Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Random TV viewing
I remember hearing about Jonestown when I was a kid. I remember the cover of Time Magazine, with the vat of grape Kool-aid and bodies lying everywhere. What ... was I 11 or 12 when that happened? I remember feeling not being able to grasp why anyone would willingly kill themselves in a mass suicide. I also remember being shocked when the pictures of Leo Ryan lying dead by the plane emerged. Man, my parents probably shouldn't have let me watch the news or look at newspapers ... sigh. Anyway, I watched a "great" documentary on MSNBC called Witness to Jonestown. New footage, including one of the gunmen shooting people at the airstrip, before the cameraman was shot himself, sad. They interviewed former temple members, even one member who watched his wife and baby son die before he took off for the jungle (can't imagine his suvivor's remorse). I don't think there was any new revelations, but I think it's important that history not forget what happened in Jonestown. Over 900 people died. Leo Ryan is the only sitting congressman who has ever been assasinated while in office. His assistant was interviewed extensively. She now has his seat in Congress. She almost died on that airstrip. Watching it for 2 hours brought back all those feelings of confusion I felt when I was a kid seeing it right when it happened.
Another show I've been watching is Californication. I really don't know what to write about the thing. It's funny, but now like Seinfeld funny ... it's guilty funny I guess. It's an incredibly adult show. David Duchovny's character is bizarro Mulder, which is good because it proves the guy can act, kind of. The female lead is positively gorgeous ... Natascha McElhone, yet another European playing an American. Evan Handler plays a Hollywood agent. I love him. I first became a fan when he was on this short lived show called "It's Like You Know". I think I was one of 5 people who watched the entire run. The most annoying character is the daughter ... ugh! She talks like a robot and looks like a goth. For any graphic novel fans out there, she's a complete rippoff of Emily the Strange. It's sickening and I wish they would send her to boarding school. Anyway, it's funny, but man, not in a good way.
A few years ago, I watched this documentary called Overnight. It was about this flash in the pan writer named Troy Duffy. He wrote a script for a movie called The Boondock Saints and apparently, he became an overnight success and went crazy, ego crazy and became such a jerk, that the Weinsteins pulled funding for the movie and as fast as Duffy's rise came, his crash was even worse. Ok .. so this channel called Spike has been running Boondock Saints, so I am watching it ... holy cow!!! This movie is so freaking BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD. I mean BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD. I guess it played in 5 theatres, which is a good thing because Willen Dafoe should be lashed for being in the film. I mean, it's hard to watch! The movie so badly wants to be Pulp Fiction. Dang!!! The Troy Duffy documentary is better than the film!
Another show I've been watching is Californication. I really don't know what to write about the thing. It's funny, but now like Seinfeld funny ... it's guilty funny I guess. It's an incredibly adult show. David Duchovny's character is bizarro Mulder, which is good because it proves the guy can act, kind of. The female lead is positively gorgeous ... Natascha McElhone, yet another European playing an American. Evan Handler plays a Hollywood agent. I love him. I first became a fan when he was on this short lived show called "It's Like You Know". I think I was one of 5 people who watched the entire run. The most annoying character is the daughter ... ugh! She talks like a robot and looks like a goth. For any graphic novel fans out there, she's a complete rippoff of Emily the Strange. It's sickening and I wish they would send her to boarding school. Anyway, it's funny, but man, not in a good way.
A few years ago, I watched this documentary called Overnight. It was about this flash in the pan writer named Troy Duffy. He wrote a script for a movie called The Boondock Saints and apparently, he became an overnight success and went crazy, ego crazy and became such a jerk, that the Weinsteins pulled funding for the movie and as fast as Duffy's rise came, his crash was even worse. Ok .. so this channel called Spike has been running Boondock Saints, so I am watching it ... holy cow!!! This movie is so freaking BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD. I mean BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD. I guess it played in 5 theatres, which is a good thing because Willen Dafoe should be lashed for being in the film. I mean, it's hard to watch! The movie so badly wants to be Pulp Fiction. Dang!!! The Troy Duffy documentary is better than the film!
Saturday, November 8, 2008
And Yet, the World Hasn't Ended ....
