I have a crush on this.

Today’s the 12th of January and I just realized something: We finished the first decade of the 21st Century and most of us didn’t even take notice. Did you? Admit it. The oo’s were so bland and so un-wow. Look at the other decades we’ve experienced more recently for just a sec. The 60’s changed things politically, artistically, sexually, spiritually. The 70’s changed colors. The 80’s…the 80’s gave us the Brat Pack. The 90’s…do you see a pattern here? It’s getting bad. Time for some decent change again; the campaign managers for our most recent presidential candidates were on to something (just not the same old change they really meant). I smell revival in the air. You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows. Dear God, we need it.

Electric Eclectic

This post isn’t intended to be a definitive list of the most important music videos this year. It’s simply five videos that I posted in 2009 that I like more than the rest.

From the creative claymation of Grizzly Bear’s Ready, Able to the quirky Heaven Can Wait by Charlotte Gainsbourg and Beck, these videos are my favorites.

I love the farce of Jay Reatard’s It Ain’t Gonna Save Me and the simplicity of the Vivian Girls’ Moped Girls. Finally, the best mash-up of the year was Phoenix’s Lisztomania with the images of Brat Pack movies from the ’80s. See all five videos after the jump.

Ready, Able – Grizzly Bear

Heaven Can Wait – Charlotte Gainsbourg and Beck

It Ain’t Gonna Save Me – Jay Reatard

Tell The World – Vivian Girls

Lisztomania – Phoenix

PSA: It happens. It happened to this Trifecta of Perfecta quite a lot in their day, I reckon!

l to r: Emilio Estevez, MOLLY RINGWALD, and Judd Nelson

If they are not all as high as little 80’s kites, I will eat my hat. God bless ‘em.

It’s Friday — do what feels right!

Wait, some of you might be thinking. Who is Robin Tunney?

Robin Tunney; image courtesy of tvdramas.about.com

I think Tunney was slated to be a star when she started cropping up in movies in the 1990s. While stardom didn’t happen for her, she’s had steady work, currently starring on The Mentalist, a CBS procedural. She was supposed to co-write a book on feminism with her friend Liz Phair, with whom she worked on the movie Cherish. I’m still waiting for that last one.

For many in my age group, we know her from back-to-back appearances in Empire Records and The Craft. As both movies were slumber party staples in my friend group, featured teen girl characters, and were accompanied by popular soundtracks, I knew I’d need to revisit them.

Empire Records came out in 1995 and developed a bit of a cult following, despite poor reviews and a dismal box office performance. It also instilled a personal desire to work at a record store, particularly an indie fighting to stay that way. At 13, it looked so cool and fun to “work” all day at such a place with hip teens and twentysomethings.

Well, maybe not them specifically, as the characters in Empire Records aren’t believeable as people so much as underwritten Generation X versions of cool kids dreamt up by a team of movie executives: there’s Joe, the anti-establishment boomer-era owner (Anthony LaPaglia); Lucas, the Zen-like hipster (Rory Cochrane); A.J., the sensitive artist in love with the unattainable Corey (Johnny Whitworth); Corey, the wholesome speed freak perfectionist (Liv Tyler); Gina, Corey’s slutty best friend who wants to be in a band (Renée Zellweger); Mark, the stoner (Ethan Embry); Berko, the rocker who clocks in between gigs (Coyote Shivers, who was married to Tyler’s legendary mother Bebe Buell at the time); and Debra, the rebel girl accountant who shaves her head after attempting suicide (Tunney).

Oh, they are so selling out; image courtesy of chartrigger.blogspot.com

The writing is the movie’s biggest problem, though I’ll never understand why casting directors thought someone as boring as Tyler would ever be a huge star (I’d ask this question again later in the decade when Katie Holmes started landing movie roles). The motivations of the characters, though meant to be read as young and madcap, are childish and inconsistent. The boys pine after girls, eat pizza, get high, and glue quarters to the floor. The girls pine after has-been teen idols doing in-stores, alternate between loving and hating each other, and get together with the boys who pine after them. Both sexes deliver such profound lines like “If I can love her in that skirt, than this must really be it” and “I went to rock and roll heaven, and I wasn’t on the guest list.”

That second line is the answer given to a question about bandaged wrists. It’s delivered to withering effect by Debra, potentially the movie’s most interesting character. She’s not glamourous like her female co-workers or sophomoric like her male colleagues. She also seems to have gone through real pain, deeper than the surface angst used to promote OK Soda and perhaps closer to the actual pain brought on by parental neglect and low self-esteem. In the early 1990s, these and other issues were particularly relevant to young girls, some of whom would form or discover riot grrl and queercore and develop their own queer and/or feminist identities. We only get a sense of Debra’s absent mother, resistent intellect, boredom with men, feelings of inadequacy, and the hope for something better.

Note: I’d recommend watching director Allan Moyle’s far-superior Times Square. Rest assured that the tale of two girl runaways falling in love amidst downtown New York’s early-80s squalor will get its due on this blog.   

It’s weird that slashed wrists bridge Tunney’s two major performances to date. Clearly suicide, perhaps most unfortunately personified by Kurt Cobain, was on young people’s minds at the time. I’d hedge that this has more to do with class frustration, racial injustice, conflicted feelings about sexual orientation, coming out to unsupportive families and communities, dysfunctional home lives, and a lack of any real support system. I’d also add that it’s an on-going problem.

