It’s an Honor Just to Be Ignored

which three?

@Capt Howdy: District 9, Basterds, and Up.

Others as Netflix allows. Except for the one with the shriekingly long title. Oh, and most of the rest.

@nojo:
excellent choices. the ones I would put at the top of your netflix list are A Serious Man, Precious and The Hurt Locker. in that order.

I would be so thrilled if District 9 won but I know it will not.
I predict the Hurt Locker.
or possibly Precious.

@Capt Howdy: I have issues with Serious Hollywood Movies these days. But Coens and Clooney, yes. And Cameron out of pop-culture duty.

@nojo:
I am proud to be the one person in the country who has still not seen Avatar.
and as billions turn into zillions I become more proud.

heres the thing about The Hurt Locker. and I may get flamed by the female commenters. I worked on Strange Days. the last Bigelow movie. it was a Cameron film. I know that for a fact. I was there. his name was not on it anywhere but it was his movie. he was part owner of Digital Domain in the early days and this was all common knowledge. in house we called it “the alimony movie” because we all knew that instead of paying her alimony he gives her a script to direct every so often and makes her a star.
I have no idea if this is still true but if it wins I will be wondering if it is still not Cameron winning.
I really hate that man.

my only real complaint this year is that Watchmen was ignored.
it was the best movie of the year but it is not at all surprising it would be ignored. it is totally NOT academy stuff.

seen it?

@Capt Howdy: Saw Watchmen, enjoyed it. Good effort with difficult material. Unlike the post-Curon Potter movies, where are selected illustrated scenes.

@Capt Howdy:

You need to see the movie, if only to look at what that much money can buy you, effects-wise. I’d also be really interested in what you had to say about it.

@Tommmcatt Say Relax:
oh I will see it eventually. its unavoidable. and I am sure the effects are amazing. but its the “groundbreaking” stuff that really gets me.
you know what award it should really win? marketing.

@Capt Howdy:

We do. And we have, for years, trust me.

@Capt Howdy: It took me many years before I suffered through Titanic.

Where are my screeners? Where are my screeners?

And don’t give me that you’re-not-a-member-of-the-Academy crap. I publish a blog.

Programming note: CB will be open-threading the Illinnnoisss election tonight at 8 p.m. ET.

I’m told it’s snowing in Chicago. In Sandy Eggo, the front door’s open.

@Prommie:
the effects sequence is worth watching. the rest. not so much.

also
I love that he now has pubescent bookends. what he did for teenaged girls with Titanic he has now done for teenaged boys with Avatar.

@Capt Howdy: I have not and will not see it. Ever. How serious am I? I’ve never seen E.T. Or Titanic.
I haven’t seen anything that was nominated but I’m just pulling for anything that isn’t Avatar to win, just because I despise James Cameron and everything he stands for.

Off topic: How do we feel about the French burqa thing, i.e. not being able to wear them in public. I understand that the current school ban also extends to yarmulkes etc. I call bullshit, but I recognize there are opposing views.

@Dodgerblue:

Not from this feline. People should be allowed to express their religion or lack thereof in any way they want, and this includes prayer shawls, yarmulkes, burqas, you name it. Anything less forces people to make a choice between their God and a job, and that is flat out wrong.

@Dodgerblue: Bullshit. I wear the long hair as part of my religious and cultural identity. Lots of white people here have taken up the Sikh thing (lots of Fred Johnsons or Molly Bowers or whatever formerly of Muleshoe or Philadelphia are now Guru Chandra or Ms. Sighn, etc.; there’s even a section of state highway named after some Baghwan white guy (?) who used to give shitloads of money to Democrats before he died) and wear their turbans and beards. I even saw some Sikhs skiing the other day. Other sort of shell-shocked looking Anglos have taken up something that requires the women to wear some kind of head covering. The nuns who live in or next to the former punk rock house in my neighborhood wear the hair covering. Fine. Dudes back at the Pueblo can wrap their blankets so tight all you can see are their eyes. If that’s what their belief system tell them to wear, let them. Being forced to is another issue, but that should be addressed internally by the individual and community.

@Dodgerblue: The French are forever shitting on their own Enlightenment.

@Dodgerblue: Bullshit. To me, it’s an encroachment on freedom of religion and freedom of expression. I wouldn’t want to wear one, but there are women who do–and who would rather stay home if they had to appear so naked in public. All it’s going to do is keep those women from leaving the house to work or get an education. I’ve never known anyone who wore a burkha, but I have had acquaintances who wore the hijab (headscarf, which also would be banned)–one of them a Muslim feminist who felt it made people listen to her ideas rather than judge her appearance. Also, great way to increase resentment in the Muslim community and fan the flames of intolerance, Sarko.

