Tuesday: 31 October 2006
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03:15 pm:
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I wanted to tell you about how I went to see Saw III last night. This is pretty exciting: when do I ever reference a movie that is actually still in normal theaters? Speaking of which: I have serious issues about what movie theaters I will and will not see movies at; I went to a MegaPlex movie theater last night and have to say: boy, was it something! I haven’t been to such a place in five years. Who ever knew movies were supposed to sound like that!? (I guess everyone but me knew this.) I’ll tell you: there’s no sound system like that in the Dollar Theater. (Incidentally, it has been so long since I’ve gone to the Dollar Theater, I just recently learned that it is now the Dollar Fifty Theater. Doesn’t quite roll off the tongue, huh?)
Anyway, Saw III is about as bad as expected and please don’t let me go see Saw IV at a real movie theater, you know, around next Halloween. What sets the Saw franchise apart continues to set it apart in Saw III, Saw IV is inevitable, but none of them will ever be as smart as Saw was.
What surprises me about Saw III is the reviews. The reviews are much kinder than any review I would give it. Yes, it’s still smarter than the average slasher movie. The continuity improves as the plot holes from Saw continue to be addressed and Saw III actually avoids some of these problems (i.e., having a plot) by filling up space with footage from the earlier movies and even the present movie! But the critics almost like it!
Maybe I'm too harsh. The movie's worst problem is that it suffers from shaky and blurry camera work.
What I really want to talk about is the death of the horror renaissance and the emergence of the torture movie. The only ‘horror’ preview I saw waiting for Saw III starred Tara Reid and isn’t coming to theaters, isn’t coming to video: it’s coming straight to the Internet. Yeah.
The rest were torture movies.
I’ve been excited—almost too distracted to care about Saw III—this week because I learned about Hostel Part II coming in January. (Now, if I’m going to spend money on a movie at a real theater, it should be part of the Hostel franchise. If I’m not going to watch a third of the movie, I at least want the sounds of all those power tools fully amplified.)
Saw and Hostel were the most recent movies to really drive the torture genre. Judging by the previews for other ‘horror’ movies I’ve been seeing: it’s here to stay for a while. I’m ok with that. I’m not real into supernatural horror. Torture is at least believable. It's more interesting when audiences flock to torture movies than to ghost stories. But, I wish there were more zombie movies.
Going to the real movie theater to watch Saw III was interesting sociologically. Anyone will pay a dollar to see anything (unless the someone is me and the anything is a romantic comedy). But to shell out that much money to see a movie at the megaplex theaters . . . you probably want to see it.
The torture genre is cheap thrills. I’m nervous about Hostel Part II. I trust Eli Roth not to make a bad movie but . . . what if he has realized that he has the formula and its all $$$ now? Soft core porn for half an hour, torture for an hour… Hostel was very gross, but more important, it was smart. A smart horror/torture movie is hard to come by.
I saw another preview for a movie that looks like Hostel in Latin America. (That didn’t look smart.)
My interest in the horror and now torture genre is twofold: on an academic level, I am interested in what brings the crowds out for these movies. Are we all just sick, twisted voyeurs? Do you think I'm a sick, twisted voyeur? Something makes the audiences tick, brings them in for a movie they’ll keep their eyes closed during. On a similar note, but for another livejournal entry, I’m very interested in the television serial Jericho on CBS and how it fits in with the present cultural climate. I also notice that many of you write about television and no one writes about Jericho. Doesn’t anyone else think it is interesting?
I am also very interested in production studies. I developed this interest with Russian and East European cinema, but I’ve come to know my American production studios as well. Lionsgate makes the best horror movies today. And Lionsgate seems to really be churning out the torture movies. Currently, Lionsgate is working with Comcast to put out a horror network on the cable and Internet.
A trend in torture is an interesting trend. Perhaps this will all pass before Saw VI. (At least, then I won't have to go see Saw VI.) In the meantime: there are a lot of movies on the way that would best be viewed at the Dollar Fifty Theater.
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(6 comments | comment on this)
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Wednesday: 13 July 2005
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02:06 pm:
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whew! what a relief. although my suspicions were correct and March of the Penguins is playing in the megacineplex, it is playing in a smaller theater that I'm morally able to support. of course, I can walk to the Regent Square Theater, but I guess I can swallow the five minute drive to another theater.
also: I actually forgot that I saw three movies at full-price this year, not two. The Green Butchers. I'd even see it again at full-price.
also: we're going away in less than two weeks and it can't come soon enough.
