YouTube - Mitch Hedberg on Conan
if you don't know a lightbulb is a three-way lightbulb, it messes with your head. 'cause you go to turn it off, and it just gets brighter. like, darn it lightbulb, that is the exact opposite of what I wanted you to do...
now is a hippopotamus a hippopotamus or a really cool opotamus?
I got a belt on holding up my pants. my pants have loops holding up my belt. who's the real hero?
Dr.Schull makes foot products. it doesn't take a lot to figure out that stepping on a cushion would be more comfortable.
that dude wasted a lot of time at school. 'cause I woulda bought that from a Mr. Schull.
Saturday, March 31, 2007
Friday, March 30, 2007
Twitter… again -adactio.com/journal:
Everyone’s talking about Twitter, even the Wall Street Journal.
yeah no kidding. via adactio's lifestream dlcs marks I went to post on disambiguity re twitter -"ambient intimacy" and to post by kottke re twitter and in & around those to a bunch of others, esp as resulting fr sxsw it seems.
so I've dlcs marked (tagged 'web') a number of posts re twitter.
As usual, opinions are pretty polarised. Sometimes those poles swap over. The process goes something like this:
Signing up for Twitter.
This is stupid. I don’t get it.
Adding friends. What a pain!
Eating a cheese sandwich.
Trying to get some work done: getting distracted by Twitter.
@somebody: Really? Me too! Cool.
I love Twitter!
I’m surprised that Kathy Sierra doesn’t like Twitter seeing as it’s the classic example of creating passionate users.
Creating Passionate Users: Is Twitter TOO good?: Twitter is yet another--potentially more dramatic--contribution to the problems of always-on multi-tasking... you can't be Twittering (or emailing or chatting, of course) and simultaneously be in deep thought and/or a flow state. huh ~ int.
Disclaimer: I'm SO in the minority on this one... it looks like about a hundred-to-one in favor of Twitter, so I'm most likely way wrong on this one (but it doesn't stop me from trying).
And this post is mostly a mashup of a variety of earlier posts I've made on related subjects.
But as she freely admits:
I am not in the target audience for Twitter—I am by nature a loner.
The whole raison d’être behind Twitter comes from answering a simple question in the present tense:
What are you doing?
Adactio: Journal January 25th, 2007 - Whither Twitter?:
Twittering is like blogging: I would do it even if no-one was going to read it.
I don’t blog for other people. I don’t twitter for other people. I do both for myself.
right on.
but unhappily, cut&pasting fr this journal is not conveying his links - don't think I've sen that before - sth in his html?
oh. and. feel aware of a group ~ here: adactio, disambiguity, kathy sierra, graphpaper.
Everyone’s talking about Twitter, even the Wall Street Journal.
yeah no kidding. via adactio's lifestream dlcs marks I went to post on disambiguity re twitter -"ambient intimacy" and to post by kottke re twitter and in & around those to a bunch of others, esp as resulting fr sxsw it seems.
so I've dlcs marked (tagged 'web') a number of posts re twitter.
As usual, opinions are pretty polarised. Sometimes those poles swap over. The process goes something like this:
Signing up for Twitter.
This is stupid. I don’t get it.
Adding friends. What a pain!
Eating a cheese sandwich.
Trying to get some work done: getting distracted by Twitter.
@somebody: Really? Me too! Cool.
I love Twitter!
I’m surprised that Kathy Sierra doesn’t like Twitter seeing as it’s the classic example of creating passionate users.
Creating Passionate Users: Is Twitter TOO good?: Twitter is yet another--potentially more dramatic--contribution to the problems of always-on multi-tasking... you can't be Twittering (or emailing or chatting, of course) and simultaneously be in deep thought and/or a flow state. huh ~ int.
Disclaimer: I'm SO in the minority on this one... it looks like about a hundred-to-one in favor of Twitter, so I'm most likely way wrong on this one (but it doesn't stop me from trying).
And this post is mostly a mashup of a variety of earlier posts I've made on related subjects.
But as she freely admits:
I am not in the target audience for Twitter—I am by nature a loner.
The whole raison d’être behind Twitter comes from answering a simple question in the present tense:
What are you doing?
Adactio: Journal January 25th, 2007 - Whither Twitter?:
Twittering is like blogging: I would do it even if no-one was going to read it.
I don’t blog for other people. I don’t twitter for other people. I do both for myself.
right on.
but unhappily, cut&pasting fr this journal is not conveying his links - don't think I've sen that before - sth in his html?
oh. and. feel aware of a group ~ here: adactio, disambiguity, kathy sierra, graphpaper.
Adactio: stream ..cool... color coded: green for twitter (what doing), purple for flickr (what seeing), blue for dlcs (what reading - info in), orange for blog posts (what thinking - info out)
this is like a list of the services the ~digerati~ are plugged into: twitter, flickr, dlcs.
there are rivals to flickr and dlcs but those who seem to me the online mainstream ~the web people~ (the blogging developers, the early adopters?) all seem to me to be on flickr and dlcs.
this is like a list of the services the ~digerati~ are plugged into: twitter, flickr, dlcs.
there are rivals to flickr and dlcs but those who seem to me the online mainstream ~the web people~ (the blogging developers, the early adopters?) all seem to me to be on flickr and dlcs.
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Emily Chang - My Data StreamMy Data Stream:
A few months ago, Jeremy Keith wrote about his experience with this very issue in ”Streaming my life away.” He decided to write a PHP script that would track several RSS feeds (Twitter, Flickr, Del.icio.us, Last.fm, and blog posts) by time-stamp and then display them in chronological order. It doesn’t do any caching but “the important thing is that it’s keeping the context of the permalinks (song, link, photo, or blog post) and displaying them ordered by date and time.” His experience resonated with me. I tried his PHP script but it didn’t quite work on my blog. Jeff Croft also has a similar implementation at his tumblelog, which appears to be down now. current: jeff croft's My lifestream
lots to read here, comments and...
My Life Stream by Jack Vinson: Chang is focusing on data streams: stuff she is reading or posting online that as a RSS feed attached to it. But the idea of expanding this to include documents I've created-read-modified on my desktop and my other browsing activity would be the direction to go. The thing that keyed my interest is the link to personal knowledge management. Why? If I am able to see context in which I was operating, I can recreate in my head what was happening and what I was thinking. yep that's what I like. Sometimes it may just be one thing, but other times it takes more memory triggers to remember the setting in which I found a particular item interesting or why I wrote what I did. yep yep. my concern always with "via" = why was I there? (what was the context, my int, why did I care?)
A few months ago, Jeremy Keith wrote about his experience with this very issue in ”Streaming my life away.” He decided to write a PHP script that would track several RSS feeds (Twitter, Flickr, Del.icio.us, Last.fm, and blog posts) by time-stamp and then display them in chronological order. It doesn’t do any caching but “the important thing is that it’s keeping the context of the permalinks (song, link, photo, or blog post) and displaying them ordered by date and time.” His experience resonated with me. I tried his PHP script but it didn’t quite work on my blog. Jeff Croft also has a similar implementation at his tumblelog, which appears to be down now. current: jeff croft's My lifestream
lots to read here, comments and...
UPDATES:
Watching the stream* by Jeremy Keith: Of course this idea of mashing up time-stamped (micro)content—usually through RSS—isn’t anything new.
Traffic And Flow by Stowe Boyd: We are sending all sorts of traffic -- different sorts of messages -- flowing through the various implicit and explicit social networks that we define ourselves through, and through which we discover meaning, belonging, and insight. This traffic flow -- made more liquid by RSS and instant messaging style real-time messaging -- is the primary dynamic that I believe we will see in all future social apps. Yes, we will want to have our traffic cached -- for search and analysis purposes -- but we will increasingly move toward a flow model .. hmm.
Taming your own river of news by Grant Robertson on DownloadSquad: Personal aggregation. Melding the content you create into one unified stream which can flow over anyone you want to allow to follow what you're putting out. Although Stowe's points (above) take the idea to another level -- enabling applications to watch and deal with the river automagicly -- Chang's point must come first. Our data generation in the current model is more akin to tributaries of flow, the next step is to unite them into our personal river. Panning and mining that self-generated river for info-gold. This seems like an obvious target right for some rockin' open source app, Wordpress plugin, Yahoo! Pipe jeremy in post linked above talks about & gives his ex of using Pipes to make a lifestream, etc.. but a cursory search says I'm going to have to roll my own if I want to hang with the cool kids. heh, yep. like you also shld have yr own blog domain. Where's the open source content flow aggregation system for the everyman?My Life Stream by Jack Vinson: Chang is focusing on data streams: stuff she is reading or posting online that as a RSS feed attached to it. But the idea of expanding this to include documents I've created-read-modified on my desktop and my other browsing activity would be the direction to go. The thing that keyed my interest is the link to personal knowledge management. Why? If I am able to see context in which I was operating, I can recreate in my head what was happening and what I was thinking. yep that's what I like. Sometimes it may just be one thing, but other times it takes more memory triggers to remember the setting in which I found a particular item interesting or why I wrote what I did. yep yep. my concern always with "via" = why was I there? (what was the context, my int, why did I care?)
Everyone’s data streams for everything visible everywhere by Ross Dawson: For me, what this suggests is a world in which many people choose to expose all of their activities to the world. Del.icio.us is a great example. People used to favorite websites on their PC. Now many are happy to do it publicly, so other people can look at what they choose to make note of. It seems that many people are thinking about and putting the mechanisms in place to expose all that we do, including our activities in socializing, entertainment, work, and more. Clearly not everyone will choose to expose their activities, yet many will – this has been proven over the last few years.
Lifestreams could help create new personalised discovery engines by Sam Sethi [also linked by adactio: Sam Sethi has been talking about life streams as a rich vein of attention data]
Marketing 2.0 [Practical Blogging: helping bloggers & webmasters increase their income..] by Robyn Tippins: This is fascinating, but even more so is the comments on her post. People from 30Boxes, AIM, etc. are telling how their service does something similar. That’s interesting in that I had no idea there were companies doing this AND in that these companies know that these comments will resonate to a targeted audience that they want to reach.These are likely either 1-regular readers of her feed or 2-regular Techmeme readers (being that the post is now on Techmeme). Either way, they are plugged in enough to know how to mention their company without sounding spammy at all. In fact, they have added their commentary to a blog post that is very relevant to their company. hmm. Impressive on all accounts. Make it someone’s job to follow relevant feeds and comment when appropriate (and only then). If you don’t have someone on your team to do this, hire someone.
IDEA #23 - Your Syndicated Chronological Life [techquilashots.com] by Steve Poland: So who’s going to create this for the rest of us? For the company that launches this business there’s plenty of monetization opportunity.
tonite read about "no follow" tags (google op sys blogspot post re why ppl link to wkp had a cmmt mentioning their use of no follow - I guess it was much discussed - they were using it and people objected bcs this means the sites linked to wld not get any boost in pagerank though it wld be appropriate - anyway I gather that now wkp has stopped using no follow and instead just a black out list of urls, as way to guard against link spamming ~ spamdexing)
I'd seen no follow tags (and not know what meant) in html when cut & pasted links from ...
dlcs ? yes.
and google results too I think.
so I guess that makes sense that those should not contribute to page rank? ~ ~ being marked on dlcs is perhaps sth that shld contribute but I suppose not as heavily as a link elsewhere, I dunno...
another feature of firefox that I appreciate (besides integrated search and an effective find fxn and the recent 'bookmark all tabs in a folder' oh and of course the 'open in new tab' w a click - cf ) is that
the history drop-down menu, after listing pages fr recent history, also has a sub-menu of
recently closed tabs
I think I've noticed that before, but forgotten it. and it's useful to me bcs I'll close a tab then want to see that page again, and it may be pretty far down in the history if I've had it open for a while, meanwhile opening other things, keeping that page for eventual attention
__
oh, and. sometimes I notice & dislike how my blog posts run into each other - the label info for the above post appears closer to the previous post below it.
occurs to me that this is bcs I d n use titles.
~ I used to not like the font in my mucked up html, but that's not a problem now right. now, the titles are links. and ~ I don't want the extra post link of the title there? yeah I guess my eye goes to links and don't want every post to have that big link to itself which I don't need catching my attention.
anyway, I tried putting a hyphen as title and that works well.
separates the posts appropriately. and is discreet enough on page not to visually distract me.
probably not worth going thru and putting hyphens as titles on all posts. ! no not worth going all through. just add a hyphen as title when looking at sth and distracted by the spacing.
and on all new posts?
well, at least on ones I want distinguished fr above & below.
the history drop-down menu, after listing pages fr recent history, also has a sub-menu of
recently closed tabs
I think I've noticed that before, but forgotten it. and it's useful to me bcs I'll close a tab then want to see that page again, and it may be pretty far down in the history if I've had it open for a while, meanwhile opening other things, keeping that page for eventual attention
__
oh, and. sometimes I notice & dislike how my blog posts run into each other - the label info for the above post appears closer to the previous post below it.
occurs to me that this is bcs I d n use titles.
~ I used to not like the font in my mucked up html, but that's not a problem now right. now, the titles are links. and ~ I don't want the extra post link of the title there? yeah I guess my eye goes to links and don't want every post to have that big link to itself which I don't need catching my attention.
anyway, I tried putting a hyphen as title and that works well.
separates the posts appropriately. and is discreet enough on page not to visually distract me.
probably not worth going thru and putting hyphens as titles on all posts. ! no not worth going all through. just add a hyphen as title when looking at sth and distracted by the spacing.
and on all new posts?
well, at least on ones I want distinguished fr above & below.
