April 25, 2024
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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 love the SAG awards. it’s not quite as silly as the Globes, and the actors tend to be comfortable in front of their peers.
the winners seemed predictable. was anyone surprised by the winners?
I was happy with the love bestowed to Boardwalk Empire.
All the winners felt right. Bale, Leo, Portman, Firth. Is there any real argument to be made that these names won’t be called again on Oscar night?
Okay… we can stop acting like the Oscars have any mystery to them now, right? We can just stop acting as if it’s not going to be the King’s Speech’s night, right?
i didn’t like Mila Kunis dress
http://justjared.buzznet.com/2011/01/30/mila-kunis-sag-awards-2011-red-carpet/
i didn’t tlike January Jones hairstyle
http://justjared.buzznet.com/2011/01/30/january-jones-sag-awards-2011-red-carpet/
best dressed was Lea Michele from Glee
http://justjared.buzznet.com/2011/01/30/lea-michele-sag-awards-2011-red-carpet/
The Brits will dominate our Oscars and dominate our comic-book movies. Bale as Batman, Garfield as Spiderman, and now Cavill as Superman. At least Captain America’s American. Now we need a British Aquaman. Chris Egan?
Something I don’t understand…why would Nicole Kidman do this Sandler movie, unless it was for the paycheck? But what’s the point of giving her the paycheck if you can’t use her name or likeness in the ad campaign and no one knows she’s in the movie?
In the pre-Internet era, her appearance would have been considered a surprise, like Bill Murray in TOOTSIE.
RIP Mr John Barry. One of my true, personal favorites. He leaves an amazing legacy. Film score has not been the same without him for sometime. I was always hoping he’d come back for one more Bond title as nobody has even been close…
my internet is being capped for downloads in March
which means i can’t watch as many DP/30’s – i’m not
sure what size they are on youtube ..
watching all those Sundance DP/30 probably would
cost a few bucks
so DP – can you put up MP3 files of DP/30’s
all sorts of video services are going to lose viewers
like Netflix / itunes and lots of video sites
more info and lots of discussion about limited downloads
http://www.reddit.com/r/reddit.com/comments/fcdz3/200gb_to_25gb_canada_gets_first_bitter_dose_of/
No. Please not John Barry.
Francis Ford Coppola said that were in an age where maybe artists dont need to make a living wage and that maybe misic and movies should be free.
this should start some interesting conversations
Anyone else imagining Judd Nelson camped out in front of Chuck Lorre’s house yelling “I could be crazy cousin Billy, just back from Amsterdam. A few weeks subbing in PLEASE, I’m going to lose my health insurance!!!!”
Sanj, the limited downloading is probably the first step towards overcoming your obvious addiction. Godspeed.
not really an addiction… much better than spending 3 hours a day watching reality tv shows every day ..
oscar time is pretty big for movie sites – if DP just takes some time to put more MP3’s up ..more people can download them and put them on mp3 players or listen whenever ..
Natalie Portman is probably going to win..so more views ..
re: portman’s SAG – and now likely oscar – win, i have mixed feelings after having been talked into seeing ‘black swan’ (or perhaps a more fitting title would be, ‘nina tries to masturbate!’) again with a differnt group of peeps.
on closer inspection, i’ve come to the conclusion that there are two movies lurking in ‘the black swan’:
one, a rather creepy psychological drama/horror/thriller, chronicling the slow decent onto madness of a fragile, repressed, deeply insecure bulimic ballerina trapped in an unhealthy co-dependent relationship with her well-meaning but stifling mother in a journey that in many respects mirrors the tale of the two swans in the ballet;
and the second: a ridiculously obvious, juvenile teen-boy fantasy ballerina flick with eye-rollingly repetitive ‘fingers up the snatch’ imagery and ‘OMG girl-on-girl action!’. nina needs to touch herself (because her creepy director told her to!) and we get to watch her try over and over! nina gets (giggle, squeeeee) finger-fucked by her jackass director at rehearsal to teach the poor innocent about proper lust and seduction! nina goes to a club and acts like a ‘bad girl’ (gasp!) and gets eaten out by her flaky rival (did you see that! he he)
the attempt to use repetitive titillating ‘fingers in the crotch’/masturbation/oral sex imagery as a device to examine nina’s deep timidity and repression comes off as so laughably juvenile and simplistic, it almost seems like a joke, but i don’t get the feeling it was MEANT to be ridiculous (?); it’s as if intermittently a gaggle of pimply teen boys and their frat-boy big brothers rushed the set and took over the production with all the subtlety and nuance of a vibrator shaped like a sledgehammer, then handed back the reigns to a director trying to tell a dark, sad tale of a repressed girl striving for perfection and attaining a sick strain of freedom achieved via madness and paranoia.
a real pity, because the first movie could have been something really special, a repulsion-esque, genuinely disturbing paranoid mind fuck set amidst the drama and pathos and physical exertion and beauty of the ballet; if only all the other teen-boy fantasy nonsense could have been excised. but aronofsky shows what i can only think to describe as a real lack of maturity and a bizarre schizophrenic sensibility in his conflicting tones in telling nina’s tale, and i’m thoroughly baffled by all the unmitigated praise for his work in this instance, which is half brilliant, half badly-acted eye-rolling pulp silliness (DP’s appraisal that with this work aronofsky was ‘pushing for new levels’ is just bizarre to me, unless it was new levels of juvenile lack of nuance, that i could see)
at any rate to get back to my rambling point, unfortunately portman is beholden to both these conflicting sensibilities in aronofsky’s material with her performance, which is to me at times genuinely fraught with psychological damage and peril, but all too often just looking like she’s rather constipated, confused, or using her ‘masturbation face’.
I’m now tempted to go and see Black Swan…
Black Swan is fucking tremendous. One of the best movies about the perils of perfection.. ever.
…or possibly tremendous fucking…
there’s no fucking, just straining
“Black Swan is fucking tremendous. One of the best movies about the perils of perfection.. ever.”
pfft. black swan could have been tremendous if aronofsky had kept the frat boys off set. i’d love to re-edit that movie, my version would kick ass
Leah’s actually right. I love the movie, but it’s pretty clearly via the “male gaze,” and is infused with that tortured SEX IS EVIL! vibe of so many male auteurs, which has permeated most of Aronofsky’s movies.
I just think the movie’s goofier than some give it credit for, and more tongue-in-cheek about that silliness. Despite Portman’s serious performance and the visual skill and the INCREDIBLE mood…. it really is a whole movie about a hot, somewhat infantilized girl learning to touch herself, set in a male-fantasy world of hot horny rivalries, fragile chicks, and lecherous assholes, directed by a brilliant guy whose recurring aesthetic is still LOOK! SEX! LESBIANISM! Look how HOT IT IS! But it’s SO EVIL!”
except it’s not hot in the slightest, because it was designed for what silly teen boys would find ‘hot’. that’s the problem. a juvenile lack of understanding of sensuality or intensity, just ridiculous.
the masturbation/fingers up the snatch in ‘in the cut’ = hot. challenging. adult.
the masturbation/fingers up the snatch in ‘swan’ = laughable. silly. embarrassingly lame.
What has this blog come to if Lex is agreeing with Leah regarding male gaze and *I’m* the one that has to make the “LOOK AT HER!!!” comments?
It was definitely “hot.”
maybe for teen boys, or those whose appreciation of sexuality is at a teen boy level. black swan is about as hot as having sex with grandma watching. cringeworthy.
edited to say: grandma brings to mind, the only time the whole masturbation theme works is when
spoilers:
she looks over and her mother was sleeping in the chair. genuinely horrifying.
