When filmmakers don't try as hard as they should or try too hard (or, in some cases, make what they think someone else will like); here's a list in no particular order:
1. DOMINO
2. SPIDER-MAN 3
3. BIG FISH
4. PAYCHECK
5. THE ISLAND
6. THE BAD NEWS BEARS
7. THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE/THE TRUTH ABOUT CHARLIE
8. ELIZABETHTOWN
9. THE WEATHER MAN
10. GOOD NIGHT AND GOOD LUCK
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Random list of some favorite films of 2000s.
Posted this originally to USENET--In no particular order: 1. THE KING OF KONG 2. ZODIAC 3. THERE WILL BE BLOOD 4. WHEN THE LEVEE BROKE 5. SPIDER-MAN 1 and 2 6. LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA 7. IN HER SHOES 8. ATONEMENT 9. PUBLIC ENEMIES 10. UP 11. CORALINE 12. THE HURT LOCKER 13. JARHEAD 14. NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN 15. A SERIOUS MAN 16. ADVENTURELAND 17. PLANET TERROR 18. HOT FUZZ 19. BATMAN BEGINS/THE DARK KNIGHT 20. TETRO 21. A MIGHTY HEART 22. ALL ABOUT MY MOTHER/VOLVER/BROKEN EMBRACES 23. THE BALLAD OF JACK AND ROSE 24. CITY OF GOD 25. 3:10 TO YUMA 26. TROUBLE THE WATER 27. JUNO 28. WHIP IT 29. THE ROAD TO PERDITION 30. HARSH TIMES 31. WALL*E 32. TYSON 33. CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY/SWEENEY TODD 34. CAPOTE 35. FANTASTIC MR. FOX 36. THE SQUID AND THE WHALE 37. FAST FOOD NATION 38. BROKEN FLOWERS 39. THE BEAT
THAT MY HEART SKIPPED 40. PARANOID PARK
Notable reissues of the decade: THE BIG RED ONE (extended version), DIVA
THAT MY HEART SKIPPED 40. PARANOID PARK
Notable reissues of the decade: THE BIG RED ONE (extended version), DIVA
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
The Oprah Book Club, Jonathan Franzen and a lesson the L.A. poetry community won't learn.
Here's an op-ed article by Julia Keller which appeared in THE LOS ANGELES TIMES today re the Oprah Winfrey Book Club: http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et-book-club30-2009dec30,0,6657148.story
A salient passage (with highlighting by me):
So forget Kindle. What transformed literary culture in 2000-09 was "The Corrections" (2001) by Jonathan Franzen -- not only the book, which is a big, gorgeous, strapping 19th century novel smuggled into the 21st, and a Midwestern novel to boot, but also the story behind the story. It was selected by Oprah Winfrey for her book club. Franzen was less than thrilled about the honor -- previous Winfrey books struck him as dreadfully down-market and plebeian -- which led to a mini-dust-up with Winfrey and a sudden spotlight on a dirty little truth: Literature is the last refuge of the snob. Most of us thought, in our infinite ignorance, that readers are readers, and the more readers, the better. But not Franzen: He wanted only certain kinds of readers.Winfrey's book club began in 1996, but it was the Franzen episode that put it on the map. Yes, her imprimatur made a huge difference in a book's sales from the get-go, but "The Corrections" -- the intricate, beautifully written story of the slow, tottering fall of a Midwestern family -- made her book club controversial, and in the United States, nothing is truly important until it has started a few arguments.The first decade of the 21st century revealed two things to the literary world: the power of a TV talk-show host to shape our collective taste in books, and the rudeness of a self-important author when that taste happened to include his work. (Never mind that Winfrey also favored William Faulkner, Toni Morrison and John Steinbeck; she was still too lowbrow for Franzen.)
