When you blink your eyes...

I watched Chinatown last night in its entirety last night for the first time and finally was able to see its greatness. I had seen bits and pieces of it throughout the years on tv and knew it was a classic but only now see how truly excellent it is. As with some of the other best movies of all time, the ending was perfect. There is no way to predict what is going to happen in the end.

When watching this movie I kept noticing that one of my favorite movies, The Big Lebowski had borrowed several things from Chinatown. Really, the films are completely different but it may just be that I've seen Lebowski so many times that I noticed the similarities. For example:

1. The Dude is being paid by both a father and a daughter as is Jake Gittes


2. The Dude is has 'coitus' with the daughter as does Jake Gittes


3. Both Cross and The Big Lebowski are trying to get a girl back which is part of the mystery of both films


4. The Dude is hit in the jaw and Jake Gittes has his nose cut which is in a way endearing to both Maude Lebowski and Evelyn Mulwray, respectively.


5. The "chinaman" pees on The Dude's rug which is a term used several times in Chinatown


6. The Dude and Jake Gittes crash their cars while being followed


7. The Dude is a smartass to the chief of police of Malibu in a similar way to how Gittes talks to Escobar

I just got Virgin Suicides on dvd today and watched it for the first time. I thought it was excellent. I had heard about it for a long time but didn't get a chance to watch it until now. I saw Sofia Coppola's next movie, Lost in Translation in the theater and fell in love with that film which I also got on dvd today. I normally don't like Josh Hartnett but I thought he did pretty well in this one. Kirsten Dunst really showed the potential that I think she's started to realize now. The soundtrack by Air is of course excellent which is a huge part of a film in my opinion. There was a time when I'd listen to Playground Love on repeat for several weeks when it first came out several years back. It was great how it was worked into the entire film. I'm a fan of beautiful sadness and I think this film fits into that category.

I've been feeling kind of sick of work lately. I really need a vacation. I've got a 1.5 week vacation scheduled at the end of August to go to England but that's still 2.5 months away. I'm feeling kind of melancholy in general, its been helping me to listen to this Elefant album. I've probably listened to it about 5-6 times in the last 24 hours. Its the perfect vibe for the way I feel right now. Its slowly helping to improve my mood.

I just finished listening to Elefant - Sunlight Makes Me Paranoid. I've been wanting to get this for awhile since I first saw the video for 'Misfit' on Subterranean and couldn't stop singing it in my head. I think its a pretty good album. It was easy to make it all the way through without wanting to skip a track. It fits right in with some of my current music preferences. It is somewhat like a more reserved, slightly more British sounding version of Interpol but good in its own way. I can definitely see some of these tracks making it onto some future mix CDs.

On another note, I was walking on the sidewalk from my car to Hideaway Pizza in Edmond yesterday with my buddy Kevin. While talking and not paying attention I walked right into an overhanging street sign and got whapped in the head. At the moment of impact I uttered a 4-letter expletive without thinking. Then I noticed there was a family eating outside with their kids close by, I quickly turned and walked off in shame. Later, in the restaurant, another lady who was sitting out side walked by and started laughing when she saw my face. The end.

Oompa Loompa, doompadee doo
I have a perfect puzzle for you
Oompa Loompa, doompadee dee
If you are wise you will listen me
What do you get when you guzzle down sweets?
Eating as much as an elephant eats?
I don't like the look of it

A friend from work had a birthday yesterday so we went out to celebrate. I've got 2 words for you, "midget" "strippers". Yes, it was hilarious. All I could keep thinking of the entire time was the oompa loompa song from Willy Wonka. In a way it was slightly disturbing, in another way it almost made me piss myself from laughing so hard. I was thinking how it would have been even more funny if they came out in Oompa Loompa costumes. It was interesting how many people showed up to see them, I didn't realize midget strippers would be so popular. Unfortunately they did not climb the poll or anything, I was hoping they would shimmy wall the way up. They did do a bit of rump shaking, some cart wheels and hand stands which was admirable. I think they would fit well into a David Lynch film. Anyway, it was an interesting experience.

