Daily Memory

Ever since we left our multi coloured ranch style 1970’s house, all walls were eggshell white at all times. I got fed up at 14 about the bare walls and wanted permission to paint my bedroom. Sponging had just become the new thing to do to walls, and I so wanted in on this.

Problem was, my father must have confused me for a single celled organism because he believed that I would not get any of my homework done because I would be staring at the walls. I assume he thought I would be seeing shapes and connecting dots or something. Regardless, I won out in the end and proceeded to make my bedroom the ugliest place in the whole house. I had settled on a green/blue base colour to represent the ocean and sponged a white paint on top.

These walls haunt me to this day.

the good, THE BAD, the ugly

Few things are as irksome as douche bags who have nothing to do with your business get all up in it. So some lady crapped out 8 kids on top of her other 6. Wow, that really sucks for her, not for me. At what point will my life ever be affected by her over active womb?

So here we meet Ulyses Gutierrez who is taking his hatred of baby makers to the masses. He is so angry he can barely contain it. With his cute pink sign that reads:

NO "MORE" BABYS

Other than a creative use of quotation marks, there is something shifty about our friend here. Upon closer inspection, I begin to realize that Ulyses is just a plant, brought out by the Umbrella Corporation!

That's right, the same shady corporation that brought us a plague of zombies in Raccoon City, is bringing us a plague of babies!

RUN!

Crap I want but don't need

Moisturizing Bath Bomb - Yuzu (Japanese Grapefruit)
Mooka Soap

French Pet Lobster Shirt
Zenotees

Le Sac - custom made

Asymetrical Urban Kilt - custom made
Maisy Brown

Taken

Taken was released in Europe a year ago, and from the reviews I have grazed over from those who watched it, they seemed to give it super high marks. They rated it high on action, comparing Liam Neeson to James Bond and praising the writer, Luc Besson, sounds like a good movie right? Well, yes and no. It had its moments where it could have developed into something more but didn’t. I liked the premise, but the execution appeared to me to be a TBS original film and not a major theatrical release. But as an American, I have most likely been jaded by Hollywood and do not appreciate the cleaver gems from our neighbors across the pond.

Neeson plays a divorced, retired CIA operative, whose 17 year old daughter lives with her mother and her new husband in a god damn palace or something. So, Neeson is hanging with his ex-CIA buddies and is asked to help in a job. Quick money for one night of being the body guard to a pop diva. Neeson shows his stuff protecting the talentless singer and is awarded her attention and a contact for his daughter who also wants to be a singer.

The next day we find that Kim, his daughter, is going to be following the band U2 on their European tour. People do this? Anyway, Neeson is not hot on the idea but we wouldn’t have a movie if the kid didn’t go and get into trouble right? Kim is told to call him religiously when she is abroad. So donning the ugliest denim jacket this side of the millennium, she and her friend are off to Paris.

At this point the movie picks up. The girls arrive and end up flirting with a cute boy and sharing a taxi. They get to the flat and begin to get situated, when Kim goes to the other wing to answer her father’s phone call. From where she is in the house, she sees men enter and grab her friend. Neeson tells his daughter to hide while he instructs her on what she needs to do in order to be found. She is taken by the men who pick up the mobile that Kim was talking on, when Neeson tells the man on the other end that he is a fucking killing machine and his ass is grass. I’m paraphrasing of course.

Hell yeah, it’s on. Neeson’s 12 foot frame travels to Paris to find his daughter who has been taken by sex-slave traders. Using his special set of skills, Neeson tracks down the clues through the trade ring, kicks asses and takes names.

I wanted to like the movie, I thought the idea of these “skills” of Neeson’s would translate better into the story than it did. I enjoy Neeson’s acting, but he is no action hero.

Daily Memory

The year was 1980 and I was three and soon to be ex-only child. I had already fallen in love with David Bowie and 3-2-1 Contact was the best show to appear on the airwaves. However none if this meant as much to me as my maroon corduroy bell bottom pants.

I felt like a grown up. These things made me cool. I would watch the cuffs sweep against each other. With each groovy step I made in these pants, they are sure to invite me to Sesame Street to hang out.

THE GOOD, the bad, the ugly

oh. hell. yeah.

