The Unbelievable Truth: Tonight Is Video Night

July 31, 2004Unbelievable TruthRaymond Tomlin

A Lesson for Crispin Glover: When Not To Take LSD

A few years back, actor Crispin Glover had, what appeared to be, a nervous breakdown while visiting David Letterman’s late night show on NBC. Subsequent to Glover’s onstage antics, Letterman swore that Marty McFly’s dad would never appear on his show again. Well, here it is a new millennium, and VanRamblings learns (c/o All Things Christie) that Mr. Glover wasn’t suffering from acute psychological distress, rather … he was making like Art Linkletter’s worst nightmare. Here is Crispin Glover ‘kicking it’ on the Letterman show.
Funnier Than Anchorman: Will Ferrell Makes Like Bush

After spending over $75 million on fraudulent attacks, Bush White House apparatchik Karl Rove is back to selling the true Texas cowboy. Throughout August, Bush campaign commercials will feature President Bush at his ranch in Crawford, Texas. What will these commercials look like? Comedian Will Ferrell takes us for a behind-the-scenes look at ‘White House West’.
Summer at the Movies. A Video With More Heart Than I Robot

Migawd, this has been one lousy summer at the movies. There are no sleepers. Not one film has broken out, unexpectedly, to emerge as a hit. Second week box office drop-offs remain in the 60% range, and from Van Helsing to The Village and The Manchurian Candidate, this has been a summer of disappointment for most dedicated movie-goers. Fortunately, VanRamblings comes to the rescue tonight, presenting this heartfelt glimpse into our future, a video
that is everything that I Robot could never hope to be, whatever the budget.

John Kerry: The Next President of the United States?

July 31, 2004PoliticsRaymond Tomlin

Click on the picture above to watch “A Remarkable Promise” (Windows Media Player)

B.C.’s Left: Reasoned, Revolutionary and Damned Unapologetic

July 30, 2004BC PoliticsRaymond Tomlin

After years in the political wilderness, the left in British Columbia has begun to find its voice.
The debate on how to go about building a fairer world takes place on our own, expansive terms, and involves neoliberalism only insofar as it is necessary to grudgingly acknowledge the troglodyte politics of repression that is the purview of Harper, Campbell, Bush and their ilk.
The new, non-electoral-politics-oriented left in British Columbia (at least, at this point) recognizes history as a dynamic. We know in our hearts and minds that we will continue to move forward towards that day when all might participate as equals in a civil society defined by justice, caring and respect for the collective, and individual, needs of each and every one of us.
Left Turn online addresses the role of the leaderships of the NDP and BC Federation of Labour and “their fear of extra parliamentary struggle (that) is only surpassed by their contempt for workers’ democracy.” Left Turn rejects the ‘humane’ capitalism of the NDP and instead calls for a dialogue of change with activist groups in our communities who have been battling “in the trenches, whether involved in fighting welfare cuts, organizing for union democracy, struggling against the closure of women’s centres, combatting homophobia, or preserving the ecosphere.”

Seven Oaks online magazine has positioned itself as the reasoned, thoughtful and non-didactic “publication which stands outside the realm of false consensus.” The editors write in their manifesto …

Through our weekly provision of analytical features, progressive opinions, cultural commentary, and more, we hope to provide another space where ideas, questions, stories, information, problems, and possible solutions can be shared, sounded out, celebrated, and debated in an open forum free of cumbersome, dogmatic ‘Party lines’, but all the while in unambiguous pursuit of progressive social change. We hope to be a part of that chorus of voices in this country giving the lie to the quiet, conservative fantasy that all is well here, and always has been.

If Seven Oaks is British Columbia’s weekly magazine of the left, since last November The Tyee has emerged as the feisty new media online presence that, daily, addresses issues the reactionary forces of the CanWest conglomerate refuse to acknowledge even exist. More reportorial, and immediate, in its presentation and structure than Seven Oaks magazine, The Tyee is helmed by David Beers, once a senior editor at Mother Jones, and creator of the lamentably, now lost, cultural section of the Vancouver Sun, The Mix (simply the best weekly cultural magazine published inside any Canadian newspaper in the last 25 years). The Tyee remains a must read.

And, finally, there’s Public Eye, an online weblog, edited by Sean Holman. Although Public Eye bills itself as “independent and irreverent … neither Liberal nor New Democrat”, make no mistake, this peripatetic online journal in covering the backrooms of provincial and federal politics in B.C. offers a progressive and necessary voice for change.
Welcome to the new digital democracy. The revolution is underway …

With The Sun Beating Down, Take A Break With a DVD

July 29, 2004Video & DVDRaymond Tomlin

With the fan(s) whirring in the background, the hot noon day sun beating down hard outside (or, perhaps, it is the early evening sun that is preparing to set off in the distant west), yes, this just may be the perfect time to pick up the remote, slide a DVD into the machine, and relax.
A couple of recommendable DVD’s this week; so let’s get started, shall we?

Surprisingly entertaining, this spring 2004 cinematic re-imagining of the vividly drawn Dark Horse comic series, may not be Spiderman-inspiring, but with WWII Nazis, aided by occultists, summoning a creature from hell to help destroy the earth, and good guy Professor Broom (John Hurt) intervening to raise Hellboy to fight the evil monsters who first brought him into the world, well …. the DVD simply crackles. Talented writer / director Guillermo Del Toro (The Devil’s Backbone) and co-writer Peter Briggs (Alien vs Predator) give Hellboy the mythic treatment, while actor Ron Perlman (City of Lost Children) occupies Hellboy with more than enough humanity to ground him. With its surfeit of twirling gears and clockworks juxtaposed with crumbling castles pelted by dark rain, the action sequences comes fast (and satisfyingly clear). All and all, one helluva good time.

The guilty pleasure of the week, Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights is the perfect DVD for a steamy summer’s night, a movie that will have you swinging your hips and singing “Cuba!” under your breath for days to come. The ‘prequel’ has almost the same plot as the 1987 original, and works for much the same reason the first one worked: the two lead characters. This time around up-and-comer Romola Garai (luminescent in any number of films) and Diego Luna (Y Tu Mamá También) bring the classic teen Romeo and Juliet story (and the idea of a girl’s initiation into sexual awareness) to life, once again rendered onscreen by the transmutation into sexy dancing.