Wednesday, May 22, 2013
Free Writing - Take 24
I must try and get some sleep, so this will be a short one. The air conditioner is humming, hopefully it will drown out my annoying neighbors and their yells and screams. Their dog with his or her incessant barking. Dexter Season 7 with one episode to go. I feel so completely childish, but I'm enamored, almost smitten by the lovely Yvonne Strahovski. Completely not my "type" as if there is one. There is something just enchanting about her. Is it her looks or the fact she's a killer? I'll never know. Today I felt fear for the first time. Not true fear, like a life or death feeling, but more a feeling of helplessness. My overactive brain was working and I thought I had walked in to a ruse to start a fight. Oddly enough the one time I go for a walk and bring my wallet and I feel like some kids might have been arguing to instigate a reaction. I ignored them and they walked by. Years ago, I would have told them to keep it down. Maturity or fear? Chinese tonight for the first time in a while. Laziness overcame necessity and dinner cost me $30. Not the habit I need to incur at this moment in time. The gentle hum, the scattered sheets are calling me. Laundry needs to be done tomorrow. Heat suppressing my desire to do anything, but sit inside and and enjoy the chill down my spine from leaving the shower and entering the cool room. Sleep calls.
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
How The Wire Ruined TV For Me.
Last year while I was enduring, with great joy I might add, all five seasons of The Wire within about an eight week period, it dawned on me that there would be repercussions. Many cable and basic have had shows that have been good, but they all, almost without fail, lose their way. Even shows like the Sopranos, which started off so well, fizzled out into something that became unwatchable.
Last year, a friend mentioned I should watch Dexter and I have to say, it's brilliant, but you can see them stretching the same old cliches and trying desperately to come up with new ideas. The show, peaked in it's fourth season, thanks in large part to the brilliance of John Lithgow. Then a strange thing happened, it stayed really good. Season six, imported another nice villain in the form of Edward James Olmos, who had a side-kick, sort of, played by Colin Hanks. At the end of the last season, we had the biggest cliffhanger and the initial three episodes became tedious. Enter one beautiful blond woman with a dark secret of her own and a plot twist I never saw coming and there you have it. The show has gone back to basics with multiple baddies and the ongoing search to catch him.
So what does this have to do with The Wire? The Wire, despite having it's better season, never had the fall off, episode to episode. The Wire threw everything we knew about a series out the window, because each season was unique, despite using the same basic characters. Since watching The Wire, I have tried to get into three very popular shows and I've given up on all of them. It's as simple as a bad storyline for a season (Prime Suspect) or sometimes just really shitty acting (The Walking Dead) and sometimes it's just not worth the effort, even if it is a guilty pleasure (Grimm, Elementary & Person of Interest).
I'll finish Dexter out, because it is a great show, but even it, now pales in comparison to the like of The Wire. This gives me great pause to get into thinks I've heard boasted about like Weeds, Downton Abbey, Justified and Boardwalk Empire. I just don't want to commit to something that fizzles, when I'm still waiting to lose myself in more Bergman, Truffaut, and Kurosawa.
Last year, a friend mentioned I should watch Dexter and I have to say, it's brilliant, but you can see them stretching the same old cliches and trying desperately to come up with new ideas. The show, peaked in it's fourth season, thanks in large part to the brilliance of John Lithgow. Then a strange thing happened, it stayed really good. Season six, imported another nice villain in the form of Edward James Olmos, who had a side-kick, sort of, played by Colin Hanks. At the end of the last season, we had the biggest cliffhanger and the initial three episodes became tedious. Enter one beautiful blond woman with a dark secret of her own and a plot twist I never saw coming and there you have it. The show has gone back to basics with multiple baddies and the ongoing search to catch him.
So what does this have to do with The Wire? The Wire, despite having it's better season, never had the fall off, episode to episode. The Wire threw everything we knew about a series out the window, because each season was unique, despite using the same basic characters. Since watching The Wire, I have tried to get into three very popular shows and I've given up on all of them. It's as simple as a bad storyline for a season (Prime Suspect) or sometimes just really shitty acting (The Walking Dead) and sometimes it's just not worth the effort, even if it is a guilty pleasure (Grimm, Elementary & Person of Interest).
