the season of lists (and tsunamis) part two - movies part three
Mood:  caffeinated

yeah, something like 80,00 estimated dead now and we can't even blame terrorists. and, jerry orbach is dead, so let's all mourn the grating lenny briscoe and pretend he's a saint. cause, we all know it's downright evil to speak ill of the dead, don't we?

or maybe we could get ourselves a system more like from orson scott card's speaker for the dead and stop revering folks just because they happened to die finally. let's get an objective third party to speak on each death, to find the truth of people... problem there is, i'm probably the only person who really was never impressed by jerry orbach and never liked detective briscoe (his law & order character). just like a hell of a lot of people who couldn't even make it to reagan's funeral parade last summer wished they could make it, and i didn't care for the whole occasion and was disgusted by the public spectacle. reagan was no great man, orbach was no great actor. and, i really hope that after i die, those that couldn't be bothered to speak honestly about me while i was alive will get the fuck over it and speak the truth

and, if you genuinely will miss lenny briscoe, that's all fine and good too, but you can't expect everyone to feel the same way, and seriously, do we need to forbid negative words about the deceased? should we infringe our own freedom of speech (as opposed to our constitutionally provided freedom of speech) by lying about our feelings? hell, i'll piss a few more peple off right now with this: my first reaction on hearing jerry orbach had died was to be hopeful and glad that maybe that would mean law & order wouldn't be getting another spinoff this year. alas, disappointment came in an article about orbach dying; it said he would appear in the first few episodes of the new show as a secondary character, the implication being the show would go on without him. can't we have some respect for the dead and cancel the show for god's sake, for jerry's sake, for lenny's sake? i mean, can't we just have some respect and not spit on the man's grave by airing this damn show?

but, i digress

54. mad max - i swear i've yet to see an australian film i didn't like (or at least enjoy, as that young einstein film was in no way good, while it was certainly watchable) and this one that helped make mel gibson a star is no different. a near future but not yet the wasteland of the sequels, this film clings desperately (as does the titular character) to the last vestiges of civilization, until the chilling climax, the running down of his wife and son, and that's where the madness comes in, oddly enough so close to the end of the film, it's almost an afterthought to what is satisfying little film
55. mad max beyond thunderdome - though, in many ways, a rehash of the second film in the mad max trilogy (which will be on this list later), there's something so damn watchable and a little intoxicating in the people of bartertown or those creepy plan crash surviving kids (who could have been played so much easier for more cuteness)
56. magnolia - an ensemble cast, a dozen or more characters, their plots twisting into and out of one another's, their lives spinning into an ending that, even on second and third viewing, is still a bit of a shock. i love the sprawling cast and the tangentially related plotlines and this movies does them spectacularly
57. matrix, the - though there are some spectacular visuals in the second and third entries in this trilogy, only the first one makes my list cause it's philosophy and logic is internally consistent and it stands alone as a complete story. my only real complaint about this one is, when trinity first does her slow motion kick thing, why are we at her speed? aren't we still stuck in the "real" world of it, shouldn't we see her moving at high speed and surprising us like she's surprising the cops (a little, like when neo fights the 100 agents in the second film, there's no need for slow motion moments since by then we are at the same speed as both the agents and neo and should be seeing everything in their real time; it's little logic bits in these films that bug me almost as much as the inconsistent philosophy does)?
58. memento - a narrative experiment that works, the scenes in reverse order, the plot building itself backward, a murder mystery and a character study of a guy who barely has the personality he thinks he has
59. monsters, inc. - pixar does it again. a brilliantly realized world with the little details to make it real, a simple plot, and real emotion that is lacking in so many "kids" films
60. moulin rouge! - piecing together a bunch of lyrics from pop songs, mixing in some original lyrics, putting together a story that seems almost entirely composed of surface details and you'd think it wouldn't work (and a lot of you probably think it doesn't) but there's a strange depth to even the most blatantly surface bits, new ways of looking at familiar lyrics and romantic ideas and a tragic love affair on a par with romeo and juliet
61. natural born killers - whether it's because of what oliver stone made of it or tarantino's script, this film turns in a superb exploration into modern american violent culture and those we choose to idolize and demonize at the same time
62. night of the living dead - the simplest and maybe still the best zombie film, not to mention the folks-locked-in-and-ambushed-by-evil subgenre
63. north by northwest - hitchcock at his best, with a good enough plot but really making its impact because of memorable visuals, the cropduster, mount rushmore
64. one flew over the cuckoo?s nest - see it again and again, you still gotta wonder if nicholson's character is crazy or not, if he's nicholson crazy or seriously insane. and, that nurse--she didn't make that top movie villains list a couple years back for nothing. not to mention great supporting turns from brad dourif and danny devito
65. one hour photo - obsession can make for horrible or brilliant subjectmatter. this one makes the latter list, as once again robin williams gives a performance that shows how truly great an actor he is
66. outsiders, the - a straightforward adaptation of the classic hinton novel, made all the more real and resonant in its extra violent climax, not to mention the cast of folks who would become big names after
67. pentagon wars, the - a satire about the bradley fighting vehicle, which began its life as a lightly armored, fast moving troop transport and became one of the most heavily armored tanks our military has ever had, with cary elwes and kelsey grammar squaring off against each other with performances that really have no right to be as funny as they are--though it gets the laughs, mostly the individual scenes are not actually played for laughs, which is, of course, what makes great satire
68. pi - unlike good will hunting, which already made this list, pi actually bothers to be about the math. well, in between being about insanity and being about an obsessive's breakdown, not to mention religion (notably the jewish torah)
69. pink floyd the wall - one of the greats as far as concept albums go, translated to the screen with strong visuals and some evocative animation
70. player, the - a film about film that's actually about film and not only as a metaphor. a wonderful look beneath the surface of hollywood that doesn't sink into self parody and takes itself completely serious even in the brilliantly funny "hollywood ending" bit
71. princess bride, the - oft quoted, and for good reason. the script is brilliant, with nary a false note to be found, a fantastical love story with memorable characters and setpieces abounding
72. pulp fiction - i think i've already mentioned this one in talking about my list, and here it is, a collection of loosely connected short stories, tied together by their "pulpy" themes, and tangentially linked through certain characters, and with brilliant dialogue... and, why isn't clerks on my list? who the hell deleted that one? i should sic jules and vincent on whoever it was, except vincent is dead and jules is probably still walking the earth
73. punch-drunk love - weird colorful divider plates aside, this tale of a seriously fucked up man has got no flaws (contrary to my wife's opinion, as well). adam sandler playing more crazy than ever but also more serious and real than ever, plus emily watson as his love interest and some seriously jarring scenes and tonal changes. this is one of those movies that can fuck with you, but it can also make you appreciate that fucking afterward
74. raiders of the lost ark - the greatest adventure film ever. i dare anyone to find anything wrong with this one
75. rear window - hitchcock talking about film without talking about film, i wrote a paper on this one in college, on the framing of windows and scenes, the various stories in the windows playing like their own, disparate flms, tied together only by proximity and our own voyeurism
76. reservoir dogs - tarantino again, pulling the primary plot out of the aftermath of a heist, skipping over the heist except in some integral flashbacks. the centerpiece here is the relatively quiet aftermath, and tim roth's performance (and his pain) is stunning
77. ring, the - takes the interesting concept of the japanese original and makes it better, cause the american film industry, the horror part of it anyway, is good at nothing if not creepy visuals, and this one needs them and uses them left and right and they don't stop being creepy, don't stop grabbing you and making you want to keep watching. not to mention the whole commentary on our tv obsessed culture
78. road warrior, the - the greatest action film ever. the post apocalyptic wasteland to define the genre to come, and the most spectacular chase/battle scene ever
79. rob roy - not as flashy as braveheart but possibly a greater film, with great performances from neeson and roth and all the supporting actors, a wonderful drama, rich in history and breathtaking visuals (as most any film set in scotland (see highlander or braveheart) tends to be)

