April 20, 2024
BYOB
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BYOB: 235 Years Of Relative independence
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It shows how out of it I was in trying to be in it, acknowledging that I was out of it to myself, and then thinking, “Okay, how do I stop being out of it? Well, I get some legitimate illogical narrative ideas” — some novel, you know?
So I decided on three writers that I might be able to option their material and get some producer, or myself as producer, and then get some writer to do a screenplay on it, and maybe make a movie.
And so the three projects were “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep,” “Naked Lunch” and a collection of Bukowski. Which, in 1975, forget it — I mean, that was nuts. Hollywood would not touch any of that, but I was looking for something commercial, and I thought that all of these things were coming.
There would be no Blade Runner if there was no Ray Bradbury. I couldn’t find Philip K. Dick. His agent didn’t even know where he was. And so I gave up.
I was walking down the street and I ran into Bradbury — he directed a play that I was going to do as an actor, so we know each other, but he yelled “hi” — and I’d forgot who he was.
So at my girlfriend Barbara Hershey’s urging — I was with her at that moment — she said, “Talk to him! That guy really wants to talk to you,” and I said “No, fuck him,” and keep walking.
But then I did, and then I realized who it was, and I thought, “Wait, he’s in that realm, maybe he knows Philip K. Dick.” I said, “You know a guy named—” “Yeah, sure — you want his phone number?”
My friend paid my rent for a year while I wrote, because it turned out we couldn’t get a writer. My friends kept on me about, well, if you can’t get a writer, then you write.”
~ Hampton Fancher
“That was the most disappointing thing to me in how this thing was played. Is that I’m on the phone with you now, after all that’s been said, and the fundamental distinction between what James is dealing with in these other cases is not actually brought to the fore. The fundamental difference is that James Franco didn’t seek to use his position to have sex with anyone. There’s not a case of that. He wasn’t using his position or status to try to solicit a sexual favor from anyone. If he had — if that were what the accusation involved — the show would not have gone on. We would have folded up shop and we would have not completed the show. Because then it would have been the same as Harvey Weinstein, or Les Moonves, or any of these cases that are fundamental to this new paradigm. Did you not notice that? Why did you not notice that? Is that not something notable to say, journalistically? Because nobody could find the voice to say it. I’m not just being rhetorical. Why is it that you and the other critics, none of you could find the voice to say, “You know, it’s not this, it’s that”? Because — let me go on and speak further to this. If you go back to the L.A. Times piece, that’s what it lacked. That’s what they were not able to deliver. The one example in the five that involved an issue of a sexual act was between James and a woman he was dating, who he was not working with. There was no professional dynamic in any capacity.
~ David Simon
Having just got back from “Harry Potter,” I have to add my voice to the WTF?! chorus for the film’s PG rating. I thought blood was the MPAA’s big beef with ratings and even though there appeared to be at least some color adjustment to make it bright and less like real blood (on Draco, on Harry’s handkerchief, etc.), but still, I was surprised it was PG and not PG-13 (though there was a cutaway from one shot that I thought felt like a trim-for-rating).
Which, of course, might have been the WB. When you submit for a rating, don’t you tell them which rating you’re looking to get?
Damn, damn, damn. Cronkite just passed away. Not a surprise, but still a great sadness.
Beat me to it, Cadavra. A great guy, a great journalist. It may be hard for people below a certain age to believe, but there was a time when Cronkite was, quite literally, the most trusted man in America. When he soured on the Vietnam War… well, as LBJ reportedly said, “If I’ve lost Walter Cronkite, I’ve lost Middle America.” He was right.
I’m a HUGE Mischa Barton fan (surprise), so in all sincerity I hope she’s cool.
Now where’s that movie where she goes to the TATU concert? (Seriously, that is the plot.)
The gulf between Joe’s comment and Lex’s comment is as good as any demonstration of where we are now as a culture versus where we were back in the day.
Oh, PLEASE, Hallick.
