Strange Rumblings From The Information Super Highway

Blogs, blogs, blogs, blogs, blogs.
Gotta love 'em.
Really, we do.
Things to click on... and they are all blogs.
Kevin Smith. He is the man behind Clerks, Mallrats, Chasing Amy, Dogma, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, Jersey Girl and, eventually, Clerks II. He has a blog. It's called My Boring Ass Life.
Rick Mercer. This Hour Has 22 Minutes, Rick Mercer's Monday Report, that show about Canadian television that had the Tragically Hip theme song. You know the one. He has a blog. It is called Rick Mercer's Blog.
Wil Wheaton. He was one the kids looking for the dead body in Stand By Me. He also played Wesley on Star Trek:The Next yadda yadda yadda. Don't hold that against him. Go to Wil Wheaton Dot Net and feel the love.
Bob Mould. Husker Du (if only my computer could make those cool little dots over the u's) and Sugar and solo artist and all around great guy (I'm sure he is). He has one, too. Boblog is its name.
The amazing Donna Hopper. Blossoming graffiti vandalizer, photographer, jewelery maker, wife who has yet to kill me in my sleep. She blogs twice. Stuff and Things and the Photo Blog.
Craig West. Startlefish, Chris Belsito Band, Spiderback, God only knows all the other outfits he's played with (and even then, God probably gets confused...) and solo artist. Friend and best man at my wedding. He has a blog. Make your way there, now.

There. Enjoy. That's not all the blogs I go to, but I have to get back my laundry and looking at pictures of unclothed ladies. So I will post more another time, when the dogs aren't whining to go outside so they can chase rodents.
Lord willing and the creeks don't rise, I will return.

Staggered into here, unclothed ladies, flinging pooh, apologize, yadda yadda yadda. You know the rest.

Strange Rumblings From The Big Apple, Pt 1

Yestarday I finally got around to watching a classic, Panic In Needle Park with Al Pacino.
No, I didn't watch it with Al Pacino (though that would have been kind of cool. I could lie and say, yeah, I did watch it with Al Pacino and we shared adult beverages and nachos and then played Star Wars Trivia Pursuit and laughed and laughed and laughed. But I won't.)
Its an early Pacino film, as far as I can tell his first starring role. According to IMDB this is the film that Coppola showed the brass at Paramount in order to convince them to hire Pacino for The Godfather.

The film revolves around Bobby (Pacino) and Helen (Kitty Winn - she played Sharon the hottie in The Exorcist) who are young and in love and living in Manhattan. They just happen to live in Needle Park and are a couple of beautiful junkies and hustlers and theives and exist in one of the lower circles of hell.
The movie has a gritty, real look to it. A no-budget, hand-held camera kinda shaky thing going on at times. There are moments when the film has a real documentary feel to it, with in-your-face examinations of the rituals involved in shooting street-grade heroin. The fingers tapping the envelope, coaxing the powder into a bottle cap. Lighting a couple of matches and holding them just right to cook. The syringe lovingly filling up. The careful insertion into the vein (more tapping). Slowly pushing the plunger. The near-orgasmic extasy of the junkie when the poison hits the brain.
Trainspotting, this is not. No MTV-generation edits here, folks. Sometimes, its one fluid shot (no pun intended, maybe) from smack in bottle cap to orgasm. Which does tend to support the myth that the film-makers did employee some real junkies...

If you ever see this film (he says, hoping someone actually reads this blog-thing), watch the folks in the background in the street scenes. I honestly believe that this was filmed, at times, sans permits. Guys stop and watch Kitty Winn's legs as she walks by them. People passing by seemed confused when they overhear the conversations between actors. Very cool. Don't get a lot of that these days.
And pay attention to the faces in the film. There are some very familiar, but very young, ones here and there. Paul Sorvino as a john, Raul Julia as Helen's lover when she first meets Bobby.
And the camera work. Oh, boy, the camera work. Jerry Schatzberg really shines. There is one scene in a coffee shop, where Bobby runs out to grab his brother Hank (a B & E artist who dresses like a banker). The shot follows Pacino out of the coffee shop to get Hank and then back to his table without breaking or the camera leaving its spot near the counter. And on the way out, Pacino runs straight into a bus boy which sends a tray of cups and plates flying, which has the feel of a real accident. Pacino's line (an ad-lib?) sends Kitty Winn into a fit of laughter.

