Usual Suspects
 

Usual suspects, blah, blah, haven't seen it, go rent it...
It seems to me that he'd want to stay as close to real events as possible, because he wasn't sure what the cops knew and what they didn't. Any of the following basic facts could be verified: hijacking of gun parts, subsequent shake down line up, relationship between Dean Keaton and Edie, hit on the New York's Finest Taxi Service and theft of diamonds, diamonds (and the group) showing up in LA, hit in the parking garage, bodies of Kobayashi body guards, Fenster's body, bodies from the boat, lack of drugs, presence of the identifiying guy that they were buying, and lack of (I imagine) money. Verbal/Soze had to weave a story that accommodated those facts, just in case the police found out about them, like they found out about Soze's involvment. Certainly he didn't bring up Soze until Kujan did, but I think that the basic structure of Verbal's story plays out with what really happened, because if it didn't, and the police knew something that he didn't explain in his story, then he could have been nailed.

I love the movie because it's different every time I watch it. I think, though, that Kevin Spacey's performance in L.A. Confidential was more complex and more interesting than The Usual Suspects, and it pisses me off that he (along with the rest of the male cast) in that movie weren't even nominated for Academy Awards.

Worst Film Accent?
 

No question. But I didn't put much thought into whether it would be better with subtitles and would rather hit play than go through the dvd menu crap (that would be another way to say I'm lazy).

TM

Usual Suspects
 

He doesn't care whether they can verify it or not; he'll be gone. They never had the chance to unverify anything. Not enough time. Verbal/Soze knows this. He knows there is no way a police department in NYC can verify the specific goings-on in California in that short of time, for example. He knows they only can question him for a few hours. By the time they figure out he made up the story, he's gone. It would take them DAYS to prove him wrong. He knows they know NOTHING. He has contacts w/in the PD.

Own a piece of the Rock
 

Another bad movie - The Rock. However,

SAN FRANCISCO, July 1 — Now you can own a piece of The Rock, aka Alcatraz Island. The National Park Service has started selling boxed chunks of concrete from the federal prison that once housed Al Capone, George “Machine Gun” Kelly and Robert “Birdman” Stroud. THE SOUVENIRS, which cost $4.95, are available because the park service is renovating the decaying cell house and a guards quarters on the isolated island in San Francisco Bay.
The $7.7 million effort to stabilize the structure is the largest capital project on the island since the penitentiary was closed in 1963. Richard Weideman, a spokesman for the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, said park staff came up with the idea for the mementos as an alternative to ferrying tons of rubble off Alcatraz.

In other words, we're lazy and we're cheap. So buy rocks from us so we don't have to work so hard.
lazy asses selling crap instead of working

On the other hand - what a great Christmas idea. Hey mom and dad, I bought you a piece of rock that Al Capone peed on!

Worst Film Accent?
 

Don't you mean Scotch?

More Usual Suspects Spoiler Talk
 

I'm obviously a less proficient student of The Usual Suspects than Coltrane is, but I think the brilliance of the plotline is this observation, coupled with the fact that Verbal is forced to change and redirect the narrative in response to things happening outside the room. Palmienteri's character keeps coming in and out of the room with dribs and drabs of outside information, which Soze then weaves into the story. As I said, Soze's name isn't even mentioned until halfway through the movie, at which point Verbal is forced to guess at how much Palmienteri has learned from the survivors of the boat fire, and scramble to explain (1) why the Soze thing is consistent with facts Palmienteri knows from other sources and (2) why he didn't tell the DA about Soze's involvement before getting immunity.

The entire movie is about how Verbal needs to keep spinning the story to get out of the interrogation room at all costs and back into the underworld. It's like "1001 Nights" where Scheherazade is trying to stay alive, but is herself one of the tales.

Worst Film Accent?
 

No, no, go with Scotch. I like watching various people's heads implode. Don't say it to BritAssoc though; that's unwarrantedly rude, and she's nice.

Where is she, anyway? Hmmmm.

Film Recommendation
 

Didn't mean to offend you Simpsons fans out there. It's just one of those shows I can't appreciate. I find it unfunny. I think I hate cartoons.

