“Christine”–A Review

I’m not sure why, but movies made from Stephen King novels always turn out really well. “Christine” (1983) is no exception. Like “Little Shop of Horrors” but not a satire, this interesting tale of obsession and revenge is, for lack of a better word, riveting. It’s not scary enough frequently enough to make you have bad dreams or any other cliched thing, but it’s gripping.

In the opening scene, we see a car manufacturer at work. But one of the cars seems different. Perhaps this is because it’s the only car who causes a severe injury and a death within the span of five minutes. This is Christine.

Arnie, a bullied teenager, falls in love with the twenty-year-old car (twenty years later) as soon as he lays eyes on it. He immediately starts restoring her to pristine condition, and soon becomes enraptured in her evil clutches. This is perhaps what’s so intriguing about the film. From the beginning of the movie to the end, you see a complete character transformation in Arnie. Everything about him shifts. He’s played by Keith Gordon, who I think did a remarkable job. He displays such open emotion, such raw devotion (and, in some cases, rage), like a one-two punch. Quick, but with substance. These scenes are not in the least melodramatic.

Throughout the movie there’s a bit of a mystery, too, but I’m not going to go into it for fear of giving anything away.

There’s a bit of gore in the film, but for the most part it’s not bad. And as I said, it’s really not typical Stephen King (that is, if typical Stephen King is very scary). The language is strong, though (especially for its time), so I wouldn’t watch “Christine” with the kids.

I just found something really interesting. Over at IMDB (the Internet Movie Database) there are a bunch of taglines for “Christine”, and one of them is “She’s the Devil incarnate. She’s Christine. Body by Plymouth. Soul by Satan.”

Ciao!

School!

This weekend I’m going away to a university for a little over a week. So I’m not going to be back blogging until the 24th, most likely. I’ll have a full report then on what I’ve been up  to, since I really don’t know that terribly much about it now.

Probably by that time I’ll be so full of ideas and things to say that IR will burst. I really hope that doesn’t happen, though. I’ll write things down to talk about as I see them.

Well, strike that, about this being my last post before I leave–I’ll post a movie review tomorrow, but after that I’ll be gone until the 24th.

Ciao!

U.S. and Russia Confer on Decreasing Nuclear Stores

It is my opinion that having nuclear weaponry is just a bad idea. After all, you are tempted to use what you have at your disposal. Today Barack Obama met with Russia’s president and agreed to begin a program designed to reduce both nations’ stores of nuclear weapons by roughly a third. This is great progress in multiple ways. First off, fewer nukes is less of a threat to the world, regardless of the country they occupy. Secondly, this agreement marks a new branch in the relationship between these two massive nations. Things have always been tense between Russia and the United States (see the space race and the Cold War), but perhaps now the tension will ease somewhat.

I guess my view of nuclear weapons is influenced by rather cynical viewpoints, but I still think that anything that can cause massive devastation to humanity or the environment is generally a bad idea. In my mind, negotiation with worrisome world leaders and ambassadors would work better.

Ciao!

Happy Fourth!

Despite the populace’s strange conception of patriotism (i.e taking the “riot” out of it),  the Fourth of July, or Independence Day, is a very significant holiday in the United States, and I for one am going to celebrate it. This evening we’re barbequing, watching fireworks, and eating flag cake. Here’s a picture.

No, it's not entirely accurate, but it sure is yummy!

Happy Fourth, you guys.

Ciao!

“The Looking Glass Wars” — A Review

One of my favorite classic children’s books (well, series) is that of Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. Those books instill in you a sense of wonder. The Looking Glass Wars, by Frank Beddor, takes that mindset of otherworldly wit and glory and modernizes it.

Our story begins with little Alyss Heart, a seven-year-old princess preparing to become queen of Wonderland. But her birthday party is dropped in upon by her aunt, Redd. Redd was to become queen instead of Alyss’s mother, Genevieve, but her darker tendencies snatched away the queendom. Redd’s come to take it back. During the overthrow battle, Alyss is brought to Earth and becomes an orphan.

The thing that struck me as great about this book is the character transition. The Mad Hatter becomes the queen’s personal bodyguard. The Queen of Hearts becomes the evil aunt. What Beddor’s done with them is superb. Another thing is that Beddor brings to light all the inside jokes that Carroll would. For instance, Wonderland’s newest weapon (akin to a machine gun) is called the AD52 (there are 52 cards to a standard deck). It’s subtle humor, but it really does the trick.

