Chili Powder

Herzog

I watched Grizzly Man the other night and completely freaked over what a great movie it was.  Nutshell plot: Documentary about a man, Timothy Treadwell, who lived with bears for 13 summers and was eventually killed by one.  75% of the movie is Herzog's edits with Treadwell's own video footage of the bear summers.  It sounds touchy-feely and environmental.  It's so not.  It's crazy, Treadwell is just out there.  Out there out there out there.  PLEASE see it.  I've got The White Diamond coming from Netflix, should be good too.

      

Three things I like about Herzog:

1. Herzog movie line:  "Give me some Everest." Julien Donkey-Boy
2. Manifesto:  Minnesota Declaration
3. Fiction flick:  Fitzcarraldo
4. Bonding with Marcel while watching Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe
5. Reading Herzog on Herzog when thinking about new art projects

30 Facts about Chuck Norris

1. Chuck Norris’ tears cure cancer. Too bad he has never cried.

2. Chuck Norris doesn't shave; he kicks himself in the face. The only thing that can cut Chuck Norris is Chuck Norris.

3. Rather than being birthed like a normal child, Chuck Norris instead decided to punch his way out of his mother’s womb. Shortly thereafter he grew a beard.

4. Chuck Norris sold his soul to the devil for his rugged good looks and unparalleled martial arts ability. Shortly after the transaction was finalized, Chuck roundhouse kicked the devil in the face and took his soul back. The devil, who appreciates irony, couldn’t stay mad and admitted he should have seen it coming. They now play poker every second Wednesday of the month.

5. Chuck Norris does not sleep. He waits.

6. Chuck Norris once roundhouse kicked someone so hard that his foot broke the speed of light, went back in time, and killed Amelia Earhart while she was flying over the Pacific Ocean.

7. Chuck Norris built a time machine and went back in time to stop the JFK assassination. As Oswald shot, Chuck met all three bullets with his beard, deflecting them. JFK’s head exploded out of sheer amazement.

8. Chuck Norris is not hung like a horse… horses are hung like Chuck Norris.

9. To prove it isn’t that big of a deal to beat cancer. Chuck Norris smoked 15 cartons of cigarettes a day for 2 years and acquired 7 different kinds of cancer only to rid them from his body by flexing for 30 minutes. Beat that, Lance Armstrong.

10. The chief export of Chuck Norris is pain.

11. Chuck Norris is currently suing NBC, claiming Law and Order are trademarked names for his left and right legs.

12. Chuck Norris won ‘Jumanji’ without ever saying the word. He simply beat the living daylights out of everything that was thrown at him, and the game forfeited.

13. Chuck Norris lost his virginity before his dad did.

14. Chuck Norris was the fourth Wise Man. He brought baby Jesus the gift of “beard”. Jesus wore it proudly to his dying day. The other Wisemen, jealous of Jesus’ obvious gift favoritism, used their combined influence to have Chuck omitted from the Bible. Shortly after all three died of roundhouse kick related deaths.

15. If you can see Chuck Norris, he can see you. If you can’t see Chuck Norris you may be only seconds away from death.

16. Chuck Norris doesn’t read books. He stares them down until he gets the information he wants.

17. When Chuck Norris sends in his taxes, he sends blank forms and includes only a picture of himself, crouched and ready to attack. Chuck Norris has not had to pay taxes ever.

18. Chuck Norris can make a woman climax by simply pointing at her and saying “booya”.

19. Chuck Norris once ate three 72 oz. steaks in one hour. He spent the first 45 minutes having sex with his waitress.

20. Filming on location for Walker: Texas Ranger, Chuck Norris brought a stillborn baby lamb back to life by giving it a prolonged beard rub. Shortly after the farm animal sprang back to life and a crowd had gathered, Chuck Norris roundhouse kicked the animal, breaking its neck, to remind the crew once more that Chuck giveth, and the good Chuck, he taketh away.

21. When Chuck Norris plays Oregon Trail his family does not die from cholera or dysentery, but rather roundhouse kicks to the face. He also requires no wagon, since he carries the oxen, axels, and buffalo meat on his back. He always makes it to Oregon before you.

