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Favourite Moments in Annie Hall (1977)

There are several amusing quotes in this Academy Award winning film, but the scene in which Annie (Diane Keaton) tells Alvy to come over so he can kill the spider in her bathroom remains memorable. First, Alvy says that he hasn’t killed one since he was thirty and then once he sees it, he adds that it’s the size of a Buick.

As Alvy and Annie stand in line at the movie theatre, Alvy is irritated by the cultural commentary of the man behind him, who evidently misinterprets the teachings of Marshall McLuhan. Then lo and behold, Alvy decides to teach him a lesson and introduces the man to McLuhan himself who tells the man that he is wrong. A scene like this could only be made in the seventies, so it’s something to appreciate. What a great cameo.

Speaking of cultural criticism, when Alvy arrives in LA, he remarks that people in California “don’t throw their garbage away, they turn it into television shows”. Unfortunately this rings true today to a certain extent, considering the lack of quality in entertainment produced on the west coast.

After her first session with her “analyst” i.e. therapist, Annie recaps how much progress she made during their visit. She tells Alvy about the therapist’s remark that Annie’s feelings about relationships can be attributed to penis envy. I remember when a media studies professor mentioned Freud’s theory about it and those who weren’t BBMing during the lecture rolled their eyes, or scrunched their eyebrows at the thought. Meanwhile, Woody Allen referenced it over thirty years ago in film, so why should the topic come as such a surprise?

While at a party with his friend, Rob, Rob refers to a female guest as the one with the VPL, which he then explains to Alvy stands for visible panty line. With so many girls wearing leggings as pants today, it may not be the best distinguishing characteristic anymore.

January 9, 2011 by

James Van Der Memes

Here’s to reminiscing about the classic teenage love triangle and genre-defining drama, Dawson’s Creek…

Every day more and more people join the blogosphere and the most notable new blogger is actor James Van Der Beek, of Dawson’s Creek fame. Ten years after he infamously cried in the season three finale, James has launched his own Tumblr blog in which he posts videos of himself making comical melodramatic facial expressions. In the video introducing the blog, James explains that he was inspired by reading comments about the Dawson’s Creek clip and wanted to offer his fans more entertaining close-ups.

When he emphasizes that the original clip has been “digitally restored and re-mastered”, it reminded me of Disney’s commercials for their DVDs and Blu-Rays, in which they encourage parents to buy a brand new copy of a video they may already own because surely their children deserve to watch animated characters in the best possible quality. You may also enjoy his latest ‘Asshole for Hire’ video, which you can check out on his blog here.

Update (2025): This originally linked to James Van Der Beek’s Tumblr blog (jamesvandermemes.com) which is no longer active.

January 5, 2011 by

Word on the Street

The following is inspired by a Microsoft commercial (see post below) and recaps some lessons learned in MIT.

Hey there, you may know me as Prince. I loved this past New Years Eve because who doesn’t like partying like it’s 20Ten and playing with meaning? That’s what Derrida promoted back in his day and I can see why. It’s exactly why I released some songs through a newspaper this past summer, as I like to do things differently.

People in this world need to be courageous and creative. Being a follower won’t get you anywhere but being called a copycat and I don’t want a CC of anyone else’s ideas. I prefer to spread my own ideas and I love how Web 2.0 lets me do just that.

That’s why I turn to the blogosphere to rant about whatever I feel like. Democratic communication is a beautiful thing and I think more people should recognize how they can use it for progressive social change. So many opportunities, yet so little time, but we got to stop procrastinating already and put an end to all this marginalization. There are simply way too many stereotypes circulating the WWW and it’s time that somebody does something about it!

It’s great that Kylie has the tools to capture, edit and share her photos, but let’s not forget that her distant relatives aren’t all as lucky. There’s some major social injustice in this world; someone’s got to fix that digital divide. When there are journalists who think a university campus could be ‘too Asian’, it seems impossible for everyone to be like one happy family in a global village. Kylie seems optimistic though. Hopefully her online habits won’t make her become the sad caricature of the computer enthusiast (you’re the man, Vincent Mosco).

The keyboard is like a sword sometimes; Kylie should be careful what she does with those little fingers. As Alan Turing says, communication is war continued by other means. So whether it’s for employment purposes, personal branding, or just an attempt to get a date on Saturday night, people should be careful what they say.