A salient passage (with highlighting by me):
So forget Kindle. What transformed literary culture in 2000-09 was "The Corrections" (2001) by Jonathan Franzen -- not only the book, which is a big, gorgeous, strapping 19th century novel smuggled into the 21st, and a Midwestern novel to boot, but also the story behind the story. It was selected by Oprah Winfrey for her book club. Franzen was less than thrilled about the honor -- previous Winfrey books struck him as dreadfully down-market and plebeian -- which led to a mini-dust-up with Winfrey and a sudden spotlight on a dirty little truth: Literature is the last refuge of the snob. Most of us thought, in our infinite ignorance, that readers are readers, and the more readers, the better. But not Franzen: He wanted only certain kinds of readers.Winfrey's book club began in 1996, but it was the Franzen episode that put it on the map. Yes, her imprimatur made a huge difference in a book's sales from the get-go, but "The Corrections" -- the intricate, beautifully written story of the slow, tottering fall of a Midwestern family -- made her book club controversial, and in the United States, nothing is truly important until it has started a few arguments.The first decade of the 21st century revealed two things to the literary world: the power of a TV talk-show host to shape our collective taste in books, and the rudeness of a self-important author when that taste happened to include his work. (Never mind that Winfrey also favored William Faulkner, Toni Morrison and John Steinbeck; she was still too lowbrow for Franzen.)
Maureen Dowd on Obama post-Detroit terror attempt.
Except for one dumb, unnecessary remark about the attempted terrorist's "feminine underwear", Maureen Dowd of THE NEW YORK TIMES has a worth-reading op-ed today about President Obama and his response to the Christmas near-disaster: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/30/opinion/30dowd.html
This paragraph of hers is particularly penetrating:
"President Obama’s favorite word is “unprecedented,” as Carol Lee of Politico pointed out. Yet he often seems mired in the past as well, letting his hallmark legislation get loaded up with old-school bribes and pork; surrounding himself with Clintonites; continuing the Bushies’ penchant for secrecy and expansive executive privilege; doubling down in Afghanistan while acting as though he’s getting out; and failing to capitalize on snazzy new technology while agencies thumb through printouts and continue their old turf battles."
This paragraph of hers is particularly penetrating:
"President Obama’s favorite word is “unprecedented,” as Carol Lee of Politico pointed out. Yet he often seems mired in the past as well, letting his hallmark legislation get loaded up with old-school bribes and pork; surrounding himself with Clintonites; continuing the Bushies’ penchant for secrecy and expansive executive privilege; doubling down in Afghanistan while acting as though he’s getting out; and failing to capitalize on snazzy new technology while agencies thumb through printouts and continue their old turf battles."
Monday, December 28, 2009
Here comes The Rooster From Wooster!
Before I say goodbye to the first decade of the 21st century, I want to take one more chance to recognize the fatuousness of a ex-California-now-New-England literary poet/journalist who I've had issues with in the past. In this post, I'll omit his name, but refer to him instead as The Rooster From Wooster.
Here are a couple of pearls of intended self-reflection from The Rooster's blog:
Sometimes, it's hard not to think that the urge for fame or success, for validation, makes tame monsters of us.
Thursday, December 3rd, 2009
Thursdays are for pimping
I feel like I'm busy all the time, but it doesn't always feel like I've accomplished anything. Still, I turn around and there's something or other I wrote, or was interviewed in, or edited, or whatever. It's as though the process has become so commonplace that I fail to register it. This is not a good thing. Becoming jaded is dangerous, at least for me: it robs the writing process of its magic, makes me stop caring. None of this is good, and it's an impulse I need to watch out for.
Hope you were as impressed with The Rooster's crowing as I was.
Here are a couple of pearls of intended self-reflection from The Rooster's blog:
Sometimes, it's hard not to think that the urge for fame or success, for validation, makes tame monsters of us.
Thursday, December 3rd, 2009
Thursdays are for pimping
I feel like I'm busy all the time, but it doesn't always feel like I've accomplished anything. Still, I turn around and there's something or other I wrote, or was interviewed in, or edited, or whatever. It's as though the process has become so commonplace that I fail to register it. This is not a good thing. Becoming jaded is dangerous, at least for me: it robs the writing process of its magic, makes me stop caring. None of this is good, and it's an impulse I need to watch out for.
Hope you were as impressed with The Rooster's crowing as I was.
Friday, December 25, 2009
Free speech re LA poetry of the 2000s: how it disappeared.
