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September 30, 2001
dj dazy - twilight mix 
http://www.djdazy.com/mp3/djdazy_twilight.mp3
Maybe its my mood, or my headphones - but I really
like this mix - deep, lush house music.
Rating: 3/3
AMZN:
Posted by Jonathan at 7:54 PM | Comments (0)
Sugar and Spice
Bring It On gone bad -- these cheerleaders are naughty -- we're talking teenage pregnancy and firearms.
With Cher from tv's clueless (not the movie), the american beauty/live virgin girl, the whatever it takes/dude wheres my car girl, and a few other teen stars. Its my
new favorite dvd.
Rating: 3/3
AMZN: B00005J761
Posted by Jonathan at 3:47 AM | Comments (0)
September 24, 2001
American Pie
Second or third funniest scene of every 80s teensexploitation film all rolled into one giant mistake. One of
the characters is a blatant ripoff of Cameron from Ferris Buellers Day Off.
I imagined the writers saved the funnier events from the movies they ripped off
for a sequel. This summer one was released, leaving me to wonder whether I was right, or they decided to plagairize the third or fourth funniest
scenes.
Moral of this story: don't fuck (with) pie and don't fuck with 80s movies. Some things are left better as is.
Rating: 1/3
AMZN: B00005LKHW
Posted by Jonathan at 2:47 AM | Comments (0)
September 22, 2001
Zapped!
Charles in Charge plays a high school nerd who is a botanical genius. His friend, Buddy Lembeck, uses Chaz's
supergrowth plant hormone to grow superpot. In a chance laboratory explostion -- where the aforementioned growth hormone, high percentage cannabis extract, and jack
daniels are mixed and inhaled -- Chaz gets telekinetic powers. The rest of the movie, he uses these powers -- mostly popping girls bras open, though sometime
manipulating bets. His love interest is the nerdy high school reporter, but when her glasses are off, hair comes down, and frumpy outfits replaced with form fitting
ones -- she's instantly hot. I miss the 80s.
Rating: 3/3
AMZN: 6304773366
Posted by Jonathan at 10:13 PM | Comments (0)
Whatever It Takes
Unpopular boy wants popular girl, because she's hot. Popular boy wants unpopular girl, because she's
the first girl he can't get.
They team up, popular guy teaching unpopular guy how to be superficial and facetious enough to get superficial popular girl.
Unpopular guy teaches popular guy how to talk to girls, be sensitive, charming and witty.
Unpopular guy realizes, of course, that he's always loved the
unpopular girl (his next door neighbor), and tries to win her over but fails -- until the last minute of the movie (of course) when he wins.
Of course there
is a prom scene and unpopular guys who listen to punk rock, like every other teen movie in the 80s.
Stars the girl who dated puck in She's All that, and one
of the girlfriends from Dude Where's My Car.
Rating: 2/3
AMZN: B00003CXGJ
Posted by Jonathan at 10:01 PM | Comments (0)
The End of Violence
Wim Wenders thinks that cameras are everywhere, and big brother is constantly thinking of new ways to
keep us in order. Well acted, well directed, well made -- but something is just not right - almost feels empty, especially considering the fast paced and engaging
trailer that is wholly unrelated to the actual product.
Rating: 3/3
AMZN: 0792844009
Posted by Jonathan at 9:56 PM | Comments (0)
High Fidelity
Nick Hornby's book of the same name is transplanted from the streets of London to those of Chicago,
replacing punk rock with indie rock, and revitalizing John (and Joan) Cusack's career.
I would rather have seen a true adaptation of the book to screen, but
theres nothing to complain about here (aside from the wrongfully omitted scenes).
Rating: 3/3
AMZN: B00003CXGA
Posted by Jonathan at 9:52 PM | Comments (0)
Dark City
Entertaining movie alternating through moments sci-fi and film noir. Critics hated this, save Ebert, so it
undeservingly got a bad rap.
