...Nor did I meet her at the now infamous hangout, which I won't mention here, or people will start asking me to give tours.

I am tired of people asking though.

A: "Hey Conrad, I hear Diablo Cody wrote the screenplay for Juno at [undisclosed location near my house]! That's right near your house, right?"

Me: Sigh. "Yeah."

A: (Excitedly) "Did you ever see her?"

Me: (Not Excitedly At All) "Oh, all the time."

A: (Really Excitedly) "Really?

Me: "Yeah, at The Skyway Lounge..."


What bothers me is that people aren't able to separate "Diablo Cody, The Screenwriter" from "Diablo Cody, The Former Stripper From Minnesota Who Hung Out At [undisclosed location near my house]".

It's like people are having a hard time realizing that any talent could come from Minnesota. It's like saying she's from Atlantis or something. She's originally from Chicago anyways, not that it matters. I hope for her sake that she's able to break away from her own history, and the rest of the world can realize that there are talented people in every state, in every occupation. I suppose this *would* be news to Hollywood.

I also can't help but to think that the media coverage of Diablo Cody is designed to get a bunch of Would-Be Screenwriters down to Hollywood to flush out all those Whining Screenwriters who dared to go on strike. Nothing against Diablo Cody, she's talented and deserves credit, but it does seem strange, the timing of it.

It's like Hollywood saying, "Who needs You! We can pick a Former Stripper From....(looks at map of U.S.)... Minnesota who can writer better than you! So there!"

For the record; if Minneapolis becomes the new Hollywood, I'm moving to Atlantis.

Art Is Resistance
-Zero

Labels: Hollywood

It's sad when we have to create laws simply to keep people and businesses from doing things that are intuitively evil and wrong.

Props to savetheinternet.com. They are trying to push a bill called the Internet Freedom Preservation Act, which would stop Big Businesses from twisting the existing system of internet to their own design, and screw over independent artists and labels.

Data service providers are pressuring Congress to allow them to create different levels of internet access speed; not to the music and media consumers, but to the providers. Media providers willing to pay more money would have their content moved through the internet at a preferred/faster rate. We can also look at this from another point of view: those who cannot or will not pay extra get their data traffic slopped into the slow lane.

So it won't matter if you have a full-blown 25GBPS connection, if you aren't accessing sites that can afford "Premier Platinum Top-Shelf Delivery" you're going to be remembering what it was like when you had a 28.8 dial-up modem. OK, maybe that's a bit harsh, but not impossible. But the problem is worse than simply an issue of speed, and it goes deeper than just music.

The phone companies should not be allowed to monitor your voice communication and edit out swear words, or political phrases they don't agree with, right?

Internet Service Providers should not be allowed to block blog posts that are anti-Republican, or Anti-Anything, right?

But we've already seen AT&T censor political statements during their web broadcasts. If the Republican Party can afford to pay AT&T more money, their messages get premium (read: unfiltered) service. If the Green Party can't.... well, without some intervention this is where the system is headed.

Comparing this to the way the cable company works is not an accurate analogy. The cable company decides their own content, and they can make you pay more for better content. This makes sense; you pay for content. Data service providers have NOTHING to do with the content coming through them. They are a service, and they have no right to tamper with the data going through their pipes, unless they would like to be held responsible. Do you think AT&T could be held responsible for providing data service to terrorists? Could your internet service provider be held responsible for allowing you access to illegal pornography, or allowing someone to send e-mails about how to construct an atomic bomb?

This is the very reason the FCC exists, to stop nonsense like this from happening. Otherwise, the services might just as well be deregulated, shut down the FCC and save the taxpayers a few billion.

Thank goodness a more reasonable solution was devised, a bill called The Internet Freedom Preservation Act or HR5353, which basically tells data service providers to leave the system the way it is, and let the data flow "...without unreasonable interference or discrimination..."

What you can to do help is make your representative aware of this bill, savetheinternet.com provides a simple way for you to get in contact with your rep and a prepared text to make him/her aware of the situation, and hopefully get the bill passed into law.

Props (as always) the Future of Music Coalition for the linkage and their ongoing efforts to maintain Net Neutrality.

