Hounddog

As freaky as I find Dakota Fanning, and as much as I respect her as a young actress, I would have never allowed her to take this role if I was her parent.





All shook up over Dakota's 'Hounddog'

Cute-as-a-button child star Dakota Fanning, who turned 12 in February, is venturing into sexually disturbing territory in a movie being filmed in North Carolina.
The screenplay for "Hounddog" - a dark story of abuse, violence and Elvis Presley adulation in the rural South, written and directed by Deborah Kampmeier - calls for Fanning's character to be raped in one explicit scene and to appear naked or clad only in "underpants" in several other horrifying moments.

Fanning's mother, Joy, and her Hollywood agent, Cindy Osbrink, see the movie as a possible Oscar vehicle for the pint-size star. But despite Fanning's status as a bankable actress - whose movies, including last year's "War of the Worlds," have earned more than half a billion dollars since 2001 - the alarming material seems to have scared off potential investors from the under-$5 million indie project.

"The two taboos in Hollywood are child abuse and the killing of animals," a source close to the situation told me. "In this movie, both things happen."

Fanning's carefully choreographed rape scene has already been filmed. But then the production - which also stars Robin Wright Penn, David Morse and Piper Laurie - was shut down for lack of funds. Penn, who's also an executive producer, gave a pep talk to the dispirited cast in the days leading up to the shutdown. The desperate producer, Jen Gatien, daughter of former club czar Peter Gatien, sent out an SOS to New York entertainment entrepreneur Lawrence Robins. Robins located emergency investors, filming resumed, and the movie is scheduled to wrap tomorrow.

"The subject matter is very tough," Robins told me, "but I was attracted to it because in the end it's a story about human understanding, about a little girl who's dealt a very bad deck of cards, but finds solace in the music of Elvis and survives."

The script requires the preteen actress to confront tougher challenges than Brooke Shields and Jodie Foster did when, at Fanning's age, they played child prostitutes.

"It's not just the rape scene - the whole story is challenging Dakota as an actress," Fanning's longtime agent, Osbrink, told me. "And I've never been so proud of her in my life. I've seen the dailies, and in every scene she gets better and better."

Why can't I find a good talkie?

I miss going to a good movie.

For some reason, the theaters around here pick very bad movies.  Here's what is playing right now.

• Jackass 2
• The Marine
• School for Scroundrels
• Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning
• The Departed
• Employee of the Month
• Flags of Our Fathers
• Flicka
• The Grudge 2
• The Guardian
• Man of the Year
• Open Season
• The Prestige
• Saw III (this has been here for over month!!)

Skyprincess wanted to see Marie Antoinette last weekend and we had to drop 2 hours to see it.  2 hours for a cotton candy movie??  Sheesh.

I realize this is a very bad time for movies.  There doesn't appear to be much really interesting out there.  I've checked out the releases and have found a few that sound interesting.

One Night with the King -An epic adventure that follows a young Jewish orphan who rises from peasant to Queen of Persia only to face the annihilation of her people.

Infamous - another Truman Copote movie.  After seeing one this summer, not sure how well I would enjoy this one.

The Last King of Scotland - A Scottish doctor on a Ugandan medical mission becomes irreversibly entangled with one of the world’s most barbaric figures: Idi Amin. Impressed by Dr. Garrigan’s brazen attitude in a moment of crisis, the newly self-appointed Ugandan President Amin hand picks him as his personal physician and closest confidante

Aurora Borealis - maybe.  sound interesting

Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles - i'll have to rent this one since it will never ever EVER make it here

The Wicker Man - you know, i'm not sure i want to see this remake.  however, i was watching a VH1 special on the top 100 scariest movies of all time and they talked about the original.  i want to see it so bad now!  and i'm someone who doesn't really like scary movies.  i wonder if the blockbuster here has a copy

How to Eat Fried Worms - I've never read the book this is based on so alot would be lost on me.  I watched a review of this movie some time ago and it looks like a nice thoughtless afternoon movie to watch.

Queens - Skyprincess would get a kick out of this movie

The Quiet - this has an interesting summary, but at 90 mins and a teen film, i'm afraid it will disappoint.  definitely a risk

The Illusionist - this sounds far superior to the other magic based movie playing right now (The Prestige)

The House of Sand - hrmmm....

