C'est Non Un Blog

My dad gets home today at around 11 and I go out to say hi, and I ask him innocently, “Why are you home so early?” To which he replies, “I got fired.” Fired, fired? You’re kidding, right? Nope. Well, that’s just great. Thank God I finally got a job when I did, or the tension level in this house would be so much freaking higher right now. This is not good people, not good.

Yet another based-on-fact movie has touched off a firestorm of debate over its accuracy in advance of the Academy Awards. ABC’s 20/20 on Friday maintained that there is no evidence that serial killer Aileen Wuornos was ever attacked by any of her victims, as depicted in the movie Monster, and that it in fact defames those who died at her hand. Interviewed by 20/20 co-host John Stossel, family members of Wuornos’s victims denounced the film. Mike Humphreys, whose father was robbed and killed by Wuornos, commented: “I don’t think that [the filmmakers] ought to do this to the victims out there.” Letha Prater, the sister of another of Wuornos’s targets, remarked: “This movie is portraying her as a victim. She isn’t. She was not a victim. My brother was a victim.” The film was also condemned by the Florida state attorney who prosecuted Wuornos and who said he was never consulted by the filmmakers. John Tanner called their depiction of what occurred “a total lie.” In response, film producer Brad Wyman did not defend the accuracy of the film, telling Stossel, “It’s not a documentary. … It is a dramatic portrayal searching for a greater truth than a factual truth.”

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Now I have total sympathy for the victims families and I do believe that no human being deserves to be killed for a chance encounter, to act like these guys were angels sounds a little ridiculous. They were paying this woman for sex. In my mind taking advantage of a woman like that is just as wrong as killing someone. There are enough serial killers out there who have taken advantage of prostitutes and killed them, and yet little respect is ever given out to those women. Do I really feel bad for a guy that had to pay for sex? No, not really.

I just watched the Diane Sawyer interview with Mel Gibson about The Passion of the Christ, which was very good by the way, but whenever they showed the Logo for the film behind Diane the final T was always faded into the background so that it read “The Passion of the Chris.” What I want to know is why the hell they did that, and who the hell is this Chris?

——Ichi the Killer——

(A)

Man, o man. When Harry and I got to the end of watching the Isle we just kind of turned and looked at each other, and said, “Man, after that everything else disturbing will just pale in comparison.” I haven’t show Ichi the Killer to him yet, but I definitely think that even if Ichi the Killer doesn’t take that top spot away from the Isle, you can spend a damn long time arguing it does. This is easily one of the most disturbing movies I’ve ever seen, and I recommend almost no one actually watch this. If you like that sort of thing though, there is lots here to enjoy (I use the word loosely, of course).

This movie by Takashi Miike is based on a manga, which makes some of the violence and gore a little over the top (making that the only reason why the Isle could possibly be more disturbing than this). Ichi is a disturbed killer who has been brainwashed into thinking that he was bullied as a youth and that a mob boss and his gang were those bullies. He has utterly no empathy for those he kills. On the other side of the coin is the main character, Kakihara, whose cheeks are cut up in a hideous grin, making him look not unlike the Joker (a comparison taken further by his clothes, which are usually purple and green). Kakihara is a sadist who is possibly more fucked up than Ichi, since he tortures other human beings and mutilates himself entirely of free will. The vast majority of the fucked up scenes in the movie belong to him.

What’s weird (and great) about this movie is that it isn’t just a straight up gore-fest. Miike’s direction is superb and the plot is constructed in an almost spiral type manner, turning the movie into a really interesting mystery story. Also, Miike brings a certain humor to the whole thing that makes all of the violence bearable (and in a way, more disturbing) as you’ll find yourself laughing in the weirdest places. If you can stomach it, I totally recommend you see this movie.

PS. This movie also might be interesting to watch for those who enjoyed the House of Blue Leaves fight in Kill Bill Volume 1, as you can definitely tell Tarantino watched Ichi before making it. One guy gets his face slashed up like Kakihara and the arterial spraying, while in other movies, definitely takes its cue from this one.

