376

(4 replies, posted in Off Topic)

I adore it too. Just saw it again very recently and was impressed by how not dated it felt.

F for Fake is pretty much required viewing for anyone who is a magician, documentarian, journalist, FBI forgery analyst, or Orson Welles impersonator.

In a conversation once, I had someone say to me that, in F for Fake, Welles "is saying that 'it's impossible for us to ever know what is true and what is not.'" Boy do I think that's a misreading of the film. I think the film makes a series of playful assertions, which often get doubled-back on—but nowhere does it assert that actual empirical reality is somehow inaccessible. Rather, I've always felt that the film kind of says the opposite—that there is such a thing as a fact, and that humans are quite good at hiding, distorting, and forging facts to fool other humans; some (like Elmyr... or Welles) have it down to an art. Yeah, something like that. Point is, F for Fake kicks ass.

377

(2,068 replies, posted in Off Topic)

bullet3 wrote:

Man, Memento is the one Nolan movie that I just cannot get on board with. Great little film-school concept, but it sooo does not hold up to feature length.

I don't enjoy Memento nearly as much as other people seem to, either. It's intriguing. Some of the coolest people I know think Memento is an absolute masterpiece. I don't think it sucks. It's just that can't relate when folks begin to speak about the film in superlatives.

The last time I watched Memento, I remember being a little unsure about what its theme was—i.e., themes may or may not be distinct from concepts, I guess. The movie definitely engages weighty, thematically ripe concepts (identity, memory, honor, revenge), but I just couldn't decipher what Nolan was trying to say about these concepts. Which isn't necessarily Nolan's fault, of course.

378

(25 replies, posted in Episodes)

I always wonder why more found footage movies don't just make the person pointing the camera a professional. In Blair Witch, they just made the main characters filmmakers who were there, with cameras, for the explicit purpose of making a documentary. That can go a long way in taking care of the "Why is this dummy filming instead of doing X" problem. Someone like a documentarian, or a TV news camera operator, or even a wedding videographer, is so accustomed to shooting what's going on that it's second nature.

In Cloverfield, Hud is just a normal fella who gets handed a camera at a party, a chore he reluctantly accepts. Later, when the shit hits the fan, he insists that he wants to document the tragedy. That makes more sense if documenting everything that's going on is his (a)vocation, not a happenstance. I mean, the film takes place in NYC, so why not just make him an aspiring documentarian? You can't swing a dead cat in Manhattan without hitting an aspiring filmmaker. They could have even called it out: "Oh and here's Hud, as usual, filming us all for his doc that will never get made..." It just seems cleaner if, from the get-go, the audience understands that, oh, this dude is always rolling—it's his thing.

379

(25 replies, posted in Episodes)

Zarban wrote:

I think the movie is, generally, about all veterans of foreign wars and the survivor guilt they feel. "All these men—on both sides—died, some of them in the very act of saving my ass, and yet I survived. Do I deserve it?"

I feel like that's about how Señor Spielbergo understood what he was trying to do, yeah. The "Why do I deserve to survive and not them?" idea is in a few of his other movies, like Schindler's List, even Lincoln a little bit.

380

(48 replies, posted in Episodes)

Scum, yeah, total scum. I just hate the thinking that explicitly asking for permission is a lame-ass, unmanly thing to do. Or that it's somehow impractical when you're "in the moment." You know what's lame-ass and unmanly?—not asking because you're a big wimp who doesn't want to risk rejection.

A lot of this shit comes down to being a grownup, not acting like a little boy. The pick-up artists believe they are clairvoyant, able to know what a woman is "really" thinking when she says x, y, or z. That's childish. Adults use their words.

381

(48 replies, posted in Episodes)

Actual Quote from the Book wrote:

“Pull out your cock and put her hand on it. Remember, she is letting you do this because you have established yourself as a LEADER. Don’t ask for permission, GRAB HER HAND, and put it right on your dick.“

Note how misguided the thinking is. Making a woman want you becomes akin to training a dog—establish yourself as a "leader"; keep forcing the creature do what she's supposed to do until she gets the idea. Treating someone like that is supposed to turn her on? Suffice to say it will make her feel unsafe and out-of-sync with the other person—exactly the opposite feelings than those associated with arousal. You don't need to be a behaviorist to recognize that. It's obvious. Unless you're a sociopath.

Just that little quote, alone, is pretty dangerous. Imagine if every male college student in the U.S. had that software running on his brain, the one that says "Don't ask permission" and "Ignore her protestations when you whip your ding-a-ling out. She is letting you do this. Because you are a leader."

382

(255 replies, posted in Creations)

drewjmore wrote:

Inspired by Zarban's audition I present a four minute excerpt from Lovecraft's "The Hound."

Oh hell yeah. I'm loving these. Nice voice there. When we do The Matrix radio play, I'm nominating you for Agent Smith.

383

(255 replies, posted in Creations)

I wouldn't say Zarban "sounds old." It's like saying George Hamilton looks old—distinguished, the word is distinguished.

