Frolicking in peanut butter with The New York Times

Normally I’m not a fan of The New York Times’s pop music coverage, but I loved their recent piece on The Stooges was remarkable. It chronicled the band’s recent recording sessions, including creative differences within the band. What struck me the most were two things: Iggy Pop, one of the wildest, most unpredictable figures in rock and roll history, obsessively keeps schedules and micromanages almost compulsively. The other, is that Ben Ratliff was able to criticize the band and their new album while still being respectful. I probably would not have been able to do this, and would have spent my interview drooling over a pad and pencil at the sight of Mike Watt and Iggy Pop in the same room.

Live blogging, Oscar Night

7:02 p.m.: turn in to Oscars after severe wireless issues. Seeing the E! crowd praise Nicole Kidman for simply being there.
7:06 p.m.: wait, I though American Idol was supposed to reject good people. Jennifer Hudson sounds like a winner.
7:07 Steve Carell gives Chicago some love with his heralding Alan Arkin and Second City. And vicariously the U of C.
7:09 Did I just see the cast of Inland Empire? No, it's just Devil Wears Prada. Same difference.
7:22 The highlight of interviews is the actor formerly known as Marky Mark, as frank and outspoken as in The Departed.
7:24 The world needs more Mexican directors. 16 nominations for 3 is clearly not enough. For once, asking them who's the most attractive seems sincere.
7:25 Kate Winslet's natural accent is sexier than all her other movies combined. She actually looks better when not acting.
7:28 Now the awards actually begin. I'm actually glad I got less of the eye candy portion of the show. There's building talk that Eastwood will reign once again.
7:34 Pretty self-congratulatory intro, and one noticeable absent when talking aboiut people who haven't won yet
7:36 I don't think Ellen's gotten this much applause in her life. She hasn't made me laugh 1 minute and counting
7:39 Ellen still hasn't made me laugh, and she just admitted to drinking box wine. Ouch.
7:40 People seem to like Ellen, I don't get it, as usual.
7:43 Ellen buck passes her joke to Steve Carrell
7:44 The gospel choir breaks out. It was funnier in Keeping the Faith. At least Ellen isn't singing.
7:45 That was the weakest opening number I've seen in 10 years.
7:46 I must say, the moment opening the envelope is still suspenceful. The right film won too. Pan's Labyrinth is 1 for 1!
7:49 The science awards earlier than usual, I'm probably the only one interested. Maggie Gyllenhal blinded me with science!
7:56 Will Ferrell, Jack Black, and John C. Reilly just made my night. Jack Black threatening to beat Peter O'Toole to death with his Nickelodeon award is something to aspire to. And Pan's Labyrinth is 2 for 2. This night got so much better when Ellen left the stage.
8:00 Abigail Breslin and Jaden Smith milk the cute. And I was way off on Best Animated Short. I really liked The Danish Poet nonetheless. Very sweet Danish lady.
8:03 SO MUCH CUTE! STOP WITH THE CUTE
8:04 West Bank Story wins. At least one racist offensive movie about Jews wins. The speech is suprisingly serious. A message for peace and a message for up and coming filmmakers. Bravo. This may be my favorite speech in years.
8:13 The sound effects choir SO beats the interpretive dance.
8:15 Letters from Iwo Jima wins first award. The dark horse rides ever so closer...
8:17 Even if Iwo Jima won best picture, they should take it away for the sound editor's Ben Stein impression.
8:19 Dreamgirls wins an award it probably deserved. Too bad the bouncer had to pull the winner's off.
8:22 Yes! An upset for acting awards! Norbit killed it. That's it, my prediction is set. Little Miss Sunshine is winning it. I was hoping to see Arkin win it, and it shows how useless the speculation is. I love upsets!
8:31 There's Randy Newman, just singing about what he sees. And James Taylor, who's not as laid back as he seems. I would have preferred a bunch of la's from Pan's Labyrinth.
8:34 An Inconvenient Truth's song is awesome, without the cheesy save the world backdrop text. Liberal media alert!
8:37 Al Gore freezes in front of a camera when he has actually has to win something. It's 2000 all over again. At least he can joke about it, even when still looking like an extra on Night of the Living Dead.
8:42 Ellen can't even joke about making bad jokes. Bring in the penguins!
8:44 Pixar actually loses! First Al Gore, than a secret global warming conspiracy film. What's next, we all go Amish?
8:49 Hooray writing! Pretty early this year. The nomination montage was kinda lame. But I like seeing screenplays read.
8:52 The Departed is a safe pick, but you got to love brilliant awkard screenwriters. That's what I aim to be some day.
8:56 I heart Wes Anderson. Making a commercial about making a movie that's better shot than most of his movies. He has a great screen presence. Apparently it's two years old.
