Well.

Yesterday I tackled some of “24’s” most hackneyed cliches. Today, in a continuation of what I’m calling “24 Week” or “120,” I discuss five of the Worst Moments in 24 History.

This was actually surprisingly difficult; while “24″ often relies upon the same cliches and writer conventions when it inevitably paints itself into a corner (or just can’t figure out a way to fill up the middle of the season) it’s had very few truly cringe-worthy moments, scenes or subplots.

But it has had a few.

(Again, spoilers abound. You have been warned, dammit!)

Five: Bring your daughter to work day has probably never turned out worse than this.

In an unenviable effort to fill up twenty-four god damn hours of programming. the writers usually have to come up with a few inane subplots that have nothing to do with the overall arc of the series. This, then, is one of those times.

Erin Driscoll became the new Head of CTU in Season Four. She fired Jack. She didn’t seem to know what she was doing. She put too much faith in Ronnie Lobell. She was overall pretty annoying.

To complicate matters, she had a schizophrenic daughter named Maya who she ended up bringing into CTU for some dumb reason to babysit. Maya had a few “episodes” at CTU, distracted her mother from her job of, you know, saving the country and then killed herself and, thankfully, this useless subplot.

I mean, I can understand how difficult it might be to find a sitter when you’re saving the world, but come on!

At least that was the end of Driscoll.

It really came down between this and that bizarre Chloe/baby subplot from Season Three…but I like Chloe, and that subplot at least gave us some sitcom-esque situations between her and an increasingly more befuddled Chappelle, so I’ll let it slide.

Four: Ratings are low. We should kill a cast member. Wait! TWO cast members! WAIT! EVERY CAST MEMBER.

One of the things I both love and despise about “24″ is its tendency to unexpectedly do away with main characters seemingly on a whim, usually for shock value, though if we’re lucky, occasionally for “plot development.” While it can be somewhat annoying, I do understand that it serves a purpose beyond contract terminations shock value. “24″ is one of the few shows where I constantly feel dread and foreboding whenever an established character gets him or herself into some dangerous situation. They’ve used their past willingness to dispatch cast members to beat us over the head with the fact that anyone can die and probably will. And in Season Five, they proved that with a veritable bloodbath of popular characters, culminating in one of the lamest/unforgivable acts of cast murder I’ve ever seen.

After killing off the second most important character in “24″ history, President David Palmer, I was pissed but understandable. His death would set in motion the events of Season Five. Alright, cool. Then they killed off Michelle, another major character who was instrumental in the series formative seasons. Also, she was hot. Still, I could get behind it. This all happened within the first fifteen seconds of the season premiere, so it was pretty intense.

But then they took it too far.

Tony Almeida had been with the show since Season One. A fan favorite, he was like Jack, only more brooding and intense and didn’t really get a lot of shit done. But he was awesome regardless, and the only real holdover from that season. Then he got stabbed in the heart with a needle by a dude who was half dead while crying about his dead wife Michelle.

It. Was. LAME. Didn’t even get a silent clock.

Luckily, they made up for Tony’s pathetic end by retconning him back into the series, alive and well and kind of evil, in the Seventh Season. I’m sure if you asked the people behind the show they’d probably tell you that was the plan all along. But in reality, I think they got a little trigger happy, realized they had nothing to connect the show to Season One, realized the fans were pissed, and decided to awkwardly write him back into the fold, with a very vague and unbelievable explanation for how he survived being stabbed in the heart with a syringe, injected with some magical heart-stopping fluid, and then zipped up into a body bag after the commercial break with a crying Jack looking on.

Whatever, man. Tony’s BACK. I’m good.

Three: Teri has amnesia!

I’m not even sure this one needs comment. I’ve often heard “24″ compared to soap operas – a soap opera for dudes, I suppose, like dating wrestling – and, in the spirit of that, during the middle of Season One, Jack’s wife develops amnesia for some reason and spends a few episodes wandering around aimlessly trying to remember who the hell she is. You see, like her daughter, Teri added virtually nothing to the show. They were human plot devices. Luckily for us, Teri was put out of her misery far earlier than Kim was – in, ironically, one of the show’s best scenes ever.

