Wanted to do this in the comments, but that window is just too small. So here goes, more thoughts on Reign of Fire:

First of all, I have to correct myself. Contrary to my assertions yesterday, the special effects in Reign of Fire are NOT nominated for an Academy Award, though I consider them better than the nominated Attack of the Clones, those effects were just obnoxious. I'd rather have special effects blending in with the story instead of yelling: "Hey, look at me! I'm a special effect! Neat, aren't I??" So, yes, they were rather well done and I'll also give leeway because of the camera work and set design.

However:

The plot was weak at best in the first place. In addition, its holes were the size of the hole in the ozone layer. Maybe they were there when they wrote the script, maybe they developed because they cut scenes during production, maybe they were cut out of the finished film because of test audience reaction. While I, too, think the idea was good in the first place it was totally swamped by the cheesiness of the whole thing.

The characters were obnoxious als well as the actors portraying them. Underdeveloped, too. Why should I care about the guy losing his "best friend" when I haven't really seen them interact with each other? And ridiculous.

The real problem in my opinion is that the dragons were underdeveloped. It's a movie ABOUT them in the first place, but you get to see only glimpses of them. I'm not griping about not enough special effects, I'm griping about the use of the existing special effects. You see dragons attacking people, torching things and generally moseying about, but you never get their "motives". While that might be asking a little bit much for a movie about predators, I think it would have added to the plot if you knew why they were hunting people (because they really had no reason to, they were living on ash apparently). A shred of intelligence might not have hurt. Or more "dragon perspective" (though I suspect that was one of the things that was cut). But that's usually one of my main gripes. In my opinion it's the "evil" characters that need to convince me.
Example: Give me a bad movie and put Alan Rickman in it and I'll gladly watch it. Robin Hood comes to mind. (Yes, Alan Rickman also is prone to overacting, but at least it's fun to watch him do it.) I also really liked him in Die Hard, by the way, but that movie also had Bruce Willis at his best...
Contrary Example: Fifth Element. Bad Guy? Big-ass black hole trying to take over the universe. Why? Don't ask, don't tell. Yawn. Plus, Gary Oldman's evil character makes absolutely no sense in that movie.

In general the movie was just boring. Partly because of the "greyness" of the whole thing, partly because of the aforementioned lack of plot and characters. And that's the main point. I don't mind mindless action, but boring is not what an action movie should be.

Holy Cow!

I'm adding another movie to the "Really bad movies I wasted two hours of my life on" - list. Reign of Fire...Then again, what was to expect. And the special FX were quite good. Though we suspected they cut about an hour of material from the film, as it did not really offer any explanation for what was happening. And we never got to see the Magic Cow^TM.

Then again, somehow we had fun watching it anyway (we usually do with bad movies). By the way, the Jean Claude "Terrorist Chaser" "MacGuyver" "Fireman" "Icehockey Player" "Fast Redresser" "Bomb Defuser" "Free Climber" "Kids' Best Friend" "Helicopter Pilot" Van Damme film we were talking about was Sudden Death. One reader of the IMDB offers this gem of praise: "The last half of the film is just about entertaining as the first half is." Yep, that's correct.

Speaking of which, I've decided to write a famous novel so I can survive on writing blurbs for book covers and/or movie ads. I'd enjoy seeing a bad movie and then praising it like this:

• A film unlike any other. / Never have I seen anything like this film. Thank God
  
• Keeps you on the edge of your seat. You will be thinking about leaving the whole time
  
• This is a movie that gets you thinking! About gouging your eyes out with a melon scooper
  
• People will be talking about this film a lot in the next years. To laugh about it
  
• I have laughed at the death scene, I have cried about 15 minutes into the movie because it would still take another hour or so...
  
• This movie takes "entertainment" to a whole new level. And who'd have thought you could go so low?

Now I just need that famous novel. But I can't write a damn thing. One more talent I don't have. Oh well, there's always golf. By the way, here's yesterday's Photoshop endeavor. (It's aptly titled Penguin Crossing, by the way. Penguins (c) Paul). I should keep my day job. Then again, penguins are always funny.

I was walking around today and saw a sign that said: Contact the Lord now before he's gone! So I was wondering: He's going somewhere? Whereto? Why should I contact him now? The sign also said to call him before it's too late. So maybe God hasn't paid His phone bill. Or he's moving. Who knows...

Been playing with Photoshop all evening because of this...

While I was jogging today I thought about

Things I won't do (or if I'll do them I'll only do them very, very, very reluctantly) because I'm strange

• Go back into the flat because I forgot something
  
• Watch a movie that started some time ago
  
• Leave the movie theater during a movie
  
• Start anything at a "crooked time" (e.g. 13:17)
  
• Turn around with my car after leaving a parking space (I'll rather go around the block)
  
• Not finish a book I'm reading

Yesterday was rather surreal...first we watched a football game, then we waited for the start of the war. RTL kept showing Baghdad at night. "The streets are empty. Stores and schools are closed." Well, duh! It's 4:00 am in Baghdad. Try finding an open store in Munich at 4:00 am. Right after you sent your kids to school, going through well-populated streets. I don't think so...