I wanna see leah do “The Cathy Moriarty Cut” on Raging Bull.
I agree with Leah, the idea of anyone who has had a child being involved with sex is genuinely horrifying.
…wait, what do you mean “That’s not what I meant”?
winning an oscar leads to divorce..
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/31/oscar-curse-study-researc_n_816295.html?ir=Entertainment
I’m glad we have Leah here to tell us what is and is not hot. Because such things are completely quantifiable.
hmmm, lex began by saying it’s hot and follows that up insisting it’s hot, i disagreed and said it’s not the exact same amount of times. so no comment about about having lex here (after his sob retirement story) to tell us what’s hot? wee bit hypocritical, story, what’s up with that?
“so no comment about about having lex here (after his sob retirement story)…”
Short story as to why the “retirement” was short-lived:
I got my car fixed and my ex loaned me some rent money.
oh, you mean announcing your ‘retirement’ wasn’t all a pity ploy to get attention and ego trip while people fawn over you and tell you how much you’ll be missed (no internet service in pennsylvania or wherever you were supposedly headed?) and perhaps even hand you the model-fucking ‘fame’ on a plate you’re so desperate for to the point of begging, demanding, sniveling and shouting about it all these years, in order to feed your narcissistic personality disorder? all that ‘goodbye cruel world’ hooha because you needed a loan?
there’s a sucker born every minute, but i’m not one of them (usually, anyway; not so say i’ve never been hoodwinked but my BS detector is pretty finely-tuned and high-toned after all these years)
Leah, Lex expressed an opinion. You insulted anyone who might happen to share it. There is a slight difference.
Again, Leah, you do know that Lex is just a guy and that you are angry at his former schtick right? You seem to think that the schtick and the guy were one and the same and they are not. Whatever, I just have a problem with you trying to tell us how we should all interpret the Black Swan sex scenes. They are not even all that sexual because they are not about sex, but pushing through boundaries to get closer to perfection. The sex is a metaphor… YAY!
uh, where exactly have i “told you all how you should interpret the black swan sex scenes”, io. please point that out, ANYWHERE i have done that. absolute nonsense.
i expressed my opinion, just as others express theirs. i eagerly await the excerpt of where i have told everyone how to interpret black swan. have at it.
an io, i don’t give a shit what you think about lex and my opinion of him, you don’t know lex any more than i do and my opinion of him is just as valid as yours, so cut the crap.
“Leah, Lex expressed an opinion. You insulted anyone who might happen to share it. There is a slight difference.”
huh? how on earth did i “insult anyone who might happen to share it”? again, please point out where i did that. lex said it’s hot. i said it’s not. he said, yes it is, i said maybe if your a teen age boy or think like one. is that it, because i said that the sexuality was portrayed for a teen boy mentality and those who share it? geeze, if so, that’s just my take on it – and also many other’s whose opinions i have now read wondering if i’m alone in my assessment – so maybe don’t be so sensitive; is that some grand insult to the population of black swan viewers? if that ‘insults’ you, perhaps i have a point. unless that’s not what you meant, then whatever)
“Anyone else imagining Judd Nelson camped out in front of Chuck Lorre’s house yelling ‘I could be crazy cousin Billy, just back from Amsterdam. A few weeks subbing in PLEASE, I’m going to lose my health insurance!!!!'”
Lorre already threw him a couple of guest appearances as the bitter ex of Jon Cryer’s girlfriend on the show.
In a weird coincidence, I just now ran across my now-unwatchable VHS copy of “Making The Grade” (fucking SLP speed 15 years and six generations of VCRs later). I gotta see that one again sometime. Its a lost gem.
Leah, you need a bitching nickname. Seriously, would you like the Contessa? It seems suitable. Nevertheless, the Contessa wrote; “except it’s not hot in the slightest, because it was designed for what silly teen boys would find ‘hot’. that’s the problem. a juvenile lack of understanding of sensuality or intensity, just ridiculous.
the masturbation/fingers up the snatch in ‘in the cut’ = hot. challenging. adult.
the masturbation/fingers up the snatch in ‘swan’ = laughable. silly. embarrassingly lame.”
Someone said they were hot, this was your replay, and that’s you basically stating what they are and how they should be perceived as frat boy sex scenes. Seriously, they are not even sex scenes. This is about her pushing through her own boundaries to achieve a powerful performance. That’s the point but apparently it’s about frat boys or some shit. Go figure.
Oh yeah, I know Lex a lot better than you do but you like to think that the schtick is all he is, and that’s just ridiculous. Especially when you have a schtick that involves the way you post. Seriously, give the brother a chance. GIVE RODNEY A CHANCE!
ETA: Hallick, my mom is sort of in Making the Grade.
Leah bellows “uh, where exactly have i “told you all how you should interpret the black swan sex scenes”, io. please point that out, ANYWHERE i have done that. absolute nonsense.”
I guess the part where you say that only pimply teen boys and frat-boy big brothers could appreciate the sex scenes. Therefore if you found them sexy you were one or the other.
You haul people over the coals for exactly the same bullshit Story called you on. You are a constant hypocrite on here and what’s even worse is that you have no clue that you do it religiously.
I actually think the film is tonally awry and laughable for the wrong reasons. I also think you have a point in the duality of the directors vision but Leah… it would be great if you realized that you do your points of view no service but being such a boorish know it all. If that insults you, perhaps I have a point.
then again, whatever …
‘then again, whatever …’ = lol
I’m not sure Aronofsky’s intention was ever to make Black Swan ‘hot’, whether by male teen standards or otherwise. Focusing on that seems a tad redundant, no? Also I don’t know about being a know-it-all (maybe it’s the tight prose) but you do engage in the battle of the genders more than most (and def on the hot blog more than all). Entrenched feminism feels rather anachronistic in this modern world (now that I think of it that may explain why the posts read so alien and occasionally chip-on-the-shouldery
holy shit batman! hilarious
AI – lol. are you serious? i’m pretty much the only (admitted) female who posts here regularly, that may explain why there are gender differences of opinion…isn’t that obvious? i’ll call the boy’s club on sexism and misogyny if i can be bothered, who else would do it here, lex? can you really be that thick? as lex’s lapdog, i can’t say i’m surprised at your attitude, but really. noisy feminist bitches, just shut the fuck up and let the boys chinwag! fascinating. i didn’t realise feminism was an anachronism in today’s world of complete gender equality! thanks for setting me straight there, bright spark. i’ll be quiet now.
now onto the rest: reading comprehension is obviously not the strong suit of either io or JBD (storymark felt my coment re: the teen mentality was offensive and while i don’t agree and that’s not what i intended, fair enough – i can at least see where he’s coming from)
as for io and JBD, your replies are laughably off-base, and further, COMPLETE fabrications:
io uses my quote:
“except it’s not hot in the slightest, because it was designed for what silly teen boys would find ‘hot’. that’s the problem. a juvenile lack of understanding of sensuality or intensity, just ridiculous.
the masturbation/fingers up the snatch in ‘in the cut’ = hot. challenging. adult.
the masturbation/fingers up the snatch in ‘swan’ = laughable. silly. embarrassingly lame.”
those are MY OPINIONS. that is my POV. are we now not allowed to write our opinions or a dissenting POV here, or just me? NOWHERE did i say or otherwise imply, ‘this is how it should be perceived by everyone’. nowhere. i simply stated my case based on MY interpretation and viewpoint.
