MCN Blogs
David Poland

By David Poland poland@moviecitynews.com

BYOB Wednesday 999

Be Sociable, Share!

122 Responses to “BYOB Wednesday 999”

  1. So what are people’s thoughts on box office potential for This Is It? What are the release plans for this any way? I know it’s only 2 weeks (but will surely get extended if successful ala Best of Both Worlds) but what number of theatres? Did they end up going 3D?

  2. LYT says:

    Is that the Crispin Glover movie with Down’s Syndrome kids? Totally should be in 3-D.

  3. LexG says:

    Actual movie stuff from Lex:
    Do you guys think there’ll ever be a resurgence, be it ironic or legit, of SYNTH SCORES? Like Moroder, Tangerine Dream, Vangelis, Faltermeyer type stuff? I thought the late ’90s “electronica” thing was kind of a return to a bit of that, like the Dust Brothers beats on the “Fight Club” soundtrack, or the (surprisingly awesome) “The Saint” ST, though that one was more song-based.
    Growing up, I LOVED the “synth” sound, but I think it’s something that exclusive ONLY to people who were 10-18 during the early-to-mid-80s. Anyone under the age of, say, 30 today will mock that sound up and down, no real experiencal concept of how exciting and urban and cool and suave it sounded in movies from the early-mid-80s.
    Like, I hear the TD shit from Mann’s “Thief” and it’s like every possibility the world ever had to offer; But to anyone more than five years younger than me, that shit is some laughingstock, hence the ENTIRE EXISTENCE of a “Red Dragon” remake… because anyone who didn’t live through the time couldn’t take the synths. See also, that once-floated bad idea to rerelease SCARFACE with an “updated” soundtrack.
    What is it about “synth” that makes younger viewers so actively angry? To me, Mororder’s “Scarface” or “Midnight Express” shit, or TD’s “Risky Business” or “The Keep” scores have a SHITLOAD more personality than the umpteen billionth standard orchestral score from even GOOD composers like Horner or James Newton Howard.
    Think of how much more AWESOME Carpenter was when he was all synthed out, before he started laying down jank blues-rock on his movies. Or how much more personality, score-wise, “Thief” and “The Keep” have for Mann than “Public Enemies,” which just seemed like outtakes of 20 other instrumental scores from 15 others movies, combined with some bluegrass shit.
    If Mann had brought back THE DREAM to synth the fuck out of PE, it’d already be a modern classic.

  4. LexG says:

    Now you’re ALL going to listen to this, especially starting at 1:40 and bask in its TOTAL AWESOMENESS:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqQLbWS4CQo&feature=related

  5. LexG says:

    Who gives a shit.
    I’M HORNY.
    So fucking drunk I can’t even type or keep my eyes open two at a time, but I don’t want to sleep because then I’d have to face another sexless day. Another sexless month. Another sexless year. And unless I get a windfall of cash from someone showing my animations to Adult Swizz, I’m pretty sure I’m-a clear 2010-2020.
    And I’m getting to the age where stuff is on the cusp of not working like it used to, and I’m not exactly an athletic sort…
    It really did all pass me by. I really did fail at life. No, I’m not gonna David Keith in Officer it yet… but at best I’m-a trudge through life full of pent-up obsessions and failed ideas I can’t express, all bloated and doughy and unpleasant.
    Los Angeles having killed another hopeful soul.
    Someone who arrived in this town with an earnest smile and a Manila envelope full of headshots, four screenplays and a shitload of good intentions. Who got stuck working menial post jobs and color-correcting other people’s genius.
    Who got complacent, got distracted, got domesticated, became Al Bundy… paying the rent and living the suburban delay.
    Until midlife crisis time, 34 years old and knowing the world passed him by, knowing that others had the power, knowing that he was a failire, a wimp, a limpdick, a pussy, a douche, a regular joe… Scrambling to do the white collar equivalent of cleaning piss stains just to keep a pad and a car and a few bucks for a night at the sock hop.
    But always knowing he wanted to be GOD, wanted to be KING presiding over the other weak motherfuckers who couldn’t do anything, who sat idly by watching their idols on the box, living in soft focus with the sandals and shirts tucked in to the shorts.
    Not being GOD.
    And now I work in a BOILER ROOM, a prison, life an endless collection of laundry days and bad fast foods and paying bills and not knowing anyone, faintly smiling to keep up the ruse that it’s not all bullshit.
    But I won’t get a second chance. It’s a young man’s game, and I’m not young. I’m practically ancient, and the physique has gone harder than can ever be put to words. Occupying that pasty, slimy middle ground between unlookably repulsive and just tubby bland. 240 pounds, fat but not freakshow fat. Freakshow fat gets you a SAG card.
    Hair thinning, flab hanging, but who cares when you have to pound it out 11 hours, 13 hours, a day, emotionless and reserved, a loner’s job with no one understanding, no one wanting to talk, faking your way through half-conversations with people who used to know a livelier you, barely listening to the words, yours or theirs.
    Los Angeles is killing another man, another man who knew no one and wasn’t anyone and who nobody would remember. Who screamed and shouting and plastered his underwelming mug, who went to shadowboxing venues and plied his irrelevant wares before no one, creating Hamlet in a vaccuum for so long, making no impression.
    An invisible man.
    A minor man.
    Minor but wanting to be major, but lacking the means, lacking the ambition… just thoroughly mediocre, pathetic, grim, stupid, ugly, repulsive, hateful, needy…. ALONE.
    No one to talk to.
    No one who cares.
    Why go on?
    Someone who once made people happy, but now others had contempt. Or indifference. In a kingdom of beautiful people, he was nothing. A weakling. A hanger-on. A sadsack. A dumpy and unoriginal lower-middle, all longing and no ability.
    Maybe it all ended years ago… the last few years a ghost. Still there but only in half.
    His name was end.
    And.

  6. I generally love synth scores, but I love synths so there ya go. Angelo Badalamenti briefly brought them back with Mulholland Drive!

  7. The Big Perm says:

    Maybe if you hadn’t settled on the first draft of those screenplays someone would have bought them.

  8. The Big Perm says:

    And so, there’s a remake of Plan 9 from Outer Space and they released a trailer today. Anyone seen it?
    Also, I wish I had any time to see movies. I’m lucky I got to see Inglorious Basterds (totally worth it). There’s a ton of shit out right now and I’ll probably have to wait until DVD.

