sarah palin

charlie rose talks to mccain's VP pick sarah palin (with janet napolitano of arizona) here at 36:25 after a discussion with cate blanchett.

change we can believe in

alluding to dr. martin luther king jr's speech in washington 45 years ago to the day, democratic presidential nominee barack obama said last night, "america, we cannot turn back. we cannot walk alone." in the original context: we cannot walk alone because the freedoms of black and white, prosperous and poor, are "inextricably bound." and we cannot turn back, "we shall always march ahead . . . until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream."

as "postracial" as obama's language is, it implies that the goals of the civil rights era, of a change in consciousness and the right to justice for all, have not yet been met. also, much is being made of obama outlining exactly what he means by "change" but he also pinned down "hope" as not just a buzz word but a concept rooted in the christian tradition, ending his speech by saying: "let us keep that promise, that american promise, and in the words of scripture hold firmly, without wavering, to the hope that we confess." (hebrews 10:23)

it's time to fly

about six years ago united airlines hired dutch animator michael dudok de wit to make them a commercial, a riff on his oscar-winning animation "father and daughter." they continue to support animation in a new series of ads set to different arrangements of gershwin's rhapsody in blue.

who knew?

bob dylan's son jesse directed how high, american pie 3, kicking & screaming (with will ferrell) AND the "yes we can" video.

"burn that bridge when we come to it"

aurora sent me this interview with robert downey jr. I saw the prestige on a DVD that kept skipping so I can't weigh in on that comparison, but I agree nothing nolan is nearly as smart as it thinks it is.

pink pineapple express

vadim found this article in the exileD that gets at what interested me about pineapple express, although I wouldn't say homoerotic so much as "homo-rhetoric."

"textbook malick"

the pineapple express review in the village voice uses this frustrating oxymoron to describe a scene in director david gordon green's new film. malick makes movies as he goes, responding to his stories' natural settings, writing as he shoots and edits -- that is to say, off-book. DGG and cinematographer tim orr only recreate the stylistic tics that are the symptoms of malick's process but separated from that process (shot at sony pictures studios in culver city, CA, produced by judd apatow, written by seth rogen and evan goldberg, edited by craig alpert) they lose their meaning.

bela tarr

the hungarian director was once described to me as "hyper film nerd obscure," he is now definitely hip to name drop. like michael haneke 3-5 years ago, people (americans) say they'd heard of him before the piano teacher and cache, or in tarr's case the werckmeister harmonies, but had they? I mean they've seen all his old movies now but there's really no way to know for sure. a youtube search yielded some interviews, pirated clips and a video of stella tarr(!). I want to see this movie so badly, I missed it at the new york film festival and fear I missed it forever.

UPDATE: it opened and closed at the MoMA while I was in maine [sigh].