You can't walk backwards into the future

HELLO FAMILY!

2011-05-25T14:32:00.001-07:00

Hello Alex's Family from Mike Brune from mike brune on Vimeo.

Anything a Scentist Can Do, I Can Do Better

2010-12-15T13:51:00.000-08:00

I am on a bus that I lovingly call 'Land Boat.' It's like I'm riding a vibrator through an ocean during a hurricane/earthquake combo. Somehow they even oversold this 1000 degree relic and people are sitting/roasting in the isles for the first 45 minutes or so. Luckily I was smart enough to buy a 10 peso rock bread sandwich to nourish myself for the 6+ hour ride.

It's really no worse than an AirTran flight.

We took a 6 hour bus to a city called Bahia Blanca, a city not worth staying in. So we got an overnight bus (the pinkeye? The blackeye? The stinkeye?) to Neuquen.

The city of Neuquen- skip it. But they do have the Giantsaur - the world's biggest carnivorous dinosaur. And that's not his name. You can google that ass.

In the museum that holds the actual fossils from this monster, things start to shift away from giant lizards and towards HYDROELECTRIC POWER! that's right kids, they bait you with dinosaurs and switch to a dam. I was really confused. "this is a dino egg, this is a gajillion-year-old mosquito....and this is a model of our power plant."

Then the guy that drove us to dinoland was all "let's go SEE the hydroelectric power plant, very important" (as a side note, 'very important' is thrown around down here like 'genius' is in LA, neither words have any meaning to me now)

So we see the dam and then get a picture with a really cheesy dinosaur on a hill (better than dam) and then drive back in silence (also better than dam)

We actually did have a conversation on the ride that we have with whoever we meet, from any country. Health Care. We always end up talking about healt care. maybe people like to hear that Americans have it shitty and the future looks grim.

After a visit to a nice river beach, it was time to leave this town. we decided to leave early in the morning.

That evening, we talked to some older Argentina/Brits. we talked about hiking and the horrors of instant coffee. The nice old man (he was a non-dinosaur scientist) told us to hike a mountain called Colorado in San Martin de Los Andes, our next destination. His wife told us so many things I can't recall a single one. But I did watch a giant flying bug sit on her head as she prattled on. I couldn't take my eyes off it. I was going to tell her but I didn't know the etiquette and hoped it might sting her to liven things up.

Early in the morning at the bus station I saw 30, maybe 40 kids about 13 years old lined up for my bus. Kids that age are the same all over the world. They suck. So I made myself sleep by saying "this isn't happening" over and over like I was a victim of home invasion as they went to the bus bathroom giggling in pairs.

When I got off the bus in San Martin I was confused why I had not been there the whole time. It's in the Lake District of the province and is surrounded by the Andes mountains. Everywhere you look is like a postcard; snow capped mountains, that Colorado ski town architecture, crystal clear lakes and stray dogs everywhere. Perfecto

I had already lined up a place to stay, but we met Mario at the bus station.

Oh, Mario.

Mario is about 5'1", the son of Italian immigrants and kind of a round man. He looks to be 60-65 years old. And his pants sag like little wayne.

Mario is the kind of guy that would sell you a book off his bookshelf rather than let you borrow it. When you find your own name in it, and remember you loaned it to him last summer- he would be no where in sight.

After no haggling at all we had a room at Casa de Mario; private room, private bath, "breakfast", and cable TV full of terrible Larry Levinson movies- for $25 a night. (I say "breakfast" because instant coffee and a piece of toast is only breakfast in prison.)

San Martin reminds me of Park City. -it's full of assholes in bad hats. I kid. It's a ski town with one small main drag full of shops and restaurants.

Food- amazing and cheap: Wild boar, giant steaks from different animals, trout

I'm pretty much always prepared to fill my fat face with food- that's a given. But having heard it was summer in South America I wasn't prepared for anything but sunshine.

"let's hike that Colorado Mountain the scientist told us about", katie said to me early in the day.

Sure, I thought. If that old scientist can do it and keep such a nonchalant attitude, it should be easy.

Before you hike a mountain you sign in at the forest ranger station so they know where to look for your body. Seemed normal.

This mountain was about 1800 meters straight up. At first it was nice and fun.

After a while the wind picked up and then there was snow everywhere. Just as I has feared, we lost the trail.

The sun started to set so we took shelter in a small cave. We found the remnants of other dumb dead hikers from long ago: bones covered by tattered No Fear t shirts, a pile of flat faced children huddled together for warmth. They were long dead so we searched their pockets for food and only found frozen bottles of Fanta. (Fanta stays in business solely from Argentina. They even put it in their beers) I could tell Katie was starting to loose it because she was talking nonsense. About how she wanted to watch Conan even if he was on TBS and when were tube tops gonna come back in. I built a sad fire out of a teepee of Marlborough Reds and a precocious mountain goat stomped it out. I wanted to feast on his haunches. On the brink of hypothermia I drifted off to sleep.

At daybreak I could tell by the smile on Katie's face that she was dead. That bitch is not a morning person. In the sun I saw that our cave was just a sewage drain, and we slept no more than 200 meters from a Howard Johnson. I chuckled to myself as I removed Katie's jewelry and headed to the pawn shop.

I'll actually have a video that breaks down the barren, windy, subzero apocalypse that is the summit. I'll add it to the blog if I can find a decent Internet connection anywhere.

The Treasures of Tandil

2010-12-04T01:30:00.000-08:00

If you worked at a grocery store and a moron walked up to you holding laundry detergent and said "I no no speak me like. Is this...uhhhhh?" then the moron rubbed the box on his clothes and nodded- would you help him or get him to wash his clothes with toothpaste?

If you were a waiter and you went over the specials to a moron and his moron wife and they smiled and replied "yes" to several choices, then you trick the morons to make a decision and they reduce your menu to pointing at their mouths and saying. "fish. Meat. Beer" and then after the meal dump a pile of bills on the table and let you sort through them for what you need- would you help them or rob them? Poison them?

Luckily the kind people of Tandil helped us with smiles. Even in this smaller city (about 100,000 people) everyone is gorgeous, so you can spot me at a 1/4 mile.

The bus from Buenos Aires was unexpectedly pleasant. You can almost lie down totally flat, which is good because the bus ride was about 5.5 hours to Tandil; on the way to Patagonia. Before the bus I went and saw a cemetery of tombs and took some asshole arty pictures. I decided that I would like to be buried in a tomb and all my living relatives should handle the painstaking upkeep instead of moving on with their lives.

Tandil! What a pretty town. Quiet. Good food. a nice change of pace. BA is the loudest town I have ever tried to sleep in.

The first night we found our amazing hostel (seriously amazing) and got a private room and went for dinner. We ate a nice meal (fish meat beer) Walking back we saw a small packed music venue where some high school kids were playing jazz. They were really good and everyone was drinking Quilmes and cheering and clapping. A monsoon started as we walked home. All a good time. Katie tried to buy an umbrella and realized too late she kept asking people if we could purchase a "question water"

Then next morning we met a British couple that quit they're jobs and were traveling around South America for a year. They were nice but didn't really like us and avoided us as much as possible. I will take that out on the next Limey I meet.

We hiked up a small mountain that overlooked the town and had some kind of half assed castle on top of it. The whole way we were followed by one of the many sweet and pretty stray dogs of the town. They really are nice dogs and there's one in every doorway sleeping.

We then walked over to a lake full of people boating and swimming and having great times. When we got to it a sign said it was private. Booo

Tandil is famous for a Salami and cheese joint called Epoca de Quesos, so we went there. It's the oldest standing building in the town. Ordering dinner was it's usual fiasco of communication so we asked for "the most popular good good thank you" and got a great bottle of Malbec and a little slab of wood covered in what had to be 4 lbs of cured meats and cheeses. We didn't finish it so the waitress put it in a paper bag that is now a grease soaked disaster that I am eating on the bus. Amazing.

After a heart hug dinner like that the best thing to do is to throw a scotch on it. So we went to a little bar and had one and started to chat with a nice local man who also liked scotch.

What followed is what you would expect. Luckily I took about 500 pictures so I can piece together this evening for you.

The local man's english was not great, our Spanish is shit; So there was a lot of talk about language and excitement over successful communication.

Here are the bullet points for the rest:

-Taking with hands

-Exchanging favorite authors

-Besos - these are little kisses on the cheek that I really never see too much here.

-Photoshoot with a malaise 23 yr old bartender that doesn't look too into it

-Talking with hands escalate to full on nonsense charades

-Exchanging of favorite musicians

-Exchanging of how to tell people to fuck off in our native tongues

-travel advice

-General agreement that the bartender was a beautiful human being

-Gifts- each more special than the last

THE FIRST GIFT was a pack of the local man's cigarettes because mine were bullshit he said. Then we smoked in the bathroom because he said we should. I shrugged and went along with it. Jr High all over again.

THE SECOND GIFT was a gross sweet cake thing in a gold foil wrapper. He forced Katie and I to eat it in front of him because at that time it was of grave importance. We lied and said it was delicious all 49 times he asked. Another cake was forced into Katie's purse.

THE THIRD GIFT was very important to our new friend. It took him a long time to even decide if he wanted to give it to me, even longer to explain how much I should care to be this lucky. He gave it to me and I remember lots of hugging, serious advice and a solid handshake. I put the treasure in my pocket for safe keeping. I told our new Freindo the pocket had a zipper, so the treasure could not be lost or stolen by thieves. He inspected the pocket and agreed.

He offered us a ride home in his truck he said he was allowed to drive drunk because his buddy was Chief of Police. then he said we were allowed to live on his farm forever.

We declined both and went to bed.

The next morning in my pockets were notes of misspelled author's names. Our friend's name (Horacio) and email. A note from the bartender asking for copies of the pictures we took and to be facebook friends. (of course) and The Prized Gift.

When I held the gift up the morning light danced off it magically. I would cherish it always and one day pass it on to another friend in a faraway land. It meant so much that night and hopefully would on another.

It was a .25 cent coca cola bottle opener.

Veggie dinner

2010-12-01T03:24:00.000-08:00

Apparently when I eat a 2 lb. chateaubriand and a pile of goat sweetbreads covered in a broccoli purée after midnight it doesn't agree with my sleep.

I knew this in the back of my mind. Red meat plus late night equals a nightmare of me trapped in a zombie apocalypse.

Last night was no different. Brian Dennehey and I were trying to get a suitcase of money to his pickup truck before one of us were bitten then caught a bullet in his head. (secretly I think Dennehey wanted me dead so he could keep the money. But all the money in the world wasn't going to bring his family back)

So I ran from zombies all night and woke up and knew two things.

1. After 10,000 zombie nightmares I'm kinda over it. It's stressful, the opposite of what I'm looking for when I sleep.

2. For a whataburger, it might not be worth it. For another taste of late night glands, I'm prepared to load my dream shotgun with slugs one more time....if not 10.

Taxi to Boca, a faraway Barrio. (expensive taxi- $5)

This place is a classic tourist trap. Lots of people accosting you to buy trinkets. We wandered around had a 'pressure beer' aka draft. In the late 1800s the small town of Boca tried to secede from the country. Thank god they didn't let them go. That would be like the US not holding onto West Virginia.

I'm surprised that there's really not a lot of haggling here. (I'm still going to do it, but it isn't part of the culture) that's because everything is crazy cheap. I mean crazy cheap if you get out of tourist town. It's pretty great.

The Diary of Anne Frank was on sell near a train station. I thought I heard a guy call it the Diarrhea of Anne Frank. I repeated it several hundred times

Walked and walked and had ice cream. Ice cream is for serious here.

Saw a guy getting really weird with some Tango people on the street. There are people doing the Tango everywhere. A normal person tips them, tales a picture and moves on. This freak show was directing his own photo shoot with two barely willing participants.

Bought sone Bus tickets to the next town and got some help from a nice missionary guy.

It Rained. A lot. So we ate empanadas and waited it out. Then left the cafe and it started raining again. How exciting is that!!!!??

I took a Nap. Which is something I would never normally do when traveling. I would normally be driving myself into the ground seeing sights and partying at night. But not so much partying this time. you're suppose to party here. But I think you're suppose to party in every city. I don't mind the nap and late dinner business.

After my nap I met a girl Katie was talking to from Australia. She was on a 10 month trip. Australians really go for it when they travel. I'm not sure why.

Had a veggie dinner at a restaurant called Bio. Really great. Cold raw veggie soup- amazing. Empanada filled with mustard greens and olives and whatnot. Yes. Then a quinoa and risotto fresh veggie mixture with local goat cheese. Holy shit. Add some fresh fruit juices, water and the fact that two people could never eat all that....$35. Score.

Maybe tonight I will dream I have hair like Maradona and two watches.

Argentina: Glocks and Glands

2010-11-30T06:27:00.000-08:00

Day travel and one:

Always check your bags when you borrow a bag from someone BEFORE you travel. Dont let TSA check the bag before you gave it a solid search

That bag may have something in it you don't want to travel with. Like a loaded Glock 40 clip.

Apparently if you just have the bullets and no gun, it's just a fine. So no biggie. And it's amazing how well that loaded clip hid itself in the bag

Right before that little bit o fun. Had to rebook return tickets a few days early for work. Got upgraded to first class, but had to come back 4 days early. Almost a wash.

Landed in BA, got a cab then scored a hotel room. The V&S hostel. I recommend. Then naptime.

Then I ate a steak. #1 for the day and I learned I should eat this organs in BA. Glands, entrials- all that. It's Luke watching the Tango. You just have to do it

Now I'm tired so into shorthand.

Museum. Modern. One highlight were two people (real live gorgeous people-everyone is gorgeous here) in a bedroom, in bed reading each other stories. It shook me to the bone.

$4 bottle of wine (honestly, better than museum)

Entertained by a poodle with lots of character (also better than museum)

Lots of walking.

A beer by a good looming cemetery that will be visited tomorrow.

A shower.

Another cab.

A glass of wine in an Italian restaurant. (no Italian food in BA for me)

Then one of the best meals of my life.

Goat sweetbreads.
Cheeses and Malbec

LITERALLY the best steak I ever had. In a place called CHILA (best joint in Buenos Ares 2 years running according to the staff)

The waiter gave us travel advice while the busboy gave him hell. He spoke of a magical place to have dinner on top of a mountain. Only able to reach by hiking and mountain bike. He said it was good. We promised him we would find it like it was his long lost father.

Then a ride with a lost cabbie that called me the "university of phonetics" after I butchered his language a bit.

After a full day in atlanta, a 10 hour flight and a 16 hour day in BA, I'd have to say I like it

back in NYC, not really- Queens

2010-06-14T16:43:00.000-07:00

I am coming down with, or fighting off- a little sicknees so I got some of this stuff:

It is raw, unpasteurized milk. Not just any any milk, but milk from a cow that just gave birth to a calf. It provides the calf's entire immune system. called Colostrum. It is really, really hard to drink.

Why would I drink something like that?

I read this article. in Harper's. It's a MUST READ. Milk secret ops action. I love it. I get this illegal milk at my farmer's market. It's awesome. The milk is awesome. This stuff is like drinking butter, but worse. But I am super healthy for this grueling road trip.

After I forced that down, I sold my window seat on a delta flight for a $100 to some guy. yeah, for real. Took a nap, then I saw this painting in the holiday inn

that is mine. Somehow, someway. It comes with me

Time to finish emailing and than I hunt down pork buns and good times. Because tomorrow I may have stuff to do

I am a Carney

2010-06-13T21:34:00.000-07:00

I have lived in my apt for about 6 days this year. I was in NY from X-mas till May 1st. and since I have been back my apt has been sublet, so I have just been hopping around, and every couple for weeks I'm out of town shooting TV, so it works.

I think ill start blogging about eating food and random shits and whatnot to get in the habit of writing something that is not a call sheet (boooo, set joke)

so I decided to give you some photos of where I have been and what I have been up to in some pictures.

These are in the opposite of chronological order too

Last week i went back to Vegas for a half day. Ate some soul food. Best place in Vegas

This is a place in Silver Springs, MD called Tastee Diner. It gave me nightmares, but it was worth it. Here's the nightmare:
I was on a location scout in Vegas and I was watching a documentary about how depressed people that made bombs were. Then I was on a bus playing a drum machine arguing about Sesame Street and whether or not arsenic was something found in a normal kitchen. Someone got stabbed in an apt with a glass floor. I asked the guy how much windex he went through and he just kept nodding at me and combing his mustache. Add a parrot and a laundromat owner that wanted to hire some ninjas because he hated the Phillies.

I had to sell that baby.

Carney's can't have it all, sometimes they get replaced.

When I got back to LA, i went on a tear of picking up Dodger tickets for next to nothing.

This was my last day on a show in NYC. It was nice out that day.

COWBELLMAN @ Citi field. Saw this guy at my first double header. The dodgers lost em both.

I shot a Boxing episode

and one about Education

These cats were in charge of the NY show

It was cold there.

R.I.P. ODB

Really solid crews in NY

this was me getting hired at the job interview to start the year.

So this next week, I'm back to NYC, then to Alabama, Vegas, Denver and back home. I'll blog some somethings

i just bought stock

2009-04-21T03:52:00.000-07:00

I have been working and living in Las Vegas since Feb 2nd. So after I did a small amount of gambling I decided to buy some stock. "fuck it" i said to myself as I cashed in a week's paycheck into Delta stock (DAL)

i kept it for a month and made double my money. I started talking stock talk to my dad and maybe I will spread the money out over a few stocks and see how I do.

ANYWAYS....
I'm looking at stocks and I think of American Apparel. They make clothes in the US, they have a weird cult following and bizarre hipster oriented ADs. SO I started reading about them. and they are in a court fight with Woody Allen! Those assholes. I thought their shirts were so comfortable, now I hope they have to pay Woody $10 for putting up this ad without his permission.

that's a pretty funny ad. Here's the skinny on the court case from the wall street journal

as far as their stock goes (APP) i'll wait to see if they shell out $10 mil to Woody Allen and it drives it down to $2 a share. As far as buying any more American Apparel. Never ever again, guys. Why would you fuck around with Woody Allen? jackasses.

I will also tell me friends that you are Woody Allen haters. Shit heads.

Eastbound and Down...i Love you

2009-03-24T01:55:00.000-07:00

It's close to 2 AM and I'm a little stoned on cough medicine but I wanted to write about what I just saw with the season finale of Eastbound and Down.

I know the show is not perfect, I'm sure it has it's critics. But there is so much about it that is so inspiring to me to watch.

I love that it is mean, Southern, unapologetic, filled with drugs and self destruction and ultimately with zero redemption for its main character. And that is why i Love it so much. The show is made for an audience of 8 guys, they made what they thought was good- not what they thought people wanted. I don't know if they accomplished what they set out to do, because I have no idea what that could be. But what they did do was make a comedy that doesn't pander to what people may be able to handle or not- or create a series arc that leaves you feeling like you just had a good time or grew in some way. Or ended on some half-assed cliffhanger you can't wait to see wrap up. They has the nerve to wrap things up, which should be a standard- but somehow isn't.

TV is really a whorehouse. Most everything on it is a stinking sack of shit without any soul or integrity, made by people that should not be allowed to leave the house- much less reach a mass audience. Full of second guessing and doubt and bad ideas that are just rehashes or worse ideas. But this series was really a fuck you to TV's shittiness and no balls attitude to generating more horseshit. What the show really does, what really gets my blood pumping-is that it inspires me to keep trudging through the festering pool that is the entertainment business to get a chance to be part of something that sticks it to an audience like these guys just stuck it to me.

Seeing shows like The Wire, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Mad Men and now Eastbound And Down make me think that there really is a place in TV to do something that couldn't be done just a few years ago- unless you made something animated that only cost $2. TV finally has avenues, like feature films and short films do- to make something that doesn't have the goal of reaching everyone out there that turns on the tube. The goal is to reach a specific audience, and that's fucking awesome.
So even if you don't dig this show the way I do, you should at least understand what I'm saying here, man. Do what you think is good and keep doing it. Even if the audience is just you.

Viva North Vegas

2009-02-10T22:04:00.000-08:00

Hello Blog readers,

I am in Las Vegas till sometime in April and I have decided to take YOU loyal blog reader on a very special tour of Las Vegas. I could tell you about all the pretty people, doing pretty things in the coolest spots. All the lights and blah blah blah. To hell with that...

The things that really excites me about Vegas is not the shows or the gambling or the Sodom and Gomorra quality to the whole town, but it's the cheap cheap food. I drive by ads and billboards for food so cheap, it can't be true. So I decided to give myself a nonsensical challenge for this work trip in Vegas. I am going to eat the cheapest, worst food I can (every night starting last night) and tell you all about it. I thought about taking a picture of the food I eat, and following it up with a picture of what comes out of my ass the following morning. I couldn't think of a more horrible tour of Las Vegas. But I'm not sure how many people even read this goddam blog- so if you don't wanna see any poop-please say something. otherwise.....it's time for the....

I'll have to start taking pictures of the poop tonight/tomorrow. I missed the pic this morning. The idea occurred after I flushed the gorgeous turd away.

Last night I went to the Hard Rock Casino, right across the street from my TV-less place of dwelling and had a steak, 3 Shrimp, mashed potatoes and a salad for the price of $7.77
I should probably not take pictures of these meals with my phone. I need a camera for this gig.

It wasn't too bad, and I only had to walk to it. The Hard Rock is really not my kind of place.

But tonight I went to the part of town I know I should always hang out in: NORTH VEGAS
what....a....dump. I love it.

The first time I was driving through north Vegas I turned down a short street full of homeless and tents. It was like The Grapes of Wrath. And what looked to be 150 people were gathered around....something. It was like they were zombies and had caught a human and gathered all around to rip him to shreds and eat his entrails.

