Screw America's Sweetheart
 

I read Mystic River so I knew what was coming and it still blew me away. I'm pissed off because I know that they'll fuck over Sean Penn again at the Oscars. He'll be nominated, sure, but they won't give it to him. Every performance was top notch, and the plot moved along very well. I think they probably should have expanded a little on Anabeth's role before that last scene, though it was consistent with the book. It didnt' feel like Eastwood was getting in the way of the film. I thought it was phenomenal.

Almost everyone I know who saw Lost in Translation didn't like it, because they couldn't find a plot. I thought it was wonderful, and Bill Murray was particuarly good. Sofia Coppola obviously spent a lot of time in Tokyo and found really great shots and settings, but it was the intense relationship between the two main characters that made the movie. The dialogue was good, but the chemistry was even better. I think that people wait their entire lives to make a connection with another human being like that. It never got slow for me, and it kept my interest. I (and the reviewers) may be a lone voice on this one.

I read Cold Mountain before I saw the movie, and I think that probably ruined the movie for me. First, Nicole Kidman is too old for the role. Second, a lot of the more interesting elements of the book are reduced very heavily to be too simplistic. And most importantly, the natural setting is vitally important to this story, and a lot of that had to be dumbed down because they filmed it in the Czech Republic instead of North Carolina. There was a sort of PCizing of the Civil War there too, that sort of bugged me. Yes, the South was wrong, but this story should tell why the South was wrong for a particular person, not the whole world. I think that central theme of the story didn't play out so well in the movie, and it distracted me. The sets were unbelievable and there were some very good peripheral performaces by Renee Zelweger, Natalie Portman and Phillip Seymor Hoffman (who I think is a very good actor). Jude Law was good. I went in expecting to be impressed and left very disappointed.

Finally, Big Fish. I love Tim Burton, I love Albert Finney, and I love Ewan MacGregor. I expected to like this movie on a sort of fluffy level. After seeing the first three movies, I thought I needed something light. I didn't expect to be openly sobbing at the end and to be utterly delighted by it. It's Tim Burton-esque, with some fantastical elements, but I found it to be utterly charming and the fantastical elements sort of made me unaware that under the surface there was a real interesting story, until it suddenly hit me (and everyone else sitting around me) with a punch at the end. I thought it was a fantastic movie and of the four movies that I saw that weekend, I'd probably see it again first.

Maybe coltrane was right?
 

The Hillary Duff thing is a great point, but let's go even younger. Lindsay Lohan (Freaky Friday, a bunch of other stuff) is unquestionably America's Sweetheart among the tweener set.

dc music
 

You can't beat a good washboard solo.

Maybe coltrane was right?
 

I really like Alexis Bledel, who plays Rory on Gilmore Girls, and I think that if she doesn't get stuck in TV hell, she'll probably do well.

Screw America's Sweetheart
 

Now we've reached the Scarlett Johnanson discussion. Go see Lost in Translation and Girl with a Pearl Earing. Watch her win a Golden Globe award this weekend. Watch her win an Oscar this March. Go rent Ghost World.

Everyone should go rent Ghost World anyhow, it's a phenomenal movie. It's about two girls in their summer graduating high school, directed by Terry Zwigoff (Bad Santa) and based on a Daniel Clowes graphic-novel.

Screw America's Sweetheart
 

*psst* Oscars were moved up a month in an effort to limit the lobbying. Nominations will be out next week, ceremony last week of February. No March Madness finals right after the Oscars.

Screw America's Sweetheart
 

Plot is boring. Give me good dialogue over plot any day. See Rushmore, Bottle Rocket, Lebowski, The Royal Tennebaums, etc. No (significant) plots. Just great dialogue. Dialogue trumps plot in Pulp Fiction as well.

Maybe coltrane was right?
 

Yes, the new CD from Hova is great.

Oh, you mean that dreck from Metallica in 1991? In that case, the "Black Album" makes a good coaster. "Load" could have been called "Load of Shit"

[It's still offends me that Mo enters to "Enter Sandman" while that jackass with the Padres gets a great tune from AC/DC]

You give Strummer's "politcal" nonsense way too much credit.

Screw America's Sweetheart
 

I was at the megaplex to see something else, and at a urinal. Next urinal over is this burly, kind of nerdy guy who asks me if I'm there to see Big Fish. FYI to the women- urinal convo between stangers is rare. So I tell him no, and he launches into how he saw it a few days earlier, and he decided he had to drag his dad to see, and I should take my dad, and that it just a watershed movie for fathers/sons.
Still haven't seen it, but the previews don't make it look like a must see with Dad.

Side-project related question
 

Hey smart and clever folks:

Help me out with something, if you please? I need to come up with a name for a weight-loss camp for kids. Has to be evoke the idea that a healthy lifestyle change is fun.

