Hello, all.

I've outgrown MySpace and am moving over to Blogspot.

Please visit when you have the chance.

My new place is called Minnesota Meanderings.

http://minnesota-meanderings.blogspot.com/

Thank you for your interest and have a powerful weekend.

Last fall, I was invited to come to Las Vegas to spend Thanksgiving with Dori's parents (they moved there in 2003). I had declined two prior invitations in '3 and '4 (I just couldn't bear the thought of having our Saint Bernard boarded, so I stayed back while Dori went and had her fun in the desert). But with Bran's passing in August of '05, I no longer had any excuses. Dori's friend, Sonya, agreed to take care of our cute little pup, Zoe,

 and our tabby cat, Mayo. She drove us to the Minneapolis airport on a cold, late November morning. I sat in the back seat wondering what Vegas would be like (I had never been there before). Dori's parents were giving us (and her sister) tickets to one of the city's top shows. I hadn't been on a plane since our honeymoon in '98. That was before our Saint Bernard was born. Now 7 years later, she had passed and was on my mind as we waited to board the plane. I had brought a VHS-C camcorder along to document our trip. When we went through security, they asked that the camera be taken out. The security dude took a close look at it and let us pass. It got really ridiculous when we had to take our shoes off.

 Fucking joke. Our ports and nuclear plants are no more secure than they were before 9/11, but they're making grannies take their fuckin' shoes off. I had brought about 20 CD's along to listen to both on the plane and also while in the car driving between Vegas and Henderson (the suburb that Dori's parents actually lived in). Dori let me have the window seat. There was at least a 45 minute delay in the plane taking off. Everyone was already seated. The pilot said maintenance had to go get a part before we could leave (needless to say, Dori was wigging out about that. The pilot should've said that we were experiencing a delay and not elaborated beyond that).

We finally took off. The flight attendants offered us a tasty beverage (I had some type of fruit juice). The flight took about 3 and a half hours. The weather forecast for Vegas was obviously going to be warmer than what we were having in Minnesota (20's), but still not that warm (50's). Oh well. What can you do. I didn't even bring my winter jacket since I didn't think I would need it. As we got closer to Sin City, the mood in the airplane noticeably got lighter. You could hear more people laughing and having a good time (a total contrast to 3 hours earlier when you could've heard a pin drop in the cabin as we waited to leave the coldness of Minnesota). The sun was starting to set as we landed. I took my headset off. We descended and landed at the McCarran airport. What was to be found there? I wasn't sure, but looked forward to finding out.

Pictured above is a present-day pic of 133 Washington St in Rollingstone, MN. From 1978-1984, we lived right next door at 131 Washington (that house can be seen on the left). Looking at that pic brings back a lot of memories. My brother, Mike, as a 5 year old, would stand near that tree and watch the Land O Lakes trucks leave in the morning (a Land O Lakes was located just across the street from us). An older couple named the Lemmers' lived in 133. They were quite nice. I remember one day our family was talking to the Lemmers' in the back yard and Matt took the opportunity to peek under Mrs. Lemmer's dress (I'm not sure what he saw, but I bet it would explain a lot). We must've seemed like quite the happy family back then. I heard that the Lemmers' cried when they found out Mom and Dad were getting divorced. Carrie's bedroom was in the back (to the right of the tree). On many nights, she would not want to sleep in her room because the bed was cold. I remember she used to have underwear that had the days of the week on them. I wonder if she still does. Needless to say, some of the happiest moments of my childhood occurred while I was living in that house.  

Struggling Blockbuster Eliminates Rental Fees

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/53239 

Let me tell you right now that I don't feel the least bit sorry for Blockbuster Video and their current woes. Why? Well, several years ago, when it was still fashionable to rent movies, I would go to Blockbuster looking for videos of independent movies. I would rarely find them there. Sure, they had 50 copies of "Gladiator", but what of the smaller stuff? Turns out Blockbuster refused to stock movies that were unrated. Now, I'm not talking about pornos (this means you, Matt).

I'm referring to indie movies that didn't quite get an R-rating or were from overseas. I had to go to a non-corporate video store (Premiere Video) to get an unrated (the version preferred by critics) copy of "Requeim for a Dream".

