Film Also from Empire -- unknown film makes box office history: "What first appeared to be some kind of computer error turned into startling fact as figures rolled in from across the globe. In Taipei, the film took $1.1 million in 16 theatres and an estimated $2.3 million in Taiwan. "I just turned up at the cinema and thought the title was interesting," said one cinemagoer caught coming out of the film. "I really fancied an independent, art-house movie and having never heard of this I thought it would be ideal. It was amazing! I can't believe how far they managed to stretch that £4000 grant from the BFI."
Wars He's at it again. According to Empire Magazine, Lucas is filming yet more scenes to insert into the sacred trilogy to make them more cohesive with the new trilogy. So I've got to bloody buy them again!?!
Blog! And so to anatomy. The Breast Chronicles is probably as Beavis might have said in the mid-nineties 'The greatest thing I've ever seen.' It is weblog simply, completely, perfectly about breasts. And before the sniggerers amongst you go click, be warned -- it's an intelligent exploration not some seaside smut. You won't find old shots of Barbara Windsor or Melinda Messenger. You will find another example of how the recent crisis has effected everyone is some...small...way: "Unfortunately for the women of Denver, Colorado, the airport there has upped security so strongly after the recent horrific terrorist attacks, that their super-sensitive metal detectors are, well, a bit too sensitive! Writes Patricia Calhoun, "Dare to wear an underwire through security, and you're likely to get a pat-down more intimate than anything you experienced on prom night. And without a corsage or dinner first".
Film Watching 'The Blair Witch Project' again the other night after leaving a safe distance from that disasterous time I saw it at the cinema (when the audiences chatted and walked out through out screwing the tension somewhat) it occured to me how much I prefer the intimacy of low budget film making to the gloss of the big budget. Dogme 95 were right in many ways ... an orchestral score and glossy photography only really detract from the story. As one commentator pointed out in the previously linked Guardian articles, the studio process only serves to rip the heart out of the best stories. And so it's good to hear someone like Richard Linklater returning to the cheaper end of film making with his new film 'Tape' created in a single room with three actors and a digital camera. Annlee Ellingson's short interview with Linklater emphasises the technique, and offers a short lesson in the advantages.
Columnists My general indifference to newspaper columnists has already been well documented, but I can't help bringing the state of the art in the Somoa Observer, where Pio Teofilo of East Timor who gets to grips with weighter issues than the usual 'my car won't start' / 'I'm looking a bit fat this week' stories which proliferate the Saturdays and Sundays: "Dear brothers and sister in Christ, well looking back to our journey of this year #1 of the prophesied timing, as I have been going on. There will be three more fortnights to the end of the year, after this one. And I am pretty sure we would all agree that there had been some steady positive progress all along the way, one way or another. One thing for sure thought, Samoa we are so blessed to be born in to the most wonderful and peaceful place on earth. I have no doubt of saying that after being to various countries like for now I am writing this script from Timor -(East)." Well you've got to admire his conviction....
Film The Guardian published an entire section yesterday dedicated to the state of the British Film Industry. Article after article make a simple point -- there are too many small films being made with very little hope of distribution, and that it makes more sense for first time directors to be cutting their teeth in single TV dramas, whilst established directors can used the money saved together to create intelligent bigger budget films suitable for the mass market. In other words, 'Shakespeare in Love' or that Harry Potter thing paid for with our own money so that the rewards are filter back into our own production system and not straight to Hollywood.
Food The St. Petersberg Times offers a restaurant review and comment on international affairs all rolled into one: "I usually don't much believe in fate or providence, but how else does one explain the fact that I would randomly find myself taking shelter from the sleet in a Russian-Texan restaurant at practically very same time that President Vladimir Putin was tucking into some bar-b-que at U.S. President George W. Bush's Texas ranch? But this is indeed exactly what happened when I wandered into the strangely named By the Spas on Kanal Griboyedova, a new place that has taken over the spot formerly occupied by the Rodeo Bar." I suppose the natural British conclusion would 'The Naked Newsreader' with Jeremy Bowen ... perhaps not ... although it would be good to hear the voice of his producer interjecting during Breakfast News ... 'Jeremy will you stop flirting with Sophie...'
Travel The delights of Korea descibed by Riley Ray Chiorando for Travelmag. It seems that despite my near collision earlier I'm still safer here than in South Korea: "Let's start with the near fatal collisions that the kids here call "crossing the street." As I've previously stated, the chances of ending up a traffic fatality here are just a little bit lower than getting regular mail delivery. To my thinking, the effect on every Korean mother with small kids should be obvious. You get a tube of Krazy Glue the size of a pepperoni stick and physically attach your kids to your apron till age 14. If you can also instill a deep-seeded fear of crosswalks, it would probably help. And yet that's the reason I'm not a Korean mother...aside from the lack of Asian ethnicity, children and a uterus." Which sums up the whole tone of this neat little article with too big writing...
Proverbs Yemeni Proverbs for All Occasions: "He who has no job should search for a camel.", "A destroyer can defeat thousands of earthenware makers." and "My daughter, as long as you keep quiet, much money will paid for your marriage." Clever these Yemenese! [Mefi thread]
Blog! One of the better descriptions of the conditions we live in today and the public's reaction to them can be be found at jish.nu. On Wednesday, he posted this: "Since September 11, I have taken 16 flights. Lemme tell ya, the "random searches" at the airport certainly don't feel random." The responses in his comments box are very telling, as are his measured responses. Having never flown anywhere I can't understand how people must feel as they board planes now (especially after Monday), I just hope that when I do fly, the aviators will do the up most to guard my safety.
