Fungii.com

Oil Supply & Demand

Found this article about the supply and demand of the 'black gold' we all rely on so much in our modern world, very interesting. It's rather long but worth reading, especially in light of skyrocketing oil prices we're seeing. And I don't even own a car at the moment, but so much of our economy relies on cheap oil, I don't feel particularily smug in that regard. Not to mention I want to buy a car next year. A very small one methinks.

Masters of Horror

Well I watched Rome last night, and it was pretty dull and lifeless. I sure hope Movie Central picks up this Showtime anthology series Masters of Horror. Sounds totally wicked!

Finished the Wind Waker!

I did it, finished Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker! Woohoo! I thought it was a pretty fun game. Mostly on the easy side, but it had tons of stuff to do, I'm sure I missed half of it on my first run through. Well worth the $30 I spent on it. I can't wait for their new one, Twilight Princess. Although I still haven't finished Ocarina of Time and I haven't even started Majora's Mask. I've also got the first two on my Zelda Collection disk. Might pick up the GBA Minish Cap sometime too, if I ever finish FFII and Glden Sun II!

HBO's Rome

Gonna check out the premiere of the HBO series Rome tomorrow on Movie Central. Looks like it could be good. It's co-produced with the BBC, who make some pretty damn good TV programmes.

My Gaming Life

I'm near the end of the Wind Waker, just going through some puzzle-type corridors to get to the big boss, Gannon. At least that's where I think I'm at. I got all eight shards of the tri-force and am attacking his fortress under the tower of the gods. The only drawback I see is that I've already used up my potions, so hopefully I can defeat Gannon without them.

I'm also attacking the final fortress Pandemonium in Final Fantasy II on the GBA/SP, I'm on the eighth floor. I'm also just about out of potions in this game, so I hope I can make it to the end soon. Without potions I think my group would die off pretty damn quick.

After FFII I'm going to try and pick up where I left off in Golden Sun II. I got the boat in this game, went off exploring the world and kind of lost track of my place in the storyline. I might have to consult a walkthrough to get myself back on track. On the PC, Dungeon Siege II is lined up for some major hack 'n slash action.

I am the Wolfman!

The movie people still haven't called and they're supposed to start filming Monday. So they either don't need me or they're waiting till the last minute. I just wish they would let me know one way or another, so I can shave this hair off my face if they don't. I tried to call her Friday but all I got was her voicemail. I left a message but she never called back, so I tried again later and her voicemail-box was full! I wonder how many messages a mailbox like that can hold? Anyway, here's what I look like with hair on my face. Pretty freaky, huh?

Die you miserable bitch!

Man gets arrested for painting sign on his house directed at his neighbour.

Waker Progress

Played some Zelda: The Wind Waker today. Finished the Wind Temple, now I just have to find the pieces of the Tri-Force.

We don't need no stinking badges!

The "movie people" called me today during lunch and asked if I wanted to do background for a movie. They said it would be from August 29 to sometime in December and started running off dates. I thought "WTF, I can't take three months off work!", so I said no. Then after thinking about it, I realized that it would only be two or three weeks at most, likely much less, so I phoned them back and said I'd do it. She said she would put me back on the "list", so I'm not sure if I got the gig for sure or I'm just on a list with two million other people. Anyway, it'll be cool if it happens, I'm thinking of it as a paid vacation. And I could really use a vacation, work has been kind of getting on my nerves lately, what with the shitty weather and constant stress of people expecting me to be everywhere at once. The movie is "Jesse James" with Brad Pitt [Tyler Durden!]. Not sure if that's the actual title or if it's just a movie about Jesse James, that Monster Garage dude. Oh yeah, she said I should stop shaving. Yuck, I hate having hair on my face. I better get this job if I go to that extreme.

Life in Hell

It rained almost all day today so it wasn't much fun at work. Cold and wet. As if that wasn't bad enough, my tire went flat at the end of the day. My new, expensive Continental tire that supposed to be virtually flat proof. And it was, for about two months. Then two days ago I got a flat. Now another one. Argh!