North Vegas is a special place. The signage just kept getting better. $1 draft beer. $7 Steak and Shrimp and then I found THE SILVER NUGGET.

During the day I can bowl (yes bowling in the casino, that kind of classy) for $1 a game. $2.75 per game at night. $1 Breakfast, $2 lunch and $3 Dinner. $2 well drinks. what a place....huh?

When I sat down in the booth, a family of mutants was sucking down desert. But I could barely hear their monster-like slurps due to the 4 young ladies screaming into a blackberry just beyond them to the East. I ordered a bowl of beef vegetable soup $1 (no picture) and the SUPER SHRIMP PLATE for $4

I couldn't even eat all this food.

It wasn't really that bad, although the roll was actually a hamburger bun for a slider. so probably no poop pics for this one

I am insured

2009-01-31T21:06:00.000-08:00

I am no longer one of the ga-jillion americans without insurance. Because I was forced to get insurance, I caved in and got it. so hopefully someone will break my nose and i'll have a good story to tell and it will only cost me $50.

My insurance is too expensive, but after this year's taxes I will no doubt look like the working poor and will get a nice discount. I think when I am unconsious in a horrible car accident I will need to present this card for treatment.

Finishing up the Sundance Bloggin'

2009-01-25T12:30:00.000-08:00

Right now I am about 250 miles from Vegas driving back from Park City. I drove us through a shit-ton of snow coming down the mountain and now Katie has taken over the driving for a minute. This'll be a long blog, because I'm going to finish telling you my thoughts on the movies I haven't yet mentioned that I saw.

here's a video that doesn't do all the snow coming down justice:

Prom Night in Mississippi

I realize I never said anything about this movie because I saw it before it premiered...so let me say it now. This movie fucking sucks. Worst thing I saw at the festival. This MIGHT have made a decent 10 minute short....maybe. The Filmmaking is just flat out bad. They provide no insight into their subject, it is really just a prom video with a bunch of high school kids pontificating on race. At the Q&A the filmmakers couldn't really answer a single question about their subjects..at all. It was lame.

Crude

Fell asleep during this snooze-fest so I walked out. Pretty boring, maybe I'll give it another chance. heard a funny story about the director being an ass-hat at a few festival venues. It really is just another Eco-doc....someone is killing the Earth, a Corporate giant is Evil......this won't play anywhere but on PBS and film fests.

No Impact Man

This is an Eco doc that works. I guy decides for him, his wife and child to have no impact on the environment for one year. No trash, no transportation that is not powered by a human. No electricity, toilet paper....they go all out. The reason this doc works is because it is about this couple, who are also doing the eco thing. it is funny and entertaining and you learn shit about all that green living stuff. I enjoyed it and I'm sure it will influence my food habits for a couple of weeks.

World's Greatest Dad

This is Bobcat Goldthwait's film starring Robin Williams as a dad whose son dies in a freak masturbation accident. I heard people say this was a touching film- i don;t agree, but it was entertaining and had funny moments. it is a movie that lives in a weird place, it stars Robin Williams- but anyone who liked his last several movies will abhor this. And the film doesn't really push any boundries or ideas far enough to really appeal to hardcore cinefiles. it is kind of tame, even though it sounds like a black comedy winner. But there are great moments and it is full of sexual perversion.

Brief Interviews with Hideous Men

I really enjoyed this film even though I really didn't care for about half of it. The film is full of vinettes and monologues by some really talented actors. So when a section would begin that I wasn't into, I would wait it out and usually would like the next. Guys talking about sex, being jerkfaces and all that is always entertaining. The film is directed by Joe Krasinski from The (american) Office and my only criticism was for him to stay the hell out of his movie and never-ever say the line "I stand before you naked." Other than that, he handled everything wonderfully. and it is really well shot and the way several of the scenes plays out is really innovative.

Bronson

This film was right on time. Plotless violence and a great psycho performance from Tom Hardy as Britain's most famous prisoner. The film feels like Chopper at points. I really enjoyed it, especially about 25 movies into the festival. The lead character just likes to fight and stomp people. Never has an actor punched so many people in the face in one film. and he fights pitbulls with his bare hands.

Toe to Toe

i though this was a little too long at 110 minutes. It could have been 85 and really been a contender for some awards. It is about a rich white girl in high school that has more problems than her new friend, the black girl from across the tracks that is gonna study and make something of herself. Good looking cinematography, great acting and "I feel gross" sexual encounters made this an entertaining film even if it was quite bloated. I look forward to another film from this director.

An Education

This movie really ruins itself in the last 15 minutes. It was enjoyable enough for most of the film, then it goes to hell. I won't write more about it because I'm still pissed at the tacked-on, assenbly line ending to this film. Booooooo, BBC Films.

In the Loop

Hilarious political farce. great work all around. One of the few films that didn't insult my intelligence. It also co-stars Ann Chlumsky from BLOOD CAR. This movie should be at a theatre near you. The dialogue in this film is BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM....super fast and sharp. The insults in this film are so great that the same jackasses that do random scenes from Glengarry Glenross will pick up a few of these.

Big Fan

Written and directed by The Wrestler scribe Robert D. Siegel. This is an odd, dark film. I like it....some people might call it a little thin, and maybe it is- but I still like the film. Patton Oswalt is an obsessive Jets fan that lives with his Mom and works in a parking lot. Even if you've never been football crazy- you've been crazy about something else and can relate to this guy. I don;t want to give any more synopsis and ruin the great early turn this film takes- it caught me off guard and really pulled me in-I thought I was going to watch the kind of movie that shows you a pathetic character and you look down on him- but this movie is not that. Oh yeah, and Kevin Corrigan is in it- who doesn't love that guy? WHO? Show them to me!

It Might Get Loud

Rockers Jimmy Page, Jack White and The Edge (what kind of goddam name is that?) rock out. Jack White is actually pretty interesting but this shit gets pretty old after a while. They should cut this down and sell it to TV.

Stingray Sam

new shit from Cory McAbee....HELL YEAH. I LOVE LOVE LOVE The American Astronaut so I enjoyed this 6 episode series of space cowboy musical awesomeness. I'm so happy that he keeps doing his thing because no one else can do that thing this man does. You'll get to see these on some kind of screen, sometime soon. Till then GO TO THE WEBSITE and watch the trailer and get excited. you fucking should be!

The Big Winner

2009-01-24T23:15:00.000-08:00

Tonight I am officially done with this Park City business. Last night, Blake Myers invited katie and I to the Slamdance Party. here's a pic of Blake and Myself:

We hung out with all the good peoples there like Ashley and David, who were jurors for the Docs at Slamdance.Actually, I'm not sure when exactly it was that I was done with the Sundance festival, but I am. When I went up the hill to Slamdance, with their Rock n Roll attitude, drunk yelling awards ceremony and a party full of people I actually knew- I realized I really liked it there (there was also an open bar)

the next day I was hurting a little on my final volunteer shift. Then I saw the ANIMATION SPOTLIGHT at the Eccles theatre. There were 3 really great shorts in this program.

Dear Beautiful
This short has more going on than most features I saw. And it is the first animated short that has actually scared me. It is half married couple drama, half zombie apocalypse. Pretty fucking amazing.

Western Spaghetti
hey festival programmers, do yourself a favor and start a shorts program with this one. You can;t help but be in a good mood after watching it. It is simply cooking with stop motion. Good times.

And the Alex Orr Award for best thing I saw at this mutha goes to:

I AM SO PROUD OF YOU
If you don;t know who Don Hertzfeld is, get with it. His animated shorts are epics with stick figures. There's nothing better. And I can safely say that this film that runs 22min- is the best thing I saw out of 33 programs- short, feature, whatever- this is The Big Winner. It is about Life and Death, family, love and it is hilarious. There's no reason for me to tell you a thing about any of his films. Just whatever it is you have to do to watch them. That's that, mattress man.

I saw a program and a half of live action shorts and I'll highlight my favorites and just forget about the films that made me doubt that all 5600 submissions could have been viewed if this was what they had to show me.

Abbie Cancelled

Abbie cancels on the dinner party. Funny ensues. let me just say that anytime unexpected gas huffing happens in a short film- I'm usually pleased.

Copper on the Chopping Block

There are moments of this film- where a crazy man is alone with tire swings, gas masks and unwanted kitty that is really goddam great. A nice long lock down of him throwing snowballs against a basketball goal is the best. I just loved the simple things this short did- there are also some big things- but somehow the less was more.

Captain Coulier (space explorer)
Let's say you look at me and say "I wanna make a short that kinda makes fun of star trek."
I would reply. "Good luck with that." and then I'd mumble "Asshole." because that shit is played out. Which is why this short is fucking great, because it doesn't do some simple stupid sci-fi parody. The lead in this short is just funny. So his kicking around and not wanting to do the "space captain" thing is great. and the low-fi saucer on a string shots are great. This short should be a TV series, in my opinion. It's like sci-fi hipster pettiness and bitching. funny shit.

This was about all I saw of shorts program 5 ( I saw all of 1) because I left to see what everyone has been calling The Big Winner. It won Audience award for Dramatic Feature, Grand Jury prize and.....something else.

PUSH: based on the novel by Sapphire

Mo'Nique delivers the goods in this heavy handed drama set in 1987 Harlem. people say this movie is uplifting while dealing with incest and horrible abuse- that's not true - it really isn't uplifting, but it does give white people a chance to feel like they understand the plight of the African American. I just can;t give crying middle aged woman a break when they attend a film like this. I'll admit, the movie is really good. There are parts that give me a chance to daydream about this or that, and the film really took about an hour to really grab me. The thing that hurt this film the most to me was the director talking about it. I don't really like someone telling me how much something will affect me before i see it. But there are some solid performances in this film and they really commit to the "break a puppy's neck" school of filmmaking- that doesn't bother me in this film, liek ti does in others.

ok, I'm bouncing in the morning. I could watch a few more movies tomorrow, but its time to go home. I'll write about the other films I've skipped in the car and post them for all 3 of you guys reading this.

Sundance Gossip

2009-01-22T22:44:00.000-08:00

I heard the THE CARTER people tried to pull the tape from a screening today. Maybe there is some kinda legal something-or-another that made the producer's (or whoever) wanna get rid of the movie. I'll try to learn more.

Also this is a winner. producer's Rep ("The Dude") and a Variety critic fight....critic wins.

also I have heard from everyone, everywhere that THE INFORMERS is garbage....big surprise

Swag, more movies

2009-01-21T08:05:00.000-08:00

I saw a couple good docs.

THE COVE
man they kill a fuck ton of dolphins in this movie- and the whole things can be blamed on Flipper, and the subject of this doc Richard O'Barry- that trained him.
it goes like this:
They make the Flipper TV show, O'Barry trains Flipper, basically makes the show possible- show is a hit. People become obsessed with dolphins and want to swim with them and see them at Sea World and shit. Dolphins become a billions of dollars industry. O'Barry learns how smart dolphins really are and that they cannot be kept in captivity. He becomes THE dolphin advocate, getting arrested all the time freeing dolphins, traveling the world- fighting the dolphin fight.

In a small town in Japan, there is a hidden cove where fisherman slaughter tons and tons of Dolphins and O'Barry and the director get a special ops team of people together to document these atrocities to help bring an end to it. Best Doc i've seen here. I wish they covered the story longer for the end, but that's ok- still a really solid doc.

I'm so tired but I need to blog about:
Big Fan, In the Loop, Toe to Toe, Bronson, World's Greatest Dad, The Immaculate Conception if Little Dizzle, Crude, The Winning Season, No Impact Man, Brief Interviews with Hideous Men....I saw all the online short films. I live in the Woods is the bestest. I think i've done 25 features at this point. few more tomorrow, maybe an award winner or 2-should get me around 30. not too shabby since I had to work too.

I will say before I sign off that The Winning Season is trash.

Sam Rockwell is a drunk high school basketball coach that has to teach some girls to play the game, and they teach him some things about hisself.....PUKE. This was my first walk out. I left in the scene where the tall girl talks to the bus driver about being a lesbian. Sports movies are supposed to be cliche, but they usually are good. But this one is not. It made me angry and then sold for a pile of money.

Video Blog

2009-01-19T01:26:00.000-08:00

that was a terrible idea. But i did enjoy watching that film. I'm still waiting to be blown away by something though...maybe The Cove will do that tomorrow.

I watched a few of the online shorts that are free on iTunes a minute ago.

Hug- pretty good. 6/10
This Way Up- not my thing..at all 4/10
Magnetic Movie-somebody tell some science teachers about this short. way cooool 8/10

I have also agreed with Katie that fighting crowds to see movies with Q&A's and with the public and lines and all that shit is for the birds. I'll be doing press and industry for the rest of the fest. easier....more movies to watch and I won't feel bad about walking out of one and I can talk with some friends there and not "nice up" my reactions.

Blogging in line

2009-01-18T21:33:00.000-08:00

After waiting in line for hours yesterday at the insanity that is the Eccles theatre at Sundance- I decided to bring my laptop to blog in line on the films of the day so far.

PAPER HEART
I liked this film. It's cute, it's fun. A "doc" about an awkward hipster looking for love and her director friend forcing a movie out of it. The film goes well until the end, until the film within the film kind of drags it down. But I laughed and was actually touched by the stories about love and the relationship from leading lady/screenwriter Charlyn Li and Michael Cera.

Over The Hills and Far Away

Pretty amazing. A straightforward doc about a couple with an autistic child. 4 years old, refusing potty training and prone to constant 4-hour-long screaming tantrums. I was terrified by the thought of raising an autistic child.

The child shows a weird and mesmerizing....how do i describe it....its like he can talk to animals. he can do anything to them, they love him. It's amazing. Especially horses. On a horse, his tantrums quit and he seems at ease. So his father does some research and takes the family to Mongolia, to take the child to Shamans and ride reindeer. Seriously. There's some more plotting but that's basically what they do. What follows is very beautiful; and amazing, but honestly after the screening my cynicism kicked in. When the kid was "healed" in a sense by the Shamans I though- if you wanted to you could cut this kid to look like he's now the Queen of France. It is an edited documentary. BUT, it is an amazing and harrowing tale that will make a hard-as-hell to shoot narrative that is currently being penned by the father in the doc.

oh hell TIGHT!
I just got a BLACK DYNAMITE T SHIRT IN LINE. I'll take a pic.

Cold Souls

This started good. There is a New Yorker article about a company that can remove and store your soul for you, so Paul Giamatti (played by Paul Giamatti) wants to get rid of his because the current production of Uncle Vanya is just killing him.

then the movie just becomes some weak Charlie Kaufman. Half Eternal Sunshine, half Malkovich. Coulda been a good short. that's all I really have to say.

THE CARTER!!!!

2009-01-18T01:48:00.000-08:00

I'm tired, so I'm not gonna spend too much time on the movies I wasn't into.

but i was into THE CARTER this film reminds me of Bunuel's LAND WITHOUT BREAD- the film seems like a rock (rap) doc. people get loaded and see an artist behind the scenes. Big whoop...right? and that's what I was thinking half way through the movie...i looked at Katie and said, "this is trash" then the film turned. It turns against the audience that would normally pay to see it after getting high, turns against fans of Little Wayne and turns into a wonderful doc. As equally subversive as Bunuel's "doc" The Carter goes from simple glamour of a rap star that makes prolific amounts of music (at least 2 tracks a day) to a look into a man hiding from himself and his fame in drug use and making music. Wayne is an unhappy man addicted to "Syrup" which is a combination made up chiefly of promethazine and codeine and is the same shit that killed Pimp C of UGK. So the film becomes about addiction, but not overtly- i honestly don;t think the audience really grasped it. The film is set against the backdrop of Wayne's last album going Platinum in a week- which means that this crazy drug addict (whom I really enjoy watching- he's fucking great) is INSANELY popular with all of America's youth. The film has a wonderfully edited scene of concert footage that was built to scare the shit out of white america. Bravo, Adam Bhala Lough- that dip shit crowd at Eccles may have tried to give you flak at the Q&A, but you've made a music doc that can stand up against any that I have seen. This is subversive doc filmmaking that may get a pan from rap fans and even from critics- but fuck that. this is the best film I've seen at Sundance so far. The director did snap back at a few dickhead questions, which was sweet.

here's the rest from the last 2 days.

500 Days of Summer
even though this films steals so much from Annie Hall- I still enjoyed watching it. there are a few missteps (FYI: BAD BAD BERGMAN PARODY IS FOR FILM SCHOOL) but also some wonderful scenes that made me laugh my stupid face off. Joseph Gordon Levitt is great, and just keeps getting better film to film. I really like that kid and have enjoyed watching him grow into a great leading man. He keeps control of this film the entire time despite of some cliche storypoints and scenes that need to be dropped on the floor. But all in all, a really great first feature from Marc Webb.

THE GREATEST

This movie sucks. The plot gun goes BANG BANG- it's like daytime TV. Melodrama, bad scenes, telling me about things I should see. Sappy, I-hope-they-cry horseshit. Paul Haggis type trash to be honest. I was in hell during this film. But most people seemed to love it, I was surrounded by blubbering in sniffling. next time you see me, let me recount the film for you- it's funny because you can't believe that all the shit in this movie could be written, and then actually shot.

MOON
I really wanted to like this film. Technically is pretty fucking cool. The idea sounds great. Sam Rockwell is a moon farmer- of sorts- and he's the only human there for 3 years. And he starts to go bananas, then he bumps his head. Sounds good, could be creepy. But it goes in a direction that kept me from giving a damn about anything. Fucking clones. But Sam Rockwell does a good job with the film, and its REALLY PRETTY, nice Clint Mansell score- it's just not on the page.

BOY INTERRUPTED
is another great doc. ultra personal, very moving- heartbreaking. It is about suicide and mental illness in the filmmakers oldest son. It really hit home to me. See it.

The Missing Person

just watch this goddam trailer

doesn;t that look great? all the elements are there for me. Dark Cruddy film noir, Michael Shannon (OH, who is in a coma in The Greatest, yeah put him in a coma- great idea to use him that way....WTF?) and Amy Adams. Well the movie falls short. Broke my heart- but it is a snoozer with a few good scenes. and an ending that baffles me. what a shame.

RUDO Y CURSI

this is not a bad film, but its not that great either. I want something more challenging from these Mexican wonderkids (the company Cha Cha Cha, Cuaron, Del Toro and Inaritu) the writer direct did have a funny quote about the end "If these guys came out on top, they wouldn't be Mexican."

what else...oh Prom in Mississippi.....i hate this doc. should be 10 minutes but its a feature. what toture. I'll go into detail later. soooooooo tired. I don't want to link to this film or do anything that may extend it's shelf life. It needs to quickly go into obscurity and be forgotten. What.....a.......dump- this film took on the screen. Just flat out amateur hour.

Watching Movies!

2009-01-16T00:23:00.000-08:00

I am here at the Sundance Film Festival, watching movies- doing the volunteer thing. all that stuff.

That's me sitting by the fire in my nice condo.

I have seen 3 movies- 2 of which that have already played another festival, so I will talk about those. I will save my thoughts on Prom Night in Mississippi until after that film premieres.

I saw JOHNNY MAD DOG a couple nights ago. I didn't really give a damn about this film. I know there's an audience for it- but I don't care. It seems like an exploitation film that is set in an environment suitable to a film festival audience. let me explain- if I make a movie about some vicious people, doing heinous crimes and show you these things to shock you, and call the movie- The Mean Ass Bikers That Fuck Shit Up- that is an exploitation film. But if you make the bikers- Child Soldiers- then you have social commentary.......I don't think so. I think all the ideas in this film were addressed in about 3 minutes of Blood Diamond or 2 scenes of that Nick Cage movie Lord of War. Little kids with guns are bad.......got it. Child soldiers- not cool. I'm with you. Getting that took about 2 minutes of movie. Then I just watched this little bastards in a war zone. I didn't like it, didn't like the damn camera operator either. But moments of the film were pretty. But if you only break up Child Soldiers shooting people and going to war with Child Soldiers raping people, and leave the plot behind- I'm not gonna tell people to buy a ticket. (i capitalize Child Soldiers to emphasis the gravity of this calamity)

I just saw LYMELIFE. Fucking great. easily comparable to The Ice Storm. both the Culkin brothers are great, Alec Baldwin gives a wonderful performance. Timothy Hutton is AM-AZ-ING but the real shoiw stealer to me was Jill Hennessy

She plays the Mom. She steals the scene after scene, and holds more than her own against Alec Baldwin in the film. Why the hell is she in not in everything?

See this film, comes out in April, made for $1.5 Mil- shot in 22 days, developed at the Sundance Institute and winner of the Audience Award at Toronto FF. A real Winner in my book. let me tell you a few things to look forward to: classic Baldwin asshole action-suburban meltdown(s), white tail deer, coming of age and Lyme disease. WHO'S NOT IN FOR THIS?

on a side note...I have a sweeeeeeeet condo. let me give you a tour tomorrow sometime. Now I have to go to bed, because there are films to see tomorrow. Many films. And Mike Tyson is around here somewhere. and hopefully Michael Shannon.

what else? Drove to Park City from LA, that was nice- stopped in Vegas. Vegas- you suck. maybe I need to go again, but I don't like the Vegas vibe. I also did not eat a $4 steak dinner. made a pot of 15 bean soup for $2 yesterday that is SOLID. ok, more movies tomorrow. Maybe a video blog if I feel like it.

back to Sundance

2009-01-06T13:30:00.000-08:00

So I'm going back to Sundance to watch movies and share my thoughts. I haven't really even looked at the program, but I'll watch tons and tons of stuff and report back here.

Hi Blog. Let's catch up.

