Movie Madness .3

This one's a doozy. Whew, here we go:


Ip Man 2 (2010)

Sequel to the amazing Ip Man, which I've lightly discussed in a previous post. The second film picks up right where the first film ends, with Ip Man fleeing his Japanese-occupied hometown for Hong Kong and opening up his own Wing Chun studio. However, he meets stiff resistance by already established martial arts studios and masters, and eventually realizes the hostility is the result of British Colonial rule in the city. Long story short: the Brits are trying to promote how their boxing is superior, Ip Man decides to show them who's boss.

Like in the first movie, this one has that theme of foreign presence threatening the Chinese way of life. In this case, the foreigners are a bit more unfamiliar with Asian cultures in general, and their unwillingness of understanding said culture causes a rift among the people.

Anyways, Ip Man is still pretty bad ass. However, I simply enjoyed the first movie more, maybe because  an invasion and brutal overtaking is much more severe than a foreign presence coexisting.

Also, a little Bruce Lee makes a cameo at the end of Ip Man 2! It was great.


No Strings Attached (2011)

I thought the synopsis for this movie seemed...well, trashy and simplistic, when I first saw the trailer. Nat Portman is this emotionally detached gal and Ashton Kutcher's the funny, charming guy and they try to just be fuck-buddies until one of them starts wanting something more. The point is, this movie is completely predictable (obviously. It's an American rom-com.)

Yet despite it's somewhat vapid plot, the movie overall is just so darn...cute. They're like-able. Funny, at times. Maybe the actors do a decent job of making the characters human as opposed to just characters on a screen in a story. Maybe I'm just a sucker for Nat Portman. I guess the way one of my cousin's puts it: it's so bad, that it's so good. Fair enough.

And then another movie was just recently released: Friends with Benefits, I believe? As far as I can tell, these two movies are exactly the same, just with different actors. But what I find somewhat interesting is that FWB stars Mila Kunis. She and Nat Portman were in Black Swan. And then they each go an star in a film that has the exact same synopsis. What? Weirdly coincidental.


Chocolate (2008)

I've been in a kung-fu/martial arts movie phase, it seems. Chocolate is a Thai action movie about an autistic girl who has an uncanny ability of learning martial arts just by watching it being performed either on tv or in person. Her mother is sick and needs medicine, but the girl's friend discovers some people owe the mother some money back when she worked with gangs and shit. So friend and girl set off to get the money back. How? With plenty of good ol' ass whupin, of course.

The director of this movie also did the Ong Bak movies. So the focus is on Muay Thai, Thai Kick-Boxing, which is pretty bad ass if you ask me. Lots of elbowing and kneeing. And then all the actors do their own stunts in these movies. And there are no wires or strings - it's all actor-controlled and combat-acting. And people actually get hurt in these movies, man. During the end credits of Chocolate, it showed some behind the scenes looks during filming, and these people are hurting themselves, falling, hitting each other...! Geez. It's intense.

It's an exciting film. Makes me kinda want to learn Muay Thai, heh.


Dead Snow (2009)

Norwegian zombie film, and boy, is this the most unorthodox zombie movie I've ever seen. You know how typically, zombies are either slow-shufflin' or fast-sprintin', decaying, undead people who only want to eat you? And they're usually devoid of any kind of conscious, or a form of communication among one another? Well in this movie, a group of friends are spending their Easter vacation in an isolated cabin up in the mountains for some fun and skiing and whatnot, but their trip is ruined when they're attacked not just by zombies, but Nazi-zombies, rumored to have been buried in the snow from WWII. But the thing is, these Nazi zombies still function like an army, and obey the orders of one Colonel Nazi zombie, and it's just...it's just mind boggling, because these zombies are communicating with each other! Coordinated attacks! What!

Otherwise, it's your typical zombie film with plenty of blood 'n guts to keep you happy. If you're into that sorta thing, you know.



The Hard Times of RJ Berger

This is a television series that airs on MTV, and surprisingly, it is not another reality show or let's-follow-some-celeb/pregnant chick-around-and-see-what-his/her-personal-life-is-about. It's an actual television series with a story, characters, and everything. I know, crazy, right?

RJ Berger is a loser at his high school. He has a best friend, Miles, and another good friend, Lily, who's kinda in love with him ever since they were little kids. But RJ is head over heels for Jenny Swanson, school hottie, but currently dating a complete douchebag jock who constantly makes life for RJ a living hell. And while Miles is a complete horndog itching to hump any decent looking girl who'd give him a chance, RJ is...nice. He's a nice guy, and he tries to do the right thing when it comes to his friendships, his parents, Jenny, and school.