First post-election post and all is good :)
The Daily Show's election night coverage was lame. Stephen Colbert is playing a character, Jon Stewart is not ...it doesn't work having them work the same room.
Life on Mars was great ... they are blending the current with the past in a really cool way, using his mentor and the local priest and then showing the funeral of his mentor with the priest presiding. This was the best episode focusing on Tyler. Whoopi even made a cool cameo as a Angela Davis afro'd dj. The best part though, was the music. Using Garland Jeffrey's Wild in the Streets as the theme for the show was perfect. I remember loving that song when I was a kid and it will always remind of this friend who took pity on me when I was a pathetic newcomer to Chicago. He used to sing this song to himself all the time, emphasing the W in Wild. And Tyler gaining cred with the militants by rapping Ice Ice Baby was classic!!! I wish ABC would put it on a different night ... Thursday nights are a killer. I heard the ratings aren't that great. If they cancel this show ... well, I won't give up tv altogether, but I may boycott ABC.
Dirty Sexy Money is still chugging along. I heard that ABC is telling it's shows to trip 2% off their show budgets. I'd imagine that the DSM cast is probably one of the highest paid, but each and every one of them are crucial to the storylines. C'mon Donald & Jill, you don't need all that money right???? And Blair, you have a good gig over at In Treatment ... HBO may pay you a little more. Peter Krause is worth every dime though.
Gossip Girl is positively delicious. I can do wtihout Jenny though ... the chinless wonder is just grating. She's even more grating than Serena. Send her to study fashion design in Paris ... she's not needed.
Do not touch a freaking thing in True Blood. Just more Bill would be nice.
Finished watching Michael Clayton ... sigh ... I knew it, another makeup Oscar. Tilda Swinton was good, not Oscar worthy. Tom Wilkinson DESERVED an Oscar. Ok, so maybe he'll get a makeup Oscar at some point in his career. Who knows, maybe Hollywood is mad at him for playing a transsexual in the HBO movie, Normal (which was kick butt btw). He was also freaking fabulous as the leacherous Ben Franklin in HBO's John Adams (he really was the only reason to sit through it, honestly). It was a good movie though. Clooney has really made himself a great actor. I had my doubts, but now I'll at least give a look to anything he does.
And now for my "loser movie fan moment": I'm watching, for the first time, Rosemary's Baby.
And now for my cool book moment ... snagged a copy of David Sedaris's "When you are Engulfed in Flames" from our local library. I have a month to finish it. Since I read as fast as a turtle, it will take me that long. Bad librarian, bad librarian! I listened to Holiday's on Ice, read by Sedaris, which was better than reading the book. His voice is incredible.
And the sun is still shining.
The Daily Show's election night coverage was lame. Stephen Colbert is playing a character, Jon Stewart is not ...it doesn't work having them work the same room.
Life on Mars was great ... they are blending the current with the past in a really cool way, using his mentor and the local priest and then showing the funeral of his mentor with the priest presiding. This was the best episode focusing on Tyler. Whoopi even made a cool cameo as a Angela Davis afro'd dj. The best part though, was the music. Using Garland Jeffrey's Wild in the Streets as the theme for the show was perfect. I remember loving that song when I was a kid and it will always remind of this friend who took pity on me when I was a pathetic newcomer to Chicago. He used to sing this song to himself all the time, emphasing the W in Wild. And Tyler gaining cred with the militants by rapping Ice Ice Baby was classic!!! I wish ABC would put it on a different night ... Thursday nights are a killer. I heard the ratings aren't that great. If they cancel this show ... well, I won't give up tv altogether, but I may boycott ABC.
Dirty Sexy Money is still chugging along. I heard that ABC is telling it's shows to trip 2% off their show budgets. I'd imagine that the DSM cast is probably one of the highest paid, but each and every one of them are crucial to the storylines. C'mon Donald & Jill, you don't need all that money right???? And Blair, you have a good gig over at In Treatment ... HBO may pay you a little more. Peter Krause is worth every dime though.
Gossip Girl is positively delicious. I can do wtihout Jenny though ... the chinless wonder is just grating. She's even more grating than Serena. Send her to study fashion design in Paris ... she's not needed.
