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| Amusing. Iran government blocked SMS access during the protests and on the day before election to hurt the reformists (their gatherings, etc). The reformists response? Stop using SMS once it was activated. LOL — Iran’s SMS Boycott | |
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|  Toy Story (Lasseter, 1995)IMDB LinkThe legend starts here, kids. Back in 1995, out of fucking nowhere, came “Toy Story” and we all collectively wet our pants. It was brilliant! Funny, didn’t contain any songs which was as groundbreaking as sitcoms without laugh tracks, and it looked amazing! So amazing that rewatching it now after almost one and half decades, it still looks amazing. Sure the humans don’t look as fantastic to the eye now, but the toys, since they ARE toys, look very real. You probably know the story, but here it is. A young boy has lots of toys and his favorite is Woody, the cowboy toy. When Andy is not in the room, the toys come to life and Woody is sory of their leader. Andy’s birthday is a day of great anxiety for the toys because they might get replaced by a newer toy. Woody reassures them all, telling them they have no reason to panic. Except…*dum dum dum*…the new toy is Buzz Lightyear, a spaceman toy, and one that Andy seems to enjoy more than Woody. Woody is devastated and instantly jealous of Buzz, who not only has more features as a toy, but also seems to be completely delusional, thinking of himself as THE Buzz Lightyear (hero of a cartoon franchise) rather than a toy. Rest of the story is about the conflict between the two, both getting lost in the city, Buzz’s realization that he is just a toy, and Woody being a clingy little bitch. Pixar will go on to make lots of brilliant movies, but “Toy Story” should NOT be overlooked. Also, the little green aliens are fucking awesome. 4/5
 Toy Story 2 (Lasseter, 1999)IMDB LinkMany claim that “Toy Story 2” is better, but it is really hard to make a correct judgment call on that. I have to give some love to the first one for being new and fresh and introducing the characters to us. But on the other hand, the sequel benefits from NOT introducing the characters to us, giving us a more interesting story, and being just plain funnier. The film really makes you feel sad for toys. I had so many toys as a kid that I loved that are now in some box somewhere. I wonder if they feel sad... The focus is still on Woody being a clingy little bitch. Like the first one, he is worried about Andy not loving him enough. Good thing he is a toy because he would make the worst (gay) boyfriend ever. He’s always be, “Do you love me? Do you? You don’t love me, why didn’t you call, its because I’m old, right, I bet that’s why you called only 30 minutes ago instead of every 10 minutes, I hate you, no I don’t love me love me” while Buzz Lightyear would be cruising and get all the ass he needs, because he’d be all, “To Infinity and Beyond!” and wham, ass-sex. I’d hang out with the little green aliens though. Ooooooooh. 4/5
 Little Otik [Otesánek] (Svankmajer, 2000)IMDB LinkI’m getting into Jan Svankmajer. He was responsible for making the weirdest, creepiest adaptation of “Alice in the Wonderland” simply called “Alice”. In “Little Otik”, he adapts another story. This time he chooses a Czech fairy tale about a couple that wanted a child, but were unsuccessful. One day the husband was digging stumps out of the ground and he finds one that vaguely looks like a baby. He presents it to the mother and she takes care of it. Soon the stump starts talking and asks for food. Her mother keeps feeding her but the stump wants more and more and starts eating its parents and soon the people from the village, until she is stopped by an old woman that stabs the stump baby and kills it. The fairytale seems to be cautionary tale about not asking about things that God has not given you or something. Anyway, in Svankmajer’s version, it is very similar to that, but because of Svankmajer’s style, it is way weirder than you would expect. The tree stump baby looks more like a stump than a baby. It has slight human features. For a long time the stump is just idle and unmoving while the mother takes care of it by dressing it up and washing it. The husband tries to convince her that it is just a stump but she refuses to believe him, her desire to have a baby making her delusional. But all the love and attention somehow gives life to the stump and it starts moving and crying. Svankmajer is an animator, so the scenes with the tree stump are amazing. It should freak you out to suddenly see the stump slowly moving, imitating a baby, and having a human tongue. The movie is a bit too long, and could have worked much better with thirty minutes shaved off. Svankmajer is a brilliant visionary, but he has trouble with pacing and structure. I had the same problem with his film, “Alice”, great to look at and look back on, but there were times that it would become a drag to watch. 3/5
