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This Week’s Twitter: 2010-04-11

April 11th, 2010 by Dorrk.com
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@mrkorb It must be personal. Try the webmail. in reply to mrkorb #
#TheInformant! http://bit.ly/b2LB95 Surpringly funny Soderberg character study: part corp. whistleblower, part delusional conman. Fun music. #
Finally making time to watch disaster epic #2012 http://bit.ly/9Ck0Al. Can I get past implausibility of neutrinos causing physical reaction? #
#2012 If Danny Glover were really president, physical reaction of neutrinos would be the least of our problems. In fact, bring it on! #
#2012 I'm pretty sure Woody Harrelson is playing himself in this movie, only with clothes on. #
When I use iPhone IMDb app & click on "Go To IMDb" button, I always get ad for iPhone IMDb app, which I am using. Poorly targeted marketing. #
I know #2012, like other Roland Emmerich movies, is ridiculous, but that scene of Los Angeles crumbling was fucking awesome. Disasterpiece! #
The stretches of non-disaster "plot" in #2012 are, to put it mildly, numbingly insufferable. With another hour+ to go, need more apocalypse! #
Just when #2012 was starting to suck hard: St. Peter's Dome wipes out Vatican Sq. & tidal waves swallow Danny Glover. Redemption in tragedy. #
Feeling a little pissed off that #2012 just manipulated my emotions with John Cusack family scene. Need carnage now to cleanse my palate. #
Fuck you, Roland Emmerich; you and your #2012. #
@culturepulp Have you seen the book of Kurosawa's painted storyboards for RAN? http://bit.ly/dnkPUf I have it if you want to borrow. in reply to culturepulp #
That epic battle scene in RAN, the best part is how it unfolds and builds with no sound fx. Virtuoso stuff. @culturepulp #
@culturepulp RAN was Kurosawa's last great film. He teeters at times into the lame didacticism of his later movies, but he always saves it. #
@culturepulp You may refer to this definitive review of RAN if you have any questions: http://www.dvdjournal.com/reviews/r/ran_cc.shtml #
Watching #TheTimeTravelersWife http://bit.ly/d1Ltnd Must warn daughters that naked man claiming to be husband from future is stranger danger #
Apparently timetravel gives one license to break into cars & steal at will w/o losing romantic appeal #TheTimeTravelersWife #
So his timetravel power doesn't allow him to change past. That makes him Ashton Kutcher's bitch, doesn't it, ladies? #TheTimeTravelersWife #
With #TheTimeTravelersWife courtship starting at age 6 & Twilight's unsettling werewolf+baby soulmate angle, is CREEPY the new romantic? #
Girl plans from age 6 to marry involuntary time traveler. Once married, complains about his time travel. Caveat emptor #TheTimeTravelersWife #
Maybe #TheTimeTravelersWife is providing great service for girls with message: "Soulmates are overrated & potentially huge disappointments." #
Age-old fairytale of marrying timehopping kleptomaniac streaker doesn't always turn out the way you hoped, girls. #TheTimeTravelersWife #
What happened to the 3 timeshifting fetuses that miscarried. Did they just plop down in bloody clumps somewhen else? #TheTimeTravelersWife #
When his young daughter time travels does she wind up naked and stealing clothes in strange places, too? Ew. #TheTimeTravelersWife #
Watching #Stepfather2 http://bit.ly/cO1HJa 1st impression is that star Terry O'Quinn is going to have a far tougher time elevating this one. #
I really think escaped psycho Jerry in #Stepfather2 is ready to stop killing broken families and become the great stepdad he aspires to be. #
Did I mention that the full title of #Stepfather2 is "Stepfather II: Make Room for Daddy?" Pretty scary, huh? No? You're right. Not scary. #
Familiar Matty from #Stepfather2 is Caroline Williams: Stretch from the great horror sequel Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 http://bit.ly/9492Tw #
#Stepfather2 lame sub-title not mitigated by Terry O'Quinn's constant crazy shouting "Make room for daddy!" during acts of rage. #
How many times does a psycho need to be stabbed in the chest before they stop making sequels? Find out in #Stepfather3 ! #

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This Week’s Twitter: 2010-04-04

April 4th, 2010 by Dorrk.com
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When I was kid in 70s/80s I didn't care for Close Encounters of the Third Kind http://bit.ly/aSy4C4 Now as adult I find it quite brilliant. #
@culturepulp Well, they abandon him first, but he doesn't really seem attached to them, does he? Maybe symbolic of Spielberg/Irving romance? in reply to culturepulp #
I always mistake opening riff of Bowie's Modern Love for intro of Footloose. #
@culturepulp How did you miss that at age 10-11? Bears no relation to actual myths, but fun stuff. Kids love the Medusa stuff. Nightmares! in reply to culturepulp #
Christ, "2012" is 157 mins long? It better be as good/bad as The Postman for me to endure that. May take 2-3 sittings to get thru it all. #
Watching #Ponyo http://bit.ly/d5Fm5Y w the kids. So this enviro-fanatic living underwater? Is this what Al Gore will be doing in 10 years? #
In #Ponyo is it artifact of cutural self-loathing that characters have Japanese names but look western? Or just more universal marketing? #
#Ponyo Just like Underwater Guy's self-loathing of fellow humans? #
#Ponyo Fun Facts: "water can't make fish wet." Also, creepy fish with faces like to eat human blood. Also: destroy humans w black souls! #
#Ponyo Really isn't hard to imagine Al Gore moving to bottom of sea & feverishly keeping nature in balance while plotting doom of mankind #
Sort of refreshing: enviro message in #Ponyo doesn't endorse wholesale Human genocide + heroine is sellout fish who'd rather be filthy human #
@culturepulp The Archie spin-off my kids love: Groovie Goolies http://youtu.be/1iDixTDogug in reply to culturepulp #
Inspired by recent remake, & Terry O'Quinn's great performance in Lost, tonight's movie is 1987 slasher #TheStepfather http://bit.ly/cGWmlv #
#TheStepfather generated rare Oscar chatter despite genre, but took O'Quinn almost 20 years to find another standout role on Lost. #
#TheStepfather Cheesy cheapo 80s synth score does not hold up well, very typical of contemporary horror music. #
#TheStepfather Suprising full frontal O'Quinn cock shot in opening minutes. Didn't see that very often before Apatow's recent juggernaut. #
#TheStepfather also has one of my big movie cheat petpeeves: character walking in street for better shot framing instead of nearby sidewalk. #
#TheStepfather Oscar speculation was ONLY for O'Quinn, rest of movie pretty typical psycho slasher stuff, but he is unusually compelling #
#TheStepfather stars O'Quinn as nutbag marrying into – and killing – families. Doesn't pace psychosis very carefully, just jumps right in. #
Wow, #TheStepfather has some Lifetime Movie calibre writing and acting. Remake's acting overall better + plus lots of half-naked Amber Heard #
But original #TheStepfather does the story a little better despite cheesy flaws. O'Quinn really elevates it more than it deserves. #
Should note that the picture quality on this DVD of #TheStepfather ranges from mediocre to piss-poor. Shame. #
They should show #TheStepfather as a "How-not-to" training vid for aspiring realtors. (Buyers with bashed skulls less likely to close.) #
WTF is Shelley Hack wearing in #TheStepfather thanksgiving scene? She looks like a pioneer-era 80-yr-old school marm. #
Only thing worse than Shelley Hack's Thanksgiving garb in #TheStepfather is Shelley Hack's acting. Charlie's Angels didn't cast for talent. #
O'Quinn goes from normal-to-psycho-and-back-again so swiftly & effortlessly, you almost want cheer on his murderous spree in #TheStepfather. #
Ok, so O'Quinn's line "You're a very bad girl!" isn't exactly the high point of his otherwise excellent performance in #TheStepfather. #
Naked Jill Schoelen near end of #TheStepfather ably cancels out naked Terry O'Quinn from beginning of movie. Well played. #
Must find! IMDb: Jill Schoelen started in Fame-influenced TV pilot called Best of Times (1981) starring Nicolas Cage and Crispin Glover. #
1987 #TheStepfather above average for genre; be interesting to see how they rationalize sequel given lack of typical hint at end of pt 1. #