22. After much debate, President Truman decided to drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima rather than the alternative of sending Chuck Norris. His reasoning? It was more “humane”.

23. Chuck Norris once shot a German plane down with his finger, by yelling, “Bang!”

24. The original theme song to the Transformers was actually “Chuck Norris–more than meets the eye, Chuck Norris–robot in disguise,” and starred Chuck Norris as a Texas Ranger who defended the earth from drug-dealing Decepticons and could turn into a pick-up. This was far too much awesome for a single show, however, so it was divided.

25. One of the greatest cover-ups of the last century was the fact that Hitler did not commit suicide in his bunker, but was in fact tea-bagged to death by Chuck Norris.

26. Chuck Norris recently had the idea to sell his urine as a canned beverage. We know this beverage as Red Bull.

27. There are no disabled people. Only people who have met Chuck Norris.

28. When Chuck Norris’s wife burned the turkey one Thanksgiving, Chuck said, “Don’t worry about it honey,” and went into his backyard. He came back five minutes later with a live turkey, ate it whole, and when he threw it up a few seconds later it was fully cooked and came with cranberry sauce. When his wife asked him how he had done it, he gave her a roundhouse kick to the face and said, “Never question Chuck Norris.”

29. The quickest way to a man’s heart is with Chuck Norris’s fist.

30. If you ask Chuck Norris what time it is, he always says, “Two seconds till.” After you ask, “Two seconds to what?” he roundhouse kicks you in the face.

Movies

It has been a while since there were any movies in the theater that I have really wanted to see, but right now there are 2 that I plan to head to the theater to see Match Point and Brokeback Mountain. I have heard good things about both. Being a huge Woody Allen fan I am really ready to see another great film by him, the last one I really like was Sweet and Lowdown and that was 6 years ago.. Looks like we will have to wait a few more weeks to see it here in Austin, but when it opens- I'm there. Zack and I are going to check out Brokeback Mountain tomorrow (we have the day off and Marcel has school). We tried to see it in Syracuse while we were on vacation, but it wasn't playing anywhere in Central New York!

On DVD- looking forward to Junebug and Hustle and Flow.  Oh, and 40-Year Old Virgin. I have to catch up on all of the movies that I missed this year.

Jennifer

New Aronofsky trailer

We dug Pi and we LOVED Requiem for a Dream, like unhealthily loved Requiem.  Aronofsky's new movie The Fountain is not looking so much like a Jen movie but durn it I'm stoked!  Check out the early trailer.

Guess the flick!

A new round of Netflix at left -- can you guess dem quotes?

• With men and women, does you think that men should marry only one woman? Does you believe in mahogany?
• Wandering around our America has changed me more than I thought. I am not me any more. At least I'm not the same me I was.
• Quick, man! Cling tenaciously to my buttocks!

Guess the flick!

New Netflix movies are on the way!  It's time to check out the movies listed to the left and guess the quote!

• Older than time itself, Man has always known the calling. Light of the light, strength of the soul, ignite this eternal power inside of me. I am Ninja! I am pure of heart, body, mind, and spirit. Join with me now as I become one with the Power of Ninja!
• The last few movies I did, I could even stand up... I was so drunk I did 'em sitting down... just sitting and doing dialog... I would get drunk, show up, work, someone would take me home and I'd drink some more... It was a blur, it was all a blur.
• David, if you were any more controlled, you'd be a sculpture. You know what? Last night I had a humiliating homosexual experience of my own.

Sayonara!

Guess the flick

Man!  Like Jen I haven't posted in a million buhjillion years.  I've been really busy but we're all really busy, aren't we?  So match the quote with the movie from our latest Netflix selection:

•   When the melody turns on, gas comes out. When the gas comes out, I fall asleep. I found out later it's the same Valium gas the Russians used on those Chechen terrorists.
• Your father he is.
• (after a yogurt conflict) I hope you plan on replacing however much of it you consume.

Cheers!

zack

Marcel gets his Joseph Campbell on

In other Journey news, big Beane and I have been rocking the hero's journey the past few weeks.  He and I are 2/3 done with our ultimate fanboy and fanboy-in-training movie marathon.  We've been watching the original Star Wars trilogy and the Lord of the Rings trilogy at the same time.  Just before our NY trip he and I did Star Wars and a truncated version of Fellowship over a week, and then this Friday night -- while Jen was off running with Marshall & co. -- he and I actually did a full on back-to-back Empire and Two Towers.

