Sick again. I went and saw the health clinic on campus yesterday, turns out I've got the flu. Whoopee! So they gave me some double strength Aleve or something and I've been taking that. Shivering and waking up with everything all damp from sweat and everything.
Otherwise, things have been going pretty well, I'd say. Went home last weekend, staying here this weekend, obviously.
Classes have continued to be interesting. I'm working on an essay comparing Christ and Krishna in their respective religions and hows Hindus and Christians view incarnation and the avatar (not the little picture on forums, silly). Should be fun, though I should probably start reading up on Krishna soon since the prospectus is due the thursday before spring break.
Anywho, I'm gonna crawl back into bed and sleep the day away, hoping to feel better.
Friday, February 29, 2008
Monday, February 25, 2008
Filipino Box Spring Hog
It's baseball season and, as with my previous hobby (roller coasters), I've started a sort of website in tandem with this one. Except it's just a blog. I don't want to deal with design and all that crap. It's here. Insofar, I don't have much to say, but once the season starts, it should get more interesting as I'll try and comment on every game.
Anywho, let's talk Oscars. On the bus ride home, Kelley was sending me results since I couldn't view the actual program. I'm glad that the Coen brothers finally won Best Director(s). It's an award they've deserved for almost every movie they've done (except the Ladykillers. What was that shit?!)
In the Best Supporting Actor category, I thought Paul Dano was nominated for his role as Eli Sunday in There Will be Blood. But he wasn't. And that was probably a good thing because it was already a hard enough category between Casey Affleck (one of my new favorite actors after Gone Baby Gone and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford) and Javier Bardem. Both did a great job--I was rooting for Affleck more so than Bardem simply because of the last 45 minutes of TAOJJBTCRF truly break your heart. Affleck thought he'd be received as a celebrity. But instead it's the opposite. He's treated like scum because he killed a national star.
In Supporting Actress, I'm sad that Blanchett lost. She was an awesome Bob Dylan. And I love me some Bob Dylan (well, before his 80's phase. Reaganomics even turned the music into shit!).
The Best Score award was skewed because of Greenwood using, say, thirty seconds from his previous composition (Popcorn Superhet Receiver. It's actually pretty cool) in his score for There Will Be Blood. And that definitely was one of the best musical compositions for film I've heard in awhile.
But, as in previous years, at least one of my favorite films had to be completely ignored. Last year, it was The Fountain and Inland Empire. This year, it was the Darjeeling Limited.
And that's okay because the Academy doesn't make your opinions. You do.
Anywho, let's talk Oscars. On the bus ride home, Kelley was sending me results since I couldn't view the actual program. I'm glad that the Coen brothers finally won Best Director(s). It's an award they've deserved for almost every movie they've done (except the Ladykillers. What was that shit?!)
In the Best Supporting Actor category, I thought Paul Dano was nominated for his role as Eli Sunday in There Will be Blood. But he wasn't. And that was probably a good thing because it was already a hard enough category between Casey Affleck (one of my new favorite actors after Gone Baby Gone and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford) and Javier Bardem. Both did a great job--I was rooting for Affleck more so than Bardem simply because of the last 45 minutes of TAOJJBTCRF truly break your heart. Affleck thought he'd be received as a celebrity. But instead it's the opposite. He's treated like scum because he killed a national star.
In Supporting Actress, I'm sad that Blanchett lost. She was an awesome Bob Dylan. And I love me some Bob Dylan (well, before his 80's phase. Reaganomics even turned the music into shit!).
The Best Score award was skewed because of Greenwood using, say, thirty seconds from his previous composition (Popcorn Superhet Receiver. It's actually pretty cool) in his score for There Will Be Blood. And that definitely was one of the best musical compositions for film I've heard in awhile.
But, as in previous years, at least one of my favorite films had to be completely ignored. Last year, it was The Fountain and Inland Empire. This year, it was the Darjeeling Limited.
And that's okay because the Academy doesn't make your opinions. You do.
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Let's be reasonable.
I've been sick with some kind of sniffle or cough or chill since the week after I got up to HSU.
And also homesickness. It comes and goes, I try to forget about it--but that's what happens when you have great parents, I suppose. You miss them. It's sensible.
And you miss your dogs and your lawn and your privacy.
But it should pass as long as I bury myself in my studies. I have trouble meeting people, that goes without saying. So it'll come. Come to pass. Boredom will happen always. But whatever. I'm okay, I guess. I just miss everything. And I can't go to any other school because the RS program here is top notch.
Anyway, Spring Training has started, that's obvious by the last post, so there's something to take my mind off of everything else going on or not going on.
I've been sick with some kind of sniffle or cough or chill since the week after I got up to HSU.
And also homesickness. It comes and goes, I try to forget about it--but that's what happens when you have great parents, I suppose. You miss them. It's sensible.
And you miss your dogs and your lawn and your privacy.
But it should pass as long as I bury myself in my studies. I have trouble meeting people, that goes without saying. So it'll come. Come to pass. Boredom will happen always. But whatever. I'm okay, I guess. I just miss everything. And I can't go to any other school because the RS program here is top notch.
Anyway, Spring Training has started, that's obvious by the last post, so there's something to take my mind off of everything else going on or not going on.
Monday, February 18, 2008
Casimir Pulaski Day Already?
It's been ten days. You deserve something new.
