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bright lights and promises
the title is from a sad song by janice ian, one of four in this playlist... best enjoyed when feeling depressed and/or lonely... or if you just want to mellow.
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Happy Halloween!
Have a happy and fun night everyone! Let's see how many kids I can make run off without getting candy tonight. Horrorthon!
Evil (To kako)
(2005)
An evil force produces zombies in Athens. A bunch of people have to kill the zombies in order to survive. Same story, different language. Lot's of tantalizing gore!
The evil force works quick, people feel funny, start to cough then wham! They're eating your flesh. These are fast zombies so the fights are quick, plentiful and brutal, lots of good deaths. I really liked the characters as well, no one is particularly irritating and they all hold their own in a fight. As zombie films go, had I written this review earlier I would have recommended this to AC & Mr.AC to add to their list. The Greek sure know how to put a zombie together.
Besides, who can resist a good eye gouge.Double Suicide
(1969)
Set in 18th Century in Japan, Jihei falls in love with courtesan Koharu. He becomes broken-hearted when he realizes he does not have the money to buy her from her current master. Jihei's loving wife Osan offers to sell everything she and his two children have to keep Jihei happy. He knows he is unworthy of Osan's love but cannot resist taking from her to obtain his beloved Koharu with whom he has made a pact of double suicide so they might stay together after death.
This is a classic tale that has been done several times in film and most often as a play. I love the story and have seen it before in play form but never on film. I was told that this was the best version to watch and well, I didn't like it. The entire story is riddled with emotion and heartache which when played well can draw you deep into the story. Unfortunately, the acting here is way overblown to the point of irritation. During one long scene where Jihei fesses up to Osan and she offers to give everything for him the emotion should be so tense and thick that it makes you uncomfortable. Oh it made me uncomfortable alright, it gave me a huge headache! The characters just kept uncontrollably crying. Loud, whiny, wailing cries that just went on and on until poor Tony, who was not watching with me, yelled from the other room, “Would someone kill those people and shut them up already!” Tell you what, I echoed his sentiment. I really wanted to like this. Maybe next year I'll try a different version.
The Jacket
(2005) **
Let’s get one thing absolutely straight from the outset: I watched this movie for one reason and one reason only (and the more alert amongst Horrorthon readers have probably already figured out what that reason is). In one of his commentary tracks, writer-director Nicholas Meyer (who had nothing to do with this movie) voiced what’s probably the best definition of movie stardom (as distinguished from mere movie acting) I’ve ever heard: “An actor pretends that they’re somebody else,” Meyer said, “while a movie star pretends that somebody else is them.” Along precisely these lines, The Jacket, a mediocre horror/fantasy thriller, answers the burning question, “What if a strung-out, hard-drinking, chain-smoking Vermont diner waitress was Keira Knightley?” It’s a question I found very intriguing (after four or five period-piece Knightley costume dramas in a row); the answer isn’t nearly as satisfying as I had hoped, beyond the visual/auditory freak-out of the crazy stunt-casting. (There’s another hidden-in-plain-sight super-famous British star in this movie, whose performance is vastly more interesting than Knightley’s; more below).
The Jacket is one of those movies during which you keep asking yourself why it got made, since the story barely makes sense and the scenes keep failing, one after the other, each leaving you less interested in continuing to watch than the one before. In nearly all cases, movies like this have one single, very clever idea, and it’s easy to imagine that idea surviving into each one-page summary and cell-phone agent discussion and studio meeting, making just enough of an impression on all concerned that nobody stops the project from moving forward (or forces the script to get substantially re-written, which is definitely what should have happened in this case). When one of these scripts -- an ineptly-constructed narrative with a single worthwhile concept nestled inside it -- gets the kind of high-profile, big budget production that was lavished on The Jacket, the burden invariably falls on the cast to try to salvage the weak story, and you can spend the whole movie watching the painful spectacle of talented, famous actors working as hard as they possibly can, trying in vain to jump-start one dead battery after another. In this case, English rose Knightley joins Adrien Brody (the youngest Best Actor winner in Oscar history) and established, beloved pros like Kris Kristofferson, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Kelly Lynch and Brad Renfro in trying as hard as humanly possible to keep this lead balloon of a story afloat.