He asks a ton of questions during the Star Wars movies but he's right there with the LOTR action.  We've had many great talks about the reluctance/innocence of the hero in each series, the selfishness and greed of some characters along the way, how sometimes the little people know what's really going on (R2D2 and Gimli -- Marcel loves the dwarf, and Legolas of course).

Also a key topic is the internal struggle between a person's good side and evil side.  He was very angry with Darth Vader (also very surprised) for really being Luke's dad and cutting off his hand and fighting with him, but understood it more when we talked about power, and how people can make very bad decisions when wanting power.  And then 2 hours later we have Gollum's good/evil talk with himself about the same thing, and Marcel totally got it. 

A funny moment was in Two Towers when the people of Rohan go to Helm's Deep for safety, and they say Helm's Deep in the movie three or four times, and then he goes "Oh".  I said "What's up?"  He says," I thought they were going to Helm's Depot." 

(And he's been telling Jen "In Star Wars 3 we get to find out who Princess Leia really is.  You should watch it and see, Mommy.")

So I've been chatting up the whole trilogy thing to him all along, and saving up my big coup de grace here:  after talking for some time with him about the similarities between the stories and the hero's journey, I busted out the titles of the two trilogy-concluding movies:  Return of the King and Return of the Jedi...and you could see everything Campbell ever wrote about just click into place behind Marcel's eyes. 

Good triumphing over evil.  Kids dig it. 

zack

Quotes from This Week's Netflix

Match the movie!

• I had a mad impulse to throw you down on the lunar surface and commit interstellar perversion.
• Hickok's half-women friend's off somewheres on a tear.  The orphan square head's in the widow's care.  The widow feels put upon.  She's asked me to find her some help.  I suggested the gimp.
• Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side, kid.

zack

Flake

O.K., so the guys are out at the Paramount catching "A Hard Day's Night", and I have a bit of time to blog before I meet them for dinner.

So,   I have flaked on my Woody Allen bender.  I received "Stardust Memories" in the mail last week and fell asleep in the beginning of it (all this running is wearing me out!).  I just didn't bring myself to finish it, and after having it a week, Zack made me realize that I really wasn't into the movie and that it had just been sitting there for a week (not much of a movie-spree, huh?).  I think it may have been too heavy to start my Woody Allen bender. So I sent it back, and today "Husband and Wives" came in the mail - I hope to watch it tonight. 

Jennifer

Viva Les Amis

My friend Erin/Olivia and I went to the final showing of  "Viva Les Amis"  last night at the Alamo. The following is a synopsis of the movie, taken from the website:

Viva Les Amis looks at one local café as an example of a national trend: The loss of the mom and pop shop. The film explores the 27 year history of Les Amis Café – a sidewalk café that served almost three decades of eclectic customers and staff. Through the eyes of Newman Stribling, once manager of Les Amis Café, now cab driver, the film delves into the long history of Les Amis, and reveals the present: Les Amis Café replaced by a Starbucks. 

I only visited Les Amis once before it closed, but Zack and friends were regulars.  It was a great documentary, both funny and sad at the same time - funny because the people involved were all very witty and unique, sad because they mourned the loss of the cafe now replaced with the antithesis of Les Amis. People loved to work at and hang out at the cafe, and in its absence you can feel a strong sense of loss. Just bringing home the program, which was a reproduction of the Les Amis menu, was enough to send Zack back ten years.  Though it was late when I got home last night, Zack's excitement over seeing the old menu and hearing about the movie was contagious and we stayed up for quite a while longer talking about his old friends and good times at the cafe. 

Very cool. Thanks Erin/Olivia for suggesting the movie!

Jennifer

On Woody Allen

Hmmm... where do I begin about my love of  Woody Allen? When asked "Who is the celebrity you would most like to meet?",  my answer is Woody Allen.  My second "celebrity" I would like to meet is Bill Callahan (Smog), who just happens to live in Austin, and I am hoping to run into at the coffee shop.  Anyway, I'm off on a tangent.

