Do ya like surfing?

If so, this summer’s going to be a good one.

John From Cincinnati premieres June 10 on HBO. (You might want to check this show out. We’re just saying. Here’s a promo. Here’s another one. And one more promo. But this is the best one. )

Surf's Up. Animated Surfing movie with Penguins. We’re interested in this too.

The villain of the new Fantastic Four Movie is the Silver Surfer.

And, most importantly word’s come down that they just agreed to move forward with the sequel to Point Break.

Horror's the New Porn

Joss Whedon comes out against ‘Captivity.'


Whedon’s the guy who wrote Buffey the Vampire Slayer and the Serenity TV series and movie. We think he may be on to something.

We saw the Captivity billboards in LA when they first went up. Our initial thought was they were stupid and disturbing. (They were soon removed.) The new ad for Hostel II bugs us too. (It's brilliant, and the voice they use is outstanding. Best vilain's voice since Darth Vader. But... take a look. )

And the recent movie Turistas. Great take on the rising fear that the rest of the world hates us, but it doesn't really get going until they eviscerate the young coed. Sequence is like some horrible episode of Camp Crystal Lake:CSI.

No question horror’s big right now. Part of “a return to the extreme, graphic violence that characterized much of the type of low-budget, exploitation horror” of the 70's, as described by Wikipedia. But there's a new element that perhaps wasn't there before -- explicit, graphic violence and torture. We are now in an era when some of our best filmmakers are producing films that spend the 1st half teasing us with half-naked tomatoes, then spend the raining hour torturing and dismembering those same women (and occasionally young dudes.) It’s the new pornography.

From an advance review of Hostel II , posted as we were writing this:

"Someone needs to explain to me how the hell the torture sequences got past the MPAA Ratings board. Most of the sequences not only involve blood, decapitation, and brutal violence, but also sex. That’s right, Eli Roth has successfully gotten the MPAA to okay sequences that involve both violence and sex at the same time (this is something they’ve had trouble with in the past). The first torture sequence was so much for one of my other reviewer friends that he ran from the theater. Not because he didn’t like the movie, not because he wasn’t enjoying the film, but because he was getting physically sick." via iFilm blog.

We never bought into the “women as sex objects is degrading” bandwagon, but this latest escalation's still disturbing.

Photo via flickr

“This is why Al Quaeda hates us...”

Because Hot Chicks hang out with Douchebags.




Thanks to Graham for the link.

Note: if viewing this at work, be careful. The site is harmless (unless you're from NJ or LA), but the address may not fly with some of your work filters.

Riiiiiight.

Bill Richardson, candidate for President, appeared on Meet the Press this past Sunday. We tuned in, only to hear Tim Russert catch him dead to rights. His mistake: he self-identifed as both a Yankkee fan and a red sox fan. We take you to the end of the interview:

MR. RUSSERT: Luis Tiant, the fund-raiser. But, now, governor, this is very serious. In your book on page 18 it says...

GOV. RICHARDSON: No, about Mickey Mantle?

MR. RUSSERT: You said you’re a Yankee fan!

GOV. RICHARDSON: No, no, no. I said—no, no, no.

MR. RUSSERT: I mean, you can, you can...

GOV. RICHARDSON: No, no, no, no.

MR. RUSSERT: ...you can have different views on immigration, assault weapons...

GOV. RICHARDSON: I, no no no no. No, what I said...

MR. RUSSERT: But when it comes to Red Sox, Yankees.

GOV. RICHARDSON: What I said, the Associated Press asked me, “If you weren’t running for president, if you weren’t running for president, what would you rather be?” I’ve always been a Red Sox fan, but I said if I weren’t running for president I would like to be number seven, Mickey Mantle, playing center field for the New York Yankees.

MR. RUSSERT: “Because of Mickey Mantle, I became a Yankee fan.”

GOV. RICHARDSON: I, my favorite team has always been the Red Sox.

MR. RUSSERT: You’re a Red Sox fan.

GOV. RICHARDSON: I’m a Red Sox fan.

MR. RUSSERT: End of subject.

GOV. RICHARDSON: End of subject.

MR. RUSSERT: You better get rid of this book.

GOV. RICHARDSON: Oh, no! I’m also a Yankee fan. I also like...

MR. RUSSERT: Oh, now, wait a minute!

GOV. RICHARDSON: You can—Tim...

MR. RUSSERT: I guarantee...

GOV. RICHARDSON: No, I know, I got in trouble...

MR. RUSSERT: ...if you go—if you go to Yankee Stadium or Fenway, you cannot be both.

GOV. RICHARDSON: But I like—Mickey Mantle was my hero. If I weren’t running for president, and the Associated Press asked me, I’d play center field for the New York—I wanted to be number seven. And—but I still love the Red Sox as a team. I mean, this is the thing about me, Tim. I can bring people together. I can unify people.