Hey! She DID serve a purpose!

Two: Kim Bauer is pretty much useless, always.

About four episodes into the series, the “24″ writers came to the grim realization that Kim Bauer had NOTHING TO ADD TO THE SHOW. Even in the first season when her subplot was directly related to Jack, (she was lost, or kidnapped, or something, and he was going to get her back DAMMIT) she still added very little – and then when Jack finally did rescue her and her mother, she REALLY had nothing to do. But she remained, and it became – what I can only hope – an elaborate game of one-up to see what increasingly more ridiculous situation the writers could put her in. This finally came to a stupendously dumb climax when Kim found herself tangling with a freaking cougar out in the woods for some reason during the second season. That’s right – while her father was out saving the world from terrorists, Kim Bauer was staging her own retarded version of “Where The Red Fern Grows.”

She was subsequently written out of the show one season later, though still pops up from time to time. And, in her defense, a little bit of Kim goes along way. When the writers aren’t forced to shoehorn her into the plot every hour, and actually use her to advance the story, she can be very effective.

It just took them three years to realize that.

One: Season Six just wasn’t very good, was it?

Remember up above when I said that the show had surprisingly very few truly cringe-worthy moments? That’s entirely true, by the way. It’s just unfortunate that one of those cringe-worthy “moments” was, in fact, an entire damn season.

Season Six was, without a doubt, the lowest point in the show’s entire history – for twenty-four straight hours.

There’s a lot you can attribute this to. Season Five was one of the shows strongest, and a tough act to follow – which leads me to believe that maybe the writers decided to just say “screw it” and not even try to top the previous season, and instead write such an incoherent mess that they’d have nowhere to go but up afterward.

Well, mission accomplished, I guess.

The season gets off to a pretty rocky start right off the bat – and by “rocky start” I mean “amazing start” that right away signalled to the audience that “welp, there’s nowhere to go from here but down.” And down they went.

The season began with terrorists detonating a nuclear bomb in a Los Angeles suburb. The shot of Jack looking helplessly as a huge mushroom blooms over Valencia was awesome, and really kickstarted thing with gusto. But – hey, wait a sec…where the hell do you go from there?

Do you know how hard it is to top a nuclear explosion? How on earth did they expect to keep the momentum going by blasting out their money shot in the first four episodes? I honestly don’t remember what the terrorist plot was in Season Six because, who cares? A damn nuke just exploded.

And it just gets worse from there. Jack killing Curtis. Forgettable villains with ill-defined motives. The pointless and embarrassing return of the Logan’s. Ricky freaking Schroeder.

It just didn’t end.

Now, admittedly, it had its moments. The big fight scene between Jack and villain Abu Fayed was one of the best choreographed and brutal fights I’ve ever seen on the show. Unfortunately, Fayed was not nearly as menacing or memorable a villain as past baddies, so it all seemed kind of wasted. But at least it looked badass.

The lowest moment of the entire, dismal season though came near the beginning, when the writers finally revealed the identity of the mysterious blue-toothed baddie who had (apparently) been pulling Logan’s strings in Season Five. We’d seen his face in Season Five. We even got his name – Graem. But what was his last name? How did he fit into everything? We were about to find out in glorious Season Six. This was a game-changer. This was key. A recurring villain! One with shady connections, who practically owned the president, one who could…

Jack’s never-before-spoken-about brother? Jack Bauer’s brother? The terrorist mastermind from Season Five is JACK’S FREAKING BROTHER?!?

Jack’s brother is a terrorist mastermind? This has never come up before? Talk about “soap opera for dudes.” What’s next – will Tony return from the dead to save the -

Oh, no wait. There’s Jack’s dad, and he just killed Graem. Guess he was behind it all along. Looks like Jack’ll be chasing his father around for the next twenty-one hours.

God dammit, Season Six sucked.

(And, of course, shortly after Tony did return from the dead bent on revenge or something.)

Soap opera for dudes!

Tomorrow, tune in for more “24″ related madness!