 Dead Man's Shoes (Meadows, 2004)IMDB Link"God will forgive them. He'll forgive them and allow them into Heaven. I can't live with that. "I give “Dead Man’s Shoes” props for being a revenge film that feels a bit different than other revenge films. It has more of a festival film feel to it. A group of pot smokers and low life scum notice a bearded man watching them. They panic when they realize it is the soldier brother of Anthony, a teenager that used to hang around with them. They used to tease Anthony a lot because he was younger and a bit simpleminded. They would give him drugs and sometimes the teasing would get violent. The soldier brother, Richard, could not protect Anthony from being abuses because he was away in the army. Now he is back and angry. He makes himself known, sometimes sneaks into their houses, and makes it very clear that he wants to hurt them. It goes without saying, they freak out. The movie then plays like a mixture of a revenge movie, a slasher, and a quiet film you will see in festival runs about two brothers lying in an open field talking about their childhood and then a few minutes of nothing happening. Interesting attempt but fails mostly. The movie is still primary a revenge movie, and after that aspect has been established in the first 30 minutes, the movie does not know where to take it. The director made “This is England” two years later, another movie that I also did not enjoy. Both have similar sort of characters and tone. 2/5 | |
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| Ive noticed that people pretend that Iraq is now done and everything is fine now. But maybe when the situation is really very horrible for a few years, then if its just horrible (not very), then it looks like a great improvement and a perfect place to hang out. But Iraq still has lots of bomb attacks. Every once in a while I read about it or hear it, and I admit, it barely registers. When you hear "Bomb in Iraq kills dozens" since 2003, then hearing "Bomb in Iraq kills dozens" again in 2009 goes unnoticed. But six years after the invasion, and Iraq is still seeing lots of suicide bombings, meaning it is not as great a success as some individuals call it. I tried to do a google search to see if there are any sites that track bomb attacks in Iraq, but couldnt find anything, but I'd like to see some numbers. Here are some recent news links, I dont think any are more than 3 weeks old, Bombs kill 50 in Iraq as violence flaresSeven US soldiers and translator wounded by Iraq bomb
Bomb Explodes Near US Iraq Ambassador's ConvoyIraq boosts security in Christian areasIraq: Bomb hits minibus in Baghdad, killing 3
2 killed, 17 injured in Iraq bomb attacksIraq bombing kills 70, injures 182Car Bomb Kills 4 in MosulBut for the last 2 months, I have read media articles mentioning that "in recent months" violence has come down. Maybe it has, but at what rate? From bombs every day to bombs every week? That is like a man raping someone every week, instead of the previous every day schedule he had. Yes, an improvement sure, but it would still be a dire situation. | |
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|  Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (Bay, 2009)IMDB LinkI am confused. Bay’s second installment has some terrible reviews, 35 at Metacritic, 20% at Rottentomatoes, and Old Man Ebert gave it 1 star. I can understand Ebert, since he is in his late 60s, and at the time of the original Transformer toys and cartoons, he was in his late 40s, so in no way he is anywhere near the target audience. But is every other critic over 60? It such cases, it is always interesting to compare critics versus the audience. While Ebert has given a 1 star, his readers have voted an average of two and a half star. And in Metacritic, the Critics have given it average of 35 while the users gave it 6.2, close to IMDB’s 6.6, which is again close to the User rating at Rottentomatoes, which was 68%. This makes “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” the year’s most misunderstood critic film. Professional film reviewers really dropped the ball on this one. Where they concerned that it would hurt their street cred? That they would be walking in some hip film credits party and they’re about to have some major sex when someone goes, “HEY EVERYONE!! GUESS WHAT!! THIS LOSER LIKE TRANSFORMERS!!” and he would be shamed and forced to leave while everyone enjoys a big sex orgy, 4 stars and thumbs up, right up in each other’s assholes. I was expecting no plot, and was ready to be unconcerned about it, but it is there. Not the greatest plot ever, but in terms of summer blockbusters, it does have a fairly straight forward plot, its main intention being to present a clear threat to the world, and have the good guys save the day. It did that. The humor, while juvenile at times, fitted the tone of the movie perfectly. And characters? The guy was average looking and the girl extra hot, perfect vehicle for male fantasy time. But *sound of breaks* wait! Forget all of that. Did it have scenes of robots transforming and smashing things up? Yes, and lots, and that’s it, movie has accomplished its intentions. You can all go home now. For those that are confused, this is a movie based on a cartoon from the eighties that was based on TOYS. I am going to step on lots of toys here, but I would prefer movies like this over a movie like “The Dark Knight” which pretends it is a serious movie with serious messages, when it’s based upon a comic book for kids about a man dressed up as a bat fighting bad guys. This reminds me of sitting with my friends at a Shisha couple of years back. The subject turned to the “King Kong” movie which was just released. One of my friends made fun of it, claiming it was stupid and it had a giant monkey fighting a monster. He started mocking it and I got slightly annoyed and asked him, didn’t he see the poster of the film? It had a giant gorilla right on it, what the fuck did he expect? Family drama? Not only did I watch the cartoons as a kid, I had the toys. I remember the incredible joy I used to have transforming them to one thing to something else. Watching this fim, it made me feel some of that boyish joy. 3/5
