Wrote some poems .. tell me what you think ...

Saw the absolutely brillina Hiryo Mirayaki film (sp.) ... Howl's Moving Castle ****1/2 .. It was lyrical, beautiful and awesome ...

I would also HIGHLY recommend that you watch his movies in Japanese (with subtitles) with the original actors .. Disney has gotten big name actors for the roles, but I much before Miyake directing them...

I liked it more then Princess Mononoke ****, but probably not quite as much as the amazing Spirited Away ***** ....

Haven't seed My Friend Totaro yet and some others .. love his films thoug ...


Also wrote some poems ....



SPOILERS! (Click to view)


May 1st poems

Time

Time goes slowly

Tick, dribble

Just waiting

Shift 5 hours to go

Nothing to sell

No one to talk to

Not allowed to read …


Beach

Beach

Glorious Beach

Filled W/ Dogs

Sun, Surf, Walking

Cairning, Stacking Rocks

Lovely Sunday,

Contemplative, Restful


Rocks

Rocks
Surf Crashing

Tell the story of ages

Worn by the sea

Low tide, high tide
Spring and Fall

For millennia they linger

What stories could they tell

As we wander towards the vast ocean




and this one is my favorite so far ...

Wasted Day

Standing around
Hoping to chat with ..someone

Job says I sell commission vacs …

All I really do is stand

Sometimes I sell, usually I waste time

Vacs and stuff
I sell things that suck

Sometimes they work,
Sometimes they don’t suck and come back

Got the vac salesman blues

And my feets are aching

The time doth go so slow

Waiting til 9, then home I go …

Edmund 5/1/2006 …


I also wrote these two last night and today ...

Treats

I'm a SUCKER for my cat

When he meows
.... I move

What does .. he .. want ..

Some food ...

No treats
.. Kitty Treats ...

Meowing at the man ...
.. Meowing at the drawer ..

Time for treats
...... GIMME MORE!!! ... (typed with Hunter on my lap)

and one at the vac store

Slowlllly

Time
... goes

SLOWWLLLLYY

2 hours to go

waiting
standing

Why am I here ...
.... Where oh where do I go ...

................

In other news sold 2 mattresses with a $400 commission right after I wrote the last one ...

Blessed be ..

Happy May day and Mid-Spring...

ecq

just something fun

Just found a silly quiz online ...

Greed:	Low
Gluttony:	High
Wrath:	Low
Sloth:	Medium
Envy:	Very Low
Lust:	Medium
Pride:	Medium

Discover Your Sins - Click Here

Had a surreal week ...

This weekend it was in the 70s ...

Wednesday night it was snowing ...

On tuesday worked a full day and made a buck (seriously) .. on thursday almost nothing and then a 2200 mattress with 10% commission (surreal)

but now of course there is the movie review ....

I saw Chicken Little last week and it was OK ** .. .The beginning was simply terrible and the end was kinda cute ... It wasn't horrible but would give it the thumbs down ..

I also saw a much more interesting movie the last few days ... 7 up ***1/2 and 7 plus 7 *** ... both are very interesting and the beginning of the up series ...

I enjoyed the first documentary more because the kids were new ... I enjoyed seeing these kids of different classes in England ... there has been 7 up, 7+7, 21 up, 28 up, 35 up and 42 up ...

Its one of the movies that Roger Ebert considers one of the ten best of all time and very interesting sociologically ...

my only concern with 7+7 is the kids haven't grown up that much yet .. I will be very interested in 21 up .. and have heard 28 up is the best of the series..

so whats up with you

oh and it sucked to see Mandisa go away on American Idol, I think she had the best voice so far...

Country Chris was the best last week (although my least fav. on the show) and Taylor Hicks was simply awful (although hes one of my favs ... was #2 to Mandisa)

Cheers!

edmund

Mid-Majors almost won first 3 games

Seton Hall was blown out by a very good, shockingly good in fact Wichita State team by 20.

UW-Milwalkee beat Oklahoma like I expected.

Pacific played very gamely against BC but didn't quite win it in a 2OT instant classic.

Not surprised at all that the March Madness on Demand isn't working .. there must be hundreds of thousands if not millions of people trying to get on that ...

Also got Midnight Club 3: Dub Edition Remix for my PS2 today which totally rocks ...

The thursday of the tournament is always one of my favorite days on the sports calendar ...

Go mid-majors and go Rutgers tonight at St. Joseph's in the NIT and on Sunday for the women vs. Dartmouth (7 pm -- ESPN2)

edmund davis-quinn

March Madness

Today is the first day of the tournament ...

Although the BC-Pacific game is close and looks interesting ... more interesting in seeing Wichita State beat Seton Hall (40-26 Shockers at halftime) or see Bruce Pearl's old team UW-Milwalkee beat an overrated Oklahoma team.

I feel more disconnected from the tournament then I have in a while .. am enjoying getting some cleaning done today ... have a HUGE amount to do.