Rating: 3/3
AMZN: 0780622553
Posted by Jonathan at 9:49 PM | Comments (0)
The Nightmare Before Christmas
Before Planet of the Apes, when he was creative, Tim Burton made deranged yet utterly
entertaining films like this claymation masterpiece.
Rating: 3/3
AMZN: 6305949980
Posted by Jonathan at 9:45 PM | Comments (0)
The Girl Who Knew Too Much
Classic italian horror/murder mystery from 1963. Girl (who is about to know too much)
vacations in Rome where she sees a murder committed on her first night. No one believes her, as the circumstances closely mirror famed alphabet killings of 10 years
prior, and the girl (who now knows too much) seems to be completely insane (not to mention a bit too paranoid). Then more people turn up dead. Dario Argento would be
making children's movies if this never came out.
Rating: 3/3
AMZN: 6305907706
Posted by Jonathan at 9:43 PM | Comments (0)
Can't Hardly Wait
Night of high school graduation, boy finally musters courage to tell the most popular girl in school he
has had crush on her forever. Makes no mention of the girl's seemingly animatronic head, which appears to float in mid air and make gestures like the robotic children
at Disney's 'Its a Small World'.
Rating: 2/3
AMZN: B00000F0AD
Posted by Jonathan at 9:38 PM | Comments (0)
Akira: Special Edition
This comes in a fancy metal case that doesn't fit with the rest of my dvds.
Poo.
Classic japanimation flick, worth seeing at least 1x in your life.
Rating: 2/3
AMZN: B00005MAM2
Posted by Jonathan at 9:34 PM | Comments (0)
She's All That
Freddie Prinze Jr. is the biggest name on campus - highest gpa, captain of the soccer team -- who's
girlfriend (with potentially fake breasts and nose) dumps him for MTV's Puck.
Freddie and Friends bet whether or not he can turn any girl in school into prom
queen, just as the frumpy Rachel Leigh Cook, who has a passion though lack of talent for art, walks past.
He pesters and wins her over... her glasses come off...
her hair is let down... she wears sexy clothes and she becomes instantly hot. But she finds out about the bet, dumps him, he apologizes, they live happily ever after.
Rating: 2/3
AMZN: 6305428255
Posted by Jonathan at 9:32 PM | Comments (0)
Blue Velvet
David Lynch is obsessed with small towns. I imagine he grew up in one himself, and fear ever visiting
there.
Rating: 3/3
AMZN: 0792844793
Posted by Jonathan at 9:25 PM | Comments (0)
The Avengers - Complete Emma Peel Mega Set
16 DVDs - 51 Episodes
Every single episode of the Avengers featuring
Diana Rigg.
Need I say more?
Rating: 3/3
AMZN: B00005MKOL
Posted by Jonathan at 9:22 PM | Comments (0)
Bring It On
Kirsten Dunst is the captain of cheerleading team. Everyone thinks her boyfriend, who just started college,
is gay - in part because he was a cheerleader, but mostly because he seems it. Well, he's not. He's tappin' some freshman ass at Cal State Something.
Meanwhile
Dunst, over at Rancho Meat high school, is busy convincing new kid in school/gymnast Eliza Dushku to join her cheerleading squad. She suceeds, winning over Dushku's
confidence, and her punk rock brother's heart.
An inspiring look into the world of competitive high school cheerleading.
My favorite movie of the
year.
Rating: 3/3
AMZN: B00003CXMP
Posted by Jonathan at 9:19 PM | Comments (0)
Girl, Interrupted
Winona Ryder is a crazy girl -- but much less so than the girls she shares her stay at a mental
institution with. Ranging from a controlling psychotic (Angelina Jolie) to a girl who likes to bark. Painful to watch even on cable when nothing else is on.
Rating: 1/3
AMZN: B00003CWQR
Posted by Jonathan at 9:12 PM | Comments (0)
Alien: Resurrection
What happens when you leave a franchise with French art-film director Jean Pierre Jeunet and Buffy the
Vampire creator Joss Whedon. Witty, beautiful, and with Winona.
