…(pronounced Kit-soo-nay No-whar)…”is a visual collection of random bits and bobs relating to art, design, fashion, films & music, all filtered through the head of Bobby Solomon”.
…(pronounced Kit-soo-nay No-whar)…”is a visual collection of random bits and bobs relating to art, design, fashion, films & music, all filtered through the head of Bobby Solomon”.
‘roid week 2009 is not what you might think on first glance (a week-long uprising of iconoclast weightlifters?) but, instead, is a self-imposed regimen of a week of shooting Polaroid film (a film stock who’s days, amazingly – considering Polaroid has ceased manufacturing it – may not be so numbered). Beautiful work.
How is “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” like “Fight Club”? Jason Kottke (one of my favorite places on the web) links to a Metafilter conversation using the movie “Fight Club” as a template with which to re-imagine “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”.
How (Darth) in(Sidious) marketing is a boon to your memory…but not really
So sorry about that subtitle. Had to, though.
Anyway, do you know what an Ewok is? How about an AT-AT? Did you know that these names were never mentioned, not even once, in the Star Wars films in which the characters or vehicles were introduced? That’s right. Not even once.
We can thank the barrage of books, action figures, model ships, Lego sets, etc., etc., for our vast store of Star Wars trivia that would never have been acquired had we simply gone to see the films alone. Thank the phenomenon of false memory creation for our thinking that the Star Wars films were actually the source of all that pop culture information.
You can’t always judge a “book” by it’s “cover” but you should always trust your roaster
Sometimes, you have to wonder about awards. I used to look forward to the Oscars. They were an event in my home and we would plan our evening around the show. It was like a sporting event. We would wait…(read the rest at Daniel of Arabica)
Filmed over the period of one entire academic year and utilizing students playing fictionalized versions of themselves, “The Class” examines the development of a group of modern, multicultural French youth in the 20th arrondissement of Paris as they transition from children to young adulthood. The film is currently showing at the New York Film Festival and was a winner of the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival. I’m excited for this one to come out in wide release.
I can’t really call myself a Star Wars nerd. Maybe I’m more of a nerd for Mr. Lucas’s galactic opera than some but I have certainly never been to, nor pondered going to, any sort of convention, I don’t buy the Star Wars magazines or novels or comics. I grew up on the original three. It’s in my blood. That’s my story. I am stickin’ to it.
When the second/first three Star Wars prequals came out, though, I, along with many other fans of the originals was greatly disappointed. After I watched the first prequel I pinned my hopes on an improved second installment. Given both the critical and popular bashing the first received, I fully expected the second to kick ass (it, of course didn’t). I even had some ideas running around in my head as to how, given that Annakin’s eventual move to the dark side was just around the corner, one could have used, to dramatic advantage, the tension that was building up as the audience, over the course of the first and second films, waited for the moment Annakin finally turned.
Specifically, I was thinking of a possible opening sequence for the second film that would take place on a dark, jungle-like planet or a remote region of whatever planet on which all of the main action took place in the prequels. As the frame zoomed, in classic Star Wars opening scene fashion, down onto the surface of the planet, the scene would slowly be set up so that it would appear that Anniken and young Obi-Wan were in a fight to the death. Imagine lots of dark, action packed, dramatic cuts as both of the Jedis ran through the jungle with Annakin on the chase and Obi-Wan on the run, desperately trying to out run and get away from the, now, murderous and wrath-filled but cunning Annakin. The sequence would culminate with a final battle scene, ending as Annakin’s wild and rage-filled saber fighting style eventually wears down Obi-Wan and, showing no mercy, Annakin kills his mentor.
Pause. And, now, cut to Obi-Wan getting up from his “death bed”, cracking some jokes about how Annakin has come a long way but still could use some finesse or something and the audience realizes this was all a trick, that they were merely watching an, albeit intense, training session.
My girlfriend, my brother and myself have finally gotten around to watching The Wire on DVD. It is, of course, an incredible series; a methodically plotted and incredibly well acted “police precedural”. It’s what every cop show on network TV would love to be but can’t.
In some small way it is, as well, and maybe only to me, what the Star Wars prequels could have been but were not:
Even if you don’t know anything about The Wire (and why don’t you, by the way?), replace, in the scene I laid out, Obi-Wan with either Snoop or Chris (the chasers). Replace Michael (the young man on the run) with Annakin. Pretty close. And just as effective as I imagined it would be. Kinda spooky. And yet, satisfying.
This is the “high quality” version so, if you have a “blazing-fast-for-1996″ internet connection like myself, please have patience. After all, it’s worth it.
I re-watched Trainspotting last night. The Trainspotting: Collector’s Edition DVD has deleted scenes. One has Renton (Ewan McGregor) and Sick Boy (Jonny Lee Miller) sitting in an apartment, pre park-gun-dog incident, with Sick Boy, as usual, spouting James Bond trivia. Sick Boy is grilling Renton on bits of info related to the James Bond film, You Only Live Twice. One bit stuck out:
SICK BOY
Screenwriter?
RENTON
Eh - Ian Fleming?
SICK BOY
Fuck off! He never wrote any of
them.
… a bit of banter, and then …
RENTON
Who wrote it?
SICK BOY
Roald Dahl.
RENTON
Roald Dahl. Fuck me.
This is the same Roald Dahl that wrote such children’s classics as Matilda, James and the Giant Peach and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
Interesting fellow, really. From the mini-bio on his IMDB page:
When his then wife actress Patricia Neal suffered a series of devastating strokes in 1965, he was appalled at the lack of effective rehabilitation. He subsequently designed techniques that restored his wife to full function after the doctors had told them she’d never recover. His techniques are now standard procedure throughout the world for the treatment of stroke victims.
An interesting story on NPR’s All Things Considered about Jay Craven a producer/director who distributes his films by driving them around in his Mini and staging screenings in small venues. I mean small. Like the public library’s community room.
Even so, his films have starred the likes of Michael J. Fox (who worked for free) and Kris Kristofferson. Not bad.
How is it that these misattributed lines have stuck for so long despite being discredited? Social Psychology tells us that these have stuck around despite being revealed as false constructions and will continue to do so long after this blog post has faded into the electronic ether.
Kirby Ferguson’s discerning eye, in uncovering Trajan’s cinematic ubiquity, started me thinking about another hallmark of the cinematic domain: that of which we can safely call The Movie Voice. I say there are two contenders: Hal Douglas and Don LaFontaine.
