Você só assiste merda, tá lôco

Esse post faz parte de uma série em 10 partes. Veja o índice aqui.

Piratas modernos gozam da satisfação de ter filmes á disposição de suas mentes desocupadas. Quando os filmes não existiam, os piratas ficavam o tempo todo jogando dados e sujando o convés. Era uma desgraça.

Sério. POR QUE não fazem esses filmes? Yoda pirata. Como Star Wars poderia ficar melhor que isso?

Mas um pirata não assiste a qualquer tipo de filme. Como o mercado cinematográfico precisa atender a muitos gostos e tanguices diferentes, existe muito material ruim por aí. Um pirata precisa saber selecionar no que investir seu tempo.

Mas mesmo frente á enorme oferta de filmes, saiba que não é tão difícil assim escolher um que seja compatível com nossa grossura e tosquidão. É uma questão de prática. Por exemplo, se você conseguir evitar todos os filmes onde aparece esse cara:

Hugh Grant. Tanga. Faz filmes boiolas, para tangas assistirem.

e também evitar os filmes onde aparece essa mina:

Renee Zelwegger. Gordinha em quem eu daria uma conferida. Mas só faz filme motherfucker.

você já vai se livrar de boa parte dos filmes-roubada que existem por aí. São filmes que atendem a um nicho muito específico de telespectadores: mulheres e tangas. Nenhum deles é pirata, então o filme não serve pra você. Sua mina pode, eventualmente, tentar lhe convencer a assistir a um desses filmes. Resista. Você é um pirata, você não precisa agüentar esse tipo de merda.

Ok. Agora os filmes para piratas.

Também é muito simples de escolher filmes não-tangas e que atendem aos seus interesses espartanos. Falando em espartanos, quero dizer que “300″ não é um filme para piratas. É um erro comum que muitos piratas cometem, seduzidos pelas cenas de batalha e abuso de mulheres que existem no filme. Mas lembre-se: qualquer filme onde os espartanos se depilam, usam sombra nos olhos e parecem um bando de strippers, NÃO é um filme para piratas.

LE-Ô-NI-DAS, querido. Que costas fortes você tem…

É uma zombaria a todos os valores espartanos, sem falar na propaganda homossexual. E nem vou falar do Rodrigo Santoro como Rei Xerxes; gaúcho macho não chuta cachorro morto. Frank Miller, o criador da HQ de “300″, deve ter ficado envergonhado; se ele estivesse morto, estaria se revirando no túmulo. Aliás, deve ter morrido de desgosto ao ver o que fizeram com seus personagens. Se não morreu é porque é tanga.

Orra. Cês são foda, mano. Nunca mais deixo você fazerem filme de HQ minha. Morri.

Com essas diretivas básicas fica fácil de entender o que precisa constar em um filme pirata, não é? Caso você ainda não tenha entendido, eu recomendo que assista ao trailer do próximo filme do Rambo; tenha sempre esse trailer por perto, como uma espécie de “cola”. Na dúvida sobre o nível de testosterona em um filme, basta comparar pra ver se é parecido com esse trailer. Se for semelhante, é um bom filme pra você.

Outra dica legal é reduzir o filme ás suas palavras chave. É só pensar: “se eu precisasse resumir esse filme em quatro ou cinco palavras, quais seriam?” Veja abaixo como tudo se torna mais fácil com a técnica de redução ás palavras-chave:

O Diário de Bridget Jones

Palavras-chave: Mulher chorando. Mulher reclamando que é gorda. Drama. Romance. Tangas. Sono.

Brokeback Mountain

Palavras-chave: Sexo. Entre dois caras.

.

Nenhum pirata que se preze vai querer ver esse tipo de coisa em um filme. Agora compare com as palavras-chave dos filmes abaixo:

Sin City

Palavras-chave: Jessica Alba. Muitas gostosas. Bando de cara feio e assassino. Preto e Branco com sangue em vermelho. Frank Miller sem tanguice.

Assassinos por Natureza

Palavras-chave: Juliette Lewis, pirada no último. Oliver Stone. Violência gratuita. Sangue pra caralho. Mortes sem motivo.

Platoon

Palavras-chave: Galera nervosa e pirando no meio da guerra. Mortes na selva. Mortes de inimigos. Mortes de amigos. Mortes de animais. Mortes de árvores. Tiros.ÂÂ

Touro Indomável

Palavras-chave: Boxe e Robert de Niro. Preto e Branco. Porradas nervosas no ringue. Tios gordões armando esquemas.

Kill Bill Vol 1 e 2

Palavras-chave: Uma Thurman ninja. Matando noivas. Matando bebês. Gostosas vestidas de colegial. Katanas. Pai Mei. Lucy Liu. Mortes. Mortes ridículas. Mortes forçadas. Mortes engraçadas. Mortes com mais mortes depois. Mortes no final. Vingança. Quentin Tarantino rlz.

Cães de Aluguel

Palavras-chave: Assalto. Sangue. Tiros. Sangue. Intriga. Sangue. Quentin Taratino. Sangue.

Scarface

Palavras-chave: FUCK! MOTHERFUCKER! DIE! Passando fogo na geral.

