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July 31, 2004
Posters for the SIN CITY movie
And I can tell you the actual film footage looks pretty close to these images. If they don't bode well, nothing does.
Posted by LYT at 12:11 PM | Comments (3)
July 30, 2004
Trailer for Trey and Matt's TEAM AMERICA now online
This was the one shown at Comicon, in addition to other clips.
Posted by LYT at 5:27 PM | Comments (1)
Long Over-Dew
Taco Bell seems to be finally noticing the competition from Del Taco, because at long last they've joined the 21st century and accept credit cards.
Also, they have a new exclusive soda only available there: Mountain Dew Baja Blast. My local Bell hasn't gotten it in yet, but it's allegedly lime-flavored.
Later this year, a grape-flavored Dew called Pitch Black is supposed to roll out.
And yet we still can't get Mello Yello in California. A travesty, that.
Posted by LYT at 5:22 PM | Comments (2)
July 29, 2004
San Diego Comicon photos!
[NOTE: Captions appear ABOVE their respective photos]
The all new LYT Star Wars figure for 2004
Trying to eat the world's biggest White Castle burger:
Ha-Dou-Ken!
Telling an alien action figure not to fuck with me:
With Troma's Lloyd Kaufman:
She-Ra!
And the coolest one of all...
Yes, I met him...
FLASH! AH-AHHHH!
It's a trip to hear him talk. I knew he was dubbed in the movie; didn't realize he was a southerner. I asked him when the movie would be out on DVD again, to which he responded, "Probably next year, when the new picture comes out."
Wait. A new Flash Gordon?
"Yeah, we're talking about it."
Hey, do you ever get tired of that song?
"Not at all, brother, it's been nothing but a blessing."
So...is this Richard Hatch-scale delusion about a new movie, or will it really happen? Time will tell.
Oh, and here's me and David Brock from the Press Club thing a few entries ago:
Posted by LYT at 3:24 AM | Comments (2)
July 28, 2004
John Edwards' speech
Pretty good, except when he proclaimed that we have to win the war in Iraq.
Huh? How do we do that? Didn't we already achieve our goals there?
Saddam's captured, no WMD are there...what's winning? Do we have to kill every single insurgent now? If that's the case, we're gonna be there a long time.
This could be bad. I'm becoming more and more sympathetic to the argument that we should withdraw forthwith.
Posted by LYT at 9:34 PM | Comments (0)
July 27, 2004
Review Catch-Up
The movie Dr. Tom Snyder says should cause you to give him money, A Home at the End of the World.
Quick take on The Bourne Supremacy
CityBeat reviews:
#Catwoman#
In the DC Comics universe, Catwoman (a.k.a. Selina Kyle), a dominatrix-turned-thief, has recently undergone a substantive makeover that includes a sexier costume, a more heroic and romantic role alongside Batman, and her own regular book. It would be the perfect time to make a movie about her, but unfortunately Warner Bros. and solo-monikered director Pitof ("Vidocq") have thrown all of that stuff out.
Instead of gritty Selina, we now have put-upon artist Patience Philips (Halle Berry), who works at a cosmetics company owned by Sharon Stone and that French guy from the Matrix sequels, Lambert Wilson, who’s kinda-sorta trying for an English accent here. Busted when she overhears that the company’s new product line actually causes extreme disfigurement, Patience is murdered, but comes back to life when a mysterious computer-generated Egyptian cat makes out with her corpse.
From there, this alleged graphic designer creates a hideous mouseketeer bondage outfit, and sets about trying to arrange a catfight with those evil face-cream moguls who want to kill her...again. Meanwhile, a handsome cop (Benjamin Bratt, with a voice uncannily similar to Billy Dee Williams) is on her case and in her heart.
Joel Schumacher is probably cracking open the champagne as we speak; his "Batman and Robin" has finally been surpassed as the tackiest of the big-budget comic book movies. If you’re a drag queen and loved "Showgirls," your newest source of inspiration has arrived. Everyone else: Skip it!
#Freestyle: The Art of Rhyme#
If your knowledge of “rap battles” began with "8 Mile," and your knowledge of Mos Def with "Monster’s Ball," be sure to check out this small gem directed by DJ Organic (or Kevin Fitzgerald, if you prefer). Freestyling is the improvisational side of hip-hop, in which MCs rap off the top of their heads, making up the words as they go along. It can be a collaborative way to blow off steam, a method of entertaining others on the street corner, or, in the case of battles, a competition to win the crowd’s approval while verbally dressing down your opponent.
Fitzgerald goes into some of the history of freestyle, which has its roots in reggae toasting, the unique cadences of black preachers, and sports taunts like those of Muhammed Ali. Along the way, we get performances from the likes of Supernatural, Kevin G., Mos Def, Medusa, and even a rare piece of footage in which Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls crack each other up with their freestyles (knowing what became of those two makes it a little more difficult to accept the film’s thesis that freestyling is about blowing off steam, and that there are no grudges afterwards). Eminem, alas, declined to be interviewed for the movie -- he and Biggie, we are told, are among the rare few who perform just as well with written material as they do with freestyle.
The only downside of watching the movie? The rhythm gets you, and you’re likely not going to want to sit still in your seat. Be sure to sit through the end credits for some fun bonus clips.
Posted by LYT at 3:20 PM | Comments (2)
Confessions of a subconscious mind
While cleaning my apartment, I found a written description of a dream I once had. I'm not even sure what the description means, but here:
I'm on a bus that leaves me in a mall at the edge of town. I take the wrong bus out, and before I know it, it's day, and the bus is driving through wooded mountains. Then the bus is gone and I'm left on a high level plateau to try to orient my way back to civilization. I find a small lake, and am bathing when two young girls come upon me. They are pleasant. I see two dimes in the water, but do not take them, so as not to leave someone's wish unfulfilled. Then the girls' guardian calls to them. I tell them it was nice talking to them. One of them laughs and poitns behind me. Hovering above the water is the BOLUBBUS, a blue shark. The girls' guardian asks for a knife, and pulls one out. The Bolubbus bites me. I take the knife and cut its throat, then cut off its face. I am bleeding heavily, making a fountain of red. I let the girls and their guardian take me home, to face whatever future peril awaits.
Posted by LYT at 2:57 PM | Comments (3)
Pro-gay movies are evil (even if they make gay families look like a bad idea), now give us money!
Movieguide's Dr. Tom Snyder sounds positively desperate:
"Morally and spiritually, A HOME AT THE END OF THE WORLD reflects a humanist atheist worldview, featuring a politically correct, libertine attitude toward sexual relationships, including homosexual ones, plus a politically correct attitude toward the definition of family. In fact, one of the major ads for this obnoxious film actually says, “Family can be whatever you want it to be.” Thus, this movie clearly fits in with the evil left-wing, homosexual, and atheist agendas that want to remove God’s Christian, biblical values completely from the world’s global culture. Parents and Christians need to take action now to make sure that these perverse ideas don’t further infect the hearts and minds of their children, teenagers, and college-age young adults. The best thing for them to do is to support MOVIEGUIDE®, which is a donor supported ministry of the Christian Film & Television Commission™."
