So now that I've crossed over into the echelon and begin my 30's (and can no longer refer to myself as a "20 something") I wonder is life going to be any different? Do I now have to start acting more like an adult and harness resposibilities that I may have eschewed earlier in life? Or will the opposite happen and will I regret missing a bunch of things that I always wanted to try and then feverishly attempt them against my so called "better judgement" in an attempt to reclaim that youthful spontinaety that once coarsed through my veins? Or will there be no change at all and life just kind of continues on with no real revelation occuring as I rest in that middle-zone of youthfullness with a touch of maturity making its gradually increasing presence known?
Well, if my birthday present to myself is any indication, then the latter is much assuredly rearing it's head.
As for my birthday itself, I went on a movie spree and saw the three films over the week (don't read ahead if you son't want spoilers!); The DaVinci Code, X-Men 3: The Last Stand, and Over The Hedge.
The DaVinci Code was pretty good and about 80-85% faithful to the book, however, I was pretty disappointed with how much they twisted the ending around (if you've read the book, and you should've, you know what I'm talking about) and messed with the familial aspects. I honestly can't think of any movie that I have ever seen where I had read the book first, saw the movie second (except with all of the Marvel movies, I guess), and then was all angry that the movie didn't follow suit. Actually, the movies would get me motivated to go read the book, as was the case with Jurassic Park and the John Grisham novels. But this is an instance where I really didn't think the changes that were made were warranted and that the film would've stood on its own had they not changed a thing.
X-Men 3: The Last Stand was alright, but I was pretty miffed at the fact that they held nothing back and in no uncertain terms said, "this is the last X-Men movie we're making for a LONG time." They killed off three of the founding members of the squad - Jean Grey/Phoenix, Cyclops, and Professor Xavier (alledgedly, as there is supposedly some extra footage if you stay after the credits that hint at his return). The remaining X-Men lined up to face the Brotherhood at the end of the film and I honestly cared about one, maybe two of the characters. Those two being Storm, portrayed by Halle Berry (who has already made public that she is done with the franchise) and the one saving grace from this whole trilogy - Hugh Jackman's increasingly in-depth and great personification of Wolverine/Logan. The good news is that Hugh has confirmed that he is contracted to make two Wolverine-only films in the next couple of years so fans of the series will at least have a spin-off of the most popular character to look forward to.
And finally, I went to Over The Hedge. I thought it was great, but wouldn't have been nearly as funny were it not for the spastic performance of Steve Carrell. The majority of the cast was dead on and Gary Busey even turns in a convincingly menacing performance. I did have a problem with Garry Shandling as the turtle because I continually got the impression that he was phoning in some of his dialogue and that his expressiveness and excitement was not matching the animation that was on screen - something that Carell does in spades. His manic squirell is the highlight of the film and demands your attention from the moment he appears on screen. Near the end, when his character finally gets a hold of some caffine, the subtle little noise choices Carell makes alongside the animation or really well done, and I think the adults in the audience were laughing harder than the kids were by that point.I hate to draw the comparison, but Steve Carell has picked up the preverbial torch that Jim Carrey dropped a few years back and is running full steam ahead. There's a literalness to that as well as
later this year Carell starts in Evan Almighty (see pic to the right), a follow up to Carrey's Bruce Almighty, after Jim turned down the offer to make a sequel. Combine that with his rising box office status, his Golden Globe winning turn on the NBC version of The Office, and the fact that he's maintaining indie film cred by making films like the upcoming Little Miss Sunshine, and I think it's safe to say that Carell is the new reigning king of comedy in Holly wood.
Steph and I also went to the Lake of the Ozarks over Memorial Day weekend and picked up the audiobook of The Daily Show presents America: The Book as entertainment for the 6 or so hour drive down. It is dominantly read by Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert acts as a narrator of sorts. While I don't consider myself political at all, this was a very entertaining book and made some pretty interesting points about where we've come from and where we might be going. If you haven't read the book before or even if you already own it, you should check out or rent the audiobook because there's just something about hearing it out of the mouths of its creators that makes it all the more satisfying.Which brings me to the gift that I got myself. The timing was right, the glitches had been worked out, the finances fell into the right place, and I happened to strike when a deal was offered where I was going to get the most resale out of my old system, so I did it. I caved. Behold the newest addition to my meak entertainment empire:
It is SO cool! It plays games and movies in HD and is set-up to play HD-DVD's as well. So far, I've only got two games for it, Call of Duty 2 and the amazing Elder Scrolls III: Oblivion (which even Steph said after seeing the graphics, "Damn! I'd even play that!"). But there are a ton of new games on the horizon and the big guns will be out near November when the PlayStation 3 is set to launch....which is a system that also may somehow find it's way into my empire (they still pay good money for healthy kidney's, right?).
I also set up a MySpace.com. See link to the right if you're at all interested or have an account yourself and want to be friends (awwwww).Let's see, what else can I bore you with?
The Prenzie Players were finally ganted non-for-profit status as a theatre company so now we can apply for grants and make our shows more exciting, but still retain that grassroots, interactive mentality that got us to where we are. Our 2006 season will consist entirely of The Henriad, which has only been done in the United States twice and never before in the Midwest. Only we're going to do it with a continuous cast - meaning if your character appears in the following play, you stay that same character until they are killed off or no longer appear in the series. Check out the website in future months for more information.
My friend John Hannon and I are so jazzed at the re-launch of ECW, however, we're wondering just how long it will take until Vince & company screw this one up too (their SciFi debut is off to an inauspicious start). If you know what I'm referencing, you get what I'm saying, if you don't know what ECW is, it's probably better that you don't get involved.Which brings me up to this weekend where the MoC: Monsters of Comedy will
be invading the 2006 ComedySportz Milwaukee MidWest Tournament (see previous post). We're working on launching an MoC page on CSz-QC.com so you can get a history of what the group is, but suffice it to say it's a mix of pro wrestling and improv that has to be seen to be believed and understood. It's increasing popularity is a bit frightening at times, but if the public keeps asking for it, then we're going to keep delivering it. We've got three shows in Milwaukee and we're bringing it back to the Quad Cities later this summer. As for CSzQC, we're looking to launch our first foray into long form next month as we're going to add a late show and give it a trial run. We don't really have a name yet, but we've got some concepts down that we want to try which hopefully the audience will take too.I'm really excited though because Steph's parents are going out of town (Party. Her house. With beer. Curfew be damned - this will be the greatest summer EVER! Let's go egg the principal's house!!!) and we get to babysit their dog, Toby! Steph bought me Season 1 of the Dog Whisperer and it's really tapping into that "I want to own a dog" part of my subconscience. So this week should be fun.
Later.
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