I went to the page this morning to check, but I didn't win. Anybody fair any better?

Either way, thanks a bunch for trying, you folks really are pretty darn cool.

A little more than a week ago, Dad came home with the usual question, “What's for dinner?” Sophie had recently started posting recipes, so we decided to try to make some quiche. Not wanting to deal with frozen spinach we replaced it with tomatoes and onions and dad decided to replace the ham with bacon. We put all the stuff together, though I was a little fast and loose with the proportions, putting in less milk that was called for. I baked it for the maximum amount of time, but even at that point it was rather juicy. I decided let it cook for another ten minutes and even then it was rather wet. I pulled it out and let it sit for a while, but there was still a good bit of water in the middle. We decided to try it anyway, and it was rather good. Given more time to sit, it eventually got to the level of solidity that I was expecting. So points for that recipe, it's relatively simple and is “tasty”, though it's not something I'm going to be making all the time. There's a limit to how many eggs I can eat.

Every so often I search the net for some more podcasts to add to my aggregators, and subsequently remove from them. One somewhat recent addition that is definitely going to stay is Pixel Perfect. PP is hosted by Bert Monroy, who is a photo-realist painter that specializes in Photoshop. This guy just thoroughly impresses me. The show generally covers neat little techniques to be used in creating Photoshop images, but the most recent episode, and the next two, are about the creation of his recent masterpiece, Damen. It took about 2000 hours to create, has more than 15,000 layers and the flattened file weighs in at 1.7 Gigabytes.

I highly recommend checking out the show.

If you (family and friends) do, I'd like to ask for your help. Amazon is having a lottery for their next batch of Wiis. If you sign up at this page before Sunday night and are randomly selected, you will be given an opportunity on Tuesday to buy a Wii. They are saying the chances of not getting a Wii are about 5 to 1. If you do sign up, thanks a bunch and if you are chosen, I'll pay you in advance. Remember that signing up for a Wii excludes you from signing up for a PS3.

Thanks,

Nativity

This is what I found when I went to look for reviews of “The Nativity Story” on Rotten Tomatoes:

“For those who are not pulled to this movie for its religious slant, there's no reason to go. There's nothing here for a serious movie-goer. Despite the sizeable budget, this is little more than a glossy Christmas tract.”

I've heard that the Vatican liked the movie, but I have a suspicion that they will give a nod to anything that is respectful, regardless of the quality of the acting and such. Anyway this guy's comments reminded me of a Penny Arcade comic, I think the last panel nails my thoughts on them: Arms Aren't Even That Cool. Somewhat appropriately the artist that draws the comic goes by the name Gabriel.

The mention of a serious movie-goer brings up the question of what one is. I'm of the opinion that a piece of art only needs to do one thing well, to be of value. Some people will find that one thing compelling and some people won't, regardless of whether it is objective or subjective. That's why I sort of reject the idea that a movie is either good or bad, and instead think that a movie is either good or bad for a particular individual. If you enjoyed a movie then it is good, for you. If a movie leads you to some sort of enlightenment, then it is good, for you. Anyway, the idea that a serious movie-goer exists, seems to imply that you have to have a certain taste to be a serious movie-goer and if you don't, then you like trash and maybe you are trash.

From another review:

“The pacing is so slow and the religious undertones so heavy that only Jesus himself could rise above the draining weight.”

Dad's response to this one was, “They're not supposed to be undertones, asshole. That's using the technical definition of asshole.”

And another:

“The Nativity Story is a film of tame picture-book sincerity, but that's not the same thing as devotion. The movie is too tepid to feel, or see, the light.”

I think that this guy has his church and movie theater mixed up. It's a confusion that is rampant right now, if they way some churches do Mass is any indication.

The Rope

Dad was watching “North by Northwest” the other day. I mentioned that I couldn't think of a single Hitchcock movie that I found compelling, then I thought of “The Rope”. Whenever I mention the film, I get funny looks from people because nobody seems to know about it. I suppose that shouldn't surprise me since the only reason I know about it is because I caught it on one of the classic movie channels one time. It's a neat little suspense film that involves a bit of philosophy and stars Jimmy Stewart which gives it automatic bonus points in my book. If you read reviews of it, you will see people talking about whether or not filming the movie as almost all one shot was a gimmick. Not knowing that ahead of time, I didn't really notice it except in how it kept the tension up. If you get a chance, I recommend watching it.

And yes, I do like “Rear Window”, but I didn't think of it until I sat down to write this.

Upcoming

I've been bemoaning the fact that my most anticipated movie right now is the next Harry Potter movie. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the Harry Potter movies, but they could be so much more than they are. They are not some well-developed moral play, they don't have character development on the level of, say, “The Lord of the Rings” or even “The Hobbit”, and they don't seem to have an over-arching plot throughout the seven films other than Voldemort is going to try to get back into power any way he can. For the most part, they are just fun little adventure stories. The same is true of the books. Rowling even admits to handicapping her characters so that she can tell the story that she wants to. A stupid mistake in my opinion, but then again, I'm very much in Tolkien's camp.

Anyway I went to Box Office Mojo to see what movies are coming out next year:

May:

– Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End

– Shrek the Third

July

– Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

– Simpsons

– Transformers

August

– Bourne Ultimatum

– Rush Hour 3

My thoughts:

PoftC:AWE: I found the second one to be boring. I like my movies to have a little bit of action, but there really is something called 'too much'. When the whole movie is just people swinging swords and rolling around in a water wheel for 2 and a half hours, I just end up bored to tears.

Shrek 3: Eh. The second one was short on laughs. When a two minute trailer spoils most of your jokes, it's time to go back to the writing room.

HPatOotP: My favorite HP movie up to this point is Prisoner of Azkawatchacallit, maybe this one will be more like that.

Simpsons: Has any TV cartoon made the transition to movie well?

Transformers: Same question.

Bourne Ultimatum: The past two were alright. I've always liked spy movies. I think it's because I like to see how they get themselves out of situations. The more interesting their maneuvering, the more compelling I find the movie

Rush Hour 3: I enjoyed the last two, but if this is just more of the same, will I care?

Having said all that, I will go to any or all of these.