Letter meme

[sabotabby]

From nineteen68, who gave me R.

Something I hate: Rob Ford. Though as a friend put it: "Waking up and having one's coffee and reading the morning news is literally brightened by Ford's shenanigans...a real life meme lolling through life."

More conceptually, rugged individualism.

Something I love: Ranting. Can you tell?

Somewhere I have been: Russia.

Somewhere I would like to go: Rabat. Oh hey, I'm going there in six weeks. :D

Someone I know: Radicals, and lots of 'em.

Best film: Reds. One of my all-time favourites. I was saddened to hear that it was also one of Reagan's favourites. Also, Kieslowski's Red and the one with Bruce Willis, though for very different reasons.

Lemme know if you want a letter.

Comments

[joxn.livejournal.com]

Letter me!

[sabotabby]

O.

[cupric-acetate.livejournal.com]

Ooooh, I haven't done one of these dumb memes in forever! Want.

[sabotabby]

W.

[nihilistic-kid.livejournal.com]

One letter please.

[sabotabby]

Y.

[marlowe1.livejournal.com]

I love Reds too. I can also see why Reagan liked it since he saw himself as Mr. Cold Warrior and one reading of the movie can be that it's about a lot of radicals who tried to create a new world and were let down by their own hubris and the Russian Revolution.

Or he might have just had good taste in movies. Despite his awful politics, he was a very nice man and quite good at bringing people together (as evidenced by just how dysfunctional the Republican party is these days)

Of course, that's also where I first became interested in Emma Goldman.

[sabotabby]

I can see that interpretation. The problem is, if that's the intent, it completely fails as a movie in terms of Truffaut Was Right and Do Not Do This Cool Thing. It's a thousand hours of Communism being awesome and substantially less of purges and typhus.

It's also possible that Reagan, being an actor, liked good acting and filmmaking.

I'd actually read a collection of Emma Goldman's essays before seeing the film, and was just super-squeeful about seeing her appear in the movie. I was maybe about 12 or 13 when I first watched it. I had zero interest in the love story and wanted it to be all about Goldman.

[marlowe1.livejournal.com]

It might have been the great acting and filmmaking. Although I'm not sure if it makes Communism out to be that awesome since it does not flinch away from the intergroup conflicts where people start getting hung up on the details of the meetings. And that confrontation between John Reed and Emma Goldman toward the end is from her book (although she depicts read as being much more gleeful about the purges).

I did find it odd that Henry Miller was basically just quoting his own books (that bit about "anyone who cares taht much about the troubles of the world..." was either from Sexus or Tropic of Capricorn.)

[princealberic.livejournal.com]

I want a letter!

[sabotabby]

L.

[princealberic.livejournal.com]

What is Reds about, by the way? I don't think I've heard of it.

[bcholmes.livejournal.com]

Bad poet travels to Russia to help create a cautionary tale about the dangers of scurvy. He ends up dying after an editor rewrites his copy.

[sabotabby]

Hahahahahaha.

Best summary.

[marlowe1.livejournal.com]

Meanwhile his girlfriend is having sex with Jack Nicholson.

[sabotabby]

I still don't get why she fucked Jack Nicholson when she had young Warren Beatty whenever she wanted.

[princealberic.livejournal.com]

This sounds great! I need this in my life now.

[sabotabby]

You so do.

[sabotabby]

I like bcholmes' summary better, but it's about John Reed and Louise Bryant, with bonus Emma Goldman. It's about a gazillion hours long and covers their early involvement with the Communist and labour movements in the US and their eventual involvement in the Russian Revolution until everything goes horribly wrong.

It's really quite excellent and despite some cheesiness, is guaranteed to make me weep buckets of tears.

[bcholmes.livejournal.com]

The "bonus Emma Goldman" might be one of the best parts of the movie. I think that actress won an Academy Award for the role.

[marlowe1.livejournal.com]

I rather wish that there was a sequel with Grigory Zinoviev since he seems to have had a rather turbulent relationship with the party until he was purged.

Although I wonder if Jerzy Kosinski would have played him for an entire movie. According to Beatty Kosinski hated the man and his legacy.

[sabotabby]

Wait, that was Jerzy Kosinski playing Zinoviev? As in the author?

[princealberic.livejournal.com]

Ok, yeah, I definitely need to watch this, especially since there's bonus Emma Goldman.

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

Have a grand time in Rabat, and I'd love a letter!

[sabotabby]

I'm super-excited.

F.

[sugarmommaless.livejournal.com]

I'll do it.

[sabotabby]

I.

[icedrake.livejournal.com]

Didn't want to go aaaall the way back to the last Maggie Thatcher mention, so here's a link for ya: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rNNHEVosEM

John Sergeant with a few memorable moments from his dealings with Maggie.

[sabotabby]

I'll check it out tonight!

I keep trying to be a blogger again ...

[ed-rex.livejournal.com]

... letter me, please?

[sabotabby]

U.

[gansje.livejournal.com]

Yay Rabat! And yay letters... may I please have one?

[sabotabby]

C.

[kryss-labryn.livejournal.com]

I very much enjoyed the Bruce Willis RED, which is a greatly entertaining film. I have only one problem with it, and that's *SPOILERS!* that AGAIN the black guy is the first one to die. Sure, it's Morgan Freeman, and he has a well-rounded character and the reasons for it being that character are well-thought-out and consistent with what has gone before--but it's still the black guy dying first. I have no idea if that was intentional or not. *END SPOILERS!*

My favourite bit is the bit where John Malkovich launches himself. That is awesome.

[sabotabby]

I too was irritated by that, especially since it seemed to, at first, be a deliberate subversion of that trope.