Bela Tarr's "Sátántangó" on DVD

2nd\NE Quadrant: The Approval Matrix

SATANTANGO by Bela Tarr from the novel by Laszlo Krasnahorkai is one of the most respected recent films to surface on the international cinema scene. Such major critics as Susan Sontag, Jonathan Rosenbaum, and J. Hoberman have all called SATANTANGO a master works of the present day cinema. At seven and one half hours, in black and white 35mm film, this cinematic event must be experienced if one is to understand why Bella Tarr is considered so highly in international cinema.

SYNOPSIS: In the ashes of the Communist utopia in Hungary, a group of lost souls from a collective farm choose to follow a new messiah towards an uncertain future. In the endless rain and mud they work out their salvation in a series of encounters that Tarr's camera covers in long complex shots...which reveals the emptiness and the futility of their shabby existence.
-- Cinema Parallel

"BEST FILM OF 1996"........ J. HOBERMAN , VILLAGE VOICE

Satantango - Opening Sequence

Screen Actors Guild Strike?

1st\NW Quadrant: The Approval Matrix

By Leslie Simmons\Reuters

Hollywood's still holding its breath. The potential for a strike by the Screen Actors Guild or a possible lockout of the union's roughly 120,000 members by the studios will be greatly influenced by the results of rival union AFTRA's contract ratification vote. Ballots are due back Monday with the results expected to be announced Tuesday.

Since it announced its tentative deal with the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers, the bargaining arm of the studios, AFTRA has been engaged in a battle with SAG, which is urging shared members to vote the contract down. SAG says the unions could get a better deal if they negotiated together.

Most industry watchers believe a majority of AFTRA members will vote to ratify the deal. In that case, SAG would be the only major guild left without a pact -- the directors and writers signed off on deals earlier this year, the latter coming after a 100-day strike -- and would see its negotiating leverage significantly reduced.

"If this passes, it will undermine the ability of the Screen Actors Guild to negotiate a decent contract. It will be a civil war," one dual cardholder member said.

Editor's Note: I plan to update this post after the vote results are announced.

Update:

The Screen Actors Guild is reiterating today [July 14, 2008] that it's still negotiating with Hollywood producers even though producers say they're sticking to their final offer.

The actors union had made a counter-proposal last week, after turning down the producers' offer.

Governor Schwarzenegger says it's important to California, to avoid any strike by actors.

"I think that our economy is very vulnerable right now," he said, "and I think that people are suffering. People have lost a lot of their jobs."

"A strike like that would be devastating."

The Governor says he would step in as a mediator if necessary, although he says he has not been asked. -- KNX

Mark Morris' "Romeo and Juliet"

1st\NW Quadrant: The Approval Matrix

by SHAUN MULLEN\Kiko's House

As oft danced as Serge Prokofiev’s Romeo & Juliet has been over the last 70 years, the great Soviet composer’s original score and all of the original accompanying dances have never been performed. Yes, never, and therein lies a tale.

That changed over Independence Day weekend with the world premiere of Romeo & Juliet: On Motifs of Shakespeare at Bard SummerScape danced by the Mark Morris Dance Group with the American Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Leon Botstein.

The production is based on Prokofiev’s original score, which was composed in 1935, and restores the original story line that he conceived with dramatist Sergei Radlov, 20 minutes of never-performed music, as well as six dance numbers choreographed by Leonid Lavrovsky of the Kirov Ballet but also never performed.

By ALASTAIR MACAULAY\New York Times

Don’t get excited. The 20 extra minutes of this “Romeo” boil down to some 8 minutes of entirely new but eminently cuttable music for supporting characters and about 12 minutes of nonradical variations on familiar “Romeo” material. Elsewhere the main differences have to do with cuts, reorderings and orchestral rearrangements.

These show us the satiric, sarcastic face Prokofiev so often wore. Whereas Shakespeare understands even his most brutal or silly characters from within, Prokofiev wants several of them to remain two-dimensional buffoons (the Nurse) or creeps (Tybalt). And so this “Romeo” becomes more like his “Cinderella”: young love wins magically, redeeming the unspoiled hero and heroine from the composer’s cynical view of the harsh realities of the world around them. But if you feel (as I do) that Prokofiev seriously misinterprets Shakespeare’s characters — the prime characteristic of the play’s hero and heroine is their highly educated cleverness, their love of poetic intricacy and paradox, never apparent here — this version won’t change your view.