****UPCOMING MOVIES*****

The Fountain - Three parallel stories--about love, death, spirituality, and the fragility of existence--as told through the odyssey taken on by one man in his thousand-year struggle to save the woman he loves

Casino Royale - this looks like it's going to rock so hard its not funny.  i better not be disappointed.  this is the first 007 movie i've wanted to see in 2 decades.  i'm really hoping they do a great retelling and get away from the camp that plagued the previous 007 movies.

Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus - A biopic about the life of photographer Diane Arbus, considered one of the most mysterious, enigmatic, and frighteningly bold artists of the 20th century. Most known for her obsession with 'freak' subject-matter, her haunting work emerged from a deeply private place. Arbus' death was as mysteriously tragic as was the aura surrounding some of her most piercing portraits.

Stranger Than Fiction - I don't give Will Farrel movies enough credit.  I've been snobby enough to avoid them in the past, but I really need to drop the turned-up-nose attitude and just enjoy them.  This one looks like a lot of fun.  Perhaps I've been burned too many time by Ben Stiller movies (Starsky & Hutch anyone?)

Borat: Cultural Learnings Of America For Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan - WE ARE SOOOOOO SEEING THIS ONE EVEN IF WE HAVE TO DRIVE 4 HOURS TO CHICAGO!!!!

Unknown - Five men waking up in a chemical warehouse and realizing they don't know who they are and how they got there. But through time they deduct that some of them are hostages and some are kidnappers. The men now must figure out who is who as they've learned the lead kidnapper is on his way and plans to kill the hostages.

Pan's Labyrinth - Set in 1940s Spain against the postwar repression of Franco's Spain, a fairy tale that centers on Ofelia, a lonely and dreamy child living with her mother and adoptive father, who is a military officer tasked with 'ridding the area' of rebels. In her loneliness, Ofelia creates a world filled with fantastical creatures and secret destinies.

The Children of Men - A futuristic society faces extinction when no children are born and the human race has lost the ability to reproduce

Charlotte's Web - at first, i wasn't going to add this to the list.  and it probably doesn't deserve it.  i can't imagine a better movie than the original animated one.  however, this has dakota fanning as fern.  dakota has got to be one of the most talented young actresses out there today.  and one of the creepest as well.  she's just freaky.

Eragon - it better have hobbits with furry feet

Apocalypto - Set in the Mayan civilization, when a man's idyllic presence is brutally disrupted by a violent invading force, he is taken on a perilous journey to a world ruled by fear and oppression where a harrowing end awaits him

The Holiday - okay this movie will probably suck.  the only reason i put this on is because of the premise of the movie.  i was reading recently that people swap houses as they are in this movie.  for anyone thinking of spending time away, this might be an option for them.

Sometimes culture needs changing

I was very disturbed this morning when I was viewing Drudge.  The latest political charge is that a democrat published a kiddie porn book.

I don't care which party you belong to, this is inappropriate.  Like most people, I reacted negatively when first reading the story.  Then I dug a little deeper.

This is what I found.

The democrat actually wrote a book on his experiences during the Vietnam war.  This book has been praised by many, including John McCain as an accurate portrayal of what happened.  The passage quoted by his opponent was an account of what he saw happen, not a work of kiddie porn fiction.  For us, the except was very disturbing and appeared on its face as very inappropriate and deserves to be investigated when brought to our attention.  Unfortunately, the charge is a distortion of what is the truth.  Webb was referencing something he saw as a Cambodian cultural act.  Thankfully, my research also showed it is not something generally accepted and is now an exception that is quickly being viewed as a cultural 'no-no'.

Here are the links to the stories.

Drudge

Webb defends his excerpt

Story referenced in Webb's defense article

Fill in the blank

________________ is melting in the dark
all the sweet, green icing flowing down
someone left the cake out in the rain
I don't think that I can take it
'cause it took so long to bake it
and I'll never have that recipe again!

And that's all I have to say about that....

I feel bad about not posting in a while.  I'm finding my time limited at work.  I actually have projects to work on!  Happy me!! 

Last week we had our first real cold snap.  It snowed for three days.  For Wisconsin, snow isn't anything new.  I'm sure it's been snowing here for hundreds of thousands of years.  For me, it was something completely alien.  To be somewhere where it snowed in the first week of October.  I'm usually still in shorts and t-shirts this time of the year.  I'm usually inside with my air conditioning blowing full blast, as I look out the window and curse the trees for dropping leaves.  Just means I have to go and rake!  I hate raking leaves.

