Watching Things Other than Doctor Who Pt. 3: TRASH! SMUT! BETTY WHITE!

Pink Flamingos
Say what you will about John Waters but this film has aged quite well. I wasn't sure it would. Anything about "the most shocking person alive" seems doomed on paper. A 14 year old cracked jokes about scat porn at me the other day. Last time I partied with a college kid, the "highlight" discussing the most obscure fetishes we knew of then scouring the Internet for video. Yet, Pink Flamingos presents its world well enough to still be dirty and shocking. Give it another ten years, though, and I figure people will say "Huh. She's eating dog shit! It's so weird to eat non-human feces!"

Mommie Dearest
This one is nowhere near as bad as people have assured me over the years. Yeah, there are bits that go way over the top. However, most of it is a competently made bio-pic with a couple great performances from the leads. According to the commentary track, the studio heard people were laughing at the really extreme bits and planted drag queens in the audience to scream along. Decades later, they continued trying to position the film as campy trash by having John Waters record a commentary track. It's like they really, really want something that isn't wretched to be god awful in the quest for more money. Ah well. Hollywood.

Rochard PS3
It's weird. The Dig is a notorious turd. It helped accelerate the death of point and click adventures. Yet, Rochard seems to hark to it in art style and plot. Gameplay wise, it's a different animal though. One must fight off enemies while solving puzzles using a variety of tools and skills. It's enjoyable enough right up until the crashes start. Maybe it's my copy but if I screw up and die a lot, the thing keeps hanging on a load screen. Shame, really. I was enjoying it but now seem to have forcibly quit the thing once per room.

Surrender the Pink Carrie Fisher
I liked Postcards From the Edge well enough but found myself skimming this one a bit. It felt like more of a typical romance novel for most of the book. The "twist" was that the female lead grew as a person instead of simply remarrying and lording it over her ex. Had some nice turns of phrase and Carrie Fisher-isms throughout.

Crackpot: The Obsessions of John Waters John Waters
This one feels a bit like a series of magazine articles whose only real connection is the author. Which it is. I much prefer the unity of Role Models  but this one isn't crap by any stretch.

If You Ask Me (And of Course You Won't) Betty White
Pretty much what you'd expect from a Betty White memoir: high levels of likability, no cynicism, and a nice dash of humor. Not sure I'd pay cover price for this but it's pretty enjoyable.

The Loved One Evelyn Waugh
Take the average author to Hollywood to discuss an ill-advised movie adaptation and you get a shit movie. Do it with Evelyn Waugh, however, and there's a downright hysterical mockery of American culture. I laughed. I cried (mostly because the particular copy I acquired as full of printing errors with lines getting cut off by the right margin and letters near the left being partially cropped). A delightful romp!

Doing Things Other Than Watching Doctor Who Pt. 2: Wrath of Khan

John Gardner Grendel
Years ago, I heard Neil Gaiman worked on the script for Beowulf  and immediately invested in tickets to witness this cinematic triumph in IMAX 3D. Surely, someone that imaginative must have riffed on the original story in some seriously exciting ways. While he failed me miserably, John Gardner didn't. Grendel is a triumph. Beautiful, mad, tragic, triumphant, human, monstrous, complicated, witty, and all in all a delightful read.

John Waters Role Models
Some folks write about influences and worry entirely too much about being cool. Waters, however, shares his views on pornographers, Johnny Mathis, releasing a member of the Manson family, Baltimore bars, fashion, modern art, and everything else without fear. The man comes across as intensely comfortable in his own skin and provides wit, wisdom, and humor in spades.

Carrie Fisher Postcards From the Edge
I grabbed this book as part of my "anjoyable guest on Craig Fegurson" reading series. Postcards . . . has always been on the peripheral of my pop-culture awareness but never sounded appealing. People always told me it was the story of a mother and daughter tandem in Hollywood. That may well be true of the movie but the book is more the story of a likable young woman who tries to come to terms with her life after hitting bottom before age 30. That might sound a bit shit but Carrie Fisher is as engaging an author as she is guest on a talk show. There are some great turns of phrase and an easily read pace.

Polyester
A delightfully depraved satire of suburbia chock full of fantastic lines, disgusting people, and a (sadly near-death) Scratch N Sniff card. I love John Waters. Well, his work. Don't personally know the man. Got to cuddle him a bit at a really awkward meet and greet but that doesn't count for much. Of course, I'm told that getting a re-tweet from a celeb is somehow equivalent to being buddies with a person so by that standard, maybe me and John are a couple? Shit. Now I remember why I enjoy being a crazy cat-lady/recluse so much.

Shakespeare Retold - Taming of the Shrew
Sometimes, the BBC depresses me. This adaptation is pretty great with fantastic casting. However, I just sat through another round of trailers for the epic television movie event Liz & Dick. I get that the BBC can go down to the Royal Shakespeare Company and say "sup?" far more easily but really... Lindsay Lohan as Liz Taylor vs the actress who played Moaning Myrtle as Kate in a fun take on Taming of the Shrew? Gah. Fuck it. I feel a beer review coming on. Possibly some bourbon.

Carrie Fisher Wishful Drinking
Facebook pisses me off. People feel obliged to overshare their piddling little problems. That's one thing but why can't they at least do it with the panache of Carrie Fisher? Sure, Cary Grant never called them to talk about hallucinogens but even the more mundane stuff in her life is addressed with style. Not that there's much mundane stuff in here. That's one lovably messed up lady.

Desperate Living
I came into the cult of Waters with Serial Mom then followed it up with Hairspray. So, the whole "pope of filth" thing didn't really make much sense to me. I mean both movies showed a fairly ugly world, sure, but neither was that dirty. Then there's this one. Very raw, very dirty with some memorable lines and characters.