Also miss SG and will be back tomorrow ... it is an excellent site.

ecq

Oscars -- A Rant ....

Oscars ... A Rant

I think John Stewart did a very good job, much better then I thought he would ...

It was also very very odd to see Ben Stiller's package in a green jumpsuit.

Why oh why for the love of god, are they playing music DURING the beginning of the speeches ...

It is so mean, and annoying ...

There were so many bloated tributes on this show, why cant they give the winners 2 minutes to speak ...

Good speeches especially by Clooney and the foreign film winner ...

Was also lovely to see how nervous Philip Seymour Hoffman was ...

Next year director and Conti .. let people talk ...

Ang Lee just won for Brokeback Mountain, I bet he will win for Best Picture now too ...

Even the music over Ang Lee ... Never started the speeches with music before... I cannot say how annoying this is.

I do need to see Brokeback Mountain too, have only seen Crash among the best picture nominees ...

Walk the Line still my favorite movie of the year *****

WOW Crash won for Best Picture.. Its the only one of the nominees I have seen ...

I will be interested to see what Haggis writes or directs next after Crash **** and Million Dollar Baby **** ... Two straight Best Pictures written ...

Congratulations Paul Haggis and Crash...

edmund davis-quinn

p.s. How for the love of god did the cut off the Best Picture speech .. I really hope they fire the director Horovitz and Bill Conti for that ... That was simply atrocious ...

I loved John Stewart but there was 8 montages, and very short speeches ... Why did they play music on every speech and cut off the Best Picture speech ....

I liked Crash and need to see the other best picture noms to give an opinion ... I guess a lot of people didn't like Crash ...

Cool things about Edmund :))

Ten Top Trivia Tips about Edmund!

1. Over half of Americans are officially Edmund.
2. Edmundocracy is government by Edmund!
3. Half a cup of Edmund contains only seventeen calories.
4. Edmund is the world's smallest mammal.
5. Devoid of his cells and proteins, Edmund has the same chemical makeup as sea water.
6. Antarctica is the only continent without Edmund.
7. If you drop Edmund from the top of the Empire State Building, he will be falling fast enough to kill before reaching the ground.
8. A cluster of bananas is called a hand and consists of 10 to 20 bananas, which are individually known as Edmund.
9. On stone temples in southern India, there are more than 30 million carved images of Edmund!
10. If you lick Edmund ten times, you will consume one calorie.

I am interested in - do tell me aboutherhimitthem

Rutgers had an absolutely heartbreaking loss at Syracuse tonight 84-82(OT) .. RU shot a 3 with 3 seconds left to make overtime ... had a 3 pointer to get ahead by 1 point .. and then lost with 0.3 seconds left to a Syracuse shooter who had hit 1 three all year ... Rutgers is now 0-9 at the Carrier Dome...

Also frustated with Blockbuster Online ....

i rented "Inside Deep Throat" from blockbuster online .. unfortunately its only the "r" version.... i hoped they wouldn't cut too much out but it said 60 minutes checked on yahoo! movies and it said it was 90 minutes ... YIKES!!!

I hope there is not a half-hour cut out ... I will give review soon but blockbuster online will not do as well as Netflix by keeping there no NC-17 policy ... Will have to rent this again probably ((

I have no idea why the producers of "Inside Deep Throat" would issue an edition missing 1/3rd of the movie .... its just bizarre ...

ecq

I guess I'm a Cowboy!

a Cowboy
You scored 6 Honor, 3 Justice, 9 Adventure, and 5 Individuality!
Well pardner, the thing that drives you is a sense of adventure. You're willing to play by the rules, but only so long as you've got open territory to cover and new frontiers to explore. You don't need much and you don't ask much.
Strap on your six gun and wear your Stetson proud. I think you'll do just fine

The Cowboy-Ninja-Pirate-Knight Test
http://www.okcupid.com/tests/take?testid=14911521259611283941

I love silly tests like this ...

My test tracked 4 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender:

You scored higher than 21% on Ninjinuity

You scored higher than 16% on Knightlyness

You scored higher than 87% on Cowboiosity

You scored higher than 41% on Piratical Bent

100 Things about me ... 1-25

I got this idea from the fantastic blog Mainely Midge ....

http://mainelymadge.typepad.com/mainely_madge/

1. I am a night owl.

2. I am a media junkie.

3. I went to Rutgers University

4. I am listening to ITunes right now .. Doors in Concert .. I used ITunes once more when I wrote my novel.

5. I wrote 56,000 words in November for No Filter but have wrote much less in the last 2 months.

6. I am a HUGE Rutgers sports fan.

7. I will listen to Rutgers football, and womens and mens basketball on the Web Radio ... http://scarletknights.com, http://nj.com/wor (mens basketball and football) and http://nj.com/wrsu ...

