Archive for April, 2006

I see very few movies in theaters anymore. Most movies just don’t look good enough to pay $7 to go see when I can wait a few months and see them on our semi-comfy couch and have sesame crackers and extra sharp cheddar cheese instead of $14 popcorn. I had seen the commercials for Lucky Number Slevin on tv and was relatively interested – I’m a big Bruce Willis fan, Josh Hartnett is decent, and Lucy Liu should be given the congressional medal of hotness. Paul saw this movie a week ago and told us that we simply must see it. “I mean, silenced pistols in the opening credits? Come on dude, you gotta catch this flick.” Onto the show.

The plot outline, from IMDB: A case of mistaken identity lands Slevin (Josh Hartnett) into the middle of a war being plotted by two of the city’s most rival crime bosses: The Rabbi (Ben Kingsley) and The Boss (Morgan Freeman). Slevin is under constant surveillance by relentless Detective Brikowski (Stanley Tucci) as well as the infamous assassin Goodkat (Bruce Willis) and finds himself having to hatch his own ingenious plot to get them before they get him.

I’ve seen Josh Hartnett in a few movies, he’s not bad. He’s never blown me away, but never made me thought he sucked. In this movie, he freakin’ killed. We’ve all seen a million “normal, innocent guy gets caught up in a big crazy gangster war”, and we’re used to that normal guy being nervous, jumpy and anxious. Not this guy. He’s getting beat up, guns pulled on him, people threatening his life, and all the while he’s cracking jokes and being a smartass. Needless to say, I identified strongly with this young man. The awkward pauses and witty quips completely threw off the typical “intimidating bad guy” vibe whenever our anti-hero faced with authority.
Bruce Willis was his classic, badass self. Nothing exceptional, but come on… it’s Bruce.
Lucy Liu is one of the most beautiful women on the planet, and she proves her acting chops in this flim – her quick, witty dialogue with Hartnett was smart as it was funny. The oddly nerdy/stunningly gorgeous combination of her character was both believable and fun to watch. My god is she fine.
The plot was compelling and exciting – I actually did sit on the edge of my seat for a good portion of the movie. It was one of those “here’s how it all comes together” endings, in the same league as Fight Club and The Thomas Crown Affair. Great twists, relatively believable circumstances, and a well thought-out backstory.

Definitely go see it. Funny, exciting, smart, and holy crap…. Lucy Liu.

Listening to: Kanye West – Freshman Adjustment (b-sides album)

Big things are happening in the world of your humble, yet superhero-like webmaster. It’s my final quarter of my senior year at the University of Denver. Most people say “I can’t believe how quickly it went!”, but it really has been a while since I first stepped foot on this campus almost 4 years ago.
I’ve been taking such a heavy class schedule since I started, that I have enough credits to just chill out for this final quarter – I’m only taking one class (Studio Recording II) and doing internship hours at the recording studio here on campus. It’s sweet! I actually figured out how to put this quarter’s class/internship credit hours onto my first two quarters this year, so I’m not technically registered for any classes this quarter, even though I’m in one. Because of this, I’m not considered a full-time student by the university, and I can no longer live on campus!! So long, Hilltop 624. You were good to me.
I moved out of the apartments and into a house with my friend Alden. The house looks like one million percent crap from the outside, but the inside is really pretty. We love it.
I realized that once I moved into the house with Alden, I’d need some furniture – no more using DU’s junk! A dresser was very graciously given to me by Molly‘s dad, but I needed to find a desk. I love my computer setup like it was my first born, so no ordinary plain-jane desk would do – I had to find a cool desk. Yeah that’s right.
So, of course, I look on craigslist… the greatest thing since, um, vocal harmonies? Anyway, I find this great desk on there, and it’s $20! All I need to figure out is, how am I gonna transport it from the guy’s house to my new one? I email him and ask, and he says for an extra $10, he’ll bring it AND my futon from my apartment to my new house! And he signs his emails “Crispy” and links to his site, Extreme Performers. Now this I have to see. Turns out, Crispy runs a sideshow called the Crispy Family Circus, and is married to his co-star, the one and only Boobzilla. I kid you not. Really really nice people, happy to sell me the desk and help me bring it to my new place. And they have a dog named Buttman! It just gets better and better. So, thanks to Crispy and Boobzilla (and Buttman) for the awesome new desk. I’m still settling into my new place, but once I decorate and make everything nice, I’ll take pictures.
And finally, there is some possible huge news on my horizon. A few days before spring break, I got a friend request from this band on Myspace called Blacktop Mourning. I went and listened and loved what I heard. Then I noticed that their site said “Looking to add a new lead singer – message us now!” – so I did. They live in Chicago, and I’m out here in Denver, so I didn’t take it seriously, but I messaged them and said “Hey, I wish I still lived in Chicago, you guys are great, well, good luck finding a new frontman.” A few hours later, they emailed me back and said “Peet! We saw your profile, checked out To The Rescue’s demo on Myspace, and we think your voice is awesome! Would you consider singing with us?” So I went home to Chicago a few days later for spring break and went over to their place and rocked with em – totally nice kids, made me feel comfortable, funny, my kinda guys. We recorded some demos of me singing on some of their tracks, and they sounded pretty badass. SO, they might be making me their lead singer pretty soon! It would be a dream come true to join these guys and rock the planet with them. I’ll definitely keep you Gees updated with what goes down – wish me luck!!

My freakin’ birthday is next week – feel free to peruse my wishlist.

Listening to: Blacktop Mourning – Your First Crime