==pla|\|ing lakes==

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

nice account of what happens when an author doesn't play along with oprah when she wants him on the show but doesn't want to mention his book [pop candy]

In fact, I was informed, not only were we not going to talk about the book -- we weren't even going to mention the book. Not a word about it. Nothing. If I as much as uttered the word "book," I soon found out, it would be edited out. It was made crystal clear: Ex-nay on the ook-bay.

The reason for this is the aforementioned buying frenzy when Oprah says "book" because -- with apologies to Laura Bush -- along with many other job titles, Oprah is America's librarian, dispensing reading recommendations she believes will enlighten the masses. ("A Million Little Pieces," yes. "1 Dead in Attic," no.)

And if she casually mentions a book on the air, then publishers rush out full page ads in The New York Times that say AS SEEN ON OPRAH and it's construed as an endorsement even if it was just a passing reference and so, no talkie-talkie about bookie-bookie unless O deems it appropriate and O has apparently decided to let me rot in anonymity, rendered to the half-price shelf rather than roll my book, my name, off her lips, those beautiful lips, and into 18 billion homes, or however many women (and six guys) are tuned in at any given moment.

9:48 PM - [Link] - Comments ()

R.I.P. Hilly Kristal

Aside from the nice selection of links at pop candy, Steven Lee Beeber's The Heebie-Jeebies at CBGB's: A Secret History of Jewish Punk is well worth a read re Kristal and others.

8:10 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

Monday, August 27, 2007

this quote from miss south carolina (miss teen usa pageant) needs to be recorded for future -- hopefully literate -- generations

"I personally believe that U.S. Americans are unable to do so because some people out there in our nation don't have maps, and I believe that our education like such as South Africa and the Iraq everywhere like such as, and I believe that they should... our education over here in the U.S should help the U.S or should help South Africa and should help the Iraq and the Asian countries so we will be able to build up our future."

i cadged this from Doonesbury but it's all over the place.

i'm watching Les enfants terrible, and cocteau mentions the extraordinary privileges of beauty. . .

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Sunday, August 26, 2007

finally tracked down the features on warners' october release of O Lucky Man!

tried twice to get through Britannia Hospital and never made it. if... was pretty good, but far less radical now than in the 60s, when it raised a ruckus in the UK.

but OLM is a favorite of mine since it was released. i even had the soundtrack, and that's always been unusual for me. my first exposure to the charms and talent of helen mirren too.

all the extras look worthy, and hopefully the transfer will do it justice.

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i shit you not

Rick Wakeman's standup DVD is out on Tuesday

bring back tony banks!

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Saturday, August 25, 2007

another list of essential films, this time from the Guardian

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sofa cinema & "guerrilla drive-ins"

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a page of james turrell links

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someone hit my site from RedSneak a few days ago -- it's a proxy workaround

10:24 PM - [Link] - Comments ()

Thursday, August 23, 2007

i don't listen to much rock anymore, so p j harvey is mostly a name i've heard; but after scanning justin vicari's lengthy and scholarly review in Bright Lights Journal, i just might check out her concert dvd

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trailer for the new cronenberg looks good

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i see our honourable representative won't be back in '09

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O Canada

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Wednesday, August 22, 2007

The world's most dangerous roads [incoming signals]

the Family Circle as written by Nietzsche link is pretty cool too.

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Monday, August 20, 2007

i'm seeing burroughs' too-wide grin

U.S. pain medicine use has skyrocketed 88 percent since '97

7:06 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

Sunday, August 19, 2007

GreenCine's skinny on that Tom Cruise/Scientology in Germany flap a few months ago

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Saturday, August 18, 2007

Slightly febrile piece on Mary-Louise Parker [pop candy]

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R.I.P. Max Roach

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some scary shit

6 people who were psychologically tortured by doctors trying to induce stuttering (in 1939) have successfully sued Iowa University

it's alright, i'm a doctor. . .

1:31 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

Friday, August 17, 2007

scanning the metacritic page for The Libertine -- one of the best films of the last ten years -- it's hard to find much support for that proposition; only sheri linden's review in The Hollywood Reporter (!) really seems to get it

maybe it's because i still get great pleasure from artful and rich dialogue that i find movies like The Libertine, Brick, Miller's Crossing and Yes so rewarding and rewatchable.

"I wish to be moved. I cannot feel in life. I must have others do it for me here in the theatre. . .

I am the cynic of our golden age. This bounteous dish which our great Charles and our great God have in more or less equal measure placed before us sets my teeth permanently on edge.

Life has no purpose. It is everywhere outdone by arbitrariness: I do this and it matters not a jot if I do the opposite.

But in the playhouse every action good or bad has its consequences. Drop a handkerchief and it will return to smother you.

The Theatre is my drug, and my illness is so far advanced that my physick must be of highest quality."

I identify with these lines more than I care to admit, and perhaps that's part of why I loved the movie so much, despite it's dreary mood.

And the performances by all are first-rate. The doc on the dvd is good too. Haven't listened to the commentary yet.

Remarkable that this is Laurence Dunmore's directorial debut.

