Toronto Trim's Hotel Cum Drop-in Centre

[taxwonk]

Originally posted by Mmmm, Burger (C.J.)
In time for wonk's breakfast: clearly they realized that the quality of those muffins were out of line with Starbucks' commitment to quality. So they discontinued them.

Carry on.

Que?

[Shape Shifter]

Originally posted by ThurgreedMarshall
Well, no black actor can. You can take all those period pieces and throw them out the window. But as far as the big summer blockbuster name game draw goes, Smith is on the cusp. And if Cruise starts to get in the way of his movies because, as Burger says, we see him instead of the bland character he's playing, he's in trouble (relatively speaking).

TM

They were able to shoehorn Morgan Freeman into Robin Hood.

[taxwonk]

Originally posted by robustpuppy
If it helps, I thought your joke about Taxwonk made perfect sense.

Maybe so, but you're all whacked out on crazy pregnant hormones and shit.

[robustpuppy]

Originally posted by taxwonk
Tis a far, far better place I whiff than I have ever whiffed before.

When I was in grad school I briefly dated a marine biology PhD candidate who was writing his dissertation on plankton. We broke up, on relatively amicable terms, shortly before Thanksgiving. For Thanksgiving, I didn't go home, but rather had two friends from the English Department over for a fabulous, if I say so myself, shrimp marinara. We got really drunk and started gossiping about people, including my ex, who was a college friend of one of my guests. At some point we started mocking his dissertation topic by substituting the word plankton for key words in every title or line of prose or poetry we could think of. You know --

The Sound and the Plankton,
Call me plankton;
Ask not for whom the plankton tolls, it tolls for thee;
It is a truth universally acknowledged that a man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of plankton;
All happy plankton are alike;
Margaret are you grieving over Planktongrove unleaving;
Gather ye plankton while ye may;
Shall I compare thee to a summer's plankton, though art more lovely and more temperate;
Things fall apart, the plankton cannot hold; ...


And on and on and on. Having taken the English Literature GRE only about a year before, we were still loaded up with quotes to use. And every time we thought of another one, we laughed so hard we nearly cried. There were even moments were we were hitting the floor with our hands. Mind you, we were wasted. But still, even in our wasted state, there was one moment, rather suddenly, where hilarity no longer ensued, and we ceased.

[ThurgreedMarshall]

Originally posted by Replaced_Texan
I think he's a great supporting actor. Lots of good performances bounce off him (Newman, Nicholson, and Foxx being three that I can think of immediately).

Is it just me or is Foxx in Collateral the most overrated performance in recent history? Jesus. What an easy role. Look nervous and scared. Drive. Run. Look nervous and scared. Drive. Duck! Drive.

TM

[taxwonk]

Originally posted by dtb
I missed last night's episode, but I thought last week's was really great.


Anyone? Bueller?


Also, I stayed up late watching the movie "Collateral". It's the only movie I have seen Tom Cruise in where I could stand him. Jamie Foxx was great too; except his "transformation" in the disco didn't quite seem believable. I was surprised I liked this movie, I didn't expect to (owing to the on-screen presence of Mr. Cruise).

Last week's episode was great. last night's episode, and I'm not really giving anything away so I don't need a spoiler, is the episode where I finally realized that this season's goal is to make the audience hate absolutely everyone on the show.

The only person I didn't come away really pissed off at was Roger, the old queen that David bit last season.

[taxwonk]

Originally posted by ThurgreedMarshall
Is it trendy to hate Tom Cruise all of a sudden? I don't particularly like or dislike him, but it seems strange to me that a guy who can guarantee $100 million on any flick he's in, based on pretty much his name alone is so thoroughly detested. He's no great actor, but he never gets in the way of the movie he's in. Is it just his ridiculous Scientology crap and Katie Holmes garbage that makes him such a joke all of a sudden? Or has everyone here detested him like a sickness* since All the Right Moves?

TM

*Extra points for who can tell me where this quote comes from without Googling.

I liked him in Jerry Maguire and Risky Business. Every other movie he has ever been in was ass.

[ThurgreedMarshall]

Originally posted by greatwhitenorthchick
A bunch of operas these days now use a fair amount of black singers even though those operas take place way back when and it seems to work. I can see if it is a period piece about race or something like that - then it wouldn't work, but if it's just a regular old period piece, why not? I think it makes things kind of interesting. Not exactly "authentic" - but I just want to see good- or interesting-looking people who are good actors - when it comes down to it, I don't think it matters what race they are.

I think Opera is different. People are more there for the voice and sound of the Opera than the look of it. Sure, there are some complicated sets, but there's a reason why the saying isn't "It ain't over until the fat lady acts."

But, I agree with you. Hell, if white people can play Indians and Native Americans and pretty much any other race, why can't it go the other way?

TM

[Not Bob]

Originally posted by pony_trekker
I kind of like his rants. I may not really believe we come from spirits of aliens nuked in volcanoes but I do believe that psychiatry is dogma rather than science.

