Caught King Arthur in the matinee. This was a truly B movie. Dialogue. Plot. Acting. Actors. All of it was cut rate. The story seemed silly. If you had to describe it in a pitch think Saving Private Ryan meets The 13th Warrior. If you had to destroy the myth of King Arthur, this movie was the place to start. It wasn’t even a bad summer movie to love. The king is dead.
2 of 5 stars.
Woke up early and cooked breakfast as I watched the live telecast of Le Tour de France on OLN. Lance Armstrong won the 13th stage followed by Ivan Basso. The reverse order of the 12th stage finish. This time Lance took the stage win without reservations and stated to the peloton that he is unstoppable. Basso if he still rides good in the next will challenge, but I don’t think Lance will let him get close. It is his to win.
Another gritty performance by the current maillot jaune holder, Thomas Voekler. His is the story so far of the Tour. Gutting out 2 consecutive charges to the line to defend and keep the maillot jaune has got to be the most applaud inducing moments of the tour. I cheered for him. The happiness he had displayed when he crossed the time line still holding onto the maillot jaune was great. Voekler is a deserving holder for the 9 stages he has it.
Aug. 12, 2001
11:55 Woke up late. All day on the boat. Gloomy. Foggy. Rainy. Can’t wait for the next port. Breakfast. Lunch? Semi-formal dinner. Drunk. Will stop drinking. Up twenty in craps last night. At the bar w/cute girls.
15:55 Got out of pool and the jacuzzi. Freezing cold. Mmm. I feel good.
Was a cold rain soaked sail going to Norway from Poland. On the ship, it sucks because ther is not much to do. It became boring. We had done and seen it all.
Stage 12 of Le Tour. The mountains of the Prynees loomed today, which means that Lance Armstrong made his move. He gained a lot of time on his rivals, Jan Ullrich, Tyler Hamilton, and Iban Mayo. Lance came in second. Tomorrow the inevitable, Armstrong in the maillot jaune!
Also, good work for the current maillot jaune holder, Voelker. Amazing performance by the young rider to keep and defend the jersey for the last week.
I am not talking about Billy Idol’s band before he hit it big in the 80s, but the set of people born between 1965 and 1980. If you understand what I am talking about then go relive our glory year’s on VH1’s I Love the 90s.
Read all about some dude protesting during President Bush’s campaigning in PA. Read about how our President acts like a child and gives the finger to them. It’s time for that dude to go.
Before seeing this movie, I mentioned to some co-workers that I had reservations about seeing it. That it might be a comedic movie in which you wait for the comedy to happen. “They’re saying something funny. I should be laughing. Why am I not laughing?” I had every reason to hope that this would not be the case. Unfortunately, my fears were confirmed. This movie was like an SNL skit — unfunny in long stretches. Considering that Will Farrell wrote it, it may have been a rejected SNL skit. A skit which did not make it to Saturday night, but was cut by Lorne Greene by showtime. I did not laugh once in the first 10 minutes, and it was hard to find something to laugh at for the rest of the movie. The only thing that saved it is the great Vince Vaughan. And if you don’t mind spoilers, the Mexican standoff between local television news crews with Luke Wilson, Tim Robbins and Ben Stiller making hilarious cameos. I suggest you watch this flick next summer when it makes its rounds on HBO.
2 of 5 stars.
Aug.11, 2001
10:00 Waiting on tour to begin. Lots of rushing. Maybe they should post boarding times.
10:20 Thomas is our guide and the swordsman is our bus driver. We will drive for hours.
12:05 Malbork Castle. Gothic != Medieval. Hey. You can buy weapons here. Hot dogs.
15:05 Cole slaw. Meat wrap for lunch. Where can I get Polish sausage?
This was one of the more surreal days of the vacation. We were in Poland visiting Gdansk. Our tour guide was a nice fellow. He took us to Malbork Castle home of some Teutonic Knights. It was interesting, but I not as cool as I would’ve thought. We had a lunch which it seemed that only I liked. It was a mash up of beef and pork flattened and rolled into a wrap with a side of some grain that I don’t know what it was. During lunch an elderly gentleman kept complaining about not getting a kielbasa. I wanted to tell him to just go to the snack shack in front of the castle and get yourself one. Walter could’ve continued his great Red Pulser Tour 2001 here by doing just that.
Anyway, we ended up shopping for amber in Gdansk wandering around looking for kielbasa. On the bus ride home, Thomas tells us the horrific story of his mother’s survival from the Nazi concentration camps. I think we gave him a big tip.
I was in Barnes and Noble earlier this evevning and picked up The Cardigans, Gran Tourismo and Thievery Corporation, The Outernational Sounds. The former sounds great and I love Erase/Rewind. The latter seems to be another of there remix albums; not there original stuff. Both are going to get a lot of listening.
Posting has been slow of late. There are many reasons. First, I usually blog from my PC at home, but have been using the laptop more. Second, I suck at it. My writing style hasn’t emerged effectively and I can’t seem to carry a thought for more than a few sentences. Finally, I still don’t know what I want to blog about. Politics? Movies? My life? I hope to decide in the near future. So for all my readers, I apologise for the sporadic posts. Sorry.