8. I look at http://nj.com/rutgers nearly every day to see if there are any stories about my alma mater ....

9. I really like the website Suicide Girls .. I started it to enjoy the women .. I have kept at it with the discussion groups.

10. I run the Non-Fiction, Documentaries, and Basketball groups on that site ...

11. I compulsive rate things and love to make lists.

12. I loved hearing about Nick Hornby's character make lots of lists in the book "High Fidelity"

13. I am a Philadelphis sports fan

14. I love the phillies

15. I majored in Political Science and am one credit short (a world history (the class is China's Foreign Relations) from a second major in history...

16. I have an MBA ... I have gotten much from it except debt ....

17. I loved Claremont .. Went for an MBA there and became more of an academic and less interested in money.

18. I love my wife Lanna dearly ...

19. I love seeing my cat Hunter "Socks" Thompson post in his kitty blog .. http://huntersocksthompson.com

20. My favorite movie this year by far was "Walk the Line" *****

21. My original review for "Walk the Line" was ****1/2 .. I need to think about a movie before I can give it ***** ....

22. I hated that Peter Travers of Rolling Stone went away from the 5 star reviewing system which they still use on LPs ...

23. I prefer saying LP to CD

24. I love vinyl

25. I collect things

26. I find it hard to pay full price for a book .. but if its a quarter I will grab lots of them.

27. I have difficulty throwing away newspapers ....

28. I seriously want to read every article and will even if the paper is years old ...

29. I sometimes feel more comfortable in academia then the real world...

30. I wish I traveled more ...

31. I have been to Oxford, London, Geneva, Moscow and St. Petersburg .. As well as Monterrey, Mexico ...

32. I have also been to Tijuana, Ensanada and Mexicali but hardly consider that leaving the US...

33. I honeymooned in Quebec and Montreal ...

34. The best meal I had on that trip was in a small resteraunt in a strip mall about 8 miles east of Trois Riverois ....

35. I wish you could drink in public

36. I love beer.

37. I have a beer blog .. http://mainebeerguy.blogspot.com

38. I love Maine beer but wish there was a store that had lots of non-regional beers ...

(a break)

39. The Great Lost Bear in Portland is one of the great beer bars in the world ...

40. My other favorite beer bars are Lucky Baldwins -- Pasadena, CA ...

41. The Old Bay Resteraunt -- New Brunswick, NJ .. home of Rutgers University (BA Political Science '98)

42. The Blind Tiger Ale House -- Greenwich Village, NYC

43. I stay awake much too late ...

44. The Great British Beer Festival was going on a ten minute walk from me when I was in London but I didn't go ... I immediately regretted this ...

45. I love the song "Happy Happy, Joy, Joy" from Ren and Stimpy

46. I have bought DVDs of seasons of the Simpsons, Futurama, Family Guy, and Ren and Stimpy but rarely watch them....

47. I love all of these shows.

48. I have been to a few big concerts in my life .... Genesis -- 1991 (after junior year of HS) .. U2- During the Zoo Station tour (I believe 1992) on the floor of Veterans Stadium

49... I am listening to "One" off the "Achtung Baby" album right now which I heard Bono and Edge do acoustically about 5 rows from me in the Miss America type catwalk in the middle of Veterans Stadium.

50. I liked old Veterans Stadium ... I saw a few Phillies games there and always loved the 70s multi-purpose stadium ...

51. I saw David Cone get 20 strikeouts against the Phillies while he played for the Mets and rooted him on the whole way ...

52. My favorite baseball park I have been to is Wrigley field

53. I loved the big urinal trough at Wrigley ...

54. I go to minor league games now since I went to a Trenton Thunder game about 5 years ago ...

55. I have never been to a hockey game

56. I plan to go to a Portland Pirates game soon..

57. I live in Westbrook, ME just West of Portland, ME

58. I misss NYC sometimes .... There was so much to do there...

59. NYC frequently exhausted me

60.. My parents recently moved to Allentown, PA but still consider them living in NJ ...

61. I grew up in Skillman, NJ just north of Princeton

62. I cheer on the Princeton Tigers, although not as much as the Rutgers Scarlet Knights

63. I watched the Tigers beat UCLA in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on the Princeton Campus at the old student center

64. I think Princeton University's Chapel is one of the most beautiful churches in the world ...

65. My kitty thinks the Christmas tree is the best toy ever and loves to roll the ornaments around

66. Luckily we have very few breakable ornaments...

67. Its January 23rd and the tree is still up

68. The most beautiful church I saw was a small one adjacent to the Tetrikiaov Gallery in Moscow, Russia ...

69. Another stunning church inside was St. Paul's Cathedral, London

70. I started University at the University of Chicago ... Gray Gothic looks lovely in the summer ...

71. There is not a worse place to be depressed then wintertime at the University of Chicago .. Gray Gothic is really depressing on a cool winter's day ...