so sorry, io, but you are full of shit (as is so often the case; and now you will try to wiggle out of it with some reverse-drop backwards kip nonsensical rebuttal with even less basis in reality, no doubt. and you’re really calling me out on expressing my opinion on this blog, io? perhaps the most hilarious, ironic thing in the history of irony)
and ftr, i NEVER called them ‘sex scenes’, not once. YOU DID, io dear.
this is your quote, you can find it above in your comment: “Whatever, I just have a problem with you trying to tell us how we should all interpret the Black Swan sex scenes”.
perhaps before commenting you should actually READ what i wrote (and from the looks of it, maybe you should skim what YOU wrote as well, to be on the safe side). as for lex, i repeat, i don’t give a shit what you think, and i don’t think you know lex in the slightest. i’ve seen him post some of the most vile, hateful shit i’ve ever read in my entire life on a couple other blogs and then after the backlash furiously backpedal, trying to pass it off as some lighthearted fluff and just expect that everyone has to accept his ‘i’m not an asshole i just play one on tv’ excuse, but i’m not buying it. sorry. thehotblog is not nearly the extent of it.
now, onto the next batch of absurdity: JBD, who displays possibly an even more disturbing lack of reading comprehension, wherein the lady-man claims i ‘bellowed’ and then says this complete fabrication: (is it possible you just hear me ‘bellowing’ in your head JBD, filtered thru your scary red haze of resentment?)
quote:
“I guess the part where you say that only pimply teen boys and frat-boy big brothers could appreciate the sex scenes.”
WHAT? lmao. WHERE did i say that? absolutely mental. i said no such thing. this is what i said re: pimply boys and their frat bros re: the direction of ‘swan’:
“the attempt to use repetitive titillating ‘fingers in the crotch’/masturbation/oral sex imagery as a device to examine nina’s deep timidity and repression comes off as so laughably juvenile and simplistic, it almost seems like a joke, but i don’t get the feeling it was MEANT to be ridiculous (?); it’s as if intermittently a gaggle of pimply teen boys and their frat-boy big brothers rushed the set and took over the production with all the subtlety and nuance of a vibrator shaped like a sledgehammer, then handed back the reigns to a director trying to tell a dark, sad tale of a repressed girl striving for perfection and attaining a sick strain of freedom achieved via madness and paranoia.”
this is the ONLY comment i made about pimply teens/frat boys, in a DIRECT reference to aronofsky’s schizophrenic direction and in context to how the movie is made – apart from a second very brief mention of ‘frat boys on set’ which again refers directly to aronofsky’s direction. neither comment has even a remote connection to viewer appreciation or my opinion thereof. that you should interpret my quote above about pimply teens and aronofsky’s direction as me saying “only pimply teen boys and frat-boy big brothers could appreciate the sex scenes” either shows you didn’t actually read what i wrote JBD, and just hopped on the ‘let’s rag on leah because she’s doesn’t buy lex’s ‘poor me’ act’ (my guess), or you are extremely dumb. either way, your comment above is entirely without basis in reality or merit.
so i’m a CONSTANT hypocrite on this blog JBD? really? point out where. give me 3 examples (apart from today, obviously, already covered by you) of my constant gross hypocrisy. i DARE you. you are so full of shit and blinded by your dislike of me becuase i don’t act the way you think womenfolk should, i actually find it extremely amusing. i can’t wait for all the example of my on-going hypocrisy here, looking forward to it very much (i’m probably one of the few people on this blog that makes a point to speak just for myself time and time again. i make a point of framing things from my own perspective and speak only for myself 99.99% of the time, because this is all so subjective. again, i can’t wait to see this huge barrage of my hypocrisy you come up with, assuming you actually know the meaning of hypocrisy, i guess that remains to be seen)
thus in closing…the contessa says daintily, ‘learn to read, fuckers’. but by all means keep the reality-skewing hate coming, it’s like shooting ducks in a barrel
Leah, JBD pretty much summed up my sentiments exactly. If you want to yell at me figuratively, then go right ahead. There’s simply no reason to fight about this.
JBD summed up your sentiments using a completely false, fabricated statement with no basis in reality pertaining in no way to what i actaully said? i can totally believe that, io
Leah, it’s right there. If you had a different intent, which seems to be what you are intimating, then that’s one thing. If not, well, it’s right up there and if you want to be pissed at me, Lex, and JBD, then go right ahead. There’s simply no reason to fight about it, when clearly, it’s right up there, but apparently we cannot have a differing opinion. Sorry. Our bad.
Oh yeah: not only do I lack the reading comprehension to understand what you are posting. You have pointed out to me countless times that you know my true intent with some of my posts, so apparently I lack the reading comprehension to understand what I write. Obviously, this is my bad.
what’s “right there” io? what are you talking about? (rhetorical question, mind)
“There’s simply no reason to fight about this”
i agree. how about superman, any reason to fight about that? are you the arbiter of what is worthy of a bit of a fuckarow and what isn’t? it would appear so. hopefully JBD will also do a rundown on your hypocrisy, that would be quite a sight.
my only issue in this, really, was with storymark taking offence at what was my take that all the swan masturbation/crotch fingering was geared towards a bafflingly immature teen boy sensibility, and i can see why he found it insulting, which i said above. i was brash in my dismissal, which doesn’t change my belief that’s indeed the case but in responding to lex regarding his ever-boring emotionally/sexually stunted mentality, it came off sounding like a far more sweeping indictment than i intended. i actually find storymark an interesting commenter when he comes around so hopefully i haven’t put him off depositing his two cents by being brusque. i feel a bit bad about it now actually (please don’t go away story just because you’re annoyed with me, if anything i wish you came around more often)
having said that, i don’t feel the least bit bad about a single thing i’ve said to you and JBD, both of you being far too comfortable with just twisting/making shit up for the sake of having a go. that ‘learn to read, fuckers’ was just for you two ass-dags)
please, somebody post a new topic of interest to divert the byob into something fresh to argue about.
Leah: you of all people should not state when to change the topic. HYPOCRISY! HYPOCRISY! HYPOCRISY :P!
“i agree. how about superman, any reason to fight about that? are you the arbiter of what is worthy of a bit of a fuckarow and what isn’t?”
fucking a. io is very much what every film board doesn’t need: someone who tries to validate/invalidate what other people are posting about. he’s the glen beck of the board. the guy who tries to shout down opinions he doesn’t agree with. it’s such a sad trait of modern america. SHOUT DOWN those you disagree with. And when you can’t make a valid point you SHOUT DOWN the person you’re debating.
These kind of discussions would be great if people could just stop addressing the poster and instead address the post.
and to those ready to point out the irony, i’m addressing the content of leah’s post, which happened to be about someone posting. but still, it does nothing to improve the level of conversation in here.
Late to the conversation, so I hope this wasn’t discussed earlier.
Anyway, one of the things I really liked about Black Swan was that it didn’t seem to play the whole All About Eve, sex=evil cliches that it could have. Kunis’s dancer (presuming she was in fact real) was presented not as an evil would-be rival, but as a kind, sympathetic, and mentally all-there fellow artist. She doesn’t want to take over Portman’s role, she seems to genuinely want to be Portman’s friend. Portman’s night on-the-town was not some hellish descent into evil, but frankly a healthy (if admittedly overindulgent) social call that would probably do her some good on a semi-regular basis. Kunis was an example of an allegedly terrific dancer who was not obsessed with perfection, who danced because she enjoyed it, and still found time to live her life.
