Beth's Contradictory Brain

Stardust

We went to see it this afternoon and I really enjoyed it. I've read the book three times over the past few years, and sent it to Nerdstar to read while she was in Iraq. It's a sweet book, and the movie was pretty sweet as well.

Loved all the actors as their characters. DeNiro was fantastic. Pfeiffer was brave - as was Sarah Alexander, who it took me a few minutes to recognize - for looking so bad for so much of the movie.

I'd recommend it!

Ratatouille

Went to see it this afternoon. I'm not sure Pixar will ever have a story as good as Toy Story, although Nemo and Monsters grew on me. I didn't enjoy Cars or the Incredibles much at all.

The story in Ratatouille was decent, and it was fun to watch. But what always amazes me about Pixar movies is how real they feel. There are so many times I totally forget it's not live characters I'm watching, or real objects.

The short film before the movie was fantastic as always.

Friday Night Lights

I haven't read other blog reviews yet, but I loved last night's episode. I don't think I've ever seen a better hour of television dealing with teens having s e x. I don't think there's any doubt that Kyle Chandler and Connie Britton play the best married couple of tv. Their conversations last night were so great. Yes, I'm sure Julie and Matt will have sex eventually, but it was good to see a teen couple not racing into it.

And the sceens shot in Austin made me almost cry with homesickness. I love that view of the state capital from Congress. There's a link on this site to interviews about filming in Austin.

Oh yeah... They showed True Blue - the tattoo shop where Nerdstar got her tattoo.

Rainy Sunday Afternoon Fun

This is some funny stuff!

Catherine Tate - Are You Gay, Sir?

Catherine Tate- What Are You Wearing?

There are tons more... check em out.

Found Via Alice In Texas

Cyndi Lauper

That's who we went to see in concert tonight. And I have to say it was one of the best concerts EVER. I'm not sure the power of her voice is ever captured on her records - but I'm also not all that familiar with her records, other than the obvious stuff. She had an amazing band with her.

For the encore, I'm pretty sure she threw out the set list and ended up doing some really amazing music with her band, and then had the opening band come on and get their instruments and they all just jammed.

There's nothing better than hearing great musicians play live.

Update: Cyndi blogs about the KC show here.

?

So what is it this tv season? There seem to be several shows about bigger themes. Obviously there's Jericho and Heroes, then there's The Nine and Six Degrees, maybe even The 4400 could be included. Shows about life after big events, shows about how we're all interconnected.

Are these the after effects of 9/11 finally showing up in our common entertainment? Or are there always shows like this and I'm just imagining it?

Survivor

Anyone else watch the beginning of the new season of Survivor? I'm pretty sure I've watched all the seasons, so I thought I'd check this one out, too.

My question after watching it is - how do we write about the show without being - in the losest definition of the word - racist?
We didn't get a very good look at most of the tribes - there simply wasn't enough air time. But... How do we talk about how the African American tribe seemed to become even more subdivided into men vs. women? Or how the Asian tribe solved the puzzles pretty well and won the challenge - and if we think that might be a trend until the tribes are shuffled or merged? The Asians also seemed to identify the least as a cohesive representatiom of their race - while the African Americans seemed to feel the need to "represent".

What I think will be more interesting than having them subdivided - will be after reinforcing stereotypes, merging the tribes and making them then interact. Tribal alliances have always been strong after merges - I can't imagine how much stronger it will be this time.

I think it'll be cool to watch. Anyone think it will at all represent "real life"?

What I've been watching

I was happy to see Vincent auf'd on Project Runway. I really hope Uli wins the whole damn thing because she keeps coming in 2nd, but I have a feeling Jeffery will take it all instead. Maybe that's the way it should be.

I was sad to see Storm off of Supernova - but I am sure she'll do much better without them. What lame ass music they make as a band - how is that possible? Oh wait, after watching more than I could bear of Monster in Box (I think that's the title) - the horrible, horrible documentary about Metallica being in therapy - and learning what absolute pussies rock stars can be... maybe I can understand their lame music.

I'm so happy House is back on, I missed him. I hate what's her name's hair being darker, she looked terrible and I hope someone in production noticed it early in shooting and we don't have to see her look that bad for too many episodes.

I was happy/sad to see "Charlie Utter" on an episode of The Closer. Maybe seeing him get killed on that show will in some weird way help me miss him less if the Deadwood "movies" never get made.

What have you been watching?

