Heh. That's hanging out on my Tivo too. Maybe next weekend.

I saw The Happening, finally

I did too. I didn't hate it, which I expected to. I found it visually stunning and downright scary (which ties right back to the visual awesome). To clarify my fear threshold, I am a gardener by profession and live my life amongst plants, outside, with the wind .

What I disliked was my lack of feeling for the characters, I didn't buy Mark Wahlberg as a science teacher, hate Zoe Deschanel with a passion, and the overall tone that read as environmental fundamentalism and their doctrine that the planet would be better off if humans up and died, i.e. took an active role and killed themselves to save the planet.

And then the standard horror trope tacked on at the end: You think you're safe... but wait!

I have to say that I was affected by this movie, and did lie awake wondering why I disliked it so (hate is too strong a word, no matter how disappointed I was) and had nightmares about being chased by the wind and the nasties carried on it.

To put that in perspective, I also had nightmares after watching Dumb and Dumber, so my brain works in mysterious ways (that one involved throat slitting, dead birds and my cat dying and me eating it. It tasted like chicken. I still have guilt over that dream).

I think my main beef with The Happening is probably one of the main reasons that I won't see the remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still.

I don't know anything about that movie, but the ending tagline just hits me wrong. The "if humans die, the earth will survive" line. Yes, humans are fucked up and messy and destructive, but I really really don't care for stories (or actual RL beliefs) that the solution is our genocide. That's one storyline that I don't care to see told, ever, in whatever form. And probably because real people truly agree with this. And I hope they drown in their own vomit.

I'll spare you the details of how I really feel.

Hec quoted the birdie num num line. We use it so freely we often forget where it came from. Loooove The Party.

The "if humans die, the earth will survive" line. Yes, humans are fucked up and messy and destructive, but I really really don't care for stories (or actual RL beliefs) that the solution is our genocide. That's one storyline that I don't care to see told, ever, in whatever form. And probably because real people truly agree with this.

I haven't seen that movie, but that is pretty much my philosophy. I don't feel that humans are Nature's--or "God's" crowning achievement, and I do believe the planet would be a better place without us. Count me in Agent Smith's camp: " ...a virus. Human beings are a plague," Which is one reason I'm very grateful we never got far enough into space to colonize other planets and spread that plague.

And I hope they drown in their own vomit.

I'll spare you the details of how I really feel.

As will I.

I finally watched Southland Tales.

It's a mess. For at least half of it I was like, "Oh, wow. This really is incomprehensible and alienating. And I wanted to like it, but it's just... yeesh. That's a shame."

But when it ended I went straight back and watched the first half or so again because knowing where it was going, and what to watch for, made me like it so much more. All weekend I was going back and watching scenes again and going, "Ooooh, now I see." I hope it gets enough of a culty following to have a director's cut eventually, because while I'm sure that's equally (or more) flawed, I'm curious to see if that answers some of the goofy questions I still have.

If you didn't like Donnie Darko (and I understand how that would be) you probably shouldn't bother with it, because it's that but more so. It really is a mess, but a fabulous, overly-ambitious mess and, I can find a ton of things about it that I'd fix but... I dunno. It's not a good movie, but I did really like it.

Also: tons of Phil Dick references, especially to Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said, which is my fav, so that helped. And it's useful to have a passing familiarity with Revelations. If you are interested in seeing it, be prepared for the fact that for at least half an hour it's going to seem like "here's a collection of scenes about random people doing things you don't understand for reasons that won't be explained until much later." A lot of it will only make sense on a second viewing, if then. (Salon has an "exegesis" but they've got quite a few things wrong just in their plot summary so...)

Okay, I was totally out of line. No excuses (well, a couple of glasses), that was bad form on my part. And bothering me all morning, so I want to apologize for bringing my rant to the point it got to.

I think The Millionairess misses to a poor adaptation of the play.

Unfortunately, Tivo recorded the wrong channel. It does that sometimes.

Been there, Juliebird. You and me, we're good.

"Pretty Fly" is not meant to be a noise-skronk song!

I would not describe the Young People cover as noise-skrunk at all! Quite folky, actually.

I recently picked up a CD that features Charles Laughton reading a version of Night of the Hunter. There's a bit of music in it but it's mostly narration. Still, the man could tell a story! Bonus: the same CD also has Miklos Rozsa's score for Lost Weekend, featuring... wait for it... a theremin!! [link]

I hope it gets enough of a culty following to have a director's cut eventually

I thought that was the director's cut. I've filed it under "seriously flawed movies I liked anyway."

Love V for Vendetta, enjoyed Southland Tales. We watched The Man of a Thousand Faces last night, starring James Cagney as Lon Chaney. Very odd and a little sugar-coated, but not without merit.