Editorial - 28 July 2003

Today another American icon died. Bob Hope - recently turned a whopping 100 years old - passed away. Fun part about this all American icon is that he's actually born in England and relocated to the States with his parents as a lot of brits did in the early twentieth century.
Song of the week : "Low" Foo Fighters
Oldie of the week : "For Whom The Bell Tolls" Metallica
Last seen movie : "American Pie II" : I'm again quite embarrassed to say that I enjoyed this, laughed my ass off multiple times, was shocked by some gross scenes which made me smile nonetheless and felt really happy after seeing it. Why do people always laugh with jokes about tits, ass, relationships, sex and painfully embarrassing moments for other people ? We must be a very sick species indeed. And we like it.
"Bruce Almighty" : Yet another Jim Carrey movie filled with clichés (the girlfriend is a teacher, the usual semi-gross anally-oriented joke, mexicans are gangmembers, men buy themselves hugely expensive sportscars, beautiful girls are easy towards men with success and/or money ...), which has some truly brillant moments. Maybe these comedies simply work because these clichés have some truth in them (can you spot which ones ?) and we recognise somethings about ourselves ? I don't know but I can surely say that this is again a Carrey movie worth seeing at least once. Almost as funny and a little more mature than "Ace Ventura" and definitely a lot more funny than "Me, Myself & Irene".
"Driven" : Stallone gave the Rocky-theme another try and rewrote big parts of that story into a Formula One setting. Filled with unknown actors (Burt Reynolds being the exception but he's hamming it up as usual) doing their best (which isn't all that much) and a model trying to look good, sweet and delicious. Which didn't work off course. Thankfully the movie is saved by the very excellent racing-sequences which aren't always believable and sometimes obviously computer-generated but always huge fun. Especially projected wallsize in your livingroom.
Doing this week : Going deep down in automated PDF-creation programs - seeking a cheaper alternative than native Adobe products.

Editorial - 24 July 2003

As far as my knowledge of the IT-infrastructure of one of our partners goes I think they use an Oracle database and an underwhelmingly used webprogramming language. And that's when you get things like this. Oh well, not my problem ...

Editorial - 22 July 2003

We've got some new furniture, new drapes in the bedroom, we reorganised the bedroom and livingroom, used hot water and fruity-scented soap-derivants on the floors ... sounds like a spring-cleaning to me. Sure it's summer already, but who's counting ?
Song of the week : "Stacey's Mom" Fountains Of Wayne
Oldie of the week : "Glad To See You Go" The Ramones
Last seen movie : "Ice Age" : rewatched it on dvd on two nights with some two weeks in between. almost as funny as in the beginning and very nicely put on dvd. Some extra scenes and a funny extra adventure from Scrat ... sure worth a viewing.
"Rope" : another Hitchcock with the late, great Jimmy Stewart. Two students commit murder, just to see if they could get away with it. Yes, indeedy, that's the same theme as the recent Sandra Bullock movie "Murder By Numbers", but this one is completely different. Less methodical, more philosophical and in true Hitchcock style very suspensefull ... And as usual this one is highly recommended too. Even at it's short length of only 70 minutes.
Doing this week : Whatever's left after such a big cleaning-operation.

Editorial - 19 July 2003

Woke up around 5 o'clock this morning (sun shining through the windows) and wondered for a second what the day would bring. Fell asleep again until the phone rang around half past eight. Wonderful news : my sister gave birth to a daughter ! Check the site for news and pictures ... and congrats to both parents.

Editorial - 18 July 2003

Back from the sea, kinda straight into Ikea, checking out the summerdeals. And off course we bought some stuff, including a very nice deal on a huge picture I've been wanting for almost two years. Got it at about 60% off ...

Editorial - 11 July 2003

I'm starting a week and a half of vacation time today. With a lot of sun and a planned trip to the sea it's looking real good. Don't expect any updates until I'm back.

Editorial - 7 July 2003

Barry White, the subwoofer of soul, died last friday on the fourth of July. Lovingly described by some as a "singing piece of thick and buttery chocolatecake", White brought soulsongs about love into the disco-era of the seventies and sold millions. With a more efficiënt shot at the charts than the soulfunk of the early seventies (the genre used in many blaxploitation movies) he faded away at the end of the disco-age, only to pop back up in the late eighties and early ninetees. Too bad he didn't get worldwide recognition until he was linked at the only good character in "Ally McBeal". God, that woman is awful. Long live Barry White ! Long live the biscuit !
Song of the week : "Can't Get Enough Of Your Love, Babe" Barry White
Oldie of the week : "You're The First, The Last, My Everything" Barry White
Last seen movie : "Anger Management" : Nothing much to say really. Adam Sandler and Jack Nicholson - two of the most angry actors - doing a story about a therapy to control your anger. Sounds funny, the trailer looked funny and we had some very loud laughs in the cinema. From ourselves and from the people around us. But in retrospect it isn't truly memorable - which it easily could have been. Watch it once for great laughs, but don't buy it.
"The Mod Squad" : Boring attempt at rebirthing another seventies show featuring young twens doing undercover policework. Add a few hip young actors, some funkee music and streetlanguage and you get a boring movie not worth seeing.
Doing this week : Getting all my work done so I can easily take a week and a half off between the 11th and 21st.

darkman says sleep tight

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