The Baylor Basketball Case
 

This is a very sad case, a missing person/suspected homicide of a basketball player from Baylor. The Smoking Gun has the affidavit the media have been reporting. You can find it here: http://www.thesmokinggun.com/doc_o_day/doc_o_day.html


This is an excerpt from the site: Investigators probing the apparent murder of a Baylor University basketball player have implicated one of the athlete's teammates in his disappearance, according to the below search warrant affidavit. Police in Waco, Texas have fingered Carlton Dotson as a suspect in the disappearance of Patrick Dennehy, who has been missing nearly three weeks. According to informant information quoted in the affidavit, Dotson, a 21-year-old junior forward, killed his friend Dennehy, 21, after the pair argued while shooting guns near Baylor's campus. After Dennehy allegedly pointed a gun at him, Dotson "shot his roommate in the head with a 9mm pistol," according to the police informant, who told cops he learned of the killing from a cousin of Dotson's who said he had spoken with the basketball player about the incident.

Worst Film Accent?
 

What do you mean there is no evidence of the whole Redfoot deal? Didn't they kill like 6 people? Or are you saying that because there was no cop who ran into the office to interrupt the Verbal interview and confirm the killings that there was no evidence? Surely Verbal wouldn't throw a multiple homicide into his story hoping that Palmenteri(sp?) wouldn't know about it.

And presumably, Soze only came out of hiding to kill the one person who could identify his face. I guess that could be part of the story too, but if Verbal is indeed Soze, then he had to have known that the whole LA police force would know his face. This supports the Kobayashi as Soze theory.

Whatever. It was a cool movie with lots of possible explanations. I think I'll stick with yours (some true, some not) because it sounds the best of the many explanations I've heard and discussed.

TM

Worst Film Accent?
 

But I'd say it is really very clear the Tudors and Stuarts had plenty of scotch in them. At least most days.

Worst Film Accent?
 

It's been awhile since I've seen it, but doesn't the movie end with Kobayashi calling Verbal "Mr. Soze"???

Worst Film Accent?
 

That one Mary person seemed to have a huge stick up her ass. I don't think she drank much. Though, I guess that could help account for the hysterical pregnancies.

Worst Film Accent?
 

This sounds suspiciously like a Sean Connery pick up line.

Breast Implants and Stretch Marks
 

There is some discussion on the other Texas board about the incidence of attorneys with breast implants.

I used to work with an attorney whom I believe had implants. (based on the shape of her breasts and on the fact that she "grew" during the period of time I worked with her). She also had stretch marks on the sides of her breasts. I kind of assumed that the stretch marks were from the implants, although she might have had them before.

Are stretch marks a common side effect of having implants "installed?"

Worst Film Accent?
 

Give me a break. I *am* a feminist lit crit type, and while I loved the movie, it's primarily because it engendered (no pun intended) a huge crush on Aidan Quinn.

(S P O I L E R)

While it may have been vaguely liberating for Rosanna Arquette to leave her ugly dork husband (though I don't see how, because as I recall she had amnesia at the time so it wasn't even intentional), Madonna's hooking up with him only perpetuated the cool chick/loser guy ultimate antifeminist stereotype.

Film Recommendation
 

I'm not sure why any sort of humor is considered "dumb," particularly humor like Dumb and Dumber or the Simpsons.

I find Tim Allen and Ray Romano as unfunny as hell, but I think that's because I like more sarcastic or edgy humor. The Simpsons has more obscure and funnier references than 30 hours of Dennis Miller. Dumb and Dumber is a perfect laugh out loud flick - its every bit as smart in construction as anything Woody Allen has ever made.

I guess my point is, calling humor "dumb" because you don't get it is a bit heavy handed. Its more appropriate to say, as TH did, that "you just don't get it."

S(there are of course exceptions - some movies are just unfunny, like, say... Van Wilder)D

Worst Film Accent?
 

not to pick on pj, and I certainly wouldn't, but isn't there some sort of limitations for spoilers? If you haven't seen desperately seeking susan by this point in your life, the chances are pretty damn low that you ever will.

And if you haven't watched the monday episode of For Love or Money yet, you really need to fill up that TiVo with better things to watch on a tape-delayed basis.

Worst Film Accent?
 

I agree with "whatever". After overanalyzing the shit out of this, I still really don't know what happened...

Maybe I need to be high to think through this clearly...


Edited to add that I am an idiot when I smoke pot. A complete moron. I know a carpenter who smokes before he goes on the job, and it makes him that much more focused. He's brilliant and precise. Nothing can distract him and he's as meticulous as one can be. I've seen him work not high and it's not as good. Being high for him is a natural, enhancing state for him. Not me.

Worst Film Accent?
 

Could be. Don't remember, really.