 Godspell: A Musical Based on the Gospel According to St. Matthew (Greene, 1973)IMDB LinkIf you want a great musical based on Jesus, then there really is nothing even close to Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Jesus Christ Superstar”. The film based on Webber’s work is not brilliant, but the music of it is so good, followed by fantastic lyrics that make you ponder the gospels in new ways, that it made the movie a classic for me. But I have listened to the songs so many times that I was excited when I heard of “Godspell”. Another musical based on Jesus set in the hippy seventies with flower power music? Even if it was a pale second to “Jesus Christ Superstar”, it should still be fun, right? Not really. The intelligence of “Jesus Christ Superstar” is replaced with the basic form of the gospels, set in modern New York, with Jesus and the disciples wearing colorful clown clothes acting cute. Or at least trying to act cute. I tolerated the film at first, and might even have found it slightly charming, but their attempt at being cute in every second by every character got really on my nerves. After a while I wished they’d throw the whole bunch in Vietnam and napalm the fuck out of them. 2/5
 Reign of Fire (Bowman, 2002)IMDB Link“Envy the country that has heroes, huh? I say pity the country that needs them.”Before Christian Bale became an underground rebel, in a post apocalyptic world, trying to fight back against the robots that destroyed most of the earth, he was an underground rebel, in a post apocalyptic world, trying to fight back against the dragons that destroyed most of the earth. Quinn Abercromby is not as hard core as John Conner. He has a refuge for orphaned children, tries to save mankind by farming, and puts on small shows for the kids. Well, at first anyway, after a while, he becomes more and more like John Conner and decides the only way to really fight back is to stop being on the defensive, befriend someone whom he initially hated, and go to the den of the enemy and attack them there. Exactly like John Conner. It is a bit low budget, but with a more experienced ACTION director (Rob Bowman was a “X-Files” writer) and financial backing, the movie could have been really good. Post-apocalyptic world with dragons seem like something that could have been awesome. As it is now, it is fairly interesting, but Bowman is better at the first half of the movie. In those parts, it is less action and more doom and gloom. Once the stage is set for action the film falters. Specially, the last action scene, which generally is supposed to be the best part of an action film, this is the part directors usually throw everything at us. But I found underwhelming and wanted the movie to end at this point. But last point, the dragons were extremely cool. The film is now seven years old and the movie is not exactly a huge budget film, but the dragons are still very realistic. 3/5
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| Iran summons Italian envoy over G8 protests
Iran summons the Italian Ambassador to Tehran Alberto Bradanini in protest against the violent suppression of anti-G8 protesters. Bradanini was summoned to the Iranian Foreign Ministry on Friday to hear Tehran's concerns about the "violent suppression of justice-seeking protesters by the Italian police." A Foreign Ministry statement included Iran's "strong condemnation" of the "suppressive actions…which are clear breaches of civil freedoms and fundamentals of democracy." The Foreign Ministry's Director for West European Relations 'condemned the use of violence by Italian police against protesters and opponents of the Group of Eight industrialized nations (G8) Summit in the city of L'Aquila, and demanded the compliance of the Italian government with its international obligations'. Italy holds the presidency of the G8 Summit, which is being held in L'Aquila from July 8 to 10. | |
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| All is not over yet.
There were more protests yesterday. Change is always slow. | |
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| I didnt do anything at all in my week off. I did LESS than I would do in a working week. I stopped my exercise, went out less, and didn't do any of the things i was planning.
So I guess, a working madali is better than non-working madali.
Its 5am and I have to wake up at 7:30am, so I guess no sleep for me for the first day of work. Maybe I'll just go to work in an hour or so just to get my emails cleared off, because I have one week's work pending. | |
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| So how many of you actually LOL when you type LOL?
I mean, I dont type LOL, but when I do type "haha" I dont actually "haha". At most, I do a small smile.
