When Katy French died I only knew her as “that so-called celeb in a coma”. I only knew her as that because I use TV3 to keep track of the time before I go to work in the morning. And she was a true example of a TV3 celebrity.
I never really intended to post about her death.
What’d be the point. I didn’t know her. Or anything about her. And if I’m honest I don’t care. That may sound uncaring; obviously for her family it is a tragedy. But I don’t post about every person who may or may not have died because of cocaine. Actually this isn’t about her at all, or her death, it is about the media reaction to her death.
Today Kevin (Disillusioned Lefty) posted a link to The Monkey’s Typewriter post about John Waters column in The Irish Times.
OMG what a load of old tripe. The John Waters column I mean, not the blog post. Did someone pretending to be a journalist actually write those things? If it wasn’t so horrendous it’d be funny. Actually, horrendous as it is, it is still hilarious as only self-indulgent tripe can be.
And of course it also further belittles the tragedy of French’s family as they have to put up with the media intrusion into their lives. Personal tragedy is the only real tragedy. This misbegotten piece of trash, from a person who didn’t know Katy is simply cashing in on her family’s pain with no real regard for what they might be going through.
French was not “personification of our fantasies” she was simply a person who was famous. And like all famous people, was therefore subject to other people’s projections and, in this case, a journalist making her less than a person in order to make some general sweeping comment about society. A general sweeping comment, btw, that says nothing at all.
She was a child. She was my daughter and Eoghan’s daughter and Eamon’s daughter and Pat’s daughter and Bertie’s daughter. She was your daughter, your little sister. She was a child of Ireland in the time of its rebirth.
Excuse me while I vomit.
Title taken from a
politics.ie thread.
Tags:
death,
drugs,
John Waters,
Katy French,
meeja,
The Irish Times
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Writ & Dir: James Grey
- Joaquin Phoenix … Robert ‘Bobby’ Green
- Eva Mendes … Amada Juarez
- Mark Wahlberg … Capt. Joseph ‘Joe’ Grusinsky
- Robert Duvall … Deputy Chief Albert ‘Bert’ Grusinsky
- Alex Veadov … Vadim Nezhinski
- Danny Hoch … Jumbo Falsetti
Bobby is a night club manager. It is the 1980’s, New York. Life is good. Until the day his brother comes calling. Bobby’s brother, Joe, you see, is a cop. A drugs cop and he arrives in full on SWAT-mode at the club. This is not a way to ensure peaceful family get togethers. Especially considering that we already know there is tension in the family. You can just guess at the resulting tensions. But then the Russian bad-guys organise a hit on Joe. Bobby is stung into action and swears revenge. In this life or the next.[1]
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Linknotes:
- yeah yeah, that is vengeance, but whatever ↩
Tags:
1988,
5 Stars,
Alex Veadov,
clichéd,
crime,
Danny Hoch,
drugs,
Eva Mendes,
James Grey,
Joaquin Phoenix,
looks cool,
Mark Wahlberg,
New York,
police,
predictable,
R15A,
Robert Duvall,
USA - 1980s
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Creator: David Simon
Dir.s: Edward Bianchi, Elodie Keene, Steve Shill, Thomas J. Wright, Daniel Attias, Timothy Van Patten, Rob Bailey, Ernest R. Dickerson, Robert F. Colesberry
Writ.s: David Simon, Ed Burns, Joy Kecken, Rafael Ã?lvarez, George P. Pelecanos
- Dominic West … Det. Jimmy McNulty
- Sonja Sohn … Det. Kima Greggs
- Domenick Lombardozzi … Det. Herc Hauk
- Lance Reddick … Lt. Cedric Daniels
- Seth Gilliam … Sgt. Ellis Carver
- John Doman … Deputy Commissioner Rawls
- Idris Elba … Stringer Bell
- Michael K. Williams … Omar Little
- Andre Royo … Bubbles
- Chris Bauer … Frank Sobotka
- Paul Ben-Victor … Vondas Vondopoulos
- James Ransone … Ziggy Sobotka
- Pablo Schreiber … Nick Sobotka
The first season of The Wire dealt with drug dealers run by the Barksdale family. At the end the detail got reassigned with McNulty working for the marine unit. While out he comes across a floater. And later the bodies of 13 more women are found in a container in the city port. At first there is considerable debate over who has to take these cases; there is even doubt over whether it is murder. But eventually McNulty works out exactly where the deaths must have happened, and the it is his old homicide colleagues who must take the case. Spite and revenge really do get results.
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Tags:
10 Stars,
Andre Royo,
Baltimore,
Chris Bauer,
Daniel Attias,
David Simon,
Domenick Lombardozzi,
Dominic West,
drugs,
Ed Burns,
Edward Bianchi,
Elodie Keene,
Ernest R. Dickerson,
George P. Pelecanos,
human trafficing,
Idris Elba,
James Ransone,
John Doman,
Joy Kecken,
Lance Reddick,
Michael K. Williams,
Pablo Schreiber,
Paul Ben-Victor,
police,
Rafael Ã?lvarez,
Rob Bailey,
Robert F. Colesberry,
Seth Gilliam,
Sonja Sohn,
Steve Shill,
The Wire,
Thomas J. Wright,
Timothy Van Patten,
war on drugs
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Writ & Dir: Nick Cassavetes based on the true story of Jess James Hollywood
- Emile Hirsch … Johnny Truelove
- Justin Timberlake … Frankie Ballenbacher
- Shawn Hatosy … Elvis Schmidt
- Ben Foster … Jake Mazursky
- Anton Yelchin … Zack Mazursky
- Sharon Stone … Olivia Mazursky
- Bruce Willis … Sonny Truelove
- Matthew Barry … Interviewer
- Vincent Kartheiser … Pick Giamo
- Dominique Swain … Susan Hartunian
- Amanda Seyfried … Julie Beckley
You know this films isn’t half bad. I went to see it expecting a somewhat mindless popcorn film. But is actually a fairly watchable, half way decent flick.
