Losing David Bowie and Alan Rickman in the same week is unacceptable.
He was in a whole load of wonderful movies. One of my favorite, and I think less well known, is Blow Dry. It’s perfectly lovely.
Rickman, who has died at the age of 69, was irresistible even at his most acid, and leaves behind an astonishing legacy of indelible performances
Source: Alan Rickman: an actor of singular charm and hypnotic charisma | Film | The Guardian
Twilight is running on Showtime. I have pretty much nothing but contempt for the entire franchise[1], but I thought I’d watch the movie to see if it was really as bad as I’d heard, and you know what? It’s worse. Worse, I say! The story itself is awful enough (Bella is supposed to be some sort of social misfit, except that on her first day of school, she’s got kids falling over themselves to befriend her?), but it’s the dialogue and the acting that made me want to throw things at the TV. Truly atrocious. I managed to watch about 15 minutes of it before I had to change the channel. And I actually like cheesy vampire stories! It’s truly that bad.
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1. Emo vampires?! Give me a break! Anne Rice managed to pull it off fairly well with Louis in Interview with the Vampire, but even he became unconvincing as that series wore on.
This is freaking brilliant. It does a pretty good job of underscoring everything that’s wrong with the Twilight storyline. I mean, what girl really needs her very own, personal, control freak stalker?
According to Catalogue of banned publications cinematograph pictures and records from 1st August, 1968 to 30th June, 1980, the movie The Return of Count Yorga was–for some incomprehensible reason–banned in Malawi.
Other banned gems include Sweet Sins of Sexy Susan and Mondo Teeno.
That is all. As you were, comrades.
Still no sign of Harry Potter, though on checking my Netflix queue, I see that he’s gone from “very long wait” to just “long wait.” Three discs should be shipping today. One of them will likely be Moolaadé (it’s supposed to be released tomorrow), plus two more discs of Lost.
I’ve also been looking forward to the DVD release of The Red Balloon. It’s been listed as available “Jan 2008” for a few months now. It’s February 4th, and it’s still in the “saved” section, and it still says it will be available “Jan 2008.” M’kaythen!
That’s how long it’s been since the last Harry Potter movie was released on DVD. I saved it to my Netflix queue as soon as they had a record for it. I moved it to the top of my queue as soon as it was bumped from my save file to my queue. And still, forty-two days later, I am surrounded by a distinct lack of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.
I am not amused. In fact, I’m almost unamused enough to go buy the damned thing, which is, I’m sure, what the distributor intends. (Netflix claims they have been throttled by the distributors, and that they are only allowed to purchase a small quantity of discs for more popular new releases. I don’t see any reason to disbelieve them, as it makes sense, and they have nothing to gain by pissing off their customers.)
Twisty Dog!
“Do NOT Sit Next to Dennis!”
And, if the above does not make sense, then please to be watching the following clip, courtesy of YouTube. Be warned, though, that it is chock-a-block with gratuitous gratuitousness.
d’Anjou Pear (detail)
collage with acrylic and eraser stamps on 90lb Stonehenge paper
9 1/4 x 11 5/8 inches
And, an instant review: The Wild
I love kids’ movies, but this one was a little bit meh. It did have one redeeming factor, though: Eddie Izzard. And, it was worth watching (or, listening to, as I was painting while it was on) solely for the line: “Do we not have the party hats of death?” I laughed so hard I nearly choked. Teh Enb.
I was late for work on Wednesday, which turned out to be a good thing, because it gave me a chance to catch the sun coming up.
I went on a three month long Netflix sabbatical last spring, and my account is set to reactivate tomorrow. With cable, I really haven’t missed it, though I am glad that season two of Rome is coming out soon. I’m dying to see that, as well as a couple of movies that I missed at the theater (300!). I’m switching to a mini-subscription, though. Three-at-a-time should be more than sufficient to keep me entertained, I think.
The point of my “busy weekend” story was that I have not yet read, or even purchased, the new Harry Potter book. I won’t be able to get to it until this weekend, at the earliest. I expect the big surprise will be ruined for me, by then, but I’m trying to stay away from spoilers1. And, to be honest, I’d like to finish re-reading the other books before I start the final one. I’m about half-way through The Order of the Phoenix, so I’ve got a ways to go, yet.
And, no, I still haven’t managed to see the movie. Hrmf!
In other news, Tammy Faye passed away over the weekend. I had a huge soft spot for her. She always struck me as a genuinely good sort of person. So, goodbye, Tammy Faye. I hope you finally get to have your hamburger.
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1 Which may not be as easy as one might think. While I was quietly working on the computer yesterday, Mr. Upstairs turned on the news. They were discussing the new Harry Potter book2, so I quickly put on some music to block out any possible spoilers. This is going to be a long, long week.
2Well of course the volume was so loud I could hear every word. DUH.
red paper boat 