(Nej, jag kom inte på det här själv, jag snodde det på last.fm.)
(Återigen, nej, jag har ingen koll på vad alla scener innebär... speciellt inte som det handlar om mitt liv.)

1. Opening song: Bruce Springsteen - Because The Night (Dessutom en outtake, från Lost Masters-serien... kan bli knepigt med rättigheterna.)
2. Waking up: Johnny Cash - Orange Blossom Special (Och vad vill filmskaparen säga med detta val?)
3. First date: Fragglarna - En Vimsig Sång (Nostalgikickar! Dock hade jag hellre sett att det engelska orginalet, Wemblin' Song, spelats.)
4. First kiss: Stefan Sundström - Hambo För Skapelsens Krona (Kanske inte riktigt det man känner när man mottar sin första kyss.)
5. Falling in love: Fuck Off - Het På Gröten (Kaosbandets tolkning av Donna Summers Hot Stuff... inte heller en låt som passar särskilt bra i sammanhanget)
6. Being in love: Bell Book & Candle - Heyo (Den hade passat mycket bättre "Breaking up"... kan inte ha varit en lycklig kärlek.)
7. Breaking up: Staffan Hellstrand - Bilder Av Dig (Äntligen ett val jag till viss del förstår.)
8. Making up: Woody Guthrie - This Land Is Your Land (Jag kommer aldrig mer att anlita snubben/jäntan som väljer ut vilka låtar som ska vara med...)
9. Seeing an old love: Rolling Stones - Street Fighting Man (Jaja, lite Stones kan man väl gå med på, för sakens skull.)
10. Heartbreak: John Lenin (Johan Johansson) - Vi Kommer Aldrig Fram (Tja, lyssnar man enbart på titeln, så... visst, det funkar. Men nu är det ju så att en låt är mer än en titel...)

(För enkelhetens skull delar jag upp det här, blir lättare för er att läsa då.)

11. Revenge for the heartbreak: Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds - Mercy (Hämnd är primitivt, det var nog hon som hämnades på mig, såvida filmskaparna inte har något emot mig, och vill sätta mig i dunkelt stråkastarljus. För övrigt en passande låt.)
12. Driving fast: Journey - After The Fall ("Köra fort"!?! Vadå "köra fort"!?!?!)
13. Fighting back: Kjell Höglund - Håll Ut (Kommentarer överflödiga.)
14. Getting ready to go out: Nils Lofgren - Tears On Ice (Kanske inte den ultimate peppen inför en utekväll, även om den inte är helt fel, textmässigt... typ...)
15. Dancing in the club: Mikael Wiehe - Jag Vill Inte Va Fattig (Tja, nog kan man säkert dansa till den.)
16. Flirting: Lars Winnerbäck - Prinsessor (Tja, inte helt fel, faktiskt rätt så rätt. Kan dock bli strul med rättigheterna, än en gång... blir en dyr rulle det här, undrar vad filmskaparna drar in på för att få råd med soundtracket? Kanske skådespeleriet... iofs är det sällan svenskt skådespel är högklassigt.)
17. Feeling sexy: Leonard Cohen - Closing Time (En av de bästa låtar som någonsin skrivits, men har den verkligen något att göra med att känna sig sexig...? Sanningen att säga, så ja!!)
18. Angry drunken stupor: Denis Leary - More Drugs (Stand-up comedy som soundtrack, det var nåt nytt.)
19. Walking alone in the rain/snow: Edguy - Land Of Miracle (Faktiskt rätt så passande, rent musikaliskt, och lite textmässigt också.)
20. Missing someone: Iggy Pop - Lust For Life (Uhu...?)

(Och här...)
21. Saying goodbye: Springsteen - Prove It All Night (Ett fint avsked, med andra ord!)
22. Learning a lesson: Allan Edwall - Familjeporträtt (Tja, Edwall var en förnuftig man.)
23. Playing in the ocean: Di Leva - Kom Till Mig (...)
24. Drug binge: DLK - Rysk Bompa (Jag och knark, don't think so...)
25. Summer vacation: Sober - Snowbored (Kan knappast ha vart nån tillfredsställande semester.)
26. Fighting the undead: Sparks - Propaganda (O-kej...)
27. Acting goofy with friends: Dean Martin - Johnny Get Your Girl (Tja, alla mina vänner, undantaget Tyranna, tycker att det är märkligt att jag lyssnar på såna här gamla goda klassiker.)
28. Thinking back: Håkan Hellström - Kär I En Ängel (Jag levde visst ett rätt så gott liv ändå.)
29. Suicide scene: Weird Al Yankovic - The Night Santa Went Crazy (Tja, mycket möjligt att tomten flippade lite mer efter att han flippat.)
30. Feeling depressed: Chuck Berry - Johnny B Goode (Upbeat när man är downbeat - det gillar vi!)

(Och en gång till...)
31. Driving off into the sunset, in defeat: Clarence Clemons - You're A Friend Of Mine (What if mountains fall/nothin' left at all/I'll be fine/'cause you're a friend of mine)
32. Driving off into the sunset with the one you love at your side: Heather Nova - I Wanna Be Your Light (Varför två såna här scener efter varandra - varför?!)
33. Death Scene: Stefan Sundström - Fånmåne (Den vackraste svenska låten någonsin - i en dödsscen?)
34. Falling asleep: The Beatles - Revolution (Falling asleep i som att somna in för all evighet, eller som i att somna in för natten?)
35. Closing song: David Bowie - Heroes

Gah, det här tog ju hur lång tid som helst! Något som kanske beror på att jag lyssnade på mer eller mindre hela låtarna... aja, jag fördrev åtminstone tiden på nåt vänster.