Absent mothers also connect Debra and Sarah, the latter of whom lost her mother during childbirth. As The Craft was originally pitched as “Carrie meets Clueless,” it seems necessary to point out that these movies feature girls with compromised mother-daughter relationships. Carrie’s mother is a crazed witch. Cher Horowitz, like so many other fairytale heroines before her, lost her mother at an early age and has only an idealized memory of her. Sarah has similar baggage, along with the additional burden of being responsible for her mother’s death. Oh, and carrying on the ability to perform witchcraft. That’s a hell of a lot for any teenage girl to shoulder, especially when she’s moving to Los Angeles with her family.     

A heartening aspect of The Craft , no doubt motivated by how successful Clueless was, is the presence of girlfriends. Sarah meets shy Bonnie (played by Neve Campbell) and becomes friends with a trio of Goth girls. Two other movies came out in 1996 that focused on girl gangs – Girls Town and Foxfire. For a more nuanced analysis of these two movies and their depictions of homosociality and developing feminist politics, I highly recommend checking out my friend Kristen’s thesis Revenge, Girl Style. 

The Craft entertains the progressive potential of girl friendship, particularly for outcasts. There are also hints at the queer possibilities of homosocial bonding and witchcraft. It even contains racially charged moments, particularly when Rochelle (played by Rachel True), the coven’s lone African American member, casts a spell on Laura Lizzie (Christine Taylor), a popular blonde who is on the swim team with her. After enduring Lizzie’s racist comments about her hair, Rochelle turns her bald, thus rebelling against normative, white-centric notions of feminine beauty. 

But these suggestions are sidelined. Because what the movie is really about is the battle between Tunney’s kind-hearted Sarah and Fairuza Balk’s destructive ringleader Nancy, who is jealous of her frenemy’s natural aptitude for witchcraft. It should also be noted that Nancy is working-class and coded as queer. The movie makes a considerable effort to undo her queerness, putting men in between her and Sarah, whether they be ex-boyfriends or Manon, the supernatural male figure that the girls worship. The movie ends with Nancy trying to kill Sarah, resulting in a showdown that tears the group apart, causes Sarah to move, and leads to Nancy being institutionalized. The final shot is of Nancy in a straight-jacket trying to fly out of a padded cell. The movie’s message: we are the weirdos, mister. Just don’t expect us to stay friends or keep a hold of our sanity. So much for sisterhood.

Nancy's farewell; image courtesy of channel4.com

Sisterhood is often lacking in movies, but is emphasized to market teen movies, if only to tap in to the girl market. But much of this was eclipsed in story development to make way for more lucrative prospects, none more pronounced at the time than the soundtrack. A considerable number of American teen movies in the 1990s featured a soundtrack, many boasting songs by alternative rock artists. Unlike The Craft and Empire Records, and more in line with All Over Me, Girls Town and Foxfire paid particular attention toward showcasing female artists, particularly those closely associated with hip hop and the then-waning riot grrrl movement. Scholars like Jeff Smith and Mary Celeste Kearney have addressed this in their work, theorizing that the soundtrack served as a way to cultivate potential audience markets and a source of textual identification for fans.

While female artists are present on the soundtracks to Empire Records and The Craft, they’re not the focus, perhaps out of fear of alienating a broader audience. This might further explain why The Craft soundtrack features covers of popular songs from lesser-known acts. Our Lady Peace contributes a version of The Beatles’ “Tomorrow Never Knows,” Heather Nova covers Peter Gabriel’s “I Have the Touch,” and Letters To Cleo take on The Cars’ “Dangerous Type,” a tactic they’d repeat when covering Cheap Trick’s “I Want You To Want Me” for 10 Things I Hate About You at the end of the decade. And let’s not forget the double-nostalgia of former Psychelic Furs’ front man Richard Butler covering The Smiths’ “How Soon Is Now” with his post-Furs project Love Spit Love. 

Cover to "The Craft" soundtrack (Sony, 1996); image courtesy of thesoundtracktoyourlife.co.uk

A major problem both of these movies share, and is evident in other titles of this period and in the Brat Pack movies of the 1980s, is the need to broadly define its characters as members of a generation, rather than as complex young people with particular problems oftentimes informed by their identities. And while ennui and an ironic fluency in popular culture were markers for Gen X, these young adults were more than just sneering (white) kids in flannel, combat boots, and barettes. At least off-camera.

Oftentimes, they were frustrated by how little high school and a liberal arts education could get them in a job market, particularly during the late 1980s and early 1990s when the economy had yet to recover from the 1987 market crash. They were annoyed at the shrine their parents built to the 1960s, as it was clear just how empty and hollow their promises of revolution were. In some ways, they were no different than people my age or boomer hipster Paul Kinsey on Mad Men, turning to interesting records, movies, books, and TV shows, but knowing they wouldn’t make them any happier, politically mobile, or economically viable.

