Nerd Hurdles - Episode 34

Artsy farts. They ruin it for everyone. Especially performance artists. Nothing turns the general public off the arts more than someone gluing their pubic hair to a Volkswagon and calling “Art” (you gotta know it’s been done). We braved the all night artsy douchebaggery that was Nuit Blanch Toronto 2009 and managed to get enough sleep to talk about it.

And there was a lot of artsbaggery to survive. Nuit Blanche reminds me why I quit art school. Actually, when I quit I was as douchie an artist as the douchebag next to me. My views on art school are there’s only about one semester of theory and technique they can teach you (or not bother teaching you as it turned out with my profs) and then the rest is blood, sweat and practicing on your own. You got it, or you ain’t. It took me years to get back into making art.

This is what the Pixmaven instant art critique generator has this to say about this episode: “It should be added that the reductive quality of the figurative-narrative line-space matrix endangers the devious simplicity of the distinctive formal juxtapositions.”

Good performace art: Shara Rosko’s Glomerate.

Bad performance art:

More episodes available on www.simplysyndicated.com and www.nerdhurdles.com.

While I’m familiar with some of Robert Altman’s work, I know there are films that I never heard of that he worked on.  That’s why I choose 1998’s The Gingerbread Man for this month’s Director’s Spotlight.  It was a film that I wasn’t aware of and after seeing the cast, I quickly volunteered for.

The film is based on an original screenplay by John Grisham.  Altman actually had such a hand in rewriting the script that the fictitious Al Hayes is credited.

British actor Kenneth Branagh, taking a break from his typical period pieces, pulls off a great Georgian accent for this film based in Savannah, Georgia.  It was nice to see a film where Grisham has written a flawed lawyer.  Altman, along with Branagh, does a great job showing us the main characters ups and owns in his roller coaster mental state as a lawyer caught in family feud that he unknowingly got into the middle of and is trying to help with.

 While at this point it seems this is a mainly positive review, it’s not.  What I previously wrote was all the positive I can write.  Gingerbread Man features a lot of wasted roles.  Robert Downey Jr as a womanizing addict private detective felt silly.  Darryl Hannah was underused and poorly written as a law firm partner that she came across more like a secretary.  To me the most disappointing role was played by Robert Duvall.  To make it clear, it’s not Duvall i’m disappointed in, it’s his character and how he was written and used.  Duvall did what he could with what he was given and even he couldn’t pull it off.

Overall after watching this film, I felt like this was a step down for Altman from character development to just plainly how the film was shot.  Definitely a passable film.  Stick to films such as McCabe and Mrs. Miller or The Long Goodbye for good Robert Altman work.   I give this film 2 out of 5 pitchforks.

Sly hard sells Louie.

WOW!

Published on Tuesday, August 4, 2009 by Countdown w/ Keith Olbermann

LEGISLATORS FOR SALE by Keith Olbermann – VIDEO:

http://www.commondreams.org/video/2009/08/04

Thank you, Mr. Olbermann.

Thank you, CommonDreams.org

http://www.commondreams.org/

CommonDreams.org is a national nonprofit, progressive, nonpartisan citizens’ organization founded in 1997 by political activists Craig Brown and his late wife, Lina Newhouser.  They are a powerful online voice for change in America.  With millions of monthly readers, they have become one of the top progressive websites.  Check it out.  Here’s a sample of their fare.

LOCALIZED MAYHEM:

Published on Tuesday, August 4, 2009 by The Nation

Blackwater Founder Implicated in Murder by Jeremy Scahill.  A former Blackwater employee and an ex-Marine who worked as a security operative for the company have made a series of explosive allegations in sworn statements filed on August 3 in federal court in Virginia.  “The two men claim that the company’s owner, Erik Prince, may have murdered or facilitated the murder of individuals who were cooperating with federal authorities investigating the company.  the former employee also alleges that Prince ‘views himself as a Christian crusader tasked with eliminating Muslims and the Islamic faith from the globe,” and that Prince’s companies “encouraged and rewarded the destructionof Iraqi life.’”

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2009/08/04-9

THE GREEN GREEN HILLS ARE BLACK:

Published on Monday, August 3, 2009 by Canada.com

Carbon Credits: ‘Cure Worse Than the Disease’ by Kevin Dougherty.  Quebec – Carbon credits – to package and trade offsets to greenhouse gas emissions – won’t work, says McGill University economist Christopher Green, “rejecting the argument of Premier Jean Charest who wants the Montreal Exchange to be the carbon market for all of Canada.”

