The Wire should be never be made, it's too good

I watch zero network television aside from Boomtown every so often. The Daily Show gets my daily attention. Then Six Feet Under and The Wire round out my TV viewing. Boomtown and Six Feet Under could go away and I’d be fine. As many critics have observed The Wire is more novel like with it’s slow deliberate pace, and large cast of characters (65 if the promo is correct). Dickensian comes up a few times in reviews.

Matt's Missed out Movie Festival

Ten movies that played at the Angelika in the past two years but were missed by most folks.

• The BelieverThe Believer- BullyBully- City of GodCity of God- George WashingtonGeorge Washington- Hedwig and the Angry InchHedwig and the Angry Inch- The Devil’s BackboneThe Devil’s Backbone- L.I.E.L.I.E.- Maelstr�mMaelstr�m- No Man’s LandNo Man’s Land- 24 Hour Party People24 Hour Party People- The BelieverThe Believer- BullyBully- City of GodCity of God- George WashingtonGeorge Washington- Hedwig and the Angry InchHedwig and the Angry Inch- The Devil’s BackboneThe Devil’s Backbone- L.I.E.L.I.E.- Maelstr�mMaelstr�m- No Man’s LandNo Man’s Land- 24 Hour Party People24 Hour Party People
  
  
  The Believer won the 2001 Sundance Jury Prize but they seem to be the only folks who saw it. Even people who don’t like Larry Clark thought Bully was outstanding. (Based on a book written by Dallas Observer writer Jim Schutze). Ebert compared City of God to Good Fellas and said first time director, Fernando Meirelles, is a name to remember. George Washington was David Gordon Green’s freshman effort and was snatched up by Criterion, a rare honor for an indie American film maker. The Devil’s Backbone was overshadowed by Guillermo del Toro’s other movie that year the inferior Blade II. Despite directing an episode of Six Feet Under, Michael Cuesta remains an unknown even after L.I.E. Marie-Jos�e Croze just won at Best Actress at Cannes but those who saw her Genie award winning performance in Maelstr�m were already won over. No Man’s Land beat out the amazing Amelie for Best Foreign Language picture at the Oscars but I don’t know many people who have seen it. Michael Winterbottom and Michael Haneke are the most provocative and exciting directors in movies today. So I had to check out Michael Winterbottom’s latest 24 Hour Party People when it came out and it was one of my favorites for last year. Listening: The Water - John Ottman

Game 7 baby

The Devils won their third cup and sent the Ducks flying home. I think they’re both great teams, but I was pulling for the Ducks. I was hoping to see favorites of mine like J.S. Giguere, Steve Thomas and Ruslan Salei come home with the cup. Despite being on the losing team J.S. heads home with the Conn Smythe (MVP). I don’t think anyone will forget Anaheim coming in as the #7 seed in the West and knocking out the #2 (Detroit) and #1 (Dallas) seeds in the first two rounds and the other Cinderella team, the Minnesota Wild, in the conference finals.

MILF Hunters

The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) really should google their name. Listening: (none)

I didn't believe Gulf War

I didn’t believe Gulf War II was about oil. I thought it would be much cheaper to just buy it from Saddam rather than take over his country. Last week Paul Wolfowitz in a Vanity Fair interview suggested the WMD excuse was just a bureaucratic expediency and not the real reason. Then this week Paul Wolfowitz delivers a speech at an Asian Security Conference and says:

Look, the primarily difference – to put it a little too simply – between North Korea and Iraq is that we had virtually no economic options with Iraq because the country floats on a sea of oil.

Read more...

Dismemberment Plan enacts plan

I saw my last D Plan show this saturday, well unless I go to DC July 28th for the last show of the farewell tour. It was a great all request thing. It was sort of funny watching them play musical chairs with their instruments as people requested songs with different instruments. At one point Travis, the lead singer/guitarist, said the audience would have to do a little work as well and try and group songs with similar instruments together. An appeal that was largely unheeded. Towards the end of the show when everyone gets to go up on stage with them they had the largest group I’ve seen on stage yet, I’d guess 30 or so people. It’s kind of impressive to watch them play the song as people are hugging them and they are posing for pictures with fans.

I'm really happy that Eric

I’m really happy that Eric Rudolph has been caught. He was the only name on the FBI’s top ten list I ever remembered and the one that I always hoped they would catch. Alabama is gearing up to prosecute him before Georgia and this sort of worries me. Considering the strong religious convictions of people in Birmingham, Alabama that support Rudolph’s beliefs but not necessarily his actions I have this fear that he’ll basically walk and the case will be munged. I have more hope that Atlanta would do a better, more thorough job.

28 Days Later...

I just got back from a preview of 28 Days Later, the new Danny Boyle (Trainspotting, Shallow Grave) movie. I went in with few expectations other than “low budget zombie movie.” I really enjoyed it. I’d like to see it again when it comes out.

What I found particularly stunning is the look of the film. While The Beach was full of color and the clich�d view of paradise 28 Days Later goes in practically the opposite direction. The colors are frequently washed out, and the picture feels like television enlarged for the big screen. A conceit that seems to tie the movie together with the opening sequence. There are a handful of scenes where the scenery is clearly digitally manipulated, For example a patch of flowers look like they’ve been rendered as oil pantings in photoshop. Thankfully it’s sparingly used which is why I think it worked so well to help create a different world. In particular I liked the way fire was shown. The fires seem too vivid for the camera at times so they pixelate in neat ways. For me, all these things really added to the sensation that I was a roving reporter with a cheap digital video camera capturing the last moments of human civilization.

Top Public High Schools Weird.

Top Public High Schools

Weird. Alabama School of Fine Arts in Birmingham is the #4 high school in the nation using this Challenge Index scheme, which uses AP and IB scores. 8 out of the top 10 high schools in the nation are in the Southeast (although only 4 in The South). The 737 high schools on the list represent the top four percent of all American high schools. Color me surprised to see my high school make the list at 640. Listening: Endless - Bozzio Levin Stevens Feeling: surprised

Everything is a titanic struggle.

Everything is a titanic struggle. Reading books, listening to music even watching movies puts a strain on my brain. I can’t piece things together like I used to. I can’t manage my responsibilities. Paying a cell phone bill seems inordinately complex, and it’s not due now anyways. I’m alone except for Gracie and her presence weighs on me. She’s just a beagle but I feel like I’m under some kind of pressure to keep her alive. She follows me everywhere around the house. The action I put the most thought into is guessing when I might run into someone else and how to avoid them.