bitten tongue.

"Oh, does this make me look like a topple too?"

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 23:02:32 -0700

“Oh, does this make me look like a topple too?”

- Whitney, fighting back after I made a comment about mascara being the tool of trollops.

Why is it always a “small, quirky comedy?” Why aren’t there any “small,...

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 23:08:17 -0700

Why is it always a “small, quirky comedy?” Why aren’t there any “small, funny comedies?”

The original (or close to it as possible) cut of Fritz...

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 10:53:52 -0700

The original (or close to it as possible) cut of Fritz Lang’s Metropolis has been unearthed in Buenos Aires, quite far from the director’s German home, next to some sort of glass skull. Cineastes and wannabes the world over rejoice. (via CHUD)

Apparently, Judd Apatow has set his comedy sights on high...

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 09:35:16 -0700

Apparently, Judd Apatow has set his comedy sights on high concept. The pitch: Sacha Baron Cohen as Sherlock Holmes. Will Ferrell as dear Watson. This sets up one possibly genius comic gem with Cohen really flexing his straight comedic muscle, or a spectacular failure of Pluto Nash-ian proportions. (via cinematical)

Meet [Me]

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 09:07:51 -0700

joeblog [me?]:

I hate the word blog. Morgan told me about a blog today that he’s gotten into recently. It’s on tumblr (coincidentally) and it’s called “Joe Blog: Where Joseph Kirkland Blogs.” The coincidences continue - I went to college with a Joseph Kirkland and it turns out that Joe of Joe Blog and Joseph Kirkland are the same person. Small world.
Joe posts about random facts and information that (from my understanding) come up throughout the course of the day and adhere to one of two “chains of being”:
A person wonders about something and he or she comes to Joe with the question. Joe researches the topic in a moderately exhaustive manner and follows up with a post.
Joe sees, hears or thinks of something about which he’d like to know more or thinks of something about which he thinks others should know. He consults Wikipedia and perhaps one or two other sources and posts his findings.
It’s tricky (and rather frustrating, from the sound of it) because sometimes Joe comes across a topic and thinks, “I’ll blog about this later,” but when the time comes to blog, can’t remember what he was going to write about.
The scenario mentioned in the previous bullet point happens more times than Joe would like to admit. It’s not that he’s ashamed or embarrassed, just annoyed (and understandably so!).
Joe Blog averages 20 visits a day but whether they’re the same visitor or unique visitors, no one can be certain.
The inaugural Joe Blog blog, posted on May 12, 2008, was about the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire.
Joe was originally going to send out a mass email to his friends with information about the disaster but decided instead to do a blog, as an informational mass email seemed weird.
I can get behind Joe Blog. I just wish he’d figure out how to include pictures in his posts instead of posting them separately.

It’s all part of the plan.I’m pretty sure...

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 14:16:59 -0700

It’s all part of the plan.

I’m pretty sure Jack’s Joker did something pretty similar to a girl’s face in the original but still a decent conceit for a poster. (via /Film)

I have feared overstating and overselling Wall*E. But I...

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 22:58:13 -0700

I have feared overstating and overselling Wall*E. But I realized that perhaps I knew no one with greater expectations than myself for the decidedly idiosyncratic tale of an existentially confused and hopelessly romantic robot. And if I felt floored and utterly satisfied, who wouldn’t be?

Great art comments on the immediate and the universal, and Wall*E does both sublimely. It takes the incredibly pointed and sharp satire of Idiocracy and makes it funny, on-target, and work within the plot structure. While some have found the sudden shift in narrative scope and focus jarring, I was swept away by the arrival of Eve and the sudden exodus off Earth to the home of Huxley and Orwell’s worst nightmares.

The heart and soul evident in each frame and texture shines throughout the picture and creates characters and a romance that reached Eternal Sunshine heights. The film offers so much for the intellect (references from Keaton to Gilliam to Kubrick; haunting images of dust-filled cities to dirty to see beyond your face; towers of trash that equal the towers of man, reaching like Babel to touch the sky; a violent and loud “FUCK YOU” to specific corporations and types of people; the homogenization of goods, services, and man; and more!), but in the end, the spark of true connection, of love, transcends time, waste, and hardware as you hope and pray that Wall*E can become a real boy.

Two new animated films opened big over the weekend, with the...

