Lonesome Jack, Friday, May 19th

So my favorite bluegrass punk band is playin' Friday, May 19th. 8pm (maybe 9... some confusion on that point). Lit Lounge. 93 2nd Ave. (btwn E. 5th and E. 6th). With Johnny Cage is Fake, Know Your Enemy and Man Without Plan. 6 bucks. Look. Grab some dinner and see them. Plenty of time for the rest of your night. Low commitment.

Showgirls: The Best Movie Ever Made. Ever.

Went to UCB last to see some improv (homework for my improv class) and saw the show before hand — Showgirls: The Best Movie Ever Made. Ever.

Brilliant. Glorious. Loved the John Reynold's portrayal of Joe Eszerhas. Also the woman who plays Nomi (whose name I can't seem to track down online), captures is exquisitet. She dances with the grace of agazellel... that has been hyped on uppers and perhaps shot. No script book is safe from her solutionn to everything: a swift slap and a scream.

It's like the Actors Studio from Hell. Vegas showgirls number as the story of Christ. Rape scene as interpretive dance. The word "topless" repeated over and over. A beautiful tribute to an American Masterpiece.

Lost speculation

WARNING: This will be of very little interest to anyone. But it started as a forum post and grew a bit large. I'm not even going to waste time making links to all of the references. This is just for the tiny portion of the population that watches ABC's Lost. More specifically those are playing The Lost Experience ARG.

ADDITIONAL WARNING: If you are from outside of North America, I reference things from episodes you may not have seen yet.

Okay, now that I may be down to one reader...



In 1980, Alvar really wants to bring his brother into the fold. He knows his brother is brilliant and would be perfect for his new Dharma Initiative. Werner has extensive treatments, recreating himself as the young Thomas Werner Mittelwerk (twistedly taking his last name from a Nazi concentration camp and the first name is the Greek form of the Aramaic name Te'oma which meant "twin"). Alvar is overjoyed to be working with his brother again (poor Alvar, always seeing the best in people and looking past the evil scientist thing). Thomas of course has other long term plans for Dharma. Evil plans.

Thomas bides his time for years, building trust and building is powerbase. Secretly he begins to twist the controlled environment the Dharma. He turns it into his own Lord of the Flies, seeing how a strife and conflict can push evolution. Genetic experiments, twist psychological experiments, etc.. He pulls in other people to expand his base of experimental subjects. For example, a French research ship has a large collection of high I.Q's. He also needs children, fresh untainted minds. (see Skinner's Box). All the while he keeps Alvar in the dark.

In 2000/2001, Alvar begins to figure out that something isn't all god with Dharma. And confronts his brother. But Mittelwerk is ready to make his move. "Hey, Alvar, let's take a trip to the Island. You can see for yourself." Bad move, Alvar. You are now going to be spending a long time there (see Blast Door Map... poor Magnus).

Mittelwerk continues his work, expanding his power, using Dharma to push evolution. In outside world he has collected broad range of people to push the Dharma experiment to the final stages. He has manipulated their lives, their mental states. He also has a handful of people who are getting too close to the truth. The writer Gary Troup knows way to much of the Valenezetti equation, the very base of Mittelwek's experiments and has just written a book that not only touches on Mittelwerk's evil, but seems to allude to Alvar and his actual relationship. And then their is Liddy Wales. She was a member of the Hanso Foundation's board of directors and seemed not to buy Mittelwerk's excuses for Alvar's absence. He had her committed to a mental institution but somehow she got out and changed her name (sliughtly). She could blow the whole thing.

All Mittelwerk needs is to get them all on one flight....

The Skeletor Show

I'm a fan of repurposing one's childhood. My childhood was filled with badly animated tv shows so, like reclaiming garbage and turning it to art (lower case 'a'), I enjoy all of the SpaceGhost/Sealab/Birdman/G.I. Joe stuff. Makes me feel warm and fuzzy. Especially well the voice work is good.

There are more episodes.

Moussaoui: Wait, can I take that back?

Zacarias Moussaoui has asked if he can change his plea to not guilty.

Mmmm. Regardless of anything else about the case, it has been fascinating to watch him react to the U.S. justice system. No, it appears he has developed a certain amount of respect for the jury system.

Explaining his latest reversal, Moussaoui said in an affidavit: "I was extremely surprised" by the life sentence.

"I had thought I would be sentenced to death based on the emotions and anger toward me for the deaths on Sept. 11, but after reviewing the jury verdict and reading how the jurors set aside their emotions and disgust for me and focused on the law and the evidence ... I now see that it is possible that I can receive a fair trial even with Americans as jurors."

No, I understand that some of his twists and turns are because (1) he has/had little understanding of the justice system, (2) part of him wanted to be martyred, and (3) he's a bit crazy. But his statements also make me wonder how his sentence is playing in the rest of the world.

Four Eyed Monsters: This is how it changes

After months of watching their amazing vidcast, I finally saw the actual movie. Wonderful film. I don't want to use the term unflinching, because that isn't quite right. It is full of flinching. It makes you, the viewer, cringe in the best possible way. Capturing that struggle of finding that "other," how language doesn't come close to conveying your true thoughts, how you don't even know your own true thoughts, how art can seem so distant and unachievable but yet is the only way to speak.

To paraphrase: "I am going to say something... and I am going to film it."

For such a simple film, it work so beautifully on so many levels. Especially on the issue of art... and truth. Which makes the film seem mindboggingly pretentious, which it is not. It is slyly aware of it's place, yet manages to exceed that place. In spirit it reminded me of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

Combine it with their vidcasts and you have a piece of meta (yes, I hate that term too) that is excruciating true. And for all it's flinch worth cringy excruciating pain, it never drops to melodrama.

Yes, I liked Four Eyed Monsters.

Afterwards, I walked home and thought of just going to sleep. But the urge to talk to the film makers overtook me, and I headed off to Soda Bar to see if they were there. They were. Let me say that Susan Bruice and Arin Crumley are just plain nice. Friendly, nice, open folks. Rambling conversations about truth, autobiography, the future of the internet, open source, art, financing, the future of film distribution, etc. These are amazingly real people.

So, go to their website. Watch the vidcast. Fill out a request for a screening in your neck of the woods.

Also, a note on the generosity of people: I have been frozen by the world, by pain, by this city. Recently, tonight in particular, I was reminded about how good people can be. It saddens me GREATLY that I am unable to either receive or return this. I hope it is temporary. But the fact is that I have destroyed so much good, have rejected it. If I was whole, if I was able to process the good that is passed towards me... Wow. I want to, and I am trying to, but I haven't yet. I pains me and to watch it pain others... Oh, hell. I can feel love, feel it embrace me, desperate to comfort me, yet I am still unable to accept it.

Sigh.