A Movie Review: Blue Valentine

Blue Valentine. This is a movie where I attempted to see who was most to blame for the break-up: the husband or the wife and I came to the opinion that neither was to blame for the pain of their marriage. Of course, the problem is that not enough information is provided. You get glimpses of the start of their relationship along with the final couple days. There isn't much in between, which is frustrating but perhaps that is why my opinion is correct: neither is really to blame.

You do get some hints of what is happening:

1. You have two individuals who aren't perfectly matched in terms of class. Dean doesn't even have a high school degree. Cindy has a degree in nursing. We also know that Dean came from a broken home and that his father was a janitor. We know that Cindy, even though her family was highly dysfunctional, probably had a more middle class upbringing.

2. There are clues towards the end of the movie that Cindy considers Dean manipulative.

3. We also know via their stay at the hotel that Cindy doesn't provide much physical comfort to Dean.

4. We also know that Cindy wishes that Dean would do more with his life -- achieve his full potential.

5. We do know; however, that both have been faithful to each other even though that faithfulness doesn't add up to much. Cindy has the better opportunity in the marriage to cheat. We know there are two guys (and perhaps more if the movie revealed more) that wouldn't have minded having an affair with Cindy. This right there might have moved Cindy towards thoughts of divorce as it is always greener on the other side.

In the end, we're left with a bleak look at the collapse of a marriage.

A Movie Review. The Chronicles of Naria: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. So I was a little hesitant about seeing this movie after noticing that the critics didn’t exactly give this a thumbs up. Some of the criticisms I read: the special effects weren’t cut rate and the storyline was about a quest that didn’t have much excitement to it.

Honestly, I didn’t mind what I saw on screen in terms of special effects. It worked for me though I thought the Dawn Treader looked more like a toy than an actual ship. This didn’t have anything to do with the special effects, but with whoever designed the ship.

As for the quest, I enjoyed the quest. Temptations abounded. Heroes were made. Fears became reality.

Now I’m not saying that there weren’t deeper themes that could have been explored, but let’s be honest that this isn’t a movie for adults. This is a movie for kids. And C.S. Lewis wrote the book for kids. So why expect more. But here are some complaints: the complex relationship between King Caspian and King Edmund could have been explored more deeply. And let’s face it, Eustace was a total irritant for half the movie. As said; however, for a movie that is focused as family entertainment, this movie fits the bill.

A Vons in Pasadena

I was at a Pasadena Vons recently to buy some bread (not my normal grocery store as I don’t live in Pasadena). I was heading off to my friends’ house for lunch. I got my bread and got into the checkout line. There were two people in front of me and one in back. I swear that the cashier knew each of their names. And I don’t believe it was because they swiped their Vons card. I believe she said hello to them immediately. Maybe I’m wrong, but if true it was surprisingly refreshing. A little bit of small town USA in SoCal.

Malibu State Creek Park

small group of us went to Malibu State Creek Park on a Saturday afternoon. Some photos below.

Some props from the TV Series MASH below.

Dreams: Two dreams in one

Kind of an interesting transition of dreams.

So I'm home and for some reason my family wants to visit the principle of my old high school. They tell me his name, but for the life of me I can't remember who he is so I look him up in the Year Book. Oh yes, I remember him. There is a photo of him with his wife and I'm like, "Didn't his wife die and he got re-married." (In real life, this is a fact.) So my mother and brother want to head out immediately, but I want to stick around with my dad and watch a little football. For some reason, I swear it was a San Diego Chargers game versus a Steelers game. Finally, I feel guilty for making them wait so long so I head out the door. They're in this big SUV. I'm like, why are we taking an SUV. Why don't we take that car over there? The other car having far greater gas mileage. No, we want to take the SUV, they say

And then the dream shifts to my car. I'm taking it into the dealership. I run by my normal service rep and I feel guilty, because I had just dropped my car off to some random service rep. I go over and say, Sorry about not dropping my car off with you, but I'm in a rush. He is also in a rush and says that it is no big deal as he runs off to see a customer.

And that was the end of the dream.

The 5th Annual Dre Day at Blue Star

Up on Intraffik with a photo series from the 5th Annual Dre Day at the Blue Star. More photos below.

Over-all, a great night like always.

A Movie Review: Tangled

Tangled. I wasn’t planning on seeing this movie, but then a friend told me it was really good. So off I went. And yes, it is a really good movie about a kidnapped princess and a charming thief. Compared to current cartoons, this might seem an understated movie, but it is wonderfully done. I’d say think of last year’s Princess and the Frog.

My one complaint: That hair started to get under my skin. It started to have the look of a slithering golden snake at times. I was so happy when towards the end of the movie the hair is braided. They should have put it in braids much earlier.

A Movie Review: Love and Other Drugs

Love and Other Drugs. Are there situations in life where love just isn't enough? Though this film doesn't really address that question head on, it does probe around the edges and asks you to make that call.

