Spaced_R1

Behold a thing of beauty... the official Region1 release of Spaced... possibly the greatest sitcom of its generation (assuming sitcoms have "generations", as such). It hit the shops yesterday, apparently. I'm glad to see it getting good reviews from American viewers, since it was made so long ago, and so far away, in terms of some of the pop-culture references... but the heart of the show is universal, and the direction/editing by Edgar Wright is still pure "fried gold".

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go and crush on Daisy for the rest of the day...

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Civil_Brand

Ah, the treats you can find in ex-rental bargain bins... for just two pounds each, I managed to score heavily stickered and scuffed copies of Comic Book Villains (terribly uneven and idiotic “comedy”... but Natasha Lyonne is gorgeous throughout), Jules et Jim (the François Truffaut classic) and Civil Brand, which The Onion AV Club’s Nathan Rabin describes as “an ambitious but misguided attempt to say something important about the prison-industrial complex in the vernacular of a sleazy chicks-behind-bars genre movie.” Fun! He goes on to suggest that: “With its grungy lighting, porn-quality production values (among the shabbiest to hit the big screen in years), unconvincing sets, and long static takes, Civil Brand's aesthetic is pure mid-'70s blaxploitation, and not in an ironic or reverent sense. Even the heavy-handed political rhetoric is in keeping with the neo-blaxploitation vibe, since even bad blaxploitation movies often had revolutionary undercurrents.”

Now, I have a fairly high tolerance for inept genre fiction, featuring heavy-handed political rhetoric, because that’s generally the sort of thing that flows out of my fingers when I’m sat at a keyboard... but even I’ll admit that this flick was pretty darn shoddy. Personally I don’t have an issue with the production values, but the writers definitely tried to cram in more melodramatic moments than the plot could successfully service, while still blindly firing off political broadsides. The review aggregate sites Metacritic and Rotten Tomatoes awarded ratings of 29 and 11 per cent “good” respectively, which isn’t a great showing, all things considered. The initial concept, I think, is a strong one... comparing modern day prison workhouses to slave plantations... but that point is simply rammed into the viewer’s face, right from the get-go, with such on-the-nose dialogue, that it almost seems like they were trying to get it out of the way so they could have more screentime for the “chicks-behind-bars genre” tropes that we’ve seen so many times before. Well, which Pam Grier fans have seen many times before, anyway.

So why bother blogging about a flick that has already received such a critical kicking? Simply to praise the cast, who do a remarkably good job, considering the context in which they’re performing. Heck, even the “slashies” (rapper/actors) put in some decent turns, with Mos Def as a timid “nice guy” guard, and MC Lyte as his by-the-book colleague. Of particular note were N’Bushe Wright, as ‘Nikki’ the block’s resident badass, and her polar opposite ‘Lil Momma’, a super-cute Christian, played by Lark Voorhies. Apparently Wright was in the first Blade movie, which gives me another reason (as if I needed one) to go back and check it out... but there’s nothing much on Voorhies’ filmography that appeals... although, apparently, I once watched her work in Saved By The Bell. Ick.

As ever, there’s an inherent frustration that comes with this whole ‘Black is Beautiful’ thing, as far as raising one’s own consciousness of talented black women goes... you have to sit through such terrible dreck, just to watch them shine in their fifteen minutes of allotted screen time! I’m not in any position to change that, nor will I ever be... the best I could do is tailor my comic book scripts for such actresses... but I can’t even get them made into actual comics at this point, so I doubt they’ll ever be adapted into films! Sigh... so it goes...

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Of course they seem silly to me, but, as I mentioned in a previous post, credits are currency in showbusiness, and so (presumably) are awards. Silverman didn't score any Emmy love for her own show, but she is nominated for the following...

Outstanding Guest Actress In A Comedy Series

Sarah Silverman as Marci Maven (in Monk)

Outstanding Original Music And Lyrics

Song: ‘I’m F_cking Matt Damon’ (from Jimmy Kimmel Live)

Outstanding Special Class - Short-format Live-action Entertainment Programs [Whu?] 

Sarah Silverman Program Nugget ("On Set With Steve") - By The Valley Pals (in association with Comedy Central)

So, congratulations and crossed-fingers ahoy!

