Diary of a Sane Man

Monday, August 21, 2006

The Good, the Bad and the So Awful It's Good

Photobucket - Video and Image HostingFriday night was a bowl-a-thon for the 1 Voice Community Center. The rugby team entered and had a great time. The lanes were filled with SCREAMING queens -- some in sequinned outfits. It was so flipping funny. We all had a great time and the event raised over $16,000!

Saturday night Joe and I rented Scary Movie 4 and V for Vendetta.

Scary Movie 4 was really bad. I love the Scary Movie series but 4 was pretty lame. There were a few funny moments but nothing like the previous movies.

I loved the 8 Mile scene in Scary Movie 3 when the guy raps, "I'm a white boy, but my neck is red / I put Miracle Whip on my Wonder Bread." CLASSIC!




I love the characters Cyndy and Brenda in the previous movies.
Cindy Campbell:
Brenda! The monster is gonna kill us!


Brenda Meeks:
IT WOULD HAVE JUST BEEN YOU IF YOU HAD JUST SHUT THE FUCK UP!


Sadly, Scary Movie 4 was a dud.

But then we watched V for Vendetta. What a GREAT movie! I wanted to see it when it was in the theaters and I never got a chance. It was nothing like I anticipated. Basically, the story took place in the near future. The USA was practically non-existant and England was ruled by a totalitarian chancellor. He used fear as a way to rule. He would constantly frighten the citizens in order to stay in power. And he uses the media to promote his message--something they willingly do.

So this one guy decided that chaos was in order to restore order and freedom. He murders evil high-powered citizens -- a Limbaugh/O'Reilly type of newscaster, a doctor, heads of state. And he blows up government buildings.

He does this because he was sent to a prison nobody knows about (Gitmo anyone?). There he encountered dissidents and homosexuals. And they all ended up dead. He managed to escape so he enacts revenge.

There are some memorable lines. One of my favorite is:
V:
People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people.


After he blows up one government building, he hijacks the television system and gives a great speech. It's excerpted here:
V:
Good evening, London. Allow me first to apologize for this interruption. I do, like many of you, appreciate the comforts of every day routine- the security, the familiar, the tranquility, repetition. I enjoy them as much as any bloke....

There are of course those who do not want us to speak. I suspect even now, orders are being shouted into telephones, and men with guns will soon be on their way.

Why? Because while the truncheon may be used in lieu of conversation, words will always retain their power. Words offer the means to meaning, and for those who will listen, the annunciation of truth. And the truth is, there is something terribly wrong with this country, isn't there?

Cruelty and injustice, intolerance, and depression. And where once you had the freedom to object, think, and speak as you saw fit, you now have censors and systems of surveillence coercing your conformity and soliciting your submission.

How did this happen? Who's to blame?

Well certainly there are those more responsible than others, and they will be held accountable, but again truth be told, if you're looking for the guilty, you need only look into a mirror.

I know why you did it. I know you were afraid. Who wouldn't be? War, terror, disease. There were a myraid of problems which conspired to corrupt your reason and rob you of your common sense. Fear got the best of you, and in your panic you turned to the now high chancellor, Adam Sutler. He promised you order, he promised you peace, and all he demanded in return was your silent, obedient consent. Last night I sought to end that silence.

Anyway -- the movie hit close to home with me. In many ways. It's sad but I felt like it was a movie about modern America. Go rent it and watch it.

As for the "so awful, it's good" movie. While I was writing my freelance stuff, I had on Girls Just Want to Have Fun in the background. This gem from the 80s starred a very young Sarah Jessica Parker, Helen Hunt and an even younger Shannon Doherty. It's so bad that it's good. :-)

posted by VeryApeAZ at 12:16 AM

16 Comments:

  • "While I was writing my freelance stuff, I had on Girls Just Want to Have Fun in the background."

    uh-huh, because the remote was SO far away and there was NOTHING else on....

    : )

    By Blogger potusol, At Mon Aug 21, 12:37:00 AM MST  

  • V for Vendetta was indeed a truly great movie .. what I liked most about it was that, even though the book was written with Thatcher's England in mind, you could bring in and take away whatever you wanted to from this great flick

    By Blogger Reel Fanatic, At Mon Aug 21, 06:21:00 AM MST  

  • Jeff - the only thing that could have possibly made me turn the channel is a Square Pegs marathon. :-P

    Reel - thanks for stopping by and posting. The movie is definitely a worth see. I think I'm going to watch it again!

    By Blogger VeryApeAZ, At Mon Aug 21, 08:22:00 AM MST  

  • Do you want me to drop it off at your place? Its due back thursday.

    By Blogger Actions and Consequences, At Mon Aug 21, 09:47:00 AM MST  

  • I loved Girls Just Want to Have Fun. Watched it over and over. "We had a deal when I was 4 1/2. Nightlife was The Muppet Show!"

    By Blogger Dwayne, At Mon Aug 21, 10:39:00 AM MST  

  • Denver - I love Helen Hunt in EVERY movie. I loved her in that TV movie where she played football on the HS team. :-)

    SJ - Thanks, but I'll rent it again later or buy a copy.

    Dwayne - I love how they abbreviate Dance TV to DTV. It's cooler that way cuz it sounds like MTV.

    By Blogger VeryApeAZ, At Mon Aug 21, 11:19:00 AM MST  

  • Girls Just Want to Have Fun??????'
    that´s TOO MUCH even for me!

