風の谷の孤独

Dexter came in with a strong finish, getting back on track after it's weak third season. The finale kind of solidified the season in hindsight and leaves me anxious for the next one. ( SERIOUS SPOILER cut )

Californication's finale made up quite a bit for a weak third season, but one episode can't really fix a season of sub par ideas. Let's hope they clean up and get better writers for season four. ( spoiler cut )

Bored to Death is turning out to be solid fun, I'm glad it's been picked up for a second season.


The Vampire Diaries, my guilty pleasure, instead of finishing out the season, expanded to twenty two episodes for season one, but went on an eight week break to get their shit together and revamp (so to speak) the plot, It's reaching a much larger audience than predicted for a teen high drama. They've impressed me with this show's ability to have horror and death in every episode. We'll see if they can make keep it interesting without going dumb, but I think their aims of taking it away from teen drama and refocus on the whole town may do just that... or it will just shoot themselves in the goot. We shall see.

Speaking of darkness, JENNIFER'S BODY rocked.
Proving that all you need is a Fox who drinks blood to have a good time. ;P Amanda Seyfried turns out to be awesome in this movie, and the requisite sexy outfits, mental wards, and high school walls make this a prettier though less deep teen fetish flick comparable to Ginger Snaps. Similarly enjoyable.


Completely off the wall, HE'S JUST NOT THAT INTO YOU was quite enjoyable. Even had some good points, unlike similar genre type crap flick The Ugly Truth.

Where the Wild Things Are needs little comment, it was great, but not quite what most people were expecting.
Something I've been thinking lately, it takes a special kind of person to inspire awesomeness, but it takes an entirely different kind of thing to keep it going.


LEGEND OF THE SEEKER is back for a second season, available streaming on Hulu along with the first, it remains visually stunning and raises the sexiness bar by adding one of the ultra hot Mor'd-Sith to the cast of main characters, sadly it's not Denna, and they don't explore the complexities of the character as well as they could. What was interesting to learn though, was that when I was thinking they must be exagerating the sex appeal of the story for TV it turns out they're toning it way down. One fan posted in the comments to episode five a scene as written in the book describing an almost pornographic lesbian scene between Mor'd-Sith, her ageal, and a prostitute. Funny that Disney picked this story up, even if partnered with CBS.

Good TV has the hearts of the writers inside. Bad TV has a heart of greed alone.

I really liked this. Saw the studio version... not so good. But this performance is great.

I'm impressed by how good this song sounds with just a guitar.

As of today TheFarthestShore.com is number 9,863,270 in world popularity, as opposed to my new site TheaterOfTheVampire.com which is fifteen million something. I'm setting an arbitrary goal of getting into the top five million this year. Whether or not that happens isn't that important, but for fun, that is my goal.

My housemate's site Ryan's Rockshow is within the top five hundred thousand, but deals with music and popular media, so there's virtually no way to approach those numbers with a site like this.

FREAKS AND GEEKS. This show is so dead on. Whenever I think it's going to take a slightly inaccurate turn it swerves and nails it. I suspect now that "hip hop" has taken over the world school is a whole different thing, but in the middle school - highschool era this is exactly how I remember it. Not to say there wasn't more to it for me and for anyone, but what is told here is utter truth. Something I've never seen before in a similarly themed TV show. Although Superbad went a little over the top, this kind of realism is something I've come to expect from Apatow and is the most pure here in Freaks and Geeks. Save for a few episodes, this show has me laughing more than I have in maybe years, in an honest and nostalgic way, not just a quick fix then forget it kinda way like the candy comedy I sometimes suffer for a cheap up.
The acting is perfection, no wonder almost the whole cast went on to be in everything good today. And as with Many things, cameos from David Bowie and Ben stiller!

Mad Men has become a new staple for me, eagerly awaiting the new episode of season three each week. I don't know why this doesn't come off as a boring soap, but it just can't possibly fall in with such things. It's exciting and continues to stay interesting without some the whole upping the anti thing that so frequently runs out of control ruining shows. Apparently this is all due to the creator Matthew Weiner who keeps a tight fist on the reign of the show. I find it to be of no surprise that all the best shows are very single handedly driven, even though co-operatively made. When a visionary is not allowed to babysit their child it's always a sad thing, and when no visionary was involved at all, "god" help us. Anyway, Mad men continues to be worth every minute even in it's third season, with no complaints.

