Month: November 2004

Man on the Moon

Watched an excellent drama “Man on the Moon” on DVD. I cannot believe how much work went into making of this movie. I’ve got three words to express my opinion about it: great, Great, GREAT!

Jim Carrey keeps to amaze me with his talent. Not only he is an excellent comic, but he is one of the greatest drama actors of our times. Another person who deserves mentioning both as an actor and as a producer is Danny DeVito. Respect to both of them.

This film was a great experience for me. This is pretty rare these days. I think it deserves a 10 out of 10 rating just for that. But it does have more to offer, especially in a regards of plot and acting. Great stuff.

We bought a Christmas tree

Olga and I went shopping today and we bought a Christmas tree. It has been a while since I had a Christmas tree at home. All these years I am living in Cyprus I didn’t have one. But this year we decided to get one. It’s time.

It is not big by any means – 1.8 meters. Green. And fairy. It was packed in a nice carton box for easier transportation. Choosing one was interesting. We were in this huge mall and they had all sorts of trees there. From 30 centimeters to, I think, 3 or 4 meters high. Some were wight, some light green, some dark, green, yet some others were in mixed color. Some had lights integrated. Some had cones. Lots of trees of different sizes were put together in a bunch and looked like a small artificial forest. There was plenty of Christmas spirit and fun around.

Anyway, we didn’t set it up today for several reasons. First of all, Olga got tired and needed some rest. Secondly, it is still pretty early – Christmas is in one month. Thirdly, I’ve got a huge bunch of pelican cases with backup tapes, which occupy every inch of spare space. This is temporary and I will get rid of them soon.

When we will set it up, I’ll make pictures. Lots of them. Because this is somewhat important.

Resident Evil: Apocalypse

Olga and I went to the movies today to see “Resident Evil: Apocalypse“. For those of you who don’t know, this is a sequel to the “Resident Evil” movie from a couple of years ago, based on the videogame with the same name.

I found the movie to be very enjoyable and even a bit better than I expected it to be. Don’t get me wrong though. This is not a deep, thought-provoking film. Neither it is a scary horror. You won’t get a twisted story or masterly acting. It is a pure sci-fi action with lots and lots of shooting and zombie body count. The bigger the zombie body count, the better the movie.

Not only this film provided a massive zombie killing, but it also managed to have excellent computer graphics, great soundtrack, and a somewhat interesting story. The development was exactly like it is usually in the videogame. One starts at the first level with some simple creatures which are in a good supply – zombies. Kill lots of those and you proceed to the second level. On second level you have a bit less cretures, but they are more advanced – mutants. Then one goes futher and futher with creatures advancing in powers and ugliness. Sometimes this hierarchical development is entertained with “kill’em all” levels just to bring back the fun. The movie went along this lines. Blessed with some nice sci-fi themes of mutants, DNA, nuclear power stations, superpowers, superweapons, research laboratories, government conspiracies, etc.

Very nice film for those who enjoy this type of movies. I also think it is a bit underrated at IMDB. Hence I give it a 7 out of 10. Which is actually somewhere around 7.5 out of 10. Remember that for maximum satisfaction you’ll need surround sound, huge screen and a dark room.

On Christmas traditions

Disclaimer: I come from a place where Christmas was never a big holiday. I am learning all Christmas tricks and traditions bit by bit every year, but they don’t come all that natural to me. So you’ll have to excuse my perverted point of view.

There is this Christmas tradition that kids follow when they gather together, go from place to place, sing Christmas songs and tell poems, and get “paid” for that with candies, cookies, and, sometimes, money. It is a well known tradition and it is not by any means limited to Christmas. It is usually followed on some other major holidays. For example: Easter.

I knew about this tradition for some time now, but it never stops to amaze me how early local kids start to go around. Today I was visited by a few young girls. Today. 24th of November. Exactly one month before Christmas. Something tells me that if I “paid” them today, I would have these visits on a daily basis until one month after Christmas. Evil me closed the door on poor young ladies.

Another interesting detail about local kids is that they expect to be paid with money. No candies. No cookies. No nothing. Money only. A few times in previous years when I was, as a joke, trying to give them some sweets, they stared at me like I was an alien or something. These days they come with a box that has a whole that only money can fit in. Nice. I guess they would accept checks and credit cards in coming years.

Yet another interestnig detail is that they don’t even think that doing anything is important. They don’t sing. They don’t dance. They don’t tell poems or stories.

Now, put all these together and imagine how it looks. A bunch of local kids knock at your door. Look at you like you are supposed to understand why they are here and what they want. They hold this box with a hole for money and they expect some from you. I stare at them with my “Eh, WTF?” look. And they go as far as saying “Christmas”. Cool.

I am all for Christmas spirit, presents, Santa and everything, but this looks like poor extortion to me. And that, of course, puts me in the right position to slap the door in front of their faces. Which is exactly what I did.