Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in Timothy Owen Driscoll's LiveJournal:

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Saturday, August 22nd, 2009
1:35 am	Still Trying To Watch Those Movies I'm still pursuing my movie-a-day project. Obviously, the review portion of the project has fallen through, but I'll be posting lists of titles, starting today, with maybe a brief comment for each film. At this point I've just watched movie #190 for the year, which pits me about 40 or so movies behind. Of course, I can't count things like the Rifftrax Live show I saw this week, because I've seen Plan 9 less than 15 years back, but I am able to revisit things like "Get Crazy" (which I just watched on Youtube; thanks for bringing that up, ninjacooter !) which I saw some time in the early 90's. So here's a chunk of my movie list, numbers 39-50:   ( Read more... ) (Comment on this)
Friday, March 13th, 2009
8:55 am	Movie-a-Day days 36-38: Still trying to blog Well, I'm hopelessly behind, but, on the bright side, back in 2004 I'd crapped out by the end of January, so at least I'm "much improved," as the report cards used to say. I'm not ready to declare the blogging portion of the move-a-day project dead just yet, so here's some more capsules: ( Read more... ) Current Music: 52 Girls - B-52's (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Thursday, March 5th, 2009
11:00 pm	Movie-a-Day days 34-35 OK, so two reviews a day didn't really work out. Let's go back to however many I can manage in one sitting... ( Read more... ) Current Music: F*!#In' Up - Neil Young & Crazy Horse (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, February 24th, 2009
11:31 pm	Movie-a-Day, days 32-33 Let's see if I can barnstorm through two reviews without staying up until 3AM...   ( Read more... ) Current Music: Blue Skies - Pete Krebs and the Kung Pao Chickens (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Monday, February 23rd, 2009
9:41 pm	Movie-a-Day: Month One Review I figure on pausing at the end of every month's worth of reviews during this little project of mine, in order to take stock of the best and worst of what I've seen so far. So without further ado, and little ceremony, here we go. ( Read more... ) (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Saturday, February 21st, 2009
2:47 pm	Movie-a-Day, films 28-31 So, I've stopped using "weeks" in the title for these posts. I'm about 2 and a half weeks behind on blogging, and it's too much trouble to constantly go back and find out which week is which. At this point, I'm only 4 movies behind on viewing, (finished number 47 yesterday), so I really need to catch up on the reviews. Tomorrow is kind of busy, so I'll probably just do the first month's wrap-up post. Starting Monday, though I'm going to attempt two reviews a day until I get caught up within a week of my viewing. Fingers crossed. Oddly, I cant find the danged screencaps from this set of titles, except for a really boring image from Raffles. So for this set only, no caps by me. Sorry. And now, the reviews: ( Read more... ) csue_n_moo </lj> (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, February 15th, 2009
10:35 pm	Some TV rambling Not feeling up to writing movie reviews tonight, so here's some blathering on recent TV stuff. Joss Whedon's "Dollhouse" started this past Friday, which completely slipped my notice. Fortunately, it's streaming on Hulu.com (http://www.hulu.com/dollhouse). The internet to the rescue! Again! Hell, I think I'll just watch it on Hulu from here on. After all, it's opposite the Adam West "Batman" reruns on the American Life Network (aka, old people's TV), and I must have those. Haven't actually seen Dollhouse, yet. Given it's premise, (secret organization uses blank slate operatives, their memories wiped clean after each mission), I wouldn't have touched it if it wasn't Whedon. Sounds really depressing, but since it is Joss, I have some hopes for it. Nathan Fillion is starring in a new mystery show on ABC. "Castle" premieres March 9 (http://castletv.net/). Fillion plays a mystery writer who ends up helping a police detective solve crimes. Looks like light fun mystery, instead of grim morbid mystery. Yes, there's still plenty o' murder, but the focus is on the catching of the criminal, not the commission of the crime. Someday I must try to put down my theory of fictional callousness, whereby some stories full of murder are morbid and depressing, and others full of just as much murder are light and cheerful. This looks like the latter type. Bonus: cameos by actual mystery writers at Castle's weekly poker game. Worth a try, anyway. The CW is running "Kamen Rider Dragon Knights" on Saturday mornings (they just aired episode 7 last weekend.) Based on, I believe, "Kamen Rider Ryuki," one of the more recent Kamen Rider series, they seem to be doing a somewhat