Even if I’m being too kind to the Kunis character, it’s silly to argue that Kunis’s apparent drug use and apparent wanton sexuality is somehow worse for Portman than living in complete isolation with her somewhat troubled mother. At least Kunis provided a way out, a chance to live just a little. And the fact that the film didn’t villainize Kunis or her choices is what makes the movie more than a hyper-sexual melodrama.
Tron Legacy, like Black Swan, was also an excellent exploration of the perils of pursuing perfection.
Seriously.
Anghus, what you seem to miss is that I am not the problem. I got pissed off about Superman, posted how pissed off it makes me, and spent the day dealing with replies about it. Not once did I tell anyone who disagreed to fuck off, but I sure as shit did tell that HE’S AN ALIEN point to piss off since it’s not representative of Supes current story.
Again, you want better discourse, then stop being jerks. You responding the way that you are is dicky. Leah responding the way that she did is just as dicky. You want better discourse be better people. The fact that the apparent SCOURGES OF THE BLOG in Lex and I, can literally have discussions without treating you folks like shit, but you seemingly cannot do the same. States a lot about why the discourse on this blog sucks: HYPOCRISY!
Jerry, i agree. i dug Tron Legacy. Not as much as Black Swan, but having watched Legacy 4 times, i can honestly say i thought it was a pretty interesting dissertation on the perils of pursuing perfection
well said.
Yeah Anghus, already posted it, and got shit for it. THANKS FOR THE SUPPORT, YA JERK :P!
Seriously though, if I can be better, you can be better, and we CAN ALL BE BETTER! ADRIANNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!!!!!
“The fact that the apparent SCOURGES OF THE BLOG in Lex and I, can literally have discussions without treating you folks like shit”
Keep telling yourself that. You’ve spent over two years screaming at everybody about the greatest director in the world and within a day — he’s the worst person in the world. You’re the hobgoblin of inconsistency here.
“you want better discourse, then stop being jerks”
everything wrong with this country right now is encapsulated in this sentence.
Yeah, I’m glad a waited about a month to see Tron Legacy – the hype had died down and my expectations were pretty low. Could have probably been edited down about about 15 minutes and certainly in need of a rewrite, the film was still damn entertaining and gorgeous to look at. The performances were not bad, either – Hedlund was actually better than I expected and Olivia Wilde has great presence.
But wow, does the movie visually reference about a dozen other sci fi/action films in a blatant manner – Batman Begins, Revenge of the Sith, 2001, The Dark Knight (music cues also), Avatar, Star Wars – to the point of distraction. But still amazing to look at. First went with a friend, then took my two little girls – my six year old ate it right up though my three year old got antsy. The movie IS over two hours long. Still surprisingly suitable for kids – it’s like the movie was edited to within an inch of its life to get that PG. ESPECIALLY the way they shot……..SPOILER ALERT……..the destruction of the End of Line Club. Honestly, despite the dark color palette, nothing in the movie approached the nightmarish climax of Toy Story 3. Loved that movie by the way, but man that garbage climax still sticks with me…..
“I have an excellent idea. Let’s change the subject.” – The March Hare
Just watched Takers on DVD. Not a good show, but I was amused by a skinny, suspenders-wearing Hayden Christensen beating the crap out of three guys in a decently-choreographed fight in a small office.
Krillian: Takers was better than expected. But did you get the impression that there was some sort of last-minute rewrite/reshoot to enable to sequel?
And while we’re changing subjects: Did Welcome to the Rileys get any sort of theatrical play before today’s DVD/Bu-Ray release? if so, I’m embarrassed to admit, it slipped right under my radar.
I haven’t seen any tv ads for Welcome to the Rileys …if they mention the twilight chick is in don’t they automatically get a million teens to go out and rent it or buy it .. isn’t that the power of association ..
with so many small films out there they need to just get on normal cable tv faster ..TBS superstation keeps playing the same ones over and over ..if story matters to AMC ..they should get new movies out faster instead of playing True Lies for the 200th time.
Rileys has 3 big stars – it should get a DP/30 …
How Do you Know has 4 big stars – also needs a DP/30
According to boxofficemojo Welcome to the Rileys opened in 10 theaters in late October 2010 and has grossed $158,000 to date.
Jessica Biel as Lois Lane?
This doesn’t feel real. This feels like made up speculation posing as industry rumor.
Whoever it is, i doubt they could do a worse job than Kate Bosworth who stunk up the joint as Anorexic Lois Lane.
Leah my apologies, I didn’t mean to insult you. Though commenting on the Hotblog would automatically suggest otherwise, I don’t actually do internet fighting, and virtual grudges even less. I’m just in it for the entertainment (which explains why I celebrate the consistently amusing and occasionally hilarious Lex) and DPs sometimes writing. Finally, in regards to the gender equality thing, well… maybe it’s generational, but it just seems like an argument from an older era.
But maybe I am thick 🙂
Leydon:
WELCOME TO THE RILEYS played in theaters, definitely.
It is a masterpiece.
Anghus you are literally an angry white guy and you believe that someone asking people to stop being jerks is what’s wrong with the country? Really angry white guy? Really?
Christian: you don’t treat Superman like shit. What part of FAVORITE CHARACTER EVER do you not understand? Nolan and Snyder didn’t just piss me off Tian. They pissed millions of people off.
Again, seriously, stop being jerks! Is that too much to ask? Oh it is because the angry white guy thinks I am what’s wrong with the country, when he’s an angry white guy, who wishes he can be more intolerant… [dough eyes] Awwww………………… nice of you to bring up anorexia with Kate Boseworth though. Apparently every woman has to weigh the same. Intolerant, intolerant, intolerant, but I am apparently what’s wrong with the country. Good lord, can we trade you for Jeffy Mac? He never came close to touching douchey like you have and unlike you, he was never an intolerant white guy.
I think the point IO, is you tell others not to act like jerks, and then go ballistic on anyone who doesn’t share your opinion on certain films. Pot and Kettle, my friend. Take it down a notch or three, and you’ll get your wish. But as long as you take the scorch-the-earth approach to any disagreement, it aint gonna happen.
Bad news, IO. They just signed Keira Knightley as Lois Lane, Daniel Radcliffe as Jimmy Olsen and Derek Jacobi as Perry White, and there’s an offer out to Geoffrey Rush for Lex Luthor.
“Finally, in regards to the gender equality thing, well… maybe it’s generational, but it just seems like an argument from an older era.”
Yes, everybody is equal now. So your generation can kick-back now.
Cad, I am not going to see that piece of shit movie, so why the fuck do I care who they cast :P?
Story, you always post the same thing about me, and totally miss that it’s ME against ALL OF YOU! How the hell would you act if it were just little ol’ you against an entire blog (Seriously, I got shit on this blog for USING THE WORD DAP!)? It’s not scorched earth as much as it’s everyone against me, so excuse me for thinking that anyone who assumes that I am the same as Leah or Anghus, being a bit off of their rocker, because I have never ever garnered that level of popularity on this blog (since I dared to go against the grain and dared to get pissed off at people who thought shitting on something I like was a good idea).
If you think the problem is me then you sort of miss what happens here all the time. Seriously, I get shit for no other reason then people get upset that I am ASSERTIVE with my posts and refuse to take shit from the rest of you. Seriously, I get crap from people who lack enthusiasm, who give me crap for having enthusiasm, and then give me shit for some cross word I posted in reference to them in 200FUCKING7! It’s never been me as much as it’s been all of you but don’t tell that… figuratively… to Christian, whose still pissed off at me for some nonsense from three years ago and believes that I should be constantly insulted and ridiculed and treated like shit for daring to call people out for shitting on people or films that I like.