  9. Joe Straat says:

    The Saint soundtrack is possibly my favorite soundtrack I own from the 90s. A lot of good up-and-coming electronic acts like Moby, The Chemical Brothers, Sneaker Pimps, Daft Punk, Orbital, and Underworld, some older acts having their modern resurgances like Duran Duran and David Bowie, 90’s acts like Luscious Jackson, Duncan Sheik, and Everything but the Girl with good, memorable cuts, and some other odds and ends like the one of 2 Fluke songs that showed up in every fifth soundtrack for a time. Even if things like “Setting Sun” is far from my one of my favorite Chemical Brothers tracks, I still listen to the full album beginning to end. Oh, and the score is my personal favorite of Graeme Revell’s as well.
    For recent synthetic albums, the band Underworld’s done a couple tag team acts with a couple composers. They did the score to Anthony Minghella’s Breaking and Entering with Gabriel Yared (I may not be the biggest fan of Minghella, but he had VERY good taste in a lot of things, like actors and music choices), and they did the score to Sunshine with John Murphy. They’re a lot more atmospheric, though, so don’t expect anything with some a lot of impact.

  10. EthanG says:

    Anyone else think “The Princess and the Frog” looks racist? I’m not kidding, the trailer absolutely makes me cringe.

  11. storymark says:

    Funny that synth-scores should come up; last night a friend and I caught the last half of Bloodsport on TV, and we ended up discussing the score a fair bit.
    I don’t think we’ll see a resurgence of that style, unless it’s done totally ironically, but the 90’s electronica stuff is still hanging on. I really like the film music Underworld has collaborated on. Daft Punk is scoring Tron 2 – if that works, I bet we’ll see a bit more.

  12. berg says:

    more great synth scores:
    Edgar Froese/Tangerine Dream … Sorcerer
    Popol Vuh … Aguirre

  13. Josh Massey says:

    No Way Out has an awf… great one.

  14. martin says:

    Fletch and Terminator are classic ones, I also really like the score to Speed but I can’t remember if it was synth or orchestral/synth mix.

  15. martin says:

    Also The Rock had a good score, I remember it being a lot of synth.

  16. The Big Perm says:

    I was never a big fan of synth scores. No better way t take your multi-million dollar movie sound like a school project. The horrible synth is the only flaw in Princess Bride, and I know this is sacrilige to say on the internet, but I hated the cheapo score to Legend.
    However: Picnic at Hanging Rock. And Blade Runner worked.

  17. bmcintire says:

    Josh – NO WAY OUT was the first title that came to mind. A great movie with an excruciatingly bad score. That kind of crap is exactly where the Vangelis / Tangerine Dream Dream stuff led Hollywood – and probably why it died so deservedly quick a death.

  18. storymark says:

    Has any movie been as utterly ruined by a synth score as Ladyhawk?

  19. martin says:

    Hm, I actually feel the opposite, although I haven’t seen all of these films with supposedly “bad” synth scores. Usually for me it’s a film with a droning, completely obvious and cliched orchestral score that saps any originality out of the filmmaking. I find that even the lamest synth scores are not oppressive enough to kill the scene. Yes, they can sound a bit amateurish or film schooly, but something about synth to me feels homegrown and additive to a scene, as opposed to a completely generic wall of orchestral sound that feels like it gotten taken off a Jerry Goldsmith CD from 2 decades ago with no care at all.

  20. martin says:

    And to me the worst offenders are the ones that have some awesome, exciting orchestral or synth tracks in the trailer that sound original and a part of the film, and then you see the film and it’s got this lame droning orchestral crap that you barely even notice is there, and it might as well not even be there because it’s so flat. Then they’ll thrown in a cool track, but on the end credits.

  21. Telemachos says:

    “Has any movie been as utterly ruined by a synth score as Ladyhawk?”
    Agreed, although I think the problem was not so much the synth as the pseudo-rock elements. If it had been more ethereal and Vangelis-y, it might’ve worked.
    I remember hearing the first bars and thinking “this is kinda cool” and then the main section kicked in and… ugh.

  22. jeffmcm says:

    Lex, I very much enjoyed your initial 2:44 am score. Your other postings were whiny garbage.
    The score to Titanic stuck out at me because a lot of it sounded very synth-y and cheap, and that made me wonder why a movie that was super-expensive and over-budget couldn’t have just gone ahead and spent an extra million on a proper symphony scoring session. It shows that Cameron must not be too much of a perfectionist after all.

  23. Goulet says:

    I’ll remember you Lex.
    Honestly, I don’t think anyone has made me laugh more on the interwebs than you with his posts and videos.
    Don’t stop believing!

  24. LYT says:

    I think Lex’s last post on this thread would make a decent audition monologue.

  25. Mr. F. says:

    It’s 9/9/09… and no one’s talking Beatles yet?
    Picked up Beatles: Rock Band at lunch and loved it for the 25 minutes I got to play it before heading back to work… and can’t wait to go home and play for a few more hours. Really fun so far.
    Any thoughts on the remastered CDs, stereo vs. mono, etc.?

  26. Gus Petch says:

    The Plan 9 remake trailer is here. I wonder if there’s ever been a worse idea for a movie.

    And Perm has it exactly right on synth scores: they scream “Cheap!” with every chord. The Princess Bride was exactly the first movie that came to mind when Lex brought up the subject. They could have had a truly great movie on their hands if they had only shelled out a few thousand dollars for some real musicians.

    To tie the threads together: As cheesy as it is, the (original) Plan 9‘s orchestral score is far better than Mark Knopfler fiddling around with his Casio in Princess Bride. Come to think of it, Princess Bride is a movie that could stand a remake, if only to correct that awful misfire of a score.

  27. leahnz says:

    re: the all-time synth score champ, three words: bev hills cop
    faltermeyer’s diddy gets stuck in your head like nobody’s business. do do dodo do do doo, do do dodo do do do, boop boop boop boop boop de boop boop boop…bap pap ba deep peep badeep peep…
    (tho perhaps jan hammer’s ‘miami vice’ synth score might challenge for all-time champ status)

  28. Wrecktum says:

    “Anyone else think ‘The Princess and the Frog’ looks racist? I’m not kidding, the trailer absolutely makes me cringe.”
    Absolutely not, considering how carefully Disney animators have tried to avoid any stereotyping. Which part specifically do you think looked bad?

