Pues nada, directos a lo que interesa:

Reflejos, o la americanización de Aja

Nada más ver el trailer se me quitaron las ganas de verla. Tras trabajos cómo Alta tensión y la brutal revisión del clásico Las colinas tienen ojos, uno se hacía la idea de que Alexandre Aja no bajaría el listón intentado adaptarse a los canónes de Hollywood...sin embargo, no ha sido así, y Reflejos es una flojilla (que no mala) película de terror sobrenatural, entretenida pero sin demasiadas pretensiones, y bastante previsible (en mi opinión, lo peor son los personajes de copia y pega)...a todo ello cabe sumarle que se trata de otro remake de una película coreana.

La cuestión es... ¿será el principio del fin de Aja? Esperemos que no, pero ya se ha embarcado en otro innecesario remake, en este caso de la casposilla Pirañas. Crucemos los dedos para que este joven realizador vuelva a apostar por la innovación, y no por los refritos.

P.D: El niño de la peli me cae muy mal xD

Nota: 5,5 - 6

Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea, marchando una de Ghibli sin villano

Una de las sorpresas del festival fue el estreno de lo nuevo de Ghibli: Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea, una entretenida y elaborada película de animación que nos muestra la relación de amor/amistad entre un niño de 5 años y un pez de colores con poderes mágicos - puesto que tiene unos padres un tanto peculiares-.

Se trata de un efectivo film ambientado mayoritariamente en un paisaje marítimo, con las acostumbradas dosis de fantasia del estudio. Sin embargo, en mi opinión "falla" el hecho de que la trama es bastante simplona y realmente se echa en falta algún villano o algo que complique un poco más las cosas a los protagonistas... a pesar de ello, admito también que soy un poco finolis, y que Ponyo realmente es un buen film, sencillo pero en resumidas cuentas bueno y con sus momentos divertidos.

Nota: 7,5

Let the right one in, romance vampírico

Otra de las películas con no demasiado renombre pero con muy buena factura es Let the right one in, un film de vampiros que narra la relación entre Oskar, un chico con padres divorciados y problemas en el colegio -le acosan unos matones de su clase- y Eli, una chica solitaria y bastante peculiar (creo que es el motivo es bastante obvio xD).

Lo que podía haber sido una pastelorra historia romántica con toques vampíricos es, sin embargo, una película con buen guión, actores y ambientación -además, es de agradecer alguno de los toques de humor y gore de la película-.

Lástima que la película quede posiblemente condenada al anonimato, porque la verdad es que merece la pena verla.

Nota: 8

Synecdoche, New York; en los límites de la irrealidad

Sin lugar a dudas, la más rara que he visto este año en el festival. En ella, se nos muestra la historia de un guionista al cual la vida no le está sonriendo en absoluto: su mujer se va a vivir sola, llevando consigo a su hija, y la posible salvación de éste, el romance que mantiene con la taquillera del teatro para el que trabaja, se va a pique. Por ello, decide dar un giro radical a su vida: convertir todo lo que le rodea en una obra de teatro de extensiones demenciales.

Curiosa e inquietante a ratos por su mezcla de dramatismo y humor... una interesante representación de la realidad dentro de la realidad, en la que nada tiene sentido.

Nota: 7

I've been kinda sad that i havn't found anything cool this year for Halloween...i've been hearing this from others as well....so...i've decided to do something a little spaecial..

We will be making a limited edition LONDON AFTER MIDNIGHT mask . done in a new PAINT SCHEME ( little on the blueish side like you see in the tinted loby cards)

these are all being hand made by us here in our studio at BUMP IN THE NIGHT...thick latex/ all hand poured AND .....COMES WITH A BLACK BOW TIE!!!...check out the Photo below..what you see is what you get baby!

we will have a BUY IT NOW BUTTON  up for it ...today/tonight..

PLEASE SPECIFY THAT YOU WANT THE BLUE ONE...WHEN YOUR ORDERING..

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!!

Hi Friends, 

I just wanted to show you my latest painting "Golden terribilis".  Wikipedia says - Phyllobates terribilis, the Golden Poison Frog or the Golden Dart Frog, is a poison dart frog endemic to the Pacific coast of Colombia. In captivity, poison dart frogs are not poisonous. It is in the wild where they are in fact poisonous because of what they eat. Thisamphibian of the dendrobatidae family is currently considered the most poisonous vertebrateworldwide.^[1] The optimal habitat of P. terribilis is the rainforest with high rain rates This Frog's conservation status is on the Endangered List.