8:57 iPhone add number 2. It's so pretty, that's why people will spend $600 on an unfinished product. But Apple is so cool and hip and noncomformist!
9:00 Aww they assume people have seen Devil Wears Prada. But Meryl Streep saves the day, just like in the film. Meta-Oscars!
9:01 presenting people in costume is cool, I approve. I do not approve of the lame dancing for Dreamgirls
9:03 Marie Antoinette wins a well deserved award. No robberies just yet, but upsets. The highlight of the victory is that Barry Lyndon gets mentioned for the first time in 30 Oscars. Lovely German ladies in tuxes are always.
9:05 A nice golf clap for Tom Cruise. God he looks so creepy now. I'm hoping for an L. Ron reference.
9:08 But don't you see Tom, to cure childhood disease, you must use anti-biotics!
9:09 Woah Chicago accent! I so want to hear her say she's on a mission from Gaed.
9:11 I'm all for snubbing Speilberg for Eastwood. I praise Ellen for correcting Spielberg's shot.
9:14 Pan's Labyrinth is 3/3. Could it sweep the awards? If so, I'd say best foreign film is the real best picture.
9:22 Pirates 1, Scorsese, 0. At least the winners are sufficiency sarcastic.
9:25 Foreign films get well deserved recognition. I'm really excited aout this one.
9:30 Another upset! Hooray Germans. Anthony Lane will be happy, though Pan's Labyrinth doesn't get the sweep. This just make my weekend moviegoing all the more internesting.
9:37 Please Jenny, the weepy inspirational thanks is sooooo 2003. Well, at least she got to kiss George Clooney in the process. Still, The Lives of Others! Germany! That makes up for the fact they showed the Tin Drum in the foreign film montage. Günther Grass probably won my douchebag of 2006 award.
9:44 The least important film gets a nice reception.
9:46 Jerry Seinfeld does his standup. I miss his show, even with Cosmo Racist.
9:48 An Inconvenient Truth wins. This means Al Gore gives an acceptance speech. Think about that one for a second. No presidential announcement, perhaps at the after party!
9:51 Clint Eastwood takes the stage. Could he be back later! Once again they award an honorary award to a man who has been shafted 5 times in the past.
9:54 As Celeine Dion takes the stage, 1 billion people raise their hands and go "what?"
9:56 Well, she's no Enya...
9:58 Apparently staring into space looking like an alien counts as Oscar worthy singing. Really Academy, was Courtney Love booked?
10:02 Ennio: Death to America! Viva Iran! Clint: I'd like to thank the Academy...
10:04 I'm a brilliant Italian composer, and you're all listening to me. I can speak whatever fucking language I want!
10:05 Well, another acceptance speech for Clint Eastwood
10:08 Lamest trivia for Babel, but it wins the score award, even through the ubiquitous la's of Pan's Labyrinth throughout the awards.
10:11 I think everyone was thankful for the 1 minute Academy president speech.
10:13 Best Original Screenplay goes to Sunshine, and Pan's Labyrinth finishes 3/6. The screenplay victories will duke it out for another award. As Sunshine has only one more it can win. Prime up the Winnebago's.
10:17 Will this douchebag E! guy shut up already? At least get the number of Pan's Labyrinth Oscars right.
10:22 Jennifer Hudson proves her Oscar worthyness, and how. I'm convinced.
10:24 Song two. I'm even more convinced....wow.
10:26. Beyonce is so perfect looking, I find it creepy. I'm not even attracted to it it's so perfect. A Greek sculptor couldn't do any better.
10:27 That singing won over the crowd, and how.
10:28 The best pairing of the night goes to Travolta and Queen Latifah. Kudos to Hairspray! John Travolta drag references.
10:29 So Dreamgirls did split the vote. I mean, the Etheridge song was excellent. And finally we reach the grandfinale of the Al Gore brown-nosing.
10:38 Talladega Nights, Rocky IV and the Foo Fighters really get me in the mood for good ol' American tolerance.
10:42. The Departed gets number 3. Thelma Schoonmaker is the closest thing editors get to celebrities.
10:45 Here come the dead people. Courtesy of Jodie Foster.
10:48 No Ana Nicole in the dead montage! That's worse than any Scorsese shafting.
10:52 Give Hoffman the award again! He let himself go.
10:54 Least surprising award of the decade goes to Helen Mirren. A nice speech, I was really happy she thanked the other actresses in one of the best crop of Best Actress nominees in years.
11:03 Forest Whitaker gets the award. I had my doubts when Peter O'Toole got all the screen time. What a wonderful speech. A bit schmaltzy, but that's alright. You try play a psychotic murderder.
11:08 I held my breath at the directing award, but it went to Scorsese after all. Peyton Manning and Martin Scorsese win in the same year. I'd like to see him say more than "check the envelope"
11:15 The Departed wins. Very deserved. Overally a very satisfying Oscars no major snubs, a good number of suprises, and the egregiousness of performances limited to Celiene Dion performance and Al Gore dick smoking. I'm going to bed. Night all.

