Forgive me, this is a little bit of self indulgence here.
Actually it's a big bit of self-indulgence.
About to leave for idaho, lots of strands swirling around in the old coconut.
There's one in particular I can't really shake.
This song is for that strand. It's cheesey I know, but dammit, at least I know it.
It's a new dashboard song, that pretty much says it all...
She smiled in a big way
The way a girl like that smiles
When the world is hers. And she held your eyes
Out in the breezeway, down by the shore
In the lazy summer
And she pulled you in
And she bit your lip
And she made you hers
She looked deep into you as you lay together
Quiet in the grasp of dusk and summer
But you’ve already lost
But you’ve already lost
But you’ve already lost
When you only had barely enough to hang on
And she combed your hair
And she kissed your teeth
And she made you better than you’d been before
And she told you bad things that you wished you could change
In the lazy summer
And she told you, laughing down to her core
So she would not cry
And she lay in your lap as she said
“Nobody here can live forever
Quiet in the grasp of dusk and summer.”
But you’ve already lost
But you’ve already lost
But you’ve already lost
When you only had barely enough to hang on
She said “No one is alone the way you are alone.”
And you held her looser than you would’ve if you ever could’ve known
Some things tie your life together
With slender threads and things to treasure
Days like that should last and last and last
But you’ve already lost
But you’ve already lost
But you’ve already lost
When you only have barely enough of her to hang on
Hang on
Hang on
Hang on
Saturday, June 24, 2006
Thursday, June 22, 2006
Here is his trying to catch a fly ball with an oven mitt!
Heard this on aintitcool.com and they linked it to a website called tv week.
Sounds pretty legitimate...
Three years after Fox canceled the show, Matt Groening's "Futurama" will resume production for a 13-episode run on Comedy Central. The new episodes will be added to the network's library of 72 "Futurama" episodes previously licensed from 20th Century Fox Television. Voice talent Billy West, Katey Sagal and John DiMaggio will return for the new episodes, which will debut in 2008.
"There is a deep and passionate fan base for this intelligent and very funny show that matches perfectly with our audience and it is great that we can offer them not just the existing library, but something they've never seen as well," said David Bernath, senior VP, programming, Comedy Central.
"Futurama" marks the third Fox project revived by basic cable in recent years. New episodes of "Greg the Bunny" are being ordered by IFC, and Fox resurrected "Family Guy" after the series found success on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim.
Long live the king.
Sounds pretty legitimate...
Three years after Fox canceled the show, Matt Groening's "Futurama" will resume production for a 13-episode run on Comedy Central. The new episodes will be added to the network's library of 72 "Futurama" episodes previously licensed from 20th Century Fox Television. Voice talent Billy West, Katey Sagal and John DiMaggio will return for the new episodes, which will debut in 2008.
"There is a deep and passionate fan base for this intelligent and very funny show that matches perfectly with our audience and it is great that we can offer them not just the existing library, but something they've never seen as well," said David Bernath, senior VP, programming, Comedy Central.
"Futurama" marks the third Fox project revived by basic cable in recent years. New episodes of "Greg the Bunny" are being ordered by IFC, and Fox resurrected "Family Guy" after the series found success on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim.
Long live the king.
Monday, June 05, 2006
It's a worldwide suicide.
An Inconvenient Truth once again proves my theorem that movies can be about so much more than Vaugniston or Brangelina. I don't know why I picked those two because neither brad pitt or angelina jolie have a movie out, but you know what I mean. Movies have the power to do exactly what they set out to do, move people. There's something exhilirating about feeling that collective vibe permeate throughout a screening room when everybody realizes they've just been empowered. Sure it's cheesey and maybe it's a little naive, but when you feel it, you'll know.
I felt that last night and as shocking, sobering, and almost defeatist as the movie may seem, you don't walk out of the theatre that way. You'll shake your head at the astonishing irresponsibility of certain administrations, you'll wonder how you could have possibly ignored such a calamatious situation. But you won't walk out of the theatre feeling lost, you know exactly what to do. And ignore all the partisan crap you might read about the movie, I've heard the new york post review is particularly bilious and I also read that a fox news commentator compared Gore to Goebbels (if you think about it hard enough your head might explode). All I know is the facts are indesputable, the truth is right there and frankly I don't really care anymore who is to blame. Even though I think I know who is to blame (us), that doesn't matter any more. Trying to parcel out blame turns this into a red state blue state he said she said bullshit contest that won't amount to much of anything. We just need to fix this shit. Now.
With that being said, go see the movie, let everyone know what you think. It is important, because one thing the movie highlighted that I had somehow forgotten was that this is not just a problem for humanity. This is a problem for every form of species on the planet, and some of these ever so delicate ecological systems depend on the tiniest of organisms to function properly. The damage being done right now will directly affect those systems for the negative, and everybody knows, we've already fucked the animals over enough. We at least owe this to them. Point being in all seriousness, this is for the planet not just for us.
And for those of you who didn't think Gore was funny, did you not see futurama? Get with the program here...
Everybody do something.
Meanwhile, I got something from e.v. and mike mcC
"Medals on a wooden mantle. Next to a handsome face.
That the president took for granted.
Writing checks that others pay.
And in all the madness. Thought becomes numb and naive.
So much to talk about. Nothing for to say."
"Searching hope, I'm shown the way to run straight
Pursuing the greater way for all human light.
How I choose to feel is how I am.
I will not lose my faith
It's an inside job today
Holding on, the light of night
On my knees to rise and fix my broken soul
Again."
I felt that last night and as shocking, sobering, and almost defeatist as the movie may seem, you don't walk out of the theatre that way. You'll shake your head at the astonishing irresponsibility of certain administrations, you'll wonder how you could have possibly ignored such a calamatious situation. But you won't walk out of the theatre feeling lost, you know exactly what to do. And ignore all the partisan crap you might read about the movie, I've heard the new york post review is particularly bilious and I also read that a fox news commentator compared Gore to Goebbels (if you think about it hard enough your head might explode). All I know is the facts are indesputable, the truth is right there and frankly I don't really care anymore who is to blame. Even though I think I know who is to blame (us), that doesn't matter any more. Trying to parcel out blame turns this into a red state blue state he said she said bullshit contest that won't amount to much of anything. We just need to fix this shit. Now.
With that being said, go see the movie, let everyone know what you think. It is important, because one thing the movie highlighted that I had somehow forgotten was that this is not just a problem for humanity. This is a problem for every form of species on the planet, and some of these ever so delicate ecological systems depend on the tiniest of organisms to function properly. The damage being done right now will directly affect those systems for the negative, and everybody knows, we've already fucked the animals over enough. We at least owe this to them. Point being in all seriousness, this is for the planet not just for us.
And for those of you who didn't think Gore was funny, did you not see futurama? Get with the program here...
Everybody do something.
Meanwhile, I got something from e.v. and mike mcC
"Medals on a wooden mantle. Next to a handsome face.
That the president took for granted.
Writing checks that others pay.
And in all the madness. Thought becomes numb and naive.
So much to talk about. Nothing for to say."
"Searching hope, I'm shown the way to run straight
Pursuing the greater way for all human light.
How I choose to feel is how I am.
I will not lose my faith
It's an inside job today
Holding on, the light of night
On my knees to rise and fix my broken soul
Again."
Wednesday, May 31, 2006
I sincerely apologize for all the trouble I've caused
A couple of things I've been meaning to talk about, forgive me if this entry seems a little bit scatter-brained.
-The Da Vinci Code was not a whole lot of fun. I've avoided the books because I heard they were garbage, but I thought the movie looked fun in that detective code cracking kind of way. Plus they shot at a bunch of really cool locations, I figured it was worth a try to check out and see what all the fuss was about.
The first half of the movie has more exposition than the three movies I'd seen previously combined. Characters seemed to have no purpose other than espousing history and useless knowledge to each other in a zane attempt to understand the situation. It's only when ian mackellan shows up, sorry sir ian mackellan that the movie begins to have any sort of punch to it. Granted it doesn't get better but at least you get the sense there could have been a lot of fun here. The movie's not boring it just sort of plods along in that bad ron howard kind of way, where you feel like a robot could have directed the movie and achieved the same result. I guess I can't say its a shame since I'm tired of the book, tired of hearing about it, hopefully this movie will put the whole thing to bed.
-The new phillip roth book "everyman" is excellent. I liked how compact and precise it is, it really allows roth to explore the main character, in a way that never feels like it is in any kind of service to the plot because there is no plot. And it works because roth weaves character and story together in a way that never feels forced, things happen the way they do in real life, according to this one particular man's actions and motivations. There are some passages in the book about getting old and dying that are damn near heartbreaking. And even though the main character is kind of a prick, his voice brings a kind of pathos that is quite satisfying.
-The song Marker in the Sand is one of the best songs pearl jam has ever written/performed in their long history. I don't know what it is about that song, it's infectious, i just get happy listening to it. I also generally like music that doesn't make me want to move (I don't really have a good answer for why that is by the way) but I want to move when I hear that song. The lyrics are dead on and his voice carries it all the way through. I think its my favorite song off the new album and definitely in the top three right now (I don't know if anything can unseat rearviewmirror so maybe marker is #2).