straight adaptation of the original, though re-shot with American actors ala Power Rangers. If you need a cheap and easy Japanese hero fix, here ya go. Last and most importantly (top me anyway), though not really TV, Crackle.com will be premiering a streaming video series on March 3 called "Angel of Death." This series of five minute episodes stars Zoë Bell, a favorite of mine since I saw her in Tarantino's Death Proof (where she played "herself"). She has been a stunt woman for years, doubling Lucy Lawless in "Xena" and Uma Thurman in "Kill Bill." She was also the subject of the terrific documentary "Double Dare" which should be added to your Netflix queue Right Now. Zoë is all kinds of awesome. "Angel of Death" is an action/crime series apparently mostly intended to demonstrate Zoë's awesomeness, and co-stars Lucy Lawless, Ted Raimi and Doug Jones. Most importanlty (aside from the "Zoë is awesome" thing) AoD is written by Ed Brubaker, probably the best writer working in super hero comics today (Currently writing Captain America and Daredevil, he's also written Batman and an excellent run on Catwoman a few years back). He's also the best writer working in crime comics (Read "Criminal"!!!) I am much looking forward to this. Plus: free! Angel of Death site: http://crackle.com/outreach/angelofdeath A link to a Zoë Bell fan site: http://zoebell.com/ Ed Brubaker's official site: http://www.edbrubaker.com/ And now I relax and watch the eighth and final Mr. Moto movie. Hope to be caught up on blogging the movies by next weekend, but don't put money on it (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Wednesday, February 11th, 2009
9:28 am	Movie-a-day week four, part 3 Yes, still posting week four a week and a half later. Would have caught up this weekend, but fell severely ill. Nasty fluish chest cold thing. Bleh. I was going to do a quick best and worst of the month thing, too, but at this rate it'll be halfway through the following month before I go to it. Still worthwhile? Maybe so. I'll see how I feel after posting Week five, which I hope to churn out this weekend.) I'm still only three days behind on viewing, so I've got a lot of writing to catch up on. ( Read more... ) Current Music: Tokyo Storm Warning - Elvis Costello and the Attractions (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, February 2nd, 2009
10:28 am	Movie-a-Day week Four, part two Three more capsules, with still more on the way!   ( Read more... )   Current Music: Blackjack David - Dave Alvin (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Saturday, January 31st, 2009
8:58 pm	Movie-a-Day week Four, part one This week I'm splitting the post in three parts due to high movie volume. I'll be starting with the films watched at this past weekend's homebrew filmfest, a local tradition amongst some of my friends. Most months, kittykatya and I trade off hosting a themed video binge at our respective domiciles. This month's theme: "I Was a Teenage Filmfest!" The results follow:   ( Read more... )     Current Music: The Horsemen Arrive - Blue Öyster Cult (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, January 30th, 2009
9:54 am	Quick update In an effort to catch up, with the help of an at-home filmfest last Saturday, I watched 10 movies (plus one short) this week. As a result, the movie-a-day post will be split into 2-3 parts over the weekend. First part up tonight. (Plus, watch another movie). I've been getting distracted on Thursdays the last couple weeks because "Burn Notice" is back with new episodes, and I just can't wait the extra day. Also, I caught the first two eps of "Wolverine and the X-Men" last night, the latest animated iteration (from Canada and France, with some West German money thrown in) of the Marvel mutant franchise. Not bad at all, though not quite in the BTAS ballpark (what is?). Spike Spiegel is Wolverine! Work was mildly brutal this week, which is my official excuse for not getting a head start on the movie reviews. Instead, I finally broke in the wok I got for Christmas, a lovely lightweight cast-iron thing. Spent an hour Monday washing, re-washing, re-re-washing and seasoning it. Cooked some lefotver broccoli in it Tuesday morning, and did likewise with some leftover baby carrots last night. That's  one veggie party tray accounted for. Also made a second attempt at home-made pizza on Wednesday, once again proving that I know nothing about making pizza. It was, at least, dissatisfying in a manner totally different than the last time I tried, so that's a kind of progress. Off to work soon, back tonight with movie-a-day. (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, January 23rd, 2009
7:18 pm	Movie-a-Day week three A day late, and more than a few bucks short, but what's that got to do with movie reviews? ( What is the law? Not to spill blood! Are we not men? ) Current Music: American Gangster Time - Elvis Costello (Comment on this)
