./janella.com

who’s new cadillac is this?

well, let’s ask the car who she belongs to:

yes, farrah’s dad, as of this weekend, is the proud owner of a silver smoke cadillac cts.  sweet huh? it’s a pretty smooth ride. six cylinders, sun/moon roof, leather interior, am/fm/cd/xm satellite radio.  a very nice car to take on a trip.

rating:  **1/2 of 5

quick shot: val kilmer does his bit for country and mamet.  a good thriller even though the ending is a bit deux machina.

what i liked about the film mamet’s writing.  snappy dialog and interesting plot.

what i didn’t like part of the ending (you’ll know what i mean)

ernie and i went to the shooting range after dinner yesterday. it was ernie’s first time, while i hadn’t been to the range in over three years. we shot a rented 9mm and a .40 smith & wesson. ernie did pretty good being the first time out. i was a little rusty but managed to hit the center of the target a couple of times

i’ve been reading comic books again.

it has been several years since i picked up comic books on a regular basis. but late last year i was in a mall and stopped by the comic book store. i picked up two hardback compilations:

• [daredevil: yellow]
• [new xmen: volume 1]

both books were excellent in there own way. daredevil was done by the team of loeb and sales. loeb knows how to write a clean story with excellent dialog, while sales can draw in such a minimal but expressive fashion.

by comparison, the morrison written x-men was dark, brooding and sadistic. it was nice to see the x-men go through pain and deliver it back to the enemy at hand. i didn’t feel confused jumping back into the x-men (which was confusing when i left reading the book due to some characters and subplots). morrison did and is continuing to do, an excellent job with the x-men.

after these two books, i’ve been picking up issues here and there. i enjoyed loeb and jim lee’s run on batman, and lee’s current run on superman (more later on this). i’m also enjoying the batman/superman book by loeb and turner.

i’m taking a different approach to my comic book reading now also. i’m more into the hardbound collection as opposed to collecting individual issues. i don’t know, i can’t stand the ‘bagging and boarding’ of comic books any longer. i guess i’m not a collector any longer. i just enjoy good comic art and a good comic story.

farrah, madelyn and i went to see dido at the berkeley community theater. it’s been about four years since the last time farrah and i saw her perform at the warfield (see the [concerts] page which is still under construction) dido was really trying to throw a different groove to her songs then what is on her albums. she put faster beats to some songs, danced a lot and gave the crowd energy to dance with her. she also talked to the crowd alot, explaining the inspiration for some songs and interacting with the crowds' hooting and hollering.

we had very good seats in row a, which amounts to about the fifth row. but i need to ask: when did it become ok to bum-rush the stage in a sit down show? there were people standing in the isle way right beside me. didn’t they pay for a seat as well albeit farther back? that was the only annoying part of the concert.

dvds are cool aren’t they? it’s almost difficult remember a time without dvds. the things i love about dvds are:

• the crisp picture and sound (compared to vhs)
• the commentary tracks (hopefully insightful)
• the deleted scenes
• the director's cut

but does a director’s cut make a better movie?

can a director’s cut of a bad movie make it better?

these questions have been posed in newsgroups and on websites with vehement responses by purists and idiots alike.

my current rant on this is based on two upcoming dvds/films: [underworld] and [exorcist: the beginning] the latter has yet to be released theatrically ( i’ll get into that in bit).

when i saw underworld i though, eh ok vampire/werewolve movie. but the review on the link provided made it seem like a whole new more full movie experience then the previous version. boy, do i feel ripped off. it’s a different feeling then say the lord of the rings triology where you knew longer versions existed. i just wonder why a movie studio would hesitate to put a better version of a movie out there for public consumption.

as for the exorcist: the beginning [paul schrader] originally directed a version of this movie that might/might not see the light of day. the movie studio (so i hear) thinks schrader’s version is too thriller-type scary. i’m sure renny’s version is more in-your-face-it’s-so-obvious scary. man, what if that is a better movie. i mean, he is a better writer (taxi driver, affliction) and director (affliction, auto focus) than renny harlin (die hard 2, cutthroat island). i’ve heard they might release both versions on dvd. i hope so.

dave and i had lunch today at the new [hooters] in dublin. dave had never been to hooters before, and i hadn’t been to one in over 15 years. when the one in the city opened up they guys at my last work wanted to organize a trip to go there for our “every-so-often-dinner” get togethers. i don’t know what they heard the place is like but whatever they heard it didn’t meet up to their expectations.

in any event, today’s lunch was ok. i’ve never been to dublin which seems to be similar to any other east bay city. hooters itself hasn’t change from what i remember. girls in skin tight outfits, food that is decent but not outstanding and more guy patrons then women. worth the trip? eh???

i gotta tell you, i’m really impressed with this wordpress program. i was able to setup this new weblog, import all the data from movabletype, and start posted within half an hour! i was amazing when compared to all the install trouble i went with movabletype. i’m going to test for a few more days, but the way it looks now i just might be a wordpress convert!

rating: **** out of 5

quick shot: continuing the revenge story of the bride from kill bill volume i.

what i liked about the film: slightly different tone from the first movie.  i like the dialog an interaction between bill and the bride towards the end of the movie.

what i didn’t like: the audience members who didn’t realize movie’s contain dialog.  yeah, this volume is more talk-y then the first but give me a break…it’s tarantino!