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October 30, 2006

Ode to Boingo

My best Halloween ever was 1995. That was the year I attended the Farewell Concert of Oingo Boingo at the Universal Amphitheatre. While on one level, it's sad that in 10 years, nothing has beaten that night. On the other hand, seriously - who can top a Boingo concert, especially since Danny refuses to consider reuniting?

Halloween will forever be entwined with one of my all-time favorite bands. And there's nothing wrong with that. There is something wrong with not having plans on All Hallow's Eve. Granted, I'll probably still be recovering from the weekend, but there should be revelry.

I heart Rhapsody's description:

New wave nerds, Oingo Boingo represented Southern California long before "The OC" came along.
Of course, Danny Elfman is the genius behind the Simpsons' theme song, the Batman soundtrack, the Desperate Housewives theme song, and the movie "Nightmare Before Christmas."

Viva new wave nerds!

Posted by cj at 10:03 PM | Comments (0)

3 Papers a Day & No Connection to Local Culture

This weekend, my friends were astonished to learn that I read three papers a day - the LA Times, NY Times, and Wall Street Journal. Granted, my reading time will severely diminish once I start working full time again. While my appetite for news remains insatiable, I also realized this weekend that none of these papers provide a tangible connection to the local culture scene. The Calendar section is my favorite in the LAT, but its use is primarily for studying the business of entertainment. I never feel like its contributors are close enough to the LA scene to provide really useful reviews.

In Chicago, I didn't have this problem. There was Chicago Tonight to connect me with local politics, culture, and history. (A weekday news program from Chicago public t.v.) There was Check, Please! to introduce me to great restaurants (three local residents pick three restaurants, they all go then come into the studio to chat about them, led by host and sommelier Alpana Singh). And of course, there's Phil Vittel, the Trib's restaurant critic and Roger Ebert's film criticism at the Sun Times. There's Metromix (also from the Trib) to find a restaurant, bar, or club in any part of Chicagoland. And the Reader for great insight into the plethora of block parties and other festivals in Chi-town (and jobs and apartments, both of which I found through the Reader).

Sigh. I miss Chi-town. So, how do I find all of this local info for my hometown?!?!

Posted by cj at 11:24 AM | Comments (0)

October 29, 2006

180 New Messages & A Weekend 10 Years in the Making

Dude. I'm exhausted. This weekend rocked. Started Thursday morning with my flight to Atlanta on AirTrans to meet up with a good friend, her fiancee, and the first time our crew was all together in six years. Six long years. We tried to behave; mostly we failed. It was the best party I've been to in years. I can't wait for the next Swellesley wedding in May.

And I had 180 new email messages when I got home. Note to self: take computer on next four-day jaunt. Although, I think half the email is about my next trip. Austin wont be as excited as Atlanta, but really how can a working weekend compete with a four day party? That's okay - in addition to confirming how great my friends are, this weekend confirmed my commitment to WILPF. Because I don't want to just be another person railing against the system; I enjoy being the change I wish to see in the world. And I'm fading fast so I'll stop writing cliches.

Posted by cj at 11:11 PM | Comments (0)

October 19, 2006

LA Times: Too Lazy to Take New Pictures of Long Beach

On September 28, the LA Times had a story in the California section about the growing pains of Long Beach. It featured a picture of young people chillin in line for a club.

On October 19, the LA Times cover story for the Calendar Weekend section was on the great night life in Long Beach. It featured the exact same photo in its montage centerfold spread. The exact same photo. If I, a casual reader of the LA Times (along with two other daily newspapers) saw the discrepancy, what exactly was happening in the editing room?

Of course, this weirdness does not pan out in the online edition. For some reason, the paper is incapable of reproducing its own graphics, let alone accompanying photos for all articles. It's a shame really. The duplicated photo is highlighted on the right side in the online edition from Sept 28 and no photos accompany the online edition of the Calendar section cover story from Oct 19.