William Rhoden Left Centre Court to See "Hancock"

1st\NW Quadrant: The Approval Matrix

New York Times writer William Rhoden ... saw the first two sets of Nadal/Federer and then, amazingly, decided that Rafael Nadal's victory was inevitable, so he decided to go to the movies with his wife instead.

From his piece: Who thought that in a stretch of 24 hours, Venus Williams’s great accomplishment — a fifth women’s singles championship — would be dwarfed by a tennis marathon? Who thought? Not us. So we watched as Nadal took a commanding two-set lead, concluded that this was Nadal’s day and decided to take in a movie, “Hancock.”

The livid e-mails poured in yesterday. One in particular, from a popular author who chooses to remain nameless, was especially angry.

Here's a snippet: This should not be used as evidence that bloggers are righteous or smart or anything. But it is an example of a columnist at the most prestigious newspaper in the country who is either burned out on his job, or just negligent, or simply has been doing the same thing for too long to give a rat's ass. --

Feeling Obligated to Say Nice Things About Helms

1st\NW Quadrant: The Approval Matrix

By STEVEN A. HOLMES\New York Times

Jesse Helms, the former North Carolina senator with the courtly manner and mossy drawl who turned his hard-edged conservatism against civil rights, gay rights, foreign aid and modern art, died early Friday [July 4, 2008]. He was 86.

Perhaps his most visible accomplishments in the Senate came two decades apart. One was a 1996 measure that tightened trade sanctions against the Marxist government of Fidel Castro in Cuba. The other, a 1973 amendment to the Foreign Assistance Act, prevented American money from going to international family planning organizations that, in his words, “provide or promote” abortion. He also introduced amendments to reduce or eliminate money for foreign aid, welfare programs and the arts.

In the 1980s, he took on the National Endowment for the Arts for subsidizing art that he found offensive, chiefly that of the gay photographer Robert Mapplethorpe and of the artist Andres Serrano over his depiction of a crucifix submerged in urine. He later led an ill-fated attempt to take over CBS, exhorting conservatives to buy up stock in order to stop what he saw as a liberal bias in its news reporting.

He fought bitterly against federal financing for AIDS research and treatment, saying the disease resulted from “unnatural” and “disgusting” homosexual behavior.

In 1994, angered at President Bill Clinton, Mr. Helms suggested in print that if Mr. Clinton were to visit North Carolina, “He’d better bring a bodyguard.”

J.M.W. Turner Grandeur Fatigue

1st\NW Quadrant: The Approval Matrix

Against all expectations, the first J.M.W. Turner survey to reach New York in 40 years has landed with a thud.

In its presentation at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, ``J.M.W. Turner'' is astonishing for all the wrong reasons.

Incredibly, this most dependable of cultural institutions seems to have miscalculated the deadening impact of laying out 140 similar paintings and drawings with little variation or context. -- Review by Linda Yablonsky\BBC News

Joseph Mallord William Turner (23 April 1775 – 19 December 1851) was an English Romantic landscape painter, watercolourist and printmaker, whose style can be said to have laid the foundation for Impressionism. Although Turner was considered a controversial figure in his day, he is now regarded as the artist who elevated landscape painting to an eminence rivalling history painting. -- Wikipedia

J.M.W. Turner will be at the Metropolitan Museum of Art until September 21, 2008.

Tofu Causes Dementia?

1st\NW Quadrant: The Approval Matrix

Eating high levels of some soy products - including tofu - may raise the risk of memory loss, research suggests.

The study focused on 719 elderly Indonesians living in urban and rural regions of Java. The researchers found high tofu consumption - at least once a day - was associated with worse memory, particularly among the over-68s.

Soy products are a major alternative protein source to meat for many people in the developing world.

Soy products are rich in micronutrients called phytoestrogens, which mimic the impact of the female sex hormone oestrogen.

There is some evidence that they may protect the brains of younger and middle-aged people from damage - but their effect on the ageing brain is less clear.

