This is What a Harsh Crackdown Looks Like?

It's no secret that Russians love their vodka. The president of Russia doesn't just wander the streets of DC in his underwear for fun -- he did it because he drank too much vodka (I'm speaking of that lovable teddybear Boris Yeltsin, of course). On average, Russians drink a liter and a half of pure alcohol every month (and that's per person).

As Russia's alcohol consumption continues to be a problem (half a million people die a year as a result), President Medvedev announced a war on alcohol last year and he ordered the government to come up with ways to reduce excessive drinking and to cut off black market alcohol. Here's some of the 'get tough' rules the government has come up with: Raising the minimum price of vodka to 89 roubles (about $3 USD...), planning on cutting sales at kiosks, and now city authorities in Moscow have just announced a ban on the sell of liquor (spirits) between 10 PM and 10 AM (though, I think establishments serving food are not affected...). Yevgeny Bryun,the Ministry of Health's chief specialist on alcohol and drug addiction, admitted that people could still drink a ton of vodka in the day and then turn to drinking beer late at night, "but overall, the alcohol burden will be lower." Ha!

The fact that these regulations are considered a crackdown is a pretty good indication of how much they love their vodka. 'Cracking down' means not having alcohol readily available everywhere they go, increasing the cost of vodka so that maybe now only penniless homeless people and small children without an allowance cannot afford it, and not allowing people to buy alcohol in the middle of the night/early in the morning (sorry 3 AM vodka runs). Tough times ahead.

James Cameron is an Asshole

In the latest issue of Entertainment Weekly there's an interview with James Cameron. And here's what he had to say about The Hurt Locker (the film directed by Kathryn Bigelow, his ex-wife, that beat out Avatar for Best Picture and Best Director, among others):

Entertainment Weekly: Would The Hurt Locker have been better in 3-D?

James Cameron: It would have been better in 3-D.

EW: You think so?

JC: Absolutely. It wouldn't have been hugely better in 3-D, but...[and then he rambles on about 3-D being the future of film].

Oh man, if only Kathryn would have had that foresight and wisdom, maybe then The Hurt Locker could have won Best Picture...oh....

EW: Were you surprised that The Hurt Locker beat Avatar for Best Picture and Director?

JC: [...] It was David and Goliath. The Goliath had made more than a couple of billion dollars and Hurt Locker had made about what it cost to shoot, about $15 million. The Academy always likes to be the great equalizer. But I don't begrudge her any of that. I couldn't think of a better outcome for our two lives. I got my Oscar. She got her Oscar.

Spoken like the modest, gracious man he is. It's like "I don't begrudge her. And why should I? If I laid out all my money on the ground, forming a path, it would stretch all the way around the world. Her money would only stretch to the Applebee's across the parking lot from the Best Western Inn that she and her Hurt Locker film crew stayed at. It would be downright criminal for me to begrudge that. People like to cheer for the underdog, the loser, the handicapped kid with no legs. And I'm not going to step in and say 'You know what, not only do I have both my legs, but they're also really fast legs. And we all know I would win in a race.' But I'll play along and smile uncomfortably when you give the handicapped kids with no legs the medal out of pity. That's just the kind of person I am. Plus, I have way more medals anyway."

I actually wrote the "I'm the king of the world" line into Titanic just so I could say it now and have it be even more poignant. You know, I have the same initials as Jesus Christ.

The interview also showed what a great activist he is. He talked about his work in helping the Achuar (an Amazonian tribe that is trying to keep oil companies from drilling on their land). I think he helped with a fundraiser. But definitely the greatest thing he could have ever done for them was he bussed a bunch of Achuar to watch Avatar at an IMAX theatre. It was their first time in a movie theatre. I'm sure that helped them a ton... And then he gets pissed when they don't agree with him:

JC: And when they came out [of the theatre], the BBC interviewed them. This one woman, a tribal elder, says, "In this movie, they solved their problems by fighting. We are not afraid to fight, but we have decided to try to solve our problems through dialogue. So this movie needs a better message."

