Brokeback Mountain the Opera

According to IMDb News:


An opera based on Oscar-winning movie Brokeback Mountain is heading for the New York City stage.

Charles Wuorinen has been given the job of adapting Annie Proulx novel for the stage, in a show slated to premiere in 2013.

Ang Lee's movie adaptation scooped three Academy Awards in 2006, starring Jake Gyllenhaal and the late Heath Ledger as two gay ranch hands.

Okay here we go:

I wisssshhhheeddd I kneeewwww how to quitttttttt youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!



A Faster, Stronger Web that Can Download a Movie in 5 Seconds

The scientists who originally build the internet in 1989 have a new grid for connecting computers around the globe:

At speeds about 10,000 times faster than a typical broadband connection, "the grid" will be able to send the entire Rolling Stones back catalogue from Britain to Japan in less than two seconds.

The latest spin-off from Cern, the particle physics centre that created the web, the grid could also provide the kind of power needed to transmit holographic images; allow instant online gaming with hundreds of thousands of players; and offer high-definition video telephony for the price of a local call.

Read the entire article at the Times Online here.



Godard Vs. Truffaut

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A little late on blogging this, but last week's New Yorker ran a really great article about the origins of the French New Wave and the huge falling out and decade's long spat between its founding members, Jean-Luc Godard and Francois Truffaut. A must read so grab a copy somewhere. (Abstract only online. Lame.)

You can also enjoy this nice slideshow of pics from the making of early Godard and Truffaut works, including this lovely shot of Godard with leading lady Anna Karina during the making of "A Woman is A Woman."



Wow, Sounds like Season 1 of "The Wire"

Michael Brick (NYT) reports on the police's attempt to shut down the drug trade in a sprawling housing project in Brooklyn:

It was a big show of force: 60 people under arrest, 5 gangs vanquished, more than 200 criminal charges, a $1.5 million narcotics enterprise shattered and an urban village of 3,500 liberated.

The 2002 raid on the sprawling Cypress Hills housing project in East New York, said Charles J. Hynes, the Brooklyn district attorney, shut down "a historic conspiracy."




The Sweatshop of Professional Blogging?

The New York Times reports on the proliferation of paid bloggers who are being pushed to the brink under the stress to constantly post in a constantly updated world:

"They work long hours, often to exhaustion. Many are paid by the piece -- not garments, but blog posts. This is the digital-era sweatshop. You may know it by a different name: home."

"I haven't died yet," said Michael Arrington, the founder and co-editor of TechCrunch, a popular technology blog. The site has brought in millions in advertising revenue, but there has been a hefty cost. Mr. Arrington says he has gained 30 pounds in the last three years, developed a severe sleeping disorder and turned his home into an office for him and four employees. "At some point, I'll have a nervous breakdown and be admitted to the hospital, or something else will happen."

Read Matt Richtel's full piece here.



Ledger's Joker "Fantastic", "Anarchic", "Extraordinary"

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"It was punk, it was `A Clockwork Orange, it was druggie. It was this kind of fantastic, anarchic look to him. This character who had absolutely no rules whatsoever," says Christian Bale on Heath Ledger as The Joker in the upcoming "The Dark Knight".

You can read some other nice things about the late Heath Ledger's final performance in this piece by David Germain at Huffington Post.



Hillary Clinton: The Audacity of Hopelessness

As it's been stated pretty clearly as of recent by Politico, Hillary Clinton has virtually no chance of getting the Democratic nomination.

Now David Brooks for the NY Times is weighing in:

Last week, an important Clinton adviser told Jim VandeHei and Mike Allen (also of Politico) that Clinton had no more than a 10 percent chance of getting the nomination. Now, she’s probably down to a 5 percent chance.

For the sake of that 5 percent, this will be the sourest spring. About a fifth of Clinton and Obama supporters now say they wouldn’t vote for the other candidate in the general election. Meanwhile, on the other side, voters get an unobstructed view of the Republican nominee. John McCain’s approval ratings have soared 11 points. He is now viewed positively by 67 percent of Americans. A month ago, McCain was losing to Obama among independents by double digits in a general election matchup. Now McCain has a lead among this group.

