Interlude: Scrimps!

A man needs a filling and nutritious meal the night before the biggest eating day of the year; gotta stretch out the stomach and keep your jaw loose. It also doesn't hurt that I've been on a diet going on a month now (with results - my pants damn near fell off my ass today, ask Al.) So I am ready to grub down tomorrow. For realz.

For my pre-game meal (as it were) I selected Spicy Orange Garlic Shrimp. The recipe appeared simple enough even to an unskilled hand such as mine. I journeyed to the local general store and bartered for the items I would need. Now I was almost ready to cook!

Before anybody cooks anything they must first gather everything they will need.


Then, a little courage for the night's endeavor.


On with it!

Thaw, peel and dry two dozen 26/30 scrimps.


Measure out 3/4 cup good-quality OJ.


Slice 2-4 (I used 3) cloves of garlic very thinly and add them to your OJ.


Add 1/2 tsp. Cayenne Pepper and 1 tsp. Old Bay (no substitutes, please.)




Give it a healthy stir.


Now it's time for the scrimps. Melt two tbsp. SALTED butter over high heat. Have the scrimps on standby for as soon as the butter melts.


As soon as the butter is melted start adding you shrimp to the pan working your way to the middle.


After 30-60 seconds begin turning your scrimps over starting with the first one you put in the pan. (CAUTION: Short-term memory required.)


After 30-60 additional seconds they are done, remove them from the pan, but leave your fire burning. When the pan just starts to smoke add your Spicy Orange Garlic goodness and give it a stir to get all the flavor bits stuck to the pan. And the final tbsp. of butter.



Cook over high, stirring occasionally until the mixture thickens and leaves pan trails.


Add your scrimps back in toss to coat and you're all but done.


Enjoy a couple while waiting on your potato to bake.


Yeah boy! (that's a potato back there)


Now eat until you lapse into a food coma.

--

Please note: I know absolutely nothing about cooking, but I do know how to read and follow directions so I would like to big up Pastor Ryan for his simple, yet dope recipe. I stole his recipe and his picture idea without remorse. I hope he understands that I did so out of love for shrimps. He is a better man and cook than I am, please check out his other recipes. They are good. The Chicken Tikka Masala I made a couple weeks ago was his too.

Ingredients

* 24 pieces (26-30 Per Pound) Deveined Shrimp
* 2 cloves (to 4 Cloves) Garlic
* ¾ cups Orange Juice
* ½ teaspoons Ground Cayenne Pepper
* 1 teaspoon Old Bay Seasoning
* 3 Tablespoons Salted Butter

(click any picture to enlargen it)

The Fall

The Fall

Starring:
Lee Pace
and others

Special Features:
Making-of featurettes
Commentary
Deleted Scenes

Another film I had never heard of until researching which Blu-rays to watch. By all accounts this film was visually and audibly stirring so I added it to my queue. I was pleased to see Lee Pace as the star. You may know him better as Ned The Piemaker from Pushing Daisies. (Maybe the best show on TV for the better part of two years)

The Fall is much like The Never-ending Story or The Princess Bride in that the movie itself is a story being told by a character "in real life". In this case it's also very much like The Wizard of Oz in that the characters in the visualization of the story are characters that exist outside the story. For instance, the freed-slave turned warrior Otta Benga is the ice delivery guy "in real life". I'm sure there's a proper name for this kind of film-making but I don't know what it is.

The film takes place in the 1920s and Lee Pace plays Roy, a stuntman for silent picture. He's been paralyzed doing a stunt and is convalescing in a Florida hospital. He befriends a 5 year old immigrant girl named Alexandria, who fell working in the orange groves and broke her arm and she too is healing in the hospital.

He begins to tell her an epic tale revolving around the life of six heroes; The Blue Bandit (a masked gunfighter), Luigi (an Italian explosives expert), Otta Bega (a freed slave and now warrior), A Dr. Doolittle/McGyver version of Charles Darwin and his monkey Wallace, The Indian (A Captain Nemo-like swordsman) and The Mystic (a dirty hippie birthed from a flaming tree). Though they come from different backgrounds and have different reasons for fighting they all have a common goal; to see evil tyrant Governor Odious die. He has wronged each hero and they have united to engage him in a world-spanning battle.

Alexandria becomes riveted by the tale and though Roy develops a real affection for the girl he reveals an ulterior motive behind befriending her. He tasks her with bringing him a bottle of morphine pills so that he can kill himself. It's only at this point in the movie where we learn the full history of Roy, how he became paralyzed, what it cost him and the fact that he can't live as "half a man".