Continuing to be bloody and sexy (though less sex of late) True Blood continues to be one of my anxiously awaited shows. I am afraid of it going 6 Feet Under, and no I don't mean getting canceled, I mean going all soapy, trying to string you along with no decency of plot or moderation of world limits. When you don't moderate a story it slips into the oblivion of "who cares", and though I don't really see that happening with True Blood, I'm afraid it's not because of the quality of the writing, but the fact that it's vampires. I'm willing to put up with a lot more dumb shit if there's fangs and blood involved. Hell I sat through to the end of Underworld 1,2, and 3 didn't I? Though I regretted it every time.
Anyway, Jonah's had a point when he said True Blood took a turn for the less interesting when instead of dealing with what it's like for vampires to come to exist and to live in your town, it just went overboard on the supernatural and warring between them and whatnot. It could have been such an interesting thought, and instead it's blood candy. But I'll take what I can get, I'm certainly still amped as ever to see it each week, and I think they're still doing a good job. I'm fucking thrilled that it's on and successful, and bringing vampires back with a vengeance!
The last vampire show I remember before this one was Kindred the Embraced, and if anyone remembers that lump of shit... So yeah, eat, drink blood and be merry!

HUNG, I'm not sure why I like it... when I heard the concept it seemed great, but the setting and the people are so intolerably boring, why do I look forward to watching this show each week? I don't know, but I do. I do like the recent trend towards limiting the means on a given scenario. His house burnt down and so now he lives in a tent. Wouldn't you? I guess maybe that's one of the things I like about it. Not that I would mind if he had his house back either, it's just that so frequently people are portrayed as hard up and they live in a 3000+ sq foot apartment with hardwood floors in Manhattan and it's like...? The only person I ever knew who lived in a nice big place in Manhattan is a dentist. And he doesn't live there anymore. Starving artists live several to a tiny place and if they aren't sharing rooms, they live in Brooklyn. SO to see a school teacher in a tent working nights as a gigolo is refreshing. I think this trend must be the economy at work. People are going to just be annoyed by unrealistically well off portrayals and identify more and more as poor or lower middle class.

Speaking of down and out dramas, Breaking Bad is surprisingly awesome. I'd like to know how realistic the amounts of money they're making are, but whatever the case as long as they're not living like kings, this show maintains full interest and even finds me liking the drug addled slim shady type main character despite his frustrating flaws, 'cause beneath it all, he's just a guy, which so many of that type refuse to be. I guess that's the only way they could make it work though, and it's not even on a movie channel! That an Mad Men are AMC originals.

Well, that's quite a lot of good TV! Freaks and Geeks is number one for me right now (reruns/canceled) but there's quite a lot of good stuff coming out. And Dexter's back soon too! First episode of season 4 was leaked recently. :D I like this trend in TV, since I haven't really followed any shows since Next Generation was coming out and DS9 was starting, I'm quite impressed that I'm getting back into episodic TV on a regular basis.

Oh and How I met Your Mother should be returning soon too! Hope they can keep it up.

I made a hat to go with my moustache then put together an outfit with clothes I'd designed previously.



Jill took the picture and I pimped it up to look like an ad for stuff.
I've been meaning to put my leather work up on the site soon though. Try to get all my links active.

I was at Ralph's (grocery) checking out and asked for a Ralph's (discount) card. The guy said "first time?". -"yeah"
-First time in California?
-Yeah. lol. What makes you say that?
-I'm originally from philly, I've been here 20 years but it still doesn't feel quite right. There's just something different about it. I miss it there.


We chatted for a bit, he seemed glad to see someone from back home, but what I really want to know is what gives me away. lol. It was uncanny.

Recently I have enjoyed:


Star Trek was surprisingly excellent. There were some surprisingly good interpretations of the original characters, particularly the performance when bones is introduced. The lighting was stunning, everyone had like five lights minimum on them at all times as they walked through various continuous lighting conditions throughout the ships. The color pallet and contrast looked like it was designed for transfer to blu-ray, while probably a good move, I hate that blu-ray is forcing that look as the popular aesthetic. Its tonal range and depth leave much to be desired at times.
On another note, there seems to be only one asian guy in Hollywood right now and he makes a terrible fucking Sulu, he's not even Japanese, he doesn't look or sound Japanese, nothing like sulu AT ALL, and yes he carries a Katana and flips around like Yoda in episode one. Very disappointing, luckily he wasn't focused on too much. Well, better luck tomorrow. Not everything can be perfect.


I was so damn reluctant, but TWILIGHT is good! People I watched it with called it a tale of teen abstinence, but I think that's just to make what's coming in the next film more impactful. If only they hadn't switched directors to the jerk responsible for the Golden Compass, I worry what he'll do with the sequel. Although uselessly uninformative it was funny to hear the commentary, where the lead guy makes fun of himself. He actually doesn't seem to be the douchebag all the promotions made him out to be at all, and in fact, he wrote a few songs for the score.