Johnny Truelove and his pals are half-arsed weed-dealer-kids, hanging out and doing drugs, making money through dealing. But when real bad-boy Jake Mazursky owes money to Truelove things begin to escalate, leading to Truelove and “his boys” kidnapping Jake’s half brother. But the 15 year old Zack doesn’t seem like much of a victim. He gets to live the life of drugs, drink and parties; he is having a good time. But the kidnapping was a spur of the moment thing, and when he consults his lawyer Truelove realises that the implications may be quite serious.
His solution? Why get rid of the hostage of course.
Most of the film consists of the “boys” hanging out, having a good time, getting stoned, watching video games and playing games. But of course you know that it isn’t going to end happily. The opening scene is an interview with Johnny Truelove’s father, there is a time line, and every peripheral character is identified as a witness. You know that trouble can’t be far away.
Surprisingly, all the actors do a good job. Hirsch reminded me a little too much of Leonardo diCaprio for some reason, but played his role well. Timberlake had little to do for much of the film, handing around, getting high, but in the final scenes he was really good as his character suddenly realises what he has gotten himself into. Anton Yelchin, playing Zach, was perfectly cast as he comes across as a nice boy, likeable and innocent. But it is Foster who really steals the show as the violent and unpredictable Jake. Sharon Stone too does a great job, although the make-up effects in the interview scenes felt a little too much for me.
It isn’t an excellent film, but there is plenty to like about it.
Official Site | IMDb | Wikipedia entry | Fantasy Moguls | Pop Syndicate | Pop Matters
Tags:
7 Stars,
Alpha Dog,
Amanda Seyfried,
Anton Yelchin,
Ben Foster,
Bruce Willis,
Dominique Swain,
drugs,
Emile Hirsch,
Jesse James Hollywood,
Justin Timberlake,
kidnapping,
Matthew Barry,
murder,
Nick Cassavetes,
Sharon Stone,
Shawn Hatosy,
true crime,
Vincent Kartheiser
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Dir: Michael Mann
Writ: Michael Mann & TV show by Anthony Yerkovich
- Colin Farrell - ‘Sonny’ Crockett
- Jamie Foxx - Ricardo Tubbs
- Li Gong - Isabella
- Naomie Harris - Trudy Joplin
- Ciarán Hinds - FBI Agent Fujima
If I’m honest there isn’t much to say about this film. Overall it is a huge amount of meh. Nothing more, nothing less.
Maybe I should at the very least try?
Basic blot outline, Sonny and Ricardo are undercover agents, and after one an interagency force gets discovered, they go undercover in order to find out what agency is responsible for the leak, and how the drug dealers discovered this. So off they travel, to some poor drug-ridden, crime-infested South American country. And get the gig, now they are in with the baddies. But not quite trusted.
And then Sonny starts to fall for the main badguys’ girl, who is also a very efficent “business woman”
But I just didn’t care. Scenes and scenes of talk, talk, and wait for it, yes, a little more talk. Interspersed there are some very pretty shots. But scenery and talking doesn’t make for an entertaining film… actually I was entertained by Cave of the Yellow Dog which was very much scenery and dialogue, so I guess you can. But not here. It is all just so pointless. There’s no tension or drama. And while the action scenes do look great, they don’t feel great.
My final verdict? I’ll paraphrase the woman who left the cinema just after me “In all fairness now, that was fucking woeful.”
IMDb | The House Next Door | The Sobering Conclusion | Darm Matters
Tags:
5 Stars,
action,
Anthony Yerkovich,
based on a TV show,
Ciarán Hinds,
Colin Farrell,
crime,
drugs,
explosions,
Jamie Foxx,
Li Gong,
meh,
Miami Vice,
Michael Mann,
Naomie Harris,
police,
undercover cops
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Posted by: Fence in Books
Author: Steph Swainston
ISBN: 0575077980
DDC: 823.92
2nd in the Fourlands ‘verse
See also: Library Thing; Infinity Plus review
January 2020 On this soft night I followed the Moren River valley, flying back to the Castle, hearing the chimes of clock towers in the Plainslands villages as I passed high above.
I really enjoyed the first in this ‘verse, The Year of Our War, and while I didn’t like this one quite as much is still makes for a great read. Our hero, once again, is Jant. A member of the immortal Circle, dedicated to serving the Emperor San and the Fourlands, protecting them. Five years have passed without attack from the Insects, and Jant is clean. Although still a drug addict. And with his wife’s affairs, and San’s orders that he, phobic about the sea as he is, is to be sent on a mission across the ocean, well, lets just say that the call of escape and drugs is getting harder to ignore.
Jant is the main attraction in reading this book, his character is so perfectly written you’ll have no problem believing in him. Some other aspects do suffer a little. As the only being with the ability to fly, you’d think he might revel in it. And he does, but this isn’t conveyed very well. There is no sense of delight, or wonder in his flight. Actually, this sort of writting is absent as regards other emotions too. And that is possibly why it didn’t grip me the way the first book did.
Still, worth a read, and I love the cover art too. But I do like my simplicity in book design.
Tags:
'verse,
8 Stars,
823.92,
drugs,
Fourlands 'verse,
immortal,
No Present like time,
sff,
Steph Swainston,
troubled hero,
War
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