Alexandria wants to help her new friend so she does as he asks. She gets him pills that end up being sugar pills so when he fails to even kill himself successfully he loses his shit and Alexandria thinks that if she can just get him some more pills he'll be alright, so she sneaks back to the dispensary and attempts to steal more, but in the process she missteps and falls again, this time off a ladder and ends up with much worse than a broken arm.

She wakes from surgery to find Roy at her side clearly distraught at what he has done to the poor girl.

There's more, but I don't want to ruin it.

This was easily the saddest movie I have seen in a long time. If I cried, and I'm not saying I did, it would have been at least three times. It lived up to the hype on the Blu-ray boards. It was a beautiful movie, lavish costumes and sets, it was shot in over 20 countries capturing some of the most visually interesting places the world has to offer. It took filmmaker Tarsem Singh over four years to finish it, and it really shows. The film was clearly a labor of love.

Like with The Fountain nothing really stood out from an audio standpoint but that's not to say the audio was disappointing, the film was like 80% dialog. It was well scored and generally pleasant to listen to, but nothing that really taxed the surround sound. Recurring use of Beethoven's 7th is always welcome.

Despite being depressing this was a very enjoyable film that I would recommend to fans of fantasy films. The "larger than life" aspects of the movie were pretty amazing. It was an all-around beautiful movie.

Audio: 7
Video: 10
Story: 7

I give this movie 3.5 out of 5 depressed stuntmen.

Special Note: While not pertaining directly to the audio/video aspect of the movie, I wanted to take a moment to talk about Catinca Untaru the young girl who played Alexandria. I mentioned this to Al the other day when I told him about the movie, her performance was really unbelievable. She was only 6 years old when they made this and I was blown away by her performance. She behaved exactly like a small child would in the situation and it didn't seem forced at all. In my experience child actors under a certain age are usually limited and seem very mechanical. And she wasn't like that at all, she was just a kid, they let her just act like a kid.

After doing a little research, I figured out how they were able to pull this off. Actor Lee Pace stayed in his bed or in a wheelchair pretty much the entire time she was on set to make Roy's physical limitations as real as possible. They kept the cameras as hidden as possible and her role was largely unscripted, to make her interactions with Pace as real as possible. It was a really effective technique that allowed the child to, for the most part, act like a child. There's probably some moral discussion in there about the effects of lying to a little girl, but the result was pretty impressive.

Here's the wiki entry about this.

Next Up: 3:10 To Yuma (2007)

Sin CIty

Sin City

Starring:
Josh Hartnett
Bruce Willis
Michael Clark Duncan
Jessica Alba
Brittany Murphy
Rosario Dawson
Michael Madsen
Mickey Rourke
Elijah Wood
Rutger Hauer
Powers Boothe
Alexis Bledel
Clive Owen
Benicio del Toro
Nick Stahl
Jaime King
Carla Gugino
etc (I'm not making links for all those)

Special Features:
Movie with commentary from Robert Rodriguez & Frank Miller
Movie with commentary from Robert Rodriguez & Quentin Tarantino
Movie with Austin, TX audience reaction

Sin City is basically awesome. The film focuses primarily on 3 of Frank Miller's Sin City sotrylines, The Big Fat Kill, The Hard Goodbye and That Yellow Bastard; but also uses the short story The Customer Is Always Right as way to introduce the viewer to Basin City. If you are a fan of comics you who Frank Miller is. (The dude made The Dark Knight Returns for god's sake.) And chances are, if you know who Frank Miller is you know about Sin City.

My opinion is that you either love Miller or you hate him, I've never heard anyone shout in the middle of a Frank Miller discussion that they had no strong feelings one way or the other. Personally I think he's a great writer and I'm fond of his art too. When it comes to comic book art I like anything that stands out from the pack. (Guys like John Romita Jr., Bill Sienkiewicz, Kelley Jones and Sam Keith come to mind.) And as much I want to go all comic book nerd at this point I'll move along. (Incidentally, I always considered my self pretty well versed when it comes to comics, but every time I talk to SYSM about them I feel like a kid playing ball with the pros. I'm way out of my league but it's a learning experience.)

The film does a good job of capturing Miller's noir-style art and it looks really tremendous on Blu-ray and a TV with a high contrast ratio. CG was pretty heavy but it was used in such a way that it enhanced the comic feel of the story. You are, after all, watching a comic book movie. But it wasn't all frames and weird transitions like Ang Lee's Hulk. (which I maintain is pretty awesome, but I digress) The point I'm trying to make is that if there was a better way to capture the look and feel of the Sin City comics in film, I don't know how they would have done it and kept it live-action. It's pretty amazing to look at and it doesn't hurt that they included a Frank Miller-level of T&A.

