I was in the theater with my parents and my sister watching The Goonies.
Jeez, 25 years. The movie's aged better than I have. It's never stopped being one of the classics of my childhood.
Monday, June 07, 2010
I Actually Know Where I Was 25 Years Ago Today
Sunday, June 06, 2010
Song of the Week: "The Brazilian"
I love this song, I love this album, I love Genesis. We played this album forever, and this was always my favorite part of it. I was 10 when this came out, so this really could have been my introduction to something more progressive, something different in structure than the pop music or classic rock I had been growing up with.
Vincent and the Doctor
This definitely takes the prize as my favorite episode from this season of Doctor Who. I think that's in no small part because the script is by Richard Curtis, and Richard Curtis tends to be wonderful. Without giving too much away, there's a sweetness and sentimentality to this episode, especially its last 10 minutes, that seemed very Curtis to me but like something they've not yet done on Doctor Who, and it really swept me along with it.
I won't get into any spoilers from the last few episodes, but I wanted to say again how pleased I am with this season, with Matt Smith, with Karen Gillan, and with Steve Moffatt. I think Moff has done a great job extricating the show from Russell T. Davies' angst and from the overhead, as it were, of so many supporting characters and dangling plot threads. And I've noticed the female characters are generally better-treated than they were under Davies. Just an observation there, but it seems palpable to me.
Only three episodes left, darn it all.
EW's 100 Greatest Characters of the Last 20 Years
Jaquandor did commentary on this list, and I am nothing if not a follower in matters of pop culture.
Jaq mentions a few times that he didn't look up Entertainment Weekly's criteria, but I went and took a look at it, because some of these choices were totally mystifying to me. I think EW wanted to make a list of 100 Pop Culture Touchstones of the Last 20 Years and didn't know how to word it. They've got a lot of characters on this list who are much older than 20 years, for example, but whose recent interpretations (such as Heath Ledger's Joker) seem to redefine the characters as we know them now. So, I get that, but I would still reject that reasoning for a list of 100 Greatest Characters.
I also reject some of the choices on this list--such as Jane Lynch's character from Glee--due to the fact that EW states as part of their criteria that the character has to have had a lasting impact on pop culture as we know it. And sure, Glee is inexplicably popular right now, but it's been on for, what, a year, year and a half? That long, even? That seems more like a fad choice, which is pretty much what EW is usually about.
So, anyway, my own meager commentary.
1. Homer Simpson. The Tracey Ullman Show started in the 80s, so he's ineligible. Great character, deserves to be number one, but ineligible.
2. Harry Potter. Absolutely. I was just talking about this on Tumblr yesterday; that Harry Potter is a great character, and that those books will be popular for decades to come because they're about characters first and foremost.
3. Buffy Summers. Meh. I hate Buffy. Everything she did Xena did first, anyway. After Joss Whedon was called groundbreaking for doing a musical episode a year after Xena had done it, a friend of mine joked that one of the ways to get more viewers for Xena should've been to advertise it as "See everything Buffy's going to do next season here first!"
4. Tony Soprano. Don't care. Tried to watch it, but it seemed like a lot of retread to me.
5. The Joker (The Dark Knight). Great performance. Excellent performance. Of a character that first appeared in 1940, I believe. So I would say that's ineligible, no matter how great Heath Ledger's performance was.
6. Rachel Green (Friends). I fucking hate Friends. And if you were going to single out one character, why this one? She's a terrible character!
7. Edward Scissorhands. That's... awfully high. Is there still so much residual love for this performance? I mean, don't get me wrong, it's a great movie, but this seem high to say this is one of the greatest characters of the last two decades. EW just can't get Tim Burton's or Johnny Depp's dicks out of their collective mouth.
8. Hannibal Lecter. Technically, the books pre-date 1990. And I still feel Hopkins is hammy and overwrought as Lecter. Brian Cox did it better 24 years ago.
9. Carrie Bradshaw (Sex and the City). Not for me personally. Besides, I hate characters who are constantly bending over backwards to find new ways to be unfulfilled. Get a life, Carrie.
10. Spongebob Squarepants. Irritating.
11. Cosmo Kramer. I really don't like Seinfeld. But if you're going to choose a character from that show for this list, it should really be George Costanza and not Kramer.
12. Fox Mulder & Dana Scully (The X-Files). Meh. Not an X-Files fan.
13. Jack Sparrow (Pirates of the Caribbean). Captain Jack Sparrow. And though I might quibble over the placement, there's an example of a great character of the last 20 years. As much as I despise these movies, I agree with this choice.