and, let's save the last quarter of the list for tomorrow. i've got other writing to do, and probably some other people to piss off, and more dead people to insult

the season of lists part two - movies part two
Mood:  bright
Now Playing: best of kevin & bean on kroq
something like 44,000 dead in asia cause of that tsunami, the war in iraq wages on and after 32 years, dick clark won't be doing his rockin eve this weekend...

the world is falling apart

so, on to my movie list, cause i know what's important:

29. dead poets society - a few simplistic bits, but of course it's about teenagers, so that stuff works. some real talk of creativity and some great acting
30. dead zone, the - as far as stephen king adaptations go, this was a great example, a translation to film without all the details of the original and also without any attempt to turn it into something it isn't (like many a later stephen king adaptation)
31. demon knight, tales from the crypt presents - a straightforward horror film, one of those standoff with evil films that really works. the only real flaw is the framing sequence, but without that, maybe this movie wouldn't exist
32. dogville - a danish film maker taking on american values with a set made of lines drawn on the ground to represent buildings. in no time, the story and the characters draw you past the set piece and the whole thing boils down to a skeletal exploration of modern (american) culture
33. dolores claiborne - one of the better adaptations of stephen king, about an abused wife and mother who's worked harder than she ever should have had to to survive, with wonderful performances from david strathairn, kathy bates and jennifer jason leigh
34. eternal sunshine of the spotless mind - charlie kaufman's most accessible and most convoluted (if it can actually be both at the same time) script, jim carrey and kate winslet in brilliant performances, wonderful direction, powerful visuals and a tragic love story at its core
35. ed wood - you might be sensing certain themes as to what makes my list, and here you'll see that creative spark thing that lies at the heart of chaplin and adaptation. ed wood may have made horrible films but the key is that he absolutely loved making them and johnny depp makes you feel that and be right there with him in enjoying the power of his creation
36. exotica - for plots taken out of order, i'd go with this or 21 grams (which, i just realized, is not on my list) over something like pulp fiction. tarantino's film was short stories tied together. exotica (and 21 grams as well) is a cohesive whole broken into pieces to make the emotional turns in the end that much more powerful. bruce greenwood is great and atom egoyan is a great director/writer plus this film introduced me to mia kirshner
37. fargo - a crime caper film gone completely awry, with great actors (mcdormand, buscemi, macy and stormare) at the core
38. fight club - an exploration into manhood, violence, pop/material culture and revolution, not to mention the big revelation in the end, brad pitt and ed norton at their best
39. fisher king, the - insanity, arthurian legend, comedy and tragedy, robin williams in one of his best performances, jeff bridges great as usual (occurs to me now that arlington road isn't on my list either, while it maybe could be), plus it's got to be the most accessible film from terry gilliam
40. free enterprise - a couple of nerds living the good nerd life, finding love and meeting william shatner. what's gonna be wrong with that?
41. godfather part ii, the - i've got to go with the general consensus here that this sequel, with its two pronged plot, surpasses the original, demonstrating how great al pacino and robert de niro could be
42. godfather, the - of course, the original is still good, a treatise on family and crime
43. good will hunting - though it could've used more exploration into the math, at least it wasn't the superhero codebreaker movie it could have been. the resolution breakdown still plays a little simplistically, but damon's emotionally understated performance up to that point makes it work. stellen skarsgard and robin williams both give strong performances, as does minnie driver
44. groundhog day - as repetitive as this comedy is internally, it holds up quite well on repeat viewing and is good for one scene at a time cable passbys as well
45. halloween - the one that really got the slasher subgenre going, though this one isn't too explicit (in blood or sex). it's john carpenter before he was too self indulgent (see the thing or escape from new york for two more examples of carpenter doing well)
46. heat - pacino and de niro, together again, not to mention the rest of the cast, val kilmer, ashley judd, amy brenneman, etc.). a dark, serious look at a ring of criminals and the police after them, with the deliberate direction of michael mann and the haunting score by elliot goldenthal
47. highlander - a bizarre film for its time, made a star of lambert (though that didn't last) and used sean connery wonderfully, not to mention the magic and the history in the plot
48. in the bedroom - one of those movies the mesmerizes me if i see it on cable late at night, and the confrontation between the son and his girlfriend's ex still disturbs me (for personal reasons, i'll admit). a wonderful exercise in melodrama (the kind of melodrama that gives melodrama a good name, that is)
49. iron giant, the - gotta wonder if the incredibles should have been added to this list, but i haven't added to the list lately. so, this entry from brad bird will have to do, the simple story of a gun that doesn't want to be a gun
50. life as a house - there is something so simple about this film, i'm not even sure why it grabs me so much every time i see a part on cable. it's a story about life and death without any shallow trappings that you might expect, a simple, straightforward story about a man building a house, a home and rebuilding his family before he dies
51. lone star - probably john sayles most accessible film, though it might be a little long and have one or two too many plotlines for most people. but, you gotta love how all the plotlines twist around one another and how the various connections are drawn and discovered along the way, without even an ounce of contrivance
52. lord of the rings the fellowship of the ring - a fantasy epic that has inspired so many since, put to screen in a visually stunning way. great characters, and great use of minor characters along the way, good vs evil and the power of sacrifice
53. lord of the rings the two towers - unlike the plodding book, this film plays quite well, drawing us even more into the world of middle earth and the plight of these characters, with a powerful emotional core

