So I want to understand the cultural context in which Being John Malkovich happened, like what was Malkovich’s specific deal at that time that they could meta-title a movie about him like that. If they made Being John Malkovich today, who would it be instead of John Malkovich

— Casey Johnston (@caseyjohnston) August 12, 2022

The broadest possible answer is that 1999 was arguably the peak of US creativity in many areas, or right behind the peak. I’m not just saying this because I was fairly young then, but because the enormous wave of studio consolidation had not yet occurred (concentrating on just cinema here), the film world was not yet dominated by sequels, and there was just tons of money sloshing around to fund creative shit as the economy was booming. That said, specifically, the movie was about Malkovich because he was appealingly weird, most people knew him from Con Air two years prior, and he agreed to take the part.

Not only were strange films like Being John Malkovich released that year, 1999 also saw mainstream-but-still-oddball films such as The Matrix and Fight Club hit theaters and become major box office winners. That in itself would be unusual (read: impossible) now for non-sequels. In addition, there was a whole slate of offbeat movies out that year, now long-forgotten, that are worth a revisit. Some of those are Hideous Kinky, The Thirteenth Floor, Pushing Tin, Jawbreaker, 8mm, Go, and Ravenous — among many, many others.

Unless we nuke monopolies and prevent industry consolidation, there will probably never be another year in film quite like 1999. That’s the cultural milieu in which Being John Malkovich made sense and was a moderately successful film.

(The modern Malkovich would be Kate McKinnon.)

Directors’ Least Favorite Movies They Made.

I liked Death Proof. Sure, it was a bit overwrought but Zoë Bell is such a charmer in it (or anywhere) that it does hold up. It doesn’t feel like a Tarantino movie, though (and I like Tarantino). It feels early Spielbergian, with a crueler edge, like if he’d made Duel while on some tainted meth or something.

“Why isn’t your tweet accompanied by a peer-critiqued dissertation on the subject?” is my favorite brand of Twitter troll.

— Milena Rodban (@MilenaRodban) August 10, 2022

This has been occurring since the days of BBSes, newsgroups, and then blogs. Twitter has certainly made it worse, but why people seem to think you are obligated to do their fucking research for them has always mystified me and always will.

Oppression in other places: Jailed and tortured for years, family perhaps murdered, forced relocations, people disappeared never to be seen again.

Fat Acceptance idea of oppression: Someone said it’s probably not good for me to eat two Whoppers, two orders of fries, and two milkshakes for lunch and then double up on that for dinner.

Big Tech CEOs whose stock is down 86% this year, prepping to go into the Friday All Hands meeting to answer 26 questions from angry engineers making $650K total comp about why the company is only getting 3 days instead of the usual 4 off for Labor Day this year. pic.twitter.com/eJm1CMthP8

— Chris Bakke (@ChrisJBakke) August 12, 2022

If they are supposed to be making $650K total comp, a lot of that is gonna be stock and if the stock is down 86%, nobody is making $650K — trust me.

I get the point, but it’s misleading. That’s not how it works.

Elevate your retail experience with Just Walk Out technology.

I used to elevate my retail experience all the time with Just Walking Out, but it didn’t take no kind of technology to do that. Heh.

The bleak sterility and lack of sensuality of PMC New Puritan liberalism is so very off-putting, more than any other part of it. They will be the first to volunteer to have their minds uploaded to the Cloud.

Maybe we should let them, as long as they stop bothering the rest of us? And then launch them into space.

It turns out I’m not lust-proof.

I’ve been where this guy was, assuming I was innately unlovable and undesirable. These days, lots of women flirt with me because I’m pretty damn hot. It used to be very, very different, though. I’ve sometimes not realized a woman was flirting with me until years after it happened. Being bullied and treated like trash growing up will do that to you. You just learn to assume anyone being obviously nice to you or flirting with you is trying to trick you, to hurt you, to bait you into doing something that shows vulnerability. Most of the time, you just don’t notice at all.

Yeah, been there. Good for both of them.

Rivian losses surge to $1.7 billion as production ramps up.

Tell me you don’t understand how a capital-intensive business works without telling me you don’t understand how a capital-intensive business works.