  29. LexG says:

    “Which part specifically do you think looked bad?”
    “DIS GON’ BE GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD!”

  30. Wrecktum says:

    A firefly? That’s your racist stereotype? Please. In a movie chock full of positive African American characterizations, a firefly with a comical Cajun accent is deemed racist. And that damns the whole film as racist. Snort.
    Please note that Cajuns are white.

  31. Crow T Robot says:

    Have we forgotten Apocalypse Now? Jim Morrison and Wagner get all the credit there, but the synthesizer score is classic… that creepy electric wah wah when Willard reads Kurtz’s diary… the way the helicopters’ booming, wooshing blades blend into the soundtrack before Valkyrie kicks in… the acid trippy carnival music during the bridge battle… to me, it’s all as potent as the imagery.
    J-Mac, I’d bet dollars to donuts James Cameron was a closeted Enya fan and commanded Horner to do his impression of the artist, resulting in yes, one of the most miscalculated scores of the decade… frustrating especially after knowing how Silvestri’s score for the similarly themed The Abyss was so perfect.

  32. jennab says:

    Uggh. I find synth scores cheesy, Beverly Hills Cop being the apotheosis…or nadir, depending on how you look at it.
    Lex, you are choosing to be hopeless. Your reality is refracted through the prism of your own consciousness. Get your shit together and stop making excuses. Agreed, Perm…writing is in the revision.

  33. The Pope says:

    Until Crow T Robot mentioned Apocalypse Now, I don’t think I was able to pin-point the real problem with synth scores. It is not the synth per se, but rather the thunk-thunk of the electronic drums. I think it is more the percussion that dates and damages those scores than anything else.

  34. leahnz says:

    well, i would argue that faltermeyer’s iconic, cheeky synth score for ‘bev hill cop’ is the PERFECT accompaniment to brest’s film, perfectly accentuating the feeling of time & place/mood & tone, exactly what a score is supposed to do

  35. leahnz says:

    oops, ‘bev hillS cop’ as it were

  36. palmtree says:

    A Clockwork Orange was synth, but appropriate. By contrast, I thought John Williams’ orchestral score to Minority Report could’ve used a little synth.
    There’s nothing wrong with a synth score, as long as it’s not synth substituting for real musicians and as long as it’s an aesthetic choice.
    But this discussion is somewhat moot these days since almost all scores are recorded, cut up, and remixed so they may as well be synth scores. Seriously.

  37. The Big Perm says:

    palmtree is dead on…when I give any advice to filmmakers I say ditch the synth scores that are trying to emulate an orchestra. It just never works. Make it synth but make it sound like it’s supposed to be. I think electronica type scores work well. Even just a piano by itself is better than some cheesy Sci-Fi channel movie type of score.
    Synth seems to work best when it’s dark and moody. John Carpenter really was the best, I love his stuff. I wish he had scored Planet Terror like it had been rumored…although Rodriguez both ripped him off and used Carpenter’s other scores so I guess it all worked out in the end.
    300 should have used the electronic music from the trailers. So much better than the orchestra stuff they used.

  38. The Big Perm says:

    Oh, and I would disagree with Gus about a Plan 9 remake being a terrible idea. Remaking that is a GOOD idea, but honestly I would like to see Michael Bay or someone turn it into a big action/horror movie, and not a modestly budgeted horror movie. The trailed looked fine but sort of blah, what’s going to make me watch that?
    It’s been said that Night of the Creeps is basically a Plan 9 remake, and that’s pretty much right…down to someone watching Tor Johnson rise from the grave when a zombie smashes up from the floor. And I doubt they’re going to be making something as good as Night of the Creeps.

  39. IOIOIOI says:

    Rock Band is so fucking played out, that it figures the Beatles would pick it over Itunes. Seriously, someone needs to get these geezers in a room, give them a lot of cash, and get their music on Itunes. The Beatles are not exclusive to this. AC/DC and few others need to realize what’s going down in the 21st century, and put their music in the BIGGEST MUSIC STORE ON EARTH.
    It’s rigoddamndiculous that these fucking people think that having their music in the BIGGEST MUSIC STORE ON EARTH, is a bad thing. It’s astounding to me. Absolutely astounding.

  40. jennab says:

    Ha! Leahz, you’re right, the score probably is appropriate to the movie, just can’t bear to listen to it on my son’s iPod (he LOVES it, in the kitschy way today’s teens love all things 80s).
    My fav recent sore was Gustavo Santaolalla’s for Brokeback…just exquisitely heartbreaking. Also dug Public Enemies old-timey (though not a big fan of Krall) and in the jazzy arena, Leaving Las Vegas.

  41. Hallick says:

    Firstly, Popul Vuh’s score for Aguirre is IMMORTAL. Good choice, berg.
    Secondly, say what you will about synth scores, but even at their worst, they still have that unintentional entertainment value. The worst kind of music in a movie is the indie film ACOUSTIC GUITAR NOODLING SCORE. Not the generic bluesy stuff you find in some movies, or the sweet, mournful sections from something like “Withnail & I”, but that awful, earnest, plink-plink-plink, all we can afford is an acoustic guitar and a guy on quaaludes crap.
    Of course, I can’t come up with any examples off the top of my head since I’ve repressed or forgotten every example of this, but somebody here must have their own examples.

  42. LexG says:

    Hallick, it’s usually not quite acoustic, just mildly electric with some light reverb, all jangly and “sensitive.”
    Didn’t that douchebag from the Lemonheads do one of those scores for “Heavy”? That or Hartley’s “Simple Men” are the first things that come to mind when it comes to “polite-rock” noodle scores with that light “doo-doo-dooot!” strumming that’s all elliptical and tasteful and BORING AS FUCK.

