From the past I bring you a future of idiots.
What horrible events occurred to enable computers to become alive? What school neglects to teach students what year it is? Why is mommy so pretty and how come she is the only one who remembers where the bathroom is but cant remember what its called? The swelling music at the end makes me want to shout "You maniacs! God damn you God Damn you all to hell!" 1999 was apparently the year computers enslaved mankind.
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Forgotten Film Thursday
Los Angeles Plays Itself
Thom Andersen is a longtime teacher at the California Institute of the Arts, and his nearly three-hour documentary chronicling the relationship between Los Angeles and the cinema feels like an exhaustive and sometimes exhausting graduate-level course. Fascinating for anyone who loves either movies or the city, "Los Angeles Plays Itself" is a terrific cinematic essay that will have a very, very long shelf life.
Highly expansive in its approach and scope, Andersen's film is roughly divided into three parts, chronicling the city as a cinematic background; as a virtual character in films itself; and as the actual subject for such works as "Chinatown" and "L.A. Confidential." By the way, the filmmaker, like many of the city's residents, has little use for the common abbreviation of the city's name.
Utilizing clips from about 200 films, both famous and obscure, Andersen makes his arguments, ranging from the profound to the digressive, in informative and highly articulate fashion. His narration (vocally delivered in a sometimes-too-laconic mode by Encke King, seemingly channeling James Ellroy) ranges from the merely witty to the profound. A look at the use of the city's modernist architecture as locations for the homes of an endless parade of cinematic villains, for instance, starts out in jovial fashion before becoming a thoughtful philosophical examination of societal resistance to utopian dreams.
Sometimes, Andersen reaches too far in his arguments -- his laudatory treatment of Jack Webb and "Dragnet" is bound to raise some eyebrows -- and he doesn't entirely avoid repetition. But any thematic excesses can be excused by the sheer depth and breadth of his examination and by the fascinating clips that, among many other things, provide a vivid visual representation of the city, from its lost neighborhoods to its perpetual landmarks.
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Bad Parent Wednesday
In Edmonton, Canada a four-year-old girl was sexually abused and tortured by her mom and her mother’s boyfriend, Darcy Bannert, 25.
According to her testimony, Bannert sexually assaulted her in the bathtub, made her sit with him on the couch while he watched porn, and made her dance like a stripper.
She was also handcuffed by her feet in a dark basement and hit with a belt by her mother, 22, and Bannert. (The mother’s name is being withheld to protect the identity of the child.)
Eyewitnesses saw the girl handcuffed to a box, punched and slapped, and not being allowed a drink of water. One witness saw the child drank a mixture of Miracle-Gro liquid fertilizer and water because she was so thirsty.
She also drank her own urine.
The mother and Bannert each face multiple charges including sexual offenses, assault causing bodily harm, pot growing, unlawful confinement, and causing a child to need protective services.
The Crown Prosecutor, said the couple acted as a "tag team" in routinely taunting and abusing the girl.
She acknowledged that Bannert was the "dominant figure" in the relationship but said the mother was criminally responsible, too, for her participation and for allowing Bannert "unrestricted access" to her daughter.
"This is her child, She knew what was going on ... and she just watched it happen."
According to her testimony, Bannert sexually assaulted her in the bathtub, made her sit with him on the couch while he watched porn, and made her dance like a stripper.
She was also handcuffed by her feet in a dark basement and hit with a belt by her mother, 22, and Bannert. (The mother’s name is being withheld to protect the identity of the child.)
Eyewitnesses saw the girl handcuffed to a box, punched and slapped, and not being allowed a drink of water. One witness saw the child drank a mixture of Miracle-Gro liquid fertilizer and water because she was so thirsty.
She also drank her own urine.The mother and Bannert each face multiple charges including sexual offenses, assault causing bodily harm, pot growing, unlawful confinement, and causing a child to need protective services.
The Crown Prosecutor, said the couple acted as a "tag team" in routinely taunting and abusing the girl.