14. Jeff “The Dude” Lebowski (The Big Lebowski). Yes, absolutely.
15. Shrek. Christ, no. First, there's the eligibility issue--I don't know what year William Steig's original book was published--but more importantly, it's just little more than Mike Myers' tired Scottish accent spouting off the same bad routines he always goes to and inane, quickly-dated pop culture references. They captured lightning in a bottle with the first, somewhat sincere, very satirical Shrek. They should've stopped there.
16. Bridget Jones. My question: does this count? Or is she simply a new incarnation of Elizabeth Bennett, since Bridget Jones' Diary is an updating of Pride and Prejudice?
17. Lara Croft. No. A virtual game piece is not a character.
18. Sue Sylvester (Glee). Again, this is far too recent a character to have had some lasting impact on pop culture. Also, what does Jane Lynch do on this show that she doesn't do in everything else she's in? I know lots of people think she's hilarious, but when I see she's in something I know exactly what I'm getting.
19. Morpheus (The Matrix). Meh. Overrated.
20. Ally McBeal. Inane.
21. Rosanne Conner (Roseanne). Doesn't count; this show started in 1988. Plus, Roseanne is exceptionally irritating. If any character deserves to be here from this show--and I'm not sure they do--it's Dan Conner. And really, Dan's biggest failure is not walking home one day with a loaded pistol...
22. Eric Cartman (South Park). Definitely.
23. Austin Powers. Maybe if they'd stopped at one movie. I get so endlessly tired of Mike Myers' repetition of the same tics and gags over and over. (This time, with a BRITISH accent!)
24. Felicity Porter. Get JJ Abrams' dick out of your mouth, EW.
25. Woody (Toy Story). Yes, absolutely.
26. Kavalier & Clay (from Michael Chabon's novel). I still haven't read this book. I need to remedy that.
27. Frasier Crane. Umm... I guess you could argue that his spin-off really strengthened the character into something different, but he first started appearing on Cheers in, what, 1984?
28. Madea. Not for me, no.
29. Vincent Vega & Jules Winnfield (Pulp Fiction). Tarantino's written better characters, but they did make an impact on pop culture.
30. Stephen Colbert (in the persona he portrays on his show). Not my thing, but it is nice to see EW acknowledge that The Colbert Report is not a news show.
31. Forrest Gump. A book from the 80s. Also... I don't know, he's just a right wing mouthpiece with his rhetoric softened to make it more palatable. And even cute.
32. Beavis and Butt-Head. Sucks. Where's Daria? Daria's a way better character.
33. Sarah Connor (Terminator 2). First appeared in 1984. Doesn't count.
34. Cher (Clueless). Again, this is an update of Jane Austen's Emma, so... does that count? Great character, great performance, but does it count?
35. Dexter Morgan (Dexter). I've never had the urge to watch it, so I don't know.
36. Gollum (Lord of the Rings). From a novel from 1954-1956.
37. Kyser Söze (The Usual Suspects). He's just a plot device, not a character. And I agree with Jaquandor, it's a crap movie, anyway.
38. Elmo (Sesame Street). Elmo's been around too long. To anyone who worked retail in the 90s, he's been around too long. The only reason I don't despise Elmo anymore is because I despise Baby Bear and Abby Cadabby more.
39. GOB Bluth (Arrested Development). GOB is funny and distinctive, but Michael's a better character.
40. Ron Burgundy (Anchorman). Yes, I would agree with this for the same reasons I agree with Captain Jack Sparrow.
41. Harold and Kumar. Funny, but I wouldn't put them on this list.
42. Sydney Bristow (Alias). Abrams again. I've never seen this show, so I have no idea.
43. Cal Stephanides (the novel Middlesex). Another book I need to read. I thought The Virgin Suicides was an excellent novel, but I've yet to read Middlesex.
44. Jack Bauer – 24. I've never watched this show. I can stream it from Netflix and was thinking of checking it out.
45. Stewie Griffin (Family Guy). You mean Brain, from Pinky and the Brain? No, absolutely not; just a rip-off of far too many other cartoon characters (like everything Seth MacFarlane does).
46. Jerry Maguire. Maybe. Seems like a stretch to me, but maybe.
47. Corky St. Clair (Waiting for Guffman). I'm not generally a fan of Christopher Guest's parade of This Is Spinal Tap remakes.
48. Red (The Shawshank Redemption). From a 1982 story. Great performance, though I get sick of seeing Morgan Freeman repeat it over and over again.