Posted by cj at 11:51 PM | Comments (0)

October 18, 2006

Fall TeeVee

I kept telling myself over the summer that there was no way I was going to fall for another teevee show. After all, I can barely keep up with my addictions as it is. They keep me from watching Netflix, and generally tie me home. Alas, my conviction failed. I succumbed to Brothers & Sisters, Shark, Heroes, Ugly Betty, and Studio 60. This on top of Everybody Hates Chris, How I Met Your Mother, Gilmore Girls, Prison Break, Bones, Lost, Grey's Anatomy, ER, Dancing with the Stars, and random taped-watching of ABC soap operas.

Clearly, my television addiction is too large - and DVR is making it worse. I have to say, of all those shows, Studio 60 is the worst. It's just a long, tedious 60 minutes of actors remembering lots of lines to no end. And it appears that America agrees with this analysis - LA Times' reports that the show is flailing in the ratings race.

I haven't checked out 30 Rock yet, but based on the LA Times review, I feel like I should.

I'm not sure why I'm watching Brothers & Sisters
tv.com reviews
pop matters review
Variety review
I was sucked in by the Big Name Cast. But honestly, it's the last thing I watch in my DVR queue, and I'm still not sure why I'm bothering. It's just an over-priced soap opera with too many characters, most of whom are one-dimensional pretty faces. Resolved: I will break my attachment to the show and stop watching.

Heroes is brilliant and one of my favorite shows. I'm so glad my sister suggested I watch it - I was able to catch the first ep on USA Network on the same night the second ep aired on NBC. I just love the Japanese characters.
tv.com reviews
Variety review

Gilmore Girls is intriguing, but I hate the way they just threw Lorelei into another relationship. And why does her beau call her Lorie?! Lost is surprisingly interesting, considering that I didn't like it last season. Grey's Anatomy continues to be the best cotton candy on teevee, hands down the best series for a single gal who doesn't expect reality from her black box. ER is good, but they keep scheduling Grey's to go over a few minutes, which makes my DVR deny my attempts to record ER (b/c something else is also being recorded in that time slot).

The most interesting part about living here is that I completely space on when shows are scheduled, because I only watch them as recordings. Add to that the lack of a water cooler, and I never feel compelled to Watch T.V. As It Airs. It's a somewhat liberating experience. Except that there's too many things in the queue and I never allow myself time to watch a Netflix movie.

By the way, I was Not going to watch Ugly Betty. Abhorred the commercials. Hated the snippet I read in the Chicago Tribune over the summer. Alas, the LA Times convinced me again. It's really not that great. They shoot it to make America Ferrer look 20 pounds heavier than she is. And their Latino culture references are so generic, you can't really place the Suarez family as having any origin. But it's got candy colors and just enough truth about the publishing biz to make you accept the alterna-reality for an hour a week. The whole blackmailing woman bit really needs to be put to an end. No one cares and it reminds you how utterly ridiculous the premise is.

The worst part of baseball season is losing my favorite Fox shows.
Can't wait for that eye/brain candy to come back.

...there seems to be something seriously wrong with me. I simply cannot break my addiction to teevee.

Posted by cj at 05:11 PM | Comments (0)

October 01, 2006

All the King's Men

Before I get into the movie, let me set the scene. This is the first film I've seen in L.A. since returning to full-time residency. Everytime I was in a small theatre in Chi-town, I'd complain endlessly to my companion about how Chicago didn't measure up to LA's stadium-style seating. (I believe we started that trend, but I can't be sure.)

Right. So then I get to the mall to find the place jam packed with people trying to buy tickets. The line to get into the theatre is even longer - longer because they've only got One Guy taking tickets. Seriously, for the ten dollar charge, you'd think they could afford more employees.

So after dealing with all this external stimuli, we get into the theatre. Alas, despite the bustling and diverse crowd outside, our fellow patrons were primarily your stereotypical older white liberal types. And not that many of them to boot. When the movie started, I thought this was a sad statement on society's lack of interest in serious films.

Except this wasn't exactly a serious film. It was a Serious Film that Screamed Oscar with its Lush Cinematography and Convoluted Storyline and Charismatic Characters.

