The new year brought with it a renewal of the need to write, and write and write. I need a beat to cover, and had been knocked into an emotional molasses-uphill battle last year, leaving little energy left in me to follow much but the political outrages of '08. That's not my territory. I don't have a lifetime of emotional or intellectual understanding of politics, save what's sieved through the celluloid colander.
I know I'm a film critic the way a wrestler knows he's a wrestler. Which leads me to my new year's resolution with Holly. I'm sticking to it, and we've both taken a pass with one movie. That's it, so I'll start my first column along those lines, dealing with two films that won't clean up at Oscar season, and covering mostly Oscar Nominees until near the end of the month.
American Duty
Sam Mendes may miss Conrad L. Hall more even than the rest of us. Every shot Roger Deakins composes in Revolutionary Road seems to invoke our memory of that great filmmaker. The desolation of fifties American life isn't buried underneath, it's overexposed. This is a cold, uninviting movie. Mendes, Deakins and crew want it that way, perhaps driven by a script that rages its id out front and center just as its characters seem to.
I haven't read the novel, but I have no trouble believing an author could be this self-aware, this unhappy, this alone. What I have trouble imagining is that people in 1950s America would be this aware of the real spiritual predicament they're in. If we're to take DiCaprio and Winslet's couple as representative of a normal couple, we're swallowing a hard enough pill. The total destruction of their dreams and their love for one another is the set-up for the movie, not the end. This makes what proceeds all the more unreal and unpleasant, which is not to leave out ruthless, and for that it has my respect.
Revolutionary Road is a curious, drawn out chick-tract with no God in sight. There's no mention of church, no crosses in any rooms, no symbols of devotion. In a depiction of 1950s America, this is a deliberate choice of omission. Its didacticism is still, however, thoroughly secular. Which brings us to Michael Shannon, most certainly an Oscar winner if not for Heath Ledger's nomination, playing this godless world's angel of death.
He flies in under the guise of Kathy Bates's character's "mentally-unwell" son, and proceeds to methodically dismantle every single move the film's central couple makes to save themselves. He sees their desperation, in fact sees in desperation, and drives them completely into the ground, using words and words alone. He frees them from the need to try and be free. Shannon's performance is the stand-alone reason to see the movie; it's terrifying in his deconstruction of their hopes. He's an actor to watch, but wear a helmet while doing so.
Bielski Justice
Films this year have noticeably fallen into a more positive mode, looking to uplift us with stories of characters' search for meaning and dignity. Defiance falls into a category with Revolutionary Road precisely because both are about struggles for survival against long odds. Those questions of survival are intertwined with meditative examinations of a corollary question, namely, "how do we live?"
I'm puzzled, a little, by critics' responses to this film. No, it's not groundbreaking, yes, it's a conventional narrative (you have seen other Edward Zwick films, yes?), and yes, the pacing is off at a few points.
Still, I think the story of the Bielski Trio is amazing enough to transcend those petty quibbles. The movie isn't bad. It tells their story, if not exploring it beyond the surface, and gives us a compelling character in Liev Schrieber's Zus Bielski. Schrieber keeps getting better, and I think his work here is being ignored. Daniel Craig's character (as well as Jamie Bell's) is a little less compelling, but it's a structural bearing and it props the rest of it up. It's a good movie, folks.
Thursday, February 05, 2009
Tuesday, February 03, 2009
Let the Right One (Edit)
I really want to see this:
I'm pumped by Diplo's review, fresh off of having seen it while touring in Europe.
I'm pumped by Diplo's review, fresh off of having seen it while touring in Europe.
Sunday, February 01, 2009
This Ain't a Politics Blog
For now, it's perfectly fine for Republicans to scream and yell about tax cuts being the answer (even when credit is a thing of the past?). It really doesn't bother me. You lost, people. We'll try your ideas next time, maybe. Another team won. They get to make the law for awhile (unless they bend over backwards to give concessions to a rancid, powerless, leaderless party).
Last political post for awhile, because I'd like this blog to take a direction and not simply be an angry dumping ground. Every time I see the looks of seething anger in my house, accompanied by the transcription of rancid words belched into golden microphones and sent out over the waves to corrode and constrain the functions of otherwise generous hearts, I come here to put it somewhere else.
That has fueled my anger in my own time of crisis more so even than the rancidity of the ideas. Republicans have treated their party as royalty, with subjects divided into attitude duchies presided over by feudal lords Rush and Hannity and O'Reilly. I hope not to fall victim to that here on this side.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Huh...
Well...
But -- the base is happy, or at least reasonably so. Rush Limbaugh will be singing John Boehner's praises tomorrow. I'm just not sure what message this sends to the other 78 percent of the country..
It's the same message they've been sending for the past eight years, which is "you're either with us or you're against us."
What does the electoral map indicate, fellas?
But -- the base is happy, or at least reasonably so. Rush Limbaugh will be singing John Boehner's praises tomorrow. I'm just not sure what message this sends to the other 78 percent of the country..
It's the same message they've been sending for the past eight years, which is "you're either with us or you're against us."
What does the electoral map indicate, fellas?
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Daguerrotwit
Bush, Morrised, tagged, and released to never darken our lenses more.
His was doggedly an image they couldn't quite design.
His was doggedly an image they couldn't quite design.
Friday, January 23, 2009
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Monday, January 19, 2009
Inauguration For ADULTS 35 and Up Only.
I've imagined a whole rant to write against W. since this day started approaching. I was going to say he should resign on Nov. 5th, after first ordering Dick Cheney to resign and then having him arrested. I was going to tell him that the best way for us to heal would be for him to stand accountable for his crimes. Blah blah blah. Holder'll either pursue it or he won't. I hope these medieval thugs get what's coming to them, but for now, their exit will suffice, and I'm a little beat.
So, a word or two to bitter Republicans: Thank you. Thank you for your generous support in '04 of all this nifty socialism we're about to get. If you hadn't voted for Obama in '08 by voting for Bush in '04, I probably wouldn't be a little bit closer to socialized medicine paying my medical bills if something happens to me from here on out. Thank you for supporting an obvious straw man, thank you for your support of mean bastard policies, thank you for looking out for number one first.
And please, please, please put Sarah Palin on the ticket, but before you do, you should probably read this. Or don't. You'll just despair, but then you might not heed my advice and you'll put your support behind a halfway decent Republican the likes of which wouldn't send me vituperating ass-over-kerchief for four to eight years about the need for a litmus test for voting. Here's a clue: If they can't make it through Katie Couric, they're not qualified.
Just getting this out of my system, as per usual, vis. living in a red house.
As for Obama, I have few words that could match tomorrow's speech, I'm sure, so I'll let my favorite DJ do the work:
So, a word or two to bitter Republicans: Thank you. Thank you for your generous support in '04 of all this nifty socialism we're about to get. If you hadn't voted for Obama in '08 by voting for Bush in '04, I probably wouldn't be a little bit closer to socialized medicine paying my medical bills if something happens to me from here on out. Thank you for supporting an obvious straw man, thank you for your support of mean bastard policies, thank you for looking out for number one first.
And please, please, please put Sarah Palin on the ticket, but before you do, you should probably read this. Or don't. You'll just despair, but then you might not heed my advice and you'll put your support behind a halfway decent Republican the likes of which wouldn't send me vituperating ass-over-kerchief for four to eight years about the need for a litmus test for voting. Here's a clue: If they can't make it through Katie Couric, they're not qualified.
Just getting this out of my system, as per usual, vis. living in a red house.
As for Obama, I have few words that could match tomorrow's speech, I'm sure, so I'll let my favorite DJ do the work:
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Things Pass Before You
I left for Kansas on Sunday to visit sister and see her Wichita home for the first time. Her house also has this barely year old creature in it:
She's Gwendolyn Jade, and she laughs at everything.
Prior to the trip, we had received word that our Grandmother (on my Dad's side) had had a stroke and was ready to leave us. Grandmom never got over my Dad's death (and frankly, the decade's worth of disasters that preceded it).
She passed on around noon on Tuesday. She was 85. I hope she's at peace. She was unhappy. I don't know what's appropriate to write about here. She loved us to pieces and we loved her right back, and I hope she knows that.
The funeral is in Dyersburg on Saturday, and I'm doing ok. Love you all.
She's Gwendolyn Jade, and she laughs at everything.
Prior to the trip, we had received word that our Grandmother (on my Dad's side) had had a stroke and was ready to leave us. Grandmom never got over my Dad's death (and frankly, the decade's worth of disasters that preceded it).
She passed on around noon on Tuesday. She was 85. I hope she's at peace. She was unhappy. I don't know what's appropriate to write about here. She loved us to pieces and we loved her right back, and I hope she knows that.
The funeral is in Dyersburg on Saturday, and I'm doing ok. Love you all.
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Wednesday, January 07, 2009
Kill Tha Wabbit, Kill Tha Wabbit
Sorry, People Magazine, sorry, TMZ, sorry, Gawker, Defamer and all the rest. Tom Cruise will continue to make movies. In fact, whatever insights this article has to offer, I think we're all selling Cruise short, both as a capable actor and a consistently malleable persona.
Valkyrie is neither great nor terrible. It's competent, that's about it. The rhythm seems missing from the movie, at least the rhythm we'd expect from Bryan Singer. It comes down to accent-less performances that are nonetheless in the appropriate range.
Our attention is eventually focused on how far the fetishism of the actors in these ss uniforms will be amplified (I was on Eddie Izzard watch, believe me). Palpable fear looms over this production, as if they knew that any false move would make for them a certified howler. If Tom Cruise had done less couch-jumping and pill-bashing over the past few years, we might have had a freer movie, but then again, we probably wouldn't have had Valkyrie at all.
Sad, really. Cruise is at home with mutilation. He shows this in Vanilla Sky or Minority Report, or with his emotional castration in Eyes Wide Shut (where he spends a significant section of the movie hiding his face). A director working to wring dissonance out of his boyish American face can do so indelibly, partly because Cruise is (usually) willing to be completely naked in those scenes.
The moment where Cruise's Von Stauffenberg is forced to salute the portrait of Hitler, and defiantly uses his stubby arm, is almost an example of this. It might have had more impact, as the scene suggests the possibilities for Kubrickian image making, rather for camp or creep-outs. Cruise's image stays safely on the side of "please take me back, America".
America will. In the annals of celebrity meltdowns, Cruise's freakouts are minor. Angelina Jolie is next, anyway.
Valkyrie is neither great nor terrible. It's competent, that's about it. The rhythm seems missing from the movie, at least the rhythm we'd expect from Bryan Singer. It comes down to accent-less performances that are nonetheless in the appropriate range.
Our attention is eventually focused on how far the fetishism of the actors in these ss uniforms will be amplified (I was on Eddie Izzard watch, believe me). Palpable fear looms over this production, as if they knew that any false move would make for them a certified howler. If Tom Cruise had done less couch-jumping and pill-bashing over the past few years, we might have had a freer movie, but then again, we probably wouldn't have had Valkyrie at all.
Sad, really. Cruise is at home with mutilation. He shows this in Vanilla Sky or Minority Report, or with his emotional castration in Eyes Wide Shut (where he spends a significant section of the movie hiding his face). A director working to wring dissonance out of his boyish American face can do so indelibly, partly because Cruise is (usually) willing to be completely naked in those scenes.
The moment where Cruise's Von Stauffenberg is forced to salute the portrait of Hitler, and defiantly uses his stubby arm, is almost an example of this. It might have had more impact, as the scene suggests the possibilities for Kubrickian image making, rather for camp or creep-outs. Cruise's image stays safely on the side of "please take me back, America".
America will. In the annals of celebrity meltdowns, Cruise's freakouts are minor. Angelina Jolie is next, anyway.
Monday, January 05, 2009
What's That in Your Cassette Deck?