Art Is Resistance
-Zero

Labels: Business Phenomena, Call To Action, Cool Website, Good Cause, political

Blame Xtina. After hearing the never-ending thrashing my friends and I have given to the movie Bloodrayne and its director Uwe Boll, I finally decided that she shouldn't take our word for it, and experience it for herself firsthand.

So I paid a couple bucks to rent Bloodrayne, The Directors Cut (James suggested it might be better than the original, "Maybe they put the plot back in!" he suggested, which did not make me more enthusiastic to see it...) It took some coaxing on my part (and some bad television) to make Xtina agree to watch it. I was laughing before I loaded the disk into the player.

Oh, the horror! The horrible accents, I mean. Michael Madsen sounded like he was from New York!

Oh the horrible acting! Kristanna Loken wasn't even able to act Stoic!

Oh, the Bad Bad Bad ADR!

Oh, the horrible delivery of lines that sounded like they were read off pieces of paper handed to the actor one word at a time!

Oh, MEATLOAF ADAY!

And lets not forget that somehow Uwe Boll started with this and ended up with this!

Oh the plot LEAPS of faith that were Jet-Propelled-Across-Time-And-Relative-Dimensions-In-Space!

...and yet...a strange thing happened.

I did not find it as bad as I did at the theatre. Not remotely. Somehow, watching Bloodrayne on a TV set instead of a big screen, it seemed more like a bad episode of Xena Warrior Princess. Reviewing it as a B-Movie instead of a $10 Blockbuster, put it in a more acceptable perspective.

The movie had some large-scale sweeping shots, clearly done from a helicopter. There were some large scenes of mounted cavalry, and decent sets. It had Ben Kingsly in it. (Who I had Just seen the previous day as "The Rabbi" in Lucky Number Sleven ) Hell, he wasn't even half bad. The CG was B-Movie quality, and the props were ridiculously B-Movie funny.

Don't get me wrong; there's a reason the movies initial release was cut from 2500 theatres down to 985. There is a reason it went from release to cable in less than a year, bypassing HBO entirely.

The reason is that it sucked. As a real Theatre-Release-Type movie, it sucked.

But hand to Dog, as a B-Movie, its fine. If it cost 50K to make, and went straight to DVD I never would have been so hard on it.

After the movie, we watched the bonus feature, "Dinner with Uwe Boll" where a couple ass-kissing fans got to eat dinner and speak with the man, the myth, the legend himself, Uwe Boll. After seeing it, I think I understand Uwe better. I think he knows what he is, and he isn't deluded about the kinds of movies he is making. He knows that the public views him as a hack filmmaker, cutting as many corners as possible (including hiring prostitutes as actors, because they are cheap and will do Anything, compared to people in the Actors Guild.) and no doubt pocketing as much as he can.

He also explained why all his previous movies sucked; the writers. And that plural is no mistake, because Uwe Boll seems to send scripts through several different people for re-re-rewriting, which no doubt contributes to his disjointed and convoluted plotlines.

But don't worry, for his upcoming masterpiece, "Postal" he will be writing the script himself.

And keep your eyes out for Bloodrayne II (set in the Wild West!) which went straight to DVD, and the rumored Bloodrayne III which might actually have something to do with video game it was based on.

Oh, the horror...

Art Is Resistance
-Zero

Labels: indie movies, movie reviews

Stop reading this now, and go see Fido!

Imagine an alternate reality where a comet passes by the Earth and space dust descends on the planet, bringing the dead back to life as your classic mindless zombies, with the desire for human flesh. Done to death, right?

Not like this!

This film is a zombidy mashup of "Terminator", "Shaun of the Dead" and "Leave it to Beaver", and Extremely well-set in the 1950s.

The zombies are controlled by electrical collars made by the giant corporation "Zombicon". The collars turn the walking dead into passive robots who obey simple orders, and are sold as household slaves. One family gets a zombie(played by Billy Connolly), who has more personality then the dad (played by Dylan Baker) and the son (Played by K'Sun Ray) befriends the zombie and names him Fido. There is even some interesting chemistry between the zombie and the wife (Played excellently by Carrie-Anne Moss).