2008-07-27T10:43:00.000-07:00

I get this random phone call and this guy is all heavy breathing on the phone and he says, "You're not blogging."
ME: "Hello, is someone fucking with me?"
Heavy mouth breather guy: "This is no joke. you must blog......you must blog."
ME: But everyone is blogging all the time. What's the point? its pointless.
Mouth Breather: If you blog it, they will come....
ME: Ok, who is this? Stop goofing around.
then I hear some kinda smashing and the mouth breather is breathing really fast, it sounds like a broken whistle. I can hear people speaking Korean, eh, more like shouting Korean at this guy and he starts rattling off all this craziness at me about "when the third moon is half empty" and "the crow caws to the east" and the "sugar pops won't float anymore" and whoever it was really went all out on this joke because it sounded like these Koreans were kicking hell outta this mouth breather. Then they are wrestling the phone away from him and he's SCREAMING and I mean screaming the word OSTATINE over and over. like a panicked asthmatic parrot.

ok, so I thought. that was a good one. maybe I should blog about it. And now that I'm here I'll let you know about things I have seen and done.

Dark Knight is not perfect, but it is pretty rad. I'm tired of everyone throwing around the word AMAZING. "OMG this spider roll is amazing." Stop that shit, people. Everything cannot be amazing unless you're eating windowpane all the time.

I did see CALIBER 9 at the Egyptian. Holy shit! rock n roll! I was going to see these Italian Grindhouse movies, hoping to see that one gem. the crazy, well shot masterpiece I didn't even know existed. well my friends, Caliber 9 is that masterpiece. it is not on DVD for some crazy reason, but it should be. there is so much greatness going on. A hilarious cop and his partner talking about class struggle instead of fighting crime. the opening sequence is some sort of money passing- hiesty kind of thing. then the money is gone so these gangsters start gathering people up and torturing them and then they put them in a cave, tie them to TNT and blow them up. That sequence is before you even see the damn title and super fast/crazy/great. The plot is nuts, the climax is so great in so many ways, I don;t want to ruin it but I was smiling for 3 hours after I saw it. The second this movie can be watched...you fucking watch it.

I was in Scotland. I ate some Haggis with neeps and taddies. Mmmm, Mmmm. good. Saw Radiohead in Glasgow- good times. Played all the hits, and a bunch of new stuff. pretty lights. Hanging out at the Edinburgh FIlm Festival was great. MAN, those scots do some drinking. they broke me one night. I was still a charming disaster though....I'm sure of it. I saw Erol Morris talk about makign docs, that was tits. I saw Roger Deakins and Seamus McGarvey talk about DPing and Christopher Doyle sat in the audience doing some heckling. that saw like dancing on a rainbow. I took this cruddy pic on my phone:

listen to this all you DPs- Roger Deakins has a webiste that is all about lighting and camera and all that shit and he answers your questions and discusses things with you. INTERWEBS WOW! here is the site http://rogerdeakins.com/ just sign up so you can talk in the forums.

So the EIFF was a great time. Movie went over well, met tons of really cool people. It was great. They have the BEST venues ever, and they are all really close together. AWESOME venues that all have great pubs in them for drinking and yelling about cinema in. and the town is just so pretty. I went on a castle tour and had an idea for a movie about some regular people touring a castle and then zombies attack them, so they all have to use the old ways of defending the castle from the zombies. And because Ray Harryhausen was at the fest (I got a signed book) I thought the Zombies should ride giant lizards. So you have japanese tourists and a family of four and some boy scouts all in armor shooting canons and sword fighting zombies. I'll probably never write that, so if somebody wants a go at it- be my guest. I just want a story credit.

Yesterday I went to DIY DAYS. A bunch of cool panels and stuff about DIY filmmaking and distribution and all that. I dunno why people always ask about raising money at these things. I thought the point was that none of the filmmaker really have a bag of money and they are just making movies. just Doing It Yourself...get it asshole guy who thinks everyone should be writing him checks? I actually did a couple panels at EIFF on this stuff to. there's plenty of information out there about finding an audience and getting your movie out to them. there's great stuff to learn so you too can go from hopeful, bright eyed soon to be feature filmmaker to jaded "I made a film and now I want money" person. what? Me? Oh I'm not like that....you go to hell. I'm gonna make another cheapy movie or two. I don't know who you think you're talking to.

Since I've been back, just been kicking around. You know, doing this and that. A little writing. A little movie watching. Hopefully tonight I'll be going to see BULLITT and POINT BLANK at the Egyptian. I love the Egyptian. greatest theatre ever? I dunno, I have many more theatres to visit. But the Egyptian is amazing, if you've never been.

Off to SCOTLAND

2008-06-14T21:29:00.000-07:00

Hello Blog reader(s)

I haven't been blogging because I have been writing screenplays. I know, right?

Well Blood Car is taking me off to Scotland where I hope to write about seeing great movies and arm wrestling with Roger Deakins. I got some GREAT swag to throw out over there so I hope someone shows up to take it from me. A new one sheet, some flyers, postcards, rad Tshirts, Buttons, stickers. Huh? How you like that? Want one? Meet me at FilmHouse in Edinburgh.

I got 6 one sheet posters printed and I must say...it was really cool. The last posters we did weren't full size 41'X27' (or whatever it is) but these were and I was like "wow, that's a poster for a movie." It was really exciting. One day it will hang in an office and in that office I will do things and take naps.

I have been watching a few movies, but I don't have anything to tell you that you're not reading on every other blog everywhere else. So instead I will tell you that I am going to loose my fucking mind if I don't go make a movie real soon. So get out your check books because there are pictures to be made. DAMMIT!

I'm going to see RADIOHEAD in Glasgow while i'm in Scotland also. So one break from the film festival to see my first radiohead show.

Well no more bloggin for now, I'm off to the Chinese Theatre to see The Strangers

oh, someone came up with a funny expression. When someone starts whining about a kid's movie (Indy, Marvel, etc) Instead of "Why don't you just cry about it?" you say "Why don't you just blog about it?" I'm sick of people crying about kid's movies. Grow up sissies.

Hitchens and Sharpton

2008-05-27T23:57:00.000-07:00

WATCH VIDEO
sure this is an old video year old, but it is really entertaining to watch Al Sharpton debate a book he only read the title of. Hitchens is very entertaining, as is Sharpton's way of debating that I have nick named "gooble-dee-goop"

Songs From the Second Floor.

2008-05-24T12:16:00.000-07:00

Sure, I could blog about Indiana Jones, but I don't wanna waste my time- it had good, it had bad, if you were let down maybe you should think twice about spending your money to see a 60 year old man go on an adventure.

I want to let you know about SONGS FROM THE SECOND FLOOR
That image, first shot of the film, should be all you need to see this film. two men have a serious conversation while one is in a tanning bed. wonderful. This film feels like a Bunuel film to me. It is a film of trivial things in an absurd, modern world. The production design, still camera and wide shots of the film feel like Tati's Playtime- but the film is completely original.

It is an amazing mix of comedy and tragedy. Filled with people who are at the lowest points in their life, in a world that is on the brink of collapsing.

The production design is nothing short of amazing, with almost everything in the movie built on a sound stage. I don't want to toss out a bunch of names that it is "like"
it's great.

You could go on Youtube and watch a trailer, but just do as I did and see the film cold, and on the biggest TV you can see it on. The film is shot VERY VERY wide. I so wish I could have seen it on the big screen.

The director is Roy Andersson. this is his fourth feature made in 2000. His first was in '69, then '70, '87 this one is 2000 and he has a new feature that I hope to see soon.

The film is challenging, but worth it. I am now going to give Uwe Boll some help in his opening weekend. I have never seen one of his films, and this one -POSTAL- looks to be pretty amazing. What kind of amazing? we shall see

YES!

2008-05-23T21:58:00.001-07:00

Dexter

2008-05-22T14:13:00.000-07:00

you know that show Dexter? I am watching an episode now- it sucks. SO if anyone tells you it is "amazing" don;t trust them- they will steal from you and act like your friend.

Indy! Blaxploitation! Blood Car Hipster T's

2008-05-22T09:08:00.000-07:00

Its a good week that started pretty crappy.

Day one of this week: I go to sleep and wake up and someone just went to the main breakers and cut off my power (WTF? right?) then I go out to my car- when I parked it the day before, it was fine- but that day they installed parking meters and I had a ticket- WHAT A JIP, L.A.!

I was pretty let down so I bought some Blaxploitation DVDs (Black Ceasar, Shaft in Africa, The Black Klansmen, Hit Man, Soul Man and I got The Education of Sonny Carson- which is an amazing film) I know what you're thinking- why all the 70's soul flicks, Alex? Because I am starting to do research for the next retarded movie- which will have Blaxploitation and other race elements-(handled tastelessly), Banditos and some kind of Frankenstein thing going for it- I don't want to jump the gun or anything BUT THIS FILM IS GOING TO BLOW YOUR MIND HOLE OUT YOU'RE EAR HOLE

I also may get a job of some kind with some kind of writing of some kind of something. -official press release, ho's- so that's good news

I'm counting down the seconds until I can go see the new Indy Movie at Arc Light. I'm really excited even if George Lucas is involved.

I also ate some Sushi at a place called Sushi Go 55. It was hidden in a mall in Japantown, was almost completely empty on a Tuesday, was fairly priced AND WAS AWESOME. No trendy-town atmosphere, just really good sushi and a really friendly staff of people to make sure everyone is all smiles, and we were. I recommend it highly. The Toro almost made me slap someone in the face it was so good. And we had this weird Japanese desert called Moki(sp?) rice paper covered sherbert- odd (but good odd)texture and very tasty.

Today I am going to order some hipster cool Blood Car shirts to take to Edinburgh so everyone will know about BLOOD CAR in the UK. These shirts are gonna rock, so if you want one, throw me a couple bucks and I'll add one to the order. Just go to American Apparel website and check out the men's 50/50 shirt (product # ) and the women's baby ribbed T (product # 4377) I will give them to you for only $12 each- they cost more than that WITHOUT a Blood Car logo on them at American Apparel.

THE FALL

2008-05-17T01:37:00.000-07:00

I just saw THE FALL at Arclight and it was followed by a very long Q&A with the director Tarsem. you should do yourself a favor and go see this film. it is eye candy meant for the big screen- it also features one of the best child performances I have ever seen. you might dig the movie- like I did- or you might not. But you should see it . It was shot in 18 countries over 4 years. The director does A TON of big big commercials and music videos and all that kinda stuff. He piggy backed a bunch of the locations onto commercial shoots and let a 6-year old Romanian girl dictate the flow of the film. He also directed The Cell...which I never saw. But this movie is really cool- it is a fairy tale, fantasy- whatever you wanna say and the story of the making of the film and the ideas the director had for it were really amazing. And even though I would think that a huge commercial director with one name would be really full of shit, he actually wasn't. He quoted Rodney Dangerfield and sited Kurosawa and Polanksi as influences. Just go see it- the guy made it out of pocket too and believe me, it is pretty nuts. This movie was TRASHED by every reviewer because the guy made commercials or they said the film was boring or whatever. But I am glad I shelled out the cash to go see it. And I paid full ticket price. I could write more but I'm tired.

AFF, IFFB, nice people in UK and more!

2008-05-05T10:44:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone!

I went to the Atlanta Film Festival, Independent Film Festival Boston and I have discovered couchserfing.com
Let me catch you up on some movies I saw first.

FROWNLAND! FROWNLAND! FROWNLAND!
Whoa....that's my review of Frownland. For the first chunk of Frownland, I wasn;t sure what was going on, at all. But PLEASE watch this film because it is jaw dropping in how good it is, and not indie film "awww, those kids made a movie" good. The acting in this movie can be help up against any performance in film history. It brings to mind A Woman Under the Influence - if that means anything to you, its not the same at all, but still an amazing performance. After the film I saw what was probably the most entertaining and insightful Q&A I've ever seen. if I win the lottery, I'm financing a Ronnie Bronstein film.

Glory at Sea - I worked on this short film from Court 13 in NOLA. these kids are nuts and they made a really wonderful film. There is something going on in this film that allows it to cut right into me. It was an extremely emotional experience watching this film, I can't put my finger on exactly what it is, but something visceral that shouldn't be overanalyzed - just appreciated.

BIG MAN JAPAN - you may remember me RAVING when I read the synopsis for this film and yes, I LOVED IT. I don't want tohttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif go nuts and tell you it is the greatest thing for monster movies, comedy and my own reasons to be a filmmaker (but it was) you have to see it, the awesomeness is in the last reel. I almost broke myself laughing at it. I.....Lost.....MY....MIND at the end of this film. I like to laugh, everyday, every hour, as hard as I can and I can seriously count on one hand the films that made me laugh this hard. The movie kind of meanders around in parts but I loved that about the film. It could be tighter, but ot wouldn't be the same film.

Transsiberian- not for me.

Secrecy- I missed this film at Sundance. It was full of information, that was interesting. But as far as the film goes- it was a little thin a lot of talking heads and I got a little bored. It presents a pretty awesome paradox about what it means to be safe and the nature of secret intelligence that always leads me back to a Ben Franklin quote that I will paraphrase- Any person willing to give up civil liberties for safety, doesn't deserve to have civil liberties.

Wild Blue Yonder - this film is made by the daughter of David Maysles and the film seems to be about this girl making a film to get to know her Dad, who if you didn;t know- died too young. But that is not what is really going on. The film tries to make some sort of case against Albert Maysles and put us in the middle of a family squabble about who should have the rights to the Mayseles brothers' films- or one film in particular (ummmmmm, the other brother that made them, or the family that decided to start a court battle- no brainer there) the film is full of emotion that seems to be because this girl can't get what she wants and paints Albert Maysels as a bad guy, but the film does the opposite of what it intends and makes me root for Albert because he was never wrong. See it, it will get a good dialogue going after, but mainly about the delusions of the filmmaker. During the Q&A after the film the filmmaker said that "anyone can get a camera and make a film, and that's part of the problem" that comment makes me so mad I can't begin to describe it. I can't even go into what that comment means to me in less than 10,000 words.

that was at IFFB

at the Atlanta Film Festival I was on a panel with a bunch of big shots- here's a pic.

Mark Wynns (blurry), Alexis Fish, Me, Craig Zobel and Alexander Motlagh we talked about distribution

movies in theatre:
I saw a Streetcar Named Desire, Last Tango in Paris double feature- uhhh awesome
My Blueberry Nights- so terrible it broke my heart because I ADORE the films of Wong Kar Wai
Standard Operating Procedure- go see it, it is Errol Morris so its interesting but i think the really disturbing thing is that these things happened and I really don't care anymore. I hate to say that, but it is true. I am over the Iraq War film so much. No more evil empire for me for just a minute. we fucked up, it will stain our country for 100 years or even more, but I am burnt on it in film right now and there is no easy way out of the situation.

I WENT TO FENWAY!!!

I sat 5 rows from the Red Sox on deck circle. Saw them give out 2 golden gloves and a silver slugger award (just coincidence), saw a AA pitcher throw 6 innings of 2 hit baseball and saw an Ortiz home run. great game but the Sox lost.

here are a couple pics:
Ortiz HR! that's the view from our seats!

me and my old friend Clay Neely, who now lives in Boston

we also went Candle Pin Bowling. you use this little ball and get 3 throws at little pins. its fun! you can get a "crazy wicked" curve going on the little ball.

I also did a walking tour of historic Boston- which I love that American History stuff! Here is our guide and our group and Paul Revere's grave. I like those guided tours full of historical info, I recommend them. we did the Freedom Trail and our guide was AWESOME.

going to see Iron Man today

oh and www.couchserfing.com
it rules. check it out if you travel and can...well...couch serf

let's learn about.....Vancouver

2008-04-16T22:48:00.000-07:00

So I am looking up things in Vancouver, British Columbia and I learned things. let me please share them with you as I find them interesting
-3rd largest place for film production
-10th cleanest city in the world
-4th in population density in North America
-3rd highest quality of living in the world
-

look at it:

that is not NYC, it is Vancouver.

some drawbacks to this town...
-13th least affordable housing in the world
-Junky encouragement- they are nice to drug addicts and dope fiends
-tolerance of homosexuals...just kidding- you guys can gay it up sideways to Sunday for all I care
-break in capital of North America -1100 break in per 100,000 residents- NYC 300 per
but they don't murder each other, which is nice

not as cold as I thought, here is a chart

I guess I should explain this chart, average temp by month starting at JAN

so I have decided that after a little time in LA, maybe three or four more days, I will be moving to this place. Wish me luck

The movie gods are smiling upon us....

2008-04-08T01:40:00.000-07:00

Have you heard of BIG MAN JAPAN??? it played Cannes, I'm gonna see it when I go to IFFBoston with Blood Car..here's the synopsis

An eccentric man aged about 40 lives alone in a decrepit house in Tokyo. He periodically transforms into a giant, about 30 meters tall, and defends Japan by battling similarly sized monsters that turn up and destroy buildings.

HOLY SHIT! That sounds awesome. I don't know much about the Monster Movie genre...but I'm about to start learning. After seeing the masterpiece that is THE HOST last year- I know understand the limitless possibilities of the genre.

I also saw this poster when I was driving down Hollywood Blvd.

that's right, Jenna Jameson is in a movie called Zombie Strippers. Its the kind of movie you look at and say "Ok, that won't work, but I want to believe it can." Whch is great because you go in not expecting much and then you can get your doors blown off....or not. They have the Grind House poster ripped off- the background images are kinda lame- but its still called Zombie Strippers so....hey, you'll get my $8.

I saw a Film Noir double feature night before last that was a 50/50. the film Wicked Woman...awesome. So good, I wanna remake it. its a little shuffle of The Postman Always Rings Twice, it builds into this AMAZING scene and the movie never leaves three locations. They just didn't include the scenes I really wanna write and shoot. A lot more meanness and a nice dose of "that makes me feel dirty" sex and this movie would rock ass. I better shut up before someone beats me to the punch. It was followed by a new 35mm print of The Story of Molly X- I didn't care for it at all, and it was on the heels of the basassss movie I just fell in love with. Molly X is so redemptive that I could argue it's not even film noir.

There are plenty of good films at IFFB. MONGOL sounds pretty sweet. (If you don;t like the sound of a Genghis Khan, Oscar nominated film, than you go to hell)- I gotta see MISTER LONELY. There's another Ping Pong movie called PING PONG PLAYA- gotta see that, cause its gotta be better than KING OF PING PONG that I saw at Sundance. The director of one of my favorites- Re-Animator has a new film called STUCK count me for that one too. and I haven't even read all the synopsis or gotten into the docs!

And my god buddies Adam Pinney and Mike Brune are going to the Sarasota Film Festival where they are doing a Liv Ullman retrospective. You know...Liv Ullman..she is in the golden years of the Bergman films. damn those guys are lucky. I sometimes fantasize about the day I can just go to film festivals nonstop, occasionally stopping to make a movie... oh how I was those days would come

a post note. I started reading about Genghis Khan on wikipedia and these are two facts from his early life:

Genghis Khan is a rotten cabbage!!!

He rides sheep backwards!!!

ahhhhh, the internet. History will be dead soon enough and replaced with etchings on the bathroom wall from 14-year-old-boys.... I can't wait.

in the mood for macs

2008-03-31T12:27:00.000-07:00

wong kar wai is at the apple store in SoHo on April 1st

He better come to LA

paid for a car with my pee pee

2008-03-27T23:12:00.001-07:00

So I bought a car. You can't be in LA without a car so i got one. It is the most unexciting, unimpressive car possible. But it is mine and it won't break down. It's a 2003 Honda civic 4 door. the base-est model with no frills- I haggled with a car dealer on a lot after 12 days of trying to find a deal through regular folks. I tell you what 'regular folks' you go to hell and take your shitty cars with you

Blood Car is playing the IFF Boston in April with some really great films. I saw some of them at Sundance but others I missed and am excited to get a chance to watch. I'm always amazed when Blood Car keeps playing in the midst of really great cinema- it is such an honor.

I saw a couple movies-

21......eh. Not for real movie goers. not really terrible, but kind of unbelievable and not really engaging. very...ah hem. by the numbers...Kevin Spacey is bitchy an gay (seriously! never seen that huh?) and some pretty people try to make me believe they are math wizards. Disbelief in unsuspended

Flawless- you may not have heard of this one. the pitch- starring Demi Moore (strike 1) and she has an english accent (strike 2-674)
this movie is a pile of (madlibs it)
so bad, so so bad. stupid heist movie that is a period piece with a forced feminist angle

what else? I got a library card, and discovered the Echo Park Film Center- which I will hopefully have a full report on after I see a screening there

there's an elliptical trainer in my living room....gee thanks, craigslist

I actually got into a pharm clinical trial.....boring work but I did get to watch the original Alien.....I love that movie
I also played some Star Wars Battlefronts on XBOX- I don;t play video games, but sometimes boredom and circumstance will thrust them upon me and I get addicted. the star wars game claimed a day or two of my life but I was able to fight it off and watch a couple movies and get out of that place. If you have no idea what I'm talking about when I say 'pharm clinical trial' let me fill you in. i agreed to take a drug never taken by a human being and then stay in a place day and night (5 days 4 nights) while people studied the effect (mainly how quick it leaves the system) through my piss and blood. I read about this in the New Yorker and thought it might be interesting subject matter for a film...it may be, but being there won't show me it. I'll have to make it up because that place was dullsville- but they paid me about the rate of a PA to do nothing.....because it wasn't that dangerous of a study

I also saw a traveling STD test center today on Vine (ave? street?) never seen that before. and I heard 2 casual pitches (just chit chatting about movies, noone is really pitching me to get something made) today and they were both exciting and awesome.

tomorrow I will kill a man with my mind! i'll write about it

The chicken or the egg?