I started watching Woody Allen movies when I moved to Austin. I'm not going to go into the long, ridiculous story about why I moved here, but here is the short version:  moved here for a guy, it didn't work out, I stayed anyway.  So, I had a lot of time on my hands to watch movies (before I met people and returned  to college in Austin). I decided to try out Woody Allen. I caught Everything  You Always Wanted to Know about Sex...on late night cable one night and thought it was hysterical; the chastity belt scene had me in tears. I went out and rented the video to show my friends on of our high school "movie nights", but sadly they did not think it was funny at all. 

I figured all of Woody Allen's movie would be like that- silly comedy. I think the next movie I rented (once I was living in Austin) was Manhattan Murder Mystery- also a comedy.  And I saw Take the Money and Run. But then I started to rent other movies of his, they are all comedies of course, but I was really drawn to the ones that also had more serious story-lines, usually about relationships- Annie Hall, Stardust Memories, Husbands and Wives, Manhattan... I don't know why, but they were like a form of therapy for me.  I love the stories and the way they are told, because they are very different from other movies.  Sure, he borrows from other filmmakers, some of the images in my favorite, Stardust Memories, are very similar to images in Fellini's 81/2.  But there is more to it than that and I can't put my finger on it, it's hard to describe. Perhaps it is because his movies take place in New York, and while I am not a New York City girl, I grew up in New York state and visited the city.  The weather that is depicted in the movies, I am very familiar with- the dreary but beautiful greyness that is New York.  In fact, in Deconstructing Harry on a road trip they make a stop at the Red Apple Rest outside of the city. I stopped there on my first road trip to New York as well - brought back memories (though Deconstructing Harry isn't one of my favorites).

So, what I'm going to do, is watch the movies and then write up a little post about why I think  each one rocks.  It has been a while and I need to watch them again to really explain why I love them.

Jennifer

Hark, I hear the cannons roar

I'm going on a Woody Allen bender starting this week...it's been a while, and is about time to re-watch all of my favorites. The top movies in my Netflix Queue right now (if anyone cares to join us for a few):

• Stardust Memories
• Husbands and Wives
• Hannah and Her Sisters
• Manhattan
• Annie Hall
• Mighty Aphrodite
• Radio Days
• Manhattan Murder Mystery
• Crimes and Misdemeanors
• Zelig
• Sweet and Lowdown

Jennifer

Casablanca

Today my friend Adam forced me to go and see Casablanca.  I had never seen it before, and I loved it!  What a script.  I've just been reading up on the circumstances of the screenplay's creation, which apparently was unfinished during the time shooting.  That's amazing when you consider the wit of the film.  Normally I don't gravitate toward the older classics (until today the only Bogart movie I can recall seeing is The African Queen), mostly because I don't like to watch movies for their historical significance, but rather to be entertained.  Casablanca did both.  This being the web I've found the screenplay here.  Somewhere on this guy's website an article compares the dialogue to Oscar Wilde's, and that hits the nail on the head. 

Casablanca is part of the Paramount Theatre's annual summer film series, which we've picked over before but never really wholly committed to.  Today though I bought us a 10-pak of tickets for the summer, so we'll be able to choose from great movies like Spinal Tap, American Graffiti, Singin' In the Rain (never seen but saw previews, Adam said it rocks), Vertigo, Chinatown, Holy Grail, etc etc.  The Wizard of Oz is in a couple of weeks and Mar loves that one, so we'll probably go.  They also do a nice Travolta double feature of Grease and Saturday Night Fever, which I've seen and is great because everybody dresses up in either disco gear or in T-Bird/Pink Lady getups and EVERYBODY sings, especially when that Grease opening theme kicks in.  I think we'll have to take Mar to Grease too.

Casablanca was especially nice because just before it we had lunch and talked about short stories we're writing and we gave each other tips for tightening them up some -- and then we go see this uberclassic script that is watertight.  And how bout that Ingrid Bergman? 

zack

Teenage Crush

Flashback to 1987: 

I was 13.  I saw "Can't Buy Me Love" and I was in love- with the movie and with Patrick Dempsey.  How could you not be? Dorky, but cute lawn boy is transformed into the coolest kid in the school by paying the most popular girl in school to date him. He captures the heart of the popular girl but lets his popularity go to his head, and almost turns into a big jerk. But, he reverts back to lawn boy, and rides away into the sunset on his lawnmower with the popular girl. Has there been a more perfect teen movie ending ever?

