Movin on up
Hey... I have moved over to

wudrich.blogspot.com

Just a peek


Just a little peek of the beautiful city I live in.

No wonder it didn't win any awards
So I decided on the weekend to see King Kong. And well I was looking to waste some time but I was hoping that it wasn't going to be such a waste. Did anyone else think this movie sucked? Or am I the only one?

If you haven't seen it I won't spoil it for you if you still intend on watching this crap. However I did enjoy it up until they got to the island and ran into the locals... after that it went downhill faster than Antoine Deneriaz on a ski hill (look it up).

The CG was pretty cool. I am sure Peter Jackson would have it no other way, but it doesn't make up for the scenes that dragged on or had nothing AT ALL to do with the story.

It kind of reminded me of Chronicles of Narnia. Which, looking back I forgot to post on... anyway. Both Chronicles and Kong had at least 4-5 scenes they could have cut to make the movies much shorter and more to the point.

So unless you are a die hard Peter Jackson or King Kong fan I wouldn't do much more than rent it when it is released on Tuesday. Make sure you have 3 hours to spare to get through it as well.

Chronicles of Narnia will be released to DVD April 4, 2006. Again unless you are a die hard fan, I wouldn't bother with this one either.

This week in TV I am attempting to watch all of the original episodes of the Transformers. I can't wait for the live action movie next summer. Check out the site www.transformerslive.com

Anime and crazy customers
So this week I managed to watch "Howl's Moving Castle". Directed by the famous anime director Hayao Miyazaki. The english version that I had featured the voice talents of Lauren Bacall, Christian Bale and Billy Crystal. Overall not too bad of a movie but it wasn't as impressive as Spirited Away. But I would still suggest checking it out if you are into the anime. Rental but probably not a purchase.

Things computer customers should know when your laptop is being serviced...

1. Backup your data, cause someday YOU WILL mess things up and loose every picture, MP3 and Movie on your machine.

2. Stickers are just stickers and should have no importance to you. Expecially those Windows XP compatible, Intel and AMD stickers. They are going to wear out anyway and no service department has those laying around. Normally they are plastered all over our wallets or monitors.

3. STOP DROPING YOUR LAPTOP! Buy a ball or some silly putty it is much more fun to drop and less expensive to replace.

Have a great weekend!

Successful Launch
Last week I received passes to go see "Failure to Launch" Starring Sarah Jessica Parker, Matthew McConaughey, Kathy Bates, Justin Bartha, Terry Bradshaw, Zooey Deschanel... the list goes on.

Even when I first saw the trailer this looked like a very funny, enjoyable movie. It is about a thirtysomething slacker named Trip (McConaughey) who's parents (Kathy Bates, Terry Bradshaw) pay a professional (Parker) to help convince him to move away from home.

Every one in this movie at one point or another will make you laugh. It was great! Loads of comedy, a couple little love stories, loads of fun. Go check it out. If you don't see it in the theater, it should make for good renting most likely in September.

The only weird thing in the theater was they made an announcement before it started that some old guy (by old I mean 65+) was going to be "filming" the audience during the show with a night vision camera to check for pirates. I have a few problems with this.

1. By making this announcement they can just get away with filming without having people sign a waiver or anything.

2. If you are a pirate and you have NO WAY of mounting the camera into one of those ENORMOUS cups, you are a retard and deserve to be caught.

3. What kind of pirate copies a romantic comedy to distribute it on the net? It's not like people are going to be lining up wednesday night waiting for it to open Friday.

4. How do you know that it is someone at that screening and that your staff doesn't just set up a camera and film it when no one is there?

Anyway, go check it out. I am off to buy Harry Potter and the goblet of fire, Lady and the Tramp special edition and Walk the line. All excellent movies, I will try and post about the extra's on those later in the week.

To Bond or not to Bond
Boycotting a movie is like telling someone that they can't have an oppinion.

People are trying to convince others to boycott the new James Bond flick "Casino Royale". What the hell for? Cause the new bond is blond? Who freakin cares! You know that they had to change up the actor sooner or later.

Also all this hype will just make people want to see what kind of job Daniel Craig is going to do as the new Bond. Either way, it will end up at #1 at the box office opening weekend. I know I will be there to see all the action, the sexy women and the cool gadgets... that's what Bond is all about.

Long weekend lounging.
Had myself a long weekend and decided to catch up on some flicks.

Brokeback Mountain - FINALLY got to see this movie. I didn't think it was as great as everyone was raving about but still a good film. Great characters, great story, but you kind of see where everything is going. If you don't want to see it because of the Male on Male makeout sessions, don't worry there are plenty of naked ladies too. Definetly going to buy this when it comes out.

Crash - Finally got around to renting this, after watching I felt bad. Because I paid to rent it and not to buy it, oh well. Everyone should see this movie! Everyone, this is the most amazing story of racism I have ever seen. This will be purchased.

Aeon Flux - Staring Charlize Theron... drrooolll. Pretty wicked. If you have seen and enjoyed the cartoon series you will enjoy this movie. Can't wait for the April release to DVD to add to the ever growing collection.

