Untitled Rodent Project (Working Title) *WARNING: SPOILERS*

"Drama Queen said... Hi! im hollys friend, and i LOVED your POTC 3 review! i found it helped me understand it better."

I'm glad somebody like it. DQ, you made my day. I'll make sure Hol's nice to you in the Touche stories. I will, I will, I will. :)



Well, I have just returned from the theaters. Despite the fact that Pirates 3 is still showing, I did not go and see it again. Instead, we went and saw Ratatouille(Rat-a-too-ee). Ah, what a wonderful ratfullness that movie had!! Since it is much less complex than movies like Pirates, one post will do.

For a movie about cooking, it was quite exciting. Where else can you get washed through a drainage system on a cooking book? Wake an old lady up with saffron? Like the bad guy 'cause he's so short that he has to carry a stepladder around with him to see what everyone is doing? See a kitchen get taken over by rats--and produce the best meals in Paris? Okay, that was a bit interesting...For those of you that have rats (Ahem, Hol) you may want to start training them. Of course, the movie wasn't all wonderful. You can't seem to have a movie made by Disney or Pixar without having the Dad be wrong. Ratatouille was no exception. Dad was wrong. If Dad had just let Remy follow his dreams, everything would be fine. But, this was only a slight undertone, and didn't detract too much from the film as a whole.

The movie, of course, is completely animated, and very nicely, I must add. Directed by Brad Bird, the movie is quite funny, but not dirty, even though it is about rats. It deals with success, and encourages Remy to follow his dreams. After meeting Linguini (whose name sounds oddly like something that would be served at an Italian restaurant), the two pair up and work up becoming the best Chef in Paris. Toward the end, Linguini forgets the importance of his rat friend, but quickly remembers when things start going wrong.

The movie starts with Linguini getting his head banged against the wall by aliens, then switches to Remy. Remy and his brother cause some trouble, which makes the whole clan have to leave their home. Remy gets separated from the rest of the rats because he tried to save Gusteau's cookbook from the house. He succeeded in saving the cookbook, but as a result got separated from his family. He ends up floating off to Paris, and then...He falls through a roof into the kitchen of the famed deceased Chef's restaurant. After a mad chase through the kitchen, Remy is about to escape through an open window, when he realizes that Linguini has made a mess of a soup. He quickly begins to fix the soup, and ends up making a creation of his own. Everyone thinks that Linguini made it, and the head chef, who has no use for Linguini, tells him he will have to recreate the soup.

Then they find the rat. After a mad chase, Remy gets captured. Linguini takes him out to throw him in the river, but starts telling the rat his woes. After realizing that the rat can understand him, the two form a pact, in which Remy will learn to control Linguini's cooking by pulling on his hair.

About this time, the rest of the rat pack has also found its way to Paris, and the family is reunited. However, Remy's Dad wants him to give up cooking, and Remy wants nothin' doing. Remy begins stealing scraps and feeding his brother and some friends the food.

In the next few days, Remy finds that the door to where the food is kept is locked. In his hunt to find the key, he finds Gusteau's will, and a letter explaining the Linguini is Gusteau's heir, and the restaurant is supposed to be given to him. Remy takes the papers to show to Linguini, but Skinner, the head chef and the man that should have owned the restaurant in the case that no heir appeared, finds him and makes a mad chase to catch the rat. Remy, however, escapes, and Linguini is put as the rightful heir just two days before the date that would allow Skinner to own the restaurant.

Then, of course, Linguini and Remy have a falling out, but when a prominent food critique comes to the restaurant, the two straighten it out. But, unfortunately, that means that Linguini ends up losing all of his kitchen crew, including Colette, who has been falling in love with Linguini, and visa versa. But, as Colette goes home, she sees Gusteau's book, "Anyone can Cook" in the window of a store. As she thinks about it, she decides to turn around and go help Linguini. She returns to find the kitchen overrun with rats. Remy had decided to do something to help Linguini, so while Linguini waits tables on roller skates, several hundred rats do the kitchen work (Remy being the conscientious rat he is, makes them all go through the dishwasher before cooking). Colette, after a moment of repulsion, immediately jumps in and starts to work. The prominent food critique absolutely loves the food (Remy had given him a special version of Ratatouille), and wishes to see the cook. At the end of the evening, he is introduced to the rat behind it all, and, surprisingly, rights a wonderful review about it.

One thing I didn't mention, though, was the health inspector had shown up in the middle of all the rats cooking. The rats had tied him up until the evening was over, but as a result of seeing all the rats, the restaurant was closed down, and the food critique lost his reputation. However, he decided to invest in a new restaurant ran by Linguini and Colette, called La Ratatouille.

Happy ending, everybody cries.

~The City

"I hate to be rude, but...we're French!" ~Colette

Something Snappy needs to go Here (Or, A Day in the Life of a City)

It does. It really does.

But my snappy ran away. Can you help me find my snappy? Perhaps it fell into One Night in a Museum. Or, perhaps I could say,

"My dinosaur, Rexy, ate it."

In case you're wondering, I saw One Night(Museum Version, not to confuse with One Night with the King) the other day. Perhaps I should tell the story of how I happened to see it before I talk about it.

