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I sat down with the Blu-Ray edition of The Prestige tonight.  After Amy and I saw it in theaters last year, I proclaimed that it was my favorite movie of 2007.  The twist, much like that of The Sixth Sense, blew me away the first time that I saw it.

Sitting down with it again was a bit of an interesting experience.  Since, of course, I knew the ending, I was able to pay closer attention to the very small details.  Christopher Nolan and his brother were meticulous in writing in the oh so minute details into the screenplay and that impresses me to no end.  I love being able to go back to a movie and studying it… picking out all that I’ve missed and analyzing it.  The farewell between Alfred and Fallon was particularly heart wrenching and, well, interesting as I was able to piece together who was who.

Christian Bale continues to remind me why he’s my favorite actor… he’s got a bad ass, kind of smug vibe to him that I really connect with… he rules.

Sorry dude… I know you have it already… but I just HAD to buy it.  I mean, it’s TEN BUCKS!

Ah, escapism.  90 minutes of your life spent in a daydream world living a life doing things you’d never dream of doing.  That’s why the movie-going experience is for me.  It’s those moments in time when you get lost in another world and watch all the shit that’s been bugging you get blown up on screen.  Rambo is such a movie.

I’ve loved Rambo since I was a kid.  In fact, a bit of history, Rambo III was the first R-Rated movie I was ever taken to (thanks Dad!!!).  I’m never going to war.  I’m never going to be fighting the cops in some hick town… will never be rescuing POW’s in Vietnam… certainly won’t be fighting alongside the Afghans… and, I don’t know about you, but Burma is just about the last place on the planet I ever plan on visiting.

Sitting down with the movie tonight, in 1080p (I swear!  Blood spayed out of my TV!!!), was a nice trip out of the daily grind.  Evil was vanquished by the trained machine.  The grueling scenery, the over-the-top (albiet realistic) violence, the fuck-the-world attitude… it’s just something that I always connect with.

I sit and listen to people criticize the shit out of Rambo and the films.  “Oh, yeah… do you know how hard it is to shoot accurately with a bow that strong?”  You know what?  I don’t really give a fuck.  If you need your movies to be uber-realistic, go watch the fucking History Channel.  It is these kinds of movies (and particularly characters) that keep me going… that keep me excited… and, frankly, put a big grin on my face.

Thanks, Sly… you’re world class in my book.

Not that this is any surprise, but I’m overstressed. Work, side-work, more work, and even some more work just consume every waking moment I have on a daily basis. Even when I’m just trying to be laid back on the computer, there is some element of “work” going on in my head. Whether it’s trying to think of cool personal projects, or stressing about incomplete projects, or worrying about what happened during the day… my head just won’t stop. It leaves me with a bunch of fairly unpleasant days and tons of wasted, unpleasant nights. Being this stressed makes me move slower in getting anything done after work. It sucks.

My chiropractor and I were talking about stress and he suggested just finding something that I enjoy doing and, well, do it. It’ll help me decompress, right? Now, I don’t really have any hobbies. Any “hobby” I have normally revolves around this box that I’m typing to you on. All my other hobbies are, you guessed it, work related. I’m not into sports, I don’t know how to surf, I don’t enjoy the gym all that much, and I don’t really have the money to go out. Argh.

Well, I think I found it. A month ago, I bought a 46″ LCD TV and a PS3 to serve as my Blu-Ray player. Not wanting to put all this gear to waste, I’ve been stocking up on some Blu-Ray movies, I cleaned out all the crap off of my DVD shelf, and I’ve actually started watching movies again. It started last week with V for Vendetta on Blu-Ray and again tonight with Rambo. Not being in front of the computer… not thinking about all the e-mail’s and all the work and all the daily bullshit for 90 minutes or 2 hours or whatever is a fucking godsend. I’m able to sit in the same place, enjoy an awesome movie, and finally relax. I can’t begin to tell you how awesome I’ve been feeling. Now, of course, I’m still not getting shit done… but at least I’m starting to feel better. 

After moving servers a few months ago, I’ve finally had the chance to get this baby back up and running.  Hopefully I’ll be able to stay on top of it a bit better.  Cheers!