‎"Bridesmaids" might well be a great movie...

...but the commercials make it look like it was lit by the same people who do restroom florescents

Headlines that should have been rephrased

Thor Finishes On Top Of Bridesmaids

Okay. I don't really know who Mónica Farro is, but...

... I have my doubts about her having been born a woman.

I think I just found where I have to draw a line.

Okay. You know how there's been a lot of hand-wringing in recent years about how girls are dressing way too provocatively way too young?

And you know how the go-to shot at girls like that (and implied shot at the parents) is "You look like a whore? Right.



Look, between you, me and the lamppost, and as I referred to yesterday, I'd be a hypocrite if I said I don't care to look at young women in sexy clothes, and bras and things. (But then, I also enjoy seeing older women like that. My fantasy age range spreads from Kim Cattrall to Kristen Stewart.)



So, I don't really join in the "slutwear shaming." But...for pete's sake, Miley...

...she looks like she's playing Elisabeth Shue's role in a J-Pop version of Leaving Las Vegas...

What?

Okay, you know that instantly-iconic photo of President Obama & Co in the Situation Room, monitoring the taking out of Osama bin Laden in real time?

Yeah, this one:



Well, get this:

...the Ultra-Orthodox Hasidic broadsheet Der Tzitung, published in Brooklyn...photoshopped Clinton, as well at the only other woman who could be seen in the room--Audrey Tomason, the national director of counterterrorism--out of the frame.

Wait, it gets better. Why did they do this? Because ...

Hillary Clinton's expression, right hand clasped over her mouth in astonishment, is largely responsible for making the above photo iconic--and, to at least one newspaper, sexually suggestive.

Apparently this paper has a policy of never printing pictures of women, for precisely the same reason.

Now friends, you in my vast reading audience know...I don't have to look too far to find a situation or a picture sexually suggestive. I have a filthy mind with the best of 'em and I make little secret of it. But oh, my God...

This reminds us we have radical religions in this country too. It's also like the old saying: You're entitled to your opinion, but you're not entitled to your own facts.

Women were in the room at that moment. A woman is the freakin' Secretary of State. Another is national director of counterterrorism (I'd like to think she's a real life Chloe from the good seasons of 24). I presume they took no small part in the discussions that led to the President's decision.

As sexist as their policy may be (in fact, is), the editors and/or publishers have a right to that policy. They don't have the right to change history.

For those of you playing at home...

Andy Card is the guy who set up George W. Bush's "Mission Accomplished" thing. You remember that (and if you don't, follow that link). However, Card feels that President Obama has not shown nearly enough humility about the whole actually having taken out Osama bin Laden thing.

Ever see something that you know is supposed to be kinda sexy and/or funny, and yet...no?

This pisses me off

It's a story about how the movie Insidious has already been hugely profitable. That's not the part that pisses me off.

What pisses me off is that it takes them four paragraphs, 12 lines, and 160 words to mention either of the creative team that made the movie--and then when they do, they mention only one of them, and get his role in the partnership wrong:

In an interview with the List director Leigh Whannell says, " It's not that we're saying 'no sequels', it's just that we haven't put any thought into it because we're still so focussed on the release of this one and we're way too superstitious to talk about a sequel."

Sigh. Leigh Whannell is the writer of Insidious (and also plays a role in the film), not the director. His partner James Wan is the director.

(They also created and worked on the first three installments of a little film franchise I like to call... Saw. Which is probably al least part of why I'm touchy about seeing them properly credited, though I like to think I'm a stickler for proper credit in any case.)

Good going, Mr. President. I'm sure that you can expect an apology from the right any day now.

President Obama Releases Long Form Birth Certificate

The '40s really looked like the '40s

Son of a gun. This is actually kind of breathtaking. It's real, color home movie footage (reportedly taken by FDR's son -in-law).



I mean...Holy cow.

Buddhist Temple in Winter

The Star Wars Meme Trilogy Episode Three: Attack of the Memes

This is derived from a long meme I found on Becca's blog. She answered all 30 questions in one post; I think the original idea was to answer one a day for a month. I'm shooting for something in-between, breaking it down into three parts...which seemed appropriate.

This is part three.

21. Your favorite moment in Empire Strikes Back


22. Your favorite moment in Return of the Jedi

The Emperor tries and fails to corrupt Luke. As with the Yoda/Obi-Wan situation, it's very much a toss-up between this and the Sarlaac pit sequence.

23. Something you wished was different in the series

A. They wouldn't have replaced the animated Clone Wars with the CGI one.

B. Okay, the end of Return of the Jedi. Vader is watching the Emperor electrocute Luke and, we know, about to come back over to the light side of the force. Arguably, the whole series, including all the tie-ins, has been leading up to this. And it's played on an expressionless piece of dark plastic.

Every time I see this, I think the same thing: Why didn't they have Luke knock off part of Vader's helmet during their fight? Like, at least enough that we could see his eyes? That way, they would've been able to actually show Vader struggling with and overcoming his conflict.

Plus, think how dramatic an "unveiling" that would've been. Compared to the "Oh look, Darth Vader is really just a harmless-looking old man" unmasking that we did get. That's been bothering me for years.

