Ploafmaster General

Yeah yeah yeah, no pictures yet, blah blah.

But I did see a movie last night.

Dave and I watched Shop Girl – my latest selection of the ole’ Netflix queue. This morning I gave it a 3 out of 5, which was a little generous; I was feeling more 2.5, but to my knowledge , Netflix doesn’t allow half stars.

Steve Martin’s novella-turned-film starred Claire Danes, Jason Schwartzman, and Steve Martin himself. The acting was generally decent, but acting alone couldn’t save what appeared to be amateur screen-writing. The story felt disjointed all the way through, and every time the movie took a turn for poignancy, Steve Martin’s voice kicked in - not as his on-screen character, but rather as an omniscient narrator. Martin’s bland narration further interrupted the flow of the story, as well as what could have been a few moving portions of the film.

I agree with Dave, who felt that this movie could have been truly good had it been about thirty minutes long and without dialogue.

Okay, so it's been a while since I've written anything, but hey - it's been a busy long weekend.

Hopefully tonight, I should be posting the pics of the refinished hardwood floors on Flickr, along with some snaps courtesy of Dave from James' bachelor shindig.

Peace, doge.

I may have my first bit o' freelance work coming up shortly...

My buddy Patrick may have a site to design in the near future which requires some database storage and retrieval. Since I'm the main database dude that Patrick knows (I think), he's asked me if I want to help him with it should this pan out. So I said yes.

We'll see! Could be a nice small-scale start into my own side projects!

This past weekend I had the floors refinished in the entire house! The final coat of polyurethane should be cured and dry by tomorrow, so I really can't wait to see the final results around the place.

I already saw some of the floors and the difference is remarkable. It looks like I have brand new floors in the house.  I'll post some photos on Flickr after I take them tomorrow.

For you B-Bawlas out there, I just read an excellent, exciting post on Kottke.org about the 2006 NBA Playoffs.

I've discovered that while I still don't particularly enjoy mowing the lawn, it feels a lot less crappy when it's your lawn.  There's something quite satisfying about making your property look nice.

So change has begun at the homestead...Val and I ripped up some carpet in a room with the aid of her sister, Elizabeth.  On Saturday, the hardwood floors will be refinished.  I even replaced the light bulbs on the front porch (It looks so much more inviting!).  Finally, we're having a roofing estimate early next week to compare with one we already have.  The re-roofing of our house should happen some time in the next few weeks.

I still have to figure out about getting some stuff painted, and I need to buy a weed-eater.  I also need to figure out if I should call a moving company in advance of the July 1st moving date...

So much to do, yet so exciting!

You know, I told Mugs that since I bought the special version of Weezer's Blue Album, it's like I've found an old friend.

That sounds really cheesy, yes, but I mean it. I have so many good memories associated with that album, and I just plain love the tunes.

This past week I've found myself driving with the windows down and the stereo BLASTING. I still know all the words, and I can even hum along with every guitar solo. This album represents so much of what was good about Weezer before they pooped out the Green Album. There's some pop sensibility without sacrificing all of their musicianship. Are they virtuosic? Certainly not, but you can actually hear some attention to musical detail on this album and Pinkerton. The lyrics, though not often serious, at least appear to be more carefully written. Not like the last three albums these blokes put out...

Listening to the Blue Album again has made me want Pinkerton even more. I still don't know how I lost the discs so many years ago, yet managed to keep the cases.

More than a stronger desire to have Pinkerton back in my collection, hearing the Blue Album after so long an absence has made me even more dissappointed in Weezer's decline. Their sacrifice of quality in an effort to attain and maintain commercial success is obvious. This isn't a simple matter of calling them "sell-outs" because they've acheived popularity. There's a palpable difference between the quality of the first two albums and everything else they've released since Rivers' public statement about seeking fame and fortune.

Oh well...I can't have everything I want...I can only hope that Ozma won't make the same mistake now that they're back together.

Okay, so Mugs FINALLY decided to ditch Blog.com and hit up some mad-hot WordPress action.  His blog has moved - again - and I've changed the link on the side bar accordingly.

So, I was reading the Weezer webiste to see if they were planning to release a 10th anniversary edition of Pinkerton, just like they did for The Blue Album.  I noticed, however, a much sweeter announcement:

The first US Rentals show in many years is happening in Los Angeles on July 7th at The Henry Fonda Theater (with the legendary Ozma supporting) and the tix are on sale now.

Wow.   The Rentals reuniting is cool, and all...but OZMA!!!??!??!?  HELL YES!!!!!

The return of one of my favorite bands of all time...a band, whose initial break-up literally saddened me for an entire day.

I read this announcement as I was listening to "Say it Ain't So" off of the Blue Album, incidentally.  My trademark Weezer song.  And now I'm listening to "In the Garage."

I'm so happy my spleen could burst!

Man, everyone shoud listen to Car Talk.  This morning, as Valerie and I were heading to the bank, we heard Click and Clack talking about Wal-Mart's decision to start selling wine.  They had listeners of their show submit suggested name for the, um, Sam's Choice Special.

My personal favorite?

I Can't Believe it's Not Vinegar

Alright, some link-reorg stuff going on...

