movies seen and unseen

There's a bunch of things I've been meaning to tell you about. First off, I've seen a lot of movies lately. Friday night Jorn and I saw Ong Bak: Muay Thai Warrior at the Brattle. It was thoroughly excellent. I figured it would just be some kung fu thing like every other kung fu thing, but it was really awesome. It was made in the last two years or so, first off, and in Thailand, and--this is the awesome part--the lead guy did all his own stunts. All the fighting was real. He leaped into the air and did a split while sailing over the roof of a car. He moved so fast while punching and kicking and flipping that it was all a blur. The filmmakers found great ways of using the setting--a marketplace in Bangkok, for instance--and making it into an obstacle course of things for him to go over, under, or through. I don't think I've ever seen anyone else physically capable of the things this man could do. Beyond just the visual "holy crap did you SEE that??" effect, there was also a strong storyline and well-developed characters, so that by the final confrontation I was on the edge of my seat, literally, and chewing off my fingernails. If you get a chance to see this you totally should.

In the past few days I also saw Gun Fight at the OK Corral (is that the right title? It was good, though), Swing Kids (nchanter has scarred me for life), and Boondock Saints. It was the first time I'd seen it, and it was OMG-awesome. I think even Dann would like it. I would be happy to watch it again. Monday night I went with Jorn to the Brattle again to see the documentary Inside Deep Throat, which was fascinating. (They did show quite a few clips from the original movie, though, so if you don't like graphic sex in your movies I would not recommend it to you.) Tomorrow night Jorn and I are going to see Steamboy at the Brattle. He saw it already but is totally psyched to see it again. I'm getting kind of sick of the Brattle, I never seem to go anywhere else. I feel like there's a gajillion mainstream-type movies out right now that I want to see that I haven't seen yet. These include Constantine (I'm sure it sucks, but I'd like to decide for myself, thank you), Hitchhiker's Guide, Sin City, Kingdom of Heaven (again, I'm sure it blows, but I want to see the pretty), Sahara, and Kung Fu Hustle. Since my class is over on Tuesday, I'll be free again to go out and do things. Let me know if you want to go see a movie with me.

life stuff: chocolate madness and book reception recap / Kingdom Hearts

So since I vigorously pimped out invitations to certain events lately, I thought I'd tell you how everything went. Last Tuesday was Chocolate Madness. It was at the Cyclorama in the South End, and it was a gorgeous day, and I get the impression that we raised quite a lot of money for the cause. I personally bought a t-shirt (it's a black, fitted t-shirt, with "choice" across the front in white letters, and the "o" is replaced by a heart--really cute), and I saw lots of people walking in off the street and buying tickets at the door (for $45, when you could get them in advance for $35). Trish was selling raffle tickets and apparently made a killing. The chocolate was excellent, too--some of it was Too Fancy for my tastes, but lots of it was perfect and wonderful. I especially liked the peppermint brownies and the white chocolate coconut martinis. I was on door duty, checking to make sure that everyone who came in had a hand stamp, so I didn't get too much time to socialize, but I did get to snag some chocolate over the course of the evening. Jorn came out for the event, and so did Amy and Tom, and it was awesome to see them in spite of their horrific parking problems. Thankfully good chocolate can heal a variety of ills.

Last night was my book art exhibit reception! I brought a cheese tray. There were books on display in glass cases on the first and second floors (my book was on the first floor), and we also brought in all our other books and set them out for people to see in the reception room on the second floor. Jorn arrived around 6pm, right on time like the excellent and supportive boyfriend he is. Dann also arrived (I almost typed "came", and then I TATG), and so did Kris and Chris. (Chris admitted that now he understands why I've been devoting so much time to this class, which was nice to hear.) :) Heather popped in too, which was awesome (this is Cambridge-Heather, as opposed to the other Heathers in my lj-Heather army). And just when I thought everyone who was going to come had been there, Kat arrived! She has a class at the same time as mine but I guess had managed to get out early, and she was really excited to see all the books. So I had a total of six guests! I was very pleased. If you want to see "the show" but aren't around here, you can check it out on the class website. If you are around here and want to pop in, it's at 51 Brattle Street in Harvard Square, less than a block from the Brattle Theatre, and I'm pretty sure it's open all day (it's an academic building). Books will be on display for the next week.

In other news, I bought the game Kingdom Hearts for the PS2. I heard that it's hellacute and I would like it. Now I can't stop playing. This is my first-ever RPG, so I'm confused a lot of the time, but having Donald Duck in my party kind of makes it all okay. (Speaking of games, I also bought--this is so embarrassing--the Buffy xbox game. Not Chaos Bleeds, the other one that only came out on xbox. I do not own an xbox, nor do I know anyone who does, and I have no plans to buy an xbox since I'm not interested in sports games or first-person shooters, which is what most of their catalogue seems to be. But I got the Buffy game used for $9.99, so I figured it was a good deal and an investment for the future when xboxes are cheap. And maybe I'll make a friend someday who has one. But let this be a lesson to ye: a gamer with a fandom is a dangerous and silly thing.)

All last night I couldn't stop whistling Big Pimpin'. I so wish I had it on mp3 right now.

OMG I love the onion

This week's onion av club reviewed House of Wax. Here's an excerpt:

Much of the publicity around House Of Wax revolves around Paris Hilton's role, which can generously be described as minor, and her ephemeral celebrity proves distracting. After all, how scary would The Blair Witch Project be if Kato Kaelin were one of the terrified campers? In her few scenes, Hilton conveys the combination of boredom and vague annoyance that constitutes her one note. She can't even run right: When being chased by a mad slasher, she conveys all the desperation and urgency of grandma tiptoeing down to the kitchen for a midnight snack of milk and cookies.

I just laughed out loud. The av club is quite good with movies this week, they posted a "hopeful but none-too-enthused" movie guide for the summer. Hee.

I <3 amazon

I just bought Firefly on dvd. I used two gift certificates, so I was justified in also getting two books off my wish list. My wish list is now only six pages long. I feel I've accomplished something.

I don't want to eat the leftover pad thai.

travel plans

Hmm. It's looking like I will be going to Chicago with the Five at the beginning of August instead of to Denver. I may end up in Denver over Labor Day weekend instead, which coincidentally is the same weekend as DragonCon. Which means I wouldn't get to meet the Chrysta. But Labor Day would be a good weekend for Amy, so I'll have to talk to Sarah Batt about it and see what she thinks. Also there's apparently Good Food Things going on in Denver over Labor Day weekend. So many places to go!

In other news, watch this.