Mr Hat's house of knowledge

2009-09-22T20:20:00.000-07:00

Stay with me

Although this new approach of fully disclosing my CL adventures hasn't really panned out the way I imagined (don't ask) I'm gonna squeeze another post out of it. After that I'm gonna dedicate my blog to either chronicle my adventures in babysitting or make up some stuff about me recreating every single Julia Child recipe while I tout my 90's liberal agenda.

For my second CL post I decided to indulge into a even more ridiculous approach, almost as if I didn't want to get a date out of it (!) here it is:

Here's the deal; if you are bored, lonely or looking for a LTR with a hopeless romantic (that likes Rod Stewart) you should definitely consider replying to this post. -Why would I do that? I don't like Rod Stewart, you say? okay, I admit that not everyone likes Rod but I do and I also like to read (Chabon, Klosterman, Sedaris, Rod Stewart's autobiography) and I like to watch movies (actually It's my favorite thing in the world) and I like to talk about Pop culture or Politics, or current events or Rod Stewart. I know what you are thinking, but I do other things when I'm not thinking about Rod Stewart. I work in Advertising, I watch TV on DVD and love going out with my friends. I know that between that and my latent Rod Stewart obsession It seems like I haven't got time for anything else. But I do, I have time to go out on dates and open the door for you. To go watch a play or a movie, go to a concert or just for coffee. To hang at home playing board games and listening to the 80s channel on satellite radio. A bit more about me; I was born in South America and lived in Europe for 10 years ( Austria and Spain where I went to college), I moved to Canada three years ago, I'm a big guy, bearded and tall (think Kevin Smith), overall I'm a good guy, I care, I listen, I don't judge and I'm a bit obsessed with Rod Stewart.

For those of you taking notes, you know who you are! (I don't) who are wondering if this approach worked...it did. Did only Rod Stewart fans reply? maybe, who knows. Did most people misinterpreted the ad and wrote back things such as "I love him too! My favorite song is Mandolin Wind" They did indeed. Don't get me wrong Mandolin Wind is a great song, up there with anything on VH1's- the 23,457 greatest songs composed at a bar after a Wednesday AA meeting, but rather that getting replies by people that shared my particular sense of humor (I call it meta -idiocy) I managed to alienate everyone under 40 that's not a fan of the raspy voiced troubadour and that's as you've probably guessed....everyone under 40.

2009-01-04T19:56:00.000-08:00

When I logged in today (after a pretty long time) my original intention was to link to a crafty blog about how to make your own UHF antenna to get HD channels for free (particulary useful for those upper crust hippies who bought an HD TV set but don't want to pay the man for High Definition Channels) . When I did (log in) I found a comment begging, pleading, screaming for me to share my Craiglist talents with the world. Hold the aluminium foil , roll back the chicken wire and pass the joint around, below is my Craiglist's Personal post titled I wear black Rim Glasses:

A craiglist's personal? I say why the hell not! Here's the thing I've never done one of these so "frequent shoppers" please forgive my disregard for conventions and specially; terminology. Here are a few important facts about me, I hate Family Circus, I love playing Boardgames, I'm a huge film buff (yet not too much a snobby one), I like brunch! I read magazines in the Indigo coffee shop that I have no intention of buying, I like to buy used stuff (I have a voyeuristic fascination with Garage Sales), I like to read and take the TTC and combine both everyday, I watch TV on dvd, I have a cat! I enjoy the financial section of the newspaper yet I'm pretty sure I don't understand it. Some not-so-important ones: Big guy, bearded (think Kevin Smith) and tall, College grad, born in South America to European parents,lived abroad most of my life, speak a few languages, work in advertising (yet most people would describe me as an overall "good" person). Also, I'm a smoker. You should be a nice person with a great sense of humour (of course if you like twin peaks and Dilbert that's definitely a plus), someone that likes staying in and watching foreign movies with a bottle of wine (not as the exception but as the rule), that reads in bed and likes to go out with friends to discuss pop-culture over coffee, someone that would tell me the answer to 12 across in the Sunday crossword (Is not Pathos, I tried). That's my spiel! If you want I'll send you a pic and please refrain from replying if you like Family Circus (let's throw For Better Or Worse in there as well).

Now, I got a lot of replies from this post, and by I lot I mean more than two. I had no preset policy regarding how I would handle these replies and as exciting as it was to get mail from girls that in most cases shared my interests and sense of humour I also found it terribly intimidating.
Everything in that post is true (except the crossword bit, I do my crosswords in an Australian website) but as is often the case some details were dutifully omitted, relevant or not, that's anyone's call. For example; I do work in the Advertising Industry but in the media planning side, (most people assumed I was in the creative department) and in a junior position. So when I got an email from a partner in a downtown financial firm I couldn't help but wonder how she felt about Mac and cheese and the Rainbow's two toonie tuesday. Instead I replied to a charming email from a girl that interned at a zine and gracefully ingored the post's grammatical errors . I ended up going on a date with this girl, we spent most of our time talking about obscure sitcoms, David Sedaris, and the movie The House Bunny and (I can only speak for myself) had a a good time. It's safe to say that by the time we walked the two blocks from Honest End's, our rendevous point, to the bar were we sat down and chat we had already dismissed the notion of any romantic relationship, and that was Ok. After the policeman talked me down from the window ledge I went back home and pondered upon my CL experience and decided to make a Pros and Cons list like any shitty sitcom character would do;

Pros of Posting a Personal on CL.

