Cinema for Human Rights, Vilnius 1-8 July

An international group of supporters of Khadijat and Malik Gataev as well as of their children have organized the film festival in Vilnius to raise public awareness in Lithuania for human rights and to remind politicians of Lithuania about the obligation to comply to the norms of the membership in the European Union.

Pirjo Honkasalo is going to screen “Three Rooms of Melancholia”, and other directors present will be Aki Kaurismäki (Finland), Arto Halonen (Finland), Andrey Nekrasov (Russia), Nikolay Olejnikov (Russia) and Linda Jablonska (Czechia).

The chair of the Subcommittee on the Human Rights at the European Parliament, MEP Heidi Hautala (Finland) will also attend the festival.

Background:

In June 2009 Khadijat and Malik Gataev were sentenced to 10 months jail.

The time has come to stand up not only for the freedom of Khadijat and Malik but for their good name. The case as a whole has totally lacked transparency. Also, the security police of Lithuania has harrassed and threatened those -- like some of the foster children -- who have expressed support for gataevs and who have been willing to testify for them in court.

Before their arrest in Kaunas in October 2008, the Gataevs ran two orphanages, one in Grozny, Chechnya, and one in Kaunas. The work of Khadijat and Malik Gataev has been documented in various ways:

* Anna Politkovskaya wrote about “Rodnaya Semya” orphanage which became home for more than sixty children.

* Khadijat Gatayeva and some of the orphans appear in the prize-winning documentary film “Three Rooms of Melancholia”, directed by Pirjo Honkasalo.

* Gatayeva is the central figure in the book “The Angel of Grozny” by the Norwegian journalist, Åsne Seierstad.

* Recently killed Natalya Estemirova, a Chechen human rights defender and a journalist, was one of those who didn't turn away from Khadijat and Malik at the time of an odd investigation and the consequent court trial that lacked transparency. One of the last Estemirova's articles published in the Novaya Gazeta was about the abduction of Gatayev's foster son, Malik Utsaev, in Grozny. He disappeared in Chechnya at the same time when his parents were arrested in Kaunas.

Khadijat and Malik Gataev had rescued orphans from the ruins of Grozny since the first war broke out in Chechnya. They took custody of the first children in 1996 when hostilities ceased. Khadijat was raised in an orphanage herself. It was her main motivation to take care of the children abandoned by the war.

The festival will support the work of Khadijat and Malik Gataev, and pay homage to Anna Politkovskaya and Natalya Estemirova.

* * * * *

Please find the program of the festival in here.

Be Kind Rewind & Sweding films

Who 'ya gonna call? Ghostbusters!

I did see Be Kind Rewind. It was good! Heartwarming story of how to make life more bearable. Go and see.

The genuine major theme was Sweding films. Sweding? "You take what you like and you remake something from scratch using whatever you can get your hands on."

Okay, the plot in brief. No destructive spoilers here, I promise:

New Jersey. Current time. Two guys, Mike and Jerry, seemingly looking for trouble, help in a video rental store. Suddenly a strange electromagnetic phenomenon, caused by Jerry (as excellent Jack Black as ever) and the powerplant nearby, empty all the VHS tapes. In order not to dissapoint some - unfortunately very few - customers the guys are obliged to start re-making the films that have vanished.

Those "Sweded" (see the web site) ones are only 20 minutes, but hey, they are so much better than the originals. (Who would like to watch Ghostbusters anyway? Driving Miss Daisy? Rush Hour II? The Lion King? No idea. But I'd love to see any of these Sweded.) The Sweded films, but of course, become more popular than the originals. But not at all surprisingly the guys are soon in trouble again. In BIG trouble.

To make history they must Swede the history of the beloved hero of the main character's, Fats Waller, as well as the history their own with the history of the whole neighbourhood.

* * *

"Use the weapons at hand." This is what Francis Ford Coppola said in Sodankylä, in Midnight Sun Film Festivals, 2002. Never argue saying you can't do some work of art because you lack some equipment.

See: someone has Sweded Be Kind Rewind! You will hear this lovely tune at the end of the film.

* * *

Vaiheinen was there, too. Which films you are going to have Sweded first? (Give me a camera!) My list goes like this: Apocalypse. Now. (Imagine the pyrotechniques!) Jurassic Park. La Dolce Vita. The Searchers. And ALL Empress Sissi films, but instead of the usual 20 min they can be only five minutes each. And Terminator II! (I want to do both the evil robot and Linda Hamilton.)

Mike and Jerry Sweded Last Tango In Paris. How 'bout that.

A scene in the first version of Apocalypse. Now. before it was Sweded.

Films. Afganistan, Afganistan, and Paris.

Congressman Charlie Wilson from TEXAS (!!!!!) and AK 47 in Afganistan.


