A weblog about stuff and junk by Jake Sutton
The Captain’s Blog: Thoughts, opinions & news from the skipper of the IFC ship is the new-ish weblog of Evan Shapiro, IFC’s General Manager, and it’s great.
I just went all fanboy and posted comments on several posts (Lame, I know…), but really, it’s the kind of film/tv industry insight I just love. (Like the Z Channel documentary IFC aired recently — Wow!)
Check it, yo.
Just a quick catch up on stuff I’ve enjoyed lately:
OK, that’s it. Carry on.
I picked up House of Flying Daggers yesterday and popped it in with the Wife last night.
It’s an eye-popper, that’s for sure. Hero (also by HoFD director Zhang Yimou) impressed me greatly with its stunning use of color in its costumes, but the scenery was mostly bleak (appropriately for the story, I think). In HoFD, the scenery is as lush as the remarkable wardrobe.
The scale is different, too. While Hero featured wide shots of vast armies, HoFD is much more intimate. Attackers number in the dozens at most and the outdoor landscape is mostly dense forrest, contrasted with the vast desert of the other film.
Getting past the visuals, HoFD also has a fantastic story.
If you have any fondness for Hero or Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, House of Flying Daggers is highly recommended.
This is amazing. The Idaho House has passed a bill commending the creators of “Napoleon Dynamite”.
12 WHEREAS, the Preston High School administration and staff, particularly
13 the cafeteria staff, have enjoyed notoriety and worldwide attention; and
14 WHEREAS, tater tots figure prominently in this film thus promoting Idaho’s
15 most famous export; and
16 WHEREAS, the friendship between Napoleon and Pedro has furthered
17 multiethnic relationships; and
18 WHEREAS, Uncle Rico’s football skills are a testament to Idaho athletics;
19 and
20 WHEREAS, Napoleon’s bicycle and Kip’s skateboard promote better air qual-
21 ity and carpooling as alternatives to fuel-dependent methods of transporta-
22 tion;
And then the capper:
2 WHEREAS, any members of the House of Representatives or the Senate of the
3 Legislature of the State of Idaho who choose to vote “Nay” on this concurrent
4 resolution are “FREAKIN’ IDIOTS!” and run the risk of having the “Worst Day of
5 Their Lives!”
Yessssssssss!
The Parting Glass: An Annotated Pogues Lyrics Page
The Pogues in general and Shane MacGowan in particular garnered a (not entirely undeserved) reputation as a bunch of drunken paddies, and the songs sounded like that’s what they were. Heck, I suspect that many of us were drawn to the band for that reason. Yet on closer inspection, the songs — both in terms of the music and the lyrics — are full of historical, literary, and political references not normally found in popular music, and I found that picking up the references added another level of enjoyment to the music. Songs that make you drink and think… a tough combination that the Pogues pulled off magnicifently.
Hell yes!
Of course, it’s all a bit sour for me now that I’ve seen If I Should Fall From Grace: The Shane MacGowan Story, in which Master Shane demonstrates himself to be a sad sot waiting around to die.
…
Also, I just thought I’d point out that St. Patrick was born in Scotland (Ha! Albainn gu brath!) to a Romano-British father and a (probably) Gaulish mother. His first exposure to Ireland was when he taken as a slave by Irish raiders in his teens, and it was this experience that galvanized his religious conviction.
Then there are the snakes… When it is said that Patrick drove out the snakes, it most likely refers to his work converting the Celtic people of Ireland to Christianity, thus “driving out” those dastardly druids and whatever other forms of paganism were previously enjoyed.
Good stuff.
And really, I’m not hatin’ on my Irish brethren. One love, y’all.
[Since I'm getting Google hits, here's the 37% lamer 2006 Oscar summary.]
The best musical performance (by far!) was Jorge Drexler accepting his award by singing his own Best Song, completely showing up the version Antonio Banderas and Carlos Santana put forth. Seriously: The music sucked. Someone tell Adam Duritz it was time to lose the fake dreds five years ago. Please.
When Sean Penn came out I thought to myself, “Man, he’s badass. He looks like he needs to beat someone.” Then he got all grumpy at Chris Rock for asking who Jude Law is, so yeah, I guess he was looking for someone to beat.
I’m sorry I missed his tirade about who’s a movie star and who isn’t, because, other than that Chris Rock was pretty dull. They showed clips of Johnny Carson when he hosted: Too bad for Chris.
Was Dustin Hoffman completely pixelated or what?!
Jamie Foxx is a sweet guy. He should stop acting like an asshole.
Clint Eastwood is just getting started, y’all. His mom was in the audience at age 96. Someday I want Clint to yell at me and make me cry like a little girl.
Hilary Swank is “teh hotness” (as they say on the internets).
The “everyone on stage so the losers can relive their middle school talent show failures” presentations were extra lame.
Why does the foreign film award “go to” the country of origin??
Best moment I didn’t catch (from a pre-show):
“Before you were a movie star, you were a serious actor,” said ABC’s Chris Connelly to Orlando Bloom.
I used to like Connelly when he was on MTV. Now I wish Orlando had smacked him.
The show was over EARLY. WTF?!?! That’s just stupid.
See CNN, NYT, EW, and, well, everywhere else for more…
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