Ocelopotamus

News, culture, and politics. Not necessarily in that order.

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Entries Tagged as 'Film'

DVD: Priscilla with “Extra Frills”!

June 10th, 2007 · Comments Off on DVD: Priscilla with “Extra Frills”! · Comedy, Culture, Film, LGBT, Music, News, Video

At long last! An “Extra Frills” special edition of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert was released on DVD this week. It includes director commentary from Stephan Elliott, deleted scenes, bloopers, a making-of featurette, trailers, teasers and more. AfterElton.com waxes enthusiastic about it here. When the film premiered at Cannes, it was such a smash that […]

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Copy Rights and Wrongs

May 29th, 2007 · 2 Comments · Books, Culture, Film, History, Law, Lit, Video

This way-clever video, which I found on YouTube, uses short snips from various animated Disney films to provide an entertaining education on the nature of copyright, fair use, and the public domain.   The daunting reality is that copyright has way gotten out of control in recent years — where once upon a time copyright […]

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Roundup: Fried Ice Edition

May 28th, 2007 · Comments Off on Roundup: Fried Ice Edition · Blogs, Books, Climate Change, Comedy, Comics, Culture, Film, Food, LGBT, Music, New Wave, News, Organic Food, Politics

Profile of Newtok, Alaska: One of the first victims of climate change, a town gradually sinking into the mud. As the hardest hit of the 180 Alaskan villages suffering from erosion, “studies say Newtok could be washed away within a decade.” Iceberg of Yuck: The Consumerist says, “Poison toothpaste, killer cough-syrup, and tainted pet food […]

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Roundup: Carrot Whittling Edition

May 15th, 2007 · 4 Comments · Blogs, Culture, Education, Energy, Film, Food, LGBT, Music, New Wave, News, Politics, Science, Science Fiction, Tech

White light, green heat: LEDS aren’t just for clock radios any more. In fact, LED lightbulbs may turn out to be the bulb of the future instead of compact fluorescents. Thanks to a breakthrough in the 90s, modern LEDs can emit white light instead of just red or green. They last up to five times […]

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Happy Fontiversary Helvetica, All About Arial, and Cooper Black: Behind the Typeface

May 13th, 2007 · Comments Off on Happy Fontiversary Helvetica, All About Arial, and Cooper Black: Behind the Typeface · Culture, Design, Film, Internet, News, Software, Tech, Typography, Video

Via an email from my friend Jorjet, I see that Helvetica is celebrating its 50th birthday this year. Helvetica comes from Switzerland, which is fitting considering its essentially neutral personality. We should all be so functional and wildly popular as Helvetica at our half-century mark. Of course, Helvetica has its detractors as well: “When people […]

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Music: New Releases from Jeff Buckley, Nick Drake, and Elliott Smith

May 10th, 2007 · 2 Comments · Culture, Film, Music, News

Posthumous releases are on the way from Jeff Buckley, Nick Drake, and Elliott Smith. (Wes Anderson, fire up your iPod.) The Jeff Buckley compilation is called So Real: Songs of Jeff Buckley and will include a cover of “I Know It’s Over” by The Smiths, as well as a mix of studio cuts, live tracks, […]

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Roundup: Sunday Potluck Edition

May 6th, 2007 · 9 Comments · Activism, Blogs, Comics, Culture, Education, Film, Foreign Policy, Hate Crimes, Health, LGBT, Lit, Music, News, Peace, Pet Food, Pets, Poetry, Politics, Tea

Sunday was always potluck day where I grew up, so I hereby present to you this glorious covered casserole of links I didn’t get around to posting this week. With a few fresh ones stirred in, just to keep you guessing. Retired general compares Bush to a deserter: “By vetoing this bill and failing to […]

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Suzi Quatro Rocks Hard in Times Square

April 30th, 2007 · 2 Comments · Culture, Film, Journal, LGBT, Music, New Wave, Video

Ah, another thrilling YouTube find! Some of you will know Suzi Quatro as the most prominent female glam rocker of the early 70s, racking up a string of hits with Chapman-Chinn numbers like “Can the Can.” Some will know her only from her soft-rock duet “Stumblin’ In” with Chris Norman, which you have to have […]

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Roundup: Zero Gravity Friday Edition

April 27th, 2007 · Comments Off on Roundup: Zero Gravity Friday Edition · Apple, Climate Change, Comedy, Comics, Culture, Factory Farming, Film, Food, Guns, iTunes, LGBT, Macintosh, Media, Nature, News, Pet Food, Pets, Politics, Science

I have three days’ worth of links accumulated and only one Friday afternoon roundup post to squeeze them into! Help me with the zipper. As many as 6,000 hogs may have been fed melamine-tainted feed: “A USDA official said that so far states have quarantined one farm each in South Carolina, New York, North Carolina […]

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You’re a Good Man, Peter Parker

April 22nd, 2007 · 4 Comments · Comics, Culture, Film, News, Theater

The new Spider-Man movie opens in the U.S. on May 4th, but in the meantime, Peter Parker is already preparing to take on the scariest super-villains of all: Broadway critics. I know this sounds like a late April Fool’s gag, but it’s a for-real story from the New York Daily News. Marvel Comics is developing […]

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DVD: The History Boys

April 13th, 2007 · Comments Off on DVD: The History Boys · Culture, Education, Film, History, LGBT, Lit, New Wave, News, Poetry, Theater

The History Boys is finally being released on DVD this coming Tuesday, April 17. According to this review, the DVD comes with a solid curriculum of extras: Writer Alan Bennett and director Nicholas Hynter share an informative track addressing the changes made to the play but, sadly, do not discuss the interesting cast in personal […]

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DVD: Shortbus and the Joy of Deleted Scenes

April 11th, 2007 · 9 Comments · Culture, Film, Fringe, LGBT, Neo-Futurists, Theater

I was strangely resistant to seeing Shortbus when it was playing in theaters last fall, and I’m not entirely sure why. I suppose partly I was put off by all the buzz about it, because I’m the kind of person who gets put off by buzz sometimes, and partly I was suspicious of the “graphic […]

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Comedy and the Art of Dancing Backwards

April 7th, 2007 · 3 Comments · Blogroll, Blogs, Comedy, Culture, Doctor Who, Film, Journal, Kids in the Hall, Meta, Neo-Futurists, Science Fiction, The Partly Dave Show, TV

My old friend AKMA (from the Billy-Bragg email list back in the 90s) has a short but insightful post up about the etiquette of responding to a straight line when it’s offered. It reminds me of why I used to enjoy talking to him online so much. Go read it. The last time I exchanged […]

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News Roundup: Supreme Court, Python,
and Gromit Edition

April 2nd, 2007 · 1 Comment · Advertising, Apple, Blogs, Business, Climate Change, Comedy, Culture, Film, Fringe, Health, Human Rights, iTunes, LGBT, Media, Music, Nature, Neo-Futurists, News, Politics, Supreme Court, Torture, Travel, TV

The Supreme Court rules that the EPA has the authority — and the responsibility — to regulate greenhouse gases. Carl Pope of The Sierra Club says: “Today’s ruling is a watershed moment in the fight against global warming … The ruling is a total rejection of the Bush administration’s refusal to use its existing authority […]

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