Experts agree...

...this is still The Greatest Line Ever.

posted by Liz  # 10:28 AM 0 Comments

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Two ways of falling for a band

1) Love at first byte: "Who is this? I must have this. I must listen to it on repeat. I must use it to reprogram my brain."

2) The slow path: "Oh, I like that song. Who does it? Oh, cool. I like that other song they do, too. I guess I'll get this album. Oh, and that other album. Hmm, I need to finish up some writing, I could listen to this. Oh, time to do some cleaning -- what's up for background music? Man, today is just endless -- all I want is to chill out with a book and some Spoon..."

Which is to say that we are playing nothing but Spoon here, and it is awesome. I'm sure you already know that. But reminders are always nice.

Labels: sweet soul music

posted by Liz  # 12:19 PM 1 Comments

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What does burning human flesh smell like?

I don't know, but now we can find out!

(Thanks, C.!)

posted by Liz  # 11:00 AM 0 Comments

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Do you enjoy short fiction podcasts?

Then you might enjoy this audio adaptation of Hand of God, otherwise known as "The short story I sold to the Canadians," previously known before then as "The short story about soccer and time travel." Free! Download! Enjoy!

Labels: projects:writing

posted by Liz  # 5:05 PM 0 Comments

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The movies I have seen in March

300: This movie is campy campy gold. I still feel a little guilty about how much I enjoy it. It's a failure on every high-culture level, most certainly. But those are some attractive men with some great big swords, and every last shallow bit of my being had a great time. I'm going to try and have more intelligent thoughts for next month's Bookslut. But for right now just understand that while I won't lie about enjoying it, I feel really bad about it.

Priest (DVD): Releasing this movie in 1994 got Miramax its edgy, ball-busting reputation. Thirteen years later, it plays as a fairly tame but compelling character study. With Robert Carlyle as Linus "Thomas Wayne" Roache's gay lover, Tom Wilkinson as a older priest, and Lesley Sharp as a beleagured housewife. Written by Jimmy McGovern, who created Cracker. So you know it's a hoot and a half.

Shut Up and Sing (DVD): Don't ever break a Dixie Chick's heart, because it heals tough. I do hope Adrian Pasdar made a note of this. The doc itself is badly structured but full of interesting moments. Those girls sure are sassy.

TMNT: I had absolutely no expectations, and enjoyed it thoroughly. On a plot level, it's a complete mess, but it captures perfectly all the character elements that made me love the series as a child. It's a sad and depressing thing, to realize how much joy I can still take in watching man-sized turtles fight an army of ninjas. But then I stop questioning it, because ninjas are AWESOME.

Stranger than Fiction (DVD): Damn, damn good. Visually fascinating, great characters, and fresh and unique in a way I'd been missing. It's hard to be post-modern and also emotionally engaging, but the scene where Will Ferrell admits that he's never had a cookie made me cry. Oh, and I am so very much in love with Emma Thompson. So very much. This one's definitely a Netflix-er, Mom and Dad.

And that is quite literally it, friends. Been a busy few weeks. Maybe tonight I'll catch up with Battlestar. I hear it's got all the kids talking.

Labels: moving pictures

posted by Liz  # 4:32 PM 3 Comments

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Fun facts I learned from today's Variety

Fox Atomic is in talks to pick up an untitled spec script from "Save the Last Dance" scribe Duane Adler. Mike Karz and Generate are attached to produce the project, which the youth-centric specialty unit is looking to fast track. Like "Last Dance" and "Step Up," which Adler also penned, the untitled feature will be the music-driven tale of a forbidden teen romance.

Fact learned: Duane Adler is a genius.

Toho will release helmer Hayao Miyazaki's next toon, "Gake no ue no Ponyo" (Ponyo on a Cliff), in summer 2008. Miyazaki's Studio Ghibli will produce. New toon concerns a goldfish princess named Ponyo who wants to become human and her relationship with a 5-year-old boy. Miyazaki, who is penning the original script, is basing the boy on his grandson, the son of "Tales From Earthsea" helmer Goro Miyazaki.

Fact learned: Miyazaki is a cute factory.

Universal Pictures has set Angelina Jolie to star alongside James McAvoy and Morgan Freeman in "Wanted," an action film based on a graphic novel that Timur Bekmambetov will direct. Pic will be Jolie's next, with shooting to begin in Eastern Europe in May. McAvoy will play a young man who discovers his father is an assassin, only to learn shortly thereafter that his dad has been murdered. The youth is drafted to follow in his father's footsteps. Jolie will play an assassin who teaches the ropes to the wannabe killer. Script was originated by Michael Brandt and Derek Haas, and Jolie took the role after a rewrite by Dean Georgaris to tailor the character for her.

