The Adventures of 100 Day Man & the Senator Formerly Known as R.I.N.O.

As this week marks the end of President Barack Obama's first 100 days in office, every news outlet in existence is trying to find the best way to determine the success or failure of those 100 days. Some are basing their decision on the amount of legislation he has been able to get through congress, some are basing it on opinion polls and others are just looking for people who agree with their already predetermined views.

As far as I'm concerned debate is no longer needed after the following news broke --

Arlen Specter Switches Parties

Rush Limbaugh and his ilk can try to spin it all they want by saying that Specter has always been a R.I.N.O. (Republican In Name Only) and losing him to the dems is no big loss - but it is. As Senator Specter points out in his statement:

"Last year, more than 200,000 Republicans in Pennsylvania changed their registration to become Democrats."

Simply put, he's switching parties because his constituents have. To remain a Republican would mean an almost certain defeat in 2010. This is immensely smart politicking on the Senator's behalf. He sees the tide turning. The times they are a-changin'. It is no longer 1980. In the past 8 years the Republican party has drifted too far to the right. As a result views that were once considered right-leaning are now left of the Limbaugh, Hannity, O'Reilly wind tunnel.

The Republican party is like Dennis Hopper & Peter Fonda in Easy Rider - they blew it. They had the world by the short and curlies and lost it all out of sheer greed...and I for one could not be happier. Their loss is our gain.

To conclude

EAT IT SUCKERS!

Now I need to go finish reading Das Kapital before attending a gay wedding in that notorious bastion of socialist values known as Iowa so that I can help the terrorists win.

Sincerely,
Comrade Duffy

JUSTICE!!!

FORMER ORANGE COUNTY SHERIFF MIKE CARONA WAS SENTENCED TODAY!!!

"Back home, cats don't talk."

This year is going to be a big one for the best animated feature category at the Oscars. We're going to have a new Pixar film (Up), a new Miyazaki film (Ponyo on the Cliff), Wes Anderson's animation debut (The Fantastic Mr. Fox), etc. and a creepy morality play from his good friend Henry Selick known as Coraline. Though in the end only three films will make the cut (I don't know why they don't open it up to five nominees) I'm going to go on the record and say that Coraline will make the cut.

Based on a book by Neil Gaiman, Coraline tells the rather simple story of a girl who doesn't appreciate the life she has. Of course we know where this is going. She'll somehow or other find her way to a world that fills all of her wildest dreams only to discover that there's no place like home. Tale as old as time. So what makes Coraline worth it then?

Henry Selick.

Henry Selick is a wizard like no other. Sure Monkeybone was a steaming heap but The Nightmare Before Christmas along with James and the Giant Peach are wonders to behold. Like no other he can take another artist's world (ie: Burton, Dahl & Gaiman) and make it uniquely his own. He can out auteur an auteur and that is no easy feat. Coraline is dazzling, funny and scary all at the same time. Few artists out there are able to strike so many chords.

Pixar already has awards up the wazoo as does the honorable Miyazaki-san. I think this year it's time for Henry to take his place among giants.

Thank You For Being A Friend

Revenge of the Croisette

It's that time of year again. A time of love and angst. Love for those crazy cineasts known collectively as "the french" and angst over the fact that I won't be able to attend their little film party. This year being particularly cruel because a mere 2 weeks after the festival ends - BECCA AND I WILL ACTUALLY BE IN FRANCE!

Le Sigh

Well anyway...I am of course rambling about the Cannes Film Festival. The creme de la creme of international film festivals. The place where all your favorite filmmakers show they're newest wares well before anyone else will ever get a chance to see them.

Le Sigh

This year's lineup is amazing. Here's a list of the films I'll be missing most at this year's festival:

In Competition

Abrazos Rotos by Pedro Almodovar

Antichrist by Lars Von Trier

Bright Star by Jane Campion

Enter The Void by Gasper Noe

Les Herbes folles by Alain Resnais

Inglorious Basterds by Quentin Tarantino

Looking For Eric by Ken Loach

Taking Woodstock by Ang Lee

Thirst by Park Chan Wook

Vengeance by Johnny To

The White Ribbon by Michael Haneke

Un Certain Regard

Mother by Bong Joon Ho

Push by Lee Daniels

Nymph by Pen-Ek Ratanaruang

Out of Competition

Agora by Alejandro Amenabar
The Imagianirum of Docteur Parnassius by Terry Gilliam

Midnight Screening

Drag Me To Hell by Sam Raimi

Special Selection

L'épine dans le coeur by Michel Gondry

ok.

One more time for emphasis...

LE SIGH!

Before I Was Cool

Let me start out by saying: Nobody in 4th grade is cool. You may think you were but honestly look back at 4th grade - you were not cool. Trust me on this. But anyhow...

Back in 4th grade when I was busy being uncool I accidentally did something cool. And what was this inadvertently cool thing you ask?

I watched The State

And now that wonderful program is finally coming to DVD. They've promised this before but this time I think they mean it for reals.

The State DVD


So if you want to have any hope of being cool in the future you should start saving your milk money for this bad boy. It's more fun than a barrel of monkey torture.

The Craigterion Collection

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To Know Him Is To Love Him

The title of this entry is also the title of the fist song Phil Spector ever recieved credit on. Unfortunately for Mr. Spector, that title doesn't describe him in the least. Essentially everyone who has known him has hated him. He's mean and he's crazy. He also produced some of the greatest music of the last century but that doesn't changed the fact that he's now a convicted murderer.

GO DIRECTLY TO JAIL YOU FUCKING PSYCHOTIC!

Slow It Down

Though Andy Warhol was arguably the most productive filmmaker of the 1960s, few of his films have been seen.  This is because in the 1970s Warhol himself decided to stop allowing them to be shown.  He liked the idea of them developing a mythos.  Films that were talked about often but impossible to see.

Since his death in 1986 it's become a bit easier to see these films, but not by much.  Some are available on murky bootlegs while the bulk are only shown in conjunction with museum retrospectives of the paintings.  That's how I finally got to see a  a handful of his infamous screen tests.

While it's true that the films are much more stimulating intellectually than visually, there is no denying a certain beauty in his imagery.  Shot at sound speed and projected at silent speed, the nearly imperceptible slow motion helps to give great pomp and circumstance to even the most minuscule movements.  Something is off but you can't exactly place it.

On Tuesday (4/7), Plexifilm is releasing 13 Most Beautiful...Songs For Andy Warhol's Screen Tests.  This is the first ever authorized release of a Warhol film on DVD.  Hopefully there will be many more to follow.  I personally would love to see a Criterion release of The Chelsea Girls.