Kimputer's Weblog

Fox tries to cash in on their success with serialised drama series (24, Prison Break), and this title speaks for itself. In this case, they want to keep us a few seasons busy with the suddenly vanished wife of a senator, making it a high profile case.
Mystery ensues, and everyone seems to have a part, a stake and/or motive. Sounds exciting ? Well, somehow, it isn’t. As urgent as this matter sounds, while watching it, you don’t feel it. Maybe it’s the structure, maybe it’s the story writing (chaotic, uninteresting twists). Maybe it’s just the basics that don’t fit. Maybe Mimi Leder lost her touch (she got her big break under Steven Spielberg’s wings, starting with ER, followed by movies like Deep Impact, Pay it Forward and The Peacemaker), because last year’s Jonny Zero was a disaster (also on Fox). This one isn’t that bad, but with a big “Mediocre” badge hanging on your shirt, you pretty much pale in contrast to your bigger brothers (the aforementioned 24 and Prison Break).

The lowest box office total this year, is led by Renny Harlin helmed The Covenant. Horror/thriller only gets a measly $9 million. Second up is Hollywoodland with $6 million. Time will tell if Ben Affleck’s Best Actor prize from the Venice Film Festivals will help this George Reeves (TV’s Superman) inspired story fly in more dough. At three, Invincible finally gives in, dropping 2 places with $5.8 million.
The Weinstein Company does quite well with foreign martial arts actioner Tom Yom Goong, at 4 with $5 million. Rounding out the top 5 is Crank, dropping 3 spots with $4.8 million.

It’s been a while since I’ve seen Mr. T on TV (after all, The A-Team ended in 1987. Fans will be happy to know he’s going to do some kind of advice show, but it will air on little known cable channel TV Land), but with the internet and broadband connections and all, I stumbled upon a Culture IQ test hosted by this icon. Of course, it’s advertisement related (Comcast broadband services), but it’s still fun. Click here for the test.
This was my result.

Akeelah and the Bee: Very decent independent drama (starring and produced by Laurence Fishburne) that while predictable is still heart-warming, inspirational and dynamic in direction and storytelling.7½.
RV: Really silly, non-funny low-budget comedy.3.
Derailed: Not as half bad a thriller as it sounds.7-.

Can you say “He did it again” ? You certainly can. Both on Shyamalanism and on creativity, he wins again. While M. Night boggles you with mind games all the time, the real boggler is why Disney let him go, since this story contains a lot of elements fitting their profile. It’s a mystery, it has morale, Night’s weird sense of scare and humor, and most importantly, that slight touch of originality (of course, money-wise, it was probably a good choice, since it doesn’t track well at all around the world).
While mixing in quite a few reaching elements into this movie makes it less potent than some of his previous more focused box office hits (The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, Signs), like always, he masterfully controls it with his keen sense of understanding the human mind.7½.

These 3 episodes are enough to get a clear picture of how the rest of the season will go. After all, season 1 proved to be consistently thrilling, involving all characters, and slowly deepening the story lines.
If you utter the words adrenaline and TV, the only association possible is Prison Break. It’s the only show where an average viewer produces enough adrenaline during one episode to stockpile enough of it to feed a whole intensive care unit of a medium sized hospital.
This show is hard to beat for many years to come (even though many new series premiering this season try to mimick this kind of serialisation, which of course itself is a derative of the same net’s 24).

An underwhelming box office, headed by last week’s topper, Invincible, with $15.2 million, barely slowing down from last week. Two new-comers will have to do with the second and third place. Jason Statham actioner (a low budget, high banking dude) Crank get $13 million while The Wicker Man will have to do with $11.7 million (difference being Crank has almost its budget broken even, while The Wicker Man is at 25%). At 4, Little Miss Sunshine is doing good business, actually climbing a bit from last week with $9.7 (low budget drama comedy pushed by a positive buzz now at $35.8 million). Doing even better at 5 is The Illusionist, opening in wide release after 2 weeks of limited, conjuring $8 million (and a total of $12 million).