Crap I want but don't need

For the body

Dolman-sleeve tie-waist dress
Banana Republic

Women's Cotton Twill One-Button Blazers
Old Navy

For the ears

Cobalt blue feathery Pendants
Sara Lagace

Raven Earrings
Nea

Plume
Embellish Jewelry

Mirrors

Ah, another U.S. remake of a Japanese horror. Apparently we do not know horror the way they do. I have not seen the original version, but I am very sure that it is not only better than this one, but truly terrifying. I’m not saying that this one wasn’t scary, I happen to find mirrors a frightful medium for horror. There were some great scenes and the end was enjoyable, what annoyed me was the story of how the demon got into and then back out of the mirror.

I think it’s great when a movie doesn’t waste time, our introduction to the horror of the mirrors is in the first scene where some shifty looking tooth pick of a man is running through the halls of some place in serious need of a make-over and ends in a locker room. Bad place to end because it is full of mirrors and holy shit, the man’s other mirror self takes on a life of its own (which is what freaks me out about mirrors) and proceeds to kill the man.

Enter the Keif. Again he is in law enforcement, or at least was. The keif plays a recovering alcoholic cop who was suspended for having poor aim and shooting another officer. So now he is a security guard on the night shift for a department store that was ravaged by a terrible fire several years earlier. So the building is in a legal dispute and is taking up prime New York real estate, not to mention funding a 24 hour security service to watch the place. We meet Keif on his first day as he gets the grand tour of the mirror filled building and is told that it stands where a psych hospital once stood. Of course, the ‘ol massacre in the hospital story. Not original.

So Keif works his rounds, finds the wallet of the man killed 15 minutes earlier and a name on a note, “Esseker.” Then he receives a package sent from the dead man from 15 minutes ago. I need to make a point here, if tooth pick guy knew Keif was replacing him, should he not have known not to hide in the locker room? Whatever. So Keif shares this with his sister whom he is living with after separating from his wife. He begins to see things in mirrors, and not just the mirrors in the store, but any reflective surface. His sister thinks he’s off his head, but changes her mind when her evil mirror self rips off her jaw in the bath.

He fears that the demon will come for his family next, which it does actually by making friends with his extremely freckled son. But once his wife sees the creepy mirror doubles she finally stops being a fiery Latino and believes that he is not in fact certifiable. Keif searches for the mystery of “Esseker” believing that this person has the answers and the ability to end the evil.

The movie lost all credibility for me once they unveil the demon. It is my opinion that horror movies are best when you never see the being or monster causing the havoc. Anyhow, it ends with a twist and redeems itself. I didn’t hate it, but it is not on par with the US remakes of The Grudge or The Ring but is not as bad as the remake of One Missed Call, the crappiness of that movie still haunts my dreams.

the good, THE BAD, the ugly

This sign appeared in the ladies rest room at work today. It appears as though someone has been leaving floaters. Perhaps it's the same someone that leaves them in the stalls of The Cheesecake Factory, I'm always finding them in there.

Nasty.

the good, the bad, THE UGLY

At first I felt bad, then I saw that the artist was from Texas and the painting is not in fact free, as it should be.

Seriously, what the hell is the zebra on the left doing exactly?

Daily Memory

Yesterday's memory of the Vuarnet tank top really got me pondering the pinch rolled jeans. I did this in 1990 and thought it was the height of knowing fashion. I would roll and re-roll them in order to get that super tight ankle and mutton chop calf look. I am not sure what my motive was for doing this other than everyone else was.

Three years ago, skinny jeans made their way via the EMO scene to appear in every store nationwide. Oh how I feared the skinny jean.I was afraid that I would be impressionable enough to be sucked in and the next thing you know, I will be pinch rolling cuffs again. I did eventually end up buying the skinny jeans and avoided the curse of the 90's. But when I saw Tom Cruise's robot wife walking about with pinch rolls and J. Crew began advertising their denim in this way, I started to sweat. Somehow they pulled it off, almost making it look good, for a heart beat I started cataloging which pairs of jeans I owned that I may too accomplish this fresh new look. I think I need an intervention.

the good, THE BAD, the ugly

I am alone in the cruel dark world. No one can ever understand the pain that is in my heart because I am too complicated and unique. I am going to text message my fellow loners and we are going to the Hot Topic to purchase more of our dark garb from the only store designed for the only people who understand how tragic and empty this life is. Later I will watch The Hunger and wallow in my own misery.

Crap I want but don't need

Today it is about my zombie love.