Rating: 3/3
AMZN: B00000ILDG
Posted by Jonathan at 9:08 PM | Comments (0)
Road Trip
Breckin Myer accidently sends high school sweetheart Rachel Blanchard (Clueless TV show) a naughty tape he filmed
with new girlfriend Amy Smart (Varsity Blues). Now he and his friends (a pothead, a nerd and a dude where's my car) must take a road trip from Ithica to Austin to
intercept the package. This movie chronicles their wacky hijinks, and features lots of girls wearing nothing on top, nothing on bottom, or both.
Rating: 2/3
AMZN: B00003CXIY
Posted by Jonathan at 9:05 PM | Comments (0)
But I'm a Cheerleader
Michelle Williams (in a 2 scene cameo) and other high school friends send Natasha Lyonne to gay camp
with hopes of turning the lesbian inclined cheerleader straight. About as good as it sounds.
Rating: 1/3
AMZN: B00004X13Q
Posted by Jonathan at 9:00 PM | Comments (0)
Live Virgin / American Virgin
Mena Suvari signs a contract with her porn kingpin (Robert Loggia) father's rival studio -
headed by Bob Hoskins - the day before her 18th birthday. The plan - the night of her 18th birthday, Suvari (a virgin) will be deflowered on payperview, while millions
of horny men watch at home jacked in to Hoskin's cybersuits so they can Jack off into her. Ah, technology.
To ruin an awful plot, she ends up doing it with her ex
boyfriend - Josie's love interest from Josie and the Pussycats.
Rating: 1/3
AMZN: 630598350X
Posted by Jonathan at 8:57 PM | Comments (0)
Drive Me Crazy
Sabrina the Teenage Witch is the schools most popular girl, of course, who isn't asked to the big dance by
the captain of the basketball team (who literally falls into the arms of a cheerleader). Her punk rock next door neighbor is dumped by the Whipped Cream Bikini girl
from Varsity Blues, who doesn't look as cute in grunge.
Sabrina and Sid Vicious team up and pretend to be a couple in order to make their ex-s/hopefuls jealous.
He loses his punk rock edge for the gap, she loses mediocre r&b for a bad all girl band. Predictably it works, though they alienate friends in the process and
ultimately realize they had loved each other all along.
The dad from 7th Heaven plays the dad, and the girl they turn into a slut in Cruel Intentions 2 plays a nice
popular girl.
Better than your average dumb teen movie.
Rating: 3/3
AMZN: B00003Q43E
Posted by Jonathan at 8:50 PM | Comments (0)
Cruel Intentions 2
Straight to video prequel of the SarahMichelleGellar / Ryan Phillippe effort at softcore succeeds --
gratuitous nudity is strung along only by a thin plot that exhibits little skill at writing, directing, or acting.
As a movie its bad, as a softcore its
good.
Rating: 2/3
AMZN: B00004XPPI
Posted by Jonathan at 8:43 PM | Comments (0)
September 17, 2001
Dude, Where's My Car?
Possibly one of the worst movies I've ever seen -- the nicest thing I can say about it is
'its better than Battlefield Earth'. It tries to be funny, but thats about all it does. Aside from a oneliner about New Jersey at the end, it doesn't really suceed
at doing anything other than make you wonder 'what was the studio thinking?'.
But the dvd -- absolutely brilliant -- the running commentary featuring
the guy from road trip, the guy from that 70s show, and the director -- is just about the funniest thing i've ever heard. They're drunk, I think they might be
getting drunker, and at one point they break the table they're sitting around.
Rating: 2/3
AMZN: B00003CXS7
Posted by Jonathan at 8:13 PM | Comments (0)
American Analog Set - Know By Heart
The worst thing anyone has ever said about Austin's American Analog Set is that
they're slow -- hardly an insult or criticism considering the fact that they not only are slow, but that they very obviously are trying to be so. And they've
perfected it, somehow creating a sense of aural comfort and familiarity. Every song sounds like you've heard it before -- not that they sound alike, but just..
right.
