I Saw "Blade Runner 2049" and all I Got was this Lousy T-shirt

So I went and saw "Blade Runner 2049" at the Somerville Theater on Thursday night. If we're being perfectly honest, I wasn't crazy about it. I liked it, but I didn't love it. I love the original "Blade Runner" (1982). So this is hard to swallow. Here's a screen cap of the two main bad guys from the original:

People forget that Blade Runner is based on a Philip K. Dick book - Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Far less sexy and neon than the Blade Runner that we all know and love. I don't think I've read it. I'm not a huge Philip K. Dick guy. I am a huge sci-fi guy, and a huge cyberpunk guy, and a huge neon-noir guy. I rewatched the original Blade Runner last weekend to prep myself for this week's showing. I had heard that it was long, but I was pumped for that. I wanted to see it in 3D or IMAX, but I settled for seeing it nearby at a local independent theater with buddies.

The special effects were great. The apartment scene when the virtual girl morphs into the real girl was astounding. That was some next level special effects. I've never seen anything like that. Mesmerizing.

And the city scenes were cool. I like that they kept with the whole Asian neighborhood/eating noodles vibe. And I enjoyed when they went into all the weird little shops and vendors, like the guy who did the analysis on the horse. And Ryan Gosling is great. And generally speaking, the special effects, costumes, and cinematography were all well done and enjoyable.

But, and there's a big but -- I didn't get it. Like, I usually don't get it when it comes to complicated movies. Like suspenseful dramas where the audience is expected to piece together what happened. I didn't stick around afterwards and talk with the people that I saw the film with, maybe they could have explained it to me.

So Ryan Gosling is a Replicant. I know that much. Because he gets called skinjob early on. And Deckard is not? Isn't that the beauty of the original? That we don't know if he is or is not?

And the whole flashbacks thing and the horse and the furnace just went over my head. Oh well. It was fun. Way better than the crappy Star Wars episodes that came out in the early 2000s. But seriously, someone needs to explain it to me -- what was Jared Leto's deal? Was he purposely evil, or was his assistant just evil and he didn't know it? Who was the baby? God I'm clueless. I'll go read the Wikipedia entry on the film now.

That's my hot take on Blade Runner 2049. It looked cool, but I didn't get it. I still recommend seeing it, but make sure that you go the bathroom beforehand, cause it's a long one. Now can we get a Fifth Element sequel already?

Same Stale Old Shoes

It's a Beck quote. The post title. It's a Beck quote. You probably got it.

If you're trying to get weird this evening then check out Balam Acab's Twitter account. He made this great album called "See Birds" years ago and then another good album called Wander / Wonder and he's put out some other stuff too. He's a crazy kid. Entertaining to follow, but kinda hard to follow, in multiple ways, if you know what I mean.

It's a very warm day here in Boston. Unseasonably warm, one might say. I'm looking out the window here in the office, or what I call the office in our house. The tree branches are soooo close to the window. Like, there's a tree in the neighbors yard that's just totally overgrown and dominates our backyard. We're gonna have to take the saw thing and stick it out the window and take down some of it. Just leaves and branches everywhere blocking out the sun and the view of the other white houses on the next street over.

OK, impressive football notes of the weekend. Freshman AJ Dillon ran for like a million yards yesterday in the BC Louisville game. He was the number one rated Massachusetts player coming out of high school. Good for him. And then today's Patriots game -- in terms of wild refereeing decisions, that touchdown that got called back was crazy. Crazy! Did you see it?

On a sad note, remember when the United States men's soccer team didn't qualify for the World Cup? I was watching live. It was heartbreaking. I couldn't believe it was happening as I was watching it. I love the World Cup. But no US? I'm stunned.

OK now I have that Beck song in my head. But that's not such a bad thing. Great album, Odelay. Great album cover. Man it must be so hard to come up with good album art. Like, what would the album art be for your debut album? Something to think about.

OK I gotta run, gotta go get dinner with the parents. Bringing the dog over. Life's good. Don't overextend yourself folks. Do like The Dude does - Abide.

D

I'm Baaaaaaaacccck

That's me in the boat. See me there? In the boat?

Who remembers this epic blog that I once maintained? It almost seems like I actually had a decent number of posts several years ago. Well guess what, this blog is coming back hot. It's coming back hot and heavy. Big time.

You know what's impressive? Maine. Some impressive things in Maine -- mountains, rivers, lakes, wildlife. Large outdoor stores like Kittery Trading Post. Apple orchards. Miles and miles of snowmobile trail networks. That sort of stuff.

I was just in Maine for the weekend. Well, just one night. Mousam Lake in Shapleigh. Very nice. It was unseasonably warm today, sunny and creeping into the low 70s. The cabin (they call them "camps" in Maine) had a motorized water pump in the bathroom. So like this huge engine would turn on every so often to pump water into the pipes. It was loud. But I slept fine last night. Apparently I was snoring.

I had cider tonight for dinner. We went to The Abbey in Cambridge. Fancy stuff. At one point I asked her if she could leave "the booze menu" at our table. I think I meant drink menu, but I was tired. But back to the point - I ordered a cider! Crazy move, right? Especially when there's all this hoppy beer on the menu? But I decided to mix it up. It was a cider from Spain, and it was ok. I still can't figure out if I'm a cider guy or not. I think I want it to taste like apple juice every time but it never does so I'm always just some varying level of disappointed.

OK here's your movie tip for the weekend  - "Band Aid (2017)." Great movie! See it! Laugh and cry! Highly recommended.

OK it's time to wrap it up in the Dave household. But I'll be back, stay tuned.

D

Pondering

Rhymes with wandering. thanks MF Doom

Listening to wmbr on the ol' boombox. New show I've never heard of. Good stuff tho. Gotta check out the concert report and see a show soon. Ok bedtime, cya.

