Each year we hope for it and most of the time it works out. Since someone quoted the same common knowledge last week, I believe it's not something I made up myself : "If you have a long, hard or cold winter, the summer is going to be early and warm." So considering we had quite a few weeks of low temperatures and some snow we should be in for a treat and feeling the rising temperatures outside we might get lucky. The delicious smell of meat on the barbecues, warm sun shining on your head, talking with friends sitting in the park on a bench eating ice-cream and lots of good concerts to go to ... don't you wish you were there yet ?
Song of the week : "East Hastings" Godspeed You Black Emperor
Oldie of the week : "Journey To The Centre Of The Mind" Ramones
Last seen movie : " Double Indemnity" : a true classic from the early forties. A black and white film noir which introduces what would become the clichés of the genre : the femme fatale, the reluctant (anti-)hero who gets caught up in a web of lies and betrayal, new found love or lust and the necessary murders ...
Sometimes I wish movies were still like this : decently made and new and refreshing. At the time off course ... nowadays you tend to focus on some of the wooden acting, sexist portrayals of women and over the top scenes. But that's all due to the shifted mentality of the viewer over the past sixty years since this movie was made. It still deserves credit for the masterpiece it was and somehow still is.
"28 Days Later" : I hate director Danny Boyle. This movie is the first one since I was twelve (or something) that really really really scared the hell out of me. I don't mean shivers and prickly hairs in the back of my neck (like with The Ring a few months ago) but jumping up in my seat, feeling nauseous, heart-in-throat kinda stuff. Right after the movie we all dove into our favorite cocktail bar and hit the bottles heavily. No kidding. A day later I had to go down in the basement to replace a fuse. No biggie, but when the lights went out (they're on a timer) and I turned around (arms stretched) to search for the switch, first thing in my mind was "cool, swaying my arms like a zombie". Needles to say my heart stopped briefly not more than a second later. Man, I loved that ! Finally there was a horror-zombie-like movie scaring me senseless !
The movie itself is based on the "virus escapes, kills lots of people, some survive and must defend themselves against evil forces". Nothing original ? Well, you're wrong. The virus isn't what kills you, the "zombies" (lacking a better description) aren't dead and the acting, directing, stage-setting ... hell, even the digital camera-work and excellent music-score add to an eerie atmosphere in the beginning, culminating into a shocking wake-up call.
What I liked most was the fact that you don't get to see too much of the atrocities. There's no room for extreme gore, beheadings and the usual slasher-stuff. Most of the scenes have a chilling suspensefull buildup and that adds to the brutality of the way the characters are behaving. A masterpiece, alas not for the faint-hearted ones ... In short ? I love director Danny Boyle.
"Lilo & Stitch" : Enjoyable and quite funny Disney for once not based on a fairytale of some sort. Written around the 25th anniversary of Elvis' death, this movie has some nice Elvis classics and a hawaian setting. Solely set up to tell a tale of friendship and family (what'd you expect, it's a Disney) with an alien twist. Heavily spoofing the mad scientist theme, godzilla and even men in black it's a refreshing little gem.
Doing this week : Have you noticed ? I'm catching up on the movie-reviews ! Just a few more and I'm done ! Alrighty then !

Editorial - 23 April 2003

Just when everyone was getting used to the weird quirks and handy options of Windows 2000 Server, MS is releasing the next version. aptly titled Windows 2003 Server. Probably followed very soon by Office 2003. Which is the new version of Office XP (which is actually Office 2002). Now, releasing a new server - that I can dig - but a new Office version ? Already ? The other one's not even a year old and was supposed to be excellent ? And this time there seems to be next to nothing new in it ? Home-users ain't gonna like it. Some magazines are already advizing not to buy it. Better buy an X-box instead, those prices just dropped down again. Woohoo ! Just a little more and I might be able to afford one.
Song of the week : "Seven Nation Army" The White Stripes
Oldie of the week : "My Baby Just Cares For Me" Nina Simone
Last seen movie : " Get Carter (2000)" : sly remake (yup, pun intended) of the classic Michael Caine movie by the same name. Updated to the new millennium, transposed to the US and overall gloomy and seedy. Not bad, makes for a good rental. Does have some more mature themes.
"They Live" : John Carpenter will probably always be the man behind "Halloween" - the mother (and father) of all slasher-films. Oddly enough he's capable of handling much more than that : horror-gore in "The Thing", vampires in "Vampires" (not exactly a great title) and scifi as in this one. Starting off as a grim look at the underbelly of big american yuppie-cities in the eighties, the protagonist walks around with his backpack looking for work. Racial and social status comments are plentyful but don't get the story started. Still you know something will happen soon due to the many strange clues you - the viewer - and the protagonist are given. It all starts abrupt when he stumbles on some sunglasses which produce a very strange look on society when you put them on. There's not much more I can say without ruining the plot. Actingwise it ain't all that great, but as usual Carpenter's flair seeps through in his scriptwriting, directing and the music-score (which he wrote). Promising more than it finally delivers, I'm not recommending it for everyone, only for those of you that are interested in social commentary scifi like "Soylent Green".
"About Schmidt" : Thriving on his demonic persona created in the eighties, Jack Nicholson flew through the nineties, mostly playing the same character, only letting it slide in "As Good As It Gets". Here he goes even further, dropping all machismo, evil grins and womaniser-tricks, portraying the in the title mentioned Schmidt as a plain, boring numbercruncher on the verge of retirement. Balding, with a comb-over, wearing confection suits and a raincoat, Schmidt wonders what happened to it's life, his dreams and his love for his wife.
After a few big changes in his life, and the following eye-openers, he decides to go for the only goal he can find left in his life : stopping his daughter's marriage with an average Joe Six-pack, a sales-man in waterbeds.
A beautiful, slow paced, sad, yet slightly comical movie with great roles from Jack Nicholson and Kathy Bates.
"The Fast And The Furious" : really crappy. A story with more plotholes than any decent swiss cheese, brainless acting and only average racing scenes. With cars like that I would've expected more. You get bigger thrills from "Bullitt", "Gone In Sixty Seconds" (both the original and the remake), all the "Taxi" movies and the Jackie Chan movies " Who Am I ?" and " Thunderbolt". Considering the last one even has the same theme (illegal street-racing and robberies) and was made years ago I wonder how much the supposed newspaper-article always mentioned in combination with this movie has anything to do with it. It rather looks like a complete rehash of "Pointbreak", switching the surfboards for tuned cars. Don't get me wrong, it makes for a perfect rainy afternoon turn-off-yer-brain viewing, but don't waste any (or too much) money on it.
Doing this week : A short week at work, but it seems to be getting a fully packed one. And then I also still have to catch up on about 7 movie-reviews. Damn, why did I ever start doing this ?

