Took the train from Paris this morning to Luxembourg. The entire country is smaller than paris; its probably about the size of DC. Going to wander a bit and do the tourist thing before hopping on the train again for Broussels. I brought T.Blue with me for more picture adventure fun. I was going to show off my crayons previous adventures but the site seems to be down. Maybe a certain slumlord can fix that. hrmmmm, maybe.

1st thing about Paris: They have AZERTY keyboards. AAAAAAGGHHH Just so you know this sentence took 5 minutes to type.
2nd thing: the roads are really narrow to go with the tiny cars.

goodness this keyboqrd sucks so ,uch qss1 dq,,it11 its zorst then l""t speqk

Lord of the Rings: done and splendidly I might add.
Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy: well done.

And now, The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe will be in theatres this Christmas. The trailer is here: http://movies.channel.aol.com/franchise/exclusives/chronicles_of_narnia_movie
I've read the entire Chronicles of Narnia series and it remains one of favorites. Based on the trailer this looks like the screen adaptation will be just as magical and wonderful as the books were.

BTW, I'm leaving for Europe soon, if you have a request for anything, holla back.

Star Wars Ep III is out. Rock saw it and liked it. And apparently its all over the net. It seems a test copy from the coloring dept. found its way online. Whoever leaked it was smart enough to do so the day the movie came out otherwise Luca$ would have went after him with a pipe and a blow torch.
The internet is magical.

On that note, I was cruising my PC and found this PA comic from long ago. It made me think of enjanerd:

Around 2am I was trying to watch Everybody has Secrets with enjanerd & fuchsia when bandit came home asking too many questions about why I was watching a movie so late. He started being a total ass and I told him to shut his pretentious pie hole or he was going to meet the blunt end of my baton. fuchsia did not like this sudden display of violence and suggested we all just watch the movie and calm down. It didn't work. I continued to hurl insults at bandit until I was out of breath and my eyes were full of tears. I don't remember all of them but "motherfuckin selfish prick" was part of my closing argument. I woke up here with the worst sinus headache of the season. Apparently great anger in dreamland causes my allergies to flare up. I got up, took some Claritin, took a shower and collapsed back on the bed. Needless to say I was a little late for work today. I still feel icky; its like my world is filled with invisible dumpling gravy and I'm trying to waddle through it. I hate the spring time.

Took a break, now I'm back. Time for the Top 5 films from Hong Kong. This is going to be hard as hell cause there are a ton of good films in the HK.
In no particular order
1. Infernal Affairs Trilogy directed by Andy Lau & Siu Fai Mak
Yes I know a trilogy is 3 movies but it would have been unfair of me to break these up and rate them seperately. All I can say is: Holy crap! Do yourself a favor and see this before the american remake comes out in 2006. Hollywood has a bad record for making shitty remakes of foreign films. (Taxi anyone?) Andy Lau plays a triad mole deep undercover in the police dept, Tony Leung plays a police mole deep undercover in the triad organization. Each them are trying desperately not to be found out, catch the other mole and still keep sane. It's a vicous cycle. Part 1 deals with the modern day of our 2 main players. Part 2 is a prequel explaining how they got themselves in so deep. Part 3 is a sequel to Part 1 focusing mainly on Andy Lau's character and is the weakest of the trilogy. There are many many version of this trilogy. Theres a region 1 version, a shiny R3 Korean edition, a sexy R2 Japanese version, and the ultimate uber sexy Oh-my-goodness-I-want-to-hold-you-in- my-arms-sweet-baby Mega Star R0 HK edition. Can you guess which version I have?

2. Hard Boiled directed by John Woo
The one film that brought HK cinema into the limelight and made Chow Yun Fat a true superstar. John Woo revolutinize the action movie; Double wielding pistols is now common fare. Granted of late John Woo's american films have been have been lackluster but Hard Boiled showed the Woo-Man in his prime. Chow Yun Fat plays a hard edge dective named Tequilla who has a bit of 'anger' problem. He doesn't play by the rules, he doesn't file paperwork; see a bad guy: kill 'em. The actual plot of this film is the standard rouge cop versus lots of bad guys. Do not watch this for the story: It's all about the camera angles, shoot outs and explosions. Hell, for kicks count off how many people die in the 1st 5 minutes. The body count nearly triples by the end of the movie. Available all over. The Criterion release has the best video and sound but is sadly out of print and will cost you a nice amount on ebay. 2nd best would be the Fox Lorber version, good price and excellent transfer. Available at the HOY

3. Full Time Killer directed by Johnnie To
Johnnie To as a director, I feel his movies are hit or miss. Fan favorites most of them are; they are not consistent. He's like the Michael Bay of Hong Kong. With that being said a lot people feel this flick was one his misses. I, am not one of those people. Andy Lau(Tok) & Takashi Sorimachi(O) star as two hitmen with very different styles. Tok is loud and braising, O is quiet and skillful. They soon start competing for hits and strive to be the #1 killer. The film itself is very well made. Good action scenes, nice music and the 2 leads work well off each other. It's got explosions, gun fights, a girl in distress, the ever closing in overworked cop, tension, and sensory overloading final showdown scene. A excellent popcorn movie. Available in every region for cheap or borrow at the HOY.