-
British Isles (terminology) - Wkp:
An Euler diagram clarifying the terminology. ██ Geographic-only locations.██ Political entities (may also be geographic terms).
UK comprises GreatBritain & NorthernIreland.
GreatBritain comprises England, Wales (what is represented by the circle containing just these 2? shld that circle be there, Euler?), and Scotland.
GreatBritain is in red, meaning only a geographic term. so, I suppose it is more correct to say UK as the country when mailing.
it is more clearly appropriate that Ireland (as a name for the whole island, comprising NorthernIreland as well as the political entity Ireland) be red.
I was looking up ... Stryd Fawr, Harlech, Gwynned, Cymru
to see what was what of the elements in this address
and I learned:
Cymru = Wales (in Welsh)
in which Gwynned is a 'principal area' in which Harlech is a town on the seaside...
no ready definition of Stryd Fawr - perhaps a street?
The Llyn Travel Guide: Stryd Fawr is used instead of High Street
An Euler diagram clarifying the terminology. ██ Geographic-only locations.██ Political entities (may also be geographic terms).
UK comprises GreatBritain & NorthernIreland.
GreatBritain comprises England, Wales (what is represented by the circle containing just these 2? shld that circle be there, Euler?), and Scotland.
GreatBritain is in red, meaning only a geographic term. so, I suppose it is more correct to say UK as the country when mailing.
it is more clearly appropriate that Ireland (as a name for the whole island, comprising NorthernIreland as well as the political entity Ireland) be red.
I was looking up ... Stryd Fawr, Harlech, Gwynned, Cymru
to see what was what of the elements in this address
and I learned:
Cymru = Wales (in Welsh)
in which Gwynned is a 'principal area' in which Harlech is a town on the seaside...
| Post town | HARLECH |
|---|---|
| Postcode district | LL46 |
| Principal area | Gwynedd |
|---|---|
| Ceremonial county | Gwynedd |
Constituent country | Wales |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
no ready definition of Stryd Fawr - perhaps a street?
The Llyn Travel Guide: Stryd Fawr is used instead of High Street
Mitch Hedberg - Wkp:
Hedberg was set apart from his stand-up comedy peers by many traits, including his unique pronunciations, his 'abrupt' style of punchline delivery, and an unusual stage presence. His jokes focused largely on wordplay, non-sequiturs, whimsy, and 'object' observations. His jokes rarely featured obscene material, although he would occasionally use a curse word as an exclamation.
Hedberg often performed with his head down and his long hair covering his face. It was not unusual for him to perform his entire routine with his back to the audience, or while lying on the floor.
rg said Who does he sound like? very distinct. and joe got it: Jimmy Johns commercial (wh I don't think I've heard). and turns out, that was him:
Hedberg could be heard as the voice of Jimmy John's radio advertisements during the months leading up to and after his death.
YouTube - Mitch Hedberg - 5 minutes special I laughed to tears near the end.
I ordered a chicken sandwich but I don't think the waitress understood me because she said How would you like your eggs? I tried to answer her anyhow, I said: Incubated. and then Raised. and then beheaded and plucked and cut up and Oh f--- this is going to take too long. I don't have time. Scrambled.
I think it's esp funny bcs his delivery, I love it. sort of an accent, sort of drugged out seeming? a drawling cadence.
YouTube - Mitch Hedberd - The Buoyancy of Citrus
I've got a oscillating fan at my house. The fan goes back in forth. It looks like the fan is saying Noo.
So I like to ask it questions that a fan would say no to.
say, Do you keep my hair in place?
Do you keep my documents in order?
Do you have three settings? Liar. My fan lied to me.
Hedberg was set apart from his stand-up comedy peers by many traits, including his unique pronunciations, his 'abrupt' style of punchline delivery, and an unusual stage presence. His jokes focused largely on wordplay, non-sequiturs, whimsy, and 'object' observations. His jokes rarely featured obscene material, although he would occasionally use a curse word as an exclamation.
Hedberg often performed with his head down and his long hair covering his face. It was not unusual for him to perform his entire routine with his back to the audience, or while lying on the floor.
rg said Who does he sound like? very distinct. and joe got it: Jimmy Johns commercial (wh I don't think I've heard). and turns out, that was him:
Hedberg could be heard as the voice of Jimmy John's radio advertisements during the months leading up to and after his death.
YouTube - Mitch Hedberg - 5 minutes special I laughed to tears near the end.
I ordered a chicken sandwich but I don't think the waitress understood me because she said How would you like your eggs? I tried to answer her anyhow, I said: Incubated. and then Raised. and then beheaded and plucked and cut up and Oh f--- this is going to take too long. I don't have time. Scrambled.
I think it's esp funny bcs his delivery, I love it. sort of an accent, sort of drugged out seeming? a drawling cadence.
YouTube - Mitch Hedberd - The Buoyancy of Citrus
I've got a oscillating fan at my house. The fan goes back in forth. It looks like the fan is saying Noo.
So I like to ask it questions that a fan would say no to.
say, Do you keep my hair in place?
Do you keep my documents in order?
Do you have three settings? Liar. My fan lied to me.
YouTube - Mitch Hedberg - On Letterman #2
I don't stay at the bed&breakfasts. I don't think I would.
'Cause I figure if you stay at a bed and breakfast, at the end of the day, you start to get hungry. Is that all you got around here? Then you need to direct me to a chair,lunch,dinner
I'm gonna open up a chain of chair,lunch,dinners
and put 'em right across the street from the bed&breakfasts.
say, C'mon over, about one.
Dogs are forever in the push-up position. hehehehe
...that joke is dumb, I'm aware of that.
I saw a commercial on tv, it said You can water your hard-to-reach plants with this product.
now who would make their plants hard to reach? that seems so very mean.
I know you need water, but I'm gonna make you hard to reach.
I will throw water at you. hopefully, they will invent a product before you shrivel & die.
I would like to have a product that was available for three easy payments and one complicated payment. We ain't gonna tell you which payment it is, but one of these payments is gonna be haaard.
I find that ducks' opinion of me is very much influenced over whether I have bread.
A duck loves bread but he does not have the capability to buy a loaf.
That's the biggest joke on the duck ever. like if I worked at a convenience store and a duck came in and grabbed a loaf of bread with his beak and walked out, I'd let him go. oh that's a nice smile.
you know the Pepperidge farm bread, that stuff is fancy, it's wrapped twice.
you open it and it still ain't open.
that's why I don't buy it, I don't need another step between me and toast.
YouTube - Mitch Hedberg- Movie Pot (just his voice, over a cartoon)
I got to smoke fake pot with Peter Framden. that's a cool story. it's as cool as smoking real pot with a guy that looks like Peter Framden. I done that waaay more.
now Peter Framden's a musical legend but I don't know his music
so when you meet a legend and you don't know his body of work,
you have to divert from that fact
hey Peter Framden do you like toast too?
you know I'm sick of following my dreams, man. I'm just gonna ask where they're going and hook up with 'em later.
YouTube - mitch hedberg and the ducks (voice over images)
I was in downtown Boise, Idaho and I saw a duck
and I knew the duck was lost 'cause ducks ain't s'posed to be downtown, there's nothing for 'em there.
so I went to a subway sandwich shop, said Let me have a bun. but she wouldn't sell me a bun, she said I had to have something on it, she said it's against regulations for subway to sell just the bun, I guess the two halves ain't s'posed to touch. so I said, Put some lettuce on it. which they did, said That'll be a dollar seventy-five, I said It's for duck. said Alright then it's Free.
See I did not know that.
Ducks eat for free at Subway.
Had I known that, I would have ordered a much larger sandwich. Let me have the steak fajita sandwich. But don't bother ringing it up, it's for a duck. There are six ducks out there and they all want Sun Chips!
YouTube - Mitch Hedberg - Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist
you know on a traffic light green means go and yellow means yield.
but on a banana it's just the opposite. hehehehee
yellow means, hold on... and green means, go ahead...
and red means, where'd you get that banana...
I don't stay at the bed&breakfasts. I don't think I would.
'Cause I figure if you stay at a bed and breakfast, at the end of the day, you start to get hungry. Is that all you got around here? Then you need to direct me to a chair,lunch,dinner
I'm gonna open up a chain of chair,lunch,dinners
and put 'em right across the street from the bed&breakfasts.
say, C'mon over, about one.
Dogs are forever in the push-up position. hehehehe
...that joke is dumb, I'm aware of that.
I saw a commercial on tv, it said You can water your hard-to-reach plants with this product.
now who would make their plants hard to reach? that seems so very mean.
I know you need water, but I'm gonna make you hard to reach.
I will throw water at you. hopefully, they will invent a product before you shrivel & die.
I would like to have a product that was available for three easy payments and one complicated payment. We ain't gonna tell you which payment it is, but one of these payments is gonna be haaard.
I find that ducks' opinion of me is very much influenced over whether I have bread.
A duck loves bread but he does not have the capability to buy a loaf.
That's the biggest joke on the duck ever. like if I worked at a convenience store and a duck came in and grabbed a loaf of bread with his beak and walked out, I'd let him go. oh that's a nice smile.
you know the Pepperidge farm bread, that stuff is fancy, it's wrapped twice.
you open it and it still ain't open.
that's why I don't buy it, I don't need another step between me and toast.
YouTube - Mitch Hedberg- Movie Pot (just his voice, over a cartoon)
I got to smoke fake pot with Peter Framden. that's a cool story. it's as cool as smoking real pot with a guy that looks like Peter Framden. I done that waaay more.
now Peter Framden's a musical legend but I don't know his music
so when you meet a legend and you don't know his body of work,
you have to divert from that fact
hey Peter Framden do you like toast too?
you know I'm sick of following my dreams, man. I'm just gonna ask where they're going and hook up with 'em later.
YouTube - mitch hedberg and the ducks (voice over images)
I was in downtown Boise, Idaho and I saw a duck
and I knew the duck was lost 'cause ducks ain't s'posed to be downtown, there's nothing for 'em there.
so I went to a subway sandwich shop, said Let me have a bun. but she wouldn't sell me a bun, she said I had to have something on it, she said it's against regulations for subway to sell just the bun, I guess the two halves ain't s'posed to touch. so I said, Put some lettuce on it. which they did, said That'll be a dollar seventy-five, I said It's for duck. said Alright then it's Free.
See I did not know that.
Ducks eat for free at Subway.
Had I known that, I would have ordered a much larger sandwich. Let me have the steak fajita sandwich. But don't bother ringing it up, it's for a duck. There are six ducks out there and they all want Sun Chips!
YouTube - Mitch Hedberg - Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist
you know on a traffic light green means go and yellow means yield.
but on a banana it's just the opposite. hehehehee
yellow means, hold on... and green means, go ahead...
and red means, where'd you get that banana...
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Arrow In The Head's movie review of When Strangers Appear: Radha Mitchell/Beth, Barry Watson/Jack, Josh Lucas/Peter:
Australian babe Radha Mitchell (Beth) still looks like Charlize Theron and even though her American accent was on and off, her intensity made up for it. Barry Watson (Jack) impressed the shite out of me. Knowing him from crud like '7th Heaven' (I loathe that show) and more crud like “Teaching Mrs. Tingle”, it was a delight to see him come through with this edgy role. Josh Lucas (Peter) made me say “WHO IS THAT GUY?”. The dude’s got charisma up the wazoo and showcased finely tuned acting chops here. Remember that guy; I predict big things for him.
I relished how Reynolds managed to make a spacious setting feel claustrophobic due to the limited location and characters. Even though there was so much vast wasteland around, I always felt like the heroine never had a safe place to run or hide.
I can’t remember the last time a film made me change my mind so many times in regards to what the hell was going down and who the hell the villain was in the house.
The flick sucked me in from frame one and took me on a loop-the-loop ride that kept me guessing. I’m rarely put on shaky ground when it comes to a film but this baby pulled it off. Tag to that slick directing and engaging acting (that Josh Lucas dude rocked the house!) and you get a tasty breakfast.
Australian babe Radha Mitchell (Beth) still looks like Charlize Theron and even though her American accent was on and off, her intensity made up for it. Barry Watson (Jack) impressed the shite out of me. Knowing him from crud like '7th Heaven' (I loathe that show) and more crud like “Teaching Mrs. Tingle”, it was a delight to see him come through with this edgy role. Josh Lucas (Peter) made me say “WHO IS THAT GUY?”. The dude’s got charisma up the wazoo and showcased finely tuned acting chops here. Remember that guy; I predict big things for him.
I relished how Reynolds managed to make a spacious setting feel claustrophobic due to the limited location and characters. Even though there was so much vast wasteland around, I always felt like the heroine never had a safe place to run or hide.
I can’t remember the last time a film made me change my mind so many times in regards to what the hell was going down and who the hell the villain was in the house.
The flick sucked me in from frame one and took me on a loop-the-loop ride that kept me guessing. I’m rarely put on shaky ground when it comes to a film but this baby pulled it off. Tag to that slick directing and engaging acting (that Josh Lucas dude rocked the house!) and you get a tasty breakfast.