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This Week’s Twitter: 2010-03-28

March 28th, 2010 by Dorrk.com
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Watching 1984 French flick One Deadly Summer (L'ete Meurtrier) http://bit.ly/aIZHZW Must-see for fans of "crazy bitch" genre #LeteMeurtrier #
#LeteMeurtrier Isabelle Adjani is naked, f-ed up and out for revenge. Started like quirky euro romance, but more like Fatal Attraction now #
#LeteMeurtrier Not really like Fatal Attraction plot-wise, just for "iconic crazy bitchness." Although both movies do feature dead rabbits. #
#LeteMeurtrier may be something Chan Wook Park watched to gin up for his vengeance trilogy. Quirkiness aside, it has very dark raw edge. #
Watching #Zombieland http://bit.ly/aLJytl if so few people left, why aren't there swarms of zombies everywhere? Even L.A. is deserted. #
Do all movies on BluRay start with commercial about how much cooler normal DVDs are? If I were a DVD I'd resent BluRay's incessant preening. #
Watching #TheHangover I'm usually wary of and disappointed by most popular comedies, but I've already laughed 5-6 times in 1st 15 mins #
#TheHangover is funny and everything bit right now I'm just mostly feeling sorry for the baby. Am I no longer a man? #
This one's for @culturepulp: http://youtu.be/Hg8keQh6Ajo Enjoy! #
Watching first part of #breakingbad season premiere just reminding me how annoying I found season two finale. #
Watching some @okkervilriver clips on Youtube. Noticing Will Sheff looks conspicuously like main guy in Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs. #

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This Week’s Twitter: 2010-03-21

March 21st, 2010 by Dorrk.com
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Over Oveur. Peter Graves now Watching gladiator movies in heaven. RT @KFINEWS LA Times reports actor Peter Graves dead #
Good theory. But he died because he ate the fish. @jimgeraghty re: Peter Graves… cause of death: first Mission: Impossible movie. #
Capitalism: A Love Story http://bit.ly/dm6rNU Opening montage of bank robberies. MM's POV so extreme it's actually backwards #CapitalismLove #
#CapitalismLove Something tells me there's going to be lot of sad, extreme stories w/ as little context provided as possible. Typical Moore. #
#CapitalismLove First expert interviewed? Wallace Shawn. Seriously. Moore & Shawn's "expertise" inconceivable in less free economic system. #
#CapitalismLove Moore is very good at propaganda & usually quite funny. Hilarious cut from ERA march to film clip of Reagan slapping woman. #
#CapitalismLove Common thread in failing industries spotlighted so far is unusual level of gov't regulation. Waiting for his alt. proposal. #
#CapitalismLove Moore saying 1 problem w/capitalism is how underpaid/overworked pilots are? How does ditching capitalism = higher pay? #
#CapitalismLove Arguments scattered. Problems: low pay & high pay; law breakers & law enforcers; inept unions & union busting; everything. #
#CapitalismLove Moore confuses morality of voluntary Christian charity for gov't-compelled $ redistribution. Morality is in the choosing. #
#CapitalismLove Now he's using cases of free market ingenuity and individualism (co-op businesses) to bash system that enables them. #
#CapitalismLove Moore making good case that top students from top unversities can be collectively full of shit. Anti-elitism isso rightwing! #
#CapitalismLove Exposing cases of elite & gov't collusion/corruption hardly argues in favor of econ. system planned by gov't of same elites. #
#CapitalismLove After yrs of blasting GM for opposite, Now Moore is attacking company bringing jobs to Flint, MI. Everything fits his thesis #
#CapitalismLove Capitalism calls. Had to put this one on pause & catch up on some work. Too late now; will watch the rest during the week. #
#CapitalismLove Nice to see Moore single out Chris Dodd's mortgage fraud. Moore's brief isn't w/Capitalism it's w/Corporatism & he conflates #
#CapitalismLove Corporatism happens when gov't becomes too entwined w/business, not when leaves free market alone. Result of overregulation #
#CapitalismLove Moore likes to decry fear-mongering right before launching into his own dark warnings about sinister corporate conspiracies. #
#CapitalismLove you have to wonder if the mobs of protesters against foreclosures and layoffs have any idea where homes and jobs come from. #
The New Transparency: Obama admin denied FOIA requests 466,872 times during the 2009, up from 312,683 under Bush http://bit.ly/dqskCc #
Ted Kennedy tries to roll over in grave: Mass. Treasurer: MassCare on Nat'l Scale will "Wipe Out the American Economy" http://bit.ly/9hoD96 #
Finally finishing #CapitalismLove which has become completely aimless with an absurd & meaningless laid-off workers protest. Muddled mess. #
Always surprises me when activists decry corrupt collusion of gov't + business & proposed solution is even more collusion #CapitalismLove #
#CapitalismLove Non-sequiter w/hurricane Katrina thrown in at the end. This is Moore's most incoherent work, disappointing as entertainment. #
#CapitalismLove WTF does it even mean to replace capitalism with democracy? Not an economic system & since when has Moore praised democracy? #
Watching #Ninja http://bit.ly/b1VdwB Comfort Food if you grew up on Sho Kosugi's ninja b-movies in the 80s. So far, cliched campy fun. #
Too many #ninja movies star non-Asian as good ninja. My favorite was 1983 Revenge of the Ninja http://bit.ly/c2YSzQ w/Kosugi as good guy. #
#ninja star Scott Adkins looks like Ben Stiller playing Ben Affleck playing a bad actor in a bad ninja b-movie. Good times. #
Lots of innocent bystanders getting wasted in #ninja always a sign of high quality shlock genre moviemaking. But can it keep up momentum? #
Note to self: if you hire bad #ninja to do dirty work, do not later piss off or welch on deal with bad ninja. #
Cute Asian chick in constant peril in #ninja always has such tense look on face, I expect her to start moving furniture w/ her mind any sec. #
What kind of pussy #ninja wears night vision goggles? Real ninjas have actual night vision. It's a biological fact. #
Bad #ninja dressed like he's auditioning to fight vampires with Blade. WTF, bad ninja flew away wearing a Batman cape! Holy throwing stars! #
No surprise everyone at satanic cult-like corporate meeting in #ninja is armed. Note to self: cult-like corp. meetings likely to end badly. #
Not to stereotype, but no way ancient #ninja outfit designed for Asian is going to fit big muscled White dude out-of-the-box w/o tailoring. #
#ninja borrows heavily from 1981 genre pioneer Enter the Ninja. Lots of deviation but several key plot points align and there's no credit? #
Would never recommend #ninja as high qual action, but decently hits right notes as genre pic. Can't believe no death for corp cult leader. #
Revanche http://bit.ly/xiv48 Austrian drama takes typical crime thriller plot points & strips the Hollywood BS (fun). Good Haneke-ish style. #
Not only is "long wait" backlog in my #Netflix queue 40+, but some new titles not available at all for 1 mo. after DVD released at Amazon. #
1 mo. delay for #Netflix availability makes sense as studios tap sales market before rentals, but it exasperates already ridiculous wait. #
While dissing #Netflix, the recommendation system sucks. 0 recs for me til I "rate more movies." I've rated 2,644! WTF do they want from me? #
Hm. Wonder if #Netfflix read that. Bitched on Twitter about long wait queue and suddenly Zombieland goes from "Very Long Wait" to shipping. #
Months ago I called #Netflix and complained that Gran Torino had been on top of queue at Very Long Wait for months. It shipped out next day. #
Watching We Live In Public http://bit.ly/9es0Pw. Doc abt Internet pioneer Josh Harris & experiments in exhibitionism + tech #weliveinpublic #
#weliveinpublic Knew about weliveinpublic.com 10 yrs ago, but not other crazy tech obsessions. Embodies near every freak aspect of net age. #
#weliveinpublic Bizarre 'Quiet' cult-like big brotherish co-op hotel is about to go terribly terribly wrong, as well it should. #
#weliveinpublic As crazed as Josh Harris seems at times, he also seems to have very solid grasp on what he was doing and what it meant. #
#weliveinpublic Like he was acutely aware of his obsessions and consciously pushed through them head-first to survive them and move on. #
#weliveinpublic Also amazing dotcom story. Worth $80mil, wiped out in 2001, simply too far ahead of his time, and lost in era he predicted #
#weliveinpublic Director Ondi Timoner also made BRILLIANT music doc DiG! http://bit.ly/9qvrHm about divergent paths of two bands. Amazing. #

