A reminder of...
Why I am not worthy - Mike Wallace is cutting back on his time at 60 Minutes at age 87. Dear Jesus. What drives a man to keep going that hard at that age?
Why I never really liked Annie Proux's work - It's a world class rant, I'll grant you that. But this article in the Guardian expressing her dismay that Brokeback Mountain lost to Crash redefines petty. I had been debating catching Brokeback before it left town. However, I think I'll pass. Supporters of that movie have been entirely too sookie since it lost. Grow the fuck up and deal with it already.
Why my former boss really needs a long vacation - Steve really is a good guy and a good editor, but I always knew running The Express was eventually going to cause him to lose his mind. The poor guy has to deal with more crap than any one person really should have to. Apparently, he might have finally lost it.
Why Donnie Power is the best sports writer in the province - You know, it's not even the writing in the story, which is good as always. It's asking the right question and getting the guy (or girl) to relax and open up. And Brad Gushue is obviously very relaxed in this story. The bit about having to move because there is no way he could live on Mark Nichols Place is classic.
Why I should really stay away from conservative blogs - It's not Damian's comments, which are well reasoned; he hasn't seen V For Vendetta yet, but he has his worries. It's the comments section that I should have known better about. Makes me wonder what I was thinking when I believed I could just pop by and quickly defend the book and express my hopes for the movie. Ah well, live and learn.
Currently Playing
Truthfully, Truthfully - The Joel Plaskett Emergency
7 comments:
Well Craig, I have to say your link brought me to the worst line I have ever read, in fact their were many but this was the worst
"I would be tempted to say that, caught between manga and The Matrix, we need another Vietnam to clean out this sad para-generation but I doubt that any of those wheezing miscreants could even pass the physical!
Ah, I feel better now"
My god Craig, I just continued reading! You actually engaged in a conversation with these people? I see your opinions were welcomed with open arms.
Yeah, stupid I know. But I love the book. It's certain one of my top 5 favourite graphic novels of all time. And I've always believed that you see the movie before you can loathe it to the level that some of them wrote.
I mean, when I reviewed movies I went to stuff I was pretty certain I was going to not like. I was right a lot of times, but there were times I was pleasently surprised. It's why you go, instead of just reading what others say and then write a review based on that. I respect Roger Ebert tremendously. It doesn't mean I agree with him 100% of the time.
Say "I'm not seeing that. From what I've read I don't think I will like it so I'm not wasting my money on it." But to get into an in-depth analysis of why it's terrible and how much you hate it but you can't be bothered to go I will never understand.
There's just some angry, angry people there. I can appreciate passion for something. But there was some anger and real hate (as by the comment you reposted here) there. Kind of sad, really.
Dear Lord.
I read Damian from time to time, but I try to stay away from his (sometimes) outrageous comments section. It attracts a lot of rabid conservatives and liberals alike, with the silliest of debate.
I'm sorry to say this time that I bit.
Guess I'm as silly as the rest.
Hey Craig. Me again. Just saw this on Ain't it Cool News: http://www.aint-it-cool-news.com/display.cgi?id=22753
A review on V for Vendetta from a "moderate conservative":
"Just thought you might want to know what a Fox News watching, George Bush voting, moderate conservative from the red state of Mississippi thought of the film "V for Vendetta"....
I really really liked it. The only thing keeping me from loving it has nothing to do with the supposed "controversial" issues it brings up, but more on the fact that I'll have to watch it again before I make my verdict on that.
Anyways, on to the movie. You all know the basic premise about a "terrorist" named V who sets about to somehow go against the totalitarian like government that rules England. He comes across a girl named Evie who he helps from some baddies and they start an uneasy relationship which begins with Evie wanting to do the seemingly right thing, that is not help a wanted "terrorist", but of course things change.
Instead of focusing the review on how great the performances are or how well the story grabs you by the throat with V's first great speech to the people, because you've all heard about that through Harry and company in the aftermath of BNAT, but I wanted to focus more on the controversial issues that the story deals with from my perspective.
