Category Archive

in a heartbeat.

from the studio briefing on imdb.com:

Australian media company Village Roadshow has disclosed that tickets for its deluxe Gold Star Cinemas will go for $35 apiece when the theaters open in the U.S. The Hollywood Reporter said today (Wednesday) that the company is planning to open 50 such theaters in this country over the next 5 years, with the first to open in suburban Chicago this year, featuring reserved seating (only 40 seats per theater), special parking, and “upscale” food service by waiters in the auditoriums. “It’s an absolutely different environment than anything else that exists,” Village Roadshow CEO Graham Burke told the trade paper. Village Roadshow has already opened some 100 Gold Class theaters in Australia, Singapore and Greece.

imagine, not rushing to the theater, not waiting in lines, not siting in a tight room like flying coach to singapore.  decent food - no lines - small crowds, i am so there!

 honor of james and i seeing “the other bolyn girl” featuring the hunky eric bana yesterday - i thought i would give ya’ll a slice of his hotness (i hate that word, but it works).  oh, and if your wondering - the movie is good… easily a renter tho’.  and natalie portman is such a conniving bitch in the flick; it’s fun!!

cb and i saw fool’s gold (the new matthew mcconaughey & kate hudson treasure hunt flick) last night. 

that’s 2 hours of my life i’ll never get back.

so james wasn’t having any of my “no opinion” - selections - he made me give a guess prior to the award (hence the changes reflected below).

all in all, i did pretty good.  the green means i got it right, the red means wrong.  13/24 - better than half, not bad eh?  really really proud of my hometown boys (the coen brothers) and girl (diablo cody); way to represent minnesota!

• best picture; no country for old men
• best actor; daniel day-lewis / there will be blood
• best actress; ellen page / juno (yup, that’s right - i went there…julie christie’s got nothing on her… lol).  marion cotillard won for la vie en rose
  
• best supporting actor; javier bardem / no country for old men
• best supporting actress; cate blanchett / i’m not there tilda swinton for micheal clayton
  
• director; ethan coen & joel coen / no country for old men
• documentary; sicko take me to the dark side
• documentary short; the crown freeheld
  
• animated feature; persepolis (haven’t seen it, but it looks amazing… & ratatouille is not even remotely pixars best work) ratatouille
  
• foreign language film; 12 the counterfitters
  
• cinematography; tough call, but i’m going to go with there will be blood
• original screenplay; diablo cody / juno
• adapted screenplay; ethan coen & joel coen / no country for old men
• visual effects; transformers the golden compass
  
• animated short; even pigeons go to heaven peter wolf
• live action short; the mozart of the pickpockets
• art direction; atonement sweeney todd; the demon barber of fleet street
  
• costume design; atonement elizabeth; the golden age
  
• film editing; no country for old men the bourne ultimatum
• sound mixing; the bourne ultimatum
• sound editing; the bourne ultimatum
• original score; atonement
• original song; falling slow / once
• makeup; la vie en rose

ignoring my post from here, these are my real predictions. we’ll see how i do tomorrow right?

• best picture; no country for old men

• best actor; daniel day-lewis / there will be blood
• best actress; ellen page / juno (yup, that’s right - i went there…julie christie’s got nothing on her… lol).
• best supporting actor; javier bardem / no country for old men
• best supporting actress; cate blanchett / i’m not there
• director; ethan coen & joel coen / no country for old men
• documentary; didn’t see any of the nominated films - can’t comment
• documentary short; ditto
• animated feature; persepolis (haven’t seen it, but it looks amazing… & ratatouille is not even remotely pixars best work)
• foreign language film; can’t comment as i haven’t seen any of them
• cinematography; tough call, but i’m going to go with there will be blood
• original screenplay; diablo cody / juno
• adapted screenplay; ethan coen & joel coen / no country for old men
• visual effects; transformers
• animated short; didn’t see any of them
• live action short; ditto
• art direction; atonement
• costume design; atonement
• film editing; no country for old men
• sound mixing; the bourne ultimatum
• sound editing; the bourne ultimatum
• original score; atonement
• original song; falling slow / once
• makeup; eh. no opinion.

