House Of Wax

I saw the movie "House Of Wax" last night - that is I did, and so did the other two people in the theater. The movie stumbles badly as the director breaks perhaps THE cardinal rule of the "cute-girls-in-danger-from-deranged-redneck-killers" movie genre.

At first it looks like he knows what he is doing, the principle female lead character dons a man's white singlet early on in the flick.....

BUT THEN.....BUT THEN.....

He drops the ball on the golden rule, the very reason these movies exist.....

HE FORGETS TO GET IT TRANSPARENTLY WET. Dirty? Yes. Wet? Not really.

That was why the last remake of "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" was so successful. Amid all the carnage you knew that water was going to make everything good at some point. And it did.

This is the same reason why ( looking at the trailer ), the upcoming Ring ripoff, "Dark Water" might just be worth a peek.

But overall my impression of "House Of Wax"? A miss. A most definite miss.

Web site generation continues apace dear reader. Not sure how long this site will be up. I'm seeking legal clarification to see if I am violating the copyright of a so called "ministry". Getting sued I might wear as a badge of honor.  

Oh my. Dyed my hair.....for a dare. And yes other important stuff to take to heart. (a) Anais Alexander is gorgeous. (b) The new Devon DVD is piss poor. Plus as it is recorded in HD-DVD, it won't play in a regular player. (c) The new CD by the Prog Supergroup called "Kino" is well worth checking out.

Al Pacino's Merchant Of Venice....

Nothing undervalu'd to Cato's daughter, Brutus' Portia.

I finally got to see the new "Merchant Of Venice" movie and from the opening editing of Antonio's "In sooth" speech I was concerned. And as the movie progressed my concerns were amply justified. There is just too much monkeying about with the text. Shoot where is "How sweet the moonlight sits upon this bank?" and all the "on such a night.." stuff? The text was pared down way too much, breaking the poetry very badly. And then inserting modern words just kills the beauty of the language even more. So "Not until it is paid according to the tenure" has to become "Not until it is paid according to the terms". There are many other jarring examples you can pick out for yourself, needlessly changing the lines. I was also disappointed by the playing down of the Lorenzo and Jessica story. If the most important aspect of this work is the humanizing of Shylock with the "hath not a Jew hands?" speech, surely almost equally importantly is the Lorenzo and Jessica story showing that love can overcome prejudice? That being said, Pacino is excellent as is Lynn Collins, primarily because they have less of the "updated dialogue to say. The "quality of mercy" speech is just about the best thing in the picture, delivered flawlessly by Lynn Collins.

The supporting act for Steve Earle.....Allison Moorer

Allison Moorer is a thousand times more beautiful in person. She was the supporting act for Steve Earle at the Carefree Theater in West Palm Beach. Her voice is to die for and she is simply pretty beyond belief - definitely this picture does not really do her justice. She also accompanied Steve on those songs requiring female vocals. The song "Comin' Around" was just perfect. Steve said "When you have a beautiful red haired girl from Kentucky on the stage, you have to use her as much as possible". I'm so glad that he did. Her set was with an acoustic guitar only and at one point she thanked the audience for "listening to my sad songs" and that was the point that I became a fan. She also had Steve Earle come out on the stage to accompany her on the mandolin for her version of "Carrickfergus". That ( being such a classic ) is not an easy song to pull off, but she added some words of her own and carried it off flawlessly. She had an Oscar nomination some years ago for a song in the movie "The Horse Whisperer".

It has been a couple of weeks people

Steve Earle looking happy.

I saw Steve Earle And The Dukes At the Carefree Theater in West Palm Beach. He was his usual curmudgeonly self, cracking jokes and ripping the US political system. He said "Clinton was the only Republican I ever voted for....twice". I think it's good to have an overtly left wing country singer to provide balance to the Toby Keith's of this world. Steve was pretty funny, cracking quite a few jokes. The one about the red haired girls from Alabama and tornadoes was quite well received - perhaps hitting a little close too home as he said, because Florida is in some proximity to Alabama. Check out his latest CD, "The Revolution Starts Now". It is probably the best thing he has done in a while. We all enjoyed a good sing-a-long to the songs on the new CD, including the rocking "F the CC". The crowd booed during the song "Condi Condi" at the one point where the name "Condolezza" is mentioned in full. It was quite a moment. All in all, I would say a good time was had by all and I got to hear two sentences I never felt I would hear in the USA...."I am from Texas. I make pretty good money for a borderline Marxist".

