"Kent, Ohio, for Peace"

Military student gets in a world of trouble for hanging a peace poster on campus.


http://www.socialistworker.org/2005-2/565/565_02_HandsOffDave.shtml

Capitalism is feudalism's arrogant son.

Investigation

If you get an email like this.....

From: lellison@unm.edu
Subject: Invitation
Date: Thu, 6 Oct 2005 13:10:00 -0400 (EDT)
To: gkilmer@unm.edu

INTERVIEWING FROM THE EXECUTIVE'S PERSPECTIVE OCT 7 Eric Pillmore,
Senior Vice President for Corporate Governance at Tyco International
will speak to Anderson students on Friday OCT 7 from 10am-noon in ASM
1017. Continental breakfast will be offered from 10-10:30am, followed by
Mr. Pillmore's presentation and time for questions from the audience.
Eric is an Anderson Alumnus who, prior to Tyco, worked for the General
Electric Company (CFO), General Instrument Corporation (Senior VP and
CFO), and Multilink Technology Corporation (Senior VP). Reservations are
required: fraund@mgt.unm.edu

Your name came up this afternoon in a meeting, in a good way--really, in
a good way, I'm supposed to ask if E-Recruiting's database can produce a
report detailing the ASM alumni that might be registered? Our folks in
development/alumni relations would like to make sure we have the most
up-to-date contact information on them.

Please let me know if you think it would be good for me to call David
from the US Dept. of Energy after you talk to him about the interviewing
room mishap on 9/28.
------------
....and then you reply by telling them to fuck off because I want nothing to do with corporations, CFOs, or vice presidents... and give them an example of why General Electric is a corrupt monster, you'll get an email like this....

From: rburford@unm.edu
Subject: Investigation
Date: Tue, 11 Oct 2005 13:07:50 -0600
To: gkilmer@unm.edu



Dear Mr. Kilmer:

I am writing to inform you that the Dean of Students Office is investigating an incident that occurred on the UNM Campus (specifically an e-mail sent by you to Career Services), which may involve a violation of the UNM Student Code of Conduct. I need to schedule a meeting with you by October 18, 2005, at 4 p.m. You can call the Dean of Students Office at 277-3361, to schedule this meeting.

Based on future findings or should you fail to schedule an appointment with me, it may be determined that you or other students will be charged with a violation of the UNM Student Code of Conduct. If an individual or student organization were to be charged with a violation of the Student Code of Conduct, then our office will be in touch in the form of a letter notifying that person of the official charges.

Should you have questions about this letter, please contact me at 277-3361.

Sincerely,

Rob Burford
Judicial Affairs Specialist
------------

fuck off and leave me alone! cunts

Movie Review: Village, The

I just watched M. Night Shananigan's latest film and wasn't quite as dissappointed as I expected. Which is kind of a weird idea, watching a movie you don't expect to like and all. However, my main reason behind watching it was actually envoked by the fact that everybody says that the movie is extremely easy to apprehend, in terms of plot twists. I wanted to see the damn movie before somebody spoiled it for me. This is the same reason I watched the Six Sense last year (many years after it came out). People couldn't believe that I didn't already hear of the plot twist in that flick, so I said "shut up! don't say anything else! I don't want to know!" and would walk away in anger, or something. Anyways, I managed to see the Six Sense without having anyone spoil it for me. I didn't see that twist coming, nor did I see if coming in the Village. In fact, I personally believe that the Village is even harder to predict than that other film. But when all is said and done, I actually enjoyed the Village and liked it's concept very much. It reminded me a lot of Dogville for obvious reasons, but took the concept of a small isolated village in a completely different direction. It's not a film you must go out and rent right away, but it is worth watching.

***1/2

Movie Review: Crash (2004)

Quite a few famous actors play roles in this new and quite interesting film. The cast includes the likes of Don Cheadel to Sandra Bullock to Matt Dillon. The story is based upon different intertwining lives between different races and shows the darkness that racism envokes. Plus there are lots of car crashes that tie everything together. Mixing car crashes and something completely unrelated (such as racism) is always fun in a movie.
If you agree, you should also go out and rent the smash-hit soft-core porn film Crash (1996) by herolded director David Cronenberg: because mixing sexual pleasure and car crashes can ALSO be fun! Based upon the wonderfully original novel by JG Ballard, Crash (1996) is a treasure for the whole family... Unless your parents are around. Because that would just be awkward.
I strongly reccomend renting both of these movies (Crash and Crash) for a crash filled adventure for the imagination and mind!
Racism, Sex, Car Crashes. I gaurentee it will be a wonderful evening.

I give Crash (2004) four stars up! I mean, four stars!
I mean,

****

"Radical" for all the wrong reasons

Stupid "anarchist" kids annoy me. They don't know shit. This happens on many occasions, but I will just enlighten you with one that I encountered only a few minutes ago. My friend Ian was talking about oil and politics for a second and soon afterwards the anarchist type said "Did you know they are trying to pass a law that makes it illegal for SUVs get under 27 miles to the gallon? Instead of just lowering the gas prices they do that instead." Alright, only an idiot would be angry that the government is forcing the auto industry to make more efficient cars. I just ignored it, because he probably has too small of a scope of issues to understand just how conservative, yet anti-conservationist, his remark really was.

Analogy

A successful analogy will shatter any preconcieved mold of indoctrination by replacing familiar situation with the presise situation in an unfamiliar context. From this fresh prospective the mind will once again have room to anaylize the situation without first stumbling through the current political, social and cultural norms.

Movie Review: Coffee & Cigarettes

Noted director Jim Jarmusch's latest film has no plot and no main characters, but plenty of coffee and cigarettes. The movie begins with two people having a discussion over coffee and cigarettes, which is followed by a different scene all together which also involves people enjoying their coffee and cigarettes. This is the premise of the film. It goes on like that for awhile... like, the whole movie. There are some interesting conversations that take place, but I didn't completely dig the film altogether. However, I highly recommend watching the scene at the end staring Rza, Gza and, of course, Bill Murray. Oh, and don't forget to watch the scene with Iggy Pop and Tom Waits.

2 1/2

HMOs in Latin America

UNM studied U.S. involvement in the Latin American health field. Here is an excerpt from an article on it, found here.

Questioning the veracity of what everybody knows can at times be frustrating, but holds some unique rewards. Already the group has found a number of paradoxes, said Waitzkin. While everybody knows, or believes that administrative costs are lower, the evidence of those benefits seems to be inconsistent.

For instance, "some state governments in the U.S. which have voted in managed care systems because of presumed lower administrative cost savings have started to see those administrative costs rise," he said. Also, in many incidences, states have introduced managed care plans simultaneously with funding cuts for social health programs -- and cost savings may be coming more from those cuts than from any administrative cost savings. And while theorists never expected that managed care companies would be able to produce substantial savings in rural areas, states are continuing to expand such care into rural
communities.

Managed care may not be a system where "one size fits all." Unlike in the United States, most Latin American citizens have a constitutional right to medical care. And, particularly for lower income families, access to healthcare in Latin America has traditionally been greater than what similar families could expect in the U.S.

"It is a rather common misconception that healthcare is better in the United States," said Waitzkin, "yet in many instances it isn't. People migrate to the United States for a number of economic issues, but finding better health care is seldom one of them."

As services are cut back, it is conceivable that lower income Latin Americans may find that their out-of-pocket expenses are increasing at the same time services are being cut back. Such experiences could have far reaching effects on the governments in those countries.

Movie Review: Batman Begins

What made Bruce Wayne become Batman? How does he afford all of his expensive equiptment? How did his parents die? These are the questions that you may have pondered on. Luckily, the answers are revealed in the film Batman.
On an entirely differenct subject, I saw Batman Begins last night. I'd heard it was "the best Batman film yet" and other nonsense. Who is spreading these utter lies? How did, exactly, the myth get started? Alright, Begins isn't the worst Batman film yet. It's better than the last couple that have come out (Batman Forever, Batman & Robin), but that isn't saying much.
Plot-wise, the movie kinda sucked. The directing was good, but you can tell some horrible hollywood types got all up in that script. A train is heading super fast through this city as the villan and hero engage in action packed battle in the speeding vehicle. OH NO! What's more is a horrible nuclear device with abilities of destroying the entire city is on the train with them as they battle. The villan's entire reasoning for doing this is just to arbitrarily destroy the city, of course. Wait a second! Isn't this idea horribly cliche? In fact, didn't the last action/superhero movie have this exact scene in it? Yeah, I'm pretty sure they did that in the most recent Spiderman movie. Also, just to be super-annoying to Batman fans, let's make a plot where the villan's master plan is to gas the city with some horrible chemical he created..... JUST LIKE IN THE FIRST BATMAN FILM. Is this 1984? Why do people not remember the recent past? Doe's anybody remember Tim Burttttttooonnnnn!???? Did his films go down the memory hole?
Also, this film is going in a completely different direction than Tim Burton's Batman. In the first film, the Joker kills Bruce's parents when he is a small-time gangster, Jack Napier, who is fed up with following orders from the mob. Napier later becomes the Joker and Bruce recognizes him by his death mantra, so to speak. I assume there will be more Batman films taking their own path. Afterall, it is a highly grossing movie, which means big sequel money.
There are many aspects in this film, main the script and overall plot, that suck a bit. The directing isn't bad, nor the acting, nor the music, nor the set design, nor the cast.... wait, no the music sucked, the sets of Gotham City were a disgrace and a mediocre cast permeated the film. Burton made the Batman we know on the screen. There really is no other choice. He understood how to adapt the darkness of Gotham and Wayne himself onto the screen like no other. People say "Batman Begins is better and darker than the others!" Once again I stand with my belief that Burton's Batman Returns has gone down the memory hole. Does nobody remember how fucking awesome that movie was? Burton defined the modern super-hero genre and certainly the dark super-hero genre. Gotham City was horribly corrupt and way darker in Returns, trust me, or rent it yourself. In fact, the city was so corrupt in Burton's Batman films that they didn't even have to mention it verbally to the audience every ten seconds.
One last thing: Never trust a Batman film that doesn't use the score of Danny Elfman. His amazing abilities for musical theatrics and dark audio ecstacy are nowhere to be found in Batman Begins. The film is therefore regarded as Hollywood trash as far as my ears are concerned.
It my own self-appointed duty to tell you all to skip the $9 theatre charge for Begins and go out and get yourself a copy of Returns for $8 on dvd. You, the public, have obviously forgotten about Burton's films, so it will be just as good as seeing a new movie. Plus, afterwards you can go out and spend that extra $1 on gifts for your loved ones.

