A Man to Hear

I have just discovered Paolo Nutini. He’s all of nineteen and, I’m ashamed to admit, his singing turns my insides to jelly. Ashamed, yes, but not enough to forgo trying to get my hands on as much of his music as I can.

Check out some videos of him on YouTube. (I’ve given the links to you!) And once your hooked, hit iTunes and buy this man’s music.

Jenny Don’t Be Hasty

Covering Daydream with Jehro

Covering Crazy (Gnarls Barkley)

While I was playing the video of “Jenny Don’t Be Hasty,” ZoZo climbed up into my lap and sat with me, both of us memsmerized while he sang to us.

If Paolo doesn’t move you, then you’re probably dead.

Not

I’m not awake yet. I don’t think I’ll be fully awake at any time today. Two hours of sleep just doesn’t do it for me.

We all know the reason I’m short on sleep, Revenge of the Sith. Is my deprived state justified? Yes. George did not let me down. The three-hour queue to get into the movie was not spent in vain. Here is my list of reasons why I am not at all disappointed in my late night/early morning Star Wars experience:

1. We—meaning the office crew plus the ten-year-old—were able to snag some decent seats together.
2. No one in my immediate vicinity got up during the movie to pee— a plus at any movie.
3. I did not sit in a state of utter discomfort the last hour because I had to pee.
4. I bought the large tub of popcorn, and actually got the free refill.
5. ClonedHotdog smuggled in candy and kept my child in constant supply of sugar.
6. The opening scene was awesome.
7. Hayden Christensen did not blow. I actually thought of him as Anakin in this one and not as the guy who replaced Jake Lloyd.
8. Ewan McGregor is Obi-Wan Kenobi.
9. All the questions I needed George to answer, were answered. I didn’t like one of the answers, but at least I know now.
10. Hayden Christensen did not blow. The Anakin/Padme scenes worked this time for me.
11. The final scenes weren’t cheesy.

Nap time starts now.

At Last

Well, today is the day. Actually, tomorrow is the day. But it feels like today. After years of waiting, finally it comes to an end. At midnight I will see Revenge of the Sith. But it isn’t only about the movie.

I was nine when my Dad took me to see Star Wars. I know, I know, we’re supposed to refer to it as A New Hope now. But back in the day, when you said Star Wars, everyone knew exactly what you meant.

Attending that one movie transformed me. I remember the excitement surrounding it. I remember being completely overwhelmed by the opening scene. The monstrous ships, battling in outer space. I recal thinking, “But we’ve only put a man on the moon. How did they does this!? It was completely awe inspiring. I remember the fear I felt at the first site of Darth Vader…not completely understanding if he was man or machine, but knowing he meant death. I remember thinking Princess Leia was the most beautiful, most brave woman I’d ever seen. I knew I wanted to be like her when I grew up. The geek was born. The love of science fiction and fantasy blossomed in my heart.

I’ve been told by some that I’m a late bloomer. That the sci-fi geek-gene usually surfaces at a much earlier age. I don’t know. I don’t really care. What I do care about is finding other geek souls of this world. I care about gathering with my brethern to revere and line the pocketbooks of our geek gods. But what I care most about is knowing that I am not the last of my line of geeks.

So, tonight, tomorrow is more than just the final Star Wars movie for me. It is a rite of passage. The official confirmation of geek-dom from one generation to the next. I was nine when the torch was handed to me by my father. Tonight, tomorrow, sometime after midnight, the flame will pass to my ten-year-old son.

There was a time, not too long ago when I would not have believed this night would happen. You see, my child fought the transformation at first. He refused to play with his Star Wars action figures. His first passion was dinosaurs. Yeah, occassionally he would take out a light saber and attack something of value, usually the dog. I think his Jurassic Park T-Rex with a working digestive track ate Yoda or C-3PO on several occassions…but we can’t really call this playing Star Wars.

But something happened. About a year ago, a transformation began to occur. He started asking questions. The sort of questions only hard-core, fanactics like my self would care to ask. The sort of questions only George can answer. And so, as THE day grew nearer, I found myself toying with the notion of taking my son to see the movie on opening day. And then on a whim, I decided, no, my boy needs more. This will be his one real opportunity to really see it. Because, lets be honest, its not only about the movie. It’s about the movie and its people. My boy needed the opportunity to watch THE movie with ITS people.