Here's a post from a poetry listserve dating back to August 2006. The context is that someone on the list posted something spectacularly insulting (and far too personal to repeat) to a local poet. Upshot: the poet running the list, instead of using his power to judiciously ban the insulter, instead posted this (name and listserve omitted; I've highlighted one particularly egregious passage):
[Poetry listserve] exists primarily for the promotion of [host's reading].I've left it un-moderated to allow folks to feel free to promote other projects, converse with each other and be mildly annoying, as we all tend to be on e-mail lists, in our attempts to be humorous,intelligent or clever. This has strayed, far too often, from far too many people into the arena of pain causing personal attacks, slander,insults, unpleasantly argumentative 'discussion', and generally an atmosphere of embarrassment for me at being the host of such a thing which has served more to damage community than foster it.Any future posts here which, at my sole discretion, even hint at this kind of unpleasantness again will cause the poster to me immediately removed from this list, no second chances, thanks bye. [Host]
Some disclosure needs to be offered here: I offended the host in question, was dropped from the listserve earlier that year and later was semi-forgiven.
The reason I'm dredging this up again is: If there's anything that's been lost in the 2000s, it's the right for poets to occasionally risk offending each other by speaking in public forums about issues in local poetry. And there are politic ways to do so most of the time. But sometimes, offense to persons or sacred poetry cows must be risked (short of revealing embarrassing personal details about someone or making actionable threats).
But I've found out that people have a greater tolerance for unpleasantness when poets have some power in the community. The poet which sparked the host's desire to be Chief of Civility Police was allowed to stay on the list presumably because the host (at that time) wrote for the poet's then-broadside (though the host resigned not too long afterwards). An unpleasant loudmouth (I'm saying this tongue-in-cheek) like myself, with little clout, could be easily removed. And the stupid, destructive myth that any minority opinions counter to consensus
"damage community" was allowed to continue (and it's safe to conjecture that some locals still believe in it today).
The host still has his listserve; it returned to being unmoderated since most of the posts are now announcements for this or that reading--with no unpleasant ideas or conflict to be neutralized--apparently meaning that speech can be free and unmoderated as long as it is popular.
And as 2010 approaches, whatever discussion of local poetry that remains will hopefully continue to migrate to community sites such as Facebook.
[Poetry listserve] exists primarily for the promotion of [host's reading].I've left it un-moderated to allow folks to feel free to promote other projects, converse with each other and be mildly annoying, as we all tend to be on e-mail lists, in our attempts to be humorous,intelligent or clever. This has strayed, far too often, from far too many people into the arena of pain causing personal attacks, slander,insults, unpleasantly argumentative 'discussion', and generally an atmosphere of embarrassment for me at being the host of such a thing which has served more to damage community than foster it.Any future posts here which, at my sole discretion, even hint at this kind of unpleasantness again will cause the poster to me immediately removed from this list, no second chances, thanks bye. [Host]
Some disclosure needs to be offered here: I offended the host in question, was dropped from the listserve earlier that year and later was semi-forgiven.
The reason I'm dredging this up again is: If there's anything that's been lost in the 2000s, it's the right for poets to occasionally risk offending each other by speaking in public forums about issues in local poetry. And there are politic ways to do so most of the time. But sometimes, offense to persons or sacred poetry cows must be risked (short of revealing embarrassing personal details about someone or making actionable threats).
But I've found out that people have a greater tolerance for unpleasantness when poets have some power in the community. The poet which sparked the host's desire to be Chief of Civility Police was allowed to stay on the list presumably because the host (at that time) wrote for the poet's then-broadside (though the host resigned not too long afterwards). An unpleasant loudmouth (I'm saying this tongue-in-cheek) like myself, with little clout, could be easily removed. And the stupid, destructive myth that any minority opinions counter to consensus
"damage community" was allowed to continue (and it's safe to conjecture that some locals still believe in it today).
The host still has his listserve; it returned to being unmoderated since most of the posts are now announcements for this or that reading--with no unpleasant ideas or conflict to be neutralized--apparently meaning that speech can be free and unmoderated as long as it is popular.
And as 2010 approaches, whatever discussion of local poetry that remains will hopefully continue to migrate to community sites such as Facebook.
Thursday, December 24, 2009
My LA/OC Poets of the Decade list.
