wildyams

Should I begin having faith in the American movie-going public? I mean, one week after making The Island tank, this last weekend the people stayed away from Stealth. Could mainstream America actually be showing some signs of having good taste? Is that really possible? While I still have many doubts (Fantastic Four has made $136 million to date), this is definitely a nice trend we're seeing. Why do I have this sinking feeling that the American public will ruin this by making The Dukes of Hazard a big success this coming weekend? Please let that movie bomb as well!

Ah, quick question: do people who consider themselves "born again" celebrate two birthdays?

Somewhat out of nowhere I've gotten really into watching The Shield in the last week or so. I'm not much of a TV person (I could count the number of shows I'd voluntarily watch on one hand), but I have to say, The Shield is really quite good, at least so far it is. I'm halfway through the first season, and have the rest of the discs lined up on my Netflix que, so unless it gets lame, that's gonna probably be most of what I'll be watching for the next couple weeks or so. Granted, this doesn't really make for an exciting entry on the blog here, but it's all I can come up with right now.

Oh yeah, I'm housesitting for my Dad this week, so that's pretty cool.

And the winner for today's funniest Fark thread is:

The one about Lauren Bacall saying "When you talk about a great actor, you're not talking about Tom Cruise."

Dear everyone,

Please don't go see The Dukes of Hazzard this weekend so that it will tank miserably and we can be spared any potential sequels and/or similiar movies. No more movies based on TV shows from the 70s or 80s please, I think we've got enough now to last us our whole lives (even if medical science figures out a way to let us grow as old as Yoda, we still have plenty). Thanks for listening.

Sincerely,
Me

PS - Hollywood may leave a comment talking about how they need your money for blow and floozies (it wouldn't be the first time), but please be strong and resist. Thanks!

I wanna try something new here, just to see how successful it is. Since I know a lot of people who are very very good at getting movie quotes, I've always had fun throwing out a movie quote to see if anyone knows it, or trying to guess what movie I've heard some quote in, and thought I might try it here. The only problem is that if I post a quote or a soundclip that is too memorable, it will be too easy. It's also a danger that someone could look up the answer using Google or something. But I thought if I used a line or phrase that was short and really generic, maybe people wouldn't be able to "cheat" like that. So I'm gonna try a couple test ones and see if anyone can get these. Here's how it's gonna work: I'll post a really short audio clip first (and it may not even be a quote, it may just be a noise from a movie), and if you know what movie it's from, post it in the comments. If nobody can guess it, I'll give a longer audio clip, and then if still nobody can guess it I'll give one final rather long audio clip. If people are still stumped (which I'm guessing won't ever happen), then I'll give clues like which actor or actors are in the movie, or how many words are in the title, etc...

Got it? Ok then, here's the first clip:

clue #1
(click the link to listen to the clip)

If you get it, tell me how easy it was so I can gauge how much more difficult I should try to be with the next one.

Update - John got the correct answer in the comments, so if you don't want to know the answer yet, don't go there; or if the suspense is killing you, then that's where you wanna be. :smile Here's the full clip if you wanna hear it in context: link

Ok, yesterday's was super easy for John (others seemed to have trouble with it, so that gives me hope), but I'm hoping today's may be a little tougher. I checked out the phrase on IMDB and on Google and I don't think those places are gonna help you at all, so hopefully this will just be one that you either know or you don't. Good luck, here's the clip:

clue #1

Update - Since no one has got it yet, here's another clip for you:

clue #2

2nd Update - Milkshake got it in the comments, so if you don't want it spoiled for you, don't look yet (or check it out if you wanna know what the answer is). Here's the full conversation from the movie so you can get the two quotes' context: link

I was tempted to do a sound clip as opposed to a quote this time, and the movie I chose would have been a good one to just use a sound effect, but instead I figured I'd give the quotes another shot before I tried just some random noise from a movie. So here you go, good luck:

clue #1 :original / long

By the way, yesterday's winner, Milkshake, was giving me a hard time because I hadn't blogged any kind of review for Stealth, which J-Krue and I went and saw last Friday, so I thought I'd give my review now:

It was bad.

Ok, that's not much of a review, but I don't really know what to say about it. J-Krue summed it up nicely by saying it was like a cross between Top Gun, 2001 and Behind Enemy Lines, except it was far more shitty than any of those movies (and Behind Enemy Lines was pretty damn shitty). So there you go, if you want to see a movie that just stinks, and isn't even enjoyably bad, then Stealth is the movie for you.