I Haven't Posted About My Life Recently, So Here:

To-day I burnt myself on two fingers. Well, one finger and a thumb. Also, seconds before writing this entry log, a mysterious spider dangled inches infront of my very own eyes as it appeared to float down towards my keyboard. Apparently, there is a spider web in the light on my ceiling directly above me. I killed it. I had no other choice.

Movie Review: Canadian Bacon

Micheal Moore is famous for his work in the documentary field, but he also has directed this live-action comedy, Canadian Bacon. John Candy stars as the American average joe that likes to sit back, watch TV, have a cold one and have faith in the flag. Meanwhile, the new President of the United States is loosing popularity despite the fact that he is the first President not to get us into a war. In fact, this is why he is unpopular. Advisers tell the President that a phony war has to be drawn up to get the population patriotic and supportive of him, while at the same time, starting the weapons factories up again for economic growth and job production. Indeed, one of the main reasons people are fed up with the President is that the factory workers have no where to work when there is no war. At first, the White House calls the Russians to see if they want to start up a fake cold war all over again, but they decline. After much deliberation, it is decided that propaganda and secret operations will manufacture an evil empire for the U.S. to battle; Canada. Candy, being a very patriotic citizen, falls for the whole thing and puts together a small anti-Canadian militia to help out Uncle Sam. The government now realizes that it put together something out of their hands. There isn't enough time to explain the other details of the plot, but one nice element to the story was that it stuck out as a Micheal Moore version of Dr. Strangelove.
The film is very much put together like a cheesy, half-assed kids film that would amuse a middle-schooler on a sick day, but nevertheless, there is a lot of truth and insight into the overal basis for the plot. It is very, very much a Michael Moore film, but it isn't that entertaining and you don't learn anything from it. If you are a big fan of Moore, you might want to check this out, otherwise you should just stick with his documentary work.... or just watch Dr. Strangelove.

Movie Review: North By Northwest

Cary Grant stars in variety of famous and classic films, but this might be his most popular. Grant plays a man who is mistaken as another man and forcibly sucked into an odd and confusing situation in which he has no one to trust and no one to talk to. It's hard to talk about this film without giving anything away, but one thing is for sure: there is a chase across Mount Rushmore. Hitchcock had wanted to incorporate that idea into one of his films for quite sometime, but had no opportunity until North By Northwest came along. It's a very entertaining, interesting and suspenseful film to watch even today, nearly half a century after it's release.

4 stars

Movie Review: Batman

The original Batman is Tim Burton's third film, after Pee-Wee's Big Adventure and Beetlejuice. Burton almost exclusively uses composer Danny Elfman in his films. Batman is, in my opinion, some of Elfman's best work and fits perfectly in line with the film. The story of the film tells us how Bruce Wayne got to be how he is and what made him crazy. Afterall, he does live a secret life, has no friends, lives alone in a mansion, doesn't sleep and is obsessed with bats. Not to mention he dresses up like them and flies around. It was one dark night in a city ally in which a gangster attacked and killed Wayne's parents. Years later this gangster will become the Joker (played by Jack Nicolson). Batman finds out that the Joker was the man responsible for his parents' deaths and goes out for revenge. Good movie, but the sequel gets even better.

3 3/4

Don't Swallow Deep Throat

The new revelations concerning the Watergate affair have sparked a new interest in the situation. The day after Mark-Felt came out of the closet, demand for renting the film All the President's Men increased two-fold and soon publishers were introducing a new mass-market paperback of the book. All this interest was sparked when Felt publicly announced that he was the instrumental source in the investigation, previously only known as "Deep Throat." Until recently, nobody know who exactly "Deep Throat" was, all we knew was that he helped put Woodward and Bernstien on the right trail during their investigation.
Some background on the strange source name that is "Deep Throat": During the 70s the infamous porno film, Deep Throat, was released into theatres all across America. The film is most famous for possibly being the first adult film to be accepted by mainstream society. Just before Felt admitted he was the source in the Watergate scandal, a documentary actually came out about the porno film and the public's reaction to it. Today we have the number two FBI man from the Nixon years coming out and telling us that he was the special source. My guess for why Felt didn't come out publically for so long was simple. Who wants to admit that they named themselves after a movie portraying a woman with a clitoris in her throat? That's probably the worst psuedo-name anyone could ever pick.
But why does this new information matter or effect the American public? I really couldn't tell you. What I can tell you is that the mainstream media is having a field day reminding us how objective they are and reminicing of the startling things they are willing to uncover for our benifit. Unfortunately it was only one paper that even investigated the Watergate break-in, and that paper, the Washington Post, hasn't released any major investigative news in over thirty years.
When you actually put your mind to use and think about the original "groundbreaking" Watergate investigation by the Post, it really isn't that impressive. For one thing, government sponsered break-ins and wire-taps are completely legal by today's standards under the PATRIOT act. They don't even need a warrant.
Secondly, the "investigation" still hasn't even been fully executed to this day. All we know is that Nixon's thugs broke into the Democratic National Commitee headquarters in the Watergate hotel, took some photos and adjusted some bugging equiptment they had already installed. Nobody has came out and asked "Well what the hell were they up to?" Obviously the act was some form of sabotage against the Democratic Party, but we aren't supposed to know any details about what the whole plan was. In fact, I've never heard any media source even ask that question. We are supposed to remember it as a dark day in American history in which an arbitrary burglary was done by the Nixon administration and that, luckily, we have an objective media institution that will tell us when the government commits such henious crimes.
But seriously, if this is the best the media can investigate I think I'll pass. Almost any illegal act done by the government during that time period would have been more important to tell the public. What would would the people think if the Post released this story headline: "NIXON USES FBI TO KILL OPPOSING PARTY LEADER." That could be considered objective journalism. And it happened too. Chicago's Black Panther Party was just as legitimate of a Party as the Democrats were, but for some reason, the press didn't mind when the FBI illegally broke into a leading member's home (Fred Hampton) and didn't "burglarize" the place, but sprayed bullets everywhere, killing Hamton and wounding others. It's not even like this was an isolated incident. Other legitamite Partys have been sabatoged such as Socialist and Communist Partys that have been wire-tapped by the government as well under a secret and illegal government program called COINTELPRO.



These are all legal government parties that have been illegally sabotaged by those in power, but our "objective" media did't find an issue the public needed to know about. Government officials breaking into the DNC headquarters is something that should be reported, but there are government violations of law of this calibur that can be reported each day (not once every three decades) if journalists had real balls. The new Deep Throat "story" is simply something for the us to suck on while the media institutions lie back and relax knowing that you don't have to feed much to the American people to make them happy.

My Will

When I die, I want the following to take place:

BURIAL: My grave will be a giant hole in the ground big enough to fit my body. The hole will have metal walls inside of it and a glass or glass/plastic roofing which will be equal to the ground. People may walk up to my grave and see through the glass into the small underground box in which my body will lay. If enough money is available, I would like my limbs to be strung together like a puppet at the bones. In front of my tomb will be a button to press. On pressing the button, my body will start dancing due to the puppet srtings attached to the bones being pulled mechanically. Viewers will see this at night as well, as the metal tomb has lights in it that activate upon pressing the button. The bones will be connected at their joints so even as a skeleton my whole body can still dance.

FUNERAL: The four nearest homeless people from the time and place of the funeral will be hired as a musical singing quartet. They will be paid fifty dollars each if they agree to come up with an original song pertaining to a theme of "life goes on." They will have fifteen to thirty minutes to make up the song at which poin they will sing it for the audience of mourners. No hard drug users or prostitutes should be hired, even if they are within the five bum radius.

GRAVESTONE: I want a really cool looking gravestone. A creepy one. Like something Tim Burton might make. If I am famous and respected when I die, and I die before Tim Burton dies: have Tim Burton make the gravestone personally for me. If Burton doesn't know who I am at my time of death, have a gravestone made modeled after his style. Also use the type of skulls that were put on really old creepy gravestones. I'll find a good picture of what I'm talkin about sometime soon. A permenant vase should also be put into the ground near the headstone.

EPITAPH: It shall read "BELOVED CUNT" until I think of something better.

