Fashion Board 11-2-03 - 12-09-03

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Cthulu meets the Nigerian scam.

[leagleaze]

Originally posted by Tyrone_Slothrop
Cthulu meets the Nigerian scam.

I once wrote one of these folks and asked him how stupid he thought I was. He never did respond. But then neither do the folks who IM me in names like Steve Case or whatever they use these days to try to get my credit card information.

I will say however despite the fact I have never given my credit card information to "Steve Case" someone yet managed to get it and the password to my online access for the account. Cause I got a call from big old credit card company the other night. They were concerned about the 10k in charges they felt were outside my normal use of the account, also the fact that the email address, phone number, and mailing address were all changed via the Internet. Oh, and my credit report notes a new address for me in Detroit.

So I had a nice weekend cancelling all my cards and changing my bank accounts as well as putting a fraud alert on my credit.

The wonderful irony of all this is that just last week I was discussing how to avoid identity theft as an instructor at a CLE course. Oh the humanity.

[Fugee]

I think either Dawn or Day is the horror film my dad was watching on Saturday matinee TV when I was just a little Fugee that put me off horror fillms for life. I got so scared I hid in a corner in the kitchen and covered my ears. Since then I haven't been able to watch anything scarier than Silence of the Lambs and had to cover my eyes a few times during that too.

[Fugee]

Originally posted by Greedy,Greedy,Greedy
I got you some stuff at a rumage sale in September. I like to do all my holiday shopping over the course of the year, leave it wrapped in the moldy basement for a few months, and then ship it off without being sure what I am shipping to whom.

Mom, what are you doing on Lawtalkers?

P.S. to Shape Shifter: I too write with my left hand but am happy to receive fountain pens because I don't curl my hand over like a weirdo.

[Jack Manfred]

Fun Facts about Laura Elena Harring:

• She is a countess. She married and divorced Count Carl Edward Von Bismark.
• She was the first Latina Miss USA, winning the crown at age 21.
• Her Grandfather Isauro Cairo was a champion equestrian and fencer in 1950s Mexico.
• She was a professional Tango dancer.
• At age 18, she was a social worker in India.
• She was shot in the head at age 12 while riding in her parents' car.

So we can't just dismiss Ms. Harring or Mulholland Dr. out of hand.

And we must remember that there were two smoking hot lesbian scenes in the film. First*, Betty invites Rita into her bed. (David Lynch digitally altered the DVD so that Ms. Harring would not be exposed fully on the internet from the film.) Second*, while Diane Selwyn is masturbating in her crummy LA apartment, she envisions a scene where a topless Camilla Rhodes makes out with her on her couch. Both women are wearing cutoff shorts. Say what you want about non-linear storytelling and oblique, almost cryptic filmmaking. But don't deny that Naomi Watts and Laura Elena Harring were scorching together. It's beneath you.

And we must also remember that there are two smoking hot lesbian scenes in Bound. First, Violet seduces Corky, in a scene that reaches the following climax** on Violet's couch:
Corky: "You planned this whole thing. You dropped that earring down the sink on purpose, didn't you?"
Violet: "If I say yes, will you take your hand away?"
Corky: "No."
Violet: "Yes."
Second, Violet fucks Corky on a matress back at Corky's dingy place. (If you have the DVD, listen to the director's commentary for this scene. The Wachowskis talk about all of the technical problems shooting the scene - it was done on a set, and the walls fly out as the camera rotates - while Susie Bright, who served as the technical consultant for lesbian sex, rhapsodizes about the sex on the screen.)

I'm not sure why in both films the sex scenes alternate between swanky apartments and seedy ones.

* Technically, the first scene isn't first, and technically the first scene didn't really happen at all, but we're being overly literal here.

** so to speak.

[Jack Manfred]

Sports Movies:
Field of Dreams: The Sports Guy has a mailbag entry about a guy breaking up with his girlfriend because she didn't like this movie.

Hoop Dreams: Someone else named this one. It's a documentary well worth watching.

Hot Dog:The Movie: I can't believe I'm agreeing with Paigow about this, but I am. I'm sure Paigow remembers the following exchange as the evil Rudolph Garmisch tells our intrepid hero that he's spent last night with his girlfriend:

"Do you know what I had for breakfast this morning rookie? How do you say... I had Sunny side up, und I had Sunny side down, und I had Sunny side all ze vay around."

Raging Bull: How the hell did this escape everyone's list?

Caddyshack: Obvious, but correct. The grey flannel suit of sports movies.

Better Off Dead: I don't know that this counts as a sports movie, but it holds up for me. Maybe Atticus is immune from the charms of Monique Junot. I'm not. Plus, that claymation was state-of-the-art in 1985. And Badger Myer has to make a space shuttle out of household items. He's already mastered how to pick up sleazy chicks at age 11. If he doesn't become an astronaut, he'll go to law school and become Slave.

When We Were Kings: why bother with Rocky when you have the real deal?

Children's Movies:
Elf: this was a surprisingly good movie. Zooey Deschanel steals the picture in a role that makes you say, "Hey, wasn't she the older sister in Almost Famous?" She also sings a great version of "Baby It's Cold Outside."

Monster's Inc.: I liked this more than Shrek.

Toy Story 2: Didn't see the first one, but this was excellent.

School of Rock: BRC says it's a children's movie. Who am I to disagree with BRC?

Aladdin: best use of Robin Williams in a film ever. Seriously.