I love hearing his comments about the little words you can’t say, I love hearing him talking about taking your stuff with you on vacation. I enjoy his cameos in movies, his specials on television, hell, I even liked his really shitty television show on fox years and years ago.

I guess that I won’t be laughing at his antics anymore.

Monday night, my mom invited me to come with her to a Purse Party. If you have never been to one of these things (and I hadn't before Monday), they are these parties at someone's home where they sell knock offs of designer purses. Shady and probably illegal, since they are using the logos and the names of the real brands, but, probably the only way some of these designers would ever be in some people's budgets (me, for example. I'm not going to spend a couple hundred bucks on a Coach purse - I just don't give a shit about the name that much - a faux Coach... maybe - though I didn't get a "Coach" bag).

The catch to this whole party thing? It was being hosted by the new wife of my mother's ex-husband - or should I qualify and say, her second ex-husband (her first was my dad, and she's still hitched to Hubby 3). This is my sister's dad and stepmother.

Eh.

I was pretty young when my mom and The Asshole got together. I was ten when my younger sis was born. From the beginning of their relationship, The Asshole drank too much and he and my mom fought too much. My childhood consisted of listening to drunken arguments from behind my closed bedroom door. When my sister got older, I'd keep her in my room with me when they argued. He'd move out, she'd take him back, the cycle would repeat.

When I was 13, we left California. We left The Asshole there. Why? Because he was in jail. Stupid stupid man was in jail for drunk driving. We started our new life, and without him, it was bliss. After a few months, he was released and he moved across the country to join us.

The cycle of fighting continued - but without the threat of him leaving, as he had no family or friends in this new state, and no where to escape to. The drinking escalated over the years, and I was relieved to move away to college. I came home the summer after my freshman year and it was still bad. On top of the drinking, he would accuse my mom of ridiculous things. First, he'd say she was having a secret date. Then she'd be having an affair. Later, he'd accuse her of having a lesbian affair. It was absurd, so absurd, and it was disheartening to watch my mother treated that way.

I was happy to see him go. I was happy when he was gone. I didn't even care that he took most of the furniture, I was just glad he wasn't there anymore. I hated him.

I hated him worse when my sister would go to his house to visit him on his weekends and she'd call my mother crying because her dad had passed out drunk and she didn't know what to do. Or begging my mom to come pick her up because he was drinking or passed out. If I didn't already hate him, I hated him worse for what he did to my sister.

He eventually met his now-wife and moved in with her and her daughter. Intoxicated, he tried to commit suicide. He failed. That was the trigger needed to get himself some help.

I can't forgive him for the way he treated my mom, or the fact that he was a shitty father to my sister. My dad once asked me if The Asshole had molested me, is that why I hated him so badly? But, no. I'm just a hard ass. I hold a grudge. I hate that he made things that way. I hated the walking on eggshells and the way he'd try to hold drunken conversations with us, his eyes glassed over, his words slurred and his logic completely out the window.

Not having any reason to keep him in my life (he's not MY dad), I don't. My mom says, "He still remembers when you were his little girl..." For that reason, he and his wife buy my kids Christmas presents. I still want nothing to do with him.

Despite all that, for some stupid reason, I joined my mother at this stupid party. I brought my oldest kid. The Asshole asked if he could take her for a ride on the four-wheeler. Um, no. Mom and I chit chatted awhile, and his wife invited us back, asking my kid, "Do you like s'mores? We can roast marshmallows in the fire pit! Won't that be fun?" Lady, I'm sure it's just absolutely lovely, but no fucking way is my kid roasting marshmallows with you, so you can drop the subject.

It was a tense confrontation with the past. It was my own fault for putting myself in that position, and believe me, I won't make that mistake again. Sure, there's some logic behind forgive and forget, but to be honest, it's just not something that I do.

Pick of the Week: No Country for Old Men - The Coens' fantastic neo-western adapted from Cormac McCarthy's elegiac thriller which swept the top of the Oscars. It's a masterful piece of work, beautifully shot and directed but is dominated by Javier Bardem as the Devil incarnate. His performance itself is immense but the character is so well used throughout as to make him fearsomely frightening. It's certainly among the strongest in their canon and thorough deserves its place in your DVD collection.

Also Out:

National Treasure 2 - Nicolas Cage rips off Indiana Jones and ends up in a sub-par Da Vinci Code. Unfeasibly popular crap.
The Kite Runner - Decent if somewhat flawed exploraton of friendship and roots that does feature two wonderful child performances.
The 11th Hour - Leo DiCaprio tells us all to cut down on emissions to save the planet. Thanks.
I Think I Love My Wife - Horrible looking wannabe-mean spirited comedy with Chris Rock as a happily married man struggling with the possibility of infidelity.
Death of a Salesman - Good attempt to bring Arthur Miller's masterwork to the screen featuring a strong perfomance from Dustin Hoffman.
King of California - Michael Douglas basically reprising the Wonder Boys character in an interesting little under-the-radar pick.

Region 1

Cloverfield - Pretty good modern monster movie that only really suffers due to the cast looking and acting like participants in a Gap commercial. Otherwise, a thoroughly effective event film.
Semi Pro - Really strange comedy in which Will Ferrell is in Anchorman-with-Basketball and Woody Harrelson is in Cinderella Man. Two totally different films stuck together, after which you'll want to punch woody for ruining the fun.
Rescue Me: Season 4 - Getting strong as it goes, Rescue Me is now the premiere deconstruction of the alpha male psyche on television following the end of The Sopranos.
The Onion Movie - I'm looking forward to this sketch piece which feature a fake trailer for Steven Seagal in 'The Cockpuncher'. Likely hit-and-miss but hopefully darn funny in places.
Honeydripper - You can't go wrong with John Sayles behind the camera and Danny Glover in front. Looking forward to checking this out this week.
Patton: Special Edition - George C Scott in one of the finest male performances in movie history.