This past weekend, I got the chance to experience Universal Sufism--one of the reasons I actually came to this school. Part of their Religious Studies program revolves around experiencing religions instead of learning about them.
And I can understand why there's an experiential weekend on Sufism, but not a standard class. A lot of what the Universal Sufists believe cannot be learned from a book but instead experienced. And their pretty light or easy on theological discussions. They believe that all religions are facets of the One Divine being. Their founder, Hazrat Inayat Khan, brought this to the States around the 20th century and proceeded to spread it with the help of Samuel Lewis.
As the weekend went on, I realized that this is the exact thing that I had purported at one time--that God reveals himself in various ways to different people. However, when it became actualized, I realized how it feels like a cult. They say that they don't have a Christ or a Muhammad figure in their religion, but it seems like, in time, Inayat Khan will fill that role. He came up with the Ten Sufi Thoughts and he is the one whose teachings they look to the most.
History has an odd way of morphing things, as does time. And those two things seem to be ready to morph this into an all-encompassing theological clusterfuck like most other religions are today.
And the other odd thing of the weekend was that it solidified my belief in Christ without solidifying my belief in the Christian church. I knew that, deep down, Christ was my savior. And I also realized, during an invocation for the Spirit of Guidance, that I still want to be a Youth Pastor, come doubt or high water.
Overall, it was interesting, but it was definitely something I could never truly get into. Next Semester, I plan on doing the Buddhist experiential weekend. Exciting? Oui.
--
Spring Training for the Los Angeles Dodgers of Los Angeles (Fuck you, Anaheim) has officially gotten under way. Most of the team has reported even though the report date for position players isn't until later this week.
Juan Pierre is there and, no matter how much I love watching the guy get extra bases run on him, I hope he gets traded. Andre Ethier and his talent are just begging for a full-time slot. It wouldn't seem to be wise having him platoon with Matt Kemp since both can hit Left and Right Handed pitching. However, it'd be even more unwise and strange to have him platoon with Pierre since both are left handed batters with completely different games. Pierre gets 200 hits, sure, but he also has 668 plate appearances. As a result, his OBP was a meager .331 while his AVG was a decent .293. Maybe it would do him some good to sit down if he can rake in 200 hits again while minimizing plate appearances. And maybe draw a walk once in awhile.
Look, Juan, you aren't a good leadoff guy if you can't hold your bat back. I understand that your arms are as weak as they look, but, please, hold up your bat. Have some sense. Lean into some pitches for Christ's sake. That won us a game once last year. Lean in and steal. Try that strategy. You won't have to tire your arms with the bat anymore.
If you're gonna play every day, Juan, draw some walks so that we don't have to bitch about your OBP. If you aren't going to play everyday, still hit as much as you would. That'd make you hot shit in most books. Get an injury to pad your numbers against mass. That type of thing. I know you've got that streak going, but you also said in an interview that you don't mind if it ends. So let it end.
Or, hell, maybe lift some weights. And don't be a dick in Ethier takes your job. Because he's better. And you probably know that.
In other news around camp, Sandy Koufax showed up to do some shadow coaching. He lives in Vero Beach, so I can guarantee you that this hermit will probably not be flying to the new facility in Arizona any time soon. As a result, it kind of sucks that top prospect Clayton Kershaw wasn't invited to the Major League camp this year. He's a lefty could probably have learned one or two things from him about the pressures of being a hot-to-trot prospect. And also that he doesn't need any time in the minor leagues. Koufax didn't play a single game in the minors, and, as a result, was once voted as the most over rated left-handed pitcher of all time. He spent 11 years in the majors, and the first six were plagued with rookie mistakes. But there was a dumb rule that if you sign for x-amount of dollars, then you have to start on the major league team.
Either way, the type of talk that surrounds Kershaw makes it sound like he and Billingsley will be the new Koufax-Drysdale. Except Billingsley isn't the second most intimidating pitcher of all time--he just has large thighs. And I guess they can be scary, but not as much as a little bit of chin music. That's alright, though, because that's not how the game is played any more even though fans love a fight. That's the funny thing about the strict rules concerning ejections and fighting and so forth. When the dugouts clear, the crowd gets excited and your team gets press on ESPN. It may even help if we had another Ryan v. Ventura fight (great shit, by the way) every week.
Think about it: fans watch NASCAR to see crashes (and drink), people watch the NHL for blood on the ice, people watch football for the contact. Baseball has zero contact and no one likes watching the World Series. Maybe they would if it were prefaced by a title fight? Or if they knew that the teams actually hated each other.
Okay, so this post has become super tangential and it only gets worse because we are now going to talk about free agency. Free Agency has ruined rivalries because it allows for players to go to where the money is, whether or not they first played for Boston and the money's in New York. You would never experience a person retiring because they were traded to the Giants like Jackie Robinson did because they'd probably give him a contract extension would 55 million dollars. You'd never see another Marichal v. Roseboro fight because the teams don't hate each other anymore. Only the fans do. Hell, Jeff Kent signed with the Dodgers. Mark Sweeney was traded to us from the Giants. Jason Schmidt, the Dodger Killer. The list goes on. They go where there's money and necessity. Not where their heart tells them too.
Free Agency turned a game into a sport into pure entertainment. Which is fine by me, I guess.
That's enough for tonight, this should compensate for the ten day drought... if you love baseball.
