It's been too long in the offing but procrastination (from moving from where I'm presently sitting, no less) has finally made it happen.

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The good people of the United Kingdom have given us many things- military support, some wonderful culinary concoctions, royal gossip and, lately, some damn fine TV. Yes, I've been watching many things from across the pond in the past few weeks. Doctor Who is back at full strength, but there are a few things that I've recently got into that are a little more grounded in reality...

I don't even need an LJ cut to sell you on 'The IT Crowd'- it is a hilarious workplace drama starring players from The Mighty Boosh. I've yet to watch a single episode that didn't have me in stitches on at least three separate accounts. Add to that the fact that each of the four existing seasons is a scant 6 episodes, and you have a great return for a minor investment.

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'The Shadow Line' is a dark procedural drama starring The Ninth Doctor and The Operative. If you need to know more than that, I'm not sure I want to know you.

Saw Thor on Friday. I came out of the theater a bit unimpressed, but as I let the film sit with me for a bit, I came to realize I enjoyed it more than I initially thought. Definitely want to check it out again and just let me eyes glaze over any time they're not in Asgard or Chris Hemsworth isn't soaked.

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Events are fixin' to occur in the next few weeks. Updates as they are warranted.

Dunno why I've not updated in such a long time- there have been Things Of Note occurring, but I haven't felt like writing recently. I'm keeping Dad company in the living room (Mom is at her Begonia Club meeting) so I figured I might as well.

My bro was in town for Easter, which was mostly predictable- though hardly in a bad way. Copious amounts of amazing, delicious food, as is the norm for a bash at the Massih household. The whole thing is a blur, as any good party should be, really.

I've gotten my foot in the door with a temp agency in Oakland, so gods willing I'll have some cash flow- if intermittent- in the coming weeks, which would be nice what with Fanime looming ever closer.

And today I saw Win Win with mum. A hilarious tale of human drama (wow, how descriptive and original-sounding!) and also wrestling. Having the cast that it does, it was inevitable that I would enjoy this one. Check it out if you like your comedy low-key with a side of minor drama.

Not much coming up to speak of, other than Fanime in three weeks- and my anticipation for that rivals the size of most skyscrapers.

Been another week of job huntin' and movies, among other things.

Saw Hanna at a screening Thursday night with Jordan, edcool1 and sleepfighter. The amount of ass-kicking contained in this film- from Eric Bana, Saoirse Ronan and the countless faceless mooks- can hardly be put into words. And that's not even getting into the The Chemical Brothers' soundtrack, which just made love to my ears the entire runtime.

And the next day I caught Source Code with mum. A (slightly) less dark sci-fi flick from David Bowie's son, this one has Donnie Darko Jake Gyllenhal traveling through time to save many lives again. I always enjoy a well done Groundhog Day Loop, and this was no exception. I'm looking forward to many years of Duncan Jones taking classic science fiction conceits and turning them on their head in ways we'll never expect.

Saturday, I met up with Izzy again, this time with lichifruit- we dined with friends of Izzy's from The Internet and headed back to her place for booze, Cthulu anime and Doctor Who. And I closed out the weekend the next day at Izzy's once again and shared with she and Lichi the remainder of Series 5 of Nu Who.

Oh yeah, and I've started watching the latest offering from those wonderful makers of awesome drama shows, AMC- The Killing. A decidedly slow burn murder mystery set in a (probably) rainier-than-usual Seattle, the show concerns one detective Linden and her edgy new partner Holder as they work a murder, both having to deal with their own personal lives as well as a mayoral campaign in their district. The show is dark- both in tone and use of color- but it's as compelling as almost anything else the network has put out thus far- given that I will jump on any well-made murder mystery until its conclusion, you may want to take my words with a pinch of salt.

Good God, has it been this long? I feel badly that I've been away as long as I have, friends. Work is hardly demanding, but it takes my time up to the point that what little free time I have is all the more precious. What little there is to recap:

Saw Rabbit Hole last weekend as part of my efforts to watch all films with nominations in the major categories before this coming Sunday. Harsh story of a couple coping with the loss of a child. As soul-crushing as parts of this film were, the performances from Nicole Kidman and Aaron Eckhart were both deserving of Oscar nods at the very least.