We did see the Kite Runner, MR HP and I. It was quite ok. I usually like everything that has something to do with the end of the Cold War, The Soviet Union, Russia, Central Asia, 1970's and 80's... You get the idea.

This one lacked one big thing: showing the enormous guilt the main character must have been feeling. Or if he was not. I'll check out and read the book.

* * * * *

I rented two films yesterday. The first one I watched was an American political film, supposing explaining the cold war era, but it was not explaining much, neither was it artistic, peculiarly interesting or original.

Surprisingly I did not mind its strong right-wing ideology, hating both communism and the Russians in general. I forgive that now; the destruction and demolition of people and culture carried out by the Red Army in the film in Afganistan was outrageous, and you know what: in the 80's fear and hatred were as much hand in hand as today, but now the western hatred of communism has been equally wrongly changed into hatred of Islamic cultures, and with the American haters there are the racists groups in Russia, too), and it must be allowed to be filmed in documentary fiction, or how would one call that genre.

BUT. Instead of answering anything, it raised more questions (Iran-Contras? Who did train the Mujahedeen? The strong role of Pakistan that led into more trouble in 2001? The Taliban after the war?), which could have been a good sign, but in this case I think the most interesting questions were not included in the film at all, or were just small jokes in witty, well-written conversations.

And neither the manuscript not the actors were ok. (Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts! Mercy, mercy me. But luckily the CIA agent Gust Avrakotos is played by Philip Seymour Hoffman. Very good, he was!)

What a pity, since Charlie Wilson's War was based on a true story, and I could not help feeling I'd like to hear the guy himself talk about those times, the US Congress and his visits to Afganistan.

I pretty much agree with this comment in the Guardian, not read by me before this morning:

If popular art of this kind reflects what a nation has come to understand about its behaviour in the recent past, this film shows an America that has learned nothing from events, except that the principle that "My enemy's enemy is my friend" is not always a sound basis for decision-making. True, the film derives its energy and interest from America's current dilemmas in Afghanistan and Iraq, but it has, in the end, little to say, directly or obliquely, about them.

Looking back at the 1980s, what is striking is that both America and Russia thought they were struggling with each other, while what was really happening was that both states were trying and failing to cope with powerful new forces in the non-western world. Those forces were taking on the more marked ethnic and religious guises which are very familiar to us today. ... (Pls read the rest in here, the Guardian site.)

***

I miss Paris. That's what I noticed again and again when watching the other rental film. But this film was not good, despite the fact the actors were very god, my favourite being Anne Parillaud.

Reading carefully the back cover texts, I was not expecting this film to be a romantic comedy. I am not at all a fan of romantic comedies. But unfortunately it turned out, at times, to be something of the sort.

Bof.

***

But this evening: Be Kind Rewind.

Movies!

Kabul in The Kite Runner.


My Mom has come back from her summer cottage to Helsinki for a few days. The not-so-beautiful, a bit cold (unusually cold) and windy days of this, still early summer (even though this summer will soon be over...) made the Asikkala archipelago in Lake Päijänne seem boring and not very appealing week by week. So, what she really needs is to see Miss Funnybunny again! (Read IStori backwards: we have been at the Midsummer nights film festivals, in Vienna, and in Mr HP's country home. Among other places. Granny has received several postcards from Funnybunny, with confessions like "Dear Granny, I love You so. You are so dear to me. I will always love you." As an assistant of Miss Funnybunny typing the kinds of texts has been my duty.)

So this - granny visiting - means Mr HP and I get to go to the movies.

We are to see The Kite Runner this evening.

Tomorrov afternoon Mr HP and Funnybunny will leave for the Finnish countryside for a few days. Without me. I am to do some important organising here. (Organising work, home, life. Putting things in order, giving up working on stuff that will never work for me. Starting a new project.) And I am going to see some films. My list for three-four days goes:

* No Country For Old Men.
You'd better see the trailer. Javier Bardem said at the Oscar party he will eternally thank the Coen bros for that terrible hairstyle - the style helping him to win the Oscar, he thought. And that way he will never have his hair again, he swore. (Not seen the film? See the trailer, see the trailer.)

* Be Kind Rewind.
Jack Black was great in The School Of Rock. Yes, really!!!!

* Once.
I still have a soft spot for musicals. And Dublin. Ireland. (Never been there, though.)

Maybe later these, too:

* Muumi ja vaarallinen juhannus (Momin and a Dangerous Midsummer). Miss Funnybunny has already noticed this one, and she'd love to see it. (Next week, she will.) She watches Momin films at home as often as possible (read: every evening).

* Sex And The City.
But of course! LH has already promised to join me.