2008-03-17T03:08:00.000-07:00

its a little past 3 am so I guess I can start blogging, right?

So in LA the eggs are really expensive compared to Atlanta, BUT chicken by the pound is cheaper.....I'll let you process the bad jokes and witty observations there

I worked 3 days.

Day one of work:
I tried to take part in a Pharmaceutical study on Asthma- I failed the admittance and was paid $100

here is a picture of the device that cost me the other $1900

I was a PA on a INFORMATION OMITTED DUE TO SOME SHIT I SIGNED
and that was just great. I set up some tables and wandered around.

Here a the only pic from set
I can show you because of said 'disclosure agreement'

I have been trying to get around LA on the metro...HAHAHA that's a joke- Although after seeing this station full of- what looks to me like- people jumping from buildings...as art, I will have to do a tour of metro stations. because my camera phone didn;t do this justice

I have been trying to buy a car through craigslist and the classifieds. Buying a car in LA is like negotiations at the UN- it takes translators, bizarre rituals and customs get in the way, people have old grudges from generations back- it's a diplomatic mess. But I have seen many parts of the city and had conversations (or conversations with translating relatives) that reach the ears of discerning Russians, groggy Armenians and many Mexicans-who are all so remarkably agreeable. Its a pretty good time actually. I feel like Kissinger

I have learned that NYC is a pizza town, ATL is a wing town and LA is a burger town. So let me give you my burger report- its weak now, but it will grow.

Tommy's Original: burger with lot's of shit and chili....awesome. here's a pic

In N Out Burger- I Love it. Double cheese burger 'animal style' -there's some kind of bullshit secret menu and animal style is on it...its good. The fries kinda suck though

One more thing. People of LA, please stop being douche bag's to me. what's the deal here? I ask this guy what street I'm on today because I'm lost- he says "what did that sign say?" He was like 70 years old. Just douching out on me. There are so many instances in you people giving me the high hat that I can't even count them. But just to set it striaght LA people: you can't drive for shit, you're not half as important as you act and the grocery store is not the place t dress like a hooker to be "discovered"

I will try what I would normally do anywhere else tomorrow- I will test just how easy the people of LA like conflict. They seem to invite it with their asshole faces and attitudes- so I will respond to your jackass antics with my normal smart-ass, make you red-in-the-face-mad comments and taunts. There's no way these fuckers will swing on people faster than rednecks will....I just hope that rednecks don't drive BMWs and have ponytails here

movies:
Lubitsche double feature: Trouble in Paradise (amazing) and another of his (eh)
Mario Bava double feature: this guy is Russ Myers/Argento awesome, check him out they are showing a gaggle of his films at the Egyptian
4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days- if I have to tell you that you should try to go see the Palme D'Or winner then you should just have another Cheeto and look for Road House on TBS. it is fucking great (4 Months and Road House) seriously- it was a big screen experience

Making moves

2008-03-08T07:40:00.000-08:00

Katie keeps telling me I gotta start "making moves"
so I thought "ah screw it, I'll do some extra work"

So katie and I respond to an ad seeking people for extra work. Should be a short interview right? Take my picture, submit my "type" and give me a damn call time.
Wrong.

it was some stupid scam and they wanted me to PAY to get some hotline # to do extra work. so stupid. But I came up with a fun game out of the experience. I want to crazy myself up a bit (stupid clothes, big hair- something weird looking) and get some more of these "interviews" and go in and be bat-shit crazy and do bad audition monologues and start crying and talk myself out of it. Maybe bring cupcakes- just basically be as idiotic as I can and keep an audio recorder in my pocket. That would be entertaining.

So after that stupid crap I had a beer at this great old school Hollywood Cafe called......ah shit. Can't remember- if I do I'll update this. It was red and on Santa Monica.

After that we ended up by the house at the Silver Lake Lounge and it happened to be an open mic night so we stayed and a bunch of the guys that were there were really funny.

But this one guy, named Ben, had this deadpan routine about rape and abortion that made me and Katie (and pretty much only us) laugh so hard I couldn't see straight. I started talking to the guy and he told me that everyone in the bar was a stand up- which is odd, right? They all come there to work on new stuff and "get some time" one guy told me- i did get his name Adrian Mesa. He was visiting the rape joke guy (who was recently on Jimmy Kimmell I think, different material) and from Miami. He had a helluva funny bit about booty bass music and he used the phrase "pig knuckle" (like camel toe) -that's a new one right?- in his booty bass bit. I laughed. I will no doubt go back to that deal. $2 beers, free laughs, walking distance- I'm in

Steal this blog

2008-03-08T07:13:00.000-08:00

this got posted late- wrote yesterday, posted now

Last night I saw a double feature at the Aero in Santa Monica. (two movies-$8) Two heist films that I have never seen before- the first being THE TAKING OF PELHAM ONE TWO THREE

Awesome. I loved this film. Robert Shaw, Martin Balsam, Walter Matthau. Tony Roberts is the Lt. Mayor. The orderly Washington- from One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, plays a transit cop, his name is Nathan George. Jerry Stiller plays a cop who could give a shit. The movie is PACKED with amazing one-liners, great jokes, refreshing political incorrectness and it is a hell of a heist film. Every character actor in this film is so on their game- it’s sick. Like a Preston Sturges (or for you younguns- Coen Bros) film. Skillfully written by Peter Stone- who wrote Charade- he effortlessly moves between the remorseless character played by Robert Shaw and killing innocent people in cold blood to laugh out loud funny bits with Matthua and every other city employee character involved. The mayor is so silly he could be Mel Brooks taken down just 12%. That guy who runs out holding the Blue Letter in Hudsucker Proxy is in it and he looks exactly the same- it is amazing- he doesn’t age. Pelham is directed by Jo Sargent.

This film has been remade once for TV – and is being remade again with Denzel Washington- they are shooting now. Tony (throw up in my mouth) Scott directing. Everyone has stolen from this movie, everyone, if you’ve never seen it- do yourself a favor and go buy it- it should be studied.

After the film Hector Elizondo was there for a Q&A. I have realized that you can only hope for maybe one good story and rarely anything too insightful from Q&A sessions. Its not anyone’s fault really, well actually sometimes it is and sometimes they are fun, but usually not- especially when the geeks of the geeks are asking the questions. There was the gem, “I think improv works for people with a sense of humor” there was some random pettiness about Robert Shaw being a hard-ass drinker and kick ass ping pong player and some other random shit. A story about Garry Marshall that started good (he got hit in the face with a basketball) but ended with a bad kicker that false laughter over the years has not improved. And too many people asking about an actor’s process on a film he shot 30 or 40 years ago- he even said he hadn’t seen the film in 20 years- and people are asking him about the working relationship between him and the director- or who came up with what business. Come off it, guys.

Then I watched Joel Siegel’s CHARLIE VARRICK- starring Walter Matthua and featuring John Vernon. Things started good- a heist went wrong and the wrong thing was there was too much money, some people and small town New Mexico cops got shot. Not bad. Then the writing went south- forced bits of comedy with a kooky old woman, scenes so inconsistent I was shaking my head- but John Vernon has the weirdest bits of business in it I have ever seen, its like he’s coming up with things to do that make no sense- or beyond no sense- so that someone could think they might mean something. Pretty weird and amazing stuff from him in this film-doing lines while strattling (sp?) a fence next to cows (and making groanful cow analogies), doing lines and then playing the piano like Rock Monanoff, having a conversation while pushing a retarded girl with a kitten in a swing. There’s a decent joke or two- a bad ass El Camino that the “sociopath” killer drives- but Joe Don Baker doesn’t play much of a sociopath.

I don’t want to ruin this movie telling you all the things that made me “huh?” so watch it. You’ll laugh and get a bit bored toward the end but so what. Its John-Fucking-Vernon and Joel-Goddam-Siegel.

Ok- more movies to watch will report soon. I tried to watch the whole godfather trilogy in the past day or two. I and II -as we all know- are amazing. Part III is so amazingly unnecessary and poorly constructed that I have invented a drinking game to make the piece of shit watchable.

One person drinks every time the word “family” is said.
One person drinks when Sofia Coppola gives a shitty line reading(or in other words, appears on screen).
One person drinks when Talia Shire gives a shitty line reading. (drink twice when it is obvious she made up the line on the spot)
One person takes the combo shitty lines of Eli Wallach and Andy Garcia and Joe Montenga (drink twice when either of them fails at acting anything like a gangster)
Whoever takes that last one ain't making it through Act I.
Every time there is a clip reel from I or II- everyone drinks.
Every time someone says “Fredo” all older brothers drink.
Every time someone says Sonny or Santino- all loose women drink (which is all women who are sitting around getting bombed to Godfather III, I'm sorry)
Everyone drinks until they black out when Sofia Coppola gets shot and all the characters flail around.

I shouldn’t be so hard on the film- it must be a sore spot with everyone involved and I’m sure it has been trashed enough by everyone but me, but hey- whaddya gonna do, eh?

Oh, that last crack was so bad.

Snow Angels Premiere

2008-02-28T23:22:00.000-08:00

Went to the EGYPTIAN THEATRE to see the premiere of David Gordon Green's latest SNOW ANGELS. Much like everything since Mr. Green's first film George Washington (masterpiece?)- I really liked a lot of things, I thought some things unnecessary, and I didn't care for others. This is not an uncommon reaction to a film- but I really LOVED things in this film -Sam Rockwell- although all the other characters were great to watch, except Kate Beckinsale. The character she played was not well written and when it was time for Beckinsale to deliver the goods, she didn't do it for me.I don't just blame her- I don't think it was on the page and when she wasn't really giving a performance to pull me in, the editing didn't help her out. Don't get me wrong, this movie is a whole hell of a lot better than most things released. There is always a moment in a Green film that makes me happy I watched it, something I had no idea I would ever see and feel better for seeing. In this film, for me- it is a scene without dialogue in which some people dance. It is fucking amazing. But because there are always these moments that amaze me so in these films- I hold them to an entirely different, and probably unsurmountable standard.

I also want to say how impressed I am by the line up of films at the American Cinematheque. Holy shit- is all I can say. See for your self at their site. If I could go everyday- I would. Don't think I won't try.

I also left a message for the theatre goers near me on Craigslist. read it here- those people sucked.

here's a pic of Ava Gardner, that K Beckinsale played in The Aviator

Go West, Young Man

2008-02-24T21:15:00.000-08:00

So someone recently asked, "Hey Alex, whatcha been doing? No blog?" well actually, someone- I've been driving across the country because I moved to California. So I need to write a blog to catch everyone up.

yes, that pic is a cat on a leash- one of the last pics from ATL- how fitting

My friends threw a party for Katie and I (yes, she came with me across the country- I couldn't believe it either) but we never really got sentimental- its not like I won't ever see my friends again- so what's the big deal- right? Then we packed up a small uhaul truck and towed Katie's car behind and drove to LA - which is in California all you asses with cats tied to the porch. A few things needed for a cross country drive- in my opinion.

Speed and speed taking implements.

ok, I'm just kidding- I'm too old for that shit and I don't know where to buy it anyway. I found a GPS useful, because it is a GPS- HEY OH!, they do all kinds of road trip shit. I like to eat the local flava on the road not just Subway. Plus having the internet on my iPhone to cross check some hotel rooms or settle arguements about random trivia (like what kind of cheese is supposed to go on a French Onion Soup?) was invaluable. download a book on tape and a bunch of non music stuff to listen to- like the free iTunes University lectures or NPR's This American Life. those are great because your music will get old and radio just sucks. That means you need an iSomething to play that crap on. Gum, sunflower seeds, snacks, cigarettes, trash mags, digital camera. those are good stuffs

I had in LA what I had in Atlanta- no job, no apartment- In the weeks leading up to the move I was never nervous or had butterflies or any of that. It never really effected me. But when I pulled out the uhual onto the highway to leave and there were no more boxes to pack or hugs to give; I was stricken with fear. I was terrified. I tried making lame jokes like saying goodbye to places and things that didn't mean anything to me but it didn't help. "Goodbye H.E. Holmes exit" like that would make me feel better- that's just stupid. I asked Katie if she felt ok now that we were on the road and she lied and said she did. After we got closer to Alabama- I was fine and back to my normal state of-
"what's worst that could happen" On the first day we made it to SHREVEPORT, Louisiana and stayed with Chris and Julie they are in Shreveport working on movies. Tekken and Jack Black does some midevil funny (or not) are the flicks they are on.

When you come up on that town going West you see a squat little shithole being towered over by cowboy themed casinos. Kinda sad. Chris and Julie welcomed us into their BIZARRO building that they only inhabit. It is a 4 story building that they have sweet apartments in and the rest of it is eerie and empty. really empty. its the kind of place that if you were unexpextedly taken to after a night of drinking you would think it was just the coolest thing ever. Dead sober after a good bit of driving- it was surreal.

We were hungry so we went to a dive bar and had sandwhiches. I ordered a Gator Philly- which really had alligator meat on it. When in Rome...eat shitty food, right? Katie thought it was just some clever name so she ordered it too- she was none too happy when it arrived. After that, Katie was ready for bed but I had a crisp $100 bill in my pocket just begging for some action so Julie, Chris and I were off to EL DORADO
here it is: inside and out

Yes, I took pictures in a Casino. I did it sneaky because I guessed it wasn't kosher. I was thinking that a Casino in Shreveport at 3am on a sunday would be full of - to quote HS Thompson -burnt out caractures of used car salesmen from Dallas, all humping the American Dream. but I only saw one of those. It was a mix of military rednecks, rednecks, locals, one big Keno table of asains, general low rollers, slot hogs and what my father lovingly refers to as "Dirtbags."

When I was 19 or 20 I went to Canada and visited a casino- no alcohol as an incentive to gamble in Canada...boring. The night before I got there I had a dream that I won a ton of money playing roulette- all on 15 Black. The next day in the casino I bet $15 on the number from my dream, it didn't win so I threw all the money on red- the next number was 15 Black- true story. I was a magiacian then and I was hanging out with a clown- that's true too but if I started the story out with it you'd think i was about to go, "so the bartender says......" anyway-I wanted to try it again. 15 Black hit every table within 10 minutes- every table but mine. So i went with Chris to play a couple hands of blackjack and he helped me lose the rest of my $100. after I lost a few hands he used his Chris Campbell drunk logic and said I should bet all my money on the next hand. What was I thinking? My $100 was gone 20 minutes after I walked in. Julie did quite well though and went to play craps. I know nothing about this game so when she gave me a $5 chip i turned it into more money pretty quick. Them's the ropes. I could never understand how people go on vacation to gamble. that is just plain ol stupido

on the way out of the casino- CHECK THIS OUT- the ORR CADDY

the next morning we ate an AWESOME breakfast place called the cotton pan, cotton bowl....aww shit. here's a picture:

I had a helluva southern breakfast. I tasted the sweet tea and I guessed that would be it for sweet tea until I went back to Georgia. We said bye bye and hit the road. We were soon in Texas.......holy shit Texas is big. I once heard an idiot arguement that there was no way people could harm the Earth- like global warming and all that- because the Earth is sooooo big and all the people in the world could fit in Texas. Well no shit, all the INSERT ANYTHING could fit in Texas- it is big as big gets. - who buys that kind of talk, anyway? People can't hurt the Earth?

Well next blog- TEXAS, Oil Explosions, and I wrestle a 40 lb hamburger steak into my belly!

Aids Island

2008-02-06T06:19:00.000-08:00

well, in the state of Fucknut, where I live- Mike "Mr. Funny Guy" Huckabee won the primary.

correction- I was really hating Huckabee in every way until I saw this ad 10 seconds ago

every policy of Huckabees- is pretty disgusting to me. But add CHUCK NORRIS and I will jump on with the rest of the of my southern countryfolk to vote against progress and change and forward thinking- God Bless the South (you dumb SOBs)

I actually voted for Obama yesterday, but if Clinton gets the ticket, I don't mind. I forgot to blog about the end of my Sundance trip. Will do that later

more movies

2008-01-26T14:04:00.000-08:00

let's catch up before the awards are announced tonight and before I see the Doc shorts.

Momma's Man

This really hit home with some of the NYC crowd. I really liked it, but I couldn't relate as much as others.

A guy goes home to stay with his artist parents in NYC- his world and NYC are changing and he is having problems and dealing by lying to everyone and trying to hide in his childhood room.

Acting is great- the director cast his parents to play the parents in the film. Azazerl Jacobs is the son of avant-garde filmmaker Ken Jacobs. His parents are really great in this film- this movie will have a great festival run so you should get to see it at a fest near you. It is funny and touching with a devastating ending- shot in the Jacobs apartment that has a personality of it's own- the apt. is a character in the film.

Gonzo: The Life and Work of Hunter S Thompson

Not a fan. Too long, never got below the surface- did a bad drug bit- I hate that. I did really enjoy the section about Fear and Loathing on the Campaign trail- maybe for someone who new nada about HST this would be fun- I had already done the introduction so I found the doc to be flat. But I will nonetheless post a pic of the man

Goliath

Funny and Absurd but I wanted a little more. A guy loses his wife is demoted at work and then his cat, Goliath, is missing- he unravels. There is hilarious shit in this movie-hilarious. I mean- look at this poster
But in the end I felt the film was a little stretched to be a feature- don't get me wrong- I would program this in any festival. I laughed very hard and the opening of the film is so strong I can;t stand it. There is the best font joke ever in this movie. And amazing use of a chainsaw on a stick-type pruning device. See this movie and go to their site later and watch their awesome shorts HERE

BALLAST

My pick for Dramatic Grand Prize. Nonprofessional cast gives an amazing performance in this quiet, superbly shot drama set in Mississippi River Delta. I don't want to give you the synopsis or any of that- I saw it cold, didn't know a thing and I loved it. I think it is the only way to really see films but that's me. It feels like the filmmakers were just there to capture things- it didn't feel lit or like a heavy hand was there controlling it. Just a beautiful film. Slow Burn- not for fans of plot driven poops. It plays Berlin next.

Pretty Bird

this movie is nuts. Paul Schnieder writes and directs his first feature an it is a bit of a rudderless ship. it has funny stuff and it definitely feels that Schnieder has a handle on scene work but the film as a whole is all over the place and ultimately tough to accept. Billy Crudup plays a nut who wants to sell rocket packs. Him and Paul Giamatti team up and make them- things are batshit crazy scene to scene and the movie takes a weird and dark turn when a character turns up dead. If you get a chance- an I don;t know if you will- watch this film. You will laugh and not believe the level of absurdity that is committehtted to in every aspect of production- every prop, set dressing, blocking, line reading- everything is crazy and fun for about an hour. use of a wolf poster right out of Robert Paraguassu's arsenal.

Be Like Others

Everything that happens in this doc is fucked. every idea, every action made me put my heads into my hands. Listen to this set up: In Iran homosexuality is punishable by death- but having a sex change is legal. So everyone in contact with anyone gay- or someone denying they are gay by having a horrible mutilation of an operation because they want to be accepted for being attracted to the same sex. The filmmaking is fine but the movie is tough to watch- if the punishment for being gay is death, then the punishment for having the operation seems just as bad. The whole thing makes Alabama look like the most progressive place in the world.

STRANGERS

Good stuff. The film is about an Israeli and Palestinian woman who meet in Germany an have a brief affair. The film was made by two directors- that's it. I like the film a lot- it has a Truffalt kind of feel to it- the it easily drifts between comedy, drama, love story. Great scting that the filmmakers said was all improv, but is edited well enough never to feel like it. The characters also speak in broken English a lot which I thought was really charming. They throw in really dynamic editing towards the end that I loved a la Jules and Jim- there was some split screen (yuck) but that's just nitpicking because the film is great. And because it was a first feature they do get the 'we have a 360 shot' award for including that shot in their film.

I talked to the lead actor and directors almost everyday. we took a picture

Heath Ledger at Sundance!!!!

2008-01-26T13:48:00.001-08:00

What? Too soon, too soon?

I walked by the press office and outside the door on this couch a Film Threat writer was passed out a and his buddy laid that Entertainment Weekly on his head.

it was a sunny day in Park City- high of 36. this is the view from my bus stop on my last shift.

I spend most of my time staring at this heater to keep my face warm

Good thing it was my last day because I sure am over being nice to assholes- I must say that I don't encounter very many of them- but on friday they must have had a 'Cocksuckers get Half Off' fare sale to SLC because they were sure out in drones. But i never lost my shit and yelled at anyone- I did have a dream last night that I was at a little league baseball game and some guy was acting up and I beat him with a very small metal bat. There was some other weird Gwar type of band hanging around the ball field in my dream too.

My favorite type of bus stop asshole is one that asks for directions and then asks the bus driver the same thing. That or the classic asshole that thinks he's so special he can get across town on a bus in five minutes. Some people......

Wackness, Man on Wire and more!

2008-01-25T19:28:00.000-08:00

me and Mountains
I was watching RED- but I wasn't feeling it so I thought I would catch you guys up on all the awesome stuff I have seen.

THE WACKNESS

Let me first say that an 830 am movie after 4 hours of sleep is hard….real hard.

During the opening scene of The Wackness, when the lead starts to fantasize about some fly girls (a-la In Living Color) ancing for him on an empty subway car, I was in. He looks into the lens, nods and the title comes across the screen and I wanted to cheer. I love The Wackness. Love it. It takes place in 1994 in NYC. The lead is an outsider pot dealer who just graduated high school. He trades pot to his shrink played by Ben Kingsly and falls in love with the shrink’s daughter played by Famke Jansen. Both characters help each other grow up and learn about women.

