Mike Browne’s Blog

Carol and I went to see Frank Miller’s Sin City last night. I was curious to see whether or not the Hollywood treatment of such unflinching stories would be bold and accurate or completely watered down to please the censors. I was hopeful that with Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino’s help Frank Miller maintain his vision for the stories while making the leap from the pages of his pulpy graphic novels and comics to the big screen.

There were no punches pulled in the making of this movie.

The beginning of the film reminded me of Blade Runner’s bleakness. Nice. I could just see Harrison Ford as Deckard on the next roof over. As BR is one of my favourite films I was hooked in pretty quickly. Sin City is a visually stunning, gorgeously shot black and white film with splashes of colour thrown in, just like the graphic novels. Not one shot of this movie appeared untouched by computer and a lot of the film’s scenery and action was shot on green screen and rendered later on. This gave the film that comic book feel the stories so beg for.

The acting was great. Some people are born to play certain parts. Mickey Rourke for example was perfectly amazing as Marv the ugly anti-heroic ex-con on a quest to avenge a death. The rest of the talent in the film were on their games as well. All were cast exactly where they belong and did a bang up (literally) job. We were pleasantly surprised by the usually ditzy Britanny Murphy.

This movie is one of the most violent I’ve ever seen and I have seen some very violent films. Though not as disturbing as Irreversible, but still extremely violent. It earned it’s 18A rating. One reviewer said he found the film rather ‘misogenistic’ in it’s treatment of females and lacking a ‘moral center’. This reviewer missed the point entirely. It’s a pulp graphic novel not Shakespeare. Get over it boob. Not every film has to have redemption and happiness as it’s denouement. Where’s the artistic freedom in that? More of this please. Audiences need a change from the ‘riding happily off into the sunset’ shit we usually see from Hollywood.

Well done Mr’s Miller, Rodriguez and Tarantino. We loved it. Two big grins from Carol and I. We’re glad we paid to see this one on the big screen.

No jokes. No stupid pranks. Just a post from little old me letting you all know I’m still alive. I hope that no one busted you too badly today.

The house isn’t even on the market officially and we’ve had a viewing already with two more scheduled for tonight. We won’t be around much this weekend but hopefully we’ll have some good news. Apparently the market is very hot in our price range. Here’s hoping.

What else is up? Terry Schiavo is finally at rest (but her family isn’t) and the Pope is soon to follow. I guess his convalescing hasn’t been going so well. Odd how the church never really gives it’s followers the whole truth until they can’t avoid it any longer.

Fifteen years after the medical events that left her in a persistent vegetative state and almost two weeks without her feeding tube Terri Schiavo has passed away among a cloud of bitter controversy. The fighting between her husband and blood relatives continues even now. It’s sad that they could not resolve their issues with one another prior to her death.

It is being reported that her husband would not allow her family in the room with him at the time of her passing. I’m not sure that is entirely accurate though. I don’t know if you can predict when the exact moment of someone’s death is to be so how was he to know? I might be wrong. All the coverage against Michale Schiavo has made it difficult to support him, but I guess we’ll never know the true facts as none of us were there and we’re all human.

Also disheartening is hearing priests and other supposed people of ‘God’ stand in judgement of Michael Schiavo. I’ve read countless posts on websites and heard numerous scary comments by people on the right of late. They say they are supporters of ‘the culture of life’. Yet they scream about how people who believe Terri Schiavo did not want to live that way and supported efforts to see her pass should be ‘killed’ and deserve to ‘go to hell’. Their religious fervor seems only equalled by their intolerance. It’s disgusting.

It’s time to rally around this family – both sides of it. They need help to get through this time especially. Letting go is never easy. I feel the most for her parents. No parent should have to see a child die, especially in circumstances as difficult as this.

Here’s a baby name even worse than naming your son Sue. Do people truly think about what they’re naming a child? This is the stuff of legend.

Hi all. Well I’m so friggin busy I think I’m about to lose my mind. Our house officially went on the market yesterday and we have our very first showing today! Holy crapola. I hope it sells just as fast. We were looking at the place now that we’ve done all the renos etc that needed doing prior to selling and we think it looks great here. I have to drive Carol downtown right now and then whip back here to make sure all’s well for the 4:15 showing. Argh. I can’t take too much of this so let’s hope it goes somewhat smoothly. me=mental

Carol and I just watched Der Untergang [German site] (The Downfall [English site]). It was nominated for a best foreign language film Oscar this year. It didn’t win. However, we were pretty much blown away.

The story was told pretty much from the perspective of Hitler’s personal secretary, Traudl Junge, who worked closely with Hitler from 1942 until his suicide in the bunker beneath Berlin. The film chornicles the dictator and his Reich’s collapse from the inside. We’ve seen English language portrayals of the final days of this monster and his ideology, one that stands out in my mind is The Bunker, the 1981 TV movie starring Anthony Hopkins. Seeing the tale told in the German language (with English subtitles) by Germans was a moving and disturbing experience. This movie is worth seeing for a variety of levels not the least of which is the fact that we need to remember what happened, lest we be condemned to repeat these same horrific mistakes.

Thanks to the Bosnian (aka Denis) for recommending this film. It was truly worth the wait.

I used to watch The Littlest Hobo. I’m not sure why. Maybe it was the theme: littlesthobo-theme.mp3 (256 kb). It was sooooo cheesy. Here’s another version done by punk rock band called The Vaginal Croutons (yucky name): hobo_pr.mp3 (1.84 mb). Ain’t it great to be Canadian? In what other country can we be subjected to such horrific entertainment as that of The Beachcombers, Degrassi (in all it’s incarnations), Neon Rider (Haha Winston!) and this piece of crapola? Your tax dollars at work. Let’s watch Definition while we’re at it.

Alfred Hitchcock’s film, The Birds, was released. I think we should watch it this evening.

Tsunami alerts follow 8.2 quake near Sumatra NOAA advises evacuation of coasts within 600 miles
Scary stuff. Scientists on MSNBC are saying that given the size of the quake we ‘have to assume’ that a tsunami is coming. Ugh.