:: intellectualized ::

My DC vacation was just wonderful; very relaxing and full of culture. Went to every possible museum and fine restaurant in town (surprisingly, I didn’t gain any weight — even though I ate like a pig). After the vacation comes the return to work… I suppose I should be grateful; just look at the news and one can see the disgusting amount of people who are losing their jobs. It is plain scary. I tend to complain about my job often, but I still give my all to it (hey, where else could I be paid the indecent amount of money I make when I haven’t even finished my masters… I thank God, because I am lucky).

And talking about work, the ranking for the year so far came out and seems like once again my section is very close to the top of the list (I’m surprised, ’cause we’ve been having some awful days lately). Maybe I will get to go to that trip next year after all. I’ll be happy however if a couple of my employees are chosen (even if I don’t make it myself). There is still plenty of time, so I’ll just wait…

And speaking of rankings, here’s my top 50 singles for the year (so far) as posted at my little music site. If anyone wants to send me their own top ten or so I’ll be delighted.

 1. Ms. Dynamite - It Takes More
 2. Beverley Knight - Shoulda Woulda Coulda
 3. Kylie Minogue - Love At First Sight
 4. Lisa Loeb - The Way It Really Is
 5. Dido - All You Want
 6. Jewel - Standing Still
 7. Beverley Knight - Gold
 8. Dirty Vegas - Days Go By
 9. Nelly Furtado - Shit On The Radio (Remember the Days)
10. Vanessa Carlton - A Thousand Miles
11. Morcheeba - Otherwise
12. Coldplay - In My Place
13. Beverley Knight - Get Up!
14. Kylie Minogue - In Your Eyes
15. Nickelback - How Your Remind Me
16. DB Boulevard - Point Of View
17. Daniel Bedingfield - Gotta Get Thru This
18. Pink - Just Like A Pill
19. No Doubt - Hella Good
20. Roger Sanchez Feat. N'Dea Davenport - You Can't Change Me
21. Kelis - Young Fresh N' New
22. Kosheen - Hungry
23. Ultra Naté - Twisted
24. Sophie Ellis Bextor - Get Over You
25. Pet Shop Boys - I Get Along
26. Shakira - Whenever, Wherever
27. Alicia Keys - A Woman's Worth
28. Mis-Teeq - Roll On
29. IIO - Rapture
30. Dot Allison - Substance
31. Lasgo - Something
32. Liberty X - Just A Little
33. Elvis Vs. JXL - A Little Less Conversation
34. Mary J. Blige - No More Drama
35. Atomic Kitten - It's OK
36. Pink - Don't Let Me Get Me
37. Jamiroquai - Love Foolosophy
38. Bjork - Cocoon
39. Herbaliser Feat. Wildflower - Good Girl Gone Bad
40. Angie Stone - Wish I Didn't Miss You
41. Felon - Get Out
42. Faithless Feat. Dido - One Step Too Far
43. Chemical Brothers - Star Guitar
44. Linda Carriere - Just Friends
45. Basement Jaxx - Where's Your Head At?
46. Brandy - What About Us
47. Princess Superstar - Bad Babysitter
48. Cinematic Orchestra - All That You Give
49. The Youngsters - Smile
50. David Gray - Say Hello, Wave Goodbye

That’s it for now… I gotta go sleepy at this very moment…

Well, well, well… One good reason why I have not updated this site is the fact that we finally got the digital cable box fixed (only the basic cable had been working; it took them three weeks to come by and change our box). The guy who replaced our piece of equipment was nice enough to leave all the HBO and Showtime channels available to us at no extra cost (well, that’s just for one week). In the meantime, given that I am on vacation, I have spent over sixteen hours watching movies… yikes!

So, since 10:00 a.m. yesterday (with of course a couple of breaks to go the gym and sleep) these are the flicks that I’ve watched; everything from the sublime to the most decadent. The ratings I gave are rather spontaneous and range from one star (avoid at all costs, sit and watch paint dry for two hours instead), two stars (poor effort, read a book or cook some complicated dish instead), three (decent, watch it without many expectations), four (very good, try to catch it before someone starts talking about it in front of you and you end up looking very uncool), and the usual five (not only watch it, buy it, play it 10 times, use it as a theme for a layout on your page, write a ten page essay on how it changed your life… well, you get the point).