Otherwise, much of the plot for the seasons and episodes are fairly predictable, your typical omg-high-school-sucks-I-just-want-to-be-popular world. And as much as RJ wants the girl of his dreams, he's just different from other guys and is just...nice.

There are two seasons for RJ Berger, with a third one supposedly in the makes. I've really enjoyed what I've watched so far. Maybe it's because I can relate to this character in a lot of aspects.

Oh yeah, Weezer makes a guest appearance in one of the episodes in season 2. Awesome!


Sherlock 

I'd heard about this BBC mini-television series somewhere, which sparked my interest in watching it. It's basically a modern, present-day take on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories. The first season is only 3 episodes long and each episode is 90 minutes, but boy, this series is good. The actor who plays Sherlock is just brilliant. The character is crass, a bit hostile, rather emotionally detached, but pure genius, witty, and wildly resourceful. And Watson is an veteran army doctor, obviously older than Sherlock. Ah, another thing: this Sherlock is really young-looking. The contrast between Sherlock and Watson is somewhat displacing, but it works so well.

The episodes themselves are great too. The mysteries are clever, with ample amounts of suspense and danger. And watching Sherlock fire away with his infamous deductive reasoning skills is pretty amazing.

To say the least, I cannot wait for the second season to air. So good.




Captain America: The First Avenger

I really like super hero movies. I think if I had to redo my younger childhood years, I'd be a complete comic book geek. Or is it nerd? I keep forgetting the difference. Anyways, Captain America never struck me as one of the cooler super heroes. I mean, the dude can fight, his weapon is a...shield...yeah, and his costume just screams "AMERICA, FUCK YEAH." I never really knew the story of the Captain prior to watching this movie.

But whoa, this is pretty great. I think the strongest point of this movie is the emphasis of how Steve Rodgers/Captain America is good, not just because he fights for justice, but because he understands the importance of not giving up and giving in to an evil purpose. Can't really describe it, but it's just somehow rather motivating in some aspect.

And I'm pretty excited because this movie is the beginning of a segue way into the The Avengers film!...which is expected to be released sometime in 2012. Iron Man, Captain America, Hulk, Thor...man. All these super hero characters and villains in one movie? It's gonna be awesome.



And lastly, I've started watching the television series Modern Family. This show is hilarious! I don't think I've laughed this hard watching a new series for myself since I began watching Scrubs for the first time. The title explains it all, and follows the lives of this family. Claire and Mitchell are the children of Jay, who you'd call the patriarch, of sorts. Claire is married to Phil, and they have three children, Haley, Alex (girl), and Luke. Mitchell is life partners with Cameron, and they have an adopted Asian baby, Lily. Meanwhile, Phil is remarried to Gloria, a smokin' hot Colombian woman nearly the same age as Claire with son Manny, who's almost the same age as Luke.

Yeah...it's all rather confusing at first. But all these unconventional family-ties already set up the characters for rather humorous debacles and conflicts. The style of story telling reminds of me of The Office, where at points in the episode, the story will break to have the characters talking to someone, most likely a questioner, in an interview style about things relevant to the current episode plot. And then even during the episode, characters will occasionally break the fourth wall and glance at the camera, as if there's a film crew just following all these family members around. It's rather interesting and makes me wonder why I don't watch The Office more often.

I think what's nice about this series though is that even though this family is dysfunctional as it gets, they're still a family and love each other hugs and kisses awwww. But it's great. Check it out.

Also, the actress who plays Haley - she TOTALLY looks like a little Mila Kunis. It's crazy.



"The thing about being a good dad, well: sometimes things work out just the way you want it. Sometimes they don't, and you gotta hang in there. Because when all is said and done, 90% of being dad is just showing up." ~Modern Family

Shit that happens at work

Not in a bad way, just things I find interesting/amusing/worth my brain power to think about.

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Yesterday as I was wheeling out an elderly patient, her husband asks me, "You want me to bring my car around, boy?"

...boy?

I told him yes, do bring your car to the front of the building, but I kept thinking about that. "Boy."Call me single-minded and how I jump to conclusions, but all I can associate with that use of "boy" is slavery in America and/or racial segregation and discrimination. Now, I'm certain this elderly gentleman had no ill-intentions towards me by saying that. It very well could've been the way he was brought up, and the people he's friends with, and how they all converse that way. Still, I couldn't help but pause and think, considering how I am a minority myself. It's just, why "boy?" It almost makes me feel inferior, in some aspect. Almost condescending. Why not "young man?" Or just drop the title/name to being with? Who knows. Like I said, I'm sure it's not like the man just hates minorities. Right?

