Pop Culture

The Man in the Mirror: A Tribute, Part Two
The Man in the Mirror

A Tribute, Part Two

TCD's Senior Editor and Detroit native Amy Elliott waxes nostalgic about a trip to Hitsville, U.S.A. and the relationship between Michael and Motown.

The Man in the Mirror: A Tribute
The Man in the Mirror

A Tribute

TCD staff remembers The King of Pop.

Emotional Pain is Relative: <I>Anvil! The Story of Anvil</I> vs. <I>Heavy Metal in Baghdad</I>
Emotional Pain is Relative

Anvil! The Story of Anvil vs. Heavy Metal in Baghdad

both films share a very important message for every struggling musician out there trying to keep the faith while grasping for the brass ring (be it rock stardom or the freedom to grow your hair long without getting lynched): stick with it long enough, and eventually, a documentary filmmaker will come along to tell your story and make you famous.

Tulip, Starbuck, and the Death of Chivalry (A Reaction to Peach & Sparrow)

Tulip, Starbuck, and the Death of Chivalry (A Reaction to Peach & Sparrow)

if the damsel in distress is going to suddenly fight back (Joss Whedon’s initial idea for Buffy the Vampire Slayer came from the idea that the classic hot blonde victim from every horror movie suddenly would turn around and kick the monster’s ass), she’s going to have to take some punches too.

Britain’s Got Talent, But Will You Care Tomorrow?

Britain’s Got Talent, But Will You Care Tomorrow?

I’d like to throw a wet blanket of cynicism over our little beach blanket party and ask the following question: Will the Susan Boyle story finally expose American Idol to the general populace as a complete joke?

FREE SCREENING of Wilco Documentary ASHES OF AMERICAN FLAGS Mon 4/20

FREE SCREENING of Wilco Documentary ASHES OF AMERICAN FLAGS Mon 4/20

Monday 4/ 20 (holler): Free Wilco Movie @ Turner Hall (double holler): Pull up a chair and remenise on Wilco's sold out 2 day run at the Pabst at this amazing FREE SCREENING!!

The Dolls in Topher’s Fridge: the Nerdy Misogynists of Joss Whedon’s World
The Dolls in Topher’s Fridge

the Nerdy Misogynists of Joss Whedon’s World

Fig.1: You think it’d kill Joss Whedon to cast some pretty people on one of his shows? Just once? February 2009 featured the premiere of new TV series Dollhouse, the latest attempt by sci-fi hotshot and badass feminist Joss Whedon to teach the FOX Broadcasting Company what a “cult fanbase” is. Having once been burned by FOX during the run of his previous series, the critically-lauded but still-underrated Firefly (which had its episodes shown out of order, among other random promotional clusterfucks), Whedon apparently has been convinced that FOX has learned its lesson, and will give his new series about human trafficking and high-concept prostitution a chance to really grow into its own. Good luck with that, Joss. While you’re wishing for things, how about a pony? In all seriousness, though, Dollhouse has started finding its legs with the 6th and 7th episodes (episode 8 of the 13-episode 1st season airs tonight). In brief, the show revolves around a girl named Echo, who has, for reasons becoming slowly revealed to us, voluntarily signed up to become a “doll” for the Dollhouse, a company that provides custom-programmed people who provide services for the super-mega-ultra-wealthy and have their entire personalities wiped clean after every engagement. The dolls hang out in a childlike blank state until they are called to duty, at which point they are imprinted with a customized personality. Need a bodyguard? The perfect date? The Dollhouse has what you need, and it is completely gross. It only takes until the second episode to see Echo sleeping with a client whom she is programmed to think is her boyfriend. Fricking EW. Fig.2: The best outdoorsy Real Girl sex toy money can buy. Note the Marc Singer-ish Beastmaster profile of the douchebag in this photograph. That’s some solid casting. Knowing Whedon’s previous work with Buffy the Vampire Slayer, however, which was a landmark of empowering feminist television, helps lesson the ick factor a tad. It’s pretty clear the Dollhouse is being set up as the Bad Guys of the show, while Agent Ballard, an FBI agent who’s the Jack McGee to Echo’s David Banner, is being established as a protagonist. It’s clear now that the first half of the season has aired that once again, Joss Whedon is hoping to make some fairly radical statements about feminism, personal identity, and individualism. Fig.3: Just good clean fun between super-powered rivals March 2009, meanwhile, marked the 10th anniversary of Women in Refrigerators, a website run by now-comic book writer Gail Simone. Women in Refrigerators is built around a list assembled by Simone and a number of her friends that catalogued the large number of female comic book characters who have been killed, maimed, raped, depowered, or otherwise messed with, often as a plot device to put a male character through some kind of trial. (The name of the site refers to a storyline where the Kyle Rayner Green Lantern comes home to his apartment to discover his girlfriend, Alex DeWitt, killed and stuffed into […]

ALERT: Milw / TCD Filmmaker Finalist in Warner Brothers / CW Network Film Contest – VOTE TODAY!
ALERT

Milw / TCD Filmmaker Finalist in Warner Brothers / CW Network Film Contest – VOTE TODAY!

