NDBT

“Am I … funny? Am I sarcastic? Sexy? (winks at Rose) Right old misery? Life and soul? Right-handed, left-handed, a gambler, a fighter, a coward, a traitor, a liar, a nervous wreck – I mean, judging by the evidence, I’ve certainly got a gob!”

 

(I rented the new Dr. Who so I can catch up.)

 

So… here’s my new travel plan. I’m going to buy a Stray pass this month (they’re on sale). I’m going stay and work until November 30^th. Starting December 2^nd I’ll go from ChCh to Greymouth via the TransAlpine. Then to Franz Josef, Queenstown, Milford Sound, Stewart Island, Dunedin (and hopefully the Otago peninsula), back to Chch, to Kaikoura, Wellington, then I’ll go see Waitomo on my own and on to Auckland. I should be able to do that in 3 weeks (I fly out of Auckland on the 21^st). It means missing out on Abel Tasman and Nelson, but I just can’t do everything, and I had

 thought I might miss the west coast, which I’ve been told would be criminal. I think I might stop off in Wanaka (they have the world’s first 2 story maze), but it’ll depend on timing, and whether I catch my own bus from Dunedin to ChCh on the way back.  I think this is the cheapest way to see most of the things I want to see, and the bus sale makes it possible. I’ll have to go in and book with an agent next week after pay day. I was looking at doing either Otago or Kaikoura on my long weekends (2 coming up), but if I’m going to manage to get to both places during my travels, I might stick around and save money, or maybe spend a couple of nights on Akaroa for one of them, which is very high on my list of things to see near ChCh.

 

Linkspamity spam after the jump 

 
 Good environmental website; it’s a clearinghouse of information on Energy Subsidies in the US. In other words, why our oil and gas (AND NUCLEAR) are so cheap, whereas renewable are expensive. I took part in a debate over updating the New York nuclear reactor for my economics class in grad school, and I got to make the closing argument against, which was basically that without the hundreds of millions the US government pours into nuclear power, it would not be an economically viable energy option. To say nothing of the environmental and health hazards (and considering the right wing knee jerk reaction to possible terrorism – you would think they’d want to phase out such obvious targets).

Poster for Persepolis.

This made me crack up. Of course, the most vociferous homophobes are those who are the most aroused by pictures of naked men, so… you know. It’s not that much of a stretch for a movie premise anyways.

Charlie Wilson’s War finally gets a trailer.

Is Hitman too violent? Ok – First of all, unrated Die Hard coming out – yay! But I do wish that studios would just allow R rated action movies to exist on their own (you know, like Sin City, but maybe with fewer castrations). I remember one of the regular writers on AICN pleading with the studios to leave Die Hard as an R film and I thought he was totally right. (aha – found it. And his eventual review of the film, which he really enjoyed. Still, it sounds like everyone is waiting on the DVD unrated version.) I think Vern makes some really good points about the fact that Rated R films do tend to do well commercially; look at the Matrix, etc. (which also? The Matrix was rated R? I definitely saw that in high school. And considering I saw my first rated R film in a theatre when I was 13 or 14 (I’d like to point out no one EVER checked my ID at a cinema) (and btw – if you were wondering, it was the The Craft – SHUT UP – I was 13) you might as well leave a film rated R since kids will see it anyways.)

Jumper gets a trailer. Ok – now I happen to be a Hayden Christensen supporter. He was good in Shattered Glass, he deserved his Golden Globe nomination for My Life as a House, and people dislike him because of Star Wars, when that was really Lucas’ fault. He managed to make Natalie Portman bad, for chrissakes. So… I think this looks exciting. Particularly considering Doug Liman is the director, and he did Mr. and Mrs. Smith and the Bourne Identity, both of which I love, and Go, which is one of my all time favourite, favourite films. Plus, Jaime Bell is good.

Over on rottentomatoes, I generally just check out what is opening, because you need most of the major critics to be in before you get an accurate sense of a score, but I really enjoy the fact that Gone Baby Gone has a 100% rating. Shockingly, We Own the Night (which – didn’t that get god-awful reviews at some film fest?) is currently ranked higher than Elizabeth. Uh Oh. I wanna see Clive Owen! (Open in NZ, Shoot Em Up!!) Oh… oh dear. Some of those reviews are just scathing. Awww… and the trailer had such promise. Granted, not all of them are in, but….

Starting info on the Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus. In other words, the film that really needs to be a return to form for Terry Gilliam.

Alan Freakin Alda.

Warner Independent options An Arsonists’ Guide to Writer’s Homes in New England. I’m not sure whether I’m excited about the film, but I definitely want to read this book now.

Film theme your Halloween. Of course, I assume everyone goes as movie characters, because that’s what I usually do (Wednesday, Sally Bowles, Lola, Trinity). The best costume group I ever saw was a spot on group for the Big Lebowski. It was pretty amazing. Apparently my brother and his friends did a group Princess Bride, but I never saw any photos, so I can’t comment on whether it was good or not. Kristl did a good Laura Croft one year, and Kim did Magenta. Hmmm… this is driving me nuts – I can’t for the life of me remember what else I went as in high school. I did Wednesday… my sophomore or junior year and Sally my senior year.  Hmmmm….

