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« February 2005
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Where have I been?
[Posted 11:56 AM GMT by Whiggles]
I've been noticeably quiet over the last week or so. Where have I been? Well, primarily, I've been concentrating on revision for my exams, which are now less than two weeks away. I'm feeling more confident about some and less confident about others, so I guess you could say I'm exactly where I was last time I checked in. I am, however, making slow but steady progress, and news that I will seemingly be able to prepare all three questions for Written Text can only be good news. When this is all over I promise I'll update more. Honest. As a side project, I've also been working on the layout for version 7 of Whiggles.tk. It's actually been a fairly quick process, although I've had to wrangle with the trials and tribulations of CSS, a system that is infuriatingly difficult to get to grips with but definitely worth it in the long run. All being well, this will be the last time I ever have to re-enter my entire DVD collection by hand to facilitate a redesign. Look for the new version to be up some time in the next week or so (I'm basically working on it whenever I take a break from studying, so I can't be any more specific). In the meantime, you can check out an exclusive preview here. Most of the pages are missing, and the content of some is wrong (the News page, for example, is currently comprised of snippets of one of my old editorials), but it should give you an idea of what I'm aiming for. Be warned, the new site requires a minimum resolution of 1024x768 to display properly. Sorry 800x600 users, but I've stuck with that cramped resolution for six layouts now and am completely fed up with how little space it allows me. Let me know what you think of the new layout (email me or use the Comments option on this post). Recently, I also took out a subscription to Blockbuster's online DVD rental service. I get the first month free of charge and intend to make full use of it. Of course, Lyris and me decided that we just had to see Stitch: The Movie, the cheapquel to Lilo & Stitch. That arrived on Tuesday, and I can gleefully report that it was every bit as bad as I was expecting, with awful animation, an abominable script and not a single redeeming quality. "You won't notice the budgetary cuts," said Tom Schumacher. "You'll see exactly the same movie." Bullshit, Tom. Thank you and fuck off.
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Ti Piace Hitchcock?
[Posted 07:11 PM GMT by Whiggles]
Another review for Argento's Ti Piace Hitchcock? has shown up, this one from Alan Jones.
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The Machinist
[Posted 10:30 PM GMT by Whiggles]
A skeletal Christian Bale stars as a troubled man who hasn't slept for a year. What is the dreadful secret that continues to prey on his mind? I find out in my review of The Machinist, currently on limited release.
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Article on Pixaren't
[Posted 09:56 PM GMT by Whiggles]
Sun Sentinel has a very interesting article focusing on Disney's plans to produce sequels to Pixar's movies after their deal ends next year. It's pretty depressing reading: apparently Toy Story 3 is well into production and involves "the adventures of Buzz after he is recalled to the Taiwan factory where he was built". Sigh.
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Dracula: Prince of Darkness
[Posted 08:11 PM GMT by Whiggles]
Blut für Dracula (Dracula: Prince of Darkness, R2 Germany) arrived this morning -- a great Hammer Horror camp classic for all the family.
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Dario Argento interview
[Posted 08:07 PM GMT by Whiggles]
There is a great interview with Dario Argento about his latest film, the TV-movie Do You Like Hitchcock?, and his upcoming projects, at Dark Dreams.
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Super-fast internet extravaganza
[Posted 08:04 PM GMT by Whiggles]
As of yesterday we are now on 1 Mbit broadband. The upgrade was a free, one-off deal that NTL seem to have purposefully avoided publicizing. Now downloads are super-fast (at least compared to before) and uploads are a bit more palatable. Fun times!
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The Incredibles
[Posted 08:18 PM GMT by Whiggles]
I've reviewed the R2 UK release of The Incredibles, Pixar Animation Studios' sixth consecutive hit, released in an excellent 2-disc set by Buena Vista.
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Fun at the cinema
[Posted 03:19 PM GMT by Whiggles]
Last night me and Lyris went out to dinner and a movie with my good friend Graham, who I hadn't seen for absolutely ages. There was some half-hearted talk of going to see the controversial 9 Songs, which I still have at least a moderate interest in viewing, but the other two vetoed it when I failed to win them over with my lively pitch of the film's complex plot of a couple having sex and going to concerts. We went to see The Machinist instead, which turned out to be a very interesting affair with loads of style, a smart plot that, for once, assumed that the viewer would be smart enough to work out what happened rather than spelling it out, and a great central performance by a skeletal Christian Bale. It did drag a little in the middle, and I was disappointed that the fabulous Jennifer Jason Leigh was under-used, but all in all it was a great film.