  43. jennab says:

    Actually, my favorite score is the one created by weeping softly into the wrong end of a saxophone:
    http://www.homestarrunner.com/sbemail203.html

  44. Gus Petch says:

    Perm, I agree with you about Plan 9 — the bad idea I was referring to is the idea of turning it into a generic mid-budget zombie movie. It seems to me there are only two things you could do with the Plan 9 source material. One is make a movie about the unbelievable story of how the original got made in the first place. That’s pretty much what Ed Wood did, or tried to do. The second is to take the high-level story outline of the original, and do something ambitious with it. That would be your idea of a Michael Bay zillion dollar explosion fest, or alternately some sort of genuinely creepy story about aliens resurrecting fresh corpses. Either way they’d have to pay some homage to the original, without going overboard with the silliness. Maybe they could have a lunatic character named Criswell who starts out ranting the original’s most ridiculous lines (“Can you prove it didn’t happen?”), but later it turns out he can actually see the future.

  45. Joe Leydon says:

    I know it’s not considered cool on the Internet to say anything positive about Chariots of Fire, but I love the score for that one. Also, oddly enough: The Bounty.

  46. Telemachos says:

    THE BOUNTY! Love that score too. CHARIOTS OF FIRE, rather unexpectedly, is one of my fave films (and scores) as well — seems like the choice of using synth to score a period film back then was a very daring one… or am I wrong? Off the top of my head, I can’t think of another period film prior to CHARIOTS that was all-synth.

  47. No fans of Wang Chung’s work on To Love and Die in LA?!?

  48. leahnz says:

    me! TLADILA wouldn’t be 80’s LA w/out WCh
    (vangelis’ synth score for ‘the bounty’ is a stunner)
    re: a period film prior to ‘chariots’ with an all-synth score, what about thomas dolby’s score for russel’s ‘gothic’, would that count? (that might have been made well after ‘chariots’ tho, crap)
    speaking of unusual scores scores, i dig the ‘all-piano-all-the-time’ score for ‘the firm’, quite unique, esp. in how the keyboard is used to great effect in so many ways; jazzy, traditional, percussion, tinkly (i don’t know the technical musical term for tinkly), etc.

  49. leahnz says:

    oop, meant to click preview, just to finish my thought to say the all piano score nicely compliments the memphis setting for ‘the firm’

  50. jeffmcm says:

    I think the conclusion is that synth scores are best when they fully embrace their electronic synthy nature, as with the scores to Blade Runner or Beverly Hills Cop or Clockwork Orange, and not so good when they’re obviously trying to imitate full orchestral scores on the cheap.

  51. bmcintire says:

    Kami / Leah,
    Wang Chung’s score to TLADILA is actually one of my favorite albums from the ’80s. Granted, it’s a bit of a compendium from their previous work, but who cares?
    I also love that Friedkin went ahead and put “Dance Hall Days” in the strip club sequence. Brilliantly on the nose.
    Another bit of synthetic music I loved was the inclusion of Vangelis’ “L’enfant” into Maurice Jarre’s beautiful score for THE YEAR OF LIVING DANGEROUSLY. Gorgeous.

  52. “Dance Hall Days” is the only song Wang Chung ever did that is any good. The score for To Live and Die though is, if I remember correctly, quite something.
    I’m scanning through the soundtrack music I have on iTunes. I seem to have parts of John Barry’s score for The Deep. Not sure when they popped up on there, but there it is (alongside “Down Deep Inside (Theme from The Deep)” by Donna Summer!!!) Although that’s more disco than synth.
    Oh, look! Limahl! Oh man, “The Never Ending Story” theme song that not only has a fade out but a FADE IN! Because it’s “never ending” geddit?!? Brad Feidel’s mammoth Terminator theme music. And, look, “When The Rain Begins to Fall” by Jermaine Jackson and PIA ZADORA! Amazing. Oh wow, how about Jerry Goldsmith’s work on Outland? Found the track “The Rec Room” on a compilation album and love it. And then there’s John Carpenter’s main theme to “Assault on Precinct 13”! Now that is something spectacular right there.
    Strangely, speaking of Carpenter, nobody has mentioned Halloween. It’s been a long time since I watched the movie so I can’t remember the general score, but that theme is surely one of the greatest of all time, no?
    And Bruce Springsteen’s songs “Streets of Philadelphia” and “Lift Me Up” (from Philadelphia and Limbo respectively) are amazing. Springsteen proved once and for all that synths weren’t just something for “the young kids” and that you could make legitimate music out of them that doesn’t age.
    Does anybody own a copy of “Crockett’s Theme”? I curse the day that my dad lost his VINYL COPY of the “Crockett’s Theme” single release. I could listen to that song all day.

  53. tjfar67 says:

    Crocketts Theme
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47XaK4XJxFQ
    The person who post it also will send you copy of it “to keep the spirit of Miami Vice alive!!

  54. The Big Perm says:

    I don’t think anyone thinks of the Halloween score as synth since it’s mostly piano based with a little bit of synth mixed in. But the parts anyone remembers is piano. And yeah, that is one of the greatest scores ever made.
    Bruce Springsteen is a good example…when he used synths later he went moody and esoteric with them and that doesn’t age. As opposed to the synths in Glory Days.

  55. IOIOIOI says:

    No love for this? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgI17dfQ_yM
    That’s my fave synth score.

  56. The Big Perm says:

    ROmero seemed to use syths well. I love the soundtracks to all of the Dead movies. Well, the “real” ones…his first trilogy.

  57. christian says:

    Wang Chung’s whole soundtrack for TLADILA is 80’s synth-score-pop perfection.
    Jerry Goldsmith used synths quite a bit and probably the best of all modern film composers. Especially his great work with Joe Dante. And his early score for SEBASTION (1968) has some cool electronic stuff.
    Tangerine Dream’s score for KAMIKAZE 89 is pretty cool also.
    Carpenter rules all though, particularly ASSAULT ON PRECINT 13, my fave theme from him and the fact that it’s 1976 makes it all the more audacious.

  58. EthanG says:

    “In a movie chock full of positive African American characterizations, a firefly with a comical Cajun accent is deemed racist. And that damns the whole film as racist. Snort.”
    Bless you!
    I don’t recall anyone saying this. There are several racial stereotype characters here. Disney’s first black princess is surrounded by black magic, a witch doctor, the lightning bug, etc.

  59. Wrecktum says:

    Snow White is surrounded by witches and magic. So is Sleeping Beauty. Hell, so was Captain Jack Sparrow for that matter. I think you’re being extremely over sensitive.
    As I mentioned the lightning bug is obviously not a black stereotype. I assume anyone who says it is must be trying to pick a fight.

