Today was the first day of the Minnesota State Fair, which runs through Labor Day. If you live in Minnesota, you are legally required to attend. No, not really; I'm joking. But sometimes it does seem that way, considering the enthusiasm so many people have for it.
Normally I probably wouldn't go this year, since I went last year and it's more of an every two to three year thing for me. But this year Rush is playing at the Grandstand, and I decided, oh, why not? I was really into them when I was younger and I still like their music despite not being as obsessive of a fan as I once was. Plus, I always wanted to see them back then, but never had the chance, so this is a way of paying back my teenage self for being patient.
So, that's where I will be tomorrow night. Hopefully by my Sunday entry, I'll have my hearing back.
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Special Appearance
Got distracted last night, so unfortunately I missed posting. Regular posting will resume tomorrow, but until then here's a link to a discussion on Girl Meets Geek about transit in the Twin Cities suburbs in which she quotes a Twitter comment of mine from earlier today (I'm @moerketim, who she quotes in her first point). It's a great post and I may discuss my thoughts on the issue here sometime as well.
Sunday, August 22, 2010
What I'm Watching
Since I periodically do a post about stuff I'm reading, it seemed a given that I should talk about stuff I've watched recently once in a while too. So, here we go. Note that I didn't include links for these, because the Wikipedia entries would likely have spoilers and IMDB is just kind of a pain.
The Expendables: I saw this in the theater on opening night, so according to the hilarious fan-made trailer (NSFW, by the way, and that goes triple for the comments) I deserve to be a man. This movie is exactly what it says on the package, nothing more and nothing less. Whether or not that's a good thing is up to you, but as a fan of old-school action movies and much of the cast, for me it was a very good thing indeed.
Factotum: In a completely different direction, we have this movie, based on the life of author Charles Bukowski. For some reason, the movie was filmed in Minneapolis, because I guess filming the movie where the book it is based on took place (L.A.) was just too hard or something. I mean, I can't imagine filiming a movie in L.A., can you? Nevertheless, it was interesting to see places I recognized and have been to, even if the setting wasn't really used in the story. However, I ended up not really caring about pretty much anyone in the movie, as they just weren't likable and in some cases actually repellent. There really isn't any message or meaning to what happens, it just sort of occurs. I guess that's realistic, but it wasn't what I was looking for. However, a Bukowski fan (I knew who he was before this, but that's all) might see it differently.
Control: You would probably assume that a movie about Ian Curtis, the lead singer of Joy Division, would be rather bleak and grim. You would, in fact, be totally correct. However, I still enjoyed the movie, being a fan of the band and of others from that time and place. The actors all gave really convincing performances, especially the ones playing the members of Joy Division themselves, and the recreated concert and television footage is amazing due to the actors actually performing the songs (and doing a very convincing job doing it). I'd probably only recommend it to people with an interest in the subject matter, but if you have that, you'll like it.
Mad Men Season One: This is a strange one, since I've already seen seasons two and three when they first aired on AMC. Seeing as how I started watching the show partway through, though, it seemed like I should go back and see it from the beginning despite already knowing the season's main spoilers. Because the show is so well done, it's still rewarding to watch even though I'm aware of what happens. That said, the pace is definitely slower in the first season and it doesn't feel as lively, although it improves towards the end.
The Wire Season Five: I've finished the first disc of the last season of this show, and have three more to go. I can tell it's the last season since ongoing storylines are being wound up, it moves along more quickly, and characters from past seasons are being brought back to show what happens to them. It definitely has a different feel to it than previous seasons, but it's still an amazing show. Of all of the TV shows that were originally on pay networks but later brought to basic cable or broadcast channels (like The Sopranos or Sex and the City), I'm not sure why it was never done with The Wire. Not that much content would need to be removed, and it is a great show that more people need to see.
The Expendables: I saw this in the theater on opening night, so according to the hilarious fan-made trailer (NSFW, by the way, and that goes triple for the comments) I deserve to be a man. This movie is exactly what it says on the package, nothing more and nothing less. Whether or not that's a good thing is up to you, but as a fan of old-school action movies and much of the cast, for me it was a very good thing indeed.