I dont laugh that much in meatspace either unless I'm intoxicated or high | |
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|  The Piano Teacher [La Pianiste] (Haneke, 2001)IMDB LinkCompared to this film, “Secretary” was Disney’s version of BDSM. In “The Piano Teacher”, there are hints of the same underlying fantasies and urges but they are presented in a darker, less gratifying, and in a more abusive manner. The piano teacher of the title is Erika (Isabelle Huppert), an icy, dominating, cruel, emotionless teacher that seems to get her inspiration for verbally abusing her students from her mother, whom she lives with and is emotionally manipulated by. Erika des not seem to have a good life, and even though she is respected by both the music scene and her students, she herself does not seem to have much of a life. It is music and mother and nothing else. Almost nothing else. Behind her icy exterior, seems to be bottled up sexuality and strong urge. She is unable in manifesting these normally, so instead she watches porn in adult shops and smells dried cum. She uses a blade to cut her vagina. And she watches teenagers having sex in drive-ins while she urinates beside the car. But that part of her is hidden away. To people around her, like handsome, talented, young student, Walter (Benoît Magimel), Erika remains musically skilled and smart. Walter is charming and likable, and he becomes interested in Erika. The film never fully explains the reason why Walter wants Erika, but I think it is because Walter desires something a bit more different than beautiful young girls which he probably has already been with. Erika is different. But more different than he expected. Erika taunts him sexually, tries to control him, and then gives him instructions on the need to be abused by him. This troubles Walter, repulses him, but at the same time, confuses his feelings towards her. Both follow a path they neither are familiar with nor know exactly what they want out of. Erika is damaged and in turn, I think, damages Walter. There are arguments about a crucial scene in the end that audiences wonder if Walter raped Erika. If you watch the movie, ask yourself this instead, did ERIKA rape Walter? 4/5
 Fritz the Cat (Bakshi, 1972)IMDB LinkEarly 1970’s cartoon that will be better to write about than watch. Cats representing white people, pigs being cops, crows being blacks, and so on. Every character is a caricature of a late sixties group. And there are lots of drug use and sex. It is possible that “Fritz the Cat” broke some boundaries. And high fives for the Cat for doing that. But sometimes the only good thing about breaking boundaries is that better talent can follow. Because “Fritz the Cat” is a bad animated film. I don’t care how edgy and controversial it was, as a feature, it is almost rubbish. There is no structure in the story, the humor falls flat, and the flow of the animation is bad. Everything feels wrong, the timings for the jokes are always wrong, the dialogue delivery seems unprofessional, and I think I can continue with these complaints, but the main point is that, aside from the film being the first America X-Rated animation, it is not worth watching. Worth remembering, but not viewing. 2/5
 The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 (Scott, 2009)IMDB LinkI did not expect the movie to be any good, and it did not surprise me. I only watched it because I wanted to go to the movies with my friends, and there was nothing else that they wanted to watch. Not that they were overly excited over this either, but it seemed like an acceptable movie for my friends who are more of the mainstream audience. It had John Travolta and Denzel Washington and both of them are on the mainstream audiences’ good list. The trailers also promised some quick paced action, and that was good for them too. I was hoping that it would at least be average, and I think by the end of it not only was I disappointed, but so were they. Even mainstream crowd pleasers need skill, and the mainstream audience is not as stupid as people think they are. Travolta hijacks a train, holds the passenger hostage, and asks for ten million dollars. On the other side is good black guy Washington who is the only one Travolta talks to. All the makings of possibilities of lots of tense good guy-bad guy conversations, but the conversation is not that good, and not only does it bore us, but it also seems to bore the director, because he sometimes spices up the movie with fast paced cuts and unnecessary explosions. The inclusion of explosions is funny almost because he blows things up in the most unlikely scenes. It is like he read the script and had no idea where to include the explosions, and was like, “What do I do!! What do I do!!”. Cops have to take the ransom money to the subway, and there are no bad guys in the way, but Tony Scott wants there to be some kind of action so much that he has the cops have like a billion accidents on the way. Also, Travolta, whom I find usually awesome, is shitty here. 2/5
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|  Zombie Loan (Anime, 2007)IMDB LinkWhat the fuck, anime? Is it only that I am older, or does anime usually nowadays just suck? It seems like most of them are just consist of tired anime stereotypes. I watched “Zombie Loan”, because I couldn’t imagine them fucking up the idea too much, because I was looking for something very simple. The anime had the word “Zombie” in it so I was almost sold. Then I think the premise talked about fighting zombies, and that is it. That is all I wanted, a bunch of anime episodes about undead going “arghhhhh” and Japanese animated characters cutting them into pieces. How simple is that? But we get any zombie fights, because in this anime everything is a zombie. The two main characters are zombies, but not your traditional zombies. They have died, a company has resurrected them, and to pay the company back for this, they have to fight zombies, get paid, and slowly pay their debt until they get their life back. But during the duration of the 11 episodes, I did not know what great disadvantage their undead status held for them. They still go to school (whenever the episode calls for it), they have friends, colleagues, and family members. They can eat and have fun and have emotions. This is not MY kind of zombies. Occasionally the two characters exchange their hands (??) and they get weapons from their body’s ectoplasm (???) and they fight monsters with it, in boring, uninteresting fights. Most of the episodes include the two characters acting tough and manly (but in a stupid boyish manner, not in a “Fist of the North Star” or “Berserk” manliness) and full of unfunny comical scenes. I don’t want to sound like a grandfather, but fighting anime in my day was better! 2/5 | |
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