Live blogging to ensue

I will be live blogging the Oscars, beginning at 6:30 P.M. CST. I will try to avoid criticizing people's clothes in the opening, and focus more on the stupidity that comes from people's mouths.

Oscar picks

Well, today is the big day. The other Super Sunday of February. The speculation all ends today, and we will see if all the talk held weight.

I will officially make my pick for Best Picture right now. I'm going with The Departed. Granted, I've only seen two of the nominees (Little Miss Sunshine being the other), but I will break down my reasons.

While Babel won the Golden Globe and is many people's favorites, it was very controversial among critics. Go to metacritic, and it's ranking is in the 50's, by far the lowest of the nominees. Not that is a disqualification, but the fact that people either love it or hate it should not bode well against competition that is almost universally loved.

The Queen is right out, simply for the sheer nationalism of the awards. It won the BAFTA, and it should be content with that, but with a storyline so defiantly British, it's hard to see an American award of this high profile going to it.

While many have said Letters from Iwo Jima is the best film of the year, I don't think it has a chance. The academy will look for any excuse it can get not to reward Eastwood yet again, and the fact that the movie has maintained such a relatively low profile (and relatively low number of nominations) should give them enough of an impetus.

And finally, Sunshine. It won the Producer's Guilt, which has been an accurate predictor 11 of the last 17 times. But after being the early favorite, I've had my hesitations. For one, the movie is based on the celebration of an underdog. The fact that it's gotten universal praise from the start almost seems to inauspicious. Also, while the praise has been high, it's not been Best Picture-high. The main reason it would win the award, in my mind, is that the Academy would try to correct its past biases towards comedy. Of course, the biases against Scorsese is stronger.

I do think, however, there will be an early indicator of Sunshine's chances. If Alan Arkin usurps the Best Supporting Oscar from Eddie Murphy, I don't see how Sunshine could not win the award. It's sad how predictable the Best Acting Oscars are this year.

