more hoi
Moonoo is down, so I'm linking Steve from Hog on Ice tonight. Steve has alot of haters out there, but for some reason I enjoy it when he offends me. He's good at it. There may be some form of masochism in there. Also because I made the brownies from his cookbook today on a whim, and after much trouble finding the recipie correction and the time to do it, they are f'n fantastic. My girlfriend was actually moaning while she ate them, something I hear precious little of.
He has a post about exercise, which I should do some time, but I wanted to share this
completely unrelated bit about bicycle laws:
It’s funny. I can get a ticket for not wearing a bike helmet, but I can get on my motorcycle in a bathing suit and bare feet and no helmet and ride to the courthouse to pay the fine.
Also, I didn't know Johnny Depp was a Hunter Thompson fan, but there's a
good piece at Huffington's Toast about the funeral, cannon, etc.
Speaking of Johnny Depp, I think he must have signed something somewhere that says he is entitled to be in every Tim Burton film from now to forever. Him and that Helena whatserface. Which is cool by me; I've never seen a Burton film I didn't like. A lot, in fact, the first Batman and Nightmare Before Christmas are two of my all time favorite films, and everything else he's done is at least very good, if not great.
The girlfriend and I saw Willy Wonka recently; it was playing at our local Imax. The Imax is neat to see big films at, rather than documentaries, except it is too long to be sitting at that angle, and watching conversations on screen like you're at a tennis match can get to be a bit trying.
The movie, though, was great. I don't want to say that it was better than the original; it wasn't. But as an updated spin on the story, it was very good.
I had expected more creepy scenes (This is Tim Burton we're talking about), but if anything the movie was less creepy than the original. The Oompaloompas were...something like "Menacing" but not that, in the original. Creeping. In this one, they're just goofy. It isn't dark at all. I don't know if he deliberatly avoided being dark or what, but I think that it led to a few missed opportunities. Most notably, the scene where they're in the boat, a great and freaky scene in the original, is almost bypassed completely in this one.
Depp does a really good job playing a slightly differant Wonka. They mostly use that understated, converstional type of humor that I love, like Kevin Smith's movies or the Snatch and Lock, Stock etc. movies, and he's great with it.
The resemblance to the original Wonka kids is amazing. If anything, I like the ones in this one more than the originals; their parts are written and played to better effect.
Really, there wasn't alot of Burton. With one exception I can think of, the classic Burton patterns were nonexistant. The film was mostly very bright, and ended on a very positive, cheery note.
Anyway, I recommend it, and if you've avoided seeing it out of fear of what they've done to the original, don't. They're both good, and one dosen't detract from the other.
I can't wait for
Corpse Bride.