Any ideas?

Best News of the Week
 

Cite please. I am no rush fan, but is there a source for this quote?

dc music
 

Me, too. Probably too obscure to be remotely outable, but back in the late '80s I had a science lab with the guy who did lights for their shows.

He was pretty cute, in a scruffy granola sort of way.

To my knowledge, to this day I have not actually heard a Big Head Todd song.

Side-project related question
 

Boot Camp for Fat Little Fuckers

Screw America's Sweetheart
 

You are not alone. I saw it before Christmas and I'm still thinking about it. I went with the guy I'm dating and he'd seen it before and liked it enough to want to see it again.

It is a fabulous mood piece and it really captures the atmosphere of Tokyo -- kookiness mixed with sweetness.

What do you think is the meaning of the title?

NFH of the Day
 

I was more of a Mister Greenjeans fan, and I really like bunny rabbit. Sad day for the Captain.
Captain Kangaroo dead at 76
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4038505/
http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/msnbc/Co...0a.hmedium.jpg

Breaking News!
 

Captain Kangaroo has died! It's on cnn.com.


I am heartbroken. And to anyone who is considering a wiseass remark, I tell you preemptively to screw off.

Side-project related question
 

It's put up or shut up time for paigow on this one.

Breaking News!
 

My new employees are working out nicely. Good thing. Saying you're fired all day gets tiresome. I don't know how the Donald can do it week after week.

Side-project related question
 

Cartman's camp for fatasses.
Carbs are for pussies.

Breaking News!
 

I thought he was already dead (guess I was thinking of Mr Green Jeans). I guess good news for him that he got in a few more years than I had thought.

Breaking News!
 

Very sad, indeed, but I swear to christ I thought he died several years ago.

Maybe that was Mr. Greenjeans.

Best News of the Week
 

That is a paraphrase of one of his rants that I recall, hence no cite. I should have noted that in the original post (and I will).

Breaking News!
 

Mr. Rogers.

Breaking News!
 

FWIW - I dated a guy from Captain Kangaroo's hometown, apparently the Captain was a real asshole off screen.

Side-project related question
 

I don't give away free intellectual property . anymore.

Screw America's Sweetheart
 

I do not plan to see Cold Mountain - it looks like this year's Titanic. If anybody disagrees, let me know.

Breaking News!
 

I was on that show.

Maybe coltrane was right?
 

This is the wrongest stuff you have ever posted, and here we all thought you were the in-the-know Hollywood guy.

Mischa Barton is about as vacant as they come. I'd bet she couldn't even hold your attention for more than say, 8 minutes?, if she were naked and tied to your bed. The idea that she could carry a movie is absurd.

Breaking News!
 

FWIW, I dated a guy who worked on the Leeza Gibbons show, and he said she was a real bitch and everybody called her Sleeza.

But as far as I know, she's not dead.

Best News of the Week
 

Take your pick.

http://www.unknownnews.net/031215a-lr.html

Side-project related question
 

In all (OK, some) seriousness -

Maybe something denoting activity (Camp Zoom stuck in my head for some reason).

Native American names are always popular. Consider Camp Bi-oh Bisodih-Yahzie (Navajo for Less Little Pig)

Side-project related question
 

Hmph. You've never had a problem cashing your Cooters checks, though.

Breaking News!
 

You invented that show.

BR(and when I make the joke, you know it's over)C

Best News of the Week
 

And why go with an actual quote when you can always make a better one up yourself.

Maybe coltrane was right?
 

double post

Best News of the Week
 

You're right. That is fun.

Best News of the Week
 

Spoken like Rush himself.

I hope the son of a bitch gets treated like Ned Beatty in Deliverance.

Live by the sword...

Best News of the Week
 

Just based on your descriptions of your life and times, I'm not sure you're a real good candidate for a "live by the sword, die by the sword" credo.

Maybe coltrane was right?
 

Spoken like the guy behind the guy who's behind the guy. However, my vote and HEART go to Kim Possible. Once again, that is one sweet, sweet piece of cartoon ass.

BTW, do yourself a favor and seek out Gary Jules's cover of "Mad World." It's on the Donnie Darko soundtrack and is just starting to get radio play here after going #1 in the U.K. (<-- "I am cool.") If you only buy one downbeat low-fi piano dirge based on a Tears for Fears song this year, make it this one!

Also, I am in love with that video for "I Believe in a Thing Called Love" from The Darkness. If Peter Frampton fucked Freddy Mercury in the ass, and he probably did at some point, their love child would be Justin Hawkins. Cheezball glam rock lives into the new millenium.

Breaking News!
 

FWIW, I used to date a guy who worked on Pitfall when Alex Trebek hosted it (yes, he is a lot older than I) and apparently Alex is quite nice, albeit a little stuffy.

(and as far as I know, not dead)