Within a Florida Civics Lesson, Rich Stories. John Sayles's drama creates a cinematic mosaic of American lives unprecedented in its range, balance, subtlety and even-handedness. By Stephen Holden. [New York Times: Movies]

So says The New York Times. I think that Mr Sayles makes a product as plastic and phony as anything squeezed out by a Hollywood studio. He deals in received ideas, leftish perhaps, and always with the smarmy Sunday-School "Good For You" lessons.

abgeraten. So was Peinliches hab' ich lange nicht gesehen: Robert Stadlober gibt den Kinski, für den er sich sowieso hält, Kajal, rollendes R, Villon zitierend, deklamiert im Schweinestall, schleicht mit einer Sonnenblume (genau genommen, da die Continuity gepennt hat: mit fünf deutlich verschiedenen Sonnenblumen) durch die Gegend, steigt in einen Bus und wieder aus, schwer umschattet, lebensmüde, rotes Hemd. Ein Künschtler, der's mit der prosaischen Welt aufnimmt. Nichts an diesem unsäglichen Stück Zelluloid spricht dafür, dass es vielleicht nicht Ernst gemeint wäre. Titel: Klaustrophobie, Vorfilm vor "Waking Life" von Richard Linklater. Die Hölle, gesponsert vom Filmboard Berlin-Brandenburg, na dann Gute Nacht, deutscher Film.

Kaum besser, leider, ist der Hauptfilm, dessen Hauptattraktion die Animationstechnik ist: übermalter Realfilm, 30 Episoden, 30 Künstler und erst kann das Schweben und Schwanken der Bilder noch entzücken, aber das legt sich bald. Dramaturgisch hält nichts zusammen, soll es auch nicht, aber thematisch. Es wird schwadroniert über Gott und die Welt, auch ganz im Ernst, Gott und die Welt, drunter machen wir's nicht, ein Film für 15jährige, die Philosophie studieren wollen, ein Kompendium des semiesoterischen Schwachsinns, der mancherorts als Nachdenken über unsere Existenz und den ganzen Rest durchgeht. Passiert mir ja selten, aber nach einer dreiviertel Stunde bin ich aus der Pressevorführung geflüchtet. Nicht zum Aushalten. [Jump Cut]

New Ren & Stimpy coming to TNN. TV Guide reports that John K. is busy making a new series of Ren & Stimpy cartoons! He hates TV executives (see my interview with him) so it'll be interesting to see what happens. [Boing Boing Blog]

Challenging Love's Rules. "Pumpkin," an independent feature written by Adam Larson Broder and directed by Mr. Broder and Tony R. Abrams, isn't your typical teenage romantic comedy. By Dave Kehr. [New York Times: Arts]

Where the Drag Queens Wore Beards. This documentary chronicles the history of a loosely organized collective of drag performers, and in the process illuminates the idealistic, anarchic spirit of the late 1960's and early 70's. By A. O. Scott. [New York Times: Arts]

Moviegoers Are Flocking to Forget Their Troubles. A movie surge has left Hollywood executives, marketers, analysts and theater owners searching to explain their sudden, unexpected bounty. By Rick Lyman. [New York Times: Movies]

Trying to Make Sense of the Irrational. This serious, well-acted docudrama about Jeffrey Dahmer, the notorious serial killer, falls headlong into the trap of imagining that it can somehow rationalize the monstrous. By Stephen Holden. [New York Times: Movies]

Teresa Nielsen Hayden's Evil Overlord Plot Generator for writers who need to get some action into their works has been automated. Follow the link below to get a kind of I Ching reading for your sf story, ideas and elements and restrictions that come together to spur your plot. I just can't stop hitting reload.

I figured that if I could teach the students some low cheap tricks for coming up with plots, it would give them something to work with while Jim was teaching them how to do it for real. Unfortunately, I later mislaid all my notes except for the introduction, so I'm not sure what I told them.

Here's the introduction: "Plot is what maintains a decent separation between the front cover and the back cover of a book. Story is what gives the readers the incentive to read all the pages in order. Plot is a literary convention. Story is a force of nature. And now that we've got that out of the way..."

I recall telling them some basic moves, like how you can get away with hokey crap a lot better if the story's moving fast and other cool things are happening, and how you can make two or three half-baked ideas look deceptively substantial by using them in combination. I fear I may have told them--this is like remembering what you said last night at the party--that it counts as originality if you try to do an outright imitation of some other writer but get it so wrong that no one can tell that's what you were trying to do.

[Making Light via >Boing Boing Blog]

Lawmaker: Let studios hack P2P networks

A proposed US law would allow copyright holders to attack peer-to-peer networks in order to prevent infringement. The bill, which is still being drafted, would provide a shield against legal liability for copyright owners who used high-tech attacks to stop file trading. It would stop short of giving them the right to damage file-swappers' computers or spread viruses...

The Content Kings are like Moths They keep flying into what they see as light. Hopefully, it will deliver a lethal electrical charge...

[Ernie the Attorney]

deutscher film. Kluge Leute, die kluge Filme machen, unterhalten sich über das Filmemachen und das Politische. Christian Petzoldt, Romuald Karmakar und Andres Veiel in der taz. | Intelligent people, who make intelligent films, converse about film making and its politics. Christian Petzoldt, Romuald Karmakar and Andres Veiel in taz. [Jump Cut German-language movie web log] Google automatic translation tool

Every Montage Tells Another Story. Ever since the dawn of photography, people have manipulated images. But digital media has transformed the art of montage into a brand-new genre. By Kendra Mayfield. [Wired News] [The All Electric Media Weblog]

Broadcast Engineering.

DTV and Planes, Trains & Automobiles...

[The All Electric Media Weblog]

DVD Has Begun to Take Over. Introduced five years ago, DVD [Digital Video Disk] has moved from catching on to taking over. The process is gradual, but everywhere VHS is passing the torch to the new format. By Peter M. Nichols. [New York Times: Movies]