-Nate's totally right, I just saw X-Men: The Last Stand and I gotta say as low as my expectations were, I'm still bummed by it. I keep going back to three years ago and how exhilirating X2 was and still is. There was something in the way bryan singer weaved together the holy shit moments with a story that resonates because it's character driven. It wasn't about filling parts in between the huge set pieces, he had a story to tell. Brett Ratner on the other hand ignores those impulses or is not capable of them, either way he fucked up royally with X3. Granted there were some moments that me revelling in X-Men geekiness, which I should clarify that I am not an X-men geek because I've never read a single comic and I never watched the cartoon. For some reaon the movies have triggered a special reaction with me for these mutated punks. I think it's because watching them is like watching the 72-10 bulls or a great jazz ensemble. I love the moments when they are allowed to riff and improvise with their powers yet still remain a solid unit. That shit kicks ass. Maybe I look too much into it, or I just want super powers of my own. Anyway, back to the movie, it seemed that in their rush to make this epic and final, a last stand if you will. They sacrificed so much of the story telling that was so prevelant in the first two. Powerful emotions are handled like filler and just when you think a scene is about to reach a dramatic peak, Ratner cuts away to something else. This is basic shit and he just plain sucks at it. Yes the action is cool, but up to a point. Some of it is rather poorly staged and clumsily edited, plus there are only so many times you can watch a character get hurled into the air and rise to their feet without a scratch. The anticipation kind of wears down after a while. Plus someone please explain to me why you take the climactic battle of the x-men trilogy and shoot it in the middle of the night, in the fucking dark? This guy's got a lot of chutzpah, missy.
Two final things that ran through my mind during my viewing of X3 or whatever it's called.
-Episode III is ten times better, a million times better even. It's the be all end all movie for trilogy cappers, X-3 shouldn't even be allowed to lick the dogshit from it's boot-heels.
-I hope somebody one day let's me direct one of these super hero movies. I want to do something really cool with one of them, hopefully they're still popular when I step up to the plate.
Okay, I'm tired, I'm going to bed.
"i am no more
i am not good
i am so sorry
if you misunderstood
i'd make it up
but i cannot
if i am an animal..."
-The Da Vinci Code was not a whole lot of fun. I've avoided the books because I heard they were garbage, but I thought the movie looked fun in that detective code cracking kind of way. Plus they shot at a bunch of really cool locations, I figured it was worth a try to check out and see what all the fuss was about.
The first half of the movie has more exposition than the three movies I'd seen previously combined. Characters seemed to have no purpose other than espousing history and useless knowledge to each other in a zane attempt to understand the situation. It's only when ian mackellan shows up, sorry sir ian mackellan that the movie begins to have any sort of punch to it. Granted it doesn't get better but at least you get the sense there could have been a lot of fun here. The movie's not boring it just sort of plods along in that bad ron howard kind of way, where you feel like a robot could have directed the movie and achieved the same result. I guess I can't say its a shame since I'm tired of the book, tired of hearing about it, hopefully this movie will put the whole thing to bed.
-The new phillip roth book "everyman" is excellent. I liked how compact and precise it is, it really allows roth to explore the main character, in a way that never feels like it is in any kind of service to the plot because there is no plot. And it works because roth weaves character and story together in a way that never feels forced, things happen the way they do in real life, according to this one particular man's actions and motivations. There are some passages in the book about getting old and dying that are damn near heartbreaking. And even though the main character is kind of a prick, his voice brings a kind of pathos that is quite satisfying.
-The song Marker in the Sand is one of the best songs pearl jam has ever written/performed in their long history. I don't know what it is about that song, it's infectious, i just get happy listening to it. I also generally like music that doesn't make me want to move (I don't really have a good answer for why that is by the way) but I want to move when I hear that song. The lyrics are dead on and his voice carries it all the way through. I think its my favorite song off the new album and definitely in the top three right now (I don't know if anything can unseat rearviewmirror so maybe marker is #2).
-Nate's totally right, I just saw X-Men: The Last Stand and I gotta say as low as my expectations were, I'm still bummed by it. I keep going back to three years ago and how exhilirating X2 was and still is. There was something in the way bryan singer weaved together the holy shit moments with a story that resonates because it's character driven. It wasn't about filling parts in between the huge set pieces, he had a story to tell. Brett Ratner on the other hand ignores those impulses or is not capable of them, either way he fucked up royally with X3. Granted there were some moments that me revelling in X-Men geekiness, which I should clarify that I am not an X-men geek because I've never read a single comic and I never watched the cartoon. For some reaon the movies have triggered a special reaction with me for these mutated punks. I think it's because watching them is like watching the 72-10 bulls or a great jazz ensemble. I love the moments when they are allowed to riff and improvise with their powers yet still remain a solid unit. That shit kicks ass. Maybe I look too much into it, or I just want super powers of my own. Anyway, back to the movie, it seemed that in their rush to make this epic and final, a last stand if you will. They sacrificed so much of the story telling that was so prevelant in the first two. Powerful emotions are handled like filler and just when you think a scene is about to reach a dramatic peak, Ratner cuts away to something else. This is basic shit and he just plain sucks at it. Yes the action is cool, but up to a point. Some of it is rather poorly staged and clumsily edited, plus there are only so many times you can watch a character get hurled into the air and rise to their feet without a scratch. The anticipation kind of wears down after a while. Plus someone please explain to me why you take the climactic battle of the x-men trilogy and shoot it in the middle of the night, in the fucking dark? This guy's got a lot of chutzpah, missy.
Two final things that ran through my mind during my viewing of X3 or whatever it's called.
-Episode III is ten times better, a million times better even. It's the be all end all movie for trilogy cappers, X-3 shouldn't even be allowed to lick the dogshit from it's boot-heels.
-I hope somebody one day let's me direct one of these super hero movies. I want to do something really cool with one of them, hopefully they're still popular when I step up to the plate.
Okay, I'm tired, I'm going to bed.
"i am no more
i am not good
i am so sorry
if you misunderstood
i'd make it up
but i cannot
if i am an animal..."
Tuesday, May 30, 2006
What nate and john did on their summer vacation...
A little treat for y'all...
Recovered texts from the journals of nate and john's summer road trip 2004:
Robin Hood and Little John
Walkin' through the forest
Laughin' back and forth
At what the other'ne has to say
Reminiscin', This-'n'-thattin'
Havin' such a good time
Oo-de-lally, Oo-de-lally
Golly, what a day
Never ever thinkin' there was danger in the water
They were drinkin', they just guzzled it down
Never dreamin' that a schemin' sherrif and his posse
Was a-watchin' them an' gatherin' around
Robin Hood and Little John
Runnin' through the forest
Jumpin' fences, dodgin' trees
An' tryin' to get away
Contemplatin' nothin'
But escape an' fin'lly makin' it
Oo-de-lally, Oo-de-lally
Golly, what a day
Oo-de-lally, Oo-de-lally
Golly, what a day
Recovered texts from the journals of nate and john's summer road trip 2004:
Robin Hood and Little John
Walkin' through the forest
Laughin' back and forth
At what the other'ne has to say
Reminiscin', This-'n'-thattin'
Havin' such a good time
Oo-de-lally, Oo-de-lally
Golly, what a day
Never ever thinkin' there was danger in the water
They were drinkin', they just guzzled it down
Never dreamin' that a schemin' sherrif and his posse
Was a-watchin' them an' gatherin' around
Robin Hood and Little John
Runnin' through the forest
Jumpin' fences, dodgin' trees
An' tryin' to get away
Contemplatin' nothin'
But escape an' fin'lly makin' it
Oo-de-lally, Oo-de-lally
Golly, what a day
Oo-de-lally, Oo-de-lally
Golly, what a day
Thursday, May 04, 2006
Quick, to the FALCON!!!
Check this out.
I never thought they'd do it, but apparently they were persuaded enough by fan pressure to release the original "unaltered" or "old-school" star wars trilogy as it was seen in 1977, 1980, and 1983 perspecitvely. Goddamn fanboys have way too much power.
My thoughts on this: It's cool, I hope some of the long time star wars fans are happy and they get back those films they claim George Lucas has stolen from them with the prequel trilogy and the special edition. Me, I could go either way. As it has been long documented on this blog, I saw the trilogy as the special edition when I was 13. I fell in love with those movies, I'm happy with them, I don't miss anything when I watch them. It will be cool to have those original versions on dvd just for the sake of movie history. Oh and for the record, greedo shooting first DOES NOT diminsh the han character at all. The man was a rogue not a viscious psycho path who blasted anyone who got in his way. The reason his redemption works at the end of the movie is not because he's evil, it's because he doesn't care about anyone. That's why to see him come blazing through that star light destroying one of vader's tie fighters will always be a thrill, that's why.
I love the new pearl jam album. I love it, I love it, I love it. I've loved everything they done, but this one is especially memorable. It's everything they do well but at the same time it's stuff they've never done before. I find myself asking, "this is a pearl jam song?" after song have finished. Plus it's some of the most focused and pointed political commentary to come from a mainstream band in many a moon, but it ends on a none of hope, what more can you ask for? Nothing, they are the best band in the world, period, exclamation point, whatever you want.
Key Songs: (Even though they are all amazing, I mean that)
Marker in the Sand
Come Back
Life Wasted
Unemployable
Comatose
Big Wave
Severed Hand
I'm off to see Josh Ritter now, he should be good. I hope he plays good man.
Those undecided
needn't have faith to be free.
And those misguided,
there was a plan for them to be...
Now you got both sides
claiming 'killing in god's name'.
But god is nowhere
to be found, conveniently...
What goes on?
Walking tightrope high
over moral ground.
Walk the bridges be-
-fore you burn them down!
Do come round
with the living, let
what is living love.
Unforgiving, yet
needing forgiveness first...
God, what do you say?
God, what do you say?
I never thought they'd do it, but apparently they were persuaded enough by fan pressure to release the original "unaltered" or "old-school" star wars trilogy as it was seen in 1977, 1980, and 1983 perspecitvely. Goddamn fanboys have way too much power.
