two movies and work life balance

I saw a couple of good movies this weekend, Eagle Vs. Shark, and Hot Fuzz.

I thought EVS was better, but it had a fairly mixed reaction from the crowd I saw it with. My biggest complaint would be that it was a bit too Napoleon Dynamite, or anyway that the main (male) character was going for the same qualities, and at times seemed to be channeling Napoleon. Otherwise, it was totally brilliant, and at times very much succeeded in achieving heartwarming status. There are some clips up on Youtube of Jemaine Clement (the male lead) singing and playing guitar on a stage with another guy. You should really watch the songs Albi, the Racist Dragon, and Hiphopopotamus vs. Rhymenoceros if you haven’t already. (Links via Sharyn.)

Hot Fuzz was everything I should have expected from it. I think I did a fairly good job of going into it without expectations, but if I had thought to have them, it would have met them. Basically, it was a rehashing of the same themes apparent in Shaun of the Dead, and starred the same two male characters, (for those of you living under a rock who haven’t heard of it). I’ll try not to give any spoilers here, but basically, I felt like Shaun was a zombie movie within a parody of a zombie movie. It was totally funny and awesome up until about the last fourth of the movie, when it turned into a full-on zombie movie, without reservation. Hot Fuzz was the same way! It was a parody of cop movies (buddy-cop movies, if that’s a genre), again more or less turning into an actual cop movie for the last twenty minutes or so. It was still funny, and still very much fun and original, but lacked the “genre” aspect that made Shaun so appealing for me in particular, so I’d have to say I liked it a bit less overall.

I saw Hot Fuzz last night as a sort of break in the middle of a twelve-hour work bender. (Yes, on a Saturday.) We have a big site launch this week, and everyone’s been pushing really hard to get the last few details working. (To say nothing of actually putting any finishing touches on them.) I thought yesterday may have been my longest work day ever, but when I spent an hour logging all my hours for the last week, I realized I worked about the same number last Thursday also. Whew!

I’m going to try and get a good night’s sleep tonight. I feel like i might be coming down with something, but it could also be allergies. Anyway, I’m sniffly and miserable.

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