underWater desert Blogging

Sliding Liberia

So, am back from Europe and getting into the swing of things. 

Sometimes the internet is an amazing thing.  I have my RSS Reader set up to automatically search for many things, one of which is for the case that I used to work on.  Usually a bunch of trash comes up when I do my news skim each day since Charles Taylor isn't the rarest of names and it is difficult to filter out all of the trash although I get most of it.  Nevertheless, today I found out about a surfing movie made in Liberia this summer (which must have been shortly after Urs and I were there). 

The trailer is below.  The website is here.  See it if you get a chance. 

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'Goonies 2' an 'Absolute Certainty'

I agree with everything this dude writes.  Especially the following line:

They've developed an entire culture based on wanting me to punch them in the face.

Link: I Watch Stuff - 'Goonies 2' an 'Absolute Certainty' for Disappointment.

 

Kite Runner Movie

Just found out that Mark Forster, who directed Stranger Than Fiction, Finding Neverland and Monster's Ball is directing the film adaptation of Kite Runner.  A very reputable NGO, International Rescue Group, who focuses on refugee issues among other things, has been consulting on the film.  I'm not sure if that lends the film an inordinate amount of credibility, but I think that it certainly lends some.  Hosseini co-wrote the screenplay so it may have a good following of the novel, which I haven't read.  It is to be released state-side the beginning of November according to IMDb.

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dirty pretty things

the other week, i mean tuesday, we watched dirty pretty things at the expat hangout which i cannot decide whether i like or not.  it does have a real dartboard. and chicken wing sauce which is nice to dip fries in. and a real greek salad with kalamatas, and real feta cheese, and herbs and a nice dressing. i have dreams about the greek salad and the sauce, but not together b/c that would be just weird. yet, there aren't any locals there, and it is expensive. and i feel wierdly priveleged when i walk in there. whatever. 

the movie was interesting, although bit melodramatic in its ending.  it was about illegal immigrants in britain and the faustian bargains they are forced to seal.  it is worth a view....for a british flick.

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the dude abides.

i don't know about you....but this gives me hope.

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Update.

The New York Post reports that a charity, after hearing about the horrific corporate, imperialistic exploitation of the children paid for the prosthetics.  If Warner Brothers does decide to get off their fat asses, walk across their plush carpetting on their two good (but fat) legs, pick up the phone with either of their good (but plump) hands and place a call to their fat bankers to wire a measly amount of throw-away money (likely less than they spent on condiments for the Leo trailer) to these children, that the charity will instead give the money for prosthetics to 27 other deserving children.

I didn't include it earlier, but Warner's alleged response when questioned by the children when their legs were coming was: "You will have to wait for December, when the movie comes out, so we can get some publicity out of it."  Are you fucking kidding me.

I implore you to email Warner Bros. 

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Fuck Hollywood

i currently hate hollywood.  hate, hate, hate.  fuck, fuck, fuck.

THIS IS MAYBE THE WORST THING EVER.  In essense Warner Brothers used West African child-amputees as extras in its upcoming movie Blood Diamonds (which I will have to see in order to pump me up for going to Sierra Leone).  They promised for their work that the studio would provide prosthetics and a small salary.  Even though this film must have long rapped, since it is coming out soon, the children have yet to recieve either of the compensation that was promised to them....

email Warner Bro's.  i just did

To:  Leonardo DiCaprio

Subject:  IMDB recently reported the following with regard to the forthcoming movie Blood Diamonds:    

The studio handpicked 27 teenage and child amputees from South African hospitals to appear as extras in the Leonardo DiCaprio film and promised to provide prosthetic limbs as well as a small salary for their contribution. However, more than three months after filming wrapped, the kids are reportedly still waiting for their new limbs…

This utterly disgusts me.  I do not understand what the holdup is, but I think that you should make good faith efforts to satisfy your side of the bargain that you struck with impoverished west african amputees.

~Casey Kuhlman

feel free to copy this email, but at a minimum email Warner Bros' to tell them you're disgusted.

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Pirate!

i saw pirates friday night.  it was....it was.  not disappointing.

it was more violent than the first, and there was less of johnny depp's witticisms.  the special effects were tremendous, the costume/set designers should both be oscar contenders.  the plot line was much more linear than the first movie.  there was also a different narrative arc that is the archetype for these movies, the tension was frontloaded and then like a good mile runner they just tried to ride out the momentum until the end.  i left feeling....odd.

but there were a few things off about the movie.  first, it is long.  second, it is gross, which was fine but i thought once it got around the soccer mom circuit that it could dampen the movie's core demographic of 12-15 year old boys (evidently i was initially proven wrong since they are projecting it to smash spider man's opening weekend record, but we'll see how long the movie's legs are).  third, the ending.

don't get me wrong, the ending is fucking terrific.  terrific.  just odd.  i understand that it is the middle movie in a trilogy, but disney is taking a different tactic than most of the studios who have produced trilogies with what they have done with the second movie.

for some reason i kept picking out homage's to other great movies.  there was a scene between depp and kiera that if you changed from pirates to outer space could have been taken directly from the first star wars trilogy.  some of the fight scenes were probably homages to flying daggers and other ground breaking movies from the kung fu genre.  but that is to be expected, hollywood can only be so original, so long.

all in all i have no complaints.  it was a different movie going experience, which i suspect is why its rotten tomatoes rating is lower than i expected it to be.  i'm not sure what the critics have liked or disliked about the movie, but there is plenty on both sides of that issue to pinpoint.

go. 

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working on a feeling

tonight i saw this movie.  you should too.  it contains a decent soundtrack and one of my favorite vehicles for a narrative framework: the roadtrip.  some of the scenes in it were so spot on i didn't know what to do.  i lapsed in to an analysis of the femine/masculine perspectives on life but was torn out of it when i realized that all the women around me were laughing at the things happening just as often as i was. 

there was one scene where they had just finished a long day's drive and the boy is tired.  they climb into bed and all he wants to do is sleep, she is glowing from him even asking her to accompany him on the trip and in general and presumably had been sleeping the entire time .  she turns to him after he has expired the light and asks him if he loves her, "yes, baby, of course." he  manages to mumble.  "what is it about me that you love?" she asks.  he is so taken aback that she wants to have a serious conversation that he immediately is put on the defensive and is ostensibly thinking "what the fuck did i do wrong now?" she is presumably bolstered by the intimacy (whether faux or real, whether imposed by the societal implications of many family journeys or not) that a road trip inevitably entails and wants to bask in that glow with conversation, the feminine fuel.  but his tanks are dry and all he wants to do is to get some fucking sleep. 

i flashed back to every relationship i've ever had.  it was a magnificent scene.  i thought that the beginning was fucking brilliant, the middle was honestly great, and the ending was OK. 

and that is my first movie review....deal with it.

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