::Saturday, July 20, 2002::

THIS GUY IS RIGHT ON - I thank my lucky stars (eventhough I don't believe in luck) that I discoverd Gaby 407's blog. The strange, eccentric and always newsworthy events that he somehow manages to find are absolutely amazing. Witness the following:

- Pizza hut accused of racism because they ran out of cheese.
- UK man attacked by live eel while on bus.
-Starbucks the target of Arab boycott for its growing links to Israel.
- Are holograms finally for real?

I have no idea how this guy has the patience, time or desire to scan what appears to be every newspaper or website out there, but I'm 'glad he does. His site is a lot of fun. Look for more links to his "finds" in future postings.
:: Posted by Citizen Ryan | 11:15:18 PM| Link This ::

THE DIRT IN HOLLYWOOD LIBERALS BACKYARD - You would think those Hollywood millionaires who scream and yell about George W. and those mean, nasty, rich Republicans would realize how they are screwing people in their business. The difference between what the stars of a film make (read the CEO's) and the little people (read the employees) is as large or larger then in corporate America (and the gap is growing) Wages have remained static for three years while movie profits have been on the rise, which brings joy to someone concerned with shareholder value but cold comfort to the thousands of freelancers who rely on the industry for a living. Hollywood is looking more and more like an all survival of the fittest as the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.

How is Susan Suradon standing for this? You would think Julia Roberts would refuse her 20 million dollar salary and defer some of it to the little people. What a tragedy this is! I'd imagine that the one place in the America that probably has more liberals then Massuchetts would understand a thing or two about socialism (or even public persona) Next time I hear Martin Sheen or somebody screaming about the inequities in the world of American free enterprise I'd like to ask him how he can stand it in his very own backyard.

:: Posted by Citizen Ryan | 10:34:35 AM| Link This ::

I'll DRINK TO A CORPORATE SCANDAL OR TWO - Drew Hansen gets those pesky WS scandals just right.

If you had bought $1000.00 worth of Nortel stock one year ago, it would now
be worth $49.00.

With Enron, you would have $16.50 of the original $1,000.00.

With Worldcom, you would have less than $5.00 left.

If you had bought $1,000.00 worth of Budweiser (the beer,
not the stock) one year ago, drank all the beer, then turned in the cans
for the 10 cent deposit, you would have $214.00.

Based on the above, my current investment advice is to
drink heavily and recycle
:: Posted by Citizen Ryan | 7:28:47 AM| Link This ::

WHAT I WOULD DO WITH THOSE LIPS - Note to self: If I ever marry someone do not, repeat do not have their name tattoed anywhere near my privates. You never know what might happen. These are the lessons we can learn from the marriage of Angelina Jolie and Billy Bob Thorton. Angelina filed for divorce today after barely two years of marriage.

Here's a question for the ladies...if you married a man twenty years your senior and he had four previous failed marriages would do any of the following?
A. Wear pendants filled with each other's blood
B. Purchase his and her cementry plots
C. Tattoo his name in your must private of areas.
D. Have sex in public to display his "Lenghtly Manhood".

Well Angelina and Billy Bob didn't do any of the above, they did all of them. Now it's all over. How do you go from wanting to spend eternity resting next to each other to divorcing each other in just two years? I don't feel bad for Thorton he really does seem like a jerk. Jolie appears more like a talented, but naive young girl wrapped up in issues beyond her intelligence. At least she can probably sell his blood on Ebay for a pretty penny.
:: Posted by Citizen Ryan | 10:38:25 PM| Link This ::

ANOTHER NEW BLOG - A fellow (and talented) screenwriter which I meet through the game Producer's Chair (formely Virtual Producer) has set up his own website. Nicholas Arganbright is the author and he's a DJ from Ohio. The page features his blog which he refers to as his, "Dribble for Kids." I recommend you check it out.
:: Posted by Citizen Ryan | 9:24:39 PM| Link This ::

THE WIDE WORLD OF BLOGGER - As you can tell by the post below I was quite bored tonight. What I decided to do was scan the web for interesting sites like mine. The blogs out there that are unique or informative are what I was looking for. Below are links to what I found and some brief thoughts on them.

Lawrie Malon - This kid is a genius at .html. I want to find out how to do those rotating quotes at the top of his page. Lawire is apparently straightedge which is very cool and his site reflects a kind of relaxed, distant view of the cynicism of life. You can also take his, "How Jedi Are You Test?" which I linked to once before.

Gaby 407 - Wow this guy has links to everything. He doesn't post his comments on them he just gives you links and tells you in a sentence or two what it is about. The links aren't exactly everyday things though. They are all very strange, trust me (i.e. - New laws against smelly tourists or A vampire-obsessed teenager killed an elderly neighbour and drank her blood because he wanted to be immortal). Interesting...to say the least but you certainly can't look away. This site seems to make a good reference.