Update - Ok, there's no guesses so far, so either it's total disinterest or people are stumped. In case it's the latter of the two, here's another clip for you guys. Please note that unlike the last two days, these two clips are not from the same area of the movie, and are from totally different scenes:

clue #2: original / long

2nd Update - John won again, the answer is in the comments. I added the longer versions of the above links, and here was what was going to be my final clue for anyone who is interested: link

I'd like to pass along something I learned while reading Fark today:

This guy:

Said this:
"People don't think it be like it is, but it do."

I think I can safely say I love the internets almost as much as I love Fridays :biggrin

Yesterday I went over to my Dad's house and hung out with he and Rebecca. I hadn't seen Rebecca in quite a while, so it was nice to see her again. The three of us ended up going to see the documentary Grizzly Man at the Lamelle's in Pasadena, and then we had dinner at Hamburger Hamlet. My Dad didn't really want to see Grizzly Man, but Rebecca and I both were interested in it, so he decided he'd check it out as well. If you haven't heard of the movie, it is a documentary about Timothy Treadwell, who spent 13 summers going up to Alaska and living with Grizzly bears. For the last 5 summers he went up there, he took a video recorder and recorded over 100 hours of footage. Ultimately he and his girlfriend were both killed and eaten by a Grizzly in 2003, and using his footage along with interviews they made a documentary about it.

I will say this about the movie, it was really interesting. Treadwell clearly had a lot of issues, and was not a very stable person to do what he did, and you can see how unstable he was in the footage he shot of himself. The director doesn't try to make him out to be something other than this, or try to make him out to be some kind of hero or martyr, which is good because I don't think he should be viewed that way. Going to live with Grizzly bears is nuts, not heroic, so I'm glad the film showed Treadwell in this light. However, appropriately the film does not portray him as a raving lunatic or something like that; but more just someone who had problems, and chose living in the wild with bears as his way to try to escape them. Treadwell was not a bad guy, he was just a guy who had problems, like many people do, but instead of diving to the bottom of a bottle of booze or getting in too heavily with drugs as many people do (and which Treadwell apparently had issues with earlier in his life as well), Treadwell resorted to a means of escape which was ultimately even more deadly. It was just a shame that a guy like him who had the same kinds of problems that many people have dealt with them in the way that he did, rather than trying something that would have been more helpful, and not so dangerous. Anyway, it was a good documentary - disturbing at times (obviously), and funny at others; it definitely made me stop and think.

Well, changing subjects, despite the meager response to Friday's quote, I'm gonna try to keep this going for a bit unless it truly dies. Here is today's quote:

clue #1

Update - Ok there's no guesses yet, so here's the second clue:

clue #2

2nd Update - Nobody's gotten it so far (except for J-Krue who looked it up on IMDB), so here's the final audio clue, which really should give it away, and which encompasses the previous two clips in their full context:

clue #3

As I was driving in this morning I heard on the radio that there may be a new curse that is haunting the Boston Red Sox. Apparently ever since Ben Affleck won his Academy Award (or since Armageddon came out, take your pick), the Red Sox have never won a game on Ben Affleck's birthday. As you may know, AFLAC is one of the more famous Red Sox fans, much to the displeasure of Red Sox fans everywhere. Since today is AFLAC's 33rd birthday, it will be interesting to see if the Red Sox keep the losing streak on his birthday alive for the 8th year in a row. As the radio guys said today, it is the curse of the "Ben-bino" :lol

In honor of Ben Affleck's birthday yesterday (and the ensuing curse he put on the Red Sox, if you believe in that sort of thing), here's today's quote which is sorta birthday-themed:

clue #1 - long / original

Update - John won again, the answer is in the comments. Here was my other clue for this one:

clue #2

There's a great comment thread on Fark which is just asking the question "what is your favorite movie scene?" I'd recommend it to anyone who's at all a fan of movies just because there are a bunch of great movie quotes and many, many great stills from movies. Here were a couple of my favorites:

"You're entering a world of pain..."