    BTW they announced SCARY MOVIE 5 for 2007 - rolls eyes- why??????????????

    By Blogger Ian Gutierrez, At Mon Aug 21, 03:20:00 PM MST  

  • I had NO idea you haven't seen V for Vendetta yet!! I saw it twice it was so good. It's based on a comic book (don't know if you knew that). The comic book basically theorized what would happen if Reagan and Thatcher's ideology kept going unchecked. It's great and very relevant to today's political/war climate. That's one movie I would get on DVD. I mean when you add right wing fanatical politics, homosexual dissidents and a smattering of matrix style action thrown in, that is, for my tastes, a perfect movie. I'm one of those guys who needs at least a little guns, hookers and explosions and firetrucks in my movies. I never said I was refined and intellectual!

    By Blogger AZJay, At Mon Aug 21, 03:55:00 PM MST  

  • Ian - Hopefully Scary Movie 5 is like 1-3. But I doubt it. :-(

    Jay-mon - I never said you were refined and intellectual either. That's why we're friends. :-P

    By Blogger VeryApeAZ, At Mon Aug 21, 10:52:00 PM MST  

  • I think I saw Scary Movie I - is that the one where they make fun of that Mel Gibson alien-in-the-corn movie and "The Ring?"
    I saw below that you posted about "Alice." LOVED that show! The movie that inspired it is also hilarious - it's called "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore" with Ellen Burstyn - you should watch it if you haven't already...

    By Blogger Kiddo78, At Wed Aug 23, 11:39:00 AM MST  

  • Oh man I hated Scary Movie 4, 3 is the best (I think). V for Vendetta made me think about things. About a lot of things (politically), and I think it could not have come out at a more appropriate time.

    By Blogger The Persian, At Thu Aug 24, 08:59:00 AM MST  

  • Kiddo -- that's Scary Movie 3 and Jim is right. It's the best of the lot. I've been curious about the Alice movie but wasn't sure if I should see it or not... I'll check it out.

    Jim -- V is the best movie of the year in my book!

    By Blogger VeryApeAZ, At Fri Aug 25, 12:08:00 AM MST  

  • if you think that movie was about america in some way and it opened your eyes to how it is (getting to be) then good.. but sir, that movie was written in the 80's as a dire prediction of what Britain would become.. and it has. You have NO idea how close to the reality it is, and, sadly, neither do the people there. they think they're happy with how it is.

    if you listen to the last track on the latest PSB album you'll get an idea of what the few dissenters think...

    tak

    By Anonymous Anonymous, At Fri Aug 25, 08:37:00 PM MST  

  • Tac - Sadly, it didn't open my eyes to what I think is happening here. I just felt it stated exactly what was happening here. Some of my friends think I'm a conspiracy theorist but honestly, it's not that far-fetched. :-(

    By Blogger VeryApeAZ, At Fri Aug 25, 09:26:00 PM MST  

  • nope, it is not that far-fetched at all. out in the west i think we are still a bit less 'paranoid' than say back east.

    in england the number of cameras is horrifying. and when you ask people they say 'well if youre doing nothing wrong youve got nothing to fear or hide.' it's like a mantra.

    london alone has over 700,000 cameras, with the average person's daily activities being filmed around 300 times a day. i wonder how americans would feel if their photograph - of where they went, who they were with, what they bought, what they did, etc - 300 times a day! the cameras are on street corners, juntions, all up and down the freeways and roads. speed cameras, traffic cameras, 'security' cameras and all the while people are sat watching you with them. you rarely see a cop on the roads or freeways anymore. they just sit and watch.

    technically, with their:
    port security (police have regularly walked in twos, both holding automatic rifles, around airports in england since the 80's - due to IRA threats);
    cameras (as above);
    and their amount of legislation (the ASBO's - a system of 'anti-social behavior orders - if i don't like something you are doing, even if it's in your home or backyard i can get one of these injunctions and then you are on the ASBO register which appears in local papers for all to read);
    they have turned the country into one big prison really. amazing, isn't it! right under everyone's eyes, all with the 'threat' of fear.

    and when we really look, what do we see? are we able to stop bombings? not really. are we safer from a (perceived) outside OR inside threat? nope. so what is it all about?

    i'm not a conspiracy theorist in reality, but i reserve the right to intelligently consider ALL possibilities. if you know what i mean...

    people here love using commuterlink cameras, theyre a bit of 'fun' on the internet right? they don't mind the google system of automatically monitoring emails for keywords, you get soooo much storage from them right? and it's google, so c'mon, theyre good guys yeah? no one seems to even know just what is in the patriot act, or other 'emergency' legislation and what loopholes it has created for governmental abuse. no one cares, they will even happily suffer an artificial gas crisis as long as they can go to sleep 'knowing' they are safer.

    it's a mad mad mad mad world. where's spencer tracy and ethel merman when you need 'em?!


    hey, i think i just wrote my blog post that i was meaning to do! damn!

    tak

    By Anonymous Anonymous, At Sat Aug 26, 02:21:00 PM MST  

  • Oh my Gosh, I didn't know Helen and Shannon had baby pictures out, and Sara is so cute on the cusp of puberty.

    By Blogger A Bear in the Woods, At Sat Sep 16, 11:47:00 AM MST  

Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]



<< Home