I've heard them labeled 'make out music for indie rockers', 'perfect for those nights with red wine and mild sedatives' and, my personal favorite,
'american slow set'. They're just fucking good. They get the green light. That means I like it. And you should too. Unless you're a communist or something.
Rating: 3/3
AMZN: B00005NFXS
Posted by Jonathan at 2:57 AM | Comments (0)
September 16, 2001
REA LSAT Test Prep - Research & Education Association
I don't know why, but I'm signed up for the LSAT this October.
The economy seems best suited for me to go back to school. I couldn't repect myself if I applied to film school, I find myself disgusted by the dichotomy of
stereotypical liberalness or conservativeness infecting most political theory post-grad programs, and -- as ignominious as the legal profession is, its still one with a
firm basis on logic and common sense.
who am i kidding? i'll find myself writing b-movie screenplays for cinemax-3 5 years from now.
Rating: 2/3
ISBN: 087891854X
Posted by Jonathan at 6:57 PM | Comments (0)
Index Magazine - v5.n4 - April/May 2001
Featuring interviews with indie-actress Scarlett Johansson, fashion designer
Marc Jacobs, electronic musician Aphex Twin, and Spanish Architects Abalis & Herreros plus dozens more.
Rating: 3/3
ISBN: 1891735160
Posted by Jonathan at 6:43 PM | Comments (0)
The Crying of Lot 49 - Thomas Pynchon
A few years back, my friend Dan and I saw the American Analog Set at the Knitting
Factory in NYC. Mid-set, he taps me on the shoulder and shifts my focus to the girl next to him, on the other side (of couse), and the nape of her neck (I often wonder
whether 'of her neck' is redundant). A simple line-art black tatoo lay there -- the horn of trystero -- making us wonder, 'Did she get that tatoo because of
Pynchon's novel?' or 'Was Pynchon's work based, somewhat, in reality?'.
We both decided to leave that question unanswered. The world is for more surreal
like that.
Rating: 3/3
ISBN: 0060931671
Posted by Jonathan at 2:45 PM | Comments (0)
The Faint - Danse Macabre
A few years ago when the Faint started out, I didn't really like them at all. They were just
a bunch of hardcore/emo kids with synthesizers, and they weren't very good.
But now its 1983, and I really like them.
Rating: 3/3
AMZN: B00005NF1H
Posted by Jonathan at 5:09 AM | Comments (0)
A Void - Georges Perec
The only task as amazing as Perec's writing of a novel in French without a single use of the
letter 'e', is Gilbert Adair's translation of said novel to English.
- in progress -
Rating: 2/3
ISBN: 1860460984
Posted by Jonathan at 4:13 AM | Comments (0)
Libra - Don Delillo
A wild and fictious account of events surrounding Lee Harvey Oswald's assasination of Kennedy that
-- eerily -- is plausible. Owing in part to his blurring of fact and fiction to the point at which they are utterly indiscernable (it truly becomes impossible to tell
where the most banal or outlandish ideas fall), Delillo gives us the answers history wouldn't provide. Who? What? When? Where? Why? How?
Rating: 3/3
ISBN: 0140156046
Posted by Jonathan at 4:08 AM | Comments (0)
Mao II - Don Delillo
A reclusive author struggles to finish his last novel 20yrs after he's started, as Moonies are
mass wed, stalkers abound, and bombs explode in beirut. Delillo creates, as always, a caricature of the world -- inviting us to examine our lives just as closely as we
examine his characters.
Rating: 3/3
ISBN: 0140152741
Posted by Jonathan at 3:58 AM | Comments (0)
White Noise - Don Delillo
Mid-age crisis and small town paranoia affect a humanities professor at a small liberal arts
college as the world around him increasingly turns bizarre.
The literary equivalent of American Beauty, but far more interesting and rewarding, avoiding
superficialites at all costs.
