I hate it when there are five strips of bacon left. If I cook three then there are two left and it’s never enough, and eating all five at once is just too much. Three or four strips is always the ideal.
Monthly Archives: February 2004
How A Collectors Edition Can Be Worse
So I went to HMV to buy the latest Dream Theater album, and I see this Scarface package. Turns out that it’s the full screen anniversary edition package that includes extra documentaries, eight lobby cards, DefJam’s “Origins of a Hip-Hop Classic”, and other assorted material. The only problem with the box set is the ENTIRE FUCKING BOXSET ITSELF.
The box says that one of the bonuses of the anniversary edition is that it includes the original 1932 Scarface that “inspired” the 1983 version. However, in an interview with Oliver Stone about his writing of the script, he actually states that he even though he’ll probably lose respect as a director for saying such a thing, he didn’t like the original.
Aside from this, there’s a DefJam documentary about how Scarface has influenced and inspired so many hip-hop artists. Yet what DePalma and Bregman were going for was a movie with an anti-crime message, made rather obvious by the EVENTUAL DEATH OF SCARFACE. The message was misunderstood when the movie was first released, when they had to go to court over the rating, and the message is still being misunderstood, as shown through the lyrics of rap musicians. After the producers of Scarface brought psychology reports as evidence that the movie wasn’t glorifying crime, the idiot censors had to shut up and give it a simple R rating. And now there are tons of rappers using all these Scarface quotes samples in their songs (Big Pun — Leatherface, DJ Clue — Cops and Robbers, etc.), TOTALLY MISSING THE POINT, and box markets this as a feature.
And what else comes with the box set? A money clip that’s probably as cheap as George Costanza, with Tony’s initials engraved on them. My god, how cool would someone look if they’re at a poker game with their friends and they pull out a money clip that doesn’t even have their own fucking initials on it. I’m sure everyone would look up to someone trying to imitate a greedy, confused, drug-addicted, friend-murdering, coke-head who eventually goes batshit insane and kills himself. Maybe some people just identify with Tony Montana, a peasant who fails to learn any class on his way to the top and self-professed gutter trash.
This box set should never have been released. The original DVD was fine. I can understand people trying to make more money out of things, but not staying true to the what the director and producers were trying to do is just too sleazy.
The Advantages Of Shrinkage
Somehow, only one of my pairs of boxers shrunk in the wash, without me realizing it. When I put them on, my first thought was, “MY PACKAGE HAS GROWN BIGGER”.
First Weekend In Boulter
Spent the weekend at Trolley’s house with Wheaties, Aaron, and Nick. The car ride took about three hours, squeezed into the back of his compact Jetta. I would have called shotgun but I doubt anyone would have respected it; Nick and Aaron had priority as the biggest guys. I made a playlist for the ride there, and it was good for the first half. The problem with such playlists is that they’re usually meant for summer in the open air, not night time winter rides. A lot of songs end up being inappropriate.
Trolley’s place is a 350 acre farm, on a long road that’s actually named after his family. Definitely a place with personality and an amazing view of the open countryside. Heat is turned up by throwing more logs in the furnace. His cat Femo is more vocal than Dolly and always cries for attention. She’ll quickly turn belly up if you scratch her the right way, and doesn’t like to wander more than an arms-length away.
The first party was at the cabin, which is a small hunting lodge a 10 minute walk away, also owned by the Trolley’s. That’s when I remembered that I’m really bad at parties with lots of drunk people. Drunk people who I don’t know scare me. A lot. I never know what the hell they’re going to do. At one point, two people put on boxing gloves and started beating the shit out of each other in this tiny cabin, which must be about 196 square feet. The second party was at the house, and much lower key. People started jumping into the hot tub and out the window then rolling around in the snow. I didn’t drink the first day (aside from a swig from a bottle of Fireball, which actually isn’t bad), but ended up buying some alcohol for the next.
One of the days was spent on a hill on some private property. We set up a jump to do some freestyle board riding, and broke out the modified GT Snowracers and toboggans.
A great time.