Archive for July, 2010
“banning vending-machine drinks while leaving Starbucks untouched is a pretty rank example of class…”
“banning vending-machine drinks while leaving Starbucks untouched is a pretty rank example of class privilege at work — my indulgences are sophisticated and upper-class, while yours are vulgar and prole”
– (via The Calorie Police | Cato @ Liberty)
DVD New Releases – 7/27/2010
These are my DVD and Blu-Ray picks that are getting released this week.
- Ip Man (Collector’s Edition) – Just in time for a traveling release of Ip Man 2 comes the US disc release of the 2008 original movie starring contemporary break-out Asian fighting star, Donnie Yen, a secondary actor in Hero and Blade II. (Think Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, Jet Li, etc.)
-
Sabrina Teenage Witch: The Complete Series
– Without a doubt, this is Melissa Joan Hart’s most prolific work. Your ABC Family TV collection is incomplete without this seven season box set.
-
Don’t Look Up
– You know what the film industry needs? A remake of a popular Japanese horror director’s sixth most popular movie starring an over-exposed icon of contemporary horror. (I’m sorry you can’t get better gigs than this, Henry Thomas.)
xkcd’s poetry and planetary physics
I dislike most poetry, but this is simultaneously beautiful/nerdy.
Spinning counterclockwise
Each turn robs the planet of angular momentum
Slowing its spin the tiniest bit
Lengthening the night, pushing back the dawn
Giving me a little more time here
With you
A friend recently tweeted his own beautiful annotation.
[My daughter] loves to spin & I think of this. Someday when she understands the physics in the comic, I’ll tell her. sniff
DVD New Releases – 7/20/2010
These are my DVD and Blu-Ray picks that are getting released this week.
- The Runaways – This movie hit me in a lot of weak spots: starlets, rock-n-roll, drugs, dysfunctional love, follow-your-dreams passion, getting caught up in a scene. In the past year this is the new-new movie that I’ve pined for most to be released on disc. (By the way, the rock-n-roll so painfully missing in Whip It was apparently stuck in this DVD case.)
- The Red Shoes (The Criterion Collection) – In the past year, this is the new-old movie that I’ve pined for most to be released on disc. Harry Knowles introduced us to a GORGEOUS print at BNAT of this 1948 gem, and I was blown away by a movie about a ballerina torn between two men. No one would have sold me on that description alone, but now I can’t imagine my life without this film. (p.s. See this movie before Shutter Island for some subtle synchronicity.)
-
Mother
– Korean cinema has become fully world class in the past decade, while still embracing a beautiful distinct tone. This one — from the same director who brought The Host to life — is a dark, compelling, funny murder mystery; and it’s widely recognized as one of the best foreign films of last year.
-
A Town Called Panic
– I missed the groundswell of affection for this French stop-motion animated hit (based on the TV show) that premiered at Fantastic Fest, so here’s what my wife thinks: Funnier and with more of a narrative then the frenzied trailer implies, I ended up being completely charmed by this movie. Wacky, yes, but also a surprising amount of heart. -Becky
-
Cop Out
– I was too busy to catch this in theaters, but I’m a Kevin Smith apologist so I plan to buy it (and love it!) I’m getting ready to defend against “cliched…stale…and slack”. (For example, “a buddy cop parody/homage has to be cliched, duh.”)
- The Losers – I had high hopes for this comic-book-based action movie, but the reviews scared me away when it was released in theaters. Thank goodness for Netflix.
- “Tin Man” – I’m drawing a complete blank on this made-for-tv movie with Zooey Deschanel, Richard Dreyfuss, and Alan Cumming. The oh-my-God-how-could-this-possibly-have-been made description of a “cyber-twisted update on the Wizard of Oz” equally scares and intrigues me.
My desire to see Despicable Me this weekend is now compounded…
My desire to see Despicable Me this weekend is now compounded with the knowledge that one of the characters is giving the secret hand signal for Nerdfighters.
@hankgreen was totally right! Vector IS doing the Nerdfighters salute in the movie Despicable Me!! (Sort of)
DVD New Releases – 7/13/2010
These are my DVD and Blu-Ray picks that are getting released this week.
-
Terribly Happy
– This Danish movie is commonly and understandably compared to Blood Simple, and it is truly just as disturbingly well-crafted. I bet I buy it again someday on Blu-Ray, hopefully from Criterion.
- Insomnia – It’s embarrassing that I haven’t seen this, but I’m intrigued that they changed the packaging to feature Al Pacino instead of Robin Williams. Added to queue.
- Greenberg – Will the cover — specially designed to counter the downer-buzz of the theatrical release — with the EXTREMELY LARGE font saying “EXTREMELY ENTERTAINING” cause people to forget this is a Baumbach movie? (I’m not being fair. I haven’t seen it because I’m not ready for another soul-crushing Baumbach movie.)
- Chloe – This weekly post is turning into “here are the movies I missed”. Some people loved this movie, most hated it, but a naked Amanda Seyfried is all I need to know to buy it.
- Greatest – I have no memory of this movie ever coming out, but I have such a crush on Carey Mulligan’s talent that I will have to see this.
- In Bruges – A great movie, but I don’t know why it needed the upgrade to HD.
- Assault on Precinct 13 – This is the 2005 version (with Ethan Hawke and Laurence Fishburne) which got 60% on Rotten Tomatoes. I liked it ok, but I hear it’s not as good as the original 1976 version directed by John Carpenter, which has a 75% on RT.
