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September 30, 2008
DVD on sale everywhere this Tuesday; leftovers for sale at Virgin in Hollywood right now
Posted by LYT at 8:26 PM | Comments (2)
AMATEUR PORN STAR KILLER 3-D has a release date
It's Dec. 9.
Pre-order the DVD on Amazon now.
I have no idea what the movie's like other than the scenes I shot. But those were fun. And who can resist LYT in 3D?
Posted by LYT at 12:14 PM | Comments (0)
September 29, 2008
Obama rolls along
(cross-posted at Pererro)
After watching this video, I don't think anyone here can disagree.
(via Ben Westhoff at OC Weekly; nice to see someone there is still allowed a sense of humor)
Posted by LYT at 11:45 PM | Comments (1)
September 26, 2008
WICKED LAKE signing pics
Posted by LYT at 12:45 PM | Comments (4)
September 25, 2008
WICKED LAKE events tonight
Don't forget!
7 p.m. - DVD signing with Al Jourgensen and the cast, Virgin records at Hollywood and Highland.
Midnight - movie screening at the New Beverly.
Let's see some crowds!
Posted by LYT at 12:57 PM | Comments (1)
September 22, 2008
Busy...
Preoccupied with living my life at the moment. Back soon.
Posted by LYT at 5:57 PM | Comments (0)
September 20, 2008
Artful Dodgery
In all my years on this earth, never once have I taken my father to a baseball game.
Until last night. It was better than on TV, though the Dodgers didn't exactly do very well.
Posted by LYT at 4:12 PM | Comments (0)
WICKED LAKE - the DVD extras
Just got my copy of this bad girl in the mail, and of course had to check it out immediately.
Considering all the behind-the-scenes stuff that was shot, there aren't a lot of extras on the disc, and no easter eggs I could find. But the stuff that is there is quite fun.
Sound can be played in 2.0 or 5.1. My TV is primitive so I don't know what the full on 5.1 sounds like, but I bet it's good.
Stills gallery - best stills gallery ever. Unlike most, where you just click-click-click, this stills gallery is edited together like a photo gallery program, with zooms and pans and Ministry music on the soundtrack. It tells a story rather than just sitting, er, "still." And Beto's photos are killer.
Intro from Al Jourgensen - filmed for the LA Fangoria convention but not actually shown there due to time constraints, this brief piece showcases the recording of some of the soundtrack, plus Al swearing at you.
"Tuna Pie Crust" - a brief featurette made up of deleted scenes and bloopers, including a fair amount of Tim Thomerson ad-libs (I hear tell he used to be a stand-up comic), the four girls talking dirty between takes while riding in their car, a prank Eve pulled prior to her big nude scene, and extreme close-ups of my own masturbation scenes. You know you want that.
Commentary track - director Zach Passero along with cast members Carlee Baker, Justin Stone, and Robin Sydney. Recorded in somebody's living room while all are audibly cracking open beers. I would encourage anyone who's on the fence about the movie to listen to the whole thing -- there's the usual fair share of flattery, but also a lot more insight into the movie's story and themes, and Robin and Justin in particular go into their acting process in more detail than you usually hear. One thing that's frustrating is that they discuss several deleted scenes that aren't on the disc, but that Zach says need to see the light of day someday. Will this do well enough to merit another release with more stuff? I hope so.
There are also trailers for the company's other movies, but I didn't watch those yet.
Be sure to buy your own copy of the movie this coming Thursday at our signing! Then come to the New Beverly that night to see the flick on the big screen.
Posted by LYT at 3:44 PM | Comments (0)
September 19, 2008
Reviewing Dane Cook's latest
Is it as surprisingly entertaining as Tyler Perry's was last week? Click here to see.
