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Funny story: Movie director Mike Figgis was detained at LAX for more than five hours after he was asked what he was doing in LA. “I’m here to shoot a pilot.”

The guys at Cinematical had a witty retort: “Good thing the immigration officers didn’t ask him about his body of work. Figgis’ answer might have been ‘I recently made a huge bomb.’

Reminds me of the ever-quotable Airplane! – “Hi Jack!”

I love the English language, and when I say love, I mean, well, nevermind.

Over the last few weeks I’ve been able to watch a few more movies than normal. Yes, we’re regular subscribers to Netflix, but sometimes those DVDs go unwatched for days. This kind gentleman has even made a website where you can compute how much you’re actually spending on your Netflix DVDs so you can figure out if you’re better off at the local (but dying) video rental store.

With Netflix’s addition of a "Watch It Now" feature, where you can, actually, watch a movie in your browser, I’ve been a bit more excited about on demand movies. Unfortunately, "Watch It Now" does not cover their entire catalog, but only a select few hundred, although more are added every day. Using this new feature, I watched Word Wars first (although only half of it); it’s a documentary about Tournament Scrabble players. It was very interesting to see these people who essentially forfeit jobs to play Scrabble tournaments for less than a livable income.

Second was Zach Galifianakis’ Live at the Purple Onion. Bluntly, it’s a standup comedy show. More pointedly, it’s hysterical, minus it’s obscenities. His timing is impeccable, as well as his ability to hold a face.

Lastly, for the time being, was Run Lola Run, a modern classic. I’d heard about it from more than a few different sources. I didn’t know it was a German film, and, thusly, subtitled, but that’s never stopped me before. It was an energetic tale told in three parts about the ways the smallest action can change the course of history. And I loved how it’s typically described as an MTV music video, as if anyone can remember what that means.

On demand video, which is quickly becoming the norm, will be very time-consuming once the amount of content explodes.

[Brought to you by EMI Shielding. What's EMI? Electromagnetic Interference (EMI) or Radio Frequency Interference (RFI) is an electromagnetic disturbance that interrupts other electronic devices or components. It's what we'll all probably need when the end comes].

It’s become de rigueur for television shows, movies, and books to feature unreliable protagonists or narrators, the people who tell you the story, but for whatever reason you know you can’t quite trust their interpretation of the events. One of the earliest and most blatant cinematic portrayals of this is the classic film Rashomon, where the same story is told from three very different perspectives. The stories are not the same, but they’re all true. In the end, the viewer is left to decide what actually happened. This was groundbreaking for its time (1950), but the latter half of the 20th Century exploited this plot device so much, in my opinion, that viewers seldom believe what they see. We’ve lost trust in the narrator. With more than half of the movies or shows I watch, I have to suspend my disbelief every time a new character is introduced (LOST, anyone?), anytime a good guy turns bad or vice-versa (Jericho), or anytime I’m told one thing and shown another (I am Jack’s smirking revenge).

Is this indicative of the culture at large? Of course it is. Television either tells us what to believe or shows us what we already believe about ourselves. Either way, it’s a mobius strip. Our culture has lost trust in its own narrative. Cynical is the word. Are we being told the truth or just what we want to hear? Can we decipher reality for ourselves or does a talking box or a talking head need to do it for us? Where are the people that say what they mean without false pretense?

I’m tired of disbelieving.

[Ironically enough, this has been brought to you by rosaries, beads on a string that help some to believe in a Reliable Narrator.]

I’m glad I started watching The Daily Show because, one, it’s funny, two, I learn about current events and the correct way to say ‘Putin,’ and three, they’re pretty spot on on some of their critiques. To wit, in reference to Al Gore’s presence at the Oscars and the announcement that the Oscars had ‘gone green,’ the first thought through my head was, "The Oscars! Green! Pshaw! Hollywood is the most conspicuous consumer America’s ever produced." And then I watched The Daily Show after that and what did they make fun of (aside from Jon Stewart’s hosting last year)? The discord between ‘going green’ and Hollywood’s conspicuous consumption. Maybe I should have a hosting gig. (We now interrupt this blog to bring you Hoodia, the Diet Pill of the Stars, which can make you thinner, younger, prettier, more conspicuous through less weightiness, and even cause you to turn green…). And now back to your regularly scheduled blog. Then the news came out about Al Gore’s heating bill. When will the madness stop?

The Screwtape Letters is coming to a theater near you. If you’re not familiar with the work, it’s a C.S. Lewis classic that looks at an average (albeit mid-1900s British) Christian through the eyes of two demons, one of whom (Screwtape) is assigned to watch and tempt a certain man in order to fulfull his job and make his boss (Wormwood) happy. It’s a strange but thoroughly enlightening book. Coupled with the fact that it’s a series of letters, it will be very, very interesting to see how this is adapted for the screen. I’m certainly looking forward to it.

It makes me wonder if they’ll ever adapt Lewis’ Space Trilogy for the movies. Course, I’m wondering if they’ll be able to get through all 7 Narnia books as well. I certainly hope they do. The Last Battle is my number two favorite in the series. And can you imagine the visuals they’ll be able to achieve in 2056?