Posted by LYT at 12:26 AM | Comments (2)
July 26, 2004
Up Chucky
The only panel I attended on the last day of Comicon was for SEED OF CHUCKY. I haven't seen anyone else writing about this one; no love for the li'l doll out there?
Way back when I was publishing zines (pre-New Times), I went to the Alternative Press Expo to trry to sell some. People would leaf through them to see if they wanted to buy (a quarter apiece, I think), and I remember one guy turning to the movie review page and reading aloud, "'Bride of Chucky: Genius'? I don't think I'm gonna like what you write."
Given some of the crowds I hang out in now, it seems positively quaint to me that if you disagree with a person on one thing, they're somehow not worth reading.
Anyway, Bride of Chucky WAS genius. If you disagree, well, you probably stopped reading this post right about the time I brought up Chucky.
The new movie is in the vein of SCREAM 3 and WES CRAVEN'S NEW NIGHTMARE, with the story centering on a film being made about Chucky and Tiffany, though the real child of the two evil dolls, Glenn (voiced by LOTR's Billy Boyd) is really out there somewhere. Along the way, the real Chucky and Tiffany make a return. Jennifer Tilly appears as herself, as well as voicing Tiff. Rumor has it Brad Dourif may not be back as Chucky, but that was not brought up.
Jennifer Tilly was at the con in person to talk about the movie, and as usual was very high-energy, cleavage-flaunting, and mildly insane. She showed us a couple of clips too:
The opening fake-out, in which Chucky kills Santa, and it turns out to be part of the movie. Meanwhile, we see Jennifer Tilly secretly cheating on her diet by guzzling candy.
Clip 2 is what will make or break the film for you. It begins with Tilly making out with Redman, whose character is a director making a biblical epic called "Da Passion of Da Mary." He makes Jennifer give him a blow job to prove that she'd be the ideal virgin madonna.
Meanwhile, outside, a demented paparazzo played by John Waters (yes, John Waters) is taking photos, but he aims his camera upstairs by accident, and in silhouette sees Chucky masturbating into a jar (I swear I'm not making this up). Downstairs, Tiffany kills Redman, and confronts Jennifer, asking for her autograph. Jennifer screams, and themn Chucky shows up with his sperm sample asking what he's supposed to do with it.
The film's tagline? "Get a load of Chucky."
Do ya love it or what?
Posted by LYT at 1:44 PM | Comments (2)
July 25, 2004
More quick things
To answer something asked by Jaye, yes, I was there for the Star Wars panel when the Episode III title "Revenge of the Sith" was announced (T-shirts went on sale 5 minutes later; I will not likely be buying one.) Also revealed on that panel -- Lucasfilm is not commenting on the digital insertion of Hayden into "Jedi," Anakin's parentage will likely be addressed in E3, and Jar Jar haters should be happy. Also one of the new video games lets you hunt and kill Ewoks.
Other movie stuff:
SIN CITY: Like Mirror Mask, all shot on greenscreen and manipulated. Looks unbelievably cool. Frank MIller's artwork is being copied as exactly as is possible in live action -- must be seen to be believed. Robert Rodriguez claims it'll be the most faithful live-action comic adaptation ever -- he wouldn't even let Miller add new stuff that wasn't in the original books! Jessica Alba looks surprisingly like Charlize Theron when she has blonde hair. Interesting note on Alba -- no bra worn during this panel, but she found one by the time the Fantastic Four panel happened (only major notes on that is that Thing will NOT be CG, and DR. Doom is NOT named "Van Damme").
Team America: Trey Parker and Matt Stone spoof Jerry Bruckheimer movies using marionettes. Naturally, all the voices sound very familiar -- villain Kim Jong Il, for instance, sounds like the "City Wok" guy in South Park, and uses Cartman's "You're breakin' my balls" line. They showed a full trailer -- I'm guessing it should be available soon.
Elektra: Avi Arad showed some pretty kickass looking footage -- aside from having no headband, the costume looks dead-on this time. Best of all, no Ben Affleck.
Sky Captain: ANOTHER all green-screen flick. Footage looked good, but the panel was more than I could take, with one too many moronic fans asking the actors "What's your process?" I walked out on that one.
The Grudge: The actors playing the ghosts appear to be the same ones as in the original film.
Resident Evil 2: Fun scene with the STARS team shooting lickers in a church, then MIlla crashing her motorcycle through the window and doing Matrix moves to save their asses.
Constantine: Against all odds, looks good. Keanu was a guest, and pleased the crowd by doing his signature line from Point Break.
Alien vs Predator: First footage of an actual AvsP smackdown. Looks fun but perhaps not as grand-scale as one might hope. Lance Henriksen was in attendance -- he has two sharks tattooed on his forearm. The guy moderating was a Fox producer, and he was really annoying, just hiotting his talking points and deflecting any questions that might have gotten interesting responses otherwise.
Batman Begins: No footage shown. David Giyer says the right things, and swears a lot; still, he tends to write crappy dialogue.
More when I remember.
Posted by LYT at 9:02 AM | Comments (4)
July 23, 2004
Some quick stuff
-NECA is doing action figures for the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy movie. A Sam Rockwell figure at last!
-Those new Masters of the Universe sculpts are just to taunt us. A Mattel rep told me they will probably never be sold.
-Neil Gaiman's "Death: The High Cost of Living" will be made into a movie at New Line. As for his "Mirror Mask"...OH MY FREAKING GOD! Mind blowing. Haunting. And that's just the brief clips I saw. Think Dave McKean artwork, plus Tool videos, plus the Quay Brothers, plus L. Frank Baum. Think a musical number mperformed by a series of jack-in-the-boxes that look like mummies crossed with broken baby dolls, swaying to Burt Bacharach music as they dress our heroine in black clothes, until she opens her eyes and they're dark and pupilless. Think a librarian made entirely of living books. An eyeball on spider legs. Just you wait.
Posted by LYT at 10:54 PM | Comments (2)
Con Me -- Will Get Conned Again
Greetings from San Diego, and the beginning of the thritysomething years. Getting older at the stroke of midnight in a room full of strangers at a party for Femme Fatale magazine was perhaps not quite what I had expected, but I imagine there are many out there who might be envious that I got wished a happy birthday by Film Threat's Chris Gore, Toxic Avenger creator Lloyd Kaufman, and Star Trek
S9's Chase Masterson.