Posted by LYT at 12:28 PM | Comments (3)
September 18, 2008
Shatner shoots back to J.J. Abrams
Posted by LYT at 8:10 PM | Comments (0)
Reviewing HOUNDDOG, the infamous "Dakota Fanning Rape Movie"
“Her eyes are too big; makes me scared.” Thus speaks the unnamed character billed as “Stranger Lady” (Robin Wright Penn) in describing Dakota Fanning’s Lewellen, lead protagonist of the movie HOUNDDOG. Penn speaks for many of us; Dakota Fanning’s eyes can be frightening. Any trailer I see featuring her nowadays scares me, but more in the sense of “Oh God, another precocious role for that kid?” And the reputation for HOUNDDOG is scariest of all, as it already bears the reputation of being the movie where young Fanning does a rape scene. Panned by many at Sundance nearly two years ago, and arguably the inspiration for a running skit on Saturday Night Live, the film has been substantially recut and opens in major markets on Sept. 19.
And I’m here to tell you it’s not half bad. Certainly, there is severe unpleasantness afoot, but defining the movie by its most controversial scenes isn’t entirely fair. The press notes are pretentious as hell, laying out the movie’s themes in a list thusly:
(i) darkness into light
(ii) motherlessness
(iii) the cycle of abuse
(iv) silencing
(v) female sexuality
(vi) fecundity of the feminine
(vii) snake medicine
(viii) raw poetry
(ix) music
Um, yeah, if you have to tell us all that stuff, the movie isn’t doing its job. Fortunately, a good 95% of the movie works really well (a few scenes overplay). Set in Alabama in the ‘50s, it’s the story of Elvis-obsessed Lewellen, whose dad (David Morse, who previously played the villain in the Fanning flick DREAMER) is, as one might expect, an abusive, womanizing drunk.
Grandma (Piper Laurie) is a bit more humane, but she’s still a religious nut who doesn’t believe in sparing the rod, in between sessions of throwing firecrackers at crows while downing whiskey shots.
Right upfront, we see a serpent in the trees, and later in the movie we get a subplot involving apples, so you know that innocence is going to be lost. But it isn’t just the infamous act that does it. Dad gets struck by lightning, in a scene that’s just a tad over the top, and goes from being a drunk jerk to a mentally challenged kid. Meanwhile, Lewellen is trying to figure out her transition into teendom, trading a kiss for glances at her male best friend’s “thing.” But when Elvis comes to town, everything has to be put on hold, as concert tickets must be obtained by any means necessary for the girl who can belt out “Hounddog” with the best of them (warning: you will have the song on the brain by the time the movie’s done). Obviously, things go real bad.
Writer-director Deborah Kampmeier has essentially given us a big-screen Southern gothic, and those who would criticize the content (for what it’s worth, the rape is all offscreen and implied in Fanning’s eyes) may not realize the extent to which such unpleasant things occur in Southern literature all the time: Faulkner, O’Connor...hell, read The Grapes of Wrath lately?
It’s not unlike BLACK SNAKE MOAN – a black bluesman saves the abused white girl in part by teaching her how to sing out her pain – but it makes that movie look like a cartoon by comparison. It’s also Fanning’s best performance in a while; rather than playing smart, she’s very convincingly naïve...and Southern.
It’s certainly nowhere near as exploitative as, say, a Larry Clark movie. The story wants to make you feel sick, and it does. But even though you know it’s coming, and try to insulate yourself by not caring, you do. And that’s a sign of skill from the filmmakers. I did not see the original cut, but I cannot dismiss this one.
Posted by LYT at 7:30 PM | Comments (0)
September 16, 2008
WICKED LAKE - LOS ANGELES 9-25-08
On the same day we do the signing at Virgin, I've just been informed that the New Beverly Cinema will be hosting a special Thursday midnight screening of WICKED LAKE.
If you missed our last one, come on out. If you're coming to the signing anyway, what better way to follow up?
Posted by LYT at 2:11 PM | Comments (0)
WWE 4 Obama?
Wrestlers and wrestling fans typically lean conservative, so I was a little surprised by RAW last night.
First, there was evil Wall Street Tycoon JBL boasting that he owns multiple houses.
Then, roided-out good guy Batista dropped Obama's name (to a decent-sized crowd pop) and used the "lipstick on a pig" line (though in this case, blatantly using it to refer to a female wrestler).
Interesting...
