roaches, and as a result, we were subjected to their antics, which included laughing at totally inappropriate scenes (because they're so cool), being extremely homophobic (look, it's OK if you have questions about your own sexuality; you don't have to fight it - there's no judgment in the theater), sneaking alcohol into the theater, and becoming progressively more obnoxious as the films went on by talking louder and gesticulating.  In the immortal words of Pam Grier as Jackie Brown, "Shut your raggedy ass up, and sit the fuck down!"

Douchebaggery aside, the biggest problem of the day came from the quality of the prints shown.  Two films looked like they'd been handled by a badger, with deep, prevalent, and constant scratches, and all the films suffered from occasional color problems, and large amounts of dust and dirt.  It makes a strong case for AMC Theaters to go all-digital, because the event itself is excellent and well-organized, but it was slightly marred by the picture quality problems.

Bearing that in mind, I don't want to give the impression that it in any way ruined the experience.  Truly, it was an absolute blast and I cannot recommend it enough if you're a movie buff.  Hopefully AMC will strive to continue improving the experience, and the turn-out warrants doing so. 

The event kicked off right at 11 AM with Toy Story 3, the final chapter in Pixar's incredible CG saga.  Though it may seem out of place in a list of movies that includes a guy who cuts his own arm off, a film about a lesbian couple raising children, a gritty western, and a docu-drama about a Massachusetts boxer with an overbearing mother and a crackhead brother, Toy Story 3 resonates with emotion.  Sure, it's laugh-out-loud funny at parts, but I've hardly met anyone who's seen it and not been moved to the point of tears by its poignant ending.

Up next was 127 Hours, the true story of mountaineer Aron Ralston who became trapped by a rock in Bluejohn Canyon in Utah.  James Franco, who has already proven his meddle with critically acclaimed performances in films such as Milk, gives a one-man tour de force performance.  Though described by one foolish viewer as "Castaway without Wilson," 127 Hours is an intense and inspirational experience.  The scenes where Franco speaks into the camera, lamenting on his own selfishness and expressing his regrets, are heart-wrenching, to say nothing of the now famous amputation scene. 

Though the scene is intense, it's as tastefully shot as someone amputating their own arm with a dull pocket knife can be.  Danny Boyle's direction is as artful as ever, contrasting scenes of extremely beautiful vistas with Franco's intense, emotional whirlwind of a performance, and by the end of the picture you can't help but feel uplifted by the fact that Ralston survived through sheer force of will.  It's a true testament to the power of the human spirit.

After such a heavy movie, The Kids Are All Right brings some light relief.  A drama at heart, punctuated by moments of levity, the film tells the story of a lesbian couple and their children who, unbenownst to their parents, have sought out their biological father.  Annette Bening and Julianne Moore both give incredibly strong performances, which isn't surprising from Bening at all, but Moore came as a huge shock to me.  I've never been much of a fan, apart from her role in The Big Lebowski, but upon seeing The Kids Are All Right I couldn't help but wonder why Bening was nominated for Best Actress, but Moore was not.  Mark Ruffalo, who was also nominated for Best Supporting Actor, gives arguably the best performance of his career as the somewhat hippie-like sperm donor, being equally likable and annoying.

After an hour break for dinner, where we enjoyed some Piping Hot Arby's, things resumed with Chris' favorite picture of the year, the Coen Brothers' retelling of Charles Portis' novel, True Grit.  Originally made into a feature film in the late sixties with John Wayne, the Coen Brothers' version retains the same basic plot from both the novel and the film, but is decidedly...more Coen-esque.  Laced with some sharp humor, particular from Jeff Bridges as the one-eyed drunken US Marshall Reuben "Rooster" Cogburn, and a few scenes of gritty violence, True Grit is an interesting film to be sure.  It doesn't stand up as well to some of the Coens' other work, such as the Oscar-winner No Country For Old Men, but it has a decidedly similar style and tone.  As impressive as Bridges is, 14-year-old Hailee Steinfeld's performance has earned her a head-scratching Best Supporting Actress nomination.  This is puzzling, to say the least, as she is the film's main character - the one whom the entire story revolves around, as she hires Cogburn to exact vengeance on the man who killed her father.  How this doesn't warrant a Best Actress nomination is beyond me, as there is hardly a scene she does not appear in, nor indeed steal the show.  Though she is pushy and obnoxious at times, Mattie as played by Steinfeld is stout and determined, even in the face of danger, and is a tough negotiator. 

