California Blogging Volume Four: The Paris Hilton Dog and Pony Show...and a Meme!

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If all of you are sick and tired of the whole Paris Hilton saga, I feel your pain. Try spending that week in Los Angeles, where the story actually qualifies for local news. The story was all over the TV, local news reporters camped outside her house like the paparazzi and you could not escape it.

I am of two minds of this. One, the whole "I'm rich so I deserve special treatment" stuff annoys the hell out of me. I have to deal with that on a daily basis around the suburbs of NYC I live in. Just because you have more money does not make you a better person. It does not exempt you from the rules of common decency or the laws of the land. It simply means that you have more money.

But on the other hand, I agree with the statement "Paris" made where she said that she wished the news media would focus on other news, like, say, the war in Iraq. There is a war going on, you know. With casualties and everything.

But I think the reasons America latches on to topics like these is because they want to get angry about something but are afraid to get angry about the war or the crappy job the President is doing. Railing on against Paris Hilton is safe. Railing on against the war or Bush makes you un-American. I do both, so I may be wrong in this assumption.

But the whole Hilton scandal inspired me to do something for the first time. It inspired me to create a "meme". I am very nervous to present this to you. I am pretty sure I did it wrong, because, mainly, I have no idea exactly what a "meme" is. And Wikipedia was of no help I used red lettering and all the "memes" I saw used white is this a cardinal sin? I don't know. I mispelled "You're", which seems to happen alot in these things. If I did screw up, blame Jeff. He inspired me to do it.

Well, here it is:

 

Paris meme

I join in.

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After Jeff and Sims.

This week's new movie releases.

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1. Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (3,957 Theaters): I was one of the few people, it seems, that liked the first Fantastic Four movies. Was it the best comic film ever? No. But it was better than I expected. I liked the way they made Doom more powerful (and more of a threat) and I think they captured the family-esque comradery well.

That said, I can't say that I am not hesitant about this movie. The Silver Surfer/Galactus arc is the definitive FF storyline, imho, and I really don't think a 90 minute movie will do it justice. And it looks like this movie will try to contain it all, since the internet is already abuzz about Galactus appearing in the movie (As a storm cloud, which has people complaining. I guess they wanted a big purple man to walk in).

My friend Jeff  said in a comment below that he didn't think FFRotSS had the legs to take over the number one spot. I say that I never expected the first movie to do as well as it did. The Fantastic Four has a lot of mainstream popularity. Don't underestimate the non-comic folks coming out to see this movie. And it really isn't up against anything special.

Nancydrew

2. Nancy Drew (2,612 Theaters): What I love about the marketing of this movie is that Emma Roberts is advertised in a litany of articles as "Julia Roberts' niece". She is also Eric Roberts' daughter. He's an actor too, you know. Sure, all he does these days is guest star in TV shows and hip-hop videos, but still. I know Julia has more swag these days but at least mention Eric, would ya?

And reading some Nancy Drew Fan's comments on IMDB acts as a reflections of how comic fans like me react to comic  book adaptations. The fact that she is not "popular" in some of her school scenes has people up in arms. And I gather that most of the people posting are at least 30 years above the target audience the producers are shooting for. It serves as a lesson that I am slowly learning. Hollywood does not do adaptations just to please fans of the original works. They try to reach the widest audiences possible.

This is not going to stop me from complaining when they do something dumb in the next Punisher movie. Just so you know.

So, how do I think the box office is going to be this weekend?

1. Fantastic Four Rise of the Silver Surfer
2. Ocean's 13
3. Knocked Up
4. Pirates of the Carribean: At World's End
5. Nancy Drew.

Although I believe there is a possibility that 3 and 4 will switch.

QotD: My Current Top 10

What are your top 10 most-played songs currently?

 

My top 10-most played songs on my iPod will not be an accurate representation of my top ten favorite songs of all time. I recently got a new iPod and these are just the songs I listened to most since I got it. Most of them are songs I got from iTunes that I listened to a bunch of times after I bought them.

1. This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race by Fallout Boy

2. Miss Murder by Afi

3. I Got You by Split Enz

4. Sweet Sacrifice by Evanescence

5. Makes Me Wonder by Maroon 5

6. Sleeping in my Car by Roxette

7. Bring me to Life by Evanescence

8. With Love by Hilary Duff

9. Whisky in the Jar by Metallica

10. Mad World by Michael Andrews.

 

I would love to see the psychological profile that the FBI would make up after looking at that set list.   

 

California Blogging, Volume three: Wednesday and Thursday.

