Extreme Sheep Herding

I'm not sure if this is real, but if it is, it's amazing.

The Life of Mammals

I love David Attenborough. He was the creator of "Planet Earth," which was absolutely beautiful, and I've started exploring his earlier work. Right now, I'm obsessed with the series "The Life of Mammals." Attenborough leads the viewer from the most primative of mammals all the way up to human beings. Even if you were the type of kid who was obsessed with all things animals, you'll still learn something new. Much of Attenborough's work is available for instant view on Netflix.

Escape Artist

Letter from Norman Mailer

to the Editor of Playboy

December 21, 1962

Dear Sir,
I wish you hadn't billed the debate between William Buckley and myself as a meeting between a conservative and a liberal. I don't care if people call me a radical, a rebel, a red, a revolutionary, an outsider, an outlaw, a Bolshevik, an anarchist, a nihilist, or even a left conservative, but please don't ever call me a liberal.

Yours,
Norman Mailer

Keef

I think I enjoy listening to Keith Richards talk as much as listening to him play guitar.

"It's lonely at the top"

Vicky Christina Barcelona. Slow motion? Zooming fade outs? Voiceover narration of semi-obvious plot details? Threesomes? Bicycle rides through the European countryside? Woody Allen is Julesing you Jim.

And it's delightful.

Read his behind the scenes production diary HERE. He dishes on giving an Oscar winner acting tips and his own ability to satisfy three randy and insatiable actresses simultaneously.

10 Things I Do Every Day by Ted Berrigan

wake up
smoke pot
see the cat
love my wife
think of Frank

eat lunch
make noises
sing songs
go out
dig the streets

go home for dinner
read the Post
make pee-pee
two kids
grin

read books
see my friends
get pissed-off
have a Pepsi
disappear

Red Shift by Ted Berrigan

Here I am at 8:08 p.m. indefinable ample rhythmic frame
The air is biting, February, fierce arabesques
on the way to tree in winter streetscape
I drink some American poison liquid air which bubbles
and smoke to have character and to lean
In. The streets look for Allen, Frank, or me, Allen
is a movie, Frank disappearing in the air, it's
Heavy with that lightness, heavy on me, I heave
through it, them, as
The Calvados is being sipped on Long island now
twenty years almost ago, and the man smoking
Is looking at the smilingly attentive woman, & telling.
Who would have thought that I'd be here, nothing
wrapped up, nothing buried, everything
Love, children, hundreds of them, money, marriage-
ethics, a politics of grace,
Up in the air, swirling, burning even or still, now
more than ever before?
Not that practically a boy, serious in corduroy car coat
eyes penetrating the winter twilight at 6th
& Bowery in 1961. Not that pretty girl, nineteen, who was
going to have to go, careening into middle-age so,
To burn, & to burn more fiercely than even she could imagine
so to go. Not that painter who from very first meeting
I would never & never will leave alone until we both vanish
into the thin air we signed up for & so demanded
To breathe & who will never leave me, not for sex, nor politics
nor even for stupid permanent estrangement which is
Only our human lot & means nothing. No, not him.
There's a song, "California Dreaming", but no, I won't do that
I am 43. When will I die? I will never die, I will live
To be 110, & I will never go away, & you will never escape from me
who am always & only a ghost, despite this frame, Spirit
Who lives only to nag.
I'm only pronouns, & I am all of them, & I didn't ask for this
You did
I came into your life to change it & it did so & now nothing
will ever change
That, and that's that.
Alone & crowded, unhappy fate, nevertheless
I slip softly into the air
The world's furious song flows through my costume.

Drawn Blank Exhibition

Bob Dylan's drawn blank exhibit opens this week in London. Click here for details and a slide show of paintings. Fun stuff?

RZA on the Boards

From the New York Times:

Martial Art of Chess, Promoted by a Rapper

By DYLAN LOEB McCLAIN

Published: June 7, 2008

The rapper RZA, a founder of the Wu-Tang Clan and holder of the Hip-Hop Chess Federation belt, is turning his interest into a business.

Full article and video here

"Monkey, Monkey Monkey, Raskolnikov"

Monkey Controls Robot With Mind - article and video

Doc Ock meets Outbreak?

If movies have taught me anything - and I believe they have - it's that experimental technologies will invariably be exploited for evil.

R.I.P Sydney Pollack

I find the following quite ironic. Yesterday I was hanging out with my friend Corey Garry and his grandfather had passed not 4 hours before we were scheduled to go out. I was driving my mother's Chrysler 300 and in the CD player was a mix I had made years ago for my father. The song "Guilty" came on, a duet by Barry Gibb and Barbra Streisand. This immediately led us to talking about Streisand movies and our counter views on certain performances. What we could muster to agree upon was that "hey, wow The Way We Were was quite a film". I always admired Pollack's work as a director and I was especially a fan of his supporting roles in a wide array of films, from his prick attorney role in the pathetic Changing Lanes to his overlooked performance in 2007's Michael Clayton. He was certainly one of Hollywood's finest living artifacts. He will be surely missed. Rest in Peace, Mr. Pollack.

