Frida Kahlo in Philadelphia

Art and the autobiography, to a purest like myself, should remain apart, treated like warring, frothing-at-the-mouth dogs and kept in separate pens until death. Knowing an artist’s personal biography, in my mind, irrevocably pollutes the art, akin to adding mercury to a pristine stream. Thankfully, the life story rarely has any impact on what the [...]

Milkshakes

I predict that the next film scene to become part of everyday discourse – akin to The Godfather III’s “They pull me back in”, Taxi Driver’s “You talkin’ to me” or Spinal Tap’s “It goes to eleven” will be There Will Be Blood’s milkshake scene.
Watch here.
and this is the now-classic dialogue:
“If you have a milkshake, [...]

No Country for HBO, Wal-Mart and ATMs

I recently saw the Coen Brothers new film, No Country For Old Men. It struck me as a movie that made me want to read the Cormac McCarthy book on which it is based because the film is so thick with literary metaphor, it was somewhat difficult to clearly understand the heart of the movie. [...]

Lost in Translation: The Idiot’s Guide to the Final Scene

One of the most charming final film scenes belongs to Lost In Translation, Sofia Coppola’s breakthrough film as writer and director. It’s famous for being an unheard, whispered line: people speak of the tantalizing possibilities of what may have been uttered as Bob whispers into Charlotte’s ear.
But someone by the name of vid22 has attempted, [...]

Ugly, ugly game cards

I was a hockey card nerd in my teens. I loved the whole collecting enterprise and would work pretty hard at acquiring a whole season’s worth of cards, either through trades or purchases.
Opening the package, the first thing that would hit you was the sweet, pink smell of bubble gum. This dates me, of [...]

Zombies in the Budget

YouTube is full of all matter of video editing foolishness and cut-and-paste stupidity.
But this one, which switches between Pres. Bush’s answers at a press conference and questions regarding the threat of zombies to the American public, succeeds. I think it’s this line that got me:
“Zombies. Who eat brains. Let’s make sure we’re on the same [...]

Bourdain Meets Pekar

A few days ago, Anthony Bourdain’s show No Reservations took a trip to the sunny climes of Cleveland, Ohio. I watch this show fairly regularly, and though I love Bourdain in foreign locales, I also like when he tackles America. Watching him outside of a Chili’s restaurant in Texas and decrying its watered-down, insulting cuisine [...]