Michael Gladis as Paul Kinsey, proving the every generation has its hipster; image courtesy of readingunderthecovers.blogspot.com

Some of these people formed bands, often annointed with glossy but unremarkable one-word monikers: Sponge, Drill, Lustre, Cracker, Elastica, Spacehog, Dig, Hole, Belly, Hum, Bush, Toadies, Oasis . . . In a particularly cruel example of market imperative, many of these bands broke up or were without major label record deals by the end of the decade.

I still have Elastica's debut album!; image courtesy of forgottenfavorite.com

But it’s hard to convey all of this in a 90-minute movie, especially one that hopes to cash in on the wages of the very demographic these popcorn flicks were hoping to represent. Some did a decent job of conveying this generation’s ambivalence, particularly indies like Kicking and Screaming. I’d also add that Reality Bites highlights these problems, even pointing out the crass ways in which corporate America capitalizes on the very market its created. While I wish Winona Ryder’s filmmaker character Lalaina didn’t end up with Ethan Hawke’s slacker Troy, I understand why she can’t be with Michael (played by director Ben Stiller), who works for an MTV-type network that makes worm’s meat out of her documentary about her friends. 

Richard Linklater’s second feature, Dazed and Confused, did a considerable job at suggesting that Generation X inherited their sense of slacker frustration (and detached nostalgia for Schoolhouse Rock and The Brady Bunch) from their parents. That Linklater cast a bunch of twentysomething unknowns like Joey Lauren Adams, Ben Affleck, Rory Cochrane, Adam Goldberg, Jason London, Matthew McConaughey, Parker Posey, and Marisa Ribisi to essentially play the teenagers and young adults who would become their parents may strengthen Robin Wood’s argument that Dazed is a horror film. 

Some television shows also did a good job articulating the nuances of the slacker era. I’d offer up British programs like Spaced, along with MTV’s Daria and ABC’s My So-Called Life. The latter featured an angsty girl protagonist, complex teenage characters, depicted boomer parents being just as clueless and angsty as their brood, and created an immortal stoner heartthrob named Jordan Catalano (played by Jared Leto), whose band Frozen Embryos changed their name at the end of the series to perhaps the most perfect of Gen X band names: Residue.

Angela Chase (Claire Danes) with the object of her affection; image courtesy of thefbomb.org

But it’s always different for girls, and unfortunate that Tunney and many of the actresses of her generation were not given the consideration they deserved (though I love that Austin Chronicle writer Margaret Moser fancies herself as being like Balk’s character in Almost Famous). Some may attribute this to their flat delivery or lack of believability, but I’d wager that this has more to do with poor character development on the part of screenwriters and the industrial emphasis on youth than it does on the actresses. At 19, Kristen Stewart is playing the slouched-shoulder ingenue of a multi-million-dollar film franchise, its latest installment complete with a soundtrack featuring of-the-moment, indie and indie-friendly artists like Bon Iver, St. Vincent, Lykke Li, Grizzly Bear, and Thom Yorke. I only hope she has that sort of star power at 25.

Kristen Stewart at the "New Moon" premiere in Los Angeles; image courtesy of justjared.buzznet.com

Her om dagen skulle jeg bytte en dvd på Platekompaniet. Helst i den nyeste BBC-tolkningen av Fornuft & Følelser. Den var utsolgt. Og jeg hadde uansett glemt dvd’en jeg skulle bytte. På vei hjemover gikk jeg forbi en annen filmforretning, og siden klokken var fem på stengetid gikk jeg innom for å se om ikke jeg kunne plukke opp litt britisk perioderomanse der istedet. Akk o ve. Jeg gikk ut derfra med St. Elmo’s Fire. 80-tallet produserte også store periodedramaer. Jane Austen introduserte aldri en antihelt som spiller saksofon.

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What?

Billy: life has changed since school, but has Billy noticed? Wendy: respectable, hardworking and a virgin. Daddy says “marry a nice boy” but she has other ideas! Alec: success, wealth and a wife. He knows what he wants but can he have it? Kevin: what’s his secret? Scared of Women? Gay? Or is it something that’ll really shock his best friend? Jules: life is one high-powered party. Sex, drugs and really pushing life to the limit. Leslie: she loves her work and she loves her boyfriend…but work’s less trouble! Kirbo: a romantic wrestling with reality, chasing the girl of his dreams.

This is the story of a tightly knit group of college graduates who must now confront, as individuals, all the issues of life after college in the 1980s. They must make tough decisions regarding their careers and relationships that will shape a lifetime and cause conflicts within their friendships.

This is an eighties classic (note the fantastic Brat pack cast!), so a expect to laugh, cry and go through it all with the characters. This is the ‘Breakfast Club’ of college graduates.

Where?

At home.

With?

Just on my own.

Why?

With the passing of John Hughes still fresh in the memory, I’ve been looking over his filmography and realised that although I had seen all of them, it’s been a really really long time since I watched St Elmo’s Fire. In fact, I think I was about 8, and I didn’t really understand what was going on.

Then I saw it on Blu-Ray for £5, so I snapped it up. One for the collection, one for the blog, everyone wins!

Worth It?

Eurgh, I lost in a big way.

Indulgent arsehole characters, a paper-thin storyline which was executed in a far superior way by the BBC2 series This Life, in general, it pretty much summed up what I hated about the 80’s.

