Angharad

10:42 pm

Found this comment on Huff. Post, a shining example of the tunnel vision of the anti-abortion/anti-choice* movement:

"The morals involved are not negotiable. They are more important than any end result we can achieve.

Let me be clear. I would rather act in a moral way, and have more abortions, than act in an immoral way and have fewer abortions result."

*I call them that because they are not "pro-life"; that's just bullshit p.r. And I consider myself anti-abortion. I don't think abortion is a good thing, but I also think it should be legal. So I'm pro-choice/anti-abortion.

01:43 pm

Saw the photos of the G-20 summit. Just some notes:

1) With his height, Obama should have been in the back row. But I guess considering his prominence, putting him in the middle row and off to the side was about as much as the organizers could do. Still, I felt bad for the guy behind him. (I couldn't recognize him. Not only was Obama's big smiling face blocking him, the picture was small.)

2) The wives picture was even more interesting to me. First of all, where were Joachim Sauer and Néstor Kirchner? Maybe putting them in there would have been too radical. But you know if Hillary had won the election, Bill would have been smack in the middle of that photo holding two thumbs up. (*Sigh* Still a little sad over what might have been. Too bad too many people in this country *cough*donutato_kun*cough* have CDD--Clinton Dysphoric Disorder--irrational antipathy to all things Clintonian.)

3) Again, Michelle, with her height, should have been in the back. But there she was standing in the center, like all the other wives just emanated out from her. About three wives seem to be standing on tiptoe to look over her shoulders.

4) Speaking of shoulders, I thought it was just a little weird to see Michelle (sleeveless, of course--with her arms, who wouldn't be?) next to Emine Erdogan, the wife of the Prime Minister of Turkey.

5) Finally, where was Carla Bruni? Did all the other wives get together and vote to keep her out of the picture? Were Svetlana Medvedev and Margarida Sousa Uva the most attractive women allowed in? I feel bad for that poor woman on the far left--in a dress that didn't fit while the photographer was using a wide-angle lens (which distorts the sides)?

Update: Just read that Bruni isn't attending the conference. Was she afraid she'd be shunned by the other wives?

03:35 pm - It's Official

Hollywood has run out of new ideas. They're now remaking Clash of the Titans.

Now, I like COTT, but without Harry Hamlin's rippling physique it wouldn't have been anything (Lord Olivier not withstanding).

12:28 am - A Film Recommendation

I wrote this nearly two years ago. (I have yet to complete my 2005 Oscar rant--damn you, Hustle & Flow, but if I ever get around to it, this movie with be on it in both the Picture and Actress sections.)

From 2007:

I don't think there's been another creative partnership in the history of cinema as fruitful as Merchant Ivory. Even Powell/Pressburger didn't last as long or create an oeuvre of such majesty.

Director James Ivory is carrying on, with City of Your Final Destination, written by frequent Merchant Ivory collaborator Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, but, without his partner of 45 years (producer Ismail Merchant, who died in 2005 before the release of The White Countess), it's hard to think it'll be the same.

The White Countess is not Merchant Ivory's masterpiece--that's Howards End. But the elegiac Countess, which tells the story of a blind, American diplomat (Ralph Fiennes) who opens a bar in Shanghai with the help of a dispossessed, Russian countess (Natasha Richardson) who has prostituted herself to support her dead husband's family, has the same deliberate pacing (that never seems slow), the same intelligence, the same ability to find the epic and the tragic in the smallest moments. And, most of all, it has the same visual beauty.

Here, the pastels of the English countryside have given way to the jeweled palette of pre-WWII Shanghai. Each frame is a painting, but not in the creepy, pretentious way of Road to Perdition. At the beginning of the film, a little girl looks at some kind of Chinese folk art where still paintings start to move. And that sets up the visual style of the film. One shot at the turning point in the film illustrates this particularly well. Matsuda, the Japanese "businessman" (Hiroyuki Sanada), stands motionless on a balcony overlooking Shanghai just before the Japanese invasion. The shot is dark, the colors drab. The camera pulls slightly back, almost infinitesimally, and the brilliant white of the overcast sky bursts in from the upper left. The canted angle makes the edge of the building a diagonal from the upper right to the lower left. The violent contrast hints at the physical violence to come and leaves Matsuda in ominous darkness.

