posted
Anyone remember ‘American Gothic’? this was, and still is, one of my favourite TV shows of all time. Gary Cole (the world’s most underrated actor) played Sheriff Lucas Buck, mysterious and somewhat satanic figurehead of a backwards town called Trinity, featuring a host of interesting and bizarre characters ‘American Gothic’ was the 90s equivalent of something like ‘Twin Peaks’ meets ‘The Twilight Zone’. Every character was memorable whether it be Buck’s illegitimate son Caleb (top young actor Lucas Black), roving reporter Gail Emery (Paige Turco in fine form) sultry, slutty schoolteacher Selena Coombs (an excellent Brenda Bakke), the good Dr Matt (sometime movie star Daniel Webber) and a whole host of others, all excellent artists who made fine use of the show’s strong writing and eerie direction. Like all good programmes; it was axed into its’ second series, but still managed to wrap things up quite nicely, a great cult show and a defining, albeit largely, overlooked moment in television history.
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Hey Hipstermom, ahhh the infamous Bill Lumberg (love ‘Office Space’ btw, every second of that movie is just hilarious), since it only seems to be you and I who still come to the 90’s. I’m just gonna start new topics in this thread, and then in a few months someone’s gonna come by and go ‘what the ****, ‘American Gothic’ I never knew it was this popular!’.
You mentioned Renoir's "La Grande Illusion" on ‘The Passion’ thread, I haven’t seen this film, but it sounds good, it reminded me of this short film they made us watch in school once; Lamorisse’s ‘Le Ballon Rouge’, I remember when it started we were like ‘what the **** is this?’ some dumbass kid chasing a balloon around Paris, but by the end, it was a real nerve shredding experience because he just couldn’t get that elusive red balloon, apparently most of the area where it was filmed has been built over thus making it an even more surreal film.
The other day I saw this behind the scenes look at ‘The Dreamers’ now the reviews made it sound a tad stupid, like a pretentious bit of risqué eurotrash, but having seen the making of, it looks as if it might be worth checking out after all, and not just for the Emmanuel Beart look-alike getting her kit off, but because it appears to hark back to the days of cinema veritie and the new wave.
If only people still cared enough about cinema to try and make films like ‘Batteship Pomtempkin’ (not exactly like that but with the same scope, vision and messages) ‘400 Blows’ or evn reasonable recent stuff like ‘Catch-22’ or ‘Born On The Forth Of July’, btw I saw both the ‘Battle Royale’ films the other day, awesome movies, even the sequel dares to be fresh and controversial in a different way from the original.
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Ah, yes, those famous puzzling short films they made us watch in school for the symbolic value. I took Critical Writing in college and the professor I chose used film instead of books, so I was very psyched for the class. Too bad he was a **** . Anyhoo, we watched a kinds of film and I distinctly remember a short based on an Ambrose Bearce story, think it was "Chickamauga"...then we had to critique it. We also watched on old Mickey Spillane story "Kiss Me Deadly" [film noir of the '40s] and "Touch of Evil [film noir of the '50s]. Great course for a film lover...not a great teacher though. I remember him ripping one of my papers apart...then telling me "it's obvious you know alot about film, but you just don't have it as a writer." Way to motivate, ******** .
Fast forward to today, I make my living as a PR writer/editor so I guess I managed to develop a level of "adequate" writing ability to get paid for it.
My SO gave me a book for Valentine's Day. "1000 Films You Must See Before You Die." It's been a great read so far, and it's fueled my desire to see more classics and foreign films. I know I've seen more than the average American fil-watcher, but now I realize how woefully behind I really am in my pursuit of good films.
We have this local "experimental" arts place in an old factory area about 45 mins from the big city we're in [upstate ny capital]. These bohemian artsy types have made a haven for performance art, visual art and film...occasionally they run movies as well. We were delighted to have dinner in town [lots of upscale yuppy places with the NYC crowd venturing north] and then watched DeSica's "The Bicycle Thief" in subtitled italian, which was beautiful and heartbreaking...the perfect date for this cinemaphile.