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This Week’s Twitter: 2010-03-14

March 14th, 2010 by Dorrk.com
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Al Gore, naked. The Standard has a pretty thorough recap of all the recent climate change controversies & retractions http://shar.es/mHVL3 #
In the scene on the boat tonight, Richard looked — and acted — just like Anthony Perkins in Psycho #LOST #
Go to the store for 20 mins. Come back and my block is cordoned off by the bomb squad. They let me through. Guess I don't look combustible. #
Speaking of bombs, Netflix sent me Michael Moore's "Capitalism: A Love Story" today. I have a movie backlog, but this might jump over a few. #
Also from Netflix today: "The Stoning of Soraya M." and "Ninja." I think those two often played as double feature in theaters. #
These are the people in my neighborhood RT @pdxalerts BREAKING: Explosives have been found at Milwaukie home; neighbors being evacuated. #
Explosives around corner from us, abt 10 houses away. We've heard of delinquent with penchant for illegal fireworks down there. @pdxalerts #
Weird. News helicopters are circling overhead. The cop blocking our end of the street didn't seem to think we were in danger up the hill. #
Fox12 reports "Milwaukie police said they have not confirmed the materials found are explosive." http://bit.ly/cak0at Bummer. #
Nothing's blown up. Police are no longer barricading us. Investigation into the "suspicious items" is on-going. http://bit.ly/cak0at #
Read "Charlie & Choc Factory" to kids for 2nd time. W.Wonka is a prick & OompaLoompas are douchebags. Book is OK; sequel is worst book ever. #
Watching remake of The Stepfather http://bit.ly/dmOMGn Brilliant only for exploitation of slutty Amber Heard, always in bikini/underwear. #
Amber Heard fun fact: not only is she impossibly hot and keen on flaunting it, she's also an acolyte of Ayn Rand! http://bit.ly/atlVFU #
Nearly every shot of Amber Heard in Stepfather remake is gratuitous ass/bare-midriff shot. Smart save for lack of brilliant Terry O'Quinn. #
Also re: Stepfather remake, Sela Ward appears to have stopped aging 20 yrs ago. Ex-husband char. accused her of letting self go. Absurd. #

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This Week’s Twitter: 2010-03-07

March 7th, 2010 by Dorrk.com
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#Splinterheads http://bit.ly/cjG4iX Mild slacker comedy w/geocaching subplot – activity that has enthralled my family @mrkorb @granjanmarie #
#Splinterheads 1 of those movies where everything is fraction away from working. If it worked it would be OK low-key quirky sleeper at best #
#Splinterheads Ultimately sweet & never annoying but also never as funny as it thinks it is; stoned people may find it hilarious. Not bad. #
Wolfmother's Cosmic Egg: SuperRockingFuckingtasticExpialiKickAss http://bit.ly/aneqwl Imagine Jack White gang-raped by Zeppelin & Sabbath. #
Note to self: Change today's lunch plans @ 29th & Powell. RT @pdxalerts: Powell Blvd. shut down from SE 28th to SE 32nd due to a gas leak. #
That may be my first actually useful interaction with Twitter. Thanks to @pdxalerts! #
OK Go's music video for This too Shall Pass is amazing. http://youtu.be/qybUFnY7Y8w #
Brenda Hampton: worst TV producer ever. Yet I find myself addicted to her painfully awful shows. 7th Heaven. Secret Life of Teenager. Barf. #
#brightstar http://bit.ly/a5RW25 Jane Campion's visual obsession w fabric & flowers movie like world's longest lovliest detergent commercial #
Seriously #brightstar is just quietly exquisitely beautiful in the most delicate way #
#brightstar BTW I've loved Paul Schneider since All the Real Girls http://bit.ly/aXc11r Always interesting + looks like P.T. Anderson. #
Also in #brightstar Abbie Cornish looks like puffy Katie Holmes, thankfully w/o mannered acting. Also fine in Candy http://bit.ly/bcNhVK #
Speaking of P.T. Anderson, it would be hilarious if this was really his web site: http://www.ptanderson.com/ #

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This Week’s Twitter: 2010-02-28