Posted by LYT at 2:00 PM | Comments (2)
September 15, 2008
SOCAL INDEPENDENT FILM FEST 2008: Remarkable Movie
Brandon Beckner's REMARKABLE POWER reminded me a lot of SOUTHLAND TALES, except that it has good cinematography, no sci-fi elements, and doesn't disappoint as a portrait of Los Angeles and the variety of weird types who inhabit it, living on the edge. It's also unpretentious -- Beckner knows he's making a comedy, and while there are artful moments, the director is under no illusions about what you're there to see.
The title refers to a series of motivational tapes hawked on infomercials by a smarmy pitchman (Christopher Titus) and an actor, Preston (Kip Pardue), fraudulently portraying a success story, when in real life he's been driven to appearing in low-budget porn and dealing drugs. When a dumb kid from Milwaukee named Ross (Evan Peters) secretly hightails it out to California, inspired purley by the Remarkable Power audiotapes, he stumbles across Preston on the beach, little knowing that Preston is in dire need of a dead body that nobody will miss. The ensuing madness, that frequently backtracks to give more perspective, also involves:
-A nebbishy, Orthodox Jewish crimelord named Moses (Jack Plotnick);
-A talk show host (Kevin Nealon) who used to be a child star on the BONANZA rip-off show SIZZLER, and is now facing cancellation;
-A tomboyish goth girl (BRICK's Nora Zehetner) who makes a living shooting pictures of dead bodies and uploading them to a website;
-A private eye (executive producer Tom Arnold) who's constantly stuffing his face;
-A hometown baseball hero with secrets (Johnny Messner);
-An all-midget KISS cover band;
and
-A Russian carpet-cleaning company that's actually a front for the acquisition of corpses.
The movie may be low-budget, but it's high-yield. For all the disparate flashbacks and rewinds, everything comes together in a highly satisfying way in the end. For Nealon, it's a chance to show his stuff like never before, in a role that's bigger than the 2-D shtick he usually has to accept. My only complaint is the one sex scene where the woman involved is wearing way more clothes than any lady in that position actually would -- it's especially conspicuous since the male actor involved is so game that he shows full-on butt-cheek action.
Playing at the fest before REMARKABLE POWER was the short "I Kicked Luis Guzman In The Face," about a young man so desperate to be popular on Myspace that he invents the outlandish claim of the title, only to run into severe trouble when word gets back to the real Luis Guzman. As he did in his fake feud with WAITING... director Rob McKittrick, Guzman proves game at sending up his own image, and I imagine this short will travel the festival circuit.
Less interesting were the "Crime and Punishment" shorts. The conspicuous clothing in the REMARKABLE POWER sex scene has nothing on the opening of "Rogue 379," in which a loving couple wake up in bed together fully clothed and with perfect make-up, though things are interrupted by a brutal act soon thereafter.
Ethan Cushing's "Negotiations," in which a hostage negotiator finds himself having to talk down his own son, is nicely staged but ultimately goes for a cheesy backstory and resolution.
And then, the almost hour-long "Sympathetic Details," written and directed by THE WIRE actor Benjamin Busch, and starring a bunch of other actors from that show, about a hitman (Ryan Sands) who wants out because he can't bear killing family men any more. The shootouts are impressively done (after seeing a few movies at Indiefest by people with no clue how to stage action, it's nice to see some counter-examples), but Sands is really bad at pretending to be injured, i.e. he really doesn't. If you're going to reference RESERVOIR DOGS as far as gut-shots go, a little emulation of Tim Roth's suffering might go a long way. Best in the cast is Domenick Lombardozzi, who initially appears to be the main character until a sudden zigzag early on makes clear that he isn't. Nonetheless, had I been directing, I'd have switched him and Sands in their respective roles.
That's it for fest coverage for now, though I may receive additional titles by mail, and if so, there'll be a few more blurbs to come.
Posted by LYT at 5:08 PM | Comments (0)
September 14, 2008
SOCAL INDEPENDENT FILM FEST 2008: Comedy Shorts
Janet Varney is my newest actress crush.
