rasputin and the empress movie

this morning I watched another DVD movie, 'Rasputin and the empress', starring three actors named Barrymore- john, lionel, and ethel. lionel played Rasputin. I was largely unfamiliar with who he was for a while, but pop culture references got me curious. this included 'closer to fine' by the indigo girls, as the song mentions 'poster of rasputin'. and there was a song from Wii dancing as well. there were some fictional characters in this movie, according to the opening credits. it is a black and white movie from the 1930s. hard to know what to say about it other than it covers his life when he was most famous, and this is what other bio-pics do. so it covers when he heals the czar's son, and then ends shortly after he is murdered. I probably learned something from watching this movie, trying to think of what that would be.
    I went back to Walgreen in the afternoon after applying for more jobs. I said I was back as there was just two icons on the disc, and there was to be more than 20 that I planned on posting to facebook. so the employee that knows me got it done for me. I found out he was from out-state (or greater) Minnesota, north of the twin cities, from the white earth reservation. it was in reference to me saying I was from a small town and got to know it well due to delivering pizza.
   also notable was doing more maintenance on facebook. I cleaned out some photos, and I have done it before. if they appeared to be redundant or had no likes then I am more likely to delete them. I added some after getting the disc, and got some likes already. it was mostly people I had performed with recently, as well as seeing a friend perform at the state fair. one of those added was from my uncle's funeral in june and my cousin said it was tough that she no longer got regular calls from her parents, she said it was daily. in the evening I went to sing at a karaoke bar and did 'praying' by kesha. it was a little bit of a wait to go sing as I ended up being part of the final hour of the night.

pretty village, pretty flame movie

this morning was another DVD movie, 'pretty village pretty flame', about the war in the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s. what caught my eye when sifting through the titles was seeing a confederate flag on it. this was a story about longtime friends that became enemies during the Bosnian war in 1992. they co-owned a car repair shop. there is also back-story that goes back to the time of comrade tito, in 1980. and there is an American journalist that is part of the story. much of the movie takes place in a tunnel, where a siege is happening. as a stage performer, it meant something to me when one of them spoke of being a heroin addict before the war began. then he tells jokes on the walkie-talkie to the opposing army. I know that some performers are drug addicts.
   I spent time at Walgreen doing a photo order, except it wasn't done right, and it was delayed. not sure what to do now. in the evening I went to sing at the karaoke bar. I did 'guitars and cadillacs' by Dwight yoakam, and 'i will buy you a new life' by everclear.

real women have curves movie

I watched another DVD from the library this morning, 'real women have curves', starring America ferrera. I liked her passionate character in it, including how she was willing to talk back to her impossible mom. I like a good 'coming of age' story. some of it was subtitled, but not a big deal to me. I think this was the same movie that I saw available, for sale, at a grocery store a while back. not sure why I didn't buy it but thankful I finally saw it. much of the story takes place in a dress factory that her character calls a 'sweatshop'. I am trying to think about what else to say about the movie without giving some 'spoilers', although it appears to be from 2002, so it has been out for a while. I liked hearing how it was based on a play, I know some movies are inspired by plays. it seemed to be an HBO original movie, which might explain why I hadn't heard much about it for a while as I don't have cable TV.
   it was a busy day for me, as I decided to go the state fair in the afternoon. the weather report was favorable, so I said it was time to go. I liked being able to take a bus there. first thing I did was find the place selling pork chops on a stick, but I had to wade through a parade that was happening. I liked getting plenty of photos of it though. and it was nice to find another snoopy statue, looks like it was donated by somebody. I hadn't found many in recent years, after finding over a hundred on a project I was doing with somebody I once dated. I made some other typical stops, such as the fine arts building. I like seeing all of the art there, and voting on what is my favorite. it was a lunch counter scene, three men with their butt-cracks showing. and the lady next to them was filing her nails. I also did the 'punch card' where I found the 12 historic sites at the fair. I liked the prize, it was some postcards. although it led to an 'altercation' after I picked them up. another employee was taking photos, so I did one. I asked if I was attending with anyone, I said no. I spoke of being 'bad at love', and it sadly, eventually led to them siding in with my dates that had 'ghosted' me. WOW! there was an attempt to backtrack, but it was too late. I said 'BYE!' and left. I was headed to see a comedy friend perform. the Wisconsin couple was there, and while performing he sometimes spoke of his wife, who he said was in the crowd. I liked seeing both after the show, she found a friend there. I had been walking a lot before the comedy show, so some time sitting was welcome. there wasn't much left on my list after that. I picked up some buttons at the WCCO-TV booth, and did the giant 'carpet slide'. then it was back on the bus, and home.
  I made it to my typical open-mic of the night, and I spoke about being at the fair. a lady who hadn't seen me perform correctly guessed that I am a comic, which was a little odd.

ponchao movie

i watched the second of two DVD movies on loan from the library, it was 'ponchao', a baseball movie. it was in Spanish, with English subtitles. the setting was the Dominican republic. I recognized pedro Martinez and david Ortiz having cameos in it. this was a comedy, but at times was a complicated story with multiple sub-plots. since I love baseball, I am thankful I saw it. when I returned the two movies I had I got two more. but at first there was a problem with checkout, the label said 'check out at front desk' instead of self-checkout. so I put it back and got a different movie.
   I had another appointment with my job coach this afternoon, and the first half was doing a mock interview with his boss, something I had wanted for a while. I was on the phone with another agency, actually another rep of the same agency. then I performed in the evening, near the end of the lineup. when I arrived the lot was full, so I paid for parking for an hour and thankfully a spot opened by then. so then I had less of a sense of urgency about the meter that would expire, and how much longer to pay for parking.

