Another weekend blazes past
And just like that, another weekend has passed by.
Fortunately next weekend is the Easter long weekend (not that I have anything planned), and as of this Friday school holidays kick off for South Africa's coastal provinces for the following 2 weeks. And that means a quieter morning commute for all us rat race participants. Yay.
In terms of my weekend's activities it mostly seemed to be TV and film watching, interspersed with a bit of shopping, some sketching, an overly long stressful farewell at the airport (who knew you could be charged as much as R3000 for excess baggage?), our weekly D&D session and a return to World of WarCraft - where I've decided to eschew tedious daily quests in favour of money making from my alchemy and herbalism professions.
Anyway, we watched several episodes of South Park Season 12. The highlight so far has been Major Boobage, where Kenny becomes addicted to "cheesing" - getting high off cat urine - which transports him to a Heavy Metal-style fantasy world where everything, and I mean everything, involves massive breasts.
Although I fell asleep half way through it, I also watched Mortal Kombat for the first ever time. Man, oh man, this 1995 film adaptation of the hit video game has not aged at all well. It's B-grade all around, from the cast to the sets to the special effects. And I really couldn't believe the entire film was free from wire stunts. Obviously we're dealing with a completely different era of Western made martial arts films, pre-The Matrix.
You can expect full reviews for each of the following films in the coming days, but on Sunday we also watched The Tale of Despereaux and Gran Torino.
Based on the Newbery Medal winning children's book by Kate DiCamillo, the CGI-animated Tale of Despereaux can probably best be described as a dead serious cross between Shrek and Flushed Away. Born without fear, a tiny little mouse believes himself to be a knight and sets out to save a grieving human princess. The film starts off well, and is beautifully animated, but the storyline involves too many superficially explored sub-plots for its own good, making things overly complicated. Plus the continual focus on the great importance of soup (yes, soup!) is just plain weird.
Gran Torino meanwhile is Old School quality all the way. Directed and produced by its star, Clint Eastwood, the film focuses on a sinewy old racist who discovers he has more in common with his immigrant neighbours than his own spoiled family. Like Eastwood's Million Dollar Baby it's powerful, moving storytelling that gains a great deal of strength from its simplicity... as well as the film's natural performances. Definitely worth checking out.
Fortunately next weekend is the Easter long weekend (not that I have anything planned), and as of this Friday school holidays kick off for South Africa's coastal provinces for the following 2 weeks. And that means a quieter morning commute for all us rat race participants. Yay.
In terms of my weekend's activities it mostly seemed to be TV and film watching, interspersed with a bit of shopping, some sketching, an overly long stressful farewell at the airport (who knew you could be charged as much as R3000 for excess baggage?), our weekly D&D session and a return to World of WarCraft - where I've decided to eschew tedious daily quests in favour of money making from my alchemy and herbalism professions.
Anyway, we watched several episodes of South Park Season 12. The highlight so far has been Major Boobage, where Kenny becomes addicted to "cheesing" - getting high off cat urine - which transports him to a Heavy Metal-style fantasy world where everything, and I mean everything, involves massive breasts.
Although I fell asleep half way through it, I also watched Mortal Kombat for the first ever time. Man, oh man, this 1995 film adaptation of the hit video game has not aged at all well. It's B-grade all around, from the cast to the sets to the special effects. And I really couldn't believe the entire film was free from wire stunts. Obviously we're dealing with a completely different era of Western made martial arts films, pre-The Matrix.
You can expect full reviews for each of the following films in the coming days, but on Sunday we also watched The Tale of Despereaux and Gran Torino.
Based on the Newbery Medal winning children's book by Kate DiCamillo, the CGI-animated Tale of Despereaux can probably best be described as a dead serious cross between Shrek and Flushed Away. Born without fear, a tiny little mouse believes himself to be a knight and sets out to save a grieving human princess. The film starts off well, and is beautifully animated, but the storyline involves too many superficially explored sub-plots for its own good, making things overly complicated. Plus the continual focus on the great importance of soup (yes, soup!) is just plain weird.
Gran Torino meanwhile is Old School quality all the way. Directed and produced by its star, Clint Eastwood, the film focuses on a sinewy old racist who discovers he has more in common with his immigrant neighbours than his own spoiled family. Like Eastwood's Million Dollar Baby it's powerful, moving storytelling that gains a great deal of strength from its simplicity... as well as the film's natural performances. Definitely worth checking out.
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