First time that I've heard the term "torture-porn"

Now, it could be that I've been living in a hole for the past several months, but I'd never heard the term "torture-porn" before today. Torture-porn, for those who are wondering, is basically a splatter film or a film that repeatedly and graphically portrays violence and gore. Some examples are Hostel, the Saw films, and The Hills Have Eyes, to name a few.

I'm not the most eloquent person in the world, and there are much better writers out there than I, so I'm going to point you to them to express the aversion (that's putting it mildly) that I have to this genre of film. I pretty much agree 100% with this article over at CHUD, so go there first. It's a good read, but be prepared... the page has the latest poster for Hostel II on it as an example, and it's fairly off-putting.

Here's another article (also linked within the CHUD article) that reports, among other things, on Joss Whedon's opinion on the matter. The rest of the article is a little preachy and overly socio-analytical in my opinion, but it's a decent read.

my music-buying habits

I tend to buy all my music through the iTunes Store these days. After looking at my recent purchases, it turns out I only buy music if I heard it on the radio (most likely KROQ) and liked the song (natch), or I heard it used in a film/TV show. Here's a list of relatively recent purchases from the latter category in reverse chronological order with where I heard it in ( ):

"Hide and Seek" by Imogen Heap (SNL)
"Smack My Bitch Up" by Prodigy (referenced on SNL)
"Hold Tight" by Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich (Grindhouse: Death Proof)
"Before He Cheats" by Carrie Underwood (SNL) (I almost didn't admit to this one)
"Fury" by Prince (SNL)
"Ain't No Reason" by Brett Dennen (Scrubs)
"Fault Line" by Black Rebel Motorcycle Club (Bones)
"Requiem for a Tower" by Corner Stone Cues (trailer for Sunshine)
"Get Back (Sum 41 remix) by Ludacris (trailer for Smokin' Aces)
"It Ends Tonight" by All-American Rejects (promo for Battlestar Galactica)
"Painkiller" by Turin Brakes (The Last Kiss)
"Prophecy" by Remy Zero (The Last Kiss)
"Warning Sign" by Coldplay (The Last Kiss)
"Winter" by Joshua Radin (Scrubs)
"Savin' Me" by Nickelback (promo for BSG)
"Two Words" by Kanye West featuring Mos Def, Freeway & the Harlem Boys Choir (Chappelle Show)

Good stuff.

"That boy's got the devil in him" - Grindhouse

Yeah. I saw Grindhouse this past weekend. Everyone's talking about it and I don't have too much to add in the way of a review. A few random thoughts though:

1. Planet Terror was funny most of the time, but some scenes were sooooo gross that it actually decreased my enjoyment of the film as a whole. Which scenes? Really anything with the abscess guy. All in all, it's a true send-up of grindhouse movies.

2. Death Proof was really good. The car chase at the end is abso-freakin' amazing! Loved the ending too. In my opinion, where Rodriguez made a send-up, Tarantino made an actual grindhouse movie... and he made it really well. Did I mention the car chase at the end?

3. DON'T was the absolute best of the trailers. A cut above the rest (no pun intended). I would actually see that movie. It's no surprise that it was directed (for free, btw) by one of my personal favs, Edgar Wright, the director and co-writer of Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz.

4. Jeff Fahey's portrayal of J.T. in Planet Terror was spectacular. The guy cracked me up.

5. How awesome was it to hear "Jeepster" by T.Rex in Death Proof? It's one of T.Rex's best songs and I was really happy to see it prominently featured in a film. T.Rex is such an amazing glam rock band. Quentin's got some wicked taste in music. "Jeepster" can be bought on iTunes.

Vonnegut's rules

As I'm sure you've heard by now, Kurt Vonnegut passed away recently. I have to say I wasn't the biggest Vonnegut fan... I'm not really partial to Slaughterhouse Five like most people are, but I kinda dug Cat's Cradle, so that's something right?

Anyway, Vonnegut's 8 rules for writing a story are getting posted all around the net. They're all brilliant, and not necessarily things you normally think of when starting to outline or write your story. I first saw them on Jane Espenson's blog, so that's the one I'm linking here. And as Ms. Espenson also notes, these absolutely apply to screenwriting as well. Go read!

(again, via Jane in Progress)