From: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org (fegmaniax-digest) To: fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Subject: fegmaniax-digest V13 #191 Reply-To: fegmaniax@smoe.org Sender: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk fegmaniax-digest Thursday, July 1 2004 Volume 13 : Number 191 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Re: The greatest thing to happen to justice and liberty, since the Magna Carta. (NR) [Christopher Gross ] Fausting out ["Gene Hopstetter, Jr." ] Health care costs going up? [Barbara Soutar ] Re: Can (Bees Sold Separately) ["Fortissimo" ] Re: fegmaniax-digest V13 #190 [James Dignan ] Uncle Junior's summer gig? [Steve Talkowski ] Re: Uncle Junior's summer gig? [Capuchin ] Happy Canada Day! ["Stewart C. Russell" ] Re: Uncle Junior's summer gig? [Steve Talkowski ] Re: Happy Canada Day! [Capuchin ] Re: Health care costs going up? ["Stewart C. Russell" ] Re: Happy Canada Day! ["Stewart C. Russell" ] Re: Happy Canada Day! ["Stewart C. Russell" ] brand new human, potential feg ["Brian Huddell" ] RE: Fausting out [Dr John Halewood ] Re: Fausting out ["Rex Broome" ] Re: Fausting out [Jeff Dwarf ] RE: Fausting out ["Bachman, Michael" ] Re: brand new human, potential feg [Tom Clark ] Re: brand new human, potential feg ["Rex Broome" ] Fwd: Re: Fausting out ["Fortissimo" ] RE: Why CAN't I Touch It? (AKA Faust Cars) [Dr John Halewood ] Re: Uncle Junior's summer gig? [] Re: Uncle Junior's summer gig? [Capuchin ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 30 Jun 2004 22:27:16 -0400 (EDT) From: Christopher Gross Subject: Re: The greatest thing to happen to justice and liberty, since the Magna Carta. (NR) On Wed, 30 Jun 2004, steve wrote: > > > Another strange thing that made its way into my inbox, the deepest > living voice on earth. He can only claim that title because Russian general Alexander Lebed, who had the deepest voice in human history, died in 2002. - --Chris ______________________________________________________________________ Christopher Gross On the Internet, nobody knows I'm a dog. chrisg@gwu.edu ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 30 Jun 2004 21:17:33 -0500 From: "Gene Hopstetter, Jr." Subject: Rush Hitchcock Last Friday night, as I watched Rush tear shit up, I noticed that Alex Lifeson was showing the entire crowd that he is a dedicated fan of Mr. Robyn Hitchcock. Why? Well, Alex was wearing a black long-sleeved shirt with white polka dots all over it. And I'm pretty sure he was blinking a lot, too. And imagine my surprise when Rush broke into a totally smacking cover of "Fatman's Son" during their encore.* *That part's a lie. But the other part is totally true. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 30 Jun 2004 21:14:57 -0500 From: "Gene Hopstetter, Jr." Subject: Fausting out > From: Jon Lewis > Subject: Re: ghost/nurse *THEY'RE NOT KRAUT-KOUNTRY ANY MORE!!!* > > I'm largely ignorant of Faust since having a "mmehh" response to them > 10 or 11 years ago. I'm due for another listen on that front. I was on the fence about Faust for many years -- that noodly late stuff they did never grabbed me. But then I heard their first, s/t LP and I couldn't get it out of my head. "It's A Rainy Day, Sunshine Girl" is such a lovely tune. Weird. I can swear there are owls in my backyard right now. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 30 Jun 2004 20:15:06 -0400 From: Barbara Soutar Subject: Health care costs going up? Stewart, you were saying something about Ontariariario having huge health care costs coming up. That $600. a month per person sounds way too high, almost as much as in the States. We pay $108. for a family here in BC. As I recall, it used to be about the same in Ontario when I lived there but then they dropped all payments for a few years. A big mistake it seems. Yes, it was being predicted that the Conservative/Alliance Party was not only going to win, but was likely to become a majority government. I just about flipped out. And voted for the Liberals when I normally vote Green. Speaking of things green, how are your wind turbines doing in Toronto? Barbara Soutar Victoria, BC ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 01 Jul 2004 01:00:41 -0500 From: "Fortissimo" Subject: Re: Can (Bees Sold Separately) On Wed, 30 Jun 2004 11:36:52 -0700, "Rex.Broome" said: > Unfortunately "domestic price", at least at the only place where I > regularly