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Saturday: 25 June 2005
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10:12 am:
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fireworks . . . they can't keep their eyes off them
it doesn't suffice a bit to say that Land of the Dead is unspeakably well-done and amazing. sure, sure, everyone was a little nervous. . . . Day wasn't half of Dawn and Dawn wasn't comparable with Night. but Land may just be worth the twenty year wait Romero gave us. and a cameo by Tom Savini! have I mentioned how I adore Tom Savini and even had the pleasure of hearing him speak less than a year ago? Tina Romero makes an appearance as well. I just haven't so thoroughly enjoyed a movie in ages. perhaps I should have given in and paid the outrageous price of the premier tickets. I'm so glad George Romero loves Pittsburgh so much! and the progress the Dead have made. . . .
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Thursday: 23 June 2005
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10:23 am:
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no cinema remake has ever worked; it's beyond all reason why they even bother. Amityville might just be the single worst remake in history. it's very rare to say "this movie wasn't worth the dollar I paid to see it!" I mean, cable television costs more than a dollar a day. but really, this just wasn't worth the dollar I paid to see it.
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Monday: 20 June 2005
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11:57 am:
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I seem to only be able to read about good guys turned scoundrels these days! When Julien Sorel's exploits came to an end I was at a loss. . . and at last decided to reread Kolenka's tale as told by Bely. I'm caught in a rut of rereading!
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Sunday: 05 June 2005
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09:57 am:
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Monday: 30 May 2005
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09:41 pm:
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(Chester's coloring, of course, is a little off in unnatural light without a flash.)
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(comment on this)
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Wednesday: 25 May 2005
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10:29 pm:
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I'm relieved to report that The Ring Two is only slightly worse than I feared; I still will never understand this craze for sequels. I forgot to mention that I saw the Boogeyman awhile back. It was actually not so bad until it became apparent that the boogeyman himself is the worst CGI ever and the whole movie turned into an afterschool special. Why do I bother to watch things that weren't made for the tv!?
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(4 comments | comment on this)
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Friday: 20 May 2005
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01:10 pm:
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Today I gleefully--gleefully--turned down an offer for a fulltime writing position with a successful Pittsburgh marketing company because I at last realized that no paycheck is worth my sanity. In other news, this is my first day off work since the semester ended except the day I took off for a freakin' renal sonogram.
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(3 comments | comment on this)
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Monday: 16 May 2005
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05:31 pm:
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Sunday: 08 May 2005
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09:27 am:
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Wednesday: 04 May 2005
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05:56 pm:
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goodness! my whole apartment smells just like biryani tastes!
this seriously makes up for that pesky kidney sonogram I need to get soon.
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(7 comments | comment on this)
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Friday: 15 April 2005
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02:40 pm:
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Thursday: 31 March 2005
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10:45 am:
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o, a whirlwind! and right now hundreds of revisions sound so much easier than the past few weeks through Tuesday. a friend camping on my sofa at the last minute between running around to deal with maman's household following her considerably painful surgery--not to mention my own household and its obligations! Friday I have a public presentation to make and Monday is my defense. imagine my horror at walking into to my office this morning just to find a sign advertising my public defense courtesy of the Slavic department. don't I have some say as to how public it is!?
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Thursday: 17 March 2005
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01:52 pm:
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I guess I had finished Last Summer ages ago; now it's Heart of a dog by Mikhail Bulgakov. I also recently ordered Kotif Letaev by Andrei Bely. Only I'm so in love with Bulgakov (as usual) that I cannot imagine reading anything else.
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(2 comments | comment on this)
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Sunday: 13 March 2005
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10:05 am:
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discovery:
 I like animals more than I like more people (that's nothing new) and I've sure enjoyed watching my birds fly off with bitesize pieces of nan I've left them in their feeder. this experiment has been a success: the birds like nan. it's not much of a surprise: if Chester doesn't get the first food out of the toaster each day, he is a force to be reckoned with.
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(comment on this)
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Thursday: 10 March 2005
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10:44 am:
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My culinary dreams have been realized! I have successfully made my favorite Indian dish at home: chicken biryani with nan on the side. And I assure you, my nan is homemade; I didn't just spirit over to the Indian market and heat up some pre-made bread!