Seriously, Christian, believes that a PERSON should be TREATED LIKE SHIT for daring to have a strong difference of opinion on a movie or a talent. See Story? That shit shouldn’t stand but it does because THESE PEOPLE ARE JERKS and think BEING A JERK IS O’TAY! I do not and that’s why I re-edit my post like crazy.
You’re not a cranky 50 year old?
The amount of energy Christian and Leahnz invest in stroking each other off figuratively across the internet, I sure as shit hope they’ve figured out AOL chat.
Go for it, you crazy kids. Cyber-party like it’s 1998.
Lex, hold on, THEY TAG-TEAM WITH ONE ANOTHER IN THE INDIES? Who are they? The fucking Rock N Roll Express? Seriously, expand on this Lex because I had no idea that I have been dealing with an Australian Ricky Morton and a cranky 50 something Robert Gibson. Similar to the real Robert Gibson but that’s besides the point.
Al, that you think sexism, misogyny and gender inequality are by-gone issues and “an argument from an older area” is quite scary, but also illuminating. explains a great deal about your attitude.
ignorance is bliss, and awfully popular. if you care to take off your blinders and educate yourself so you don’t come off as yet another ignoramus from your ‘generation’, a few quick, rudimentary links to get you started. or not. (assuming you’re in the US, you sound like it)
http://www.wikigender.org/index.php/Gender_Equality_in_the_United_States_of_America
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/344937/gender_equality_in_the_united_states.html?cat=7
http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl1822/18220040.htm
http://www.bsos.umd.edu/socy/vanneman/papers/Cotter_etal.pdf
http://www.unfpa.org/gender/violence1.htm
don’t have time for a proper search, there’s some great stuff out there, but the message is clear and undeniable
vanity fair movie issue with lots of people in expensive clothes .
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/01/vanity-fairs-hollywood-is_1_n_816997.html
Australian RICKY MORTON WITH A DEVASTATING LARIAT ON AL! FOLLOWED UP BY A KICK TO THE BALLS ON AMERICANS EVERYWHERE! (That’s the problem with kids these days… they believe equality exist even when it does not)
Leah, can we get a pie chart on how many times women call off sick from work versus their male peers?
Yeah, Takers wasn’t terrible, it just wasn’t good. You take the plot of Heat but swap Pacino & DeNiro for Matt Dillon and Idris Elba, it’s just not going to be as good, and yeah, the ending felt like a last-minute “wait a minute, we could make a sequel out of this” tack-on. Not as egregious as Jumper, where Samuel L. Jackson might as well have turned to the screen and shouted “I wonder if I’ll catch him in Jumper 2!” but the ending of a movie can really shape the feel of the whole, and Takers suffered from that.
leykis – i mean lex – can we get a chart on how ignorant and obnoxious you are vs. how ignorant and obnoxious the general male population is? thanks. look forward to it.
(my preference is also pie charts, tho graphs and line charts will do)
Oh, I found it. Women in the US take 46% more sick time than their male counterparts.
Hens.
hey bright spark, did you read that article that goes on to explain that most sick leave taken by women is mothers that have to care for sick children? work is set up to serve the needs of the patriarchy. how come all the dads don’t take time off to care for their kids?
jackass
Sing it with Gwen: WIND IT UP! WIND IT UP!
“work is set up to serve the needs of the patriarchy. how come all the dads don’t take time off to care for their kids?”
You need a good man, Leah. Christian with his wavy flowing Dennis Wilson locks would be a good choice. Fuck knows he doesn’t work, and you must make a shitload of cash to be paying whatever nanny watches the kids while you go online or drink with stuntmen 20 hours a day.
Fly the man out there and give him some.
THIS HAS TURNED THE MID-SOUTH COLOSSEUM IN TO A MAD HOUSE! A MAD HOUSE! A MAD HOUSE!
Mad House? Speaking of bad John Larroquette movies…
No, let’s not.
I watched the original True Grit for the first time this week. The two movies have a lot more in common than people may think. The only real differences were the ending and the fact that Matt Damon can act cartwheels around Glen Campbell. Cool seeing young Dennis Hopper and Robert Duvall. The Coen version was advertised as more faithful to the original novel, but the 1969 version must’ve used most of the dialogue from the book too.
ah, the last refuge of a weak mind: when you can’t intelligently address the issue because of an innate lack of intelligence and insight, resort to personal insults, innuendo and assholery!
(i actually have no idea what you’re talking about in most of the above leykis, i’m at work right now waiting for resin to dry – on my own isp – and my boy is happy as a clam shaping polystyrene on a movie set. life is good)
speaking of the coen’s grit, i see it tonight! i am so excited i can hardly sit still.
Well, unretired Lex, at least my online stroking is between a man and woman. You have IO and Jeff Wells. Enjoy.
Oh, and Toad Leykis was finally booted off the air due to evolution. But with the wealth of helpful insight he gave to Lex, joy, sex and happiness are right around the corner.
True Grit = STEINFELD POWER.
Kril, that book was written for the Duke in mind and that’s pretty much why the original is faithful.
Leahnz, you might find this funny: Years ago, when my son when in grade school, he caught the flu. His mom barely had enough sick leave accrued at the time to stay home with him. I, on the other hand, had accumulated a lot of annual leave by this point at The Houston Post. So mom and I agreed: I should be the one to stay home with him. The only catch was, this meant I had to cancel plans to leave for a movie junket that was scheduled to begin on Friday. I didn’t mind — but for some reason, our son thought the very idea that a dad would cancel something like this to stay home with his child was a really, really bad sign. (Did he pick this notion up from his schoolmates? Who knows?) So when I told him that I would be staying home to look out for him — well, this is funny now, but it wasn’t at the time — he actually asked me: “Am I going to die?” Like, he figured that would be the only reason why I would cancel a movie junket. I had a hard time getting him to believe me that, no, he wasn’t THAT sick, until I told him: “Son, look: If you were that sick, I think your mom would be taking off from work to be with you, too.” That was the ONLY way I was able to convince him that the Grim Reaper wasn’t about to make a house call.
Wow so this is what it feels like to get one’s ass kicked up and down the comment board. Haven’t got time to check the links but you’re most probably at least half right about ignorance being bliss- but in the rebuttal I assumed it was obvious that I was referring to a) the western world and b) having brought it up to my generation. And within the original post (and it’s jarring everytime you do it) it’s just wierd to see the differentiation being made with such vehemence. To put it simply I’ve never met any woman below the age of thirty that bitched about gender inequality (and I spend more time with women on the whole than men). I’m looking forward to bringing this up with friends later today, I’m genuinely curious to see whether I’ve got rose tinted glasses on. And to seeing what more epic internet bashing is coming my way 🙂
Ok wait look: take your kids for example. (no offense meant, I just figure they will illustrate my point). Do you imagine that they will care about homosexuality as teenagers, or discriminate against racial minorities? No right? Because things will have evolved past that by then considering that yourself and many others will educate your kids not to care. Well it’s the same thing withe gender equality now: it doesn’t occur to me to differentiate which is why I find it wierd when you do, and why I argued that it was generational.
And like I said, no offence meant
PRESSING ISSUE in this schizophrenic BYOB:
How insane and AWESOME does that HANNA movie look? That could be a real game-changer, no? Joe Wright, score by the Chemical Brothers, CRAZY credit font, energetic trailer, Blanchett and Bana hamming like a motherfucker.
Looks awesome.
Plus: LITTLE SAOIRSE! She’s CUTE!