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2009/08/03-6

Published on Monday, August 3, 2009 by Inter Press Service

The Biggest Shift from North to South: ‘Time to De-Grow’ – Q&A: Claudia Ciobanu interviews economist Serge Latouche.  BUCHAREST –  He calls for “abandoning the objective of growth for growth’s sake, an insane objective, with disastrous consequences for the environment.”  The need for a de-growth society stems from the certainty that the earth’s resources and natural cycles cannot sustain the economic growth that is the essence of capitalism and modernity.

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2009/08/03-2

Published on Monday, August 3, 2009 by The Guardian/UK

Will a Warmer World Make Us Sicker? by Roberta Kwok.  Scientists are piecing together how climate impacts disease, strange patterns are emerging: mosquito outbreaks can follow drought, shorter migrations can make butterflies sick, and more birds (not fewer) can ward off West Nile virus.  From Conservation magazine, part of the Guardian Environment Network.  In the late 1990s, a set of alarming maps created a stir in the scientific community. “Based on predictions by a team of Dutch and Australian researchers and initially published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives, the maps charted how global warming could increase the risk of malaria in seemingly unlikely locales: northern countries such as Poland, the Netherlands, and Russia.”

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2009/08/03-3

Published on Monday, August 3, 2009 by The Independent/UK

Warning: Oil Supplies Are Running Out Fast by Steve Connor.  Catastrophic shortfalls threaten economic recovery, says world’s top energy economist.  “The world is heading for a catastrophic energy crunch that could cripple a global economic recovery because most of the major oil fields in the world have passed their peak production, a leading energy economist has warned.”

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2009/08/03

Published on Tuesday, August 4, 2009 by The Globe and Mail (Canada)

Modified Corn Seeds Sow Doubts by Martin Mittelstaedt.  Next spring, farmers in Canada will be able to sow one of the most complicated genetically engineered plants ever designed, a futuristic type of corn containing eight foreign genes.  “But a controversy has arisen over the new seeds, which were approved for use last month by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency: Health Canada hasn’t assessed their safety.”

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2009/08/04-5

Published on Tuesday, August 4, 2009 by The Guardian/UK

Crackdown Against ‘Environmental Criminals’ Follows Greenpeace Report by Damian Carrington and Tom Phillips in Rio de Janeiro.  Shoe Brands Get Tough on Leather Suppliers to Save Amazon Rainforest.  Some of the world’s top footwear brands, including Clarks, Adidas, Nike and Timberland, have demanded an immediate moratorium on destruction of the Amazon rainforest from their leather suppliers in Brazil.

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2009/08/04-1

Published on Tuesday, August 4, 2009 by The Guardian/UK

Obama’s Green Credentials Tested by Battle Against Mountaintop Mining by Suzanne Goldenberg.  James Hansen and Darryl Hannah among those opposing open-cast coal extraction that destroys mountains and forests.  “Like other opponents of mountaintop removal, [they] had been counting on Obama, with his election promises of a clean energy economy, to shift the power balance away from coal. But those hopes evaporated in May when the EPA signed 42 permits for mountaintop removal while turning down only six — a higher ratio even than during the latter part of the George Bush presidency. Some 170 more permits are pending, according to the Sierra Club.”

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2009/08/04-2

Tonight I watched the movie Splash on DVD for the very first time.  Seeing the movie in high definition was quite an experience.  I am used to watching the movie with a crackly overlay of video sweetness.  God, do I love this movie.  What a better movie for a then wee little lassie to fall in love with than Splash? After this movie I knew that I had one goal in life- to become a mermaid.  In the next for years after I saw this movie and took a bath or went into the pool I pretended to be a mermaid.  Oh what and imaginative little girl I was.

Although, I do kinda question my parents discretion on this. This movie is a bit too sexual, and slightly adult for a young kid.  I mean there is drinking, Penthouse, sex, nudity, and some mild cursing.  Maybe they just thought I was well adjusted… or maybe  kids weren’t as coddled as they are now?

Anyway, viva la 80’s.  If you want to catch it on youtube you can start here:

I was in a crappy mood today, until I watched this cheesy, aquatic fairy tale  package of 80’s feelgoodness.  Thanks Ron Howard, John Candy, Tom Hanks, and Darryl Hannah I needed that.

