I do hate sailing, but I do love a good ‘naval’ movie! Most of these are centered around the British Navy - and I have a weak spot for the period of British Empire anyway.

Most of the old movies tend to be charmingly naive and adventures (like Horatio Hornblower or the Sea Hawk), but only Master and Commander is both ‘modern’ (read: realistic) and exciting at the same time. And it helps a lot that no phoney love story is woven into the plot … it’s rather bloody, but full of friendship and the terrible truth about the moments of horror of war at sea.

More? Official Trailer

*update*

Boy oh boy, one time I do not check an entry via Wikipedia and I am in trouble. Jolene and Edosan gave me a proper lashing for my failure!

The movie is based on a HUGE series of novels by the great writer Patrick O’Brian - who has been working on navel novels for over 35 years now. Here is a NPR radio special about the author. There is obviously a huge maritime fan base out there - I was completely ignorant about …

I really hate it when movie studios release a few months after the ‘normal’ edition an additional super duper extra bonus golden collectors edition.

I really really really dig Twin Peaks, but do I really need to see lost clips of Agent Cooper on the toilet or some video clips from a nerdy Twin Peaks convention?

The quality of the normal DVDs is actually brilliant. The digital remastering really improved the quality a lot! And Twin Peaks itself is as cool, intriguing and charming to watch as evaaaar!

Thanks Moira for that tip.

Usually I am not into reviewing single TV episodes - but last nights Boston Legal was outstanding. It concluded a story arc about Joseph Washington - who died in this episode.

The overall theme of this story arc was conviction and forgiveness. The not so fictional character of Joseph was an African-American accused of rape and murder in different cases. His murder trial ended with not guilty.

But he was sentenced as a sex offender although the rape was never proven. That alone sent him to prison and he was obliged to register as a sex offender. This was hard enough: you had to register as such in his local community, was forbidden to use public transport and even drive a car. Most of all: all the ‘good’ people of the once again not so fictional ‘Middletown’ wanted him to leave, harassed him and tried to kick him out of their nice community.

In this episode his sex offender case was reopened and the girl that accused him of being a rapist admitted she lied. Now his sex offender status was revoked, but still the good people of Middletown wanted him to leave.

Joseph Washington was found later in that episode murdered. Sad enough. But the real heartbreaking scene was, when his lawyer spoke before the people of Middletown in Church: "Let us pray for forgiveness and acceptance."

Would Jesus kill innocent men? Would Jesus kill even acquitted rapists or murderers?

This episode of Boston Legal asked some tough questions and attacked Americas addiction to locking away people, cutting legal deals instead of looking for the truth and never reintegrating offenders back into society. This is also true for many other countries as well …

John Steward and his crew have been the voice of the resistance during all these dark years of Bushism and overall American ignorance.

Finally Comedy Central built this great site only dedicated to all those great moments in (political) comedy.

Enjoy! www.thedailyshow.com

Very cool TV series from HBO. It’s not as cheesy as those old Hollywood movies, it tries to be historically accurate (but there are some serious errors) - at least in it’s settings and design.

But I do love those characters and their very different attitudes. The personal stories and character development is interesting to watch. The acting is excellent. Life in Rome is full of sex and brutality - it was just ‘normal’ back then, people dying and fucking all over the place.

A nice change to all the doctors, lawyer and other soap operas. I actually would love to see a PROPER series about Athens and other Greek city states - not that Hercules & Xena crap. HBO are you listening?

Rome makes you wander if we have progressed at all? Hail Caesar!

More? Wikipedia

Click image for even more madness.

The final scene of Sunset Boulevard [watch it on YouTube] always sends shivers down my spine. Although this movie is already half a century old it’s still fantastic and has lost nothing of it’s impact, madness and magic [here is the old trailer]. Not many old Hollywood productions age so gracefully. Thank you Billy Wilder, William Holden and most of all Gloria Swanson.

William Holden, Gloria Swanson, Nancy Olson, Erich von Stroheim - who was a great director himself.

Want to watch something unusual? Apparently the book was very popular - the movie flopped a bit. I am just happy that Elija Wood is getting proper roles instead of being the eternal Hobbit. Trailer is here and I like the music a lot.

This is a very unique movie - there is hardly anything out there that comes close to it. It has some elements of a comedy to it, but most of all I would consider it a brilliant essay on modern life. Every time I watched this masterpiece I felt strange, but also amused and well educated. This is certainly not a movie if you want to be entertained by gunfire or hot chicks - it’s more like looking into a magic mirror and discover your own world from a new perspective. It also has it’s own speed and melody.

Here are some scenes on YouTube: overall videos, Trailer and Tati arrives at Corporation.

More? Roger Ebert Review, excellent review of the DVD at the DVD-Beaver and the Wikipedia entry on Jacques Tati

One of my great heroes: John Wilmot, second Earl of Rochester - who is perfectly portrait by Johnny Depp in the movie ‘The Libertine‘ (watch the trailer here).

He was a witty pornocrat - a man of total pleasure and a very sharp mind.

His great poems are hard to top in their eloquent realism and sarcasm - like the famous ‘A Sartyre against Reason and Mankind‘. It’s certainly not a form of poetry you would encounter in school.

So I highly recommend this horny gentleman to you as well as the movie about his troubled life. It will not be an enjoyable experience, but certainly an intense one. Don’t be afraid of obsessions - life itself is one. Enjoy yours …

Thanks for that great link loogee! Solar is a great animated short. Just watch it and enjoy the subtle humor.