The Sky Has Limits

Those sexy Watchmen

Aaron pointed me to a neat article about sex in Watchmen that sparked such a long response, I decided to post it here.  Very interesting except for a few points that I feel the author missed, which, IMHO, strongly affect why comics (and comic movies) are the way they are.

While the author does acknowledge that comics were (are?) aimed at a younger audience, I don't think he pays near enough credence to the fact that our society does not want children seeing sex.  Being huge video game nerds, Aaron, Scott, and I have watched the world dance around this subject, over and over, and I think we have all been very interested in finding out where these boundaries are, and why.  When I heard that Aaron had chosen a female lead character in an effort to witness the fabled "lesbian alien porn" scene in Mass Effect, I giggled inside, because it was exactly what I would have done.  Knowing me all too well, when I started asking him questions about Grand Theft Auto IV, he took his character to the burlesque house to show me how much ridiculous effort has gone into the minutiae of the game.

Both of these examples are done, I think, not because they are the adolescent fantasy of men who never grew up and had geeky childhoods, and therefore geeky adulthoods, but because they lend gravity to characters' actions (by making them more "real") and create atmosphere for the universe in which you're playing.  And, of course, the press had a field day with them, pointing out how our children are being exposed to porn, and it's the end of civilization as we know it.  The irony being that the only reason any children were exposed to it was because parents failed to police it properly, and civilization would only end if parents failed to handle it properly (which, they did--so maybe there's a point here...).

All this leads to our society not wanting to take responsibility for its actions, fearing the repercussions and knowing the guilt that would come from admitting a mistake.  But you cannot possibly overcome the fear and guilt unless you own-up to your errors, so we are all left with the fear and guilt, anyway.  We pass laws, we take our children out of certain classes at school, we rage and riot online and on TV, but in the end, everyone still hasn't admitted that it's okay for people to have sex, and your "children" will be exposed to it someday.  Better that it happens when your wise mind is there to help ease them along, than after they leave your nest, or (much more likely) when they hide it from you, knowing how poorly you would handle it.

Coming back to the point, this means people are afraid of letting sex into any medium that either might get into children's hands, or is specifically targeted at children.  Comics, video games, PG-13 movies, etc.  I think this has had more of an impact than anything else our puritanical society might throw out there.  We hate to think what our kids might be doing when we're not there, and we're terrified the neighbors might find out.

I think the reason the Watchmen comic may have been such a hit is because the people involved were not doing it just to make money, but because they wanted a work of art, which superceded the need to appeal to a mass audience of young-people.  People read it and said, "I love this!" or, "I hate this!" which is pinnacle when making art.  The purpose was to stimulate a reaction, and the reaction was generally positive, because the characters had a very tangible, relatable feel, which may have been due, in-part, to the visibility of their sexuality.  Everyone has sex.  Or wants to.

The movie and record industries are freaking out because society is becoming very blasé about their productions, which baffles me.  Any time you make art for the primary purpose of money instead of for love of the work, you will loose the thing that makes it great.  That's not to say they have to be mutually exclusive, but that people can tell the difference.  From what it sounds like, Snyder really does understand what made Watchmen great:  the reality of its characters.  Sex is probably a very necessary part of this movie, and I'm glad to hear it is not poorly executed (or thrown out!).  Is it groundbreaking?  As a work of art, perhaps, but only as an extension of the original Watchmen.  Perhaps as a sign that production companies are starting to recognize that art for the purpose of art, can make them money, instead of simply trying to make money, and hoping that it produces art.

The Thinker (2032)

Rotten Tomatoes has a list of 10 Sci-Fi Flicks for the Thinking Man that I thought was a decent list.  I have seen all of them except Sleeper (because Woody Allen causes me to gag uncontrollably) and Primer (which is in my Netflix instant queue).  I've also only seen the remake of Solaris, but from what I understand, it captures the spirit of the original quite well.  I would have perhaps added the following to my own list:

12 Monkeys - Painting a dark picture of humanity's future, hope rests in the hands of criminals sent back in time to discover the stem of an eco-virus that changes the world.  This and The Fifth Element showed me that Bruce Willis can do neat things with drama and humor.  Easily my favorite performance of Brad Pitt--or anyone, for that matter.