Equally impressive is Matt Damon, who shows more of his versatility as Texas Ranger LeBoeuf.  Self-assured and hot-tempered, LeBoeuf takes quite a beating throughout the course of the film, but ultimately shows his heroism, and Damon's performance is outstanding.

The final picture of the evening was Darren O. Russell's The Fighter.  Based on the true story of boxers "Irish" Micky Ward and his brother Dicky Eklund, The Fighter captures the drama of Ward's chaotic relationship with his family, and the excitement of his real-life boxing matches.  The fight scenes in the film were choreographed to perfection using the actual broadcasts as references, and Ward's real-life trainer, Mickey O'Keefe, actually appears as himself in the film.  Amy Adams breaks from her usual upbeat, lighthearted roles to play the tough-nosed Charlene, a beautiful bartender who drives a wedge between Ward and his overbearing family members, most of whom seem more concerned with Dicky's long-past fame than with Micky's career.  It's great to see Adams branch out, and despite her beauty, her face shows her resolve as she tries to help Micky out from under his mother's thumb and she demonstrates that she can play tough characters very well.

Mark Wahlberg gives a fine performance as Ward, but it's Christian Bale who absolutely steals the show with yet another in a long line of incredible performances.  Few actors dedicate themselves to their craft the way Bale does.  His profanity-laden rant on the set of Terminator: Salvation may have been YouTube gold, but his work always speaks for itself and The Fighter is no exception.  Eklund, a former boxer who coasts on his historic knockdown of Sugar Ray Leonard, has devolved into a crack addict with delusions of grandeur, and Bale looks the part.  Though he still shows some muscle, Bale once again lost a significant amount of weight for the role (though not nearly as much as his famously emaciated appearance in The Machinist), and he pulls off Eklund's Massachusetts accent with near perfection, as evidenced by the footage of a much older Eklund and Ward during the film's credits.  The way I see it, he's a shoe-in for Best Supporting Actor.

After 11 hours in a movie theater, you would think I would be suffering from a severe case of ass fatigue, not to mention a sore back, but surprisingly (and amazingly) I feel neither.  In fact, I feel like I could have sat through a 24-hour marathon of all ten films, which some markets were lucky enough to get.  Now that it's over, I cannot wait to go back for the final five nominees next week, including Winter's Bone, Black Swan, Inception, The Social Network, and The King's Speech.

Christmas Recap 2009

It was a different kind of Christmas, that's for sure.  Less than a month after my Dad died, we had to find some way to regain our Christmas spirit, and for me I found happiness in giving. 

First off, I surprised several friends with unexpected gifts.  They were mostly just gift cards, but not a single one of them expected anything and their reactions were the first step to making me feel better.  I guess it was sort of self-serving in a way, because I knew it would help pick me up, but at the same time I wanted to brighten their days as best I could.  I hope I succeeded, and judging from their reactions, I think I did.

I had planned on getting some of my closest friends something small this year right from the start.  Without them, I don't know how I would've made it through this awful year.  When my Dad died, putting the little cherry on top of the shit cake that was 2009, I decided I would split the money I was going to spend on him amongst all my loved ones so my friends and family all ended up with a little more than I'd originally planned on.

Surprisingly, reading my friends' status updates on Facebook also went a long way towards making me happier.  Knowing that one friend in particular was going through similar emotions and seeing her find happiness warmed my heart, not to mention the rundowns on other friends' Christmas activities. 

Christmas Day was a little tougher, but with the help of family and friends, we made it through.  My brother and I both got up considerably earlier than we normally do on days off and I began texting everyone my Christmas wishes before we exchanged gifts.  I'm happy to report that throughout the course of the day, each and every friend or family member that I texted wrote me back - another small act that filled my heart.