This movie captured my high school years perfectly because I was in fact, a loner pot dealer with really no friends. The movie is shot wonderfully, is hilarious and it has a lead character that is white and into hip hop that is not cliche. Can anyone name another of those? The soundtrack is- to say the least, the dopeness- taken from those great years during the emergence of The Notorious BIG, when hip hop was starting to take a hold with young white kids- before it reached the sorry ass state it is in now. This was the kind of film that was so good that when it reached the third act I was praying they wouldn’t fuck it up with a bad ending or some kind of stupid moral, and for my money- they don’t. I predict an Audience Award for this film or some kind of special mention for all the drugs consumed through Ben Kingsly’s performance.

Did I mention that there's an Olsen twin in this movie on mushrooms? there is.

MAN ON WIRE

In 1974 a French man strung a wire between the two towers f the world trade center and walked it. That’s what the doc is about. It is a close second to ANVIL! In the “goddam that was a great doc” competition I am having in my head. It is almost like a heist movie, following these guys in their planning of the stunt, sneaking into the building and doing the deed. When it finally happens in the film, it made me cry it was such a wonderful moment. The film also does a great job of cross cutting through time to keep things from slowing down- and the archival footage is all (insert something equal to awesome). Towards the end of the film there is a news clip with the arresting officer on the day talking about watching thttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifhe Man on the wire and knowing he was seeing something that could never happen again. It is a really special moment that stands out among every film I have seen at this festival.

BAGHEAD

Rock ass Duplass Brothers. Just cut down that ending- it drags a bit.
Baghead is the story of 4 actors who go to a film festival (and see the film We Are Naked- holy shit it was funny) and then get the idea to write a movie themselves, so they can star in it and not be extras any more.

The movie was shot in the mumblecore fashion and transferred to 35mm- much like their absolutely gut busting hilarious and rockin short films. WATCH THEM HERE

The movie is funny and scary and bounces back and forth in a really original way I have never really seen before. The acting is great- the camera work and lighting is secondary to story and performance- but they did do quite a bit of night work that they pulled off.
For some reason I always hear a really negative response to the films of Duplass, Swanberg, and and the like. I mean nasty comments about the production that doesn't make sense from some random asshole- these guys make good films- don't be a hater. or make a movie if you wanna say 'I can do that' kinda shit.

KATIE REVIEW

At the screening we ran into Joe ,Ronnie and David

they are doing a little Sundance coverage for Spout/MySpace HERE

so tired

2008-01-24T18:08:00.000-08:00

I need a nap before a midnight movie. quick update- The Wackness is awesome, Man on Wire is wonderful and Goliath is absurd. I will blog more.

Funny Games, SWAG, Slamdance

2008-01-24T00:50:00.000-08:00

Saw the FUNNY GAMES premiere in SLC. It was a lot of work to get there an no Haneke Q&A- but the movie is good. Plenty of walkouts from the Salt lake locals- people were actually- audibly arguing during the screening, that is amamzing.

This is a remake- shot for shot- of Haneke's Funny Games- by Haneke, but it is very different.

Casting Naomi Watts and making the movie in English will finally get the audience Haneke's last Funny Games was intended for into some seats. Mike Brune said it best- the film is for American Audiences- you like violence..well here you go, you want to see a home invasion...really? see if you can handle this. But in casting N. Watts an audience that says, "let's go see that N. Watts movie " get a serious bit of nastiness. Michael Pitt holds it together in the lead but the previous version is far superior in every performance. The movie will be fun to watch with a full house- couples were getting into agruements about staying to see the film...AT A FILM FESTIVAL- just wait till/if it hits the burbs. There is a weird new slant of sadism in a section that wasn't present before and the breaking the 4th wall stuff is way heavier this time around.

Here's some Funny Games SWAG- that's just wierd

pic is a little crappy but you got it. The golf ball has the title of the film on it.

went to Slamdance and saw some old friends projecting

that's a little BLAKE MYERS

and I saw ARON BARNES- they both project at Slamdance

check out slamdance:

polar opposite of Sundance

MY MOTHER'S GARDEN

This is a doc on a subject that fascinates me- thhttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gife horder, clutterer disorder. I first heard this given a name in an amazing NPR bit. Check it HERE These are people who can't throw anything away, people with stacks of old newspapers filling a bathroom, drawers of pens that don't have ink- houses that you can't see the floor in. there are different degrees of this disorder- and the subject of this film has a serious one.

I had a high school friend with a mother with this problem- to walk to his room- or any room- you went through small pathways through the house. The kitchen was buried, as was the living room and back door. If there ever was a fire, it would be over in no time because of all the collected newspapers and magazines- stacks and stacks 5 or 6 feet high.

The doc is directed by Cynthia Lester- the daughter of a women with the disorder- the film has a handicam feel to it- the camera work is shoddy- but ti doesn't matter and can't stand in the way of how shocking/frightening the story is.

The back story is deep and barely delved into- When the director was 13 she left home because her mother's problem forced her out of the house and into preforming sexual acts for money- her two brothers ha it tough too, one joined a gang and was shot in the face, the other is an alcoholic. When the city calls to condemn their mother's home the family is forced back together to eal with the problem they have avoided their whole life.

It is amazing stuff that could be developed into a serious narrative work that I wouldn't mind writing. The mother uses environmentalism to justify digging through dumpsters and keeping tons of recyclables in and around her home. The mother can't even sleep in her home- she camps outside- when the camera and family take us into the home it becomes scary.

I don't want to tell you everything that happens in this doc- you should see it. It raises issues about the nature of consumerism and the fact that this disorder really has no diagnosis or treatment. Tell your local fest to program it

Oh this is awesome....MORE ANVIL!!!!!!

2008-01-23T23:56:00.000-08:00

I saw ANVIL LIVE!!!! That's right, Tattoo. Here's Katie and I before the show:

just to the left of that picture Tarantino an the corpse of Otto Preminger are doing coke off a donkey that is doing coke off of Dakota Fanning- yeah...we party like that

we chatted with the director and producer of the film before- awesome folks, I hope they blow up like the World Trade, yo. Funny side note- the director was in some crappy band with his friends in the UK- he quit because they had no future, they changed their name to...Bush. he also turned down writing some wizard-boy script called Harry Potter. He said it wasn;t commercial- that's also funny. Well, he picked the winner here with ANVIL! (i'm no Potter Bush fan anyway)

here's pic of leadman Lips starting the show with some wicked shredding (right term?- I dunno) in my face. He ran out into the crowd- the club was really small- great place to see a show

then Scott Ian from ANTHRAX came out to play on their anthem METAL ON METAL

Oh! you ho's want video? ta dow:

Just when I thought it couldn't get better....Slash shows up. Yes, Slash. That Slash...the Slash. You'll never guess what they played- watch this video:

yes yes, you can buy me dinners and wines and ask me to tell the story

OLDER POSTS

2008-01-22T14:20:00.000-08:00

I'm reposting some older stuff

Up to speed

2008-01-22T13:59:00.000-08:00

All the premiere's should have happened so I'm gonna give you a rundown on the films I've seen. I know how it is to have your film in a festival and see some asshole blogger gave you shit....but tough. These are my thoughts on things and if you don't like them read something else..... jeez. I'm not Variety

Before movies I want to say that last night it was 3 degrees outside. This morning my feet have never been colder. Ever.

IN PRISON ALL MY LIFE

On the day MUMIA was sentenced to death in Philly the director for this film was born and 24 years later decided to make a doc about all that action. The Filmmaker talks to people about Mumia's case, possibility of release and race relations around his issue and race relations of the country and Philadelphia, even slavery. While the information and archival footage for this film are amazing, the film falls short because the filmmaker is the through line of the film. It takes away from the arc and structure of the film- which is also a bit too long. Basically the kid needed to get out of his movie.

There is one piece of footage of a bomb being dropped on a building in Philly from a helicopter that will make you ashamed to be American- it happened in 1985. So sad.

Katie didn't see it

FROZEN RIVER

Smuggling immigrants into the country to keep her family above water. There are some great concepts and parallels in this film- between the indentured servants being smuggled and the smugglers struggling to earn a living and keep their family together- but all in all, the performances from almost every character except the female lead felt stilted and contrived. The cinematography was at times very breathtaking- even for video. I read in Variety that someone bought this film- I'm not sure I would do that

SHORTS

DENNIS

Here’s the pitch: Imagine Cassavetes directed a short film version of Marty but replaced Ernest Borgnine with a giant bodybuilder. That is Dennis- and everything about it is wonderful, uncomfortable and amazing. I love this short.

KING OF PING PONG

I was really excited by this film, youth in trouble and ping pong- but it was ultimately boring and unimpressive despite my love for the bleakness of the setting and the use of a at least a half dozen hairless cats. Oh, I almost forgot tons of heavy anti American sentiment including one character that wore a hat with am American flag in it with the word FUCK written in sharpie in the flag. That’s ball-z…huh?

THE WAVE

I’m down with this film although the concept is not anything new....but I found out based on reality- it happened in South America I believe. A teacher tries to get through to his apathetic, valueless class of German high school students about fascism by making them fascists- things go too far. Very well done, although I wish the film would have gone somewhere a little less expected at the end, But very high energy and some MTVish sequences for the kids. The film falls into the new wave a political films geared towards a generation of youngsters that couldn’t care about anything and have nothing to rebel against because no one has any values to challenge. See it. It raises tons of great issues to tackle over a few bottles of wine with a group of people that do that stuff. Katie met the writer an one of the actors- she said they were super great guys. I met another actor who was also very pleasant. The film has US, UK and Spain sold- so you'll see this one somewhere.

That’ll catch you up. I have been LOVING my volunteer position as a Transportation Liason. I have fun, only work 4 hours and get to joke around with folks that leave me shortly thereafter. Great Job, I like being the AD of my little bus stop.

I went to MAIN STREET- the main nerve of Sundance. What a zoo. The Anti-Fur guys were raising hell – that was cool. I just walked around for a few minutes and went back to the Yarrow where I watch movies at the Press an Industry screenings because no other volunteers go there. I always see Tom Hall and Holly Herrick, Film Festival Bob, ran into the Atlanta Film Festival’s ex-pat Brian Newman and I ran into:

(IMAGE NOT AVAILABLE)

MIKE TULLEY!!! He’s got a sweet writing gig reviewing films for INSERT WEBSITE LATER. Love talking movies with that guy.

Here's an FFB ( Film Festival Bob) What is this? pic

Ran into Dennis Harvey at my stop who wrote Blood Car’s VARIETY review. I’m sure I have been chatting with tons of really important people.. but who cares? What are they gonna do, give me a 3 picture deal at Miramax because I know where the yellow bus line goes?…..nope. Better to just be myself, have fun and watch movies. If things are gonna happen, they will happen. I don’t like networking unless networking means talking movies an making fun of the scenesters.

The cold ain’t shit- I don’t spend any money, - not even on food and since that high altitude bitch slap by the booze at the volunteers party- I don’t touch the sauce. I have breakfast at 8am- work 9:30am to 2pm watch movies till there aren’t anymore (last show 12am) and go to bed around 2 or 2:30am an do it again. What could be better? Parties? Looking for clelebrites? Getting turned away from parties? Waiting in cold lines for parties? Fuck that shit- I watch movies. Katie and I plan on hitting 30 before we leave- so shove that in your party pipe guest-listers.

I am in the lobby waiting to go to the FUNNY GAMES PREMIERE with Katie. We hope to see a Haneke Q&A…will we…….

more moview thoughts to come:
Katie saw Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden?
i've seen:
Baghead, Pretty Bird, Momma's Man, The Broken, Trouble the Water, Ballast, Strangers,
August, My Mother's Garden, Gonzo:The Life and Work of Hunter S Thompson- plus shorts and plan to see Golaith, The Wackness, Hamlet II and more!

Oscar...you little fag- nice work

2008-01-22T08:03:00.000-08:00

I have a theory- maybe the way for the Oscars to get better and not just be a celebration of star-fucker box office winners- is to endanger the whole show. Jesse James did get shafted on a Best Pic nom- but we all knew that would happen. 8 for No Country an There Will Be Blood- that's awesome. Juno....a little over praised? Yes is the answer to that question. and 2 YES 2! Noms for Roger Deakins- that's awesome. I'm generally pleased to see that shit-turds like American Gangster are not in the running. I haven't seen Atonement...I will, But I don't really care to. Hopefully No Country and There will be Blood won't split the vote and end up handing Atonement a win.

So for once- nice job academy. I usually think you have you're head so far up your ass that you wouldn't know a good movie from a bowel movement. Where's Margot At the Wedding? oh well, I can't win em all

my bad

2008-01-22T01:02:00.000-08:00

I have seen 15 movies as of now. Barely time to sleep-will catch you guys up on my movie seeings tomorrow. i promise. I am at the Festival HQ shuttle stop by the way, if anyone wants to holla-930am to 2pm. I want some SWAG-without going to main street

ANVIL! ANVIL! ANVIL!

2008-01-18T07:24:00.000-08:00

At the volunteer screening last night I got to see what MUST be the breakout doc at this year's festival- ANVIL! THE TRUE STORY OF ANVIL

It is the story of one of the founding bands of metal ANVIL their leadman and drummer. The movie has the same feel as The King of Kong in that you just want them to win so bad. (on a side note- it is a shame that the widest release King of Kong got was 58 screens- it only grossed $700k) The filmmaking is simple and doesn't interfere with how awesome/entertaining/passionate the subjects and their journey to be rockstars is. The band has been together for 30 years and they were pretty famous in 1982 and they just faded away. This is their big album METAL ON METAL:

I tell you- I laughed my ass off and I cried a couple times. It was a movie experience, which is what we all want. I don't want to tell you too much because every asskicking second of this doc rocks. And of course the music is all metal. We got some pics of Anvil and director Sasha

Guess which one is the Director

katie and Anvil

I also saw Mermaid a Russian film about a girl growing up. It was really a film that felt like it was made for 14 year old girls. It had some really cool things in it, but as a whole....eh..shrug. Not for me.

It was shot very well and had some good performances in it but was really just too long and I never really cared. It felt like a bunch of never-fully-realized scenes and images strung together. Narrative storytelling was not the main focus of this film, I know- and which is fine- but the film still never really grabbed me. The film does have a section that is full of hot Russian models, not that that makes a movie but it is worth mentioning. There was also a ton of positive reinforcement for the lead character (who was good, and interesting to watch) from random advertisements all over Moscow. That was a new one on me.

KATIE REVIEWS ON THE WAY!!

Time to go to work now, snowing like a sunnofabitch- I wrote this blog but did not post until both these films premiered.

First day on the job

2008-01-17T19:42:00.000-08:00

My job is pretty cool. Sure, it is colder than I have ever been in my life- but only for 4 hours, and really it's just the toes. I talk to people and am friendly and helpful- yes me- i figured it out with no trouble at all. People are all really happy and nice. I never got a heater delivered to me but...eh...who cares? They bring around hot chocolate and hand warmers so I'm good. All the folks I work with are cool too- or seem to be.

I have decided that my goal is to get some 'What is This?' pictures from folks at the festival. If you don't know what those are- you will. Saw Tom Hall and Holly Herrick from the Sarasota Film Festival. Love those guys.

okay. Time to watch movies. Mermaid and ANVIL! The True Story of Anvil tonight. I will blog about them later.

I will also score myself a poster from GOLIATH- the Zellner bros feature. Great poster- can't wait to see that flick.

First big deal of Sundance

2008-01-16T16:25:00.000-08:00

More to come on the big deal after I ramble

Yesterday was volunteer training day for me- Transportation Liason. After hearing 5 hours of information I could never retain (there was a lot to learn and there are lots of maps) I have learned that my job is to stand at a shuttle stop and answer any and all transportation questions for 4.5 hours each day. With 50,000 people in from all over, and me not really knowing jack - this should be interesting. I'm glad I have this job though because I can see movies and I basically work by myself. I will also kow everything about getting around this town really quickly- which is awesome. I now understand the complex treasure map that is the park city bus map. a really nice mug was given to me too- see:

I like mugs.

During the training I found out I randomly work in the same dept as Traveler John-

I met him in NOLA on the Glory at Sea shoot i helped out on. He has traveled around the world without getting on a plane- that's pretty fucking cool. I'll get some stories out of him an blog them. In NOLA we drank and had a good time and worked on the movie. Odd that I even ran into John. 1,400 volunteers at Sundance, maybe 150 at my training thing today and there he was.

Oh oh THE FIRST BIG DEAL AT SUNDANCE....

Blood Car secured (is about to secure, just gotta sign for it) German distribution
through our foreign sales rep. I was at Sundance when I got the call and ok'd it so that qualifies as the first deal at Sundance '08. Sorry to get your hopes up on hearing something big about Donkey Punch- which I will see because of title alone.

Sorry, today I am writing this in hindsight- I forgot my pad- tonight at the Sundance Volunteer party- Beginning in 2.5 hrs- there will/should be free booze and I will
blog later....

NEXT MORNING.

Apparently, this altitude and alcohol and me - don't mix. Katie and I went over to where Traveler John is staying and had a few beers and I was fine. We went to the party an I had 1 drink and a glass of wine and it was lights out. I tried to record the events as they happened but my notepad is just full of garbled nonsense and a sketch of what looks like an interpretation of a DJ or a forest fire- I can't tell. I was the guy in the corner- partied out unable to hold my head up scribbling on a pad like an idiot. I think the bartender slipped me a mickey because I was looking so fine and dancing so nice nice. We laughed about it at breakfast. Madison (fellow volunteer/filmmaker/hostel resident) is also a racist I learned. I'll say I'm kidding about that....but am I? Here is pic of her- it is blurry because she was about to hit me with a stick.

Here is a pic of the party that represents my vision at the volunteer party.

I think I will not do my normal film festival partying here and just concentrate on seeing as many movies as possible because that was not fun...at...all.

I will hold off on blogging about any more movies until they have their first public screening. I didn't know and no one mentioned any protocol on that sort of thing. I apologize to anyone that I need to. I just write about my thoughts on movies for my friends. If anyone wants to email me and tell me I'm an ass- that's cool. alex@fakewoodwallpaper.com -

2008-01-16T16:16:00.000-08:00

2 movies seen! at Sundance! eat your heart out AICN

2008-01-15T23:10:00.000-08:00

Tonight I saw the volunteer screenings. 2 movies- Adventures of Power and I Always Wanted To Be a Gangster. I am debating the level of review I want to blog before others have seen these movies. I will start writing an see what happens.

First I saw Adventures of Power, but I will come back to it.

I ALWAYS WANTED TO BE A GANGSTER

This is why I love film festivals. Is this movie perfect...no. It is awesome despite it's flaws. It invokes many films- because it is about film. It revolves around a diner and some wannabe criminals whose paths cross only because of the diner an thematically because of their criminal elements. I hate the intersecting story as much as anyone else, but it doesn't really matter with this film. or not till the end. It got off to a shaky start. A bad site gag, some keys locked into a car, a gangster without a gun. The black an white photography though, was wonderful, so i thought i would be in capable hands. And the French diner waitress was pretty and in B&W-that always works for me. I shrugged off the first act, but got the nod that the movie is definitely about movies. There are tons of clues, it is blatant. There's a Brad Pitt hamburger on the menu and pictures of "real" gangsters on the walls. In the second, two goofy, good hearted criminals kidnap a rich girl and it is great. Not Savannah Smiles great, but really really funny dialogue and even a bit touching at one point. The next section is very well done and simple- about two old friends in the music business- but in the third story, the movie really came together. It is about 5 really old guys who used to be gangsters. In this section i realized that the film is about how there is no longer room in the world for the old cool gangsters, or how they can only exist in cinema, or how the cinema has changed because the world has changed. It is debatable and I really like that- that whole thinking at the movies thing. The movie should have ended there but there was an epilogue that wasn't needed. I really liked the film but I would like to see a shorter edit- I think that would elevate the film to something amazing; lose some plot and end on a note to make people ponder. If you get a chance, see the movie. Great editing, wonderful style and lighting, French women, great acting and a movie about movies-subtly, not in an agent's office or any of that.

Another thing I will do to review movies is kind of a star system, but we will use Katie's expression. Here is her reaction to said movie:

ADVENTURES OF POWER

The movie is about a geek who air drums. When you hear this, do you think it is a feature? I thought it could be, I was wrong. Think a movie that makes you say Napoleon Dynamite, crossed with a classic 80's style and storyline and a karate kid type, conquer the odds thing with air drumming. oh is there air drumming.

A guy Air Drums (i like capitalizing that) and no one understands him, not even his father, who is played by Michael McKean and is leader of the Copper Miner's union. The copper plant is run by an evil guy who has a son that is a really lame country music star (who has a hilarious video in the film). So our Air Drummer, Power (played by writer/director Ari Gold) goes off to Air Drum after he can't take part in the strike because he was fired for....Air Drumming. He randomly (and actually something I liked about the movie was that plot points just happened in a ridiculous way to try and keep it moving) finds a flyer and goes to an underground Air Drumming/gambling joint in Mexico. Really great cut-away of a chihuahua.

Adventure begins and involves more cliche' stereotype characters than a Mel Brooks movie (but Mr. Gold should take a page from Mr. Brooks and make fun of his own background, not just his main character, before doing everyone else)

This movie might be for some people- I am not those people, although I did like some things. Let me list a few things, good and bad,

-Lead actor wears a fanny pack, and other "funny" clothing gags-uhh
-approx. 14 montages mostly of air drumming- some haha mostly uhhh
-A funny scene about the history of a deaf girl (female love interest) an her 'praise jesus' mom.
-Another good gag with Deaf Girl/Air Drumming and a light cue
-Bad bad prat falls.
-a hilarious (to me) parrallel between strikers and strike breakers and the air drumming that goes into a great phone gag. Good job there.
-Random, silly (silly or just bad) performances that belong in a SNL movie. I mean that as an insult because almost every SNL movie is shit-turd terrible.