She acknowledged that Bannert was the "dominant figure" in the relationship but said the mother was criminally responsible, too, for her participation and for allowing Bannert "unrestricted access" to her daughter.
"This is her child, She knew what was going on ... and she just watched it happen."
Bad Parent Wednesday
With a calm and dispassionate voice and a hymn playing in the background, Dena Schlosser confessed to the unthinkable, telling a 911 operator she’d cut off the arms of her baby girl. 
The woman was sitting in her living room covered with blood when police arrived that cold November Monday, 2004 . Her nearly 11-month-old daughter lay fatally injured in a crib in a bedroom of the family’s apartment in Plano Texas. The child died shortly afterward at a nearby hospital.
Police charged the 35-year-old mother with capital murder, but declined to reveal where she was being held.
Schlosser, who had a history of postpartum depression, had been investigated on child neglect allegations earlier that year, but Texas Child Protective Services had closed what was a seven-month investigation, concluding that Schlosser did not pose a risk to her children. Neighbors said she seemed to be a loving, attentive mother.
“There were never any indications of violence with this family,” agency spokeswoman Marissa Gonzales said. “The children had always been healthy, happy and cared for.” But, on Monday, authorities discovered a grisly scene at the family’s apartment after the child’s father called a day-care center, and asked them to check on his wife and daughter.
Day-care workers called 911 after talking to the mother; an operator then called Schlosser.
Asked if there was an emergency, Schlosser calmly responded “Yes,” according to 911 tapes released by police.
“Exactly what happened?” the 911 operator asked.
“I cut her arms off,” Schlosser replied, as the hymn “He Touched Me” played in the background.
“You cut her arms off?” he repeated.
“Uh huh,” she answered.
It was not immediately clear what instrument was used to sever the baby’s arms
or why the child’s father called a day-care center to check on his family.
Schlosser lived at the apartment with other family members, including her two older daughters. Authorities said the girls, ages 6 and 9, were at school when police arrived, and that their father was at work.
No one answered the door Monday night at the family’s apartment in suburban Dallas. Children’s bicycles rested near the entrance along with angel garden statues.
Neighbors said Schlosser took her children swimming in the summer, had picnics in the courtyard and walked her baby around the complex the same time each afternoon.
Dena Livingston, 43, said she saw Schlosser making her rounds with the stroller on Sunday. Two days earlier, she saw Schlosser waiting with the baby outside the elementary school where her two other daughters attend.
“She didn’t give off like she was in a distant world or didn’t care about the baby,” Livingston said.
Livingston’s husband, Brad, added: “To see her with the girls, you would just think she was a great mother.”
Child-protective officials were interviewing Schlosser’s daughters
and would talk to the father before deciding whether to remove the girls from the home.
In January, the agency was called to the home after Schlosser was seen running down the street,
with one of her daughters bicycling after her, authorities said. When officials arrived, the child told them her mother had left her 6-day-old sister alone in the apartment.
Schlosser appeared at the time to be suffering from postpartum depression and having a psychotic episode, Gonzales said.
Schlosser was hospitalized, and later agreed to seek counseling and saw a psychiatrist, Gonzales said.
“At the time we closed the case, we had been assured that Mom was stabilized and that she was not a risk to herself
or her children,”
Geoff Wool, spokesman for the Family and Protective Services Department, said.
The woman was sitting in her living room covered with blood when police arrived that cold November Monday, 2004 . Her nearly 11-month-old daughter lay fatally injured in a crib in a bedroom of the family’s apartment in Plano Texas. The child died shortly afterward at a nearby hospital.
Police charged the 35-year-old mother with capital murder, but declined to reveal where she was being held.
Schlosser, who had a history of postpartum depression, had been investigated on child neglect allegations earlier that year, but Texas Child Protective Services had closed what was a seven-month investigation, concluding that Schlosser did not pose a risk to her children. Neighbors said she seemed to be a loving, attentive mother.