Blockbusta did this in order to ensure their rep as a "family" store. However, they were fine with stocking DVD's that had unrated extras on them (such as "Fight Club"). 

Around this same time, Blockbuster struck deals with some movie companies in which they would be the only place to stock various lesser-known movies (stuff no one had heard of). They would stock 30 copies of each of these titles and then people, seeing the vast amount of copies, would wonder why they had never heard of the movie and, feeling that they had missed something, would rent one of 'em (they were mostly crap).

Suffice it to say that Blockbuster sucks and I am quite pleased that the last BB in town closed 2 weeks ago.

http://www.slate.com/id/2133995/

Continuing my look at the movies of 1999, my "friend" persuaded me to see Will Smith's "Wild Wild West" that summer. As stated in a prior entry, it is one of the worst movies that I have ever seen. Me and Dori went to see Kirsten Dunst in "Dick" (a comedy about "Tricky Dick" Nixon) as well as Julia Roberts and Richard Gere reuniting for "Runaway Bride" (pretty decent, actually). Pierce Brosnan in "The Thomas Crown Affair" was also enjoyable as were the animated "Iron Giant" and Eddie Murphy playing a goofball in "Bowfinger".

But let's get to some of the really good stuff. One weekend in the late summer, I went with Dori to a supernatural movie called, "The Sixth Sense".

 It was getting great reviews and making a lot of money.

As I sat in the Galleria Theatres watching the movie, I have to say it was quite good, but not excellent.

 However, once the twist came, I was totally floored and it became an "A" movie for me. Wow! I did not see that ending coming even though I had heard that the movie had a doozy of a twist near the end. It was nominated for Best Pic at the Academy Awards and was definitely in the running for my fave movie of '99.

Now it was on to the fall movie season. Another spooky movie came out  called "Stir of Echoes". It starred Kevin Bacon. No "Sixth Sense", but a good, gripping thriller, nonetheless. Then there was the freaky "Stigmata" (not very good, but I did like the plot point that the Catholic church suppressed the Biblical verse, "The kingdom of heaven is within". It's what I believe, innit. No church is necessary for "salvation").

I saw Ashley Judd's "Double Jeopardy" in Winona with Art and his wife. Formulaic, but it did have its moments. The projector conked out about 7 minutes before the end of the movie and couldn't be fixed, so we were all given free passes.

Dori and I went to see her parents and sister in Illinois in late September. One evening, with not much going on at her folks' place, I decided to go see "Fight Club".

 I had the strangest reaction to it in that I didn't know whether I liked it or not as I exited the theatre.

 There were things I admired about it, but then again, I thought it fell apart at the end. I've since revisited it and concluded that it is powerful filmmaking. This is one of my favorite lines from the movie:

Tyler Durden: Man, I see in fight club the strongest and smartest men who've ever lived. I see all this potential, and I see squandering. God damn it, an entire generation pumping gas, waiting tables; slaves with white collars. Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don't need. We're the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no Great War. No Great Depression. Our Great War's a spiritual war... our Great Depression is our lives. We've all been raised on television to believe that one day we'd all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars. But we won't. And we're slowly learning that fact. And we're very, very pissed off.          

This one also had a big twist at the end.

Next, Dori and I went to see the psychological comedy, "Mumford". Another fantastic movie came out in early October, Clooney, Wahlberg, and Ice Cube in the early 90's Persian Gulf-set film, "Three Kings".

 The movie actually shows what happens to a body when it is struck by a bullet. Not pretty.

For shits and giggles, I saw Molly Shannon and Will Ferrell in "Superstar" (I got more shits than giggles). Dori and I went to see Tobey Maguire in "The Cider House Rules" (very solid, nominated for Best Pic) as well as Cage in "Bringing Out the Dead" (also good). November came and it was time for Kevin Smith's satire of his Catholic faith, "Dogma". Alanis Morrissette was fabulous as God. "Toy Story 2" was nice. Johnny Depp in "Sleepy Hollow" was a cool one to see as the nights turned colder. 

 I loved the tagline on it: Heads Will Roll. Indeed.