Omitted Information: Hiroshima

Hiroshima Did Not “End The War Sooner”


One great American lie, that lives on even today, is that dropping the A-Bomb actually saved lives by ending the war. The theory behind this is that the only other possible action would have been to continue the war with Japan indefinitely, adding countless lives to the body count; more lives than the A-Bomb itself would take. The problem with this optimistic outlook on the past is this – The Japanese military had already been extinguished by 1945.
In the months before the dropping of the bomb, it had been noted by U.S. officials that the Japanese military had been extinguished. Dire resources were no longer available and the Navy and Airforce had been utterly destroyed1. In fact, the Japanese had not been gearing up for more violence, but asking for peace.
A cable sent on May 5th, intercepted and decoded by U.S. intelligence had clearly spells out the desire to end the fighting:

Since the situation is clearly recognized to be hopeless, large
sections of the Japanese armed forces would not regard with
disfavor an American request for capitulation even if the terms
were hard.2

Truman’s Secretary of War, Henry Stimpson, was not fearful of the innocent lives that would be lost in the oncoming slaughter, but of the possibility that Japan’s Airforce would be so “bombed out” by the time the new weapon was ready that it “would not have a fair background to show it’s strength.”3 To further illustrate the American military’s callous indifference of peace through negotiation we must look no further than the later memoirs of Stimpson himself, which states “no effort was made, and none was seriously considered, to achieve surrender merely in order not to have to use the bomb".4

Given the state of the Japanese military compared to that of the U.S., plus the known information of Japan’s willingness to end war, it is fair to say that further war could have been easily avoided diplomatically. Unfortunately for the one-hundred thousand plus Japanese citizens killed by the bombs5, the U.S. would not settle for anything less than Japan’s unconditional surrender.6 Even in excepting the extreme nature of this form of “diplomacy”, the idea of perceiving this “final warning” as a diplomatic one is absurd: Truman authorized the dropping of the bomb the day before the terms were issued. 7

Why, then, was the bomb dropped? Why were all those lives taken arbitrarily? There was, in fact, a reason behind the dropping of the atom bomb. America was now emerging as the world’s super power. Stalin was a major enemy. What better way to demonstrate your strength then by showing off your new state of the art weapon, many years in the making. Dropping a 15 kiloton atomic bomb over a defenseless city is a sure-fire way of showing the world, especially the communists, who is in charge.8


1. By June, Gen. Curtis LeMay, in charge of the air
attacks, was complaining that after months of terrible
firebombing, there was nothing left of Japanese cities for his
bombers but "garbage can targets". By July, US planes could
fly over Japan without resistance and bomb as much and as long as they pleased. Japan could no longer defend itself.
William Blum, Hiroshima: Last Act of WWII or First Act of the Cold War?, 1995 citing: Stewart Udall, The Myths of August (New York, 1994), pp.73, 75; Martin S. Quigley, Peace Without Hiroshima (Lanham, MD, 1991), pp.105-6; Charles L. Mee, Jr., Meeting at Potsdam (New York, 1975), p.76

2. Tim Weiner, "US Spied on its World War II Allies," New York Times, August 11, 1993, p.9
Also refer to the Potsdam meeting in which Japan instructed Japanese Ambassador Naotake Sato to keep meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Molotov to impress the Russians "with the sincerity of our desire to end the war [and] have them understand that we are trying to end hostilities by asking for very reasonable terms in order to secure and maintain our national existence and honor." Before the meeting, Sato was instructed to request the Russia’s help in mediation with the United States. A radio message to Sato from Japan, intercepted by the U.S., read "His Majesty is extremely anxious to terminate the war as soon as possible." “Should, however, the United States and Great Britain insist on unconditional surrender, Japan would be forced to fight to the bitter end."
See Hearings Before the Committee on Armed Services and the Committee on Foreign Relations (US Senate), June 25, 1951, p.3113; Mee, p.23; Los Angeles Times, January 9, 1995, p.5

3. Udall, p.76

4. Stimson, p.629

5. Nuclear bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, on August 6 and 9, 1945. The bombs killed 64,000 in Hiroshima and 39,000 in Nagasaki. Thousands more died afterwards from the short and long-term effects of exposure.
Chris Hedges, What Every Person Should Know About War, 2003, pp. 58

6. "Tokyo rocks under the weight of our bombs...I want the entire world to know that this direction must and will remain - unchanged and unhampered, Our demand has been and it remains - unconditional surrender."
- President Truman, in his initial address to Congress, 16 April 1945.

7. Mee, p.239

8. Referring to the immediate aftermath of Nagasaki, Stimson wrote of what came to be known as "atomic diplomacy":
In the State Department there developed a tendency to think of the bomb as a diplomatic weapon. Outraged by constant evidence of Russian perfidy, some of the men in charge of foreign policy were eager to carry the bomb for a while as their ace-in-the-hole. ... American statesmen were eager for their country to browbeat the Russians with the bomb held rather ostentatiously on our hip.
- Secretary of State, Henry Stimpson speaking of what would be known as “atomic diplomacy.”

"The psychological effect on Stalin [of the bombs] was twofold; The Americans had not only used a doomsday machine; they had used it when, as Stalin knew, it was not militarily necessary. It was this last chilling fact that doubtless made the greatest impression on the Russians."
- Historian Charles L. Mee, Jr.
Mee, p.239

Movie Review: Edward Scissor Hands

Tim Burton has a particular theme that he likes to use in his films: a creepy, yet genuinly innocent person is misunderstood by society and not seen for who they really are just because of a the way they look. This is the central idea of Burton's short films Vincent and Frankenweenie to Edward Scissor Hands and the more recent Nightmare Before Christmas. In the story, Edward was the result of an inventor (played by Vincent Price himself) who never finished his creation. Why the inventor gave him scissors as hands instead of hands in the first place, we'll never know. Edward lives alone his whole life following the inventor's death living secluded in a dark castle towering over sunshine suburbia. He is introduced into society when a door to door saleslady comes across him and insists that he come live with them. It is soon discovered that Edward has amazing abilities with tree-sculpting, ice-sculpting and hair cuts. Yet, as a victim of circumstance, he is still looked down upon no matter how hard he tries. This is a visually intriguing movie complete with a creative plot topped off with a spectacular score we would expect from Danny Elfman.

3 3/4

Movie Review: Dick Tracy

Warren Beatty stars as Tracy on the persuit of the gangster Big Boy (Al Pachino). It's interesting how similar Pachino's character is in Dick Tracy to his character in the Godfather. In both films he plays gangsters making their way to the top of the gang and making alliances with other gangsters to control the city. I like the villans in Dick Tracy because they are more true to real criminals in life than the criminals of other comic strips such as Superman. In Dick Tracy, villans actually have a reason for being evil and aren't evil just because they have a chip on their shoulder or they want revenge from one inncident in their life. The villans in this film are like the villans of every day life. They are the elite who control the city with alliances in high places doing anything for profit. In an even more realistic situation, these villans could afford to control the police as well. In fact, Pachino tries to bribe Tracy, but he refuses, of course. But, hey, it's a movie and the hero is free from all corruption. I wish we had a Dick Tracy in real life.
The film was entertaining, but felt somewhat lackluster. Kind of the same idea as Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, but not as well executed.

3 stars

A letter to a neo fascist skin

I came across this idiot's myspace profile and HAD to show the cat what was up. Although, if he has the beleifs he has now, theres not much chance of him understanding the ridiculous of his beleifs in the future. Patriotism can strangle rational thought amazingly well. This goes for every nation through all of history. This kid's profile can be viewed here. My message I sent him is posted below.
---------------------------


"I also don't care much for anarchy.It's another form of communism."
---i dont really understand what that means... anarchism is a very loosly defined ideology adverse to the idea of government, or current govrenments. ANARCHY, on the other hand, simply means chaos and every man for himself.

"I used to actually be an anarchist a few years back"
---I hardly believe you were ever an anarchist, given your seemingly misunderstood concept of anarchism and the left in general. Do you even know who Daniel Guerin or Emma Goldman are? Alexander Berkman?

"but I believe Capitalism is the most fair and best and most practical PROGRESSIVE form of economics and government."
---look up the word Anarchy. you are against it, but you embrace free-trade capitalism. do you realize such an economic system is in itself anarchy? survival of the "fittest"? "every man for himself"? the opposite of anarchy is a strong government (which conservatives strongly oppose). the opposite of anarchy is truely a command economy which provides for it's people no matter if they are the "fittest" or not.

"The right-wing school of thought is generally learning from the past and trying not to make the same mistakes we have commited previously.So I stand for that. Even if some of my friends don't. One day I hope the U.S. gov't will wipe out the REDS in Cuba. Communism has ruined one of the most beautiful countries."
---Im not in favor of Castro either, but you can hardly blame the country's shape on HIM. if you had a decent knowledge on the history of the country you'd know that an even more backwards and repressive society existed before the revolution under the brutal Batista government. my question is how can communism "ruin" something that was horrible and repressive to begin with? Cuba isn't an admirable government, but people have better living standards than they did under the Batistas. strange that you are Cubano and you don't know these things.

my absolute favorite part of your little speech was "fight eachother and the police state wins".... which is actually from a Dead Kennedys song about violent right-wing punks. in the song, realize it or not, jello is talking about kids like you. heres the context of the song:

*Ten guys jump one, what a man / You fight each other, the police state wins / Stab your backs when you trash our halls / Trash a bank if you’ve got real balls / You still think swastikas look cool / The real Nazis run your schools / They’re coaches, businessmen and cops / If a real fourth reich you’ll be the first to go / (Chorus) / You’ll be the first to go / You’ll be the first to go / You’ll be the first to go / Unless you think…*

back to your quotes:
"Huge muttin music fan, singer, entrepreneur, right-wing think tank, beer lover, AMERICAN.I have a machine gun I wanna use when WWIII breaks out and civil defense becomes necessary........Enemies both foreign and domestic."
--- Now lets compare what you said about yourself to the song you quoted... you're an "entrepreneur".. doesn't look like you'll be trashing any banks any time soon... or rebelling against business men, who are in fact, the real fascists. if you have any history of corporations and nazism/fascism you'd already know how intertwined the two are. You have a machine gun all ready to fight when the government wants you too.... "both foreign and domestic." The fourth riech is getting read to enlist for the third world war... Looks like YOU will be the first to go.

Movie Review: Team America

I was dissappointed when I watched this film. I thought it would be much more political than it was. In fact, the plot loosely intertwines political satire with random jokes which don't have political relevance. It seems like the story was thrown together to make a silly situation that mocks both sides of the political spectrum, but aside from the loose story outline, all the jokes aren't political. It's more of a film that makes fun of common movie cliches and cheesiness in films than it is a political satire. There are a lot of one liners that sound like they came from a cheesy hollywood flick. Also, the music and montage scenes make fun of cliches in movies. The songs in the background are pretty funny in this film, and once again, the humor doesn't really come from politics. There is a song about a montage during a montage scene. There is a song about Kim Jong Il is lonely. There is a love song that simply explains how "pearl harbor" was a bad movie. However, there is one song called "America, Fuck Yeah!" that is derived from the many people in America that express how much the U.S.A. "rocks." The puppets were interesting, but aside from that, I didn't think it was that great of a movie. It had some funny parts, but it was overall dissapointing.