Not in any specific order; a list of local poets (and people affiliated with poetry) who, by their presence (and, in some cases, absence), shaped the Southern California scene over the past decade:
1. Suzanne Lummis
2. Steve Ramirez/Ben Trigg
3. Mifanwy Kaiser/Paul Suntup
4. Kerry Slattery
5. Larry Jaffe
6. G. Murray Thomas
7. Richard Beban
8. Larry Colker
9. francEyE
10. Scott Wannberg
11. Rick Lupert
12. Teka Lark Lo/Randall Fleming
13. Don Kingfisher Campbell
14, Rafael FJ Alvarado
15. Pete Justus and all the past and present Rapp Saloon hosts
16. Jack Shafer
17. Ron Dvorkin
18. Marie Lecrivain
19. Peggy Dobreer
20. Kate Gale
21, RD Raindog Armstrong
22. EC Carlye Archibeque
23. Amelie Frank
24. Tom Ianniello
25. Donn Deedon/Heather Long
26. Jerry Garcia
27. Jaimes Palacio
28. Lee Mallory
1. Suzanne Lummis
2. Steve Ramirez/Ben Trigg
3. Mifanwy Kaiser/Paul Suntup
4. Kerry Slattery
5. Larry Jaffe
6. G. Murray Thomas
7. Richard Beban
8. Larry Colker
9. francEyE
10. Scott Wannberg
11. Rick Lupert
12. Teka Lark Lo/Randall Fleming
13. Don Kingfisher Campbell
14, Rafael FJ Alvarado
15. Pete Justus and all the past and present Rapp Saloon hosts
16. Jack Shafer
17. Ron Dvorkin
18. Marie Lecrivain
19. Peggy Dobreer
20. Kate Gale
21, RD Raindog Armstrong
22. EC Carlye Archibeque
23. Amelie Frank
24. Tom Ianniello
25. Donn Deedon/Heather Long
26. Jerry Garcia
27. Jaimes Palacio
28. Lee Mallory
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Another new low for LA TIMES film critic Betsy Sharkey.
This enthusiastic review of ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS: THE SQUEAKUEL by second-chair LOS ANGELES TIMES film critic Betsy Sharkey may give you an idea of the pressure facing people who write about movies to be at one with studio product--especially sequels to family fare that make Big Money: http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et-squeakquel23-2009dec23,0,7439065.story
PEOPLE's Leah Rozen, who stepped down from her reviewer position recently, said something about leaving before all movies looked to her like the recent OLD DOGS.
If something like that occurs, I'm guessing Ms. Sharkey will roll with the changes just fine.
PEOPLE's Leah Rozen, who stepped down from her reviewer position recently, said something about leaving before all movies looked to her like the recent OLD DOGS.
If something like that occurs, I'm guessing Ms. Sharkey will roll with the changes just fine.
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
George McGovern rebuts TIME's Joe Klein on Afghanistan.
Former ROLLING STONE and NEW YORK writer/TIME columnist Joe Klein apparently has been drinking White House Kool-Aid re the long-running war in Afghanistan. Former Presidential candidate/war veteran George McGovern has a different opinion: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/george-mcgovern/a-response-to-joe-klein_b_398588.html
Monday, December 21, 2009
A brief summary of the decade in Los Angeles poetry.
In 2000, poetry in L.A. had room for just about everyone who wanted to participate.
As 2010 approaches, the remaining "scene" tends to have both official and unofficial quality controls in terms of the "prestige" readings. With the decline of "independent" bookstores and
coffeehouses, there are fewer "informal" readings. And even some of the remaining coffeehouse readings are now run by hosts that want to import gravitas more than nurture a viable writing community.
Re my current feelings: I'm reminded of BEING JOHN MALKOVICH's scenes where people, after being inside Malkovich's mind, find themselves dumped out alongside a New Jersey expressway.
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Brittany Murphy and the Hollywood Beauty Myth.
After being surprised at Brittany Murphy's too-young death at 32, I was further saddened by a lazy/dumb/unfunny SNL WEEKEND UPDATE bit where Abby Elliott impersonated Murphy (recently fired from a film shooting in Puerto Rico) as a possibly-druggie ditz; apparently, the bit aired in the past week or two. I'm not linking to it here.
