Point Of No Return

Point Of No Return (1993)
directed by John Badham

In addition to being a remake of the 1990 French film La Femme Nikita, Point Of No Return is also loosly based on the Expose song of the same name.

Bridget Fonda plays a junkie named Maggie. She and her druggie friends, the members of Color Me Badd, rob a pharmacy. After a shootout that leaves everybody else dead, Maggie kills a cop and is sentenced to death.

The movie is strong on well-chosen details- we're shown the needle going into her track-marked arm.

The execution is carried out, but not really. She wakes up (or Crispen Glover wakes up) in a white room (with black cutains...come on people now/ smile on your brother...I haven't seen the ad for the Freedom Rock collection in 20 years but I can still hear the songs all in order) inside of some secret government building. After a failed escape attempt, Bob, her new boss, shoots her in the leg.

To aid in her recovery she asks for Nina Simone and more painkillers. Reasonable. I'd ask for Tanya Donelly and more painkillers but not in that order. Maggie is given training in computers and martial arts but the real action comes when she's trained to be a lady. Her teacher is The Miracle Worker herself, Anne Bancroft. It's funny to see her name in the opening credits as they use Blade Runner-type lettering.

My brother and I saw this movie when it came out and to this day he'll still bust out with, "I never did mind about the little things".

I like how Bob is openly in love with Maggie. The two of them are genuine together. It's all very un-Remains of the Day. Maggie might feel the same way towards Bob; you never really know, which is good. Not everything is spelled out.

She's trained to be an assassin and her first job is a success. She graduates and is sent to live in California. She arrives, walks past what I think is the mural from Xanadu, and meets scruffy J.P. Dermot Mulroney plays a dirty hippie photographer and he's almost at the height of his handsomeness which he eventuaslly reaches in My Best Friend's Wedding.

Maggie and J.P. fall in love, she does a few more jobs, but it all comes down to the last one. Things go horribly, horribly wrong and a cleaner is called in. It's Harvey Keitel, playing a role similar to the one he played a year later in Pulp Fiction. Here though, instead of charming and funny he's just brutal and scary.

The movie ends with Maggie free. I think about her choice and wonder what I would do in her place. Stay with Dermot and continue to be an assassin or go free and lose Dermot? Luckily it's just a movie and I don't have to decide.


Fun fact: Did you know that Dermot Mulroney plays the cello and was featured on Melissa Etheridge's 1992 album Never Enough?

Lost review

Monday I posted a review of Point Of No Return (1993), not really a review- it was more like watching the movie with me. But when I tried to publish it I lost it. I'll try again.

It's raining here and I'm sarting to think about quitting smoking. Not quitting so much as just not smoking. I'm not enjoying cigarettes anymore. I still crave them though. Then when I'm done I feel sick.

I've always believed that I'm not a real smoker: I don't like the first cigarette of the day. I don't even like the first three. I like the last smoke of the day, especially after I've brushed my teeth. Sometimes, if I can't sleep I'll get out of bed and light one up.

In other news, I've been wanting to read Shirley Jackson forever. I got The Lottery and Other Stories and read half of them. I was expecting ghost stories; some, though, like "The Renagade" were upsetting. I'd read that "The Lottery", when it was originally published in The New Yorker, generated more letters than anything they'd ever run before. I'm going to be honest: I already knew what it was about and I had trouble following exactly what was going on. I get the ending but I couldn't explain it.

Still wanna read The Haunting of Hill House.

My favorite blog

"My Favorite Blog"
by RJ Battles
Monday, September 27, 2010

My favorite blog, and the one that inspired me to start my own blog, is Final Girl. This week I had some time to kill so I re-read some of my favorite posts: A few years ago she did two movie series marathons, one for Halloween, and tyhe other for Friday the 13th. It was a great idea and everything was written so well.

Last night I made a list of movies that I'd like to rent now that it's almost October. One of the movies is The Strangers (2008). Final Girl reviewed the movie and talked about the dumb things that horror movie characters do and the way that they don't stay to together for safety.