The Great Barstoolio is hanging up the regular Music-Tist gig over at her site, so, naturally, I mixed up a mess of breaks, 8-bit, cumbia, electro, chill-out and metal thrashing into one set, which you can listen to with your sound holes right here, at Janie's. We'll miss the daily badass music, Janie!
It's hosted at the Droid-Rock Show.
Check either of the links above, or just right click and save as.
Featured Fiends include A-Trak, Adam Freeland, Stanton Warriors, Burial, Crookers and M83. You need them in your lives. Trust me.
It's hosted at the Droid-Rock Show.
Check either of the links above, or just right click and save as.
Featured Fiends include A-Trak, Adam Freeland, Stanton Warriors, Burial, Crookers and M83. You need them in your lives. Trust me.
Sunday, January 04, 2009
Friday, January 02, 2009
2008: The Year in Harvey Dent
Mid-2008, Lights up on Joan and Jesse (the J-Wil Pig Dogs), second or third consecutive Dark Knight viewing
Scene:
J: We've really put a Harvey Dent in this popcorn!
J: .....really?
One Month Later:
J: Oh no you Harvey Dent'innt!!!!
J: A ha a ho a ha ha ho hah ho. And I thought MY jokes were bad.
J: Your post was so sweet I think I need to see a Harvey Dentist.
J:Now now, that was a little Harvey tenDentious, don't you think?
J: That little remark just earned you a Harvey Dentention. See me after class.
J: ooooh, that just makes me froth around my Harvey Dentata!
J: It seems we have come to a Harvey Dentente. [ We had not - Ed]
J: You're such a Harvey TranscenDENTalist.
J: I love you Harvey ArDENTly
Next Day:
J: 'm so sorry I missed you, I was watching the current Olympiad away from my computer, Harvey Evidently.
J:It's my own fault for becoming so Harvey codepenDent.
Before Dinner:
J: Hey, you won't want me near you after I eat at Olive Garden (which I love), unless I chew some Harvey Trident.
J: Oh, we are so not even CLOSE to being done with this Harvey Dent thing. They make me Harvey resplenDent with joy.
J: We tag-team with jokes that bring us joy through a Divine Harvey Providence.
The Next Day:
J: I want us to see Dark Knight again, but I'm not sure it would be Harvey pruDent.
J: I've seen the Dark Knight five times, and at this point it's invaded the Harvey SuDententland of my mind.
J: Yeah, I've officially gotten my Dark Knight Superfan Harvey creDentials.
J: I can only imagine how annoying it must be for our mutual friends when our never-ceasing Harvey Dent jokes show up in their news feeds. They must be Harvey desponDent.
J: All reactions to our banter that don't indicate rapturous joy are Harvey Incidental to me.
J: If they're feeling Harvey dissiDent, they were never really our friends to begin with.
J: I hold that truth to be self Harvey Evident.
J: That sets a good Harvey preceDent.
J: Our Harvey descenDents will speak of us with awe.
Ed Norton Pops in, Angrily:
J: Ed can be such a jealous little Harvey roDent.
J: You think he'd feel better if we sent him some Harvey RodoDentrens?
J: I think he's too Harvey Dents to understand the symbolism.
That Night:
J: I WATCHED THE FIFTH ELEMENT WHEN IT WAS ON LAST NIGHT. What is wrong with us? In the immortal words of Micah Corngod, we are one. It's like you've taken up Harvey resiDents in my brain.
J: Maybe we're Harvey Identical twins.
Election Cycle:
J: I seriously want to punch McCain in the face. He's not going to be my Harvey President.
Finish Line:
J: Here's hoping that the Dark Knight continues playing theaters throughout our lives, right up to the point when we're wearing Harvey Dentures.
Scene:
J: We've really put a Harvey Dent in this popcorn!
J: .....really?
One Month Later:
J: Oh no you Harvey Dent'innt!!!!
J: A ha a ho a ha ha ho hah ho. And I thought MY jokes were bad.
J: Your post was so sweet I think I need to see a Harvey Dentist.
J:Now now, that was a little Harvey tenDentious, don't you think?
J: That little remark just earned you a Harvey Dentention. See me after class.
J: ooooh, that just makes me froth around my Harvey Dentata!
J: It seems we have come to a Harvey Dentente. [ We had not - Ed]
J: You're such a Harvey TranscenDENTalist.
J: I love you Harvey ArDENTly
Next Day:
J: 'm so sorry I missed you, I was watching the current Olympiad away from my computer, Harvey Evidently.
J:It's my own fault for becoming so Harvey codepenDent.
Before Dinner:
J: Hey, you won't want me near you after I eat at Olive Garden (which I love), unless I chew some Harvey Trident.
J: Oh, we are so not even CLOSE to being done with this Harvey Dent thing. They make me Harvey resplenDent with joy.
J: We tag-team with jokes that bring us joy through a Divine Harvey Providence.
The Next Day:
J: I want us to see Dark Knight again, but I'm not sure it would be Harvey pruDent.
J: I've seen the Dark Knight five times, and at this point it's invaded the Harvey SuDententland of my mind.
J: Yeah, I've officially gotten my Dark Knight Superfan Harvey creDentials.
J: I can only imagine how annoying it must be for our mutual friends when our never-ceasing Harvey Dent jokes show up in their news feeds. They must be Harvey desponDent.
J: All reactions to our banter that don't indicate rapturous joy are Harvey Incidental to me.
J: If they're feeling Harvey dissiDent, they were never really our friends to begin with.
J: I hold that truth to be self Harvey Evident.
J: That sets a good Harvey preceDent.
J: Our Harvey descenDents will speak of us with awe.
Ed Norton Pops in, Angrily:
J: Ed can be such a jealous little Harvey roDent.
J: You think he'd feel better if we sent him some Harvey RodoDentrens?
J: I think he's too Harvey Dents to understand the symbolism.
That Night:
J: I WATCHED THE FIFTH ELEMENT WHEN IT WAS ON LAST NIGHT. What is wrong with us? In the immortal words of Micah Corngod, we are one. It's like you've taken up Harvey resiDents in my brain.
J: Maybe we're Harvey Identical twins.
Election Cycle:
J: I seriously want to punch McCain in the face. He's not going to be my Harvey President.
Finish Line:
J: Here's hoping that the Dark Knight continues playing theaters throughout our lives, right up to the point when we're wearing Harvey Dentures.
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Dogs and Cats, Living Together, Mass Hysteria
Ebert, harbinger of shiny, positive, bright and limitless future. If you're a cockroach, that is.
Yes, Ebesy, things aren't lookin' too good. It may be a small consolation that the forces of smartness won this time around. Maybe not. How many times in history have we been confronted with what seemed like apocalyptic threats? Is it because you're much older than me that you see things through a "humanity may not be worth saving" lens?
Look, I walked to the kitchen one day and heard, on Fox News, something about how Christmas was under siege and the Easter Bunny was being barred from public events. Is this what adults concern themselves with? Really? The same week Dick Cheney confesses to authorizing torture techniques, this is what grown-ups are worried about? Yesterday, I hear that "if George W. Bush went on vacation in Hawaii, he'd be vilified by the liberal media. When Obama does it, they want to write poems for him." Really? Grownups? I wonder if that has anything remotely to do with the direct correlation of body count to figure in question.
The adults are in charge, and the rest are seated at the kids' table, singing "Barack the Magic Negro". That's a positive enough start for me.
Yes, Ebesy, things aren't lookin' too good. It may be a small consolation that the forces of smartness won this time around. Maybe not. How many times in history have we been confronted with what seemed like apocalyptic threats? Is it because you're much older than me that you see things through a "humanity may not be worth saving" lens?
Look, I walked to the kitchen one day and heard, on Fox News, something about how Christmas was under siege and the Easter Bunny was being barred from public events. Is this what adults concern themselves with? Really? The same week Dick Cheney confesses to authorizing torture techniques, this is what grown-ups are worried about? Yesterday, I hear that "if George W. Bush went on vacation in Hawaii, he'd be vilified by the liberal media. When Obama does it, they want to write poems for him." Really? Grownups? I wonder if that has anything remotely to do with the direct correlation of body count to figure in question.
The adults are in charge, and the rest are seated at the kids' table, singing "Barack the Magic Negro". That's a positive enough start for me.
Friday, December 26, 2008
Frank Miller Got To Make a Movie...
...All by hisself. And when Frank Miller dicks around, you're certain a cult classic. With the right audience, The Spirit is, though sometimes draggy, quite funny. It's inscrutable in a way that actually manages to keep asses planted in chairs. Nobody in the theater left. How could we? There...there are moments that will interest you.
Is it good? It's better than Miller's (scripted) Robocop 2. Does it have interstitial dinosaur puppets? Whoops! Spoiler.
I don't know what I'd do if I had to give it a star rating. Can I just give it three question marks and a voltage sign?
Warning: Do not attempt to interpret The Spirit
Is it good? It's better than Miller's (scripted) Robocop 2. Does it have interstitial dinosaur puppets? Whoops! Spoiler.
I don't know what I'd do if I had to give it a star rating. Can I just give it three question marks and a voltage sign?
Warning: Do not attempt to interpret The Spirit
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Of '08
Yesterday, my Mac crashed and burned. Hard Drive dead. I'm taking it to the Genius Bar today in hopes that something can be done. I don't have the money yet to start making monthly payments on a new one, but come hell or highwater I'll have things back to normal. So, posting on a Dell Laptop that hangs around the house from my mom's school makes me madder than a posse of neglected lady lemurs.
No, No I don't want to go up. I want you to stay here, on this part of the page. Yes, Yes I unplugged my external drive, and I'm glad we both shared that moment, computer.
Anyway, here's my top ten:
10. Rachel Getting Married
09. Standard Operating Procedure
08. 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days
07. Happy-Go-Lucky
06. Iron Man
05. In Bruges
04. Milk
03. Wall-E
02. Synecdoche, NY
01. The Dark Knight
Yeah. The Dark Knight. Sometimes popular means better or maybe even the best. It's been a good year for that. All I know is, Movie danced in my brain. Occupied an unusual, cosmic place in me. Permeated my brain to the point that I almost unknowingly engaged in 'joker-voiced' pillowtalk.
Everyone unfairly compares this year with the last. Last year was a year for despair and decline. Moral cloudiness and the absurdity of making moral choices dominated last year in a dark and moody palate. We dug the hell out of it, all of it, all the blood, all the nihilism. Look what won best picture. Great films, many of them.
This year is the year of a flickering conscience. All of these films are about choices. Moral choices are possible, however damned hard the world makes them for us. A year for hope indeed.
Acceptance (#10) Hope (#4) Aging Gracefully (#2) Love Love Love (#3) I can fly (#6) Be excellent to each other (#7) challenge of transmutable facts (#9) Stick to your guns (#5) You may be on your own (#8)your code may or may not save you (#1) But the world can change for the better (All of the above)
2007 Outliers: Every year there are films I can't see before the new year, and, most certainly, last year a few of them could've made the list. I would've knocked off something for There Will Be Blood, and made some mention of Zodiac and Gone Baby Gone. As it stands, there are a few things I haven't seen, but will evangelize, meh, or deflate by Oscar time. I'm looking forward to Che, and will be entertained no doubt by Doubt, Frost/Nixon, The Reader, Revolutionary Road, etc. But look back at my top ten. Were they designed to win awards? Were they designed to make us better people? No. They're all living organisms that have bigger things on their minds.
With all its narcissism, Synecdoche, NY doesn't 'say' an honest, open, or humanitarian statement. Instead, it makes big, mighty, fearless gestures of the kind, gets inside your body and your soul, and penetrates to the edge of more truths than ten Don Cheadles could amidst any refashioned ravaged cities as a backdrop. For that, Kaufman deserves an Oscar, if only so it's seen. You, whoever you are, if you read this, you have an interest in film, and you are hereby behooved to see the American 8 1/2, end of story, I don't care if you loathe it.