***************

Just like in a court case, when something is said, even if the judge overrules the statement, it is heard…. And it’s too late.

When an individual is stressed, drunk, cocky, or in a too-relaxed state, their “true feelings” are expressed. Restraint is gone. Inhibitions disappear.

*************

This week, The Record of Hackensack, N.J. reported , Randolph brought up race when he questioned the way he has been presented by SNY, the team's TV network.

"Is it racial?" Randolph was quoted in the story. "Huh? It smells a little bit. ... I don't know how to put my finger on it, but I think there's something there."

Willie did apologize the next day but it’s too late. You played the race card. It’s understandable. NY is a pressure-packed place. The media tries to lead you down certain paths.

But once it is out there, it is hard to forget. And unfortunately, it can create a permanent blemish or worse.

**************

Here are examples of a few people who played or discussed race and disappeared from the sports scene. (Willie did NOT say anything as bad as this group.)

• Jimmy The Greek – J… makes comments to a Washington, D.C, television reporter about the physical abilities of black and white athletes… black athlete is "bred to be the better athlete because, this goes all the way to the Civil War when ... the slave owner would breed his big woman..." Snyder apologized for the comments but his is over. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REFJxwQPQUY&feature=related

• Fuzzy Zoeller – makes stereotypical black comments related to Tiger Woods. He has not gotten the visibility nor endorsements that would have previously been expected. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5aWS0StFM5I

• Howard Cosell - Cosell saying "look at that little monkey run" to describe black receiver Alvin Garrett in a Washington Redskins game. Loses his job and quietly vanishes from the sports scene.

• Mel Gibson - Gibson makes anti Semitic remarks while being arrested and drunk. His true feelings come out while drunk. It makes you look at his reasoning for The Passion Of Christ. Gibson’s father is supposedly a Holocaust denier. I do not have first hand knowledge of this affect on his career, but he does not seem to be in the public eye. The reason Gibson, not a sports-related personality, is in this list is because of a great rant Denis Leary performed in the announcer’s booth at the Red Sox’ Fenway Park . (Denis Leary tells Mel Gibson to shove it. http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/40420/)

**************

Willie -- You need to kick ass on that team of yours and WIN GAMES! Excuses and apologies won’t cut it! This will be forgotten (or at least lessened) if you win.

****************

(photos www.wbt.com and 2000magazine.com)

Good thing you can check out all the clips, white-flash free (that is, unless it's the TDS graphics staff doing it) at TheDailyShow.com. Yep, that should earn me a paycheck this month.

[vodpod id=Groupvideo.1225454&w=425&h=350&fv=videoId%3D168878]

AANNDDDD I just noticed that the cutting-out-early thing is still in effect and that I, nor anyone who should also do a once-over before putting it out there, did not notice my title flub. I changed it but it looks like it might be there to stay. Aw shucks. Maybe someday when the DVD comes out the right one will be seen.

The voice talents behind the characters on FOX's The Simpsons have not made a deal with 20th Century Fox TV for the 20th season of the show. Per Variety, despite FOX announcing The Simpsons would be back on Sunday nights during last week's upfront presentation, production is on hold until this talent deal is resolved which may force FOX and the studio to reduce the number of episodes to 20 instead of 22. Currently the cast is reportedly make $360,000 per episode and if the new deal comes to fruition they could each possibly make $500,000 per episode in addition to other bonuses. (Cynopsis 5/20)

Fox has greenlit a new series Hole in the Wall from FremantleMedia N.A., which is already a hit in several foreign territories.  Based on the video game Tetris, contestants standing on a platform are required to move their bodies into certain shapes so that the wall moving toward them with the cutout shape successfully passes by them.  If they are not in the right shape, the wall pushes them into the water. Fox has ordered 13 episodes. (Cynopsis 5/20)

HBO on Sunday night will premiere "Recount," a dramatization of the 2000 presidential recount that eventually led to George W. Bush's first term in office and, for a short time, made "chads" water cooler conversation. The film stars Kevin Spacey and Denis Leary and does not pick sides on the controversial election: "The film is not about who should have won," said screenwriter Danny Strong. "This movie is about our electoral process and gives us an intimate look at how this process went down in one particular state. And then it sort of asks the American people: Is this how you want to elect a president?" (Los Angeles Times 5/19)

Recount Trailer

Mark Greenberg, a 25-year cable veteran who was most recently with Showtime, has been tapped to run a pay-TV channel being developed by Paramount, MGM and Lions Gate Entertainment. The new company, expected to launch next year, will face rivals such as HBO, Starz and Showtime. (The Wall Street Journal 5/20, The Boston Globe/Associated Press 5/19)

AOL Time Warner ex-CFO John Michael Kelly and seven other former execs are being charged with accounting fraud by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission over their role in helping the company inflate revenue by more than $1 billion after AOL's merger with the media giant. (Iwantmedia 5/20, http://www.crainsnewyork.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080519/FREE/652695851/1057 5/19)

Sen. Barack Obama, in new public remarks, says he will make Big Media a target of his administration's antitrust enforcers if he is elected president. Much of the Democratic Party base blames media consolidation for uncritical coverage of the Bush administration's lead up to the war. (Iwantmedia 5/20, http://www.thedeal.com/dealscape/2008/05/obama_would_target_big_media.php 5/19)

Senator Barack Obama

The White House is blasting NBC News for what it contends is "deceitful editing" of correspondent Richard Engel's interview of President Bush. Counselor to the president Ed Gillespie asserts that the interview misrepresents Bush's remarks concerning Barack Obama. (Iwantmedia 5/20, http://www.tvweek.com/news/2008/05/white_house_blasts_nbc_broadca.php 5/19)

IFC has acquired the North American rights to South Korean action film "The Chaser," about a man on the run from police as he tries to rescue a serial killer's victim before it's too late. The channel is expected to premiere the movie late this year or early next and make it available on its VOD platform as well. (Variety 5/19)

This looks amazing.  The important point to make here is that this is a TRUE story.  I can’t find a version of this trailer in English but even from the Korean version, you can tell that this is shot beautifully and filled with drama.

