As a quick update, I figured out the s p a c i n g issue. Ctrl+ Shift + Spacebar switches the language input, but confirms the change by s p l i t t i n g the text before shifting to a plethora of options in character based languages (I recognize the Japanese and Korean characters, but that's all I can identify for certain). So that's that. I knew it had to be a keystroke issue. Also FYI: the IMDB Horror Board Book Club picked it's second title: Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury. So, if your library's like mine, head over to your YA section and pick up an extremely disturbing novel that probably should be shelved with adult books. It's a very fast read and the discussion works better with more participants. Onwards and Upwards: Midnight Rec: 6 Films to Keep You Awake (DVD) I apologize for linking to Best Buy's description, but the IMDB link is impossible to navigate. 6 Films to Keep You Awake was a 2006 television series on Spain similar to Masters of Horror. 6 directors worked on 6 separate horror films to air in a 6 episode series on TV. Unlike Masters of Horror, these films are long enough that, instead of airing on TV, they could have seen a commercial theatrical release. The main reason for the rec is actually related to Best Buy. They currently have the 3 Disc set for only 19.99+tax. That's a good deal. Each of the six films is very different from every other film in the series, so there genuinely is something for everyone. If you like foreign horror, and embrace the Spanish horror revival (battling it out with the French horror revival for the new source of all things remade in US horror – sorry Japan, the creepy haired ghosts adaptations of every film aren't selling tickets like they used to), give it a shot.

Labels: Midnight Rec

Due to nutty professors constantly changing out which books are required for courses in Shakespeare (and my own laziness in obtaining the materials for a class on James Joyce), I will be venturing into miles and miles of bookstores in NYC today. Which also means taking in a film, visiting some record stores, and picking up some kind of fancy sandwich on fresh baked bread, all before taking my customary walk past every Broadway marquee to see who is playing what where when and guess why and how they got the part. Update later today. And no horror film this time, I swears. What a successful adventure in NYC. Aside from the required texts (Aspern Papers/James, Ulysses/Joyce, Portrait…/Joyce, Anthony and Cleopatra/Shakespeare), I also scored copies of Blonde by Oates and V. by Pynchon for my own collection. Which makes me feel better about the mild panic attack yesterday when I woke up and saw that my bookshelf disappeared and I had but two shelves left (redid the entire room, condensing collection to two shelves on my second hand computer desk, the rest of the books are all listed on PBS, sorted, and filed away in boxes in the closet). The shelves are full again, which makes me happy. Film Rec: Network (1976) It's not a horror film, though the content is more disturbing than most Hollywood horrors could aspire to be. It's from the 70's, though it feels extremely fresh and relevant in a pop culture society where the new breed of stars are characters like Tiffany "New York" Pollard and has been musicians looking for their new baby mama on VH1. It's also inevitable that I finally reach a discussion of this film, yet own no copy for myself and cannot rent it in my local stores. Network is significant among film aficionados for numerous reasons. It marks the first (and only) posthumous Oscar win (Peter Finch for Best Actor), Faye Dunaway's only Oscar win (Best Actress), one of the shortest performances on screen to ever win the Oscar (one scene wonder Beatrice Straight for Supporting Actress), and one of the most memorable and referenced scenes in the history of cinema ("I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!"). There's also surprising bits of dark humor and extreme characters that don't quite cut it in most mainstream films. Take, for example, one of my personal favorite character introduction scenes in the history of the performing arts:

Diana Christensen: Hi. I'm Diana Christensen, a racist lackey of the imperialist ruling circles. Laureen Hobbs: I'm Laureen Hobbs, a badass commie nigger. Diana Christensen: Sounds like the basis of a firm friendship.