Sean Penn, for his selfless and magical work, merciless Oscar coveter though he is, deserves one too.
I could write a lot about the whole list. Almost all of them were predominantly hopeful, not obsessed with moral decline and untenable quandary, as per last year. This is an observation of difference, not quality.
Bafflement: Appaloosa is a film that gets special recognition for being off its rocker and apparently proud of that fact. I've spoken to no one who's gotten it (fewer even still who have actually seen it), no one who really loves it, and yet, something has happened here, and I daresay we will all remember it. It's got moments of incredible interest. Beyond that, I'm still stammering through it in my head. I suppose that might indicate that its characters influenced me to behave as they generally did onscreen.
Abortion of the year: No, not The Happening, it's something much, much worse, for not being for one second remotely funny. Zack and Miri Make a Porno is the worst film of 2008, and perhaps deserves that distinction because it was made by someone who should be doing much better work than this. Kevin Smith at least made Clerks 2 funny. What the goddamn hell on earth was this? I don't care about dirty words and truck nutz on an R2 Unit. I'm not offended. I'm unamused. That's the crime. I love Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back and that movie may even be dirtier than this one. So. Umm. What the fuck, Silent Bob?
Unfortunate and Continuous Downfall: M Night Shyamalan's cult in Pennsylvania is still making movies. Did you know? Go ahead, buddy. I can do this as long as you can. I don't mind. It's more fun every year. Seriously. After Avatar, make something about, I don't know, a balloon animal that fills your shoes with thumbtacks and then floats away and laughs at you while you bleed from your feet holes. To death. Tak Fujimoto gets paid whether you suck or not.
Ahem. To end on a positive note. If you've ever been in love, lost love, or found a soulmate you could never have but would sing with and to forever, if you could, then Once is for you. It was the first movie I saw this year, and perhaps the best, certainly the most beautiful. It is a reminder that we are capable of unstoppable, almost inerrant sweetness, kindness, grace, art, but most of all music that could restart your heart and make you consider where you began, and how you'll feel when the sirens call you home. Steven Spielberg was amazed by this film. No wonder. It's all there.
No, No I don't want to go up. I want you to stay here, on this part of the page. Yes, Yes I unplugged my external drive, and I'm glad we both shared that moment, computer.
Anyway, here's my top ten:
10. Rachel Getting Married
09. Standard Operating Procedure
08. 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days
07. Happy-Go-Lucky
06. Iron Man
05. In Bruges
04. Milk
03. Wall-E
02. Synecdoche, NY
01. The Dark Knight
Yeah. The Dark Knight. Sometimes popular means better or maybe even the best. It's been a good year for that. All I know is, Movie danced in my brain. Occupied an unusual, cosmic place in me. Permeated my brain to the point that I almost unknowingly engaged in 'joker-voiced' pillowtalk.
Everyone unfairly compares this year with the last. Last year was a year for despair and decline. Moral cloudiness and the absurdity of making moral choices dominated last year in a dark and moody palate. We dug the hell out of it, all of it, all the blood, all the nihilism. Look what won best picture. Great films, many of them.
This year is the year of a flickering conscience. All of these films are about choices. Moral choices are possible, however damned hard the world makes them for us. A year for hope indeed.
Acceptance (#10) Hope (#4) Aging Gracefully (#2) Love Love Love (#3) I can fly (#6) Be excellent to each other (#7) challenge of transmutable facts (#9) Stick to your guns (#5) You may be on your own (#8)your code may or may not save you (#1) But the world can change for the better (All of the above)
2007 Outliers: Every year there are films I can't see before the new year, and, most certainly, last year a few of them could've made the list. I would've knocked off something for There Will Be Blood, and made some mention of Zodiac and Gone Baby Gone. As it stands, there are a few things I haven't seen, but will evangelize, meh, or deflate by Oscar time. I'm looking forward to Che, and will be entertained no doubt by Doubt, Frost/Nixon, The Reader, Revolutionary Road, etc. But look back at my top ten. Were they designed to win awards? Were they designed to make us better people? No. They're all living organisms that have bigger things on their minds.
With all its narcissism, Synecdoche, NY doesn't 'say' an honest, open, or humanitarian statement. Instead, it makes big, mighty, fearless gestures of the kind, gets inside your body and your soul, and penetrates to the edge of more truths than ten Don Cheadles could amidst any refashioned ravaged cities as a backdrop. For that, Kaufman deserves an Oscar, if only so it's seen. You, whoever you are, if you read this, you have an interest in film, and you are hereby behooved to see the American 8 1/2, end of story, I don't care if you loathe it.
Sean Penn, for his selfless and magical work, merciless Oscar coveter though he is, deserves one too.
I could write a lot about the whole list. Almost all of them were predominantly hopeful, not obsessed with moral decline and untenable quandary, as per last year. This is an observation of difference, not quality.
Bafflement: Appaloosa is a film that gets special recognition for being off its rocker and apparently proud of that fact. I've spoken to no one who's gotten it (fewer even still who have actually seen it), no one who really loves it, and yet, something has happened here, and I daresay we will all remember it. It's got moments of incredible interest. Beyond that, I'm still stammering through it in my head. I suppose that might indicate that its characters influenced me to behave as they generally did onscreen.
Abortion of the year: No, not The Happening, it's something much, much worse, for not being for one second remotely funny. Zack and Miri Make a Porno is the worst film of 2008, and perhaps deserves that distinction because it was made by someone who should be doing much better work than this. Kevin Smith at least made Clerks 2 funny. What the goddamn hell on earth was this? I don't care about dirty words and truck nutz on an R2 Unit. I'm not offended. I'm unamused. That's the crime. I love Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back and that movie may even be dirtier than this one. So. Umm. What the fuck, Silent Bob?
Unfortunate and Continuous Downfall: M Night Shyamalan's cult in Pennsylvania is still making movies. Did you know? Go ahead, buddy. I can do this as long as you can. I don't mind. It's more fun every year. Seriously. After Avatar, make something about, I don't know, a balloon animal that fills your shoes with thumbtacks and then floats away and laughs at you while you bleed from your feet holes. To death. Tak Fujimoto gets paid whether you suck or not.
Ahem. To end on a positive note. If you've ever been in love, lost love, or found a soulmate you could never have but would sing with and to forever, if you could, then Once is for you. It was the first movie I saw this year, and perhaps the best, certainly the most beautiful. It is a reminder that we are capable of unstoppable, almost inerrant sweetness, kindness, grace, art, but most of all music that could restart your heart and make you consider where you began, and how you'll feel when the sirens call you home. Steven Spielberg was amazed by this film. No wonder. It's all there.
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Shake a Spear
...and the trail of limbs was all smolder and ash when I was through sacking that little hamlet...
Delightful, master!
Delightful, master!
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
The Pulitzer for Blogging Goes To
After what I've just seen, I really don't know what to say, so I'll just thank Holly for her discovery, and forgo writing redundant hagiographies about the proprietors of this site.
Come on, you're going to look at the picture below and NOT click on a site called FUCK YEAH SHARKS?
Come on, you're going to look at the picture below and NOT click on a site called FUCK YEAH SHARKS?
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Omar's Banjee
I'm rounding a corner. Gathering my bearings, I can't think of much to cogitate on, ergo, erratic posting, not even much to twitter. You can only call George Lucas FAT so many times before figuring something else out to pare down to (or from) 140 characters. Not that that will stop me, mind.
I'll be writing a little more about the movies, as per usual, and I'll be putting together a list after seeing as much as I possibly can before the new year. You can expect nothing less than an enthusiastic review of Milk, which I saw last night, and can wholeheartedly say is the best biopic I've seen in the past five years, not simply because I'm obviously biased.
Until then, because it's perennial:
Whole Lot More Nuns Running Around: Milk
Old School Hydrox-Steezy: Mad Decent Radio
Muthafucka: The Wire Season 2
I'll be writing a little more about the movies, as per usual, and I'll be putting together a list after seeing as much as I possibly can before the new year. You can expect nothing less than an enthusiastic review of Milk, which I saw last night, and can wholeheartedly say is the best biopic I've seen in the past five years, not simply because I'm obviously biased.
Until then, because it's perennial:
Whole Lot More Nuns Running Around: Milk
Old School Hydrox-Steezy: Mad Decent Radio
Muthafucka: The Wire Season 2
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
It's Call in Gay Day
I don't have a job to call into, not yet, in spite of interviews and applications. Nothin'. And I keep hearing I'm supposed to congratulate our President for his AIDS work.
What's fair is fair, he's done more than any President in history regarding AIDS funding for Africa.
That's great. It's great that some Christians I run into don't give a flip about the state of our country now, could care less if it became one giant sinkhole and we all died instantaneously, so long as we've done a good deed for the afterlife.
Meanwhile, being HIV+ in this country has become manageable, depending on your UpperIncome+ status or lack thereof.
I think we should all recognize the effort made by President Bush to help Africa with its AIDS epidemic. Maybe he and Matt Damon can start a charitable foundation together on January 21st.
Until then, I'm not spending too much time congratulating the political party that first labeled AIDS as Gay Related Immune Deficiency.
What's fair is fair, he's done more than any President in history regarding AIDS funding for Africa.
That's great. It's great that some Christians I run into don't give a flip about the state of our country now, could care less if it became one giant sinkhole and we all died instantaneously, so long as we've done a good deed for the afterlife.
Meanwhile, being HIV+ in this country has become manageable, depending on your UpperIncome+ status or lack thereof.
I think we should all recognize the effort made by President Bush to help Africa with its AIDS epidemic. Maybe he and Matt Damon can start a charitable foundation together on January 21st.
Until then, I'm not spending too much time congratulating the political party that first labeled AIDS as Gay Related Immune Deficiency.
Thursday, December 04, 2008
Big Audience for Disgusting
The glass-crushing machine caught my eye. Billy (Dominic West) is socked into it by the Punisher (Ray Stevenson) and revolves up to his neck in cutting edges while screaming many, many four-letter words, which, under the circumstances, are appropriate.
- Ebes, reviewing Punisher: War Zone
Wonderful actors from two great HBO series shouldn't have to slum here. I hope they had fun.
Also, not for nothin', but Ebert just won something better than Ben Stein's money, right here.
- Ebes, reviewing Punisher: War Zone
Wonderful actors from two great HBO series shouldn't have to slum here. I hope they had fun.
Also, not for nothin', but Ebert just won something better than Ben Stein's money, right here.
Tuesday, December 02, 2008
Girl Talk Tour Video 10-15-08
No, I don't know why the music is so sad there, so here's this:
I'm somewhere to the right of whomever is shooting this one, and god that part was awesome.
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Huh?
Everywhere I look I keep reading that it's a bad year for movies. My response, as many of these I've listed before:
The Dark Knight
Wall-E
Rachel Getting Married
Tropic Thunder
In Bruges
Hamlet 2
Hellboy 2
Pineapple Express
Synecdoche, NY
Iron Man
Standard Operating Procedure
Forgetting Sarah Marshall
Released this year, belatedly in America:
Tarsem's The Fall
4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days
I still haven't seen:
Happy Go Lucky
Frost/Nixon
Encounters at the End of the World
Man on Wire
My Winnipeg
Milk
Slumdog Millionaire
Australia (not everybody's panning it)
This is a bad year? Because it wasn't an unexpected cattle-gun shot of frame-advancements in art-houses like last year?
The above aren't all great movies, but a few of them are, and they're all worth your nickel. If 90% of everything is usually crap, it's been a good year.
The year American Beauty won Best Picture was the same year that Battlefield Earth, Highlander: Endgame, and Dungeons and Dragons all came to theaters.
I think we'll survive the chihuahuas.