This past weekend, I got the chance to experience Universal Sufism--one of the reasons I actually came to this school. Part of their Religious Studies program revolves around experiencing religions instead of learning about them.
And I can understand why there's an experiential weekend on Sufism, but not a standard class. A lot of what the Universal Sufists believe cannot be learned from a book but instead experienced. And their pretty light or easy on theological discussions. They believe that all religions are facets of the One Divine being. Their founder, Hazrat Inayat Khan, brought this to the States around the 20th century and proceeded to spread it with the help of Samuel Lewis.
As the weekend went on, I realized that this is the exact thing that I had purported at one time--that God reveals himself in various ways to different people. However, when it became actualized, I realized how it feels like a cult. They say that they don't have a Christ or a Muhammad figure in their religion, but it seems like, in time, Inayat Khan will fill that role. He came up with the Ten Sufi Thoughts and he is the one whose teachings they look to the most.
History has an odd way of morphing things, as does time. And those two things seem to be ready to morph this into an all-encompassing theological clusterfuck like most other religions are today.
And the other odd thing of the weekend was that it solidified my belief in Christ without solidifying my belief in the Christian church. I knew that, deep down, Christ was my savior. And I also realized, during an invocation for the Spirit of Guidance, that I still want to be a Youth Pastor, come doubt or high water.
Overall, it was interesting, but it was definitely something I could never truly get into. Next Semester, I plan on doing the Buddhist experiential weekend. Exciting? Oui.
--
Spring Training for the Los Angeles Dodgers of Los Angeles (Fuck you, Anaheim) has officially gotten under way. Most of the team has reported even though the report date for position players isn't until later this week.
Juan Pierre is there and, no matter how much I love watching the guy get extra bases run on him, I hope he gets traded. Andre Ethier and his talent are just begging for a full-time slot. It wouldn't seem to be wise having him platoon with Matt Kemp since both can hit Left and Right Handed pitching. However, it'd be even more unwise and strange to have him platoon with Pierre since both are left handed batters with completely different games. Pierre gets 200 hits, sure, but he also has 668 plate appearances. As a result, his OBP was a meager .331 while his AVG was a decent .293. Maybe it would do him some good to sit down if he can rake in 200 hits again while minimizing plate appearances. And maybe draw a walk once in awhile.
Look, Juan, you aren't a good leadoff guy if you can't hold your bat back. I understand that your arms are as weak as they look, but, please, hold up your bat. Have some sense. Lean into some pitches for Christ's sake. That won us a game once last year. Lean in and steal. Try that strategy. You won't have to tire your arms with the bat anymore.
If you're gonna play every day, Juan, draw some walks so that we don't have to bitch about your OBP. If you aren't going to play everyday, still hit as much as you would. That'd make you hot shit in most books. Get an injury to pad your numbers against mass. That type of thing. I know you've got that streak going, but you also said in an interview that you don't mind if it ends. So let it end.
Or, hell, maybe lift some weights. And don't be a dick in Ethier takes your job. Because he's better. And you probably know that.
In other news around camp, Sandy Koufax showed up to do some shadow coaching. He lives in Vero Beach, so I can guarantee you that this hermit will probably not be flying to the new facility in Arizona any time soon. As a result, it kind of sucks that top prospect Clayton Kershaw wasn't invited to the Major League camp this year. He's a lefty could probably have learned one or two things from him about the pressures of being a hot-to-trot prospect. And also that he doesn't need any time in the minor leagues. Koufax didn't play a single game in the minors, and, as a result, was once voted as the most over rated left-handed pitcher of all time. He spent 11 years in the majors, and the first six were plagued with rookie mistakes. But there was a dumb rule that if you sign for x-amount of dollars, then you have to start on the major league team.
Either way, the type of talk that surrounds Kershaw makes it sound like he and Billingsley will be the new Koufax-Drysdale. Except Billingsley isn't the second most intimidating pitcher of all time--he just has large thighs. And I guess they can be scary, but not as much as a little bit of chin music. That's alright, though, because that's not how the game is played any more even though fans love a fight. That's the funny thing about the strict rules concerning ejections and fighting and so forth. When the dugouts clear, the crowd gets excited and your team gets press on ESPN. It may even help if we had another Ryan v. Ventura fight (great shit, by the way) every week.
Think about it: fans watch NASCAR to see crashes (and drink), people watch the NHL for blood on the ice, people watch football for the contact. Baseball has zero contact and no one likes watching the World Series. Maybe they would if it were prefaced by a title fight? Or if they knew that the teams actually hated each other.
Okay, so this post has become super tangential and it only gets worse because we are now going to talk about free agency. Free Agency has ruined rivalries because it allows for players to go to where the money is, whether or not they first played for Boston and the money's in New York. You would never experience a person retiring because they were traded to the Giants like Jackie Robinson did because they'd probably give him a contract extension would 55 million dollars. You'd never see another Marichal v. Roseboro fight because the teams don't hate each other anymore. Only the fans do. Hell, Jeff Kent signed with the Dodgers. Mark Sweeney was traded to us from the Giants. Jason Schmidt, the Dodger Killer. The list goes on. They go where there's money and necessity. Not where their heart tells them too.
Free Agency turned a game into a sport into pure entertainment. Which is fine by me, I guess.
That's enough for tonight, this should compensate for the ten day drought... if you love baseball.
Saturday, February 09, 2008
Bratislava
Life is good.
