1 August 2002
Check out the new home of Clyde. It will soon be updated to HTML.
2 August 2002
Razed Uppar Lip has reached production and a complete tracklist will soon be available. I saw Minority Report last night, and was not as impressed as I'd hoped I'd be. It felt a little predictable and the plotline and details were spoon-fed. It was still better-than-average, but not quite as good as last summer's Spielberg science fiction offering, AI.
I watched Clerks tonight. I am not sure if it raises my opinion of Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, but Clerks was genius.
Minority Report
2002
Steven Spielberg
1 August 2002
Cinema 6 Sycamore
Not quite as good as last summer's AI. A good movie, though there weren't any outstanding actors and the plot was spoonfed to the audience. It had no greatness.
Clerks
1994
Kevin Smith
2 August 2002
DVD [PC]
The best moment is when the bystander outside the Quick Stop quickly follows Veronica away from the store after Dante cautions her not to suck any cocks on the way to the car. This was closely followed by the scene in which Randal orders something like 20 hardcore porn titles on the phone in front of a woman and her kid before trying, not terribly hard, to recall which title she wanted. The DVD looked kind of nasty on my computer which enjoys making large areas of black look blotchy.
3 August 2002
I got to sleep in today. I did laundry and other things. I dusted off my burned copy of Badly Drawn Boy's Hour Of Bewilderbeast and was reminded of how good it is. I also watched Good Morning, Vietnam. It surpassed my modest expectations. Tomorrow should be uneventful.
Good Morning Vietnam
1987
Robin Williams
3 August 2002
DVD [PC]
I remembered seeing this on TV numerous times and was therefore hesitant to get it as stations will only rarely broadcast a good movie. I was pleasantly surprised by a movie that, while not terribly creative, did an admirable job. The horrors of Vietnam were left to the viewer to piece together for the most part. There were a few graphic depictions but that wasn't the theme of the movie. It took more time to detail the heavy-handed direction of the Armed Forces and Robin Williams trying to interact with people despite his need to go his own way. The characters and settings were mainly familiar but the movie still managed to come off without looking unoriginal.
4 August 2002
Today was nice. It featured a great lunch at which I consumed enough food for the rest of the week and a nap that I may or may not have needed. I listened to Iron Maiden's Best of the Beast last night. I figured since they were such a classic metal band I had to get something by them. It wasn't too bad. Tonight is Willie Nelson's Great Divide, which I was disappointed about when I saw it was mainly a collaboration CD with numerous dubiously talented modern artists. It sounds pretty decent, though I need to pick something else up just by Willie.
It seems like Bush will be storming Iraq sometime soon to declare the US a complete wildcard in the realm of international politics which it seems he would rather not acknowledge. Politics are so very interesting.
Miracle of the Cards
2001
Bad Actors
4 August 2002
VHS [Church]
Not good. The accents were bad and the theology was worse. The characters were horrible and the story was neither inspiring nor miraculous.
5 August 2002
Work today was soggy and muddy because the field got 1.5 inches of rain last night. We will get more rain tonight. Hopefully I can work inside tomorrow. I still have to work for Al. Al is boring.
I lost at Scrabble tonight and at Mario Golf. That was too bad.
6 August 2002
I watched the Rocky Horror Picture Show tonight, but was disappointed because the DVD was somewhat out-of-order. Hopefully I will see the ending sometime soon.
I've decided that the only upside of an attack on Iraq will mean the triumphant return of Tommy Franks to the media. Donald Rumsfeld and George W are the only two politicians I know who can be so funny while being so serious.
Today was all mindnumbing work in the lab washing out bags with bits of pollen in them and transferring the pollen to plastic bottles. For seven hours. I hope to not be in there all day tomorrow.
I took a two hour nap today. I should sleep at night, but it's just so hard.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show
1975
Tim Curry. Susan Sarandon.
