A CHUD Christmas: 2010 - Page 3

I got INCEPTION on Blu for the girlfriend. I have not seen it.

It's good. You'd like it.

My future brother-in-law has a screener of that. I might violate nerd ethics and watch it, but he's also got THE SOCIAL NETWORK and I kinda want to see that again.

My christmas is traditionally nice and relaxed because I'm a single dad with two kids. The family generally comes over our house AND I don't have to worry about being only semi-comfortable at best at an in-laws house.

Many days, but especially Christmas, I'm happy to be able to look at my kids and say, "Boys, we can do whatever the heck we want today."

I was definitely hoping for an INCEPTION DVD, but I didn't get one. I was a little disappointed, but then my mom pulled my new flatscreen HDTV out of the closet & I stopped giving a fuck really fast. Finally on the cutting edge, y'all!

Merry X-Mas everybody, hope you had a great one!

I know I did! Blu-ray, into the bargain. Very pleased.

Movie-related gifts this year:

DVD:
Violent City
How To Kill A Judge
The Fifth Cord

Blu:
The Bird With the Crystal Plumage
Dirty Harry collection
The Exorcist
Never Say Never Again
The Fly
Predator
Shaun of the Dead
The Mist
Zodiac
Black Dynamite

Books:
The Art of Hammer
Hammer Glamour
Deep Focus' Death Wish by Christopher Sorrentino

I woke up to about half a foot of snow outside today. We all went out sledding. Love this time of year.

Here's the haul over here:

Nook Color
Panasonic wet/dry shaver
Madden '11
Check from granparents that went towards a new Xbox 360
Collected gift cards to get a new office chair for my computer desk
Nice dress shirt
Cracker Barrel gift card
Various pre-wrapped meats and cheeses

I'm jealous. If there is one thing besides family that I miss it's snow.

You monster!!! My UK shipment is taking forever!!! What's your limited pressing spine number?

Mawesome!

Yeah, I have no idea where the LE number is either. I just saw a lot of people on the blu-ray.com forums talking about which one out of 10,000 they got.

Oh, so the director's cut is supposed to be bad?
I watched the film for the first time a week ago, it was the DC and i had MANY problems with it.

Should i revisit the theatrical soon ?

Rene, you have on cool dad. May i suggest that you watch THE EXPENDABLES and UNDISPUTED 3 with him Tonight!

Went snowboarding in Somerset, in the west of England today. Never thought i would do that! Merry christmas everyone.

Yes, that's the one. Hated every single one of the flashbacks and thought it made it a slog to watch.
Loved the premise and everything else. But couldn't place the disconnect between what i was watching and the general praise the film gets.

Will have to track down the Theatrical cut then,

It snowed on Xmas eve here and it ended up being one of the snowiest Xmases in a long time

PS I love my snuggie but it is cult member crimson and sheds snuggie fuzz everywhere. I keep looking at my skin only to recoil in horror when I see it is covered in red spots and patches... Which I then realize is just a bunch of red lint

Ugh... the Requiem codas. 1, 2, and 3? Ugh. What I hated most about this supposed director's cut is the way it completely steals the moment away from the original cut's final moment.

"RUN!" With Masamichi Amano's fantastic score reaching its peak right then and there, the original cut ends on that note of defiance leading straight to the credits with the Dragon Ash song.

Now, the music just keeps on going into the silly basketball metaphor as it reuses portions of the score that have already come and gone. Slow-mo waving. Ugh.

I actually do like the scene between Kitano and Noriko though it takes the mystery of the silent version of that scene away.

The other change I hated was the additional shot of Shuya going fetal on the lighthouse after he screams that he doesn't understand what any of it means. The original cut to the death count as shoot as he shouted it.

In general, I loved the "lean and meanness" of the original version. The DC kinda took itself more seriously and ended up feeling sillier (in a bad way).

The only other major addition is Mitsuko's childhood. That more CG blood.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

By all means, come take some away. It's been coming down since 3 a.m. and shows no sign of stopping.