Some commander of the American troops' name is William Wallace which provoked Braveheart jokes. We wondered what happened to Stormin' Norman Schwarzkopf, though.

Back to the usual program: Traffic Safety Tips.

These are the days when I don't really know what to write on my blog. It seems kind of pointless to give details about my life or write about my stupid thoughts when everybody is concerned about the Iraq war. My problem is that I am not a very political person and really don't have the appropriate knowledge to back up any point of view.

I don't hold with the total anti-american point of view that seems to be rather en vogue these days (try calling the citizens of any other nation "they're all fat, lazy and stupid" and hear the cry of outrage at your racist viewpoints. I'll acknowledge that sometimes there is truth in it but I am loath to condemn a whole nation on the amount of fat, lazy and stupid farmers in the Midwest). But I also certainly don't hold with the viewpoint of President Bush. The problem with the whole issue is that Bush being such a moron hovers over everything.

Saddam surely does not get my vote for "Most likeable democrat of the day" and maybe there should be some kind of action against him. But alienating the rest of the world in doing so cannot be the right course. It just hurts the validity of your arguments. Plus, attacking another country shouldn't be based on the shadiest of evidence. Really complicated issue and I'm not eloquent enough to express what I'm thinking. Maybe this article sort of approaches it concerning the pro-war arguments. (You have to watch an ad to read the whole thing, but why not)

Con-war arguments probably don't need to be enumerated here, the biggest of which is the uncertainty about the whole region. Does Saddam in fact have weapons of mass destruction? Will he use them? Against who? Will there be much support for Iraq from other states? Will terrorists take the opportunity to strike out at whomever? Will North Korea take umbrage at the fact that it's part of the "Evil Axis" and join in? I guess we'll see how everything turns out.

On a lighter note: Name-That-War:

• The first Gulf War was "Gulf War A". This one will therefore be known as "GWB"
  
• The George Bush Desert Classic: Operation BitchSlap
  
• Gulf W. War
  
• Gulf War Two: Electric Boogaloo
  
• Junior's War
  

Happy St. Patrick's Day, Everyone!

Yesterday was kind of a pointless day...though it started out ok with Marco's birthday celebration/St.Patrick's Day extravaganza. It was kind of cold, though, so we retreated to a café and had some coffee (always good)

Then I lurked at Uli's place because we wanted to go to a casting. A friend had told me about this, she said they needed extras for a "party scene" and they would pay well. When we got there, there were lots of people milling about, but nobody seemed to know exactly why they were here and what would happen next. Turned out the movie company in question was a Japanese one, so nobody understood what the little Japanese guy who was picking people was actually saying. There was the rumour, however, that the movie was a documentary about a criminal case (sort of like the Most wanted criminals or Autopsy things). That rumour was confirmed when they cast "policeman A, B, C and D" and seven kidnappers for a little kid whose stage mom was hovering around. Us women were sitting separately not being paid attention to. Then it turned out that the only woman they were looking for had alread been cast and we were free to leave. Great. Another day spent in fruitless pursuit of some kind of job. Still no answer from the other job applications, by the way...

After this experience I am declining a career being a professional extra. Most of them are really pathetic people...they are the kind that wanted to be an actor but failed. Now they are trying to break into acting somehow. There was one older lady (well, she looked about 200 years old because she apparently fell asleep in the solarium) who was wearing so much make-up you could have paved all of the city's roads with it. She said she had thought this to be a "model casting". Well, lady, what are YOU doing here then??? Plus, they are all trying to fit in by only speaking "movie set lingo".."You know, when I was ALMOST picked for that Dallmayer commercial, the director said to me...and then I said: maybe if I do it this way...blablablalightsblablablacamerablablablaaction" Uargh.

The other day I was wondering where all the people MY age are going out. So I was at this party yesterday and apparently, there they were. And it reminded me why I don't want to meet those people. I'm going to rephrase my question. Where are all the normal people my age? Those that don't feel the need to wear sunglasses after 10 p.m.? Or red sequin shirts? Or leopard prints? Or more than an undershirt? Or pin roses to their dress? Or arrange their hair sticking off their head in various angles (studio line, anyone)?

Plus, I'll never understand why you would take various songs and just put the same beat under them all the time. Probably for the people who need songs to stay in the same rhythm so as not to get disturbed by varying speeds and such. I would have considered drinking myself into a coma but they had expected this and thoughtfully charged 6€ for a 0.2 drink to prevent excessive alcohol consumption (At least mine, but I guess if you can spend half of your income on cocaine you might as well afford one or two of those drinks on top. Need to buy Gucci sunglasses, though, to wear after 10 p.m.)

So today I'm trying for a different party experience. We're going to celebrate Marco's birthday and St. Patrick's Day at the same time. I sincerely hope I'm not going to freeze to death. Well, there are a couple of pubs we can always fall back on.