Here is a little closer look. 

Power to the Peaceful y'all - Karl Reid - Artist

El video no nos muestra nada nuevo de lo visto en los comerciales gringos, secuencias rapidas de las trampas que aun no sabemos exactamente como funcionan, un vistazo a la trampa del pendulo, flashbacks a Saw 3 y un “¿Me Recuerdas?” que me suena algo confuso.

Saw 5 se estrena el 24 de Octubre en Mèxico y ya podemos ver los posters en algunos cines.

The start of a new manga. I read this manga last summer and at first I thought I was going to hate it. However I was very surprised when it really grabbed my attention and held on tight!

This is the kind of manga I normally can't get into, a gore filled detective manga with panty shots littered about. Somehow it ended up being a really good manga though.

Anyhow the story goes like this Kyoji is a police officer who is kind of a "loose cannon". He is looking to avange the death of his sister Kasumi, who was in a hotel when it was blown up! He doesn't know but he is about to get a partner...

Who is this partner you ask? Kasumi Asakura, a high school girl and a former member of the terrorist group ALICE. ALICE just happens to be responsible for the death of Kyoji's sister and they are both out to stop the group from taking any more lives.

On the surface Kasumi may seem to be a normal high school girl but she is much more than that. She is a very skilled killer. Trained by ALICE she now uses her skills for good and wants to help avenge her past. She only uses rubber bullets because she doesn't want to kill anyone ever again!

Introduction complete :) Review of book 2 is soon to come though so stay tuned!

Mangaka: Tohru Fujisawa

Put out by: Tokyo Pop

Places to buy: Amazon , Just Manga

Rating: OT (16+)

If you've seen the first Feast movie (or read my Feast review here on Midnight Showing) then you'll know what the movie is about. For the rest of you, it's about monsters invading a small town and running riot. Yep, that's pretty much it. But it's a comedy so when kills aren't taking place, something funny is.

A couple of characters have made it from the first Feast in to this second outing. Sloppy Seconds starts exactly where the first movie left off, in fact it shows you the end of Feast then has the black screen with the shrinking circle, exactly like you'd see when you finish a level in Super Mario World (Super Nintendo/Famicom, best console ever created in the history of the Universe).

We're introduced to Biker Queen then reintroduced to the Bartender (who still isn't dead). We're then treated to the meeting of Bartender and Honey Pie (deserter in Feast) which results in one of the best male to female beatings ever. Even just thinking about the sound of her head smashing off that toilet pan makes me snigger like a school boy.

The main problem with Sloppy Seconds is that it takes nearly half the film to introduce all the characters (which I think there are too many) and give a decent laugh. Even then, for me the first laugh was the monster fart scene. Call me immature if you like, but you can't beat fart jokes. Then comes one of about three scenes that made me laugh: the monster bukkake scene.

One of the characters decides that to defeat the enemy, he must know the enemy - inside and out, so he decides to do an autopsy on one of the creatures. This involves him using a blow torch to cut open a monster and poke it's various organs with a stick. One organ must obviously be the prostate which makes the monster shoot jizz over almost all the cast (including the old Bartender guy! Ewwww!).

Another scene has Honey Pie locked in a store, in a daze she dreams of love and sex (with what looks like some fat dude) but awakens to see one of the creatures humping something. Turns out, the monsters really love our earth cats...

There are a couple of other scenes which made me laugh out loud, but they were few and far between, especially since the movie does run for a touch over 90mins. The effects are quite well done (for a straight to DVD release that is) and there's certainly enough gore in it to keep the average gore-hound grinning.

Unfortunately they kept the best scenes to near the end of the movie, which is where the punk/goth chicks finally get their boobs out. This should certainly have happened sooner and would have gotten more of a (boioioioing!) reaction with them running about topless. But sadly not to be. Shame you Mr Director!

So, in summing up: it gets a couple of points for the topless chicks, and a couple of points for the funny scenes (watch out for the baby scene), that still only makes it average.

But, never fear... there's always next time. Yep, there's a Feast III cumming.

NOTE TO DIRECTOR: more boobage early on please...

Look at that poster.  How?  How is this not a home run?  You have zombies.  Zombies are fucking great.  You have strippers.  Here at Midnight Showing, we're all about women, especially those who seem to think clothing is optional.  Plus, it's a low budget film.  Really low budget.  So you figure they would  have to bring the violence, the gore, the hilarious and copious amounts of nudity, and the humor right?