What Network manages to do that makes it such an excellent example of writing is cast it's net extremely wide over film styles with a laser sharp focus plot wise. There's the character driven plot of Howard Beale's demise, the satire of the American network television industry, the workplace battle between everyone at the network, and even speculative drama on what could happen if television didn't stop going for extreme ratings events. Perhaps the single greatest achievement in the writing of the film is the opening preamble, that discloses the entire plot of the film without ruining its impact:

Narrator: This story is about Howard Beale, the acclaimed news anchorman on UBS T.V. In this time, however, he was a mandarin of television with a HUT rating of 16 and a 28 audience share. In 1969, however, his fortunes began to decline. He fell to a 22 share. The following year, his wife died, and he was left a childless widower with an 8 rating and a 12 share. He became morose and isolated, started to drink heavily, and on September 22, 1975, he was fired, effective in two weeks. The news was broken to him by Max Schumacher, who was the president of the news division at UBS. The two old friends got properly pissed.

Honestly, if any of this sounds appealing at all and you haven't seen Network, please do. If this doesn't sound appealing at all, understand that I haven't even begun to dig into the meat of the film and would require an entire month's worth of daily posts at least this length to do it justice; therefore, I recommend seeing the film. If you have seen the film, why not revisit it? I know I will.

Labels: film rec

I know I keep picking horror films. It's not intentional, I swear. And I know from e-mails that people will contest these choices I make. The following will not help my cause going against those assertions in the least bit. Box Office Rec: Crossed Out, a short segment from the anthology horror film Snoop Dogg's Hood of Horror What good can come from an awful B-Movie featuring not just one rapper (two to be exact), but a former professional wrestler as well? One of the most entertaining short films I've ever seen, filled with surprising depth and interesting plot twists for a segment coming from this kind of film. Posie is a street kid. Her parents died in a murder suicide when she was a child and she only has a roof over her head due to the charity of the local church that is wearing thin. The pastor has agreed to board Posie under the condition she paint a large mural for the church. Posie is more concerned with tagging gang territory with her loving spray of flowery reds and pinks to ID her abilities. A confrontation with a gang overtagging her ID leads to an unusual encounter with a strange homeless man who gives her a tattoo and a power. She can bring life to the streets if she uses it right. But, with life comes death, and her powers can determine who lives and who dies with a single "x" of paint. What Tim Sullivan and Jacob Hair put to the page is nothing short of beauty. The back story is handled gracefully, with even the most disturbing acts of gang induced violence coming across like a street art masterpiece worthy of international acclaim. Posie's obsession with art is forever crossed with gang warfare by her father's simplified explanation that her mother's blood is "just like [her] finger paints." While the interim period between her parent's death and her encounter with the gang is never fully explained, it becomes clear in her interactions with others that she has fallen into the cycle of violence, using her words as weapons when her art could help foster peace. The transformation sequence is undoubtedly one of the best in recent memory, as expectations are flipped from what seems like an unwelcome sexual advance to a rebirth for the troubled Posie. Cryptically given her charge by the homeless man in the form of a silver tattoo from her knuckles to her elbow, Posie is skeptical of the claims. She's more obsessed with the quality of the ink than the power that may flow through her. The realization of power comes through her one shot at peace: the church. The first gang member she crosses out on the street winds up dead, and she only finds out when the pastor informs her that a grieving couple were his parents. When reminded of the opportunity to turn the other cheek and take advantage of an artist's true ally, a blank canvas, she runs the other way. The remainder of the story is told in a haunting montage of Posie's tagging and grieving parents leaving the parish. Perhaps the greatest achievement of the writing is how unexpected the ending is. Everything seems to be leading to an inevitable conclusion, and it does reach it, but in a beautiful, unexpected way. I'm not trying to claim Hood of Horror is a good film. Not in the least bit. The ideas are interesting but the execution, sans Crossed Out and the origin story, is severely laking. Fortunately, for the price of a DVD rental on Netflix, you, my dear reader, can use the power of DVD to watch only the first two portions of the film – an animated introduction to Snoop Dogg's character and the short Crossed Out. It does get gory, but the skill of the camera paints an even deeper meaning into the segment that goes beyond the writing. If Crossed Out were produced as a short, it would surely have won awards at film festivals for the writing, leading performance, direction, and production. It's innovative and intelligent, which is why the rest of Hood of Horror is such a let down.

Labels: Box Office rec