I've been reading about Taoism and eastern mysticism, and so I've tried to meditate in the context of Christianity. It's been interesting, but hard to describe. And Zen Buddhists say that if I describe it, then I've missed the point entirely so... I'll let you wonder about it. Maybe meditate instead?
I was reading Bertrand Russell's essay, "Why I am not a Christian," and it got me thinking about where most Christian philosophies that try and justify God fail. They all want to prove that God is omniscient and omnipotent and a good God all around. But this is what I came up with, in response to that idea:
If God is not human, then terms describing humans are not applicable to his being. As a result, we can clearly state that God is not omniscient, omnipotent, nor good. On the contrary, he is also not non-omniscient, non-omnipotent, nor bad. God simply is.
So the atheists can have their arguments about God not being good or omniscient. They can shove them up their ass for all I care. God can't be expressed via adjectives. God cannot be expressed in words. As the Sufists say, it's something you have to taste. For example, we sit here and discuss at great length how delicious cookies are. Their texture, their contents, how fattening they can be and how sick they can make you if you eat too many. We can talk about their taste and their composition, learn from texts of their greatness. But you can never fully know what a cookie is unless you taste it.
The same can be said for God, except that he never makes you sick and he never runs out, never makes you fat or makes you feel fat. You cannot express the Father in words, he must be tasted.
There's my challenge, atheists. Throw down.
I've been reading about Taoism and eastern mysticism, and so I've tried to meditate in the context of Christianity. It's been interesting, but hard to describe. And Zen Buddhists say that if I describe it, then I've missed the point entirely so... I'll let you wonder about it. Maybe meditate instead?
I was reading Bertrand Russell's essay, "Why I am not a Christian," and it got me thinking about where most Christian philosophies that try and justify God fail. They all want to prove that God is omniscient and omnipotent and a good God all around. But this is what I came up with, in response to that idea:
If God is not human, then terms describing humans are not applicable to his being. As a result, we can clearly state that God is not omniscient, omnipotent, nor good. On the contrary, he is also not non-omniscient, non-omnipotent, nor bad. God simply is.
So the atheists can have their arguments about God not being good or omniscient. They can shove them up their ass for all I care. God can't be expressed via adjectives. God cannot be expressed in words. As the Sufists say, it's something you have to taste. For example, we sit here and discuss at great length how delicious cookies are. Their texture, their contents, how fattening they can be and how sick they can make you if you eat too many. We can talk about their taste and their composition, learn from texts of their greatness. But you can never fully know what a cookie is unless you taste it.
The same can be said for God, except that he never makes you sick and he never runs out, never makes you fat or makes you feel fat. You cannot express the Father in words, he must be tasted.
There's my challenge, atheists. Throw down.
Tuesday, February 05, 2008
Best Movie of the Year?!
That's tough. I have three favorites, two I've already written about and the third one isn't quite a comedy so I couldn't toss it in that category.
My top three movies of this year, in a tie for first place are:
The Darjeeling Limited
No Country for Old Men
There Will Be Blood
These three movies together show why I love some movies more than others. They all have themes and visual metaphors and some beautiful cinematography. The way that India was filmed and talked about in Darjeeling was beautiful. The way that the brothers never changed clothes yet had all of their fathers' luggage was beautiful. Some critics said that it was Wes Anderson doing a parody of Wes Anderson. But I say they can go fuck themselves. This was probably his best film, edging out the Royal Tenenbaums. He's definitely one of my favorite film makers and this, so far, was his pinnacle. He was able to capture everything about being a family so perfectly. And the way that they were able to finally let go their grief about their father's death was awesome. They realized that they couldn't get on the train, continue on their journey, with all the (literal) baggage of their father. So they just threw it off them and watched it fade from view.
And I liked that the three of them had their things that they could hide behind. Francis had his bandages and the most visible damage, Jack had his moustache and his words and Peter had his Father's sunglasses that, even though they were the wrong prescription, he never took them off.
2007 was a great year in cinema. I hope 2008 is just as good, though I'll be able to see less movies in the theater since I'll be up at school most of the time. I'll see what I can with what money I can, but I know that the Netflix cue will have plenty coming its way when some of these movies come out on DVD.
My top three movies of this year, in a tie for first place are:
The Darjeeling Limited
No Country for Old Men
There Will Be Blood
These three movies together show why I love some movies more than others. They all have themes and visual metaphors and some beautiful cinematography. The way that India was filmed and talked about in Darjeeling was beautiful. The way that the brothers never changed clothes yet had all of their fathers' luggage was beautiful. Some critics said that it was Wes Anderson doing a parody of Wes Anderson. But I say they can go fuck themselves. This was probably his best film, edging out the Royal Tenenbaums. He's definitely one of my favorite film makers and this, so far, was his pinnacle. He was able to capture everything about being a family so perfectly. And the way that they were able to finally let go their grief about their father's death was awesome. They realized that they couldn't get on the train, continue on their journey, with all the (literal) baggage of their father. So they just threw it off them and watched it fade from view.
And I liked that the three of them had their things that they could hide behind. Francis had his bandages and the most visible damage, Jack had his moustache and his words and Peter had his Father's sunglasses that, even though they were the wrong prescription, he never took them off.
2007 was a great year in cinema. I hope 2008 is just as good, though I'll be able to see less movies in the theater since I'll be up at school most of the time. I'll see what I can with what money I can, but I know that the Netflix cue will have plenty coming its way when some of these movies come out on DVD.