The Dark Knight
Wall-E
Rachel Getting Married
Tropic Thunder
In Bruges
Hamlet 2
Hellboy 2
Pineapple Express
Synecdoche, NY
Iron Man
Standard Operating Procedure
Forgetting Sarah Marshall
Released this year, belatedly in America:
Tarsem's The Fall
4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days
I still haven't seen:
Happy Go Lucky
Frost/Nixon
Encounters at the End of the World
Man on Wire
My Winnipeg
Milk
Slumdog Millionaire
Australia (not everybody's panning it)
This is a bad year? Because it wasn't an unexpected cattle-gun shot of frame-advancements in art-houses like last year?
The above aren't all great movies, but a few of them are, and they're all worth your nickel. If 90% of everything is usually crap, it's been a good year.
The year American Beauty won Best Picture was the same year that Battlefield Earth, Highlander: Endgame, and Dungeons and Dragons all came to theaters.
I think we'll survive the chihuahuas.
Thursday, November 27, 2008
T'anksgivin'
I'm 26, unemployed, have had the worst year of my life, and am thankful anyway. I've seen people I love moving forward while my life has perilously stalled, and I'm thankful to be a part of their lives, as thankful when I'm on the right track as when I'm on the wrong.
Also, for this bad year. I'll emerge from it.
We're not alone, not a single one of us, which on a day like today brings a mixture of heartrbreak and gratitude, heartbreak for the horrors across the Atlantic and for the troubles at home, but gratitude also that we get to be here for a little while, and we have so much to inspire us on a daily basis, where we're inclined to look, and frankly, where we're not.
I'm thankful for January 20th. I'm thankful that we're safe from the nuclear codes again. I'm thankful that we've elected a President who possibly knows that whatever side of this war you're on, violence is the very last resort. Or we are all savages.
We'll all of us emerge from this bad decade, just you watch.
I'm thankful that in light of all this, I've had a family that was willing to take me in in my greatest time of need, give me time, give me food, and deal patience.
I'm lucky to have the boyfriend that I have, a ghosthunter, fully aware he's trying to find a me that escaped my body a year ago when I couldn't get what I needed to have.
Finally, I'm thankful this came out when I was a kid:
Transition: Golden Age - TV on the Radio
Inevitable: The Shield - Family Meeting
8 1/2 Floor: Synecdoche, NY
Shimmer of Aurora Borealis: The Yiddish Policemen's Union
Also, for this bad year. I'll emerge from it.
We're not alone, not a single one of us, which on a day like today brings a mixture of heartrbreak and gratitude, heartbreak for the horrors across the Atlantic and for the troubles at home, but gratitude also that we get to be here for a little while, and we have so much to inspire us on a daily basis, where we're inclined to look, and frankly, where we're not.
I'm thankful for January 20th. I'm thankful that we're safe from the nuclear codes again. I'm thankful that we've elected a President who possibly knows that whatever side of this war you're on, violence is the very last resort. Or we are all savages.
We'll all of us emerge from this bad decade, just you watch.
I'm thankful that in light of all this, I've had a family that was willing to take me in in my greatest time of need, give me time, give me food, and deal patience.
I'm lucky to have the boyfriend that I have, a ghosthunter, fully aware he's trying to find a me that escaped my body a year ago when I couldn't get what I needed to have.
Finally, I'm thankful this came out when I was a kid:
Transition: Golden Age - TV on the Radio
Inevitable: The Shield - Family Meeting
8 1/2 Floor: Synecdoche, NY
Shimmer of Aurora Borealis: The Yiddish Policemen's Union
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
I've Done Worse
From the comment thread for the AV Club's interview with Walton Goggins:
RE: NO, YOU DICK
by ZODIAC MOTHERFUCKER
BUNCH OF HATING FUCKING BITCHES HOLY FUCKING SHIT THIS PLACE INTERVIEWS SOMEONE AWESOME FOR A CHANGE AND YOU FUCKS FAIL TO FUCKING RECOGNIZE. THIS GUY FUCKING OWNS EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOUR ASSES ABOUT TEN FUCKING TIMES OVER SO TALK SHIT WITH GOGGINS BALLS IN YOUR MOUTH YOU LIMP DICK NICKEL AND DIME GREASY PIZZA FINGER HAVING MOTHERFUCKERS BECAUSE WHILE YOUR JACKING OFF ONLINE AND HUFFING KEYBOARD CLEANER AND SHIT AT 4AM WITH YOUR WACK NERDY ASSES GOGGINS IS OUT FUCKING OWNING AND BEING MASTER AND RULER OF THE FUCKING WORLD
BETTER FUCKING RECOGNIZE
I didn't get hooked on The Shield until midway through the third season. I'll miss those bastards when they're gone.
RE: NO, YOU DICK
by ZODIAC MOTHERFUCKER
BUNCH OF HATING FUCKING BITCHES HOLY FUCKING SHIT THIS PLACE INTERVIEWS SOMEONE AWESOME FOR A CHANGE AND YOU FUCKS FAIL TO FUCKING RECOGNIZE. THIS GUY FUCKING OWNS EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOUR ASSES ABOUT TEN FUCKING TIMES OVER SO TALK SHIT WITH GOGGINS BALLS IN YOUR MOUTH YOU LIMP DICK NICKEL AND DIME GREASY PIZZA FINGER HAVING MOTHERFUCKERS BECAUSE WHILE YOUR JACKING OFF ONLINE AND HUFFING KEYBOARD CLEANER AND SHIT AT 4AM WITH YOUR WACK NERDY ASSES GOGGINS IS OUT FUCKING OWNING AND BEING MASTER AND RULER OF THE FUCKING WORLD
BETTER FUCKING RECOGNIZE
I didn't get hooked on The Shield until midway through the third season. I'll miss those bastards when they're gone.
West Wing: Electoral Intent
Bravo's been re-airing random episodes of The West Wing since we won, as if to say, remember when this seemed like fantasy? Believing in government? Can you feel that?
Believing in the process even a little wasn't always confined to Sorkin High-Style Wit-Whack-A-Mole.
So they showed an episode from the last season, written by Deborah Cahn, and I was set to just fall asleep to it, when, as I'd been assured would happen early on by those who'd followed it, I was kept awake by the momentum of the plot and the quality of the writing. Was it even close to Sorkin? Well, no, we might as well call Paul Haggis a 'writer', so as not to be that unfair in making comparisons.
Points of awkwardness revealed themselves in the obvious attempts by Cahn to ramp up the velocity of the dialogue in pursuit of a Sorkiny tête-à -tête. These points could've been avoided if she'd (or probably the whole writing team) accepted that Sorkin's velocity was a characteristic of Sorkin's writing, but not, at his best, the end-all be-all goal. The volume of his ideas inherently resulted in fast-paced delivery, which has played no small part in giving him a screwball comedy edge.
Still, that awkwardness isn't the fault of the post-Sorkin seasons. They had a trademark to uphold that was probably beyond anybody's reach (even post WW Sorkin's, it seems).
Season seven appears to be a stand-alone show, good enough for the devoted, especially in light of recent political events. Or maybe I just saw an uncommonly strong episode.
Believing in the process even a little wasn't always confined to Sorkin High-Style Wit-Whack-A-Mole.
So they showed an episode from the last season, written by Deborah Cahn, and I was set to just fall asleep to it, when, as I'd been assured would happen early on by those who'd followed it, I was kept awake by the momentum of the plot and the quality of the writing. Was it even close to Sorkin? Well, no, we might as well call Paul Haggis a 'writer', so as not to be that unfair in making comparisons.
Points of awkwardness revealed themselves in the obvious attempts by Cahn to ramp up the velocity of the dialogue in pursuit of a Sorkiny tête-à -tête. These points could've been avoided if she'd (or probably the whole writing team) accepted that Sorkin's velocity was a characteristic of Sorkin's writing, but not, at his best, the end-all be-all goal. The volume of his ideas inherently resulted in fast-paced delivery, which has played no small part in giving him a screwball comedy edge.
Still, that awkwardness isn't the fault of the post-Sorkin seasons. They had a trademark to uphold that was probably beyond anybody's reach (even post WW Sorkin's, it seems).
Season seven appears to be a stand-alone show, good enough for the devoted, especially in light of recent political events. Or maybe I just saw an uncommonly strong episode.
Monday, November 24, 2008
CHOMP
Not only will he be the first President using a laptop in the Oval Office, I'd say it's probably the one seen here. Teehee.
Sunday, November 23, 2008
The Only Seat In Town
Hmm.
I have a better idea, which is they get none of my business from now on. Suits me fine, as I usually head out to Regal or Carmike theaters anyway.
Besides, the idea that Milk will be one of the most profitable films of the holiday season strikes me as more than a little naive.
I have a better idea, which is they get none of my business from now on. Suits me fine, as I usually head out to Regal or Carmike theaters anyway.
Besides, the idea that Milk will be one of the most profitable films of the holiday season strikes me as more than a little naive.
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Ha Ha
After Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin dismissed the value of community organizing in her acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention on Sept. 3 -- "I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a community organizer, except that you have actual responsibilities," she said to applause -- Obama raised $10 million within 24 hours."
More people have an innate sense of injustice than we might think. Seems so.
More people have an innate sense of injustice than we might think. Seems so.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Friends As Often As Possible
It's a great movie. It's not too early to say so about A Prairie Home Companion, because, as a coda to an inspiring career, it effortlessly incorporated into its scenes all a dedicated man had ever learned in life.
I admit something similar to what Ebert reveals in his opening paragraph, there: When I think of the diner scene at the end, with Tomlin, Keillor, Streep and Kline, I see Altman sitting next to them. I attribute their lines to him. It's how I remember the scene.
I admit something similar to what Ebert reveals in his opening paragraph, there: When I think of the diner scene at the end, with Tomlin, Keillor, Streep and Kline, I see Altman sitting next to them. I attribute their lines to him. It's how I remember the scene.
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Do You Pray to Jesus with That Mouth?
This "Family Council" guy is proof that the courts are superior to the mob. This is why appointments to those courts must understand what minority rights are, and how that concept is separate from mere identity politics.
Every homosexual in America, including the moronic 27% of you that voted Republican, should be happy Barack Obama won for one simple reason: The Supreme Court.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Remember Remember the 4th of November
I wanted to be in Chicago last week, but couldn't swing it. I probably wouldn't have been in Grant Park, but hell, I still would've loved to have been in the city.
Monday, November 10, 2008
What's It To You?
I do not intend to continuously post Keith Olbermann. I know you could say he's the headliner for MSNBC's Liberal Power Hours, and that he's just a pundit like O'Reilly or Hannity. Well, I'd like to see them come close to anything resembling the kind of perspective, generosity and sincerity evinced in the clip below. If it's all for show-biz, then it's a preferable show-biz to the oblivion of mainstream television.
If he's doing it for the dollars, I say we pay him, and if he's our shouting hard-liner, we could do a lot worse.
If he's doing it for the dollars, I say we pay him, and if he's our shouting hard-liner, we could do a lot worse.
Saturday, November 08, 2008
Friday, November 07, 2008
Zombie Stomp
Adam Freeland's Marine Parade label has been one of the highest caliber of the past eight years. It was one of the faces of breaks without being limited to breaks, the result being that artists like ILS and Infusion could never stick around for very long. They produced great work in the early half of the decade, moved on to other labels, and through good albums and bad, found a cookie-cutter mold to stick with.
They haven't budged since. Beber disappeared, as did Apex. Forme, aka Richard File, is still doing thrilling work with UNKLE. Thoroughly excellent as Sta and Alex Metric are, they currently also work with other labels and have produced tracks that might not forever fit Freeland's ever evolving musical style, so give 'em a few years (that isn't a negative thought).
Freeland oughtta be pretty happy this year, because Evil Nine have emerged victorious. They've been with him from the beginning, from the track Special Move, to the album You Can Be Special Too, and now here with their stereo scorching They Live.