"Deuce Bigalow" was passable. Ralph Fiennes and Julianne Moore were fantastic in the longing "End of the Affair"

and Tom Hanks was excellent in the 3-hour "The Green Mile" (I had read the Stephen King book a few years prior). As the year wound down, we went to one of Dori's all-time favorites, "Girl Interrupted" with Winona Ryder and a breakout performance by Angelina Jolie (for which she won Best Supporting Actress). Then there was Cruise, Julianne Moore, and many others in the 3-hour "Magnolia".

 As stated in a prior entry, Cruise gave the performance-of-a-lifetime in this one and did win a Golden Globe for this role. Next I went to "Shaving Ryan's Privates" and I have to say...jk..we went to see "The Talented Mr. Ripley" (very dark, but good stuff).

And that just leaves my favorite movie of 1999. When the movie in question ended, I got this incredibly blissful feeling just like I got after viewing "Titanic" two years prior and which I haven't felt in a movie theatre since that fall day in 1999. What was it? Well, I'm gonna have to write about it next time. 1999 was just too memorable to write about in two sittings. 

Hello. I like you.

There wasn't always a lot for a kid to do in a small town of 528. Thankfully, there were a few places to go to pass the time. We lived about 4 blocks from Main Street in Rollingstone. It didn't take but a few minutes to walk to Schell's Cafe and Grocery. I only recall eating there a few times, though, mostly with my grandmother. More often, I would go to the grocery part of the business to get candy (the Milk Shake candy bar was awesome) and/or Mr. Freezee's.

 Those Freezee's were delicious on a hot, summer day.

For a couple years, Main Street had a store called Tom & Sandy's. It was kinda like a super-mini version of Kmart. They had an aisle of toys which I would peruse from time to time.

Across the street was a beauty shop that our neighbor, Pam Wood, opened. I recall my brother, Brian, and I walking there one winter evening to get haircuts. I had just purchased a handheld game and played it while waiting to get my hair cut. It looked like this:

Pretty primitive game, but hey, it was 1981. When I got my hair cut, Pam remarked on how thick it was. Next door to her shop was the Rollingstone Post Office. I only went in there a time or two to get stamps.

Right by Schell's was the laundromat. On many early evenings when she was running late, Mom would ask me to take her waitress outfit there to dry (the dryers were much more powerful and faster than the one we had at home). 

We also had 2 bars which were fun to go to once the arcade craze started in the early '80s. The Fireside Inn had Donkey Kong

 & Monaco GP (a racing game). 

The Rollin' Inn had Journey (yes, a video game based on the Steve Perry-led group!)

 and Gorf.

Gorf was a lot like Galaga. It had this computer generated voice that would say, "Insert Coin" when no one was playing the game. On many occasions, I would reply to the voice, "Insert Dick".  

Further down the road was the 1st State Bank of Rollingstone.

 (It's called the Eastwood Bank now). I remember I had a savings (passbook) account there that usually had about $5 in it. The savings book looked something like this:

 They also had a drive-thru which was quite groundbreaking for a small bank in the early '80s.  

I left work at 3pm yesterday and headed up to Edina, the site of a free myspace screening of the outrageous new comedy, "Borat".

 It was a beautiful sunny day. On my way up there, I was listening to

 and

It only took about 95 minutes to get from Rochester to the Southdale Mall in Edina. The screening was to take place at the AMC 16 pictured below.

 Seating was to start at 9pm. There were just a few people waiting in line at 4:40pm, so I headed to the food court and had a bite at BK. I usually like to read while I eat, so I looked around for something to peruse. The best I could find was a newsletter that talked about how liberal the media is. I got a few chuckles out of it. I checked the line every 15 minutes or so for the next hour and a half to make sure it didn't get too long. I went to a few stores, most notably B. Dalton. The line was starting to grow by 6:30pm, so I headed over there. I had brought one CD with me to listen to while waiting. I sat on the floor, pressed play, and listened to

 A group of 5 came up behind me, sat down, and proceeded to play a game of Monopoly. As the line grew longer, many people passing by asked what it was we were waiting to see. I'd say 90% of the people there were male and 95% of them were 25 or younger. At about 7:30, a theatre employee told everyone to stand up. A few minutes later, some ladies wearing myspace T-shirts started giving people in the line paper wristbands and told us that seating would start at 9pm. By this time, there were probably about 200 people in line. I strolled around a bit, returned my headphones to the car, called Dori with a status update, and got back into the 2nd line (for people who already had the wristbands).

