Subtitles make me feel smart...
Not a very exciting week, but at least I survived another one. My work week was shitty and predictable. I've resigned myself to the fact we're a bunch of mushrooms at work. We're kept in the dark and fed a bunch of shit. I'm sure you're accustomed to that at your own jobs.
After the restaurant on Friday I went with my friend Lisa (a waitress) to WAB (Woodward Avenue Brewers) to celebrate the 30th birthday of two wonderful waitresses, Colleen and Jen. Both are really sweet, awesome gals. I couldn't miss the celebration as I've worked with both of them for probably 5 years now. WAB hasn't changed much since the last time I was there about 6 years ago or so. The beer still sucks. The porter I was drinking was okay at best, but I tasted Lisa's hefeweizen and it tasted like bubblegum. Nasty! She returned it. We actually closed the place. I don't go out for drinks with the restaurant people often because I can't afford to. They still go out for drinks every night! I'm a very generous tipper and I like to buy people drinks. I'll go out once in a great while. I only work at the restaurant one night a week...I'm not going to spend it all. It was fun though. They had a private room with their own bar. I headed home and by the time I got back to my end of town everything was closed and I was hungry so I was forced into White Castle (I'm not complaining...). The White Castle on Telegraph has a bowling alley on one side of it and a dive bar on the other called Rose on the Road. Local band Benny and the Jets play there occasionally if that says anthing... It was about 2:30 AM and I was waiting in the drive-thru when I noticed a stretch limo waiting in the lot and girls in puffy dresses loading things into it. I then noticed a tent in their enclosed "deck" area and balloons decorating it. Sweet! A white trash wedding reception! The worst of which I've encountered since the infamous Andoni's white trash wedding reception. To make it worse I counted 7 pick-up trucks and 2 cars left in the lot. Sweet! Congratulations guys! You've already been related for twenty years, but now you've got a ring saying it's okay to have sexual relations with each other. Well...maybe not okay...
Remind me some time to tell you about the Andoni's incident...
Stayed up way to late watching the season finale of Battlestar Galactica after the White Castle incident. I taped it. Great frickin' episode! I love the original in its campiness, but the new one really does rock! It's very dark and contemporary touching on many current American polital issues.
I had another Saturday off, but I didn't do much with the earlier part of the day. I couldn't fall asleep after Battlestar Galactica because it was pushing daylight outside when I went to bed. I pretty much just hung out at home watching some TV and reading a bit. I did end up going to Glen's store and buying an assload of CDs (1 assload = 3.72 reams x 2.84 metric tons + 3.47 cubic feet according to the conversion chart in my old Pee Chee folder). Among the CDs I bought were the new Neko Case (frickin' amazing album!), the new Maximo Park, the new Elbow, the new Stereolab, a bunch of jazz (including Dexter Gordon, Art Blakey, Ben Webster, Lester Young, and Hank Mobley), and some used stuff. A good day at a great store! BST was working and I would see him later at his house to watch some movies.
Brian later hosted a viewing of Yojimbo and Stalingrad. It was just Brian, Kathleen, Glen, and myself. Brian and I were the only ones to have seen Yojimbo before. We began by watching Yacht Rock as an appetizer. Hilarious! I've seen Yojimbo a couple of times before. It's my second favorite Akira Kurosawa film after The Seven Samurai. I love Ran and Rashomon, but the comedy of Yojimbo really strikes a chord. It was the inspiration for Clint Eastwood's A Fistful of Dollars as The Seven Samurai was the inspiration for The Magnificent Seven and The Hidden Fortress was the inspiration for the orignal Star Wars. Akira Kurosawa frickin' rocked! He and constant star Toshiro Mifune were perhaps the best director/actor combo ever! They complimented each other beautifully. Please see Yojimbo or any other Kurosawa film if you haven't. You'd be doing yourself a huge favor.
The second film was Stalingrad. The story follows a small group of German stormtroopers in the same Batallion in the battle of Stalingrad. It's rough, honest, hard to take, and very well done. This film has you sympathizing with the Germans as in Das Boot. Even German soldiers can be humanized. Most, after all, were following orders. Don't read anything into this! I'm not endorsing Germany during WWII! The film doesn't get as exhausting and involving as Das Boot, but it's still a helluva film. It's in German with subtitles. Obviously, as in history, they get their asses handed to them. Worth a rental or Netflix!
Subtitles have a way of sorting out the riffraff...