Al, interesting.
in a way the fact that you naively don’t seem to be aware of the gender inequality and institutionalised sexism still pervasive in society in your own country (my links pertain to the US primarily) is perhaps a positive sign that equality is becoming more of an ‘assumption’ now anyway, at least in certain quarters. but on the other hand, the facts don’t bear that out and it shows what is perhaps an alarming complacency having crept into societal perception re: gender equality that is a bit of a worry.
i guess what troubles me is this: why when i speak up re: some instance of sexism and even misogeny on this blog in whatever form it takes – the blog itself being a rather good example of a boy’s club with very few regular female participants – why does my commentary from a feminist perspective seem ‘alien’ and ‘shoulder-chippy’ to you, as if you aren’t ‘hearing’ the sexism and only my response to it? this makes me wonder WHY sexism doesn’t register with you and only my response to it; is it that you’re just so accustomed to subtle sexism that it’s second nature but you’re not accustomed to a feminist perspective in reply? it would seem you’re blind to sexism but not someone pointing it out, which is a bit weird.
in that regard it makes me wonder how you can be unaware of even the most basic issues of gender inequality, such as the glaring pay gap between the sexes in the US, workplace policies that favour men (such as sick leave commonly used by female employees to care for sick children, but not male employees, which greatly disadvantages women in the workplace and families, a topic touched on in this very thread), and serious underrepresentation of woman at the higher levels of corporate and political life. i mean, all you have to do is have eyeballs and look around to see that in spite of some progress, men are basically still in charge of everything, glaring proportional unbalance considering half humanity is female. so i’m a little baffled as to how is it you can think women have achieved social equality and therefore feminism is now ‘anachronistic’ when clearly anybody with a brain and decent eyesight can see that’s not actually the case?
joe: that story about your boy is so sweet and funny and heartbreaking all at the same time, poor little poppet. one thing is clear, tho, just from reading your comments here over the years, you are a terrific, loving dad, and in my book there is no greater testament to good character than that.
(i’m still on a high from ‘true grit’, i absolutely adored it and my boy did too – his first coen bros proper in the cinema – so i’m keen to watch the DP30 w/brigdes. but it’ll have to wait for tomorrow when i’m fresh[er])
i liked Lex better when he was retired.
‘Do you imagine that they will care about homosexuality as teenagers, or discriminate against racial minorities? No right? Because things will have evolved past that by then considering that yourself and many others will educate your kids not to care’
And these teenagers are not the ones who run the world Al. Do you not see any racial inequality or homophobia in the world either? Isn’t it entirely possible that the under 30’s you know just haven’t encountered the shit in the workplace yet, since being on the lowest rung each gender would be treated the same but when you approach the higher ranks the inequalities become clearer?
And Hannah looks wonderfully Gonzo. Wright gives me pause though. This looks like a hell of a stretch, good for him trying to reach out of his comfort zone.
As for Superman, it was sunk as soon as Warner’s hired Glum and Glummer to produce and direct. Superman should have some spark, some heart. The best part of the original was watching Reeves play Ralph Bellemy against his own Cary Grant. This however will be a stern serious affair, the tone of the first fifteen minutes of the original stretched to two hours twenty.
Hanna would be one of my Top 3 to see in spring, the wasteland season of releases. I’m also hoping Adjustment Bureau was pushed back to distance it from Inception, not because of inherent problems they’re trying to fix in post. Also looking forward to taking my kids to Rango and Rio.
Leah and Hcat, valid points all.
Ladies first:
a) Not in the US, nor even American
b) I do wonder about being ‘just so accustomed to subtle sexism that it’s second nature’ but I’d like to think that’s it’s limited to the blog. You see I really do mean it when I say I come here for the entertainment- I read the comments as comedy. (not so the actual articles). As such, my reading is skewed, and the sexism, assholism, trolling, and other exist on another level than reality. This explains why lex, sometimes IO, and more and more Sanj are mvps and why your posts can jar me. I made a mistake posting in the first place as it wasn’t reasoned but an impulsive reaction.
Now, ‘I mean, all you have to do is have eyeballs and look around to see that in spite of some progress, men are basically still in charge of everything’ + ‘Isn’t it entirely possible that the under 30′s you know just haven’t encountered the shit in the workplace yet, since being on the lowest rung each gender would be treated the same but when you approach the higher ranks the inequalities become clearer?’
I can only speak for the tiny microcosm that is a London student’s life but, but here are two reasons why I think that the western world has/is changeing. a) ‘It’s a man’s world’ is not in any way one of those big, solid, immovable truth that permeates through an entire generation’s mindset. You know the ones. It just isn’t. Of course old boy’s club exist and will carry on existing, but gender doesn’t even enter the conversation for the segement of today’s youth that I’m familiar with. Connections, individuality, attractiveness, merit, hard work, luck, schools, yes. Sex? Not so much.
Secondly, I’ve been around important business types my entire life, socially and through work placements. It’s becoming meritocracy all the way, because it cannot be otherwise any longer. Sure the system(s) are built on the wrong foundations, but I’d like to think that the youth of today will grow into the adults of tomorrow. And so on and so forth.
I’m sure I’m coming off as exceedingly naive, but what the hell. Look no further than the Hanna trailer to see the future today! (tongue very firmly in cheek)
oof. (all this whilst preparing the presentation I’ve been working on since September for tomorrow morning. if there are any fallacies in my logic, worldview, writing, or anything else, please keep in mind that I haven’t slept in three days and bash nicely)
“Story, you always post the same thing about me, and totally miss that it’s ME against ALL OF YOU! How the hell would you act if it were just little ol’ you against an entire blog”
Actually, I agree with a lot of your opinions, as I have similar tastes. But I’m often too embarrassed by your tone to even acknowledge that fact. Your persecution complex is just too much. And it’s true, you do just try to shout down others. You very rarely actually discuss.
Story, did you go and read the other thread where someone just told me to FUCK OFF for no good reason? It’s not a persecution complex and it’s not shutting down other people. It’s more of a YOU EITHER COME STRONG OR YOU GO HOME. I am not going to be a little douche with my opinions, I am the Djimon Hounsou from IN AMERICA of this place, and that’s never going to change.
Yes, I saw it, and yeah, that was rude. But you’ve earned enemies, who respond to you based on what is now years worth of overly aggro posts from you. Reap and sow and so forth.
just checking in quickly because i couldn’t remember how much i’d rambled on last night before bed – not as bad as i feared, that’s always good
Al, at least you’re being honest. but you are indeed naive as a student in your 20’s (why didn’t you say so?). this explains a great deal, because you exist in the one bubble wherein across the board in western society women have come the furthest in terms of parity, now posting similar numbers and achievement stats to their male counterparts: education. that you don’t encounter a great deal of gender inequality in the student environment is not exactly surprising.
but don’t kid yourself that once you leave school you and your female friends will enter a world of gender equality – be it in business or what have you – on an equal footing; because statistically women in the UK, just like everywhere else, are paid less in entry level positions for doing the exact same work as men with the same qualifications, are promoted more slowly, face obstacles balancing family and kids that most men don’t encounter to anything like the same degree, and then they hit a wall that’s very hard to break through that you as a male will never have to worry about. i don’t have time for links now, but maybe you need to look around outside your bubble with a keener eye to see the real world, because academia is not it.
and if my posts can jar you out of the ‘fun’ assholery of man-think that can rear its head around here at times, good. i’ve been around this blog for many a year now (the only regular chick left, sadly), and this blog isn’t meant as a venue for assholes, ‘the asshole leykis show’ or ‘idiots on parade’ unchallenged, sorry to spoil it for you. i couldn’t give a shit about 95% of the time i have a hectic life, but if i see something that really irks me/sticks in my craw, i’ll speak up. just like lots of others here who do the same. maybe my perspective is different, can’t help that really.