I'll finish Dexter out, because it is a great show, but even it, now pales in comparison to the like of The Wire. This gives me great pause to get into thinks I've heard boasted about like Weeds, Downton Abbey, Justified and Boardwalk Empire. I just don't want to commit to something that fizzles, when I'm still waiting to lose myself in more Bergman, Truffaut, and Kurosawa.
Thursday, May 16, 2013
My Shortest Movie Review Ever - Life of Pi
Possibly the most shocking reaction I've ever had when expecting a movie to be great. The world has gone to hell in a hand basket when this CGI generated concoction is getting nominated. Quite possibly the most pretentious movie I've ever seen, with symbolism that makes Chronicles of Narnia seem subtle (BTW, I liked Narnia). It's as if Ang Lee thinks we're mentally incapable of understanding anything about religion, faith and myth without it being spelled out for us. I can't remember being this disappointed by a film that does nothing but insult the intelligence of anyone with half a brain.
The Biggest News Stories Nobody Is Talking About
The rise in suicide rates among active military members. This is related to the ridiculous number of soldiers returning home with post traumatic stress disorder and not receiving the medical and mental health care they need and deserve. We're so worried about mental health as an excuse for gun deaths, but we don't care about it for the men and women who have seen more killing and done more than anyone in our country.
After the Boston bombing, I started reading a ton of "terrorist plot foiled" articles and found something deeply concerning. Most of these plots, weren't terrorists at all, but the FBI fabricating evidence or stories to make regular cases seem uber-important. Shouldn't this concern us greatly and be reported?
Probably one of the biggest science stories a few years back was the connection of Autism to vaccinations. The story took hold when John McCain, Jenny McCarthy and Jim Carrey started doing a tour stating this as fact. Somehow this odd trio started this facade, with no empirical data and it stuck. Today, people still believe this, although most researchers have shown no link. So why the media outcry when celebrities said it, but not media outcry when it's debunked? We might also want to look into the 17-year-old who may have found a cure for cancer.
The most noted scientist in the country who debunked climate change was given millions of dollars by the Koch brothers to research the theory and come to a conclusion that it was a hoax and basically throw out every shred of evidence found by Al Gore's team. Only one problem, he came to the conclusion that it was not a hoax and was very real and much worse than originally believed. This report and change of belief got absolutely no airplay. Not only that, but the Koch brothers joined with Exxon Mobil to run numerous ads continuing their belief, even after their initial belief that Dr. Mullins was "the authority" on climate change.
And finally, maybe this isn't a huge story, because it's just more of the same, but over 4400 people have been killed by gunshot in this country since Newtown. This puts us on pace for another year of 10,000 or more people dying from gunshots. The real story isn't the guns anymore, it's the reality that this awful massacre and all the other mass shootings that have followed haven't made us recognize anything. Absolutely nothing has changed and we're no safer than we were. We are the only country in the world who doesn't seem to learn from our mistakes and tragedies and maybe that is the real story.
After the Boston bombing, I started reading a ton of "terrorist plot foiled" articles and found something deeply concerning. Most of these plots, weren't terrorists at all, but the FBI fabricating evidence or stories to make regular cases seem uber-important. Shouldn't this concern us greatly and be reported?
Probably one of the biggest science stories a few years back was the connection of Autism to vaccinations. The story took hold when John McCain, Jenny McCarthy and Jim Carrey started doing a tour stating this as fact. Somehow this odd trio started this facade, with no empirical data and it stuck. Today, people still believe this, although most researchers have shown no link. So why the media outcry when celebrities said it, but not media outcry when it's debunked? We might also want to look into the 17-year-old who may have found a cure for cancer.
The most noted scientist in the country who debunked climate change was given millions of dollars by the Koch brothers to research the theory and come to a conclusion that it was a hoax and basically throw out every shred of evidence found by Al Gore's team. Only one problem, he came to the conclusion that it was not a hoax and was very real and much worse than originally believed. This report and change of belief got absolutely no airplay. Not only that, but the Koch brothers joined with Exxon Mobil to run numerous ads continuing their belief, even after their initial belief that Dr. Mullins was "the authority" on climate change.
