2008 is here

It's 2008. Wheeee.

I can honestly say that it was the most uneventful (and sober!) New Year's Eve that I can recall ever having. There's not really much to go into about it, but having my mother tell me repeatedly how need to make friends in California didn't make it any more entertaining. In all, though, it wasn't that bad a night, considering I refuse to go to bars on holidays anymore and I wasn't in Hollywood. So there's that. I hope you all had a lovely night and partook in whatever traditions that you have. Unless that tradition is murdering me.

Anyway, what I really wanted to get down to is that I had myself a movie marathon last weekend. The theme was car chases. You could say that it was pretty much an excuse for me to drink bourbon and stay up all night watching road movies, and you might not be wrong. But it was a lot of fun, and I'm seriously considering doing this every other month or so. Is this ridiculous, especially when I'm the only one watching them? Maybe I should start taking notes of these as they happen so that I can preserve them for posterity*. or maybe should just not do them. Thoughts? In any case, the movie lineup went something like:

Duel
Two-Lane Blacktop
Ronin
Convoy
Bullitt
the Road Warrior
Vanishing Point
Cannonball Run (not watched)

My grounds were basically that they couldn't be movies I've seen in the last year (except The Road Warrior, which I could watch on a loop for years and never get sick of) and no more than one by the same director.

In retrospect, I shouldn't have included Ronin. I remembered there being far more car chases in that movie and found myself thrown way off while I was viewing it. I should've kept these within a certain time frame or something, because even the filmmaking was baffling at that point. Someone suggested Death Proof, which would've been great if I only watched the 2 car chases in it. Otherwise, it just would've pissed me off. Anyways, in all it was a great time and I recommend it to everyone. If you've got a good idea for a theme, let me know. right now I'm considering now include:

-unintentional horror movies.
-foreign zombie movies
-summer camp (horror and non-horror) movies
-con/grift movies
-Jimmy Stewart is Sincere
-the worst war movies
-Samuel L. Jackson is Overacting
-filthy Westerns
-the Harry Dean Stanton memorial retrospective
-Wes Anderson Owes Me Money
-movies that take a religious metaphor waaaay too far

obviously, the more likely a movie is to not put me to sleep, the better. so yeah, if you got any recommendations don't be shy with them.

Anyway, there's plenty I could waste our time discussing here, but instead I'm going to go read more crap about Iowa and then go to sleep out of fear.

I did want to say I had a nice trip home, however short, and I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to meet up with about 75% of the people I said I would. I won't really go into it here, but there was a lot going on and there were people that needed me. I hope you understand and accept my apologies. I owe you.

oh, and while we're all still giddy with the fresh year, The NYT ran a pretty good editorial, even if it forgets how much of a direct role they played in many of the issues they name.

*a friend suggested live blogging this. My concern was that I wouldn't really get a chance to see much of the movies and that it would inevitably turn into a drunken tirade that my family would read, which I'm not all that keen on. But then when has that ever stopped me?