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October 22, 2004
Big Sandy & His Fly-Rite Boys, Friday, Oct. 29th at El Cid!
Posted by CindyLu at 8:53 PM | TrackBack
October 21, 2004
October 22nd Film Releases
After the catastrophe, which was last week's releases, I am finally starting to see some movies I can really get behind.
Except for the Christmas movie. I am over a month away from being ready for a Christmas Movie.
1) Sideways
2) Undertow
3) The Machinist
The Grudge
They say that no one can beat American innovation and creativity, but when a Hollywood producer hires a Japanese director to remake his own movie in English instead of Japanese and casting a little blonde TV falling-star as the lead (to make it more palatable to US consumers, of course) I begin to have my doubts.
Go get a copy of the original Japanese version (which even has the same name) and flip Sam Ramie the bird. In the words of John Kerry, "We can do better." Besides, I hear they have this great new technology called - Subtitles.
Sideways
A TV fallen-star is about to get married, so his best friend (a never published writer) takes him on a trip through the Los Olivos wine country as a last hurrah before committing to the ball and chain. While they're busy doing manly wine country things (don't ask, I'm lost on that one), they meet two women and decide to have a little more than just a hurrah.
It's gotten great reviews and trailer looks more than descent. Dark romantic comedy and one of the guys gets beaten to a pulp by Sandra Oh. I love her.
The Machinist
Some people get insomnia. You take some Ambien or some other kind of opiate and drift right off to dreamland. All better.
This guy hasn't slept in a YEAR is bone thin and makes a living operating heavy machinery. Can you see the accident coming? How about the paranoid hallucinations?
Go see this instead of that remake if you want something scary. I'm not sure that it's better, but at least it's original.
Surviving Christmas
Gandolfini finally found a non-mafia role, but it's as the support for a lead who makes me want to puke.
I'll stick to my rule from last year on this one: "No justice, no peace; and no Christmas before Thanksgiving." Amen.
Vera Drake
A housewife does abortions on the side in 1950's England. Apparently it was frowned upon back then and grandma was prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
This is her story. Da! Da! (Law & Order sound effect)
Celsius 41.11
The conservative answer to Fahrenheit 9/11. Good luck even finding it.
Stella Street
A bunch of people imitating movie stars move into a quiet suburb of London.
I'm not sure I can say, "No" fast enough.
Lightning in a Bottle
A documentary about a night when a bunch of Blues pioneers and future stars took over Radio City Music Hall.
I love Blues, but not enough to see this movie.
Undertow
Can't get enough family dysfunction? A backwoods Southerner is bringing up his two boys on his own quite handily. That is until his ex-convict bother shows to terrorize them all until he gets his share of the inheritance.
I'm very curious to see Jamie Bell (Billy Elliot) in this non-gay coming of age role. Could be good.
Posted by xx - Ms. Lauren - xx at 6:38 PM | TrackBack
October 16, 2004
Lunch Time
You know how some people have a $5,000 barbecue installed in their backyard? Well, I can do better than that! I had a $20 microwave installed in mine! Yes, the workmen who installed my new backyard were both hard working and resourceful - they brought their own microwave and set it up in my backyard so that they could have hot snacks and warm up their lunches. I imagined that they were all eating Weight Watchers Smart Ones, but somehow I doubt it. I will miss the microwave now that they are gone, and am thinking of installing a small microwave for my own use. Much more practical than those big barbecues.
Posted by DJWanda at 11:42 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
October 14, 2004
October 15th Film Releases
A lot of movies in limited release this weekend. It's no hemorrhage, but it does seem that the artery of good movies has been pierced in several places.
1) PS
2) Eulogy
3) Being Julia
Stupid Laughs (and small hope that another Stone/Parker movie will get an Oscar nomination for best song): Team America: World Police
Team America: World Police
Puppets and celebrity caricatures take on terrorism and seek to destroy any gigantic egos that stand in their way!
Shall We Dance
I saw the original Japanese version (don't I sound like a film expert), and found it sweet. Not terribly compelling, but sweet. Go rent the Japanese version. JLo isn't in it.
PS (Limited Release)
A professor meets a graduate student who shares the same name and likeness of her long dead high school sweetheart. Questions of reincarnation, second chances, and strange delusions come into play as she develops a romantic relationship with the doppelganger.
Writer/Director Dylan Kidd also directed Rodger Dodger, one of my favorite movies from last year (or was it two years ago?).
The Final Cut (Limited Release)
In this story, the rich and powerful can have chips implanted into their heads, which record their entire lives. Robin Williams plays the master editor who turns the 3 hour Pearl Harbor of an individual's memories into a 30 second Gap commercial. He is comfortably detached in his profession, until he finds a memory that links to a mystery in his own life. Life in danger, a lot of running, more running than you can safely believe Robin Williams is capable of, truth is discovered, bad people get punished, justice is served.
Moving on.
Eulogy (Limited Release)
A dysfunctional family comes together to burry their asshole of a patriarch.
Humor just the way I like it. Close to home and pitch black.
Stage Beauty
An actor, during the 17th century, who specializes in playing women's roles, is suddenly out of a job when King Charles allows girls to act on stage instead of just for husbands and boyfriends.
Hair Show (Limited Release)
Pray that it stays limited.
Riding The Bullet (Limited Release)
Steven King novel adaptation about a guy who hitches a ride to see his dying mother. Coming soon to DVD.