My brother asks for the same thing every year - CDs.  He gives me a long list, and I pick and choose random things from it (although, like me, he will often denote items of import, so I know to buy those first).  This year, the list was especially long as he is still replacing the collection of CDs lost in the house fire.

I began by purchasing all of Faithlesses canonical albums - Reverence, Sunday 8 PM, Outrospective, and To All New Arrivals (he already had No Roots).  However, rather than buy him the standard US releases, I purchased the 2CD import releases with bonus CDs, as well as their instrumental-only album Everything Will Be Alright Tomorrow. 

In addition to this, I bought him the Duran Duran singles box set.  This is a nice little collection of all their singles leading up to their album Big Thing, when the original lineup lost its first member (drummer Roger Taylor).  Each single is individually packaged inside the outer box with its original artwork.  He also received the CD/DVD version of The Flaming Lips' At War With The Mystics, and the out of print Pet Shop Boys 2CD remastered version of Introspective.  These PSB remasters are becoming absurdly expensive as they become harder to find, but his collection is nearly complete, lacking only the album Very. 

Finally, I picked up a copy of Skinny's Taller from Amazon UK.  This CD was never released in the United States, which is a shame as it remains one of our favorite records.

The hardest part of the day was undoubtedly visiting my Dad's old house.  Though his wife is out of town, we are watching his dog during that time.  We had brought him to our house on Christmas Eve, but rather than leave the dog alone in a brand new house and risk him "doing business" on the floors (or worse, the furniture), we dropped him back off at his house.  Seeing my Dad's last Christmas list on the fridge was heartwrenching. 

Julia, his wife, had told us that we could take my Dad's books, as she knows he would want us to have those.  My Dad had a wall of bookshelves, filled from top to bottom, so there was too much to go through and we were in no mood for it, but I did take three of his beautiful leather-bound collector's books - Dracula, The Divine Comedy, and a collection of Edgar Allen Poe's works.  I chose to think of them as the last Christmas presents I would ever receive from my Dad, which was both sad and uplifting at the same time - almost like he was still here, but not.

The dog back at his home, we headed to my Mom's, where we spent the remainder of our day.  We stayed for just under 10 hours, had a delicious prime rib dinner (oh yeah, that's how we roll on Christmas), watched The Hangover (again), and just enjoyed being together.

Though I only bought two things for my Mother, they both totalled a pretty significant chunk of cash.  First was her favorite perfume, Victoria's Secret Basic Instinct.  This has been discontinued for several years, but unused bottles are still readily available on Ebay.  My Mom has issued a standing order that as long as we're able to buy it, she would like a bottle every year. 

Secondly, I got her a silver Pandora bracelet with March and August birthstones (mine and my brother's birth months, though March is coincidentally her husband's birth month as well) from Jared Jewellers.  Oh yes, I went to Jared.

As for myself, I must admit I was incredibly pleased with the gifts I received.  It is fairly customary that I know a great deal of the items I'm getting, but my Mother always goes overboard and buys a ton of things I wasn't expecting.  This year, her total had to be well over $400, despite her insistence that we not spend too much because money was tight for her too.

My brother got me Silent Hill: Shattered Memories for the Wii, a fantastic re-imagining of the first game in the series that makes the best use of the Wii remote I've seen since the machine's release, and a pristine, complete (case, artwork, manual, and demo disc) black label copy of Parasite Eve, one of my favorite games for the original PlayStation.  Yes, I asked for an 11-year-old game for Christmas.  I'm a collector, so shush.

He also replaced my Massive Attack hoodie, another lost item on account of the fire, and purchased a new Album Leaf track jacket, which I love to death (it's brown with white accents and a white leaf logo embroidered on the left breast).

From the long list I'd written, he chose Fargo, Knocked Up, and the critically acclaim BBC documentary series Planet Earth on blu-ray, which is not only one of the best demos for how amazing blu-ray looks, but one of the most enthralling documentaries ever produced, and a copy of Bell X1's CD, Flock (the US version where the song "Eve, The Apple Of My Eye" was added to the tracklist).  Finally, he surprised me with a copy of the new unauthorized, uncensored oral history of The Simpsons.  This is particularly awesome because he bought it knowing I was a big Simpsons nerd, and just days ago I was talking about how interesting that book looked after I'd heard about it on the radio.  I jumped right into reading it, and it has been sufficiently fascinating so far.