Nintendo is back! Huzzah!

I don't make video game posts all that often, but this time I must give credit where it's due. Despite having a loyal fanbase and critical praise, Nintendo went from first-tier to second- and third-tier console with the N64 and Gamecube. But with nothing to lose, a company that always prided itself on innovation is making Sony and Microsoft look like they had their heads in their respective asses. While the Playstation 3 and XBox360 continue to mine the increasingly depleted 16-24 year old male market, Nintendo came up with the out-of-left-field Wii, with it's motion sensitive controller that is both capable of immensely simple and immensely complex, but always exciting gameplay.

Now, we have evidence to show just how right Nintendo was: The San Jose Mercury News reports that the Wii topped console sales in January. To use G-dubs term, it was a thumpin'. 436,000 Wiis were sold, and that figure would have been more if it wasn't for massive supply shortages. The next highest was the Pleistocene-era Playstation 2 at 299,000, with the XBox3 360 winning the bronze with 294,000.

Meanwhile. the PS3, the latest bland concoction from Sony, who has dominated the U.S. video game market for the previous 2 generations, came in a distant fourth at 244,000. Sony execs are backtracking, saying there are supply shortages. Never mind the problem retailers say it is much easier to find a PS3 than a Wii.

Could it be that they are easier to find because people are taking Wiis off the shelf instead? Surely not, there's no way you just clearly fucked up here, Sony. While you're struggling to find a game competitive with Gears of War, Nintendo has 13-year-old girls playing boxing games on their system, and double the sales to boot.

The screenplay is not dead

The nominees for Best Original Screenplay recently held a roundtable discussion of the craft, and the L.A. Times covered it. Here are some of the highlights of the talk:

ARRIAGA: I think that the capacity of fictionalizing life is diminishing. It's less and less and less, because we are losing our inner life. We are losing our capacity of dialogue, of understanding human beings. We are more and more alienated, and the more alienated a society is the more difficult it is to fictionalize something...

ARNDT: I feel like film has become this very self-conscious medium. In a lot of art forms you see a movement from modernism to post-modernism, and I think right around the time of "Star Wars" and "Raiders of the Lost Ark." … It used to be that movies were about real life, and after the mid-'70s you started to have movies that were about other movies. As a reader — I used to read screenplays for a living — you read a lot of stories that are self-referential. I feel like that's a poison on the industry. I know that one of my rules is, if I've seen it in a movie I don't want to see it in my own script...

DEL TORO: One of the reasons why financing collapsed on "Pan's Labyrinth" so many times is because the movie opened with a 10-year-old girl dying of a shot in the gut. And I kept telling people: By the time the movie's over it is my hope that people realize it's about rebirth. I said, "That's the journey, that's the trip in the movie." And they really were set against that...

MORGAN: We had a moment afterward, in the cutting room, where people concerned with the marketing of the film saw the film and said, "Well, it's a hell of a movie. And right now, hers [Helen Mirren's] is a good performance, but it's not an Oscar performance. So, Pete, would you write an argument, or a scene where she's angry, in the first act?" I said to Stephen [Frears], "I don't think that's the problem. I think the problem is, there isn't enough Tony Blair." Which made them slowly begin to weep, because Tony Blair — no international audience. "More Helen, more Helen, more Helen…." I explained to Stephen why, and Stephen put his foot down, and we shot four extra days of Tony Blair. The net effect was that by putting in counterpoints, his part feels no bigger, but her part feels enormous, without shooting a single extra frame of Helen Mirren...

Here's another thought: What if in voting on the best screenplay categories, people had to see the film and read the screenplay?

ARRIAGA: Yes! Perfect. That would be great.

DEL TORO: I think that if you're voting for best picture — like you do with foreign film, where you have to prove that you saw the five films in the theater — you should prove that you saw the movie and read the screenplay.