and, we'll end there, with the inexplicable exception of lord of the rings the return of the king. i swear it's got to just be a typo or accidental line deletion, cause it should be on the list

watchlist:

• jeopardy
• rebel billionaire
• house
• amazing race 6 (clip show)
• garden state
• code 46

reading: linked by albert-laszlo barabasi

the season of lists part two - movies part one
Mood:  lazy
this ought to be fun. my official top 105* films in alphabetical order (and the cut down list of 26):

1. adaptation. - charlie kaufman's brilliant screenplay makes this one, a film about writing that's actually about writing (unlike, say, finding forrester, which was as much about writing as good will hunting was about math). of course, the acting, cage in dual roles, cooper, and streep--great stuff
2. airplane - possibly the funniest comedy film ever, and it holds up surprisingly well each time i get to see part or all of it. most comedies get old after a while, even if they do still remain quotable
3. alien - a claustrophobic horror film that i wish i'd seen before i saw the sequel, cause then i wouldn't have to force myself to see how great it is that you cannot tell who will survive to be the hero of the story
4. aliens - changing genres and upping the ante, this militaristic take on what is still in many ways a horror film, works on many levels, with great characters, great direction and and wonderful effects
5. almost famous - to be fair, i'm not sure why this one stands out for me, great writing and a huge watchability score
6. and god spoke? (the making of) - this movie should not be on this list. in some ways, it's as bad as the movie within it, but it is just so funny and watchable, it's got to be here. there are only so many comedies that can stay on the rewatch list
7. as good as it gets - great cast, great comedy, but this one won't make the cut down list, as you'll see
8. batman - dark enough to make the batman concept seem believable but over the top enough to remind us that the whole thing came from a comic book, saw this multiple times in the theater and still enjot it to this day, though, to be fair, batman returns improves on this original in some ways
9. beautiful mind, a - as far as movies about mental illness go, this one ranks at the top of the list for the very reason that it keeps us in the character's head, not even letting us realize what we're seeing is fake until he is forced to realize it.
10. being john malkovich - despite an ending that still bugs me, the setup for this one is a brilliant exercise in the bizarre
11. believer, the - watchable and a little hypnotic, plus ryan gosling is fantastic in the lead
12. big lebowski, the - a comedy that actually seems to get better each time i see it
13. birds, the - hitchcock at his best, though i still wonder why he bothered with some of his still shots posing as slow motion
14. blade runner - the narration version or not, this film defined a look for so many films since and improved on the story on which it's based (while, oddly enough, barely covering the subject matter from the original title)
15. blair witch project, the - some hate it, some love it. i'm one of the latter. if you look too much into it, it's got flaws (like how many camera batteries did they bring along, anyway? and, if they were so obsessive about making films that they would grab them first thing in the morning and film all day, shouldn't some more of that be in the characters (of course, that would require a script, and the unscriptedness was one of the great things about this, so oh well)
16. boogie nights - there are things in this that bug me, like heather graham (who, really was only good once, and that was in swingers), but the familial ties between the pornographers make for a fascinating story
17. bottle rocket - while the later films from the folks involved in this one revel a little much in the quirkiness, this one really makes it all work
18. braveheart - despite a few historical innaccuracies and some post passion of the christ looks back at mel gibsons's christ/torture fetish (south park didn't seem too far off on that count), this movie plays brilliantly and solidly
19. breaking the waves - emily watson is always great, but this is where i first saw her, in this painful-at-times film about love and sex and god and redemption, with a raw look and feel that suck you in
20. bug?s life, a - toy story was good, but this was where pixar really got it together, with great characters and caricatures and wonderfuly twists and turns
21. bulworth - how anyone cannot enjoy this political/social satire (actually, i'm not sure it qualifies for that term, technically) is beyond me. i suppose i can understand not "liking" it, but not enoying it?
22. chaplin - probably the greatest biographic film i've seen, and one of those movies i get stuck on if i see it on cable late at night
23. confessions of a dangerous mind - it's charlie kaufman so it makes the list, but it's also not charlie kaufman so it won't make the short list. an enjoyable film with a great conceit at its center
24. crumb - as far as documentaries go, this one makes my favorite film list because it's so watchable, though not necessarily as good as, say, capturing the friedmans, and robert crumb is a fascinating subject
25. cube - though some of the dialogue is a little simplistic, and the overall metaphor seems way too obvious with each viewing, this one still grabs me and makes me watch if i see it on cable
26. cujo - not as much a downer as the book, but probably about as close as you can get in a relatively mainstream film that doesn't wear its pessimism as a badge of honor a la some 90s films that tried to make the darkness cool (trainspotting for example)
27. dancer in the dark - a seriously dark film with bizarre musical interludes, a musical that refuses to be happy or trite, and bjork is brilliant in it. this one makes the i-can't-turn-it-off-if-it's-on-cable list
28. dawn of the dead - the original, though the remake is fairly good, is the one that makes my list, with the take on consumerism and the zombie masses (the latter covered quite well recently in shaun of the dead)

and that's all for today. no politics, no whining. i've got to work on clubhouse blues. more of the movie list tomorrow