The movie has a great score and which adds a lot to the whole film-noir thing. Great sound effects and intense dialog are fully realized in 5.1. Good stuff all around.

This film would look and sound pretty good on DVD and a higher end TV, but it really comes to life in a comic book sort of way on a big screen in 1080p. If you have a Blu-ray player but have shied away because you're not really into comic book movies you should give this a shot. The story is compelling; this isn't cape and tights superhero stuff, this is a gritty crime drama brought to life. If you have shied away because of the huge amounts of gory violence or gratuitous T&A then... well, I have no counter argument. Because, damn, they be gruesome murders and hookers and titties and cannibalism all up ins. But I like that kind of thing in my movies.

Audio: 8
Video: 10
Story: 9

I will give it 4.5 headless prostitutes out of 5. One of the best comic-based movies out there.

Next up: The Fall

The Fountain

The Fountain

Starring:
Hugh Jackman (X-Men, etc)
Rachel Weisz (The Mummy, The Constant Gardner, Constantine)
Ellen Burstyn (The Exorcist, Requiem For A Dream)

Extras Include:
Interview with cast and crew
Visual Effects step-by-step
Scene-to-storyboard Comparison
Inside "The Fountain": Death and Rebirth (the tale of how a dead movie came back to life)
Peter Parks Bonus: Raw Footage of the Macrophotography in The Fountain


This story is not straightforward at all. Director Darren Aronofsky followed up Requiem For A Dream with another trip inside his crazy-hole. If I were to strip The Fountain down to its base components, you would be left with a movie about love and death. You would be left with the story of a man who cannot handle the death of his wife. It appears more convoluted than it really is.

Jackman plays three characters; a conquistador named Tomas, a research oncologist named Tommy and a zen spaceman named Tom. I think they are all the same person, but who the fuck can tell with Aronofsky.

Wesiz plays 2 characters; Isabella I of Castile and Izzi. They are definitely not the same character.

Tomas has been sent to find the Tree of Life by Queen Isabella so that they and Spain may live forever. He goes in search of it and, eventually, finds it only to be struck down by a Mayan priest wielding a flaming sword.

Tommy is trying desperately to find a way to treat Izzi's brain cancer and, in doing so, accidentally discovers a compound that includes bark and sap from a rare tree in Guatemala. The compound reverses aging in his animal test subjects and eventually reverses their cancer. The only problem is that Izzi dies before he can get her the jujumagumbo.

Tom travels in a space bubble and talks to a tree, eating its bark to stay young so that he can eventually reach a golden nebula called Xibalba, which is also, obviously, the Mayan Underworld. He promises the tree that it will be reborn once they reach the nebula and its bark replenished. He is also haunted by visages of Isabella and Izzi.

Somewhere in all that is a lucd story. But if you've seen some of Aronofsky's other flicks (Pi, Requiem) you'll know that a coherent train of thought is hard to come by. Seriously though, say what you want about the guy but Aronofsky has made some of the most critically acclaimed movies of this decade, so he must be doing something right.

Visually, the movie was very attractive. When it was green lit the first time it had a budget of 75 mil and a lot of that was going to go to elaborate sets and snazzy CG, but after Brad Pitt pulled out and Russel Crowe turned down the role, it was killed. A few years later it was re-green lit with Hugh Jackman on board and a budget of only 35 mil. Aronofsky replaced the elaborate sets and CG with some really spectacular macrophotography and introduced recurring imagery, shapes and colors to the story that made it feel like more of an art pic than a Thanksgiving Weekend blockbuster, It really was quite beautiful and is fully-realized on the Blu-ray format. The Montage of the macrophotography in the special feature is pretty amazing too.

Audibly it wasn't anything special. There were no intricate sound effects that put the 5 channel to the test. That's not to say it didn't have a lovely score. It didn't really need any fancy audio tricks because, more than anything, it was a character piece and didn't rely on special effects or a gut wrenching audio track.

All in all, I liked this movie, it was sad and confusing and, while not for everyone, it is worth a watch for the visuals and the fact that you may get lucky and be able to piece the story together. Also, Hugh Jackman is pretty awesome in it.

Audio: 5
Video: 7
Story: 5 (but only because I'm a little confused)

I will give it a 2.5 out of 5. It's a C Student. Excels in areas, disappoints in others.