The party was held at a place called Galileo 101, an multilevel Italian joint. Coolest thing about the place is that they have one bar that's several stories hight, and the bartender has to put on a Mission:Impossible type harness to get the stuff all the way at the top and serve people on different levels.
Least cool thing about the place? No parking. I was driving around for a good hour, refusing to stop in the pay lots that jacked rates up to $20 for night-time, since I had already been jacked by $18 during the day.
Finally I found a spot that had "30 minutes MAX" written on the curb, but signs seemed to indicate that that was a daytime rule only. No ticket, no foul.
My social skills don't seem to have improved much with age -- either that or my charisma. One reason I seldom address anyone by name (and therfore often forget names) is the fear that I'll get it wrong,k and I did tonight -- I was absolutely certain that one of the party guests was AFI fest director Christian Gaines, but it turned out to be someone named Dave.
Then another time, I sat down on a couch, and these two women sat down on the other side of it -- I started to talk to them (they looked as lost as me), and then two of their friends arrived. These friends, a couple, then said, "Let's go move to that OTHER couch, where we can all sit." That other couch was substantially smaller than the one we were on, but moving there meant no-one had to sit next to me.
Other people sighted during the day at the Con -- the ever-raliable B-Gone, workign at Bill Stout's booth which has been moved for the first time I can remember. Also the online toy fans known as Kirby and xenophon.
The only panel I attended was one on the state of the toy industry, which was mainly toy company folks complaining (amusingly) about all the things that can go wrong during figure production. Best anecodte was from SOTA's Jerry Macaluso (who's lost some weight), where he talks about the upcoming American Werewolf in London, and how movie studio people with a couple of murky screen-grabs will try to tell him, a diehard fan of the movie, that he's gotten the details wrong. (SOTA's upcoming Toxic Avenger figure is mind-blowing -- way better than the real thing! Lloyd said "That shouldn't be too hard") Jerry also mentioned that sometimes the prototype they show the studio isn't the same as the one they actually make, because there are cases where they know the studio will pick a fight over a minor detail, and it's best just to fake 'em out.
New Masters of the Universe protos were on display, though who knows if we'll ever see them in stores. All-new sculpts include Hordak, Snout Spout, Clawful, Sorceress, and Tongue Lashor. Re-tooled sculpts include Stinkor (using Stratos' body) and Clamp Champ (as in the old line, a retooled Fisto, though his clamp is all new, not merely the one Fisto comes with).
Other sites are probably covering the toy stuff better than I could, but if you guys have any specific questions, post 'em below.
Posted by LYT at 9:11 AM | Comments (3)
July 21, 2004
Rumor killer on Shyamalan's "The Village"
I spoke to a guy last night who attended the film junket, so I had to ask him if it was true that the "creatures" who live in the woods are actually modern-day bulldozers.
He told me they aren't (and he would have no reason to lie about that). So there's hope for this flick yet.
The movie would be flippin' sweet if the creatures turned out to be ligers, bred for their skills in magic.
Posted by LYT at 2:56 PM | Comments (4)
Foxy Laity
A review of OUTFOXED: RUPERT MURDOCH'S WAR ON JOURNALISM
Apologies for the lateness of this review. It’s been a busy week.
I saw this movie at a Moveon.org house party full of cool people (hope some of them are reading). I took lotsa notes. As with many reviews, I may not end up using most of them.
Anyhow, Robert Greenwald’s documentary takes on the Fox News network on a number of fronts. Roughly speaking, these are the problems with Mr. Murdoch's company:
1. Fox News has an agenda to slant their broadcasts in favor of the Republican party wherever possible. As David Brock noted at the Press club, and he says again in the film, this is different from mainstream outlets having some Democratic-voting reporters, because the mainstream outlets at least try to be objective, and Fox does not.
2. Fox gets good ratings, so other networks are copying it. Examples include the Phil Donahue show on MSNBC, which was forced to stack its panels of guests with right-wingers.
3. Fox New relies on shows where pundits yell at each other, because that’s cheaper than actual news. As a result, funding for local news bureaus has been slashed, and actual reporting suffers in favor of “punditry.”
4. Fox News has actually gotten worse and worse; the “Fox News Alert” feature was initiated in response to breaking stories like Columbine, but has since been used for stories like Ben Affleck splitting up with Jennifer Lopez.
Remember the movie Broadcast News? Albert Brooks’ speech about how William Hurt is the devil because he will slowly lower our standards for news, bit by bit, is very much in play here, though the only cinematic analogy Greenwald really uses is to compare Rupert Murdoch to the mafia kingpins in Godfather II.
Unlike Michael Moore, Greenwald does not interject himself. Instead, he hangs Fox News with its own words. Among many examples:
-Via montage, we see how often the apocryphal phrase “Some people say..” is used to interject right wing opinion into a news story.
-We see memos from the top detailing the tone that reporters are expected to take. Former West coast anchor John Du Pre mentions one that said the goal is to “embarrass, humiliate, challenge or disrupt” anything Jesse Jackson does.
-Montages of Republican talking points incorporated into news (The Daily Show recently did a bit on this too), such as the Kerry “flip-flop” meme. Minor quibble -- one of the people saying that on camera is Mickey Kaus, a Democrat who bashes Kerry but also plans to vote for him this fall.
-footage of Susan Estrich and Alan Colmes arguing over which one of them gets to be Sean Hannity’s favorite liberal.
-Much discrediting of Bill O’Reilly, from his statement, “I’m not right-wing, I believe in global warming!” to his interview with Jeremy Glick, whose dad died in 9-11, where he suggests that Glick’s parents should be ashamed of him.
-The discovery that 83% of partisan guests on Fox News shows are Republicans
-Noting that “objective” anchors like Brit Hume muddy the issue by being conservative pundits on other shows.
I could go on on my own, but I feel inspired to answer David Poland’s review. Poland is a friend of mine, and reasonably leftist, but he also seems to feel the need to distance himself from anything on the left that even vaguely smacks of unfairness. This is part of the Democrats’ problem; you never see Republicans disowning Fox New, but mainstream Liberals bend over backwards to disavow Michael Moore and Greenwald. Liberals are sometimes so fair-minded that they won’t take their own side in an argument.
David slams the film. Let’s look at his reasons why.
“Whatever your politics, the most shocking thing about this film is the overall absence of Rupert Murdoch. He is set up at the start as the target, but his direct influence on Fox News… in spite of many tape recorded anonymous sources and lots of on-camera interviews with former employees… is never established. It was assumed going into the film and the inference of the network matching his personal interests is repeated, but not only is there no proof, there is not even a clear inference of what Murdoch wants.”
I’d say the inference is clear. Reference is made to Murdoch insisting that news broadcasters break away from regular programming to air a live tribute to Ronald Reagan from the 2000 GOP convention, for one thing. Reference is also made to the fact that he hates stories on AIDS, and loathes the Kennedys.