So, after flying pretty low on the radar with smaller roles in Scream 3, Sweet Home Alabama, and Iron Jawed Angels (and some others I am not familiar with) Patrick Dempsey, my teenage crush, is back in Grey's Anatomy, every Sunday night! I'm hooked. Even if the show were crappy, I would watch it because Patrick Dempsey is on it.  I have talked to other girls my age about this and they all feel the same way. They watch Grey's Anatomy for Patrick Dempsey.

 

I had tons of teenage crushes that involved movie characters- Duckie from Pretty in Pink, Ponyboy from the Outsiders, Corey Haim in the Lost Boys and License to Drive, Eric Stoltz from Some Kind Of Wonderful.....but I really wouldn't care to watch any of those guys on a Prime-time show in 2005. Even before my teenage years I loved Ricky Schroeder from Silver Spoons, but never cared that he resurfaced on NYPD blue (or whatever show he was on). Nope, only Patrick Dempsey will cause me to drop everything I am doing at 9:00 PM Sunday night.

Zack knows that I am writing this post, and he has threatened post his version of his teenage crush-"Don't Hate Me Because I'm Beautiful" Kelly LeBrock ....Yuck.

Jennifer

We thought you may like...

I just checked my Netflix queue (we all have separate ones) and saw this:

Jennifer, these movies were enjoyed by members who enjoyed: Sideways, Closer, The Flower of My Secret : About Schmidt, Somethings Gotta Give,  Scary Movie, Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle, and National Lampoon's Gold Diggers. Ok, but what the hell is "Gold Diggers"?

So I checked it out and come to find out the movie gets NO STARS.  Not even half of the star is filled in, the movie is that bad.

Critic Reviews

   Sean Axmaker, Seattle Post-Intelligencer

"Priesler plays the whole thing as a flamboyant freak show, smacking the audience... with tasteless gags and grotesque extremes of human behavior and calling it humor." ... Read More 

   Peter Hartlaub, San Francisco Chronicle

"Imagine a horrible parallel universe, where Pauly Shore is allowed to direct a remake of Harold and Maude."

Well, a few members gave it ONE STAR.  So my question is, how can Netflix recommend me a movie that no one actually enjoyed? And what does "National Lampoon's Gold Diggers" have to do with Sideways, Closer, or Flower of My Secret? Netflix is usually makes some good recommendations, but this time I am baffled.

Off to Rocky Hill Ranch.

Jennifer

House of Flies

Sooooo...what are YOU doing on Thursday at 3:30pm?  As for me, I've RSVP'd for a spot in the Alamo Drafthouse Amityville House of Flies.  My movie geek pal Adam and I will endure the House of Flies, filled with 25,000 hungry baby flies, for a free t-shirt and a free screening of the new Amityville Horror.  One at a time, we enter the House of Flies and endure the flies until the owners and film producers decide we're worthy of a free ticket and a t-shirt.  This is going to be huge.  These are the kind of things in Austin that turn into celeb sighting opportunities.  Usually Luke or Owen Wilson will be there.  I'd love to see flies all along Luke Wilson's extravagant jawline. 

The Drafthouse built the miniature Amityville house just for this special screening, and the owners have been breeding flies.  Me, I'm hoping they all mature before I get in the house;  25,000 flies sounds WAY better than 12,500 flies, 12,500 maggots.  But if that's what it takes to get a free t-shirt buddy, then its on like Donkey Kong. 