Cheers to ya mate...keep bringing it on.
[start an "Office Space" thread and see what happens]
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Kash
Kash : Aha! He'll save every one of us...
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This must be a problem with film studies lecturers the world over, I had a teacher exactly like that, some corduroy wearing ******** who’d actually get annoyed if anyone answered his questions despite the fact that he insisted you participate, on one hand he’d praise your interest in film and welcomed original ideas, and on the other he’d massacre your work and say you have no grasp of theory, an infuriating, and on reflection, rather pathetic individual.
His classes were good though, because we got to see films like ‘The Battleship Pomtempkin’ (a bit heavy going at 9:00 A.M. on a Tuesday), ‘Citizen Kane’, and ‘Double Indemnity’. ‘The Bicycle Thief’ was a great film, frustrating to watch that guy being treated like that, I mean he was just trying to put up some ****ing posters and earn a living, I only wish we’d seen at least one Akira Kurosawa movie or something, saw ‘Kagemusha’ the other day, top film, produced by George Lucas.
The place you’re describing sounds like the kind of joint the cast of ‘Reality Bites’ would go to, hey man…is that Ethan Hawke giving a performace lecture on infidelity? (just kidding, I like Ethan Hawke, he’s a good actor)
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Due to censorship I may not be able to relay this, but I surfed "Office Space" and came up with bullsh--job.com...quite humorous.
Also from my esteemed colleague Roger Ebert:
Mike Judge's ``Office Space'' is a comic cry of rage against the nightmare of modern office life. It has many of the same complaints as ``Dilbert'' and the movie ``Clockwatchers'' and, for that matter, the works of Kafka and the Book of Job. It is about work that crushes the spirit. Office cubicles are cells, supervisors are the wardens, and modern management theory is skewed to employ as many managers and as few workers as possible. As the movie opens, a cubicle slave named Peter (Ron Livingston) is being reminded by his smarmy supervisor (Gary Cole) that all reports now carry a cover sheet. ``Yes, I know,'' he says. ``I forgot. It was a silly mistake. It won't happen again.'' Before long another manager reminds him about the cover sheets. ``Yes, I know,'' he says. Then another manager. And another. Logic suggests that when more than one supervisor conveys the same trivial information, their jobs overlap, and all supervisors after the first one should be shredded.
Peter hates his job. So do all of his co-workers, although one of them, Milton (Stephen Root), has found refuge through an obsessive defense of his cubicle, his radio and his stapler. Milton's cubicle is relocated so many times that eventually it appears to have no entrance or exit; he's walled-in on every side. You may recognize him as the hero of cartoons that played on ``Saturday Night Live,'' where strangers were always arriving to use his cubicle as storage space for cardboard boxes.
Mike Judge, who gained fame through MTV's ``Beavis and Butt-Head,'' and made the droll animated film ``Beavis and Butt-Head Do America'' (1996), has taken his ``SNL'' Milton cartoons as an inspiration for this live-action comedy, which uses Orwellian satirical techniques to fight the cubicle police: No individual detail of office routine is too absurd to be believed, but together they add up to stark, staring insanity. Peter has two friends at work: Michael Bolton (David Herman) and Samir (Ajay Naidu). No, not that Michael Bolton, Michael patiently explains. They flee the office for coffee breaks (demonstrating that Starbucks doesn't really sell coffee--it sells escape from the office).
Peter is in love with the waitress at the chain restaurant across the parking lot. Her name is Joanna (Jennifer Aniston) and she has problems with management, too. She's required to wear a minimum of 15 funny buttons on the suspenders of her uniform; the buttons are called ``flair'' in company lingo, and her manager suggests that wearing only the minimum flair suggests the wrong spirit (another waiter has ``45 flairs'' and looks like an exhibit at a trivia convention).