The Lawnmower Man - A mentally handicapped innocent falls into a project with a scientist interested in pushing the limits of science's ability to advance human intelligence.  While not the greatest film ever done, it makes a very powerful statement about how careful we are with where we let research lead us.  Will it be our greatest triumph?  Or our inevitable self-destruction?

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) - The story of one man who discovers a malevolent force from another world has slipped past humanity's defenses and begun a takeover of society from the inside out.  While this film is a tad cheesy, it ages better than many of its peers.  I remember the profound effect this movie had on me in junior high English.  I begun to question things rather than assume what I was seeing was always what I was getting.

The Matrix Trilogy - This series needs no one-sentence-blurb.  The first movie was so "outside the box" that I walked out of the theater ready to purchase another ticket.  Sadly, the sequels were so far outside the box that they were grossly misunderstood, and many--including myself--were let down by the legacy that followed such an incredible foundation.  After reading some exploratory essays on Reloaded and Revolutions, I began to grasp some of what the directors were pitching.  Suddenly, these movies took on a much greater meaning.  I encourage anyone who was frustrated by them to have a look--you may find the things you were looking for.

With those added, I was actually disappointed to discover so few among the movies listed on Netflix with the "Sci-Fi" moniker.  The list of books I've read is 90% science fiction, and I would say that the genre as a whole asks you to think about yourself and the human race more than any other subject.  It's kind of sad that so few cerebral concepts have made it to the big screen.  I suppose it's a testament to the power of the book.

"This is the remix..."

While Aaron's fetish with mashups occasionally makes me want to gag, I am no stranger to the alteration of work for something new and/or different.  I thought Linkin Park's Hybrid Theory was brilliant work--synergy between rap and rock (something 311 had done in a different genre) to craft a unique sound really attracted me.  I was blown away and became a fan almost instantly.  Then, they released their second album, Reanimation.  They had taken their own songs, ripped them apart, spliced in work from brilliant artists around them (like the leads from Korn, Staind, and Jurassic 5), and created versions of my favorite songs that became my new favorites.

Six years later, I have fallen in love with Techno and Trance, and every once in a while, Aaron will play a mashup that I'm fascinated with.  Much of these genres rely heavily on the work of those who have come before, and the most amusing part is that, unlike people like Disney, they recognize and worship the people they are pulling from for their own creative expression.  I will say it again:  "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery."  There is tremendous cultural power in the sharing of artistic ideas.

Wired made me aware of a movie coming out in March called RiP:  A Remix Manifesto that explores the culture behind the people who scramble music into new forms and those who are terrified that mashups might do a better job with their work than they originally did.

It's a very interesting concept to watch the line blurring around the "tools" used to create original content.  Raph Koster fervently pursues this concept in video game context, as games like Little Big Planet and Spore start changing the way we define entertainment.  While those are obviously geared towards content creation, who is to say that Photoshop or Flash aren't "games"?  Again, obviously those pieces of software understand their nature quite well (and charge accordingly), but this is something Microsoft has understood for decades--people are using the things they created to create things of their own.  That is why MS Office has never been offered for free to students.  I think music artists are just irritated that the poor anticipation of how their material would be used resulted in a lack of monetization.

Change is here already (probably NSFW version)

While I'm 99.99% sure it was not part of Obama's platform, it would appear that the adult film industry is changing.  Recently, I happened upon the Not Bewitched XXX (NSFW) movie and I was pleasantly surprised.  Here is an adult movie that doesn't take itself too seriously and has fun with the fact that the plot is ridiculous.  I actually like snarky humor with my sex, because it deepens the entertainment experience (something Hentai has understood for decades).

As a fan of adult cinema, I miss the 70's and 80's porn with their awkward acting, ludicrous plot lines, and absurd situations.  Back then, no one was pretending that their excuse for showing skin in a movie had anything to do with real life.  As time progressed, egos (and paychecks) grew, directors fell in line with "reality entertainment", and everybody started thinking their shit didn't stink because they were making insane money.  That's probably part of the reason I have so much respect for Orgazmo (SFW trailer about NSFW movie...) and Boogie Nights (SFW)--they are parodies of the industry that point out some fascinating things, the former much less serious than the latter.

