Impolite Company

Meltdown at Madame Tussaud's

Get your gun....
Yo, it's a samurai showdown, samurai showdown
(Aight,A.T.M)How dare you challenge me?
You will die from the tip of my sword today
huh, the trenches, we must remain calm
Right,prepare to die

Listening to NPR's Sound Opinions this morning as I woke up, for their Halloween show they played Samurai Showdown (Raise Your Swords) from Jim Jarmusch's Ghost Dog and I thought that would make a perfect Halloween video to post.  Alas, the videos were less than visually appealing and so the Dog will be relegated to the other side of the fold.  However, it did get me on Youtube and I'd been thinking of this tune from Steve Taylor for some time, so I went ahead and gave it a gander.  Totally dated but I do like this song from one of the few very creative voices in Christian music from back in the day:

Buena Vista Social Club

I haven't gotten a chance to watch it yet but I'm so excited to see that Buena Vista Social Club is now available via Hulu.com.  I love the music from this band and have always meant to watch the movie but have never gotten around to it--I'm even more enthusiastic now that I realize the documentary is by Wim Wenders, the man behind Wings of Desire:

A Taste of SX

(I'm not sure if the title is an acceptable contraction or not.  In spoken terms, we refer to South by Southwest as "south by" and so it makes perfect sense to me to shorten it to SX.  Plus, it has the titillating advantage of being so visually close to "a taste of sex"!)

As noted previously in these parts, I don't really do SXSW.  I've gone to five or six film events but I can't remember any music events that I've gone to.  I don't say this as a point of pride, more of an explanation why the blog hasn't turned wall to wall music and film.  I don't really care for crowds, in fact I actively dislike them and so slogging from one crowd to another would be one version of my own personal hell.  Which is a shame, really, because some cool acts come through town and SX really does have a lot to offer on both the film and music side.

I just read a post by Spike Gillespie over on Austinist that really captures the why I stay away and the what I'm missing out on, I Am So Popular:  I Am A Strong Black Woman:

So Day One of SXSW was, for me, more shitty than not. I ventured out to catch some daytime music. There were a couple of bright spots, like watching my kid play on a big stage. But, as I detailed over at my blog, this being a town of minus six degrees of separation on a regular day, SXSW unfortunately boosts the typical glut of negative opportunities to run into known assholes better avoided.

War on Jimmy Fallon

I've tried to restrain myself so that I don't embed every single Sarah Haskins "Target Women" video but I feel compelled to get embedded with her today because Jimmy Fallon stole her bit the other night.  Which is to say, Tuesday night.  Haskins noticed the theft and the war is on--more on this aspect of it from Feministing at Sarah Haskins Declares Twitter War on Jimmy Fallon (why is it that a "Twitter War" doesn't sound that ominous?).  You can follow the link to Fallon from the Feministing post (but don't bother, it's not funny). 

Question:  Did we call Brad and Jen "Pittifer" when they were together?

Texas Film Industry is Suffering

For those of you who are interested in Texas Film and still revel in thinking that Austin is a major film production city, please disabuse yourself of that notion.  We're losing out to other states that are offering big initiatives to lure filmmakers.  Austin has the infrastructure, the history and at least up until recently, we've had the crew people necessary to make high quality films.  Think this through with me, figure out what your take is on giving incentives to outside industry and if you think it's a good idea, contact your representatives and ask them to support the film incentive bills in the Texas Legislature (Thanks to The Chronicle and Docubloggers--seven and one half minutes):

For more information, see:
Texas Film Commission
Austin Film Society
Texas Motion Picture Alliance (with links to the text of the incentive bills in The Lege)

• inclusion of film, television series, commercials,
  digital interactive media, and educational and
  instructional videos.
• lowered thresholds for film and TV production ($250,000)
• $100,000 threshold for commercial and educational/instructional
  videos and digital interactive media production
  (single or series of productions)
• 60% of a project must be filmed in Texas to qualify
• grant payout amounts are to be determined by office rules
  (which means we can have a competitive and flexible payout)
• Underutilized areas now will receive a 2.5% additional
  amount on top of the payout amount established by rules

Wallace & Gromit: More Tea, Vicar?