* Indiana Jones, the newest.
You should have seen Mr HP's face when I suggested this. He looked at me as if I had asked whether he'd like to join Bollywood dancing class: "never in my lifetime" sort of face.

I don't blame him. After the ones I listed, with enchanting, talented and personal actors I am not sure I can watch anyone as dull as Harrison Ford.

Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz do not seem to skip their workout routines.

Vienna Report, part I: Downtown Wien

We are the Champions! We did it again! (Last time in 1998 with a slightly different team. Slightly.)


Birthday Celebrations. Football Euro Cup 2008. The Third Man. Mauthausen (Gusen) Concentration Camp.

Those were the overall themes of our recent visit to Vienna. We were ten happy Finns, four of us children between 3, sorry, 4 and 17.

* * * * *

The Third Man, Opening narrator:
I never knew the old Vienna before the war with its Strauss music, its glamour and easy charm. Constantinople suited me better. I really got to know it in the classic period of the black market. We'd run anything if people wanted it enough and whom had the money to pay. Of course a situation like that does tempt amateurs but, well, umm, you know they can't stay the course like a professional.

Now the city is divided into four zones, you know, each occupied by a power: the American, the British, the Russian and the French. But the centre of the city that's international policed by an international patrol. One member of each of the four powers. Wonderful! What a hope they had! All strangers to the place and none of them could speak the same language. Except a sort of smattering of German.


Good fellows on the whole, did their best you know. Vienna doesn't really look any worse than a lot of other European cities. Bombed about a bit.

Oh, I was going to tell you, wait, I was going to tell you about Holly Martins, an American. Came all the way here to visit a friend of his. The name was Lime, Harry Lime. Now Martins was broke and Lime had offered him, some sort, I don't know, some sort of job.

Anyway, there he was, poor chap. Happy as a lark and without a cent.


Anna Schmidt: You know, you ought to get yourself a girl.




Popescue:
That's a nice girl, that. But she ought to go careful in Vienna. Everybody ought to go careful in a city like this.


A monument respecting the Austrian victims in concentration camps. Mr HP, Miss Funnybunny and I have visited Salaspils near Riga, too. (Cheerfull travellers as we are.)


Harry Lime: What did you want me to do? Be reasonable. You didn't expect me to give myself up... 'It's a far, far better thing that I do.' The old limelight. The fall of the curtain. Oh, Holly, you and I aren't heroes. The world doesn't make any heroes outside of your stories.

The Final scene on The Third Man is taking place near this spot, the Schwedenplatz.


Really cool disco in Karlsplatz, the park nearest to our place.


The dragons helped when it was too hot hot hot.

Vienna Report, part II: Funny stuff

Prater, Vienna. A surprisingly cheap pleace to enjoy afternoon, and very few people were into the same treat. Miss Funnybunny and I tested several machines and ice-crean stands.

Football Euro Cup has decorated the Ferris Wheel.


Harry Lime, in the cabin of the Ferris Wheel, Prater: Don't be so gloomy. After all it's not that awful. Like the fella says, in Italy for 30 years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love - they had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock. So long, Holly.


Martins: Have you ever seen any of your victims?
Harry Lime: You know, I never feel comfortable on these sort of things. Victims? Don't be melodramatic. Look down there. Tell me. Would you really feel any pity if one of those dots stopped moving forever? If I offered you twenty thousand pounds for every dot that stopped, would you really, old man, tell me to keep my money, or would you calculate how many dots you could afford to spare? Free of income tax, old man. Free of income tax - the only way you can save money nowadays.


Our corridor. We had rented the place in the 4th floor of this beautiful building in the beginning of Favoritenstrasse.


..and next door there was this beautiful church. Outside it looked small and modest. Just a plain door in a plain old building, no special decorations. But the inside... like a treasure castle.

Run On By. With Tennessee Stud.

Is there any such thing as "Burt Bacharach Appreciation Society"? If I find one, I will be close to joining. BB is a bright guiding star for every runner (with iPod). I don't walk, I run on by.

But a huge surprise for me has been how really very very good, how BRILLIANT an artist Johnny Cash was! Have never really thought so, until now.

Remember Tennessee Stud? Was on Jackie Brown, the Best Film of Tarantino's, I think.

A sample of Tennessee Stud, by Jimmy Driftwood. (Sing along, with the link above.)

Me and a gambler we couldn't agree
We got in a fight over Tennessee
We jerked our guns, he fell with a thud
And I got away on the Tennessee stud

Well, I got as lonesome as a man can be
Dreamin' of my girl in Tennessee
The Tennessee stud's green eyes turned blue
'Cause he was a-dreamin' of a sweetheart too

We loped on back across Arkansas
I whipped her brother and I whipped her pa
I found that girl with the golden hair
And she was ridin' on a Tennessee mare...



As for Jackie B., refresh your memories and take a look at "AK-47".

