Sleep Tight

The 305

Okay, this is kind of old and mostly a fluff post to put something new on the front.

I’m a fan of the movie 300. I took some convincing, all the people talking about how “badass” the trailer looked put me off a bit, and even coming out of it I felt like Sin City was a more significant stylistic achievement, but as time has gone on, I’ve thought often of 300 and rarely of Sin City.

The easy assumption for my preference is the greater prevalence of muscular men in loincloths and capes in one over the other, but honestly that’s not really my gauge. While both were loyal to the graphic novel, and both were shot on greenscreen, 300 was less restrictive than Sin City. 300 used the visionary work of Frank Miller as a springboard, Sin City as a straitjacket. I forgot, while watching 300, that it was shot on greenscreen. I never really lost that sense of confined space with Sin City.

Anyway, a discussion of the relative merits of the two films might have been more relevant a year and a half ago when 300 was actually released in theatres, so I’ll skip it. The point in bringing up 300 is to bring up this parody film, 305, which combines the story of 300 with the sensibility (and to an extent, character “archetypes”) of “The Office” (American version).

Thank You, Daily Show, Part 2

Awesome.

These next few months are going to get interesting. I can’t wait to see what happens, in particular, when Biden and Palin share the stage.

Thank You, Daily Show

I’m a big fan of the Daily Show. I’ve been watching it semi-regularly since it first went on the air in 1996 with Craig Kilborn in the chair. At that point it was more of a rip-off “SNL’s Weekend Update,” reporting current news and adding a punchline. They had interviews like they do now, where the interviewer would ask the interviewee absurd questions, but they were clearly editing tricks, where the interviewees were not actually asked those questions.

When Jon Stewart took over, the show became more overtly political, and also grew a pair. Now when a ridiculous question pops up in an interview, we can rest safely assured that the correspondent actually asked that question.

It’s gotten to the point where The Daily Show is the only news commentary show I trust. Jon Stewart is astoundingly intelligent; whenever a guest comes on who has written a book, Jon has read the book in preparation for the interview. He asks his guests harder and more sincere questions than anyone else in the news media; he has, on a supposedly fluff “comedy show,” taken powerful politicians to task in front of a live studio audience.

Most importantly, they do their research. If a politician or news analyst makes a statement directly in contradiction to another of their own statements, they dig it up and share it with the world.

Case in point, this video from last night’s show, taking the media to task for their double standard in letting VP-nominated Sarah Palin off the hook for…well, everything.

I’m voting Obama, and enthusiastically so, and anyone who isn’t — well, I just have nothing to say to them, because obviously we neither speak the same language nor live in the same reality. But regardless of your politics, regardless of which way the pendulum swings, it’s good to know that The Daily Show is there to call people on their bullshit. And I’ve seen them hit the Dems just as hard, and with good cause.

If I believed there was a God, I would thank him for The Daily Show. Since I don’t, I’ll settle for just thanking them.

Speaking of which, I’m really bogged down with work and haven’t had time to continue Case for a Creator. Considering I don’t want to just post glib or dismissive posts, I’ll hold off continuing the reading for a while until I can review and post more substantively.

Where the Hell is Matt

I know I said I’d blog about the 48 Hour Film Project. And I will. But this came to my attention and I couldn’t not share it.

Maybe I’m just a sentimental bitch of a man, but I thought this video was really moving — in part because of the triumphant music, but mostly because of the triumph of the video itself. It’s one thing to watch a guy dance badly on the internet. It’s another to watch him dance badly around the world. But it’s really something else entirely to watch hundreds of people from around the world, of all difference countries and cultures and ages and races and genders and backgrounds, lay all that aside and dance badly with him.

I’m sure most people watch this video and see a neato little viral. I watch this video and I see hope that human beings might just make it, after all.

Indy IV in Summary

I like his beanie.

Back to India — Kalluri Vaanil

So, I’ve continued watching “Animus” and I have decided that I do in fact love the film. The more I watch it the more I notice, both in terms of what he did and what he was trying to do. It ain’t perfect, but it’s still good stuff.

Anyway, moving on.

This next video’s most popular iteration on YouTube is titled “Crazy Indian Music Video”. It’s actual title is “Kalluri Vaanil” and it’s by the artist Prabhu Deva. Before I researched the short (and given that I don’t speak the language, I actually have no idea how I managed to decipher it enough to search for it properly), I would describe the film thusly:

“Imagine that a dance choreographer had one week to live, and he chose to put every idea he’d ever had into one last blow-out music video. I think this video is pretty close to what it would be like.”

It’s kind of weird at first, especially the high-pitched treatment the female vocals get, but dammit, it’s catchy as hell, and the dance moves are really energetic. This makes ME want to shoot a crazy music video of some kind, because it looks like they’re all having a hell of a good time.

I hate Mondays

Obviously, given the title, it would have been better if I posted this actually ON a Monday, but whatever.

Most of the people in my generation, and the one just prior, will know immediately that I am referencing Garfield. For those of you who just got to this planet, Garfield is about a fat orange tabby named Garfield who loves lasagna, hates Mondays, and is incredibly lazy. He’s usually either torturing the dog, Odie, or mocking his owner, Jon Arbuckle.

I used to love Garfield; I had many of the early collections and it was my second favorite comic after Calvin and Hobbes. But Jim Davis is like the anti-Bill Watterson. Whereas Watterson refused to ever license his characters for anything (those window stickers of Calvin peeing on things/praying to things are totally unlicensed), Davis couldn’t sell out fast enough or completely enough.

From the mouths of babes

This vid is making the rounds and it is pretty amazing.

Star Wars: A New Hope, in the words of a three year old.

I love the cup she’s got her hand on and drinks from occasionally. It makes it feel like a for-real interview of some kind.

Charlie Bit Me!

It’s been a little while since I posted a YouTube find. Apparently I’m pretty behind on this one, as it’s been up 9 months and has over 6 million views. So you may have seen it already. I haven’t, and I thought it was great:

What I love about it is how real it is yet how perfectly “structured”. It’s almost as though it’s a performance. Also, little kids with heavy accents are adorable.