This little short is from the Wallace & Gromit collection, Cracking Contraptions, and its proper title is The Autochef.  Wallace has finally fine-tuned his finest contraption yet, the Autochef, which is designed to create a tasty breakfast for two.  Mayhem ensues.  (1:46)

Che

This is a total cheat, since I haven't yet seen part two and so I have no real authority to speak to parts one and two of Che--I'm going to let The Texas Observer do the talking since they have a very good review that I agree with by half.  Since I haven't seen the other half, agreeing by half is the best I can do.  The upshot of the review in my thinking is that the movies are good for what they are but this goodness is kind of limited since the scope of the movies are limited.  They look at Che's guerrilla work and skip over his attempts at governance, the time during which his most controversial and bloody actions occurred. 

Parts One and Two are bookends of the same theme of how to be a guerrilla fighter, the first being how to be a successful guerrilla and the second being how to be a failed guerrilla fighter.  Che tried to reduce the art of guerrilla fighting into a manual but I think the main thing he missed in this effort was the fact that revolution is really only possible if the people are ready for it or if you have the army behind you.  In Cuba, the people were ready due to the horrible governance of Batista.  In Bolivia, Che didn't really find any takers. 

Anyway, here's a link to the Observer review and a little taste of the goods, The Man Without a Middle:

Soderbergh has been criticized for leaving out the middle section of what should’ve been a triptych. That is, he ignores Guevara’s years as blood-stained bureaucrat in Havana. Can we honestly evaluate Guevara’s career without seeing him at his worst? If not, does that make Che a fundamentally dishonest film?

Soderbergh has answered this question in interviews by saying he simply wasn’t interested in showing Guevara behind a desk. He only wanted to make a “procedural about guerrilla warfare.”

Wondering if this is really a defensible goal, given the title character’s morally muddled middle history, takes me back to high school, when I argued about Bonnie and Clyde with my English teacher. She remembered the pair as thugs and couldn’t tolerate their being glamorized on film. My basic answer: But it’s a hell of a movie!

You wouldn’t call Che a hell of a movie. It’s too emotionally disengaged for that. We only really get inside Guevara’s head when he’s awaiting his execution. He’s in captivity, and in bad physical condition, looking as woolly as the homeless man that he has in effect become. But when Guevara accepts smokes from one of his guards, and comes oh-so-close to talking the young man into letting him escape, del Toro lets his character’s charisma blaze for the only time in the film. The young soldier is about to free him, then runs out of the room as if he’s just realized he’s come face to face with the devil.

Supporting All of Our Troops and Sailors

There's a new documentary due to be released this summer about gays and lesbians at the Naval Academy entitled Out of Annapolis.  There are plenty of gays and lesbians throughout our military services who are forced to live double lives, unable to acknowledge their sexuality or express it in any way:

Of over 200 known gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender US Naval Academy Alumni, more than 120 have "come out" as the LGBT alumni of the US Naval Academy. Many other LGBT alumni remain "in the closet," serving in silence while on active duty in the service of their country as officers in the US Navy and US Marine Corps.

This film will explore the lives of many of these alumni, how the US Naval Academy shaped their character, their enduring strong bond to the Academy and share their experiences while at Annapolis and while serving in the naval service as an LGBT officer, both pre- and post- Don't-Ask-Don't-Tell.