You might get a bunch of emails from really interesting people that found something they were attracted to in something you wrote..

You find out a LOT of people hate family Circus.

You get to write emails that you definetely wouldn't write at work.

You dong get a verbal warning from your Manager for writing these emails.

You get to go out on dates!

You make up for those times when you didn't leave a great tip on the place you are having said date.

It gives you something to write in your blog after a long hiatus.

Cons of posting a personal in CL

You find out everyone your age is more succesful than you are.

You find out people don't realize you wrote big as an euphemism for fat, they also have no clue who the fuck Kevin Smith is.

2008-03-27T17:09:00.000-07:00

While we listen to Dolly Parton's masterpiece 9 to 5 in a youtube video Mr Hat and I decided to revisit (much like Oprah) our favorite things of 2008. Of course we are not rich like Oprah and we are influential to a much more secluded and select circle, that eats whiskas for breakfast. Let's get on with it: favorite thing number one TV. TV is awesome! Not only is entertaining in itself but an amazing conversation piece, here's an example - You: Did you watch the wire yesterday? - Hipster friend: Ha ha you have a TV and watch it! I hope you die you piece of shit. Poor penguin shirt (or Fred perry) wearing friend, he doesn't know what he is missing, of course he could pick the wire on DVD and discuss the series Dickensian aspects with the editors of Slate but will he ever watch Who's Americas Most Smartest Model? I think not. America's Most Smartest Model is an undiscovered jewel known only to a few connoisseurs. The series premise is simple yet effective, it concist in picking a selected group of relatively good looking people most with sub-normal intelligence and others with deeper mental issues and making them do tasks that, get this, will prove that they are both smart and show supermodel potential. This social experiments results in enticing television that at moments is borderline retarded and at others just plain retarded. This show provides us with the answer of what happens when an angry "soviet" model interacts with a human being (it's funny) and whether the effects of collagen are in some cases irreversible (they are). I f I had to pick a moment that reflects the genius of the show I'd pick this: when Argentinean Model Gaston was asked to name things that smell bad and walk the runway (at the same time!) The three things his strained brain could come up with were; dirty socks, rotten eggs and dirty penis. God bless Television.

2008-01-16T22:41:00.000-08:00

Yes It's been a while, One could say that this has been a time of reflection for me, a time spent looking for inspiration if you will. During my period of absence (Or should I say our) my avid, rabid readers tried to coax me into writing a new post. By avid readers I mean, of course, my mom. What to write about then, became the question. I could do a post on the olde " they are raping my childhood" theme by stating that the idea of adding more female characters to the smurfs village in a planned updated version of the show is a travesty but after seeing Alvin eating his own feces there's hardly any hope for anything I once liked. My childhood has been raped hard and I should get over it. Today on Kyra's blog I saw a photo of an egg that casted a shadow that looked like Batman, that's the sign I've been waiting for! When even half eaten food can provide a wittier pop culture commentary than I can, that can only mean one thing, the apocalypse is coming... and it looks like breakfast.

Lately I've been watching a lot of TV, this may come as a shock to those who know me but once in a while I put down my first edition of Ulysses and succumb to the idiot box. What have I've been watching? If you haven't noticed (Or seen Conan's beard) there's a writer's strike going on which means no prime-time so I had to resort to alternative programming. This might as well serve as a guide to those who, like me, have nothing else to watch. The Shows I've been watching are:

The Adventures Of Sherlock Holmes, a 1984 Granada production about the title's renowned detective. In this Incarnation Holmes is played by a Human being, not a mouse, but that's not the only way this adaptation is loyal to the source material. Holmes is also addicted to a morphine Cocaine cocktail (something I must have missed when I read the books as a child) that seems to keep him busy while hes not cracking complex cases. And of course he never utters the infamous " elementary my dear Watson" either. Jeremy Brett's Holmes is as brilliant as you would expect but more flawed than you'd imagine. Needless to say the acting is superb, the sets are as close to a Victorian England as someone who doesn't know what Victorian England looked like would hope for and Scotland Yard...Scotland Yard never had a chance of solving the case.

Get A life, Chris Elliott's 1990's sitcom about a 30 year old paperboy living with his parents (This one worries me a little) and Ducktales the true story of Scrooge McDuck, the world richest duck (seeing that most Ducks have no steady Income makes it more impressive even) , his nephews, pilot and pet caveduck (which never seemed right, right?). Other shows in my must watch list -Picket fences, Dr Katz, Agatha Christie;s Poirot (from Granada also) and Ken Burns the War, yes I know I am watching Ducktales and I haven't watched it yet. I have to admit that it's a wird combination of shows that (aside from the War) lacks serious drama , but then again the best show on TV is back and that's all the drama I need. I bet that if Holmes had a playlist like this to entretain himself he wouldn't do any drugs, or more likely, he would do a lot of drugs eat doritos, and leave all his cases unsolved.

2007-09-20T10:50:00.000-07:00

Today's Quote:

Post modernism means never having to say I'm sorry.

2007-09-20T09:59:00.000-07:00

After the stupid Summer... Fall it's finally here!!

And its time for those brilliant, hardworking network executives to shine. That's why we are proud to introduce Mr Hat's Fall Guide. Mr Hat and I are amazed at the quality of the new shows this season..and the originality!