christmas is the season for loving children

yes, it's time to talk of the pagan origins of just about every little piece of the modern christmas, and talk of how many different cultures are represented in having had parts of their old winter festivals stolen and corrupted by the catholics (notably pope julius i, who announced that christ's birthday would be celebrated on december 25 (nevermind that the bible implies he was born in the fall)). yes, it's time to mention that the yule log came from worship of the sun god, that the winter solstice and saturnalia and the kalends of january, the dies natalis invicti solis (the birthday of the unconquered sun) all rolled into what the catholics stole just to make it easier for romans to join up. afterall, it's more palatable to be sucked into a new church if they bring your parties with you

trees were brought inside in winter to remind folks that crops would be growing again come spring. and, it's been said that martin luther first lit his with candles--already, the trees were decorated but not lit--after spotting a star through a tree and thinking it was cool. mistletoe was sacred to pagans, thought to have healing properties and got that whole kissing vibe from fertility rituals (cause you know those romans loved fertility rituals, any excuse to fornicate)

and jolly old saint nick was a real guy in turkey who definitely had a thing for kids (he was catholic, so take that to have a double meaning if you want). of course, he wasn't jolly or wearing red all the time until clement moore wrote what would later be called "twas the night before christmas." of course that also had santa doing a bewitched like nose thing to get his magical trip back up the chimney (unless that was some drug reference, with the snorting and the flying)

so, you've got a bunch of old traditions all rolled together in a neat little commerical package, marketed by everyone like it's nobody's business. it's a national holiday and a religious holiday and a commercial holiday and it's got something for everybody...

which would make it great but for the fact that atheists and people who hate happiness (and i'm both of those, obviously) don't need any of those pagan rituals anymore than we need fucking saint nick, anymore than we need to be forced into debt every winter buying presents for greedy little children convinced by everything they see that they're in for a nice treat under the tree come christmas morning. you'd think, technically speaking, that the greed of wanting all those things for christmas would be enough to toss all those kids onto the "bad" list, no matter how "good" they've been all year, nevermind that all kids are inherently evil but we love em anyway.

clearly, we can assume santa is a pedophile, offering gifts regardless of whether or not a particular kid has actually been good or bad. and, who else would watch kids so much while their awake and asleep but someone either researching child development or a pedophile who, over time has gotten worldwide authorization to visit any kids he wants on christmas eve and give them... "gifts?" he wears bright colors, he keeps animals and strange little people around and he offers gifts while wearing a rather creepy beard. if that doesn't sound bad, i don't know what does. so, let's stop the rituals, the trees, the logs, the carols, the ornaments, all of it, and put a stop to this unattractive man preying on all of our children once and for all

we've got catholic priests for that

i smell a cat-lamp assembly line
so, there's been talk here about that swedish girl making artwork out of dead animals (which she's killed herself). and, a detail in that story that bugged me was that she didn't use any preservative agents, hence the art is actually photographs of the sculptures and not the sculptures and hence she is killing the animals herself to save prep time, rather than have a vet constantly on hand (though, maybe she could find a vet somewhere with dreams of being an artist). but, good news from texas (well, involving texas, anyway): the first cloned-to-order cat has been delivered

owner in texas was so distraught about her cat that died she got together $50,000 and sent it off to sausalito-based genetic savings and clone (cause, apparently, a new cat, presumably to be had for free or for a pocket change from a newspaper ad just wouldn't do to replace poor nicky (the original cat). and, so, cloning ensued and little nicky (the sequel's name) was delivered to owner and happiness resulted. and people say money can't buy you happiness. those people never had cloned cats, obviously

now, i could wonder about when this technology will be applied to humans, dead kids or spouses perhaps, but that might get me whining about that godsend movie (which, i'll admit, i did not see, because it looked like a pathetic piece of crap with stupid ideas at its core--what i want is a good melodrama about dealing with a cloned kid, parents learning not to actually expect the same shit from the kid as from the original, learning to fucking deal with their grief and be faced with it over and over and over again every time they see the new kid, sad, depressing stuff like that, not a demonic angle on silly science fiction schtick that you just know is begging to become a series on the new sci-fi channel, with their new bent on horror and the supernatural... ugh, i didn't want to ramble about godsend) and i don't want that. instead, i've got a marketing idea to piss off a whole lot of folks

and, here it is: we get edenmont (the dead animal artist from sweden), we get this genetic savings and clone (and you know, with that name, they've got the sense of humor for what i've got in mind) and maybe get a taxidermist involved to deal with that preservative angle, and i can be the idea man. so, we get ourselves some marked-for-death pets, we put them out of their misery (aka, their life as pets to stupid humans), we cut off paws and tails and heads and whatever other parts we feel like using (maybe get some fish fins involved), and we make some nice sculptures, maybe a few cat head lamps, some mouse head on angel body bookends. we preserve it all nice like good hunting trophies and then, we get our cloning friends to make us a whole army of identical animals. we might get a godo ethical debate going, what with breeding (does it count as breeding, the cloning process?) new animals just to put them down and cut them up, but we can just bribe the complainants with a nice set of bedside lamps, maybe with heads of clones of their favorite childhood pets. i'm sure that will soften them up plenty

and, once we've made millions off our dead pet lamps and bookends, we start on the humans. i mean, think of it: every redneck bastard in the country could have his own little saddam to kick around when he's feeling insecure about his manhood and the greatness of his homeland. and, we could even market little bushes and rumsfelds for the liberal media to beat on rather than let them get in the way of our imperialism

random stuff segueing into dead pregnant women

odd thought from this morning: if darth vader is so powerful in his use of the force (and if you believe the midachlorian talk from phantom menace, destined to be, like, one of the most powerful jedi ever, with the jesus power to bring balance to the force (though, he apparently does this by killing the rest of the jedi, not very christ like)) why does he need his vader suit to live? i mean, damaged body is too much for his powers to handle? he can't simply will his lungs to keep breathing with the force? he couldnt's find some bizarre little swami on the edge of the universe and figure out how to use the force to grow a new hand, or new eyebrows (apparently, they've been digitally removed in the latest release of return of the jedi)? just sayin'

napoleon dynamite was oddly watchable, occasionally funny but nowhere close to actually being good. they tried way to hard to grab a cult audience, the napoleon character never did anything remotely redeeming, and was barely even harsh in an amusing way

and, while i can understand people having trouble with the formulaic ways of house, do they not get that er is just as formulaic, that law & order and csi are in the damn dictionary under formulaic? obviously, if you are not into science or medicine, house won't do much for you, regardless of whether you like the characters, just like if you don't care for murder mysteries, law & order and csi won't appeal much to you, even if you like the science. but, how can those shows be so popular and people question the formula of house?