Good Bye Deadwood

Well, I think I can live with that ending. How appropriate that Al's on his knees cleaning up blood. How sad for Trixie - but doesn't a new life always come at a price? Poor Johnny, but at least he had big balls. I'm going to miss the hell out of EB, I love his pose at the end on his roof - he gets his hotel back. I missed Doc in this episode, but I'm grateful he didn't die before the season ended. We all pretty much knew Hurst left town instead of being killed - but wasn't Langrish smart? And Richardson got to vote.

Sigh. I'm ready for season 3 on dvd to hear all the commentaries!

Here's Alan's take on it.

Deadwood

I actually screamed NOOO at my tv when Elsworth was shot. Those bastards. I knew the season couldn't end without someone dying, but I didn't see it being him!

All I can say is that because I'm pretty damn sure they can't/won't resolve everything in the season finale - they had better make those two hour movies I've read about.

Here's a better take on the episode than mine, by Alan.

Studio 60

I took advantage of Netflix offering the pilot episode of Studio 60 and just finished watching it. Wow. Aaron Sorkin is responsible for two of my all time favorite tv shows - Sports Night and West Wing - this pilot feels familiar, yet not too familiar. One of the amazing things was that it actually made me not hate watching Matthew Perry!

Check it out if you get the chance.

Deadwood

I've never loved a cast of a tv show like I love the characters of Deadwood. Yes, love. Every time I watch an episode, new or old, I worry and fret and laugh and hope and root for the ones I love and can't wait to see dead those who deserve to be dead. I'm sad there's not a fourth season. If shows like The Wire - which I admire for entirely different reasons - and Six Feet Under can have four, five or six seasons, then hell, Deadwood should have more!

I'm almost already grieving that Doc is probably going to die. (My only hope is that he makes it through the end of the season and they were planning on him dying early next season, although I'm probably wrong!) I thought it was only appropriate that Steve was killed by a kick from a horse. I wish with all my heart Joanie would get happy and Jane would get sober. I wish Al could read me bedtime stories. I'm so glad Bullock's wife is strong enough for him, and can't wait for Star and Trixie's wedding - which was probably also scheduled for the not to be fourth season - damnit! I love that Merrick just might grow bigger balls yet. I love the little Russian and that he's already standing up for the community. There will never be another tv character as fun to watch as Farnum.

Sigh.

Don't even get me started on the themes of Deadwood, how community civilizes us all eventually and so on and so forth.

Anyway. Here are two much better posts than mine about the show. Alan's and Matt's.

Way Cool

I can't tell you the last time I followed another blogger's link to music and actually liked what I heard.

So to say this video of the Ditty Bops was the nicest of surprises on an overcast, lazy Sunday afternoon would be a sad understatement.

Here's their website.

Hex

I finally watched the series premier of Hex, a BBC America show. I really enjoyed it. One of the main characters is a kind of "knight in shining armor" lesbian who has a really kissable mouth! Although, they certainly found an interesting way to get around the lesbian/straight girl sexual tension. It's certainly a show worth catching while there's nothing else on in the summer.

The New Batwoman

In case you missed the news, Batwoman will be a lesbian in the new series. Yeah, I'll check out the first few issues and see if it's any good.

As for those "lesbian superpowers" - bring em on!!

Baghdad ER

Wow. I wasn't really planning on watching it. But I was setting the dvr to record Sopranos and caught the very beginning of it and decided to watch. I've seen two or three other documentaries on Iraq, but this was really something special. The website can explain it better than I can. I certainly couldn't have watched it while Nerdstar was over there. And I highly recommend it.

This is an interview with the filmmakers.

Season Finalies

Do you prefer cliff hangers or do you want it all wrapped up?

I've never been a big fan of cliff hangers. I mean, if I'm already a fan of the show I'm watching the next season pretty much no matter what. If I'm not a fan of the show - some spectacular two hour thing with a what the hell happens next ending that won't be resolved for months won't suck me in.

Good Listening

I used to go hear Ginger and Sarah play all the time in Austin. I actually heard them the first night they ever played together - doing a round-robin kinda thing with two other female singers. They're both so dynamic and talented and have amazing voices.

Then they went their own ways and Sarah moved out to LA to be close to the ocean. I've missed hearing/seeing her play. I've got their cds, both as a duo and as individual artists on the iPod. Sarah's music always fills me with happiness, sadness, and longing.

So I was happy to see on her website (linked above) that her new cd is out. I highly recommend checking it out!!

Oscar Thoughts

While driving to dinner tonight, I was talking with Nerdstar about how Hollywood wants us to think it's important, and shapes opinion, and can change, well, things. But we couldn't think of a movie that had actually really changed public opinion. Can you think of one? The only one that came to mind was maybe Philadelphia. But really, Magic Johnson getting HIV did more for HIV/AIDS awareness than any movie ever could.

