So I’m waiting for the person(s) from the condo developer to come and inspect my place, but have no idea when that’s going to happen.
I hate having to be on someone else’s schedule, and I wish I’d been given a specific time.
I hate the whole “be home between now and September” kind of thing. Tell me when you’re going to be here, then be here at that time. It really shouldn’t be all that difficult.
At the very least, give a timeframe, not this be home all day crap.
And sure, normally it wouldn’t be an issue, but there are actually a few things that I need to do out in the world today, so it would be nice to know when it’s safe to leave.
Admittedly, I could have just left a key at the office with my authorization to enter, but I want to be here for it.
*Sigh*
I guess I should say a little more about Spider-Man 3.
The biggest problem I had with it was the amount of time he spent without his mask. It was even worse this time around than it was in the last movie.
This was made even more irritating by the amount of time Venom spent without his mask.
The other big problem was the rather ambitious nature of the movie. Three villains? Even in a 2+ hour movie, that means giving short shrift to each villain, particularly given all of the other plot threads that the story was woven together from (pun sort of intended).
The Venom story didn’t get nearly enough time to develop properly, and the Sandman storyline just sort of dropped off for a while before reappearing at the end.
I’m sure a lot of people were put off by how much time was devoted to Spidey’s personal life and all of the teary-eyed moments, but the angst of his personal life has pretty much always been a trademark of Spider-Man since his creation, so there’s not much validity to that complaint.
My final complaint is that there weren’t really enough “incidental” Spider-Man scenes, the random thwarted muggings and various rescues that happen in the course of a regular day and in between major super-villain battles, though that’s a complaint I have about most super hero movies.
But that does bring us to the action, which was all very good. No complaints at all on that front, though the fights just weren’t as cool as the fights in 2. I mean, Spidey and Doc Ock fighting on the side of a building? Easily beats out the high speed aerial chase through narrow alleys (which was still very cool).
As for the performances, Tobey Maguire, as per usual, seemed to be sort of sleepwalking through the role, but still managed to do a decent job.
Kirsten Dunst, in my mind, has only been playing someone with red hair who happens to be named Mary Jane Watson; she hasn’t ever been Mary Jane. She just lacks the spark. Still, it’s never been a deal-breaker. I will say that her wardrobe this time around was rather frumpy. She actually looked her best in her waitress uniform.
Thomas Haden Church did a great job as the Sandman (The whole “birth of Sandman” sequence in which he struggles to reassemble himself after the accident that transformed him into living sand was one of my favorites in the movie. I will say that the people conducting the experiment that caused the transformation was probably the best-looking group of scientists ever assembled. I really doubt that in all the world there are that many good looking scientists.), and the Sandman effects were very well done.
Topher Grace did his best work as Eddie Brock, though he was also a serviceable Venom. Of course, Venom was mostly effects (hence the constant need to remove the mask in order to give Grace something to do), but he did get in some good lines.
Naturally I loved the Bruce Campbell cameo, though I still think his cameo in 2 beats this one by a very slim margin.
Not much needs to be said about J.K. Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson beyond mentioning that he was pitch-perfect as always. The man was born to play that part.
Bryce Dallas Howard made an amazing Gwen Stacy. She was, as I mentioned to Scott, a total Dodson, which is to say that she looked like a character illustrated by Terry and Rachel Dodson brought to life. In fact, she looked exactly like Gwen Stacy as illustrated by the Dodsons in a Spider-Man story that had been the first place I’d ever taken note of their work.
Of course, I will say that she had some padding added either to her clothes or to herself to make her look so buxom, as I’ve seen her sans clothes and at that time she was decidedly less zaftig.
One thing I found sort of interesting about the casting is that Kirsten Dunst, a blonde, plays a redhead, while Bryce Dallas Howard, a redhead, plays a blonde.
Bringing Gwen into the franchise at all at this late date was kind of interesting choice, though, as in the comics world Gwen was Peter’s first love, and, like Mary Jane in the first movie, she was thrown off a bridge by the Green Goblin, though unlike MJ, Gwen didn’t survive.