paper towns movie

I watched another DVD on loan from the library, 'paper towns'. I was drawn to it after seeing that it is a 'coming of age' story, and a road movie, especially the latter. although I will have to admit that it is a weird story. the main character is an enigma, sometimes will disappear for a while. then she appears and decides she needs help on a 'revenge mission', then disappears again. but the guy that helps her still pines for her, and wants to find her before prom. so this is what leads to the 'road movie' part. it works on some level. for one thing, learning the term 'paper towns'. along with mention of woody Guthrie, and a song that name-checks walt Whitman. at first I said the actress playing the enigmatic girl looked a lot like the lead actress in 'the duff' but I checked IMDB and it's not the same actress. there did not appear to be any big-name actors in it, but I don't require that as I care more about the story than name recognition. it explains why I often go see 'art films' such as the ones at the lagoon in uptown Minneapolis.
   not much to report on the job front. near the end of the typical workday I got a call from an agency, but they wanted to low-ball me on the wages so I turned them down. I get tired of having to haggle over wages, and asked them not to waste my time. in the evening I found a movie on TV that I probably hadn't seen since it was at theaters, it was 'not without my daughter', starring sally field. I was able to watch all of it and then go to the open-mic I normally perform at. I spoke of the movie when I was performing, and I was the last one of the night before the show runner sings 'rainbow connection'. usually there is a Kermit the frog doll there as well, but the lady who brings it left early. she had a miss piggy doll this time to go with Kermit, and she even sang this time. it was a love song, and there was mention of how it was an anniversary of meeting the man that became her husband. usually she just stays in the crowd.

manila in the claws of light movie

I watched the other movie on loan from the library around midday, 'manila in the claws of light'. of course the title drew me to it, since I would still like to visit the Philippines someday. it was released in 1975, and is about a young man from the provinces trying to find his girlfriend in manila. he takes a job as a construction worker, and eventually finds her. it shows the seedy side of life in this city, including brothels. I recognized many of the brand names on neon signs in the background, some of them American. I also recognized what was rizal memorial park. he was the national hero, a man became a martyr when he tried to rally the people for independence from spain. there was a scene in a catholic church, and some Christmas songs being sang as well. there were plenty of jeepneys shown, my former boss had said to me before that they are everywhere there. I found out 'jitney', at one point in the subtitles, is essentially the same. there was plenty of special features as well. disc one was the movie itself and an introduction by martin Scorsese, a well-known director but he did not direct this movie. disc two had all of the special features, including  the making of the film, and a documentary with the director. he spoke of what it was like living there during the marcos regime, who was considered to be a dictator. I do recall the news coverage when marcos stepped down in 1986, replaced by Corazon aquino. there was also a review by a movie critic, and it said this director was known for directing what would be considered 'soap operas' often before doing a film like this one. apparently it is a big thing to make films based off comic books that aren't superheroes. I think these are now called 'graphic novels'- and these are often considered to be 'soap operas'.
   I made it back to the library just before closing time to return both movies, and got two more. I also watched two 'simpsons' episodes. one was about living in feudal times, of course it made me think of attending the renaissance festival. it was funny to me on some level to see a lion that was trying to give them religious literature, I am sure it has some kind of real meaning if it is being parodied on this show. I actually said 'satire' more than once when watching these episodes tonight, as I do recognize satire and enjoy it a lot. I like using that word more than 'parody'. the other one I had seen before, it was when lisa went to see a student therapist and was advised to do something creative. it became 'sad girl', a graphic novel. I knew I had seen it once I saw the live theater version of it, which was a disaster.
   I also did more with my comedy souvenir binders, since I had more sheet protectors, got them on sale from Walgreen this week. it meant getting the last of what I had from the fringe festival in its special binder. it was time as the festival ended two weeks ago. I got the other items into the fourth of my main binder. then I got the dishes done before watching the 10pm news. I am paying attention to the weather report as I want to attend the state fair this week.

mail order wife movie

i returned both DVDs to the library and got two more. I watched one of them already, this evening. it was 'mail order wife'. it started out looking like a documentary but when there were outtakes and seeing an excerpt from a review saying 'satire' I knew not to take it too seriously. it was about a new Yorker getting a mail order bride from Burma, and this movie was released in 2004, I know this nation has a different name now. and then it becomes a love triangle. at one point it moves to Miami, and baseball player jose Canseco appears as himself. I will admit that I hadn't seen anything like it before.
   the big news of the day was the death of senator john McCain of Arizona. it has been a fairly big news week, with iowa student mollie tibbetts being found dead. I saw some people post about McCain and hopefully people are going to be respectful. but I still reserve the right to de-friend people if need be. I cut three people from my friend list this weekend, as I realized that I just hadn't heard from them that much lately. even with the cuts I have been doing, I still have more friends on that site than my college roommate, the one working in japan. he sent me the invite to join. but I also know it is a 'necessary evil' to do social media when one is a performer. I have still cut more than a hundred people in the past two and a half years.
    I also cut back on comedy-related facebook pages, from five to three. I looked at the number of members- and how many friends were on those pages- and those with the smallest number were cut. I added a few pages, related to doing a search on emerson hough. we all know mr. hough was why I started this blog. one of those added was the museum in my hometown. I noticed the article in the alumni magazine wasn't entirely accurate, but it was also from 2004 and there has been more websites such as IMDB since then. it proves that the number of movies inspired by his books is more than four. I have the posters to prove it, having six.
   I made it to the karaoke venue tonight, as usual. it was a thinner crowd than typical, explaining why I got three songs in. I did 'long time gone' by dixie chicks, 'don't let me get me' by pink, and 'hey there delilah' by plain white t's. I like doing the stop for a small grocery order at cub foods after I am done, on my way home. at first it was just for two TV dinners, something I can't find at aldi, but now I am getting a can of spaghetti there as well, instead of at a dollar store.