The Chaser Trailer

NBC officially ordered the new drama Kings to series yesterday, despite announcing back in April the drama was part of the winter schedule in the Sunday at 10p time period. Apparently, network executives had only ordered a two-hour movie but after viewing footage of the contemporary re-telling of the David vs. Goliath tale starring Christopher Egan and Ian McShane, they decided to make it official. (Cynopsis 5/20)

The American Federation of Television and Radio Artists warned members in an email not to expect a quick resolution to the thorny issue of consent for online use of its work. Like SAG, AFTRA is objecting to producers' proposal to pay a flat fee for online distribution in return for not having to obtain artists' consent. SAG held a town hall meeting last night in LA to update members on contract talks. (Cynopsis 5/20)

Time Warner Cable CEO Glenn Britt, participating in a panel discussion at The Cable Show in New Orleans, said cable networks should not wonder whether the country's second-largest cable provider minds when channels stream shows for free the same day they are on TV. "Guess what. We do mind," Britt said. "If you're talking about putting (a program) online for free on the same date (it airs on TV), that will erode your other business model." (The Hollywood Reporter 5/19)

The Sundance Channel will kick off an aggressive increase in its video-on-demand offerings beginning June 1. Sundance Channel On Demand, currently available in 29 million homes, will boost standard-definition VOD programming from 10 to 25 hours per month and HD VOD from six to 12 hours monthly. (RBR.com 5/19)

Univision unveiled the most extensive on demand library of Spanish-language content yet assembled on VOD. Scheduled to launch in Jan. 2009, the broadcaster promises more than 1,000 hours of sports, news, movies and entertainment offerings. (Cynopsis 5/20)

Video-on-demand technology may still be evolving, but one thing is clear: Cable-industry executives see it as a potentially important way to more precisely target advertising messages in the future. "Where the customer is and where the advertising is can be linked by the technology," said Cablevision Chief Operating Officer Tom Rutledge, who participated in a panel discussion at NCTA's The Cable Show. "VOD is just a part of the application -- a more intriguing technology for delivering advertising." (OneTRAK 5/19)

Charter Communications will become the first multiple-system operator to deploy Digeo's new cable set-top box the Moxi Cable HD DVR 3012, Digeo announced at NCTA's The Cable Show. The second-generation system combines dual high-definition tuners and a DVR. (TWICE 5/19)

It's Thursday, and that means another addition to our Dictionary of National D-bags. Today's honored d-bag is comedian, cop, fireman and all around hero Denis Leary.

Leary became famous in the early 90s for his "rants" and for popularizing the d-bag ethos with his his sardonic song about the American lower-middle-class male, "Asshole".

Though in private Leary is often a decent guy, he maintains a d-bag public persona so that his core fan base is not disillusioned and stop patronizing the advertisers of cigars and erectile dysfunction cures advertized on his TV shows. If d-bags thought Leary was merely being ironic for satirical purposes, they might reflect on why being a d-bag is undesirable, which could lead them to promote peace, tolerance, and good grammar.

If not, don't fret - HBO has made a TV movie about the Golden State's role in the 2000 election, when the final numbers took weeks to determine based on a flawed voting system. If the word "hanging chad" rings any bells, yes, that's what this movie is about.

"Recount" doesn't hit the little screen until May 28th, but they're raffling off free tickets in assorted US cities for advanced screenings. Sure, its no "The Dark Knight" or "Indiana Jones and the Jumping of the Sequel Shark," but it sure beats "Sex and the City," the motion picture (which, ironically, is also from HBO).

The film stars Kevin Spacey, Bob Balaban, Ed Begley, Jr., Laura Dern, John Hurt, Denis Leary, Bruce McGill, and Tom Wilkinson, all names that I bring up simply to draw in the search engines (hi Google!).

Anyway, if you live in Los Angeles or San Francisco (or in a handful of other US cities) click here to enter for passes.

...h/t LA Snark...

Rated R for some sexuality and language.

113 Minutes

This is an elegant crime, done by an elegant person. It’s not about the money. -Catherine Banning

Synopsis

A Monet painting worth $100,000,000 is stolen and the top dog insurance investigator, Catherine Banning joins ranks with the local police force to track down the thief.  The investigator finds herself chasing a billionaire named Thomas Crown that has everything to lose and doesn’t seem to be concerned.  In fact, he’s arrogantly hinted that he is the one responsible.  As a minor complication, Thomas and Catherine find themselves attracted to each other, and now the stakes have gotten even higher as the game of cat and mouse is now even more dangerous.

Review

This re-make of the 1968 version with Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway, is different than it’s original though it bears the same concept and character’s.  It certainly doesn’t lack any of the hot and steamy sexual tension that McQueen and Dunaway displayed in the original.  The playful chemistry that bounced back and forth between Brosnan and Russo was so alive, it almost seemed you could reach out and touch it.

What was really intriguing, was the conflict of interest between Brosnan, being the suspected criminal and Russo as the one in pursuit of him.  He being a rich billionaire, and her the insurance headhunter, makes her not quite law enforcement and him not quite the nasty typical criminal.  The contrast of Denis Leary’s character, the “normal guy”, was a subtle reminder that these two character’s were not your average people, and their affair was nothing of the norm.

