Friday, October 27, 2006

I like bowling.

Last night I went out with people from work.

For most of you, that ain't new. For me, that's amazing because I almost never go for public things - Christmas parties? Uh-uh. Nights out? Not for me. But I decided to go bowling with a bunch of my workmates (the fact that I've taken today off helped - I live a lot further away than the others); sadly they had to cover for me fee-wise, but I can give it back.

So how'd it go? Well, it wound up with us playing two games (me and Anna had never bowled before so we were on one team with more experienced folks), and Anneza, whose praises I've sung before on this blog, explaining what the buzzing sound was when I overstepped the mark and had to forfeit my scores. Twice. I'm sure that's what cost my side the first match, especially since there were five of us playing a team of four. Curses.

But it was fun; us novices got better as it went on, and I actually got two spares (no strikes but that was to be expected). AND my team won the second match!

And I may have mentioned that Anneza looks like Michelle Branch. I have to recant; she looks more like Vanessa Lengies from Stick It and American Dreams. Which is fine with me, because I like her more anyway. (Showed up because of her? Me?)

Saturday, October 21, 2006

Cindy selling herself.

Cindy Crawford is the Krusty the Klown of modelling, in terms of endorsements (though I'm sure even she would draw the line at radiation counters and calculators). But the most impressive thing she's sold of late isn't Remington or Turkish leather, but... herself.

Yes, it does tie in with Remington, but this auction to be with her in New York (one for men, one for women) is for a good cause - and I like how the one for men is going for twice the rate of the one for women. I wonder why. :)

Too bad I don't have around $8000...

Finally, another update.

Cindy: Going from a very quiet beginning at work to a very, very busy ending. Makes Saturday mornings all the better.

Feltz: Aches and stiffness thanks to hours spent bagging up very heavy books. Not fun.

Cindy: As part of the unending commercialisation of my girl Cindy, she's selling herself. Or leasing herself. See the next post.

Feltz: Missing Las Vegas after pointing out to Jen that it was on last night (in the UK that is), thus denying us the chance to compare and contrast views on Nikki Cox.

Cindy: Chris Cornell's "You Know My Name" being missing from the Casino Royale CD. That is one of the worst Bond songs ever, so we're talking no great loss.

Feltz: DJs who make "funny" phone calls. Stop it. Now. Please.

Cindy: Scarlett Johansson singing. Not bad at all...

Feltz: ...too bad it had to be Gershwin. I don't like Gershwin. Rubs me the wrong way.

Cindy: But kudos to Scarlett for making George and Ira palatable in a way that only Peter Sellers has otherwise managed. Maybe she can tackle Tom Waits songs so that they're intelligible. Or take this to heart.

Friday, October 20, 2006

Yes, another post mentioning Hayden Panettiere.

1. Switch over to Sky Movies.
2. See that Raising Helen is starting.
3. Settle in to enjoy looking at Kate Hudson.
4. Notice the additional presence of Hayden Panettiere.
5. See them in the same scene fairly early on.
6. Realise that Hayden was a hottie for sure back then.
7. Realise that back then when this was made she was like fourteen.
8. Switch over to The A-Team to stop feeling dirty.

Wednesday, October 18, 2006

It is time to get geeky: The Music Of Candyman.

(Caleb Knightley's) music grates my last nerve but is apparently Philip Glass's apprentice (I'm beginning to see why my professors thought that Glass is a self-absorbed prick)... - From a blog whose owner really, really hates Keira Knightley.

Minimalism, for those who don't know, is a form of music that's based on repeating the same few notes ad nauseum. Philip Glass is the most famous perpetrator/exponent of this kind of thing, but give him credit for managing to balance concert hall composing with work for the dreaded cinema (Koyaanisqatsi, Secret Window, Hamburger Hill, The Thin Blue Line, Taking Lives, The Illusionist and so on - not to mention his theme music for the ill-advised Night Stalker redo). Give him debits, though, for coming up with music that's an acquired taste which I personally have yet to acquire - his work for the first two Candyman films is a case in point (for some reason he was unavailable for the third direct-to-video one). I got it out of Charing Cross Library, and I am so glad that it's on a loan - I couldn't stand having this permanently.