I can’t say I really approved of Gwen’s treatment in the movie. Not in how she was handled as a character – that was fine, and Ms. Howard played her well – but in how she was treated by the other characters. She really wasn’t much more than an object to be coveted or used by the people around her.
Which leads me to the effect that the black suit had on Peter as it destroyed his inhibitions and turned him into a creature of nearly pure Id.
For the most part it led to throwaway moments of Sam Raimi silliness (a la Hercules or Xena), but in some cases it led to some very interesting moments.
Basically, what’s fun about having a hero under the influence of something that weakens his inhibitions is that you get to see him do and say things that you always wished he would do or say but knew that he couldn’t because, well, he’s the hero, and heroes just don’t (or at least shouldn’t) act that way.
In that spirit, the best line of the movie came with Peter standing over a defeated (in more ways than one) Harry Osborn and taunting him by saying, “Oh, look at little Goblin Jr. Are you gonna cry?”
Anyway, that’s my considerably lengthier take on the movie. I could go on even more, but I’ll spare us all and stop here.
Ugh, I really hate sitting here waiting, wondering if I could make it to the comic book store, Best Buy, and Super Target and still get back here in time, or thinking about leaving a note saying, “Back at X.”
*Sigh*
Showing posts with label spider-man 3. Show all posts
Showing posts with label spider-man 3. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
Tuesday, May 08, 2007
The Hot Girls Of The Service Industry
So it was another unintentionally late night last night as I struggled to sleep.
I woke up this morning at around 9:30. Normally when I get up I throw on a pair of shorts and grab whatever shirt is handy in the hamper (AKA my bedroom floor), but since I was going to have to be in the shower by 10 in order to get on the road in time to meet up with Scott, I decided to call the shirt a miss and sat down to check my mail and read the news, and etc.
Naturally, because I was sitting there shirtless, there was a knock at the door.
I scrambled to get to the door while throwing on a shirt, hoping that it was the UPS guy, as I’d heard what sounded like the squeal a UPS truck makes shortly before the knock.
My hopes were answered, as it was the UPS guy delivering my new tablet.
I’d called the company I bought it from on Friday to ask what was up with me not getting a tracking number and ultimately was told that they didn’t have any idea why I hadn’t gotten one, and would get back to me after contacting the warehouse, which they had tried, and failed, to do while I was on hold.
I never got the tracking number, but that’s sort of irrelevant now.
(The tablet is huge, by the way. Good thing I didn’t buy the 9x12.)
Of course, I couldn’t play with the tablet at all, as I had to shower and get ready.
While I was on the road my phone rang, which was kind of a hassle, as it was in my pocket, so I had to struggle to get it out, answer it, and try not to crash into any of the too-slowly moving traffic all around me.
It was my mom calling to tell me that my niece Jourdan, who’d had her tonsils removed last week, had been brought to the Marquette hospital because she was still bleeding from the surgery.
I assume she’s doing okay, as I haven’t heard anything further, though I did just try calling my mom and she wasn’t home. Still, if there were any problems someone would let me know.
And then Scott, Stacy, and I went to see Spider-Man 3. I’ll write more about it in another post, but the short answer is that I liked it, but 2 was better.
While I was there, I found out afterwards when checking my voicemail, Kathleen had called to say that if I wanted we could meet for dinner, as she’d read about me buying her presents yesterday.
It was after 3 by the time I’d gotten home.
I hooked up the new tablet and played around with it for a bit, then got to work on picking my comics up off the floor and putting them away (I need at least two more boxes to contain them all, I think. I didn’t even bother trying to organize them; I just boxed what I could, put the boxes in the closet, and piled the rest on top of the boxes.), and then Kathleen called to tell me where we were going to meet. She suggested two places. I went with the one I’d never been to.
So we met for dinner and I gave her the gifts I’d gotten her – one of those instant cell phone charger dealies and, as a bit of a gag, a flask, which I suggested she take along on trips to visit her family – and we ate. I had the Chicken Picatta, which was much better than the Chicken Picatta I’d made once (though mine wasn’t bad).