For three more months, Clinton is likely to hurt Obama even more against McCain, without hurting him against herself. And all this is happening so she can preserve that 5 percent chance.

When you step back and think about it, she is amazing. She possesses the audacity of hopelessness.


That being said...

Hillary needs to drop out and let Obama focus on his true opponent, Republican nominee John McCain.



Stuff White People Like: "The Wire"


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Stuff White People Like weighs in on "The Wire" just in time for the finale, (which I won't give away, except to say it brought to an end one of the best television shows I've ever seen).

"If you need to impress a white person, tell them you are from Baltimore. They will immediately ask you about The Wire and how accurate it is. You should confirm that it is “like a documentary of the streets,” the white person will then slowly shake their head and say “man” or “wow.” You will be seen in an entirely new light."



The $2 Trillion Dollar Nightmare

From the New York Times:

"Because the administration actually cut taxes as we went to war, when we were already running huge deficits, this war has, effectively, been entirely financed by deficits. The national debt has increased by some $2.5 trillion since the beginning of the war, and of this, almost $1 trillion is due directly to the war itself ... By 2017, we estimate that the national debt will have increased, just because of the war, by some $2 trillion."

And if that wasn't bad enough...

"The money spent on the war each day is enough to enroll an additional 58,000 children in Head Start for a year, or make a year of college affordable for 160,000 low-income students through Pell Grants, or pay the annual salaries of nearly 11,000 additional border patrol agents or 14,000 more police officers."

Sigh. Whoever becomes our next President is going to have some amazingly difficult decisions to make.



Non-Inbreds Need Not Apply

From IMDb News:

The casting director for a horror movie being shot in West Virginia has been fired after putting out a call for extras with facial features that would make them look "inbred." Casting director Donna M. Belajac was dismissed after Gov. Joe Manchin released a statement describing the casting call as "offensive." He added that he thought that the movie, a horror flick titled Shelter, produced by Nala Films of Los Angeles, "does not sound like a movie worth watching." Producers Emilio Diez Barroso and Darlene Caamano apologized "for the very insensitive casting call sent out without our knowledge." The incident also drew the attention of West Virginia Sen. Robert Byrd, who released a statement saying, "Unfortunately, some in the filmmaking industry have decided that perpetuating stereotypes and insulting generations of West Virginians means cash at the box office."



The Onion: CGI Team Creates Realistic Oscar For Michael Bay

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Amazing.

From The Onion:

"LOS ANGELES—A leading team of CGI experts hand-selected by blockbuster producer and director Michael Bay has pushed the limits of what can be accomplished with special effects and digital imaging by creating a computer- generated best-director Oscar for the 43-year-old filmmaker.

The $125 million project, funded entirely by Bay, has been called one of the most ambitious CGI undertakings to date, dwarfing even Bay's most ambitious efforts in his 2007 robot-action film, Transformers. A crew of nearly 200 technicians working for nine months on a 15,000-square-foot soundstage was required to realize the director's wildly imaginative fantasy world."



Stuff White People Like

Too funny.

My faves:

Expensive Sandwiches

Film Festivals

Knowing What's Best for Poor People


And the ultimate best:

Juno



Woody Allen's "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" To Feature Steamy Sex Scene with Johansson, Cruz, Bardem

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I was going to make a pun using the word "Woody" but that temptation has been resisted.


From the fine folks at Dark Horizons:


It was previously revealed that Woody Allen's next flick "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" features a very steamy three-way between Scarlett Johansson, Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem.

Now, The New York Post reports that an even steamier lesbian sex scene takes place earlier in the film between the bottle-blonde and the Latina with the pair "going at it in a red-tinted photography dark room" so excitedly that "it will leave the audience gasping."


P.S. I imagine this will get the Woodman's box office performance back up after the poor reception of "Cassandra's Dream."



Only in Park Slope....

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...is there an uproar over stollers in bars.

Gotta love it.