Unfortunately I had to work today (Sunday) because I had yesterday off. Work sucked. 'Nuff said. I came home from work, quickly changed clothes, and then sped out the door to get together with friends for dinner. I haven't seen them in a while and they just got back from northen Italy last week. It was great seeing them and hearing about their trip. They were very awesome and brought me back a bottle of grappa. Cheers to that! I got home and then very much enjoyed Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Silk Stocking on Masterpiece Theatre. Rupert Everett did a fab job! Who knew that there were foot fetishists during the time of King Edward VII? O jeez...now I'm going to get googled up the wazoo by a bunch of pervs. But then again I haven't been googled up the wazoo in a while...
I just found out that a friend of mine is going to be on Trading Spaces. He and his girlfriend are being filmed in Austin this week. Cool!
Last night when I was driving home from Brian's there was a wicked-bad thunderstorm. There's really not much as beautiful as the night sky being illuminated an eerie and crisp blue by a sustained lightning strike. The contrast of the the background against the sky and the odd lighting of the trees is really a sight to behold...even if it is just for a second. It's a little bit like being in a photo negative. It's even better in the spring or summer when there are still leaves on the trees. The colors of the curled leaves intensified and electricfied against the green sky are something not of this world. So...I urge all Republicans to stand under a tree during the next thunderstorm.
Not to make light of the situation, but Yanni was arrested for battering his girlfriend. Yanni folks! Yanni.
White or yellow subtitles? What's your pick?
What did you draw on your Pee Chee folders?
Cheers,
Jason
After the restaurant on Friday I went with my friend Lisa (a waitress) to WAB (Woodward Avenue Brewers) to celebrate the 30th birthday of two wonderful waitresses, Colleen and Jen. Both are really sweet, awesome gals. I couldn't miss the celebration as I've worked with both of them for probably 5 years now. WAB hasn't changed much since the last time I was there about 6 years ago or so. The beer still sucks. The porter I was drinking was okay at best, but I tasted Lisa's hefeweizen and it tasted like bubblegum. Nasty! She returned it. We actually closed the place. I don't go out for drinks with the restaurant people often because I can't afford to. They still go out for drinks every night! I'm a very generous tipper and I like to buy people drinks. I'll go out once in a great while. I only work at the restaurant one night a week...I'm not going to spend it all. It was fun though. They had a private room with their own bar. I headed home and by the time I got back to my end of town everything was closed and I was hungry so I was forced into White Castle (I'm not complaining...). The White Castle on Telegraph has a bowling alley on one side of it and a dive bar on the other called Rose on the Road. Local band Benny and the Jets play there occasionally if that says anthing... It was about 2:30 AM and I was waiting in the drive-thru when I noticed a stretch limo waiting in the lot and girls in puffy dresses loading things into it. I then noticed a tent in their enclosed "deck" area and balloons decorating it. Sweet! A white trash wedding reception! The worst of which I've encountered since the infamous Andoni's white trash wedding reception. To make it worse I counted 7 pick-up trucks and 2 cars left in the lot. Sweet! Congratulations guys! You've already been related for twenty years, but now you've got a ring saying it's okay to have sexual relations with each other. Well...maybe not okay...
Remind me some time to tell you about the Andoni's incident...
Stayed up way to late watching the season finale of Battlestar Galactica after the White Castle incident. I taped it. Great frickin' episode! I love the original in its campiness, but the new one really does rock! It's very dark and contemporary touching on many current American polital issues.
I had another Saturday off, but I didn't do much with the earlier part of the day. I couldn't fall asleep after Battlestar Galactica because it was pushing daylight outside when I went to bed. I pretty much just hung out at home watching some TV and reading a bit. I did end up going to Glen's store and buying an assload of CDs (1 assload = 3.72 reams x 2.84 metric tons + 3.47 cubic feet according to the conversion chart in my old Pee Chee folder). Among the CDs I bought were the new Neko Case (frickin' amazing album!), the new Maximo Park, the new Elbow, the new Stereolab, a bunch of jazz (including Dexter Gordon, Art Blakey, Ben Webster, Lester Young, and Hank Mobley), and some used stuff. A good day at a great store! BST was working and I would see him later at his house to watch some movies.
