DVD

Black Swan

May 3, 2011 by Christopher

Quickie review: It was okay.

Longer review: Natalie Portman is a ballet dancer who is preparing for Swan Lake, and this one time she sees her face on someone else’s body and then when she looks again she doesn’t see it anymore, and then pretty much that same thing happens like five hundred more times and each time she’s like “Did I just see something weird?” and then she looks again and decides she probably didn’t. And I guess the audience is supposed to be spooked out about it and we are until maybe the 40th time it happens and then it just gets boring. And maybe we’re supposed to wonder if it’s something supernatural or if she’s just nuts, but it’s pretty clear she’s just nuts, as far as I could tell.

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Lady Business | Television

Lady Business: Food Porn

April 29, 2011 by Kris

When Chris and I first started dating, he had a TV with rabbit ears that only seemed to receive PBS. We watched a fair amount of Julia Child and Jacques Pepin. My favorite was Cooking with Claudine, where Mr. Pepin would explain to his daughter what the heck eggs are and how to make food from them.

Many years later when funds were more plentiful and the rabbit ears were retired, I found the Food Network. If you are like my friend Jason, you watch the Food Network as a functional “how-to” in your life and learn to create delicious food. He once watched an episode of Alton Brown’s Good Eats called “My Big Fat Greek Sandwich”, and then proceeded to make the glorious thing. We ate like kings, I tell you! I, on the other hand, once watched the episode on Eggs Benedict and was completely lost after step 23 of 739.

Much like how MTV once showed music videos, the Food Network has evolved away from it’s original I’ll-cook-and-explain-what-I’m-doing-so-you-can-do-this-at-home format to it’s current format full of competition shows and fat guys eating. I can’t complain, because I love to watch people eat. Luckily, the Travel Channel has gotten into the game and expanded my choices. Here are some worth checking out.

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Video Games

Bullet Points: Portal 2 Co-Op

April 26, 2011 by Christopher

I decided to take a look — just a look — at Portal 2 co-op over the weekend, and wound up playing through the entire thing, staying up until almost 4am Saturday night. And then I did it again the last night, staying up until midnight. It’s just a hard game to stop playing before you’ve finished it: the satisfaction from solving puzzles, and the desire to see what sort of puzzle will come next, is impossible to resist.

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Movies | Netflix | Television

Stream Cuisine: Bond. Megashark Bond.

April 26, 2011 by Christopher

Some more of my favorite picks for your Netflix Instant viewing pleasure.

Easy A: The really nice thing about Netflix Instant is that it makes it easy to check out movies you’d probably never see otherwise, like this teen comedy based on The Scarlet Letter. I’d heard some good things about it but it’s probably something I’d never rent or see in a theater. We watched it this weekend, and it’s a fun film: Emma Stone is great as a high school girl who rides rumors of her promiscuity to new highs and then lows, and Stanley Tucci and Patricia Clarkson steal every scene they’re in as her goofball hippie parents.

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e-Books | Movies | Television

Lady Business: Comedy is the New Whiskey

April 22, 2011 by Kris

I’m in the middle of an office move and it’s no fun. I think I’ll have a little plaque made for the front my urn that says: “She solved 2,218,437 meaningless problems for other people and now she’s dead.” In order to remain sane, I’ve been loading up on the entertainment. Here are the things that have kept me from throwing a chair through the window or drinking heavily.

Anthony Jeselnik,  Shakespeare

I like my stand up comedy to be smart, dry, absurd and borderline cruel. I’ve seen him a few times on various specials, and his bit about the marshmallow dream had me in tears. If you are a sensitive sort, you’ll most likely hate this guy. However, if your idea of comedy involves allowing yourself to laugh at nearly everything that normally makes humans uncomfortable, then you’ll be just fine.

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Television

Wednesday Night Menu

April 20, 2011 by Christopher

I haven’t watched much TV this week due to all the gaming I’ve been doing, and I’ve been remiss in posting my daily menu for the two of you who read it. The menu tonight:

Justified: There’s only a few episodes left, and there’s a whole lot of story threads out there. I find myself hoping they don’t wrap everything up by the end of the season. With Boyd re-entering the criminal underworld, Mags as the marijuana kingpin, and Dickie as the loose cannon, I’d be thrilled if this all spilled into season three, because having multiple crime bosses struggling for control is more interesting than just one bad guy on the top of the heap. I suspect most of it will be resolved, though. Mags will probably take a fall and Dickie seems too stupid to survive much longer. I’m sure Boyd will make it to season three, though.

As far as the hitmen from last week, I suspect they were sent by Winona’s ex (or the mob goons he’s associated with) to rub her out — Mags wouldn’t employ anyone who drove a Mercedes. So, that’s all gonna be in play, too, along with the stolen money storyline… man, it’s gearing up to be a busy conclusion this season. (FX)

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Video Games

Bullet Points: Portal 2, Part 2 (Spoiler-Free)

April 20, 2011 by Christopher

Well, I finished Portal 2 last night. To avoid spoilers of any kind, this installment of Bullet Points is going to be pretty short. Even the spoiler-free reviews I read after finishing the game gave away stuff I’m much happier to have found out myself while playing, so don’t read any of them! Don’t even read this one! (Actually, this one is fine to read.)

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Video Games

Bullet Points: Crysis 2, Part 5

April 19, 2011 by Christopher

I played great gobs of Crysis 2 over the weekend. Enjoying it still, for the most part. I’m seven hours in, according to my Steam stats.

I think I’ve been a little too sloppy with posting spoilers, blatantly listing out the storyline and such, so sorry about that. I’ll try to be a little more general with my descriptions from here on out, for those of you who haven’t played but are interested.

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Video Games

Bullet Points: Portal 2, Part 1 (Spoiler-Free)

April 19, 2011 by Christopher

There will be no spoilers below, I’m just going to be talking in very general terms about the game (which I haven’t even finished). There’s too much fun stuff to discover on your own, which is why I avoided as much of the pre-release media blitz as I could. (And I feel like I’ve probably had too many spoilers in the Crysis 2 stuff I’ve been posting). I’m not even going to post screenshots. About the only thing I mention specifically below is about an actor who does some voice-work in the game.

Anyway. Portal 2! It’s finally here, and out a few hours early to boot. It unlocked for me around 10pm last night, and after about ten minutes of waiting for the files to decrypt, I was able to start playing. I played about two hours last night, and followed it up with a little more this morning (I called in late). I haven’t tried multiplayer yet; I want to finish the single-player stuff first.

How is it? It’s great and you should buy it and play it. Some general deets and thoughts below. If you leave a comment, please keep them spoiler-free as well.

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DVD

TRON: Legacy (DVD)

April 18, 2011 by Christopher

I watched TRON: Legacy on DVD this weekend. I don’t think there are any serious spoilers below. This isn’t really a review, just some notes I made while watching it. [Read more…]

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