Photo of Darryl Hannah (L’Uomo Vogue, 1996)

Seen on the dailybest.com

The last time I saw Darryl Hannah on TV, she wasn’t in one of her movies, but a documentary of some sort, either about cars, or the ecology (or both?), licking the water dripping from the exhaust of her vehicle. I think it tasted of peanuts, but it was a while ago, and I can’t be sure.

So, I wasn’t all that surprised to find her described as a keen environmentalist in her bio on the Huffington Post. Whatever path it was that led me to her article about MTR, I can’t recall, but it’s just one of so many things I see on the Internet that are the reason I have this blog. I need to rant impotently, or my head would explode. Or I’d have to choose a cause to fight for, and there are so many the decision would be paralysing.

Mountain Top Removal is a mining method that she was campaigning against in West Virginia, and as the title of the article said, was arrested in the process. Mountain Justice explain MTR here. And there’s a disturbing slideshow of some protests, and the aftereffects of MTR on iLoveMountains.org flickr page. I have to stop myself when I find another good cause, there’s enough just on the web to keep me watching/reading for at a guess, the rest of my life. It’s the same with all of them. Let’s just say that John Denver’s Country Roads will be touching a very different nerve in the people that live in West Virginia if MTR carries on, which it looks very likely to do.

Actually, this video is a decent example. Particularly the graphics near the end with a flag in the landscape for each mountain already lost.

I’ve got huge admiration for activists. I’m just not built to be one. I don’t think I’m stable enough. I’d be equally likely to see that my cause was hopeless and give up in despondency, or go to the other end of the scale and bomb whichever fuckers at the top were causing the problem. Neither of which would be overly helpful to the cause. (Though the second option would probably feel waaay better).

The despondency is more likely though. The whole ethos of activism tends to be against randomness, wrecklessness and violence, but I suspect some causes need a militia, or they’re lost from the start.

Darryl Hannah’s other article for the Post is about the South Central Farm in LA. They haven’t given up on their cause, but what was once a 14 acre farm used by locals since the Rodney King riots, as shown in the satellite image on that wiki page, has been a barren, unused but fought over plot for a couple of years since the farmers were removed. The history of the site seems very complicated, but neither the politicians in the area, nor the now owner, Ralph Horowitz seem to care all that much. Horowitz could be justified in his stance I guess, but in an area with barely any green space, is tthere really a need for another warehouse? No thing definite, but Wal-Mart and Forever21 are the names mentioned as far as using the land. I can’t say I’d heard of Forever21 before, but apart from having to fight accusations of using sweatshops, fur, and stealing designs from multiple famous designers, they seem pretty straight up. They even quote John 3:16 on their bags, so they MUST be perfect, right? Anna Sui doesn’t agree though, and quotes the bible back at them. Exodus 20:15 – ‘Thou shalt not steal.’ Mind you, if they thought they were going to get away with this, then they must be blind, stupid, or really believe that they should be allowed to inherit the Earth even before they get judged.

Last words on the farm – Kevin Carson blog post & ethicurean.com article.

And the good news?

“Gang rapists’ sentences increased“. Excellent. Although the older I get, the more my liberallist side withers, and the more the death penalty looks like the best punishment for just about any major crime. The good news is only the increase in the sentences. One of the three didn’t get his increased, but that’s ok as he’s serving two years for a seperate robbery conviction! Oh, and anyone about to have a go about the death penalty thing, have a think. Just pretend the young girl in the case is related to you, the sixteen year old, with the mental age of eight, raped by three big blokes. No? What if they then attacked her with caustic soda?

No, you’re probably right. Once they’ve been in prison for a few years I’m sure they’ll come out as fine upstanding citizens that any of us would be proud and happy to have as neighbours or lodgers. You first though…….

Daryl Hannah is making quite a "Splash" as an activist!

by jasondylan@wordpress.com

Ms Hannah is no stranger to the environment. Daryl is not afraid to get her hands dirty on screen, or completely submerse herself in a part. She is a committed and knowledgeable woman who puts her money where her blow hole is.

Not only did she just get arrested in Coal River, West Virginia for peacefully protesting the practice of Mountaintop Removal by the coal companies and trying to raise awareness of the conditions there, but she also has gone out on with the Sea Shepard Conservation Society on dangerous missions on the high seas, documenting and preventing illegal whaling practices.

Could she really be part mermaid? Will fact follow fiction and the government kidnap her like they did to her “Splash” character? Stay tuned to a TV or fish tank near you!

Our Favorite Mermaid!

