Pining for a place to call your own? This week on Sundance Channel we’ve got Steve Martin dying to get home…and Josie Ho killing to get a home. But, it’s not all trials and tribulations of the unanchored. We’ve also got foxy bounty hunters and listless art school students doing what they do best…shooting people and sleeping around!
Wow! We’re touched (in a totally platonic way). You, dear readers, helped us run away with two Webby Awards this year. Our Sundance Film Festival site scorched the Peoples’ Voice competition and the Sundance Channel original series BEGINNINGS beat down the field for best Documentary Series. Congratulations to all of the winners! We’re breaking out the Champ…oh, I mean the Prosecco right now.
Last week we featured FIGHT CLUB and now Brad Pitt is engaged. What’s going to happen to Dustin Hoffman after we all watch TOOTSIE on Sunday? He needs some good news after they cancelled Luck, so fingers crossed! We’ve also got a Japanese horror classic, a French student prostitution romp and the indie dream combo of Bernal and Williams.
Well, we’ve got our nominee squared away so the Romney camp decided to get all Kickstarter-y with their big money donors over the weekend. Buzzfeed got their little mitts on a fundraising letter that went out to high net worth individuals over the weekend. And if you are ready to pony up a cool $50k then get ready for special access at the inauguration (a bit presumptive, no?), along with some quality time with Mitt, and your fellow big donors, at a summertime escape with the candidate himself:
Rookie’s Tavi Gevinson took to TedxTeen to find out what happened to complicated (read: interesting) teenage girls on TV. Frankly, they’ve been hard to find since the 90s. The two shows she holds up for the their shining examples of awesomely interesting ladies figuring their teen selves out? FREAKS & GEEKS and MY SO-CALLED LIFE, which you can watch on Sundance Channel.
Thanks, Tavi. I’m sure Angela Chase would have something insightful to say:
I like to do a quick scan of Facebook and Twitter before I go to bed. I just can’t sleep if I think I might be last person to know about some sort of Kardashian disaster, a North Korean look like Rafael Nadal. So you can imagine my horror, and concern, when I saw this tweet from Newark Mayor Cory Booker:
@CoryBooker Thanks 2 all who are concerned. Just suffering smoke inhalation. We got the woman out of the house. We are both off to hospital. I will b ok
And thanks to BRICK CITY Executive Producer, Politico) on how the mayor is now a full-fledged superhero! When Booker got home last night, he saw smoke and flames pouring out of the building next door. So he ran in (with his security detail, natch) to look for anybody who might be trapped. Since the building’s residents are his neighbors, Booker knew who he was looking for…a woman who lived in the apartment that was on fire
It’s sexy fight time! Need we say more? This week on Sundance Channel we’ve got every college dude’s favorite movie, a look at a look at the sexual phenomenon of “dogging”, and a martial arts spectacular. That’s all sexy and fun, but we also want to keep you grounded, so stick around for a novel approach to documentary storytelling, too.
Twin Peaks left its audience with many more questions than it answered. That’s probably why, every year, a new generation of college students commit to watching the entire series (I don’t think that happens with Murphy Brown). It has also left one Brooklyn artist, Michelle Levy, Searching for Agent C. So, it is only fitting that we cap off our week of Twin Peaks haikus and David Lynch backyard BBQs checking out the hunt for our favorite FBI Special Agent. Warning, if you’ve never made it to the end of the series you may find some spoilers below!
TITANIC 3D isn’t the only movie making waves this week (yeah, I said it). Sundance Channel has plenty of wet and wild indie fare you won’t even have to leave home to watch. And while some of it may only be metaphorically oceanic, it’s all pretty deep, man. Make sure to tune in for a killer surf doc and an experiment in improvisation from an indie favorite.
TITANIC re-hits theaters today in 3D. Of course, unless you’ve been living under a rock you already knew that. It’s okay if you’ve been living under a rock. I certainly was back in 1997! I never saw TITANIC and I don’t really think it entered into my consciousness much back then. My ‘rock’ in this situation was my own teenage malaise and the fact that there was no Joy Division on the film’s soundtrack. Back in 1997 I was a senior in high school who had just secured a New York State driver’s license and spent most of my time studying for AP exams, going to punk shows and wishing I was just in college already. I did manage to see some movies, and a few of them were pretty awesome! So, let’s travel back in time to the year that George Clooney was Batman, Keanu Reeves was married to Charlize Theron and Meatloaf drove the Spice Girls around to check out five films we’d happily pay to see in the theater again (especially if we are talking about 1997 prices):
What has David Lynch been up to lately? Making an animated short with Interpol, directing a live-streamed concert for Duran Duran and making an album of his own. If you were David Lynch, who would you hire to make your first music video? I’d hire David Lynch.