the “star” -ronnie kerr - sexy/sweet/hunky.  perfect (tho’ he could be covered in ink, that would make it better).

it’s actually a sweet little film. 

so last night, james and i went to see the new punk-rock musical/play “god save gertrude” (a modern take on hamlet). 

i had zero expectation for this (hell, until i walked in i had no idea what play we were seeing - we were there to support some of his co-workers who were doing makeup and playing in the band).  very much in a “hedwig and the angry inch” mode of modern musical theater - the story (let’s use that word loosely) is that of an aging punk rock poet-ess (think pattie smith) who is, as it turns out the queen of some country (assuming central europe/post soviet union, tho’ it’s never spelled out) on the verge of civil war.  she rehashes her punk past while juggling a second husband dictator and a son (wannabe rock star in the vein of his long gone father).  

the story and performances were quite good - as was the music.  it needs some fixing in the book department… like how did she become queen?  what happened to daddy #1?  how did dictator/daddy #2 come into the picture?  but all in all an fun night of experimental theater.

—

10.5 days until i’m in new york city.

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star trek xi: 

as brought to life by jj abrams.  i’m beyond giddy-excited for this.  the cast looks spectacular & this trailer gave me chills.  time to get my sci-fi geek on.

—

paula abdul has a new song (written and produced by randy jackson).

come to your own conclusion.

—

i’m off to spend some time with mom - still no word on the job situation.. but she does have an interview on tuesday - so do me a favor, send some good karma my mom’s way on tuesday.

from imdb.com:

Hewlett-Packard has signed a deal with Sony Pictures to turn out DVDs from the studio’s library whenever customers request them, the Los Angeles Times reported today (Thursday). The deal will allow consumers to order movies that ordinarily would not be stocked by dealers because they are too obscure or too old. HP indicated that it expects to sign similar deals with other studios. “We’re hoping this provides another option to make available products that wouldn’t necessarily garner widespread retail shelf space,”

i want nothing more than for this day to end.  it was an absolute bear of a day, one that makes me question the company i work for (which, trust me - does.not.happen.very.often.).  honest to god, all i want to do is crawl under my blanket and block out the world.

then to find out that heath ledger died.  fuck what a day.

so instead, i’m gonna concentrate on the only good thing that happened today.  the oscar nominations came out.

best picture - there is no question on this for me - i’m all about no country for old men. 

best actress - hard one for me ’cause i’ve only seen 2 of these films.  i loved ellen page in juno, but it’s not her year yet.  i’m going sentimental (for me) and giving it to cate in elizabeth 2.  yes, the movie sucked, and no she won’t win (see below for the reason), but i love my cate.  i hear amazing things about julie cristie & la vie en rose is on my netflix so i might change my mind.

best actor - no question at all.  daniel in there will be blood.  brilliant performance,

supporting actor - again, no question.  javier all the way.  (hal holbrook could be a dark horse/sentimental win, but i think it’s javier all the way.

supporting actress - i’ve not seen gone baby gone or michael clayton, but all signs are pointing to cate(plus the reason she won’t win above is ’cause she’ll win here).  i have a glimmer of home for saoirse as well. 

in the coming weeks i’ll cover off some of the other categories. 

but now i’m going to make my self a massivebowl of ice cream then hide under my blanky.

james and i intended to catch the last day of the frida kahlo exhibit at the walker art center today.  luckily, we had both already saw it earlier in its run, so the 2.5 hour lines were not a big deal. 

instead we caught an amazing documentary film “a walk into the sea; danny williams and the warhol factory“ by filmmaker esther robinson. 

the film is about robinson’s uncle, danny williams - andy warhol’s boyfriend, collaborator and filmmaker during the heyday of the warhol factory era. 

 danny williams

williams disappeared at at age 27.  the film exlpores his disappearance through interviews many of the people that inhabited the factory world (including a rare insightful, interview with brigid berlin) along with his family.

what i find fascinating and really powerful is the way robinson allows each of the interview subjects to relate their memories so truthfully and honest.  she doesn’t (as happens in so many documentaries) do a voiceover or lead the view to come to her conclusions.  rather she allows the film to represent, as she said during the q&a following the film today, the slippery nature of history. 

