Posts Tagged ‘Ben Affleck’

Sugar Water: Promise Some Peace, Win a Prize!

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President Barack Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday, a decision that instantly created controversy. For one thing, Tina Fey wasn’t even nominated. For another, Obama’s been president less than nine months, and had only been in office for 12 days when his nomination was submitted.

In case you’re wondering who nominated him, NobelPrize.org states, “The names of the nominees and other information about the nominations cannot be revealed until 50 years later.” So if you’re an anti-birther or anti-taxer or anti-tolerater, the answer is: the Forces of Evil. (And if you’re wondering how I know about Tina Fey, sorry, but I’m not sharing my peyote with you.)

The Norwegian Nobel Committee, which chooses the winner each year, explained that “Obama has as a president created a new climate in international politics. Multilateral diplomacy has regained a central position, with emphasis on the role that the United Nations and other international institutions can play.” According to the Associated Press, committee member and Norwegian politician Aagot Valle added that this year’s prize should be seen as “support and a commitment for Obama.”

The president, for his part, was humble about his victory. “I do not feel that I deserve to be in the company of so many transformative figures that have been honored by this prize,” he said. “I will accept this award as a call to action.”

But just a few hours before Obama’s victory was announced, he stood idly by as NASA tried to blow up the moon! From what I can gather, the U.S. space agency’s $79 million rocket was supposed to poke a giant hole in the Alan Shepard Memorial Golf Course, at which point all the water inside the moon would rain down on Earth — because the moon is up above and we’re down below and that’s how gravity works — thereby solving our planet’s impending water crisis.

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Soundtrack Saturday: “Chasing Amy”

Not long ago, I was digging through a cabinet full of VHS tapes, looking for this week’s movie, Chasing Amy (1997), which I honestly haven’t watched in years. I was inspired to find it and watch it after listening to Kevin Smith and Jason Lee both discuss it on Kevin Pollak’s Chat Show recently. I’ve been meaning to get it on DVD, but I’m a total cheapskate, so I haven’t committed to spending the money to buy it.

As I watched the movie in all its ten-year-old, VHS-taped-from-cable glory, I started wondering if it had a soundtrack album, and if so, was it still in print? Turns out there never was an official soundtrack. How about that? So I decided to find what I could for a Soundtrack Saturday post. And here it is.

Chasing Amy is a love story as only Kevin Smith could tell it, the tale of the unlikely romance between two comic book artists: Holden McNeil (Ben Affleck), a straight man, and Alyssa Jones (Joey Lauren Adams), a lesbian woman. The two first meet at a comic con that Holden and his best friend, fellow artist Banky Edwards (Jason Lee), are attending to promote their comic, Bluntman and Chronic. Holden is instantly attracted to Alyssa upon being introduced to her by their mutual friend, gay, militant, black cartoonist Hooper X (Dwight Ewell).

But not long after their first meeting, Holden learns she’s gay, which freaks him out a little at first. Eventually, though, he warms up to Alyssa, and the two become fast friends. They start spending a lot of time together, which bugs the shit out of Banky — he just can’t understand why Holden would devote so much time to a woman who doesn’t want to fuck him.

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Bootleg City: David Bowie in Baton Rouge, April ‘78 (Pt. 2)

Late last summer a DVD of the movie August, which features David Bowie in a cameo, showed up at the office where I used to work. If you haven’t heard of it, you’re not alone: it was released in one theater in New York City last July before making a quick exit to video the following month. If it hadn’t been for that promo DVD, I doubt I would’ve heard of it either.

Directed by Austin Chick, August isn’t a terribly compelling film, due in large part to Josh Hartnett’s emotionally distant yet gratuitously beefcakey lead performance, i.e. “Don’t look at me! I mean, check out the six-pack, of course, but don’t look look at me.” (Is it just me, or do you get the feeling Hartnett tortured small woodland creatures as a child? Somebody needs to cast this brooding hunk as a serial killer — or at least a young Tommy Lee Jones — ASAP.) Howard A. Rodman’s script has some clever touches, though, like how it never explains what dot-com guru wannabe Tom Sterling’s (Hartnett) company actually does. I worked for a start-up for just three months in 2000 before being laid off, and during that brief time I had trouble justifying the company’s existence to my friends and family.

The press release that came with the August DVD said that the film “follows Josh Hartnett as a young dot-com entrepreneur who fights to regain control of his company from Ogilvie (David Bowie).” Based on that description you’d think Ogilvie is a major character in the movie, but as I said, the part-time actor only has a cameo. His single scene — at the film’s climax — is an important one, but he’s in and out of August in less than six minutes.

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Unsolicited Career Advice for… Jennifer Lopez

Wasn’t aware that Uncle Donnie had a hand in the movie business until I found this missive.  Of course, the “properties” he’s pushing probably explain why.  Still, wouldn’t it be cool to see J-Lo play Selena again? —RS

TO: Jennifer Lopez
FROM: Don Skwatzenschitz
RE: Career Advice

J-Lo! It’s D-Skwatz. How are you, babe? How are the twins? No, not those twins—the babies! Ha! Mitzi sends her best to you and Mark. Speaking of the hubby, last time we saw you two (at Mottola’s rooftop garden party), Mitzi offered to send him one of her crochet hoodies, if he’d send her your mailing address. I told her to just send it to your management, but she’s insistent. So if you get the chance, tell us where you live, or get Marc to give Mitzi a call. The hoody is really cozy in the winter.

Where have you been? I know motherhood takes a lot of work, but did you have to disappear? I know, there’s a red carpet here, an awards show there, but you haven’t been seen, you know, really professionally, in quite a while. Making yourself scarce certainly helps build a bit of mystique around you, but enough is enough. Besides, you’re a mystery like I’m a breakdancer. Boogaloo Skwatzenschitz I ain’t, honey (though I have been known to “bust a move,” as you say, when I hear that sax from “Get Right “).

So it’s time to relaunch J-Lo—you, your career, your brand, everything. The whole nueve yardas. I have a few ideas, as you might guess—I’m an idea guy. Here are mine for you:

  • Get back into movies. I have two really hot properties you’d be perfect for, The first is called The League of Zombie Entertainers. It’s 2025, and thanks to a strange lab experiment, Frank Sinatra, Patsy Cline, Jim Croce, and Selena are reanimated in space and sent back to Earth to fight crime. Their travel is facilitated by Cher, who we all know can move between the living and undead with ease. I’ve got Harry Connick lined up as Ol’ Blue Eyes, Faith Hill as Patsy Cline, Jason Lee as Croce, and you, I’ve got penciled in as Selena, naturally. Better act quickly, though; that little trollop Shakira wants in and my backers are getting antsy. Oh, and I’ve got Ben Affleck signed on to play Cher—that won’t be a problem, will it? The other film is a biopic—Rita Moreno: The Electric Company Years. Needless to say, lots of drugs and nudity. Big Oscar possibilities, though.
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