——50 First Dates——

(B)

This is a very funny and charming movie that would have been really great had those making decided to tone down the classic Sandler gross out humor, which feels oddly out of place in this movie and is almost never funny. It’s as if they are just trying too hard and living in the past. The production company is called Happy Madison, there is a scene where Rob Schnider’s family hits golf balls like Happy Gilmore, and there are a whole bunch of 80’s tunes that were used in the Wedding Singer cut and pasted into this movie while only given a reggae makeover. Stop it all already. They should have just stuck with a straight out romantic comedy, which is the one part of the movie that works extremely well.

Sandler and Barrymore (anyone who’s seen the Wedding Singer knows this) have perfect onscreen chemistry together, and their scenes together are just perfect. Every so often that mood is ruined though by a cheap joke, which is about the equivalent of a middle schooler making stupid jokes every five minutes or so to keep himself entertained. What you end up with is a fairly good movie that isn’t quite as good as the Wedding Singer, but still recommended to anyone who liked the Wedding Singer.

——La Strada——

(A-)

I don’t know as I was in the best mood when I watched this, but I’ll try to review it anyway. This was an entertaining movie that wasn’t always great in every moment, but in which a really powerful emotional response develops over the course of watching it. This is definitely the movie that bridged the Italian neo-realism to Fellini’s developing carnival-esq style, and really if you were to take out the circus and the general whimsy that follows the movie around, this movie isn’t really that far removed from Umberto D. Very good.

——The Bird People in China——

(B+)

I was surprised to find out that this was also directed by Takashi Miike (Ichi, Dead or Alive), since this is a much more subdued and straight forward film than most of his other work. The plot follows a Japanese businessman and a yakuza that travel to a remote part of China to check into a reported Jade vein in the mountains (the yakuza is owed money). The first half of the movie is a pretty hilarious road movie where personalities clash both in their dealings with each other and with the sentient culture. When they finally get to where they are going the plot slows down a little bit, unfortunately, but a really interesting and personal plot develops where they discover a really remarkable culture and a girl who’s grandfather taught her how to fly using paper wings. That second half of the plot wasn’t quite as interesting for me, but the whole movie is really cool and worth seeing.

——Glengarry Glen Ross——

(B)

I tend to have a problem with movies based on plays, and this film is no exception. The problem is that the dialog tends to get overly wordy and the action takes on a static feeling that feels very restricted because the original plot was meant merely for the stage. Despite some great acting, this movie has those problems in spades. The David Mamet dialog just did nothing for me, and I was really hoping the action would break out of its little box, but it never did. Definitely not my favorite movie.

——Band of Outsiders——

(B+)

Even though this movie is probably more traditional in style than Godard’s earlier Breathless, I didn’t quite like this movie as much as Breathless. That probably has mostly to do with the fact that the main characters aren’t very likable. Arthur forces his way to the forefront of the film and just comes off as an asshole that likes to take and take from people, leaving you to wonder what the hell Odile sees in him, especially after (I assume) she was going out with the more likable Franz, who seems to be always pushed out of the way by both Odile and Arthur. The other problem seems to me to be the fact that the sum of the parts seems greater than the whole. There are plenty of great scenes and moments in the film, while the overall story is just B-movie trash. Which might just be Godard’s whole point. His overall idea of cinema in this film seems to be this montage of sequences and ideas connected together to make a whole of its own, a rejection of Hollywood genre films while rejoicing in them at the same time. I’m not to sure about this movie. I’ll have to see it again.

Well, the WB officially staked Angel in the heart, the bastards. This season will officially be its last. I don’t really understand why they did so, since it is one of their highest rated shows and all. They probably figured the show is probably at its high point now, so no reason to keep it around if Charisma Carpenter is dead.

Yeah, I’ve been a bit of a dick lately. I knew that (see last post), you knew that, but for a while I didn’t know WHY I was acting like such a dickhead. Normally I’m a pretty happy, feel good guy who does like to argue, but not in a mean-spirited or hateful way. And then every once and a while something gets under my skin and I act like a bitch, snapping at everyone until I work out my problems. This time was a little different though, because I knew I was acting like an ass and just didn’t know why. It was odd because otherwise I was actually in a pretty good mood, and then someone would say something that hit a nerve and I’d rip their head off. What the hell is that, right?

I figured out the problem. A few days ago Sara had noted in her livejournal that she was still seeing Sarah Porter at Bard. Some of you might remember the last time I was a bitch was in the Fall when all the ugliness went down between me and her, but I finally got over it and went back to my nice good-natured self. I guess I wasn’t completely over it though, I had just forgotten about it and moved on. I just hadn’t thought about it.