Jackie Brown is based on a novel Rum Punch of Elmore Leonard's. "He loves sports and guns", thus spoke Wikipeadia. But he has quite recently wrotten a guide book, Ten Rules Of Writing. Very interesting.

You can also learn a great deal from his website; there's an FAQ section. How about this:

Q: How do I gen an agent?
A: My advice is to learn how to write and an agent will find you.

There nothing more to add.

Rap and drumming

The film has not started yet but Miss Funnybunny is drumming already.


Miss Funnybunny has drumsticks. She got them at the premiere of a film called Risto Räppääjä. (Chris Rapper? Or something...)

Dum-bum-bum. Dum-bum-bum. Dumti-dumti-dumti-dum... Bum-bum-BUM.

Funny how the other day when I was running I started thinking how much I love rhythms, and I think I share this passion with my lttle girl. Then I started wondering if Funnybunny and I should start dancing something. Like tap dancing, flamenco or salsa. Or African dances. Something to do with rhythm and percussions, timbas.

(EDIT: For me, it would be returning to this wonderful hobby combining music and excercising. Since being a teenager I have spent quite a lot of time at dance studios. Even participated a dance-and-riding camp for a week, where we did both flamenco and rode horses, Western style, 2 X 2 h a day!)

Well, now with Funnybunny practising her drumming skills I think we are having more than enough rhythm for a while!

* * *

Risto Räppääjä was a pretty good film, I must say. See the trailer here. And the official site is www.ristorappaaja.fi, also linked here.

Mari Rantasila directing Mimmi Lounela playing Nelli Nuudelipää ("Nell Noodlehead") and Niilo Sipilä playing Risto.

I'm here... With tons of writing, editing, serious thoughts and bad jokes.

I have not been able to update my blog as frequently as I'd like to. I have been writing some articles, my book, & lots of other stuff, attending several Litterary Meetings (like the Helsinki Travel Fair, which is a litterary happening, believe it or not), and I have tried to search for solutions how to deal with Miss Funnybunny's tantrums that make our life crazy, but kind of interesting. She is becoming a bigger and bigger lady, day by day. And very intelligent! (I have enjoyed reading La Petite Anglaise, and compared Funnybunny with her Tadpole. Not a bad comparison at all!)

But all these busy things do not lead to the conclusion I have not been thinking about the basic IStori stuff (whateverthatis).

Let me just list the basics I have in my mind right now:

THE THOUGHT: Ruhnama, the Holy Book of Turkmenistan. Written by the late dictator, Saparmurat Niyazov. Readind the holy sh*t is obligatory for the Turkmen (can't even get a drivers' licence without suffering through the book beforehand), and for everyone trying to do serious business with the locals!

THE REASON WHY: I am soon going to see this hilarious documentary, directed by Arto Halonen, soon; In The Shadow Of The Holy Book.

*

THE THOUGHT: Seven suicides in one village, in a short period of time, is too much of course, but also strange.

THE REASON WHY: At times, especially in April, I tend to think about a good friend I lost 23 years ago. And then, after a shock one tends thinks "he must be the last one" and "this should never happen again", but he is not the last one, and it does happen, and it has happened. This sounds like Hillary Clinton, but in addition to parents' efforts it does take a village, and even a state, to raise our children to be good and happy people. But hey, let's do so. Never leave anyone too alone.

*
THE THOUGHT: Paris

THE REASON WHY: Mr HP and I need to get some visions for our new project. I will reveal more about this later! But the best hmmm hmm hmmm... sort of places happen to be in Paris. And I'd like to meet some friends there, too. And take miss Funnybunny with me. And let Shakespeare and Co gently suck me into it's heavenly womb.

*

THE THOUGHT: Auschwitz

THE REASON WHY: Sunday, 27/1, will be the 63rd anniversary of Auschwitch liberation. For me personally, at the moment, this just means a bit more writing to do. But for the mankind, more brain work. Why, oh why? A woman who survived Auschwitz just put it bluntly in a TV documentary, "the way to Auschwitz was paved with silence". I have seen the camps (or how they look about now), a lot of footage on site, and met some survivers, but yet: what actually took place escapes my mind. And, after having miss Funnybunny, killing kids becomes even more unbelievable, impossiple and devastating, as a thought.

*

THE THOUGHT: Oscars

THE REASON WHY: Really difficult to explain this one! The unexpected destiny of Heath Ledger made me think of stupid stuff: "Now he'll be a hero. Like a new James Dean." That's cruel, I know. Sorry. The guy is dead, and he was kind of good actor. Unlike the overrated but yet, for some reason appreciated blank faces Tom Hanks or Leonardo DiCaprio or Kevin Costner...

There was this poll in today's Independent. (My favourite, remember!)