For those of you who have never been to the Alamo, move to Austin so you can check it out.  I'm not playing.  Off the top of my head, here's some of my favorite memories courtesy of the Alamo Drafthouse:

• Their old Blacksploitation Nights, when they would show a classic like Shaft, Superfly, The Mack, or Coffy -- and serve a 40 oz. of malt liquor with the movie.
• Watching Red Dawn, complete with a pre-movie Who's-got-the-best-'Wolverines!!'-yell-and-costume contest.  The winner got to go play paintball with the Alamo staff the following day.
• Watching the Mr. Sinus guys do Xanadu.  That was a date, in fact.  I think Jen and I held hands for that one.  I remember the Alamo had dragged out all these trailers for rollerskating movies, starring Scott Baio, Linda Blair, and Larry Hagman I think.  Maybe not Larry Hagman.
• The BEST ever was going to see The Warriors.  Included in the price of admission was a six pack of mini Budweisers, and in the end part "Warriors, come out to playyyyyyy...", the entire theatre put the bottles on their hands and clinked them like the crazy guy from The Rogues.  That is totally what Heaven looks like to me.
• Jen saw a Russ Meyer tribute thing there, complete with burlesque dancers shimmying in the aisles and Russ Meyer in attendance.  He was completely wasted, and his Q & A dealy decomposed into a drunken harangue.  (Jen clarifies for me: There never was a Q & A.  Meyer was totally wasted and he left the theatre and went out on the street.  It was like a parade.  The entire audience followed him, and he was swearing at them and staggering all over.  He called a cab and left.)

And there's more we've done there but I can't remember offhand.  Jen will be at Amityville, taking plenty of photos of her husband with a face covered with flies.  Taylor, this is why you should be thankful we live in different cities.  If you were an Austinite I'd have you in the House of Flies.  Brandi too.

zack 

Searching for My Friend Leonard

I preordered my copy of My Friend Leonard on Amazon.com this weekend.  It's still due out June 16.  Material about the book is rare as of yet; web searches for him and his writing still primarily yield old links from back in 2003.  Today's image search on Google for My Friend Leonard gave me this, for example:

Sigh.  Anyway, now that I'm just waiting for the book's release I thought I would branch out and link to some of the other James Frey projects, like his movie stuff.  Here's the imdb.com link to his 1998 screenplay Kissing A Fool. 

Also, a quick dig around imdb.com shows that Laurence Dunmore has signed on to direct the film version of A Million Little Pieces, and that James Frey has also written the screenplay for that one.  Dunmore recently directed The Libertine, starring Johnny Depp, 'Malkovich Malkovich', and Samantha Morton -- which sounds pretty good, kinda seedy and Sadist. 

This is from Stephen Jeffreys' own account of his original play The Libertine, for which he also wrote the screenplay:

My play The Libertine is about John Wilmot, second Earl of Rochester, who was the leading figure at the court of Charles II. Rochester is now recognized as one of the major poets of the 17th century, but in his own lifetime his career as a womanizer, drinker, atheist, pornographer and rebel gained him more attention than his serious writing. He died of alcohol and syphilis at the age of 33 after making a late conversion to Christianity.

Dunmore and Frey's film version of A Million Little Pieces is due out in 2006.  Please hurry, My Friend Leonard.

zack

 

Oscar Night: Chris Rock Better Not Sing

Man I hope Chris Rock doesn't go out like Billy Crystal and sing tonight.  This first Oscar Night of the P.H.E. (Post-Hobbit Era) is looking like its gonna be a little strange to me...in fact I think I'd pass altogether but I have a Biggie size lunch at Wendy's bet riding on it, so I'll watch. 

Fact is, I miss my Hobbits.  The movies this year all look like dogs.  I've seen about half of these, and they're all forgettable.  The only real keepers are Before Sunset, The Incredibles, Maria Full Of Grace, and Jen's movie The Sea Inside.  I'm also rooting for The Story of the Weeping Camel; anybody who roots for Tupac: Resurrection over a weeping camel has a heart of stone. 

Some things I hope go down:

• Annette Bening must be destroyed.  If I have to see her tug on her earlobe one more time I'm gonna pop my eyes out with a spoon.
• Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind must not win best original screenplay.  I am the only 29-year old film geek in the world who hates on that movie, and so be it.  Hell will freeze over before I root for a Jim Carrey movie.
• Sideways looks pretty good but I am on a permanent Paul Giamatti 2-year time delay, so I won't see Sideways until 2007.  I only saw American Splendor last week.
• Martin Scorcese must not win best director.  It would be a pity vote, much like finally taking grandma to Sea World before she dies because she's never seen a killer whale.  Much better it go to the great and powerful Taylor Hackford, who was overlooked for his 1985 Baryshnikov/Gregory Hines classic 'White Nights'.