From the New York Times:

When the owners of Union Hall -- a moody, dark-paneled bar and brunch spot in Park Slope, Brooklyn -- recently posted a sign that read "Please, No Strollers" under another one reading "No One Under 21 Admitted," they did not see it as a declaration of war with the neighborhood's sizable population of young parents.

"The word gets out that this is a place for baby buggies to go, we end up with 8 to 10 strollers, or 15," said Jim Carden, an owner. He explained that the goal was simply to make sure that the preferred transportation for toddlers of the stay-at-home parents who had adopted the lounge as an afternoon hangout would not crowd out the regular patrons.

Perhaps he underestimated the neighborhood's vocal and proactive parents. Local parenting blogs were soon bristling with denunciations.


P.S. I agree BTW. No strollers in bars... Bars are for adults.



Paul Dano Discusses His Unique Role in "There Will Be Blood"

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Paul Dano, the gifted actor who made his splash in "Little Miss Sunshine" but really knocks it out the park in Paul Thomas Anderson's masterpiece, "There Will Be Blood," discusses his "unique role" in the film opposite Daniel Day Lewis and how he was a last minute replacement for one of the most memorable performances in film in quite some time. Read the (spoiler) here at PRI's Fair Game blog.



Someone is Rolling in Their Grave Right Now

From Roger Smith's obituary today in the New York Times:

Mr. Smith remained a controversial figure in Detroit long after he left the automotive scene. Variously described as arrogant and casual, with ruddy skin and a high-pitched voice, he became widely known to filmgoers in 1989 as the unwitting star of the satiric documentary “Roger & Me,” which launched the career of the director Michael Moore.



"Joker" Madness

Viral websites, a special 5-10 minute "Joker" origin in front of the December release of "I am Legend", and now the cover of Empire Magazine... All a good six months before Christopher Nolan's "The Dark Knight" is even released.

Here's hoping the film is good.

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Peter Zinner, "Godfather" Editor, 1919-2007

Witness the power of editing in the baptism scene from "The Godfather." Rest in peace, Peter Zinner.



Richard Kelly on Political Extremism in "Southland Tales"

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Over on the regular indieWIRE site (i.e. the mothership), you can find a piece written by yours truly on Richard Kelly's new film "Southland Tales" and his recent appearance at Apple Store SoHo, where he explained the film's connection to "Donnie Darko" and his political motivations behind creating his insanely complex new film:

"Everyone has their post-9/11 anxiety and for me my way of dealing with it was to make this movie and to try to take a paint brush and paint my anxiety on a canvas." Kelly added, "I'm a liberal and I'm frustrated and angry and I wish things were different. I wanted to show the polarization that has occurred and the extremes of the far right and the extremes of the far left."



Originality Alert of the Day: The New "Knight Rider" Movie

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From Zap2it:

The new "Knight Rider" will follow the same premise as its predecessor: Guy fights crime with the help of a supercar. The new version, however, will also take some cues from "Transformers," meaning viewers should probably prepare for a shape-shifting KITT.

Of course, since post-Transformers a talking car just isn't that interesting anymore.

The film will also feature Michael Knight's son driving the famous car. No word yet on whether "The Hoff" himself will appear.



"Green Lantern" The Movie

With the announcement of a "Green Lantern" movie to join the ranks of numerous other upcoming super hero comic book adaptations, here's hoping they make more of the character than this failed "Justice League" live action pilot did from 1997. Wow, CG has sure come a long way in 10 years.



After Public Outrage, NYC To Lighten Up on Shooting Permits for Filmmakers

After the outcry over NYC's draconian proposal on film permits for filmmaker and photographers this past August, the city has relented and drawn up a new set of proposed rules that seem entirely reasonable (and even generous) to this DIY filmmaker:

From the New York Times:

The rules, to be released on Tuesday for public comment, would generally allow people using hand-held equipment, including tripods, to shoot for any length of time on sidewalks and in parks as long as they leave sufficient room for pedestrians.