see Can's albums available (that being the Virgin Mehhhgastore) > has come to mean "damn near $18". I see Amazon has them for less, but > there's that whole shipping thing. You mean the thing where if you spend more than $25, shipping is free? That would be a bit of a disincentive... But aren't there any good record stores near you (you know: buildings that have large collections of CDs for sale) that could order them for you? I mean, I know LA's a cultural wasteland and all, but geez... ;) - ------------------------------- ...Jeff J e f f r e y N o r m a n The Architectural Dance Society http://spanghew.blogspot.com/ :: Solipsism is its own reward :: :: --Crow T. Robot ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 1 Jul 2004 18:26:03 +1200 From: James Dignan Subject: Re: fegmaniax-digest V13 #190 > >Having just perused your updated site, I can say that I like the >results quite a bit. It >brings to mind another weird idea, seeing as >how I've been painting like mad myself >recently: the visual equivalent >of Tinfoil Thoths, original visual art by fegs... who else >does this >kind of thing? > >My several comics series (True Swamp, Ghost Ship, and Spectacles) kind >of count and kind of don't. Obviously, there's several hundred pages >of visual art there, but it's all driven by story. Halfway between >visual, er, "pieces" and the sheets of a novel manuscript. There's the >whole matter, too of their being only meant to be seen in >mass-reproduced form and not directly in person. Certainly I'm not one >of those cartoonists who get asked to hang their original pages in >gallery shows. well, neither would Robyn, but we like his cartoons, right? ISTR that (former?) listmember and mellotron, Mr. T. Marks is also a cartoonist. James - -- James Dignan, Dunedin, New Zealand -.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.- =-.-=-.-=-.- You talk to me as if from a distance .-=-.-=-.-=-. -=-. And I reply with impressions chosen from another time .-=- .-=-.-=-.-=-.-=- (Brian Eno - "By this River") -.-=-.-=-.-=-.-= ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 1 Jul 2004 10:34:12 -0400 From: Steve Talkowski Subject: Uncle Junior's summer gig? Separated at birth... htttp://idisk.mac.com/stevetalkowski/Public/comparison.jpg - -steve p.s. Spiderman 2 is da bomb! Even featured a Burt Bacharach tune. - -- Steve Talkowski Animation Director / Hornet Inc. 213 West 35th St. Suite 605 New York, NY 10001 http://www.hornetinc.com ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 1 Jul 2004 08:13:09 -0700 (PDT) From: Capuchin Subject: Re: Uncle Junior's summer gig? On Thu, 1 Jul 2004, Steve Talkowski wrote: > Separated at birth... > > htttp://idisk.mac.com/stevetalkowski/Public/comparison.jpg I think you just wanted two "t"s there. But what's the second picture supposed to be? I see Dom Chianese, but is the second one just some lookalike? I don't get it. > p.s. Spiderman 2 is da bomb! Even featured a Burt Bacharach tune. There aren't very many directors who know how to direct people AND special effects. In all honesty, I'd say there's Peter Jackson and Sam Raimi and that's about it. J. - -- _______________________________________________ Capuchin capuchin@bitmine.net Jeme A Brelin ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 01 Jul 2004 11:43:14 -0400 From: "Stewart C. Russell" Subject: Happy Canada Day! I'm about to do the patriotic thing -- fire up the grill, drink beer, and eat burnt meat sitting on the deck ... Stewart ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 1 Jul 2004 12:03:24 -0400 From: Steve Talkowski Subject: Re: Uncle Junior's summer gig? On Jul 1, 2004, at 11:13 AM, Capuchin wrote: > On Thu, 1 Jul 2004, Steve Talkowski wrote: >> Separated at birth... >> >> htttp://idisk.mac.com/stevetalkowski/Public/comparison.jpg > > I think you just wanted two "t"s there. Of course I caught that immediately after hitting send. I think it's safe to assume that (most) people are smart enough to figure out it's two "t"s instead of three. At least one hopes so... > But what's the second picture supposed to be? I see Dom Chianese, but > is > the second one just some lookalike? I don't get it. Do you not have a Six Flags theme park in your neck of the woods? This character is their new "spokesman" for commercials currently bombarding the East Coast - every morning I hear that annoying "We Like To Party" by the Vengaboys that accompanies the ad. http://www.sixflags.com/index.asp (one of the promos can be viewed here) >> p.s. Spiderman 2 is da bomb! Even featured a Burt Bacharach tune. > > There aren't very many directors who know how to direct people AND > special > effects. In all honesty, I'd say there's Peter Jackson and Sam Raimi > and > that's about it. I agree, and have absolutely no idea what A.O. Scott from the NY Times is smoking when he writes: "but Mr. Raimi, who cut his teeth on the gory, low-budget horror of the "Evil Dead" franchise, is not a slave to fancy computer-generated special effects. He uses them  no filmmaker working in this genre today can afford not to  but the digitized scenes of flight and fighting are the weakest parts of the movie, since Mr. Raimi does not have Peter Jackson's knack (or Steven Spielberg's) for seamlessly combining C.G.I. with more traditional moviemaking." WTF? I do this professionally, and can say with unbias that the fighting scenes were some of the most dynamically animated and convincingly integrated sequences I've yet to see in this genre. - -Steve ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 1 Jul 2004 09:07:35 -0700 (PDT) From: Capuchin Subject: Re: Happy Canada Day! On Thu, 1 Jul 2004, Stewart C. Russell wrote: > I'm about to do the patriotic thing -- fire up the grill, drink beer, > and eat burnt meat sitting on the deck ... Why do you have burnt meat sitting on the deck? J. - -- _______________________________________________ Capuchin capuchin@bitmine.net Jeme A Brelin ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 01 Jul 2004 12:02:23 -0400 From: "Stewart C. Russell" Subject: Re: Health care costs going up? Barbara Soutar wrote: > That $600. a month per person sounds way > too high, almost as much as in the States. It's 600/year, per person. The bloating corpse of McGuinty would already be swinging from its lamppost had it been $7200/year. Catherine and I are probably going to have to pay about $1200 total for this. If we were both millionaires, we'd pay $1800, the maximum. Not a particularly fair distribution of costs, but if it really improves healthcare, it may be worth it. > And voted for the Liberals when I normally vote Green. There was a lot of strategic voting going on. At least the Greens got enough votes to get federal funding. > Speaking of things green, how are your wind turbines doing in Toronto? Still a singular turbine, but we hope very soon to make it two. The world is still beating a path to our door in Burlington for windfarm design. cheers, Stewart ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 1 Jul 2004 09:17:21 -0700 (PDT) From: Jeff Dwarf Subject: Re: Happy Canada Day! "Stewart C. Russell" wrote: > I'm about to do the patriotic thing -- fire up the grill, > drink beer, and eat burnt meat sitting on the deck ... It's not that hard to not burn the meat, ya'know. ===== "Life is just a series of dogs." -- George Carlin "I'm going to keep playing music until somebody shoots me." -- Scott McCaughey "It would not now surprise me in the least if, one night on TV, right there during The Memo, [Bill] O'Reilly declared himself to be the Grand Duchess Anastasia." -- Charles Pierce on MSNBC.com __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail - 50x more storage than other providers! http://promotions.yahoo.com/new_mail ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 01 Jul 2004 12:42:37 -0400 From: "Stewart C. Russell" Subject: Re: Happy Canada Day! Jeff Dwarf wrote: > > It's not that hard to not burn the meat, ya'know. Yeah, but I feel that -- as a Scottish expat, for whom BBQs were an annual exercise in rain dodging -- I have to recreate the badly executed grills of my youth. If cheap sausages half reduced to charcoal were good enough for my father, well ... Actually, I'm more likely to have a bison burger in a flax-seed pita with blue cheese. It's rather good. cheers, Stewart ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 01 Jul 2004 12:43:33 -0400 From: "Stewart C. Russell" Subject: Re: Happy Canada Day! Capuchin wrote: > > Why do you have burnt meat sitting on the deck? To appease the raccoon spirits, of course! Stewart ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 1 Jul 2004 07:40:45 -0500 From: "Brian Huddell" Subject: brand new human, potential feg Please welcome into the world Julian Earl Huddell, 7 lbs 9 oz, non-smoker, likes breasts. +brian in New Orleans ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 