mashby | The personal blog of Michael Ashby

April 18, 2003

The Count Of Monte Cristo

The Count Of Monte Cristo Director: Kevin Reynolds
Writer(s): Alexandre Dumas Père (novel), Jay Wolpert (screenplay)
Category: Action / Adventure
MPAA: PG-13
Runtime: 131 min
Country: USA / UK
Language: English
Year: 2002
Tagline: Prepare for adventure. Count on revenge.

Plot: A beautifully photographed rekindling of the classic Alexandre Dumas story. Edmond Dantes’ (Jim Caviezel) life and plans to marry the beautiful Mercedes (Dagmara Dominczyk) are shattered when his best friend, Fernand (Guy Pearce), deceives him. After spending 13 miserable years in prison, Dantes escapes with the help of a fellow inmate (Richard Harris), cleverly insinuates himself into the French nobility and plots his revenge.

April 15, 2003

One Step Forward – Half A Step Back

Last week was an absolute bear and I wasn’t able to ride at all. Yesterday I had choir rehearsal, so I decided to ride to the rehearsal. I had no idea how far the ride would be, or how long it would take me. I just hopped on my bike and rode.

Since it was going to be dark when I got out, I quickly threw on the light kit I got from my friends a few years ago. It’s been a long time since I did any night riding, so I was really looking forward to the return trip. Unfortunately, 40 yards into the ride home and the light went out. After stopping for a moment to inspect what happened, I realized that the bulb had burned out.

Nothing I could do but ride home in the dark – which turned out to be a lot of fun. :). The ride was riddled with internal comments like, “What the hell was that?”, “I hope that’s just a shadow (not a pothole)” and “Hmmmm, I’m not wearing much that reflects.”

I did fine riding wise, but my performance was off a good bit. I could feel that it had been awhile since I rode. All in all though, it was a great ride.

Total Miles: 18.45
Total Time: 1:28
Average Speed:12.79 mph

April 13, 2003

I Am Sam

I Am Sam
Director: Jessie Nelson
Writer(s): Kristine Johnson, Jessie Nelson
Category: Drama
MPAA: PG-13
Runtime: 132 min
Country: USA
Language: English
Year: 2001
Tagline: love is all you need

Plot: Sam (Sean Penn) is a grown man with the mental capacity of a 7-year-old. After fathering a child with a homeless woman, Sam raises the baby himself until an incident at a birthday party finds the Child Protective Services deeming him an unfit guardian. With the help of yuppie lawyer Michelle Pfeiffer, Sam attempts to regain custody of his daughter and prove that, despite his handicap, he’s a truly loving father.

Review: Better have a box of Kleenex for this one. I saw this movie the same weekend that I saw John Q and I have to say that this was on the exact opposite end of the spectrum even though it’s in the same genre! How is it on the opposite? Simply put, the emotions that it illicit are genuine.

April 12, 2003

John Q

John Q
Director: Nick Cassavetes
Writer(s): James Kearns Category: Drama / Thriller
MPAA: PG-13
Runtime: 116 min
Country: USA
Language: English
Year: 2002
Tagline: Give a father no options and you leave him no choice.

Plot:Denzel Washington plays John Q, a luckless blue-collar workingman without the insurance needed to cover his son’s emergency heart transplant. Driven to desperation, he holds a hospital’s emergency room hostage until doctors agree to perform the operation. James Woods and Anne Heche are a couple of stubborn hospital staffers. Robert Duvall plays a no-nonesense hostage negotiator and Ray Liotta is a gung ho police chief in this gripping story about the possible consequences of real social ills.

Review: I delayed watching this movie from the simple fact that the previews gave me the impression that this was a “squashed squirrel.” There are two ways to elicit emotion: 1) provide a cliche device, such as a squashed squirrel (who won’t go “awwww” when seeing a small animal hurt?), or 2) earn your audience emotions by providing them with honest writing and believable situations. Unfortunately, John Q goes for the easy cliche almost every time.

April 11, 2003

Oh My Virgin Ears!

Last night I was watching TV and a commercial for Hechts department store came on and to my horror the song used for the ad was ‘Always Something There To Remind Me‘ by Naked Eyes. :O They had changed the lyrics of the hook to ‘Always something there to excite me,’ but there was no mistaking the original song.

This isn’t the first time that a company has bastardized a popular song to peddle their products. I remember back in 1987 when Nike used a single version of “Revolution” as part of a $7 million campaign to sell Nike shoes. I remember thinking at the time that it was no big deal. It was a good song, but it wasn’t part of my cultural history, so I didn’t see the harm in it.

