Four-Eyed Alien Finger Puppet
Mini Iron Man
CLaP's 88 in 888...and more! |
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With a score of 2-1, the Luchadore defeated Taz to move on to the second round. For this next match up, we have the third finger puppet of the competition vs our first superhero. In the first corner, hailing from Roswell, NM (though I found him in Albuquerque), the four-eyed alien finger puppet. Four-Eyed Alien Finger Puppet And in the opposite corner, hailing from the pages of Marvel Comics. This is what would happen if Tony Stark and Wayne Szalinski were to collaborate. He is Mini Iron Man! Mini Iron Man Please submit your votes via the comments section below.
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13. Take a random picture once a week for a year and make a photobook at the end (9/52)
Since I was in Denver on a Thursday through Sunday, I have decided to post a picture from Saturday for week 8 and a picture from Sunday for week 9. 58. Buy an item of food once a month for a year that I've never bought at the grocery store and use it (2/12) After going to Talin Market in Albuquerque for just the second time, I'm realizing every time I go there I become inspired to make something new. I think Talin will be my source of discovery for new cooking ideas. On this last trip to Talin, I picked up some more of the curry paste I used in last month's new food, but I found another item of food I wanted to make. Lee Brand Tom Yum paste is what I found. Now I've had Tom Yum before in restaurants, but this would be my first time making it. This Thai version of Tom Yum is a soup that incorporates hot and sour flavors and is traditionally made with seafood and mushrooms. Now, I wasn't planning on trying to make Tom Yum exactly how I've had it in restaurants, so I picked and chose what to put in it. I first decided that I would like mine to be noodle and shrimp based. I picked out some noodles I already had and purchased a bag of frozen shrimp at the store. I started by boiling the noodles as I normally would. When the noodles were ready, I added the appropriate amount of Tom Yum paste per the amount of water I had in the pot. Once the paste had a moment to mix into the water, I added all of my veggies, which included:
I also added a few seasonings, then let the soup simmer for a while. I was quite impressed with how spicy this turned out. I knew the Tom Yum paste would be spicy, but of course I added the chili pepper as well. I'm certainly glad I did. The batch I made, which included about seven cups of water provided four total meals (dinner for my roommate and me, then dinner and lunch for me the next couple of days). This was a very simple meal to make and I only used a portion of the Tom Yum paste in the jar. I look forward to using it again with different variations of content.
I forgot to take a picture of the soup when I finished cooking it, but below is a picture of some of the leftovers. 13. Take a random picture once a week for a year and make a photobook at the end (7/52) The moon was really clear so I decided to take a picture of it.
In the last two weeks I have hosted two movie nights. The thing about movie nights is that there’s a limit on guests due to capacity of the viewing area. I wish I could invite everyone I know to each movie night, but there just isn’t room. Plus most of the movies I show don’t appeal to everyone. So I do my best to just invite a few people at a time, then keep inviting until the capacity is full. I’m starting to learn that the capacity can reach somewhere around 10-12 comfortable (maybe a few more uncomfortably). Between the two previous movie nights, there were 8 (including me) at the first one and 9 at the second. There were only four people who were at both, so we included 13 total people between the two movie nights! Thanks to all those who participated. I usually try to bring something unusual, but every once in a while a great idea emerges that isn't so unusual. This one must be credited to tgools. It was suggested that we do a Godfather dinner and movie night. I love having themes and this was an easy “Yes!” for me. Plus, this would satisfy two of my 88 in 888 goals by hosting a movie night and watching an AFI 100 film. We decided to have guests dress in Godfather-themed attire, have a nice Italian dinner with lasagna, salad, bread and wine, then cannolis for desert We followed up dinner with The Godfather. For the few of you who don’t know, The Godfather (1972) is a drama chronicling ten years of the Corleone mob family. It is one of the most critically acclaimed films of all time, having won three Oscars (including Best Picture), five Golden Globes, a Grammy and numerous other accolades. The Godfather is directed by Francis Ford Coppola (Patton, Apocalypse Now) and stars Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Robert Duvall and Diane Keaton. At just under three hours, it is a fairly long movie, but I found myself enjoying every minute of it. I couldn’t remember if I had seen this film in the past, but I realized throughout the film that I was well aware of many aspects of it. I guess that’s what happens with such an