Wrong.

Strippers vs. Zombies, or is that Zombies! Zombies! Zombies!, fails to even deliver us what is shamelessly promised on the cover.  To put it mildly, the overall quality of this film is only slightly above something a high school A/V club member would produce as a side project with his stoner buddies.  There almost no nudity, and none of it is in the least bit sexual or even funny.  The gore is a mish mash of horrible cgi, and so-so make up and practical effects.  The acting, from everyone besides the Samuel L. Jackson "funny black pimp" guy was pretty much forgettable, if not downright terrible.  The music is just generic sounding rip offs of pieces featured in movies like the Exorcist and Terminator.  And the director could barely keep the actors and actress's in the shot, let alone do anything with the camera other than follow the action, and he even did that shitty.

Oh, and the really embarrassing thing?

At times throughout the movie, people would talk, on camera, and there would be no sound.  Like an old Godzilla movie that's poorly dubbed.  Also, if any lines needed to be done over with dubbing later on, it was obvious the voices were recorded at different volumes, in like 128 kbps quality, in a completely different environment.  Obviously the makers of this film are not only shameless (a trait i would never fault anyone with), but also completely without a sense of professional pride.

It feels like they let this movie be released without watching the finished product.  Just like when I write for this site, you gotta proofread that bitch, and at least knockout the obvious errors, you know, like releasing a movie with LINES OF DIALOGUE COMPLETELY MISSING EVEN THOUGH THE ACTORS MOVE IS MOVING ON CAMERA!

If you follow zombies flicks, you'll know that 2008 has been the year of the stripper vs. zombie movie.  Earlier in the year a movie starring Jenna Jameson and Robert Englund came out called Zombie Strippers.  I thought it was friggin' terrible, but at the very least, it had some parts that showed you the filmmakers aren't completely brain dead.

Strippers vs. Zombies goes that extra mile to make you just give up hope.  It shows you why movies like Snakes on a Plane are made, and even how movies like Snakes on a Plane MAKE MONEY!  By the way, the "funny black pimp" i mentioned earlier, he actually said in the movie "I'm tired of these motherfucking zombies in this motherfucking club!"  Really.  He did.  And it was probably the best part of the movie.

Maybe you should watch it, just because that guy is hilarious.  No, no you shouldn't.  If there is any lesson to be taken from this film, it's that if you come up with a good poster, a good title, and have no talent, you too can help make a mockery of the horror genre.

In a world where a system's quality software is coming out so sparsely, you're kinda bound to announce your sequels this quickly, possibly under pressure from the console maker. And hence, No More Heroes: Desperate Struggle.

Apart from the short trailer, there's almost nothing else to digest about this announcement. What keeps us at almost is the news that Europe will see 2 versions of the game when it drops: bloody and bloodless. That works for Germany. They're not really fond of the gory stuff, which might somehow in some way be related to how incredibly neat and clean they seem to be. At least those are their politically correct tendencies, which are in my view a result of worldwide peer pressure and shame placed upon them for their history.

Suda also implies that the main difference between this and the first NMH is... the outfits. Guy's a genius in psycho's clothing, i'm telling you. Oh, ok maybe it is a little more than 'almost nothing,' but the man also said that they decided to forget their initially planned 360 version because the graphical power they wanted to get from it is rendered unnecessary by Wii's room for improvement.

Sucks that Bill isn't around this year to tell us about TGS first-hand. Oh well. Trailer after the leap.

The Story: Taking place roughly two months after the end of the first Gears of War game, hero Marcus Fenix and a new recruit, Jace, are out on patrol searching for any survivors of a brutal Locust attack. They find a few, one a familiar face, and kill quite a few Locusts along the way.

What's Good: How well the creative team nails the feel of the Xbox 360 game. The art, dialogue, and story all do a wonderful job of using the atmosphere and characters to great effect. If you're looking for a story about tough guys killing monsters using excessive violence, you can't do much better than this. As a fan of the game, I couldn't be more satisfied.

What's Not So Good: As you probably guessed, this isn't exactly the deepest comic on the stands. The characters are your generic military tough guys, the violence may be too much for some to handle, and the comic never really rises above its videogame roots. Also, the storyline is written assuming that you have played the game at some point, so those unfamiliar with Gears may find themselves wondering about certain references.

On the technical side, the dark coloring muddies up and confuses a scene or two, but this is only a slight annoyance in an otherwise good looking book.