Probably the only thing I didn’t like about The Looking Glass Wars (besides the fact that there is a completely different book called The Looking Glass War) is that Beddor occasionally puts in a sentence fragment. But maybe that’s just the grammar ninja in me talking.

Ciao!

Food Diary Entry #17–Chicken Pot Pie

What could be more homey and old-fashioned than a chicken pot pie? I don’t think anything could, really, especially when the pie crust is homemade.

For vegetarians, I suggest using vegetable broth instead of chicken broth and just leaving out any meat substitutes. Vegetables should suffice here, unless you have a really bad hankering for beans.

Here’s a picture of my dinner this evening, pre-dinner.

Celery, potatoes, carrots, and chicken in flaky goodness.

Ciao!

“Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch’s War on Journalism” –A Review

When I was a small child, I was never allowed to watch the Fox News Channel because I was told that bad people were running it. I never experienced anything like it until recently, when I was staying at a friend’s house. I found the anchors laughable. They were just talking about nothing. Just saying what they thought about so and so’s new suit or whatever.

The footage of Fox in this documentary is basically the same way. “Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch’s War on Journalism” accurately shows and describes just how insane the network has become. For examples: they don’t talk about anything important unless it goes in their candidate’s favor, they don’t cite sources as a means to inject their own opinions into the broadcast, and they have guests on only to argue with them instead of gathering opinions, however different they may be. But just watch the O’Reilly Factor for 10-15 minutes and you’ll know all this.

The film runs an hour and seventeen minutes. It’s not long, it’s not boring, (it’s not fantastically produced, but) it gets into all the nooks and crannies about how this stuff is allowed to go on. Very insightful.

But this really is madness. Please don’t expect to find news or even accurate information on Fox News. I think the only good thing that ever came out of it was the Simpsons.

Ciao!

Food Diary Entry #16– Curried Beef and Rice Salad

This is an interesting dish. It’s a cool rice dish with beef, red peppers, peas, apples, and curry powder. Very simple to make and simply delicious! Here’s a picture.

Yum!

Ciao!

Pride STL 2009!

Yesterday was the pride parade in St. Louis. I took (amazingly) 341 pictures.

The parade was spectacular. The weather wasn’t too hot, Grand Boulevard was full of people, there were only a handful of protesters…ah, bliss.

I was going to post a bunch of pictures, but I think there are too many to comfortably affix to Iridescent Rainbow’s memory, so I’m going to try to make a slideshow and post it to YouTube instead.

In the pictures, you will see a troupe of Geek Squad cars, people riding motorized coolers, quilts made in honor of those who have been taken by AIDS, Segways, lots of rainbows, some great balloons, and a lot of other really inspiring stuff that went on. This year marked St. Louis’s 30th year to have a pride festival.

Okay. I made the video, but I have to get some help from the girlfriend on how to convert the video to another format so it will submit to and obey the every whim of the YouTube machine. It will be up soon, and the link to my YouTube channel is in my links (though I’ll have the link to the video up ASAP too).

*UPDATE* My video is now online! Check it out! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ky3OYefHS8k

Ciao!

Gearing up for Pride!

(I made a mistake. I meant to post this post yesterday and leave my review of “Psycho” for today, but it didn’t happen that way, so…here you are!)

All (most) of my gay friends and I are going to Pridefest today in St. Louis, so we decided to get decked out for the event in (somewhat) matching t-shirts! First we tie-dyed them, then we ironed on “The Big Gay Mafia” lettering. It looks really Godfather-y, which is just perfect.

Just so you know, it is best to wash the shirts first when you’re tie-dying (we didn’t), and don’t believe the manufacturers when they tell you those kits can make 20 t-shirts. They must’ve shredded their t-shirts first. Oh, and do wear the gloves they put in the box. Otherwise you will be worse off than the hands below are (those are mine, by the way).

Purple fingers.

 

Green, blue, and yellow fingers

And, being the geeks we are, we put very colorful beads on very colorful necklaces for the occasion. Mine has become my new favorite chewthing. Not that I had one before…

(Changing subject) I’m so excited!

I just hope it’s not really hot.

What are you all doing to show pride this month?

Ciao!