From Final Girl, June 12, 2008-

"(I)f I am one of two people trapped in a house by masked kookadooks and my pal, the one with the shotgun, says, "I'll be right back", I will say,"Fuck that noise, I am coming with you. Or leave the boomstick with me, your choice"."

Jake

I came across this last month. Hope you like it.

Twice Upon A Time

After the success of "Kiss Them For Me", Twice Upon A Time came out. I didn't (and don't) own anything from before Peepshow so most of it was new to me.

The older the songs were, the harder it was to get into them. The only song I really like is "The Passenger" and maybe "Dear Prudence".

Still, this has a cool live version of "The Last Beat of my Heart".

True Blue picture disc

I've only ever owned one picture disc: it was an import that cost me about $20 including shipping. It was the 7" for "Dear Jessie".

Here's how lame I was-

I didn't like that song.

The black and white photo- Madonna in bed wearing Mickey Mouse ears- was boring and not even from the Like A Prayer era; more likely it was from around Who's That Girl.

I like this one; it looks cool. The True Blue album cover is so crisp and clear with just white silver black and blue, and I love the cursive writing for the song titles. Like Thriller's, only better.

Sky Motel for $3.99

Picture it:
Friday night at 8pm.
I wanna go to Newbury Comics and buy a used copy of Sky Motel that costs $4.99. On my way I remembered that The Advocate, the local free weekly, has a coupon for 25% off any used CD so I walk around looking for a newspaper box.

I'm walking under the railroad underpass in town and there's a bum sitting there. He asks if I have any money- "Sorry, I don't," I say as I walk by. I take two steps and spot a crumpled-up $5 bill on the sidewalk right in front of me.

It's all wrinkled but I can tell what it is right away. I scoop it up, slide it into my pocket and keep walking. As I do I'm a little worried that he's seeing what's happening.

If he saw he decided not to try anything. My worry was that he'd try saying that it had blown away and that the $5 was his. Or that he'd say, "Hey, you just found money on the ground. Can I get something now, please?", but no.

So I eventually found a coupon, bought Sky Motel for $3.99 and ended up with a profit of $1.01.

That's what I call a good night.

Bag of Bones

Bag of Bones (1998)

At the start of the summer I borrowed my friend's copy of Under The Dome (2009). Not perfect, but not bad either. This book, on the other hand, borrowed from the same friend, was a bit of a drag. It's readable, it's enjoyable, but for the last 100 pages I was ready for it to be over.

I think the problem is that I'm not really into ghost stories. And my big problem with this ghost story is: since the "good ghost" can send messages, why not be clearer right from the beginning. It would've saved so much time

The other problem is: the story is basically about a widower living alone in his lake house, spending a lot of time by himself. I had plenty of nap-time this week on my days off; I'd read 30 pages and then curl up on my loveseat.

But anyway, in spite of these problems, it's still a good book. Like I said, it's readable. As I always say, people talk shit about Stephen King, but try writing 700 pages of a story that people will actually want to read. It is not easy. Think back to all the books you started reading and ended up dropping because they lost your interest. As always, page after page, SK keeps you reading.

Rat Girl

Last week I went to the bookstore downtown, hoping they'd have Kristin Hersh's Rat Girl. They did; in fact, it was up on the main wall, one of the "Staff Picks".

It's a very sweet book, well written. I'll get my one complaint out of the way first: I could've done without the "69 songs". They seemed redundant. Maybe that was just because I knew most of them. I don't know.

Anyway, the book was everything you could want in a story- sad, scary, funny, interesting, suspenseful. One of the funniest parts comes right in the middle of one of the most disturbing parts: the story about the witch.

I have a feeling that this book is going to find a large audience. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised at all if it were someday made into a movie.

Note: Outside of North America Rat Girl was published under its original title, Paradoxical Undressing.

Eroti...ca

The Erotica album was disappointing but "Erotica" the song is still one of my favorites and holds up well, all these years later. The remix CD is excellent too, especially the one that starts off Side Two.

The Immaculate Collection

The cover for The Immaculate Collection and the photos inside are some of my least favorite, but that didn't stop me from buying the cassette and, later, The Royal Box.

