Dakota Fanning's Controversial Content in Hounddog

I looked at my blog stats today and was very surprised to see an unusual amount of google hits, most of which were people searching something to the effect of "Dakota Fanning Hounddog."

All of these google searches are being directed to my post about the movie Hounddog. Hounddog is a movie where a young girl (Fanning) overcomes the side effects of sexual abuse by singing and dancing like Elvis.

Well obviously this is a gutsy role for Fanning, the 12-year-old girl who seems as though she could do it all...BUT there is new controversy.

According to Cinematical there are some heavy hitting scenes in this film where Dakota Fanning is "raped in one explicit scene and to appear naked or clad only in 'underpants' in several other horrifying moments."

Apparently, this has caused some of the financial backers to pull their money from the film, but the film is still pressing forward. This certainly is no Charlotte's Web or Dreamer.

It seems like their pushing Fanning into gutsy roles to shape her image into a quality actress not just a cutsy kid-star. I would think that her acceptance into the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) earlier in July probably helped cement that impression (note: the 12 year old can't even see rated R movies, who will she vote for Academy Award winners?)

Related Tags: Dakota Fanning, Hounddog, Elvis, Child Star, Sexual Content, Controversy, Academy Awards, AMPAS, Film, Upcoming Movies

Wedding Cake, Part 1

I am so excited for this weekend. My sister is getting married and the day after that will my wife and I's first anniversary.

We are leaving soon and I just put the top tier of my wife and I's wedding cake in the cooler to move almost 1000 miles as we travel to my sisters wedding.

I love wedding cake and feel very fortunate that if our top tier is bad, then at least we got to have wedding cake the day before at my sister's wedding.

But I so desperatly hope that our 1 year old left over wedding cake is good. Our top tier was almond poppyseed with raspberry filling (I think). The first picture above is from almost 12 months ago when I wrapped the cake myself in multiple layers of plastic wrap, masking tape, multiple layers of aluminum, masking tape, a homemade box of cardboard, plastic wrap, and another round of tape.

The second picture shows how much space it took up in our refrigerator and the final picture is the cake in the cooler prepared to make it's trek. Wish the cake luck, and I'll report on it's taste next week.

Related Tags: Wedding Cake, Wedding, Anniversary, Food Storage, Plastic Wrap, Tin Foil

Burning is Important to Consumers

In early April I did a post where I mentioned that CinemaNow.com and Movielink were beginning to offer legal downloadable movies for sale.

In April when these sites started movies cost $20-27 a piece and could only be played on a computer or by hooking a computer up directly to a TV.

Well Today the LA Times reports that CinemaNow Inc. has worked with the studios and developed anti-piracy technology that will allow users to burn a copy of the film from their computer to a DVD so that they can watch it on any DVD player. Not just that but the price has dropped to $9.

But because this service is new Cinema Now is offering some not-quite-new-releases first to test the integrity of the anti-piracy software, these include Charlies Angles: Full Throttle, Barbershop, and Scent of a Woman.

Thanks Jon for sending this link my way.

*Post Title: "Burning is important to consumers" -Rick Finkelstein, Universal Pictures Vice Chairman

Related Tags: CinemaNow Inc, Rick Finkelstein, Universal Pictures, DVD Burning, Tech, Technology, Movie Industry, Piracy, Anti-Piracy

Speaking of Hotstuff (In Memory of Mr. Squirrel)

Speaking of the-movie-formerly-known-as-Hotstuff (Catch a Fire), I think it's about time we reflect on the weather.

Sure others might do that by discussing global warming, and you might even be expecting me to give it a film angle, and start discussing An Inconvenient Truth or The Day After Tomorrow but I have some other thoughts in mind.

Rather I want to pay homage to a special friend that I never had a chance to meet...I never knew his name, but he was a happy squirrel I'm sure. My only encounter with him was the other night when my wife and I were walking and there it was, the dead squirrel that had passed out due to presumed heat stroke (although some suspect heat induced suicide).

In honor of that dead squirrel, I wanted to reflect on some thoughts about heat.

I wanted to think about 1988 the year the Super Soaker 50 came out. Granted, The Super Soaker 100 and 200 followed afterwards, among with others, but the world of water guns was never the same again. Once again, the science of pressure is put to use with this genius invention. I loved my Super Soaker 50.

I also remember a good friends Mission: Impossible Birthday Party in College which ended in a giant water balloon fight.