February 28th, 2010 by Dorrk.com
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Bugging me: Wasn't there a movie where Don Knotts played a donut maker and something valuable like a diamond got lost in the dough? Title? #
Movie time! Now showing, Park Chan-Wook's Thirst http://bit.ly/brs2HP Fan of his vengeance trilogy. Curious to see what he does w/ vampires. #
#thirst rated R for "graphic bloody violence, disturbing images, strong sexual content…" Can't be a Park film, can it? #
#thirst Did I really just read a subtitle of a Korean priest saying "Absoposilutely?" #
#thirst Park's movies balance considerable shock value with so many lovely details. #
#thirst Typical casual throwaway chitchat from Park, as husband says: "Women shouldn't get sedated endoscopes. Doctors secretly rape them." #
#thirst Always also some kind of weird tortured sexual dynamic too. He's sort of like a weird Asian mix of David Lynch & Martin Scorsese. #
#thirst I think David Cronenberg would have to be in the mix, too. But it's all very unique, just offering some reference points. #
#thirst 1st halfhour oddball priest volunteers infection w/ virus for experiment, is only survivor. Recurring symptoms abated by vampirism. #
#thirst Oh some very nice and creepily beautiful new ways of depicting a vampire there. Rare to see such graceful invention in old genre. #
#thirst Is Park's family life remotely as f?ckedup as every family in all his movies? There's always a whirlwind of dark sick dysfunction. #
Be interesting to hear what a Korean Catholic thinks of #thirst. Seems to be a lot of cultural baggage being explored… #
#thirst "If you had only heard the sponge cake story." One of the best lines ever. BTW it's f?cking tough 2 do this during subtitled movies. #
#thirst You have to love a director so confident that he uses his important special effects so subtly you could easily miss them. #
#thirst I'm no Catholic but pretty sure if a priest grants absolution in exchange for vampire blood, it doesn't count as real absolution. #
#thirst is slower paced than Park's great vengeance trilogy, but w/ hour left I have no idea what's in store. How often can you say that? #
#thirst At 81 mins., least erotic threesome ever (assuming Weekend at Bernies series never went there)? #
#thirst really lost it's energy and purpose after 90 mins. Maybe I've seen too much Buffy, but all the vamp ideas now feel like retreads. #
Lots of great stuff in #thirst, but lost me during the guilt section & I stopped caring. Too long (2:13) w/all fresh ideas used up in 90min. #
@culturepulp Tried 2 watch Tron few mos. ago. Off @ 20mins. Sullied memory of flinging margarine container lids at friends ala deadly discs. in reply to culturepulp #
@JonahNRO today: "Obama White House strategy is rhetorical version of Keynesianism: more you spend, bigger the payoff." http://bit.ly/dhk6mY #
@culturepulp Another blow to childhood hero-worship: Harrison Ford is a chest-waxing cheeseburger-scarfing enviro-Tom: http://is.gd/9gaFc #
@culturepulp What, no c&fatboy podcast today? #
@JonahNRO My 6YO loves RocknRoll Queen by The Subways and, weirdly, Don't fight It by Kenny Loggins and Steve Perry. in reply to JonahNRO #
@JonahNRO Best Ramones song for this is Do You Wanna Dance, but my kids also love Twisted Sister's We're Not Gonna Take It + I Wanna Rock in reply to JonahNRO #
@JonahNRO Last suggestion, one I'm sure you already have covered in spades: MR. ROBOTO. Had my daughter speaking Japanese @ age 3. Have fun. in reply to JonahNRO #
Absolutely withering EU Parliment action: http://youtu.be/bypLwI5AQvY Make the U.S. seem quite prude given our political outrages. #
This Nigel Farage guy needs to be verbed. See Blair get #faraged! See Sarkozy get #faraged! See entire EU get #faraged! http://bit.ly/aVuwk2 #
@culturepulp Song from ZD's neat MWard album She&Him Vol1 (Vol2 coming next month). You might like this tv showtune : http://bit.ly/6r3zc8 in reply to culturepulp #
US court rules 'Zombies have free speech rights' : http://bit.ly/93BEWm via @jonahNRO at The Corner #
Obama's anecdotal analogy at Health Summit reveals he doesn't get how basic car insurance works. Really? Tom Maguire : http://bit.ly/9TAdXI #
Tonight's shitty DVD: #Whiteout http://bit.ly/bMHIL0 Pro: Kate Beckinsale Con: Since The Thing 82 why bother making movie set in Antarctica? #
#Whiteout No matter how well intentioned, starting shootout on plane above arctic wasteland will never turn out how you hoped. Bad start. #
Maybe the title #Whiteout refers to the opaque fast-drying liquid that should have been applied liberally to first 10 pages of screenplay. #
Apparently in #Whiteout Beckinsale works in beatnik rebel commune on Hoth. At least they had good sense to cut right to underwear scenes. #
#Whiteout It's her last mission, what could possibly go wrong? When do we as weary audience declare, "We're getting too old for this shit?" #
Speaking of Hoth, in #Whiteout Kris Kristofferson looking suspiciously like Wampa snow beast. #
I smell in 1st 15mins #Whiteout is another preachy Eco-thriller. Has to be better than "Chaos Theory," which defied conventional awfulness. #
She picked remote post to escape ghosts of past. Ironically, now she must face them! Suspect this plot was assembled by $50 software app. #
Kristofferson in #Whiteout should know that Hoth base has successful history of creating prosthetic hands, no need for drastic measures. #
Have to admit now that I have beet on my side the actual whiteout fight scene in #Whiteout was silly fun and not something I've seen before. #
Have to admit now that I have beer on my side the actual whiteout fight scene in #Whiteout was silly fun and not something I've seen before. #
Eco-preachiness in #Whiteout limited to gratuitous idiotic one-liner. Movie isolates its badness in hackneyed plot, CGI breath effects. #
Let me correct myself. That was Tom Skeritt NOT Kris Kristofferson in #Whiteout. Those two have melded into a oneness worthy of Krishna. #

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This Week’s Twitter: 2010-02-21

