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April 26, 2008
seven days
For the next week I'll be blogging the Newport Beach Film Fest over here.
I'll try to get something up here about Fango-con and the WICKED LAKE premiere too (being in L.A., it doesn't fit at the other place), but I'd rather do that right than do it quickly.
Posted by LYT at 1:23 AM | Comments (0)
April 25, 2008
Nice day for a white wedding
Posted by LYT at 11:35 AM | Comments (0)
April 24, 2008
Bragging rights, y'all
In the new issue of OC Weekly, I reviewed 54 new movies.
Oh yeah. Go me.
Posted by LYT at 4:06 PM | Comments (1)
Decent LAT editorial
J. Peter Scoblic writes about why he won't vote for McCain, and articulates my own feelings pretty well...what he describes is also the primary reason I could never be a conservative.
Conservatives like Barry Goldwater, who nevertheless insisted on defining the Cold War as a literal battle between good and evil, came to dangerous conclusions.They saw the bipartisan policy of containment as apostasy because it implied long-term coexistence with communism -- that is, with evil. They rejected negotiations with Moscow because one did not strike deals with the devil, and they derided international organizations because they required some degree of diplomatic deference to states that remained neutral in the face of communism. They even attacked the concept of mutual assured destruction, preferring a war-fighting strategy that would enable us to "win" a nuclear exchange.
President Bush's foreign policy -- his refusal to negotiate with evil, his dismissal of the United Nations, even his move toward a more aggressive nuclear posture -- is a function of this worldview. And so is John McCain's.
The rest is here.
Posted by LYT at 12:55 AM | Comments (3)
April 22, 2008
Isn't it ironic
"The Day After" is playing on Sci-Fi channel right now.
As it went to commercial..."This program is brought to you by the United States Air Force."
Posted by LYT at 11:59 PM | Comments (4)
April 21, 2008
Catching Up...
I've been slacking off in posting links to my short reviews. So here are some of the most recent ones:
PATHOLOGY/FORBIDDEN KINGDOM
Each one seemed too short to be worth a full-on post before, but now you have a bunch. Enjoy.
Posted by LYT at 11:42 PM | Comments (0)
Never thought I'd see the day...
...that presidential candidates pandered to wrestling fans. We're not used to that level of, uh, "respect."
Posted by LYT at 4:48 PM | Comments (2)
April 18, 2008
Matthew King reviews THE FORBIDDEN KINGDOM
No-one commented on the last one, so I have no idea if you guys like these or not. But I dig 'em, and we'll keep doing them as the schedule allows.
Posted by LYT at 1:41 AM | Comments (8)
April 17, 2008
Do you smell what Barack is cooking?
Am I crazy, or is there a definite similarity in speaking styles?
fast-forward this one just a little bit to get past the intro...
Posted by LYT at 6:47 PM | Comments (5)
April 15, 2008
WICKED LAKE tickets are now on-sale!
Saturday, April 26th. 11:59 p.m. The Egyptian Theater in Hollywood. Filmmakers and most of the cast in attendance.
Be there. Tell everyone. Write a review for some geeky website.
But first...
I should add that when most movies have their premiere, they have already had a "cast and crew" screening, so many of those involved bail on the premiere screening as soon as the lights go down.
That will not be the case here. Aside from the director and producers, we will all be watching for the first time.
Posted by LYT at 7:48 PM | Comments (6)
April 14, 2008
Black as pitch
I always thought the idea behind getting a celebrity spokesperson was to find someone liked by millions to make the message more palatable.
I think the main reason PETA thrives is they get sexy actresses, for instance.
But I just saw an ad for an environmental group that seems to be ass-backwards on the concept. To promote environmentalism, they've gotten the joint endorsement of Al Sharpton and Pat Robertson.
Did Ann Coulter and Ward Churchill turn them down?
Posted by LYT at 11:58 PM | Comments (2)
April 13, 2008
Things that make me despair
During the last election, I think it was very telling that the whole issue of how the candidates ordered Philly cheesesteaks became a big deal. It was really fucking sad, to be blunt. I knew more about what John Kerry likes on his cheesesteak than what his tax plan was.
This time around, Hillary apparently thinks people will vote for her if she acts like a total alcoholic.
Way to distinguish yourself from the current commander in chief, Hil.
And Crown Royal whiskey? That's Canadian, you know. I'm just waiting for a righty blogger to surmise that this proves she likes all things Canadian, including single-payer health care.
If only.
Posted by LYT at 4:59 PM | Comments (3)
Seclusion
I've literally been doing almost nothing but watching 3, 4, 5 movies a day for the past few weeks, in preparation for our big local film fest.
Resurfacing soon...
Posted by LYT at 1:38 PM | Comments (0)
April 11, 2008
A tribute to Cathy Seipp
Posted by LYT at 3:59 AM | Comments (0)
April 10, 2008
My Grandfather's Column
What is a Christian?
I wrote last month that I hoped to give this month my personal answer to the big question: 'What do we have to do to be truly Christian?' That is to ask: what is true Christian religion, or in other words: what does a true Christian do about what he or she believes? Naturally it is the faith that conditions our behaviour. So what do I believe that makes me a Christian? My answer is that I make the man Jesus of Nazareth central to my life and believe that in him we can see a man transparent to God. The creator of all that is, the origin from whom the big bang came, he who has always existed before anything created was made, this Being shows us insofar as is possible his character in the man Jesus, who shares the Creator's divinity and is thus called the Son of God. By this I do not mean that Jesus is literally the son of God as if God were like the ancients sometimes thought of him - as a being who could become a creature and have sex with women to produce semi-divine offspring. I don't profess to understand all this fully but that's about as near as I can get to it. But we do have the assurance from Jesus that the Holy Spirit will guide us into all truth. (More about this, I hope, in my next month's piece.)
So what do I do about what I believe? I spend much time studying the Bible, which I don't for a moment believe to be anything like 100% exact history but which does give us a series of pictures about what believers down the ages have thought about God and his will for the humans he made for himself out of love. I seek to be as like Jesus as I can be, hoping to grow through my life and contemplation of him in generous love towards all people, in compassion, forgiveness and caring. However banal it may seem, I want to be good as God is good. I see that goodness in Jesus. And yes, I do think it important to worship with my fellow Christians. I notice that Jesus attended the synagogue every Sabbath day and the temple in Jerusalem at the traditional times and seasons. You can't be a Christian on your own because we are required to do things together. As I personally see it, though other good Christians disagree over this, I have an absolute obligation to obey the command of Jesus to "do this in remembrance of me", which means sharing in the holy Communion service in Church where possible; for the idea behind this is that we need to be close both to Jesus Christ and to each other and by celebrating this communion together we are as it were bringing Jesus himself into our midst.
-Peter Graham
Posted by LYT at 6:21 PM | Comments (0)
April 4, 2008
Music makes the people come together
I tried my hand at a CD review this week.
Posted by LYT at 9:27 PM | Comments (1)
April 3, 2008
Jar Jar Binks "Asks-A-Mexican" (TM)
Posted by LYT at 6:24 PM | Comments (0)