[Digg]

Sean Avery doing what he does best

Jet-setting around the world. Cameo appearances in movies and television shows. Featured as one of the “Sexiest Men Alive”. Dating stars Elisha Cuthbert and Rachel Hunter. Summering at Vogue. While this may sound like the resume of one of the stars of The Hills, it is in fact that of the NHL’s always loveable Sean Avery. What, however, was left off that list is the fact that he is the most hated hockey player in the NHL. After the recent game with Calgary facing Dion Phanuef, who Avery criticized last year, came and went, with little fanfare, we can only rehash last year’s Avery blow-up to fill headlines. With that being said, here is my attempt to do just that.

Going back to last year and into the start of this season, many involved in the sport were glad to see Sean Avery essentially muzzled, with Gary Bettman leading the charge. The mentality is if a player doesn’t fit the NHL’s mould, he is considered an outcast. This, unfortunately, is at the crux of the problem with the NHL. Over the years, rather than developing and marketing its talent, the league has made changes to the game ranging from the “skate in the crease” rule to adding the shootout. Compared to the other major sports leagues, NFL, NBA and the MLB, there is no other league that has changed their rules at the pace of the NHL. As evidenced by the NHL’s declining market share and interest in the United States, this strategy of altering the game has obviously not worked.

Instead of searching for new ways to increase goal production or reduce goalie equipment, Gary Bettman should follow the lead of David Stern and Roger Goodell and embrace the “problem” athletes. The NHL, on the other hand, has banished its members literally and figuratively, as was the case with goaltender Ray Emery, who was forced to Russia last year. Ray Emery, in the same fashion as Sean Avery, offended too many of the movers and shakers in the NHL’s boy’s club. As a result, he was deemed pariah and forced to find work in Russia. For the most part the NFL and NBA have allowed pronounced “bad-boys”, Chad Johnson, Terrell Owens and Allen Iverson among others, to speak their mind. In the NHL we could stand to see Sidney Ocho-Siete or Alex Ovechkin talk about “playoffs”.

The NHL needs the rough edge that the other leagues have. It needs those villains or bad-boys. It has obviously worked for the other leagues, why not the NHL. Hmm…the need for villains sounds awfully familiar. Oh yes, that brilliant idea came from the horse’s mouth, Sean Avery himself. In an interview a couple of years ago with ESPN’s Rachel Nicol he stated that NHL commissioner Gary Bettman should use him in a classic “villain versus hero” marketing plan. While Sean Avery has made some mistakes with regards to his previous comments, this was not one of them. He selflessly offered Gary Bettman to be portrayed as the villain of the NHL. At a time like this when the NHL is wading the water in Phoenix and facing national network issues, the NHL could use a villain other than themselves.

Siento mi ausencia, espero escribir asiduamente, o al menos lo intento.

Cada vez falta menos para dos grandes estrenos de la temporada, al menos para el que escribe, (ambos se producirán en enero). Me refiero a Perdidos y a 24. De Perdidos es la última temporada, como saben, y los rumores son incesantes. Hay 11 posters diferentes de promoción, tráilers y diferentes campañas de marketing. Lo que si podemos confirmar es la aparición de viejos conocidos, SPOILER en los que se encuentra las actrices Emilie de Ravin (Claire) y Maggie Grace (Shannon) FIN DE SPOILER

Por otro lado, está mi querida “24” y su temporada 8. He visto el tráiler, y es espectacular. Con un elenco cada vez más numeroso y lleno de estrellas como Freddie Prinze Jr. (actor de la saga de Se Lo que hicisteis…, entre otras) Katee Sackhoff (Starbuck en la gran “Gálactica), y la vuelta de Elisha Cuthbert. Y yo esperando a navidades para poder ver la 7 temporada, marcada por la vuelta de un personaje que estaba muerto y que ahora es malo, Tony Almeida.

Más cosas, Telecinco ha anunciado la compra hoy mismo de nuevas series americanas para emitir en sus tres canales (Telecinco, 7 y FDF). Entre otras está la revelación de la temporada NCIS: Los Ángeles (spin off de Navy Investigación Criminal) ), Melrose Place, Mercy y Trauma (esta última cancelada oficialmente en Estados Unidos).