@nojo: Well, I’m forever grateful because they threw my father’s Hugenot relatives out on their asses, if only because my last name means “small” en francais and I’m 6-4 and tired of hearing the jokes.

@Mistress Cynica:
well said
I was just corrected that Cameron was the producer and writer and is even listed now as a uncredited editor.
I dont think he always was
but he was doing way more than those roles.

@Dodgerblue: I’m with the crowd here as to everyday situations, but the case in I want to say Florida a few years back with the woman who wanted to sit for her driver’s license photo wearing a burqa, well, that’s trickier.

@Capt Howdy: I refuse to see Avatar simply because of its popularity. That’s the same reason I’ve never read or seen one of JK Rowling or Dan Brown’s stories. It’s the contrarian in me.

@mellbell: Agreed. For that one, I’d say show your face or don’t drive. I wonder what photo ID she uses for air travel.

@mellbell: @Dodgerblue:
I mostly think there should be no rules about what you wear.
but the drivers license photo is a good exception.

its all common sense.

the french think seems a little anti muslim to me. although I totally sympathize and agree that those who say those things are terrible and a symbol for the subjugation of women.

@TJ/ Jamie Sommers /TJ:
we are pissin in the same latrine.

though I have a weakness for Dan Brown. only because he pisses off the Catholics so much.

I’m almost embarrassed to say that the number of Oscar-nominated films I’ve seen this past year is, well, zero. As in zilch, rien, nada… goose egg.

Last flick I saw was The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (unfortunately, I can’t recommend it).

New movies I remember seeing this year: 9, Terminator Salvation, Transformers 2, District 9, Julie/Julia, W, Moon, The Hangover (partial on DVD), Star Trek, and Wolverine. You can tell I go a lot with Son of RML. There were a lot more I wanted to see but going to movies falls down below work, working out, outdoor adventure, family obligations and stuff around the house. Also, the TV is tied up every night until at least 10 pm with the Keith/Rachel/Jon/Stephen lineup, which can cut down the DVD watching during the week except for late nights.

@redmanlaw:
one I would recommend if you are into the Cohens is A Serious Man.
great movie. but very Cohen. as in back to their roots.

@Capt Howdy: Mrs RML wants to see washed up country singer movie. Is men Who State at Goats out on DVD yet?

They’re shooting a Mickey Rourke movie here now. I’ve seen the set security and the craft services truck, but not the wrestler hisself. The interiors for the Georgia O’Keefe TV movie were shot down the street from me. An interior scene with Natalie Portman for Brothers was shot next door (saw her on the sidewalk one day after work). Some road movie with Iron Man guy was shot on the Plaza three blocks from here.

Why newspapers deserve to die: Mrs RML’s newspaper could have sold its extra street boxes to the new Thor (Marvel comics) movie shooting here, but circulation said they might need them. Yeah, right.

Ma Nabisco and I saw D9 together, and I also caught Star Trek, Up and “Cloudy…with Meatballs” in the movies, the last three with one or all the kids. Managed to miss “Chipmunks2” (the first one ruined my childhood affection for the “Chipmunks Sing the Beatles” album). We saw the Hangover on DVD and loved it. Was Ironman an 09 release? Both D9 and Up merit their selection and I hope they win shiny stuff.

@Dodgerblue: I call total bullshit. Kouchner was grilled by Amanpour on the contradiction between their pushing for human rights around the globe and what they’re doing back home. We’re not talking about sitting for IDs wearing a burqa (could that even be true? The burqa-clad are from societies where women don’t even drive), we’re talking about banning head scarves – think Little Red Riding Hood, or my grandmother on a windy day.

Kouchner is an ass. I had to brief him when he was the dauphin in a place I worked and he compensated for his 5’4″ frame with a phalanx of cameras wherever he went to document his historic acts.

@Nabisco: This is the case I was thinking of. Could be others that simply escaped the ACLU’s attention and attendant media coverage.

@mellbell: The case reveals the conundrum of whether fundie mooslem women choose to cover themselves in public or whether it is foisted on them. I recall an Afghan specialist telling me, pre-9/11, that the burqa was actually a choice. I don’t know, but a head scarf is a head scarf and Kouchner is still an ass.