I tend to be someone very friend centered. I don’t like to see my friends hurt, and I don’t want to be hurt by my friends. A friend isn’t someone who walks all over you, right? So I guess when I read Sara’s livejournal on top of all the feelings I still had left over from last year, I guess I also didn’t want one of my friends hanging out with someone I knew from experience was a shitty friend and human being. Sometimes in those matters I just can’t keep my mouth shut.

Of course I didn’t really realize this at the time, because instead of reacting directly to this I acted out, from anything like getting short in my comments with someone to freaking out because I couldn’t find the perfect video at Blockbuster. This is not stuff I normally care about but I was just a little hyper-sensitive at the time and instead of directing my anger where I wanted it to go, it gushed out inappropriately at all the wrong moments. Which is not to say that Clancy shouldn’t rewatch Once Upon a Time in Mexico (he should) but that I shouldn’t be calling people dumbasses. So anyway, to anyone I offended, I apologize. This is just what’s been going on with me lately.

Man, I feel like such an ass lately. Whatever.

Anyway, to just follow up for those curious, I went into Bose this morning and accepted the job there. I am now a Demonstration Specialist. Doesn’t that make me sound cool? Unfortunately the job isn’t quite as cool as the title, although it looks like it might be a lot of fun. I filled out like, seriously, a inch tall stack of paperwork before I could get the job. No kidding. Took me like an hour to look through and fill it all out. So I start training and my first day of work February 23rd, and get paid to train! Score! I can’t wait to finally have an income again.

Tomorrow I go with my dad to pick up my sister from college. Despite the fact that it is cool to hang out with my sister AND I made a new mix tape, I’m not really looking forward to this since that drive SUCKS ASS. Damn you Ithaca!

OK, as I have had various thoughts running around in my head meaning to find their way into my livejournal and I need something to do while I wait for the phone call that will (hopefully) tell me that I have a job up at Bose, I here submit a whole bunch of random thoughts condensed into one post. Enjoy!

1)

During the Super Bowl I was downloading…things and I left my computer unattended for a long time while I enjoyed the game, the commercials, and Janet Jackson’s freaky nipple piercings (if you think I’ve even begun to tire of the word Boobygate, you are sorely mistaken). Once I finally came back to my computer after Survivor was over the…things had screwed up downloading (of course, fucking computer) and something was wrong with my Internet Explorer. Every time I went to open a webpage an error message would come up (the one that asks you if you want to report your problem to Microsoft) and the window would disappear. What the hell, right?

So I went to http://www.windowsupdate.com to see if there were any critical updates that I needed to get, downloaded everything that was there, but of course nothing fixed my problem. (Did you know that you can access the internet via a regular folder like My Documents? Just make sure the address bar is on and type your web address there, or just click on one of your Favorites links.) I was stuck not knowing what to do and too lazy to call up any sort of customer service. I tried just using My Documents for a while which worked OK, but if you want to open up any page where there will be pop ups you’ve got to be prepared to get ticked off.

So I did that for a while, and then decided to finally break down and download Netscape. Well, that’s all fine and dandy, but when I downloaded the file that you need to download the file (what?) and tried to open it, my computer told me I didn’t have enough memory to do so (double what?). Well, fuck that idea, stupid computer.

So then I went to MSN Explorer, Microsoft’s new attempt at completely taking over your life. MSN Explorer is a lot like IE, except for 50 times more annoying. IE is great because it is uncluttered and insanely customizable to your own tastes. It’s the little things that make MSN Explorer annoying. Stuff like the fact that I was able to upload my favorites list from IE (nice) but am unable to arrange my favorites into any kind of order (not so nice). Why not? Now instead of putting the links that I use most frequently at the top for easy access, I now have to go through and read every link before clicking. That’s not horrible, I know, but it is a major inconvenience. The bar at the top of the screen has nice big color icons for all sorts of MSN services, but if you want to say hit the stop button or the refresh button (buttons I frequently use) you’re shit out of luck. You’ll find them under the giant icons you’ll never use as just tiny words with no icon. Then there is the main page that opens up when you start MSN Explorer. It’s too cluttered, and too much of a pain in the ass. You can open up new windows that are much easier to manage but if you try to close out the original page all the pages close. Why? You can’t really customize anything. It’s a real pain in the ass. Stupid Microsoft. But I’m stuck with it until I finally break down and see what’s wrong with my beloved IE.