Among the new shows we have Kelsey Grammer's groundbreaking comedy; Back to you. I haven't seen this show yet but Mr Hat has. According to Mr Hat he wasn't aware that Back To You was a new show , he thought it was a rerun of News Radio and switched to what according to his discerning taste is the true great new show of the season The Erotic Traveler. The Erotic traveler is a new High production drama form the people that brought you Hotel Erotica, Hotel Erotica season 2 and Hotel Erotica in Spanish available only in Telelatino Wednesdays at 3:45 AM. The intricate premise revolves around what seems to be a trailer trash prostitute after winning Lotto 6/49 fornicating in front of blue screens posing as the world's most exotic locations. e.g. The Eiffel tower. This show masterfully depicts society's injustice in a socially aware fashion that has never been seen before in late night basic cable. A prime example of this is the short but lust filled relationship between a French baguette merchant and what could be better described as a Society's lady chambermaid. Never has a baguette served so many metaphors and clever wordplay. This show makes PBS's snotty masterpiece theater look like the first rehearsal of Laguna Beach.

Next on the Fall's new slate is CBS Kid Nation. This show is brilliant. Mr Hat and I got together to watch it and we were awestruck. first of all we would like to make a few clarifications to readers that might have been confused as we were about the true nature of kid nation, Kid Nation is not about Kid Rock and his tumultuous relationship with Pamela Anderson featuring never before seen footage. That is not. The show consists of getting together a bunch of bad parents who want to get rid of their kids for the summer and giving them some cash in exchange of putting them in Harm's way and extreme living conditions. Everybody wins! On the first episode the producers tell the kids that society cannot function without them being stuck in a predetermined social class so they tell some of them that they are the upper class, some others are merchants others cooks, laborers, etc. Once the roles have been sorted the kid are told that the upper class gets a lot of money for doing nothing and that the laborers get practically nothing for doing most of the work. This show is high on educational values as it is teaching our children that life is a bitch from a very early age.

Next on our list is K-Ville a show about a post Katrina New Orleans and two opposite police officers who partner to fight for what's right. Katrina ,two Unlikely partners (one fat and black, the other white and skinny) those are the elements for a Kick ass Buddy comedy about two cops having a good time in the big easy. Instead we get a major downer about Katrina's aftershock. The images of a devastated New Orleans two years after the tragedy don't do much to lighten the mood. Mr Hat, I and bottle of Prozac with someone else's name are going to keep watching this eagerly waiting for a Mardi Grass episode.

2006-12-11T19:38:00.000-08:00

Maybe ~~not~~ the brightest idea I've ever heard

When my brother Matias showed me ChaCha.com a search engine that features, wait for it.....Actual human beings! I must admit I was genuinely intrigued. Who are these "guides" and are they any good? These guys are guys like you and me that get paid $5 an hour and NO, they are not any good. I can’t blame them for doing exactly what I would do which is directing people to wikipedia, but c’mon is not like wikipedia is an obscure internet resource. When they can't direct you to the most obviously generic site, they start the trial and error process which consists in linking you to the most random pages hoping one of them contains the information you were looking for. Not the best use for your time we all know that Google didn’t become a verb by linking people to garbage. But hey, some people miss the human touch and I understand that (I also prefer cuddly humans) but human contact with strangers over the internet whether is via a webcam in a porn site or a yahoo chat its always going to be handicapped. Like I mentioned before my brother showed me the website, he also told me that some of his queries included the telephone number for the Cuban police, the cure for loneliness and if the Cola Wars were an actual war. Yes the questions are absurd and yes the Cha Cha guides spent time answering them. Now multiply these questions by the thousands that decided to play pranks on these poor guys and you will realize that these guys won't have that much time left to answer the REAL questions which might deride in them finding the easiest way out of the queries by....linking you to wikipedia! I assume this site wants to support itself via advertising, who are they gonna target? The way I see it, since as a search engine is useless, because of it’s off the chart ability to entertainingly waste your time and already a hit among the internet savvy teenage demographic (as early adopters huge among advertisers) Cha-Cha is the new you tube. Heck if I had any money I'd buy some stock.

2006-10-13T07:11:00.000-07:00

TV mirrors Hollywood's lack of ideas by creating not one but TWO shows about the backstage of a Saturday night live like show. A subject that very few people would truly be interested in.
But there lies the Magic of television ,doesnt it? It makes people like me interested in what goes on during the creation of a show (SNL) that hasnt been funny or even succesful in probably a decade. These two shows im referring to are 30 Rock and Studio 60 in the sunset strip created by the brilliant Tina fey and Aaron Sorkin respectively.
30 Rock premiered last wensday and i can honestly say its funny, laugh out loud funny. Tina fey plays Liz lemon the head writer of the girl show, a sketch comedy show targeted at women , that sees her world shaken by the arrival of a New development Vp ,brilliantly played by Alec Baldwin, who's job is to fix things that arent broken, in this case the Girlie show lack of male viewership. Baldwin brings crazy chapelle like Tracy Jordan into the mix and hilarity ensues.
I can say that arguably 30 rock it's after the office the smartest and funniest comedy on TV.
I almost forgot, enjoy while you can because its not going to last.
On the other hand Sorkin's pet project Studio 60 in the sunset strip (if you are wondering SNL studio is 8C) is a half hour skein in the vein of his other dramedies the underrated Sports night and the superb West Wing.
Like i mentioned before SNL is not funny ,nor risky or succesful anymore it even has its smallest cast ever this season due to budget cuts.
But in Sorkin's world and Words the comedy of studio 60 is sharp and funny. Witers are witty and producers stick it to the man. Its the world some of us wished we lived in same as Bartletts democratic mandate in the west wing.
S60 its pretentious and self involved ,like most viewers noted ,no one talks like that. But its also insightful,funny and very well filmed, probably due to its 2 million dollarper ep budget.

