![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
The Gay Marriage Equation
Monday, February 26th, 2007 04:57 pmFrom my Daily Show archive, I dug up this bit of fun (broadcast 7/14/2004):
Sexual Algebra: Jon Stewart explains it all for you.
Sexual Algebra: Jon Stewart explains it all for you.
Monday, February 26th, 2007
The Number 23
Monday, February 26th, 2007 06:13 pm.
A very intriguing, strange film. Shot by Matthew Labatique, the genius who gave Everything Is Illuminated its dreamy, surrealistic tone, the film is awash in lighting work so lyrical that it feels like a narrative voice of its own. The story is measured and comes at you in an oblique, almost diffident way. Is the dog important? Why? Who left the book there? Is 23 really a haunted number? What the hell is going on here? Is anything going on here, or is the main character as crazy as the author of the book? Are we as crazy as he is?
That's an interesting point right there. I remember when I was reading about Othello, and all the intense reactions that play has caused over the centuries, and realizing that the main reason people react so very viscerally to it is not the story itself (which is quite tragic enough), but rather the fact that, by talking directly to the audience, Iago is not only drawing us into his machinations, but also implicating us in his crimes, since we know what he'll do and yet do nothing to stop him. Of course, the fact that we can't stop him is what frustrates the audience and makes the situation so intolerable. We become accomplices to a horrifying deception, a cold-blooded murderous calculation that we are forced to watch play out, and that can truly enrage people. (One actor playing Iago in a road company in the Old West during the 1800's actually got shot to death by an audience member!)
I think this film achieves something similar (though by dint of its very different tone, not quite so involving). It seeks to draw the audience into the weird numerological madness by sidelong steps, and I think it succeeds in that. The way in is unobtrusive and unsettling - I didn't know what to think about all this at first, but a little at a time I started to wonder if the number really was "coming after" people.
And what a great idea - that a number can choose and deliberately attack a victim. I've never come across that concept before; it's original in my experience. (Though I'm not well versed in numerology or in numerical conspiracy theories.) It first crops up in the credit sequence, which is quite masterful, and sets the confused, low-grade-fever, paranoid tone right from the outset. From the first moment, 23 is a character in the story, not just an abstract concept. I love this kind of metaphysical gamesmanship in a film. So many filmmakers treat the medium as a straightforward record of events in a story, that it's refreshing to see the medium played with in an impressionistic style - using the very stuff of light and ideas to change the structure of the world, to evoke the inside of someone's head as it feels from the inside.
And yo. You might think I'm nuts, but Jim Carrey is a serious HOTTIE. Damn, but that man is fuckable. Who knew that was lurking under Ace Ventura's rubber grin? I'd actually noticed his yumminess a while back, but it really comes to the fore in this film. Part of it is his bone structure, his gorgeous smile, and that hot fucking bod of his. (He doffs his shirt in a few scenes, and he is cut. :p~~~ )
But a lot of it, for me anyway, is his eyes. I've always thought his eyes were beautiful, but the clincher is the pain that's in them. You can see his woundedness even when he's doing comedy - this is not a guy with a happy history. (Spike says he has "hang-dog eyes".) That serves him very well in dramatic roles, as was made clear in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (wherein he broke my heart). As much as I appreciate the artistry and overwhelming difficulty of comedy - after all, no other genre of performance depends on forcing a physical reaction out of the audience for its success - I think he is far more effective in dramatic roles, and I really hope he follows that path in the future.
So if you like odd, mysterious films that require some pondering - I really feel I must see this one again - you could do a lot worse than give this one a try.
A very intriguing, strange film. Shot by Matthew Labatique, the genius who gave Everything Is Illuminated its dreamy, surrealistic tone, the film is awash in lighting work so lyrical that it feels like a narrative voice of its own. The story is measured and comes at you in an oblique, almost diffident way. Is the dog important? Why? Who left the book there? Is 23 really a haunted number? What the hell is going on here? Is anything going on here, or is the main character as crazy as the author of the book? Are we as crazy as he is?
That's an interesting point right there. I remember when I was reading about Othello, and all the intense reactions that play has caused over the centuries, and realizing that the main reason people react so very viscerally to it is not the story itself (which is quite tragic enough), but rather the fact that, by talking directly to the audience, Iago is not only drawing us into his machinations, but also implicating us in his crimes, since we know what he'll do and yet do nothing to stop him. Of course, the fact that we can't stop him is what frustrates the audience and makes the situation so intolerable. We become accomplices to a horrifying deception, a cold-blooded murderous calculation that we are forced to watch play out, and that can truly enrage people. (One actor playing Iago in a road company in the Old West during the 1800's actually got shot to death by an audience member!)
I think this film achieves something similar (though by dint of its very different tone, not quite so involving). It seeks to draw the audience into the weird numerological madness by sidelong steps, and I think it succeeds in that. The way in is unobtrusive and unsettling - I didn't know what to think about all this at first, but a little at a time I started to wonder if the number really was "coming after" people.
And what a great idea - that a number can choose and deliberately attack a victim. I've never come across that concept before; it's original in my experience. (Though I'm not well versed in numerology or in numerical conspiracy theories.) It first crops up in the credit sequence, which is quite masterful, and sets the confused, low-grade-fever, paranoid tone right from the outset. From the first moment, 23 is a character in the story, not just an abstract concept. I love this kind of metaphysical gamesmanship in a film. So many filmmakers treat the medium as a straightforward record of events in a story, that it's refreshing to see the medium played with in an impressionistic style - using the very stuff of light and ideas to change the structure of the world, to evoke the inside of someone's head as it feels from the inside.
And yo. You might think I'm nuts, but Jim Carrey is a serious HOTTIE. Damn, but that man is fuckable. Who knew that was lurking under Ace Ventura's rubber grin? I'd actually noticed his yumminess a while back, but it really comes to the fore in this film. Part of it is his bone structure, his gorgeous smile, and that hot fucking bod of his. (He doffs his shirt in a few scenes, and he is cut. :p~~~ )
But a lot of it, for me anyway, is his eyes. I've always thought his eyes were beautiful, but the clincher is the pain that's in them. You can see his woundedness even when he's doing comedy - this is not a guy with a happy history. (Spike says he has "hang-dog eyes".) That serves him very well in dramatic roles, as was made clear in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (wherein he broke my heart). As much as I appreciate the artistry and overwhelming difficulty of comedy - after all, no other genre of performance depends on forcing a physical reaction out of the audience for its success - I think he is far more effective in dramatic roles, and I really hope he follows that path in the future.
So if you like odd, mysterious films that require some pondering - I really feel I must see this one again - you could do a lot worse than give this one a try.
The road to Uranus is paved with big bronze stars
Monday, February 26th, 2007 08:54 pm.
Since the last vid got good reactions, here's another one you'll probably like.
Bill Donohue bloviates; Jon Stewart snarks.
( My two pesetas... )
Since the last vid got good reactions, here's another one you'll probably like.
Bill Donohue bloviates; Jon Stewart snarks.
( My two pesetas... )