And yesterday I went out and saw Biutiful, the new one from Alejandro Gonzalez Iñarritu. This is a complex film- par for the course for the man, but he essentially crafts a story around a single character that's wrapped up in a lot of things around him, whereas his previous flicks had several main characters all with their own stories being told simultaneously. If there was ever a man to have a story as big as this all to himself, you couldn't ask for a better choice than Javier Bardem. Equally tragic and life-affirming at turns, this one took the Best Actor nod by the throat.

LESS THAN STEALTHY EDIT: I also saw the Oscar-nominated animated shorts at work on Friday. Besides Pixar's 'Day & Night', there was a British one based on a children's story called 'The Gruffalo', 'Let's Pollute!', a lovely Australian piece called 'The Lost Thing', and an experimental piece entitled 'Madagascar'. My boss asked me which piece I'd root for, pretending I didn't work at Pixar, and I said I'd love to see The Gruffalo win- it's a charming tale of a mouse using his silver tongue to get away from the many dangers of the forest, all voiced by folks that would be familiar to any Brit-lover.

This weekend brings my second Beer Bash with my bro and Zander followed by numerous shenanigans culminating in the Oscars Sunday. FIXIN' TO BE EPIC.

'nother week of work at the happiest place on earth behind me. Among other things...

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Weekend was pretty damn awesome. ( GeekendCollapse )

Tomorrow brings a screening of The Mechanic after work and this weekend brings my first company party at Pixar.

I was trying to make this a quickie post, but then I went and (attempted) to finish my end-of-year list of lists of things I have seen/listened to/read LIKE A BOSS . It is by no means complete- I'll likely edit this at random intervals. I need to start on these things earlier. My posts throughout the year are of only minor help:

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Best of the year lists for some categories (i.e., those that are big enough to warrant them) forthcoming.

And before I go, a word on my record reviews, if any of y'all are interested:
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Happy New Year, all. If I don't return before this weekend, I'm off to a number of shenanigans before I start at Pixar.

I GOT A JOB. AND I START IN THE MORNING. Yeah I tweeted and Facebook'd about that, just figured I'd cover all my bases. It's data entry at a company that performs a service similar to StubHub, viagogo. Nothing special, but it's work, and by god, that's at a premium these days. Thanksgiving weekend made it difficult to get to y'all, but I figured I'd leave something before I got into the thick of things. Speaking of which, it has been an awesome couple of days. My bro Sean was in town, we palled around, drankin', gamin', shoppin' for awesome clothes in the city- some of which I'll be wearing in the morning. All in all, good times.

Also saw some movies. Fair Game yesterday, which was a great film, if only for how angry it managed to get me. There's been no shortage of flicks showing just how spectacularly our government has borked us in the past decade of late, but a well put-together one never fails to angry up the blood.

And today I was going to go insane if I didn't get out of the house and do something to celebrate my lack of freedom tomorrow, so I looked up sleepfighter and we went and saw Tangled. Disney did a balls-out fantastic job with this one. And in a way, I felt a strange kinship with the heroine. For I, too, have been locked in an ivory tower known as my basement, kept from the world by an evil stepmother known as unemployment... And yes, I did just compare myself to a blonde hikikomori with hair longer than payapayapapaya. Hilarious, action-packed and just gorgeous to look at throughout. Check it out- you'll be glad you did.

Here we go.

Been a decent couple of days also known colloquially as a week-end.

Had an interview on Friday for a temp data entry job at viagogo. Seems like a decent place and I feel damn good about the talk I had with the folks there.

That evening brought the latest Harry Potter flick with my aunt and uncle, who had been unable to make it to my birthday dinner, so it was awesome to see them. As for the movie, it was strange for a number of reasons. There were a good number of people in the crowd I had not seen in a few years- all of whom didn't recognize me. Hardly surprising or insulting, considering the amount of time it's been, coupled with the fact that I looked like a Samoan caveman in my youth. Anyhow, the movie was pretty good. Some strange moments, including a ridiculous make-out sequence and a somewhat contrived dancing bit. The movie wins major points in my book, however, for using a Nick Cave song in the aforementioned dance sequence.

Went shopping in the city Saturday. Picked up an amazing pair of olive-colored slacks with orange flannel lining. It's like walking around in super-comfortable pajamas all the time. Also picked up a couple nice button-downs and some boxer briefs which are... interesting to get used to, to say the least.

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Thanksgiving in just a few days- looking to be our smallest gathering in a number of years, with only 15 people in attendance. :U

And here's some more music:
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Huh, apparently, there's a parade for the Giants in SF tomorrow... given the short notice with which it was no doubt thrown together, that could make for an interesting morning commute.