2006-08-27T09:46:00.000-07:00

Owner realizes that naming restaurant "Hitler's Cross" was innapropiate.

This seriously reminds me of Dogbert's school for people with no common sense.
You can read the full story here but basically what happened is that a Restaurant in the hip financial district of Mumbai beared the name Hitler's Cross (Hopefully as an advertising gimmick). Yes we all know that Mick Jagger once said that there is no such thing as bad publicity and im personally all for schock value.. but having the nations of Israel and Germany filing formall complaints beacuse of your stupid Restaurant Name seems like a price too high to pay for awereness. All i can say is that HC is one tasteless restaurant (pun intended).

2006-08-27T09:29:00.000-07:00

Kitten falling asleep...The Movie!!! (probably coming soon)

A couple of months ago i watched this video on you tube where a taxi driver (now it seems he was a computer technician) got mistaken for a computer guru and went on air (on the BBC nonetheless) to give his expert opinion on the apple vs apple lawsuit.
Now it seems british film producers are planning a movie based on this poor man's mishap.
How can they strech this incident for 2 hours? i have no clue, but it sure sounds as the Brits are as clueless as the Americans when it comes to thinking up fresh film ideas.

2006-08-24T07:41:00.000-07:00

Who do you think is more popular in Turkey; Woody Allen or Kevin smith?

If you answered who cares or Woody Allen , youre right!
How did i make this mind blowing discovery? By using google newest cool/useless/addictive/time wasting tool Google trends. All you need to do is type to searches that wont cancel each other, separate them with a comma click search and wait to be surprised.
Pamela Anderson still more popular than Carmen Electra? yes except in Hungary. Pacino more famous than De Niro? By far...in Calgary!
But if getting the graph with the results seems a little cold and unappealing then i recommend Google fights, completely different results for the same query and a short stckmen fight announcing the winner.

Enjoy

2006-08-14T17:14:00.000-07:00

What i've learned from today's paper

Herr Gunter Grass, Nobel prize writer and Germany's "high moralist" confessed this Saturday that during WWII he served in the SS (Hitler's national police that among other attrocities ran the concentration camps).
Grass never denied his role in the hitler youth but he hid his involvment with the SS for 61 years. Something that i find hard to explain from a person that became germany's post war conscience.

Read the full story here

I think im going to go read MAUS now..

2006-08-13T12:04:00.000-07:00

My current podcasts

CBC Radio 3
Grant Lawrence hosts and showcases new Canadian alternative and Independent music.

Film Buffs Podcast
This Melbourne based show is a tad to long and some of their choices go from fascinating (Russ Meyer interview by Nick broomfield) to Bizarre (Karen Black). This Podcast goes great with the TTC.

Real time with Bill Maher
Maher's HBO Show

KCRW Film Review
Wall street journal critic Joe Morgesten's masterclass

KCRW The treatment
Elvis Mitchell proves that he deserves the hype with his weekly hour interviews to the top talent (and i mean talent) in Hollywood.

NPR Pop Culture
The Top pop culture related stories of the National Public Radio.

Movies T.O.
Matt brown's questionable taste and tendency to spoil movies dont take away the fact that he is great comunicator and the only film podcaster dedicated to Toronto. Great insight on Festivals and screenings.

The Ricky Gervais Podcast (video)
Now a video podcast its a great way to wait for the secon season of extras.

KCRW Minding the media
Nick Madiggan analysis of the state of the media.

Channel Frederator
Animated short films from all over the world.

2006-08-13T11:37:00.000-07:00

The best shows you are most likely not watching.

The Wire ***** (imdb)

This West Baltimore based police drama is like nothing you've seen.
The Wire depicts the lives of an anti drug unit (detail) in Baltimore trying to catch the big fish of a larger than life drug operation. Pressed you would have to say the main character is Detective Jim McNulty but don be fooled because The Wire's cast is the largest and most complex array of characters ever to arrive in the small screen.

The beauty of The Wire is that with their 3 season (so far) character arches you get to experience every side of the story and spend time with EVERY character of this ice cold coral drama.

For a show like this a simple cat and mouse with the drug dealers wouldn't have been enough. Thats why the basic storylines include Police department politics ,Corruption in high and higher places, Gangster territorial dominantion and sex (hey, its HBO).

I cant recomend the Wire enough but be warned it can get really violent and if you think that Tony Soprano is apotty mouth youre better off avoiding it, TV this good comes along once in a very long while but its not for the faint.

2006-08-11T17:14:00.000-07:00

The Squid and the Whale ***** (imdb)

I would like to start this review with a spoiler. If youre thinking of renting this movies because your grandma made you watch Jaques Coustau with her because she thought he was sexy and you feel like reminiscing by watching a movie about the Ocean's fascinanting sealife dont watch this movie.Its not about that and its not about Seafood either.