I watched High Fidelity again for the millionth time. Its one that always makes me feel good. Its up there with my most watched movies of all time including 1) Pulp Fiction 2) Big Lebowski 3) High Fidelity.

No matter how many times I watch it I usually notice a new band reference in the scenery that I hadn't noticed before. Last time I noticed the record that Barry wasn't going to sell the customer and sold to Louis for $40 instead was the first Captain Beefheart album. Another time I noticed a Guided by Voices poster on the door. There are many more but I can't think of them right now.

I had been thinking about getting a record player for awhile and finally happened upon this one in a pawn shop for a reasonable price:

It is a dj style turntable which is kind of cool but I don't plan on doing any scratching on it. It plays records very well, however, which was the point. I ended up going on a lp buying spree for the last few days and ended up quite a few good ones and you can see on my current music section which I just updated. I now added format as a column so you can see which ones are on CD and which are on LP. One that I have been listening to over and over is the Diana Ross album, it really has an amazing feeling to it. I've also listened to Ziggy Stardust several times. Its going to take awhile for me to really absorb all this music, but I've had it going constantly since I got it so far.

I had to get a phono preamp so the record player would work properly with my new receiver but once I finally got that it sounds great. There is just something that seems more warm and full about the sound from a record player. I really enjoy listening to music on it especially older records. I want to try and find some great old jazz and blues records sometime.

I spent last week visiting Las Vegas for the first time. I stayed at the Paris hotel which was pretty nice. Since it was for work my expenses were all paid for which was a big bonus. All I had to pay for was gambling and alcoholic beverages. The good thing is when you are gambling the alcoholic beverages are free so that is another plus.

The first day I was really tired and I didn't like Las Vegas on my first impression because everything seemed very fake. As the week went on and I experienced what it was really about I grew to like it there. On Thursday I took a nap from 6pm-midnight, when I woke up I decided to get my camera out and walk the strip. I ended up walking all the way from Paris to Binion's in the old downtown casino district. I left 12:30AM and got to Binion's at about 3:30AM. I just looked it up on yahoo maps and its over 6 miles. It was an exciting journey passed many new and old casinos, drug dealers, prostitutes, miniature wedding chapels, and drunken pedestrians. I saw the world championship of poker going on inside Binion's when I got there for a few minutes which was cool. I took a taxi back because I was exhausted and already felt lucky to not have been stabbed.

I went with some friends to a bar I hadn't been to before called "Cock O' the Walk". I kept asking them if it was a gay bar and said it 'was not'. This was an interesting little place near NW 36th and Western in OKC. The large beers are served in a huge ass schooner glass. When full you feel like you need to pick it up with 2 hands but all the guys use one hand to make sure they look cool. We played pool and darts for several hours. I had to describe to my friend Justin the SNL with Christopher Walken as Bruce Dickinson in the "VH1 Behind the Music: Blue Oyster Cult" sketch. Where he uses the phrase "I'm the Cock of the Walk, Baby".

That reminds me of the time my friend Jeff and I at work had a "Cowbell Friday" where we traded off playing songs featuring the cowbell. This was of course inspired by the aforementioned sketch. It turned out to be a lot of fun. If you have not seen the sketch you can at least read the transcript here until you get a chance to see it.

I watched the original Night of the Living Dead for the first time in its entirety last night. I really enjoyed it. The lighting was excellent, I am big into high contrast black and white images. Some of the acting was of course a bit cheesy, but it is a classic. According to imdb.com it was made for only $114,000 which is amazing considering how it turned out. I really appreciate Romero's attention to detail and great work on the editing. As with the other Romero film I've seen, Martin, the cuts really keep your keep your attention and your eyes on the screen. Also, the ending to the film was perfect. That says a lot because I think ending a film properly is often one of the hardest areas to get right. I'm anxious to see the rest of the George Romero films.