My Mother and I actually went through the Amazon Marketplace several weeks ago and I picked out all the remaining Michael Slade novels I needed to complete my collection, including Shrink (aka Primal Scream), Hangman, Death's Door, Bed of Nails, Swastika, Kamikaze, and Crucified. 

Naturally, she surprised me with some clothes as well, including several Arrow dress shirts I had remarked I liked when we were all out shopping for suits for my Dad's memorial services, as well as a gorgeous Detroit Tigers hoodie I casually pointed out. 

One of the smallest and best surprises was a hardcover edition of Maurice Sendak's classic Where The Wild Things Are.  I lost my old softcover, handed down to me by my brother, in the fire.  Now this book can proudly take its place on my shelves next to The Annotated Alice and Dracula as one of the greatest books ever written.  Where The Wild Things Are holds a very special place in my heart from my childhood, so I'm thrilled to have such a beautiful edition of this book back in my collection.

Finally, my brother and I both received a Canon SD1200 digital ELPH camera.  I was never completely happy with the Nikon Coolpix L20 I purchased back in March of this year.  This Canon, on the other hand, is a phenominal point and shoot camera.  I don't know the first thing about photography, really.  I just need a camera I can take good pictures with at concerts and whatnot.  I put this thing through the ringer last night and the results are unbelievably impressive.  Check it out for yourself...

This was taken from more than halfway across the room with only a floor lamp and the optical zoom maxed out at 3x.  If you save it to your hard drive and zoom in using Windows Photo Viewer, you will note that you can read the spine of nearly every CD captured (except those obscured by glare).  Perhaps even more impressive is this...

Why is a messy computer desk impressive, you might ask?  Because this shot was taken in a pitch black basement.  No light of any kind.  So dark I couldn't see my own hand in front of my face.  I zoomed in and snapped a shot of whatever I was aiming at, and the result is a perfectly clear picture of Brad's computer speakers.  Again, if you zoom in, you can actually read all the fine print on the back of his subwoofer. 

As I get to play around with the settings, I think I'll love this camera even more, but right now it's already the best point and shoot digital camera I've owned.  It's simple enough to just take photos, but offers enough flexibility if I want to adjust things like the exposure, white balance, and all that nonsense.  

All in all, it was still a great Christmas.  The time spent with family was fantastic, even though the stop at my Dad's house wasn't the way it should have been.  I still managed to stay in good spirits, and seeing the reactions of my friends and family really helped bring me joy this year.  I can't promise I'll buy everyone small gifts every year... but I also can't promise that I won't.  Perhaps since my Dad is gone, I may just have to make that a yearly tradition, but I guess we'll see when next Christmas rolls around.

I hope everyone had a great Christmas as well.  To my family and my wonderful friends, I love you! 

Catching up

OK, so it's been more than a month since I last posted again.  In my defense, plenty has been going on - and I have been updating Media Junkie sporadically.  That's gotta count for something, right?

Don't worry, blogosphere, I haven't forgotten about you.  My boring, mundane updates will return with more frequency soon enough, and then you'll be wishing I stopped posting again.  "Jesus, he played video games AGAIN this weekend?  Doesn't this guy do ANYTHING else?"

The biggest (and best) news is that we're moved back into our new/old home.  It's nearly impossible to tell there was ever a fire here, and a multitude of delivery men can attest to this after they reacted with shock upon being told.  There is still plenty to be done - we need to hang curtains, hook up our dryer (both of which will be done today), decorate a little more (all the walls are still barren), and I'll need at least 2 more CD/DVD towers so I can begin organizing my media - but it truly is our home and it's great to be back.  I'll post pictures.  Eventually.

I did get the first of several DVD towers the other day and I began the arduous task of cleaning off all my games that survived the fire.  This has led me to believe that Clorox Wipes are the greatest invention in human history.  Better than electricity, better than the wheel, and definitely, most certainly better than fire.  Those things can clean anything!  I may just stop showering.  Every morning when I wake up, I'll just wipe myself down and come into work smelling fresh - or like lemon, orange, or lavender, depending on which package I go with.  Let's see ordinary soap do that! 