I've recently become a big Anne Hathaway fan so this was a movie that I wanted to see. It is a movie that revolves around two individuals: Jamie Randall (Jake Gyllenhaal) and Maggie Murdock (Hathaway). The two of them run into each other when Jamie Randall (a pharmaceutics salesman) is invited into the examination room by a doctor who is examining Maggie. That run in doesn't work all that well, but somehow the two find each other interesting. The hitch is that Maggie has Parkinson's Disease, a point that I didn't know until Maggie is introduced into the movie.

Though this isn't a perfect movie, I did enjoy it. The movie doesn't revolve around Maggie and Jamie. There is a side story that shows the dealings that go on between doctors and big pharma. Though it doesn't dig into this issue (this is a romance, not a drama) is does provide you some interesting insight (though how much is exaggerated must be taken into consideration).

A Movie Review: Somewhere

So a few weeks back I did my first movie review over on Intraffik.com. It was for the movie somewhere. Go check it out.

Potentially considered a spoiler -- a little bit more on the movie.

The last scene of the movie left me confused. What was Johnny Marco doing? He had a daughter he had to pick up and yet he seemed to be doing what his wife was doing, off trying to find himself. Well, I started to think about this and for some reason I think this is how the story concludes: I think those last few moments in the film show a father deciding to leave his Hollywood life behind (at least for a few years). He is trying to find somewhere that is appropriate for his daughter.

In the movie, we see his daughter breaking down in tears. She is afraid of not having her parents. Her mother may never return. Her father is off making movies and is seldom around. Johnny is seeing things through his daughter’s eyes and it is impacting him, changing him. For example, while in Italy he has an Italian acquaintance drop by for a night of sex. The next morning the acquaintance has breakfast with the family and Cleo is not that pleased, giving her father the evil eye. Later in the movie there is a moment where father and daughter are playing around in the hotel hallway. They enter their hotel room. Johnny goes to his bedroom and sees a starlet nude in his bed. He tells her this is not an appropriate time and quickly rushes his daughter out of the room. He is seeing that his lifestyle does his daughter no good.

Duke vs. Miami: 81-71

An amazingly boring game, which was good. Yes, Duke fell behind a few times, but it never felt like they were in danger. Even when Nolan Smith got his second foul along with a poke in the eye, they kept on playing at a high level.

Seth Curry played a solid game, scoring 16 points off of 10 shots. The Plumlees continues to get their rebounds and also got their scoring going. Also, in my opinion, their interior defense looked solid -- though, of course, it could be driven by the fact that they were playing Miami. Andre Dawkins is getting playing time, but his shot just was dropping. Ryan Kelly had an efficient scoring game, making 4 of 5 shots in only 15 minutes.

The fact that Duke continued to play well in the first half with Nolan Smith on the bench is a really good sign.

Duke Basketball vs. Carolina: 79-73

At the beginning, this felt like the St John's/Florida St games. It started out bad with Carolina coming out with an 8-0 run. And it didn't get much better with Carolina leading at half time 43-29. Yes, Duke wasn't shooting all that great, but I think Carolina led at the half mainly because Duke's interior defense stunk it up. I was almost resigned to seeing Carolina blow us out in our own building.

What stood out was how Nolan Smith just kept Duke in the game. And the fact that in the final seconds he was able to break away when they were having trouble inbounding the ball and was able to get a dunk. What also stood out was Seth Curry helping push Duke to the lead. Kyle Singler was essentially a non-factor on the offensive end. In fact, when he attempted what would seem an easy put-back, one of the Carolina players just took it out of his hands -- I believe it was John Henson. On the other hand, the announcers mentioned that he was keeping Harrison Barnes in check. Give up some offensive points for some solid defense.

As for the second half, it was a different story. The interior defense tightened up with the Plumlee brothers leading the way. And what is amazing is the fact that they did it by committing only three fouls.

I have to give the most beautiful sequence to Carolina, however. I believe it happened around the 15 minute mark in the second half. One player missed a jumper (I believe). Another player got the offensive rebound and attempted a shot. He missed, but another Carolina player grabbed the rebound and put it in. I'm telling you, it was almost like watching a wonderful trick-basketball sequence.

Jenny O, Everest and Micky Adams at Bootleg

It was off to The Bootleg to catch Micky Adams, Everest and Jenny O.

It is too bad I can't find a link for Micky Adams as it was a most amusing set. He had us clapping and singing along. He also had a number of friends there that night. In fact, I do believe about a dozen people left right after his set.

Everest was up next and they just blew me away. They are playing practically everywhere this month of February.

Closing out the night for me was Jenny O, the resident for February. She had a two backup singers for a couple songs. One being Lauren Rocket from the band, Rocket.