The full haul:

Acer Aspire netbook.
Spiderman 3 on Blue Ray
Segalology
Simon Pegg's Autobiography
A limited editon print of the Enterprise D
VW key chain (I own a VW golf car)
Ghostbusters Car Tax holder
Buzz lightyear
Ghostbusters Key Holders
Ghostbusters Vinyl sticker thing
Star Wars the Force Unleashed 2
Sh*t my dad says.

No Inception yet but my birthday is coming up soon

And the lights will get turned down way low if our power goes out So far, so good, though.

Im going to look into it. I think etsy takes their more than fair share of the cut right. I told her that there have people who have dug it and am trying to convince her. She's a type that takes opinion as harsh criticism and doesn't believe her stuff is that good. This design she's had in her head for years. It took me a while to convince her to get her adobe programs and whatnot back up and running to make it for me for Christmas.

Thats really cool that you would have put it in the gift guide though. What size would you want it? I had her make it smaller for me, 18x24 I think, because i didn't have much wall room, but it would look great full size.

Like i said if i can find enough call to make a lot of them at a good price to then sell them, I'm sure I can convince her and hopefully get her to get over her insecurities and start making more with different movies. I'll have to see about getting it featured on the right places.

I agree with Cellphane. I would love to see what other works she does.

Another shout for the Inception roll call here, looks rather lovely on Blu.

Also received a Season 1-3 Mad Men boxset, can't wait to get stuck into that, never seen an episode.
The Trip on DVD, which I've already watched when I couldn't sleep last night. I was aching with laughter.
Also got Four Lions, Shutter Island and Kick Ass
Simon Pegg's autobiography.

Oh, and Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood. On PS3. Except I don't own a PS3 and never have. And my mum can't find the receipt. Thanks mum.

Well, 4 inches of snow turned into almost 10 inches overnight last night and more still coming down now.

Looks even better framed on my wall:

Wow. That's awesome!

Did not get Inception. Did get The BBS Story and Witchfinder General.

I don't wanna come off like a dick..but man you need a better frame! Give that work of art some respect!

Hey man, it's a $15 frame from Michaels that I got for $7.50, and its the same type of frame I have on all the movie posters in my apartment. They're cheap but they get the job done. You slide the plastic brackets into place, and sometimes they don't fit right. When I have money falling out of a packed pocket I'll be sure to give a fancy ass frame, but this was the best I could do now as a lowly screenwriter.

OK, so I don't know if this is the proper place for this or what. And this will be longwinded and shit. Fuck you, I'm allowed to pull the occasional Princess Kate.

So, oddly enough, I had a Bizarro World Christmas season this year. All my presents, all the family visits, all the random love, all the shit i bought for myself happened throughout the month, but NOTHING happened for me Christmas Day.

Meanwhile, on the more personal side, while I'm doing a decent job of maintaining, i still have niggling bills from when my wife and I lived together that are still giving me grief. One of which is the phone bill, which, for me, should be only $40, but, long drama story short, I'm paying her side of this shit too, she has a Blackberry with a full data plan, our bill's about $180 a month. Lame.

So, I had sorta fallen behind on this bill, the payment plan I had set up, i missed my last payment by a day, and Verizon decided to suspend the account this morning. I get one of those annoying phone calls while at work trying to shake down the past due amount. As it is, I gotta get my landlord sorted out for rent this week and next. Can handle it, but having to pay $250 would put me deep in the hole. Still, I sucked it up, set up the post dated check over the phone, and start stressing about where food's coming from this week. I'm taking this phone call in the breakroom, and while they're processing it, this tiny little old lady who works on the other side of my building walks over and slips me a note: "Not to intrude, but if you need it, I'll give you the $250." After Im done on the phone, we start talking. I'm from Jersey, random money from white folks sets off my spider-sense.

Turns out, she's 100% SERIOUS. She's an older lady, bunch of kids in college, couple of grand kids, in way better financial state than me. "I've got it, you need it. Come back to my desk."