The Academy has announced this year's nominations. What has been its worst decision to date?

And, after seeing the list the decision was soooo difficult: Forrest Gump was total zero (except Gary Sinise as an interesting sortof-best-friend and the cleverest person there was, and even sexiest, even though he did not have legs, but hey, what do you need legs for, all the time?), and so is Costner as both an actor and a director (and probably the pic he directed in 1990 was Dances With Wolves, which was crap...)

Here we go: The Academy has announced this year's nominations. What has been its worst decision to date?

Titanic - Best Picture, 1997
Rocky - Best Picture, 1976
Can You Feel the Love Tonight - Best Original Song (The Lion King), 1994
Braveheart - Best Picture, 1995
Forrest Gump - Best Picture, 1994
Chicago - Best Picture, 2002
Kevin Costner - Best Director, 1990
Judi Dench - Best Supporting Actress (Shakespeare in Love), 1998

I ended up voting "for" Costner.

Vodka Tourists

Finnish actor and the leading man in the show, Ville Haapasalo is – where? In Helsinki, of course.


I am watching a Finnish documentary on "Vodka Tourists" (Votkaturistit), title referring to the Finns who had a habit of visiting Russia, especially St Petersburg and Viborg, for a weekend (but several times a year) in 70'–80's. And who used to consume vast amounts of vodka. This was suggesting the Finns were living under prohibition.

And they swapped a pair of pantyhose for vodka. And bought vodka. And sex. And more and more vodka.

Well, the topic was most interesting, but this doc barely scratched the surface. They could have found so much, much more...

St Pete is an endless source of good stories.

****

By the way, an interview of and article on our friend Oksana Chelysheva is in this week's Me naiset, a Finnish ladies' weekly. Everybody in Finland, check that out!

Books, Wine and Food? Or Books and Sauna (+ Beer).

According to the press release of the Helsinki Book Fair,

Books, wine and food draw visitors to the Helsinki Fair Centre

Booklovers and wine & food buffs were pampered with a twin event at the Helsinki Fair Centre over the weekend. The seventh Helsinki Book Fair was accompanied by the new Wine, Food & Good Living event, which was organised by the wine magazine Viini. The two events attracted a total of 68,500 visitors...

*****

We, a group of six women, enjoyed the Fair and the Sauna, like last year.

Swimming in candle light, can you imagine? But a good, hothot sauna first, with good company, afterwards beer, or cider, like some (others) preferred.

This sauna belongs to some trade union hot-shots, in the book fair area, Pasila. Perhaps this has already become our tradition?



*****

Something reminded me of the first Helsinki Book Fair which took place in 2001. Then Ian Rankin, my idol, visited. (I met Rankin in Reykjavik, in 2006!!!! Take a look at this and this.)

But I happened to come by a very funny Rankin interview in the net. I quote just a few bites here, enjoy:

Are you a practical joker?

– Now and then. When some friends were away once, I stole a 'For Sale' sign and put it up next to their house as a homecoming gift. But practical jokes take effort, and these days I try to keep all effort to a minimum....

What would be a perfect weekend for you?

Perfect weekend: out on the bevvy (alcohol) with some pals, maybe hit some record shops, go see a football match, then sober up in the evening, a bath and a shave, and out for a meal with my wife. That's the Saturday. Sunday, I'd stay in bed late, then assassinate the royal family.

Are there any movies you have seen that have left a real lasting impression on you?

I don't know. Instead, here are some films I love: The Godfather, Goodfellas, The Big Chill, Toy Story, Singles, Terminator, Apocalypse Now, Blade Runner....

*****


The Big Chill, where did that come from? Well, nonetheless, it is an extremely good film. I have loved it for decades. Haven't thought about it for years. A Lawrence Kasdan film, directed in 1983, with the Kasdan gang, like William Hurt, Jeff Goldblum, Kevin Kline + Meg Tilly, sweet...

Village of Fools

I am back from Frankfurt and Nürnberg (Nuremberg). We had an excellent trip with Mr HP. A wonderful combination of work, socialising with old and newer friends, seeing new (and older) places, getting stuck with historical facts and horrendous operations (Nürnberg!!!!!), and last but not least; great and stylish or boring and distasteful architecture.

Lots of bratwurst and kartoffel which made Mr HP very happy.

Report with pics coming up. I just don't have neither the time nor energy for that now, because I must watch this:



For God, Tsar and the Fatherland is on TV this evening.