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Luke_Haines

As a keen collector of Luke Haines’ music, beginning with Black Box Recorder and building from there, I was always eager to get my hands on a copy of the film Christie Malry’s Own Double-Entry (2000), which he scored. Aside from the tangential interest, the back of the DVD cover also boasted of an “extra feature” specifically about the soundtrack. Hurrah? Sadly, the first copy I bought, a year or so ago, was woefully bereft of features. I think it had a commentary, and a text-based interview with the director, but none of the other promised goodies. Naturally I was disappointed, and some customer reviews at Amazon would suggest I’m not the only one... but when numerous new copies of the film recently appeared in the bargain bin at my local supermarket, still bragging of the lost features, I trawled the internet for DVD reviews, to try to get to the bottom of the mystery. Imagine my surprise when I found this page, with a clear and detailed first-hand summation of all of the missing extras. They did exist! And so, I took my chances and picked up a shiny new copy... which did indeed bear the mooted marvels, as my own screen-shot (left) proves. Hurrah!

Having listened to Mr Haines sing some frightfully intellectual and esoteric songs over the years, it was interesting to see him chatting away about his soundtrack work “just like a real live human being” (to quote a BBR song). Sadly though, I still find it hard to stop straining to hear the songs, and concentrate on the film itself. To sum the story up, it’s basically an anti-Pay It Forward, with the title character inspired by “double-entry” accounting methods to see his whole life as a series of credits and debits... for every affront or injury he suffers at the hands of an uncaring society, he settles the score in increasingly anti-social ways... up to and including full-tilt terrorism. Which may explain why, despite some great performances and a fair amount of critical praise, the film was released straight-to-DVD in the first place. This is an unfortunate time to be adapting a novel about such touchy subjects! But it certainly isn’t an exploitative glamorisation of terrorism, since Malry is clearly portrayed as a rather dim nutjob throughout... you’re unlikely to find his face cropping up on T-shirts the way Che Guevara’s did!

Malry isn’t the first person to place a financial value on personal slights and suffering, since insurance and legal compensation have been around for a very long time. Malry’s crucial mistake, in my humble opinion, is that he criminally undervalues human life. It’s hard to tell exactly how he adds it all up, since his ledger is only shown in brief montages, but it would seem he disregards the emotional impact of his actions on the families and friends of the people he kills, while simultaneously obsessing about his own hurt feelings at the merest “lack of sympathy”. What’s even more galling, somehow, is that he is not one of those “quiet loner” types, but a man with a very kind and loving girlfriend/wife. Maybe I‘m biased by the fact I’m single, and have been for quite a while, but it strikes me that the karmic credit that comes with the love of a good woman should cancel out most of the debts any man believes The Universe has accrued against him. What is a million pounds when weighed against true love and devotion? Just paper, surely. While Malry is hiding away in his attic room, having his “Big Ideas”, he’s wasting the only decent, truly valuable thing that any person can hope to gain in this world. Damn him! “I want sex, money, and loads of it”, he claims. It sounds attractive in theory, but when you see what he loses in pursuit of his goals, the stupidity of the mantra rings out loud and clear.

Curiously, Malry’s girlf is played by the super-cute actress Kate Ashfield, who also appears as Simon Pegg’s neglected “better half” in Shaun of the Dead (2004), and as the unappreciated wife of another feckless manchild in ITV Drama Talk to Me (2007). Is she carving out a niche for herself? Of course, it seems like madness to me that any man would ever stop paying attention to their partners, but then I’ve never been in a long-term relationship, and have only abstract theories and romantic day-dreams to go on. In my dreams, I do date, and it’s a wonderful feeling... although the dates themselves don’t always run smoothly, crippled as I am by doubt and insecurity. I’m always sad to wake up in the cold light of day, and realise that, much like dreams of flying, these can never come true. A while back, a horoscope reminded me that to win Love I would have to make sacrifices, and I agreed. Would I give up my fantasy of saving the world with vaguely satirical comic books, to settle down and get a proper job, if Love was the carrot on the end of the stick? Absolutely. I think. But can I make the sacrifices that I need to make in order to qualify for attention from the opposite sex in the first place? Work through my issues, and grow up, without anyone there to hold my hand? No, I cannot. Hence my slow trundle through a sad, squandered life of self-pity, followed by a solitary death. Fun!