I’ve always really wanted to do a proper Mimi (complete with the real waistband, you know – the “10-93 Check my frequency… 10-6 Busy, Stand by” mike pack holder? wow – how is it I remember that? Hi, my name is Jessica, and I’m a RENThead). Other fun ones? Gail from Sin City, Corky from Bound, Moulin Rouge (if you could find a proper red dress), Vesper Lynde from Casino Royale. I’m trying to think of things that came out this year. Claire Danes had a great dress in Stardust, but I think you need to be blond for that one.

I did dress up as Madeline Khan from Clue, but that was for a costume party, and not Halloween. One of my favourite costumes I ever saw was a little kid about a week before Halloween running with joyful abandon down a Boston street in full V for Vendetta regalia. It was very cute.

I like the Agatha Christie character party idea, although probably not too many people would know who to do. I bet people would do some fun costumes for a Shakespeare themed party, too.

I can’t decide whether to read the spoiler alert on CSI (Big Sara/ Grissom news!! Apparently). It’s not a storyline I care much about, or for, for that matter. I only saw through CSI 704 (or 705? I can’t remember if I saw the nun one, or just the previews for it), so I still don’t know what happened to Greg after he ended up in the hospital. They really hadn’t done anything with the storyline though since they showed Sara in Grissom’s room during the season 6 finale. CSI isn’t like Lost, though, where spoilers really can spoil things for viewers.

Monica Potter has been cast in TNT’s drama pilot Truth in Advertising. She joins previously cast Eric McCormack (Will & Grace) and Tom Cavanagh (Ed) in the pilot, which starts shooting this month. (Hollywood Reporter) Yay! Eric McCormack is returning to TV. Hopefully in something more watchable than the last couple of seasons of Will and Grace.

This page is a fun-time waster. Upload your picture, and it will provide a list of celebrities you supposedly resemble (more than a 60% match). Apparently I look like Amanda Bynes, Jena Malone, Sophia Coppola, and Samantha Morton. And Q’Orianka Kilcher. (I see it – don’t you?) Wow – using a different photo, I get a 74% match with Eva Longoria. I’m Latina – who knew? (That photo also comes up with mostly Asian actresses and Piper Perabo).  HA! Using one of my fave photos (Moulin Rouge night from my frosh year in College) I get a 96% match with Amanda Peet, with matches to Katherine Heigl, Hillary Swank, Halle Berry, and Anna Paquin as well (because that’s not a completely random grouping).  Final photo? Rachel Bilson, Q’Orianka Kilcher (again), Jessica Alba, Lisa Snowdon, Paz Vega, Alicia Silverstone, Bridgette Bardot, and Amanda Peet (again). Really – I get stopped for Halle Berry ALL THE TIME. Hahahaha…

This has got to be a really flawed poll, or…. American women are completely baffling. (Who on EARTH would rather watch Nicholas Cage in a crappy sequel to a crappy movie than Christian Bale in an awesome sequel to an awesome film? Or Robert Downey Jr. in freaking Iron Man? What is WRONG with you people?)

This…. is interesting. I’ve always found it bizarre that people flipped out over Di’s death, but some of the comments here are rather touching – for Madeline Khan, Gene Kelly, Jim Henson… I particularly like the one poster who cried over Flower, the Meerkat.

It’s really interesting how invested people become in celebrities, shows (the most repeated heartbreak on there is arrested development), or couples. I’m trying to think of a heartache for myself…. I remember being upset hearing about Jim Henson, since I was pretty young. Luckily none of my favourite shows have been cancelled while I was enjoying them, or at least not surprisingly so. (You knew Arrested Development was going to end). And while its kind of sad when a favourite series wraps up, most of the shows I’ve enjoyed have done it in a good way. And none of my celebrity crushes have ever gotten married while I’ve been into them… so… nothing is really coming to mind. I was pretty upset when I found out I couldn’t go to see Garbage my senior year when they were playing LA for Bleed like Me. Seeing the Angel cast of RENT for the last time was pretty emotional, but I knew I’d see the show again, if not the cast.  

I can’t really think of a time when my friends approached me cautiously to let me know that something bad had happened… Kristl may have once when a friend of an acquaintance of hers went on tour with the Chili Peppers and she let me know that Anthony Kiedis was, in fact, seeing someone else. 😉

Oh my god! I was totally thinking Shakespeare! FLOWER DIED?!?!? OH NOOOO!

Cleolinda Linkspam:

‘Dexter’ campaign gets away with murder. [This is actually fairly old. I think popwatch posted about it a couple of months ago]

Kevin Smith raves about ”Lost.” [Ed: I’m not reading it in case of spoilers for myself, but I thought I’d pass it along]

New Line CEO: ‘‘The Hobbit’ Is In The Future.’
Gondry Gets Animated For New Film.

John August loves Michael Clayton.

Tin Man ‘s O.Z. Site Now Live.

A Kinder, Gentler Hitman.

Tags: Travel

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 11th, 2007 at 8:24 pm and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.