And folks, it's the best dance album in a long time. It's genre defining and genre defying. Perhaps it's the Evil Nine genre: Punk rock, nu disco, zombie-punk dancehall, and Halloween breaks. Adam Freeland will change in two or three years, and Evil Nine'll be there to complement him.
The album has the best instrumentals this year, pummeling brilliance into deceptively minimal schemes. They're anthems. Stadium sized.
El-P pumps a measured level of adrenaline into All the Cash. David autoKratz brings on the catchiest vocals of the album, unless you count the zombie in the titular track, They Live, or the uplift of Seraphim's Icicles (a track I dare you not to listen to eight times a day for the first few days). Toastie Tailor returns, and rounds out one hell of a collaboration.
I think there's crossover appeal here. They've recalled an era of music, refashioned it, brought it back from the dead, and made it sufficiently bizarre, fun, catchy, and finally lighthearted.
Rejoice. Brains.
They haven't budged since. Beber disappeared, as did Apex. Forme, aka Richard File, is still doing thrilling work with UNKLE. Thoroughly excellent as Sta and Alex Metric are, they currently also work with other labels and have produced tracks that might not forever fit Freeland's ever evolving musical style, so give 'em a few years (that isn't a negative thought).
Freeland oughtta be pretty happy this year, because Evil Nine have emerged victorious. They've been with him from the beginning, from the track Special Move, to the album You Can Be Special Too, and now here with their stereo scorching They Live.
And folks, it's the best dance album in a long time. It's genre defining and genre defying. Perhaps it's the Evil Nine genre: Punk rock, nu disco, zombie-punk dancehall, and Halloween breaks. Adam Freeland will change in two or three years, and Evil Nine'll be there to complement him.
The album has the best instrumentals this year, pummeling brilliance into deceptively minimal schemes. They're anthems. Stadium sized.
El-P pumps a measured level of adrenaline into All the Cash. David autoKratz brings on the catchiest vocals of the album, unless you count the zombie in the titular track, They Live, or the uplift of Seraphim's Icicles (a track I dare you not to listen to eight times a day for the first few days). Toastie Tailor returns, and rounds out one hell of a collaboration.
I think there's crossover appeal here. They've recalled an era of music, refashioned it, brought it back from the dead, and made it sufficiently bizarre, fun, catchy, and finally lighthearted.
Rejoice. Brains.
Wednesday, November 05, 2008
Perestroika
Does your vote count? Yes.
Does the right leadership make a difference? Yes.
Remember who trademarked the phrase "Fair and Balanced".
Remember who benefits from voter apathy.
Remember that sometimes we're individuals, and sometimes we're needed as a unified people. It's called the social contract.
Did we attack people personally for their vote when we questioned their leaders? Maybe, but that's part of the process. Speaking truth to power is our birthright. We must grow a backbone, rattle off our thin skins, and get real.
Do we need to be civil in victory? Yes. Good people have been abused by bad leaders, but, frankly, their feelings aren't as important to me as are the victims of the past eight years of unlawful rule by thugs and theocrats.
They say a new day is dawning for the Democratic party. A new era like the one we saw begin with FDR that ended in Grant Park in 1968.
Still, if we manage to do nothing else but bring the Republican party back to its center, and move it to govern away from the kooks and the gun-nuts and the homophobes, we'll have done a great victory for consensus government in the future.
Beyond those observations, we simply don't know what's going to happen next. How utterly exciting.
Does the right leadership make a difference? Yes.
Remember who trademarked the phrase "Fair and Balanced".
Remember who benefits from voter apathy.
Remember that sometimes we're individuals, and sometimes we're needed as a unified people. It's called the social contract.
Did we attack people personally for their vote when we questioned their leaders? Maybe, but that's part of the process. Speaking truth to power is our birthright. We must grow a backbone, rattle off our thin skins, and get real.
Do we need to be civil in victory? Yes. Good people have been abused by bad leaders, but, frankly, their feelings aren't as important to me as are the victims of the past eight years of unlawful rule by thugs and theocrats.
They say a new day is dawning for the Democratic party. A new era like the one we saw begin with FDR that ended in Grant Park in 1968.
Still, if we manage to do nothing else but bring the Republican party back to its center, and move it to govern away from the kooks and the gun-nuts and the homophobes, we'll have done a great victory for consensus government in the future.
Beyond those observations, we simply don't know what's going to happen next. How utterly exciting.
Tuesday, November 04, 2008
---------------------
This space can't be left blank today. I don't know what to say after this, because she said it right, and I'm only posting because I'm out of breath.
Following this election closely has focused me (in an even more persistent monomania than usual!), helped me distract myself from nagging fears and terrible heartbreak.
I'm not trying to be a downer. I'm simply addressing the fact that I wish I had been financially independent and emotionally sound enough to go help out in a place that could use help. Helping out in Ohio or Pennsylvania would've been great. I can't imagine going door to door around here. This ain't a swing-state. We're 15 points behind and voting for the 14th century, because Barack "isn't gonna share his wealth".
That's what I heard my grandmother say. I say nothing, because my family goes Republican way back, far back enough that when the Roosevelt dime was minted, my Granny's Uncle would only take two nickels, or, grocer boy, you'd damned get it.
I used to argue more loosely with Granny and Mom about these sorts of things, but not now, when I believe they've been abused by terrible leadership and a disdain for the Constitution. The stopping-distance, I think, is long enough that it might not hit them very directly in their lifetimes, so their preferred narrative of America can persist. With Rush Limbaugh for Granny and Fox News for my Mom (and Granny), it can definitely persist.
I overheard them talking about a woman at my Mom's workplace, who said that Obama's birth-certificate has been kept from the public, and I got upset. Couldn't contain myself. I thought, surely, surely, you're not buying into that hate-speech? My Mom finished by saying that she had told the lady at work that that was ridiculous, that Obama was a citizen, let's not get crazy. She said this wearing a Sarah Palin button.
In that moment she showed what was obvious to me to begin with, that she has ten times more sense and compassion than the farce on her button. She said she admired Obama, believed he was a very bright man, but disagreed with his policies, and that was it. The negative campaigning isn't working on anyone but rabid nutjobs.
It occurred to me that if McCain had picked a center-right running mate, run a campaign based on low taxes and small government, he'd be doing a lot better, and it would be perfectly honorable (though wrong and impractical in our time of debt and crisis).
In explaining her stance, my Mother showed a calm decency that, however wrongheaded politically I still think she is, gives me hope that an Obama win may be more magnanimous than we can imagine. I hope so. I'm baffled. My Mom and Granny root for their home-team, and were sad for Fulmer today. They have the same attitude towards the G.O.P. They don't like 'em to lose, but they can handle it.
Am I baffled by the Palin button? Disgusted by it, but at Palin, not my Mom. Beyond that, I'm just ready for a real President, and thankful it'll be handled with grace in this household if I get my wish. Other households in TN may not be so lucky.
Following this election closely has focused me (in an even more persistent monomania than usual!), helped me distract myself from nagging fears and terrible heartbreak.
I'm not trying to be a downer. I'm simply addressing the fact that I wish I had been financially independent and emotionally sound enough to go help out in a place that could use help. Helping out in Ohio or Pennsylvania would've been great. I can't imagine going door to door around here. This ain't a swing-state. We're 15 points behind and voting for the 14th century, because Barack "isn't gonna share his wealth".
That's what I heard my grandmother say. I say nothing, because my family goes Republican way back, far back enough that when the Roosevelt dime was minted, my Granny's Uncle would only take two nickels, or, grocer boy, you'd damned get it.
I used to argue more loosely with Granny and Mom about these sorts of things, but not now, when I believe they've been abused by terrible leadership and a disdain for the Constitution. The stopping-distance, I think, is long enough that it might not hit them very directly in their lifetimes, so their preferred narrative of America can persist. With Rush Limbaugh for Granny and Fox News for my Mom (and Granny), it can definitely persist.
I overheard them talking about a woman at my Mom's workplace, who said that Obama's birth-certificate has been kept from the public, and I got upset. Couldn't contain myself. I thought, surely, surely, you're not buying into that hate-speech? My Mom finished by saying that she had told the lady at work that that was ridiculous, that Obama was a citizen, let's not get crazy. She said this wearing a Sarah Palin button.
In that moment she showed what was obvious to me to begin with, that she has ten times more sense and compassion than the farce on her button. She said she admired Obama, believed he was a very bright man, but disagreed with his policies, and that was it. The negative campaigning isn't working on anyone but rabid nutjobs.
It occurred to me that if McCain had picked a center-right running mate, run a campaign based on low taxes and small government, he'd be doing a lot better, and it would be perfectly honorable (though wrong and impractical in our time of debt and crisis).
In explaining her stance, my Mother showed a calm decency that, however wrongheaded politically I still think she is, gives me hope that an Obama win may be more magnanimous than we can imagine. I hope so. I'm baffled. My Mom and Granny root for their home-team, and were sad for Fulmer today. They have the same attitude towards the G.O.P. They don't like 'em to lose, but they can handle it.
Am I baffled by the Palin button? Disgusted by it, but at Palin, not my Mom. Beyond that, I'm just ready for a real President, and thankful it'll be handled with grace in this household if I get my wish. Other households in TN may not be so lucky.
Friday, October 31, 2008
On November 4th
Don't forget to go....
To your local bookstore!
The proprietor of this site invites you to experience his majesty as if it were your own (which it most surely is not -Ed.)
Triage of hookers has never been explained more lucidly - Annie Potts
I read the first chapter - George Takei
A colossus among goatfuckers - Julie Andrews
I disagree with everything Plummer says in this book, but I absolutely think all actors should read it. - Alec Baldwin
To your local bookstore!
The proprietor of this site invites you to experience his majesty as if it were your own (which it most surely is not -Ed.)
Triage of hookers has never been explained more lucidly - Annie Potts
I read the first chapter - George Takei
A colossus among goatfuckers - Julie Andrews
I disagree with everything Plummer says in this book, but I absolutely think all actors should read it. - Alec Baldwin
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Monday, October 27, 2008
Great is Great is Great
After this most luminous summer movie season, could Hollywood be blamed for pushing their big winners? The NYTimes has it here.
Before a volley of message-board lightweights and cineastes denigrate an Oscar season bound to be swept by a hit or two, I will guide my celluloid-based heart toward my end of summer endorsement for that very result.
I think The Dark Knight might be the best picture of 2008. And then I think maybe it's Wall*E.
I do not believe small film equals better film. I've seen small budget films that were far and away better than big budget contenders, and I've seen big budget contenders stamp the small-minded-ness right out of indie films. It's a merit-based game, not a budget-based game.
We had giants walking the earth last year, powered by small budgets, and we have giants walking the earth this year, fueled by lavish ones. As film lovers, we should be excited when the movies are this amazingly good. All other considerations are cant.
Before a volley of message-board lightweights and cineastes denigrate an Oscar season bound to be swept by a hit or two, I will guide my celluloid-based heart toward my end of summer endorsement for that very result.
I think The Dark Knight might be the best picture of 2008. And then I think maybe it's Wall*E.
I do not believe small film equals better film. I've seen small budget films that were far and away better than big budget contenders, and I've seen big budget contenders stamp the small-minded-ness right out of indie films. It's a merit-based game, not a budget-based game.
We had giants walking the earth last year, powered by small budgets, and we have giants walking the earth this year, fueled by lavish ones. As film lovers, we should be excited when the movies are this amazingly good. All other considerations are cant.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Your Shit, Re: Security of
I can't top this. As hard as I've tried, searches to my site are never quite so, umm, variegated. Go on now, check out Holly's recent list of search hits from a woebegone and sexually confused world.
I can still enjoy the consistency of the searches that get you all here. Be it a search for "Chateau Neuf du Pap" or "You call your music minimal", I get hits from Iran to Estonia to Wichita (Hey, Sis! Hey, Niece!).