As my sister the 2d grade teacher put it, just because a bunch of lazy shrinks give some active kids unneeded Ritalin, doesn't mean there aren't kids who need it. Or that psychotropic (is that the right word?) drugs don't help people struggling with manic-depression or the like.

[ThurgreedMarshall]

Originally posted by Shape Shifter
They were able to shoehorn Morgan Freeman into Robin Hood.

That worked out well for everyone, didn't it?

TM

[Replaced_Texan]

Originally posted by ThurgreedMarshall
Is it just me or is Foxx in Collateral the most overrated performance in recent history? Jesus. What an easy role. Look nervous and scared. Drive. Run. Look nervous and scared. Drive. Duck! Drive.

TM

Dunno. Didn't see it, but the critics and the Academy seemed to like it.

I left Hoffman out of my list (despite his Oscar nom and win) because I thought that was an easy role to play.

Everyone keeps moaning about how this summer's box office slump is the longest in recent memory. Note to str8, if your industry made better movies, more people would go to see them. This is the crappiest crop of summer movies I can remember. And summer movies aren't supposed to be that good.

I went to the theater on Sunday evening and I ended up seeing Mr. & Mrs. Smith because nothing else interested me and I would have had to wait an hour to see Clones again.

Secondary note to str8: stop making remakes and sequels. Didn't Stepford Wives last summer teach you anything?

[taxwonk]

Originally posted by robustpuppy
When I was in grad school I briefly dated a marine biology PhD candidate who was writing his dissertation on plankton. We broke up, on relatively amicable terms, shortly before Thanksgiving. For Thanksgiving, I didn't go home, but rather had two friends from the English Department over for a fabulous, if I say so myself, shrimp marinara. We got really drunk and started gossiping about people, including my ex, who was a college friend of one of my guests. At some point we started mocking his dissertation topic by substituting the word plankton for key words in every title or line of prose or poetry we could think of. You know --

The Sound and the Plankton,
Call me plankton;
Ask not for whom the plankton tolls, it tolls for thee;
It is a truth universally acknowledged that a man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of plankton;
All happy plankton are alike;
Margaret are you grieving over Planktongrove unleaving;
Gather ye plankton while ye may;
Shall I compare thee to a summer's plankton, though art more lovely and more temperate;
Things fall apart, the plankton cannot hold; ...


And on and on and on. Having taken the English Literature GRE only about a year before, we were still loaded up with quotes to use. And every time we thought of another one, we laughed so hard we nearly cried. There were even moments were we were hitting the floor with our hands. Mind you, we were wasted. But still, even in our wasted state, there was one moment, rather suddenly, where hilarity no longer ensued, and we ceased.

Hold on to this story. If you play your cards right, this could become your Guernica, and look what that did for Hank.

[dtb]

Originally posted by ThurgreedMarshall
Is it trendy to hate Tom Cruise all of a sudden? I don't particularly like or dislike him, but it seems strange to me that a guy who can guarantee $100 million on any flick he's in, based on pretty much his name alone is so thoroughly detested. He's no great actor, but he never gets in the way of the movie he's in. Is it just his ridiculous Scientology crap and Katie Holmes garbage that makes him such a joke all of a sudden? Or has everyone here detested him like a sickness* since All the Right Moves?

TM

*Extra points for who can tell me where this quote comes from without Googling.

I don't detest him, I just don't find him to be a particularly good actor. His "stardom" gets in the way, I guess, and I'm always mindful of, "Hey! It's Tom Cruise" in the movies I watch with him in it. Collateral didn't make me think that (except for one instant when he smiled really widely, in a movie-star sort of way).

I just looked at his list of movies on imdb.com, and I can't say there is a movie on there that didn't suffer from the "Tom Cruise - MOVIE STAR" syndrome. The possible exception to this is Eyes Wide Shut (well, Risky Business also, but that's a given, as he was an unknown at the time) -- but I didn't think EWS was a great movie; not terrible, just not great.

Good for him that he can bring the fans into the theater; whatever. I just don't

[ltl/fb]

Originally posted by dtb
I don't detest him, I just don't find him to be a particularly good actor. His "stardom" gets in the way, I guess, and I'm always mindful of, "Hey! It's Tom Cruise" in the movies I watch with him in it. Collateral didn't make me think that (except for one instant when he smiled really widely, in a movie-star sort of way).

I just looked at his list of movies on imdb.com, and I can't say there is a movie on there that didn't suffer from the "Tom Cruise - MOVIE STAR" syndrome. The possible exception to this is Eyes Wide Shut (well, Risky Business also, but that's a given, as he was an unknown at the time) -- but I didn't think EWS was a great movie; not terrible, just not great.

Good for him that he can bring the fans into the theater; whatever. I just don't

Just don't . . . WHAT??? WHAT?????

I can't handle the suspense.

[dtb]

Originally posted by evenodds
Plus the whole Katies Holmes missing 16 days thing creeps me out.

Huh?