72. I love the blues

73. I was under 21 when in Chicago and didn't go to nearly enough blues clubs ...

74. The Blues and Beer celebration at Chicago at Ida Noyes Hall was the best festival of its type I ever went to .. I love just having 4 bands play on 3 floors...

75. I was a virgin until 23.

76. I met my wife over the internet .... I was on nerve.com/ and she was on bust.com (Spring Street Personals)

77. I went to Lollapalooza 2 and was in the mosh pit for 3 hours ... That was fun ...

78. Living Colour is one of my all time favorite live bands .. I have seen them twice .. Once at Mandel Hall, University of Chicago in 1993 .. once in London in July, 2001 ...

79.. I love the web comic Questionable Content ... http://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=1

80. Me and Lanna (my wife) moved from NYC in January, 2005 .. We haven't been back since ...

81. Boston is only 2 hours away but for some reason Monson, ME (31/2 hours away) seems closer ...

82. I was married in Monson, Maine on July 3, 2004 ... the town where my wife grew up ...

83. I was married outdoors with a Pig Roast and DJ equipment lent by a friend ... I would recommend this to anyone

84. The minister who performed at our wedding was excellent .. and it was her first time performing at a wedding ...

85. I thought I would only do 25 of these at a time but up to number 85 ... cool ..

86. I have a feeling I will do more then 100 of these

87. My favorite film all time is Brazil...

88. My kitty loves playing fetch with furry mice ....

89. My cat is an indoor cat but travels very well ...

90. I interned at the NYC Fringe Festival 2003 .. .and saw about 30 pieces of theatre .. . I wished I did it in 2004 ...

91. I was interning at the NYC Fringe Festival during the 2003 blackout while the show Pinafore! (a gay take of the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta "HMS Pinafore) was going on .. the troupe finished the first act at the Christopher Street pier it was awesome...

92. I played Pedro (one of the muletters) in "Man of La Mancha" at Bar Mills Playhouse this summer ... It was one of my first times doing theatre and I loved it ...

93. I have done stand up a few times and killed and bombed .. When I have done well it was off the cuff and went a long time ...

94. One of these times was in HS (Junior year) at the Man of the Year contest, one was after Rutgers cancelled a game vs. #1 UMass because a student (one) sat in the center of the court..

95. This student was called "the Rosa Parks of Rutgers" by Newsweek .. but she probably shouldn't have been allowed on court with 8,500 students watching Rutgers leading the #1 team in the country at halftime .. especially considering she probably didn't pay for her seat...

96. I have difficulty letting certain things go ...

97. I think I want to go back to school but I am not sure for what.

98. I declared bankruptcy before the law changed.

99. I can't believe they are eliminating the Estate Tax (the main reason for such foundations as the Ford Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, creation of universities, Carnagie Foundation ...) at the same time they are eliminating the ability of people to simply forgive debt without credit card counseling

100. I couldn't believe how easy it was to go before bankruptcy court .. the whole thing took 2 minutes...

101. I wonder if I would make a decent lawyer.

102. I wonder if I should have went to Sloan for my MBA instead of Drucker (had a 700 GMAT)

103. I wonder about a lot of things.

104. I am having trouble editing my book .. I actually think its pretty good ...

105. I was a College Republican .. but now despise George W Bush ...

106. I was pretty sure the Iraq "war" would be easy but the peace extremely difficult before the US invasion

107. I think the documentaries "Control Room" and "The Corporation" are absolutely brilliant ...

108. I wanted to be a writer when I was in 3rd and 4th grade ...

109. I have some non-fiction in me and need to figure out how to write it.

110. I love the number 111 .. three consecutive numbers and stuff..

111. See I went 11 over ... I subscribe to the Financial Times but don't really like it (free from airline miles)

112. Can't stop typing .. I will add pennies to tips to come up with cool numbers .. ie 11.11 or 17.76 ...

113. I love making lists .. and would heavily recommend the Von Iglefeld series by Alexander McCall Smith

That was a lot of fun .....

Blogging rocks!

Too bad you have to worry about being dooced...

Kitten pics .. and me with a beard ...

I saw Wedding Crashers finally *** .. It was an enjoyable little film .... Pretty Cute ....

I also had some interviews today one to work with ED/BD kids (kids with behavior issues) and to sell vacuums and microwaves for commission (part-time retail) .. so I will be selling vacuums and sewing machines and quite possibly working with children with serious issues ...

I was growing a beard this week before the interviews ..

Here are two pictures ....



and another ... .



And also a picture of Hunter and some kittens that Lanna had visit work ...

First two kitten shots ...



and



and one more




and one of my kitty .... Hunter "Socks" Thompson ...

http://www.huntersocksthompson.com


and with the wife....



Sorry if this update is long .. I may add spoilers ...

ecq

DSCF2991

DSCF2991
Originally uploaded by lannalee.

Me and the kitty doing some kitty dancing ...

