I’ve been too tired and lazy to write anything of substance. Mostly I’ve been recovering from jetlag and sleeping early/often. I have been consuming a lot of media though. Bittorrent has been working overtime and I have been catching up on some movies and TV.

The only movie I was able to see in NY was The Good Shepherd. I didn’t like it. Though I am fascinated by CIA tradecraft, the abundance of it could not compensate for the utter lack of emotion and feeling in this 2 1/2 hour rambling mess. Also, Robert Deniro hasn’t been able to act his was out of a Christmas pageant in about 8 years. Last thing he was great in was 1998’s Ronin (FANTASTIC movie with more great tradecraft.) I don’t what’s going on, but he truly sucks. In any case, don’t see The Good Shepherd.

Although I only has time for that movie in an actual theater, I was able to download and watch quite a bit in the last few weeks. I saw Rocky Balboa (Worth watching sequel to the originals. Pretend #5 never happened. A little corny and predictable, but fun to watch and not nearly as embarrassing as I predicted months ago…)

The Tragic Treasury: Songs from A Series of Unfortunate Events is actually fantastic. I sought it out after seeing this interview of Stephen Merritt, the main writer/singer of the Gothic Archies. The interview is as odd and uncomfortable as it gets, but the music is dark and brilliant. So good.

The Departed was one of the best movies I have seen in a very long time. I absolutely LOVED it. (and I wasn’t the only one…)It’s hard to say much about it, but it is as close to perfect as I can imagine. Really, really great mafia/cop movie. If you haven’t seen it yet, run to the theater now.

I also watched Casino Royale (Still a little corny, but the best Bond ever, in my opinion. This is the Bond you have always wanted to see. Much less tech, much more Bourne. Very good.)

Jackass Number 2 is grosser than you can imagine. There are still some laugh way out loud moments, but it doesn’t seem as fresh and candid as the first or the series. Still worth watching, but only for serious fans.

I have been hooked on HBO’s The Wire for months. I am watching them from start to finish, from the beginning. I have no idea what is going on on the current season. Yesterday I watched the last 5 episodes of season 3. It was incredible. I just couldn’t stop. Like reading a great book. This is the best cop drama on television right now. Better than The Shield but only by a small margin. (I LOVE The Shield.) I can’t wait to start season 4.

I downloaded a very good copy of Babel, but I only watched the first 20 minutes. It looked great, but attention was elsewhere, so I stopped it. Will probably check it out tomorrow night. I am embarrassed to say I haven’t seen Alejandro González Iñárritu’s other films, especially 21 Grams.

Tonight I went to see Cirque du Soleil, Quidam. It was absolutely incredible. If you are in Dubai and don’t yet have tickets, get them tomorrow. This so worth your 400 D’s. Really, really stunning performances, tainted only by the locals talking and text messaging on their mobiles from beginning to end. It is awesome watching some lady in front of you use her Nokia through the whole show. Ignorant twat. But it is also awesome to watch people take their bodies to the absolute limit without ever breaking character, with such poise and grace that it is hard to imagine. The training, the skill, the fitness, all just awe-inspiring. Fantastic.

Last thing, Gay Robot. Watched the pilot episode on MySpace tonight. Nearly crapped my pants. Odd, gay, infantile, but hilarious. Thanks to Bryan Danger Murphy for that link. Good stuff.

OK, that’s it for now.