May 1 , 2002
11:01am Wednesday

THANK GOODNESS FOR THE GOOD SOULS

What if every DVD came with three other versions of it, like a remix CD, done by three different directors. Same script, different visions. I'd pay for a Panic Room DVD ­ say if you got the Fincher version, then a John McTiernan version, a Joel Schumacher version, and a Kimberly Pierce version. (How long did I have to think about who our generation's women directors are? You know who I came up with? Martha Coolidge, Betty Thomas, Kimberly Pierce, Penelope Spheeris, and Barbra fucking Striesand. There's the Eve's Bayou woman, but I can't remember her name.) Although I'm shooting writers in the head with that scenario ­ lots more work for directors, no more work for writers.

I watched "Tape" last night, that InDiGent DV feature directed by Linklatter and starring Ethan Hawke, Robert Sean Leonard and Uma. I think the people readying filmstock's gravesite should back away from the shovels for a while longer ­ DV just does not, objectively, compare visually. And I think Tape was shot on either an XL-1 or a PD150 or something, I know it wasn't 24P, so maybe the higher-end DV films will succeed, but I don't know if there's a place yet for 3-CCD pro-sumer camera features. This of course is bad news for me who wants to shoot a DV film on an XL1-s. Soderberg's "Full Frontal" will be a big pass-fail test... if it looks good, then there's hope. The movie itself, by the way, was semi-interesting... it would've worked equally well, if not better, as a play. It made me think Uma's a better actress than I ever gave her credit for, that Ethan's worse, and that Robert Sean Leonard just plays the same earnest young man role again and again.

Tonight I might go to some crazy thing I heard was really cool ­ a DJ spins techno in a theater while a movie plays on the screen. Last week the movie was Blade Runner, and tonight it's 2001 with the music supervisor from Six Feet Under mixing. I'll confess here that I've tried to watch 2001 twice in my life and fell asleep on both occasions. (I also can't stand Citizen Kane, eat it.) So tonight perhaps the high octane BPMs and lack of Hal's monotone will keep me alert. And it's free.

The air here in Los Angeles, despite the news reporting it's the very foulest in the country, is clear this week, so I'm off to take photos. If anyone has LA landmark photo requests, send them. And if anybody knows where I can get 120 film cheap online, send that too.

Music: Kylie Minogue "Can't Get You Out of My Head." All hail the return, even if not literally, of Stock, Aiken, Waterman, mixmasters of my youth. Plus the video's funky.