adamsRibs

Bracket update

Here’s the bracket update…

I know everyone loved The Hangover…

The Hangover sucked.  It was totally predictable on every level, and even the good jokes weren’t well-written.

That being said, it faced an admirable foe in An Education — a very smart and well-made film.

An Education moves forward to face The Hurt Locker.

New Moon loses in the first round

I’ve never read the Twilight books, and based on their second going at a movie… I never will.

New Moon should look to Gigli for guidance.

Goodbye Solo moves forward to face Fantastic Mr. Fox.

Up vs. The Cove

Up is the newest Pixar creation… but it’s not their best.  However, it’s still better than dolphin propaganda.

I will save all of the monumental problems I have with The Cove for another dolphin loving moment… but for now, just know that The Cove will face Avatar in the loser’s bracket.

Up will face Up in the Air.

Fantastic Mr. Fox advances

Does it need to actually be said… Fantastic Mr. Fox is a better movie than Tranformers 2.

Up in the Air upsets Avatar

Our first matchup saw the #1 grossing seed, Avatar, face the lowest Metacritic seed, Up in the Air.

Up in the Air controlled the tempo the entire time.  Both movies had fine direction, but with Avatar being written by an eight year old James Cameron, it really stood no chance.

Ultimately, $300 million graphics couldn’t save the drowning thing that is… Avatar.

A train wreck I can’t stop looking at…

I often complain about the quality of music in my adopted home of Korea.  It tends to be a distant cousin of Hilary Duff-style pop.  However (and perhaps I’ve been here too long), I’m embarrassed to admit that I kind of like Girls Generation’s new song, “Oh!”.

[I have always been brutal to Girls Generation... even when my ex kind of liked them I would start yelling.]

BUT!  The main thing you should do right now is sit down and watch the video.  It’s kind of impossible to describe, and/but it’s so bad I can’t stop watching it.

When I play it on YouTube while the class is working on an assignment I slyly stand behind the computer so I can sneak glimpses of it.

The iMac (circa 1999)… the Western hairstyles… the 438 hands-to-the-face gestures… the whole American football theme… it’s all just so overwhelming.

Just watch it…

Oscar Playoffs and poll

Every year I get pumped for the Oscars.  And every year I get really depressed once they happen.  This is mostly due to the fact that Oscars are oftentimes given willy-nilly to things such as Titanic and A Beautiful Mind while ignoring true masterpieces like L.A. Confidential and Gosford Park.  (Although I must say that the 00’s were particularly kind to really great films like Lord of the Rings, The Departed, Million Dollar Baby, and No Country for Old Men.)

So, I’m creating my own Oscar Playoff system (since even President Obama seems to think that non-playoff championships are unfair).

To be fair, I’m not choosing the films myself.  I’m pulling 16 films — the eight highest scoring movies on Metacritic.com along with the eight highest grossing movies of 2009.  I thought it would be best to not just choose critical favorites since there must be some merit to millions of people seeing a movie (right?).

Now, I will watch them all and give my own scores based on direction, writing, acting, cinematography/overall filming, and editing.  Also, the categories will be weighted differently based on (what I think of) their importance.

Scoring:

• Direction — 3x
• Writing — 3x
• Acting — 2x
• Cinematography — 1x
• Editing — 1x

They will face off in a double-elimination tournament that will surely be more fair than leaving the voting up to a bunch of idiots who have seemingly the best (or worst?) track record in the picking the wrong movies.  Why double-elimination?  Because I hate winner-take-all tournaments where second place could conceivably include both Transformers and The Hurt Locker.

Here’s the movies…

Eight highest grossing movies of 2009:

1. Avatar
2. Transformers
3. Harry Potter and Half Blood Prince
4. New Moon
5. Up
6. The Hangover
7. Star Trek
8. The Blind Side

Highest scoring films on Metacritic.com:

1. The Hurt Locker — 94
2. Passing Strange — 85
3. An Education — 85
4. The Cove –84
5. Fantastic Mr. Fox — 83
6. In the Loop — 83
7. Crazy Heart — 83
8. Up in the Air — 83

And here’s the Round 1 bracket:

1. Avatar vs. Up in the Air (winner plays #2 winner)
2. Up vs. In the Loop (winner plays #1 winner
3. Harry Potter vs. The Cove (winner plays #4 winner)
4. Star Trek vs. Passing Strange (winner plays #3 winner)
5. Transformers vs. Crazy Heart (winner plays #6 winner)
6. New Moon vs. An Education (winner plays #5 winner)
7. The Hangover vs. Fantastic Mr. Fox (winner plays #8 winner)
8. The Blind Side vs. The Hurt Locker (winner plays #7 winner)

And the Week 1 survey…

제우스 — Zeus

This is one of my younger classes — 제우스 (translated Jeuseu, which means “Zeus”).  Last Friday we played a few games and and I brought in some dduk filled with bean paste (dduk is a kind of dumpling made with rice flour).  They really liked it and were quite cute about it.

What confused me the most was that they didn’t use their hands to eat the dduk.  I have no idea why… but then again, I don’t have an idea about most things that happen around me these days.

Underwear

When I moved to Korea, one thing that stood out for me was the fact that there were a very large number of lingerie/underwear stores.

There are more small businesses everywhere given that they don’t purchase everything at Wal-Mart and Target… but there are A LOT of lingerie shops ranging from the simple to the bedazzling.

As a Fruit of the Loom kind of guy, I’ve never understood spending disposable income on underwear… but well, here you go.