So it was interesting to see the theme of the Oscar's tonight to kinda be "hey, we matter, we education, we enlighten." I just don't think that's the case. They can reflect societal changes and public opinion, but I don't think movies change anything. The one movie they brought up that might have was To Kill A Mockingbird. It is a very powerful film but was it powerful at the time? Were lives, laws, attitudes changed because of the film?

That said...

Would you rather cut short the skits and jokes and presenters and actually give the winners more time to speak? Seems kinda silly to give them a huge honor and award and then give them 45 seconds to respond.

And... if the Oscar's are so important and watched by so many people world wide - why are all the new, cool commercials rolled out during the Super Bowl instead?

TV Character Blogs

This is something I just don't get... when the character from a tv show has a blog. Current example I just ran across, Barney from How I Met Your Mother. (How I Met is a pretty funny show, but I say it's not nearly as funny as Scrubs. I love the lengths the show goes to for a joke - verbally and visually!)

Anyway. It's obvioulsy all fiction, so who writes it? The writers of the show - which might make it a little more valid, since they more or less write the character (although there are dozens of writers on any given tv show, so it's not like there's one guy in there writing Barney to "be his voice). Would it be better if the actor wrote the character's blog? I don't know. I'd much rather just read the actor's blog about the character and the show.

I do really appreciate Grey Matter, a blog by the writers of Grey's Anatomy. It's the writers actually blogging about writing a tv series. That's interesting.

Are there any character blogs out there you read?

Gay Films

We usually joke about what bad lesbians Nerdstar and I are. It's even worse up here in the midwest where we haven't found other gays.

But, I have seen a lot of the movies on the list of 50 Greatest Gay Movies. And although I haven't seen Brokeback Mountain, I can't imagine why a movie about being all repressed wins over all the great "coming out"/"proud" movies.

The movies I have seen:
Beautiful Thing
Priscialla Queen of the Desert
Bound
Trick
Hedwig
Desert Hearts
Birdcage
Aimee and Jaguar
Boys Don't Cry
Tipping the Velvet
Philadelphia
Gods and Monsters
Personal Best
Bent
My Beautiful Laundrette
La Cage Aux Folles
Ma Vie En Rose
If These Walls Could Talk 2
Before Night Falls
Edge of Seventeen
High Art
Kissing Jessica Stien
Victor/Victoria
Saving Face
Incredibly True...
My Own Private Idaho
Rocky Horror
The Crying Game
Children's Hour

If you haven't seen the one's in bold, I'd highly recommend them.

30 Days Show

Just One Bite writes about watching a couple of episodes of Morgan Spurlock's series 30 Days. I'd caught the one she writes about a few months ago and couldn't sit through the whole thing. She has some interesting thoughts about it all.

The one we caught last night was about a white, Christian guy from West Virginia going to live with a Muslim family in the Detroit area and living as a Muslim for 30 days. It wasn't too badly done. But one thing that really irritates me about such shows is that they only use the most extreme footage. I'm sure they talk to dozens of people that don't end up being used in the final cut - no, shows like this always have to use the "most dramatic" footage, which means it's not really real. I'd be much more willing to listen to whatever message their preaching if they would include the moderate voices.

Also, where's the show about the Muslim going to West Virginia to live as a Christian for 30 days?? I suspect we won't see that anytime soon. Which is another reason shows like this just don't impress me or win me over to whatever viewpoint they want to get across.

The Book of Daniel

What is it with really good tv shows getting cancelled? At least this time it wasn't Fox following their famous trend.

The Book of Daniel didn't wow me at first, but it certainly grew on me, in the short amount of time it had. It has to have one of the strongest casts I've seen. I guess it was one of those shows that managed to offend everyone. The christians wouldn't watch it because of the gay characters, the gays wouldn't watch it because of the religous stuff, and so on. Which is stupid.

One of the things I heard when I used to go to church that has always stayed with me is the sentence - if you can be offended, you will be offended. It goes through my mind all the time these days.

On NBC.com they got smart and decided to make available the un-aired episodes. The one this week is really, really good.

Daniel - "Why did my son have to die?"

Jesus - "It's the wrong question. Why did he have to live? Why did the universe demand his participation, Daniel? Look for that answer in everyone you know."

Check it out if you haven't!

Too Funny

Don't worry if you're dead...

found via Dooce.

Future of TV

Nerdstar and I often find ourselves drooling over lcd tvs and such. And are sometimes tempted to spend between 1K and 2k on a tv. We (ok, maybe I) watch a lot of it. But we never seem to get over the hurdles and justify the purchase.