C. Get rid of the stupid CGI character idea and cast a living actor as Jar-Jar Binks.

The actor? Jackie Chan.

D. Two words:

Ewok Jedi by ~Shadowbox on deviantART

24. A character you didn’t like in the series

The George Lucas who thought it was a good idea for Greedo to get off the first shot.

25. Your favorite book/series from the Expanded Universe


(book)

or


(series)

Funny thing is, both of these are spin-offs of other tie-ins (or vice versa) that don't appeal to me in the slightest.

26. Your favorite Obi-Wan Kenobi quote
Alec Guinness version:

"Mos Eisley spaceport: You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy."

He deserved the Academy Award nomination for being able to speak that line alone.

Ewan McGregor version:

"So uncivilized..."

BTW, least favorite:

"Not even the younglings survived!"

That's the worst line in a movie most of the dialogue of which makes me want to perform a self-lobotomy with a spoon.

27. Your favorite Yoda quote
See "Favorite Quote" in Episode 2 of this Meme.

28. Your favorite Darth Vader quote:

Darth Maul: "What could you hate enough to destroy me?"

Darth Vader: "Me."


BTW, an aside: I didn't realize until I was coming up with these posts how many of my favorite scenes were the light saber fights.

But it fits in with what I think is one of the weaknesses of the prequels. In the original trilogy, those fights usually took place in the third act. There'd be at least one scene earlier in the film to establish what a light saber was, but the big battles were almost always saved to the end. I think they had much greater dramatic power that way.

In the prequels, though, Lucas was basically trapped by having established that they were the "elegant weapons of a more civilized age." It's hard for scenes like the "Duel of the Fates" in Ep. 1 to have as much impact, at least on me, when it feels like we've been watching light sabers waggle around for most of the past two hours.

29. Best Star Wars related story/incident you’ve had

When I was in high school, my best friend and I were watching Star Wars either on TV or on tape one day. We got to the scene where they’re briefing the X-Wing pilots before the attack on the Death Star, and these lines:

General: The target area is only two meters wide. It's a small thermal exhaust port, right below the main port. The shaft leads directly to the reactor system. A precise hit will start a chain reaction which should destroy the station. Only a precise hit will set off a chain reaction. The shaft is ray-shielded, so you'll have to use proton torpedoes.
Wedge Antilles (Red 2): That's impossible! Even for a computer.

Then in perfect unison with Luke, I said "It's not impossible. I used to bullseye womp rats in my T-16 back home, they're not much bigger than two meters."

And then looked up to see the strangest look on my friends face...


30. Why you love Star Wars

These past three posts notwithstanding...I'm not always sure that I do. As a fully-grown (allegedly) man, I acknowledge that Star Wars is far, far from perfect: The dialogue in the prequels and the awful padding in Return of the Jedi being particular pet peeves. To say nothing of the writing of the female characters.

I also think Lucas's motive at this point is almost completely greed. One of my pet theories about Star Wars characters and stories is that they get much better the less Lucas has to do with them.

Other writers are much, much better than he is at crafting compelling stories and presenting believable characters. Even in the crukking video game tie-ins. But this also applies to the movies themselves.

Look at Empire. By my readings, it seems to have been the film with which Lucas had the least to do...and 99% of fans, I think, would say it's the best.



BTW, speaking of Empire: I don't care about this video game. Never played it, or the original. So I don't care if there's a second sequel to the game.

But if there isn't a novel, graphic or otherwise, to wrap up the Empire-like loose ends left at the end of this storyline...ooh, I'm gonna be pissed.

On the other hand, of courses I love it first and foremost because I'm of the generation for whom it was all, really and truly, new.

Like a lot of us, I tend to get very protective of my first experiences of it (hence, "I will never call it "A New Hope').

It's also a way in which I bond with my nephew (the Jedi Ewoks were his idea).

I believe the word I'm looking for is "Booyeah."

Keli Goff on Gwyneth Paltrow. Excerpted below.

In an interview with Popeater, Paltrow addressed just why she believes she has so many critics by saying:

"I think my work ethic is the reason why I'm successful. I think that a lot of people don't want to put in effort and it's easier to not change, not do something good for you... [They're just] pissed off at someone else doing that. Everything in my life that's good is because I worked my ass off to get it and to maintain it."

In an age in which America's class-divide is greater than it's ever been, our patience has simply waned for the George W. Bush's and Gwyneth Paltrow's of the world -- people who were born on third base and act like they hit a triple. America was founded on the idea that everyone has equal opportunity to carve out their piece of the American Dream, but increasingly that's becoming less and less of a reality. And there's something infuriating about listening to people born into the Dream -- silver rattle in one hand, silver spoon in the other -- lecture the rest of us on how easy it is to obtain -- if we're just willing to "work our asses off" like they do.