6 August 2002
DVD [PC]
I got this from the library and it wound up not being able to play the last 20 minutes. Therefore, my opinion can't be quite accurate, but what I saw was pretty good. Tim Curry was suitably fascinating as a transvestite alien. The madness was definitely palpable, and everything fit very well as a whole. The picture was great, while it lasted.
7 August 2002
Today I got to do some data entry, and then field work. I had a BLT at home, and then I went to the house of Elias Ortiz with Brian Rumsey and Willis Buckles, where Mark Blum already was. We watched Fellowship of the Ring and ate Sweet Italian Sausages. I drove home very quickly because I felt like it.
Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring
2001
Ian McKellen. Elijah Wood. Ian Holm.
7 August 2002
DVD [TV]
I didn't actually watch the whole movie this time. I was at Elias's house with Rumsey, Willis, and Mark Blum. Willis was trying to "explain" the whole movie even though none of us had trouble understanding it. I had seen it once at Coral Ridge Mall with William and once at Orr Theatre with my brother and my aunt Katie. The movie was absolutely perfect. The casting was great, the special effects amazing but not overdone. The sound was superb and the cinematography and landscape were outstanding. The script was obviously solid as it was, by some accounts, the greatest book of the century. This is one of my all-time favorite movies without a doubt.
9 August 2002
More data entry and more pollen-bag washing. I hope tomorrow isn't a very long day, because it looks boring. Today I went to the library and Sal's Music Emporium. I stopped by Kum and Go where I saw Aaron Lehman and got 64 oz of Gatorade for $1.04, tax included. I went with Rumsey to Best Buy where he got the fullscreen version of Fellowship of the Ring, as well as Citizen Kane. I purchased The Last Waltz and High Fidelity, along with the White Stripes' White Blood Cells and Pedro the Lion's Winners Never Quit. After that we stopped by Mercer for frisbee. We ate at Taco Bell and saw Attack of the Clones. It is late and I am tired.
Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones
2002
Hayden Christensen. Natalie Portman. Ewan McGregor.
8 August 2002
Campus III
I didn't expect much from Attack of the Clones. This allowed me to enjoy the film as best I could without criticizing it too much. The acting is obviously lacking and the script is less than sharp, but it all works in a cheesy sort of way. Although I never really cared about the characters or really anything that was going on in the movie, once I figured out that George Lucas was just screwing around, I felt like I understood it. I got the idea that Lucas was just having fun and even mocking himself by making the story even more cliched. At that level it worked for me and I was able to scoff at the characters without despising them. The special effects were fantastic and the action was good.
10 August 2002
I took off early from work on Friday, a little before 2:00, because there was basically no one there. Most of the people who were actually working went out to eat wearing Novartis Seeds hats. Take my word for it, we knew we were cool.
I didn't do much after I came home. I must have been more tired than I realized, because I laid down to take a nap a little after 7 pm and didn't get out of bed for another 12 hours. The only reason I woke up was to go golfing. I could have definitely slept longer, as evidenced by the fact that I took an unplanned 1.5 hour nap after I got home. I watched The Postman and played Mario Golf. That was all.
Il Postino: The Postman
1994
Massimo Troisi
10 August 2002
DVD [PC]
I remembered hearing about this movie a few years ago and decided to check it out from the library. Mario, the postman, got on my nerves at first because he seemed to not fit very well with the townspeople. He matured during the movie and became a more likeable character. The story was an enjoyable little vignette of life, but nothing incredible. I'd say the rating sums the movie up pretty well.
12 August 2002
I slept a ridiculous amount this weekend. Today I worked inside washing pollen bags, entering data and packeting seed. After I came home, the electricity went out for 1.5 hours because of a storm, so we went out to eat. I didn't do much, except read more of Cat's Cradle, by Kurt Vonnegut. Tomorrow is a surprise birthday dinner thing for William. I am not sure whether he is surprised or not, but I will enjoy it anyway.
