Another Sassy Remake Pic & other random things...

Yet another pic from the upcoming "My Sassy Girl" remake to confound and exasperate me:



OK, I mean, WTF? She's pushing him around in a shopping cart with a, what, BEAVER PELT on the front? I know, in the beloved original, Gyun-woo carries The Girl around on his back while she's passed out drunk, but I don't get this at all. Methinks this does not bode well....

UPDATE!!!! 12/08/07: I've been thinking about this photo. In the Original Korean MSG, Gyun-Woo carries The Girl around on his back. Maybe in the US version, he carries her around in a shopping cart he takes from a vagrant. If this is true, it's a sloppy update of events since Gyun-Woo's carrying of The Girl on his back takes on a major double significance. She's a burden to him, but she's using him to lean on. It's a perfect metaphor for their relationship. Shopping carts? No. Not at all.

Anyway, I'm thinking if the above is true, then this photo is from the guy's abortive attempt at revenge. In the Original MSG, Gyun-Woo attempts to make The Girl pay for the way she's treated him by getting drunk and making her carry him on her back as punishment. Of course, it doesn't work out like that at all. This photo could be illustrative of his plan. At least that's what I make of it. Or she just might like pushing her boyfriend around in a shopping cart. We'll see...



In other notes, "The Victoria's Secret Fashion Show" featuring the Spice Girls finally aired this evening on CBS. They performed "STOP" from the Spice World album. I thought this was quite a strange song to make their official comeback on US television with (ooh! A dangling preposition!). The song wasn't a hit in the US at the time of the Movie and Album's release. Still, it was an excellent performance. The girls looked lovely in their USO uniforms and sounded great. They even did their Hand Jive movements during the chorus! Made me feel good.

Well, turns out the Writer's Strike put the Kibosh on The Dewey Cox Band's performance on Jay Leno this evening. That's right. No Mike Viola on TV tonight. It's a shame. Still, go and see the movie if just for the music. If you hate anything Judd Apatow related, this one might make you queasy (as it undoubtedly will me) but I'm willing to sit through it for Mike Viola, Marshall Crenshaw and Van Dyke Parks penned goodness.

...and speaking of Judd Apatow....



I heard somewhere he was voted by Entertainment Weekly as the "Smartest Person In Hollywood". Now, because a certain lead singer of The Candy Butchers' wife is a photo editor for EW, I'll go light on them.... but not Apatow.

Just look at this Terrorist-cum-Yakov-Smirnov lookin' bastard. Seriously. "Smartest Man In Hollywood"? Maybe he is. I don't personally know the man. I can go only from his work that I've sampled. On that alone, I would say his only "Smarts" are f**king the celluloid corpses of:

a) The Porky's Movies

b) The American Pie Movies

c) the Farrelly Brothers Movies

...and making audiences think his crap movies (produced or directed, I don't care which) are light years better than they actually are.

Seriously? Making irredeemable gross out movies with limp pathos tacked onto them is criteria for being intelligent? Sure, he's obviously smarter than American audiences and critics since they seem to fall for the same damn plot device EVERY TIME (i.e. A reprehensible person is ultimately endearing if it's revealed he/she has a heart by the last reel), but come on. His films aren't even all that funny and any humor that is to be found has nothing to do with the plot. It's all incidental comedy that never comes out of the situation at hand.

Think about it. Take out the "You know how I know you're Gay" lines in "The 40 Year Old Virgin" and the "Hairy Man" cracks out of "Knocked Up" and the movies just aren't funny. Take the McLovin subplot out of "Superbad" and the movie falls flat on it's face. The subplot of the movie so completely eclipses the main plot that the ads had to completely focus on it instead of what the film was really about (which was the impending separation of two childhood friends once they go to College... and getting laid). That's how wretched "Superbad" is. Menstruation jokes? Yeah, a real knee slapper. Hear me once. "Superbad" sucks "Dazed and Confused"'s dick, "She's Having A Baby" owns "Knocked Up" and "Hardbodies" wrestles "The 40 Year Old Virgin" to the ground and farts on it's face. I have a weird feeling Apatow wants to be the current Generation's John Hughes, but it just ain't gonna happen. I don't care how much his PR machine tries to drill it into my brain.