Anyhoo, most of the cases were actually fairly well off.  Other than being covered in soot on the tops and spines, they were in good shape.  The artwork is waterlogged to varying degrees of severity - some look kinda trashed, some are just kinda wavy, and some are practically pristine - but slightly ugly cases is a hell of a lot better than having to rebuy some 300+ video games.  (Yes, I do own that many legit, store-bought video games.)  I will need to replace my PlayStation 1 CD jewel cases, however.  All the games that were on the top shelf of my former rack got the most damage, and the majority of my PSX cases are hopelessly melted.  Unbelievably enough, the discs inside are just fine; the cases just took the brunt of all the damage. 

My brother is also in the process of replacing all of his gear.  He chose to wait until we moved back before replacing his stereo equipment and home entertainment thingamajigs.  He also made his first leap into the wonderful world of high definition television with a beautiful 52" Toshia Regza 120Hz LCD TV.  I have a Sony 46" 60Hz LCD TV.  There is something dreadfully wrong with this picture.  He doesn't even know what 120Hz MEANS!  I tried to convince him to take my TV, which I paid the exact same price he did for his superior set, but he wasn't having any of it.  Seems he knows just enough about HDTV not to be swindled by me.  Curses!  Foiled again!

Last night I spent the evening at the Fillmore (better known as The State Theater to us Detroiters) to see comedian Daniel Tosh and his brand of deliciously offensive humor.  Tosh is one of those comics where nothing is off-limits.  He is not for the easily offended, and that's why I like him.  He seems to be able to find a way to make anything funny.  Domestic violence, rape, stereotypes, Michael Jackson (although, to be fair, he was a pedophile and he deserves it)... One of the better examples was the tragic story of a boy who was killed on a trip to the amusement park with his church youth group.  You may remember this story in the news: the boy had lost his hat on the rollercoaster, so he went into the fenced off, restricted area to retrieve it and was decapitated when the rollercoaster passed overhead.  It wasn't the coaster itself that got him, but a woman's leg, which was shattered in multiple places, forcing her to wear a cast.  Tosh pointed out that this woman would have the best "how'd you break your leg?" story ever, and we all laughed.  Maybe that makes us all horrible people, but let's face it: I wasn't getting into Heaven anyway. 

There's only one week until Halloween - the night when freeloaders knock on my door with their hands out, expecting delicious candy.  Don't they know there's a recession going on?  If I'm buying candy, the only stomach it is going to end up in is mine.  Plus, I'm fat and we fatties are not easily persuaded to give up our sweets.  You're going to have to do a lot better than a costume, I can promise you that.  Maybe if you offer to exchange another, more desirable candy for what I possess...

The strange thing about Halloween is that I haven't gone out since I was about 15, yet I still get excited for it when it rolls around every year.  That's when Doom came out, and that's when I decided I'd rather stay inside and shoot demons with a bag of $4.00 bite-size Butterfingers than walk around in the cold, sweating under a mask, hefting a bag of free candy.  There's just something about the atmosphere of the season.  I still find myself firing up the original Doom or its sequel every October 31st and playing for an hour or so, just out of some weird, nerdy tradition. 

We haven't given out candy in years, not that there are many kids to give out candy to in my neighborhood anymore, but somehow we still get kids knocking on our door, ringing our bell, and shouting out "trick or treat!"  Dude, the porchlight is off!  That is the universal sign for GO AWAY on Halloween.  DO NOT WANT.  We handle them the same way we handle solicitors: We just ignore it until they go away.  Even if they can see us walking around in the house, we just pretend we didn't hear them and they'll leave eventually.

Truth be told, I actually haven't had much time to play video games or watch movies.  It's amazing how many things you need in a (for all intents and purposes) new home.  For example: The first week we moved in, I went grocery shopping.  This was about three weeks ago and I still have two full meals to make, so I spent quite a bit of money to fill the cupboards and fridge with food.  I also bought a frozen apple pie, just as a sort of celebratory treat.  I was getting all set to make it, pre-heated the oven, and that's when I realized I had no way of getting it OUT of there once it had been cooked because we lacked an oven mit or hot pads.  DAMMIT! 

