New Toy

nobody@vox.com(Brown Suga') — Mon, 05 May 2008 13:25:58 +0530

Finally got my spankin' new iBall 8x6 pen tablet so I can work at home too. It's just as good as the Wacom but less than half the price. Sweet.

Also bought a whirly, girly, blue wraparound skirt with folksy motifs. It doesn't seem to go with any colour other than white or the colours that it already has, but it's still so pretty.

Meanwhile, Nine Inch Nails are having a late-summer whirlwind tour in the US and Canada. Will anyone be attending their concerts? Those who are going - PLEASE take plenty of pictures and videos!

2008 Summer Tour

NOTE: all times are local venue time zone

7/25/08 Pemberton, BC [Pemberton Festival]
On sale: NOW

7/26/08 Seattle, WA [Key Arena]
Pre Sale: 5/7 (5:00PM)
On Sale: 5/10 (10:00AM)

7/28/08 Edmonton, AB [Rexall Place]
Pre Sale: 5/6 (5:00PM)
On Sale: 5/9 (10:00AM)

7/29/08 Calgary, AB [Pengrowth Saddledome]
Pre Sale: 5/6 (5:00PM)
On Sale: 5/9 (10:00AM)

7/31/08 Winnipeg, MB [MTS Centre]
Pre Sale: 5/6 (5:00PM)
On Sale: 5/9 (10:00AM)

8/2/08 Minneapolis, MN [Target Center]
Pre Sale: 5/7 (5:00PM)
On Sale: 5/10 (10AM)

8/3/08 Chicago, IL [Grant Park - Lollapalooza Festival]
On Sale: NOW

8/5/08 Toronto, ON [Air Canada Centre]
Pre Sale: 5/6 (5:00PM)
On Sale: 5/9 (5:00PM)

8/7/08 Uncasville, CT [Mohegan Sun Arena]
Pre Sale: 5/21 (5PM)
On Sale: 5/24 (10AM)

8/8/08 Worcester, MA [DCU Center]
Pre Sale: 5/14 (5PM)
On Sale: 5/17 (12NOON)

8/10/08 Baltimore, MD [Pimlico Race Course - V Festival]
On Sale: 5/3

8/12/08 Knoxville, TN [Knoxville Civic Coliseum]
Pre Sale: 5/7 (5PM)
On Sale: 5/10 (9AM)

8/13/08 Duluth, GA [Gwinnett Arena]
Pre Sale: 5/6 (5PM)
On Sale: 5/9 (5PM)

8/15/08 Oklahoma City, OK [Ford Center]
Pre Sale: 5/6 (5PM)
On Sale: 5/10 (10AM)

8/16/08 Houston, TX [Toyota Center]
Pre Sale: 5/6 (5PM)
On Sale: 5/9 (5PM)

8/18/08 Dallas, TX [American Airlines Center]
Pre Sale: 5/6 (5PM)
On Sale: 5/9 (5PM)

8/20/08 St. Louis, MO [Scottrade Center]
Pre Sale: 5/28 (5PM)
On Sale: 5/31 (10AM)

8/22/08 Cleveland, OH [Quicken Loans Arena]
Pre Sale: 5/7 (5PM)
On Sale: 5/10 (10AM)

8/23/08 Auburn Hills, MI [The Palace of Auburn Hills]
Pre Sale: 5/7 (5PM)
On Sale: 5/10 (10AM)

8/27/08 East Rutherford, NJ [Izod Center]
Pre Sale: 5/7 (5PM)
On Sale: 5/10 (12NOON)

8/29/08 Philadelphia, PA [Wachovia Center]
Pre Sale: 5/7 (5PM)
On Sale: 5/10 (10AM)

8/31/08 Lexington, KY [Rupp Arena]
Pre Sale: 4/30 (5PM)
On Sale: 5/3 (10AM)

9/2/08 Morrison, CO [Red Rocks Amphitheater]
Pre Sale: 5/7 (5PM)
On Sale: 5/10 (10AM)

9/3/08 Salt Lake City [E Center]
Pre Sale: 5/7 (5PM)
On sale: 5/10 (11AM)

9/5/08 Oakland, CA [Oracle Arena]
Pre Sale: 6/12 (5:00PM)
On Sale: 6/15 (10AM)

9/6/08 Los Angeles, CA [The Forum]
Pre Sale: TBA
On Sale: TBA

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Monday Movie Review

nobody@vox.com(Brown Suga') — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 11:39:11 +0530

This weekend was full of surprises.

While I was expecting Michael Clayton to be a thriller, it turned out to be a depiction of conscience battles. Nice. It wasn't really a new one in terms of storyline, but I was blown away by the performances. For the first time in ages I have seen a film where nearly all the leading performers did a great job.

Tm Wilkinson's monologue, the first lines in the film, were possibly the best movie lines I've heard in a while. His performance and dialogue delivery was excellent too - in fact, better than Tilda Swinton and George Clooney. He totally deserved the Best Supporting Actor Oscar.