The revenge of Nomaaaaah

Think Justin Timberlake and Demi Moor in The Graduate remake was bad? Well I just found out a move that could be even worse. NBC has just signed what is known as a "holding deal" with Jimmy Fallon, according to The New York Times. This means he is guaranteed a spot on an NBC show in some capacity, and there is talk that the deal makes him the front runner to take over the Late Night show when Conan O'Brien replaces Jay Leno in 2008.

Jimmy Fallon was perhaps the first sign of decline on Saturday Night Live. He was a sorry replacement for Will Ferrell, and whenever a skit he was in was actually funny, he'd ruin it due to his inability to keep a straight face. I'd much rather see some fresh new talent for the job, such as Carol Kolb, editor-in-chief of The Onion, who has been campaigning for the job. Unfortunately, Lorne Michaels is also an executive producer of Late Night, and NBC has a history of sticking with people it knows.

What I wonder is what happens to the Masturbating Bear in all this mess.

Village Voice, stop digging your own grave

It figures that The Village Voice couldn't survive one Pazz & Jop poll without starting a controversy. The cover of the Voice, depicts Bob Dylan running over TV on the Radio guitarist Kyp Malone on a scooter, which is supposed to be symboic of Modern Times beating out Return to Cookie Mountain for album of the year. However, since Malone is black, the illustration has obvious racial undertones.

Likewise, TVOTR member Martin Perna lashed back at the Voice. According to NME, Perna called the picture "racist, unfunny, mean-spirited, and inaccurate."

Here's the complete quote:
"Even in the post-Chappelle era of it being hip and edgy to discuss and portray ideas about race, there are still wrong, tasteless ways and this was one of them. Nowhere in the consciousness of Voice editors or illustrator David O'Keefe can we find memories of James Byrd, a black man who was dragged behind a truck to his death by white racists in Jasper, Texas, in 1998, or Arthur 'J.R.' Warren, who was run over four times and killed for being black and gay in West Virginia in 2000, and all the other lynchings that happened in the U.S. before and since. These events are still fresh in the minds of black people, as well as in the hearts and minds of the rest of us who may not be directly victimized by these particular lynchings but who are nonetheless endangered by racism and committed to social justice and healing America of its sick racist condition.

"That this picture could be drawn and not questioned or vetoed by any of the people who saw it prior to publication shows the level of ignorance and racism that persists in leftist institutions like the Voice that continue to posture as hip and progressive. Intentionally or not, this cover sends the all-too-familiar message to people of color: Make something too unique, make something outside of your assigned place-role, and get run over by a white man."

These are obviously harsh words, and accusing the Voice and other "leftist institutions" racist may be pushing it, but this backlash seems quite deserved. Whether or not you believe the image was racist, it was certainly tasteless. For one, the title "Blood on the Tracks" is absolutely unnecessary, and runs counter to the message Dylan had in mind with that title.

Secondly, the point of the Pazz and Jop poll is not a competition between albums, but a ranking of the best of the best. Hence, the message of the illustration is inaccurate: It should be rewarding the two best albums of the year, not having the best violently destroy the second best (especially since they were so close in this years poll). Jason Gross a PopMatters points out that if so many younger critics hadn't defected to Idolator after Christgau got canned, then TVOTR would have probably run anyway. While he wouldn't go as far to say it was racist, even before I heard of the controversy I noticed the racial implications when the cover was released. This is a bad first step for the Voice's new ownership.

Cinematical sees scoffs, then scoffs, then backtracks

Lately I've been following Cinematical's coverage of 300's reception at the Berlin Film Festival, which has had a lot of irregularities. Unlike most media feuds, I have more authority in this regard, as I have attended a screening, where overall it was well received. Cinematical has sent out a variety of mixed signals on its reception at the Berlinale.