TrueBlood season 1 - It's trashy and thrives off showing sex in every episode, but as TV goes it's pretty awesome. I'd say it's not a top end vampire show but honestly, it's probably better than any vampire TV show to date, and they've flopped several. Not in the same class however, as vampire cinema greats like Bram Stoker's or the recent Let The Right One In.

Legend Of The Seeker, the new fantasy show from CBS and Disney is stunningly lit, expertly shot, and so full of high end props and cinema quality it's hard not to go crazy over despite sort of dull writing.



How I met Your Mother has been very enjoyable but only because of the man with the iron comeback career: Neil Patrick Harris (Dougie Houser MD) who's endless portrayals of sleazy tit-chasers have made a new name for him in comedy; one can only wonder how he sees being typecast as a womanizer when he himself is gay. If only there were more episodes of Doctor Horrible!

Recently I disliked:

Terminator Salivation: mouth wateringly useless, it was too short, nothing very interesting happened. Yet another movie without drama or much plot (the first two had BOTH), just action that wasn't that good or believable. It was well made, had solid props and effects, but all is for naught, it felt like it was just beginning when the credits rolled.

Nip Tuck started out quite enjoyable for the first season, but in the second and beyond it's gotten to be one of those rediculous over the top soap operas where everyone fucks everyone and I mean EVERYONE, and endless completely unbelievable extremity is used to manipulate some sort of shock in every episode. And yes, incest, retarded babies, and slashers who turn out to be one of the main characters are included. It's not about any kind of enlightenment or beauty at all, though the writers try to cram in their two cents about social responsibility (to get a prius or not be racist) ultimately all the show is is a pile of negative bullshit and gross disgusting people who although you have sympathy with their plight, do every stupid thing they can just to further the drama. Classic soap better cameras and lighting, more skin. That's it. Formula without substance. I enjoyed it for a while but ultimately it feels like the worst kind of brain rot. Avoid this show at all costs.

( see more, before and after rediculosity )

I stumbled across a rediculous web tutorial that is apparently all the rage these days, and applied it to my friends' myspace photos. I hope no one minds, I think it's pretty funny. Let me know if you want your picture taken down.

( Read more... )

I read an article in Script magazine that said Slumdog Millionaire was adapted from a novel, and that the novel had the gameshow thing, and then the story parts in between were random stories with no strong thread to tie it together as a solid movie, so they rewrote all that stuff. Furthermore, they didn't want it to be all about money so they added the love element and de-emphesized the character's desire for money making it all about the girl. Although I didn't really like how the girl thing was handled at the end, the rest of the story they wrote was quite good, it's just the remnants of the book it was adapted from that sucked. Now maybe the book itself was good, but as a movie I wish they'd just dropped the whole book adaptation thing and written a movie about India without the Hollywood ending. That being said, it's doubtful anyone would have paid this much attention to it if they had done so since good gritty movies come out all the time and don't get this much press and love of the audience. WHat it all comes down to is that for a movie to do this well it's gotta have a hollywood ending. Of course some hollywood hacks are better than others.

Whatever the case I still don't like the movie, but it was interesting to know that really it's that first bad apple that spoiled the bunch, but also what got the whole thing going.

When working on other people's work I always have the inclination to just totally change it into something good. I guess this is what happens if you follow through with that feeling but don't have the power to just get rid of that original thread. All sorts of things can inspire you, but that doesn't mean they should be adhered to in the final product.
I think this is one of the problems with not giving one single person creative control over a project. TOo many cooks in the kitchen.

Gran Torino was good. Hopefully you don't need more than that to go see it.

There's a not alot that I can say that wouldn't spoil it besides that it's about an old man surrounded by change and he doesn't really like it.











( spoiler cut )



Let The Right One In
This is by far the most enjoyable "off beat" movie I've seen in a while. Don't watch trailers, don't read about it, just see it. Maybe you'll like it, maybe you won't, but the less you know about it the better. The little I can say is this:
A sensitive boy comes across rather strange circumstances.
The movie is slow and artful, full of space in which to meditate. If you can't sit still without squirming in your seat this is not the movie for you. If you don't like dark movies, this is not for you. Otherwise, I urge you to check it out, maybe it'll make your day, maybe you'll regret you payed, but it's not like anything that's been out in a while, so for me it's not only great, it's a refreshing change from the shiny pop that's been coming out lately.

Yes Man
Jim Carey at his best, not just a slapstick empty doodle of feel good boredom. This is the kind of movie that leaves you feeling better about life and about giving your left pinky for a movie ticket. If you want solid, enjoyable, funny, well done comedy, this is the one for you.