February 21st, 2010 by Dorrk.com
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Nearly every mainstream family movie has at least one scene or moment that skews wildly inappropriate, and adds no narrative value. Why? #
@culturepulp Rolling Thunder has 1 of most incongruous opening songs of any hard boiled exploitation thriller: "San Antone" by Denny Brooks. in reply to culturepulp #
@culturepulp I have dream playlist of 70s exploitation soundtrack ballads that are impossible to find. "San Antone" leads the list. #
Also on #dreamplaylistofexploitationballads: "Mama's Little Girl No More" by Linda George from Felicity (1979) #
@culturepulp #dreamplaylistofexploitationballads: "The Teacher" by Jackie Ward from The Teacher (1974) #
@culturepulp #dreamplaylistofexploitationballads: "Cross roads" from Massacre at Central High (1976) #
@culturepulp #dreamplaylistofexploitationballads:"Money Is the Root of All Happiness" from The Candy Snatchers (1973) #
@culturepulp #dreamplaylistofexploitationballads "The Warm Side of the Door" from Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984) #
@culturepulp #dreamplaylistofexploitationballads "Pretty Things" from truly awful Slashed Dreams (1975) #
@culturepulp #dreamplaylistofexploitationballads + haunting improbably beautiful title theme from Cannibal Holocaust (1980) by Ritz Ortolani #
@culturepulp #dreamplaylistofexploitationballads possibly include some of the oddball hippie ragtime from original Last House on the Left. #
@culturepulp #dreamplaylistofexploitationballads Because nothing prepares you for rape, murder and mayhem like a syrupy AM radio pop ballad #
@culturepulp #dreamplaylistofexploitationballads Bit disturbed that I had this list so conveniently prepared. #
@culturepulp #dreamplaylistofexploitationballads "Slashed Dreams" (aka "Sunburst") is vile w/classically wrong sndtrck by Roberta Van Dere #
Just caught up w/ #breakingbad s2 finale. Disappointed in contrivances. 2 much chaos theory. Smwhere Ashton Kutcher is kiling self in utero. #
Am I only one who found Terminator: Salvation 5X more satisfying & 10X less cheesy than T2? #
@andrewbreitbart Daniel Stern and John Heard? A powerful political reunion for the stars of C.H.U.D.! http://bit.ly/uWK7 in reply to andrewbreitbart #
@culturepulp I believe this is companion piece to your "Woman w TIE Fighter as Head" which I think you drew in margins of screenplay draft. in reply to culturepulp #
@culturepulp @kevinwmoore It gets better: cropped out is the shadow of the encroaching Dark Troll. I have the full pic around somewhere… in reply to culturepulp #
@culturepulp @blorvak Memorable feedback from that event: Disdainful European Girl: "American humor is not funny." in reply to culturepulp #
@culturepulp @blorvak And, from trembling, ashen female browser: "I don't think I like your book very much…" Good times! #
Inspired by @culturepulp #santaslilgimp is now back online, hopefully for good, here: http://www.santaslilgimp.com #
Bugging me abt #breakingbad: Journeyman public high school teacher needs to sell meth because his gov't health ins. won't cover chemo? Rly? #
Sitting down to watch The House of the Devil http://bit.ly/ct5I6e expecting low grade schlock, but it had intruiging cast. #
Tom Noonan Dee Wallace Mary Woronov – them's some psychotronic hall of famers. #
Ugh. Movie starts with a wildly bogus (and awkwardly written) "statistic" about Satanic Cults. Hopefully it's trying be funny. #
Liking the style so far: casually retro. Seems to have a confident sense of it's atmosphere, and not anxiously over doing it. #
#thehouseofthedevil Tom Noonan oozes creepiness, even just as a disembodied voice on the phone. #
#thehouseofthedevil Thing I hate most about contemp horror is overagressive style. This mimics the plain aesthetic of 70s/early 80s. Fresh. #
#thehouseofthedevil Greg Kihn band on the soundtrack. Loving this. Uh uh uh – uh uh – uh uh uh. #
#thehouseofthedevil So far has great acting for horror movie, on par w/ Orphan http://bit.ly/ab6CwY w/Vera Farminga & Peter Sarsgaard. #
#thehouseofthedevil Ha ha dig the photo on writer/director Ti West's IMDB profile http://bit.ly/cyNX1k #
#thehouseofthedevil 2/3 in & this movie is nailing the details. Still scratching head over illiterate opening title, though. #
#thehouseofthedevil Last 20 mins were messy, but OK. The art of The Ending has been mostly lost, esp in genre movies. Potential was there. #
#thehouseofthedevil Will def seek out more Ti West flicks, start w/ Cabin Fever 2. 1st Cabin Fever was fun w a crazy streak. Ideal 4 West. #
A brief history of the Stimulus (which now appears to mean "An Enormous Boner"): http://bit.ly/amy8kS #
$250+Billion stimulus spent so far to "create" less than <2million "jobs?" That's >$125k spent per "job." Wonder what avg wage per "job" is? #
Assuming these aren't largely high wage jobs, generously assume $50k per job. Each "created job" has therefore wasted $75k? #
What% of these 2 million jobs created are private sector, and what% is bloat added to federal workforce? Amity Shlaes: http://bit.ly/axXVk7 #
Some context on the Stimulus jobs #s: Not only failed to meet promised job growth, but # not real jobs, based on model: http://bit.ly/boJMHM #
White house used model to predict job growth, and then used same model to claim job growth – but missed own target by 1+million. Success! #
Reading watered down "Dracula" to the kids. To amuse myself, I perform all of Jonathan Harker's dialog like Keanu Reeves in the 1992 movie. #
Reading a kid's book in the voice and inflection of Keanu Reeves is unsettlingly natural. #
Watching "Public Enemies" http://bit.ly/c4ZMEb Billy Crudup's accent sounds like 1 of Trey Parker's South Park voices. #
#publicenemies Godawfully dull w over 1hr left. Good moments here and there; no anchor. I like Johnny Depp but his starpower is overrated. #
Wow, scene in #publicenemies where Dillinger casually strolls through the office investigating him deserves to be in a much better movie. #
@culturepulp Agree. Cotillard & Lang had no business making that scene so good w undeveloped characters. in reply to culturepulp #
Mann has made classics: Manhunter, Insider, Heat. But when he misfires, like Ali & #publicenemies, it's a whole lotta empty nothing. #
On to Cabin Fever 2, another Ti West project. It's a bit funny so far, but not tight like #thehouseofthedevil Poor Superbad cloning early on #
#cabinfever2 The sooner the fat kid dies the better for everyone. Some of the acting is too broad, and not in a good way. #
#cabinfever2 Yes. I demand subtle acting in a movie about a high school prom hit with an outbreak of hemorragic fever. I'm just that way. #
Ti West's direction of #cabinfever2 is nowhere near as assured as it was in #thehouseofthedevil despite both being released in 2009. #
Anyone hoping to be grossed out in myriad ways #cabinfever2 is definitely one to look out for. It carries a +5 Bag O' Many Ewwws. #
Judah Friedlander should've given some tips in low-key comedic acting to the rest of the #cabinfever2 cast. #
I can see so much of #cabinfever2 working with better delivery and direction. To compensate, a giant rabbit is about to start puking blood. #
I advise anyone with a puking blood phobia to stay away from #cabinfever2. Those not so afflicted, prepare for juicy fun. #
#cabinfever2 Nice use of The Ramones' "Somebody Put Something in My Drink." Flaws of this movie aside, it's got creative energy of a kind. #
Hey, it's the dude from American Movie! Mark, the director of Coven. However, #cabinfever2 missed a big opportunity with the giant rabbit. #
#cabinfever2 Well. This is not the kind of hand job most guys hope to get from their prom dates. #
#cabinfever2 is 2nd Ti West Bmovie I've seen in as many nights that devolves into incoherence as plot escalates. Otherwise promising talent. #
Ti West has apparently disowned #cabinfever2 claiming studio recut movie & massacred ending, so all chaos+flaws I rued may not be his fault. #
My last #cabinfever2 post, promise. Brief bit about about editing and reshots out of West's hands in Day 5 recap here: http://bit.ly/GQPj9 #
Stimulus: Texas homes being weatherized at cost of $78k PER HOME. http://bit.ly/aB6qRD Job growth in admin. dealing w/ stimulus paperwork! #
Mel Gibson speaking truth to Reporter:http://gawker.com/5462862/ #charmoffensive #melgisbon #
if there's anyone who's not sick of my b-movie ramblings, I hope to watch "The Final Destination" tonight, around 11pm PST. Thx Netflix! #
Rare Netflix coup today scoring 3 movies that have been mired in the 30+ "Very Long Wait" clog at the top o my queue. Dreary service lately. #
@mattmlpdx When I 1st switched over from blockbusteronline I used to get new movies within a week of release. Now lucky to get within 3 mos. #
I have never heard my 6-year-old laugh as hard as she is right now during Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs. #
Does MS purposely make networking Windows 7 with XP a bloody nightmare so we will upgrade all our computers more quickly? Full of hate now. #
The Final Destination is pt4 in the series of movies in which the inanity of the plot is exceeded only by the convoluted carnage. Great fun. #
Plot: group of young people barely escape gruesome convoluted death only for death to hunt them down in more convoluted and gruesome fashion #
#finaldestination4 begins with racetrack disaster; not as inspired as previous airplane, freeway and roller coaster set pieces & faker gore #
#finaldestination4 Still expecting a gallery of ingeniously ridiculous disembowellings and decapitations. Like the flaming head right there. #
#finaldestination4 1 great thing about series is how easily kids figure out Death is stalking them, as if they just saw FD 1-3 on Discovery. #
In #finaldestination4 kids Googled plots of earlier movies – all carefully blogged of course despite everyone involved being dismembered. #
#finaldestination4 Ohh, 1st really creative demise, guy gets diced by impact against chain link fence. Makes up for lackluster energy so far #
#finaldestination4 Favorite FD series death was guy in 2 (or 3?) who was liquified by falling pane of sheet glass. #
#finaldestination4 Note to self: avoid swimming pools. That looked uncomfortable. But I heard a rumor that Richard Gere once did it for fun. #
The chicks in #finaldestination4 just don't have the charisma of Ali Larter, AJ Cook or Mary Elizabeth Winstead. OK but no star power. #
#finaldestination4 The victims are always so precious, like sheer sausage skins stuffed with blood pudding, ready to splatter on demand. #
#finaldestination4 My daughter's fear of escalators has just been confirmed in graphic detail. #
#finaldestination4 Wait, was that just a premonition of disaster inside a premonition of disaster? Death is going to be majorly pissed! #
#finaldestination4 wasn't quite as insane as the others but delivered some creative carnage & gets points for nice style in final scene. #
@culturepulp Been enjoying these podcasts + the ham-fisted appearance. A "20-something failure" but a 40-something success! in reply to culturepulp #
Watching This is England http://bit.ly/9aXVAi WTF w/Euro movies abt pre-pube kids getting sexy w/older girls. Do Euro women really do it? #
Also wrt http://bit.ly/9aXVAi Rich movie history of skinheads: Ed Norton, Russell Crowe, Ryan Gosling, now Stephen Graham, all brilliant. #
Which 1990s movie is the exception to quality skinhead performances? This one: http://bit.ly/LMfXg Celebrate diversity: it's all ludicrous. #
Loving John Stossel's move to FBN. Instead of 4hrs/YR on ABC, he gets 1hr/WK. So far: Schools, Food, Rand, Debt, Cronyism, Hayek, Energy… #
@culturepulp @lendogPDX Characters inspired by real govtcamp people: Edna, Vi, Dub, Barb; rest fictional. Skeeter was local who helped out. in reply to culturepulp #
@culturepulp @lendogpdx Actor Paul played Castroite Huck Inn chef, no basis in reality. Paul freq complained his roommate did nude yoga. in reply to culturepulp #
Many old G-rated movies surprisingly racy. 1958 musical Gigi about affairs of Paris socialites w/young girl in queue. http://bit.ly/9×3Tej #
G-rated Gone With the Wind: woman trades sex for opportunity + scene in whorehouse; movie addresses prostitution, shouldn't be PG, at least? #
Louis Jordan's big song in Gigi is only slightly less creepy version of shocking child bride anthem in South Pacific. #
Theory: sexualization of girls is not new phenom; we are just more self-conscious about perversions we used to indulge without comment. #
Go ahead and hate your neighbor! Revisiting American classic 2night: Tom Laughlin's hippy vengeance flick Billy Jack http://bit.ly/bbi63f #
"One Tin Soldier" is of course king of cheesy 70s exploitation songs. Not on my recent #dreamplaylistofexploitationballads Not obscure enuf. #
#billyjack A Green Beret half-breed recluse philosopher kicking redneck ass in the name of social justice! #
#billyjack He's an anti-war killing machine teaching love & tolerance with the bloodstained heel of his boot! #
#billyjack Oddly there appear to be more hippy castaway children in the local commune school than there are people in town. #
#billyjack Writer/director/star Tom Laughlin was the Kevin Costner of his day. His movies are mythologized love letters to himself. #
#billyjack He fights barefoot. Is that also how he ran around the jungles of Viet Nam? #
#billyjack Once the town thugs realized they don't need to stand still and let Billy Jack hit them, he doesn't look so tough. #
#billyjack The leader of "Freedom School" is such a hippy she has sideburns. The students fight the man with insipid folk songs. Deadly! #
#billyjack "When we want Billy we contact him Indian Style." Does that mean they roll out a case of cheap beer and wait five minutes? #
#billyjack I kid, I kid. I kid because I love! #
#billyjack Hey that's Howard Hessman as the hippie drama teacher. Didnt know Dr. Johnny Fever was an Oregon native! http://bit.ly/9OWeAZ #
#billyjack Did you know the rifts in society can be healed through improvisational theater? Truth! #
#billyjack Fun fact: if you hold the Eagle Feather, getting multiple rattlesnake bites turns you into a more efficient beatific ass-kicker. #
#billyjack High Concept pitch: Easy Rider meets Rambo. #
#billyjack Movie is damning indictment of pacifism. Kids getting beat up by rednecks try 2 fight back with "street theater?" Force needed. #
#billyjack Maybe they shouldn't be using the Sheriff's real pistol as a prop. Damn hippies got no safety regulations. #
#billyjack teaches us there are bad people in world and dippy peace talk means nothing w/o real threat of violence to defend & enable it. #
I'd like to see #billyjack square off against Sheriff Buford T. Pusser from "Smokey and the Bandit." It would be one-sided, but funny. #
#billyjack "Damn your pacifism!" cries hippie girl, but rape victim insists her philosophy of non-violence makes it endurable. Pathology. #
#billyjack Why is it wrong for US/Europe to invade and supplant primitive cultures but OK for hippies to invade and transform redneck towns? #
#billyjack Maybe The Band of the Hand can enroll in Freedom School and add a paramilitary wing to the drama club. http://bit.ly/9iK7c2 #
After #billyjack takes out thug with 1 karate chop to throat, my wife: "You don't mess with a guy who's blood brother to a rattle snake." #
#billyjack Youth of America: "From the day I was born to this moment, and every second in between, life has been just one big shitbrick." #
#billyjack "An Indian is never afraid to die." Also never afraid to leave broken down car & random other junk in front yard on reservation. #
The friendly sheriff in #billyjack looks unsettingly like Pat Buchanan. Should have presciently made him a bad guy. #
#billyjack Also, is it a problem that part-Cherokee Tom Laughlin looks more like Troy Donahue than Jay Silverheels? #
Coven rocks final scene, "On the bloody morning after / One Tin Soldier rides away…." Soon: The Trial of #billyjack http://bit.ly/bbi63f #
BTW, this wreaks a mighty toll on my old 2nd Gen iPhone battery. #