By creating a whole campaign based on binaries, Apple makes it seem like every day is national suit up day in uptight Seattle. You know what Microsoft should really do? Develop an app or add a feature to MS Word that helps people develop their craft in spoken word. It’s such a cool art form, yet many people don’t recognize that. It must be because they’re spending too much time fooling around with their shiny iTouch screens.

I’m thinking about booking a trip to Mexico so I can strengthen my muscles in one of Madonna’s new gyms. What a material girl, trying to put her name on everything. She’s always touring the world to reinvent herself. Well, wish me luck on my upcoming globe-trotting adventures (and come see the show if you can).

That white kid Bieber thinks he can take my place? He can try, but he can’t replace me or the king of pop, may he RIP. Michael was a fabulous performer. Plus, he practically named his son after me. Everything’s so pre-digested these days. We need more originality. Come on, you indie musicians, let’s hear it. Put your cultural capital to good use. You’ve got your freedom and I don’t see anyone handing you death threats, so get to it! I’m curious to see what bricolage budding musicians will mash-up next.

Here’s to making great cultural texts,

Cheers!

January 4, 2011 by

American Music Awards

I enjoyed live tweeting the American Music Awards last night, but I wasn’t all that impressed overall.

It’s great that Canadian singers have garnered critical acclaim internationally, but are the American Music Awards really the right time to recognize Michael Buble or Justin Bieber? We Canucks have our own version of the award show; it’s called the Junos.

1.    I think it would have been more fitting if Miley performed ‘Party in the USA’, but showbiz told her to do otherwise I suppose. In any case, I muted the TV after she took the stage.

2.    I loved when Enrique’s marching band emerged in the aisles. This was also the first time I saw what Pitbull looks like in real life.

3.    Bieber’s sneakers were cool, but his attempt to be the new Michael Jackson – not so much. It was no surprise when the camera immediately panned to Usher’s reaction after Bieber concluded the song by kneeling on the ground, as if he were praying. Anyone could anticipate that Bieber’s mentor would be smiling.

4.    It was nice to see Christina make use of the vocal chords that made her famous when Disney featured her in Mulan’s soundtrack. She was a cute pop star back in the day, but then she started releasing such awful music that I barely take an interest in her new releases. Nevertheless, I can’t wait to see her and Cher on the big screen next week in Burlesque.

5.    Rihanna is beautiful, but what was with her hair?! That shade of red is so unnecessary.

November 22, 2010 by

The Kids Are All Right

In his first few scenes of The Kids Are All Right, I thought Paul (Mark Ruffalo) was a strange, hippy guy. Driving a motorcycle may be dangerous, but Ruffalo makes it look très cool. As the movie progresses, Paul comes across as someone who would make for a cool uncle, which is convenient for a sperm donor who spontaneously enters his biological kids’ lives. Ruffalo has been in a number of cheesy chick flicks – Just Like Heaven, case in point – but this performance and his role in Canadian indie My Life Without Me prove why he is in the biz.

When Nic (Annette Benning) remarks how each kid is so similar to their respective biological mother, I suddenly realized how the film presented the characters precisely in this way. It wasn’t necessary for the movie to deliberately depict the ‘like mother, like child’ cliché, but this is precisely what writer and director Lisa Cholodenko did.

Considering that soap opera characters inspired the possible alternatives for my own name, I found it mildly funny that Joni (Mia Wasikowska) was named after Joni Mitchell. Let’s just hope that teen moms don’t think it’s cool to name their newborns after Ke$ha, or some other one hit wonder.

The hair department really should have done something different with Joni’s hair, instead of letting it look so plain and straggly. Just because she is more anxious about starting college and moving out than choosing which shade of lipstick to wear, doesn’t mean she can’t sport a ponytail every so often.

Without any spirited sophs carrying mini fridges in their jumpsuits, Joni’s campus is oddly quiet on move-in day when her unconventional family says their goodbyes. This would’ve been a good time to hire some college-aged extras looking to brag that they were on the same set as Julianne Moore.

Cholodenko tells an interesting story with minimal product placement courtesy of Volvo. She doesn’t conclude with a fairytale ending per se, as she leaves some questions unanswered (like Joni’s When Harry Met Sally situation), but reassures viewers everything will be all right, regardless of how dysfunctional a family is.

November 21, 2010 by