My thoughts on this: It's cool, I hope some of the long time star wars fans are happy and they get back those films they claim George Lucas has stolen from them with the prequel trilogy and the special edition. Me, I could go either way. As it has been long documented on this blog, I saw the trilogy as the special edition when I was 13. I fell in love with those movies, I'm happy with them, I don't miss anything when I watch them. It will be cool to have those original versions on dvd just for the sake of movie history. Oh and for the record, greedo shooting first DOES NOT diminsh the han character at all. The man was a rogue not a viscious psycho path who blasted anyone who got in his way. The reason his redemption works at the end of the movie is not because he's evil, it's because he doesn't care about anyone. That's why to see him come blazing through that star light destroying one of vader's tie fighters will always be a thrill, that's why.
I love the new pearl jam album. I love it, I love it, I love it. I've loved everything they done, but this one is especially memorable. It's everything they do well but at the same time it's stuff they've never done before. I find myself asking, "this is a pearl jam song?" after song have finished. Plus it's some of the most focused and pointed political commentary to come from a mainstream band in many a moon, but it ends on a none of hope, what more can you ask for? Nothing, they are the best band in the world, period, exclamation point, whatever you want.
Key Songs: (Even though they are all amazing, I mean that)
Marker in the Sand
Come Back
Life Wasted
Unemployable
Comatose
Big Wave
Severed Hand
I'm off to see Josh Ritter now, he should be good. I hope he plays good man.
Those undecided
needn't have faith to be free.
And those misguided,
there was a plan for them to be...
Now you got both sides
claiming 'killing in god's name'.
But god is nowhere
to be found, conveniently...
What goes on?
Walking tightrope high
over moral ground.
Walk the bridges be-
-fore you burn them down!
Do come round
with the living, let
what is living love.
Unforgiving, yet
needing forgiveness first...
God, what do you say?
God, what do you say?
Saturday, April 29, 2006
Life's Just Too Short Little Ndugu
I guess I've been away for a while. I don't know, I guess I haven't really had much to say. Everytime I get something, I seem to lose it between the thought and actually sitting down at the computer. But I feel like now, I've got some thoughts that I just can't shake.
Nate and I just got back from United 93, head over to his blog for some interesting thoughts on the subject. Before I get to the movie, a little history should be provided to preface my thoughts as a whole.
When I first even imagined the idea of a movie about the events of the morning of September 11th, I was against it. I thought they were doomed to fail given the fact that the images most likely to dominate the film were images we all saw happen on tv, and in a lot of cases, with our own eyes. I thought, how could a film, a piece of celluloid or maybe digital video recreate an action we all saw? Special effects cheapen it (see Pearl Harbor) even a real life recreation can't compete with the images of life processed in the human mind. I personally, never thought it would actually happen.
Then I read that Paul Greengrass had a project in the making and suddenly, I did a complete flip flop. For those of you not familiar with Paul Greengrass, he directed a movie back in 2002 called Bloody Sunday (if you haven't seen it, go out and rent it as soon as possible, or if not possible, I have it and I will loan it to you). Bloody Sunday is about the clash between the British Military and unarmed protesters in Derry, Ireland that ended with the deaths of 13 people. It's one of the most stunning recreations of a dramatic event that I have ever seen. Greengrass gives a documentary like immediacy to the action that does more than put you there, it surrounds you. He centers right at the heart of the violence and finds the heart of the wounded, it's the most we can hope for from an artist. So when I heard he was taking on United 93, my fears were assuaged a little. Here was a filmmaker that I trusted to respectfully represent this material. I also trusted him as someone with a non-exploitative agenda, I knew he wanted to make this film as a filmmaker, not as a thoughtless purveyor of an easy sell.
Nothing can prepare you for this film. I need to stress that more than anything, if you even have the slightest inkling of a doubt about seeing this movie, than stay home. I do not feel this is something every american should see as their patriotic duty, I do not think this is a movie every citizen of the world should see as their humanitarian duty. This is a film about a nightmare and I do not urge people to re-live nightmares. If you want to go, than go. I went because I respect the power I see in movies to represent all the things our minds and bodies are capable of. I went because Paul Greengrass is an artist I respect and I want to see his work. I went because this movie is important, good or bad, it is important.
I have never had an experience in a movie theatre (or life in general) comparable to the one I had sitting in that dark room on Second Avenue watching United 93. Visercal doesn't even begin to describe it. This movie squeezes hard and it does not let go. I can't even say it's let go of me yet. There are images in this film that even if you shield your eyes, your mind will recess into the deepest coils of your memory and bring back that same awful feeling you had in the pit of your stomach when you first heard the news. The overwhelming surge of mis-communication that occured as fear and panic took over and you were unable to discern whether the horrific or the truly horrific was actually happening. This movie captures all of that and with a precision and compassion that is undeniably moving and truly heart wrenching. I don't know what else to say, I guess all I can say is that I didn't think a film about 9/11 could move me because I'm still trembling from that day, what more could a film do? Whatever that is, United 93 did it. I'm sure I will write more about this, but I'm still lost as of right now.
More stuff coming soon, new Pearl Jam album on tuesday, graduation, all kinds of stuff. I want to write again, and hopefully I won't forget to.
Remember...
sing loud
sing louder
sing to feel
sing for everyone
please sing loud
sing louder
sing to heal
sing for everyone
sing for life sing for choices
sing for everyone without voices
sing for...
love - laughter - everyone here and after.
fear - hatred - everyone less than sacred.
life - choices - everyone without voices.
you can pray while they all keep sinking away.
Nate and I just got back from United 93, head over to his blog for some interesting thoughts on the subject. Before I get to the movie, a little history should be provided to preface my thoughts as a whole.
When I first even imagined the idea of a movie about the events of the morning of September 11th, I was against it. I thought they were doomed to fail given the fact that the images most likely to dominate the film were images we all saw happen on tv, and in a lot of cases, with our own eyes. I thought, how could a film, a piece of celluloid or maybe digital video recreate an action we all saw? Special effects cheapen it (see Pearl Harbor) even a real life recreation can't compete with the images of life processed in the human mind. I personally, never thought it would actually happen.
Then I read that Paul Greengrass had a project in the making and suddenly, I did a complete flip flop. For those of you not familiar with Paul Greengrass, he directed a movie back in 2002 called Bloody Sunday (if you haven't seen it, go out and rent it as soon as possible, or if not possible, I have it and I will loan it to you). Bloody Sunday is about the clash between the British Military and unarmed protesters in Derry, Ireland that ended with the deaths of 13 people. It's one of the most stunning recreations of a dramatic event that I have ever seen. Greengrass gives a documentary like immediacy to the action that does more than put you there, it surrounds you. He centers right at the heart of the violence and finds the heart of the wounded, it's the most we can hope for from an artist. So when I heard he was taking on United 93, my fears were assuaged a little. Here was a filmmaker that I trusted to respectfully represent this material. I also trusted him as someone with a non-exploitative agenda, I knew he wanted to make this film as a filmmaker, not as a thoughtless purveyor of an easy sell.
Nothing can prepare you for this film. I need to stress that more than anything, if you even have the slightest inkling of a doubt about seeing this movie, than stay home. I do not feel this is something every american should see as their patriotic duty, I do not think this is a movie every citizen of the world should see as their humanitarian duty. This is a film about a nightmare and I do not urge people to re-live nightmares. If you want to go, than go. I went because I respect the power I see in movies to represent all the things our minds and bodies are capable of. I went because Paul Greengrass is an artist I respect and I want to see his work. I went because this movie is important, good or bad, it is important.
I have never had an experience in a movie theatre (or life in general) comparable to the one I had sitting in that dark room on Second Avenue watching United 93. Visercal doesn't even begin to describe it. This movie squeezes hard and it does not let go. I can't even say it's let go of me yet. There are images in this film that even if you shield your eyes, your mind will recess into the deepest coils of your memory and bring back that same awful feeling you had in the pit of your stomach when you first heard the news. The overwhelming surge of mis-communication that occured as fear and panic took over and you were unable to discern whether the horrific or the truly horrific was actually happening. This movie captures all of that and with a precision and compassion that is undeniably moving and truly heart wrenching. I don't know what else to say, I guess all I can say is that I didn't think a film about 9/11 could move me because I'm still trembling from that day, what more could a film do? Whatever that is, United 93 did it. I'm sure I will write more about this, but I'm still lost as of right now.
More stuff coming soon, new Pearl Jam album on tuesday, graduation, all kinds of stuff. I want to write again, and hopefully I won't forget to.
Remember...
sing loud
sing louder
sing to feel
sing for everyone
please sing loud
sing louder
sing to heal
sing for everyone
sing for life sing for choices
sing for everyone without voices
sing for...
love - laughter - everyone here and after.
fear - hatred - everyone less than sacred.
life - choices - everyone without voices.
you can pray while they all keep sinking away.
Saturday, March 11, 2006
City of justice, city of love.
Oh wait,
That's gotham city. Nevermind
As most of you know, we are venturing off into the deep blue yonder of paris, france for a week.
I know that I probably don't post enough to necessitate something like this but I'm going to get back into the swing of things.
Therefore, I just wanted say au revoir for the week and I will see you all when I return.
Until then...
It's the letter, the letter that never came.
Dearest Children, Since we have been abroad we have missed you all so much. Certain events have compelled us to extend our travels. One day, when you're older, you will learn all about the people we've befriended, and the dangers we have faced. At times the world can seem an unfriendly and sinister place, but believe us when we say there is much more good in it than bad. All you have to do is look hard enough. And what might seem to be a series of unfortunate events, may, in-fact be the first steps of a journey. We hope to have you back in our arms soon darlings, but in case this letter arrives before our return, know that we love you. It fills us with pride to know that no matter what happens in this life, that you three will take care of each other with kindness, and bravery, and selflessness as you always have. And remember one thing my darlings and never forget it - that no matter where we are, know that as long as you have each other, you have your family, and you are home. Your loving parents.