She writes me a check, and just makes me promise "Eventually, God will present a way for you to pay this forward. Just take the opportunity when it comes."

I gave her a hug. At the bare minimum, I still owe her a baked good of some kind. Mostly, I'm just kinda shell shocked at someone being that blindly generous.

It's a minor one, but for me, that's the closest thing to a Christmas miracle I've ever experienced.

Wow. I actually teared up at that. Thanks for sharing, Justin. Sometimes its nice to know there is good in the world.

Yeah, that's a nice, heart warming story. White folks can be alright sometimes!

That is an awesome story man, glad you shared it.

It was a bit of a strange Xmas for me as well. I spent the last three days at my In-laws farm/horse santury, so I have basically been working my ass off for the I'm back home now but today is the first day I have sat down, cracked open a beer and relaxed.

And boy does it feel good.

Oh Justin, that's wonderful! That lady's a hero!

Just given ya hard time ;-)

Congrats on your encounter with the good samaritan. Glad things worked out OK for you in the end

For a quick Bay State update:

My dad has been snowed in and now it falls to me to brave the storm and venture out on foot to seek out food. Wish me luck

PS The snuggie is very useful. I am convinced most blankets should try to incorporate sleeves going forward

Sorry I'm late to the party on this but I hope everyone had as Merry of a Christmas as I did. This was a weird year for me, it was probably the first time I didn't ask for or get anything on the movie nerd front because all I wanted was new clothes since I've lost 120lbs in the last year and really need to rebuild my entire wardrobe pretty much.

I got:
A Pea Coat
A really nice dress shirt
A Phillies Shirt
Some awesome fingerless gloves that double as a pair of mittens. The best part is that they use a magnet to hold the mitten onto glove instead of buttons.
Slippers
Some long sleeve T's and a hoodie
Lucky Brand Jeans
A money clip that's also like a multi-tool so it has like a little knife and scissors and stuff in it.
Cookware
Cooking for Dummies - I really want to get into cooking next year so that I can keep up the healthier eating habits I've picked up without having to rely so heavily on Lean Cuisine's and shit.

I know it's a lot. I was pretty overwhelmed but my Mom just kind of couldn't resist because it was kind of my reward for working so hard all year.

I am not sure how good cooking for dummies is but if you really want some great information on the hows and whys of cooking you should get yourself "On Food and Cooking" by Harold McGee. Every chef who is worth their shit has a copy. It is indispensable.

I got:

to work sold-out shows of The King's Speech eight nights in a row (hooray for double-time).

a lot of vacation days coming up once everybody stops mobbing us to see The King's Speech

Brunch with the folks at Saul's Deli. Corned-beef hash to die for.

A new (to me) favorite holiday song

And an old favorite.

Currently waiting on a couple of exchange gifts to arrive, but I wouldn't have had time to enjoy them anyway. Seriously, everybody and their dog is coming to King's Speech.

It's actually a really helpful book for someone who's a novice like myself. It spends the first two chapters helping you lay out your kitchen for convenience and a guide to what kind of things you should always have in the house and stuff. It also has specific recipes for if you are short on time or working on a tight budget or specifically trying to eat healthy. So beyond recipes it's a helpful little lifestyle guide. Thanks for the advice I'll have to check "On Food and Cooking" out once I've really gotten into it. Which I really hope I do.

I couldn't think where to post this (the OFFICIAL THREAD OF GOOD NEWS seems to have a larger cultural focus), but I figured it would fall under general X Mas good news so I am posting here:

At 12 30 PM I got a call from my mom saying she was in the emergency room with my Dad and that they think he had kidney stones, and that she would call me with more info. Finally after waiting all day I called her at 5 and learned that after a battery of tests, they've all come back clear. No stones, tumors, ETC. They think it's some kind of pulled muscle from snow shoveling. Kind of a giant relief for me. Praise be to Aesculapius for this Holiday Season good news