outfoxed

so i'm waiting for the last debate by watching 'outfoxed,' about the bias in fox new central. it's pretty interesting, showing how if someone says something pro=Democratic, bill o'reilly and others will just tell you to shut up. that segment was pretty funny. now it is showing how fox shows meaningless drivel about iraq, such as people driving cars crazily. and how big progress is being made in iraq... yeah right! it's pretty interesting, although it is dragging a bit. i think its running time of 77 minutes is a bit too long.. yeah, i get it already.

and yet, it is informative. esp that if 'you watched fox news you would have completely wrong information' regarding weapons of mass destruction. this is a trend for fox. 'the less you know about the story, the more you will support the government'... these are all quotes. now someone is saying how fox is the right hand of the republican party. well, duh, didn't anyone with any intelligence already figure this out?

well i am finding this a little boring, but i think for the average viewer, it has a lot of great clips showing how biased Fox news is. and i think that's important. an interesting and SHORT documentary that moves at an ok pace. a must see for naive viewers everywhere!

saved!

so last night i took pizzapants' recommendation and watched the effervescent and mostly silly --- in a good way --- 'saved!'. the film resolves around a young lady (jena malone) who, in an attempt to save her boyfriend from being gay, has premarital sex with him to prove he does indeed like girls (he doesn't).

well i'm sure that would be all and good except for two things: jena's character is a born-again christian, and she winds up preggers. all this and the other quirky characters in the film really make for a fine comedy...

first, we have hilary fay, the ubermensch of born-againity. she goes on a campaign to have the rebellious (and jewish) cassandra become saved, designing ever so stupid activities she hopes will make cass deny satan and join the fold. which is the christian school they all attend, a real hoot. in the beginning of the school year, they have an assembly where the principal attempts to rap for christ -- 'jesus is in the house!' for example -- with extremely comic results. this is a joke of a school and it shows in everything that happens in it. the principal/pastor himself is quite a character, a hypocrite having an affair with jena's mom and breaking his marriage vows.

now, jena originally is in hilary fay's group, but when cassandra and roland (a handicapped boy, brother to hilary fay and NOT born-again) hook up and find out jena is preggers, they take her under their wings and help her hide the pregnancy, quite effectively. cass and jena get into many a snafu at school, and also suffer repurcusions at the hands of hilary fay towards the end of the film.

really this is quite funny, along the lines of 'mean girls' but in a little nicer venue. not as backstabbing and biting, but fun nevertheless. parts of it seemed unrealistic -- could she really pull off the pregnancy thing in real life? well, i guess people have, but that seemed far fetched, esp when she attends prom in all her preggers glory and has a very big tummy. so that was a little more than questionable. but it was all for fun, so who cares.

in all, this isn't the funniest film in the world, but it is definitely one of the funnier ones i've seen lately. i thank pizzapants for recommending it. if anyone has other recommendations, please let me know!

until next time, i remain your ever faithful titivillus...

coffee and cigarettes

so last night, instead of going salsa dancing as was our plan, gretchen and erik and i just hung out at their place and watched jim jarmusch's latest, 'coffee and cigarettes'. like most of jarmusch's films, it was really about nothing, nothing but coffee and cigarettes. still, it was pretty entertaining.

little vignettes comprise the film, and each one features at least one actor you will know. for example, the first one consists of roberto begnini (it's nice to see him again... hasn't been around for a while) and stephen dorff, talking about coffee and cigarettes and a dentist appointment stephen doesn't want to go to. later on, gva and dva toy with bill murray, who is supposedly hiding out from someone/something, working at a coffee joint. some people play themselves; others such as cate blanchett (she's really a great actress, probably the best in her age group, i'd say) play characters. well blanchett plays two, in a dual role.

i won't tell you about any more of the vignettes; i've already given enough away. but i will recommend this to anyone wanted a film that requires little attention span. sometimes we all need something like this. i know i did last night -- i was totally manic. so if you want a light little film that still has a little cream in its coffee, check this one out.....

super size me? no thanks!

hi all. boy it's been a while since i've blogged but quite frankly i've not only been very busy with school and haven't seen anything worth blogging about (god, films are shite these days!) but also, quite frankly, until right now i rather forgot about blogging, mostly because my desktop tower is down so i am using my laptop and wi-fi. thank the heavens for wi-fi!

but now i've remembered it's been too long and i am back...

so i watched 'super size me' finally last night. what an interesting look into the fast food hell that is mickey d's. of course i have read 'fast food nation', which is very similar to this film, but it was fascinating to see how sick and fat the supersizer got to be after his month on the food. personally, i was revolted watching him eat that first supersized meal, after which he himself was so revolted he vomited. there's gotta be an easier way to eat on the go than to stop at a fast food joint.

i mean, i rarely cook for myself but i haven't, in all my adult life, stooped so low as to eat a fast food meal. even the plain garden salads seem somehow suspect to me. i'd rather pay a few more dollars and get nice thai or vietnamese take out, which is always more healthy and you get two meals for the price of one. come to think of it, i don't think these places charge much more than a fast food place, once you average in your fries and your beverage and whatever other crap you might want to shovel into your face. of course, they don't give out free toys, like a happy smiling frog with a coin in his mouth or a big buddha with a meal. i wish they would. but hey, not only are you getting healthy 'nature food' (as my oriental nutrition prof says) but you are also helping to support local businesses. even more pricier indian and japanese food is worth the extra expense, even if you are counting your pennies. on thursnight for example, gretchen and erik and her brother visiting from out of town went to this cool place in nob hill called shogun sushi where boats are supposed to deliver your food to you. for $40 we all ate quite lavishly, and that included tax and tips, and as usual i had leftovers for last night's dinner.

but anyway, back to the film.... i was quite impressed with it. i liked how it educated without being too preachy, and i'm glad it was as commercially successful as it was (hell, it turned up in the $1 theatre here after a while. that's rare for an indie film). i would recommend it to anyone, esp those of you who do eat at mcdonald's or wherever. i wonder though -- do you get a toy prize when you buy the dvd???