-
America the Beautiful
– I’ve been in a lot of conversations about body image and the media lately — mainly because of feministfrequency’s latest video, with which I take some issue — so I’m intrigued by this “acclaimed” documentary.
-
Artois the Goat
– Nerd/internet fan favorite Stephen Fry co-stars in this comedy which had a lot of good festival buzz, so I’ll add it to my queue.
-
Don’t You Forget About Me
– (No, really, I should call this post “so many movies I never got around to seeing.”) Is it a recent fad of documentaries to turn from a popular subject — John Hughes, in this case — to the obsessive fans of the implied title? Queue, added.
-
The Girl By the Lake
– The Amazon description says “… swept Italy’s Academy Awards, won the Venice Film Festival s top acting prize…” so I’m intrigued.
-
The Scarf
– Should I feel bad making light of what I see as overt ridicule-attracting Christianity? (Particularly when I consider myself to be a Christian?) Check out this synopsis: Produced in 2009, this new feature length film is a Faith [note their capitalization of the word] based sci-fi drama is about two high school friends Daniella and Krista who are assigned to a science project on UFO’s. While working together on research, their minds and imagination are stretched farther than their teacher could have ever foreseen. With an over-obsessive drive to gain attention and a good grade, Daniella starts to believe she is connected with a UFO and the spirited powers of her aunt. This project soon threatens to tear apart her friendships, family and even her own life. But in the end it is the power of prayer and the lesson that God never leaves you that saves her from the unknown. Wha?!?
DVD New Releases – 7/6/2010
These are my DVD and Blu-Ray picks that are getting released this week.
- A Single Man – This is why I sort of dread “Oscar season”. The trailer for this movie and all of the buzz spoke to me in a very deep fashion, yet I never found the time to see it then.
- The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo – I also neglected to catch this in the theater. I heard it was beautiful, but hard and tragic. I’m a bad movie consumer.
-
Battle League Horumo
– One of my favorite films at Fantastic Fest last year. It’s silly and romantic, and all the fun you can imagine.
- Ladybugs – What?!? The list of movies that need be converted to High Def before this one approaches infinity.
-
Bitten
– I’m so angry about the last time I bought a movie because it said “Jason Mewes” on the cover that I refuse to believe it this time. Unless they also green screened him into this.
I’m really happy with my last two videos. Using just my…
I’m really happy with my last two videos. Using just my iPhone 4 I shot and edited this video. I also uploaded it from the iPhone but, since Apple hasn’t enabled HD YouTube uploads, that version looked pretty crappy. Check out “Six Days To VidCon (Re-Uploaded)” (via rollerfeet) then click through to “five days to vidcon” if you’re curious about editing on the iPhone.
I am reminded of @westwhim’s Tumblr at the Belamar Hotel…
I am reminded of @westwhim’s Tumblr at the Belamar Hotel because the walls are lined with these pictures of elegant figurine heads. They almost look like portraits.
“…Childbirth classes are only offered to couples…”
“…Childbirth classes are only offered to couples…”
– I am outraged for Fertile Myrtle Brooklyn.
Why not pictures of the BP oil spill? I don’t want to take…
Why not pictures of the BP oil spill?
I don’t want to take away from the awfulness of this mess, but media hype still exists, yes? One problem with letting a picture tell the story is it can’t tell the whole story. Even this image is only 30-50 square feet of one beach on an immense coastline of an even bigger gulf. The photographer, his editor, and the papers that rehash this image are primarily interested in finding the picture that carries the maximum impact and attracts the most eyeballs.
There have been a lot of exclamatory articles in the past few weeks about BP !!!burning endangered sea turtles alive!!! that are another example of this hype-driven journalism. BP isn’t having a sea turtle BBQ. They are, however, managing controlled burns of oil to prevent more of it from washing up on shore. Allowing sea turtle rescuers into the burn zone means accepting the risk/liability for the lives of the rescuers. (Also, any turtle in the burn zone might unfortunately come to an easier death than the one that dies from choking on oil.) Choosing between less oil and the lives of the sea turtles is not an easy one, and decrying BP without discussing the agonizing nuance of the situation is disingenuous.
This cassette tape was found in a friend’s car — I…
This cassette tape was found in a friend’s car — I think his initials were Marc Glazer — and now every time I hear it; I picture him driving down the freeway, windows/top down, wind in (what’s left of) his hair, singing at the top of his lungs. Sing away, free bird!
If you know what I’ve been coping with at work…
If you know what I’ve been coping with at work you’ll know why I’m posting this. If you don’t…I bet you can empathize anyway.
Is there a way to become an artist and skip the starving part?…
Is there a way to become an artist and skip the starving part? Maybe I’m delusional, but I think I could create something this awesome, given the time.
According to the artist:
This project is about concealing valuables, secrets, bad habits and personal information in our workplaces. Here, hidden spaces/messages were created within 8 general objects such as wood boards, lamps and disposable coffee cups.
How? By utilizing stereotypes and visual camouflage. We make judgments based mainly on our experiences and what we see. This dependency on visual information can create large blind spots. Thus, usual stereotypes of how we perceive solid, transparency and lighting are employed in this project to play with notions of ‘solid and void’, and ‘true and false’.
The super secret magnet drawer is my favorite.
I’m happy about the U.S. remake, Let Me In, if only…
I’m happy about the U.S. remake, Let Me In, if only because more people will track down the original on Netflix Watch Instantly, but I’m also excited to see Chloe Moretz in another film.
(via MovieGrrl1984)