No pain, no gain
Until last week I was a Jackass virgin, living in blissful oblivion of the TV show and its warped universe of vomit and self-mutilation. This rotten old world always catches up with us in the end, though, so I was swamped by a sudden Jackass maelstrom last week with the screening and press conference for the new movie. I'd been warned what to expect by my friends who are fans of the TV series - interestingly, all males in their mid-twenties - and having heard gruesome descriptions of the 'Vomit Omelette' and Steve-O's infamous 'butterfly' stunt where he staples his scrotum to his thighs, I braced myself, torn between fascination and disgust. And indeed, the movie is really disgusting, though any initial morbid fascination fizzles out pretty fast. After an hour and half of watching a bunch of young fools drink their own pee, jump off of a tree with bungee cords attached to their underwear, snort wasabi mustard and stick toy cars up their ass, you walk out feeling pretty nauseated. ...
Features: Film Cuppers
Eleanor Agius's animation, 'Living in a box', is ingenious but overly cute. Samuel Leifer's 'Book cover', an exuberantly Pythonesque burst of song and dance, isn't so much a film as a funny music video. And 'The Scarecrow' by the Talbot Brothers, though it is tense, assured and beautifully shot, is a bit grandiose. My favourite is 'Me and Mao', J Van Tulleken's travel-video/mockumentary on China, with its magnificent shots of green mountains towering in the mist set off by a cool sarcastic voice-over. Though a little incomplete, it's the most original and visually stunning film....
Features: Banned in Seven States
I am currently acting in a provocative satire on Catholicism, by Christopher Durang, and am aware of a possible negative backlash against our production. The play shows us the eponymous Sister Mary, a Catholic nun, espousing vehemently homophobic, pro-life, bigoted opinions, all in the name of salvation. Responses from my Catholic friends have been mixed. I decided to find out what a man who has devoted his life to his faith would think of it all, by speaking to Brother Paul.
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Features: The Bold and the Beautiful
Unfortunately I managed to spend the whole of last week ill, feeling very sorry for myself: there is nothing worse than seeing others go out partying while you are curled up and waiting for death. I had also managed to give the flu to Mr Fitty, and although it was for completely the wrong reasons, I did feel some pride at having kept a guy bed-bound for three days. In fact the whole Mr Fitty scenario was very frightening. We had met on three occasions over the week, and for the first time in a long time, I wanted to see the guy again. He was actually interesting and our conversations were very deep - he admitted to finding Ariel from the Little Mermaid pretty and after I had confessed to finding Prince Eric fit, I realised that this wasn't just a remarkable coincidence, but that the Disney love test had proved our compatibility. Anxiety even set in when I didn't receive any text message for two days, despite constant reassurance from my friends that this was normal....