Reading Mark Cuban's post on the future of HDTV and Jeff Jarvis' post on distribution of content certainly make me put off the purchase even more.

I certainly watch more of the cable channels than Jeff does. But that will probably change once I start the new job in the new year. Then most of my tv watching will be done through the dvr and probably on weekends. Shows like Amazing Race (which is having the suckiest season ever) and Survivor I like to watch in "real time" but that's not necessary, it just has to be the same night it airs. (I don't want to read spoilers before seeing it.) Other than that there are four or five shows I think are a must any given week. So I can see what Jeff's saying about paying for certain shows instead of or maybe in addition to certain chanels.

But I think it discounts the whole notion of chanel surfing and how much so many of us enjoy it. And what about those quirky shows you happen to catch an episode of on a network you don't usually watch, but end up loving, like Nip/Tuck?

I certainly don't think that this whole "unbundling" of cable channels will result in our cable bill being any lower, even if we only opt for half the channels we currently have.

This is just me thinking out loud as it were. Would any of this change the way you watch tv?

Must Reads

If you ever watch tv, and aren't reading A List of Things Thrown Five Minutes Ago, well, shame on you.

Two of the many wonderingful things there today.

An interview with Joss and Neil.

A breakdown of the new Amazing Race season, read the comments as well.

I had my tv sound almost totally muted about half way through TAR last night. Squeeling women - make it stop! It's interesting that Survivor seems to be ratcheting things up this season, and TAR went all sissy, family oriented. TAR should not be following in the steps of shows like Trading Spaces and going all family on us. If it's really confined to the U.S. this season, there won't be any taxi drivers speaking poor English gouging the racers. There won't be any ghettos to feel sorry for all the poor children. And where will they find horrible things for the racers to eat? Sigh.

Review

The screening for Serenity last night was pretty cool. It was a huge theater and was probably 80% full. Universal had three rows reserved for bloggers who had signed up, so we not only got to see it for free, we got great seats!

You could tell most of the people there were diehard fans of Joss' work. It's always a little weird to be immersed into total geekdom. The one time it was really fun was when we saw the South Park movie the night it opened.

I totally enjoyed the movie. Joss mastered his blend of comedy and drama just about perfectly again. It was neat watching a movie about characters I was already invested in, but the movie was never predictable as it could have been. Yes, there are a couple of things people totally committed to the series might wish had been different but I wasn't bothered by them. (I won't give details to avoid spoilers, you can email me when you see it and we can discuss it.)

I told Nerdstar it was certainly better than the last three Star Wars. I was never a Trekkie (see I probably spelled it wrong) or a huge sci-fi fan, it took me until season five to start watching Buffy, but Joss won me over.

I asked Nerdstar how she liked it, she's only see a couple of episodes of the series, she said it was pretty good, which from her is almost high praise.

It's one movie I would actually like to see a sequel for.

More and better reviews:

Doc
Vodka Pundit
Will Collier
Instapundit

Perhaps the best review I've read.

The Aristocrats

I actually had the chance to see it at the SXSW Film Festival last year, but missed it on opening night and failed to make it to the screening added later in the week. By then, I knew it was going to get wide distribution.

Last night we finally got to check it out at a new theater not too far from where we live.

I don't even think I can describe it. Hysterical - absolutely. Vulgar - extremely. Gross - well, by the end I felt like I needed to go home and shower. Did we laugh through the whole thing, totally!

If you're really hard to offend and need some laughs these days, I can't recommend it enough.

If you've seen it, what did you think? What was your favorite part? We had two, South Park and the card trick.

Deadwood

I don't think I've ever felt as fond of a cast of characters as I do those of Deadwood. I've been watching the first seasons this past week, should finish it up today. In fact, last night my brain spent most of the night making up new story lines and side plots that ran as pseudo dreams. Weird.

Summer of History

I think I mentioned earlier that this seems to be shaping up as the summer of history for us. Watching C-Span I ran across some interesting books and made a list. We couldn't find any of them at the library at Ft. Fartknocker (as Nerdstar has decided to call it). Fortunately, Amazon sells used books, and while it cost more for shipping than the books, I still got four books for under $25.

The first one showed up the other day, Ghost Soldiers. It's the story of the rescue of POWs in the Phillipines who had been held by the Japanese. It was simply heartbreaking, as all stories of POWs are. It wasn't a totally in-depth book, but the author gives lots of information on other resources on the subject. I'm going to see if there's a book available of some of the soldier's diaries.

