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	16 June 2005 UPDATE. Slight update to the news panel design, if you haven't noticed already. It's bigger. I also finally got around to adding automatic CSS photoborders, which means you'll see double borders in some of the older posts.   Back to main 14 June 2005 MOVIE; MR. & MRS. SMITH (2005). A perfect husband and wife turn out to be rival contract killers. This flick, touted as an updated, "sexed up" True Lies, fails at every level. You're shocked and baffled, I know. How could St. Brad and Mother Angelina, the two most hyped actors on the planet, stumble? Even as they cast aside their drinkware to passionately smoosh face in some shabby-chic Colombian hotel designed by Anthropologie? And all this action--how did it manage to bore me? The houses erupting in flame, the secret underground cache of weapons, or the cartoonish cat-and-mouse domestic firefight, like War of the Roses but with far more firepower? After I blinked myself awake in time for the ending credits, I thought to myself: Wow, I haven't seen such pure Hollywood slag in a long time. Like raw sewage refined to a champagne clarity, Smith is merely a string of Hollywood cliches, all drawn without wit, suspense, or surprise. The faux savvy of Mother Angelina's sly Tomb Raider grin betrays her total lack of personality; Pixar's desk lamp has more emotion. St. Brad does the best he can to apply what he's learned from hanging around his blockbuster art-house pals Mr. Clooney and Mr. Soderbergh, barely managing to slip one or two clever words into an otherwise tightly shrinkwrapped script consisting mostly of annoying ball-and-chain banter. "Honeyyyy?!?!" Draw a bead, squeeze a trigger. Ha, ha, ha. The plot lacks sense, the characters belivable motivation, &cetera &cetera. My favorite parts, meaning my favorite parts to make fun of, were the bizarre couples-therapy sequences spoken directly to the camera a la When Harry Met Sally (but way stupider). Through these sequences Mr. & Mrs. Smith come to the obvious, boneheaded conclusion that marriage requires work. But that's not the point. The point, as we all know by now, is for us to receive instructions from tabloid headlines and then, when the weekend opens its floodgates to legions of hungry consumers, obey. -- I missed you. -- I missed you too.   Back to main 13 June 2005 PHOTO DIARY. Nicki & I were out in Newport Beach picking up some home furnishing-type stuff (been feathering the nest lately), and we ate dinner at Garlic Jo's, the first American branch of one of my favorite restaurants from my Yokohama days. Since I left my camera at home that day, I can only show you a crappy linked picture to their garlic bread, which alone makes the trip behind the orange curtain worthwhile.   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 —