Of course they're not all just humorous scenes like those, but those are pretty classic. Definitely a worthwhile read for any movie fan :smile

Since John nailed what I thought was a fairly obscure quote yesterday with what appeared to be complete ease, I've decided today to make my first movie clip quiz entry featuring a sound from a movie with no dialogue. Hopefully this will be a little tougher, but who knows, maybe it will be painfully easy for someone. If you can't get it based on the non-dialogue clip, I've got a couple clips that do have dialogue to help out later on; but for now, all you get is this:

clue #1

Update - John is on fire these days, he got it just from that short series of beeps! Here were going to be my next audio clues for anyone who still wants to see if they can get it without looking at the comments for the answer (the short versions are tougher, obviously, because there's less dialogue to go on):

clue #2 - short / long

clue #3 - short / long

I was at work till 11 last night, so if today's quote seems uninspired or too easy or whatever, well too bad. Like Tin Cup says, everybody gets what they get. I'm taking tomorrow off from work to go see the Red Sox play the Angels with my Dad, so I dunno if I'm gonna do another one of these this week. Whatever will you do without this? :roll:lol Maybe I'll try to come up with some insanely hard quote for the weekend and leave a couple clues up there and see if anyone hazards a guess. Whatever, I'm rambling, here's today's clue:

clue #1

Update - John's the only one guessing so far, and he hasn't got it yet, so here's the second clue:

clue #2

Update #2 - Nobody's got it yet, so here's the 3rd audio clue, which is just the first clue, but in it's full context, so it gives you more to go on:

clue #3

Update #3 - Our "mystery guest" (687) got today's quote, so the answer's in the comments if you want to know. Here was my last audio clue, which is just what the second clue was, but in its full context:

clue #4

Well, today I've got the day off from work (or rather, I took the day off from work) to go to the Red Sox-Angels game; but as I said yesterday, I figure I'll give one last movie quote quiz for the weekend. Now hopefully I've picked a sufficiently obscure movie and sufficiently obscure quotes from that movie, so as to try to drag this out as long as possible. But who knows, I didn't think anyone would get War Games the other day from that series of beeps, and John did, so I guess you never know.

clue #1

Update - Here's the second clue:

clue #2

Update #2 - So much for picking obscure quotes from an obscure movie, J-Krue got it with only the above two quotes to go on (the answer's in the quotes). Here are three other clips I wanted to post which I think are humorous if nothing else:

clue #3 clue #4 clue #5

I had a nice three day weekend which I'll probably write a bit about later on when I get a chance, but in the meantime here's today's quote quiz:

clue #1 - short / long

clue #2 - short / long

Update - J-Krue is on a hot streak, defending his title from Friday by getting today's answer correct. I posted all the audio clues I had for this one above in case anyone wants to listen to them :smile

Matt raised a very valid complaint in the comments for yesterday's quiz. He basically said that the problem with this game is that by the time he comes here to listen to the clue it's always already been answered. I've been trying to post the clues early in the morning at around 8 am, give or take, figuring that gives everyone a shot at it when they first get to work, or shortly after arriving at work (or for John presumably before lunch). Now clearly I'm not an early riser, so believe me when I say I'm not actually getting up at 8 am to make sure I've got a clue for the day going; no I use a feature which allows me to post at a future time, and I set that time the night before and go to bed, so that when I wake up, my clue will have already been posted. Because of this I could make it easier for people and set a predetermined time for when each day's clue will go online, so for people who feel like they are getting screwed by the timing, it will give them a chance to come online as soon as it is posted and give an answer. This is the best solution I can think of, but I am certainly open to suggestions, so by all means tell me if you think there's a better way. Comments or suggestions in general are much appreciated, because I want this to be as fun as possible, and I'm sure everyone's got some great ideas. Anyway, feel free to speak up. In the meantime, here's today's clue:

clue #1

Update - J-Krue wins again! The answer's in the comments. Here are the rest of the clues:

clue #2 / clue #3 / clue #4

Can J-Krue be stopped? The man is untouchable apparently, having won the last three in a row! Ok, maybe he's not "untouchable", but it's his birthday today, so why not pile on the praise? Happy Birthday, J-Krue! Hopefully you got your birthday wish and didn't get sick. Although, what do I know, maybe J-Krue's birthday wish was to make it four in a row. If so, here's today's clip:

clue #1

Update - There are no guesses yet, so in case people are stumped, here's the second clip:

clue #2

Update #2 - No one's got it yet, but I had a feeling today's might be a little tough. Don't worry, I've got more clues, so here you go:

clue #3

Update #3 - Either there's some serious disinterest today, or people are really stumped. Or people are holding back so that J-Krue can get the win on his birthday :lol Well whatever the reason, here's the last audio clue, so if no one guesses it from this, I'm going to have to start giving actor hints:

clue #4

Update #4 - Man, nobody even popped in to wish J-Krue a happy birthday today :sad Nobody's guessed the movie either, with J-Krue being the only one who even made an attempt. So here's an actor clue for you: Christine Taylor (Mrs. Ben Stiller herself). Since anyone reading still has this quiz to chew over, I'm not going to have one for tomorrow. I'd chalk today's lack of guesses up to indifference or disinterest if I hadn't picked such an obscure, forgettable movie. Since I may actually be the only one who's even seen this movie, it's possible everyone just has no clue. Any guesses? :smile