I removed A Pair of Pathetic Peripatetics because it's become somewhat defunct.  Mugs, though, has created a new version of a blog, reincarnating The Writing on the Bathroom Wall.  He still has his site where he posts his personal literature, but this new site is more of a crazy blog like mine, I suspect.  His old blog still exists at muggsy.blog.com, but that's fairly redundant considering his lit site.

So go visit his new joint and post comments, defame him, and be merry.  Or punch yourself in the face.

And I don't mean a thin layer of mucous either.

On Friday I saw Thank You for Smoking with my buddies Dave and Jake. Holy crap. This movie was hilarous, intelligent, and excellently filmed. The lead roles and supporting cast contributed well. The dialogue between Aaron Eckhart and Rob Lowe was a high point. I think I'll add this to my collection when it hits DVD. Valerie had already seen it with a friend of ours, and she approves, so that should be an easy sell.

Saturday, I watched an achievement in acting. Valerie, Dave, and I watched Capote, starring the incredible and versitile Philip Seymour Hoffman. It's easy now to understand why Hoffman received Best Actor at the Oscars this year. Wow, his consistency of voice, physical expression, and facial mannerisms blew me away. The photography was terrific. The camera shots were delicious. The supporting cast contributed only positively. I'm going to watch this a second time before sending it back to Netflix.

On a final note: Friday evening - or rather, Saturday morning - I exposed Dave to Battlefield Earth. Here is a movie that I currently consider the worst film I have yet seen. With a story by the inimitable L. Ron Hubbard and a budget seemingly of one half of ten dollars, Dave's conclusion was, "I think that movie made me go blind." I can't help but wonder why my friend Chris, from whom we borrowed the DVD, even purchased it.

Ciao.

Alright, since I think my buddy Jake is about the only regular reader I have, I'm going to post a reminder here for him:

Jake, shoot me a call today, at work or later, so we can iron out the details of hanging out tomorrow (Friday) evening.

Yo.

In religion and politics, people's beliefs and convictions are in almost every case gotten at second hand, and without examination.
- Mark Twain

Awwwwwwww yeeeeeah.

Now I have a new set of keys on my keychain. The closing on the house went smoothly. The drive to Winchester was fine. The wedding was wonderful, and the rest of the weekend festivities were excellent.

A delightful surprise? My cousin Mick, whom I haven't seen in at least 10 years, was there. Not only is he married, not only does he have an adorable baby boy (Seamus), but he's been living in Virginia for the past 6 years, a mere two hours away from me. Rock, rock on.

Ciao.

Oh man, this is set to be a righteous weekend.  Today is my last day of work for the week, so that's a good start.

Tonight, Val and I have the final walk-through of the house.  Tomorrow, at 8 AM, we have the closing.  Immediately after that, we drive up to Winchester, VA.  Around 4 PM is the rehersal for my older brother Tom's wedding.  After that, the weekend essentially turns into a huge-normous party with my family and some friends.  Rehersal dinner, wedding, chill time with the fam.

Yee-fricken'-haw!

1. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

2. The Royal Tenenbaums

3. Gross Pointe Blank

4. The Shawshank Redemption

5. Garden State


6. Tombstone


7. Fight Club

8. Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels

9. Snatch

10. The Usual Suspects

So yeah, the king of Nepal has agreed to reinstate parliament.

Let's hope that's the last of it...

It seems the other day that Nepal's king had offered merely to share power with the people.  Well, they weren't havin' it, so they continue to protest, and the police continue to shoot.

Hurrah.

Wow. I saw "Silent Hill" this afternoon. It was revolting.

The dialogue sounded as if a child repeatedly sat on a keyboard in order to write it. The story was wack. The conclusions were muddled.

It was freaky, but not particularly scary. Yeah, it was gory, but nothing too sickening.

This movie exemplifies why I don't care for the horror genre.

The only two saving graces were that I saw it with friends, and it was a matinee.

You know, I think I'm going to try to compile an actual top and bottom 10 of movies I've seen.

Nepal's King Steps Down

People in Nepal protested day after day, in huge numbers, despite a "shoot to kill" curfew and apparently no giving in from the king.  Today, however, the king finally caved in to the people.

Rock on, Nepal!

The seller agreed to our terms!!!  WOOT!

I don't know exactly what I'm doing, but I'm celebrating somehow this weekend!  Closing scheduled for Friday, 4/28!

Huzzah!!!

Okay, so yesterday Val and I finally put in our "rebuttal," as it were, to the seller.  We initialled the changes on the contract last night, and as it turns out, the seller's agent only this evening got it (after three faxes from ours).  Our realtor seems to feel confident that this will all work out well for us, but I just want a response.

Poop.

AHHHH!!!

So yesterday I heard from my realtor, and the seller of the home basically a) doesn't want to give ANY credits, and b) wants to hire his own contractors to make some repairs, and c) doesn't want to replace the roof, but repair it.

After much fuming, discussion, and finally some consultation with my buddy William, Valerie and I decided that we're going to wait it out a little bit, and respond on Wednesday evening with a request for a slightly smaller credit.  We're not budging on anything else.

Looks like this is building to a head, and we'll know by the end of the week whether this house will be ours or not.

Sweet! I just found out from City of Richmond that the gas meter on the back of this Seminary Ave. house is indeed active and usable.

This means, that should I so choose, I could get a gas range, and eventually switch out the furnace with a gas one as well. Good-bye oil, someday.