iconic film. The Godfather dinner and a movie night was planned over the course of a couple weeks. The second movie night was decided on three days in advance. Not everyone who wanted to come could on short notice, but a nine person turnout is quite respectable. I chose a film that I had shown at a movie night back in 2009, but every person in attendance for this second viewing had not seen it yet. The film was Repo! The Genetic Opera (not the rip-off Repo Men that was released last year), a rock-opera that takes place in the near future where an epidemic of organ failures leads to a company (GeneCo) leasing out organs. The catch is that if you don’t make your payments on time, GeneCo sends the repo man to repossess the organs. Repo! actually started out as a stage show in the late 90's, but was picked up by Lionsgate in 2007 to be made into a feature-lenght film. Repo! is probably about 90% singing and the soundtrack is mainly a mix of opera and indurstrial rock. The film was released in 2008 and stars Alexa Vega (Spy Kids), Anthony Head (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Paul Sorvino (Goodfellas), Bill Moseley (Devil's Rejects), opera singer Sarah Brightman and a surprisingly watchable Paris Hilton. It is a truly unique film that should be tried out at least once. Repo! has also become a cult favorite that has inspired theater viewings with shadowcasts throughout the country (much like Rocky Horror Picture Show). Of course, if you don't like actors singing in films, or lots of blood, then this one probably isn't for you. 18. Get an object to take with me on travel to take pictures of With a vote of 4-1, Match Up 4's winner is Arnold from Hey Arnold! I'm just going to jump right into the next one. The first competitor should be familiar to all. He is the crazed and lovable Taz. Taz His opponent, from Mexico, weighing in at a few ounces. He is the Luchadore! Luchadore Please comment to leave your votes.
36. Watch 10 non-English language foreign films that I haven't seen (8/10) There are so many foreign films out there. Chances are someone you know can suggest one you've never seen. That happened to me a couple weeks ago. I was at my local video store, Burning Paradise, with a couple of friends. I picked out a movie that I had wanted to see, Micmacs. It's a french movie by Jean-Pierre Jeunet, the man behind Delicatessen and Amelie. One of my friends asked if I had seen another one of his films, The City of Lost Children. I hadn't. It turns out she owned it, so the following week she let me borrow it. I ended up watching two french films by Jean-Pierre Jeunet, made 14 years apart, in a week. It was great! Micmacs (2009) starts out with a young boy, Bazil, finding out his father was killed by a land mine while at war. The young boy receives a small box of his father's belongings, and inside is a piece of the mine that was removed from his father. He sees the manufacturer's logo on the mine. Fast-forward to 30 years later, Bazil is working in a video store. Late one night he hears gunfire outside. He goes to the door to take a look and is hit in the head by a stray bullet. Bazil survives, but is stuck with a bullet in his head. Since he was in the hospital for a long time, Bazil loses his job and apartment. While living on the streets, Bazil is taken in by a group of quirky scavengers who live in a dump. The group includes a contortionist, a human cannonball and a master of numbers. While out scavenging one day, Bazil comes across two companies that are across the street from each other. It turns out one is the manufacturer of the land mine that killed his father, the other the manufacturer of the bullets that hit Bazil. He decides to exact revenge on them by pitting the two weapons dealers against each other. With the help of his friends, he is able to sabotage both companies while leading each CEO to believe they are fighting each other. There are many clever pranks that Bazil and his crew pull, and it makes for a fun time to watch. Of course things do get complicated, but you'll just have to watch the movie to find out more. The City of Lost Children (1995) is a dystopian fantasy film about a mad scientist, Krank, who kidnaps children in order to steal their dreams. He believes this keeps him young. Krank is aided by a short woman and a set of clones of a former colleague. One day they kidnap the younger brother of carnival strongman One (Ron Perlman). While looking for his brother, One comes into contact with a group of orphaned thieves. One of them in particular, a young girl named Miette, runs away from the group to help One. While working together, One and Miette form a strong bond. They appear to love each other as brother and sister, but it also seems as if Miette loves One in a romantic way. Anyway, they go on an adventure to save One's brother and the other kidnapped children. It is an interesting movie with a clever depiction of a fantastical city. There are several creative "gadgets" that appear throughout the film that prove how imaginative this film really is. It's obvious that the same person is behind both this and Micmacs. If you've seen either Amelie or Delicatessen, then