Sunday, February 03, 2008
Comedy
Let's talk comedy tonight, which seems to be enough of an enigmatic genre to constantly be overlooked. There is a lot of art in making people laugh, but there is also a lot of non-art. I tend to think that people (and Oscar voters alike) would be able to discern what is comedy and what is bullshit, but not often people do. That's why Meet the Spartans was tops at the box office this weekend. Why Meet the Spartans was even made. So let's get to the comedies that I think fall into the opposite category of actually funny movies--movies that made me laugh.
This is not to say that I don't exclusively enjoy good comedic films. One of my favorite comedies is Dodgeball, for instance, which probably falls into the same category as Meet the Spartans: kind of funny, sophomoric and not much substance. Not much art in the film making itself. But there were some damn good funny movies that came out this year, so let's get down to bidniss.
4) Aquateen Hungerforce Colon Movie Film For Theaters -- Here's a prime example of that shit-humor film-making. I'm such a big fan of the show, though, that this movie couldn't help but make me laugh. It's surprising that the non-sequitur style that their humor has was able to play out for a full 90 minutes or so. It somehow didn't get stale, and it kept me entertained for far longer than I expected from a fifteen minute TV show.
3) Juno -- this movie was just downright cute. I liked that it didn't play to some of the Hollywood stereotypes of dickish parents who Juno has to hide her pregnancy from or that the guy who got her pregnant skips town and stops talking to her. She openly acknowledges the mistake and is willing to go through with it and to give this child the best life she can. There are definitely some interesting subplots and the whole movie is rife with awesomeness.
2) Knocked Up -- Judd Apatow knows what he's doing. This movie is one that was made by someone who knows how to make me laugh. Knows how to make a comedy with realistic and well done characters. I liked that this movie was sappy and funny and mean and honest all at the same time. Seth Rogen really showed that he can be a leading man, and one that I'd never want to get impregnated by.
1) Superbad -- I have such a connection to this movie that it would have been hard to not give it #1. In High School, I was Seth a lot of the time, it seemed like. Aside from the drive to get laid, I was the loud mouth, vulgar kid in high school, constantly trying to find a girlfriend. And my best friend was Evan. The names in the movie should be changed for clarity, but it's the truth. He talls and skinny and awkward--not so much anymore, but, still, at the time the movie came out, the characters spoke to us because we've been in that same situation before. We've never gone on a booze hunt or anything, but the whole having to cope with a separation that is looming after spending two years sitting around and talking about nothing. I enjoyed this movie, and it helped that it was funny as hell.
This is not to say that I don't exclusively enjoy good comedic films. One of my favorite comedies is Dodgeball, for instance, which probably falls into the same category as Meet the Spartans: kind of funny, sophomoric and not much substance. Not much art in the film making itself. But there were some damn good funny movies that came out this year, so let's get down to bidniss.
4) Aquateen Hungerforce Colon Movie Film For Theaters -- Here's a prime example of that shit-humor film-making. I'm such a big fan of the show, though, that this movie couldn't help but make me laugh. It's surprising that the non-sequitur style that their humor has was able to play out for a full 90 minutes or so. It somehow didn't get stale, and it kept me entertained for far longer than I expected from a fifteen minute TV show.
3) Juno -- this movie was just downright cute. I liked that it didn't play to some of the Hollywood stereotypes of dickish parents who Juno has to hide her pregnancy from or that the guy who got her pregnant skips town and stops talking to her. She openly acknowledges the mistake and is willing to go through with it and to give this child the best life she can. There are definitely some interesting subplots and the whole movie is rife with awesomeness.
2) Knocked Up -- Judd Apatow knows what he's doing. This movie is one that was made by someone who knows how to make me laugh. Knows how to make a comedy with realistic and well done characters. I liked that this movie was sappy and funny and mean and honest all at the same time. Seth Rogen really showed that he can be a leading man, and one that I'd never want to get impregnated by.
1) Superbad -- I have such a connection to this movie that it would have been hard to not give it #1. In High School, I was Seth a lot of the time, it seemed like. Aside from the drive to get laid, I was the loud mouth, vulgar kid in high school, constantly trying to find a girlfriend. And my best friend was Evan. The names in the movie should be changed for clarity, but it's the truth. He talls and skinny and awkward--not so much anymore, but, still, at the time the movie came out, the characters spoke to us because we've been in that same situation before. We've never gone on a booze hunt or anything, but the whole having to cope with a separation that is looming after spending two years sitting around and talking about nothing. I enjoyed this movie, and it helped that it was funny as hell.
Saturday, February 02, 2008
Westerns, horror, Animated
So last year, I did a straight top ten list of my favorite movies... But this year, I'm going to give out "awards" and then choose my favorite of the year.
In 2007, I saw 41 new films. That's nothing compared to what some reviewers see in a single month, but it's still a solid amount of movies to make an opinion out of. But I know I've missed some really good ones and a lot of the movies I saw this year were ones I finally got around to seeing (like Blade Runner, 12 Monkeys, the Prestige, Factotum, The Saddest Music in the World, etc).
2007 also had a solid amount of Westerns released--all of which I dragged my friends to. There were three typical westerns (There Will Be Blood, 3:10 to Yuma, and the Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford) and one atypical neo-western (No Country for Old Men). So, the first category will be "BEST NEW WESTERN," and it will be a shoot-out between these four films.