Yes. I know I am back in New York again. But unfortunately, I did not have internet access through out my stay in LA. It cost $9.95 per day to get on the internet, and if Jen didn't have to go on for work, I didn't go on. I like blogging, but it didn't feel right to spend $10 getting on to the internet just to do a Paris Hilton meme (which is forthcoming) when that $10 could be used to buy a Diet Coke from Room Service. And I was usually busy doing stuff that I will talk about here over the next couple days.

I'm going to start off at one week ago. This, as you recall, was my "resting of the foot day". I had a, well, wart on my foot that one guy thought he got rid of but it never quite healed. Damn my Type 2 Diabetes!!! So I have been going to another guy for about, gosh, it must be two months for a series of freezing the wound, scraping of the dead tissue caused by the last freezing, then freezing the wound again. Last Monday, the guy tried something different. He put some acid on my foot to try to "Atom Bomb" it into submission. I don't know if it worked but it made my foot hurt--a lot. Tuesday last, I walked on it to Venice and was pretty much in excruciating pain. Since most of the weekend would involve me doing a lot of walking, I decided to rest the foot on Wednesday and Thursday.

Wednesday, after my last blog entry, I decided to lay in bed and watch TV.  What to my joyous eyes should appear on HBO but Empire Strikes Back. Ah, HBO. You'll run a stupid Seth Green movie I've never heard of 15 times a day, but every once in a while, you'll put a gem like that on.

That night, Jen's business was having a soiree in honor of all the attendees so I thought that I was on my own for dinner that night. Around 8PM, Jen comes up and asks if I wanted to come down. They had loads of food left over and the powers that be suggested that Jen bring me down. So I had some really good food and a beer for free. Can't beat that.

The next day, Thursday, I decided to go down to the pool and read a little more of the new Michael Chabon novel I've been reading. Now, the one gift I can claim for my Lithuanian/Irish genes is the ability to get a sunburn in 0-60 seconds. So, I bought a spray-on "sports" sunscreen. This is a type of sunscreen that is not supposed to come of if you sweat. Which is good, because I sweat a lot (I am telling you much more than you really want to know. I guess I am becoming a true blogger.).

Dealing with the spray was a learning experience. I learned that you need about 10 minutes for it to dry. I also learned that my shorts ride up about an inch when I sit down and I shouldn't be afraid of getting my socks damp when spraying the stuff on. These last two things came into play that first day because, while it worked fine on the areas that were sprayed well, I have a band of sunburn above my socks and around my knees where spray didn't get to. Ouch. But the odd shapes of the burns make for interesting conversation pieces.

Later that night, Jen's boss's boss took the team out for dinner. Again, I was asked to tag along. A bunch of us piled into Jen's direct boss's car. We were given shady directions to the restaurant and ended up getting lost getting there. The joke of the whole thing was that the car was equipped with a GPS system. Thing is, it took us almost half the trip to get it to work. Oh, but when it worked, it was awesome! I definitely want one!

The restaurant was called Sona. It was one of those fancy, foo foo, chic California restaurants. We all had the tasting menu, which provided a selection of their menu. Each plate featured tiny portions yet artfully decorated and composed. It was good, but I probably would have starved if I had to eat only one of the tasting menu items by itself.

But the kicker, for me at least, about this place is that it is a block away from a "live nude girls" place. Rich eating establishment near a sleezy strip club. Gotta love California.

More later and after this weekend--pictures! Maybe! 

New Guiding Lines column up.

The column went up yesterday, but since I got home at 1AM, I was in no shape to post anything. This week I cover World War Hulk #1, New Avengers #31, Green Arrow #75, Tales from the Crypt #1,  Avengers Classic #1, Justice #12 and Black Diamond #1. 

Box Office Results: How did I do?

In brief, because it is late and I am tired, here is what I predicted:

1. Hostel Part II
   
2. Ocean's 13
   
3. Knocked Up
   
4. Surf's Up
   
5. Pirates of the Carribean: At World's End.

Here is what Jeff predicted:

1. Ocean's Thirteen

2. PotC

3. Hostel

4. Surf's Up

5. Knocked Up

And here's how it all ended up:

1. Ocean's Thirteen
2. Pirates of the Carribean At World's End
3. Knocked Up
4. Surf's Up
5. Shrek the Third.

Hostel Part II came in at number 6. I guess I was wrong in underestimating the taste of the American Public. I'm sorry, American public. I'll try not to do it again.

So, I am 2 for 5 this week, making me 18 for 35 after 7 weeks, giving me an average of .511. Jeff is 3 for 5 after one week for an average of .600. We have the makings of being the Maris and Mantle of movie prognostication.