I won’t go on a massive rant about why I hated this film, it doesn’t deserve it, there isn’t enough to write about because it is a completely nothing film and it’s completely understandable why it was left off of a lot of Hughes’ eulogies.

The points are for the theme song, and the theme song alone.

3/10

Funny People with Adam Sandler, Seth Rogen, Leslie Mann and Eric Bana

I was really looking forward to this movie. I had seen the trailer and I thought : “Cool! We are going to watch a half-funny, half- dramatic film!” Well the movie was a little dramatic and a little funny but that’s all. And that can’t really get you through 153 minutes (146, if it is not unrated). I am not saying it was all bad, but there were so many unnecessary scenes and so many useless lines- it just doesn’t work.

So George Simmons (Adam Sandler) is a successful, highly popular and very rich comedic actor. He has come a long way from stand-up comics. He doesn’t have a problem picking women and all looks fine for him-until he goes to the doctor’s and finds out he is terminally ill. He examines his life. He realizes he has screwed up when he ruined things with the love of his life, Laura (Leslie Mann). Laura left George when he cheated on her and went on to marry an Australian called Clarke (Eric Bana) who apparently cheats on her too. But she has two kids with him…

George doesn’t have any real friends either. When he goes back to the stage for live comedy (probably for nostalgic reasons), he meets a clumsy,not-so-funny Ira and for some reason decides to have him work for him. Ira is ecstatic- he is writing jokes and assisting his favorite funny man.

Ira has two close friends: Leo (Jonah Hill) a comic a little funnier (supposedly) than him and Mark (Jason Schwartzman) who plays in a sitcom that Ira can’t really stand to watch.

So the movie concentrates on relationships and trusts the dialogs: Between George and Ira, Ira and his buddies, Ira and Laura and later on my favorite : when Clarke comes from a business trip to find George and Ira at home with his wife and kids.

There are things I like about the movie, I can’t say I despised it. Let me write down the likes first:

+ Eric Bana: Don’t tell me it is because he looks good because he doesn’t , not here. But he is a good actor and his role & over-the-top Australian accent is funny. He is a real Aussie but that’s not how he actually speaks…And there were some good jokes that came from Ira about why they shouldn’t mess with him.

+ Seth Rogen: I normally don’t like him. I despised his character in Knocked-Up, he just wasn’t funny. But in this movie, he is the only character that is well…humane and at least slightly likable. With all his failures and good intentions, he was fun to watch. He has also some funny takes on who makes it successful in life. And Ira’s stand-up scenes at least one or two funny moments.

Dislikes:

- Leslie Mann’s Laura: She was fine and likable at first but later she just got…OK, so she can forgive a cheater ex (Adam Sandler) because he is dying. Fair enough. But then he gets better and she suddenly acts like he is the one that got away and her husband is an asshole..and..yeah the problem is Clarke isn’t actually that big an asshole, he is certainly not worse than George. So you sympathize with…no one, really! Ira is OK but then he really acts like a crybaby most of the time and you just want him to tell George to stick it.

-The Brat Pack: I don’t have anything against Brat Packs or crude comedy- as long as the combination works. I like the group of Will Ferrell, Vince Vaughn and Luke Wilson and well, I adore Old School. But if you are going to throw in lots of swearing and abrasive language, please make sure it is funny!

-The stand-up acts: The movie involves so many scenes with them. It just slows the movie down. Really slows it down, because they are just not funny 99% of the time.

- Duration : You really shouldn’t have a story pretending to be profound for 153 minutes, when you could have a much more effective and much funnier story told in 90 minutes! I thought it was ironic. In one scene Laura tells George to cut the swearing and he jokes that then he wouldn’t have a third act. I wish Leslie Mann had told the same thing to real life husband Judd Apatow. Yes, brat pack and family members….Ouch!

In wish I had known the movie was Judd Apatow’s and his brat pack’s.His movie making is just my style. I can’t say I didn’t enjoy 40-year-old virgin, the movie had a lot of funny moments. But I was really bored during Knocked Up. It wasn’t funny, I didn’t like any of the characters and if a comedy doesn’t make you laugh, you feel bad. I have nothing against Sandler- I actually really like some of his movies, like The Wedding Singer, Big Daddy, The Longest Yard and Anger Management. But the elements in the movies just don’t work. Indiviudally, Bana,Sandler and Rogen are good. The idea of the story is fine. Cameos are fun. But..that’s pretty much it. And it certainly didn’t help that I watched this movie on the same day I watched Hangover. Hangover is my next post- it is directed by the Old School director Todd Philips. And it is a perfect example of how you can be crass and funny without being boring and irrelevant.

This next post has taken me several attempts to write, and is being published as several people have asked me for an explanation of some recent events.  I attempted to cool off prior to writing this post, but I apologize if I failed and my anger/hurt/sense of betrayal still shines through.  No, wait a minute.  Fuck that.  I apologize for nothing.

On February 1 of this year, I wrote about my home in Second Life, Stonehaven.  As in RL, there comes a time to cut ties and move on.

I recently sent a notice to my Family advising them that they were banned from the three sims making up the area known as Stonehaven until further notice.  Those that know me know this is a first in my Family.  As far as Dommes go, I am very lenient with my girls on where they can play, who they can play with and what nature of games they can play.  The only stipulation is that when I summon, they come.