Então? Ficou ou não ficou fácil?

In early August 1945, the USA dropped two atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, effectively ending the Second World War. A little more than a decade later, fresh off his acclaimed Concentration Camp documentary short Night And Fog (original title Nuit Et Brouillard), French filmmaker Alain Resnais (Last Year At/In Marienbad) was asked to direct another short documentary, about the atomic bomb. Unconvinced, Resnais ended making not only his first feature-length film, but his first work of fiction as well, Hiroshima Mon Amour (literal translation Hiroshima My Love).

Written by celebrated author Marguerite Duras (The Lover), the film tells of the love story between a French actress shooting a film in Hiroshima and a Japanese man she spent the night with, during her last day in town before returning to Paris. The unexpected emotions stir up some old painful feelings from the actress' past, and serve as a metaphor to Hiroshima's tragedy. It stars Emmanuelle Riva (Three Colors: Blue) in her first film role, Eiji Okada (Woman In The Dunes) who had to learn his dialogue phonetically, and Bernard Fresson (Brotherhood Of The Wolf) among others. Trailer and first five minutes of the film's infamous fourteen minute long opening sequence after the jump.

First of all this is not a movie you want to watch if you're in the least bit tired. But this is definitely a movie you want to watch if you're the least bit interested in cinema. Hiroshima Mon Amour is slow, extremely so. And it is also a very quiet film, not that there is no dialog, on the contrary, just that said dialogs are isolated from surrounding sounds and are actually more long monologues spoken by the French actress with short interruptions by the Japanese businessman.

The melodic line delivery, que to Duras' patrticular style of writing, coupled with Resnais' beautiful filming and the haunting music by composers Georges Delerue (Platoon) and Giovanni Fusco (L'Avventura) give the film a poetic, dream-like, timeless atmosphere, a consequence of which is that though Hiroshima Mon Amour lasts only 90 minutes, it easily feels an hour longer, thus stressing the importance of not watching the movie when looking for some light entertainment.

Though it may not become your movie of choice for multiple repeat viewings (then again?), the French-Japanese co-production remains an significant film in the history of cinema, due for example to its innovative use of brief flashbacks, and the fact that it's regarded as one of the first movies of the French New Wave. But more importantly it's an expertly-made, beautiful piece of cinematic art. You may not enjoy the film itself, but you'd be lying if you weren' impressed by it in a way or another. Hiroshima Mon Amour remains Alain Resnais' best-known film and garnered much critical praise, earning a special prize at the Cannes Film Festival and a nomination at the Oscars.

Verdict: Definitely watch it, but not when you're even a little bit sleepy. Hiroshima Mon Amour currently holds an 8/10 on IMDB and a 95% on Rotten Tomatoes.

More “Movies Of The Day”

Platoon is one of those movies that is so visceral that I dare anyone to watch it and not be touched in some way by it. The scene in which Willem Dafoe's character Elias is killed is so gut-wrenching that I still find myself holding my breath when I watch it, even though I know that his arms being thrown towards the heavens are his body's death paroxysms from sprays of bullets to his back.

But Oliver Stone's masterpiece about the Viet Nam war is made all the more real by setting this homage to human brutality to one of the most beautiful pieces of music ever composed: Samuel Barber's "Adagio for Strings." And so, as Charlie Sheen's Chris is being airlifted out in the closing scenes, Barber's Adagio is hauntingly ripping at what is left of your last tenuous semblance of composure.

And then, because I was already an emotional wreck, I thought I would watch Babel. I didn't make it past the first hour.

But I am reminded of the movie's tag line: "The first casualty of war is innocence." And this brings to mind a startling statistic of which I was not fully aware until just recently: We have been fighting in Iraq longer than the U.S. fought in either WWI or WWII. World War I lasted 4 years and just under 5 months. The U.S. role in World War II started in December of 1941; it ended with the Japanese surrender in 1945. However, the U.S. was involved in Viet Nam over a decade.

Granted, wars are different now, and the Iraqi war is not Viet Nam. But we continue to lose troops. And we continue to bring troops home who are not the same as when they left. And John McCain's voting record for veterans is abysmal. Go here if you want details http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-89976.

My dad was a veteran of three wars, and if I could only vote on one issue to decide who gets to be the next president of the United States, it would be how this person would treat the men and women who fight, and die, and sacrifice almost everything for the rest of us, not just when they are giving up everything in a foreign land thousands of miles away, but when they come home and ask for something more than due them in return.

The first casualty of war may be innocence. But the last casualty of war should not be its veterans.

First - Do you know the music Adagio For Strings? For those of you not classically inclined - it's the song that is playing in the movie Platoon when Willem Defoe runs out of the jungle after Tom Berenger (tries to) murder him, and Willem is cut down by the surrounding Viet Cong as he is running after the helicopter.

IT IS ALSO IN THE MOVIE AMELIE. When she is imagining her funeral and helping those guys in the soup line and she is tending for that Mr. Glass French asshole in the Swiss Alps.