The film is also one of the few films I know that use subjective sound. Subjective visuals (where the shot imitates the point of view of a character in the film) are common. But subjective sound is rare. It was used to great effect in I Want to Live where a journalist, who is hard of hearing, turns off his hearing aid after an execution and the viewer is left in complete silence. The use in The White Countess is subtler ("Subtle" being a common adjective in descriptions of Merchant Ivory's work.) As explosions are going off and people are shouting and rushing about, a child's cry distinguishes itself from the din, and the audience realizes they've entered the heightened aural sensitivity of a blind man. Lesser, more commercial filmmakers would take down the din and isolate the girl's cries, maybe even do a close-up on Fiennes's ear, just in case the audience didn't understand what was going on. But Merchant Ivory have always trusted the intelligence of their audience, assuming that the audience can follow wherever they want to take it.

I don't know if Ismail Merchant knew he was dying as they made The White Countess, but there's a moment near the end of the film that provides the epitaph for his and James Ivory's work together. The Japanese are coming in and the bombs exploding outside. Matsuda speaks to the main character and laments/celebrates the bar saying, "It meant much to me that for a small moment in our lives we were able to be friends and create something of beauty here together."

From 2009:

In focusing on the death of Ismail Merchant, I neglected to comment on how great Natasha Richardson was in the film, an unforgivable oversight. I never saw Richardson on the stage, where she was reportedly magnificent, and tended to view her as a kind of journeyman actress, the kind who can always be counted on to deliver a solid performance in a supporting role. In The White Countess, however, she admirably conjures up the glamor, mystique, and tragedy of a character who represents that fleeting moment of beauty that comes out of calamity, the aesthetic of tragedy. The White Countess is a movie that captures the moment of decadence (in the true sense of the word) before the world ends.

In memoriam: Natasha Richardson 1963-2009

11:47 am - Two of My Lols Made the Rolfrazzi voting page

http://roflrazzi.com/upcoming/page/4/


see more celeb pics


see more celeb pics

Yes, I've been very productive while I've been sick.

01:38 pm - Conservative Intellect

Rush Limbaugh apparently said this at a speech on Saturday:

"We [conservatives] love and revere our founding documents, the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. We believe that the preamble of the Constitution contains an inarguable truth, that we are all endowed by our creator with certain inalienable rights, among them life, liberty, freedom -- and the pursuit of happiness."

He might want to read those founding documents again. The preamble for the Constitution reads:

"We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."

On the other hand, the Declaration of Independence says:

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."

What shocks me is that no one is reporting this error. Maybe the people in the news media are just too ignorant to realize this mistake.

11:07 pm - Notes on the Oscars

First of all, who thought the Oscars would be more appealing by turning it into the Circus O'Gay? The production numbers were some of the worst I've seen.

And the second only featured two songs that were originally from movies--most were Broadway songs that had been included in the film adaptations. It's not like there's a shortage of great movie songs.

They screwed up the death montage. Don't distract us with Queen Latifah and her vagina armpits (Seriously, Dana, get a dress that fits). Just show us the people and their work.

Was the comedy bit with Seth Rogan and James Franco supposed to be funny?

Finally, just show clips of the nominees' performances. The old winners talking directly to the nominees was just creepy.

10:23 pm

I didn't realize it, but my LOL made it to the LOL News and Politics voting page.

http://punditkitchen.com/upcoming/page/19/


see more funny political pictures

10:20 pm - Top Rejected Slogans by the African Union Tourist Bureau

(I don't know what I was thinking when I made these up last night. And I'm not sure if I did make up the last one. I might have read it somewhere.)