“There were never any indications of violence with this family,” agency spokeswoman Marissa Gonzales said. “The children had always been healthy, happy and cared for.” But, on Monday, authorities discovered a grisly scene at the family’s apartment after the child’s father called a day-care center, and asked them to check on his wife and daughter.
Day-care workers called 911 after talking to the mother; an operator then called Schlosser.
Asked if there was an emergency, Schlosser calmly responded “Yes,” according to 911 tapes released by police.
“Exactly what happened?” the 911 operator asked.
“I cut her arms off,” Schlosser replied, as the hymn “He Touched Me” played in the background.
“You cut her arms off?” he repeated.
“Uh huh,” she answered.
It was not immediately clear what instrument was used to sever the baby’s arms
or why the child’s father called a day-care center to check on his family.Schlosser lived at the apartment with other family members, including her two older daughters. Authorities said the girls, ages 6 and 9, were at school when police arrived, and that their father was at work.
No one answered the door Monday night at the family’s apartment in suburban Dallas. Children’s bicycles rested near the entrance along with angel garden statues.
Neighbors said Schlosser took her children swimming in the summer, had picnics in the courtyard and walked her baby around the complex the same time each afternoon.
Dena Livingston, 43, said she saw Schlosser making her rounds with the stroller on Sunday. Two days earlier, she saw Schlosser waiting with the baby outside the elementary school where her two other daughters attend.
“She didn’t give off like she was in a distant world or didn’t care about the baby,” Livingston said.
Livingston’s husband, Brad, added: “To see her with the girls, you would just think she was a great mother.”
Child-protective officials were interviewing Schlosser’s daughters
and would talk to the father before deciding whether to remove the girls from the home.In January, the agency was called to the home after Schlosser was seen running down the street,
with one of her daughters bicycling after her, authorities said. When officials arrived, the child told them her mother had left her 6-day-old sister alone in the apartment.Schlosser appeared at the time to be suffering from postpartum depression and having a psychotic episode, Gonzales said.
Schlosser was hospitalized, and later agreed to seek counseling and saw a psychiatrist, Gonzales said.
“At the time we closed the case, we had been assured that Mom was stabilized and that she was not a risk to herself
or her children,”
Geoff Wool, spokesman for the Family and Protective Services Department, said.
Bad Parent Wednesday
A four-year-old boy is in critical condition on Wednesday May 23rd. His parents, Martha and Jose Franco, have been arrested and are facing several charges in Merced County.
Police Detectives are calling the boy’s injuries “horrific.”
They believe the boy was abused over the course of four weeks.The boy has burns on his body and was beaten so badly, his brain was detached from his skull.
Deputies believe the mother, 42-year-old Martha Franco, is the one who inflicted the injuries.
She has been charged with attempted murder, child endangerment, corporal injury and battery with serious injury.
The child was born with disabilities and had just moved in with his biological parents in December after living in a group home and hospital.
The mother called 911 on Monday. Authorities arrived to find the child unresponsive. As of Wednesday the boy remains in a coma.
The father was released after posting bail,
but the mother remains behind bars.
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
70's Tuesday
1978 Mattel brought us the mother of all handheld games, football.
This handheld interpretation of a sport was nothing like football. You had to maneuver your red dash from one end of the screen to the other as fast as you can and avoid the other identical red dashes that were NOT you. The games LEDs were so primitive that the game would actually get superhot if you played for more than 30 minutes.
This was a completely different game from the Auto Race Game. The goal of the auto race game was to move your red dash from one end of the screen to the other and avoid identical red dashes that were NOT you.
Monday, May 28, 2007
Sunday, May 27, 2007
Vertigo - From Among the Dead.
Vertigo was screened at the Hollywood cemetery this evening. It was an interesting screening. The print was not any print I have seen in the past. It appeared to be restored however the audio was the unrestored correct audio. This was not the Harris/Katz version. That "restored" version is the one that Universal has released. I have no idea what I just saw but I can tell you...
I liked it!
Yes, Dave at Daveland I took the above photo thinking of you.