(having said that there are so many cool blokes on here whose thoughts and opinions i enjoy reading a great deal, so i should make that abundantly clear. i don’t find this blog to be a hotbed of sexism/misogyny in the least, it’s sporadic at the most)
also, just curious but if you’re english why do you write like an american, is the queen’s english a dying breed there or something?
When leanhz posts, I swear it reads as coming from Billie Hayes as Witchiepoo in PUFNSTUF.
(GOOD REFERENCE.)
Al, I almost asked if you were just out of school. Leah is right that College provides a bubble. The world is different on the outside (I for one was amazed to find the amount of people that actually went to church), and you will be suprised at how much casual racism, homophobia, sexism not only exists but is easily tollerated. Even if its just as simple as the casual leering your young female co-workers are going to get from the older guys, the ‘old boys clubs’ are still everywhere even if you haven’t encountered them.
Wish I had some young female coworkers.
Actually I wish they’d put me in charge of hiring somewhere. Sucks working in a sausage factory. I miss seeing hot vag.
Feminist. Prop builder. Physical FX Moorlock.
Saving the world from hate & inequality, one blog bellow at a time.
What a saviour. What a martyr.
Maybe some old woman will skin her and stare into her eyes for the truth.
On another note. Is Sundance pic Bellflower as good as people are saying? Anyone on this blog actually see the film?
‘Wish I had some young female coworkers’
Is this so you would have someone to discuss Idol with?
Checkin in super quick but (and this may sound wierd) but it’s nice getting advice from yall. Despite spending all my waking hours in uni there isn’t much guidance- you’re meant to figure things out for yourself. The queen’s english is stuttering along (king’s speech whaduuup) beautifully, but I wasn’t raised here. Didn’t realise I actually sounded american through my writing. That is actually a tad scary.
back to work, tootles
Hell yes. I like a lot of dumb shit that’s usually reserved for teenage girls. Gets tiresome working in a dick plant with GUY’S GUYS, all those scrappy “EVERYTHING USED TO BE BETTER WHEN…” types who haven’t liked ANYTHING since 1986, guys who will drone on all day fucking long about how THEY DON’T MAKE ‘EM LIKE THEY USED TO, which means listening to some 35-year-old virgins waxing nostalgic about fucking EXPLORERS all day long. And don’t even get me started on THE 35-YEAR-OLD WHITE MALE’s music sensibility, which only either some old-ass classic rock or ROOTS MUSIC, or some strictly Caucasian garage-rock sock-stinking indie bullshit.
It’s really amazing, and maybe it’s strictly an L.A. phenomnenon, but there’s a whole breed of disillusioned, life-hating failed USC director wannabes who populate Los Angeles in a constant haze of bad nostalgia and bitter indifference to anything new, and they only surround themselves with other boring white guys and don’t have any idea what’s going on in pop culture other than maybe bitter comedic political commentary.
And to a person, they’re always firebrand liberals, even though they’re the grumpiest, angriest and most unfriendly motherfuckers ever.
“Ok wait look: take your kids for example. (no offense meant, I just figure they will illustrate my point). Do you imagine that they will care about homosexuality as teenagers, or discriminate against racial minorities? No right? Because things will have evolved past that by then considering that yourself and many others will educate your kids not to care. ”
Al … what an idealistic pipe dream. My teenagers care about things like gay rights and gender equality now, because we teach them too. But you’re delusional (or, as aforesaid, perhaps fresh-faced and right out of the bubble of college) if you honestly think that we don’t still live in a world where inequality is very real.
LexG’s bullshit comment about the percentage of women calling in sick, which completely overlooks the WHY of that and assumes laziness or whatever, speaks to that point in a way I doubt he intended. If he actually had a child or someone besides himself to be responsible for, perhaps he might get it.
Joe’s story about staying home with a sick kid speaks further to the truth about the extent to which American society STILL assumes caring for children to be primarily the job of the mother. Joe, you’re a good guy and a good dad.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had people — mostly other women, ironically — make catty remarks about me working, and especially traveling for work. Would they say those things to a man about his career choice? Not likely. My ex just moved 2 hours away from his kids, cutting in half (or more) the limited time he will spend with them, but of course I should be grateful because he at least pays child support, and this apparently defines “good dad.”
But if I did the same thing — just took off to live my life, leaving my four young kids with their dad 99% of the time, would I be perceived as a “good mom” even if I sent child support? Or as a lousy mom who chose to abandon her kids? When it comes to who’s responsible for the kids, we set the watermark absurdly high for women, and absurdly low for men.
Leah: Thanks for representing. Your comments re gender equality are astute (though I disagree with you re BLACK SWAN :-)). And your delivery style of smacking the boys’ club around and calling bullshit on them when necessary always cracks me up.
Story, to quote Lord Atrocitus; “Eye for an Eye is a fallacy.” Seriously, if people can’t let things go like I have because let’s be honest SM: I’ve gotten it worse than anyone. Seriously. If they can let things go like I have and do on a daily basis then they should be able to do the same.
I really have never understood people like you, SM. You think a person who is not rude, who does not go out of his way to be rude, is worthy of getting personally attacked before he’s even posted anything because of passion. Yes, what you think is being rude is PASSION, ENTHUSIASM, and HATE WHEN APPLICABLE (DAMN YOU LORD BRITISH!) and that you have a hard time with that SM. Well, really that’s a shitty way to look at things.
ETA: Leah basically admits that she hates men (Yes Lex and I are men and she hates us because apparently we are the devil) and now we all know why she post like she does because US MEN ARE KEEPING HER DOWN!
ETA 2: Can you go with BOFFIN instead of MOORLOCK? BOFFIN just seems more applicable but that’s just me.
Yeah but my former chick boss used to go to a doctor every time she got a HEAD COLD. She’d go to a doctor more in any given month than most people do in TWENTY YEARS of life.
IO, c’mon you think EVERYONE is against you and then think its everyone else who has the problem. Even though with obvious exceptions we do seem to all get along with each other otherwise?
And Lex, I moved to the sticks about a year ago and all the local radio stations play is Journey and Bob fucking Seger so I feel your pain on that one. And there is no excuse to wax on about Explorers, or Goonies, or Monster Squad or anything of the type without owning it up to wistful nostalgia. But still no excuse for a single straight guy to spend time watching Idol and Bachelor.
Oh sorry didn’t know you knew someone like that Lex, well the rest of them sure get what they deserve then.
THE BACHELOR is THE most accurate depiction of women this side of Neil LaBute.
Ever notice how many divorced dads there are in movies? And the dad is struggling to be a good dad by showing up once a month or his wench wife just nags for child support? And the stepfather is always the bad guy? I just envision Hollywood full of deadbeat dads who write scripts to champion themselves.
I also picture Hollywood full of traffic jams on the night of elementary school recitals.
My one female co-worker misses work all the time due to her cancer. Wuss.
HC: Bullshit. When I had to go on vacation last year, I kept following the blog, and you folks were tearing one another apart. Seriously, you like giving me shit because I am more vocal and like with the shitty go bot in the last thread, I got shit for just having an opinion. Again, you get mad at Lex for having a boner and me for having emotions. Excuse me for HAVING A FUCKING SOUL. Seriously, it’s time to get militant in this motherfucker!