Come rediscover Rwanda. Compared to Sudan, we’re not half bad.


Sudan: You’ve seen us on the news—now see us in person.


South Africa: Yes, all our women look like Charlize Theron.


If you loved Black Hawk Down and Pirates of the Caribbean, you’ll love Somalia!


Why stay in a hotel when you can buy it? In Zimbabwe, all our hotels sell for less than five dollars. For ten, you can have the country. (American dollars only, please.)


Kenya: Experience our Presidential tour in the homeland of the Obamas. All Obama, all the time. It’s Obamamania!


Infertile? Come to Malawi! It’s babies, babies, babies! We’re slashing prices. Infants now half-off! And toddlers we’re practically giving away! Buy now and pay no interest for 12 months. (Certain restrictions apply.)


Republic of the Congo—at least, we’re not the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

01:10 am - In Memoriam September 7, 1936 – February 3, 1959

01:07 am - In Memoriam October 24, 1930 – February 3, 1959

01:03 am - In Memoriam May 13, 1941 – February 3, 1959

12:18 pm - The long nightmare is over

Ding dong the Bush is gone...

Don't let the door hit you on the ass on the way out.

On second thought...

08:39 pm - Oscar Songs

I just looked at the Academy's list of eligible songs for this Oscar season. I realized that the best song on the list has no chance of ever being nominated--"The Story," by Norah Jones, from Wong Kar-Wai's My Blueberry Nights, which should also get a cinematography nod but won't because the Academy votes for what they see in a film, not how they see it, and the masterful Technicolor photography here is in a film that came out in January and that no one saw.

At least it doesn't seem as huge an omission as last year, when Eddie Vedder's "Guaranteed" from Sean Penn's Into the Wild was left off the nomination list in favor of three forgettable songs from Enchanted.

09:02 pm - Dream DVDs 2009 (Part 2)

Rich in Love (1993) – All-star cast bildungsroman from director Bruce Beresford. There’s no reason for this recent film not to be on DVD. Touching story of a teenage girl (Kathryn Erbe) trying to hold her family together after her mother (Jill Clayburgh) leaves, severing all contact with the family, and her ambivalently pregnant older sister (Suzy Amis) and new brother-in-law (Kyle MacLachlan) hit town. Albert Finney is larger than life (as always) as the flaky father. A small, but touching movie, having little plot, focusing instead on tenuous relationships between characters. Piper Laurie, Alfre Woodard, and Ethan Hawke costar.

The Competition (1980) – Romantic drama about a young adult piano competition, in which the winner is guaranteed a successful launch into a concert career. Richard Dreyfuss, in one of his least mannered performances, plays a struggling pianist in his last year of eligibility who’s willing to risk security for a last shot at the big time. Amy Irving (note to actresses—if you want to continue your career in Hollywood, don’t divorce the most powerful director in the world) plays a young prodigy who might upset his chances. Strong support from Lee Remick (in the performance of her career) as Irving’s coach and the great character actor Sam Wanamaker, as the competition’s hard-nosed conductor; their sparring scenes provide a lively subplot to the more serious main plot. The final confrontation between the two leads after the winner is announced is one of the great character-driven climaxes in recent memory.

One Way Passage (1932) – Elegiac story (won Oscar for Best Original Story) of a condemned man (William Powell) falling in love with a dying woman (Kay Francis) on an ocean voyage. Instead of being dismal and heavy-handed, the film is pleasantly touching, mostly because Powell plays the role with the suave insouciance that later became his trademark. Nicely directed by Tay Garnett, with great use of music. Remade as ’Til We Meet Again with Merle Oberon and George Brent in the leads. I can’t bring myself to watch the later version. Oberon had none of Francis’s softness, and George Brent none of Powell’s charm.