No es una noticia muy nueva, pero como no escribo desde hace tiempo, en Anatomía de Grey, para suplir las ausencias de dos de sus personajes más conocidos, eso sí, por tiempo breve, (no os digo de quién para no fastidiaros) han fichado a varios actores nuevos, entre ellos destacar a Kim Raven (24, Mujeres de Manhattan) que pondrá en peligro la relación entre Cristina y Owen. Siguiendo con Anatomía de Grey, su creadora ha desvelado que previniendo la futura pérdida de alguno de los actores principales, realizarán capítulos centrados en un único personaje para ver como reacciona la audiencia ante ellos. Tengo reconocer que deje de ver la serie, pero he vuelto en la quinta temporada y os la tengo que recomendar, está genial.

Por su parte, Marc Cherry, creador de Mujeres Desesperadas ha firmado para tener serie hasta 2013, lo que serían 9 temporadas, y añadirían dos, a las inicialmente previstas. Pero para que esto suceda, las actrices en 2011 tendrán que renovar su contrato y la audiencia no les debe abandonar. Pero es una buena noticia, para los amantes de esta serie.

FOX has released a promo clip for the new season of 24 which airs in January. I’m excited for this season. It’s the return of Jack Bauer and great TV. Kiefer Sutherland returns as Jack Bauer and from the looks of the clip, he has left his former life behind to live in New York with his daughter Kim and his grand-daugther. But in true Jack Bauer fashion, trouble is drawn to him and Jack finds himself back in the middle of a assassination attempt being made on President Hassan.

Cherry Jones returns as President Taylor, Elisha Cuthbert as Kim Bauer, and Mary Lynn Rajskub returns as Chloe. New cast members include Anil Kapoor (Slumdog Millionaire) as President Omar Hassan, Freddie Prinze Jr (Scooby Doo) as Cole Ortiz, and Katee Sackhoff (Battelstar Galactica) as Dana Walsh.

24 returns January 17, 2009 with a 2-day, 4-hour event.

FHM 100 sexiest women in the world 2009

01 – Cheryl Cole

02 – Megan Fox

03 – Jessica Alba

04 – Britney Spears

05 – Keeley Hazell

06 – Adriana Lima

07 – Elisha Cuthbert

08 – Kristin Kreuk

09 – Anna Friel

10 – Freida Pinto

Mais em: FHM

Although most of us have to contend with a less than perfect body, we are still entitled to wearing whatever bikini we are comfortable in.  There are a variety of styles to accommodate our body shapes and sizes from the skimpy micro bikinis to the full coverage camkini or tankini bikinis. 

We don’t have to look like a model to wear a bikini.  However, I thought it would be interesting to note some of the celebrities and models in theirs.  Let’s have a look at 27 beautiful women who have all made a name for themselves in one way or another and reveal some skin in their bikinis.  They appear in alphabetical order with birth date and brief entry about how they made it into stardom.   

1. Jessica Alba was Born April 28, 1981 and made her first public appearance at the age of 13.  She has posed for various magazines and was on the cover of the May 2006 issue of Playboy.  

2. Jennifer Aniston was born February 11, 1969 and became most popular for her role in Friends.  The bikini color combination really doesn’t do her much justice. 

3. Kate Beckinsale was born July 26, 1973.  Her career primarily began in 1991 when she appeared in various movie roles such as Pearl Harbor. 

4. Halle Berry, born August 14, 1966, began her career in 1989 and is considered one of the highest paid actresses in Hollywood.  She is one hot looking women. 

5. Valerie Bertinelli, born April 23, 1960, made her public entrance through One Day at a Time in 1975. She recently was on the cover of People magazine for her accomplishments in weight loss.  Congratulations Valerie. 

6. Jessica Biel was born March 3, 1982 started her career in 1996 and became popular for her role in 7^th Heaven. 

7. Kelly Brook, born November 23, 1979, began a modelling career at the age of 16 and has appeared in many popular magazines and has ranked among the top 10 sexiest women in the world.  Can totally see why. 