We finished up the first season of Carnivale the other day. It's interesting, but not the best show I've ever seen. There were many things in it that reminded me of Buffy - even preacher man's eyes went black just like Willow's used to. But it did spark my interest in the Dust Bowl of the 30s. Can you imagine such an event these days and the reaction (or should I say overreaction) of environmentalists. I'll be interested to read what they thought the future of the states affected would be and how long it actually was before the land was able to be farmed and grazed again.

Now we're watching season one of Deadwood. The West seems to be the topic for us this month.

Part of the fascination with all of these stories is to also see how much things have changed in this country in relatively short periods of time.

Goodbye Dr. Carter

Well, it wasn't the best sendoff in tv history, or even ER history for that matter. I still remember Doug and Carol's wedding. At least they didn't kill him like they did Dr. Green. But I'll be sad Dr. Carter isn't around next season.

Wow. Eleven years of ER. I've seen every episode. It started in 1994. I can't even remember that far back is seems. I know St. Elsewhere came before ER, but I never really watched it. And Chicago Hope started the same year, but didn't last nearly as long in spite of having a much better cast at the time. I didn't watch it either.

Nerdstar bought season one of ER on dvd while she was in Iraq (or before, I don't remember) but I've never watched any of them. I figured it would be cool to go back at watch the very first episode after watching Dr. Carter's last one.

How dark and tiny the original set was. I didn't remember Dr. Carter actually being in the pilot. Dr. Green, Dr. Ross, Nurse Hathaway, Benton, Dr. Lewis - all so young.

I'm not sure what I'll be watching come Fall. They cancelled American Dreams and Third Watch. I'll watch ER out of loyalty, but it's certainly not as good as it once was. I still enjoy Survivor and Amazing Race, but... I don't know. I miss Mad About You and Buffy. I'm about to make Nerdstar start with the very first episod of Buffy and watch all seven seasons - she will love it.

We just signed up for Netflix. I think it's so cool that old tv shows are now available, as well as new ones. I'm finally going to watch season one of Carnival and Deadwood.

It's the same old lament, nothing on tv is as good as it used to be. And movies - don't get me started. Is there anything coming out that isn't a remake?? Ugh.

The dropping costs of digital filming brought lots of talk about how more people would now have access to film making, and how this would lead to a revolution. I don't see it yet. Sigh.

Alamo Draft House and Movies

Over the weekend, Nerdstar and I were talking about which four or five things in Austin we'd take with us to Kansas if we could. Central Market, Zilker Park, CoCo's, and Alamo Draft House were on both our lists.

Alamo Draft House started as a little movie theater down town that serves beer, wine and food while you watch the movie. Now it's about to open it's fourth location. No, serving food isn't a totally unique thing, but the movies and specials they show are! They show really old cartoons, videos of cheesy singers from the 50s and 60s, and clips from even cheesier Japanese films starting at least 30 minutes before the previews. They have screenings of Spike and Mike's Sick and Twisted Animation. They host Harry Knowles annual Butt-Numb-a-Thon. They do Buffy singalongs and Muppet Movie singalongs. It's just a great place for movie lovers.

The Austin Film Society is showing a series of Takashi Miike films on Tuesday nights at Alamo. Nerdstar and I had seen a trailer (I have no idea when or where) for Audition and thought it looked cool and creepy. Then I got the email from AFS about the screening and because I'm a member I get in for free. Figured I might as well check it out.

There was so much hype about the film I wasn't sure what to expect. AFS was treating it like an NC17 film. I was on the phone with Nerdstar before heading out to see it and was wondering how it would compare to something like Swimming With Sharks or even some of the killings in The Sopranos.

This review on IMDB seems about right to me. I was expecting a lot more torture and creepiness so I felt a little let down on that aspect, but I think overall it was a well made character film.

We also watched 2LDK before Nerdstar headed back up to Kansas. It was a fun, sick little film! And the special feature on the dvd about making the film is pretty cool, too.

It's nice to see creative film making coming from Japan.

The Life Aquatic

We went to see The Life Aquatic yesterday afternoon. We both thought it would be a fun, lighthearted movie to end the year on. It just wasn't that great. It felt like watching a B movie about making bad documentaries. I read a little of the local weekly rag's review and knew it was a Wes Anderson film who did Rushmore and The Royal Tenenbaums, so I didn't have a set idea of how the movie would be. There were a few laughs from the audience, but not a lot.

I pretty much left thinking, what was that about? There wasn't a real stand out plot line. It wasn't about romance, although it could have been about a couple of romances. It wasn't about revenge, although the trailer kind of set that up.