This movie is about the bitter divorce of the Bekermanns two New yorker Intelectuals with competing egos that find themselves with their kids taking sides. At first i thought that the movie was caught in that Indie limbo where everybody thinks that Napoleon Dynamite is fashion icon and kids listen to the Velvet Underground in ther record players . But its not. It's set in theBrooklyn of the 80's. That to me made the movie inmediatly darn cool but its not where the strenght of the feature lies .
This movie has an unveliable cast: Jeff Daniels as the Patriarch ,Laura Linney as the Mother, Jesse Eisenberg of Roger Dodger fame, as Walt the oldest and Newcomer Owen Kline as Frank ,the youngest and i have to mention William Baldwin, this should be his Trantino style comeback he plays Ivan an ex tennis pro that among other eccentricities calls everyone "my brother".
Its the young ones who carrie the weight of the Movie. The way the sons deal with the divorce is by taking sides, Walt with the dad and Frank with the Mum.

These are no ordinary parents ergo no ordinary kids specially in the way they act out.
Frank decides to start drinking (we are talking about a nine year old) and Walt tries to emulate his father's condescending intelectual superiority with his school mates and tries to pass a pink floyd song as his own during a talent show.
This might seem far out on paper but the truth its that most of this movie feels painfully real.
Daniels makes his Character, a once great writer turned washed out University professor unable to repeat his early succes, his own. He is pompous and bitter but also loving and most definetely human. On the other hand Linney is more restrained in her complexity, she is constantly blamed by Walt for the failure of her Marriage and is unable of dealing with him.

The Squid and the whale was based on the directors childhood and shares subject matters with movies like Moonlight mile and the royal tenembaums and like them it has an undeniable indie feel to it, but otherwise its not trying to hard to earn its cred. Daniels made this one a monster on its own and is overall a terrific film.

2006-08-11T14:10:00.000-07:00

Mr Hat's Indie DVD Review

I love having movies ON Demand ,its the greatest thing ever. Absolutely hassle free and with no hidden costs, it arrived to make our lives better. There is a little problem with it though. 90% of the movies available are shit, and the ones that are not are your usual blockbusters,the ones that most likely youve seen already...in the big screen.
Thats why almost every week i end up going to the video store anyway.
I must admit i love going to the video store, I can spend literally hours browsing through titles trying to spot that obscure movie that i swore i was going to watch in that little arthouse, but never did.
Besides i feel its our duty to support independent videostores. They are a great place for us film geeks to interact with each other and they provide us with the only way of discerning wether a movie is good or not before paying the 25 dollars on the special edition.
Because i want you guys to go out and watch other stuff than the one in the tube i decided to ,each week, give you my thoughts on an independent movie currently available in Dvd.
To the readers in Toronto i can guarantee that the movies i review will be available in these excellent video stores: Queen Video, Filmbuff, Suspect and Black dog.
To those in Vienna i recommend my beloved Alphaville , in Barcelona Video Star or my personal selection at sociart club.
Gus you should try Cinemateca chucarro although they have a limited Dvd selection.

2006-08-10T18:44:00.000-07:00

Bubblegum Fink

Thanks boing boing for the heads up on this insanely cool blog. The Highlight? Bubble gum Trading Cards for Cult Movies.

2006-08-06T16:21:00.000-07:00

Last monday's New York Times stated that one of the War's unnamed victims (of course a lesser tragedy) was Lebannon's suddenly resurrected cultural life. Today the online magazine slate links to the TIME OUT Beirut website, surreally listing shows and festivals that could have been...

2006-08-05T12:21:00.000-07:00

No summer lovin' for summer movies

Prompted by Mr. Hat i’ve decided to do a quick recap of the movies we’ve seen on the big screen this summer and sadly it was not a pretty sight
.
It’s been a while since the lord of the rings movie trilogy ended but I still can’t shake the feeling that maybe my sense of summer entertainment has been spoiled for life.
Headlining this summer was one big movie and a bigger disappointment: Superman returns. The 5th installment of the Superman series was directed by Bryan Singer director of the superb the usual suspects and his comic adaptations credentials include the entertaining X-MEN 1 & 2.

There are several problems with Superman including a VERY weak cast lead by Brandon Routh as a soporiferous Superman, a disastrous Villain by Kevin Spacey and a plain embarrassing Parker Posey. I can’t really say much about the plot except that superman returns to earth to find that Lex Luthor wasn’t convicted and Lois Lane is a single mom who doesn’t feel that the world needs superman (all documented in a Pulitzer Prize article). I totally agree with Lois, he should have stayed in Krypton rather that mortify the human race with this 3 hour train wreck.

Surprisingly better than superman was X-MEN 3, this movie was mindless entertainment with some super action and the always reliable Patrick Stewart and Ian Mckellen.
If you need your Comic Book movie fix go see that one.

The Da Vinci Code: The Da Vinci code movie would certainly please the fans of the book because just like it, its Mediocre, entertaining at parts and all together too long.

Maybe my favorite movie of this summer was the second part of pirates of the Caribbean. Maybe it’s that i am a sucker for pirates and that I spent a part of my childhood reading Books by Emilio Salgari and Alejandro Dumas. POTC Dead Man’s chest plot involves Davy Jones from the flying Dutch man fame collecting a debt from Johnny Depp's captain Jack Sparrow ...HIS SOUL BUAHAHA!