When Strangers Appear (2001) - IMDb user comments:
--A lonely young woman named Beth (Aussie actress Rahda Mitchell from LOVE & OTHER CATASTROPHES, HIGH ART, and PITCH BLACK) lives in a small town in California with (literally) only five to six residents. She works days at a roadside diner and nights at a motel, both of which were left to her by her late father. A young drifter named Jack Barrett (Barry Watson of TV's 7TH HEAVEN) appears at the diner one day, a knife wound to the abdomen. He tells her that he is being chased, and, soon enough, three men (Josh Lucas, Jonathan Blick, Eryn Wilson), claiming to be surfers, show up (in a Volvo, of all cars). Jack, hiding in the kitchen, tells Beth that these are the men who are chasing him. Jack later collapses in the parking lot, and Beth decides to help him. She gives him a room at the motel, and later also gives the three surfers a room, two doors down. She soon befriends the main surfer, Peter (Lucas). Later that night, Beth takes Jack to a doctor friend of hers, Eric (Steven Ray), who can sew up Jack's wound. Meanwhile, outside, the three surfers wait outside the house in their car, silent. The next day, Eric won't answer his phone. What has happened to him? Beth finds medication in Jack's car. Who can Beth trust? The drifter Jack? The surfers? How about the local (and lone) cop Bryce (Kevin Anderson), whom Beth claims once raped her?
As far as low-budget films go, this one, written and directed by Scott Reynolds, is right on the money in most respects. There are several suspenseful scenes, from Jack hiding in the kitchen while the three surfers make small talk with Beth to Beth hiding in a gas station bathroom stall while the person who is hunting her stands outside the door, switchblade in hand. SPOILER: the best scene involves Jack and Beth hiding in the bathroom while the three surfers try to coax the two out, during which Deep Purple's "Hush" blares loudly on the jukebox.
The use of flashbacks is nice and adds suspense and, in a scene between Beth and Bryce, adds insight into the characters and their motivations. Every actor does their job with conviction, especially Mitchell, whose American accent is so dead-on I would've thought she was American if I hadn't already seen her in earlier films huh I heard an accent & liked it & wondered if Australian or NZ; Watson, who is slowly growing out of his 7TH HEAVEN persona; Anderson, as good here as he was in MILES FROM HOME; and Lucas, who keeps you guessing as to his identity until it is finally revealed. And, you wouldn't really know it unless you're familiar with the territory, but the entire film was filmed in Foxton, New Zealand! I'm from California, and I must say that the beautiful grasslands and coastline of Foxton subbed wonderfully for California, even up to the driftwood.
SPOILER: the ending at the gas station is photographed and shot beautifully with enough suspense to keep you guessing until the very end, but I could've done without the add-on after the credits. what happened there, in the 'epilogue' (also mentioned on boards)
decent sum.
--Stay for the duration of the credits for a nice tongue-in-cheek surprise.
--Stay tuned for the end credits, there's a set up for a possible sequel.
--set in Oregon say several so above probably wrong in taking it as Calif.
--builds to a crescendo, and smirks at you at the end.
is that what it does? I am ok with no answer to what was on the cd - in keeping w how little we know about who the people (including the girl) are.
but I am unsure about her lighting the cigarette.. (at a burning gas station, she's sure to die if she does not run, right?) I kind of like it, I think.
-- A lot of the discussion seems to be about the last two minutes of this film, which seems unfair, but actually makes sense because the ending, for me, is the main beauty of the film. The ending is perfect. This film is fast-paced, with constant turns and surprises, a real, classic thriller basically - and throughout the film there are long scenes where almost nothing happens, just suspense building up, and then it explodes in panic and headlong flight. This film is an attempt to make a thriller that doesn't have to prove itself, that doesn't need an excuse to exist, that simply just works on the basis of atmosphere and mood.
-- Intentionally and entirely claustrophobic, but set in the vast sprawl of the American off-interstate. It's a bit Hitchcockian. Told entirely from one person's point of view, giving you only a tiny bit more information than she knows.
It is like snapshot in time. You only get a hint of what has happened to the people in the story before it began. Enough only to give you a bit of insight into what they are doing and why. But not much. You hardly know the character's names because you don't need to. check.
There is no big twist to the ending or anything which is good as it would have been entirely inappropriate but the last 10 seconds with the cigarette is great. It would have been nice for me though if the film had ended with the bearded Gas Station attendant escaping with the disc and the girl dead, preserving the cyclical symmetry of the story.
I love the fact that you never find out what is on the disc. And that even though the people protecting it do not know either, they are put in a situation where they are (believably) willing to kill and die for it. If they don't know what is on it why should you? check.
--And then the moron goes in the gas station and grabs a cigarette and is about to light it, even though she's covered in gasoline. I don't think anyone is that retarded. Maybe there's some super-meaningful "oh she was trying to kill herself" deep thought-provoking meaning, but if there was, there was no way of telling, and if anyone thinks there was, you are a jackass who reads WAY too much into things. And then, magically at just the right moment, the sprinklers come on, once again MAGICALLY saving her. ah, she was even covered in gasoline, ok all the spraying was gas - someone else complained how it looked like water, I thought it was, not being any good at knowing what I am seeing or anything practical-obvious like that spraying liquid at a gas station is gas.
why did she drive the car into the gas station rather than away?
--here's a sequence towards the end when Beth has a chance to escape in a car, but instead of doing that which any normal human being would, she decides it will be best if she rammed her car into the cars of the bad guys which pretty much prevents her from ever having a chance of getting away. ok so there's not some practical reason (something I missed)? that's all I wanted to know.
--
--A lonely young woman named Beth (Aussie actress Rahda Mitchell from LOVE & OTHER CATASTROPHES, HIGH ART, and PITCH BLACK) lives in a small town in California with (literally) only five to six residents. She works days at a roadside diner and nights at a motel, both of which were left to her by her late father. A young drifter named Jack Barrett (Barry Watson of TV's 7TH HEAVEN) appears at the diner one day, a knife wound to the abdomen. He tells her that he is being chased, and, soon enough, three men (Josh Lucas, Jonathan Blick, Eryn Wilson), claiming to be surfers, show up (in a Volvo, of all cars). Jack, hiding in the kitchen, tells Beth that these are the men who are chasing him. Jack later collapses in the parking lot, and Beth decides to help him. She gives him a room at the motel, and later also gives the three surfers a room, two doors down. She soon befriends the main surfer, Peter (Lucas). Later that night, Beth takes Jack to a doctor friend of hers, Eric (Steven Ray), who can sew up Jack's wound. Meanwhile, outside, the three surfers wait outside the house in their car, silent. The next day, Eric won't answer his phone. What has happened to him? Beth finds medication in Jack's car. Who can Beth trust? The drifter Jack? The surfers? How about the local (and lone) cop Bryce (Kevin Anderson), whom Beth claims once raped her?
As far as low-budget films go, this one, written and directed by Scott Reynolds, is right on the money in most respects. There are several suspenseful scenes, from Jack hiding in the kitchen while the three surfers make small talk with Beth to Beth hiding in a gas station bathroom stall while the person who is hunting her stands outside the door, switchblade in hand. SPOILER: the best scene involves Jack and Beth hiding in the bathroom while the three surfers try to coax the two out, during which Deep Purple's "Hush" blares loudly on the jukebox.
The use of flashbacks is nice and adds suspense and, in a scene between Beth and Bryce, adds insight into the characters and their motivations. Every actor does their job with conviction, especially Mitchell, whose American accent is so dead-on I would've thought she was American if I hadn't already seen her in earlier films huh I heard an accent & liked it & wondered if Australian or NZ; Watson, who is slowly growing out of his 7TH HEAVEN persona; Anderson, as good here as he was in MILES FROM HOME; and Lucas, who keeps you guessing as to his identity until it is finally revealed. And, you wouldn't really know it unless you're familiar with the territory, but the entire film was filmed in Foxton, New Zealand! I'm from California, and I must say that the beautiful grasslands and coastline of Foxton subbed wonderfully for California, even up to the driftwood.
SPOILER: the ending at the gas station is photographed and shot beautifully with enough suspense to keep you guessing until the very end, but I could've done without the add-on after the credits. what happened there, in the 'epilogue' (also mentioned on boards)
decent sum.
--Stay for the duration of the credits for a nice tongue-in-cheek surprise.
--Stay tuned for the end credits, there's a set up for a possible sequel.
--set in Oregon say several so above probably wrong in taking it as Calif.
--builds to a crescendo, and smirks at you at the end.
is that what it does? I am ok with no answer to what was on the cd - in keeping w how little we know about who the people (including the girl) are.
but I am unsure about her lighting the cigarette.. (at a burning gas station, she's sure to die if she does not run, right?) I kind of like it, I think.
-- A lot of the discussion seems to be about the last two minutes of this film, which seems unfair, but actually makes sense because the ending, for me, is the main beauty of the film. The ending is perfect. This film is fast-paced, with constant turns and surprises, a real, classic thriller basically - and throughout the film there are long scenes where almost nothing happens, just suspense building up, and then it explodes in panic and headlong flight. This film is an attempt to make a thriller that doesn't have to prove itself, that doesn't need an excuse to exist, that simply just works on the basis of atmosphere and mood.
-- Intentionally and entirely claustrophobic, but set in the vast sprawl of the American off-interstate. It's a bit Hitchcockian. Told entirely from one person's point of view, giving you only a tiny bit more information than she knows.
It is like snapshot in time. You only get a hint of what has happened to the people in the story before it began. Enough only to give you a bit of insight into what they are doing and why. But not much. You hardly know the character's names because you don't need to. check.
There is no big twist to the ending or anything which is good as it would have been entirely inappropriate but the last 10 seconds with the cigarette is great. It would have been nice for me though if the film had ended with the bearded Gas Station attendant escaping with the disc and the girl dead, preserving the cyclical symmetry of the story.
I love the fact that you never find out what is on the disc. And that even though the people protecting it do not know either, they are put in a situation where they are (believably) willing to kill and die for it. If they don't know what is on it why should you? check.
--And then the moron goes in the gas station and grabs a cigarette and is about to light it, even though she's covered in gasoline. I don't think anyone is that retarded. Maybe there's some super-meaningful "oh she was trying to kill herself" deep thought-provoking meaning, but if there was, there was no way of telling, and if anyone thinks there was, you are a jackass who reads WAY too much into things. And then, magically at just the right moment, the sprinklers come on, once again MAGICALLY saving her. ah, she was even covered in gasoline, ok all the spraying was gas - someone else complained how it looked like water, I thought it was, not being any good at knowing what I am seeing or anything practical-obvious like that spraying liquid at a gas station is gas.
why did she drive the car into the gas station rather than away?
--here's a sequence towards the end when Beth has a chance to escape in a car, but instead of doing that which any normal human being would, she decides it will be best if she rammed her car into the cars of the bad guys which pretty much prevents her from ever having a chance of getting away. ok so there's not some practical reason (something I missed)? that's all I wanted to know.
--
Google Operating System - About: huh I like what he says here
Google Operating System is a blog about a company that started as a search engine and will become an online operating system, that stores and processes our documents, memories and desires.
I started this blog in October 2005 as an exercise. I've been following Google's evolutions for many years and I thought this is a good excuse to learn more about a company I like.
I didn't invent the concept of Google Operating System [kottke 2004], I just wanted to tell its story. The platform is already there, some pieces are already built, but Google's operating system will continue to amaze us in the years to come.
You'll find news, tips, secrets, analysis, written in a way I'd like to read them. But nobody writes them elsewhere.
that is a very fine reason for writing anything.
This blog was inspired by Philipp Lenssen's Google Blogoscoped, the best blog about Google, and still exists because of a surprisingly popular April Fool's Day joke [ gbrowser].
Ionut Alex. Chitu
GoogleOperatingSystem: Stylish New Design in Google Notebook
Google Operating System is a blog about a company that started as a search engine and will become an online operating system, that stores and processes our documents, memories and desires.
I started this blog in October 2005 as an exercise. I've been following Google's evolutions for many years and I thought this is a good excuse to learn more about a company I like.
I didn't invent the concept of Google Operating System [kottke 2004], I just wanted to tell its story. The platform is already there, some pieces are already built, but Google's operating system will continue to amaze us in the years to come.
You'll find news, tips, secrets, analysis, written in a way I'd like to read them. But nobody writes them elsewhere.
that is a very fine reason for writing anything.
This blog was inspired by Philipp Lenssen's Google Blogoscoped, the best blog about Google, and still exists because of a surprisingly popular April Fool's Day joke [ gbrowser].
Ionut Alex. Chitu
GoogleOperatingSystem: Stylish New Design in Google Notebook
Sunday, March 25, 2007
- Chase: "He likes crazy people. Likes the way they think." [#106 Socratic Method]
- Dr. Foreman: They think...badly. That's the definition of...crazy.
- Dr. Chase: They're not boring. He likes that. me too
I saw Juliette Lewis on an episode of Dharma & Greg, Saturday morning when I was up at 6amish. I dig her. Jenna Elfman is cool too. but I dig Juliette Lewis every time. I like watching her face and I like listening to her. that voice-looks aspect. she's got one I like.
esp in Hysterical Blindness.
Juliette Lewis b.1973. imdb bio: "Hysterical Blindness" was the centerpiece premiere at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival. "I've never seen this female perspective told before with such a true voice," says Lewis, who plays a single mother in "Hysterical Blindness." "It's raw, heartbreakingly honest and real."
so what other actresses do I happen to like watching and listening to?
I think of ... Jayne Brook b.1960 ...
Rachel Lewiston (5 episodes, 2006)("Boston Legal" 5 episodes 2006) really liked her in that role. and some guest spots elsewhere - greysanatomy, withoutatrace (where she turned out to be ~villianous - elsewhere her characters have been solidly likeable women )
similar to Jayne Brooke (to me) is Anne Ramsay who was on MadAboutYou as HelenHunt's crazyish sister Lisa. liked that character of course, but she was the jayne brooke type more on the recent episode of House, she was a successful photographer in her 40s and pregnant (so Cuddy got very involved in the case - and they operated on the baby while it was still partially in the womb - and a little hand reached out to touch House's arm and he paused - the
n said "Sorry, I just realized I forgot to tivo Alien." )
anyway she also seems intelligent and lovely. same age? huh indeed. also born 1960.
related in my mind a bit ... Melora Hardin - jan on the office, monk's wife (in flashbacks), like jayne brooke, also guested on BostonLegal - maybe that's part of why she seems like an actress in the same ~category (age? ~she's younger - b.1967). oh and guest role on gilmoregirls as therapist who emily tried to set up with chris and lorelai ended up talking to, sitting in back of her car. she was very nice.
