The last movie you saw...

[dinky]

heh. before I answer that, you do know I only brought it up as a comparison between a comedy that's barely an R-rating vs. one that is R all the way, right? Nothing to do with being good or bad.

I thought it was funny. dunno what to tell ya. the bit when they're outside and vince wants to own a maple syrup conglomerate, the bit with sailing vows ("this is a first"), the "motorboating" line with medicine woman's fake boobies, vince's usual amoral and foul mouthed and unapologetic masculine shtick - I think it's all funny. rachel mcaddams is really attractive in it.

/me shrugs.

I don't think I keep bringing it up so much as watching it though.
now Princess Bride and Shrek, I keep bringing up. because they are, in fact, brilliant.

[MyK]

now Princess Bride and Shrek, I keep bringing up. because they are, in fact, brilliant.

as brilliant as fart jokes get
/me farts (a comical relief)

[Jynks]

Princess Bride is awesome. But i am with MyK on the others, Shrek is terrible.

I like the wedding crashers though.... i thought that camo with will feral was hilarious....

Finally got time to see Die Hard.... . . well not much to add ... i liked it... it was pretty much what i expected... silly and fun.. a real no brain movie. I think it lacked some of the John Mclane charm that the other flicks had .. but it was still pretty cool. Nothing to complain about, it is wierd the less you think you will like a move the more you ebd up liking it.. expectations make all the difference.

[MyK]

expectations make all the difference.

Also didn't expect much of DH4 and was pretty pleased I watched it in the end, despite I usually first let the hype settle-down with such type of a movies (I can't stand the enthusiasm of the hordes in the theaters). It still ain't a good movie but it passed the time well enough. And the same reason (not expecting too much) must be why Dinky is confusing good movies with generic poop that in essence uses the same social momentum than the lowest TV ads for certain - mostly female - products selling on envy, low self-esteem, and basically all the primal fears put together just so companies can lobotomize average consumers into buying what all they don't need, reaching momentary catharsis and, in turn, want more of it. Such comedies use this same principle and that's why they are, as a general rule, most talked about and praised within the same population/media. While some of such poop is watchable, I'd never even dare listing any single one of them (like Shrek) as good, let alone excellent and/or brilliant.

BTW, "Princess Bride" IS excellent but NOT brilliant IMO

[dinky]

no...bill and ted's is excellent. PB is brilliant. although the brilliance is in the script, and the casting was spot on. nothing special about the direction or the screen play vs. the book. some stuff was better, some was not.

anyway, slight revision to jynks' expectations assessment: expecting not to like it is one thing. but it's relatively minor, in my experience. caring whether you like it or not is huge.

shrek was great. it was a great big flying "fuck you" to the wonderful world of disney animation and its homogenization of fairy tales process(es). It took 50 years of disney tripe and turned it back on its head without actually breaking away from the "illusion" the way, e.g., hoodwinked does. that gives it, like PB, an upfront plot (the kiddy stuff, the disney-ish fairy tale stuff) and the subversive, raison d'etre</i> plot (the adult stuff, the irony, the manipulation of conventions). that's shrek, mind you, not the sequels, which I enjoyed but hold no especial literary attachment to. FYI: and this'll really raise the ire of some of you: it's the same reason Evil Dead II is so good (although, of course, I prefer to watch AoD).

[spudthedestroyer]

hmmm, i think its a little too much to wave your little shrek flag.

It was nothing overly special, basic word play and pretty crude satire. Nothing good enough that i'll ever watch again after watching it the first time. Fun and all, i don't think i bothered downloading it though.

[MyK]

Shrek is way too sloganistic in every respect it could be considered interesting,... how utterly American of it (see, I think that's where that Spud's "flag waving" analogy comes from) Personally, I prefer British "multi-layered jokes" where you can (OK, not all are able to) laugh twice or more (consecutively) at the same joke for totally different reasons but the point of it remains the same, American "multi-layered jokes" are mostly just political statements hidden in a kiddie fart jokes. That's disturbing, dishonest and perverse!

EDIT: not all that related but since I mentioned sloganism, I found this interesting article on what I call "social engineering": Slogans in Education

[dinky]

is that really all you see when they run into a french robin hood who steal from the rich to give to the poor for his own reputation/ego after he takes his cut</i>? just some silly matrix mock-up? or when fiona is trying to follow convention and gives shrek a "token" of her love and explains how he's her "prince charming," but the whole thing doesn't fit cuz he's neither attractive nor the person who wants to marry her? or the fact that every scene in Dulok (the castle) is a running mockery of Disney World (the entrance, the photo machine)? or how about the fact that no, she does not turn into the princess but, in fact, her "happily ever after" ending is as a fat, ugly ogre? I mean...that stuff isn't exactly hidden from our eyes. and it's well beyond crude satire. it's all inscribed into the very fabric of the plot. THEN you add the "ogres are like onions...mmm. I love parfaits" and "not my gumdrop buttons!" and all the standard entertaining but shallow banter. THEN you throw on the kiddy fantasy/moral lesson that what's on the inside, yada yada, insert standard animated movie for children themes here shlock.