Conclusion: Action junkies and Gears fans should really take the time to check out this comic. It faithfully translates everything that made the game such a success into an enjoyable, visually impressive book. A mindless, yet pleasant surprise in every way.

Grade: B

-Kyle Posluszny

There is a quote that I heard regarding global warming that I would like to share.
"Politicians who take credit for the rain WILL be blamed for the drought."

I say not a snowballs chance in . . . .

They will backpedal and say "See we told you all that it was a little too little too late. You had our hands tied so it is not our fault."

You see what people here do not realize is that there is no simple answer. It most assuredly has little to do with us. In fact, we are most likely delaying the inevitable. You see it takes reading thousands of pages to get to the truth. There are many of them. One you can bet on for sure is that the politicians will [win or loose with this global warming farce, they WILL find a way to make money from it].

1) Ten thousand years ago the last ice age was coming to its conclusion. The earth warmed and the ice went away and still is. What pollution did man have to cause this catastrophe? The answer is NONE. Wake up call number 1

2) Our "green house gasses" are mostly particulate. So much so that the suns brightness has diminished in the last 30 to 40 years by 25%. Wake up call number 2. How much warmer would the earth be today if this particulate carbon matter was not in the skies to reflect the sun back into space? No question it would be warmer than it is now.

3) Most of what out esteemed candidates want to do is to eliminate our green house gasses [these would be almost 100% of the particulate greenhouse gas matter]. This can do nothing but to accelerate the already increasing global temperature. Wake up call number 3.

4) The earth has gone through many of these cycles over its 4.5 billion-year life. These cycles had NOTHING to do with the presents of man. Wake up cal number 4.

5) As stated in number four this is natural for the earth. Wake up call number 5.

6) All this has nothing to do with "Saving Mother Earth." It has everything to do with saving man as the dominant species on the planet. Wake up call number 6.

7) Species have come and species have gone all at the whim of Mother Nature. We were not here in the beginning and we will not be here in the end. Fatalist, if you say so, but I prefer "realist." Wake up call number 7.

8 ) I cannot give you a proper synopsis of the thousands of hours of reading and research in a few sentences and the above are only a few of the many highlights that conclude that man is not remotely the biggest cause of global warming. Wake up call number 8.

9) I believe that most intelligent people do not buy into any of the political debates because we all know that they will say anything to get elected and then deliver little or nothing after winning. How many times must we endure this before it sinks in? So, I ask you why would anyone buy into this one aspect of the political debates? It is just another buzz subject to get votes. Wake up call number 9.

10) I can go on all day long but if you do not get the point by now you never will. Wake up call number 10.

b

Because Florida is often such an important swing state in any election (think Bush-Gore 2000), and because Florida is filled with elderly Jewish voters, both campaigns are going after the state and the old Jews who live there quite vigorously. Joe Lieberman has been campaigning for McCain for months and now, some younger Jews from around the country are fighting back.

Over Columbus Day Weekend they are instituting The Great Schlep, which is designed to send thousands of Jewish youth to Florida to speak with their grandparents about why they should vote for Barack Obama. It's an incredibly large, grassroots campaign that's not affiliated with the Obama campaign but is a cause that has been taken up by young Jews who want their grandparents to know the facts about the candidates before voting (rather than thinking that Obama cavorts with Muslim terrorists as certain ads have led them to believe).

This Sarah Silverman video is on The Great Schlep homepage, and I've embedded it here for your viewing convenience:

Jackie Mason and the Republican Jewish Coalition responded with the following video, which isn't as funny but it's definitely got a point:

What do you think about this campaign? Are you participating? Do you know anyone who is? What did you think about the videos?

To read more Religion in the News posts, click HERE.

Looking for professional editing services for papers, essays and more? Click HERE to take advantage of a great fall sale on all of your editing needs!

Dance of the Dead has the look and feel of a disastrous zombie flick.  It has a bunch of no name teenage looking actors and actresses.  A plot (Zombies rise from the dead on the night of the prom and high schoolers have to fight for their lives and their town) ripped from several other zombie movies.  A movie poster eerily similar to that of 2004's amazing "zombedy" Shaun of the Dead.  And, on top of all this, a director with virtually no feature film directing experience.

But this, true believers (Yes, I just pulled a Stan Lee reference out of my ass.  You don't like it?  Go read a DC comic then you pussy.  Yeah I know Batman is good, but other than that, DC sucks.) is why we watch movies, and THEN decide if they suck or not.  Or at least some of us do.

