Woody's Place

Sneek Peak: Tim Burton's "Alice In Wonderland"

   

Looks phenomenal.  Can't wait.

Wow... Pixar Grants Dying Girl's Last Wish, To See "Up"

Break out the Kleenex.

Colby Curtin, a 10-year-old with a rare form of cancer, was staying alive for one thing – a movie.

From the minute Colby saw the previews to the Disney-Pixar movie Up, she was desperate to see it. Colby had been diagnosed with vascular cancer about three years ago, said her mother, Lisa Curtin, and at the beginning of this month it became apparent that she would die soon and was too ill to be moved to a theater to see the film.

[...] Pixar officials listened to Colby’s story and agreed to send someone to Colby’s house the next day with a DVD of "Up," Orum recalled.

She immediately called Lisa Curtin, who told Colby.

“Do you think you can hang on?” Colby’s mother said.

“I’m ready (to die), but I’m going to wait for the movie,” the girl replied.

[...] Colby died about seven hours after seeing the film.

Pixar declined to comment on the story.  More details at the OC Register.

Colby sure was a cutie.  I'm glad she got her final wish.  Classy move by Pixar to make it happen and then not toot their horn or anything.

Up

I was fortunate enough to be invited to an advance screening of Pixar's new movie "Up" this evening, and I can say without hesitation that this is one of the best, if not the very best, Pixar movies ever produced.  Go see it, you will not be disappointed.  Cross my heart.

Sherlock Holmes

The trailer for the upcoming Sherlock Holmes movie has just been released.

Looks pretty promising. 

The Kingdom

I can remember hearing about "The Kingdom" when it first hit the theaters and thinking to myself "what's the chance they made a straightforward thriller set in Saudi Arabia without being politically correct and making the bad guys Americans, or businessmen like Halliburton? ... ZERO chance." so I never bothered to go see it.  After all, just look at the cinematic abortion they'd just made of Tom Clancy's book "The Sum Of All Fears", changing the Arab nuclear terrorists into an insane neo-Nazi cabal.  How ridiculous, and how insulting coming right after 3,000 of our fellow citizens had been slaughtered by real terrorists, not crazy Hitler groupies.

Fast forward a year or so and I'm hearing good things on the blogs about how this movie "The Kingdom" was the real deal, and that the director didn't pull any punches.  Well, I picked it up on DVD today and just finished watching it, and I'm echoing those same sentiments.  "The Kingdom" rocked my socks off. 

How refreshing to watch a movie with terrorists that are actually like the real ones... you know, Muslim.  How refreshing to see Muslim heroes fighting alongside our own to stop the terrorists and bring peace to their own homeland, just like in Iraq.  This movie hit all the right notes.  Great action, great plot, some twists and curves to keep you guessing.  Go get it.  You won't be sorry.  

Wall Street Sequel... Revisionist History Anyone?

Oh jeez... Oliver Stone and Michael Douglas are going to make a sequel to Wall Street.

"I think it's time to take another hard look at trading and the economy and what went wrong in the last few years," said Douglas Monday night during the premiere of Ghosts of Girlfriends Past. "Everybody's talking about the economy and people are scrutinizing it. Whenever I mention Wall Street 2, everybody goes, 'Yeah. Interesting. I'd see that.'"

Great... two left wingers taking a "hard look" at what went wrong during the "Bush years". 

You wanna bet they focus on so-called corporate greed and completely ignore the government meddling that is the genuine root cause of the housing bubble?  I can't imagine a Hollywood movie about the evils of "affordable housing", can you?  I guess we have our answer.  They haven't even written a script and we know exactly what this film will be all about.  I hope it flops.

UPDATE: I'm no scriptwriter, but here's my take on how they could make an accurate version of Wall Street 2:

[Scene opens with Michael Douglas's character sitting in his plush office talking across the desk to a government bureaucrat]

MICHAEL DOUGLAS: [angry] What do you mean I have to approve their mortgage?!  They've got NO fucking credit!

BUREAUCRAT: According the the 1977 Community Reinvestment Act you must meet your quota for low income and minority lending if you want federal approval for your bank merger proposal... [smirks]

MICHAEL DOUGLAS: Are you kidding me?

BUREAUCRAT: No sir, I'm deadly serious.  However the federal government HAS created some investment vehicles whereby we will purchase these loans that we are forcing you to make and then repackage them for sale to investment banks and hedge funds.

MICHAEL DOUGLAS: So you're forcing me to make a loan to somebody who is unlikely to repay it, but the federal government is going to back the loan so I can't lose any money?  Is that what I'm hearing?

BUREAUCRAT: Yes, that's it exactly.

MICHAEL DOUGLAS: And if the shit hits the fan?

BUREAUCRAT: It will be all your fault of course, but the Fed will make sure you are taken care of with hundreds of billions in bailouts.

MICHAEL DOUGLAS: [sly grin] Well, what have I got to lose?

Taking Chance

"Taking Chance" is the true story of Lt. Colonel Michael Strobl, who volunteered to escort the body of Lance Corporal Chance Phelps home to his family after he'd been killed in Iraq.

