You know you’re desperate when you manufacture a video that looks like it might be ripped directly from a stolen copy of The Ring 2.
Ha, made you look! Now at least I won’t die. And depending on how many people clicked the link and watched the video, I might have even gained some life back, some of which I actually lost whilst watching The Ring–it was that bad.
This does bring up some rather thorny theological questions. For instance, does the quality of the streamcast affect the “7 days and then you die” thing? If it keeps stopping every three seconds, don’t you get a reprieve, or an extension at least? C’mon, seven days isn’t fair when your web connection dies on you in the middle of the download!
I wound up watching The Secret Lives of Dentists tonight, which is really about the psychotic hallucinations of one dentist in particular. Campbell Scott plays Dave, a dentist who is married to Dana, played by Hope Davis. She is also a dentist, and works in his office. But on the side she sings opera (don’t ask, it’s the kind of movie where you just have to roll with the incongruities).
He spots her being kissed by another man in the dressing room the night of the last performance, and the entire rest of the movie he walks around with a glazed look on his face whilst his three girls run around, throw up, and generally make nuisances of themselves. Dana is a cold, heartless wench, but considering she’s married to Wimp of the Year, it’s not surprising.
To make things worse, a figment of his own imagination, in the guise of Denis Leary, starts to torment him, driving him mad (as Denis Leary is wont to do). The film ends with Denis packing up and leaving on a bus, whilst Dave the dentist decides he doesn’t need to know who was “boning” his wife, and they all live happily, or at least sedatively, ever after.
Worst. One dollar rental. Ever. Not really. But close though.
That reminds me, I owe you a review of Assault on Precinct 13, don’t I? I can tell you’re just chomping at the bit for that one. I should be able to have that ready by tomorrow. No promises though, I’m working on my tan…
I’m reading through Steven Vincent’s In the Red Zone: A Journey Into the Soul of Iraq, a provocative account of his year spent in Iraq just after “major combat operations” completed. Having no real prior knowledge of Iraq’s history, culture, and the myriad problems facing its reconstruction and democracy-building, I’m finding that Vincent is a clear voice, and his perspective is invaluable to understanding the issues that surround the concept of “democratizing the Middle East”.
According to Vincent, Iraq is a vast collection of paradoxes and seems, to our Western eyes and ears, to be a place of insanity and brutality, a place where religion and tribal culture has dominated and suppressed and ultimately forged a nation which will be exceedingly difficult to turn to true democracy. Whilst Vincent believe democracy must come to Iraq and the Middle East, he believes success is balanced on the edge of a knife, and a positive outcome is far from assured.
I’m about halfway through the book right now. I’ll provide a full review after I complete it, but for now I can definitely and highly recommend it as a must-read for anyone who wants to know more about the current conflict, the deep struggle within and without Islam for the hearts and minds of Iraqis, and what must be done to win the war on Terror and bring the Middle East to a point of stable democracy (Purchase In the Red Zone from Amazon.com).
And in other news, I finally began editing my latest film, entitled Zero Sum. I’m about a quarter of the way through the video portion, though that doesn’t account for having to reshoot a few scenes. Hopefully I can get the whole thing in a semi-finished state before attempting reshooting–I’d like to know what I’ve got to do, instead of winging it. Then there’s foley and sound effects, ADR (automatic dialogue replacement) or looping (not really, but same concept), and Voice-overs, and then music and titles last. Projected completion date right now is March 26, whereupon I will try to offer it as a download…fun fun fun!
That’s going to about do it for me tonight. Sorry for the lack of posts today, but I was sort of “out of it”, mentally speaking. Regular posting schedule tomorrow. Until then, au revoir.