Do not touch a freaking thing in True Blood. Just more Bill would be nice.
Finished watching Michael Clayton ... sigh ... I knew it, another makeup Oscar. Tilda Swinton was good, not Oscar worthy. Tom Wilkinson DESERVED an Oscar. Ok, so maybe he'll get a makeup Oscar at some point in his career. Who knows, maybe Hollywood is mad at him for playing a transsexual in the HBO movie, Normal (which was kick butt btw). He was also freaking fabulous as the leacherous Ben Franklin in HBO's John Adams (he really was the only reason to sit through it, honestly). It was a good movie though. Clooney has really made himself a great actor. I had my doubts, but now I'll at least give a look to anything he does.
And now for my "loser movie fan moment": I'm watching, for the first time, Rosemary's Baby.
And now for my cool book moment ... snagged a copy of David Sedaris's "When you are Engulfed in Flames" from our local library. I have a month to finish it. Since I read as fast as a turtle, it will take me that long. Bad librarian, bad librarian! I listened to Holiday's on Ice, read by Sedaris, which was better than reading the book. His voice is incredible.
And the sun is still shining.
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Quite Possibly the Worst Movie I've Ever Seen
It's called Tideland ... at Terry Gilliam movie that I didn't know existed and now I know why. I hate deleting movies before they are finished, but I had to delete this one. The premise sounded interesting ... a little girl dealing with the death of her parents. The Dad was played by Jeff Bridges, whom I normally love ... he was great in Gilliam's Fisher King and of course, he's Jeff Lebowski ... why Jeff, why??? First of all, Bridges spends most of the movie decomposing in a rocking chair ... but the little girl .. and I don't mean to say this, really, I don't .. was just awful! I couldn't understand a word she said. I think she was going for a southern accent, but it was so terrible, I couldn't understand her. She lives in this fantasy world with 2 doll heads stuck on her finger and every once in awhile, they come to life .. I don't know ... what was Gilliam thinking???? I like Gilliam movies, well, usually I do. I still don't get Brazil, but I love 12 Monkeys and Fisher King and I will always have a soft spot for anyone involved with Monty Python, but man ... this, quite possibly is the worst movie I've ever tried to watch. I loathed Crash, but I go through it and there are many other stinkers that I've endured, but this one ... I couldn't finish it and I don't think I'll ever be able to finish it. Maybe Gilliam can do a do over on this one because I think it could be good.
This week's Life on Mars was kind of sappy. Tyler runs into his mother and saves her and then we get into a rat in the house story, blah blah blah. Keitel was a total sap ... very un-Keitel. Boo to the writers on that one. HARVEY DOESN'T CRY!!!
I'm in the midst of watching Michael Clayton. So far, I don't understand why Tilda Swinton won the Oscar, but maybe she'll wow me. I have a feeling that her Oscar is a makeup Oscar, which Oscar is known for. Judy Dench should have won for Mrs. Brown but was given one for her 3.5 second performance in Shakespeare in Love (blech), Russell Crowe won for Gladiator, when he should have won for The Insider. I loved Swinton in Orlanda, she should have won an Oscar for that film.
This week's Life on Mars was kind of sappy. Tyler runs into his mother and saves her and then we get into a rat in the house story, blah blah blah. Keitel was a total sap ... very un-Keitel. Boo to the writers on that one. HARVEY DOESN'T CRY!!!
I'm in the midst of watching Michael Clayton. So far, I don't understand why Tilda Swinton won the Oscar, but maybe she'll wow me. I have a feeling that her Oscar is a makeup Oscar, which Oscar is known for. Judy Dench should have won for Mrs. Brown but was given one for her 3.5 second performance in Shakespeare in Love (blech), Russell Crowe won for Gladiator, when he should have won for The Insider. I loved Swinton in Orlanda, she should have won an Oscar for that film.
Friday, October 31, 2008
Total Wrecklamation and Factory Girl
Ok, I want to meet Jodi Murphy. She cracks me up. Who knew an auctioneer could be so cool. She auctioned off stuff from a beautiful home in Downers Grove. I would have killed for that front door! I don't know if she hams it up for the cameras, I don't think she does, but she's really cool.