The New Humanities Initiative

Today in the New York Times:

New Curriculum Designed to Unite Art and Science
...a few scholars of thick dermis and pep-rally vigor believe that the cultural chasm can be bridged and the sciences and the humanities united into a powerful new discipline that would apply the strengths of both mindsets, the quantitative and qualitative, to a wide array of problems. Among the most ambitious of these exercises in fusion thinking is a program under development at Binghamton University in New York called the New Humanities Initiative.
Read the full article here

...also of interest in today's Times:

On The Trail, One Aide Looms Over Obama
...some unofficial rules have emerged between the candidate and his aide. From Mr. Obama: “One cardinal rule of the road is, we don’t watch CNN, the news or MSNBC. We don’t watch any talking heads or any politics. We watch ‘SportsCenter’ and argue about that.”
Read the full article here

Peter Parker's Glasses

As the summer movie season is already in full swing it's worth taking a moment to appreciate the fact that rather than suffering through the bloated, special effects laden superhero blockbusters of yore we can now depend upon comic book films to deliver both balls out action AND compelling melodrama in a single package.

After the Batman & Robin debacle, studios had every right to throw in the genre towel (like they did with westerns and musicals) and search for a new direction; however, luckily for summer film goers everywhere, studios continued to green light new franchises and in the hands of capable directors and talented actors, the superhero blockbuster has (with some exceptions) been elevated from forgettable escapist pap to thematically complex and emotionally engaging cinema. This summer is bookended by Iron Man and The Dark Knight, serious, big budget productions featuring awards caliber actors in the title roles; not too long ago the best we could have hoped for was George Clooney playing cute in a rubber suit.

Whether you enjoy superhero films or not, there is no denying that the increased care and attention that has gone into their production has yielded surprisingly high-minded and well-made results.


Jump back to 2002. Yearning to be taken seriously, the producers of Spiderman 2 brought an early draft of their script to Pulitzer prize winning author Michael Chabon (The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay) for a rewrite. According to Chabon, the original version featured numerous costumed villains and suffered from a lack of focus. Chabon did a full rewrite, paring the narrative down to just two costumed characters, Doctor Octopus and Spiderman, and offering a more thorough treatment of their respective alter egos, Otto Octavius and Peter Parker. The script would undergo more revisions before filming but many of Chabon's key plot points remained intact (he was given a credit for screen story) and Spiderman 2 stands as arguably the most compelling and fully realized character study in the superhero film pantheon.

Recently released for a limited time as part of a promotion for his new non-fiction book Maps and Legends, Chabon's script lacks certain memorable scenes such as Mary Jane's disappointing attempt to recreate her upside down kiss or Peter gratefully accepting a piece of cake from Mr. Ditkovich's niece, but as a whole it is a more elegant and serious treatment of the film's basic themes of identity and duty.

Development of some of the side characters is lacking - Harry Osborne and Aunt May feel penciled in almost as an afterthought - but Peter and Dr. Octavius both benefit from Chabon's more thorough attention. Octavius especially comes across as a much more intriguing character and his romantic relationship with Mary Jane would have added an interesting dimension to the film. Chabon also authors a more graceful and physiologically plausible explanation of how Peter loses and eventually regains his powers.

Spiderman 2, for all its considerable merits, is admittedly uneven and at times benefits from an indulgent viewer's willingness to forgive certain inconsistencies and extrapolate meaning from subtexts that are very thinly explored. Fans of the movie will find much to appreciate in Chabon's script as it more candidly addresses some of the film's darker qualities and provides a more consistent and carefully considered view of Spiderman's world.

Michael Chabon's Spiderman 2 script - it really takes off about halfway in...

I understand that this script may be of limited or no interest to many Dinner on the Molly patrons; so, for the rest of you, here is Michael Chabon offering up his eloquent - yet strangely twitchy - endorsement of Barack Obama:

The Alien is My Brother

I assume I'm not the only one who's struggled to reconcile my Catholic faith with a belief in aliens and today straight from the Vatican comes some good news about our souls and the potential souls of our extraterrestrial brothers. Head Vatican astronomer Fr. Jose Gabriel Funes said in an interview with L' Osservatore Romano that believing in extraterrestrial life is not opposed to Catholic doctrine. Repent, rejoice, and look to the skies.

Full Article: Believing in Aliens not Opposed to Christianity, Vatican's Top Astronomer Says

Who's Your #1?

TIME magazine just published their list of the 100 most influential people in the world. The list covers world leaders, scientists, artists, and captains of industry.

100 Most Influential People - complete list

Just for kicks, go through and see how many names you recognize. I got 33/100, taking a big hit on the Scientists & Thinkers and Builders & Titans sections. I did significantly better identifying selections from the preview for PEOPLE magazine's upcoming 100 Most Beautiful People list.

