Mall Cop correct once again:
Movies Watched -- Sorry We Missed You (2019)
101 minute running time … this is more poor white English trash porn from Ken Loach … Loach a specialist in this stuff. You see they weren’t always poor and awful, they were good, honest, respectable, upstanding white people who have now sunk so low as to become delivery men of Amazon packages (if male) and caregivers for the old and retarded (if female). This is so depressing that you want to slit your wrists after watching it. Who on God’s green earth watches this stuff for entertainment? Hard pass!
(That said, young Ken Loach made one of the greatest movies of all time, “Kes.”)
Don’t do it, Dad
Movies Watched -- Lord of War (2006)
121 minute running time, but felt like an eternity … great opening sequence and then it all went downhill from there … Nic Coppola has a certain charm, but this movie was all over the place, sort of like it was made by a committee, and it ended with endless talking … there was some promise in parts, but ultimately terrible. You can give it a miss, I should have….
Ann Hornaday got it right: “… the filmmaker relies too heavily on a didactic, epigrammatic script; Yuri doesn't talk or relate to other characters, but simply delivers a series of rules and apercus that could have resulted from a collaboration between Hunter Thompson and Oscar Wilde. ‘Lord of War’ has a hip, gonzo energy to it and it's often transfixing to watch and listen to. But it's finally just as empty as the man it's about.”
Nicely staged shot
Phil D. Gap's Companion, Tess D. High
Walter Deemer coined the term “Phil D. Gap,” and I would like to be credited with coining Phil’s companion, "Tess D. High.” Understanding both the ideas that these funny names represent is important if you’re serious about trading.
… to be continued
Stardust Pipeline
My terminally hip buddy Wendell recommended this Junk to me, I dig this one:
My Zippo Collection -- Sunburst
I recently mentioned that I had acquired another deeply engraved Zippo (non-Armor) from the early 2000s that reminded me of my “Sunburst” Zippo (model 20378?), which is pictured below. It is date-stamped A 03 (January 2003).
I’m really interested in the handful of Zippos that were deeply engraved prior to the release of the Armor series. If you are an expert on Zippo history or know anyone who is, I’d love to hear from you! Here are the two pictured together.
Movies Watched -- Blood Diamond (2006)
143 minute running time … a full HOUR too long, this was at once too complicated and too facile, too unrealistic, too violent, too political, too preachy … Leo’s accent was ridiculous … I watched 20 minutes and then went to 8x ffwd which wasn’t nearly fast enough … this is a movie that I would have walked out of if I still went to movies in the theater (which I haven’t done for at least 20 years)… as Stephanie Zacharek wrote, “… should Zwick really be using a glorified action movie to scold us?“
Jennifer Connelly patented head cock pose
Give Away Your Love
Brandi Carlile with Most of All … she didn’t grow up in Beverly Hills like Bonnie Raitt did … I dig it:
Movies Watched -- Soul Kitchen (2009)
In German. 99 minute running time. A German comedy, which is a contradiction in terms … well, there were some funny bits, but I wasn’t thrilled with this. This was another John Farr recommendation which missed the mark. “This zany farce serves up hilarity in generous portions,“ oh, spare me, John.
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Latest Additions to Zippo Collection
As my dozen loyal readers know, I am a fan of Zippo lighters, specifically Zippo “Armor” lighters which have a thicker case (1.5x) and a more substantial feel with the added weight. I don’t like Zippos that have an emblem glued on them or any printed designs; I only like the ones with a deep carved case which the thicker Armor case is especially good for, though it is possible to find non-Armor deeply engraved cases such as the middle two below.
These are recent additions to my collection:
This Zippo Armor is date-stamped J 04 (October 2004) and has a dragonfly engraving with the head of the dragonfly represented by a green Swarovski crystal inlay. I’ve never seen this Zippo Armor before, so it may be a very early prototype that had a limited production run, but that’s just a guess.
This is Model 20445 “Turquoise Bear Claw,” date-stamped L 02 (November 2002) … this is not a Zippo Armor, but the case itself is engraved and has a turquoise stone inlay, which I like … this is a .925+ Heavy Silver Plate (electroplated with 99.9% pure silver), which means that whoever had it before me scratched the hell out of it through fierce polishing, but that’s OK, it’s still a beauty. Also the descriptive term “bear claw” is one that we use in my short selling circle.
Date-stamped C 02 (March 2002) .. this is also not an Armor but it is deeply engraved and has a brass finish … I have another called “Sunburst,” which was offered in the 2003 Choice catalog in Europe (?) and is very similar to this though it has a circular design. I’ll post a picture of it separately.
This is an Armor, date-stamped C 04 (March 2004), which I’ve never seen before… again like the dragonfly above I suspect this was some kind of prototype design … it gives me a real Keith Haring vibe that I love … this one is a real treasure.