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Argento commentaries
[Posted 01:23 AM GMT by Whiggles]
Critic and all-round Argento expert Alan Jones will be recording commentaries for the upcoming US DVD releases of The Bird with the Crystal Plumage, Trauma and The Card Player, says Dark Dreams. This is great news, both because of Alan's in-depth knowledge of all things Argento (he has done set reports for every film since Opera and wrote the excellent book Profondo Argento), and because I've always felt that many of Argento's films were in desperate need for a commentary. As two of the director's more negatively-received films, I'll be very interested to hear what he has to say about Trauma and The Card Player, and The Bird with the Crystal Plumage, for which he teams up with fellow critic Kim Newman, should be fascinating. I'm doing solo commentaries for TRAUMA and THE CARD PLAYER because I covered them from start to finish in production and feel I can do both justice. Asia has been asked to film an interview extra for TRAUMA but her commitments in France (on Sofia Coppola's MARIE ANTOINETTE as Madame Du Barry and the new Catherine Breillat movie) may not make that viable.
I'll be joined on THE BIRD WITH THE CRYSTAL PLUMAGE commentary by my friend and colleague Kim Newman. I thought Kim was a great choice because of his German krimi and giallo literature knowledge. We begin taping in early April.
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DVD debacle
[Posted 07:38 PM GMT by Whiggles]
 
Morvern Callar and Cat People (both R1 USA) arrived this morning. I also went to the dentist to get a filling and now my jaw hurts like hell. Baaaah!
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Positive Hitchcock review
[Posted 06:00 PM GMT by Whiggles]
Esc has posted a largely positive review of Dario Argento's Do You Like Hitchcock? at Dark Discussion. Barring some criticism of the film's TV budget, which was to be expected, it sounds as if Argento has another cracker on his hands. Update, 11:22 pm: Another write-up has appeared at Dark Dreams.
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Specs for US Martino releases
[Posted 10:34 PM GMT by Whiggles]
Source: Mobius The specifications for the two upcoming R1 Sergio Martino releases from NoShame Films have been posted at Mobius: The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh:
- The Strange Vice of Sergio Martino - with director Sergio Martino, producer Luciano Martino, and star George Hilton (30 Mins.)
- Venice Film Festival Screening - with director Sergio Martino (9 Mins)
- Theatrical Trailer The Case of the Scorpion's Tale:
- The Pleasure of Dying: Sergio Martino's Giallo - with director Sergio Martino, producer Luciano Martino, and star George Hilton (30 Mins.)
- Theatrical Trailer
- Poster & Still Galler
- Exclusive Booklet with liner notes and talent bios Sounds like a great pair of releases. I'm also interested to hear that NoShame Films is a company established by Joyce Shen and Michele De Angelis, to former Anchor Bay and Blue Underground employees, so hopefully we can expect the same level of quality that these two studios are known for.