The wait is over, the circle is complete…

Boondock

I’m presently addicted to The Boondock Saints.

One of my husbands co-workers recommended it. I was luke-warm on watching it. If not for Willem Dafoe being in the cast, I probably would have found a reason to not be in the room when the DVD finally made it into the player.

The first time we watched it, I flipped through magazines. Occassionally something would peak my curiousity and I’d pop my head up. By the end of the movie, I realized I’d probably missed a lot of good stuff, so I decided I needed to watch it and pay attention to the whole thing. OMG!

My husband thinks the two brothers are the reason for my facination. After, the fifth or sixth time watching it, I admit they’ve kind of grown on me. I’m still not sure I find them attractive. They’ve got the “I have poor hygiene, be thankful you can’t smell me” look to them.

I’m strangely facinated by the Rocco character. I swear this is a real person, there is no way this guy’s acting. He’s way too manic. Plus, actor and character share the same name.

Then, there is Agent Smelleck played by Willem Dafoe. Dafoe is a comedic genius. Have I said this before? After seeing Life Aquatic, I began suspecting this. I’m convinced of it now. Near the end of the movie, Dafoe’s Agent Smelleck goes “under cover.” I swear it is one of the most disturbing and hilarious things I have ever watched.

Actually, the entire movie can be summed that way.

There is some grotesque violence in this movie that absolutely cracks me up:
-Murph beating Russian mobster to death with toliet tank cover…hilarious.
-Rocco accidentally setting off gun and killing his girlfriend’s cat…hilarious.
-Rocco beating Italian mobster to death with cue ball…hilarious.

I don’t own this movie yet, but it’s going to happen.

Weekend Recap

Stayed pretty busy this weekend.

Friday night TKs played, so I stayed home with the kids. I helped ARK with his research project on Rhode Island. I think pulling my eyelashes out, one at a time, would be a less painful undertaking. Lefty came over, and we crammed for our karate test. If I pass the test tomorrow, it will be because of Lefty. ZoZo stalked Lefty while we practiced.

Saturday I spent the day at the do jang for testing. I was quite disappointed in my performance. I made stupid mistakes on continuous form, parts of basics and hol sin sol. I think I did okay on terminology, bong form, and il soo sik. I hope I didn’t screw up enough to fail, however I won’t be surprised if I don’t advance. After testing, I came home, ate an eggo, helped ARK some more with his project, put a cartoon on for ZoZo, and took a power nap on the couch. I know it was a good nap because I woke up with my face in a puddle of drool.

After nap time I had to hurry up and get ready for a big night on the town with TK. We went to Ninfas for dinner. I had two ninfa-ritas and three cheese enchilladas. Yum. Then we went to see The Life Aquatic. Willem Dafoe is a comedic genius. I so wish I could own a pair of Zissou Adias.

After the movie we went and crashed the E-Dan celebration at On the Border. The group was just finishing up with dinner as we arrived. TK went to the bar to get me a margarita and himself a DosEquis draft. Some folks at the table were lamenting the fact that the waitress was a complete moron. She proved this only moments later when she whined because she didn’t know which tab to put mine and TKs drinks on. Of course the obvious reply is “no one’s stupid; we paid for these at the bar.”

At some point the group started talking about who would play each of us in a Tang Soo Do movie. A young Kirstie Alley and Bridget Fonda were suggested for my part. I’m not sure I see either of them, but at least no one suggested Martha Plimpton or Kathy Bates play my part.

Bleck

Still feeling crappy. Guess I will for a while. I couldn’t sleep last night, so I ate Ruffles and played Metroid Prime until 1:28 in the morning. Let me just say, I hate the friggin’ Ghost Chozo. Their cackling when you can’t see them totally creeps me out.

Whoa

Went to The Passion yesterday afternoon. Pretty gut-wrenching. If I’d been at home, I would have been sobbing uncontrollably. I managed to contain my grief in the theater to a constant barrage of tears. At the end of the movie I had a huge lump in my throat, my muscles ached from having been clenched for two hours, and my head was on the verge of exploding. I don’t think I’ve ever left a film before when the entire audience left the theater without uttering a word. Everyone I glanced at had the same worn, shell-shocked expression on their face…I’m sure I did as well.