But if that's true, what does it mean? Does it mean that the whole Keyzer Soze legend was made up? Or did he just make up the part where he came out of hiding to kill the guy who saw his face?

TM

Worst Film Accent?
 

doesn't a fax of Soze's face come to the cop just as Virgil left, and the face looks a lot like Virgil's?

Worst Film Accent?
 

I actually wouldn't have spoiler-ed it--hell, I don't even think we should have to spoiler same-day tennis matches for people once the results've been posted on the NYT website--but str8 said he hadn't seen it, and as this movie had just popped into his head I thought he might be reconsidering to see what the fuss was about.

And Thurgreed's still wrong. My perfect little belt bag the size of a credit card is hardly a huge-ass shiny nylon fannypack. And my guess is that he dances like Lionel Richie or Whitney Houston--that is, he can't, and certainly shouldn't in public.

Worst Film Accent?
 

Indeed it does, though I don't remember Verbal being called Mr. Soze by "Kobayashi"... Since I have the 10th Anniversary DVD Special Edition in my collection at home, I will be happy to break it out this weekend and watch it and the special features for the answers we seek... I'd invite everybody over for a few cold ones and fire up the grill, but, well...

Worst Film Accent?
 

Those Tudor girls did have some pretty wicked catfights, didn't they?

Do We Know This NYer?
 

From Salon's Match Made in Heaven, Match Made in Hell Dating column

"The summer I was studying for the bar exam, I was swamped with work and my sister's wedding, but I had time for a little light dating. I went on about a half-dozen dates with a very nice guy from my law school class. We had a fine time at the occasional party or dinner or concert, but there wasn't much in the physical chemistry department. Still, I liked him, so by the end of the summer I found myself inviting him up to my apartment after dinner. We were on the couch finally doing some real kissing, when he started to run his hand up under my sundress. At last.

Suddenly he stops, his hand on my ass, and in a startled tone says, "Your underwear doesn't cover your butt!"

"No," I said, "it's a thong."

"What's a thong?" came the shocked reply.

I had never met a guy, pushing 30, in the 1990s, in New York City, who had never encountered a thong, much less never heard of one. Had this man never so much as seen a Victoria's Secret catalog? I tried to salvage the evening, but it was too late. There was no way I was going to be able to have great sex with a guy who considered a simple thong as shocking as a full-body crotchless latex catsuit."

Do We Know This NYer?
 

I know her.

It is true. Her underwear does not cover her butt.

But it is not a thong. She just wears really undersized non-thong panties from GAP Kids.

In addition, there is nothing shocking to any New Yorker about full-body-crotchless latex catsuits. This is what we all traipse about the office in on fridays to make it extra-casual at the end of the work week. It also makes accessing genitals relatively hassle-free during those long conference calls where all you want to do is furiously masturbate.
________________
Pushy the Puppy
http://www.giantgenius.com/images/stock.jpg

Do We Know This NYer?
 

I always feared long conference calls with NY attorneys. I thought you were mad. Now I'll have a better understanding of em behavior/demeanor. Come to think of it, they do always seem to chill out after 2 or 3 minutes.

Last Comic Standing
 

Spoiler space

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Okay, I understand that comics are supposed to be nasty and misanthropic, but damn these people are incredibly unlikable. I think I would quit rather than spend 10 minutes alone with them.

I's a little hard to figure out who is really in the alliance. It looked to be just Dave, Rich, and Corey (who I really cannot stand), and now it also looks as if it is also the black woman whose name I cannot remember (Tess, maybe?) and Ralphie.

As for the competion, how is it possible that Corey beat Tere, no less smoked her so badly? Corey is not funny and her style and routine could have been taped from any comedy central standup in the last 15 years, with tweaks to the cultural references. At least Tere's stuff was interesting.

Worst Film Accent?
 

You wish you could dance on the ceiling.

TM

Do We Know This NYer?
 

What disturbs me about this is that I have never had a conference call with New York attorneys where they didn't gather up five or six of them in a room to talk with me. So this is what you're all doing and why there are five or six in the room but only one ever talks?

Do We Know This NYer?
 

It's either circle-jerk or the bread game. It's always a chick who talks, right?

Last Comic Standing
 

Agreed. Corey's material was predictable and her presentation mundane and unremarkable. Tere at least had me in suspense. I actually thought she had blanked there for a while and was gong to upchuck her neuroses onstage.