“The centerpiece of the film is a series of daily memos from a senior producer of the Fox News Channel, setting a tone for the day's coverage. Walter Cronkite gets sucked into it, stating that he's "never heard of any other network or any other legitimate news organization doing that, newspaper or broadcast." But anyone who has ever worked in media and has been to a staff meeting in which stories are discussed and pitched has had this conversation without the technology of e-mail."
Not at New Times L.A. Maybe I was spoiled, but neither Rick Barrs nor Mike Lacey ever told the rest of us what our opinions should be. They said that we could say whatever we wanted as long as we could back it up. Every once in a while Lacey might insist on a series of cover stories about, say, whales, but even those took on both polluters and radical environmentalists.
"But what is most shocking about these memos is how benign they are. Do you think these thoughts are really out of line?
-- Republican nominees being held up exclusively over the abortion issue”
Actually, the memos say that that Fox anchors are to frame it in terms of the abortion issue, whether that’s the case or not.
“-- In reference to the 9/11 hearings and Bush - "Do not turn this into Watergate." Have the results been Watergate-esque so far?”
No, but David, might that be because reporters have been ordered not to make it into such?
“-- Instructions to cover a Kerry stump speech that they expect will touch on Iraq. Instructions indicate to take the start of the speech live, see if there is something new, and that if there is not, they should not feel obligated to run the whole speech live.”
As I recall, the memo says they should not feel obligated to run the speech live whether it says anything new or not. At the same time, clips are shown that bolster the film’s case that at least one positive story be run about Bush every day, whether it’s news or not.
“-- Instructions to call Marines ‘sharpshooters, not snipers’ in an effort to be positive.”
Republicans love to control the language. Witness the insistence in some quarters that the description of the Iraqis attacking U.S. soldiers as “insurgents” is proof of liberal bias, since they should OBVIOUSLY be called “fascists” instead.
“And perhaps the most damning thing about the memos is how Greenwald frames one about Abu Ghraib that points out that there is footage of a blindfolded American soldier being abused in some less severe way that wasn't getting attention, asking, ‘Who is outraged on a U.S. POW's behalf?’ But when this section of this memo is read, the voice over leaves out one sentence. About the Abu Ghraib photos, the Fox producer wrote, ‘They have rightly provoked outrage.’ Why was that left out? Can you come up with a reason that would have anything to do with fairness?”
It was left out to get to the point. After that token attempt at fairness, the memo then suggests that ONE U.S. POW is the moral equivalent of many abuses at Abu Ghraib.
“Then there is the Bill O'Reilly attack on the time he told Jeffrey Glick to ‘shut up’ on the air. In a classic bit to make an asshole look like a lying asshole, Greenwald shows O'Reilly saying that he had only told someone to ‘shut up’ once in the then six year history of the show. He then throws together half a dozen times when O'Reilly says the words ‘shut up.’ But four of them were in context of sentences he was reading, not a command, and the fifth was on C-SPAN at a book fair, as I recall. The only example from the show, telling a guest to ‘shut up’ was the Glick interview. Of course, Greenwald counts on no one paying that much attention and just giggling at O'Reilly The Liar. Even a fool deserves better from an alleged documentarian.”
The sentences he was reading were his “talking points,” sentences that O’Reilly wrote himself (or at least implied that he did). Thus, they’re fair game as quotes.
“There are literally dozens of those kinds of near-truths. One former paid talking head for the net claims he was "not used" for the last eight weeks of his contract after going toe-to-toe with Sean Hannity on air. But this was after more than a year on air and he boasts earlier in the doc that he regularly flaunted network instructions to spin stories. So why did this discussion with Hannity become his last on Fox News? I don't know. I'd like to know more.”
He tells you why in the movie, but you may choose not to believe him. He claims it’s because he refused to call suicide bombers “homicide bombers,” on the grounds that ANY bomber is attempting homicide.
“There is this rather breathtaking revelation. ‘Hannity is a good looking, all-American, clean cut kind of guy and his counterpart is a little squirrelly looking. And it sends a subtle message.’ So Alan Colmes, now employed as a team with Hannity for eight years, is too unattractive to speak for the left? Is that what the left is about? Are we saying that James Carville can't keep up with boy-tie Tucker Carlson now because of the bald pate?”
No, that’s not quite the point. Carville is ugly, but he looks like a scrapper, and talks like one too. Colmes looks and talks like a nerd, and concedes more often than not. This point is made in the film.
“The example of an obsession with religion centers around an interview with Tom Junod on "Why Is Jesus Hot Right Now?" The problem with blaming Fox News for that is that Junod wrote that story for Esquire, not Fox News. Was Fox News supposed to be the only news organization in the world not to cover The Passion of the Christ to excess?”
That’s not the only example. What about the clips Greenwald shows of Bush talking in explicitly religious terms? “Freedom is the Almighty’s gift to every man & woman in this world”, “All of us can change America, one soul at a time”
“Christiane Amanpour of CNN claims that the network was ‘intimidated by the administration and its foot soldiers at Fox News and it (bring about) a climate of fear and self-censorship.’ CNN was intimidated by Fox News? You know what I call the CNN employee who lets Fox News coverage guide his or her coverage decisions? I call them ‘fired.’”
Missing a point here. If Fox is getting ratings and CNN isn’t, it would be very easy for Fox News decisions to influence the brass at CNN, who would then force them on underlings. This point is in the film too.
“Only a moron would go to Fox News Channel and believe that the news there is fair and balanced… though I suspect that the notion of balance is a lot more complex than most of us choose to consider.”
NOT TRUE. At the viewing party I was at, about 25% of the viewers, none of whom struck me as morons, were shocked at the explicit bias of Fox News as exposed in the film. Many said they knew it was obnoxious, but didn’t realize why. Even Fox News fans often believe that it’s the only channel which is truly unbiased (as opposed to the “liberal media,” natch). A casual viewer of O’Reilly may accept at face value his claim of no spin -- at one point in the film, he claims he’s going to deliver Iraq news without any agenda or bias whatsoever. That gets a laugh.
David's a media-savvy journalist, as are many of his friends. The notion that people who have a more casual relationship with media may not pay as much attention to its biases is perhaps an unusual one for him. I admit I was surprised by how many people knew not of Fox’s biases. But it’s easy to become insulated in the bubble if most of your friends and colleagues are in media.
This movie isn’t for those people. It’s for the ones who don’t yet know.
Posted by LYT at 2:07 AM | Comments (2)
Animal Magnetism
George "The Animal" Steele SPEAKS!
Whether you're an old school WWF fan, or just dug him as Tor Johnson in the ED Wood movie, this is worth checking out.
