Queue Tips: Crazy Heart

Apparently, "Crazy Heart" is not the sequel to "Crazy Rich Asians".  Actually, I have never seen "Crazy Rich Asians", although I am Asian.  And yes, I am crazy.  But no, I'm not rich.  I think if I watched it, I would just be thinking the whole time, "I am not a crazy rich Asian.  They are crazy rich Asians, but I'm not."

Anyways, I might have a crazy heart myself, I guess.  But what does that mean?  I know I haven't exercised in a while, so yeah my heart is probably a little crazy these days.  

I first watched this movie many years ago when it first came out on DVD.  It begins with Jeff Bridges' character in a bowling alley.  It reminded me of "The Big Lebowski", the bowling movie.  I guess I kinda couldn't get over that so I couldn't really get into the movie at the time.

I watched it again today and actually enjoyed it.  At first, I really enjoyed the rapport between Jeff Bridges and Maggie Gyllenhaal's characters.  I liked their exchanges and liked how their relationship developed.  I wasn't too crazy about it though when it turned romantic.  He was just so much older than her.  I also hoped to watch something that didn't have to be about sex.  I kinda wanted them to be more of a platonic parent and child relationship.  Maybe they should have made her character a little older and closer to his age.  But at the same time I can see how she could actually fall for him despite the age difference.

Her character had a child, and his character grew fond of him.  You can kind of see it coming that something would get messed up at some point.  And it did, and that was the last he saw of him.  It's sad, but it happened and she did what was best for her child.

I really enjoyed the music.  I should buy the soundtrack.  Okay, maybe I will do it.  Early Christmas present for me.  You should do it, too.  Early Christmas present for you.  Unless you're reading this at a later time than when I am writing it.

I think I will reason to the soundtrack while I write the sequel, "Crazy Heart 2: My Crazy Heart Will Go On".  It's gonna have a big giant ship.  And it can't slow down or your heart will explode.  When you see it, you will say, "That's crazy!  How is that even possible?!"  And then when it becomes a huge hit, I will finally be a crazy rich Asian.

Queue Tips: Commando

Apparently, "Commando" isn't just about a guy walking around with no underwear.  It's some kind of action movie with Arnold Schwarzenneger.  

It starts off with him living in a cabin in the woods somewhere very remote.  I wonder whether he used to be some kind of a drug lord cooking up meth and had to get a new identity to get away from the bad guys or something.  But actually, no, he's not alone.  He is living with his daughter, Alyssa Milano.

There is then this montage of him and his child spending time together.  He even trains her to fight.  He teaches her to arm wrestle and find extra strength by turning his cap backwards.  Oh wait, that's a Sylvester Stallone movie.

In this movie, he has a daughter.  She was then kidnapped by the bad guy.  Or in other words, taken.  He then uses his set of skills to look for him, find him, and kill him.  (Spoiler alert!)

What is a commando anyway?  Is that Spanish for command?  Or is that how the British pronounce commander?  

When I was growing up, commando meant not wearing underwear.  And I did that a lot.  Me and my cousins never wore underwear until we were around ten years old.  One time I was talking to this young man, either an older relative or someone who worked for the family, and I think I said something like I need to wear underwear.  And he was like, "Why do you need that?  You're only a child."  Or something like that.  But the point is that like, that was just not expected for kids to wear, like it was a waste of money spending on that.  But yeah, I did wear briefs eventually at around nine or ten years old.  I'm not sure about my cousins though.  The boys cousins, that is.  I'm pretty sure the girls did wear them even at a younger age.

But back to the movie.  In the beginning, the bad guys just spray bullets towards Arnold and Alyssa and their bodyguards, basically not caring who and what they hit.  Somehow, they run though his rain of bullets and survive unscathed.  The two bodyguard soldiers die though.  They then kidnap Alyssa.  Not sure if that was planned, but again, they could have killed her moments ago, so what then?  And then a little later, they capture Arnold and hold him at gunpoint.  But they don't kill him.  Again, they basically didn't care if he lived or died moments ago, but now they keep him alive.  So then stuff happens and he ends up killing them.

