What Movie Are You Watching Or Watched Today?

[Brian Boru]

Today I have watched the best Christmas film ever - Bad Santa!!

[philipchevron]

I do remember some of LiveAid day but seem to recall in the end along with FarmAid much of the funds were spent on administative costs and only a small percentage went to the actual cause. Is this recollection accurate?

The event, and accompanying telethons etc, raised about $60m, and the Band Aid charity has gone on since to raise around $300m. Though I daresay that initially Band Aid battled like most charities to retain some purity of administrative costs, my sense is that with so formidable a figurehead as Geldof, they have largely managed to make sure the money goes where it needs to go. Band Aid bursaries have diversified over changing times. Back in 1985, the most pressing need was to stop people dying for want of food, and this aim became supplanted in time by the provision of hugely expensive infrastructure projects designed to stem future famines. In more recent years, direct intervention in health issues seems to have returned to the top of the agenda, particularly in the area of reproductive health and HIV/AIDS etc. Unlike the much vaunted US govt subsidy of the past decade, Band Aid does not make its HIV/AIDS emergency funding contingent on strict observance of fundamentalist Christian principles as determined by the 43rd President.

[philipchevron]

I remember at the time thinking that Live Aid was a noble and worthwhile effort to raise awareness of, and alleviate, the suffering of the Ethiopian famine victims. I watched large parts of it in the pub with mates and the overwhelming experience at the time was that it was a great show but i don't recall a lot of people going out of their way to donate until Geldof's 'outburst' on the BBC and use of the 'F' word! It did seem to be needed to hit home to people the importance of giving whatever money they could to the cause.
Of course, the passage of time has shown that however well-meaning it all was, a lot of the money unfortunately ended up in the pockets of the corrupt administration of the country rather than feeding those hungry people. That's not to diminish the efforts though, because the vision was a noble one and for a moment in time it really did appear that the world could unite and make a difference.
Oh, and if nothing else it was all worth it for the humiliation of Simon Le Bon!!

Geldof no more said "give me the fucking money" live on Air than Jimmy Cagney said "You - you dirty rat", but he seems resigned that the world will always believe he did so. It's instructive, I think, to note what he did say. In an impatient dismissal of one of the Smashy and Nicey BBC presenters talking about putting the address up on screen, Geldof yelled "fuck the address" [rendered in the When Harvey Met Bob movie as "fuck the Post Office" for some reason] and exhorted people to phone up with their credit card numbers, something which we would today take for granted but which, in a BBC charity culture rooted in good works obtained by the collection of milk-bottle tops and used stamps, was a radical idea for 1985. With the F-bomb coming in the middle of Geldof's repeated mantra of "Give me the money, just give me the money", it was always inevitable that the two strands would get conflated.

People underestimate Geldof's showmanship. He told me later his use of the F-word was not calculated, it was just his normal way of talking when he needed to bang heads together, but once he realised he had done it, he knew it was a game-changer. He knew that, having spoken the first live "fuck" on daytime (family) television the phones would, one way or the other, start to light up soon enough, and so it proved. Not many people who phoned up to complain put down the phone without a slightly larger hole in their bank balance. Also on the matter of his showmanship, he also fully justified the decision to open the show with Status Quo's cover of John Fogerty's "Rockin' All Over The World" - considered eccentric if not insane by many, including Harvey Goldsmith, and to perform his own "I Don't Like Mondays" with the Boomtown Rats on the show. People looking for a way to gently point out to Geldof that the Rats were no longer in the big league overlooked the potency of the line "and the lesson today is how to die" in the context, and the Quo opening number was sheer Broadway pizazz.

Mr Le Bon has not been allowed to forget his unfortunate yodelling moment and, in return, it is agreed that it's ok to laugh at the mishap with the Spandau Ballet wardrobe flight case which obliged all the lads to borrow their Mums' best blouses that day. But by far the most egregious signifier that this was, indeed, 1985, is the awesome spectacle of Bono's mullet, simultaneously highlighting a certain loosening of the follicles with an admirably heedless attitude towards gravity. Or maybe he just hadn't looked in the mirror that day. His hair is what my old Gran would have described as "a holy show". Quite so, Gran, quite so.

[philipchevron]

Downton Abbey (Series One)

I find to my surprise that I have become freshly addicted to the recent slew of British period drama. What's not to love when it stars the eternally lovely Elizabeth McGovern and the hilarious Maggie Smith or, as is the case with the current BBC mini-series of Upstairs Downstairs, in which Rose is now the housekeeper and Oswald Mosely, Von Ribbentrop and Wallis Simpson are never far from the scriptwriter's thoughts, the queenly Eileen Atkins and the national treasure Jean Marsh. Now, if only someone could find a vehicle for Geraldine McEwan and Gemma Jones.

American TV viewers with a distaste for this imperial muck beware, avoid Masterpiece Theatre at all costs for the next year or so.

[Guest]

YouTube instructional videos on how to pill a cat.
When you have a nervy cat I would imagine trying to throw a pill down its gullet will only worsen the situation.
Gatsby the Catsby is a formidable opponent. =^..^=

[old barney greyheron]

About to watch 'I am legend'...probably be crap, but i'm feeling lazy, so i'll slob and eat chocolates.