Editorial - 14 April 2003

Hello ? Hello ! Testing, one, two, one, two. Is anybody out there ? Or is everybody running barefoot through the grass outside in the first warm sunshine-rays of spring ?
Song of the week : "Seaside" Buscemi
Oldie of the week : "Suzy Q" Creedence Clearwater Revival
Last seen movie : "The Brotherhood Of The Wolf (Le Pacte Des Loups)" : enjoyable french combination of a werewolf-, horror-, martial arts- and eighteenth century movie. With the right amounts of every genre, mixed in a powerful combination, this story keeps you guessing for a long time. Maybe somewhat over the top at the end, but it only adds to the atmosphere created by the fancy camerawork and editing. Due to the costumes it looks old and slow, but nothing in this movie is.
"The Guns Of Navarone" : legendary war-movie featuring some classic actors. Has an extensive buildup, but wraps things up a bit too quickly. Since most actionmovies tend to do so, I'm not going to criticise one of the earliest ones for it. Sunday-afternoon viewing with the kids.
Doing this week : Enjoying the warming sun. She took a week off, but seems to be back in all her blazing glory. And off course, Henry Rollins is doing a Spoken Word live in a few hours. <california-surfer- dude-voice>I'm so there dude.</california-surfer- dude-voice>

Editorial - 7 April 2003

Seems like everybody I know is having a baby or have just brought one home. Funny weird. My brother in law (if I were married off course) has had his third daughter, good friends of mine had their first son a few days later, a friend of my sister just had twins and my sister is pregnant herself. Makes me wonder if I'm really getting that old.
Must not forget to mention that we're all hoping Stan's bowelproblem will get better soon. We can't have him feeling bad all the time. After all, he should trash his dad's former skate in a few years (doing a one-eighty crooked grind), shouldn't he ?
Song of the week : "Times Like These" Foo Fighters
Oldie of the week : "No Rain" Blind Melon
Last seen movie : " Minority Report" : all over the net, lot's has been written about this teaming up between Steven Spielberg and Tom Cruise. Based upon a short story by Philip K. Dick (Blade Runner) we follow the pre-crime unit : they arrest murderers before they have the chance to commit the crime. Pre-cogs (three human beings with the usual special powers) can predict these murders before they happen. The city is safer, everyone seems to think the system is perfect. Until they come after you off course. Especially when you are the head of the pre-crime unit and know you wouldn't do this. Must be a flaw in a flawless sytem then ? So, what follows isn't just a basic "run away without getting caught" movie, but an interesting look at a possible future with more dark elements then we are used from Spielberg. Putting Cruise to great use in gorgeous setdesigns he delivers what's close to a masterpiece. Especially in the scifi-genre.
Doing this week : Creating a logo for Peter/Franky's new computer party "Primary Star". More info following without a doubt.

Editorial - 1 April 2003

So it's april fool's day and everyone's looking for the joke in all the newspapers. Well, I guess Bush's regime is still the same old joke as they were before. Or maybe the fact that NBC reporter Peter Arnett was fired yesterday because he dared to say that the US are having trouble in Iraq due to the heavy resistance. What's wrong about that ? It's true isn't it ? It doesn't mean the US isn't doing the best they can, it doesn't mean Arnett is against this war .. but still he got fired. That's freedom of speech for ya ... At least he wasn't without work long as he's been hired today to work for the british newspaper The Daily Times.
On a brighter note : today's the twentieth birthday of Studio Brussel, belgium's best alternative radio-station. If you're ever in the neighbourhood, check it out. All local frenquencies at their website. And if you're all the way on the other side of the globe, don't fret, check the live audiostream.

darkman says sleep tight

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