The house by the lake

© Joselito Briones

Ahahahaha!!! What a laugh! Keanu Reeves as an architect. Sandra Bullock as a doctor. A dog as cupid. A mailbox as a time machine. A sorry exercise as a movie! I had so much fun I'm still laughing. Ahahahahaha!!!!

Yep. Been to Roxy again..


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P.S.
Photo is another one from the looong ago trip to Amsterdam.


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Old school and proud of it

© Joselito Briones

I think I'll make it a point from now on to see movies shunned by US viewers. I finally got to see "Superman Returns", it received a lukewarm reception in the U.S. box office, but I really liked it. It's the old school (old sKool is not old school enough) way of doing a superhero movie, the way a superman movie should be. Explorations of internal motivations and angst were kept to a minimum, and the focus was kept on larger-than-superlife conflicts. Good wins over evil, good guy gets really really pretty girl (by the heart, if not as a partner, the other good guy gets that part), and evil's still bald and gets himself a not-so-evil consort (the always entertaining Parker Posey). And it's also a good thing that I didn't pay attention to write-ups about the movie, otherwise I'd have read the spoiler plot already about the superkid.

The movie was shown in English in Roxy, in Nuremberg, and I'm really liking this small theather, because it's so small, not crowded (both times I was there, there were less than 10 people in the audience), and it's got a small-town appeal to it.

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Cavite

Promotional poster for the movie "Cavite"

Hey Jimbo, I came across the New York Times review for this movie... sounds promising... I hope it gets shown here eventually.

Did I tell you I'm from Cavite?










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Roxy

© Joselito Briones

I finally got to see "The Da Vinci Code", courtesy of the only theater in the vicinity that shows films in their original language, "Roxy" (most films shown here are, obviously, dubbed in German).

Frankly, I don't see what the hoopla is all about. Unless you're a religious fanatic, you'd see quite easily that this is just a slightly above average hollywood movie (above average because of the polish with which the movie was made). Okay, Tom Hanks is obviously miscast (sigh of relief when he walked away at the end of the movie, instead of locking arms with and kissing Audrey Tautou), but that is balanced enough by Ian McKellen's eager performance. And yes, another waste of Jean Reno's talent, but then again, he seems to be very willing of late in wasting such talent, so nothing new in this one.

In the end, the movie is exactly what the book was about. I'd guess that the people who had a problem with the movie were the same ones who had a problem with the book to begin with. In which case that's another matter altogether. The subject matter has been exhausted that adding anymore will only add to confusion, or feed the propagandists' work (yes, both sides).

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I guess all the waiting is over.

© Joselito Briones

I had to book a hotel in Garden City last night, as I had to be there at 7am, and the earliest LIRR train that goes there before that time leaves Jamaica at 5am. It meant I'd have had to take the subway at 4am, which meant I'd have had to wake up 3am the latest. So no go.

It's a crappy hotel, "Wingate Inn" and the receptionist was rude. She was talking to me, telling me what I should know about staying in the hotel, but all the time looking at and working on her computer. I called her to it and she apologized, but she obviously didn't mean it. I checked in at about 3pm. I didn't feel like going out so I just ordered in and just waited until it was late enough to go to bed. Watched the finale of "Project Runway".

Today, I woke up before 6am, showered, had breakfast downstairs, went up again to get my things, then checked out after arranging for shuttle service to the train station. There was already a line formed outside the USNIS building when I got there. I waited for a bit, but the exam itself was very easy and went quite fast. There was a bit of chit chat which I'm not sure if part of the exam, but after that the examiner told me that I passed and that I'll have to attend the oath taking ceremony on Saturday. But first I had to wait for the appointment. I waited 3 hours.

I went back to the hotel to get the shuttle service. When I got to the train station I missed the train, so I had to wait for about an hour.

Tonight Eric and I went to Union Square, then the east village. While walking around we saw a film crew shooting a scene for the TV show "Rescue Me" with Denis Leary. He looked a lot shorter in real life. The scene had one guy being kicked out of a restaurant, then a lot of running, the same guy followed by a group, a lot of shouting, and all. There was a long pause between takes, and we didn't want to wait too much, so we left after two tries.

We had dinner at "Sapporo East" restaurant. Didn't have to wait long. Food was good. Enjoyed "uni" (sea urchin sushi) the most.

The photo on the left is a billboard in Times Square advertising Bill Paxton´s new show "Big Love", capitalizing on his allegedly enormous thingy (fingers).


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