10:40 am	Slight Delay Due to My Own Damned Fault, there will be a slight delay in movie blogging this week. Hope to have it done tonight, to post by this time tomorrow. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, January 15th, 2009
11:18 pm	Movie-a-Day week two Here I am again, second week in a row! Only 50 more to go! Slightly late this time, but it looks like I ran on a bit. Once again, I'm one movie short for the week, but I expect that'll be taken care of soon. ( Capsules away! ) Current Music: Making Plans for Bison - Shonen Knife (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Thursday, January 8th, 2009
9:24 pm	Movie-a-Day week one The project has begun, and I'm already behind! 6 movie review capsules after the cut. ( Read more... ) Current Mood: accomplished Current Music: Teenage Mojo Workout - The 5, 6, 7, 8's (1 Comment |Comment on this)
8:14 pm	This year's blog project: Movie-a-Day Another year, another attempt at regular blogging by yours truly. This year I'm revisiting a project from five years ago: the Movie-a-Day project. Over the course of 2009 I will watch 365 films which I either have not seen before, or have not seen in at least 15 years (in which case I may as well not have seen them.) The original attempt was intended to break me out of a viewing rut which is epidemic amongst the younger element of the media geek crowd: re-watching the same movies/shows repeatedly. (This is also a tendency amongst both the very young and the clinically depressed, albeit for different reasons.) My reasoning is: I'm not getting any younger. How can I possibly watch all the movies if I keep going back and watching the same ones again? Now anyone going back through my LJ to five years ago can see how ell the documentation of this project went. A handful of reviews, followed by a smattering of capsules, followed in turn by an aborted attempt to at least post a list. *sigh*. At least I actually finished watching 366 movies that year (having unwittingly chosen a leap year.) So for this year, I have a modified plan for tracking my progress. Here are my ground rules. To be eligible, a film must be over 60 minutes long, preferably released theatrically (either singly or as part of a double bill.) Made-for-TV films count, as do direct-to-DVD, provided they exceed the time minimum, and aren't part of a regular weekly series. If the TV-film is multi-part, it can't be more than two parts, and both parts will count as only one very long film. (This is known as the there's-a-new-Discworld-production-supposed-to-be-out-this-year clause; I think I'll also allow the Doctor Who specials this year, as long as they're long enough.) A film given the MST3K treatment still counts as a film, but watching it un-mistied would not count as a different film. Watching a film with commentary likewise doesn't count as a different film than without commentary. This year I will allow a number of silent shorts which add up to more than 60 minutes to count as a film, since they were, of course, shown theatrically. DVD supplementary docs which are more than 60 minutes also count as movies, provided they are not subdivided into "episodes." If I skip a day, I can catch up later (as long as I hit my total of 365 movies by 11:59 P.M. December 31.) I am not allowed to "get ahead" by watching more movies before they're due. Every week, on Thursday evening, I will write a blog entry about the past week's films, providing at least four sentences for each movie, hopefully a little more if they deserve it. This is in addition to basic information (country of origin, year, director, writers, etc.). As a side note: I intend to finish off all the DVDs I own that I haven't watched. I intend to finish some entire film series this year (starting with the Mr. Moto films). I intend to watch every Vincent Price movie I can find that I haven't seen yet. There, that oughta do it. Back after dinner with my first week's capsules. Current Mood: hungry Current Music: Nagasaki - Pete Krebs and the Kung Pao Chickens (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Thursday, November 20th, 2008