I can’t even start to describe how amazing the effects of this movie are...so I won’t but Davy Jones and his crew are worth the Theater admission alone.

This move like its predecessor heavily relies on Johnny Depp’s character. He provides Solid comic relief as well as Action hero and romantic lead. Now that I think of it Jack Sparrow is the Indiana Jones of the I pod generation. And that parallel applies also to quality and sucees...Im proud of me.

If you are going to see one movie this summer makes it POTC.

Two movies I liked but were somehow disappointing are PIXAR’S CARS and Woody Allen’s Scoop.
Before CARS I absolutely adored all Pear movies, I like Cars a lot but perhaps PIXAR’S proven success formula just got a little tired. Talking about formulaic Scoop feels like more of the same after that great movie that was Matchpoint. Still in my eyes Woody can do no wrong.
All left to do is wait for those pesky Snakes on a Plane

2006-08-05T10:59:00.000-07:00

I need some space

Thanks to Alex lately i’ve been hooked to myspace like a 17 old girl. But not only mypsace of course, because these days myspace and youtube come together and although both of them are OLD news the fact that I can browse through an immense archive and have immediate access to intros to my childhood favorite shows (almost forgotten) and Finnish disco lessons and then POST them in someone else’s space..Well it never ceases to amaze me.
Of course I realize that arrived quite late to the myspace craze, so late in fact that it has already been purchased by a corporation (FOX), but the factors that made it great back then are still present. The main factor I would say is the interactivity and the immediacy you can achieve with thousands of people but also Bands, Movies, Porn stars...you name it. You are able to add them as your “friends” therefore accomplishing two things: having a contact with someone that would be otherwise unreachable and most important creating that identity and portraying that image that would difference you from most people and link you with a few. In myspace your personality is defined by both your influences and the comments people leave you, for you, and the rest of the world to see.
Even when they have nothing to say you there is always the possibility of linking a video or posting a funny picture.
I must admit that in the last couple of days i've grown quite fond of this Meta Individuality, hell…myspace is your oyster!

2006-02-10T19:48:00.000-08:00

MUNICH mini review

We can say (Mr Hat and I) that the dry spell is over, no we didnt have sex with that transexual albino mr hat picked up in that barntizvah we crashed BUT we saw 2 movies that didnt suck quite the opposite, they didnt suck.
The Movies Im talking about are MUNICH and the Woodsman (Mr hat feels that we shouldnt refer to Woody Allen as the Woodsman anymore since there is a movie about a child molester that has the same name and we dont want the confusion to bring some unwanted attention to the site. Strangely enough the movie stars Kevin bacon that starred with Sean penn in mystic river who was directed by...Woody Allen! in sweet and lowdown*if you dont know what that last bit was all about click here ) latest MATCH POINT.
As everybody knows Munich was directed by Spielberg (not to be confused with his cheap mexican version Spielbergo) and its about the killing of the israeli athletes in the 72 Munich olympics. This movie is arguably Spielbergs best and politics and controversy aside it delvers as a drama and mostly as kickass thriller.
The film is centered around Eric Bana's character who plays a Mossad agent that is put in charge of a special squad whose mission is the executing of the direct and not so direct responsibles of the Munich masacre. Bana is great in the movie although Mr Hat already knew he could act after seeing him throw a tank over the grand canyon in the smash hit HULK.
The rest of the mod squad are Daniel crag from layer cake and soon to be Bond,
Ciarán Hinds, Mathieu Kassovitz ,Hanns Zischler and as their boss a superb Geofrey Rush.
One of the most interesting things about this movie is that although obviously subjective it gives a chance to the palestinias to express their views therefore creating a dialogue in the spectator mind ,i know its not much but every little helps.

The action transcurs mostly in a beautifully shot europe and the 70s recreation is flawless and as Mr Hat tastefully adds there are also some boobies.
So for any of these reasons go check it out while is still out in the cinema.

Coming Next ....Match Point

2006-02-10T19:44:00.000-08:00

I bet they learned never to mess with chickens, i know i did

2006-02-10T19:37:00.000-08:00

Today is a sad day ,when we say good bye to a dear and random friend.
What was probably the funniest show in television aired it 4 finals (brilliant) episodes.
So long ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT you'll live in our harts and linger forever in pop culture.

2006-01-05T16:31:00.000-08:00

I just created my own jennifer Goverment, check it out, make your own!

2005-12-29T21:55:00.000-08:00

The best movie of the year acordding to AFI is.........

Brokeback mountain!
Directed by Ang Lee and starring Jake glyhenhall and Heath Ledger this movie is been described as your usual hollywood gay cowboy love story.
I guess i wont be seen this one in the Mall's Famous players...