I was watching Amelie, and that song came on and I was like IT'S THE SONG FROM PLATOOOOOOON! And I ran out and told Eric immediately, who was mostly surprised because I know nothing of music unless it was featured on Hee Haw or involves a man in overalls blowing on a jug with three X's on it. Or Britney. I have a serious infatuation with Britney.

My point of this is that my mother's favorite movie and my father's favorite movie share a song! Ladies and gentlemen, we're witnessing a miracle here. And you know what that calls for?

A little jug blowing, that's what!

Elsewhere...

On a train, talking to my cousin on the phone.

Thomas: So you're on a train. Do you want to play a game?

Me: Sure.

Thomas: Try and describe everyone around you without them knowing you're talking about them.

Me: Assholes.

Thomas: *GASPS*

Me: I win.

Thomas: I feel like the hunter from Jurassic Park who was hunting the raptors, who just lowers his gun and says 'Clever girl' and then gets eaten.

Indeed Thomas, indeed.

I thought Platoon was very negitive to U.S. Army, but I understand why, I was there too and had some very bad things happen to me in Vietnam, both tours: it is not gravy for the rest of your life, only a few people get the free ride down life’s road. Oliver has it good now but not then. Force be with you.
David “Jake” Reinhardt

Autor de filmes como ‘Platoon’, sobre a Guerra do Vietnã, ‘Nixon’, ‘JFK’ e ’11 de Setembro’, Oliver Stone inventou mais uma. Desta vez, antes mesmo de esfriar a cadeira de George W. Bush na Casa Branca, Stone levará às telas o filme "W.", segundo ele um relato rigoroso e imparcial sobre os oito longos anos que o texano passou à frente dos EUA. A foto de divulgação da película é baseada nesta antiga capa da revista Vanity Fair, na qual posaram os big shots da então recente gestão Bush – gente como Dick Cheney, Paul Wolfowitz, Colin Powell, Karl Rove, Condoleezza Rice. No papel principal como o presidente, estrela Josh Brolin e parece que Robert Duvall declinou o convite para interpretar Dick Cheney, que será feito pelo também veterano de Hollywood Richard Dreyfuss.

O diretor diz que o filme é centrado em uma pergunta clara: "como um estrupício alcoólatra virou o homem mais poderoso do planeta?". Certo, uma questão pertinente. O único medo é carregar de culpa pelos últimos oito anos exclusivamente George W. Bush e mais meia-dúzia de seu gabinete. A coisa parece ter sido mais complexa. Por que, por exemplo, a Guerra do Iraque teve o apoio da imensa maioria do Partido Democrata, que votou a favor da invasão mesmo sem o aval do Conselho de Segurança? Por que foi tão fácil aprovar no legislativo o Patriot Act? Ou por que as detenções de terroristas em prisões ilegais em países que praticam tortura foi aprovada ainda na gestão Clinton? Parece que o problema não está somente em Bush (ainda que ele seja a encarnação dessas questões).

De qualquer modo, logo-logo poderemos assistir às cenas do Oval Office dominado pelos neo-conservadores comendo um pote de pipoca em um Cinemark da vida. Não está com cara que vai parar no Espaço Unibanco.

(Quando Chávez tentou, fracassadamente, intermediar um acordo para libertar Ingrid Betancourt – que envolveu também helicópteros e um show midiático –, Oliver Stone estava com uma câmera junto das equipes de resgate. Mas, daquela vez, a presidenciável colombiana não foi resgatada e a coisa fugiu do script de Stone. Vai ver que depois disso ele decidiu tentar algo mais previsível, como a história de Bush)

Even though I’ve seen plenty war films, animated movies, and more than a few documentaries, Ari Folman’s Waltz with Bashir came as a revelation. In the film, Folman, who was an Israeli soldier in the 1982 Lebanon war, interviews fellow fighters as a means of recovering his memory of what happened. Real interviews are interspersed with more dream-like dramatizations of historical events.

Animated films have traditionally served as a window on a fantastical world. In Waltz with Bashir, the fantastical world the film transports us to is the unreliable region of memory. Full of dark, stylized visuals, and also the ability to treat subject matter beyond its tradition’s familiar modes, Waltz with Bashir was like a kinetic graphic novel. Just when it seemed as though the stylization put me far enough away from the film's core revelations to take them in at a safe remove, I felt as though the filmmaker pulled the rug out from under me.

Dream-like visuals find an unlikely complement in real interview footage. In its treatment of life on the battlefield, Waltz with Bashir shares much with war films like Full Metal Jacket, Saving Private Ryan, or Platoon. With an eye on the absurdity of what it’s like to be a grunt, Folman’s film deftly portrays boredom and gallows humor punctuated by moments of genuine horror.

Treating such weighty historical material as an “animated documentary” is initially unsettling because it robs the film of its ability to document, a least photographically, its subject. A better term for Folman's film might be a “filmed memoir.” In the way it turns fresh eyes on an old subject, and confronts head-on the confounding nature of memory, especially of traumatic events, I found that the film shared more with works of self-consciously artful nonfictionists from Dave Eggers to W.G. Sebald.