Speaking of being a kid, I watched this a few times as a kid with my cousins.  I'm sure we liked it, but I didn't remember much about it.  When I moved to America, it was aired on Channel 9 at some point in the early nineties.  I watched a bit of it, but then channel surfed and I think forgot to put it back on.

It looks like they never made a sequel to this.  I wonder why not.  It seemed to have been a hit.  Alyssa became a big star later on in the nineties.  I wonder if they ever thought of reuniting the two together.  I wonder what the plot would be.  Maybe Arnold's character Matrix, has just been killing people in a simulation all along, and then he works as a housekeeper to provide a better life for his daughter and falls in love with his boss lady employer.

Queue TIps: How Did Bob Saget Become Your Father

I was watching "How I Met Your Mother" a while ago, and I just remembered that Bob Saget was the voice of the dad when he was older.  I remember not noticing that back when the show was still on the air.  And I was usually pretty good at recognizing voices.  I thought that was pretty cool.  He hadn't really been in a lot of stuff that I had seen other than "Full House".  There was that pretty good cameo in "Half Baked" I think.

I was wondering why I used to actually kind of like this show.  I think the main draw was really Neil Patrick Harris.  This was around the time he kind of revived his career, after he appeared on "Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle".  I thought there were some pretty funny jokes.  I used to actually watch it every week.

Looking back at it now, though, it's kind of awkward that a dad is telling his teenage kids all about his sex life, as well as his friends' sex life.  And why was he talking through the TV and not in person?  And why at that age haven't they heard about how their parents met yet?  And why did the father go through so many random different stories first?

I don't know why I used to root for the main character either.  I think his name is Ted.  But it's hard to believe now that I used to think he had a point about making a big deal out of forcing things to be romantic.  I think he stole a trumpet or something because it was supposed to mean something.  Now I just find that stupid.  

And all the dumb reasons why he and Robin wouldn't get together even though they liked each other.  Like, just tell her you like her and if she doesn't like you back, move on.  I mean, I know it's a sitcom and so they create situations for comedic effect, but I now just find it all to be inane.

I already don't remember how the series ends.  I hope that's a good thing.  I remember watching it and like most everybody else, feeling incredibly disappointed.  Or, I should say disappoint-Ted.  Get it?

Also, if you search for this online, make sure you type it correctly and that you don't put "How I Wet Your Mother" instead.  That's a whole different thing entirely.

Queue Tips: Eden is Cheese

When I was growing up in the Philippines, Eden was cheese.  Not sure why they named it that.  I remember picking at it sometimes.  You weren't supposed to eat it without bread.  And you kind of saved it for special occasions.  It probably was not cheap.  Do they still make it?

In any case, I saw "East of Eden" recently.  It stars James Dean.  I don't think I've seen much of his films.  A lot of his acting in here involves hugging trees and playing with their leaves and groping walls for some reason.  And then he runs with his arms flailing about.  And being overly dramatic like a hormonal teenager even though he looked middle aged at this point.

This film was made in 1955, and I guess that's just how those movies were.  But I just couldn't get into the melodrama.  I prefer a little more subtlety, but I guess that's just how acting was back then.  At the same time, I also can't stand some of the acting nowadays.  

Apparently, east of Eden is where Cain went to live after he killed his brother Abel in the Bible.  This movie does have two brothers having a rivalry, but one doesn't kill the other.  Unless I missed it somehow.    Instead it involves a girl.  One has a girlfriend and the other I guess likes her, too.  I have two brothers, and I can't picture myself liking any of their girlfriends.

And then apparently they don't know who their mother is or something.  But then James Dean finds out who she is.  And he follows her around and for some reason instead of talking to her, he throws stones at her house.  And then later on when they actually finally meet, it's like they just basically acknowledge each other as mother and son.  Like after making a big whole deal about it, suddenly it's just like nothing.  Like taken for granted.

Kinda reminds me of stuff I went through as a kid.  There was a lot of drama with my mom and dad, and they eventually divorced around the time I was in college.  And drama with the in-laws.  My mom used to trade letters with my aunt.  That was probably actually the main reason why she kept picking up my grandma from her house.  So that she could drop off her letter when she got there.  And then when she dropped off my grandma back there, she would come back with a letter from my aunt in response.  At one time I got a glimpse of it but either didn't get a chance to fully read it or just didn't want to.  My mom kept it somewhere else after, and I never found it again.  Or never looked for it.

