Tracy Tzu as a hot Chinese-American journalist in Year Of The Dragon.

On continue avec l’acteur fétiche du moment, Mickey Rourke. Dans ce film parfaitement filmé, il est juste magistral (et les dialogues sont trèèès savoureux)

“The first time I saw you, I hated your guts. I think I even hated you before I met you. I hated you on TV. I hated you in Vietnam. You want to know what’s destroying this country? It’s not booze. It’s not drugs. It’s TV. It’s media. It’s people like you. It’s vampires. I hate the way you make your living sticking microphones in people’s faces. You lie every night at 6:00. I hate the way you kill real feelings. I hate everything that you stand for. Most of all, I hate rich kids and I hate this place. So why do I want to fuck you so bad?”

Year Of The Dragon
More Michael Cimino business – post-Heaven’s Gate but pre-The Sicilian. Mickey Rourke is Stanley White, a New York cop trying to clear up Chinatown.

There are some interesting techniques, and some good performances, but it is a mess. Of particular note are Cimino’s repeated use of his gunshot victims looking directly into the camera at the moment of impact (as if down the barrel), and the peculiarly abandoned sub-lot of the untainted rookie being recruited by White into his small gangbusting team (as subsequently used to greater effect in The Untouchables).

The plot point about White being a Vietnam vet (who sometimes seemed to have forgotten that he was now in NYC) and overall tone reminded me of the TV movie Dragonfire (aka Tagget).

In terms of casting, Rourke works well as a weary cop. On the other hand Ariane is an odd choice to play the Chinese-American TV reporter character Tracey Tzu; she appears to have had no previous screen acting experience and looks nervous much of the time. The punky junior triad kids (responsible for much of the carnage) could easily have had more meat. Oh, and the script was co-written by Oliver Stone. It certainly has plenty of testosterone and beefy contemplation in it.

Attack
Robert Aldrich’s adaptation of a stage play set during the Battle of the Bulge around the fate of an infantry company bedevilled by a command structure eaten through with political patronage.

Jack Palance is an angry combat-seasoned junior officer, Eddie Albert is his cowardly captain, whilst Lee Marvin is the cynical colonel, with visions of holding public office once he gets back home. Bitter, angry, powerful.

(Trivia: I once spoke to Bob Mills on GLR about the film during a phone-in about Eddie Albert, and described his character as “a lily-livered, medal-wanting, son-of-a-gun” – a last second moment of self-censorship at the end there – which Bob then turned into a jingle-cum-slogan for the show.)

Sky High
The LLF isn’t really keen on most of the sorts of films I watched, so I got this one to watch together. It’s a Disney family film, about a high school for the progeny of superheroes. Kurt Russell and Kelly Preston are the biggest capes in town, and proud to see their son Michael Angarano off to start at their alma mater; this being a Disney family film, he starts off with no super powers or any idea of what he wants in life, so must go on a journey of self-discovery and realise the true hero inside, etc etc etc.

Lynda Wonder Woman Carter is the school principal, Bruce Campbell is the sports coach, Kevin McDonald from Kids In The Hall is the science teacher. It’s quite good fun, but nothing spectacular. I’ve not seen any of the Harry Potter films, but I’d guess it was pitched as a kind of all-American version, with the high school romantic subplots of something like Smallville or Pretty In Pink thrown in for good measure.

Israel is having elections. One candidate, Victor Lieverman, is not expected to win the election, but to be a powerful force. He has a bad relationship with the Egyptian president, this is significant. If Egypt and Israel go to war, then Christians are going to take it as a sign of the armageddon. Also, dragons are supposed to come to the earth, according to the Bible. Is it just a coincidence that all this is going on as we approach the next Year of the Dragon, 2012?

Well, either someone did listen did to my pleas over the summer, or they just thought it would be a good idea–who cares? The Harry Potter theme park, set to open at Universal Studios’s Islands of Adventure, will not be getting rid of its dragons, just revamping them to fit in to the wizarding world. It is rumored that the coaster will reflect the first task of the Triwizard Tournament, in which the wizard tries to retrieve the golden egg from the dragon’s keep.
In any case, chalk one up for the draconians!!!
Just by the way, the year of the dragon will be here in just under 3 years!!!

I’m launching a total of 12 Itsy Bitsy Red Journals into the mix. Each book is a small satin covered hardbound book. The front is bead embellished and they hail from Indian craftsmen.

The Theme is Chinese Zodiac with each of the journals dedicated to one animal year. This one’s theme is The Year of The Dragon.

Have fun adding your creative inspirations to the many little blank white pages. Do as many as 10 pages, or just keep it to one tiny entry. Enjoy. Relist within two weeks using this same listing. I will mooch it back when completed or return to me.

-Joy Found / Lauri Jean Crowe

Rating: 9 Out of 10

Spyro is back with yet another adventure. In this game it is the year of the Dragon and tons of Dragon Eggs are being guarded by the dragons. While everyone is sleeping, a person has stolen all the Dragon Eggs. You must now get them back. You have four playable characters: Agent 9, Sgt. Byrd, Sheila, and Bentley. With new friends, come new enemies: Sorceress and Bianca.