Ultimately, the film finds its real power in the way it keeps the audience guessing about notions of culpability and heroism. In one section, a former soldier tells the story of his being abandoned by his unit during battle. He's haunted by feelings of cowardice and failure, but the film provides viewers with no clear-cut verdict on his actions, only the uneasy feeling that we might have reacted in the same way in his place. Later, Folman isn't sure why he's so fixated with a massacre that happened during the war. “Were your parents in the camps?” a friend asks. When Folman says yes, the friend says “You've been living with this massacre since you were six.”

“Films can be therapeutic,” someone says of Folman’s project early in the film. The finished film he’s offered goes a step further. Finding an idiosyncratic synthesis of elements from documentary, war film and graphic novel, it offers a transformative view of history and memory.

Tickets to Waltz with Bashir are still available:

Wed Oct 1: 9:15
Thu Oct 2: 6

This crazy Palin bubble is pretty much mid-burst and the wall street avalanche is sending the polls back towards Obama. It's still close, however, and it will be up to the elections. I haven't stopped thinking Obama will win - especially because all the polls are so jacked up whether it's due to the fact that their samples do not actually represent registered, likely voters or that the media focuses on national polls instead of swing states and swing counties.

The ability of the Repubs to steal the election through voter caging, like they're doing up in Michigan right now, push polling, lying, etc., however, does scare me.

Democrats and lefty-leaning Independents need to be scared. This will motivate them to ensure their registration is valid, wait in those long lines at the nursing home to vote, and throw out the erroneous notion that politics is not part of polite conversation. We're so motivated in this house, we're going to throw a tail-gating party outside our local elementary school where the booths are set up and enjoy libations into the early morning hours of November 5 as the results finish rolling in. A few people in our little rag-tag FreeThinkers group are taking November 6 off so we can ring the future just right.

Confidence is fine - and a bit necessary keeping the blood pressure down while watching videos of McCAin telling the ladies at The View that Palin did not accept earmarks and there are no lies in their ads. But, we have to keep in mind that the McShithead IS a good debater. Americans are not informed and vote largely based on little more than aesthetics. Racism is alive and well in the good ol' U.S. of A. And nothing less than the Supreme Court and our civil liberties, Iran's nuclear ambitions, and death of McLying-Shithead, leaving Palin free to appoint her pastor as foreign secretary are at stake.

This recent jump in the polls by team McDementia should serve as a warning to us all. This is not your typical election. This is the apocolypse of political elections. This is Platoon and we are Charlie Sheen. Yes, Charlie Sheen.

Be scared, be very scared. And then vote your asses off.

Well let me back things up abit. I had received 2 letters form my son last week. And I felt alittle better after I received them. Now I am going to brag alittle, so please be patient with me and let me be the proud mother that I am....

In his letters he said he was doing well. He said it wasn't as nearly bad as he thought it was going to be. He has already been issued all of his equipment and has to take it everywhere. I can see it in his words how grown up he has become. He said that he knows he has been gone for only 2 weeks, but he can see a change in himself that makes him proud. He said for once he feels like he's doing something that matters. It is a good feeling he said. I was speechless after reading that. It just made me so damn proud of him even more at that very moment.

Anyway in his second letter he shared some stories about how things are going. He said that two of the warriors got into a fight and one punched a hole in the wall. So for their mishaps the whole platoon got to do push-ups, sit-ups, and flutter kicks. The tern he used was getting smoked.... I had to laugh because in his letter he said it was so funny that little thing reminded him of back home, of him and his buddies getting into small altercations. No matter where you go some things never change....

Last week if any of you had read, I thought my son would have called on Sunday. He said that was when he was allowed to call. In his letter, he said that one warrior didn't shave, so they got that privilege taken away. I would have really hated to be that person at that time. I bet everyone was really pissed at that person. And to make matters worse the whole platoon got punished, except that person. They all had to do push-ups. The person that was the cause of it just had to stand there and watch. He said that person is called a "Blue Falcon"....I get the feeling not a good name to have...

Well my son said that his Drill Sergeant made him a squad leader. There are 4 squad leaders in a platoon. He said he is in charge of 15 warriors. He said it kinda stinks but it also makes him feel good to be a leader. Because they are looking up to him and asking for help. He said it makes him feel important. It also gives him extra duties because they have to report to the Drill Sergeant about certain things. WOW is all I can say. Did I mention that I am so proud? I believe my son has finally found what matters to him. Not to mention other people count and depend on him. What a responsibility to have and it sounds like he is adapting very well.

He said there are a couple of people in his platoon that are weak and its their job, the stronger ones, to help build them up. He also realizes that the drill sergeants are there for one reason and that is to train them. As long as you don't second guess them and do what they ask of you, things go well..

He said he has his first PT (Physical Training) test coming up and he is excited about it....

Well now to the phone call.....He said he is fine and actually really likes it there. He has made so many great friends. They are all family. Well he took his PT test and his score was one of the top scores out of over 300 warriors....I am so proud, I think I am going to bust...It makes me feel so good to hear how well he is fitting in and again so proud.. He didn't have long to talk, maybe 7 minutes, but the best damn 7 minutes ever. He said he loved and missed us all.