I like her pretty well, she also seems solid,intelligent.
4/21 SAT just watched on dvd last 2 episodes of season 1 House, with Sela Ward. b. 1956. don't think I'd seen her before. she seemed to me very similar to Melora Hardin - a resemblance in facial features? maybe voice and manner.
on imdb others say she is resembled by jeanne tripplehorn (who to me seems different from these two - eg in Big Love - she seems ~ smaller maybe, not as solid?) and like ashley judd, wh is int - makes notice how pretty her face can be.
esp in Hysterical Blindness.
Juliette Lewis b.1973. imdb bio: "Hysterical Blindness" was the centerpiece premiere at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival. "I've never seen this female perspective told before with such a true voice," says Lewis, who plays a single mother in "Hysterical Blindness." "It's raw, heartbreakingly honest and real."so what other actresses do I happen to like watching and listening to?
I think of ... Jayne Brook b.1960 ...
Rachel Lewiston (5 episodes, 2006)("Boston Legal" 5 episodes 2006) really liked her in that role. and some guest spots elsewhere - greysanatomy, withoutatrace (where she turned out to be ~villianous - elsewhere her characters have been solidly likeable women )similar to Jayne Brooke (to me) is Anne Ramsay who was on MadAboutYou as HelenHunt's crazyish sister Lisa. liked that character of course, but she was the jayne brooke type more on the recent episode of House, she was a successful photographer in her 40s and pregnant (so Cuddy got very involved in the case - and they operated on the baby while it was still partially in the womb - and a little hand reached out to touch House's arm and he paused - the
n said "Sorry, I just realized I forgot to tivo Alien." )anyway she also seems intelligent and lovely. same age? huh indeed. also born 1960.
related in my mind a bit ... Melora Hardin - jan on the office, monk's wife (in flashbacks), like jayne brooke, also guested on BostonLegal - maybe that's part of why she seems like an actress in the same ~category (age? ~she's younger - b.1967). oh and guest role on gilmoregirls as therapist who emily tried to set up with chris and lorelai ended up talking to, sitting in back of her car. she was very nice.
I like her pretty well, she also seems solid,intelligent.
4/21 SAT just watched on dvd last 2 episodes of season 1 House, with Sela Ward. b. 1956. don't think I'd seen her before. she seemed to me very similar to Melora Hardin - a resemblance in facial features? maybe voice and manner.
on imdb others say she is resembled by jeanne tripplehorn (who to me seems different from these two - eg in Big Love - she seems ~ smaller maybe, not as solid?) and like ashley judd, wh is int - makes notice how pretty her face can be.
Jason Katims, head writer and executive producer for 'Friday Night Lights' - Chicago Tribune | The Watcher
“Basically the style of shooting and the way we produce it, that was started on the pilot by Pete Berg, and my sense from when I was brought on to run the show after the pilot, was that if the show didn’t have the same sense of authenticity and if it didn’t have the same sense of reality -- of feeling like you’re being dropped down in this place and observing it – if it didn’t have that, it wouldn’t be the show.
the feeling that you’re there
"...the visual style, and that the characters themselves – we endeavor to make them feel like real people. ..that’s always the kind of thing I’ve aspired to do as a writer, the kinds of people I’ve wanted to observe.
“There’s something interesting in terms about how the way we produce relates to the way we write stories. Because we haven’t built a single set, and everything is in a real place, we as writers are put in a position where we’re very free to explore. We can go into Tyra’s house as soon as we can go into the Coach’s house, or Saracen’s house, or Landry’s house for that matter. cool
and in intrvw w Aimee Teegarden [Julie] she says there are three cameras shooting so it's not take after take.
sounds like a dream of acting...
and of editing:
“The other part of the process that nobody’s really talking about that’s also very unique is the editing process. Because we’re shooting three cameras and we shoot all the rehearsals, and because of the way it’s shot, the editors are getting 3-4 hours of dailies every day. It is an incredibly challenging process, but an incredibly creative process. ah right the editors have much more to go through and assemble fr. awesome. I wanna be an editor for this show.
Our editors just won the ACE award for the pilot. Jeff Reiner, our director/producer, is a former editor. And editing, to me, is the closest thing in this business to writing. To me, it is writing. So in the editing rooms, you’re dealing with a lot of raw footage, scenes are being assembled and put together and rebuilt in the editing room as well.
And we have no cutting patterns. You want to cut to that guy over there? The editor can never say, ‘We can’t cut to him because we don’t have the right matching shot.’ It doesn’t matter. Nothing matches. You can cut to anywhere from any angle at any time. cool.
An interview with NBC entertainment president Kevin Reilly on the show's creative process and its chances for renewal.
An interview with co-executive producer Jeffrey Reiner, who's directed many episodes of the show.
A story on the show's innovative creative process. w photos
in Friday Night Lights | [an extravaganza] - I visited the show's Austin set a few weeks ago, and here's all the coverage I was able to wring out of that visit. great, fr Maureen Ryan tv critic of ChicagoTrib. great great.
“Basically the style of shooting and the way we produce it, that was started on the pilot by Pete Berg, and my sense from when I was brought on to run the show after the pilot, was that if the show didn’t have the same sense of authenticity and if it didn’t have the same sense of reality -- of feeling like you’re being dropped down in this place and observing it – if it didn’t have that, it wouldn’t be the show.
the feeling that you’re there
"...the visual style, and that the characters themselves – we endeavor to make them feel like real people. ..that’s always the kind of thing I’ve aspired to do as a writer, the kinds of people I’ve wanted to observe.
“There’s something interesting in terms about how the way we produce relates to the way we write stories. Because we haven’t built a single set, and everything is in a real place, we as writers are put in a position where we’re very free to explore. We can go into Tyra’s house as soon as we can go into the Coach’s house, or Saracen’s house, or Landry’s house for that matter. cool
and in intrvw w Aimee Teegarden [Julie] she says there are three cameras shooting so it's not take after take.
sounds like a dream of acting...
and of editing:
“The other part of the process that nobody’s really talking about that’s also very unique is the editing process. Because we’re shooting three cameras and we shoot all the rehearsals, and because of the way it’s shot, the editors are getting 3-4 hours of dailies every day. It is an incredibly challenging process, but an incredibly creative process. ah right the editors have much more to go through and assemble fr. awesome. I wanna be an editor for this show.
Our editors just won the ACE award for the pilot. Jeff Reiner, our director/producer, is a former editor. And editing, to me, is the closest thing in this business to writing. To me, it is writing. So in the editing rooms, you’re dealing with a lot of raw footage, scenes are being assembled and put together and rebuilt in the editing room as well.
And we have no cutting patterns. You want to cut to that guy over there? The editor can never say, ‘We can’t cut to him because we don’t have the right matching shot.’ It doesn’t matter. Nothing matches. You can cut to anywhere from any angle at any time. cool.
“I say this to say there is a fluidity and something new and different in every stage of the game. ("If you break it down, it still is written, it still is a show, there are five acts, there’s a teaser there’s an end and all that stuff. But we’re able to let things breathe a little bit more.)
a fluidity as you go from scene to scene. And that fluidity comes from a combination of where the cameras are, the way the cameras are moving, the way the cutting sequence works, and what the actors are saying in that space.
“Again, it goes back to Pete Berg – this was his style that we kind of have taken and adapted in a sense for series television. It’s what makes the show the show.
And it has to do with everybody. For example, the camera operators. I was talking to one of our camera operators. And she was saying that after this she doesn’t want to do it any more. That’s partly because she has other things she wants to do with her life, partially because she’ll never have another gig like this. This is a show where a camera operator is given their marching orders and then they go find their own shots. They find it. The director doesn’t tell every camera [every shot]. It’s impossible.
“When you’re shooting these football games and have five, six, seven cameras going at once, a director can’t micromanage that, nor would you want to. So there’s something about that, the same thing goes for the director of photography, the production designer, so many people have a certain freedom.
oh, I am in love with this, that this is going on out there (and resulting in a tv show than wh no better?) and thank you maureen ryan for this coverage I have not read elsewh (though maybe it's been being reported, talked about? just all I've read are reviews fr the debut of the show) about the way the show is made - wh seems like a big story -
“There has been, more so than any show that I’ve ever worked on, I feel like there has been a sort of unity and understanding of what the show is. And a belief in the show despite not such great ratings. There’s belief in the show from [NBC Universal CEO] Jeff Zucker on down. [NBC head] Kevin Reilly -- a few weeks after we premiered and the numbers were not that great, Kevin Reilly wrote an open letter to the cast and crew of the show, basically saying how much he loves the show and how proud he is of it and to keep doing what we’re doing. It’s really … it’s the opposite of what you’d expect. What you would expect is, as much as people might be enthusiastic about a show, if it premiered to disappointing ratings, it wouldn’t be – how do we find the audience for this show, but ‘what’s wrong with this show?’
...so, to keep reading..An interview with NBC entertainment president Kevin Reilly on the show's creative process and its chances for renewal.
An interview with co-executive producer Jeffrey Reiner, who's directed many episodes of the show.
A story on the show's innovative creative process. w photos
in Friday Night Lights | [an extravaganza] - I visited the show's Austin set a few weeks ago, and here's all the coverage I was able to wring out of that visit. great, fr Maureen Ryan tv critic of ChicagoTrib. great great.
Saturday, March 24, 2007
Coyote Ugly Movie, Review, Cast for Coyote Ugly | TVGuide.com: Mix equal parts FLASHDANCE and COCKTAIL, add a shot of do-me feminism and shake lasciviously: That's the recipe for this meretricious excuse for an inspirational tale, whose bottom line is squeezed into skintight pants. Coyote Ugly is a Manhattan bar owned by Lil (Maria Bello cool lovely lady) and staffed by breathtaking, half-clad beauties who spend as much time shaking their bon-bons on the bar as they do pouring drinks. Aspiring songwriter Violet Sanford (Piper Perabo pretty - who does she remind me of? esp when laughing, and her girly voice aaah I think I got it she's in the jennifergarner/natalieportman style), a starry-eyed, small-town girl trying to make it in the big bad city, is almost ready to crawl home to Jersey when she spots coyotes Zoe (Tyra Banks ! skinny here. seems appear much less than the others though), Rachel (Bridget Moynahan wow very pretty) and Cammie (Izabella Miko reminds me of Mena Suvari -edie in six feet under & fr amer beauty) in a diner. She overhears them say that they're raking in big bucks (the movie never quite makes it clear how, but why sweat the details? well tips I guess?); in fact, Zoe has saved enough to quit and go to law school oh that's why she's not around. Violet has stage fright — inherited from her late mom, who abandoned her showbiz dreams to raise a family — but she sweet-talks Lil into giving her a chance, and soon she's bumping and grinding with the best of them. But can Violet also nurture her relationship with sensitive Kevin (Adam Garcia mmm accent - char is fr Australia huh), win the respect of her blue-collar dad (John Goodman cool huh) and realize her dream of writing pop pabulum heh yeah her singing (pretending) is the least good part though the songs are mildly catchy professionally? The bar scenes are the only reason to sit through this jello shot of a movie: They're sexy, sleazy (in a PG-13 kind of way) and driven by a smoking soundtrack. yes yes I agree. Just don't hurt yourself trying to figure out how the syrupy message about respecting yourself and hanging on to your ideals squares up with the relentless jiggle show.
Coyote Ugly (2000) - imdb
- plot summary
-Aspiring songwriter Violet Sanford, after getting a job at a women-run NYC bar that teases its male patrons
- as a 'coyote' - a bar dancing / sex kitten / waitress
- featuring a a spectacular soundtrack
is it notable I've not heard at all of this movie?
only 5.3 rating on imdb but and 354 comments in total
and wow that last sene was fun. LeAnn Rimes up on the bar singing
(performer: "The Right Kind Of Wrong", "Please Remember", "But I Do Love You", "Can't Fight The Moonlight")
and then John Goodman up there dancing
Coyote Ugly (film) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The film's soundtrack features Violet's four songs from the movie, performed by LeAnn Rimes, as well as several other songs not exclusive to the film. It achieved gold status within one month of its release on August 1, 2000 and platinum status by early November. The only single released from the album, LeAnn Rimes' "Can't Fight the Moonlight", also achieved gold status, became a nearly instant hit on the radio charts and peaked at #11 on The Billboard Hot 100.A second soundtrack, More Music from Coyote Ugly, with more songs that appeared in the film and remixes of two of Rimes' songs, followed in 2003.
'All She Wants To Do Is Dance' by Don Henley
'Need You Tonight' by INXS
'The Devil Went Down to Georgia' by The Charlie Daniels Band
'It Takes Two' by Rob Base and DJ E-Z Rock
'Love Machine' by The Miracles
movie based on an article, The Muse of the Coyote Ugly Saloon, in GQ by Elizabeth Gilbert who worked as a bartender in East Village. The bar which opened in 1993 quickly became a favorite of the Lower Eastside hipsters. Lill Lovell, the owner, founded the bar in order to drive her former employer across the street at The Village Idiot out of business. She did.