Last Comic Standing
 

Spoiler Space





















I rarely like female comics, and last night was no exception. I agree that there was nothing terribly original or interesting about Corey, but I thought she won hands-down. Mainly because Tere is flat-out terrible. She was not funny in Los Angeles. I missed the Vegas show, but I doubt she was funny there. Most gimicky comics suck ("look at me, I'm weird and angst-ridden!"), but spikey-haired chick sucks more than most. There are funnier working comics in every city (and I use that term loosely) in America. Corey is nothing special as a comedien, and she is probably a bitch, but she was funnier that Tere.

I was, however, surprised by the margin of victory. Dave only got 70-some percent of the vote last week, and I thought he kicked Sean's ass to a greater degree than Corey kicked spike's.

Pack your bags!
 

Let's all go to Vancouver eh?

PRAGUE, Czech Republic, July 2 — Vancouver was awarded the 2010 Winter Olympics on Wednesday, taking the games back to Canada for the first time since 1988. THE INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC Committee selected the British Columbia city over bids from Salzburg, Austria, and Pyeongchang, South Korea.
Salzburg was eliminated in the first round of the secret ballot, setting up a final vote between Vancouver and Pyeongchang.
The vote totals were not immediately announced.
The words that Canada had waited to hear came from IOC president Jacques Rogge, who opened a white envelope and declared that Vancouver had won the rights to the games.
Vancouver, the scenic Pacific coastal city whose bid is paired with the ski resort of Whistler, had been considered the front-runner for most of the campaign.
Canada hasn’t had the Olympics since Calgary hosted the 1988 Winter Games. Austria’s last Olympics was the 1976 Innsbruck Games. South Korea staged the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, but no winter games have ever been held in an Asian country other than Japan.
The 2010 result could have major implications in the race for a bigger prize - the 2012 Summer Olympics.
A marquee field featuring New York, Paris, London, Madrid and Moscow, among others, is already in the race for 2012.
Awarding the 2010 games to North America leaves Europe in a strong position for 2012 - at the expense of New York.

Last Comic Standing
 

I think that going second may have given an advantage to Corey, who certainly wasn't that much funnier than Tere. The audience had her most recently in mind when they voted, and they were probably more likely to remember what she said. The person being eliminated has to be absolutely on his or her game and be memorable for a few mintues. The person going second just has to make the audience laugh enough to forget the first contestant.

Last Comic Standing
 

Speaking of...Ellen DeGeneres had an HBO special last weekend, and if they replay it (which of course they will) I highly recommend it. I liked her show, until the last season when it got all weird and uncomfortable watching her trying to relate to her TV parents who were so immediately accepting of her coming out (not what I've seen in real life, but I guess it could happen).
But she was really funny in this special. She put a lot of effort into it and it shows.

:cool:

Last Comic Standing
 

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I wonder how much influence the other comics and their machinations in the back of the audience have on the voters. An audience member voting on who is the funniest might be influenced by the loud guffaws of professional comedians. Last night, I could hear the loud laughter coming a particular part of the back of the audience. It seems silly to have them in the same room.

Last Comic Standing
 

Yeah, I noticed that the other comics laughed heartily for Corey at jokes that just weren't THAT funny. I guess that's just an extension of the Real World dynamic of the show.

I agree generally with what OWR said about schtick comics. I just thought that for the time they were on stage, Tere was funnier. I guess that places me in the elite 20% that agree.

Last Comic Standing
 

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Tere is, um, how can I put this? Oh I know. NOT FUNNY. Cha cha cha. You're right that "generation gap" humor has been done a lot, but she does it pretty well. Similarly, Dave's "my Dad sucked" stuff has been done by every comic at some point, but if your timing and delivery is good, it's funny. Tere is only funny when she's being self-depricating about the new-age stuff. I couldn't believe she made the final 10 in the first place.

You're right though about these comics being cut-throat. It's because this is a legit big chance for one of them to make it big. The stakes are so much higher for them than for, say, Joe Millionaire or Big Brother. Hence it's edgier. Reminds me of my favorite reality show ever, Bands on the Run, but so far we don't have engaged contestants with newborn babies running around banging groupies and stewardesses. Yet.

Oh, and WTF was going on with Dat? Plotting out his "laughs per minute" and other aspects of his routine in both graphically and in linear charts? What a fuckin nut! I can't believe how awesome the show is, and apparently it's doing pretty well.

str8.

Air Guitar World Championship
 

Had I only known about this, my life may have been much different.

http://espn.go.com/page2/s/kamenetzky/030701.html