10:37 pm	Quick reviews of two recent cartoon shows: "The Secret Saturdays" and "Batman: The Brave & the Bold" Last weekend, Ken dropped by to visit the new abode. Naturally, in between bouts of philosophical discourse and samplings of exotic cuisines, we watched us some cartoons. Two of the shows we viewed are new Cartoon Network productions. "The Secret Saturdays" has been on for about two months, and "Batman: The Brave & The Bold" just premiered last weekend. "Batman: The Brave & The Bold" bears no direct relation to any previous animated Batman shows. New character designs, new voice talent, and a very different feel than the last two TV iterations of the character. B:TB&TB (sorry, I *had* to abbreviate that) has a very simple premise: every week, Batman teams up with another DC comics character, then they fight a bad guy. The End. The first episode,"Rise of the Blue Beetle" sets the tone quickly with a pre-credits sequence in which Batman and his best pal and rival Green Arrow escape from the Clock King's death trap in time to stop him from robbing the Clock Museum. Green Arrow is in his '50s pre-beard costume, presumably because '50s Green Arrow basically was Batman with a different theme (he had an Arrow-Car, Arrow-Plane, Arrow-Cave, teen sidekick, etc.) During the scene, the Clock King spouts a stream of time and clock puns, wears a big clock face on his head, and is accompanied by two goons whose shirts read "Tick" and "Tock." So the audience is officially on notice not to expect the gravitas of 1990s animated Batman (or even the relative seriousness of "The Batman".) After the credits,we begin the story proper, in which Batman recruits the Blue Beetle (current version: teenager with shape changing alien armor/weapon grafted to his spine) to stop a meteor from striking an orbital space station. Suddenly sucked into a wormhole, our heroes must save the small, amoeboid inhabitants of a distant planet from the evil space pirate Kanjar Ro. See, this is calculated to piss of a particularly anal post-Miller segment of Batman fandom with its premise alone. "Batman in Space" is something that used to happen back in the '50s, but since the 1970s, many people consider bats to belong to the streets, and aliens get in the way of their verisimilitude. But this is meant to be fun, anything goes superheroics, so Batman in space is what we start with. We also have a Batman who can crack a smile or even a joke, though he's perfectly capable of scowling up a storm when appropriate. The art design takes a simple-lined, colorful retro approach. This is blue-cape Batman, not black-cape Batman. There's still some Kirby-via-Bruce Timm around the edges, though Timm had nothing to do with this show. My take: good simple fun. Undemanding story, well paced, consistently amusing. Good voice acting, fun characterization. This Friday's episode (Nov. 21): Batman and Plastic Man battle Gorilla Grodd on dinosaur island! Yowza! "The Secret Saturdays" is a sci-fi adventure show created by Canadian cartoonist Jay Stephens ("Jetcat," "Atomic City Tales," "The Land of Nod"; http://jaystephens.com/ ). The Saturdays of the title are a family: married scientist/adventurers Doc and Drew and their 11-year-old son Zack. The family also includes a trio of "Cryptids," mystery animals the Saturdays have adopted: Komodo, a Komodo dragon with chameleon powers, Zan, a pterodactyl like creature, and Fiskerton, a 7-foot pseudo-verbal "gorilla cat." The Saturdays belong to a group known as the Secret Scientists, a loose network of people who study a variety of strange phenomena. Naturally, the Saturdays' specialty is cryptids. Their nemesis is weirdo TV host V. V. Argost (his show, "V. V. Argost's Weird World", is, naturally, about strange phenomena; and Zack is a huge fan). Argost is seeking an artifact called the Kur stone, which holds the key to world conquest! The Kur stone is the heart of the overall plot, but each episode functions on its own as a complete adventure. Each week, the family deals with a different creature or villain, traveling the world in their kick-ass airship, fighting evil and seeking mysteries. Here again we have a retro style, this time harking back to the Hanna Barbera action shows of the late '60s and '70s. But it's not done as a joke; they're not mocking the past. The show seems to be a sincere attempt to do a '70s action cartoon that's actually as cool as the opening credits make it look (something that just about never happened back then.) The retro touches range from the thickness of the lines and other subtle elements of character design, to the occasional funkiness in the background music. Overall, a nifty, kid-friendly but still exciting adventure story, lots of cool creatures, lost civilizations, and a way over-the-top but still threatening villain. Good eccentric fun. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Wednesday, November 12th, 2008
