Martha Knows Everything...and You Should, Too

I'm not sure. But I'm sectioning off the procrastinating screenwriter part of my personality in its own little corral. Watch me attempt to rassle with my writing alligators in "The Worst Screenplay in the History of the World." Starring Topher Grace and...hell, Scarlett Johansson sounds great.

posted by Martha @ 9:46 PM 0 comments

HOW DID I MISS THIS MOVIE

Stander (2003): White South African top cop turned breakneck bank robber during the most brutal part of apartheid. Played by the phenomenally charismatic Thomas Jane, directed by the quietly brilliant Bronwen Hughes. It reminds one of the best of the 60s and 70s noir movies, with a 21st century ambivalence about good and evil, and it lasted less than a week in New York City. The music is hot, the art direction wizardly, and the attention to detail spectacular. Sort of Donnie Brasco meets Catch Me If You Can, with a political center. See it, see it, see it.

P.S. Thomas Jane. Naked. Several times.

posted by Martha @ 7:42 PM 0 comments

I HEART BILL MOYERS

Bill Moyers on our very real news crisis: Salon.com News | "A democracy can die of too many lies": " I came to see that news is what people want to keep hidden, and everything else is publicity. "

posted by Martha @ 1:11 AM 0 comments

PORNO SIGNAGE FANS LAMENT
Corrections - New York Times: "Because of a transcription error, an article last Sunday in Summer Movies, Part 2 of this section, about the director Don Roos rendered a word incorrectly in his comment about the use of onscreen titles in his film 'Happy Endings.' He said, 'I love foreign films, which have a lot of signage in them' - not 'porno films.'

posted by Martha @ 12:51 PM 0 comments

IF ELECTED, I WILL REFRESH CONTENT SIX TIMES A DAY.

Here in Hoboken, we have a genuine horse race for mayor. Though, from the looks of things, the Mr. Softee truck may dominate the runoff. In New York, Andy Horwitz plans to form a blog party. What I love is that he's humble and questioning...but he also has a nice logo!

posted by Martha @ 12:17 PM 0 comments

IT'S GOOD TO BE A DOG...IN THAILAND

Ananova - Thai king opens pool for dogs: "'The pool will serve for the physical rehabilitation of dogs suffering from arthritis and neurological diseases,' said Viroj Impitak, Kasetsart University president."

posted by Martha @ 3:45 PM 0 comments

HOLLY GOLIGHTLY MUST DIE

Dear girl on a bike with no helmet plugged into an Ipod who backed into me yesterday on a Soho street:

Maybe you didn't mean to.

Except that you did it twice.

Maybe you think you're in your own favorite movie, probably "Breakfast at Tiffany's."

Except that film was a bogus, cheerfuled up version of a very sad book about odd people barely hanging on in an anxious New York whereas you, I suspect, are living in a comfy loft that your father bought because it was so close to your favorite stores.

Anyway, fortunately, I wasn't plugged into anything, so I was able to anticipate your oblivious bike maneuvers. And dodge you. And since you were plugged into something you were playing at a hideous volume, I was able to curse you with abandon. So maybe I got the better end of the deal.

Looking forward to your inevitable exodus to L.A., where the possibilities for utter obliviousness expand exponentially,

Madame Curmudgeonette

posted by Martha @ 2:25 PM 0 comments

BOOK PROMOTION, TRIATHLONS, VISUALIZATION, DOG FOOD, ORGASMS, AND GODDESSHOOD

That's what Amazon thinks I'm thinking about.

posted by Martha @ 8:04 PM 0 comments

AGAINST HEAVEN AND THE BIG GUY IN THE SKY

Scientist Richard Dawkins, author of "The Selfish Gene," explains why getting rid of religion might just save our lives:

Salon.com News | The atheist: "How would we be better off without religion?

We'd all be freed to concentrate on the only life we are ever going to have. We'd be free to exult in the privilege -- the remarkable good fortune -- that each one of us enjoys through having been being born. An astronomically overwhelming majority of the people who could be born never will be. You are one of the tiny minority whose number came up. Be thankful that you have a life, and forsake your vain and presumptuous desire for a second one. The world would be a better place if we all had this positive attitude to life. It would also be a better place if morality was all about doing good to others and refraining from hurting them, rather than religion's morbid obsession with private sin and the evils of sexual enjoyment.

Sounds like paradise to me. Now, if we can just persuade a certain segment not to bring the Rapture down on our heads, maybe we can work this out.

posted by Martha @ 10:14 AM 2 comments