GO UTES!!!

Good Afternoon Ladies & Gentlemen,


First off, big ups to the University of Utah for thoroughly bruising the ass of the UCLA Bruins Saturday in their way to a 44-6 victory over a nationally ranked college football team...and getting their first win of the year (still one more than Notre Dame unfortunately). Everybody was worried when all of our good players kept getting injured...but at least we'll have two wins this year (Watch out BYU!!!). Secondly, because I'm a bit of a dumbass, I forgot to bring my pictures of past New Orleans trips with me to work...so I'm going to have to postpone that blog one more day. My apologies...but trust me, it's worth the wait. In the meantime, I'll catch you up on what's happening in the world that I think you should be aware of...


Panda News of the Day - Always showing the Love for the mystical beasts, I am here to report that there have been TWO events that occured this weekend of note. First, the San Diego Zoo has a new baby girl panda...but has yet to be named, as mentioned before, because of the Chinese tradition to wait 100 days before naming the youngling. She's about half way there now. My suggestion is Ling Ling, in honor of the great warrior of the television series "Drawn Together" (Season two out a week from tomorrow). Second, there has been a set of TWINS born at the research center in Chengdu...just days after they were visited by the US & Swedish women's soccer teams. Coincidence? I think not. Actually, it probably is because they have twin a lot in captivity or in the wild...but still...I think Coors said it best with "I love teams that go for two, bears that eat bamboo, cities built on sin...and TWIIIIIINS!!!"


50 Cent vs. Kanye West Update - Okay, so the Media is kind of blowing this thing out of proportion (as expected, marketing is awesome), so allow me to add my humble opinion into the mix. I purchased BOTH albums over the weekend ('cuz I likes them both...which may be weird...but it's a mood thing, I guess) and have listened to both albums. It's basically what you would expect. "Curtis" has 50 rapping about all the guns, money, hoes, and anything else on his person nowadays in his usual format with good beats laid down by Dr. Dre. "Graduation" has Kanye talking about getting screwed at award shows & how he ain't had nuthin' growing up.


So which do I think is better...and gets the Dr. Mookie Love 9/11 Release Trophy? I would say that both are good...and it depends on your mood...but if 50 were holding a gun to my head & demanded that I pick one...then I'd pick his. Why? Because he'd put the gun down...and Kanye can whine about losing ANOTHER award and it'll fuel him to drop another album. That's my decision. What do you think? By the way, final numbers are released Wednesday...but Kanye has outsold 50 in the UK and 50 has postponed his European tour...so we shall see on Wedneday who gets the street cred, or something.


Oops! - "Mr. Burns was taken to the VA Hospital where he was pronounced Dead On Arrival. He was then taken to a better hospital where his condition was upgraded to Alive." Carlos Carmejo was in a highway accident & declared dead. Later at the morgue, he awoke to find himself in horrible pain halfway through his own autopsy. Ouch. His wife was mildly relieved to find him alive when asked to identify the body. Here's a picture of Mr. Carmejo after his resurrection with the autopsy documentation. The hospital could not be reached for comment. Somebody may have been on the phone.


Run Lola Run - So last night after my blog entry, I thought that I would watch myself a nice foreign film before going off to bed...and my Blockbuster movies had just come in...so I watched "Lola Rennt (Run Lola Run - German)" and it was quite zany & cool. I enjoyed it thoroughly. It was directed by Tom Tykwer (from that weird "Perfume - Story of a Murderer" movie from about a month ago) and it was very entertaining. Besides, half the movie is watching a hot German girl running. What's not to like about that? As I've mentioned before, I watch a LOT of movies...and foreign movies are some of my favorites...but have you ever wondered what my favorite foreign movies are? I didn't think so...but here it goes anyway...