Beyond that I don't much care.  Bring back the Hobbits, man.

zack    

Dog Days

Dog Days.  Here's another one of the seems-innocuous-enough-by-its-plot-description-but-is-really-insanely-dark-and-violent movies I can't seem to stop getting.  This isn't violent like pregnant brides being shot or ears being removed; this is violent like Gummo was violent, with very real people being very hurt and possibly exploited for the sake of the movie.  Not to get bleeding-heart though -- I LOVED Gummo and the more I think about this one I think it'll rank up there with the sicker ones as well.   

The plot description is something to the effect of "watching the less-than-interesting daily exploits of six unrelated Austrians during an exceptionally hot season".  Sounds tame enough;  I was thinking it would be precise and cute, like a charming cross between Kitchen Stories and the great Magnolia.   

It ends up feeling more like a cross between Short Cuts and a snuff film.  Filmed entirely with Austrian non-actors (with zero skills.  This schools Gummo up and down in the amateur actor usage), somehow every isolated person begins to relate to another using extremely crude sexuality and behavior that surely must be illegal, even in Austria.  No one is depicted as desirable, repulsive, or anything other than who they are -- which leaves the audience out of it altogether and instead reveals all these genuinely normal people who are trying to reconcile their boring, occasionally abusive modern lives with their gnarly desires.   

zack

Irréversible

Jennifer wasn't kidding about this movie.  Irréversible was far and away the most disturbing film I've ever seen either.  (If any proof is needed, here's a link to the film's light and cheery imdb.com quotes.)  And a word about my taste is in order.

My father and I used to watch Driller Killer, Gruesome Twosome, Toxic Avenger, Faces of Death, and the great Bad Taste over and over again.  Characters would melt, and we would laugh.  Virgins would eat vomit, and we'd open more M&Ms. 

As a senior in high school I laughed at Bad Lieutenant.  Bad Lieutenant showed at the Inwood in Dallas for two weeks; I saw it three times and laughed myself silly each time. 

The following year the Great Bryan Russell and I watched Romper Stomper at Dobie Cinema for back-to-back viewings, then another time the next week.  Later I taped it onto audio and listened to the whole movie in my walkman while drawing in the park at nighttime. 

Anything Korine.  Kids.  Gummo.  It's all welcome in this home. 

And yet, this movie completely rocked me a good one.  The style is complementary to the action like Memento minus the self-referential air.  It is all about story here, much like the grandaddy of stories-in-reverse: Sophocles' Oedipus the King.  It is so violent, so unbelievably violent, but I believe it is most disturbing because the violence is clearly at the hands of normal and largely sane people.  People we identify with.

This film is brilliant and foul, sick and sticky like a Genet or Acker novel.  Support this sick movie; please see Irréversible.

zack

Bad Education

is playing in Austin, finally!

Jennifer

Lazy Day

Today was a lazy day following a very busy month of play rehearsals, Kung Fu, volunteer commitments, and of course, life in general. Very m e l l o w. Today we spent the day doing art, watching Merce Cunningham: A Lifetime of Dance, eating homemade popovers, and going to the library.

Jennifer

The sound of our house this morning....

Marcel has chosen the music this morning. I got out of the shower to find him going through CDs. He grabbed 5, opened the CD player,put them all in, and pushed play. I checked the selection a minute ago: Elvis greatest hits, Motown Christmas, One Hit Wonders, Sidney Bechet, and Phish Rift. He confessed that he was looking for the Christmas CD with our favorite Christmas Song "Christmas at Kmart" by Rootboy Slim. Luckily he didn't find it. It was pretty sweet that he put the One Hit Wonders CD in, he knows I am a sucker for cheesy music, and that the CD hold my favorite song of all time "Brandy (You're a Fine Girl). The CD also has a few of Marcel's favorites as well- "Play that Funky Music" and "Knock on Wood". It also has the Starlight Vocal Band's original (non-Anchorman*) version of Afternoon Delight. The Phish choice is no doubt in celebration of his awesome uncle, Uncle Phish, my brother. Growing up in Central New York, Phish was getting pretty popular by the time I graduated from high school. I jumped on the bandwagon shortly after, but it wasn't until I moved to Texas that I actually saw a Phish show. The first one was here in Austin with some friends. The next 3 were here in Texas the next year, with my brother. We did the whole road trip thing, driving to Houston and camping with the rest of the fans (phans?) and then back to Austin, then to Dallas. The roads were full of Phish followers and was a pretty interesting community to be a part of. I didn't comb my hair for 3 days and wore a sarong and Birkenstocks- the closet I have come to being a hippie. We then headed up to New York (stopping at Graceland and Cedar Point Amusement Park- my old workplace from 2 summers prior) and then he left for the Florida Lemon Wheel Show. Good times of course, and Phish holds a special place in my heart- and my son's.