  60. Martin S says:

    Lex – that is a great post. Travis Bickle meets The Big Picture.
    Jeff – totally agree about Synth scores being themselves.
    My personal favorites are Manhunter, The Hitcher, Tangerine’s Legend, Videodrome and Prince of Darkness. Full Metal Jacket has some great tracks, also.

  61. LexG says:

    Martin:
    Thanks. It is my homage to the poetry of one Leelee Sobieski.
    If Leelee reads this blog and is free tonight, I’d like to give her another kind of homage in person.
    A 5.35-inch homage, if you know what I mean.

  62. scooterzz says:

    so, lex…when megan fox hosts the snl opener on the 26th, i hope that 5.35 inch homage doesn’t block the screen…jus’ sayin’….

  63. Apologies for the digression. A question for those out there… Will “9” theoretically frighten a relatively fearless two-year old who likes 80-minute cartoons? Thanks.

  64. EthanG says:

    “As I mentioned the lightning bug is obviously not a black stereotype. I assume anyone who says it is must be trying to pick a fight.”
    You seem to assume very poorly. You’re really comparing this to movies made 50 years ago?? Wow!
    Disney has made it a a point on their own to advertise this movie as the first animated movie with an African American Princess. When you lay stake to that claim on your own, you’re opening to criticism for surrounding that character that use language straight out of Uncle Remus.

  65. EthanG says:

    And I don’t recall Snow White or Sleeping Beauty being surrounded with West Indian voodoo for the record…in fact this is an animated first for Disney…in their first animated feature with an African American lead. Surprise!

  66. The Big Perm says:

    But there have usually been supernatural elements and magic in them…so if you were setting a movie in New Orleans, why wouldn’t you use the superstitions and magic established in the area? That’s why they used little Chinese dragons in Mulan and not Little Mermaid.

  67. The Big Perm says:

    And without seeing the trailer, am I right in guessing they use Dixieland jazz?

  68. LexG says:

    Why are any of you grown men watching FUCKING CARTOONS, anyway?
    Why has anyone over the age of eight seen ANYTHING ANIMATED EVER, except Beavis and Simpsons and stuff like that? Mulan???? Little Mermaid???? Weren’t you guys at LEAST 14 or 15 when that shit came out?
    Maybe it’s different where you guys come from, but like IO I grew up on the fucking streets, in a hardcore Irish-Catholic sports town; Did you guys seriously GET THE GUYS TOGETHER and rent fucking BEAUTY AND THE BEAST and shit?
    Holy fuck, that kinda shit would’ve scored you a one-way ticket on the beatdown express. Like, don’t you guys have drunk uncles who look like Darnell in CHRISTINE? Could you really tell your dads and older brothers you were watching BEAUTY AND THE BEAST???? Why would you wanna watch that queen-for-a-day henhouse shit?
    I’m actually asking in honesty: You dudes like rented and went to theaters to see Disney cartoon musicals????
    You guys DO like pussy, right?

  69. The Big Perm says:

    Actually Lex, when you’re younger and like to get pussy, sometimes you gotta watch what the girl wants to see. I’ve seen more Julia Roberts and Matthew McConaughey rom-coms movies than I’d care to. But I’ve also seen pussy this year, so I guess it all evens out.

  70. LexG says:

    Rom-coms are one thing…
    but cartoons? My eyes won’t even focus on the image, it’s so embarrassing.

  71. Wrecktum says:

    “but like IO I grew up on the fucking streets”
    You and Fievel are hardcore, yo. Cold chillin’ at the Million Year Picnic and bangin’ wit da homies at Friendly’s.
    (Oops. That’s prolly uncomfortably racist for Ethan. I’ll stop, yo.)

  72. The Big Perm says:

    I’d rather watch a Pixar movie than one of those horribly unfunny rom coms.

  73. LexG says:

    I’d rather watch a triple feature of that Kutcher/Peet romcom, Prinze and Forlani in BOYS AND GIRLS, and WEDDING PLANNER director’s cut than *three minutes* of Ratatouille. At least romcoms usually have a HOT CHICK in OUTFITS.
    It’s a matter of principle. A cartoon is not a fucking movie, and I’m not four.

  74. LexG says:

    When I’m at the movies and they show a TRAILER for an animated feature, I look at the ground for those two minutes, because I refuse to acknowledge such bullshit.
    Every film critic in America should REFUSE to review animated features. Be a MAN.

  75. The Big Perm says:

    What about Heavy Metal! Thar’s a movie what got titties in it!

  76. LexG says:

    a) I’ve never seen it.
    b) If you read carefully, I made an exception for Simpsons/Beavis/South Park type shit, and something like “Heavy Metal” probably would qualify for that… Though anything “ANIME” is straight asshole. Fuck that shit, too.
    Ponyo can eat a dick.

  77. LexG says:

    Pop Quiz!
    What’s more depressing than being drunk, SUPER horny, and suicidal?
    Answer: Being SOBER, super horny, and suicidal.
    Was starting to join up with a more explicit sex/hookup site, but it just felt/looked too skeevy. Perusing Craigslist for the 100th consecutive night (and subsequently pussying out) is even more miserable when you’re sober as a judge.
    Probably not even going back to the strip club for at LEAST four more days, so… looks like a fruitless night of watching YouTube videos and dragging out my 1998 Vivid Video greatest hits.
    My porn is so old the chicks still have bush.

  78. This thread went from being cool to being revolting. You’re a tool, Lex. You realise that, don’t you?

  79. LexG says:

    I ASPIRE to be a tool.
    Also worth noting that both the “cool” part and the “revolting” part (and the various reactions and postings to both) were both courtesy of me, the most ELECTRIC commenter and film voice in THE WORLD.
    But, Kami, why are you historically so “revolted” (your word) by my posts? Did someone make you an Honorary Woman or something, fighting the good fight for the sisters? Last I checked, you’re a dude, not the Chairman of fucking NOW. I know historically there’s a sensitive camaraderie and affinity between gay dudes and feminist females, but… like, WHY?
    What I am engaging is is DUDESPEAK. This is how dudes TALK ABOUT CHICKS. This is MALE HONESTY. You want me to lie and act all P.C. and talk up Janeane Garofolo’s new bit and hang out at Pottery Barn or something?
    Guys want sex. And hot chicks. Preferrably who are easy, noncommital, awesome, flirty and thin. Sorry if that OFFENDS YOU for some disingenuous reason.
    And TO LIVE AND DIE IN LA is predominantly a SONG SCORE, no? Though I guess that opening credits thing (that plays again over the money-laundering (literally) montage counts.
    Big ups to whoever called out LADYHAWKE above. Never heard that, never saw the movie, so imagine my synth-loving delight at hearing that HORRIBLE fucking cheesy score. I think THAT’S what the haters have in mind when they hate synth, not Tangerine Dream or Coppola or Carpenter.