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This Week’s Twitter: 2010-02-14

February 14th, 2010 by Dorrk.com
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Movie I'm currently watching http://bit.ly/bvIJ4c co-stars Tom Sizemore, or, as I like to call him, "The Thinking Man's Michael Madsen." #
"Red" plot is old man (Brian Cox) avenging death of his eponymous dog. Could be inverted sequel to "Ol' Yeller." Presumably more violent. #
Cox old-timer character in "Red" relates to tagline on this old Nic Cage stinker poster: http://bit.ly/974OFR #
Prod. values are bad, like a made-for-Lifetime movie. Wrong subject matter though; maybe made-for-Animal Planet? #
I hope the August-December romance vibes I'm picking up on don't lead to anything steamy. I'm in no hurry to see Brian's cox. #
Brian Cox produced, no doubt sensing meaty lead role for himself, but it's remarkably boring for such hamfisted material. Big monologue dud. #
One of the best movies of the 90s was also named "Red": http://bit.ly/aVZSw8 Fell in love with Irène Jacob… #
One of favorite songs also named "Red" http://bit.ly/cxJ6Gi by Okkervil River. Unrelated song keeping me from bailing on movie. #
As final act starts and revenge sputters into action it occurs to me: Eastwood would have nailed this performance. #
Not to diss Brian Cox, who was a far superior Hannibal Lecter than scenery chewing Anthony Hopkins. But "Red" is a far cry from Gran Torino. #
Thank god "Red" is over. 2/10. Tepid and tame. Was curious about writer Jack Ketchum. http://bit.ly/b6giSc Curiosity resolved. #
Wayne Rooney is first ever player to score 20 EPL goals before end of January: http://shar.es/aLr46 via @sharethis . Well done, Wazza! #
Neat summary: Why are liberals so condescending? – http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/04/AR2010020403698.html #
Can't believe 22 yrs w/o seeing "Night of the Creeps." Came out during my Fangoria/FilmThreat phase! Deeply satisfying. http://bit.ly/aA1eCE #
Yuval Levin on health care: http://bit.ly/c9tBcR "difference between left and right is not difference of degree, but direction…" #
#breakingbad & #madmen both about men lying to women; is it tribal dynamic that I find myself empathizing with liars & deriding the victims? #
Trying to find logic in recent followers. Did I tweet #food or #health related? @health_head2toe @delivereddish @8packabs @wasoverweighted #
Behold the splendor of a post-partisan administration! Gibbs Mocks Palin During White House Briefing: http://bit.ly/90bC7e #
Obama the new Cheney? Post-partisan myth cont.:"Politically motivated criticism … only serve the goals of al-Qaeda." http://bit.ly/aD0c0Q #
FTR, I like partisanship. There's a name for political systems w/o opposing parties. Obama's "post-partisan" pose was never serious, obv. #
Obama critcizing Bush and GOP @2005: "as if Democrats are duty-bound to breathe life into his agenda" http://bit.ly/9h4tv3 #
O: "even sillier, as if opposing a plan that the people do not want is an illegitimate tactic for an opposition party" http://bit.ly/9h4tv3 #
Too much excellent new music to keep up w/in 2010. Start w/Midlake's "The Courage Of Others" http://bit.ly/9qxOpX #
Also recommended for strong indie songwriting: Eels' "End Times" http://bit.ly/cgG8hl. Yet to absorb new Spoon, Wolfmother, Shearwater, etc. #
Wow, 1st ep of "Happy Days" is racy. Had to turn it off until the kids went to bed. http://bit.ly/duywTT #
"Good ol' Mr. B!" that's how the girl in 1st Happy Days ep refers to gym teacher who tried to grope her. I don't recall so much sex in HD. #
I don't give a #$%& about John Mayer, but nice interview: "I've got a Benetton heart and a #$%& David Duke #$%&." http://bit.ly/90vNYP #
Last night's Windows updated crashed one of my PCs. Going through byzantine process of rolling back update via command prompt. How quaint. #
@mattmlpdx I've been back in Jr. High recently with this in the loop: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTdP1MdERac #
If it wasn't already, Twitter is now officially uncool. I just got a note that my mom is following me. Hi Mom. #
@mrkorb re: crash, I wiped the drive and installed Windows 7. 7 seems pretty good, but networking 7 with XP is a headache of its own. in reply to mrkorb #