8. Gisele Bundchen was born July 20, 1980.  Her interest in modelling began at the age of 13.  She is now the highest paid model world wide and was entered in the Guinness Book of World Records for being the richest supermodel.  That is quite an accomplishment. 

9. Elisha Cuthbert was born in Calgary Alberta (a neighbouring province – yah) November 30, 1982 and started her television career in 1996 with Are You Afraid of the Dark.  Absolutely love her bikini. 

10. Cameron Diaz, born August 30, 1972, was active in the fashion model industry beginning in 1988 at the age of 16.  Her body sizzles. 

11. Katherine Heigl was born November 24, 1978 and began her acting career in 1992.  At the age of 9, she was a child model and has since appeared in many different magazines.  Sensual and seductive – very nice. 

12. Kathy Ireland was born March 20, 1963. Her modelling career began at the age of 17 and was featured yearly in the Swimsuit Issue until 1996.  Very beautiful woman. 

13. Scarlett Johansson, born November 22, 1984, became known in 1998 for her role in The Horse Whisperer but appeared in films as early as 1994. In 2008, her album, Anywhere I Lay My Head, was released.  Sorry to say, but she really needs a tan. 

14. Kim Kardashian was born October 21, 1980. She appeared in Playboy in 2007 while her acting career launched in 2008.  Great looking body. 

15. Beyonce Knowles was born September 4, 1981 and became well known in the music industry 1997 but had been actively singing since 1993 with Destiny’s Child. She also began appearing in the film industry in 2001.  Very sexy.  

16. Evangeline Lilly was born in Fort Saskatchewan Alberta (another Canadian) on August 3, 1979. She appeared on Television in 2002 and in the film industry in 2003 but became most popular with the series Lost in 2004.  She too could use a tan and a bikini style that would camouflage her boyish figure. 

17. Lindsay Lohan, born July 2, 1986, started as a child fashion model at the age of 3 and began making television appearances at the age of 10. She also decided to branch into the music industry and released her first album in 2004. 

18. Christina Milian was born September 26, 1981 also known as Christine Flores.  She made her public debut through commercials at the age of 9.  In 2002, her musical talents were revealed and in 1996 began making appearances in the film industry.  She is a hot looking lady. 

19. Sienna Miller, born December 28, 1981, rounded out her career with acting, modelling and fashion designing which began in 2001. 

20. Heidi Montag was born September 15, 1986 and is active in reality television and the music industry.   Her role in Laguna Beach in 2005 was the beginning of her career.  Great bikini. 

21. Audrina Patridge, born May 9, 1985, was also involved in reality television and acting.  Her career took off in 2006 after the show The Hills was aired.  I think pink is a great color on her. 

22. Denise Richards, born February 17, 1971, started appearing in films in 1993.  Her fashion modelling career began out of high school before her presence on television. 

23. Tara Reid, born November 8, 1975, began acting at the age of 9. She starred in afterschool specials throughout her teens.  In 1998, she shifted into the movie industry.  Personally, I think she’s too skinny. 

24. Nicolette Sheridan was born November 21, 1963.  Her acting career launched in 1984 but wasn’t really noticed until 1986 for her role in Knots Landing.  I totally love her character in Desparate Housewives.  Looks great at the age of 45. 

25. Britney Spears was born December 2, 1981 and is most commonly known throughout the music industry.  She debuted on Star Search in 1992 but didn’t release her first single until 1998. She was also seen in the film industry as early as 1991. 

26. Charlize Theron, born August 7, 1975, made her way into modelling at the age of 16 which evolved into a career in acting in 1995.  She could use a bikini that gives her a little more volume on top to balance out her petite figure. 

27. Laura Vandervoort was born in Toronto, Ontario September 22, 1984.  Her acting career began at the age of 13.  She has appeared in several commercials and became more popular in the film industry in 1997.  Her bikini choice looks great for her body size and shape.

So, there we have it.  Some of the hottest celebrities in bikinis.  

Statistical data obtained through Wikipedia.