Man, I am very very ready for this weekend. It's been a pretty busy, stressful week so the next couple days off will be much appreciated. I've had a pretty interesting week, beginning last Friday with going to see the Red Sox-Angels game with my Dad. We had great seats that someone had given him, only 4 rows behind the Red Sox dugout so we could cheer them on as they came in and out of the dugout. It was a great game with the Red Sox winning in the 10th inning. Saturday I saw Steve-o for the first time in a couple months and got to hear how he's doing at the San Bernadino Sheriff's Academy. I met he and Juliette and Jon as well as Janeen and Keith and his wife and kids and we all had breakfast together. After that I went down to Costa Mesa to see Mary and check out the new place she moved into. She made dinner and we watched Miller's Crossing (a movie that gets better with every viewing). Then in and amongst work this week I got out to go see Aliens last night at the Arclight with Cookie, Mr. & Mrs. Burbank, Miki and Chris Chow. That's another movie that never gets old for me and it was great to see it on the big screen again. Tonight I got out to Pasadena for dinner with my Dad and Rebecca, and now I'm writing this entry. I'll have a new quiz up tomorrow morning, but in the mean time if you're fiending for audio clips to listen to, check out this rather hilarous series of prank phone calls from the Howard Stern show:

My turban is dirty :lol

Well unfortunately people seemed a bit too busy to hazard many guesses for the last quiz (which was sorta ok since I've been pretty swamped myself and got out of having to do a quiz yesterday as a result :lol), but maybe today's will either be easier or being that it's Friday and/or the weekend, people will maybe have a few more guesses. The quotes for this movie are generally going to be very short, so listen close:

clue #1

Update - A couple guesses so far, but no one's got it yet, so here's the second clue:

clue #2

Update #2 - Looks like that last clue didn't help too much (told you they were short clips). See if this one helps:

clue #3

Update #3 - I've got one more real short clip and if this doesn't help, then I've got some longer quotes:

clue #4

Update #4 - A lot of guesses, but nobody's got it yet, so here's a much more helpful clue (at least I think it will be more helpful):

clue #5

Update #5 - John finally got it with the last clue, so the answer is in the quotes. I only had one more clue for this one, so if you still want to try to figure it out on your own, here's my last bit of help, otherwise go to the comments for the answer:

clue #6

Friday's quiz seemed to stump people a bit, and it was no doubt due to the mercilessly short clips that I provided, but with a movie that is as repeatedly watched as Major League is, really if I'd picked any clips that were long at all someone would have got it almost immediately. Today's clips are much longer in length, I assure you, so hopefully it won't be quite so hard:

clue #1

Update - I've got a bunch of clues for this one today, so to help out here's the second one:

clue #2

Update #2 - Ok, no more guesses, so here's the next clip:

clue #3

Update #3 - Another incorrect guess, another clip:

clue #4

Update #4 - Milkshake is convinced it's Who Framed Roger Rabbit, but alas it is not, so here is another clue to help you out:

clue #5

Update #5 - Everyone's still stumped so here's the next clue:

clue #6

Update #6 - Milkshake finally got it (the answer's in the comments), but here were the remaining two clues I had:

clue #7 clue #8

I'd like to say hello and send get well wishes to my office-mate at work, Pao-Pao, who underwent back surgery yesterday. Pao has been out of work for a couple weeks now with a bad back which has been bothering her for months (if not years) now, and I know everyone in the office really hopes she recovers quickly and completely so she can come back to work and help us out :lol

It's been especially busy at work lately so I haven't had as much time to do my daily quote game, but I've gotten lucky in that a couple have taken more than one day for people to get the answer, so I'm sorta off the hook on those anyway :wink I'm going to be housesitting for my Dad for the next week, and since all my quote-grabbing equipment is at my apartment I wouldn't normally be able to provide quotes for the game, but I grabbed a couple movies in advance to maybe help tide this over through the weekend. Here's today's clip:

clue #1

Update - Matt knows the answer, but he cheated to get it :lol and since nobody else has made a guess, here's the second clip:

clue #2

Update #2 - Still no correct guesses (Matt kept the answer to himself :smile), so here's another clue:

clue #3

Update #3 - There haven't been any more guesses, so here's another clue:

clue #4

Update #4 - John guessed it so the answer is in the comments. Here's the rest of the clues I had:

clue #5, clue #6, clue #7