So it was just a wandering around story about this supposed eccletic group of people. That might have worked if the acting hadn't felt so much like a B movie.

That said, I'm sure it'll be a big hit, I always seem to dislike those.

Asylum Street Spankers

We're winding down this horrible year with good food and a little fun. Well, actually, we always have good food - hence the round shaped bodies.

Last night we went to the Saxon Pub to hear the Asylum Street Spankers. Their website said the show would start at 9, which is about right in Austin. I knew they haven't played here in a while, that the Saxon Pub is a tiny venue for such a popular band, and it would be crowded. Thank God I'm anal and like to get to places early. We got there just before 8, got in and the place was already jam packed. Turns out the show actually started a little after 8.

The band started here in Austin and has been playing for over ten years, with various members coming and going. You really have to go to their site and hear a sample to know just how fun they were to see. Nerdstar said it was like mixing NPR type music with Prairie Home Companion and having them take acid! They play upright bass, fiddle, banjo, steel guitar, kazoos, and washboard. The female vocalist can sound like you just stepped back into the 20s and 30s. Oh, and she played a saw - how cool is that?

But even more fun than the musical abilities are the lyrics. They sing about drugs, the drug war, a sweet little cat - aka pussy, a tribute to beer and did a cover of Nine Inch Nails Closer that means I'll never hear the original the same way again. Let's just say he introducted it as a song about besteality and at appropriate spots the band broke into farm animal noises.

It's just such a shame that adults who are drunk have no concept of manners. But that's a rant for another time.

They're going to be in Houston tomorrow night, other than that I didn't check their show listings. But I'd totally recommend going to see them

Favorite Show

I love Inside the Actor's Studio, even if James Lipton looks creepy. This season has been especially cool, Salma Hayek, Martin Scorcese, William Macy, Cate Blanchett, Natalie Portman and Jennifer Lopez. Sometimes I'll see the preview of who's going to be on there, like Jennifer Lopez, and think, why them, they're too young, not enough films, etc. Then I'll watch the episode and hear their love of acting and the process and the job. It's fun to hear stories of how they got a certain role, where they grew up, what working with other people was like.

I'll probably be watching

I suppose this type of reality show was inevitable. Wickedly Perfect. Emmy Award-winning journalist Joan Lunden hosts WICKEDLY PERFECT, a new reality show that pits 12 people with a creative knack for the finer things in life in a no-holds-barred competition to crown the country's new authority on at-home living. These perfection-obsessed contestants, whose motto is "anything you can do, I can do better," will compete in different areas of beautifying the home and entertaining, including party planning, gardening, cooking, baking, sewing, crafts, floral arranging and decorating.

Books and movies

Nerdstar and I both love books and movies, and sometimes we even like the same ones :-)

A friend of hers recommended Kitchen Confidential so we checked it out at the library the other day. I enjoyed it. It's a "behind the sceens" look at what one man's life as a chef is like. Then, one of the men in her unit gave her Lance Armstrong's It's Not About the Bike before leaving Iraq. She really enjoyed it. I'm about halfway thru and I'm really liking it. I think we're both more into fiction than non-fiction these days, enjoying biographies and travel stuff.

We went to see What the *&##)* Do We Know the other day. I heard some women at the Psychic Fair raving about it and we figured ok we can check it out. It wasn't nearly as good, or as intellectually deep, as I would have liked. Honestly, Nerdstar and I have had lots of conversations about life's big questions, and taping those would have been as interesting. Between that, the Psychic Fair, and a couple of other things I have felt like we're in a kind of grace period. It's good to be patient and wait on things, not rush them. We'll see how long that lasts.

Friday night we rented Chris Rock's new stand up dvd, Mean Girls and Jersey Girl. (As a fan if Gigli and former New Jersey resident, Nerdstar could not resist Jersey Girl.) We both like Chris Rock, and his new stuff was funny, but his segment on politics wasn't that funny to me. I think I'm too burned out for it to be funny. His last segment on relationships was hysterical. Mean Girls wasn't as funny as I thought it would be. Maybe it was just too good intentioned. I think I'm finding I'd rather my comedy didn't have good intentions, didn't try to make a point. And Jersey Girl, oh my, it was horrible. Beyond horrible. Nerdstar swears Gigli was even worse, but I don't believe it. I'm totally convinced Ben Affleck is the Worst Actor EVER, yes, even worse than Keanu. It was torture to sit thru.

I am looking forward to seeing Ray, then The Incredibles and Spongebob!

Movies, Hero and Asian Films

It's so nice to read a smart woman with similar taste in movies. Ann Althouse, a new find for me, wrote a fantastic review of Hero and of moviegoing in general.