I love Andy Warhol. Do I? Well ... I like his art ... art? Ok, I like what Andy Warhol did in the art world. Kind of ground it up with his shoe and shoved it back in the faces of the pretentious art gillerati. I think I've seen most of the films that depict Warhol:
David Bowie played him in Basquiat .. so so ... too cartoonish for me
Jared Harris in I Shot Andy Warhol ... again, so so ...
Cripin Glover played him in The Doors ... caught his quirkiness, that's about it
But I think that Guy Pearce did the best portrayal in Factory Girl. With the exception of Crispin Glover ... all the others who have played Andy aren't American.
Factory Girl is about Edie Sedgwick, an heiress, who pal'd with Warhol and his crowd for a brief period of time. She died when she was 28 of a drug overdose, hello Janis, Hello Jimi, Hello Jim. Edie was beautiful. The film portrays her as a lost soul, who knows? She ends up falling in love with Bob Dylan (Dylan threatened to sue the film producers, so he's billed as "musician" ... but it's a big fat duh ... oh, and Hayden Christianson plays Dylan really well). Sienna Miller plays Edie. She's ok ... I'd have to say my favorite portrayals were Christianson as Dylan, Pearce as Warhol and Iliana Douglass as Diana Vreeland.
Overall, the film, to me seemed to try to wow the audience with "oh, they look so much like ... ", but the story was kind of weak, like they ran out of money and could only give the highlights. It could have been better. I thought I Shot Andy Warhol was a much better film. Since Edie was with Andy for such a short period of time, I would have thought it would have been better I guess.
Maybe it's just too hard to make a film about The Factory and Warhol.
I love Andy Warhol. Do I? Well ... I like his art ... art? Ok, I like what Andy Warhol did in the art world. Kind of ground it up with his shoe and shoved it back in the faces of the pretentious art gillerati. I think I've seen most of the films that depict Warhol:
David Bowie played him in Basquiat .. so so ... too cartoonish for me
Jared Harris in I Shot Andy Warhol ... again, so so ...
Cripin Glover played him in The Doors ... caught his quirkiness, that's about it
But I think that Guy Pearce did the best portrayal in Factory Girl. With the exception of Crispin Glover ... all the others who have played Andy aren't American.
Factory Girl is about Edie Sedgwick, an heiress, who pal'd with Warhol and his crowd for a brief period of time. She died when she was 28 of a drug overdose, hello Janis, Hello Jimi, Hello Jim. Edie was beautiful. The film portrays her as a lost soul, who knows? She ends up falling in love with Bob Dylan (Dylan threatened to sue the film producers, so he's billed as "musician" ... but it's a big fat duh ... oh, and Hayden Christianson plays Dylan really well). Sienna Miller plays Edie. She's ok ... I'd have to say my favorite portrayals were Christianson as Dylan, Pearce as Warhol and Iliana Douglass as Diana Vreeland.
Overall, the film, to me seemed to try to wow the audience with "oh, they look so much like ... ", but the story was kind of weak, like they ran out of money and could only give the highlights. It could have been better. I thought I Shot Andy Warhol was a much better film. Since Edie was with Andy for such a short period of time, I would have thought it would have been better I guess.
Maybe it's just too hard to make a film about The Factory and Warhol.
Monday, October 27, 2008
I'll Miss You Mad Men!!!
The season finale was fantastic! I was wrong on all counts about Don. He came back, as Don, begging to come back. Betty was her usual deluded self, only now she's pregnant! So what does she do? She goes horseback riding, she's smoking, goes to a bar and drinks and has a tryst in a bathroom with a complete stranger! Then she goes home and proceeds to nosh on a piece of chicken, this was after Sallie said "mommy doesn't like to eat". So she let's Don come back ...
Peggy confessed to Pete about the baby. But I'm confused. Did she give it away? Or was she lying about that to keep Pete from pursuing it??? Pete laid it on the line. Told her he loved her. But he was drinking and lonely. I'm glad Peggy stood her ground. She really left him hanging.