After dinner I came home and saw that I had an e-mail from the homeowner who’s been dealing with the condo developer on our behalf saying that we’ll all be getting purchase offers in the mail this week and that the buy-back is going through.
So that was cool.
Now I have to try to find a new place to live. Oh well, I’ve got time; the deal will take 180 days from the signing of the purchase agreement.
There were some unusually attractive girls at the places I went to today. The girl working the ticket counter at the theater was very cute, and pretty much all of the girls working at the restaurant were cute, with some really exceptional ones thrown into the mix, though who knows how old any of them were.
(As we were going out the door I spotted someone going in – followed inevitably by her dorky, mildly retarded-looking boyfriend – who looked to have been produced in the Jon’s Dream Girl Factory. Petite, dark hair, big, expressive eyes, nice rack, nice ass.)
Of course, that there were cute girls all around made no real difference because I am, after all, Jon, but it was still noteworthy given how unusual it is to see that many in one day (let alone one place).
As is always the case, though, Kathleen sparked some interest from the girl who brought out our food. She was all, “That nail polish is awesome!”
Sure, it seemed innocent enough, but after the girl left Kathleen said, “She wants me.”
She always gets all the hot girl action when we’re out together, and nobody ever says anything about the color of my nails.
*Sigh*
And, minus the examination of the movie, that was pretty much my day.
I woke up this morning at around 9:30. Normally when I get up I throw on a pair of shorts and grab whatever shirt is handy in the hamper (AKA my bedroom floor), but since I was going to have to be in the shower by 10 in order to get on the road in time to meet up with Scott, I decided to call the shirt a miss and sat down to check my mail and read the news, and etc.
Naturally, because I was sitting there shirtless, there was a knock at the door.
I scrambled to get to the door while throwing on a shirt, hoping that it was the UPS guy, as I’d heard what sounded like the squeal a UPS truck makes shortly before the knock.
My hopes were answered, as it was the UPS guy delivering my new tablet.
I’d called the company I bought it from on Friday to ask what was up with me not getting a tracking number and ultimately was told that they didn’t have any idea why I hadn’t gotten one, and would get back to me after contacting the warehouse, which they had tried, and failed, to do while I was on hold.
I never got the tracking number, but that’s sort of irrelevant now.
(The tablet is huge, by the way. Good thing I didn’t buy the 9x12.)
Of course, I couldn’t play with the tablet at all, as I had to shower and get ready.
While I was on the road my phone rang, which was kind of a hassle, as it was in my pocket, so I had to struggle to get it out, answer it, and try not to crash into any of the too-slowly moving traffic all around me.
It was my mom calling to tell me that my niece Jourdan, who’d had her tonsils removed last week, had been brought to the Marquette hospital because she was still bleeding from the surgery.
I assume she’s doing okay, as I haven’t heard anything further, though I did just try calling my mom and she wasn’t home. Still, if there were any problems someone would let me know.
And then Scott, Stacy, and I went to see Spider-Man 3. I’ll write more about it in another post, but the short answer is that I liked it, but 2 was better.
While I was there, I found out afterwards when checking my voicemail, Kathleen had called to say that if I wanted we could meet for dinner, as she’d read about me buying her presents yesterday.
It was after 3 by the time I’d gotten home.
I hooked up the new tablet and played around with it for a bit, then got to work on picking my comics up off the floor and putting them away (I need at least two more boxes to contain them all, I think. I didn’t even bother trying to organize them; I just boxed what I could, put the boxes in the closet, and piled the rest on top of the boxes.), and then Kathleen called to tell me where we were going to meet. She suggested two places. I went with the one I’d never been to.
So we met for dinner and I gave her the gifts I’d gotten her – one of those instant cell phone charger dealies and, as a bit of a gag, a flask, which I suggested she take along on trips to visit her family – and we ate. I had the Chicken Picatta, which was much better than the Chicken Picatta I’d made once (though mine wasn’t bad).
