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Zerophilia...

I just ran across the following on IMDB... thought you might be interested...

Zerophilia

16 Oct 2006 8:12pm EDT - By Michael Rechtshaffen

Microangelo Entertainment Gender confusion is taken to the next, angst-ridden level in "Zerophilia", a quirky romantic dramedy about a young-adult male who develops a rare biological condition that triggers a highly unusual metamorphosis. Although writer-director Martin Curland deserves full points for originality -- not to mention avoiding those broadly sophomoric or campy sci-fi pitfalls that could have easily gone with the territory -- the admittedly thought-provoking results fail to make the full-blown transition from curious concept to substantial theatrical proposition. In the end, the film, which opened Friday in New York this weekend and expands to Los Angeles and elsewhere Nov. 3, feels more like an episode of "The O.C". with a chromosomal imbalance. Taylor Handley does thoughtful, committed work as Luke, a sexually inexperienced college student who "catches" the bizarre genetic virus after an anonymous one-night stand in a camper with a British woman (voiced -- talk about your weird science -- by Kelly LeBrock). While other hapless dudes might have run the risk of contracting the usual communicable diseases, poor Luke finds himself stricken with something that no dose of penicillin could cure: The encounter has set off a genetic condition that has begun to transform his body, both anatomically and emotionally, into that of the opposite sex. Understandably concerned, Luke's best buddy Keenan (Dustin Seavey) tracks down a zerophiliac expert, the decidedly loopy Dr. Sydney Catchadourian (Gina Bellman, who memorably played the part of the decidedly loopy Jane on the original British version of "Coupling"), who, for personal reasons, pushes him to go all the way and make the final transformation from Luke to Luca (Marieh Delfino). To add to Luke/Luca's confusion, in addition to finding himself attracted to the down-to-earth Michelle (Rebecca Mozo), his burgeoning female side is also starting to develop a thing for her brooding mechanic brother, Max (Kyle Schmid). Curland's script has some interesting, gender-blending observations to make about love and sexual attraction, but the low-budget production, while effectively cast and nicely shot (by Graham Futerfas), would have benefited from a more assured directorial hand -- one that might have been willing to venture away from those primetime small-screen confines and find the courage to play out some of the subject matter's inherently darker convictions. Visit HollywoodReporter.com for more ...

Don't read this...

I've gotten flak elsewhere for linking to this blog, on the grounds that it's too political and the content will start controversy. Well, it's SUPPOSED to incite controversy. That said, though, keep the commentary HERE. Don't go off into endless back-and-forth colloquy on other boards. First of all, it uses their bandwidth instead of mine. Second, many folks there don't care about political matters, vehemently disagree with all the expressed opinions, and don't want to see the verbal foodfights.

If you're going to respond or comment, do it HERE. That's kind of why there's a comment capability here in the first place. Second, I've asked you to do any commentary here. Posting it elsewhere is just rude.

And, if you don't care for political postings, well, don't read this blog. There's non-political postings here, but for now the political ones will dominate. After the election I suspect the political ones will be, for the most part, going away.

Trust in the system...

[WARNING: This is a somewhat political post. If you don't like reading political posts, what are you doing here? More to the point, you might want to skip this posting.]

The other day I went to see the new Robin Williams movie, "Man of the Year". The basic premise is that he's a late-night comedian who runs for president, and, through a 'bug' in the computerized voting machines, wins.

Good movie. Funny movie. But that's not the point. It's not hard to figure out that the voting machine company who knows of the software flaws and tries to cover them up for it's own advantage is a thinly disguised version of Diebold. The link back there gives a pretty good description of the outstanding issues with Diebold's machines.

It's been noted in the news recently that the white house, specifically George W. Bush and Karl Rove, has been blithely confident that, despite the recent scandals and the very unfavorable polls, the Republicans are going to retain control of both the House and Senate.

From the Washington Post: Amid widespread panic in the Republican establishment about the coming midterm elections, there are two people whose confidence about GOP prospects strikes even their closest allies as almost inexplicably upbeat: President Bush and his top political adviser, Karl Rove.