Murphy (also known for regular voiceover work on Mike Judge's KING OF THE HILL) had two breakout roles with CLUELESS and GIRL, INTERRUPTED in the mid-to-late 90s. Then, she resurfaced in the first half of the 2000s as a thin, blonde meant-to-be-supersexy waif type--appealing to both Hollywood majordomos and adolescent males of all ages who believed that Kate Winslet was too "fat."
After SIN CITY, Murphy's films got smaller (I remember seeing one direct-to-DVD title, THE RAMEN GIRL, at my local Target store). But she did a lot of work recently, and some of her now-posthumous unreleased films will likely show up next year.
I don't know the exact cause of Murphy's death--but it's safe to say that the Industry get-thin-get-Botoxed-get-Collagened-or-we-won't-hire-you ethos didn't help her at all.
Murphy (also known for regular voiceover work on Mike Judge's KING OF THE HILL) had two breakout roles with CLUELESS and GIRL, INTERRUPTED in the mid-to-late 90s. Then, she resurfaced in the first half of the 2000s as a thin, blonde meant-to-be-supersexy waif type--appealing to both Hollywood majordomos and adolescent males of all ages who believed that Kate Winslet was too "fat."
After SIN CITY, Murphy's films got smaller (I remember seeing one direct-to-DVD title, THE RAMEN GIRL, at my local Target store). But she did a lot of work recently, and some of her now-posthumous unreleased films will likely show up next year.
I don't know the exact cause of Murphy's death--but it's safe to say that the Industry get-thin-get-Botoxed-get-Collagened-or-we-won't-hire-you ethos didn't help her at all.
Friday, December 18, 2009
This time, Kenneth Turan gives a more-or-less good review to a James Cameron movie.
Not sure how many people remember the....let's call it titanic...... anger that James Cameron displayed in a letter to the LOS ANGELES TIMES in early 1998 because chief film critic Kenneth Turan gave a harsh review to Cameron's then hugely-popular and now semi-forgotten film about two young lovers on a doomed ocean liner. Feel free to Google Turan's original review and Cameron's response.
Now, here's a tinyURL link to Turan's review of Cameron's AVATAR: http://shar.es/aDAiQ
Feel even more free to judge for yourself whether Turan's opinion (partially a sense of awe over AVATAR's technical achievements) is genuine or not this time around.
For my part, I was surprised that Turan didn't recuse himself and give second-chair Betsy Sharkey the assignment--or even offer it to now-freelance Kevin "I like just about everything" Thomas.
Now, here's a tinyURL link to Turan's review of Cameron's AVATAR: http://shar.es/aDAiQ
Feel even more free to judge for yourself whether Turan's opinion (partially a sense of awe over AVATAR's technical achievements) is genuine or not this time around.
For my part, I was surprised that Turan didn't recuse himself and give second-chair Betsy Sharkey the assignment--or even offer it to now-freelance Kevin "I like just about everything" Thomas.
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
My choices for People of the Year.
Purely subjective choices for People of the Year:
1. Joe Lieberman--the man who gives aid and comfort to Republicans,
conservative Democrats and the health insurance lobbyists who love them.
2. Stanley McChrystal--this generation's version of the general
who once croaked "old soldiers never die, they just fade away"
and prompted President Harry Truman to remove him for defiance
regarding the Korean War; President Obama, facing a similar situation
with Afghanistan, meekly rolled over instead.
3. Lloyd Blankfein--head of Goldman Sachs, the bank
which apparently keeps Gordon Gekko's motto "greed works"
to heart.
4. Jeff Zucker--the man who has made NBC what it isn't today.
5. Oprah Winfrey--the talk-show megamogul who's moving from
syndication to ruler of her own cable network (acronym OWN)
6. Tiger Woods--from all the recent chatter, one would think
that he's the first-ever sports celeb to ever have affairs. Now
the media has shifted to wondering how much endorsement
money he stands to lose.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Michael Moriarty--like Jon Voight before him--turns Right.