After dinner I came home and saw that I had an e-mail from the homeowner who’s been dealing with the condo developer on our behalf saying that we’ll all be getting purchase offers in the mail this week and that the buy-back is going through.
So that was cool.
Now I have to try to find a new place to live. Oh well, I’ve got time; the deal will take 180 days from the signing of the purchase agreement.
There were some unusually attractive girls at the places I went to today. The girl working the ticket counter at the theater was very cute, and pretty much all of the girls working at the restaurant were cute, with some really exceptional ones thrown into the mix, though who knows how old any of them were.
(As we were going out the door I spotted someone going in – followed inevitably by her dorky, mildly retarded-looking boyfriend – who looked to have been produced in the Jon’s Dream Girl Factory. Petite, dark hair, big, expressive eyes, nice rack, nice ass.)
Of course, that there were cute girls all around made no real difference because I am, after all, Jon, but it was still noteworthy given how unusual it is to see that many in one day (let alone one place).
As is always the case, though, Kathleen sparked some interest from the girl who brought out our food. She was all, “That nail polish is awesome!”
Sure, it seemed innocent enough, but after the girl left Kathleen said, “She wants me.”
She always gets all the hot girl action when we’re out together, and nobody ever says anything about the color of my nails.
*Sigh*
And, minus the examination of the movie, that was pretty much my day.
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Yes, Beauty Does Have An Age Limit, And It's Lower Than The Speed Limit
After titling my last post it occurred to me that maybe I really should have written it on my cell phone.
It certainly would have been a lot shorter if I had.
On the topic of short posts, though, in my desire to make a “clever” entry about 300 by limiting myself to three hundred words, I was forced to edit out one of my favorite bits from my original entry, so I’m including it here:
So I went to see 300 today, just like I said I would.
The prophecy has been fulfilled!
Sadly, though, sad “prophecy” did not involve a hot naked girl gyrating rhythmically while stoned out of her mid the way the visit to the oracle did in the movie, but then, very little in my life involves hot naked girls gyrating rhythmically while stoned out of their minds, so what else is new?
Also edited out of the final version was a reference to Frank Miller’s collaborator on 300, colorist Lynn Varley, who also worked on the backgrounds of the movie, and who was, last I knew, also Miller’s wife, though her Wikipedia entry says that she is his “former” wife.
I also left out a lot of my thoughts on the movie, but whatever.
On last night’s Colbert Report, Stephen, who in response to the news of Captain America’s death, had harsh words about Cap and his failure to back the government in the recent Civil War storyline, read a letter he’d received from Marvel Editor-in-Chief (and former Report guest) Joe Quesada, in which it was revealed that Cap had bequeathed his indestructible shield to Colbert.
Stepping away from the illusion, from what I read online the shield given to Stephen had apparently once hung in the office of the late Mark Gruenwald.
Colbert’s been getting a lot of love from Marvel lately; in one issue of Civil War, a bus bearing an ad for the Report featuring a photo of Stephen is clearly visible during a climactic battle scene, and Stephen himself appears in an issue of the Peter David-scripted Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man.
Speaking of Spidey, the only worthwhile trailer at 300 was the new one for Spider-Man 3. Looks like we definitely get to see some Venom action. Definitely looking forward to that one, and I was glad to see the trailer.
One thing I wasn’t glad to see (apart from all of the guys walking around in leather Speedos in the movie – though considering that they weren’t even wearing that much in the comics, I was grateful they had them on) was an ad that aired before previews started for Dove (the soap, not the ice cream).
It featured images of various women in the nude (with strategic arm and leg placement) while the text proclaimed that each one was “too old to appear in an anti-aging commercial.”
Now normally I’m all for nude women on the big screen (and there were more than a few in the movie proper, including Lena Headey), but the fact of the matter was that the women pictured in the commercial were too old to appear in an anti-aging commercial. Way too old.