384

(2,068 replies, posted in Off Topic)

Well they've done studies, you know: 60% of the time, it works every time.

385

(2,068 replies, posted in Off Topic)

http://www.aceshowbiz.com/images/still/pitch-perfect-poster06.jpg

Still works the second time around. The jokes land, and so few comedies these days have a romantic subplot in which I actually care whether they to get together at the end. Anna Kendrick is surprisingly good at playing something of a curmudgeon. Also, if John Michael Higgins and Liz Banks read the phonebook as the characters they play in this movie, they'd probably make me laugh.

Glad you got nibbles. I can definitely suggest something you might want to try in future: Back when I was an impoverished grad student in creative writing (if you're wondering what the most useless Master's degree on Earth is, it's that; if your kid ever tells you s/he wants to go to grad school for CW, hit that kid with a rubber mallet, rinse, and repeat until the problem is fixed), our program would frequently get exactly this kind of solicitation for editorial work. There may well be a young, talented fictioneer in your area who'd jump at this kind of side work. Their degrees might not be worth the paper  they're written on, but they might be ideal candidates because a) they'll probably work cheap, b) they spend nearly all their time in writing workshops, eating, sleeping, and drinking (especially drinking) the elements of good prose fiction, and c) seriously, they'll probably work cheap. I think generally all one would have to do is e-mail the faculty director of a given MFA program, who I'd bet would be happy to throw it up on the program's listserv or something.

387

(255 replies, posted in Creations)

Teague wrote:

Alright, so, signups? Copy and paste this whole thing, even if you're not adding your name to all three.

If you are willing to record one or more vocal takes, add your name to this list:

1. Teague
2. Rob
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

If you are willing to contribute music to one or more pieces, add your name to this list:

1. Teague
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

If you are willing to write a scene for one more more projects, add your name to this list:

1. Teague
2. Rob
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

If you are willing to create visual assets for one or more projects, add your name to this list:

1. Teague
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
-- --

(I wish I had the skillz to create music and visuals. I'll be cheerleading for the talented people, though.)

388

(255 replies, posted in Creations)

auralstimulation wrote:

In all seriousness. Who can get me some vocal samples by, let's say, Wednesday of next week?

I can. smile

389

(255 replies, posted in Creations)

Tomahawk wrote:

pantyhose and a clothes hanger will work just fine, too.

I had this conversation a while back:

ROB'S GF: Why do I have only one of these black [panty]hose?

ROB: Uh. What's that now?

GF: What—did you take it or something?

ROB: [awkward pause] Uh. Yeah.

GF: You took my black pantyhose.

ROB: Yeah. I needed it.

GF: Okay. O-kay... I'm not sure I know what kind of conversation we're having right now.
-- --

But yeah, you can use a hanger, or score an embroidery hoop from an art supply place (or Wal-Mart, in my case) and make a homemade pop filter that ain't bad at all.

390

(255 replies, posted in Creations)

I've scored nice pop filters on eBay for dirt cheap, so it might be worth it to take a look there too. (The stores in my neck of the woods often mark-up those things rather egregiously.)

391

(2,068 replies, posted in Off Topic)

fireproof78 wrote:

Ellen Page reminds me too much of a coworker.

Hey different strokes for different blokes... meanwhile, I'll be PMing you so you can get me a job where you work. (My coworkers all look like Ron Perlman.) 

smile

392

(255 replies, posted in Creations)

I'd love to help, if you still need participants. I've done a whopping two (unpaid) voiceover gigs in the past. (I attempted, unsuccessfully, to break into voice-acting/voice-matching a few years back. My lifelong friend is a professional voiceover person who does yogurt commercials, shit like that. She tutored me some, supplying acronyms like P.I.E.—Personality, Inflection, Energy!—but I couldn't hack it.) I'm no Billy West, but I truly enjoy this sort of thing, and I've got a quality mic.

393

(2,068 replies, posted in Off Topic)

That's one diverse pile of movies you've been watching, wow!

A History of Violence: That's a cool one to revisit. I found it played extremely compelling on a big screen with an audience, but I was alarmed at just how much the story's gut-punch effect decreased on home media. Still, I love Viggo in that role. He's such a cool, understated leading man. (His portrayal of Freud in Cronenberg's A Dangerous Method is unexpectedly compelling.) 

Only God Forgives: What you said. I'm convinced Refn is a dark genius, and OGF is delicious eye candy, but at the same time, I was perplexed. It's an experiment in something, but I'm not certain what. And I'm okay with that for now because I do think Refn is a huge talent. I'm fixing to revisit the film. Gosling's performance seemed a weird choice: the stoic strongman act made sense in Drive, but here I wasn't sure how it fit into the film's thematic intentions. It left me a little cold compared to Refn's previous movies, but there's likely stuff I'm not grasping on first pass.

Hard Candy: Is it me, or does Ellen Page have the prettiest face in Hollywood? (She's mega-talented too, of course, but I'm just sayin'. She's up there w/ Evangeline Lilly on my prettiness scale. WTF are they putting in the water up there in Canada?)