No relation to Jim, as far as I can tell. And hey, maybe it’s just that she’s in a short that had her playing horny most of the time (and amusingly uninterested the rest, feeding her man lines like “The kitchen’s closed” and “I already brushed my teeth"), but dang, I am at least momentarily in love. That’s her on the right, above. Hard to get the full effect from a still though.
In the short film “Bill,” she plays Amelia, and the dorky BF above is Paul (David Tenenbaum), the producer of a reality show entitled “The World’s Most Raging Asshole.” Paul and Amelia have been together two years, and things are getting stale until they meet Bill (the amazingly named Alastair Surprise, who is apparently a reality-show producer in real life), a veterinarian who’s new to town. The three hang out together, and suddenly our lead couple find that hanging with Bill is a big ol’ bizarre aphrodisiac. They don’t actually want to do it with him, but being with him makes them want to do each other. And that leads to some rather possessive behavior when it comes to the poor guy amongst the three who ain’t getting’ any...
At 31 minutes, it feels way shorter, but that might just be because of me digging on Janet. Also, Rachel Dratch appears in it as the couple’s therapist.
“Bill” played as part of a series called “The Lighter Side II,” which also featured a short I saw at the Downtown LA Film Fest called “I Saved The World From Global Warming,” a funny live-action/animation hybrid about our short attention span as a society. A brilliant scientist solves the inconvenient eco-crisis, but ten years later, all anyone cares about is what he’s done lately.
The others:
“Driver Ed.” Initially plays as a parody of, duh, drover’s ed instructional videos, with an uptight obsessive-compulsive teacher as the protagonist. Then gradually gets darker, as his passion for those who obey the rules of the road and contempt for those who don’t boils over. Rather obvious, really. Mocking driver’s ed seems almost too easy.
“Check Please.” A father and son argue over who’s gonna pay the check, firing off an ever-escalating series of passive-aggressive “jokes” that get progressively nastier and more dangerous. Nicely shot and scripted.
“Denim.” A guy in a bar recalls his most recent date, where he got it on with a Bruce Springsteen fetishist by claiming his jeans were once worn by the Boss. Hey, that’s a pretty good scam idea. Maybe I should try it.
“Complete Breakfast.” I’m sorry, but movies in which Gen-Xers discuss breakfast cereal mascots were already getting old ten years ago. Nothing against the filmmaking craft of those involved, but if I want to see an extended discussion of said mascots that follows along the lines of “If him, and him, if they fighted...whowouldwin?”...well, I’ll just spend the day with my 6 year-old and ten year-old brothers. They’re likely to have more original insights than “Sugar Bear is the Lando Calrissian of cereal mascots.” Uh...what?
Posted by LYT at 10:14 PM | Comments (0)
September 13, 2008
New Metallica album was $8.82 at Wal-Mart
Cheapest I've ever bought a brand new album on CD.
I love that I was able to get cheese, antihistamines, dish detergent and a Metallica CD at one place. I am learning the rules of grocery shopping while poor.
1. Buy whatever you can at the 99 cent store. Just don't expect their medicine to actually work.
2. Anything you can't find there, look for at Wal-Mart.
3. Still don't have all you need? Then, and only then, do you proceed to a "real" grocery store.
4. Triscuits and cheese, with a li'l hot sauce and garlic paste, are an acceptable dinner.
5. Special K protein plus is the worst fucking cereal ever. I bought two boxes on sale because I like regular Special K. If I were not poor I would throw them out half-uneaten.
And for those who say I shouldn't buy a Metallica album when I'm this broke, gimme a break. It was $8.82, less than an action figure or DVD. Or six-pack at some places.
Posted by LYT at 11:15 PM | Comments (12)
Shooting at wolves
One of the latest lines of attack against McSame's running mate is that she advocates the shooting of defenseless wild animals from airplanes, as seen in this ad...
As I think we all know, such a policy can only end badly...
Posted by LYT at 1:59 AM | Comments (8)
SOCAL INDEPENDENT FILM FEST 2008: Thursday Shorts
Hi there, would-be makers of short films. I'd like to share an observation or two with you that you may or may not find helpful.