EW: Ouch

JC: I felt like I'd been punk'd. But it made me think.

So, James Cameron feels punk'd when people disagree with the message of his movie?! That anytime someone disagrees with him, he's waiting for Ashton Kutcher and a film crew to bust out of the bushes and say this was orchestrated?! "Just kidding, dude! You know no one actually disagrees with you!" exclaims Ashton. Also, I'm not entirely sure that James realizes his film is a fictional movie...and that not all native people have to fight their battles physically because the Na'vi did...

Favorite Scenes: Moonlight Mile

Moonlight Mile (2002), to my understanding, wasn't a hugely popular film. I don't remember it even coming to theatres (at least where I lived at the time -- which isn't saying a lot). And the movie even had a pretty impressive cast with Dustin Hoffman, Susan Sarandon, and Holly Hunter. Also in the movie was Jake Gyllenhaal (when I only knew him as Donnie Darko, Bubbleboy [despite never seeing the movie], and Holden from The Good Girl) and Ellen Pompeo (before she was Dr. Grey and just simply known in my mind as "Hey, that girl kind of looks like Renee Zellwegger."). Despite the movie not getting much coverage or attention, I happened to stumble upon it. I was seeing another movie, and Moonlight Mile was one of the previews. The trailer actually made me cry. And I thought to myself, "I have to see that movie if the trailer made me cry."

I had completely forgotten about the movie until it came out on DVD and I saw it at the rental store. The plot of the movie is that Jake Gyllenhaal was engaged to Diana, the daughter of Susan Sarandon and Dustin Hoffman. Diana ends up being shot and killed during a robbery at a diner. We never actually meet Diana. The movie starts post-death, and it's about her family dealing with her loss. What I liked best about the movie was the interactions between Susan, Dustin, and Jake and how they dealt with the loss of Diana. The other parts of the movie I just didn't love as much. Like Jake eventually meets Ellen and they start to like each other -- that part of the movie just didn't do it for me. And there's also parts of the movie dealing with the trial (against the guy that shot Diana), which I also didn't care for as much. This movie, as whole, wouldn't exactly make my list of top movies, but there are great scenes in the movie (with great acting and great dialogue) that will always stay with me.

For me, the best thing about the movie was Susan Sarandon's character. I absolutely loved her (and Susan did an amazing job playing her. She really should have gotten more attention for her role). Her character was witty, funny, honest, and such a pisser. She has the best dialogue in the movie. I really liked how her character dealt with Diana's death. I think she dealt with the death and her feelings the most honestly. She talks about how sad she is that she is forgetting the details of her daughter, how it "stops [her] fucking heart" when she sees girls on the street that look like her daughter and at first she thinks it is her daughter, and how annoyed she is with her daughter's vulture friends that come to claim Diana's clothes soon after the funeral.

I love the scene after Diana's wake. Susan is in the living room and she has a stack of books next to her (books on grieving and loss. Titles like These Things Happen), and she begins throwing the books into the fireplace. Dustin, who is very polite and meek, says "Those were gifts!"

She holds up a book. "Grieving for Grown-Ups?" she says in an annoyed tone.

"They're supposed to be helpful."

She throws another book in the fire."Please. This is helpful."

She then begins to shit-talk with Jake about all the annoying neighbors and guests that came to the wake. She talked about one couple, "Oh I just wanted to smack them. They had those big dripping looks of sympathy. 'Oh, she was such an angel.' How would they know?! They met her once for two seconds and she was being a total brat that day." Dustin chimed in, "It's an awkward situation for them. Put yourself in their shoes."

"I don't want to put myself in their shoes. Why the hell should I? We are the ones that lost the girl for god's sake. Let them put themselves in our god damn shoes!"