Only a Sith Deals in Absolutes

As a companion to the previous post on Slavoj Zizek's Pervert's Guide to Cinema I suggest reading his article "Revenge of Global Finance" in which he incorporates an analysis of Star Wars Episode III: the Revenge of the Sith into his commentary on capitalist society. The article is a good example of how he uses popular culture to illuminate his commentary on more "important" subjects. In the article, Zizek leaves the obvious criticism of Revenge of the Sith's considerable flaws to lesser critics and offers up a more thorough critique of the film's shortcomings. A sample:

And—back to the Revenge of the Sith—the price for the film’s sticking to these same New Age motifs is not only its ideological confusion, but, simultaneously, its inferior narrative quality. These motifs are why Anakin’s transformation into Darth Vader—the series’ pivotal moment—lacks the proper tragic grandeur. Instead of focusing on Anakin’s hubris as an overwhelming desire to intervene, to do Good, to go to the end for those he loves and thus fall to the Dark Side, Anakin is simply shown as an indecisive warrior who is gradually sliding into Evil by giving way to the temptation of Power, by falling under the spell of the evil Emperor. In other words, Lucas lacked the nerve to really apply his parallel between the shift of the Republic to Empire and of Anakin to Darth Vader. Anakin should have become a monster out his very excessive attachment with seeing Evil everywhere and fighting it.

I've always been of the opinion that the essential story of Anakin's downfall is more powerful and compelling than that of nearly any film or novel ever published and that the film's failure to even remotely live up to its considerable potential is possibly the greatest theoretical tragedy in modern art (imagine if Picasso had decided to go through a blind-folded period from 1901 -1912). Zizek's article goes on to examine the troubling ideology that is shaping modern capitalism, but I'm glad that he took time out of his undoubtedly busy life to comment on the grave artistic injustice perpetrated by Mr. Lucas on us all.

The Pervert's Guide to Cinema

Recognized the world over as one of the preeminent social theorists to emerge at the end of the 20th century, Slavoj Zizek is one of the rare intellectuals who has made the jump from academic authority to cultural celebrity. Recently he made a stir in the academic world by writing captions for photos in an Abercrombie & Fitch catalog. Questioned as to whether this was an appropriate application of his considerable intellectual talents, Zizek replied that he would rather make money writing ad copy than "kissing ass to get a tenured post." A charismatic and engaging speaker, Zizek unapologetically simplifies the content of his work during public lectures and television appearances, often making comments that seem contradictory to his published materials (if you're looking to waste some time, a YouTube search of 'slavoj zizek' yields a wealth of entertaining and thought provoking clips).

Zizek is the subject of numerous profiles and videos (I had to watch Zizek! in a class and would highly recommend it) and the latest film issue of The Believer magazine includes a DVD of part one of his recent film The Pervert's Guide to Cinema. Originally broadcast on British television, The Pervert's Guide provides a crash course on psychoanalytic film criticism as well as Zizek's own thoughts on human desire and the nature of reality. He covers films as diverse as Vertigo and Revenge of the Sith and his commentary comes across more like astute observations from an enthusiastic fan than serious criticism from one of the world's most renowned thinkers. You might not learn anything profound about any of these films, but watching Zizek deliver sweaty, over-enunciated commentary from inside faithful set recreations of the scenes being analyzed is wildly entertaining. He delivers a lecture on the superego from Norman Bates' basement and sits casually on the hotel toilet from The Conversation whilst discussing perception and desire.

Currently unavailable on Netflix, you can get the first hour of The Pervert's Guide to Cinema with a copy of The Believer (the issue also has a great feature breaking down the budget of a feature film) or seek out a copy online.

I've included a sample clip below, and if this is your type of thing, the entire film is available on YouTube (I'm too lazy to stitch together all 15 segments into a playlist here on The Molly; just search "perverts guide to cinema" and they should all come up)

FREUD VIA HITCHCOCK AND THE MARX BROS

Great Men in History: Edward Lorenz, PhD

Today, Edward Lorenz, the father of chaos theory and the man who popularized the "butterfly effect", died in Cambridge, MA at the age of 90. Click here to access his obituary.

Not surprisingly, literature and film have embraced the underlying ideas of chaos theory. My favorite post-modern play, Arcadia by Tom Stoppard, focuses on the mathematics behind fractals during the 1800s and contemporary times. Chaos theory also plays a large role in the movie "Pi".

While searching the wikipedia page for chaos theory, it also mentions that chaos theory is mentioned in the films "The Butterfly Effect," "Chaos", and "The Science of Sleep." I haven't seen the other two, but I don't remember any mention of chaos theory in "The Science of Sleep" - does anyone else remember it?

Here's a cool webpage on fractals. The image above is also generated by fractals.

Great Women in History: Thelma Schoonmaker

Thelma Schoonmaker met Martin Scorsese when she was taking a brief six-week course at New York University's Tisch School. She was instantly charmed by the fledgling film student and decided to help edit a short he had just made entitled "What's a Nice Girl Like You Doing in a Place Like This?". A previous editor had massacred young Marty's film and so she thought it was a nice gesture. By 1970 the two edited Woodstock together but it would be another 10 years before they would meet again. Since 1980 the two have remained best friends and Schoonmaker has edited every Scorsese film since Raging Bull. Thelma Schoonmker has been nominated for six Academy Awards in the field of editing and has won three for the following films: Raging Bull, The Aviator and The Departed. Schoonmaker is set to edit Scorsese's highly anticipated Shutter Island.

An interview with Thelma Schoonmaker