You'd think with all this time on my hands I would have seen a lot more movies the past few months. But every time I go to Blockbuster and look at just about every movie on the shelves they just bore me, and I'm bored enough without help.

I, too, had heard the great reviews of Hero and how beautiful it was. I even went on Sunday or Monday (how sad I can't remember which right now, all the days are the same this week) and sat thru it in a full theater.

Sidetrack - I think I've mentioned it before, but I'll say it again. I hate noise. Especially eating noise. So trying to hear a movie over the din of packages opening and popcorn being crunched drives me nuts.

Hero is a beautiful movie. So that aspect of it was nice for me - just to sit back and take in the colors and backgrounds and movements and let my mind relax. But trying to keep up with the plot - and then actually care about the characters - just ended up feeling like too much work. It can be really cool when movies go back to the same events and show them from different perspectives. This time I just got tired of seeing the same characters kill each other and in the end didn't really care if they all stayed dead.

I enjoy watching Asian films. I'm pretty sure most Chinese films are made in Hong Kong, so they're in Cantonese instead of Manderin - which Nerdstar speaks. It was interesting that in Rush Hour 1 and 2 they used both Cantonese and Manderin - not sure why. I can't speak but three words of Manderin (hi, grandma, and ok) but I know it when I hear it, as opposed to Cantonese or Vietnamese or Korean.

You never know

The best part of being a compulsive chanel surfer is you just never know what you're going to find!

It's very strange and a little disconcerting to see Shirley McLaine, Audrey Hepburn and James Garner in movie together. It's The Children's Hour made in 1961. Even more strange is that McLaine and Hepburn are running a school for girls and a horrible student starts a rumor that they're lesbians!

As with several projects involving Lillian Helman, the backstory is nearly as interesting as the written work. In this case, her trailblazing play "The Children's Hour" was morphed into a film called "These Three". Because lesbianism was one aspect of the plot, the story had to be sanitized to meet the Hays Code in place at the time. The changes imposed on it actually resulted in a striking and memorable film. Years later, the same director (Wyler) attempted to tackle the original story in it's unaltered form, but, ironically, it was unable to match the level of the first movie. Here single, closely knit teachers Hepburn and MacLaine are just realizing their dream of running their own girls school when a bitter, vengeful child creates a snowballing, vicious rumor about them out of spite.

When all is said and done, the film is a well-heeled curiosity falling short of greatness, but offering a great early glimpse of attitudes toward homosexuality on the big screen.

I caught it on Turner Classic Movies.

It's The Same All Over

I went to see a wonderful Iranian film tonight shown by the Austin Film Society called Ten.

There is no set up, no background info, the films start with a ten or eleven year old boy on the screen and the conversation between him and his mother. The film then progresses thru ten different conversations between the driver and her son, her sister, and others.

What we see is that family, sex, faith, love, heartache, marriage, independence, and traffic are the same all over.

Whether it is screened in your city, or you have to find it eventually on dvd, I really can't recommend this film highly enough.

Interviews with the director Abbas Kiarostami:
One
Two

Comics and Kill Bill 2

Today was a day of new comic books and Kill Bill 2. I got the final comic book in the 1602 series, and I just haven't been very impressed with the whole series. I guess it was written for more hard core Mavel fans than me, and that's fine.

I also picked up the final book in the My Faith in Frankie four book series and loved it! It's cute, funny, irreverent, and the girl gets the girl and her god.

I wasn't sure I wanted to venture out to see Kill Bill 2 today because I knew the theater would be a little more crowded than I like. But I also hate seeing endless previews and having to skip endless reviews before going to see something. It was definitely worth seeing today! Yes, QT is an arrogant ass, and was really self indulgent with the dialoge in this movie, but the really cool parts more than made up for it. I absolutely loved the fight between Uma and Daryl - fanastic. It's a totally different film than the first one, and yet just as good. QT also did something really cool with the filming - which I'll post below just in case...

Now the Yankees are losing to the Red Sox, and later the Rangers play the Mariners.

Even better - it's Dallas v Sacramento and Houston v LA in the first round of basketball playoffs. So with any luck at all - both CA teams will be tossed by Texas teams in the first round :-) Go Mavs!!

Bring on the revolution

Jeff has a post about Walmart undercutting Apple in the price of music downloads. Not much real news there. The interesting part is the quote about the quality of music maybe improving - or not - when the cost of making music also keeps getting cheaper so more people can do it, when you can produce quality singles and "put them out there" without having to produce a whole cd.