I have to say that seeing this film in a cemetery is pretty great. This was a pretty big turnout and a nice respectful crowd.
The problem with the official "restored" cut is the foley. The foley has been replaced. This changes the feel of the film. You can clearly hear the replaced foley during the opening rooftop scene. The gunshots are from current semi automatic guns and not revolvers. The Spanish tile roof they jump onto takes on a shake tile sound in the restored cut. This screening offered up the original audio. It was a wonderful surprise. The film started with the Paramount logo and not the Universal logo, an indication this was a special screening even jaded film buffs could enjoy. This was the perfect place to see this film. The graveyard next door to the studio that made the film. I guess the only other place that could top this location would be a screening at Fort Point .
Thanks Luke, Michael and Ricky for a wonderful evening.
I liked it!
Yes, Dave at Daveland I took the above photo thinking of you.I have to say that seeing this film in a cemetery is pretty great. This was a pretty big turnout and a nice respectful crowd.
The problem with the official "restored" cut is the foley. The foley has been replaced. This changes the feel of the film. You can clearly hear the replaced foley during the opening rooftop scene. The gunshots are from current semi automatic guns and not revolvers. The Spanish tile roof they jump onto takes on a shake tile sound in the restored cut. This screening offered up the original audio. It was a wonderful surprise. The film started with the Paramount logo and not the Universal logo, an indication this was a special screening even jaded film buffs could enjoy. This was the perfect place to see this film. The graveyard next door to the studio that made the film. I guess the only other place that could top this location would be a screening at Fort Point .
Thanks Luke, Michael and Ricky for a wonderful evening.
Saturday, May 26, 2007
Swank!
There is no way this was taken seriously in 1965. Oh George why did you do this? Putnum sounds like he is a ghost reporting from beyond the grave. He is trying to make the subject sound serious but in his attempt he sounds like a half assed ghost or even worse, Adam West. The amazing thing is the inconsistant attempt to cover naughty bits shows more than than allowed in our broadcasting standards today.
Luke just sent me this version. It makes more sense than the original.
MP4 Version
Luke just sent me this version. It makes more sense than the original.
MP4 Version
Friday, May 25, 2007
Gay robot pilot
A clip from the pilot of Gay Robot. Yep. Ignore the stereotyping because hes a robot and hes not real.
No No no there is no "N"
Welcome to Korea's amusement park EVERLAND.
A fantasyland where pigs fly from nostrils of larger pigs and the guests are pollinated during the parade via a "Special Injection Device". A place where there are more smoking areas than rides.
(In the area noted as AMERICAN ADVENTURE this ride urges you to take over the Eagle's fortress.-ge)
"Eagle Fortress (Q-pass)
The first hanging coaster in Asia! The rail is above to bring even more drilling experience!! Rotate in side ways for more heart pumping experience!!
Courageous one! Take over the Eagle Fortress!!
Type of use: Roller coaster type
Standard of use: Height of 120cm or taller
Restriction of operation: This is an outdoor facility that cannot be operated when raining"
(But wait there is seasonal fun to be had!!! Like the HAPPY HALLOWEEN PARTY-ge)
"Happy Halloween Party" is the core entertainment of festival with 4 Floats, 4 air shot card, 4 candy chariots.
With the total length of 400m for 30 minutes of action with the 11 character performers and a total of 50 performance groups to make it a fun and exciting Halloween party.
Furthermore, at the end of parade, tens of thousands of Halloween sponge ball spraying into the air and this is something for you to see.
The biggest thing to see of "Happy Halloween Party" is the Float with the different theme with Pumpkin Fairy Float, Pipe Organ Float, Dracula Castle Float, and Cemetery Tomb Float.
Each individual float has special injection device that sprayed the Halloween pollen.
(after you are pollinated you might be hungry.-ge)
The enriched food of Germany, represented in sausage and ham, are available.
Germany-style pork feet, "Haxen" is a traditional food at October Fest in Munich that this is hard to find food in Korea.
