Back in Bahston / Big Ups to the B-day Boy
Posted on May 27, 2003 at 9:50 pm | No Comments
We’re home safe n’ sound after a three day trip down to Long Guyland for a ritzy wedding and a spontaneous trip to the Bronx Zoo.
Highlight? I got to stare face to face at a super-cute, incredibly expressive tiny baby gorilla, with just a thin sheet o’ plexiglass between us.
Lowlight? I then got to watch that very same baby gorilla reach into it’s butt, pull out a nice, soft handful of his own poo, and shove it in it’s mouth.
From ultra-adorable to totally disgusting in ten seconds flat. Gotta be a new record. Think it doesn’t get any grosser than that? Oh, but it does. He then smeared a feces-covered finger across the glass, resulting in a nice brown shite-streak. Sorry, no pictures of that special moment to share. I was too busy almost hurling.
Guaranteed poo-free pictures later on, after I decompress from the drive.
On an entirely different note… Happy Freakin’ Birthday, Mr. Carlin!. I’m not gonna say what number b-day it is, ‘cuz it makes me feel old. If I was half as cool at that age as Jason is now… well, I woulda been maybe twice as cool as I actually was. (oh, do the math.) Aw, ain’t nuthin’ but a number, right?
Hope the day was a good one, Jason, and that the celebratory dinner was a fine, fine time. Sorry we couldn’t make it back for it …
Awright, I need to unpack and get some sleep. Actually, maybe the unpacking can wait…
The Worst Week of Vincent Gallo’s Life?
Posted on May 25, 2003 at 9:36 am | No Comments
I’ve got a bit of a Vincent Gallo fascination. The guy just plain intrigues me, and has since I saw him in Abel Ferrara’s The Funeral years ago … his look, his upbringing, the bizarre bands he’s been in, the crazy random crap that comes flying out of his mouth during interviews. I saw Buffalo ’66 in the theater and loved it, mostly because I had to respect someone who had the guts to write, direct, and star in a movie that makes himself so completely unappealing. The man is unafraid. Or just plain crazy. Probably a whole lot of both.
I knew that Gallo had a new film at Cannes this year, but I hadn’t heard of the hubbub surrounding it until I read Cooley’s latest journal entry. Wow. Rather than retread Jason’s whole post (oh, just go and read it) here’s an excerpt from Ebert’s review of The Brown Bunny…
” …On Tuesday night, Cannes showed a film so shockingly bad that it created a scandal here on the Riviera not because of sex, violence or politics, but simply because of its awfulness.
Those who saw Vincent Gallo’s ”The Brown Bunny” have been gathering ever since, with hushed voices and sad smiles, to discuss how wretched it was. Those who missed it hope to get tickets, for no other film has inspired such discussion. ”The worst film in the history of the festival,” I told a TV crew posted outside the theater. I have not seen every film in the history of the festival, yet I feel my judgment will stand.”
Read the rest of the review here. Ouch. Considering I only agree with Egbert about half the time, I can’t wait to see this film for myself, if only to disagree with him… or revel in an on-screen train wreck. Either way, that’s entertainment. Hell, even Gallo agrees with Ebert (“It is a disaster and a waste of time.”). He’s calling his trip to Cannes “the worst week of my life”. Which makes me want to see The Brown Bunny even more.
Is Gallo so unprepared for criticism that he’s actually being swayed by the reviews? I mean, he had to have thought the film was ok or he wouldn’t have submitted it to Cannes, wouldn’t have gone over there to promote it, right? Maybe he was unsure of it and hoped other people would ‘get it’? Or maybe he felt he owed something to the investors? Who the hell knows? I can’t pretend to understand anything the man does. I can only hope his sudden vow to “never make another movie again” doesn’t stick. If anything, I’d love to see how his reaction to all of this comes through in a future film.