Stardust

[ehowton]

Its The Princess Bride for a new generation. Ian McKellan is Peter Falk and we are Fred Savage. The scenes are flush with location and the supporting actors were superb! Andre the Giant would approve. At just over two hours, its a rather long movie, but the discrete storylines, all which culminate to the climax, keep everything moving in the right direction. Sure its a coming-of-age movie wrapped up in a fantasy romance, but what it lacks in depth it more than makes up for in genuineness.

It is how At World's End should have, and reminiscent of Lady in the Water. The score was just as glamorous as the movie, if not a little heavy in places. All I've found so far is an anemic 192kbps copy of it, which means I'll be purchasing it as soon as I find it...but in the meantime I'm grinning from ear to ear as I author this, as it is playing now. My keystrokes are matching its sing-song melody.

I don't fall in love with actors or actresses - I fall in love with characters. And despite how repugnant I usually find Claire Danes, she was beautiful in this. Post-production and all.

A philosopher once asked, "Are we human because we gaze at the stars, or do we gaze at them because we are human?"
Pointless, really..."Do the stars gaze back?" Now that's a question.

Speaking of scores and Pirates I found a box set at Sam's Club for $55 containing the three soundtracks, plus a disc of unreleased material and a DVD of how they scored the film. If they still have it after the holidays, I think its mine.

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Watched Robin Hood: Men in Tights this evening. I hadn't seen it since it was released in theaters in 1993. I enjoyed it more this time around than I did then. And I was pleasantly surprised at the end, as I had no idea who had portrayed King Richard. Make it so.

Folks are coming over for Christmas as my father is off work. They'll be bringing our children back to us. Its been a quiet weekend. Forecast for tomorrow - Sunny and sixty degrees. Therefore, the Texan in me says its grilling time! I'm going to smoke some 1/2 pound Angus burgers on a cold grill for about 20 minutes, them light the burners and sear that smoke flavor in.

Found some 'horseradish cheddar' at the deli to complement it. I'm salivating just thinking about it.

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And for those of you who attended the December 1st bash and wanted the Homemade Irish Cream recipe:

BLEND TOGETHER

One can sweetened condensed milk
One cup whiskey
Half cup dark rum
One pint of half 'n half
One tablespoon chocolate syrup
Three eggs

ADD:

Half teaspoon almond extract
One teaspoon vanilla extract

BLEND AGAIN

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Fourth Quarter 2007 Stats

Top Commenters on ehowton's LiveJournal
(Self comments excluded from rankings)

1	schpydurx	3254
2	photogoot	1159
3	galinda822	1074
4	celtmanx	1001
5	snapper521	610
6	drax0r	422
7	leonardii	357
8	melancthe	291
9	jaceman	230
10	irulan_amy	219

11	Anonymous	175
12	oxy_irony	161
13	jesskd26	113
14	prog_guy69	95
15	danzigfried	81
16	wardlejew	71
17	lehah	69
18	professortom	66
19	glodowg	64
20	unixwolf	62
21	texas_tangent	60
22	crowy	55
23	bsdcat	52
24	codekitten	46
25	princessleia2	45
26	swashbuckler332	40
27	chrisbarrett77	38
28	dreamkatch	35
29	ximo	29
30	vember	25
31	missamy84	20
32	time3	18
33	dentin	16
34	angel_174ever	12
35	bigdog_etc	8
36	nickdangerous	6
37	catttitude	6
38	apostolic4god	5
39	uniqueblog	4
40	anisity	3
41	ariadnescurse	3
42	skiesofchaos	3
43	osontx	2
44	dawnst3ar	2
45	nicole_meadows	2
46	ladykate63	2
47	catnapcat	2
48	xpamilvrx	2
49	evilplanner	1
50	ladysaidy	1
51	stuf123	1
52	jimmythecricket	1
53	blancpage	1

Total Commenters: 54 (1 not shown)
Total Comments: 15535
Report generated 12/24/2007 10:12:08 PM by scrapdog's LJ Comment Stats Wizard 1.7

http://ehowton.livejournal.com/tag/stats

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May the Force be with you.

Comments

[ehowton.livejournal.com]

Always nice to hear, thank you. There's not yet a lot of source material for this movie, so I had to use a studio promo shot of Capitan Shakespeare and crop it in such a way you'd know which character De Niro was playing as he is such a universal actor.

And speaking of icons, I was going to ask you if the one you used here was from Without A Clue (which I haven't seen since it was on the big screen) but thought I would check your userpics page first. Sure enough, your labeling scheme is one of the finest I've come across.

I adore Michael Caine and just recently watched Dirty Rotten Scoundrels which is one of my all-time favorites, but I would just LOVE to see Without a Clue again.

[schpydurx.livejournal.com]

Micheal Caine is in The Weather Man.

[ehowton.livejournal.com]

I am under orders from the wife to watch every loaned movie I have while I am off.

[schpydurx.livejournal.com]

Tell your wife I will keep her in constant supply of wine.

[ehowton.livejournal.com]

Sekt is the German term for sparkling wine, and its some of the driest I've ever had. Oscar is a Korean sparkling wine which tastes like complete ass, but I've had my share. If I'm ever in Italy, however, I'll ask for a bottle of Moncalvina, a very light sparkling wine. Sweet to be sure, but not too sweet. My wife spat it from her lips in disgust, so I got to enjoy the entire bottle myself. Thanks dude, good stuff.

[schpydurx.livejournal.com]

and to think, I save that bottle that whole time and never got one drop.

Glad you enjoyed the wine.

[ehowton.livejournal.com]

It was magnificent! Knowing what we now know, perhaps next time you come to Texas the two of us will enjoy a bottle???

I'll post the above comment in a future entry.

[swashbuckler332.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it's annoying that the only Region 1 DVD of Without a Clue is an anemic full screen release. At least we now have available Henry Mancini's delightful score.

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels...

"May I go to the bathroom?"

[ehowton.livejournal.com]

That's a shame about the DVD-release. I honestly don't remember much about the movie, except that I enjoyed it. Of course I also remembered enjoying Time Bandits when I first saw it, and the difference of my opinion when I saw it some 20-years later on DVD. I always have to keep that in mind.

[swashbuckler332.livejournal.com]

It's a very smart movie, and the more you know about Sherlock Holmes and Arthur Conan Doyle, the more fun it is. That is as of the last time I saw it, which was some six or so years ago.

[ehowton.livejournal.com]

The game is afoot! Thanks for the recommendation. I picked it up today and my wife and I both thoroughly enjoyed it.