Mickey Adams

Everest

Jenny O

A Movie Review: Red

Red. I didn't plan on catching this movie, but I noticed how well it was doing at the box office so I decided to see why. What a fun movie. It had me laughing throughout and there was some nice intrigue to toss in, as well. The movie starts out with Frank Moses (Bruce Willis) in retirement. He's bored and it seems his only enjoyment in life is talking to Sarah (Mary-Louis Parker), a helpful pension agent, that he has a crush on. Well, things quickly develop into explosions and gun play. Frank Moses was involved in an undercover job in Central America years prior and someone is out to get him for it. Sarah gets involved due to her contact with Frank. Frank brings in some fellow retirees; highlighted by Joe (Morgan Freeman), Marvin (John Malkovich) and Victoria (Helen Mirren), to help him out. The retirees still have some life in them and the result in awesome mayhem.

Lonely Trees and Kiev at Bardot

One of the first Los Angeles bands I fell in love with outside of the old Kiss or Kill scene was Monsters are Waiting with front woman Annalee Fery. It is, of course, totally awesome that she's returned to the music scene via Lonely Trees. And so it was off for a second time to catch
Lonely Trees at Bardot where they were backing up the residency band Kiev. This was also the second time around for me to catch Kiev.

So while hanging around the Bardot to catch Lonely Trees some random guy came up to me and asked me which bands were playing. I mentioned to him the two bands I knew were playing. He then asked who was playing next and if Annalee Fery, who was standing next to her synthesizer, was in Lonely Trees. I told him yes and he immediately started to head towards her. Amusing.

Lonely Trees really ruled Los Angeles with their set -- even if it included a broken guitar string, all the better to poke off any potential competition.

Comment of the night: Annalee, you look really lovely in that dress tonight . . . Please return it back to me after the set.

Kiev came on next. Here's what I love about this band: they let their music develop via these long improvisational riffs. I could be wrong, but I don't believe they did the standard 8 song set. When I see them again (at Bardot or elsewhere), I'll have to keep a song count in my head. It is a let-the-music-embrace-you approach. And hey, I hear a little influence of Sting playing a role here.


Lonely Trees

Kiev

Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Green Bay Packers: 25-31

An exciting game with the wrong outcome.

The big pain point for the Steelers was their 3 turnovers. I can understand that the first one could be considered a fluke. Green Bay coming in for a hit at just the right moment. As for the other two, those were just pathetic. What is worse is the fact that Green Bay scored three touchdowns off of those turnovers.

Both the offense and defense kicked it into higher great in the second half to make this a game. Unfortunately, a final turn-over ended their roll.

I had two main concerns about the Steelers all year long: special teams’ play and their defense against the pass. The special teams didn’t give up anything, but the pass defense did get beat – as can be seen by the score (though admittedly, the Steelers also had success passing the ball). Green Bay did only rush 50 yards.

At the minimum, the Steelers didn’t get blown out of the game as was the concern in the early going. And they did have that last chance to go down the field. If only they hadn’t used two time outs earlier in the half, they might have had a more relaxed attitude in the last minute plus of the game.

Next season . . . and draft recommendation: draft some cornerbacks and perhaps a lineman or two.

The Shakers at Fox & Hounds

It was a return to Fox and Hounds to catch The Shakers -- first time since Rob Z ended his Girls Rock night. A fun filled 45-ish minute set.

The Mulhollands, Suddyn, Barb Wire Dolls and Prima Donna at Sunset Room

It was off to the Sunset Room (Club Romper Stomper) to catch The Mulhollands, Suddyn, Barb Wire Dolls and Prima Donna.

The night started out with catching most of Suddyn's set -- maybe missed a song. They power rocked their way through their set. They hail from Ireland, but currently reside in Los Angeles. The Mulhollands hit the stage next. Sometimes I key in on certain things. For The Mulhollands, I swear that Sarah Jeanette's microphone stand now has a slight bent to it. After dragging it across multiple stages, it is slowly curving. There were two Jeffs on stage. The Mulhollands' Jeff and the ex-Automatic Music Explosion Jeff. Barb Wire Dolls went up next and as the title hints, the lead singer exudes sexuality. They hail from Greece, but like Suddyn, currently reside in SoCal. They actually made a comment regarding Greece, saying how thankful they were to be in the States playing music versus having to protest in the streets. A nice little economic commit that perhaps went over the heads of many who were probably thinking, "Oh, I thought she said she's from Greece, I guess she's from Egypt." Prima Donna was the headliner for the night. As they were setting up, I again focused in a microphone stand. The lead singer appeared to be doing some stretching exercises with his microphone stand -- making sure he was loosened up properly. And then right before their set, there was a marriage proposal. This I believe is a first for me, seeing a marriage proposal at a local music venue. The crowd was pumped up, especially one guy who jumped up on stage, grabbed a microphone and started to sing along with the band. He eventually sprawled out on the stage. The sound guy looked for security, but upon not seeing any he went up on stage and started to drag the fan off. Finally a security guy showed up and there was a discussion that hinted that the fan was getting tossed, but the fan begged for mercy. Mercy was given -- a nice move by security, props there.

Anyways, as I was leaving for the night, I was looking around to say good-bye to some friends. I made my way into this area behind the Sunset Room. I ended up in the middle of a hip hop party. Interesting double use of the space.

Suddyn

The Mulhollands

Barb Wire Dolls

Prima Donna