Oh yeah Old Timer Billy Slater, dudes watch Idol and Bachelor right now. Also, the Explorers is still a solid sci-fi movie even with it’s horrible ending.
“Seriously, if people can’t let things go like I have because let’s be honest….”
Dude, you are not the poster child for letting anything go.
YAY KIM! i actually hyperventilated a little when i saw your name, insightful and well said as always
(and thanks, wish you posted more. re: black swan, thinking about it i’m of the opinion i may have overstated my case for the prosecution a bit as the argument sort of devolved into minutiae in the thread; i actually like a good deal of the movie – maybe 70/30ish – so even tho i think it could have been better, i’d still recommend it for all the interesting aspects it does achieve effectively in my eyes)
IO – First off, I have never gotten mad at Lex for having a boner, I gave him a little shit for watching reality tv (which I would give any other regular)and am disagreeing with him on inequality in the workplace based on his experiences.
And the problem with you is not that you’re vocal, its that you’re schreechy. You throw these Veruca Salt tantrums over things when people disagree with you on topics, and in the last two months have disowned the three people you have talked about the most in the last few years on the blog (Obama, Snyder, Nolan). Its not just your taste in media that is childish, but the way you interact with people is as well. Its not that you have emotions, its that you don’t know how to deal with them.
As far as having a soul, the jury’s still out. But if you do have one watching the Bachelor will shrink it right along with your testees.
damn i forgot to say: Al, i was just wondering if you used american english for a particular reason, certainly nothing wrong with it; ‘toodles’ redeems you in the eyes of the motherland
Hcat, I give you dap for ending with a joke, but you once again are missing the point. Seriously, you go on about tantrums and what not, sort of ignoring that David runs this thing and outside of posting D30s, that man is involved in about 15 beefs at the moment. If the PAPER OF RECORD or Finke or Wells does anything that pisses him off, you will get 3000 words of David unleashing on them. That’s him throwing a tantrum, low key, but a tantrum nonetheless.
You also confuse venting with tantrums. You also think that I should be worried about my interactions with you. I interact fine with you folks until you get in the way of my venting. This is my outlet to unleash, it has been for years, and you folks like getting in the way of my venting with milly-mouthed bullshit. It’s not that you might not have a point but I could give a shit when I know why I am mad. Seriously, I am still pissed about that Superman film, it has turned me sour on Nolan and Snyder forever, and you want to give me shit for it. Sorry, I do not suffer fools and putting the number one fictional symbol of America on the shoulders of a Brit, is pretty heinous to me, so fuck those two guys.
Again, I am trying to figure out your problems but all of them seem to be that it’s all my fault. Sorry, I will never accept that, nor will I accept your line of shit about my interactions with people. I interact fine with the people on here who are not in their 50s. Excuse me for not playing to your demographic.
Oh yeah, Veruca Salt was an awesome band, that you find me screechy is ridiculous, and dude I love more stuff than you have ever seen in your entire life. I am multi-faceted in ways someone like you could never imagine but please, tell me that the media I love is childish. Sure it is, please, take this Arcade Fire cd, turn it sideways, and…
Lex – It’s really amazing, and maybe it’s strictly an L.A. phenomnenon, but there’s a whole breed of disillusioned, life-hating failed USC director wannabes who populate Los Angeles in a constant haze of bad nostalgia and bitter indifference to anything new, and they only surround themselves with other boring white guys and don’t have any idea what’s going on in pop culture other than maybe bitter comedic political commentary.
And to a person, they’re always firebrand liberals, even though they’re the grumpiest, angriest and most unfriendly motherfuckers ever.
Never have truer words been written. Take this observance Lex and watch Smith’s Sundance rant. The dude who literally made himself the Time Magazine face for his generation is just as disillusioned and salty as the guys caught in the grindmill. IMO, it’s an issue of being too late for the Baby Boom entertainment explosion and too early for the new media revolution. How many poor souls were splicing film in the mid-90’s and passed on learning Photoshop because it was for “graphic design”…
“And to a person, they’re always firebrand liberals, even though they’re the grumpiest, angriest and most unfriendly motherfuckers ever.”
IRONY POWER.
IO- Nowhere did I say you should be worried about our interactions, I am a few hairs under forty, no more than five years older than you, loving Tron and the Avatar cartoon doesn’t make you multi-faceted it just makes you an easy lay.
Keep fighting the good fight IO, don’t trust anyone over Twelve.
Hcat, again, that’s not all I like. I am a lot more well-rounded then that but you once again are pulling that ignorant ass bullshit stating that’s it. Yeah, it’s not like I did not post last week that I want more movies like I AM LOVE. Nope, that didn’t happen. Seriously, stop reading what you believe is happening and pay attention to what’s actually happening. Seriously.
Leah and Kim: I seriously doubt that I’m a good person. Indeed, I strongly suspect that when I shuffle off this mortal coil, the best I can hope for is an air-conditioned room in hell. But, frankly, I have never been able to understand the gender stereotyping that informs some people’s idea of what being a good parent really means. And, trust me, it spreads across gender lines. I can remember when George was in grade school, and I went to a PTA meeting, and I offered to bake cookies at the next Christmas party. The other parents there — well, OK, the other moms there; I was the only dad there — collectively shot me a look that indicated: “YOU can bake?” (Of course, as it turned out, the cookies I baked were indeed inedible — though my son appeared impressed by my effort — so I wound up buying a bunch at a supermarket bakery on my way to the party, but never mind.)
On another occasion: I had to cancel a trip to Sundance one year because George’s grandfather died, and I wanted to bring him and his mom to the funeral in New Orleans. But I didn’t want to depart until George finished the last round of a spelling bee at his school. I’m sorry to admit that, because of the need to make preparations for the trip, I wasn’t there at the school during a noontime match-up when George won the right to compete for his school in a city-wide competition. But here’s the thing: When I went by the school to pick him up that afternoon, and I waited in the principal’s office for George to be called out of class so we could hit the road, I heard a lot of talk from the principal, the vice-principal and a couple of teachers — all women — about how they noticed that little boys were always reluctant to express their emotions to their dads, but always willing to express their emotions to their moms. Funnily enough, all of these women shut the hell up when George ran into the office, jumped into my arms, and told me how proud he was of what he’d just done while I kissed him on the forehead.
The saloon door does swing both ways, ladies.
true, joe (and goodness knows it can hit you in the ass on the way out)
hopefully as rigid gender roles and expectations thereof become more malleable, and all the associated social judgements of both women’s and men’s roles in family and career become passe, dads as caregivers will be seen as part of the social ‘norm’ by both genders, and allow for more flexibility and opportunity and fulfillment for everyone within families, which can only be a good thing, and appears to be gradually happening.
for instance i know a couple in which the dad is a bit of a studly actor and the mother a crown solicitor, and since he works in intensive but sporadic lumps depending on what gigs he gets, and she’s a hot shot legal eagle who brings in a very good salary, he is home with their young twins and older boy much of the time, a hell of a lot of hard work (as anybody who has raised children can testify). he often has interesting stories to tell about his experiences as the primary caregiver; most of the time it’s good things and he gets plenty of support from family, friends, colleagues and the community, but occasionally he has to deal with being negatively judged, like getting a hard time from other men as somehow being less of a man because he’s doing the hardest job on earth, or from disapproving mums whose viewpoints are just as inflexible and don’t have experience dealing with dads in charge of the kids, but for the most part it works well for them, tho a crazy juggling act.
(hopefully i didn’t misinterpret the gist of your post and go off on some weird tangent)
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