Brody plays Jack Starks, a Gulf War veteran who suffered a traumatic gunshot wound during a combat exercise and was discharged from duty after recuperating from his near-death experience. (Why do protagonists of lame movies like this always have names like “Jack Starks”?) Apparently, Starks’ primary goal upon resuming civilian life is to wander freezing New England roads in the depths of winter, lugging his belongings in a single rucksack – I know that’s what I would do. There’s no relief from the bad weather: the entire movie takes place in such a relentlessly cold, snow-blown, overcast, bleak climate that I was compelled to put a sweater on, while watching; I don’t think I’ve seen so many reddened faces, frosted windshields and clouds of fogging breath in one movie since A Simple Plan. While hitchhiking through the freezing Vermont woods in December 1993, Starks helps a falling-down-drunk single mother and her young daughter, whose truck has stalled; he inexplicably gives his Army dog-tags to the little girl before accepting a ride from a friendly stranger who gets pulled over by a highway patrolman, trapping Starks in a Fargo-style escalating violent confrontation (depicted over the course of the movie in the requisite BLAM! BLAM! staccato flashback style) that results in his being tried for murder, found not guilty by reason of insanity (Gavel pounding! Cell doors slamming! BLAM! BLAM!) and institutionalized within a mental hospital situated in the coldest, bleakest winter landscape imaginable. (These sequences were actually shot in Scotland, which explains their icy, nearly arctic atmosphere.)
Starks is subjected to an unconventional, borderline-criminal treatment by eccentric shrink Thomas Becker (Kristofferson) involving extended periods of sensory deprivation within a morgue drawer, strapped into the titular straightjacket while heavily drugged -- and, during these sessions, experiences the extended hallucinations that form the bulk of the story (and represent the aforementioned “clever idea” that got this movie made). In his dreams (or are they?) (yawn) Starks is transported forward to 2007, where he immediately discovers the little girl with his dog tags, who has grown up to be Knightley. With her help, Starks must essentially triangulate a (dull) murder mystery from two temporal vantage points, while solving several life crises for surrounding characters along the way. The time-displacement concept is initially intriguing, but it never leads anywhere worthwhile, and the inevitable revelations are more tiring than satisfying. Throughout the movie, the actors work their hardest to imbue this undercooked, badly-thought-out material with pathos and dramatic weight, and one sympathizes for their efforts, but it’s to no avail. (Adrien Brody’s unique ability to convey morose suffering is exploited shamelessly.) Additionally, the movie fails what I call the “belief test:” at some point in every fantasy/horror/sci-fi story, the characters have to confront the uncanny; they never believe what’s in front of them (which is reasonable; neither would we) and nearly all fantasy stories can succeed or fail solely on the strength or weakness of these revelatory “I now believe the impossible” catharses. The Jacket does particularly badly in this regard, since the inept plotting depends on so many “belief test” scenes in a row that the cumulative effect renders the entire cast of characters so collectively gullible that you want to sell them a bridge. The time-twisting secrets and reveals tediously unspool until all questions are answered (by means of some unusually bad time-travel logic) and the movie swerves in its final moments into a misplaced elegiac mode that only emphasizes how little empathy and human interest it’s generated.
The actors are all good, nevertheless, and the freezer-burned photography is consistently presentable...and there’s straggly-haired, over-mascara-ed, grunge-dressed, trailer-trash diner waitress Keira Knightley, whose supernaturally perfect face is, if anything, even more mesmerizing to watch in this unusual context. Knightley’s American accent (she sounds like a whiskey-voiced, methed-out heavy-smoker) adds to the effect wonderfully. And, just because girls should be exposed to the same caliber of British eye candy as boys, the movie also includes an unexpected and welcome turn by Daniel Craig (as another mental patient), nearly unrecognizable in shellacked black hair and another perfect American accent, his James Bond physique hidden beneath loose hospital-issue pajamas. Watching beautiful British actors slum as skillfully as Craig and Knightley (whose mouth is open nearly the entire movie, deploying her trademark pout) is a fun exercise, but there’s not much else to recommend The Jacket; it’s a joyless enterprise whose central idea would hardly be worth so much snowbound drudgery even with the benefit of the rewrites it conspicuously never received.
[ADDENDUM: As discussed, Daniel Craig's work in this movie is so wonderfully chameleon-like that I had to post a clip of his first scene, just so you can see what I'm talking about. Check out his portrayal of a nebbishy American mental-patient -- about as far from James Bond as you can get!]
Happy Halloween!!
Okay - so maybe not quite as cute as the freakishly cute lion. But can't resist anyway...
Oh my GOD it's a LION!!
Zack has been into doing lion roars lately, so we bagged the triceratops costume we got him and picked up this one. He hasn't yet understood that he is a lion when he's wearing it. As a matter of fact, he hates putting it on at first, but then he gets used to it. Now we just have to get him to say "raaooow."
Interlude 2: Aeon Flux "Tide"
Before MTV commissioned the full-length Aeon Flux series (in which the characters speak out loud) there were six dialogue-free "Aeon Flux" short films which appeared on MTV's excellent Liquid Television animation anthology show in 1991-2. Peter Chung, the visionary creator/director/writer/designer of "Aeon Flux," provided commentary on the recent compilation DVD box set, compiling all the MTV Aeon Flux material.