Many of you, including a reader from the service provider for the L.A. Times, have read my little bit on Burn After Reading, by doing a search for "Security of your shit". It's the only search from which I've ever managed a number one hit on the Google.
I love it. I love that I wrote the sentence "Brad Pitt is so great". That really sums up this whole enterprise, readers.
As for the usual fishing:
This man fucked the scopes monkey and called him Brian Dennehy:
I can still enjoy the consistency of the searches that get you all here. Be it a search for "Chateau Neuf du Pap" or "You call your music minimal", I get hits from Iran to Estonia to Wichita (Hey, Sis! Hey, Niece!).
Many of you, including a reader from the service provider for the L.A. Times, have read my little bit on Burn After Reading, by doing a search for "Security of your shit". It's the only search from which I've ever managed a number one hit on the Google.
I love it. I love that I wrote the sentence "Brad Pitt is so great". That really sums up this whole enterprise, readers.
As for the usual fishing:
This man fucked the scopes monkey and called him Brian Dennehy:
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Fervor
Fervor heard by few, barely expressed by the campaign, and undoubtedly shot unheard overmuch into the echoing stretches of the internet, but cooling my spleen all the same:
Can we put to rest this newly picayune crying of "executive experience"? At long last? A governorship does not a mind make, much less does it inherently make a leader. Nothing can adequately prepare you for the most difficult job that exists.
It calls to a select few their greatest, most unexpected powers to shoot up to the surface and make the world known of them.
This last two term yahoo of a an R.K. Maroon cartoon President didn't know shit from shinola as governor of Texas and doesn't know much more at all after eight years of sitting in a room beyond his measure.
That's why it ain't workin' on the campaign trail, you hacks.
My apologies, but sometimes the obvious has to go somewhere so I don't mow down the fishy section in Wal-Mart or something.
Can we put to rest this newly picayune crying of "executive experience"? At long last? A governorship does not a mind make, much less does it inherently make a leader. Nothing can adequately prepare you for the most difficult job that exists.
It calls to a select few their greatest, most unexpected powers to shoot up to the surface and make the world known of them.
This last two term yahoo of a an R.K. Maroon cartoon President didn't know shit from shinola as governor of Texas and doesn't know much more at all after eight years of sitting in a room beyond his measure.
That's why it ain't workin' on the campaign trail, you hacks.
My apologies, but sometimes the obvious has to go somewhere so I don't mow down the fishy section in Wal-Mart or something.
Monday, October 20, 2008
Oh Me Oh Oh My Oh Oh Cleveland...
I wish I could ignore how dangerous they're going to be over the next four to eight years, if Obama wins (and if he doesn't), but I can say for sure that if he does, the right wing is going to be HILARIOUS. Their true, stupid colors were on clear, bright display for the past thirty years. This will kinda be fun.
But perhaps not.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Enough Sarah Palin
This is what SNL should get back to doing, full-time:
Everything unrelated to Sarah Palin in last night's episode was the usual Meh.
Addendum: Except for Mark Wahlberg
Everything unrelated to Sarah Palin in last night's episode was the usual Meh.
Addendum: Except for Mark Wahlberg
Friday, October 17, 2008
Is It Right Where You Are?
This piece addresses the marketing concerns for Zack Snyder's Watchmen, set for release this March.
It prompted me to go to Ain't It Cool News for the first time in awhile and do a search for any updates on the status of the studio war that's underway now, and any new clips or reports on the nature of the film itself. I've read Watchmen, so I'm not concerned with plot-spoilers.
I found this breathless response to twenty-five minutes shown late last month. This is heartening news, because the material deserves great attention to detail and a propensity for balancing two very serious aspects of the story, and we may be getting that.
The visual aspect of Watchmen, with its expansive locations and intricate designs (as well as interdimensional beings!) has been a concern for anyone attempting to tell the story (other than Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, of course). It hasn't taken off as a project until now simply because certain aspects may have been close to unfilmable. The trailer we saw before The Dark Knight put those worries to rest, assuring us that, visually, Zack Snyder is indeed the man for the job. It looks picture-perfect to what we read on the page.
We also have to contend with the more pedestrian interior scenes and self-reflective depression of many of the characters in Moore's story. That alone could be more unpalatable (if not unfilmable) to modern audiences, than anything else going on.
Having said that, the Aint It Cool report, and the trailer, have given me pause. I can't really call myself a fan of the revamped Dawn of the Dead, though I admit to having a marginal affection for 300. If Dawn of the Dead isn't entirely successful, it does have maybe the most audacious first twenty minutes of any zombie movie, and 300 was visually striking enough to indicate an incipient, boldly visual filmmaker, perhaps on the edge of a purged adolescence. To get Watchmen right is not the job of an adolescent, but Snyder has showed a very careful adherence to source material. I'm optimistic. He could be a great director.
It prompted me to go to Ain't It Cool News for the first time in awhile and do a search for any updates on the status of the studio war that's underway now, and any new clips or reports on the nature of the film itself. I've read Watchmen, so I'm not concerned with plot-spoilers.
I found this breathless response to twenty-five minutes shown late last month. This is heartening news, because the material deserves great attention to detail and a propensity for balancing two very serious aspects of the story, and we may be getting that.
The visual aspect of Watchmen, with its expansive locations and intricate designs (as well as interdimensional beings!) has been a concern for anyone attempting to tell the story (other than Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, of course). It hasn't taken off as a project until now simply because certain aspects may have been close to unfilmable. The trailer we saw before The Dark Knight put those worries to rest, assuring us that, visually, Zack Snyder is indeed the man for the job. It looks picture-perfect to what we read on the page.
We also have to contend with the more pedestrian interior scenes and self-reflective depression of many of the characters in Moore's story. That alone could be more unpalatable (if not unfilmable) to modern audiences, than anything else going on.
Having said that, the Aint It Cool report, and the trailer, have given me pause. I can't really call myself a fan of the revamped Dawn of the Dead, though I admit to having a marginal affection for 300. If Dawn of the Dead isn't entirely successful, it does have maybe the most audacious first twenty minutes of any zombie movie, and 300 was visually striking enough to indicate an incipient, boldly visual filmmaker, perhaps on the edge of a purged adolescence. To get Watchmen right is not the job of an adolescent, but Snyder has showed a very careful adherence to source material. I'm optimistic. He could be a great director.
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Play Your Part
The Girl Talk set in Knoxville last night was a repudiation of the death of club culture here in the states. Hands down (and way up). It's alive and kickin', covered in confetti, toilet paper and incandescence.
The stage presence of this long haired shirtless twenty-something leaning over a lap-top was more enlivening than some rock concerts I've seen (I'm looking at you, Deathcab For Cutie).
I lost count of the number of youngins in the place. It was a wild, celebratory show, obviously fueled by underground sales of GT's albums and frenzied word of mouth. Having said that, I circled the crowd, getting the full scope of the show and the field of sound GT was using, and I realized 1)The sound could be a lot better, except 2)there are at least 100 people on stage surrounding our DJ, and, as a result, they're muffling the sound by standing in front of the speaker stacks. Everybody's hollering and singing.
It's not just that they're singing along because they're hearing familiar pop songs, classic songs and hip hop songs, because this group is unmistakably aware, in large numbers, the order in which these songs are supposed to go, what snippets GT uses, what samples he uses as intermediaries between tracks, and what versions of mash-ups he's going to play, before he even plays 'em.
And GT mixed it up a lot last night (obviously, but it felt improvised). Word's been spread. What an experience.
(This is not the Knoxville show, but the best one I could find while scouring for a comparable example)
The stage presence of this long haired shirtless twenty-something leaning over a lap-top was more enlivening than some rock concerts I've seen (I'm looking at you, Deathcab For Cutie).
I lost count of the number of youngins in the place. It was a wild, celebratory show, obviously fueled by underground sales of GT's albums and frenzied word of mouth. Having said that, I circled the crowd, getting the full scope of the show and the field of sound GT was using, and I realized 1)The sound could be a lot better, except 2)there are at least 100 people on stage surrounding our DJ, and, as a result, they're muffling the sound by standing in front of the speaker stacks. Everybody's hollering and singing.
It's not just that they're singing along because they're hearing familiar pop songs, classic songs and hip hop songs, because this group is unmistakably aware, in large numbers, the order in which these songs are supposed to go, what snippets GT uses, what samples he uses as intermediaries between tracks, and what versions of mash-ups he's going to play, before he even plays 'em.
And GT mixed it up a lot last night (obviously, but it felt improvised). Word's been spread. What an experience.
(This is not the Knoxville show, but the best one I could find while scouring for a comparable example)
Grown/Up '08
I'm watching this debate and just choking on it. I'm fatigued, and I can stay angry for days at a time, lurching forth to every debate finding new variations on the theme of Evil People Failing.
To you conservatives bemoaning "redistribution of wealth": Do you have any idea the actual planet you live on? The economy we're saddled with? If the next President doesn't raise taxes, we're well and truly fucked, and all that wealth the top percentile has accrued will dry up before it has a chance to never trickle down under the purview of your regimes.
Also, taxes are not inherently more "socialist" just because they're higher rather than lower. Taxes are taxes. They're your ticket to living in this country. Deal. There are legitimate class warfare concerns to be contended with when considering raising taxes on the super-rich, but the relative "wealth" of Joe the Plumber (those millionaire plumbers!) is redistributed into spending on tanks, or programs to encourage our kids to get successfully knocked up, that is, of course, under your regimes.
Again, any political or economic policy not considered in relief against the actual circumstances is bound to fail, just as any version of spirituality that doesn't teach you to find value in people isn't really spirituality at all.
Christ, Republicans. You may be right that government should be small, that taxes should be low, and that states should have the right to their own sovereignty, mostly undeterred by the Federal Government. Certainly, I don't believe in the latter, on some very specific issues. On social issues, on science, on education, on a whole horror-house of perpetually urgent issues, you are the party of Destruction, with a very big D.
Either way, if the above enumerated values are yours, you ought to be disgusted by W. and terrified of McCain/End Times.
To you conservatives bemoaning "redistribution of wealth": Do you have any idea the actual planet you live on? The economy we're saddled with? If the next President doesn't raise taxes, we're well and truly fucked, and all that wealth the top percentile has accrued will dry up before it has a chance to never trickle down under the purview of your regimes.
Also, taxes are not inherently more "socialist" just because they're higher rather than lower. Taxes are taxes. They're your ticket to living in this country. Deal. There are legitimate class warfare concerns to be contended with when considering raising taxes on the super-rich, but the relative "wealth" of Joe the Plumber (those millionaire plumbers!) is redistributed into spending on tanks, or programs to encourage our kids to get successfully knocked up, that is, of course, under your regimes.
Again, any political or economic policy not considered in relief against the actual circumstances is bound to fail, just as any version of spirituality that doesn't teach you to find value in people isn't really spirituality at all.
Christ, Republicans. You may be right that government should be small, that taxes should be low, and that states should have the right to their own sovereignty, mostly undeterred by the Federal Government. Certainly, I don't believe in the latter, on some very specific issues. On social issues, on science, on education, on a whole horror-house of perpetually urgent issues, you are the party of Destruction, with a very big D.
Either way, if the above enumerated values are yours, you ought to be disgusted by W. and terrified of McCain/End Times.
Tuesday, October 07, 2008
Oh. Yeah.
If there's an Olbermensch video of scathing accuracy out there slamming Sarah Failin's Russia-Seein' Hellbeast Bill Kristol-Fuckfest Witch Doctor candidacy, what were the odds I wouldn't post it?
Saturday, October 04, 2008
Go Green Yourself
Nader, you do not live in the real world. You're an overgrown, exceptionally bright college sophomore. Furthermore, unequivocally, you can lay a great deal of blame on yourself for the past eight years. Stay the fuck out of professional politics. You're the butt-end of liberal jokes, and you give progressives a bad name (people take Michael Moore more seriously). I've dated your kind. You're insufferable, and do not have people's best interests at heart. Sell your books and stay out of political races. Crackpot.