Brian later hosted a viewing of Yojimbo and Stalingrad. It was just Brian, Kathleen, Glen, and myself. Brian and I were the only ones to have seen Yojimbo before. We began by watching Yacht Rock as an appetizer. Hilarious! I've seen Yojimbo a couple of times before. It's my second favorite Akira Kurosawa film after The Seven Samurai. I love Ran and Rashomon, but the comedy of Yojimbo really strikes a chord. It was the inspiration for Clint Eastwood's A Fistful of Dollars as The Seven Samurai was the inspiration for The Magnificent Seven and The Hidden Fortress was the inspiration for the orignal Star Wars. Akira Kurosawa frickin' rocked! He and constant star Toshiro Mifune were perhaps the best director/actor combo ever! They complimented each other beautifully. Please see Yojimbo or any other Kurosawa film if you haven't. You'd be doing yourself a huge favor.
The second film was Stalingrad. The story follows a small group of German stormtroopers in the same Batallion in the battle of Stalingrad. It's rough, honest, hard to take, and very well done. This film has you sympathizing with the Germans as in Das Boot. Even German soldiers can be humanized. Most, after all, were following orders. Don't read anything into this! I'm not endorsing Germany during WWII! The film doesn't get as exhausting and involving as Das Boot, but it's still a helluva film. It's in German with subtitles. Obviously, as in history, they get their asses handed to them. Worth a rental or Netflix!
Subtitles have a way of sorting out the riffraff...
Unfortunately I had to work today (Sunday) because I had yesterday off. Work sucked. 'Nuff said. I came home from work, quickly changed clothes, and then sped out the door to get together with friends for dinner. I haven't seen them in a while and they just got back from northen Italy last week. It was great seeing them and hearing about their trip. They were very awesome and brought me back a bottle of grappa. Cheers to that! I got home and then very much enjoyed Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Silk Stocking on Masterpiece Theatre. Rupert Everett did a fab job! Who knew that there were foot fetishists during the time of King Edward VII? O jeez...now I'm going to get googled up the wazoo by a bunch of pervs. But then again I haven't been googled up the wazoo in a while...
I just found out that a friend of mine is going to be on Trading Spaces. He and his girlfriend are being filmed in Austin this week. Cool!
Last night when I was driving home from Brian's there was a wicked-bad thunderstorm. There's really not much as beautiful as the night sky being illuminated an eerie and crisp blue by a sustained lightning strike. The contrast of the the background against the sky and the odd lighting of the trees is really a sight to behold...even if it is just for a second. It's a little bit like being in a photo negative. It's even better in the spring or summer when there are still leaves on the trees. The colors of the curled leaves intensified and electricfied against the green sky are something not of this world. So...I urge all Republicans to stand under a tree during the next thunderstorm.
Not to make light of the situation, but Yanni was arrested for battering his girlfriend. Yanni folks! Yanni.
White or yellow subtitles? What's your pick?
What did you draw on your Pee Chee folders?
Cheers,
Jason
posted by Jason at 11:43 PM
4 Comments:
Thanks for coming over Saturday night, guys... I had a blast. Seriously though, I'd love to make this at least a monthly event. Maybe next time, I'll even cook a decent dinner!
Brian
Oh yeah, almost forgot--subtitles... well, aesthetically, I much prefer white. But unfortunately, they're not always functional (ie: if you're watching a b&w film, or if there's a lot of snow sequences). While I can understand why yellow subtitles are sometimes used, I still find them to be a little tacky looking, if not downright distracting (I know, I know... I'm being a freak here... but they really DO bother me for some weird reason-- ESPECIALLY when they're used with b&w movies). In the case of letterboxed films on DVD, my suggestion would be to keep the subtitles in the black part, under the movie... that way, white would never be a problem. In the case of subtitling a release for theatrical viewing, where there are no black bars, how 'bout outlining the white lettering in black when the subtitles become obscured by a light background in the film?
And that's my useless two cents.
B
White or yellow subtitles? What's your pick? White, and I agree with B about having them under the letterbox.
What did you draw on your Pee Chee folders? The Van Halen logo, The AC/DC logo, the KISS logo, several homages to The Who, I taped a tiny pic of Morgan Fairchild to one, the Genesis logo from Lamb Lies Down, and inside the flap I had a tiny nude pic of a girl that I got from a magazine that Gary Oliver stole from his dad and passed around school in 8th grade. Her name was Jennifer.
Lots of movies I watch have the subtitles/closed captioning on the black part of the letterbox and it's obviously preferable. Other than that, white, unless there's lots of white in the movie. I think I saw a movie that had both, white as normal, but changed to yellow when needed - or I could be smoking something...
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