A friend of mine happened to be having her birthday party Friday night. After arriving late, and finishing some birthday present scheming when the birthday girl wasn't looking, we all piled in to start One Night. We all became instant fans of the snapper, as none of us could snap. After watching the first fifteen minutes, it was time to go make our pizzas for dinner. Everyone made their own. In the old Sarge technique, I put lots and lots of cheese on, with other items. After the pizzas went into the oven, we all went back and watch fifteen or twenty more minutes of the movie.

After retrieving our pizzas, we returned to the couch to watch some more, wondering what on earth was up with this guy who decided to invent a snapper, as everyone could snap, even those of us who were sitting on the floor because we weren't smart enough to get a seat.

So we watched the movie, entranced by the wonderful performances. Everybody loves Dick Van Dyke, don't they? The old night guard was just wonderful. So nice to show Larry around, and help him feel at home. He also had enough humour, as we saw when he scared Larry with an Aztec (or something) costume. We thought it was great, and looked forward to spending a Night in the Mueseum with Larry.

But then the dinosaur went missing. Bad dino.

So thus, the adventures began. Besides Larry getting the nickname Dum-Dum from the Easter Island Head Guy, he met Jed and the Centurion. Jed and the Centurion were wonderful. Weren't they cute, so small and petit?(No e if it's for a guy.) They couldn't have been more than an inch tall. Rexy, with his dog like characteristics, would be a wonderful homework eater. Actually, Dexter (the monkey) would be a better excuse. Can't you just hear some little kid talking to his teacher?

"Dexter ate my homework."
"Who's Dexter?"
"The monkey where my dad works."
"Does your dad work at the zoo?"
"Oh no. He's the night guard at the natural and ancient history museum."

Anyways, Larry somehow survives his first night and promptly went to go read "An Idiot's Guide to Attilla the Hun"*

Because of his research (he read other books, too) he returned armed to the museum for One Night in the Museum, 2. Or, rather, his second night in the same museum, same movie. He's a bit more crafty, but makes the mistake of giving a lighter to the cavemen, who "light hair on fire." One of the cavemen wanders outside and gets caught out after dawn. Street sweeper comes along, and whoops!!! No more caveman. Larry gets in trouble again, and almost loses his job.

Night 3, Larry returns with his son. Excitement insues; the old guards have decided to steal the tablet that makes the museum come to life, and end up locking Larry and his son into the area where the mummy is.

Bad idea. Larry lets the mummy out of his casket, and the mummy sits up and pulls his facecloth off to reveal...a twenty year old boy, the owner of the tablet.

The whole museum gets on the search for the bad guys, but not until the Easter Island head thing proclaims,

"My Dum-Dum wants to speak." (Easily my favorite line from this flick!)

Eventually, riding Texas, Larry catches up with the lead bad guy. The used to be mummy and Larry's son are riding the dinosaur. They retrieve the tablet from Dick Van Dyke's character, who was really nasty to be so mean to Larry and try to frame him for stealing the tablet.

The world returns to beautiful.

Larry almost loses his job again, but through a twist gets to keep it.

The End of Movie.

We open cake and eat presents.

~A City

*More on that, tomorrow

Pirates of the Caribbean III *SPOILERS* Part 4

Costumes/Aesthetic Elements

As I have now actually completed telling you MOST of the storyline, I have to leave something to make all four of you want to go see the movie...wait, I think you've already seen it...grrr....Well, to make you want to go see it again. That work?

Anyways, now that we have established what happens in the movie....

I must interrupt myself. I have been kicking myself since early this morning because I forgot to post something important!!!!! So, I edited and added it in, but I'll paste it here so that you don't have to go trawling for it:

It is somewhat hard to describe a battle scene, especially when you've only seen it once. One important part is that Will and Elizabeth get married in the middle of the fight.

Will: Elizabeth, will you marry me?
Elizabeth: I don’t think now is the best time!!!!

Will replies that it might be the only time. Then they both yell at Barbossa to marry them.

Barbossa: I’m kinda busy right now!!!
Will: Barbossa!!! Marry us!!!
Barbossa (Slices and jabs, fires a gun) Dearly beloved, we are gathered her today in the sight of God and men….

Ah yes...a wonderful sequence. Now, back to our feature presentation, as dear hol says on a regular basis.

Costumes: The costumes were very well done. The only problem I had with the costumes were 1) The skimpiness of some of Elizabeth's costumes and 2) sudden changes of costumes when clothing changes wouldn't have been easily accomplished, and shouldn't have happened.

1. 1) Skimpy clothing: several of Elizabeth's costumes go quite far up the thigh. This is somewhat of an annoyance, and detracts from her image overall. Lower the skirt six inches, and you'd keep the beauty and her good image.
2. 2) At several points costumes are suddenly changed when they shouldn't have been. An example is Elizabeth's costume when Sao Feng's boat is attacked. The costume is very unique and looks a certain way while Sao Feng dies. Elizabeth goes up to the main deck, and her costume goes through a change. When was that supposed to happen? Unless I terribly missed something, it wasn't.