Observation 1: One of the most overused "twist" endings in shorts right now is the drama that ends with "Hey, all this time there was a dead kid nobody's been talking about, and that's why everyone's acting so weird!." Sort of the Reverse-Sixth-Sense. If you were thinking of using this twist in yours, please don't. It's overplayed.
Observation 2: Just because you're interested in something doesn't mean you can make a documentary short about it. The rules for documentary are not different from those of any other film -- know how to tell a good story, create a connection to the characters, and convey the message as much as possible using the "show, don't tell" method. some voice-over is okay; constant voice-over is not.
Personal bias: If I never see another surf documentary, it'll be too soon. I get that OC film fests need them (though this fest swears that "Any Given Morning" is the first such movie they've ever shown), but there isn't much you can tell me about it that I want to know, and "Any Given Morning" basically just says that surfing is nifty for all ages and makes you a better person. I took a bathroom break in the middle, so maybe I missed a deeper insight, but sorry, I'm really not the audience for this.
The biggest doc offender, though, was called "A Drop in the Bucket." Now, let me be very clear, even though I feel certain I'll be misinterpreted later: the short doc is about two American teens who go to Indonesia where they help out kids who are smart yet disadvantaged. I give all the props in the world to these kids as human beings. Unfortunately, what we have here is practically unwatchable, narrated by one of the Americans who is clearly not camera-comfortable, shot and edited poorly, and a big example of talking endlessly without much showing. It's an infomercial at best. The fact that the project it covers is a great thing doesn't translate to the filmmaking.
And then there's one called "American Soldier" that is, literally, just some funeral footage for a soldier, with childhood photos interspersed, and a title card reminding us that this is one of many military deaths. Great to show at the wake of this poor kid, but seriously generic if you want it to be judged as a work of filmmaking. More effective is "Mugs," a montage of ever-morphing celebrity mugshots set to music that's slightly hypnotic.
I'm not entirely sure what "First ____" is trying to say -- it's a series of talking head shots against a pink background, as various people discuss their first name, first pet, first kiss, first experience with death, and so on. It's fun, but if it's trying to make a point about universalities, I'm not sure I got it.
Clifford Fields' "POV" stood out as being the only non-doc in the "Reality Bites" short program, and is a fun piece -- one static shot of a night at a pretentious art gallery opening, as seen form the "point of view" of a noteworthy painting. We never know what the painting depicts, but the mini-skits involving the reactions of people to it are well-sketched.
The other shorts block I attended was called "Friends, Relationships, and Life." It was pretty consistently solid, bookended by two near-opposites: "Ten Years" depicts in straightforward dramatic fashion a soon-to-be-married couple hosting a ten-year high school reunion party, where she still has feelings for an old boyfriend. Director Ryan Bosch nicely sketches out the characters without too much spoonfeeding, and the ending thankfully doesn't go for the painfully obvious gag I thought I would, but finishes with a believably poignant note. At the other end of the scale is David Beatty's "Surviving New Year's," in which a similar gathering heads straight to hell when illicit sex, dirty revelations, and a really nasty bit of vomiting bring simmering conflicts somewhat hilariously to a head. I could have done with less puke, but the cast are pitch-perfect, and I was especially surprised to learn that the dialogue was mostly improv, as it came off so effortlessly.
In between these were three others. Aaron King's "Redemption Maddie" was an immediate standout -- among so many festival films that are okay, his was clearly the work of someone who knows just what to shoot and just how to visually tell a story from frame one. The tale of a troubled teenage girl who has lots of underage sex and becomes pregnant, it was also the first movie of the fest where I took special care to note the lead actress' name at the end. So you heard it here first, folks: Allison Scagliotti has a ton of potential. Also, this movie finally cleared up something for me: that whole concept of "the rabbit died" referring to pregnancy.
Don't know what I mean? Let's just say that in FATAL ATTRACTION, Glenn Close killing the pet rabbit was a metaphor.
"The Truth About Faces" was an oddly titled piece centering on a mom and daughter shopping for dresses -- does what it needs to, but was hampered in this program by having more or less the same ending as one of the others (I'm being vague so as not to spoil).