this was such a powerful concept to hear verbalized and acknowledged.  history is after all the memories of those that lived it.  and memory is often colored by experience and hearsay and rumour and shadow.  nobody ever really knows what happened.  only their understanding of what happened.

the tragedy of this film of course is that whatever happened to danny williams, (murdered?  suicide? just walked off the radar?) is that he was a very promising experimental film maker.  the film clips shown in the movie were really interesting.  it would have been cool to see what happened / how his life & talent progressed.

the below clip shows a bit of the film, along with a small snippet of an interview with the director.  check out this movie if you can - really interesting stuff.

just home from seeing “cloverfield” with cb - wow… dark fuckin’ film.

i feel a bit anxious/aggressive/nihilistic.  so i suppose it was a good flick.

things i liked:

• the actors; they really made you feel for/care for them
• the concept; shot from the characters perspective, it was a really nice twist on the monster film
• the effects were spot on.

but at the end of the day, i still feel really “off” after watchin’ the movie.  i think i need something a bit more light to close my evening.  perhaps some “wonder woman” or maybe “stardust”.

if you like monster flicks; you’ll dig this one.  unlike any monster flick i’ve ever seen.

there’s a comment from my friend jeremy on the “you didn’t know i was a big homo?” post (you can read it here).  he points out that you can see what appears to be a belly button piercing showing under keira’s stunning green dress.  (by the way, is there anything more silly than a belly button piercing?).  

here’s the offending bulge:

as a big fan of movie and television acting (people who slag on tv, just aren’t watching the right stuff), things like the piercing annoy me.  simply put they pull my focus out of the show or film and distract me from the performance.    i’ll never be able to watch atonement again without looking for the bulge above the “coochieknot”.

the reason i found this interesting is i was just watching the new show “the sarah connor chronicles” (which by the way is terrific - the producers of the re-booted “bionic woman” should be taking notes on how to do it right), which features one of my favorite character actors; dean winters, as a love interest for the title character. 

dean, for those of you not-in-the-know, was on hbo’s “oz“ as bad boy ryan o’reilly.  and i really really loved him (and that show).

if you know “oz”, you’ll know that there was ton’s of really hot prison sex, along with the inmates generally walking around in various forms of undress (gay fantasy 101).  dean’s character was fond of tight muscle shirts, or shirtless (must have been awfully hot inside oz… everyone was shirtless all the time). 

as such, you could always see a tattoo of a steer skull on his shoulder.

i always thought it was a fake hollywood tat go give the o’reilly character some street-cred.

until he showed up on sarah connor the other night (again, shirtless… yum).  the exact same ink is on his shoulder - which means, that steer skull is all dean’s and wasn’t o’reilly’s at all. 

fuck.

now i can’t get past this and when he appeared on the second episode, i just kept wondering to myself “i wonder when o’reilly got released from prison, and isn’t it nice that he’s found a good woman and wants to settle down”. 

uggg.  fuckity-fuck.

someone call the makeup artist and just cover that fucker up with some nice concealer.  it’s not that big, wouldn’t take more than 5-10 minutes.  easy-peasy.

memo to hollywood:  “stop pulling focus”.

p.s., jeremey get’s extra points for the use of the word: “coochieknot”

yea, right - as if you needed the proof. 

well, if ther was any lingering doubt, this should change your mind.  when i was watching atonement yesterday i was reminded of something that happened a few years ago. 

it was the new years holiday and ray and jeremy were up from chicago.  it was their last night in town so we vegged and saw a movie (me and a movie, your shocked right?!) - ‘house of flying daggers’.

if you’ve seen the movie, you’ll know the scene i’m talkin’ about here - the one in the bamboo forest, an ocean of green. 

apparently the moment that the luminous ziyi zhang made her entrance in that green forest, i audibly sighed.  to which ray (or was it jeremy?) laughed and whispered “fag” in my general direction. 

in my defense, it was just so bloody beautiful.  scenes like this are why movies exist in the first place.

well, when watching atonement, there is a moment where keira is wearing the most incredible green dress.

oh my god beautiful.  i’m pretty sure i audibly gasped here as well.  this dress would look incredible on a (hair show) runway.

so either i’m the biggest fag in the world, or i just have a really big thing for green. 

or maybe both.

so as you know from reading yesterday’s 12 of 12, i saw ‘there will be blood’, the new paul thomas anderson (boogie nights, magnolia) film.  and today i saw ‘atonement’.  i love awards season!