Well, looky here! Sundance fave SAFETY NOT GUARANTEED has an official trailer. And a peek at the film’s
When I saw Don and Megan Draper’s find out where the set designers found every single item. You probably don’t have your own set designers, so I’m going to help you find a few products to midcentury-up your own abode:
Jim Jarmusch and Steven Soderbergh are here to help you. How? By giving your eyes a break from processing color and entertaining your brain for a bit.
It’s been a rough week for President Obama. First, he had a hot mic moment while bantering with outgoing Russian finger puppet, I mean president, Dmitry Medvedev. Then, to add insult to injury, it turns out genealogist, and Megadeth frontman, Dave Mustaine has proven our commander-in-chief was not even born in the United States! It’s OK, Barry. Plenty of people still love you. In fact, plenty of people acknowledge that you are sexy and you know it, as exemplified in the video above. Who cares about what that miniature horse collector thinks?
Trayvon Martin is all over the headlines these days. Brian Stelter wrote an interesting piece on perils of slacktivism (and founder’s syndrome). For me, however, one of the most poignant pieces of the Trayvon tragedy (and it is a tragedy) is the role of the hoodie.
Someone is ringing in the last year of their 40s today, and that someone is probably doing it on the set of
Spring is in the air. The sun is shining, the birds are singing and it’s the perfect time to stay inside and watch some movies. Trust me, the pollen count is through the roof right now and I know a lot of you don’t have health insurance to cover your Flonase. Do yourself a favor and cuddle up with James Bond playing a badass, Jewish brother; a collection of crossword playing outcasts and misfits; Patton Oswalt as an obsessive sad sack and a low budget horror film directed by, and starring, twins.
CityMaps is an app that turns the city streets into a logo-emblazoned, alternate reality. And that can be cool, if you are looking for a Starbucks to do your business in. But, it can be horrifying if you are the type of person who thinks you can outsmart the corporatization of everything.
It’s been a tough year for George Clooney. First, his wife ended up in a coma. Then he found out she was cheating on him with Shaggy from Scooby-Doo…oh, wait. That was just a movie. Right. Anyway, George Clooney just got arrested in front of the Sudanese Embassy in Washington, DC.
St. Patrick’s Day falls on a Saturday this year (which means I won’t have jump over any drunk teenagers to get to work in Manhattan). I’m not sure what you’ve got planned, but I’m guessing it involves booze, unlike how they celebrate it in Ireland…with church, tea and maybe booze. I tend to stay indoors every March 17th. The world just isn’t safe for red headed ladies to roam the streets on St. Patrick’s day. Instead, I’ll be watching some of my favorite Irish films. Right after I watch this awesome Guinness commercial celebrating the genteel world of dog herding (again) and right before I don’t buy Nike’s new sneakers terrorized Irish civilians.
Are you looking for a little excitement in your life? Why not try being blasted by a “pain ray” or, as the military calls it, an Active Denial System. It’s just one of the many “less lethal” weapons your tax dollars have been funding. How does it work? Well, it sort of zaps you like a microwave. But, don’t worry. We’re not microwaving any Afghan civilians’ insides. We’re just trying to gently burn their outsides. You see, the ray only penetrates about 1/64th on an inch (that’s “just the tip” as far as weapons go). So, it’s perfect for dispersing a bunch of folks who are angry over Koran burnings and approaching the gates of your forward operating base. Danger Room’s Spencer Ackerman volunteered to get blasted by the thing, which reminded us of some of our other favorite videos of journalists getting hurt for the sake of a story…or entertainment:
Dead rock stars! Sex on tiger skins! A drug kingpin and his love of animals! Why, it’s just another week of movies on Sundance Channel. Here in New York City we’re cruising into springtime, but things are pretty dark on TV. It’s cool if you want to go out and frolic in the sunshine (and booze it up on Saturday), but make sure to set your DVR to catch these films. And stay away from girls in wigs.
When I logged onto the Internet today and alerted one of the lady members of my buddy list it was International Women’s Day, her response was underwhelming. I can quote it for you, “Thbthbt…whatevs.” I get it. Most of you are reading this on your fancy computer, phone or tablet while trying to distract yourself from the job your education helped get you. The one you that pays you money for your skills. Well, listen…you are pretty fortunate that spreadsheets are your biggest worry right now. Most women in the world have bigger fish to fry (like being married off as children and rape as warfare). So, thank the women who paved the way for your lifestyle filled with autonomy and overpriced things and then find out more about what women elsewhere are up against. Bonus points for actually doing something proactive!