Welcome back to blogging Hunter ...

http://huntersocksthompson.com

3 Great Documentaries ...

I had a documentary kick from Blockbuster online.

I saw three great films ...

One is Control Room **** ...

I think Al-Jazerra is in an interesting position.

They are attempting to become the CNN of the Arab world but that is extremely difficult ...

Especially considering many of the Arab nations are governed by dictators, or Islamists. Considering they balance this well, I would be interested to see it on the Dish ..

Although I don't speak Arabic.

I do not think it deserves the condemnation is got from the Bush Adminstration ...

It is totally ridiculous that the Palestine Hotel was bombed where Al-Jazerra and many other journalists were staying ... It is also very odd this happened the day before the Americans entered the central square in Baghdad and took down the Sadaam statue. Which gave Bush the chance for the absurd "Mission Accomplished" speech.

I would also love to hear more from some of the Al-Jazerra people in this film ... Including Deema Khatib and esp. Hassan Ibrahim...

There was also a telling comment by the BBC in the movie .. that "everyone who works for the BBC, eventually works for Al Jazeera..." Its not a bunch of idologues at all .. .although it is certainly more Arabist then Fox News

This is a film that you must see if you are interested in the Iraq War or what Al-Jazerra is ... I would love to hear some of these commentators on Air America or NPR....

I knew the peace would be harder in Iraq then the war would ever be ... and it is so say that 170,000 priceless pieces were taken from Baghdad .. the capital of Sumer and the Persian empire ... One of the great losses ever in history and archeology .. Why these museums weren't guarded, I still have no idea.

Then there was the Fog of War .. ****1/4

Robert McNamara is one of the more interesting figures in 20th Century history.

He was Secretary of Defense under LBJ and JFK, and some have called Vietnam, "McNamara's War." I am not sure I agree with this.

This doc by Errol Morris is completely fascinating.

Its amazing how much of the cold war is covered in this.

McNamara was also president of the World Bank from 1968 to 1983 ... A much maligned institution even if the goals were good...

In happy news you learn that McNamara's wife started Reading is Fundamental ... A organization that gives books to millions....

Anyone who is interested in Cold War History (like I very much am) needs to see this.

And then there is the simply adorable "March of the Penguins" .... ****

This is a superb nature documentary.

I really enjoyed it greatly.

I also had no idea how tough it is for Emperor Penguins to Spawn and then keep the eggs warm, and the baby's fed in the Winter and then early Spring.

This is an outstanding film, and a great rental (I am sure just spellbinding in the theatre) ...

It is on my 2005 best films list which will be revised in a few weeks.

I am also reading the novel Being There .. and it is as wonderful as the movie .... I had no idea it was a novel first.

If you haven't seen the movie "Being There" rent it now ***** .. It is one of my favorite movies all time.

ecq

1/5/6

the book is a very silly one involving someone who came up with the classic "Portugeuse Irregular Verbs" and thinks this is an unbelivably important book .. he is a german and very much thinks he is smarter then everyone else ...

Right now looking at "The Fog of War" from Blockbuster online ... Wasn't able to watch it on my main TV .. luckily I have another DVD player .. unforuntely with Blockbuster Online I have to send the DVD back anyway and wait for a new one before I get another movie ... I believe NetFlix (which is much superior) sends you a another movie immediately ...

Also rented Control Room yesterday **** .. This is an absolutely fascinating movie about Al Jazerra's coverage of Iraq II ... I couldn't believe they closed the CentCom media center after the "mission accomplished" in early 2003 ...

Its been almost 2 years later and the Iraq war still isn't over ....

Hard to tell from the movie how one sided the coverage was, they definitely showed more Iraqi wounded and killed, but it seemed relatively even. Also fascinating to see parrells made with the Isreali-Palestian Conflict

A most interesting movie .. and I quite liked the young Lt. at CentCom ... I liked that he was learning through the experience ... Highly Recommended...

Watched "The Fog of War" and still watching the deleted scenes (already almost 30 minutes of them) .. Absolutely fascinating look at McNamara and the politics on the LBJ-Kennedy era .. If you are interested in Cold War Politics at all you must see this ... ****1/4 ....

Just fascinating stuff ...

I also saw the very cute "The March of the Penguins." ... Antartica looked stunningly beautiful and I am very happy I am not an Emperor Penguin **** .. This will make my top 10 list I think ....

Ok so rented "Primer" next which, I have seen but my wife hasn't **** ...

Most enjoyable Book

I just read a most enjoyable book "The Finer Points of Sausage Dogs" by Alexander McCall Smith ... ****1/2 ... I don't always finish the books I finish but this one was most entertaining.

It also has the nice aspect of only being 128 pages long ) ... I really enjoyed the eccentricity of the main character and the author winking at himself.

I also loved how I got the book .. at the UU Church of the Lehigh Valley in Bethlehem, PA they have a give a book/ take a book bookcase .. Being UUs, they often give more books (as most unitarians have 100s- if not thousands of book) then they take .. I found some good ones like this and Being There.