49. Vivian Ward (Pretty Woman). Who cares? Julia Roberts has never played a great character.
50. Pearl the Landlord. Funny video, but it's just the one gag of a swearing toddler.
51. Omar Little (The Wire). Never seen The Wire.
52. Annie Wilkes (Misery). Ineligible; the novel is from 1987.
53. Edward Cullen. Edward Cullen is a terrible character. Just awful.
54. Juno (Juno). No.
55. Tracy Jordan (30 Rock). No. More a collection of tics than a character. Liz and Jack are better characters.
56. Barney Stinson (How I Met Your Mother). Yeah, okay.
57. Clayton Bigsby. Huh?
58. Thelma & Louise. No.
59. Master Chief (Halo). Again, it's a virtual game piece. You might as well say the shoe from Monopoly is a great character.
60. Mary Jones (Precious). Too recent; a great performance, sure, but too recent to call.
61. Vic Mackey (The Shield). Never saw it; I've never seen a show on FX that I've really liked.
62. Jimmy Corrigan (Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth). I agree, although it's hard not to read this as EW's token comics character from a comic that hasn't been made into a movie yet. I mean, Spider Jerusalem is a great character, but you're not going to see him on here, are you?
63. John Locke (Lost). I would've put him higher.
64. Maximus (Gladiator). No.
65. Lorelai & Rory Gilmore (Gilmore Girls). If the show had only had four seasons, than I'd agree.
66. Allie & Noah (The Notebook). I haven't seen or read The Notebook.
67. Borat. I'd say yes, although Borat seems like a comedy device more than an actual character. Is a shtick persona a character?
68. Effie White (Dreamgirls). Jennifer Hudson was excellent in the movie. However, it's based on a musical from 1982, so it doesn't count.
69. Miranda Priestly (The Devil Wears Prada). Yes.
70. Mary Katherine Gallagher (SNL). Fucking no.
71. Det. Alonzo Harris (Training Day). Terrible; it's not even worth an Oscar, let alone a place on this list.
72. Kara “Starbuck” Thrace (Battlestar Galactica). I've never seen the remake, but I have seen the original, so I would say that since Starbuck is a character from 1978, she's ineligible.
73. Catherine Tramell (Basic Instinct). No.
74. Don Draper (Mad Men). What I've seen of the show has bored me greatly.
75. David Brent (The Office - original from the UK). Definitely.
76. Tyler Durden (Fight Club). Terrible movie, excellent novel. If we're talking novel, then I'd say absolutely.
77. Mimi Marquez (Rent). Rent blows. And it's just La Boheme.
78. Patty Hewes (Damages). Again, the FX thing. I tend to avoid shows on FX.
79. Elphaba (Wicked). But she's a reinterpretation of a character from a book published in 1901. Plus, I fucking hate Wicked.
80. Gorillaz, the world’s greatest virtual band. They're more of a gimmick than characters.
81. Amanda Woodward (Melrose Place). Please.
82. Tracy Flick (Election). Good performance, but this seems like a stretch.
83. Jen Yu (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon). Doesn't count; fantastic, but based on a novel from 1938-1942.
84. House (House). I've never seen what's so special about House.
85. Daniel Plainview (There Will Be Blood). Excellent performance, though I'm not sure how closely (if at all) the film hews to the 1927 novel it's loosely based on.
86. Karen Walker & Jack McFarland (Will & Grace). Will & Grace is the worst show in the history of television, and these two shrill assholes a big part of the reason why.
87. Tony Stark (Iron Man). Iron Man first appeared in 1963; I don't care how popular the movie was, it doesn't count. Plus, it's been two years, where's the long-lasting impact on pop culture as we know it? I mean, Spider-Man had arguably more of an impact, but he's ineligible for the same reason.
88. Napoleon Dynamite. No. A collection of annoying tics, but not a character.
89. Wilkus van de Merwe (District 9). I don't know... maybe.
90. Marge Gunderson (Fargo). Yes.
91. Hancock (Hancock). Have I mentioned yet that Entertainment Weekly is owned by Time Warner, a division of Warner Bros? Just felt like mentioning it somehow. And I think you'd be hard-pressed to find anyone who feels like Hancock made a big impact on pop culture, which EW listed as their main criterion.
92. Christopher Boone (The Curious Incident of the Dog in Night-Time). Haven't read it, but I am getting sick of hearing about it.
93. “Game Boys”: Nathan Drake – Uncharted, Kratos – God of War, Niko Bellic – Grand Theft Auto IV. Also, the queen's knight in chess. Please.
