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	11 February 2005 PHOTO DIARY. Eric (a.k.a Renfield) sent me this shirt from Tokyo a while ago. I wear it every night. It helps.   Back to main PHOTO DIARY. Aerial shots: A vast, snow-covered grid. Real crop circles.   Back to main PHOTO DIARY. "Work Faster! Relax Faster!"   Back to main PHOTO DIARY. On Monday I got on a plane at Los Angeles for a business trip... ...to Detroit, where Entertainment Publications is headquartered. Light snow dusted the ground. It was about 20-30 degrees. We bundled up... ...and arrived at the office. Miles & miles of cubes. We visited fellow designer Colby in his little office for a creative confab. The last day of the trip a big group of us went out for tapas and sangria. We drank... ...chatted... ...and got a little crazy. And then we took some awesome fake fighting pics. I clocked Josh across the jaw. And then socked Colby in the gut. Good times.   Back to main 06 February 2005 MOVIE: ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13 (2005). A skeleton crew of misfit cops defend their isolated police station from siege attacks during a blizzard on New Year's Eve. Essentially a western set in modern-day Detroit, Assault jolts us in its first few minutes with a splattering headshot and never looks back. Cranking the action level up to eleven and leaving it there is exhausting, however, and as the movie pops off its ensemble cast as easily as a boy ripping the heads off of dolls, one begins to wonder why the filmmakers even bothered. Brain-dead dialogue, plot holes, and the lack of a properly hateable villain make things worse. But the movie's core flaw is its failure to modulate tension, which you'd think would be Obvious Storytelling Technique No. 1 for a siege picture. We're left with paint-by-numbers action that could've benefited greatly from proven docudrama grit. But alas. This kind of pulp just feels instantly dated. When the cast, a cartoonish, Gilligan's Island gaggle of stereotypes (the old-skool cop, the oversexed receptionist, the sassy black woman, and so on) isn't busy urging each other to "put down the goddamn gun" over and over again, they unintentionally manage to turn a terrifying situation into a grotesquely comedic one, as when two inmates (now fighting for the Good Guys) hack away at a fallen attacker with improvised weapons as if they were Popeye and Bluto pumping a railway cart. Or when the Hotty McHotty receptionist, turned on by the gangland boss's crooning explanation of how to rip a man's trachea from his throat, seductively thumbs the hammer of her pistol. Lawrence Fishburn? John Leguizamo? Good as usual. Ethan Hawke? Not so much, but still worth rooting for anyway. After the film let out, me and Nicki tried to think of examples of good ensemble-cast cop flicks, but came up empty handed. Perhaps we should've been thinking more along the lines of The Alamo. Your eyes look kinda glazed. You been eating donuts?   Back to main Archives. 17 August 2003 — 24 August 2003 — 31 August 2003 — 07 September 2003 — 14 September 2003 — 02 November 2003 — 09 November 2003 — 16 November 2003 — 23 November 2003 — 30 November 2003 — 07 December 2003 — 01 February 2004 — 08 February 2004 — 15 February 2004 — 22 February 2004 — 29 February 2004 — 07 March 2004 — 14 March 2004 — 21 March 2004 — 28 March 2004 — 04 April 2004 — 11 April 2004 — 18 April 2004 — 25 April 2004 — 02 May 2004 — 09 May 2004 — 16 May 2004 — 23 May 2004 — 30 May 2004 — 06 June 2004 — 13 June 2004 — 20 June 2004 — 27 June 2004 — 04 July 2004 — 11 July 2004 — 18 July 2004 — 25 July 2004 — 01 August 2004 — 08 August 2004 — 15 August 2004 — 22 August 2004 — 29 August 2004 — 05 September 2004 — 12 September 2004 — 19 September 2004 — 26 September 2004 — 03 October 2004 — 10 October 2004 — 17 October 2004 — 24 October 2004 — 31 October 2004 — 07 November 2004 — 14 November 2004 — 21 November 2004 — 28 November 2004 — 05 December 2004 — 12 December 2004 — 19 December 2004 — 26 December 2004 — 02 January 2005 — 09 January 2005 — 23 January 2005 — 30 January 2005 — 06 February 2005 — 13 February 2005 — 20 February 2005 — 27 February 2005 — 13 March 2005 — 20 March 2005 — 27 March 2005 — 03 April 2005 — 10 April 2005 — 17 April 2005 — 24 April 2005 — 01 May 2005 — 08 May 2005 — 22 May 2005 — 29 May 2005 — 05 June 2005 — 12 June 2005 — 19 June 2005 — 26 June 2005 — 03 July 2005 — 10 July 2005 — 17 July 2005 — 24 July 2005 — 31 July 2005 — 07 August 2005 — 14 August 2005 — 28 August 2005 — 04 September 2005 — 25 September 2005 — 02 October 2005 — 09 October 2005 — 30 October 2005 — 06 November 2005 — 13 November 2005 — 20 November 2005 — 27 November 2005 — 04 December 2005 — 18 December 2005 — 01 January 2006 — 08 January 2006 — 15 January 2006 — 22 January 2006 — 05 February 2006 — 26 February 2006 — 12 March 2006 — 19 March 2006 — 26 March 2006 — 02 April 2006 — 16 April 2006 — 23 April 2006 — 30 April 2006 — 07 May 2006 — 14 May 2006 — 21 May 2006 — 04 June 2006 — 18 June 2006 — 25 June 2006 — 16 July 2006 — 23 July 2006 — 06 August 2006 — 13 August 2006 — 03 September 2006 — 17 September 2006 — 01 October 2006 —