Design is Dead says Phillippe Starck
The hilarity of this recent news item is only enhanced by my having just finished watching the movie Art School Confidential mere moments before I read it: BERLIN (AFP) -- Renowned French designer Philippe Starck says he is fed up with his job and plans to retire in two years, in an interview published in a German weekly on Thursday....
Movies
[84 entries.]
Sean Connery: Douchebag
Discovered in the comments of yesterday's Shakespeare's Sister's Question of the Day, (What actor makes you refuse to see a film?) this video of Sean Connery defending hitting his wife: Wow. Epic fucking FAIL. Never seeing a Sean Connery movie agin...
Suddenly, I See
I woke up this morning with much improvement in my vision. It's still not 20/20, but I can read text at a distance, and such. I'm back at work - one thing I've noticed is that I still can't see facial expressions at a distance, so I can't tell what my co-workers are doing/expressing when they're walking down the hallway...
Getting my eyeballs replaced
As someone at work put it. I'm getting laser surgery (specifically PKR) done on my eyes tomorrow by Dr. Waltz of TLC of Indianapolis. I'm doing my traditional "Stress relief by just not thinking about it" form of denial, so I don't freak out. It couldn't possibly be worse than the surgeries I've already had. Anyways, I'm taking several days...
Weekend Movie Updates
We managed to add two movies to our viewing list this weekend, along with dinner at Ralph's Great Divide on Friday and Mama Carolla's on Saturday, an overly sweet bottle of Reisling, much work on Stephanie's part, and my reading the Sunday paper, a book and lots of blogs. Murder By Death (1976) Eileen Brennan, Truman Capote, James Coco, and...
I'm so going to see this movie
And I'm fairly certain that once she sees the trailer, Stephanie will want to see it, too. 27 Dresses Movie TrailerUploaded by worldonlinetv...
Movies I've Seen: 2007
I've never kept track of movies I've seen in the past, but this year we saw so few in the theater, and most of our viewing was via Netflix, so I was able to figure most of it out. I think. If you know of some we saw with you in the theater that aren't on here, let me know....
J.K. Rowling: Dumbledore was gay.
According to the Sydney Morning Herald: Harry Potter fans, the rumours are true: Albus Dumbledore, master wizard and Headmaster of Hogwarts, is gay. JK Rowling, author of the mega-selling fantasy series, outed the beloved character today while appearing before a full house at Carnegie Hall in New York. After reading briefly from the final book, Harry Potter and the Deathly...
the college professor in modern literature and film
After reading Zadie Smith's "On Beauty" for bookclub, I found this article from the American Scholar on the college professor as portrayed in modern literature and film interesting: The absentminded professor, that kindly old figure, is long gone. A new image has taken his place, one that bespeaks not only our culture’s hostility to the mind, but also its desperate...
If you don't want me to see your movie, do this
Via the afterellen.com blog, this horrendously bad movie poster: The wrongness; I can't even begin to explain. Plus - he has the balls to rip off an iconic photo, but not to take off his damned underwear? Loser....
Futurama - 1939 World's Fair vision of 1960
Fascinating what came true and what didn't. Part 1: And Part 2:...
Sexed-up Hermione
As Bil points out, for the IMAX promotional poster for "Harry Potter and the Order of the Pheonix" movie someone adjusted Hermione's girl parts somewhat in comparison to the original movie poster, giving her some bigger boobs, a thinner waist and fluffier hair. I grabbed the picture he posted comparing the posters side-by-side, and overlaid one on the other, then...
Excuse me, did you just call Lily Tomlin a Cunt?
David O. Russell makes it onto my list of people I'll kick in the shins if I ever meet them: Hat tip: Dorothy Snarker, and a couple other blogs I can't remember....
Have I mentioned that I'm the preeminent Proust scholar in America?
For a friend's birthday last night, we went to see Little Miss Sunshine, which I really enjoyed. I think the Entertainment Weekly review was pretty crappy for it, but everyone who saw it seemed to say it was enjoyable, and I agreed. I think my very favorite crappy review is this amateur movie critic blogger review, though. Steve Carrell is...