2. Fist of Fury directed by Wei Lo
I really don't need to say much about this one. Its Bruce Lee!! It's Bruce Lee kicking ass! Its Bruce Lee taking on an entire Dojo of Japanese Karate students! So the story of this one is a Chinese student is studying abroad in Japan where he learns his master has been killed. He returns home to avenge his master... and let the ass kicking begin. Why this film over the other most excellent Bruce Lee films? I feel that this one had a more powerful impact/story. It takes place during the Japanese occupation of China and its more then just avenging a wrongful death, its about avenging wrongful treatment as well. Available every which way(and @ the HOY), just remember if you look for it here in the states it's called The Chinese Connection.

1. Shaolin Master Killer directed by Chia-Liang Liu
Gordon Liu how I love you so, let me count the ways: you kick much ass. And your bald. That's about it. This film is a Shaw Brothers classic. Who are the Shaw Brothers you ask? I shall tell you: they produced and directed a ton of movies through out the 60's & 70's. This one is my absolute fav. It takes place in the Shaolin Temple and Gordon Liu goes through the many trials and trains to be a Shaolin master to avenges his slain parents. When he first starts off, he's clumsy and lacks skill. As the film progress and he goes through the 36 chambers and he slowly gets better. The best print of this release would be the IVL Taiwan region 3 version. You can get the R1 but the print is a little dirty. The IVL version is at the HOY.

Honorable Mentions: Sure to be a very long list.
Battle Creek Brawl & Drunken Master 2 - Both star Jackie Chan and show off his impressive flexibility and Wing Chun skill.

Once Upon a Time in China Series - 4 of these films were made starring Jet Li. (After 4, the series went to crap) Jet Li stars as Wong Fei Hung; Doctor, Master and overall cool guy. This is probably Jet's best work and a lot better than the American films he's made.

Hero - All star cast here with Jet li, Donnie Yen, Maggie Chun and Tony Leung. This is a absolutely gorgeous film with a compelling story. The only version of this film is the 98 minute version. Still waiting for the directors 120 min cut to finally be released from the crushing jaws that is Miramax.

House of Flying Daggers - From the same director of Hero, this time starring the ever yummy Takeshi Kaneshiro, Andy Lau & Zhang Ziyi. A love story but the visuals are just as good as Hero.

The Five Deadly Venoms - Another Shaw Brothers Showcase. This film, yes is old, and was not preserved properly. Most likely if you find it will be badly dubbed. Shitty dialogue aside this a great chop suey film.

One Nite in Mongkok - Good cop vs. triad drama taking place in a 12 hour period. Starts off slowly but tension builds up quickly near the end.

Running Out of Time - A cat & mouse game played between a dying crook and edgy cop. Good fun. Kind of reminds me of Full Time Killer a bit.

The Longest Nite - More cop vs. gangsta goodness. This time though who to root for is tricky. The cops are just as crooked as the gangsters.

Breaking News - Another Johnnie To hit. This a good movie about how media driven society is now. After seeing Running on Karma (don't watch it hurts!) I was relieved to see that Johnnie hasn't lost his touch.

All HN's are at the HOY except for One Nite in Mongkok, Battle Creek Brawl & Running Out of Time. I'm pretty sure I missed a bunch of movies because like I said before, a lot of good stuff has been pouring out of China since before I was born. Maybe I'll get around to making a more complete list. Next up: Top 5 from Korea.

been away for awhile, yes I will finish the top 5 from the HK. Someday. Over the weekend I went down to the VA beach area for my best friend graduation. (NOTE: not to be confused with bestest buddy, keep up people) Had a good time minus the actually ceromony. I feel asleep during most of it but woke up just as they asked the School of Law to please stand. W00t!! I've never really had a motivation for things scholar related. Yes, I hate school. However, I really should get my doctorate in something cause you get a cool poofy octagonal tam. That shit is awesome! Don't want the sense of accomplishment, the fame, the debt, the drugs, the girls or the money; I just want the hat. And maybe the cool hoodie thing.
BTW, Rock's B-day is on Thursday. Happy Future Birthday Rock!

final tonight. *wimper*