LAST WEEK TO VOTE!! Local filmmaker and long-time, much-loved TCD contributor Howie Goldklang is a FINALIST in the CW Green Your World contest. The contest has 4 filmmakers submitting weekly vlogs (video blogs) reporting on green, eco-cool initiatives in their town. Please click over, vote MILWAUKEE, vote for HOWIE GOLDKLANG! CLICK HERE TO VOTE

Vamps Vs. Lolvamps: A Not-At-All Academic Comparision of <i>Let the Right One In</i> and <i>Twilight</i>
Vamps Vs. Lolvamps

A Not-At-All Academic Comparision of Let the Right One In and Twilight

Fig.1: Frodo of the Shire checks out Arwen Evenstar’s Elven tush (I think he’s on a footstool) When it comes to horror, I’ve always been all about the zombies. Until recently, my list of favorite horror movies was probably interchangeable with my list of favorite zombie movies: Dead Alive, Dawn of the Dead (the original, although it pained me to admit that the remake was actually pretty serviceable, despite the aerial shot of “Milwaukee” with all the in-ground pools), and 28 Days Later all take some piece of the zombie mythos and make it special for me, especially Dawn and 28 Days, both of which use zombies as a mirror of humanity in some respect (which is what the best horror and sci-fi movies do). And then of course there’s Shaun of the Dead, which somehow manages to do the same while being hilarious. But in 2008, it was all about vampires. It started with the HBO series True Blood, which I will now summarize for you (because I watched every ridiculously-entertaining-despite-itself episode) in twelve words: Sookie Sookie fuck Sookie, fuck fuck, Jason’s dick, blood tits fuck Sookie. Fig.2: Compare with the Shire photo and tell me which movie you’d rather watch? But the hell with the adult vamps; 2008 was all about immortal bloodsuckers trapped in the bodies of teens and pre-teens. In Sweden, this meant the release of Let the Right One In, a beautifully understated horror drama about the relationship between two painfully lonely 12-year-olds, Oskar and Eli, one of which has been twelve for a long, long time. In America (because 200+ years later, America is still the equivalent of Europe if its mother fed it crack in the womb), this meant the premiere of Twilight, a romantic comedy about a constipated teen vampire named Edward Cullen who falls in love with Bella, the new girl in his chemistry class, simply because she makes him jizz in his pants upon first sight (according to animated gifs on the internet, anyway). Also, vampires take chemistry class, because that’ll come in handy on that college application so you can go to school and WAIT YOU DON’T NEED TO OPERATE IN EVERYDAY SOCIETY BECAUSE YOU’RE A GODDAMN VAMPIRE. It’s probably unfair to compare the two—heck, Twilight author Stephenie Meyer admits she didn’t even know that much about vampire mythology when she wrote the damn thing (then again, all the more reason to take her to task, eh?)—but plenty of reviewers took that path already, lazily mentioning both movies in the same breath even though the age of the principal characters is about all the movies have in common with each other. And heck, since when has Cultural Zero been about fairness? Having already seen Right One multiple times (and yes, I’m aware of the controversy involving the DVD’s subtitles, so everyone can stop sending me links already, Jeebus), some friends and I popped in Twilight last weekend and watched both films back-to-back. As expected, comparing the two was like […]

Now in glorious 3-D!!!

Now in glorious 3-D!!!