2)

Well, apparently I got the job. This afternoon I got a call up from Sue saying that my background check came through clean (of course it did, I have no background) and if I wanted I could come down tomorrow to talk about some things and see if I still want the job. The weird thing is that she never actually said the words, “Congratulations, you have the job.” I mean it was all but said out loud (why else would I need my driver’s license and social security card?) but it was kind of like asking out a girl who’s not sure she wants to go out with you, and after careful consideration finds that she does want to go out with you but doesn’t want to let YOU know that she wants to go out with you. It was just a little weird, but cool, because I now have an income. Money! Wheeee!

3)

God I love reality TV. It seems like every other month or so I’m like “reality TV is so over” and then it becomes awesome again. It never ceases to amaze me.

Average Joe: Hawaii is like the greatest show ever. Not content with just having an awesome concept, this show goes above and beyond to find new ways to make it even more ridiculous. Take this Monday’s episode, for instance. The producers wheel a giant plunger into the guys house while one of them is on a date with the hot super model, with only a note that says “All’s fair in love and war.” The beautiful guys, being gigantic morons, press down the plunger before anyone has even thought of what it might mean. Cut to the date where the producers rigged explosives to their boat! They blew up the boat! How cool is that? This show is so damn good. It’s miles above the last Average Joe, which wasn’t that bad either.

I watch My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiancee during commercial breaks of Everwood. While I don’t want to get sucked into yet another moronic Fox reality show, I do have to say that what I see I find extremely amusing for some reason. Maybe it’s the fact that this guy finds it so fucking amusing that he’s fucking over this woman and her family, doing extremely bizarre things just to rejoice in watching her squirm. I think it’s hilarious.

American Idol so far is pretty much like every other Idol to date. Nothing too special, but interestingly enough something you still can’t turn your eyes away from. Waiting for the next train wreck has never been so fun.

I never watch Fear Factor, but I’ve been really sucked into Couples Fear Factor. I think it is because with the increased number of contestants and the overall lengthening of the show (instead of being 1 episode Couples Fear Factor takes place over 7 weeks) it feels more like a Survivor type show and less like a one shot deal. You can get really invested in who is going to win (whereas in normal Fear Factor by the time you get to know someone they are already gone) and like in the Amazing Race the couples thing helps bring an added layer of drama to the whole proceedings. Plus, they have eaten some of the sickest shit I’ve ever seen on Fear Factor, and anything that can gross me out usually gets my attention.

The Apprentice is just awesome. Did you all see the last episode, which had one of the greatest reality show backstabbings that I have ever seen? If not you really missed out. Anyway, the show is like Corporate Survivor (which makes sense since it was designed by the Survivor guy) and is a whole lot more interesting than that sounds. The challenges are great, the contestants are ruthless, and the boardroom with Donald Trump is the best elimination ceremony I’ve ever seen since the original Survivor. This show just kicks ass.

I’d watch more of the Surreal Life, but unfortunately it always airs when there are already two shows on at the same time that I want to watch. What I have seen has been pretty funny.

Same problem with America’s Next Top Model, which has the distinction of being the first UPN show I’ve ever willfully watched. This is great stuff, and the people judging the girls are just BRUTAL. It’s enough to make you anorexic just watching it.

And then there is the granddaddy and king of all reality shows, Survivor All Stars. I don’t think I have to tell you all how cool this show is. Just watch it, and be happy.

4)

Regular shows that you should be watching: Everwood, 24, Gilmore Girls, Scrubs, Joan of Arcadia, Simpsons (greatest season in forever!), King of the Hill, CSI, Angel, and my two favorite new shows of the season, both on Fox:

The O.C. and Arrested Development. Never has laughing at rich people been so damn fun!

5)

Man I hate bringing in wood. Today I had to bring in MORE, making it the second time in three days. God, it sucks.

6)

OK, at the moment I don’t have a number six. Or a number seven for that matter. I’m sure I’ll remember it again later though, so I’ll end this insanely crappy list here so you can all stop reading….now.

In the official Star Wars.com Newsletter the announcement for the DVD box set contains nowhere the words “Special Edition”. Apparently there is only ONE edition now, the rat bastards.