It's a sort of ritual for certain aging male celebrities to publicly retreat into social and/or poltical conservatism. Steve Allen, in his last years, became a cranky crusader against what he considered "filth" in entertainment. The late Ron Silver (once involved with the left-to-moderate Creative Coalition) became vocal about his rightist beliefs after 9/11. Jon Voight, who won an Oscar for playing an anti-Vietnam War paraplegic (inspired by Ron Kovic) in COMING HOME, now can be found opnionating on Fox News. And don't get me started on former comedian Dennis Miller.
Michael Moriarty has now come to the proverbial fork in the road--and has turned Right. Here are links to an interview and a Moriarty-penned article for Andrew Breitbart's showbiz-liberalism-bashing site BIG HOLLYWOOD.
http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/aliciacolon/2009/11/25/interview-michael-moriarty-on-obama-palin-nbc-beck-and-gutfeld/
http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/mmoriarty/2009/12/09/dead-end-america/
Michael Moriarty has now come to the proverbial fork in the road--and has turned Right. Here are links to an interview and a Moriarty-penned article for Andrew Breitbart's showbiz-liberalism-bashing site BIG HOLLYWOOD.
http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/aliciacolon/2009/11/25/interview-michael-moriarty-on-obama-palin-nbc-beck-and-gutfeld/
http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/mmoriarty/2009/12/09/dead-end-america/
Monday, December 7, 2009
Perplexing events to ponder as it rains outside.
1. John McCain persists in trying to be a frontperson for a Republican Party which has little use for him.
2. Fox gave Carrie Underwood TWO HOURS of airtime for a holiday special.
Feel free to contribute any current events--great or small--you find perplexing in the comments below.
2. Fox gave Carrie Underwood TWO HOURS of airtime for a holiday special.
Feel free to contribute any current events--great or small--you find perplexing in the comments below.
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Tiger Woods--when private becomes public.
Awhile back (think it might have been on ENTERTAINMENT TONIGHT), Kevin Bacon said something like: "My private life is none of America's business."
But then again, he's merely a well-paid actor and not a supremely-well-paid, taught-by-dad-to-be-golf-machine-more-than-actual-person athlete like Tiger Woods.
It looks like Tiger successfully put a lid on conjecture about what exactly happened re the late-night SUV accident.
But the leak of a voicemail message allegedly by Tiger to one of his alleged mistresses (of the "my wife's looking for evidence I'm seeing other people" variety) seems to have prompted little more than a crisis-management-shaped "apology" on the Tiger Woods website.
It may be time for Tiger to speak actual human sentences instead of save-my-commercial-endorsements-make-it-go-away-euphemisms; i.e. be honest with his fans in order to redirect public attention towards more pertinent matters (i.e. the escalation of the Afghanistan War).
Jay Leno needs ratings. Perhaps it's time for Tiger to endure Jay hauling out his old "What the hell were you thinking?" line once more. [Rumors are that Tiger will do the mea culpa thing for Oprah.]
[UPDATE: 12/9/09--Here's an article about Tiger's alleged marriage counseling: http://www.sphere.com/nation/article/tiger-woods-tries-intensive-therapy-to-save-marriage/19269773]
But then again, he's merely a well-paid actor and not a supremely-well-paid, taught-by-dad-to-be-golf-machine-more-than-actual-person athlete like Tiger Woods.
It looks like Tiger successfully put a lid on conjecture about what exactly happened re the late-night SUV accident.
But the leak of a voicemail message allegedly by Tiger to one of his alleged mistresses (of the "my wife's looking for evidence I'm seeing other people" variety) seems to have prompted little more than a crisis-management-shaped "apology" on the Tiger Woods website.
It may be time for Tiger to speak actual human sentences instead of save-my-commercial-endorsements-make-it-go-away-euphemisms; i.e. be honest with his fans in order to redirect public attention towards more pertinent matters (i.e. the escalation of the Afghanistan War).
Jay Leno needs ratings. Perhaps it's time for Tiger to endure Jay hauling out his old "What the hell were you thinking?" line once more. [Rumors are that Tiger will do the mea culpa thing for Oprah.]
[UPDATE: 12/9/09--Here's an article about Tiger's alleged marriage counseling: http://www.sphere.com/nation/article/tiger-woods-tries-intensive-therapy-to-save-marriage/19269773]
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