:: Privatjokr ::

Richard: I just feel like everyone tries to do something different, but you always wind up doing the same damn thing.

In 1929 J.M. Barrie gave the copyright in Peter Pan to the Special Trustees of Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital. Marking that work's centenary, the hospital authorized the creation of a sequel to Peter Pan. The result of the worldwide search for its author?

MAGIC.

Journey back to Neverland in the first-ever authorized sequel to J.M. Barrie's masterpiece, Peter Pan.

Set in the 1930s, when the devastating effects of World War I are still resonating throughout the world, Peter Pan in Scarlet sends readers soaring into a landscape of magic and adventure, on an unforgettable journey fraught with danger. All is not well. Nightmares are leaking out of Neverland as if chafes against the Here and Now, wearing holes in the fabric in between. Somehow Time is moving on where Time was never meant to. Fearing for Peter Pan's life, Wendy and the Lost Boys go back to Neverland -- with the help of the fairy Fireflyer -- only to discover adventure waiting in ambush and their worst nightmares coming true!

How Peter Pan -- the boy who never grows up -- and his friends restore Neverland to rights is the heart of this brilliant story told in a style that captures the elusive spirit of J.M. Barrie's classic. Illustrated by Scott M. Fischer, Peter Pan in Scarlet is a literary treasure that will leave no heart untouched.

| Buy it from Amazon |

1. Star Wars Trilogy

2. Indiana Jones Trilogy

3. Blade Runner

4. Apocalypse Now

5. Presumed Innocent

(Honorable Mention: The Fugitive)

| Discuss it |

Go backstage with A Prairie Home Companion, and experience the laughter and joy of down-home America's favorite radio show. Acclaimed director Robert Altman (Gosford Park, The Player) leads an all-star cast in this magical, fictional account of the legendary show's final radio broadcast. As cast and crew assemble one last time to sing, tell stories and reminisce, the result is an unforgettable homage to a beloved American treasure.

The things I had heard about A Prairie Home Companion were positive ones. No one seemed to gush over the movie and no one called it an "absolute must-see." All of the thoughts I heard or read seemed to portray A Prairie Home Companion as a GOOD movie. And that is what it was. A Prairie Home Companion is a hearty, meat and potatoes, stick-to-your-ribs kind of good movie. The movie may be overflowing with highlights personal to you, but from a broader perspective I would only list one highlight. It wasn't "that kind of movie." Rather than a story about a radio show airing its last broadcast, it was a heartwarming story about a band of radio personalities giving their final performance. The focus was the people.

The movie was a look into their lives. They tell stories, some for the first time, with others they've lost count. They laugh. They cry. They are a family. And while the stories may not be familiar to us, the faces sure are.

The cast includes Woody Harrelson, Tommy Lee Jones, Garrison Keillor, Kevin Kline, Lindsay Lohan, Virginia Madsen, John C. Reilly, Maya Rudolph, Meryl Streep, Lily Tomlin, Marylouise Burke and L.Q. Jones. Surely you've heard one or two of those names! So many names, some bigger than others. It was nice to see so many people be a part of a movie like this when many of the roles were limited. Try to argue all you want that there aren't big names in that list, but I will fight you there.

Oh, and before I forget: that highlight I mentioned earlier. Kevin Kline. If you are a fan of Mr. Kline, I probably won't need to elaborate. If you have seen the movie, then you may even agree. This guy is magic. I loved the part he played as Guy Noir, the short-of-work 1930s private eye stuck manning security for the theater. As he spoke, whether it be conversationally or in narration to the movie, he did so in an overly dramatic style characterized decades ago by men and women in film. In the DVD extras, director Robert Altman talks admiringly about Kline. He says that the camera has to be on Kline's body rather than zoom in because he plays his parts with his entire body. Think about that after watching one of his movies if you don't believe it. The man is talented, and his performance was the highlight for me.

I liked A Prairie Home Companion. It was fun to hear some of the ridiculous jingles that the performers had to sing. It was a pleasure to be let into the lives of the characters facing the end of the careers they loved so deeply. And it was a riot to hear some of the jokes. A Prairie Home Companion may never see an award from the Academy, but please do not limit your movie watching based upon that metric.

| Buy it from Amazon | Discuss it |

If you don't know or care, you'll be all right. I heard it's modern to be stupid. You don't need to talk to look good.