these two films are right up your ally. The City of Lost Children is definitely the darker of the two, but they have a similar style. Jeunet also directed Alien: Resurrection as his only Hollywood film, but I wouldn't judge him on that. On IMDB, I rated both Micmacs and The City of Lost Children a 7 out of 10. Also, go see Amelie if you haven't yet. That's a personal favorite of mine. 36. Watch 10 non-English language foreign films that I haven't seen (7/10) If you are looking for an intelligent story with unexpected plot twists, you have come to the wrong place. If you want to be entertained for 90 minutes with fast-paced zombie-killing action where cops and gangsters are forced to unite against a legion of the undead...Bienvenue! La Horde is a french zombie movie written and directed by a bunch of newcomers. The story, which doesn't account for much, is about a group of cops who decide to take revenge on a group of gangsters who murdered their comrade. The cops storm a nearly deserted high-rise where the gangsters are hiding out. For a few minutes there is a battle between them, with members of each side getting shot. Then out of nowhere without warning they are fighting off the undead. A small group of them escape to the roof, where the cops and gangsters reluctantly decide to work together to escape the building. The remaining 75 minutes or so follows the survivors struggling to work together while trying to survive. There is no backstory or explanation given regarding the zombies. The entire film save for a funeral at the beginning takes place over the course of one night. The film certainly packs in a lot of action into that one night however. You pretty much just have to sit back and enjoy the ride. There's no reason to have to think at all through the film. There is some great buildup to the end of the film, where the few survivors that are left face increasingly large hordes of zombies. Multiple characters try to be heroes by sacrificing themselves for the benefit of the rest of the group. I'm usually not a fan of this storytelling strategy, but one scene in particular was truly fun to watch. Suspending disbelief briefly, you get to watch one character charge into hundreds of attacking zombies and manage to fight them off for several moments before finally being overcome. It reminded me of Woody Harrelson at the end of Zombieland when he traps himself in a carnival game booth and just unloads on the surrounding zombies. The outcome here is different however. The ending was a bit disappointing, but overall it was 90 minutes of fun. I would definitely recommend it if you are a fan of zombie films, especially ones with action. There's lots of blood and various weapons and methods used to dispense that blood. If anything, at least watch this film for the lead character's awesome mustache. I rated La Horde 7 out of 10 stars on IMDB. 13. Take a random picture once a week for a year and make a photobook at the end (4/52) Taken on the drive back to Albuquerque from Durango. This was taken just northwest of the Sandia Mountains. What I most like about this is the clarity of the signs considering I took it from a moving car.
39. Host a movie night at my place at least ten times (2/10) Last Friday night I was looking for something to do and ended up inviting a couple people over for an impromptu movie night. Upon arrival, the guests did not really know what we'd be watching. I had my top choice ready, but presented a few options to them. We ended up going with my top choice...Grindhouse. Back in 2007, an awesome idea became a reality. Two directors, Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino, decided to work on a collaboration. These two men decided to try to bring back the grindhouse movie-going experience that was popular in the 1970's. A grindhouse was a theater that mainly showed exploitation films. Exploitation films were non-mainstream movies that often depicted offensive material (to the common movie-goer) and were usually of low budget quality. Examples of themes used in exploitation films include bikers/cars, blaxploitation, cannibals, nazis, women in prisons, eco-terrorism, sexploitation, slashers and spaghetti westerns. It was in honor of this experience that Rodriguez and Tarantino created Grindhouse. The two directors each worked on their own film, and put them together as a double-feature. This was common in grindhouse theaters. To add to the authenticity, both films are displayed in a grainy, low budget format. There are even moments in each film where the physical film seems to be damaged or is missing some reel. The directors clearly had fun with this. In addition, there is some filler in between each movie, as if there was an actual intermission. One of my favorite things about Grindhouse is the fact that they included fake movie trailers before and in between the movies. You get the entire grindhouse experience in watching this film. There were a total of four fake trailers. Robert Rodriguez created the first of the fake trailers. This one is for the movie Machete, which you may note was recently released. After Rodriguez created the trailer for a non-existant