Dustin then begins picking up dishes off the coffee table. Susan says, "Please stop. Stop cleaning up. Look, if we ever had an excuse for once to have our place look like shit, it's now. So just relish the opportunity. "

Another great scene with Susan is when Jake discovers Susan at her typewriter, madly typing away. Susan says to Jake, "The specifics are back." She had previously complained to Jake that she was forgetting the details about Diana. She had said, "I've been hearing so much shit lately, so much fluff, that I've started to lose sight of her already. And a phrase like 'filled with goodness' actually passed through my mind today." Cut to the scene where she's at the typewriter. She tells Jake, "I'm doing an accounting; the real her, the Diana facts." She pulls out the piece of paper from the typewriter and reads, "'Number 92: Laughed like a pig. Full-throated, nasal snorts.' I mean this is the stuff! Fuck the perfume, give me the warts!" She then asks Jake to give a Diana fact. He says, "Oh, those really ratty sandals she always loved to wear. They always made this incredible farting sound every time she moved." Susan replies, "Yes! Oh...yeah." She pauses, letting that memory sink in. She smiles at Jake, and then begins typing again.

Criterion Collection

I saw an advertisement recently for the upcoming release of the Criterion Collection edition of The Darjeeling Limited. And it reminded me how much I love the cover art for the other Wed Anderson films.

Artwork done by Eric Chase Anderson, Wes's brother:

Artwork done by Ian Dingman:

Objects

Oh my god, I want this suspension lamp. Vibeke Fonnesberg Schmidt constructed this lamp out of circular pieces of plywood. Unfortunately, it would cost me 190-230 euros. Damn.

I Think I'll Head Home

I recently took a trip out to Utah to visit my family because I hadn't seen them in a while and I was missing them. I happened to be in Utah for Pioneer Day. This is a Utah holiday on July 24th -- people have the day off and everything. (Cue History Channel program music) Pioneer Day celebrates the arrival of Brigham Young and his band of traveling Mormon pioneers into the Salt Lake Valley on July 24, 1847. This is when he delivered his "This is the Place" line. And now Utah has a This is the Place Heritage Park with a This is the Place Monument, and the state song is "Utah, This Is the Place" (though when I was growing up, the state song was "Utah, We Love Thee").

Anyway, Pioneer Day is a holiday that celebrates "The Days of '47". There's parades, fairs (with funnel cakes!), rodeos, fireworks. Some people walk portions of the Mormon Trail and reenact entering the Salt Lake Valley while wearing pioneer clothes and carry handcarts (excitement overload!). Pioneer Day doesn't hold the same appeal it did when I was a kid. When I was a kid I was so excited to go to the parade and to pick up candy off the ground that was thrown to the crowd (which seems very vagabond-esque, now that I think about it). One year I even participated in the parade and dressed up like a pioneer (in a pioneer dress that my neighbor had made for me for a school play -- because my mom can't sew. She took Latin in high school, not Home Ec. She would rather learn a dying language than to learn how to sew a pot holder. Love it.). I thought I was so cool in my little pioneer dress.

As a kid, I also loved going to the Pioneer Day fair for the games and to see friends from school that I hadn't seen all summer. Now the only thing I look forward to about Pioneer Day (other than my family having the day off) is the fair food (did I mention funnel cakes?!) and the fireworks. Although, about those fireworks -- bless Utah's heart (the best Mormon way to draw attention to someone or something's shortcomings. "Bless his heart, but he is as dumb as a bag of rocks." Just like "She's a sweet spirit" is the best way to draw attention to someone's ugliness and/or weight problem), but those fireworks are pretty paltry and sad. They were always kind of paltry and sad, but I'm especially ruined now after witnessing the DC fireworks -- you know there's no fucking around when it comes to the Nation's Capital Fireworks (capitalization needed).

Speaking of how sad Logan fireworks are, every year Logan has their 4th of July fireworks the day before. So the closest you can come to 4th of July fireworks in Logan is the 3rd of July. They have it the day before because it's cheaper (the group that puts on the fireworks show charges less). Seriously. This year the 4th of July fell on a Sunday. And Utah is definitely not going to have fireworks on Sunday (It's da-day-uh-da-lord). So the fancy fireworks (in Salt Lake City and in Provo at the Stadium of Fire -- which was first created by an Osmond-brother-that-wasn't-Donny) had their shows on the 3rd of July. Which means Logan had theirs on the 2nd of July! Happy Independence Day Minus Two Days!