But Mr. Squirrel, I realize your quest, obscene heat can real danger. In fact, my good friend Bennett posted earlier in the year about how peace could be achieved through the implementation of world wide air conditioning. Granted, there are challenges to be overcome but as Bennett put in such patriotic words: "Let's turn down the thermostat on violence. Let's freeze out terror, and blow air not bombs."

Perhaps Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger does not realize the power of temperatures over tempers, as he ordered thermostats to be set to 78 degrees in state buildings. I guess better safe then sorry, loss of power could cause a loss of cool...and we'd hate to see people in California get to hot...remember the LA riots?

Although this could be the year of Vermont riots because there they've been told to keep the thermostat at 80 degrees.

But even though I get the pleasure of air conditioned buildings, Mr. Squirrel, I feel your pain, I drove by the bank in the late afternoon and the thermometer read 108 degrees. How can we stand it.

Well, I encourage us to draw inspiration from possibly my favorite movie, In America. Do you remember the scene where Paddy Considine goes through all the obstacles to get the air conditioner up to the top of his apartment building to help cool down his family. What a great image of love and a true understanding of the power of cool temperatures.

Related Tags: Super Soaker 50, Temperature, Squirrel, In America, Paddy Considine, Thermostat, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Vermont, LA Riots, California, War, Peace, Heat, Global Warming

Will Catch A Fire Be Hotstuff?

In 2002 Phillip Noyce directed two of my favorite films, The Quiet American (a unique Vietnam war movie staring Michael Caine and Brendon Fraser) and Rabbit-Proof Fence (a moving film about 3 girls who trek across the Australian Outback for their own personal freedom).

Noyce's 2002 stories dealt with socio-political issues, and so it is not surprising that his most recent project Catch A Fire (formerly called Hotstuff) deals with such issues in Apartheid-era South Africa.

Catch a fire stars Tim Robbins as a South African policeman and tells the story of his Patrick Chamusso (Derek Luke) as Robbins character investigates Chamusso and his family.

This film comes out later this year (limited release in October) and it seems like this political thriller has some potential to capture some raw emotions and bring to life a picture of what was going on in 1980s South Africa.

At this point in the year, no one really seems to be talking about it, but if this movie is intriguing and powerful it certainly could receive some award buzz by year end.

Related Tags: Catch A Fire, Hotstuff, Film, Derek Luke, Tim Robbins, Patrick Chamusso, Phillip Noyce, Apartheid, Upcoming Films, South Africa

Gnarly=Beyond the Extreme

For the past couple of weeks I've been enjoying the Gnarls Barkley CD St. Elsewhere.

Not everyone enjoys this CD as much as I do. I'm not the underground hip-hop type, or even the type of person to get too excited about main-stream hip-hop groups like the Black Eyed Peas.

I enjoy most of the songs on the album, except for "The Boogie Monster" (because it's creepy).

But my favorite song has got to be the first track "Go-Go-Gadget Gospel" because just as Ray Charles used Gospel roots in his music so have they in this song, as well as other tracks on the album. (Even though my wife thought it sounded like I was listening to tejano music when she heard me listening to this track for the first time.)

Just one little note of importance, as I've mentioned Gnarls Barkley some people recognize the name and even associate it with a few songs, (namely "Crazy.") But most people say things like "I like his music," or something like that. BUT Granles Barkley is namely two people...Danger Mouse and Cee-Lo (pictured to the left).

This is the type of CD, I can play and just listen to, I think it's a whole lot of fun.

Update: Paula has drawn my attention to a Gnarls Barkley contest online put on by Fluevog Shoes, were you'd win an iPod, Gnarls Apperal and a $200 gift card. Check out the contest here.


Related Tags: Gnarls Barkley, St Elsewhere, Crazy, Go Go Gadget Gospel, CD, Hip Hop, Music, Danger Mouse, Cee-Lo

Foxx and The Power of Duff

Jamie Foxx has gotten his fair share of talk on Strange Culture, but his new project does not seem very Foxx-like.

He will be Producing a new film for Universal called The Power of Duff about a "TV news anchor who after the death of his father begins praying aloud for things to happen while reading the evening news. When his prayers start coming true, it ignites controversy about whether he's a prophet, a pundit or a charlatan." (Reuters)

Apparently, Ron Howard has been in talks to direct, and both Tom Hanks and Russel Crowe have been in talks to star at different points.

Hum? Not really sure what to make of this project?

Thanks to Peter for alerting me to this news.

