Off I Go

I've never really had a retail job before, and boxing day at the movie theatre was always sort of dead because, well, everyone was off shopping. So, it should be interesting to see what kind of apparent terrors i encounter today on my, ugh, nine hour shift. I'm optimistic, if only for the fact that we can't do refunds/exchanges today, which is what always trips me up. Straight sales shouldn't be too hard, should they? Will they? I guess i'll have to find out...

Season's Greetings/I Need A Vacation From My Vacation

I'm tired. Very tired. Not quite exhausted enough to go straight to bed though. Almost there. Quasi there. Nearly pseudo quasi almost there. I think after that sentence i'm there. After 3 straight days of at least 7 hours per day at the somewhat new job, i'm exhausted. People really seem to like them dvds they got out right now. One guy dropped about a grand on some, which completely floored me. Mainly because i was insanely jealous. at least he had good taste. there's about seven there i see every day which i absolutely...must...have. but i always hold myself back. i'm not quite sure why. if i buy one on one day, it's not as bad as buying seven on one day. i guess i just have to pace myself. I just forgot to use cap locks on those sentences there. I'm half-contemplating going back and changing them, but i'm past the point of pseudo-tired no-return and i guess i should just move on.

Going home on the subway christmas eve is a surreal experience. It's like driving in the heart of the city at 3 am, like moving through a very lucid dream of a city emptied. Me and Sharone attempted to see a movie tonight, but despite a newspaper error (i swear it said there was a show @ 10:05!), the theatre was closing up by the time we got there. We got some free passes for our trouble, though. So that was nice. We finished watching the second half of "Battle Royale" that we started roughly two months ago, and then got suckered into channel flipping. We eventually settled on the Nic Cage vehicle from a couple years ago, "The Family Man". Sharone left about an hour and a half in, i got caught in it 'till the end. It was an oddly moving film. I honestly wasn't expecting much, if anything than Cage doing the man-out-of-his-element schtick, but it really hit me. Right around here. Well, not here on the computer screen, but in the heart's general area. Yeah. It's still sticking with me, probably will for the rest of the night, maybe tomorrow. Maybe longer if i really think about everything my mind glanced upon while watching it. Maybe until even the start of the new year. (And during this whole time my msn messenger was apparently doing it's version of a lump of coal in my stockings, turning itself on and off at most random moments, leaving me with a couple of unanswered msgs...oh, msn, why do you frustrate me so?)

And: This is the funniest thing i've seen in a long time. Or at least until that Will Ferrel clip. Prepare to meet...the HEBREW HAMMER!

Presenting Barry's First Annual Fantabulous Top 10s of the Year (and other misc. lists...): 2003

The title's a bit over-hyped. FANTASTICALLY OVERHYPED, i think. But, yeah, i've had this post gestating in my head since mid-october or so, when i wrote a big list down (and now which has mysteriously disappeared), but it's mainly an excuse to talk about everything great this year. Annnd, don't forget to agree/disagree/call me bloody krazy with a "k" in the comments section...*nudge, nudge*

