Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Herostratus

A failure of the venerable Mac is that it started hiccuping on my flash drive after one too many movie transfers. After the Mac OS just kept choking Windows formatted the thing in a jiffy. I blame the cataclysm that occurs when an eastbound train laden with good taste meets a westbound train carrying Herostratus.

Here's a nastier plot summary from the NY Times:
A disillusioned poet decides that he has had enough of life and begins to plan his suicide. Rather than go quietly, he decides to make a "statement" by making it a media event in this ponderous drama. He heads straight for a public relations company and tells them that he is famous and from a wealthy family. A little investigation reveals that he is not only poor, but also a lousy writer. Still, news is news and they agree to publicize his death. Unfortunately, on the appointed day, the poet finds someone waiting for him on the roof top. This person tries to convince the poet not to jump. A struggle ensues and the helpful fellow falls to his death. Later the poet runs wildly through the streets into the distance.
It's about that bad. I didn't catch that Max - the main character - was a poet until pretty far in, although it makes sense: he was an awful awful person, though being awful doesn't distinguish him from anyone else in the film except maybe that first hooker.

Along the way there are strippers intercut with the butchery of animals and some interesting footage of Allen Ginsberg doing a reading. Also a mysterious woman in leather also.

And here we have Dame Helen Mirren, respectable sexpot, straight from Herostratus:



It's an allegory of something or other that you will better recognize if you live in a society composed feral wildmen, rich bastards, and hookers and strippers. In short it's everything you could want in a student film but with terrific photography and pretty ambitious sound. Therefore I made it to the end.

33 comments:

ifthethunderdontgetya™³²®© said...

Was brown acid involved?
~

zombie rotten mcdonald said...

well, hell, I am going to view "National Treasure" completely differntly, Nicols Cage or no.

zombie rotten mcdonald said...

plus, comment stealer or no, thank you for that.

Excuse me for a minute or two.

Smut Clyde said...

you will better recognize if you live in a society composed feral wildmen, rich bastards, and hookers and strippers.

I am sure the 1960s had a downside as well so let's not become too nostalgic.

mikey said...

The thing with flash drives is they use MLC NAND flash, which is problematic because it has a very short write-cycle lifespan. So the controller on board the drive uses a "wear leveling algorithm" that in many cases is stupider than Jonah Goldberg.

So you'll end up with bad sectors, and the formatters tend to have a bit of a problem recognizing the bad sectors because the OS doesn't address them directly....

Ah, fuck it. Get a new drive. Or just spend a hundred bucks on a terrabyte of NAS storage....

Substance McGravitas said...

Was brown acid involved?

Oh absolutely, but not on my part.

zombie rotten mcdonald said...

so you switched to a PC because your Mac wouldn't give you Helen Mirren Soft-core?

Speaking as a long time Mac-head, I gotta say that's the best justification for a switch that i've heard.

Substance McGravitas said...

No, the work PC took care of the bad sectors, which none of my at home Macs - various OS X installations - would do.

They still play filthy art movies just fine.

mikey said...

And if you INSIST on using the nearly dead flash drive, partition it (on the work computer - you do NOT deserve the punishment of trying to do this on a brain dead mac) into 2gb drives and format each of them as FAT.

Alternatively, fire up your Ubuntu 9.10 installation and format them as ext4 and all the problems go away...

Substance McGravitas said...

And if you INSIST on using the nearly dead flash drive

I do! Also these pants are too comfy to throw out.

tigris said...

Those pants are so frayed they look like a freaking tutu.

Substance McGravitas said...

I wish I could fit into a tutu, but the threethrees are well behind me now.

Smut Clyde said...

I call your attention to the tutu poison peril.

Substance McGravitas said...

My god! She's dead!

mikey said...

Dammit.

It looks like somebody spilled a big bag of mashed up girl all over the floor.

Cripes....

Big Bad Bald Bastard said...

That video works better than essence of mandrake!

Smut Clyde said...

Have finally watched video.
It's like two cute puppies trying to squeeze through a cat-door at the same time, and getting stuck halfway.

mikey said...

I see by way of wiki that Dame Mirren and the knockers of doom collectively starred in Guccione's caligula.

Got any video of her junk?

Substance McGravitas said...

Been a long long time since I've seen this but it was awesome.

mikey said...

I try to avoid films that feature "scatalogical content", but I dunno.

If those knockers of doom are featured along with the scatology, maybe I'll check it out.

Substance McGravitas said...

It's really a fine film. And the pacing is slow and the scenes beautiful. An art movie though: the scenes are treated as paintings.

mikey said...

Is the poop treated as an actor or as a part of the scene?

Substance McGravitas said...

The poop is worn as fetchingly as is possible.

Check out this title.

Smut Clyde said...

The Extravaganza of Golgotha Smuts

What kind of feckin' stupid name is that?!

zeppo said...

That's funny. I have always like Helen. I have an all new mental image.

Substance McGravitas said...

Well, she's a great actress, and people who are any good at that should necessarily wind up in a few strange things now and then, early days or no.

Smut Clyde said...

We seem to be stuck at the 'youthful indiscretion' stage.

Substance McGravitas said...

But we're not too young to learn: POST MORE STRIPPER VIDEOS.

Smut Clyde said...

I'll set up the webcam and see what I can do.

Smut Clyde said...

A couple of decades ago Nash the Slash released a video to accompany his cover version of "19th Nervous Breakdown"... it showed Nash falling endlessly downstairs while his bandages unravelled... that would probably count, but no-one's uploaded the thing onto Youtube.

Radio with Pictures with Karyn Hay -- they showed all the cool vids.

Smut Clyde said...

A veritable ecdysiastic frenzy.

Smut Clyde said...

I cannot recommend the snake lap-dance.

tigris said...

"If You Give a Snake a Lap Dance" is another one of those damn books, isn't it?