Rating: 3/3
ISBN: 0140283307
Posted by Jonathan at 3:51 AM | Comments (0)
Underworld - Don Delillo
Delilo's epic telling of the American experience is as colossal as it is rewarding -- spanning
decades, states, cultures and moralities, he crafts an intricate web of personalites and situations that illustrate as many facets as pages and patience allow -- no
more, and certainly no less.
Rating: 3/3
ISBN: 0684848155
Posted by Jonathan at 3:43 AM | Comments (0)
Josie and the Pussycats
I saw this in the theaters a week after it opened. I went with my cousin to a 9pm showing on a
Friday night around 30th st. on the East side in NYC. We were pretty sure school was in session, so we got there a little early.
We were also pretty sure
that this was a dumb teen movie extravaganza, and were anxious to see Varsity Blues II with Rachel Leigh Cook and Tara Reid.
Boy, were we
wrong.
Never before had I been the only person in a theater.
And never before had I seen such an original and clever
script.
Josie and the Pussycats is not about Josie and the Pussycats -- or at least the Josie and the Pussycats of Archie Comics fame, and the
ultra-stylized pop-culture event-movie its trailers and ads promoted. It could be about them -- or better phrased, it could have been about them, but its not. Its not
even about a band, as the characters and concepts one would expect to be the primary focus are sidelined, rather overtly, by a scathing commentary on popculture,
marketing, and media product placement.
A fey 'boy-band' sings about 'Backdoor Lovers' before taking off on a chain-drugstore sponsored airliner,
making careful attention to promote soft drinks and clothing lines.
A power-hungry record company executive inserts consumption oriented subliminal
messages into the nation's music - prompting teenagers to buy 'red' items one day and 'orange -- its the new red' items the next.
Not a single
piece of the set is free from commercial labels or trademarks, nor are the actors. The commentary on consumerism and marketing is constantly running and everpresent --
making you wonder how and why did the studio release this?
Being not only subjected to an endless barrage of cultural theory, but essentially hit over the
head with it (as it is as inescapable as it is undeniable) has had no effect. Its not that teenagers and consumers 'just didn't get it' -- it was spelled out loud
and clear -- they just don't care.
Rating: 3/3
AMZN: B00005MEVO
Posted by Jonathan at 3:39 AM | Comments (0)
Infinite Jest - David Foster Wallace
I've heard that you're either a fan of Delillo or DFW, and few have overlapping
tastes. Perhaps having heard that after reading (and enjoying) Delillo, and before being exposed to Wallace my response was tainted.
That in mind, after
thoroughly not enjoying the first 50 pages of Infinite Jest, I pushed on, and read another 50. And after I decided those pages did little to sway my opinion, I opted to
think better of the novel and attempt 50 more.
My bookmark indefinately rests around the 150th page in DFW's colossal attempt.
In there,
somewhere, is a story about a tennis frat, a plot to take control of the world -- and the means with which it is to be accomplished -- the funniest joke -- infinite
jest.
But to get there, one must brave what has often been called DFW's 'cataloging' style -- most notably endless endless endless musings on smoking pot
and having sex. It might SOUND exciting...
Rating: 1/3
ISBN: 0316921173
Posted by Jonathan at 3:06 AM | Comments (0)
Empire of the Senseless - Kathy Acker
Possibly the least taxing, and most famous, of Acker's works in which she
appropriates Gibson's Neuromancer -- turning what many consider to be a sexist work into an exaggeration of itself. Baudrillard probably had a field day reading this
and talking to his parlour buddies about the hyperreal.
Acker's 'style' is that of appropriation and a cut&paste mentality -- focusing on the juxtaposition
of concepts and idealized settings/characters -- shifting attention from the character/situation to (in layman's terms) what the character/situation is about.
Unfortunately in doing so, Acker creates a text that isn't so much difficult to read, as it is undesireable -- offering little enjoyment to the act of reading, only
enjoyment from ruminations after having 'plowed through'.
