rmd: (boozehound)
rmd ([personal profile] rmd) wrote2011-02-27 07:46 pm
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rerun season again?

1. Reminiscent of this post about an awesome Tony Jaa single-take, I present the opening of JCVD, the Jean Claude Van Damme movie. (Seriously, it was on the IFC list of best movie openings ever.)

2. I'm not boozing while cruising the internet for pics of wiring closets, but I am drinking booze and reading about information theory. IT'S BY FREEMAN DYSON! THAT TOTALLY MAKES IT LEGIT.
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That was dreadful

[identity profile] sweetmmeblue.livejournal.com 2011-02-28 12:59 am (UTC)(link)
Really dreadful. Did they mean worst opening, like so bad they are good?

Re: That was dreadful

[identity profile] rmd.livejournal.com 2011-02-28 01:43 am (UTC)(link)
Nope.
it was #11 (http://www.ifc.com/news/2011/02/the-50-greatest-opening-title.php?page=8):
By the time he made 2008's "JCVD" Jean-Claude Van Damme was a joke. Relegated to the straight-to-video ghetto, he was cranking out one forgettable programmer after another with titles that seemed to poke cruel fun at the moribund state of his career ("Derailed," "Until Death," et. al.). Before he could even attempt to convince audiences to take him seriously as an actor he had to first reassure them they should still take him seriously as an action star, hence the thrilling three-and-a-half minute action-packed sequence which kicks off "JCVD," wherein our titular hero kicks, spins, stabs, shoots, tosses grenades, and evades explosions, all in a single, incredible take. The whole thing culminates with a great joke, as Van Damme survives this insane gauntlet of choreography and stunts, only to see the shot ruined by a clumsy extra. That means the star has to go begging his director -- a young kid throws darts at a picture of the Hollywood sign -- to ease up on him. He's 47-years-old, he reminds him, and this stuff isn't as easy for him anymore. Which makes what he does in "JCVD" that much more impressive.


I'm just impressed because that is a fuckload of action in a single take. Dude.

[identity profile] frotz.livejournal.com 2011-02-28 01:28 am (UTC)(link)
How about some booze-appropriate complexity theory?

http://www.qwantz.com/index.php?comic=1907

[identity profile] rmd.livejournal.com 2011-02-28 01:44 am (UTC)(link)
yay dinosaur comics

[identity profile] pale-chartreuse.livejournal.com 2011-02-28 01:32 am (UTC)(link)
The James Gleick book is now in the Amazon basket. Thank you. Finding presents for L. can be a challenge sometimes.
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