Although Piper Perabo was able to sing for her character, it was decided that LeAnn Rimes would provide Violet's singing voice, albeit with a deliberate deviation from her natural vocal range. This means that during the LeAnn's cameo in the movie, she is effectively duetting with herself.
Coyote Ugly (2000) - imdb
- plot summary
-Aspiring songwriter Violet Sanford, after getting a job at a women-run NYC bar that teases its male patrons
- as a 'coyote' - a bar dancing / sex kitten / waitress
- featuring a a spectacular soundtrack
is it notable I've not heard at all of this movie?
only 5.3 rating on imdb but and 354 comments in total
and wow that last sene was fun. LeAnn Rimes up on the bar singing
(performer: "The Right Kind Of Wrong", "Please Remember", "But I Do Love You", "Can't Fight The Moonlight")
and then John Goodman up there dancing
Coyote Ugly (film) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The film's soundtrack features Violet's four songs from the movie, performed by LeAnn Rimes, as well as several other songs not exclusive to the film. It achieved gold status within one month of its release on August 1, 2000 and platinum status by early November. The only single released from the album, LeAnn Rimes' "Can't Fight the Moonlight", also achieved gold status, became a nearly instant hit on the radio charts and peaked at #11 on The Billboard Hot 100.A second soundtrack, More Music from Coyote Ugly, with more songs that appeared in the film and remixes of two of Rimes' songs, followed in 2003.
'All She Wants To Do Is Dance' by Don Henley
'Need You Tonight' by INXS
'The Devil Went Down to Georgia' by The Charlie Daniels Band
'It Takes Two' by Rob Base and DJ E-Z Rock
'Love Machine' by The Miracles
movie based on an article, The Muse of the Coyote Ugly Saloon, in GQ by Elizabeth Gilbert who worked as a bartender in East Village. The bar which opened in 1993 quickly became a favorite of the Lower Eastside hipsters. Lill Lovell, the owner, founded the bar in order to drive her former employer across the street at The Village Idiot out of business. She did.
Although Piper Perabo was able to sing for her character, it was decided that LeAnn Rimes would provide Violet's singing voice, albeit with a deliberate deviation from her natural vocal range. This means that during the LeAnn's cameo in the movie, she is effectively duetting with herself.
Kate Winslet :: Fametracker :: The Fame Audit:
• So very pretty mmm and a few people told me (after Titanic) that looked like me, hee. and I felt like I was watching so familiar a face in Heavenly Creatures .
• Really knows how to dress for an awards show -- which is a good thing, since she gets nominated all the damn time
• And not only gets nominated a lot, but in record-setting circumstances: was, first, the youngest actress to be twice nominated for Oscars; and, second, played the younger character both times that two actors were nominated for playing the same character, younger and older, in the same film
huh, int, which? ...
Kate Winslet - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: five-time Oscar nominee. At the age of 22, she broke the record for the youngest person to receive two Oscar nominations, and each of her subsequent nominations has broken a further record: the youngest person to receive three, four, and five nominations. wow.
She has received two nominations for playing younger versions of another nominee in the same film - the only two instances of different actors playing the same role in the same film both being nominated. She played the younger versions of nominees Gloria Stuart in Titanic and Judi Dench in Iris.
Her Academy Award nominations to date are as follows:* 1995 - Nominated - Best Actress in a Supporting Role - Sense and Sensibility
* 1997 - Nominated - Best Actress in a Leading Role - Titanic
* 2001 - Nominated - Best Actress in a Supporting Role - Iris
* 2004 - Nominated - Best Actress in a Leading Role - Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
* 2006 - Nominated - Best Actress in a Leading Role - Little Children age 31
got to this via reading fametracker re kirsten dunst - who gets unfavorably compared to Winslet - Fametracker :: The Fame Audit :: Renee Zellweger: Kirsten Dunst? Reese Witherspoon? Katie Holmes? They're each attractive in a kind of perky but not especially stunning way (the difference between a Katie Holmes and an Angelina Jolie).
bcs watching BringItOn, wh is pretty good... Fametracker :: Celebrity Vs. Thing: But ultimately, we could have summed up the case for Kirsten Dunst in three little words: Bring. It. On. Girlfriend bought herself a lifetime of credit with that one.
• So very pretty mmm and a few people told me (after Titanic) that looked like me, hee. and I felt like I was watching so familiar a face in Heavenly Creatures .
• Really knows how to dress for an awards show -- which is a good thing, since she gets nominated all the damn time
• And not only gets nominated a lot, but in record-setting circumstances: was, first, the youngest actress to be twice nominated for Oscars; and, second, played the younger character both times that two actors were nominated for playing the same character, younger and older, in the same film
huh, int, which? ...
Kate Winslet - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: five-time Oscar nominee. At the age of 22, she broke the record for the youngest person to receive two Oscar nominations, and each of her subsequent nominations has broken a further record: the youngest person to receive three, four, and five nominations. wow.
She has received two nominations for playing younger versions of another nominee in the same film - the only two instances of different actors playing the same role in the same film both being nominated. She played the younger versions of nominees Gloria Stuart in Titanic and Judi Dench in Iris.
Her Academy Award nominations to date are as follows:* 1995 - Nominated - Best Actress in a Supporting Role - Sense and Sensibility
* 1997 - Nominated - Best Actress in a Leading Role - Titanic
* 2001 - Nominated - Best Actress in a Supporting Role - Iris
* 2004 - Nominated - Best Actress in a Leading Role - Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
* 2006 - Nominated - Best Actress in a Leading Role - Little Children age 31
got to this via reading fametracker re kirsten dunst - who gets unfavorably compared to Winslet - Fametracker :: The Fame Audit :: Renee Zellweger: Kirsten Dunst? Reese Witherspoon? Katie Holmes? They're each attractive in a kind of perky but not especially stunning way (the difference between a Katie Holmes and an Angelina Jolie).
bcs watching BringItOn, wh is pretty good... Fametracker :: Celebrity Vs. Thing: But ultimately, we could have summed up the case for Kirsten Dunst in three little words: Bring. It. On. Girlfriend bought herself a lifetime of credit with that one.
wee maro. & lg.
Television Without Pity Extended Families p2 : The Taylors are driving home, Coach blabbing on at Tami about something that he was right about and she was wrong about and she never said she was sorry. I believe I have mentioned this before, but friends, this is what marriage is all about: keeping score. Another thing marriage is about: being able to good-naturedly ignore one another, which Tami does as she interrupts her husband to ask, 'What is that on our front porch? It's moving!
...It's Buddy Garrity. Honey! Buddy Garrity is on our porch.
I love how Coach says "I see it, I see it." it.
p5 ..Jason's tattoo.. Lyla exclaims that he's now permanently messed up. Jason reminds her that he was pretty permanently messed up before and sort of chuckles, telling her it isn't a big deal. She looks at him intently and says, "It kind of is." Uh, except it isn't. She asks what it says, and he explains the whole patchouli mess to her. She seems pretty satisfied with the explanation that it says "peace" in Sanskrit, but then remarks that "It's just not you." Jason counters with A Major Theme: "Well, it is now."
last sentence well done.
...It's Buddy Garrity. Honey! Buddy Garrity is on our porch.
I love how Coach says "I see it, I see it." it.
p5 ..Jason's tattoo.. Lyla exclaims that he's now permanently messed up. Jason reminds her that he was pretty permanently messed up before and sort of chuckles, telling her it isn't a big deal. She looks at him intently and says, "It kind of is." Uh, except it isn't. She asks what it says, and he explains the whole patchouli mess to her. She seems pretty satisfied with the explanation that it says "peace" in Sanskrit, but then remarks that "It's just not you." Jason counters with A Major Theme: "Well, it is now."
last sentence well done.
Television Without Pity I Think We Should Have Sex p6:
Austin bar. Despite cranky Austin ex-pat opinion to the contrary, I'm pretty sure they are in Casino El Camino. Though it's hard to tell since that bar is usually only lit by the light of one firefly butt, while the one on screen looks like it's at least got 45 watts working for it. In any case, lots of novelty piercings in the house. so they really shot this in Austin, and it seems pretty true to life huh, Herc saying Austin is party central.
ah right, huh it's all shot in Austin Chicago Tribune | The Watcher - A 'Friday Night Lights' extravaganza: I visited the show's Austin set a few weeks ago, and here's all the coverage I was able to wring out of that visit (cool)
Herc wheels up and spits (literally), 'Hey! After School Special!' and then tells Jason that the bar has the best jukebox in the city, which means...it's time for a dance party. And then, Jason does something that quite possibly might make him dead to me forever. He reacts to this proposition snarkily. Listen, pal, if you aren't part of the dance party solution, you are part of the world's problem.
They go to her tattoo shop, True Blue. Cut to Jason flipping through some of the designs. He asks what one is, and Susan answers, "That's the Chinese symbol for 'wealth.' It's also the Chinese symbol for 'douche.'" Heh. My thoughts exactly. /huh meaning people who get the tattoo are - ? yeah probably.
Austin bar. Despite cranky Austin ex-pat opinion to the contrary, I'm pretty sure they are in Casino El Camino. Though it's hard to tell since that bar is usually only lit by the light of one firefly butt, while the one on screen looks like it's at least got 45 watts working for it. In any case, lots of novelty piercings in the house. so they really shot this in Austin, and it seems pretty true to life huh, Herc saying Austin is party central.
ah right, huh it's all shot in Austin Chicago Tribune | The Watcher - A 'Friday Night Lights' extravaganza: I visited the show's Austin set a few weeks ago, and here's all the coverage I was able to wring out of that visit (cool)
Herc wheels up and spits (literally), 'Hey! After School Special!' and then tells Jason that the bar has the best jukebox in the city, which means...it's time for a dance party. And then, Jason does something that quite possibly might make him dead to me forever. He reacts to this proposition snarkily. Listen, pal, if you aren't part of the dance party solution, you are part of the world's problem.
They go to her tattoo shop, True Blue. Cut to Jason flipping through some of the designs. He asks what one is, and Susan answers, "That's the Chinese symbol for 'wealth.' It's also the Chinese symbol for 'douche.'" Heh. My thoughts exactly. /huh meaning people who get the tattoo are - ? yeah probably.
TWoP FriNiLights - I Think We Should Have Sex -p3: In the drugstore, Landry and Matt stand before the condoms. Which are all labeled 'Inconceivable.' Ha! Is this why Texas is full of barefoot and pregnant types? Because they done got different style condoms down thar? A kind that one can't mentally pronounce with out saying it in a Wallace Shawn voice./hehee
Shot of Tami Taylor around the corner trying on some sunglasses. Yoips! She catches a glimpse of the boys, and we hear Matt begging Landry to just let him pick a pack before he dies of embarrassment. They do and walk off, Tami walks over to where they were and confirms that they were indeed in front of the enormous condom display.
At home, Tami sits with her hand marking a place in a book, but she's staring off into space, gazing at the pictures of little girl Julie that line the mantel. Julie comes home and starts heading down the hallway to her room. Tami jumps up and launches right into it. The camera is in front of Julie so we see the girl's face, her mother calling after her from behind: "I saw Matt Saracen buying condoms today." Julie stops short, her face stunned. She tries to play dumb, but Tami tells her that he was either buying them for her or for somebody else. "Think you'd better come talk to me." Julie turns toward her mother and just says "Okay" and shrugs.
Tami asks if they are having sex. Julie says no, then pauses and looks down while she says, "We're thinking about it." Tami nods and nods and repeats "You're thinking about it." Her face doesn't give much away right now, but as she starts asking her daughter Sex Ed 101 questions -- "Are you thinking about pregnancy? Are you thinking about sexually transmitted diseases?" Julie is all "Um, hello? Like that is why he was buying condoms?" Tami scrambles a bit as she snarks at her daughter for thinking that buying condoms makes you ready 'to make love.' Julie can't suppress an embarrassed grin at the usage and she repeats with horror, 'Making love?' aaaaand start Emmy clip now ['WORD.' -- Joe R] :
Connie Britton raises her voice in absolute parental abandon, it sounds loud and warbly and absolutely terrified, 'Don't you smirk at me, I am VERY. UPSET. I start crying here. You are NOT allowed to have sex! You are FIFTEEN years old!' Julie looks down again and wonders what the big deal is. 'It's just one body part going into another.' Tami, calmed a bit after her outburst, tells her that it isn't just one body part going into another, and Julie saying that it is 'makes me real clear that you are not ready for this. And I need you to be able to hear that. I need you to be able to hear me say that to you.' Julie tells her mother that she's listening, which, frankly, for a fifteen-year-old to say that to her mother at ALL, let alone in the context of a sex talk, pretty much means that Tami apparently possesses the golden key of wisdom. Tami continues, giving an honest account of what is really at stake for a smart girl who most likely already has the whole 'protection' angle covered: "You can be hurt, and you can be degraded. You can become hard, and cynical, and I don't want that to happen to you." Her voice cracks as she lists these possibilities. Tami tells her daughter that sex is special and is for people who are in love, "and you can wait." Long pause. Tami tells Julie that she wants her to be able to talk to her about it and Julie says, "Okay, we're talking, right?" Long pause. Tami brings her hands to her face, smiles ruefully, and then approaches her daughter and hugs her. The camera pans in on Julie's fingers slightly yeah caressing her mother's side as she hugs her back. That detail is gorgeous. On one hand, it's childlike, the little baby caressing a comfortable figure; on the other, it's totally adult-like, the grown child comforting a hurting parent.
