where the Throbblefoot Spectre still loitred in a distraught manner.
“It was already Thursday, but his lordships artificial limb could not be found,
therefore, having directed the servants to fill the baths,
he seized the tongs, and set out at once for the edge of the lake,
where the Throbblefoot Spectre still loitred in a distraught manner.
He presented it with a length of string,
and passed on to the statue of Corrupted Endeavour,
to await the arrival of autumn.” – Edward Gorey
More Madagascar photos from Patrick are here:
http://good-times.webshots.com/album/559756589TTEOCr
This is awesome (thanks, Jon!):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBkcVjYpbao&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fjwdmeow%2Elivejournal%2Ecom%2Ffriends
Checked on baseball stats yesterday (It seemed like a good American thing to do on the 4th); apparently Bonds has 4 to go on the Aaron record. So – I think when he breaks it, the record will always be tarnished by the steroid scandal. And Bonds is an ass, but it was still amazing to watch. I remember being at PacBell with Ross and watching him hit 2. So… I don’t know.
I was checking out Box Office Mojo recently, and I saw this staggering statistic; Wild Hogs and Ghost Rider were both in the top 10 grossing films of the year. No, no surely not. So I checked the worldwide data (which is what Hollywood cares about at this point) aaaannd: they’re still there. The list is here:
http://boxofficemojo.com/yearly/chart/?view2=worldwide&yr=2007&p=.htm
Okay – fantastic four was a foregone conclusion, and I’m glad to see that Zodiac made back its budget overseas. But seriously? The number 23, Hannibal rising, and Premonition in the top 30? They were panned. And then I had an epiphany; not only do we as a race have bad taste in movies, but check out rottentomatoes.com . Transformers and License to Wed are both rotten (more on that in a sec) while Rescue Dawn and Joshua are highly recommended. Yet Transformers is opening on 4,011 screens, license to wed on 2,401, Joshua on 6, and Rescue Dawn on 5. Yes, limited NY/LA openings, but in all liklihood they are never going to make it to 2000 screens (although I hope they could). So, if you don’t live in a coastal city (or Chicago), your choices do seem to come down to Wild Hogs or Ghost Rider. Ick. Of course, you could still choose to, I don’t know, read a book instead of seeing something so soul-crushingly awful, but whatever.
Speaking of reviews, License to Wed has really let critics lower their stress levels. Yeowch. I will say first off that anything mentioning John Krasinski has been positive, and that the vitriol is directed to the script. But listen to some of these:
“No matter how hard I try, I’m finding it difficult to write anything positive about License to Wed. This movie is bad from top to bottom, front to back, and start to finish.”
“The story ends with a sentimental clunk. To say the picture isn’t funny is putting it mildly. It isn’t tolerable.”
“The creepy-faced robot twin babies are funny (for a while); the rest of the film is not. It’s like Meet the Parents with Dr. Phil as the officiant from hell.”
“As for myself, I will confess that the only thing that kept me watching “License to Wed” until the end (apart from being paid to do so) was the faith, perhaps misplaced, that I will not see a worse movie this year.” (- NYTimes)
And finally, our own Mick LaSalle: “There’s bad, there’s awful and there’s horrible, and then somewhere beyond that, in its own Kingdom of Lousy — where all the milk curdles and the jokes aren’t funny — is License to Wed.” Tell us how you really feel, Mick.
As for the 4th of july : there’s a good Jon Carroll column here:
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2007/07/02/DDGMVQ5D141.DTL
He talks about what it’s like to celebrate America’s holiday when you are full of anti-American sentiments (see said movie tallies above).
As for me, it being the 4th (well the 5th here now, but the 4th back in the US of A) makes me think about going to the Lair, heading to the Marin county fair and seeing its fireworks, and the season of blockbuster popcorn flicks.
(I am currently bundled in warm clothes to go brave the sea. “Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul; whenever I find myself involuntarily pausing before coffin warehouses, and bringing up the rear of every funeral I meet; and especially whenever my hypos get such an upper hand of me, that it requires a strong moral principle to prevent me from deliberately stepping into the street, and methodically knocking people’s hats off–then, I account it high time to get to sea as soon as I can.” – Melville. Hee.)
And as Jon Carroll says, “ It’s the annual celebration of premature explosions and unfortunate boating accidents. Come spread the joy today!” Happy 4th everybody.
Current music: Tarantula – the Smashing Pumpkins, icky thump – white stripes, I think I’m paranoid (live) – Garbage, back to black – Amy Winehouse
Tags: Travel
jwdmeow
Your Melville quote is better, but this one seems apt, given the stormy weather:
I must go down to the seas again, to the vagrant gypsy life,
To the gull’s way and the whale’s way, where the wind’s like a whetted knife;
And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow-rover,
And a quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trip’s over.
(John Masefield)