German Zombie Declares Love For Blood
Cat-Rabbit

Zombies need love too .. pillow
Cipolla

YOUR MOM IS A ZOMBIE Women's Tee
Strange Little Duck

Dawn of the Dead 8x8 print
Hen-N-Chicks

Be Kind Rewind

Not as funny as I was expecting for a Jack Black movie, but I thought it was a clever premise. It was a quirky movie about a video store in a low income area in New Jersey that rents only VHS tapes. The store looks like a post apocalyptic supply closet that happens to have a small collection of videos. The shop is not doing well and is under threat of demolition, despite the owner’s insistence that the jazz legend Fats Waller was born in the building and is therefore a historic site.

The owner, Mr. Fletcher is resigned to the fate of his shop and goes on his yearly memorial for Fat’s death leaving his only employee played by Mos Def, to watch the shop giving him strict instruction to not let Jack Black into the store. Because we all know what comedic pudgy guys do when the grown-ups are away. So Mos Def is able to keep Black away for all of 1 minute. Black goes on a night mission to take down the local power plant for reasons only a paranoid conspiracy theorist could understand. Black is caught in some electrical booby trap and becomes magnetized and without fail goes straight to the video store where his new found superpowers proceed to erase every tape in the shop.

Once discovering the erased tapes the two panic and are very close to being ratted out by Mia Farrow. So Def and Black try to trick Farrow by filming a reenactment of Ghostbusters using a hand cam and staring themselves. The movie is 20 minutes but becomes a success when one of Farrows multiple adopted family members sees it and asks for others like it. Dubbing the movies as being “Sweded” the pair start an endeavor to re-film the erased movies and rent them at a higher cost with the hopes of saving the building.

Craziness ensues with the two characters acting out the roles in the movies. Slowly, the customers become part of the process, acting out their favorite characters in their favorite movies. It is a cute movie about pride in ones community and history. I liked the movie for its originality, what I didn’t like was it didn’t feel cohesive, which was disappointing coming from the director of Eternal Sunshine.

Daily Memory

The early 90's. A time of day glow, acid wash and ankle cinched jeans. We moved back to Virginia at the beginning of the 90's, and I was desperate to know how to be cool and fit in. This attempt lasted for a year. This was the year that the only people willing to talk to me were the bible kids and I was fresh meat. But during a retreat the camp was holding, and like a social experiment, I tried to emulate the trends. I found that the standard attire for a 14 year old in 1990 was a sleeveless Vuarnet t-shirt, where the underarms are cut deep enough to be able to see the contrast colour of the sports bra underneath, and then it is capped off by a pair of Umbro soccer shorts.

I didn't even play sports. Seriously, what was I thinking? Jesus and Vuarnet? The 90's officially sucked.

Crap I bought but don't need

Previously on the Crap I Want post, but my hands and wrists were feeling way too crunchy to put up with nothing but the best.


Microsoft - Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000
Best Buy

THE GOOD, the bad, the ugly

Oh yeah, this just happened. Someone created the gun from the video game Portal from the coveted Orange Box for XBox.

The sad thing is that it doesn't actually work.

Crap I want but don't need

Herman Miller Aeron Chair
Zwello

I just love cats so god damn much!
Hot Digital Dog

Hand painted portrait on mug or plate - made to order from photo
I must have this now that I think about it. How great would it be if my honey and I could drink out of the other ones head.
House of Harriet

Death Race

Whooo! Fast cars, explosions, carnage, Jason Statham’s marble mouthed British accent and Joan Allen’s Nancy Reagan neck, all of this equals to a bad ass movie. A remake of the 1975 movie Death Race 2000 staring Sylvester Stallone and David Carradine who makes a cameo in the beginning of reprising his role of Frankenstein before his untimely death.

The concept. In the not so distant future (four years to be exact) our economy collapses and our society revolts. Crime is on the rise, unemployment is a full time job and Corporations run the nation’s prisons for profit. So, Joan Allen runs the Terminal Island Prison who hosts the Death Race where the terminal prisoners race one another to the death for their freedom. We are propelled into the front seat of some shitty tin box with a masked bastard and a sexy Latino. This makes no God damn sense at all to me but it’s an action movie, it’s not supposed to. So there is some banter where the masked bastard Frankenstein is commanding Latino lady to fire off various Inspector Gadget gadgets but nothing appears to be working. Latin Lady ejects from the car and Frankenstein goes up in a ball of flame. Good by Carridine.