Swinton was good, but that wasn't really a surprise since I've heard her reputation as a great actress. I don't know if she deserved the Oscar, as I haven't seen the performances by the other nominees.

What did surprise me was Clooney's performance. I feel that his looks often get in the way of his acting, so I enjoyed his performance in Syriana as the overweight, bearded spy. But he was surprisingly good in Michael Clayton and brought some uncharacteristic sensitivity and intensity to his role. Good stuff.

The other surprise was Bee Movie. I was not really keen on watching yet another Hollywood 3D animated film, but I decided to watch this one because I knew it would be light-hearted and I needed to unwind. Turns out, it wasn't so bad - it was written by Jerry Seinfeld, among others - though the animation was comparatively sloppy. The story looked like a spoof on the RIAA/MPAA and all those copyright infringement battles going on. It even had neat guest appearances by Larry King, Ray Liotta and Sting.

Best line from the movie, is when a mosquito (voiced by Chris Rock) is newly appointed as a lawyer:

"I was already a bloodsucking parasite - all I needed was a briefcase!"

MAJOR GOOFS: Only FEMALE bees make honey, and only FEMALE mosquitoes suck blood, yet both the lead bee and mosquito in the movie are males. After doing all that painstaking research on bee communication patterns, they completely sidestepped this fact!

This is why anthropomorphism sucks.

Other movies that I've seen this month but forgot to review:

Annie Hall. A one-time watch and reasonably good film. I LOVE LOVE LOVE Diane Keaton's clothes - feminine, smart, classy and sexy all the same time. Especially the black-waistcoat-and-tie combo with white full-sleeves formal shirt, khaki pants and black fedora. That was genius.

No Country for Old Men. Not that great a movie, and I couldn't understand some of the dialogues because of the heavy Southern accents, but it was beautifully shot. However, the highlight of the movie was obviously Javier Bardem.Not because he was hot - though he definitely is, come to think of it - but because his performance was INSANE. Brilliant. Frightening. After a point, I kept putting the speakers on mute whenever he entered the screen because I had actually come to be terrified of him. The relaxed way he spoke, the glazed look in his eyes, the uncertainity of whether he was going to blow off someone's head... it was too much to handle. It's not that hard to make viewers cry and laugh along with the character you're portraying, but it takes genius to be able to scare the hell out of them. He totally deserved his Oscar.

Juno. BAD: Cleary the most overrated movie of the year. Shockingly cavalier about something as life-altering as pregnancy - even the parents are so calm! Sure, people having been having babies for aeons, but many poor folks die at childbirth due to lack of medical care, and here we've got an irresponsible, loud-mouthed 16-year-old casually going ahead with a pregnancy since papa and mama dearest are there for her, after all. It wasn't even that she was pretending to be cool when in reality she was scared to death (That, or Ellen Page is a lousy actress.)

I'd bring the roof down if MY 16-year-old got pregnant, especially if she's been making a show of oh-look-at-me-i'm-so-cool-with-my-condescending-slang-and-slasher-movies bullshit. I'd either get her an abortion, or let her have the baby and give it up for adoption, depending on how far along she is - but not without giving her a good ass-whooping first.

(Oh, and if my 16-year-old son got someone pregnant, I'd whoop his ass too.)

Sure, it's not that big a deal if you're prepared for it, but pardon my conservative thinking, I think 16-year-olds have way better things to do than getting pregnant. Babies are fragile, helpless, and a lot hard work - and baby stuff is expensive. Jeez, when you're an adult, ALL you'd be doing is getting knocked up, whether its your boyfriend, boss or your goddamned tax inspector.

One one hand, the respectful attitude towards babies in general and the pro-adoption message is good; nevertheless, it is also an anti-abortion movie, but cleverly done. Anyone else notice that the character Su Chin, who protests alone outside the abortion clinic, is Chinese? To me that seemed a little forced and unusual. Maybe they couldn't have Americans protesting because that would put off the pro-choice folks. So they got in a Chinese girl, which would make sense since abortion in China (and India) is usually an excuse to get rid of baby girls. Atleast that's what I think.

GOOD: The only character in the film who was worth watching was Michael Cera. His character too was to blame for the pregnancy, but he didn't pretend like he was so cool and awesome while being scared inside. He continued to be as nerdy and clueless as ever, with an air of resigned innocence and naiveté rather than indifference.

The music was pretty nice too - I like the folksy bluegrass feel. Some of the quotes were funny too.

So anyway, sweet on one level but really stupid on another. Okay if you have nothing else to watch.

Gotta get back to work now. I've been working with the Wacom, and while it isn't as good as the old pencil-on-paper, it's way better than the mouse. Atleast my hand moves in circles instead of jerking in all directions. :P

Definitely one of the first things I need to buy in the near future - though I'd happily settle for the less expensive (1/3rd the price) but just-as-good iBall.

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Brown Suga' Syrup

New Toy

Monday Movie Review