Fact learned: Assassin Jolie? The director of Night Watch? McAvoy? (Shut it, Jeff.) Wanted may be based on a Millar comic, but it may also well be AWESOME.

Universal Pictures has set "The Last King of Scotland" helmer Kevin Macdonald to direct "State of Play," the Americanized version of the acclaimed British miniseries that will star Brad Pitt. Scripted by Matthew Michael Carnahan, the film is slated to shoot in November. A congressman's mistress is killed, and a team of investigative reporters secretly work with a police detective to solve the murder. Pitt aligned with the project last year (Daily Variety, July 27).

Fact learned: State of Play will DEFINITELY be awesome.

Labels: moving pictures

posted by Liz  # 11:57 AM 1 Comments

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No time. Too busy. Daniel Craig.

Labels: great britain, online video

posted by Liz  # 4:58 PM 0 Comments

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Television Slutbag

I've always been a bit polyamorous when it comes to television, it's true. But right now, I'm looking at the end of two long-time, fairly serious television affairs and finding myself not terribly concerned -- while simultaneously catting around with some very casual booty calls.

The word is coming down that Veronica Mars is not long for this world. Which is sad, I suppose. But even if they do go with the proposed girl-FBI-agent retooling, I'm having a hard time getting excited for the show's return (or lack thereof). I've been trying to figure out why, because I honestly used to be nuts over it. Maybe it's just that certain shows get old, and whatever initially made me like Veronica as a character has faded from memory. Perhaps it's because the mysteries of late have lacked a personal connection to Veronica's life, so all the good drama on that front is gone, leaving behind only a marginally-well-executed detective procedural. I'll still continue to watch, but I miss the old days. I miss the old, non-professional Veronica, with her spunk and short hair and Back-up.

Battlestar is also a problem, though I have less sense of why I've been fairly cool about the show lately. Probably has something to do with being spoiled for Episode 16's big thing, and thus knowing to keep my distance emotionally. I just know that I'm not very interested in watching the new episode. I'm certain I'll catch up eventually, but in the meantime... eh.

Part of it, I suppose, is that both of these shows are so-called appointment television -- shows that I will watch with my full attention, with no distractions. They're commitments I've made. I have relationships with these shows. They've entertained me for years, and I try and respect that.

Meanwhile, though, I've had things to do in the evenings -- design work, some photo editing, and oodles of laundry. I like having something on in the background while I do these things, but I don't want to watch anything that really requires my attention. I want something cheap and easy. I want my show on the side. (Quite literally on the side, actually -- something I can play on my second monitor.)

Thus, while the TiVo becomes clogged with unwatched American favorites, I have been blowing through the new BBC Robin Hood. Laurel just referred to it as Smallville Robin Hood, which is damn apt, as it is silly and adolescent and not at all good. But the first six episodes have been good company this week, and if you're barely watching then you barely notice that it's just a live-action cartoon. And I like Jonas Armstrong. He's so elfin! It's a fun show, but doesn't require any commitment. And I guess that's what I'm looking for in my entertainment, these days.

I know that lots of people have experienced this phenomenom, but I still find it a little disconcerting. If I can't maintain a stable relationship with my media, how can I expect to maintain a stable relationship with another human being?

Oh, I'm reading too much into it. And besides, look at this guy:

Oh, you'd flirt too.

Labels: great britain, teacher mother secret lover

posted by Liz  # 3:52 PM 0 Comments

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Dear Los Angeles drivers,

Hi! I'm a pedestrian! I walk to work, and thus spend about an hour a day strolling these sunny streets, earbud headphones lodged in my ears. I like being a pedestrian, LA -- there's so much to see! Yesterday morning I saw the biggest snail! Yesterday night I saw a near-accident averted with screams and shouts and a few "you dumb Jew!"s. Truly the world is full of wonders!

So, Los Angeles drivers, I am one of you on a frequent basis, and I understand where you're coming from. But can we work out some kind of deal? Something kind of simple. I agree to stay on the sidewalks and keep jaywalking to a minimum (something I am in fact already doing). And you, in turn, will STOP TRYING TO KILL ME. Specifically, when you're making right turns. I know it's tempting, to just whiz out into the street when trying to make those unprotected rights. But if you could just glimpse at the curb before nearly running over it in your haste to join the Sunset Blvd gridlock, it'd be much appreciated.