The excitement continued to build as 9pm grew closer. Some people who arrived too late were given a flyer for a future screening. I felt a little sorry for them, but it did say on the invitation to arrive early to "ensure success". At 9pm, we were given a survey to fill out and pointed in the direction of the screening room. No cell phones were allowed which was cool (no phones going off in the middle of the movie). A couple employees were wanding people (for metal devices). When I passed one, he said I was the first person he had seen that was over 25. No doubt. I found a good seat in the 3rd row, near the middle. The guy behind us was one of the managers of AMC, so had a lot of clout. He told one of the employees to turn the thermostat down 3 degrees since it was getting warm in there. He also said that AMC does not discourage people from bringing in their own food or beverage. He said it was alright if people brought in Chinese food and ate it while watching a film. How refreshing, I thought. A guy sitting two seats down from me drew a pencil sketch of Borat that was quite good. A guy in front of me was reading "Stuff" magazine.

At right around 10pm, a myspace lady came out and said that she really appreciated all of us coming out, that the movie doesn't open nationwide until November 3rd, and to return the surveys at the end of the movie if possible. The theatre went dark as a special introduction by Borat began. He thanked us for attending the "myspaces" screening and hoped we would enjoy his movie. People were already cracking up. And then it began. I don't think I've ever been at a movie where there is so much sustained laughter, so much so that you miss some of the dialogue following some scenes. This one guy nearby had a really weird laugh. One of the ushers sat and watched the entire movie off to the side (he was there to make sure things didn't get out of hand). He was probably in his 50's. I looked at him now and then to see what his reaction was to some of the outrageous things happening onscreen. What kinds of things? Well, how about 2 naked guys wrestling each other, up close, in a fight that spills out into an actual hotel convention (this scene had me crying from laughter for the first time in years). Or Borat at a real-life rodeo with hundreds of people in attendance saying, among other things, "May George Bush drink the blood of every man, woman and child in Iraq!" Or when Borat gives a long passionate kiss to a woman who he then states is his sister, "number 4 prostitute in all country!". Yes, for 85 minutes, we were all joined as one, reveling in this thing, loving every minute. The show concluded at about 11:30 and people started filing out. Many were exhausted from laughing so much, me included.

The below pic sums up how I felt after seeing the movie:

I got in my car, put a CD on

 and relaxed during the ride home, looking forward to seeing the movie again on November 3rd and many times thereafter. Isnice!!! High five!!!

"They say two thousand zero zero party over
Oops out of time
So tonight I'm gonna party like it's 1999"

"1999" - Prince

If the world was gonna end in 1999, it was gonna go with a shitload of awesome movies. If, for the rest of my life, I could only watch movies from one specific year, it would most certainly be 1999. Why? Let me take you back...

As the year started, Dori and I were still newlyweds. We had a cat and two dogs and were living in a 3-level townhome just a few blocks from Dori's workplace, St. Marys.

 She worked 2nd shift, so typically got off work at around midnight. She usually ran the 3 blocks home at night because she was afraid of being jumped (doubtful since she is 5'10") if she walked.

In January, I went with Dori and her friend, Michelle, to see Val Kilmer and Mira Sorvino in "At First Sight". He played a blind man who undergoes surgery to get some of his sight back. It was good. Some other movies I saw in the early part of the year included Mel in "Payback", Bill Murray in "Rushmore", the cult classic "Office Space"

 (I went to this with Dori, her parents, and her friend), "The Other Sister", Nicolas in "8MM", "Analyze This", "Cruel Intentions", a sneak preview of "EdTV", David Spade in "Lost & Found", Connery in "Entrapment", "A Bug's Life" (meh), "Go"

 (an awesome flick), Drew in "Never Been Kissed", Reese in "Election"

 (fantastic satire), and two movies that dealt with the nature of reality, "Existenz" (great movie) and "The Matrix" (I was impressed, but definitely not blown away as some people were).  