Season's greetings

Wait I'm way late on that one, it's not the holidays any more. Well whatever I guess I'm sticking with it.

Boston college basketball beat clemson last night, yeah!!

How are yall doing? Sticking with those new year's resolutions?

I'm reading wall street journal currently. Some of it is over my head, but it's good that I'm reading it. I read harvard business review this past week too, which was interesting.

It's like this and like that and like this and uhhhhh

Bad poem

Above the mantlepiece. Here's my final sign off for the calendar year. A bad poem that's above the burning fire. Enjoy. It doesn't exist anywhere else.

O heart be tender and true
While thou dost beat
O hands be swift to do
O lips be sweet

Last of 2011

Here are some of the last posts of 2011 folks. It's time to move on to 2012...

Here I am on the coast. It’s a foggy night. I got invited up to a house right on the water and said yes. Bunch of people here and we’re gonna have a good time.

Happy new year to everyone! Have great 2012s

Champagne night

You know you're dropping the ball when you don't have a champagne night at least once every other week. Although it can be nasty stuff. Some bad hangovers have been felt over here.

Celtics lost cause Joey Crawford hates fun. Everyone knows this.

There were flurries this morning but no accumulation. It was cold outside in the driveway. Two doors down from my parents house on the other side of the street is a lot with no house because the house got demolished. There's a fence around the lot.

Like I said, there were little itsby bitsy snowflakes this morning but you definitely could not call it a white christmas by any means. There were gifts, however.

Merry Christmas to all.

To all a good night.

-Splatman

Score

Haven't posted in two weeks. That's also known as a "score."

Jokes

Hiiii

I’m at the kitchen table getting focused. I got my swingline on the table. Highlighter too. Some paper holders (can’t have just one).

There's a 20% off CVS coupon here too that I don't think I’m gonna be able to use because it expires tonight. Got other priorities.

Here’s a good link. You should check it out. It’s a Tumblr of “people who…” so and so. I like it.

PEOPLE WHO

Here’s a cool photo of volvo ocean race. In the first leg of this year’s race two boats lost their masts and one other one ripped a hole in the hull. I also read that the boats are going to be brought onto huge barges and taken around the horn of africa instead of actually sailing through there because it's too dangerous.

Triple J

Been listening to Diplo's triple j mix on the mad decent radio podcast.

Best mix I’ve listened to in forever! Seriously. I’m really digging it. I actually found the tracklist and have been checking out the individual artists and songs. I really recommend checking it out.

If you sign up for the podcast you should be able to download it. I’m not sure what link to post, but I’m sure you can figure it out. Some really cool artists on there, a lot of new ones, and some catchy tunes. I’m feelin it.

oh wait here's the link -- Mad Decent Worldwide Radio

http://feeds.feedburner.com/MadDecentWorldWideRadio

Soooo let’s see. It’s bizarrely warm in December. Like, way too warm. Like, why the heck is it so warm? (Aside, I’ve started saying what the heck instead of what the hell. Lil weird, and I think I started doing it after I heard someone else doing it. Should I use heck or hell? Dono)

So yeah, it’s warm and drizzly today. Shouldn’t it be colder? Strange.

What I'm reppin

Been listening to ASAP Rocky real hard. I just realized that maybe his name is a play on that dude Aesop Rock. But apparently ASAP Rocky had never heard of dude? Eh who knows. I tried to get into Aesop Rock but never really felt him. ASAP Rocky is rad tho, and Clams Casino does a lot of his beats. I’m really digging his mixtape, good stuff.

Sayin what’s up…

Getting cold round here. I installed a bunch more doorsweeps in my apt, great move outta me, gotta eliminate those drafts.

Ohhh yeah I forgot to mention – we got a mini portable dishwasher! Finally! After 26 months of living in the same apt, we finally have a portable dishwasher. This is huge. I have a clean kitchen now, and it’s awesome.

I even made cookies because I knew that I could then clean the dishes. I made chewy chocolate chunk cookies based off a recipe in the Best of America’s Test Kitchen 2010. I’ve made several things out of that magazine, and these ones are pretty good too. I cut up the chocolate chunks too small (blowin it!), but they’re still delicious, and I’ve been handing them out to people.

Yummmmm, I gotta be careful and get back into gym.

Please take this

It's very easy and fun. Many thanks in advance.

I will reward you by doing more light art in the park. Srsly.

Omg I need a haircut. I think it's time to find someone new.

Party

Big day today. LSU football won. BC basketball and BC football won too.

"If you wanna believe that, that's fine."

"Back to reality."

"It's safe."

"Anchored."

Created a monster

Not really. Hot in here. Need some fresh air. Need to wash off the dirt and oil. Cleaned out the car some. Need to put air in tires. Going to football game tonight. Professional football, that is. None of this college bizness.

Auto correct autocorrect autocorrecting. Meta autocorrect from right to wrong. Two rights makes up for a wrong.

That walk, that mean walk. That walk, that mean walk.

Must be a model.

this

that

rowing. sleepy. second lamp. ocean gang.

calling it. that's what we call mailing it in. delirious nonsense. tilt lift. lift tilt. rack zoom. birds eye.

The apartment

The apartment

Yes. Just at the folk’s house right now, gotta start getting focused. A lot on my plate, which other people understand.

Boston college basketball season begins tonight, I’m gonna try to watch online. Because there’s not gonna be an NBA season I’ll have to get my basketball fix from college.

Hmmmm had a good weekend. Went out to event Friday night, went out to something else Saturday night. Wow so descriptive. Well I still aim to maintain a degree of anonymity on this blog, so there ya go.

New J. Cole album just dropped. Check it out if ya haven’t.

That’s all I got, talk soon.