394

(48 replies, posted in Episodes)

I think I expected to see Spike Lee hopping on Kickstarter at some point. Back when he had budget problems on his Malcolm X biopic, he asked several black-American celebrities to help get the project to the finish line. Big names like Michael Jordan and Oprah wrote fat checks. They were not investors, and they (the story goes) had no say in anything. All Lee promised them was that if they gave him a donation—i.e., a gift—he'd use that money to finish the film.

395

(2,068 replies, posted in Off Topic)

http://cdn.bloody-disgusting.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/the-conjuring-poster.jpg

Just saw The Conjuring in a packed multiplex theater, and this is definitely one to see with an audience.

This is a well-done, old-school, 1970s-style horror film, both in style and in substance. The special effects are nicely restrained. James Wan manages to make a very basic sound—two hands clapping together—creepy as hell. Lots of fun, creative scares in this one. Even the jump scares are done more artfully than we're used to seeing.

The film is basically pro-Catholic / pro-theism / pro-the-existence-of-ghosts at a kind of meta level (text that pops on the screen insists that not only is the story is more or less based in fact, but also that "God is real"). I found this choice just plain unnecessary. But all in all, it's worth paying to see this one on a big-ass screen.

396

(346 replies, posted in Off Topic)

Hell's yeah that's scary. Wow. The article said it was the second shortest spacewalk on record because of the malfunction.

Any number of things can go wrong at any moment up there. Fuckin' astronauts, man—they put their safety at risk for science. Bad asses, all of them.

http://www.ourcuriousworld.com/Art%20Page_files/749px-Crew_of_STS-107,_official_photo.jpg

397

(2,068 replies, posted in Off Topic)

Doesn't the "Not suitable for children" text on the Strangelove poster seem a little unwarrented, even in 1964? All the grown-up-level jokes seem fairly well embedded in innuendo and such. Is it the depiction of [spoiler ahead -->] nuclear holocaust that they don't want kids to see? I mean, during those years kids were routinely taught to fear the bomb and the power of atomic weapons. (It's strange how some of the shit people feel is unsuitable for kids today—like depictions of firearm violence—was a-okay 50 or 60 years ago in children's entertainment.)

398

(11 replies, posted in Episodes)

Zarban wrote:
Rob wrote:

It's fascinating how it's apparently easier to teach good actors to play instruments convincingly than it is to teach good musicians to be convincing as actors. Why is that? I feel like I could learn to play a dramatic scene halfway-decent before I'll ever learn to to play a song on the piano, but apparently no...

Skill vs craft. Learning to play the right notes is a mechanical skill. Acting is a craft.

I suspect that's it, yeah. There's a muscle memory involved. And like other skills actors learn for a role (a dance routine, kung fu, etc.), they only need to learn what they need to learn. An actor who needs to play "Chopsticks" in a movie just needs to learn that tune. He doesn't have to learn to be a world-class pianist. He just has to pull off the one number.

TTYD really is especially impressive when it comes to this whole actors-learning-instruments thing. There's not a single Dooley Wilson moment where I think, "Hey,' he's not really playing!" The fact that actual musicians think the actors look like experienced players is cool, and sort of rare with movies. Whether it's music movies, or sports movies, or whatever, there's always pros in that profession who can spot the actors' flawed technique—not as much with TTYD.

399

(11 replies, posted in Episodes)

I liked the discussion of the Extended Cut-versus-Theatrical Cut. There really is a lot to be learned there about editing, paring down a narrative, and sifting the absolutely necessary bits from the superfluous/redundant bits. The economy of the Theatrical Cut is another feather in the cap of Richard Chew.

Also...

* Teague: My girlfriend's brother, a musician, said he's shocked that Tom Everett Scott had never played the drums before getting cast in the film: "He looks like he's been playing his whole life, twirling sticks and shit."

* It's fascinating how it's apparently easier to teach good actors to play instruments convincingly than it is to teach good musicians to be convincing as actors. Why is that? I feel like I could learn to play a dramatic scene halfway-decent before I'll ever learn to to play a song on the piano, but apparently no...

* I've seen Rita Wilson self-identify as Greek. (She produced My Big Fat Greek Wedding and Mamma Mia!). Her mom was Greek and her dad was a Bulgarian Muslim who was born in Greece, according to Wikipedia. "Margarita" is totally a Mexican name, though, but apparently Greek folks use it too(?)

* Jonathan Shaech once played Houdini in a dark, 1998 biopic that I remember liking.

* Mars Callahan appears to be working on a film called Poker Junkies. Looks like he's trying to corner the market on Junkies movies.

Lamer wrote:
fireproof78 wrote:

If you divorce Mike's story from SW and craft his own, what would he call the Force or whatever magical abilities exist?

Mojo

http://www.solarnavigator.net/films_movies_actors/film_images/Austin_Danger_Powers_Mike_Myers.jpg

Well now that might give a whole new meaning to the term "force choke."

[Rimshot]