Celibacy Watch:2 weeks

It's been two weeks since I self imposed a vow of Hollywood celibacy.
To be honest, I have never felt better! Three months will be a breeze!
Since I have entered into this, to be honest, I have not had a lot of time to watch much of anything, but I have rented several Japanese movies and a Singaporian film.

For the most part it's been much more hit than miss, and even the "misses" I still find entertaining, and can take something from them. I have also started getting back to watching documentaries which is something I have neglected the past little while.

Some great ones are available for free on www.66stage.com

I recommend checking out the Senegalese wrestling one.

Hope to have a podcast up soon.

When Mexicans point out movie mistakes...

I was searching for something completely different when I stumbled across this little diamond in the rough.

Seriously, I laughed and I learned.

"It took me like 1...2...Forever...."

The Superbowl certainly lacked "celebrities" this year

I like many last night witnessed one of the greatest second halves of a Superbowl ever. (I'll give you a hint which one it was, not the first one)
As a Raiders fan, it was good to see karma come back and kick the shit out of the Patriots. I still have an axe to grind about the fumble back in '02, but I digress.

But while the game was not short on theatrics and great moments, it was really lacking "star power".

Usually in important games, FOX scans the crowd for celebrities and Joe Buck makes some useless comment, and the hapless sidekick (IE Tim McCarver or in this case Troy Aikman) usually makes a feeble attempt at something witty as well, but it falls flat.
When FOX did their "celebrity" scan last night, they turned up some duds. They showed Jim Carrey, Jenny McCarthy, and Pamela Anderson.

Sure we had Gisele, but she is holding Brady's "sausage hostage", so of course she was going to be there. (It was great watching her drink a glass of red wine while the game was going on)
No Denzel,no Seinfeld, no Chris Rock, even no Matt Damon. (he might be fucking Sarah Silverman, but Eli and the rest of the Giants fucked every Bostonian including Damon last night)

If those are the best "celebrities" FOX can find in the crowd, they need to hire a new celebrity scanner ASAP.
Jim Carey is still trying to figure out the symbolic meanings of "23", (albeit on a screen in an empty theatre) I forgot why Jenny McCarthy is even "famous" in the first place, and Pamela Anderson is just a glorified slutwagon.
Come on FOX! You can give us better than that!

At least we got multiple shots of bigger brother Peyton, who incidentally was dressed as though the Superbowl was going to be played on the deck of a yacht.

So with the lack of starpower at the game, I figured maybe some of them took in the pregame festivities.
Nope.....

Ok, Mary J Blige and Alicia Keyes I can understand...

But the rest?
Pete Wentz? I didnt think this guy could like any more of a douchebag...I was wrong.
Doug Flutie? He was named Direct TV's celebrity bowl MVP. He plays to win!
David Spade?
Kendra Wilkinson?
Stacy Kiebler?

Anything Spike TV advertises as "celebrity", you know you're going to get a steady stream of 2002 Maxim Models, a few decent athletes, on subpar teams, and some semi-popular action or comedy stars.

Next year Direct TV should change the name to the "B" Celebrity Bowl. Because if I paid money for tickets to go watch that expecting to see celebrties, I would have been super pissed.

Great game though.

Willie Mays Hayes can steal home...but can't steal from the government

Some news headlines today as Wesley "Straight To DVD" Snipes was acquitted of tax evasion. He faces some misdemeanor charges, but there should only be a light sentence for those.
Anyways, I am going to look into my crystal ball..and IMDB and predict some different headlines relating to this story.

Prisoner 57

To My accountant thanks for nothing, Julie Newmar

The art of tax evasion

Money Pain

Paid-Trinity

The first edition of Ghostbusters was a cultural melting pot...the second one, the pot exploded I guess?

When I returned my movies today I decided to browse around a bit before I left. I noticed something a bit different.

I saw the covers of Ghostbusters 1 and 2. But on the cover of Ghostbusters 2, there was a glaring omission...no Winston Zeddemore aka The Black Ghostbuster.
I can't figure why this is as he is in Ghostbusters 2, and well ONE OF THE GHOSTBUSTERS.

Shit, even Rick Moranis gets mentioned on the cover and he has a smaller part in it.

Why can't Winston get any love?

My vow of celibacy

This weekend I rented 4 foreign films.
Not a big deal?
Well it hit me like a Mike Tyson's NES uppercut...
So to you I make this vow...
I am going three months without renting any Hollywood movies.
I have no problem watching them illegally online, because any way to fuck over Hollywood I am all for...like seriously.

So for three months, it's all foreign, indie flicks, docs, and probably a shitload of internet porn...but why should things change.

*If they make a "Perfect Strangers" movie I am allowed to "indulge"...I'm only human.

See you at the movies (maybe) in May 2008

If violence is your thing.......

I had to work all weekend so I decided to check out some films. I rented two foreign films, one was called "Perth" which was a Singaporean film. I won't get into that one because I want to write about the other one I saw called "Ichi the Killer".

"Ichi" is a Japanese film that by far and away is the most violent film I have ever seen...ever. Believe me, I am a huge horror fan to and what you and I think is violent here pales in comparison to the violence and gore used in eastern Asian films.

Basically, a Yakuza boss (yakuza is the Japanese Mafia) goes missing, and his top man who is a sadomasochist believes he is still alive, so he sets out to find him.
We find out very early on, that his search will be fruitless as unbeknownst to Akihara (top underling to Yakuza boss) his boss is already dead.

Ichi is a very shy young mam, who has been brainwashed by an older man who basically manipulates him. Ichi killed his parents but cannot remember so his "evil mentor" so to speak has created these false memories of Ichi to prey on his insecurities. When Ichi gets scared or sad he turns into a homicidal maniac and kills people with no emotion at all. Oh, and he does all of it with only a razor blade in his boot. Very evident throughout the film, is the use of "dark humour" as Ichi who is a homicidal killer wears a ridiculous looking costume with a neon "1" emblazoned on the back("ichi" in one in Japanese).

The story itself is somewhat interesting, albeit slow and confusing at times, but what it lacks in story, it makes up for in over the top, ridiculous, nonsensical violence. It's not so much the violence I am into, it's the innovation, and the director's willingness to push the boundaries to see how far he can go.

The director of this film Takashi Miike sounds like an "interesting" director. I got this off wikipedia about "Ichi"

Director Takashi Miike reveals on the US TokyoShock DVD release that the semen used in the close-up during the intro sequence, when the film's title raises out of a puddle of semen, is real. It was supplied by Japanese director Shinya Tsukamoto (Iron Man Tetsuo) who plays the muscle bound mastermind that controls Ichi. Miike gave a bucket to Tsukamoto to fill but was unable to provide enough material for the shot. He passed the bucket to three other crew members to add the remaining amount.

Director Takashi Miike was supposed to have the pimp beat up a prostitute with three punches. However, in the end, he increased the number to fifteen because he could not stand the actress, Mai Goto.

*credit:wikipedia

Seriously, I recommend watching this movie, but only if you have a strong stomach.
Think Hostel, 300, Kill Bill, any Friday The 13th Movie, mutliply that by about a 100, and you get the violence in this movie.

Dont believe me?
Check out the reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, or check the trailer out for yourself.
Warning:The trailer shows a lot of the violence.