4 posts tagged “wall-e”
Show us an ugly animal.
No. I only like cute animals. Like my baby, Eva.
Oh, yes, we adopted her in the end! She has been with us exactly one week, and in that time we have managed to get her walking on a leash, going to the bathroom outside, sleeping when we sleep, playing nicely with other dogs (she goes to doggy daycare, which is a god send), and have totally fallen head over heels with her.
Her name was inspired by WALL-E and not Longoria-Parker or Mendes.
This is the final My Top... thingy, because I'd feel weird writing about books. Books aren't event items like games, films and CDs - they're timeless.
So let's start, shall we?
Winner: Milk
Starring: Sean Penn, James Franco, Emile Hirsch, Josh Brolin
My name is Dale Price, and I am here to recruit you... as a fan of this fantastic biopic of the first openly gay man to be voted into office in California. How good was it? Everybody left the cinema crying, or at least with eyes full of tears.
You can learn about Harvey's life by watching the film or reading the Wikipedia entry about him, so I won't rehash it here. Needless to say, it was a very powerful film - especially as I saw it after Proposition 8 was passed in California, almost exactly thirty years after Harvey's death and success over a similar backwards piece of legislation.
Sean Penn was absolutely fantastic in this film, and there really is no justice (and thus nobody with a brain at the Academy Of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences) if he doesn't take home the Oscar® for his work. The story is told without cheese, without glossing over anything to make it a happy Hollywood ending, with superb acting work from all of its main cast.
Runners-Up: The Dark Knight and WALL-E
Starring: Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Gary Oldman, Aaron Eckhart (TDK); Ben Burtt, Elissa Knight, Jeff Garlin, Fred Willard (WALL-E)
I couldn't choose just one. It was impossible.
The Dark Knight is, without a doubt, the greatest major adaptation of a comic series in the history of films. As dark as the name implies, it thoroughly eradicated the camp renditions of its protagonists that went before (Two-Face in particular was no longer the giggling, day glo-coloured schlock of Joel Schumacher's tenure), giving us the much-applauded Heath Ledger version of The Joker.
I really don't need to say much about it - everyone seems to have seen it by now, and if they havent, they soon will with the timely DVD release.
WALL-E is a completely different kettle of fish. Even with such sparse voicework, the blooming relationship between WALL-E and EVE is one of the most emotional I have ever seen in a kids' film, and the fact they managed to strap what I personally feel is a very positive message about caring for the planet to this was a huge feat.
The film is everything you want from a Pixar film - beautifully animated, funny, heartwarming, positive and having a great message that errs on just the right side of preachy. Of course, some members of the Christian right didn't agree with me there, but I couldn't possibly care less... after all, it's not like they have room to criticise preaching one's values.
It's crazy times right now. Lots happening. After the surprise birthday party last week, we were somehow more manic this week.
On Thursday, Jess and I got out of work early, went to see WALL-E and had dinner together. Afterwards, we met co-workers at a bar as it was the day of Laura's birthday. They had been there since they got out of work, so we were by far the most sober people there. Until Lindsay's Doug showed up. Poor guy. We ducked out of there early.
I... can't actually remember what we did during the day on Friday. I do know we got lunch and did a bunch of shopping at Target, but other than that, I think we bummed around. At 7pm, we met up with Laura with a mini-picnic then went to the harbour. Lindsay and Doug met us there and we all sat on the waterfront to have our picnic. Eric and Mitchell showed up shortly after, just in time to watch all the fireworks going off along the lake.
We dumped shit off at home, then went to a nearby bar for a couple of drinks.
On Saturday, we had a ton of errands to run. We paid our economic stimulus cheque into our bank account, went through the pre-approval process at AT&T (ahead of the iPhone 3G release on Friday!), then Jess went to the dentist while I took a faulty item back to Target. We were going to go to a barbeque, but after having a long nap, we just went to our favourite Mexican place and chilled out.
Today, we went for lunch and did more shopping. We needed more sporty clothing as we've been asked to fill in on my office softball team. Yes, me, playing sport. I know, right? Anyway, we got all of that stuff, got it home then got ready for our first softball practice. There were only a handful of people there, but we got a good go of it. Neither of us was as bad as we expected - I connected with the ball a lot, and wasn't a total washout at catching. Bowling (sorry, pitching), however, was another matter.
This week is going to continue the activity. We're taking tomorrow off as we have a lot of chores to do. We have Wolf Parade on... Tuesday? I can't remember. I need to listen to their new CD more. Hopefully this means we get to see The Josie after what seems like forever. Thursday is the Big Kahuna - my green card interview. After aeons, it's finally a reality. Jess is currently wading through a file of paperwork the size of Alaska so we're ready. Then Friday is possibly iPhone day, if they have enough in stock.
Busy busy busy.
On an unrelated note, one of my favourite albums of last year - Heresy & The Hotel Choir by Maritime - came with a bonus 7" featuring two songs. One of those songs was called 'Boy From School', and was pretty awesome...
It turns out, it was a cover of a Hot Chip song...
Which was also covered by Portastatic...
This was a good weekend. I am going to mention a bunch of people's names - they're mostly co-workers, don't worry.
We had wanted to see WALL-E on Friday, and even arranged to do so with our friends Jason and Brad, but two things transpired to prevent us. First, the showing we wanted to go to sold out right before I could order tickets online. Then Jason had to stay late at work because of a production issue. In the end, we just ate at Chili's (mmm, bacon and beef in a bun) then watched an entire disc of It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia.
Saturday was chores day, so we tidied the crap out of the house, got lunch then Jess went home while I got a haircut. My mane was growing increasingly impossible to deal with and horrible to look at, so it had to be removed. We didn't get long to bum around before we met Doug, got in a cab and headed to Lindsay and Laura's surprise birthday party... at WHIRLYBALL!!!
Whirlyball is awesome. You're in a dodgem car that has a foot pedal and a crank for steering. While steering with one hand, you hold a plastic lacrosse-style net and attempt to throw a small ball at a circle of mesh on a baseball backboard with the other. As well as Jess, Doug, Lindsay, Laura and myself, there was Jeff, Lindsay's husband Doug and a ton of their friends and family. I felt slightly odd crashing into a cousin or brother in an attempt to get the ball, but it was wicked fun. I think I have found my "sport".
Also, for the record, Lindsay's dad owned.
From there, we headed to a bar called Schoolyard for the drinking. More and more people came along as the night progressed - Kristian, Jason, Brad, Brandon, other Jason, Mike and Betsy, and more of the birthday girls' family and friends. Everyone seemed to get along, and we were out till after midnight, at which point we turned into (very drunk) pumpkins and made our way home.
I woke up feeling as fit as a fiddle, possibly aided by drinking piss weak Miller Light all night, but Jess seemed mucho hungovero. Despite that, we managed to get our shit together and walk on up to the corner near Jason and Brad's place to watch the Chicago Gay Pride Parade. The parade had only just started when we got there, and it turned out to be a long old haul. People joined us - Kristian and his brother Kristopher, Jason and Brad's friend Karen, Doug and his friend Jess, another girl called Shelly... I have no idea who she was.
Several hours and two rain-induced interuptions later, we headed to get food, eating at a pizza place called Purgatory Pizza. We were ravenous, and after waving other people's food by our faces for what seemed like forever, they finally brought our pizza out... except they got it wrong. In the end, they gave us the wrong pizza, a smaller version of what we actually ordered and all our drinks for $6. We felt bad, though, and left a huge tip. The pizza itself was tasty... with a really crispy base.
And that was our weekend.