Rating: 1/3
ISBN: 0802131794
Posted by Jonathan at 2:56 AM | Comments (0)
Don Quixote : Which Was a Dream - Kathy Acker
Kathy acker wrongfully appropriates Cervantes' Don Quixote and,
consequently, 4 hours of my life.
Rating: 1/3
ISBN: 0802131921
Posted by Jonathan at 2:38 AM | Comments (0)
America - Jean Baudrillard
Described to me once as 'Baudrillard writing a children's book', I couldn't help but
laugh.
Having read it, I couldn't help but laugh harder.
Jean Baudrillard, noted and incomprehensible french theorist, travels across America
philosophizing and theorizing on the concept of America, its cultures and its politics. Being a French theorist -- and a proverbial fish out of his academic waters, his
approach is with a sort of childish naivete while he still purports himself to be the foremost authority on the relevant subject matter.
All of Baudrillard's
writings have their 'golden angle' if you look hard enough, and that's this one -- as much as he claims to, he just doesn't get it. The publishers know it, the
readers know it, Academia knows it and very likely he knows it too -- but screw it -- this is what America IS! um, sure...
Rating: 2/3
ISBN: 0860919781
Posted by Jonathan at 2:32 AM | Comments (0)
The Ecstasy of Communication - Jean Baudrillard
One of Baudrillard's funniest attempts at avoiding a point. Addressing,
analyzing, and ultimately criticizing all nearly forms and modes of communication, from the boy in a bubble to urban graffiti, the author fails to comment his
own.
Fortunately, a nice Cabernet and music to taste will heighten any reader's ecstasy of communicating with the endless barrage of academic jargon that
Baudrillard so eloquently spews.
Rating: 3/3
ISBN: 0936756365
Posted by Jonathan at 2:21 AM | Comments (0)
Mr. Vertigo - Paul Auster
A young boy in 1920s America learns to overcome his racist upbringing, how to read, how to
care, and eventually how to fly. Auster's grand portrait of the depression era is marred by the anti-climactic last third of the novel -- having taught a boy to fly,
what more could an author accomplish? Not much, providing a segue to lackluster tale of gangland Chicago.
Rating: 3/3
ISBN: 0140231900
Posted by Jonathan at 2:12 AM | Comments (0)
Programming Perl: 3rd Edition - O'Reilly Press
THE desktop reference for perl.
Rating: 3/3
ISBN: 0596000278
Posted by Jonathan at 2:01 AM | Comments (0)
Godel, Escher, Bach : An Eternal Golden Braid - Douglas R. Hofstadter
Hofstadter's basic premise is that like
mathematics, aural and visual art can be broken down into patterns, formulas and the like -- allowing the translation of concepts derived and applied within any one
medium to the others.
Rating: 3/3
ISBN: 0394756827
Posted by Jonathan at 2:00 AM | Comments (0)
Gravity's Rainbow - Thomas Pynchon
To be honest, I'm nowhere near finishing this yet.
But -- I did go to
college with a peculiar fellow who, allegedly, has spent the better part of his post graduate years stalking reclusive authors, finding both Pynchon and Salinger in New
York City and its greater area.
Rating: 2/3
ISBN: 0140188592
Posted by Jonathan at 1:53 AM | Comments (0)
Beginning PHP 4 - Wrox Press
An informative, and knowledge building guide to elementary PHP. A light read, taking just a
Sunday afternoon to finish, the authors nevertheless convey a working understanding of this -- and most -- computer languages.
Rating: 3/3
ISBN: 1861003730
Posted by Jonathan at 1:50 AM | Comments (0)
Simulacra and Simulation - Jean Baudrillard
The oft overlooked gem in the collection of essays (infamous for the
'Precession of Simulacra') adressing the notions of reproduction and reproducability is Baudrillard's 'take' on J.G. Ballard's 'Crash' -- perhaps his most
sexual, if not disillusioned approach to cultural theory.
Rating: 2/3
ISBN: 0472065211
Posted by Jonathan at 1:48 AM | Comments (0)