3 stars

Movie Reivew: Waiting For Guffman

Christopher Guest: Great in Spinal Tap!.... not so great in Waiting For Guffman. In the film (which Guest directed and co-wrote) he stars as the effiminate drama coach that is destined to put the town of Blair on the map. He whips together a team of non-actors in an effort to make a show that will fulfill his dream of going to Broadway. That's pretty much the size of the plot. It's a lackluster mockumentary that will leave you feeling like you have wasted almost two hours of your life away. David Cross cameos as a nerdy cropcircle researcher that swears that an alien spaceship has come to the town and that the small cropcircle he studies each day is too eerie to be explained by science. That two minute segment of the film is about as good as it gets... which doesn't say all that much on account of the segment not being all that funny. I just like the presense of Cross in movies. Even if his part isn't that funny, just him being there kind of makes it funny. Skip this movie.

2 stars

Movie Review: Casablanca

A classic.. I'm not all that much into classics, but I'm always curious to see what all the fuss is about. I kind of liked this movie, not as much as big movie buffs, but I liked it ok. Kind of a simple plot for me and not all that much happened. It was made really well; the lighting and the scenery and everything was good, but I wouldn't put it in my top ten movie list like many other people. Mainly, I think, people like this movie for Humphrey Boghart's character, Rick. He wasn't all that interesting or believable to me, and I think he acted the part a little over the top. Nevertheless, the movie did have Peter Lorre in it... who is always crazy and will remind you of a pedophile, whether or not you have seen Fritz Lang's M.

Movie Review: City Of Lost Souls

A Brazilian man and a Chinese fall in love in Japan. Unfortunately, the woman is about to be deported, so they plan to get fake passports and stowaway in a ship going overseas. When that doesn't work, they decide to steal a suitcase of cash in a drug deal they are not involved in. They end up getting the wrong suitcase - the one full of coke. Now they have some big time gangsters on their tail, which is not surprising since the cocaine they stole is rare. Any chance they take at selling it leads gangsters on to their sent. I don't have to tell you that this is a violent gangster movie, with the twist that only Takashi Miike can bring. Also, here is a matrix cockfight and an intense ping-pong match to be seen, if that's your bag.

3 1/2

Graduation

So I had my graduation ceremony today. I officially "graduated." There was probably some funny stuff I need to post about that, but I can't remember right now.

Junk Mail: 55 Today

I got fifty-five emails today from junk mail. That is way too many to be getting in one day. The other days weren't much lower than that either; I just never counted how many I had in one day before. I really need to set up a new email address for that account and start fresh again. Luckily, I never get junk mail on my personal email account, which I only give out to friends and very trustable websites. But for filling out forms that need an email address and subscribing to newsletters and such, I use a different account. This account gets about 50 junk emails a day because of it. Remember kids, always set up a seperate email account (at a free site like yahoo) to use for filing out online forms.

Omitted Information: CIA Porn

The CIA Filmed A Pornographic Movie


In 1976, a former CIA agent named Joseph Burkholder Smith released a memoir of his twenty-two year long career in the Central Intelligence Agency. The 400+ page book, entitled Portrait of a Cold Warrior, contained one particularly startling undertaking of the U.S. government.
The American government, as exposed by Smith, undertook the filming of a pornographic film that was intended to discredit the President of Indonesia.
Smith wrote, "our special Sukarno [current President of Indonesia] committee was formed to accomplish ... the production of a film, or at least some still photos, [purportedly] showing Sukarno and his Russian girlfriend engaged in his favorite activity…
“We were interested in the impact of this theme outside Indonesia, for our purpose was to present Sukarno in as unfavorable and unsympathetic light as possible. If he were deposed by our friends the colonels, we wanted the world to agree with us that Indonesia would be better off."
To make the film, a look-a-like actor was sought, but when that didn’t work out "we decided that we would try to develop a full-face mask of Sukarno. We planned to ship this out to Los Angeles and ask the police to pay some blue film star to wear it during his big scene", says the film’s director, Robert Maheu. Oddly enough, Maheu came to be Howard Hughe’s chief-assistant in later years.
The film was completed, but never used against Sukarno as intended. However, still photographs were taken for distribution in the Far East.

Sources:
Joseph Smith, Portrait of a Cold Warrior
John Ranelagh, The Agency, p. 332-333, p. 788

Movie Review: Ladder 49

A Hollywood studio gobbled down a ton of money and took a giant shit on all of us, calling it Ladder 49. This film was released about two years or so after 9/11. They obviously started the film in the heat of the patriotism and love for firefighters. This film is just a cheezy ass piece of trash. Everybody is so boring and so fake. It's such a basic Hollywood movie that it doesn't really have to make that much sense at times.

1 1/2 stars

Movie Review: Barfly

The first thought that comes to mind when watching this film was that Buffalo '66 must have been influenced by Barfly. Although, this film has a lot more booze. There are like maybe three scenes in which the main character doesn't have a bottle in his hand. Mickey Rourke stars as the slow talking, care-free bum that can be considered a "barfly." However, the acting reminded me far more of Marlon Brando than of any movie I've seen staring Rourke. It must be the sagging eyes and the slow, care-free, mumble-esque sounds that come out of his mouth. The good news about this film: There is corn smuggling. The bad news: The corn is too ripe to be eaten.

3 1/2 stars

Movie Review: Star Wars Revelations (new)

Before I say anything, you should be aware that Revelations is not the new Star Wars film by George Lucas that is coming soon. Revelations is the new Star Wars film made completely by Star Wars fans. The forty-five minute long film was made independantly for $20,000 and can legally use the "Star Wars" name because it is distributed for free and not a single person profits from it. When you watch this movie, you will be amazed that it was done for a mere $20k. This is because most of the work was done by volunteers; fans of the series that owned storm trooper costumes were invited to play storm trooper extras; fans that were skilled in CGI animation programed the special effects; fans with audio/video abilities helped put their input into the film. And so it went. Eventually what came out was a Star Wars film that compares with Hollywood's endeavors. However, the film does not go without it's faults. Given the simplicity of the plot and the sub-par work of the volunteer actors at times made me feel like I was watching a sci-fi soft core porn movie minus the sex. If you try and put aside those aspects of the film, while keeping in mind it's budget, you will surely be impressed.
You can download the film for free at the official website.

(no rating from me)

Movie Review: Incredibles, The

You know how Pixar always has a short funny cartoon the precedes their movies? Well, the short film before The Incredibles is far from funny. It is annoying as hell. It is like riding on the "It's A Small World After All" boat ride at Disneyland. So, if you rent this movie, don't bother watching the intro-cartoon. That being said, I can now talk about the real film.
I really never was interested in seeing The Incredibles because it always looked to me like a boring predictable cartoon for little kids. It turns out that it wasn't boring, predictable or for little kids. Sure, the little ones would probably enjoy it, but it didn't have the annoying slapstick comedic gimmic of a character hitting his head on something as a joke that is supposed to be funny.... Actually, the movie probably did have one of those in it, but overall the movie isn't that kiddyish. It's not really made to be that funny for adults either though. It didn't seem like it even really tried to be funny. The Incredibles is more like a semi-goofy version of Captain Planet, or some other show about super heroes and action. That's what made it entertaining. There were amazing CGI graphics and beautiful renderings of so many scenes. The plot wasn't nearly as predictable as you would expect either. All this together made it an entertaining film to watch, but that doesn't necessarily make it a good movie. The film lacked substance, originality and humor. Sure, it was interesting to watch the animation and wonder what would happen next, but overall this movie just didn't have the feel a great movie has. Pixar, you peaked with Toy Story.

3 stars

Alex and Buh

This is Alex talking to Buh on my computer with my screenname. The program I used to chat on saved a few random messages, like 5, and this one is funny because Alex is apparently stoned.


AIM message with Buh
10/31/02, 3:41 PM

>Hey Buh.
>They call you Buh
hi
yes
>My name is Alex Brittenham, and I go to Hiland Hizighschool.
oh
>I have clown hair.
>not really.
i thought it was weird that this screename popped beecause i think grayson is mad at me
>red scones.
>What , come on, we are all brothers and sisters.
okay
>Im sure he is happy and cheerful toward you.
i don't think so
>I guess.I have snakes in. My Pockets. what?
i don't think he is happy toward me
>Whya not?
>darras;?
>Sarrad?
>Dr. Zeaius.
because i have been mean to him
>That sucks.
>Well, perhaps someday there will be a brotherhood of beasts and cable skeletons.
>Y
>know?
sure
are you at his house, or just using his screename?
>Im in hizouse.
oh
>Im smurfing 10,0000000 skullouts, says grayson.
ok
>He just waltzed off.
>waltered off.
ok
>altered perception.
>Got it?
i see
>Yeah.
>LEts play rock paper snakes.
why?
>one two go!!!
>snakes!
>I win!
oh
oops
>skulls....
>My skull is numb and dumb right now.
i see
>syeah.
>it s hillarious.
ok
>ill brb
>ok.
>Why do they call you Buh? What does it mean, where am I??
>bass.

Movie Review: Rashomon

Akira Kuwasawa's Rashomon is the closest I've ever seen to a Japanese mystery. It starts off with three men trapped out in the rain discussing different stories they have heard regarding the death of a man. All the different stories are in conflict with each other. Which is the truth? Who is lying? Put this together with an ending that I don't completely understand and that is the film. The best part is the dead man who tells no lies.