He did mention that he got so many letters the first day they got mail everyone was jealous....I also decided to make it easier for him when he writes. I printed address labels with his address and ours. So when he mails a letter he just peels off the label, less writing. He said all the guys said how lucky he was, and what a great MOM I am......

Well I will leave it at that. I just wanted to give an up-date, Many different people have showed such great concern and compassion for my situation and the stress I had been under on. Not to mention how I missed him terribly. Thank you to all for caring. As you can see he's doing much better than I thought. It makes me feel so good..

I got off the phone with him and just cried tears of joy. It was so great to hear his voice. My husband took me in his arms and hugged me and I said our son is so amazing. We did a good job.....

Happy Sunday.....

Lady O

Elias Lives!
12x12"
ink wash

To be honest, I haven't been impressed with Ben Stiller lately.  He's been very mediocre in his movies (mainly because they just aren't the best scripts).  But he most definitely delivers here.  Maybe Robert Downey, Jr. helped him out...

And speaking of Downey, HOLY CRAP!  He was friggin' brilliant here!  Of course, he's great in everything, but lately he's just been hitting them out of the park right and left.  And, as he himself says, he's "the dude playin' a dude disguised as another dude."  Hilarious!

The whole dig on the Hollywood system is wonderful (and sadly true in a lot of ways).  It really makes this seemingly ridiculous premise work.  From the moment you see the fake trailers created to introduce you to the actors within the movie, along with Alpa Chino's (Oh God... that doesn't stop being funny) "Booty Sweat" energy drink ad; all the way to the end credits, this movie is just hilarious.

However, the primary stars of this movie are almost overshadowed by a brilliant cameo from... of all people... TOM CRUISE?

Yes.  That's right.  He is pure hilarity as the stereotypical angry producer taken to probably less of an extreme than you think (a little Harvey Weinstein in there I think).  Think Jeremy Pivens in "Entourage" with absolute power over a production.

Frightening yes, but absolute comedy gold.

And his dance during the credits!  That's absolute genius.

I can honestly say that this movie made me laugh out loud more than most comedies I've been to in the last few years.  The characters were all extremely entertaining with all their unfortunate quirks.

Oh, and Steve Coogan is amazing as the "first-time director" who gets bullied by the cast until Nick Nolte as the vet (and writer of the book the war movie is based on) convinces him to take them "into the shit".

Whoever thought to add the homages to other great war movies like "Apocalypse Now" and "Platoon", good call.  They were just perfect.

And, I know there has been some protest about Ben Stiller's portrayal of a mentally handicapped man (one of the movies within the movie called "Simple Jack") and the use of the word "retard" throughout the movie.  The thing is, it's used to parody the way Hollywood looks at the mentally handicapped in the movies it makes.  It is not meant as an insult, and should not be taken as any kind of slight against people with any mental disability.

I'm trying to write this without many spoilers, because I think everyone should go see this movie for themselves.  It's that good.

So, do yourself a favor and check out "Tropic Thunder" when you have a chance.  I think you'll be glad you did.

EDIT on 09/01/08:

Just got back from seeing "Tropic Thunder" for the second time, and it is just as awesome.

A few things I didn't mention above, but I wasn't going to rewrite the first review, so here's a postscript.

First, this is not just a straight up comedy. This is one of the best ACTION-comedies that has been put together in a long time. The absolute absurdity of this movie is what makes it so good. I'm going to be quoting it for a while to come, that's for sure.

I'm going to stop now, because there is too much to talk about in this movie. The review will never be enough to explain all the awesome it contains.

William, the Movie Nerdfighter

who laughed out loud more than he has in a long time

His platoon laughed at him, but his testimony led his sergeant to Christ.

At one point in "Tropic Thunder," the new comedy from writer/director/star Ben Stiller, co-star Robert Downey Jr. plays and Australian Method actor portraying a black southern soldier pretending to be a humble Asian rice farmer.

Downey Jr. treats his high-wire performance with such dignity and devotion that he spends almost the entire film in blackface without once seeming condescending or racist.

But let us back up a bit, shall we?

"Thunder" is not only a scathing little indictment on the film industry, but, minute for minute, one of the funniest films released this year, overcoming the third-act slump that befalls so many big-budget comedies released today (I'm looking at you square in your bloodshot eyes, "Pineapple Express.").

The film, centering around a bunch of whiny actors who sign on for an epic war movie, begins with a wonderfully ingenious way to give us all the back story we need about its leads.

Whatever you do, don't arrive late to this movie. Three previews begin the film, one featuring past-his-prime action doll Tugg Speedman (Stiller) who's milking his once-popular franchise, "Scorcher," for its very last drops of testosterone. It's a well that Speedman has reluctantly returned to after an ill-advised attempt for acting legitimacy while playing a mentally challenged man in "Simple Jack."

It's followed by "The Fatties," a comedy in which its chubby trainwreck star, Jeff Portney (played by Jack Black), dons various fat suits for a number of roles as a flatulent family.

Rounding out the trio of trailers is a phony "prestige" picture, "Satan's Alley," starring five-time Academy Award-winning Lazurus as a monk who longs to taste the forbidden fruit of a fellow man of the cloth.