Summer movies

Went on a bit of a movie marathon over the long weekend and this week. Just watched Harold and Kumar go to White Castle, very stupid movie. But I can't say I'm surprised as it was made by the same people that made "Dude, where's my Car?". Some parts are pretty funny though, especially the scenes with Neil Patrick Harris [Doogie Howser].

Harold: Did Doogie Howser just steal my fucking car?
Kumar: Yes... I think he did.
Harold: Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

Also caught 99.9, a Spanish horror movie from 1997. Good movie, the lead actress [María Barranco] was quite good, she was in almost every scene so she'd better be. The story had a lot of disparate elements to it that didn't totally add up to a cohesive whole, but it did manage to carry an eerie atmosphere throughout the whole 90 minutes and that made it worth it. There's no big surprise at the end like most movies these days, just a bunch of little twists and turns sprinkled throughout that keep the story moving along. Altogether, a nice litttle gem of a movie.

Another horror movie, Killer Workout aka Aerobicide, was a completely different animal. Holy shit was this movie bad! It was made in 1986 when all those Flashdance type aerobics were popular, so you get this low-budget flick that intercuts scenes of chicks working out, with cheesy murder sequences, then back to the aerobics. Hilarious. The cameraman was a perv too, going from their crotches to their boobs and back again. The murders are commited with, get this, a big fucking safety pin! Why? Who knows, just for kicks I guess. Although the killer will use the usual butcher knive when needed. Or a gun or dumbells, whatevers handy. And they have these two musclebound goons who are constantly fighting each other, and not very convincingly either, you can see they aren't really hitting each other. And a cop who's obviously channeling Eastwood's Dirty Harry. Badly. If you get a kick out of reaaally bad movies, you have to check this beauty out, it's craptastic!

A Czech movie from 1970 called Valerie and her Week of Wonders is arguably another horror movie, since it does have vampires. But holy shit, it has to be one of the weirdest movies I've ever seen. I generally liked it, but if you like a good narrative, look elsewhere. Many scenes seem to go off in completely different angles from each other, it doesn't make sense. But in a way, it does, if you understand that the movie is about a girl's confusion about her sexuality after her first period. Nicely photographed and some interesting sets, I liked her all-white bedroom. The actress who played Valerie, Jaroslava Schallerová, was a real cutie, played the part well. So I kinda liked it, definitely left me scratching my head though.

And I also watched Sin City. I mostly liked it. I mean it was fun to watch and all, but I never felt too terribly close to any of the characters and couldn't care less if they lived or died, which kind of made my viewing experience a little... detached? Uninvolved? I don't know. Although Mickey Rourke's character Marv was hoot and made it worth watching for that performance alone.

Marv: I love hitmen. No matter what you do to them, you don't feel bad.

Also watched Troy, the first half was pretty bad IMHO, but the last half was actually not half bad. [yes, I'm trying to confuse you] The classic I drink your Blood, your typical Satan-worshipping-hippies-catch-rabies-and-go-on-a-killing-spree movie. And last but not least, Sexy Beast, funny gangster wants out but the mob won't let him movie. With heavy English accents [some of the dialogue was hard to understand] and Ben Kingsley in a standout role as the least sociable person you'll ever see depicted on screen. Funny thing is, I've met people like him. Hell, I'm rather unsociable myself. [But not that bad, I hope!] I learned a new word too: insinnuendos. LOL

Ben Kingsley claims the character of Don Logan is largely based on his grandmother.

Don: Shut up, cunt. You louse. You got some fuckin' neck ain't you. Retired? Fuck off, you're revolting. Look at your suntan, it's leather, it's like leather man, your skin. We could make a fucking suitcase out of you. Like a crocodile, fat crocodile, fat bastard. You look like fucking Idi Amin, you know what I mean? Stay here? You should be ashamed of yourself. Who do you think you are? King of the castle? Cock of the walk?
[He gut-punches Gal]
Don: What you think this is the wheel of fortune? You think you can make your dough and fuck off? Leave the table? Thanks Don, see you Don, off to sunny Spain now Don, fuck off Don. Lying in your pool like a fat blob laughing at me, you think I'm gonna have that? You really think I'm gonna have that, ya ponce. All right, I'll make it easy for you. God knows you're fucking trying. Are you gonna do the job? It's not a difficult question, are you gonna do the job, yes or no?