Though I’ve been maintaining my at-least-once-a-month posting schedule, I have fallen behind in a few areas. Worry not, however—more Pizza Quest updates will be coming soon.
I haven’t been getting out too much, lately, which has been pretty good for my thesis research. I have been also bashing my head at working on a draft for a journal article that is due in a month. A month seems like a long time, but this is turning out to be a long article and I can only hope that I have enough actual results to finish it off by then.
I have also been applying and interviewing for jobs, and have recently accepted an offer! (I do not wish to go into any greater detail until I actually start, as I am pessimistic enough to believe it is not impossible that something could still go wrong.) Among the many benefits this that this job offers—interesting experience, pay bills, etc.—I am perhaps most looking forward to having a bit of spending money so I can make a triumphant return to Timemasters and catch up on my comics.
Anyway, since my last post, I’ve only seen one movie, though several more should be coming in the next few weeks.
A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas
When I saw trailers for the first Harold & Kumar movie many years ago, I was of the mind that it was not really my sort of thing. Thankfully, during the first year of my PhD I wanted to procrastinate more than I wanted to avoid the movie, and so I finally saw—and quite enjoyed—Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle. The subsequent Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay was a little bit of a letdown, but I think the latest one is an excellent synthesis of the best parts of its predecessors.
It recaptures the zany, ridiculous spirit of the first and combines it with the higher production values of the second, all wrapped in a surprisingly touching—and lewd, vulgar, and hilarious—Christmas story. That’s right, they haven’t just made a Harold & Kumar movie set at Christmas—it’s a bona fide Christmas movie. Hell, they even filmed with 3D cameras rather than using that bullshit conversion process used by so many of the summer “blockbusters”, and I’m happy to say I did not get a headache or feel nauseous at all.
John Cho and Kal Penn reprised their titular roles with ease, and thankfully the vast supporting cast of familiar faces was still there. Especially excellent was Neil Patrick Harris, but really, this should not be surprising to fans of NPH. The new characters introduced in this story were okay, but they certainly provided fodder for an amusing B-story.
I don’t think I really need to go in to the plot in this review. If you liked previous Harold & Kumar movies—either of them—then you’ll enjoy this one. If you haven’t seen any, you’ll possibly be horrified by this one, but if you’re interested you should start with White Castle, anyway. I left quite happy with the movie and thought it was well worth my money. (Okay, so I used a free pass and thus paid only for the 3Dness, but still. Well worth it even at full price.) I may need a repeat viewing next year to confirm, but this could have the makings of another traditional Christmas movie for me.