And finally, maybe this isn't a huge story, because it's just more of the same, but over 4400 people have been killed by gunshot in this country since Newtown. This puts us on pace for another year of 10,000 or more people dying from gunshots. The real story isn't the guns anymore, it's the reality that this awful massacre and all the other mass shootings that have followed haven't made us recognize anything. Absolutely nothing has changed and we're no safer than we were. We are the only country in the world who doesn't seem to learn from our mistakes and tragedies and maybe that is the real story.
Quickie Review - A Snake of June
Let's get the basics out of the way first. The movie is only 77 minutes long, features some of the most beautifully shot and erotic scenes ever, it rains during the entire film and the entire film is about sexual awakening. P.S. There is a shitload of symbolism in this film, so if actually digesting a film isn't your cup of tea, skip it.
Shinya Tsukamoto, who is a huge name in Japan, directs and co-stars in this film about a sexually repressed, successful mental health counselor named Rinko, played by the mesmerizing Asuko Kurosawa. Her husband, played by Yuji Kotari is a OCD obsessed man who ignores her completely. The film begins with Rinko helping a caller who wants to die. We soon find out the caller is a stalker and has taken revealing photographs of Rinko masturbating. What happens over the next hour starts off as feeling torturous, but ends up being a sexual awakening unlike any other you've seen on film. The movie is in no way pornographic and in my opinion is beautiful in how the character changes.
The film is littered with symbolism of life, growth, nature and physical and emotional change and adaptation, but it is also filled with some strange symbolism which is much harder to understand. There are three scenes that truly come out of left field, but I feel they were all metaphors for how the characters are feeling. The film also deals with death and dying and how it is tied into our feelings about ourselves and it makes the movie even stronger.
If you are in to art house movies, you will love the art direction and cinematography. So much of this movie is perfect and so much of it is flawed, by a desire to truly grasp the human condition. It's ugly and beautiful at the same time and it's what makes it work.
Shinya Tsukamoto, who is a huge name in Japan, directs and co-stars in this film about a sexually repressed, successful mental health counselor named Rinko, played by the mesmerizing Asuko Kurosawa. Her husband, played by Yuji Kotari is a OCD obsessed man who ignores her completely. The film begins with Rinko helping a caller who wants to die. We soon find out the caller is a stalker and has taken revealing photographs of Rinko masturbating. What happens over the next hour starts off as feeling torturous, but ends up being a sexual awakening unlike any other you've seen on film. The movie is in no way pornographic and in my opinion is beautiful in how the character changes.
The film is littered with symbolism of life, growth, nature and physical and emotional change and adaptation, but it is also filled with some strange symbolism which is much harder to understand. There are three scenes that truly come out of left field, but I feel they were all metaphors for how the characters are feeling. The film also deals with death and dying and how it is tied into our feelings about ourselves and it makes the movie even stronger.
If you are in to art house movies, you will love the art direction and cinematography. So much of this movie is perfect and so much of it is flawed, by a desire to truly grasp the human condition. It's ugly and beautiful at the same time and it's what makes it work.
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
I Might Be Losing My Mind
I know what you're all thinking...what do you mean might? I've realized I have some really odd habits that are growing out of some of my not so odd habits. The other night I was on the Internet looking for something to do with food and the next thing I know I'd written out a seven course dinner menu that I would serve if I had a restaurant (or a really nice kitchen). I had to stop myself when I actually spent more than five minutes wrestling over the inclusion of a cheese and charcuterie plate and worried that it would be superfluous because of my beef carpaccio with shaved parmesan course.
A few months back, while looking up sabermetric baseball stats, I invented a new stat. If you don't know what sabermetrics is, be thankful and don't invest any time into it. It's like taking all the awful things most people hate about math and combining them with baseball statistics. It's confusing as hell and I absolutely love it.
I saw a movie that disturbed me (ironically just today, a friend just wrote and entire blog on this movie and how much it upset her) so much I spent nearly five hours researching the actual case. What I found was that where the movie seemed to cross every boundary imaginable, it paled in comparison to the actual true events. The recent Cleveland, Ohio kidnapping case has brought these mental images back into my brain and they are definitely something I'd like to forget.
While walking the other night, I checked my phone and realized it took me 41 minutes to walk 2.1 miles. I immediately started thinking about how this related to other sports. At this pace it would take me 1 minute exactly to walk from home plate to third base. It would take me about 66 seconds to walk across a football field. If I could keep up the pace, it would take me eight in a half hour to walk a marathon. Sadly I figured all this out in my head while I was walking and confirmed it when I got home.