Pros:

+ 4 new playable characters

+ Over 30 new levels

+ Exciting new video games

+ Intuitive control interface

Cons:

- Puerile dialogue

- PS1’s limited graphics capability

Extras:

# Spyro: Year of the Dragon Cheat Codes

First of all, The Great American Adventure is a mural painting created by Victor Horvath in 1976.  Though he wrote this in the year of my birth, he strangely did not paint me in the picture…but that’s not what this blog is about anyway.  So it doesn’t really matter.

This blog is about me, an average white American male with a graduate degree who loves drugs, sex, and just about everything else that is fun.

I write this anon because I certainly can’t have people connected to my professional life knowing what I do in my spare time because I’m NAUGHTY. Nish nish, my finger wags and those nutters keep trying to be normal, whatever that is.

On getting bald. (And old)

I am not.

In the slightest.

I’d love to, though.

No, maybe not old. Or bald.

Just. 

Grey.

Around the temples. Like Mickey Rourke used to have.

Sophisticated. But black and white, salt and pepper.

Harsh. But benign, obliging and tender-hearted. 

Just.

Like my dad.

If Today, January 21st,  is Your Birthday……

you share it with American Businessman and Philanthropist Paul Allen, co-founder of Microsoft. See…

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Allen

www.paulallen.com

Today,  as the world celebrates the memory of civil rights leader, Dr. Martin Luther King, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Luther_King_Day

Microsoft Co-founder, Paul Allen is also celebrating his 55th birthday.

 Paul Gardner Allen was born on January 21, 1953 at Swedish Hospital in Seattle, Washington to Kenneth Samuel (Sam) and Edna Faye (Faye) Allen. I’m not sure what he’s doing today, but I’m guessing that he’s probably already picked out his birthday present:

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&taxonomyId=15&articleId=9057560&intsrc=hm_topic

http://www.ecommercetimes.com/rsstory/61135.html?welcome=1200113126#

http://biz.yahoo.com/ibd/080110/tech.html?.v=1

http://www.glgroup.com/News/700-MHz-Spectrum-Auction-plus-Paul-Allen-may-Equal-Trouble-For-Everyone-Else-20423.html

http://www.blogrunner.com/snapshot/D/5/5/paul_allen_looks_to_amass_airwaves/

http://gigaom.com/2007/12/31/paul-allen-long-time-wireless-fan/

On the day that Paul Allen was born, U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower sat in the Oval office for the first day of his term, scientist James Watson was about a month away from announcing the discovery of the double helix—DNA—along with partner, Francis Crick, http://img.timeinc.net/time/80days/images/530228.jpg

and in Seattle—big surprise—it was raining. (Seattle Times)

The world was different in 1953—a gallon of milk cost 94 cents and milkmen would hand-deliver it in glass bottles to your door. Bread cost 16 cents a loaf, the average home cost around $17,400. and a U.S. postage stamp would set you back only 3 cents! Sounds good, except that the average annual salary was only around $4,000.

http://www.centex.net/~elliott/1953.html

In 1953, Elizabeth II was crowned Queen at Westminster Abbey in England, and that year pilot Chuck Yeager was the first to exceed twice the speed of sound in an X-1A rocket plane.

Allen shares his January 21^st birthday with a number of celebrities:

Actress Geena Davis, who was born in 1956;

Designer Christian Dior, born in 1905;

Singer Placido Domingo, born in Madrid in 1941;

Comedian Benny Hill, born 1924;

Golf phenom Jack Nicklaus, born 1940;

Singer Emma Bunton “Baby Spice” born 1976;

and Confederate General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson born 1824.

Soviet leader Lenin died on January 21, 1924 as did author Eric Arthur Blair (George Orwell) in 1950.

If today is your birthday, you’re an Aquarius and your birthstone is Garnet; and if you share Allen’s January 21, 1953 birthday, you were born in the Year of the Dragon in Chinese Astrology (which is a very lucky sign, indeed. According to this sign, your ideal job would be king…  see…. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon_(zodiac)

Finally, if today is your birthday, you’re in luck—today has been declared “National Hugging Day”—no kidding……

See….

http://www.nationalhuggingday.com/

Happy Birthday!!!

MOSCOW (AFP) – Moscow pet shops are reporting a run on rats, as keen astrologically-minded Russians snap them up ahead of the New Year, which is the Chinese Year of the Rat, Interfax news agency reported Monday. Desperate shoppers are even resorting to buying mice, hamsters or gerbils in lieu of a real, domestic rat, according to one shop in the capital.Chinese astrology is closely followed in Russia, which shares a long border with China, and where many newspapers deliver daily horoscopes — and advice on how to care for new pet rats given as presents on December 31.

Oddly, they had the same problem in the year of the dragon.

(Happy 1st Headline of the Day for 2008)