On May 24th, “The Lazarus Effect” by director Lance Bangs and executive producer Spike Jonze premieres on HBO, YouTube, and Channel 4 (UK).  By taking the ARV medicine – 2 life-saving pills that cost around 40 cents a day – in as few as 40 days, the medicine can help bring people back to life.  Aids has killed more than 20 million people in Africa. In 2002 only 50,000 people had access to the medication due to its high cost.  Today, thanks to reduced costs and increased access, more than 3 million people in Africa are now receiving treatment. Still, 3,800 people die every day in sub-Saharan Africa from AIDS. “The Lazarus Effect” film shows that this needn’t be the case.  Source: http://www.joinred.com/

As the title of this post points out, Christina and I watched Twighlight last night.  For the past few years I’ve heard all the craze about the movie and now I can finally talk somewhat intelligently about it.  I really hate to say this but I actually liked it and so much so Tyler and I will probably go out and find New Moon somewhere later today so we can get completely caught up.  I liked they didn’t go overboard with the werewolf and vampire aspects and you could tell the movie’s target demographic wasn’t a 32 year old, but it kept my attention which is saying something.  The guy on the far right cracked me up every time I saw him after he was described as always looking like he is in pain (also looks like Edward Scissorhands).  The movie is fairly original, it has a Romeo and Juliette undertone to it but it wasn’t overly annoying.  I liked when Edward’s family teamed up to fight James the tracking vampire, maybe it is the X-Men fan in me.  If you’ve seen it, what did you think of it and without giving anything away to others, was New Moon any better than Twighlight?

If you are ever visiting Portland, OR there is a nice log cabin restaurant called Stone Cliff Inn (movie related link and their website link here) on the top of a hill overseeing the Clackamas River.  I love when restaurants and companies put lots of time and money behind advertising but their website is terrible (sorry but it is).  Behind the restaurant is a very large wooded mountain where part of the film was shot.  You can take a quick walk back in the woods where they have pictures showing scenes of where the movie was shot.  That restaurant is only 5 minutes from where I used to live prior to moving to California.  Twighlight had lots of Washington and Oregon scenes in it that I recognized which also made the movie fun.

Late-night television comedian Conan O’Brien appears in his first interview since having to give back his spot on the “Tonight Show” to Jay Leno.  Steve Kroft reports.

I love documentaries and independent films.  This particular documentary looks very interesting so I’m putting it on my Amazon wish list.

“King Corn tells the story of two friends, one acre of corn, and the subsidized crop that drives our fast-food nation. As the film unfolds, IanCheney and Curt Ellis, best friends from college on the east coast, moveto the heartland to learn where their food comes from. With the help offriendly neighbors, genetically modified seeds, and powerful herbicides, they plant and grow a bumper crop of America’s most-productive, most-ubiquitous grain on one acre of Iowa soil. But when they try to followtheir pile of corn into the food system, what they questions about how we eat—and how we farm.”

Objectified is a design documentary by Gary Hustwit which looks fantastic.  You can purchase it here for $20.