Dangerous Men

Posted by & filed under Film & TV.

I’m deeply proud of the fact that Yankee Fog was one of the first websites to break the news of the upcoming cinematic juggernaut that is Snakes on a Plane. I am equally proud to introduce my readers to a film that seems even more likely to leave audiences gasping in stunned disbelief: Dangerous Men.
The film apparently surfaced in a handful of LA theaters last fall, with no advertising. But word of mouth soon spread among the city’s cineasts. To understand why, you might start with the LA Weekly’s review:

Dangerous Men evidences one of the most eccentric, hermetic, idiosyncratic sensibilities to be found in the filmmaking canon: Background paintings leap out of frame. Key exposition is delivered away from the camera. Actors appear to repeat key speeches phonetically. Kung fu sequences employ reverse zooms, sucking the action out of the scene. Sex acts invariably involve massaging of knees and licking of navels. A biker bar prominently features an espresso machine.
At one point, the movie’s Ms. 45-style vigilante kneels on the beach, lost in her thoughts, as a tender ballad declaims something about “the splendors of the moment”; as the camera pulls back, we see the lyrics of the song written in the sand — in cursive writing. The sole name cast member — the late Carlos Rivas, who played Lun Tha in the movie version of The King and I — holds a conversation on a phone that is clearly not plugged in, his script on the desk in front of him, his lines highlighted in yellow Magic Marker.

Not all reviews have been as rapturous — Stomp Tokyo sniffed that “To call Dangerous Men epically bad is overstating the case”–but audience demand kept the film in theaters for four months before director John S. Rad (not his real name) pulled the film in an ingenious strategy to increase demand for it.
Although he doesn’t seem surprised by the enthusiasm his work has generated, Rad does seem a little puzzled by the form that enthusiasm has taken. As he told Mondo Kims, “I was so wondering: some scenes in my opinion were not funny to laugh at or be so excited about.” But whatever the audience reaction, Rad says, the important thing is “to see the quality of the film, how it is, what message it gives, what education we can receive, and if we have fun from its entertainmentship.”
Oddly, Dangerous Men hasn’t yet found a distributor, so if you want to experience its entertainmentship, you’ll have to check the official website to see if it’s playing at a local film festival. Fortunately, the website provides a trailer for the film and–even better– a special promotional theme song, which reveals that Mr. Rad is not merely a writer/director/cinematographer/editor/producer, but a composer/lyricist/performer as well. Suck on that, Orson Welles!
(Thanks to Music For Maniacs for introducing me to this important motion picture.)

The Sincerest Form Of Flattery

Posted by & filed under Snakes on a Plane.

I’ve hit the big time. Somebody has finally esteemed Yankee Fog highly enough to steal a post from here and pass it off as his own.
Perhaps not surprisingly, it’s the single most-popular entry at Yankee Fog: my exclusive sneak preview of the Snakes on a Plane trailer, which has received more hits than all the other entries on the site combined. Lately, its popularity has surged even higher, as people googling for the phrase Snakes on a Plane trailer have had the good fortune to end up at my site, instead of at some silly official site for the movie.
But recently, one visitor came here from a search for the phrase “the snake is wearing a false moustache.” Wondering how many other web pages could contain that phrase, I googled it myself–and that’s how I stumbled on my first plagiarist, who has reproduced my trailer almost word-for-word.
Now, it’s easy enough to quote something and forget to mention the source. So, I figured I’d give this obvious fan of my writing the benefit of the doubt. I made a comment on his blog, saying that I was sure he hadn’t intended to plagiarize, but the way he had framed the quote from me made it appear to be his writing. I mentioned that I’d appreciate it if he’d give proper credit.
Sure enough, within twenty-four hours, he had taken action–by deleting my comment.
A little poking around in this guy’s blog indicates that I’m not the first author he’s stolen from. For example, another entry was copied verbatim (and without credit) from this original entry at another writer’s site.
Annoyed as I am, it’s hard to get too upset. As far as I can tell, the blog belongs to a 16-year-old kid named (NAME DELETED). While that’s certainly old enough to understand why plagiarism is wrong, it’s too young to have to permanently suffer for stupid mistakes, and if (NAME DELETED) were to give proper credit to me and anybody else he’s stolen from, and to apologize, I’d certainly remove his name from this entry. That way, people Googling for (NAME DELETED) wouldn’t come across this entry.
Trust me, (NAME DELETED)–getting in the habit of plagiarism is the worst thing a young aspiring writer can do. Break the habit now, and you’ll be glad of it later in life.
UPDATED TO ADD: (NAME DELETED) has now given me proper credit in his blog, so, as promised, I’ve removed his name and the link to his site. He’s also responded here; if you’d like to see his side of the story, be sure to read the comments of this entry.