April 10, 2003

Klip It Real Good

I have fallen completely head over heals for RSS and XML News feeds. In fact, I would say that it’s the primary method that I use to keep up with news and the web in general. What I like about it is that instead of having to remember to go check out your favorite web sites, the web sites come to you. Typically referred to as “push” technology, news feeds provide you with the latest headlines and allow you to keep up with a site without having to remember to visit it.

Now you may be wondering, why in the world would a web site give you their headlines instead of making you come to their web site and view the content? By pushing the headlines to you in a news feed, aren’t they in a sense cutting their own traffic? Quite the opposite. With a news feed, your readership can stay up-to-date with the your web site and have your news brought to their doorstep. Since all you’re providing is the headline, the user must come to your site to read the content. In other words, news feeds actually increase your overall traffic. 🙂

April 10, 2003

Death To Smoochy

Death To Smoochy
Director: Danny DeVito
Writer(s): Adam Resnick
Category: Comedy
MPAA: R
Runtime: 109 min
Country: USA / UK / Germany
Language: English
Year: 2002
Tagline: Get ready for an unexpected hit.

Plot: Danny DeVito directs this dark comedy set in the dog-eat-dog world of children’s television. Kids’ show star Rainbow Randolph (Robin Williams) gets fired over a bribery scandal and is replaced by Smoochy (Edward Norton) — a puffy, purple rhinoceros. When Randolph discovers Smoochy is having an affair with Randolph’s ex-lover Nora (Catherine Keener), a top programming executive at the network, he plots his revenge.

Review: This is an odd little film. It’s funny, but in an off-center kind of way. If you found Fight Club funny (which I thought it was in parts), then you’ll probably find this movie funny as well. Not that they are the same in context, just that their humor is similar in the oblique way at which they approach it.

This is clearly a dark comedy that envelopes itself into a style that is much like the children’s television shows they produce. In fact, I’d venture to say that the style of this film is almost comic book in nature. The lighting is very stark and solid in it’s choice of colors and the characters are almost ripped from the pages of a Dick Tracy comic book, albeit a more modern one.
Continue Reading

April 7, 2003

Lifestyles Of The Techie And Aimless

Image From Webcam After browsing some of the other weblogs out there, such as Leo Leporte’s Leoville and Chris Pirillos’ C:PIRILLO.EXE, I decided to add a section called WebCam (discontinued). There you will find my webcam as well as my desktop cam, so you can see what is running on my desktop. It’s a bit voyeuristic and a may be a little too Osborne-ish, but I figured I’d give it a shot for the time being and see how it goes. I hope you like it. :s

Update: I found a way to show you what music I’m currently listening to. I have a lot more planned for this feature, but for now you’ll find this in the “Now Playing” section listed in the navigation bar on your right. For fellow webloggers who would like to know how I did it, Matthew A. Haughey has an excellent article on the subject on his weblog.

April 6, 2003

There’s Gold In Them Thar Low Hung Jeans

Gold Jeans Nothing Quite Like Alienating Your Target Demographic. When I see articles like this one, I just can’t help but get pissed off. First off, let me explain that I don’t think Napster is necessarily the greatest thing to happen to the music industry and that all music should be free. However, I do think that the music industry is the first entertainment industry to feel the brunt of the digital age. The fact that they have responded to this change so poorly is their own fault and not the fault of 3 college kids with access to a few computers.

Back in 1996 I read a book by Nicholas Negroponte entitled “Being Digital.” The basic tenant of the book was that for all the talk of the world entering the “Information Age,” the reality was that the information age was over and that we were actually entering the “digital age.” The difference being that anything that could be delivered digitally would be and that any industry that was not aware of the change and prepared for this change would face severe hardships.
Continue Reading

April 5, 2003

American Pie 2

Director: James B. Rogers
Writer(s): Adam Herz, David H. Steinberg
Category: Comedy
MPAA: R
Runtime: 104 min
Country: USA
Language: English
Year: 2001
Tagline: “This Summer It’s All About Sticking Together.”

Plot: Jim, Oz, Kevin and Stifler are back — and hornier than ever! After their first year of college, the gang reunites and rents a beach house for the summer. Jim (Jason Biggs) prepares for a reunion with Nadia (Shannon Elizabeth), but finds he’s falling for band camp maven Michelle (Alyson Hannigan). Substitute Super Glue and a porno tape for the apple pie from the first movie, and you’ve got a helluva sticky situation. Continue Reading