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This Week’s Twitter: 2010-02-07

February 7th, 2010 by Dorrk.com
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Trying to summon attention span for Part 2 of "Che." I think I read a year ago that the two parts have different styles. Hoping that's true. #
Hmm. Watch "Che" or play FIFA for two hours? Which will be more rewarding…? #
"Che" it is: Bolivia. Ironic if pt2 suceeds like Cuban revolution but pt1 flounders like Bolivian campaign did. #
Of course, this narrative format conveniently skips over Che's most brutal period, the part of his life that rarely makes it onto a T-shirt. #
Why show Che's executions of prisoners, gays, priests & children in Cuba when you can skip ahead six years and show him as a loving father? #
WTF is Lou Diamond Phillips doing in here? #
Che's Bolivian gang is dysfunctional; we never saw why the Cuban rebels were more efficient. I sense scapegoating of the native Bolivians. #
Yep those Bolivians were too self interested and lacked revolutionary spirit. Maybe Che also failed to inspire like Castro, despite his rep. #
PT2 is interesting. Conflict in failure. PT1 was pristine, dull. Also pt1 ignored villains; 2 has cool CIA op on the trail. Tension works! #
Minimalist expo recalls Crazy8s lyric: "it's hard to tell the good from the bad when they're both wearing camoflauge green jeans." #
Thought I spotted Jeffrey Wright in small role as wounded rebel, but he's uncredited. #
Great scene as lookouts for dwindling rebels discover the large number of army in pursuit of them. More of this kind of filmmaking needed. #
SPOILER: Che's been captured! Looking grim. I hope he makes it; I wonder what will happen… #
Good scene: Che's intimate conversation with soldier guarding him. Nowhere near enough of this kind of personal material in these movies. #
What? Che's accused of executing someone? Not this Che. It's all CIA lies!!!!! #
Death scene also excellently done; but Soderberg must be tool of rightwing: we all know CIA really pulled the trigger on Che! #
My iPhone's winter coat was torn and frayed. Replaced terrific Marware Sportsuit for bargain price of $6.99: http://bit.ly/dCFuQg #
@culturepulp That O clip is so disingenuous on so many levels Twitter is incapable of coping with a response… in reply to culturepulp #
Recent diet of Breaking Bad, Fringe, and movies like Death in Love, wife complains about "ickiness." Any overlooked chick flicks I can rent? #
Help Wanted: Justice Dept hiring civil rights lawyers. "Mental retardation, mental illness" preferred but not essential http://bit.ly/d71wC1 #
Neat NYT interactive budget chart http://bit.ly/bZN01L #
Walter Russell Mead: "The global warming movement as we have known it is dead." Nice summary of latest "science" goofs: http://bit.ly/ccbquo #
I dislike these recap shows, but apparently I forgot the entire last season of Lost. #
Bad sign when the recaps of episodes you've already seen are incoherent and confusing. #
Kate must have been in Indiana Jones' fridge when that bomb went off. #
I've always thought that the recurring slow, sad music cue in #lost borrows heavily from the chorus of Hall&Oates "One on One." #
#lost time shifting is contagious: wife is tired so hr2 will wait until tomorrow night when flash of white light reveals nothing else on tv. #
Has @Breitbart been banned from Twitter? Did he OD? Was he eaten by #demonsheep? After yesterday's flood, it's lonely around here w/o him. #
"It is strange for a President to complain repeatedly about ten-year old policies and then not propose to change them." http://bit.ly/cpAmFm #
Labash keeps falling of my radar, but he is hilarious. If only there were some way to keep up with him… http://bit.ly/8xkZ3l #
Suspect parenting: Currently creating family-safe edited version of Airplane! for the kids to enjoy this weekend. Shit will not hit fan. #
Labash: "Facebook is porn. With porn, you watch other people take off their clothes and abase themselves in public." http://bit.ly/coZQFL #
Good for @andrewbreitbart: Exasperated Right Rejects Birther at Tea Party http://bit.ly/dmogFO Farah+WND are evil twins of conservatism. #
Night of the Creeps, 1986. Aliens that look like ugly naked babies. This came highly recommended. http://bit.ly/a6qp1I #
Ah, ugly baby aliens + sorority girls. Shows far more promise now. #
Well, aliens + sorority girls + axe weilding asylum escapee. Now we have a movie. #
Natch, evil frat guys. Waiting for movie wth good frat guys battling evil nerds. Wait, that was called "Old School," wasn't it? #
We have a corpsesicle! The corpsesicle is killing David Paymer! #
For a B-movie, #nightofthecreeps had got all the cliches + humor, awareness & lots of ideas. And a zombie David Paymer. #
Anticipating obligatory shot of slithery alien slug inching up coed's bare leg…. #
"Girls, the good news is, your dates are here." "What's the bad news?" "They're dead." #nightofthecreeps #
Fact: #nightofthecreeps did the lawnmower vs. zombie challenge before Dead Alive. #
#nightofthecreeps maybe 2nd best American zombie movie of 80s, after Return of the Living Dead http://bit.ly/93dyZX #
Shot of slug on leg never happened, unless you count leg of crippled wisecracking male roommate on toilet. I do not. #

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Che: a truly Marxist movie

February 1st, 2010 by Dorrk.com
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Just finished watching Steven Soderberg’s two-part biopic of Ernesto “Che” Guevara. (I “live-tweeted” my reactions here.)

Che: Part One juxtaposes the successful 1957-1598 Castro-led insurgency in Cuba with Che’s post-revolution visit to the United Nations, where he is received as a celebrity amongst Manhattan socialites and other Third-World diplomats. Che: Part Two follows Che’s rather less successful attempt to bring the revolution to Bolivia. I won’t tell you how it ends. (Actually, I will.)

First, it’s no secret to anyone who has read my previous writing that I am not a fan of communism, and I am ideologically predisposed to not dig Che’s pop-cult status or feel any empathy toward his struggle. However, I like to think I am somewhat capable of appreciating good movies, regardless of their ideological content. For example, you can read my glowing review of the quite relevant 1962 masterpiece of pro-Castro propaganda I Am Cuba here. (Also relevant: my review of the “meh” romance The Motorcycle Diaries.) I also recently enjoyed the fascinating Baader Meinhof Complex, which is admittedly critical of the leftist German “Red Brigade” terrorist faction, although it does a good job of also depicting the youthful glamour of the movement.

I did not care for Soderberg’s Che — especially not the first part — for reasons primarily due to Soderberg’s stylistic approach, and secondarily its politics, which I found to be quite subdued, perhaps too much so.

It’s hard to say from watching exactly what Soderberg meant to accomplish with Che, largely because the style of the two movies is so austere that only rarely is there an opportunity for connection between the audience and the title figure. This approach particularly hampers Part One, as its depiction of Castro’s successful fomenting of rebellion throughout the Cuban countryside is so effortless that the movie utterly lacks tension.