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The Incredibles
[Posted 07:36 PM GMT by Whiggles]
The Incredibles (R2/4 UK) arrived yesterday. I purposefully went for the UK release this time round because of how badly encoded the R1 release of Finding Nemo was, with macro-blocking, softness and edge enhancement a-plenty, and given how good the UK releases of Monsters, Inc. and A Bug's Life were, I made the decision to go with Buena Vista UK, whose track record for Pixar movies is somewhat better than their Transatlantic counterparts. That, and warnings of softness, edge enhancement and compression artefacts in some reviews of the US disc were starting to worry me. I made the right choice. The Incredibles has, hands down, the best digital-to-digital transfer I've ever seen, with an incredible amount of detail, very little edge enhancement, and no compression problems. As Lyris so eloquently put it, "This is the first time I've seen an animated DVD and not been disappointed". At times I've wondered if the often sub-standard DVD transfers we have to put up with have simply been due to the fact that making a good-looking DVD is difficult, but over the last couple of weeks I've been coming to the conclusion that those in charge of DVD image mastering at most studios are simply incompetent (an utterly fantastic-looking standard definition down-conversion of one of the the Windows Media 9 HDTV samples created by Lyris had a major part to play in this - more on that when I get the time to write a decent article on it), and this has sealed the deal: great-looking DVDs that are not a huge step away from high definition are possible, and there is no excuse except complete ineptitude for some of the crappy DVDs flooding the market from supposedly professional companies. Come on, Paramount, Columbia, Warner, Universal, etc: send me your D1 masters and I'll make your DVDs for you. I might even do it for free. I'll certainly do a better job of it than your clowns. The Whiggles.tk list of approved 10/10 DVD transfers: Amelie - Momentum (UK)
Blade - New Line (USA)
A Bug's Life - Buena Vista (UK)
Eyes Without a Face - Criterion (USA)
Hannibal - Columbia Tristar/MGM/Universal (UK)
Monster - Metrodome (UK)
Monsters, Inc. - Buena Vista (UK)
Naked Lunch - Criterion (USA)
Panic Room - Columbia Tristar (UK)
Red Dragon - Universal (USA)
The Rock - Criterion (USA)
Se7en - New Line (USA)
Straw Dogs - Criterion (USA)
Suspiria - Anchor Bay (USA)
Toy Story 2 - Buena Vista (USA)
Underworld Extended Unrated Cut - Columbia Tristar (USA) Out of nearly 350 DVDs, the size of that list can hardly be considered impressive. Studios, YOU CAN DO BETTER.
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Hoorah for the Creative Zen Micro!
[Posted 03:54 PM GMT by Whiggles]
My Creative Zen Micro arrived this morning -- a very nifty little piece of work that is quite a bit smaller than the iPod, although a little thicker. My brother, the owner of an iPod (although not for long, by the sounds of it), only needed to listen to it for about five seconds to tell me that the Zen was vastly superior, which I suppose is good to know, it being that slight bit cheaper and all. I'm currently in the process of copying every single music CD I own on to it, after which I will start on my (sssshhhh!!!) MP3s. Transferring is a pretty slow process, probably because my motherboard only supports USB1 and not USB2 (something I'll hopefully be dealing with this summer), and it took me ages to figure out the software, which to be honest has never been Creative's strongest suit. I should also point out that I'm not a fan of the ultra-sensitive controls, which require you to lightly run your fingers across the up/down arrows to scroll through various options, songs etc. The only problem is that the arrow buttons also function as the "OK" button, meaning that if you touch them too hard, or from the wrong angle, you end up entering the currently selected option rather than scrolling past it. The default sensitivity of Medium was practically impossible to use, and it took me several minutes of trial and error to actually get myself into the menu that let me adjust it to Low, and even that is still extremely delicate. I really wish they would make these things with proper buttons that you actually have to press, rather than this silly newfangled touchpad nonsense. That said, this is a great little tool, and it sure beats burning a new CD every time one gets filled up. It also fits in my pocket much better than that big, bulky, round CD player.
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Review round-up
[Posted 02:53 PM GMT by Whiggles]
La Belle Noiseuse
France: Jacques Rivette, 1991
****/***** A mammoth viewing endeavour and certainly not one for the faint-hearted or easily bored, La Belle Noiseuse is ultimately rewarding, but I must confess that my interest in it came and went at various intervals, and it took me three or four viewings to make it all the way through. Rivette's method of concentrating on the artist's drawings rather than the actual nude figure of Emmanuelle Béart is inspired, and the performances have a genuine believability to them. IMDB reference
La Commare Secca
Italy: Bernardo Bertolucci, 1962
***½/*****
Intriguing if flawed directorial debut for Bertolucci. In his attempt to accurately capture true life on the streets of Rome, he creates a film that, while at times pedestrian, consistently has an air of reality to it. Bertolucci's use of the camera is extremely creative, and the subjective storytelling, which covers the same event from multiple points of view, all with their own little lies and half-truths, is well-handled. IMDB reference