The text went on to explain that it actually wasn’t an anti-aging commercial, it was a pro-aging commercial. Then it said something like, “Beauty doesn’t have an age limit.”
I had to conclude that the people writing the text weren’t watching the same commercial I was because there very clearly is an age limit.
Yeah, yeah, I know, I’m not prize pig myself, and glass houses, and whatever, but the fact is that you don’t see me naked on the big screen with text proclaiming me beautiful, and that this is a good thing is something that we can all agree on.
Anyway, the good nudity in the movie largely made up for the bad that came before it, but even so, at the very least they could have slapped some leather Speedos on the biddies.
I understand that the point of the ad (and the entire campaign) is to change attitudes and opinions about beauty and aging, but guess what? It’s not going to happen.
Especially when you make people look at 20 foot high images of leathery, liver-spotted naked skin.
It certainly would have been a lot shorter if I had.
On the topic of short posts, though, in my desire to make a “clever” entry about 300 by limiting myself to three hundred words, I was forced to edit out one of my favorite bits from my original entry, so I’m including it here:
So I went to see 300 today, just like I said I would.
The prophecy has been fulfilled!
Sadly, though, sad “prophecy” did not involve a hot naked girl gyrating rhythmically while stoned out of her mid the way the visit to the oracle did in the movie, but then, very little in my life involves hot naked girls gyrating rhythmically while stoned out of their minds, so what else is new?
Also edited out of the final version was a reference to Frank Miller’s collaborator on 300, colorist Lynn Varley, who also worked on the backgrounds of the movie, and who was, last I knew, also Miller’s wife, though her Wikipedia entry says that she is his “former” wife.
I also left out a lot of my thoughts on the movie, but whatever.
On last night’s Colbert Report, Stephen, who in response to the news of Captain America’s death, had harsh words about Cap and his failure to back the government in the recent Civil War storyline, read a letter he’d received from Marvel Editor-in-Chief (and former Report guest) Joe Quesada, in which it was revealed that Cap had bequeathed his indestructible shield to Colbert.
Stepping away from the illusion, from what I read online the shield given to Stephen had apparently once hung in the office of the late Mark Gruenwald.
Colbert’s been getting a lot of love from Marvel lately; in one issue of Civil War, a bus bearing an ad for the Report featuring a photo of Stephen is clearly visible during a climactic battle scene, and Stephen himself appears in an issue of the Peter David-scripted Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man.
Speaking of Spidey, the only worthwhile trailer at 300 was the new one for Spider-Man 3. Looks like we definitely get to see some Venom action. Definitely looking forward to that one, and I was glad to see the trailer.
One thing I wasn’t glad to see (apart from all of the guys walking around in leather Speedos in the movie – though considering that they weren’t even wearing that much in the comics, I was grateful they had them on) was an ad that aired before previews started for Dove (the soap, not the ice cream).
It featured images of various women in the nude (with strategic arm and leg placement) while the text proclaimed that each one was “too old to appear in an anti-aging commercial.”
Now normally I’m all for nude women on the big screen (and there were more than a few in the movie proper, including Lena Headey), but the fact of the matter was that the women pictured in the commercial were too old to appear in an anti-aging commercial. Way too old.
The text went on to explain that it actually wasn’t an anti-aging commercial, it was a pro-aging commercial. Then it said something like, “Beauty doesn’t have an age limit.”
I had to conclude that the people writing the text weren’t watching the same commercial I was because there very clearly is an age limit.
Yeah, yeah, I know, I’m not prize pig myself, and glass houses, and whatever, but the fact is that you don’t see me naked on the big screen with text proclaiming me beautiful, and that this is a good thing is something that we can all agree on.
Anyway, the good nudity in the movie largely made up for the bad that came before it, but even so, at the very least they could have slapped some leather Speedos on the biddies.
I understand that the point of the ad (and the entire campaign) is to change attitudes and opinions about beauty and aging, but guess what? It’s not going to happen.
Especially when you make people look at 20 foot high images of leathery, liver-spotted naked skin.
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