And finally, "Against the Wind," which initially seemed like an annoying piece of overly narrated faux-poetry, but ultimately won me over -- an old man describes getting old, and how life isn't what it used to be and what the end may be like. A bit less talk wouldn't hurt, but it has one truly great shock-cut.
I was hoping to stay to see the evening's feature, but had to go watch a midnight show of the Tyler Perry movie to earn some cash. I did see the short immediately preceding it, entitled "Fear Leaps Out." It was brief, mega-meta, and very deftly executed.
I'm supposed to get a screener of the feature ZEBRA CROSSING later. It looks good from what little I've seen.
Posted by LYT at 12:29 AM | Comments (1)
September 12, 2008
Perry Good
So, the new Tyler Perry movie...actually doesn't suck.
I'm as surprised as anyone by my own review.
Posted by LYT at 3:19 PM | Comments (1)
September 11, 2008
There was lots of mirrored glass in the World Trade Center
Is it too much to hope that seven years of national bad luck might be over soon?
Posted by LYT at 1:35 AM | Comments (1)
Why we call him McSame
aside from my previously stated reason about search hits, that is...
Posted by LYT at 1:31 AM | Comments (1)
SOCAL INDEPENDENT FILM FEST 2008: GOIN' TO "JACKSON"
J.F. Lawton’s JACKSON is exactly the kind of movie one hopes to discover at a film festival. It takes chances without being self-consciously edgy, it makes you look at at least one familiar actor in a whole new way, and most of all it ENTERTAINS. All too often we in the press cut too much slack to indie festival films, and I’m certainly guilty of that; realizing that something is a first-time project on zero budget, we’ll say that at least it was a good try. Lawton doesn’t need or deserve that excuse, having directed such movies as the above-average Christopher Lambert vehicle THE HUNTED and the cult Bill Maher comedy CANNIBAL WOMEN IN THE AVOCADO JUNGLE OF DEATH. He also wrote PRETTY WOMAN, DOA: DEAD OR ALIVE (my favorite PG-13 T&A jigglefest of the past couple years) and episodes of the Pamela Anderson TV show VIP. So he’s no rookie, but he clearly needed a creative outlet to do something without ass-kicking or silicone boobies. He has passed the test, and then some.
Two homeless guys, one white and one black, are testy buddies. When the white one, Donald (Barry Primus) manages to successfully badger a wealthy businessman (Steve Guttenberg) into giving him twenty dollars, a.k.a. a “Jackson,” he decides that he and his kinda-sorta pal Sam (Charles Robinson, who’ll always be “Mac” from TV’s NIGHT COURT to me) are going to have the best day ever. It starts with alcohol, but Donald’s plans get ever more ambitious even as Sam becomes more and more aggravated that they don’t simply go for the easy pleasures. With Donald periodically vomiting up blood and Sam suffering from war-wounds, it’s almost like a twisted version of THE BUCKET LIST if both characters were totally broke and living on the streets instead of rich and jet-setting. And I don’t mean that as in insult.
In between scenes of our protagonists, Lawton has shot sequences of other homeless characters lip-syncing to opera that is sometimes augmented with electric guitar or even rap. It’s an interestingly Brechtian touch, and may allow viewers who are not opera fans (like me) a chance to appreciate the material anew.
Though much of the banter is comedic, there’s a dark undertone that really comes to fruition later in the story, with non-stop racial tensions – Sam is mad that he is always subject to more suspicion than Donald, and opines that while black homeless people are all war veterans, the white homeless are “crazy-ass losers that went nuts.” For Robinson, this is the role of a lifetime, and he gives it everything it needs; we know he can handle the comedy, but finally allowed to pull off a multidimensional lead role, he truly rises to the occasion.
I’m not sold on every single thing Lawton does here – he frequently uses frames and filters, again in a possibly Brechtian style to emphasize the artifice, but it doesn’t always work. Sure, when the characters are in a cafeteria and mini-frames of desserts spin around, that works. But when they’re just walking down the street and random parts of the screen become sepia? I don’t get that. And some of the opera scenes are overlong. Additionally, the title doesn’t do the movie any favors. Even though the “Jackson” is the key to the movie’s plot, it’s a title so vague that it doesn’t tell a casual filmgoer anything. I realize there have already been movies with titles like DEAD PRESIDENTS and 20 BUCKS, but something that hints at the subject matter more would be more effective. JACKSON: A HOMELESS OPERA, perhaps?