1 Jul 2004 17:56:58 +0100 From: Dr John Halewood Subject: RE: Fausting out > From: Gene Hopstetter, Jr. [mailto:ehopstetter@satx.rr.com] > I was on the fence about Faust for many years -- that noodly > late stuff > they did never grabbed me. But then I heard their first, s/t > LP and I > couldn't get it out of my head. "It's A Rainy Day, Sunshine Girl" is > such a lovely tune. This confuses me, as "Rainy Day Sunshine Girl" was on the second Faust album, "So Far". It is on my copy anyway. On the other hand, I did get the chance to see Faust live on Halloween a couple of years ago and it was definitely the most awesome concert I've ever attended. They were doing the 'Faust wakes Nosferatu' tour - basically Faust playing a soundtrack to the original movie. The stage was littered with pieces of rusting metal covered with cobwebs which constituted the drum kit and a couple of angle grinders were put to good use on them. The music jumped all over the place - flute and acoustic bass one minute, sub-Hawkwind guitar the next, then seven bells being knocked out of anything that looked hittable on the stage. The last half hour in particular was astonishing - every time you thought it couldn't get any louder or more intense it managed to move up another gear until finally, just as the film ended and the credits began to roll they switched to a gentle pastoral melody to bring everything back down gently. Their synchronisation with the film itself was absolutely spot on. I did feel quite sorry for the guy sitting next to me though - it had been advertised as a screening of the film with Faust playing accompaniment and I don't think he knew who Faust were and probably expected a pianist or string quartet. The poor sod spent most of the evening looking like he was strapped down in a wind tunnel and just wanted to escape. cheers john, Krautrock junkie of the first degree, who's recently found another person who actually had a copy of a Harmonia album. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 01 Jul 2004 10:21:05 -0700 From: "Rex Broome" Subject: Re: Fausting out Gene: >Weird. I can swear there are owls in my backyard right now. You'd better double-check... the owls are not what they seem. - -Rex Need a new email address that people can remember Check out the new EudoraMail at http://www.eudoramail.com ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 1 Jul 2004 10:29:35 -0700 (PDT) From: Jeff Dwarf Subject: Re: Fausting out Gene wrote: > Weird. I can swear there are owls in my backyard right > now. Beats skinheads on the lawn. ===== "Life is just a series of dogs." -- George Carlin "I'm going to keep playing music until somebody shoots me." -- Scott McCaughey "It would not now surprise me in the least if, one night on TV, right there during The Memo, [Bill] O'Reilly declared himself to be the Grand Duchess Anastasia." -- Charles Pierce on MSNBC.com __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? New and Improved Yahoo! Mail - 100MB free storage! http://promotions.yahoo.com/new_mail ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 1 Jul 2004 13:36:31 -0400 From: "Bachman, Michael" Subject: RE: Fausting out Gene: >Weird. I can swear there are owls in my backyard right now. Rex: >You'd better double-check... the owls are not what they seem. Maybe the owls are looking for "A clean place, reasonably priced" Michael B. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 1 Jul 2004 10:37:10 -0700 From: Tom Clark Subject: Re: brand new human, potential feg On Jul 1, 2004, at 5:40 AM, Brian Huddell wrote: > Please welcome into the world Julian Earl Huddell, 7 lbs 9 oz, > non-smoker, > likes breasts. > Congrats! Takes after the old man, I trust! Enjoy your sleepless nights, - -tc ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 01 Jul 2004 10:55:35 -0700 From: "Rex Broome" Subject: Re: brand new human, potential feg Brian Huddell: >Please welcome into the world Julian Earl Huddell, 7 lbs 9 oz, non-smoker, >likes breasts. Congratulations! Only a matter of time before silly little laughs start showing up on all your recordings... - -Rex Need a new email address that people can remember Check out the new EudoraMail at http://www.eudoramail.com ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 01 Jul 2004 13:03:02 -0500 From: "Sumiko Keay" Subject: Re: brand new human, potential feg Congratulations! Sumi >>> "Brian Huddell" 07/01/04 07:40AM >>> Please