We are then treated to Statham working in a steel mill that is closing due to the ongoing recession. But no worries, this is the future had McCain and Palin won. Statham takes his measly last few dollars and goes home where his wife is cooking and his baby daughter is sleeping. We see the happy family for mere moments before a ninja comes in and kills his wife and frames Statham for the murder. Our economy is so bad we no longer have detectives or lawyers so he is shipped to Terminal Island to rot. Oh, but Nancy Reagan neck has other ideas for our steel mill worker, turns out he is a fantastic driver and once raced professionally. The Death Race is televised via the internet and to view the delicious carnage, a large subscription fee is required. Frankenstein was a big hit with the viewers and thus must continue to race, a bit hard to do when you have been charbroiled.

Wouldn’t you know it, Nancy neck devised the plan of framing our favorite steel mill worker in order to make him drive for the Death Race by enlisting the help of a psychopathic prisoner who happens to be in the Death Race with our heroic steel mill worker. Seriously, what a bitch. With the threat of never seeing his daughter again, marble mouth dons the magical Frankenstein mask gets a crappy tin box to drive, three inmates as his pit crew and the same God damn Latino bitch that killed the first Frank.

Statham as Frank races against his fellow tough-as-nails inmates with the sole intention of killing the man who murdered his wife, taking down Nancy neck and getting his freedom and his daughter back. But in order to do this, violence must happen on the race track.

Gore! Explosions! Ridiculously happy and predictable ending! A good view for an evening with the kids.

Daily Memory

When I was around 4 years old, I had a Wonder Woman bathing suit so that I could play in our wading pool. I also had a Little Orphan Annie suit but that is another story for a different time. So one afternoon I'm hanging out in my Wonder Woman get up, positive that by wearing this suit, I am in fact Wonder Woman herself. To complete my costume and thus become my favorite super hero, I begin to fashion her wrist cuffs out of tin foil. I was so thorough as to complete the cuffs with her embossed stars. Once I have completed everything, I swell with pride and show my mother and ask her if I can deflect bullets now that I have silver cuffs.

She responded "No."

I died a little that day.

the good, THE BAD, the ugly

What luck that this epic battle was caught by the Google van.

I saw a fight like this go down at the MIT quad last summer. I don't know who won, but my money was on the pudgy little guy in the floppy hat.

Crap I want but don't need

Today it is all about pants.

City Fit Surplus Chino in Golden Cyress
J. Crew

Essential Wide Leg Pants
Garnet Hill

Corey Wide Leg Pants
Quicksilver

Cherish

I stumbled across this movie in my “Independent Film” phase in my life. This phase is now the zombie phase, but we are not talking about flesh eaters right now. I was enamored of this film and instantly had to track down the DVD so that I could gobble every bit of it up. Then I had to buy the soundtrack because it was almost as awesome as the movie itself.

Zoe is a shy and insecure computer animator who loses herself in music. She calls the local radio station under the name of “Natasha” and requests the syrupy love songs of the 70’s and 80’s. One evening she goes out to a party in hopes of interacting with her coworkers. However when she leaves the party, Zoe finds that there is a stranger in her car who panics and causes her to hit and kill a police officer. The assailant flees and leaves Zoe to take the blame for the accident. Zoe is sentenced to house arrest until the trial and is given an ankle bracelet allowing her only 57 feet of space. She leaves her posh apartment for a studio in the cheaper part of the city and is forced into a solitude she is not secure enough to handle.

Zoe begins by trying to escape the confines of the bracelet and the apartment only to set the alarm off and causes her parole officer, Daly, to take steeper measures to ensure her house arrest. Slowly time goes on and Zoe becomes less uncomfortable with herself and begins to see that the only way out is to clear her name. She begins to take control of her life and her actions, creating friendships with the people in the building and with her parole officer. With Daly’s belief that she is innocent and that there is a mysterious man out there that caused the death that she is blamed for, he helps in providing her with information and a the ability to find the man who has been stalking her.

I became enamored of the main characters quirky personality and love for sappy radio tunes. It was a light hearted movie about murder, confinement and good old fashion detective work. The soundtrack kept the movie from becoming too grounded in reality, letting the viewer know that this was nothing more than a house arrest fairy tale.