Way Of All Flesh

Back safely from Venice (thankfully before people started driving flaming Cherokees into airports). The trip was marvellous, and Venice is a beautiful and decidedly curious city. I took way too may photos (a fact to which Lisl will no doubt attest), a select sampling of which will of course be appearing shortly.

Tycho linked to this story over at Wired, which proved a fascinating read, and reminded me very much of this other crazy feature they ran a while back. Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction.

After you have enjoyed this fine reportage, why not relax with some lighter fare?

I hope everyone in the US passed a pleasant Independence Day. For the record, July grilling on this side of the Atlantic proved rather a riskier proposition.

We made the irresistible pilgrimage to witness the continuing adventures of Mr. McClane last night, and it didn't disappoint. Len Wiseman is rapidly becoming a most dependable guarantor of celluloid entertainment. Some of the dialogue was a bit clunky, but in terms of spectacle it was eminently more satisfying than many other recent offerings in the genre, and it did remain spiritually faithful to the series. The villains were sufficiently ambitious and over-equipped for regular law enforcement to handle, and John remained the wildcard who is both deeply cynical and yet still blinded by his commitment to the Thin Blue Line ideology. If he seemed a little more self-aware or salty this time out, one must understand that by now even our most beloved everyman has been quite seasoned by his life experiences. Timothy Olyphant was everything I hoped he would be as a villain - let's hope Hitman won't cause his star to sputter - while Justin Long delivered a much more measured performance than I feared would be the case. Even Kevin Smith's cameo was quite well accomplished. It certainly is not the equal of the original, and maybe not even of With A Vengeance, but I am definitely looking forward to watching it again. For a more intellectual review, I would suggest you go here. Otherwise, just rest assured that John McClane can still fuck a dude up, even in 2007.

I have finally compiled a thorough and compelling collection of photos of our wonderful trip to Venice in June of this year, which I now submit for your approval. The adventure began under promising auspices, as it soon became apparent that Steve Harris (he of Iron Maiden fame) was to share our humble Ryanair flight to Treviso. Up the Irons! Indeed. I think I remarked before that the extent to which Venice has rearranged (someone would suggest perverted) itself to cater to tourism is quite remarkable, but there remains an inherent beauty to this unique city which is rather inescapable. I hope you will agree.

Oh, and I also put up the photos from Beau's birthday celebration at the Red Lion from some weeks ago.

Arrived back in LA on Monday, and, though severely jet-lagged and already sweating from muscling our luggage across town, we managed to swap out the clunky old air-conditioner in the bedroom for a less clunky model (kindly donated by Kristina). This desperate action has resulted in immediate benefit to our humble way of life. In the past four days, I have already seen three movies (at the Los Feliz 3, Arclight, and Mann's 6), indulged in Yuca's and Crispy Crust, consumed a Dodger Dog (whilst they lost 13-9 to the Mets, but at least it was a game), helped Tom 2.0 move, and am now preparing to go pick up lunch from Agra Cafe. Yum.

In other news:

It would appear that Jenna Jameson didn't look quite so scary at the LA Adult Expo as I had previously feared. Hopefully she can yet make a full recovery.

Saw this on a satirical news show (I think it was News Knight) whilst in Britain, and thought it worth sharing.

Downloaded the Darkness demo from Live! Marketplace last night. It's definitely entertaining, and very pretty, but the controls feel a little sluggish to me. I may wait awhile on acquiring this one, especially since the Fall season promises a plethora of titles that may need to be picked up immediately upon their release (i.e., Bioshock, Army of Two, Assassin's Creed, and, of course, Halo 3). By contrast, the Stuntman Ignition demo is a whole barrel of fun. I wonder if the full game can boast enough levels to make it worth $60 though...