‘there will be blood’ is a harrowing, dramatic film - with a capitol “f”.  and while daniel day-lewis is deservedly receiving his share of the praise for what can only be called on of the best performances of this (or any) year, my love of this film lies solely in the hands of paul dano playing the preacher eli sunday.  i saw dano years ago in a little indy called l.i.e. (short for long island expressway) and didn’t really think much of him.  then he popped up in last years darkly comic ‘little miss sunshine’ and, while i liked his sullen mute teenage performance, i still didn’t think much.  until now that is.  dano not only holds his own against day-lewis, but raises the bar so high, it’ll be interesting to see what he does next.

special note should be given to jonny greenwood who re-invents what movie music can be with his electrifying, atonal “wrong noted” score.  appearing in only 33 minutes of the film, the music (and silence) here becomes another character - one that advances (and holds back) the brutality of the film.  brilliant!

‘atonement’, of course is the romantic war epic based on ian mcewan’s novel of the same name.  i’ve not read it (historical romantic war epic’s seem to play better on the screen for me; see ‘the english patient’) - but i hear it was quite the bear of a read. 

the film is lush, harrowing (in a completely different way than ‘blood’) stunningly acted.  spanning the better part of the 20th century (1935 - current) and the great war, the film feels grand and intimate all at the same time.   of course there’s ton’s of oscar buzz here, and some of it justified - james mcavoy is simply impeccable in his portrayal of a lover falsely accused of rape while keira knightly gives the performance of her career here.   but the film belongs to saoirse ronan as the 13 year old accuser and vanessa redgrave (the adult version of accuser).  both performances are simply seamless and stunning. 

end of the day for me, the film was wonderful but forgettable.  i don’t know that this will stick with me long term, but it was certainly a wonderful film ‘in the moment’.  though you should see it for the performances.   it will remind you that past those pirate movies, keira can actually act, and ronan & mcavoy are faces to watch.

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‘no country for old men’ is still my choice of best picture. 

continuing from my favorite music post from a couple days ago - here’s my best of list for movies (for the record, i make very little distinction between best and favorite….):

• no country for old men.  this was simply put, an amazing film from our mn local boys the coen brothers.  a movie with more silence than dialog, josh brolin, tommy lee jones and (a terrifying) javier bardem were amazing….  brilliant
• juno.  another local from me, diablo cody’s witty charming script allowed ellen page’s juno to leap of the screen - my favorite performance of 2007.  superb supporting performances from allison janney, jk simmons, jason batemen, jennifer garner and the excellent michael cera.  
• lars and the real girl.  i can’t believe owen gleiberman from entertainment weekly put this on his worst list.  for me, this film touched me more than any other film this year.  i had a smile on my face the entire time.  ryan gosling’s performance was beautiful.
• the bourne ultimatum & live free or die hard.  action flicks with real story development?  shocking.  both films kept me on the edge of my seat.
• grindhouse.  pulp fiction never tasted so good.  so over the top - but bloody (pun intended) good fun.  gripping at times (hello captain’s mast), deliciously tacky at times (hello cherry!).  meta-trash never looked so good
• american gangster.  i’ve talked about this one before - it’s all about the acting for me.  russell & denzel chewing the scenery.  mmm, more please.
• stardust.  mmmm stardust.  lovely little film.  enjoyed tremendously.  anyone who didn’t love - is wrong! yes, i’m talkin’ to cb here! <g>
• control.  again - i’ve already talked about this one, but the film is quite wonderful.  an exercise in restraint.  the performances are excellent.
• 3:10 to yuma.  this film got lost in the shuffle this fall - which is a tremendous shame.  excellent casting and brava performances  (2007 was really the year of the ensemble).  a brilliant western that was claustrophobic and taunt as all hell.

other films i dug:

• transformers - fun.
• simpsons movie - everything it needed to be.
• the darjeeling limited - beautiful.
• ocean’s thirteen - a return to form.
• hot fuzz - wickedly fun.
• across the universe - visually stunning, great music.

biggest disappointments:

• harry potter & the order of the phoenix.  my favorite of the books (thus far) - yet the director cut so much (it became the shortest hp film of the bunch, and it was the longest book) it just felt like a shell of it’s former self.  sure there were some great sequences (the climatic fights for one), but it’s just not as vivid as the book.
• the golden compass.  just not that strong.  visually striking - but felt so haphazzzrd and slapped together.  i hope the book is better.
• 300.  yes, homo’s - i’m committing a blasphemy here.  the movie is exceedingly amazing in it’s visual splendor (and yea, the guys are hot) - i just didn’t care for the characters and the narrative story was weak.  i guess it’s just better as porn with the volume turned down. 
• knocked up.  i.just.didn’t.laugh.  expected much more.
• evan almightly.  great premise.  awesome cast.  horrible preachy result.  blech.
• the 11th hour.  leo, we need hope at least.

films i haven’t seen yet (but really need to):

• once
• there will be blood
• i’m not there
• persepolis
• atonment
• michael clayton
• charlie wilson’s war

2008; expectations - excited to see:

• harry potter & the half blood prince
• the chronicles of narnia, prince caspian
• indiana jones & the kingdom of the crystal skull
• the dark knight
• bond 22
• new star trek
• speed racer
• sex & the city; the movie
• wall-e

reasons to not see this film:

• burt reynolds as the kink ?!?@?!??
• ray liotta looking like a wiseguy (tho’ i do kinda wanna do ray in a sick sort of way)
• reminds me of those really bad dark-ages movies from the 80’s like flesh & blood & beastmaster

reasons to see this film:

• jason - fucking - statham looking hot as hell!

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however, then there is this: 

5 words: jason statham and jet fucking li! 

ok, that was 6 - sue me.  i love me some jason on jet ass kickin’  booh-ya! 

both flicks come out in january…. testosterone never looked so hot.

the end of the year is nearing and as one is wont to do - it becomes a time of reflection.  so over the next couple of weeks i may be chiming in here and there with some ruminations on the year that’s been….

the first iteration of this is ‘things i will not be ashamed of’. 

i am the first to admit, i’m kinda a snob when it comes to pop culture / art / things.  but, at the same time, i’m a complete glutton for things that are not - and this is painful to admit- not.that.great.  ugg.

but, i have pretty good taste (if i do say so myself) in most things, so i choose to believe that i am simply out-of-sync with the world at large.  and truth be told, i’m kinda ok with that.  of course, this also means that the world is wrong and i am right.  case closed.

the first thing i refuse to be ashamed of is my complete and total love of the film ‘stardust‘.

sure the film did not set the box office world on fire (shame too), the movie is a lush, beautifully filmed, well acted and charming little flick.  to refresh my memory, i did a quickie search on metacritic to see what the film cognoscenti thought of the movie -and  i was a bit surprised at the mostly positive views of it.  i quite like wha the charlotte observer had to say about it: “heroic, wryly funny, but bloodthirsty as great fairy tales can often be.”

this is afterall a fairy tale.  and the best modern fairy tales are wonderful little escapes into another world.  i loved the world that makes up stardust.  i loved robert de niro’s quirky fey turn as a pirate that’s light in his loafers.  i loved charlie cox’s everyman.  and i loved michelle…. oh how i loved michelle being all wicked and sexy and cool. 

it’s a perfectly lovely little gem of a movie.  and i can’t wait for it to come out on dvd on tuesday. 

another thing i’m not ashamed of liking?  well, that would be everyone’s favorite disaster.  britney spears.  more to the point, it’s not that i dig her, it’s that i dig her latest album ‘blackout’. 

now, i’ve already chimed in with a review of the album here, but i just gotta say, i still f’ing love it.  it’s pure trash.  but trash can be good.  the album is urgent and hot and sexy (thank god for producers right?).  lord knows the girl can’t make a video anymore (’piece of me’ is horrible), but the tunes are strong and fun and really fun to just sing along with.  oh, and the above image - such a better cover than the one that ended up on the thing… blech. 

