April 26, 2024
BYOB
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BYOB: 235 Years Of Relative independence
BYOB Weekend: Hop, An April Fool’s Gag?
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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
I think some people here have said this already (?), but why didn’t ANYONE slide in and take SHUTTER ISLAND’S spot this weekend? Couples Retreat is the only wide-release game in town; It surely would’ve opened huge against anything, but man, the 16th is PACKED with ownage–
What was anyone thinking opening LAW ABIDING CITIZEN, STEPFATHER, and THE ROAD on the same day? That’s a whole lot of R-rated hardcore violence; Not thinking any of those will be particularly HUGE, but they’re going to cannibalize each other (maybe The Road is somewhat limited, but at least the other two will.) Anyone who’d see Law Abiding Citizen would ALSO see Stepfather, and couples on date nights would probably skew toward the horror flick rather than the action…
So why didn’t they move LAC up one week? It doesn’t have that much crossover with Couples Retreat.
Also, as a former copy editor and ex-transcription jockey, delighted that COUPLES RETREAT is also being massacred grammatically as COUPLE’S RETREAT by every third Internet poster in the world, and COUPLES’ (which would actually be more correct) by the others. I think the poster says COUPLES. It’s one of those things like LADIES’ ROOM where the apostrophe fucks everybody up. Holy fuck I need to get laid.
at the academy editing event tonight they showed the opening clip from Roman Polanski Wanted and Desired, and afterwards the moderator praised the editor for so clearly using the transcripts and typewriter sound effects to show how there are two equally valid perspectives on what happened (victim’s and polanski’s) and that none of us can ever really know exactly what happened there.
which, in my mind, was sort of like saying, ‘maybe it wasn’t rape, rape.’ Having read the victim’s transcript last week when DP linked to them (but not Polanski’s testimony, which DP never linked to and I didn’t think to go looking for on my own) I was a little outraged at the utter fabrication of this sequence. particularly that it is so early in the film and sets the tone for how we view the crimes Polanski pled guilty and was convicted of.
Remember, that this is the opening minutes of the film, and the heavily edited and reordered transcripts imply: the victim asked for alcohol, readily stripped, told polanski flat out it was a quaalude, that polanski was very gentle and loving, that she was ‘experienced’ at that sort of situation, that she said no, and finally that she was ‘going in and out’ and in the last damning edit of this sequence, “I don’t really remember anything” In other words, the conclusion we’re supposed to take from this sequence is that the girl’s testimony is unreliable and conflicting, and that Polanski wasn’t monstrous in what he did.
Though it was not in response to the single question about the Polanski film, the great William Cartwright concluded the evening by saying that the word documentary implies an illusion of objectivity, “camera angle is a bias, lighting is a bias,” that deceives too many. All the recreated scenes and non-recreated scenes are still infected by subjectivity of choices made of what to include or exclude–both when filming and in the edit bay. And it’s not entirely right for people who see a documentary and think they’ve seen something true. They’ve seen something that is non-fictional, but they haven’t seen Truth.
Dammit, now I wish I had gone to that. I went and saw A Serious Man instead around the corner at the Arclight.
But yeah, objectivity is a myth, and the best filmmakers are the ones who are aware of it (like Errol Morris). I’m sure Zenovich is a smart person and a hard worker, but she doesn’t seem to have grasped this complex truth.
CATCH THAT KID.
LexG is yet again making this (and now sometimes Jeff Wells’s blog) an unpleasant place to visit.
LexG needs to wash out his potty mouth and stop shouting. All that filth is gonna make him hoarse.
Par is filling the “Shutter Island” void with “Paranormal Activity”, which goes into regular release Friday. High-grossing megaplexes and select college-town theaters get “Paranormal” first. TV spots are running as well.
LexG also needs to check the release schedule — he confused “The Road” with “Where the Wild Things Are”.
What is a VAG? Anyway… LexG, your box office projections are not very scientific to me. First, an accurate prediction begins with an attempt to describe or depict a phenomenon in terms of a logical mathematical representation, which doesn’t seems to be the case here.
You are drunk at 8:30am and there is nothing better to do than to be on a forum talking about box office projections? I love L.A.
In a way, LexG personifies quite accurately what moves the box office: wanting to fuck one of the actors.
Lex is a perfect fit for Well’s Omega Frat blog.
Hey, Lex… first rule of posting is make sure you know what the fuck you’re talking about before speaking. Shutter Island was supposed to open this past weekend, and as soon as it moved, both Whip It and Zombieland moved up from October 9th to October 2nd. And The Road is opening November 25th.
Pull your head out of your ass, stop thinking you’re the son of Michael Bay while you whack off to Megan Fox pictures on Maxim.com and come join us in the real world.
Blog censorship is good. Repeat.
Have we gotten to the point where DP will delete Lex’s comments without even needing to wring his hands about it for a day or two?
I believe one of my comments was also deleted yesterday, on the DP/90 blog. It wasn’t offensive either, first time I seen that happen.
Where are Lex post gone? It was hilarious. Pages of rambling about wants to have sex and looking for vag, more booze. Midlife crisis?
I noted one of my benign replies to Lex was deleted also. I hope it was an accident. Or is it just Lex allowed to dirty the aisles?
Would it be petty for me to say “I told you so”?
Whatever happened to that column on MCM for the Fresh New Voice?
Holy crap, just read Kim’s piece. “Health issues” doesn’t begin to describe it – life dropped the motherload, by the sound of it.
The only small mercy is that I’m sure the medical care was better in Toronto than, say, L.A. or Park City. But damn. Hang in there.
wow, i second that, hang in there kim and here’s wishing you back to good health soon!
Yikes, that was alarming but I was also amazed at how straight-forward and matter-of-fact Kim’s attitude seems to be, best wishes and get well soon!
Wow, best & most positive wishes Kim.
My prayers for you and your family, Kim.
^ I sixth that. Best of luck and a speedy recovery.
Just read Kim’s piece. What a touching, terrifying and sad piece. Here’s to Kim getting better. She’s one of the good guys!
Kim: My best to you as well. You certainly have the kind of attitude that can lick this thing.