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October 14, 2005
Sounds, Words, Images
In the multiplex:
David Cronenberg's fascinating genre-twisting, identity-bending, American Dream-allegorizing A History of Violence. Many thanks to Girish for pushing this film so enthusiastically. I came thisclose to skipping it.
In the DVD player:
The New Outer Limits: The 1990s version, which includes one volume consisting entirely of time-travel episodes. I got this DVD by accident from Netflix, but one or two of the episodes are quite good, particularly "A Stitch in Time," in which Amanda Plummer plays a physicist who travels back in time to kill serial murderers before they can commit any crimes. Many of the New Outer Limits episodes are pastiches of prior time-travel films and TV shows, which doesn't make them any less interesting.
Next up: Hal Hartley's The Girl From Monday (thanks to Shaviro for the tip).
On KEXP:
The Prayers and Tears of Arthur Digby Sellers, the Mother of Love Emulates the Shapes of Cynthia.
The Postal Service, "The District Sleeps Alone Tonight," Give Up.
In the bookbag:
Susan Sontag, Regarding the Pain of Others.
Update:
On my compter: The folks at JibJab take on outsourcing and a certain Big Box retailer (via DailyKos).
Posted by chuck at October 14, 2005 11:21 PM
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Comments
That JibJab animation is great.
I really enjoyed A History of Violence, and I'd be interested in reading a more extended entry on it from you.
Posted by: G Zombie ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://chutry.wordherders.net/nav-commenters.gif)
at October 15, 2005 8:33 AM
Chuck, I also have The Girl From Monday sitting on my table, waiting to be watched (thanks to Steven Shaviro's post). I haven't loved a Hartley since Henry Fool (maybe I wasn't reading either Book Of Life or No Such Thing right, I don't know) but maybe Steven's comments will help me with all of them.
Posted by: girish at October 15, 2005 9:26 AM
Hoping to find an opportunity to write an extended entry on Violence, but much depends on how long I end up working on other stuff this afternoon.
Interesting to see Girl from Monday moving through the movie blog crowd. I liked both No Such Thing and, especially, Book of Life, but don't remember them very well.
Posted by: Chuck at October 15, 2005 10:14 AM
Ah, good to know, Chuck. I definitely need to revisit those. I think I was approaching them both (misguidedly, I suspect) from the vantage point of early (pre-'94) Hartley, which I have great affection for. But it was probably a mistake to do so.
Posted by: girish at October 15, 2005 10:22 AM
Yeah, the later Hartley has a much different tone (if I recall Steve discusses this transition in his review), and the apocalyptic stuff in Book of Life is intriguing to me, in part for personal reasons.
I'm also quite fond of the early films, especially Surviving Desire and Trust.
Posted by: Chuck at October 15, 2005 10:29 AM