All in all. Not a good film. Maybe to a 13 year old, or a 60 year old- to me, it reinforces that a lot of broad bullshit passes for comedy to most people. Good use of Rush's Tom Sawyer...i guess... if you want a whole hell of a lot of Rush.

Katie Review:

more movies tomorrow!!!! and FYI- my 'd' key is not working well, so please excuse and/or insert any missing d's to nonsensical words.

Nothing to do with Sundance

2008-01-15T16:24:00.000-08:00

I bowled a 203 (1 point shy of my 204 record) the day before I left for Park City, or the day before that- here is a juvenile slidshow of those events

Sundance '08 2 days before festival

2008-01-15T15:05:00.000-08:00

9:00am 1-15-08

I am having the free breakfast right now. Coffee, juice, cereal, oatmeal, toast. Just great by me and I don;t have to pay extra for it. I am realizing now before katie has come to breakfast that we really have nothing to do until 7:30pm when we can see a movie. I'll ask her what she thinks.

9:22am

after chatting with Wade (a very nice Aussie on a round the world trip) katie and I are going to hit the slopes, only a fool would not ski in this town....right? So we will buy a ski lift ticket ($67) get our gear (20% discount for haggling- totaling $57) and walk to the kiddie slopes to see if I can do this. I have skied once before, I was 12. After Katie, Wade and I have a chat about dating pregnant women and dealing with their estranged lovers, Wade takes off for NYC and we to the mountain(s).

11:48am

I have gone down the kiddie slope twice with minor embarrassments. I will now ascend the mountain on the lift and try something harder. I see children young enough to breast feed doing goddam back-flips down the mountain. The snowboarders and people who are from abroad (Spain, Brazil?) are really cool too, I'm an idiot out here. An instructor told me so when I got in his way. It through me off and all I could say back was, "what's his problem?" He got me. On the slopes- I'm sure I can handle the blue square level.

11:58am

writing in notebook on ski lift impossible. Snow is somehow coming from all sides, not above.

Here's what I look like on top of the mountain- view is bad due to harsh wind conditions

12:38pm
I am halfway down the mountain, after yet another crash- Katie has abandoned me. I rounded a corner, wiped out and lost a ski over the edge of a snowbank (i dunno the terms) basically there is all this packed snow you ski on and on either side the shit is 6 feet deep, but looks harmless. I tried, half-assed, to get my ski with my pole. Failure. Another toddler just passed me at 40 mph. I hope he pulls a Sonny Bono.

1:something- i dunno, this is horseshit.
I got the ski. Christ. I can't figure out how to get them back on. Energy fading. Maybe there's a lever, the wind is amazing and terrifying. My fancy long underwear are immaculate. My $6 skipants have ripped (only one strap, still fixable)

post ski wrap up in hostel. 4:30pm
I got down the mountain, had a pitcher of beer and we went at it a few more times. The wind let up and we took this picture:

I progressed from green circle level to (almost) conquering the blue square. After the square is black diamond- those runs have names like Widowmaker and Devil's Crotch and You Will Die You Jeff, I need more practice for that. this is great fun too, I pick this over beach any day- once you get the hang of it, skiing rules. and snow is soft. When Katie abandoned me she saw this view:

Fuck the beach.

we go see some movie later, I will report. OH! an I got this sundance jacket yesterday. Very warm, good pockets.

Katie is holding a cup of warm cider, in front of the fire in the hostel. She's wearing said jacket.

Sundance '08

2008-01-14T17:04:00.001-08:00

I have decided (partly in honor of a Hunter S Thompson doc playing the festival) to do a bit of Gonzo journalism and try to joy down this thing as it happens and translate it here to my blog. There may be 5 entries a day or only one a week- I just don;t know at this point. But we will see.

As I type away this first blog I am enjoying a cup of hot apple cider that was handed to me from a fellow traveler from- Australia or maybe the UK- I can't tell, he was a mumbler. I'm by a fire in my hostel- that's right dammit, I said hostel- in park city. Katie is with me and although we have to stay in men's an women's dorms, we are both in very good spirits.

and now begins the random scribblings of my volunteer stint at the Sundance Film Festival.

6:00am 1-14-08
katie an I fly to SLC through Phoenix this morning. Had b'fast with Brune at 5:30am at The Majestic- I love their goddam sausage. Brune leaves to Rotterdam Film Fest a week from today. his film The Adventure is one of twenty something films in competition (400+ shorts screen) His luck with the US festivals has been mind boggling. (as in not too good) After he is lauded in Europe though, the US festival programmers will pull their heads out of their asses. Like everything Americans do artistically, we need the Europeans to stamp it before we realize what we have and embrace it.

I'm excited to be here. Can't wait to see all the films and stay in a hostel full of film people.

10:05pm

I am in my jammies. It is a cold town, sure- but it is very pretty and I have never really seen this part of the world. beautiful. They had a ski lift lit up for night skiing. that's nuts. Katie and I walked around for a little while an then ate at a pizza joint. I once saw a little sign in a pizza place that read "Pizza is like sex, even when it's bad- it's still pretty good." Well, let me say that the man who wrote that has never eaten what they pass for pizza in park city and he probably never got properly fucked either. no such thing as bad pizza or bad sex....gimme a break.

tomorrow I get to see a movie, maybe 2. I will write about them.

Katie just asked the front desk clerk about how many people are killed by icicles. they said they didn't know but I saw those fuckers today and they could kill an elephant

There Will Be Blood Car

2007-12-18T14:34:00.001-08:00

Hugh came up with that one. Blood Car will be playing Austin, TX and Arizona (many cities) in 2008. just played Dallas and we've sold almost 10,000 DVDs- which is pretty good for a movie called Blood Car, right? For screenings check the Blood Car Myspace- link on the blogroll to the right

Been a minute since I blogged. Here's what's new.

On feb. 1st I will move to LA. Yeah, I know, but I been stuck in ATL too too long.

Just finished watching a cut of Hugh's short (hopefully soon to be feature) DEPTH CHARGE.

here's a pic of a slate

the movie is good. Hugh will finish the feature length script and make this character have a feature. I know that sounds odd, make him have a feature- but you need to see the short.

Speaking of shorts- check out the poster (below) for The Adventure. Which got accepted to
that's right...Rotterdam. Attendance 360,000 folks. There will be 35mm too. Oh how I have waited for the day to see some Fake Wood Wallpaper 35mm projected.

that is one fucking cool poster, too. Designed by Adam Pinney.

I worked on a pilot for Adult Swim recently. Funny stuff- you'll see it. Here are some pics from all of us hanging out after we wrapped.

we didn't know when to quit that night and woke up the next day needing some brunch-beverages to stop the shakes. Emmi and Hugh joined Katie and I and we had a few and laughed- then some asshole....um that was me....suggested we go to the World of Coke. I knew that The World of Coke (new or old, no mater how many fucking fun flavors from Zimbabwe there are) is the most depressing place on Earth. I knew that. But seeing it made me very sad. Knowing that people from other countries were come to a "museum" of ads for a big company AND paying $15 a head to do it made me wanna cry. It ruined our happy mood and eventually the whole day. it goes like this. into the World of Coke. Forced to watch a shitty movie that probably cost 25 million to make. Picture with fucking polar bear. Warhol coke pieces. coke tasting. thoughts of moving to France.
here is an immature slideshow thingy

I have gotten knee-deep into a script (well research anyway) and hope to have it done in early 2008. I'm excited about it. It is about Little League and everything that goes with that, which each day I am learning is more and more.

movies- Bee Movie, shit turd. I walked out. have eased up on my movie viewing to make them
President? You got me. Who wins, the Better Looking Person, The Most Qualified Person or The White Guy? I really have no idea who will pull into the lead in the minds of the American voter. If it is Guilliani.....Oh Canada! for me. I just won't be able to do it. I will actually be someone who the phrase "If you don't like it, then get the hell out!" works on.

book and movies

2007-11-26T05:40:00.000-08:00

recently read Cormac McCarthy's the road. Good stuff. Terrifying scenes in that book. Optimism through Cynicism. The world is ruined. Envy the Dead. This is my favorite line from the novel- "There is no book and your fathers are dead in the ground."

At first when I was reading this book I thought, "Why doesn;t McCarthy just blow his brains out?" But I don't think he really has a completely negative outlook on the world and its future. If he did, why write? and also why write this kind of book with its satirical themes. That is the writing of a cynnical man who does care for his world. I read Michael Chabon's revue of the book here it has a great passage in it about a book that is truly about the end of the world and an apocalypse like the one in McCarthy's novel would be a book just full of white pages. That's funny to me

I saw Margot at the Wedding. I loved it. A friend of mine said that Jack Black trying to act ruined the movie for him but I disagree. Sure another actor could have played it better, but he didn't bother me. I loved the lighting, the fact that it seems or with either is natural light. I also really loved Kidman in the film. Casting her as the jerkoff parent was hard to accept, which is really the same position the family is in. It is really hard to accept that a close family member is just a self centered asshole.

I'm Not There. a mess but an entertaining one. The movie is trying to be the contradicting, myth filled, confusing life of Bob Dylan, and I guess it does that. I just don;t know if the goals the film has are one's an audience really wants to watch. Cate Blanchett is great, she is asshole 'Don't Look Back' Bob Dylan in Fellini's 8 1/2. I can't say that setting this part of the film on the sets of another film really did much for me- I see the connection. I just don't care. The story between Heath Ledger and the pretty french girl was well done also- I just don;t know what it really has to do with Dylan. Maybe it didn't feel like it fit because it told a story. I guess it si the kind of movie I say to see but I won;t ever watch it again.

THE ADVENTURE

2007-11-18T11:26:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone,

it is time for you to begin to help Mike Brune's amazing short THE ADVENTURE
here is something you can put on your own blogs or mymspace pages to help us spread the good word:

COMING SOON!!! CLICK TO WATCH TRAILER

and on MySpace,

I can give you the HTML code for that if you just email me at alex@fakewoodwallpaper.com
just cut and paste it into your blog or MySpace and that it the beginning of what is sure to be a sweet ass festival run for Mr. Brune

The Adventure just got into a really great festival in Europe- I can't let the cat out of the bag yet but I will say that the fest is days after Sundance in Europe. So help us get some exposure by posting stuff about it around so more folks will find out.

2008 is the year of THE ADVENTURE!!

Color Correction

2007-11-16T08:32:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I attended the color correction of Mike Brune's new short The Adventure. It looks pretty freaking sweet. Jon Peterson at Cinefilm did the color- he also did my (and many other people's) student film. He used the new Final Cut Color program. I don't think it is the program but the operator. I can't wait to see what festivals The Adventure plays. It is a hell of a short. There was also some talk about s

Speaking of festivals - bad segway - I received my volunteer packet for Sundance '08. that's right I will be staying in a hostel and doing the entire Sundance Film Festival this January. It's gonna be great. Hopefully I'll be attending a screening of The Adventure there too.

Right now I'm on set, yes I'm blogging on set. But the spots are about water conversation. I wonder if I can buy stock in water? That's the future, not oil or apple stock, but water. I want to be a Water Baron in the future.

HOLY SHIT!!!! I was talking about The Adventure and I just got a call. We got into a cool festival. not in the US. I'll keep you posted!

Asheville

2007-11-13T18:12:00.000-08:00

Asheville is a cool town of for only one reason- they have BANNED chain anything from their downtown area. No Wal Mart, No Starbucks, none of that crap. That is awesome. I was there for a day because Blood Car won Runner Up for best feature film. We lost to Year of the Fish. We tied with Randy and the Mob for that award. When I got the award Don Mancini gave it to me- he wrote all the Child's Play movies (and he's a Blood Car fan) how cool is that?

That's a short blog. I'm tired, I actually got a job.

Iron Pan

2007-10-28T01:15:00.000-07:00

Ever since I saw the myspace page for Snakes on a Train I think about how that movie got off the ground. I bet it was something like, "let's do that shit" Which is how I feel everything should go. And if the idea is good the person you're talking to should say, "Seriously? Somebody is gonna pay for that?"

That brings me to Iron Pan. Well, almost.

Mark Wynns had posted something about mockbusters that he read in the NY Times and I got to thinking about 'ol Snakes on a Train again and laughing. I think I read that and the next day Tony Holley and I were driving from Houston to Austin and I was on only a couple of hours sleep so I was idiot o'clock and I bounced around and ranted and we come up with Iron Pan.

In May Iron Man will be released. Will it be good? I doubt it but you never know, maybe someone won't fuck up a huge budget superhero movie. (yeah and maybe Pimento Cheese will taste good) so first watch the Iron Man trailer.

Now let me give you the pitch on Iron Pan. (I really should just be making this instead of blogging it but its 4:30am and I can't sleep so you get the chance to steal it from me)
it is about a cocky, alcoholic Iron Chef type guy. Well, he's a big shot and then some terrorists snatch him up and try to force him to make a dessert to kill the President. But he doesn't. He makes a frying pan. that's it, it is just a regular iron skillet. It looks like a regular skillet. He bonks people on the head with it, fights Mongols and ninjas and vikings, blocks bullets and all kinds of other dumber, dumb ass shit. But it's just a drunk with a pan. I'm just gonna shoot a trailer because really, I'm gonna need someone to shell out some cash to jam out a retarded feature about a drunk chef with a pan that has an adventure.

But if you saw that Iron Man trailer, Iron Pan could rock ass for about 124 seconds as a trailer. If you wanna help me get this monkey on a stick, gather up some funny shit and some ninja outfits and let's go.
A horse would be good too- for the Mongols. Just imagine someone saying the line, "I AM IRON PAN!" over and over and over and over

The $2,000 Nachos

2007-10-21T21:11:00.000-07:00

That's Blood Car on the same Marquee as a Godard movie. That's pretty sweet company, eh?

My girlfriend and I walk everywhere we can, we live in a great area for it and driving a couple hundred yards is for assholes. So we're walking and I meet eyes with some random guy- I look at everyone- and he says "You want to buy a computer?" I think that its probably gonna be something stupid (I'm mac only) and I'll just walk away. So this guy pulls out a brand new 17-inch macbook pro. He asks for $100. $100!! I KNEW he had to have stolen it so I go ehhhhh and start to hand it back. He says, "Will you give me less?" and I say $50 and he says $60, so I buy it. Then as Katie and I are walking down the street she decides that if we find the owner and give them their computer we can probably restore someone's faith in humanity. So I found the owner's contact info in his address book, called him and told him I bought his macbook for $63 (the $3 was my ATM charge)
Here is a picture of him with his computer.

He was happy.

After he gave me the money I spent, his girlfriend bought us some nachos. I call them the $2,000 nachos. We didn't take a picture, we just ate them and watched the Indians play some more cruddy baseball against the Red Sox. I don't know who at MLB decided that fucking Dane Cook should be doing baseball promos, but he shouldn't be anywhere near them. Get that guy on a bus with that Albatross Kenny Lofton (he's more cursed than Wrigley Field) and drive it right up Barry Bonds ass and that will be a start to fixing baseball. You fix baseball and just watch everything else start to get in line. Give our national pastime back its dignity (from strike to juicing- things have been better) and then you'll see all these other problems fix themselves. I promise.

Saw Gone Baby Gone. Some great stuff, some shitty stuff but Ben Affleck should get to do another movie. Casey Affleck was, of course, great. I liked the movie because C Affleck plays a character that reminds me of Hammett. Always finishing the job he was hired to do, even though no one wants him too. I like the part of a detective story when everything seems wrapped up and then one small thing starts everything unravelling. 'something doesn't sit right with the gumshoe so he stirs up a bunch of shit that ruins everything for everyone, even him.

I also got this hammock up - safely now. I did have it tied to some crap and it fell on me several times but I got t fixed now.It is one bad ass hammock. It makes not having a job ok. not really ok, but not as bad.

The Assassination Of Jesse James

2007-10-20T17:55:00.000-07:00

Holy shit this movie is great. I watched Chopper that night. Really interesting to see what this filmmaker like to focus on. After Adam Pinney saw the movie he said we shoulfdshoot a Beardman titled The Assassination of Adam Pinney by the Coward Beardman. I said ok- let's see if we do it. Our last effort at a short- Smelly Couch, was abandoned by me because it had funny parts, from Amber Nash, Katie Rowlett and Adam- basically everyone but me) but wasn't totally funny as a whole. Maybe it is, i don't know anymore. I also just saw Vanaja. Not really worth catching. Although I get the social side of the film, the person pulling the strings- Rajnesh Domalpalli- didn't really do it for me.

Austin is a good town

2007-10-16T18:14:00.000-07:00

I went to the Austin Film Festival with my film Blood Car and saw some movies and i'll tell you what I think of them and my trip and the town without ruining the movies or going on and on:

First the movies

Chicago 10: I hate this movie. If I was 17 I would say "Hell Yeah" and hold my fist in the air and protest and be politically charged. But I wasn't feeling like a kid at this screening and the filmmaking in this "docu-drama" is really appalling. (I think docu-drama is what you call someone lying to you in documentary form) basically the sound is punched up for dramatic effect and serious liberties are taken with the performance of the court transcripts. But the film parades as a Doc because of the subject matter and archival footage (tons stolen from a movie with real balls- Medium Cool)the music choices are very MTV with even Eminem and they are really loud-so loud I was unable to hear dialogue. I was angry after the screening and felt the film was manipulative when it had all the material to be Hearts and Minds. I'm for the cause, just not this film.

Juno Great film. At first I thought, awww another Rushmore rip off. The editing is quirky the main character is too smart to be in high school and so on. But its not that at all. the first scene just gives you a feeling that the film is going the wrong way, it has Rainn Wilson (that weird guy from the American Office) in it as a cashier and he shouldn't be in the film. It is a great film. It is so god that Jennifer Garner made me shed a tear. Really funny and sweet and great characters. Better than Thank You For Smoking which is the director's previous work. I think the film will do very well with a wide audience.

Control i didn't know anything about Joy Division (nor have I seen 24 Hour Party People) and I LOVED this movie. It is really hard to believe that its the first feature from a music video director because it is not style over substance. Just see it. I'm probably in the minority on people who aren't into Joy Division liking it but I think its great. And so wonderfully shot (except for the 360 dolly shot, why is that in every director's first feature?)

The Living Wake It's the most original comedy I have ever seen. Seriously. These guys jump head first into such an absurd world and character and really pull it off. it runs a little long at 90 minutes but it doesn't matter because when the lead in this film is on, he's on fire. I don't know when you're gonna get a chance to see this, but if you do, watch it. Its another movie made with Original Media. They did The Squid and the Whale, Half Nelson and the horrible reality show I worked on Miami Ink. They're great people and they make great films, keep it up.

Yeti in the City you'll never get to see this movie. fucking crazy is all I can say. If you get your hands on it, take drugs and then maybe it will pull it all together. This film has really amazing moments, like a Yeti break dancing and cops with dog heads (like mcgruff), talking flies, French monkeys, random animated sequences (yes the previous things were not animated) and a ton of reflexive elements and the filmmakers purposefully muck up the plot and story just to....well I don't know why but its really experimental and i'd even watch it again just to see someone else's reaction. And to take the drugs.

Gimme Green this is a short about lawns. It is awesome. Check out its site HERE the movie played everywhere on the festival circuit and rightly should. It is wonderful. Really funny and addresses what no one thinks is a serious problem. Grass. its about more than that but basically grass. You can see it on the Sundance Channel real soon, check the gimme green site for times. I saw some other short docs but forgot them after I saw this.

I also missed a few movies. 2 of them I will see this week and post about, STREET TEAM MASSACRE and BEYOND THE PALE. I missed LARS AND THE REAL GIRL and I heard it sucks shit from everyone who I listen to. RANDY AND THE MOB was there but I'd rather chew glass than watch that turd again. I had to leave before THE DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY and I wanna see that. I saw Born on the 4th of July and saw Oliver Stone talk after. I don't really like Born on the 4th of July. I can just watch BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES which is infinitely better. I just don't like the acting or editing or script or choices in music, so I pretty much just don't like it. Oh, I don't like the sound design either. Honestly, i laughed at the acting in the family breakdown scene. But I saw an Oliver Stone Q&A and I even got him fired up with a question about satire. And he and John Milius talked about war films for 90 minutes at another thing. That was cool. I also saw a ton of other great panels that i'll put in my blog.

All in all, Austin is a great town with what looks like 3 great film festivals. I hung out with folks from the Ann Arbor Film Festival (that needs your help, click here to learn more) the guys at Bside and bunches of random filmmakers and folks.

Jodie Foster, you little bitch

2007-09-25T12:28:00.000-07:00

So this bitch Jodie Foster somehow got into my computer and read a script I wrote for a short film and made it into THE BRAVE ONE. If I told that fucker once, I told her a thousand times.

Well since I've heard that her film is a big 'ol shit sandwich and mine would have ruled- I have decided to post the script here for you to read. Please reply with you feedback- positive and negative. I especially enjoy it when someone really rips into something I write. You can't get better at anything without criticism.

here it is. It is called MY BOYFRIEND IS RETARD between myself and a couple people. I'm not sure that the title s really that good but you be the judge.

Black Title Card

BASED ON A TRUE STORY

INT. POOL BAR DAY
The bar is almost empty being that it is noon. A MEXICAN YOUTH is playing pool in the corner of the bar with a slim young man in a white T-shirt and jeans. The young man quickly moves around the table as he sinks ball after ball. He is a pretty nice looking guy for a pool hustler, well kept- not a slimy dirtbag. This is MIKEY.

