Kimputer's Weblog

Ever since her rise to Nashville fame more than 10 years ago, she’s walked a fine line between ol’ country and pop. Her breakthrough in 1998 (This Kiss from her second album Faith) was enough to win me over. A powerful velvety voice combined with super sweet lyrics. The hardcore country songs I always ignored, and her third album still had a lot of those. Still there were quite a few selected songs I liked. Then came Cry (2002), and like many before her (Shania Twain, LeAnn Rimes) a more distinct move towards more poppy ballads (actually, they all released their albums in that year, so no one can really take the credit for making that first move). Almost all of the songs on that album I liked (usually that only happens when the sun, the moon and the north star are aligned). The country radio stations, however, complained they couldn’t play any song of the album.
Now comes a new release, and it seems she’s succumbed to the Nashville pressure as the whole album is crammed (she usually has 14 songs on a CD) with that generic hardcore country stuff combined with those boring slow ones. Quite disappointingly, the lyrics aren’t that high quality either (“Is everything A okay in the USA, in the good old USA ?” “You see rock hard bodies and bikini hotties, and everybody’s got it going on” “Hey everybody, can’t you feel the rhythm now ? Hey everybody, don’t you want to party?”), no matter how seductive her voice is. Searching out the nice ones isn’t an easy job, and is a clear indication of what the grade will be.5.

John Singleton’s new movie Four Brothers ruled the box office this week with $20.7 million. Starring Tyrese, Mark Wahlberg and Andre 3000 might have helped the outcome quite a bit.
Second was The Skeleton Key, Kate Hudson’s comeback after giving birth to her son, earning $15.8 million. Third was last week’s topper, The Dukes of Hazzard, with a steep drop to $13 million. Still strong and going are the Wedding Crashers, $12 million in its fourth week of release.
Vulgarity had to take a lower spot, Rob Schneider’s Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo rounds off the top five with $9.4 million.

A typical low-budget thriller with supernatural elements mixed in. The result is actually something done before (traveling back and forth in time), and anyone into this stuff can actually predict the outcome. Directed with a really claustrophobic feel to it, it also employs flashy psychedelic visuals with flashback imagery to add to the confusion. Story-wise, it’s not too complicated, but the acting is quite good (Adrian Brody (his first real role after The Pianist) and Keira Knightley). Without something really special to offer, it’s just a nice movie, not a WOW movie that hits with a bang (like Memento did).7+.

Climbing out of the pool of awards won for the 2 seasons (and one special) of The Office (both in the States and back home in Britain), Ricky Gervais and Stephan Merchant cook up a new comedy. Airing free on the BBC2 (the States will get it later this year, on the payed cable channel HBO), only 6 episode are produced again. Luckily, they all are quite funny. The premise (Ricky plays an extra, with every episode featuring another gig) is a rich environment, and the line up of guest stars is fabulous. Luckily, stories are not dependent on the guest spots (for instance, Ben Stiller, Kate Winslet, Samuel L. Jackson and Patrick Stewart, all of them willing to play either an outrageous role, or an exaggerated charicature of themselves), and there’s still time to delve into the lives of the two principle characters (Ricky Gervais as Andy Millman and Ashley Jensen as Maggie Jacobs). It’s a shame 4 episodes have already aired, and the only thing to do is hope for more seasons to come.

Still no real summer in sight, but the second batch of the Magnum 5 Senses series is already upon us (still €2.99 for a pack). Still containing 3 flavors, it means a comeback for Taste, the least special one from the first series (light caramel flavored).
New is Vision, strawberry flavored icecream with a bit of strawberry flavored sauce, covered in white chocolate. Melts away nicely, and flavor combines well. Then there’s Sound, the most special one of this batch. Dark chocolate covering coconut flavored icecream, with a bit of chocolate sauce. Sugary chunks are embedded in the coating, making up for a nice crunchy contrast. As I gave a grade for the whole box last time, I’ll do the same here.8.

Terrific pop-corn movie. Not so complicated story, and well executed. Balancing light-hearted humor with nice action sequences at a perfectly evolving pace.8-.

I’m about to shave off my mustache and goatee again, and with it THE White Hair of Wisdom. So, it’s time again for some words of wisdom:

Icecream can be eaten from a cup, a bowl, or a small plate. The wise choice is, of course, the small plate. Why ? That’s the only one you can lick clean after you’re done eating with your spoon.

Yupz, that time again. And this time it’s Laura Harris. She’s blonde, she’s my age, and unluckily, not yet a rising star. Having an extensive guest stint on 24 2 years ago, she might have a few shots this year on The Dead Zone, as this screenshot shows. And while you look at the picture, I’ll be hoping for more TV appearances and hopefully more feature films (again, unluckily, she’s film another direct to video for next year).

A solid soft-drama with good portions of work, family life and romance mixed in. It actually results in a lot of short stories, and the overall feeling isn’t too wonderful. The acting is good though, and any movie starring Scarlett Johansson warrants my attention, so even without the solid writing, it’s still enjoyable.7+.

Rate 1 (sucks) to 5 (cool). Only rate the latest pictures, otherwise I can’t keep track of the average.

Total: 758 out of 235 votes > Average is: 3.226

The remake winning streak at the box office is still not over, this time Jessica Simpson’s shorts are enticing enough to get $30.6 million worth of ticket sales for Johnny Knoxville/Seann William Scott starrer The Dukes of Hazzard.
Crashing less weddings than last week is The Wedding Crashers, with a runner-up spot with $16.5 million. Also selling less sweets is Johnny Depp starrer Charlie and the Chocolate Factory with $10.6 million.
At four, Sky High drops one place, with $9.1 million. Comedy Must Love Dogs rounds off the top five with $7.4 million.

Another fortunate event where waiting pays off (my motto has always been, just wait for the movie, it’ll save ya a lot of reading hours, which are better spent with CS online). Just like the book, this movie will ring a bell for sci-fi fans and nerds along, and will be weird for everyone else. As a movie, it’s a pretty well-rounded short story, filled with weightless silly jokes. Hence, even normal people in a giddy mood might enjoy it. As I’m a bit of both, it was light entertainment. While some people mark this book as a must read (If you use Google as a ranking system, using quotes and add must read as your query, The Bible ends up at 1 with 3.460.000 hits, second is this book with 625.000 hits, and third is The Da Vinci Code with 242.000 hits), but this movie certainly is not. Hence a solid average grade.7.

Better forget the Sensations title and stuff it away under the heading Disappointments. Such a long title, but so little taste to savor. The thick crackling slices eat away like dried tough crackers, with a salty after taste. The normal Cheese-Onion had a distinct flavor, this one though, is pretty straightforward salty. Nothing more. Back to Pringles it is.5-.

Well, pictures are up on this page.
But first there’s a small video (3 MB) I took on a brigde close to the hotel here.
And with Google Earth’s help, you can see how nicely accurate it is (look closely at where the movie starts, and you see the distinct building features. Neat eh ?

Ich war ein Berliner, for 5 days, at least. Or 3 full days, and 2 halve ones, to be exact.
Weather wasn’t as bad as CNN forecasted. It was actually a pretty hot and sunny weekend, with only a shower on Friday.
So, the lesson learned ? The usual bradwurst and sauerkraut joke is very much outdated. Currently, the majority of the sausage sold is the currywurst, basically a bradwurst, which is actually just a lot of dough, and barely has any meat in it (I even dare to pass these around at any vegetarian party), and some curry sauce on top of it. The sauerkraut is totally gone. So, if you hear someone joking around with these factually challenged attempts at fun, for the sake of world peace, correct it.
And back to Counter-Strike, which means, pictures will be here, but later. Much later.