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St. Anger is an Answered Prayer

I bought Metallica’s new album, St. Anger, on June 8 and I’ve been listening to it non-stop ever since. It was somewhat of an impulse buy because I didn’t realize it was out until I walked by FYE in the mall. At $15.99, I couldn’t argue with the price considering that it covered the CD, […]

Medal of Honor: Rising Sun for PS2

The game is not MOH: Frontline. That part is simple enough. While Frontline presented a big leap forward in graphics and attention to detail, Rising Sun makes only modest steps in the right direction. One reason for this may be the terrible rendering of trees and other fauna when viewed closely. While horizon-distance and even […]

The Incredibles

Annie and I saw The Incredibles on Saturday. It really was as good as I expected and my expectations were sky-high for Pixar’s latest wonder.
One point that has been mentioned in other reviews is the sense that The Incredibles feels more like an action movie than an animated one; it’s true. With the brilliant animation, […]

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas

I spent a few late night hours playing Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas over the Thanksgiving break and loved every minute. It’s amazing that RockStar continues to trump insanely high expectations with each successive installment of the GTA series; they’ve improved on every area of the previous games in big ways.
Before I get into the […]

Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

I’ve been a big fan of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams since I first read it a few years ago, so I was excited to see that they were making a new movie based on the book. My anticipation only increased when I saw the trailers for the movie were a […]

Summer Reading

For the past few weeks, I’ve really enjoyed having the time to read for fun. When I was in school, it was rare for me to have time to read a non-required book in my spare time; there really is a limit to how much reading is possible in one day. Since graduation I’ve already […]

Sideways: Book v. Movie

Annie and I rented Sideways from Blockbuster tonight and I was a little disappointed. I loved the book which inspired the movie—as you well know—so I was hoping for greatness with the film. Perhaps my expectations were too high, but it didn’t do much for me. It’s almost passé to say that the book was […]

Pulp Fiction

I’ve wanted to see this film for a few years; now that I have, Pulp Fiction ranks near the top of the Weirdest Movies I’ve Seen list. The movie begins with the entry for “pulp” from the American Heritage Dictionary New College Edition in white text on a black screen:
pulp n. 1. A soft, moist, […]

Lord of War

Jason and I went to see Lord of War on Saturday night. It was better than I expected and both of us enjoyed the movie. The movie is a narrative told by Yuri Orlov (Nicholas Cage), a charming, intelligent, and witty gun runner who is a disgusting mess of a person. The film itself seems […]

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Annie, Veronica, and I went to see Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire at the Senator Theater in Baltimore yesterday. The first thing that struck me—as well as most of the critics—about the newest Harry Potter is how much darker the subject matter is when compared to the earlier films. This Potter installment finally […]

Crash

I watched Crash again last night. I’d been meaning to see it since it came out and Annie and I rented it last Saturday. The film—as the title suggests—is about crashes: in one sense of the word, it is a movie about car crashes. In the opening scene, Don Cheadle’s character remarks that in Los […]

24 Season 5

For the past month, Fox has been airing commercials for the fifth season of 24 promising that everything will change in the first ten minutes. They were definitely telling the truth as I couldn’t believe that they were willing to sacrifice a few major characters.
The first four hours of the new day have been amazingly […]

Casablanca

Last Friday, Annie and I watched Casablanca because it was available for free from Comcast OnDemand (as is Citizen Kane, which we’ll be watching soon). It’s one of those movies that everyone has seen or wants to see—you know, a Classic—so I always feel a sense of anticipation that what I’m about to see has […]

Weezer’s Make Believe

More than a decade has passed since I bought Weezer’s self-titled debut album, but I still haven’t grown tired of it. Two weeks ago on a mini-shopping spree, I bought Weezer’s newest album Make Believe to see what Weezer’s been up to these past 12 years.
Listening to the first track, “Beverly Hills,” I couldn’t help […]

Borat Is Nice!

I finally got around to seeing Borat last night and it was glorious! I had heard good things about the film, but I didn’t expect to laugh that hard or as often as I did last night. What’s more amazing, is that it seemed everyone was laughing. It’s not for the easily offended, but the […]

Canon PowerShot SD800 IS

It’s no secret to most of my friends and family that I’m very happy with my new camera. I think all of them are sick of hearing about it so I hope they see this. If you’re interested in why I purchased this camera, read the “Agenda: Digital Camera” post. I’m going to divide […]

Spider-Man 3

The final chapter in the Spider-Man trilogy lived up to my expectations. Last Sunday, Annie and I saw Spider-Man 3 and thought it matched or surpassed its predecessors. A few minor plot spoilers follow. As pretty much everyone knows by now, the black Venom suit Spider-Man wears in this version lowers Peter Parker’s inhibitions. Willful […]

James Joyce Pub

Annie and I ate dinner at the James Joyce Irish Pub and Restaurant on Saturday night; we’ve driven by it hundreds of times, and finally made a commitment to go there. The restaurant is located in Harbor East, Baltimore and walking distance from my apartment on a nice day. Saturday was hot and humid and […]