the other rental from yesterday's venture to blockbuster was shaun of the dead. saw it in the theater and had to rent it so the family could see it. gotta love the british humor mixed with horror and social satire. it's like that one line from dawn of the dead about the dead doing what was familiar in life, going to the mall. but, here we get the convenience store guy and the homeless guy walking around with their hands out, the soccer kid still kicking his ball around, and the working stiffs (already zombie like before) just lingering about waiting for stimulating lights or noise

and, in politics and war, apparently, our troops were so angry after being attacked while on a lunchbreak that they went out after curfew through mosul. brings to mind that footage michael moore had in fahrenheit 9/11 with the troops invading that iraqi house seemingly in the middle of the night and expecting cooperation from tired, scared women with guns in their faces. how dare they shoot at us while we're eating, but we can do whatever we want to them at all hours of the night

a few hundred people showed up for the funeral of teh woman who had her baby cut out of her... that is, the woman who had her baby forcably kidnapped as opposed to the quite-common-now scheduled c-sections all around the country, though i'm sure those kill women from time to time as well. small missouri town, a woman who was nobody while she was alive, but crowds must gather to mourn her, cause cllective mouring for strangers is the way of things in this country. kids shoot each other at school and we gotta pile up flowers and photos and candles and pretend it had anything to do with us (and not in a constructive way, like, say accepting our responsibility in promoting a society that creates these situations and only reacts afterward). we're a bunch of reactionaries dying for a chance to react... to anything. we love it when rich guys get accused of murdering their wives and dumping them in san francisco bay cause we can all get together and cry fro conner and laci and get our daily hate on for scott. we love it when our towers are razed by passenger planes cause we can be wounded without being touched and cry out for revenge, for war, war on anybody and everybody who might have ever sat in the same mosque as those involved. we love our tragedies, and in these days of omnipresent media and live team coverage, big brother everywhere looking over our shoulders at each little death, we can all line up to be first to mourn. we can wait through hours of traffic and stand in line to mourn a past president or make a pilgrimage to the outside of a courthouse to cheer on a death sentence. we can go to missouri (missouri, where i'm sure most of this country never really cares to go) to mourn some woman who died violently, nevermind all the other deaths across this country. sure, urban deaths, gang murders--those get their mourners too; they get their makeshift alters and shrines, with photos and candles and stuffed animals and flowers, but if they get any mention on the news, it's local and it's for one night only. a white woman in middle america dies, it's national news. a pregnant white woman dies, by the hands of her husband or by the hands of some crazy woman in the throes of the horrifying feeling of her own baby dying, and it's a national tragedy, worthy of new laws if not new wars. and, we don't have to look into causes so much as long as we can still cry over the result and write the whole thing off, in this case, as a crazy woman doing a crazy thing, she oughta fry

nevermind the so-called culture of violence that puts bush's culture of life to shame, nevermind that people generally don't "snap" and do crazy violent shit without already having serious problems, nevermind that this woman meant nothing to any of us last week

a real inaugural ball
Mood:  sharp
Now Playing: enya

you know what would be nice? inauguration day, presidential motorcade passing by. all the fools who think turning their backs on the president get shoved out of the way by some real protestors who, since they've been searched by the fbi and secret service (who, reportedly, will have "tightest security in inaugural history, with police planning to search every one of the tens of thousands of people expected to line the parade route"), will not have any signs or offensive shirts or any useful protest equipment (molotov cocktails or grenades, just for a couple harmless examples), wander out into the street and just lay down or sit or stand, whatever position feels right, anything to block the motorcade and fuck up the whole inaugural celebration, no violence (until the aforementioned fbi and secret service, backed up by the police and the national guard... oh wait, we don't have any of the latter left in this country, do we? anyway, until the authorities make a move), no subtlety, just civil disobedience en masse

except, that would hardly make a point, nevermind that bush would already have been sworn in by the time of the motorcade (right?). it's too bad we can't stop the swearing in... not that that would keep him from being president, as it's all just formality; he'll be emperor whether the inauguration goes to plan or not. this guy may have signed an executive order authorizing torture of "detainees" (according to the aclu today) and he's gotten us into a war we can never really win and scarred our economy and our reputation, made us the conquering enemy of the world, and we let him win the election, let him take it as a mandate to do whatever the fuck he wants, and we have become nothing, irrelevant. we're just those people who didn't vote for him, that minority (of some %49) who are so timid and powerless that we don't matter now that the religious Right have the floor. maybe if a few more of us could get over OUR religious beliefs and embrace something more realistic, we might get off our asses and fight for the country this is supposed to be...

of course, everyone will say this country was founded on religious ideals. our forefathers were all religious, the separation of church and state was there to protect church, not state. but, even the point misses the point. those men didn't know what we know today. they couldn't see, like we should be able to see today, that religion is dated and dying. thing is, though they were religious and founded this country on ideals that came from their beliefs, the whole reason they were here on this continent in the first place (well, at least the ones who get all the publicity, the pilgrims and whatnot) was to escape religious persecution, to get out of a country where they had to believe one way and only one way. and, now, what's become of this country. the leech of christianity has it's hold on everything. we dare show religious icons in a negative light and a study is done to show how evil we are. we dare suggest a new crusade on the holy land is wrong and we're antiamerican, unpatriotic, traitors to the empire

so, can we get a spectacle like the wto riots in seattle from five years ago? or do we sit by silently, maybe turn our backs and still go unnoticed? or, can we at least fall somewhere in between? or, should we just sit back and settle in and lament our loss and lick our wounds and wish ourselves better luck next time?