Proof of Life
USA: Taylor Hackford, 2000
***/*****
Decently-made if generic thriller starring Meg Ryan and Russell Crowe. It's mostly predictable and no-one seems to be really stretching themselves, but it's gripping for the most part and the performances are decent. IMDB reference
Sex: The Annabel Chong Story
USA: Gough Lewis, 1999
***/*****
A remarkably candid look at the life of Annabel Chong, the porn star who featured in "the world's largest gang-bang". The documentary's grander pretentions are fairly shallow and not very well thought-out, as is Chong's supposed educational justification for carrying out the gang-bang experiment, but it is definitely interesting viewing and manages to be quite hard-hitting, particularly in the second half of the film, where we see the effect that Chong's "immorality" has on her relationship with her family. IMDB reference
Showgirls
USA/France: Paul Verhoeven, 1995
**/*****
"I like having nice tits." Genius, sheer genius. People can claim all they like that Showgirls has no redeeming qualities, but I strongly disagree with them. Quite apart from the unbelievable laugh-out-loud camp nature of the script and performances, the art direction is great, filled with fantastic colourful lighting and gratuitous use of smoke flares. The whole thing makes pretty much zero sense and can't ever hope to be taken seriously, but it's an absolute laugh-riot and had me riveted for its entire duration. That's got to count for something, right? Oh, and that gyrating-in-the-pool scene genuinely deserves its cult classic status. IMDB reference
The Last Temptation of Christ
USA: Martin Scorsese, 1988
***½/***** Well, it's a sight better than Gibson's SplatterChrist, I'll say that much, but even so it's a bit too drawn-out, and I must confess that the story doesn't really thrill me. Still, at least Scorsese made Jesus a three-dimensional character with flaws, unlike Gibson, who merely portrayed him as the cinematic equivalent of a punch-bag. Scorsese's film is about a guy with real issues who may or may not be the messiah (it is to Scorsese's credit that, despite apparently being a devout Catholic, he doesn't force it one way or the other - Jesus could easily just have been deluded), whereas Gibson's is about a poor guy getting seven shades of shit kicked out of him for two and a half hours. Neither are really my cup of tea, but I know which I prefer. PS. Kudos to those involved for having the balls to alter the Jesus story to make it work better. IMDB reference
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Uncut Kill Bill coming to the rest of the world
[Posted 01:20 AM GMT by Whiggles]
Source: The Quentin Tarantino Archives Quentin Tarantino has stated that a full-length version of Kill Bill, joining Volumes 1 and 2 together and featuring the Japanese version of Volume 1, will be coming in the near future, first to cinemas (with an intermission in the middle) and then to DVD. Bring it on, Mr. Q! He told The Sun: "It will be Kill Bill the Japanese version - the four hour movie all together with an intermission in the middle. It will probably be the first release from Miramax's new company, first at cinemas and then on DVD. It will also probably get a higher age rating. We had to cut it when Miramax was part of Disney but now we can do whatever the fuck we want."
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The end of an era
[Posted 10:10 PM GMT by Whiggles]
Today I had my last ever university lecture. I expected it to feel a bit weird - after all, to some extent it's the end of what has been my life for the last four years - but to be honest it felt like any other day in the dreaded West End. Obviously I'll see my buddies again at exams and then at that idiotic and embarrassing rigmarole known as a graduation, and I shall certainly keep in touch with some of them, but this was, to use a sad cliché, the end of an era. Boo hiss.
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Showgirls - misunderstood?
[Posted 09:33 PM GMT by Whiggles]
Showgirls was on Channel 4 last night, and I actually sat down and watched it. I can't help thinking that it's been unfairly maligned. Yes, on a certain level it's bad, but it's no worse than the vast majority of Hollywood action movies. Like the latest Jerry Bruckheimer vehicle, it's filled with bad acting, attrocious writing, gratuitous pornography (of the sexual kind rather than the violent kind) and colourful cinematography. It amuses me that US audiences generally didn't tolerate this vut accept the likes of Pearl Harbor and Independence Day, which are really not any different. I guess it just shows the difference between the American and European mentality, which to some extent applies to Paul Verhoeven's filmography in a wider sense. While many Americans dismissed Starship Troopers as mindless garbage, a significant number of European filmgoers saw it as a satire of America's gung-ho "blow stuff up, ask questions later" mentality, and while I'm not convinced that this extends to Showgirls (which, let's face it, has about as much going on beneath the surface as your average bleached-blonde lap-dancer), I do think it points to double standards. Bad action movie = A-OK, bad smut movie = shit? I don't think so. **/*****
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Religion test
[Posted 09:56 PM GMT by Whiggles]
Fun stuff Answer the 54 questions and find out which religion suits you best.
 | You scored as atheism.