And where is Tom Hanks in all of this? I guess he is too busy deciphering the Da Vinci Code to deal with such trivial matters.

Here is the link from her article on Huffington Post.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/daryl-hannah/why-i-was-arrested-in-coa_b_224531.html

She is not at a loss for words when it comes to educating people on the dangers of Mountaintop Removal.

Yesterday afternoon Darryl Hannah, NASA Scientist James Hansen and former Congressman Ken Hechler were among 30 people arrested protesting mountaintop removal for coal mining in the West Virginia town of Sundial.

Several hundred protestors gathered in the playground of a local school, which is less than 300 feet away from Massey Energy’s Goals Coal preparation plant and slurry impoundment. When the rally took to the streets and protestors took at seat on W.VA. 3, cops came in and tensions began to mount, but no one was hurt in the scuffle. This is not the first demonstration this year, as protestors have repeatedly snuck into coal mining operations around the US and chained themselves to equipment in public protest.

Why Protest Mountaintop Removal?

According to James Hansen, and other protestors, if you’re going to move towards green energy, you should get rid of the worst practices first and mountaintop removal is right there at the top. “Mountaintop is producing only 7 percent of the nation’s coal and it’s a dangerous practice,” stated Hansen, therefore it makes sense to get rid of the worst methods and one that is a small dent in the supply.

In opposition, miners from the area blasted air horns, cranked car stereos and revved motorcycle engines to drown out the protestors and distract from the scene. Miners stated that this is how they feed their families and they are willing to take matters into their own hands if it comes to losing their jobs over this. The protestors were undeterred and stated that President Obama must also be undeterred by compromise and pressure if he is going to take meaningful action on climate change. Following the election, Hansen and his wife wrote a public letter to President Obama and the First Lady, imploring them to take climate change seriously and take immediate and definitive action on the issue.

Hansen and Massey Energy owner Don Blankenship have agreed to a public debate on global warming and mountaintop removal, but it has yet to occur. The initial debate was to take place on Tuesday at a radio station but Blankenship declined. Then the debate was rescheduled for Thursday on a local tv station but Hansen had already stated that he was unavailable later in the week. No word on whether a future debate has been rescheduled.

Actress Daryl Hannah, NASA scientist James Hansen and 31 others were arrested Tuesday as they protested mountaintop removal mining in southern West Virginia.

 All were released after being cited for impeding traffic and obstructing an officer after they blocked a road near a Massey Energy Co. subsidiary’s coal processing plant.

Several hundreds of people marched quietly to the plant and attempted to enter the property, but were blocked by several hundred coal miners shouting, “Go home.”  The protesters, who also included former U.S. Rep. Ken Hechler, sat on the road before surrendering.

What’s mountaintop mining?  It’s blasting away ridgetops to expose coal seams.  Mine operators are typically required to return the mountain to its approximate original shape, but excess material is used to fill valleys, burying streams.

“It’s not necessary. If you do it wisely, there are ways to use renewables. It’s realistic for everybody,” Hannah said before she was arrested

Richmond, Va.-based Massey is the fourth-largest coal producer by revenue in the nation.

Vote ‘em! Yay or Nay to Darryl Hannah’s mini-dress by Stella McCartney paired with some serious boots?

Yay or Nay: Darryl Hannah wears Stella McCartney

All images for this Friday’s Fashion faux pas posts courtesy of Fashionism.ca.

 

 
With David Carradine passing away last week, we thought we’d revisit our favorite Carradine role as Bill, in both volumes of “Kill Bill”. What better way to celebrate the life of Carradine than to revisit the hotties from both movies?
 

6. Lucy Liu (O-Ren Ishii)

Has never done anything for us, but a lot of guys love her……………

5. Julie Dreyfus (Sofie Fatale)

Another one that doesn’t do much for us, but some guys love her………..

4. Chiaki Kuriyama (GoGo Yubari)

It’s OK, we checked. She’s 24 years old, feel free to drool………….

3. Vivica A. Fox (Vernita Green)

We’ve always liked Vivica, every since the “Booty Call” days. Wish we could get our hands on that “leaked” sex tape of hers……….

2. Darryl Hannah (Elle Driver)

Miss Hannah has been strong for a long time…………….

1. Uma Thurman (Beatrix Kiddo, “The Bride”)

Been one of our ATF’s for a long, long time……………….

VERDICT:
8/10 Broken Hearts

Not as action-packed as Kill Bill: Volume 1, but it’s still the best of the series.