That's gotham city. Nevermind
As most of you know, we are venturing off into the deep blue yonder of paris, france for a week.
I know that I probably don't post enough to necessitate something like this but I'm going to get back into the swing of things.
Therefore, I just wanted say au revoir for the week and I will see you all when I return.
Until then...
It's the letter, the letter that never came.
Dearest Children, Since we have been abroad we have missed you all so much. Certain events have compelled us to extend our travels. One day, when you're older, you will learn all about the people we've befriended, and the dangers we have faced. At times the world can seem an unfriendly and sinister place, but believe us when we say there is much more good in it than bad. All you have to do is look hard enough. And what might seem to be a series of unfortunate events, may, in-fact be the first steps of a journey. We hope to have you back in our arms soon darlings, but in case this letter arrives before our return, know that we love you. It fills us with pride to know that no matter what happens in this life, that you three will take care of each other with kindness, and bravery, and selflessness as you always have. And remember one thing my darlings and never forget it - that no matter where we are, know that as long as you have each other, you have your family, and you are home. Your loving parents.
Wednesday, March 08, 2006
Unleash Mr. Beast
To piggy back off of nate's post, the new mogwai cd is really really good. Pitchfork said it was too soft for their tastes, but like I usually say, fuck pitchfork. Mogwai has the ability to make their sound sound new and unique every time they put out an album. And, yes, the cd is soft but it rocks at the same time. I'm really really impressed, and I don't get impressed too easily.
New Pearl Jam single is out, World Wide Suicide, it's starting to get stuck in my head, and it rocks. Thank god pearl jam is coming back to whip us into shape and kick our asses into submission. I'm excited about the new album (i know i'm always excited) but this time it's different. The guys seem more invigorated more enthused than ever about the shit they're putting down. On top of that, Stone Gossard said it's their most accessible album to date, which would make some people cringe, but I'm cool with it. I think it just means they made a rock record, nothing that's going to play on mtv, but a straight ahead rock record still has the ability to rock. People said Takk was Sigur's most accessible album to date, if that's what passses for accessibility these days, I'm down.
Yeah, the oscars sucked, but they always do. I didn't watch them this year, which was kind of weird because I usually make a point to watch them. I'm kinda bummed I missed some of stewart's stuff, it sounded quite quirking. I like the idea of the political ads, especially about dame judi stench. Getting back to the winner, I thought all the actors were deserving but what's with everyone turning on Reese Witherspoon now? Apparently she's too perky, too cute, god forbid somebody is excited about winning an oscar. Now I didn't see her speech so maybe she was noxiously annoying, all I know is she and joaquin made walk the line, without them, the movie sinks. That doesn't mean it's bad, I thought it was a fine flicka show. But something happened between those two, and you can tell because sometimes the movie soars with them at the helm. I just think that if an actor can take lesser quality material and upgrade it, that's a performance. Look at what Denzel did with training day, would that movie had been a tenth of what it was if a lesser actor attempted that part? They would have made alonzo just a psycho-path, Denzel made him something ten times scarier, a psycho path we understand. Sorry to go on the rant but I was just thinking about how awesome Denzel is. Anyway Reese deserved it, she should be happy, I hope she does more good work in the future.
As for the best picture debacle, people are comparing this to back in 98 when Shakespeare in Love won over Saving Private Ryan. First of all, no, Shakespeare in Love is a fantastic movie, just as much deserving of the oscar as SPV was. Crash blows ass and does so on every possible level (except for the acting, which is the only reason it is remotely watchable). If I hear one more person sing its praises about how groundbreaking the movie is, I'm gonna shoot out my own knees. Spike Lee made a a movie back in 1989 about race relations, it was called do the right thing. Shit didn't even get a best picture nomination. The point is Do the Right Thing is a perfect movie on all accounts, script, style, and direction. There's not a false note or a wrong turn anywhere on screen, it's perfect. That and You can count on me are two of the most perfect scripts ever written for the screen, at least that I've counted. I'm sure there are more. Anyway getting back to do the right thing, there's something very fishy about the fact that Spike Lee has been screaming and hollering for almost 20 years about race relations (everyone knows I love spike and I don't mean that in a bad way) and for some reason when a white guy like Paul Haggis makes a movie like Crash, people think its groundbreaking and it wins. To me Crash is one of those pat yourself on the back feel good liberal race movies where you say, oh my god people are awful but thank god I'm not like that. That makes people feel good about themselves, Do the Right Thing makes you say, oh my god, I'm like that and I'm capable of that as well. That doesn't make people feel good, hence, no oscars. It's alll bullshit, but just so people are sure, not only do I disagree with the politics of crash, it was also a lousy movie. I wouldn't be nearly as pissed off as I am if crash had been a well made, well written film, which it is not.
Now, for something positive...
I'm on a roll, this way I won't have to write another post for at least ten years.
We finished Golf The Movie this past weekend, and whatever I say will probably cheapen into some sort of hallmark sentiment. But I was really blown away with everyone's performance, the cast, the crew, the hospitality (mom), I couldn't have even imagined the help I got. There is something so exhilirating about watching a bunch of people busting their ass to make a creative endeavor as good as it possibly can be, and to watch those people get excited about the process, it's a thrill I don't even want to try to describe because I don't think I can. I just want everyone to know that I am forever grateful and that this is one of those things I will never ever forget, for as long as I live. This is for everybody who helped in anyway possible with this movie. I owe so many people favors and whatnot that I will probably never be able to repay them. But, it's good knowing you got people like that in your life backin you up. And on that note, a little kevy dev...
And I have been feeling this good for a reason
my friends and my family
you all are my backbone
you keep me balanced and settled
and I'm in debt to you all endlessly
Yeah I'm in debt to you all endlessly
New Pearl Jam single is out, World Wide Suicide, it's starting to get stuck in my head, and it rocks. Thank god pearl jam is coming back to whip us into shape and kick our asses into submission. I'm excited about the new album (i know i'm always excited) but this time it's different. The guys seem more invigorated more enthused than ever about the shit they're putting down. On top of that, Stone Gossard said it's their most accessible album to date, which would make some people cringe, but I'm cool with it. I think it just means they made a rock record, nothing that's going to play on mtv, but a straight ahead rock record still has the ability to rock. People said Takk was Sigur's most accessible album to date, if that's what passses for accessibility these days, I'm down.
Yeah, the oscars sucked, but they always do. I didn't watch them this year, which was kind of weird because I usually make a point to watch them. I'm kinda bummed I missed some of stewart's stuff, it sounded quite quirking. I like the idea of the political ads, especially about dame judi stench. Getting back to the winner, I thought all the actors were deserving but what's with everyone turning on Reese Witherspoon now? Apparently she's too perky, too cute, god forbid somebody is excited about winning an oscar. Now I didn't see her speech so maybe she was noxiously annoying, all I know is she and joaquin made walk the line, without them, the movie sinks. That doesn't mean it's bad, I thought it was a fine flicka show. But something happened between those two, and you can tell because sometimes the movie soars with them at the helm. I just think that if an actor can take lesser quality material and upgrade it, that's a performance. Look at what Denzel did with training day, would that movie had been a tenth of what it was if a lesser actor attempted that part? They would have made alonzo just a psycho-path, Denzel made him something ten times scarier, a psycho path we understand. Sorry to go on the rant but I was just thinking about how awesome Denzel is. Anyway Reese deserved it, she should be happy, I hope she does more good work in the future.
As for the best picture debacle, people are comparing this to back in 98 when Shakespeare in Love won over Saving Private Ryan. First of all, no, Shakespeare in Love is a fantastic movie, just as much deserving of the oscar as SPV was. Crash blows ass and does so on every possible level (except for the acting, which is the only reason it is remotely watchable). If I hear one more person sing its praises about how groundbreaking the movie is, I'm gonna shoot out my own knees. Spike Lee made a a movie back in 1989 about race relations, it was called do the right thing. Shit didn't even get a best picture nomination. The point is Do the Right Thing is a perfect movie on all accounts, script, style, and direction. There's not a false note or a wrong turn anywhere on screen, it's perfect. That and You can count on me are two of the most perfect scripts ever written for the screen, at least that I've counted. I'm sure there are more. Anyway getting back to do the right thing, there's something very fishy about the fact that Spike Lee has been screaming and hollering for almost 20 years about race relations (everyone knows I love spike and I don't mean that in a bad way) and for some reason when a white guy like Paul Haggis makes a movie like Crash, people think its groundbreaking and it wins. To me Crash is one of those pat yourself on the back feel good liberal race movies where you say, oh my god people are awful but thank god I'm not like that. That makes people feel good about themselves, Do the Right Thing makes you say, oh my god, I'm like that and I'm capable of that as well. That doesn't make people feel good, hence, no oscars. It's alll bullshit, but just so people are sure, not only do I disagree with the politics of crash, it was also a lousy movie. I wouldn't be nearly as pissed off as I am if crash had been a well made, well written film, which it is not.
Now, for something positive...
I'm on a roll, this way I won't have to write another post for at least ten years.
We finished Golf The Movie this past weekend, and whatever I say will probably cheapen into some sort of hallmark sentiment. But I was really blown away with everyone's performance, the cast, the crew, the hospitality (mom), I couldn't have even imagined the help I got. There is something so exhilirating about watching a bunch of people busting their ass to make a creative endeavor as good as it possibly can be, and to watch those people get excited about the process, it's a thrill I don't even want to try to describe because I don't think I can. I just want everyone to know that I am forever grateful and that this is one of those things I will never ever forget, for as long as I live. This is for everybody who helped in anyway possible with this movie. I owe so many people favors and whatnot that I will probably never be able to repay them. But, it's good knowing you got people like that in your life backin you up. And on that note, a little kevy dev...