I may even have already posted that part of recap. no looks like I just posted fr the recaplet:
Tami sees them buying condoms and then goes home to wait for Julie to come home and then confronts her daughter and somehow finds a way to toe the line between saying "NO WAY IN HELL, MISSY" and also "I love you, and I want you to be able to talk to me about this" and if I sound breathless it's because it was all perfect.
but I just saw the scene again (Saturday marathon on Bravo) and that scene is so good.
and Tim. found the camera his father took - "I defended you." - "Get out." and his father! says "Watch how easy this is" (!) before he grabs his keys and walks out. what a.
so, the end:
Drive-by Camera, grey Texas suburbs, shabby ranch houses go by one by one. Tim stops his truck and hops out with the camera in his hand. His face is all kinds of fucked up. Coach opens the door and immediately asks Tim what happened. the concern in his expression is moving. Tim just hands him the camera; Coach asks if he is okay, and Tim sort of simultaneously almost wells up in tears and nods "yes." oh- baby. Coach invites him inside, but Tim chokes out that he'll just see Coach at practice and walks back to his truck, Coach looking after him with concern in his eyes and in his hair.
Shot of Tami Taylor around the corner trying on some sunglasses. Yoips! She catches a glimpse of the boys, and we hear Matt begging Landry to just let him pick a pack before he dies of embarrassment. They do and walk off, Tami walks over to where they were and confirms that they were indeed in front of the enormous condom display.
At home, Tami sits with her hand marking a place in a book, but she's staring off into space, gazing at the pictures of little girl Julie that line the mantel. Julie comes home and starts heading down the hallway to her room. Tami jumps up and launches right into it. The camera is in front of Julie so we see the girl's face, her mother calling after her from behind: "I saw Matt Saracen buying condoms today." Julie stops short, her face stunned. She tries to play dumb, but Tami tells her that he was either buying them for her or for somebody else. "Think you'd better come talk to me." Julie turns toward her mother and just says "Okay" and shrugs.
Tami asks if they are having sex. Julie says no, then pauses and looks down while she says, "We're thinking about it." Tami nods and nods and repeats "You're thinking about it." Her face doesn't give much away right now, but as she starts asking her daughter Sex Ed 101 questions -- "Are you thinking about pregnancy? Are you thinking about sexually transmitted diseases?" Julie is all "Um, hello? Like that is why he was buying condoms?" Tami scrambles a bit as she snarks at her daughter for thinking that buying condoms makes you ready 'to make love.' Julie can't suppress an embarrassed grin at the usage and she repeats with horror, 'Making love?' aaaaand start Emmy clip now ['WORD.' -- Joe R] :
Connie Britton raises her voice in absolute parental abandon, it sounds loud and warbly and absolutely terrified, 'Don't you smirk at me, I am VERY. UPSET. I start crying here. You are NOT allowed to have sex! You are FIFTEEN years old!' Julie looks down again and wonders what the big deal is. 'It's just one body part going into another.' Tami, calmed a bit after her outburst, tells her that it isn't just one body part going into another, and Julie saying that it is 'makes me real clear that you are not ready for this. And I need you to be able to hear that. I need you to be able to hear me say that to you.' Julie tells her mother that she's listening, which, frankly, for a fifteen-year-old to say that to her mother at ALL, let alone in the context of a sex talk, pretty much means that Tami apparently possesses the golden key of wisdom. Tami continues, giving an honest account of what is really at stake for a smart girl who most likely already has the whole 'protection' angle covered: "You can be hurt, and you can be degraded. You can become hard, and cynical, and I don't want that to happen to you." Her voice cracks as she lists these possibilities. Tami tells her daughter that sex is special and is for people who are in love, "and you can wait." Long pause. Tami tells Julie that she wants her to be able to talk to her about it and Julie says, "Okay, we're talking, right?" Long pause. Tami brings her hands to her face, smiles ruefully, and then approaches her daughter and hugs her. The camera pans in on Julie's fingers slightly yeah caressing her mother's side as she hugs her back. That detail is gorgeous. On one hand, it's childlike, the little baby caressing a comfortable figure; on the other, it's totally adult-like, the grown child comforting a hurting parent.
I may even have already posted that part of recap. no looks like I just posted fr the recaplet:
Tami sees them buying condoms and then goes home to wait for Julie to come home and then confronts her daughter and somehow finds a way to toe the line between saying "NO WAY IN HELL, MISSY" and also "I love you, and I want you to be able to talk to me about this" and if I sound breathless it's because it was all perfect.
but I just saw the scene again (Saturday marathon on Bravo) and that scene is so good.
and Tim. found the camera his father took - "I defended you." - "Get out." and his father! says "Watch how easy this is" (!) before he grabs his keys and walks out. what a.
so, the end:
Drive-by Camera, grey Texas suburbs, shabby ranch houses go by one by one. Tim stops his truck and hops out with the camera in his hand. His face is all kinds of fucked up. Coach opens the door and immediately asks Tim what happened. the concern in his expression is moving. Tim just hands him the camera; Coach asks if he is okay, and Tim sort of simultaneously almost wells up in tears and nods "yes." oh- baby. Coach invites him inside, but Tim chokes out that he'll just see Coach at practice and walks back to his truck, Coach looking after him with concern in his eyes and in his hair.
James Spader - imdb - Biography - 'personal quotes'
("Why did he accept the lead in 'Sex, Lies & Videotape'?"): "I took the film because I was interested in doing that part. Looking at work as stepping stones is something I don't have any time or energy for. It seems a shame to look at your work as some sort of means to an end, because the end is death, you know? The means is the flesh and blood, so you'd better enjoy it. F--- the end."
"If I don't need the money, I don't work. I'm going to spend time with my family and friends, and I'm going to travel and read and listen to music and try to learn a little bit more about how to be a human being, as opposed to learning how to be somebody else."
"I've had a lazy career, sometimes one film a year, sometimes none. I'm walking around in the street and doing this other thing, living, that I'm much more interested in. I just do some acting on the side." - 2005
"Sometimes with people their work is the most important thing to them, and sometimes the work enables you to do other things that are more important to you. I probably am closer to that."
"You know, when you choose to make your living as an actor, it's all fine and good to look at it as some kind of artistic endeavor. At its best, it is that. But the fact is, most of the actors out there don't earn $3 million a picture and can't afford to take two years off between films and look for the right thing. Most of us are tradesmen. Acting for me, is a passion, but it's also a job, and I've always approached it as such. I have a certain manual-laborist view of acting. There's no shame in taking a film because you need some money. No shame in taking a film because you have always wanted to visit China. I was thinking about this last night as I was driving home. I started to go back through the different films I've done, and the television movies I've done and I started to think about why I chose them at that time. And I realized, every single film I've ever done I've taken because of the money. Every single one. I'm not ashamed to say that." - 1990.
"I played cops and robbers and pirates and all the rest when I was a kid, but I didn't want to grow up and be an actor and play cops and robbers and pirates. I wanted to grow up and be that, be cops and robbers and pirates." yeah
"Acting is a great way to make a living, especially when I consider what my alternatives were and probably still are. I mean, you are only making movies. It is a lot less pressure than being a surgeon; although it seemed like the only other thing that I was qualified for was manual labour."
"I drove a truck for a while for a meat packing plant. I shoveled manure at the Clarmont Riding Academy in New York. Mopped floors for a while. I uploaded railroad cars and trailers at a warehouse. I wasn't really qualified for anything else."
("Why did he accept the lead in 'Sex, Lies & Videotape'?"): "I took the film because I was interested in doing that part. Looking at work as stepping stones is something I don't have any time or energy for. It seems a shame to look at your work as some sort of means to an end, because the end is death, you know? The means is the flesh and blood, so you'd better enjoy it. F--- the end."
"If I don't need the money, I don't work. I'm going to spend time with my family and friends, and I'm going to travel and read and listen to music and try to learn a little bit more about how to be a human being, as opposed to learning how to be somebody else."
"I've had a lazy career, sometimes one film a year, sometimes none. I'm walking around in the street and doing this other thing, living, that I'm much more interested in. I just do some acting on the side." - 2005
"Sometimes with people their work is the most important thing to them, and sometimes the work enables you to do other things that are more important to you. I probably am closer to that."
"You know, when you choose to make your living as an actor, it's all fine and good to look at it as some kind of artistic endeavor. At its best, it is that. But the fact is, most of the actors out there don't earn $3 million a picture and can't afford to take two years off between films and look for the right thing. Most of us are tradesmen. Acting for me, is a passion, but it's also a job, and I've always approached it as such. I have a certain manual-laborist view of acting. There's no shame in taking a film because you need some money. No shame in taking a film because you have always wanted to visit China. I was thinking about this last night as I was driving home. I started to go back through the different films I've done, and the television movies I've done and I started to think about why I chose them at that time. And I realized, every single film I've ever done I've taken because of the money. Every single one. I'm not ashamed to say that." - 1990.
"I played cops and robbers and pirates and all the rest when I was a kid, but I didn't want to grow up and be an actor and play cops and robbers and pirates. I wanted to grow up and be that, be cops and robbers and pirates." yeah
"Acting is a great way to make a living, especially when I consider what my alternatives were and probably still are. I mean, you are only making movies. It is a lot less pressure than being a surgeon; although it seemed like the only other thing that I was qualified for was manual labour."
"I drove a truck for a while for a meat packing plant. I shoveled manure at the Clarmont Riding Academy in New York. Mopped floors for a while. I uploaded railroad cars and trailers at a warehouse. I wasn't really qualified for anything else."
No, We Don't Have Tim Gunn's Phone Number: Questions About the Bravo Deal - TWoP Forum - p1:
-Will the site be tainted by whatever makes Bravotv.com such a wretched, wretched site to navigate? Because I love how simple and easy TWoP is to use, and I'd hate to see that go away. me too me too me too me too
Glark: Nope! good I have personal redesign plans aw don't change it that dovetail with the new content ideas aw no we are planning but it'll be the same content-centric colour-coded type of thing it is now ok maybe it'll be ok but with 21st century coding under the hood. (Note to web jockeys, DON'T look at the TWoP source code, you will cry.)
also nb re necessity of clearing out personal data but that stuff is very important and we wanted to make sure no one who wasn't entitled to your personal data (email on your account, any info you put about yourself in your profile, etc) would access it
-Will the site be tainted by whatever makes Bravotv.com such a wretched, wretched site to navigate? Because I love how simple and easy TWoP is to use, and I'd hate to see that go away. me too me too me too me too
Glark: Nope! good I have personal redesign plans aw don't change it that dovetail with the new content ideas aw no we are planning but it'll be the same content-centric colour-coded type of thing it is now ok maybe it'll be ok but with 21st century coding under the hood. (Note to web jockeys, DON'T look at the TWoP source code, you will cry.)
also nb re necessity of clearing out personal data but that stuff is very important and we wanted to make sure no one who wasn't entitled to your personal data (email on your account, any info you put about yourself in your profile, etc) would access it
Bravo!"?
Keep up! Read the big announcement!
saw this on twop homesite a few days ago... now, twop bravo - Google Search ...
Chicago Tribune | The Watcher: Bravo buys TWoP.com: Will the snarky site lose its bite?
cmmt-I've been reading TWoP since the halcyon days of Dawson's Wrap, and I can't imagine that Wing, Sars, and Glark would have made the sale if Bravo was going to be censoring the recaps or forums. From the Announcements section, Glark says:
"More recaps? Yep.
Podcasts? Oh yeah, they are coming.
More moderators? Yep!
Dedicated tech problem solvers? Mmmm sweet.
Making sure the world knows that NBC programming is always top-quality can't miss TV? Yeah, no. We're not doing that."
Posted by: Alyssa | Mar 13, 2007 4:29:11 PM
It’s pretty rare that a press release actually causes my jaw to drop, but one that Bravo sent out Tuesday so, announced on 3/20? no 3/13 did. I’ve been reading TelevisionWithoutPity.com for at least eight years, since it was MightyBigTV.com (the TWoP name change came in 2002). ..What I admire about TWoP is that it’s always given intelligent, passionate TV fans a chance to talk about, or even rip apart, their favorite shows, in a forum that doesn’t take itself too seriously – but which takes television itself seriously. Having interviewed co-founder Sarah “Sars” Bunting for various stories, I’ve found her to be the prototypical TWoPer – smart, funny, sarcastic, incredibly knowledgeable about TV and essentially respectful of it as an art form.
..And let’s not forget the power that the site's 1 million unique monthly visitors have accrued over the years. Most shows worth their salt have at least one – if not several – staff members who regularly check the message boards at TWoP. Rob Thomas gave the news of one “Veronica Mars” renewal first to “Couch Baron,” the recapper and moderator who presides of the TWoP boards devoted to that show. And Aaron Sorkin famously tangled with the site’s “West Wing” denizens years ago – an exchange in which the TWoPers came out looking better than the overpaid writer.
..But will the site still have its bite now that it’s owned by Bravo, a subsidiary of NBC Universal? As a Tuesday statement on the site said, “You're probably asking yourselves, "What does this mean? How can TWoP still be TWoP if it's owned by a network?"’ Exactly. The TWoP statement says that the commentary and snark won’t change, but that new content will be added to the site, things like “trend stories, blogs, exclusive interviews, audio and video content, … podcasts, episode extras, video games, and all sorts of other neat stuff."
I hope the design does not change (at least, that the basic look remains) - I really like how the site looks. the forums are pleasantly readable, unlike any other forums I've seen it seems. and I like those sketch drawings as icons for each show, etc. this was my first thought at the announcement, I think.
cmmt - One of the things I like best about the site is that it's streamlined and uncluttered with lots of random stuff - like video and audio content that take forever to load and sometimes crash my browser, blogs by people I don't care about and will enver read, video games, episode extras... basically, everything I hate about the Bravo tv website. Posted by: SCO
hmm. yep, it could quickly ruin the site for me if it gets cluttered, noisy.