14 August 2002
It is deliciously late. I just arrived home from the surprise birthday party of one William Leichty, which included eating hamburgers and dessert, listening to KCII, getting a burned copy of the Rentals' Return of the Rentals, playing the Farming Game and watching some bad late-night TV. I will be tired tomorrow.
I finally killed all the plastic bags of pollen today. Because Al is an idiot, I don't get paid until next Friday. I watched Malcolm X tonight and tomorrow my parents and brother leave for Ohio.
Malcolm X
1992
Spike Lee. Denzel Washington.
14 August 2002
DVD [PC]
This movie just kept unfolding. Because each part of Malcolm's life was treated differently, I kept thinking I understood the point of the movie, and then something else was revealed. It wound up being fantastic and very worth the 200 minutes it took. It was inspiring and, yes, powerful.
16 August 2002
Matt Sharp, former Weezer bassist, is the brains behind Return of the Rentals which is very good, what with all the synthesizers and weird vocals and stuff. The library, frisbee in the rain, Rockadiles and 64 oz Gatorades for 99 cents. The show at Gabe's was good and I saw numerous people there I haven't seen for a while.
17 August 2002
Last night I ate pizza and watched Chasing Amy. Today I will get some stuff done and then go hang out with William for a while.
Chasing Amy
1997
Kevin Smith
16 August 2002
DVD [PC]
I am now a huge Kevin Smith fan. Though Chasing Amy was more focused on relationship and less on comic profanity and the ridiculous, it certainly succeeded. The interaction between Holden and Alyssa was great, even though I didn't really like Joey Lauren Adams. Jay and Silent Bob were perfect; and Banky describing the porn mag to the kid in the train station was easily as good as Randal frightening customers in Clerks.
18 August 2002
William and I went to the laundromat and played some interesting pinball games, then to CD Warehouse, where I got Fugazi and he got Cranberries. We went to a car show in Cedar Rapids with Nevin, where we saw the coolest Honda Odyssey known to man. We rented Resident Evil [the movie]. I played San Francisco Rush 2 and Perfect Dark with William until 6:15 in the morning. Then we played the Farming Game which I won: $293k to $53k or something.
Resident Evil
2002
Paul WS Anderson
17 August 2002
VHS
It was about what I expected. With no story at all, a group of gun-toting security guards and three scientist-types start fighting zombies and getting slaughtered. The movie actually wasn't hard to get through, but the dialogue was ridiculous and there wasn't a plot.
21 August 2002
I haven't really done anything since Saturday. I inadvertently went to bed at 7 pm last night. I have been making music with my computer. I have also been reading Cat's Cradle and Neil Gaiman's American Gods which I started last summer.
23 August 2002
I played Ultimate again, for the last time this summer. I also drank 64 oz of Gatorade in 10-15 minutes and then ate raspberry stuff. That was a lot. I saw Conker's Bad Fur Day for the N64 and it looked good enough that I might have to get it.
Tonight I watched LA Confidential. I only have five days of work left.
LA Confidential
1997
Kevin Spacey. Kim Basinger.
23 August 2002
DVD [TV]
This was as good as I expected, which is to say very good. However, it didn't seem as strong as other people said. A few bits of needless dialogue driving obvious points home. Overall, it was very well done and I have no complaints.
25 August 2002
I went to Kansas City's Arrowhead Stadium to watch Iowa State play Florida State in the Eddie Robinson Classic. It was a tremendous game. It was easily worth the price of admission and the driving time. I also got a fruit-topped waffle, sausage and an iced tea at Waffle House due to some calculation error.
Fargo
1996
Steve Buscemi. Frances McDormand.
25 August 2002
DVD [PC]
A solid movie but not outstanding.
26 August 2002
I ate Mongolian tonight.
30 August 2002
What has happened since Monday 26 August 2002? I went home early on Tuesday and slept. I grilled Wednesday night and made apple dumplings at Kate's house. I finished Neil Gaiman's American Gods. I started Christopher Hitchens' Letters to a Young Contrarian. I finished working and got paid. That was pretty much all.