The Hard Way (1943) – Ida Lupino gives a knockout performance that won the New York Film Critics Circle Best Actress award but was totally overlooked by the Academy Awards, the Oscar that year going to the tepid performance of Jennifer Jones in The Song of Bernadette. There’s nothing tepid about Ida Lupino. Here, she plays a young woman from a small Rust Belt town who pimps out her talented sister (Joan Leslie) to a popular vaudevillian (Jack Carson), as he passes through town. Carson’s partner, played by Carson’s frequent costar Dennis Morgan, sees through Lupino’s machinations but is unable to prevent the sisters from enacting a Star Is Born-like plot, where Leslie’s success seems to drain Carson of his. The success goes to Leslie’s head, and she becomes a nymphomaniacal party girl, fighting Lupino for the love of Morgan.

Susan Slept Here (1954) – Charming, if over-the-top, fantasy of an aging bachelor screenwriter (Dick Powell) receiving a juvenile delinquent (Debbie Reynolds) for Christmas. Alright, so Debbie’s the most clean cut J.D. imaginable. And Dick Powell (50) is far beyond 35 years old, as stated in the script, and his romancing a teenager borders on the creepy. And cartoon director Frank Tashlin hadn’t yet learned to work with live-action material. It’s still a lovely little story. Alvy Moore and Glenda Farrell provide strong comic sidekicks, and Anne Francis is captivating, as always, as Powell’s overprivileged girlfriend.

Romanoff and Juliet (1961) – Peter Ustinov wrote, directed, and starred in this adaptation of his bizarre stage play, a version of Romeo & Juliet set against the Cold War. Ustinov, wisely, makes the film a more conventional comedy. Set in a small European country somewhere between Marshovia and Ruritania, the film tells the story of the children of the ambassadors from the U.S.S.R. and the U.S.A. (Sandra Dee and John Gavin) falling in love. The ruling General of the country (Ustinov) acting as a cross between the Friar and the Fairy Godmother tries to arrange for the two star-crossed lovers to get together. The frothy romance keeps this film from becoming too dated, like much political satire. Often (unfairly) compared with The Mouse that Roared, this film holds up much better. Note: Gavin, here the son of the Soviet ambassador, later became the U.S. ambassador to Mexico in real life.

12:22 am - Scared --- Need Health Insurance

I may have to quit the only job where I'm eligible for health insurance, crappy though it is. The COD Board of Trustees are trying to become the first institution of higher education in the country to pass the so-called Academic Bill of Rights. If that happens, I'll have to quit.

It's a move by the largely Republican board to force their ideology on the institution. The ABOR is opposed by the American Library Association, the National Council of Teachers of English, the American Association of University Professors, the American Federation of Teachers, the National Association of Scholars, and the National Coalition Against Censorship, among other groups.

Specifically about COD's problems and the ABOR:
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2008/11/24/dupage

A good critique of the ABOR can be found here:
http://www.aaup-ca.org/Larkin_abor.html

Others:
http://www.aaup.org/AAUP/comm/rep/A/abor.htm
http://www.reason.com/news/show/33786.html
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2006/01/09/resolutions

03:30 pm - 2009 Dream DVDs

Every year, the studios release the same films again and again on DVD. (Do we really need another release of Lilo and Stitch?) Every year, I wish that films that haven't been released before will come out. Last year, I was delighted when The Major and the Minor and Easy Living, even if they were done with little care and few extras. This month, we finally get the classic 1941 version of Waterloo Bridge. Maybe there's hope for these DVD orphans, but I doubt it. Some of these titles you'll remember from last year (or not). But others are ones that I never got around to writing up.

…All the Marbles (1981) – Now that The Wrestler has made serious movies about professional wrestling trendy, I wonder if there’s some hope for Robert Aldrich’s last film, about two female tag team wrestlers and their two-bit manager, to be released on DVD. Hugely underrated—probably by people who judged the movie by its subject matter before seeing it (or without seeing it altogether). One of Peter Falk’s greatest performances.