Another point that illustrates both of the above is when Calypso is freed. Calypso's floor-length dress suddenly shortens several feet, and is at the point of great impropriety, especially when there are camera shots looking up at her.

I like the English soldier’s costumes.

Admiral Norrington has some HUGE cuffs on his coat jacket sleeves.

Some neat costume changes includes Will's when he changes into Captain Turner. His shirt color changes. And his hair seems to get an inch longer. And it gets curlier. And he is wearing a bandanna. And he has a huge scar on his chest. And for the first time, Orlando Bloom appears to be...manly? Well, anything is possible, I suppose. (Please note, T, that this last comment was instituted by a dear friend of mine and is not necessarily the opinion of the editor, as my binders can proudly attest. :P)

Aesthetic elements~Prosthetics...as usual, wonderful false teeth. Sarge claims that Jack Sparrow's teeth are whiter than before, but I'd have to watch the two movies side-by-side to be able to prove or disprove that. At one point, Barbossa's nails are no longer black, but then return to their previous condition in later shots. When the frostbitten toe gets broken off...ewwwww.

~Hair...wonderfully done. In this movie, Elizabeth's hair lends itself much better to her actions then it did in Dead Man's Chest. It has obviously been cut, but it doesn't go through different lengths, as in DMC. (To note real quick, the different lengths were 1) at the wedding--she had stray danglies that appear no where else in the movie--, 2)when she "barters" with Beckett and 3) everything after her escape.) Jack gets more hair when Barbossa disappears with his boat, Murtogg and Mullroy's (I think that is their names….) hair seems to grow a few inches when they become pirates. I really like Will's hair...it never seems to change except when it is absolutely necessary, unlike the previously mentioned peoples.

~Sets...Wonderful. No huge problems here...I didn't really catch any huge inconsistencies.

~Hmmm...I think that's it. You may want to check back, though. I may end up kicking myself again because I left something I thought was important out.

~Dresden

P.S. Thanks to Hol for getting me the music!!!!

A Day in the Life of A City

This spring, it has been my honor to attend several different events sponsored by the CHP (California Highway Patrol). These events were all a presentation of a certain anti-drinking and driving program, Every 15 Minutes. To quickly explain the program in a nutshell, I'll give you this memorized quote that everyone knows who has been to more than one of these events: "Every 15 minutes someone is killed or seriously injured in an alcohol related incident."

Is that enough information?

If its not, throughout the career of this blog, you will be to know it much better. Anyways, today happened to be the first part of the two day event for one school. The crash was uneventful (a double fatal car crash is staged in the football field...again, more later), as was the arrival at the hospital. To quickly note, all of this is filmed and then edited and presented the following day. After that point, I usually would go to the mortuary along with the not really dead dead person, along with Sarge and a cameraman. But today, I had a little spice added to my life. I got to go to booking, to watch the "drunk" driver get instated in the local jail.

The guy that was acting as the drunk was a real weiner. He even looked like a hotdog. His first complaint was that the handcuffs were uncomfortable. Could someone please tell me when they were supposed to be comfortable? We wondered if he needed fluffy padding between his wrists and the cuffs, but fortuantely, good sense prevailed. The Chippy officer told him to hold on a minute until we were done filming, then he could take them off. That was before we drove over to booking.

The trip to booking was quite interesting. I have never actually been in that section of the jail, and while I had no intention of ever going there except for under my absolute free will, that intention was strongly re-inforced.

While we were waiting for the Chippy to set everything up (you don't just bring a teenager into a jail without first setting out some precautions), we discovered that our "driver" had a peculiar way of popping his head out of the squad car to say something. It almost looked like someone had set a jack-in-the-box on its side and then turned a hidden crank about once every minute and a half. One of the things he popped his head out for was to ask one of the deputies if he was so-and-so. The deputy answered,

"Yeah. When did I arrest you?"

The answer, it turned out, was never. The deputy was the boy's old Scout master. Its so nice to see reunions that begin that way...I guess.

Anyways, after going to booking, we returned to the school. Now, one thing that I was not planning on was spending a fifteen minute car ride sandwiched between the equivalent of two football jocks in the back of a patrol car. I got squeeshed. But, it was okay. I had more room than if I had ridden in the back of Sarge's car. But, at the end of the day, I rode back to the school in the CHP car. I kinda asked for it, though. One of the ladies that works in the E15 program is a nurse, and rode shotgun to the hospital with Chippy driving. She claims she will never ride in a car driven by him again. I wanted to see if it was really true.

It wasn't.

Anyways, while we were driving home, on the freeway, this little bug zips by us going at an excessive speed. Chippy, asked us if he should pull her over. The boys let out a resounding yes. To note, Chippy had evidently pulled over someone else on the way to the hospital for rolling through a stopsign. Anyways, this girl got a ticket for speeding. The rest of the ride was uneventful until we almost reached our destination. Note that I said "almost." there had been an accident involving five vehicles. Chippy was the closest CHP officer, so, of course, was the first responder. It was a mess, although an interesting crash. I feel bad for the guy whose car got the worst of it, though.

His trunk was full of computer equipment.

Did I ever tell you about Chippy's smile? Now...that is another story....