While there have always been lighter adult films around, this is a new breed of pornography.  Films like Debbie Does Dallas Again completely lack cohesion and style, and have none the personality or charm of the original.  But lately there seem to be producers interested in putting the fun back into porn.  Movies like Pirates (SFW) break budget and sales records, and they are close, but not quite there.  Apparently, the makers of Not Bewitched XXX were responsible for another parody called, Not The Bradys, which didn't hold my attention, but seemed like a step in the right direction.

I'm glad to see that the industry is growing in new (and better) ways, regardless of how else it has changed.  While I'm not sure I would put these films on par with the amusing jaunts of yesteryear, I definitely like the giggle with my snuggle.

Salvation

Reeling from the most recent monstrous episode of Terminator: the Sarah Connor Chronicles, I discovered a search result entitled, "Terminator Salvation", and ended up with an 11MB HD trailer for the new Terminator film starring Christian Bale.  I have spoken of my hopes before, but the new seizure-inducing teaser creates some apprehension.  McG, however, seems to have the right idea.

Too bad Legendary Pictures isn't doing it, because those guys are really starting to shine as a production company that can get shit done.  With movies like 300 and The Dark Knight under their belt, they have been tapped for the upcoming Warcraft movie and the new movie based on the Watchmen graphic novel.  I have not read the comic, but that trailer looks pretty damn sweet.  I first saw it in the IMAX theater and was amazed, even though I knew nothing of the IP.  The guy who directed 300 is in charge, and while there are some obvious theatrical similarities, it seems fresh enough to be interesting.

Now that comics seem to be getting mainstream movie attention, we are seeing some high-quality cinema.  Considering the video games industry claims they gross more each year than the film industry, I would like have some equal treatment.  As I type this, I had listed Bryan Singer (of X-Men movie fame) as the director for the Warcraft movie, but now that I'm probing around, I cannot find the source for that info.  Here's hoping I didn't just pull that out of my ass.

Terabytes

I recently added a 1TB HDD to my collection of storage, which includes a 200GB, a 120GB, a 40GB, and an 80GB drive on my laptop.  Some quick math would indicate that I have 1,440GB of space, but you would be wrong.  I actually only have 1,342GB.

Since we are in an age where drives go as high as terabytes, the difference between the commonly advertised base 10 definition of a TB and the true count of a binary definition TB is very large.  While I am aware of this, it is still somewhat frustrating to hook up the freshly formatted drive and see that it reads shy of the expected space by a size almost as large as my laptop's only hard disk:  a 1TB drive with an NTFS format shows 931GB free in XP.  Until we put a law in place to prevent this kind of advertising, things will only get worse.  I suppose someday it will annoy enough people to get some attention.

In the meantime, I have discovered that having a ridiculous amount of space in combination with an excellent broadband connection and a standardized distribution format does not always mean good things.  Finding a set of 700 Star Wars hentai fan-art images ranks near the top of the "bad" list.

At the very least, I'm vastly broadening my artistic horizons, particularly by catching up on all the TV I missed over the last decade.  Let me recap some of the shows I have discussed in my blog over:  I have complete collections of Buffy: the Vampire Slayer, Angel, The Lost, Battlestar Galactica, Scrubs, South Park, X-Men: The Animated Series, X-Men: Evolution, Terminator: the Sarah Connor Chronicles, and Aqua Teen Hunger Force.  Recently, I have also added Family Guy, The Wire, and both the Dune TV Miniseries and Children of Dune TV Miniseries.  In the near future is Burn Notice, Dexter, and possibly Law & Order.

But it's like an uncontrollable force has taken hold in me, and I fear it.  I have begun to stray from the recommendations of friends and family and turned to the shows that were popular among those I hung out with shortly after high-school.  Anyone who knows of those days may not even have realized I had girl-friends (note the hyphen), but they were the main staple of my social circle.  Strangely, it seems to be happening again at work, where I've noticed that the people I drink with are all female.

As a result, I'm exploring new territory.  I now have all of Dawson's Creek, and I'm in the process of getting all of Charmed.  I know I just caused several of you to shudder, and before you ask--I checked, and my balls are still there.