I wrote out a diet, that if I started it on the day I wrote it out, would see me lose about 30 lbs by October 1st of this year. The diet ranged between 1200-1500 calories a day and consisted of three meals and two snacks. The only thing I would drink is water on this diet, so there were no hidden drink calories. The breakdown was roughly 35% carbs, 30% proteins and 35% coming from fat. Now while some might not like the higher protein and fat content, I find that I lose faster with low carb meals. I also planned on getting most of my fat from items like eggs and avocado. The best part of my diet was that it would probably end up costing me less than $30 a week on food. We'll see if this ever comes to fruition.
There are other things, but some are embarrassing and some are just plain bizarre, so I'll keep them to myself and just leave this brief record of my impending insanity.
A few months back, while looking up sabermetric baseball stats, I invented a new stat. If you don't know what sabermetrics is, be thankful and don't invest any time into it. It's like taking all the awful things most people hate about math and combining them with baseball statistics. It's confusing as hell and I absolutely love it.
I saw a movie that disturbed me (ironically just today, a friend just wrote and entire blog on this movie and how much it upset her) so much I spent nearly five hours researching the actual case. What I found was that where the movie seemed to cross every boundary imaginable, it paled in comparison to the actual true events. The recent Cleveland, Ohio kidnapping case has brought these mental images back into my brain and they are definitely something I'd like to forget.
While walking the other night, I checked my phone and realized it took me 41 minutes to walk 2.1 miles. I immediately started thinking about how this related to other sports. At this pace it would take me 1 minute exactly to walk from home plate to third base. It would take me about 66 seconds to walk across a football field. If I could keep up the pace, it would take me eight in a half hour to walk a marathon. Sadly I figured all this out in my head while I was walking and confirmed it when I got home.
I wrote out a diet, that if I started it on the day I wrote it out, would see me lose about 30 lbs by October 1st of this year. The diet ranged between 1200-1500 calories a day and consisted of three meals and two snacks. The only thing I would drink is water on this diet, so there were no hidden drink calories. The breakdown was roughly 35% carbs, 30% proteins and 35% coming from fat. Now while some might not like the higher protein and fat content, I find that I lose faster with low carb meals. I also planned on getting most of my fat from items like eggs and avocado. The best part of my diet was that it would probably end up costing me less than $30 a week on food. We'll see if this ever comes to fruition.
There are other things, but some are embarrassing and some are just plain bizarre, so I'll keep them to myself and just leave this brief record of my impending insanity.
Quickie Review - The Master
Paul Thomas Anderson is a filmmaking genius. I consider Hard Eight and Magnolia to be two of the finest movies ever made (they are in my top 20). I also consider There Will Be Blood, Boogie Nights and Punch Drunk Love to be amazing, with incredible performances. So going into this viewing, my hopes were incredibly high. His magic, with a cast of Philip Seymour Hoffman, Joaquin Phoenix and Amy Adams had me very excited. So I was horribly disappointed at the well over two hours of convoluted mess that I just witnessed.
I think Anderson truly tried too hard to give us another epic to rival There Will Be Blood and somewhere along the way forgot to edit the movie. It never feels like there is any continuity and there is an awful lack of screen chemistry, which is shocking with this cast. The one bright spot is Amy Adams as the master's wife. She is shockingly awful, but I mean awful in her persona, not her acting. There are only three or four scenes in which she has much of a part, but they are powerful, especially towards the end. I just feel that this movie could have easily been 30-40 minutes shorter, with some obvious scenes lessened and packed a great punch. I definitely won't be giving up on Anderson, but he's proven, as have Phoenix and Hoffman, that they are human.
I think Anderson truly tried too hard to give us another epic to rival There Will Be Blood and somewhere along the way forgot to edit the movie. It never feels like there is any continuity and there is an awful lack of screen chemistry, which is shocking with this cast. The one bright spot is Amy Adams as the master's wife. She is shockingly awful, but I mean awful in her persona, not her acting. There are only three or four scenes in which she has much of a part, but they are powerful, especially towards the end. I just feel that this movie could have easily been 30-40 minutes shorter, with some obvious scenes lessened and packed a great punch. I definitely won't be giving up on Anderson, but he's proven, as have Phoenix and Hoffman, that they are human.
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