Anyways, many years later, with me already an adult, everybody kinds of makes up with each other.  And everything is nice nice.  Meanwhile, I was in the middle of all this as a child, and even now no one has acknowledged that.  And I never got close with my aunt or my uncle or my cousin after, and with me spending all those lonely days and nights in a tiny apartment and all those boring summers with nowhere to go and nothing do.  I mean, it would have been nice to be around some family.  But let's just forget all that now that we are all cool with each other again.

Queue Tips: The Lonely Dead

When I was working at the baseball network a few years ago, there was this play where someone from right field made a throw or something and they got somebody out at the plate.  So the producers wrote in their copy something like, "They got him dead to rights!"  And they had this lady hosting the highlights show, and she just would not say the line.  Instead she would say something like, "Dead at home plate" or something like that.  And the producers kept asking her to do the line again and again, every time she wouldn't say it.  I feel like she just did not get the expression.  They were frustrated with her, but they just let it go.  She never did say it correctly.  We all just wanted to go home in the end.  I keep thinking of that when I hear the word "dead".

A few years ago, I started watching "Dead To Me".  I don't remember why I checked it out.  I don't think I even knew Christina Applegate was in it.  I think it was a pleasant surprise when I saw her.  And then that girl from "Freaks and Geeks", too, who was also in some episodes of "Mad Men".

It was very interesting at first.  I really liked the premise.  It was about a widow dealing with the death of her husband, and she kind of had this attitude about grieving, like it was beyond her.  And then she meets this woman who befriends her.  She has lost somebody also, and they bond and overcome their loneliness together.  And then it turns out the protagonist had two kids.  As a father, it was interesting to me to see what kind of a hole his death would have left on that family.  The show started out great.

And then it kind of went downhill from there.  Spoiler alert.  There turned out to be a good twist right away, as the woman friend turned out to be the killer of the husband.  So then you're kinda hooked into wondering how they could possibly survive the friendship once the truth comes out.  And then the truth comes out and it just kind of becomes ridiculous at that point.  That's sort of what I don't like about watching a series, because then you are now invested and want to know how it turns out.

So how they resolved it is they then made the main character kill the friend's husband also.  So now they're even.  And it just kinda gets sillier from there.  They end up befriending the detectives working on the case, and they end up getting away with it because of that.  And it turns out the friend's husband had a twin brother.  Dun dun dun!  And the friend also helps to bury her husband.  It just turned out to be a soap opera at that point.

Somewhere along the line, they just forgot about the original dead guy.  Who he was to their kids and to the main character was just ignored.  The focus on the grieving disappeared, and it was just about how the living moved on with their lives and got away with their crimes.  Of course, they made you feel bad about the dead so that you kind of root for these women.  The performances were great though.  Christina and the "Freaks and Geeks" girl were amazing.  And Christina's mom from "Married... With Children" also appeared in some episodes, and she was good, too.  That was the redeeming factor.  But the writing overall was not so good.

Queue Tips: The Accidental Tourist

I watched "The Accidental Tourist" recently.  It's pretty sad.  It's about a man coping with the loss of his child.  I turned the movie on just after my wife and kids left for school and work, so I am sitting at home alone, just minutes after parting with them for the day.  I just can't fathom how it would be if I were to never see my family again.

I was still kinda sleepy so I lay down and closed my eyes.  I dozed off for a bit here and there.  If I didn't do that, I don't know how I could have handled this film.

There was a part in the movie where the man dreamed his child had called him, asking why he didn't pick him up.  It was very touching and sad.  I just really hope I would never be in a situation like that.  I hope my kids and my wife will be happy, healthy and safe for a long time.

At first, I thought it would be an interesting, quirky adventure type film.  It starts off giving advice on how to travel for business.  There's a scene in the beginning where the man sits on a plane next to a reader of his articles.  It made me think for a while that this would be like a "Trains, Planes and Automobiles" type flick.  But it wasn't.