Got my first shipment of Blockbuster DVDs (i like the 2 free rentals in the store (games or videos) but don't like no NC-17 movies or the recommender as much as NetFlix) .. .anyway it was $1 for 6 weeks so hey .. Got March of the Penguins, The Fog of War and Control Room...

I hope 2006 is treating you all well....

ecq

Top 10+ movies of the year ...

Happy New Year/Kwanzaa/Hannukah/Christmas ...

Some new years resolutions ....

1. Write more

2. Do more art

3. Volunteer especially in mentoring and teaching ...

Seeing the parents was nice this weekend also saw three movies and willing to do an early top 10 list (incomplete)

I saw three this weekend

the first and by far the best and the #1 movie I have seen this year is "Walk the Line" ... ****1/4 ... this is an amazing biopic about June Carter and Johnny Cash and has amazing performances by Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon .. see it Now!

The second movie I saw was King Kong ... Having seen bits of this I had monster expectations .. This one was lots of fun and very bloated. The movie was better as a sum of parts then as a whole ***1/2 (#8 of the year?) ... The special effects were awesome especially Serkis as King Kong and the rest of Skull Island ...

I also saw the Chronic .. Chronicles of Narnia ... It was very weird having a main character and chief weenie as my namesake Edmund ....

The movie had nice effects and good acting but didn't really gel for me .. I give it a marginal thumbs up but **1/2 .. Lucy was well portrayed but the whole thing felt much too disney.

Without further adieu an incomplete top 10 ....

1) Walk the Line .. no doubt about it....

2) A History of Violence ... ****1/2 ... This one was very good and surprised me .. great acting by Ed Harris and Viggo Mortensen among others .. the one movie I don't want to say much about ... if you have seen you can e-mail me though...

3) The Corporation (2003) .. ****1/2 ... This movie devasted me .. .Just a fascinating story of the power of the corporation and its medical diagnosis ... Psychopath ... Only concerned with Shareholder Equity and Profits ... although not technically a 2005 release I saw it this year ...

4) SavingFace ... ****1/4 ... Although this is officially a 2004 release .. the release was very limited .. a wonderful love story about two Chinese lesbians who grew up in Flushing, Queens .. there is a lot here about family too ... WELL worth seeing ...

5) Batman Begins ... **** ... I forgot about this one .. the best of the Batmans since Tim Burton directed them ... I really liked this one ... I probably liked War of the World better save the ending ... I loved the darkness in this one .. Christian Bale really worked ... Katie Holmes less so.

3, 4 undeserved by what I have seenof 2005 releases ... I hope there are movies I haven't seen that belong here ...


6) The 40-Year Old Virgin ... **** ... Without any doubt the funniest movie I saw all year ... and lots and lots of heart ... Steve Carell is amazing in this one ... His relationship with Catherine Keener is beyond sweet....

7) The War of the Worlds ... **** .. . For the ending alone ... lost half a star ... This movie spellbound me and was a better scare fest then the more critically loved King Kong ... Tom Cruise and Dakota Fanning are very good as was the creature designed ..> V.V. good (maybe 3rd best of the year) without ending .. this really should be a 6-7 pick ... I have not seen some movies that might belong here like Syriana, Brokeback Mountain, Munich and Cinderella Man

8) Sin City ... The most visually inventive movie of the year ... **** ... Mickey Rourke's best performance ever ... Very interesting movie to watch ... Just a very fun movie.

9) In Her Shoes ... This may well be too high .. ***1/2 ... I really enjoyed this movie .. This was definitely one I saw with my wife's consent but I really enjoyed it ...

10) .. Star Wars 3/6: Sith .... ***1/2 ... Wow do I want to give spoilers on this one... I will just say outside the lines that this was my favorite of the 2nd trilogy .. It is nearly as good as Jedi ... Also one of the worst love stories ever .... Harry Potter 4 might take this spot ...

11) Fever Pitch ... ***1/2 ... A fun Drew Barrymore movie ... an odd retelling of the Nick Hornby though .. I enjoyed it but if you really want to understand the psychology of a sports fan read the book "Fever Pitch" by Nick Hornby about the horrors and joys of rooting for Arsenal Soccer Football in N. London ...

12) Kung Fu Hustle ***1/2 .. Just a lot of fun .. I enjoyed Shaolin Soccer more but well worth seeing ... Stephen Chow is a joy to watch ... Just a fun movie ...

Highest expectations not quite met ....

13) King Kong ... ***1/4 .. not sure it belongs on the top 10 at all .. .Kong was one of the great special effects creations ever and it probably deserves technical awards along with "War" ... Way too long at 3 hours 20 minutes ... Why did the ship take an hour ... Not sure if I bought the romances either ... Had huge expectations and was disappointed ...