4) 3:10 TO YUMA -- A great, badass, slick movie. Christian Bale has really come into his own as an actor and I really enjoyed all the various elements of this film involving his son and Russell Crowe's character and how everything ended. There was nothing overly magical about this movie: it was rough and quintessentially western.
3) The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford -- You choose the show-time you wish to see the movie knowing its ending, you buy the tickets knowing the ending, you sit through the movies 2 and a half hours knowing the ending. So why did people subject themselves to this movie? Because it's a commentary on today's culture of Thirsty Scavengers looking for any and everything they can read about their favorite stars. All the gossip, all the trash, is contained in this film and is embodied by Casey Affleck's character who in the kills Jesse James and then subsequently lets it eat him alive. What we let consume us will eventually finish us off. We always let the beast in, but it's our choice whether it escapes with everything we have. And this movie tried to get at people in the same way, as if to say, "Do you see what you're doing to the actors? They're just people, goddammit!" And having Brad Pitt play Jesse James was a priceless meta tool through this whole movie-game of "Look at yourselves."
2) There will be blood -- Daniel Plainview is a sick, sick, asshole of a man. I don't even know if he is a man, but instead an embodiment of greed. That can't be true though, because there are moments in this film where that hard shell of meanness and money crack and you see that he really does love his adopted son. Eli Sunday is his synthetic opposite--he wants all the same things: money power and fame and control over the people, but he's chosen the religious route instead of the Black Gold Route. This movie is long and slow and it tears at your patience, but if you're able to sit through it without getting up and going out for a smoke or leaving altogether, you'll come to realize that this is a great multi-character study set against a beautiful backdrop of the old west.
1) No Country for Old Men -- The neo-western wins out. Why? Because I love how scary Anton Chigurh (as played by Javier Bardem) is in this movie. He made me shit my pants every time he spoke. He made me cry everytime he killed someone with his compressed airgun thing that they used to use to kill cows (see that creepy scene in the van in Texas Chainsaw Massacre). And Llewellyn Moss(as played by Josh Brolin) isn't his antithesis, but instead, his equal. One who will kill and exploit to get out of his situation and do whatever it takes to bring vigilante justice. And one step behind is Tommy Lee Jones' character as the elder sheriff, slowly realizing that this world is going darker and darker and darker by the moment and there's nothing he can do about it. He hates it, but he knows that if he continues to work, it will just eat him. So he retires. And that's how the movie ends. In anti-climax and letdowns galore. It was a big slap in the face to the viewers who wanted the final shootout and to have some sort of justice prevail. But that's just more blood for the sake of it.
--
So those were the Westerns released this year, and the one that wasn't even really a Western was my favorite. But it grew on me after I read a National Geographic article about how crazy West Texas is. This lady there lives at the end of a 40 mile dead-end road. No shit. People there are weird, and the murders are even worse.
Next up are the Horror awards. If I didn't have to choose movies that were released in 2007 but instead the ones I saw in 2007, the award would go to Dawn of the Dead, the original from 1978. That's one hell of a horror movie. Or it would go to Texas Chainsaw Massacre, a beautifully atmospheric horror movie where not everything is killed by a chainsaw.
But I have to go with movies that were released this year, and so the list is as follows:
5) Planet Terror -- Funnier and more fun that it was scary, but it exuded all the right horror elements: sex and gore and violence. It was great as a setup into Death Proof and as the first half of Grindhouse. But I don't know about it away from the overall experience. However, there were some really good performances and some really great scares throughout the film.
4) 30 Days of Night -- Scared the crap out of me. Maybe it was because all day I was psyching myself out for it by saying, "I'm going to get scared, I'm going to get scared" but it was actually really creepy. The methodology of the vampires didn't seem to make any sense. Why would they want to kill everyone on the first night and then starve? Is a 29-day Disco Dance Party that much fun with out sustenance? Maybe it is, but I'm just hypothesizing. The scares were there but not much else was...
3) 1408 -- Overall, not the best movie. However, I have to admit that I do have a soft spot of John Cusack after he was in High Fidelity. His character has a lot of skepticism and doubt going through this project, and all of it is torn apart by this single room of horror. Stephen King knows what we hate, and he does a great job of writing them. And then people do an even better job translating it onto the screen. Unless it's DreamCatcher. That movie sucked.
2) El Orfanato -- A horror movie in the vein of the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Everything is scary but you don't know why. The atmosphere just simply exudes fear. And the last third of the movie is when everything kicks into high gear and it just straight up kicks your ass.
1) 28 Weeks Later -- I have to admit something else: I also have a soft spot for zombies. The zombies in the original "Dead" trilogy where this movie and its predecessor draw a lot from are scary in their ominous way, loafing around and gaining in numbers. The zombies in these movies RUN. They RUN. And that's probably the scariest thing is that these zombies will sprint after you and chase you and keep at you until you fall and they have at you. One reviewer was right in saying that this movie makes you want to get into shape. Y'know, just in case something like that happened. But it wasn't even the zombies that brought this movie to the top of the horror list. It was the US Government and the whole idea that they were running less from the zombies and more from the people who have a total moral and ethical code within them. But they're trained opposite, trained in rage, and thusly become zombies to "The Man." That idea fascinated me, for sure.
And let's run out the one animated feature of the year that deserves any sort of mentioning....