Late to the party

Posted by & filed under Film & TV.

I’ve just watched the Oscars.
I know I’m a little late. Here in the UK, they were broadcast only on Sky Movies, which we don’t get. I had to wait until the recording my in-laws were kind enough to make for me made it across the Atlantic. Until then, I haven’t read any coverage of the broadcast, in order to avoid spoilers. (Yes, I am that big an Oscar geek.)
In short, I recognize that by now, everybody else on the planet with any interest in the topic has already commented on Crash‘s surprise win for Best Picture. Everybody has offered a theory as to why it beat out Brokeback Mountain. But I have my own theory, and it’s one that nobody else seems to have considered.
As far as I’m concerned, the reason for Crash‘s win wasn’t that it was “a hometown favorite” (as the New York Times speculated), or that its setting was urban rather than rural (as Larry McMurtry speculated.)
No, Crash won because the Academy members saw it on DVD.
Now, I loved both movies, but I loved them for very different reasons. Brokeback Mountain‘s power comes from a lot of small character moments, many of which are expressed through body language and facial expressions. Crash’s power comes much more from plot.
As a result, if you see them both in the theatre , you’ll pick up on the strengths of Brokeback, but larger-than-life Crash might seem melodramatic or over-the-top. By contrast, if you see them both on DVD, you’ll see the strengths of CRASH, but understated BROKEBACK might seem slow or uninteresting. Most critics and (thus far) most moviegoers will have seen both films on a big screen– but I’m willing to bet that many, if not most, Academy members saw both films on screener DVDs.
 

USA! USA! USA!

Posted by & filed under US News.

Some months back, I reported on a Scottish delicacy known as the Stonner, a 1000-calorie deep fried pork kabob so dangerous to the health of the eater that customers may not purchase more than one per week. Awestruck though I was by the culinary ingenuity on display, I confess that I felt galled to know that another nation had apparently bested my own in the field of unhealthy eating.
Well, I am proud to announce that America has retaken the lead. Even better, my native land’s culinary triumph comes courtesy of baseball, our national sport.
The Gateway Grizzles– 2003 champions of the Frontier League– have introduced a product they are describing as America’s Best Burger. Here is the description, from the press release:

The burger, which was debuted at the Grizzlies’ December 10th sale, consists of a thick and juicy burger topped with sharp cheddar cheese and two slices of bacon. The burger is then placed in between each side of a Krispy Kreme Original Glazed doughnut.


Next time you are in Sauget, IL, stop by a Grizzlies game and visit the concession stand. Then let me know if America’s Best Burger lives up to its name. You better let me know fast, though, before the heart attack hits.

A Kazatz for Winston

Posted by & filed under Life In London.

I suppose it’s a bit late to be reporting on something that happened on Valentine’s Day, but since February 14 fell during the Great February Yankee Fog Silence of 2006, I hope you’ll indulge me.
Lauren and I spent Valentine’s Day swing-dancing in the underground bunker from which Winston Churchill ran the British war effort. Whether or not the PM ever suspected that one day, his top-secret enter of military operations would be one of London’s best museums, and that this museum would host a Valentine’s Day dance, I like to think that he would have approved.
The band was terrific, playing all the swing classics you’d want them to. And then, well into the evening, when everybody was loose from the dancing and the bar, the singer told everybody to gather in a circle and follow the lead of the dance instructor.
And then the band launched into the hora.
Based on their hora-dancing abilities, the other couples there had been to few if any Bar Mitzvahs, but they gamely followed the instructor’s lead. The result, I can safely say, was the single-finest hora ever danced in Winston Churchill’s underground war bunker.