welcome into the world Julian Earl Huddell, 7 lbs 9 oz, non-smoker, likes breasts. +brian in New Orleans ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 01 Jul 2004 11:12:59 -0700 From: "Rex Broome" Subject: Why CAN't I Touch It? (AKA Faust Cars) Jeffrey >But aren't there any good record stores near you (you know: buildings >that have large collections of CDs for sale) that could order them for >you? > >I mean, I know LA's a cultural wasteland and all, but geez... ;) Well, har dee har har. It's a snarky feg day, I can feel it in my bones... when Stewart takes heat from more than one person for what seemed like a pretty normal description of a barbecue, you know something's up. Seriously, re: the Can releases I don't have, it really comes down to the fact that I tend to pick up my back-catalog albums used when I can, and sometimes it takes me a while (in this case, obviously, years) to register the fact that some records are only ever purchased by people who really want them, never to darken a used bin thereafter. That plus the fact when you're looking at a substantial catalog, it's sometimes hard to choose which record to throw your first $16 at when your wishlist indicates that you're only missing one John Cale record, or whatever. I actually did visit some of those buildings with the CD's for sale yesterday... three in fact... only one whole Can record to be found between them; an $18 copy of Future Days. On the flipside, I just got paid, so... Amazon, here I come, over $25 worth of ambition clutched in my virtual hand... - -Rex Need a new email address that people can remember Check out the new EudoraMail at http://www.eudoramail.com ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 1 Jul 2004 15:45:23 -0400 From: "Bachman, Michael" Subject: RE: Why CAN't I Touch It? (AKA Faust Cars) Rex wrote: >I actually did visit some of those buildings with the CD's for sale yesterday... three in fact... only one whole Can record to be found between them; an $18 copy of Future Days. On the flipside, I just got. paid, so... Amazon, here I come, over $25 worth of ambition clutched in my virtual hand... I believe I will be doing some Can and Neu! shopping at Amazon next week myself. My Krautrock content in my CD collection consists only of 4 Kraftwerk discs. Michael B. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 1 Jul 2004 16:05:26 -0400 From: Jon Lewis Subject: Re: Why CAN't I Touch It? (AKA Faust Cars) > I actually did visit some of those buildings with the CD's for sale > yesterday... three in fact... only one whole Can record to be found > between them; an $18 copy of Future Days. On the flipside, I just got > paid, so... Amazon, here I come, over $25 worth of ambition clutched > in my virtual hand... > > -Rex > Yeah, don't pay that for Future Days. If you have the two Cannibalisms, you're only lacking one track off that album, the 20-minute Bel Air. It's good, but not as good as the ones on the A side. One more core Kraut recommendation to add to my previously mooted Harmonia, Can, Amon Duul II, Popol Vuh and Cluster. You've gotta check out the second Ash Ra Tempel, called Schwingungen. An amazing marriage of classic psych-guitar freakout, space drone, proto-"Metal Box" rivmic menace, and pidgin-English eloquence. One track is called "Flowers Must Die". Available domestically now from Purple Pyramid, probably findable used all over the place. Jon Lewis ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 01 Jul 2004 15:15:08 -0500 From: "Fortissimo" Subject: Fwd: Re: Fausting out > On Thu, 1 Jul 2004 10:29:35 -0700 (PDT), "Jeff Dwarf" > said: > > Gene wrote: > > > Weird. I can swear there are owls in my backyard right > > > now. > > > > Beats skinheads on the lawn. > > Or those lawnchairs that are everywhere, everywhere, and my mind > describes them to me. > ------------------------------- > > ...Jeff > > J e f f r e y N o r m a n > The Architectural Dance Society > http://spanghew.blogspot.com/ > :: "In two thousand years, they'll still be looking for Elvis - > :: this is nothing new," said the priest. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 1 Jul 2004 22:34:08 +0100 From: Dr John Halewood Subject: RE: Why CAN't I Touch It? (AKA Faust Cars) > From: Jon Lewis [mailto:jlewis@gator.net] > One more core Kraut recommendation to add to my previously mooted > Harmonia, Can, Amon Duul II, Popol Vuh and Cluster. You've > gotta check > out the second Ash Ra Tempel, called Schwingungen. Seconded. As a caveat though, I would warn that the Ash Ra Tempel material beyond the first couple of albums does wander off into synth-drone territory (which I happen to love, but I thought it was worth saying - and on 'E2-E4' they accidentally invent techno without realising it). Also a lot of the Amon Duul II stuff post 'Carnival in Babylon' gets a bit naff - suddenly in about 1975 they decided to go Euro-pop and it didn't work. I'd also add to the list early Guru Guru (psychedelic guitar-bass-drum jamming) and Grobschnitt (similar, but then they went all prog). For the later era of classic Krautrock, Michael Rother's solo albums (he was the guitarist in Neu!) are often wonderful, as is the work of La Dusseldorf. cheers john p.s. I haven't even got onto the French acts yet. Magma, Richard Pinhas.... ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 01 Jul 2004 15:39:34 -0700 From: "Rex Broome" Subject: Too Faust For You (AKA Amon Duul II You What You Did II Me) Dr. John: >>I'd also add to >the list early Guru Guru (psychedelic guitar-bass-drum jamming) and >Grobschnitt (similar, but then they went all prog). For the later era of >classic Krautrock, Michael Rother's solo albums (he was the guitarist in >Neu!) are often wonderful, as is the work of La Dusseldorf. Okay, it rapidly becomes apparent to me that there is a *fuckload* more Krautrock out there than I ever ever suspected. Dare one hope that there might be a Rosetta Stone in the form of a nice multi-artist compilation box or summat? Bit of a niche market, cross-licensing nightmare, and hard to imagine as coherent since you've got equal parts 11+ minute drone epics and sub-60-second experimental blips to process, but one can dream... >p.s. I haven't even got onto the French acts yet. Magma, Richard Pinhas.... Umm, this is French Krautrock we're talking about? French...? Kraut...? Rock...? Well, having witnessed the big retro-renaissance in Brazilian Psychedelia a few years back, I guess I'll just nod here and pretend I understand. - -Rex np. Tom Ze, except not so much Need a new email address that people can remember Check out the new EudoraMail at http://www.eudoramail.com ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 01 Jul 2004 18:52:34 -0400 From: "Stewart C. Russell" Subject: Re: Too Faust For You (AKA Amon Duul II You What You Did II Me) Rex Broome wrote: > > Okay, it rapidly becomes apparent to me that there is a *fuckload* > more Krautrock out there than I ever ever suspected. Dare one hope > that there might be a Rosetta Stone in the form of a nice > multi-artist compilation box or summat? Julian Cope wrote a guide to KrautRock, Krautrocksampler -- he has lots of links about the genre on his site. Stewart ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 1 Jul 2004 16:22:34 -0700 (PDT) From: Capuchin Subject: Re: Uncle Junior's summer gig? On Thu, 1 Jul 2004, Steve Talkowski wrote: > Do you not have a Six Flags theme park in your neck of the woods? No. Except for some very small, crappy mom & pop places, there is nothing you'd call a "theme park" in the Pacific Northwest. Also, I couldn't tell you the last time I saw a television commercial... let alone a broadcast television show. I read news and watch video that I either downloaded or borrowed from the video store (not rent, they don't charge me). > This character is their new "spokesman" for commercials currently > bombarding the East Coast - every morning I hear that annoying "We Like > To Party" by the Vengaboys that accompanies the ad. So is this guy SUPPOSED to look like Dom Chianese? I mean, if that shot is representative, he's a dead ringer. Seems like it has to be intentional. > http://www.sixflags.com/index.asp (one of the promos can be viewed here) That apparently requires "Windows Media Player". There's no open protocol called "mms". > On Jul 1, 2004, at 11:13 AM, Capuchin wrote: > > There aren't very many directors who know how to direct people AND > > special effects. In all honesty, I'd say there's Peter Jackson and > > Sam Raimi and that's about it. > > I agree, Good. > A.O. Scott from the NY Times [...] writes: > > "but Mr. Raimi, who cut his teeth on the gory, low-budget horror of the > "Evil Dead" franchise, is not a slave to fancy computer-generated > special effects. He uses them  no filmmaker working in this genre > today can afford not to  but the digitized scenes of flight and > fighting are