Hello, I lost my other post and I was almost done. I stopped posting to look up some more famous Canadian-born movie stars and my post disappeared!! Here is most of the list I started compiling.

John Candy and Dan Akroyd. Dan Akroyd actually attended the same University in the 1970’s that I did: Carleton University.

Ghostbusters

Jim Carrey. Actually hails from Hamilton, but is too embarrassed to acknowledge Ontario’s largest “Industry” town, so he lies and cites Toronto as his hometown, more specifically, Newmarket. Whatever dude, you are STILL hilarious!

Michael J. Fox. Self-professed Army brat. Lived ALL OVER Canada. Peace to you, Michael!

Mike Meyers, another Torontonian. Shrek? Yes, please.

Pamela Anderson Lee, sex-bomb ultranair, hails from B.C. aka British Columbia.

Neve Campbell (Party of 5 on TV) hails from Guelph, Ontario, and Rachel McAdams was born in London, Ontario. Both these towns are an hour’s drive from Simcoe.

Elisha Cuthbert is from Calgary, Alberta,  and James Doohan and Carrie-Anne Moss are from Vancouver, B.C. I wonder if they knew Pamela Anderson before she was famous?

Carrie-Anne Moss became famous from playing Trinity in the Matrix movies. Keanu Reeves, although originally born in Lebanon, emigrated to Toronto with his mother while still a child and grew up there. To this day he makes Toronto his home, and considers himself Canadian.

Both Donald Sutherland and 24 star Keifer Sutherland continue to live in Toronto. It’s probably cheaper than living in Hollywood. Donald was actually born in one of the East Coast Provinces, New Brunswick I think. I have only been able to find one listing for Keifer being born in Toronto. No matter, they both have very strong residential ties to Toronto.

I used to think that Brendan Fraser, star of the Mummy and the Mummy Returns, Journey to the Centre of the Earth and most recently, Inkheart, had also been born in Canada.

The Mummy Returns

However, upon visiting Wikipedia, I discovered that he is the son of one Canadian parent and one American parent. He does not reside in Canada (that we know of…), so I guess he doesn’t count. But I love his face so much I just wanted to figure out a way to stick him in here!!

Ryan Gosling is from London, and Tom Green is from Pembroke. That’s in the Ottawa Valley, that’s why he talks a little funny, Ha ha Tom!

Phil Hartman, remember that guy from SNL? He has since passed away for many years now due to a family tragedy, but that guy was from Ontario, as well as Catharine O’Hara. (Home Alone mom).

Anna Paquin is from Winnipeg, Manitoba, she’s pretty cool.

Ryan Reynolds (just did a movie called The Proposal with Sandra Bullock) and Seth Rogan are both from Vancouver, B.C. That must be a real actors playground out there!

Martin Short grew up in Hamilton, Ontario, and HE’S not afraid to admit it. And boy, that guy can really sing. He actually spent a few years on stage on Broadway honing those talents, and his comedic spin on dance numbers has always been an attribute that I appreciated.

My all-time favorite Canadian-born Hollywood actor is none other than William Shatner, born in Montreal, Quebec. While he was considered for many years to be little more than a dramatic actor, I have always loved his sense of humour. This dear man has also suffered from the effects of tinatia, which is ear-drum damage which he attributed to the mini-explosions that were set off routinely on the set of Star Trek. In the out-takes for the Sandra Bullock movie, Miss Congeniality, there is a scene where Mr. Shatner messes up his line, and either Sandra Bullock or Candice Bergen says to him, “Oh Bill!” Without missing a beat, he says, “You know, there was a time when it was, “oh Bill!” (in a cute, excited voice), and now it’s just “Oh Bill!” (disappointed voice).” They all cracked up laughing and I thought, That’s right! I don’t see any arrogance in this man, he’s very human. Still love you, Bill!!!

Today I had the pleasure of seeing one of the newest romcoms in cinemas and the newest performance by the notable Hayden Panettiere. I promise not to include too many spoilers to the energetic and full of life feature which can only be referred to as the cousin of ‘The Girl Next Door’.