Wow.  Even just watching the trailer brought tears to my eye.  I will be picking this up on DVD when it comes out in May... along with several boxes of Kleenex.  Good stuff.

Cat Shit One? (Japanese People Are Crazy)

This is a trailer for a Japanese animated movie called Cat Shit One... Yes, that's the real title.  I'm assuming it sounded really badass in Japanese. 

Okay.. I'm confused.  Part of me is thinking "wow, that was actually kinda cool", but the other part of me is thinking "Cute bunny snipers? WTF? I want no part of this Japanese insanity".

UPDATE: I think I might have figured this out somewhat.  Why make the movie with bunnies and muslim-looking camels?  Because political correctness would make doing it with people a real hassle.  This way the filmakers can say "What do you mean you are offended?  Are you a camel?"

Where The Wild Things Are

Wow... this looks absolutely amazing.  I can't wait. 

Click on the pic to see the rest. 

UPDATE: Here is the trailer!

My "Man Cave"

My home was built in 2000 and had a large unfinished basement with decent ceiling height.  In late 2007, after years of putting it off, my wife and I finally decided to turn it into finished living space.  We did most of the work ourselves with the assistance of my father-in-law Bob and his huge colection of power tools.

Now, after a year and a half of weekends and evenings, it's about 90% finished.  The bathroom is incomplete and there's much more decorating to be done, but it's close enough to be enjoyed and finally looks good enough for me to share some pics with my blog buddies, so here goes.

THE GAME ROOM - This is the main room you enter when coming down the steps.  There's a foosball table, an arcade game, some pinball machines, a slot machine, a dartboard and a variety of fun and funky decorations. 

 

We chose a commercial grade vinyl plank for the floor. It's very rustic looking, durable and waterproof. Together with the greenish color on the walls it gives the room a cozy Irish pub vibe that my wife really likes.

THE PINBALL COLLECTION - From left to right we have Black Hole, Haunted House, Sorcerer and Dungeons & Dragons. 

THE ARCADE GAME - This is my MAME cabinet custom built for me by Dream Authentics.  It's a full size arcade machine packed with over 70,000 roms (games).  Yes, that's right 70,000!  I have nearly every arcade game, every Nintendo game, every Super Nintendo game, every Nintendo 64 game, every Gamecube game, every Sega Genesis game, every Atari game etc. etc.

Never in my life will I play them all, but if you were over and remembered one from the old days we'd be able to play it within minutes.  That's all kinds of awesome when you're having a party.  My favorites right now are Joust, Gyruss, Tempest, and Galaga.

 

DEPECHE MODE "SHRINE" - I'm a huge Depeche Mode fan, so I decided to display some of my memorabilia and favorite albums in this 5'x5' corner spot.  My uncle Jimbo even helped me replicate the BONG 13 loudspeaker from the band's Strangelove record cover.  Thanks again Jimbo!

 

POSTERS, POSTERS, POSTERS - It's a cheap way to add some life to the room and show off some things that I enjoy.  From a Dragon's Lair video game poster autographed by Don Bluth, to Led Zeppelin's iconic Stairway To Heaven door poster from the 70's, to Frank Sinatra and Ronald Reagan, I cover a lot of ground (and walls) with posters.

 

THE THEATER - The theater is set up and pre-wired for a 92" projection screen and wall mounted Bose surround sound speaker system, BUT... I ran out of cash.  So for now we're making due with a little 27" flatscreen and an old Sony speaker set up I had laying around.  The TV and DVD's are run from a Dell Media Center PC, which also makes this an excellent spot to enjoy my MP3 collection.

Movie posters adorn the walls and cover several decades and genres.  We selected: The Matrix, Titanic, The Hitchiker's Guide To The Galaxy, The Godfather, Pirates Of The Carribean, Star Wars, Tombstone, The Lord Of The Rings, Ferris Buehler's Day Off and Herbie Fully Loaded.  FYI: I found that Movie Posters USA had reasonable prices, great selection, and remarkable after sale service.  I can't recommend them enough.

We used futons because they were inexpensive (out of cash), and also because they are versatile.  You can make two rows of seating, or fold down the first row and make a huge chaise, or fold down both rows and make a huge bed for my daughter's sleepovers.  It works out great for us.

The back of the room is dominated by  a custom built media shelf to hold our CD and DVD collection along with various books, LP's and boardgames. 

THE OFFICE - My office subterranean lair features a nice desk setup, a Dell PC running Windows Vista, a bookshelf for my Dungeons & Dragons collection, a futon sleeper sofa, and my musical equipment.

 

We really enjoy the new basement!  Everytime my daughter has a new friend over you can hear them freak out when they get to the bottom of the steps, and when she had a sleepover last fall, I overheard her friends telling one another that it was the best sleepover they'd ever been to.

That was a big part of the reason for doing this, so our daughter has a safe place to hang out with her friends as she enters her teen years.  MISSION ACCOMPLISHED. (-:

I'll change out these pictures and/or add more to this post as things progress towards perfection.

UPDATE: Here's a picture I found of me and Bob amidst the forest of lumber we'd built.