Rescue Dawn

On Tuesday, August, 28, 2007, I went to see the movie Rescue Dawn, featuring Christian Bale.

The story is based on the real-life tale of Dieter Dengler (of course, not all real), who was on a classified mission during the Vietnam War. His plane was shot down however, and he was taken as a prisoner. In the film, they show that Dengler was the mastermind who formulated an escape plan, and then his struggle in the woods.

Of course, many events were fictionalized for this film, so you have to see this film for the value of a drama.

I did a bit of research on Dieter Dengler after seeing the movie, and stumbled across the site: www.rescuedawnthetruth.com

It is interesting to read about what really happened after seeing a relatively poorly adapted film. Though I believe Christian Bale did a great job as an actor in this movie.

Indira Restaurant

Today, I went to the Indira restaurant, situated at 4295 St. Denis for their lunch buffet, which is $7.99 + tax. This is an Indian restaurant, so the buffet at lunch would be an Indian buffet. This is a competitor to the Bombay restaurant, which is situated also on St. Denis, but close to Ontario street.

I've discovered an Indian restaurant with good food and good service, I have discovered an Indian restaurant with bad food and bad service, I have discovered an Indian restaurant with good food and bad service, and now, I can say I have found one that completes the list - a restaurant that has average food (It wasn't bad - it was average, but compared to what I have had, it's bad) and good service.

The food at the buffet did not have enough kick... It was very, very bland for Indian food. I guess they were catering to tourists and Quebecois Montrealers who do not know what real authentic Indian food tastes like. I am not an Indian food connoisseur, but I know nicely spiced Indian food vs. blandly spiced Indian food. I mean, I don't go into an Indian restaurant and ask for about 30 chili peppers because I like things supremely hot, but I do enjoy a bit of kick.

This restaurant was voted by users of www.restaurant.ca to be the #1 Indian restaurant in Montreal. Well, I can say that I don't agree. But that's the thing with internet website surveys, you have some people who do go to the website and put their opinion, and some who don't.

Indira also suffers from the Bombay syndrome... They say their buffet closes at 2:00 p.m., but they start turning people away at about 1:10 p.m.. Also, they do not have a good selection. I don't expect much for $7.99, but they had less selection than Bombay.

Metro lady galore...

On Saturday, August 25, 2007, I was on the blue line in the Montreal metro system, and I heard two "attention" messages within five minutes of each other. I was at Station St. Michel, and there was an electrical outage on the blue line, when I talked to the ticket seller, it was between St. Michel and Snowdon, but when I heard the message, it was between Parc and Snowdon.

So, what I heard was: "Dun dun dun dun... Attention: Une panne d'éléctricité nous oblige à interrompre le service, pour une durée indeterminée, sur la ligne bleue entre les stations Snowdon et Parc. Attention: Service interrompu, pour une durée indeterminée, sur la ligne bleue entre les stations Snowdon et Parc. D'autres messages suiveront."

Translation in English: Attention: An electrical outage forces us to interrupt service for an undetermined period of time on the blue line, between Snowdon and Park stations. Attention: Service interruption, for an undetermined period of time on the blue line, between Snowdon and Park stations. Other messages will follow.

And then, it was followed by, within about two minutes: "Dun dun dun dun... Attention: Un incident nous oblige à intrrompre le service, pour une durée indeterminée, sur la ligne verte entre les stations Lionel-Groulx et Berri-UQAM. Attention: Service interrompu, pour une durée indeterminée, sur la ligne verte entre les stations Lionel-Groulx et Berri-UQAM. D'autres messages suiveront." (This is due to the big structural damage/cave in thing at McGill metro station.

Translation in English: Attention: An incident forces us to interrupt service for an undetermined period of time on the green line, between Lionel-Groulx and Berri-UQAM stations. Attention: Service interruption, for an undetermined period of time on the green line, between Lionel-Groulx and Berri-UQAM stations. Other messages will follow.

Of course, the bus drivers also don't really know what's happening with the shuttle buses either. There's a shuttle bus service for the green line stations between Lionel-Groulx and Berri-UQAM, because the metro is shut down during that part for the entire weekend. The STM website and the Autobus phone line say that the shuttle buses run on Ste. Catherine street and Rene Levesque street (going east and west), but the drivers don't know where the buses stop... One driver stated that the shuttle buses (even though they drive on Rene Levesque) stop at the stations. So, we're the second day into the crisis, and I personally don't know how to get onto these shuttle buses...

3 P'tit Cochons (3 Little Pigs)

On Tuesday, August 21, 2007, I went to see the film 3 P'tit Cochons (3 Little Pigs - translated title in English). This is a Quebecois film featuring Patrick Huard (he played the Quebecois cop in Bon Cop, Bad Cop) as a first time director.

The story is about three brothers, Rémi, Martin and Christian (listed in order of oldest to youngest), and what happens when two of the three brothers cheat on their wives. The story is told sort of in all three perspectives, and we live out what happens to the first brother, and then the second brother. We find out that one of them intends to cheat when they are all sitting in their mother's hospital room, because she's there, after suffering a faint and a concussion.