We've made a dozen trips to Bed, Bath, & Beyond, using loads of those expired 20% off coupons (how awesome is it that they take those no matter how old they are, by the way?), and we still keep discovering things we need.  Half of this stuff you just never realize you need until you reach for it and it's not there.  

Things are finally slowing down a bit though, so I'll soon be able to return to my passtime of sitting on my lazy behind with a controller in my hands, playing games I'll probably never finish.  I recently purchased EA's NHL 10 for my Xbox 360, and I can truly say it's the best hockey video game ever made.  I am not a fan of EA as a company, but they really nailed it with NHL 10.  It's so good and so realistic that it's even fun to lose.  Gone are the days of EA's infamous rubber band AI where you could be up by 10 goals and the computer would suddenly go on a hot streak and catch up in the span of 5 minutes.  Gone are the days where you could even SCORE 10 goals, at least on higher difficulty settings.  No, you have to work for each and every goal, and that's what makes it so rewarding.  I react the same way to scoring a goal in the game as I would if I were at the rink and my team scored - I stand up, shout, and clap.  You'll score more goals with great passing, cycling the puck through the zone, and setting up great shots than fancy deke moves (though you can still beat the goalie, and the defense, individually with skill players - just as in real life).  More importantly, when you lose, chances are it's your own fault for playing sloppy defense, not because the computer cheated you out of a victory.  It's much easier to swallow a loss when you know it's because you just didn't play well enough, and since the games are usually close, even the losses tend to be exciting to the finish.

So that's the bulk of the happenings around these parts.  I really can't tell you how good it feels to be back home.  The feeling is just indescribable as I look around the house that is so much nicer than it was before, but still retains that basic layout I'm so familiar with.  Now it is time to remove my ass from this chair so I can plant it in another one and play another hockey game.  Thanks so much to all my friends for all their support over the past 7 months! 

(Wow, that ending was a little disjointed, huh?)

Take 2 (now with more to offend people)

Please welcome the newest addition to my family...

I'm not going to lie

Life sucks right now.

This has been the shittiest year of my life and it just continuously gets worse. Every time things start to look up, something else happens to smack me right back down.

I try to be happy, I try to be a supportive friend, but I'm just getting worn out. I am completely overwhelmed by everything going on right now and I cannot handle it.

Obviously we are still dealing with the house, and I just got the news that we have to go back into that mess to pull a bunch of shit out for the insurance company (if you want to look at it, why don't you pull it out? You certainly had no problem taking my PC out, which I still have received no explanation for). On top of that, one of my very dear friends was recently diagnosed with breast cancer. She assures me she's going to be fine, and I know great advances have been made against it, but the words "cancer" and "fine" are two things that don't go together in my mind.

Then there is shit that is so bad I can't even talk about it. It just sits inside, festering, rolling around in my brain with a million "what ifs".

I thought things were getting better around my birthday. I had an amazing four-day weekend filled with concerts and good times and it felt like I was really turning a corner. Then the avalanche of shit just came down and I'm having trouble dealing with it. I was sitting at my desk this morning and just watching people put things in my inbox made me want to run screaming from the office. I kept it together and did my work, but I don't think I have the strength for anything beyond my daily routine anymore. I can't take any more problems or crazy, life-altering events. Believe me, folks, the house is the LEAST of it at this point.

I couldn't even go to lunch with a friend today because my mood is so bad and it would have been a miserable, boring, uncomortable time. This used to be my outlet for getting things off my chest, but I can't even do that anymore.

I wish I could just say "fuck it" and move on, but I can't. It doesn't work that way. I can't pretend life is all sunshine and roses and ignore the problems I'm facing. I need to be prepared for whatever is going to happen next. Burying my head in the sand and waiting for it all to get better is not an option. What scares me is the thought that it WON'T get better.