MIKEY
In the corner.

MIKEY sinks the eight ball, grins at his opponent and shrugs. The Mexican youth take two hundred dollar bills from his pocket and gives them to Mikey. Mikey puts the money in his pocket and looks over into the corner where an attractive young woman sits reading a book and drinking a colorful cocktail. She has long brown hair and glasses. She is long, slender and not likely to be kicked out of bed by any sane man. She looks like a librarian in some graphic designer's wet dream This is FEMALE LEAD.

MIKEY (CONT'D)
I won.

FEMALE LEAD
Good. Are we leaving, Mikey? I'm hungry.

MIKEY
I think. I'll see if he'll play one more.
Then we can go and eat.

Female Lead looks up from her book and raises an eyebrow. Behind Mikey the Mexican Youth breaks the fat end of a pool cue over Mikey's head.

CUT TO:

BLACK CARD
2 YEARS LATER

INT. SMALL APARTMENT LIVING ROOM DAY
Female Lead washes dishes. The sounds of a TV game show can be heard in the background. She looks over her shoulder to MIKEY who sits in front of the TV looking at the floor. He is slumped in a chair and rocks slightly back and forth. His eyes have dark circles under them and his skin is very pale. He is basically a vegetable.

INT. BATHROOM DAY
Female lead undresses Mikey while bath water is heard running in the background. Mikey wears an adult diaper. Female lead takes off the diaper to bath him.

INT. BATHROOM DAY
Female Lead shaves Mikey's face and combs his hair. She speaks to him like a child and says his name softly.

INT. SMALL APARTMENT LIVING ROOM DAY
Female Lead reads a book and eats while Mikey continues to watch television.

INT. SMALL APARTMENT DAY
Female Lead changes Mikey's Diaper. He has shit himself like an infant.

INT. PAWN SHOP DAY
Female lead looks at the firearms in the pawn shop. She picks out two pistols and a large shotgun. The firearms are shown to her by a large man with a pony tail wearing a Motorhead T-shirt and carrying a hand-cannon on his waist- a .357 Or something. He is the PAWN BROKER and he is greasy, the kind of guy you expect to be hustling pool.
She purchases the guns and ammunition. The pawn broker makes a racist comment or joke. The Female Lead doesn't respond.

EXT. JUNKYARD DAY
Female lead loads the pistol and tries to shoot a bottle from about 20 yards away. She misses and walks very close to the bottle and shoots it. She then loads the shotgun with some difficulty and fires it at a car. The windshield explodes.

INT. BATHROOM DAY
Female lead looks through the medicine cabinet and removes a few prescription pill bottles.

INT. KITCHEN DAY
Female Lead is crying. She takes the pills from the bottles and places them in a blender that sits on the counter. She puts two scoops of ice cream into the blender and a small amount of milk. She blends the contents of the blender and pours the milkshake into a glass.

INT. SMALL APARTMENT LIVING ROOM DAY
Female lead pets Mikey's head and feeds him the milkshake. She cries as Mikey drinks the shake down from one of his over sized sippy cups with his name on it.

FADE OUT.

FADE IN:
INT. CAR DAY
Female lead drives into a gas station. The station is filled with day laborers. Female Lead exits the car and speaks to one of the men in Spanish. All this is Spanish and someone will need to translate it because I don't speak Spanish for shit.

FEMALE LEAD
I need two men to help me.
Simple work, digging. How much?

MAN 1
50 dollars per day

FEMALE LEAD
For both?

MAN 1
No. 50 each.

FEMALE LEAD
Ok. get in.

INT. CAR DAY
Female Lead and the two Mexican men ride in the car. They go down a dirt road. Female lead stops the car.

FEMALE LEAD
Ok, we're here.

Female Lead and the two men exit the car. Female lead goes to her trunk. She removes the shotgun and shoots Man 1 at very close range. It is messy and sudden, there is no stylized manner about the violence. The nonchalant way it happens and is repulsive. Man 2 runs through the woods to get away. Female lead fires at him but he is too far away and escapes. Female Lead jumps into her small truck.

EXT. WOODS DAY
Man 2 runs through the woods.

INT. CAR DAY
Female lead drives quickly down the dirt road.

EXT ROAD DAY
Man 2 runs out to the paved road and tries to flag down a car for help. No one stops for him. Female lead's car comes around the corner. Female Lead spots him and runs him over. She stops the car, takes the pistol from her glovebox and exits the car. Man 2 looks bad, getting hit by a car doesn't agree with him. Female lead shoots him in the head. Her face doesn't register insanity or rage and she doesn't have the satisfaction of a person who has exacted revenge.

INT. SMALL APARTMENT LIVING ROOM DAY
Female lead comes home. She sees Mikey in the chair. Mikey is dead.

INT. BATHROOM DAY
Female lead is bathing Mikey

INT. BEDROOM DAY
Female lead has Mikey dressed on the bed. She curls up next to his body and closes her eyes.

FADE OUT.

EXT. DAY GAS STATION
Female Lead is at a gas station picking up two more day laborers. One has a red hat the other is short and fat.

INT. CAR DAY
Female lead drives her car with two different day laborers as passengers. Both are young and fit and are sipping water from the cooler in the back of the truck.

EXT. WOODS DAY
Female lead gets out of a pickup truck with a shotgun and six Mexicans start to get out of the back. She speaks in Spanish.

FEMALE LEAD
Hold on, hold on.

Female lead fires into the truck shooting the Mexican men. One gets away and runs into the woods. Female lead watches him run and decides not to give chase.

INT. BEDROOM DAY
Female Lead trims the fingernails of Mikey.

INT. MEXICAN APARTMENT - DAY
The fellow who just ran away from the Female lead sits at his small kitchen table with a woman holding a baby. They look at each other for a moment. The woman has been crying. They speak in Spanish.

MEXICAN WOMAN
What will you do?

MEXICAN MAN
Nothing.

INT. MEXICAN RESTAURANT DAY
Female Lead sits and eats a taco. Salsa music plays in the background while two Mexican children laugh and giggle with their parents. Female Lead gets up from her table and walks past the other white patrons to the register. Female Lead pays her check at the counter and an average white suburban girl gives her change.

COUNTER GIRL
Thank you for coming to Mexico
Fantastico. Have a great day.

A tall man in a suit appears with a newspaper under his arm. This is COWORKER.

COWORKER
Hey there, eating some lunch?

FEMALE LEAD
Yeah, eating some tacos.

COWORKER
OK OK. What have you been up to?

FEMALE LEAD
Oh, about 5'11'' 125 pounds.

COWORKER
Huh?

COUNTER GIRL
Ha, ha . That's funny.

FEMALE LEAD
Thanks. (TO COWORKER) I gotta run.

COWORKER
OK, I'll see you around.

INT. OFFICE - DAY
Female lead sits at her desk typing and doing work shit. A man walks up to her desk. We do not see his face or any part of him really. We only see Female Lead.

COURIER
Excuse me, Miss Young?

FEMALE LEAD
Yes?

The man hold out a package. The Female lead stares at his Courier Company name tag that reads M. GLASS

COURIER
I just need you to-

FEMALE LEAD
What does the M stand for?

COURIER
Michael.

FEMALE LEAD
Oh, really? Do people ever call you Mikey?

COURIER
Some people call me Mikey.

FEMALE LEAD
My boyfriend's name is Mikey.

COURIER
Oh. That's nice. If you could just sign right there.

Female lead signs for the package and places it on her desk. The courier exits and she continues working. After some time passes and she does something mundane- the credits roll.

Well Jodie, if you would have asked me nicely I would have just written you a different script. You don't get to play this part. I don;t think you;re cut out for it. You were once, but things have changed, Jodie. Oh my, how they've changed.

couple more things. I saw Rebel Without a Cause on the big screen. Awesome. I saw Eastern Promises. Forgettable, except the asshole-naked fight scene. That was great- watch this fat guy get punched in the gut. This was shot on some job I was on

Less two teeth and my faith in mankind

2007-09-18T23:13:00.000-07:00

I had my #1 and #16 teeth removed earlier today or my top 2 wisdom teeth. Can't say I was unhappy to see them go. About two weeks ago my father called and asked how long it had been since I had gone to the see the dentist. I admitted it had been a while and said I would schedule an appointment. About 2 hours after he called my wisdom teeth started to cause a pain so great I won't flounder around in trying to accurately describe it. For the next week or more I spent a great deal, if not all of the day self medicating myself with liquor store remedies. I went into the Dr's and they pulled them and it was not unpleasant at all. The staff was really nice and the doctor called me (that's right, he called me, on the phone) to see how I was doing later that day. My advice to you, reader, is to get your wisdom teeth out before they hurt if you have health care.

I don;t have health care so I paid $790 to remove 2 teeth, and be put to sleep for the operation. My teeth had fully grown in so they were easier to remove than most. before I went to the dentist I was in pain and Katie found a website full of home tooth remedies. HERE It is really quite sad the lengths people must go to because they are in such pain (and tooth aches are debilitating) and can't afford treatment. If they only had some sort of preventative measures in place they would never get to such a state. I'm lucky- I have no family so I just charge that shit.

Speaking on the subject of health care, the Wal-Mart bastards have given on a bit and offered their employees better health care. Here's a bit from the NY Times article
Starting
Jan. 1, Wal-Mart’s insurance will look a lot like that offered by many other American companies, but with some twists that even longtime critics described as innovative. Independent experts praised several features of the plan and said it could represent a turning point for the retailer, the nation’s largest private employer.

And Hillary Clinton is the leading receiver of campaign contributions from health care organizations. Does this mean she's a sell out on her ideas of health care reform or has she learned to play the game? an MSNBC article touches on the fact that she is the front runner for the presidency, plain and simple. So Health care wants to give money to anyone on either side of the issue even her. Going into 2008 the GOP has fucked up so bad the democrats could get any candidate they put up elected. As long as they seem to not have had a recent frontal lobotomy. I hope sincerely that if Clinton is elected into the White House (that will make 2 families over at least 5 terms, isn't that odd to anyone?) that she has learned to slowly make strides towards socialized medicine. That's a pretty rough job in a country as numb-skulled as ours. We've been bred to believe socialism is communism and we still believe that the world is out to get us for no good reason at all. Come on folks. The argument that one of my friends makes is that you can't trust the government with your health care. If we can't trust our government with our health care than we can only blame ourselves because their our elected officials and our complacency that has let charlatans like our current administration run wild. We should trust that our government will be there to help us and make this a better place to live. Not that we need to work against them.

I tried to find this anti-hillary health care spot I read about that ran in 1997 and scared the shit out of people and away from the Clinton health reforms of that era. I wanna see that if anyone can dig it up.

I'm reading Dashiell Hammett's 5 novels at the moment. I'm on #2 The Dain Curse I read Red Harvest a couple weeks ago. Red Harvest has been remade into so many films (notably Yojimbo and A Fistfull of Dollars- Miller's Crossing has many elements of it too and the Coen's title Blood Simple comes right out of the mouth of the lead character in the book. He's talking about leaving town before he goes all 'blood-simple' like everyone else. Or everyone but him was finding the easiest way out of a situation was killing)
The language and characters in these stories are amazing, and wow, talk about a misanthrope. This guy has no faith in anyone, and I love that in these stories. He has the Thomas Hobbes outlook on the world- that is all people are motivated solely by selfish concerns especially fear of death. Noone can be trusted to not be selfish in these books, even our (anti)hero, the detective. He's just there to do a job and abuse whoever needs it to get answers. In Red Harvest his only motivation is revenge, not cleaning up a town or anything admirable.

Stanley Kubrick had this outlook on the world in many of his works. I rewatched Barry Lyndon today- i gave it another shot and it is a great film. Really tough when I was younger because it is a slow film so I'm glad I gave it another shot at an older age- like David Lean films. Barry Lyndon is a man without any purpose in life but to improve his class and wealth. He is a completely soulless opportunistic leech but his life gets meaning when he has a son- something that wealth or nobility has nothing to do with. So really Barry would have been fulfilled without clawing his way to the top. But the narrator states it best- I'm paraphrasing "Men that strive for great wealth usually lose their riches because of the same traits that brought them to them" The VO in the movie is so fatal because it keeps us really distanced. The narrator tells of of Barry's fall before we see it. Which is to say that was Barry's fate and that's life and here ya go- its sucks.

Fatalism, cynicism and a hopeless outlook on basic human nature is a common theme in many works and is one that I am drawn to. It reflects the world or the outlook that we all have on it in this time. Caring about anything but yourself is really just a waste of time in the eyes of most people. I wonder how we came to this attitude. When I see good stories of people oppressed I get angry and want them to fight back, to overthrow the oppressors. I watch Battle of Algiers or Z and want to take up arms, or Harlan County USA and I'm so furious my hands are shaking and I'm crying. In the past 40 years all of our authority figures are corrupt in our stories and are rarely punished, usually just replaced, for their corruption. Think of the last time a politician or government or military wasn't portrayed as cold-hearted and unconcerned with the people over themselves. I'm sure there are tons of factors to blame but it is an odd phenomena to me. Is it because out Government and media have duped and lied to us so many times? Is it because we are a prosperous, fat and complacent people by nature and everyone should be duping us? Maybe these stories are just more entertaining- the only place we want to see people doing good is in the past. I mean, they already made Ghandi, right?

I hope that a person making strives to install a better way of life here is not torn down only because we just can't trust them or believe its possible. Because we no longer have the ability to believe that someone is actually looking out for our best interests on a serious issue. We as people may not be able to accept that someone is doing something to help us in spite of the money/power to be obtained by exploiting us. So hopefully when the changes to get health care affordable with out working for Wal-Mart or some corporation start to happen, we can accept it. Hopefully we will be ok with some government regulation getting us prescription drugs that we can afford. I know that sounds naive but I don't believe that after civil rights and Vietnam there's no room for anything but shrugging shoulders and bumper stickers for people to have a voice. I'd rather live in a progressive world of change with some hope and read about a fictional world in which it's every man for himself. I don't want the newspaper to read like Dashiell Hammett or Orwell. I want some Common Sense for the generatiom.

Hot off the Presses...

2007-08-29T00:06:00.000-07:00

let me start with some gems from this baggy pants story in the AJC:

"Exposed boxer shorts and thongs would be illegal in any public place in Atlanta if the City Council approves a proposed amendment to the city's indecency laws."

it gets better
"Saggy pants are an "epidemic"', said one moron who can ignore a million real problems in this city. AND they're gonna go after bras too. I love it when they turn back the clock in the south.
the city council went on to say, "Seriously folks, we just need to give the APD another way to arrest black people. Why not get them by the pants?"
Read the mind blowingly stupid story HERE

Another thing in the news is this War in Iraq. Anybody hear about this thing?!?

I went to this candlelight vigil tonight in East Atlanta. There were some empowered speakers and a Dr. Lowery who didn't show and then we all went outside and held candles and everyone read a list of dates and how many soldiers died on that day and where they were from. it read like:

May 3 6 troops were killed they were from Lebanon, Tennessee Seattle, Washington Independence, Iowa East Lansing, Michigan and so on

At first I was confused. I didn't know if I was supposed to listen or read along or what. Then people started reading and so did I. Then I became determined to not stop reading. I thought, "how can I read about this person who died and not that?" I read loudly and the pages and the cities were endless. My eyes started to go, every time I read Ohio I said Iowa, every city from Puerto Rico and Hawaii was horribly mispronounced- after a couple stumbles I laughed a bit and then felt immediate shame. my legs started to hurt, as did my voice so I lowered my volume and the candle I was holding burned all the way out and someone brought me another. It seemed like it would never end. After we finished I was sweating and dizzy. A man said to us, "The first time I started this ritual I thought it was stupid and silly. It was a very sloppy thing, these people all reading aloud for so long. People aren't in sync, they can't keep up. It's just a mess. Then I realized as I was reading for so long what a perfect metaphor for this war it is."

More news:

I ended the evening watching Billy Wilder's Ace in the Hole. It's Network in 1951.
A scathing story about yellow journalism, American Voyerism and the deterieroration of the human soul in the pursuit of success. It's really great except for the fact that you can't care about Kirk Douglas' Tatum like you can for William Holden's Schumacher, so in the end I liked the writing but none of the empty-chested characters. Still a really awesome movie, right up my alley. Sam Fuller with awesome cinematography and good acting (well, the female lead looks like she bought a one way ticket to run-down-slutsville but she doesn't really matter) that last bit was from watching the 50's newspaperman talk....sorry.

As for more newspaper facts. His Girl Friday- best paper movie ever (best dialogue comedy?), Hudsucker Proxy- best movie to steal so many jokes from the previous. Me- I can only do the Monday crossword puzzle and have stolen from both the previous films. The numbers-52% of people in the US read the newspaper and 80% of internet users read the newspaper and 89% of all dogs under 8 Lbs have shit on Ann Landers' by line.

OH BOY!

2007-08-24T09:27:00.000-07:00

before i post the rest of my Chicago goings ons I wanna say that I just turned up the milk and it was sour. That's never happened happened to me before. It was really unpleasant.

I once thought Film Forum was the greatest place I'd ever been. The few seconds of anticipation before I entered the Sistine Chapel or the memories I had from riding the 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea ride at Disney World from when I was a kid are up there on the list too. (I though it was a real deal submarine ride with real fish and all, that memory was ruined years later by returning to the park.)

I thought those places were the best one's I'd ever been to, but they have been eclipsed by a hard, baby blue plastic chair near the right field foul pole at Wrigley Field.

I had an Old Style Beer and an Italian Sausage covered in toppings (delicious) and it was heaven. I was so excited walking to my seat at that filthy stadium I almost started to cry. I was a little sad as I finished off my sausage because I knew there could never be another first sausage at Wrigley again.

The Cubs played a good game then it rained but we stayed right in our seats wearing these snazzy ponchos.

The game was delayed for a good couple hours so we ate nachos

and drank beer in the crowded area around the food stands. The great thing about Wrigley Field is that there's nothing there but baseball and seats. No batting cages, kareoke or other stuff to do. The park is not for hanging out in or just going to play some games like Turner Field. You either watch baseball or....uh, read a book....somehow this girl behind me was just reading a book while her boyfriend watched the game. I would have left that bitch at the house.

After the game we decided against any more "chicago" style food and went to a place called LuLa Cafe in Logan park for some healthy action. On the way there I saw this socailist movie exchange box

(The Who was inside) I called homeland security and set fire to the box immediately.

At the restaurant I had a gazpacho (that's salsa, right?) which was good and a Vegan "stew" that was awesome. Katie had some chicken and then we split a poo looking desert. Even though the desert was a letdown after the meal, i'll definitely go back. On the bus on the way to the Days Inn I remembered that I didn't have a bratwurst at Wrigley. So the next time I find a cheap Plane ticket I can go for the first Bratwurst.

and the throw to the plate....MALPHIE WINS! MALPHIE WINS!

2007-08-22T13:14:00.000-07:00

I accidently drove to Chicago from the center of the Earth. Whoops, my bad. (insert hilarious fake laugh)
I'm kidding you, jackass, I went to the Chicago Contemporary Art Museum. They had a great Magritte

and some other art and in the gift shop i met Malphie.

Malphie made me laugh to no end. The People at FRIENDS FOR YOU! made him and other creatures but he's the best. His tag says he brings good fortune or death- what could be better than that? Either things go great for you or you're dead. Katie felt much better today also, she was sick yesterday today she is SUPER INGMAR

WHOA!

Is that Ryne Sandberg's gorgeous face on a pair of Cub's tickets? That's right it is you lazy-eyed trollop- cause I scored some tickets to wrigley field off craigslist and i've never been, although when I was a young man I was BASEBALL CRAZY and I watched the cubbies on WGN all the time.

On the food scene:
A chicago hotdog contains Hot Peppers, 2 Tomatoe Wedges, a pickle spear, kryptonite green relish, celery salt, onions and green peppers. This one is from Downtown Dogs and guess what?

It ain't that good. It's like Chicago wants some original food sooooo bad it has these Island of Dr. Moreau freak foods that somehow people tout as edible. "Let's make a ham sandwich but call it a CHICAGO Ham Sandwich because it has 3lbs of bacon, shrimp and cold slaw on it."
I did have the third very Chicago food- an Italian Beef sammich. Pretty simple, a shit ton of beef. I liked it.

After that, we walked the Magnificent Mile- if you think a mall can be magnificent, then you'll love it. We stopped at the Descartes coffee shop and met some nice people, had some great coffee and gelato. I don't know exactly where it is, but how many coffee shops can be named after philosophers? Then we were off to the CHICAGO UNDERGROUND FILM FEST

At the festival these kids in front of the theatre made their own Blood Car stencil and were making t shirts and blood car wife-beaters for people.

that's a car eating a bike
They also made this device that took people's blood for the car. (Blake Myers would be proud) Their friend's short DISARM was playing ahead of Blood Car so they decided to push the movie to everyone without ever seeing it.. These kids were pretty awesome, they had this weird double decker bike they had made. I think they said they jousted with it.

I rode the fucker and yes, I was scared. I didn't get hurt but I didn't take too long of a ride either. I felt like the oldest kid in the neighborhood after someone built a ramp- I had to get on the bike..they were all looking at me.

After the screening, we drank some bush beer on the corner and went to the after party where BLOOD CAR WON BEST NARRATIVE FEATURE FILM! No shit. So that was great.

Then katie and I got some drinks in us, found a nice cinephile named Carl and proceeded to scream at him about the cinema and its greats. That's what I love most about film festivals, drunken talks about your favorite filmmakers.
I'm posting this after the fact because I can post pictures now. that was day 2 in CHI town.