It was more funny than anything I've seen in some time now, and a handful of zombie-gore, but not the least bit frightening. An absolute surprise, because I wouldn't have picked the movie based on the cover (and I *didn't*...) but I give it a 10.

Art Is Resistance
-Zero

Labels: movie reviews

This month's Fearless Filmmakers is focusing on women filmmakers. The showing is at the Oak Street Cinema on Feb 28th, and the after-party will be at a secret location, disclosed at the showing, and accessible only with a ticket stub from the showing.

So come out and see some local women in film kicking ass and then schmooze with them at the secret afterparty!

Art Is Resistance
-Zero

Labels: indie movies, Minneapolis Event, Movie News

Books like Eckhart Tolle's always get my Inner Philosopher worked up, and I have to buy them. He could have named the book "Ways to Be Happy While Getting Screwed Up The Ass By Your Boss, Family, CoWorkers, Strangers and God" and I'd buy it. Because there's a tiny tiny subset of those Self-Help books that truly are life-changing, and they are well worth the volumes of Trite-Shite and Atlantis-Nonsense that you have to sift through to find them.

Eckhart Tolle's previous work includes a book entitled "The Power of Now"; a fantastic exploration on the human perception of time. The book focuses on how to stop dragging the past along with you, and stop thinking that Someday you will be happy. Instead, the book describes how to 'Live In The Now', and I highly recommend it.

His latest release, "A New Earth: Awakening to your Life's Purpose" is a profoundly life-changing book... for the right people. But I don't think I can really recommend it for four reasons.

First, I think the idea is a bit much for many people. The core idea is to step back and take an objective look at yourself. This will make you realize that the Real You is not bundle of needs and desires that always go unsatisfied. Letting go of 'wanting' and physical things is an old practice, and at the very core of Buddhist thought; Tolle tries to sugar-coat it for Americans to make it easier to swallow, but by and large, the people I refer to as Americans (a derogatory term when I use it) are simply not going to be receptive to this idea.

Worse, I suspect many people who hear about the book will run out to buy it because they Really-Really-Want to let go of their Wanting. Its these people who need the book most, but its not going to help them, because they simply won't comprehend it. Meanwhile, those who buy the book to make themselves better are already conscientious and self-aware (because they are buying a book like this), and don't really need the book. Choir. Preaching.

Second, I've basically just told you the entire book, so save your money and your time. To Tolle's credit, he gives lots of advice, examples, and points of view on the matter, and ties it well to Christianity and other world religions (he claims to cater to no particular world religion.)

Thirdly, if Eckhard Tolle really practiced what he preached, he would license the book through Creative Commons and make it available online for free.

Fourth, and most difficult for me to explain, is that the book is dangerous. The advice Tolle offers people to create a third-person viewpoint of themselves can, if used as intended, separate the Real You from your desiring, unhappy, habitual False Self. But it can also be used to create a refuge, or buffer; a place where you can watch your False Self rob a liquor store and kill people for drug money. It could allow a person to remain calm, cool, and collected in the face of performing terrible things. Then they could go to sleep without the slightest guilt, saying, That wasn't The Real Me! Learned Multiple Personality Syndrome, anyone?

Do yourself a favor and read "The Power of Now". Then read this outline of Buddhist philosophy, and put the two together for yourself. If you see how the two fit together, you don't need to bother with "A New Earth".

Art Is Resistance
-Zero

Labels: Book Review, Inner Philosopher

Sorry, one more..



I'll stop now.

Art Is Resistance
-Zero

Labels: Funny, Videos

Only saw half of this, but it's definitely worth posting. Missed the second half because I was laughing so hard...



Art Is Resistance
-Zero

Labels: Funny, Videos

You can thank Xtina for this one. She was visiting a friend who had XM radio, and landed on a station called "Chill". A quick search turned up the wikipedia entry and the website where you can listen to chillin' ambient, trance, and soothing digital mellowness that they call "Tai Chi for your Ears".

Did I mention it's FREE? So I guess I'm calling my monthly internet access service "Value Added"...

But sadly, they don't play Jagged Spiral :(

Art Is Resistance
-Zero

Labels: Cool Website, music, Ubercool