People It's with some sadness I heard about the passing away of Charlotte Coleman this morning. In recent years, Charlotte is particularly known for playing Hugh Grant's sister Scarlett in 'Four Weddings and Funeral', but she also turned in a luminous performance as Dylon Morran's wife in the comedy drama 'How Do You Want Me?' on BBC2. But really for a whole generation of kids she was 'Marmalade Atkins' in the only ITV kids show I ever watched. It's going to be strange not having her about the place...
Books The Oprah Book Club has contentiously run roughshod through literary circles, imbalancing the book trade has her finger of instant success points seemingly randomly through all in sundry. A similar effort, if of a slightly smaller scale is currently going on at Amazon. Kent Braithwaite, mystery writer has written some 326 book reviews and managed to mention that he has a book coming out in almost every one. The manitude of his endevour hasn't been lost on Newsweek, who highlight that in some ways this is a kind of surreptitious, fragmented biography -- or weblog I suppose. [via I Love Everything]
The Trams You know that scene at the end of 'Ferris Beuller's Day Off' were our hero has to reach home before his parents, dashing through the gardens and streets of suburbia in his attempt? Well that's my life at six o'clock every night as I try to get to the train station by 6:11pm when my train leaves. In reality, I actually get out of work at 6:03 so in fact I'm dashing a journey of twenty minutes in about eight. It slays me, but it's good exercise. Trouble is, just like Ferris I have to dodge obstacles, cars, people and well, trams. Usually all gos to plan. Not tonight.
No, tonight I was dashing across the road. Now I heard the foghorn, and actually stopped in the middle of the road for a moment to see where it was coming from -- then turned and saw it was directed at me, directed from the tram that was feet away. I managed to dodge backwards onto the pavement but the tram had already halted. The driver looked at me. I looked at him. Then like a loon I entered sorry-mode.
'Sorry!' I shouted. The tram was unmoved. 'Sorry!' Again. This time the tram started to trundle off, but I kept apologising, shouting at this full tram of people some winded some slightly bemused at why this fleece on legs was waving at them and being terribly British. Must watch that next time....
No, tonight I was dashing across the road. Now I heard the foghorn, and actually stopped in the middle of the road for a moment to see where it was coming from -- then turned and saw it was directed at me, directed from the tram that was feet away. I managed to dodge backwards onto the pavement but the tram had already halted. The driver looked at me. I looked at him. Then like a loon I entered sorry-mode.
'Sorry!' I shouted. The tram was unmoved. 'Sorry!' Again. This time the tram started to trundle off, but I kept apologising, shouting at this full tram of people some winded some slightly bemused at why this fleece on legs was waving at them and being terribly British. Must watch that next time....
Literature Tony Parsons is turned down for a role in the TV adaptation of his own novel: "Filming begins on the BBC television production of my novel, Man and Boy. I was hoping for a small part as a taxi-driver, and have been secretly rehearsing. ‘Is he bothering you, miss?’ ‘Where to, darling?’ I can do that. Gissa role. But the producer tells me that they can’t get the insurance for me to drive the stars around — Ioan Gruffudd as Harry, Natasha Little as Gina and the American actress, Elizabeth Mitchell from ER, as Cyd. Instead I am to play Diner at the Ivy. ‘What’s my motivation in that scene?’ I ask the producer. ‘Well,’ she says, ‘you might get off with Sophie Dahl.’ " Witty little column... which leads me to an observation...
Wars The new teaser poster for Star Wars II is on-line. Although not as iconic as 'The Phantom Menace' with it's small Anakin projecting the shadow of his future self onto a wall, this still has something, and it's clear that the young Jedi's relationship with Padme will be at the centre of this one (the design ethic of the Queen's dress has been toned down somewhat). And if anyone can read that tagline without a Yoda impression... 'Fear is the path to the dark side...'
Cartoonists My History GCSE was dominated by sitting around trying to decipher 'Punch' cartoons from the First World War. OK -- so you've got a giant bear that's being attacked by a bulldog and there seems to be an emu involved somewhere. Huh? Thankfully, newspaper columns are a bit more straightforward, a subverted image of Dubya or Tony looking a bit strange. Steve Bell and Martin Rowson (who both draw for 'The Guardian') expound upon their craft in 3am Magazine: "Not really. Its not an exalted art form. It’s lonely, low, scurrilous and rude. Its supposed to be. But I think you can be serious at the same time as the piss taking. There is a serious point buried in there, somewhere. But the point is also to make people laugh and the best ones are when you do both , when you hit the spot and make people laugh."
Blog! And so to Japan, the country with the white flag with a big red circle on. Rather like the same shops appearing every city (I mean does Birmingham need so many Pizzahuts?), weblogs throughout the world seem to have many of the same links to American culture no matter where they are written -- not so gmtPlus9 -- where for once I feel like I've hopped off the boat into another country. Day after day we find artistic things not seen elsewhere, each link a leap into something fabulous. Only one question -- who's Nancy?
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