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While Planetarium is meeting with industry bigwigs in NYC for the next two days, allow us to direct you all to a website that should have something to entertain all of you:
May we suggest in particular the show "House of Cosbys" (make sure to start with the FIRST episode!), or the O.C. parody "The 'Bu".
We've done quite a bit of raving about the unbelievably talented Mr. Park Chanwook on this site, most recently in order to convince all of you to go see his current magnum opus, Oldboy. But in case you want to learn more first, the Times has a good short article about him, where he came from, and what he's trying to do. So check it out, and if you'll still not convinced, well, you're just have to take our word for it, won't you? Besides, your local indie rental place should have at least one of his earlier films.
(Thanks to Filament for the title)
So Planetarium is debating possible relocation options for its international headquarters. WHile the always-tops Twin Cities would be ideal, our falling stock options and investment opportunities are offering the possibility of a move. The two cities up for consideration are Amsterdam and New York City. If you had to pick one of those two, which would it be? We'd like to know why.
Oops:
"Sen. Frist wrote a book in 1989 called Transplant where he advocated changing the definition of "brain dead" to include anencephalic babies. Anencephalic babies are in the same state as Terri Schiavo except that she suffered a physical trauma that put her into a vegetative state while the anencephalic babies are born that way."
The headline over at the Times' website right now:
House Members Hold Sunday Night Session on Schiavo Bill
Are they fucking kidding? I'm so glad Congress could could schedule an emergency session on the weekend, not to do anything vaguely productive, but so that they can pander to the idiots who won't let this woman's poor husband pull the feeding tube that's been the only thing keeping her alive for FIFTEEN FUCKING YEARS. Don't get me wrong, I understand the sentiment, but this is ridiculously stupid. Like Elian Gonzalez-level stupid. Roaringly stupid. To quote the West Wing's White House Deputy Chief of Staff Josh Lyman, "You know, I'm so sick of Congress I could vomit."
Yeah. Ring 2? Not so much. Kind of a bummer, considering they brought in one of the best Japanese horror directors in the biz, Hideo Nakata. One gets the feeling he was strongly encouraged to "Americanize" his finished product, because it really lacks his usual deft touch. Planetarium has a theory that American film critics, despite their best intentions, often don't really "get" Asian horror, the intentionally alienating, space-cadet-y tone adopted, and thus resort to saying the movies are "not scary", or "lack character". Yet, when they watch Asian drama, they will praise the exact same "alienating" and "slow" tone. Just compare the reviews for The Grudge with the reviews for, say, Nobody Knows. It's eerie. And kind of sad. But that being said, much like John Woo, apparently Hollywood dd something unpleasant to Hideo Nakata. Sigh.
If you've lived in the Twin Cities in the past year, vote here for the Best of the Twin Cities poll by the City Pages. We're trying to boost voting by people who don't suck, a demographic that always seems to be in short supply when the results come in.
Apparently Fox took a page from the Harry Potter playbook, and handed off it's X-Men franchise to a young auteur with a hot film just under his belt. While we're curious to see what the director of Layer Cake has up his sleeve, if you can't wait, click here to find out who's joining the super-team for number three.
We've been waiting for weeks for this news to break, so that we can give it to you and be 100% accurate. That's right, the man we've all been waiting for to direct X-Men 3.....isn't going to. Fox was dogging him pretty hard to take the reins from Singer, but the one project that would keep him from it has materialized. Ain't it Cool has the story:
Whoomp, There It Is!! Joss Whedon Officially Writing And Directing WONDER WOMAN!!
Check out pictures, overused object metaphors, and the great things about the best Midwestern state with B. Alec over at The Superficial.
There's a pretty interesting piece on Woody Allen in the Sunday Times. A.O. Scott, while having a perhaps dubious theory, nevertheless makes an interesting case for the reception of Allen as a filmmaker in this day and age. And for those of us who are Woody-philes, any chance to ponder a different psychoanalytic take on the man and his audience is wonderfully, nebbishly welcome.
New Krugman. Go!
From Planetarium staffer Brunansky, we have a lovely story from yesterday's New York Times about the fact that, if you are one of the hundreds of millions who watches local TV news from time to time, you've probably seen a news piece, that was, in fact, a piece of government propoganda filmed by a Department in the Bush admin and gussied up to look like a "real story", then mailed out to thousands of local affiliates, who will then run the story as part of their "normal" broadcast, with no indication of where it came from. Um, uh......oops?