  80. jeffmcm says:

    The thing about Lex’s lame provocations is that his schtick has gotten old and tired. What, another “animation is for losers” comment? Oooh, that was soooo edgy back when Ratatouille came out.

  81. LexG says:

    Yeah? Well, whose dumb ass just took 11 seconds to comment on it?
    L O S E R.

  82. jeffmcm says:

    I was commenting on Kami’s 12:43 post. It was a pure coincidence that we posted at the same time.
    Also, you are a terrible person.

  83. dietcock says:

    Re: synth music. Walter/Wendy Carlos’s score for “Clockwork Orange” anyone?

  84. jeffmcm says:

    Back to John Carpenter, yesterday I went and saw Halloween II and right now I’m listening to the original Carpenter score and I think it alone is better than the entire Zombie movie (although I did very much enjoy its cinematography).

  85. LexG says:

    Jeff McDouche, let me make this clear:
    I am THE GREATEST PERSON you will ever correspond with, I am maybe the GREATEST PERSON in the WORLD… In real life I am AN UTTER DELIGHT and one of the humblest and nicest and most self-effacing motherfuckers you could DREAM to imagine, at least until provoked.
    And if I ever met you at the Ye Rustic Inn or whatever, I’d give you a hearty handshake and say this blog bullshit is all theater and “sorry bout that” and buy you a drink, and then you could buy me about 17.
    And fact of the matter is, most women like me, too, but they’re NOT THE KIND OF WOMEN I LIKE. I am very awkward and nerdy around ANY women though, because they scare the shit out of me and in my experience are generally just not very nice people. Any woman I find hot would never stoop to speak to an apologizing, aw-shucks goober like me…
    So my only hope is to MAKE A BILLION DOLLARS so I can control them like a puppetmaster via my extreme wealth and power. The great capitalist equalizer.
    What the fuck am I gonna do at 37 years old? GO ON A COFFEE DATE? HAHAHAHAHA. And listen to some chick’s problems. Hooray. And any chick in my age range probably has a fucking arsenal of kids, which I am NOT down for. Children are creepy.

  86. jeffmcm says:

    I would very much like to meet you in person and test this hypothesis.

  87. LexG says:

    I’m busy.

  88. jeffmcm says:

    That’s exactly what I thought.
    Let me give you a compliment: Since it’s clear at this point that your primary goal is to piss people off and pump a hotshot of self-pity into your veins…you’re very good at what you do.

  89. leahnz says:

    “What I am engaging is is DUDESPEAK. This is how dudes TALK ABOUT CHICKS. This is MALE HONESTY. You want me to lie and act all P.C…”
    nah, not DUDES lex, just ASSHOLES

  90. Lex, it was fun actually discussing movies and film music and such. That so rarely happens around here anymore. And then you had to go into one of your tired rants about animation and suicide (again with the jokes about suicide – you’re vile) and sex.

  91. Hallick says:

    “Maybe it’s different where you guys come from, but like IO I grew up on the fucking streets, in a hardcore Irish-Catholic sports town; Did you guys seriously GET THE GUYS TOGETHER and rent fucking BEAUTY AND THE BEAST and shit?”
    No. But then I wouldn’t rent “Irreversible” to kick off a romantic evening with a girl, nor would I pop in “Shoah” to kick back after a slogging-hard day at work.
    But I’d play “Kung Fu Panda” or “Tokyo Godfathers” or something crazy-ass like the “FLCL” or “Venture Brothers” series in a heartbeat. And if some hardcore Irish-Catholic sports townies don’t get it, well, who’s crying? They’re probably watching a dog-eared copy of “Failure To Launch” with their girlfriends for the millionth time.

  92. IOIOIOI says:

    1) People in my hood love animation.
    2) Jeff, you are indeed right about the Carpenter to Zombie ratio.
    3) Don’t be hating on each other people! HATE ON DAVID POLAND :D!

  93. EthanG says:

    “Why has anyone over the age of eight seen ANYTHING ANIMATED EVER, except Beavis and Simpsons and stuff like that? Mulan???? Little Mermaid???? Weren’t you guys at LEAST 14 or 15 when that shit came out?”
    Actually, I was 3. And where I come from, a guy wanting to see “Sorority Row” would get more of a beatdown.
    You really think cartoons are all for kids even throwing out great stuff like Pixar, you think kickass films like “A Scanner Darkly,” and “Waking Life” are for kids????
    Lol Wrecktum…

  94. EthanG says:

    “It’s a matter of principle. A cartoon is not a fucking movie, and I’m not four.”
    And I’m not 14 anymore, and don’t get much satisfaction out of soft-core images of Renee Zellweger or Jennifer Garner in cute outfits, or pushing the limit by wearing *moan* panties.
    Yeah I watch a few animated movies a year. This year I’ve seen “Coraline,” “Up,” “Ponyo,” and a trippy stop-motion feature about mice called “Blood Tea and Red String” while I was baked.
    I’m also probably the only person on this blog, LexG, to have watched all of Neveldine and Taylor’s movies. And you, buddy, are probably the only man on this blog who gets hopped up for the Twilight series. So what?

  95. martin says:

    I get what Lex is saying, that most of these movies are aimed at little kids (and bearable for their parents I suppose). But even if say 95% of animated films are meant for children, that doesn’t mean that teenagers or adults can’t get satisfaction out of them. I know a lot of people my age that still play with toy action figures and enjoy video games. I don’t hold it against anyone, that wants to be a child at heart for their life. I’ll take those over the sometimes self-righteous anger that you encounter in many adults. Is it healthy or normal for a relatively intelligent adult to watch movies meant for children? Is it wrong for a teenager to still sleep with a stuffed animal at night? I think there are many worse things that you could be doing, at worst they’re like white bread, no real nutritional value, but if they cheer you up or whatever, there’s nothing wrong with that. I think LEX is taking a hard line at something when there are much more significant things to worry about, than people’s moviegoing habits. I watch WWE on occasion, I know it’s not intellectually stimulating, but sometimes after a long day it’s nice to not have to think much, and it’s the same for adults watching these films. Frankly, there are many “adult” films that are just as simple-minded as most cartoons. And all that being said, every once in awhile an adult-aimed animation comes along that does have food for thought. Some anime like Ghost in the Shell comes to mind, and I’d say that James Cameron’s Avatar is somewhat of a step towards more adult-style animation.