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I was excited to go to Utah because I got to meet the latest addition to the family: A German Shorthair (German Shorthaired Pointer) dog named Tuck. My parents got this dog earlier this year. He's a very cute and nice dog. He's super fast. And he contorts his body into funny positions when he sits or lays down.

Look at how he likes to sit!

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Another highlight of the trip was the Rocky Votolato house show with Holly and Davis (thanks guys!). What a great intimate setting for seeing Rocky -- just him and his acoustic guitar. No mic, no amp. Just him. He sounded amazing.

The show also made me feel really old (at age 26!). Based on the applause of recognition that would come before songs (and people mouthing the lyrics during the song), it was fairly obvious the crowd first started getting into Rocky when he released his Makers album and didn't know much stuff before that album. In fact, Rocky said at one point, "If you guys don't mind, I think I might play some old stuff. This song is from the Makers album..." And the crowd went wild. While they were going wild, I was thinking to myself "Makers is an old album?!" There were like four full length albums that came out before Makers. I was into Waxwing (Rocky's previous band) in high school and got really into Rocky Votolato's solo stuff my freshman year of college (early 2002). Makers came out after I already graduated from college (2006). And yet Makers was an old album? Ouch.

Another indicator of how old I was in comparison to the crowd: After the show, people were coming up and talking to Rocky and one girl said, "I love you so much! I've loved you ever since I heard you on The OC!" I was waiting for her to finish that sentence with "...when I was in middle school." But I'm glad younger kids are liking excellent music.

Regardless of feeling out of place age-wise, it was an amazing show and I'm so glad I went. He played for about an hour-and-a-half and he played songs from several of his albums (even the old, old, old ones). I've seen Rocky in concert so many times and this was probably my favorite concert of his.

So good

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While in Ogden for the Rocky concert:

I forgot how ugly and retro the Mormon temple in Ogden is. Yuck. I'm going to go out on a limb here and predict that the least amount of people get married in this (Utah) temple. And if they do, they drive to another temple after the ceremony to get their pictures taken.

What a weird patriotic horse statue. Who thought it would be a good idea to paint the founding fathers on a horse?

The painter must have had a real problem with John Adams if he placed him on the ass.

And how bizarre that the statue-maker felt it was necessary to include the penis and balls on this horse. Were they worried that some passerby would say, "Hey, where's the penis?! This horse isn't anatomically correct. Sure, George Washington is standing up inside the horse's stomach...but I take real issue with the horse not having a penis and testicles!"

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I do miss the mountains. And having this in my backyard:

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The best part of the trip, of course, was seeing everyone that I miss. Annnnd eating at my favorite restaurants.

The Interconnected World of Indie Dating

I was riding the metro today and The Elected came on my ipod. This band was a side project of Blake Sennett's from Rilo Kiley. Hearing the song made me think about how Blake Sennett was once engaged to Winona Ryder (they eventually broke up. You think Winona could actually be in a longterm relationship?!). And then it got me thinking about how Winona and Conor Oberst (from Bright Eyes) had dated before Winona and Blake did. And Blake and Conor are friends. They appear on each other's albums. Rilo Kiley and Bright Eyes were both on the close-knit Saddle Creek Records label. Then I started thinking about all the indie band relationship connections (and how 'incestuous' indie dating is). And then it soon spilled over into some actors who seem to enjoy dating indie musicians. So I pulled out the magazine in my purse, found an ad page with open space, and then started drawing a diagram connecting indie musician relationships. Once I got home I transfered the diagram to some notebook paper to make it look neater.

Here's what I came up with:

(Note: Some of these relationships might have just been gossip/rumors, but, regardless, I heard they were in a relationship and that's good enough for me.)