Posted by LYT at 12:46 AM | Comments (0)
July 20, 2004
Pat Roach, RIP
If you're a fan of Lucasfilm, you knew him. The bald German mechanic in RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK. The giant Thugee who fights Indy on a conveyer belt in INDIANA JONES AND THE TEMPLE OF DOOM (alas, only a brief cameo in LAST CRUSADE). The skull-masked General Kael in WILLOW.
Dead at age 67.
AICN has more details.
Posted by LYT at 4:41 AM | Comments (3)
Schwag
Anyone looking to get me birthday gifts who needs some ideas...
I have a wishlist up at Amazon. Search for my secondary email, knifeman-at-usa-dot-com.
Two caveats:
1. Stuff that Amazon says is not yet in stock may well be in stock elsewhere (Suncoast, Hot Topic, Gamestop, etc.)
2. Stuff you see on the list may be found cheaper elsewhere.
And finally, I'm going to the San Diego Comicon for my birthday, where I will likely find some of this stuff cheap. So if you buy any of it, notify me. Kills the surprise, but keeps me from getting it first.
Posted by LYT at 4:13 AM | Comments (0)
July 18, 2004
Regarding the party below...
If you are reading this, you're invited. Unless you wish to do me harm.
Posted by LYT at 4:02 PM | Comments (0)
July 17, 2004
Party Flier! (concept by LYT and kingme, execution by BrainDog)
Posted by LYT at 7:11 PM | Comments (0)
July 16, 2004
Dividing my time
I've been contributing to a group blog recently, by the name of Rawkus Caucus. It's a political blog aimed entirely at getting Bush out of office.
We'll see how long I can keep up the posting at both. I'm gonna try to confine any news-related anti-Bush stuff to that site, while continuing to touch on politics that relate directly to me (like teh David Brock thing) over here.
If you're an avid reader of news blogs, the Rawkus stuff may not feature much that's new to you. But if you don't have the time, it's a compendium of links to stuff that the authors feel you should know before voting.
Posted by LYT at 2:40 PM | Comments (0)
Al-Qaeda action figure?
They call it "Eastern Warrior," but, well, you be the judge.
Posted by LYT at 2:21 PM | Comments (1)
July 15, 2004
Get a Little Lost
The first trailer for LOST IN THE BUSH is available online HERE. You won't see me in it, but it does give a good idea as to the tone and content of the flick.
Remember, this is the war movie we made in three days last December.
Posted by LYT at 10:16 PM | Comments (2)
With apologies to Matt Welch...
My five-word review of Zhang Yimou's historical martial arts flick HERO: Ang Lee, you got served!
Posted by LYT at 9:26 PM | Comments (0)
CityBeat review - METALLICA
#Metallica: Some Kind of Monster#
Documentarians Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky (“Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills”) were the first filmmakers to ever persuade Metallica to allow the use of their music in a movie; as such, they were a natural choice to document the recording of the recent “St. Anger” album. What Berlinger and Sinofsky couldn’t have predicted -- and what makes the resultant film so compelling -- is that they very nearly ended up chronicling the permanent dissolution of heavy metal’s best known band.
The members of Metallica own the rights to the film, and deserve a lot of credit for allowing many unflattering moments to remain. Lead singer James Hetfield appears to be a rowdy, drunken biker. Drummer Lars Ulrich looks like a passive-aggressive control freak (his infamous anti-Napster crusade was less about money than about losing power). Guitarist Kirk Hammett comes off the best, as the peacemaker who’s had to completely sublimate his own ego in order to hold the band together. Midway through the recording sessions, Hetfield unexpectedly checks himself into rehab, and long-since-fired lead guitarist Dave Mustaine has it out with Ulrich in therapy.
It’s difficult to know how non-fans will react; in excess of two hours, the movie may test your patience. (I stopped being a fan in the mid-to-late ‘90s, but “St. Anger” won me back.) Certainly it’s interesting to see the nuts and bolts of songwriting, and the process of putting the full album package together, though it’s sometimes better not to know what all the lyrics mean -- one new song turns out to be about Clear Channel! I still think Metallica rocks, but I don’t know if you will.
Posted by LYT at 3:47 PM | Comments (0)
ReJeKt leaves Los Angeles, drops pants.
Funny story:
Like everyone who moves, Max has been discovering that he has too much stuff. He wants to throw or give away a bunch of it, but it seems that a great deal of the stuff he'd like to ditch actually belongs to Jesse. She, on the other hand, would like to ditch some of his stuff.
In the midst of this, Max tried to sell his freezer for $50. No takers. Jesse offered it to me for $5. Last week, when I took some of their chairs, a drunken Max managed to tug at my heartstrings to a sufficient degree that I agreed to go up to $10.
So I picked it up tonight. Max and I carried it down the stairs and onto the front lawn. As we were carrying it to my car, his shitty, hole-filled, loose-elastic, thrift-store shorts dropped down around his ankles for the whole neighborhood to see.
I wish all of you could have been there.
Naturally, I immediately set the freezer down and pleasured him. Honestly, what other choice did I have?
UPDATED: Max's characteristically bile-spewing farewell to L.A.
Posted by LYT at 2:52 AM | Comments (0)
Review Update
In Spanish and Ebonics, it's called Yo, Robot!
and
Hilary Duff does stuff in Some Movie No-One Cares About
Posted by LYT at 2:16 AM | Comments (0)
July 14, 2004
Brock: The Next Big Thing? (updated as of 2:07 a.m.)
There's an interesting dichotomy when it comes to Press Club events. The more popular ones are the parties, generally with free admission but overpriced drinks, and often featuring the author of a recent book (usually a conservative one). These take place in various restaurants and bars.
Then there are the ones at Press Club HQ, which cost $5 for members, but include free snacks and wine (they gotta ditch that generic Diet cola though. It sucks). Totally different crowds attend each.
But my point is coming: Last night's event was in the latter category, but it did feature an author, ex-conservative David Brock, whose new site, Media Matters, monitors right-wing falsehoods in the partisan and mainstream media. And here's the real point: I've attended several of the conservative book parties, including those for people I dislike like John Stossel. I have fun conversations (frequently non-political) with many conservative Press Club members. I like to help dispel the myth that liberals insist on ideological conformity among their acquaintances.
Now, how many of these conservatives do you think came out to see David Brock? (or, to put it another way, to get loaded for $5 while a liberal author spoke?)
As far as I could tell, one. A fellow named Pete, who's a smokers rights advocate and is planning to write an article on Brock for a conservative publication. [Pete, if you're reading -- I misremembered your website URL. If you send it to me I'll add it to this post]
Remind me again which side is more tolerant and open-minded?
Brock is a short, slim guy. If Anita Hill had encountered him back when he was sliming her on behalf of the right wing, she probably could have kicked his ass.