A flatmate gave me a copy of All the King's Men for my birthday five years ago. I tried several times to read it, but couldn't get past the words - the descriptions go on for days. So the book has disappeared from my library and I never saw the first movie about it. Which all ended up being a good thing - because for me, the ending was a surprise. And the ending, on top of the whole mess of a movie, made it seem worth it.

A few of the actors were rather good. I enjoyed Penn's performance. But I felt like the script never made me understand what was right or wrong about the character - I never saw him transition from a small town do-gooder to a crafty despot. In fact, I was never quite sure that he was nefarious (aside from his womanizing, but that seems par for the course in politician-land).

And I thought Law was decent, although I couldn't understand why the movie seemed to focus more on him then on Willie Stark (Penn's character). And I seriously hate Kate Winslet. Or perhaps I just hate all the American directors who think they can bleach her hair and Americans will think she's the all American blonde. She's not. She's British and a brunette. And maybe I just couldn't get past her really bad dye job. But seriously, she's not a good actor. There must be better actresses out there for all the parts she's getting.

And why, pray tell, must Southern aristocracy be played by Brits? Perhaps because when modern American film makers think aristocracy they can't get past the archetype enshrined by Merchant Ivory productions? For goodness sake, can we please allow some fine Southern actors to portray Southern characters so that if we have to deal with a cacophony of accents they're all bona fide Southern ones rather than a mix of standard English, put-on drawls, and British English?

Just wait for this to come out on Netflix. I'm thinking about putting the 1949 "masterpiece" version on my queue, but it's not gonna jump to the top of the list. People have complained that this version strays too far from the 49 version. I think a more accurate description is that it chooses uncompelling aspects of the book to hang a movie on. Then again, check out this passage from the book quoted by Ty Burr in the Boston Globe:

`The linoleum mat was newish, and the colors were still bright -- reds and tans and blues slick and varnished-looking -- a kind of glib, impertinent, geometrical island floating there in the midst of the cornerless shadows and the acid mummy smell and the slow swell of Time which had fed into this room, day by day since long back, as into a landlocked sea where the fish were dead and the taste was brackish on your tongue." And that's just the linoleum.
It's good to know there's a real reason I couldn't find my way into the damn Pulitzer prize winning novel.

Right. Generally, the movie is pretty too look at but too long and convoluted and dwells on the wrong aspects of the story. Unlike my companion, I wasn't annoyed at the idea of flashbacks - I enjoy a nonlinear story as much as the next cinephile. What annoyed me was that they never went anywhere; they were repetitive without enlightening and detracted from the forward motion of the plot. They also took away valuable screen time from getting to know the players. It seems like the writer/director thinks everyone's already read the book and seen the 49 film and doesn't need to get Willie Stark. Maybe he spent too long in the editing room (a year); maybe he should've let someone else edit the damn thing. Maybe a different screenplay should have been green lighted. Oh well. Here's hoping there are some truly compelling movies in the rest of the Oscar hopefuls.

By the way, the rant about how I used to brag about LA movie theaters? Yeah, well this one had me sitting with my knees in my chest. It was the most uncomfortable seat I've been forced to sit in for quite awhile. Alas, I must rescind my former comments about how all LA theaters are more comfortable than Chi-town.

I've never been to a movie with such a low Rotten Tomatoes rating - 4.2 out of 10. A shame really; because the message behind the movie is important and immediate. The stump speeches before Stark becomes governor are almost worth the ticket price; but they're cancelled out by the director's shorthand use of The Hitler Pose to tell us Stark became a despot. I am seriously sick of the Large Building, Upward Camera Tilt, Black Night look to clue audiences into the fact that they should dislike a charismatic, autocratic politician.

Rotten Tomatoes listing
IMDB listing
Review in the Las Vegas Review Journal (which seems to forget that the 49 classic was based on a book)
Bob Bloom's favorable review from Indiana's Journal and Courier
Ty Burr's negative review in the Boston Globe

Posted by cj at 12:56 AM | Comments (0)