According the Wikipedia, Dawson's Creek fought with a couple of other shows (including Buffy) for the top spot in WB's famous lineup.  Many people feel that it's strength and weakness lie in the overly-mature dialogue.  Although witty conversations between high-school teens helps elevate the show, it shatters the suspension of disbelief.  And the oddest part is that the young cast members are far better actors than the adults.  I have only seen two episodes so far, but I intend to push through the whole thing.

Charmed, on the other hand, is something I've been interested in for a long time (and not just because Alyssa Milano is one of the world's 5 hottest women).  I watched a few episodes here and there when I caught them on TV and they piqued my curiosity.  It seems well put together and the show survived for 8 seasons, so I think it's worth my time.  While I'm not sure the writing will be as clever, witty, and as relatable as Joss Whedon's work, it competed with his shows quite well.  Here's hoping I don't turn into a flaming poofer.

I have not stooped low enough to pursue Aaron Spelling's first big work or its spinoff, but any show that can claim 10 seasons and is then cancelled because it hit a low of 10 million viewers (twice what Buffy, Angel, or Charmed ever had) must have some merit, right?

Why IS the U.S. fighting?

After seeing an interview on The Daily Show of Eugene Jarecki, I found out he did an interesting documentary called, Why We Fight.  I am very impressed by this work, because it seems a bit more objective than most of Michael Moore's films.  Although we still have the guy who lost his son in 9/11, he has a much stronger purpose than to just invoke sympathy.  And while Jarecki still shows us some grisly footage from Iraq, the point of how ugly war is becomes much stronger when you see interviews with many, many intelligent and educated people all ramming home that our fight is not the one we think it is.  Christ, he has a five-star Brigadier General who worked for the DoD telling us that we are in a war for the wrong reasons.

If you saw Moore's movies and liked the imformation, but felt the presentation was a bit heavy handed, I cannot encourage you enough to make room for 100 more illuminating minutes.  Hopefully, if enough of this stuff is made, our country will start to pull itself back to our roots, rather than follow Rome.

Speaking of illuminating minutes, I followed the end of this movie with the South Park episode, "Major Boobage", and about pissed myself laughing at what has got to be the most definitive representation of the Heavy Metal movie I have ever seen.  I have found that I can handle the more depressingly informative cinema if I splice it with mindless toilet humor.  That's a tip.

Let the horror show begin

As the demonic day approaches, I notice some interesting things at Rotten Tomatoes.   I decided to explore the upcoming menagerie of crappy Halloween horror/suspense flicks and, surprisingly, this year we are very shallow in the shallow cinema.

Fears of the Dark (Trailer) - French animated ghost-stories film by 5 graphic artists.  While RT seems to give it a thumbs up, the reviews say that it is beautiful to see, but does not jump-start the heart (though that may be because we require more to get us riled up, these days)

Saw V (Trailer) - This seems like our generation's Nightmare on Elm Street or Friday the 13th.  While I have yet to see even the first (which people tell me is really the only one that might be worth your time) I guess the fifth is inevitable.  I feel like I'm letting my people down because I have seen all of the movies in the other two series... (blush) including the cross-over.  No reviews yet for this one, but I expect it to follow the rating trend for iterations II (36%), III (26%), and IV (19%).  Somehow, they keep making money.

Let the Right One In (HD Trailer) - A vampire as seen through the eyes of a child and all the wonder that kind of innocence invokes.  I guess it's Swedes all around for us on the 24th, though I'm unsure if this is actually in Swedish, or just directed by one.  After seeing what the Russians could do, I am extremely excited about this, and while I wait until a film has at least 10 ratings on RT before I start assuming a trend, so far this movie has scored perfectly with 11.  I hope we get this around here.

The Haunting of Molly Hartley (Trailer) - Teen "haunted" (double entendre) by her psychotic mother's choices.  Here lies the true stinker, destined to prove--yet again--that when you base a movie's success on its cast, there isn't much else there worth watching.  Normally, I laud the use of a PG-13 rating in movies like this, because it means we won't have another gore-porn fest.  Unfortunately, it seems pretty obvious that this was done to capture a broader (read: younger) audience.