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 22:46:00 -0700

Two new animated films opened big over the weekend, with the instant-iconic Wall*E taking top spot over Joseph Campbell’s Wanted. Both speak of the culture today, but one comments and critiques while the other wallows and glorifies. Guess which is which?

David Fincher’s Wanted presents yet another geek trip through the latent male-adolescent passive aggressive mindset made popular (read: profitable) by Fight Club. Like most genre B-pictures, the flick portrays the cultural moment and mindset better than most high-minded fare that strives for something greater. The film (like far too many) plays out the beta male wet dream of becoming a powerful, gun-(read: big, black penis)toting ultra-man, capable of slaying men and simultaneously marginalizing women and any power they may have (as they are all sluts anyway).

Nearly unbeknownst to itself, though, W for Wanted presents an interesting moral quandary as it turns the ethical deus ex machina back upon its protagonists not in the bloated expository climax but the De Palma-influenced train chase. A LOT of people presumably die there, but the film and its main players take no heed to the destruction wrought in the wake of promised do-goodery. When the film acknowledges this, and suggests that “fate,” “destiny,” and other heavily religious themes cribbed from Star Wars are [self-]destructive, it finally offers some mildly interesting fodder for the brains to match the bat-shit crazy visuals.

In the end, I found the film less unsettling than the understood misogyny and Amero-centrism of Iron Man, and Whitney and I laughed and jabbed each other at the obscene fx (like a man jumping through a window, across a city block) that play like The Matrix’s drunk uncle with the lampshade on his head.

For at least five episodes of the upcoming fifth season, Amy...

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 14:47:37 -0700

For at least five episodes of the upcoming fifth season, Amy Ryan will continue in her post as head of HR Dunder Mifflin Scranton in replacement of the surfing Toby Flenderson. While great news in terms of redeeming Michael’s soul, likability, and believability, Ryan’s return may mean Toby stays away for an extended period of time, a blow to comedy everywhere. (via AICN)

And Blindness gets an unfortunately Photoshopped poster....

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 14:41:54 -0700

And Blindness gets an unfortunately Photoshopped poster. Luckily we can see what is sure to be a gorgeous movie (with a less digitally enhanced Julianne Moore) in September. (via cinematical)

Somewhere, somehow, the awkward, skinny kid with whom I...

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 14:30:48 -0700

Somewhere, somehow, the awkward, skinny kid with whom I identified all too well in Undeclared has grown up to be an awkward, skinny kid riding motorboats for fashionable photos. Can’t wait for him to steal Tropic Thunder. (via)

The first trailer for James Bond and the Kingdom of the Crystal...

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 11:09:09 -0700

The first trailer for James Bond and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull has arrived to talk cryptically, give character motivation, and show snippets of Bourne-ian action. In short, it seems Marc Forster has followed the lead of Casino Royale to deliver a white knuckles, temple of ice-less, bare-boned thriller.

If it can match the excitement of the opening crane chase of Royale while losing the mountains of poor exposition at the Casino itself, count me excited.

After showing him the previous posters, my co-worker sent me a...

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 14:27:08 -0700

After showing him the previous posters, my co-worker sent me a link to a website that has original Polish posters for films ranging from Citizen Kane to Paris, Texas. None was more strange, nor more perfectly captured a film, than this incredibly bizarre encapsulation of Weekend at Bernie’s.

From the same collection, this caused me literally to gasp.

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 14:20:19 -0700

From the same collection, this caused me literally to gasp.

IMDB had a link today to a gorgeous Flickr collection of...

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 14:18:30 -0700

IMDB had a link today to a gorgeous Flickr collection of alternative movie posters. Rear Window channeled through Chris Ware stuck out, as does the modernist Metropolis.

Pretty McFly.The future of footwear, and dunking of the hyping...

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 15:30:23 -0700

Pretty McFly.

The future of footwear, and dunking of the hyping variety, has arrived: Nike is set to produce the shoe made famous by Back to the Future II, the 2015 edition of the Hyperdunk. (via /Film)

The Savior.

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 11:54:17 -0700

The Savior.

Yes, it’s “weezy,” and it’s real.

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 11:53:23 -0700

Yes, it’s “weezy,” and it’s real.

The Author as a Self-Obsessed.

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 11:50:44 -0700

The Author as a Self-Obsessed.

Morgan, a Ventriloquist.

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 11:49:52 -0700

Morgan, a Ventriloquist.