then there is sarah brightman.  sarah brightman is my barbara streisand.  i’ve never been the typical gay guy in love with bab’s, but i love my diva sarah. 

yes, this is probably the hardest thing to admit.  hi, my name is kyle and i like sarah brightman.  and yes, she’s not the greatest singer in the world (but she certainly isn’t britney, see below).  and yes, she’s kinda like white bread in the classical/opera world - but there’s just something about her that clicks with me.

now, that said - i do wish she’d dump more of her pop oeuvre and go back and focus on her opera.  after all the woman does have a three-octave vocal range that extends to an e natural above soprano c.  no easy feat.  it’s also been said that she has both a pop voice and a classical voice.  take away all of the synths and spacey sound effects that have grounded her eden / la luna / harem disks and you are left with the quiet, lush moments that show a woman that can really truly sing.  take a way all the distractions. 

on a slight side-bar, i’m really wanting to explore more opera; anyone with any suggestions?  let me know.  i just bought cecilia bartoli’s latest disk ‘maria‘ - really beautiful stuff. 

so there you have it - three things i’m no longer going to be ashamed of.  after all for all the stardusts, britney and sarah stuff i love, there’s also the darjeeling limited’s, kate bush’s and cecilia bartoli’s so my good taste is pretty well established.

it’s just that i need my marshmallow fluff every now and then as well.

mmmm marshmallow fluff.

i got bubkus.  

zip.

zilch.

so you get this world premier (or least atomic pop! premier) viewing of the brand spankin’ new ‘indiana jones and the kingdom of the crystal skull’ one sheet:

oh, and then there is this - some dolt has it in his mind to remake ‘metropolis’.  why in the world would anyone remake perfection (oh, yea, the gus van zant version of ‘psycho’ was so f’ing good [sarcasm intended], and then there was the 90’s version of ’sabrina’ - both horrible shadow’s of their originals brilliance) is beyond me?  go here to read the gory details.  until then, bask in the glory of the originals one sheet.   oooh  ahhh:

uggg.  someone stop hollywood before it’s too late and they decide to remake ‘to kill a mockingbird’ with brad pitt and that annoying dakota fanning girl. 

my musical life couldn’t get any better today….

in about 3 hours i’ll be getting my grove on at me’shell ndegeo’cello’s live show at the fine line music cafe here in minneapolis.

she’s touring under her new album ‘the world has made me the man of my dreams’ which is a swirling mass of funk/soul/jazz/psychadelia/pop - i honestly have no idea what to expect (i’ve seen her twice before) - one thing is probably certain, she’s not a fan of playing most of her old stuff (you may have heard ‘if that was your boyfriend (he wasn’t last night)’) - one can still hope.  super excited for this gig.

ooh - just found this on her myspace - it’s for tonights show!!!  (god, i’m such a girl over this stuff):

 —————- 

in unrelated musical news - stunningly cool news from the movie world. new.fucking.kate.bush.music!!!!! (voenix, avert your eyes - i know how you feel about kate):

from bbc.com:

Kate Bush has recorded a new song for the soundtrack to the Golden Compass, based on Philip Pullman’s book.

Lyra was written and produced by Bush, featuring Oxford’s Magdalen College choir. It will be her first new material since 2005.

The song is named after lead character Lyra Belacqua, played in the movie by Dakota Blue Richards.

Starring Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig, the film and its soundtrack will be released next month.

Bush’s last new material appeared on the critically acclaimed album Aerial, her first album for 12 years.

Her song will feature over the film’s end credits.

how giddy am i?

with hat tip to v-hold…. brilliant:

last night i had the opportunity to see an advance screening of the new movie produced and narrated by leonardo dicaprio - ‘the 11th hour’.  the company i work for is partnering with warner bros. independent the film’s distributor.  hence scoring some free passes!

the film is a documentary about the environmental state of the world.  not just about global warming, it also touches on pollution, water issues, population etc.  normally this type of movie would be right up my tree-hugger nature but i can’t quite recommend it.  at least not whole-heartedly. 