Fidelity and love play a key role in this film, and sometimes, it's a good thing, and sometimes, it's not a good thing. There were also funny moments in this movie too, and those were also nice... The role of marriage, communication and what it means to be happy in a relationship are all questioned in this film... There is also a curve ball at the end, something that happens that I totally did not expect to happen. And in my opinion, the end is the best part of the movie.

Previously, on Passions...

I just need to get this out of my system and I'm not going to care anymore.

All names with an asterisk * have been changed.

There are new developments in the *Raoul, *Rupert and *Haros. I don't give a crap anymore. I'm just going to vent and get this out of my system, and I'm not going to care.

Last night, Rupert called Raoul to chat. At this point, Raoul was going to dump Rupert and was going to pursue a relationship with Haros. However, Haros could be leaving in as soon as a month, so Raoul thought that this was not a worthwhile pursuit.

The long and the short is: Raoul is going to go to with Rupert for a two week trip to Vancouver (by car). Raoul also told Rupert what was happening, and how he was "with Haros". Rupert was initially upset, but has decided that after Haros leaves, that Rupert would take Raoul back.

And Raoul also decided that if Rupert didn't call him last night, he would "talk to Rupert's sister" about him (and thus Rupert) being gay because his reasoning was that he is tired of lying and being something that he is not, and wanted to come clean with Rupert's sister. I tried to persuade Raoul to not "out" Rupert, because even though he apparently attempted to cheat on Raoul, he does not deserve to be outed. Rupert will come out whenever he's ready, and if he's never ready, then he's never ready, and his potential partner has to deal with that.

And luckily, this has been avoided, because as stated Rupert decided to take Raoul back.

As another friend said regarding the Raoul-Rupert-Haros triangle, "Great... A relationship based on lies and cheating."

Why do people who are not ready for relationships have them coming out of the wazoo, and then people who are ready for relationships, it's tumbleweed city for them?

I think I'm still going to keep my slut-fund going though. It's a great way to save money.

Stardust

On Tuesday, August 14, 2007, I went to see the movie Stardust, starring Michelle Pfeiffer, Robert de Niro, Claire Danes, and a multitude of other stars.

The story is about a King of a fictitious country, who is on his deathbed. He instructs that his surviving sons to retrieve his pendant. On his pendant, there is a gem, and only someone of noble blood can change the colour of it. (The colour fades from red to clear as he chucks it out the window). This causes it to knock a star (Claire Danes) out of the sky.

And apparently, the heart of a fallen star is just what witches need to regain their youth. So, three witches set out to try and trap the fallen star and cut out her heart.

Also, at the same time, the surviving brothers are trying to find the pendant, so they become the new king...

A wonderful fantasy tail, with a very powerful performance by Robert de Niro... He plays an in the closet captain. He was utterly hilarious!

A fun film to watch, not dramatic, but fantasy and funny.

Bombay - Part II

So, I discovered how the Indian buffet place with the bad service works:

2:00 p.m. - buffet closes;
1:45 p.m. - buffet is emptied out, and customers are politely asked to leave by 2:00 p.m.;
1:00 p.m. (ish) - last addition of food to the buffet;

During this time, they will not add more food to the buffet, and if you arrive between 1:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m., they show you what is in the buffet, and they tell you that no more food will be added.

They lost about six customers between the time when I sit down to the time when they closed, because they didn't add more food to the buffet. Even if they decided to ask small amounts, they would have been able to keep these customers. I guess they do not need the business...

Bourne Ultimatum

Today, I went to see the movie Bourne Ultimatum. The third part in the series of Jason Bourne. I haven't read the books, and I didn't see the second one. Or if I did, I did not recall it. So, before the movie started, I read the spoiler to refresh my memory, and then I saw the third one.

The story starts off where the second one leaves off... Jason Bourne has been injured in the shoulder, his girlfriend has been assassinated. He's trying to get answers to who he was, etc.

But almost everyone in the FBI thinks that he is a threat, and want him dead. However, one of the people on the team doesn't think so, but she doesn't have all the authority, so she usually gets ruled out by the jackass dude who is trying to cover things up by murdering Bourne.

This was a good action flick. I know that it's supposed to be science fiction, but it was a very good action flick. We also learn the value of not letting your nerves get the best of you, as demonstrated by one of the characters being sniped to death at Waterloo station. He would have lived if he listened to Jason Bourne.

It got a bit confusing, since there were a lot of places and you had to remember who was where and at what time. I may read the book, but I don't know if the book will be as confusing as the movie.

Becoming Jane

On Tuesday, August 7, 2007, I went to see the film Becoming Jane, featuring Anne Hathaway, Maggie Smith, and James McAvoy.

The movie is based on the life of Jane Austen, and how she gets the inspiration for Pride & Prejudice.