In that brief setup, we know all that is needed about the three main actors of "Tropic Thunder," the name of a Vietnam opus in which each of the actors will share the screen for various career-enhancing reasons.

After a series of prissy meltdowns delays production, first-time director Damien Cockburn (played by Steve Coogan) is threatened by a maniacal producer who plans to abort the film altogether.

In a last-ditch effort he drops off the leads -- with co-stars Alpa Chino (played by newcomer Brandon T. Jackson) and Kevin Sandusky (played by Jay Baruchel) -- deep in the jungle leaving them to their own Blackberry-less, Tivo-less devices.

It's a comedic plot that harkens back to "To Be or Not to Be," with a lot of "Three Amigos" thrown in for good measure, but Stiller takes the time along the way to slaughter cow after sacred cinematic cow. "Thunder" has countless throwaway gags, none wearing out their welcome like the director sometimes did in his previous effort "Zoolander." And when it's not chucking those at the screen, a number of big-named actors whoop it up in secondary and cameo roles.

And while Stiller deserves credit for both crafting and capturing the film, it's Downey Jr. who brings "Tropic's" thunder.

It is a role that could have sunk the film faster than a "Soul Man" sequel, and required the utmost respect in its execution to avoid any hint of racist intent. But in an industry that celebrates the mere weight loss or gain actors undergo for a role just as much as performance itself, he captures the pomposity and disillusionment that some actors embrace for the sake of their "art" with equal amounts wit and warmth.

There are other surprise pop-up performances that, if you have not heard about yet, you should try to witness firsthand before receiving lame line-readings from friends.

There is no doubt "Thunder" steps over the line from time to time, but, like "Borat," it's still refreshing to witness a big studio comedy that is willing to stick it's neck out once and a while for a funny, rather than resort to the toothless "yuks" from the wretched parodoic parasites like "Meet the Spartans" and its hell-spawn ilk.

Not since 1999's "Bowfinger" has Hollywood taken such an intelligently staged skewering, and Stiller has returned to the same biting satiric edge he once sp gloriously displayed in his short-lived television show.

After seeing "Thunder," it will be hard to hear the about the heavily supervised "hell" actors claim they undergo when prepping for a role without being reminded of one of Downey Jr.'s blisteringly amusing monologues of what it takes to earn one of those prestigious little statuettes Hollywood likes to hand out to one another at year's end.

After trying his hand at kid-friendly comedy in Night at the Museum and working with the Farrelly brothers for the first time since There's Something About Mary in The Heartbreak Kid, Ben Stiller decided to return to the role of writer/director/actor in his new movie Tropic Thunder. At this point, some people might be feeling that Stiller has become a little overexposed, but Tropic Thunder marks only the second screenplay he has made into a feature film (the first was Zoolander) and only his fourth time directing (the others were Reality Bites, The Cable Guy and Zoolander again). I was actually surprised when I looked up those facts on IMDB, considering for awhile there it seemed like Stiller had a new movie coming out every few months and was having great difficulty dealing with his over-the-top cameo addiction. The fact that Tropic Thunder is only the second movie he's written makes it likely that this will be the first time I've gone to the theater to see Stiller in a film since The Royal Tenenbaums.

The Tropic Thunder trailer starts of like an Apocalypse Now/Platoon ripoff with helicopters flying over explosions and palm trees and soldiers crying out in agony for their fallen comrades. But, when Stiller asks if they can stop filming, even though his hands have been blown off, it becomes clear that Tropic Thunder is a movie about making another movie. We're then introduced to the lead actors: Ben Stiller is Derek Zoolander as an action star, Robert Downey Jr. is an Australian method actor who undergoes a controversial operation to play a black man in the film and Jack Black is a foul-mouthed comedian with a drinking/drug problem. Next, following a suggestion from an extra-grizzled Nick Nolte, director Steve Coogan decides to abandon Stiller and company in the jungle to make their performances more authentic and to teach them a lesson for being such crybabies. Of course, everything goes wrong and the actors end up in a real war with a rural Vietnamese militia. The best part of the trailer is watching Robert Downey Jr. try to be funny without seriously offending millions of people. Tropic Thunder opens August 13, 2008. Check out the trailer at Zuguide.com.

As an avid fan of new and current music I also am a huge fan of classical music, or western art music for those who prefer the technical term. When it comes to classical music one of my favorite composers is the contemporary American composer Samuel Barber who has composed many great works like his Violin Concerto and of course the brilliant and very emotional Adagio for Strings. Lately I have become even more obsessed with the Adagio for Strings than ever so I felt like sharing this obsession with everyone else. Here for your enjoyment I have included the original Adagio for Strings as performed by the BBC Orchestra, the Accentus Chamber Choir, DJ Tiesto, and a piano arrangement by Gen.

I'm sure all who have seen the film Platoon will immediately recognize this piece, even those who haven't seen the film have had a good chance of hearing it as it is very popular, but I still couldn't help myself in posting it as it truly is a beautiful work of art. For those who are reading feel free to leave a comment and tell me some of your favorite pieces of Classical music, I'd love to hear some pieces that I never have before.

