Wednesday, July 30, 2008

SOS

I'll have more to say about it later, but I saw Mamma Mia, it was partly-to-mostly awful, and I can't wait to talk all about why. A few key points:

1) Watching people act as though they are having fun is not the same thing as having fun. (I have a similar opinion, this one more controversial, about The Blair Witch, as regards things that are frightening.) Watching people screech like 9-year-olds and stomp around like giant city-wrecking monsters on Ecstasy is not the same as being a witness to ecstasy.

2) Salon.com's Stephanie Zacharek is spot on: James Bond can't exactly sing, but as an actor he GOES FOR IT, and god bless 'im for it.

3) Speaking of effective expressions from the UK, to review this movie in five words or less I found I had to go beyond American English and use British English, which in general is far better for the occasional verbal sniper-shot. It's not that the film was poorly made (which it was), or that it was not fun (which it wasn't, really, and certainly not as much as it thought it was). It's that, all in all, this movie is just utterly pants.

From http://www.peevish.co.uk/slang/p.htm:

Pants(!) Noun/Adj. Nonsense, rubbish, bad. From the standard British English of pants, meaning underwear; also a variation on 'knickers'. E.g."The first half was pants but I stayed until the end and it was actually a great film." [1990s]
Exclam. An exclamation of annoyance or frustration. From the noun, (above).

Friday, July 25, 2008

Blogopenia

CC: "My blog sucks because I never update it."

HPI: 38yo WM with 3+yr hx of intermittent blog activity, ranging from thoughtful to snarky to extreme cheese-sandwichy. Last post about one month ago.

FHx: non-contributory.

SHx: ETOH 3-5/ wk, no cigarettes, no recreational drugs. Positive for PS2 with recent additions of Nintendo Wii (~2mos) and XBox 360 (~1wk). Works as scut-monkey scum, currently with urban Peds clinic, between 40-60h/wk.

PE: Lethargic subject in mildly poor physical condition, but in no acute distress. Personal hygiene WNL, but positive 1990s signs to some clothing. Cell phone, shoes, messenger bag, and PDA adequately cool.

A: Mild to moderate blog-malnourishment, secondary to lack of free time. Reduced motivation is a parallel problem worth noting.

P: Watchful waiting. Recommend shorter, more frequent posts. Hold off on initiation of Twitter or similar modalities until the situation is more critical. Short-range goal should be one post per week. Re-assess in six to eight weeks.