On Wednesday, they reported that the film received intensive booing at its critics premiere, people walked out, and scoffed at it the whole way through. I attended a screening that was mixed between critics and fans, and I did not here a single boo the entire screening. Erik Davis, the critic who attended the screening, gave it an absolute pan, calling it "a boring, fast-food version of better films, with better scripts, better acting and better battles." This completely missed the goals of the movie; it was not meant to be nuanced or original, it was meant to be a comic book movie through and through, and anyone who had actually read Frank Miller would feel this kept the spirit of his work.

Well, it turns out my suspicions were vindicated. Yesterday, Cinematical writer Scott Weinberg reported from the homefront that when 300 was screened for the general public, it received an overwhelming standing ovation. While Davis' report made the boos seem overwhelming, Weinberg reported it as a "small, but vocal crowd."

Two things stood out here. One, it shows how the whims of a critic--who he saw it with, what he had for breakfast that morning, etc.--can completely alter the coverage of a film. Also, it intrigues me about how film festivals actually work, because neither vocal booing or overwhelming standing ovations are common sites at standard theaters. The most famous recent incident was when Marie Antoinette was booed to no end at Cannes, but then generally praised by the press. My only exposure to this is people booing A Burns for All Seasons at the Springfield Film Festival (with only Hans Moleman saying Boo-urns).

I'm really getting into the L.A. Times

I got interested in the L.A. Times's arts coverage after it was placed at my door on Saturday. Here's a list of the articles I have devoured from it over the past few days:

An article analyzing the inane movie praise spurting from the mouth of Larry King (Feb 13)
An review of an opera adaptation of Lost Highway at Oberlin College (Feb 10)
A feature on the weird, new humor of Adult Swim (Feb 10)
An editorial on how the massive number of internet searches on Anna Nicole Smith pushed her death to the lead story of most newspapers (Feb 10)

Calendarlive.com may be my favorite new site.

A.V. club on music criticism

Last week The Onion's A.V. Club responded to a letter they described as "tough but fair," regarding the musical training and know how of their music critics. My friend Paco from home has criticized me for being a music critic without extensive musical training, so I was happy to see the A.V. Club properly address the letter with their entire staff. They argued that music criticism is meant for an audience not trained in music theory, that descriptions of theory make for boring reviews, and that the standards for musicians and music fans are quite different.

Overall it's been a shitty year for the music press and critics in general, as papers continue to cut back their coverage and fire writers with corporate turnover. When even Robert Christgau's job isn't safe, there's a lot of room for concern. It's great to see the A.V. club writers, who are some of the best in the alternative press, defend the principles of music criticism so well. I doubt Lester Bangs was a musicologist, but you'd be hard pressed to find someone question his merits as a music critic.

Remembering the Russian-Bulgarian War of Linguistics

One amusing result of Crime Fiction that I did not expect was that I once again encountered Yasen Peyankov, who gave an excellent performance as the cop investigating the protagonist's involvment in the murder of his grandfather. Avid readers of this blog (all two of them) may remember the debate I engaged with Katlyn Carlson last fall over, among other things, his use of accent in The Pillowman at the Steppenwolf, which I incorrectly labeled as Russian. I just heard from the filmmakers themselves that his accent is not his natural accent, but is used for performance. However cheaply, I feel vindicated.

Back in Chicago, same old same old

After conducting interviews with Zack Snyder, Rodrigo Santoro, Gerard Butler (who I seriously want to go drinking with) and Kumar himself, Kal Penn, I had an awesome time in L.A. and have softened on the city somewhat. Now back to blogging, and there's a lot of cool stuff I want to talk about (a lot of it came while reading the Los Angeles Times on the plane ride home)

But first, an interesting article in The Seattle Times about one of America's finest playwrights, Suzan-Lori Parks. I had just been talking about how I haven't heard her name lately, and then I find out she's all over the place with her 365 plays project. Apparently, she wrote a short, 15 minute play for each day of the year, and has secured for performances for each play from November 13, 2006 through November 12, 2007 across the country. My jaw simply drops.

