NEW Movie Reviews

In the past two weeks I’ve been to the movie theater twice – which is twice as many as in the year previous. So here comes some reviews of new movies. Crazy!

The Pursuit of Happyness

It was a really good movie if you like feeling like crap for two straight hours. I’m talking feeling horrible. The movie is very engaging, reflective and has a great message. It’s just also very depressing.

The funny thing about it is that I went there for a work Christmas party. I think the party planning committee (a la Angela on The Office) thought it was going to be a great feel-good movie for the team.

Rocky Balboa

Last night was “boys’ night” starring me, Traci’s dad and little brother, and Traci’s little sister’s boyfriend. We went to the 10 p.m. showing of Rocky Balboa, which caused me to think that I’m pretty sure I’ve only really seen Rocky IV and parts of most of the others. Huh, who knew? Anyway, though I am not a huge fan, I couldn’t help but get sucked in during the match at the end of the movie. “Come on, Rocky, you’re 60 years old, but I know you can still do it.” I swear, I was really thinking that. I’d tell you what happens next, but I don’t want to spoil the surprising ending.

The movie moved a bit slow, there wasn’t much boxing, but nevertheless a good ending (hopefully) to the series. You never know, maybe Rocky’s next fight will be against adult onset diabetes or something.

Boxing Day

No one likes to go back to work the day after Christmas. The Dutch avoid that problem by taking a second day off (it’s called Second Christmas Day) and even those pesky Canadians have Boxing Day. Since I have a new job, I don’t have any vacation time and have to work today. Plus I’m the new guy, so I don’t think I should be taking any time off just yet anyway.

I was having a rough go of it this morning, but was still doing my best to make it to work on time. Luckily, I made up some time on the road because there was no one on the freeways. As I rushed into the office, I was only about 10 minutes late. I was greeted by a ghost town. Of the 25 or so folks that work in my department only two were here – the other two new guys. Apparently, I needn’t have rushed.

Matt & Kim

They drove all the way from Seattle to play maybe 15 minutes in Salt Lake City. Oh, but did those 15 minutes rock!

I was ecstatic to see Matt & Kim play at Kilby Court last Friday night. Apparently during the Seattle show, Matt broke his keyboard and had to pick up a new one in Salt Lake. As a result, they only played the songs he knew how to play on the new keyboard. So it was short and sweet (I showed up at Kilby at 8:45 and was on my way back home by 10:00 - and I saw all three bands play), but mostly sweet.

Things that were excellent:

--They started the show off with the amazingly good "Yea Yeah."

--Kim drums harder than any girl I've ever seen, just using a kick drum, a floor tom, a snare, a tambourine and a crash cymbal. Plus she smiles the whole time.

--Matt was very funny in that nerdy, I wear glasses, so I need to put on my chums so I can still rock out properly, kind of way.

--Kim finds Matt (who I think is her husband) incredibly funny. She laughed at everything he said, and I don't think she was faking.

--For a final song, Matt said they were going to play a certain song if he could convince Kim to sing it. Well, he couldn't. He got the crowd all worked up, but by the time he turned to Kim she was already in the back of club, trying to sell some t-shirts.

Matt & Kim - Yea Yeah (MP3)
Matt & Kim- Silver Tiles (MP3)

Ho, Ho, Ho Yourself

Paige’s first trip to Temple Square – yeah, complete disaster. We had originally talked about taking Trax downtown, but I figured “No one goes downtown anymore, and certainly no one will be Christmas shopping at the Mr. Mac or the other two stores still in the downtown malls.”

So we drove. Or should I say, so we sat. It took us 40 minutes to get from 600 S to South Temple. There was no way out, no turning around, no alternative routes. Apparently there was a Jazz game, a production at the Conference Center and all sorts of other stuff going on downtown. Boo. Paige was fine with the gridlock. She took advantage of the situation by sleeping the entire hour we were in the car. Thus she was very upset when we pulled her out of her warm, comfortable car seat and she was really upset when we made her wear her hat and gloves. (I love baby mittens – there’s no thumbs in ‘em.)

Once we got to Temple Square, Paige was underwhelmed by the Christmas lights, but her enjoyment was secondary to my ulterior motive of taking the best Christmas card photo ever (yes, I know it’s almost Christmas and that we should have sent the cards out weeks ago). However, in this I was also thwarted. The second I took Paige out of her stroller she started screaming and was not cooperating with any picture taking. Also not cooperating were the sister missionaries. Traci, Paige and I were standing there all cute-like in front of the lights when I asked the sisters to snap a quick picture for us. “Sorry, we’ve got to be somewhere,” one of them replied. Were they late for a date or something? In the end I don’t think it mattered much because Paige screamed until we put her back in her stroller. We didn’t get the Christmas card picture.

Though it took an hour to get there, we only spent about half that time outside of the car; it was too cold and too crowded to spend much time at Temple Square. When we stopped at the Sconecutter on the way home, Paige was as happy as could be. She loves fries and shakes. Her nap in the car gave her the terrible strength necessary to terrorize us until 11 p.m. We're never going to Temple Square again!

The one hightlight of the trip was that we got to see this Chinese Nativity Scene behind the Church Office Building:

MySpace Withdrawal

I think my hands have started to shake a bit. I always thought I could give up my MySpace addiction, but to give it up cold turkey thanks to the company firewall, now that’s a bit rough. How I am supposed to know what crappy locals bands are playing crappy battle of the bands without us? I feel disconnected from the world – lost, lost, lost without it. Curse this cubicle life!

*For those of you who still have access to MySpace, I've posted a new Johnny Tightlips song "Sleep Deprived" on our site - www.myspace.com/tightlips. Enjoy it without me.

Dad vs. Lint

Last night, I went to a Jazz game with Traci's dad. I knew I wouldn't see Paige again before she went to bed so I tried to get her to give me a kiss before I left. I got her attention and she crawled across the room toward me. She was just about a foot away from me when something distracted her attention. She found a piece of lint a the floor and forgot all about me. How could I possibly compete with something as fun as a piece of lint? Needless to say, I didn't get my kiss.

Longest Week Ever...

One of my favorite moments from MTV’s reality soap, The Hills, was when Heidi, the spoiled, ditzy friend gets a full-time job, which she’s so sad about. Right before they cut to commercial the camera zooms in over her shoulder to her computer. It shows her Outlook email calendar and everyday she’s filled in 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. with just one word, “work.” Poor Heidi. I looked at my Outlook Calendar this morning and thought the exact same thing.

Grunge Lives On

After watching “Live! Tonight! Sold Out!” I got grunge fever again. I went out and rented the 1996 documentary “Hype!” about the Seattle music scene turning into a corporate marketing commodity. While it gives some insight on Seattle life before grunge broke, the story was mostly about, and told by, bands that never really took off. Fortunately, there was some commentary by bigger names like Kim Thayil of Soundgarden, Eddie Vedder, Mudhoney and the Sub Pop twins. It was interesting enough for big fans of the genre, but not a must-see for casual Nirvana or Pearl Jam fans.

The next grunge video I am going to re-watch is “The Year Punk Broke” if I can get my hands on it. Through all of this grunge nostalgia I keep asking myself, “When are we going to see an Alice in Chains documentary?" I’d even settle for a VH1 Behind the Music.