94. Truman (The Truman Show). Excellent movie, but no.
95. Wilhelmina Slater (Ugly Betty). Okay, yes.
96. Bernie Mac (The Bernie Mac Show). No.
97. Violet Weston (August: Osage County). I don't know what this means.
98. Lisbeth Salander (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo). This seems like another fad choice to me.
99. The Bride (Kill Bill). Yes, I would agree here. One of Tarantino's best characters, especially as the second movie fills out the revenge drama of the first.
100. Tim Riggins (Friday Night Lights). I have no interest in it.
And there you are.
Saturday, June 05, 2010
Meme Minus Ten
Via.
1. It's 2AM and you are not home. You are more than likely: Dead somewhere. I'm not a night owl.
2. What's the last thing you spent more than $100 on? The power bill.
3. What do your bank checks look like? They're just regular bank checks.
4. Where did the shirt you are currently wearing come from? Wal-Mart. It's just a gray Hanes shirt.
5. Name something that will be on your Christmas wish list: Financial stability.
6. What color is your toothbrush? White with a red stripe.
7. Name something you collect and tell us about it. Pieces of my childhood, I think.
8. Last restaurant you ate at. Who were you with? How was it? Last time was IHOP. Not really, like, a restaurant-restaurant, but it was a nice meal. I tried those stackers pancakes with the cheesecake filling in the middle. Good stuff; like a miniature dessert for breakfast. (They're smaller than they look, so it's not so much that it makes you sick.) Me and Becca went while she was just on vacation; she had a coupon for a free entree. It was a nice treat.
9. Who was the last person you bought a birthday card for? I have no idea. I don't buy them. I try to make them, but I don't always remember.
10. What is your worst bad habit? Other than forgetting about birthday cards? Laziness.
11. Name a magazine you subscribe to? Playboy.
12. Your favorite pizza toppings? I used to look only cheese, but now I like a lot of different things on pizza. My favorite is pepperoni with jalapenos and green peppers or black olives or onions.
13. Whose number were you looking up the last time you used a phone book? A data recovery specialist.
14. Other than family, who is the person that you love most? My wife.
15. What is the last thing you cooked? Me personally... I don't remember.
16. Name something you wouldn't want to buy used? Underwear.
17. Which shoe do you put on first? The left, for some reason.
18. What is the last thing you remember losing? Well, if I remembered losing it, wouldn't I still have it? (I know, I know, not necessarily, I don't care.)
19. What is the ugliest piece of furniture in your house? It's all pretty ragged.
20. Last thing you bought and ended up returning? Some meat.
21. What perfume/cologne do you wear? If none, why? I don't generally wear cologne. I do wear aftershave when I shave; I wear Skin Bracer, which isn't fancy but has a sort of sweet, almost baby powder-like smell. I know I wear it because that's what my Dad used to use when I was a kid (I don't know if he still does or not). The smell reminds me of simpler times.
22. Your favorite board game? Trivial Pursuit.
23. What was the last board game you played? Um... Risk, maybe.
24. Where did your vehicle come from? A strange world on the outer rim of the Crab Nebula... a factory, where do you think?
25. If a movie was made about your life what would the theme song be? "Dare to Be Stupid" by "Weird Al" Yankovic.
26. You're sad, who can cheer you up easily? The Muppets!
27. What was the color of the bridesmaid dresses of the last wedding you went to? I have no idea; the last wedding I went to (other than mine, which had no bridesmaids) was in 1995 or something.
28. What house cleaning chore do you hate to do the most? Doing the dishes.
29. What is your favorite way to eat chicken? Fried.
30. It is your birthday. You hope the cake is? Yellow with chocolate frosting. Or a pie! I love pie...
Friday, June 04, 2010
"I Want My Life Back"
BP CEO Tony Hayward said "I want my life back."
Gee, I really feel for you, Tony.
You know who else probably wants their lives back? Well, let's take a look.
:: The brown pelicans who dive into the oil because it makes the water look calmer.
:: Four species of endangered sea turtle that live in the Gulf of Mexico. (And yes, as much as BP is desperately trying to downplay their environmental damage, the turtles are already washing up on the shore.)
:: Dolphins who have been following the boats in the response crews straight into the oil slick.
:: Bluefin tuna, a staple of the American fish diet and American fishing industry--the Gulf of Mexico is home to one of only two bluefin tuna nurseries in the world.
:: Sharks, whales, oysters, passing birds... you name it. Jesus, look at this:
You want YOUR life back?