You are... an atheist, though you probably already knew this. Also, you probably have several people praying daily for your soul.
Instead of simply being "nonreligious," atheists strongly believe in the lack of existence of a higher being, or God.
atheism | | 88% | Satanism | | 79% | agnosticism | | 58% | Paganism | | 54% | Buddhism | | 50% | Islam | | 38% | Judaism | | 21% | Hinduism | | 17% | Christianity | | 13% |
Which religion is the right one for you? (new version)
created with QuizFarm.com |
No surprises there, then. Personally I'm a little irked that they class atheism as a religion, however.
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New Scandinavian Argentos
[Posted 07:13 PM GMT by Whiggles]
Milius has posted the very impressive cover art for the recently-released Scandinavian Argento DVD releases over at Dark Discussion.
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Yo!
[Posted 06:59 PM GMT by Whiggles]
Hey, everybody. It's been some time since I last posted here. I've been putting the finishing touches to a Computing project that, when all said and done, was worth a pitiful amount of credit (25% of one paper, which, considering there are eight papers, makes it worth slightly over 3% of my degree). Still, it's in the can now, and I can put that stage behind me. Tomorrow I have my last ever lecture, after which I'll be getting full into revision which, let me tell you, is going to take some time. This afternoon, I took some time out to order myself a Creative Zen Micro. It's like an iPod Mini, only (supposedly) a bit better, with increased hard drive capacity, a built-in FM radio tuner, and some other useful utilities, like the ability to play random tracks and sync with Microsoft Outlook contacts and tasks (hmmm, might have to start using Outlook again). I managed to get it at GoAudio for only £137.95 including shipping and VAT. I guess it's as good a way as any to blow my final student loan installment. Oh yeah, and The Incredibles (R2 UK) has been dispatched. Unfortunately, it looks as if no region will be getting DTS this time round. A shame.
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DVD debacle
[Posted 03:02 PM GMT by Whiggles]
 
Yesterday, The Evil Dead Trilogy (R2 UK) arrived, and this morning What Have They Done to Your DaughterS? (R0 UK), which I bought on eBay, showed up. I've also added an "upcoming must-have titles" section to the DVDs page, as well as entries for all the DVDs I have ordered or pre-ordered.
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New Aimee Mann CD coming soon
[Posted 01:22 PM GMT by Whiggles]
Head over to Aimee Mann's web site and you can see details of her upcoming album, to be released May 3rd. The Forgotten Arm is described as "the musical equivalent of a novella", a 12-track album telling the story of a couple who fall in love and go on a road trip across America. If you pre-order the CD at MusicToday (as I have done), you get a free oversized 32-page book.
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Exams
[Posted 07:43 PM GMT by Whiggles]
After many delays, I finally got my exam timetable a couple of days ago, and it's not a pretty sight: Grammars - Wed 13 April, 9.30-12.30
Sociolinguistics - Fri 15 April, 9.30-12.30
Written Text - Mon 18 April, 9.30-12.30
Semantics - Wed 20 April, 9.30-12.30
Pragmatics - Thur 21 April, 14.30-17.30
Phonetics II - Tue 3 May, 14.30-17.30
Computing - Fri 6 May, 9.30-12.30 This essentially means that I have only slightly over a month before my first exam, so I'm really going to have to get my head down and start working. I'll try to update the site as much as possible (god knows I'll be needing something to distract me), but I can't promise anything. All said and done, though, in less than two months I'll be shot of the whole lot and will then have a nice long summer holiday to relax, and will hopefully begin my Film Studies MPhil after that.
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Blue Underground releases updates
[Posted 05:34 PM GMT by Whiggles]
Sources:
- 10K Bullets
- Mobius Blue Underground have finally updated their list of upcoming attractions, several of which look really interesting. Fire and Ice (Ralph Bakshi)
The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (Dario Argento) 2-disc special edition
The Fifth Cord (Luigi Bazzoni)
Forbidden Photos of a Lady Above Suspicion (Luciano Ercoli)
The Pyjama Girl Case (Flavio Mogherini)
Seven Deaths in the Cat's Eye (Antonio Margheriti)
Strip Nude for your Killer (Andrea Bianchi) This last five titles will, I assume, all be included in The Giallo Collection Vol. 2, while The Bird with the Crystal Plumage seems to have been pulled so that it can be released separately as a 2-disc special edition. Fun times! Now all we need are some release dates.