10 Dating Tips By Way of Hollywood
author unknown 1. People Who Hate Each Other on Sight Usually End Up Falling in Love ("The Way We Were," "Titanic," most Astaire/Rogers movies). Actually, people who hate each other when they first meet usually work very hard to avoid each other in the future. And if you ever really tried the sort of things Hollywood calls "meeting cute" -...
An Inconvenient Truth
We went to see "An Inconvenient Truth" over the weekend. You really want to see this movie. You may not know that you want to, but you do. You may be on the fence about the issue, or afraid that it's boring, or unconcerned. You may think you disagree with the movie. Trust me. You want to see it. You'll...
Movie Quotes Meme
Grabbed this meme from a variety of places, including X-Tra Rant, Torpor Indy, Radical Druid, Legal Quandary, etc. Here are the rules: A. Pick 11 of your favorite movies. B. Then pick one of your favorite quotes from each movie. C. Post the quotes in your journal. D. Have those on your friends list guess what the movie is. E....
Brokeback Mountain
I've been biting my tongue listening to all the hype surrounding Brokeback Mountain, both before and after the Oscars, and reading what people, both gay and straight, had to say in movie reviews and on various blogs. Now that Annie Proulx has had her say, I feel a little less constrained about unleashing the hounds. So here are some random...
Really, How Hard Is It?
I think need to watch the movie Hustle and Flow, because there must be something about this pimping business that I'm missing. 'Cause now that it won an Oscar, I keep hearing the song "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp" and I'm wondering what's so difficult about it. See, because my understanding of the pimping profession is this: you...
Kerasotes Theaters (Glendale) 5 Buck Club
Kerasotes Theaters is offering a five dollar club, with a discount card that you can use to see movies for five dollars any time for movies that have been playing at least two weeks. That's a pretty nice deal for movies when the regular matinee price is $6.25. And the theater at Glendale is one of my favorites (stadium seating,...
Saved!
I caught the 2003 movie http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0002OXRSG/commonplacebook/">Saved! this weekend. There was a lot of controversy when it came out because it a comedy that depicts a Christian school in a less-than-flattering way. After watching it, though, it's clear that the comedic critique in the movie is of hypocrisy, not of Christianity, and of people who pay lip-service to religious beliefs without...
Oscar Classic Movies on TCM
Beginning February 1st, Turner Classic Movies will air 360 "Oscar winner and nominee" movies, 3 per evening, until the Academy Awards (which airs March 5th). All of them are uncut and commercial free. Of course, the criteria to qualify as an "Oscar winner or nominee" is pretty open; they're not talking all "best picture" noms here, but including any movie...
Super Size Me
Stephanie and I finally got a chance to watch Super Size Me tonight. We had DVR'ed it last year, but never got around to watching it, and it deleted itself after awhile. I knew the basics about the film, and we have already seen most of the first season of 30 Days. But actually seeing it was pretty eye-opening, especially...
She's The Man: Modern Retelling of Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night"
I happened to see this movie trailer for the teen comedy "She's The Man" posted on Apple's movie trailer site, and I realized quickly after reading the names of the characters that this is a modern re-telling of my very favorite Shakespeare play ever -- Twelfth Night. I read the play in high school English class, after I knew I...
Brokeback Mountain does well at box office
According to the Associated Press, Brokeback Moutain is doing well at the box office in limited release, and may appeal to audiences in wide release as well. The movie is playing here at Keystone Art Cinemas at the Keystone at the Crossing mall. We're planning on seeing it this evening......
Movies I Need to See (or see again)
Movies that I've never seen, or need to see again because it's been a long time. 2001: A Space Odyssey "The 400 Blows" (1959) Francois Truffaut "8 1/2" (1963) Federico Fellini A Bout de Souffle A Room With a View A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) Aguirre: The Wrath of God Around the World in 80 Days Batman Begins "The Battleship...
Inherit The Wind
I happened to catch the 1960 screenplay of Inherit The Wind on Showtime this afternoon, and was blown away. I wish I had recorded it, because it's extraordinarily timely. I'm guessing that a lot of other people haven't seen it either. [grin]...