So, for me to pass down this edict, the underlying issues must be pretty severe.

There exists in Stonehaven two individuals I used to consider very close friends of mine.  People I would have bent over backwards to assist, should it have been asked.

One of the individuals used to own a sub.  For the sake of the innocent and to protect all parties involved, lets call this sub “Nic”.  Nic left this person’s family, and was subsequently collared by one of my Brats.  The individual that used to own this mystery girl we’ll refer to as “Nic” responded by unfriending every person within my Family and I believe my inner circle of friends, as well as banned us from any sim he was an owner of.  This was all done without discussion of any form.  Dominant?  Petulant bitch?  You be the judge.

Nonetheless, I avoided this individual in an effort to let the matter pass hoping that time would cure any ill feelings and we could at a later date calmly and rationally discuss the matter.  It should also be noted that this individual, like myself, was a Warden at Stonehaven at the time of this incident.

Jump forward a few weeks, and I log on one day to discover that I, as well as any of my Family members that were Wardens in Stonehaven, had been “un-Wardened”, for lack of a better term.  This decision was made by the owner of Stonehaven, the second individual referenced to by myself previously.  It has been implied on the blog for Stonehaven that this decision was made as “several of those removed never visited Stonehaven anymore.”

Most of you that know me know I made a concerted effort, almost daily, to walk various members of my Family thru Stonehaven.  Next to my own island, Stonehaven was the most visited sim by myself, as well as several others.

Was our removal from the Warden ranks connected to the first mentioned issue stemming from the sub being collared by one of my Brats?  We’re still referring to her as “Nic” by the way.  To be honest, I don’t know.  What’s more important, I don’t care.  What is important is that I was once told that I would not be removed from the Warden ranks “ever” unless I asked to be.  So, I’m not upset over the possibility that this was the result of collusion between two prior friends.  I’m merely hurt by the betrayal and a broken promise, again without prior notice or discussion.

So, there you go.  My explanation for my actions and the notice sent to my Family.  Do most of you care?  I certainly hope not.  The only people with a real interest in this matter are those that are in my Family.  Am I right for my banning of Stonehaven?  Damn right I am.  Last time I checked, it was ***Yasmin’s*** Brat Pack.  Do people think I have over reacted and blown this matter out of proportion?  No offense, but you have apparently mistaken me for someone that gives a shit.

There’s several good sims within Second Life that will provide us with the break and entertainment away from our own island when we need it.  In time, we’ll find it.  Until then, we’re exploring and finding a lot of potentially promising and playful sims we were unaware of before this matter came to pass.  To be honest, its kind of taken me back to the exploring I did prior to finding Stonehaven.

Well.

So, the baseball season is all but officially over for me. Sour grapes? Maybe. And what do you do with sour grapes?

You make sour wine, get drunk, and bitch about the Yankees some more.

But I’m not that petty. Instead, I’m going to do a 360 here and talk about movies for a change. Specifically, Western movies. Yesterday was the 128th anniversary of the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, and since I excel at arbitrary reasons for writing posts, I’m gonna run with that. It may be a throwaway reason for a post, and one that would have been considerably less throwaway had I posted this on the day of the event in question, but what the hell. I’m here now, and we are ROCKIN’ THIS.

So, without further ado, here is a list of the Seven Best Westerns Of All Time as chosen by me, the Lu Galasso. Why seven, you no doubt ask? Well, ten is to common, and five isn’t enough so…seven. Also, it was Mickey Mantle’s number, so I’m at least attempting to tie this into baseball.

I should also blatantly state that this is a list of personal preferences and not necessarily the be-all-end-all classics of the genre. I feel the need to add this disclaimer, because things are gonna get a bit wacky, and there’s going to be moderate dissention as to the nature of my choices. And on that note, I begin this list with the wackiest and sure to be most argued member of this list – a movie so far removed from traditional “classic” status, that many would no doubt question it’s merits as a “competent” film, let alone a defining entry in the Western genre.

Seven: Young Guns. (1988)

That’s right. This is happening. “Young Guns” made the cut.

I swear to god it gets better from here.

Here’s the deal about “Young Guns.” It takes the legendary life of Billy the Kidd, removes 95% of the historical facts and accuracy that have been collected over the years, and then casts the Brat Pack as his merry band of ne’er-do-wells.

Awesome.

This may well be the last time, or perhaps the first time, Emilio Estevez, Lou Diamond Phillips, Casey Siemaszko, and to a lesser extent, Charlie Sheen, have ever been this badassingly awesome. Throw in Jack Palance as a deliciously over-the-top Irish land baron (for some damn reason), and you got the makings of a Western staple.

Or, at least, you got the makings of an almost textbook example of how NOT to make a Western.

And Kiefer Sutherland always has and always will be awesome, so it’s got that going for it too.

Six: Silverado. (1985)

What better way to follow the ridiculous over-the-top Brat Packery of “Young Guns”, than with the ridiculously, over-the-top Kevin Klinery of “Silverado.”