Faye Dunaway’s cameo as Thomas Crown’s psychiatrist was a fun addition to bring the reminder of the original take on the story, but Faye’s own sultry demeanor came across clearly in her cleverness with Crown while he began to lose his composer due to his attraction to Catherine.  The magneticism between the two of them is undeniable, and the way each of them try to keep away from the other scheming one makes for a lot of sexually tense scenes as they both deny their obvious desire for each other. As we know, that only lasts for so long, and then their motivations begin to strike conflict in each of them.

Cast

• Pierce Brosnan as Thomas Crown
• Rene Russo as Catherine Banning
• Denis Leary as Detective Michael McCann
• Ben Gazzara as Andrew Wallace
• Faye Dunaway as The Psychiatrist

Rene Russo has never been hotter than she was in her role as Catherine.  As a tough, clever, and certainly unique woman, she is used to being the alpha-male.  She wants something and she gets it.  She even tells Crown, “I always get my man”.  Her own sexual prowess and confidence is tangible, but when coupled with Brosnan’s own suave bravado, the combination is electric.  The casting of each of them was pure pleasure.  With Denis Leary in the back round as Dectective Michael McCann, one would expect his character to get lost in the sexy overtones created by Brosnan and Russo, but just the opposite happens.  McCann is actually the most three dimensional character of the story.  He is the connection to reality, and his “good guy” character who’s goals and aspirations are much less complicated than the other two, meshed with his own personal charisma, makes his character likable and sound.  This was a really good role for him.

Ratings and Suggestions

The Thomas Crown Affair existed for one reason: to entertain.  The character’s were fun, enjoyable to look at, and adventurous in their criminal behavior.  It was a sexy movie that wasn’t intended to be a realistic romance story, it was meant to be a love adventure between two extraordinary characters.  The sensual overtones that flooded the story made their relationship that much more forbidden, and that much more engaging.  This is an adult film for an adult audience.  It’s a great movie that hopefully won’t get lost in the years.  The Thomas Crown Affair gets Three And A half out of Four Steamy stars.

A grande questão será descobrir que desculpa será usada pelos roteiristas para que eles voltem no tempo, já que os mamíferos citados - e os humanos do primeiro filme - jamais conviveram com os répteis pré-históricos.

O brasileiro Carlos Saldanha, co-diretor do primeiro filme e diretor do segundo, retorna para assinar o terceiro, agora com tecnologia 3-D (para ver com óculos especiais).

A produção da Blue Sky Studios e da Fox Animation estréia em 1º de julho de 2009. O primeiro custou 59 milhões de dólares e arrecadou 380 milhões mundialmente, enquanto o segundo custou 80 milhões e fez 650 milhões.

Veja o trailler

Honestly, did Joel Silver really think he was going to create an immaculate description of welfare statism when he began producing a movie titled Demolition Man?

No. In fact, fuck no.

The thing is, in just three little words, lunatic killer Simon Phoenix manages to sum up the nanny state perfectly. Right before Phoenix kills Dr. Cocteau, benevolent commissar of the repressive city of San Angeles, he labels him an “evil Mr. Rogers.”

Isn’t that perfect? I don’t think it’s possible to put it any better. People quickly tire when libertarians bemoan the welfare state as an immoral attack on the inalienable rights of life, liberty and property, but the notion of an evil Mr. Rogers is much easier to digest.

For libertarians, especially those who love to watch movies where things go boom, Demolition Man has a lot to offer. As you would expect from the title, nuance isn’t a major tool for director Marco Brambilla, but the film is actually quite dense and offers a lot that can be analyzed.

The protagonist John Spartan, played by Sylvester Stallone, does not require much analysis. He’s a cop; he’s got a moral compass and he gets the job done, regardless of the consequences. He loves beer, meat and sex. He is not, however, a libertarian hero. He has no regard for private property. To Spartan, property is a minor inconvenience that prevents him from enforcing his law. While it is commendable that Spartan follows his own moral compass, not the inane dictates of the government, this fact simply cannot be excused.

Simon Phoenix, played perfectly by Wesley Snipes, is a bat-shit crazy evil genius. He wants nothing but power, for no reason other than to have power, and will kill and destroy in order to get it. He is a perfect libertarian enemy. I know that it’s chic for libertarians to discuss the evils of the nanny state, but one should never forget that evil can manifest itself in individuals as well.

Dr. Cocteau, the man behind San Angeles, is a futuristic Ellsworth Toohey. He has consolidated power behind a veil of providing safety. The following things are banned in San Angeles due to Cocteau: kissing, sex, meat, violence, contact sports, cigarettes, art, swearing (thanks to a Verbal Morality law), dressing scandalously, touching, collecting non-sanctioned anythings and “abortion. But so is having a baby unless you have a permit.”

There is never any discussion of how these laws are actually enforced, but one must assume it involves heavy use of extremely potent police “glow sticks.” He is a sanctimonious prick, and he is another perfect libertarian enemy.

So where is our hero? That role falls on the relatively minor character Edgar Friendly, played by Denis Leary. I’ll let Friendly speak for himself.

“You see, according to Cocteau's plan I'm the enemy, 'cause I like to think; I like to read. I'm into freedom of speech and freedom of choice. I'm the kind of guy likes to sit in a greasy spoon and wonder, ‘Gee, should I have the T-bone steak or the jumbo rack of barbecued ribs with the side order of gravy fries?’ I WANT high cholesterol. I wanna eat bacon and butter and BUCKETS of cheese, okay? I want to smoke a Cuban cigar the size of Cincinnati in the non-smoking section. I want to run through the streets naked with green Jell-o all over my body reading Playboy magazine. Why? Because I suddenly might feel the need to, okay, pal?”