If you can't maim them, Auntie Mame them
Mame Dennis: Well, now, uh, read me all the words you don't understand. Patrick Dennis: Libido, inferiority complex, stinko, blotto, free love, bathtub gin, monkey glands, Karl Marx... is he one of the Marx Brothers? Patrick Dennis: ...Neurotic, heterosexual... Mame Dennis: Oh, my my my my, what an eager little mind. [takes the list] Mame Dennis: You won't need some...
Melissa Etheridge and other cool stuff
My friend Amy gave me Greatest Hits: The Road Less Traveled by Melissa Etheridge a few weeks ago. I've been listening to it, but didn't get around to paying attention to some of the new tunes on it until this week. There's a very beautiful song called "This Is Not Goodbye" about going into surgery and having a loved one...
The Chronicles of Narnia
I so wanted to like this movie, because I loved the books as a kid. I re-read the books in 1997 and didn't enjoy them as much as I had when I was young, but there still was a lot of the magic there, even though some of the story bothered me. But this movie... I hated it. I didn't...
If Your Life Was a Movie, What Genre Would It Be?
The Movie Of Your Life Is A Cult Classic Quirky, offbeat, and even a little campy - your life appeals to a select few. But if someone's obsessed with you, look out! Your fans are downright freaky. Your best movie matches: Office Space, Showgirls, The Big Lebowski If Your Life Was a Movie, What Genre Would It Be? Showgirls?...
Movie Theater Police States
Boing Boing has an article on movie theaters introducing the idea of patting down customers and "coat checking" camera phones and cameras to prevent "copyright infringement" of movies. Apparently this is common at previews in California and is now making it's way to Toronto and other theaters. Yeah, good idea. I'm giving you my camera? No fucking way. I can...
Transamerica Movie Trailer
Apple has a fascinating movie trailer for the movie Transamerica, starring Felicity Huffman. Really interesting, and it appears sympathetic, movie about a MtF transgendered person....
Curious George Movie Trailer
In theaters February 2006. Yeah! A couple things bother me, though. He's very cute, but he doesn't look enough like George from the books. And Will Ferrell as the man in the Yellow Hat? Um, no. Sorry, that's wrong....
Good Night, And Good Luck
The trailer for 'Good Night, And Good Luck.' George Clooney directs and co-stars in this story of legendary newsman Edward R. Murrow. I will definitely be seeing this movie in the theater....
MacGuffin
Wikipedia definition of the Alfred Hitchcock concept of a MacGuffin. Also, a collection of stills from Hitchcock films, including several MacGuffins. MacGuffin 1 MacGuffin 2 MacGuffin 3...
The Long Tail
[Navigated to by way of Steven Johnson's Blog. Johnson is the author of Everything Bad Is Good for You: How Today's Popular Culture Is Actually Making Us Smarter which I read recently.] Quoting from Wikipedia: The phrase The Long Tail, as a proper noun, was first coined by Chris Anderson. Beginning in a series of speeches in early 2004 and...
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
We went to see Tim Burton's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory yesterday. I know this is complete sacrilege, but I liked the storyline better in this version than in the Gene Wilder Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory version. There were more satisfying explanations for everything than the original, especially for the ending, which wrapped the story up more neatly,...
Shorthand
No time, just recording these: Renegade Art Batman's bust Something to read further Pre-1960s Bollywood posters...
Weekend Update
Stephanie and I saw King Kong with Dan and Doug, Josh, and David and Garrett on the Terrace at the IMA. It was great fun; the sound was much better than in the past, and I love seeing movies with Dan and Doug; I haven't done that much recently, and I miss it. I spent a few minutes in the...
The Aristocrats Joke
I'm posting this so I can peruse it from home... Dead Frog features what has been described by the New York Times as "The Greatest Dirty Joke Ever Told" - The Aristocrats. Inspired by the forthcoming film from Paul Provenza and Penn Jillette which features 100 comics talking about and telling their versions of the joke. This site contains variations...
King Kong - Retro Style
Stephanie and I are going to see King Kong (the classic 1933 Fay Wray/Empire State building version, not the 1970s Jessica Lange/Twin Towers/so bad it's funny version) on the terrace at the Indianapolis Museum of Art this Friday evening. I'm taking advantage of my summer hours program to go early and stake out a spot, complete with a good book...