[Guest]

Today I have watched the best Christmas film ever - Bad Santa!!

When he's dining on salad in the food court... I'm on my fucking lunch break! ...he eats like a human turtle.

Billy Bob Thornton is so amazing in Sling Blade. That is acting.

[RoddyRuddy]

http://www.blinkbox.com/Free/Movie/32574/I-Am-Bob

I Am Bob

A short film starring St. Bob , free at the above link.You can also find a cult film called Straight To Hell at the same link to watch for free.
But you do get very very loud ads both before and during the films .

[firehazard]

... the current BBC mini-series of Upstairs Downstairs, in which Rose is now the housekeeper and Oswald Mosely, Von Ribbentrop and Wallis Simpson are never far from the scriptwriter's thoughts, the queenly Eileen Atkins and the national treasure Jean Marsh...

I did love the happy ending, in which the naughty sister went off to fulfil her dreams by becoming a proper Nazi. Bless.

[philipchevron]

... the current BBC mini-series of Upstairs Downstairs, in which Rose is now the housekeeper and Oswald Mosely, Von Ribbentrop and Wallis Simpson are never far from the scriptwriter's thoughts, the queenly Eileen Atkins and the national treasure Jean Marsh...

I did love the happy ending, in which the naughty sister went off to fulfil her dreams by becoming a proper Nazi. Bless.

Yes, unfortunately the final episode knocked all the carefully-constructed drama of the first part squarely into the crapper. What a waste. But still, at least no harm came to the monkey.

[cagliostro]

Self Aid 25th Anniversary Night (BBC)

Thanks for the heads up on that. I'll be very interested to see it if there is ever an opportunity in the States to watch it. As I said elsewhere, Bob Geldof is my favorite human; so much so that my kid's middle name is Geldof (and the one part of his name that he enjoys saying the most at 20 months of age). He has two middle names, and I was kind of opposed to the idea at first as it seemed a bit of a fanboy thing to do, but right after he was born, the wife convinced me by basically saying, "Why not?"

DzM and others that are interested, I'd highly recommend reading [img]Is%20That%20It?[/img], Geldof's autobiography post Live Aid, and pre-Vegetarians Of Love album. It is very readable, and goes into a lot of detail about Band Aid and Live Aid, though strangely enough never dull. It is what brought me from enjoying some of the Boomtown Rats songs, and embarrassingly, enjoying his work as Pink in movie version of the Wall, to becoming a fan. It really is amazing what he created with Live Aid that had never been done before, and how much effort he and others did, such as creating the first concert to be shot via satellite to several places in the world from different places in the world. There are also a ton of other great bits throughout, from an awkward phone conversation with a friend when he was young discussing wanking, to a great line about early life and how he was like a swan, serene and still on the surface, but paddling like fuck underneath, to the early start of the Boomtown Rats, as well as failed gig ideas, to the Band Aid/Live Aid chapters, and finally visiting Africa. His first run in with Prince William was funny too, where he says, "shut up, you horrible boy." One of my favorite quotes is from where he is taking heat from smaller artists who were not charting who wanted to play. They argued that the Boomtown Rats were not currently on the charts, and he essentially said, "Well, it's my ball, and if I can't play, I'm going home with it."

I read the book out loud to my wife after our kid was born so that she could know a bit more about who her son was named after, and found it sounded good out loud, and I found myself frequently choked up during the latest reading.



Back to the topic - I saw True Grit recently. My dad used to watch a bunch of John Wayne movies, and I with him. I was never very interested, but did like the movie with the snake pit, which I was happy to see was this one. However, it still didn't do it for me, despite being Coen brothers, Jeff Bridges and taking more inspiration from the book than the John Wayne movie. It was enjoyable enough, but didn't really wow me.

[O'Blivion]

Die Nibelungen: Kriemhild's Rache (Fritz Lang 1924)



This is the virtually unrecognizable Rudolf Klein-Rogge, who also
starred for Lang as Dr. Mabuse, and the proto-mad scientist Rotwang
in Metropolis, as Atilla the Hun.

This is Part Two of Die Nibelungen, the first being Siegfried.

[Low D]

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader(2010)

Took the whole family yesterday. Honestly had a hard time staying awake. Not sure if the movie moved a bit slow or if it was the 3 bottles of wine the night before.

Just saw this one myself, with the whole family. Thought it was alright, but not sure how it would play to those not familiar with the books.

What i'm tired of, though, is having to shell out an extra $3 for "3-D" movies that were not shot with 3-D in mind. If i had a choice to see it "regular" i would, but every theater had it only in 3-D. Seems like a big scam to me.

[old barney greyheron]

Ryan's Daughter...classic.

[Clash Cadillac]

What i'm tired of, though, is having to shell out an extra $3 for "3-D" movies that were not shot with 3-D in mind. If i had a choice to see it "regular" i would, but every theater had it only in 3-D. Seems like a big scam to me.

Agreed, I would have preferred 2D as well.