Author Archive
The Greatest Cinematic Achievement of Our Time
The 1973 film Don’t Look Now is a tense, dramatic thriller set in a desolate, off-season Venice. It is very much of its time, but atmosphere and poignancy invade every scene, and Donald Sutherland’s performance is incredibly memorable.
Now, 15 years later, accomplished director Danny Lerner brings us the spiritual descendant of Nicholas Roeg’s film:
4 comments November 18, 2008
Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet
Stare into his icy gaze. DO IT
Leo DiCaprio was many a girl’s first celebrity crush thanks to Titanic, and not a 12 year old female in the country didn’t wish to be Rose DeWitt Bukater. Leo solidified his image as a teen heartthrob in Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet, and then mostly dropped out of the spotlight after The Man In The Iron Mask tanked.
Sorry ladies, but there are no pictures of Leo as hot as this.
Kate Winslet, meanwhile, sought out challenging dramatic roles in films like Quills and Iris. In 2004 she co-starred in Michel Gondry’s amazing Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and she’s been working in awesome, interesting movies since then.
2 comments November 14, 2008
Wherein I Complain About The Economy
Economics is stupid. The stock market is based purely on the whims of people who will sell millions of dollars worth of stock in reaction to an internet rumor that Steve Jobs had a heart attack, and the very foundation of our country rests on their shoulders. In the days just prior to the election, the market made huge gains in anticipation of an Obama victory. On November 5th, everyone realized that even though he won, he wasn’t actually going to be able to do anything until he was inaugurated in January, and stocks plummeted again. In the last couple days, the market went up. According to the New York Times, “The market’s abrupt about-face left investors and analysts grasping for explanations. ‘I have no idea,’ said Michael Feroli, an economist at J.P. Morgan Chase.”
2 comments November 13, 2008
Sarah Palin Prank Not Actually Funny
Maybe it’s just that famous, esoteric, Canadian sense of humor, or maybe it’s the gratingly stupid French accent, but Sarah Palin’s by-now-famous punking by some Canadian DJs is even less hilarious than it sounds. They called up pretending to be French President Nicolas Sarkozy. She probably assumed that if the call made it through all of the channels a call has to go through to get to her, it was legit. She comes across as slightly confused and generally polite, which is how probably most people would react in the same situation. They don’t manage to get her to say anything outrageous, and their jokes are all pretty lame. If this is what election coverage has come to, I’m incredibly glad that it’s all going down tomorrow. Speaking of which, VOTE. And vote for Obama, obviously.
4 comments November 3, 2008
Stuff You Should Like: This American Life
First, you must be familiar with the joys of National Public Radio. NPR specializes in commercial free news and information, funded by government grants, corporate sponsers, and donations from listeners. From “All Things Considered” to BBC World News, there’s no other place on the airwaves delivering such consistently reliable, trustworthy information.
However, what I really love about NPR, and I mean LOVE, is the program This American Life. You’re probably familiar with it. Dorky, squeaky-voiced Ira Glass hosts the show every week, and each week there’s a different theme. It’s not exactly news, although the stories tend to tie into current events. One week, the topic is “Summer Camp”, and the typical three acts of the show are comprised of stories of wildly varying stories from kids or grown ups relating their summer camping experiences. The next week, the theme is “Life After Death”, featuring the story of a kid who half-jokingly taunted the devil, and then had his best friend struck down by lightning. The next story that week is even less light hearted- an Iraq War veteran suffering PTSD attacks his girlfriend with a knife. It’s a grab bag of awesomeness that oscillates between being gut-pukingly funny and heart-wrenchingly sad. A girl talks about how Phil Collins helped her get over a breakup on one show. On the next, Dermot Mulroney reads an Etgar Keret short story.
I can’t ignore the presence of the This American Life tv show, also hosted by Glass, which is basically the same as the radio program but accompanied by gorgeous cinematography. However, the power of the voice and the nostalgic effect of radio makes the audio version more dear to me. The pacing of the show is brilliant. It takes full advantage of its allotted hour- rich in content, but never feeling rushed. A song marks each act break, and the stories themselves are often punctuated by music to help set the tone. The soundtrack ranges from the score of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind to the most stunning string arrangements of Led Zeppelin songs I’ve ever heard.
Glass is the perfect host- knowledgable, friendly, and full of curiosity. While a standard radio voice is like a leather-bound tome, Glass is more like a worn, familiar paperback. He’s the kind of celebrity you feel as if you could instantly be friends with. I love those glasses, too.
The best part of all of this? It’s public radio, so it’s free. If you don’t have a radio (who does, in 2008?), you can subscribe to the weekly podcast.
3 comments October 26, 2008
Any Excuse For Jack White Pictures
I’m, let’s say, moderately interested in the new James Bond movie, Quantum of Solace. I tend toward the camp in my favorite James Bond movies (Live and Let Die for the superstitious voodoo stuff, and Goldeneye for the ridiculous Russia guy), but I really enjoyed Casino Royale. Aside from a painfully brutal torture scene, it was a consistently entertaining reboot of a classic character. Daniel Craig’s humor, charisma, and intelligence more than made up for the fact that he’s sort of weird looking.
What has me most excited about Quantum of Solace, however, is the new theme song:
Pictured: Not Daniel Craig.
7 comments October 23, 2008
The Trouble With Towelhead
Alicia Erian was really swinging for the fences with her first novel. Her 13 year old main character, Jasira, is sexually abused by at least three males in her life, physically abused by her Lebanese father, and psychologically abused by her mother. If an adult has an opportunity to make her feel as if she’s done something wrong, they tend to take it. The book primarily focuses on how the molestation she suffers affects her own natural sexual development, and this is where the problems begin.
3 comments October 14, 2008
Show This Guy, Now Cut Back To These Two
The worst, laziest crime a music video can commit is to directly interpret the lyrics. It’s unimaginative and adds nothing to the song.
However, when you change the song lyrics so they literally interpret what’s happening in the video- particularly when the video is something atrociously absurd like A-Ha’s “Take On Me”- you end up with a cross between Mystery Science Theater 3000 and a bad stage musical. What I’m saying is this is brilliantly awesome.
2 comments October 7, 2008
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