2005-12-29T21:45:00.000-08:00

Crazy things that people do when they are high

The other day browsing trough Advertising blogs i found this story in Adpulp that really cracked me up...and i quote:
"According to Promo Magazine, SpongeBob SquarePants figures have been swiped from Burger King roofs in New York, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Maine, Tennessee and Utah over the past two weeks. At one BK in Utah, employees handed out fliers to try and locate their missing SpongeBob. In Minnesota, a BK manager received a ransom note demanding two "Krabby Patties" in exchange for SpongeBob's return. "HAHAHAHA

2005-11-23T12:36:00.000-08:00

My 2 cents

When you live abroad you realize that everybody has a formed opinion about your country and culture; sadly most of the time these opinions are based on stereotypes mixed with bits of actual knowledge. Like of every other country there is an international image of Canada and Canadians.
I know I had it. This image was of course created by the usual channels: TV, Movies and the news. People outside Canada think of Canadians as friendly, cultured, Hockey obsessed, and chauvinistic lumberjacks...But NOT Gun crazy.
Gun violence and violence in general are new to me (I do realize how lucky I am) so to realize that in Canada it is so common that its a usual topic of conversation among young people really came as a shock.... Now how sad it’s that.
I used to believe in that image of Canada, the Canada that respected Human rights, the Canada of Medicare, and above all that the melting pot Canada. Now I think that image is based on comparison to their neighbors and that it’s mostly fueled out of the hate a big chunk of the world has towards the USA. People like Michael Moore, praising how many fewer deaths of gun violence are in Canada compared the USA keep building on that Image. Don’t get me wrong, Its true, Canada its all that I expected but no one told that from every Naomi Klein and David Cronenberg there are Thousands of Kids killing each other. And they are doing it right in front of us.
I’ve read my classmates comments on the subject and agree with their points of view, there is a government and a society to blame, families are not playing their socializing role properly and because of that; what should have been the Canadian dream has become the Canadian Nightmare.
That a First world country has reached this point amazes and puzzles me. Where lies the solution? I cant say ...But I know that something needs to be done,
Kids have access to guns HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE???? Kids don't have the information or the judgment to say NO to guns HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE ???
This is a country with an overdose of consumerism and and a serious lack of values.
Quoting Homer Simpson when he found out he had to go to Canada "we live in America, why do we have to go to America Jr?"…. .... America Jr? Not quite yet but we are getting there.

2005-11-23T12:17:00.000-08:00

Advertising that doesnt suck

coming soon to a Mac near you.

After watching Japanese hipnotist caterpillars, Kickass girls playing soccer and a groovy family made of water (yes ,really) in the remarkable 2004 clio reel we (Ryan menezes and myself) decided to focus our computer class presentation in the exciting world of International advertising.

We call ourselves The OSX Tigers.

2005-11-16T12:47:00.000-08:00

Mr Hat Newland's Class Edition

Macs ,Take 2

From Mac OS instalation guide to iconic tendencies ,The Macintosh guy is full of tips: http://www.themacintoshguy.com/MacTips/

For the Mac Os X shortcuts (pretty useful stuff)check: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=75459

Mac specs ,Prices ,answers & more : http://www.everymac.com/

2005-11-14T18:23:00.000-08:00

Mr Hat's Playlist *Canadian edition*

Mr Hat enjoys the new pornography. What a newsflash, right? I mean who doesn’t.
The pornographers new album is called twin cinema and everybody should check it out. Also in Mr Hat's playlist are Metric's Live it out and Broken social scene's......broken social scene (what Mr hat would give to have a social scene, even if its broken) and its not to late to go out and buy or borrow or shoplift the Hidden Cameras Mississauga Goddam, Arcade fire's Funeral, Tegan and Sara's So jealous and Feist's Let it die, do what you have to do people, but don’t miss out on the hype! Canadian rock is It and Mr Hat felt it was his duty to complement the articles on the subject that appeared on rolling stone, mojo,Q,under the radar and several other publications .
For more unoriginal stuff don’t forget to check the site.

2005-11-12T06:51:00.000-08:00

The Retina Assassin (Mr Hat’s film review column)

Kiss kiss bang bang ****

I hate going to the movies with Mr Hat, I have to create a distraction so he can sneak into the cinema and I always end spending the night in jail (t-bone ill see you next Friday).

Mr hat decided to start his film review section with Shane Black’s directorial debut kiss kiss bang bang. KKBB proves Godard right when he said, “all you need to make a movie is a girl and a gun” Its not the first time that Black explores sex and violence. These are recurring themes in most of his scripts like lethal weapon; the last Boy Scout and The long kiss good night. And he is not trying to be subtle about it. The tagline of the movie reads: Sex, Murder, Mystery, Welcome to the party. (Take away the mystery and it sounds like Mr Hats kind of party all right). According to Mr Hat the Movie delivers, Big Time.

Small time crook turned actor Harry Lockhart (Robert Downey Jr plays the character, with charm to burn) moves to L.A. to prepare for an Audition and Partners with detective Gay Perry (they call him that cos he is gay) for “role research” until of course they get involved in a real murder investigation and Hilarity ensues. Val Kilmer plays Gay Perry and Mr hat had no idea he could be that funny…. on purpose (remember when he played batman?) Serious change of pace. Gay jokes aside, and trust me there are plenty of those, the dialogue is witty, smartassy, and self-aware and obviously tailor made for Downey Jr.

The Jokes play very well (Mr Hat almost chokes on his Mix of M&M’s and Popcorn) but there is a downside to this, the hardcore laughing doesn’t help you follow a plot that’s pretty dense to begin with. The plot revolves around Harry’s High school sweat hart, her sister getting Killed and one of Gay Perry’s clients being involved in all this……a frickin Tangle if you ask me .Mr Hat’s advice don’t worry too much about the plot just let go and enjoy the ride.