Mini Reviews
I've been meaning to write reviews for all these things for a while, but I've been so busy I haven't had time. So here are my mini reviews, because I can't seem to keep up with everything. All the President's Men I watched this movie for the first time this past weekend, and it was excellent. I knew the basics...
Digital Theater
Interesting article via Boing Boing on digital theater and how George Lucas was hoping to cause a switch-over to digital projection with his new installments of Star Wars. From what I understand, the resistance on the part of theater owners is because of the cost of switching to digital equipment, and the probability that digital equipment will become quickly outdated...
Master Yoda has a blog
Funny it is. Dolly Parton he likes. And Chewy has blog, too. That's got to be hard to read....
Pointless car chases
I'm in the middle of watching the movie Paycheck... and I was enjoying the somewhat interesting techno-thriller, until the middle section of the movie, where they threw in a completely ridiculous, pointless and mind-numbing car chase into it. Now it have in on pause because I had to get up and leave after that annoying bit of nonsense. Why did...
Horse Head Pillow
For your favorite Godfather movie fan, a horse head Pillow. I'm just surprised that it hasn't been done before, really,...
Movie Primers
This is a site I need to return to and read in the future; GreenCine's Movie Primers, which are mini-guides to key movie genres. Excellent for figuring out what the heck is up with French New Wave films. Without, you know, actually having to see them....
Movie Review: Closer
Dan (Jude Law) is walking down the street one day when he runs into Alice (Natalie Portman) who, while staring at Dan, is hit by a car. He helps her to the hospital, and then begins a romance with her, despite the fact that she looks like jailbait and there's not a single hint of chemistry between them at all....
D.E.B.S Movie Trailer
I can't wait for this to come out. I'll take bets on whether it finds it's way to Indianapolis, though. It does have an Amazon.com listing so someday it will be out in DVD. Notice that the chick leading the "rescue party" is Tammy Lynn Michaels, Melissa Etheridge's wife....
Best of 2004
Kottke.org's Best Links of 2004 Roger Ebert's Best Films of 2004 MSNBC's Year in Pictures 2004 The Washington Post's best photos of 2004 The NY Times Year in Pictures 2004 Discover chooses the top 100 stories in science for 2004 Amazon's Best Books of 2004 Amazon's Best DVDs of 2004 Salon Magazine's The top 10 books of the year Salon...
Trailer for new Willy Wonka Movie
Check out the movie trailer for Tim Burton's Willy Wonka And the Chocolate Factory, starring Johnny Depp. There's a lot of stuff I recognize there, especially in Depp's portrayal, which is clearly an homage to Gene Wilder....
Fay Wray Dies at 96 in New York
Giant monkeys everywhere are crying. In other Obituary news, Rick James died this past weekend at the age of 56. However, the autopsy didn't reveal a cause of death....
Totally gay or lesbian!
Coming to a film-festival near you, Gay Propaganda: short film recreations of 11 famous scenes from movies, only with same sex couples... including "The Gay Graduate", "Gay On Golden Pond" and "The Gay Breakfast Club." Sounds like fun!...
Trailer for Fahrenheit 9/11
Check out the trailer here... I can't wait....
Weekend Update
So I spent the whole weekend moving at a leisurely pace, which was very refreshing after months of whirlwind activity. Friday night was Girl's Game Night at Vic's/Outword Bound, which is always very fun. I bought The Truth About Jane and Tipping the Velvet on DVD from Outword Bound, which now has an online store, by the way. Check it...
paper moon
I saw the 1973 movie "Paper Moon" on TCM on Monday. I'd never seen it before; it was a great movie. Tatum O'Neal was a terrific kid actor. The soundtrack was great, too -- Depression era jazz. I searched around but found there was never officially a soundtrack released for it, although someone put together a long out of print...
Weekend Update
So, this weekend I learned how to use my miter saw and Kathy helped me cut the baseboards for the living room. Then we went out Saturday night to a open mike concert that was quite fun. We saw DJ and Chi and Tracy and hung out listening to some great music. I ended up buying some CDs. Then Kathy...
Brokeback Mountain
A gay cowboy romance that is in in the works, directed by Ang Lee and produced by James Schamus and Diana Ossana for Focus Features, a division of Universal Pictures (In other words, a major studio release). Shooting on the movie begins this summer. It is currently in casting negotiations for the part of the two male leads: Heath Ledger...