While we do get a glimpse of Che’s evolution from a slightly bumbling, green asthmatic rebel into a feared commandante, Soderberg shows no interest in relating the secret of Che’s success nor the source of his later reputation. Likewise, Che chooses not to frame any narrative of the revolution. Castro insists at the beginning that his planned revolution will gain momentum in rural areas, and it does so with few obstacles, but tactically the effort is left a mystery. Soderberg doesn’t even attempt to characterize Batista’s enemy army until the very end, at which point they are demoralized and eager to surrender.

Just like the movies’ narrative, Soderberg’s characterizations of the Che and the other rebels is so ascetic, that unless one is presumably already empathetic toward leftist insurgency, there’s little cause to mourn their casualties or celebrate their victories. Che is a complete enigma from start to finish, as he quietly marches through the jungles toward Santa Clara.

Part Two fares better, primarily because its subject matter is rife with the kind of conflict absent from Part One: as Che attempts to carry on the revolution by leading a dysfunctional band of guerillas into Bolivia, they not only find sterner resistance from the Bolivian army, but sympathetic politicians offer no support, and the poor peasants in whose name Che professes to fight, reject both the violent nature and ideological content of the revolution. The answer to the question, “What if they gave a war, and no one comes?” is that you find informants everywhere, your rebels demoralized and defeated, and yourself face down riddled with bullets on the floor of a rundown Bolivian shack.

With both movies assembled as a dispassionate series of chronological events, the best scenes are the few, remote moments when Soderberg lets his camera close on on a feeling, rather than an action. Batista’s demoralized soldiers at the end of Part One, Che’s rebels discovering the size of the encroaching Bolivian army, and Che’s intimate conversation with the Bolivian soldier assigned to guard him. The rarity of these moments make them profound, but the bloodless rest of the film has drained them of real impact.

It’s almost as if Soderberg felt the need to atone for the excesses of his Hollywood movies, like the bubblegum Oceans series, and at the same time was leery of romanticizing or sensationalizing a controversial historical figure. Part One amounts to little more than a mildly polemic nature hike.

It must be said, that in many ways the narrative of the movie is utterly, dourly Marxist, just like Che himself. Individuality is never emphasized. The rebels are a faction of green-cloaked faceless, impersonal tools of the revolution. The enemy is faceless and flavorless. There is a polemic to be followed to its resolution, a system to install, with a distaste for the decadence of feeling or style. The personal needs of man are not to be bothered with.

This deep narrative Marxism aside, the politics of Che lie mostly in what is omitted. We see Che as a serious Marxist, we see Che as a celebrated critic of U.S. Imperialism, we see Che as a noble rebel who protects the poor in theory and practice, we see Che as a caring doctor, we see Che as a tender father. These moments do not feel exaggerated, but there is only a rare glimpse at the controversial side of Che, who by most accounts was in charge of executing political prisoners during the early days of Castro’s regime, and who is reported to have taken specific delight in executing dissidents, homosexuals and religious leaders, and is even accused of torturing children. Conveniently, the brutality attributed to Guevara and Castro falls in the narrative hole between the two movies. We do see Che command the swift execution of a rapist, severely mitigating his only depicted act of violence as a just cause. Soderbeg can deal his hand with the straightest of faces because he’s already loaded the deck in every conceivable way.

So what do we make of Che after spending 4.5 hours with the Soderberg treatment? Is there any sense of the pop icon plastering hipster T-shirts today? Not really. We see a serious rebel who coasted to victory with Castro, who built up a mysterious bad-ass rep despite being mostly quiet and noble, and once left to his own devices failed ineptly to lead a revolution nobody wanted.

The parallel structure of the two movies begs for some kind of directorial point of view, which is wholly absent. Why did the Cuban revolution succeed but the Bolivian campaign didn’t? Was Castro the secret ingredient? Was the disaffection the rebels tapped a local phenomenon that sputtered on the continent? Was Che ultimately just a dullwood who looked cool in a photo but lacked a real life quality of inspiration?

These questions are not so much provoked by Soderberg’s movie, but mulled over in the boredom of enduring yet another scene in the jungle where nothing is happening.

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This Week’s Twitter: 2010-01-31

January 31st, 2010 by Dorrk.com
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"Red" envelope indeed: Netflix just delivered Soderbegh's 42-hour "Che" biopic. If I haven't finished it by Friday, send the CIA to kill me. #
Rob Zombie is an interesting movie director. I'd even say "good." His main problem? Too much "Rob Zombie." Also, not so good as a writer. #
Can Rob Zombie be less "Rob Zombie" without losing that "Rob Zombie" feeling? (He being Rob Zombie, he already has it in spades.) #
Enduring Z's Halloween 2 (with sick baby sleeping on my chest) before I get to start "Che." Now, Zombie's "Che" – that I would pay to see. #
Halloween2 is not good, of course, but still hints at Zombie's promise. When he shows restraint: wow. When he doesn't: overkill. Literally. #
Yes, it takes me 4 hrs to get through a single movie. Crying baby + work + ADD. No kidding the impending Che-a-thon will be epic at my rate. #
Our Constutional-Law-Professor-in-Chief's SOTU Supreme Court flub, explained: http://bit.ly/9YwN3j via @addthis #
Watching original Parent Trap with daughter. Haley Mills in short hair looks like an alien, or Mena Suvari. #
Finally making time to watch Soderberg's two-part Che biopic. The interminably slow opening map sequence does not bode well for pacing. #
Castro's 1957 invasion of Cuba looks like it was filmed on the island from "Lost." Will Batista get eaten by a cloud of black smoke? #
Half hour in, Che is quiet, compassionate, and a somewhat bumbling soldier. It's a bloodless revolution! #
This is more of the same VH1 treatment as in Motorcycle Diaries. Expect Soderberg to put some edge in here at some point. #
Ah, becoming a bit of a ball-buster now. (diificult to tweet and keep up with subtitles). #
1st good scene: Che bemused by Manhattanite socialites fawning over him at 60s cocktail party. Probably looks a lot like film's wrap party. #
Finally a gunfight. This revolution was starting to resemble a particularly joyless nature walk. #
First peek at Che the executioner, but the circumstances weren't unreasonable: he passes a death sentence on a rapist. #
He's a champion of literacy, natch, earning his future cred with bookstore hipsters. #
About 1/2 way thru PT. 1, feels too sober so far. Was it wrong to hope 4 "Out of Sight"-like style, or Luis Guzman as foumouthed rebel? #
"Baader Meinhoff Complex" set a high standard for edgy, stylish depiction of Marxist revolutionaries. Che suffers from solemn reverence. #
First Che movie I saw was arthouse doc about Bolivia days. Boring. MC Diaries, listless. Convinced now Che was simply a dullwood in camo. #
Nearing Havana, and no real illustration of how Castro's rebels continue to dominate Batista's armies. Godfather 2 nailed it with 1 scene. #
Battle scenes in Che are sterile like GI Joe combat: lots of gunfire, few casualties. Only empathetic rebels get close-up injury or death. #
Che is a chronology stripped of thematic or narrative substance. Few characters, little tension, not even caricatured villains. The point? #
First empathetic characters are the Batista underlings left dangling in Santa Clara as their superiors desert them while demanding loyalty. #
He's so principled, but moments earlier a man was trembling at the sound of his name. Why? End of PT1 and Che's reputation is an enigma. #
Not watching pt2 tonight. Match of the Day beckons. Maybe the revolution continues tomorrow. #
FWIW, for pure Castroite propaganda, I'll take the beautiful I Am Cuba any day. Soderberg's first half is so aimless, not even provocative. #