"The BBC Orchestra"

"Accentus Chamber Choir"

"DJ Tiesto"

"Gen"

ScienceDaily (July 15, 2007) — An automated way of allowing cars to drive much closer to each other in heavy moving traffic, so-called platooning, could cut congestion, save fuel and cut greenhouse gas emissions, according to research published in Inderscience's International Journal of the Environment and Pollution.

As populations grow and the number of vehicles on the roads in cities and motorways across Europe, North America and the developing world, rises, traditional ways of tackling the problem, such as simply building more roads or improving public transport are becoming less and less effective. "Automated highway systems are one of the many approaches that have been suggested to tackle the problems," says Mitra.

Traffic is a growing problem across the globe with the number of vehicles on the on the roads in Britain alone having risen from 26 million to almost 33 million in the last decade and that number set to rise by 25% over the next ten years. The problem is burgeoning in areas of enormous economic growth, such as China and India where countless new vehicles are pulling out and entering the traffic flow on newly built roads. With all that new traffic, of course, comes more pollution, and the need for ever more innovative approaches to tackling it.

Driving a lot closer than a safe stopping distance from the vehicle in front is not a sensible option. Learner drivers are taught from their first lesson on the road to keep their distance. According to Debojyoti Mitra and Asis Mazumdar in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Jadavpur University, Kolkata, India, in heavy traffic these safe distances mean more tailgate turbulence and increased drag on individual vehicles, which means lower fuel efficiency.

The researchers investigated the drag on platoons of four vehicles in Jadavpur University's vehicle test wind tunnel.

Cars moving in the same direction separated by a meter or so would reduce drag and so save fuel. Adding sensors and safety controls that allow vehicles to drive at such a small separation is possible. Now, Mitr and Mazumdar explain how car manufacturers and transport policy might work to allow such a platooning system to operate.

"The leading car in the platoon experiences the highest drag as you would expect but no more than if it were driving alone," explains Mitra, "The second car has a much lower drag coefficient than the first car in a two-car platoon. The middle car experiences the lowest drag in a three-car platoon and the third car in the platoon, starting from the front, experiences the least drag in a four-car platoon."

Reduced drag not only means lower average fuel consumption for a platoon, but also reduces the overall road noise heard by drivers and other road users.

Tropic Thunder is an homage to Hollywood war epics from "Platoon" and "Apocalypse Now" to "Saving Private Ryan" and "Rambo." What will most certainly be the most talked about part of the film will be Downey Jr's portrayal of Kirk Lazarus, in blackface.

Check out what The Oregonian has to say:

The comedy has garnered a lot of buzz in the last year because Robert Downey Jr. appears in it as an Australian actor so committed to his craft that he undergoes a procedure to have his skin turned brown to play an African American soldier.

Now, that is a lot to ask an audience to swallow in 2008, with an African American presidential candidate and older media stars getting fired and suspended for various racially insensitive faux pas. Blackface is a complicated bit of ancient Americana, and most folks are happy it's gone the way of other dastardly forms of "entertainment." So, it would seem to be a third rail of film comedy.

The thought behind this is that the award-winning Lazarus has actually undergone surgery to "be black" in an effort to pull off a more convincing portrayal of what is supposedly a character who existed in real life. To be sure that the film would not be considered too offensive, Stiller showed it to the NAACP for feedback, and several African American film journalists have reacted positively to Downey's hilarious portrayal.

I'm sure that as always, Stiller will turn in a masterpiece and Tropic Thunder will be a box office success. Thoughts?

I have just come back from Berlin for my summer holiday, so here's a BIG post about some of the design related stuff I got up to in Germany.

I headed on down to KW, Kunst-Werke - Institute of Contemporary Art on to check out Richard Serra, Ricarda Roggan and Albrecht Schafer's installations captured by photography. Some interesting still lives by the artists.

www.kw-berlin.de

I also managed to check out what seemed to be Berlin's answer to the Tate Modern, BG or Berlinische Galerie located near 'Checkpoint Charlie' (the American checkpoint of the wall). On exhibition there was Ronald de Bloeme's "Piracy"; colourful and abstract pieces of work, Egmont Schaefer's drawings and Herbert Tobias' provocative photography. Outside the gallery was some great typography on the floor made out of road paint, and some students were filming outside - a very arty place.

www.berlinischegalerie.de

OK so it's not an exhibition as such, but as a huge fan, the Adidas Originals Shop off Torstrasse, in north Mitte (central Berlin) was a great place to go. With a range of limited edition trainers that I haven't seen anywhere else yet and some great concepts and graphics throughout the store it was well worth a visit. I particularly liked the 'design your own Superstars' section at the back of the store, where customers could flick through the computers and books to find their perfect colours/laces/trim/materials etc for their own personalised Superstar shoes.