And I have been feeling this good for a reason
my friends and my family
you all are my backbone
you keep me balanced and settled
and I'm in debt to you all endlessly
Yeah I'm in debt to you all endlessly
Tuesday, February 14, 2006
Happy Valentine's Day
I guess I've given up on writing anything anymore...
As the candy hearts poured into the fiery quasar, a wonderous thing happened, why not? They vaporized into a mystical love radiation that spread across the universe, destroying many, many planets - including two gangster planets and a cowboy world. But one planet was exactly the right distance to see the romantic rays, but not be destroyed by them - Earth. So all over the world, couples stood together in joy. And me, Zoidberg! And no one could've been happier, unless it would've also been Valentine's Day. What? It was? Hooray!
Happy Valentine's Day.
As the candy hearts poured into the fiery quasar, a wonderous thing happened, why not? They vaporized into a mystical love radiation that spread across the universe, destroying many, many planets - including two gangster planets and a cowboy world. But one planet was exactly the right distance to see the romantic rays, but not be destroyed by them - Earth. So all over the world, couples stood together in joy. And me, Zoidberg! And no one could've been happier, unless it would've also been Valentine's Day. What? It was? Hooray!
Happy Valentine's Day.
Wednesday, February 08, 2006
to: elliott, from: portland
I always do this, I know. A real post is coming soon, I promise.
It's just that, whenever someone writes anything about Elliott Smith, it's usually very touching. The other day I was listening to one of his songs (or a cover) I'm not sure, anyway, I thought to myself: I wish he was still around. That's all.
Here's what the man wrote,
To his fans, Elliott Smith was someone who told your sad story and made you feel like you were not alone. He took your desperation, your toils and torments, and he made them beautiful, and in doing so he made you beautiful.
To those who knew Elliott personally, he was a tortured soul, full of love and grief and an insatiable desire for something more.
For all his odes and allusions and beautiful references, Portland thanks him. For making the darkness of this world gorgeous, we all thank him. May he rest in peace
-Anthony Davis, Expunged Records
P.S. I actually found a decemberists song I can stand listening to. It is an elliott smith song but progress is progress.
It's just that, whenever someone writes anything about Elliott Smith, it's usually very touching. The other day I was listening to one of his songs (or a cover) I'm not sure, anyway, I thought to myself: I wish he was still around. That's all.
Here's what the man wrote,
To his fans, Elliott Smith was someone who told your sad story and made you feel like you were not alone. He took your desperation, your toils and torments, and he made them beautiful, and in doing so he made you beautiful.
To those who knew Elliott personally, he was a tortured soul, full of love and grief and an insatiable desire for something more.
For all his odes and allusions and beautiful references, Portland thanks him. For making the darkness of this world gorgeous, we all thank him. May he rest in peace
-Anthony Davis, Expunged Records
P.S. I actually found a decemberists song I can stand listening to. It is an elliott smith song but progress is progress.
Saturday, February 04, 2006
We have to overcome the idea that everyone is the same.
Hey, it's time
To move away and shine!
You can be all you ever want
In a dream.
You can take time along the way,
Let this music in your head.
You can be all you ever want
Inside a dream.
And if you take this time,
And you will move their minds,
You'll find it's all in a dream.
It's the only way
For you to be...
To move away and shine!
You can be all you ever want
In a dream.
You can take time along the way,
Let this music in your head.
You can be all you ever want
Inside a dream.
And if you take this time,
And you will move their minds,
You'll find it's all in a dream.
It's the only way
For you to be...
Friday, January 27, 2006
And if you see me down at the liquor store, please don't tell my dad. And if you see my dad down at the liquor store, don't tell me anything at all.
A couple of things I wanted to share...
I watched Junebug again tonight, really strong flick. The direction, the performances, and the script are all fantastic. Movies like this have become a joke, newly christened spouses introduced to a backwards-ass family, they've been done to death. This one is so careful with its observations and so natural in its tone that it feels quite outlandish at times. You forget that not every family has a sex crazed barbara streisand as its matriarch. Anyway, I wish I could have put it in my top ten cause it really was one of the best films to come out last year, and a great source of comfort knowing its director was a first-timer. Also if amy adams doesn't get an oscar nomination for either supporting or lead (I'm not sure which she qualifies as) then I will add to list of 999,000 reasons why the oscars should be done away with. Her breakdown scene at the hospital is reason enough to see this movie and it's one of the best performed scenes of the year by any actor.
"God loves you just the way you are but he loves too much to let you stay that way."
Also, I am becoming obsessed with that Antony and the Johnsons CD, I am a bird now. There is something about that guy's voice, it's like nina simone combined with a transexual ghost. Haunting doesn't even begin to describe it. Particularly the first song, Hope There's Someone, but I'll get to that later. The writing is spot-on and the instrumental back up is every bit up to snuff, especially Fistful of Love which begins with a Lou Reed poem of some kind. Also Rufus Wainwright shows up for the song, What Can I Do? Rufus is righteous. Anyway, back to Antony, there's something so hearbreaking about this album because you get the sense that it's about someone wishing to do away with whatever life he or she has now and start over with a completely different one. They're trapped and this is their only solace, I know that makes it sound corny but just listen to the record or sample it whatever you want to do. I think it's one of those things that if you're into it and it gets you then it does, if not, no biggie, it's cool.
Anyway, please watch this This is the first song off of the Antony and the Johnsons record and it's one of those songs you need to listen to over and over again. Especially right before you go to sleep. It will make you feel better, I think. That's all, good night everybody....
Hope there's someone
Who'll take care of me
When I die, will I go
Hope there's someone
Who'll set my heart free
Nice to hold when I'm tired
There's a ghost on the horizon
When I go to bed
How can I fall asleep at night
How will I rest my head
Oh I'm scared of the middle place
Between light and nowhere
I don't want to be the one
Left in there, left in there
There's a man on the horizon
Wish that I'd go to bed
If I fall to his feet tonight
Will allow rest my head
So here's hoping I will not drown
Or paralyze in light
And godsend I don't want to go
To the seal's watershed
Hope there's someone
Who'll take care of me
When I die, Will I go
Hope there's someone
Who'll set my heart free
Nice to hold when I'm tired
I watched Junebug again tonight, really strong flick. The direction, the performances, and the script are all fantastic. Movies like this have become a joke, newly christened spouses introduced to a backwards-ass family, they've been done to death. This one is so careful with its observations and so natural in its tone that it feels quite outlandish at times. You forget that not every family has a sex crazed barbara streisand as its matriarch. Anyway, I wish I could have put it in my top ten cause it really was one of the best films to come out last year, and a great source of comfort knowing its director was a first-timer. Also if amy adams doesn't get an oscar nomination for either supporting or lead (I'm not sure which she qualifies as) then I will add to list of 999,000 reasons why the oscars should be done away with. Her breakdown scene at the hospital is reason enough to see this movie and it's one of the best performed scenes of the year by any actor.
"God loves you just the way you are but he loves too much to let you stay that way."
Also, I am becoming obsessed with that Antony and the Johnsons CD, I am a bird now. There is something about that guy's voice, it's like nina simone combined with a transexual ghost. Haunting doesn't even begin to describe it. Particularly the first song, Hope There's Someone, but I'll get to that later. The writing is spot-on and the instrumental back up is every bit up to snuff, especially Fistful of Love which begins with a Lou Reed poem of some kind. Also Rufus Wainwright shows up for the song, What Can I Do? Rufus is righteous. Anyway, back to Antony, there's something so hearbreaking about this album because you get the sense that it's about someone wishing to do away with whatever life he or she has now and start over with a completely different one. They're trapped and this is their only solace, I know that makes it sound corny but just listen to the record or sample it whatever you want to do. I think it's one of those things that if you're into it and it gets you then it does, if not, no biggie, it's cool.
Anyway, please watch this This is the first song off of the Antony and the Johnsons record and it's one of those songs you need to listen to over and over again. Especially right before you go to sleep. It will make you feel better, I think. That's all, good night everybody....
Hope there's someone
Who'll take care of me
When I die, will I go
Hope there's someone
Who'll set my heart free
Nice to hold when I'm tired
There's a ghost on the horizon
When I go to bed
How can I fall asleep at night
How will I rest my head
Oh I'm scared of the middle place
Between light and nowhere
I don't want to be the one
Left in there, left in there
There's a man on the horizon
Wish that I'd go to bed
If I fall to his feet tonight
Will allow rest my head
So here's hoping I will not drown
Or paralyze in light
And godsend I don't want to go
To the seal's watershed
Hope there's someone
Who'll take care of me
When I die, Will I go
Hope there's someone
Who'll set my heart free
Nice to hold when I'm tired
Sunday, January 01, 2006
You ain't even in my top ten!
Okay, okay here I go again hitchin a ride on the blog bandwagon, shoving another top ten list down the throats of my dear readers. Then again, this blog was never built on anything resembling an original thought, idea, or concept. Plus, I used to do these for my highschool newspaper and they were always my favorite things to write at the end of the year. Actually, I always wrote them mid january due to the fact that in delaware, we had to wait several weeks before the limited engagements (whatever the hell that means) releases made their way down to our humble abode. All that aside, here are my top ten films of 2005, actually my ten best films of the year in alphabetical order. They are equal in the eyes of the anti-fanboy.