I haven't heard anything about Chicago performances of the plays, but sure enough, I find a site called 365chicago.org, which shows a calendar where you can find any of the plays until November. This week they're playing in Evanston, but next week, the Neo-Futurists tackle the project. I am so there.

Not quite drinking Hennessey with Morrissey, but close

Right now I am drinking a 375ml bottle of Perrier Jouet French champagne, priced at $42. I'm watching the Bulls game on ESPN HD on a plasma screen, and on precious ethernet in the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills. Think that's it? Hardly; I still have about $65 to spend on the budget I have been given by Warner Brothers.

I woke up at 2 am CST Friday, after what I had expected to be a 1-hour "nap" I began at 1:30 p.m. Thursday, only to learn that not only had Anna Nicole Smith been discovered dead since I went to sleep, but the article was the head story in the national section of The New York Times. How fitting that this would be the day I go to L.A. I then pack profusely, only to discover that I had left my backpack in the dining hall more than 12 hours ago.

Eventually, it gets to 7 a.m. when the dining hall opens and I get my bag. I leave for O'Hare via the 55, Green and Blue lines, only to learn that my Chicago college press counterpart in the press junket has arrived in O'Hare at 8:15 (he is an adorable homer from Columbia College who had never flown alone before today). I get to the gate 5 minutes before the plane boards (and after both my toothpaste and body wash have been confiscated), and fully absorb the homerness of my counterpart. Much to my surprise, I don't fall asleep on the plane, but follow my original plan, which was to read the entirety of Portnoy's Complaint in a defiant act of New York neurosis.

We take a cab from LAX to the Beverly Hilton ($50 which my counterpart paid due to my lack of funds, to be reimbursed at a later date), only to learn that the room I had been promised was in fact not registered. Thus, no longer am I in L.A. for 20 minutes than I am broke and homeless. I eventually find the press room for 300, whereupon I play the PSP version of the game (and kick ass, mind you), only to learn that I do, in fact, have a room, and have about 5 minutes to get settled.

After nearly losing my only state-licensed ID on hand (god forbid I be stuck in the Beverly Hilton), I board a van for Fox studios with Americas finest and brightest college movie critics. They promptly begin to compare penis sizes in the form of paper circulation and how much they get paid for their papers (considering I get paid none, I was simply left to feel superior to the conversation). We then get out in Fox studios, walk around ridiculous drama masks carved into a hedge, pass a few teamsters cooking massive steaks, and into a screening room to see Mira Nair's The Namesake.

I get to brag by mentioning that I live next door to Nair and that her son carpools with my brother to school, and then the movie starts. I enjoy it greatly, nearly break into tears at some moments, but at the end, see just what the finest and brightest critics have to say. In short, not much. They talk about the film's length and discuss plot points that would win them points on an identification quiz, but little else.

We are then transported to Century City, to a much larger screening of 300, with a mix of critics and people lucky enough to be given passes. The movie is quite badass, in an obvious but honest kind of way, and yet the finest and brightest talk about ripping off other movies and the cheesy dialogue as if that weren't the fucking point. Upon our return to the Hilton, I politely decline dinner invitations and meet up with my friend Daniela, a former U of C'er who transferred to USC. The presence of a U of C personality (and mind) was quite reassuring after the finest and brightest, and we drove to a pretty bitchin' diner called Swingers. It's like Clark's if it were run by vegan L.A. hippies, except that steak is a possible side order (for real). I get steak as a meal, thank you very much, and get a shake that surpasses pretty much anything in New York or Chicago. And it wasn't even fi-dollah.