Hell, just reading that makes me tingle with happiness. While his belief in freedom seems to have been derived from his libertine desires and not from a love of private property, Friendly has still ended up with the right positions. So, he’s not completely intellectually satisfying, but he still packs quite a visceral punch.

In the end, Spartan manages to kill the bad guy and get the girl, and our hero Friendly returns to a society no longer ruled by Cocteau. Oh yeah, and lots of shit blows up. Punctuated with a lot of humor and pop culture references, this movie is an excellent for any fan of action flicks, and it has just enough of a libertarian message to satiate my appetite for freedom. Therefore, 4.5 stars out of 5 on a movie scale, and 3.5 stars out of 5 on a liberty scale.

Sic simper tyrannus, my friends, and remember, if you don’t agree with me, you’re a communist.

-Chase Armbrust

Enjoy the videos!

Sean's tone seemed a bit sharper than the situation called for, so I sent him an email asking him to dial it back a little. I explained myself, pointing out that I had Googled the phrase "killing frogs," and nobody was using it in connection with a comedy blog. I hadn't seen nor heard of Todd's site before I picked the name, and White's humor quote has been part of the public sphere since 1941, when he published his book on the subject, A Subtreasury of American Humor. As an academic, being accused of plagiarism is a very big deal, even if it's light-hearted. Sean was kind enough to post an explanation, and I appreciate that.

I also contacted Todd, and assured him that I have no desire or intention to step on his toes. He has earned a good reputation with his website, and he deserves to keep it. The site is very impressive and very professional, with Todd's musings, industry news, reviews, discussion forums, and ads for comedy goods and services. It's no geek-with-a-modem-and-an-ax-to-grind blog.

Which is where I come in. My interest in this blog is purely academic. Ironically, I started it to avoid having my ideas usurped in the academic field. I study satire as a cultural phenomenon and talk publicly about my research quite a bit, so getting my words into print somewhere is the only way I can be assured of getting proper credit for ideas I've developed. It's kind of childish, but that's academia for you.

Stylistically and substantively, Todd's website and this blog could hardly be more different. All that links them is a shared general topic and the White quote. I think reasonable folks would agree, anyone who would confuse Todd's site with this little dog-and-pony show has no business using the internet unsupervised.

Nevertheless, Todd explained that he earns a living with his site, which he started in June of 2004, and asked if I might consider changing the name of this blog.  He, understandably, wants to keep the cache he's built up with his site, and thought there might be some leakage with my site.

I gave it a lot of thought. He asked nicely, not making demands or threats and being reasonable, and I don't want to take money out of another writer's pocket. (For the record, I don't intend or expect to make one red cent from these postings.) Still, many of my friends in the comedy world and the academic world have been kind enough to link to this blog, and I've gotten a fair amount of traffic. I didn't want to have to contact all of them again and ask them to change the links that they had been kind enough to put up in the first place. I think the look and content of our sites are very, very different.  And I really like the White quote.

So I called my old pal Crimmins. Barry Crimmins has been around the comedy world for more than 35 years, and as the founder of Boston's Ding Ho comedy club was notorious for his merciless approach to joke thieves. I figured he would help me clear up my thinking.

Barry's short answer was, "Fuck it. Change it. What do you care? Who are these people? Why do you have to deal with this?" (If you know Barry, it's always best to picture him aggravatedly rubbing his forehead when you read his quotes. It just feels right.)

I explained to him the situation and assured him I wanted to do the right thing, but that I was having a philosophical discussion with myself about what, exactly, the right thing was. "Dead frog" is different from "killing frogs." A professional, commercial website is different from a pissant blog. Neither of us could legitimately claim intellectual right to a quote that's been part of the public conversation for nearly 70 years.

As we talked, Crimmins wanted to see the sites we were discussing. I told him about the original post on the comic's comic. He asked, "Which one?" Googling the phrase "comics comic" had turned up a page of variants, including comicscomicsmag.blogspot.com, which Barry had confused with thecomicscomic.typepad.com. Easy mistake, I suppose, with coincidentally similar-named blogs....

He then wanted to see Todd's site, so I told him to go to "dead frog dot com." Which he did. "What is this? What is he talking about?" he asked incredulously. I asked, "Dead hyphen frog dot com?" "No," says he, "deadfrog dot com."

A little research finds that deadfrog.com was created in 1999. Not to be confused with deadfrog.net (created 1996), deadfrog.us (copyright 2004), and certainly not deadfrogrecords.com (created 2001) or johnny-come-lately deadfrogbrewery.com (created 2006).  The point is not to cast any aspersions on Todd, but to show that there are a lot of site names more similar to his than mine.  So the accusation (which did not come from Todd) was, in my opinion, unfair and gratuitous.

I've now had a few days to discuss this with Crimmins and some other comics and writers whose opinions I value. I want to give Todd a fair shake. I'm not here to ride anybody's coattails or pick anyone's pocket.

The controversy over joke-jacking (well reported by Larry Getlen at Radar) and who owns a bit, and whether you can own a premise, Cook vs. C.K., Mencia vs. Rogan, Leary vs. Hicks, etc., etc., all play into my thinking. I don't want to be the guy who lifted Todd's "bit."

At the same time, I have strong feelings about free speech and intellectual property and who owns words and ideas and concepts and what happens when you surrender your rights. If I change my blog name, am I tacitly accepting Todd's "ownership" of the White quote? And what does it mean if I do? So my interest in this is bigger than merely changing the name or not. Clearly, I'm thinking too much about this.

