Aku Aku

Kim Jong-Il's blog

Kim Jong-Il's blog

XTRA: israeli club hipster website

Just ran across this crazy Israeli club information website: XTRA. I suppose it's juvenille of me to be so titillated by a garish eurotrash club-scene website just because it's full of flashing graphics, club-girl scenester pics, a legalize pot graphic showing an usama bin laden type lighting up and the entire thing is mostly in hebrew. I have no excuse, it touches a funny bone deep inside. This site has everything a zionist hipster needs. And here's one IDF soldier who could bulldoze my house any day, if you know what I mean.

I was somewhat surprised when I went to Israel/Palestine a couple of years ago to find that Tel Aviv is considered the Sin City of the Middle East. Lots of dance clubs and strip clubs. It certainly wasn't what I pictured in my mind before I got there.

all n. korean triplets seized by the government

What is up with these nutcases? Herald Sun: Korea's 'lucky' triplets seized

ALL triplets in North Korea are being forcibly removed from parents after their birth and dumped in bleak orphanages.

The policy is carried out on the orders of Stalinist dictator Kim Jong-il, who has an irrational belief that a triplet could one day topple his regime.

Sheesh, this is like some bible story. What the hell is going on?!? This is just so -CRAZY-!!! One day, assuming humanity survives the century, we're going to look back at the mixing of government and religious/superstitious beliefs as the greatest single problem that has plagued mankind. Culturally accepted religious irrationality just has to go.

Review: Lady from Shanghai, The (1948)

Lady from Shanghai, The (1948)
This is one I added to my netflix queue after watching Gilda a few weeks ago. Unfortunately it was not as enjoyable as Gilda as a movie, but I did enjoy it as a historical document. There were plenty of outdoor shots of 1940's San Francisco that made it fun to spot and identify certain locations such as Empress of China restaurant and Li Po in Chinatown, Sausalito harbor and the old amusement park that used to be at Ocean Beach (torn down in 1972) called Playland (once home of the terrifying Laughing Sal). Despite that fun, overall I would have to say the film is probably my least favoriteOrson Welles or Rita Hayworth film so far.

Review: Atanarjuat (2001)

Atanarjuat (2001)
Also know as The Fast Runner. George Parker sums it up so well in his imdb review that I'm just going to quote his review almost in its entirety here:

The Fast Runner" is a pedestrian story of treachery among a tribe of primitive natives - in this case the Inuits of the arctic region of Canada. On the upside the film has an abundance of raw Spartan arctic beauty; haunting music and percussion; real native actors speaking what is presumably the Inuit tongue; and a fascinating sense of authenticity. On the downside, the film is viscous, long, esoteric, difficult to follow, and plays better as a documentary with the thin story of murder and deceit among peaceful people being buried under ice and snow as we watch the Inuit's simple day-to-day survival tasks and never see the more interesting activities such as a caribou hunt. In short, the film doesn't work well as either a drama or a documentary though it seems to try to straddle both.

I think I may have enjoyed the movie more than Mr. Parker, but his points are quite valid.

to weep in public is not of men

My friend Thomas Sullivan, a wonderfully talented and learned musician, has recently become enthusiastic about digital "film" making and has completed his first movie short. A tongue in cheek dramedy called Crying In Public. It's a 3 minute quicktime movie (15 megabyte download) which was completed for a film collective in Brooklyn called Day 60 which gives its members a theme and 60 days to complete a short piece. The theme last month was "crying in public".

Thomas wrote, directed, starred, ran the camera, did the editing and created the original score. I'm really surprised he didn't throw a big passionate kiss scene into the script, because his co-star looks very kissable. Wink wink, nudge nudge.

warm water cove

Warm Water Cove, a forgotten park located where 24th Street meets the bay, is often the scene of free outdoor bbqs with live generator-powered punk rock music. Come on down, a beautiful day for punk by the bay......
--Dav via Danger Hiptophttp://www.danger-island.com/dav/

pax americana

I received an email forward of an article written by Adrienne Larkin which describes a group called Project for a New American Century (PNAC, website at www.newamericancentury.org).

This group formed in 1997 touted a plan to force a Pax Americana on the world through the use of military force (Like the Pax Romana), and the plan starts with an invasion of Iraq. The interesting thing about this is that it provides a roadmap explaining the real reasons why the USA is invading Iraq right now, and the plans for the region and the planet after this war is won.

The founding members of PNAC? Vice President Dick Cheney. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. Paul Wolfowitz. Richard Perle. Jeb Bush.....

I couldn't find the article online, so I posted it here. It's short, read it.

Honestly, I withold judgement if a Pax Americana achieved through the PNAC roadmap is a good thing or bad thing. But I think the a roadmap to the true motives of this war is something we should all pay attention to.

Update: I've found another editorial concerning PNAC: Blood Money. I hope John Stewart gets ahold of this. The Daily Show seems to be the only intelligent news commentary these days that is capable of reaching the American Cattle (oops, I mean Public).

Review: Amarelo Manga (2002)

Amarelo Manga (2002)
My housemate Cheu is working with the San Francisco International Film Festival this season and she has brought home many VHS tapes of the films sent to the committees. Tonight I caught the last half of a Brazillian movie called Amarelo Manga (Mango Yellow). This is the second Brazillian movie I've seen, so I'm now under the impression that all movies from the world's fourth largest country will be brightly colored, darkly plotted, wild and passionate. Bring'em on!

This one seemed to tell the stories of a small intertwined group of voracious and lascivious ne'er-do-wells. It apparently is centered around the sensual awakening of a timid and pious wife of an adulterer, and the scenes of her getting her freak on will probably be burned into my mind for a week or two.

I think I'll wait to see the first half until Mie and I can see it together, as I think she'll really enjoy it...

Incidentally, when looking for photos to attach here (imdb didn't have one) I ran across this weird little photo set showing some of the makeup effects used in the film: FX, I like the fingers.

Review: 8 Mile (2002)

8 Mile (2002)
Sean rented this video tape the other night. Watching video seems so 1980's in the age of netflix.com. Anyhow the movie was OK for predictable hollywood crap, but I really dug the attention paid to the setting: Detroit's not so nice parts of town. I think the director and cinematographer did a great job of making the Detroit ghetto atmosphere feel honest and real.