For the low low price..
Being a film student does have some good perks. Namely, the opportunity to see films that you virtually have no chance of seeing anywhere else, ever again. One such film, which I saw over a year ago, is the short The Smell of Burning Ants by Jay Rosenblatt. This film is amazing and probably the best film I've seen screened in any of my classes at Columbia. It is a film that I would love to have in my collection.

Unfortunately, this 21 minute film is - get this - $195.00 to buy. $45.00 to rent.

Now.. $45.00 to buy? I MIGHT consider doing that. I understand this is not a commercial film and has little to no market beyond film instructors and film students. However, that not withstanding, $195.00 for a 21 minute short on VHS ("no plans for a DVD release") is utterly outrageous. $45 is a tough sell. $195 is inanity. And making that $195 for a VHS copy is insulting.

I hate this. I hate filmmakers who charge incredible prices for their art films. I thought David Lynch was pushing it when he asked for $40+ for his release of Eraserhead through his website. But that seems like a huge bargain compared to what Rosenblatt and others charge for their work.

Take The Cremaster Cycle, as well. Purchasing copies of this series are, as yet, almost impossible. But the rumor is that if you do want a copy of these films you had better be prepared to spend in the $1000's of dollars. And The Cremaster Cycle is 6 parts. Supposedly a consumer DVD set is coming soon, but coming soon so far has been over 2 years. Still,

Or how about the documentary on The Stanford Prison Experiment. This 51 minute doc will set you back $100 (although that doesn't sound like as much when, again, compared to Resenblatt).

This trend of charging huge amounts of cash for personal copies of your filmmaking is kind of unsettling to me. Maybe it's because I'll go out of my way to let people watch things I've done, radio, film, video, whatever, for free - and often at a deficit to my wallet (bandwith isn't free). Although, lets be honest - it's not I could get any cash for the stuff I do. But the principle remains.

I would love to support these filmmakers for their work - especially Rosenblatt - who has an original, distinct, and immensely disturbing style that is very unique to his pictures. But when you charge this kind of money for such things, bootlegs become more and more appealing. I don't feel like I'm entitled to having these films - and obviously the filmmakers don't either - but that doesn't change the fact that if a torrent link for The Smell of Burning Ants were to fall into my lap, I would be all over it and seeding it constantly. It's an important film. So much is made of how society forces little girls into their gender roles, but the boy's side of it is rarely explored. The Smell of Burning Ants explores this. Everyone should see this film, but unfortunately because of the filmmaker's design, few can.



At least Don Hertzfeldt is sane. $13 for the Rejected DVD filled with extras? Nice Don. Nice.
- posted by Brendan @ 4:21 AM 0 comments

 
The Magnificence of Brilliance
I didn't write this:

I never quite figured out why the sexual urge of men and women differ so much. And I never have figured out the whole Venus and Mars thing. I have never figured out why men think with their head and women with their heart.

FOR EXAMPLE: One evening last week, my girlfriend and I were getting into bed.

Well, the passion starts to heat up, and she eventually says "I don't feel like it, I just want you to hold me."

I said "WHAT??!! What was that?!"

So she says the words that every boyfriend on the planet dreads to hear... "You're just not in touch with my emotional needs as a woman enough for me to satisfy your physical needs as a man." She responded to my puzzled look by saying, "Can't you just love me for who I am and not what I do for you in the bedroom?"

Realizing that nothing was going to happen that night, I went to sleep.

The very next day I opted to take the day off of work to spend time with her. We went out to a nice lunch and then went shopping at a big, big unnamed department store. I walked around with her while she tried on several different very expensive outfits. She couldn't decide which one to take so I told her we'd just buy them all. She wanted new shoes to compliment her new clothes, so I said lets get a pair for each outfit. We went onto the jewelry department where she picked out a pair of diamond earrings. Let me tell you...she was so excited. She must have thought I was one wave short of a shipwreck. I started to think she was testing me because she asked for a tennis bracelet when she doesn't even know how to play tennis. I think I threw her for a loop when I said, "That's fine, honey." She was almost nearing sexual satisfaction from all of the excitement. Smiling with excited anticipation she finally said, "I think this is all dear, let's go to the cashier."

I could hardly contain myself when I blurted out, "No honey, I don't feel like it."

Her face just went completely blank as her jaw dropped with a baffled WHAT?"

I then said "honey! I just want you to HOLD this stuff for a while. You're just not in touch with my financial needs as a man enough for me to satisfy your shopping needs as a woman." And just when she had this look like she was going to kill me, I added, "Why can't you just love me for who I am and not for the things I buy you?"

Apparently I'm not having sex tonight either.
- posted by Brendan @ 9:02 PM 0 comments

 
Solved
I'm in the planning stages of an ambitious 6/7 part web series tentatively called "• REC". I'm debating on scrapping the Echoes project (formerly known as Malaise) to focus on finishing all 6/7 parts of • REC this summer, or doing both of them. Echoes has the added strength of being entirely written out already. • REC only has a story structure, episode synopsis (well, up to eps 3) and characters. • REC would be 10x harder to film because of locations and the number of actors needed to bring it to life. Echoes has a small cast and the locations would be easier to secure (I'm sick of shooting shit in my apartment. It's easy and gives me all the time I need, but it's gotten boring...). However, when it comes down to it, as much as I would prefer to do both Echoes and • REC, I think • REC is a stronger story and would be more rewarding and fun to do.

However - and this is the real point of this entry - since • REC is going to be a mystery, I've been watching a lot of Detective Academy Q and Kindaichi Shounen no Jikembo to get a feel for how they put together the crime + solution and the related clues. What works, and what does not. Which brings me to the primary topic - DAQ is only okay. It's no Kindaichi. The puzzles and mysteries are kind of far-fetched and there's little to no chance the audience can actually play along and figure things out because a lot of the information only magically appears at the end in the synopsis (with no way for anyone to have figured it out - including the characters). I "like" DAQ, but only because the selection of Kindaichi episodes available is barely existent.

To that end - why the hell are there 26+ episodes of DAQ subtitled and readily available, and only FOUR episodes of Kindaichi (plus the kickass movie). This is a tragedy when it comes to mystery anime. Kindaichi reigns king in this genre of anime and it has been kicked to the curb by the likes of Detective Conan (holy crap does that one suck) and Detective Academy Q. I swear to god if I had a translator I would be fansubbing these episodes like there was no tomorrow. This is a lost gem of anime with no indication of being picked up, anywhere, by anyone. The film should have at least been licensed by now, but in the current arena of fast-paced, simplistic, CG anime - it doesn't stand a chance. That is a huge shame. For what it's worth, I would speak of Kindaichi in the same breath as Evangelion, Palabor and Boogiepop Phantom. It's one of those anime that I quite simply adore.
- posted by Brendan @ 7:37 PM 0 comments

 
Impending doom
So, Anime Central 2005 is rapidly approaching. It seems like every May there's an event film that is released around the same time of ACen. Last year it was the Matrix Reloaded (bah) and this year it's Episode III. Cool.

So I'm going back for another round of Evangelion Fan Panel this year. Making it my 5 Eva panel. 5yr anniversary, yo. To think I was a lowly 17 year old when I started doing that panel there. Time... flies.. and.. such.

The Pillows are going to be at ACen. I may actually go to that concert... which would be my first ACen concert. We'll see..

I'm bored.
- posted by Brendan @ 8:12 PM 0 comments