posted by Jason Kottke
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kottke.org posts about movies
A Prairie Home Companion
It’s been a few weeks since I saw the movie, but I still can’t get the Rhubarb Pie song out of my head:
But one little thing can revive a guy,
And that is home-made rhubarb pie.
Serve it up, nice and hot.
Maybe things aren’t as futile as you thought.Mama’s little baby loves rhubarb, rhubarb,
Beebopareebop Rhubarb Pie.
Mama’s little baby loves rhubarb, rhubarb,
Beebopareebop Rhubarb Pie.
Related “fascinating” facts:
Garrison Keillor got the idea for doing A Prairie Home Companion (the radio show) after writing an article for the New Yorker about the Grand Old Opry in 1974.
While driving in unfamiliar territory in an episode of The Wire, Bodie Broadus ends up listening to A Prairie Home Companion on the radio when he can’t find any hip-hop.
A 1993 New Yorker story by John Seabook
A 1993 New Yorker story by John Seabook called The Flash of Genius is being made into a movie starring Greg Kinnear. The story revolves around Bob Kearns, the inventor of the intermittent windshield wiper and his struggle to get the US auto industry to pay him for infringing on his patent. “There’s no question that Dr. Kearns’ wiper circuit was interesting. He had a three-brush motor, with dynamic brake and intermittent on one speed only — his system was a concatenation of a lot of different ideas. But we figured there was just no way in the world it was patentable. An electronic timing device was an obvious thing to try next. How can you patent something that is in the natural evolution of technology?”
BTW, the phrase “flash of genius” refers to a test of patentability enacted in 1941 saying that the act of invention had to be a “flash of creative genius” on the part of the inventor and not the result of tinkering. That standard was replaced in 1952 by the non-obviousness test.
Joined for Life: Abby and Brittany Turn 16
Joined for Life: Abby and Brittany Turn 16 is a documentary about Abby and Brittany Hensel, conjoined twins who are essentially one physical person with two heads (as well as a few other body parts). From a review of the film by Kevin Kelly: “Endless questions ensue from this documentary about their suburban life. If each girl controls only one arm and one leg, how can they ride a bike? Hit a baseball? Swim? When they drive a car, how do they decide where to turn? And do they get one licence or two? That particular question is answered on their 16th birthday, as this film follows them to the driving test center, where they pass the driving test (both turning the wheel). Their local DMV decides to issue them each one licence.”
A clip from a previous film on the girls is available on YouTube.
Filmmaker Errol Morris is writing a blog
Filmmaker Errol Morris is writing a blog for the NY Times about photography. It’s supposed to be Times Select only and therefore behind the Times’ stupid paywall, but I can get to it just fine for some reason. His most recent post concerns the confusion over the identity of the hooded man in the iconic Abu Ghraib photograph, which topic Morris is researching for S.O.P.: Standard Operating Procedure, his upcoming film about the prison and the events that happened there.
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Action films tend not to age well. Raiders is a happy exception. Expertly paced, a trait not shared by many contemporary films, action or otherwise.
As those of you who love slow
As those of you who love slow pans over black and white photography are already aware, Ken Burns has a new documentary coming out on PBS on Sept 23. The War “explores the history and horror of World War II from an American perspective by following the fortunes of so-called ordinary men and women who became caught up in one of the greatest cataclysms in human history” in 7 episodes spanning over 15 hours. A 26-minute video preview is available on the PBS site and the DVD is already available for pre-order on Amazon.
Trailer for In the Shadow of the
Trailer for In the Shadow of the Moon, a documentary that “brings together for the first, and possibly the last, time surviving crew members from every single Apollo mission that flew to the Moon along with visually stunning archival material re-mastered from the original NASA film footage”. BOY HOWDY! Here’s a review of the film from Ad/Astra, the magazine of the National Space Society.
Trailer for Wes Anderson’s The Darjeeling Limited.
Trailer for Wes Anderson’s The Darjeeling Limited.
A list of film techniques that Alfred
A list of film techniques that Alfred Hitchcock used in making his movies.
Short video feature on how Pixar rendered
Short video feature on how Pixar rendered all the food in Ratatouille. (thx, meg)
A Slate slideshow (with video) showing work
A Slate slideshow (with video) showing work from Brad Bird’s career, from his early tests to The Iron Giant to Ratatouille.
In the battle of Steve Jobs (CEO
In the battle of Steve Jobs (CEO of Apple) vs. Steve Jobs (former CEO of Pixar and current Disney Board member), Steve Jobs (Apple) was the clear winner. Apple sold an estimated 500,000 iPhones this weekend — grossing somewhere between $250 million and $300 million — while Pixar’s Ratatouille grossed $47.2 million.
Update: Some more interesting iPhone statistics, including Apple’s stock price increase since the iPhone was announced ($32 billion increase in market cap) and that iPhone was mentioned in 1.25% of all blogs posts over the weekend. (thx, thor)
Update: Apple’s stock price went down this morning in heavy trading. I guess Wall Street wasn’t so over the moon for the iPhone?
Photos of a 7-11 set up as
Photos of a 7-11 set up as a Kwik-E-Mart to promote the Simpsons Movie. (thx, jon)
Ratatouille opens today and it’s got a
Ratatouille opens today and it’s got a score of 94 on Metacritic, which puts it in a tie for 6th place on the all-time list.
Live Free or Die Hard
Die Hard 4 might be the perfect summer entertainment. I couldn’t believe how much fun this movie was…we wanted to go again as soon as we got out.
Never mind Transformers, here’s a look at
Never mind Transformers, here’s a look at the possible summer blockbusters of 2008. Here are a couple more lists of 2008 movies: FirstShowing.net and Box Office Mojo.
NYC font fans rejoice…Helvetica (the movie)
NYC font fans rejoice…Helvetica (the movie) will be starting a run at the IFC Center on September 12. My short review of the film is here.
Artist Lou Romano is on fire. He
Artist Lou Romano is on fire. He did the cover for the June 25th New Yorker and he’s the voice for Linguini, the main human character in Ratatouille. Visit Romano’s blog.
The American Film Institute has refreshed their
The American Film Institute has refreshed their list of the top 100 movies…here’s a listing comparing the new list with the one from 1998. Godfather Part II at #32 is still a travesty.
Update: Roger Ebert weighs in on the list.
Manufactured Landscapes is a documentary about Edward
Manufactured Landscapes is a documentary about Edward Burtynsky and the photos that he’s taken in China of the Three Gorges Dam, factories, and other vast industrial projects. Trailer is here and it’s available on DVD at Amazon. (thx, scott)
Update: Manufactured Landscapes is playing in NYC at Film Forum starting tonight through July 3.
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