The full statement from Bravo is below (and now also highlights from a Tuesday conference call):
"TelevisionWithoutPity is an online brand destination for the impassioned and opinionated television viewer, which mirrors the exact attributes of Bravo's core audience," said Zalaznick. "This will broaden the scope of our sites to create a community where smart people with something to say about their favorite shows, past and present, can get together under the umbrella of Bravo's pop sensibility."
With a signature smart yep and sardonic voice, the editorial staff from across the country summarizes more than 40 television shows into weekly "recaps." The recaps combine a clever eye for detail with a healthy dose of cheeky commentary, sometimes deemed better than the actual episodes yup yup. Later this month Brothers & Sisters ok, Men in Trees cool, Drive huh? and The Wire int will they have anyth negative to say? (well note that friday night lights recaps are pretty glowing and that works fine) will be added to the existing recaps.
Drive, Men In Trees and The Wire Added to TWoP
TelevisionWithoutPity.com co-founders Tara Ariano (known online as Wing Chun) and Sarah D. Bunting (a.k.a. Sars) met in a "Beverly Hills 90210" chat room and quickly bonded over their love-hate relationship with bad TV. Although based in two different cities (Ariano in Toronto and Bunting in Brooklyn, New York), together they created DawsonsWrap.com in the fall of 1998, a site devoted exclusively to the analysis, discussion and lobbing of rotten vegetables at "Dawson's Creek." Inspired by the positive response to DawsonsWrap.com, they expanded the site in September 1999 into its current form but called MightyBigTV.com with more than a dozen shows on the regular recap roster. In early 2002, the name changed and TelevisionWithoutPity.com officially was born.
Keep up! Read the big announcement!
saw this on twop homesite a few days ago... now, twop bravo - Google Search ...
Chicago Tribune | The Watcher: Bravo buys TWoP.com: Will the snarky site lose its bite?
cmmt-I've been reading TWoP since the halcyon days of Dawson's Wrap, and I can't imagine that Wing, Sars, and Glark would have made the sale if Bravo was going to be censoring the recaps or forums. From the Announcements section, Glark says:
"More recaps? Yep.
Podcasts? Oh yeah, they are coming.
More moderators? Yep!
Dedicated tech problem solvers? Mmmm sweet.
Making sure the world knows that NBC programming is always top-quality can't miss TV? Yeah, no. We're not doing that."
Posted by: Alyssa | Mar 13, 2007 4:29:11 PM
It’s pretty rare that a press release actually causes my jaw to drop, but one that Bravo sent out Tuesday so, announced on 3/20? no 3/13 did. I’ve been reading TelevisionWithoutPity.com for at least eight years, since it was MightyBigTV.com (the TWoP name change came in 2002). ..What I admire about TWoP is that it’s always given intelligent, passionate TV fans a chance to talk about, or even rip apart, their favorite shows, in a forum that doesn’t take itself too seriously – but which takes television itself seriously. Having interviewed co-founder Sarah “Sars” Bunting for various stories, I’ve found her to be the prototypical TWoPer – smart, funny, sarcastic, incredibly knowledgeable about TV and essentially respectful of it as an art form.
..And let’s not forget the power that the site's 1 million unique monthly visitors have accrued over the years. Most shows worth their salt have at least one – if not several – staff members who regularly check the message boards at TWoP. Rob Thomas gave the news of one “Veronica Mars” renewal first to “Couch Baron,” the recapper and moderator who presides of the TWoP boards devoted to that show. And Aaron Sorkin famously tangled with the site’s “West Wing” denizens years ago – an exchange in which the TWoPers came out looking better than the overpaid writer.
..But will the site still have its bite now that it’s owned by Bravo, a subsidiary of NBC Universal? As a Tuesday statement on the site said, “You're probably asking yourselves, "What does this mean? How can TWoP still be TWoP if it's owned by a network?"’ Exactly. The TWoP statement says that the commentary and snark won’t change, but that new content will be added to the site, things like “trend stories, blogs, exclusive interviews, audio and video content, … podcasts, episode extras, video games, and all sorts of other neat stuff."
I hope the design does not change (at least, that the basic look remains) - I really like how the site looks. the forums are pleasantly readable, unlike any other forums I've seen it seems. and I like those sketch drawings as icons for each show, etc. this was my first thought at the announcement, I think.
cmmt - One of the things I like best about the site is that it's streamlined and uncluttered with lots of random stuff - like video and audio content that take forever to load and sometimes crash my browser, blogs by people I don't care about and will enver read, video games, episode extras... basically, everything I hate about the Bravo tv website. Posted by: SCO
hmm. yep, it could quickly ruin the site for me if it gets cluttered, noisy.
The full statement from Bravo is below (and now also highlights from a Tuesday conference call):
"TelevisionWithoutPity is an online brand destination for the impassioned and opinionated television viewer, which mirrors the exact attributes of Bravo's core audience," said Zalaznick. "This will broaden the scope of our sites to create a community where smart people with something to say about their favorite shows, past and present, can get together under the umbrella of Bravo's pop sensibility."
With a signature smart yep and sardonic voice, the editorial staff from across the country summarizes more than 40 television shows into weekly "recaps." The recaps combine a clever eye for detail with a healthy dose of cheeky commentary, sometimes deemed better than the actual episodes yup yup. Later this month Brothers & Sisters ok, Men in Trees cool, Drive huh? and The Wire int will they have anyth negative to say? (well note that friday night lights recaps are pretty glowing and that works fine) will be added to the existing recaps.
Drive, Men In Trees and The Wire Added to TWoP
TelevisionWithoutPity.com co-founders Tara Ariano (known online as Wing Chun) and Sarah D. Bunting (a.k.a. Sars) met in a "Beverly Hills 90210" chat room and quickly bonded over their love-hate relationship with bad TV. Although based in two different cities (Ariano in Toronto and Bunting in Brooklyn, New York), together they created DawsonsWrap.com in the fall of 1998, a site devoted exclusively to the analysis, discussion and lobbing of rotten vegetables at "Dawson's Creek." Inspired by the positive response to DawsonsWrap.com, they expanded the site in September 1999 into its current form but called MightyBigTV.com with more than a dozen shows on the regular recap roster. In early 2002, the name changed and TelevisionWithoutPity.com officially was born.
As part of the acquisition, principal co-founders Ariano and Bunting will remain on as Editors, overseeing all content. David T. Cole (screen name Glark), co-founder and Ariano's husband, who has served as Community Engineer and Lead Designer for the site, has been named Manager, Media Technology Production. Cole also will continue to oversee the popular fan forums.
As part of the overall deal, Bravo also acquired Fametracker.com huh okay, a pop culture site started by Ariano and partner Adam Sternbergh. Self-dubbed "the Farmer's Almanac of celebrity worth," the site is an e-zine with a humorous look at the culture of celebrity, and has collected accolades from MTV, Variety and Entertainment Weekly, among many others.
Baby Boom - movie where Diane Keaton inherits a baby and eventually moves to the country, leaving a high power job, really is rather decent.
she's very likeable with cute baby Elizabeth, reading her a story and adapting it - "bcs she was going to be a doctor. Like all women can be."
and, I like that her boss is not a jerk. when he takes her off her big account, he says "Look you've been on the fast track for a long time. It's okay to slow down a bit. ...I run this company but I don't know how many grandkids I have. Something has to give." realistic, fair enough.
and well the end is, yes, heartwarming.
she's very likeable with cute baby Elizabeth, reading her a story and adapting it - "bcs she was going to be a doctor. Like all women can be."
and, I like that her boss is not a jerk. when he takes her off her big account, he says "Look you've been on the fast track for a long time. It's okay to slow down a bit. ...I run this company but I don't know how many grandkids I have. Something has to give." realistic, fair enough.
and well the end is, yes, heartwarming.
I like this recaplet - by Jessica - TWoP GreysA recaplet My Favorite Mistake:
and now Izzie thinks their hook-up was 'God's plan' or something, because it was so very, very right, even though those of us who've been playing along at home have never seen any evidence of sexual chemistry between the two of them ever. After a lot of hangover-induced, guilt-ridden agony from George and squirrelly behavior from Izzie and a very poorly timed visit from Callie's dad, Hector Elizondo (who I know from where? just from his role in Pretty Woman as hotel manager? wkp says he almost went uncredited for this role which, though only 10 minutes, got him a golden globe nomination), George tells Izzie that he can't tell Callie about their assignation, because it wouldn't be fair to hurt Callie just to ease his conscience. Izzie reluctantly agrees, but does a lot of crying, because…she's in love with George? If you say so.
As far as everyone else goes, Cristina overly relates to a man who has to have his foot amputated, which somehow leads to her patching it up with Burke, agreeing to have a wedding. Because he's her metaphorical other foot or something. (I generally enjoy the way this show uses symbolism, but come on.)
Meredith's hair looks awesome, and she successfully performs a fancy-schmancy bone-grafting procedure...
And everyone else is acting totally batty because they're being interviewed for the Chief position and suspect to a man that Marlowe is going to sweep it out from under them.
I especially like the "to a man" after the verb and before its (its what? its object? = the whole phrase 'that M is..')
and now Izzie thinks their hook-up was 'God's plan' or something, because it was so very, very right, even though those of us who've been playing along at home have never seen any evidence of sexual chemistry between the two of them ever. After a lot of hangover-induced, guilt-ridden agony from George and squirrelly behavior from Izzie and a very poorly timed visit from Callie's dad, Hector Elizondo (who I know from where? just from his role in Pretty Woman as hotel manager? wkp says he almost went uncredited for this role which, though only 10 minutes, got him a golden globe nomination), George tells Izzie that he can't tell Callie about their assignation, because it wouldn't be fair to hurt Callie just to ease his conscience. Izzie reluctantly agrees, but does a lot of crying, because…she's in love with George? If you say so.
As far as everyone else goes, Cristina overly relates to a man who has to have his foot amputated, which somehow leads to her patching it up with Burke, agreeing to have a wedding. Because he's her metaphorical other foot or something. (I generally enjoy the way this show uses symbolism, but come on.)
Meredith's hair looks awesome, and she successfully performs a fancy-schmancy bone-grafting procedure...
And everyone else is acting totally batty because they're being interviewed for the Chief position and suspect to a man that Marlowe is going to sweep it out from under them.
I especially like the "to a man" after the verb and before its (its what? its object? = the whole phrase 'that M is..')
Friday, March 23, 2007
Will & Grace: Bed, Bath & Beyond Episode Trivia - TV.com: "Grace: Look, I'm sorry I'm not as strong as you all are. I wish that I were, but I'm not. Will, your lover of seven years left you, and you have to live every day knowing that he's out there loving someone else. I couldn't do that. I would die. And, Karen, your husband's in prison, the rock of your life, and you don't know when you're gonna see him again. If I were you, I'd be a total wreck. And, Jack... You're so resilient. You're a 32-year-old actor-singer who gets involved in a million different relationships and never gets invested in any of them. I wish that I could do that, but I can't. I'm not like any of you. I just handle things differently, so, please, just let me go back to bed and deal with things the only way that I know how."
then Will comes in - you were right, I haven't really dealt with it, maybe I'm the one that got out of bed too soon.
and then Karen - you were right, I don't know when Stan's coming back, it could be years, I'm really lonely.
and then - I love this - Jack in the doorway: when you said "actor-singer who jumps in and out of relationships" it made me realize: you didn't say dancer. and I've always thought of 'the dance' as ..."
I really do laugh out loud. Sean Hayes is great. the pauses, the delivery. comedic genius, him and Colbert.
__
Will & Grace - 4.07 - Bed, Bath And Beyond
http://www.twiztv.com/scripts/willandgrace/season4/willandgrace-407.htm
JACK: When you said... I'm an actor-singer who jumps from one relationship to another it made me realize... You didn't say dancer. And I've always felt in my heart that the dance is my strong point. That's so depressing.
then Will comes in - you were right, I haven't really dealt with it, maybe I'm the one that got out of bed too soon.
and then Karen - you were right, I don't know when Stan's coming back, it could be years, I'm really lonely.
and then - I love this - Jack in the doorway: when you said "actor-singer who jumps in and out of relationships" it made me realize: you didn't say dancer. and I've always thought of 'the dance' as ..."
I really do laugh out loud. Sean Hayes is great. the pauses, the delivery. comedic genius, him and Colbert.
__
Will & Grace - 4.07 - Bed, Bath And Beyond
http://www.twiztv.com/scripts/willandgrace/season4/willandgrace-407.htm
JACK: When you said... I'm an actor-singer who jumps from one relationship to another it made me realize... You didn't say dancer. And I've always felt in my heart that the dance is my strong point. That's so depressing.
thedayislikewidewater: Search results for blog this:
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AM int in:
art
poetry
philosophy ~ re subjectivity - Dasein (Heidegger) - Spirit (Hegel)
psychoanalysis ~ eps Winnicott - object relations
also, I like to know what people say about stories and characters (in novels, on television) when caught up with them -
personality
am NOT int in:
history
anthropology
biography
__________
give me facts as information but not as a story
Feelings Are facts By Yvonne Rainer.
Tell them almost everything but give them facts. -Facts, I said slowly, My God, have we come to that? -Oh, indeed, he said scornfully, Are you going to be purefly personal? -I am. Everyone is who writes well.
