Author: brain

BRAIN: I have “The Beaver” on in the background… it’s kind of a trainwreck
BRAIN: also the son character is named “porter”
BRAIN: weird
PJ: ‘The beaver’ as in the creepy mel gibson movie?
BRAIN: right
PJ: so porter is named after his character from Payback?
BRAIN: I imagine!?
PJ: ugh

BRAIN: Do you know what The Beaver is about?
PJ: it’s the one where he goes crazy and starts speaking through a puppet exclusively, right?
BRAIN: right
BRAIN: Mel is a jerk CEO, a failed dad, and a mess of a person…
BRAIN: his wife Jodie Foster asks him to leave
BRAIN: he tries to commit suicide in a hotel room… he fails and when he comes to, he is speaking through a beaver puppet
BRAIN: then a bunch of heartwarming healing happens
PJ: heartwarming healing like the time the main character rants about “the jews” to a cop when he’s pulled over for driving erratically?
BRAIN: I bet that’s in the DVD extras!
BRAIN: I want to see the scene where he fistfights Joe Esterhaz

MATT: I like Jodie Foster, but that movie was pretty insane of her. Didn’t she direct it?
PJ: she did
PJ: and as I recall, it came out like… really close after mel gibson’s implosion
BRAIN: yes it did
PJ: …which was probably why it grossed what… like $900k on a $21m budget
PJ: well, at least it contributed
BRAIN: that is the claim
BRAIN: 22 screens…
MATT: Even if he hadn’t had that meltdown, it’s not like it would have been a successful movie.
PJ: I’m not sure it was gonna recoup $21m for a movie about an asshole who goes insane and starts playing with a puppet
BRAIN: …which tells us they didn’t get good backing re: distribution
MATT: Yeah.

BRAIN: “The Beaver” has a Terry Gross cameo in it
BRAIN: I think Jodie Foster is obsessed with Terry Gross
BRAIN: since she basically plays her in The Brave One

BRAIN: the weird thing is people keep making this same movie
BRAIN: James Franco did “The Ape”
MATT: I missed that one.
MATT: Missed as in “Didn’t know it existed” not missed as in “Didn’t see it.”
BRAIN: it was an adaptation of a play James Franco developed and starred in
PJ: at least that synopsis looks more like the tv show ‘Wilfred’…
BRAIN: like I say! over and over and over again…
BRAIN: “The Id as plush toy”

MARINNA: I know everyone writes it as rpm -ivh, but I always write it as rpm -hiv
MATT: Pretty much everyone I’ve talked to does that too.

PJ: I actually have a bash alias for converting ‘rpm -hiv’ to ‘aids’
PJ: that way it tab completes
MARINNA: wow

BRAIN: let’s have The Cranberries and U2 fight
MATT: Wouldn’t U2 win?
BRAIN: would they?!
MATT: Late 80’s U2 sure would.

MATT: Well, maybe mid-80’s.
BRAIN: we’re not living then
MATT: Well, U2 and the Cranberries aren’t _really_ going to fight anyway.
BRAIN: you’re right, this is going to need some extraterrestrial intervention
BRAIN: like in X-Men

BRAIN: audrey napoleon in spotify
BRAIN: pretty sure she’s a vampire
PJ: er
BRAIN: did you see her photos?
PJ: yeah
PJ: googled the name

BRAIN: like wtf is that
BRAIN: I’ll get a stake
PJ: ha
PJ: you get a stake ready, I’ll distract by placing a steak?

BRAIN: vampire hunting is not to be trifled with
BRAIN: the undead are an abomination that must be scoured clean from the earth
PJ: Absolutely

People, don’t take a break from the gym. The timing couldn’t be worse.

You will stop coming, there is no accountability, you will eat like a pig, drink like a two bit whore and in Jan be fat, broke and ashamed. The sun goes down at 3:30, you have a cold, your partner can’t lift the toilet seat to save his life – you go back to work and it’s still run by retards, you have carb/salt face and you want to die.

Come to the gym- just make an appearance twice a week- so we know you are alive, and all will be well.

XOXO

BRAIN: ‎”why is the baby crying” is a Zen riddle of sorts
FEREJOHN:”Because he is a baby”
BRAIN: I’m going with “MU” as in “the assumption you’ve made that there is a ‘why’ is a fallacy”

A pilgrim of the way asked the Grand Master Zhaozhou, “Does a dog have Buddha nature or not?” Zhaozhou said, “Mu.”

KIRA WOLF TRINITY: Had a very empassioned discussion about film last night, DPs arguing that there are certain films I simply must watch, being a director, and my arguing that I’m only interested in films that have a fantastical element to it, and that standard “classic Hollywood” kinda bores me to tears.