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Review round-up
[Posted 03:32 PM GMT by Whiggles]
About time I did another round-up.
The Boys from Brazil
**½/*****
UK/USA: Franklin J. Schaffner, 1978
Meh. I've seen worse films, but this just didn't take my fancy, despite the deceptively interesting premise (based on an Ira Levin novel) of a Nazi hiding out in South America using Hitler's DNA to create an army of killers. Laurence Olivier and Gregory Beck put in decent performances, although both are poorly used, and Steve Guttenberg terrifies us all in the role of an amateur Nazi-hunter.
The Evil Dead
****/*****
USA: Sam Raimi, 1981
Sam Raimi's masterpiece of low budget terror and gore is an incredible piece of work, not least because of its ability to turn on a dime from being laugh-out-loud funny to being genuinely unsettling. The actors are, for the most part, pretty bad, but the photography and mood of the piece is extraordinary. A must-see.
Gently Before She Dies
***/*****
Italy: Sergio Martino, 1972
Interesting but often boring giallo from Sergio Martino with vague ties to Edgar Allan Poe's The Black Cat. It's nice to see Edwige Fenech as a full-blown active protagonist rather than being restricted to the usual victim role, but the script is weak and often merely saunters from scene to scene without any sense of progression.
The Idiots
****/*****
Denmark: Lars Von Trier, 1998
I thought this was a very impressive piece of work, well worth staying up to 2.15 am for, despite the fact that this resulted in less than six hours' sleep. I was really impressed with the way they managed to capture a faux cinéma verité look and feel. I'm not ultimately convinced that Lars Von Trier had any particularly worthwhile social message to put forward, but it was bitingly funny in places (in an "I shouldn't be laughing at this but I am" way) and surprisingly touching in others.
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
*****/*****
USA: Tobe Hooper, 1974
What's interesting about The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is that, despite being the subject of vast amounts of media attention and exaggerated controversy, and despite some questionable acting, this remains a damn disturbing piece of work. It doesn't really get going until around half-way through, but looking back I don't think I would have cut anything from the lead-up to the massacre. Although none of her co-stars are really anything to write home about, Marilyn Burns' performance is quite incredible, and seems disturbingly real at times (you can genuinely see the terror in her eyes during the infamous dinner-table scene). The cheap film stock, missing frames and jarring audio cuts just add to the atmosphere, giving the disturbing impression that what we're watching is a piece of documentary footage rather than a piece of fiction. Well worth seeing, although I suspect that its infamous reputation may make it at least partially disappointing for some viewers.
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World of Warcraft
[Posted 06:53 PM GMT by Whiggles]
I've cancelled my account. There, I've done it. I'm sorry to do this -- it is indeed a good game once you get into it -- but with the servers in the state that they are at the moment, there's no way I can justify spending $15 a month on something that seems to be constantly plagued by server crashes, "emergency maintenance", glitches and latency. Maybe in a few months' time, if/when they get their act together, I'll consider subscribing for a month, but not if it continues to be the way it is just now. I'm sorry, Blizzard, but this isn't Diablo II with its free servers: people are actually paying by the month so that you can supposedly maintain a decent service. Funny that we can't expect 100% up-time, but they still expect 100% of our money.
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The Idiots
[Posted 03:12 PM GMT by Whiggles]
Channel 4 continued their taboo-breaking TV season last night with a screening of Lars Von Trier's The Idiots, the second film of the DOGME 95 manifesto and a truly bizarre piece of work involving several members of the bourgeoisie pretending to be mentally handicapped. I was really impressed with the way they managed to capture a faux cinéma verité look and feel, and while I'm not ultimately convinced that Von Trier had any particularly worthwhile social message to put forward, it was bitingly funny in places (in an "I shouldn't be laughing at this but I am" way) and surprisingly touching in others. I think it would be quite fun to be an Idiot for the day.