From the Nov. 16, 2003 edition:
Okay, so the high-concept Hollywood train is about to leave the station, the leaves have pretty much all fallen, Joe Lieberman is doing his best to out-right-wing the right-wing, Britney Spears has a new album coming out....it must be that special time of year between Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Actually, not quite yet. But I'm anticpiating it because, golly, there's just so much to look forward to. Not the least of which will be the fact that Radio, Cuba Gooding Jr.'s latest aborted fetus of a movie, will finally be gone from theaters and minds of Americans foreverafter. What's that? You don't find aborted fetus references funny? Well, screw you. It's hard to be witty on here, sentence after sentence, every single day. (Ideally every single day, i should mea culpa, i suppose.) So just sod off. Okay, let's see, back on board the Cuba Gooding Jr. premise train! Whoo-whoo! It's leaving! Say, what do you think dinner conversation at the Gooding Jr. household is like? I think it might go a little something.....a-like this:
Cuba Gooding Jr.: Hi, there, family, it's me, Cuba Gooding Jr. You might not remember me from such films as Chill Factor, A Murder of Crows, and Snow Dogs. You likely WILL remember me as the who won an Oscar for shouting "Show me the money!" Hee-hee. I bet those Academy people are kicking themselves every day over that one.Cuba Jr. Jr.: Daddy, is there anything else you can possibly do to damage the respect, dignity, and progress of black people everywhere?
Cuba Gooding Jr.: Well, I suppose I could back in time like the Terminator and assassinate Malcolm X, but that'd be hard for me to pull off.
Please hold my coat while I slide down into hell. ANYWAYS, there are a whole boatload of movies coming out during this time, some great-looking, some not-so-great. (You gotta give it up for Ben Affleck, though: His next film's called Paycheck. I applaud him for having the guts to just come out and say it. Look for his next two films, Summer Home and Phoning It In to drop sometime next year.) But I just wanted to clue you folks in to the fact that, starting next week, from the day after Thanksgiving to the day before Christmas, Planetarium will be chiming in with all the best capsule reviews of music, films, and books as a public service for those of you unable to come up with your own gift ideas. You're welcome.
But don't worry- that means I've got about a week or so here to do some serious farting about some recent political disasters. (Quick- here's my impression of Howard Dean: "Hey y'all! Y'all Southerners? I LUV me some good ol' redneck hillbilly, methaphetamine-snorting racist voters! I surely do! Y'all come vote for Howard 'round this here time next year!") And of course Planetarium would be sorely remiss in his duties were he not to mention the exciting news that Julianne Moore is starring in a Vampire movie coming out next summer. I love this new trend of Oscar winners turning to the occult to spruce up the ol' resume. Though Halle Barry apparently can't handle REAL goths, so she just has to name her silly Flight of the Navigator re-hash that. ("Halle! Wake up! While you were sitting in a sanitarium, the rest of us here on Earth aged eight years! Except for Robert Downey, Jr. He aged forty years.")
New Krugman. Go!
Just a quick note to let you all know that you should head over and check out the trailer for the upcoming film Dot the i. It looks potentially quite cool, and Gael Garcia Bernal has been fucking fantastic in everything he's done thus far (Y tu Mama tambien, Motorcycle Diaries, and Bad Education). We're officially intrigued.
Apparently, George Lucas is going to give himself a little cameo in Revenge of the Sith. Hmmm, meesa tinks dat's a bad idea.
Another little gem unearthed by Planetarium staffer Brunansky, with his hawk-like eyes. This one isn't excatly surprising so much as it is pathetic. Like, this compulsion to lie, cheat, and at all costs avoid the truth seeps even into the most pointless and unnecessary fields. See for yourself:
Ex-Marine Says Public Version of Saddam Capture Fiction United Press International A former U.S. Marine who participated in capturing ousted Iraqi President Saddam Hussein said the public version of his capture was fabricated. Ex-Sgt. Nadim Abou Rabeh, of Lebanese descent, was quoted in the Saudi daily al-Medina Wednesday as saying Saddam was actually captured Friday, Dec. 12, 2003, and not the day after, as announced by the U.S. Army. "I was among the 20-man unit, including eight of Arab descent, who searched for Saddam for three days in the area of Dour near Tikrit, and we found him in a modest home in a small village and not in a hole as announced," Abou Rabeh said. "We captured him after fierce resistance during which a Marine of Sudanese origin was killed," he said. He said Saddam himself fired at them with a gun from the window of a room on the second floor. Then they shouted at him in Arabic: "You have to surrender. ... There is no point in resisting." "Later on, a military production team fabricated the film of Saddam's capture in a hole, which was in fact a deserted well," Abou Rabeh said.UPI has the whole story here.
