Just saw Spartan, David Mamet’s new film starring Val Kilmer. It totally took me by surprise — not only the movie, but the fact it even existed. It completely flew under my radar.

I’m glad I saw it — very cerebral, Tom Clancy-esque thriller with all the usual Mamet twists and turns and double cross. Kilmer’s everyman superhero is fun to watch, to me he embues a personality that sometimes escapes Mamet leading men (like Campbell Scott in spanish prisoner — a tad wooden, don’tchathink?).

I think there were more twists in this one than Heist and Spanish Prisoner combined — practically every scene is loaded with a surprise. What’s interesting though is that the central message of the film, if there is one, isn’t the usual “You Can’t Trust Anyone” that seems to result from all the double crosses. There’s a resonating theme of the reward of loyalty and truthfulness. Valor, or Val-or. Sure, it’s undercut by the never ending cycle of backstabbers, but the few who stay true are the heroes of the film.

Go see it, wait out the first 15 minutes or so until your brain wraps around the dialogue and plot, and enjoy…

We’ve Completed The Big Move, to our lovely new apartment. The amazing thing is how spacious it feels even after all our crap was moved in.

I just set up my computer, and my desk is now stained a lovely pecan color, which is nice. Still a lot of work to do, but the biggest drag right now is the fact that my high-speed internet connection is, well, nonexistant. I’m connecting right now through my cell phone, which is slow as BM, but it works. Dial up speeds (slower, really), welcome back! Time warner says February 24 (9 days and counting) before they can set it up, but I’m hoping I can get some strings pulled with some people I know.

Anyway, I’ll post pictures soon…

it’s midnight and it’s still snowing, 36 hours later….

Click for bigger.

Here’s the first round of pix of the new scoot.

Click to enlarge:

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Today I’m adjusting to the fact that my bicycle was stolen yesterday. Total bummer. I left it unlocked for about 15 minutes in a client’s stairwell, and when I came back downstairs it was gone. The really sad thing is that it’s probably someone somewhere in the building; it wasn’t like it was on the street or anything.

I walked around the neighborhood yesterday with my eyes open but saw nothing. It’s weird, every single bike I see — and there’s a lot of them — is potentially mine.

Here’s a pic of the bike:

It’s last year’s model. The new ones aren’t nearly as cool.

It was a gift from my dad. 🙁 The stupid thing is that I had my chain with me (the $100 kryptonite lifetime guarantee chain and lock!). Doesn’t do much good in your backpack.

I don’t know, maybe one of these days it’ll turn up on Bedford Ave. In the meantime, it’s not helping my desire for a vespa…

Where were you when the Blackout of 2003 hit? I suspect it will be a question on everyone’s mind for, oh, let’s say the next week or so. I happened to be working at Mikey’s Hookup when the lights dimmed and our computers shuddered, and then finally gave up. For a good 10 minutes the lights just flickered before fully giving up the ghost, at which point everyone just sort of headed outside to see what was going on…
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