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Dream recall
[Posted 03:09 PM GMT by Whiggles]
The other day, Lyris and me were, for some reason, watching BBC News 24, on which they were doing some sort of round-up of interesting web sites. None of them were, in fact, remotely interesting, apart from one: The Dreams Foundation. I have a funny relationship with dreams. Until the age of about 14, which is round about the age at which I decided I didn't believe in gods, I had all sorts of weird, vivid dreams, some of them very scary indeed. Often I would have the same dream for several nights in a row. I loved dreams. The best part was always when I found myself in some sort of terrifying predicament, only to suddenly realize that it was only a dream and that I was perfectly safe. These dreams fuelled my imagination, you might say. Then, unfortunately, everything suddenly changed. I stopped dreaming vividly, and my ability to remember my dreams all but disappeared. One per month seemed to be my new standard. Oddly enough, I strongly suspect that, when I opened my eyes to the reality of atheism (not the best way of wording it, I know, it makes me sound as bad as a born-again Christian), my newly rational outlook on life meant that my dreams were no longer as imaginative and fulfilling. Now I want to change this. The Dreams Foundation web site has a number of strategies for dream recall, and I must say that the results have been quite impressive. Basically, as soon as I wake up I need to scribble down whatever I dreamed about. Easier said than done, of course, because my mind is usually completely blank when I wake up. However, on Monday morning, I leapt out of bed with a fairly vivid, if mundane, dream in my head - involving me going to visit the dentist, who turned out to be the Deputy Headteacher from my school (which, I guess, probably clues you into the way in which we perceived this jolly fellow) - and this morning, one suddenly came back to me while I was on the bus. It was an even more bizarre affair, involving us taking a trip to New York, and discovering that Niagara Falls was outside the airport. The waterfall was all blocky like an old video game, something I remarked upon. No-one was particularly impressed by my observation: I think my dad told me to stop complaining and my brother told me I'd made up my mind to hate it before I even saw it. Quaint. I was hoping to dream about being one of Lars Von Trier's Idiots (see next post), but I guess I'll just have to settle for blocky waterfalls.
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American Dad... dear lord
[Posted 02:44 PM GMT by Whiggles]
Yesterday my brother received a package in the mail, all the way from the land of Canada. It included, among other things, a VHS of the first episode of American Dad!, the new show created by Seth MacFarlane, the man behind Family Guy. To put things into perspective, I am not the world's biggest Family Guy fan -- I detest the lazy "let's slap some basic shapes on the screen and move their lips" visual style and find a number of the gimmicks, namely the over-use of flashbacks and gags that are played out to the point of monotony, annoying -- but I do think it can be absolutely hilarious at times, and I definitely think that the third (or is it second?) season was a massive step up from what came before it. So please bear in mind that these comments are coming from a guy who doesn't think the sun shines out of Peter Griffin's ass. American Dad! was embarrassing. Painfully embarrassing. Not only is the show uglier than Family Guy (an accolade I had previously reserved for King of the Hill), this pilot episode contained none of the wit of even the weakest episodes of Family Guy. Seriously, I think I laughed three times during the 22-minute show, and those were more forced chuckles than genuine cackling. The characters seem bland and the targets too easy (Look - the dad's a right-wing gun nut and the daughter's a left-wing liberal looney and the son's a skinny little dork who doesn't realize he's a skinny little dork! How hi-lay-ree-us!), and perhaps most bafflingly of all, virtually every character has an exact doppelganger on Family Guy. It's as if they took that show and slightly tweaked the various characters in different directions, but somewhere along the line they forgot to give this new show a voice of its own. It's early days, I guess, and it will hopefully improve as it continues and the writers get more used to writing these characters (I have absolutely zero hope for the visuals improving -- seriously, it looks like a fucking grade-schooler drew it), but this was a seriously disappointing episode, and I would have thought they would have picked something slightly stronger to premiere the series with... unless that was their strongest episode, in which case god help us. Lyris felt that this pilot was superior to the Family Guy pilot (which was pretty bad too), but in my opinion this is far worse. The strangest thing for it is that there's no excuse for it: the pilot was written by creators Seth McFarlane, Mike Barker and Matt Weitzman, who were all Family Guy veterans and should know how to make funny gags and string together a half-decent storyline. I just don't get it. Perhaps "dysfunctional family" animated sitcoms have been played out -- gee, wouldn't it be great if the networks would commission an original show that didn't involve a fightin', feudin', fucked-up family who love each other deep down? Oh yeah, I forgot, there's about as much chance of pigs flying. I did, however, notice the name of Dan Vebber in the opening credits. He wrote for Futurama (one of the few animated sitcoms that didn't fall prey to the "dysfunctional family" paradigm) and also wrote the funniest episodes of Buffy's third season, so maybe there's hope for the show yet.