Top 10 Films
- Probably the hardest list for me to put together, and depending on how committed i get to this post, the justifications here are going to need some more work, but here's a brief listing:
1. Big Fish - I had a hard time seperating this Tim Burton masterpiece from the #2 choice, since they are entirely and utterly polar-opposites of each other. In the end, though, "Fish" triumphed as the tall tale of raw human emotion and the strongest characterization i've seen on screen in memory. I can't believe Steve Buscemi has never worked with Burton before, and it seems like every other actor here (from McGregor to Crudup to Finney back to McGregor again) was literally just waiting to be in this film. Brilliant, perfect Burton-ish set design and direction, this probably defines what it means to be a "Tim Burton film", which i guess is now also synonomous with "amazing in every way".
2. Kill Bill Vol. 1 - Wow. Wow squared. My jaw was literally hanging open throughout the entire midnight screening, my first, but not last. Tarantino managed to destroy every notion of what a movie was as he was reinventing them. I don't know if that sentence made any sense at all. I just remember saying "holy fucking living hell" about every other minute. It's like Tarantino took the gonzo-films of Takashi Miike, Roger Corman, Bruce Lee, Sergio Leone, Kinji Fukasaku, and approximately ten thousand other filmmakers i haven't even heard of and put them in a warp-speed blender. Uma Thurman, Lucy Liu, and Michael Madsen (for all of 5 seconds he was in it, he ruled the screen) have never illicited so much excitement. I won't even go into the inherent coolness of Sonny Chiba or how Tarantino seems to have, almost by accident, reinvented the musical as well. I think i'll leave it off with that i am dying to hear everything possible by the 5.6.7.8's.
3. Lost in Translation - Further propelling my obsession with everything Japan. Heart-breaking performances from actual characters rather than actors trying to do justice to the cinematography. Real and dream-like at the same time. Bill Murray continues to be TFM. That new Wes Anderson film "The Life Aquatic" with him as a sea captain can't come soon enough.
4. Finding Nemo - Hehe, i just smile thinking about it. "We're looking for his son Chico."
5. Shattered Glass - This movie scared the living daylights out of me. Being a journalist never looked so intimidating before. Incredibly gripping.
6. 21 Grams - If you didn't know better, the movie looks like the projectionist was drunk and mixed up the reels each and every way possible. Yet the poetic story of lost love/chances/revenge was impossible to turn away from.
7. Whale Rider - I'm not even sure why this is so far down. It should be higher up there. A beautiful, perfect film.
8. Lord of the Rings: Return of the King - Not sure if it redefines "epic", but definitely lives up to the title and those battle scenes were amazingly mucho coolio. I still keep thinking Elrond should have uttered at least one "Helloooo, Mister Aragorrrrrrrn"
9. 28 Days Later - I've never been so scared during a movie, or so says Eric. Apparently, according to very *sketchy* and unfabricated sources (namely, uhm, Eric) i was hyper-ventilating through the whole thing.
10. The Station Agent - Perfectly cast. Amazing writing. And a hot dog vendor that just doesn't seem to go away.

*Honourable Mentions: This Little Life, Spellbound, Bend it Like Beckham, In America, Mystic River, X-Men 2, Matrix Reloaded, Down With Love, Seabiscuit
**Likely/Maybe to Be On the List, But Out of Contention B/c I Haven't Seen Them Yet: Cold Mountain, House of Sand and Fog, American Splendor, Winged Migration, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, School of Rock, The Tripletts of Belleville

Top 10 Performances:
1. Sean Penn - 21 Grams/Mystic River
2. Kate Ashfield - This Little Life
3. Ewan McGregor - Big Fish
4. Scarlett Johansson - Lost in Translation
5. Bill Murray - Lost in Translation
6. Peter Sarsgaard - Shattered Glass
7. Uma Thurman - Kill Bill
8. Nicholas Cage - Matchstick Men
9. Paddy Considine - In America
10. Patricia Clarkson - The Station Agent
10.5. Hugo Weaving - Matrix Reloaded/Revolutions/Lord of the Rings: Return of the King

Top Trailers:
1. Spiderman 2 - Need I say more?
2. Hellboy
3. Big Fish
4. Lord of the Rings: Super Edition
5. Matrix Revolutions
5.5. X2

Top 10 DVDs:
1. The Adventures of Indiana Jones Box Set - I think i *might* have mentioned this little trilogy before...not quite sure..
2. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: Criterion Edition
3. The Works of Director Spike Jonze
4. Tenacious D: The Complete Masterworks
5. Futurama: Season 2
6. Versus: Special Edition
7. Family Guy
8. Once Upon a Time in America: Director's Cut
9. Bruce Campbell vs. Army of Darkness: Boomstick Edition
10. Mr. Show: Volume 2

Top 10 Albums:
1. Neil Young & Crazy Horse - Greendale
2. Dashboard Confessional - A Mark, A Mission, A Brand, A Scar
3. Led Zeppelin - How the West Was Won
4. Dave Matthews Band - Live in Central Park
5. Rage Against the Machine - Live @ the Grand Olympic Auditorium
6. Radiohead - Hail to the Thief
7. The White Stripes - Elephant
8. Story of the Year - Page Avenue
9. The Distillers - Coral Fang
10. John Mayer - Heavier Things

5 Singles That Have Been Stuck in My Head All Year:
(Not ranked because it was just too hard)
- Dashboard Confessional, "Hands Down"
- Johnny Cash, "Hurt"
- Outkast, "Hey Ya"
- Radiohead, "There, There"
- Ozma, "Battlescars"

10 New Favourite Bands:
- Ozma
- Story of the Year
- The Distillers
- Thursday
- Taking Back Sunday
- Sleater-Kinnery
- The Juliana Theory
- Billy Talent
- Yellowcard
- Brand New