The movie's dialogue is smart. It doesn't just chug along making plot points. Consider, for example, Michael Bolton's plan for revenge against the company. He has a software program that would round off payments to the next-lowest penny and deposit the proceeds in their checking account. Hey, you're thinking--that's not original! A dumb movie would pretend it was. Not ``Office Space,'' where Peter says he thinks he's heard of that before, and Michael says, ``Yeah, they did it in `Superman III.' Also, a bunch of hackers tried it in the '70s. One got arrested.''
The movie's turning point comes when Peter seeks help from an ``occupational hypnotherapist.'' He's put in a trance with long-lasting results; he cuts work, goes fishing, guts fish at his desk and tells efficiency experts he actually works only 15 minutes a week. The experts like his attitude and suggest he be promoted. Meanwhile, the Milton problem is ticking like a time bomb, especially after Milton's cubicle is relocated to a basement storage area.
``Office Space'' is like the evil twin of ``Clockwatchers.'' Both movies are about the ways corporations standardize office routines, so that workers are interchangeable and can be paid as little as possible.
``Clockwatchers'' was about the lowest rung on the employment ladder--daily temps--but ``Office Space'' suggests that regular employment is even worse, because it's a life sentence. Asked to describe his state of mind to the therapist, Peter says, ``Since I started working, every single day has been worse than the day before, so that every day you see me is the worst day of my life.''
Judge, an animator until now, treats his characters a little like cartoon creatures. That works. Nuances of behavior are not necessary, because in the cubicle world every personality trait is magnified, and the captives stagger forth like grotesques. There is a moment in the movie when the heroes take a baseball bat to a malfunctioning copier. Reader, who has not felt the same?
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OTOH if I didn't go to work every day to enjoy highspeed internet access, we wouldn't be having this wonderful exchanges...so there is some merit to this life sentence that is EMPLOYMENT, whose alternatives I don't want to consider.
Let me also tip my hat to the British cinema --"The Third Man" is among my all-time favorite movies along with "A Hard Day's Night" and the angry young man cinema years. I wish I'd saved an old Ebert editorial in my movie magazine, regarding the feeling of watching a movie for the first time. He cites seeing TTM in Paris on a rainy day at a young age...how it marked him so...I'm not doing it justice here in the least, but it was a wonderful explanation of why we love what we love. Thrilling.
Back to you.
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quote: This must be a problem with film studies lecturers the world over, I had a teacher exactly like that, some corduroy wearing ******** who’d actually get annoyed if anyone answered his questions despite the fact that he insisted you participate, on one hand he’d praise your interest in film and welcomed original ideas, and on the other he’d massacre your work and say you have no grasp of theory, an infuriating, and on reflection, rather pathetic individual...[snip]
That reminds me of the old saying, "Those who have talent, perform. Those who don't, teach." Posts: 3385 | From: Sacramento, California, USA | Registered: Sep 2002 | Site Updates: 0
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Kash
Kash : Aha! He'll save every one of us...
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Thanks Hipstermom and StevenHW That’s some critique of ‘Office Space’ by Ebert Hipstermom, makes my ‘it was funny’ summation seem altogether inadequate .
Now its true, perhaps if you didn’t work we wouldn’t be here having these conversations, BUT (and note the caps there) I think Ebert, Mike Judge and a lot of people, feel that’s there’s gotta be a better way, something fairer, a way that doesn’t call for a person to be ground down by the constraints of flawed rules and contribute to a system that propagates and thrives on inequality or assimilation. Now I’m not talking about being a hippy or a communist or anything like that, because no one ideology has got it right yet which is why we do what we do, but there has to be a better way of life then the one that’s in play today…(patiently waits for Morpheus and Trinity to walk in)
Now Hipstermom just hit on a good point with Ebert’s experience seeing ‘The Third Man’, about how certain films affect you at different times of your life and how a movie’s impact differs from place to place. Now I remember when I first saw ‘Born On The Forth Of July’, I didn’t really pay it much mind, didn’t really concentrate (granted, I was younger at the time and it was the first day of summer) but still, its message didn’t resonate because all that seemed like it happened a million years ago. And then many years later, I saw it again, quietly, it was at the height of the bombing of Afghanistan and all the fear mongering, and I was blown away. I could empathise with Ron Kovic’s state of mind after seeing the atrocities of NAM and how he’d been lied to by the government, I also like ‘BOFJ’ because it dealt with the effects of war on the individual; his attitude, awareness, depressions, triumphs etc, Cruise deserved an Oscar for his performance in that film, because he hasn’t bettered it since. What about you guys?