Next up: Sin City

The New Feature I Mentioned On Twitter

I was having a conversation with Grant the other day about the new Blu-ray/Surround Sound System he purchased. He had it all set up and asked what the most audibly and visually impressive movie I had seen on the format was. I gave it some thought and I didn't really give him an answer, or rather I gave him 30 (ish) answers. You see, up to that point, I hadn't really considered that there are tons of movies out there that I had no interest in genre-wise that were probably glorious on Blu-ray. We have this amazing way to present films and the technology is such that filmmakers can take full advantage of it and I've had my system for a year and I had barely scratched the surface.

So I considered the movies that I had seen and hit the internet to do some more research. What I found was that there are people out there who take this stuff really seriously. Like really seriously. I'm not really one of those people, I don't know anything about audio/video encoding, audio formats, bitrates or megahertzes. What I do know is that I like movies and I can tell when something looks and sounds awesome. During my research I stumbled upon a list of films ranked by their video and audio quality by the crazy people who know all about this shit and have better systems than me. So I compiled a list for Grant of 30(ish) movies spanning 14 genres so he could pick his favorites. And that's when I had the epiphany I mentioned so I decided to watch all the movies on the list I sent to Grant that I had not already seen.

For reference, here is the list I sent Grant:

Animated
Coraline
Ratatouille

Sci-Fi
Sunshine
Blade Runner (Final Cut)

Western
3:10 To Yuma
There Will Be Blood

Mythic Fantasy
The Fountain
The Fall

Dark Fantasy
Sin City
Planet Terror

Action Fantasy
Transformers (or Transformers 2 or both)
Watchmen (because super hero was already full)

Thriller
No Country For Old Men
Tell No One

Modern Action
Shoot 'Em Up
Casino Royale

Period Action
Apocalypto
Hero

Horror
30 Days of Night
The Host

Super Hero
Iron Man
Batman/Dark Knight

Documentary
Planet Earth
Baraka

Pirates
PotC (all, because pirates fucking rule)

War
Black Hawk Down
Rescue Dawn

--

This is not a list of movies that I think are awesome (though many are) and the genres are assigned loosely in spots, but that's not what this is about. These movies take advantage of the Blu-ray format in such a way that they stand out from other films on Blu-ray. The ones in bold are one that I have already seen on Blu-ray. I have seen some of the other ones but only on DVD.

Now, some of you likely couldn't give a shit on what format your movie is presented because you believe that ultimately audio and picture quality are secondary to good story and good direction. And some of you probably don't care about Blu-ray because you're not going to spend a grand on a player and surround sound system and perhaps two more grand on a new TV to take advantage of the system. But for those of you who do have Blu-ray players and systems that take advantage of the format (or are thinking of getting one), you should not only check out that link above but also read this if you want an ordinary guy's take on it.

The first movie I received from Netflix:

Sunshine

I had never heard of the 2007 British sci-fi flick, but every Blu-ray forum I checked said that regardless of whether or not you like the genre you should experience it on the format. So I queued it up first.


Starring:
Cillian Murphy (Batman Begins/Dark Knight)
Chris Evans (Fantastic Four 1 & 2/Push)
Michelle Yeoh (Tomorrow Never Dies/tons of Kung-fu movies)
Cliff Curtis (Live Free or Die Hard/The Fountain)
and approximately 5 other actors who you may have never heard of but were all very good.

Extras Include:
Commentary
Deleted Scenes
Production Diaries
Short Films (very cool)
Enhanced Viewing Mode with the Filmmakers (which is a sort-of Picture-in-picture thing with the movie and behind the scenes stuff or interviews playing concurrently)
Journey Into Sound: Surround Sound Enhancement (allows you to move the audio around you in a surround sound setting. Pretty neat.)
HD Trailer
Fox crap

The story is pretty straightforward and starts with a bunch of pieces already in place. The sun is dying and "top scientists" have built a "stellar bomb" that will restart it. Our 8 heroes are on a mission to deliver the payload. That's basically the long and short of it.

I'm pretty tired of the monsters in space genre of Sci-fi and I was glad to see that this movie was more about human nature and god vs. science than anything else. But there is still plenty of action and ultimately a villain, of sorts.

With only 8 cast members, the surroundings become almost as important as the actors themselves. And in this regard, Sunshine does not disappoint. Basically everything about this film is beautiful. The scenes are stunning, the ship is realistic and the props are well done. Most of the CGI is space and not ship which is much appreciated. Though there are a couple scenes with interactive computers and a "holodeck" for lack of a better word, but even these are very believable. It's not hacky at all.

The audio will knock your balls off. The music and sound effects are used to set the mood very effectively. As movie-goers, we have been so inundated by background music in movies that we hardly even notice it anymore. And when we do notice it, it's because it doesn't fit or it's absent. You don't think not having background music would be a big deal, but when used right it can be as suspenseful as really well done music.

