“The signs they carried” in the Volcano

“At that point, I told him he needed to move away from my daughter and give her space (especially since she was on the curb at one of the busiest intersections in Tacoma). He began to argue, and I cut him off saying, ‘Move away from my daughter.’ He did.” One car passenger threw a beverage, hitting an approve-71 volunteer.  Other passers-by shouted “Death to all you faggots!” and “We should get the KKK here!” This wasn’t Birmingham in ’63 or Selma in ’65.  This was Tacoma in 2009, over by the Red Robin. via weeklyvolcano.com An interesting article about Read more…

Good Hair at the Grand

"Good Hair," the documentary by Chris Rock is one of those documentaries where you actually learn a whole lot. Chris Rock explores the world of black hair, triggered by a question from his daughter–"why don't I have good hair?" There's a lot of really interesting stuff in the movie, and Chris Rock is a pretty good interviewer with some very funny lines. I learned a lot and had a lot of fun too. Good criteria for documentary. Here's the trailer. [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A68UVn0nMvo?wmode=transparent] Plays through tomorrow at the Grand.

The Blind Side

I read (and loved) The Blind Side a few years ago. It's a great piece of sports writing with a great story in the middle of it. That story makes up the core of the movie adaptation. And generally, the movie stays pretty true to what actually happened. The biggest change from the book, and the hardest for me to get past, is the focus on the adopting mother (Sandra Bullock) as opposed to Michael. This is like watching the story of Hamlet through Gertrude's eyes–the most interesting character is not the focus. Even so, it's an affecting story and Read more…

An Evening With Kevin Smith

I spent two evenings with Kevin Smith, actually. The two disc set has about 3 1/2 hours of Kevin Smith. The DVD is a compilation of 5 Q&A sessions he did at universities around the country. They are funny, irreverent, interesting, full of penis jokes, and then sometimes really graphic. Pretty much your basic Kevin Smith movie. He has some wonderfully funny stories in there. His story about writing a draft for a never-to-be-made Superman movie in the mid-90s was great; as was his week of making a documentary for Prince that never went anywhere; and picketing his own movie Read more…