The short called "Tide" has a unique structure. According to Chung's commentary, he was inspired by formal arrangements in music when he conceived it. The entire story is constructed from a sequence of twenty shots, each two seconds in length, which repeats six times. (There's an additional shot on the end, longer than the rest, that repeats the first shot.)
Here's the original short: http://www.jordanorlando.com/tide_original
And here's a mosaic presentation I made, showing exactly what he means: http://www.jordanorlando.com/tide
He cheats once.
Interlude: the Marathon Man score
Michael Small's music for the 1976 John Schlessinger classic Marathon Man, one of my favorite movies of all time, has never been put out on a record. (Judging by Google searches I've run, I'm not the only person looking for Michael Small's music, both from "Marathon Man" and from "Parallax View," but there's never been an official release of either soundtrack.)
http://www.jordanorlando.com/marathon_man
This is one of the great 'seventies scores, exemplifying the tonalities and mood of the movies of that period. I've had these melodies running in my head for more than twenty years. I did what I could to pull the music off the movie DVD. I was able to remove dialogue, noise etc. to some extent (due to duplicated tracks through the movie) but there's still a lot of ambient sound. I draw your attention to Szell's theme and to the solo instrumental in the "Closing Suite" that alters the timbre of Babe's Theme. (Obviously I'm making up all the names.) Look at all the trouble I have to go to, just because Paramount won't put out a record! But there can't possibly be more appropriate music for running in Central Park, can there?
no ghost in the machine
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...and i heard her say,
'i know it's counter-intuitive, i know how it feels, but you must understand... all evidence indicates that there is no ghost in the machine.'
i took this in july... but it fits better now. happy halloween... tomorrow!
Eastern Weekend Events
I arrived at PHL airport (Philadelphia) in the 6am hour and within moments of stepping off the plane, I purchased and devoured a soft pretzel!Friday night, I am spinning a set with Chas & Phranque at Crash N Burn in Philadelphia. This will be a fun time!
Saturday, there will be folks joining me (you can too) on the journey to Albany, NY, where I will spin from 12am-4am at Original Sin. You can hop a ride with us and celebrate Saturday-O-Ween!
More later.
You can email me here: http://scr.im/shok
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symphony of science: we are all connected - with greek subtitles
είμαστε όλοι συνδεδεμένοι: η συμφωνία της επιστήμης, με ελληνικούς υποτίτλους.
H/T to the sagan appreciation society. thank you.
H/T to the sagan appreciation society. thank you.
crumpled memory
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thanks to pixiespark for one of the most beautiful textures i've seen and hope to use again.
richard dawkins at the edinburgh book festival 2009
richard dawkins reads particularly enjoyable bits from his new book, the greatest show on earth. i found the last portion -- from about 49:00 on particularly interesting.
dawkins is so often misrepresented, sometimes from ignorance but also out of malice -- but videos such as this one heighten and deepen my respect for him as a scientist and as a human being.
dawkins is so often misrepresented, sometimes from ignorance but also out of malice -- but videos such as this one heighten and deepen my respect for him as a scientist and as a human being.
Is that The Droid in your pocket or are you happy to see me?
The Droid could be your new friend!
I have been anticipating the release of this phone as much as the Touch Pro 2.
Motorola is about to release The Droid, the first Android (Google Operating System) based phone on Verizon. The specs are amazing for phone, camera, pocket computer.
The Droid launches release midnight October 31st!
See specs below such as the massive talk & standby times, camera and more!
1400 mAh Li Ion battery with up to 270 hrs. standby and 385 mins talk time
CDMA 1X 800/1900, EVDO rev. A connectivity
550 MHz CPU
Android 2.0 (Eclair) OS
3.7, WVGA (480 x 854 pixels); 16:9 widescreen touchscreen display
5mpx camera with 4x digital zoom, autofocus, image stabilization, dual LED flash and up to 24 fps; D1 (720 480) resolution video capture
Full QWERTY side slide keyboard
Accelerometer, aGPS and sGPS support, proximity and ambient light sensors
Wi-Fi b/g, Stereo Bluetooth v2.1 + EDR, USB 2.0 high speed with micro USB connector, 3.5 mm headset jack
16 GB microSD pre-installed; supports up to 32 GB microSD expandable
Webkit HTML5 support, Flash 10 (available 2010)
Dimensions: 2.4 x 4.6 x .5 in.; 60.00 x 115.80 x 13.70 mm
Weight: 6 oz.; 169 g
I will soon have my review of the Samsung Rogue online.
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I have been anticipating the release of this phone as much as the Touch Pro 2.
Motorola is about to release The Droid, the first Android (Google Operating System) based phone on Verizon. The specs are amazing for phone, camera, pocket computer.
The Droid launches release midnight October 31st!
See specs below such as the massive talk & standby times, camera and more!