But Brock switched sides, which roughly coincided with his coming out of the closest. Presumably he relaized at a certain point that the people who say "God hates fags!" aren't liberals. He says that being conservative was never particularly ideological for him, just emotional.
He notes that in the top 40 major markets in America, there are about 300 hours of conservative talk radio a day, and maybe 5 hours of "liberal" talk. The liberal talk presumably includes lightweights like Alan Colmes; dunno if it includes Howard Stern, who's occasionally political but more often just entertainment.
In answer to conservative complaints about the liberal media, he notes that the alleged liberal sources -- NBC, ABC, CBS, NY Times, LA Times -- are trying to be objective, but may occasionally let their biases slip, whereas Fox News and right-wing talk radio have a deliberate agenda to slant the news from a conservative perspective. Major media organizations will run corrections if called on their mistakes, but Limbaugh, Hannity, O'Reilly et al will simply repeat the same falsehoods again. And mainstream organizations now cite those shows, and Drudge, as legitimate sources, often before confirming whether or not the stories are true.
One questioner says that everyone knows O'Reilly's biased and they expect it. Brock disagrees, notes that O' Reilly claims to have a "no-spin zone" and insists that his views are nonpartisan. Liberals know better than to believe him, but mainstream swing viters don't. Surveys show that a majority of those who listen to Rush, O'Reilly, and so on claim they do so to get information (as opposed to just being entertained), yet much of that so-called information is provably wrong. Media Matters has been established to keep track of that kind of distortion.
Brock says that after 11 years as a writer for right-wing publications, he wrote a piece for a mainstream publication and was surprised to be called by a fact-checker, because that had never happened to him before. Having been on the inside, he says he knows for certain that many right-wing pundits are in it for the money and don't even believe what they say -- Tucker Carlson is one name he drops, and moderator Karen Ocamb suggests that Tammy Bruce is another (Tammy Bruce is a local radio host who's a self-professed lesbian feminist Democrat, though she constantly praises Bush and Reagan, and complains about "the left").
Brock didn't bring any books to sign. His appearance was a last-minute thing arranged by Karen.
I spend much of the evening talking with an NPR journalist named Anthea, who's working on putting together a panel about how pop-cultural journalism is affected by politics. Of course I refer her immediately to Movieguide.
After the panel ends, I talk with some other liberal writers about the problem the Left has marketing ideas. I point out that many Republicans are unafraid to associate with Limbaugh and Hannity, yet mainstream Democrats are terrified of being associated with Michael Moore. Also I note how sad it is that Al Franken has to be one of the main spokesmen for the Left, because no-one more qualified has the balls. It is mentioned that liberals do have movies to get their points across, and the right's not so successful there.
I didn't get into that issue too much, but I do believe it bears mentioning that action movies, which may be the most popular kind worldwide, generally endorse vigilante justice, revenge, individualism, gun ownership, and the death penalty. Sounds conservative when you put it that way.
I take home two cans of the crappy generic diet soda. I mix them with Sav-On brand vodka.
The end.
Posted by LYT at 11:15 AM | Comments (2)
July 13, 2004
Ooooh...Foxy!
Check out this TRAILER for the new anti-Fox News documentary OUTFOXED.
Even the trailer hangs 'em with their own words. Hope the movie gets out. Supposedly Moveon.org will be arranging get-togethers to watch the thing; copyright issues may prevent theatrical distribution.
Posted by LYT at 10:03 PM | Comments (1)
Quote of the night from The Daily Show
"Democrats -- always standing up for what they later realize they should have believed in."
yep, that's why I'm not a Dem.
Posted by LYT at 1:18 AM | Comments (2)
July 12, 2004
New on the message board
I've added a new category to discuss UNTIL THE NIGHT, mainly so I don't have to explain it again every time it comes up.
Under that category, will be a regularly updated post about the status of all the film projects I'm involved with, from Dogsauce to Gayman.
Posted by LYT at 2:20 AM | Comments (0)
July 10, 2004
Your chance to review me
Rate this site at Amazon. Please.
Haters and lovers are both welcomed.
Posted by LYT at 2:25 AM | Comments (0)
July 8, 2004
ANNOUNCEMENT: David Brock to speak at L.A. Press Club Tuesday
I haven't seen this mentioned on L.A. Observed or the Press Club website yet, and I don't have full details, but it was confirmed last night.
Brock is a former Republican hatchet man who helped smear Anita Hill, among other things, but then he had a change of heart and wrote "Blinded by the Right" about his experiences in the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy (VRWC to hipster bloggers). His new book is called "The Republican Noise Machine," and I assume he'll be signing.
Those who complain that the Press Club supports only conservatives need to turn out and prove there's a demand for liberals too. As I understand it there will be an admission fee, but if things run as they usually do, that will include free wine and snacks.
UPDATED: Details are now on the Press Club website. No word on if he'll be signing; they imply that his new book isn't out yet, though I'm certain I've seen it in stores.
Posted by LYT at 1:42 PM | Comments (0)
"Cannot kill the family, Bathory is found in me"
By request, my assessment of McFarlane Toys' Elizabeth Bathory "action" figure.
Todd was on the right track when he started calling his Matrix and Austin Powers stuff "Feature Film Figures" instead of "Ultra-Action Figures," but Liz is labeled with the latter, despite having no "action" feature at all. She is a naked chick -- maybe the action is implied in the hands and wrists of those who stare at her.
This is part of that whole line based on real life murderers that I was initially appalled by, then when I saw 'em decided that they're so comic-booky it's hard to imagine them as real glorifications of anything. Mostly, they look like mini-waxworks from the Chamber of Horrors at Madame Tussaud's or the London Dungeon. Although I remember when the Dungeon had a Bathory statue, they opted to go with the image of her as an old woman, which is scarier. Makes more sense, too -- Bathory bathed in blood to try to retain her youth, and you figure it would have become a much scarier thing as she got older. Todd just wants an excuse to do hot naked chicks, though. Don't we all?
You have to wonder -- did young Elizabeth Bathory say to herself, "Hmmm, the word 'bath' is part of my name, so I'll have to figure out something to do with baths that will make me famous"? Sort of like Otto Titsling, who invented the bra. Okay, enough already, on to the figure.
PACKAGING: Fuck packaging. I don't rate something I'm gonna throw away.
ARTICULATION: Worthless, almost. Her ankle turns, her right arm rotates. Oh wait, there's one useful point -- her neck. Useful because depending how you turn it, her hair will either cover her naked breast, or not. You decide.
PAINT: It's not 100% perfect on the bathtub itself, but what they've done with the blood is fabulous. This ain't the usual McFarlane red splatter -- the congealing stuff in the tub is dark, with crimson stains around the edges. The way it gathers on her legs, and drips down her arm, all in varying shades -- very nicely done. Her nipple should be darker than the rest of her skin, though, and it ain't.