Related Tags: Jamie Foxx, The Power of Duff, TV News, Prayer, Film, Russel Crowe, Tom Hanks, Ron Howard, Script, Spiritual Themes

Ellen Ripstein Responds on StrangeCulture

Ellen You're The Coolest.

Besides the fact that you are so smart, you have a funny sense of humor, and can do crossword puzzles as fast as it takes most people to play Tic-Tac-Toe...you are also cool because you've commented on StrangeCulture!

Kimberly Ann and JW had made a few comments about Ellen's performance in the documentary Wordplay after I posted about the film. And lo and behold, Ellen Ripstein herself commented on the blog post saying:

"Thanks for being so open about the movie. Yes it's true, a crossword movie can be fun.

I didn't feel condescended to. That's just me in all my natural awkwardness."

I wonder if Kimberly Ann feels guilty that in her post she called Ellen geeky? (Although she also credits Ellen with the best quote of the whole movie).

Thanks Ellen for visiting StrangeCulture.

Related Tags: wordplay, documentary, word play, Ellen Ripstein, Crossword Puzzles, comments, geeky

Jamie Foxx's Big Head

If Memoirs of a Geisha taught us about female-power-struggles, then the male crew of Miami Vice can teach us about Male-Power-struggles.

Jim alerted be to this Slate article where it talks about Jamie Foxx's big head he had on the set Miami Vice set. Foxx had signed to work with Michael Mann on Miami Vice just before he won his academy award for Ray.

Well apparently that's all he needed to get a big head.

He requested his own private jet, he asked for money (because originally Colin Farrell was making more money).

And the worse of it, was that Michael Mann had to changing the ending of the film, which was supposed to be shot in Paraguay...but Foxx refused to exit the country when he heard about a shooting in the Dominican Republic.

Who is this gold digga'?

Related Tags: Jamie Foxx, Miami Vice, Colin Ferrel, Michael Mann, Male Ego, Safety, Ray, Screenwriting, Movies, Paraguay, Dominican Republic

Meryl's 14th nomination in 2006

With 13 nominations, where will Meryl Streep's 14th academy award nomination come from.

The most nominated actress (Katherine Hepburn received 12 nominations), the appropriate question is not will Meryl Streep get an Oscar nod this year. Rather we should ask, for which film she will receive the nomination.

(Remember, Streep got a nomination in 2000's Music of the Heart, they'll nominate her for anything)

Obviously it's not for playing Queen Ant in the animated film The Ant Bully, but both A Prairie Home Companion and The Devil Wears Prada seem viable choices.

My guess is that Streep will score her 14th nomination this year for her work in a Prairie Home Companion. Being a Robert Altman picture and his films frequently pave the way for supporting roles nominations.

My previous post on a Prairie Home Companion can be found here.

Related Tags: a prairie home companion, meryl streep, academy awards, oscar, oscars, nominations, award buzz, the devil wears prada, robert altman, film

Square Fillers: War vs. Play

Sometimes I'm wrong.

In my summer movie preview I included the movie Warplay as one of the vomit-enducing films of summer.

My reason for not being excited about Wordplay was because: "After I saw Word Wars the documentary about crazy scrabble obsessed people, I'm afraid to see a documentary so soon about Crossword Puzzles."

But yet as I said, I was wrong.

The other night we went and saw the film with some friends, and I found Wordplay to be a very enjoyable documentary.

After seeing Word Wars I did a post about documentaries. I said: "A documentary is valuable if it tells an important story, one your very interested in, or one that connects to you in a way that helps you understand the world."

To me, Word Wars failed at that, because it was far more bizarre than intriguing and told an odd story of some unique people that gave up everything to try to be Scrabble masters.

Wordplay (the crossword documentary) was different in this way. While some of the characters in this film are a little bizarre and incredibly dorky it paints a behind the scenes picture of how crossword puzzles are made and chosen. The players who compete while wierd, still are more relatable, just a little obsessed, but you can see how they are roped into the crossword puzzle culture.

Also, the documentary Wordplay paints a wider picture of crossword puzzles by showing how pop-culture and political icons like Jon Steward, Bill Clinton, and the Indigo Girls have slight obsessions with crossword puzzles. These interviews help the legitimize the film.

In addition, director Patrick Creadon the director and cinemotographer for Wordplay did a great job using graphics and interesting production techniques to tell the story and bring the viewer into the crossword puzzle word, connecting them to a small black and white checkered puzzle.