There's a great essay by Frank Rich, the Times' Media Critic, that you can find here on their site. Talking about the appalling lack of freedom in this country today with his usual sharp and clear style, Rich is quickly turning into one of Planetarium's go-to guys for interesting mini-essays.
From the Boca Raton News:
Boca Raton resident Carol Flannigan, a music teacher at a Boynton Beach public school, not only slept with an 11-year-old former student, but also had a sexual relationship with the boy’s father at the same time, according to a deposition filed this week in Palm Beach County Circuit Court. The boy’s father says in the deposition that he had the same sort of sexual relationship with Flannigan, 50, that former President Bill Clinton had with Monica Lewinsky. But the document refers only to oral sex and points out a red dress that may or may not contain a DNA sample.
Krugs? Thugs? Too tenuous? ah well.
New Krugman. Go!
Time for a quick music Monday. Turns out Kate Silver was right about the lcd soundsystem record. It's really pretty good, and more diverse than the recent offerings from similarly-sounding cats like !!!. (Though, to be honest, "Most Tired when I'm waking Up" is a horriffically lame slice of Britpop. But other than that, good.) Planetarium finds it vaguely annoying when the British press are right about something.
But back on this side of the Atlantic, we have the lovely new record from Tegan and Sara, which has wormed its way right into our heart. Do you miss that dog? Tegan and Sara sure seem to. In spite of that, they've made an album that, while pretty "same-y" song-wise, nevertheless works great as an album, because it hits that perfect mood, and the hooks are just SO damn endearing and hummable.
On a quick note, if you've always wished that The Magnetic Fields were more electronic and that a girl would sing almost all the songs, then The Fiery Furnaces' new EP is just up your alley. Planetarium staffer Brunansky also commented that one of the songs sounds like Abba, so there you go.
New Krugman. Go!
Planetarium's results from "The Commonly Confused Words Test":
English Genius
You did so extremely well, even I can't find a word to describe your excellence!
Test statistics:
Compared to users who took the test and are in your age group:
-100% had lower Beginner scores.
-100% had lower Intermediate scores.
-100% had lower Advanced scores.
-100% had lower Expert scores.
ha-HA! You can take the test yourself here at OKCupid.
From Jan. 21st MPR story on the Current, 89.3 FM:
"Kling says the audience for the new service could reach 100,000 or more listeners each week. The two stations cost MPR $10.5 million. Kling says MPR officials are still developing the fundraising strategy listeners will hear, but the amount of on-air fundraising will be less than on the other services, at least initially. He says financial projections indicate the station can pay for itself."
From the Planetarium posting of January 6, 2004:
Every single uber-pretentious, too cool for school music critic from Village Voice to Spin to Skyscraper has just torn Britney's new record, In the Zone, a new asshole. A typical example would be Minneapolis' CityPages, in which a certain Matthew Wilder uses his review of In the Zone as an excuse to make all sorts of obnoxious comments, most of which seem to center around the fact that he is smarter than most critics....The fact is, Britney's record is just dandy. Better than dandy. If Wilder et. al would stop and notice the details, they would see they aren't wrong when they talk about the best producers money can buy. And those producers have crafted a damn fine modern dance-pop record, just like they were paid inordinate amounts of money to do....we guarantee "Toxic" is one of the best songs of the year and will be the biggest single from the album.
From Planetarium's Jan. 31st posting:
-Britney Spears' "Toxic". The best song of last year. Also, the first and likely last time we will agree with Keith Harris about anything.See, critics came 'round after pretending they were too cool for school.
From Dylan Hicks' essay on the Current in the latest issue of City Pages:
If I ran a radio station, I'd want the smart-pop snobs to hear Britney's Spears's "Toxic" not as corporate effluvium, but as an inventive, complex, silly, and damn fun piece of dance music- like the Postal Service, only better.