Fortunately today, I was wheeling out a different patient and her husband addressed me as young man. Much better, k'thanks.

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There are two main restrooms in the building: one on the first floor, one on the second floor. Since most patient traffic happens on the first floor, I usually go upstairs if I need to do some business since it's quieter and less busy. However, both restrooms have two stalls, and BOTH of these sets of stalls has at least one stall-lock that is broken/missing. Pretty inconvenient.

After lunch today, went to the second floor men's restrooms, reached my hand to pull open the stall -- and it was locked. Mind you, there was no one in that stall, or even in the restroom. This stall, the only stall in this restroom with a functioning lock, was somehow locked from the inside-out (or is it outside-in?).

How the dump could this happen? I kept having recurring images of a child, wanting to pull a devious prank, slid the lock while he was in the stall, then shimmied out underneath the stall walls, and exited the restroom, cackling like a little imp he would be.

...ok, maybe I only had that image because that's what I would've done.

Or perhaps someone closed the stall door behind him and the impact of the door closing jostled the lock shut. I could've stood there and brainstormed theories on how and why this could've happened, but truth of the matter was, I needed to poo. And I was not about to get down on my belly and slide under the stall walls. Public restroom floors give me the heebie jeebies (ESPECIALLY pool restrooms. Another rant for another time.) But evidently, I guess I didn't need to poo extremely badly, because while I could've easily just snaked my way on the floor and under the walls, or even more easily gone back downstairs to use the other restroom, I decided I would try to open this door, someway, somehow.

I thought about how you can unlock a sliding chain-lock door form the outside by using a rubberband and some wire (I think. Or is a card? Youtube that shit yourself, whatevs.) So I went back to the employee break room, got my keys which has a small pocketknife on it, a rubber band, and a wire coat hanger. I was determined to unlock that stall.

Went back to the restroom, tried to finagle the rubberband around the knob of the sliding lock and fling it back open. Failure.

Bent the wire coat hanger so I had a wide loop/hook on one end and fished it through the cracks and tried pushing the lock open.

Success! I was pretty freakin' proud of myself. I had just Macgyver'd the shit out of that lock by using a coat hanger.


TL;DR -- Locked out of a bathroom stall, used a wire coat hanger to unlock it from the outside. Success.

...coincidentally enough, this actually DID have to do with shit that happens at work. Sorta.

Someday

I really like it when at work, an elderly patient comes in for an eye exam, and her husband is right there with her through every question asked and test performed. Or vice versa, an elderly gentleman's wife is with him every step of the way. And they're not impatient or grouchy that they have to be there; rather, they understand how important a regular eye checkup can be, especially if it's borderline or beginning stages of glaucoma or cataracts, or even for surgery. Oh, that's better - when I'm wheeling out a patient who just got cataract surgery, and the husband or wife is there to smile and ask how their spouse is doing. It's just so nice to see.

And it gives me hope. For what though, I'm not exactly certain myself.

Mojito Mondays

So today during my morning commute, one radio talk show started talking about National Mojito Day. Even had a mixologist/bartender person come on for a few minutes talking about how a mojito should be made. Mentioned Bacardi, so I'm assuming sponsorship. It made me think. Is it a real semi-observed day for mojitos? Probably not. A clever ploy to hopefully increase Bacardi sales? Most likely.

Delicious? Yyyyyyyup.

I'd never had a mojito before, so I gathered the necessary ingredients and had a go at it. It's pretty tasty. Then again, I don't know what a "good" mojito should taste like. Oh well!

Drink up, bitches.

Netflix sounds like a pretty good idea now

Let me just take a minute or two to revisit Stereo Hearts (ft. Adam Levine), by Gym Class Heroes.  I listened to it again and really paid attention to the lyrics, and I have to say, I like this song even more now. It's using music, and music playback gear (radios, stereos, vinyl records etc) as a metaphor for this person, his heart, and his feelings.

Ok sure, it's a bit cheesy, but it just comes across as quite clever, I feel. I especially like the first verse, where it goes:

Furthermore, I apologize for any skipping tracks
It's just the last girl that played me left a couple cracks
I used to used to - used to - used to -, now I’m over thatCause holding grudges over love is ancient artifacts 


It ties in the "I'm just another record you've found" image with a brief story of the past but still retains the metaphor. And the "used to" repetition, the way it's spoken to sound like a track skipping: awesome.



Watched a couple of movies the other day. The first was Frozen (2010). For some reason I thought this movie and Open Water (2003) were connected, either by writer, or director - something. But I did a little searching and as far as I can tell, they're not related in either way, other than a similar scenario: being left behind.