at what point do we give up? at what point do we fight?

at what point do we find some new promised land to escape perescution by the religious? what will be our mayflower and where will be our plymouth rock?

dead animal art
Mood:  irritated

nathalia edenmont of sweden: an artist. her art: she decapitates animals she's euthanized and sticks their heads on other sculptures then takes photos of them. apparently, she does nothing to preserve the body parts, so the photos are taken within fifteen minutes of the death, thus her having to kill the animals herself rather than getting a professional involved (this lack of professional involvement here being the one possible crime in the situation). wanna see? or read an explanation or read an interview (the latter, quite simplistic and brief)?

so, the big debate: is it okay to kill animals for art? we kill them for food, and most folks dont' mind that, though even some meat eaters don't like how the slaughterhouse works, nevermind that they don't tend to do anything to change that situation (talking the majority of folks, here, not the people who throw blood and say meat is murder and all that, or, of course, any of the peaceful hippy vegans or vegetarians, and don't even get me started on the harm we bring upon vegetables and plants each and every day). we kill animals for sport (though we DO tend to complain when that doesn't also involve use for food. we kill animals for protection (that is, to stop an animal from attacking a human). and, we kill animals for clothes, leather skirts and jackets and boots and pants and whatnot. the thing is, is there a moral line to be drawn at the purpose behind the killing? or, is it the method that dictates the morality? and, if it is the method, would edenmont's humane killing of pets that have reportedly been intended for consumption by large snakes anyway (can't find that article, but i've heard the reference a couple times now*) be better or worse than cows lined up to have bolts fired into their skulls, their throats cut, oftentimes then hung up while still alive and kicking (just this month, peta got some tape of steers staggering around and bellowing in pain after their throats were cut, not that i like peta but it's hard to fault video evidence), nevermind the screaming of the cows in line waiting to die? and, what about lobsters, refrigerated or boiled to death, or sometimes cut up while still alive, for a nice, high-class meal?

is art too high class to involve death? and, is it only bad if the corpse is actually in the piece of art? or should we discount all the depictions of death? that last question jumped into the realm of silliness for most of you, i'm sure. but, seriously, is that any different than any of the rest of it. isn't the whole thing silly? we kill animals every day. sometimes we kill them just cause they were wandering around the city unattended and no one bothered to come take them from the pound. "the humane society" euthanizes animals all the time. and, whether we like to think we mind, we obviously don't or we'd do something about it, wouldn't we?

and, surely the answer to people's hypocrisy about killing animals shouldn't be answered by killing a few more and photographing their heads on scultpures, right? isn't that just another layer of hypocrisy? i mean, you sink to the level of those you're protesting, you're as bad as them, right? except, if you kill people to stop them from killing other people, you're a hero, you get reelected. shouldn't edenmont be revered for standing up and killing animals for the sake of not killing animals? aren't those particular animals martyrs to the cause?

next time you're eating a good steak or hamburger, imagine mr cow, his throat gushing blood, bellowing in pain, trying desperately to stay standing, to stay alive, even as the life drains out of him. next time you eat chicken, picture mrs chicken hung upsidedown by her feet, her wings flapping desperately, as if she could fly under regular circumstances, let alone when she's about to be killed and her feet are stuck in those little clamps. next time you eat fish, imagine that hook piercing the fish's lip, the fishing line dragging it up out of its watery home. now, think of the dogs and cats put down every day for the sake of not having to deal with stray animals about your hometown. think of your leather shoes, that leather miniskirt or leather jacket you wear cause it makes you look hot, art to make your ass look good... but at least it doesn't involve a scuplture

or is the problem here that she's making people look at the dead animal, at the face of it (and, i'll contend here, that the art would work better if she preserved them and used the resulting sculpture as the piece rather than the photo). i'm sure she doesn't want us all to join the "can't eat anything that had a face" camp, but you gotta wonder, is it the rabbit's little eyes, the cat's vacant stare, that's getting to us? if she used a cow's head, what would the reaction be? if she mounted a deer head on a block of wood... oh wait, folks do that all the time, and it's called a trophy

personally, i think the finger puppet mice and the real rabbit head on the plush toy rabbit body and the mouse head on the silly little angel figuring are kinda cool looking. but, maybe that's just me. maybe i'm as much a psychopath as people are making edenmont out to be, nevermind the sociopaths and future serial killers torture animals; they don't euthanize them humanely. and, for the record to the nonartists out there, she's got to care for the animals to use them as materiel in her art. you don't produce art in support of things you hate and you don't use materials you don't like. if you have an abhorrence to paint, you don't paint. if you don't like animals, you don't take the time to acquire them and kill them nicely and use them in your art. she's not a hater of animals kicking a puppy or tying a bunch of cats in a bag and tossing them in a river, or some heartless child trying to make a rat king by tying some tails together. she's an artist, clearly of some intelligence and with a point to make

is her point that we shouldn't kill animals? is her point that killing animals is perfectly fine and there's no difference between doing so for art and doing so for food or clothing? what if it's both? contradictory? maybe. hypocritical? maybe. but, not to be childish, but, "made ya look" didn't it?

* since i'm mentioning the hearsay**, i should also mention a report that she beats the animals to death with a stick. of course, that one sounds unlikely. how would she be sure to have a usable body if she inflicts such physical damage on it?

** looked again, after writing on and found a link that mentions that the animals were intended to be eaten by snakes here. "The animals that were used for the installations were bred to be snakefood, or simply "put away" as they were not wanted anymore by the petowners."

faith in a box and an anti-american upbringing
Mood:  a-ok

opening note: yesterday, got eight pages of the clubhouse blues rewrite out of the first four pages of the original version

and, now to interrupt the season of lists...

the parents television council released the results of a study they called faith in a box. 2,385 hours of primetime shows, with 2,344 treatments of religion, were analyzed. and, negative treatment was the winner, yay

specifically:

"nbc was the decisive leader in broadcasting negative depictions of faith and religion. nbc programming had 9.5 negative treatments for every positive treatment of faith. fox followed with 2.4 negative depictions for each one that was positive. wb and abc tied with 1.2 negative for each positive, followed by upn with 1 negative for every 1.1 positive, cbs with 1 negative for every 2 positive and pax which did not have a single negative depiction."

