After hearing that P had such glowing opinions of the V For Vendetta movie, I went back and re-watched it, trying to imagine what it would be like to see it without having read the comic.
...
... nope. Still think it's rubbish. Sorry.
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| Somehow, Hugo still manages to emote more convincingly than Natalie. |
Then I went and had a look at the docos on the SBS website. I see they've got one up that features John Faulkner talking to Gough Whitlam in the last years of his life. I haven't watched it yet, but I think I most definitely shall. I wonder if Kettle knows about it?
I also found this doco on the UK dogging scene, which I did watch. If you haven't heard of "dogging", I guess the best way to describe it is it's sort of like swingers' parties, except people meet up in the woods for (usually) anonymous, (usually) group sex in front of an audience. When I gave the porn industry away, dogging was breaking away from the broader categories of amateur and gonzo to form a distinct sub-genre; and I remember one of the things that made it so distinct was that all of it seemed to be coming out of Britain. Strange; you'd think the weather'd turn folks off, but apparently not.
The film is pretty poorly made, which is disappointing, because some of the stories seem quite interesting. One woman who'd battled anorexia reckoned the more men she had sex with, the better she felt about herself. Her husband came along to chaperon.
Melba, didn't you once say you had a bit of a fascination with this sort of stuff?
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| More people who are more engaging than Natalie Portman. |
And speaking of stuff you might be interested in, Melbs ... I was catching up on some podcasts regarding what's happening in the world of open-source software, and for some inexplicable reason, one of the episodes happened to be an interview with some author named Hugh Howey, who reckons he's making a shit-ton of money self-publishing on the internet. I know you've said you're not interested in going down that route, but it still might be worth a listen. He has one or two interesting things to say.
MP3 Download Here.
And speaking of both podcasts and strange sexual shit ... sorta ... Seeing as how a lot of the tech/news/tech-news podcasts I listen to are American in origin, Halloween has been a big topic this past week. One of the things I've heard repeatedly, which I've found a little surprising, is complaints about the gratuitous sexualisation of the event. Basically, I've been listening to people grumbling that more women are dressing in more sexy-fied costumes, and most of all, that younger girls are beginning to imitate the trend.
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| There's a Canadian article here about how even the little kids' costumes are going feral |
These sort of complaints aren't new, but I found it strange that so many people seemed to be complaining about it this year. How big of a deal has it become? And is it just a yank thing? Squib, how much of this did you see? And how did your night go, anyway? Was the bat costume a success? What was your sweety haul like?
13 comments :
I have no idea why the hell people would want to go into the freezing woods for group sex. They probably scare the wildlife
I didn't see the rest of LittleSquib's group so I don't have any idea what they were wearing. I think one was a prom queen so she may well have been in one of those rubbish tweeny glam costumes. We hardly had anyone come to our door and it's a bit cold to be in a skimpy costume. Bat costume went well and she had a big swag of sweeties
I heard about dogging years, ago. Am not *interested* in it myself, other than sociologically; you might be thinking of the somnophilia interest? On gogglebox, one of the eps, they had the people in their loungerooms watching a doco on dogging - wonder if it's the same one? I might watch it later, no time now.
The Halloween costumes - it's fucked how it's become an opportunity for some teenage girls to dress up in a sexually provocative manner. There's a really good scene in Mean Girls, where the protagonist (Lindsay Lohan) who was brought up in Africa (American parents) then begins school in the US, is invited to a Halloween Party, and she turns up as a zombie bride or something with terrible false teeth and blood everywhere, and all the other girls at the party are dressed as 'Slutty Nurse' and 'Slutty Little Red Riding Hood' and 'Slutty Teacher' and so on.
Hugh Howey, the Wool guy (that's the name of his big selling book); not sure if he tried to get it conventionally published first or not but he's been hugely successful as a self publisher, and now I think a big pub has taken him on. Matthew Reilly is someone else who started with self publishing and is massive. Also the 50 Shades woman. The thing is they are all genre writers; virtually impossible if not 100% impossible to achieve that as a literary fiction writer.
But I do have news: I accepted an offer from publisher on Monday, so it's all happening. Next year. Finally.
Alex where you at woman? I keep dropping in. You must be bush.
Hey Melba (and Squib). No, not bush (mostly). Explanation in latest post.
Different to the somnophilia thing, Melbs; a while ago, we were talking, and you said you were a bit fascinated by the idea of women who have sex with anyone. Like, what makes them tick, or something. So I thought a dogging doco might be up your alley.
Squib, about every fifth shot was of a scared-looking deer.
Also, good to hear that both the costume and the sweety haul were a smashing success. Marvelous news.
Melba, I saw Mean Girls ages ago, and while I remember liking it, there's only one bit that I can recall: it's the part with the little girl who's watching Girls Gone Wild, or some shit on the telly, and trying to imitate all the "slutty" behaviour*. Which I guess, also goes to the point at hand.
*And the mother who's had so much plastic surgery that she doesn't realise the dog is chewing on her nipple. I should re-watch that movie
Terrific news on the publishing deal! Go you! I always knew your work was good enough (not that that counts for much, I guess)
That podcast might still be worth a listen though. He does talk a bit about what he sees as traps and pitfalls within the industry.
I remember now. It was about nymphomaniacs? Yes, am fascinated by it. Was it in the context of the movie Nymp()maniac by any chance? Which I watched and which did not enlighten me much about the psychology of it. Is is a behaviour, a high sex drive, or is it something else, something more negative or insidious. These are my questions. I don't get it.