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Eartha_Kitt

One could probably argue about who the “best” Catwoman was from now until the Bat-cows come home... but for me, the cutest contender has to be Eartha Kitt. Despite her purr-nicious propensity for puns, she was still the most active and engaging interviewee on the DVD for the 2004 Catwoman movie... meaning I’d much rather watch the Extra Features again, than the film itself. With the childhood nickname of “Kitty”, and her way with a rolling “R”, you could almost say she was born to play the part! It might also be worth noting that, in stark contrast to the top-heavy version currently jiggling her way through the comic books, she had a much more suitable body-type as far as cat burglary goes. I know, I’m being a buzzkill, but that’s why I’m here. It’s Political Correctness gone mad!

What I didn’t realise until this morning, when I picked up a CD compilation at Woolworth's, is that Kitt is also an accomplished (and multi-lingual!) singer, with three Tony nominations and two Grammy nominations to her credit. Despite being known for jaunty tunes like ‘Santa Baby’, her own early childhood would provide ample fodder for a Blues career.... but, much like the writer of the liner notes for the album I bought, with its somewhat sketchy and rose-tinted biography, it is not my place to rake over all of that. No, that’s what Wikipedia is for! Speaking of which, let’s crib shamelessly from their article for some of Kitt’s career highlights...

“Kitt got her start as a member of the Katherine Dunham Company and made her film debut with them in Casbah (1948)... Kitt's unique style was enhanced as she became fluent in the French language during her years performing in Europe. She dabbled in other languages as well, which she demonstrates with finesse in many of the live recordings of her cabaret performances... In 1950, Orson Welles gave her her first starring role, as Helen of Troy in his staging of Dr. Faustus...  A few years later, she was cast in the revue New Faces of 1952... In 1954, 20th Century-Fox filmed a version of the revue simply titled New Faces. In 1958, Kitt made her feature film debut opposite Sidney Poitier in The Mark of the Hawk. Throughout the rest of the 1950s and early 1960s, Kitt would work on and off in film, television and on nightclub stages. In the late 1960s television series Batman, she played Catwoman in succession to Julie Newmar.”

In 1968 her career hit a bit of a snag, however, when Kitt made anti-war statements during a White House luncheon. “It was reported that she made First Lady Lady Bird Johnson cry. The public reaction to Kitt’s statements was much more extreme, both for and against her statements.” According to her entry at IMDb, Kitt’s comment ran along the lines of, "I am a mother and I know the feeling of having a baby come out of my gut. I have a baby and then you send him off to war. No wonder the kids rebel and take pot." I can’t argue with that. A biographical essay hosted by the University of South Carolina website claims: “She was blackballed and was unable to find work in the U.S., with the exception of a few talk shows. Contracts were lost or cancelled. The CIA developed a file containing personal and professional information. Eartha moved to Europe, where she lived and worked for the next ten years, struggling financially and ignored by many friends. Kitt has said she would have spoken out even if she had known the consequences.” She was later welcomed back by President Jimmy Carter, and has been hard at work ever since, recently picking up an Emmy for her voice-over work on Disney’s cartoon series The Emperor's New School. In addition to her work as a performer, Kitt is also a successful author of three autobiographies, and has been a spokesperson on behalf of abused children for UNICEF.

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I get slightly vexed when I hear someone say they “don’t believe in Race”. I appreciate that it’s usually said with the best of intentions, and that we would all dearly love to live in a world where we’re judged by the quality of our character, rather than the colour of our skin. But too often the “I don’t believe in Race” card is played in opposition to a gesture, or act, of Positive Discrimination in favour of an oppressed minority. For instance, after the recent announcement of the  Equalities Bill, I saw one chap claim in a news comments section that the very idea of Positive Discrimination went against Martin Luther King’s Dream, and that “these same people” who idolise King should be ashamed of themselves for also supporting the bill! Now there wasn’t any proof that the people supporting the bill did idolise King... the chap was just making a sweeping generalisation, which undermined whatever point he was trying to make. Nevertheless, there seems to be a common assumption that simply declaring that everybody is equal, automatically makes it so... without any need for pesky regulation, or any sacrifices on the part of the (comparatively) privileged majority.