there is no question that the movie has interviews with some of the most brilliant minds alive today and that it’s talking about something of vital importance.  but my challenge comes with the complete lack of hope i was left with at the end of the film. it was just so terribly overwhelming.  i’m knee-deep in the eco-world as it is and i read about many of these issues every day and i care deeply that we as a collective human tribe figure out how to get out of the mess we’ve made for ourselves (and soon!).  i wonder how the causal viewer who doesn’t know much about the issues would fare?  i walked out feeling dejected and without hope. 

i don’t think that’s what the filmmakers were going after.

i will say that i was very impressed with the roster of speakers, including one of my favorite’s - david suzuki, who had this to say in the film (an interesting perspective):

“i realized we’ve framed the environmental problem the wrong way. there’s no environment “out there” for us to interact with. we are the environment, because we are the earth. for me, that began a whole shift in the way that i looked at the issues that confront us and the way we live on this planet.”   - david suzuki

there are some great bits in the film and i do think people should see it.  click on the poster above to be taken to the film’s website, or here’s the trailer, and keep you eye out for it in your neck of the woods - check it out if it sounds interesting. 

mark.my.words.

shia lebouef is going to be a major star.

not only is he cute (square one for any future mega-star), but the boy can act. 

i first noticed him in charlie’s angel’s; full throttle, then began to follow him after i  saw him as the proverbial sidekick in the god/satan flick constantine.  and apparently he was quite great in last winter’s disturbia.

just yesterday i watched as he held his own (no easy job acting against cgi) in the michael bay summer spectacular “transformers”.  (honestly, second to the cgi, shia was the best thing about this movie; you just can’t take your eyes off the man when he’s on screen).

next up for our future hero?  playing harrison ford’s son in indiana jones 4 (currently shooting for a release next summer).  not bad eh?

mark.my.words.

i tend to like lazy weekends.  they are my preference.  and more often than not, my reality.

however, some cosmic aligning of the stars is happening even as you read and i’m busy as fuck.

friday night i had the most amazing dinner with my good friend stacey at the posh cafe lurcat.  the company that owns lurcat is one of the premier caterer’s in the twin cities and as such, i use them a lot.  very nicely, they gave me a gift card for a nice amount to thank me for our business.  can i just say that it’s a lovely experience to be able to go out for a great dinner (including tasty kobe beef, which ain’t cheap) and not even consider money even a little bit?  now, i’m not rich, but i’m certainly not poor and i do try to live within some sort of a budget - but damn, you gotta love not sweating the almighty $ to enjoy some drinks and a great meal.

yesterday i had more work done on the neverending tattoo (i can see the light at the end of the tunnell tho’ thank god)… this time we were working on the inner arm near the elbow.  the area, well let’s just say, feels a bit like raw meat today.  to the eight auspicious symbols, the blowing lotus and cherry blossom flowers and the tibetan prayer flags already etched in my arm, we added a vajra (a tool that symbolically destroys all kinds of ignorance, and itself is indestructible).  check it out:

then last night, i had dinner with scott and saw the fantastic 4; rise of the silver surfer.  according to the movie’s own press, they realized they fucked up the first one and wanted to fix this one and make a movie the fan’s would like.  well, in my opinion, they failed again.  it was just poorly made, thudding dialogue, bad acting.  the special effects were great of course, and chris evan’s, well he’s just hot and so much fun to watch - but the movie on a whole sucked.  don’t waste your time or money.

the best part of the movie?  the brand-spankin’ new harry potter and the order of the pheonix trailer.  i love the books so much and phoenix is definatly one of my favorites.  july is going to be a great month; first the movie and then the final book.  i’m so excited to see how they translate that book to screen - if the trailer is any hint, they did a great job…

today, i’m off to the stone arch festival of the art’s where smartcar is showing (and more importantly allowing test drives) - i’m anxious to finally try one of these cars.  i love going to europe and seeing all the smartcar’s.  they’re stylish and most importantly, super eco-friendly.

then off to mom’s to help her for a bit.

then i have a meeting regarding ceremonies for the red ribbon ride.

then tonight, cb arrives for his job interview - dinner & drinks with him.

whew, i’m tired just typing it all out. 

just home from a pretty incredible night.