So here’s the setup: take Kevin Kline, Scott Glenn, Danny Glover, and a shockingly young and enthusiastic Kevin Costner, pit them against Brian Dennehy, Ray Baker, and a young and creepy Jeff Goldblum, throw in some needless and ineffectual sentimentality provided by Linda Hunt as a down-trodden saloon keeper and Joe Seneca as Danny Glover’s down-trodden farmer dad, and cap it off with some Sheriff John Cleese (?) and the always reliable Jeff Fahey, and you got yourself “Silverado.”

Sound bizarre? It is.

Kline and Dennehy are great as ex-friends who reunite in the movie’s titular town – one as a “good” outlaw, the other a corrupt town official. (See what they did there?)

But it’s Costner, surprisingly, who gives the movie its heart. His turn as up-and-coming gunslinger Jake, teeming with boundless energy and real joy and excitement at what he does, is fairly unique in his career, and a lot of fun to watch.

And, hey, it’s even got Jeff Goldblum as a suave, knife-throwing villain. What’s not to love?!?

Five: Tombstone. (1993)

“Tombstone” is a strange beast. On the one hand, it’s one of my all time favorite films. On the other hand, it remains one of the most frustratingly flawed movies I have ever seen, Western or otherwise. Still, on the strength of its stellar cast, it’s stunningly accurate depiction of the famous Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, as well as Wyatt Earp’s vendetta ride against the sinister Cowboys, and it’s sheer enthusiasm, I think it remains a strong entry in the Western genre.

Yeah, it’s flawed. The romantic subplot is cheesy and tacked on, and there are way too many wannabe-epic-moments that come off as ridiculously over-the-top and forced. (Earp’s slow motion assault on Cowboy Curly Bill Broscius whilst shouting “no!” repeatedly screams to mind.)

The cast IS excellent, though. Kurt Russell remains my favorite portrayer of Wyatt Earp, ever. He’s stoically awesome throughout the picture, and let’s face it – Kurt Russell is like the face of awesome.

Sam Elliot and Bill Paxton are great as Wyatt’s brothers, Virgil and Morgan, and Michael Biehn is wonderfully disturbing as the psychotic gunslinger Johnny Ringo.

But it is of course Val Kilmer, in his career defining role as the alcoholic ex-dentist Doc Holliday that steals the show. Kilmer’s performance ranks as, bar-none, the BEST portrayal of Wyatt Earp’s best friend ever put to screen. The fact that a character as bizarre as Holliday existed to begin with (alcoholic-doctor-cum-gunslinger, steadfast in the face of danger because – the hell with it – he’s dying anyway) is awesome in its own right. But Kilmer manages to inject him with just the right amount of happy-go-lucky charm, cynicism, and yes, even sadness, to make him come alive on-screen like never before. And his unwavering loyalty to Wyatt is epic in its own right as well; when asked by a fellow vendetta rider why he’s fighting alongside Earp when he should be at home resting (or dying), Doc replies curtly that “Wyatt Earp is my friend”, and the scene suddenly becomes poignant when the fellow asking the question, along with the audience, realizes that that’s the only friend he’s got.

Flawed? Sure. But it has enough going for it to make it a perennial favorite of mine…and to give it a spot on this list.

Four: Unforgiven. (1992)

Heading into darker territory, now. Circle the wagons!

“Unforgiven” is a dark, disturbed film, where the good guys and the bad guys have all seemed to come to an agreement to cast off the traditional white and black hats that usually define the heroes and villains in these sagas, and instead opt for hats shaded in gray.It’s a Clint Eastwood masterpiece, and turns the Western genre upside down.

Eastwood’s morally ambiguous protagonist William Munny, a former alcoholic gunslinger searching for redemption, centers a tale that atmospherically and thematically, has more in common with the noir genre then the Western one. Steeped in violence, the film showcases the cruel side of the old West like never before – personified by Gene Hackman’s corrupt lawman, Little Bill Daggett, a murderous bully who becomes Munny’s nemesis by film’s end.

It’s a defining and defiant film, that had many critics praising it as the “eulogy for the Western.” Grim, violent, and devoid of the usual morality found in films of this ilk, it remains a classic in the genre, and a haunting, disturbing film that will remain with you for quite some time – you may never look at cowboys the same way again.

Well.

“Unforgiven” kind of messed up my “fun Western” thing I was going for. Ah, well.

Anywho, I’m fast approaching 1500 words here, so I think I’ll cut it short. Tune in tomorrow for the final three.

I promise they’ll be slightly better films than these.

Though I doubt ANYTHING is better than “Silverado.”

]]> http://iheartangrypanda.wordpress.com/2009/10/15/angry-panda-invited-to-joing-the-brat-pack-by-anthony-michael-hall/ Thu, 15 Oct 2009 21:58:44 +0000 iheartangrypanda http://iheartangrypanda.wordpress.com/2009/10/15/angry-panda-invited-to-joing-the-brat-pack-by-anthony-michael-hall/

If you grew up in the 80’s then Anthony Michael Hall’s face should be very familiar.  Part of the epic “Brat Pack” he starred in National Lampoon’s Vacation, Sixteen Candles,  The Breakfast Club, and Weird Science.  AMH spent the last few years as the star of the TV show The Dead  Zone.  Rumor has it he is directing his first movie.