Though President Obama indicated he was going to overturn the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy on gays in the military it sounds like he's easing away from that, saying that they need to study the possible effect on national security.  The guarantees of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness this country was founded upon run counter to this policy, which forces gays and lesbians to compartmentalize their lives and hide who they are, even as they are making great sacrifices in order to serve their country.  Pres. Obama needs to stick to his guns on this--national security does not trump the constitutional promise of securing the blessings of liberty to all of our citizens.  Here's the four minute trailer and thanks to The Daily Dish for posting about it:

Now is the Time at ImpCo When We Dork Out

For those of you who grew up on the original Star Wars trilogy, we all remember this scene clearly.  It's right after the Princess has given away the location of the secret rebel base (Dantooine. They're on Dantooine.), proving once and for all that psychological torture works very well when you're hoping to produce false confessions.  Here's what it looks like to blow up an entire planet in movie world:

That's nothing compared to the raw mental power required to compute how much energy would be required to blow up an earth-sized planet (we're not really sure how big Alderaan was).  Fortunately, that much raw computing power exists on earth and you can find it at Built on Facts:  The Physics of the Death Star.

SXSW Film Lineup

SXSW has announced the film lineup for 2009.  Nothing jumped out at me other than maybe the fact that Spike Lee is coming to town, but if you want to see the list, check it out at the Chronicle, SXSW Film Lineup Announced.

Vampire Prom in Austin

Drat, I missed it.  Back in November, the Alamo Drafthouse had a Vampire Prom, cashing in on the perennial popularity of those poor, misunderstood creatures and their unfortunate longing for human blood (Twilight anyone?).  Of course, there was a Buffy episode in Season 2 featuring a group of Vampire Wanna-Be Posers (poseurs?) who try to get themselves turned into the real deal (because I'm all about saving your entertainment dollars and keeping you glued to your computer screen, check out the Hulu entire episode on the other side of the fold).  Ah, Austin.  One of the docubloggers over at Docubloggers did a three minute docublog on the prom, which tells you everything you need to know, Vampire Prom:

The Trials of J. Robert Oppenheimer

I just caught the last half hour or so of the American Experience look at The Trials of J. Robert Oppenheimer and his downfall and now I want to catch the whole thing at some point.  I've done some reading that's touched in and around Oppenheimer's life, some that has mentioned how he got caught up in the Red Scares of the fifties, but I didn't realize how much of his demise was part of a personal vendetta.  There are some scientists who can thrive in the power structures of DC and the often cut throat business of dealing with lives and weapons of mass destruction and back-room deal-making and back-stabbing.  Then there are others who eventually get eaten alive by it.  I think Oppenheimer was in this latter group and I hate to see it.  He gave up his most productive years as a scientist to the atomic program, heady stuff, no doubt but by the end of the war he was married to it.  He deserved more in his later years than to be ostracized and turned out to pasture (despite eventual recognition by LBJ).  Here's a brief bio of Oppenheimer and I think the ending of Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb is an appropriate send-off for him:

More on Emily Hagins

One of The Austin Chronicle's film writers, Marc Savlov has a piece up today talking about Emily, the directors of the documentary about her and directing a movie as a twelve year old girl:  Austin Goes to Park City:

The resulting doc, which played to an enthusiastic house at Fantastic Fest 2008, is a portrait of the artist as a young girl covered in blood. Displaying a maturity beyond her years while dealing with the twin bedevilments of her day job – being a kid – and her real profession – being a kid making a splatter movie on nights and weekends – Hagins' story is nothing if not inspirational. (Orson Welles was twice Hagins' age when he finally got around to Citizen Kane.) With her already artistically inclined parents doing everything they could to help the project achieve completion, the plucky, unflappable Hagins, who received a $1,000 Texas Filmmakers' Production Fund grant midway through production, is the very picture of tweenage determination. And guts. Lots and lots of guts.

Trinidad--Transgender Documentary at The Ritz

This Sunday, the downtown Alamo at the Ritz is featuring a documentary at (5:00 and 7:30) called "Trinidad" that looks at the town of Trinidad, Colorado:

For the 9,000 residents of the quiet, rural town Trinidad, Colorado, “sex change capital of the world” is just another way of saying “home.” Located on the Santa Fe Trail, where the Rockies fade into the Great Plains, this one-time mafia-run, coal mining town is an unlikely destination for more than 6,500 transsexuals who have gone there to align their bodies with their minds...

