da blogs da thang

… should prove to be interesting to say the least. With the planned “no shows” as a protest happening all over the country in response to the latest illegal immigration issue… I just may be playing to an empty house.

I’ll let you know what happens.

UPDATE: 4:46 PM
Well, only a quarter of our students turned up today and driving around the streets of the city was creepy empty.

When Kien was here over a month ago we had a conversation about a movie we both saw and loved back in Malaysia as prepubescent boys. It’s actually pretty obscure here in the U.S. The movie was S.W.A.L.K. (aka Melody) and starred Jack Wild, Mark Lester and Tracy Hyde. Basically, the story revolved around these 2 ten year olds who fall in love and want to get married. A sweet charming story told from the kid’s point of view that was Alan Parker’s first produced screenplay. The soundtrack featured The Bee Gees. Truth be told, we loved the movie also because we both had a major crush on Tracy Hyde.
Anyway, I was surfing this weekend and discover that the movie has this amazing cult following in Asia. In fact, the only known DVD release was done in Japan. Here is a page of video samples from the movie. This one is one of my favorites. While surfing to all these sites I began waxing nostalgic on all the different crushes I had growing up… frankly, it made me laugh out loud at my own dorkiness. To that end I’m now seriously considering ordering said DVD. Oh Kien… here is a site you may enjoy… and most of the shooting of the movie was done around Lambeth! LOL!

… the street under this tree smoking a cig while on break at work. The 10 or 15 minutes I spend at this location every week day provides me the solace needed away from the constant hub-bub that occurs in the building across the street. It is on these breaks that I have the opportunity to compose my thoughts and draft a mental checklist of how to accomplish the tasks for the rest of the day. In about a month… I shall miss this tree… but not the solace.

So far, this weekend has been a pleasant one… and much has been accomplished with the various cleaning projects around the homestead. Many want picture evidence of the changes… and they will be coming soon.

Now back to the cleaning/organizing grind.

… and I’m still cleaning. LOL! Transforming this was only part of the diabolical plan. There is more involved with this project. And Solitaire hit it on the nose… all of this (including the blog template) is part of my “new chapter”. Once everything is completed I’ll make sure you get a full report.

For all of you who came by to check out my HNT… a BIG THANK YOU! For those of you who came by and left a kind comment a BIGGER THANK YOU!

Not much else to say at the moment so I guess I’ll just post my weekend movie selection for this week.

Now The Tall Guy has been a particular favorite of mine for quite a while. Written by Richard Curtis, this romantic comedy has left me in stitches on several occasions. There is a witty, quirky and lovable quality to this film that follows the misadventures of Dexter (Jeff Goldblum) – an actor sentenced to play the thankless role of “the other guy” in a one man comedy revue… where he isn’t the star!

Throw in the practical, no-nonsense charms of nurse Kate Lemon (Emma Thompson) as the other half of the romance. Heap in the assholeness of Ron Anderson (Rowan Atkinson) as the star of said one man comedy revue. Stir in one of the messiest and funniest sex scenes ever filmed. Sprinkle in the absurdity of staging a musical version of The Elephant Man… and you have The Tall Guy.

Apart from being high on my personal list of great “date movies” (if my date doesn’t like this movie… it’s time to look for another)… I have also been known to quote a certain obscure line from it on more than one occasion.

Needless to say, this has left many around me totally befuddled (which Zonthar can attest to… is my sacred mission in life.) If you are a theatre nerd… there are so many “in” jokes it will set your head spinning. If you’re not, the movie still works it’s charm nevertheless. I actually have a theory that the character Emma plays here is continued years later in the character she plays in”Love Actually” (another Richard Curtis movie I like a lot).

EDIT: 10:47 AM – Here is another quote from the movie:

Ron Anderson: Listen, Dexter, is there something troubling you? Something that you would like to talk to someone about?
Dexter: Well, yes, as a matter of fact there is…
Ron Anderson: Then for fuck’s sake talk to someone about it, will you? And sort it out before I sack you and hire a lobotomized monkey to play your role. Okay?

Anyway, do yourself a favor of mirth and check it out!