Has it really been over a month since my last post?  They say time flies when you’re having fun.  That’s not always true.  Truth is, my RL has gotten more real of late than even I care to admit, and the time I do have to partake in Second Life, I am trying to make the most of it and enjoy it, not necessarily blog about it.

Nonetheless, my increased time spent having fun has had at least one tremendous benefit.  My Family has grown, both in terms of members as well as what I call “Friends of the Family”.  The people that walk thru the doorway of our lighthouse and into the hearts of the Brat Pack constantly amaze me.  Such love, compassion and warmth, is it no wonder some wish they could permanently relocate to SL?

Sadly this is, of course, impossible and RL must be faced, dealt with, overcome.  I don’t offer this as an apology for my delay in entries, rather it is an explanation.

On to the reason for this entry’s title.  Sluts v. Subs.  Sounds like an interesting match up, does it not?

I recently engaged in a scene in SL, one in which I contemplated taking a submissive position.  I’ll pause while everyone exhales from their initial shock. ………….  Done?  Good.

During the course of this scene, something was said that, while it didn’t ruin the scene per se, it was a distraction in that it caused me to dwell too much on the nature of the statement, rather than rolling along with the spirit of the scene.

“You must be submissive because you seem to be a slut.”

Hmmmm….  Okay, first of all, Yasmin Heartsdale NEVER seems to be a slut.  She is one.  Lets get that straight right here and now.  I didn’t join Second Life to practice molding a prim into a fucking flower.  Not that there’s anything wrong with that mind you.  There are some really interesting flower makers in SL, I’m just not one of them.  For the record, most of these flower makers are also sluts.

It is completely acceptable to be a slut and be quite Dominant, if not *almost* completely Dominant.  And before you send me an instant message disagreeing with me Miss *********, stop.  You know damn good and well this applies to you as well.  Slut.

I suppose the nature of this post is something I’ve known all along, just the statement made, even if in the spirit of roleplay, made me dwell on the topic.  And as such, I felt the need to blog about it.  There simply is no correlation between sluttiness and submissiveness.  Some of SL’s biggest sluts aren’t even into bdsm.

You can be Dominant, and be a slut.  You can be submissive, and be a slut.  You can build flowers, and be a slut.  You can be a Linden, and be a ….  Well, perhaps not EVERYone can be a slut.  We do have our standards.

On a non-related note, the island of Yasminia, my home in Mozingo Straits, has a new neighbor.  One of my dearest friends in SL, Tania Owatatsumi, is relocating her island to be next to mine.  Look for it the next time you visit, but understand that since Tania and I are friends, I will be unable to send any rescue parties into her sim after you.  Professional courtesy and what not.

Enjoy, live life, even if its your Second Life, and stop by and say hello.  I promise to try and have another entry before the end of the year.  : )

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idd_92ajjwY

Just a little message left along the trail in your honor. If you missed my previous post about found words left here and there you can catch up here.

I’ve been a little removed from this space and yours lately, also a little tardy and neglectful. So I’d like to take a moment to thank my dear friends for hanging with me. I would also like to thank Miss Deborah and Shell for the wonderful friendship awards they passed on to me. This next video is a tribute to my friends, so if you’re reading my blog this clip is for you. Love the brat pack, love the song and the memories this vidoe stirs up.  Enjoy!

Gotta love that!

xo-jj

School starts back on Monday  here at IU, and my time for cinema will be pressed even further. Here, however, is some news I’ve gathered over the last month. This is what I thought was worth checking out.

• John Hughes died, and a wealth of information showed up on the internet in dedication to him. Molly Ringwald offers her memories, NYtimes had an interview right before his death on “The Brat Pack“, and then later offered a tribute to his style.
• Antichrist has leaked two months before it’s official release date. Torrent?
• So, what’s the difference between Widescreen and Fullscreen, well, everything. Here, directors talk about how pan and scan re-directs cinema.
• There’s a Barbarella re-make, and Vulture had a bit of news about it.
• Slate put together a fantastic taste of the many voices of Maryl Streep.
• Peter Jackson produced District 9, a film by Neill Blomkamp, which I’m sure you’ve already heard about. Check out this interesting article on the meaning of the film. PJ’s also got another film to be released soon called “The Lovely Bones,” the trailers out here. However, District 9 (apparently based on this short film), tied this week (for the first time on my weekly favorite movie section) with Inglorious Basterds. The final segment of this film is simply: dope. Anywho, check out Tarantino’s top 20 films of the last decade on youtube.
• Want to test your knowledge of cinema history? This quiz from NYTimes was really hard for me, hopefully you’ll do better. I particularly enjoyed the question regarding the difference between American film markets and foreign film markets (which I got right, notably).
• Other select news from “Twitch“: Full theatrical trailer for Astro Boy is out. I still want to see Ponyo. Also, the trailer for this crazy horror film came out: Reykjavik Whale Watching Massacre. Plus, Absurda (David Lynch’s production studio), is putting out a Herzog film, and the trailer is up. Say What?
• Speaking of foreign directors, Haneke’s Palme D’Or winning film “The White Ribbon,” has a trailer out now, and it looks fairly historical, enough said.
• Finally, I Watched Idiocracy this week, and enjoyed it slightly more than last time, in perfect time for the release of the “Extract” trailer. Mike Judge, thanks, enjoyed you on Fresh Air while I was serving food at Scholars Inn this past week…

And speaking of public broadcasting, I’ll be working jib for the telethon that’s going on probably near forever, or until you all pay small increments of money so that I can keep my job and you get commercial free television. Donate?

