Issue 112

News/ Movie Review: 2007 was a good year for film.
Two years ago, as I mentioned in another edition of the blog, I decided to enter a TAFFY contest listing the best actors, &c. in movies of the past year. I put Good Night and Good Luck in every category and even got note for calling Joe McCarthy's performance in the film as himself (through archive footage) the best villain of 2005. My parents hoped that I would do another one this year, although they didn't ask this last year. To Commemorate tonight's Oscars, and my purchase of the Hairspray DVD, I will list and give capsule reviews of some of my favorite films of 2007. All but the ones marked with an asterisk were viewed in the theatre.
*Hannibal Rising*. The latest entry in the Hannibal Lecter series, it is quite good, even with the fact that it has the other three movies (or 4, if one counts Mahunter), and the medically nonsensical plot device of using Truth Serum to recover memory.
* Zodiac*. It is certainly one of the most accurate versions of the Zodiac killer story I've seen. If I wasn't so sure that Arthur Leigh Allen (who's been dead for 15 years) was the killer, I'd wonder what he'd have thought of the movie.
*Blades of Glory. This was the movie that Introduced me to "My Humps" and, by extention, the message that one gets when it's played backwards: The Same as it sounds forwards.
*Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film For Theaters. A film based on my favorite movie, and unlike most movies based on TV shows, this is just as funny as the show, if not more, at least, for fans of Adult Swim, as I am.
*Sicko. This film turned me on to how large the health care problem is in America, since, in the only developed nation without universal health care, 50 million people have no health insurance, and millions more have shoddy health insurance. Fortunately, I'm in neither group.
*Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Ordinarily, I'm ambivalent to the Harry Potter Franchise, but the plot of the main characters forming an underground resistance organization to the repressive powers that be left a more lasting impression than the other four films so far.
*Hairspray*. While I am disconcerted by the fact that some classic scenes from the original aren't in this version, and that it's not as campy, it's still good nonetheless.
*Simpsons movie. I rarely watch Simpsons, but I managed to see this movie in Door County. It's pretty good, and besides, it's shocked CAPalert, so it can't be that bad.
*Bratz*. Between strange plot points, and the obvious satire, it's safe to say that if Ed Wood were alive today, this is the kind of project he'd be attached to.
*Mr. Bean's Holiday. While I do prefer Blackadder, I do still enjoy Mr. Bean, particularly in the movies. Not many people can perform such a childish man as Bean at 50, but Rowan Atkinson does it well.
*Across the Universe. The Beatles score this Jukebox musical based on their music. In any other year after 1960, this would be the best musical of the year, but there is a lot of competition now.
*Golden Compass. The film is faithful, at least to an extent, to Pullman's works, although a future DVD cut may add deleted material to make it more faithful to the original. I hope that the other two books get adapted into film, even if they, even with religious context completely undiluted, will make progressively less and less domestically, while expanding even more abroad.
*Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. After seeing the movie, and some excerpts from another production on Youtube, it's certainly one of the best and darkest movie musicals of all time.
Movies I should have seen: *Grindhouse.
*Fracture.
*Mr. Brooks.
*Evan Almighty.
*Superbad .
*Darjeeling Limited.
*Control.
*Beowulf.
*Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story.
*There Will Be Blood.

Band Name of the Day: Pest Trap for Pantry. It worked for Death Cab for Cutie.

Movie Idea of the Day: A film director goes insane while creating a movie based on a very thinly veiled parody of The Princess Diaries, including inserting murders, deviant sex acts, and disgusting medical conditions into the formerly G-rated series.

Quote of the Day: "Penny Pingleton is permanently, positively, punished!"
_______Prudence Pingleto, Penny's parent who purpousefully punishes Penny for Petty Purposes. I wonder if I could have added some more alliteration to fit in the description with the quote.

Link of the Day: A Resource for one of my favorite singers/Bands.

Issue 111

News: Some notes on psychology of characters I have yet to put to paper.
I have been taking a psychology class since last month. Sleep is a theme running throughout the current section of the text. One notable thing to me is the talk of sleep disorders. One part mentioned the effects of Sleep Deprivation on a person, most notably Peter Tripp, who very beiefly held the world record in intentional sleeplessness, until being usurped by an imitator a week later. One curious thing had gone through my mind at that time is that Damien Dean, the main character of my novel once deprived himself of sleep for five or six days with no sleep, and only eating saltines, bottled water, and an endless supply of caffeine pills to help him write his first novel with as few distractions as possible. While Tripp certainly showed some signs of mental decay during the experiment, it is debatable how much Dean suffered due to the fact that he wasn't quite intact in the first place. Also, on the opposite end of the sleep spectrum, I decided to come up with another notable character for my Teen Drama (Issue 108), who happens to be an eternal student at the high school, although he is simply repeating a grade ad infinitum for constantly sleeping through the classes. Somehow, after 15 years of it, the school manages to teach around him and the night terrors he has (so reliable that people set their watches by it). At this point, I also managed to come up with the idea for a set of twins who happen to have their brains in complete synchronization, no matter how far apart they may be, so one twin may answer the questions another twin is being asked when they are in different rooms. I doubt this actually happens to this degree, but who knows yet? I;ve even got a "balladeer" character to be played by famous opera singer Thomas Quasthoff (or a reasonable facsimile thereof). The show may soon be just as influenced by Oliver Sacks as much as it is by Saved by the Bell and Twin Peaks. Here's hoping I have something more substantial to write about next time.