You know who else wants their lives back? Entire coastal communities whose economies are going to be devastated this year by your greed. Fishing communities, people whose entire lives depend on Gulf fishing, are going to lose their homes because of this. They've lost their livelihoods, and who knows what's going to happen to these people.
BP has destroyed the Gulf of Mexico, the creatures that live in it, economies that live off of it, and people who depend on it.
My suggestion? Sign this petition to tell the government that this is all BP's financial responsibility, and not ours.
I don't know about you, but I don't want my tax money going to bailout British Petrol. It's their mess, they need to pay for their greed.
Thursday, June 03, 2010
An American Was Killed in Israel's Flotilla Assault
Usually, when a ship is attacked in international waters, they call it piracy or terrorism. When the Israelis do it, it's just security.
It is apparently also the policy of the US that's acceptable for the Israeli government to kill American citizens in international waters with no judicial process as long as it's in the name of pretending every Muslim is a terrorist.
To his credit, President Obama has suggested an international investigation into the flotilla massacre. Biden thinks Israel should conduct the investigation, so that says it all.
The US will continue to condone everything Israel does, which is basically doing everything they can to make sure every Palestinian will die within a generation. Usually they call that genocide, but Israel has a free pass to do whatever they want in the Middle East, so any killing they do will be supported by US money and US weaponry.
It makes me sick.
Until people on both sides are willing to sit down and be fucking rational about what's going on there, it makes me sick.
Wednesday, June 02, 2010
Film Week
A review of the films I've seen this past week.
HALLOWEEN II (2009)
I tend to like Rob Zombie very much as a filmmaker. I thought his first Halloween was excellent. This sequel isn't really necessary, though, and has no clear idea what it's about. Scout Taylor-Compton is very good as Laurie Strode--the kind of actress I love in horror flicks, who seems game for anything--but she's in the service of a plot too convoluted for its own good. It doesn't really add much to the plot of the first movie, and instead feels like a very slow epilogue. The thing is, this really tries to get into the psyche of Michael Meyers and doesn't find much there. The first movie was accused of doing the same, but I never thought it did--it simply showed you that Michael started out as a child, like we all do, and went wrong along the way for reasons that were never clear. If anything, the point of the Dr. Loomis character was to show how there were no easy, pop-psych answers to explain Michael, something expounded on at length (but not very compellingly) in the sequel. A lot of the film focuses quite a bit on Laurie, but it seems like Zombie doesn't know what to say about her, either, and the characters just fall apart. *1/2 stars.
COP OUT (2010)
I know it's a race for some people, but this is the worst movie Kevin Smith's ever been associated with. He didn't write the script, and that's the problem: without his being there from inception on, he doesn't feel very attached to his story, and it becomes clearer than ever that as a director he doesn't have much going for him. The scripts, the dialogue, the characters were always the strong points of Smith's movies: he just needed to point the camera in the right direction and not get too flashy. Here, the script is all flash and no substance, and the flat direction makes it seem even more dull than it already is. The plot--about a couple of suspended loser cops--is pointless and not worth following, and with the exception of Seann William Scott (to my surprise), all of the actors are bad. Smith clearly wants this to be his Beverly Hills Cop, right down to Harold Faltermeyer doing the score, but he seems to have forgotten that while Axel Foley was a smartass and unconventional and did things his own way and all of those other cliches we've become far too used to in movies, he was also a really good cop. These guys are just idiots, and they're not entertaining enough to make this watchable. No stars.
A CHRISTMAS CAROL (2009)
I'm still not sold on motion capture. Zemeckis partially succeeds here--they way he did in Beowulf--by choosing a compelling story and getting a good script out of it. The thing is, motion capture is so unnecessary, and adds little to the story. It's not animation, and it's not live action. It's a grotesquerie, however. Aside from Ebeneezer Scrooge--whose appearance is stylized--every character looks like a terrible mockery of a human being with a too-large head that sort of floats on its own laws of physics (they still can't get weight right, I see). It takes you right out of the story and puts the focus where it shouldn't be: on the painful limitations of what are basically elaborate special effects. What works here for me is the general atmosphere. This is a version of A Christmas Carol that remembers that Dickens' story is a ghost story. But it also gets in a lot of bits that are too often cut out of other versions--such as the appearance of Ignorance and Want--that I think are essential to Scrooge's change. This is one of my favorite stories ever, and I reject Harlan Ellison's claim that the novel is about how society gangs up on Scrooge and bullies him into celebrating Christmas; I think it's about forgiveness and community, and how withdrawal can make us hard and intolerant. So there were parts of this movie I loved. Then there were other things that made it too hard to focus on the story, or the purely unnecessary action sequences--including a chase that adds nothing to the appearance of the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come--that are trying too hard. As for the acting... well, is it acting? Except for some over-the-top moments--it is hard to reign him in--Jim Carrey does some of the best acting I've ever seen him do. Or does he? How much of the performance is his, and how much of it is special effects manipulation? See, this is another reason I despise motion capture. The whole thing is a mess that could've been so much more if they had just done it in live action or in real animation. **1/2 stars.