It seems like there used to be an unspoken pact between those who were born into privilege and the rest of us to keep all out class warfare from breaking out. They would quietly go about spending their money in respectable, socially beneficial ways -- philanthropies and such -- and we wouldn't publicly point out that the only way they got their job, record deal, book deal, political appointment etc. was because of the last name of their parent or their spouse. But not only have people begun riding their families' coattails more publicly (Donald Trump, Paris Hilton, Tori Spelling, Ben Quayle, Megan McCain, George W. Bush, Jenna Bush, Ms. Paltrow, the list goes on), but it's become par for the course for these same people to dismiss allegations of nepotism out of turn, which would be funny if most people weren't too busy trying to figure out how to pay for college to laugh.

I think I love every bit of this.

Stunningly evocative.

If Matthew Perry had appeared on "Sports Night," Aaron Sorkin's great sitcom, in "Chandler" mode, that wouldn't have worked either

So I've been meaning to talk some about the show Mr. Sunshine, co-created by and starring Matthew Perry as the manager of a huge arena. I don't think I'm going to watch it any more (if there is any more), but I've watched every episode to date, and at a certain point I realized I was doing so not because I was especially enjoying it.

Rather because I was trying to figure out why it just wasn't working for me. And this is what I've come up with: They're trying to do Aaron Sorkin without having Sorkin, and Perry is out of tune with the rest of his show.

The similarities to a Sorkin show are easily evident, with Sunshine being set "backstage," as all of Sorkin's series (West Wing, Sports Night, Studio 60) are, and underlined by the presence of more than a few past Sorkin collaborators either in front of or behind the camera.

Aspiring to do a Sorkin-type show is a worthy goal, to be sure, but one thing this demonstrates is that it's harder than it looks. Even Sorkin doesn't keep his balance all the time, look at the third season of West Wing, and his ear for language is rare if not unique among his peers.

Without maintaining that balance, and without that sense of language, Sunshine is swimming against the tide...and it doesn't help that Perry is going in a different direction.

Perry appears to have two different styles of acting, both of which can be very effective.

One of these is, not necessarily only dramatic, but certainly more reflective, such as he employed on Studio 60 and his guest bits on West Wing. The other is basically sitcom, or more specifically Chandler, the wisecracker covering up emotional turmoil.

The latter mode frankly can be a bit overacted, but usually that's okay because it's in keeping with the rest of the show (nobody seriously thought Friends had much of a connection to real life, did they? And I liked the show.)

Trouble is that the two don't work together very well. On Sunshine, we have most of the cast smoothly underplaying (and hence coming off a little bit boring), while Perry overacts like Celine Dion putting over a song.

Only Allison Janney strikes a consistent balance, and appears to be having the time of her life, but she's helped by the fact that the weight of the show is not on her shoulders.

The combined result is like watching idiot acrobats who don't understand physics try to make a teeter-totter work with one person at one end and everybody else at the other. After a while, you gotta wonder why they're just standing there.

I just know I'm going to wake up in the morning pregnant and alone

But for now, my reaction to the budget speech President Obama gave today is: Intoxication.

Obama came home.

Holy shit.

The Star Wars Meme Trilogy Episode Two: The Meme Strikes Back

This is derived from a long meme I found on Becca's blog. She answered all 30 questions in one post; I think the original idea was to answer one a day for a month. I'm shooting for something in-between, breaking it down into three parts...which seemed appropriate.

Part one is here, this is part two; Part three is here.

11. Favorite battle




12. All time favorite scene in any of the movies:

The Millennium Falcon destroys the Imperial fighter at the end of Star Wars (I will never call it "A New Hope.")

"You're all clear kid, now lets blow this thing and go home!"



13. Favorite quote

"...a Jedi's strength flows from the Force. But beware of the dark side. Anger, fear, aggression; the dark side of the Force are they. Easily they flow, quick to join you in a fight. If once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny, consume you it will, as it did Obi-Wan's apprentice."

14. A scene that makes you happy




15. A scene that makes you sad/angry
Luke after Vader "kills" Ben Kenobi.

16. Photo of your Star Wars related things (books, action figures, posters, shirts, etc.)

Don't have one. It's not a lot, anyway--just a few books. But there is this picture of me Christmas morning 1980 (I think)...



17. Your favorite moment in The Phantom Menace

The 22 years before it.

18. Your favorite moment in Attack of the Clones



19. Your favorite moment in Revenge of the Sith

Obi-Wan light sabers Darth's remaining limbs off and leaves him to burn to death (he thinks). Either that or "POWER! UNLIMITED... POWER!"

20. Your favorite moment in Star Wars
See "All time favorite scene in any of the movies," above.

JADOR - PIXAR PLANT04 33p

JADOR - PIXAR PLANT04 33p, a photo by Ravenelle on Flickr.

Ever just want to start bitch-slapping someone until the skin on your knuckles wears off?

A Republican lawmaker on Monday poured fuel on the fire of Capitol Hill's heated spending debate, calling high spending "economic child abuse."

"We cannot continue this out of control spending. It is basically economic child abuse," said Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) during an interview on Fox News."

PS: Having gone to the Tenn well twice today, I feel compelled to say again: I have no Google Alert or something like that tripped to email me when stories about The State of Insanity appear. They just find me.

How's this for a metaphor?

Garbage will pile up in the streets of the capital, the Statue of Liberty will close and astronauts will stay home if the Congress fails to reach a budget deal and the government shuts down.