Brookswords

Welcome to the Wild World of Teabonics

It appears that a number of signs have been spotted at Tea Party rallies that suggest that these groups have a way with words. A very creative way, that is. President Obama, according to various protest signs that have been photographed and can be viewed here, wants to ignore the constution, force socilism on are country, mortage our daugters' future, and turn us into Gemany. But, by keeping infromed from Fox News, resisance can grow, and we can repeel Congress, kick out bad polititions and impeah Obama. (Oh, and Obama also wants alliens to cross the boarder and never learn the English langaguage.)

This isn't a new phenomenon, however; check out this photo from 'o8--at an anti-Obama protest before he moved into the White House.

(My apologies if this post has driven your spell check crazy!)    

Demon...Sheep?

Things are getting strange here in California, with the sudden appearance of a very bizarre political attack ad. It has been variously described as the wildest, worst, and weirdest political ad ever. Supposedly about a wolf in sheep's clothing, towards the end of the ad you seem someone crawling away, in dress shoes covered by a blanket. That ain't no wolf.

Strangely enough, a few years back there was a movie about demonic sheep, a parody of bad b-movies. It was actually pretty funny; I wrote about here a few years ago here.

Here is the 'demon sheep' ad, which seems like a parody, followed by my favorite real parody of political attack ads.

Missing Dignity

Saw this posted on a telephone pole here in Echo Park. Funny stuff. Click on the photo to read the text below the picture. (The Short Stop, Little Joy and The Gold Room are all Echo Park bars.) And here's a tune on the same subject.

12 Dignity (original version)

Monty Python on IFC

Tonight the Independent Film Channel begins a 6-part documentary on the Monty Python comedy troupe, Monty Python; Almost the Truth (The Lawyer's Cut), which, in the words of the LA Times, 'beats any Python documentary yet made for comprehensiveness and depth'. The doc, however, is only part Of IFC's celebration of Monty Python on the 40th anniversary of their formation in 1969; there will also be a number of Python movies this week as well. The title of tonight's first installment of Almost the Truth is drolly Pythonesque -- 'The Not-So-Exciting Beginnings'.

Here's a classic bit, via YouTube:

Taking Off

Until recently, I had only seen the film Taking Off once, yet it has always been one of my favorites. I've seen it only once because, bizarrely, it has never been released on VHS or DVD.  I say bizarrely because it was a critical success and the first American film by Milos Forman--a hero of the Czech new wave cinema of the 60's who, after relocating to America, went on to direct 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest' (he received the Best Director Oscar for that), 'Amadeus' and many others. I was finally able to see it once again on The Sundance Channel, and now  Taking Off can be seen on You Tube in 9 clips of about 10 minutes each.

Released in 1971, Taking Off centers on a 15 year old runaway (15 and a half as she notes at one point) and the the frenzied reaction of her parents--played by Lynn Carlin (whatever happened to her?) and Buck Henry, whose deadpan comic instincts have never worked to better advantage. 'Taking Off'  is one of the best takes on the generation gap of the 60's and 70's; one critic termed it the 'sweetest of generation gap movies'. There's a telling scene early in the film where the parents and another couple enter the missing daughter's bedroom in a search for clues to her whereabouts; they look and behave like a group of explorers on some far distant planet. It's interesting that a foreigner would pull it off such an accurate--at times poignant, at other times hilarious--portrayal of America at the time when so many native born American directors tackled the same subject in ham-handed ways.  (Sissy Spacek and Henry Winkler are probably still trying to forget their involvement in 1975's 'Katherine'.)

Taking Off reminds me of one of my more current favorites, Little Miss Sunshine; they both they both weave comedy & drama in pitch perfect fashion.  99% of the time, blending the two is a disaster (think Adam Sandler) but when it works, it is truly sublime.

Finally, here's the scene where the parents enter the strange, new world of their daughter's bedroom.

 

 

Wife Power!

The Ku Klux Klan comes to town. How to respond? To ignore their racist rants seems somehow wrong.  But staging a protest only plays into the hands of these knuckleheads. Heavily caffeinated Klansters & protesters are arrested, & the media shows up to chronicle the whole ugly mess.

Finally a fitting -- and admittedly absurd -- response to a Nazi/Klan white supremacist rally at Knoxville, South Carolina.  The ARA  (Anti-Racist Action) 'clown posse' showed up at the rally, pretending to support these idiots --- and the KKK rally was transformed into a nice example of performance art comedy, while the Klansters became even more unhinged than usual:

Alex Linder the lead organizer of the rally kicked off events by rushing the clowns in a fit of rage, and was promptly arrested by 4 Knoxville police officers who dropped him to the ground when he resisted and dragged him off past the red shiny shoes of the clowns.

“White Power!” the Nazi’s shouted, “White Flour?” the clowns yelled back running in circles throwing flour in the air and raising separate letters which spelt “White Flour”.

“White Power!” the Nazi’s angrily shouted once more, “White flowers?” the clowns cheers and threw white flowers in the air and danced about merrily.

“White Power!” the Nazi’s tried once again in a doomed and somewhat funny attempt to clarify their message, “ohhhhhh!” the clowns yelled “Tight Shower!” and held a solar shower in the air and all tried to crowd under to get clean as per the Klan’s directions.