Band Name of the Day: Burpless Cucumber. From Dad's neweest nickname for my dog.

Film Idea of the Day: Lucky...ing. A man with severe Tourette's (nicknamed "Grim" for one of his tics: frequently grimacing), enters post-apocalyptic Chicago (which, in the tradition of several films like Clockwork Orange and Alphaville, is almost completely visually indistinguishable from pre-apocalyptic Chicago), hoping to make it big by competing in a sport called "Lucky...ing" (after the character in Waiting for Godot, with ellipsis intentional), with the most disjointed and obscene ranter reigning supreme.

Film Review of the Day: Dear Wendy. This movie is a collaboration between two of Scandinavia's current leading makers of Art movies, Thomas Vinterberg and Lars von Trier, taking place in a small mining town. A young pacifistic boy recieves a gun for his birthday, and after learning it is real, decides to start a gang built around peace and Gun ownership. It ultimately doesn't last, clearly. Music by the Zombies.

Quote of the Day: "I'd believe you if you were right, but you're not."
______Either Oliver Sacks or Robin Williams providing a reasonable facsimile thereof, Awakenings.

Link of the Day: A site full of movie monologues, including a Dennis Leary monologue which, along with Flashdance, spawned my movie idea.

Issue 110

News: Abstinence Hell.
One thing the Religious Right is trying to push upon students is abstinence-only education. I must note that while I can see why one should teach abstinence, (which is why every possible sex ed program teaches it, even when provided by Planned Parenthood) I do not think it should be used as the centerpiece of any sex ed course. For one thing, Abstinence isn't working for priests mandated to be celibate. With this in mind, what would make people think that it can work for hormonally crazed teenagers who will be forced to wait from puberty (12-14 years) until they marry (at an average age of 26)? One other problem I have with abstinence-only sex ed as opposed to the standard comprehensive projects is that it scares kids with info that, upon doing research, doesn't stand to reason. At my grade school, I was told, by a police officer, no less, that if I ever had sex before marriage that I would soon end up in jail, and, curiously enough, that "Big Bird was a Pervert" for doing a Sesame Street skit with guys playing with dolls and girls playing with trucks. As atypical as these claims may be for abstinence-only educations, these were things I was told about sex. More typical, and often more dangerous, claims include that since Birth Control (except for abstinence) was not 100% foolproof, it should be avoided at all costs, even if some forms can be effective over 90% of the time with regards to pregnancy. This, of course, leads to the fact that when the kids do have sex, they will not be protected, thus likely to lead to what Jamie Lynn Spears is going through at this moment. One more problem I have with the abstinence only sex ed programs, obviously glaringly unconstitutional evangelizing on Uncle Sam's dime notwithstanding, is that they just plain don't work. Virtually every reliable study ever done on the efficacy of the programs has shown that they do not in any way curb the sexuality of teens as they intend.

Band Name of the Day: Brain Tumors for Breakfast. From a quote from the movie Heathers. The actress speaking the line would later die of a brain tumor, ironically enough.

Book Idea of the Day: Chicken Heads for the Redpill Sole. A collection of 101 short stories often very dark and very ironic in their darkness. No Prizes for guessing from whence I got the title.

Film Review of the Day: Heathers. A teenaged girl (Wynona Ryder) is tired of being accepted as one of the popular crowd. When she meets a teenaged "bad boy", played by Christian Dean, she then proceeds to fake their suicides one by one. This must be one of the darkest teen comedies I have ever seen. Why aren't there more movies like this?

Quote of the Day: "Dear Lord, please make sure this never happens to me because I don't think I could handle suicide. Fast, early acceptance into an Ivy League school and please let it be Harvard. Amen. "
______Peter Dawson, Heathers. In another case of Irony, the actor playing the character offed himself soon after making the movie.

Link of the Day: The article which describes a tale (or indeed several) I will appropriate for the aforementioned short story collection.