It's That Girl

It's That Girl is a promo collection from 1987 that contains some remixes of some of the more recent songs.

The Holiday Collection

The Holiday Collection has three songs that didn't make it onto The Immaculate Collection: "True Blue", "Who's That Girl", and "Causing A Commotion".

Fight with a 12 year-old on the bike path

It wasn't a fight at all, but I'm still mad, and might be for the rest of my life.

Picture it: It's a nice, sunny day in early-September and I'm walking a section of the bike path that I don't often take. I'm on the right hand side, walking on the pavement just alongside the edge by the grass. This section of the path has a white line painted down the middle but even without it it's clear to see that I'm on the right.

I hear the incoming text buzz on my phone, read it, and start writing a reply.

I've been alone for most of the walk- almost nobody in either direction, maybe a bike or two passes me. Then, from ahead, I hear "Head's up". A kid's voice. I glance up and then go back to texting. Two kids on bikes but I don't think about it. As the sound of their wheels gets closer I do look up- one (Biker 1) is on the left side of the path and the other (Biker 2) is on my side. He isn't gonna hit me; there's space between me and the white line.

When Biker 2, a 12 year-old it looks like, is right in front of me he says- as if he's had to remind me a couple times already- "Stop texting and watch where you're going"

I see his blank face for a second, make no reaction, and continue on my way, still texting. I don't turn and I hear nothing else. It's over, but I'm furious and the anger just grows.

Given more time I might've said "You're on the wrong side, retard". And thank God there wasn't a second more; I might've said nothing and just shoved him and his bike over with my elbow. I was so angry that that would've been the most satisfying response. And saying anything would've been a mistake. I'm not gonna argue with a 12 year-old stranger.

The whole thing just bothered me. That kid has probably been in the car with his parents and seen them yell at other drivers who're distracted by their cell phones and wanted the chance to act the same way. It just kills me that some kid's idea of fun is criticizing the action or manners of other people when he's the one who's wrong.

He completely manufactured a situation where he could believe he was in the right.

As long as I walk straight down the path there's absolutely no reason for me to look up the entire time. The only thing I could've done wrong is rear-end somebody ahead who's walking slow, which I'd been looking up enough to avoid.

This all happened Friday. It's early Monday morning. Some people suck.

Superstition

Superstition (1991) Siouxsie and the Banshees

While the album is dreary, I like the cover, and since I only owned the cassette, I'd never seen the top photo before.

The album could've used the Kiss Them For Me B-sides, "Staring Back" and "Return"; they're dreary too but they would've made things interesting.

Downside Up

I really want this Siouxsie and the Banshees B-sides collection, but I don't wanna buy it, I want it as a gift.

I fell in love with "Return" one summer and years later I found out that it's connected to another B-side, "Staring Back".

I also downloaded some other B-sides- "She's Cuckoo" and "Something Wicked (This Way Comes)"- both great.

Fun time

My friend is moving an hour away with his girlfriend later this month. Since he's got the week off and I had yesterday and today off I stayed over last night.

We watched Tv and he was on the computer and I read a book about money management (Your Money or Your Life). For dinner he grilled some chicken and corn on the cob and we had some potato salad and pasta on the side.

Around midnight we went out for some smokes and McDonalds. The AC in my room was on so I didn't realize it was storning outside until the middle of the night- I woke up to the house shaking and the boom of thunder; the dogs were barking like crazy. I really thought the house had been hit.

Since a smoke alarm didn't go off I went right back to sleep and this morning my friend told me he went to the window. He saw his neighbors come outside because their car alarm had gone off.

Seems like a really close call.

Deleted

I erased this post because I think it was too extreme and not really fair.

Free Music

It's good, but I think Free Music is the weakest 50 Foot Wave release. I like, though, the sleeve art, specifically the second image down and the third image, even more specifically: where it says "50 Foot Wave" and "Free Music". I like how they make those words stand out from the rest of the text.

The other two pictures are the 7" "Hot Pink, Distorted" single which includes a remix.