The clown women thought they finally understood what the Klan was trying to say. “Ohhhhh…” the women clowns said. “Now we understand…”, “WIFE POWER!” they lifted the letters up in the air, grabbed the nearest male clowns and lifted them in their arms and ran about merrily chanting “WIFE POWER! WIFE POWER! WIFE POWER!”

Police, rather than hauling some protesters to jail as usual, happily escorted them away.

The cops stopped the clowns and counter protesters. “Hey, do you want an escort” an African-American police officer on a motorcycle asked. “Yes” a clown replied. “We are walking to Market Square in the center of town to celebrate.”

The police officers got in front of the now anti racist parade and blocked the entire road for the march through the heart of Knoxville.   

Crazy McCain Rally Lady

It's a strange sight these days seeing John McCain, in the final weeks of his ten year quest for the Presidency, fending off wing nuts in his own audience. But it's also weirdly appropriate; these crackpots are only responding, like Pavlov's dogs, to the red meat of the McCain campaign--which is trying to scare the country out of voting for Obama. Here's a clip of the now infamous 'Crazy McCain Rally Lady', followed by SNL's take. SNL should really be paying the McCain-Palin ticket these days; their ratings have shot up due to all the rich material they've been feasting on lately.

Enough food metaphors. Cue the videos.

Lars & The Real Girl

The upcoming Ryan Gosling film, 'Lars and the Real Girl', is getting a lot of positive buzz after its debut at last month's Toronto Film Festival, and is already at 91% at Rotten Tomatoes.  It appears to be one of those risky mixtures of comedy & drama that I've written about in an earlier post.  Gosling, fresh off his Oscar nomination for 'Half Nelson', has, from what I've seen in the trailer, taken a 180% turn from from previous roles--he has a touch of Stan Laurel in him this time.  And it seems from the trailer that Emily Mortimer, a neighbor of mine here in Echo Park, also shines.

Here's part of a Canadian article about the Toronto fest.  Gosling is even dabbling in comedy in his interviews now; here he reflects on the life size doll Bianca's presence on the set of 'Lars And The Real Girl'.

As the assembled media chuckled at their stories of how the cast and crew treated Bianca with respect and reverence throughout the shoot, Gosling chided playfully: "Laugh all you want, but I challenge all of you to spend 20 minutes in Bianca's presence and not fall in love."

His bond with Bianca became so real, claimed the grinning Gosling, that he now owns one of the two Biancas used during the film - but he refused to say in what room in his house the doll resides. Gosling sheepishly acknowledged that his girlfriend, Canadian actress Rachel McAdams, isn't so thrilled about Bianca's presence.

Serious for a moment, Gosling acknowledged he fell in love with the script by Nancy Oliver, adding that he's on pins and needles waiting to see how the film is received. It goes into mainstream release on Oct. 21.

"I'm really proud of it and I'm more anxious to see what people think of it than any movie I've ever done - it's so special and there's nothing really that I can compare it to," he said.

Gosling has nothing to worry about if the positive buzz about the movie on the festival circuit is any indication.

Here is the trailer, followed by an interview with Ryan Gosling by Canadian ET.

Be Afraid. Be Very Afraid.

They're not gonna take it anymore!  In the new comedy Black Sheep, heretofore peaceful animals are mightily ticked off and aim to settle quite a lot of scores with their human owners.  The very idea of these most peaceful of animals turning malevolent is the height of incongruity.  Imagine the character, above, showing up in your doorway, acting like a steamed Tony Soprano.

It's only a movie, though.  Surely those animals that tend to cozy up to us humans wouldn't end up turning on us...but wait, there's this recent news report from Florida... 

Marine Officials Warn of Biting Dolphins

Marine researchers are warning about a growing number of dolphin bite cases in Sarasota County, according to a Local 6 News report."It seems reasonable to understand why you wouldn't feed a bear or something more dangerous-appearing, but these are wild animals," dolphin researcher Jason Allen said. "They are wild animals with lots of sharp teeth."

Nikki Finke on her Deadline Hollywood Daily blog notes that this latest news is a perfect set-up for a money-making sequel: Flipper II: He's Not Your Friend Anymore.

Alarming News

I didn't learn until this morning of an impending crisis in rock music; read it & weep:

Report: Only 7 Band Names Remaining

NEW YORK—According to data released Monday by the International Registry of Rock Band Names, only seven of the estimated 518 million potential names for musical acts remain available.

"Following the selection of 'The Stripped Amygdaloids,' 'A Purple Spray Of Cloth Violets,' and 'Guestowel' this past weekend, it is essential that new bands pick a name as soon as possible," read a statement on the organization's website. "Bands that wish to form after all names have been taken will be have to wait until a name becomes available, which could take anywhere from 10 minutes to 30 years."

This reminds me of an incident from decades ago.  As a child, I was (and I still am) a music lover.  I also had my share of obscure anxieties. This two traits, when combined, were a strange brew--one time I asked my dad if the day would soon arrive when all of the musical tunes will have been written, and no more new music would be made. He treated the question respectfully and assured me that I needn't worry about that.  (One can only imagine the look on his face after I walked away.)