But with that said, I think this is nonetheless the best homeless-guy-semi-opera-race-relations-dramedy Ever Made.
I can’t say that if I ran a studio, I’d want to pick this up, as I don’t know what its commercial prospects might be. But I will tell you, the reader, that it’s well worth seeing. It plays again on Sunday at 3:30 p.m. at the Huntington Library.
It’s too bad that OC Weekly doesn’t cover local film festivals any more. They are a sponsor – thanks for the Gringo Bandito hot sauce samples! – but no editorial coverage at all? I get that there may be a dislike of my kind of writing, but hope that local filmmakers don’t have to pay the price for whatever my sins may be.
Posted by LYT at 12:09 AM | Comments (2)
September 8, 2008
You can get with this, or you can get with that
One of the criticisms I've seen of Bush-haters on rightie blogs over the past few years has been something to the effect of, "How can Bush be the idiot you say he is, yet still be a mastermind of several grand conspiracies?"
Setting aside the fact that most of us on the left figure that Cheney is the mastermind and Bush the idiot, it's interesting to note that this standard doesn't pass muster when applied to right-wing criticisms of Obama, which tend to throw everything at the wall just to see what sticks, even when they contain contradictions more blatant than the one above.
To wit:
Obama is a stealth Muslim AND YET he is also the devoted acolyte of a controversial Afrocentric Christian preacher;
Obama is an inexperienced lightweight AND YET he is also a ruthlessly corrupt product of the cutthroat "Chicago political machine";
Obama is a naive fool who thinks we can solve any problem just by "talking to our enemies," AND YET he is also so ruthlessly ambitious that he will metaphorically throw friends and family members "under the bus" for his own political gain;
Obama's full of empty rhetoric with no new ideas, AND YET he plans to turn this country into a socialist utopia.
And they think WE can't decide if Bush is evil or a lightweight?
I'm sure some of my readers have more examples. Feel free to add them in comments.
Posted by LYT at 11:35 PM | Comments (8)
September 7, 2008
My Grandfather's Column
In Defence of Deference
Our Bible is full of instances where deference is praised. “Let each consider others better than themselves”.. “Fear God; honour the king.” “Blessed are the meek”. Humility is one of the great and specifically Christian virtues.
To go along with this does not mean that we ought to return to some of the degrading customs of past years, when “the lower classes” knew their place, which was of course at the bottom of the pile. That kind of deference teaches people that they're not worth much and certainly that other people are their superiors in every way.
Another of the lessons of the New Testament is that because God is father of all the human race, we are all brothers and sisters, equally loved by Him. Every one of us is precious in his sight.
What proper humility fights is the idea widely held by people who think that the world revolves around themselves and their desires; or that if it doesn't at least it ought to. In a liberal democracy such as ours it seems to me clear that we should defer to people who are exercising their lawful authority such as police in uniform, judges in court or line managers at work. Equally I believe we should pay due reverence to the monarch, not because of her royal blood but simply because she is our Head of State. Personally I am a monarchist: not because I think monarchy a perfect system of government any more than democracy, but having an elected Head of State is usually a lot less satisfactory. Incidentally what we have is not really a monarchy at all, for the Queen reigns but does not rule over us.
To believe that other people should defer to us is dangerous but to be willing to act towards others on the assumption that they are better than we are is not.
--Peter Graham
peter.graham[at]bucklandnewton.com
Posted by LYT at 11:28 PM | Comments (2)
Amen, brother...
Posted by LYT at 1:59 AM | Comments (1)
September 6, 2008
What the Hunh?
I was listening to the radio driving through Century City the other day, and an ad came on for the new TV biker show, Sons of Anarchy.
The ad mentioned Ron Perlman and Katey Sagal, "and introducing Charlie Hunnam."
Eh?