The new rules, which officials said reflect longstanding practice by the Mayor’s Office of Film, Theater and Broadcasting, are meant to distinguish between photographers and filmmakers who generally do not create congestion or unsafe conditions and those from major television, film and print productions that generally do. But instead of basing permit requirements on the number of people and the length of time involved in the shoot, the new proposal focuses on the level of sidewalk obstruction.

The proposal would allow photographers and filmmakers who are not using vehicles or equipment like dolly tracks, lights and cables to proceed without permits on public property as long as they stay out of traffic and their activities do not prevent public use. The rules would also allow photographers and filmmakers to commandeer a portion of a public walkway without a permit, as long as they leave open at least half of its width, or eight feet, whichever is greater.

Under the new proposal for city streets, the use of obtrusive equipment is what “triggers a permit,” said Mr. Dunn of the civil liberties union. Productions that block traffic or leave less than eight feet of open walkway would require permits and a minimum of $1 million in insurance, as would those using vehicles and equipment that is not hand-held. Officials can waive the insurance requirement if an applicant can show that it would create a financial hardship.



Ten Films That Could Not Exist Without Wes Anderson

The Onion's AV Club has an amusing list of indie films that they feel could not have been made without the overwhelming influence of Wes Anderson, including Juno, Napoleon Dynamite, Garden State, and Little Miss Sunshine, along with a few other not as obvious choices like the The Squid and the Whale and Son of Rambow.

My quirkiness cup runneth over.




The Highest Skydive Ever: Nineteen Miles Above The Earth



Burkhard Bilger paints an amazing image of what it must be like to skydive from the stratosphere in his riveting piece (in this week's New Yorker) about a Frenchman's attempt to break the world record for highest skydive.

The following video captures it even more so, with footage shot by Joe Kittinger, the man who broke the record for highest skydive back in 1960 when he stepped out of his hot air balloon 19 miles above the Earth. With his camera he filmed what is clearly the blackness of space as he plummeted through the thin, freezing cold atmosphere at a 600 miles per hour.

Wow.



Worst. President. Ever.

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From the Washington Post :

The latest Washington Post-ABC News survey shows that 65 percent of Americans disapprove of Bush's job performance, matching his all-time low. In polls conducted by The Post or Gallup going back to 1938, only once has a president exceeded that level of public animosity -- and that was Richard M. Nixon, who hit 66 percent four days before he resigned.

"It's astonishing," said Pat Caddell, who was President Jimmy Carter's pollster. "It's hard to look at the situation today and say the country is absolutely 15 miles down in the hole. The economy's not that bad -- for some people it is, but not overall. Iraq is terribly handled, but it's not Vietnam; we're not losing 250 people a week. . . . We don't have that immediate crisis, yet the anxiety about the future is palpable. And the feeling about him is he's irrelevant to that. I think they've basically given up on him."

Irrelevant? Snap!



The New Batman Costume

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Okay, I know this is getting geeky, with my second post in several days about a movie that is coming out next summer, but this new Batman costume looks way cool. And Batman Begins was such a great reboot of the series, that I'm really looking forward to Christopher Nolan's sequel, The Dark Knight.

(Thanks to Dark Horizons and Super Hero Hype who pointed out the Entertainment Weekly pic.)



The iGasm: Wow, Talk About "Thinking Different"

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From Macworld UK:

High street adult retailer Ann Summers has landed itself in a heap of trouble with Apple.

The retail chain has been promoting a £30 sex toy called the iGasm, a device which connects to any music player and offers users an erotic vibrating treat in time to the beat.

A News of the World report claims Apple is furious about Ann Summer's promotion of the device, and is demanding all posters for the gadget be taken down, under threat of court action.

The neon-pink posters depict an underwear-clad female silhouette holding an oval white device with two cables - one connected to a pair of white headphones, the other heading down toward the female's knickers.

The sales pitch urges music fans to: "Go at it hard and fast with a pounding drum 'n' bass track or chill with an ambient classic."



New INTERPOL Album Cover. Are They Serious?

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Oh boy, can't wait...



