Thoughtful Preparations: Media Spin Blog

One of the best things about The Da Vinci Code book and now movie, is that it stirs up a lot of thought and talk, and not necessarily both.

Here are my favorite weekend reviews from the blogosphere:

“Not the worst movie that I have ever seen, but it’s no Deuce Bigalo either! I would give it amybe a 4 or 5out of 10 rating.” – blog of kenny on MySpace.com

“The movie’s going too fast….Teabing skipped the part about the knife and that extra hand.” – blog of Liyana at MySpace.com.

“Was doing fine with it ’til i showed up at church today and guess what the sermon was over???? i almost walked out.. that’s my rant for now.” – Myspace blog of Steven

“The Da Vinci Code (subtitled “A Carpenter Humped a Prostitute)…seriously, is everyone stuck on this crap or what? This movie is gonna become the Napoleon Dynamite of paranoid God fearing types…” – MySpace blog of Jason

“Went to see the Da Vinci code with amy and had breakfast at ihop. Breakfast was awesome, the movie, not so much.” – MySpace blog of Clyde,

These entries were all found by running a tag search on Technorati, so it is really a surprise to see the heavy rankings of so many Myspace.com blogs. This is a new disruption within the blogosphere!

As a kid my family had a big old house out on Shelter Island where we would spend a few weeks in the summertime. These were barefoot and sandy days. There were fantastic memories left there, riding the ferry to Greenport, fishing for flounder and blowfish, the old soda fountain up at Shelter Island Heights, Dering Harbor, Louie’s Beach, and the slow pace of it all.

Times have changed, and people want to get out to Shelter Island faster, thus the birth of SIBTA: Shelter Island Bridge & Tunnel Authority. This is a bold EZ Path to the future. I hope it does not ruin the old charm of the Shelter Island I once knew.

See The New Yorker article about SIBTA for more detailed authoritative information.

A recent SF Chronicle article highlighting New Orleans paino great James Booker led to my contacting Bill Roberts, who took part in the Maple Leaf Bar’s weekly Sunday afternoon poetry readings along with Everette Maddox. Bill recalled Booker playing there frequently, and related a story.

While waitering at Commander’s Palace Bill worked a party for the upper crust of New Orleans society: bankers, judges, and business owners. They made a special request for James Booker to play at the party, and Bill describes what happened…

The piano keys under the spell of James Booker had unleashed such powerful, raw blues on the psyches of the elite of New Orleans, members of the old line secret Krewes (Rex, Comus and Momus) of Mardi Gras, that it decimated their sense of decorum.

James Booker was oblivious and indifferent to their transformation. He just kept pounding away on the keys, and would not free the ladies and gents from his enchanting grip.

The place went crazy. They were dancing wildly and bumping into each other. They became unravelled, they came apart under the influence of Booker’s playing. A judge was even dancing around in his official robes.

When the party was over I found the judge’s robe on the floor. I didn’t know what to do, so I brought it home, and then brought it back to Commander’s the next time I worked there. They almost fired me over it.

Mayor Landrieu was still in office, the last white Mayor of New Orleans.  Maybe the event portended the seismic shift in political  power in the Big Easy.

If one subscribes to the belief held by the Black Clergy of the Mississippi delta during the 1920’s,30’s and 40’s, that Blues was the Devil’s music; then truly I declare that it was Mephistofiles himself playing that night to Dr. Faust.

So I’m goofing off, browsing Google Video and come across this silly Bollywood Comedy video… a cute idea, mouthing the words and aping to one of those syrupy Hindu pop songs. Then the comedian throws in an added feature, a strange little finger puppet. Hey, wait a second! That looks like something a friend, puppeteer Hobey Ford, showed me 4 or 5 years ago… a toy that he developed and patented, the Peepers Puppet. Small world, even if you’re not a puppet.

Turns out, it’s a cheating world too. Hobey tells me the peepers in the video are knock-offs, with enlarged pupils… the tell-tale sign of drug using finger puppets from the underworld.

In an anxious alert to this years’s upcoming E3 game conference attendees, Sex and Games, warns of new rules in the Exhibitor’s Handbook. Serious game boys are not focusing on the vendors’ electronic entertainment. They don’t get out too often, and become hypnotized by booth babes. Fantasy role playing games never looked so real.

Some blame has been placed upon overachievers, such as a 2005 E3 Wheelchair Groper. See other photos of booth babes behavior and judge for yourselves, “Be they beautiful or be they bad?” Vendors may wonder if the new burka babes policy will dampen attendance.

The foundation films of John Waters early Divine classics shot in Baltimore involved local gangs competing for King and Queens of Filth. Following in his trashy tradition, John Waters has a series coming out on Here! TV, America’s first gay televison network, entitled John Waters Presents Movies that will Corrupt You.

Here is the stuff that will test the mettle of curious Right-wing Puritans: films such as Freeway, Beefcake, and Sissy Boy Slap Party are just a few of the irreverent titles in the series. The movies Mr. Waters has chosen are designed to disturb you in a delightful way. Take walk on the wild side with John Waters hosting and adding commentary before and after each title.

Forming his own anti-Martha Stewart taste setting niche, Waters released A John Waters Christmas CD in time for this past holiday season, including gems by Tiny Tim and Fat Daddy.

This freedom of choice photo sums it up. One person with a baby, one vote.

I love this classic animation from the early formative years. Here is an archived 1937 cartoon by Paul Terry and his Terrytoons studio. It appears that a crucial shot early in the cartoon, where the little goat drinks alcohol is absent.

Fortunately, The International Animated Film Society: ASIFA-Hollywood has embarked on an ambitious project to create an animation archive, museum, and library for the benefit of the animation community, students and general public. The first phase of this project involves the creation of a virtual archive which will house images, movie clips and sound files pertaining to the art of animation. Their blog is loaded with art and information of interest to animation fans.