From the Why Democracy pages:

Mikhail Morozov is a Russian patriot, good Christian and successful businessman. He owns Durakovo - the “Village of Fools” - 100 km southwest of Moscow. People come here from all over Russia to learn how to live and become 'true' Russians. When they join the Village of Fools, the new residents abandon all their former rights and agree to obey Mikhail Morozov’s strict rules. “What we have here is a society that respects the vertical of power, this is what our country needs most of all, “ says Morozov quoting his idol President Putin. The whole spectrum of power - political, spiritual and administrative – is represented in the village and people gather for semi-private meetings with Morozov. They discuss the future of Russia, their ambitions and their goals. For God, Tsar and the Fatherland shows what drives Russian patriotism today and why these citizens are against democracy.

Struggle Against Reality

After putting together some very exhausting stuff on weekend I got so very tired. Feel like staying home with Funnybunny for ever. Which won't happen; I am to travel to Germany on Thursday.

When we met at Anna Politkovskaya Evening yesterday, on Sunday, a friend with whom we are members of the board in an industrious and serious organisation said she finds me very energetic.

But it's not true. I'm lazy and tired. Actually, I don't do much. I am a very limited person. No time for hobbies, only running in the middle of the day. I try not to get too involved in very separate things. And succeeding in not-getting-involved better and better all the time. I have just learned to concentrate in fewer things and to be more active when my efforts are vitally needed. (Not all time, and not everywhere.)

And when I'm tired, I just sit on the sofa and read or write my own things. (After Miss Funnybunny is put to bed.) Struggle against falling asleep.

*****

I have already revealed in some meme I don't like comedies that much. But for really tired people I recommend good laughs.

But only good comedies. Bad ones destroy your brain. Rely on classics. (And no TV. Go to a film theater. Rent a DVD, if you must.)

Observer has listed (in July 2007) the Funniest Films of All Time, based on readers' opinions, And they were

1. Life of Brian
2. Airplane!
3. This Is Spinal Tap
4. Some Like It Hot
5. Withnail and I
6. Blazing Saddles
7. The Big Lebowski
8. Monty Python and the Holy Grail
9. Duck Soup
10. Young Frankenstein
11. The Producers
12. Shaun of the Dead
13. Groundhog Day
14. Dr Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
15. Planes, Trains and Automobiles
16. The Man with Two Brains
17. There's Something About Mary
18. Annie Hall
19. Dumb and Dumber
20. Anchorman: the Legend of Ron Burgundy
21. Mr Hulot's Holiday
22. Shrek
23. Best in Show
24. Kind Hearts and Coronets
25. Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
26. The General
27. A Fish Called Wanda
28. Way Out West
29. The Odd Couple
30. The Ladykillers
31. The Blues Brothers
32. Arsenic and Old Lace
33. Bringing Up Baby
34. A Night at the Opera
35. Kingpin
36. The Naked Gun
37. It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
38. Raising Arizona
39. Team America: World Police
40. Trading Places
41. American Pie
42. Hot Fuzz
43. Love and Death
44. Meet the Fockers
45. Sleeper
46. South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut
47. Stir Crazy
48. The Music Box
49. Tootsie
50. Uncle Buck

I like the first four, and some others like Fish Called Wanda, Dr. Strangelove, the Ladykillers and the Blues Brothers (remember: "What is the piece in the elevator?"). But some titles on this list are surprising. (Shrek? American Pie? Dumb and Dumber?)

And why were the Marx brothers not in better positions? (the Stork Club, remember the password?)

And what about Laurel and Hardy?

*****

Title: Inalienable Rights
From: Monty Python's Life of Brian
Transcribed By: Dwayne A. X. E. E. ( CS107124@YUSOL )



(A huge Roman amphitheatre, sparsely attended. REG, FRANCIS, STAN and JUDITH
are seated in the stands. They speak conspiratorially.)

Judith: Any Anti-Imperialist group like ours must *reflect* such a divergence of interests within its power-base.
Reg: Agreed.
(General nodding.)
Francis?
Francis: I think Judith's point of view is valid here, Reg, provided the Movement never forgets that it is the inalienable right of every man--
Stan: Or woman.
Francis: Or woman...to rid himself--
Stan: Or herself.
Reg: Or herself. Agreed. Thank you, brother.
Stan: Or sister.
Francis: Thank you, brother. Or sister. Where was I?
Reg: I thought you'd finished.
Francis: Oh, did I? Right.
Reg: Furthermore, it is the birthright of every man ...
Stan: Or woman.
Reg: Why don't you shut up about women, Stan, you're putting us off.
Stan: Women have a perfect right to play a part in our movement, Reg.
Francis: Why are you always on about women, Stan?
Stan: (pause) I want to be one.