An Honorable Mention to ....

14) Murderball ... ***1/4 ... This was a lot of fun .. I loved the hardcore Wheelchair rugby players ... Well worth watching ..

I also liked .... .
15) (to give 10 movies) Hitch .. *** .. This doens't really belong on a top 10 list at all but it was fun ... I enjoyed it ...

Please give comments and tell me more movies to put on the list ...

ecq

Yep now the list is even longer ... Haven't seen Wedding Crashers, or Penguins either

Starting to Write Again

Its hard to retrieve the writing mojo.

It all went so easy during the month of November for NanoWriMo.... I was really enjoying my characters too... There was also a lot of therapy involved in No Filter ...

I am curious to go back through it ... there are a lot of scenes that I need to go back and add too ... Especially the ones of the naughtier variety ... I suppose there is something to be said for less is more sometimes...

It also sucks to be poor at christmas time. I am not subbing nearly enough, and have limited funds for Christmas.

I am officially bankrupt now too, I filed Ch. 7 bankruptcy on last Friday and met the judge. It was amazing how fast the preceding went. I was the second person in line and I was done in 5 minutes.

It was much harder to drive my car through the snow on December 10th. A rear-wheel drive 84 Mercedes 300D, doesn't always do so well in the snow. I was slipping and sliding everywhere, I also just got to court right at 9 am... The 15 minute trip to Portland took a good 40-45 minutes.

I also need to see some movies. King Kong looks ridicously awesome. Syriana very interesting, if convulted, Walk the Line looks great, and I have seen all the rest of the Potter movies. I think the movie of the week will be Rent.

Hopefully can see King Kong with the parents .... Off to Allentown, PA on Saturday to see my parents and have my wife visit their new house.

The kitty will miss us. This will also be Lanna's first christmas not with her brother.

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and Good Solstice.

Edmund Davis-Quinn

One week after NanoWrimo

One week later

It feels weird not to write so much.

I am trying to wait 2 weeks to start editing my book as Chris Baty suggests in No Plot, No Problem. .. But I miss my book ... I want to get back to it...

I signed up for National Novel Finishing Month ... http://www.nanofimo.org .... But I haven't doen anything yet...

Well I will see what it takes to get back to writing ...

I also have a major event coming up tomorrow that I will be very happy to be done with.

Also need to go to Filene's this weekend and make some money ...

It is tiring to work the holidays but so it goes .. I am not subbing near enough and need to find the next gig.

It would be nice to have a real job and not just be temping/subbing.

Edmund Davis-Quinn

Having money troubles sucks ... I should be making more money, but really don't want to do sales and don't have enough experience it seems for anything else ... Any suggestions??

The End!!!

The End
I think I have finished my book....

I might have an Epilogue in Edinburgh but not sure...I have to fill some things in too...

Here are the last few paragraphs ...

Mathilda and Timothy decided to hold each other for a few minutes, shower together, and then walk around Oxford.They kissed and then went out to the Oxford morning.

There was a story in The Independent, and a picture in the Sun, “The Magnificent Life of Timothy Higgins.” Tim and Mathilda were very happy to see them.

Tim and Math went out to breakfast outside. It was 70 outside, a little crisp and beautiful. The couple couldn’t have been happier together. They loved each other, and were blissful.

THE END


It ends very sweet ....

The final count is 55,877... barring any more filling in tomorrow ...

Its been a blast.I am considering some other projects in a few months...

One is Aviatic Park (working title) ... which is about genetically engineered birds from the military going hangwire in S. California and throughout the world.... Why would the Dep. of Defense do militarized bird research.

Another is the Magnificent Life of Mathilda Fitzgerald ... a sequel from Mathilda's perspective ... and there could be a lot others....Will be fun to see how this edits.

edmund davis-quinn

50,000 words+

I'm a Winner!!! 50,300 words With a 1,000 words today I am well past 50,000 words. I will even cross it on the Microsoft Word, Word count in 300 words ...

Of course I have been cheating with Author's notes but that doesn't add up to too much.

Lord Edmund, Mathilda and Timothy Higgins have now met. Here is my most recent excerpt ... Chapter 13, where I passed 50,000!!

Chapter 13

2:45 pm, The Fitzgerald Group, London

Wow, Tim thought, I am actually going to meet the head of the multi-billion dollar firm, Lord Edmund Fitzgerald. Even stranger I was invited by my current girlfriend, and his second wife.

He called Mathilda on the phone 45 mins ago, and she said to meet her in the lobby about right now. It was nice to be able to talk to her on his cel phone and be in reach. He wasn’t sure if this was an interview or just a discussion, he had a feeling it was both. Tim didn’t always interview well, he was sure this was going to go much better then Birmingham.

The morning had gone pretty well, the Mirror had a page 40 story saying that Math’s new love was an American, basically a repeat of the Sun story. Other news with David Beckham, George W. Bush, Tony Blair and Julia Roberts had trumped the Math Fitz story. He had a feeling this wouldn’t hold forever.