Black lines = Relationship (dated/married)

Blue lines = Musical relationship (in a band together/collaborated (i.e., appeared) on each others albums)

Double lines (black and blue line) = They both dated and had a musical relationship

And these are just the connections I'm aware of and could think of off the top of my head. There definitely could be more.

Detailed Explanation of the Diagram:

Conor Oberst (from Bright Eyes, his solo work, Conor Oberst & The Mystic Valley Band, Monsters of Folk, to name some) dated Maria Taylor (from Azure Ray and her solo work, to name some). Both Bright Eyes and Azure Ray were on Saddle Creek Records. Conor and Maria often made appearances on each others albums.

Maria Taylor was in Azure Ray with Orenda Fink. Orenda Fink is married to Todd Fink (né Baechle), the lead singer of The Faint. The Faint were also a Saddle Creek band. Todd grew up in Omaha with Conor Oberst. They were in the band Commander Venus together (also a member was Tim Kasher from Cursive/The Good Life -- two more Saddle Creek bands).

Conor Oberst also dated Neely Jenkins (from Tilly & The Wall). They grew up together and actually lived next door to each other. They were both in the band Park Ave. Also in the band was Clark Baechle (he also is in The Faint. And he's the brother of Todd Fink) and Jamie Williams. Neely and Jamie eventually formed the band Tilly & the Wall.

Jamie Williams (now Jamie Pressnall) dated fellow Tilly & the Wall bandmate Derek Pressnall, and now they're married.

Conor Oberst also dated Winona Ryder.

Winona Ryder also dated Ryan Adams (from his solo work and Whiskeytown).

Ryan Adams is married to Mandy Moore.

Mandy Moore also dated the musician Greg Laswell.

Winona Ryder also dated Blake Sennett (from Rilo Kiley and The Elected. He also was an actor).

Blake Sennett also dated his Rilo Kiley bandmate Jenny Lewis (also from The Postal Service and her solo project. She also was an actress).

Jenny Lewis allegedly dated her Postal Service bandmate Ben Gibbard (who also was in Death Cab for Cutie, as well as other projects).

Ben Gibbard is married to Zooey Deschanel (along with being an actress, Zooey is in She & Him with M. Ward. He also is in Monsters of Folk with Conor Oberst).

Zooey Deschanel dated Jason Schwartzman (in addition to being an actor, he was in the band Phantom Planet and has a solo project called Coconut Records).

Jenny Lewis is currently dating indie musician Johnathan Rice. They're also working on an album together. (Johnathan Rice also recently went on tour with Ben Gibbard)

Jenny Lewis also dated Jake Gyllenhaal.

Jake Gyllenhaal also dated Kirsten Dunst. Kirsten Dunst is dating Jason Boesel (from Rilo Kiley, The Elected, Bright Eyes, and Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band. He also played drums for Johnathan Rice. So there's connections to Jenny Lewis, Blake Sennett, Conor Oberst, and Johnathan Rice). Though, I haven't heard recently whether Kirsten and Jason are still together or not.

Jake Gyllenhaal also dated Natalie Portman. Natalie Portman also dated indie musician Devendra Banhart.

Kirsten Dunst and Natalie Portman also both dated Andy Samberg. Andy is dating indie musician Joanna Newsom (though I haven't heard recently whether they're still together or not).

Kirsten Dunst also dated Ryan Gosling (in addition to being an actor, he's in the indie band Dead Man's Bones). Ryan Gosling also dated the actress Michelle Williams.

Conor Oberst also dated the actress Michelle Williams.

Michelle Williams also dated the director Spike Jonze.

Spike Jonze was married to the director Sofia Coppola. Sofia is dating (and has children with) Thomas Mars from the band Phoenix. (Sofia is also cousins with Jason Schwartzman)

Spike Jonze also dated Karen O from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.

In conclusion, Conor Oberst seems to be the center of the universe when it comes to indie dating (that man-slut/music-slut!). He is the Kevin Bacon of this diagram.