Foreign Films


Medal Winners


Gold - La Vita e Bella (Life is Beautiful - Italy 1997) - Roberto Benigni won an Oscar for Best Actor this year because of this film that he wrote, directed, & starred in. It's a heartwarming tale of true love, spontaneous zaniness, imagination, family, & the Holocaust. How could it not be hilarious? Well, trust me. It's a great movie about hope & Love against the worst of times as well as the best...and you know that the good doctor likes that. Visually stunning...and to help you with that, it can be dubbed...or if you want to brush up on your Italian for a vacation in November like me, you'll be saying "Bon Giorno Principessa" in no time. Five stars, one of the greatest feel good movies of all time.


Silver - Le Pacte des Loups (The Brotherhood of the Wolf - France 2001) - A girlfriend sat me down to watch this movie with the promise of seeing a naked Monica Bellucci (God, I miss her) and the promise of action both on screen and off...and I thank her every time that I watch this movie. It was directed by Christophe Gans ("Silent Hill") and stars a who's who of French actors that you'll recognize from other movies...and has the action of a John Woo action film, the story of a good horror flick, the cinematography of an oscar nominated film, and the sexiness of a French-Italian film.


Bronze - Ying Xiong (Hero - China) - Director Yimou Zhang has made some great movies over the years...but this was probably his masterpiece. It took all the top martial arts actors of China (Jet Li, Tony Leung, Donnie Yen, Ziyi Zhang, Maggie Cheung, etc.) and put them into one film about the story of the tyrant Qin, who unified the six kingdoms of China with a mighty army...and the assassins who tried to stop him. It's a great film for the martial arts fighting, beautiful cinematography, and there's even story of Love, patriotism, sacrifice, and all the other things that you watch epic movies for.


Suggestion - Nochnoy Dozor (Nightwatch - Russia 2004) - This was suggested to me by a friend...and it's about werewolves, vampires, and all those other cool mythical horror creatures...or are they? Based on the first book of a trilogy, it's very different visually & captivating in that aspect...which is kind of a drag because the only option that I had to watch it was with subtitles...and I was thoroughly exhausted that night...so I drifted in & out. Maybe that had something to do with the visually captivating part...but it was still very different from most movies...and it's Russian...so go out & support the ruble...for the Motherland. (Note: I'm not actually Russian...but I'm speaking on behalf of The Mad Scientist's girlfriend, From Russia with Love)


Flush It - Kerd Ma Lui (Born to Fight - Thailand 2004) - From director Panna Rittikrai, who was the stunt coordinator of the Tony Jaa masterpieces, comes a movie about a bunch of Olympic athletes being taken hostage by terrorists...and the athletes fight back with soccer balls, backhand springs, and other sports related attacks. Don't get me wrong, I thought that the stunts in this movie were awesome...and the ill-conceived plot is NEVER a factor when I'm watching a martial arts movie. However, this was just the latest bad one that I could think of because...well, they were athletes...with soccer balls...beating down trained soldiers with AK's and hand grenades. Still, it's cool to watch for the nifty stunts & a great example of action movies coming out of Bollywood.


Future Watch - Dnevnoy Dozor (Daywatch - Russia 2006) to be released in English to continue the trilogy. Ong-Bak 2 coming out of Thailand with Tony Jaa. I'm always intrigued by what great sleeper films are out there...and that's why I have that Blockbuster Online thing going, so that I can glance through them when they're new releases...and see some of the classic titles still in the collection. I'm also intrigued by works of Mexican directors like Guillermo del Toro ("Pan's Labyrinth") & Alfonso Cuaron ("Children of Men" & "Prisoner of Azkaban"). Anyway, if you know of any good foreign films that I might have missed, I'd like to check them out. I can't seem to get my subtitle fix from Mel Gibson movies alone...


Anyway, that'll due for today, I guess. Sorry for my negative blog last night...but I'll get over it. Oh, and there's a possibility of a trip to the Pacific Coast in a few weeks...but I don't want to get your (my) hopes up just yet. I just have airline miles that need to be cashed in...so I'm checking it out. Arrivederci principessa!!!