keeping note

Whoa! Add this to your netflix.

“Crazy Love” is a well made documentary of a disturbing relationship between an obsessive lawyer and the object of his affection. The viewers will be stunned as Burt, Linda and their friends talk about an unconventional relationship of delusional romance.

Seriously, forget Sid and Nancy, Burt Pugach and Linda Riss take the cake when it comes to dysfunctional love.

I don’t want to spoil it for those who don’t know the background of this unconventional couple, but I definitely think this outrageous documentary is a must see. The events are so unfathomable you’d think it’d only happen in the soaps.

To read more about the documentary’s couple CLICK HERE.

To see the trailer CLICK HERE.

Image source: Movieweb.com

This the first and, most likely, the last time you will ever see me write this sentence. I’d never met a book I didn’t love more than it’s audio-visual recreation until now.

Darly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay is by no means a horrible book, yet it didn’t have the humor, irony, and intrigue that Showtime gave it. After reading the book which inspired the television series and watching the complete first season, I can say with absolute certainty that the book is not better.

The writer’s for the Showtime series really took their rights to the book’s content seriously. The show and book are mirror images of each other for the most part. None of the characters are altered and some dialogue is cut and pasted. It’s not bad, though. The producers saw a great idea, yet mediocre excecution, and decided to give it all the depth, drama, and devotion Dexter deserved.

The book isn’t bad, just mediocre. It’s nothing I’d write a high review of, yet something I’d recommend for a quick and mindless, yet entertaining read. This is why I’m giving the book two bolts. I’d give it one if it were just a book, but the story is really something amazing, hidden behind boring, uninteresting prose and a weak progression of events.

For the past couple of Pixar movies I’ve been obsessed with some of the artwork. For The Incredibles, I loved the comic book style promo posters, for Ratatouille there were posters that resembled French Café and now for Wall-e, there are posters that reflect the old 1970’s ride posters Disneyland produced.

After some thorough research, I found out the artist is Eric Tan. According to his blog, he’s a graphic designer/doodler who grew up in San Diego. (And that’s about it) All I really know is I love what’s he’s done and his artwork now graces my computer screen.

P.S. He’s also done some other work and I thought you should check it out. Also, if you want an actual poster, you can go to Acme Archives to purchase one. The problem is they are a bit pricey.

Image Source: Sundance

Usually, when I get an email about something “green” I roll my eyes at it, but this particular email included the word “porno” and I thought, “oh well, why not”.

Isabella Rossellini has created a short series of web shorts about insects and their sexy times…yes…Green Porno=Bug sex. This isn’t your average youtube, voice dubbed, National Geographic video; It’s Isabella Rossellini herself, reenacting the mating habits of bugs. It’s Ingrid Bergman’s daughter dry humping paper creatures!

The web shorts were premiered at the Sundance Dance Film Festival, but if you watch the interviews, a lot of the formatting is attributed to the fact that they were pushing it as internet shorts. These short films not only would be seen on a computer, but were also made to be seen on cell phones, such as the iPhone. That’s why they are short, attention grabbing and include colorful contrast. Also, they wanted it to have a childlike feel to it and place emphasis on its low budget so, they stylized it with cheap materials, such as paper.

To watch the film shorts CLICK HERE.

Even amidst the trend of remaking classics, no movie has been able to really take me back to the spirit and imagination of cartoons.

Speed Racer did it. Everything about this movie was cartoon. The images, the story, the excitement, the fun. The movie embodied the magical, whimsical, yet fun, thrilling, and simply comical spirit of cartoons. There’s no real way to describe it. It’s cartoon.

Artistically, it’s beautiful. Using every color in the crayon box and some of the coolest computer graphics, every image in the movie is as bold and alive as a kaleidoscope. Electrifying, visually breathtaking, and just plain stylish. It could have easily found success in art house/indie theatres.

As for the plot, it’s got depth to keep an adult entertained, continually throwing them back to the classic good and evil struggles of the cartoon and comic. Speed’s silly younger brother and monkey companion are a hilarious ride for kids. At the same time, the larger than life races with cars that physically shoot daggers and flip over each other keep adults and kids alike thrilled.

I love this movie. The not-so-stellar reviews are really unwarranted and dare I say pretentious views on pure brilliance and cartoon entertainment.

When I’m bored, I go to Wikipedia.org. (Don’t ask me why, I just do.) And to make myself even nerdy-er, I look up anime. (Seriously, stop with the looks!) It may sound odd, but it’s actually a good way to avoid bad anime. (Well what I consider bad anime) You get to read a synopsis and find out if it has all the elements you want! Plus it’s a good way to avoid “wasting time” on anime. You all know what I’m taking about. The anime where you dedicate some major time watching, then at the end they all die. (I.e. Wolf’s Rain. Sorry to ruin it for you!)

On one of my recent trips to Wikipedia I decided to research Dragon Ball GT. The thought came to me when I was in my Pop Culture Japan class. We were learning about the author and what he based the story on so, I decided, since I had never seen GT I might as well look up what it’s about. Next, I end up stumbling upon an article about the upcoming 2009 Dragon Ball live action movie! After reading the article I wasn’t excited to see one of my favorite childhood cartoons come to life, instead, I felt a bit depressed. The cast list is a little odd. (Jamie Chung will be Chi Chi, you know her from Real Word: San Diego) Plus I feel this has the super potential to end up campy. I just can’t picture a real life Piccolo on the silver screen or Justin Chatwin as Goku.

Another film slated to become a live action movie is Ghost in the Shell. Variety released an article stating they have acquired the rights to this anime legend with the help of Steven Speilberg who is set to make it a live action 3-D movie. I’m sure this will be interesting, but I’m not so sure I’ll line up to see it. (Mostly because I wasn’t too fond of the animated movie.) However, I do feel that this movie will turn out really well because you have a big name director backed by a big studio.

I’m not saying that anime shouldn’t be turned into live action movies. (I’m actually very excited to see Speed Racer this summer.) But I’m just saying that you have to be careful because it has the potential to turn out incredibly bad! Does anyone even remember the live action DB from Japan?!?

P.S. There are some good live action dramas based off anime like Absolute Boyfriend!