SCULPT: The carvings of sea critters on the tub are quite the work of art. The way the blood is sculpted dripping off her toe and making a splash is a touch above and beyond what I'd expect. The blood sloshing out of her glass is a wee bit off. The impaled heads on her candelabra -- possibly a tad too thin.
ACCESSORIES: Ay, here's the rub (a-dub-dub? In a tub? Ah, whatever). To make this figure complete, you have to order the accessory pack, only avilable online at spawn.com for $8 plus shipping. More than any of the other figures, Bathory relies on this pack, as it features a large base that's a pool of blood over cobblestones, with more severed heads. The key is it has pegs to snugly fit the tub and the candelabra in place. Also there's a golden jug o' blood, but that's less essential.
Items in the accessory pack unrelated to Bathory are intended for the other figures in the series (except Attila), but could be repurposed for other things. They include four extra guns for Billy the Kid, a bloody upper torso being attacked by crows for Vlad Drakula (with removable stake to impale the victim on), chemistry set for Rasputin (two test tubes, a jug, a round-bottomed flask and a one-eyed fetus in a jar), and a lamp-post and alternate head for Jack the Ripper.
But if you don't buy that pack, here's what Liz comes with: A dagger, wine glass with sculpted blood slosh, and three-pronged candelabra with impaled heads. They're nice in and of themselves, but there are problems. The candelabra is top-heavy, and is best used when pegged to the bas ethat you have to buy separately. The dagger rests very loosely in her left hand, but since her left ahnd has a closed grip, it can't hold anything else. The glass fits loosely in her right hand (which almost appears to be making a heavy metal "devil horns" sign). The jug from the accessory pack fits snug in her left hand, but if you do that she can't hold the glass. Since the dagger sucks, it woudl have been nice to forget about it, and have an open left hand that could hold the glass. But no.
Still, when assembled with the base this thing looks fucking sweet.
Posted by LYT at 1:23 PM | Comments (1)
And the new L.A. Times film critic is...
Carina Chocano.
Who?
One of their TV critics. I didn't predict it publicly on this site, but I had a hunch they would go in an "affirmative action" direction and not hire a white male.
I got in trouble the last time I discussed film critic diversity vis-a-vis Ella Taylor and Elvis Mitchell, so on this score I'll just note that I know absolutely nothing about Carina, and quote David Poland (a writer the times woudl be lucky to have if they were smart enough to hire him) on the issue:
With due respect to Carina's ability as a writer, this is another pathetic, desperate call from a bunch of people who don't give a shit about the arts. While the Tribune and NYT companies busy working on breeding sixth and seventh fingers on their papers through blind inbreeding, we are slowly but surely watching the papers of importance in this country making themselves more and more marginal.
Both papers have made their moves in reaction to circumstances and not with an eye towards tbe best quality for their papers and for their readership. As with any subjective decision, there can be reasonable arguments made for or against each individual move. But over and over the babies in the sandbox are fighting for the same sand and not paying attention to the smelly shit that is already overloading their diapers. I guess that a lot of you have been saying this for years... but now, they are shitting all over my turf... perhaps Roeper can take Turan's spot and end all of this pretending that the papers are interesting is smart discourse and not just controversy.
Let's open this up to the audience. If you think they should have hired someone else, GO VOTE in our poll for who you'd prefer.
Posted by LYT at 12:23 PM | Comments (2)
Fantastic Four movie: Three are cast.
Mr. Fantastic = Iaon Gruffudd (Sir Lancelot in the new King Arthur)
Johnny Storm = Chris Evans (the male lead in Not Another Teen Movie, The Perfect Score, and the upcoming Cellular)
Ben Grimm = Michael Chiklis (The Shield)
No Invisible Woman as yet.
this according to Variety.
Posted by LYT at 2:59 AM | Comments (1)
July 7, 2004
My favorite American cities
On the Message Board, offpat recently stated that Boston is better than L.A., though I don't know if he's ever been to L.A. Certainly not recently.
Boston? Hah! Okay place, about to get a lot worse due to the imminent immigration of a certain bitter blogtroll. But why be negative? There are good cities too.
1. LOS ANGELES. And by that I mean Hollywood, Santa Monica, downtown, and Venice. Beverly Hills and the slums I could do without. Downtown is full of really cool-looking crap that no-one ever sees because they don't go there even though it's the one place you can take the subway. The weather here rocks. There are racial enclaves, but it some areas the melting pot thing really does happen. The authentically Japanese sushi place in my Latino neighborhood is but one symptom. We have the best movie theaters in the world. Every major band tours through here. And if you're patient, you can eventually meet almost every single celebrity you admire, provided they aren't total recluses.
2. SAN DIEGO. Nicer weather even than L.A., cosmopolitan vibe but with a very viable downtown that's eminently walkable. Horton Plaza is confusingly designed but quite possibly my favorite mall. Then again, I may be biased because it's usually Comicon time when I'm there, so the world has converged. But you also gotta dig the absurdly skinny skyscrapers that all look like carpenter's tools. Proximity to Tijuana can be very useful. Still, doesn't quite have all the amenities of L.A., but if I had to live anywhere else, it'd be SD.
3. NEW ORLEANS. Above-ground cemeteries, alligators, old-world vibe, and oh yeah, you can drink in public. Don't care much for all the jazz though.
4. PHOENIX. It's a Southwestern desert town, and I dig deserts and the Southwest. Also I know the coolest people there.
5. LAS VEGAS. If it didn't exist, someone would have to make it up. Absurd buildings designed for goofy aesthetics rather than function, and family restaurants side by side with strip clubs and $2 steak-and-eggs after 11 p.m. The city as theme park, except that it's actually a functional city. Dunno what their rules are for drinking in public, but you certainly can inside most any building.
I know I didn't list any cities in the Old South. That's because the cities there are far from the best parts.
What are yours?
Posted by LYT at 5:16 PM | Comments (9)
The Two Johns
Good to see John Edwards as the V.P. candidate. I don't think it's much of a stretch to say he's the best Veep candidate I can remember, though I must admit I don't remember a damn thing about Ferraro. But Mondale, Bush I, Quayle, Bentsen, Gore, Kemp, Lieberman, Cheney...I'd rather have Edwards in charge than any of those.
What's odd to me is how, across the board, the presidential tickets seem to be the wrong way around. Republicans nowadays won't admit to anything but passionate adoration for Bush, but I remember in 2000 how many were wishing it were Cheney in charge (and maybe it really is, if you believe some people). Similarly, I'd rather see Edwards atop the Democratic ticket, with Kerry as his second.
Come to think of it, I'd rather Camejo atop his ticket than Nader. Nader tends to alienate people, but Camejo's respected even by people who disagree with him on everything.