What do you think?

______________

Update 03/05/08: In the end, I decided to keep the name.  I have no hard feelings about this situation or against Todd, who was a gentleman throughout this whole procedure, which was not fun for either of us I'm sure.  I respect Todd and the things he does on his website, and I recommend you read it regularly.  We're doing different things, and he does his thing well.  I'm just giving my pissant two cents on the goings on that affect my research interest.  You ask me what's happening in the world of comedy, I'm going to send you to Todd at Dead-Frog.com.

Right now I'm suffering from a sinus infection/allergies, or a Code in the Node, and my nose is NOT pleased.  I have been using nasal sprays for some time, both OTC and prescription (I know, bad girl), plus lately Ocean, in an attempt to clear it up, but to no avail.  My nose, pardon the frankness, is still stuffy, crusty, hurts, bleeds, and feels like there's a hole up inside between the two passages.

I have long been a user of cold products and Sudafed.  17 years ago, we were living in Minnesota, yes that wonderful, fascinating, but god-forsakeningly frigid state. 

Now my ex loved his brand new CRX.  His first new car, and he babied it like no other.  So he refused to drive it that first winter.  And since he worked shifts at area hospitals, and odd hours, he needed the Buick.  So my one year old daughter and I walked to her daycare, pushing her in a flimsy umbrella stroller over rutted snow/ice covered sidewalks (if you don't shovel religiously, you get deep ruts - same with streets: don't plow and you get ruts - once so bad it was like slot cars on our side street).  But I digress.  It was a cold winter, and that meant temps up to -20 for a high and wind chills up to -50 below.  We had to walk about 2 miles to her day care at a woman's house, and I had to walk another mile to the bus stop, and repeat on the way home.  By the time we got to our destinations, we were crying and the tears had frozen our eyes shut; our nose hairs had also frozen together, and our lungs and exposed skin burned.  Every day, for 3+ months.  Needless to say, we both got very sick that winter,  I developed a raging URI, and coughed for 48+ hours straight, no respite.  They tried everything, and I finally landed in the ER, where he gave me a hydrocodone syrup that knocked me out enough so I could sleep and the reflexive cough would go away, and 120 mg doses of Sudafed.  He said that was what it needed and to use that in the future if it got bad again.  So after that, the weak family lungs kicked in, and I was sick with URIs almost constantly, 3 months for each: first a cold, then laryngitis, sinusitis, bronchitis, and even pneumonia. Then do it all over again.

Although Sudafed made me jumpy (I'm sensitive to meds), when it got rough, I took that 120 mg, every 6 hours, so about 3 times a day, or 84 pills a week.

Now, an example  current law states as reported in the Idaho Press Tribune (date unknown - source: http://www.myidahopress.com/sundayfeature/data/061209/a21.php:

"The law restricts the sale of products containing pseudoephedrine, a common nasal decongestant and meth ingredient. It went into effect July 1.

The law also requires that retailers ensure that pseudoephedrine medicines are located either in an area where the public is not permitted or inside a locked display case and that sales of the products must be conducted by an employee.

No pseudoephedrine products can be sold directly to customers off the shelves.

In addition, store employees can sell no more than 9 grams of pseudoephedrine in a single sale. That's 300 30-milligram tablets. The Sudafed brand name sells packages of 24, 48 and 96 tablets.

It is now also be against the law for anyone to buy more than 9 grams of pseudoephedrine in any 30-day period. Violations will be treated as a misdemeanor charge.

Purchasers throughout the state are also required to present government-issued photo identification, typically a driver's license, when buying these products.

"We've had this scourgeof meth for a while now, and we continue different angles and different methods to try to stem the tide of meth," McGee said." (emphasis added)

The actual law, for legalphiles is found at:

TITLE  37:  FOOD, DRUGS, AND OIL
                   CHAPTER 33
                   RETAIL SALES OF PSEUDOEPHEDRINE PRODUCTS
    37-3301-6

http://www3.state.id.us/cgi-bin/newidst

Now, as I see it, I can consume about 84 pills a week, or if the cold lingers, 356 a month, well over the legal limit, which would make me guilty of a misdemeanor if I tried to purchase it.  And if I try to stockpile in the fall against coming colds, for all three of us, using a variety of products, such as Sudafed, Dayquil, and other cold preparations, I can't.  I get stopped, like a criminal.

Now, I can't even examine the box of the remedy - I have to rely on the card in the tray, take it to the pharmacist, and pay for it there, all like I'm a drug kingpin.  What about the poor Dad, sent out in the middle of the night to find some cold medication for little Joey, who's been crying all night, only to find the pharmacies are closed, and that he has to search town for an all-nighter?

Now I finally kicked the bad cold habit in Hawaii - that wonderful warm, moist, fragrant air - that's what I talk about - not the sandy beaches, the sunshine, the luaus, but the air, the air.  After two years there free and clear, and then coming back, I got smacked with a cold.  This particular one snuck through now, as it's tenacious - half my 15 yr old's school is down with it.  SO hence this topic.

But NyQuil, a family favorite, in a move to position itself above the rest, changed it's formulary to remove the offending pseudoephedrine and keep the box on the shelf.  Maybe smart marketing, but death to those of us who believe that NyQuil is the agent of all that's workable for a cold, and the closest we come to a drug.  I had found NyQuil through a Denis Leary show called "No Cure For Cancer" and was intrigued.  The complete transcript can be found at: http://www.endor.org/leary/

Now a warning: EXPLICIT LANGUAGE at the site.  I have tried to "block" the worst below, but the topic is not for kids.

