zac e. is 17 again!

catching a weekend movie has always been a convenient way for me to unwind after topsy-turvy week, and this weekend was no different than the hundreds of weekends that came before. this time, however,i decided to go with the flow and watched 17 Again (i just couldn’t convince myself to watch Friday the 13th, and i had already seen Fast and Furious.)

ok. bottomline, 17 Again is not as bad as i had initially feared it would be. in fact, there were moments when i actually thoroughly enjoyed myself — due largely to the hilarious antics of the support characters, particularly thomas lennon, who plays mike mcdonnell’s (zac efron, who else?) rich, nerdy friend, and melora hardin, who plays his love interest.

this is not to say that zac efron is a total  waste. actually, i was kind of pleasantly surprised at how seemingly easy it was for him to carry this movie. this time, he shows a bit more range — not that i’d seen any of his movies (High School Musical trilogy, Hairspray), except maybe for those vid snippets that clog Youtube. the kid’s definitely got that X factor, which should serve him well in this business if he plays his cards right.

notwitstanding the screaming girls (and they can get pretty loud), the story is snappy and engaging enough — it’s the latest entry in a long list of body swap/time travel movies (Big, Back to the Future, 13 Going 30, etc.) — and zac efron does well enough to hold your interest when he’s onscreen. and there’s even a funny subplot to keep you chuckling like a loon in spite of the film’s predictable inanities.

aside from thomas lennon and melora hardin,17 Again’s support cast also includes matthew perry (as the older mike mcdonnell), leslie mann, and michelle trachtenberg. this film should keep the ‘tweens and teenagers hopping. and for sci-fi/fantasy fans… well, let’s just say, you’ll find something here that you’re going to connect with

in these hard times…

earlier this evening, i was idly scanning news headlines to pass the time, but this bold banner made me do a double take.

“13-Year-Old Boy Accused of Robbing Illinois Bank” (Reuters)

i was like — whoah! surely, this must be a joke(?). as in really? a 13-year-old could plan this, and actually do it? that kid sure has balls.

wow. either this boy is some precocious, felon-in-the-making or just a misguided youth hoping to find a short cut to his problems (hopefully, it’s the latter). or this could be hard proof that we’re really living in desperate times these days — even a pubescent takes to crime as easily as he might have watched a concert or planned an outing or something. one wonders what he’ll do next when he’s older and begins to encounter tougher problems.

*sigh*

lenin’s derriere

whew! it’s been a while, but i guess there’s just no way i can leave i.Ph for good. i might not be here as often as i wish, but my i.Ph blog is still one of those loose ends that i can’t quite discard…

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roughly 80 years after he died, it looks like Vladimir Lenin is finally getting some form of an indirect comeuppance — courtesy of an unidentified vandal(s) who placed a bomb on Lenin’s bronze statue in St. Petersburg, Russia. The blast blew a hole in Lenin’s coat, leaving a gaping opening in the 10-foot statue’s rear end, which strikes an unwittingly funny chord fit for April Fool’s day.

this statue of lenin, one of the most feared and hated man of the 20th century, is a commemoration of the historic speech he gave when he returned to Russia in 1917. Local authorities have announced that plans are underway to restore the monument to its former glory.