saint_monkey

Vector: bodhichitta0

List ten nine movies you would recommend that are a) obscure, or b) the critics panned, or c) you think might have been forgotten. Put a short explanation as why you like them, too!

I'm going with comedies, in case you can't tell. Now these aren't the funniest movies ever made, but they are movies that were either ignored by the critics, (Office Space) or ignored by the public (huckabees) or both (Tapeheads)

I (heart) huckabees A truly polarizing movie, you either love it, or hate it. I think a lot of folks didn't like it because of it's intellectual requirements. It's a light hearted examination of the search for self-fulfilment.

Team America: World Police Bizarre puppet sex aside, this movie is a guilty pleasure. Politically correct? I'm not thinking so. Trey Parker and Matt Stone have a real gift of pointing out the ridiculousness in situations. But their gift lies in being able to do so without chosing sides.

Tapeheads A complete sleeper. The plot is a thinly veiled take on the Blues Brothers, but the jabs at the 80's MTV culture are dead on. Don't turn it off before the classic "Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles" video.

UHF Terrible acting. Funny writing. An early show stopping performance by Michael Richards as guile-less janitor Stanley Spadowski, and of course, if you need an asian stereotype, call on Gedde Watanabe.

Erik the Viking Terry Jones wrote and directed, not as mad-cap as his Monty Python work, but silly, heartwarming, and of course full of existential angst.

Bob Roberts You need to watch this movie. In addition to being a comedy, it also has the advantage of being the most scary film ever made. Prior to the Bush election, I was terrified that a Republican would see this film. It's subtle, funny, witty, and a complete roadmap on how to win an american election. This movie was made in 1992, and it predicts the Bush presidential campaign with frightening accuracy (minus the folk music.) Written and directed by Robbins.

The 40 Year Old Virgin Poorly marketed as a gross-out comedy. Instead it is thoughtful, intelligent and the first funny movie I've seen in years. At times though, it feels a little like they were cribbing from Office Space.

Office Space Revolutionary. (If stealing your schtick from Dilbert is revolutionary, that is.) Although critics hated it, proving that they've never worked in an office in their lives. But of course, you already know this movie is good.

True Stories David Byrne's eccentric film full of odd characters. If texas were actually like this, it might be interesting. Full of long loving shots of surburbia though, and that can become annoying. WARNING: This is a musical.

Honorable Mention

Harold and Kumar go to White Castle The critics liked this one, and so did the public, but I was unconvinced that it was nothing more than a gross-out filled with the same dumb cliches. I was right, but it is funny, and I have to admit that. Plus, kudos for a gen-y version of the Odyssey that doesn't try to beat you over the head.

I'm doing the meme again. I like this one, because it'll let me talk about my favorite subject.

Ask me for "top five" lists of pretty much anything, and I will list for you my top five of that thing or things.

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Vector (Fork 1): > atomicpunk77 > fiorebrilliante
and
Vector (Fork 2): > ocelotchick > ilovegravy

Let my Cameron go.



(Although I think in this case, we mean Cameron Marlow, the survey creator.)

Didja ever wonder if in a few years, we will look back on this and think, "Why did I ever waste my time determining which naughty "My Little Pony" character I am, when every three seconds, a child dies from malnutrition?"

Nah, me neither:

You Are Copyright Infringement Pony!
Posting this picture infringes upon someone's infringement. (Hasbro can take it, the pussies.) I love the copyright in the lower right corner, Don't you steal my derivitave concept! That's special for ME.

NEHOW, Click if you must, to find out: "What Naughty My Little Pony Are You?"

food list, taken from dagoski ( read about what i eat. )

I have been reading a lot lately, trying to knock off a lot of classics that are oft mentioned in conversation, so i can be informed about them rather than just nodding and smiling. I just finished "A Brave New World" the other day, and almost immediately went into "Virus of the Mind," an expose on the "meme," which is essentially a way to unite many fields relating to psychology. The gist, we are influenced by "memes," which are like a cross between a cliche and an idea, these evolve as they are passed from user to user, and our minds twist them press certain psychological buttons. The meme is then passed from one user to another, becoming the root of actions, the root of religions, the root of those cheesy email chain letters.

After reading this, i was struck by this passage from the intro to "A Brave New World," it's on how total control over the human population can be obtained, via the establishment of a love of servitude.

The love of servitude can not be established except as the result of a deep, personal revolution in human minds and bodies. To bring about the revolution we require, among others, the following discoveries and inventions. First, a greatly improved techniques of suggestion-- through infant conditioning and, later, with the aid of drugs, such as scopolamine. Second, a fully developed science of human differences, enabling government managers to assign any given individual (Round pegs in square holes tend to have dangerous thoughts about the social system and to infect others with thier discontents.) Third (since reality, however utopian, is something from which people feel the need of taking pretty frequent holidays), a substitiute for alcohol and the other narcotics, something at once less harmful and more pleasure-giving than gin or heroin. And fourth (but this would be a long-term project, which it would take generations of totalitarian control to bring to successful conclusion) a foolproof system of eugenics, designed to standardize the product amd so to facilitate the task of the managers. - Aldous Huxley, from the 1958 paperback introduction to A Brave New World)

It seems to me that in our modern world, the mechanisms of this theory are in place already. There are some differences, true, but it seems that our capitalist world is slowly evolving the mechanisms required for totalitarian control. Interesting, eh? Let's break it down; we have the media evolving these "memes" to become honed suggestive techniques (act now! limited time offer!) I doubt psychology has advanced to the point where we are all fitting into ourespective "holes," but we do have a complex series of tests and qualifications barring entry into certain tasks and jobs. Cultural biases in these exams are slowly ensuring that certain groups have no access to certain jobs. The mapping of the human genome has made the creation of "designer people" and genetic manipulation a near reality. In fact, Hawking tells us that essentially it is inevitable. He says that the passage of restrictive laws will only lead to the creation of a literal division of humanity along financial status. (As the rich could afford to have thier children "improved" outside of the country, while the poor would be bound by the law.) Finally, Huxley mentions the use of a drug (and i paraphrase here, he actually calls for the need for a "distractor..." a "Holiday" from this utopia.) For this, with his narrow (yet accurate) foresight he envisioned a drug. But we really have something much, much, more powerful, a self perpetuating rewards system where we need to work in order to obtain the next newest status symbol. We may have a computer, but we will need a processor upgrade in a few years. We may have the Gamecube, but do we have the X-Box? (A good example, a talk show this afternoon, abandoned the war in afghanistan for an argument about the virtues of the gamecube or the x-box. Who would have thought, on 9.11 that by 11.19 we would be discussing such trivialities.) We can pair this with the "designer idea," the engineered meme, and it's incredible transmitter, television, and we need no drug. We will be caught in our servitude, slaving away for the newest console game, and when we come home, we can see fifty ads an evening for the new Lexus. Imagine what you could accomplish if you were free of this? Imagine the freedom! You ccould have a job with the minimum amount of responsibility. Just enough pay to put the basics on the table, and then the rest of the time, is yours! Yours to make art, to write your novel, to start your own business. Instead, we are enslaved. Virus of the Mind defines a "cult" as any system where the individual works towards a goal that is not thier own. and where there are great penalties for leaving the system. Sounds like our whole society.

note to myself:

read this.

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7 things you are afraid of:
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7 things that make you laugh:
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7 things that make you cry:
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7 things you love:
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7 things you hate:
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7 things you don't understand:
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7 things you're good at:
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7 things you suck at:
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7 things on your desk:
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7 facts about you:
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7 things to do before you die:
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