3 stars

Ann Coulter And An Arrested Student

Right-wing lunatic Ann Coulter speaks at a college; a progressive student asks a vulgar question; said student is arrested and taken to jail by police.
This is a school! This is a place to learn! When a speaker such as Ann Coulter is taking questions, shouldn't you be able to ask a tough question even if it offends her? It may be illegal bu---- wait a second, it isn't illegal! It is in fact very legal to ask questions in a public forum.


(I've been wanting to write about the recent Time magazine article on Coulter, but I let somebody borrow it and I haven't gotten it back yet)

Albuquerque Journal Breaks The News First

Usually I am critical of what the Albuquerque Tribune reports in their paper, but today's front page story blew me away. I know there is genocide going on in parts of the world, corrupt dictators are being supported by our tax dollars and our democracy has more holes in it than swiss cheese, but this, THIS is the situation we need to be familiar with. With a story this big I think there will be a follow up article or two in the next few days just to cover the overall importance that is this story.

And then God Spoketh... he who shall tradeth Pokemon Cards Shall Suffer

There is so much I didn't know about the Bible until I went to Bible.com! For instance, the Bible is against Pokemon cards. I never knew that before. In fact, I didn't think they had Pokemon cards back then, but Bible.com says that they are evil, so they must be. There is seriously a list of things called "What Does The Bible Say About..." and one of the things is Pokemon. Also it says this about homosexuality:
Much of our society has embraced many perverted sexual practices that are considered in the Bible as abominations to God. Homosexuality is among the list of deviate or abnormal sexual practices however, there are many other practices that can be included as well. Pornography, pedophilia, prostitution, bestiality, oral sex, phone sex and computer virtual reality sex, just to name a few of them.

Do you remember the passage in which Saul commits the crime of virtual reality sex? If I remember correctly, it went like this:
And he was the Lord and God rained a fiery wrath upon the villagers who promoteth virtual reality sex upon His kingdom. Saul was punished by a thousand pins and needles of which the Lord commanded to be shot from the IBMeth computer screen. The Lord then flooded the kingdom with four days of rain. The rain washed away all the computer chips, semen and Kleenix brand tissues.

Also check out this interesting tidbit from Bible.com: The first war ever recorded was the war in heaven where Satan and his evil angels fought against God and his angels.  We know this war was won by God through Christ.
Which is interesting, seeing that Jesus was a Pacifist in every since of the word.

Movie Review: House On Haunted Hill (1959)

House on Haunted Hill (1959) is the classic horror film directed by William Castle. It stars Vincent Price as the owner to an ostensibly haunted mansion. Price invites several guests to the house with the promise that they will each receive ten-thousand dollars if they stay the night. If a guest decides to leave before midnight when the doors are locked, they forfit their stake of the the cash.
At the very start of the film we see a man's head floating in a black space speaking of the mansion. He tells of how people have died there and warns of it's danger. Soon we are presented with the different characters that are all coming to the mansion in different hearses. The camera shows their faces as they ride up the hill as Vincent Price narrates who they are. These two scenes kick off the movie well and leave the viewer dying to see what happens.
With a great film such as House on Haunted Hill, it is hard to find scenes that I didn't enjoy. Nevertheless, the film does not go without it's flaws, albeit, minor ones. There were definately way too many scenes in which the character Nora screamed at the top of her lungs. It seemed to happen every few minutes. The only other scene which I disliked was the scene in which the dead body of Price's wife somehow wrapped a rope around Nora's feet from about twenty feet away. That just didn't make sense.
I really liked the footage shown at the start of the film in which the host gives each guest a "present." The gifts are inside tiny coffins all in a row along the table the camera follows the host's hand as he opens each mini-casket, but the camera is at such an angle that the viewer does not see what lies inside the boxes until the very last one is opened. Another great scene is the one in which the unforunate Nora is once again put under psychological strain when she believes she has seen aghost. From the footage shown before she walks into the room, we have no idea that the room is not empty. Then it cuts to a close up and when she turns around, a scary old woman is creeping right behind her.
This is a very good horror movie and perfect for watching on Halloween. It is un-fortunate how dissapointing the 1999 remake turned out to be. Every scene in the originalus set up very smoothely for optimum spooky-ness. As I mentioned before, the film does not go without it's flaws, but it's overall greatness makes for a viewing that can't be missed.

4 1/2 stars

Movie Review: Haxan

Who has heard of this film?? It's a shame that it isn't more famous than it is. I just happened to come across it a few months ago and after watching it I had trouble finding anyone else who had viewed it. However it is actually on dvd as part of the Criterion Collectoin and I recommend renting it.
The subtitle of the film is "Witchcraft throughout the ages", which is a very fitting subtitle because the movie is a documentary on witchcraft throughout the ages. What makes it all the more interesting is that the film was released in 1922. This was quite a few decades ago, placing it in the silent film era. A grainy, old, dark silent film is exactly the aura a film on witchcraft should have. It also helps that every person involved in producing the film is dead by now.
Haxan is definately not your typical documentary. It has no interviews and has no stock footage. Nevertheless it tells an interesting story on the subject using slideshows, illustrations, reinactments, diagrams, clay-animation and more. In the background is a great original score which was re-recorded only a few years ago in very high quality. Or, if you prefer, you can watch a version of the film with narration by William S. Burroughs that was re-released in the 60s. Both versions are included in the Criterion dvd. I suggest watching the original version (score only, no narration), but be sure to watch the first few minutes of the Burroughs version first. His introduction to the movie is great.

4 1/2 stars

Movie Review: Wag The Dog

Wag the Dog? Not that good of a movie. I saw parts of this movie last year and I thought it was good, but now that I watched the whole thing, I have realized the error of my ways. The overall plot concept is great. The president is involved in a sex-scandal right before his possible re-election needs a fake war to distract the public and boost his ratings. Parts of the movie are good, but the plot wasn't executed well at all. It is way over-done, cheesy and arrogant. I really like the parts of the film that seriously critisize the media and their allegiance to the government, but too much of this movie is just plain cheesy and hollywoody and done for bad entertainment. I don't know how else to say it. Not that I wanted this to be a "serious" film, but it could have been done the way Warren Beatty's Bullworth was made; a halarious movie dead on in critisizing politicians and special interests. Wag the Dog, on the other hand, is just a good idea made into a "silly" hollywood film that tries not to provoke serious thought by going over the top and having cheesy one-liners thrown throughout the film. Could have been a good film if it was done right.

2 1/2 stars

Secret Masturbation Messages in "Stairway to Heaven"

I heard that if you played "Stairway to Heaven" by Led Zeppelin backwards, you could hear a satanic message in one part. I looked it up on the internet and found the part of the song that you can play forwards and then backwards and it has the lyrics for both ways of playing it. You can go to it here. It's pretty interesting and the first half sounds surprisingly dead on.
Still, I believe it is a coincidence... so I to test my theory, I tried my luck at this game by selecting a random verse of the song and playing it backwards on my computer and seeing what "secret message" I could find...

The verse I randomly chose was:
"Your head is humming and it won't go - in case you don't know. The pipers calling you to join him"
(click here to hear it the verse)

When played backwards:
"They never should've wished to jerk my off-And... when one wants to shake me tool, cool, it ain't him, us, it ain't all you!"
(click here to hear it the verse played backwards)

Steal This Weblog!

Check out my new blog! www.stealthisweblog.blogspot.com

Starbucks, Fuck Off!

Whenever you see a Starbucks logo, make sure to deface it!


Visit www.starbuckscoffee.co.uk (anti-starbucks website) before they get shut down, which will most likely be soon. Freedom of speech? Sure, as long as it's appoved by the multi-national corporations.

Better Manners

The Corporation is out on dvd now. It is a great film and I just picked up a copy. If you haven't seen it, I suggest you go rent it now! While looking at the dvd box, I noticed on the back a quote that read "'Better manners and a longer fuse than Fahrenheit 9/11' - Entertainment Weekly." Better manners? I didn't realize there was a obligation of courtesy when exposing the president as a liar and a theif.

YOU CAN NOW LEAVE COMMENTS!!!

I know you've been waiting.....

A Room Without A View #2

Where Is This Place Exactly?

How come EVERY SINGLE KID IN AMERICA knows that little song "Theres a place in France where the naked ladies dance/Theres a hole in the wall where you can see it all." Me and Angelo were talking about how it's crazy that little kids have their own underground culture.

Movie Review: Hearts of Darkness

This is the documentary of a film maker's apocalypse. Or, more specifically, Franis Ford Coppola's struggle to make the motion picture Apocalypse Now in the late 70s. Originally intended on being shot in Vietnam itself, the was found too dangerous and filming was done in the Phillapines instead. The footage in the documentary is primarily shot by Coppola's wife and often accompanied by her narration of the diary she kept during the 200+ days of shooting. There were many disasters to overcome throughout the adventure of making this movie, including harsh weather, Philapine rebels and Martin Sheen's heart attack. Not to mention the fact that Coppola had to deal with the bitch that is Marlon Brando. Marlon demanded insane amounts of money and didn't even bother to read the book before filming started! I would have sent that fat ass back home and got somebody decent to work with. It's not like he was even that perfect for the role of Kurtz anyways. Nobody reads Conrad's Heart of Darkness and says "if they ever make this into a movie they absolutely must use Marlon Brando as Kurtz!" If I was the film maker, I would have used Oscar the grouch before I chose Brando. It's not that he's a bad actor, it's just that I hate him.
If you like Apocalypse Now, Hearts of Darkness is a must see.

4 stars

Movie Review: Blue Velvet

Blue Velvet is an entertainingly twisted and dark drama, as with all of Lynch's films. It starts off when an average boy in an average town finds a severed ear in a field while walking one afternoon. The story goes on from there and I think that's all I have to say to make you watch this film.

