Post-Fest / Weekend Open Thread…

Updated on March 13, 2011 By Ken Begg 16 Comments

Hello! Wrapped up T(ween) Fest II: The Wrath of Ken yesterday; everyone seemed to have a pretty good time. (missed Mary, however.) I’m staying at Sandy’s through Tuesday, so I won’t be doing a lot here until I get home. Yes, like that’s any different.

I just wanted to thank everyone who came to the Fest. I hope air fares don’t get so crazy I can’t attend the next one. We’ll work on that. For now, though, everything was sweet.

Anyway, post away in the message section below.

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  • Reed

    Oh, hi Ken! Huh.

  • The Rev.

    Just wanted to give a quick shout-out: Today is the birthday of Maurice Joseph Micklewhite, aka Jabootu favorite Michael Caine, who turns 78.

  • Mr. Rational

    Great fest as usual. Really a shame I had to skip out on the last movie, but them’s the breaks sometimes. Good seeing everyone I’d met before (Kirk and Patty, I’m a-lookin’ at you guys), and it was good meeting some people I knew by sight but not by any other way (Reed, Guy, Frank, Chad, Chad…)

    And BTW, if anyone could explain to me what on earth happened in that “Counter Destroyer” movie, I’d be ever so grateful. Arthur? :)

  • Reed

    Rice!

    That was cool.

  • I really don’t think “Counter Destroyer” can be explained, even by Arthur. Frank says he could keep track of the plot, but I challenge him to produce his evidence.

    I missed out on “Chastity”, but it’s on Netflix. Downloadable. Where are my migraine meds?

  • Kirk

    I took a nap during Counter Destroyer. I felt bad because The Rev. Had just told his wife and daughter to listen for my quips during the film.

    I had nothing. Counter Destroyer was 90 minutes of light and noise.

  • The Rev.

    If I’d known we were going to show The Seventh Curse I’d have told them to come for that. We thought Counter Destroyer would be fun based on the clip I found. I should’ve known better than to rely on a clip, frankly, but it was an ’80s Hong Kong genre movie so I figured it’d live up to said clip. Sadly, it did not.

    They cracked a few lines, but were too shy to speak up so only I heard them. I hope they weren’t too disappointed.

  • Reed

    Yeah, that was a pretty brutal movie for a first exposure. 2 great scenes (I’m a movie producer! No, I’m a (literally) White Ninja! No, I’m Robocop!) and the rest was just…

    Oddly, as the days go on I find myself thinking more and more about Chastity. I know, spooky. I re-read Ken’s review, and thought about it some more, and kind of came to the conclusion that perhaps, just perhaps, Sonny Bono was going for something deep here. Instead of the expected vanity piece where his paramour is deified on screen maybe he was going more for an anti-counter culture message about how shallow today’s youth (or 1969’s “today’s youth”) are, and giving his paramour a chance to show off her acting chops by intentionally playing a totally unlikeable character.

    None of which is to say that the movie is actually good, or that Cher gives a good performance. It just may be that our expectations of what it would be are actually something completely different than what it is. You know, like how we expected The Room to be a hillariously awful melodrama and yet Tommy Wiseau says it is really a black comedy.

    Yeah, just like that.

  • Mr. Rational

    This is why I like you, Reed. You’re so charitable. :)

  • I’m not sure Wiseau says it’s a black comedy; maybe he had, but I never have seen him do so directly. I have a feeling the distributors labeled it that so that audiences (and DVD buyers) know the appeal is that it’s funny. But yes, it CLEARLY wasn’t intended to be funny.

  • Reed

    I certainly haven’t done extensive scholarship on the subject, but in the Wikipedia article on The Room they have several quotes from Wiseau saying that he intended the comedy in the movie. He should get a job for Marvel or DC; they are old hands at retconning.

    There was nothing addressing why he was humping the lead actress’ belly button, though. Maybe he just assumed we would all understand.

  • Frank Bauroth

    Guy, I just want to point out that several times during counter destroyer, I made specific predictions of what would happen next (the car exploding, for example) and was right.

  • Mr. Rational

    Yeah, Frank…I have to admit, I was pretty impressed with that. You sure know your chop-schlocky story structure. :)

    Ken, I think this is one of the exchanges Reed was referring to, from Fox News’s “Red Eye” program with Greg Gutfeld — skip ahead to 2:40 for where Wiseau seems to be asserting that he intended a “mix” of comedy and drama.

    http://video.foxnews.com/v/3926507/

  • Reed — Then he’s full of crap. I mean, there is material I’m sure he meant to be funny. But unless he is one of the greatest satiric genuises ever, the film overall is not meant to be comedic.

  • Reed

    Now that I know who Mr. Rational is; maybe you can do a thesis on the philosphy of The Room? I’m sure it’s replete with metaphors and allegories and, um, stuff. You know, philosophical stuff.

    Ken, I’m totally with you!

    I regret that Cher and Tommy Wiseau have not made a movie together. Of course, it wouldn’t be a movie; it would be a whole other thing!

  • Mr. Rational

    Reed, you have my solemn word — the minute I want to get fired and never work in philosophy again, it’s the very first thing I’ll do. :)