Splinter (Trailer) - A criminal car-jacking couple and a young camping couple hole-up in a deserted gas station to face-off against a strange moster-thing (See?  The hyphens are like "splinters"!).  Here's the obligatory new creature feature of the season, and while the plot premise sounds ludicrous, the trailer has me intrigued.  Ever since Aaron made me watch Slither, I realized that to enjoy movies like this, you have to kinda put your rationality aside and just go with it.  If it entertains, then it's good.  If not, it's bad.  You can't judge monster movies by too many other standards, because they will always fall short.

Repo!  The Genetic Opera (HD Trailer) - Oh.  My.  God.  Go watch the trailer, right now.  Just go watch it.  A sci-fi rock-opera about a future where financing organ loans is what saves humanity from extinction (and legalizes murder).  Frank Miller-esque visuals on top of a Rocky Horror Picture Show idea.  Award winning opera singer, Sarah Brightman?  Anthony Stewart Head?  Paris fucking Hilton??  Sign me up!  How this slipped under my radar is beyond me, but I will travel as far as Chicago if i have to, on my own, to see this movie in theaters.

So concludes my assessment.  I have, for the sake of civilized decency, skipped the most horrifying of them all.

Adult film about adult film

Kevin Smith's new movie, Zack and Miri Make a Porno, is set to drop in two weeks on Halloween:

I can't decide if I'm going to love it or hate it.  As a firm believer that Kevin Smith is one of the world's finer filmmakers, I have faith that it will at least excite, in more ways than one.

Movie Time

It has been an eclectic 24 hours.  After watching an episode of the Daily Show w/ Aaron Eckhart talking about his new movie, TowelHead.  One of the reviews I read on Rotten Tomatoes said that it was a more tangible female coming of age story than Thirteen, which, I suddenly remembered, I had passed by long ago and forgotten.  After obtaining a copy of Thirteen this morning, I sat down and watched it, and let me tell you--I have not been this uncomfortable since I saw Kids.

While I'm not sure I would prop the film up as high as RT seemed to, it is a horribly fascinating movie.  It was strangely compelling in that things just seem to keep falling more and more apart, the avalanche rushing down the mountainside, and you cannot help but keep watching.  The characterization is beautiful, and each of the main actresses does a wonderful job.  The only thing that saved me from feeling disturbed after watching it was that my suspension of disbelief was shattered by my inability to swallow that A) 13 year old girls look like that and B) 13 year old girls would get that bad.  Having a sister this age when I graduated high-school, my image of what girls are like at 13 rests there.  While I'm sure things can (and do) get this bad in lower-class single-parent families, it was hard for me to accept.  Still, an interesting film and worth two hours of my time.

I followed this viewing by catching another of the movies I had mentally noted and then forgotten, Earthsea, which was an extremely high-budget fantasy film (made for Sci-Fi) that is based on the Earthsea trilogy written by Ursula K. Le Guin.  My mother first exposed me to the books and they are sitting in my "dragon books" collection, though it's been so long, I can't remember much about them, other than I enjoyed them.  I cannot say the same for this awful movie.

The acting is horrible, with one or two exceptions.  They are close, but not quite.  I was willing to take a fair amount of this (two 90-minute parts) until Danny-"I'm gettin' too old for this shit"-Glover stepped onto the screen (joining in the pathetic acting) and ruined pretty much any hope I had.  While the special effects are great for a made-for-TV-movie, the writing is just plain sad.  It has a terribly slow start, things wax and wane in their excitement throughout, and the love story is not engaging at all.  It's too bad, because I can see the makings of a good story there, just poorly scripted and shallowly acted.  This would rank as a waste of three hours.

On a much brighter side, I discovered that not only is there a trailer for the new Harry Potter (which has been bumped to next July!) but that around 25 minutes of the film has been done in IMAX 3-D.  This show might actually be worth driving out of town for, though we'll have to see what the posse says.  And man, I don't know how much they pay their trailer editing department, but it's not enough, because I find each successive installment's tease to be fucking amazing.  It reminds me that I need to go obtain a set of the books (my ex ended up with this in the settlement...) and re-read them, because I devoured the last two novels so quickly, I hardly remember them.