Anne Hathaway does another good job at portraying a character. I don't know Jane Austen in person, but I believe that she acted very well in this movie. And it's always a pleasure to see Maggie Smith in action!

James McAvoy was cute, but I haven't seen any of the stuff he's in... He was the doctor in The Last King of Scotland, but I haven't seen that. He was okay too, more eye candy though, as he had these nice blue eyes.

The critics didn't like this film. The overall rating was "rotten" on rottentomatoes.com, but Roger Ebert liked this film, and I find that his and my tastes coincide.

A nice family film, or a drama for a date or a romantic getaway. Or, a nice chick flick with the girls.

He sure gets around...

All names marked with an asterisk have been changed.

I have yet another blog about my army friend *Raoul, the same one who was having boy troubles. And the same one who convinced *Allan to join the Canadian forces.

Let us put just a bit of history up now, to remind you all what happened. Raoul has a boyfriend, *Rupert, who is a bit younger than him, in the closet, etc. etc. Rupert is at camp for about seven weeks out west in Canada, so Raoul is just hanging out, and talking to Rupert whenever he can.

Raoul was doubting about his relationship with Rupert, because he found records of Rupert trying to cheat on him by some messages that he saw. When Raoul confronted Rupert about it, Rupert denied his claim vehemently.

At this point of their "relationship", I actually am on Raoul's side, because he's such a nice guy, and doesn't deserve to be cheated on. And after Raoul has had many talks with some of his friends, and also happening to meet a hot Jewish boy, he was going to dump Rupert.

However, things with the hot Jewish boy didn't quite come together as planned, Raoul wanted more than just a fling, but the hot Jewish boy didn't, so that didn't quite work out. And thus, Raoul decided to "take Rupert back".

I didn't quite like this decision, but it is his to make and not mine. Therefore, all I really could do was just be by him and give him a shoulder for support if/when things went awry.

This is all kind of a bit of background intertwined with a bit of development before the major blowing over (à la soap opera).

Yesterday, Sunday, August 5, 2007, Raoul was being called many times by Rupert's sister, who recently had an abortion. She's 16, her family is not overly open about unwed mothers, she's really not in any position to have a baby, since well, she can't really have it without getting big, and if she got big, well, then her mother would know. So, Raoul was dealing with all this unnecessary drama. The nice thing though, is that the sister decided to do something nice and treat Raoul and me to a DQ treat. This is Rupert's sister's second abortion in six months... But that is an entirely different issue altogether...

And it doesn't stop here... After the DQ treat, Raoul and I meet Allan for dinner. After, we were supposed to go to this Pierre Lapointe concert with the Orchestre Metropolitain de Montreal as part of the Francofolies. We were also supposed to meet other friends of mine, but they went to another concert instead.

We leave the concert early, Raoul and Allan decide to grab a coffee, and then they decide to go to Taboo. (Gay strip bar - barely legal dudes). Me, not being a fan of strip clubs, especially of barely legal/jail bait ones, decided not to go and meet up with the friends who were at the other concert.

Raoul never came home last night. He went to Taboo, and then later I found out he went to a karaoke bar for a bit, and then he met this hot Czech dude named *Haros, and went all the way with him... Spent the night, did stuff, etc.

So now, Raoul has cheated (at least in my eyes) on Rupert, although Rupert didn't really quite score high on my book in fidelity either.

And Raoul wants to take Haros to come to sushi with me and my friend...

I swear, if I have to deal with any more drama in the next couple of days, I'm going to kill somebody.

I believe with all that has happened in the past day and a bit... Some soap opera writer will have a field day, and a gold mine full of ideas.

Pirates of the Caribbean 3: At World's End

On Tuesday, July 31, 2007, I went to see the film Pirates of the Caribbean 3: At World's End. Now, I know that this film did not get stellar reviews from the critics, in fact, it was rated as rotten on rottentomatoes.com. However, I still wanted to see the film to see how it ended, as I saw the first two.

And I found that the critics were too harsh on it. I enjoyed it, I believe that it wrapped things up very nicely. There were some clever lines, and some clever things planned that actually made sense scientifically.

The film starts off with Keira Knightley rowing a boat in the waters of Singapore, and then we are introduced to Chow Yun Fat, who plays the Lord of the South Seas, in Singapore. He actually gets a lot of air time in the movie, and of course, he chews his character very well.

During the movie, we also discover more secrets regarding the fortune teller, whom we figure out is Calypso, and the history of Davy Jones', and whom he loved, etc. We also discover that the Flying Dutchmen, a ship that is commanded by Davy Jones', which lives underwater, has teamed up with the East India Trade Company, and they are ridding the seas of all pirates.

Overall, this was a fun film, with lots of action, good humour, good lines, and daring sword fights. Sure, this is very typical of a Hollywood film, and perhaps a wee bit over budget than what we saw, but it was fun. I believe that the critics really need to lighten up.

I haven't seen Shrek 3, but I believe Pirates 3 was leaps and bounds better than Spiderman 3.