Published by Dark Horse Comics in the distant future, the year 2000, AvPvT was actually a sequel to Alien: Resurrection, the mostly awful fourth chapter of the Alien franchise, written by Joss Whedon and directed by marvelous-but-ill-suited Frenchman Jean-Pierre Jeunet. AvPvT picks up a little while after the end of that film, Call and Ripley had gone their separate ways, but are once again reunited when Call stumbles upon an industrial military complex scheme that involves the Aliens somehow… and they soon learn the Terminator machines from the distant past, and, yes the Predators are all over the situation.
It’s a completely convoluted mess, the second issue featuring a lengthy snooze-inducing deus ex machina wherein John Connor explains the plot of the series, and the art by Mel Rubi far too cartoonish to be the appropriate choice to illustrate even one of the franchises featured, never mind all three. Mark Schultz had the unfortunate task of trying to bring all these disparate elements together (not just the three different properties, but also incorporating their continuity) and it’s a thankless task.
I didn’t much like this when I read it in 2000, and it hasn’t gotten any better with age.
The book “America Unchained” by Dave Gorman is the “behind the scenes”/”making-of” for this DVD, which is Brit Gorman’s search for the America he grew up on from film and television, not the corporate globalized world of cookie cutter shopping malls, hotels and restaurants. His project, to travel from one coast to the other without giving any money to “the man”. This meant stopping only at independently owned gas bars, hotels and eateries.
The DVD is a travelogue of sorts, slightly more philosophical than the book but still mostly about the journey and less about the effects of a homogenized America. There should be a bit more thought and meditation, I thought, but then the experiment for Gorman wasn’t really to prove any sort of thesis, rather just a personal journey of discovery. But despite not reaching as far as it should, it’s still a fulfilling and highly entertaining two hours (compressing the multi-week journey into a short time-frame). The book is an essential companion to the movie, the movie is less essential to the book, but it’s nice to see through the camera much of what Gorman had so fondly described.
The film won the Audience Choice Award at the 2007 Austin Film Fest. The book, “America Unchained” will be published domestically in February of this year and comes highly recommended.
For a while there the wife and I were getting a freezer lasagna from the grocery store every other week. Then we stopped cold turkey. I don’t recall the reason why. Probably had to do with reading “In Defense of Food” and some earnest but obviously unreal expectations about making lasagna from scratch, which I can do quite well. I haven’t in a long, long time. I should, but generally time was tight. With the new home and location, I’ll have an extra 40 minutes to get something together which should eventually mean better cuisine…
Anyway, this week, over at our new Loblaws (I just about wrote Lowblows there) I decided to pick up a freezer lasagna for a quick meal should we need it (or just feel lazy). Aden pointed out the sodium content of most of them, which seemed to be about 50% of daily intake which is crazy. So I pulled out the President’s Choice Blue Menu lasagna, which for 1/8th of a pan was only 30% d.i. sodium.
What I didn’t do was check the details of this lasagna, primarily it’s 2hour cooking time! Two hours? I can make it from scratch and cook it faster than that. Lesson learned.
As for it’s taste, well it’s 1/3 sauce, 1/3 cottage cheese and 1/3 noodles. There’s not much to it and while not unpleasant (hey, JJ ate it without a fuss and even had seconds) it’s hardly gourmet.
Won’t be doing that again.
I owned my own car from 1999 through to 2003. My dad bought it for me for a couple grand when I moved away from home, as I was going to need something. It was a well-used beast with over almost 200,000 KM on it when I got it, and it probably cost me anywhere from $800 to $2000 in maintenance each year I had it, outside of gas and insurance. When I got rid of it it felt like freedom, even though it limited my capability of getting out of town, it was just nice to no longer have the responsibility.
I’ve said I never wanted to own a car again.
I mean it.
And yet… I can’t say one wouldn’t come in handy on a regular basis. But I know I would use it more than I needed to. Quick jaunts up to the grocery store that’s easily within walking distance, driving over to friends houses when transit would be just as good if a little more time consuming, more frequent drives out of town…
We’ve been offered a car from Aden’s dad. It’s 10-years-old, it’s a Honda, it’s in fairly respectable repair. We’d have to get insurance which isn’t at issue.. but I’d need to find a reliable mechanic because a 10-year-old car is going to have issues, and unlike my dad, I’m ill-equipped to handle them myself.
I’m so torn up about this. I can think of both the convenience and the hassle of owning a car and they scales are even. Gah!
today I learned that Patrick McGoohan died. The reclusive genius behind the Prisoner hasn’t really been seen or heard from in a long time, but he will never, ever be forgotten.
AMC will hopefully be paying tribute to McGoohan’s legacy with their reprise of The Prisoner this year, rather than spitting on it and stomping on it’s cherished memory.
A viewing of the Prisoner on DVD is in order.
Early word is next week’s Radio Free GAK will also be fondly paying tribute to the man, and what remains easily one of the top 3 best shows ever made for television.
Mr. McGoohan, be seeing you.