The film follows the pursuits of a graduating valedictorian, Dennis Cooverman (Paul Rust) and his best friend Rich Munsch (Jack Carpenter) who are quite obviously portrayed as the socially extinct; bedroom bound geek which has struggled through the hardships of high school and the possibly gay yet somewhat suave friend, respectively. The film’s alternate protagonist is Beth Cooper (Hayden Panettiere), head cheerleader of the high school (more cheerleading roles?) who is quite obviously at the other end of the social spectrum. Her small group of friends include Cammy (Lauren London) and Treece (Lauren Storm), both close to Beth with Cammy seemingly tagging along (but rather good at doing so) and Treece being the stereotypical blonde (even though she’s more of a dirty blonde).

I have to admit, there were points where I had no control over the laughter that amounted, especially from scenes such as an amazing lightsaber VS skeleton battle, an epic wet towel fight, the use of tampons as plugs, and the battering of a dogger’s car. At first, whilst reading this you may be thinking ‘Oh, it’s one of those movies’, but I’m afraid I have to stop you there. ‘I Love You, Beth Cooper‘ is a profound and hilarious tell-tale story of whilst nice guy’s do finish last, they often find it’s worth it. Dennis spends a day in the light of someone he’s not and he discovers who he really is and who Beth Cooper, to his surprise, really is. This may be due to the fairly recognisable director; Chris Columbus, on the other hand it could be that it’s a genuinely good movie, and I’m pretty confident that I’ll be buying it once it’s released on DVD.

However I feel I have to mention that despite the overall entertaining performance it was not the most convincing I’ve seen. Some of the scenes, whilst incredibly quirky are unlike that from the book, referring to the lack of impression in comparison. Naturally, there have been very few cases in which a film has exceeded the novel it was born from, and unfortunately this cannot be classed as such. However, despite this, the film has managed to win me over and the light-hearted humour, and possibly some of the less light-hearted humour will keep you entertained all the way through, with a fantastic chance to see some of Miss. Panettiere playing a more diverse role.

Ah, after about two weeks Zooey holds a slight lead over Elisha (5-4) in our little poll for my soul!  Really there is no loser in this…

Man I’m beat.  Work is having a real good go at me these days.  It’s been late nights, weekends, it’s been simply awful.  What sucks about it, is that it just really doesn’t seem important to me.  Why is this seemingly unimportant shit taking a priority in my life?  It’s really passionless.

I know it’s very important to my partners (who make a ton of cash off my work), the individual bank clients (who are competing each other for praise and cash bonuses at the Bank), but I feel overwhelming and crushing apathy.  It is only my ethical obligations (which I take rather seriously) that keep me mentally engaged at all.  I’m just so incredibly weary right now.

That being said, I have my first ever vacation to Europe around the corner.  On November 25, 2009 (after a full day’s work, ugh) I get on a jet plane for Paris!  There I’m going to stay with a couple of good friends from law school where we will celebrate Thanksgiving together and take in the sites!  On November 29 I will be headed to Amsterdam.  I’m going to be staying at a really funky hotel called the CitizenM Amsterdam City.  I’m staying two nights and from there I go to Merry Old England where I’m going to stay at the Rockwell in Kensington.   I’ll be in London for a couple of nights, and then down in Surrey for a night, even further down in Portsmouth for a night and then back up to London before getting on a flight back to Miami.  I’m very tempted to just stay over there and run away to Romania…

It’ll be a nice change.  I can’t believe I’ve never been before.  However that’s one of the reasons why I gave up music, so I could afford these opportunities.  However, now that I’m an attorney I know now that you can afford these opportunities, the profession doesn’t allow you to take them until you’re retired…

Keeping in touch with my musical roots I’m trying to take in concerts in Paris and London while I’m there.  There is going to be a production of La Boheme in Paris while I’m there, unfortunately tickets are over 250E which is unacceptable.  There should be good music in London as it is the 250th anniversary of Handel’s death, so there’s good baroque music being played while I’m over there.  That’ll be worth checking out.