The movie is divided in 5 chapters each chapter taking its name from a Raymond Chandler novel. Paying homage where homage is due.

Harry narrates the movie from the start and according to Mr Hat this maybe one of the greatest narrations of the history of film (of course Mr hat doesn’t know crap about the history of film). This movie is in limited release right now and it doesn’t look like it’s going to expand into a lot of other theatres so if you are a Shane Black/Val Kilmer/Robert Downey jr fan (he hast been this great since Wonder boys) you MUST CHECK IT OUT!! (Mr Hat says: There are also some Boobies). Mr hat liked the movie so much he is giving it 4 hats out of 5.

2005-11-11T11:39:00.000-08:00

Mr Hat's TOP 10 BRIT SHOWS

Mr Hat recently got hooked up with a rogers digital terminal and now spents all his time watching the BBC trying to master the art of the fake british accent ,anyway here are Mr Hat's picks :
1- The Office
Watch out for: David brent's Dance moves.
2-Little Britain
Watch out for: Lou and Andy
3-Da Ali g show
Watch out for: Borat's dinner party
4-Monty Phytons flying Circus
Watch out for :The dead parrot sketch
5-Big train
Watch out for: The cat'n'mouse fight outside the pub
6- Black books
Watch out for: The soundproof door
7-The league of gentlemen
Watch out for:The shining spoofs
8-Top Gear
Watch out for: The styx
9-Im Alan Patridge
Watch out for : Inner city Sumo
10-Mr Bean
Watch out for :Mr Bean!

2005-11-09T18:26:00.000-08:00

Is Power point as cool as the power Rangers?????

If you are like Mr hat and have asked yourself this question over and over and over and over and over again you came to the right place. Lets do a quick recap pointing out the strengths of both the Power rangers and Power point:

® 1-the Power rangers are like seven, Power point is one

® 2-the power rangers dress like dinosaurs or somethin like that, Its one of those things that you never question until someone like Mr hat comes along and asks what the (CENSORED) are the power rangers supposed to be ?? Well I guess they are in a search for their inner selves, On the other hand the objective of Power point is much clearer its a tool that can be found in most computers and allows you to make presentations and bore people.

® 3-the Power Rangers can mold together to make an Über super robot (btw Mr hat Top 5 robots are R2D2, HAL, Johnny five, optimus prime and Mr hat's Ex girlfriend). Power point can put together a presentation, you can add music, although in some cases it’s not appropriate; once Mr hat used britney's "hit me baby one more time" to enhance his presentation on domestic violence and it was poorly received. You can also add videos and animations but like Mr hat says in the end it’s all about the content.

® 4-The Power rangers are all of different colors, they are the jelly beans of superheroes, With Power point you can choose from many backgrounds and if you don’t like the ones that are already there you can make your own, Mr Hat made one that lets you look for Waldo in the zoo, this particular background won many international awards, why? (Other questions usually asked include, there are awards for that?? and where's Waldo?) because it creates the illusion that people are looking at your presentation when actually they are looking for a geeky looking guy wearing a hat, if you think about it it’s a win-win situation.

I Think that with this background checked, thought provoking research brought to you By Mr Hat himself we are able to draw some conclusions. First of all Power point can be a pretty powerful application when it comes to present things…. and stuff, but like the Uncle of Spiderman once said “with great power comes great responsibility” and in the wrong hands………….
Also Mr hat realized that the power rangers are not cool at all and as a matter of fact they are probably being played in a loop in Guantanamo as we speak (or as you read).

Whatevs, we are all in the Matrix anyway.

Cheers

2005-11-09T12:24:00.000-08:00

All you ever wanted to know about Macs and you were afraid to ask.

Mr Hat says: the Mac is awesome! Mr hat bought a Mac after watching a documentary about them in PBS and now is part of the Mac community, of course when we talk about Macs we are talking about Computers not burgers .Mac stands for Macintosh and is a brand of apple, the computer company not to confuse with Mr Newlands favorite fruit. Why are the Macs so awesome? To begin with they look nice, they look frickin nice as a matter of fact they are the nicest thing Mr Hat ever owned, of course Mr hat leaves in a crackhouse.....and he sleeps with an Uzi under his pillow. Ok they look nice so what? , So does my cousin Melinda .why would you spend your hard earned money on a Mac? They are kinda pricey well... like Mr Hat says: it’s all about the features. Macintosh has a still evolving multimedia support (whatever that means), and he reckons that Macintosh’s don’t only handle drawing and pictures but true imaging sound and video, this is very useful if you are like Mr Hat and like to make your own hip hop videos in the comfort of your basement Btw if you are a member of the female gender there are auditions going on.
Back to the Mac, have you noticed that the Mac mouse only has one button? , I did and so did Mr hat AND WE DONT LIKE IT!!!!!.
If you want to sign our petition please visit: www.whatsthedealwithemacmouseireallydontgetitanditreallypissesmeandmrhatoff.com, Take this real life example of how annoying not being able to left click is. When you want to save an image (a not copyrighted image cos u cant go through life stealing pictures of britney no matter how hot u think she is) you have to click and hold and I mean hoooooold, Mr hats hand hurts because of all the holding he has being doing lately, damn britney! That’s all for this lesson Mr hat hopes that you’ve learned something new and he hopes that you have a nice life and if you don’t ...just don’t tell him.

Cheers