And as an added bonus, I'll tell you about these awesome podcasts I'm currently listening to! Grammar Girl is chock full of little nerdy writing tips, and the episodes are short and sweet. I love the eclectic nature of Studio 360's pop culture coverage -- the Superman episode is especially fantastic. And there is nothing more fun on this Earth than Coffee Break Spanish -- mainly because the absurdity of being an Angeleno learning Spanish from a podcast beamed out from Scotland is too delicious. I am learning the Spanish spoken in central Spain! With a Scottish accent! Yo soy de Escocia! It's very useful!

See, Los Angeles drivers, isn't this a good deal? You listen to awesome podcasts. I don't die. Everyone wins!

Hugs and kisses,
Liz

Labels: city of angels, media matters

posted by Liz  # 2:18 PM 1 Comments

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Ostrich Feathers, Anyone?

I like writing for Daily Reel, because it means I find things like this:

Labels: online video

posted by Liz  # 3:53 PM 3 Comments

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Some thoughts on fundamentalism, via Dick Cheney and Deepa Mehta

This all started on a Thursday morning two weeks ago, when I was taking the bus downtown, occasionally scanning the bus news screens (because the bus is all about the future). There was some headline courtesy of Dick Cheney, one of those "Democrats are un-American for talking about the war" statements. And I wondered if Dick Cheney, or the Bush administration for that matter, would ever admit to being wrong about something. Not now, of course. But maybe after 2008, maybe twenty years down the line? Buried in a paragraph of a massive tell-all? Maybe then?

It was hard to imagine, at that point in the morning. Cheney saying he was wrong. Colin Powell saying he was wrong. Bush saying he was wrong. A bit hard to buy. But hey, current political debate is close to needing a version of Godwin's Law that covers McCarthy. Another guy hard-pressed at the time to admit to fault.

That night, I went to see a screening of Water organized by one of those women-in-film groups. Water, as a film, is all right -- the performances are great, the cinematography beautiful, and there are some truly emotional and affecting moments that stick with you. But it's also very much a melodrama, and some of the more heavy-handed beats really got on my nerves, ultimately leaving me cold.

Afterwards, there was a Q&A with the director, and it turns out Deepa Mehta is awesome -- smart and funny and articulate. One of the things she talked about was her first attempt to make the film, which was abruptly stopped by the violent protests of Hindu fundamentalist groups. Furious and hurt, Mehta put the project away for several years, not wanting to make the movie until her anger had faded -- and when she was ready to begin again, she chose to shoot in Sri Lanka instead of her home country.

The fundamentalists who destroyed the first production were protesting the subject matter: specifically, the treatment of widows demanded by Hindi tradition. Mehta pointed out, though, that the film had been approved for production by the Indian government, and none of the fundamentalist groups involved in the protest had read the script -- they were just told that the film attacked Hinduism, and so they retaliated. Having seen the movie, it does offer some serious challenges to specific tenants of the religion -- but it's handled in a extremely mature way, with what I thought was a great deal of respect towards the faith. While also managing to point out that maybe, just maybe, locking eight-year-old widows away from the outside world is inhumane. Challenging this one idea that maybe, just maybe, we can all agree is wrong.

I wonder if any of the people involved in those early protests of Water will eventually see the movie (it was just released in India, I think). Probably not. Which is why I'm working on a definition of fundamentalism as blind faith's angry little brother, armed and righteous. Earplugs firmly in. The most dangerous kind of belief.

************

An aside, from the article linked above:

After two takes into the first shot of the movie, government authorities hustled their way onto the set. Law and order was at risk, they declared, and filming must stop immediately. We were forced to evacuate the location. One key protester had taken a boat out into the middle of the Ganges, consumed poison, tied a rock around his waist, and jumped into the water, yelling that Deepa Mehta and her film were his reason for attempting suicide. Days later the press revealed that the man, who was rushed to the hospital and survived, was a professional suicide attempter, employed by various political parties to attempt his own execution for various political reasons. This had been his sixth suicide attempt, and this was the reason given for closing the film down. Law and order was in jeopardy.

Seriously! A professional suicide attempter. Yeah.

Labels: moving pictures, not quite like the west wing, sisters doing it for themselves

posted by Liz  # 5:53 PM 0 Comments

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Facts. Believe them!