The Ten Best Films of 2005 (in alphabetical order)
Brokeback Mountain
Ang Lee's intimately epic western achieves a kind of power that stays with you long after the end credits. Lee has a compassionate gift for understanding a tormented psyche, and his amazing cast pulls off a beautiful and heartbreaking love story. With its mountain vistas stretching on forever into the horizon and its painterly cloud splotched sky lines, Brokeback Mountain reminds us that behind any face there be could be untold reservoirs of sorrow, longing, and regret. Some movies just know how to hit you where it hurts, the is one of them, and it will not be forgotten.
Capote
Phillip Seymour Hoffman has been consistently remarkable for so long that I forgot he has never had a staring role for himself. My memory is now surely intact after his astounding portrayal in this stunning film. It's the best biopic we've had in the past couple of years, because it uses the life of an artist to illuminate a character study of one man's decent into his own personal hell. First time director Bennett Miller also captures the stark, lonely nature of the mid-west, the shockwaves that result from a brutal act if violence, and how the two sometimes go hand in hand. Look out for Clifton Collins shattering confessional to Hoffman in his death row cell. Make sure you remember to breathe.
Good Night, and Good Luck
The passion for this project permeates through every frame and every carefully measured performance. Some accused Clooney and Co. of hero worship, nuts to that. Clooney is making a statement about people who acted heroically during a time when such feats were in short supply. Too bad nothing has changed. No need to despair, Good Night's sure handed intelligence and gracefully entertaining execution is a testament to the power an artists yields to enact change. This movie got people thinking, and we should all be grateful.
Last Days
The caper in Gus Van Sant's fantastically daring "death trilogy" is the best of the bunch. A biopic in the loosest sense of the word, Last Days accounts for the final lonely hours of a Kurt Cobain-like rock star. Never before has this kind of despair been so perfectly captured on film. Always questioning, but still containing a clarity of vision that places the viewer under a hypnotic spell. Van Sant's wandering eye puts us in the place of a disembodied spirit looking for a looking for a body, one that may never be found. It's a testament to Van Sant's talents that he can pull off this kind of spiritual aplomb within the confines of Michael Pitt's solitary march to death.
Millions
Finally, a film for children that lives up to the vivid imagination of a child. Finally, a film for children that doesn't peddle a bunch of easy answers and morals. Finally, a film for children so tender and moving, only the hardest of hearts need not apply. Danny Boyle's vibrant and colorful look at a child hood in transition does what all great children's stories do: sings us to sleep without coddling. Alex Etel gives the best performance by a child actor in many a moon. Watching him in this film, it's easy to remember that there is goodness in this world.
Munich
Screw the box office success! Ever since Saving Private Ryan, Steven Spielberg has hit an artistic stride the likes of which we've never seen. He seems to be getting better and more challenging to himself and his audience with every film. Munich thoughtfully explores a complex subject and Spielberg uses his masterful command of the filmmaking craft to take the Hollywood blockbuster to bold new levels. Spielberg's cast is equally game with Eric Bana's gut wrenchingly subtle performances leading the way. Munich is a globe-trotting thriller suffused with a compelling anti blockbuster brain. The film pleads for peace, not politics and the devastating final shot reminds us just how much is at stake.
The New World
Terrence Malick's historical epic is the most beautiful film of the year. In fact, it is the most beautiful film to grace our screens since Malick's last outing: The Thin Red Line. Malick's films bleed through the confines of cinema: the cuts, the frames, and the words are almost rendered arbitrary. Watching one of his films is a completely immersive experience and no other director in the history of film operates on the same level. The New World reminds us that there is still some pure and untouched wonder in this world waiting to be discovered. Whether or not those places actually exist is up to us. Malick's quest is a masterpiece of one of most important directors in history, passing up the opportunity to see this one on the big screen is insane.
The Squid and The Whale
Noah Baumbach's achingly funny family memoir adds another gem to my favorite genre: the melancholy comedy. Jeff Daniels, Laura Linney and the rest of the cast give career defining performances in a film that never takes a wrong step. Baumbach's screenplay (the best original of the year) allows his characters to embarrass the hell out of us and each other. His fearless representation of an incredibly flawed group of people is reason to cheer. Baumbach is an unflinchingly honest director, and this is personal filmmaking at its best. It reads like great fiction but feels like real life.
Syriana
Stephen Gaghan's head spinning examination of the toxic tentacles of corruption that have infested oil, politics, and business startles us with its wealth of information and rattles us with its passion to fight back. The film gives no easy answers, but its intentions are nowhere near defeatist. The very nature of the film itself immediately begs for further examination, and maybe a greater grasp on what is wrong. Gaghan's script and direction are a marvel of multi-narrative story telling. Each scene ending with the finality of the perfect last line, only to leave us begging for more. The cast is uniformly excellent with Clooney giving the best performance of his career. What's more, the film gets better on repeat viewings.
Winter Solstice
Here is a movie that was unfairly ignored during its initial release and has been pretty much forgotten since then. This movie is a quiet force, one that, if allowed, will rattle you wit its realistic emotional core. The cast here is doing something extraordinary, they are acting to not act. This sounds like a cliche, but this film feels like a carefully observed real life, right down to the most minute details. Josh Sternfeld's assured and understated direction only gets richer with each viewing. It's a thrill to see drama moving like a memory and not like a something out of a screenwriting manual. Perhaps the greatest feat of all that this film accomplishes is that it looks so effortless.
Now that I've gotten the top ten out of the way, here is a list of some other films that I really liked but for the sake of title purposes, could not be crammed into my top ten.
HONORABLE MENTIONS
Bad News Bears
Breakfast on Pluto
Broken Flowers
The Constant Gardner
Corpse Bride
Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room
Grizzly Man
A History of Violence
Happy Endings
Jarhead
Junebug
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
Me and You and Everyone We Know
Pride & Prejudice
Sin City
The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada
Transamerica
War of the Worlds
Here's something I saw the onion do and I though it would be a fun idea...
MOST OVERRATED MOVIE OF 2005
Crash
This is without a doubt, hands down, the easiest decision to make for this particular subject. Yet for some reason, I see this film popping up on all kinds of top ten lists of critics who I used to think owned brains. How could anybody fall for this nonsense? A film without any kind of resemblance to real life is being touted as a monumental dissection of modern racism. What bugs me the most is that this is a film that says absolutely nothing at all, but it just so happens to do it very loudly. Director Paul Haggis (who was also responsible for one of last years most overrated films, Million Dollar Baby) needs to understand that just because you can exploit melodrama for the sake of manipulating an audience, doesn't mean you should.
MOST UNDERRATED MOVIE OF 2005
Elizabethtown
You might as well put this on my honorable mention list. Cynic critics didn't vibe with Cameron Crowe's optimism as an act of revolution mindset and all I can say to them is that they missed out on the fun. This isn't so much a film as it is an essay set to that perfect soundtrack that only Cameron Crowe seems to know how to assemble. Crowe has the confidence to let his film wander but never meander, like the Dunst character says, every day has a purpose and every scene has one too. Cameron Crowe movies inspire a specific kind of wonder inside of me, perhaps that's way I'm susceptible to them. He loves the characters he writes about, and he loves the places they visit. I walked out of this movie invigorated, hopefully he was too.
And finally...
THE SPECIAL JURY PRIZE OF 2005
Star Wars Episode III-Revenge of the Sith
I knew you all were wondering where I was going to put this one on my list. I can see you sweating frantically, worrying that I had given up on the one film that was the purpose for creating this freakin blog. Don't worry, dear friends, I just figured that it wasn't fair to put this film in the top ten because it belongs in an even higher echelon of best film categorization. This film was a summation of everything I love about movies and it was one of the single greatest experiences I have ever had in a theatre. Can anything else really compare to it? No, and it doesn't have to. Star Wars has always been in a category unto itself for me ever since I first layed eyes on the opening crawl. I usually tell people right away whenever they ask me for my favorite films (and that happens almost every hour) that my favorite filmed story of all time is the Star Wars Saga and then I go off from there. Revenge of the Sith was like a childhood memory I experienced at 21, it was the only movie I ever clapped for at its completion and it is the only movie that I could spend nine hours of my ass on the concrete sidewalk waiting for without a single regret. This was the movie of my dreams and it's quite an exhilarating feeling, watching a movie live up to that. Even if this is the last of the series (and I hope it is), I never want to let go of that desire to let a movie simply envelop you to the point where you just surrender all your senses and just say wow. I never want to let go of Star Wars.
There you go, it was a good year but good movies always come out and people will continue to see them. Don't listen to this nonsense about the death of the box office or the death of good cinema (even though I could be accused to doing that sometimes). The movies are out there, and it's a simple matter of getting off your ass and checking them out. I guess that's all I got to say right now.
Oh wait, one more thing...
"One day, while taking a look at some vistas in Dad's stereopticon, it hit me that I was just this little girl, born in Texas, whose father was a sign painter, who only had just so many years to live. It sent a chill down my spine and I thought where would I be this very moment, if Kit had never met me? Or killed anybody… this very moment... if my mom had never met my dad… if she had never died. And what's the man I'll marry gonna look like? What's he doing right this minute? Is he thinking about me now, by some coincidence, even though he doesn't know me? Does it show on his face? For days afterwards I lived in dread. Sometimes I wished I could fall asleep and be taken off to some magical land, and this never happened."
The Ten Best Films of 2005 (in alphabetical order)
Brokeback Mountain
Ang Lee's intimately epic western achieves a kind of power that stays with you long after the end credits. Lee has a compassionate gift for understanding a tormented psyche, and his amazing cast pulls off a beautiful and heartbreaking love story. With its mountain vistas stretching on forever into the horizon and its painterly cloud splotched sky lines, Brokeback Mountain reminds us that behind any face there be could be untold reservoirs of sorrow, longing, and regret. Some movies just know how to hit you where it hurts, the is one of them, and it will not be forgotten.
