Tuesday, November 28, 2006
The Fighting Kentuckian
John Wayne blunders into devious plot and undoes complex social balance. Coonskin cohort provide muscle, laughs, realpolitik. Based on Bizarro-worls Napoleonic / American history.
The Kentuckian
Burt Lancaster escapes from tribal troubles in his homeland Kentucky to his brother who has established himself in the merchant class among strangers. Burt's rustic ways disturb the civilised status quo but he proves himself to the bourgeois when a pair of coonskin terminators arrive with long rifles blazing. Walter Mattau outstanding as money-crazed coward. Mustache-twirling, although expected, never happened and was not missed.
Also there were minstrels.
Also there were minstrels.
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
Friday, November 10, 2006
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
Sunday, November 05, 2006
Oh for crying out loud!
The GIMP unfortunately does not include standard tools to draw circles and rectangles ... "Then as of this moment, GIMP is on double secret probation!"
Thursday, October 26, 2006
Jane Wyatt Passed Away
Jane Wyatt died in her sleep on Friday. She was 96.
She came to my attention playing the part of Spock's mother. I was too young to have seen her on Father Knows Best. Much later I discovered Lost Horizon and was much taken with Jane Wyatt's performance. That movie is one of my favorites, mostly for its Utopian mysticism, but also because of the character Sondra.
She came to my attention playing the part of Spock's mother. I was too young to have seen her on Father Knows Best. Much later I discovered Lost Horizon and was much taken with Jane Wyatt's performance. That movie is one of my favorites, mostly for its Utopian mysticism, but also because of the character Sondra.
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
Friday, October 20, 2006
Metronatural
Seattle's new slogan. Why, oh why, do we have to do this? "Say WA" was bad enough. I do not approve.
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children
Frenetic, entertaining claptrap. Makes no pretense at logic, continuity or characterization. Would Kierkegaard approve?
Flightplan
Contrived, manipulative rubbish. Greatest sin? May have leeched sales away from Snakes on a Plane. Avoid!
Tuesday, October 03, 2006
Saturday, September 30, 2006
The Train
Frankenheimer's commentary track is enlightening. Another member of the procedural genre. sub-genre: subverting oppression. sub-sub-genres: Nazis, trains.
Birdman of Alcatraz
Great age makeup. Burt Lancaster is totally believable. Edmond O'Brien provides frame and some narration. I cannot for the life of me figure out why such was included, except maybe to emphasize the contemporariness of the movie. I amuse myself by imagining O'Brien as the Bishop character from Alien with Burt in the role of Ripley. Think about it.
Jamaica Inn
In this reverse-pirate movie (land-lubbers attack ships, Robert Newton isn't a pirate), Charles Laughton's performance must be seen to be believed. Another in his roster of detestable-but-almost-lovable megalomaniacs: Caligula, Dr Moreau, Captain Kidd, Henry VII, etc. Maureen O'Hara is casually, powerfully athletic.
Sky High
Completely enjoyable. Except for the haircuts which are weirdly amateur. Not merely the live-action rehash of The Incredibles that I took it for.
Kundun
Ten years and approximately 20,000 'Free Tibet!' bumper stickers later, I have finally got around to watching Kundun. I expected a much more realistic movie than this set of postcards. If it hadn't said 'Martin Scorsese' about a dozen times before the first frame, I would never have guessed he was the director. Very enjoyable, including the scenes with Dr. No impersonating Chairman Mao. As propaganda, it's less successful. I mean, who doesn't loathe oppressive realpolitik and who isn't only incompletely suspicious of mysticism? One of the monks describes the Chinese generals as "the worst of the worst. They are worse than ghosts," which I took to be a pretty potent condemnation.
Thursday, September 28, 2006
The Swimmer
Burt Lancaster portrays a man who discovers that he is not a successful ad executive, husband, father, athlete and Lothario swimming from suburban pool to suburban pool in Connecticut, but a comatose human battery enslaved by machines in The Matrix.
Monday, September 25, 2006
Snail, CD Player, Sunset
Picasa Web Albums - Kyle - September 25,...
Snapped the snail on the way to my car this morning. The Hello Kitty CD player has surprisingly good sound. A nice sunset to end the day.
Snapped the snail on the way to my car this morning. The Hello Kitty CD player has surprisingly good sound. A nice sunset to end the day.
Thursday, September 21, 2006
Big blob at the dock
Picasa Web Albums - Kyle - Port of Shaddows I have yet to find a great and free drawing app for Mac.
Monday, September 18, 2006
The new economy sucks
Immigration raid cripples Ga. town: "Stacie Bell, 23, started work canning chicken at Crider a week ago. She said the pay, $7.75 an hour, led her to leave her $5.60-an-hour job as a Wal-Mart cashier in nearby Statesboro. Still, Bell said she felt bad about the raids."
Picasa Web Albums - Kyle - 20060918_craz...
Picasa Web Albums - Kyle - 20060918_craz... When I pulled up to the intersection, this bus was at the head of a slow parade of cars. It was rolling along at around 25 MPH, maybe more, but certainly well below the speed limit. At the light at 125th Ave, rather than proceeding directly through the light, the driver waved the left-turning traffic through (!) and then trundled on at the same slow speed. The penultimate insult was turning left onto the road in front of Fred Meyer's. I am pretty sure that this is not on a regular school route owing to the difficulty crossing against rush hour traffic. To finish things off, the driver stopped as soon as the bus cleared the intersection. Seems like a bad place to stop, as there are plenty of places to to stop nearer the middle of the block. A little red car put themselves in a bad spot because of it.
Sunday, September 17, 2006
Friday, September 15, 2006
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