Favorite Rejected Onion Headlines

Posted by & filed under Commentary.

I am a freelance contributor to the Onion, meaning that I occasionally submit headlines to them. If they like ’em, they hang on to ’em, and some of them become Onion articles.
However, every time I submit, there are always a few I especially like that don’t make the cut. In order that they may have some sort of life, I’m occasionally going to post my favorite rejected Onion headlines.
The creme of this week’s rejected crop:
• Konami Unveils Video Game Controller Shaped Like Video Game Console
• Sims LARPer Just Living Normal Life
• Olympics Followup: Officials Admit First-Ever Winter Marathon Was Bad Idea; Search For Survivors Continues

What is human nature?

Posted by & filed under Shameless self-promotion.

Among the course offerings at Miami University of Ohio is the rather ambitiously titled What Is Human Nature? Students in this course are required to submit their own interdisciplinary research proposal on the topic, complete with a list of proposed reference works. It recently came to my attention that two students in this course — Shiree Campbell and Jocelyn Hauge — are proposing to research the topic of “Heroes and Superheroes:”

In our project, we will question what it is that pushes people to expect and want more for themselves. We also plan on determining what causes us to identify with certain heroes and superheroes, thus identifying which traits are the mostly sought out: strength, intelligence, popularity, or versatility, amongst many others.
Basically we are looking at the notion of heroes and superheroes in the human species, and how it is within our human nature to look for those we can imitate, strive to be, or admire greatly from afar.

Now, I don’t know much about Shiree Campbell and Jocelyn Hauge, but I do know that they are brilliant scholars with a keen sense of appropriate source materials. How do I know this? Because one of the reference works they cite for this important study is The Government Manual for New Superheroes.
I must confess that this comes as a relief. For some reason, people keep mistaking The Government Manual for New Superheroes for a work of humor, and it’s a pleasure to see two fine young scholars at long last recognize it for the useful reference work it truly is. Soon, no doubt, it will find its much-deserved place on the reference shelf of every psychiatrist, next to the DSM-IV.

The Shushan Channel

Posted by & filed under Shameless self-promotion.

For the past few years, my friend Rob has been organizing an annual charity benefit in New York called “the Shushan Channel.” It’s a Purim-themed sketch show, followed by a dance, with the proceeds going in part to an environmental charity called Hazon. There is also an open bar, so you can fully observe the deeply spiritual commandment to get drunk out of your gourd on Purim.
By the way–and this is going to be a shock, I know–it turns out there are a lot of Jewish comedy writers out there, and Rob has organized an all-star writing and performing team. This year’s performance –which takes place on Monday, March 13th–boasts writers from The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, Dennis Miller Live, The Onion and Channel 101, and performers from Comedy Central, VH-1, Upright Citizens Brigade, and more. As I have for the past few years, I’ve contributed a sketch to the show.
If you’re in New York on March 13th, I’d encourage you to check it out. (But you may want to book in advance–the show sold out last year.)
More information at the Shushan Channel webpage.

Back to posting

Posted by & filed under About the site.

I’m afraid I’ve been very lax about posting lately. This is partly because I have been busy with a few projects, and partly because I recently contracted the bubonic plague, which has evidently been sweeping across London, and soon the city will belong to the rats. (Admittedly, my doctor told me that I (and everybody else she had seen that week) had an ordinary flu, but that only proves that she is secretly in league with the rats.)
Fortunately, I am now feeling vastly better, and will try to start posting again.
The major disappointment of being ill, by the way, was that–contrary to everything I had learned from a lifetime of reading nineteenth-century novels– no matter how long you lie in your sickbed on the top floor of a Victorian home, no elderly widowed aunts, virtuous young maidens, or charmingly malapropic country parson’s wives will stop by to nurse you to health, nor will your illness lead to a series of startling revelations that result in your inheriting of a sizable country estate. I feel horribly deceived by the entire Penguin Classics line, and I am considering a class-action lawsuit.