Friday Unrelated Information

1. I know I can't do anything about it, but the more children there are in those family stick figure cartoons on cars, the more they irritate me. That's why I loved today's xkcd comic (click to enlarge):

2. It's Labor Day on Monday and you know that means I'll be watching Picnic. I won't post anything on the holiday, but be sure to celebrate the last day of summer, listen to "Moonglow," and go cause a scandal in your small town.

In Which I Go To Sundance And Get A New Imaginary Boyfriend

Despite being a native Utahan, I've never been to Sundance (I've never been downhill skiing, either). But a friend had an extra ticket this year, so last night I got to see The Ledge. It was a thriller/love story/exploration of faith and it was really good--but I liked the Q&A with the writer/director Matthew Chapman most of all.

You can get a taste of him in the video linked to above, but he was just so smart and insightful and logical, talking about how the world needs "mercy more than condemnation." Sigh--rational humanists do it for me every time.

Also, if you want to stick out at Sundance, just wear a color. Especially and orange coat.

I Know It's Called "Before," But A Lot Of "After" Was Left Out

I finally watched Coco Before Chanel last night and it was about what I expected: More romance than fashion, with lots of montages. It started out pretty well but ended with Chanel being reflected in endless mirrors while models who were 2010-skinny put on a fashion show. I know there was more to the "after" of her career than that.

I enjoyed that the film's first half presented her as so cynical about love...until "the love of her life" died and the penultimate montage made it seem like she spent the rest of her life mourning him. (What about Stravinsky? Or that German officer she met in WWII? Talk about a pretext for a film.)

But it was enjoyable, if only to see some sewing and fabric on film. My favorite part was near the end, when she unrolled a bolt of powder-pink boucle suiting in that same "my lover is dead and I'm sewing through my grief" montage. I want some of that boucle!

Third Time's The Charm

My work friend and I are going to try one last time to see Sherlock Holmes in a theater tonight, so wish us luck.

And since I'm talking about movies, check out the gallery of movie posters "if they were honest." I really love the one for UP:

Maybe The Universe Is Telling Me I'd Really Hate This Movie And, Therefore, Doing Me A Favor

I tried to go to the Sherlock Holmes movie at Brewvies again last night (a week after my work friend and I got to see five minutes of it before the film broke) and, as you might guess from the title of this, no deal. When I had checked the schedule online Monday night there was an 8:00 showing, but when we got to the theater it had been pushed back to 9:30 to accommodate a special event for Engineers Without Borders.

Dammit, Brewvies, as much as I want to continue liking you, you're making it really difficult. You should probably consider hiring projectionists who aren't so stoned they put the film in wrong. Perhaps updating your website a little sooner than the day of an event would be a good idea, too. (And universe, I know the film is in no way faithful to the Conan Doyle stories, but I really like Robert Downey, Jr. And now this has become a challenge.)

Like Christmas Morning

Last week started looking up when I discovered nearly 30 full-length Mystery Science Theater 3000 episodes on Google Video*. Thirty of them! That I don't have to wait to arrive via Netflix!

Over the weekend I was finally able to see Space Mutiny, featuring the many nicknames of the hero (seriously, watch it):


And I watched Final Sacrifice, featuring the sidekick...ROWSDOWER:


I love this show so much. Toby is affronted by my laughter in the evenings.

How Little We Know

You can't binge on Humphrey Bogart movies without running into Lauren Bacall. Here she is singing "How Little We Know" from To Have and Have Not.



That dress kind of makes me want to try a pattern from the 40's. Usually I avoid that era because older patterns=sparser directions, and I've never cared for that strong shoulder. But all these old movies are making me reconsider.

Capable

I've been watching a lot of Humphrey Bogart movies lately (Sabrina, To Have and Have Not, The Big Sleep, Key Largo, The Maltese Falcon), and when my mom called last week and I was watching another one, she said, "I don't think he's that handsome, really."

And I said, "No, but he seems so capable."

Summer Blockbusters

We're going to see Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen tonight, and while I don't have high expectations of it, just yesterday I found a priceless review by Roger Ebert that makes me think it's going to be pretty bad:

"If you want to save yourself the ticket price, go into the kitchen, cue up a male choir singing the music of hell, and get a kid to start banging pots and pans together. Then close your eyes and use your imagination."

"The music of hell"? Roger Ebert, you are a treasure. I will think of your review tonight in the theater and probably laugh in inappropriate moments.

And speaking of movies: This site is genius. Genius! Why has no one thought of this before?

Let's Talk About The Twilight Movie

This movie made it onto the Netflix queue because I was considering the books for trashy summer reading (along with Anne McCaffery and some Ian Fleming) and I thought the movie might give me an idea of how bad the books might be.

And let me tell you, it was bad. Not so much bad dialogue, or a bad plot (well...), but bad for teen girls all over America: How did a book that teaches you that it's ok to throw all your love at someone who will hurt you--who might even kill you--become a worldwide bestselling romance? Because in real life the person you're throwing your love at isn't a sparkly vampire; he's just going to give you a broken arm. Or worse.

So I don't think I need to read the books--I'll spare myself that frustration (and spare Mr. Isbell the rants about women perpetuating these behavior patterns). (Seriously, Woman Author and Women Director and Producers? You think that because a secondary character asks a boy to prom that this makes your book/movie modern and empowering? Wow.)

The movie ended with a Radiohead song, though. I didn't see that coming.

Dickensian

I've been watching a BBC miniseries version of Bleak House this week (yes, I got it for the title) and it's awesome. I don't have a lot of patience with reading Dickens, but watching it is great. According to Wikipedia, Bleak House is "held to be one of Dickens's finest and most complete novels, containing one of the most vast, complex and engaging arrays of minor characters and sub-plots in his entire canon." After just the first two installments, there's already been a Mr. Krook, the bad landlord, a Miss Flite, the crazy bird lady, and someone named Mr. Guppy. And a minor character will die of spontaneous human combustion! Really, what more could one ask for in a miniseries?