Simple Grace - This is a very cool chick with a very cool site. The site has introduced me to moveabletype.org which is an amazing tool for bloggers, webjournal people, etc. Once I get my new computer up and running I'll be sure to download it. Grace kind of looks like Sarah Michelle Gellar but she's not nearly as dumb. Her posts are personal and well written with a kind of down to Earth love of all things both simple and complex that most men dream of in the perfect woman, but are afraid to find. Her blog is a great find.

Uncommon Sense - I like this guy's politics. The man seems to have been recently doing what I'm doing right now...scanning the other blogs out there. He also appears to be a crazy poster with mulitple, in-depth, daily posts. I sometimes wonder how people have time for their websites. Doesn't anyone work anymore?

The Rise and Fall of My First Novel - An author's journey through a great test of all writings. Humours an insightful, a joy to read for all those who have ever taken on a prolonged writing project (or who have wanted too).
:: Posted by Citizen Ryan | 2:11:20 AM| Link This ::

VERY BORED - At this time, with not much on my mind these kinds of things greatly amuse me...

:: Posted by Citizen Ryan | 1:40:19 AM| Link This ::

WHICH LILO AND STITCH CHARACTER ARE YOU? -

Which Lilo & Stitch Character Are YOU?

Find out now! Only from the Quiz Junkie

You got a problem with that?
:: Posted by Citizen Ryan | 7:30:57 AM| Link This ::

QUOTE OF THE DAY - From the always pleasant Joseph Sabia, in his article, "Baseball Strikes Out Fans"

At a...(post-game)...press conference, NL manager Bob Brenly triumphantly proclaimed: "It's highly improper to place blame on anyone for this thing. It happened…I think there were two outstanding ball clubs out there that played a great game tonight, a lot of excitement, pitching was great, offense was great. As Joe (Torre) said, there was aggressive play on the field. You got everything you could ask for in an All-Star Game except for a winner."

Does he have any idea how preposterous that sounds? As Sports Radio 66 WFAN radio host Jody McDonald offered: "It's like saying, 'Aside from everything else, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the theatre?'
:: Posted by Citizen Ryan | 7:27:45 AM| Link This ::

THE ROAD GOES WRONG - I saw Road to Perdition last night and can't help but think that it's another good movie gone terribly wrong (ala Spiderman and Minority Report). These movie aren't bad, they just aren't very good.

First off I'm really bothered by Sam Mendes. Bothered? No I'd say I think he's a hack. I didn't like American Beauty at all. I down right loathed a lot of the movie. The script was strong but it went all wrong. The exact same can be said of RTP. Then again I don't know everything and he did win an Oscar but then again Kubrick, Scorsese, and Altman have not.

What a waste of Tom Hanks. He's a good actor but this dialogue is not for him. I don't think he uttered more then two consecutive sentences. He has some good looks, but basically his character is always supposed to be under control and have little to say. This isn't the kind of character for Hanks. He needs a quirky, everyman or an all out character to pull off a good performance (I know I'm taking the unpopular approach here. Hanks is veiwed my most people as the closest we have to perfection in acting). Try as he might he's not dark and silent, at least not in this movie. He could probably do it with an all out dark/disturbed character, say De Niro in "Cape Fear" or Anthony Hopkins in "Silence of the Lambs." A guy who’s relatively close to the line between good and evil and doesn't have enough lines and time to develop is not the kind of character for the often-goofy everyman, named Hanks.

Paul Newman is good. He's probably too large of a legend to have a title role today, so his statue and respect affords him well in his supporting roles. The rest of the cast is all right. Jude Law doesn't have much to work on. He's got a one minute speech to Tom Hanks and little monikers that make him more interesting then Hank's hit man. But Law's not on the screen nearly as much as he could be. Swapping Law and Hank's roles might have been a good move for the film. Jennifer Jason Leigh, one of the finest actresses of this generation, has perhaps two lines; she's not given anything to work with. Even one of my favorite character actors Stanley Tucci doesn't have much, expect one rather good scene between him and Tom Hanks.

The movie does look fantastic. I felt like I was watching a Kubrick film. The lighting is perfect, the scenes dark (often backlight) and a mob movie has probably never looked better. The look is so perfect that not one person will leave the theater without having found a new appreciation for cinematography, lighting and set design. This cinematography has Academy Award written all over it. Conrad Hall, the cinematographer, is a genius, a gift to filmmaking and soon to be a multiple Oscar winner. Ebert says it best, “He creates a limbo of darkness, shadow, night, fearful faces half-seen, cold and snow. His characters stand in downpours, the rain running off the brims of their fedoras and soaking the shoulders of their thick wool overcoats. Their feet must always be cold. The photography creates a visceral chill.”

I also loved John Williams’s piano duet, which is played by Newman and Hanks in the opening act. Even though Thomas Newman scores the movie, Williams did write the piano duet and it's perfect. Score another one for the master.