MR. RUSSERT: Yankee fans and Red Sox fans?

GOV. RICHARDSON: Yes.

MR. RUSSERT: Not a chance.

GOV. RICHARDSON: Well, I bet you I can.

To be a Yankee fan or a Red Sox fan is to also hate the opposition. Anyone claiming to root for both teams is not to be trusted.

Charles Nelson Reilly, 1931 – 2007

From his LA Times obituary:

"Charles Nelson Reilly, whose persona as a wacky game show panelist and talk show guest overshadowed his serious work as a director and Tony-winning actor, has died. He was 76.

Reilly, a longtime resident of Beverly Hills, died Friday of complications from pneumonia at UCLA Medical Center, said Paul Linke, who directed Reilly's one-man show "Save It for the Stage: The Life of Reilly."

"The average person thinks of him as being on 'The Match Game.' That was a mixed blessing for him," Linke told The Times on Monday. "One of the reasons I was so motivated to get his show out there was because I wanted people to recognize that this was a heavyweight talent."

Sure, he had a great career on Broadway, but his TV and film career reads like a TV bibliography of our youth:

• Love Boat

• Match Game

• Cannonball Run

• And those bizarre Sid and Marty Kroft shows

Through the Looking glass

Let’s see, what did we do yesterday?

Woke up, ran three miles, came home, worked out, called our hot girlfriend, made more preparations for grad school, got caught up on all the political news of the day, went about our normal, well-adjusted, active social lives. Oh, and {ahem} we attended the Star Wars convention at the LA Convention Center.

We can explain. It was 30 years ago this weekend we saw Star Wars for the very first time. We saw it on opening weekend, at a drive in, of all places. (How’s that for dating ourselves?) We’ve heard of these huge Star Wars conventions (or “celebrations” as they're called); we’ve even mocked the attendees in the past. But, since we were in LA at the same time as their huge annual convention, we couldn't let this opportunity pass. Anyone who knows us is probably aware we remain huge fans of the movie; this fall we will be attending George Lucas’s Alma matter, a direct consequence of seeing his movie three decades ago.

Where we came from, however, if word got out that we were at one of these things, we’d get the shit kicked out of us. People in our neighborhood just don't get up out of bed one morning and reach for a bright orange Rebel Alliance flight suit. (Instead, they usually put on a pair of stone-washed Girbauds and shell toe Adidas, then proceeded to gang up on and beat the living shit out of the poor kid who forgot to peg his jeans)

We went, not to mock, but to observe. These people take this very seriously, and who are we to make fun of them? (Well, except for these guys) Never been to one of these, and we had a passing interest in the subject matter, so for the cost of $45, we received our official Star Wars 2007 Celebration credentials and a lanyard to hang it around our neck with: our one-day pass into an alternate world.

Some observations:

• Best not to go to these things when it’s crowded; hard core Sci Fi fans usually haven’t been socialized. The concept of personal space and moving through crowds is a foreign concept to them. Woe to anyone who finds themselves trapped in the Exhibitor’s area between a die hard fanboy and a limited edition George Lucas action figure.

• There were a LOT of people in costume (see below for some photos.) Especially Stormtroopers. We assume these were members of our nemesis, the 501st Legion (whose commemorative action figures, by the way, were on sale for the exalted price of $5, or just $2 less than the Sigmund Freud action figures you can buy at Newbury comics)
  
  

• We were disappointed in the Star wars merchandise for sale. The same stuff you can find at any Newbury comics. Not that we were looking to buy, but what use is a convention if you can't gawk at some really weird, strange exotic stuff?

Best part of the day was a when we popped in to view the day-long showing of the best Star wars fan films. Some of the highlights:

Darth Curtis. Recommend everyone check this out; stands on its own, regardless of whether its about a star wars fan or not. At least stay with it until his sister enters the story; you won't be sorry. Reminds us of something our friend Graham would have made if he’d been given access to a camera

The Eyes of Darth Tater: Funny take on the last few minutes of Star Wars Revenge of the Sith.

A Barbershop quartet. Funny, but requires some familiarity with Return of the Jedi..


Some (cell-phone) photos we took at the event:


A sentry stands ready to intercept any conventioneer foolish enough to try to venture back to the snack stand for an unauthorized soda refill.



Sadly, according to this agenda the Droid Building workshop wasn't until tomorrow. (We also missed a session on Saturday with Seth McFarlane and Seth Green. Damn.)


When shopping for official Star Wars crap, it helps to set aside your gun, helmet, and child on a nearby counter.




How the fuck do they get these giant guns on the airplane? (By the way, before we hear it from our better half, let us say it was completely unintentional that the Rebel tomato in the blue pants was centered in the frame.)