"I don't do illegal drugs anymore. Now I just do the legal drugs. Tonight I'm on NyQuil and Sudafed. Let me tell you something, folks. Forget about cocaine and heroine. All you need is NyQuil and Sudafed. I'm telling you right now, I took the NyQuil five years ago. I just came out of the coma tonight before the f*&*ing show! Claus Vanbulo was standing over my bed going, "Denis, get up! There's something the matter with Sunny! Hurry up!" I love NyQuil. Man, I love it! I love it. I love it. I love it. It's the best thing sh*t ever invented. Isn't it, huh? I love the name alone. NyQuil - Capitol N, small Y, big f*&*ing Q! I love that f*&*ing Q, don't you!? What a great advertising idea! Put a huge f*&*ing Q on the box. They'll get high and stare at it. "The Q is talking to me! The Q is talking to me!"

I love NyQuil, man. Because NyQuil has never changed, man. It's never changed. All the other medicines are doing that inner-child thing. "we know that there's a small child inside of you, so now we have grape and cherry and orange flavor." Not NyQuil! They still have the original green death f*&*ing flavor!(*) You know why!? Because it doesn't matter what it tastes like! It's so strong you go, "*wheeze* Hey this stuff really tastes like.." Bang! Yer in the coma already! "What happened?" "He said tastes like and he went right into the coma, it was unbelievable!" We have reached the point where the over the counter drugs are actually stronger than anything you can buy on the street. It says on the back of the NyQuil box, on the back of the box it says, "May cause drowsiness." It should say, "Don't make any f*&*ing plans! Kiss your family and friends goodbye." 

So reach for the newly revised NyQuil and sigh for the good old days, for as George Orwell pointed out so well in "1984," (Part One, page one - available at: http://www.online-literature.com/orwell/1984/1/):

BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU...

I'm paranoid, so sue me,  K : )

Det verkar som om Wordpress och Denis Leary inte går ihop idag - titta på filmen här.

Denis Leary - Life's Gonna Suck
Life's gonna suck when you grow up,
When you grow up, when you grow up
Life's gonna suck when you grow up,
It sucks pretty bad right now.

Hey! If you know the words, Sing along!

You're gonna hafta mow the lawn,
Do the dishes, make your bed.
You're gonna hafta go to school until you're seventeen.
It's gonna seem about three times as long as that

You're mighta hafta go to war, shoot a gun, kill a nun.
You mighta hafta to go to war, when you get out of school.
Hey cheer up kids, it gets a lot worse.

You're gonna hafta deal with stress
Deal with stress, deal with stress.
You're gonna be a giant mess
When you get back from the war.

Santa Clause does not exist, and there's no Easter Bunny,
You'll find out when you grow up, that Big Bird isn't funny.
funny, hahahahaha!

Life's gonna suck when you grow up,
When you grow up, when you grow up
Life's gonna suck when you grow up,
It sucks pretty bad right now.

You're gonna end up smoking crack, on your back, face the fact.
You're gonna end up hooked on smack, and then you're gonna die.

And then you're gonna die-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie.

[vodpod id=Groupvideo.595896&w=425&h=350&fv=id%3D5033234%26autoStart%3D1] from 9.yahoo.com

Tylenol.

I have a chest cold, one of those that manifests three nights ago as a little tickle in the back of your throat and overnight turns into wheezing and coughing like I've just run the Dust Bowl Marathon. It's not the kind of sick I can deal with easily, either. I have chronic migraines, and while those constitute their own little circle of hell, at least I know how to cope with them: avoid bright lights and loud noises, lie down if I can, and meds, meds, meds. I'm a big believer in the pharmaceutical industry. Their marketing may be unconscionable, but anything that helped in the invention of Demerol gets the benefit of the doubt from me.

But like I said, Tylenol...

When did everything OTC suddenly have to have a flavor? Who even wanted it to? I'm of the '70s generation, when NyQuil was only available in "green death flavor" (with apologies to Denis Leary), when a pill that rendered you unconscious for the entire allergy season was accepted and loved, when parents everywhere looked at any scrape or cut that didn't go all the way through the body as a put-a-Band-Aid-on-it opportunity. It was medicine's job to  taste disgusting if you let it sit in your mouth more than the two seconds required to raise the glass to your lips. The only flavored medicine I remember from my childhood was Robitussin, available in Cherry Unconsciousness. It clung to your lips for hours after you swallowed it, like the poison from Snow White's apple.

Tylenol, that old warhorse, has apparently discovered everyone's inner child and now makes their OTC cold/cough/allergy remedies "available in new Cool Burst flavor."

Huh?

I didn't think anything of this 'til I popped a couple of these in my mouth and was rewarded with the pitiful shadow of mint, like water in which a cheap after-dinner mint dissolved sometime last Tuesday. It was foul and vile and completely took my mind off my coughing and wheezing for as long as it took me to dig a Luden's Throat Drop (now there's cherry flavor for you!) out of the junk drawer and pop it into my mouth. Cool Burst, my ass; more like watered-down nausea.

I just wonder who came up with this and why. Am I the last to know it's become fashionable to let plain old Tylenol-flavored Tylenol dissolve in your mouth now, like some kind of hazing ritual? Was there a great backlash against plain Tylenol from the Mint Growers of America? Had licking tablets of acetaminophen suddenly replaced licking toads as sport among the oxycontin-for-fun set?

I don't know what prompted the question, but Cool Burst Tylenol isn't the answer. Except it is -- it's the only way Tylenol specialties come now, Cool Burst or nothing. I'm reminded of an inventive vampire novel I read recently, in which vampires had become the world's majority population and old useless items like boxes of cereal and bottles of aspirin were hot collectors' items on eBay.

Where, come to think of it, I haven't yet looked for plain old Tylenol, but it doesn't seem like a bad place to start.