July Once, Two Thousand the Seventh- "Battle Royale," or "A Study in Competitive Human Survival Instinct "

The Beast is a wild creature held captive to his instincts. He gnashes his teeth at mother moon and howls for his birth rite of bloodied organic meats. The Beast rends flesh from bone to survive with no loyalties to IKEA. Man, the master of steel and fire is a beast in his own right, but hides his fang behind the name-badge of courtesy and city states.

However, man must please his inert beastly desires. Man must run and leap at mother moon for his own organic feasts. Man must sweat for survival beyond the corners of his pueblos and particleboard cubicles. He must feel the flow of blood between his veins and the veins of what he desires, and spill that blood upon the rocks of battle. Man must versus man to belong to this living world. Man must take part in BATTLE ROYALE!!!



(From battleroyalefilm.net)
Battle Royale, a film by the veteran Japanese director Kinji Fukasaku, tells the story of a dystopic future in which each year, a randomly-selected 9th grade class is kidnapped and sent to a deserted island where they are equipped with weapons and are forced to kill each other until one survivor is left. The movie, which premiered in Japan on December 16, 2000 amidst much controversy, is based on a bestselling novel by Koushun Takami.

Preceding the film will be an excerpt from the G4 released series, Ninja Warrior, and other Japanese challenge shows.

BANZAI!!! \(^o^\)(/^.^)/

As always, food and drink will be provide, to satisfy the desires for man's organic feasts!!!

Be at 5115 Jackson Number 2 at 8 pm SHARP or Jennifer will BATTLE ROYALE on your head

Countries we've conquered

* I put "Israel" for Paradise Now because the website does not include Palestine.

AFI's new 100

The American Film Institute has released their new list of 100 greatest American movie. Citizen Kane is still no.1. You can check out the list from my least favorite website.

I'm sure we all have our own opinion. And I'm sure Joe would think it is stupid for them to drop Amadeus from the list. City Lights, which Rory picked for movie night, is no.11. Other past movie night picks on the list include High Noon (no.27) and Sunrise (no.82).

Other "great" picks on the list include Titanic, Toy Story, ET, Tootsie, Saving Private Ryan, The Sixth Sense and Lord of The Rings. No disrespect to these movies, but top 100 American film of all time? come on.

I don't see any cassavetes' or documentaries on the list.

6/24 - The Blue Kite

The Blue Kite
Year: 1993
Running time: 138 minutes
Country: China

I've always wanted to pick a movie from China, since we have yet to show any movie from this very big country. Personally, I have only watched a handful of movies from China and this is probably my favorite. I like it for its honest portrayal of harsh lives of the people living under the 50s/60s Maoist government, as the country goes through the disastrous "Cultural Revolution." I also like the style of the film a lot, how it focuses on the simple events of daily life. The electric guitar soundtrack by Japanese experimental musician Yoshihide Otomo adds to the melancholy and somber atmosphere of the film.

Here's what allmovie.com says:

"Tian Zhuangzhuang, a charter member of China's politically beleaguered, so-called Fifth Generation of Directors (along with Ju Dou's Zhang Yimou), made this film about the gradual disintegration of an entire family targeted by Mao's political reformation movements of the '50s and '60s. Told in a series of three stories, the audience sees the little boy Tietou and his mother try and try again to rebuild their lives from the ashes left them by the madness of the era. Director Tian works from a palette of primary colors on widescreen images that are often fixed in an icy-white Kubrickian glare of omnipresent paranoia. Yet much of The Blue Kite is resplendent with palpable signs of ordinary life: noisy kids, happy weddings, loud mealtimes. Tian amplifies the human element of these heady days, so that viewers may genuinely feel the humanity ripped from this story as events overtake and shatter all hope."

see you at Joe's. at 8 pm.

Please give me a call at your earliest convenience if you cannot attend.

6.17.07 Movie Night

Join me in my small-ass apartment this Sunday at 8:00 PM for your weekly Movie Night fix. As always, pizza will be provided and I will have Coca-Cola and St. Arnold's beer to wash it down. In my continuing mission to expose the group to films from some of the greatest directors of all-time I have selected the 1967 film "Persona" to represent the Swedish director Ingmar Bergman.

Synopsis from Netflix:
"To achieve more effective treatment, a nurse (Bibi Andersson) and her patient (Liv Ullmann), an actress who's lost the power of speech, check into a private cottage by the sea. Isolated from most of the rest of society, the two women become co-dependent and insanely jealous of each other."

The movie is 83 minutes so perhaps we can also play some Tetris, Dr. Mario, and / or other 2-player video games before and / or after the movie. For my next pick I will be selecting the film noir classic "Double Indemnity".

Proposal

Here's my proposal:

We meet every Sunday at 8pm.

rotation goes as follows:
Rory
Francisco
Jason
Joe
Jennifer
Austin

Let's hear your thoughts.

Mon. 6/11 (8pm) - Trapped in the Closet

I believe Amazon.com said it best:

"Trapped in the Closet is a a work of unadulterated, if perhaps unintentional, genius which rests comfortably alongside the work of Bunuel and Dali. What begins as a stereotypical melodrama quickly escalates into an epic farce which gleefully subverts our conception of what is possible and impossible. Lines like "he's opening the dresser / I pull out my berreta" and "then the midget takes his inhaler out" elevate R. Kelly's meisterwerk into storytelling genius. The subtle touches, like the fact that the midget has asthma, or that the Cop's wife is allergic to cherry pie, are like the details in a Bosch, giving life to the hellscape of modern life and revealing to us, in an age when we find ourselves drawn increasingly apart, that we are all connected in ways which may never be revealed to us, until we are forced into the closet by the unexpected arrival of a one night stand's spouse. R. Kelly's narrative interludes, delivered from inside the closet, remind us of the intent of the artist in orchestrating events, and casts R. Kelly into the mold of a sympathetic but ultimately helpless creator. By revealing to the audience both his control over evetns and his ultimate helplessness, he reminds us strikingly of Humbert Humbert in his asides to the jury.

Also, the most important thing to remember while watching is that R. Kelly peed on a 14 year old girl."

Shirt Idea

At our last movie night, we discussed the possibility of making V-Neck shirts, and I think we should definately do it. A lot of people haven't seen the logo that Joe made, either, so I put together this prototype of the shirt.





It doesn't have to be white, but white seemed the most sensible. Here is the American Apparel website for V-Necks: http://store.americanapparel.net/2456.html#i

I really think we should have the V-Neck shirts; they look very tennis player, especially with the logo, and we jujst so happen to play (virtual) tennis every few movie nights!

Let me know what you guys think. Joe, Jason, and I all know how to do silk-screening, so the only costs would really be the $15 for the shirts and everyone could pitch in for the necessary chemicals.