In Kill Bill: Volume 2, The Bride has taken out two of her former co-assassins and is now out to finish the rest of ‘em off, get her daughter back, and while she’s at it, maybe even kill Bill. Sounds good to me.

Whereas Kill Bill: Volume 1 plays out as a kind of homage to Asian revenge movies, Volume 2 is a lot more like a modern-day Western with swords. It helps that the first one takes place in Japan and the second one takes place in the wild West, but the pacing and tone of both films are really what set them apart.

Volume 1 is a very in-your-face movie that has the pacing of a cheetah on speed. And while Volume 2 has the best action scene of both films (a sword fight in an RV between Uma Thurman and Daryl Hannah), it really slows down the pace from the first movie in order to really focus on the relationships amongst the characters involved and the driving forces behind them. The storytelling is very brooding in comparison and more often than not Tarantino opts for lengthy dialogue instead of a sword to the face. Most of the time it works, sometimes it doesn’t, but altogether it succeeds as a more meditative kind of departure from the insanity of Volume 1.

So if you’re going into this expecting an even crazier version of Volume 1, you might be disappointed. But if you go into Volume 2 with the mindset that it’s an altogether separate movie instead of taking it as a boring version of Volume 1, there’s a lot here to appreciate.

This movie can get long winded at times and the dialogue isn’t as sharp as past Tarantino efforts, but it has a lot more depth and credibility to it as both a drama and an action movie than Volume 1 does. The acting is better, David Carradine is great as Bill, it has a better script, and like I said, it’s just an altogether better movie.

Kill Bill: Volume 1 is the movie equivalent of a thrill ride. Kill Bill: Volume 2 doesn’t have that same kind of non-stop intensity, but it makes up for it in other ways. They’re both very different experiences, but I guess it all really depends on the kind of mood you’re in.

Whatever. Just watch ‘em both.

Roman Polanski, when asked why he preferred having sex with very young women, “I think most men do.”

And, remember, that was 35 years before “plumping-up” not only in visible-to-the-public areas.

Kill Bill 2 Pink Elle B1 size Japanese movie poster, originally uploaded by japanese-movie-posters.

I promised I would upload the second Pink B1 from the set. Now only two more to go before the set is COMPLETE. It might be a few years…
POSTER IS SOLD

Movie posters from Japan – your source is posterdemic.com

The Pope of Greenwich Village

Mister, I am the pope.  This might be your church, but right now I’m the Pope of Greenwich Village

Let’s start by setting the record straight.  I have no idea why I’ve never seen this movie before now.  It’s one of those movies that I’m “supposed” to have seen and one I’ve always wanted to.  Somehow I just never got around to it.
Lately, with all the hype surrounding Mickey Rourke and his role in The Wrestler this one has been mentioned a lot.  When I saw it was going to be playing on IFC a week or so ago, I hit the record button.  I knew the wife was going to be out of town one night this week and I’d get a chance to watch it.
I’m really glad I did.
Set in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City, The Pope of Greenwich Village tells the story of two down on their luck cousins, Paulie (Eric Roberts) and Charlie (Mickey Rouke).  The cast also includes Darryl Hannah and Burt Young.

Charlie is a matire’d with visions of owning his own restaurant away from the city.  Paulie is his fuck up cousin who is always looking for a quick bug and a big break.  Charlie’s familial devotion to Paulie is his undoing.
The duo, along with an aging safecracker decide to knock off a trucking company for 50 grand.  They end up with 150 grand and a pissed off gangster on their trail.  It seems that Paulie, the “mastermind’ behind the robbery, failed to mention that the trucking company was owned by local mobster Bedbug (Burt Young).
Bad things ensue.
Rourke and Roberts are both at the top of their games here.  Rourke is a man conflicted by his family ties and dreams.  Roberts is goofy, annoying and pathetic.  Somehow neither overplays it.
Watching this movie some 25 years after its release you’re immediately struck by how far the two very talented leads fell and how quickly it happened.  Whatever demons Rouke and Roberts fought during the 80s, this movie stands the test of time.  The praise is well deserved.  Its a solid character study.
I found myself amused as Burt Young, so famous for his portrayal of Rocky Balboa’s brother-in-law Paulie, was interrogating Roberts’ Paulie.  It had to be odd for Young to be calling someone else by famous character name over and over.
Either that or I’m easily amused.
So, was The Pope of Greenwich Village worth the two and half decade wait?  Absolutely.