Addendum: Maher's still got it, though.
Addendum: Maher's still got it, though.
Friday, October 03, 2008
SUUURRRRGGGGE!!!!
Just what is the surge, and what is it a cover for? I don't feel comfortable lugging a fifty-cent word around and then not even bothering to define what it means, so it goes without saying that I'm even less comfortable with our leaders doing the same.
Thursday, October 02, 2008
A Review I Can't Refuse (To Repudiate)
Finally.
But, seriously, you should atone for this, Ebes. Come on. Three stars for Godfather 2 and three and a half for Part 3?
You include it in your great movies section because it's a cultural watershed. Yes. That's because it was a great movie to begin with, at least an equal to its great and nearly peerless original.
I've never agreed with your dismissal of its "separate" narratives. They're not separate. We see the violent, yet somehow idealistic beginnings of a crime family as it heads towards the events of the first film, even as we jump to the present and deal with that first film's consequences. To quote Pauline Kael:
The second film shows the consequences of the actions in the first; it's all one movie, in two great pieces, and it comes together in your head while you watch.
The daring of Part II is that it enlarges the scope and deepens the meaning of the first film.
I mean, you know I'm all for you, Roger, in possession of over a decade's worth of heartfelt, often tendentious loyalty, but I simply have never followed your reasoning on this one at all.
The Godfather Part II is one of the greatest films by one of the truly great American directors. If ever you had cause to retroactively update a star-rating, it is for this film, and perhaps this film only.
But, seriously, you should atone for this, Ebes. Come on. Three stars for Godfather 2 and three and a half for Part 3?
You include it in your great movies section because it's a cultural watershed. Yes. That's because it was a great movie to begin with, at least an equal to its great and nearly peerless original.
I've never agreed with your dismissal of its "separate" narratives. They're not separate. We see the violent, yet somehow idealistic beginnings of a crime family as it heads towards the events of the first film, even as we jump to the present and deal with that first film's consequences. To quote Pauline Kael:
The second film shows the consequences of the actions in the first; it's all one movie, in two great pieces, and it comes together in your head while you watch.
The daring of Part II is that it enlarges the scope and deepens the meaning of the first film.
I mean, you know I'm all for you, Roger, in possession of over a decade's worth of heartfelt, often tendentious loyalty, but I simply have never followed your reasoning on this one at all.
The Godfather Part II is one of the greatest films by one of the truly great American directors. If ever you had cause to retroactively update a star-rating, it is for this film, and perhaps this film only.
OOoooh Look at Me, Readin' the NYORKER!!
Cllassssy.
But I haven't yet found a reasoned defense of McCain's candidacy, and this article has many, many salient points.
For some who oppose him, his equanimity even under the ugliest attack seems like hauteur; for some who support him, his reluctance to counterattack in the same vein seems like self-defeating detachment. Yet it is Obama’s temperament—and not McCain’s—that seems appropriate for the office both men seek and for the volatile and dangerous era in which we live. Those who dismiss his centeredness as self-centeredness or his composure as indifference are as wrong as those who mistook Eisenhower’s stolidity for denseness or Lincoln’s humor for lack of seriousness.
But I haven't yet found a reasoned defense of McCain's candidacy, and this article has many, many salient points.
For some who oppose him, his equanimity even under the ugliest attack seems like hauteur; for some who support him, his reluctance to counterattack in the same vein seems like self-defeating detachment. Yet it is Obama’s temperament—and not McCain’s—that seems appropriate for the office both men seek and for the volatile and dangerous era in which we live. Those who dismiss his centeredness as self-centeredness or his composure as indifference are as wrong as those who mistook Eisenhower’s stolidity for denseness or Lincoln’s humor for lack of seriousness.
God Bless You, Internets
Finally. Finally. An internet search for FUCKING THE PLUMMER (all caps present in search).
Thank you. Thank you. General Chang fucked a muskrat.
And this man shtupped animals along the entire range of the Alps.
Thank you. Thank you. General Chang fucked a muskrat.
And this man shtupped animals along the entire range of the Alps.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Numberous Reasons
To Post. I've had some Margaritas with my brother, and I'm celebrating the first time I've ever posted enough to equal one post per day in a given month.
I guess all it takes is the world to go bugfuck in a variety of ways, but mostly it helps if culture wars are re-ignited, people are consistently fuckin' stupid, and movies and music get an inversely proportional ratio of better-ness to doomsday scenario tickings down.
Holly done removed her enblogged twitterfeed.
I kinda forgot mine was even there, and this dude's been a mainstay at mine and Holly's blogs for over a month now, and I'd hate to be mean, but that ain't my content. I'm gonna have to follow suit, here.
(My twitterness is here case you hankerin' to join.)
I'm not upset about the copycattery. I can handle Holly makin' the right decision first. What I'm jealous of is the video she posted. Here's *hic* that link again, go watch.
I want to post a video (gosh I lurve postin' videos!), though, so here's Fleet Foxes with their vid for White Winter Hymnal
Movie Sign: Shine a Light, Burn After Reading, The Dark Knight
Republicans are stupid now, but weren't then: The Assault on Reason- Al Gore, Lincoln - Gore Vidal
Booty Move: The Twelves, Cumbia (style of), Diplo/Santogold mixtape
I guess all it takes is the world to go bugfuck in a variety of ways, but mostly it helps if culture wars are re-ignited, people are consistently fuckin' stupid, and movies and music get an inversely proportional ratio of better-ness to doomsday scenario tickings down.
Holly done removed her enblogged twitterfeed.
I kinda forgot mine was even there, and this dude's been a mainstay at mine and Holly's blogs for over a month now, and I'd hate to be mean, but that ain't my content. I'm gonna have to follow suit, here.
(My twitterness is here case you hankerin' to join.)
I'm not upset about the copycattery. I can handle Holly makin' the right decision first. What I'm jealous of is the video she posted. Here's *hic* that link again, go watch.
I want to post a video (gosh I lurve postin' videos!), though, so here's Fleet Foxes with their vid for White Winter Hymnal
Movie Sign: Shine a Light, Burn After Reading, The Dark Knight
Republicans are stupid now, but weren't then: The Assault on Reason- Al Gore, Lincoln - Gore Vidal
Booty Move: The Twelves, Cumbia (style of), Diplo/Santogold mixtape
Monday, September 29, 2008
Me Bratre
Music awareness this week, thanks to a visit from Brock, my older brother:
Fleet Foxes
She & Him (I finally heard 'em!)
Wilco - Kicking Television: Live in Chicago
Speaking of Wilco and Fleet Foxes, this'll get you a free download of the two bands in concert covering a classic song. In other words, Strife-Gone, apply directly to the earbuds.
Finally, from my brother, I'm unable now to ever ignore Natalie Portman's boyfriend, Devendra Banhart:
That's from the album Cripple Crow
I also want to write a bit about The Twelves, but Blah Blah Blah's got it. Get that podcast.
Your ears can thank me later.
Fleet Foxes
She & Him (I finally heard 'em!)
Wilco - Kicking Television: Live in Chicago
Speaking of Wilco and Fleet Foxes, this'll get you a free download of the two bands in concert covering a classic song. In other words, Strife-Gone, apply directly to the earbuds.
Finally, from my brother, I'm unable now to ever ignore Natalie Portman's boyfriend, Devendra Banhart:
That's from the album Cripple Crow
I also want to write a bit about The Twelves, but Blah Blah Blah's got it. Get that podcast.
Your ears can thank me later.
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Well
Yes. In a better world, yes. We all want Obama to serve McCain's long absent sanity to the Republican candidate in big, chunky bites.
Much as I hate it when I realize this, we ain't in Sorkinland. We're not going to win that way. Not in an America this debased and narcissistic. We're not going to win with an "elitist" strategy. We're not going to win by educating the public. It ain't gonna sway McCain voters.
I say WE keep screaming and yelling. Get it off our chests. Pound our fists. GET ANGRIER. Because we, smarty U.S. Citizens, are humble enough to admit that we don't have the chops for the Presidency, a big part of the many reasons we want to vote for a candidate who does.
In the meantime, it's frustrating to watch Obama not say the things we're thinking. After eight years that actually make me nostalgic ever so slightly for Reagan, I want Barry to throw it at 'em. I really do. Do you honestly believe all of this hasn't occurred to him, though? It has. He knows. He's making a conscious decision. It seems to be working. He looks so steadfast. He looks and (mostly) sounds Presidential. This is showbizzness, whether we like it or not. We want and need to win. He might be doing the right thing.
Either way, Thursday we get to watch the Palin/Biden square-off, truncated though it may be. And it will still be good television.
Aside from all that, just remember, Obama beat the Clintons.
Much as I hate it when I realize this, we ain't in Sorkinland. We're not going to win that way. Not in an America this debased and narcissistic. We're not going to win with an "elitist" strategy. We're not going to win by educating the public. It ain't gonna sway McCain voters.
I say WE keep screaming and yelling. Get it off our chests. Pound our fists. GET ANGRIER. Because we, smarty U.S. Citizens, are humble enough to admit that we don't have the chops for the Presidency, a big part of the many reasons we want to vote for a candidate who does.
In the meantime, it's frustrating to watch Obama not say the things we're thinking. After eight years that actually make me nostalgic ever so slightly for Reagan, I want Barry to throw it at 'em. I really do. Do you honestly believe all of this hasn't occurred to him, though? It has. He knows. He's making a conscious decision. It seems to be working. He looks so steadfast. He looks and (mostly) sounds Presidential. This is showbizzness, whether we like it or not. We want and need to win. He might be doing the right thing.
Either way, Thursday we get to watch the Palin/Biden square-off, truncated though it may be. And it will still be good television.
Aside from all that, just remember, Obama beat the Clintons.
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Letterman,
of all people, outperforming every op-ed in America, and delivering it to an audience that might actually listen:
Add to that a guffawing Olbermann, and you've made my night.
Looking onward to my next post, tagged as Nature, I will do a revealing piece about the rare species Guffawing Olbermann. This graceful, hilarious creature has bright blue plumage and chirps loudly to ward off oil barons. Last depicted in the film Ferngully.
Add to that a guffawing Olbermann, and you've made my night.
Looking onward to my next post, tagged as Nature, I will do a revealing piece about the rare species Guffawing Olbermann. This graceful, hilarious creature has bright blue plumage and chirps loudly to ward off oil barons. Last depicted in the film Ferngully.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
These Women
All told, festival-wise, everyone's saying wow! and huh?!
Couldn't ask for more. Look at that cast.
As for the title, well, Gesundheit.
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Well, THAT Almost Makes up for Seasons 5 Through 7, Herr Cold Open
The people who want English to be the official language of the United States are uncomfortable with their leaders being fluent in it.
Yeah. Guess who wrote this for his ex?
Still wishin' for that op-ed zingin' fetus we'll never get.
Yeah. Guess who wrote this for his ex?
Still wishin' for that op-ed zingin' fetus we'll never get.
I Blog Now
Did you know? And if the AV Club is going to keep posting funny videos of cats (cats with helpful sound fx) then I'm going to copy and paste said cats. I think this has something to do with playing with a kitty named Revolver Ocelot, and then watching him chase bunnies. What I'm describing there is a cute quotient I had somehow never imagined.
Also, The Olbermann Cycle, written and directed by Keith Olbermann and starring Keith Olbermann as himself (Defender of hope and small children), Comedien Rush Limbaugh, Bill-O the Clown, and the rest of Fox Noise, coming under cover of wagon to a city near you:
Also, The Olbermann Cycle, written and directed by Keith Olbermann and starring Keith Olbermann as himself (Defender of hope and small children), Comedien Rush Limbaugh, Bill-O the Clown, and the rest of Fox Noise, coming under cover of wagon to a city near you:
Friday, September 19, 2008
Smooth, Sophisticated Alive-ness
Cigarettes. My one and only. You're gone. Sweet cylindrical ones, you're gone. It's been nine months. Now I know how pregnant smokers feel, obvs (minus birthing a bowling ball sized creature from an opening that sends pain signals to my brain). Except, after the emotional space mountain I've been on since sounding the death knell to all those future coffin nails, I'll never come near you.