Look, Hallick, I’d give endless props to Cronkite, I’m sad he died, and even though I was a kid post-Nam in the late 70s and 80s, he’s still iconic and that voice is what I think of when I think of TV news to this day…
But he lived to be a nice, ripe 92… Taking into account that they’re both famous figures who I’ve never met and that Barton would likely just as soon cross the street as talk to me, EXCUSE ME for still thinking a beautiful, talented 20-something having an apparent public freakout and being put under observation hits a little more close to home (especially to someone like myself with self-destructive tendencies) than a beloved legend in his NINETIES passing on naturally.
Actually, LexG, I think if you had ever met Walter Cronkite, he likely would have conversed with you.
“Oh, PLEASE, Hallick.”
Yeah, I know I know…cheap shot. It was just too good a contrast to pass up. Sorry about that Lex.
“Look, Hallick, I’d give endless props to Cronkite, I’m sad he died, and even though I was a kid post-Nam in the late 70s and 80s, he’s still iconic and that voice is what I think of when I think of TV news to this day…”
I appreciate that, but Lex, here’s my point…you weren’t giving endless props. Your props were actually beginningless up until somebody got snotty or crotchety or whatever it was I was -y’ing and sniped away at your comments for Mischa Barton. That girl’s been a train wreck for a while now and unfortunately there’s a good chance she’s going to stay that way for another while. Cronkite’s only passing away this one time, which at 92 isn’t a operatically tragic death that demands weaping and thrashing and gnashing of teeth. But it also isn’t a big shrug either.
I really do apologize that I kicked dirt into your personal kinship with Barton’s plight; but it just read like the ultimate “who cares about the dead old dude/what’s going on with the fucked up sexy girl?” statement.
Hallick, we obviously understand each other on this and to prolong it would be a jeffmcm move, but for the record:
Maybe it can be read as tacky timing on my part to bring up “the troubled hot chick” moments after hearing about the Cronkite thing, but not like I’d have had more than 15 minutes, tops, to summon up some glowing reminiscence. And at 36 years of age, I wouldn’t really feel appropriate doing so. Like I said, I’m old enough to remember when he was THE voice to trust when it came to news, I was somewhat cognizant of such things in the late 70s and 80s, but I’d think the actual journalism guys like Leydon or some of the older folks can speak to his legacy a lot better than me.
As for MISCHA, though (and this is NOT directed at Hallick, or Poland, or anyone here, though DP’s usual attitude toward Lindsay Lohan kinda veers into this territory at times… and we know I like Poland and love Lohan….)
Proving once again that I am pretty close to The Ultimate Feminist, how come when a female star melts down like this, there’s a certain giddy charge that’s palpable? Not saying that there weren’t jokes and a general “what the fuck?” vibe when Robert Downey was back in his dark days and getting busted doing really crazy shit all the time, but there was always an ultimate sense of, “Oh, that lovable rapscallion!” Everyone in town seemingly rallying behind the guy to get him back on TV and in movies.
How come when Britney, Lindsay or now Mischa do pretty much THE EXACT SAME THING, at least on the Net and in catty conversations, everyone takes such a perverse glee in it all? Everyone either turns super alarmist (see, Dr. Drew publicly saying all manner of noxious, irresponsible and unfounded shit about Lohan) or jokey or flippant or judgmental.
I’m sure the Hollywood answer is, “But ROBERT DOWNEY JR. is THE GREATEST ACTOR OF HIS GENERATION! HE DESERVES TO WORK,” whereas Mischa Barton is just the hot chick from The O.C. and some B-movies. Still, is that right? Gee, sorry she’s not A-LIST enough to warrant basic human empathy. Britney Spears is a cottage industry that’s probably earned BILLIONS. Why all the rubbernecking glee there? She’s more A-list than pre-Iron Man Downey Jr.
Granted, it does seem like, say, Tom Sizemore or Gary Dourdan have had their careers suffer from similar stuff or they reach a point where they lose their A-list meal ticket.
But what’s the Puritan-era sexism at play when “we” (ie, not me) kinda bask in seeing a chick falter?
LEX FOR N.O.W. PRESIDENT.
oh my god. i can’t stop laughing. i was killing time around the web this morning and ventured over to Chud.com, and then i saw it.
A donation link.