Put together on one CD because there wasn't enough music in the first movie for an album, this isn't traditional horror movie music; it's unnerving, but it's also monotonous - thanks to Glass's style the tracks all seem longer than they are, and it almost never varies. A change from the norm, but I had to cleanse my mind out immediately afterwards with Ghostbusters and Mission: Impossible III. I'm sure his fans would argue the point, however.

1. Music Box (1:05)
Candyman Suite:
2. Cabrini Green (3:27)
3. Helen's Theme (1:56)
4. Face to Razor (6:13)
5. Floating Candyman (7:04)
6. Return to Cabrini (9:46)
7. It Was Always You, Helen (3:07)
Candyman II: Farewell To The Flesh:
8. Daniel's Flashback (2:55)
9. The Slave Quarters (5:22)
10. Annie's Theme (3:33)
11. All Falls Apart (3:13)
12. The Demise of Candyman (4:05)
13. Reverend's Walk (1:09)

Thursday, October 12, 2006

Apologies and flowers and boxes of diabetic chocolate all round.

Because I want some, dammit.

First apology to Sharon for clogging the kitchen sink up; all the caustic soda in the world poured down the drain didn't help, but a plunger did. With the best will in the world I'm sorry, and I hope it doesn't happen again.

Second to Mike over at The Bilson Archives, for circa 1:30 UK time this morning when he IM'd me and I said nothing but "hi," even when he buzzed me twice. This was because I was absolutely not completely awake when I trotted out there, even unto nodding off while online (why I didn't just go back to sleep and go online an hour later I don't know). So I couldn't talk to him, and I'm sorry.

Then to Jessica Alba, for staying linked to Egotastic! and the rest. Finally got fed up with all those interchangeable showbiz blogs giving her shit because she won't take her clothes off, so they're gone. Out of here. The old heave-ho. From now on it's Technorati searches and SuperiorPics for me.

And finally (for now) to Eliza Dushku; the long-overdue and aborted second season of Tru Calling starts tonight on Sky One at 8pm. It'll have to be caught on the repeat, what with Veronica Mars having that same slot on LivingTV. That's life.

Sunday, October 08, 2006

Rihanna, Rihanna, Rihanna.




And now that I've probably driven off Butch for good (though not Evil), another Barbados-related piece that I found pretty interesting, from the magazine Circuit. This kind of thing shouldn't be a factor nowadays, but then again in a world where Black Entertainment Television and the MOBO Awards exist...

“Do not adjust the dial on your stereo, I am black.” These are the words from Annie, lead presenter/programmer on Mix 96.9 FM. In Barbados, like many other Caribbean islands, rock and its derivatives are generally viewed as taboo ‘white’ music.
Perhaps as a result of the eclectic music on her playlist (Annie stuffs her airtime with alternative, rock, pop and every shade of world music imaginable), many listeners seem to automatically tag a particular profile on Annie. The former model and Miss Bikini Barbados titleholder admits that she’s caused a few raised eyebrows when she initially meets people. "Some people will say stuff like I always thought you were white!" Some listeners have also called her at the station, asking what race she was – something she says she takes no offence to.
In Barbados, soca, hip-hop, reggae and other genres are viewed as more mainstream, and it’s sometimes a hard sell convincing Bajans that the average radio listener enjoys anything other than ‘urban’ genres of music. However, Annie contends that despite the stereotypes of music in Barbados, many Barbadians are rock fans, even if they are ‘closet’ rock fans, afraid to let people know they actually enjoy the selection she plays on air. To prove a point, she pulls out a collection of photos showing winners from her on air promotions. The vast majority of winners were indeed black, a point which Annie gleefully emphasized. “Music should never have a colour,” she muses.
She admits that it was a lot harder to be a rock fan in her earlier days. While in school she could usually be found holed up under the headphones of her Walkman (iPods weren’t around) listening to rock — a pastime which found her called into the principal’s office on at least one occasion.