Danny Deckchair

An average guy uses gags and pranks to liven up his blue-collar life and accidentally ends up taking off in a deck chair strapped to giant helium-filled balloons while his friends watch helplessly from below. He starts a whole new life in a far-off town where he crash lands...until his old life catches up to him.

| Buy it from Amazon | Discuss it |

Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs

Running with Scissors is the true story of a boy whose mother (a poet with delusions of Anne Sexton) gave him away to be raised by her unorthodox psychiatrist who bore a striking resemblance to Santa Claus. So at the age of twelve, Burroughs finds himself amidst Victorian squalor living with the doctor's bizarre family, and befriending a pedophile who resided in the backyard shed. The story of an outlaw childhood where rules were unheard of, and the Christmas tree stayed up all year-round, where Valium was consumed like candy, and if things god dull, an electroshock-therapy machine could provide entertainment. The funny, harrowing, and bestselling account of an ordinary boy's survival under the most extraordinary circumstances.

| Buy it from Amazon | Discuss it |

Maggie Gyllenhaal (World Trade Center), Tony Shalhoub (Monk), Edie Falco (The Sopranos) and Stephen Colbert (The Colbert Report) deliver brilliant performances in this intoxicating, intelligent comedy. In this character driven masterpiece several New Yorkers -- an oddball office shrink, a cluelessly competitive pastry chef, and a flirtatious security guard -- reveal their eccentric private stories. It's a deliciously bittersweet comic triumph from director Danny Leiner (Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle).

How does that Meat Loaf song go? Two out of Three Ain't Bad? I guess that means one out of three is bad. This movie was neither Great, nor Wonderful. And as soon as it is no longer considered "new," it will be zero out of three.

I wanted to enjoy the movie. For most of the movie I enjoyed the characters and felt for them in certain scenarios. Something was just missing. Well, I figure two things were missing: cohesion and closure.

I can appreciate the idea of many smaller stories combined to form one bigger super-movie. Maybe I am just used to seeing it more when the stories have some common element. These stories never intertwined and nothing, except the emotional roller coaster of life in The Big Apple was the same for any of the characters.

There were emotional highs and lows. Hopes were exalted and dashed. And all the while...nothing really happened. There was no story; we simply follow a few people on their day-to-day routines and see the happiness and pain they experience at whatever intervals they experience them.

And then the movie ends. That's it.

Well to be fair they showed one more scene that only serves to compound the abundance of loose ends and detract from any feeling of compassion. I won't spoil the final scene, but it was not the most "pro-family" scene I have ever watched.

The movie does have a decent list of names associated with it. Probably my favorite of the bunch is Jim Gaffigan. He may not be the funniest comedian, but I have enjoyed seeing him in what I can when I can. He and Tony Shalhoub bantered well together as doctor and patient. Their story was a little forced, but the two had good chemistry.

Maggie Gyllenhaal is finally beginning to grow on me. Or then again it might just be the part she played was much more...wholesome than roles she has had in the past (e.g. Happy Endings)

It certainly would take much more than additional witty banter from Jim Gaffigan and wholesomeness from Maggie Gyllenhaal to even make The Great New Wonderful into A Movie Worth Seeing. I do not recommend you see this movie. I will even go one step further to recommend you avoid it altogether.

| Buy it from Amazon | Discuss it |

Outwork - Elektro ft. Mr Gee

Even though the video leaves much to be desired, I like this song a lot. I guess you could always watch this version instead; it may hold your interest better. I happened upon the song using my most-likely-not-to-be-renewed free subscription to a satelite radio service. While I only dabble in the electronic genres, I am surely a sucker for a fun dance song. And no, that doesn't mean I will dance for you. I think the proper remix would have a room full of party-goers bouncing off each other excitedly. This is a fun track you may enjoy if you like to turn the volume up and let the music pulse through your body.

1. The Muppet Christmas Carol

2. National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation

3. Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (original animated version)

4. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer

5. A Christmas Story

(Honorable Mention: Home Alone)

| Discuss it |

Sometimes bouts of nostolgia happen under the most random circumstances. Many times they are triggered by something you have seen or heard or a feeling that comes over you. Other times, the explanation may not be so simple. I cannot explain what caused my latest jaunt down memory lane, but what a strong feeling it was.

It was with an incredible fondness that I remembered my favorite childhood toy. It wasn't my big wheel. It wasn't my basketball cards. Sure, Nintendo was great, but it wasn't that either. It had been years since I had last thought about My Pet Monster.

Maybe this is the root from which a long series of family jokes stem. Maybe my family gets a hoot from teasing me about quantity of friends because I grew up relating better to a fanged ball of blue fuzz than I did to most other people.

I think they're just jealous of me and My Pet Monster.

(Pictured is a newer, updated version of My Pet Monster. They made it significantly easier on the eyes. I opted for this picture to save face a little bit. You would definitely wonder about me if you saw what it REALLY used to look like...)

Sometimes the hardest thing and the right thing are the same.

Hellogoodbye - Here (In Your Arms)

We may have found another track to add to the cd we wanted to build around Beating Heart Baby. Alas, I think I am sufficiently over the desire I once had to put "BHB" on a cd, so my timing could have been better. Regardless, Hellogoodbye gives us a fun song about a girl. Unlike many songs about girls, "Here" is complete with strange electronic music and a video set at a summer camp that featured a bully who lords over the camp because of his prowess with Pogs (you expected something else, maybe?). Anyway, the song is simple...in a good way. I dig it. Check it out.