The following is just my personal opinion on films that fit into the coming-of-age genre. I wouldn’t take this as an “expert” opinion, but I do feel educated enough to come to the conclusions I have.

I’ve been thinking that over the past couple of years, there’s been a resurgence in the coming-of-age films, originally made popular by John Hughes [R.I.P].

Mainly lumped into the “indie” category, you could say that the directors making these films have been inspired by Hughes to make their own modern-day ‘brat pack’ films. I even think about what would I do if I got to make a film like this.

A few examples: 10 Things I Hate About You, Almost Famous, Saved, Juno, Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist, (500) Days Of Summer, Gigantic just to name a few that I personally feel fit into this revival of this type of film. You can add your own films into that category, such as Little Miss Sunshine [mainly the Paul Dano part], Whip It!, Superbad, Youth In Revolt, Charlie Bartlett, I Love You, Beth Cooper, etc etc.

Superbad

I’m not saying these movies are only now, as there have been earlier examples of coming-of-age films [10 Things I Hate About You, Riding In Cars With Boys] but it just seems to me that now there is a more concentrated amount of these films being released & being very successful both commercially & critically.

And with any sort of ‘brat pack’ genres & films, there come the actors who are always cast together or seem to be stereotyped into these films. The obvious being Michael Cera having been in Superbad, Juno, Nick & Norah’s & Youth In Revolt but other names are Zooey Deschannel, Ellen Page, Joseph Gordon Levitt, Kat Dennings, Jay Baruchel, Paul Dano, Christopher Mintz-Plasse within an immediate circle.

Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist

The outer circle could include those involved in Judd Apatow films, as Apatow seems to have greater success in this genre [Superbad, Knocked Up, etc] however I wouldn’t class these in the same immediate field because of the concentration on adult themes rather than teen themes, but can definitely be included in a wider analysis.

It’s also interesting to note that Apatow produced Drillbit Taylor, which John Hughes had a part of.

It’s a bit worrying to compare the careers of Judd Nelson/Andrew McCarthy/Anthony Michael Hall to that of Michael Cera/Joseph Gordon Levitt, as it may make you believe that their careers are going to stop after they’ve grown too old to play confused teenagers, however Cera is having no troubles crossing over into more mature/adults areas, such as the Arrested Development film that will hopefully be happening & Levitt already having an established career in making films, not just starring in them.

Note: I realise A.M.H was in Batman in a minor but important role, his career is starting to take off again.

Anyway: The End.

Director, producer, and writer John Hughes passed away on August 6, 2009. Hughes was known for successful 80’s teen comedies such as “Pretty In Pink,” “Sixteen Candles,” “Weird Science,” and “The Breakfast Club,” as well as “Planes, Trains, and Automobiles,” “Uncle Buck,” and “Home Alone.” Born in Lansing, Michigan he spent time shooting small films in Northbrook, IL. In 1970 he took a job as an ad copywriter in Chicago. Continuing to write he sent in a story called “Vacation ‘58” which became the basis for “National Lampoon’s Vacation.” His breakout film was “Sixteen Candles,” which won praise and followed by “Breakfast Club,” “Weird Science,” and “Ferris Beuller’s Day Off.” Not wanting to be “the teen comedy guy,” he directed “Planes, Trains, and Automobiles,” “Uncle Buck,” and “Home Alone.” His last was “Curly Sue,” in 1991. Since then he dropped off the Hollywood radar, movie back to Chicago and eventually going into farming. Using the pen name Edmond Dantes (think “Count of Monte Cristo”) he wrote the screenplays for “Maid in Manhattan” and “Drillbit Taylor.” He died from a heart attack at the age of 59.

Thoughts and prayers for his family and friends.

Check out his IMDB page at:

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000455/

Was away last week when John Hughes (born February 18, 1950), the great American film director, producer and writer, passed away suddenly on the 6th August 2009. What would the 80s have been like without great movies like The Breakfast Club and Ferris Buller’s Day Off? Two of my favourite movies of all time.

He was great at portraying teenage angst and his movies were among those creating the Brat Pack, a nickname given to a group of young actors and actresses who frequently appeared together in teen-oriented coming-of-age films in the 1980s. The most commonly cited members include Emilio Estevez, Anthony Michael Hall, Rob Lowe, Andrew McCarthy, Demi Moore, Judd Nelson, Molly Ringwald and Ally Sheedy. He made some of the most successful films of the 1980s and 1990s, including National Lampoon’s Vacation; Ferris Bueller’s Day Off; Weird Science; The Breakfast Club; Some Kind of Wonderful; Sixteen Candles; Pretty in Pink; Planes, Trains and Automobiles; Uncle Buck; Home Alone and its sequel Home Alone 2: Lost in New York.

Check out this excellent montage set to music by The Who, Teenage Wasteland.

“Life moves pretty fast. You don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” (Ferris Bueller’s Day Off)

Phoenix – Lisztomania : sur les images des films de John Hughes.