1400 mAh Li Ion battery with up to 270 hrs. standby and 385 mins talk timeCDMA 1X 800/1900, EVDO rev. A connectivity
550 MHz CPU
Android 2.0 (Eclair) OS
3.7, WVGA (480 x 854 pixels); 16:9 widescreen touchscreen display
5mpx camera with 4x digital zoom, autofocus, image stabilization, dual LED flash and up to 24 fps; D1 (720 480) resolution video capture
Full QWERTY side slide keyboard
Accelerometer, aGPS and sGPS support, proximity and ambient light sensors
Wi-Fi b/g, Stereo Bluetooth v2.1 + EDR, USB 2.0 high speed with micro USB connector, 3.5 mm headset jack
16 GB microSD pre-installed; supports up to 32 GB microSD expandable
Webkit HTML5 support, Flash 10 (available 2010)
Dimensions: 2.4 x 4.6 x .5 in.; 60.00 x 115.80 x 13.70 mm
Weight: 6 oz.; 169 g
I will soon have my review of the Samsung Rogue online.
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Join me tonight to see Jonneine Zapata perform her final FREE show at Silverlake Lounge. She should hit the st... ♫ http://blip.fm/~fg4h3
the first annual carl sagan day: november 9th
i just received an email from the center for inquiry:
'carl sagan was a professor of astronomy and space science and director of the laboratory for planetary studies at cornell university. he served as an advisor and consultant to NASA and played a major role in the establishment of seti (search for extraterrestrial intelligence). he was a pulitzer prize-winning author and most familiar to the public through his cosmos series on pbs, which has now been broadcast in more than 60 countries and seen by more than 500 million people. in addition to numerous awards, recognitions, and honorary degress for his outstanding contributions to science, sagan is acknowledged as one of the most effective public faces of astronomy and space science throughout the world.
sagan died in december, 1996. to celebrate his legacy on the 75th anniversary of his birth (november 9, 1934), and to increase public involvement in the excitement of astronomy and space exploration, a local coalition of science and reason-based organizations have created the first annual carl sagan day. it is particularly fitting that we celebrate this great scientist in 2009, the international year of astronomy.
we hope not only to make carl sagan day an annual event, but to have other groups celebrate this day each year. we hope to have november 9th officially designated as carl sagan day.'
more information at carlsaganday.org
'carl sagan was a professor of astronomy and space science and director of the laboratory for planetary studies at cornell university. he served as an advisor and consultant to NASA and played a major role in the establishment of seti (search for extraterrestrial intelligence). he was a pulitzer prize-winning author and most familiar to the public through his cosmos series on pbs, which has now been broadcast in more than 60 countries and seen by more than 500 million people. in addition to numerous awards, recognitions, and honorary degress for his outstanding contributions to science, sagan is acknowledged as one of the most effective public faces of astronomy and space science throughout the world.
sagan died in december, 1996. to celebrate his legacy on the 75th anniversary of his birth (november 9, 1934), and to increase public involvement in the excitement of astronomy and space exploration, a local coalition of science and reason-based organizations have created the first annual carl sagan day. it is particularly fitting that we celebrate this great scientist in 2009, the international year of astronomy.
we hope not only to make carl sagan day an annual event, but to have other groups celebrate this day each year. we hope to have november 9th officially designated as carl sagan day.'
more information at carlsaganday.org
another pale blue dot: a repost
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in memory of carl sagan.
please read my two posts: a pale blue dot and 12 years: carl sagan's hopeful legacy
EDIT: i originally posted this on december 20, 2008, in memory of the day we lost carl sagan... but darknlooking's pale blue dot video is 5000 views short of a million -- and i believe that everyone should see this at least once.
please pass the video on.
undone
... i'm currently feeling undone.
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it seems that the motif is popular -- take your pick.
this one's the most prominent in my mind.
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it seems that the motif is popular -- take your pick.
this one's the most prominent in my mind.
photographer arrested by amtrak security for taking pictures for the amtrak photography contest
| The Colbert Report | Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| Nailed 'Em - Amtrak Photographer | ||||
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not news -- it's from february -- but this kind of crap happens all too often.
sisters
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a trip to the post office takes me past a yard with pretty flowers. i'd previously stopped for this one in april.
this time i stopped to shoot some chrysanthemums through the fence and a nice woman stopped to ask me if i was taking pictures. i showed her my shots on the display... it turns out she's one of three sisters who live in the vicinity and one of them owns the said yard. she invited me in to get a better view and all three showed me various flowers and talked about art and painting and loving families.
thank you marousa, antikleia and eleni.
the first 15 sec's are harsh but listen to the smokey, sultry americana Pleasant Smell by 12 Rounds. Helpful @... ♫ http://blip.fm/~fagr6
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