It's still just the beginnings of this decentralization revolution. When teenagers can inexpensively produce the same type of materials, whether music, blogs, or films, as the film and music industry leaders, and then inexpensively pass it around to their friends and then, thru the internet, God knows who else, totally bypassing the machine, it truly is revolutionary.

Technology and the internet are actually bringing into reality a level playing field that we've never seen before.

Reflections on SXSW

This post started as a comment I left for Jeff Jarvis, but I decided to try to flesh it out a little more here.

What I found in sitting in on panels from both the music festival and interactive conferernce, and listening to a couple of directors/producers of the movies I saw, was that although the music, film and interactive festivals overlap schedule wise, I didn't find that they did information wise. There were a couple of cross industry panels, but not enough. The film and music people would do well to get with the tech/blogging guys (yes it did seem to be 90% guys) and work out new strategies for using blogs as marketing/promotion/ideas whatever. And I can't imagine how much money tech/blogging guys could make hooking up with the film and music industry.

From both struggling musicians and film makers, a lot of what I heard was how the big machine/system has control over everything. So, it doesn't seem this power of the people in information is spreading as thoroughly or as fast as it sometimes seems to us bloggers. Imagine what buzz a film maker could produce if he blogged the process. We've seen it more with novel writers putting their stuff up for comment and editing.

I think there has to be a decentralization revolution coming.

More Films

I'm becomming more and more impressed with the SXSW Film Festival. The number of films of all genres, the premiers, all of it.

Last night I saw Young Adam. I can't say I enjoyed it really, but I can say it was beautifully shot and very well written. Unfortunately, I haven't figured out a way to talk about the actual plot line without giving too much away. If you like slow but steady Scottish films, I'd say check it out if you get a chance.

Tonight I got to see two more flicks. First up was Love Me If You Dare, a fantastic French film. (Not that it felt particularly French.) It was shot in the most beautiful colors I think I've ever seen in a film. The first half is about a boy and girl as kids, the second half is them as adults, not that they're any more mature. It was funny, smart, well written, and suprising. I'd highly recommend it.

Following that, and for sleeping purposes I wish the order had been reversed, was the very somber Straight Into Darkness. It's about two American soldiers over in Europe in 1945 who have defected. They find what they think is an old abandoned mill only to find it's being inhabited by an older couple and many orphans. It wasn't an easy movie to watch. To go from a film so full of color, to one that is so stark was hard. There's no heavy handed message to the movie, which I think would have made it unbearable. It's just a sad, innovative and even in some ways subtle look at the affects of war on children. The best part of the evening was hearing the Writer/Director and producers talk briefly about their experience making the film and working with children from orphanage in Romania.

Saturday

Today ended up being way cooler than I thought it would. It started with a good lunch and then moved to an Austin Film Studio tour. Several years ago when it was clear the airport would be moving from central Austin to farther out, Richard Linklater and other Austin Film Society people got with the city to see about using some of the hangers as film studios. And it actually happened. Anyway, check out their website, lots of great movie stuff going on here in Austin.

Oh how cool - so in checking out their website to link to, I find out Hellboy is going to be premiered here tomorrow at midnight for SXSW. Woohoo!!

I headed over to the convention center for a couple of panels to kill time until the movie. The highlight there was meeting Cory Doctorow of BoingBoing.Net. Nice guy.

I wasn't really impressed with the "Small Media to the Rescue" panel. For one thing, the panel guys weren't really small media and to the extent it was supposed to be at all about blogging, they weren't bloggers either. Jim Moore, author of Bush's Brain - the book behind the film, was there, as was the publisher of Mother Jones and Dan Gilmore of the San Jose Murcury News. Maybe they're using small to mean alternative. They talked a little about ads and blogs as a revenue source, nothing new there. Dan Gilmore mentioned that having libel insurance is a good idea. Moore ranted about Drudge and is evidently a big believer in the vast right wing conspiracy. Which is laughable in the face of the liberal tone of the whole conference I've mentioned.

Finally, it was off to the world premier of Bush's Brain. The 1200 seat theater was packed and there's no telling how many people were turned away. All I can say it that I was totally unimpressed. My biggest impression is that it's all a bunch of sour grapes. Karl Rove has evidently been in politics for at least 30 years. So the authors and film makers were able to interview people from over the years who lost to Rove because of Rove's dirty tricks and unwavering desire to win. Hmmm. Just how hard would it be to get on tape the enemies of any person who has been in politics that long? Not very. When Molly Ivins is one of the interviewees in the film you lose major credibility in my book right off the bat.

The one part of the film that really pissed me off was they went out and found a Vietnam veteran who had adopted a boy who had