10:02 am	Quick Update from the Home Front, Plus Shameless DVD for October (Late! Sorry!) So, I've been a little distracted lately, what with buying and moving into my lovely 60-year-old condo, right at the start of a serious economic downturn (wheeeeeeeee!). I've got all my stuff moved in, and have just finished washing all of my sheets, blankets, and clothes I haven't worn in months/years. Time to fold and stash most of it, and Goodwill the rest. After that begins the long process of going through my boxes of stuff that I've spent the last 40 or so years piling up. That'll take a while. In the meantime, I've supplied my new abode with the necessities: kitchen equipment, cable TV, a sofa, enough chairs for guests to sit in, and so on. Still missing: an actual trash can for the kitchen. A breadbox. A toaster. A teaketlle. Will probably snag the trash can and breadbox this week. The others are less vital. I'm sure I'm missing many other things I haven't noticed yet. Anyway, I really, really want to get back to blogging, but now get distracted by getting my house in order, on top of the normal lame distractions I've been succumbing to all along. I'm thinking of continuing the DVD release posts I started two months back, though it might be easier to do a weekly post than a monthly. I'm also considering revisiting my "movie a day" strategy from 5 years back when the new year rolls around. At least I can do the "Shameless DVD of the month" post, this time belatedly calling out October's big winner: Sunday School Musical Amazon Prodcut Description: "Wholesome family entertainment that both parents and children can enjoy! This original production currently being filmed in Los Angeles joins the library of successful family oriented musicals such as Grease, and the High School Musical films. The inspirational storyline centers around a group of teens who when faced with the news of their local church being torn down enter into a song and dance competition with the hopes of raising the money to save the building. The production is complete with 21 songs, featuring 7 originals, which are composed by Don Raymond." Wow, these folks have never actually seen "Grease" have they? This obvious rip-off of Disney's deathless money-minting beast "High School Musical" earns extra shame points for presumably being created in an air of pious self-righteousness. (That may be unfair of me. An alternative is that the producers are merely exploiting their target audience's pious self-righteousness for the sake of monetary gain.) I have no idea what the plot of High School Musical actually is, but I doubt it's a rehash of 1930's Mickey Rooney/Judy Garland "let's put on a show" type movies, like this one appears to be; although saving the church is roughly equivalent to "saving the community center" from such classics as "Black Belt Jones" and "Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo." IMDb cast listing shows no one I've ever heard of. The director and co-writer is Rachel Goldenberg, whose previous credits include assistant director on I Am Omega and AVH: Alien Vs. Hunter, so I'm starting to lean towards my second hypothesis regarding motivation. Trailer is here, if you care: http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi3496673305/ . Looks harmelss enough (which is, presumably, the intention) but not good enough to make me feel guilty about this post. (Comment on this)
Sunday, September 21st, 2008
9:37 am	Shameless DVD of the month: 10,000 A.D.: The Legend of the Black Pearl Here's one I missed when I did the DVD release post. That's because it's not for sale on Amazon! It's not on IMDB either, but it did show up in the Netflix new releases for this week, so I present to you: 10,000 A.D.: The Legend of the Black Pearl "In a postapocalyptic world, rival human tribes, the Plaebians and Hurons, face extinction by the evil Sinasu. Trained by the mighty warrior Ergo, young Huron Kurupi, mankind's greatest hope for survival, embarks on a journey to crush the enemy. But to defeat this powerful and often unseen foe, the Plaebians and Hurons must ultimately put their differences aside and join forces." And that's all I know, really. Appears to be an American production. Co-director Giovanni Messner has a single directing credit on IMDB, the short film "Ghana is in Africa." No one else listed has any record I can find. What I get from the listing: Title rips off two movies it bears no resemblance to, but lacks the simplicity of, say, "The Da Vinci Treasure" (starring Labce Henrikson!). It might resemble 10,000 B.C. slightly, if the post apocalyptic folks are cave-man primitive. No chance of resembling a Pirates of the Caribbean movie. One of the characters is named Ergo(!). Calling one of the tribes Hurons might be OK if they're in the great lakes region, but "Plaebians"? It is nice of them to puch he apocalypse a bit further back than usual. I'd let you know how it works out, but have no intention of wasting my time watching this. I've already seen "Yor, Hunter from the Future." (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Tuesday, September 2nd, 2008
11:42 pm	Shaw Brothers DVD recommendations So pockyman  asks me for some Shaw Bros. DVD recommendations. I immediately drop what I was intending to write about tonight, just to pander to my tiny little audience. That's the kind of guy I am.(Seriously, man, thanks for the encouragement.)</lj>     ( More evidence of the kind of guy I am after the cut )   Current Music: Lola - Madness (2 Comments |Comment on this)