While it wasn't what I could get at my favorite restaurant, I would not be ashamed to entertain with it.
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(10 comments | comment on this)
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Wednesday: 09 March 2005
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01:39 pm:
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 My rendevous with Rabelais comes ot a premature end. May middle French never be my thing, but perhaps I should have chosen a . . . . cleaner translation. Every two years I try to read Nabokov ever since I've become busy hating him. I thought it was terribly embarassing to read Ada on the bus, but nothing like this! Instead, I'm reading the aptly titled Safe Conduct. I've read that it is a perfect piece of prose.
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(comment on this)
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Monday: 07 March 2005
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01:07 pm:
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My dreams are dashed--dashed, you hear!? My most important goal after 04 April is to find work loving animals. Today I found such a job, only morals conflict. I just could never be a vegan because I love good old milk from cows too much. My stint as a true vegetarian for a few years wasn't even successful because shimps must scampi into my belly with frequency--or at least come in Thai style cashew nut dishes--and biryani isn't the same without a little bit of chicken. Sure, I might never prepare seafood now because David is a vegetarian and I can't cook for one, but I certainly find ways to order it in restaurants weekly! Anyway, the premises are all vegan all the time; onsite workers must live a completely vegan lifestyle. While I could certainly be vegan for eight hours a day, there seems to be a conflict of interest. Namely: I'd really like a glass of milk just thinking about this problem. Here's hoping the aviary starts hiring, like, 05 April.
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Sunday: 06 March 2005
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10:53 am:
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 In a month from this past Friday at nine thirty in the morning, I will defend this monster affectionately referred to as My Thesis. A renowned Slavist is flying in from Emory in order to be my external committee member. And then I can gleefully leave Academy at last.
To your right, Mayakovsky says it all.
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(7 comments | comment on this)
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Monday: 28 February 2005
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05:07 pm:
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Saturday: 26 February 2005
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09:27 am:
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 Nothing is stable--in terms of geological time. People are lost and forgotten, buried under water, ash and other memories. It's natural: as the erection of urban space or the erosion of rock. When I was young a friend died and time stood still; when I was older but still young enough to be more cuttingedge and rockandroll, a boy I hung out with at shows shot himself--his mother only minutes short of arriving home. Nothing was real: only a week before we had been discussing something that didn't matter a bit while I finished a cigarette outside the venue. Today I have difficulty conjuring his name. His mama always blamed herself; if only she'd been home. To this day I'm sure she doesn't realize it made no difference. Suicide is a difficult thing; it's hard not to suffer, especially with a shotgun, noose or razor; these things never happen as cleanly and painlessly as expected; literature notes this well. Death is ugly--ugliest of all when self-inflicted. In my lifetime, two people who lived on my parents' street committed suicide. The first I was seven and the memory is associated with a pink and blue bikini I wore that summer; she jumped from a bridge and crawled to shore to die. The second was a month ago, the mother of three children who hung herself in her garage which was too packed to park the family minivan in. I'm uncertain if her youngest or her husband found her.
I lack the medical details of Mayakovsky's suicide, but I do know he practiced. He martyred himself a thousand times in verse and April 1930 was not the first time he placed a shotgun against his flesh in an attempt at death. It was a game of roulette and this was the time the only bullet loaded was expelled. What all these deaths share is the moment of immortality, the moment at which times stands still. For some, it never starts up ticking again.
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Thursday: 24 February 2005
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10:49 am:
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 When I lived in Russia, the woman who lived two floors up from me taught me the trick to knitting with crochet thread; I promptly stored it away until a few days ago when working with mohair became too unbearable. Although the filling of my thesis is complete and needs only to be polished and attached between an introduction and conclusion, I contend that Tatyana's knitting techniques were the most useful I learned.
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(comment on this)
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Tuesday: 22 February 2005
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11:57 am:
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Of course, I approached Rabelais knowing very well that his world view was--at its mildest--excretory. While he may be in perfect contrast to Proust, I'm not certain I'll live up to my self-made demand to love Rabelais like I love Cervantes. If only Francois and I did not together believe everything should be done in gaiety!--it'd be much easier to put down and read Stendhal.
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(comment on this)
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Thursday: 17 February 2005
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01:06 pm:
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how is a book chosen, while on holiday from Proust? Gargantua and Pantagruel seems worthy; a daunting task, but I shall try to love it like I love Don Quijote. everything should be done gaily, and that's also how I think.
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