Now THAT was worth the price of the ticket.

Avoid the radio programme "Catholic Answers"

I just heard the apologit Tim Staples on the Radio programme "Catholic Answers Live" say the most outrageous things. He said "there is wisdom in celibacy" because if a priest is married, maybe he can't spend all his time on his flock if he has to go home and sort out his kids. Apparently, he never read Matthew 18:12. What a moron. He also said that "marriage is a supernatural process designed to produce a supernatural result". WTF? The "supernatural result" is apparently, entering heaven. How do single people get in? What about child molesting priests? If you contact "Catholic Answers", Tim will come to your town to push this stupid propaganda in person. Aren't you soooo excited? I can hardly contain my water. 

"Only Time Will Tell"

Today, I heard the most maudlin song EVER written in the history of songwriting. It was a song of monumentally cloying lyrics, I had an unstoppable urge to shower to get the lyrical treacle from my body. I am of course, refering to the song "Only Time Will Tell" by the contemporary Christian "artiste" known as Carolyn Arends. It's a song that supposedly she wrote for friends whose child died soon after birth. It is simply fucking awful. It pushes The South Park Alan Jackson parody "Where Were You When They Built The Ladder To Heaven" into second place in the list of worst songs ever recorded. Here is how it starts :-


They took his picture in his mama’s womb
He really put on a show
Dancing and diving for the ultrasound
Fearfully made, and wonderful
But the doctors said we’re sorry, there’s a problem
We’ll do our best to make him well
But we’re not sure if we can fix him
Only time will tell, only time will tell


And there's a lot more of the same. A lot more. Jesus effing Christ but it's bad. I feel like barfing. It is so heartwarming, so full of its own goodness, it make your throat gag. Have we really gone from Mahler's Kindertoten Lieder to THIS? Of couse, I'm sure Ms Arends sees nothing wrong with this song. When of course, what is wrong with it is simply....everything.

The world is truly.....doomed.

I just saw Benny Hinn on the "Behind The Scenes" TV programme with Jan Crotch. Can there ever have been a bigger charlatan liar in the history of TV evangelism? The man is pure evil personified. He lies with such false sincerity, it make me sick. 

I went to see "House Of Flying Daggers" today. If there is a more emotive actress than Ziyi Zhang in the world today, I don't know who she is. While lacking the sweep of "Hero", this movie still knocks the socks off anything that Hollywood has to offer. Go see it.
 

New Years Day 2005

So, I went to the beach in Delray this morning at 08:00 AM. The wind was fresh off the ocean with a three foot surf throwing hundreds of blue men-o-war up onto the newly sculpted sands. Only a few hardy Canadian souls were there braving the ozone chill. A group of three very well wrapped individuals were asleep at the edge of the dune field, apparently sleeping off last night's pointless festivities. The sun peered palely through some high early morning clouds giving the Atlantic a slate green hue like unwashed emeralds. The spume foamed like the sea's spittle and the waves stood high like defiance. I saw a hawk riding the crests of the wind as he searched the green waters, perhaps mistakening them for the verdant fields of some avian calenture. A small knot or dunlin limped amongst the jellyfish and seaweed in the splashing shoreline, oblivious to its pain and the new year's rampant indifference. After a 40 minute walk at the tide's edge with the gulls and terns hanging like feathery mobiles so close to my head that I could almost reach out to touch them, I walked back along the sidewalk of A1A and took my car home.

So much for my beachgoing for 2005.

And oh yes, better news. I met a dancer in Scores in Fort Lauderdale last Tuesday. Her name was Shannon - she was simply beautiful - something good has come out of Canada to bless us here in the land of hurricanes and hopelessness with her clear and shining eyes.