Dance of the Dead managed to do something that all good horror, and especially zombie flicks, HAVE to do.  Make the most out of the pieces you have.  If you look back in the legendary genesis of the zombie flick, you will quickly find out that the best of the bunch, even the ones done by famed directors like Romero and Fulci, were done on smaller budgets without the luxury of having big stars to bank on for success.  Dance does this wonderfully, making even the predictable and annoying characters seem likable.  And if they weren't likable, then they at least had the presence of mind to kill them off early!

This all brings me to my first point.  The cast here, again full of people who's biggest project to date seems to be Dance of the Dead itself, are all very competent.  The movie is exactly demanding, but it still has a lot of dialogue, and without people to spew those words out, however trite or meaningless, it's difficult to make a movie work.  The saving grace seems to be the comedy within the conversations though.  Nothing is taken to seriously in Dance of the Dead, and that lightens the load for everyone involved.  It's a feel good, fun time zombie flick, and the cast seem to reflect that with the youthful energy being the driving force.

Direction here is solid, but not in the least bit flashy or pretentious.  There some nifty use of heavy lighting and filters, the cornerstones of any 80's "Return of the living Dead" style zombie flick, but other than that, everything's played pretty straight forward, and I for one have no problem with that.  If you don't feel comfortable as a director taking chances and being experimental, there's no need to force it.  That "comfort" is actually a strength to the film, and I felt right at home with the direction, and thankfully nothing was ruined by the dreaded "shaky cam" or choosing shitty angles to shoot the action on.  Simply put, the camera work never gets in the way of the fun.

Gore and special effects are all good, but it's most likely all stuff experienced zombie fans have seen before.  Doesn't mean it isn't highly entertaining, and some of the bullet wounds are particularly graphic.  There's also a head split in half the long way, and a severed head "still alive" gag that is very cool.  Nothing here will have you howling or calling your friends to tell them "how awesome that kill just was", but it's all impressive none the less, and thankfully, almost totally free of any cgi.  Yay!  Here at the Midnight Showing we basically have one rule concerning our gore and special f/x, and that is "Fuck CGI!"

If you couldn't tell by now, Dance of the Dead is a movie that has all the elements to become a cult classic.  Sure, that's pretty cliche to say, but when a movie has it, it just has it.  I think the director has a pretty good handle on this zombie thing, and if he continues to interject the brand of humor in his future flicks, he should make some very interesting stuff.  Also, some of the actors and actress's are surely going to be noticed because of this film.

If your looking for a light-hearted, "Shaun of the Dead" style zombie flick, and you can appreciate flicks that pay obvious homage to what's come before it (Return of the Living Dead, Night of the Creeps), then you should get plenty of enjoyment out of Dance of the Dead.

If only my prom was overrun by zombies.

by Lloyd Kaufman

Browsing around the bookstore, I picked up Make Your Own Damn Movie, based solely on the cover. It advertised "secrets of a renegade director", and mentioned information on scriptwriting and production- plus it had a picture of a zombie, and a surprised and/or stressed man.

Lloyd Kaufman writes from the perspective of a hyper-caricatured version of himself. Vulgar, self-deprecating, constantly horny, and fully aware of his shortcomings. Great stuff. The book should have (could have) been a guide to making low-budget flicks, but it is mostly Lloyd Kaufman rambling on and on about himself. I appreciate B-movies, and inventive filmmaking, regardless of its budget, but Kaufman does not set enough space on the page to highlight his advice on production schedules, casting, and special effects- all culled from personal experience. I came to enjoy Kaufman's sense of humor, but if you're trying to write the next Great American Screenplay, Lloyd Kaufman does not give a shit

What also seems ironic to me is how often Kaufman self-deprecates (defecates), citing his many financial failures and the struggles of Troma, in a book about how to make movies. With all the self-aggrandizement and plugging of his DVDs, I can recommend Make Your Own Damn Movie only if you are a already a major fan of Troma- or if you want to read about how they filmed an escalator devouring a 400-pound man.

Rating: 2/5

Anyways, I've been watching you ever since, with your amazing lovely cities, and your beautiful natural landscapes.  Since 2000, I've even gotten into birding, and learned that Florida is a birding mecca.  Florida, you have a lot of culture and beauty to offer the rest of the United States, and I thank you for that.  I'm from the other corner of the country, Washington state.  I'm happy to say that other than being corner states, having tons of natural beauty, and ocean-lined states, we also have something new in common:  We're both blue!