This attitude would suggest that there is no need for the “Black is Beautiful” philosophy, in today’s society. “We’re all the same under the skin, let it go... in a two or three centuries everyone will be beige”, seems to be the reasoning on that score. I didn’t exactly have a confident grip on the issue to begin with, so I’m troubled by the suggestion that all my worrying is just a waste of time and energy. Or even worse, that it’s an anachronistic nuisance! As I may have mentioned before, I vividly recall an occasion when I went to the cinema with two friends from university (both white), and watched a film featuring what I considered to be a racist and demeaning depiction of a black character. My American Studies classmate had reached the same conclusion, while our other friend, who was studying IT, suggested that we were the “racist” ones, for even noticing such things! Were we simply more informed about the issue, more attuned to asses these problems... or were we imagining problems where none existed? Seeing our own prejudices reflected back at us?

Maybe the defect is in my own eye. Like noticing boom microphones when they dip into shot during TV shows, it’s a kind of awareness that’s drilled into you, and is very hard to shake off. But dammit, the boom mics shouldn’t be in frame! And just walking around the average comic book or DVD store, you’d be hard-pressed to find more than two of three eponymous black characters... off the top of my head Blade is about the only one who scored a decent film franchise. Is that necessarily a problem? Well, not for me, no. I’m a white European male, and I get all the validation I need. It would be the easiest thing in the world for me to go with the flow, and stop “believing” in racial differences... there’d be far less soul-searching and inner-conflict, and I’d find more people agreeing with me in the sort of “genre fiction” forums I frequent... but would it be the right thing to do?

Too often I fear that “colour-blindness” is a way to deny a very clear and present problem... I fear that people aren’t blinding themselves to physical differences, so much as they are blinding themselves to the institutional and cultural prejudices that result from physical differences. It’s fine to be “colour-blind” in your personal life... in fact it’s admirable... but I can’t help thinking that it’s dangerous to be so blasé where political, cultural and social institutions are concerned. Ultimately, I agree with bell hooks when she says that there is no such thing as a politically neutral intellectual work, and if I am to be a writer then I want my work to be affirmative and inclusive, with its eyes open as wide as possible.

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Sadly, not the Williams sister I was rooting for though! From BBC News:

Venus Williams struggled to come to terms with her achievement after beating sister Serena in straight sets to win her fifth Wimbledon title. "It's monumental," she said. "I would have been more disappointed not making history than not winning the match, if that makes any sense... Winning this title puts you in the stratosphere, because of the prestige." Venus, 28, added it would be a "dream" to surpass Martina Navratilova's all-time record of nine titles. "That would be the ultimate," she said. "It is not easy - her career spanned three decades and I'm not sure if I have that much time. Tennis is so much different now."

Venus had lost both of the sisters' previous meetings in Wimbledon finals, in 2003 and 2003, but her greater composure at key points made the difference on Saturday. "I felt pretty relaxed out there. It was only when the match points came that I was a little tight," she said. "I was maybe a little bit more relaxed than her." The quality of the contest was all the more impressive given the blustery conditions on Centre Court. "It was windy and it kept blowing and swirling and changing direction. It was tough," said Venus. "The level of play was really high. A lot of times one was overpowering the other. We had some really competitive rallies, some intense points where it looked like one of us would win the point, then it swung the other way... We're both proud of what we showed out there."

For Serena, it was her first loss to Venus in a Grand Slam final since the 2001 US Open and she said losing to her sister was no consolation. "It's definitely not any easier. I look at her as another opponent at the end of the day," said the 26-year-old. Serena had a 4-2 lead in the first set before losing it 7-5, and also led by a break in the second before succumbing in one hour and 51 minutes. "I just lost rhythm at the end of the first set and made a lot of errors," explained Serena. "I didn't feel tight but I couldn't get the balls in and nothing I was doing seemed to work."

Then, just a few hours later, the sister were back on court to win the doubles trophy together! That has to take some of the edge off the loss for Serena, I would have thought... though, maybe size does matter where trophies are concerned?

Williams_FTW

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Bloodlines

I was having a discussion with my friends from London a while back about film credits, and how it seemed silly to me that people would argue over where their names came in a credit sequence. It makes sense to let the audience know up front who they’ll be watching (unless it’s a surprise twist ending appearance, or such like), but other than that I don’t see why it matters where everyone is placed. It was explained to me that credits are currency in the showbusiness world, and that failing to fight for your credit would be like leaving your bank card and pin number lying around, where any random visitor to your house could nick it. So, I couldn’t help feeling a little sorry for the actress Emma Pierson, when I picked up a DVD copy of the ITV Drama Bloodlines.

