The backed-up feeling is settling in, and I know that taking time to post this now is going to set back writing up panels from today (Monday) which in turn means delay and erratic posting will come into play come tomorrow. Hang in with me though, it'll all get covered.
Eagle vs Shark
"The un-Napoleon Dynamite"
People will call this comedy-romance from New Zealand "quirky" and it will unfairly be compared to Napoleon Dynamite. This movie is better than Napoleon Dynamite by a large margin.
Lauren Horsely and director Taika Waititi (present at the screening) collaborated on a story that, according to Lauren, is inspired by her own life, but exaggerated and embellished. Co-lead Jemaine is well-known to fans of recording group Flight of the Conchords, of which he composes half the group. They're apparently in the process of doing a pilot/first season for HBO of a Flight series. If I had HBO, I'd watch the hell out of it, assuming it's as entertaining as their music.
Lauren and Jemaine's characters are similar off-the-beaten path, socially awkward people looking for happiness, love, and in Jemaine's case, for "a Samoan whose ass [he] needs to kick". Dictating the plot would ruin it all, but for a...(jesus christ) "quirky" movie like this that you expect certain things from, it's unexpectedly touching and affecting in places. Interspersed vignettes featuring stop-motion animation seal the deal for me on this one. I hope it's a giant success that puts the aforementioned movie to shame in box office, because this thing is really special.
What Would Jesus Buy?
"Mickey Mouse is the Anti-Christ!!!"
Morgan Spurlock produces this look at Reverend Billy and the Stop Shopping Gospel Choir, who go around the country in this doc preaching the good word of un-commercializing Christmas. Below is a short video of a post-movie performance the full choir gave, it was electric:
What an inspiration these folks are. More so than any church preacher I ever heard speak, more so than any professor who lectured their doctoral thesis in my face, these people and what they do grabbed me, sat me up straight, and put things into perspective as starkly as my favorite SXSW06 movie, Maxed Out. I'd venture to say this movie changed my life enough in the last however many hours that it's going to be at the top of my "you gotta catch this before you leave" list for all my friends and acquaintances in town with badges this week.
Rev. Billy got the Choir started some years ago to combat the evils waged by the conspiratorial, overzealous, and soulless corporate-worshipping commercial goons of the American retail trade. Who needs a safe, high-quality product made by an American in America feeding an American family when you can get it made cheaper in bulk with lower standards of craftsmanship by a sweatshop in the South Pacific?
The Stop Shopping Gospel Choir is funded by some very generous donors and literally drives all over the country doing what I'd call Perform In's to "preach the good word of Stop Shopping to prevent the Shopocalypse". We all know jobs and products are coming from overseas more and more and more, and it's rare you find a locally-owned, well-trafficked business outside havens like dear beloved Austin and Portland, Oregon (home to a lot of friends). It's a tragedy of the highest order that the Great American Assembly Line has been dismantled, crushed, and left for dead.
I have a pair of friends we ran into at the mall in Tallahassee last year during the madness of Christmas shopping who "refuse to consume" and how other friends of ours would criticize their practice of not essentially making an offering to the Golden Calf of commercialism during that part of the year.
My fiancee may not love the idea of not getting a bunch of "stuff" or whatever is most desirable on TV commercials this Christmas, but at the least, I want to put more emphasis on cherishing the time and company of those you're closest to, not only at that time of the year, but year-round.
All right, screw it, I've missed most of the morning's stuff typing all this, but I'm going to make sure I intentionally miss (as planned) the Sex Scenes Stay Hard panel, even though I'd love to see John Cameron Mitchell talk. I've got a date with Elizabeth Avellan.