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Ebert is older & wiser...and makes a ton of dough for his thoughtful commentary. Think of him as Obi-Wan and think of yourself as a work still in progress. Gad...a Star Wars reference from me of all people! [immediately pops "Spaceballs" in dvd player to level the karma]
I absolutely agree with your post, which is why watching "Le Grande Illusion" Sunday night is all the more poignant, in light of the 67 years that have passed since the film was made. More people should remember that not all "message" films are from the modern era.
Here's another Ebert article I've posted before. The first and last paragraphs could be about any movie and that's why this is such a great read:
''Saturday Night Fever'' was Gene Siskel's favorite movie, and he watched it at least 17 times. We all have movies like that, titles that transcend ordinary categories of good and bad, and penetrate straight to our hearts. My own short list would include ``La Dolce Vita,'' ``A Hard Day's Night'' and ``The Third Man.'' These are movies that represent what I yearned for at one time in my life, and to see them again is like listening to a song that was popular the first summer you were in love.
Although ``Saturday Night Fever'' appealed to him primarily on an emotional level, Siskel spoke about it in terms of its themes, and there are two central ones. First, the desire of all young people to escape from a life sentence of boring work and attain their version of the beckoning towers of Manhattan. Second, the difficulty that some men have in relating to women as comrades and friends and not simply sex facilitators. There is a scene in the movie where the hero, Tony Manero, sits on a bench with Stephanie, the girl he loves, and tells her all about one of the bridges out of Brooklyn: Its height, length, how many cubic yards of concrete went into its making--and you can taste his desire to cross that bridge and leave Brooklyn behind. Earlier, Stephanie has described him in a few brutal words: ``You live with your parents, you hang with your buddies and on Saturday nights you burn it all off at 2001 Odyssey. You're a cliche. You're nowhere, goin' no place.'' Tony senses that she is right.
The theme of escape to the big city is central to American films and literature, and ``Saturday Night Fever'' has an obvious predecessor. Both the lure of Manhattan and the problems with women were treated 10 years earlier in Martin Scorsese's ``Who's That Knocking at My Door?'' (1967), which also has a hero who suffers from what Freud called the Madonna-Whore Complex. (The complex involves this logic: I love you so much I want to sleep with you, after which I cannot love you any more because you are the kind of woman who has sex with men.) By the end of the film, Tony has left his worthless friends behind and made the first faltering steps to Manhattan and to a more enlightened view of women, and so the themes have been resolved.
But I suspect that ``Saturday Night Fever'' had another kind of appeal to Siskel, one that reflects the way the movies sometimes complete the unfinished corners of our lives. In a way, Tony Manero represented the kind of adolescence Gene didn't have, just as Marcello, the hero of ``La Dolce Vita,'' led the kind of life I once lusted for. The most lasting images are its joyous ones, of Tony strutting down a sidewalk, dressing for the evening and dominating the disco floor in a solo dance that audiences often applaud. There's a lot in the movie that's sad and painful, but after a few years what you remember is John Travolta on the dance floor in that classic white disco suit, and the Bee Gees on the soundtrack.