Weekend Update
Over the long New Years weekend, my friend Cate, who was in from Germany, came over and we went to Dan and Doug's New Years party (photos soon!) along with Kathy and had a good time. Cate and I went to the Catholic supply store downtown and got religious medals (I know, I know, I was just saying below that...
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow
Coming Summer of 2004, starring Angelina Jolie, Gwyneth Paltrow & Jude Law. Thus guaranteeing that I, Doug and Amy will all be in the theater to watch. Very 1930's Art Deco style movie, with Angelina in uniform, flying a plane. I will so be there. Gwyneth is a reporter. I wasn't paying that much attention to Jude Law in the...
Jim Carrey Will Be Six Million Dollar Man
Certified crapfest to ensue, thus ruining another childhood favorite. Mess with Wonder Woman, and I will get medieval on your ass....
"Mary Sue" in Online Fan Fiction
MARY SUE (n.): 1. A variety of story, first identified in the fan fiction community, but quickly recognized as occurring elsewhere, in which normal story values are grossly subordinated to inadequately transformed personal wish-fulfillment fantasies, often involving heroic or romantic interactions with the cast of characters of some popular entertainment. 2. A distinctive type of character appearing in these stories...
Narnia
They're doing a film version of the Chronicles of Narnia. That's so cool. I can't wait. I love these books when I was a kid, and I bought the boxed set a few years back and re-read them. The film version is being done by Peter Jackson, the producer of the Lord of the Rings, and will use some of...
Toynbee Idea's in Kubrick's 2001 Resurrect Dead on Planet Jupiter
I was looking for this page a while back to show to Lori on weird public art stuff that people do... Someone has gone around to hundreds of streets in dozens of cities and embedded tiles with a message into the streets. The messages are almost all alike and contain some variation of "Toynbee Idea's in Kubrick's 2001 Resurrect Dead...
I don't care how "sexy" Ben Affleck is...
He simply does not cause lesbians to want to have sex with him. Believe me. Icky. Icky. Icky. I'm sorry, but the culture police need to write him a ticket for Gigli AND Chasing Amy. Seriously, if Ben Affleck wanted to have sex with me, I might auction the option off to my gay male friends, but that's the closest...
The Magdalene Sisters
In Mid-20th Century Ireland (until the last one closed in 1996), the Catholic Church ran commercial laundries, run by nuns, that were essentially prisons for wayward girls, who were deposited there by their families when they became pregnant, got in trouble or otherwise upset society. The story of these prisons was told in a British documentary, Sex in a Cold...
Mel Gibson is a Total Nutjob
Holy crap. What a fucking moron. I will never see any of his movies again....
Six Degrees of Jack Nicholson
This has to be one of the best photoshop contests I've ever seen....
Harrison Ford's Finger
Hey, watch where you're pointing that, buddy....
A Good Movie Review
Here's a review that will guarantee I'll go see the movie "Identity." UPDATE: I eventually saw this movie and hated it because it does a huge disservice to people suffering from a certain mental illness. In retrospect this wasn't a good review....
Information about the Civil War Draft Riots
Information about the Civil War Draft Riots; the back story of the movie Gangs of New York: Salon Magazine's Review of Gangs of New York A FIRSTHAND ACCOUNT OF THE DRAFT RIOTS New York City Draft Riots: A Result of Mounting Tensions New York City Draft Riots New York Draft Riots (July 11-13, 1863) N.Y. Draft Riots...
Film and American Studies
Interesting... Ray Carney, film critic, has this very interesting website about Film and American Studies. I know very little about the classics of cinema and the art of filmmaking, and want to learn more....
Kissing Jessica Stein
I watched the movie "Kissing Jessica Stein" this morning before work. It was great....
Tom Greene / Drew Barrymore divorce
Okay, check out the divorce papers of Tom Greene and Drew Barrymore, and compare what Tom claims are his intellectual property rights versus the intellectual property Drew owns. Hmmm. I think in this divorce, Drew must get to keep the talent. The trouble is that Tom is claiming intellectual ownership of "The Subway Monkey Hour." Apparently he doesn't realize that...