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Marie-Josee Croze
If you thought she looked awesome in Spielberg's Munich, then
you need to see Charlie's caps and film clips from Maelstrom and
Ordo.
Other Crap:
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Foreign aid to Palestine
used to buy weapons, per Arafat's finance man
Firefox 2.0 alpha 3
available today, including Google security
features
I believe Hardee's is
promoting the gay agenda.
The trailer for a
Sundance favorite, Quinceanera
- "Disaffected Latino
teenagers come of age in a gentrifying
community in the Echo Park district of Los
Angeles... Quinceańera is a look at what
happens when teenage sexuality, age-old
rituals, and real estate prices collide. It
is a reinvention of Kitchen Sink drama,
fueled by the racial, class, and sexual
tensions of a Latino neighborhood in
transition."
PENTAGON ORDERS MISSILE
DEFENSE SHIELD TO PROTECT RUMSFELD
... High-Tech Device Could Protect Defense
Secretary from Retired Generals, Congress
O.J.'s daughter continues
proud family tradition
Everyone in Zimbabwe is a
millionaire!
- The government just
issued a $100,000 note so citizens can but a
loaf of bread conveniently.
- Shoppers have to
carry huge wads of cash to buy the basic
foodstuffs available in most shops. “Last
week I filled a single trolley with 30
million dollars worth of groceries, and I
had to count out 600 notes of $20,000 at the
checkout counter."
- "Zimbabwe used to
boast one of Africa’s most robust economies,
but eight years of recession and a radical
programme of land redistribution has left
millions in poverty."
- Sigh. I worked in
Zimbabwe around 1995, and it had its
problems, but was quite a pleasant place in
many ways.
It is time for the United
States to pull out of Wisconsin.
100 Photographs that
Changed the World
A new toy for your own
web pages: Unobtrusive Sidenotes
Classic Felix the Cat
videos
- You might find the
silent B&W ones from the early 20s
especially odd - they are virtually
stick-figure drawings.
JoBlo was very impressed
with Pan's Labyrinth
Cool photos:
Memorial Day Air Show
over NYC
Treasury
Secretary-Designate Paulson Likes to Look at
Snakes
- He should really
enjoy those Cabinet meetings!
Another trailer for Pulse
- "When the dead
discover how to use computers, nothing can
stop them in this high-tech thriller."
A clip from Click, Adam
Sandler's new comedy.
Fox wins big with
'American Idol' finale
- The only TV shows
with higher ratings this year were the Super
Bowl and the Oscars
A good day golfing in
Australia: an eagle, two birdies and a
crocodile!
"A woman says she's
recovered a stolen class ring that was
purportedly spit up from a Kentucky catfish."
The late Dave Grohl is
feeling much better.
An SNL spokesman said
yesterday that Tina Fey has not yet made a
decision on whether she'll stay with the show
or leave to focus on her new sitcom, 30 Rock
Batwoman revealed to be a
lesbian - which prompts rabid debate among
comix geex
Listen (legally) to Elvis
Costello's entire new album - free
SHILOHNOUVELJOLIEPITT.COM
has already been registered by Angelina Jolie
A (really weird) film
clip from Michel Gondry's new film 'The
Science of Sleep' starring Gael Garcia Bernal
- Gondry is the guy
who did Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless
Mind
Charles Webb said
Wednesday he has signed a publishing deal for
a sequel to his 1963 novel 'The Graduate',
which introduced the memorable love triangle
of twentysomething Benjamin Braddock, his
sweetheart Elaine and her seductive mother,
Mrs. Robinson.
- When asked why
there was a 43-year delay before a sequel,
Webb responded, "It was quite a while till I
could figure out what they did next."
- Webb said he
received only $56,000 for the book. He has
led an itinerant life and given away much of
his fortune since gaining fame with his
first novel. Earlier this year, Webb faced
eviction from his apartment in Hove in
southern England because of unpaid rent. It
was the threat of homelessness for himself
and his partner of 40 years — a woman who
goes by the name of Fred — that prompted him
to approach publishers with the novel he had
been working on for several years.
- The movie version
of "The Graduate" made millions, but Webb
did not get a share of the film rights and
did not receive any of the money.
"Funny commercial by the
Center for Union Facts rips union leaders for
corruption, forced dues, discrimination, and
politics."
Wait a minute - the
ANGELS play the DEVIL Rays on 6-6-6
- Although the Devil
Rays theoretically have the home advantage,
I have to think that they aren't really
holding a big edge, since they're playing in
a city named after Saint Peter!
The Tampa Bay Devil Rays
will not change their name -- at least for the
2007 season.
Everything you ever
wanted to know about NFL uniform numbers
HitTracker :: Home run
tracking and distance measurement by
calculating the trajectory and the speed off
the bat
- They are able to
make a more precise measurement for homers
that land in the upper deck or hit light
towers, because they calculate how far the
ball would have flown had it landed back at
field level.
- Suh-weet! The page
also includes a link to videos of the
blasts.
- MLB claims the
longest HR of the year was Ryan Howard's
blast on April 23rd, but Hit Tracker says
that one was exaggerated by thirty feet.
According to their methodology, the longest
dinger was supplied by Florida's Reggie
Abercrombie
- Their system also
adjusts for the wind, the temperature and
the altitude of the park.
