Posted
11:05pm,
Monday, March 29, 2004
Coens,
Kevin, Kerry
My
birthday was yesterday. Spent the weekend
eating stuff I shouldn’t be eating
and seeing movies.
Caught
the new Coen Brothers’ remake
of The Ladykillers. It was an entertaining
“romp,”but not your typical
Coen fare. What happened to the Coens
of Miller’s Crossing, Fargo and
even Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? That’s
two lightweight movies in a row (with
last year’s Intolerable Cruelty).
I
use the phrase “lightweight”
to describe The Ladykillers, but keep
in mind that it’s a black comedy.
From the Coen Brothers. Which is to
say, its pretty dark and mildly funny.
Also
saw Jersey Girl. To this a coworker
asked, “Why?” Well, because
I’m a Kevin Smith fan. Schmaltzy,
lightweight fare from Smith as well.
Supposedly his ode to fatherhood, his
wife and his late father, this was Smith’s
formula movie and I guess its as good
as can expected from viewing his previous
movies. Ben Affleck was bearable and
George Carlin and Liv Tyler were really
good.
So
a friend of mine contacted me last week
about working on some banners. He’d
just won an assignment from the Kerry
campaign. Luckily some of my meetings
on Thursday were cancelled, so I had
some time. Ended up doing three banners
and revisions over a four hour period.
No money, but it felt good to be contributing
to the cause.
So
don't forget... Wednesday is the premiere
of Air
America Radio, the Liberal talk
network. Al Franken kicks it off at
noon with the O'Franken Factor. Check
the site for stations or listen to the
stream.
Condi
Rice is refusing to testify publicly
or under oath to the 9//11 commission,
claiming executive privilege. Never
mind the fact that she’s hit every
talk show to refute Richard Clarke’s
charges. Even the commission’s
Republican members are calling for her
to set aside her “principles”
and testify.
The
White House is bitching about what an
awful precedent this sets. Never mind
that she wouldn’t be the first
National Security Advisor to testify
under oath despite her claims. Even
legal experts see no harm in her testifying.
"The
whole idea of executive privilege is
that the president's advisers should
be able to give advice in confidence,"
said Herman Schwartz, a constitutional
law professor at American University.
"That means the advice should be
kept confidential. But she's talked
to everybody under the sun."
"What
is the difference between appearing
before the commission privately, telling
them her story, and saying it publicly
under oath? She can't have it both ways,"
he said.
As
a friend so eloquently put it, “Fuck
all y’alls.” If you’re
going to drag a public debate about
a blow job on for nine months, we can
ask serious questions about terrorism.
At least this is a discussion about
something important. Even if Rice thinks
the commission “is not concentrating
on what happened on the day of September
11th” (60 Minutes).
::Permalink::
Posted
11:59pm,
Monday, March 22, 2004
Alt.movies
Now Playing:
The George Bush Story
Michel
Gondry’s Eternal
Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
is an early contender for the best film
of the year. Easily Jim Carrey’s
best performance since The Truman Show
and the most heartbreakingly romantic
film I’ve seen in a while. The
true theme
of this movie is this: love is not perfect,
but we keep falling anyway.
The
critics seem to agree. It’s got
94%
positive ratings on RottenTomatoes.com.
While
Carrey and Kate Winslet shine, the real
star is another stellar script by Charlie
Kaufman. The premise and the way the
story unfolds had me smiling throughout
at its ingenuity. There’s a reason
Kaufman is so highly regarded in Hollywood;
he’s the most original screenwriter
to come along in over 20 years.
We’re
fortunate and spoiled that he has two
of the most original directors working
directing his scripts: Spike Jonze and
Gondry. Jonze has directed Being John
Malkovich and Adaptation. Gondry directed
the underrated Human Nature and Eternal
Sunshine. George Clooney directed Kaufman’s
script of Confessions of a Dangerous
Mind, apparently an unhappy experience
for Kaufman.
Both
worked (and still work) extensively
in music videos, creating some of the
most innovative videos ever. You
can find most of their best videos on
DVD. While Jonze gets the most
accolades, both in video and in film,
Gondry is the bigger pioneer. Witness
his breakthrough work for Bjork, the
Chemical Brothers and the White Stripes.
His clip for Kylie Minogue’s Come
Into My World is a technical marvel.
Let’s not forget his video for
The Rolling Stones’ Like a Rolling
Stone, which was the first clip to ever
use “bullet-time” (not The
Matrix).
I
don’t know why Eternal Sunshine’s
been delayed for so long; it was completed
over a year ago. Delays are usually
a sign of trouble on a picture, but
no worries, this movie will no doubt
be at the top of my list for 2004.
Also
caught David Mamet’s new film,
Spartan.
Really nicely paced political thriller
and possibly even a career resuscitator
for Val Kilmer. Lots of the Mamet-sycopated
dialogue, just the way I like it.