I can't believe this really happened

There will be a full, detailed write up of this whole event later this weekend, or possibly Monday, but for right now I just need to brain dump.  I can barely even process that this happened.

Long story short: Jason Lytle of Grandaddy played an impromptu acoustic set at Scrummage University in downtown Detroit this afternoon.  My brother called me at 1:10 and told me the show was at 2:00, so we raced down there.  We got to meet Jason, chat a bit, and witnessed a very intimate solo set from the confines of someone's living room.

To say it was fucking incredible is an understatement.  This is undoubtedly one of the greatest weekends of all time.  Margot & the Nukes on Thursday, Lytle today, and The Silent Years on Sunday - three of my favorite bands/artists all in one weekend.

As I said, a much more detailed write-up will be forthcoming on Media Junkie when I have the time, but for now here are the untouched pictures.  There are two I cannot post just yet because I need to edit Jason's address and phone number off the airport tags.  I have several videos as well, which I'll post later.  I should be getting a complete video recording of the show from one of the guys at the show, who filmed it all on a tripod camera.

If anyone knows of any good free photo editors where I can hopefully adjust the brightness/contrast, please let me know.

   

The weekend is over?

Where the hell did it go? 

Honestly, I am ready for all this insurance business to just be over with. 

Do you know what I spent my weekend doing?  Filling out inventory sheets for State Farm.  Dozens and dozens of sheets with only 13 lines per page.  Do you know how many sheets of paper it takes to list all the contents of your house?  Today we spent more than 8 full hours filling out sheets, obtaining prices, and trying to remember where we bought stuff from.  I don't do that much work at my actual job (um... please disregard that if you're reading this, Emily).

As an added bonus, today's festivities were interrupted by a trip to the emergency room at Royal Oak Beaumont Hospital!  Hooray! 

We were merely in line at the drive-thru when I started feeling extremely hot and nauseous.  I laid the seat back, but I seemed to feel even worse so I started breathing heavier, trying to calm myself and having the opposite effect.  I began to hyperventilate. 

This has happened once or twice in the past, but never this bad.  I was sure I was having a stroke, as was my mother who has worked in a doctor's office for over 30 years.  My family has a history of strokes.  Both of my Grandparents on my father's side had severe ones in their later years, and my Grandmother on my mother's side has suffered from multiple strokes. 

As we sat there waiting for our food, my breathing became more intense, both my arms began tingling and getting numb, and my speech became slurred.  I've had the tingling sensations before, but never experienced slurred speech, which is a very common sign of a stroke.

Being the stubborn ass that I am, I refused to go to the emergency room right away.  As we drove away from the fast food place, I rolled the window down and the cool air hitting my face made me feel better almost instantly.  In less than a minute, it was like nothing had ever happened.  My speech returned to normal and the tingling was gone.  We arrived at my mother's to work on our inventory lists, and I declined all offers to go to the ER, saying I felt fine and we needed to get to work.

It was only after talking to Deanna on the phone and her strict orders to get to the hospital that I decided it might be a good idea after all.  The trip was blessedly short and uneventful.  They did an EKG, which looked good, and a bunch of neurological tests designed to test your motor skills - raise your arms, smile, wiggle your tongue, move your foot around this way.  Everything was fine.  The doctor even listened to my carotid arteries to make sure it wasn't caused by some blockage or clot in my neck, but he was satisfied that it was nothing more than hyperventilating and sent me on my way.

I had no idea that hyperventilating could cause slurred speech, and neither did my mother, but even Wikipedia lists it as a symptom so I guess I learned something today.  I don't quite know what brought it on, but I'm just glad it was nothing more serious.  I've had my fill of shitty news this year.

There were some bright spots in the weekend.  We spent a few hours with my dad last night to celebrate our combined birthdays - his 60th and my 30th.  This afternoon, before the ugly episode obviously, we also ran to Target where I picked up a nice new digital camera - just in time for the two (maybe three) big concerts this upcoming week.  It's a Nikon Coolpix, so nothing super-fancy, but it does what I need it to do and the pictures I've taken so far look fantastic.  Even though it's a 10 megapixel camera, like my Norcent that I lost in the fire was, the picture quality is noticeably improved.