- There are all sorts
of obscure facts, some of which may actually
be useful. For example, slugger Jim Thome,
although dominating the AL in the homer
race, seems to have been losing bat speed
since April 10th. His first four dingers of
the season were generated by bat speed of
120+, but he's now in the 105 range
Katie Couric finally
leaves Today after nearly two months of soggy
farewells.
Roger Clemens is coming
out of retirement for the third time, agreeing
to a contract to pitch for the Houston Astros
for the rest of 2006.
- The Rocket will
make three minor league starts (including
one in Round Rock, about three miles from my
house) before joining the big club in
mid-June
- He signed a $22
million annual contract, but will only be
paid for the portion of the year which he
will spend in the majors, which is expected
to be a bit more than half of the season.
Examples of Photoshop
Retouching Jobs
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Movie Reviews:
Yellow asterisk: funny (maybe). White asterisk: expanded format.
Blue asterisk: not mine. No asterisk: it probably sucks.
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Twenty Something (1994)
Wan 9 zhao 5 is a Hong Kong Category III but, with two minor exceptions,
could easily be a typical R- rated American story about the lives and loves
of twenty-somethings. The two exceptions are a lot of vomiting, very common
in Hong Kong films, and one of the more bizarre deaths in movie history.
More about that later.
We have Pat, who's too fat to get her own boyfriend, so lives vicariously
through her best friend, Jennifer. Then there is the unlikely duo of Sue, a
suicidal lush and slut, and her best friend, the nice girl Alice. The guys
are just about as mixed a bag. Bo is a heathen, and seducer of women -
several a night if possible. He and the nice girl become an item, but he is
becoming bored with one woman, and the drunken nympho roommate keeps
throwing herself at him. Jennifer (Farini Cheung) is playing the field, and
believes firmly in the one-night stand, but finds herself in a steady
relationship with a businessman who actually cares about her. The entire
crowd hangs out in a club getting drunk together, and after Alice and her
guy get together, the party usually ends up at their apartment.
SPOILERS
Things come to a head one night. The slut seduces the nice girl's
guy, who takes her to a bridge, and is having his way with her when he
thrusts too hard and she plunges to her death.
End Spoilers
The film is no better or worse than dozens of other entries in the "life
and love of twenty-somethings" genre. As required by the minimum trendiness
requirements of the format, whether in the US or Hong Kong, the film's
action is interspersed with a researcher interviewing the characters about
their feelings on love and sex. This is not my sort of film, I find
that I have nothing in common with twenty-somethings, and don't much care
what self-destructive things they do to themselves, but your mileage may
very. Ther are some positives. The sound track won an award, and the
subtitles are very good, so I estimate that this is a C-.
There are not enough votes at IMDb for a statistically meaningful score.
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“Les Heroines du mal” is a 1979 French film from Walerian Borowczyk. It
consists of three stories set in different time periods.
The first is set in the Italian Renaissance. Beautiful Marina Pierro is an
avaricious young baker's daughter who models for painters. She eventually
manages to double-cross and poison both her lovers, amassing a lot of jewelry
in the process.
The second is set in the 19th century. A virgin girl’s mean parents kill,
cook and eat her beloved pet rabbit. She (red-haired Gaëlle Legrand) seeks the
local black butcher, who was eying her, and loses her virginity to him.
Afterwards, the butcher commits suicide, and the girl takes one of his knives
to her parents’ throats while they sleep. She ends up in an orphanage,
recounting her story.
The third and funniest is set in today’s time, A woman (Pascale Christophe)
is kidnapped for ransom. The kidnapper strips her, handcuffs her and forces
her to have sex with him. But the woman’s loyal dog manages to trace her in
the kidnapper’s hideout and bite him to death, castrating him in the process.
Then, along comes the woman’s concerned husband, who also suffers exactly the
same fate.
All the stories are imbued with black humor and have some kind of twisted
“moral” message, making them similar to “Contes Immoreaux,” but in a
lighthearted way. Director Borowczyk plays the whole thing straight and directs
inobtrusively except for many intercut shots of nude women and animals in
“erotic” or suggestive situations, something also seen in the director’s “Ars
amandi.” Although there is plentiful nudity, the film primarily aims to
stimulate the intellect, and does so with beautiful photography and a lush
classical score.
| Gaelle Legrand |
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| Marina Pierro |
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| Pascale Christophe |
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Pat's comments in yellow...
Some civil libertarians claim that authorities are using the war on terror as an
excuse to prosecute minor crimes as terrorism. In Dallas, the FBI North Texas
Joint Terrorism Task Force says that two teenagers could face up to 20 years in
prison for delivering marijuana-laced bran muffins to the teacher's lounge as a
senior prank. An FBI agent defended the hard line, saying that they didn't know
initially if it was a more widespread terrorist attack, and that "muffins
tainted with some kind of chemical could have been distributed to a number of
places."
* I believe those are called "house brand snack cakes."
Pedophiles in the Netherlands have launched their own political party, the
Charity, Freedom and Diversity Party. Their platform includes lowering the age
limit for sex to 12, then doing away with it altogether, and legalizing child
porn and sex with animals. Their website says the sex ban just makes children
curious, and they want to expand children's rights. One opponent said they say
they want to expand children's rights, but they're really just promoting their
own interests.
* Finally, a political party where everyone thinks of
the children!
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