Los Angeles Film Festial announces 2008 lineup

Here is the list of films coming to town for the film festival next month. Lots of really great stuff I'm excited to see here. They are showing LET THE RIGHT ONE in which I wrote about back here (loved it.) Also they are showing FEAR(S) OF THE DARK which I wrote a bit about here (also loved.) Other highlights look to include LARGO, about the famed comedy/music venue, MECHANICAL LOVE which explores human and robot relationship evolution, and I'm also personally excited to see CHOKE starring Sam Rockwell and based on the novel by Chuck Palahniuk. As always the best things at the festival will be the things I know nothing about, that sneak up and surprise me completely. Get your tickets soon!

It's the stuff they make Brawndo out of!

This company is making Brawndo! For real! Just in case you don't know, Brawndo is the fictional drink that stars in one of my favorite films from 2005, IDIOCRACY. Just go watch it right now if you still haven't seen it. Then buy me some Brawndo.

"Water is for toilets; Brawndo is for drinking. And plants."

Spaced on Region 1 DVD!

Well, just after I bought my brother a region free DVD player, there is now one less reason to need one. The terrifically uncatorizeable BBC series Spaced is now available in Region 1 DVD. The series was created by the SHAUN OF THE DEAD / HOT FUZZ team of Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, along with the very talented Daisey Steiner. The title makes you think it might be sci fi related and it isn't, except it kinda is because the stoner youths in the show are obsessed with STAR WARS, zombie films and video games. (Just like everyone I am able to converse with.) But the title really only refers to the sharing of an apartment, a space.

One of the most colossally stupid ideas ever is the news that McG (shudder) is adapting Spaced into a new series but he wants absolutely zero input from the original creators. This makes no sense to me. Why do this if you are...ugh. Why not just call your new show something else entirely? Is there a single Spaced fan out there who would not get this news before the show aired?

Anyway I'm super excited about the DVD release, to celebrate here's a clip!

Grand Theft...of all my free time

Well there have been about a billion game critics reviewing the game Grant Theft Auto IV already and the reviews range from very high praise to all-out worship. Most critics have been unable to compare the game to other games, choosing instead to reference the brilliance of CITIZEN KANE or the feeling of first seeing THE GODFATHER.

For my two cents I would offer this: the reason I have found GTA4 to be so wonderful is that it is a completely adult experience. It has to be. Playing in virtual worlds like this at least in these early years of virtual life, have to be escapist. Killing and stealing with impunity, or at least without really hurting anyone or yourself is the ultimate escapism experience. This shrugging off of responsibility even extends to the ability to dodge phone calls and blow off social responsibility, a brilliant inclusion in the game.

This game is not for kids, and it doesn't have to be. A creation like this game which took 1,000 people and 100 million dollars should not then have restrictions placed on it to make it safe for all ages. But the feeling of that much talent and resources going into an entertainment experience which I can access for 50 bucks is unreal. Literally.

The Simpsons go to Sundance!

Last night's episode of The Simpsons was about Lisa making a documentary that gets accepted into Sundance and the whole family makes the trek to Park City. Check out this clip below with an animated version of my old co-worker Geoff Gilmore and the Sundance selection committee. Crazy!

Not getting my hopes up for HANCOCK

At first glance the upcoming film HANCOCK seems like an obvious fit to me. Will Smith plays a drunken superhero, co starring Jason Bateman? It should be a home run for me, right? But then the more I hear about it the less excited I become. IO9 had some spoilers they posted a while back which really made the film seem unappealing to me. The final nail in the coffin is the fact that Peter Berg is the director of HANCOCK.

I recall listening to a spirited discussion of the film FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS at the Telluride film festival last year which I could not participate in since I had not seen the film. The reason I've not seen any more Berg films is that I saw his first two. After watching VERY BAD THINGS and THE RUNDOWN I never had any desire to see a film by this director again. You can only piss in my eye sockets so many times before I stop coming back for more. Maybe HANCOCK will be the film to lift my Berg ban, we'll see. (I strangely actually kinda like Berg as an actor, so go figure.)

New Dario Argento film next month

THE MOTHER OF TEARS is a new film by horror maestro Dario Argento. The film will have a very limited release next month, the schedule is here. In Los Angeles it looks to be playing only at the Nuart. The film is the final installment of Argento's The Three Mothers trilogy that started with SUSPERIA and INFERNO. SUSPERIA is generally accepted to be one of the best horror films of all time. THE MOTHER OF TEARS premiered at the Toronto Film Festival on Argento's 67th birthday... precisely at the stroke of midnight.

Tomorrow is free comic book day!

I know a lot of the readers of this site don't read comics but you should. Here is a quote from Cory Doctorow that expresses a reason why comics writing is so great:

Living in a space that no one watches too closely is one of the secret ways that people get to do excellent stuff. Science fiction's status for decades as a pariah genre meant that writers could do things with literary style, theme, and political content that their mainstream counterparts could never get away with (games, comics, early hip-hop, mashups, and many of the other back laneways of popular culture have also enjoyed this status).

Well all day tomorrow pretty much every comic shop in the world will be giving away tons of free, new comics. It's the "7th annual free comic book day" designed to encourage people to discover the medium. While there are plenty of amazing non-superhero and alternative comics being offered, I'd highly recommend you pick up a copy of All Star Superman #1 written by Island Zero All Star Grant Morrison. It's a gorgeous book that deftly explores the relationships of comics' biggest hero while exploring the strange reality distortion of a super being.

My trip to the Spiral Jetty

I had a transcendent experience at the Rotterdam Film Festival when I saw the film CASTING A GLANCE about the Spiral Jetty. That experience for me began a long journey which ended last weekend with my trip to visit the Jetty in the Great Salt Lake.

It was a 2 1/2 hour trip over rocky unpaved roads and through fields of cattle to reach the Spiral Jetty. When we arrived there were a couple of other people there but the entire place seems very desolate. It's deathly quiet, mostly because very little can live on the shores of a salt lake. Also the lake was very still. As we explored this strange terrain we often stopped to taste the salt foam or various shapes of salt crystals which formed everywhere. At the end of the day our clothes and hands were covered in salt residue. I was happy to finally make it to the jetty, the jetty seemed indifferent to see me. Here is the satellite view of the Spiral Jetty. And here are my photos:

Charlyne Yi battles the audience, saves them from bear attack

We went and saw Charlyne Yi at El Cid last night. She is a one of kind performer and possibly the actual heir to the throne of Andy Kaufman. Her work is not so much straight forward comedy as it is a hybrid of performance art, music and stand-up. She had a doppelganger in the show, led the audience in chanting rituals and challenged a drunk audience member to punch her in the face on stage. (He did, but it didn't hurt because of magic.) The grand finale of the show involved a bear attack and ended up with the entire audience on the stage together.

The show was being taped by a large film crew for some documentary starring Charlyne. If anyone out there is working on this film, drop me a line I would LOVE to consider it for my film festival.