I look at the daily polls several times a day, and check several sources.  I'm so happy to see the huge spike for Obama and Biden in the beautiful state of Florida.  Thank you!  Florida, you rock.

Sincerely,

Bell

Ya mencionaba hace meses que lo que pasa en Florida no sucede en ningún lado. Y si hablamos de elecciones, su condado de Palm Beach se lleva la palma. Las chapuzas electorales están ahí a la orden del día (ni el voto por correo del Real Madrid llega a estas cotas).

Leyendo Wired saltan todas las alarmas. Porque lo del condado de Palm Beach a menos de un mes de las elecciones presidenciales de EE.UU. es muy preocupante. Y además llueve sobre mojado. Basta con recordar lo sucedido en las votaciones del 2000, donde las “papeletas mariposa” y el recuento suspendido por el Tribunal Supremo resultaron claves para la victoria de Bush II sobre Gore. En una decisión que aun escuece. Y que ha significado 8 terribles años para todos.

¿Pero qué ha pasado ahora? Prácticamente lo mismo de entonces con una dosis añadida de chapuza y picaresca más propia de Gil que de la primera potencia planetaria. En Marbella desaparecieron expedientes del Juzgado y en Palm Beach 3.478 votos de las elecciones para Juez del condado.

Esta vez no ha sido por las ya famosas “papeletas mariposa”, que había que perforar. Cambiaron el sistema, pero se lo encargaron a la misma empresa, Sequoia Voting Systems. Que por el módico precio de 5 millones y medio de dólares ha elaborado unos scanners ópticos, causantes de los problemas actuales.

Las elecciones judiciales, después de un mes de recuentos, han proclamado dos vencedores distintos. Desvelando graves problemas en la infraestructura electoral del condado. Menudencias tales como papeletas desaparecidas o tabuladores que son incapaces de reproducir el mismo resultados dos veces seguidas.

Se recogieron 102.523 votos. Pero tras el primer recuento sólo aparecieron 99.045 papeletas. ¿Qué pasó con las restantes 3.478?

Una semana después, al volver a hacer el recuento sin las 3.478 papeletas desaparecidas, proclamaron a otro vencedor.

El condado acabó encontrando las papeletas desaparecidas, pero también se encontró con 227 más que no estaban contabilizadas. Así que a volver a contar. Y el primer ganador fue restituido como triunfador.

Las razones para tantos recuentos se encuentran en la ley electoral del Estado de Florida: cuando el margen de victoria es igual o menor a un 0.5% se marca la obligación de efectuar un recuento automatizado. Sin embargo si este recuento establece un margen de victoria de un cuarto de punto o menor, se procede a un recuento manual.

Y el abogado William Abramson ganó por solo 17 votos al Juez Richard Wennet. Fue entonces cuando descubrieron que faltaban 3.478 votos, modificando el resultado electoral. Ahora era el Juez Wennet quien ganaba, por 60 votos. Ante las protestas de Abramson las autoridades electorales del Estado decidieron no reconocer a ningún vencedor hasta que el condado –que ya daba por bueno el resultado- no encontrase las papeletas perdidas. Finalmente tras un nuevo recuento, incluyendo las encontradas más las 227 descubiertas, se repitió la victoria inicial del abogado Abramson. Pero por más diferencia que los 17 votos de la primera vez. Con otro dato que no debemos pasar por alto: en el recuento manual se validaron unas 12 mil papeletas que habían sido declaradas nulas por las maquinas. Porcentualmente estamos hablando del 12% del total de votos emitidos.

Quisiera aclarar que he intentado simplificar un proceso farragoso que ha durado un mes. El cronograma de la imagen resume el proceso y los distintos recuentos.

Existe un precedente -de 2004- en el condado de Napa (California) y que también involucraba la maquinaria de Sequoia. Y está sucediendo con la mitad de su equipamiento en el Estado de Nueva York, que se está planteando sustituir 1.500 unidades.

¿Dónde estaban los votos perdidos? Los encontraron guardados en unas cajas en el centro de tabulación de Palm Beach. ¿Por qué estas papeletas estaban desatendidas? Las culpas parecen recaer en el desorden a la hora de efectuar el primer recuento además de la alta participación registrada.

Da que pensar y mucho que según las previsiones para el 4 de noviembre el numero de votantes se va a quintuplicar. Y que la papeleta tendrá el doble de tamaño.

Y la semana que viene escribiremos sobre la 2002 Help America Vote Act y las defectuosas bases de datos, que tienen el perverso efecto de hacer desaparecer a ciudadanos registrados para votar o duplicar los ya existentes.