Spin (Limited Release)
After his parents die in a plane crash a young boy is taken in by his uncle and raised by ranch hands. After years of social exclusion by the locals, he reunites with an old friend who brings him out of his isolation.
I can't tell you much more than that. I haven't seen any trailers or reviews. My best guess is that it could be good, but that there's better out there.
Being Julia (LA/NY only)
An actress on the 1930's British stage takes personal melodrama to a new level.
These types of personalities make for fantastic entertainment, provided that they are kept at arm's length or safely on screen.
The Dust Factory (Limited Release)
A young boy has a near fatal accident and wakes up in a fantasy world. Go if you're 7.
Therese: The Story of Saint Therese of Lisieux (Limited Release)
A young woman goes to the Vatican to become a nun then proceeds to pray to God to grant her Sainthood. I wonder if she'll become one of those cool Saints that has her finger bones and eye balls stored away in some remote abbey in Sicily. That would be awesome!
Posted by xx - Ms. Lauren - xx at 7:14 PM | TrackBack
October 13, 2004
*Possibly* Cuter than Us...
Punk Rock Karaoke: The Lovely and Cute - Greg, Derek, and Eric...
Coming to a Long Beach Venue near you, Very Soon....
Posted by Ms. Jen at 11:09 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
We Are Cuter Than You!
Barflies.net - We really are cuter than you.
Photo from the Barflies.net 5th Anniversary party in Jan. 2004 at Alex's Bar.
Posted by Ms. Jen at 10:59 PM | TrackBack
October 12, 2004
Schwarzenegger for education-as long as it doesn't cost much.
It’s October. I can no longer see the sun at 8pm. My alarm rings at 5am, and I have to face 130 children everyday. It’s the 6th week of school and the Canon copier has been broken six times. If I’m going to be able to teach a Reading class without books, I need copies of stories. I find a nice little all-in-one printer at Comp USA for $120. Score! I put the receipt in my little receipt box full of all the numerous purchases I’ve made for my classroom for my accountant. And then I hear the bad news…
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has approved the suspension of a $1500 tax credit for teachers for classroom supplies. This perk was originally offered to teachers as an incentive to stay in the field, as most new teachers leave the profession within the first five years. So now, on top of the school budget cuts, teachers will have to make due with whatever peanuts are given to them as an allowance for educational supplies? My school offers $150. Let me put how far this actually goes into perspective for you. Ink-jet transparency paper for overhead projectors is $50 a box of 50 sheets. I still need to buy 10 boxes of crayons, paper, pencils, pens, markers, construction paper, incentive treats (candy, stickers, etc.), file folders, labels, classroom decorating stuff, and plenty of other stuff that gets consumed in a year. Not only is it a bare minimum allowance, it takes two weeks to receive the needed supplies! For someone “for education”, the Governor is ignorant as to how much it costs or what it takes to create a learning environment.
My school offers a solution: give parents a wish list! How ironic that the free public school system has to ask parents for supplies-where the hell is that property tax going?
Taxpayers are allowed to write off expenses for business. Business can mean your job or your own company. The problem is that you usually need to claim about $4000 in order to make it worth your while. While teachers do have many expenses, I’d be very surprised if we purchased $4000 worth of stuff. That’s why the teacher tax credit is so beneficial. What teachers are going to be facing come April 15, 2005 is paying more taxes with no way to itemize any expenses. And when you make $60,000-$75,000 for 15 years of experience, a Bachelors degree, State license to teach, and a Master Degree in Education, it’s a slap in the face. No wonder so many teachers leave the profession.
Teaching is the most highly educated-under paid profession. Perks like tax credits allow teachers to live decently on their salaries even though they buy items out of their pockets that will make their classrooms successful. The problem with this tax credit suspension is that both teachers and students lose.
Many people who read Barflies.net have worked or are currently working as professional educators. I am confident that the types of people that check out Barflies.net are pro-education and pro-teacher. I use this forum to plea that you write our Governor and tell him how you feel about this truly disastrous suspension. Please email the Governator at www.govmail.ca.gov or write him a snail mail letter at one of the local offices. If you are not eloquent or would like a form letter that you just sign and send, please contact me at my email [Sandra at barflies.net]. Thanks for your support!
-Sandra Mendoza
Posted by Sandra at 11:58 PM | TrackBack
October 8, 2004
Mondo Lounge in LA!
Saturday, October 16, 2004
11AM to 5PM:
Car Rally / Architecture Tour
Hollywood Heritage Museum
2100 North Highland Ave
Hollywood, CA
6PM to 12AM:
Party @ The Elysian Masonic Lodge
1900 North Vermont
Hollywood, CA
12AM
Olive or Twist?
film screening
Vista Theater
4473 Sunset Blvd
Hollywood, CA
Pre-party Friday October 15, 2004
Neon Cocktail Cruise bus tour
Benefit for the Museum of Neon Art
Hosted by Lotta Living
7PM-10PM
Frolic Room
6245 Hollywood Blvd
Hollywood, CA
* Tiki and Exotica
* Car Culture
* Las Vegas Lounge
* Rat Pack and Swing Era Fun
* Space Age Bachelor Pad Living
* Everything you're already into in one place and time…
Posted by Lucky at 11:01 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
October 3, 2004
Best Boy Gone Wild...
of 2004 goes to Randy from ADHD...
It is all Lucky's fault...
Posted by Ms. Jen at 12:08 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