582 of the "treatments" were references to faith and those tended to be positive. hell, even that originally great character grace on jack & bobby had a speech about faith that religious organizations like the ptc would love (nevermind that it was silly and didn't fit the character established previously, not that i'm still complaining about that show which i subsequently dropped). "less common, and more likely to be shown in a negative light, are more specific elements of religion, such as a particular church and its teachings, devout laity, and the clergy."

"the treatment of religion in an institutional or doctrinal context (such as a reference to a church service, a particular denomination, or to Scripture) was strikingly negative." I'm sure the Simpsons made it on that list, since most times they go to church it's played for a laugh or an annoyance

here's a finding that bugged me: "negative depictions of clergy were more than twice as frequent as positive depictions - 36.2 percent negative compared to 14.6 percent positive." it didn't bug me that clergy were referenced negatively, of course. i'm all for that. the thing is, 36 percent negative plus 14 percent positive doesn't come anywhere close to 100 percent. apparently, 50 percent was indifferent. couldn't we throw indifference into negative, just to make the results sound... better? isn't indifference worse than a blatantly negative reference? or, if it isn't, can't we take another look at that indifferent half and get some new criteria to find results before we fucking publish? i mean, come on. only half the damn representations bother to put a value judgement (in the opinion of the ptc, anyway) on clergy, and that's worth publishing?

how about, we get a new study focused on just that 14 percent positive and why it still exists. i mean, sure, a big part of this country is religious folks, and supposedly some 90 percent of us believe in god (80 in the resurrection of christ, by the way). but, shouldn't writers (the folks putting together the content of all these shows) be smarter than average? and, shouldn't that make them less likely to be religous. afterall, we all know intelligence and religion are not analogous, right?

right? we DO all know that? you religious people haven't actually convinced yourselves that you're smart and that's why you believe in magical beings in the sky that look out for you when you do stupid and dangerous things. it's not your genius that makes you see god in every tree and in every child and in every pile of shit, is it?

permit me a roll of the eyes and a sad, sad sigh

"these findings lend credibility to the idea that hollywood accepts spirituality, but shies away from endorsing, or even tolerating, organized religion," concluded bozell, the president of the ptc. see, spirituality doesn't have to be religous. someone should explain that to him, and to all the rest of the religious people

then, we'll get started on the "spiritual" people and indoctrinating them into atheism

except that might be illegal soon, just like teaching anything "anti-american" to our children could be, nevermind the definition of the term. an 11-year old who lives near washington dc was accused of being anti-american. an official complaint about some things he said in school made its way to the county sheriff and the boy and his parents were questioned. had the parents been teaching him anti-american things? were they anti-american? what did they think of 9-11? did they associate with foreigners who didn't like america? stuff like that

the kid opposes the military and refused a veteran's day assignment (writing a letter to a marine), saying something about how all marines could die, for all he cares. and, this got him investigated for potentially being anti-american and a danger to his fellow classmates and his fellow man, cause you know after the terrorist attack on columbine high school, we can't be too careful. and, with christianity under attack by television, we must assume that this kid isn't getting some good christianity ingrained in him how we want and that with his anti-american parents, he's certainly a danger to us all. hell, why isn't he in camp x-ray already? i mean, a complaint was filed. damn the evidence. damn the investigation. let's just send him away with saddam and peterson and mcveigh... oh wait, last one's already dead

last one was a christian, as well, as far as i've seen. wonder if that makes any sense, a christian doing violent things? a christian wanting people to die? that's crazy talk. it's only the dark-skinned followers of allah who kill people. it's only the enemies of the united states that kill people. it's only the cohorts of emmanuel goldstein... saddam hussein... osama bin laden... that kill people. only al qaeda and whoever else we fell like bombing

the season of lists part one - books
Mood:  cool

it's december, the season for "best of" lists, and while i won't be as shallow as to name the most beautiful people of the year or anything like that, i'm not above making lists. hell, i rather like lists. i like organization of information, keeping track of what tv shows to watch, what movies to rent, what books to read, what tv shows have been watched (or recorded), what movies have been viewed, what books have been read. it's all good fun for obsessives like me. so, without further ado, here's a probably incomplete list of my favorite books* (in no particular order):