  96. EthanG says:

    Even a lot of the films aimed at kids, specifically by Pixar and Miyazaki in recent years, are meant to have more significant appeal for adults. I have no interest in seeing something like “The Princess and the Frog,” or next week’s “Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs,” given that I don’t have a child, but in the case of Pixar and Miyazaki (and once in a blue moon something else), if it has significant buzz on movie sites, guess what, that means it’s not just meant for the pre-college set.
    Others in the last few years that are specifically NOT meant for kids, whether they were succesful or not:
    9, Persepolis, Waltz With Bashir, Renaissance, Aqua Teen Hunger Force, The Simpsons, A Scanner Darkly, and to a lesser extent Coraline. In the case of Coraline, Persepolis, Waltz and Scanner Darkly, I don’t really recall any kids in the theatre (Coraline was a 10pm screening).

  97. martin says:

    Well, I don’t entirely agree with that list. Pixar, still primarily carrying the Disney style family brand, and while I’ve enjoyed many of their films, they are mainly aimed at kids and family audiences. Which is not to say that there aren’t elements in them for viewers of all ages, but primarily they’re kids films. I haven’t seen a Miyazaki in awhile, but I’m going to have to disagree and say that Aqua Teen, Simpsons, Coraline, and some of the others you mentioned are made primarily for kids and teen audiences. Which again, is not to say older viewers might not get a kick out of them, but they’re still kids and family films. When Hollywood feels comfortable putting $120 million into an R-rated animation (not necessarily for blood and sex either but just adult content) then I’ll change my tune. But until that happens, animation by and large is still aimed at kids and families.

  98. EthanG says:

    Yeah…I agree it’s primarily aimed at kids, occasionally it isn’t…as far as Pixar and Miyazaki go, yes, I agree they’re aimed at kids, but with appeal beyond kids as well. Simpsons and Coraline you have a good case, though I would say Simpsons was going more for the core audience of the show which tends at this point to skew older…Coraline should not have been targeted at kids, scariest movie of the year!;)
    “and some of the others you mentioned are made primarily for kids and teen audiences”
    Man, you know some really mature kids if you think any of those other films aren’t skewing at adults.

  99. Bryant Frazer says:

    Aqua Teen, Simpsons, Coraline, and some of the others you mentioned are made primarily for kids and teen audiences …

    Do you realize the Aqua Teen Hunger Force movie was rated R?

    Also, I’m going to have to disagree with you strongly on the whole Pixar thing. Those movies are aimed at general audiences in the same way that Looney Tunes were aimed at general audiences. They’re kid-friendly, sure. (So’s Transformers.) But the filmmakers know they need to appeal to adults, too. And their refusal to adhere to limiting, condescending notions of what constitutes a kids’ movie is what sets them apart from their vastly inferior competition.

    I don’t have kids, but I can never see myself missing the new Pixar movie. They’re more expert, more technically dazzling, and more reliably full of joy and wonder and ideas than the output of any other studio/creator I can think of off the top of my head. Except maybe Miyazaki. Who I’m kind of down on because Ponyo felt a little half-baked.

  100. LexG says:

    Pixar? More like Dixar. WHO CARES? Yeah, that fat LEAD SINGER FROM ACCEPT-looking snob douche hack WORST COMEDIAN IN THE WORLD Patton Fatwalt voicing a CARTOON RAT in some animation that looks like BBC shit from 1981. If you saw that movie, or UP, you should get the DEATH PENALTY. Like, you should literally be state-executed.
    Anyway, I am in a JOYOUS MOOD, or will be soon, because THE ROW HAS ARRIVED.
    BOW TO IT. PATRIDGE POWER. BRIANA EVIGAN POWER. JAMIE REAL WORLD HOT AS HELL CHUNG for those guys who like a little Asian.
    I’d give her some SOY SAUCE. WHITE soy sauce, if you know what I mean.
    HIYOOOOO. And then WHITEOUT.
    I’d like to give Kate Becks some WHITEOUT. I’ll give her a WHITEOUT if you know what I mean.
    I want to BANG EVERY HOT ACTRESS IN HOLLYWOOD and that’s the only reason they even bother putting women in movies, cause sure as fuck NO ONE cares about their acting.
    If I wanted to see acting, I’d call in DANIEL DAY LEWIS.
    When I want to see squack, I want to see HOT CHICKS.
    BOO-YAH, HERE COMES THE SLAM.

  101. martin says:

    I agree with Lex on Pixar, just not my thing. Although I have enjoyed a few of their films. Just not enough to get me into theaters anymore. If they move out of the family/Disney realm (a little bit of this on Wall-E) then I might get interested in their films again. In the mean time, I have better things to do.
    As far as Patton Fatwalt, I think it’s ironic that you are such a hater on that guy, considering he’s kind of like your non-genetic twin, is making a shitload of money, and is probably banging some new hot squack every night. And in reality, you may be best in putting your talent to voicing cartoons, so I wouldn’t be talking so much shit about it.

  102. LexG says:

    Fuck yeah, I’d like to do voice acting work. I think I’m actually pretty good with that, or at least with accents and inflections and creating different vocal types. (or at least 17 variations on Artie Lange.)
    Patton Oswalt? Whatever, dude. That dude is SO not pulling actress vag. Used to blow going to open mike and all the other comics are hanging on this guy’s dick, like ANYBODY WHO WATCHES TV or movies couldn’t DO THAT EXACT SAME MATERIAL, only maybe without being a condescending snob.
    ALL HAIL THE DANE, the TRUE king of comedy.
    Wake me up when Oswalt’s making rom-coms with ALBA and HUDSON and SIMPSON… which is why he is THE GREATEST COMIC OF OUR AGE. He’s comedy for cool people, not comedy for gravy-train fuckers who want jokes about STAR WARS. Fuck that.