I’m utterly lost about what to do in Amsterdam.  I guess the Anne Frank House, which I hear is a must and I’m thinking the Heineken experience.  However I don’t know anything about Dutch food or culture.  I’m gonna have to read up on it.

Anyway I need to get back to work.

Let’s face it, Hollywood is never going to fund a big-budget original movie ever again.

Search your feelings, you know it to be true.

Marco and I have been talking for a while about doing a series of posts on movies that should be made. Now don’t get me wrong, the projects we’ll be proposing shouldn’t actually be made. In a better world, the budgets would go to real artists who do good work, but that’s not the world we live it, and at Counterforce, we believe in making the best out of a bad situation. Just like Liam Neeson.

no thank you

So, let’s get right down too it. You know, you know they’re going to make an ID4:2 some day, so we might as well make it enjoyably bad. Hell, just the idea of watching this movie instead of some Michael Bay cartoon-adapted crapfest gives me a boner. You can never ever go wrong blowing up as many international landmarks as possible.

Thus, The Counterforce Casting Couch: Independence Day 2

PREMISE:

This is gonna be a little rough, we can fill in the blanks during lighting shifts on the set. So, it’s like 20 years after the event of ID4. Will Smith is the President, obviously. The White House will have just finished being rebuilt and look exactly the same as before. Jeff Goldblum will basically be playing Al Gore. Sorta Green Living Apostle / Technocrat in Chief. Shia LeBeouf is Goldblum’s rebellious kid and Aaron Yoo is his buddy who films all their wacky adventures on his Flip Camera. There will be some drama because Shia doesn’t know his dad was a hero because Goldblum’s role was classified or something.

Ryan Kwanten from True Blood will fill in the Hick Character contingent with his little jailbait sister, Dakota Fanning. I threw a lot of brits into the cast so there can be other groups of characters in the UK and Australia, Iraq, etc. Famke Janssen will play somebody’s wife. Maybe Bill Pullman’s.

So, the Aliens come back, only this time, they come in peace and claim to be seeking asylum. Apparently these aliens are the not-evil faction of the bad guys. Will Smith will have all these mixed feelings because he hates aliens, but doesn’t want to be prejudiced to the nice ones. It will be like that scene in Star Trek 6 where Kirk talks about the klingons who killed his son, only this time it will be Will Smith saying it, and he’ll be talking to the First Dog.

Obviously, the bad aliens come back and destroy a shit-ton more monuments and landmarks. They’ll be led by Nic Cage, who is some kind of evil billionaire who helps the Aliens in exchange for world domination. Definitely gotta sack the Burj Dubai, the White House, Big Ben, the Golden Gate, the Vatican, etc. But this time, the good aliens have shared some of their technology, so the fight is slightly more fair, but earth still gets its ass kicked and the bad aliens occupy the planet. This would all take place on July 2nd.

yeah, that shit's gonna fall

The next day would be a lot of failed counter-offensives and characters hiding from Alien stormtroopers. Then Shia LeBeouf will decide to form a resistance and Aaron Yoo will do all the tech shit to get the word out on the internets. Ryan Kwanten will be there with Dakota, and he’ll turn out to be some kind of hillbilly ass-kicker. I see a scene with him, shirtless, feather tied to the back of his head, destroying enemy food supplies boston-tea-party style. Then we’ll cut to Said Taghmaoui in Iraq with a British accent and he’ll be all, “It’s the Americans, they want to organize a resistance, about bloody time!”

And then July 4th will be the big counter-attack. Aaron Yoo will die. Will Smith will fly an alien fighter ship with Bill Pullman as his wingman. They’ll fight their way to the mothership, land on it, then fight their way to Nic Cage’s lair on the bridge. Somehow, Jeff Goldblum will be there too. A big fistfight later, Will Smith wins, then escapes and Bill Pullman and Jeff Goldblum pilot the Mothership into the sun, sacrificing themselves. Shia hooks up with Dakota Fanning, and then after the credits roll, Samuel L. Jackson walks into a bar to talk to him about the Avengers initiative.

And… scene.

Fuck yeah!

You know you’d pay to see it.