On the move

1/15/2006 04:27:00 p.m.

So I've bought a domain name and hosting and all that good stuff. I've copied all my blog posts to the new site, and from here on out I think that'll be where I'll be updating stuff. The new address is http://www.patrickjohanneson.com/deardiary/ . Hope to see you there!

-pat

Happy B-Day...

1/13/2006 09:03:00 p.m.

...to Trogdor.

Three years old today.


Yeah, I'm a nerd.

brief movie reviews

1/11/2006 04:54:00 p.m.

In the last week and a half I've seen two movies, Thumbsucker and The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. What did I think of them? Well, Thumbsucker was an adolescent-angst movie that proved to me that while Keanu Reeves may not be a brilliant thespian, at least he can act like someone other than Ted Theodore Logan. Also, just because you fill a movie with Big Names doesn't mean it's going to be great. The film was solidly OK in my book, though a couple of the characters were full-out unsympathetic and the teenage hero gets toyed with by more than a couple of people. It was a decent film, but I don't know if I'd watch it again.

Narnia was well-done, with some stunning visuals and great acting, especially from the kids that went through the looking-glass wardrobe into the Other World. The animals were all brilliantly done, and ran the gamut from cute and cuddly to regal to downright spooky. The White Witch (played by Tilda Swinton, who was also the mother in Thumbsucker) was cold and cruel. There were moments when I could tell that it was based on a childrens' book, moments where things went a little too easily or took a little too much on faith for my taste, but it was still a good, solid movie. I'd probably watch it again.

My friend Kevin has a simple binary scale for movies: It sucked or It didn't suck. Neither of these two movies sucked, though Thumbsucker had me concerned for a while there.

Looking forward now to the new Underworld film. I just hope I'm not expecting too much from it...

Ramblin' man

1/05/2006 11:07:00 p.m.

Well, the Evans starts up again soon, so my weekends are getting crowded again. We had coffee with a bunch of the Evans crew tonight, after supper (home-made lasagna--mm mm good).

It's a little weird. In the summer, when the Evans doesn't run, I rent movies every week or so, but when the Evans is on, I usually don't bother. Maybe it's not so weird, given that I volunteer at the Evans, which means my movies are free...

How many more times will I type Evans before I put this one to bed? About that many, I guess.

G'night. I'm tired and maybe a little stupid.

---

O wait, one more thing. I had an epiphany tonight, a moment where things in one of my projects suddenly rotated, and a piece I didn't even know was missing slid into place, and the whole thing, for a moment, shone like silver. Tomorrow, I'll start outlining; I think I have enough to at least start. I have an ending (which is usually a moving target, but I've learned that without an ending, even a tentative one, I shouldn't write the beginning), and now I think I have a coherent theme. And of course I have a title: Everything that Never Happened.

Et maintenant, bonsoir, mes amis et mes amies.

Happy New Year!

1/02/2006 11:29:00 a.m.

Well, I certainly have been slack so far this year. We had a bunch of people over for New Year's Eve, and then yesterday we went south with Kathleen's parents for a Sprott New Year's Day fest.

And this year I hope to do at least a page a day of writing, if not more. I have to figure out some way to force myself to keep to a schedule, though. Suggestions?