(pregnant pause)

Reg: What?
Stan: I want to be a woman. From now on I want you all to call me Loretta.
Reg: What!?
Stan: It's my right as a man.
Judith: Why do you want to be Loretta, Stan?
Stan: I want to have babies.
Reg: You want to have babies?!?!?!
Stan: It's every man's right to have babies if he wants them.
Reg: But you can't have babies.
Stan: Don't you oppress me.
Reg: I'm not oppressing you, Stan -- you haven't got a womb. Where's the fetus going to gestate? You going to keep it in a box?
(Stan starts crying.)
Judith: Here! I've got an idea. Suppose you agree that he can't actually have babies, not having a womb, which is nobody's fault, not even the Romans', but that he can have the *right* to have babies.
Francis: Good idea, Judith. We shall fight the oppressors for your right to have babies, brother. Sister, sorry.
Reg: (pissed) What's the *point*?
Francis: What?
Reg: What's the point of fighting for his right to have babies, when he can't have babies?
Francis: It is symbolic of our struggle against oppression.
Reg: It's symbolic of his struggle against reality.



*****

Sorry, I can't get the Blogger work, for adding the Observer link as well as other relevant sources, but you can google "Observer", "funniest", "films" or take a look at this: http://film.guardian.co.uk/features/featurepages/0,,2131880,00.html

Monty Python links can be found in here, http://www.mwscomp.com/python.html

Love and Anarchy. Paprika. About being a Rock God.

The annual Love and anarchy film festivals, or Helsinki International Film festivals, as the other name goes, are starting tomorrow. Mr HP and Miss Funnybunny are going to go to check out the datcha premises in western Finland, so I get to see some films!!!!!!!!

Well, there are some articles on the urgency list I have to write. But. Not a big deal, I have started them long ago.

I have to confess something weird: After wondering for so long, I have started to run every day, Monday–Friday. Five times a week. That has taught me some discipline and planning. You see, I run in the middle of the day. (Not much, only 30 min. But I run! Never would I have thought...)

Back to Love and Anarchy. I have chosen to see this one (and the only reason why I dare to reveal my plans here in IStori is that I already have the ticket!!!!):

Paprika

With its brainy scientist heroine, and surreal, super-kitsch imagery, above-average Japanese anime sci-fi pic Paprika has a better chance than most Nipponese toons of breaking out of the specialty ghetto by appealing to femme auds as well as the genre's core constituency of fanboys.
– Leslie Felperin, Variety

Director Satoshi Kon – – makes an art of Japanese anime in this tale of technology as an invader of dreams. Fiercely provocative, Paprika shames Hollywood's use of animation as a kiddie pacifier.
– Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

And then I was thinking about this one (as the whole world knows, and knows well, the Air Guitar World Championships of take place in Oulu. Annually.):

Air Guitar Nation

"You’re Jimi Hendrix, you’re Yngwie Malmsten, you’re anyone you wanna be. You just feel like a rock God!"
– David ”C-Diddy” Jung

With equal measures of showmanship, patriotism and irony, hundreds vie at NYC's Pussycat Lounge for the East Coast Division of the first-ever nationwide air guitar championship for the right to eventually represent the U.S. at the world championship. Meanwhile, back in Finland, the current world champ frets that the influx of Americans could corrupt the form's purity. Alexandra Lipsitz's often hilarious documentary won the audience award at SXSW and is spawning a cult following that could snowball in release.
– Ronnie Scheib / Variety

*****

Tomorrow evening, after the festival press conference, and loooong after Miss Funnybunny has left for her grandparents' (when I have already started to long for her) I will get the G&T sent to my Facebook page by VK. Thanks!

No films in 2009?

"Strike action, often simply called a strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal by employees to perform work. A strike usually takes place in response to employee grievances." Thus spoke Wikipedia.

The Finnish producers have stated today that if they will not get more governmental funding – since the financial support has remained the same for a decade or so but production costs have expanded – they will refuse to finish the newest films, due to be released in 2008–2009.

According to the producers they have been promised the increase, while Minister of Culture, Stefan Wallin is denying this.



Very brave but risky tactics. And there is a good reason behind it.

But it's risky. See. If a cleaning ladies, or people who collect the trash, stopped working, the whole society would break down.

If the elderly ladies who take care of both the museums and toilets stopped working in Russia, the Kremlin would collapse in days. All the artefacts would be stolen and Moscow would drown in pee.

But when the Finnish film producers stop, the results are not to be seen in 2009!

Still, I do wish them luck!

Film producers attack the funding of the Finnish National Opera. One opera ticket is supported with much bigger amounts of money compared to the film tickets. (20 times more, an opera ticket is supported with 160 euros, the producers say.) And I am not that much into opera. I mean, I like opera music, I really do, but why does that overrated institution have to be so heavy and expensive? Is some kind of a smaller scale opera an impossibility?

Please don't give me that "the money to the opera is not film industry's loss". Yes, the money is tax payers' money. ANY money spent ANYWHERE is someone else's loss. Different goals where to use money can and should be at times put to the same line for closer look.