Un estudiante del hospital universitario de Philadelphia conoce a un misterioso grupo de jovenes que han desarrollado un juego mortal en que uno de ellos trata de cometer un crimen perfecto mientras el resto tratan de determinar la causa de la muerte

Título original: Pathology
País: USA
Productora: MGM
Director: Marc Schoelermann
Guión: Mark Neveldine y Brian Taylor
Reparto: Milo Ventimiglia, Lauren Lee Smith, Johnny Whitworth, Alyssa Milano, Keir O'Donnell, Dan Callahan, Michael Weston, Mei Melancon

La historia se lleva bastante bien, tiene un humor raro algo gore, que mezclado con los cliches de las peliculas americanas da una mezcla rara... lo cual hace que no se vuelva aburrida.

No es la gran cosa, pero para quienes siguen Heroes (el personaje principal de esta pelicula y de la serie), le va a parecer interesante ver al actor haciendo algo diferente, tambien los que tienen un poco de gusto por el gore quizas les paresca algo interesante... y nunca estaria mal para pochoclear un rato.

6.8/10 Puntos

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Dijous 3

Vaig aterrar a la vila de Sitges ben entrat el vespre i sense temps per adquirir entrades per la gala d’inauguració, així que vaig decidir anar a prendre quelcom al il·lustre Carrer  del Pecat amb el meu amic ultrafreak “El Niño del Exorcista”, que per un casual també ronda per aquestes contrades. I així doncs varem aprofitar per discutir acaloradament sobre política, sobre perquè els gais s’han apoderat de la cultura hortera o perquè les feministes son tan poc femenines (en comparació als travestis, per exemple). També em va intentar convèncer, sense gaire èxit, que “Borrachas Provincianas” és la sensació pop del moment i  “El ataque de las colegialas zombies” un film de culte.

"El Niño del exorcista" i el seu discretíssim vano de butxaca

Divendres 4

Després d’estar deu hores mirant màquines excavadores vaig arribar rebentat al Festival, però amb unes ganes boges de veure qualsevol peli en la que quedessin entrades... i va ser aquesta.

DEAD GIRL

Una entretinguda cinta protagonitzada per un grup d’adolescents (interpretats per actors de 35 anys, of course!) que quan troben el cadàver d’una noia, teòricament morta, decideixen violar-la, sense sospitar que es una zombie. Necrofília, gore, sang i fetge i sobretot molt humor negre del pal “Braindead: Tu madre se ha comido a mi perro”.(vegeu trailer)
El millor: Les peripècies que fan per dissimular la putrefacció i seguir-se follant a la morta!
El pitjor: No tenir 15 anys i estar en ple apogeu freak-rolero! L’hauria disfrutat el triple.
NOTA: 5,5/10

Dissabte 5

Després d’un matí estirat al sofà veient capítols de “A 2m bajo tierra” i ja amb tota la comitiva hospitalenca traslladada al meu apartament, era hora de retornar a la càrrega. Evidentment no varem mirar el programa ni les sinopsis, és molt més divertit comprar les entrades a cegues!

RAMIREZ

Un serial killer que aniquila les seves víctimes de forma cruel, freda i despietada tan sols pel plaer de fer fotos als seus cadàvers.  La sessió va comptar amb un postscreaning en el que vàrem poder xerrar amb el director i els actors sobre els diversos aspectes de la cinta.
El millor: La freda interpretació del protagonista, realment podria colar com a psicòpata.
El pitjor: Queden molts aspectes de la història sense resoldre, com si el director els hagués oblidat a mig rodatge.
NOTA: 6/10

SEXY KILLER

La primera sorpresa del festival. Quan ja estàvem ben convençuts que es tractaria d’una espanyolada més aviat cutrilla, ens va deixar bocabadats amb el desternillant humor d’aquesta peculiar història d’una assassina a mig camí entre Paris Hilton i Hannibal Lecter, a ritme de technopop petardo. (vegeu trailer)
El millor: El guapíssim Alejo Sauras fent de gai, els guions de Paco Cabezas (a qui varem conèixer l’any passat) i el divertidíssim paper de Paco León.
El pitjor:El final es taaant exagerat, però tant..!
NOTA: 7/10

El repartiment de Sexykiller a la Premiere, amb Alejo Sauras, Paco Cabezas...

(continuarà...)