  103. martin says:

    Well I didn’t say for free, but he’s still probably getting it.

  104. martin says:

    Nevermind, he’s married.

  105. LYT says:

    I wasn’t interested in Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs until I found it it stars Andy Samberg, Anna Faris, and Mr. T.
    That’s right, a movie that casts Mr. T solely for his voice. I’m going (for free, admittedly, but still…)

  106. Joe Straat says:

    Well, if you want to enact the death penalty, come over to Nebraska and deal it, because no way am I missing a Miyazaki or Pixar movie, not to mention the copious amounts of anime I’ve already watched. Of course, if you’re close to suicide now, I’d imagine 100 miles worth of driving through Nebraska would finish the job.

  107. LexG says:

    Lou, you go see that bullshit fucking movie and I’m going to steal your Caddyshack hat.
    Christ.

  108. bmcintire says:

    “What’s more depressing than being drunk, SUPER horny, and suicidal?
    Answer: Being SOBER, super horny, and suicidal.”
    There are things you can do about all of those situations. Focus, Lex focus.

  109. storymark says:

    “As far as Patton Fatwalt, I think it’s ironic that you are such a hater on that guy, considering he’s kind of like your non-genetic twin, is making a shitload of money, and is probably banging some new hot squack every night.”
    I think it makes perfect sense that Lex would have a good hate-on for the guy he wishes he was.

  110. EthanG says:

    “BOW TO IT. PATRIDGE POWER. BRIANA EVIGAN POWER. JAMIE REAL WORLD HOT AS HELL CHUNG for those guys who like a little Asian.”
    Anyone over 25, who has been waiting for a soft-core movie featuring Rumer Willis to get off should be executed immediately.
    Angelina Jolie ANIMATED in “Beowulf” is hotter than anyone from Sorority Row.

  111. LexG says:

    “I think it makes perfect sense that Lex would have a good hate-on for the guy he wishes he was.”
    This is bullshit. I make NO BONES about the fact that the “guy I wish I was,” at least comedy-wise, is Dane Motherfucking Cook, King of Comedy, and FACT — you will never hear me say one bad thing about him.
    Just like you’ll never hear me talking shit about any other people I respect and who kind of have the career going I’d like, like Seth Rogen or Jonah Hill or Rudd Apatow or Sandler or Hader or Bateman or Jason Segal or Danny McBride or Greg Behrendt or Rainn Wilson or Brian Posehn… or whoever.
    But Oswalt? Maybe it’s just because I was doing the scene right before he blew up mainstream, and all the other comics were on this guy like he had Fun Dips down his pants, and I don’t know. He’s funny enough objectively, so I don’t even think it’s him so much as the cult of personality.
    But his “food jokes” seem contemptuous and snobbish, especially since he’s hardly some svelte, suave Affleck-looking motherfucker. And all that fanboy/Star Wars shit? Any third commenter on AICN could’ve written have those jokes, but with less condescnsion.
    Like Pryor or Carlin were looking into the soul of humanity… Patton Oswalt talks about gravy and ice cream cakes.

  112. Wrecktum says:

    Oswalt has no comic timing, and, as Lex said, his gags are straight off the AICN talkback.
    But I loved his voice work in Ratatoille, which is my favorite movie of the past five years. BOW TO THE RAT, LEX.

  113. LexG says:

    WEEKEND BOX OFFICE PREDICTIONS BY LEXG:
    1) SORORITY ROW: 57 MILLION.
    2) WHITEOUT: 34 MILLION.
    3-10) SOME OTHER BULLSHIT.
    11) 9: 1.2 MILLION.
    TAKE IT TO THE BANK.

  114. LYT says:

    You can have my Caddyshack hat. The Woody Harrelson ZOMBIELAND hat I wear now is fifty times better at least.
    And Tyler Perry will win the weekend.
    Now I’m gonna go delete that Daniel Plainview video because you made fun of the way I look in it.

  115. LexG says:

    Forgot about Tyler Perry. 27 mil or so, but you cannot fight THE ROW.
    EVIGAN POWER.
    (Insert BJ joke re: her dad’s old show.)

  116. EthanG says:

    This was Perry’s 2nd play. 30 million.
    9= 16 million over 5 days
    Whiteout and Sorority Row won’t crack 10. Sorority Row I’m hearing, didn’t commit enough. They had lots of boobies, but should have gone even further like “Sex Drive” Unrated Version. Ditto with the gratuitious and inexplicable violence. Fail.

  117. EthanG says:

    “But I loved his voice work in Ratatoille, which is my favorite movie of the past five years. BOW TO THE RAT, LEX.”
    Yeah I could totally see you as the doddering, curmudgeony old Peter O’Toole food critic.

  118. Wrecktum says:

    “Yeah I could totally see you as the doddering, curmudgeony old Peter O’Toole food critic.”
    The best vocal performance and best animated character of all time. Legendary Anton Ego.

  119. Cadavra says:

    Anyone remember that SOUTH PARK episode where Cartman finally went too far and everyone ignored him, leading him to think he was dead because no one saw him or spoke to him or reacted to him?
    Cartman = Lex.
    Don’t respond. To anything. When he realizes he can’t bait us anymore, he’ll either behave himself or go away.
    Best. Post. Ever.

  120. christian says:

    Debating animation esthetics with Lex is as useless as debating D.Z. on Tarantino. There is literally no point.
    But Lex, make sure to tell those Japanese girls you hate anime when you hit the land of the rising sun!

  121. yancyskancy says:

    Lex: If adults shouldn’t watch films targeted at kids, shouldn’t they also avoid films targeted at adolescents (pretty much ALL other Hollywood films, including the ones you love)?
    At any rate, Ratatouille is definitely not the film to pick on. Even if one feels the content is just for kids (highly debatable), it takes an adult sensibility to appreciate the brilliance of the visuals (not just the design, but the movement). Stunning stuff. If they did a friggin’ Teletubbies movie with that kind of visual genius, I’d have to give it at least limited props, despite not being a toddler.

  122. IOIOIOI says:

    Lex is fucking out his damn fool mind. Seriously, no one ever brings this up, and that baffles me. Carry on.

Quote Unquotesee all »

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