[MyK]

Heh, how's that not just listing examples of what I described in general earlier? I do understand there's more into it than just smelly ugly ogre onion fart jokes, but if I wanted a politically correct social criticism wrapped in an almost funny package, I'd rather watch Comedy Central Basically, I think it's only funny (the adult part of it) if you're watching it from an American standpoint and not even remotely funny if you happen to be French, British, Dutch,... or - like in my case - just an accidental bystander to all that "powers puff".

[dinky]

all art is political.

[MyK]

So not true. What does Miro's A Boy and a Dog Under the Sun has to do with politics?



EDIT: BTW, you can observe it turned upside-down too

/EDIT

Or Beethoven's Eroica, Kafka's Metamorphosis, Hundertwasser's Vienna House of Arts,... to name just a few examples? Just cuz they're statements (statues even) of personal belief, passion, creativity, imagination, whatever, it doesn't necessarily make them political. It's only that the lack of such attributes of excellence in some (prolly most) observers makes them appear as such. See, not everyone whistles to the kettle

[dinky]

are you kidding? or do you just not understand the statement? don't think of it in terms of "politics/politicians." think more like "personal politics" on a person-to-person level. all art is a communicative activity. expressing your whatever whatever, doing so in a "common" "shared" or "ordinary" language necessitates that you make decisions. those decisions affect the political</i> statement of your piece of art. the better versed you are in the language (both medium and mode) the more clear the message becomes. I couldn't tell you shit about those paintings because I'm not versed in that medium NOT because they are not political.

fyi: even a piece of mindless shit movie like transformers is political. telling jokes is political. focusing on meagan fox's midriff is political. break dancing jazz is political. wake up. the political statement doesn't have to be about politics in the narrow sense of the term (having to do with government). every act of communication is always already political. deal with it.

[MyK]

I get your meaning, now that you've explained what you meant I still don't like that statement of yours (or whomever it might belong to originally) that all art is google>define:political, but in a broader meaning it could make sense, I guess Never heard of such use of it though Then again, I'm not even living in an English spoken part of the world so who am I to argue about the proper use of English words anyways? And with an American at that (sorry, couldn't resist)

Fast-forwarding through X-Files I stumbled upon some episodes that I've never seen before so that'll be my selection for tonight. I never though much of the X-Files but since there's nothing worth watching on TV tonight besides the usual summer time crap and I'm kinda tired I expect to fall asleep within the first half an hour of it anyhow.

[dinky]

the word's actually Greek. etymologically linked to polis</i> ("city-state" but also "community" in its wider sense). also polemic</i> - "to fight, strive." anyway, you're probably familiar with dadaism. it's still an ideology, and ideology is always the political element, but ideology doesn't have to be conscious. dunno exactly why or how the exact "art is always political" line came about.

watched most of hoodwinked. I liked the small comedy bits. the movie itself wasn't very interesting after having seen it at the theaters. comedy that still works though:

bear cop: look at him. he even looks weird. let's lock him up and throw away the key!

frog detective: no. let's listen to his story. you can't go arresting people just for looking weird.

pig cop:
(into radio)
release the prisoner.

radio:
the weird looking guy?

[dinky]

finished hoodwinked. had to dvdecrypt the disc cuz the standalone kept sticking on spots. copied fine though, so the damage to the disc couldn't have been that bad. I keep telling myself I'm not going to buy more used discs that are defective half the time, but "here I go again on my own, going down the only road I've ever known." oh! that reminds me, I've recently discovered the "arena rock" channel on cable. think I prefer it to the regular rock. they even play White Lion(!)

also watched latest entourage sunday and second ep of californication monday.

other than that, I'm just waiting for new seasons of BSG, Heroes, Dexter, Tudors, Smallville to begin. anyone with an ETA on any of these?

[MyK]

Heroes = 2007-09-24
Smallville = 2007-09-27
Dexter = 2007-09-30
Battlestar Galactica = 2007-11-24
Tudors = 2008-??-??
EZTV Countdown list

[dinky]

shit. BSG isn't until November? that's a bummer. I thought the season would be longer, not shorter with the additional series/telemovie slotted in the midseason break.

[Jynks]

Missed on Mk.
Stargate Atlantis - 2007-09-28


Finished Buffy season 5 and Angel Season 3.... i have to say i still like this show... apart form some of the terrible soup opera bullshit and all teh chicks being freakn wining bitches the show is really fun. I remeber the latter eps being really bad but that might have been after 6 years.... watching in close session shows season 5 and 4 were quite good.. nvr realised how much of a pussy spike turned into in that show....

had to dvdecrypt the disc

What are you using to decrypt dvds nowdays anyway.. been al ong time fomr the last time i did a dvd rip but need to do some soon.

[dinky]

yeah. the yoking of spike was a major reason the latter seasons were not good. on the plus side, though, he did inject some of the staple xanderisms that were missing from s4 onward.

regular dvd structure hasn't and won't change. dvddecryter is still the best afaik.

I did the full image copy w/o a problem.

[dinky]

umm...I don't even remember. it wasn't good. edit: the nanny diaries. wasn't in the mood for war. should have seen illegal tender, but I had no idea what it was until I got home and read a promo summary. the title looked like a pedophile version of indecent proposal)

all I can think of is brotherhood. I'm 8 or 9 eps into 11 eps of s1. it's quite good, I think. clearly capitalizing on the success of the departed and sopranos, but a nice series and well acted nonetheless.