Annie: my niece loves this right now, so it makes the list. Bonus points for Carol Burnett playing an alcoholic mother-figure when both her mom and dad were drunks.

I was a child in the 70s, when Disney films were live-action, all-singin', all-dancin' crap. Count Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and E.T. as the only good movies I saw as a kid. All Jedi had was a bunch of Muppets. Besides, why watch that stuff when the neighbor kid's dad will rent Hot Dog: The Movie for you, let you see the wonders of Shannon Tweed, and has already made up a story for your parents.... "What movie did they see? Oh, I rented The Goonies for them. It's rated PG."

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally posted by Jack Manfred
Elf: this was a surprisingly good movie.

I'm paranoid, sure. But Will Farrell already had Darrin Stevens and someone else said Ignatious O'Reilly. If Elf is sucessful this one-note numbskull will be fucking up all comedies for the forseeable future.

If you must see Elf, buy tickets for Scary Movie and sneak in the wrong door. It is important Elf falls on its face.

[leagleaze]

Originally posted by Jack Manfred
I'm not sure why in both films the sex scenes alternate between swanky apartments and seedy ones.

I would agree, for "main stream" films which neither of them really are but whatever, they have the best lesbian sex scenes. By that I don't mean they are the hottest, though thus far they seem to be, but that they are the most realistic.

And I forget why in Mulholland drive, but in Bound it is because they are alternating between those two lives. Probably much the same as in Mulholland. Either that or the directors think that lesbians like both swanky and seedy apartments. And while I will not speak for all of lesbianville, I personally do not like seedy apartments at all. And I certainly won't be having sex in any.

Swanky apartments, hotels and houses only thank you.

[evenodds]

Did anyone else see The Villain with Arnold Schwarzenegger?

It's a phantom movie from my childhood. Though I have very specific memories of watching it in Boca and of Arnold in a baby blue cowboy ensemble, I was not entirely convinced it actually existed until I checked it on IMdB.

http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0080097/

My parents had a broad view of kids movies. My first movie was Song of the South. My second was Jesus Christ Superstar.

[leagleaze]

Originally posted by evenodds
Did anyone else see The Villain with Arnold Schwarzenegger?

No, but now I think I need to. It looks like a riot.

I'll have to say my favorite kid movie is the Black Stallion.

As far as Disney, it is as if they set out to make the saddest possible movie. Kid animal is happy, mom or dad is murdered, kid animal is sad and depressed, runs away or has to deal with whatever, kid animal overcomes and is triumphant as adult animal in the end.

These always make me cry. Bambi is the absolute worst. The book is awful too. I haven't read it in a long time, but the last time I did, I sobbed. And it wasn't when I was a child.

What about favorite kid books? Which one did you like best as a child and what do you think of it now you are an adult?

I loved the Chronicles of Narnia as a kid, as an adult they've lost some of their magic, but I still like them.

[purse junkie]

Originally posted by leagleaze

What about favorite kid books? Which one did you like best as a child and what do you think of it now you are an adult?

I loved the Chronicles of Narnia as a kid, as an adult they've lost some of their magic, but I still like them.

Intelligent, non-cutesy illustrations are key. The Little House books, D'Aulaire's Greek Myths (best drawings, ditto their Norse Gods except the gods are rather dull/brutish), the Annotated Alice, Little Princess.

Still read/visually admire 'em all.

[ThrashersFan]

Originally posted by evenodds
My parents had a broad view of kids movies. My first movie was Song of the South. My second was Jesus Christ Superstar.

The "broad view" in my life came from my maternal grandmother. Bless her Gennie-drinking-chain-smoking-Winstons soul. The old broad loved horror flicks and true crime stuff. I used to stay with her every Friday night as a child and believe me when I say that we watched every horror/thriller/crime movie made during those years.

I now have an idea why I can't stand to watch nudity/sex in films. The old broad and I watched "I Spit on Your Grave"* when I was 9 or 10 (or sometime around then) and I think that turned me off of nudity/sex in films. Cheers, Grandma!

*Graphic film about a woman who is repeatedly raped (at least once with a Vodka bottle) in the woods who then kills the rapists one by one (one by slicing off his penis in a warm bath and then locking him in the room to bleed to death).

[spookyfish]

Originally posted by leagleaze
What about favorite kid books? Which one did you like best as a child and what do you think of it now you are an adult?

I remember being a big fan of the "Encyclopedia Brown" Mystery series as a kid, though they probably would seem dated to today's utes. Is anyone else familiar with these and willing to admit they read them?

In retrospect, that probably makes me a bit of a geek.

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

[ThrashersFan]

Originally posted by leagleaze
What about favorite kid books? Which one did you like best as a child and what do you think of it now you are an adult?

Little House series -- and I recently bought some collector editions. Still love them.
Diary of Anne Frank - what can I say?
Judy Bloom - I haven't read one in about 20 years but I doubt "Are you There God, It's Me, Margaret" has lost its touch.
The Jungle - By Upton Sinclair. Made me become a vegetarian at age 12.
Stephen King - My previously mentioned wack-a-doo grandmother got me hooked on them. To this day, I will re-read a King novel before I will try something new.

I also liked those "choose your own adventure" books.
Spooky and I apparently read "Encyclopedia Brown" together as children.

[spookyfish]

Originally posted by ThrashersFan

Why is it every time I see your moniker, I think of the Tank McNamara comic strip?