Charlie Hunnam, in 2002, was the star of NICHOLAS NICKLEBY, in a cast that included, Timothy Spall, Jim Broadbent, Anne Hathaway, Jamie Bell, Barry Humphries, Edward Fox, and many more. And Hunnam was the frikkin' LEAD.
In 2003, he had a significant supporting role in the Oscar-nominated COLD MOUNTAIN.
In 2005, he co-starred with Elijah Wood in GREEN STREET HOOLIGANS.
Introducing?
Well, in all fairness, Hunnam is a lightweight actor. He's from England, yet in GREEN STREET failed to muster a convincing cockney accent. When he was Nickleby, my colleague Gregory and others referred to him as "a wooden Nickleby." He may actually be just forgettable enough in most of his roles, that he can pull off this "and introducing..." bit convincingly.
It might be his best feat of acting yet.
Posted by LYT at 1:11 AM | Comments (4)
September 5, 2008
McLame doesn't know any black people, apparently...
..so he had to use generic stock photos of some for his tribute video.
Posted by LYT at 2:50 PM | Comments (15)
One Midnite at BANGKOK
I'm feeling kinda lazy with this review, as I've been busy writing other things on the side; we'll see how that goes.
In the meantime, I'm going to do this all bullet-pointy.
Amount of minutes early I was for the midnight show: 50
Movies I walked in on briefly during that time, because the staff at the multiplex doesn't care enough to stop me: 2 -- MAMMA MIA and DISASTER MOVIE.
Why? They were the only two still running that I haven't seen all or most of already. Assessments: DISASTER MOVIE about what I expected, including a parody of The Love Guru that's actually less funny than Mike Myers. As for MAMMA MIA -- I'd rather just hear Abba do those songs. Or Erasure.
Plot of BANGKOK DANGEROUS: A hitman (Nicholas Cage) who lives by a strict set of rules ends up breaking them on his last big job. A remake of the Thai movie by the same name. As well as every other movie about a hitman who lives by his own rules.
Why it didn't screen for critics: No idea, actually. It's fairly standard stuff, with no major screw-ups.
How it rates in the Pang Brothers canon: I had more fun watching this than THE EYE and RE-CYCLE...having said that, those movies had more interesting ideas and visuals, but ultimately weren't all that well scripted.
So which rules does he break? He's not supposed to get attached to anybody, but for some reason he decides to both take on a protege and date a deaf woman who doesn't speak English. This gets him into trouble later, but you knew that. At the beginning of the movie, he bitches about how he eats dinner alone and sleeps alone. I realize a huge star like Nic may not know this, but that's true for a lot of us who aren't even hitmen.
Wig factor: Major. It gets to where you know it's him in silhouette just by the unchanging outline of his hair.
Cage mode: stoned Elvis.
Cage over-the-top moment: His first date with the deaf girl, where he delivers a running commentary on which food items are spicy and which aren't.
Best moments: Amid all the shoot-outs, there are exactly two big scenes of extremely gory acts. I won't spoil them, but they reminded me of Mortal Kombat fatalities.
In order to enjoy this, you have to believe...That Nic Cage in a jet-black hairpiece is somehow invisible and inconspicuous in a major urban area where everyone else is Asian.
Worth the ticket price? If you like fairly generic action movies that don't suck but also aren't that memorable.
Posted by LYT at 2:20 AM | Comments (2)
September 3, 2008
Conspiracy Theories!
I'm not putting a great deal of stock in this article by a self-professed conservative Christian, but it certainly is entertaining. Is John McCain deliberately throwing the race in order to counteract a conspiratorial alliance of Bush and Clinton families, and in order to piss off the racists in his party?
I don't think I buy it. But read the thing for fun anyway.
Posted by LYT at 2:16 PM | Comments (3)
September 2, 2008
Not so li'l bro
People often ask me why I have the word "Reuben" tattooed on my left arm. This is why.
My little brother isn't so little at the age of ten, which starts today. He knows how to email and IM, none of which was possible when I was his age.
This kid is gonna rule...
Posted by LYT at 12:07 AM | Comments (2)