Sound Investment

In these times of uncertainty, finally some sound financial advice:

If you bought $1000 of stock a year ago, you would now have:

$91.28 if you bought Washington Mutual

$37.50 if you bought Neomagic

$21.29 if you bought Freddie Mac

$20.79 if you bought Fannie Mae

But, if you had purchased $1,000 worth of beer one year ago, drank all the beer, then turned in the cans for the recycling refund… You would have… $214.00 in cash.

So the best investment advice is to drink heavily and recycle.

It’s called the 401-Keg Plan

Quotable

Movie quote of the day (wherein I highlight great writing from great movies, or something like that):

Terry:
Conscience... that stuff can drive you nuts!

From On the Waterfront.

P.S. I'll write something resembling a real post soon, I promise!

Summer

Maybe it's the fact that it's supposed to reach thirty degrees Celsius in Vancouver today. Maybe it's because I've been reflecting on youth and freedom and summer holidays... I'm not sure. But this made me smile this morning.

KRAZY!

I don't get out to the art gallery nearly as often as I'd like too, or nearly as often as I should. But when I caught wind of the latest main floor exhibition, I knew it wasn't to be missed.


Krazy! The Delirious World Of Anime + Comics + Video Games + Art is the first exhibition of its kind, a groundbreaking project that offers unique and dynamic insight into the world of comics,animated cartoons, anime, manga, graphic novels, computer/video games and visual art. Spanning a century of artmaking, the works in this exhibition reveal an extraordinary history of production, one that is poised to redefine the scope of visual culture in the 21st century.

Of particular interest to me was the Anime stuff, since I'm at least peripherally part of that world now. The presentation of classic, groundbreaking work like Akira, and newer stuff like Paprika, projected on the walls at bizarre angles, as opposed to movie or television screens, seemed to transcend the genre.

Of course it was good to see my old friends Wallace & Gromit on the way out, too.

If you're in Vancouver between now and September 7th, you outta check it out.

Season Two

Having taken it on the chin a bit from Plett in the comments of my last post, I have to admit that I, too, detest AMC for claiming to be the 'Future of Classic' while it edits the guts out of said beloved 'classic' films.

To wit, I happened to land on The Usual Suspects on AMC late last week. It was the line up scene where each of the suspects has to recite a certain line that I won't reprint here. Suffice it to say, the line was not: 'Hand me the keys you fairy godmother!'

If that's the future of classic, I'll stick with the past of classic. Or whatever.

However, AMC did have the cajones, and the foresight to pick up Mad Men when HBO refused even to get back to Sopranos producer Matthew Weiner when he handed in the pilot script. What sweet justice.

The second season premiered last night, and it was brilliant. Of course the New York times says it best.

The very first time the hero of “Mad Men” appeared on the screen, this ad executive was in a swanky New York bar, smoking and drinking manhattans before heading downtown to look in on his sexy, free-thinking girlfriend — before going home to his wife.

Season 2 puts Don Draper (Jon Hamm) in his undershirt in a doctor’s office, where he is chided for his blood pressure, two-pack-a-day habit, five-drinks-a-day lifestyle and other forms of dissipation.

And a little further down, the distillation of the second season.

“Mad Men,” which returns to AMC on Sunday, distills the moment in the American century when the buoyant certainty that came with winning a war and running the world was beginning to crack.

And just a couple more reasons to love it, and watch it.

“Mad Men” beguiles like a Christmas catalog of all the forbidden vices, especially smoking, drinking and social inequity. Yet the series is more than a period piece. It’s a sleek, hard-boiled drama with a soft, satirical core.

Okay, enough gushing. It's just a tv show.

Mad Men

I've never been a dedicated television watcher. I prefer movies. Probably has a lot to do with my absolute revulsion of television advertising - I mean, come on, those station identification logos are onscreen through the entire show now?! Guess I should invest in a PVR. But I caught wind of a new show last year called Mad Men.



Unfortunately by the time I heard about how good it was, the first season had already run its course. Fortunately ACMtv ran the entire season again in Fall for those of us that were late getting on the bus. It's some of the best drama I've ever seen anywhere.

Lost in Translation III

From the same episode, same character:

I will never do something like looking for a secret path. No way. No thanks.

Lost in Translation II

Maybe not technically a Lost in Translation moment, but this line made me chuckle today:

Now, when I look at it with my own eyes... it gives me a creep!

That about does 'er

Came across this 5-second version of one of my favourite movies of all time over at Dead Things ON Sticks. I couldn't resist. Enjoy!

I Am Iron Man

E and I recently snuck away to a weekday matinee, the first movie we've seen in a theatre since a certain baby girl took over our lives. And while it was a fun little getaway (thanks, Opa!) it reminded me why I'm loathe to go to the theatre. Granted, it was a Silver City megaplex, but by the time all was said and done it cost us about fifty bucks! If Hollywood wants to lure people back from their home entertainment systems I'd suggest that they start by lobbying theatre chains to reduce the prices at the concession stand. We were even in a mood to splurge. But come on, $4.99 for a small popcorn, (49 cents extra if you want real butter), and $3.69 for a Diet Coke?! The film of choice begged for big-screen viewing though, so we sucked it up.

Anyway. After sitting through six or eight commercials, the previews finally came up, and half an hour after the posted start time we were finally treated to the opening credits.

What did we see? Iron Man. Which was awesome. Seriously. Good enough to salvage the afternoon of consumer gluttony and have us leaving the parking lot with smiles on our faces. It's been getting good reviews, and I've always loved Robert Downey Jr.'s acting (his performance alone worth the price of admission) and Jon Favreau's direction. But it was surprising to see both of their work in a summer, tent-pole blockbuster like this.

On the heels of its $100 million opening weekend, Marvel Studios, fresh from having pissed all over itself, announced the sequel for April 2010.

Oh, and the song over the closing credits, even though the lyrics have no relevance whatsoever to the plot of the movie? Black Sabbath's Iron Man, natch.