Keep close to Nature's heart...and break clear away, once in awhile, climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods. Wash your spirit clean. --John Muir
I have come to the conclusion that buying books and reading them are actually two entirely different hobbies. --Unknown
Skepticism is thus a resting place for human reason, where it can reflect upon its dogmatic wanderings. --Immanuel Kant
You don't need to ban books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them. --Ray Bradbury
The further a society drifts from the truth, the more it will hate those who speak it. --Selwyn Duke
Reality cannot be ignored except at a price, and the longer the ignorance is persisted in, the higher and more terrible becomes the price that must be paid. --Aldous Huxley
Stand for something. Always have class, and be humble. --John Madden
Starring (the voices of): Trey Parker, Matt Stone, Mary Kay Bergman, Isaac Hayes, George Clooney, Eric Idle, Dave Foley, Mike Judge, Brent Spiner, Minnie Driver, Toddy Walters
Nominated for the Academy Award for Best Song ("Blame Canada")
Fathom Events presented South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut on the big screen this month as part of its Classics series and to mark the film's 25th anniversary. In addition, it was presented as a "sing-along", with lyrics subtitled onscreen in all their expletive-laden glory.
Released in 1999, this film gave South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone the opportunity to run wild without having to consider Comedy's Central censorship guidelines. And boy, did they deliver. Produced in tandem with the show's second and third seasons, not only was the film South Park on steroids, it's also a full-blown musical.
Responsibility for the effects of foul language, sexual imagery, and violent imagery in film and TV on children versus the influence and responsibility of parents were hot topics back in the late 1990's, and Parker and Stone did their usual fine job of parodying the issue. Stan, Kyle, Cartman, and Kenny sneak into a showing of "Asses of Fire" starring their beloved Terrance and Phillip, Canadian comics whose material is largely composed of farts and fart jokes, along with off-the-charts profanity. After emerging from the theater, they begin exercising their newly acquired four-letter vocabulary to the horror of their parents and teachers.
The adults of South Park become increasingly angry with the undue influence of the foul-mouthed film on their children, and they lay blame on Canada in general and Terrance and Phillip in particular. As they get more and more carried away with their crusade, not only are the kids neglected, but the parents set in motion war between the U.S. and Canada, and the release of Satan (accompanied by his gay lover, Saddam Hussein) to rule over the earth. Their misguided approach and lack of personal responsibility are articulated in the song "Blame Canada" ("We must blame them and cause a fuss/Before somebody thinks of blaming us!") and Sheila Brovlofski's line, "Remember what the MPAA says: Horrific, deplorable violence is okay, as long as people don't say any naughty words!"
I was a big fan of the film when it was released in 1999, having been a huge fan of South Park since Day 1. I hadn't seen it in a while and it was great to see it back on the big screen.
The Fathom screening was preceding by an introduction by film critic Leonard Maltin, who reminded the audience that he made one of the earliest celebrity appearances on South Park (episode 112, "Mecha-Streisand"). Apparently he's a fan of the show, his appearance on it, and indicated that he and his family loved the film.
South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut facts and trivia:
Paramount wanted a PG-13 rated film, but Parker and Stone refused. They would only make it if the studio agreed to an R rated film. Paramount eventually agreed.
The Guinness Book of World Records cited South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut as having the most profanity of any animated film. There were 399 swear words in total. This was intentional as 400 words would have automatically triggered the dreaded NC-17 rating. In addition, it includes 128 offensive gestures and 221 acts of violence.
The Oscar-nominated song "Blame Canada" was performed at the ceremony by Robin Williams. The award went to Phil Collins for "You'll Be in My Heart" from the Disney animated film Tarzan.
The film was named "Best Animated Feature" of 1999 by the New York Film Critics Circle Awards. Parker and Stone won Best Musical Performance from MTV's Movie + TV Awards for the Terrance and Phillip song "Uncle Fucka".
This film marked the first time Kenny's face was ever shown.
The film grossed $80+ million world wide. It was the highest grossing R-rated animated film until 2016 when it lost the title to Sausage Fest.
In the end credits, all of the songs performances are attributed to the characters singing them, not the actors.
The film was originally titled South Park: All Hell Breaks Loose, but the MPAA refused to allow the word "hell" in the title. Parker and Stone then gave it the double entendre title it was released with. In fact, the bitter battles between the MPAA and the filmmakers was the stuff of legend back when it was released.
Rumor has it that when the U.S. military captured Saddam Hussein in 2006, soldiers forced him to watch this film, in which he's portrayed as residing in hell as Satan's gay lover. Stone apparently confirmed this, adding that the military sent him and Parker an autographed photo of Hussein.
Being a writer is the best way I know how to get paid for being insane. --Fredrik Backman
A snake will bite you in private, where no one sees it....then offer to remove the venom for you in public, so that he will look like the hero. --Unknown
The higher we soar the smaller we appear to those who cannot fly. --Friedrich Nietzsche
If ignorance is bliss, there should be more happy people. --Victor Cousin
Wrong does not cease to be wrong because the majority share in it. --Leo Tolstoy
Beware of false knowledge; it is more dangerous than ignorance. --George Bernard Shaw
The individual who has experienced solitude will not easily become a victim of mass suggestion. --Albert Einstein
Do your little bit of good where you are; it's those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world. --Desmond Tutu
I'm still behind on #ReadChristie2024, but got another one done this week. Almost there...
There's been a murder in the sleepy village of St. Mary Mead and there are suspects galore. The pompous, powerful, and unpopular Colonel Protheroe is shot to death while waiting alone in the vicar's study. Suspects include Protheroe's wife Anne, his daughter Lettice, Lawrence Redding, a painter currently working on a portrait of Lettice, the mysterious and recently arrived Mrs. Lestrange, Leonard Clement, the vicar himself (he's the narrator and I was getting Roger Ackroyd vibes), the vicar's charming younger wife Griselda, and the vicar's nephew Dennis, who is besotted with Lettice. A few other questionable characters/motives also populate the story. And of course there's Miss Jane Marple, whose favorite hobby - the study of human nature - gives her a unique insight to the various suspects and helps bring the killer to justice.
The Murder at the Vicarage, published in 1930, was the first Miss Marple novel and this was also my first experience with her. She was actually a very pleasant, interesting character, not the grating, nosy busybody I was expecting.
The Murder at the Vicarage is the April selection for #ReadChristie2024.
Each quarter features Christie novels from a specific decade(s). First
quarter is the 1920's, second quarter is the 1930's, third quarter is
the 1940's-1950's, and fourth quarter is the 1960's-1970's. The complete
list is:
January: The Mysterious Affair at Styles (Poirot)
February: The Secret Adversary (Tommy & Tuppence)
March: The Mystery of the Blue Train (Poirot)
April: The Murder at the Vicarage (Miss Marple)
May: The ABC Murders (Poirot)
June: And Then There Were None (stand alone)
July: Taken at the Flood (Poirot)
August: A Murder is Announced (Miss Marple)
September: Ordeal by Innocence (stand alone)
October: The Mirror Crack'd From Side to Side (Miss Marple)