The last, like, 5 minutes were a little strange and I'm not sure what was going on with gravity (or even reality for that matter) but it sort of turned into MC Escher in Space. I think it has something to do with quantum mechanics or general relativity or something sciency. The ending might be overly tidy for some, but what's the point of watching people struggle if there's no pay-off.

All in all, I liked this movie very much. If you are a sci-fi fan I think you will enjoy it. It feels more like 2001 than anything else. Or Moon, if you've seen that. It is absolutely beautiful to look at and listen to, it's a shining example of what the Blu-ray format is all about and if you have a player, you should rent/Netflix it right away. The crazy people on the internet were not wrong to recommend this movie so highly.

Audio: 10
Video: 8
Story: 6.5 (Director Danny Boyle goes all film-school at the 49 minute mark but it's brief)

I give it 3.5 out 5 tacos. Food in place of stars so no one pulls an irony muscle.

A much more technical review can be found here, for you A/V nerds.

(This feature will be much shorter going forward, but thanks for reading if you got this far.)

Next up: The Fountain

Not The New Feature I Mentioned on Twitter

For those of you who don't follow my twitter feed, I have a new feature coming late tonight or tomorrow for A/V ninjas and movie fans.

But this isn't that.

It's something else.

Something wonderful.

While "going through the attic" the other day, I discovered some old letters between a somewhat-British relative of mine and his best-friend. I found them to be quite compelling. I have transcribed them here so you can see what life was like in the time period in which these letters were written. Historians have been unable to figure out exactly when that was.
--

Dear Archibald,

This city is pretty sweet sometimes. I don't know if you got this going on down there in KS, but here (for some reason) women feel compelled to wear short skirts and tall boots even when it's windy and in the 40's. It's pretty great. My eyes feast like a sultan on treasures of flesh.

If I ever dress to look "hip" at the expense of my general well-being, even if it's something as mild as "being cold for a little while" punch me in the throat. However, if I'm doing it to impress a girl, use your best judgment and evaluate on a case-by-case basis.

Sincerely,
Mulfrand Cancerspot

--

Dear Mulfrand,

In the event of a health-appearance ratio dilemma, I assure you that all variables will be dutifully considered prior to an throat to fist interaction. That being said, the following exclusions do, and shall forever, apply: Half-tucked in shirts, white pants, loafers and socks, sunglasses from Back to the Future II, "skinny" jeans, and the color pink. Violations of such will result in immediate Road House-style Adam's apple removal.

Warmly,
Archibald

--

Now See Here Archie,

With reference to your letter of 11 November, I must take exception with your list. Loafers are the shoe of choice for a gentleman of leisure such as myself. However, if said loafers contain a combination of the colors blue and white, or any flamboyantly-named relatives of either, then I encourage the throat-lashing.

This Armistice Day has brought to mind memories of our cantankerous old friend First Lieutenant Manwig Blotch. I recall fondly the stories he told us about clandestine meetings with enemy agents during the Franco-American War, as well as the mighty erections he'd sprout when regaling us with tales of battlefields bloody. The man loved war. It's only a shame he couldn't die bayonet-deep in some [REDACTED] like he always wanted. I shall buy a poppy in his name, may he rest in piece.

Gloriously,
Mulfrand

--

Mully,

Verily, Manwig was a patriot. Though I fondly recall that whilst he was defending the crown from foreign invaders on their sovereign soil before they had the notion of invading, his beautiful lass Margaret Butterfield was putting up a weak defense of her glory. Often bravely facing two to three sailors, not unlike ourselves, at a time. unfortunately, for being the possessor of such a potent pot of honey, her culinary skills left much to be desired and simultaneously explained the gaunt appearance of our fallen comrade.

Cordially,
Archie

--

Archface,

A finer woman than Maggie Butterfield I never met. Couldn't cook, couldn't carry a tune but so sure of hand that even the stead-fastest of men would be firing off great, steaming gouts of ejaculate like German anti-aircraft guns in a minutes time. I've never told another soul this, but I had an encounter with her once during the Embossing Festival. As you know, we had all gathered at Senõr Mantecada Fresa's estate in Barcelona. On the first night of the festival, during The Dinner of St. Bartimus we shared a look, just a look, and I came in my trousers. I played it off as a cough, but the fact is no man could corral the demon in his pants around that girl.

'Twas a sad day when she met her end. When that volcano she fell in erupted, as sure as eggs is eggs she had died the way she lived.

Sulkingly,
Mulfrand

--

That's all the letters I've been able to find so far, but I'll keep you updated.

I Demand Pie

click to enlarge

via