Djuna Barnes, The New York Tribune, February 16, 1919 (opening page - epigraph -of Djuna : the formidable Miss Barnes by Andrew Field)
oh also am int in ~ critical theory ~ marxism ~ or anyway, the question of our subjectivity as formed by economic system. value, exchange, reification. private property.
person as private institution (with accounts to manage) - owner of property including identity (credit rating).
Wendell Berry for actually talking about the facts, the state of the world. he seems to be right-minded about it all.
in Idea of a Local Economy (from Three Essays - reread today as 'reading' in Harpers Apr02) lays out simply how inherent in a total economy is the resulting ruination.
bcs the single principle is: buy low, sell high.
so requires affluent consumers with endless wants and depressed production - people willing to work for low wages, overproduction of the land.
and, long lines of supply to get things from where produced cheaply to where sold high -- and this requires cheap fuel, containment of terrorism.
total economy - where everything is private property. everything has a monetary value.
life forms. the "right to pollute". can be bought.
Wendell Berry, can you lead us
re the conceptual, Slavoj Zizek moved me when he spoke at the Oriental Institute, said There is so much work to do.
bcs yes, seems like we could understand more about economy-subjectivity (or what do I mean? what was he talking about?) and that could make a difference. or at least could feel like really improved understanding. and probably make a difference.
and I felt like Zizek was sincere. not caught up in academic institutionalized project, but really had a project. he said, we should assume Lacan really means things (that it's not nonsense) "and I -think- he really does". or that's what I seem to remember. I liked that for him too it is a question - is Lacan really saying something? - and he believes in the affirmative answer.
so I want to believe Zizek is really saying things too.
art
poetry
philosophy ~ re subjectivity - Dasein (Heidegger) - Spirit (Hegel)
psychoanalysis ~ eps Winnicott - object relations
also, I like to know what people say about stories and characters (in novels, on television) when caught up with them -
personality
am NOT int in:
history
anthropology
biography
__________
give me facts as information but not as a story
Feelings Are facts By Yvonne Rainer.
Tell them almost everything but give them facts. -Facts, I said slowly, My God, have we come to that? -Oh, indeed, he said scornfully, Are you going to be purefly personal? -I am. Everyone is who writes well.
Djuna Barnes, The New York Tribune, February 16, 1919 (opening page - epigraph -of Djuna : the formidable Miss Barnes by Andrew Field)
oh also am int in ~ critical theory ~ marxism ~ or anyway, the question of our subjectivity as formed by economic system. value, exchange, reification. private property.
person as private institution (with accounts to manage) - owner of property including identity (credit rating).
Wendell Berry for actually talking about the facts, the state of the world. he seems to be right-minded about it all.
in Idea of a Local Economy (from Three Essays - reread today as 'reading' in Harpers Apr02) lays out simply how inherent in a total economy is the resulting ruination.
bcs the single principle is: buy low, sell high.
so requires affluent consumers with endless wants and depressed production - people willing to work for low wages, overproduction of the land.
and, long lines of supply to get things from where produced cheaply to where sold high -- and this requires cheap fuel, containment of terrorism.
total economy - where everything is private property. everything has a monetary value.
life forms. the "right to pollute". can be bought.
Wendell Berry, can you lead us
re the conceptual, Slavoj Zizek moved me when he spoke at the Oriental Institute, said There is so much work to do.
bcs yes, seems like we could understand more about economy-subjectivity (or what do I mean? what was he talking about?) and that could make a difference. or at least could feel like really improved understanding. and probably make a difference.
and I felt like Zizek was sincere. not caught up in academic institutionalized project, but really had a project. he said, we should assume Lacan really means things (that it's not nonsense) "and I -think- he really does". or that's what I seem to remember. I liked that for him too it is a question - is Lacan really saying something? - and he believes in the affirmative answer.
so I want to believe Zizek is really saying things too.
Thursday, March 22, 2007
The Disappointments of Childhood
Perhaps a bird was singing and for it I felt a tiny affection, the same size as a bird. -Jorge Luis Borges
...
And now remember how, as a child,
someone is telling you how they love you.
How much does Daddy love you? they
ask, and you, childlike, spread
your arms as wide as a child can.
Little do you know it then, but
the rest of your life will be spent
measuring the distance between "that much"
and what love, in fact, is capable of--
...
p.22 az- Days We Would Rather Know: Poems -- by Michael Blumenthal
Perhaps a bird was singing and for it I felt a tiny affection, the same size as a bird. -Jorge Luis Borges
...
And now remember how, as a child,
someone is telling you how they love you.
How much does Daddy love you? they
ask, and you, childlike, spread
your arms as wide as a child can.
Little do you know it then, but
the rest of your life will be spent
measuring the distance between "that much"
and what love, in fact, is capable of--
...
p.22 az- Days We Would Rather Know: Poems -- by Michael Blumenthal
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
The Riches - TWoP:
--For stuff like dentistry and whatnot, they probably pay cash. Maybe it comes out of the family bank.
The Amish will go to the doctor and pay cash, which is why they're loved. huh. Not that the travellers are the same as Amish, but since they both are not on the radar in terms of Social Security, benefits and also sort of move around, it's similar. Which makes Wayne stealing the cash was such a big deal.
--For stuff like dentistry and whatnot, they probably pay cash. Maybe it comes out of the family bank.
The Amish will go to the doctor and pay cash, which is why they're loved. huh. Not that the travellers are the same as Amish, but since they both are not on the radar in terms of Social Security, benefits and also sort of move around, it's similar. Which makes Wayne stealing the cash was such a big deal.
The Riches: Eddie Izzard has a TV show! - TWoP Forums p 25:
WollamEnots: Looks like F/X has done it again. Always Sunny, Nip/Tuck, Rescue Me (okay, I'll forgive them 'Dirt'), The Riches shows immense promise. It's smart, wickedly funny and a great fit for Eddie's talents. The interview scene in #2 was priceless. Shows like this are so far and above the common faire that it makes Desperate Anatomy Whisperer hehee look sad by comparison. Damn, this show is good.
I wasn't as into the second episode as the pilot - Like the RVing-around traveller life more than the pretend-to-be-buffers life maybe, but still yes seems a fine show. the interview scene, was it priceless? to me it was sort of confusingly funny, his allovertheplacenss. I guess I did laugh aloud: " I'm lucky. Je suis lucky. I just work really hard. I'm like a nocturnal owl."
dzykate: All caught up! Whew! Now, my long post:
--And I liked that they played on the fact that Wayne/Eddie is travel-sized and was falling out of Doug's clothes.
Me too, kostgard! And what I loved, from a character-development point of view, was that Wayne came out in the way-too-big jacket apparently for the sole purpose of amusing the rest of the family. It’s a small beat, but a perfect one. Or, as you put it, sleepy 67:
--The overwhelming fact of the show so far is that no matter their bickering this is a family who love one another.
Now, switching gears:
--I'm with hating Dahlia---but not because she's a selfish junkie … but because she appears to be the worst con artist EVER.
Yeah, this has struck me as well, zumpee. Is she so bad because she’s currently so strung out and self-absorbed that she can’t be bothered to put on the con and doesn’t care about the consequences? Or is it because “Mom’s crazy”? Bit of both, maybe, which could be great. Both the kids’ matter-of-fact acknowledgement of her potentially cover-blowing behavior in this episode and Wayne’s “Oh, Mom’s home!” comment when Dahlia started throwing things in the pilot suggest that she’s always been unpredictable. This makes me wonder if Wayne’s marriage to her isn’t another manifestation of his risk-seeking personality. Potentially very interesting.
However, I’m a little worried about the particular flavor of crazy we’re getting from Dahlia, and what it might mean for the show overall. ‘Cause in this episode, she was veering awfully close to tiresome, cartoonish, dumbass hostile-hick crazy, I thought. Is Dahlia compelling or is she totally annoying? Is this show going to be awesome or not? Those are the questions, and her accent makes the answers difficult to determine. huh.
As Henry VIII said to the Pope, “Stick with me, my story gets better.”
I don’t have a problem with Minnie Driver’s execution of the accent; what raises the alarm is the decision to go with this particular strain of extreme Southern backwoods, which we TV audiences have been trained to interpret in a certain way.
If in this past episode Dahlia had been speaking with, say, a neutral mid-Atlantic kind of accent (like her kids do and like her husband sorta does), would her behavior have struck me differently? I think it would have. For starters, it would've be clearer that she buries the money not because she’s an idiot or because it’s a wacky hick thing to do (Joy from “Earl” would bury money too, wouldn’t she?), but because she’s barely holding it together, clinging to the old ways, and so hesitant to “believe the lie” that Wayne’s proposing. It would've been clearer that her suspicious behavior at the impound lot, picking a fight with the neighbor association chick, and returning the RV to the spot where it’s likely to get towed again and deepen suspicion are all totally reckless, and thus, a serious threat to her family’s safety and future. And it's unfortunate, but I think a more neutral accent would've made her indecision and bouts of temper seem more remarkable and scarier, driving home how dangerous indecision and an uncontrollable temper are when your life is built on maintaining the upper hand in a complicated con.
Is the show playing these notes, or am I just projecting? A lot of folks have posted with praise for Dahlia’s complexity so I guess y'all are seeing it too. (Yay!) But God, I would hate it if TPTB have deliberated chosen comic WT wackiness and played-out, spoof-the-suburbanites shtick when there’s so much promise here. MD’s comments in the press that this is maybe the best role she’s ever had do give me hope that Dahlia will turn out to defy stereotypical expectations and be smart and complicated and a worthy partner to Wayne. A partner who’s crazy occasionally threatens everything. A true wildcard instead of cheap, junkie rageholic redneck joke.
WollamEnots: Looks like F/X has done it again. Always Sunny, Nip/Tuck, Rescue Me (okay, I'll forgive them 'Dirt'), The Riches shows immense promise. It's smart, wickedly funny and a great fit for Eddie's talents. The interview scene in #2 was priceless. Shows like this are so far and above the common faire that it makes Desperate Anatomy Whisperer hehee look sad by comparison. Damn, this show is good.
I wasn't as into the second episode as the pilot - Like the RVing-around traveller life more than the pretend-to-be-buffers life maybe, but still yes seems a fine show. the interview scene, was it priceless? to me it was sort of confusingly funny, his allovertheplacenss. I guess I did laugh aloud: " I'm lucky. Je suis lucky. I just work really hard. I'm like a nocturnal owl."
dzykate: All caught up! Whew! Now, my long post:
--And I liked that they played on the fact that Wayne/Eddie is travel-sized and was falling out of Doug's clothes.
Me too, kostgard! And what I loved, from a character-development point of view, was that Wayne came out in the way-too-big jacket apparently for the sole purpose of amusing the rest of the family. It’s a small beat, but a perfect one. Or, as you put it, sleepy 67:
--The overwhelming fact of the show so far is that no matter their bickering this is a family who love one another.
Now, switching gears:
--I'm with hating Dahlia---but not because she's a selfish junkie … but because she appears to be the worst con artist EVER.
Yeah, this has struck me as well, zumpee. Is she so bad because she’s currently so strung out and self-absorbed that she can’t be bothered to put on the con and doesn’t care about the consequences? Or is it because “Mom’s crazy”? Bit of both, maybe, which could be great. Both the kids’ matter-of-fact acknowledgement of her potentially cover-blowing behavior in this episode and Wayne’s “Oh, Mom’s home!” comment when Dahlia started throwing things in the pilot suggest that she’s always been unpredictable. This makes me wonder if Wayne’s marriage to her isn’t another manifestation of his risk-seeking personality. Potentially very interesting.
However, I’m a little worried about the particular flavor of crazy we’re getting from Dahlia, and what it might mean for the show overall. ‘Cause in this episode, she was veering awfully close to tiresome, cartoonish, dumbass hostile-hick crazy, I thought. Is Dahlia compelling or is she totally annoying? Is this show going to be awesome or not? Those are the questions, and her accent makes the answers difficult to determine. huh.
As Henry VIII said to the Pope, “Stick with me, my story gets better.”
I don’t have a problem with Minnie Driver’s execution of the accent; what raises the alarm is the decision to go with this particular strain of extreme Southern backwoods, which we TV audiences have been trained to interpret in a certain way.
If in this past episode Dahlia had been speaking with, say, a neutral mid-Atlantic kind of accent (like her kids do and like her husband sorta does), would her behavior have struck me differently? I think it would have. For starters, it would've be clearer that she buries the money not because she’s an idiot or because it’s a wacky hick thing to do (Joy from “Earl” would bury money too, wouldn’t she?), but because she’s barely holding it together, clinging to the old ways, and so hesitant to “believe the lie” that Wayne’s proposing. It would've been clearer that her suspicious behavior at the impound lot, picking a fight with the neighbor association chick, and returning the RV to the spot where it’s likely to get towed again and deepen suspicion are all totally reckless, and thus, a serious threat to her family’s safety and future. And it's unfortunate, but I think a more neutral accent would've made her indecision and bouts of temper seem more remarkable and scarier, driving home how dangerous indecision and an uncontrollable temper are when your life is built on maintaining the upper hand in a complicated con.
Is the show playing these notes, or am I just projecting? A lot of folks have posted with praise for Dahlia’s complexity so I guess y'all are seeing it too. (Yay!) But God, I would hate it if TPTB have deliberated chosen comic WT wackiness and played-out, spoof-the-suburbanites shtick when there’s so much promise here. MD’s comments in the press that this is maybe the best role she’s ever had do give me hope that Dahlia will turn out to defy stereotypical expectations and be smart and complicated and a worthy partner to Wayne. A partner who’s crazy occasionally threatens everything. A true wildcard instead of cheap, junkie rageholic redneck joke.
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