I'm struggling right now to even write about it.  It's tough for me saying goodbye to my kids every day.  My younger one gives me a hug every morning when I drop him off at the bus stop.  And then he's off and ready to start his day.  Sometimes he waves at me from the bus, and sometimes he's preoccupied with talking to his friends or something.  

My older one hugs me everyday, too.  But that is more of a quick hug.  I try to kiss him on the cheek, but he's got a lot of hair.  His mom drives him to the light rail, and he commutes to school.  My wife and I used to take turns dropping him off all the way to school, but he has a friend who commutes also and he likes going on the light rail with him.  Sometimes they hang out at the mall for a bit before going home.  We have not had to drive him since the second half of the school year last year.  While I appreciate the time I have to stay home, I do miss being with him, even though he just slept the whole way until we got there.  If I got there early, I would just sit in the car quietly listening to the music and watching the people pass by, sometimes hearing him breathe in his sleep.  I don't even remember anymore what time I would wake him.  7:30 maybe?  But I would gently tap him on his knee and then he would stir and look around.  I would give him a hug and then he would get out, open the rear door and grab his backpack from the backseat.  

When my older one was still a toddler, his mom used to drop him off to day care, which was near her work.  When I would buckle him up in his car seat in the mornings, I would tell him, "Listen and learn, share and care, take turns."  Not sure how I came up with that.  It kinda rhymes, I guess.  And I still say it to him now that he's a sophomore in high school.  And I have been saying the same thing to my fourth grader.

It's interesting that the character's wife left him as their relationship had changed since their loss.  Definitely once you've had kids, things are not the same as before.  Our days are all about our kids' activities.  Our days are very much very full now.  We would of course be very lost without them.

The other interesting character in the story is the new love interest.  She was played by Geena Davis, and I don't know how realistic her character is, why she would put up with someone who seemed so hard to reach.  The film had somewhat of a happy ending, but I guess that's not how it always works in real life.

The Lantern Files Part 4

So on my walk, I follow a pathway by the river.  I start on the northern end going south.  There are gates on both ends.  It is about a mile and a half from end to end.  The walkway is beside three communities, and each has a pool area.  The third pool area is where most of the lanternflies hang out.  There is actually some space there as the path is turning from south to southwest direction.  When I get to the other end, I turn around and head back.  So there's kind of two phases to my walk, the forward and backward.

At this point, I had decided that it was ridiculous walking around with one shoe on and one off for smashing.  So before I left the house, I looked around for what I could use.  We did have extra slippers around.  We even had unmatched and mismatched ones that would have been perfect for smashing.  But I decided I didn't want to walk around holding a slipper either.  So the only thing I could find was a pair of new wooden chopsticks, the kind that Chinese restaurants give away for free.  They were still stuck together and wrapped in thin paper.  I grabbed one of them and put them in my pocket.  They turned out to be a pretty good tool and I killed a whole bunch using them.

There are gates by the community side of the fence, where residents come in and out of the walkway.  So on my way forward, after I passed the pool heading towards the southern gate, this older gentleman comes into the walkway through one of those gates, walking his dog.  I'm sure he must have noticed my indirect path, as I would try to spot and smash the little buggers.  But again, I don't know if people notice what exactly I was specifically doing.  He walked past me going towards where I came from as I continued on.

I got to the end as usual and checked my phone for emails, texts or slack.  I can't remember if there was anything pressing I had to attend to.  I put my phone away and headed back.  

Near the gate, where he came in, I saw the older gentleman again.  He must have been in his sixties.  He was Asian.  I assumed he was Filipino, but I wasn't sure and didn't ask.  He was wearing slippers.  As I got near him, he just uttered out, "A lot of them are in the trees."  And then I realized he must have known what I was doing.

He said that he kills them, too, and that he uses his slipper.  I showed him the chopsticks in my hand, and I said, "I just use these; they are pretty good."  He nodded his head in acknowledgement.  We chatted for a few minutes.  He said he used to live in Newport and that the lanternflies killed a bunch of plants in that area.  He said they are getting faster, and I agreed with him.  I told him it's those fast ones that will end up reproducing and they will just continue to get faster.

It was a nice exchange.  It wouldn't have happened if not for those lanternflies.  Typically, I would have been walking fast, working up a sweat and heading back right away to get to work.