Pierson is undoubtedly the star of the show... and I’m not saying that in a patronising, “look at her boobs” sort of way... I mean she plays the central protagonist, has the hardest work to do emotionally, and scores about 70% of the screen-time. It’s undeniably her spotlight, and she works it like a mother trucker. But the DVD cover features fleeting co-star Max Beesley alongside her, as if it’s a 50/50 buddy cop thing. The US version is even worse, with Beesley taking pole position, as Pierson is consigned to a faint ghostly presence at his shoulder, suggesting that she’s nothing more than a concerned girlfriend or phantom side-chick. In fact, it’s Pierson’s character who bears the brunt of the detective work, while all Beesely gives her is one useful clue, and a shoulder to cry on! Interestingly, the US cover drops his name entirely, in favour of Kevin McNally, who is more recognisable to international audiences as Captain Jack Sparrow’s trusty first mate Gibbs in the Pirates of the Caribbean films. He plays Pierson’s father, and it’s the relationship between them, and the doubt over his guilt for various crimes, which sets the story in motion... so fair enough.

I know these things shouldn’t annoy me, but they do... it probably isn’t even a feminist issue... but if someone is doing 70% of the work, they should get an equivalent amount of the credit, right? Regardless of previous roles, or how much “heat” they have, in marketing terms.

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From BBC News:

Denmark is the happiest country in the world, according to the latest World Values Survey published by the United States National Science Foundation. The annual study surveyed people in 97 countries to discover who is happiest. The survey asked people two simple questions about their happiness and their level of satisfaction with life. Puerto Rico and Colombia completed the top three happiest nations. Zimbabwe was found to be the least happy, with Russia and Iraq also in the bottom 10.

The study was directed by University of Michigan professor Ronald Inglehart. He says that unlike other studies, which have focused on economic factors, his research has found that financial prosperity is not the only reason for happiness. "Our research indicates prosperity is linked with happiness. It does contribute," he says, "but it is not the most important factor... Personal freedom is even more important, and it's freedom in all kinds of ways. Political freedom, like with democracy and freedom of choice."

The world is becoming a happier place overall, according to the survey, which has been conducted since 1981. Dr Inglehart says that gender equality is also an indicator of happiness, as is rising social tolerance. He says that both of these things have risen dramatically in recent years. The world's wealthiest nation, the United States, was found to be the world's 16th happiest country, behind Switzerland, Canada and Sweden.

 

I was interested to see Puerto Rico in the top three, since I've always had a bit of a thing for the place... it was where Hunter S. Thompson spent a number of years writing (and modelling!) in his early years as a journalist, and he loved the island so much he even called his son "Juan", in reference to the capital San Juan. It's also the setting for his only pure fiction novel, The Rum Diary... soon to be released as a film, starring Johnny Depp, and directed by the mighty Bruce Robinson. Meanwhile, a number of my fave actresses all have some Puerto Rican heritage... namely Rosario Dawson, Michelle Rodriguez and Celeste Cruz. My first pulp fiction heroine, Nutmeg Rodriguez, also had a connection to the island, since she was modelled on Michelle. I always wanted to have a running joke where people would say "So-and-so has gone to a better place...", and she'd reply "Puerto Rico?" It was just a dumb gag, but turns out it may have had some truth to it after all!

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From Sarahsilvermanonline.com:

Sarah Silverman is on the Emmy list for the Top 10 semi-finalists for Best Comedy Actress for her lead performance on “The Sarah Silverman Program.” If she is nominated it will be the first time Comedy Central is represented in this category. Other potential nominees are Christina Applegate from “Samantha Who,” Marcia Cross from “Desperate Housewives,” America Ferrera from “Ugly Betty,” Tina Fey from “30 Rock,” Felicity Huffman from “Desperate Housewives,” Eva Longoria Parker from “Desperate Housewives,” Julia Louis-Dreyfus from “New Adventures of Old Christine,” and Mary-Louise Parker from “Weeds.” As previously mentioned, she is also being considered for an Emmy for her appearance on Monk last year. Stay tuned for Emmy nomination results!

Personally, I don't care much for awards, but I care plenty for Big S, so it would be great to see her work being rewarded. She's up against some stiff competition there though... some damn funny and talented women on that list. Great company to be in!

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