Also, roasted corn with spicy barbecue pork rib, roast chicken and fried potato and chicken, handmade sausage and other German meals for you to enjoy.
Together with this, salad, chicken fajita, tortilla, various smoked sausages and others are available for family and lovers to enjoy.
(Another gem of a parade.-ge)
Super Oinks Parade
The parade is 450m large-scale parade with super oinks three brothers and Everland performance teams. There are three super oinks floats and two snowmen floats and 36 characters showing up. Those characters will be all out to dance with visitors twice during the parade and on-the-spot street event distributing make-a-wish paper will unfold.
The highlight of the parade is that a mini-pig doll is launched from the nostril of a super oink character. This surprise event shows 5cm size mini pig doll flies high in the sky at the finale part.
(A few of the costumed people you'll meet in the park Click image to enlarge and read descriptions-ge)
(Please click on the title of this post to visit the website of this wonderful theme park called EVERLAND-ge)
A fantasyland where pigs fly from nostrils of larger pigs and the guests are pollinated during the parade via a "Special Injection Device". A place where there are more smoking areas than rides.
(In the area noted as AMERICAN ADVENTURE this ride urges you to take over the Eagle's fortress.-ge)
"Eagle Fortress (Q-pass)
The first hanging coaster in Asia! The rail is above to bring even more drilling experience!! Rotate in side ways for more heart pumping experience!!
Courageous one! Take over the Eagle Fortress!!
Type of use: Roller coaster type
Standard of use: Height of 120cm or taller
Restriction of operation: This is an outdoor facility that cannot be operated when raining"
(But wait there is seasonal fun to be had!!! Like the HAPPY HALLOWEEN PARTY-ge)
"Happy Halloween Party" is the core entertainment of festival with 4 Floats, 4 air shot card, 4 candy chariots.
With the total length of 400m for 30 minutes of action with the 11 character performers and a total of 50 performance groups to make it a fun and exciting Halloween party.
Furthermore, at the end of parade, tens of thousands of Halloween sponge ball spraying into the air and this is something for you to see.
The biggest thing to see of "Happy Halloween Party" is the Float with the different theme with Pumpkin Fairy Float, Pipe Organ Float, Dracula Castle Float, and Cemetery Tomb Float.
Each individual float has special injection device that sprayed the Halloween pollen.
(after you are pollinated you might be hungry.-ge)
The enriched food of Germany, represented in sausage and ham, are available.
Germany-style pork feet, "Haxen" is a traditional food at October Fest in Munich that this is hard to find food in Korea.
Also, roasted corn with spicy barbecue pork rib, roast chicken and fried potato and chicken, handmade sausage and other German meals for you to enjoy.
Together with this, salad, chicken fajita, tortilla, various smoked sausages and others are available for family and lovers to enjoy.
(Another gem of a parade.-ge)
Super Oinks Parade
The parade is 450m large-scale parade with super oinks three brothers and Everland performance teams. There are three super oinks floats and two snowmen floats and 36 characters showing up. Those characters will be all out to dance with visitors twice during the parade and on-the-spot street event distributing make-a-wish paper will unfold.
The highlight of the parade is that a mini-pig doll is launched from the nostril of a super oink character. This surprise event shows 5cm size mini pig doll flies high in the sky at the finale part.
(A few of the costumed people you'll meet in the park Click image to enlarge and read descriptions-ge)
(Please click on the title of this post to visit the website of this wonderful theme park called EVERLAND-ge)
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Music and/or Video Friday
A little Grey Gardens for your weekend.
The Revolutionary Costume For Today
(Speaking)
Oh, hi. Thank heaven you're here. You look absolutely terrific, honestly. (Mother wanted me to come out in a kimono so we had quite a fight...)
(Singing)
The best kind of clothes for a protest pose
Is this ensemble of pantyhose
Pulled over the shorts, worn under the skirt
That doubles as a cape.
To reveal you in capri pants
You fashion out of ski pants,
In a jersey knit designed to fit
The contour of your shape.
