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liz phair on guyville

Liz Phair's made a new documentary about her 1993 landmark "Exile in Guyville," timed with a reissue of the album. New York Mag's Vulture has a great interview with her, and as the father of two daughters whom I'm doing my best to raise as strong, vocal and opinionated young girls (and me arguably being one of those "guys") I absolutely loved this particular bit... 

It was interesting to learn from the documentary that you were pretty surrounded by guys on the making of Exile.
I really was in Guyville. When I went back to the documentary, the one unifying thing with the guys is, they all talk a really long time, and then I get a tiny little word in edgewise. They were all like, "This is what's good," "This is what you should like," and I was like, [sing-songy] "fuck you fuck you fuck you fuck you fuck you fuck you."

The documentary's bundled with the CD version of the reissue -- you can pick it up at Amazon and other fine retailers, I assume.

sydney pollack and the ache

Via somewhere that I can't remember right now, Trish Deitch at The New Yorker on Sydney Pollack. As a Pollack fan I've been reading a bunch of obits on Pollack this week, and while there's been a lot of talk about Pollack as a classically conservative filmmaker who makes Good Films, Deitch's post is the one that resonated with me the most...

Finding the spine of a story like "Out of Africa" was important to Sydney for many reasons, the most important of which was that it led to what he called "the ache." The ache is self-explanatory if you’ve seen Sydney’s films. It is the ache of having one chance at deep love in a lifetime of shallow loves, and losing it too early. It is the ache of perfect, private union destroyed by terrible, worldly circumstance. For Sydney, the ache was about the way that the things we hold most dear always elude us.

"The ache" is at the core of what I love about Three Days of the Condor, Absence of Malice and even Tootsie, as well as Pollack's acting in Husbands and Wives, Eyes Wide Shut and Michael Clayton. On the list to watch, Pollack's documentary on Frank Gehry.

cleaning out the browser tabs

It's about time I blog about all the open tabs in my browser, just so I can clear my head and get on with my life.

• They're making a movie version of The Road. Nuclear apocalypse! Cannibalism! With a charming young child actor!

OK, that was the only open tab...and blogging it isn't making me feel any better. After all, I doubt that even Viggo Mortensen can play it bleak enough to do justice to this line:

When your dreams are of some world that never was or of some world that never will be and you are happy again than you will have given up. Do you understand? And you can't give up. I won't let you.

Hooray for Hollywood!

next up, our own executive chef

Join Six Apart and you too can get your hair cut by co-founder Mena Trott.

liveblogging reading some of the liveblogging of the oscars

Last night, 10:30 pm:  Finished watching our Tivo'd version of the Oscars.  Ba-boop'd our way through the montages.  Did email during some of the songs.  Didn't liveblog.

Last night, 10:40 pm:  Check in on Vox neighborhood.  Hey, Anil liveblogged the Oscars!  Skim skim skim, scroll scroll, scroll.  Here's a funny line: "Poor Nicole Kidman, ruined herself. Used to be fetching. I'm just saying. I do like her brave choice to wear a chandelier."

Last night, 11:30 pm:  Oh, hey, looks like Jason liveblogged not watching the Oscars. How clever.  "My liveblogging outfit this evening: jeans by Banana Republic, long sleeve tshirt by American Apparel, socks by Wal-Mart, boxer shorts by Muji." (Ahem, that sounds like a series of Facebook is statements to me.)

This morning, 11:00 am:  Wow, David liveblogged 'em, too.  "I think Owen Wilson should take over Heath Ledger's career."  Yes!  Excellent idea. Couldn't have said it better myself.

This morning, 11:25 am: OK, that's enough.

the mystery box

Timed perfectly for the pre-Cloverfield marketing cycle, TED.com has posted J.J. Abrams' talk from last year's conference:

J.J. Abrams traces his love of the unseen mystery -- the heart of Alias, Lost, and the upcoming Cloverfield -- back to its own magical beginnings, which may or may not include an early obsession with magic, the love of a supportive grandfather, or his own unopened Mystery Box.

I'm queuing that one up for the weekend.

Relatedly: Over the past several years, Bay Area painter Squeak Carnwath has routinely contributed Grab Bag Mystery Boxes to fund-raising art auctions. Here's the description of one from a 2002 di Rosa Preserve auction:

The object contained inside this box is presently a mystery to all. You, the bidder, are now taking a risk similar to the creative risks that artists take when they make a work of art. You, dear auction bidder, are experiencing the UNKNOWN. For the artist, making art is an exercise in trust. Trust that the unknown will reveal insight. You, like the artist, do not know what your desire will reveal to you. The item contained herein could be an artwork of my own making, studio archeology, an artwork by another artist, a grocery list, a sculpture, a drawing, jewelry, photos, materials to make your own artwork, a lock of hair, etc. etc.

no country for charlie rose

From this weekend's "Adventures with Tivo," Charlie Rose had Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin and the Coen brothers on to discuss No Country for Old Men. Worth the time, even though it's, you know, Charlie Rose.

redacted as tour of modern media environment

A.O. Scott on Brian DePalma's new movie, "Redacted."

An unrivaled master of showy cinematic technique, he has made a film whose governing conceit is that it is not a film at all but rather a palimpsest of found video culled from consumer-grade camcorders, surveillance cameras, cellphones and Web sites. (There are also snippets from a French documentary, a mischievous parody complete with portentous music and solemn narration.) “Redacted” takes us on a tour not only of the battlefield, but also of the modern media environment, where no moment goes unrecorded and where everyone is, at least potentially, a filmmaker.

I'm not planning on seeing "Redacted" in the theater for a variety of reasons ("I don't get out much and I'd rather spend babysitter money on 'No Country for Old Men'" being the leading contender), but I wish there were  way to experience this tour of "the modern media environment" in that actual environment.

ratatouille

I just saw a television commercial for the upcoming DVD release of Ratatouille that was unabashedly aspected 16:9. It stuck out because most movie commercials (esp for DVD releases) are formatted to fit your 4:3 screen... Of course the different look distracted me from the actual release date, though I'm assuming it'll be out in time for Thanksgiving.

Second order question: will the DVD drive incremental sales of Thomas Keller cookbooks?

born free

Fluxblog on The Darjeeling Limited:

You can't buy the lifestyle Anderson is selling -- you have to be born into it. You can try to talk your way into it, like Max Fischer or Eli Cash, but it won't work out. You can work hard, make a lot of money, and enter a higher tax bracket like Herman Blume or Royal Tenenbaum, but your drive and working class roots will always set you apart from those whose ambitions have been stalled by the inertia of excessive comfort.

I liked Jason Schwartzman as Max Fischer a hell of a lot more than I liked Jason Schwartzman in Hotel Chevalier, where he's moping around in a multi-thousand dollar a night Parisian hotel suite for an indeterminate amount of time before Natalie Portman shows up to have sex with him and stare longingly at the view off his balcony. Nice work if you can get it.