4 stars

Put Your Urine Where Your Mouth Is

On the internet, people use short little phrases like "brb" (be right back) or make little faces with different keys to show an emotion such as a smile :-) . There is even one for "put your money where your mouth is" that looks like this: :-$ . But here is my confusion, there is also a common "smiley" used that looks like this: :-P . Now, using what we have learned from our "put your $ where your mouth is" smiley face, I can only assume that the smiley, :-P , means "put your Pee where your mouth is." I don't know why people say this to me online. Not only is it rude, but it doesn't make that much sense.

Movie Review: Assassination of Richard Nixon

The Assassination of Richard Nixon is a extremely powerful film. This great film documents more than the life and death of a perticular assassin; it brilliantly illustrates the death of the American Dream. Indeed, this is the central theme of the movie and what ties it all together.
The Assassination brings us into the life of Samuel Bicke, a recently divorced disgrunteled salesman who is mad as hell and isn't going to take it anymore. It is the mad story of a true man who feels that nobody can do anything to stop the corruption and greed of the country. A single grain of sand usually can't make any difference, but Bicke is out to prove that if you believe in yourself and see yourself as you want, you can become that person and get what you want done. This movie really gets into the heart of Bicke, who defines the word "disgruntled."
Parts of the film might remind you of a depressing verison of Office Space, as Bicke is a usually meek worker with a uncaring boss. It also might remind you of Taxi Driver, as in Taxi Driver there is a main character who fits the same role as the disgruntled, obsessive employee about to snap. Plus it helps that DeNiro's character is named "Travis Bickle", which isn't that far from the name "Samuel Bicke." Not to mention, Travis Bickle attempts to assassinate the President as well.
The Assassination is a very moody and emotional film. I actually felt a bit depressed while watching it. Sean Penn plays an amazing role as Bicke, a performance so believeable and so utterly realistic that we can't help but feel many of the same emotions Bicke goes through. The supporting cast include Naomi Watts and Don Cheadle.
It's unfortunate that this film went almost completely under the radar in it's release. It is out on dvd now, so I suggest you rent it.

4 stars

Brittany Spears' Pregnancy Test....

....is being auctioned off. Isn't that ridiculous? I wonder how much it will end up going for....

Movie Review: Audition

Audition is a Japanese film that starts of as a normal movie, but as it progresses things get stranger and stranger. A man is told by his son that he is old and should find a new wife (his last wife died). So he meets up with his friend in the film industry and they set up an "audition" for the movie, which the man uses to find a good candidate for his new wife. He instantly falls for a certain shy girl at first glance. Soon they are dating and things go smoothely... until he begins to look into her dubious past. Everything goes down from there. Nothing is what it seems. The surreal nightmare begins.
If you like thriller/horror movies with graphic violence that almost makes you want to look away, then you'd like this film.
Also, if you like the fact that the word "deeper" in Japanese sounds like "kitty", you might enjoy the scene in which a man is punctured by needles while the girl says in a high pitch friendly voice "deeper, deeper, deeper." Of course, to us it sounds like "kitty, kitty, kitty." That was probably my favorite scene.

3 3/4 stars

Movie Review: Cry Baby

Imagine if the Footloose was a good movie, that's Cry Baby. When you watch this great film/musical you can tell right away it's the work of John Waters. Actually, you'd probably be able to guess that just by the pressense of a character named "Hatchet Face." Or the scene with Iggy Pop bathing himself in a bucket at a redneck style shack.
The story takes place in 1950s Maryland. "Cry Baby" Walker and his group of juvenile delinquents, or "drapes", meet a square girl named Alison. Cry Baby falls in love right away and the feeling is mutual. Alison has a square boyfriend and square parents who hate Cry Baby and his gang. And in turn, the drapes hate the squares. It's the Romeo and Juliet theme we find so common in movies that we hardly notice it anymore. But, that doesn't make it a bad movie.
Cry Baby has an all-star line up starting with Johnny Depp as the main character. Also in it is Traci Lords, whom you might remember from such classics as Sweedish Erotica 57 and Hot Cum Orgy. But Let's not forget Ricki Lake who wonderfully played the fat pregnant gang member, and of course Iggy Pop as the grandfather of Depp's character.
All in all, its a good movie you should see.

4 stars

Omitted Information: The Starbucks Logo Is A Woman Spreading Her Legs

It is an image many of us see every day and is extremely recognizable to the American public, but what is the Starbucks logo depicting anyways? First of all, I should mention the significance of the brand name. "Starbuck" was actually a character in the novel Moby Dick. This leads us closer to the formation of the logo itself. If have already figured out on your own that the Starbucks logo is a mermaid; you are half-right. The logo is specifically of a siren; a Greek mythological creature defined as "one of a group of sea nymphs who by their sweet singing lured mariners to destruction on the rocks surrounding their island." The "sea nymph" is typically depicted as a beautiful woman mermaid with two tails. Of course, two tails is a bit more seductive to the male sailer than a single tailed creature with ambiguous reproductive organs. The original logo was plain to see, but today it is almost impossible to decipher without first viewing the logo's history.

A former Starbucks employee wrote of the change in design: The Starbucks logo shown in the parody is similar to one of the official logos the company used before it "cleaned up" the siren. The evolution of the siren in the logo has gone from a really seductive and wild-looking thing with exposed breasts and a navel, holding each end of a split tail around her ears (making one think that if she had naughty bits, you would certainly be seeing them); to a rather more comely version, still with breasts and the edges of the tail around the sides of her head; to one without visible nipples but still a navel and tail; to the Disney-esque thing seen today. As the company grew, they seemed to be cleaning her up for the lowest common denominator.(1)

It wasn't too far from the truth when cartoonist Kieron Dwyer made his infamous "Corporate Whore" logo-parody of the coffee giant.


The Original Starbucks Logo: Clearly depicting a female with her legs spread.


The Updated Logo: Stylized version of the original.


Today's Logo: A second version of the stylized logo with "explicit" content cropped out.

notes: 1. Salon.com, Hot water: Starbucks sues a citizen, 06/01/00, Letters To The Editor, Leslie Strom, 06/02/00

Shy Kids

Have you ever wanted a creepy little child standing in the corner of your room to freak you out everytime you go in there? Well here is what you've been waiting for. It's Shy Kids! They are like life-size dolls that you stand up in the corner of your room facing the wall and it looks like a small child that is too shy to come out. I don't know why, but this is probably the creepiest product I've ever heard of. They go for about $50 and upwards, but I'm sure they are worth every penny! Visit the website (www.shykids.co.uk) to see different models or purchase your very own Shy Kid. Why has nobody thought of such a marvelous idea before?

A Room Without A View #1

First comic of my new series (that in all likely hood I will forget about after maybe the second strip)

Well here it is. I think I'm gonna call it "Black Pope." Once you read it, you'll probably think it's a good title.

Emo Band Name

Too bad I hate emo music, cos I just thought of the best emo band name! It would be called "The 'Lesser Than' Trio" and here is the best part.... check out the symbol/logo: <3

Movie Review: Sin City

So apparently this movie, Sin City, is based on three graphic novels (aka COMIC books). I've never heard of the comics before, and I'm not going to pretend like I have. It's a dark and violent film taking place in "Basin City", a fictional city, yet just as corrupt as our real ones. Such a stylistic attempt at portraying graphically excessive violence was the perfect job for director Robert Rodriguez. Afterall, he just finished the Spy Kids trilogy and has had lots of practice with this type of genre.... only kidding, Spy Kids is in fact a children's trilogy, but it's nice to see Rodriguez is getting back to his roots.
This is probably the first movie I've ever seen that had a "Special Guest Director." It was Quentin Tarentino of course, who Rodriguez has worked with before on various other projects. It's almost Tarintino's cameo in Desperado..... except in Sin City you have no idea which parts Tarentino was involved in... and for all we know he had nothing to do with the fillm.... but he probably did... but then again... theres no way of telling... I guess we will have to take the introductorary credits for their word.
The film is shot in black and white, with color accents only on certain things such as blood, cars, eyes and occasionally even some skin. Imagine a movie shot in "Gatorade Vision."


Micheal Jordan IN Sin City

Most things baring the color red are not in black and white, nevertheless, the first blood seen in the movie is actually white. I liked Luis' statement after a character gets shot: "all that and then birds crapped on him too??" Another good observation by Luis was that a certain villan looked remarkably like Charlie Brown. This perticular bad guy was strong yet swift, and it seemed that he could not be defeated. While we were at the edge of our seats, I consoled Luis that the good guys would eventually find a football to set up for the villan to kick and sucessfully use his one weakness against him.

Right now I would like to pay homage to the Pope and his wonderfull legacy. It was only a few days ago that he left us and made the world a---- I mean--- went on to a better place. Rodriguez was very thoughtful in dedicating his movie to the man. Well, he hasn't actually came out and said it's a tribute to the Pope, but you can pretty much tell.



Speaking of tributes.... why was David Lynch not credited in this movie? There should have been some sort of credit like "some aspects of the film stolen from..." which Lynch would get credit for. Take Lynch's Lost Highway for example. When I was watching Sin City there came a scene where a character was driving a car and the shot and angle looked exactly like the shot used in Lynch's film. Also, the "yellow bastard" in the film looked very, very similar to the goblin type guy also in Lost Highway.

Hey, speaking of that yellow guy that looked like he was made out of mustard, why was Bran of CKY not credited for inspiration for the mustard man song? ... Actually, I think I'm starting to get a little crazy with these "would be" credits now.

It is also worthy to note that the film hints at Bruce Willis getting with a young girl.... reminescent of the rumors of him and Lindsay Lohan.

Another interesting tidbit is that all these people were originally intended to be in the film: Christopher Walken, Willem Dafoe, Steve Buschem, Leonardo DiCaprio and Michael Douglas!! Oh yeah, and even Johnny Depp! Talk about a all-star line up (plus DiCaprio). Rodriguez intends on filming all of the "Sin City" comics and there are rumors that his friend Depp (who couldn't play a role in the movie due to previous commitments) might play a lead role in a sequel... we have that to look forward to.

