Pixar and The Incredibles

I went to Best Buy and bought 'The Incredibles' on DVD yesterday, for the somewhat reasonable price of $17.99. In Virgin Records and Borders it was $20, and Tower Records had it for a whopping $25, so I felt like I got a pretty good deal. It was well worth the price, as it's an absolutley fantastic movie, and the DVD has some interesting stuff on the extra features set regarding the making of the movie.

How Pixar consistently turns out movies of such quality and originality is beyond me. I have not yet seen 'Robots', the latest in Disney's attempt to catch up with Pixar and cash in on the animated film boom, but I've heard that it's very cookie-cutter in it's approach to script and storyline. It's the originality of the scripts and plots that I love about Pixar. They really use the animation aspect to their advantage, portraying stuff that there is no possibility of doing well with regular actors.

All in all this represents a valuable addition to my small but growing collection of DVD's. I'm going to have to get more Pixar films.

I need to buy a new cellphone. I've had mine for going on three years now, and it's starting to fail. By that I don't mean that the battery is dying or anything, simply that whatever little piece of silicon that's sitting inside and making it run has run out of juice. The odd part is the method in which my phone chooses to fail.

For example, yesterday I tried to dial someone's number, and received an error message. Frustrated, I tried again, only to receive the same result. I then checked the number in the phone, and it turns out that 281 had been replaced by 2P1. But wait, it gets better. I did further investigating, and it turns out all 8's were turned into P's in my address book. O's were changed to I's, and R's were changed to S's. I'm sure there's a fairly complex reason why this is occuring, but to my mind it's a big warning flag that my phone is possessed and I need a new one. This sort of thing has been happening for months now with increasing frequency.

Anyway, commencing a search for a new phone is a task unto itself. I am amazed at the cut-throat competition, and the advance in technology since I got by last phone (now affectionately referred to as "the tank"). There are phones that take picture, phones that surf the web, that allow you to send emials and instant message. There are phones that will give you directions, and phones whose ringtone can sound like anything you want. In fact, there are even phones out there that will do homework for a student up to a 5th grade reading level.

I just want a phone. Small, light, and with a good battery life. I don't want to be any more connected than that. It's hard to decide on a model, but I'll be posting here as to the trials and tribulations of my hunt for the perfect cellphone. For now, let me just express my annoyance that if you sign up with a new company, you get good plans and rebates, but if you want to stick with your current provider you don't get squat. Guess which one I'm leaning towards?

Oh man, this is too funny. Viva Las Vegas.

Donnie Darko

I saw the Director's cut of this movie last night, and I was quite impressed. Earlier in the day I was doing some shopping and passed through the Virgin Megastore in SF, where Donnie Darko was prominently displayed as one of the top-selling DVD's that week. I found it odd, since it flopped in the theaters even among the indie crowd. It has now, it seems, found a cult following. My roommate purchased the movie not too long ago, so I sat down last night with a bottle of wine to see if it stood the test.

And that it did. A twisted and absurd storyline, it easily had the potential to be a horrible movie. Instead, through some great directing and very honest acting, it turned out to be quite enjoyable. It's definitely a cult-ish movie with lots of dark humor and an odd plotline, but it's also quite well thought out and presented. One of those movies which you want to see a second time to make sure you really figured out everything that was going on.

All in all, a good movie. See it if you get the chance.