Related Tags: Word Wars, Wordplay, Patrick Creadon, Bill Clinton, Jon Stewart, Indigo Girls, Crossword Puzzles, Crosswords, Scrabble, Documentaries, Film

Linklater: Substance D and Mickey D's

Yesterday NPR interviewed Richard Linklater on Fresh Air about his new movie A Scanner Darkly.

It's a fun interview because they play a clip from the movie, talk about the decision about how they portray the drug (Substance D) in Phillip K. Dick's story.

They talk about how drugs are perceived, and even people who have died because of drugs. It sort of made me think, if this film will be viewed as an anti-drug movie looking at the tradgedies of those who die young because of substance abuse.

It is interesting to hear Linklater talk about how Dick's daughters were very protective of the film because there mother and father both have their own drug past.

He also talks about the upcoming film Fast Food Nation coming out in October. (The film premiered at Cannes film festival). I knew this movie was based on Eric Schlosser's best selling non-fiction work. So it was interesting to hear Linklater talk about how he and Eric discussed and decided to make this film. Especially since it sounds like there are some very unique angels to the fast food industry that are covered.

NPR's Terry Gross ask if Linklater purposely tries to capture the Zietgist of the time with stories that connect to the times (like School of Rock) and Linklater responds that he's trying to create things that will resonate for ages and be things that he personally is touched by. (They actually discuss a good amount of time about why Linklater was attracted to School of Rock and how he conencted to Jack Black's character).

Terry Gross actually also questions (almost attacks) Linklater for why with his extensive knowledge he would re-shoot Bad News Bears.

If you listen to the interview note that it is just over 20 minutes long.

Related Tags: A Scanner Darkly, Phillip K. Dick, Terry Gross, NPR, Fresh Air, Richard Linklater, Interview, Fast Food Nations, Eric Schlosser, Substance D, Bad News Bears, School of Rock, Jack Black, Film, Director, Upcoming Movies

Fast Food: Diet Pepsi and Eggs

The unforunate Diet Pepsi Experience
Today, my wife and I met up for lunch at Taco Bell. When she filled up her plastic cup with Diet Pepsi, and we enjoyed our lunch together.

As she was almost finished with her drink she looked up at me.

"There's Something black floating in my drink," she said.

She reached into her glass and pulled out the black spickett from the machine.

Apparently it had fallen off when she was filling up her glass.

We went up to counter where the minimum wage employee took the spickett somewhat confused. And minutes later when we left the spickett was back on the machine.

Did they wash it? Sanitize it? etc. My wife's backwash and who knows what else is on that...how gross.

The Grocery Store Arrest
Heard this story from a student about their weekend.

A couple girls were out on the town on a weekend evening and decided they were going to egg "a friends" house.

Yet they didn't have any money with them and one girl told the other to wait with her because she was going to steal some eggs.

How do you steal eggs from the grocery store? Well she had a plan.

She filled up her empty Sonic drink cup with eggs, and as she was leaving was caught by police who gave her a $500 ticket.

Those will hopefully be the most expensive eggs she ever buys.

Related Tags: diet pepsi, eggs, taco bell, sonic drive-ins, arrest, sanitation, police, food

Community: Sustainable Relationships On TV

In a recent post about community I looked at how film typically often show people entering into meaningful relationships with one another through shared space, shared mission, or shared relationships. But I also point out in this post that very few films hinge their plots around the concept of sustainable relationship.

But even after making my list of cartoons yesterday I began to think about how the smurfs and the scooby-doo gang show the concept of sustainable relationships more than any movie I can think of. Because you see, the plot style of television really allows for a demonstration of sustainable relationships. It's not just about shared mission, shared space, and shared relationships, it's about shared life.

Whether it's Saved By The Bell, Frasier, Beverly Hills: 90210, or Seinfeld television is filled with good examples and bad examples of people living in community. Relationships are formed but the emphasis is not on the formation of friendships, but the deepening of relationships in community.

Just think about the television show friends. There relationships were not static, there were times when Monica and Rachel were closer than other times, and times when Phoebe and Ross did and did not get along. There were stories about cooperation, and working things out together. And the depth of their relationships grew. Remember the first episodes when Rachel really was forced to have a life change from the wealthy life she was set to live with her fiance. Who did she rely on? Her friends. And those relationships changed and developed over time.

I'm usually a movie person far more then television, but when it comes to looking at sustainable relationships. Television offers infinite more examples.

Related Tags: Relationship, Sustainable Relationships, Community, Televion, Film, Friends, Friendship, Saved By the Bell, Shared Mission, Shared Space, Shared Relationship, Shared Life