In short, this was a great movie. The plot was a little thin at times and none of the stories really "came together", but then again, it is based on three different comic books and I think the film did an amazing job at that. It is very entertaining and highly enjoyable. My only lament is that there was no milk man. It just seemed like the type of movie that could have used a milk man. I mean, he wouldn't need a big role or even any lines. Just some milk being delivered in the background at some point would have been pretty cool. But then again, they might have been saving that for the sequel...

4 1/2 stars

Rank Bobberies

I highly encourage any form of bank robbery as long as nobody gets hurt. I developed a good method based on reverse psychology....

Robber: Alright, Please, Don't Give me your money. All of it. Don't give it to me.
Teller: Wise guy huh? How do you like THIS then! (throws a bunch of money at you).

I think my plan is airtight.

Movie Review: Happiness of The Katakuris

The Japanese dark comedy, Happiness of The Katakuris, is the tale of a family who builds a guest house in hopes of running a sucessful family business. A new road is supposed to be paved and bring many travelers near the area so the father figure fixes up an old house until it is ready for guests. The road isn't finished yet, but some travelers start coming.... The problem is that they keep dying on their first nights stay in the home.
Katakuris opens with a scene in which a woman is eating soup. Upon probing the soup with her fork she notices a bug-eyed angel inside of it which pops out of the soup and flys away. The movie has amazing claymation in it and is worth watching for that aspect alone.
I know what you are thinking "That's pretty funny, a clay angel popping out of the soup!", but I'd have to disagree. I think that the whole "angel-in-the-soup" gag is way over used. It's like I can't go to a movie nowadays without seeing an angel pop out of somebodies soup and scare the person! Of course the audience laughs everytime, but I'm like "that was so predictable! didn't you see that coming??" I mean, don't get me wrong its funny when it happens in real life, but when it's in a movie and is all scripted like that it is just plain cliche and boring. Hollywood, can't you think of anything new for a change?
Anywho, more about the film. It is part musical, so be warned. Randomly characters will break out into song and dance in different scenes. There is even one scene in which the dead start dancing as well, which is probably as close as we will ever get to a Japanese version of Michael Jackson's Thriller music video. In one particularly long and boring love duet, the lyrics to the song are shown on the screen in a "bouncing ball" style urging the viewer to sing along. I would have, but I don't know Japanese all that well. I mean, at all. Plus, that song sucked.

3 1/2 stars

Comments Don't Work? That's Crazy

Yeah, the comments don't work. It's crazy.

Cats Having Their Own Country? That's Crazy

(11:31) Papupe1: dont laugh but i have to put the cats to bed now
gotta go

(11:32) Grayson: are you going to tuck them in

(11:32) Papupe1: yeah...

(11:32) Grayson: tell them about the 3 blind mice
they would like that

(11:32) Papupe1: they have their own rome

(11:32) Grayson: holyshit

(11:32) Papupe1: room

(11:32) Grayson: thats a big country
oh ok

(11:32) Papupe1: that would be cool!

(11:32) Grayson: wait, rome is in italy
oh well

(11:32) Papupe1: ya its a city

(11:33) Grayson: it woud be cool if they had their own country though

(11:33) Papupe1: true that

(11:33) Grayson: kind of desolate... but cool neverthe less
i'd go
check things out

(11:33) Papupe1: yeah...

(11:33) Grayson: hook the brothers up with some milk

(11:33) Papupe1: declare meaningless war

(11:33) Grayson: ?
no way would i make war on them

(11:34) Papupe1: knock down the kitty condos

(11:34) Grayson: theyd totally outclaw all my ground troops
no way

(11:34) Papupe1: burn the drug crops

(11:34) Grayson: i wouldn't mess with them
the vast cat nip fields

(11:35) Papupe1: do your ground troops consist of like 5 guys?
i could take on a cat

(11:35) Grayson: no. like 8 thousand

(11:35) Papupe1: maybe even 3 cats
oh

(11:35) Grayson: but once they enter that country, the UN says you can only battle by use of clawing
and my troops haven't had that kind of training yet

(11:35) Papupe1: that would be a downfal

(11:35) Grayson: i know

(11:35) Papupe1: fall

(11:36) Grayson: i try to stay on their good side
thats why i bring the milk when i go there

(11:36) Papupe1: and bannana bread cats like bannana bread

(11:36) Grayson: and ice cream cats like ice cream

(11:37) Papupe1: yeah i gotta go

(11:37) Grayson: alright

(11:37) Papupe1: i like talking to you

(11:37) Grayson: tell them i hope they have a good night

(11:37) Papupe1: bout nothing
ok i will

(11:37) Grayson: in cat terms of course

(11:37) Papupe1: yeah
bye

(11:37) Grayson: cya

My Analysis of "Vietnow"

Here are the lyrics to Rage Against The Machine's Vietnow.
Here is my interpretation. I suggest you read the lyrics first, see what you think about the song, then read what I thought.

A Heated Debate

http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=1465183&blogID=17657406

the debate is getting really long and is still going on! you'll have to go to the link on your own to read it though. way too long to post here.

Movie Review: Julien Donkey Boy

I didn't feel like there was all that much to Julien Donkey Boy. In fact, I can't even remember that much about it. Its one of those films that isn't really about anything and lacks a plot. This doesn't necessarily make a film bad, but in this case it didn't help the movie any. The story is of a schitzophrenic guy and his family. It is filmed in sort of a "home movie style." I like Harmony Korine, but this film just didn't do it for me.
2 1/2 stars

More Ignorance Discovered

the following ignorance was posted here by some conservative girl. I'll put everything she posted in italics.


March 8, 2005 • Tuesday

A Pointless War?...My Response

a lil response i made on another group forum...i was proud i wrote so much. Its kinda informal and i just wrote it all off the top of my head..so i hope you enjoy it or at least learn a little!

...but this is what i said:
in reply to the first lengthy comment by Alex's Angel, i have to say that i see where you are coming from but i also disagree. the fact is, if you were watching the elction day in Iraq you see how many iraqi men and women WANTED to go vote, they knew their lives were at risk...the terrorists made them very aware of what could happen to them if they were to vote. And i applaud them for their tremendous courage and bravery and will for their country. So, if there never was a just cause before, this is surely it.

The middle east has always been a source of contention among the world, well not always, but within the last centuries for sure. The fact is that Islam people, and the Koran actually are very tolerant of other cultures. They are taught to respect people with any religion that has a book they live by, i.e. the bible, and those of the like. So Islam itself is not at all bad, and they do not teach you to blow yourself up. They were taught that if a man dies in battle he goes straight to heaven, and leave it to the extremists to nab young children and virtually brain wash them into thinking Allah's plan for them is to blow these people up. They are very good at taking what the basis of their religion is and twisting it to make people believe that doing the terrorist acts are right.

I have to say, if we had a choice to win this struggle by war, or by "negotiating" and peacemaking, sure, we'd take peace. But we've tried that for years. Between Iraq and Afganhistan we have proven to the rest of the Middle Eastern world that the U.S. means business. Iran and other countries are already getting a little jumpy watching the fight for freedom unfold in Iraq. They see that its what the people want, and they see its working, its only a matter of time before most of the world catches on. Of course it's a shame that men and women's lives have been lost. But i believe it is for a good cause. because of what we do here today, our children, and the world will be a safer less corrupt place. Democracy allows balance, we arent imposing our beliefs or our government on them, we just want the people to be free. Just as you and i are. We want them to have what we have. They dont have to do it the same way. They should be able to chose who is leading THEIR country, and they should be able to speak out and have a voice if they dont agree with what their goverment is doing. Would you like to get shot in the back of the head just cuz you said something as simple as "i dont like bush?" I thought not. The people there will soon have the freedom to say as they feel, not as the should just to save their own life.

Another thing is, there were very few fatalities at the actually invasion of Iraq, it was extremely successful. I'd like to make a reference back to WWII. The Nazis were eventually knocked out of power (after a much longer deadlier stuggle)...but America never real heard much word about what happened there after. Truth is, there were still pockets of Nazis and those in the Axis, that were either never discovered or had escaped from our grasp. And they continued to strike out and rebel against people, and many more innocent people continued to die because of it. We arent fighting pansies, we are fighting willful, hateful, passionate groups that want to win as badly as we do, and some of them will not give up without a fight. And they are doing there best...even tho we dont want them too. So you cant expect them to just thow down their weapons like that (as much as i wish they would). We arent an NFL team playing against pee wees.

And it bothers me how people sure dont care that we threw all this money to tsunami relief to help those in need...but when we go to help those opressed in the middle east...we're imposing!...imposing on who? Saddam??? The only people who dont want us there are the extremists....you know the iraqis do, what are we gonna do leave em there? We gotta make sure that country gets on its feet the right way. Otherwise, all the time and money and lives that have been sacrificed on this thing would go to waste.

Lastly, id like to mention, or at least remind us, that America didnt have a pretty start either..after we broke free from the King all the states wanted to go the seperate ways, the Articles of Confederation (the first constitutional document lasting until 1787) were a load of crap, and the country was un funded, unprotected, and very very unstable. if any country would have chosen to come kick us when we were down, who knows, we might all be speaking spanish. but luckily for us, the Articles Of Confederation were revised, and we have the beautiful country we have here today. Thanks to the founding fathers...and the Bill Of Rights....every American has an equal voice. And the freedom to have that voice and live. We have the ability to grow and learn and create new things. We are all equal, no one born into rank. We earn it. And no matter how much money you make, your vote only counts once. We have the incentive to produce faster and better and smarter, and invent new things. Our country thrives because of its ability to be flexible. And with so many people, especially the media (who dont always report all the details)..we have the ability to keep our government in check. We're lucky we can even be having this discussion period. I'm not saying we are perfect, nothing could be, its impossible, just ask the commies. But we are what we are today because of the Revolutionary war, and the steps we took for the next 50-75 years, to make a good country, great.