The Travolta performance is a great cocky affirmation, and his performance is vulnerable and mostly lovable; playing a kid of 19, he looks touchingly young. The opening shots set the tone, focusing on his carefully shined shoes as he struts down the street. At home, he's still treated like a kid. When he gets a $4 raise at the hardware store, his father says, ``You know what $4 buys today? It don't even buy $3.'' But in his bedroom, with its posters of Al Pacino and ``Rocky,'' he strips to his bare chest, admires himself in the mirror, lovingly combs his hair, puts on his gold chains, and steps into his disco suit with a funny little undulation as he slides the zipper up. (``The peculiar construction of disco pants is a marvel of modern engineering,'' observes Scott T. Anderson, on a Web page devoted to the movie. ``So loose at the ankles, yet so tight in the groin.'') At the dinner table, his dad slaps him, and he's wounded: ``Would you just watch the hair? I work a long time on my hair, and you hit it!''
The home is a trap, presided over by the photo of Tony's older brother, Father Frank Jr. (Mrs. Manero crosses herself every time she utters the name). Freedom is represented by cruising the streets, and starring on the disco floor. The movie's plot involves his choice between Annette (Donna Pescow), the girl who loves him, and Stephanie (Karen Lynn Gorney), the girl who works in Manhattan and represents his dream of class. In the Scorsese film, the girl really was class (she was a ballerina), but Stephanie is simply a dressed-up version of Annette who got a typing job in an office where famous people (Paul Anka!) sometimes visit.
I've always thought Annette was a better choice for Tony than Stephanie, because Annette has fewer delusions. (``Why do you hate me so much,'' she asks him, ``when all I ever did was like you?'') But Tony can't see that because he can't really see women at all, and in the cruel closing scenes he makes a half-hearted attempt to rape Stephanie, and then sits in the front seat of a car while Annette is being raped in the back by two of his buddies. Of course, at that time, in that milieu, perhaps it wasn't considered rape, but only an energetic form of courtship.
The film is far from perfect and some of its scenes are awkward. Watching it again, I was struck by how badly the whole subplot of Father Frank Jr. is handled. Tony's older brother comes home, announces he is leaving the priesthood, has a peculiarly superficial conversation with Tony, accompanies him to the disco, smiles gamely, and then disappears from the disco and the movie. It's as if we're glimpsing a character passing through this movie on his way to another one (``The Priest,'' perhaps?). It's also interesting to see how little screen time the final disco competition really has, considering how large it looms in our memories.
It's odd, too, how the rape of Annette is misplaced as the movie gets sidetracked by the death of Bobby C (Barry Miller), who falls, halfway on purpose, off the bridge. The happy ending, as Tony and Stephanie sit on the window ledge and smile, evokes a hopeful future without finding closure on the problems of the immediate past. Tony, who has not gone to college and doesn't share Stephanie's typing skills, may indeed be able to get a job in Manhattan, but it's likely his new job won't be as interesting as the hardware clerking he's leaving behind. So why, I wonder, did this movie mean so much to Gene Siskel? Because he saw it at a certain time, I imagine. Because Tony Manero's dreams touched him. Because while Tony was on the dance floor, his problems were forgotten and his limitations were transcended. The first time I saw ``La Dolce Vita,'' it represented everything I hoped to attain. Ten years later, it represented a version of what I was trapped in. Ten years after that, it represented what I had escaped from. And yet its appeal to me only grew. I had changed but the movie hadn't; some movies are like time machines, returning us to the past.
We all have a powerful memory of the person we were at that moment when we formed a vision for our lives. Tony Manero stands poised precisely at that moment. He makes mistakes, he fumbles, he says the wrong things, but when he does what he loves he feels a special grace. How he feels, and what he does, transcend the weaknesses of the movie he is in; we are right to remember his strut, and the beauty of his dancing. ``Devote your life to something you love--not like, but love,'' Siskel liked to say. ``Saturday Night Fever'' is about how Tony Manero does that.
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Kash
Kash : Aha! He'll save every one of us...
