September 22, 2000 — But it's just a tribute

I don't like it when I'm watching a movie and I start to realize that a more recent movie stole bits and pieces from it and that I didn't know this when I saw the more recent movie. I don't believe for a second that it's paying tribute to the makers of the original film -- it means you don't have enough good ideas, is what it means. Or that's my rush-to-judgement thought of the moment, anyways.

Case one. "Leon: The Professional." This is the one I watched with Johnston tonight (with bass that shook the entire floor and was audible from the stairs, apparently), and the similarities it had with "The Matrix" were uncanny. Think, "What elements of this scene did the Wachowski brothers like?" each and every second of the movie and watch as the similarities build up. It could be like a drinking game (however it is that those work). To get you started: Leon sets off an alarm at a federal building metal detector and nonchalantly whacks a couple of guards. Later on, he helps Matilda escape inside a wall down the side of the building, but stays behind himself. There are others, but y'know, just to get you started.

Case two. "Darkman." My dad pointed these out to me, as I hadn't seen the movie and he rented it on one of his I-think-I'll-rent-a-bad-eighties-movie-since-it's-cheaper days. Not that I objected to this -- it was more my sister and my mother who were less keen on seeing "Darkman" on their Friday night. But I digress; the point is, "Misson:Impossible" and "M:I 2" both steal liberally from "Darkman," if you ask me. The masks in the first and second "M:I" movies had definite "Darkman" leanings, and the helicopter scene in the first movie has a counterpart in "Darkman." But things really get fun in the second episode, when the cigar cutter thingy (I'm guessing that's not the technical term for the device) and its use are a definite reference to "Darkman," along with an important scene involving masks and Tom Cruise's escape toward the end of the movie.

I'm sure all the movie nerd sites have epic rantings about things like these, but it bothers me when the similarities are so blatant that even I notice.

So back to my day. Breakfast. Chemistry. Change of meal plan to twelve a week. No BME t-shirt in the mail. A lot of www.x-entertainment.com reading. ICQ.

The usual, really. Except for x-entertainment. I'd never realized how brilliant a site it was until today. Kim, the one kid in Middle House that Johnston and I seem to get along with, dropped by our room with her boyfriend, Ryan, and they ended up staying for quite awhile as we watched He-Man and Ninja Turtles cartoons from the aforementioned Web site. I have an aching suspicion that Kim might have been a little bored by the end.

Ryan has a love for Apple computers that I can appreciate, and a knowledge of music that Johnston can appreciate, so we got along well.

Did I mention that I remembered the name of April's best friend on Ninja Turtles immediately even though I hadn't seen it in years and years? I think my memory's coming back! Or maybe I'm destined to only be able to remember the names of minor characters on eighties TV shows and to never again be able to do my old-skool one-hour study panic for an exam (and still do well). Not that I don't intend to try...

Anyways, not much else happened. I talked to Ian from Grand Royal last night. He was featured on news.com yesterday in relation to the AIMazing (not a pun on my part; this is the name of the program) hack for AIM. Since I get all my news from the Internet these days, this impressed me more than, say, the olympics did. Maybe I need to look at my priorities, and my sources of news. Maybe.

This is getting pretty epic, and I don't really have anything else to say. I added my sister to my ICQ list yesterday, which is kind of nice to be able to do now that I'm sure she knows about anti-greg and all. I can pretend to be an asshole all I like, but I have to admit that I do miss talking to her. She claims that she doesn't actually read my journal, so I can pretend I can get away with saying that without being humiliated for my lack of sibling rivalry. Realistically, though, a certain person whose name rhymes with "Nathan" will tell her even if she doesn't read it herself.

And on that note (an in-joke few of you will get), I'll call it a night. I'll make a note to get that "cast" page finished, too, so that the in-jokes will become less on the "in" side of the fence.

But wait: two other things came to mind while reading this over a second time. One: going to Honest Ed's with Pat and Pat from Ryerson was a terrifying experience. My eyes have seen too many holographic Jesus clocks for several lifetimes and may need to be removed with a rusty spoon. Two: Matt McKeough's little brother, Mark, emailed me about life at St. Mark, and to ask for anti-greg stickers. I'm going to have to visit my old TAG class when I get the chance.

Okay, I'm done for real this time. Promise.