Top Concert Experiences:
This was as tough, actually if not more so, than the movie one, so it's really really incredibly rough. I shouldn't even put numbers in...it's more of a guideline to some amazing times this year:
- Neil Young & Crazy Horse peforming "Greendale" and other hits @ the ACC
- Simon & Garfunkel on their "Old Friends" tour
- Dylan & the Dead @ Darien Lake
- Everclear @ the Warehouse (it'll never really be the "kool hause" for me)
- Ben Folds (w/Tori Amos, even though it was tehcnically the other way around) @ Ampitheatre
- Dave Matthews Band @ Ampitheatre
- John Mayer @ the ACC
- Radiohead @ the ACC

Top 10 TV Shows:
1. Six Feet Under
2. Carnivale
3. Alias
4. 24
5. Oz
6. Sopranos
7. Curb Your Enthusiasm
8. Futurama
9. Clone High/Undergrads
10. South Park

Top Books:
Uhm, I didn't do nearly enough reading that i should have done...there's always next year..
- The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay: Michael Chabon
- The Bell Jar: Slyvia Plath
- Invisible Monsters: Chuck Palahniuk
- White Noise: Don DeLillo
- Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: Al Franken

now...if we're talking about books waiting to be read and just collecting dust on my bookshelf...

Great Googaley Moogaley

Everyone must stop what they are doing and please check this little thing right here out. It is, without doubt, one of the greatest clips of film i've ever seen. Uhm, okay, so i'm probably over-hyping it a wee bit. But it made me type out that strange title, and it's really amazing, though i wish they put it up in quicktime instead of this unstellar yahoo stream thingy. It needs to be shown in full screen, i tells ya.

In a completely different realm of the galaxy (i'm still stuck in comic-book fan mode), i'm reading over the long-lost screenplay me and Mark wrote forever ago. I still cannot exactly tell what we were thinking. The title of it is "Two Schmoes Making A Movie - The Sequel to Charlie's Angels". (And if he tells anyone that he wrote all the funny jokes, he's lying...)

I Survived...Wait, there's work again tomorrow? Blast.

I'm tired. Too tired to express coherently. Hey, i used the word coherently. I was surprised i could do that. My mind is far from done. It's undone. Like the sweater song. I heard that on the way home, it was the highlight of my evening. No, wait, that wasn't the sweater song, i think it was el scorcho. i'm listening to a new, hypnotic track from the red hot chili peppers, it's pretty good. i'm tired. this post is going to make no sense. i'm going to be questioning exactly what i was thinking when i read it tomorrow and realize a big "huh"? but, i survived today, i'm still not quite sure how, but here i am. and i finally quit tonight. it was sort of anticlimatic, handing my manager (re: jerk/argh/other bad things) my letter just before i left at 12:40 or so. And i managed to get rid of my wednesday shift, which is most cool. But then again, i have to wake up early for a shift tomorrow downtown, and i should get some sleep....ah, sleep...zzzz......

It All Makes Sense In The End

Driving down through the winding and normally congested streets of downtown Toronto is an interesting expereience at close to 2 in the morning. It feels like driving through a post-apocalyptic city, shadowed in darkness and the few lonely souls wandering the city streets, each with their own stories, some interesting, some not so much. Thinking about the genius of Tim Burton and the way things work out in the end, despite and because of the tall tales told in between. Some films are just brilliant, some go places you didn't know existed inside of you, inside of everything. I never love movies more than in those moments. I don't want them to end, and when they do i don't know what to do. I can't talk immediately, my head swirls with much emotion and much ideas and eveything. I wanted to talk about so much more, but my mind is not cooperating...there were a whole bunch of things i was thinking about on that drive home..and now i'm in my very silent house (save for the newly rediscovered paul simon cd i'm listening to), and my mind is going every which direction...and i want to read and think and hear and see some stories of big fish from small ponds and dream some more.

I'm Scatterbrained

- I think exams have been messing with my head..i just got a call from a dave i know, but mistaked him for another dave, and actually called him the other dave and wondered why he was in town..but then realized my stupid mistake..
- I also just left a CD on pause for about 5 hours...

It Could've Gone On A Couple More Hours Easily

Simon & Garfunkel (i think i spelled it right this time) was a most excellent good time had by all experience. I wish it didn't end. It still feels like it didn't. I want to hear all the songs again. Right now. I wouldn't mind some "Graceland" too. That would be really nice.

I hate this query letter. I don't want to be taken out of the concert moment. But i'm slowly forcing myself to finish it, which requires some pushing the concert expereince to the back of my mind for the moment. Which i really don't want to do. And then there's that whole "Exam" black cloud hovering over everything. But the concert memory remains a silver ray of hope. This weekend was really fun. I wish i could have it again.