Oh Snap!

George Hickenlooper, a filmmaker of both documentaries and narrative film died of a heart attack a few days ago at the age of 47. He was probably most known for his documentary Hearts of Darkness (about the making of Apocalypse Now). His most recent movie, Casino Jack (about the Jack Abramoff scandal), has been shown at festivals and will be released this winter.
The point of this entry is not that he died -- though that definitely is of note -- but that he said something pretty "oh snap" in an interview. During an interview at the Toronto Film Festival, he said:

"For me, I think there's a good balance of tone in [Casino Jack]. But I think a lot of people aren't used to films that have that balance of tone. In the last 30 years, independent film has become what I call Pottery Barn cinema. It's a little bit ostentatious, it's beautiful to look at, but it's lost its sense of storytelling."

This is probably what Art Smith and Karl Rove's child would look like. Too bad Art Smith is gay. 

Style

I read an article about how today is DC Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee's last day as the chancellor before she steps down. This is the picture included in the article:

Ok, that really is not helping the belief that people in DC are not stylish. 

Frankly, I do not understand this shirt. At all. If it's hot enough that you need to go sleeveless, you probably shouldn't be wearing thick sweater material, let alone a turtleneck. And if it's cold enough that you need this thick material, you probably shouldn't be going sleeveless. Either way, you seem very confused. 

How many consumers out there find that their chest and neck are freezing, but their arms are burning hot -- and they wish a thick turtleneck sweater without any sleeves existed? Apparently enough that this shirt was made. Unless Rhee made it herself. However, she doesn't really strike me as the knitting type. The knitting needle type, perhaps, but not the knitting type.  

What a Great Introduction

There's this crazy lady named Missy Smith that is running for D.C.'s congressional seat. She's trying to unseat the very popular Eleanor Holmes Norton, who has been DC's representative since 1991. But it's unclear whether Missy Smith is running because she actually thinks she can beat Eleanor Holmes Norton, or if she's simply running to get her message out there. And her message is pictures of dead fetuses ("anti-baby-killing", as she likes to call it). She's causing a stir because her "campaign commercial" is a long, very graphic commercial filled with pictures of dead babies and aborted fetuses. She's obviously taking advantage of the fact that she has to be given airtime (prime airtime) as a candidate. Eagan and I were eating dinner in a place that has a TV up in the corner. I was eating, looked up, and then saw these incredibly graphic images of dead fetuses on TV and I was like "what the hell is this?!" And the commercial lasted for so long. And then at the end of the commercial, creepy Missy Smith comes on and says to vote for her. I'm sure that campaign strategy isn't going to backfire or anything...

So creeeepy

Anyway, the latest news is that crazy, anti-choice activist Randall Terry (he founded Operation Rescue) has now officially become Missy Smith's campaign manager. Sounds like a match made in Disgusting Land. TBD, a local news site and blog, had an article on this and they had a great introduction for Randall Terry:

Randall Terry -- he of the "chain yourself to the sink of an abortion clinic, declare bankruptcy to avoid making legal payments to the National Organization of Women, run for Congress under the "Right to Life Party", hire a Bill Clinton impersonator to discredit your opponents, compare the University of Notre Dame to Judas, list your "three black foster children" on your resume [!], disown one for converting to Islam, disown another for becoming pregnant, disown the third for being gay [wow, he really picked 'em!], respond to George Tiller's murder by calling Tiller a murderer" style of politics -- is now official campaign manager for D.C. congressional candidate Missy Smith. 

That's pretty spot-on.

One of their first campaign strategies has been to target their offensive commercial to black people. On some shows considered "black", such as "Everybody Hates Chris", the ads are running multiple times. They're hoping this will get votes from the African American community, which they feel has been decimated by the "black genocide" of abortion. Once again, I'm sure that's not going to backfire... People love it when you target them and "their shows" because you believe they're having too much promiscuous sex and unwanted pregnancies.

I Like This Look

Tracy Morgan as Art Garfunkel. I think this should be his new look.

So That Explains It

In a New Yorker interview Judd Apatow was asked, "Do you think there's a big difference between being funny in prose, as opposed to writing a comedic screenplay or television script?" He responded,

"I've never been able to write prose well. I've certainly sat down and attempted to write short stories, but I get up from the chair very quickly. I don't have the mastery of language that's required. One of the reasons why a lot of my characters are high is that it's easier to write for people who are stoned, who are not very smart and don't know big words. I don't have great powers of description. Even my screenplays don't describe things well. Some screenplays go into great detail about what the setting looks like and feels like, and I'll just go "Interior. House." And that's it. But I admire people who do it very well. And I had the thought in the back of my head that I would one day put more effort into seeing if I could express myself in that way." 

Flashback: October 2008

Things I stumbled upon in October 2008:

Eagan left this calendar up on the screen. As I sat at the computer, I discovered that what Eagan had planned for the day was "Kill Heather". 

The most important decision of our time: Obamalette vs. McCainlette

I saw protesters outside the theatre and I thought it was going to be the religious right protesting Bill Maher's movie Religulous. It turned out to be blind people (sight-impaired people?) protesting the movie Blindness. Hey, if they don't like the movie, they don't have to see it. OH! (Yeah, I'm going to hell).

This was a game piece attached to a Burger King cup. I didn't realize Burger King took such a satirical, political stance on our country's treatment of Native Americans. 

Check out this white power rally I stumbled upon. Just kidding, they're actually just praising Jesus. 

Hey, that egg roll looks like a...

It's not just that it's cock soup, but that it's cock flavored soup. 

Bad Dads

I know I've already done a post on artwork for Wes Anderson films...and, so, here's another! A gallery in San Francisco has a new exhibition opening next week called Bad Dads, and it features art inspired by Wes Anderson films. Artwork from over 60 artists will be displayed. Here are some great pieces:

by Jessica Deahl

by Ibraheem Youssef

by Kevin Tong

by Serge Gay Jr. 

by Max Dalton

by Brandon Schaeffer

by Lauren Gregg

by Tim Doyle

by Greg Gossel