“IF YOU CAN HELP US OUT”, followed by a Paypal link to Nick@Chud.com
It makes that Faraci rant towards that blogger so much more hysterical. They’re going to badmouth other websites about their lack of professionalism while holding out their cap for spare change like some Victorian pauper?
Or maybe they’ve stumbled on to a new model. I can see the future of online criticism.
“While there’s a lot of buzz out there for Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, i have to be honest and say that….”
PLEASE CLICK PAYPAL LINK FOR REST OF REVIEW.
Oh man. How can anyone take a website like that seriously. You’re actually going to ask for donations? A plea to the fanbase to help fund your shennanigans? Is the ad revenue from articles like FUCK THIS FACE not enough to cover the bar tab at Comiccon?
priceless.
Lex, there’s no giddy charge from me (I also have no idea who Ms. Barton is. That’s one less asshole with an opine about her). I am at one with Craig Fergusan, who said straight-up he wouldn’t do Britney jokes because she was obviously ill. That’s a real man, but your plea for Sensitivity To A Hot Chick after another endless Leykis 101 Rant against women who direct, have babies or…whateva you have a problem with, makes your case…ridiculous. Capiche?
I think Faraci is a really good writer and frequently has great insights, but when he puts himself and CHUD on a pedestal (fighting against other peoples sites, arguing that some idiot in Utah doesn’t have the *right* to be against gay marriage, people breaking embargoes) he sets him and more important CHUD up for scrutiny. If I was his boss, I’d tell him to STFU but whoever owns that site is either absentee or scared of the guy.
But even so, a paypal link begging for change? Ouch. For what would you be “paying” for? The amazing info offered by CHUD?? To hear Devin’s drunken rants? That’s money well spent.
Lex, did you write the South Park Britney Spears episode?
Didn’t Jeff Wells pass the digital hat not so long ago?
Wells did and then insulted his readers and supporters. A worse way to go about it. And if somebody wants to ask for donations to their site, well, so be it. I know Andy Sullivan thinks everybody can make a livin’ off the bloggin’, but the reality is the opposite.
Just my imagination, or is there some hipster-ish anticipation for ZOMBIELAND among film geeks?
Throwing down the gauntlet here after watching the trailer:
No more zombie movies. EVER. EVER. Seriously.
It’s played. It’s over. It’s FUCKING STUPID. Now, I love the Romero movies, love both “28” movies, got a couple of (minor) chuckles out of the Wright/Pegg/Frost spoof, even own Fulci’s “Zombie” on DVD…
But ENOUGH IS E-FUCKING-NOUGH. ZOMBIES are STUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUPID, they aren’t scary, they aren’t funny anymore. ALL the possibilities have been played out ONE TRILLION times over.
They’re just fucking annoying, they don’t exist, they’re idiotic, lame, pedestrian, and GENERIC.
Considering there’s NO SUCH FUCKING THING as a ZOMBIE, every movie is basically just a ripoff of somebody else’s movie… there is SERIOUSLY *****NOTHING****** left to milk from this STUPID, JUVENILE, IMMATURE, IDIOTIC fucking genre. Romero covered EVERY satirical base, evert horror base, and Boyle did a yeoman’s job of giving it all some contemporary resonance, but seriously–
COME UP WITH A NEW FUCKING VILLAIN.
It’d be like if in 1971, some horror directed WHOLESALE INVENTED OUT OF CLOTH some “monster” called a “(whatever”), and 500,000,000 movies since had BLATANTLY, COPYRIGHT-INFRINGEMENT LEVEL stolen both the monster and the M.O. of the movie, done it as ripoff, done it as satire, done it as musical theater… ENOUGH IS ENOUGH.
I like Eisenberg fine, I love Harrelson, but that trailer is FUCKING EMBARRASSING, it looks like fucking EIGHT LEGGED FREAKS, it’s a DEAD, WORTHLESS GENRE, and my edict stands–
ANY MOVIE from here on out that contains a ZOMBIE is the product of plagiaristic FUCKING HACKS who need to come up with some new shit.
And, really, even as much as I love Romero, ZOMBIES WERE NEVER FUCKING SCARY. Like, just run, bitch. NOT SCARY. STUPID. THEY DON’T EXIST.