Annie no longer has to report to the principal’s office to justify her listening preferences and seems determined to expose her listeners to a bit of everything that’s out there - no matter the genre.
Annie Quickfacts

Favourite Colour: Black
Favourite Movie: The Piano
Favourite Song: U2: "In the Name of Love"
Favourite Sport: Snowboarding
Jeans or skirts: Jeans all the way
Heels or sneakers: Heels
Favourite hobby: Taking care of 2 year-old son Tristan
Favourite Actor: Sean Connery
Favourite Actress: Charlize Theron
Favourite Ice Cream: Rocher

Diabetes pros and cons.

The best thing about being diabetic is that you get to leave work early for doctors' appointments.
The worst thing about being diabetic is just about everything else; like having to add yet another pill to the list (five now). >:( And having to sort out blood tests; mid-to-late November's the next one. Just thankful it's not Type I.

Thursday, October 05, 2006

It is time to get geeky: James Clavell's Noble House.

It's pretty safe to say that Jen's never seen Tai-Pan, mainly because neither has most of the rest of the world; it was a big critical and commercial flop in 1986. Which may explain why James (Shogun) Clavell's modern-day followup, Noble House, was filmed two years later as a miniseries with Pierce Brosnan (after Remington Steele but before James Bond) and Deborah Raffin (who had prior experience with non-world-shaking miniseries after replacing Bess Armstrong in Lace 2 - she was the one who was the bitch who was Phoebe Cates's mother).
Maurice Jarre, who did Shogun and Tai-Pan, may well have been courted by DeLaurentiis Entertainment Group to score the miniseries, but Paul Chihara ended up doing it; I got burned from his exceedingly boring King of the Olympics, but this time the qualities that drove me to tape off the main title when CBC showed it (about the only thing I remember from the series itself) are throughout the record. Said opening music combines a majestic fanfare for the titular Oriental business establishment and the series' lush love theme, both of which wear rather better over the course of the album than the more threatening cues - the latter, apart from the unintentional comedy value of such low-rent music being credited to the London Symphony Orchestra (which performed the score under the baton of the composer), sound like they belong in a bad '80s crime show. To be fair, when this approach is mixed with the main theme ("Dunross") it does manage to avoid sucking, so what do I know?
Presentation of the album on CD (by Colosseum, under license from Varese Sarabande) could've been better - a few of the cues are misnumbered (i.e. there are two number 5s, two number 6s etc on the packaging) and there's almost no information about the music or the miniseries apart from the basics, but it's no frisbee. And in these days of minimal TV scoring (for the most part, that is), this kind of blast from the past is welcome. The Thorn Birds it's not, but it doesn't have to be.

1. Main Title (2:07)
2. Stormy Night (2:39)
3. Taipan In Love (4:12)
4. John Chen's Plot (2:03)
5. Love Boat To Macao (3:12)
6. 4 Finger Wu (2:06)
7. Dunross (1:38)
8. The Curse (2:49)
9. The Day After (4:10)
10. Opium Drop (2:17)
11. Linc's Death (1:59)
12. Coin Joined (2:35)
13. Finale (4:25)

Wednesday, October 04, 2006

Midweek Update.

Cindy: Not managing to see Heroes on NBC's site, or on YouTube thanks to NBC Universal having the pilot removed (I know the screener's still up there, but it's got music from Batman Begins on it and is therefore NOT THE REAL THING). Counts as a Cindy because now it's all anticipation for when it starts here...

Feltz (since Vanessas Marcil, Anne Hudgens, Carlton and Lengies have overcome the problem of that first name): ...next year.

Cindy: Returning to work and getting back into the stream of things quietly instead of being thrust into tons of the stuff.

Feltz: Returning to work.

Cindy: Sharon's new guy. He's a vast improvement on the last one.

Feltz: The return of penalty payments from Abbey National. Sob.

Cindy: The Pigskin Prognosticators (Jen's Yahoo! team); I'm not sucking as much as I feared. So far, anyway.

Feltz-ish: The four-CD MGM music sampler I got a few weeks ago. Lots of nice stuff BUT too many of the tracks are snippets instead of full pieces. Grrr.

Cindy: Saving my holidays; more to look forward to.

Feltz: Having problems uploading pictures at home (Rihanna coming, I promise Evil).

And that Amish school shooting in America, and that father in London who got killed on his own doorstep... fuck. Again - FUCK.