By the way, you can download Free Music, along with all the other 50 Foot Wave releases on CASH Music-

50 Foot Wave EP
Golden Ocean LP
Power + Light EP, plus
instrumentals, "Your Ghost" and a cover of "Somebody to Love"

Spec script

Lately I've been reading By Ken Levine, a blog by a man who co-wrote for M*A*S*H and Cheers. It's a fun blog that covers a lot of topics but it's mostly about writing and specifically TV writing. He gives tips on how to write and present a spec script (I don't know what "spec" is short for) but I think that spec script is something you, as an outsider, write and give to a showrunner so they know you'd be able to write for the show.

So back when, say, Seinfeld, was on the air, a writer would write a script of Seinfeld and give it to the producers of Seinfeld. I think that Seinfeld script could also be given the producers of Suddenly Susan too if that was the job you were going for, but I think Levine said it's better to write for the show you want to join.

Anyway, I want to write a spec script. The problem is- I don't watch any new TV shows. Maybe I could write a Golden Girls or a West Wing since I know the characters so well but that's it.

I think writing a script will help with my biggest writing weakness: writing dialogue. I'm too self-concious to put words in charcters' mouths; it feels weird.

So I'm gonna give it a shot and if it turns out really good then I'll choose a current TV show and write another script and send it in somehow.

Of course, when it comes to writing something for actors to read, what I really want to write is my own made-for TV movie. I want to write a movie (and direct it too, actually) for Lifetime. Not exactly a horror movie- no graphic violence, and maybe even nobody dying- but definitely something scary. I have a story idea and I think if it's done right it would very suspenseful and scary and would require a tiny budget and no big-name stars.

In the old days there were made-for-TV horror movies- I remember Dark Night of the Scarecrow on NBC when I was a kid.

Also, if you've ever seen any of the original movies that the Sci-Fi Channel plays then you know they're all shit. I wanna write something for Sci-Fi. I could write something good, or at least something better than the shit that they play now.

Discovery incident

The story about the hostage situation yesterday at the Discover Channel offices has sunk like a stone. I started watching at work and then watched the rest at home (the guy was shot by police, luckily) and I was telling my friend about it tonight, it was all new to her. I tried to explain his demands and describe them in the crazy light that they deserve but I couldn't find the manifesto to quote from.

It's gotta be somewhere on USA Today online but I couldn't find it. samde thing with my local paper and The Cape Cod Times online.

I don't know, I think it's more than a one-day-story.

By the way, I think it's funny that, considering his anti-procreation views, he looks like an older, angrier version of Jon from Jon and Kate Plus Eight.

Sun, Seal My Fate, and Moon

Sun (1995) Belly
Seal My Fate promo
Moon (1994)

I like the look of the Sun cover- it's different, and I like how it's simple and plain.

The package for this Seal My Fate promo is nice- good colors.

Considering that Sun has three versions of "Judas My Heart", a better title would be Moon, but that was already taken...

Moon has some great musical moments: finally "Are You Experienced?" was available on a Belly release, and it's nice to compare the originals of "It's Not Unusual" and "Full Moon, Empty Heart" (I mean, not the original of "It's Not Unusual", the original Belly version) along with the remixes.
As I've said before, the EP artwork was disappointing. The front cover is good enough, but the rest- and especially the back cover- look like the album art for In Utero.

Now They'll Sleep on cassette

Now They'll Sleep (1995) Belly

Here is the Now They'll Sleep EP on cassette (I'm assuming it's the full four-track EP and not just one of those "complete program appears on both sides" cassingles). I'd love to see the rest of the sleeve.

Red Heaven bonus disc

Red Heaven (1992) Throwing Muses

In the picture above you can see the track listing for the live solo performance CD that came free with some copies of Red Heaven. My copy of Red Heaven didn't come with the bonus disc but then I bought it on tape so it would've been strange if it did.

more Like A Prayer

Like A Prayer (1989) Madonna

I had the cassette single for Like A Prayer (not the cassette pictured above- that's the maxi single, my version just had "Like A Prayer" b/w "Act Of Contrition").

I also had the 12" remix record with the cover painted by her brother Christopher. One of the remixes on Side Two was cool because it started with the music from the Pepsi teaser ad.