April 2010
44 posts
“Society is like a stew. If you don’t stir it up every once in a while then...”
– Edward Abbey
Teenage Paparazzo - the documentary →
Pajiba’s take:
http://www.pajiba.com/film_reviews/teenage-paparazzo-review-your-relationship-with-celebrities-is-messed-up-.php
Grenier’s exploration of celebrity is focused on 13-year-old Austin Visschedyk, a Hollywood kid who decided to become a paparazzi.
Speaks for itself. I need to see this
In my ongoing effort to Do Stuff, I decided a while back to read a novel by an author from every country in the world. Reading it in the original language would be good, but I also decided to err on the side of realism.
So, the current stats:
The number of countries in the world is debatable, but a reasonably wide consensus seems to be 195. Meanwhile my progress stands at: 12…
I’ve...
The Power of Books →
A short Kurt Vonnegut story
Strapped for cash in the mid-1950s, Kurt Vonnegut took a job at Sports Illustrated, though he “didn’t care or know squat about sports.”
They asked him to write a piece about a racehorse that had jumped the fence at the local track.
He fed a page into his typewriter, stared at it for several hours, typed “The horse jumped over the fucking fence” and left.
Via futilitycloset.com
The Art of Looking Prime Ministerial - The 2010 UK... →
Via Media Lens
“We are all alone; born alone, die alone, and — in spite of True Romance...”
– Hunter S. Thompson
“Vonnegut is, in my view, the great, urgent, passionate American writer of our...”
– George Saunders (via walkwhilereading) (via dropsleepdream)
Correct
“All we need to do is impose some limits. Exclude the universe from our field of...”
– Hassan ibn Sabbah
From Alamut by Vladimir Bartol, translated by Michael Biggins
Been...
1. Been fairly prolific with my writing lately; both with separate, stand-alone bits, and more coherent, lengthy stuff. This is a good feeling.
2. Been watching a lot of Louis C.K. He’s been on my radar for some time, but only now have I started to scrutinise. I like what he’s about.
3. Been absolutely hooked on the music from the PSN brick-breaking game Shatter. It was made by some...
Bill Maher lays into the Tea Baggers regarding... →
“I don’t bother writing about Fox News. It is too easy. What I talk about are the...”
– Chomsky
Life. I've figured it out.
To me, it’s like an episode of Seinfeld:
There’s no real emotional attachment to anyone, the driving force behind everybody’s actions is self-interest, most of the time it’s fucking funny, and at the end nobody has learned anything.
Badda bing, badda boom
The best retort I've seen so far to Roger Ebert's... →
Rage
Not long ago I implored Benicio Del Toro to stop being in ads for Magnum Ice Cream (or any ads for that matter, please), and, you know, I’m not sure if he read that particular actwithoutdoing entry. I mean, he’s a busy guy.
Busy being attached to star in a fucking rom-com with Cameron motherfucking Diaz. Del Toro….. Rom-com….. Diaz….. Del Toro.. Rom-com.. Diaz.....
More from Eyjafjallajokull via the Big Picture →
Mountain goes boom; people are grounded; balance of nature is restored.
Pretty pictures ensue
“The chains have been broken; we have been freed, and now our enemies seek to...”
– Simón Bolívar
On the anniversary of 200 years of Venezuelan independence, seems unfortunately apt
Fool's Day →
Recorded in London earlier this month, Fool’s Day is the first song the 4 members of Blur have recorded together since Battery In Your Leg from the album Think Tank (2003).
And after listening, only one conclusion: I wants more. Albarn has never sounded better.
The legal download: http://www.blur.co.uk/
WatchBeen a while since I watched this…
The original is great too.
http://www.wherethehellismatt.com/
“While there is a lower class I am in it; while there is a criminal element I am...”
– Eugene V. Debs
'Nothing comes to anything. And yet, there's no...
So I saw Whatever Works, and I gotta say (despite a few - mainly third act - blemishes) it pretty much completely expunged all the bad Woody Allen taste that had been lingering in my mouth ever since seeing fucking Match Point five years ago.
As usual, Pajiba has a few words I happen to agree with, so here they are:
Nobody does malcontent like Larry David. Woody Allen manages to rediscover his...
actwithoutdoing loves...
…things that take place over the course of one night.
Collateral, After Dark, Die Hard, Before Sunrise, Pitch Black, Magnolia - well, that includes a bit of an afternoon, but it still kinda counts. And that’s just off the top of my head.
There’s something about the idea of what can happen in the few hours when you should usually be sleeping that pretty much straight away has me...
Gamestation Owns 7,500 Customers’ Souls →
‘7,500 online shoppers signed over more than they bargained for when they failed to opt out of an “immortal soul clause” added to the terms and conditions of retailer Gamestation’s website.’
The lesson is: read your t&c’s
“The church says the earth is flat, but I know that it is round, for I have seen...”
– Ferdinand Magellan
I'm done.
After seeing Smerch do a cartwheel on the Graham Norton Show, I know that there’s nothing at all that could possibly happen in my life that would top witnessing that.
Fact of the Day
Dave Chappelle wrote a poem called ‘Fuck Ashton Kutcher’.
‘nuff said
'10 Awesome Ads (For Traumatizing Children)' →
Posting that PS3 ad reminded me of this great Cracked article. Unfortunately a few of the videos have been YouTube disabled, but it’s still worth it for the rest
actwithoutdoing loves Hayao Miyazaki
Miyazaki films I have seen:
The Castle Of Cagliostro
Spirited Away
Princess Mononoke
Howl’s Moving Castle
Porco Rosso
Nausicaä
Miyazaki films I’ve not seen (..yet):
My Neighbour Totoro
Castle In The Sky
Kiki’s Delivery Service
As Miyazaki is signed on to do only two more films before retiring (again), I’m torn between devouring all of the remainder of this...
Why? →
Of course they’re remaking Le dîner de cons. I’m actually just surprised it’s taken this long.
However, just like Pajiba says: Paul Rudd, Steve Carell, Zach Galifianakis, Ron Livingston… seems like the recipe for greatness. But then it’s being directed by Jay Roach, and so here I have to quote Steven Lloyd Wilson directly:
‘Well shit, if that’s not the Adam’s...
Hey!
Benicio Del Toro, stop advertising Magnum ice cream!
Stop it!
Seriously.
“The intellectual world is deeply conformist. Hans Morgenthau, who was a founder...”
– Chomsky, again. Might as well rename this ChomskyQuotes soon
(Good) time travel movies rock
I love me a good brainfuck. And this year has definitely been fruitful. First I saw 2004’s Primer, and now 2007’s Los Cronocrímenes (Timecrimes). Both great films generally, but having time travel as their focal point does mean that what’ll stay with you more than anything else is the achey feeling in your brain as you try to piece together what the fuck you just saw happen....