“Hi Math, nice to see you here. How do I look today.”

“Tim, you look great, give yourself two long breaths and we will go upstairs. How is your morning going so far? Nice to not be the cover story in the tabloids.”

“Sorry, I couldn’t make lunch with you, I had to eat at my desk so we could spend this time with Lord Edmund. I had more work then I thought I would, what have you been up to.”

“Well, I made it over to the British Museum for a few hours and looked at all the things the British Empire stole from the world. That place is wild. Its too bad the British Library is in that boring building though.”

“How are your feet doing?”

“Pretty good, I have been soaking them a lot. Thanks for letting me sleep in at your place for a few hours. Its nice that the tabloids are less interested too.”

Mathilda then gave Tim a kiss and said, “Well, Sir Edmund is waiting for us. He always thought the title of Prince was too much anyway.”

Tim and Mathilda went up the elevator to the 35th floor. They needed a key to get up to the executive offices, which Mathilda already had. “Tim, I love you. Be calm and you will be fine.”
When they reached the top, they saw Lord Edmund was waiting for them. It was 2:55. “Wow, Mathilda, you are a little early. This must be Timothy’s doing. You were never on time with me.”

“I assume you are Timothy Thomas Higgins… I quite like your suit. Mathilda has told me a lot about you, so try to be calm. I am Lord Edmund Fitzgerald, the Duke of Edinburgh, and ex-Prince when I was married to the Lady Quinne. The Queen didn’t like it very much when I divorced his niece.”

“Shall we go into my office.”

Mathilda whispered to Timothy, “You are doing fine so far, just keep your composure. I love you, keep smiling, and laughing and you will do great.”

Lord Edmund Fitzgerald’s office had an absolutely commanding view of the Thames and the City of London. “So what do you think of the top of this old building. When you have been in business as long as the Fairchilds and DeBeers, and other such holding companies, you accumulate some things.”

Tim thought it was like going to the British Museum again. So many amazing antiquities and early stock certificates. “Sir, I must say this is a beautiful office. And a most amazing view of the city.”

“I agree Mr. Higgins. I especially like viewing over St. Peters and the City of London. People thought we were crazy to make a 35 story building in 1890, but there are many higher buildings since.” Lord Edmund pointed to the Docklands and all the cranes building even more throughout the Eastern end of London to Greenwich. “Its quite amazing how London has grown as a banking center.”

“When I was a young lad, this was one of the higher buildings of London, and most of the financial district was near the walled City of London. Its amazing how much the financial district has grown eastward. And how much the Fitzgerald Group has made providing those loans.”

Tim couldn’t help but be impressed. Everything was immaculate, everything was perfect.

So there it is Edmund Charles Davis-Quinn ...
Novelist!

ecq

I passed it around 11:55 today here in snowy Maine.

This is quite amazing ... I am at around 50,700 now ...

Its been a blast and I still have a bit to do .. I do have around 2,282 words in author's notes ...

Check out my book blog at http://nofilterbook.blogspot.com/

ecq

p.s. I have crossed 50,000 in word too ... total current count 50,813

No words yesterday!

No words yesterday!
After my writing dynamo this month, I did no words yesterday!

Zero. If you wonder why, its because I had a full day in retail.

I was there from 9:15 to 6:15 with a one-hour lunch.

It was the "best sale of the year," meaning lots of customers.

I also desperately need to get new dress shoes, so my feet got really tired.

By the time I was home about 6:40 I watched just a bit of the Auburn-Alabama game. Auburn was leading 28-10 and won by the same score. I just wanted to lay down.

By 7:45 I went to bed. At 8:00 my mom called, it sounds like she totaled her car and now drives a 2001 Chrysler Concorde, I was barely there and just slept.

I kinda half got up at 12:30 and with the Kitty's urging at 6:00 .. but didn't really wake up until 8:20 am or so ....

I have choir at church today, and had to wake up after sleeping for more then 12 hours.

I did get 630 words in this morning though. This means even with yesterday, I only have 700 words to 45,000

...I have a lot of church today, and work retail from 4-9 tonight. I should have an hour and a half to type with the Nano Mainers at Panera ...

Hopefully that will get me over 45,000 words, and I will have some energy tonight.
I still want to pass 50,000 by Wednesday.

Edmund Davis-Quinn

p.s. I wish I could hold the return formatting when I do these blogs.

Its very frustrating ...

You can see the same posts and other book posts at http://nofilterbook.blogspot.com

42,000 words

42,000 words

I got another 1,300 words in this morning.

The book is going very well.
I also find that I find other writing easier. I am becoming a blogging fool.

I am also applying to work as a reading specialist/ed tech III in South Portland, ME school district.

I think it would be great to work with first graders and improve their reading.Wish me luck.

edmund davis-quinn