Every single person who worked on ZOMBIELAND in ANY capacity should be FUCKING ASHAMED OF THEMSELVES.
ZOMBIES FUCKING SUCK.
it wouldn’t surprise me at all to see Wells do the same thing. it’s a classless move. and since wells is king scumbag…
i’m going site to site trying to see what other sites are asking for donations.
hilariously pathetic.
When Wells “passed the hat,” was it the IMMORTAL TEN-GALLON HAT that can be used to reserve rooms?
I assume when Lex says zombies don’t exist he’s being “funny.”
And in 1971 there were tons or rips offs and copycats. How many Dracula movies were needed, or movies about crazy inbred rednecks? And then the 1980s were just a bunch of Halloween rip offs with lame killers. Horror has always been about copying everybody else, and then every now and then you get a good one.
And Shaun of the Dead is brilliant.
Caught up with “You’re Gonna Miss Me,” that doc about Roky Erickson and thought it was just sad, sad, sad. Between that, “The Devil and Daniel Johnston” and “Be Here to Love Me” – a troubled troubador triumverate if there ever was one – I’m beginning to worry folks (non-Texans) are going to start thinking that all outsider Texas songwriters are just these truly damaged, hopelessly self-destructive and mentally ill people.
Thank God for folks like Kris Kristofferson, Larry Gatlin and Willie Nelson – all pillars of piety, self-denial and sane behavior – but still.
“i’m going site to site trying to see what other sites are asking for donations.”
What’s worse?
i’d say websites begging fans for money is worse.
i think it’s a good op-ed piece waiting to happen about the diminishing standards and diminishing returns of film websites.
I think there was probably a time, from 2000 to 2004ish where film sites like AICN etc were really bringing in money thanks to web advertising and investor money. But that market seems to have dried up, for the most part, and now those sites are struggling again. I imagine it will turn around, and what Dave does here might have a different monetizing strategy and user base that has helped him keep things working successfully while others are going down the drain.
Anghus, are you that familiar with the web? Thousands of siter of all persuasions have PayPal adds for donations. I contribute because, well, who else is going to? I want to be able to read “BuzzFlash” and others. Even the Daily Kos “begs” for cash from its readership.
If you enjoy something that people put time and effort into, why would you think them seeking economic sustenance in a time of great recession, when everybody is getting down-sized or fired, is so awful? If the choice is a PayPal button or no site, what’s your big moral caveat?
For the past ten years we’ve been waiting for this floodgate of cash to come democratically pouring out from the web. Even the hysterical Sullivan has stopped his arrogant, “Isn’t it wonderful that bloggers are the new elite and we’ll dance happy in our Net Nirvana” posts as he sees that there ain’t a lotta money coming in.
“of siter” should read “of sites” — damn web!
Zombies rule. Vampires blow. I’m absolutely done with vampires. They’ve been neutered into pansy, brooding, emo douchebags designed for sexually repressed Xtian teenage girls to squee over. Fuck that shit.
I hate to keep sounding like Cassandra, but: The day will come, sooner than anyone expects, when we will have to pay for MANY things we’re currently getting for free on the web.
“…there is SERIOUSLY *****NOTHING****** left to milk from this…genre. Romero covered EVERY satirical base, every horror base…”
Amen. These days, genres and sub-genres go from “how come no one makes **** any more?” to “okay, it’s getting old” to “hope I never see another” within a few short years. (Kinda like ska. I missed it, and then it came back, and then I realized it was boring except for The Specials and The Beat and Madness. They had it covered.)
But I disagree that zombies were never scary. NOTLD was terrifying. Parts of Dawn were, too, and the super-gruesome feeding scenes in Day. The idea of the faceless, mindless mob coming to tear you apart with their bare hands…and no matter how many of them you take out, there are still more coming…yeeeargh! Pure nightmare fodder.
But yeah — no more zombies for AT LEAST a decade, and then only if you have some new spin. And how about no more Eighties slasher remakes? (I mean, after Elm Street, which has Jackie Earle Haley and has a remote chance of being good.)