There will be no substances in my body that don't do any modicum of good for my mind. I like having better circulation. I really can feel it. It's like something clicked recently, and I don't feel so detached from my body, don't yearn ceaselessly to be twenty years old again, to have all that energy, and never start down such a path of delicious self-ravaging. I still often feel like crap when I wake up in the morning, but that's also getting better.
C'est la vie. 30 is the new 20, and 50 is the new alive for another twenty years after, at least for the men in my family.
There will be no substances in my body that don't do any modicum of good for my mind. I like having better circulation. I really can feel it. It's like something clicked recently, and I don't feel so detached from my body, don't yearn ceaselessly to be twenty years old again, to have all that energy, and never start down such a path of delicious self-ravaging. I still often feel like crap when I wake up in the morning, but that's also getting better.
C'est la vie. 30 is the new 20, and 50 is the new alive for another twenty years after, at least for the men in my family.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Sta Bwoy
Now it's time for that rare music update, because the French and the Canadians are better musicians than the British. Lazy British.
Anyway, shove this in your cochlea.
It's Sta, he's twelve or something, and he's the new vibe. Go figure. Subscribe to the podcast on that site, as well as the Marine Parade Podcast, won't you?
His Blah Blah Blah mix is retro, funky and hip-hoppy. It closes with Breakbot's sublime re-working of Evil Nine's They Live, and you get the bonus of all the joy that leads to it.
If you're heeding my advice, you'll also end up with Sta's September mix, which contains the alarming revelation that Jesus was a B-Boy.
Anyway, shove this in your cochlea.
It's Sta, he's twelve or something, and he's the new vibe. Go figure. Subscribe to the podcast on that site, as well as the Marine Parade Podcast, won't you?
His Blah Blah Blah mix is retro, funky and hip-hoppy. It closes with Breakbot's sublime re-working of Evil Nine's They Live, and you get the bonus of all the joy that leads to it.
If you're heeding my advice, you'll also end up with Sta's September mix, which contains the alarming revelation that Jesus was a B-Boy.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Political Monomania (Post 174c0p)
A letter to my Mother:
Mom,
I'm having a very hard time right now. That much you've seen. I've been depressed and unemployed. I've been unsure of my future. I've been heartbroken in ways that I just can't explain to you. You'd understand if the circumstances resembled the idea of love you accept. Now, I've been told that you probably know certain things, and can accept more than I can imagine, and I'd like to believe that was the case, but I'm skeptical. Skeptical in no small part because you felt that the mild innuendo in Forrest Gump was too racy for a thirteen year old. We were all younger then, but that is still a conversation for a later time, possibly to take place in a different spiritual plane.
You asked me in the car one day if I was listening to what John McCain was saying. If, you asked, you would listen to John McCain, do you think you'd be convinced by him? I bit my tongue in various ways that day, because I didn't want to give you a litany of reasons why you're voting yet again on the wrong side of history. I spoke a small piece to you, but kept most of it inside. I rage it all out on Facebook or here, and get tendentious with teenagers and twenty-somethings, because fuck 'em if they can't take it or think I'm a blowhard.
I literally can't tell you that I had my heart broken last year, because a boy broke that heart (and I was plainly asking for it), and you may never understand or accept that. That level of reality exists in a place that doesn't often vote Republican.
You've voted for two criminal presidents so far, and it seems to me that the only thing you could say in McCain/Bush's defense was, "don't you think they've kept us safe?"
I learned a long time ago that safety probably didn't exist, Mom. If you still live in Nixonland, I can't argue with you to get you out of it. My faith in the idea that your giant powers of denial and repression will be able to withstand certain revelations about me is small. You've needed those powers of denial and repression to handle unspeakable darkness that's confronted all of us. You truly protected us from it. Kept us safe. That's how I know what safe looks like. Still, I can't vote with you, because I'd be voting against myself, but how do I say that to you?
There are other reasons, beyond the personal, in fact, a multitude of reasons, many of them iterated by people smarter than me. Here's the one I've been tooling around with in my head, in light of the recent crop of suburban children who are growing up without the skills, drive, or goals to get anything done in this world:
We live in Oak Ridge. That should give us a deep, historical, almost bodily understanding of the way science shapes the world, society, dreams, goals, and fears. Republicans are an assault on science. We assault science at our own peril. Do we really need an arms race to motivate us into outer space? A conservative arms race shook hands with the progressive, scientific curiosity of the time. Thirteen years before I was born, we beat the world to the moon. Little boys and girls everywhere looked up at their television sets and had the same thought all at once: "I could be an astronaut." Some of them became astronauts. Most of them hit the books and became adults.
I'm trying to imagine what this place would look like if minority children of all stripes were to wake up one day, turn on their televisions, and discover that they too could be President if they worked hard enough. That, deep down, is why plenty of people won't vote for Obama. That's why we've got to win.
Mom,
I'm having a very hard time right now. That much you've seen. I've been depressed and unemployed. I've been unsure of my future. I've been heartbroken in ways that I just can't explain to you. You'd understand if the circumstances resembled the idea of love you accept. Now, I've been told that you probably know certain things, and can accept more than I can imagine, and I'd like to believe that was the case, but I'm skeptical. Skeptical in no small part because you felt that the mild innuendo in Forrest Gump was too racy for a thirteen year old. We were all younger then, but that is still a conversation for a later time, possibly to take place in a different spiritual plane.
You asked me in the car one day if I was listening to what John McCain was saying. If, you asked, you would listen to John McCain, do you think you'd be convinced by him? I bit my tongue in various ways that day, because I didn't want to give you a litany of reasons why you're voting yet again on the wrong side of history. I spoke a small piece to you, but kept most of it inside. I rage it all out on Facebook or here, and get tendentious with teenagers and twenty-somethings, because fuck 'em if they can't take it or think I'm a blowhard.
I literally can't tell you that I had my heart broken last year, because a boy broke that heart (and I was plainly asking for it), and you may never understand or accept that. That level of reality exists in a place that doesn't often vote Republican.
You've voted for two criminal presidents so far, and it seems to me that the only thing you could say in McCain/Bush's defense was, "don't you think they've kept us safe?"
I learned a long time ago that safety probably didn't exist, Mom. If you still live in Nixonland, I can't argue with you to get you out of it. My faith in the idea that your giant powers of denial and repression will be able to withstand certain revelations about me is small. You've needed those powers of denial and repression to handle unspeakable darkness that's confronted all of us. You truly protected us from it. Kept us safe. That's how I know what safe looks like. Still, I can't vote with you, because I'd be voting against myself, but how do I say that to you?
There are other reasons, beyond the personal, in fact, a multitude of reasons, many of them iterated by people smarter than me. Here's the one I've been tooling around with in my head, in light of the recent crop of suburban children who are growing up without the skills, drive, or goals to get anything done in this world:
We live in Oak Ridge. That should give us a deep, historical, almost bodily understanding of the way science shapes the world, society, dreams, goals, and fears. Republicans are an assault on science. We assault science at our own peril. Do we really need an arms race to motivate us into outer space? A conservative arms race shook hands with the progressive, scientific curiosity of the time. Thirteen years before I was born, we beat the world to the moon. Little boys and girls everywhere looked up at their television sets and had the same thought all at once: "I could be an astronaut." Some of them became astronauts. Most of them hit the books and became adults.
I'm trying to imagine what this place would look like if minority children of all stripes were to wake up one day, turn on their televisions, and discover that they too could be President if they worked hard enough. That, deep down, is why plenty of people won't vote for Obama. That's why we've got to win.
Monday, September 15, 2008
I Take it Back
He's not our Limbaugh or O'Reilly or any of 'em. There's no hate speech. Just funny, funny voices. He doesn't really score any points here, but I really want him to do a travelling show. With puppets. I'd pay to see that.
Friday, September 12, 2008
Um
At the point which a campaign more or less says the Democratic candidate wants to give sex tips to kindergartners, can we simply repeat the mantra, "One of these campaigns is honorable, and one of them is not"?
Security of Your Shit
Brad Pitt is so great. He really is. I'd like to write more about this, I really would, but for now, I'm just fuming/laughing at their choice of resolution.
How much fun would it be if you could just magically not know this was a Coen Brothers' movie? What fun it would be if, somehow, you could drop in and watch as it slowly dawns on you that no other human beings on the face of the planet could ever tell this kind of story, and obviously this must be Joel and Ethan Coen behind the wheel.
Unmistakably, this is a Coen Brothers movie, which is the same thing but not the same thing as the pleasure of the last one.
How much fun would it be if you could just magically not know this was a Coen Brothers' movie? What fun it would be if, somehow, you could drop in and watch as it slowly dawns on you that no other human beings on the face of the planet could ever tell this kind of story, and obviously this must be Joel and Ethan Coen behind the wheel.
Unmistakably, this is a Coen Brothers movie, which is the same thing but not the same thing as the pleasure of the last one.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Bitch, Learn to Write.
Lou Lumenick, you're a total douchebag, and not even for the usual reasons. Oh no, this time, you're really indefensible.
Update: I suppose the auto de fe I called for on Twitter earlier today will be unnecessary.
Update: I suppose the auto de fe I called for on Twitter earlier today will be unnecessary.
Oh, I Agree
Ebes nearly drops trow for Bill Clinton, who, unlike our not-much-longer-President, actually went to the movies, or more accurately, had them sent to, you know, his house.
Warning: I don't know who transcribed the interview, but I'm guessing Emerson.
Warning: I don't know who transcribed the interview, but I'm guessing Emerson.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Yes.
I know. It's Keith Olbermann. He could easily be accused of being our Rush Limbaugh or Bill O'Reilly. Except, I strongly disagree; Olbermann doesn't shout people down. Rush Limbaugh is a racist, fat old tyrant, but Olbermann, with his bloviating theatricality, his Kabuki-Liberalism, is sometimes, certainly in this case, the only one daring enough in the national media to loudly say some things that need to be said.
The McCain campaign should be ashamed. I remember what I felt on 9/11, assholes. It doesn't change the fact that you're absolutely wrong. Who would use an Al Qaeda recruitment video to win a Presidential Campaign in the U.S.?
The McCain campaign should be ashamed. I remember what I felt on 9/11, assholes. It doesn't change the fact that you're absolutely wrong. Who would use an Al Qaeda recruitment video to win a Presidential Campaign in the U.S.?
Tuesday, September 09, 2008
ACK!
I'm not going to overdo it. I'm trying not to. But the number one reason I rush to Twitter or Facebook whenever I turn on the teevee, is because there are things that should be shouted at top volume during this campaign that are not being shouted, chief among them, regarding "executive experience" or lack thereof:
You yelping, groaning, backwards, hee-haw IDIOTS (and Mom and Granny, who are not in your low-ness) nominated George W. Bush and voted for him twice. If you want to be taken seriously on the "experience" issue, please make it a habit to not vote for a candidate who can't find his own ass in the dark with the aid of both hands and a flashlight. Kthxbai.
That's my campaign speech. Shut the fuck up and vote for an adult. I'm sorry, is that partisan?
You yelping, groaning, backwards, hee-haw IDIOTS (and Mom and Granny, who are not in your low-ness) nominated George W. Bush and voted for him twice. If you want to be taken seriously on the "experience" issue, please make it a habit to not vote for a candidate who can't find his own ass in the dark with the aid of both hands and a flashlight. Kthxbai.
That's my campaign speech. Shut the fuck up and vote for an adult. I'm sorry, is that partisan?
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