One thing I gotta say that I truly loved about this film is that everyone, I mean everyone, is a user. From the thieves and hustlers and junkies to the cops. No cop with a heart of gold in this movie. He wants to make a bust and he's going to use the pretty girl to do it. I loved that.
In a remake, the handsome cop would want to save the girl, take her away from this world and make her his all his. Of course, in a remake the addicts would all share some huge loft with hip posters and hip furniture and hip music. Panic In Needle Park has no wallpaper. Very little furniture. The characters share a park bench where they drool and twitch. And, praise Jesus, there is no music in this movie, anywhere. None. Not one iota. Zero. Zip. Do not go looking for the soundtrack people, there ain't one.
So, to sum up... Panic In Needle Park is an early-seventies movie that has plenty of close-ups of needles breaking skin, lots of dialogue, very little action, a lot of stuff going on off-screen (and we're expected to use our brains to figure out), and no music.
Cannot recommend it enough.

So why are you still here? Find it, rent it, love it. Panic In Needle Park. This ain't your parents junkie film (actually - it is, funny, eh?).

If you staggered into here expecting to find pictures of unclothed ladies flinging pooh, I apologize. I'm not from around here. Maybe try later...

Strange Rumblings From New Jersey

Stumbling and staggering around the information superhighway, I came across something very cool. For folks that dig Kevin Smith and hate hurricanes, View Askew is hosting a charity auction. Some of the fun includes a barbeque at Kevin Smith's, a walk-on in Clerks 2, goodies from Jay and Silent Bob's Secret Stash.
Much coolness.
Sure, the starting bids might be high, but, if someone can afford it, look at what you get.
Check it out. What are you waiting for? Why are you still here?

Strange Rumblings From The Lunatic Fringe

When a rational explanation just won't do...
Let's talk today about conspiracy theory.
I could go on and on and on about all the questions and coincidences surrounding the assisination of JFK or Lincoln or Bush 2's election in 2000 or the attacks on September 11, 2001 or the death of Alexander the Great or the Cold War or the change in Barney Rubble's voice. I mean, hey, the Carlyle Group (including Bush 1 and a Bin Laden) were meeting at the Ritz Carlton in DC on 09/11/01. And Oswald's uncle was a mob driver and Ruby was a made man and Garrison had mob connections and I won't even go into the whole thing about Woody from Cheers' dad. And we will never know the entire truth about Mel Blanc, will we...

Anyway...

So a while ago, staggering around the world wide web, I came across the death of Hunter S. Thompson conspiracy theories. Uh-huh. That's right, they are out there... Oh, boy. Something about the truth about 09/11/01 and snuff films and satanism and pedophiles. Really. Here's an example of this nonsense. And here is a beautiful thing, picking these theories apart and dropping them in the mud.

And so I thought to myself, hey, self, this is got to be the height of crazy, right? (I'm going to state right here that, sure, this is not the height of crazy, but I'm not going near the racists or the kid-diddlers. I don't like sharing dna or the planet with these scum and I'm not going to create any traffic for those fucks. Even if only one person visits this blog-thing and hits one link, that is too much attention for shit that doesn't deserve to breath. We have to fight them in our own unique ways.) So, as I was saying, this is pretty nutty. In a "hey, that guy at the end of the bar is talking to himself, hee-hee" kind of way. In a "hey, that guy on the bus told me to drink my own urine if I want to live forever, hee-hee" kind of way.

And then today I staggered across what has to be the granddaddy of crazy. I'm talking about "hey that guy at the end of the bar who talks to himself just smeared feces on his face and is wearing Daisy Dukes and singing Sugar, Sugar by the Archies" kind of crazy. Hurricane Katrina, the one that just took out New Orleans and Biloxi and Gulfport and other towns and villages and just made a few hundred thousand people homeless was caused by (deep breath) the Yakuza. Yes, the Japanese mob caused a monster storm and steered it into Louisiana and Mississippi and Alabama.

I'm not kidding.

Check it out. You cannot make this shit up. And you thought it was just one freak.

Someone please explain to me why some of the people who can figure out this html-thing also tend to lean towards the insane side of life...

So good luck to all the crazies in the world topping this one. The bar has been truly raised.

If you staggered into here expecting to find pictures of unclothed ladies flinging pooh, I apologize. I'm not from around here.

Strange Rumblings From the Gulf Coast

I can't really think of anything remotely clever or witty or... whatever. Check out this blog...
I've got nothing. Just check it out. Click on the title bar above (Strange Rumblings From blah-blah-blah).
What are you waiting for? Why are you still here?