We then do something that others only dream of: drive around L.A., Hollywood Boulevard, the Sunset Strip, and the Pacific Highway in a convertible with the top down (okay, it was a Volvo convertible, but give credit where it's due). I see the Kodak, the Grauman's, see the stars on the street (though I'm not in a particularly I'm-ready-for-my-close-up-Mr.-DeMille kinda mood, it was still fun to see), as Daniela and I reflect on everything from WoW to Jack in the Box and In-and-Out (which actually exist! I thought they were the stuff of lore), until, at 1 a.m. PST, or 25 hours after I awoke, I find myself cracking open a $42 bottle of champagne and looking for more ways to spend money). After a day in this town, I guess I can concede that there are more cultural advantages than being able to make a right turn on a red light (although that is a pretty sweet advantage).

I shall be conducting interviews with Xerxes, Dilios, and Herr Direktor in 7 hours, so I suppose sleep is in order. Hope this contained the promised amount of fear and loathing.

Ethan to take trip to LA; fear and loathing to be had

This weekend I will be traversing to Los Angeles, the entertainment capital of the world, in order to cover the press screenings and interview tours for two new films: Mira Nair's The Namesake and Frank Miller's 300. Although I will probably not have any mescaline, I'm hoping to engage in some Thompson-esque escapades. We'll see. I'll try to track it in the blog.

In a weird set of circumstances, I discovered that Mira Nair is my neighbor. My father is a professor at Columbia, and so is Nair and her husband, who happen to live in the building next door to mine. I found this out after my brother started carpooling with Nair's son to Bronx Science, my alumnus. James Schamus lives near me too.

In order to maintain my New York neurotic legitimacy, I plan to read Portnoy's Complaint over the entire plane ride and listen to a lot of X. In the words of Woody Allen: "I don't want to live in a city where the only cultural advantage is that you can make a right turn on a red light.

New layout

This new page elements thing from blogge is pretty groovey, hence the slick new layout.

Scorsese wins long-coveted award

No, no that one. But it turns out that Scorsese won his first Director's Guild of America award after 6 nominations. There have been 58 DGA awards, and in only 6 cases did the winner of the DGA not win the Best Director Oscar.

I haven't seen The Departed yet (I'm praying it will come to Doc this Spring), but I've heard nothing but positive. Whether it's enough positive to win Best Picture is one thing, but in terms of director, the Academy pretty much cleared a path for Scorsese to win it this year. There's no way Paul Greengrass or Stephen Frears are winning the award, and while Inarritu and Eastwood are viable contenders, they don't possess the same momentum as Scorsese.

Personally, I would have liked to seen Cuaron or del Toro nominated, as they would have put up a better fight than Greengrass. It's hard to imagine that Scorsese could have outdone del Toro's work on Pan's Labyrinth, which is some of the best directing (and hell, some of the best filmmaking) I've seen in my lifetime. Which is funny, because Mimic is some of the worst directing I've seen in my lifetime.

This time, the wardrobe malfunction is intentional

So through a friend's livejournal I came across a report that will have my parents' generation ripping their eyes out of their sockets. A remake of The Graduate is in the works, with Demi Moore playing Mrs. Robinson and Justin Timberlake taking the role of Ben from Dustin Hoffman. Apparently, Demi Moore originally wanted her real-life Ben, Ashton Kutcher, for the part, but wisely chose to avoid working with lovers in creepily autobiographical roles, using her past fiascos working with Bruce Willis and Emilio Estevez as models.

One only needs to utter the word Gigli to see that this was a smart move on Moore's part, as old-news celebrity couples generally make disastrous films together. In terms of the ethics of making this movie, it's not out of line for Hollywood to do this, as they have already butchered the legacy of another Second Golden Age classic, Alfie.

Normally Hollywood remakes have focused on either past schlock or quality East Asian films, since it's hard to do a remake of a film that's so firmly ingrained in the culture's mind. I guess the studios feel that The Graduate is old enough us youts won't remember Dustin Hoffman's performance, much less know who Anne Bancroft is.

What I want to see is a Timberlake song inspired by the motion picture. Let's see if Pitchfork declares that song of the year.