my colleague vicky just produced a charity screening of raiders of the lost ark; the adaptation. 

what you may ask is raiders of the lost ark; the adaptation?  i’m glad you asked (no, really).  the film is a shot-by-shot remake of the 1981 original.

here’s the kicker - it took 7 years to shoot and was made by 3 friends who happened to be 12 when they started the remake in 1982 (completed in 1989).

this isn’t just some simple fan film, it’s an amazing tribute to ingenuity, guile and down right balls. 

friends eric zala (director and ‘belloq’), chris strompolos (indy - who i don’t mind telling you i found myself thinking; darn, that boy is cute - then i slapped myself for lusting after a 16 year old) and jayson lamb (”director” of photography and special effects) as well as angela rodriquez (marion) and a cast flushed out by their neighborhood chums - produced an amazing film that was full of surprise after surprise.  of course, the surprises were more about “how the fuck are they going to do x” (fill in the blank with any of the following: rolling ball of death, submarine scene, snake pit and the mother of all sfx; the opening of the ark/melting face scene).  what fun it was to watch them attempt; and more importantly succeed in each and every shot!

of course, raiders is a beloved film and it’s copy-write is hugely important so the filmmakers are careful to only show it for charitable causes.  tonight’s viewing and q&a with the filmmakers was for a local charity that helps kids get into arts - and was a huge success; more than $4000 was raised.

the filmmakers did say that speilberg called and invited them to his office for a meeting… at the end of the meeting, steve apparently said “boys, you actually entertained and inspired me” - how flipping cool is that?

for more about the film go here

for a shot by shot comparison (very cool!) go here

all in all, it was an excellent diversion to an otherwise hard day.

(click the pic to go to the imdb.com page)

“shut your raggedy-ass up, and sit the fuck down!” - jackie brown

jackie brown, quentin tarantino’s flawed, yet brilliant follow up to pulp fiction is indeed the shit.  in fact, i find it a far better film to pulp fiction’s overly melodramatic multi-storied action.  word’s can’t really sum up how much i love this movie… i love it so much that i just sat through the edited for tv version (tarantino edited for tv?  that’s just wrong on so many levels) and i still dug it.

from the sublime pam grier in the title role, to the cameo’s that make this this movie (including micheal keaton’s atf agent, robert deniro’s doped out ex con & bridget fonda’s surfer girl).  can’t forget this is based on a elmore leonard book; one of these days i’m gonna read his shit - if it’s half as good on the page as it is on screen, it’ll be a great read.

if you’ve not seen this (or believed the hype that it wasn’t as good as pulp fiction), i urge you to take a second look - and if you have seen it, it’s time to revisit it baby. 

“This is the movie that proves Tarantino is the real thing, and not just a two-film wonder boy. It’s not a retread of “Reservoir Dogs” or “Pulp Fiction,” but a new film in a new style, and it evokes the particular magic of Elmore Leonard–who elevates the crime novel to a form of sociological comedy. There is a scene here that involves the ex-con Louis (Robert De Niro) and Ordell’s druggie mistress (Bridget Fonda) discussing a photograph pinned to the wall, and it’s so perfectly written, timed and played that I applauded it.” - roger ebert
—

it’s been a weird saturday for me… james and i had an odd conversation last night that just makes me wonder a bit where he’s at.  everything’s fine and we had a great talk today, but all-in-all, it’s a hard place for me to be in when i don’t know what’s what. 

it’s going to prove to be a brilliant buddhist experiment for me to just let go and let this unfold naturally, organically and to let it just “be”. 

i’m supposed to go to a party tonight, but i’m just not feeling it.  instead, i’m going to do a bit of physical spring cleaning and start to detoxify my surroundings.  it’s amazing how much crap one can accumulate.  it’s time to get rid of the shit i don’t use on a consistent basis.

after all, you can’t really find peace when your surroundings are packed to the gill and, metaphorically speaking, threatening to rain down and trip you up right?

picked up pan’s labryinth the other day - if i get my apartment into some semblance of order tonight, i may kick back and get lost in del toro’s masterpiece.  and i still have the prestige to watch… mmm double feature on the couch?  would be better if james was here, but still ain’t half bad.