Summertime came and the movies came fast and hard. Did you read what I just wrote? Anyway, the big kahuna for the summer of '99 was "Star Wars Episode I - The Phantom Menace",

 but first came "The Mummy" and Julia in "Notting Hill". There was a special midnight screening of "Ep I" at the Barclay Square 6, but I would've had to wait in line for hours to see it. So I waited until the following day and went to a late afternoon matinee. Quite a few people there, I have to say. I had to settle for an aisle seat rather than sitting in the middle as usual. I did enjoy the movie. It didn't blow me away like "Empire" did as a child, but I applauded over the credits like everyone else, happy that Star Wars was back again. An older guy in front of me said it was the 3rd time he had seen the movie that day (what a freak!). I went to the movie 3 more times that summer. It ended up being the top-grossing movie of 1999. 

"Star Wars" was done, but there was plenty more fun to be had. Next came "Austin Powervich 2". I loved the sequel and went to it 3 times, once with Dori. But an even funnier movie came along a few weeks later, "South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut" (a sexual euphemism, innit).

 I loved the TV show and went to the "SP" movie 3 days in a row, once with Dor. She said it was funny, but thought that the animated dildo used by Saddam Hussein on Satan took things a bit too far. "SP", for me, was the funniest movie of the year. Adam Sandler was good (not great) in "Big Daddy", and "American Pie" was jolly good fun, lewd and crude. I found Cruise and Kidman to be quite solid in "Eyes Wide Shut" while Liam Neeson and Catherine Zeta-Jones were crap in "The Haunting". During this time (July of '99), "The Blair Witch Project" was generating a lot of buzz (not unlike "Borat" is now).

 It was being rolled out very slowly. I noticed on the internet that it was playing in Inver Grove Heights (a suburb of the Twin Cities). It wouldn't be coming to Rochester for two more weeks. I couldn't resist, so drove up there that weekend. I ate at McDonalds in Inver Grove before heading over to the theatre. When I went up to the lady to get my ticket, I said, "I'll take one to the "Blair Bitch Project". Like "Star Wars" earlier in the summer, the screening was super packed. Now I knew what I was getting into (I had a subscription to Entertainment Weekly). I knew that the movie was a faux documentary shot very low budget, definitely not a conventional scary movie. I was quite satisfied with it, while some others actually booed as the credits rolled (they must have been expecting something more "Hollywood"). I headed home, happy to have seen it. A few months later, Dori's friend said she had seen the movie with a couple of her friends. She said it was sad that the 3 college students had disappeared (she was actually under the impression that the movie was totally genuine). Holy shit! I couldn't believe that she bought it! I told her that the kids in the movie were alive and well. I'm sure it was much more scary, though, watching it believing that what you were seeing was totally real.

I'm gonna have to continue this entry next week. 1999 was just too memorable to write about in one sitting.      

Check this. I is been invited to a myspace screening of "Borat" tomorrow night in the Cities.

 It doesn't open nationwide until November 3rd, a month and a half from now.

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/borat/

I've been hearing awesome things about this pic and always loved Borat on "Da Ali G Show" (Borat and Ali G are actually the same person, innit).

Earlier today, I didn't think I would go. I was concerned about having to drive an hour and a half to get there, getting there early enough to make sure I get a seat, blah, blah, blah. But I think it would be a trip, so do plan to leave town tomorrow after work and join in the festivities. I'll bring my iPod, I mean, my portable CD player along to help me pass the time while waiting in line. 

To give you a taste of what you're missing, here's an excerpt from one of Borat's interviews:

Borat chats to a Vietnam Vet in the street:

Borat: "We say in Kazakhstan that a man who never killed a man is like man without any..." (Borat indicated to his groin.) "Is true? Is true?"

Man: "It's a strange feeling"

Borat: "You have a big..." (Borat indicates to the man's groin.) "You have a big 'hram'?"

Man: "Errrrrr, fairly... Not... Pretty good."

Borat: "I can touch?"

Man: "In America, you don't, it's not... It's not one of our customs."

Borat: "I can touch?"

Man: (The man looks around) "Well sure, why not"

Borat: "This is OK with you?"

Man: "Sure"

(Borat reaches between the man's legs and touches him, they both then laugh)

Borat: "It's nice... It's good, but I have seen bigger!"