Open Water was about a couple that goes on a scuba diving trip, only to realize their boat forgot them and left them stranded in shark infested waters. In Frozen, three friends are skiing/snowboarding and try to squeeze in one last run down the mountain as night falls and the resort is closing, but they end up getting forgotten and are stranded on the ski lift while everything else is closed and shut down, and the mountain doesn't open up for another several days.

Anyways. This film is preeeetty silly. Or maybe it was because of the company I had while watching the movie, and thus, we laughed and joked about everything we could. Granted, everything about the story is psychological, the whole what-if scenario.

If I had to recommend this movie, I'd say watch it when you have spare time and seriously have nothing else better to do.

But the for other movie I watched, holy. shit. You need to watch this film.

And it goes by the name of Ip Man (2008). You should know it's a kung fu movie - a kung fu movie that kicks so much ass, it's mind boggling. The story is a semi-biography about Yip Man, a Chinese Martial artist. It depicts his life during the late 1930s - early 40s when he's mastered a relatively unpopular branch of martial arts at the time - Wing Chun.  If that name sounds familiar at all, it's because it's the style some chump named Bruce Lee mastered. I hear he's pretty awesome. But guess who taught him? Yeah that's right: Yip Man. So this should already be a clue about how much kick-ass-ery is going to go down in this film.

To be more specific about the movie's story, the world's on the brink of WWII and Japan's starting to be a great big bully and occupying all the neighboring Asian countries it can. A Japanese general is stationed in Yip Man's city and starts challenging any and all local Chinese martial artists in order to prove the superiority of Japanese martial arts. Yip Man doesn't want to fight, but through a series of unfortunate events, he's obviously forced to fight and restore honor to his city and Chinese martial artists everywhere. Hooray!

To be honest, I first heard about this film after someone (blog, or stumbleupon, whatever) linked to a video clip of a particular fight scene in this movie. It's incredible. It made me want to see it. You should watch this clip too and also be inspired to watch this film.

How do you pronounce 'Palahniuk?'

My mind's turning into slush. Wake up, go to work, come home, veg-out in front of the computer and/or tv. I swear, from hearing some of these patients complain how their vision is going kaput because of all the hours they spend at work in front of a computer monitor, I'd better cut down my own computer time.

So, seeing as I need to stimulate my mind more and I haven't read a book for pleasure in a really long time, I decided I'd try to read a few this summer. As per my sister's recommendation, I recently finished Invisible Monsters by Chuck Palahniuk. He's the author of Fight Club, but like most everyone else who's familiar with the title, I'm even more familiar with the movie. Haven't even touched the book. Yet.

But from reading Invisible Monsters, I can definitely get a sense of this inner monologue, stream of consciousness that Palahniuk also uses in Fight Club. Or at least the film, but the style between this novel I read and that movie is pretty darn similar.

And like Fight Club, Invisible Monsters is chock full of twists. You thought the whole I-am-Tyler-Durden schizophrenia twist was crazy, Invisible Monsters has got some pretty insane surprises. Seriously. These twists would make M. Night Shyamalan blush. I don't want to say anything because I'd just be spoiling the story. And spoiling the story is a dick move. Ya dick.

What I found really interesting about this novel were the themes of beauty, love, self-beauty, self-love, and what it takes to completely reinvent oneself. Central conflicts: self vs other, self vs self. And boy, is self vs self a BIG struggle in this novel. It appears in just about all the characters, or at least the ones who have the most impact on the narrator.

There's a lot of fuck-what-everyone-else-thinks,  fuck-beauty-standards, appearances-aren't-shit-and-are-easily-altered. It's very raw. It feels very Palahniuk, but again, I'm just comparing this to the movie Fight Club. However, I'm quite intrigued by this style; I'll have to check out his other works.

Finally, some of my favorite quotes I've picked out from this novel. I did a bit of paraphrasing.

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The most boring thing in the world is nudity.
The second most boring thing is honesty. 
The third most boring thing is your sorry-assed past. 


Your being born makes your parents God. You owe them your life, and they can control you. Then puberty makes you Satan just because you want something better. 


I thought we were a real love relationship. I did. I was very invested in love, but it was just this long, long sex thing that could end at any moment because, after all, it's just about getting off . . . Almost all the time, you tell yourself you're loving somebody when you're just using them. This only looks like love. 

And last but not least, my favorite line/image/metaphor in this entire book:

Your heart is my piñata. 

See that? UGH, it's so brutal. It's so raw. Unforgiving. Cruel. But brilliant, I feel. It's like those five words sum up some relationships perfectly. Not that I have personal experience, but from observation, just . . . wow. That line alone is enough for me to seek out Palahniuk's other writings.