movie featuring Danny Trejo as a Federali turned assassin, there was a large reaction of fans who wanted to see this movie get made. After a few years, this became a reality. I purchased a movie poster when it was a fake movie, and I was pleased to see it in the theater on opening weekend. The second trailer is for Werewolf Women of the SS, a fake nazi werewolf movie created by Rob Zombie (House of 1000 Corpses, Devil's Rejects, Halloween). It is a wonderful trailer, with Zombie regulars like Bill Moseley and Sheri Moon Zombie. It also features German actor Udo Kier and Nicholas Cage as Fu Manchu! The trailer eventually inspired Zombie to write a song for his most recent album with the same title. The third trailer is a treat from British director Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, Scott Pilgrim vs the World). The trailer starts off with a Will Arnett-voiced narrator saying, "If you are thinking of going into this house...Don't!" The trailer continues with the narrator telling the audience "Don't!" to a series of other actions (i.e. opening the door, seeing this movie, etc). The style of the trailer is similar to 70's European horror films like Suspiria. The trailer includes appearances by Wright movie regulars Simon Pegg and Nick Frost. It ends with the narrator yelling "Don't!" over and over again, followed by a title screen that simply says "Don't." The final trailer is from director Eli Roth (Cabin Fever, Hostel). The film is entitled Thanksgiving, and it is in the style of holiday slasher films (i.e. Halloween, April Fool's Day, Black Christmas, etc.). It is pretty much what you'd imagine. A killer goes around in a pilgrim outfit slashing teenagers and serving a cooked, stuffed person at a Thanksgiving dinner. Delicious! Finally we get to the actual films in Grindhouse. The first is Rodriguez's Planet Terror, an eco-horror movie. A chemical weapon stored at an abandoned army base in Texas gets into the air and infects the local population. The rogue military bad guys who want the weapon are led by Lt. Muldoon (Bruce Willis). In town, a few people who are immune to the chemical, including El Ray (Freddy Rodriguez) and Cherry Darling (Rose McGowan) try to lead everyone to safety. Along the way Cherry loses a leg and El Ray replaces it with an automatic weapon. The end includes a battle between the military baddies and the uninfected, complete with explosions and a gun-legged Cherry flying through the air launching rockets from her leg. The cast also includes Josh Brolin (No Country for Old Men, True Grit), Michael Biehn (Terminator, Aliens), Fergie, Quentin Tarantino, and Naveen Andrews and Jeff Fahey (Sayiid and Lapidus in Lost). Planet Terror is a fun horror movie that definitely does not take itself seriously. The gore is extremely excessive and fun to watch. Tarantino's film is Death Proof, a movie which combines the grindhouse themes of cars and slashers. The car theme is based on the carsploitation films of the 70's, such as Vanishing Point, Death Race 2000 and Cannonball. These films are car-heavy, usually including muscle cars and car chases or races. Death Proof is about a stunt driver aptly named Stuntman Mike (Kurt Russell) who "death-proofs" his car. This means he can crash his car as much as he wants and it won't kill him. He uses his car as a weapon, targeting beautiful women as his victims. The various targets in this film include an unnaturally blonde Rose McGowan, Vanessa Ferlito, Jordan Ladd, Tracie Thomas, Rosario Dawson and Zoe Bell, a real-life stunt woman who plays herself (loosely). Stuntman Mike uses two cars as his weapons in the film, a 1970 Chevy Nova and a 1969 Dodge Charger. Mike successfully kills some of the women, but then the unlikely happens in the latter part of the film. The women he is following at the time, (Thomas, Dawson, Bell) go out into the Tennessee countryside to test drive a car that is for sale. Two of them just so happen to be stuntwomen and into cars. The car they are test driving is a white 1969 Dodge Charger, exactly like the car used in carsploitation inspiration Vanishing Point. Mike chases them for a while, but at one point the tables turn and he becomes the chased. This culminates in a high-speed, several minute long car chase scene to end the film. The movie really builds to this moment, and it is absolutely worth the wait. Keep in mind that being a Tarantino film, much of the film is dialogue-based, but I found it very entertaining. The soundtrack for Death Proof is also spot on and worth a listen separately. In conclusion, if you are going to see either Planet Terror or Death Proof...Don't!. Just kidding. Please be mindful that they don't only exist as stand alone movies anymore, but as the Grindhouse theatrical double-feature they were intended to be. From 2007 til October 2010 the movies were only released separately without the double-feature and fake trailers. Now they can be watched as they should be. The solo films are longer versions than those used in Grindhouse, so I would say watch Grindhouse first and if you want more, watch the extended versions afterwards.
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