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A defining series of the 90s I’d say, (although ‘Scream 3’ was made in 2000, but hey, work with me will ya? ) the ‘Scream’ movies temporality redefined the slasher horror genres with self-reflexivity and in-jokes. These movies were always fun to watch with a crowd and usually kept you guessing till the end, it was Scooby Doo with violence and…no Scooby Snax
The original was the best when it came to suspense and innovation (the rules etc) but ‘Scream 3’ had the best in-joke cameos with Carrie Fisher; “I was this close to Princess Leia, but they gave it to the girl who slept with George Lucas”, and any film with Jay and Silent Bob is all right by me. The only thing about the ‘Scream’ movies is that they have a very limited repeat viewing potential, after all, once you know, you know and it isn’t half as much fun, halfway through 3 we were all hoping the killer was Sydney’s dad (still don’t trust that guy ) or Sydney herself, now that’s would’ve been a great finale.
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you're kidding me, thats like me not having ever seen 'SNL' , well then you should defiantely get hold of the trilogy on DVD and see it with a bunch of people for maximum effect (of course you wont find it scary, us diehard moviebuffs who've braved the planes of Lynch and Argento dont scare easy) :eek holy **** a baby moth!!
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Things I have also never seen: - a James Bond movie from start to finish - any Star Wars movie - any Lord of the Rings movie
I am also a purist, I almost never see any "series" from the first to the last...I don't like the way an original is butchered with subsequent companion films. Example: "Austin Powers, International Man of Mystery" is a hoot from beginning to end. The next one, just okay...the last one, didn't even see. "Police Academy": funny movie. "Citizens on Patrol": mediocre. Anything after that, no interest on my part.
In short, I am a cinema snob.
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Kash
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Some startling revelations there by Hipstermom , nothing wrong with being choosy though, its apathetic acceptance by moviegoers thats responsible for the bad shape the industry's in today.
Personally, I like ‘Star Wars’ (there goes my art-house cinema membership) have seen a few Bond films, even have a couple on DVD (I can hear them ripping up my card) and saw two ‘LOTR’ movies in the cinema (that’s it; they’ll never let me back in now)
But seriously, I know what you mean about sequels and 9 out of 10 times they ruin the memory of the original, but every now and then, there comes a sequel or even a pre-written trilogy that defies expectations and comes out a winner (‘The Godfather Part II’ for example is my favourite of the trilogy) similar thing with ‘The Empire Strikes Back’ (if you like ‘SW’ that is) and ‘Battle Royale II’ (btw I dunno if you’re a fan of Hong-Kong or Japanese cinema, but if so, then see both the ‘Battle Royale’ movies, they’re completely ‘out there’ films). Back in the day it seems that sequels were a rarity as opposed to the norm, reminds me of the gag
“Lets watch the ‘10 Commandments” “Hang on, I haven’t seen the first 9!”
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I have seen many a "Three Stooges" short so I am not totally opposed to series. OTOH the Curly years were the best...the Shemp years had some funny moments...the rest were awful.
~sound of art-house cinema membership card being ripped to shreds
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Kash
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Thats cool, even Lance (Eric Stoltz) from 'Pulp Fiction' was watching 'the 3 Stooges' (kinda gives you some indication of how many times I've seen that movie).
OK, using the cover of cult TV to start a topic about Britney Spears….
The earth shudders, a rain of frogs, thunder, and lighting, surely the apocalypse is nigh…
…But seriously, the singer took my advice and tried to inject some life into her yawn-worthy career, snogging Madonna didn’t work, taking most of your kit off (she already played that hand a while back), dressing up like you’re on the game is Christina’s speciality whilst the whole 'Alias' rip-off thing in ‘Toxic’ was a bit been there/ seen that. Now Britney’s courting controversy, and has been lambasted for a bathtub suicide scene in her latest video, guidance groups think it’ll set a bad example for her fans, personally, I think it’s the best thing Britney’s done in years, a real selfless humanitarian effort to get rid of her old fan base, “Remember kids; get your whole head in front of the shotgun” (Denis Leary) belive it or not, but I don’t actually hate Britney as much as you might think, she can sing and she's been at it (singing that is) since she was 2 or something stupid like that, is she messed up in the head? well she was an infant Texas beauty queen (anyone who makes it out of that David Lynch scenario alive, has my respect).
