I watched this over the break, but I don’t recall which service. I may have rented it…

Having seen the original Korean version that cf showed us, I know the overall plot. I watched with Shannon and didn’t let on that I knew what the plot twists were. It was fun to watch someone else watch them, but it is different than the original. In that one, there was a comedic element. This one is just dark. jessie plemons is great in that off-kilter deranged role. Emma Stone is also perfect. After the twist, this one is a little goofy, too. Im not sure I agree with the production design choices, but ok…

Recommended, even if you’ve seen Save the Green Planet

Meh. In this installment, evil big corp wants to take over, squishing good smaller corp in the process. This time around, instead of accidentally getting sucked into the digital world via laser, the process is reversed and digital assets can be brought into our world (like 3-D printing). Big corp is trying to get government contracts for it, but the problem is that these digital transfers only last for ~25min. Flynn had the secret to "permanence" and everyone is racing/battling to get it. 

It wasn't that engaging for me. I didn't particularly think the soundtrack worked. The effects were too much, yet didn't add much. I liked it best when there was a nostalgic throwback sequence to the CGI of the first film which was groundbreaking in its day. Jarod was a program brought to live and so gets to be "wooden", which he's pretty good at, but not compelling. 

I will say that I liked this installment better than the previous one. CGI "The Dude" was pretty bad last time. Here, I think they just got Jeff Bridges actual. And the writing, tho far from stellar, was no worse than any of the previous ones. 

Not really recommended, unless you are trying to view the complete set...

--tg

I scored free tix for a 4pm show of Bone Temple at Alamo in Valley Fair. I hard to park pretty far away and it took me quite awhile to find the entrance. Apple Maps walking directions were useless. I finally got in 7 min after showtime, but they were still showing previews so I got in. Only 4-5 other people in the theater (it's the big one). Got a cheeseburger and horchata. 

Movie was quite good. A good next chapter. Feinnes was good. There's some awesome, very metal scenes. The gore and vi is hard to watch. 

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Drunk Monk

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Gregi kind of want to see Bone Temple now that 28 Days later is out on Netflix.
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I've pretty much had enough of fast zombies at this point. Except for Fallout, for that matter.
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Regardless of the zombie speed, this is a "smart" zombie movie.

Recommended. (And watching the previous installment is helpful)

--tg

This is a critically acclaimed indie, shot in B&W, set in the city where we bought a house, raised our kid, and sold a house, as well as where I worked for 20 years.

It’s a soft spoken film about an Afghan woman living in Fremont and working in SF Chinatown at my dream job, writing fortune cookies. It’s modest, low budget, but some clearly recognizable shots of Fremont BART & Chinatown. Fremont is nicknamed Little Kabul for a small section of old town that’s home to a large Afghani community. The film is a study in loneliness and ennui, about being an outsider and the search for identity and meaning. Where many old B&W films mastered contrast and texture, this film uses it to make everything more drab; it’s a well played device, brilliantly and subtly executed. The film is without soundtrack wifh a lot of awkward silences. It’s a mood. 

I rather enjoyed this for its style and my old ‘hood, but I won’t D00M reccomend it as it’s just not a D00M kinda film.

Seen on Hoopla

My sister in law got four tickets to this and invited us. I'm not sure what my brother thought of it since he was almost certainly not into the Talking Heads. Anyway, they restored the film in 2024 (40th anniversary of the shows) and Harrison helped oversee the sound remastering, so he introduced it and did a Q&A afterwards. A good gig for him since just had to show up and talk.
The movie looks and sounds great. The theater had a big sound system so you could really hear the different parts of the music. I hadn't seen it since the 80s, and since I'm used to what David Byrne looks like now, I was actually shocked by how young he was when the came out at the beginning. It's held up very well - I was just as entertained as I was back then - and I think it may be the best concert movie period. I remembered that Bernie Worrell was in the band (he once said something like "I got to bring the funk for these white folks") and Steven Scales on percussion, plus the two backup singers, but I forgot that there was another guitar player - Alex Weir from the Brothers Johnson.
The Q&A was unsurprisingly a bit weak. People rambled, wanting to show that they're hip, before asking less than clever questions. About the only interesting tidbit was that he said the Remain in Light era was his favorite, and that he found all the extra musicians for the touring band. 
A good evening. I recommend watching the restored film if you haven't.

Feel this one

Come on, people. It is 2026. Time to leave that old grindstone behind and move on to a whole new grindstone.

I'm burning. I'm burning for you. Burn level is still at 1000' so I am good to go. Probably the last burn day until we get some more moisture.

None of you will know about Eldon. I stumbled upon on him several years ago on Facebook in the Yosemite History group. He was breathing fount of all things Yosemite. He grew up in the park, spending summers in Camp Curry. He had an extensive collection of Yosemite memorabilia, one of a kind items, that he would share on line. I would always look forward to his posts. He always had something new to show.

About a year ago, I noticed he had stopped posting. A message went out from his daughter that he was very sick. He rallied for a few posts but then was gone again. He was in a coma for a few months before passing away this last week. A lot of institutional knowledge disappeared with him.

Supposedly, he had one of the largest collections of Yosemite memorabilia that he never finished cataloging.

This is like the one title by this author that Greg hasn't read, which is funny to me because given his reviews, he’s not that into her but he’s read her trilogy and some of her other works, all drawing the same negative reviews. He even read one twice.

This has been recommended to me by many for so many reasons. I picked it up for my vacay reading, got hooked, and finished it in one day. Kuang is a fine writer, a compelling storyteller but parallel to Greg’s reviews, she doesn’t stick landings. This is a story of a hack writer who witnessed her literary star friend choke and die, then steals a manuscript she was working in to build her own success story. It’s labels lee as comedy horror, but it’s neither. It’s more of a thriller.

What complicates the plagiarism is the dead star is Asian and the plagiarist is white. The race cards are brilliantly played, many translucent autobiographical moments. It’s also a great leak into the world of publishing. Both are topics I’m intimately familiar with - when she mentions the struggles on knee publishers, trolls, SDCC & Barcon, I couldn’t help but smirk. Sharp observations and witty takes on AAPI book publishing.

It was a great ride until the conclusion, which was lacking. Such a let down but at least it was at the very end. It had me thinking of alternate better endings. 

Not D00M recommended, except maybe for Greg, in case he wants to get Kuanged once more (masochist that he is, he seems to like it, and that’s ok - we still accept him here because it boosts our schadenfreude).

"It's all about the bucket"

Someone posted this at work today:

Quote:Who likes popcorn?? On Jan 18th and 19th you can bring your own bucket to a Cinemark movie theater and they'll fill it up with popcorn for $5. (regular or kettle!)
400oz maximum, but that does still seem very generous. They mention you can bring a 5-gal Lowes/Home Depot bucket and they'll fill it up haha.