Opera is not that Finnish or anything as an institution that I'd say it definitely must be supported, no matter what. (We have some great singers, sure.)



And the Opera building is ugly. Never skip that. (I liked the old, little place much better. But I have heard, in several occasions, that it was a nightmare for the artists who Worked there.)

Keep remembering it ain't over until the fat lady sings.

BTW. Did you know that it is also illegal for an employee of the United States Federal Government to strike. Interesting. So the Federal Government must be a trustworthy employer then?

Tack så mycket. Thank you so much for your works, Ingmar.

The Silence (Tystnaden) fell over the little island of Fårö.




"I don't watch my own films very often. I become so jittery and ready to cry ... and miserable. I think it's awful."

-- Ingmar Bergman 14 July 1918 – 30 July 2007

Don't you worry, dear Ingmar. We will watch them, over and over again.

With admiration, respect and longing, and have a good trip to the Wild Strawberries (Smultronstället)

och med Den goda viljan,

Istori



*****

Man säger så lätt att man älskar. Jag älskar dig lilla pappa. Jag älskar dig lillebror. Men egentligen använder man ett ord man inte vet vad det betyder. Därför vågar jag ej skriva att jag älskar dig, Henrik. Men om du vill ta min hand och hjälpa mig ut min stora sorg, så kanske vi kan lära varandra vad det där ordet betyder.

– Den goda viljan. Ingmar Bergman 1991

*****
EDIT: Please read the obituary at the site of The Independent. It is written by director and screenwriter (Taxi Driver, among others) Paul Schrader.

[--] he probably did more than anyone to make cinema a medium of personal and introspective value. Movies by nature are, of course, very commercially driven and very accessible. No one really used cinema as private personal expression in that way. Bergman showed that you could actually do movies that were personal introspections and have them seen by general audiences.

Four Eyed Monsters

Go and see Four Eyed Monsters. You can watch the entire ('71.54) indie film in YouTube or at the web site of their own, but for a limited time only.

After this, the basic entertainment sh*t from the USA we get to see on TV feels even more invane than before.

This is a very clever, touching and funny film. I enjoyed it a lot this morning; not recently but more than 12 hours ago – and I'm still thinking about it!

Summer Highlights. Pasolini and Midnight Sun. Mukkula Writers' Union.

Cinema is identical to life, because each one of us has a virtual and invisible camera which follows us from when we're born to when we die. In reality cinema is an infinite film sequence-shot. Each individual film interrupts and rearranges this infinite sequence-shot and thus creates meaning, which is what happens to us when we die. It is only at our moment of death that our life, to that point undecipherable, ambiguous, suspended, acquires a meaning. Montage thus plays the same role in cinema as death does in life.

– Pier Paolo Pasolini



One of the highlights of every summer is over, Midnight Sun Film Festival, in Sodankylä, Lapland. 160 kilometres north from the Arctic Circle. We were there, Miss Funnybunny and Mr HP, with several friends. And met with other bloggers, like Vaiheinen and Sedis.

And my highlights there? Firstly, a very good and touching Pasolini documentary, directed and cut (in 2006!!!!!) by Giuseppe Bertolucci who was there. He and his brother Bernardo knew Pasolini personally. The documentary was like a "Making of Salò". But it was good. It showed how intelligent and – believe it or not – nice a person Pasolini was. With a good sense of humor. And kindness.

The second most important thing (for me) was the film karaoke starting between Friday and Saturday at 3 am in the big film theater tent. (This time the film was a Finnish "SF Parade", 1939. But I will spare you and NOT analyse the film now.)




The party in Porttikoski rapids (20 km from Sodankylä) was as nice as ever. The foreign guests of honour seemed to enjoy, too.


And then, on Sunday night we drove back. Took a bit more than 11 hours. These beautiful windmills are on the sea shore in Ii. (No kidding. The place is called "Ii". Pronounced: "Ee-e" – a long vowel.) While having coffee and ice cream we four adults – the passengers and co-drivers in Mr HP's car – were talking about reducing nuclear power. Windmills are cool, but in using them, Finland is doing only some minimal efforts. That's pathetic.


And finally, we are almost home! Not yet, in Central Finland, Viitasaari.



....and we did not go home, but to Lahti International Writers' Union, to Mukkula, instead. There is Miss Funnybunny in her purple Momin shirt, listening to the Closing Session. In which language, I am not sure.


And this was the beautiful view from our little Mukkula cottage, at Mukkula Camping. Behind the trees there is the Lake Vesijärvi. ( = "Waterlake". How well thought. Who ever said people in Lahti lack imagination?)



Summer in Finland is so short every warm and sunny moment is highly valued by us Finns.

And if it rains? Well, "we are not made out of sugar," as we tend to say.