The latest study suggests phytoestrogens - in high quantity - may actually heighten the risk of dementia. -- BBC News

The Approval Matrix: Week of July 21, 2008

20 Unreleased Tupac Tracks

4th\SW Quadrant: The Approval Matrix

Written by Jason\Rap Basement

Suge Knight claimed bankruptcy and his Death Row Records was ordered up to be auctioned off. Once home to legendary rappers like Snoop Dogg, 2 Pac, Dr Dre and more, was purchased for $24 million dollars recently. The buyer, Susan Berg, is the president of the Global Music Group. The purchase of the label also included twenty unreleased 2 Pac Shakur tracks...
(Screen shot courtesy of TMZ.)

Seth Macfarlane Online Google Ads

4th\SW Quadrant: The Approval Matrix

By BROOKS BARNES\New York Times

In September, Seth MacFarlane, creator of “Family Guy” on television, will unveil a carefully guarded new project called “Seth MacFarlane’s Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy.” Unlike “Family Guy,” which is broadcast on Fox, this animation series will appear exclusively on the Internet.

The innovative part involves the distribution plan. Google will syndicate the program using its AdSense advertising system to thousands of Web sites that are predetermined to be gathering spots for Mr. MacFarlane’s target audience, typically young men. Instead of placing a static ad on a Web page, Google will place a “Cavalcade” video clip. The content will also be distributed via YouTube.

Mr. MacFarlane, who will receive a percentage of the ad revenue, has created a stable of new characters to star in the series, which will be served up in 50 two-minute episodes.

Advertising will be incorporated into the clips in varying ways. In some cases, there will be “preroll” ads, which ask viewers to sit through a TV-style commercial before getting to the video. Some advertisers may opt for a banner to be placed at the bottom of the video clip or a simple “brought to you by” note at the beginning.

Mary Kate vs. Spencer Pratt

4th\SW Quadrant: The Approval Matrix


On Thursday's [June 26, 2008] Late Show With David Letterman, Mary-Kate Olsen revealed, "He used to play on the soccer team for my high school. When Letterman asked if she thought he was "wormy," she nodded and said, "yeah."

"He does not have a good temper," added Olsen, who was promoting her new indie The Wackness.

"He walked out of a few games. He would walk off the field. He was like, 'Me or the coach!'"

Letterman said he was surprised by the story because Pratt looked like the kind of guy who has never broken a sweat in his life. "Oh, my God — that brings up stories!" Olsen said. "I don't know if I should talk about it."

She then laughed and added, "The Wackness is a great film!"

Asked if they were friends at the time, Olsen said, "No." After Letterman asked her how a guy can be so "oily," Olsen uncomfortably laughed and changed the subject. -- US Magazine

The Spence-anator struck back by calling MK “a famous troll” and “the uglier of the Olsen twins” and inferring that she was using his name for publicity.

[A] snippet from a 2007 Details magazine interview with the big Spence resurfaced. In the article, the celebutard bragged about how enterprising he was even back in high school. Spencer told Details that he “made $50,000 in high school by selling a photo he took of Mary-Kate drinking at a party.” -- Hollywood Back Wash

Construction Worker Rappels into Love Interest's UWS Apartment

4th\SW Quadrant: The Approval Matrix

By JAMIE SCHRAM\New York Post

A love-struck construction worker who became enthralled with a woman while toiling at her Upper West Side building took his obsession to new heights - rappelling off the roof to the woman's 10th-story apartment and into her bathroom to woo her, authorities said.

Flavio Quito, 29, was working for a subcontractor at the 10-story West 76th Street building between February and May when he "confessed his love and affection" for the 36-year-old resident, according to a complaint filed in Manhattan Criminal Court.

While the woman rebuffed his advances and pleaded with him to stop pestering her, the unrepentant Romeo refused to listen and continued to contact her by phone and mail, the complaint states. Unabashed, he allegedly kept showering the woman with gushy cards, cuddly teddy bears, flowers and other gifts.

But the final straw for his uninterested love interest came on the evening of May 15, when she discovered that her bathroom window was broken - and that someone had been inside her apartment, court papers show.

Sources said Quito admitted that he used a rope to rappel from the roof of the building and into the apartment of the woman through her bathroom window.

Jay-Z at Glastonbury

3rd\SE Quadrant: The Approval Matrix

Shaq to Kobe,"Tell me how my ass taste."

3rd\SE Quadrant: The Approval Matrix

Iron Maiden Plays Soccer at MSG After Losing Power

3rd\SE Quadrant: The Approval Matrix