I LOVE YOU, PHILLIP MORRIS (2009)
The true story of Steven Russell (Jim Carrey) who goes to great lengths--fraud, embezzlement, impersonating a lawyer, forgery--to hold on to the wide-eyed boy he loves, Phillip Morris (Ewan McGregor). The problem is, he's really, really bad at it and he always gets caught. On one level, it's a sweet romance, and on another, it's an exploration of identity--Steven works so hard at his illegal activities and criminal impersonations in order to make Phillip stay with him, but in doing so he loses himself and turns into someone no one could really love because there's no longer a personality there. It's also a very funny movie. Why it hasn't been released is beyond... well, no, that's not true: it's because the powers that be and too much of society is scared shitless by the idea that two people who love each other who are also the same gender. We're being told once again that same-gender love is illicit and not a part of America's "normal" life. Seriously, if you think the sight of two men kissing is unacceptable, you need to get over yourself. It's too bad America's hang-ups have made a martyr of what is, honestly, just a very funny, very good movie. ***1/2 stars.
THE BACKUP PLAN (2010)
Unwatchable, even for a Jennifer Lopez movie. No stars.
ACCUSED AT 17 (2009)
Nicole Anderson stars as a high school student framed for murder by her friends. I like Nicole Anderson. Of course, this being a Lifetime movie, it's really about her mother and how her mother deals with her daughter's tragedy, but it was fun in the way Lifetime movies are incredibly stupid fun. ** stars.
THE STORY OF ADELE H (1975)
Gorgeous-looking Francois Truffaut movie about Victor Hugo's daughter. Isabelle Adjani plays Adele, who follows the British soldier she is obsessed with across the Atlantic to Halifax. Adjani is excellent as a woman tortured by nightmares and lies, and an obsession that is tearing her apart. Truffaut wisely doesn't try to make Adele sympathetic, but instead lets the audience see someone noble who frustrates us with her self-destructive behavior. She's not caught in a grand romance so much as she is single-minded and being driven mad by it. It's a compelling character study. **** stars.
THE SQUAW MAN (1914)
Cecil B. DeMille directed this melodrama about a British man who takes the rap for his partner's crimes, then heads to Wyoming where he marries an Indian woman. The trivia here is that it's DeMille's first film and one of the first made in Hollywood. The trivia is more interesting than the film, which is histrionic and as painfully earnest and predictable as a cheap romance novel. An interesting example of an early Western, but not much more. ** stars.
RAMONA (1910)
Mary Pickford stars in another predictable movie--one less than 20 minutes long--as a white woman who falls in love with an Indian. Everyone's LAMENTING TO THE HEAVENS!!! here. * star.
THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS (1920)
This movie looks great; you can tell a lot of attention was paid to the setting, as there are gorgeous wildernesses in the background. The story is compelling, and Wallace Beery is intense as the villain Magua, especially compared to some of the hammier actors. Great to look at and absorb. **** stars.
I Don't Defend Massacres
Every time I say something critical about Israel, I have to deal with the "but, but, the democracy" or the "but, but, the bible" comments from people, and I don't feel like having an argument right now. So I'm going to recommend that you go and read what Dr. Monkey has to say about the flotilla massacre. It's everything I would've said about the situation and more.
Tuesday, June 01, 2010
Hell's Kitchen
God, I love this show. I have just a couple of very brief observations.
:: It's getting more and more obvious that the producers are overloading this thing with passionate amateurs who have no hope of winning, just to make the thing more dramatic.
:: The gender-based teams are getting boring; every cycle of this show since the second one breaks the teams up into men and women. The first dinner service went terribly, with something like half of the contestants sent upstairs to chill out and get out of the way. What would've been pretty interesting this time around would be to break the teams up that way: the ones who did poorly on one team, the ones who stayed and finished service on another team. Just to mix it up.
:: Worst fake Italian accent since Peter Griffin grew a mustache. Boppitty-boopitty?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