Deep Dish Pizza is not real Pizza

2007-08-19T08:50:00.000-07:00

I left too early (3:45am) and came to Chicago yesterday to attend the Chicago Underground Film Festival.

First off- Deep Dish pizza, I don't care about you because you are not a pizza. I hope the pizza place (UNO, the original inventor of fake pizza) bartender comes to the screening. Days Inn- you suck but you are next to this mini leaning Tower of Pisa, which is fucking weird and awesome and makes me wanna meet the crazy who built it. I've been to the real thing and really there's no difference.

I was walking down the street and spotted a film crew and then I saw that it was the next Batman movie. (which they said was Romie's First Kiss) Whenever I took pictures PAs would try to block me.
PA stands for Production Assistant if you don't know. They are the lowest guys on the totem pole that get awesome jobs like dealing with stupid questions, keeping people quiet and the like. Here's a short to help you understand:

There's a picture of Batman too. He's hanging from a wire.

Here's one exchange a hardass PA and I had:
"Don't take any pictures, sir"
"Ok" (i take a picture)
"Sir, I told you not to take any pictures, now get out of here."
he had such authority in his voice I had to challenge it.
"Please Mr. PA, don't rough me up"
"I ain't no PA"
"You look like a PA to me"
pause
"YOU look like a PA"

that was fun. Also went to an improv show at IO Theatre. It was awesome. The theatre is right beside Wrigley Field, which I will see Monday. Great improv Harold, $2 schlitz. The Cubs beat the Cards and the fans really went on a bender afterwards. We entered the theatre just as the game was ending and when we got out people were still going nuts. Talk about a baseball town, when these guys win or lose another World Series, I'm coming to town to shoot the riots.

my favorite building of the day:

I like Chicago. I will eat a giant 'Chicago Style' Hotdog and get back to you. Why is it that every city's signature food is horrible for you? I'm not complaining but does anywhere have a signature salad? If they do, i bet it's fried and dipped in mayo.

This is why you hire the pro's

2007-08-17T19:30:00.000-07:00

This is a picture of Hugh Braselton taping a pinata to my head. We are working on a commercial for a cell phone. I am the Gaffer (guy in charge of lighting) and Hugh is the first Assistant Cameraman (guy who makes sure stuff is in focus)

Since i work in the film industry I am a firm believer in having quality technicians on set to do the job correctly, with the utmost professionalism. Some people don't think as I do which is why Hugh and myself get to work.

On another note I am going to Chicago to attend the Chicago Underground Film Festival (with Blood Car) and to go to a Cubs game. I'm sure there will be some other stuff in there and I will post pictures and write my thoughts of the city and impressions of its food and bartenders. I'm sure I will immediately fall in love with Chicago if it is not a sweltering hellhole in triple digit temperatures like the one I live in.

I also have a new trailer of Blood Car on the site HERE. Its funny and sloppy, like the film.

I worked on Mike Brune's Short film titled THE ADVENTURE, which I hope has its trailer online very soon. I've seen the short and Mike made something special that will have a great festival run I'm sure. It was a great set. A bunch of friends making a movie over the weekend- here are some pics from it:

that's brune on the ground using his still camera as a viewfinder.

yes, that is a big ass crane in the back of a pick up truck that we got some amazing footage with.

We had a dolly too. Here's me and Adam Pinney shooting some b roll.

See those flags? flags= serious business

Mr. Brune ran a great set and we all had no idea what was going on. I love it when that happens. When directors explain things to everyone it makes me think they are just trying to convince themselves. We all shot two actors inside a car for most of the time and only Brune and the sound guy could hear the dialogue, the crew was clueless and all hopped up on Power Horse-which if you don't know is a good crew.

When I saw the short a week later, Brune cut it with amazing speed, I was blown away. That's all i'll say for now-until I see it in a dark theatre in a strange town full of cinephiles.

i am a southpark person

2007-07-28T15:50:00.001-07:00

this is the best I could do. I thought the eggs really sealed the deal

just a random entry

2007-07-25T23:29:00.000-07:00

When I was a kid I was a big history buff thanks to my middle school history teacher, Mr. Wisehart. He taught me that the really important question to ask was WHY? and since then I always have enjoyed that question in connection with any historical fact, current event or with any story. Sometimes I think why? can even serve as an answer. That last sentence is really stupid now that I think about it. Really, that's only an answer a five-year-old can give.

This week I went to see the Annie Lebowitz exhibit at the High Museum of Art here in Atlanta. Her famous people stuff is cool, sure. Her landscapes, eh. but her work with families and groups is where its at. I love the group pictures and even some of the portraits. but I think she is put on a pedastel for shooting actors when she should be for just shooting her father and brother and families and Storming Norman. i may be stating what other people have said or think is wrong. and I am ill informed, I only saw a fraction of her work at the High, which was of the last 20 years or so, but from what I saw, her group shots and those of her family and other families touched me and pictures of Brad Pitt and the White Stripes just left me shrugging.

i want to mention that I am about to eat 28 cents of Ramen- and if you don't know- that's a good bit of Ramen noodles. my father swears by a recipe that his girlfriend, Chris (kris?) makes for him with Ramen. I will test her recipe and if i feel it is worthy, I will post it for you readers. Both of you. now pictures I saw....

well. I can't find the pics i wanna post online. Which is good. go to the museum lazy face and see them yourself. I really liked- Stormin' Norman, the mugshot of the Junkie Queer, the Bush Cabinet beside a photo of Micheal Moore and his crew and a picture of Lebowitz's father and brother after they just got out of the pool. they are standing with their arms crossed and looking into the lens and it is perfect. they say the famous folk are comfortable with Lebowitz, but these two men have so much more than that in their smiles and in their posture. It is just a great photo

I also saw some films.
Clean, Shaven- wow. see it. amazing sound. (I don't wanna say more because I like seeing movies blind. no trailers, no idea about the plot- it's fun)
Zodiac- why make this movie? why? i don't know. don't watch it if you missed it. if you saw it and you can tell me why the film got past the initial chat over coffee and saying, "that could be cool" i'd like to know.

I try to get people t go see Sicko but they say, "I don't want that propaganda!" I just can't understand why people are more interested in iphones than in things that will directly affect them or their families. My mom and stepdad went. my mom was fired up! she said, "those shitheads, I'll go move to France"

and I read some books
Youth in Revolt- it has funny parts. I laughed out loud. But the last third of the book tragged on for so fucking long that I grew to hate the main character, hate the author and hate the whole book. Missing an ending is just a killer.

The Invention of Hugo Cabret- by Brian Selznick-what a great book! I read it in a day. Its a kids book filled with film history. Its just great. go to the library and get it. RIGHT NOW! My friend Mike Brune gave me the book and said I had to read it but I put it off and I'm sorry i did.

I wish I could stop wishing to Stick It To The Man

2007-07-20T23:53:00.000-07:00

This afternoon after I got home from an all-nighter at work on a stupid music video (someone needs to show me a music video set that is not full of shit because I'm starting to think they don't exist) I was bitching and tired. My wonderful cinephile girlfriend was watching a DVD of shorts that various filmmakers made with the Lumiere Camera invented by the Lumiere Brothers in 1895. In between the shorts they were asking filmmakers various questions that were all answered very seriously. One of the questions they asked was "Why do you film?" -or something close to that- people responded with "There's nothing else" and things like that. But one filmmaker said "I like subversion."

a bleary eyed and weary Alex exclaims, "Hell Yeah!"

My girlfriend responded by asking what exactly that means and I said, "Basically sticking it to the man, but let's look it up."

My little widget dictionary on my computer defines it as:

sub·vert undermine the power and authority of (an established system or institution)

Later I got some much needed sleep and when I woke up started watching Hal Ashby's Bound for Glory. It is about Woody Guthrie who also liked to subvert or be subversive. The movie was great (Hal Ashby + Randy Quaid= life changing cinema) and it got me thinking about why I enjoy subversion so much. Why do I get so excited about people saying that they aren't having this shit anymore and doing something about it? When I see movies like Z, Reds, Battle of Algiers, Ghandi, Dr. Strangelove or docs that attempt social change, I go nuts. I love the idea of undermining authority in the hopes of reassessing things and changing them for the better. Questioning the guys in charge to see if things can be done a better way should be done constantly.

I was first a history major in college partly because the subject of people in revolt so interested me. The other part is that you can't understand the present without a grasp on the past which means I like to argue about politics with old people.

I sometimes wonder how everyone can't see things that get them angry, or read about injustice and want to make a few molotov cocktails and attack a drive in. I guess my generation for the most part is more like the generation of the 50's. We don't care about anything really except for consumerism and self obsession. We like to blindly think everything is fine (except progressive opinions) and don't really rattle the cage- most of us that is. And even though I enjoy the ideas of civil disobedience and all things subversive and constantly having contempt for contentment I am really just am armchair activist.

I'm just a big jerk. I like to talk about this and that but I don't really do too much. I'll email or call a state representative and vote. I recycle and try not to waste gasoline because of some beliefs I have but really- who am i kidding? I don't try to talk to other people, get people to vote or any other things that involve actually striving for something bigger than knowing, at least I do my part. I'd be doing y part if I got other people to care enough to do their's. Someone got me to care, why can't I get other people to. I'm a filmmaker but I really don't use that to subvert either. I'm probably just another self obsessed person. (I do assume someone wants to read my rantings) I don't really want to make film because I love subversion, although I really want to believe that. I probably agree more with another filmmaker's answer to the question, "Why do you film?"

"I make movies because I want people to love me."- he responded.

Turtle Boys

2007-07-16T07:35:00.000-07:00

This morning I woke up at 7am for no reason at all and started my day. Usually when I get up this early, i mess around the apartment for a couple of hours before I go bother my girlfriend, Katie, and wake her up too. I am frequently greeted by an unhappy, violently screeching, monster. But sometimes she wakes up and tells me about her bizarre dreams and I get a good laugh.

This mornings dream started with her opening a crate (like for a dog) she had in her house in the crate were two turtle boys. I picture them as about the size of a 7-year-old boy but turtles- that walk upright. One of them had on a red bomber jacket. They got out of the cage and rammed their heads into Katie as she sat on the floor. I think the head ramming thing was a game they played.

So the Turtles get up and one of my Katie's friends is there and she doesn't like them much because they have mouths full of rabbit food. Katie talks to the turtle boys for a minute and tells them she wished she didn't have to leave them in the crate all day when she was at work but she doesn't want them to go out. One of the turtle boys said they really wanted to go out and Katie told them if they did and something happened she would just kill herself.

Then the one turtle boy told Katie that his little brother's (turtle boy #2) skull was hurting him.

So she said to #2, "Don't make any plans for tomorrow."

"Huh?" said #2.

"You heard me. Your brother told me in secrecy your skull has been hurting you and the weather is not agreeing with you either. You're going to the doctor."

"Aww, man." said the younger turtle boy. and then she woke up.

If I had a flying monkey he would be a Populist

2007-07-10T08:53:00.000-07:00

The other night I went to the Fox theatre with my family and friends and watched the Wizard of Oz. The projectionist wasn't on his game, but it was still a great time at the movies. I really love those flying monkeys and the end when the all powerful Oz is just another bureaucrat who can't really help people as much as he can run his mouth, cut ribbons and give people meaningless awards. And the only one that really needed help was Dorothy and she could help herself all along.

After the movie we started talking about the fact that the book is actually a political allegory of some sorts. Someone said, "Oh yeah the tinman is like a factory worker, right?" Someone else chimed in about the scarecrow being the farmers and that the slippers were silver in the book and someone joked that the Lion represents the zookeepers of America that had major problems at that time. When I got home later I did a little research to find out what the deal really is and really, no one knows for sure. Or i should say there is debate on the subject.

The book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was written by L. Frank Baum who prefaced the book by saying that it was just a story for children and until the 1960's no one said anything different. L. Frank Baum never admitted it to be an allegory, but Henry M. Littlefield came up with the theory in '64 that The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was a monetary allegory for bimetallism in the 1890's.

from wikipedia:
From 1880 to 1896, the price level in the U.S. economy fell by 23% (deflation). Most farmers of the west during that time were debtors, making their interest owed to the banks worth more than expected due to the deflation. According to the Populists' beliefs of the time, the solution to the farmers' problem was free coinage of silver (the U.S. was operating under a gold standard at that time). Democratic presidential nominee William Jennings Bryan supported the free silver requisition, summarized in his Cross of Gold speech. However, Republican William McKinley won the presidency and the gold standard remained.

So our man Littlefield's theory was used to teach what is described as "often the dullest episodes in money and banking"

So to get students interested in what the symbols could represent one has to learn the history behind the monetary allegory. Well, it worked on me. Here is a list of some of the symbols from the film and with the list some of the references by Bradley A Hansen, a former professor of economics at Mary Washington College. He wrote a paper that can be downloaded HERE about how the facts just don't add up to an allegory in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. There is another argument that Oz is China

Dorothy: traditional American values-she is dressed in red, white and blue in the film- but in the book she has a pink bonnet (symbolic meaning? I dunno)
Toto: Prohibitionist party (also called Teetotalers who were populist supporters)
Scarecrow: western farmers
Tin Woodsman: industrial workers but also Baum worked as
Cowardly Lion: William Jennings Bryan (who was said to be all roar, no bite)
Munchkins: citizens of the East
Wicked Witch of the East: Eastern business and financial interests
Wicked Witch of the West: William McKinley
or the drought that plauged the farmers of the west- since all that was needed to destroy her was a little water
Good Witches of the North and South: the southern and northern electoral mandate; that is, to see the agrarian south and the industrial north vote in harmony
Wizard: Mark Hanna (chairman of the Republican party)
Oz: abbreviation for ounce of gold (Oz)
Yellow Brick Road: gold standard
Cyclone: the free silver movement also a common symbol for political change
Emerald City: It is "emerald" only because those in it wear green glasses and hence think it is made of a green jewel; just as paper greenbacks have value only because people pretend that it has value. It is also a nice comment on people forced to see everything the same, no difference in opinion.
Silver Slippers: the free coinage of silver
Uncle Henry: In 1900 by far the most famous farmer in America was Henry Cantwell Wallace, editor of the leading farm magazine. Everyone called him "Uncle Henry
Flying Monkeys: Native Americans. the Winged monkeys in the West, whose leader tells Dorothy, "Once..we were a free people, living happily in the great forest, flying from tree to tree, eating nuts and fruit and doing just as we pleased without calling anybody master... This was many years ago, before Oz came out of the clouds to rule over this land."
Dainty China Country: Only exists in the book . in the China Country there is a Great Wall… And once Dorothy has climbed over it, its China people resent the intrusion of the foreigners, there is violence and they are forced to leave. People claim this section of the book is representative of the Boxer Rebellion in China.

I think it is really interesting all these different things people have projected on the story. I bet you could make Bush the Wizard and the characters are all factions of Americans looking for answers in tough times, which he doesn't provide. Modernize it a bit.
Tinman: He is technology. He wants a heart so he can care about the world around him, not just profits.He could stop deforestation and cut his dependence on oil.
Scarecrow: America's youth, so stoned (straw = weed, he's full of weed) he can't stand up straight. He's also disenfranchised to the point claiming to not have a brain, to avoid responsibility or having to take part in the ruined system. He's the kid that says voting doesn't matter.
Cowardly Lion: Al Gore, he should of put up a fight when they took his presidency
Flying Monkeys: 2008 Presidential candidates
Muchkins: Al Queda
Yellow Brick Road: Haliburton
ToTo: Michael Moore
Cyclone: 9/11
Emerald City: Iran

Actually that's just a bunch of nonsense but I bet someone could take that idea and run with it and write a magnificent pile of shit out of it. I personally would love to hear an argument that links the lollipop guild to Islamic Extremists.

Investigative Journalism

2007-07-09T08:10:00.000-07:00

I think its time for me to grab a camera and do a little investigative journalism. let me give you the set up.

first I googled Investigative Journalism and I found this picture. I posted it to let you know this is serious buisness

Yesterday I had dinner with my father and brother. my brother and I were sitting around and he was telling me how to identify American Indians by the shape of their earlobes, a theory he came up with the day before. (He said that Indians have larger earlobes and larger ears- I said I don't think that's just an Indian thing and he won the argument with "How many Indians do you know") My brother then mentioned in passing that his landlord has him staying in the garage. He lives at a sort of half-way house for people with schzicophrenia. It's him and some war vets and the woman who owns the house. They cook him meals and that sort of thing. Well my brother mentioned that the house has room for 6 people but the woman has 10 staying there. I'm not sure if she has to be regulated by the state or what to have people like my brother in her care- but I'm going to research that today.

But if she has people sleeping in bunk beds and is charging their families or taking their social security checks then I better go stick a camera in her face and expose her, right? If she is the kind of person who earns money by exploiting the mentally ill and overcharging innocent people then it is my duty to do whatever I can to topple the system. What if I do that and those people have nowhere else to stay? or what if it is just a temporary thing and some of the residents are being relocated? Or what if my brother doesn't have his facts straight- like the earlobe theory- which I haven't disproven, I'm just skeptical. My brother wasn't complaining, he likes his place. He doesn't have to work and he goes fishing and ties flies all day. Flies for fly fishing like these:

My brother is actually a fly tying genius and many of the flies he has designed are sold at fishing shops around the country. Most of which were designed and tied at his current residence.

So after I get to the bottom of whether any wrong doings is going on I should make sure that if I stir up trouble that the landlord doesn't kick my brother out of his room or put any Vietnam Vetrans out on the street because she is not following some sort of county code. I will also get some of those "I am a reporter" glasses at the top of the page.

At first this bit of Investigative Journalism seemed like a no brainer. Put a camera in the face of evil and expose it, but things only seem that simple if you don't stop and think about them. Or am I just over thinking it and things are all that simple unless you have time to think of ways to complicate them?

I like movies

2007-07-08T08:14:00.000-07:00

Hello. This is my Blog. I’m trying to get into the habit of writing something everyday and this is something. In theatres a few great movies are playing (in Atlanta where I live) they are

ONCE (at the Tara)- which is probably the best film of the year. Its great. If you need to know more than the movie is great- google that shit. I don’t want to give you plot descriptions, I like just hearing a movie is great and going to see it.

Also playing at Cinefest is THE HOST this is the other movie in contention for best movie of the year. It is just about perfect. It’s a brilliant allegory about America and its reaction to 9/11.

THE LIVES OF OTHERS is still running at the plaza- film students should study the script it’s so tight.

KNOCKED UP- yeah- it’s really funny. Sure it could be cut down by 20 minutes but I never thought about it while watching the movie. It’s sweet and there are a ton of great jokes. I had no expectations even though the film gets good reviews everywhere (the NY Times and the Post liked it- that’s rare) and yes I saw 40-Year-Old Virgin and yes, it sucks but this is funny.

SICKO- come on. You want something to talk about while you eat your fish tacos? Its SICKO. It will fire your ass up. It makes me want to move to Paris. - The health care, the protesting and the fact that the French watch movies in theatres. If you don’t like Michael Moore because of Fahrenheit 9/11 or whatever you should get over it. I personally enjoy his attempts at social change through filmmaking- movies are that powerful to me.

And on video I saw some stuff too, the most memorable being PARIS, TEXAS. I was reading Tom Hall’s BLOG and he was doing his version of the New Yorker pieces about why you love movies and he wrote about Paris, Texas- so I watched it. For about 95 minutes I watched the movie and was interested and really loved the photography- but I wasn’t enthralled. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll watch Harry Dean Stanton walk around the desert in 35mm for quite a while- but when I started the movie I had come off reading this blog about how Paris, Texas was the movie that made Tom Hall love movies and that guy really loves some fucking movies. So I’m watching and then the third act comes around and I am devastated. The end of that film tore me apart. Everything that leads up to the scenes with Natassja Kinski was the best set up for that ending. I recommend you watch that film.

And because the 4th has been around, so has been hanging by the pool and drinking. Usually when I have too much to drink, I force my girlfriend to watch Jaws with me and I blather about how awesome it is until I pass out. But lately I switched it up and have thrown in some movies from my childhood. When I was a kid I watched a lot of movies on TBS. 80’s action flicks and westerns and ROAD HOUSE, ahhhh Road House, you brilliant turd. So on the fourth I watched DIE HARD- still awesome. Enough said. And Last night I watched RAMBO- First Blood.

Awesome. The ending and what it is trying to say about anything is beyond me. But it runs fast and is great for the bad ass pushed too far sub genre. That is a genre of movies that TBS swore by when I was a kid. Charles Bronson, Jeremiah Johnson (have you seen this? I remember R. Redford killing a shit ton of Indians on a racist revenge mission. I need to watch that again) Well the first Rambo was a good time. How Brian Dennehy holds it together in the face of all that horrible acting from the supporting cast is beyond me. Then we watched Predator. Predator is for kids. My memories of Predator were so great and I only saw the for TV version. Seeing the movie last night I think it goes on the Gremlins list. That is a list of movies that were awesome to 10 year old or 6 year old Alex, but not to this one. That happens though. I’m sure Predator is being discovered by a bored preteen this very Sunday afternoon on TBS and he is loving it.

For a minute I wanna type about the Hollywood machine. I’m not watching any more crap movies. There are too many good movies out there that I haven’t seen or there is playing Frisbee or cleaning my apt or learning to make a better omelet or anything better than the poop Hollywood has been feeding me the last few years. If I read something is actually good- I’ll watch it. But when I read that everything is just fucking mediocre- I’m not in. I’m not, nor will I see Spiderman3, Pirates 3, Transformers (I did sneak in and watch 10 minutes, that was enough) or that Silver Surfer trash. If you would like to join me in my boycott of over-marketed crap then stop giving them your money.

Ok. When I find the digital camera I will Blog about 4th o July and soapbox derby races.