The Lameification of the Lower East Side

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As luxury condos and cocktail lounges with $12 drinks continue to sprout up in the Lower East Side, the things that made the neighborhood such a unique nexus of creative energy in recent decades continue to disappear. As the New York Times reported yesterday, "Tonic, a hub and hangout for avant-garde musicians" hosted its last show this past Friday after being forced to close because of skyrocketing rent.

Musicians Rebecca Moore and Marc Ribot staged a protest on Saturday and ended up getting arrested. They've organized a press conference for NOON on Tuesday at City Hall as a "call to action to say that new experimental music does not have to disappear from New York City, let alone the Lower East Side, where so much legendary avant garde jazz/Indy/New Music was born."

You can read more about their plans by visiting their website, www.takeittothebridge.com



Britney's Look Look

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I dunno, I actually think Britney Spears' new look is kinda hot. Like the chick from Star Trek: The Motion Picture.

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Thank You, Nancy Pelosi: Congress Finally Asserts Itself on Iran

Nancy Pelosi tells Bush to cool his jets on Iran:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday that President Bush lacks the authority to invade Iran without specific approval from Congress, a fresh challenge to the commander in chief on the eve of a symbolic vote critical of his troop buildup in Iraq.

At the same time, she said, "I do believe that Congress should assert itself, though, and make it very clear that there is no previous authority for the president, any president, to go into Iran.

The AP's David Espo reports.



Regarding Iran, Talk Is Not Cheap

The New Yorker's James Surowiecki reports on the incredible paradox of how the United
States' military threats towards Iran actually aids them. With Iran being the second largest exporter of oil, any signs of instability makes oil traders nervous and therefore drives up prices and puts more money in Iran's coffers:

What really keeps the risk premium high is the American penchant for public responses to Iran’s provocations. So cooling down the martial rhetoric—even if we plan to take military action eventually—would likely bring oil prices down for a time, making Iran weaker.



Fugu! Fugu!

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New York Magazine reports that Bar Masa at Columbus Circle is serving Fugu, the poisonous blowfish.

"Fugu, or the flesh of the blowfish, can be deadly if prepared the wrong way, as anyone who has seen the Simpsons episode where Homer is given 24 hours to live after having it served to him by an inexperienced chef can attest.

Sushi chefs must apprentice for two to three years before they’re allowed to carve around the creature’s toxic liver. The bony pieces are dredged in potato starch, fried, and served with a little salt and some sudachi lime."

Oh my. Can anyone actually report of having tried this, um, delicacy?



NYT's Carpetbagger Gets It Wrong about Sundance Winner

So much for a well-placed source. Oops.


Posted on the front page of the NY Times at January 27, 2007, 6:08 pm, over three hours before the winners were announced at the Sundance awards ceremony:

"The Bagger has just heard, from a proverbial well-placed source, that "Grace Is Gone," by first-time director James Strouse and starring John Cusack, has won the festival’s Grand Jury Prize for a dramatic film."

"Grace Is Gone" did not win the Grand Jury prize for dramatic film, Christopher Zalla's "Padre Nuestro" did.

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Scarlett to Strip?

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Okay, here's my very infrequent, shameless attempt to get web traffic so I can hopefully sell more BlogAds to help pay for film festival submission fees for my latest short film, FACE VALUE.

According to the The Sun, Scarlett Johansson has "vowed to strip" for an upcoming film role:


"I'm still making up my mind about when I'll do a nude scene," she told Esquire and at the same time lighting up a thousand men's eyes.

"I'm not opposed to doing nudity - it would just have to be the right project maybe some sensational European art film."


Good for her to hold out for the art.

So does this mean we'll get to see SCARLETT JOHANSSON NUDE or SCARLETT JOHANSSON NAKED or even SCARLETT JOHANSSON NUDE NAKED TIED UP?

We'll see I guess.

For now check out this classy, sexy pic of her in the new Louis Vuitton ads.

(If you click it it'll get BIG.)



I'm floating in a most peculiar way

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And I thought the Atlantis resort's Leap of Faith water slide that I plunged down at the Bahamas International Film Festival this past Sunday was high up.

Hold on tight, Major Tom.