Talking Rats! Talking Rats! I love Ratatouille. It was a great kids film about striving to be your best no matter the obstacles, no matter whose hair you have to pull (har de har). This film was so broad-base emotional that you couldn't help but let Remy and his struggles wiggle their way under the door sill into your heart.
Okay. Comedy tomorrow or tonight. In a different post.
In 2007, I saw 41 new films. That's nothing compared to what some reviewers see in a single month, but it's still a solid amount of movies to make an opinion out of. But I know I've missed some really good ones and a lot of the movies I saw this year were ones I finally got around to seeing (like Blade Runner, 12 Monkeys, the Prestige, Factotum, The Saddest Music in the World, etc).
2007 also had a solid amount of Westerns released--all of which I dragged my friends to. There were three typical westerns (There Will Be Blood, 3:10 to Yuma, and the Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford) and one atypical neo-western (No Country for Old Men). So, the first category will be "BEST NEW WESTERN," and it will be a shoot-out between these four films.
4) 3:10 TO YUMA -- A great, badass, slick movie. Christian Bale has really come into his own as an actor and I really enjoyed all the various elements of this film involving his son and Russell Crowe's character and how everything ended. There was nothing overly magical about this movie: it was rough and quintessentially western.
3) The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford -- You choose the show-time you wish to see the movie knowing its ending, you buy the tickets knowing the ending, you sit through the movies 2 and a half hours knowing the ending. So why did people subject themselves to this movie? Because it's a commentary on today's culture of Thirsty Scavengers looking for any and everything they can read about their favorite stars. All the gossip, all the trash, is contained in this film and is embodied by Casey Affleck's character who in the kills Jesse James and then subsequently lets it eat him alive. What we let consume us will eventually finish us off. We always let the beast in, but it's our choice whether it escapes with everything we have. And this movie tried to get at people in the same way, as if to say, "Do you see what you're doing to the actors? They're just people, goddammit!" And having Brad Pitt play Jesse James was a priceless meta tool through this whole movie-game of "Look at yourselves."
2) There will be blood -- Daniel Plainview is a sick, sick, asshole of a man. I don't even know if he is a man, but instead an embodiment of greed. That can't be true though, because there are moments in this film where that hard shell of meanness and money crack and you see that he really does love his adopted son. Eli Sunday is his synthetic opposite--he wants all the same things: money power and fame and control over the people, but he's chosen the religious route instead of the Black Gold Route. This movie is long and slow and it tears at your patience, but if you're able to sit through it without getting up and going out for a smoke or leaving altogether, you'll come to realize that this is a great multi-character study set against a beautiful backdrop of the old west.
1) No Country for Old Men -- The neo-western wins out. Why? Because I love how scary Anton Chigurh (as played by Javier Bardem) is in this movie. He made me shit my pants every time he spoke. He made me cry everytime he killed someone with his compressed airgun thing that they used to use to kill cows (see that creepy scene in the van in Texas Chainsaw Massacre). And Llewellyn Moss(as played by Josh Brolin) isn't his antithesis, but instead, his equal. One who will kill and exploit to get out of his situation and do whatever it takes to bring vigilante justice. And one step behind is Tommy Lee Jones' character as the elder sheriff, slowly realizing that this world is going darker and darker and darker by the moment and there's nothing he can do about it. He hates it, but he knows that if he continues to work, it will just eat him. So he retires. And that's how the movie ends. In anti-climax and letdowns galore. It was a big slap in the face to the viewers who wanted the final shootout and to have some sort of justice prevail. But that's just more blood for the sake of it.
--
So those were the Westerns released this year, and the one that wasn't even really a Western was my favorite. But it grew on me after I read a National Geographic article about how crazy West Texas is. This lady there lives at the end of a 40 mile dead-end road. No shit. People there are weird, and the murders are even worse.
Next up are the Horror awards. If I didn't have to choose movies that were released in 2007 but instead the ones I saw in 2007, the award would go to Dawn of the Dead, the original from 1978. That's one hell of a horror movie. Or it would go to Texas Chainsaw Massacre, a beautifully atmospheric horror movie where not everything is killed by a chainsaw.
But I have to go with movies that were released this year, and so the list is as follows:
5) Planet Terror -- Funnier and more fun that it was scary, but it exuded all the right horror elements: sex and gore and violence. It was great as a setup into Death Proof and as the first half of Grindhouse. But I don't know about it away from the overall experience. However, there were some really good performances and some really great scares throughout the film.
4) 30 Days of Night -- Scared the crap out of me. Maybe it was because all day I was psyching myself out for it by saying, "I'm going to get scared, I'm going to get scared" but it was actually really creepy. The methodology of the vampires didn't seem to make any sense. Why would they want to kill everyone on the first night and then starve? Is a 29-day Disco Dance Party that much fun with out sustenance? Maybe it is, but I'm just hypothesizing. The scares were there but not much else was...
3) 1408 -- Overall, not the best movie. However, I have to admit that I do have a soft spot of John Cusack after he was in High Fidelity. His character has a lot of skepticism and doubt going through this project, and all of it is torn apart by this single room of horror. Stephen King knows what we hate, and he does a great job of writing them. And then people do an even better job translating it onto the screen. Unless it's DreamCatcher. That movie sucked.
2) El Orfanato -- A horror movie in the vein of the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Everything is scary but you don't know why. The atmosphere just simply exudes fear. And the last third of the movie is when everything kicks into high gear and it just straight up kicks your ass.