Some Republicans on Capitol Hill are bracing for losses of 25 House seats or more. But party operatives say Rove is predicting that, at worst, Republicans will lose only 8 to 10 seats — shy of the 15-seat threshold that would cede control to Democrats for the first time since the 1994 elections and probably hobble the balance of Bush's second term. ...

The question is whether this is a case of justified confidence — based on Bush's and Rove's electoral record and knowledge of the money, technology and other assets at their command — or of self-delusion. Even many Republicans suspect the latter. Three GOP strategists with close ties to the White House flatly predicted the loss of the House, though they would not do so on the record for fear of offending senior Bush aides.

Hubris? Refusal to face the likely reality? Or, possibly, do they know something about the upcoming results of the election in advance? Do they have good reason for their confidence? In ordinary times I'd consider the possibility of massive election-rigging in the U.S. to be ludicrous; but this administration has shown their willingness to violate accepted standards, any laws that get in their way, and even ignore the constitution when it's to their benefit. They've even got a history of suspicious election results.

It's a more-than-scary thought. I hope I'm wrong.

Nostalgia

I'm just sitting here, missing the days when I lived in central Florida. Yes, it gets hot and sticky in the summer, and you've got bugs, snakes, and (depending on where you live) alligators to deal with, but it was just about never boring.

Pretty much each weekend the first order of business was to decide on what to do. Visit a theme park? Which one? You had three from Disney (plus their water parks), Universal, Sea World, Cypress Gardens (pictured above), Boardwalk and Baseball (gone now), or Busch Gardens.

Shopping? Aside from the usual malls you had the Belz Factory Outlets, Flea World (don't ask!) and downtown Winter Park (comfortable AND Swank!).

Sightseeing places galore. Where to begin? Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (Where they launched the Mercury and Gemini spacecraft from)? Kennedy Space Center (launching point for Apollo, Skylab, Space Shuttle, and forthcoming Orion missions)? If you're not into space, there's things like Bok Tower Gardens, Wekiva Springs, Lake Eola Park. Beaches? Daytona, Cocoa Beach (don't forget to visit Ron-Jon's Surf Shop), Melbourne Beach, Vero Beach, etc.

The east coast gets much of the beachgoing visitors, and has the best surf, but the west coast has the better water. You're in the Gulf of Mexico, and the water is warm and crystal-clear. It makes for a much more relaxing day than on the eastern shore. It's all in what kind of experience you prefer. Mu favorite beach was Indian Rocks Beach, on the west coast, a bit north of Tampa. Friendly, not over-developed, and all-in-all a comfy place to spend time.

There's so much more down there that I couldn't begin to list it all. I liked the climate, the people (who, oddly enough, were almost all from the north), and the whole central Florida lifestyle.

Why'd I leave? My job went north, and I followed. Silly me. My first winter in Milwaukee we had a week of below -20 weather. You can imagine I was missing Christmas lights under the palm trees.

Bloody good fun...

There's a couple of books and a new TV series I'd like to recommend. The books are "Darkly Dreaming Dexter" and "Dearly Devoted Dexter", both by Jeff Lindsay. The series is Showtime's "Dexter".

It's kind of hard to describe the premise, at least in any way that will make sense. Short version, Dexter is a forensic specialist for the Miami-Dade Police, specializing in blood-splatter evidence. In his spare time he's a serial killer. He has a speciality there, as well. He only preys on "bad people" -- basically other serial killers.

It is kind of a "guilty pleasure" rooting for a serial killer, somewhat akin to a Hitchcock movie with their morally flawed protagonists. This takes that concept, though, and pushes it to it's limits.

Dexter seems a nice enough guy, until you realize that his nice-guy facade is just that, a facade. It's all posturing to convince folks that he's just a regular guy. Inside, well, he'd argue that he has no emotions or feelings for anyone or anything. In reality, though, he's got a lot more there than he'd ever be willing to admit.

This is somewhat of a genre cross. Dexter is simultaneously a thriller and black comedy, with a few horror elements thrown into the mix. If that's not your thing, you might want to skip it. Otherwise, go read the books, watch the show.