As I mentioned, there's plenty to look forward to at the end of the week as well.  Margot & the Nuclear So and So's will be playing at The Blind Pig in Ann Arbor, one of my favorite venues, on Thursday.  I decided to take Friday off to recover from what will undoubtedly be a late night.  On Sunday, we're heading to the Red Wings/Wild game in the afternoon, then it's off to see The Silent Years at The Magic Stick.  I took next Monday off as well, making it a nice little four-day weekend. 

The big news is that Grandaddy's Jason Lytle may possibly play an impromptu set in the Metro Detroit area on Saturday.  He's currently looking for places to play during his 7 hour layover on his way home from Europe.  My brother and I are feeding him names and numbers so he can call and attempt to get a booking, and if it happens, we are SO there.

At the moment, however, I am going to la-la land.  I'm exhausted from my stressful day.  At least problems with my brain none there are...

Finding the Positives

I know, I know - "Enough with the fire updates already!"  But this is good news!  LOTS of good news!

If you read my post about last Sunday's walkthrough (complete with pictures), then you already know that my DVDs, a majority of my games, and apparently my clothes appeared to be salvageable.  Well, I can now confirm that my clothes should, by and large, be 100% A-OK!

We took my beloved Grandaddy "Ghostie" t-shirt out of the house as a test.  My mother ran it through her plain old washer and brought it back to me last night smelling, as Outkast might say, so fresh and so clean.  Seeing as how all my shirts were in similarly undamaged, but smelly condition, they should all be wearable again - save maybe a handful that were a bit more exposed to the smoke and water.

That's not all, though.

MY HARD DRIVES ARE SALVAGEABLE!  In fact, as I type this, I am copying over all my pictures from my primary C: drive on my old computer to my new one, thanks to Chris, who let me use his external USB hard drive enclosure. 

While he was here, he also hit me with a big surprise.  He produced a bag that contained a very nice hardcover edition of Thomas Harris's Hannibal, as well as a $50 Amazon.com gift certificate from he and his wife as an early birthday present.  I can't even begin to describe how touched I was by that.  I'll be buying some more books and CDs tonight!  Thank you so much, the both of you! 

Just as I was hoping, finally getting to perform the walkthrough of the old house seemed to be the turning point.  Now we know what we can salvage, and what we have to replace, and we can finally start moving forward.  It has been almost nothing but good things ever since.

Walking through the house also helped put everything into better perspective for us both.  Sure, we're still bummed about the things we lost.  The picture of my melted TV gives me heart pangs every time I see it, but think about this: Would you rather escape with your life and lose all of your earthly possessions, or die surrounded by nice things?  If we had gone to bed even a meager ten minutes sooner, we could possibly both have been killed, and after seeing the damage the fire caused to the house, the prospect of being trapped inside it is indeed terrifying even looking back.  I am very thankful we all got out OK.  My stuff can be replaced; my family cannot.

Whatter?

Astute readers (those of you who are viewing via Google Reader are missing out) may have noticed that I have added a little section over to the right.  That's over here, for those of who you are directionally challenged. -------->

It is called "Recent Tweets".  After signing up for a Twitter account months ago and not doing anything with it, I finally decided I would start tweeting... or Twittering... or tweetering... or whatever the kids are calling it.

For those who are not in the loop, Twitter is basically like a little mini-blog.  Think of it sort of like updating your Facebook status throughout the day, except you don't just have to put how you feel or what you're doing.  You can write a short little message to describe something funny, or give an example of douche-baggery that you encountered, and yes, provide other mundane updates that nobody really cares about. 

I figured I would use it to cover things I see/say/do/hear/experience that don't necessarily warrant a full-length blog post - stupid license plates, interesting happenings, not-so-interesting happenings, intelligent quotes, not-so-intelligent quotes, random thoughts, whatever. 

Why would I do this?  Obviously, I am a narcissist and I crave attention. 
In reality, the same reason I do pretty much everything else, including blogging - to amuse myself.
Do you need a better reason than that?

You can follow my Twitter page here if you are so inclined, but don't feel obligated to.  I mean, I'm gonna do it either way...