High Tension - Hmmm, what to say. Originally came out in 2003 and the original language is french. This was crazy, to put it nicely. Probably the most mest up movie I have seen since "SAW". Lots of blood and gore. I don't think I will own it but if you want a decent horror movie I would suggest renting it.

Cutthroat Island - Classic Gena Davis movie about Pirates. Great great movie... I even had to pull out my VHS cause you can't order it on DVD. If any one out there can make this DVD happen, you have your first buyer here. Check it out if you haven't seen it.

Wallace and Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit - My sweetheart bought this for me for Valentines day and I had to watch it. BUY THIS MOVIE! I'm just crackers for Cheese! This DVD also features a tour of Ardman Studio's which burned down around 2 months ago.

Into the Blue - Jessica Alba in a swimsuit 24/7... need I say more? Ok, ok, it was an OK movie. Rental maybe, borrow from a Jessica Alba fan, yes. I LOVED all of the diving in this movie, amazing underwater shots.

Memoirs of a Geisha - Amazing story, amazing scenery, great book and movie. A must purchase when it is released.

I am still watching a lot of tv... as in I have now seen all 4 seasons of 24 in about 1.5 months. I didn't realize it was so addicting. I would suggest it as another rental if you need to kill 96 hours.

Have you sued someone today?
Holy crap the RIAA is getting crazy. First they go after Napster and take them down. Then they go after all the other Peer-to-peer networks.

Then they decide, "Who else has money that we can sue?" so they go after students and mothers and family's that are downloading music.

Now they go down their checklist... "Ok, lets see... Family's, check, children, check, application developers, check, web hosting companies, check,... who is left that we haven't sued... I HAVE IT. Restaurants." That's right a Fresno restaurant is being sued becaused they were playing music over the loudspeakers in the restaurant that was copyrighted.

B-M-I says damages could reach 750 dollars per song. Eating and drinking establishments typically pay around $600 a year for a license to play BMI-represented songs. Why would you pay? Shouldn't it be the other way around? Why doesn't BMI pay the owners to play their music in order to get more exposure for their artists? Restaurants charge people for the food and service. They don't charge you to come in and listen to what they have playing on the speaker system.

As an up-and-coming artist, would you not give away demo's or pay to get some airplay for your songs? Half the restaurants that I know of the staff just brings in their own cd collections and throws them on but they are still buying the cd's.

Also since the creation of Itunes, I have heard that music has tripled annual profits. This is according to an article in the Financial Times.

I can't wait until my generation starts running country's around the world... prepare for change.

This crazy bloggin thing
So I was surfing the net the other day looking for interesting reads and I thought "I wonder if any of the regular blogs I read have been updated?" None of them had... then I relized neither has mine. So here I sit typing away hoping that I have not lost any of the regulars that visit.

I have been watching a lot of TV. And by a lot I mean several seasons of 24, Smallville, Seaquest, Earth 2, Quantum leap, X-files... the list goes on. As I watch them I remember how much I miss the older ones (seaquest, Earth 2, quantum leap). They were great series! If you haven't seen any of them at all or in a while I really suggest finding them. Most are available now for rent at your local video store or you can still catch them on TV.

As I was doing all that surfing I started looking up all of these series. As well as others I have not seen in a while.. Space: Above and beyond (which I soon found and started watching) and Aaargh! It's the Mr. Hell show. Mr. Hell is a cartoon that ran (in Canada and UK) from 2000-2001, if you have seen it GREAT! If not you need to find it. Pretty crazy but funny as, well, hell. I found that one of the fellows involved in the show has a blog. Check it out.

http://davidmaxfreedman.typepad.com/slingshot/

Very funny and talented guy.

Quick movie stuff...

If you haven't been to the movies lately I suggest Walk the Line. You know the one about the life of Johnny Cash. FREAKIN Great! This is a definate purchase.

Serenity came out on DVD about a month or so ago now. Based on the Firefly TV series. Go out and buy the series and the movie, you won't be dissapointed.

2 reviews
I watched 2 violent movies this weekend. So here are the reviews...

A history of violence - There I am sitting in a comfortable theater chair, eating fresh warm popcorn, sipping on an extra large coke after navigating the aisles and not managing to get my shoes stuck to anything. This is a good start. The movie begins and with out giving too much away, the bad guys, well the first of them, are introduced and things get bloody quick. Next thing you know husband and wife are 69'ing on the bed. Damn! I only have a two things to say about this movie...

1. If you like sex and violence, this is the movie for you. It has it all, really, no really all of it. For a "mainstream" hollywood movie this is pretty out there.

2. You should really watch the second movie I am reviewing.

I don't think this is one to see in the theater. This is definetly an at home, put the kids to bed, lock the door, close the blinds kind of movie. Rental definetly but I am undecided if I would purchase it yet.

Hostage - I actually bought this before I had seen it as I am a HUGE Bruce Willis fan. Anyway, again a lot of violence, but much much less sex than "history", well there is none, so a lot less. Good story and good characters, but again very violent. A must buy.