Then cinch it with a cord from the drape.
And that's the revolutionary costume for today.
To show the polo riders, in khakis and topsiders,
Just what a revolutionary costume has to say.
It can't be ordered from L.L. Bean.
There's more to living than kelly green.
And that's the revolution, I mean.
Da da da da dum...
(Speaking)
Just listen to this: The Hamptons Bee, July, 1972: "The elderly bed-ridden aunt of former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, Mrs. Edith Bouvier Beale..."
My very own mother, can you imagine?
"...and her adult daughter, Miss Edie Beale, a former debutante once known as Body Beautiful Beale..."
They called me Body Beautiul Beale, it's true - that was my whaddyacallit, my uh ... sobriquet.
"...are living on Long Islane in a garbage-ridden, filthy 28-room house with 52 cats, fleas, cobwebs, and virtually no plumbing. After vociferous complaints from neighbors, the Board of Health took legal action against the reclusive pair."
Why, it's the most disgusting, atrocious thing ever to happen in America!
(Singing)
You fight City Hall with a Persian shawl
That used to hang on the bedroom wall,
Pinned under the chin, adorned with a pin
And pulled into a twist.
Reinvent the objet trouve,
Make a poncho from a duvet,
Then you can be with cousin Lee
On Mr. Blackwell's list.
The full-length velvet glove hides the fist.
And that's the revolutionary costume for today.
Subvert the CrisCraft boaters, those Nixon-Agnew voters.
Armies of conformity are headed right your way.
To make a statement you need not be
In Boston Harbor upending tea.
And that's a Revolution, to me.
Staunch!
There's nothin' worse, I tell ya,
Staunch!
S-T-A-U-N-C-H.
Staunch women, we just don't weaken.
A little known fact to the fascist pack
Who comes here for antiquin'.
Da da da da dum...
(Speaking)
Honestly, they can get you in East Hampton for wearing red shoes on a Thursday - and all that sort of thing. I don't know whether you know that - I mean, do you know that? They can get you for almost anything - it's a mean, nasty, Republican town.
(Singing)
The best kind of shoes to express bold views
Are strapless mules in assertive hues
Like fuscia or peach, except on the beach,
In which case you wear flats.
When I stood before the nation
At Jack's inauguration,
In a high-heeled hump, I got the jump
On Jackie's pillbox hat.
Just watch it where you step with the cat!
And that's the revolutionary costume pour du jour.
You mix'n'match and, Presto! A fashion manifesto.
That's why a revolutionary costume's de rigeur.
The rhododendrons are hiding spies,
The pussy willows have beady eyes.
Binoculars through the privet hedge,
They peek at you through the window ledge with guile!
We're in a Revolution!
So win the Revolution with style!
Da da da da dum.
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Forgotten Film Thursday
The Big Bus is a 1976 James Frawley comedy starring Stockard Channing as Kitty Baxter and Joe Bologna as controversial driver ("Eat one lousy foot and they call you a cannibal") Dan Torrance. A spoof of most disaster movies up until that time, it follows the maiden cross-country trip of a nuclear powered bus named Cyclops that's equipped with a bowling alley, swimming pool and piano bar. A bomb planted by a saboteur damages the bus' reactor, preventing the bus from stopping.
A high point is when they try to balance the bus, which is teetering on the brink of cliff, by flooding the galley with soft drinks from the fountain. Of course Stockard/Kitty is in there about to drown in soda pop, and Joe/Dan has to rescue her. "All those years, why did you have to bed all those other girls?", she asks him. "I bedded them so I could think of you,", he says, "but from now on I'm only going to bed you, and think of them." "You're a strange one, Dan.", she replies.
Actor John Beck plays the co-driver "Shoulders" O'Brien, a nickname he acquired because he has narcolepsy and often falls asleep and drives on the shoulders of the road. Coincidentally, he also happened to have big shoulders.
A big-budget film notorious for its mostly lethal reviews and disastrous performance at the box office.
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