Before it ever became a fond figment of Americana (akin to drive-ins), 3D movies were an effective means of getting people in seats. Studios and distributors alike have a long history of using primal urges and emotional selling points to get your business, from the first sale of popcorn, Cinerama, and Smell-o-vision to today’s shilling of ultra-combos, IMAX and THX sound. But using 3D is a trick of the brain; the device makes a user feel something more than what is there. Objects and actions on a screen appear, surreally, somehow more vivid than what one could experience in real life. It activates nerve receptors that stay locked in fascination until the gimmick wears off and common sense returns. 3D movies therefore offer something hyper-real that tricks us into finding more emotion, drama, suspense or comedy in the story than is really there. This weekend marks the unofficial and incredulous early opening of the big-budget summer movie season with the premiere of DreamWorks’ Monsters vs. Aliens (in 3-D). One could argue that this posited leap-start to the season happened weeks ago with the splashy release of Watchmen, but that opening was to a much smaller niche audience. Opening a kids’ movie in general requires a special finesse and a whole lot of chutzpah marketing. These days, family movies can be sure-fire money makers and a hard-sell item paradox. Parents want to allow their kids entertainment treats by taking them to High-School Musical 3, but don’t want to sit through Tales of Desperaux or Jonas Brothers in Concert (in 3-D!). Kids want to buy memorabilia and t-shirts from their new favorite movie, but if the story isn’t emotionally solid enough, no one buys the Happy Meal toy. Movie producers and distributors can’t sell more tickets than there are people, but want more money. So how do you generate excitement and anticipation for a blockbuster family film when the market is glutted with offerings? Enter 3D or ‘Real D’ technology, for which all of DreamWorks Animation’s movies will now be adapted. Disney made the same point two months prior by showing the first visually-stunning all stop-motion movie Coraline in Disney Digital 3D, which uses the same technology. There is a slate of almost a dozen movies coming out this way in 2009, and lots more on the way next year. This new technological format was first introduced four years ago, but it wasn’t in widespread use until many theater chains agreed to put the requisite projectors in their multiplexes. With the agreement came a host of planned 3D movies with 2D versions at adjoining theaters. You’ll pay as much as $3 per ticket extra for the 3D screening, an upgrade that comes with hard plastic glasses that allows the magic to happen. The catch? You have to give them back. It’s a head-scratcher both in logic and purpose. At the end of your 3D experience, ushers wait with open hands ready to confiscate your “rental”. While theater owners are desperate to get seats […]

For your consideration: the Comet (or Fuel, or Palomino, or wherever) “Rockstar Menu”
For your consideration

the Comet (or Fuel, or Palomino, or wherever) “Rockstar Menu”

Fig.1: Taking Back Sunday. Would you trust these douches to hire a marketing firm to design your lunch? Hola, amigos. How’s it going with you? I know it’s been a long time since I rapped at ya. I’d like to say that I’ve been putting off my first Third Coast Digest blog post because of something important, but I won’t hose you—I’ve been playing way too damn much Lexulous over on Facebook. If the internet is an opiate of masses, Lexulous is heroin—you sit down at your desk, think “all right goddamn it, this time I’m gonna finish that rant about the majesty of broasted chicken that’s sitting on my mac’s desktop,” and suddenly you’re all, “but first, I’m gonna see if I have any Lexulous moves to make” and before you know it you’re unconscious in front of your computer at 7 AM with three games up, a bottle of Jack and a Google search that reads “Meg White COME ON SHOW ME HER NAKED” that yields no results. Anyway. So Saturday night I was at the Denny’s in Waukesha—excuse me, Rockesha–after going to see some Great Lakes Championship Wrestling with some pals (the main event of which featured Scott “50-Year-Old Beer Gut Wrapped in an ICP T-Shirt” Hall and Kevin “Debateably Sexy” Nash of the long-irrelevant nWo vs. The Old Dog Jesse James and the “Dear God you’re in your 40s and you’re wearing pink wrestling trunks with lips on them and an obvious thong, holy shit you’re embarrassing to look at” Billy Gunn, aka 90s WWE tag team The New Age Outlaws. Man, there’s no better Saturday night than one spent watching creepy old drunk dudes pretend to hit each other—am I right, North Side? They called it “the match they didn’t want you to see,” referring to some apparent cease-and-desist order sent by the WWE, but I’m guessing they didn’t want us to see it because they knew it’d be a stinker and they were concerned about our wallets in these troubled economic times). Have you been to a Denny’s lately? I mean, even if it’s just to dine ironically, it’s not a bad thing to slum once in a while, and really, it’s no worse for you than anything at Palomino (although, ok, sure, fewer vegan options for those of you who have forgotten bacon is awesome. Fine). Fig.2: Hall and Nash in happier, thinner, less Juggalo-infused times So I’m paging through the menu and I stop across the “Allnighter Rockstar menu” and I immediately begin laughing. There in front of me for my ordering pleasure are the “Taking Back Burger Fries” “by” Taking Back Sunday, and the “Plain White Shake” “by” Plain White T’s (which at least is appropriate—something vanilla and bland). Apparently I’m not the first one in Blogsylvania who’s WTF’d at this, either: I’m just not sure how to feel about this, and that’s what scares me. Should I feel guilty because it makes me hungry? Is it just biz as usual? […]