And in the immortal words of Justin ‘beatbox’ Timberlake: “boomsh boomsh boomsh babbada dama boomsh boomsh boomsh babbada dama boomsh”
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Last night, one of our local clubs featured the former teen combo known as Hanson. You may recall those cute 'lil fellows from a few years ago...Mmmm, bop. At any rate, they played here last year and got great press. IMHO they write their own music and play it, so my respect for them exceeds any interest in what the latest popsters are up to.
As with my cinema choices, it's alternative rock and roll for this card-carrying member of Aging Hipsters. Leave the pop music to conventional suburbanites, thank you very much. Long live Michael Stipe, Aimee Mann, Chris Cornell, Robert Smith, yada-yada-yada!
As a young male, I can rationalize why Britney appeals to you. As a contemporary of her mother, however, the whole Spears Gestalt leaves me cold. I sure empathize with how hard it was for the family to make ends meet, paying for dance lessons & costumes, those pageants [which are very popular down south, while we northeasterners just say "huh?"], trying to get your kid a record deal...NOT!!!!!!
I'll concede the kid has some modicum of talent to have risen above the mediocrity of the competition to get this far. OTOH she's no genius with the lyrics, doesn't play music, and sooner or later that butt will go south just like the rest of us. I'm even less impressed with anyone who does a press interview snapping gum and batting her eyelashes like Scarlett O'Hara. Ride it will you got it, honey.
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Kash
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LOL Hipstermom, yep I remember Hanson, I can't remember if you're a fan of Denis Leary or not but he did this great Hanson gag in 'Lock n' Load' Michael Stipe rules, I'm sure I've told this story before, but I met him once, great bloke, and for awhile he thought that I thought he was John Malkovich (a surreal Eddie Izzard style conversation took place) I only heard of the multi-talented Aimee Mann after she did the soundtrack for 'Magnolia' (another fine film) and am more into stuff like 'Fun Lovin' Criminals', 'Jamoriqui' and 'Morcheeba', love all the 80's rock too (obviously).
Are seriosuly saying that "baby one more time" isn't as great a work of songwriting genius as 'imagine' or 'don't fear the reaper'? even though Britney didn't write that herself, it was one of the Backstreet boys...so I heard, not that I'd know, I just heard Posts: 2041 | From: The Ice Planet Hoth | Registered: Jul 2001 | Site Updates: 0
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LOL I saw the in-depth "Britney...Behind the Music" so as I recall HMOMT was written by some professional songwriter out of Sweden [not one of the guys from ABBA either, though perhaps that would lend more credibility], but it appears Ms. Brit was responsible for the video concept. I guess since I am a former Catholic schoolgirl, I take exception to the bastardization of the uniform...but then, it's a supply & demand society and I realize "the naughty schoolgirl" thang sells since it's a man's world.
I love Denis Leary, but have only heard parts of "Lock n Load"...will have to pick it up sometime.
Aimee Mann is the patron saint of female empowerment. Everyone remembers "Voices Carry" ["he said shut up...he said shut up...], but she was able to reinvent herself as a singer-songwriter on her own terms. Yes, she wrote the "Magnolia" soundtrack...she is also married to Michael Penn [brother of Sean, singer of "If I was Romeo in blue jeans, if I was Heathcliff in...something-something]. We saw her last year on my birthday and it was a great show.
Lucky you, with the close encounter of the Stipe kind. Saw him from the 6th row in '99 and it was sublime. Caught him on the independent film channel the other night in something from about '96.
~Baby, take my hand...don't fear the reaper...baby, I'm your man
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![[Wink]](wink.gif)
(just kidding, I like Ethan Hawke, he’s a good actor)
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
![[Razz]](tongue.gif)
![[Eek!]](eek.gif)
you're kidding me, thats like me not having ever seen 'SNL' ![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
, well then you should defiantely get hold of the trilogy on DVD and see it with a bunch of people for maximum effect (of course you wont find it scary, us diehard moviebuffs who've braved the planes of Lynch and Argento dont scare easy) :eek holy **** a baby moth!!
