pietrisycamollaviadelrechiotemexity

This is primarily a test of posting to the blog via Google Documents. We'll see how this goes.

I'm not completely sure why I'd want to compose documents over the web, but it should be handy for backing things up that I do write locally. To this day, I still have bad lack-of-backup habits, so a bulwark against my own foolishness is always welcome.

Up to yesterdayish, I primarily used Bloglines as my rss reader, due to its being free and good enough. I was aware that Google had its own beta reader going on, and was powerfully underwhelmed by it. Its default view consisted of a large unsorted list of every single feed item, ordered only by newest-to-oldest. I much preferred the bloglines sorting of by feed source/blog title, clicking upon which brought up the unread entries since last viewed--I still don't understand why Google initially sorted the way they did.

But yesterday, I found out that they've revised Reader in accordance with sanity. Sanity (I shouldn't have to explain this, but the world at large just doesn't seem to have really internalized it yet. So much to do, so many targets for my army of atomic supermen) is that which is in accordance with my own preferences. So it's looking like goodbye Bloglines.

Speaking of singular supermen--dig that segue; I have high verbal scores, which translates into baby-smooth changes of subject--I watched the first two Superman flicks via netflix last weekish. Random observations that occurred to me, in no particular order:

• So that's why I kept having such deja vu when I'd watched Superman Returns even earlier. I'd already seen it in a movie called Superman.
• Early-80's Hollywood had no good goddamn idea how to hang people from wires in a way that didn't make them look awkwardly stiff.
• Sub-observation from this: I think this is why Christopher Reeve's tragic accident struck such a deep chord in America. His real-life transition to awkward stiffness, you see.
• (Yes, I know. I'm not a good man.)
• However, what early-80's Hollywood by good Wotan did know how to do well is smash the hell out of cars. Movies don't spend enough time these days putting cars on off-screen steam catapults and just hurling them into each other. It's something that we've largely lost, and it's a loss to us all.

posted by Gar @ 1:33 PM

In a similar vein to my last post, which provided the means to never need to watch The Wicker Man 2: Not the Bees, Aaaiiee My Eyes, I have also found the means to never need to watch CSI: Miami: Yeeeeeeeaaaaaaahhhhhhh!. I will grant that there's far less risk of that anyway, but it never hurts to be prepared.

Also, Charlie.
posted by Gar @ 11:07 AM

If you're like me, you've been tempted to rent the relatively-recent unnecessary remake of "The Wicker Man," because you've heard that it's awful. One of the prime problems with bad movies is that, all too frequently, the really enjoyable bad bits are just sunk in an otherwise featureless plain of tedium.

Now I don't have to rent it any more, because I've seen the highlights. Now you can, too. Nic Cage is the Witchpuncher General!

And now a couple brief review blurbs of non-expurgated films:

Idiocracy - it's a shame this didn't get a wider theatrical run. It's from the fellow who did "Office Space," and lives up to that. Similar to Office Space, the best bits are mostly concentrated in the first two-thirds or so, and are lost when they start clearly angling for a happy(ish) ending. Misanthropic comedy doesn't need such things.

Children of Men - the best serious dystopian flick I've seen in a long while. About as subtle as, say, Oliver Stone's output, but with much more sober directorial talent behind it, instead of the goofy coke-fiend energy vibe Stone's "best" has struck me as having. Excellent use of digital effects to seamlessly blend into and enhance the action, rather than gosh-wow displays; it's also got some of the best continuous/pseudo-continuous shots I've ever seen--and like the cgi, they're used to enhance, rather than being an end in and of themselves.
posted by Gar @ 10:19 AM