Religulous

From the average viewer's perspective, having watched Politically Incorrect all through HS and now Real Time, I think it's safe to say that Bill Maher is a cocky bastard. Cocky and most of the time right. Even when it's delivered in the most abrasive, offensive way possible. That being said, the documentary Religulous (not sure if I spelled that right) was predictable in that it was 100 minutes of Bill Maher telling us what we already know: that he thinks anyone who subscribes to any religion is a mentally ill, deluded asshole and that they are taking up all the air breathed by smart, rational, science loving people.

Because this is directed by Larry Charles, director of Borat, this premise is funny only halfway until you realize that without the one-liners being hurled, the religious freaks putting their foot in their mouths and the crazy, irreverent movie clips intercut between damn near every scene, you don't have much of an interesting film. With the exception of a few, the interviews seemed way too short and the cramming and bashing of every major religion, including Scientology seemed rushed.

The problem with Religulous is that it preaches to the converted. The only people that will probably see this are so called intellectuals, democrats, open-minded, free thinking people, in other words, the same people that watch his show. Even though there is nothing wrong with making a decidedly biased movie, it gets stale after a while when you realize that the joke ceases to be funny because you get it from the beginning. The lawsuits that will inevitably follow this film might be more interesting.

Granted, the nice touches are Maher's conversations with his now deceased mother, a cringe-inducing interview with a reformed heterosexual Christian and an utterly clueless politician who doesn't even to seem to know why he's religious. But unlike Borat, this isn't enough to carry the movie as Maher injects himself way too much into the film, especially at the end which is basically an extended version of his trademark rant at the end of Real Time. Religulous incites a few laughs and there are some genuinely entertaining moments but overall, it was way too scattered and even for yours truly, the converted, way too one sided.

Seriously though....

Memo to the writers of True Blood:

Okay, I get it. People down South don't really work or go grocery shopping or even eat but they sure like to have sex. Human, breathing people, dead vampire people, Black people, white people, gay and straight people. They have kinky sex, rough sex, chained up vampire sex, guilt sex, mercy sex, bored sex, they have sex with themselves. They drink alot before and after having sex, they even pop pills. They think about having sex, they dream about it and they talk about it, alot. They tie each other up, they videotape each other having sex, they do the oral thing, they growl and thrash about while having sex, they die while having sex. They do it all. Have I covered everything? Cause you sure have. In three episodes, which equals three lost hours of my life. Let's start getting around to an actually watchable television show because I'm nearly done. Thank you.

Love,

Kia

Why weekends suck and are amazing

Friday: Came home right after work, went into a tv coma.

Saturday: Participated in harrowing, headache inducing, kind of strangely comfortable road trip to Philly with my sister driving and 4 women going through menopause complaining about the air conditioner in the back. (Among many, many other things.)

Sunday: Went to the New York Television Festival at New World Stages, which sadly, used to be the $2 movie theater. (HS memories!) The panel discussions ranged from very helpful, inspiring and informative to downright patronizing and glib. (welcome to the world of TV development!) After that, I decided to walk from 50th between 8th and 9th all the way home. I made it almost 2 miles when I realized that I was sweating worse than everyone in this movie so I hopped on the bus.

Before that though, I took a little shortcut (not really) through the tunnel at the Bethesda Fountain and was literally stopped in my tracks by Thoth. I'd heard of him and have probably seen him around, but because of my increasingly unhealthy contempt for tourists who I try to avoid like the plague, I haven't been to that part of the park in ages. It was like everyone disappeared. No real description can accurately describe the effect of his voice, his movement in the space, that lacked a real audience, thanks to the massive crowd of tourists surrounding these two guys who were doing stand up or break dancing, or something. Some people walked by, snickering at his costume, his unexplainable performance. Some, like me, stayed to watch, mesmerized and when he finished we weren't sure whether to applaud or just walk away in quiet reverence. I did both and then continued on my trek through the park where I proceeded to dodge camera wielding tourists who took up the entire width of a city street, oblivious to the thousands of people around them who just wanted to go home.

Bliss.

Ads

Riding on the train this morning and was struck by these chewing gum ads that encourage one to get off the computer and start making out. I actually smiled at 9 in the morning cause, they're kind of cute and pop-culturish without being condescending and snarky, which seems to the be thing to do in this day and age. (I speak for moi when I say this too!)

Then, clicking on Gawker, there's this blog about humorous if not very overwritten and specific ads from back in the olden days. What is this day trying to tell me? Probably nothing.


Links Via: Valleywag, Gawker

It's never too late

Congratulations to Maurice Sendak for coming out at age 80. I have purposely not watched or really read anything related to the live action version of Where the Wild Things Are because I will wait for the movie to be in completion to pass judgement. As much as I love Spike Jonze, aren't some things just sacred? We'll see...