(On some browsers you'll need to refresh this page in order to see the comment you just left.)
Greg - 2007-08-27 15:04:14
John Hughes was clearly besotted with Molly Ringwald though she never did much for me... neither did Leah Thompson. What was the one with her and Eric Stoltz where he was totally into her, and meanwhile Mary Stuart Masterson was sooo much cooler and cuter the whole time? Can't think of a movie where the nerdy girl gets the hot guy though... you could be right. Maybe there are none.
-------------------------------
Greg - 2007-08-27 15:51:52
Just realized that Michael Cera looks kinda like my nephew Trevor.
-------------------------------
Mr Lojban - 2007-08-27 16:24:26
Coincidentally, just last night during the ill-advertised insomnia festival at my apt., I was listening to Charlie Gillett, and who did he have on but a Malian ngoni group. Ngoni is a banjoey instrument. Groups of ngonis are not traditional in Mali, rather a recent innovation. They're rather bluesy and they called Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba.
-------------------------------
Mr Lojban - 2007-08-27 16:29:01
Er,-- They're rather bluesy and they're called Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba.
-------------------------------
amatt - 2007-08-27 17:09:51
William Parker plays a ngoni on a recent cd called Long Hidden: The Olmec Series. Pretty cool.
-------------------------------
grigorss - 2007-08-27 17:28:43
While I suspect that I found Superbad somewhat more amusing than you did, you make some valid points -- particularly in the case of the Jules character's affection for Seth; do we have any idea what she sees in him? I didn't. It would have been nice to see some script development on that front. The other annoying thing revolving around this film (although it's not the filmmakers fault) is that many critics are lumping this and Rocket Science together; I suppose because they both concern teens. Rocket Science though, is a very different -- and I think much better -- movie than Superbad.
-------------------------------
Sharon - 2007-08-27 19:39:37
"It would be nice if they had a nerdy girl wind up with a cute guy for once." Such a great point, we're so conditioned to the conventional formula, turning the tables would seem radical. Although would a mirror image of the conventioal male teenage fantasy be satisfying or would we be better off with a completely different narrative? Could "Jane Eyre" be considered plain Jane and dashing rich guy woman's fantasy... OK,so he's got a bad temper.. and he's married... and he goes blind! I think there is a movie with River Phoenix as a soldier before he ships out for Vietnam and he falls for the supposedly homely Lily Taylor (who is still beautiful despite her fat suit and frumpy clothes), but he has to survive combat to resist the charms of bimbos and realize the value of a smart, compassionate woman.
-------------------------------
Paula - 2007-08-27 22:21:59
ill-advertised insomnia festival at my apt.
Oh, you're sponsoring that this week? I've only recently stopped hosting that festival myself. Remind me to tell you my secret next time I see you.
Re: Jane Eyre/Lily Taylor: Interesting...good call. Lily also played the wonderful Corey Flood in Say Anything...she doesn't win the guy, but she tells Joe to fuck off, which is satisfying.
-------------------------------
grigorss - 2007-08-27 22:40:36
Sharon -- the movie you're referring to is Dogfight; it's very good. But I have to agree with you re: "the supposedly homely Lili Taylor" -- they give her a bad haircut, some dorky glasses and some not-so-stylish clothing and we're supposed to think the lovely Ms. Taylor is unattractive -- I didn't buy that aspect of it, either.
-------------------------------
2fs - 2007-08-28 00:27:39
But that's typical Hollywood: "ugly" just means bad clothes, bad hair, bad glasses, and (maybe) braces. Which of course means that "ugliness" can be overcome merely by getting good fashion advice. Doesn't help people whose features just don't conform to our notions of "pretty" at all. Similar thing with guys - although the tendency to make them fat is, I think, a little more common.
I think part of this is that successful actors tend to be better looking than average...so it's harder to find a truly homely looking guy/gal than to ugly up a good-looking one.
On the other hand, a lot of Hollywood good-looking is also a matter of the *right* hair, makeup, clothing, etc. (not to mention image-processing magic). An actor might look fantastic on the screen - but so would you, if you had Hollywood stylists and makeup artists to touch up your appearance.
-------------------------------
Sue T. - 2007-08-28 01:12:42
I love Tinariwen.
That is all.
-------------------------------
chris - 2007-08-28 05:17:13
What about the original hairspray? That is truly the nerdy girl ending up with the cute guy
-------------------------------
Greg - 2007-08-28 06:31:19
Good call on Hairspray! I was surprised, by the way, to see it remade for film, moreso than any of the more recent remakes. It seems to recent to remake firstly, but more importantly it was a really great movie in its own right and I would have thought it still stood up on its own. Haven't seen the new on though so I can't say. And Grigorss--It's always seemed to me that Hollywood has the ability to strongly influence opinions of what is or isn't attractive, but for whatever reason they choose not to... I do agree that it's easier to take a good looking person and muss them up... Ugly Betty being a good example. The girl that plays Betty is quite lovely. And also, a general statement, women have a much broader concept of attractive than men... hence the sex appeal of say... Humphrey Bogart.
-------------------------------
Paula - 2007-08-28 09:14:51
original hairspray?
Hey, yeah! Thanks.
women have a much broader concept of attractive than men
Our concepts are broad, where a broad should be broad.
Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba
I just checked them out--good stuff!
-------------------------------
Sharon - 2007-08-28 10:36:23
"women have a much broader concept.." Great point, Greg. I wonder if it's innate or socially conditioned. 2fs,Take your point about Hollywood stylists' magic, but what surprises me is actually how much better-looking in real life some screen actors are--especially, actors who are thought of as "regular looking character actors". Two men I've seen in real life who were surprisingly gorgeous are Jeff Goldblum and Steve Buscemi. Does some weird effect from the camera's gaze diminish their screen attractiveness?
P.S. Thanks to everyone for all the musical exposure...a completely alien world for me..
-------------------------------
anne - 2007-08-28 20:26:58
Also that german movie from the '80s, Zuckerbaby, with the overweight lady who takes up with the cute subway motorman. There was an American tv remake starring Ricky Lake and Craig Sheffer, who was Stoltz's rival for Leah Thompson in Some Kind of Wonderful
-------------------------------
Paula - 2007-08-28 20:42:28
Oh, god, I remember that remake...
-------------------------------
2fs - 2007-08-28 23:01:32
Wasn't the girl in the original movie of Hairspray Rikki Lake...before she slimmed down? That sorta proves my point: she's a very attractive woman, she was just fat at the time.
But I do take Sharon's point: I think what it is is that actors have a lot of charisma, even the ones who look a bit funny on film (such as Buscemi).
Curious phenomenon, what we consider attractive. In one of my classes last semester, one of my students was a model - not a "supermodel," just someone who'd done a fair amount of local work, was represented by one of the major modeling houses in town, etc. And at first, you wouldn't really notice it, because she didn't glam herself up in her daily life...but once you sorta noticed her more, she really did have a very magnetic kind of look, quite exceptional...almost as if she could turn that on or off at will.
-------------------------------
Jon der Neathica - 2007-08-29 20:13:03
"the nerdy girl ending up with the cute guy": how about Honeymoon Killers?
-------------------------------
Bina - 2007-08-30 06:47:00
I can't believe nobody's yet mentioned "The Truth About Cats and Dogs" where Jeanine Garafolo ends up with Ben Chaplin, instead of Uma Thurman.
-------------------------------
Paula - 2007-08-30 13:07:43
Ah...I've never seen that! Worth a rental?
-------------------------------
add your comment:
back to the entry - Diaryland