That's right. All of these things contain TRUTH. Dig it:

• New York was excellent. You East Coasters have a damn fine city there. I went to S'Mac for macaroni and cheese and Studio Mesmor for dance music and The Strand for Fitzgerald. I did all these things in the company of fine and excellent New York folk. It was really nice to just spend a weekend with nice people, even making a few new friends along the way. Made the cost of drinks almost bearable.
• The Too Little Too Late shoot, which followed directly on the heels of the New York trip, also went very well. Will post more on the subject very soon. With photos! Short version: it was exciting and exhausting and delightful and did I mention exhausting? But in a good way.
• I have such respect for caterers and craft service professionals now, for the record. That job is freakin' HARD.
• But I am finally, after a very long week and a half, well-rested!
• All it took was a solid forty-eight hours of doing very very little except sleep, hang out, and watch TV.
• Very brief TV round-up -- Heroes: yay! Veronica Mars: eh. 30 Rock: Heeee. House: Mmmmm.
• Okay, so this weekend I also returned equipment rentals and took my brother to see 300 and went to Quiz Night down the pub and played some four-square. But these things FELT like very very little, which is what really really mattered at the time.
• Last night I very nearly failed at accomplishing anything. This is because I'd forgotten that I am addicted to caffeine. But at the last minute possible, I had a diet Coke and was able to send some emails and do a little writing. And lo, a return to productivity was foretold. Which is good, because as always I am behind on life.

But it's a good life I have, really it is. The last week and a half have been the weirdest sort of vacation from it. But I'm now writing full-time for The Daily Reel and getting a real cut of Missed done and really gaining traction on a bunch of other projects. So it's lovely to be back.

And that includes back at blogging, by the way. Look for updates every day this week. A full week of blog updating means I win a delightful prize! No idea what the delightful prize is, yet. But believe me when I say that it's awesome.

Labels: in which our heroine

posted by Liz  # 5:00 PM 1 Comments

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What it means to fuck (sorry, Grandma)

Today is Friday, and I'm in New York for the weekend (that sounds all jetsettery, but that's because you can't see me hobble down the street with my duffle and backpack). But on Tuesday, I was in Santa Monica, and I was getting my hair cut -- a three hour session at the Vidal Sassoon Academy, which was a somewhat tedious but ultimately rewarding break from getting shoved through the Rudy's Barber Shop machine. (The $10 part especially.)

My hair looks really good, but you need a book for a three hour haircut. So I was reading Shiny Adidas Pantsuits and the Death of Camp that afternoon, a compilation of essays from the 1990s McSweeney's precursor Might, and learned that Dave Eggers "Never Fucked Anybody."

That's the name of Eggers' 1996 essay, which he begins by complaining about the use of the word as a verb in an '80s art world roman a clef (in a less highbrow version of the essay, he switches to bitching about Chasing Amy). Afterwards, he segues to his own thoughts on the word and its implications. His argument is that the term is too harsh to describe what is, even in its most primitive one-night-stand form, an act of connection with another human being. He leans toward "to sleep with" as the preferred alternative, but admits to an old man's fondness for the biblical "knowing." "To fuck somebody," for Eggers, puts the deed on a level somewhat above rape, but not by much.

Given the modern context of the word, I can definitely see his point. It is harsh, full of consonants and implications. Even Tenacious D, in their hit love ballad "Fuck Her Gently," struggle with giving the word a sweeter meaning. But the essay reminded me of a bit from The Chatterly Affair, a Andrew Davies-penned docudrama from last year. In putting Lady Chatterly's Lover on trial for obscenity, a key issue was the use of "four letter words" -- specifically fuck. But, in Prof. Hoggart and Andrew Davies's words:

Lawrence wanted to reestablish its proper use, as the word for the sexual act. We have no word in English for it that is neither a long abstraction or an evasive euphemism. And we're constantly running away from it, or dissolving into dots. Lawrence wanted us to say, this is what one does. In a simple ordinary way, one fucks. With no sniggering or dirt, one fucks.

D.H. Lawrence was ultimately not banned, and the word is still so prevalent, though not always as a synonym for sexin'. In fact, we consider it less offensive when it's not sexual: the MPAA will allow the use of one or two "fuck"s in a PG-13 movie, as long as they don't have a sexual connotation. It's interesting, when we strip language of meaning. Sure, it thus fails to offend. But it also makes it a whole hell of a lot less interesting.

I guess I'm curious as to what you think. You, humble reader. What do you say on the street? What do you say at the bar? What do you say in the privacy of your own mind and bedroom, as clothes fall away? In short, what's your preferred vocabulary for the sexual act? No worries if you haven't made up your mind yet. None of us are old enough to have sex totally figured out -- but that doesn't mean that it doesn't deserve a verb of its very own-

My laptop battery's about to die now. Fuck.

Labels: media matters

posted by Liz  # 3:36 PM 4 Comments

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