11:12 PM - [Link] - Comments ()

"Karl Rove figured out a long time ago that the way to take an intellectually incurious, draft-averse, naughty playboy in a flight jacket with chewing tobacco in his back pocket and make him governor of Texas, was to sell him as God’s anointed in a state where preachers and televangelists outnumber even oil derricks and jack rabbits"

moyers flips off rove, but doesn't go deep [magpie]

10:50 PM - [Link] - Comments ()

Nice article by Liz Hand (Generation Loss) on the history of meth and 2 new books about it [bliss blog]

The new drug, christened Benzedrine, was initially marketed as a miracle cure, "used to treat obesity, epilepsy, schizophrenia, cerebral palsy, hypertension, 'irritable colon,' 'caffeine mania,' and even hiccups." By the 1950s, variations on its chemical theme included Dexedrine, whose "gentle stimulation will provide the patient with a new cheerfulness, optimism, and feeling of well-being"; Norodin, "useful in reducing the desire for food"; Desoxyn, for "When she's ushered by temptation"; and Syndrox, "For the patient who is all flesh and no will power."

Nice.

8:22 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

Here's a city for all those folks who think environmentalism is a pink terrorist conspiracy to squelch free enterprise

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Wednesday, August 15, 2007

"I'd like in any case to underscore a far larger and more significant point that no one should doubt or forget: The CIA has a vital mission in protecting the United States, and the focus of this agency is there, on that decisive work."

The CIA, the Democratic Party, the Vatican and voting machine manufacturer Diebold are among those Wikipedia Scanner software has caught editing entries on the netcyclopedia's site

11:08 PM - [Link] - Comments ()

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

The U.S. "ranks dead last on almost all measures of equity," with the "greatest disparity in the quality of care given to richer and poorer citizens"

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Sunday, August 12, 2007

Happy Birthday Nancy!

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i gather from my sitemeter results that someone is trying to email me; the address is above but might escape the casual reader: drbenway at priest dot com

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Saturday, August 11, 2007

R.I.P. Tony Wilson, founder of Factory Records

If you've seen 24 Hour Party People -- and you should if you haven't -- you know how important he was to the early 80s music scene in Britain.

Joy Division/New Order, Durutti Column, Caberet Voltaire, Happy Mondays, James, A Certain Ratio and many others all came out of the Manchester scene he championed and supported.

Manchester Evening News obit.

I need to post more so all my posts aren't obits. . .

10:06 PM - [Link] - Comments ()

Friday, August 10, 2007

R.I.P. William J Tuttle

Make-up artist extraordinaire: The Wizard of Oz, Marlon Brando as an Okinawan in Teahouse of the August Moon, the Morlocks in The Time Machine, the pig-faced people in that episode of The Twilight Zone, Young Frankenstein, & an Oscar for The Seven Faces of Dr Lao.

More here.

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Thursday, August 09, 2007

i can't believe this shit is still happening

man detained at airport for wearing a t-shirt with a sentence in arabic

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Wednesday, August 08, 2007

utterly absurd

uk pop star denied visa to US because she clocked a photographer

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Monday, August 06, 2007

R.I.P. Lee Hazlewood

Had no idea he was a hero to Sonic Youth and Nick Cave, probably because I don't know his work post-"These Boots Are Made For Walkin'" & "Some Velvet Morning". . .

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Sunday, August 05, 2007

more good dvd news

upgrades on kubrick films coming Oct 23

a box set won't include Lolita & Barry Lyndon however.

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exhaustive (no kidding) details of the december release of Blade Runner: Ultimate Edition

scott & co. did a great job on Kingdom of Heaven, and this looks even better.

9:42 PM - [Link] - Comments ()

Saturday, August 04, 2007

wondered what happened to susannah york, after seeing some of her halcyon films from the 60s & 70s over the last year: Images (Altman's early psychological drama), The Killing of Sister George (with now largely forgotten but quite good Coral Browne), Brotherly Love (aka Country Dance) (with Peter O'Toole), Oh! What a Lovely War, and of course her debut (whoops that was actually There Was a Crooked Man) in Tunes of Glory with Alec Guinness

she was also in A Man for All Seasons, They Shoot Horses, Don't They, Happy Birthday, Wanda June (an interesting take on Vonnegut i remember seeing on pbs back in nj), and Superman's mom in the first film.

i'm going to try out The 7th Dawn which just showed on TCM as part of William Holden day today.

quite daring in her day, and good at playing the psychologically tormented.

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52 pivotal photographs [pop candy]

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Friday, August 03, 2007

looks like the Rum Diary film is closer to reality with Johnny Depp but without del Toro, Nolte, or um hartnett [pop candy]

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Wednesday, August 01, 2007

R.I.P. Michelangelo Antonioni

the other 2 i can appreciate, this one hits close -- one of my favorite directors.

the films that worked me as a young'un were The Passenger & Blow Up, but of course there are many others which are essential viewing for cinephiles, or students of 29th 20th century culture.

interesting slip there.

8:01 AM - [Link] - Comments ()