the weakest parts of the movie, since Mr. Raimi does not > have Peter Jackson's knack (or Steven Spielberg's) for seamlessly > combining C.G.I. with more traditional moviemaking." > > WTF? > > I do this professionally, and can say with unbias that the fighting > scenes were some of the most dynamically animated and convincingly > integrated sequences I've yet to see in this genre. I don't think you can take any reviewer (dare I say "critic"?) seriously who gives cred to Spielberg. The man may have some understanding of visuals, but he clearly has no idea what actors do. I remember very clearly the first time I saw Heavenly Creatures and I thought to myself, "This is a whole new kind of movie. The real and unreal serve the same purpose in the narrative and only enhance one another." The Lord Of The Rings proves me right, I think. Peter Jackson is like Jackson Pollock or something; both pioneer and master of the craft. Of the recent superhero film spree, only Spiderman has really been able to hold to that standard. I had high hopes for X-Men and while I really loved the movies, they had a more "classical" special effects style. I mean, isn't it true that the openning sequence of X2 is the best part of the whole movie? And it's only barely related to the story. Bryan Singer is great with actors and that's why those movies stand above most of the other crud (Hulk, anyone?), but Spiderman has people AND magic working together. J. - -- _______________________________________________ Capuchin capuchin@bitmine.net Jeme A Brelin ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 1 Jul 2004 17:04:03 -0700 From: Subject: Re: Uncle Junior's summer gig? >Also, I couldn't tell you the last time I saw a television commercial... >let alone a broadcast television show. Lordy. > So is this guy SUPPOSED to look like Dom Chianese? He always makes me think of "Urkel" with progeria. This character's popularity is such an odd phenomenon. More fodder for that hazy "Virtues of Annoyance" thesis which I've had drifting around my head for years. > I don't think you can take any reviewer (dare I say "critic"?) seriously > who gives cred to Spielberg. Personally, I'm more likely to give cred to a Spielberg fan than to anyone who would have "high hopes" for an X-Men movie. Eb ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 1 Jul 2004 18:48:35 -0700 (PDT) From: Capuchin Subject: Re: Uncle Junior's summer gig? On Thu, 1 Jul 2004 elbroome@earthlink.net wrote: > >Also, I couldn't tell you the last time I saw a television commercial... > >let alone a broadcast television show. > > Lordy. In all seriousness, what's that supposed to mean? Is it just surprise? Is it disappointment? Is it empathetic regret? Pride? Glee? Anger? > > So is this guy SUPPOSED to look like Dom Chianese? > > He always makes me think of "Urkel" with progeria. On closer inspection of the picture, I see that he might be heavily wrinkled with really flappy skin. Is it a digital animation? > This character's popularity is such an odd phenomenon. More fodder for > that hazy "Virtues of Annoyance" thesis which I've had drifting around > my head for years. I've been thinking about that "good annoying/bad annoying" thing since you mentioned it. Still haven't put my finger on the difference except that one stimulates further thoughts, ideas, or curiosities and the other doesn't. The cause (and type) of stimulation might vary arbitrarily from instance to instance, though. > > I don't think you can take any reviewer (dare I say "critic"?) > > seriously who gives cred to Spielberg. > > Personally, I'm more likely to give cred to a Spielberg fan than to > anyone who would have "high hopes" for an X-Men movie. Well, I LIKE action movies. But I think they need a decent storyline and good character development. X-Men has a long history of character development on which the filmmaker could draw and it's really just a juvenile action series, so I had some high hopes. I also really like internally consistent alternate realities. But I only really like them if I can't find problems with the system. So are you writing that it's more reasonable to enjoy the pandering of LCD pap than to simply want to enjoy an action movie with good character development? J. - -- _______________________________________________ Capuchin capuchin@bitmine.net Jeme A Brelin ------------------------------ End of fegmaniax-digest V13 #191 ********************************