1) 28 Weeks Later -- I have to admit something else: I also have a soft spot for zombies. The zombies in the original "Dead" trilogy where this movie and its predecessor draw a lot from are scary in their ominous way, loafing around and gaining in numbers. The zombies in these movies RUN. They RUN. And that's probably the scariest thing is that these zombies will sprint after you and chase you and keep at you until you fall and they have at you. One reviewer was right in saying that this movie makes you want to get into shape. Y'know, just in case something like that happened. But it wasn't even the zombies that brought this movie to the top of the horror list. It was the US Government and the whole idea that they were running less from the zombies and more from the people who have a total moral and ethical code within them. But they're trained opposite, trained in rage, and thusly become zombies to "The Man." That idea fascinated me, for sure.
And let's run out the one animated feature of the year that deserves any sort of mentioning....
Talking Rats! Talking Rats! I love Ratatouille. It was a great kids film about striving to be your best no matter the obstacles, no matter whose hair you have to pull (har de har). This film was so broad-base emotional that you couldn't help but let Remy and his struggles wiggle their way under the door sill into your heart.
Okay. Comedy tomorrow or tonight. In a different post.
Friday, February 01, 2008
This is the Zodiac Speaking
I'm up here, feeling sick. I think I just have a cold but if things persist through Monday, I'm gonna visit the campus physician.
I got really sick before I left so I figured I wouldn't get sick up here. I figured wrong. So I'll get better. My room mate and a bunch of other guys are going camping this weekend and I'm glad I at least have an excuse to get out of that. Freezing my ass off? Count me out.
Lately, classes have been going well. There's a lot of papers to write, but they all start in late february-early March. And I figure it's a good start on what the next few semesters will be like. Both the Journalism and the Religious Studies departments seem to prefer papers over multiple choice tests, which I have no problem with. I've never been good at tests, but I've been good at papers, so it should work out well.
I have yet to find a good church around here. I was going to go to the Arcata First Baptist's College Group last night, but I was too sick to go, so I have to wait until next week to try it out.
But I will try it out. I need some sort of spiritual guidance especially now that I am discovering new ideas and everything and I want to stay a Christian. That's my choice. It's not that I want to stay sheltered, it's rather that I already know that it's the one true religion (whatever that means, really) and that all these other religions are merely tempting. That's just how I am. All religions are trying to reach up the same mountain towards enlightenment, but Christianity is the only one that actually achieves that.
What's interesting is the idea of multiple lives. My Hinduism teacher was saying that the fact that this life that we are living where we have the opportunity to learn and to make choices and to have the freedom about these things is like a sea turtle coming up from the bottom of the ocean through the hole in a log--every thousand years. The way he said it made it way more impactful.
That idea coincides with a previous thought about the fact that everyone has the ability to see Christ, to see God, that maybe it's through reincarnation that our choice and our vision is made. Maybe there's no hell, just this Earth perpetuated by broken and lost souls, at one time finally seeing God. And when this cycle runs down, when all have finally seen God, the second coming will occur and Jesus will be King.
But I could definitely be wrong, none of this is biblically based. I wished it was because it makes so much sense, but it's not. So, then, I wait and let this idea simmer until I find something Holy and connected. And when that happens, the idea comes soaring back to life but instead with evidence. And evidence is always what it comes down to. Isn't it?
I got really sick before I left so I figured I wouldn't get sick up here. I figured wrong. So I'll get better. My room mate and a bunch of other guys are going camping this weekend and I'm glad I at least have an excuse to get out of that. Freezing my ass off? Count me out.
Lately, classes have been going well. There's a lot of papers to write, but they all start in late february-early March. And I figure it's a good start on what the next few semesters will be like. Both the Journalism and the Religious Studies departments seem to prefer papers over multiple choice tests, which I have no problem with. I've never been good at tests, but I've been good at papers, so it should work out well.
I have yet to find a good church around here. I was going to go to the Arcata First Baptist's College Group last night, but I was too sick to go, so I have to wait until next week to try it out.
But I will try it out. I need some sort of spiritual guidance especially now that I am discovering new ideas and everything and I want to stay a Christian. That's my choice. It's not that I want to stay sheltered, it's rather that I already know that it's the one true religion (whatever that means, really) and that all these other religions are merely tempting. That's just how I am. All religions are trying to reach up the same mountain towards enlightenment, but Christianity is the only one that actually achieves that.
What's interesting is the idea of multiple lives. My Hinduism teacher was saying that the fact that this life that we are living where we have the opportunity to learn and to make choices and to have the freedom about these things is like a sea turtle coming up from the bottom of the ocean through the hole in a log--every thousand years. The way he said it made it way more impactful.
That idea coincides with a previous thought about the fact that everyone has the ability to see Christ, to see God, that maybe it's through reincarnation that our choice and our vision is made. Maybe there's no hell, just this Earth perpetuated by broken and lost souls, at one time finally seeing God. And when this cycle runs down, when all have finally seen God, the second coming will occur and Jesus will be King.
But I could definitely be wrong, none of this is biblically based. I wished it was because it makes so much sense, but it's not. So, then, I wait and let this idea simmer until I find something Holy and connected. And when that happens, the idea comes soaring back to life but instead with evidence. And evidence is always what it comes down to. Isn't it?
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