via: http://www.upc.nl/index.php?PageID=147603&vac=

Onderwerp: UPC Digital
Betreft: Klacht

Op mijn eerdere klacht (helaas doet u niet aan referenties, daarom zal ik er zelf maar een referentie uit proberen te halen: X-OriginalArrivalTime: 28 Aug 2006 11:03:59.0382 (UTC) FILETIME=[A9C2C360:01C6CA91]) was beloofd binnen 3 werkdagen van een reactie te voorzien. Maar iedereen weet ondertussen al dat UPC het niet zo strak neemt met beloftes.
Toch wilde ik u alsnog vragen om toch te reageren inzake het verzoek mij uit jullie klantenbestand te laten verwijderen, ter voorkoming van het versturen van de Mediabox als ik dan eindelijk aan de beurt kom voor dat mooie “gratis” ding.
Reden is natuurlijk mijn preventieve bewijsverzameling. Want jullie werkwijze kennende, krijg ik anders over 1 of 2 jaar een mooie dreigbrief van ene Intrum Justitia met het verzoek een spookfactuur van ruim 1 of 2 duizend euro te voldoen. Meegeleverd als bewijs is een ontvangstbewijs van de Mediabox, inclusief nagetekend of overgetrokken handtekening (gekopieerd van mijn menige ondertekende klacht-brieven uit het verleden).
Graag dus alsnog een reactie met de melding dat ik niet lastig gevallen wordt met jullie UPC Digital en Mediabox.

With most cablers winding down their half season (resuming January), it’s time to re-assess my TV schedule.
As always, every year, some TV shows launch bigger, with movie stars attached to it, but only time will tell if they’re worth my time. So here goes:

Continued from last year (slightly sorted according to quality):

Prison Break
Battlestar Galactica
Lost
CSI
Boston Legal
Grey’s Anatomy
My Name Is Earl
Everybody Hates Chris
Criminal Minds
Smallville
The Unit

New shows:

Fox (smartly starting most shows early, out of competition, so to speak):
Vanished
Justice
Standoff
Til Death

NBC:
Heroes
Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip (Amanda Peet)
Friday Night Lights (exec. prod. Peter Berg, writer/director Friday Night Lights and Very Bad Things)
Kidnapped (Delroy Lindo, Timothy Hutton)
30 Rock (Alec Baldwin)
20 Good Years

CBS:
The Class (creator David Crane of NBC’s Friends)
Jericho (director Jon Turteltaub of National Treasure (and sequel), Phenomenon, Cool Runnings)
Smith (Ray Liotta, Virginia Madsen, Amy Smart)
Shark (James Woods, director Spike Lee)

ABC:
Six Degrees
Brothers & Sisters
The Nine
Ugly Betty
Knights of Prosperity
Help Me Help You
Men in Trees (Anne Heche, director James Mangold (Copland, Walk the Line))

CW:
Runaway (Donnie Wahlberg)

So, there you have it. A solid 30 hour week. For my own sake, I hope the quality isn’t that overwhelming, otherwise I’ll have no time to sleep.

It’s your typical high-paced conspiracy-themed thriller, and it works down the list (setup, mystery, cat-and-mouse chase, revelation, etc) as suspected. Acting is up to par (how about being type cast after those 5 horrible days eh Jack), and Eva Longoria serves as eye candy, while the action tries to make up for the lack of complication or depth. While nothing is really memorable, it’s nice for a one time thingy.7.

Nicolas Cage hasn’t done anything this close to thriller/horror stuff, but he always brings drama (City of Angels, Leaving Las Vegas) and a strange dose of humor (Lord of War, Adaptation) to the table. Hell, blockbuster movies is a piece of cake for him too (The Rock, Face/Off). Just leave thriller/horror out of the list. At least this one, for sure.
It starts pretty okay. Dramatic setup and all. Then some mystery gets in the mix. Then the writer/director (Neil LaBute) makes a wrong turn for the worse. Now it’s all silly. And I really mean silly, with the dramatic score still running in the background. Now THAT’s REALLY silly. Of course, you didn’t come for silly, so you’re pretty pissed in the end. And that’s the only thing that matters ultimately. Nic is a lot of men (besides The Wicker Man, he’s The Family Man, The Weather Man, and the Matchstick Man. He’s even a KaufMAN, and a MANdolin), but this one is the one you should forget about really fast.4.

via: http://www.upc.nl/index.php?PageID=147603&vac=

Onderwerp: UPC Digital
Betreft: Klacht

Via familie ben ik erachter gekomen, dat de dreiging steeds dichterbij komt. Ik had het al eerder op TV gezien, maar wist niet dat de nadering zo snel nabij zou zijn.
Het gaat natuurlijk om jullie niet werkende product UPC Digital (ja ja, even snel wat forums afgestruind, altijd lachen).
Iedereen kent wel het spreekwoord, beter voorkomen dan genezen. Ik ben helaas eerder in de clinch geweest met jullie, dus mijn versie van dat spreekwoord luidt, beter verhuizen dan in aanraking komen met UPC. Maar in dit geval, zal ik bij deze nog een laatste poging wagen, aangezien ik gelukkig nog geen bericht heb ontvangen van julie “fantastisch nieuw product” dat ongevraagd in mijn strot wordt geduwd.

