(re: icon, not broke in a laughy way)

[charloween]

I think watching Red State* and Melancholia** as a double bill was probably a worse idea than that time in high school when we watched Requiem for a Dream followed by Lilo & Stitch.

*From the director of Dogma: What Kevin Smith actually thinks about jump-cuts, religion and gun control.
**From the director of The Idiots and Antichrist: another group of depressing, unsettling people from Lars von Trier.

In the last week I've also seen Last Year in Marienbad (arty unsettling film set in a European chateau) and Wings of Desire (arty slow film set in 80s Berlin with bonus stock footage of WW2, hooray) so taking those two with Melancholia (arty slow unsettling film set in a European chateau during the apocalypse), Red State (snappy, tense, shot-on-video, callous/brutal, had a few jokes, set in the US) was a refreshing change.

I like Kevin Smith when he's angry and has a severely limited budget. He gets good actors to do good work. There's also Stuff to say about his use of jump cuts: creating a fractured world where no one - especially not the audience - exists in an unbroken linear continuity, etc. (also! David Marciano has a cameo!)

I don't know why I keep watching films by Lars von Trier. Well, that's a lie. He's good at making films that stick, unforgettable. But was it worth being masterfully depressed for two hours and haunted for hours after? As yet uncertain.

Recommendations for things not depressing heartily welcomed.

Comments

[serrico]

Thing Not Heartily Depressing: http://www.muchadomovie.com/

I mean, it's all over the internet by now, so you've probably heard about it. But, yes!

Also: http://animalstalkinginallcaps.tumblr.com/

AND! http://ask-soulless-cas.tumblr.com/

[charloween]

I'll believe Much Ado when I see something more than just a poster with a long list of amazing names on it.

And OMG tumblr time suck! *claps hands* Hooray!! (Oh, hipster-skewering. Love it. I was stewarding a gig recently some d-bag got sniffy that we weren't selling vinyl. Then he came back to us after the show - he was press and wanted to interview band. Kept repeating the names of the magazines he'd be syndicated into, and obviously he was new at this because he didn't pick up on how unimpressed we were. Whatevs. Tell it to the band. His date was dressed like she fell into a scarf drawer, got a bit tangled on her way out, and decided she liked the look. Hipsters.)

[serrico]

There is also an interview with Whedon, Maher, and Acker! And stills!

http://insidemovies.ew.com/2011/10/24/joss-whedon-sean-maher-amy-acker-much-ado-exclusive/

WHAT SAY YOU TO *THAT*???

I still don't totally *get* tumblr? And am in that pre-getting-one-of-my-own phase of being very annoyed that most of fandom's (enjoyable) silliness has jumped ship from LJ/DW over there. But I *do not* object to being linked to amusing things.

Hipsters. Heh. *g*

[sesquipedaliatic]

Gaaa! I hadn't seen that article yet! And I was all excited when the press release popped up on the site.

Amusingly, the various Shakespeare related blogs and Twitters I follow (... yes, I know) have been buzzing about this more than any other group. Apparently there are lots of Shakespeare scholars who are Joss fans!

I'm fairly sure I've linked one or both of you to this but: http://wtfrudoinjamesmcavoy.tumblr.com/

Simbaaaaaaa! will ALWAYS make me giggle.

[charloween]

I'm excited because of seeing one version of the play (twice) and you know how I like comparing versions of things.

(And, wait, Sean Maher has only been out since last month? Huh.)

I wish that tumblr was still being updated. :(

[serrico]

Comparing versions of things is a large part of what being fannish about media *is*, isn't it? I know it's one of my favourite pastimes! (Compare/contrast! Compare/contrast! JUXTAPOSE!)

(Somebody on my flist said that, after Maher and Quinto, we just need Bomer to complete the Least Newsworthy Coming Out Trifecta.)

[charloween]

I'm afraid that one day I'll make good on my threat to track down all the times British actors have played Van Gogh and vid them. Mostly just the one with John Simm, the one with Benedict Cumberbatch, and the DW episode. And finding a better song than CSS's "Art Bitch".

(It's like, scrolling past a headline and then double-taking because [insert name] wasn't actually out? I forget for most of the world penises touching other penises voluntarily is still a big deal.)

[charloween]

And on a more serious note, I credit fandom and fannish ways of watching for making film school make sense, especially when the masculinized cinephilia of the discipline was too obtuse.*

*aka HARD TO PENETRATE lol I'm never going to be a professor...

[serrico]

Is that a genuine threat, though, or the promise of a metatastic vid that would get a lot of play around fandom by virtue of its subjects (Simm/Cumberbatch/DW: HARD TO FIND FANNISH DISINTEREST) alone?

*undignified laughter*

While I'm sure you WILL be a professor at some point, it would be okay if you weren't, because you would be amusing REGARDLESS. :D

[serrico]

Joss and Shakespeare kind of just...seem to go together, in a weird way. Or possibly a lot of weird ways. Also, academia.

...we like thinking about TEXTS, OKAY? *g*

[charloween]

I believe it's harder to fake up an interview and stills than it would be to Photoshop a poster together and buy a domain name. Especially where Whedon is involved, I don't believe things until I'm sitting in a dark room, ticket in hand, and the ads and trailers have stopped playing.

But the article is convincing, and I can say Things about it in relation to Red State (filmed and edited over a month, etc).

Tumblr makes it easier to reblog silly things, but since links to there from here work... *shrug* Usually I'd follow tumblrs using Google Reader, but that's apparently going to change in the next few days and I'll need to find myself another RSS reader. Tumblr might have that functionality for me.

Hipsters. *shakes head*