I also managed to check out the Adidas "concept store" at no. 74 on Torstrasse also, where limited edition clothes and trainers were on sale. The store itself was designed by some Berlin based architects whose names I have now forgotton. No. 6, the London Adidas concept store is now also open so I will be checking that out at some point to compare whose better: Germany or England?

www.no74-berlin.com

'NO ART BUT FUN' are a nice design collective group I discovered in Berlin after being handed out a sticker 'I "heart" NO ART BUT FUN' so check that out also.

www.nabf.de

Nearly done, but I also managed to come across 'Platoon' whose Berlin "office" (it actually was converted freight containers) was outside my first hostel in north central Berlin. I talked to Marcello Dato there and the basic run down is that Platoon is not an agency, not a platform, but an organisation. Check them out for yourself and see what you think. Marcello asked me to send through some work to see if I could sort out some involvement with them so watch this space.

www.platoon.org

And of course I couldn't go to Berlin without mentioning graffiti and the Berlin Wall. As the 2nd most tagged city behind New York, Berlin had graffiti EVERYWHERE, some bad, but some amazing. And the East Side Gallery which is the section of the Berlin Wall that remains in it's untouched and untouristified state, had some dope stencils and graffiti on, apparently, artists were invited to do this during the 90s (I think), to decorate what was a harsh and gray canvas in both political and art senses.

Check out all my photos from my trip to Berlin and MELT! festival in Ferropolis, south of Berlin, which I also went to as well on my holiday at my Flickr page here and here.

Righties   vs. RHB   LHB   Difference
Hart          .674 1.330     .656
Marmol        .434  .795     .361
Lieber        .732 1.082     .350
Dempster      .571  .682     .111
Marquis       .699  .785     .086
Zambrano      .622  .684     .062
Wood          .571  .629     .058
Wuertz        .741  .748     .007
Harden        .593  .589    -.004
Howry         .858  .787    -.071
Gaudin        .722  .646    -.076

Lefties    vs. RHB   LHB  Difference
Eyre          .909  .835     .074
Marshall      .722  .824    -.102
Cotts         .690  .793    -.103
Lilly         .741  .885    -.144

A positive difference indicates the pitcher has done better against same-handed hitters; a negative difference means the pitcher has done better again opposite-handed hitters.  All Cubs pitchers have been either more or less indifferent, or better against righties.

The Richie Sexson experiment was in full effect tonight, as Sexson delivered with a 1-for-3 performance, driving in 1 run, taking a walk and striking out once. He was in at 1B against the lefty, Greg Smith, allowing Mike Mussina to stick with old faithful, Jose Molina, which pushed Jorge to 1B (leaving Giambi on the bench). Now, I believe Giambi was out because Moose wanted Molina to catch him and with Sexson in there at 1B, Posada was given the start at DH (resting his shoulder again). However, Giambi should not be shutdown when facing lefties because he has been able to contribute against them in 2008 (.903 OPS). Hopefully, this was just a contextually relevant move that provided comfort for Mike Mussina. Sexson at 1B, Giambi at DH, and Posada behind the dish would be optimal against lefty starters.

Now, one of the reasons Sexson was signed (well, when you think about it, it's the only reason, really) is because of his "righty pop". Sexson has pounded lefties this year, hitting .344 with a 1.045 OPS against them. He's faced some solid lefties too, including Cliff Lee, Randy Wolf, Johan Santana, Joe Saunders, so the numbers aren't just padded against weak pitchers. Nonetheless, I am a bit worried about the press he's receiving as fans are commenting that Sexson typically "mashes" against lefties and that he's a "lefty killer". While I agree that for this year, that is the case. However, what about in previous years? How has he performed in those years, as those years can provide us with a better story about Sexson's production against lefties (instead of using just this one year) so we'll know what to expect by season's end.

Sexson, in his career, hits lefties at a .265/.369/.510 clip. That's very solid. But, how has he done recently? Well, in 2005 (in 2004, Sexson didn't play much with Arizona due to injuries), Sexson hit .333 with a 1.116 OPS against lefties. That's the Richie we were looking for. Now, in 2006, Sexson hit .204 with a .763 OPS against lefties. In fact, he was much better against righties that year (.282 BA/.866 OPS). Not so great, huh? Then came the dreadful 2007, where Richie hit .195 with a .675 OPS against righties. But, his production against lefties, while better, was equally disasterous. He hit .238 with a .752 OPS. In 2008, when you compare the .344 BA and the 1.045 OPS against those numbers, it's quite a head scratcher. Basically, Sexson is hitting more like he did in 2005, but his production against righties is similar to 2007 (it's actually worse).

The only reason I bring up these numbers is because it provides us with some grounded thinking for our Sexson expectations. While Richie has shown that he can hit lefties at a monsterous clip in the past, he hasn't done so since 2005 (even his 2004 numbers against lefties were terrible, albeit in a shortened season). In fact, since 2005, Sexson hasn't hit well against lefties at all (until this year), as he's done a better job against righties in 2006 and his 2007 numbers were just flat out terrible against both sets of pitchers. Here's to hoping that his lefty numbers, this year, will stick and that he'll be a productive member of the 2008 Yankees. I wouldn't expect him to hit the cover off the ball against lefties (his splits may come down to earth a bit), so we'll temper for now. Who knows, the change in scenery, as I said before, may do him some good.

If he totally bombs as a right-vs-lefty hitter, then we can always stick with the pinch hit idea. Then again, the career .192 BA and .579 OPS in that role may scare some people off...