• house of leaves by mark danielewski - a strangely put together book, involving multiples layers of plot (author is writing for a young man who seems to be losing his mind and is providing often (seemingly) unrelated footnotes on a manuscript he found written by a crazy, possible nonexistent old man about a film that never existed about a house that never existed), footnotes, typesetting bordering on pretentious (until you bother to actually read for context) and a central mystery (a house that is bigger inside than outside) that is quite powerful
• the poisonwood bible by barbara kingsolver - the story of a missionary and his family told through the voices of several narrators (the missionary's wife and daughters, taking turns), a fascinating journey into africa and many social and politcal issues, not to mention a great family story and a memorable sequence involving natural destruction at the hands (so to speak) of an army of ants
• hearts in atlantis by stephen king - actually a group of interrelated stories (two novellas and three short stories), all dealing with vietnam (before, during and after) and the politics of the 60s and 70s, connected through a group of children and a violent incident from the past. brilliantly constructed, violently emotional, nothing like what most people would expect from king
• bag of bones by stephen king - one of king's many books about writing, the emotional core of this story (a widower falling in love with a young mother and her child even as he deals with a ghostly mystery and the sudden death of his wife) raises this above the others
• lolita by vladimir nabakov - a bit of poetry; it's amazing how nabakov (whose first language was russian) can do so well in english, with great imagery, evocative metaphor and a great story about obsession and love (not pedophilia, as you might expect)
• dune by frank herbert - the first of a series, a great treatise on politics buried in a richly detailed science fiction world
• god emperor of dune by frank herbert - the tale of a half worm, half man mad with power and those who would attempt to thwart his rule. the second and third book of the dune series seemed like flimsy little placeholders to me, adding to the overall story only a little, like there was a demand for sequels before herbert had ever envisioned any, but this fourth book has a richness that makes it stand beside the original.
• catcher in the rye by j d salinger - what to say about this one? there isn't much plot to speak of. it's all about the narrator and his aimlessness, his detestation of the world of adults. but that barely describes it
• to kill a mockingbird by harper lee - a brilliantly simple and deceptively complex story, about growing up, about secrets, racism, and so much more
• the adventures of huckleberry finn by mark twain - above all, i always saw this one as being about the power of imagination to improve any situation
• crime and punishment by fyodor doystoevsky - a densely written novel about a young man determined to commit a crime and prove there don't have to be consequences
• 1984 by george orwell - a prescient look at the omnipresent media/government and the death of the individual
• insomnia by stephen king - another dense novel by king, this one focused on an old man who fins his insomnia gives him the ability to see beings that cut away the life force of those who die, leading into a supernatural struggle to stop a disaster, not to mention a back and forth debate about abortion, a little like the early chapters of king's tommyknockers gives us a serious debate about nuclear weapons
• replay by ken grimwood - a surprisingly powerful but fairly simple story about a man who gets to live his life over and over again, finding ways to improve upon what has come before, fix past mistakes and find happiness (if he can)
• ishmael by daniel quinn - one of those books that can change your life if you give it the chance. not really a novel but more a conversation about the state of the world and modern culture and where humanity has gone wrong in "growing up"
• my ishamel by daniel quinn - the sequel that continues the conversation, taking it in different directions and giving using a little more of a more novel-like structure
• it by stephen king - don't trust the miniseries, which, despite its pathetic ending, was still well made. this book is a seriously epic look at childhood and growing up and finding who you are as a grown up, not to mention the supernatural aspects, the allusions to numerous horror film staples and the unfilmable battle in the end, a great exercise in characterization
• ender's game by orson scott card - a classic science fiction novel about a brilliant boy destined for greatness, sent away to battle school to play at zero-g war and learn how to fight aliens, except that descripton makes it sound far too shallow
• speaker for the dead by orson scott card - the sequel to ender's game that brings ender into adulthood, fashions a brilliant alien world, gives us a disturbing and powerful family dynamic, a fantastic way of looking at death (and the life of the recently deceased) and, in my view, surpasses it's predecessor
• i know this much is true by wally lamb - take a simple tale of twin brothers, one schizophrenic and hospitalized, one whose life is falling apart and expand it into a detailed character study several hundred pages long, and you've got this book
• the story of b by daniel quinn - take quinn's angle on modern culture and focus it on religion and a character who is essentially the antichrist
• after dachau by daniel quinn - a deceptive metaphor about life focused on a woman who wakes one day to recall a life lived previously and who may provide a drastically different way of viewing the world
• lord of the flies by william golding - the simple tale of a group of planewrecked boys stranded on an island and letting go of the trappings of modern life only to fall prey to their own savage ways
• brave new world by aldous huxley - like 1984, this book seems more prescient than it seems a treatise on it's own present, about the way of the world to sedate us into conformity
• the sea came in at midnight by steve erickson - an eerily complex novel, moving forward and backward in time, shifting perspectives and narrators and looping around on itself so that, in a way, it's hard to be sure what it's all about
• from the corner of his eye by dean koontz - about the coincidence and interconnectedness of our lives, and also (contrary to what one might expect i would enjoy) about god and his place in life
• false memory by dean koontz - despite one glaring detail that bugged the hell out of me (and which i brought up to the author at a signing), this seemingly overlong novel about three people succumbing to the sudden onset of severe phobias turns out to be a fantastic exercise in characters, with one of the more powerful scenes i've ever read
• american gods by neil gaiman - about the gaudy faux religious trinkets and landmarks of modern america. though written by british gaiman, a strangely insightful look at american culture through the trappings of a weirdly supernatural plot
• the holy by daniel quinn - a look under the surface of america and the world, at strange goings on behind the scenes of the reality we know. a let down in the end (though not anywhere near as much as quinn's newcomer's guide to the afterlife was) but a great read anyway, with some great imagery
• the third chimpanzee by jared diamond - a look at what truly sets humans apart from other mammals and the other two chimpanzees (diamond's contention being that humans are just, well, the title says it all), with looks at the origins in other species of what has become in humans drug use and self desructive behavior, including the making of nuclear weapons
• guns, germs and steel by jared diamond - a richly detailed look at what makes different cultures different, from the availability of specific edible plants to the presence of large mammals, from continent to continent and how geography has shaped the evolution of culture
• hamlet by william shakespeare - a man going crazy after the death of his father at the hands of his uncle who's having an affair with his mother, or a man bent on revenge because his father's ghost demands it
• high fidelity by nick hornby - a book about lists and about men and about relationships, as the main character tracks down the five greatest break ups of his life to discover why his girlfriend recently left him
• about a boy by nick hornby - a man with the simplest life he can make for himself finds it complicated after he pretends to have a son in order to meet more interesting women than he might usually
• fever pitch by nick hornby - hornby's autobiograpy by way of an exploration of his obsession with soccer, told through anecdotal accounts of the games that figure in the major cornerstone events of his life
• into the great wide open by kevin canty - a relatively straightforward tale about two teens falling in love, complicated by their miserable lives outside of each other <

watchlist for yesterday:

• house "damned if you do" - though the tea was obvious, the humor in this episode, not to mention regular jabs at religion, was great
• veronica mars "an echolls' family christmas" - predictable ending with the poker game culprit but the why of it was a great mystyer and the stalker plot was done well with a fantastic ending, not to mention veronica's confrontation with jake kane
• ghost hunters - the evp wasn't too impressive this time, but it's refreshing in a way to have a couple episodes now where the team didn't really find much of anything. the approach of proving the science over the supernatural is a great new angle for a show like this
• the daily show - nothing special but it's the daily show, funny and great even at its worst
• south park "woodland critter christmas" - wrong in so many ways, like the best of south park's episodes. gotta love stan demanding that there's a point to this when he's stuck helping the mountain lion cubs learn how to perform abortions... for those of you who didn't see this, that must sound either disturbing or hilarious out of context

watchlist for today:

• zatoichi
• the door in the floor

* not limited to novels, obviously, as there are some plays or nonfiction works involved, though i've left comics out for now