Not sure about the merger. It blew up in Duck's face, which was great. It seems that his whole MO was to get rid of Don via an employment agreement he thought he had, which he didn't. Don just laughed in Duck's face and said "I don't have a contract" and Bert and Roger looking sheepish stating that they didn't think they needed one! This means that Don can go out to another agency and take clients with him. Duck blew up and that was that. Not sure if the merger is going to happen now. At least Pete did the CYO job of all CYO jobs by playing Duck and Don ... Pete's learning.
The entire episode was set up during the Cuban Missle Crisis. Not being alive during that time, but studying it in my history classes in college, it must have been weird (is that the right word?), or just plain scary. It made the entire episode tense, which is what every character exuded ... tension.
I hope they bring it back for a third season. I'll be heartbroken if they don't.
True Blood was great too. Bill is alive ... came crawling out of the ground and grabbed Sookie and they ... well ... you know. We are getting more and more informed about Sam and his nudist ways. Stephen Root made a great cameo appearance as a lonely vampire who doesn't leave his house. He was creepy, but you had to feel sorry for him on some level. He ends up getting kidnapped for his blood by Jason and his new girlfriend, who is something other than human, but not vampire. With Mad Men gone, maybe I'll be able to get better sleep on Sunday nights.
30 Rock starts up again this week!
Peggy confessed to Pete about the baby. But I'm confused. Did she give it away? Or was she lying about that to keep Pete from pursuing it??? Pete laid it on the line. Told her he loved her. But he was drinking and lonely. I'm glad Peggy stood her ground. She really left him hanging.
Not sure about the merger. It blew up in Duck's face, which was great. It seems that his whole MO was to get rid of Don via an employment agreement he thought he had, which he didn't. Don just laughed in Duck's face and said "I don't have a contract" and Bert and Roger looking sheepish stating that they didn't think they needed one! This means that Don can go out to another agency and take clients with him. Duck blew up and that was that. Not sure if the merger is going to happen now. At least Pete did the CYO job of all CYO jobs by playing Duck and Don ... Pete's learning.
The entire episode was set up during the Cuban Missle Crisis. Not being alive during that time, but studying it in my history classes in college, it must have been weird (is that the right word?), or just plain scary. It made the entire episode tense, which is what every character exuded ... tension.
I hope they bring it back for a third season. I'll be heartbroken if they don't.
True Blood was great too. Bill is alive ... came crawling out of the ground and grabbed Sookie and they ... well ... you know. We are getting more and more informed about Sam and his nudist ways. Stephen Root made a great cameo appearance as a lonely vampire who doesn't leave his house. He was creepy, but you had to feel sorry for him on some level. He ends up getting kidnapped for his blood by Jason and his new girlfriend, who is something other than human, but not vampire. With Mad Men gone, maybe I'll be able to get better sleep on Sunday nights.
30 Rock starts up again this week!
Sunday, October 26, 2008
2 Random Thoughts
I feel really bad about not liking the Albert Brooks movie ... I really do. As I racked my brain today, I remember one of my favorite Albert Brooks performances. It was My First Mister. Brooks plays this incredibly sad man who befriends a young woman and it's just fantastic and I remember crying like a baby at the end of the film. Ok Albert, please do more of these kinds of films. Please!!!!
The other random thought has been rolling around my noggin everytime I pass a Sherwin Williams Paint store. When I was on a train a week or so ago, we passed this huge, what looks like a warehouse, but it may be a factory for Sherwin Williams. Each and everytime I see their "cover the earth" logo, it makes me cringe. Cover the earth? Are you kidding me? With paint? Toxic paint? Heck, I wouldn't want to cover the earth in no VOC paint ... come on! Whoever came up with that lame catchphrase is a complete bonehead!!! Booooooooo!!!!
The other random thought has been rolling around my noggin everytime I pass a Sherwin Williams Paint store. When I was on a train a week or so ago, we passed this huge, what looks like a warehouse, but it may be a factory for Sherwin Williams. Each and everytime I see their "cover the earth" logo, it makes me cringe. Cover the earth? Are you kidding me? With paint? Toxic paint? Heck, I wouldn't want to cover the earth in no VOC paint ... come on! Whoever came up with that lame catchphrase is a complete bonehead!!! Booooooooo!!!!
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