I’m quite excited about seeing this when it eventually makes it’s way to Lunar viewscreens (America gets it on 19th September). Apparently it’s about the first days of prohibition in and around Atlantic City and has what looks to be a great cast: Steve Buscemi, Michael Pitt, Tommy from Snatch as Al Capone and our very own Kelly MacDonald. And one of the episodes is directed by some guy called Martin Scorsese. Should be a real hoot.
via YouTube
Yeah. Thought we might be topical here on the moon for a rare moment. Check out this great short cartoon summing up the first debate between the three major parties. Don’t worry, it’s funny. And no, it’s not the BNP/marmite debacle, which i must say was deliciously satisfying.
A Bill Hicks documentary? About time is what I say to that.
Had a rather depressing conversation with Rosscoe the other week whereby we were both racking our brains trying to think of female filmmakers and failing most miserably (Thelma Schoonmaker and Tina Fey being about the only notable exceptions- Leni Riefenstahl deliberately skipped over). But not long since, it seems like I have, entirely undeliberately, gone to see some rather good movies and (usually only when the credits are rolling) realised that they have been directed by a member of the sisterhood. It seems lack of Y chromosome no longer seems the excluding factor it used to be. Maybe 2008/9 represent two curvacious lady lumps on the otherwise masculine body of of cinematic history. Maybe glass ceilings are out. Maybe the ladies have been around a long time but I just never realised before, or they just don’t get much press. Maybe the Mamma Mia glitter bomb made Hollywood realise that women- and not just teenage boys- can buy A LOT of cinema tickets. Maybe you have an opinion.
At the vanguard has to be Kathryn Bigelow’s Hurt Locker, much touted as the film of the year (5 stars Guardian, Empire, Uncut). And happily, it can definitely not be dismissed as a ‘chick flick’, being about explosions and bombs and such. Out this week I think, though I’m yet to see it.
But there’s many more out, or on their way from the womb-ed-ones…
Yes, we may have forgotten this but art, and cinema, can be important and beautiful and life-affirming. Bill Douglas knew this.
I am ashamed to say I have never seen the autobiographical Childhood trilogy for which he is famous, despite the fact he grew up just outside Edinburgh, the nexus of my existence. But I am very proud to be the owner of the new DVD of Comrades, which until now - well officially tomorrow (BFI sent mine early, woo hoo)- it was almost impossible to get hold of by all accounts… ad a six week run in London only and then practically disappeared.
Released during the Thatcher era (go figure), the film is based on the Tolpuddle Martyrs of the early 19th century, sent to Australia for daring to be involved in a ‘Friendly Society’ (basically a trade union) and still celebrated today. But far from being a factual documentary, what makes it stand out are the moments imaginative experimentation, of ‘fantastickal reverie’. (It reminds me a wee bit of one of my favourite novels, maybe the Great American Novel, Mason and Dixon by Thomas Pynchon which is based on factual events from late 18th century history but connecting the gaps are flights of imagination from talking dogs to alien abduction.)
{…..large rant about the BNP being dicks has been deleted;….}
….’Fuck you guys’ was the short of it….
We are all human. Even the mildly brown looking humans. Even the those humans who look like they’ve been on holiday for a long time. Even them Browny-Brown ones from that magic place where the special horses have long necks… How many idiots does it take before we realise that we are all just idiots humans?
Humans = Everyone on earth.
Now that problem is over, let’s go to space…
The ongoing nuclear threat from North Korea has caused Japan to question its self-imposed constitutional ban on offensive action, in place since World War II. But worried Tokyo citizens are now guarded by a rather beautiful 59 foot Gundam robot which watches over the city’s skyline.
Photo of Gundam via Photo above one of many found at Toys Are Evil.
Kim Jong-Il as Giant Robot full article here.
More on Gundam in mind-baffling detail (including above map) at Gundam official site.
I’ve been very suspicious about Obama. I’ve read his books (which, by-the-by have no pictures in them), and he just sounds a little too good to be true. But I can’t let D-Day go without a mention, because Hell happened on earth and real humans had to deal with it. Respect. Obama gave one of his (suspiciously) trademark stirring speeches in which he looks like the first president ever to actually give a shit.
No amount of thanks can be generated to those who fought, so I will leave it underwhelming; Thanks dudes.
If you’re going to send out propaganda, you may as well do it from space. So behold this transmission from the communications satellite Kwangmyongsong-2 blasting greatness to the earth;
Long live our new overlord. I only hope they can broadcast this to the universe…
(seen on have i go news for you)
Yeah… it’s that time again!
Following on from the camp ”I love Battlestar, but my lip quivers at waterboarding” guys song, here is the unedited great interview between Jon Stewart and Cliff May about ‘torture’ and what it means as a nation. They get pretty animated, as you might expect, and as such on the telly box only 6 minutes or so was shown, but the complete thing is available on the Daily Show web site. For how long I do not know. Probably more than a night. Naked. In a stress position…
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | M - Th 11p / 10c | |||
| Cliff May Unedited Interview Pt. 1 | ||||
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links to parts 2 and 3 follow the video. It really is telling that some of the best discussions about crap like this has to come from the comedy network.
There are many songs in our lives that we consider torturous, those songs that make us clutch our heads in agony and consider the true worth of humanity. Here, youtube man ‘therockcookiebottom’ turns that concept on it’s head, with a song about torture using the genuine words from a memo about water boarding… fun times…
And yes, this is the same guy who gave us the Battlestar galactica song that hit the web months ago. To fight the serious low that the water boarding video has engendered, here is the same guy singing in dubious clothing about BSG. He’s serious people….
Here’s a clip from the BSG themed U.N discussion, in which Edward James Olmos shows us that he may just be the coolest dude ever…
via myextralife
Battlestar Galactica is an amazing moral doozy of a show. It has never claimed to know what might be right and what might be wrong… it’s always been a show about repercussions, reguardless of your motives: the bad guys can often turn up good and vice-a-versa.
Because 99% of the 5 people that I know have ignored my powerful praise of Galactica, I feel somewhat vindicated to know that the United Nations itself will be hosting a panel about the issues BSG has raised…
On March 17, there will be a “Battlestar” retrospective at the U.N. in New York and a panel discussion of how the show examined issues such as “human rights, children and armed conflict, terrorism, human rights and reconciliation and dialogue among civilizations and faith,”
That’s not just good Sci-Fi. That’s good story telling, which in turn is just all about people.
Also, the U.N panel will be hosted by Whoopi Goldberg. So the world really is fecking nuts right now.
article at the Chicago tribune