Factotum: In a completely different direction, we have this movie, based on the life of author Charles Bukowski. For some reason, the movie was filmed in Minneapolis, because I guess filming the movie where the book it is based on took place (L.A.) was just too hard or something. I mean, I can't imagine filiming a movie in L.A., can you? Nevertheless, it was interesting to see places I recognized and have been to, even if the setting wasn't really used in the story. However, I ended up not really caring about pretty much anyone in the movie, as they just weren't likable and in some cases actually repellent. There really isn't any message or meaning to what happens, it just sort of occurs. I guess that's realistic, but it wasn't what I was looking for. However, a Bukowski fan (I knew who he was before this, but that's all) might see it differently.
Control: You would probably assume that a movie about Ian Curtis, the lead singer of Joy Division, would be rather bleak and grim. You would, in fact, be totally correct. However, I still enjoyed the movie, being a fan of the band and of others from that time and place. The actors all gave really convincing performances, especially the ones playing the members of Joy Division themselves, and the recreated concert and television footage is amazing due to the actors actually performing the songs (and doing a very convincing job doing it). I'd probably only recommend it to people with an interest in the subject matter, but if you have that, you'll like it.
Mad Men Season One: This is a strange one, since I've already seen seasons two and three when they first aired on AMC. Seeing as how I started watching the show partway through, though, it seemed like I should go back and see it from the beginning despite already knowing the season's main spoilers. Because the show is so well done, it's still rewarding to watch even though I'm aware of what happens. That said, the pace is definitely slower in the first season and it doesn't feel as lively, although it improves towards the end.
The Wire Season Five: I've finished the first disc of the last season of this show, and have three more to go. I can tell it's the last season since ongoing storylines are being wound up, it moves along more quickly, and characters from past seasons are being brought back to show what happens to them. It definitely has a different feel to it than previous seasons, but it's still an amazing show. Of all of the TV shows that were originally on pay networks but later brought to basic cable or broadcast channels (like The Sopranos or Sex and the City), I'm not sure why it was never done with The Wire. Not that much content would need to be removed, and it is a great show that more people need to see.
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Interesting Statistic
Technically, I crossed this threshold several entries back, but I was pleased to see that I now have more posts for 2010 so far than all of 2008 and 2009 combined. Though admittedly, 2009 only had one entry, since last year I was focusing on my other blog to the detriment of this one.
If I can keep up my current posting rate, I should be able to double this in only a couple more months, even if I don't write when I'm gone on vacation next month (more on that in a later post). Go me!
If I can keep up my current posting rate, I should be able to double this in only a couple more months, even if I don't write when I'm gone on vacation next month (more on that in a later post). Go me!
Sunday, August 15, 2010
I Write Like Who, Again?
The answer to the question from my last post was The Expendables, by the way. Highly entertaining movie if it's the sort of thing you like (which I do), and whatever you thought of the trailer and ads is almost definitely what you'll think of the movie.
Anyway, there's a website people have been talking about lately called I Write Like, which supposedly analyzes a writing sample from you and tells you which well-known author your writing resembles. I don't know the technical details behind it, but just for fun I ran four of my posts from this blog through it.
Three of them came back as David Foster Wallace, while the outlier was Cory Doctorow. I've never read any of Wallace's works, and though I recognized the name, I only really knew that he was a writer and had committed suicide a couple of years ago. But reading about him in Wikipedia makes me definitely want to read his stuff for myself. As for Doctorow, I've read some of his essays online and articles in Wired, so I'm familiar with him. I guess I don't see the comparison, but I have a lot of respect for Doctorow, so I certainly don't mind.
Of course, you can't read too much into things like this. But they're fun to play around with, and the temporary ego boost is nice.
Anyway, there's a website people have been talking about lately called I Write Like, which supposedly analyzes a writing sample from you and tells you which well-known author your writing resembles. I don't know the technical details behind it, but just for fun I ran four of my posts from this blog through it.
Three of them came back as David Foster Wallace, while the outlier was Cory Doctorow. I've never read any of Wallace's works, and though I recognized the name, I only really knew that he was a writer and had committed suicide a couple of years ago. But reading about him in Wikipedia makes me definitely want to read his stuff for myself. As for Doctorow, I've read some of his essays online and articles in Wired, so I'm familiar with him. I guess I don't see the comparison, but I have a lot of respect for Doctorow, so I certainly don't mind.
Of course, you can't read too much into things like this. But they're fun to play around with, and the temporary ego boost is nice.
Thursday, August 12, 2010
The Question Of The Day Is...
...do I go see The Expendables or Scott Pilgrim vs. the World this weekend?
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