or Powell's or me• • •
"Mike and Jon, Jon and Mike—I've known them both for years, and, clearly, one of them is very funny. As for the other: truly one of the great hangers-on of our time."—Steve Bodow, head writer, The Daily Show
•
"Who can really judge what's funny? If humor is a subjective medium, then can there be something that is really and truly hilarious? Me. This book."—Daniel Handler, author, Adverbs, and personal representative of Lemony Snicket
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"The good news: I thought Our Kampf was consistently hilarious. The bad news: I’m the guy who wrote Monkeybone."—Sam Hamm, screenwriter, Batman, Batman Returns, and Homecoming
December 03, 2005
Zemblaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!
The King of Zembla, a distant northern land, just interviewed Joe Dante about his "dissident zombie" movie now on Showtime:
DANTE: And now with the country so split ideologically it's become riskier for films/tv to take a stand and risk alienating the customers. And don't misunderestimate these guys...they may be down today, but they're not out. They have the media (as Ms Coulter has reminded us) and despite their almost unbroken record of jaw-dropping incompetence in nearly every area, they still know how to play the Rubes.If our cut-rate zombie movie can make even one Bushevic question their beliefs it'll have been worth making. Sam [Hamm] and I look at it as kind of an act of patriotism, actually.
Much more here.
Posted at December 3, 2005 08:45 PM | TrackBack“This pitiful zombie movie, this fucking B movie, is the only thing anybody's done about this issue that's killed 2,000 Americans and untold numbers of Iraqis? It's fucking sick.â€ÂÂ
Not exactly true. But this is the most telling part of the interview. Dante makes an excellent point about "Fahrenheit 9/11" and how useful it was.
I can probably outsnob this site's entire readership with my ever-growing list of anti-Bush documentaries that are far better that Moore's movie. But Dante's right-- what matters is what reaches people. We had people here working for Kerry on Election Day who would not have been there without that movie.
Yes-- it's pop. Yes-- it's sloppy. So? The cultural basis of revolutions, from the tiny to the large, have always come from popular cultural. This site's favorite book not by Jon Ralston Saul is wrought (well- AND over-) science fiction.
So let it be a pitiful fucking zombie movie. That's what works. That's what sounds the most true for America. Fine.
My favorite Tiny Revolution post, ever, was "We Need More Rap by Rich White People," which made the point, and well, that the best art comes from the least powerful members in any society.
Because they have the most to say.
Posted by: Sully at December 4, 2005 02:26 PMI'm a little skeptical of all the claims made for the far-reaching potential of this movie given the fact that despite spending a hefty amount of cash I continually regret on digital cable, I still can't actually see it--I just don't spend enough. What does that say about the audience reach?
Posted by: Saheli at December 6, 2005 03:12 PMTo Saheli. P2P
Posted by: sam_m at December 6, 2005 05:20 PM