*i just wanna make clear im not attacking anyone...when i say you, i mean who ever is reading this....just to make things clear.


7:28 PM - 1 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

----------------------------------
Grayson's response:
the only thing i agreed with was the paragraph about how islam isn't some crazy terrorism based religion. it only turns to terrorism when it becomes fundamentalist. just as in christianity. you said that weve tried peace in the middle east for years...no, we haven't. was the gulf war a war of "negotiation"? and before the gulf war, sadaam and the US had no conflicts. bush sr gave supplied sadaam with his access of weapons of mass destruction. people like you always critisize saddam for killing his own people.... wake up, that was while this country was friendly to him! america didn't care about that at all when it happened. only now it is brought up to be used against him. hey, i'm against sadam as much as anyone, but maybe this country shouldn't have supported him in the first place?? alright, now lets backtack to reagans presidency. the islamic fundamentalists were trained and financed by the cia, among them was, thats right, osama bin laden. why? because afgahnistan was a battlefield of the cold war and the islamic fundamentalists were against the communists just as America was. the enemy of my enemy is my friend. hey, maybe this country shouldn't have trained the islamic fundamentalists either. right? that would make sense. you know, NOT training terrorists. brush up on your history of the middle eastern region and its connections to America.

i dont believe that ANYBODY thinks that we shouldn't have given aid to the tsunami victims. the PROBLEM people had with our aid was the fact that it was something ridiculously small like 300 million dollars. sandra bullick gave $1 million dollars in aid in comparison. also in comparison, this government gives billions, not millions, BILLIONS of dollars to corporations each YEAR.... for no reason (actually, our politicians are paid to give them bailouts, tax breaks etc). maybe the wealthiest country in the world could have given a little more than the lent our leaders found in their pockets.

you said "we're imposing!...imposing on who? saddam???". no, we imposing on the people. you know all the innocent people killed by us bombs? thousands upon thousands. guess how many of our bombs hit saddam? ZERO. we imposed on a nation out of the fucking blue. its called an invasion because we INVADED their country. they didn't ask us to come there. last time we were there (the gulf war) the people started uprising against sadaam and we pulled out of the war and let sadaam put down the uprising. ever notice how NOBODY talks about why we randomly pulled out of the gulf war when sadaam was still in power? i could explain all this to you but im guessing it might be out of your political grasp until you read further on the subject.

also, you seem to be proud of the bill of rights, yet have no problem with it being trashed upon and completely EXTINCT to all those detained in guantanamo bay, cuba.

"every american has an equal voice"? are you kidding me? the poor have the same ability to get their message across as the rich right? heh. "nobody born into rank"? have you ever heard the term "class". people are born into these things called economic "classes". that means, being born into RANK. our votes only count once, but our money can go as far as we want it to. unfortunately we ARE born into different RANKS we DO have different amounts of money and thus different amounts of INFLUENCE AND ECONOMIC POWER. "we have the ability to keep our government in check"? i dont know if you've been watching the news in the last few years, but it wasn't all that long ago that a president took us into WAR for no reason, with no evidence and the people didn't vote on it. oh yeah, that certain president didn't even win the election in the first place. you seem to like the revolutionary war and its principals, i'm sorry but our founding fathers would cry if they heard the things you say in their name.

Posted by gnome chomsky on March 8, 2005 • Tuesday at 11:15 PM
[Reply to this]

The Insider and Business Flak

Micheal Mann's The Insider is the true story of Jeff Wygant, a leading tobacco scientist who has some very important and damaging information on the inner workings of big tobacco. Wygant is approached by Mr. Bergman, a source recruiter for the "60 minutes" television show. Unfortunately, Wygant's former employer, Brown and Williamson, has a strict confidentiality agreement with Wygant, disabling him from speaking out. Wygant is faced with the option of telling the public vital information, but taking this path will undoubtedly threaten his family's health care and safety.
Eventually when Bergman finally convinces Wygant to reveal the truth, Wygant subsequently looses health care and is left with dire family problems. In any case, CBS decides not to even air the program on account of the ongoing litagation that would inevitably follow. On top of litigation worries,the network is even less inclined than usual to run the piece on account of higher echelon heads of CBS standing to make a lot of money in the future sale of CBS to the Westinghouse corporation. Obviously, Westinghouse would be less inclined to purchase a network with the leeches of big tobacco attached to it. Word is handed down from above that the program cannot be aired in it's entirety.
According to leading media critic Noam Chomsky, mass media goes through various filters before it reaches your television screen (or radio, newspaper, etc). These filters include such things as wealth (the ability to own enough capital to run a network in the first place), advertising, dubious sourcing and flak. The blatent omission of vital public knowlege presented in The Insider is what Chomsky would call the "fouth filter" of the "flak filter" of the media. Flak is defined as "intense adverse criticism." It is not a surprising fact that the policy entrepreneurs of big tobacco will do anything in their power to oppose and critisize any damaging information targeted at them. It is commonplace for the mass media to ignore or bypass certain information to avoid such flak.
In a hyper-pluralist society such as ours, it is not uncommon to find political action comitees and interest groups that not only have influence on the media, but own the media. On the subject of capitalist America, it would be hard to debate against the elite class theory and it's subsequent dictation of the system. Chomsky's first filter, concerning size and ownership, now comes into play. In order to own a sizable and profitable media network that reaches a vast audience, wealth is 100% instrumental. The business class can be viewed as an interest group of its own once one considers its undisputable anti-labor, anti-government regulation agenda. Thus it can be demonstrated that the business class as an interest group dictating what information we are exposed to... and what information is kept hidden.
The story of The Insider is the rule, not the exception. Corporations have an agenda. The agenda is to profit and maintain profits. It is extremely unfortunate that we, as the American public, cannot expect balanced factual news from our media on the subject of capital, business and anything related that may or may not definatively effect our lives. The media corporations have always and will always keep us in the dark on business related issues that the public may dissaprove of. The business community is not suicidal, afterall.

Barbershop Joke

The following joke was posted here.
G. W. Bush and John Kerry somehow ended up at the same barbershop.

As they sat there, each being worked on by a different barber, not a word was spoken. The barbers were even afraid to start a conversation, for fear it would turn to politics.

As the barbers finished their shaves, the one who had Kerry in his chair reached for the aftershave.

Kerry was quick to stop him saying, "No thanks, and my wife Theresa will smell that and think I've been in a whorehouse."

The second barber turned to Bush and said, "How about you?"

Bush replied, "Go ahead; my wife doesn't know what the inside of a whorehouse smells like."

A lot of people posted comments like "bush rules!" and stuff like that so I added a comment of my own:

nice! i love how the opinions of so many americans are formed by "clever jokes" and misused words like "democracy" and "freedom" instead of reading about actual events, policy and history..... oh yeah, i love how you guys furiously debate over the two mainstream politicians with virtually the same platform and act like they are so different, when in reality the same wealthy elite and corporations fuel both their campaigns and the media networks that pretend there is a real "choice" in the election. the only part of the joke i enjoyed was how they both end up at the same barbershop, because since both politicians are super wealthy demagogues that shamelessly use our tax money to provide them with the utmost care for their precious little lives, they probably WOULD meet at a barbershop. And these pampered individuals wouldn't settle for anything but the most expensive barbershop, they'd see eachother there, share a cigar and laugh about how they are fucking each one of you idiots over while they are getting richer. ;-)

Movie Review: 12 Monkeys

12 Monkeys is the Animal Planet sponsered remake of the classic Henry Fonda flick, 12 Angry Men. Instead of a controversial trial pushing 12 men to a debate whether a man is innocent or not, the plot consists of 12 monkeys in a jury room throwing feces at eachother for 2 hours and 14 minutes.... only kidding. The real plot of Terry Gilliam's 12 Monkeys is clearly based on the Chris Marker short, La Jetée. Gilliam virtually took the story set-up of Jetée, kept the ending as well, but added on a whole dynamic storyline inbetween, giving the movie it's own unique tale. 12 Monkeys is one of those flicks, like Fight Club, that makes you realize that you really need to see it more than once to get a good feel for it (I have actually only seen it once, but have taken the liberty to review it nevertheless). While we are on the subject of Fight Club, I must note the striking resemblence in Brad Pitt's character in 12 Monkeys to his portrayal of Tyler Durden in Fight Club. I don't want to give too much away, but I just want to point out that you will definately notice a similarity in the personas of the characters right away. Willis and Pitt make great performances, as well as a bear that is unfortunately uncredited.
4 1/2 stars

Movie Review: Videodrome

I was somewhat disappointed after seeing David Cronenberg's Videodrome. It was pretty weird, I'll give it that, but it didn't add up to be as good as I thought it could have been. Nevertheless, it will leave you with some weird images in your mind and a strange dreamlike story to remember. The plotline is that a man starts getting interested in an underground extreme S&M television channel called Videodrome. Once he watches it for the first time, everything changes. He doesn't know what's real and what isn't. Is Videodrome even real? What is Videodrome? Why have I been given a slimey VHS tape made out of human flesh and blood instead of the normal plastic kind? Should I insert it into the giant hole that is now my stomache? These are the questions the man is faced with once he enters the world of.... Videodrome.
3 1/2 stars

Go To The Bookstop

I noticed today at the Bookstop (Central, Nob Hill next to flying star) that they have Russ Kick's Book of Lists and Greg Palast's Best Democracy Money Can Buy. Anything that Kick and Palast put out is always pure gold and I can't imagine anybody bringing these books in to sell. Nevertheless, they are more than half off the price it would cost to get them new and are in perfect condition. Why am I bothering to tell you? I'm not being paid to tell you to buy em, I just love those books so much that when I see that they are being sold cheap I almost want to buy them all over again! For more information on those two books, go click the links for them at my reading list. Also, if you want a good book detailing the working conditions of entry level positions in America, the bookstop has Nickel and Dimed as well, which is also on my reading list. But you can usually find that book at most used bookstores.