As much as people are mad at Nader, though, it would be great to get him in the debates. I think Kerry would be forced to co-opt some of his issues if they were more widely disseminated.
The more candidates, the better. You don't gotta vote for 'em. But on the other hand, as our recent governor's election proved, even multi-candidate races tend to get boiled down to two, and people will still accuse all the others of spoiling (Tom McClintock and Peter Camejo got that a lot).
So I dunno if we can handle more than two parties, in other words. People want to believe issues are black and white, even though they're not. And they tend to vote for people who can convince them that it is that simple.
Which leads me to conclude that we may get the dumbass warmonger for another four years.
Posted by LYT at 2:21 AM | Comments (7)
July 6, 2004
Party Weekend
In case anyone cares where I went and who I was with, here's another post about that kind of stuff.
Friday night was the annual Pathfinder Pictures barbecue, hosted by Greg Hatanaka and Taka Arai at the Pathfinder building just off the Venice boardwalk. Someone once made the comment to me that Greg likes to collect weird friends (I would be one of those), and the attendance at his events reflects that. Greg's a totally straitlaced-looking guy, but I can tell he has these impulses inside where he wants to be weird and cut loose. Might not be good for business, though, so instead he makes films in which crazy shit happens.
Since Greg is actually making cool films nowadays, and I have several friends who are extremely talented in various entertainment endeavors, I've been trying to make some connections between them. So this time around, I invited Lauren Birkell (actress from THE WOODS) and Jaye (surely no definition needed for regular readers). Jaye had finally got some wheels again following the destruction of her old van at the hands of some dumb bitch in an SUV plowing into parked cars, so she volunteered to be designated driver.
The Pathfinder party wound up being like a real-life version of Friendster, with all sorts of strange connections that one might not expect. Through my DVD commentaries for Greg, I had met Garrard Whatley, who owns a sound recording studio in Santa Monica. Garrard in turn had recommended me to Phil Leirness, a movie director who also occasionally does film publicity stuff, so he interviewed me for a feature on the movie THE GREY ZONE. Phil, as it turns out, also directed Lauren in a movie called SPECTRES, and Lauren, while attending the premiere of the movie STATESIDE, had met Sarah Lassez, star of UNTIL THE NIGHT. Also at that STATESIDE party was New Times critic Gregory Weinkauf, who didn't know either woman. All of these people were at the Pathfinder party. Crazy.
Stealing the show, as always, was Douglas Dunning. The best Douglas moment occurred shorly after a homeless man stumbled into the party area. Douglas walked over and stood right behind him (being about a head taller, he was able to look down on him). Without saying a word (why waste that melifluous voice on strangers?) he simply shadowed the guy, standing about half a foot behind him wherever he walked, until the guy walked out.
I brought a bottle of Sav-On brand vodka, but not only did no-one drink any, they also barely touched the Smirnoff on hand, so I got to walk away with more vodka than I brought. I "re-gifted" the Smirnoff on Sunday.
Saturday, Jaye and I went with Shelli to see NAPOLEON DYNAMITE (my third time; I think Roger at the Sunset 5 may be getting a little pissed that I keep coming to the same movie). I'm obsessed with this film in a way that I haven't been with most other flicks.
Then Sunday, the actual fourth, was a Tim Rich party, one more sparsely attended than usual. Very little naked hot-tubbing occurred -- just one dude, I think. Also no barbecuing -- Tim likes to cook cocktail weenies in barbecue sauce and call that a meal. One of the ladies there eventually cooked up some spicy chicken, which Rejekt rudely mocked. I enjoyed it, though.
It may come as a surprise to those who read the message board, but yes, Rejekt and I were both in attendance and there were no fisticuffs. In fact, he gave me a DVD and I'll probably be making off with some of his furniture soon. Also no overt hostility between Matt S. and John D., who have not been getting along.
By 5 a.m., pretty much everyone had passed out except me.
I miss Broos and Sharan's Malibu parties. Now that they're not together, I guess neither one feels like putting on a big solo show.
I would also have liked to attend the party Luke Ford went to, by the sound of it.
Posted by LYT at 3:58 PM | Comments (0)
July 5, 2004
More Celebrations in Place
Wanna party with me for my birthday?
You don't even have to visit Enlgand to do so.
Update HERE
Posted by LYT at 5:09 PM | Comments (1)
July 4, 2004
Michael Moore LOVES America
One or two of the people on the Fahrenheit 9-11 thread posted that Moore has never unequivocally said that he loved America.
They may still disagree, but I think he says it very well HERE
Posted by LYT at 4:24 PM | Comments (1)
Best Christopher Walken interview I've ever read
[UPDATE: Looks like the link no longer works. Sorry guys, you snooze, you lose.]
How can you not wanna read the REST?
Posted by LYT at 2:00 PM | Comments (2)
America Rules!
also, happy anniversary to J & M
Posted by LYT at 1:48 AM | Comments (0)
July 2, 2004
Village of the Dumbed
Jaye has some amazing photos of Colin Powell and a few other administration officials performing as the Village People.
This would be funny even if it were fake, but it isn't.
Posted by LYT at 4:46 PM | Comments (1)
Texas Chainsaw 2003 inaction figures, more
As always, some of the newest McFarlane toys. Out of context, some of these are downright weird.
THIS figure seems to be making a statement about women being treated like meat in slasher flicks.
THIS ONE...well, what do you really need to say, except that perhaps it needs a Michael Moore figure pointing a camera in its face (Michael Moore as a movie maniac would be a great idea)
Here's R. Lee Ermey
New Leatherface
Bigger, different sculpted Leatherface
and one of these things that's not like the others...
Posted by LYT at 4:39 PM | Comments (1)
Farewell, Jor-El
Marlon Brando is dead. I was informed by Tom Dillon of KFNX when I made my weekly call-in to his show.
I'm not really up to the task of a career-spanning obit. He was my dad's favorite actor, but I'm not as familiar as I should be on his body of work. I only saw The Godfather in very recent years.
Like most people my age, I first came to know him as Jor-El. And I genuinely, unironically love his Island of Dr. Moreau. He will be remembered by most primarily as Stanley Kowalski, Colonel Kurtz, and Don Corleone.
If imdb is to be believed, he was 80. That's pretty impressive considering he clearly was not taking care of himself at all. Recent word suggested he was broke, alone, and depressed in some small apartment, and it sucks that it ended like that. I'm tempted to say something about the degree to which son Christian did or did not treat him well, but that's moot at this point.
UPDATED: One of the official obits has this quote from Brando:
"I am myself," he once declared, "and if I have to hit my head against a brick wall to remain true to myself, I will do it."
Posted by LYT at 9:06 AM | Comments (1)