The Reluctant Debutante (1958) – As the DVD wasn’t released when the limp Amanda Bynes remake What a Girl Wants came out, I don’t think there’s any hope that this will be released any time soon, unless maybe in a Vincente Minnelli box. This charming film about an American girl visiting her father in England and her stepmother’s (for once, not a wicked stepmother) attempts to make the girl socially successful is worth seeing for Kay Kendall’s (in one of her last performances—sadly she was already visibly terminally ill) hilarious turn as the stepmother, Sandra Dee’s inimitable ability to play the sexually burgeoning naïf, and Angela Lansbury’s society-licking bitch, not to mention Minnelli’s ability to make a screenplay that’s essentially a stage play seem open, light, and…frothy.

Margie (1946) – Charming period piece, set in the 1920s and loaded with hits from that era, about an unpopular girl and her quest to find romance. Margie (Jeanne Crain) lives with her formidable grandmother because her widowed undertaker father can’t figure out how to raise a female. She lives next door to Marybelle, the most popular girl in school (Barbara Lawrence), who, while being legitimately friendly to Margie, also enjoys lording her popularity over her. The only male attention Margie can get is from the school nerd, who goes around with a perpetual head cold. By the end of the film, of course, she’s attracted the attention not only of Marybelle’s dreamy boyfriend “Johnnikins” but the handsome new French teacher (Glenn Langan) as well. A movie that understands that, for a lot of people, adolescence is less a time of mayhem and rebellion than a protracted series of more or less embarrassing moments, here rendered humorous for the viewer. Never released on home video in any format.

Vivacious Lady (1938) – This screwball comedy was released on VHS overseas but has never appeared on home video in the U.S. despite the star power of Jimmy Stewart and Ginger Rogers. A small town chemistry professor goes off to the big city to stop an ill-advised marriage between his cousin and a nightclub performer, only to end up married to the girl himself. He brings her back to his small college town where hijinks ensue. Highlights include Rogers’ catfight with Stewart’s fiancée (who’s unaware he’s married Rogers behind her back) and Rogers dancing on the sly with Stewart’s mother (Beulah Bondi, who played Stewart’s mother 5 times).

The Friends of Eddie Coyle (1973) – This movie is the kind of thing that would result if Martin Scorsese and Sidney Lumet mated. On the one hand, it’s plot is very much in the typical heist movie vein, before heist movies got so cocky and elaborate. On the other hand, it’s a deeply thought out character study of an aging crook (Robert Mitchum) at the end of his rope. Never released on home video in any format.

Light in the Piazza (1962) – Why this movie didn’t get released when the stage show was so popular a couple of years ago, I don’t know. Anyhow, no stage version can recreate the excellent location work of this film, which tells the story of a mother (Olivia de Havilland) who brings her brain damaged (and therefore charmingly childlike), but nubile, young daughter (Yvette Mimieux) on vacation where she attracts the attention of a wealthy, local suitor (George Hamilton). De Havilland’s fine performance far outweighs any negatives resulting from the presence of Hamilton.

08:30 pm - I screwed up today

My father got me up at 1:30 (I was sleeping late because of rampant insomnia) and asked if I wanted to go to Cracker Barrel and a movie. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to vet the movie properly. Otherwise, I wouldn't have gone, or I would have bought a ticket for another film and then slipped in to the wrong screen.

To make up for my mistake, I would like to remind everyone that the Warner Brothers boycott continues until Alan Horn gets down on his knees, begs forgiveness from every Harry Potter fan in the world, and admits he's a complete fuckwit.

Current Warner Brothers films in release are Yes Man and Gran Torino.

12:07 am - I Love It

http://www.theonion.com/content/news/shitload_of_math_due_monday

01:05 am - While our backs were turned

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2332432,00.asp

A cabinet-level post to protect copyright? Yeah, that's exactly what we need. Can't blame the Chucklehead for this one--he was facing a veto-proof majority. Don't lawmakers get it? Copyright laws were created to protect intellectual property for public use!