Paris: Krawalle auf den Straßen. Die Bevölkerung ist mit dem Ausgang der Präsidentschaftsvorwahlen keineswegs zufrieden und entlädt ihren Unmut in brutalen Straßenschlachten. Doch nicht für jeden sind diese Zustände ein unberechenbares Chaos: Eine fünfköpfige Bande Heranwachsender nutzt die tumultartige Situation schamlos für einen ertragreichen Coup aus. Nach ihrer Flucht aus der französischen Hauptstadt wollen sich die Kleinkriminellen in einer Pension vor der Grenze wieder treffen. Eine fatale Entscheidung. Denn der greise Herbergsvater (Jean-Pierre Jorris) ist ein Weltkriegsveteran, der die Niederlage der Deutschen immer noch nicht verkraftet hat. Mit seiner kannibalischen Sippe versucht er daher, eine neue Herrenrasse zu züchten. Während die männlichen Gäste langsam zu Tode gequält werden, wird die schwangere Yasmina (Karina Testa) auserkoren, ihr ungeborenes Kind für die neue reine Rasse herzugeben…

Die Franzosen lassen nichts anbrennen wenn es um schonungslose Gewalt geht. Nach High Tension und Inside ist Frontier(s) der nächste Goretrip aus Frankreich. Regie führte Xavier Gens der auch Hitman abgedreht hat und bei Jean Claude Van Damme Filmen wie Double Team als Assisten arbeitete.

In Frontier(s) wirkt alles sehr Professionell, die Gewaltszenen sind unwahrscheinlich hart, somit wird der Zuschauer schnell an den Film gefesselt. Durch die hohen psychischen Extrembelastungen ist Frontier(s) allerdings wirklich nur ein Film für hartgesottene Filmfreunde die sich schon an den "Vorgängern" High Tension und Inside erfreuen konnten.

Wertung: 8,5/10

Fazit: Ultrahart, Menschenverachtend und äußerst blutig. Frontier(s) ist Frankreichs neues Sternchen am Gore-Himmel!

This piece is about 3.5 inches long by 2" high. The lioness is covered in a coating of 18K gold and Black Rouge. This creates a Charcoal effect with Gold accents.  Thank you for all your support "Maestro", I'm sure you wll enjoy the piece for years to come.  This piece was inspired from the "Panel of Lions" in Chauvet Cave. 

The following is an excerpt of the http://www.bradshawfoundation.com/chauvet/index.php

"Chauvet Cave is exceptional – despite being recently discovered in 1994, it contains the world’s oldest rock art ever found. The Chauvet Cave is located near Vallon-Pont-d'Arc in the Ardèche region of southern France, its chance discovery by a trio of speleologists revealed not only the fossilized remains of many animals, including some that are now extinct, but one of the most extensive Palaeolithic rock art galleries ever recorded.

On inspecting Chauvet's rock art on behalf of the Ministry of Culture, Dr Jean Clottes realised instantly that the cave was of grave importance. "When you examine a painted line under the magnifying glass, you notice that what appears as a continuous, unbroken line is in fact full of tiny gaps caused by erosion." Not only was the art likely to prove extremely old, it was very extensive, highly varied, and very skillfully executed. But perhaps most importantly, the cave and its contents were more or less perfectly preserved – untouched for many thousands of years. For this reason, whilst the investigation of the cave took place and the age of the rock art was verified, the cave was locked down. Since 1994, more people have been to the top of Everest than into the Chauvet Cave.

Six months later, carbon 14 dating analyses showed that one buffalo and two rhinoceros were approximately 31,000 years old. The datings "have revolutionised hitherto accepted concepts on the appearance of art and its development, and prove that homo sapiens learnt to draw at a very early stage".

Hundreds of animal paintings have been recorded, depicting at least 13 different species, including those which have rarely or never been found in other "Ice age" ice age paintings. Rather than the more usual animals of the hunt that predominate in Paleolithic cave art, such as horses, cattle and reindeer, the walls of the Chauvet Cave are covered with predatory animals - lions, panthers, bears, owls, rhinos and hyenas. As one would expect, there are no human figures, except at the very end of the gallery where there appears to be a Venus figure - the legs and genitals of a woman – attracting the attention of the figure now known as the ‘Sorcerer’ - the lower body of a man with the upper body of a bison. The scene would suggest a ritual, shamanic or magical aspect to these paintings.

The gorges of the Ardèche region are home to numerous caves. Is Chauvet unique, or are there more marvels to discover?

The Bradshaw Foundation visited the Chauvet Cave in 1999 and 2001followed by a further field trip made in 2005."