CONTINUE ONLY IF YOU DON'T MIND SPOILERS OR HAVE SEEN THE MOVIE

My big problem is the crap ending. It’s all too neat and trite. What did we learn in that last scene in the lake house that we didn't already know? I felt insulted watching the movie. It's like Mendes wants to hit us over the head and say, "Look I killed Tom Hanks, isn't that tragic!" No, you fool the film is already tragic. We already know that Sullivan is a bad man but that his good-natured son has helped redeme him. We don't need another scene to re-enforce that and make everyone go "Oh no Tom!” What the hell was Jude Law's character doing there anyways? Wasn't he shot in face? Glass does not stop a bullet. How did he know Hanks and his son would be there on that exact day? I mean the guy has pretty dramatic timing to sit in the living room on the right day at the right time and wait till Hanks comes in stares out the window for a long moment and then blows him away. What crap. And why did Hanks kill Newman anyways? The scene looked great but it made no sense. It didn't make as little sense as why Newman's son killed Hanks family in the first place. This happened within two scenes I think it was. Why is he so jealous? And jealous enough to murder against his father's wishes? I don't buy that. A full movie or two complete acts on how that happened, son betrays father and kills "brother" would had made for an equally good movie. But once again just like in American Beauty, Mendes goes for shock over story. He wants us to go "how sad" or "didn't see that coming", instead of just feeling the movie. We can experience it on our own Sam you don't to force us to do. Doing so is what makes a great storyteller, like Kubrick or Scorsese or Altman. Mendes might have one more Oscar then those three combined but you still has a lot to learn I think.

Overall Road to Perdition isn't a bad movie, it's just not a very good movie. At least in my eyes.
:: Posted by Citizen Ryan | 2:40:09 AM| Link This ::

BUSH IS STILL TOPS - I just came across this chart over at realclearpolitics.com. It basically shows that George W. Bush is still extremely popular no matter what has been going on. No poll tracked on the chart can find his approval rating anywhere below 64% since 9/11. The spread between his approval and disapproval is no lower then a +39%. That's all pretty amazing considering some of the heat the administration has taken in the last few months. It's going to be tough to beat Mr. Bush when so much of the country is so solidly behind him.
:: Posted by Citizen Ryan | 9:59:40 AM| Link This ::

MOVIE SNEAK PEAK OF THE DAY -

Starring: David Arquette, Steve Buscemi, Harvey Keitel, Mira Sorvino, Natasha Lyonne, Daniel Benzali, Allan Corduner
Written and Directed by Tim Blake Nelson, based on his play of the same name, and by Miklos Nyiszli from his book Auschwitz: a Doctor's Eyewitness Account
Tagline: The lines between good and evil melt

Plot Summary: Based on actual events, "The Grey Zone" is the staggeringly powerful story of the Auschwitz’s twelfth Sonderkommando – one of the thirteen consecutive ‘Special Squads’ of Jewish prisoners placed by the Nazis in the excruciating moral dilemma of helping to exterminate fellow Jews in exchange for a few more months of life. The film chronicles the Sonderkommando’s struggle to organize the only armed revolt that would ever take place at Auschwitz. As the rebellion is about to commence, a group from the unit discovers a fourteen-year-old girl who has miraculously survived a gassing. A catalyst for their desperate attempt at personal redemption, the men become obsessed with saving this one child, even as doing so endangers the uprising which could save thousands. From inside the working organs of the infamous Auschwitz death camp, this film asks to what terrible lengths we are willing to go to save our own lives, and what in turn we would sacrifice to save the lives of others.

From Jean-Pierre Bazinet the wonderful owner of Movie-List "Saw this at the Toronto Film Festival last year, and let me say...It was extremely well acted/done, but is extremely difficult to watch, and depressing as hell. Every other movie got a round of applause at the end. For this one, the credits rolled, people stayed right until the end, left their seats and exited the theatre. Nobody said a word." (empahsis is his, not mine)

Now I had heard a little about this play and it's adaption to the big screen before a person named, Zubi, made a post about it at the above mentioned Movie-List forums. When I saw it my eyes opened and I though this is a movie I want to see. Now it isn't exactly from a well know writer/director. Nelson is probably best known as the "other brother" from Oh Brother Where Art Thou? or as the legless puesdo-morgue keeper from this summer's Minority Report.

None of this matters much seeing as the play has been a economical and critical hit. The film has Oscar contender written all over it, that is if the movie isn't too good for the Academy (see Brazil, Requiem For a Dream, Dark City). If you get to close to real life and your name is Speilberg the Academny sometimes likes to stay away from you. Either way this looks like a hard look at real life, something we should all see and I will be there.

The Grey Zone opens in limited release on October 11th 2002.
:: Posted by Citizen Ryan | 5:05:18 AM| Link This ::

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