Mamet
has yet to direct a movie that bores
me. Even the one’s he he writes
but doesn’t direct are pretty
great… Glengarry Glen Ross, The
Edge, We’re No Angels. That last
film is notable for the fact that almost
no one is familiar with it, yet it stars
the only screen pairing of Robert DeNiro
and Sean Penn. That alone should cause
moviegoers to rent the film.
So
now we have Gondry and Mamet in the
Directors That Are Never Boring camp.
They join Terrence Malick, the Coen
Brothers and Spike Jonze. Not even Spielberg
or Scorsese can make that claim (Kundan
anyone? Amistad?).
And
hey, how about that Richard Clarke!?!
Boy, Bush just keeps getting more and
more fucked.
::Permalink::
Posted
9:45am,
Wednesday, March 17, 2004
Tweaked
Familiarity
breeds contempt. So I decided to tweak
the design of this page a bit. Updated
the links, put the archive down the
right side. When you stare at your own
site all day, you get bored. I almost
revamped the whole thing. Instead, I
only changed the masthead. Enjoy it
while you can. I'll probably redesign
the whole damn thing by the start of
Summer.
Meahwhile,
all the archived pages will look nothing
like this. I'll rationalize it by saying
it's intentional. Seeing the old pages
will be like peeling off old wallpaper
and determining what the designer was
into at that point in history.
If
you're finding it hard to keep track
of all the Bush administrations lies
about Iraq, your worries are over. Representative
Henry Waxman has compiled all the lies
on one website. And it's all hosted
by the House of Representatives!
Iraq
on the Record
Check
it out... after all, your tax dollars
paid for it!
Curb
Your Enthusiasm just wrapped up its
season on Sunday. Admittedly not as
funny as previous years, but still one
of the best shows on TV.
I
haven't watched Friends in about three
years. I have no idea what's going on
in that show. I guess I'll watch the
series finale in May, but I don't think
it'll have any resonance with me. I
just don't find it that entertaining
anymore.
I
have to admit that I'm still addicted
to American Idol. This season's bunch
is by far the most talented top ten
I've seen. Some of these cats can really
sing.
Survivor
is also still one of my faves. Something
about watching human beings turn on
each other is fascinating.
I
will miss Frasier. Its so under appreciated.
Still extremely well-written and well-acted,
I think it's better than it's predecessor,
Cheers.
Been checking my stock market watch
list....
Of 16 stocks I track, NONE of them are
positive this week. It's not like I'm
concentrating on one sector. I'm watching
Gillette, Ebay, Bank of America, Marvel,
Apple, Amazon, Providian Bancorp, Yahoo,
etc. So much for a rebounding economy.
For all this talk about a robless recovery,
now we can't even point to the Dow/Nasdaq/etc
for validation.
Spain's
people have pretty much voted no confidence
on the leaders who aligned them with
the U.S. on the Iraq invasion. All we
have on our side now is Blair, who seems
to get beaten up by the press and the
citizentry on a daily basis.
Despite
the pseudo-optimism, Bush is completely
fucked. The only jobs we've added lately
are government spots (sure sounds like
increasing the size of government to
me).
Unless
Bush produces bin Laden the week before
the elections, and I do mean the week
BEFORE the elections, he's done. The
American people only want to know what
you've done for them lately, which in
Bush's case is jackshit.
I was thinking about 9/11 last week.
It was a once in a lifetime opportunity
for world unity. For a brief, shining
moment in history, all the people on
the planet were with the United States.
Sympathy, empathy, everyone felt our
pain. It was a chance to unite the world
in peace. It's squandered. Instead,
we cloaked it in war.
I'm
not talking about Afghanistan or the
Taliban. I believed and still believe,
we did the right thing in going in and
trying to capture Bin Laden. Instead,
it became too hard. The administration
gave up. They decided to capitilize
on the good will to implement an invasion
on Iraq that was already in the planning
three years earlier by Paul Wolfowitz.
No.
The Bush administration could have created
a world united against murdering terrorists.
Instead we are seen as one.
What
was the headline in the French newspaper
on 9/12? "We are all Americans
today." A few months later, some
assholes subjected us to freedom fries
and freedom toast.
Sad.
Don't know why I've been on this political
bent of late.
A
few years ago when I was editing The
Laughing Drunk website, I wondered how
one of columnists had gone so political.
He used to write satirical articles
about yuppies and television shows.
Then one month, he just made a u-turn,
got serious and started writing about
politics.
I'm
now about the same age he was when he
became all activist-like. I wonder if
there's something about the mid-late
thirties that turns you that way. One
big difference: my pal is on the extreme
Left. I'm pretty Liberal, but this guy
is waaay Left. Everything was a conspiracy.
Nevermind the fact that four years later
most of his predictions about the Bush
administration have come true.
Posted
10:58pm,
Monday, March 14, 2004
Stop
your sobbin'