Bij deze dus mijn vraag of jullie mij bij voorbaat al UIT jullie klantenbestand kunnen verwijderen, dan wel gewoon geen nieuw abonnement aansmeren of gratis producten mijn richting opsturen. (Als ik mijn analoge TV signaal verlies, het zij zo. Tranen zullen vloeien uit blijdschap.)
Ik waarschuw u in ieder geval alvast, dat ik mij ga beroepen op het burgerlijk wetboek (boek7 artikel 7, zie http://wetboek.net/nl/BW7/7.html). Vrij vertaald, mag ik het houden omdat mij niet om toestemming is gevraagd, noch heb ik om het product gevraagd. Jammer genoeg loopt het maar tot Lid 4, aangezien ik in dit geval zelfs uitdrukkelijk jullie verbiedt het mij toe te sturen. Ik zet bij deze alles in het werk om een uitbreiding tot Lid 5. Deze zou mij dan vergoeding moeten bieden voor het aankomend psychologisch letsel, en mij in staat moeten stellen tot het ritueel verbranden van de oh zo machtige Mediabox.

En zoals altijd, eindig ik met:

Hopelijk nooit meer wat van jullie te hoeven vernemen (doch, helaas nog niet uitgekomen. Sterker nog, jullie kennende, zullen jullie de informatie die verplicht is voor het invullen van dit web-formulier gebruiken voor meer duistere doeleinden. Om die redenen zullen enkele spelfouten worden toegevoegd om dit in de toekomst te kunnen bewijzen),

KaVam Ong

Geachte heer Ong,

Hartelijk dank voor uw bericht. Het spijt ons dat u in het verleden slechte ervaringen
met ons heeft gehad. Wij hebben geprobeerd uw klantgegevens te controleren. Helaas
staat er geen enkele heer of mevrouw Ong op het door u aangegeven adres bij ons
ingeschreven. Hierdoor kunnen wij op dit moment nog niet een notitie bij uw
klantgegevens maken dat u de MediaBox niet wenst te ontvangen. Wij vermoeden dat het
om een vergissing of een typfout gaat en raden u aan nog een bericht te sturen zoals u
dat nu heeft gedaan, echter dan met de juiste gegevens erop zoals die hier bij ons
bekend zijn.

Wij vertrouwen erop u hiermee voldoende te hebben geinformeerd.

Met vriendelijke groet,

UPC Nederland

/me BANGS head on ceiling

Searching on address or postal code is just too tough a job for them.

Invincible, yes. But it reigns in a very weak box office, as the summer schedule is about to close. The Mark Wahlberg starrer inspired by a true NFL story hauls in $17 million. Talladega Nights holds on to the second spot with $8 million, while Litte Miss Sunshine rises to the third spot in its fifth weeking with $7.5 million. Rounding out the top 5 are two movies sharing the number 4 spot, newcomer comedy Beerfest, and second week Accepted, both brining in $6.5 million.

Rate 1 (FR#^&% MESS !) to 5 (how very tidy !). Only rate the latest picture, otherwise I can’t keep track of the average.

Just in case you did not read the title, this IS NOT MY DESK, this is from native Amsterdammer Smart“ (illegally inhabiting a municipality designated location for commercial activity).
Actually, it’s not a desk either, right now it’s kinda an extension of his desk (the basement underneath it), his future office space where millions will be earned by way of intellectuel property output in the form of machine code.
Except….right now you see BIG things in there, that even can’t get out of this crawl space in one piece. Guess those millions will have to wait till transporter technology becomes available.

Total: 10 out of 3 votes > Average is: 3.333

I try to keep my movie slate devoid of foreign import, as I kinda have a bad streak with those. But once in a while (usually less than 1 in a year) I sneak one in, and this time it’s the Spanish Volver, with only one notable name (Penelope Cruz).
It’s clear, the Spanish have a weird sense of humor, and in this one, it tries to meld it with highly dramatic issues (mostly death, and lots of it). Strangely, it creates that authentic Spanish feeling, while the story seems to be inconsistently moving from here to there. In the end, it kinda comes together, and for the first time in a long while, I didn’t feel I made a mistake. Hey, who knows, el año quizá próximo, intentaré otro.7.