BRAIN: it’s good to see the kinds of shots that exist as a catalogue, and what they accomplish as storytelling devices… but I wouldn’t go so far as to say you have to watch the entire movie to appreciate what they are for.

There’s lots of movies I love that are famous for film studies students that almost no one else has seen, and sometimes I suspect the people who claim to love these films have only seen them once or twice. Compare that to something like Star Wars, which some people have seen hundreds of times… It’s like the wives in “The Sopranos” watching “Citizen Kane,” talking about how great it was when it’s obvious they all hated it.

Also, I find one of the challenges in receiving aesthetic opinions from other film enthusiasts is: people like movies for different reasons, and most of the time, aren’t very articulate about why they like it. Don’t you think?

KIRA WOLF TRINITY: Agreed – since film is voyeurism, we have all kinds of messed up reasons why we love this or that. I’m no different, I just realized that I can give other people something to be a voyeur about which is why I’m doing it. Not out to be a “great filmmaker” so to speak…. I’m more interested in having a great time throughout the process, and have an entertaining and insightful product in the end.

JYU: American fight scenes vs Hong Kong fight scenes
MATT: Wow, this music is annoying.
BRAIN: I watched it on mute
MATT: You know what I’m in the mood for? Celtic punk.
BRAIN: Name a band
MATT: Flogging Molly, Dropkick Murphys…
BRAIN: ew
BRAIN: Bro “punk”
MATT: They’re not real punk, no.

BRAIN: I think Me First and the Gimme Gimmes is more punk than Flogging Molly
MATT: This is probably true!
MATT: They’re also too musically capable to be an actual punk band.
MATT: I hear more than three chords!
BRAIN: not authentic! too much musicianship!!
BRAIN: awesome
MATT: They’re a seven-piece band! That’s not punk.

BRAIN: I love hearing that kind of statment, although “that’s not metal” sounds funnier than “that’s not punk”
BRAIN: “so not metal dude”
BRAIN: I had a sort of joking conversation about that with a 12 year old over the weekend
BRAIN: he was telling me how great Metallica is

MATT: Jethro Tull = “so not metal”
BRAIN: yeah Jethro Tull is not metal
BRAIN: anything filk is pretty not metal
MATT: Unless you’re the Grammys.

BRAIN: I think Kraftwerk made it into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame?
MATT: So did James Taylor!
BRAIN: trying to think of anything James Taylor did that I know that could be considered “Rock”
MATT: You will not be able to succeed.
BRAIN: ok I give up then

MATT: Claims of punk authenticity are less funny than claims of metal authenticity, because metal started as ridiculous bombast.

BRAIN: totally
BRAIN: The Darkness : metal or no?
BRAIN: they are pretty ridiculous, but that doesn’t make them not metal
MATT: They are like meta-metal!
MATT: They are so metal, it stops being metal and then comes around and starts again!
BRAIN: yeah, The Darkness is definitely metal informed by metal itself

MATT: I saw Tenacious D in concert over the summer, speaking of meta-metal.
BRAIN: oh right!
BRAIN: I love their song…
BRAIN: The Metal

MATT: Yes!
BRAIN: it’s about Metal

MATT: I put forward the hypothesis that Kyle Gass is the dumpiest looking dude to achieve worshipped rockstar status.
BRAIN: who worships Kyle Gass?!

MATT: Okay, rephrased – the dumpiest looking dude to have 30,000 people screaming excitedly for him while he plays guitar.
BRAIN: here is a picture of rock star “Meatloaf”
MATT: But he had the whole operatic look going, which you can do while being a big guy.
MATT: KG wears shorts and t-shirts.
MATT: Meatloaf was like 70’s rock’s Pavarotti.
BRAIN: wow

BRAIN: remember that Meatloaf PBS Holiday Special?
BRAIN: I still order copies of it during pledge breaks
MATT: I am not aware of this special. But I think I might be okay with that gap in my knowledge.
BRAIN: it doesn’t exist
BRAIN: in our universe
BRAIN: yet!!!

MATT: There are innumerable universes where it does exist, though!
BRAIN: yeah I think the Dalai Lama said that
BRAIN: about the Meatloaf special
MATT: I have no reason to question any part of that sentiment.

BRAIN: Are you playing Curiosity?
KIRBY: No, did not hear of it until now.
BRAIN: It totally looks like the Lament Configuration
KIRBY: Yes it does…the secret treasure should be pain and pleasure, indistinguishable.
BRAIN: Surprise! It’s The Outer Reaches Of Experience!