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The Forgotten
[Posted 01:36 PM GMT by Whiggles]
I've reviewed the R1 US release of The Forgotten, a beautiful but bland supernatural thriller starring Julianne Moore.
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The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie
[Posted 11:13 AM GMT by Whiggles]
Ahoy, me hearties! I've reviewed the R1 release of The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, a completely idiotic but highly enjoyable comedy romp featuring the world's favourite animated sea sponge, released on a decent if extras-lacking DVD by Paramount.
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I hate... updated
[Posted 04:47 PM GMT by Whiggles]
Man, I haven't updated the I Hate... page in ages. I guess I've been feeling very mellow lately. Anyway, head over right now and find out why I hate mobile phones.
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The Third Mother delayed?
[Posted 04:19 PM GMT by Whiggles]
Source: Dark Dreams Sounds as if Dario Argento's upcoming The Third Mother has been shunted around in his "to-do" list, as he now intends to direct a 60-minute film for an upcoming "Masters of Horror" series for Anchor Bay, to be shot in the US and Canada in April. He says he hopes to start The Third Mother after this, and alludes to the possibility of using CGI effects (not sure how I feel about that) while keeping a similar look to Suspiria and Inferno. I just hope we don't have too long to wait.
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Channel 4 launches "banned" season
[Posted 10:57 AM GMT by Whiggles]
Sources:
- Melon Farmers
- Channel 4 Channel 4, a.k.a. the only channel worth watching, tonight kicks off its look at material that was banned or that people tried to ban, beginning with X-Rated: The TV They Tried to Ban, followed by an uncut screening of Sam Raimi's The Evil Dead (now available to all, but banned in the 1980s). People on both sides of the fence will be interviewed, including the thugs of MediaWatch UK, the organization founded by the now-dead Mary Whitehouse, as well as people who have been trampled by the jackboots of censorship. Future programmes will cover films and TV commercials that were banned or nearly banned, as well as screenings of previously-banned or controversial films like The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, The Last Temptation of Christ and A Clockwork Orange. E4 will also be showing a rather interesting-sounding programme called Fuck the Watershed. I'll certainly be tuning in.
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Shopping spree
[Posted 11:39 AM GMT by Whiggles]
 
Yesterday, after university and on the way to my wonderfully stimulating job at the library, I decided to peruse Fopp, the nearby music and movie store, and fritter away some of my hard-earned cash. I picked up the recently released UK version of OldBoy, which features English subtitles for the (mainly Korean) extras (you can bid on my Korean "Final Edition" on eBay), as well as Touch, Sarah McLachlan's first album (meaning that I now have her entire collection of releases, barring the singles and a bizarre remix disc).
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Fun with Paris
[Posted 11:09 AM GMT by Whiggles]
Have you all heard about Paris Hilton's cellphone being hacked??!! LOL!!!11~ How wacky!!! Well, now you can enjoy some of the wackiness yourselves thanks to Liquid Generation's amazing and quite unbelievable reproduction of the Hilton phone! You can chat with Eminem and Ashlee Simpson, watch the famous "sex tape", check out the calendar, and even receive voice messages from Donald Trump and one of the Olsen twins (I forget which one)!!!11~ Have fun, and don't knock yourselves out!!!11~
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New Warcraft III patch
[Posted 09:35 PM GMT by Whiggles]
Blizzard has released patch 1.18 for Warcraft III and its expansion, The Frozen Throne. Click here for a list of changes, and click here for connect directly to Battle.net to download.
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Brad Bird interview
[Posted 06:21 PM GMT by Whiggles]
Michael Barrier has posted an excellent interview with The Incredibles director Brad Bird, discussing its recent win of Best Animated Feature at the Oscars, as well as general problems with this particular category. A most interesting read.
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