But before I dive more into that, I do want to say that Hugo Weaving is great, he is able to spout out his lines in a very lyrical and literate way, thanks to the either the screenplay by the Wachowskis or words lifted right from Alan Moore, I'll have to read to comic to find out who, but during the entire movie words come out of the actors' mouths beautifully without seeming too preachy and obvious. Speaking of beautiful, Natalie Portman is great here as well. When she breaks down to cry, I want to break down and cry, she's that good.
Now people are making a big deal, comparing the US government to that in the movie. Yes I can see where there might be some similarities, such as the whole issue of phone tapping and anti homosexual sentimentality (although this country doesn't go as far as the government in V does.) And that's what this movie is all about, its about the extremes of some of the issues Americans take and really turning them up. However, if there were a government more akin to the likes of the one in V, I'd say it's more like the Iraqi government under Saddam or the North Korean government. In order to elaborate I'm going to have to go into some spoilers...
Again, spoiler alert!... To me, this movie represents exactly what the Iraqi people should have done after they found out (if they found out) what Saddam had done to his people back in... I don't know, somewhere around 1990? when he gassed thousands of his own people. Though the reasons of both governments differ, the fact is that they both took out a large number of their own people through way of gas or virus in order to either test out a new biological weapon or for their own rise in power and well being. Any American today in their right mind would do what the people of England did if they found out the Bush administration had created a virus and killed 100,000 people just to make a little money and get some votes. Another way the Iraqi and V government are the same are the ways they use censorship.
I'm pretty sure that Leno and Letterman are still alive and well despite countless jabs at both the Clinton and Bush administration, something a talk show host died for (or did he?) in V. Hell you think a website like "Aint It Cool (and sometimes liberal) News" would make it if it were up and running in a place like the V government and openly taking jabs at the High Chancellor? I think Harry's head would literally end up on a serving platter if this were an Iraqi website promoting anti Saddam material, yet Harry is free in this country to have his own opinion and post it to millions of viewers all over the world wide web. (Although if Quint being threatened not to talk about Cars by RoboWalt isn't censorship, I don't know what is..)
The fact is, this fictitious government, in my eyes at least, is more true to that of the likes of Saddam's with some Neo Nazism thrown up rather than our own here in the states, which is why I don't think it's all that controversial.
One more thing, people have also had issues rooting for the "terrorist" V in the film. Yes the government calls V a terrorist, but is he really? He's more of a freedom fighter in my eyes. The difference to me is that a terrorist will kill innocent people for his cause, not caring if the people he kills were directly responsible for his pain or not, while V only kills those responsible for some atrocity one way or another. That and the fact that every building he blows up is empty of innocent people.
Go see this film. I think it may be getting a bit overhyped, its definetly not the second coming of movies, but its a solid film thats entertains on many levels. Mystery, drama, and a little action thrown in (especially V's final badass takedown towards the end.) Go and enjoy yourself and make up your own mind about the political stance you think the movie is taking, thats the fun thing about a movie like this, you can discuss and argue with friends about it for hours."
On another note...
You are so right about Annie Proulx. Of course, I've been predisposed to dislike her ever since an American allegedly wrote the "definitive" book about Newfoundland, chock-full of such howling misunderstandings of Newfoundland and its culture that I thought it couldn't get any worse -- till I saw the movie.
That said, I liked Brokeback Mountain (the movie) quite a lot, went back and read the story it was based on and liked that too. But I didn't think it was in the same league as Crash, which richly deserved the Oscar.
Nothing Annie Proulx has ever written, however, tops this Guardian rant for a sheer over-the-top parody of a writer drunk on her own fame to the point that she has completely lost any sense of perspective or professionalism. It was great. I loved it. Maybe they'll make a movie out of it.
As I recall, the only way I was able to finally finish The Shipping News was to be in Korea and be utterly desperate for something, anything to read. The other two previous attempts to read it failed after about 40 pages.
As I recall, I gave the movie version a positive review. After looking at it again several years later, it was fiarly apparent that I got a bit caught up in the excitement of having the movie filmed near where I was working (I was in Clarenville while it was filmed in Trinity and New Bonaventure). And that I have a weakness for Gordon Pinsent (who stole the movie) and Julianne Moore (who I've had a weakness for for many years).
As for Proux herself, the rant should pretty firmly establish the fact that you're never too old to be a brat.
Post a Comment