Jennifer

*The Anchorman CD has an Afternoon Delight music video that is out of control. Check it out at MTV if you can. Be sure to look for the part where Paul Rudd gets into the hot-tub by swinging his leg over Will Ferrell's head (in his undies). He gets a bit too close. We watched that part about 6 times. Speaking of cheesy, check out the movie soundtrack, it includes "Carry on Wayward Son". I may just have to get it.

A Marcel First

Tonight Marcel saw his first Oompa Loompa.

We had read the book last year, but in the book the Oompa Loompas look like little Greg Allmans.  Tonight he sat down to watch the movie and had his first official Oompa Loompa sighting. 

This is one of those core parenting moments that one should not miss for the world.

zack   

Candy Recap

This is my first post on the new family blog, and I meant to write a couple off-the-cuff Stinky Knowles style movie reviews (I read quite a bit of the Stinky's website while at work) -- but first things first -- first up is a xmas candy recap:

1. Jennifer got me a lil' five-pack of chocolate Stoli bottles, each bulging with fine corn syrupy vodka.  "Candy's dandy but liquor's quicker."
2. A one-pound golden box of Godiva truffles (owned by Campbell's Soup, btw), given to the fam by my work -- which I am still tortured over whether I should name or not.  My friend Howard has no bones about including his job in his blog, but then he lives in Finland, where the ruling class are not so litigious as here in Austin.  Maybe I'll deal with my cold feet later; in any case, what truffles!  Great Scott what truffles!    
3. Gertrude Hawk almondilicious chocolate-covered toffee treats given to me from my mother-in-law.  They are so delicious I would call them candy porn, but I won't today; did I mention my mother-in-law gave them to me?  Thus they are a confectionary gift from On High.
4. Beef Sticks.  Not a candy proper but a xmas phallic tradition a la the courtroom scene from Kentucky Fried Movie.  "We mean no harm to your planet..."  Plus if you soak the paper coating it makes for a fine, beefy tea.
5. My mother gave my son a dozen or so PEZ dispensers.  I wouldn't include it here, as they are technically his candy -- but he is quite the candy philanthropist (sp?), giving Jen and me a cut of every package he opened -- thus the PEZ becomes grist for the mill.  The dispensers are from a PEZ reissue of some Star Wars characters, a Lucas-y melange of Episodes 4-6: two Yodas, two Stormtroopers, one microcephalic Chewbacca, an X-Wing Fighter pilot who I think is Luke (in any case that's what I told my son so now my word is Law), a Darth Vader, a Boba Fett, and I don't know who else because Force be damned, Boba Fett IS Star Wars.  Him and Lando.
6. Dobosh Torte.  (I actually did not eat any Dobosh Torte this year, but as it is so delicious and fun to say I must pretend I did.)
7. Candy canes aplenty.  I love candy canes.  Who doesn't?  They've gotta be mint, too.  None of that postmodern fruit flavor, no cinnamon -- gimme mint.  Last night Jen and I watched Anchorman and in the extras the great Ron Burgundy says he has started a charity called Candy Canes For The World.  If this were true I would frickin' drain my 401(k) and Pay It Forward like a mug.  I looooove candy canes.    

That's enough candy recap.  Time for another cup of El Pico -- which today Jen compared to dishwater strained through a dirty sock, or a poo covered in burnt hair, or something similar.  Hater. 

Zack