Capote
Phillip Seymour Hoffman has been consistently remarkable for so long that I forgot he has never had a staring role for himself. My memory is now surely intact after his astounding portrayal in this stunning film. It's the best biopic we've had in the past couple of years, because it uses the life of an artist to illuminate a character study of one man's decent into his own personal hell. First time director Bennett Miller also captures the stark, lonely nature of the mid-west, the shockwaves that result from a brutal act if violence, and how the two sometimes go hand in hand. Look out for Clifton Collins shattering confessional to Hoffman in his death row cell. Make sure you remember to breathe.
Good Night, and Good Luck
The passion for this project permeates through every frame and every carefully measured performance. Some accused Clooney and Co. of hero worship, nuts to that. Clooney is making a statement about people who acted heroically during a time when such feats were in short supply. Too bad nothing has changed. No need to despair, Good Night's sure handed intelligence and gracefully entertaining execution is a testament to the power an artists yields to enact change. This movie got people thinking, and we should all be grateful.
Last Days
The caper in Gus Van Sant's fantastically daring "death trilogy" is the best of the bunch. A biopic in the loosest sense of the word, Last Days accounts for the final lonely hours of a Kurt Cobain-like rock star. Never before has this kind of despair been so perfectly captured on film. Always questioning, but still containing a clarity of vision that places the viewer under a hypnotic spell. Van Sant's wandering eye puts us in the place of a disembodied spirit looking for a looking for a body, one that may never be found. It's a testament to Van Sant's talents that he can pull off this kind of spiritual aplomb within the confines of Michael Pitt's solitary march to death.
Millions
Finally, a film for children that lives up to the vivid imagination of a child. Finally, a film for children that doesn't peddle a bunch of easy answers and morals. Finally, a film for children so tender and moving, only the hardest of hearts need not apply. Danny Boyle's vibrant and colorful look at a child hood in transition does what all great children's stories do: sings us to sleep without coddling. Alex Etel gives the best performance by a child actor in many a moon. Watching him in this film, it's easy to remember that there is goodness in this world.
Munich
Screw the box office success! Ever since Saving Private Ryan, Steven Spielberg has hit an artistic stride the likes of which we've never seen. He seems to be getting better and more challenging to himself and his audience with every film. Munich thoughtfully explores a complex subject and Spielberg uses his masterful command of the filmmaking craft to take the Hollywood blockbuster to bold new levels. Spielberg's cast is equally game with Eric Bana's gut wrenchingly subtle performances leading the way. Munich is a globe-trotting thriller suffused with a compelling anti blockbuster brain. The film pleads for peace, not politics and the devastating final shot reminds us just how much is at stake.
The New World
Terrence Malick's historical epic is the most beautiful film of the year. In fact, it is the most beautiful film to grace our screens since Malick's last outing: The Thin Red Line. Malick's films bleed through the confines of cinema: the cuts, the frames, and the words are almost rendered arbitrary. Watching one of his films is a completely immersive experience and no other director in the history of film operates on the same level. The New World reminds us that there is still some pure and untouched wonder in this world waiting to be discovered. Whether or not those places actually exist is up to us. Malick's quest is a masterpiece of one of most important directors in history, passing up the opportunity to see this one on the big screen is insane.
The Squid and The Whale
Noah Baumbach's achingly funny family memoir adds another gem to my favorite genre: the melancholy comedy. Jeff Daniels, Laura Linney and the rest of the cast give career defining performances in a film that never takes a wrong step. Baumbach's screenplay (the best original of the year) allows his characters to embarrass the hell out of us and each other. His fearless representation of an incredibly flawed group of people is reason to cheer. Baumbach is an unflinchingly honest director, and this is personal filmmaking at its best. It reads like great fiction but feels like real life.
Syriana
Stephen Gaghan's head spinning examination of the toxic tentacles of corruption that have infested oil, politics, and business startles us with its wealth of information and rattles us with its passion to fight back. The film gives no easy answers, but its intentions are nowhere near defeatist. The very nature of the film itself immediately begs for further examination, and maybe a greater grasp on what is wrong. Gaghan's script and direction are a marvel of multi-narrative story telling. Each scene ending with the finality of the perfect last line, only to leave us begging for more. The cast is uniformly excellent with Clooney giving the best performance of his career. What's more, the film gets better on repeat viewings.
Winter Solstice
Here is a movie that was unfairly ignored during its initial release and has been pretty much forgotten since then. This movie is a quiet force, one that, if allowed, will rattle you wit its realistic emotional core. The cast here is doing something extraordinary, they are acting to not act. This sounds like a cliche, but this film feels like a carefully observed real life, right down to the most minute details. Josh Sternfeld's assured and understated direction only gets richer with each viewing. It's a thrill to see drama moving like a memory and not like a something out of a screenwriting manual. Perhaps the greatest feat of all that this film accomplishes is that it looks so effortless.
Now that I've gotten the top ten out of the way, here is a list of some other films that I really liked but for the sake of title purposes, could not be crammed into my top ten.
HONORABLE MENTIONS
Bad News Bears
Breakfast on Pluto
Broken Flowers
The Constant Gardner
Corpse Bride
Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room
Grizzly Man
A History of Violence
Happy Endings
Jarhead
Junebug
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
Me and You and Everyone We Know
Pride & Prejudice
Sin City
The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada
Transamerica
War of the Worlds
Here's something I saw the onion do and I though it would be a fun idea...
MOST OVERRATED MOVIE OF 2005
Crash
This is without a doubt, hands down, the easiest decision to make for this particular subject. Yet for some reason, I see this film popping up on all kinds of top ten lists of critics who I used to think owned brains. How could anybody fall for this nonsense? A film without any kind of resemblance to real life is being touted as a monumental dissection of modern racism. What bugs me the most is that this is a film that says absolutely nothing at all, but it just so happens to do it very loudly. Director Paul Haggis (who was also responsible for one of last years most overrated films, Million Dollar Baby) needs to understand that just because you can exploit melodrama for the sake of manipulating an audience, doesn't mean you should.
MOST UNDERRATED MOVIE OF 2005
Elizabethtown
You might as well put this on my honorable mention list. Cynic critics didn't vibe with Cameron Crowe's optimism as an act of revolution mindset and all I can say to them is that they missed out on the fun. This isn't so much a film as it is an essay set to that perfect soundtrack that only Cameron Crowe seems to know how to assemble. Crowe has the confidence to let his film wander but never meander, like the Dunst character says, every day has a purpose and every scene has one too. Cameron Crowe movies inspire a specific kind of wonder inside of me, perhaps that's way I'm susceptible to them. He loves the characters he writes about, and he loves the places they visit. I walked out of this movie invigorated, hopefully he was too.
And finally...
THE SPECIAL JURY PRIZE OF 2005
Star Wars Episode III-Revenge of the Sith
I knew you all were wondering where I was going to put this one on my list. I can see you sweating frantically, worrying that I had given up on the one film that was the purpose for creating this freakin blog. Don't worry, dear friends, I just figured that it wasn't fair to put this film in the top ten because it belongs in an even higher echelon of best film categorization. This film was a summation of everything I love about movies and it was one of the single greatest experiences I have ever had in a theatre. Can anything else really compare to it? No, and it doesn't have to. Star Wars has always been in a category unto itself for me ever since I first layed eyes on the opening crawl. I usually tell people right away whenever they ask me for my favorite films (and that happens almost every hour) that my favorite filmed story of all time is the Star Wars Saga and then I go off from there. Revenge of the Sith was like a childhood memory I experienced at 21, it was the only movie I ever clapped for at its completion and it is the only movie that I could spend nine hours of my ass on the concrete sidewalk waiting for without a single regret. This was the movie of my dreams and it's quite an exhilarating feeling, watching a movie live up to that. Even if this is the last of the series (and I hope it is), I never want to let go of that desire to let a movie simply envelop you to the point where you just surrender all your senses and just say wow. I never want to let go of Star Wars.
There you go, it was a good year but good movies always come out and people will continue to see them. Don't listen to this nonsense about the death of the box office or the death of good cinema (even though I could be accused to doing that sometimes). The movies are out there, and it's a simple matter of getting off your ass and checking them out. I guess that's all I got to say right now.
Oh wait, one more thing...
"One day, while taking a look at some vistas in Dad's stereopticon, it hit me that I was just this little girl, born in Texas, whose father was a sign painter, who only had just so many years to live. It sent a chill down my spine and I thought where would I be this very moment, if Kit had never met me? Or killed anybody… this very moment... if my mom had never met my dad… if she had never died. And what's the man I'll marry gonna look like? What's he doing right this minute? Is he thinking about me now, by some coincidence, even though he doesn't know me? Does it show on his face? For days afterwards I lived in dread. Sometimes I wished I could fall asleep and be taken off to some magical land, and this never happened."
Sunday, December 25, 2005
Merry Christmas.
"There are two kinds of Christmas people, those who like their Christmas lights to stay on solid and those who like them to blink. As a kid, I always had a thing for sitting in the dark and watching the lights blink on and off at random. In the end, what we have are these little, great moments. They come and they go. That's as good as it gets. But, still, isn't that great?"
Thursday, December 15, 2005
It's back.
I just read an article by new york times film critic a.o. scott. He's writing about the criteria one has to make and observe in order to successfully gauge the pick of family films this season. He mentions the reaction his 9 year old son had this past summer...