I was told this was unusual weather.  That it doesn't normally snow this early.  Perhaps this week proved that true.  The temperatures are hovering in the mid 50s.  Much nicer than the mid 20s last week.  I did learn the bridge near my turn-off will be a danger in the future.  It's at the bottom of the hill and is fairly long.  Its exactly where I need to brake to make my turn.  And last week, it had a bit of ice on it, making me slip a little.  Just enough to wake me up.

There's just some things you hate about being cold.  The goose bumps, the shivering, the cold hands and feet.  My hands and feet are always cold.  They just don't generate any heat.  Gloves are a requirement during winter for me.  I have an old internal temperature.  My torso pumps out heat like mad.  I've been pushed away many times when snuggling on the bed.  I've been called a little furnace.  Its nice during the winter, but not so much during the heat of the summer.  But as hot as my torso gets, my hands and feet will be ice cold.  Not a pleasant sensation when trying to cuddle, I've been told.

And here's something guys can relate to.  Cold makes my willy shrink to the size of a peanut.  I'm sure it has something to do with the male genitals retracting to keep the sperm at a nice warm temperature.  But it sucks when you need to pee and have to fish around for something that has went turtle on you.  Aiming can be a bit dangerous, also.  You just have this little snub nosed pistol that goes everywhere.  I'm beginning to think I'll need to spend the winter sitting down to pee.  Real macho, I know =(

Skyprincess and I have been craving a movie to see. For the past month, we've found nothing playing in our area.  At least in Memphis, there was a much larger selection than here.  They even have the movie "The Last King of Scotland" I've been wanting to see.  Of course its not here, it's too 'art house' to play in this area.  We did try looking at the Green Bay area (1.5 hours away), but it doesn't have it either.  I guess we'll need to wait for it to make it to Blockbuster.  I just hope this one will carry it.

Celia and Matt sent us a beautiful salad bowl recently.  They are this terrific couple I met online and that we had a chance of meeting in person before I shipped off to Wisconsin.  They don't know it, but fate may intervene and I might be spending some weekends in the Dallas area.  If so, we want to be able to visit them often since we love them to death.  I'm not sure how we got so lucky to have met so many terrific people the past year, but we have.  And I've never felt so grateful before in my life. 

Life is good, there's nothing much I can add to that.

-Mizike-

Free International Calls?

This looks too good to be true, but I thought I'd post it anyways.  I haven't been in a blogging mood lately, so thought I'd just go into my "post good stuff" frame of mind.

Here you go!

Future Phone

Got to keep them seperated!

I wish I could find my post on this. Knowing me, I never posted my thoughts but just told random people.

The latest leak is that the US is putting together a proposal to split Iraq into 3 countries. Much like what happened to the USSR after the fall of communism. Here is the article.

I've been telling people for months this is what I believe the solution should be, especially after all the sectarian violence. Of course this is probably just a policy proposal that will never make it beyond review, but its the only solution I see beyond just leaving. It takes a dictator to hold those groups together, something we've done away with. Now it's time to put the kids into time out and let them sort themselves out. Send each group to their room and keep them seperated.

-Mizike-

A passing

I'm breaking with tradition and posting an obit story.



I wish to take this time to express my sorrow at hearing the death of Tamara Dobson. Best known as Cleopatra Jones during the "blaxploitation" era. She passed away on Monday of complications from pneumonia and multiple sclerosis at the age of 59.

ick!

I've been lax doing a lot of household chores this past week after getting back from the honeymoon.  Adjusting to the time change has been tougher than I thought.  I have found it hard to sleep when I should.  Not that this is a huge change.  I've always only slept 4 or 5 hours a night.  Unfortunately, my waking up at 2am was not appreciated by Skyprincess.  3 days in a row I had woke her up before 5am.  The third day she stayed a little pissed for most of the morning.

It's sorta a catch-22 for me.  She sleeps better when I'm in bed with her than when I'm not.  But if I go to bed at the same time as she does, I'm up at 3am.  So do I go to bed early with her or stay up until 1am and go to bed then?  Tough choices.

Today she's gone away for work and won't be back until Thursday.  I have lots to do around the house.  The laundry has been washed but remains in huge piles on the sofa.  I need to work on that tonight.  If I iron, it will be a 2 day ordeal.  I iron very very slowly.

One of the other things I needed to do was stripped the guest bed.  I haven't gotten around to it, but most get it done tonight.  I went home from lunch and put on another load of clothes and stripped the guest bed as much as possible.  That's when I spotted it.  Spunk stains all over the dark blue pillow case.  And it wasn't mine.

-Mizike-