Strange Rumblings From The Big Easy

Chaos and death and anarchy and flooding and fires and explosions and folks shooting at the rescue helicopters and carjacking ambulances and stealing hospital generators and Homeland Security delaying Canadian relief efforts and complete incompetence from Washington and Condi Rice buying shoes in Manhattan and going to Spamalot and isn't this the same bunch of motherfuckers who snafu'd the 2001 attacks and isn't this the same jackass who sat like an inbred dog for 10 or 20 minutes after being told his country is under attack and then vanished for something like 24 hours and I wish I could say I was shocked and I wish I could say I was suprised and I wish I could say that I expected more from them but, man, the Bush administration is just about the most incompetent group of assholes that have ever run that country.
Would the federal end of the rescue be so completely and bewilderingly fucked if this had been Florida or Texas instead of Louisiana and Mississippi? Would Jeb have been left to float in the toxic waste if this had been Miami and not New Orleans? Just wondering.
I'd write more, but I just found this piece of inspiration on the (real) White House site, www.whitehouse.gov... It is truly hard to believe this fucksauce's hero is Churchill, isn't it. I get all weep-eyed whenever I re-read the bit about Trent Lott's house...

President Arrives in Alabama, Briefed on Hurricane Katrina
Mobile Regional Airport
Mobile, Alabama


10:35 A.M. CDT

THE PRESIDENT: Well, first I want to say a few things. I am incredibly proud of our Coast Guard. We have got courageous people risking their lives to save life. And I want to thank the commanders and I want to thank the troops over there for representing the best of America.

I want to congratulate the governors for being leaders. You didn't ask for this, when you swore in, but you're doing a heck of a job. And the federal government's job is big, and it's massive, and we're going to do it. Where it's not working right, we're going to make it right. Where it is working right, we're going to duplicate it elsewhere. We have a responsibility, at the federal level, to help save life, and that's the primary focus right now. Every life is precious, and so we're going to spend a lot of time saving lives, whether it be in New Orleans or on the coast of Mississippi.

We have a responsibility to help clean up this mess, and I want to thank the Congress for acting as quickly as you did. Step one is to appropriate $10.5 billion. But I've got to warn everybody, that's just the beginning. That's a small down payment for the cost of this effort. But to help the good folks here, we need to do it.

We are going to restore order in the city of New Orleans, and we're going to help supplement the efforts of the Mississippi Guard and others to restore order in parts of Mississippi. And I want to thank you for your strong statement of zero tolerance. The people of this country expect there to be law and order, and we're going to work hard to get it. In order to make sure there's less violence, we've got to get food to people. And that's a primary mission, is to get food to people. And there's a lot of food moving. And now the -- it's one thing to get it moving to a station, it's the next thing to get it in the hands of the people, and that's where we're going to spend a lot of time focusing.

We've got a lot of rebuilding to do. First, we're going to save lives and stabilize the situation. And then we're going to help these communities rebuild. The good news is -- and it's hard for some to see it now -- that out of this chaos is going to come a fantastic Gulf Coast, like it was before. Out of the rubbles of Trent Lott's house -- he's lost his entire house -- there's going to be a fantastic house. And I'm looking forward to sitting on the porch. (Laughter.)

GOVERNOR RILEY: He'll be glad to have you.

THE PRESIDENT: Out of New Orleans is going to come that great city again. That's what's going to happen. But now we're in the darkest days, and so we got a lot of work to do. And I'm down here to thank people. I'm down here to comfort people. I'm down here to let people know that we're going to work with the states and the local folks with a strategy to get this thing solved.

Now, I also want to say something about the compassion of the people of Alabama and Mississippi and Louisiana and surrounding states. I want to thank you for your compassion. Now is the time to love a neighbor like you'd like to be loved yourselves.

Governor Riley announced the fact that they're going to open up homes in military bases for stranded folks. And that's going to be very important and helpful.

My dad and Bill Clinton are going to raise money for governors' funds. The governors of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama will have monies available to them to help deal with the long-term consequences of this storm.

The faith-based groups and the community-based groups throughout this part of the world, and the country for that matter, are responding. If you want to help, give cash money to the Red Cross and the Salvation Army. That's where the first help will come. There's going to be plenty of opportunities to help later on, but right now the immediate concern is to save lives and get food and medicine to people so we can stabilize thesituation.

Again, I want to thank you all for -- and, Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job. The FEMA Director is working 24 -- (applause) -- they're working 24 hours a day.

Again, my attitude is, if it's not going exactly right, we're going to make it go exactly right. If there's problems, we're going to address the problems. And that's what I've come down to assure people of. And again, I want to thank everybody.

And I'm not looking forward to this trip. I got a feel for it when I flew over before. It -- for those who have not -- trying to conceive what we're talking about, it's as if the entire Gulf Coast were obliterated by a -- the worst kind of weapon you can imagine. And now we're going to go try to comfort people in that part of the world.

Thank you. (Applause.)

END 10:39 A.M. CDT

Parting words to live by - "And now we're going to go try to comfort people in that part of the world."


If you staggered into here expecting to find pictures of unclothed ladies flinging pooh, I apologize. I'm not from around here.