SLUMDOG was BAD
Slumdog Millionaire sucked it's own hollywood balls.
Ingeniously made making the absolute best of it's Indie budget, using dry ice cooled custom modified computers in backpacks to record and monitor footage in the hot box streets of India, the Slumdog vision had one single failure: It's concept is entirely hollywood. ( spoiler cut )

Saw this guy play with his band accompanying his films at Cornell. It was fucking awesome. I highly recommend weird likers do the same. Here's HIS SITE.

Check out this video: Hadacol Christmas

CITY OF EMBER


I am very excited about this movie. It suffers from some of the things so common in fantasy films: Simplified storyline, too many things fall into place for the characters, generally directed at children when it doesn't need to be to include them. That being said, unlike most of the Fantasies in the past few years however, these traits do not ruin the movie. The star actors do a great job, the story premise is interesting and relevant to today's world, and above all THE SETS AND COSTUMES ARE FUCKING AMAZING! Finally a director has come who is over the whole CG dazzle and understands that CG has it's place but that it should be reserved for things that you couldn't otherwise do. Yes, this movie includes CG, but wherever it can it steers away from it. ( SEE DIRECTOR'S COMMENT ON CG and more behind the cut )

This is a crucial attitude in the advancement of quality fantasy and sci-fi films. For years now we've been plagued with things like "episode" 1-3 of Star Wars, or worse, the animated special edition of the original films. UGH!
For some guy's accurate rant about CG click HERE.
Anyway, City of Ember brings back great costuming and set design aesthetic and is a huge step int he right direction for the future of fantasy and sci-fi film. And of course, it's engaging, enjoyable, and cool. Even if a little too childish to go down in history as one of the greats.

Being his second film since the short animation that got Gil Kenan his career, and being such a step up from that, I am hugely excited to see what this fledgling director will be coming out with next.

Here's the animation that got his career started:( CLICK HERE. )
SEX DRIVE

The classic wacky road trip adventure done fairly well. Sex Drive is stupid -no stroke of genius from the comedy world. It's more like Dude Where's My Car than Zoolander or Superbad, but out of all the movies I've seen lately, this one does stand out as an enjoyably funny retarded comedy.




The quest for love and adventure in Highschool is well depicted in an over the top storyline that isn't TOO FAR over the top to be liked. I'm not really a fan of "OMG and then THAT happened and then THIS happened, and she was SOOOOO FAT, and then a monster truck crushed EVERYTHING!" plots, and this story did a good job of keeping it all at least somewhere within the realm of reality such that things were still funny when they happened.

TheMovieBlog.com did a decent review of Sex Drive reviewHERE</a> but reading about the movie will probably just ruin it, and all you really need to know is this: If you're in the mood for a stupid high school comedy and have low expectations, this movie will come through for an enjoyable evening. If that's not your cup of tea, this isn't special enough to cross preferences to see it anyway. It's no rare gem, but if you've got nothing to do and need a little fun to spruce up your day, go ahead.


BODY OF LIES



Another middle east terrorism film, Ridley Scott's Body of Lies is actually enjoyable. There have been a whole slew of these things lately, including Rendition, Traitor, The Kite Runner, and movies about War and today's soldiers like Stop-Loss and Lions for Lambs. The middle east is popular these days, or unpopular, whatever it may be, tons of movies are coming out that take place there and have some relationship with terrorism, religion, and war.
Body of Lies sort of sums a lot of these things up, considering many of the angles that were each the focus of one of these other films. Although in doing so it doesn't make as strong a point as the others which very simply illustrate ONE THING so that it's very clear to the viewer. Body of lies considers all of these things and carefully weaves much of it in to the overarching plot of the film. The result is a very engaging enjoyable film that is no slouch in it's depth, but also no hard hitting political statement.
Within the run of these movies Body of Lies was one of the most consistently enjoyable and overall well balanced films. I would definitely recommend it to someone looking for the pleasure of an adventure movie that's more than just action, or maybe to someone who likes to think about international relations, terrorism, and morality, but I would NOT go to this movie to be inspired or enlightened.

I saw this and then went to Sex Drive, and the combination made for an evening of good fun, which has been lacking in my trips to the theater of late. If that's what you're looking for, check em out!

THE JUXTAPOSITION OF FACTS....A USEFUL PERSPECTIVE.......

A question of perspective: Obama/Biden vs McCain/Palin, what if things were switched around?.. think about it.

Would the country's collective point of view be different? Could racism be the culprit?

Ponder the following:

What if the Obamas had paraded five children across the stage, including a three month old infant and an unwed, pregnant teenage daughter?

What if John McCain was a former president of the Harvard Law Review?

What if Barack Obama finished fifth from the bottom of his graduating class?

What if McCain had only married once and Obama was a divorcee?

What if Obama was the candidate who left his first wife after a severe disfiguring car accident, when she no longer measured up to his standards?

( read more: )


And more youtube: Clip from the Daily Show