Ah Mean Girls, yes that scene the little girl dancing in front of tv. Yes the dog chewing on the mother's plasticked boob. So funny/disturbing.
I don't know if I've ever heard of a movie called Nymph()maniac, so I doubt that was the context. My dodgy memory tells me we were talking about a book you'd read, but I can't be certain.
The woman on the dogging doco said she had anorexia, and having sex with lots of men, not even good sex, just having lots and lots of men, made her feel good about her body.
There was another woman who was quite chubby who said basically the same thing.
Well fuck me then. Who the fuck knows. But I think dogging is different to the nymphomania thing. Look up the movie. It's really long, so is in two parts. It's by Lars von Trier w/ Charlotte Gainsbourg. Pretty out there in terms of a 'mainstream' movie but nothing compared to porn.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nymphomaniac_%28film%29
I'd be interested to know what you think.
PS I fucking hate word verification.
Well fuck me then. Who the fuck knows. But I think dogging is different to the nymphomania thing. Look up the movie. It's really long, so is in two parts. It's by Lars von Trier w/ Charlotte Gainsbourg. Pretty out there in terms of a 'mainstream' movie but nothing compared to porn.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nymphomaniac_%28film%29
I'd be interested to know what you think.
PS I fucking hate word verification.
I will see if I can find a copy of Nymph(). I really liked Dancer In The Dark and Dogville. I was keen as mustard to see Melancholia, but I've had the video for quite a while now and not gotten to watching it.
I've also heard that Von Trier has a subsidiary of his film company that makes high-quality, hardcore pornographic movies (like proper movies), that are meant to appeal to a female audience. In some they use porn actors who have real acting ability and in others they superimposes actors faces onto porn actors' bodies for the sex. No clue what they're like, but I've been meaning to track some down.
I don't know if you ever get weary of me talking about porn related stuff, but, well, I did spend several years immersed in it. I can't deny there's still something of an interest/fascination there.
YOU MUST WATCH MELANCHOLIA IT IS ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL AND I THINK IF I HAD TO CHOOSE A MOVIE THAT HAS STAYED WITH ME IT'S THAT ONE.
As for the porn and von Trier superimposing heads to bodies, I think what he does it edit in a way that a porn performer's body part is used, but then a switch to the real actor's face. If that makes sense. He does it in Nymp()maniac apparently; while some of the 'real' actors we happy for nudity and/or some sexual activity (of varying degrees), not all were.
I hadn't heard he did make 'real' pornography.
Dogville didn't do it for me, found it too hard to suspend disbelief but have wanted to watch Dancer for a long time. Shall get there. I think he's an interesting filmmaker. As for the porn, I just find it boring and/or repellant (the thing, not you talking about it.) I know there's a lot more out there than mainstream commercial stuff, but that's the stuff that I find has really skewed to a dark side that is even more anti female, anti consent, pro aggression, pro violence - all that. Doesn't seem easy to find stuff that is *erotic* (I know that what is considered erotic varies hugely from person to person.)
I agree with you. A lot of mainstream porn comes from an ugly place now. It bothers me that young folks learn about sex by watching it and it bothers me that it's come as a result of market demand. I think producer Jules Jordan once said something like, "The more extreme we make it, the more money we make. If I could get away with it, I'd have the men in my movies punching the women in the face as they fucked them. It definitely seems to be what the audience wants."
But does it have to be that way? I think there's a huge demand for pornographic material amongst women; it's just that at the moment, most of it's in the form of written text (50 Shades being the obligatory example). Maybe the market can shift? That's why this Von Trier thing piqued my interest.
The other thing I think is possible is that piracy collapses the industry, sexting becomes normalised, and porn becomes a mainly peer-to-peer thing, with couples/singles/groups putting on live shows from their homes using web-cams.
No, can't deny it at all; no matter how disgusted I get from looking sometimes, there's still enough of a lure there that I just can't leave it alone.
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Maybe I can find a copy of Nymph(), and I can sit down and watch it and Melancholia this weekend. Provided nothing else comes up.
It's a shame you couldn't get into Dogville. I liked it so much. I guess I find it pretty easy to suspend disbelief, I just don't like it when the level of suspension goes up and down. Throws me right out.
Be warned that Dancer is not a happy movie, even by Von Trier standards. I've heard grown men say they cried at the end.
I know Dancer is not happy. But I'm tempted to get it out along with Melancholia (to watch again) and Antichrist which I haven't seen yet.
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On porn, I've read that quotation by producer, about violence seeming to be what men want to see. Had an interesting convo w/ P last night, about animal rape (animals raping other animals, not humans raping animals), also homosexual activity between animals; she reckons it's a part of what it means to be an animal, like some biologically-driven thing. And that it's the same then for humans, because we are animals.
What do you think about that?
As for porn, maybe I'll look up some von Trier stuff, where the focus is more on females as viewer.
I think I could write 1000 word essay on it and not cover all the subtleties, but yeah, I think there's some validity to that. There's an evolutionary reason why men tend to grow bigger and stronger than us, and the same hormones that make them grow also tend to tweak their aggression and sex drive. I listened to a doco a little while ago, and some researcher was putting forward a theory that the point when humans started to become physically weaker than the other primates was probably the same point when females started selecting a mate, rather than automatically rooting whichever bloke could beat up everyone else in the tribe.
On the subject of animal rape though, I've been told (probably by Sammo, he's into this sort of thing), that there's a video going around about a group of scientists who have discovered one particular fur seal colony where males habitually rape penguins before eating them.
Nature is a cruel uncaring place.
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