...On an intimate level, the film follows three women with a shared struggle but conflicting personalities: Marci, who steadily grows her GRS practice and pushes for Morning Glow’s completion but offers no professional or financial support; Sabrina, who takes on a more active role at Morning Glow than she had expected, while increasingly becoming a part of the town’s social fabric; and Laura, who after several attempts to foster a sense of community, becomes increasingly disillusioned and isolates herself from the others as she plans her move.

The presentation is a fundraiser for the Transgender Education Network of Texas.  Here's a four minute clip from the film:

Soul Searching: The Journey of Thomas Merton

The other day I listened to an interview on The Diane Rehm Show with Morgan Atkinson, the producer of a new documentary on the life and thought of Thomas Merton entitled Soul Searching:  The Journey of Thomas Merton.  Merton is one of those thinkers and writers that have sort of danced around on the periphery of my consciousness but I've never sat down and read anything by him nor known much about him other than that he purportedly opened some congress between Catholic and Eastern traditions.  Sadly, he died in Thailand before he seemed to have a chance to fully develop this line of thought and action but it's interesting to wonder where he was going with it (sort of like the way I will always wonder what Malcolm X would have been like had he lived to continue his personal evolution that was interrupted by his assassination).

As an example of some of Merton's thinking, here is The Merton Prayer from his book "Thoughts in Solitude":

MY LORD GOD, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it. Therefore I will trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.

For those of you who aren't familiar with Merton, I'm going to give a thumbnail sketch and some further resources on the other side of the fold.

Steven Hall is Moving

A friend of mine who lives up in Dallas is moving out of his de-luxe apartment in the sky to something a little more pedestrian.  When we talked about his move, I mentioned to him this little snippet from Fight Club describing the perfect little Ikea Apartment.  I don't think Steven is an Ikea Boy but I do want to celebrate his move in an appropriate manner (without offering to help).  So, I give you Fight Club--good luck with the move, Steve:

The things you own end up owning you.  It's only after you lose everything that you're free to do anything.  --from the movie Fight Club

You buy furniture.  You tell yourself, this is the last sofa I will ever need in my life.  Buy the sofa, then for a couple years you're satisfied that no matter what goes wrong, at least you've got your sofa issue handled.  Then the right set of dishes.  Then the perfect bed.  The drapes.  The rug.  Then you're trapped in your lovely nest, and the things you used to own, now they own you.  --from Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk

Continue reading "Steven Hall is Moving" »

I watched Cool Hand Luke tonight in memory of the man.  He played some great roles but I think this was his best.  Thanks, Paul:

If you've visited 'round here the last few days, I'm sure that you're aware that I've been reading up on some Beat stuff recently, getting in the mood to check out Kerouac's scroll and the related display at the Ransom Center.  One thing I always think after reading On the Road is that I wish I had a better feel for the music scene they were digging because it's such an integral part of their development and some of Jack's best stuff comes out of the music.  And then yesterday I heard on KUT that The Ritz was showing a movie on Beat Poetry and Jazz last night.  I'll talk more on the other side of the fold, but here's the trailer for the movie:

In Memory of Paul Newman

I watched Cool Hand Luke tonight in memory of the man.  He played some great roles but I think this was his best.  Thanks, Paul:

Beat Poetry and Jazz (The Movie)

If you've visited 'round here the last few days, I'm sure that you're aware that I've been reading up on some Beat stuff recently, getting in the mood to check out Kerouac's scroll and the related display at the Ransom Center.  One thing I always think after reading On the Road is that I wish I had a better feel for the music scene they were digging because it's such an integral part of their development and some of Jack's best stuff comes out of the music.  And then yesterday I heard on KUT that The Ritz was showing a movie on Beat Poetry and Jazz last night.  I'll talk more on the other side of the fold, but here's the trailer for the movie: