Thoughts on a Couple of Things

• Seeing as Halloween is coming up this week, I wanted to post my thoughts on Let the Right One In. I want to share in the enthusiasm everyone else seems to have for the movie, and I think I might on second viewing. The leads were incredibly compelling, the film was impeccably shot, and it had a vein of pitch-black humor to it that I loved. Here's the problem: I saw it at NY's Two Boots Pioneer Theater during a free screening. Free screenings are themselves fraught with the myriad perils of urban life - odd crowds that are a mix of the young, the film savvy, and the mentally ill; raucaous noise makers who act like they've never been anywhere before; and that unique combination of crampedness while still feeling like you can't see the screen. But these don't harm the viewing of a film too much - no, what hurts the experience is seeing a highly-anticipated movie with the reels arranged out of order. So yeah, I MIGHT really, really like the movie, but I don't feel comfortable jumping on the "masterpiece" bandwagon until I see it from end to end.
  

• Is anyone besides me kind of bummed at the lack of decent horror releases for this Halloween? The Saw movies? Not my thing. Sorry. Won't even link to them, don't begrudge anyone who likes them. Let the Right One In is a subtitled limited release, and even the list of new stuff on DVD is 2 year-old J- and K-horror films or some boring gore and no guts domestic releases. Fears of the Dark had me pretty excited but I'm going to miss it this weekend with all of my running around, PLUS it's not something the majority of the country will get a chance to see. We need a horror renaissance, people.
  

• I've been wading through the Howard the Duck Omnibus and the more I read the 1000 page brick, the closer I get to psyching myself up to write my exhaustive piece about famous ducks. Yeah, that's right, I have a famous ducks article in me. Wanna make something of it? (Seriously, I need to finish the couple of pieces about John Carpenter) So yeah, expect a bunch of stuff about anthropomorphic ducks in the near future.

• You know WHY it's taking so long to finish anything? Because between getting married in 4 days and changing up my position at Longtail, something awesome comes out every week. Seriously, it's an embarrassment of riches out there.
  

• My friend Jarreau deserves props for being one week away from a full year of Wolverine Wednesdays. Head on over to his site and check out 51 flavors of Logan.
  

• Short review of W: Josh Brolin and Jeffrey Wright carry what is for the most part a tonally inconsistent film. It wasn't exactly bad, but perhaps the rush to evaluate an unfinished presidency hurt the film since the story is essentially not over.*
  

• Vote. Seriously, don't assume Obama's going to win just because he's got the hype machine behind him. Elections still get stolen, the law still gets used to disenfranchise the poor and minorites.

* But I'm willing to let Fincher's Zodiac slide on the same point because it seemed to paint a clearer portrait of an era and was about the obsession and the questions if not necessarily finding the answers that all of his characters were looking for.

They Rocked Even When the Man Cut Their Power

My favorite bit from this article is the nod to the band leading the crowd in an acapella rendition of Bulls on Parade.

EDIT - Now with Tom Morello Guitar-free video:

Wherein the Cops Kick Your Ass for the RNC

I just saw this article (thanks MGK) and wondered - is this what the RNC wants to be known for? If McCain and the GOP are the party committed to spreading freedom, why don't we gave any Republicans on one of the major news outlets calling shenanigans on the Minneapolis police?


For that matter, where are the Democrats in all of this? After a rousing convention last week, one that saw the party energized and ready to take all comers in the next 60+ days, why aren't they out in front, challenging an agregious abuse of power in the city where the opposition is holding a Grand Old Party?

For that matter, how can we as individuals make more noise about this kind of thing? Look, no one is going to accuse me of being pro-hippy (frankly, I don't care for the sound of Jerry Berry and patchouli just smells awful to me). But I'll be damned if any segment of this society should be denied not only the right to protest but the right to plan to protest.

I'm not going to get all Orwellian doom and gloom now, but maybe it's about time that we do (get all doom-y and gloom-y, that is). As long as the press at large - the major media outlets - continue to refuse to dig deeper and confront the abuses of power, the closer we get to the future of the Demolition Man, where Taco Bell vies for supremacy as the main dietary staple, no one is allowed to cuss and Sandra Bullock is still a viable star.

We should be able to gather and say no to our leaders and we should damn well be able to gather and say no to our potential leaders. So anyone out there reading this - say something, post it on your own blog, link back to the original story - but most importantly just do something and show that you want the future to be more than a boot on your neck.

Until then, I'll be watching closely to see how the Minnesota authorities handles this group of known troublemakers later this week.

Audi,
Charles

"Look How Far We Done Came"

In light of last night's tremendous oratory...



Kanye West - Good Morning
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