The person with the REAL smarts in Hollywood is the one that does the promotion for his movies. THAT guy is a genius. Anyone who can convince the public at large that this unfunny hack's films are worth seeing is brilliant beyond compare.

Whew. I feel better now. Write y'all soon.

Viva Forever (Part 2)

WOW. They just look great, don't they? I'm not being facetious, either. There're too many smarmy blogs for that purpose. They truly look great and it's wonderful to see them all standing next to each other, smiling. It gave me a throat lump and a heavy sigh. Click on the picture above for a larger version.

Why do I love the Spice Girls after all those years? Well, I was 27 when they released "Spice" and I wasn't all that impressed, frankly, with their first single, "Wannabe". I thought it was crap, but the video made my jaw drop in disbelief.

It wasn't until the second video, the one for "Say You'll Be There", that I stood to attention (so to speak) and took notice. Hot girls. Check. With cool pseudonyms. Check. In the desert. Check. With super functional weapons. Check. And a tricked out car. Check.

Jesus. When you can basically give me 5 Emma Peels in a "Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill!" setting, well, you've got my undivided attention. The song was great, too. That particular video gave me licence to actually check out the "Spice" album (which I subsequentially bought on VINYL!!!) and I found the album to be very solid. Their first album is as great a dance music / Disco album as anything released in the past 20 preceding it. That would be 1976, by the way, and would include the "Saturday Night Fever" soundtrack. Yes,"Spice" is that good and if their image wouldn't have been so grandiose, their music might have garnered more respect. On the other hand, had their image not been so much larger than life, their cultural footprint would have been much smaller; almost negligible, in my opinion.

So, now they're back and I hope people still care. They deserve it. Don't believe me? Go back and listen to "Spice" (and to a much lesser degree, "Spice World"). It holds up. It does.

This post has no focus...

I guess They're NOT Coming from all over the world!

Well, the 19th of this month came and went and there was no release of "The T.A.M.I. Show". Bastards. I was all excited, too. Remember when I said I just couldn't believe it was being released? Well, there you go. There was a reason I couldn't believe it. At least one online retailer lists the release as the 17th of next month, but virtually all other websites just have it listed as not available. Solid bummer. Oh, well, there's still my bootlegs and my 8mm print. Damn, though, I wanted to hear that commentary by Steve Binder.

Time is now converging on my 38th 28th birthday as I write this and I suppose it's some milestone. A gateway into middle age. Halftime is about over, they say. Bull**it, I say. Still, some things are nice while I'm not being reminded of my impending mortality.




The nicest thing is something I'm listening to right now. In the last moments before my birthday, I'm listening to the new Love Psychedelico album, "Golden Grapefruit". It's not coming out until the 27th, but I got an advance and it will do nicely until my import comes sailing across the Pacific. I'll hold back on a review for now, since it'll be a few thousand listens before I completely digest it, but I'll say I dig it. It's not quite their best, but it's never not a pleasure to hear Naoki's jangly guitar blending with Kumi's gorgeous vocals. Not a bad song on it so far.




Hey! there're a couple of noteworthy reunions in the works. The Spice Girls and The Brilliant Green are both regrouping for some new music and I couldn't be happier. Ok, you are undoubtedly saying, you love Tommy, so I can see why you're excited about The Brilliant Green reuniting, but the SPICE GIRLS??? Hell, yeah. I can't wait. I'm more excited about this than the Police reunion.


True, it'll be a bit of a wait before the Girls of Spice release any product, but The Brilliant Green already have a song in the pipe (reportedly entitled, "Stand By Me") and it'll be out sometime next month. Excited? You betcha. I'm breathless with anticipation to find if Tomoko can still coexist with her creations, February and Heavenly, if she decides to record another album with her band mates from BuriGuri.

I suppose I'll go to bed now to get an early start on my birthday / vacation, so please be safe out there. May all the good music be on your iPod.

T - out!