1. Sister Act 2: This is the one with Lauryn Hill. I don’t care if it’s cheesy, I liked it a lot. (four stars)
2. The Butcher’s Wife: With Demi Moore, cute love story, way too predictable, kinda boring… (two stars)
3. The Truth About Cats And Dogs: One of my all time favourites. This is such a feel-good movie that I can watch time and again and will never get tired of it. Great acting, great script,very nice premise. (five stars)

[At this moment I took a break to go running for an hour, pretty productive day at the gym]

4. Nixon: Just because of the acting (Hopkins is just amazing) and the historical value. Yes, it is long and it gets a bit boring now and then, but I actually know how to enjoy stuff of this kind. (four and a half stars)
5. Miami Rhapsody: I looooooove sarah Jessica Parker and the way that this movie shows the city in which I have lived for the past six years or so. A very nice story, great dialogue, and plenty of laughs. (four stars)
6. Woman On Top: It is well known that I adore Penelope Cruz. Surprisingly, I hadn’t seen this film for one reason or another. And was I pleased with this simple piece of a romantic comedy. Penelope’s character is from Bahia, my Brazilian music was featured prominently throughout the film, and the drag-queen character in the film was drop-dead hilarious. This is one that i will definitely buy later on. (very close to five stars)
7. Swordfish: Hey, you get to see Halle’s tatas for a few seconds, I suppose that’s enough of a reason to watch it. Still, the story is not bad, the action keeps you entertained, and there is a certain irony to the story when you think of things that have happened in the past few months (I will not elaborate on that ’cause I don’t like to discuss politics or current events on my personal journal). (three and a half stars)

[Here I returned to my book and went to sleep 'round 4:30]

8. Desperate But Not Serious: Two chicks have a nightmare of a night at the clubs while they look for some guy that one of them thinks will be the man of her dreams. Claudia Schiffer co-stars as a wannabe in the L.A. party and club scene. A lot of secondary characters, including Henry Rollins as some retarded bartender, add “life” to this dreadful film. The only thing that was decent about this film was the acting on the part of the girl who plays “Frances.” Still, it is plagued by a poor plot, terrible direction, full of dumb-ass gags that could get no one to laugh, and predictable as it they come. I started watching it by accident and suddenly wondered if the whole thing was some sort of satire about how bad some films can be. This is supposed to be an indie, artsy film, but it is just retarded and a waste of time. No wonder I had never heard of it. (one and a half star)

And now I’m just gonna go out. First I’ll go to the gym, then I’ll return some books at the library, after that I will get a haircut, and then I will go look at some cars (since my lease is about to expire). But you didn’t care about that or anything that i had to say in this entry, right. See yaaaaaa….

I forgot to mention in my entry below that the new Coldplay track is titled “In My Place”. The video may be watched at Dotmusic. Those who live in the UK please try to buy this single as soon as it comes out, let’s make it a number one; we need worthy music at the top of the charts (instead of all the garbage that keeps popping up there, and yes, the pun is intended — bad as it may be).

Talking ’bout the top of the charts and poor excuses for music, there is a new #1 single in town. It is [yet] another Pop Idol disgrace… This time in the form of Darius and his lame piece of pop titled “Colourblind.” All I have to say is why oh why?

I will return later tonight to elaborate on poor music and the worst 10 singles of 2002 so far. Right now I gotta head to the theatre. I’m gonna go with my sis to catch Mel Gibson’s “Signs.” Let’s hope it is good…

I posted this at my music journal; I’m typing it here only to have something to say, I guess…

Am I the only one who…

1. Thinks Avril Lavigne is a poseur?
2. Loves the new Coldplay single to death?
3. Wouldn’t mind learning that Eminem has suddenly gone mute?
4. Hates pop radio and its 10 overplayed tunes with a profound passion?
5. Is way beyond sick and tired of talentless dolts like Ja Rule and Ashanti?
6. Is not ashamed to admit that some “nu-pop” acts (like Vanessa Carlton and Daniel Bedingfield) are actually good?
7. Considers himself an “indie” and “underground house” head, and yet loves Kylie Minogue?
8. Just can’t wait for crap like Linkin’ Park, P.O.D., Creed, and all these rocker wannabes to go away for good?
9. Dislikes that song “The Middle” by Jimmy whatever worse than cod liver oil?
10. Misses cheesy stuff from the early 90’s like Cathy Dennis, C&C Music Factory, EMF, and the KLF?
11. Can’t stand heads who think the universe revolves around them (geocentric complex is what I call it)?
12. Is bored to death on a Friday night?

Oh, seems like one of my favourites, Pelle, was featured on some online zine or something, ’cause out of the blue I started getting a lot of referrals from his site (even though he featured this site a long time ago). I have also gotten various hits from people searching “male PMS” through Google and a couple more engines. Just today this miserable page has received 21 hits from folks searching for info on that matter. Sorry fellas, but while I suffer from it on a weekly basis I really can’t provide any info or advice about it.

Lastly, and this is old news, Mah Flowah’s blogging again. I love her and her long-ass entries. Another site that I had missed for a while and I just realised is back for good is Megan’s Psycho-Jello. She’s a cutie pie with an excellent music taste and a pretty good way of criticising stuff that does not deserve to be called music. Take a look at her, OK?

And I think that’s that… Bisu Buh-Bye…