So, without further adieu I challenge Julie from Attack of the Z to write about: How do you relate to the Gilmore Girls representation of both extremes of the mother-daughter relationship?

Kong Is King

It is time for another edition of John Digs!
First up: the King Kong Trailer! It looks pretty damn amazing, and I’m very happy that 2005 will see another epic Peter Jackson film!
Next we have Bloc Party. I just got this album and I’m loving it! Fantastic hooks, political but not overly-so lyrics, and a strong dense production add up to one of the highlights of the current resurgence of new-wave.
And finally: Batman Begins. I didn’t get much of a chance to talk about this last week, but I absolutely loved the newest cinematic interpretation of the mythos. I really wish I had the time and energy to sit down and write a real review of this film because I have a lot to say on the matter, but suffice to say Burton’s ’89 Batman was a turning point in my life. The travesty of the 90s-era Batman films were so appalling to me that I had even buried my love for Burton’s Batman deep within me. Batman Begins really makes me feel like a kid again (I even made Julie buy me a shiny Batman sticker at the supermarket over the weekend.) Everything from the pacing of the film, to the art direction, photography, and visual effects were pitch-perfect. The cast was on-par with the ’89 film and (not surprisingly) Christian Bale’s performance was the highlight. He has an amazing range and embodied all the facets of Bruce Wayne from Mopey brat to spoiled play-boy brat, to vengeful hero, to ass-kicking superhero.

That was a fantastic weekend after a high-impact high-stress week. The weather in LA couldn’t have been better (mid 70s and sunny) and Julie was inexplicably off Saturday AND Sunday. So we were able to do some shopping, lounge around the house, re-stock our fridge, pantry and larder, and drink copious amounts of coffee. We re-watched The Big Lebowski and caught an early evening showing of “March of the Penguins” and generally had a fantastic time. Julie also scored tickets to Tori Amos at the Greek theater (where the Ditty Bops may or may not be opening!) Now I can tackle my week (and there is even a three-day weekend at the end!) Does anybody have any 4th of July plans?

In other news… I had figured after Beau and Mary’s wedding that there wouldn’t be any more engagement announcement from my friends anytime soon. I forgot about my dad. Yup, Ol’ Man Verive proposed to his long-time girlfriend Debbie earlier in the month! So congrats pop, I wish you the best!

In other other news… It is Friday! Rock-on!

This neighborhood, currently home to Paul, was once home to my Grandemere Verive. Jany was a very strong woman. Her family was active in the French underground while the Nazis occupied their small town in northern France. Then the American GIs landed and the fighting came to that quiet village. I realized her strength when I once shuffled a deck of cards from the drawer in her kitchen.

Everyday she would play a couple of games of solitaire, and the cards were latterly creased down the center from years of riffle-shuffles in her strong-hands. If she won one of these daily games then, feeling lucky for the day, she would buy a lottery ticket (the scratch-off kind.). I was visiting her at the Fountain Bleu apartments one day when she won and we walked to the 7-11 where I could get a candy bar and s couple of comic books (or perhaps a cheap plastic toy.) and maybe play a few games of “Altered Beast” or “Golden Axe” at the coin-op machine over magazine rack.

We would then spend that evening watching TV after eating her Linguine with clam-sauce. (Not the typical butter-and-garlic sauce the is standard, but a velvety tomato-based red sauce.) We would watch “The Big Spin” and “Golden Girls” and “227.” I would also often browse though the towering bookcase in the foyer that was filled with old musty books (many in French.) My favorites were the vintage set of World Book Encyclopedia and a very old copy of the collect works of Poe that was either my Fathers or my uncles from school. I absconded with this book sometime during high school, and now it lives on MY foyer bookcase.

Twilight Imperium: I’ll fly my geek flag for a moment and gush over this crazy-complex board game: it rules. “TI” is a really beautiful example of elegant game design and integration of many different mechanics that become much more than the sum of the parts. But shit-damn it is complex! My favorite part is the sheer number of important strategic and tactical decisions you are given on every turn and the ample opportunities for gamesmanship. Really a game built by and for the hard-core gamer.

TV on DVD: Now that Summer has sprung and the network schedules are rife with warmed-over repeats, trite reality TV, and the Cable outlets are stretching for programming, our TiVos are getting harder and harder to fill. But we won’t go hungry for saccharin entertainment thanks to TV on DVD! The proliferation of shows in DVD, and the increasingly speedy turnaround from airing to retail availability really makes the $17/month for Netflix an even better value. Currently we are watching a second run-through of the lone season of Firefly (which I would give the OctopusHat Quality Gaurentee, if I could find the graphic…) the funniest show on TV: Arrested Development (also for a second time), and the first season of Six Feet Under (entertaining enough, but it hasn’t really grabbed me yet.)

And here I am, two weeks later, unable to sit still because I’m excited about the 8pm show tonight! That’s right, I’m going back (this time to see a digital projection) and I’m excited to watch the film again without the pretense of “opening night” and now that I know where all the “disappointments” lie I think I’ll be able to enjoy the film more.

Also, since I never managed to post a post-weekend post I would like to toot my horn now and say that when Julie and I went shopping over the weekend I was able to comfortably fit into size 34” pants. I haven’t worn 34” pants since 1998. Which brings my new year’s resolution count to 4/6 (smoking, weightless, more posting here, and no-more soda. Only regular exercise and learning an instrument remain!)