A lone Jedi walks back to his Saturn after a long day of Celebrationing. Note the lightsaber in his right hand.


Here are other people’s photos from the event, via Flickr

All in all, it was an interesting take, and a good way to kill a few hours. After the convention, we decided to unwind by meeting some friends in a bar downtown LA, where we spent the next few hours, reminding ourselves that we remain normal, cool, productive members of society.

Only to get home and realize we never took off our Star Wars Convention credentials, which were still hanging around our necks.

Lost and Found

Last Night was Lost’s season finale. We liked it. A lot.



Best take on Lost we’ve read in a while:

“Lost, as both a show and cultural phenomenon, is indebted to so many different sub-genres of popular fiction that it's to be expected viewer enjoyment will fluctuate from week-to-week depending simply on which color of the spectrum it chooses to paint with.” via the House Next Door.

As the above implies, this was a tough year for the show. People were getting tired of it. Viewers dropped significantly (although we think some of that can be attributed to the rise of Tivo and other DVRs, new viewing habits not yet tracked by Nielsen) People we know who used to love the show were now ambivalent about it. We missed a few episodes this season and never bothered to catch up, even tho they are available for free at the lost Web site.

So last night they go and reset the whole thing. That flashback gimmick is now a fast forward, showing us what happens to them after they get off the island. Brilliant.

"A Thing combining two elements; a mixture"

We love how Lance Armstrong, perennially accused of doping and injecting other enhanced substances into his body, was selected to appear in an add for hybrids.




Yeah, we dig the song too. Thought it was Oasis, but turns out it's some band called Soundcage. Happy hunting.

Ten Men and a Movie: 28 Days Later

Begbie flees the Infected in a lifeboat while his partner tries to climb aboard. What he does next sets the tone for the entire movie.

We caught 28 Weeks Later today. Mixed emotions on this movie. It was a sequel that felt like it was the 3rd movie in a series, not the second. Took some of the worst elements of Jaws III (mindless monster somehow stalking a particular family) and Land of the Dead (“Green Zone” city established at ground zero), bad three-quels with questionable escalations of the original premise.

After we saw it and chewed it over for a few hours, however, our thick skulls finally caught on to one of the themes of the movie, and we began to appreciate it a lot more. The moral of 28 Weeks Later: Don't let anyone in the lifeboat. Ever.

Without spoiling the movie for anyone, let’s say it explored the idea of compassion in a time of crisis. The movie begins with an act of cowardice shortly after the Infection began, in which a man runs away from his family to save his own life. Twenty eight weeks later, the US military arrives and declares Britain clean, until all Hell of course inevitably breaks loose and the military is told to kill everything in the Green Zone, Infected or not.

The next hour shows people dodging a suddenly merciless US Military and hordes of Infected. What happens when you live in a situation where compassion is forbidden? Can you keep a door closed while refugees are banging on the other side? Do you let the little boy in? Do you spare the life of someone who isn't Infected? Let's just say this is a very cynical movie, but it's one of those rare movies where you find yourself going back and connecting the dots,only to realize how strongly woven the plot really was.

Some Issues with the movie:

• Too many convenient lapses in security inside the Green Zone. People in the audience were scoffing at points.

• Yet another scene where people on foot outrun a fireball. This time, a fireball that has consumed Britain in less than 60 seconds takes twice that long to roll down a tunnel.

• And, it held onto the most annoying plot twist of 28 Days Later- that the military, in a time of crisis, are instantly reduced to a pack of murdering thugs. At one point in the movie, during a shoot-out between two US army soldiers, we were reminded of something one of the Ten said many years ago after watching “The Rock.” He was a Marine, and he said in disgust: “I hate these movies where they show soldiers firing on their own with no hesitation. I would never fire on one of my own men.” *
  

Stuff we liked:

• An explanation of what ultimately happens to all the Infected.

• Been waiting for a good zombie movie that pits these guys against a prepared military. This one gets about halfway there.

• It's a sequel that stands up on its own, and it advances the story of the 1st one.
  

• Sets up a sequel that we’ll be paying to see.

* Ironically, the guy who said this was captain of the Marine Pistol team and an excellent marksman, a fact he constantly reminded the men under his command in case they ever thought about running away in the heat of battle.

Not bad at all

Interesting post by Ken Levine on the career of Bruce Willis. (the real Bruce Willis, not this guy) Takes a look at all his movies - good and bad - and concludes that he’s had a very, very good career overall. Worth reading the comments, too. You’ll be surprised at how many good performances he’s had.

(Ken Levine is a former Cheers writer still working in LA. We’ve signed up for a comedy writing workshop he’s offering this July in LA.)

Since we relocated to LA

... a question we’re frequently asked is “The women must be so much hotter out in LA, right?”

Not so much.