"After I took my 9-year-old and a friend of his to "Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith" last spring, for example, they kept coming back to the awful final battle, in which Anakin Skywalker's limbs are severed and his face horribly burned. This was a more intimate kind of violence than they were used to encountering, and they needed to make sense of its place in the movie's narrative. They were disturbed as well as fascinated, and what fascinated me was how seriously they took the scene, which is a grisly confirmation of Anakin's transformation into Darth Vader and a punishment for his allegiance to the dark side. In some ways I wish that George Lucas and I had spared them such a gruesome spectacle, but at the same time their reaction to it confirmed the integrity of Mr. Lucas's story."
Damn right, and that's why it's still the best of the series.
"After I took my 9-year-old and a friend of his to "Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith" last spring, for example, they kept coming back to the awful final battle, in which Anakin Skywalker's limbs are severed and his face horribly burned. This was a more intimate kind of violence than they were used to encountering, and they needed to make sense of its place in the movie's narrative. They were disturbed as well as fascinated, and what fascinated me was how seriously they took the scene, which is a grisly confirmation of Anakin's transformation into Darth Vader and a punishment for his allegiance to the dark side. In some ways I wish that George Lucas and I had spared them such a gruesome spectacle, but at the same time their reaction to it confirmed the integrity of Mr. Lucas's story."
Damn right, and that's why it's still the best of the series.
Monday, December 12, 2005
'Splosions
I'm on a record pace here, two blog entries in one day.
Real exciting...
Anyway, just got back from the Explosions in the Sky show at the bowery ballroom. One of the best flat out rock shows I've ever seen, it was a short set yet but it was so focused and executed to perfection it's hard to complain about the length. These four guys from Texas don't so much play their instruments as beat them into submission. You get the sense that they own every single guitar string, every inch of the crash cymbal, and every thrash they indulge us with. This music is not created, it is channeled through these four guys and flows through them like electricity. It's this intangible thing that you know is amazing but you can't get a hold on it. It's what I was talking about last week with the images in Malick's Thin Red Line, it's so much about the environment and the place of that exact time and moment. This music isn't about steadfast answers, or knowing every single goddamn thing on the planet. It's about asking the questions, the yearning of that journey. It's about staring up into the sky to see a cloud unfurl, or a star stand alone. It's bliss. So please, if you can listen to some of their music, please do. I think they are one of the best bands on the planet and this show tonight was the reason people go to rock shows. To be reminded that some of the most beautiful music on the planet can come from a place like four guys banging away on their instruments, I think I might just be inspired.
The Only Moment We Were Alone was my First Breath After Coma then With Tired Eyes, Tired Minds, Tired Souls, We Slept. I awoke and I took Your Hand In Mine to Greet Death, I asked it Have You Passed Through This Night? It said I have a A Poor Man's Memory but it appears that The Moon Is Down. I thought that was an An Ugly Fact Of Life and that these were Our Last Days As Children I looked up at The Sky Above, The Field Below and I thought Inside It All Feels The Same. You said Remember Me As A Time Of Day and we had A Slow Dance on this Lonely Train.
Real exciting...
Anyway, just got back from the Explosions in the Sky show at the bowery ballroom. One of the best flat out rock shows I've ever seen, it was a short set yet but it was so focused and executed to perfection it's hard to complain about the length. These four guys from Texas don't so much play their instruments as beat them into submission. You get the sense that they own every single guitar string, every inch of the crash cymbal, and every thrash they indulge us with. This music is not created, it is channeled through these four guys and flows through them like electricity. It's this intangible thing that you know is amazing but you can't get a hold on it. It's what I was talking about last week with the images in Malick's Thin Red Line, it's so much about the environment and the place of that exact time and moment. This music isn't about steadfast answers, or knowing every single goddamn thing on the planet. It's about asking the questions, the yearning of that journey. It's about staring up into the sky to see a cloud unfurl, or a star stand alone. It's bliss. So please, if you can listen to some of their music, please do. I think they are one of the best bands on the planet and this show tonight was the reason people go to rock shows. To be reminded that some of the most beautiful music on the planet can come from a place like four guys banging away on their instruments, I think I might just be inspired.
The Only Moment We Were Alone was my First Breath After Coma then With Tired Eyes, Tired Minds, Tired Souls, We Slept. I awoke and I took Your Hand In Mine to Greet Death, I asked it Have You Passed Through This Night? It said I have a A Poor Man's Memory but it appears that The Moon Is Down. I thought that was an An Ugly Fact Of Life and that these were Our Last Days As Children I looked up at The Sky Above, The Field Below and I thought Inside It All Feels The Same. You said Remember Me As A Time Of Day and we had A Slow Dance on this Lonely Train.
so long, so long...
I know in the past I've avoided "personal" issues in this blog. Although the stuff I've revealed about my unhealthy relationship with star wars is enough fodder for embarrassment.
Things have changed with me recently, I didn't want them to but they did. And there's nothing I can do about it. I'm sorry this sounds really cryptic and vague, I guess behind all of this I'm just not comfortable talking about these kinds of issues on an internet blog. I'm not here to piss and moan. I'm sure lots of eyeballs will roll when this post. I do admit i'm being whiney, self-indulgent and just flat out mopey. I don't mean to be, but it's hard to avoid, and everything is sort of fresh. Which then raises the question of why not give it some time and maybe I can sift through the immediate malaise and write something more thoughtful. My answer to that is, if I wait too long, I won't write about it at all. I want to get this down, because it just feels like the right thing to do and it feels good (at least I hope it will).
This is really lame I know (remember the whiney self indulgent defense I gave earlier) But I've been listening to this song a lot and rather than attempt to sort through all of these emotions and splatter them onto this blog, I'll let it speak for me. This has proved far more difficult than I previously expected it to be. I'm not ignoring these emotions, I just can't organize them in any rational way. That's the great thing about songwriters, poets, and all writers in general: they have the ability to speak to and for you. A great song can be personal and universal all at the same time, so I don't feel like this is a cop out.
Anyway, I don't mean to be a bummer. I'm going to try and continue to write about all kinds of things here at bi-mon-sci-fi-con. I'm going to see one of the greatest bands in the world tonight. I'll let you all know about this amazing show later on, although I think nate will do a better job than me. He'll definitely take better pictures, see you guys later...
so long, so long
Hand out the window
Floatin’ on air
Just a flip of the wrist
I’d be wavin’ you goodbye
Drive past the lifeguard stand
Where I sit around waiting for you to remember
Well past the beach hotels
Where the girls are getting’ bronzed on their monogrammed towels
I drive this ocean road
And remember
How the girls could turn to ghosts before your eyes
And the very dreams that led to them are keeping them from dying
And how the grace with which she walked into your life
And stay with you in your steps , pace with you a while
For so long, so long
so long so long
The speaker in this door is blown
So nothing sounds quite right
And I drive this ocean road
And I remember
The small of your back
And the nape of your neck
And the soft way you’d hold me in the night
I remember
How the girls can turn to ghosts before your eyes
And the very dreams that led to them are keeping them from dying
And how the grace with which she walked into your life
Will stay you in your steps, and pace with you a while
So long, so long,
so long, so long
And I will leave under the cover
Of summer’s kiss upon the sky
Like the stone face of your lover
Just before she says goodbye
I was thinkin' that the season could be held between my arms
But just as summer’s hold is fleeting
I was here but now I’m gone
I’m gone
I'm gone, I'm gone
Things have changed with me recently, I didn't want them to but they did. And there's nothing I can do about it. I'm sorry this sounds really cryptic and vague, I guess behind all of this I'm just not comfortable talking about these kinds of issues on an internet blog. I'm not here to piss and moan. I'm sure lots of eyeballs will roll when this post. I do admit i'm being whiney, self-indulgent and just flat out mopey. I don't mean to be, but it's hard to avoid, and everything is sort of fresh. Which then raises the question of why not give it some time and maybe I can sift through the immediate malaise and write something more thoughtful. My answer to that is, if I wait too long, I won't write about it at all. I want to get this down, because it just feels like the right thing to do and it feels good (at least I hope it will).
This is really lame I know (remember the whiney self indulgent defense I gave earlier) But I've been listening to this song a lot and rather than attempt to sort through all of these emotions and splatter them onto this blog, I'll let it speak for me. This has proved far more difficult than I previously expected it to be. I'm not ignoring these emotions, I just can't organize them in any rational way. That's the great thing about songwriters, poets, and all writers in general: they have the ability to speak to and for you. A great song can be personal and universal all at the same time, so I don't feel like this is a cop out.
Anyway, I don't mean to be a bummer. I'm going to try and continue to write about all kinds of things here at bi-mon-sci-fi-con. I'm going to see one of the greatest bands in the world tonight. I'll let you all know about this amazing show later on, although I think nate will do a better job than me. He'll definitely take better pictures, see you guys later...
so long, so long
Hand out the window
Floatin’ on air
Just a flip of the wrist
I’d be wavin’ you goodbye
Drive past the lifeguard stand
Where I sit around waiting for you to remember
Well past the beach hotels
Where the girls are getting’ bronzed on their monogrammed towels
I drive this ocean road
And remember
How the girls could turn to ghosts before your eyes
And the very dreams that led to them are keeping them from dying
And how the grace with which she walked into your life
And stay with you in your steps , pace with you a while
For so long, so long
so long so long
The speaker in this door is blown
So nothing sounds quite right
And I drive this ocean road
And I remember
The small of your back
And the nape of your neck
And the soft way you’d hold me in the night
I remember
How the girls can turn to ghosts before your eyes
And the very dreams that led to them are keeping them from dying
And how the grace with which she walked into your life
Will stay you in your steps, and pace with you a while
So long, so long,
so long, so long
And I will leave under the cover
Of summer’s kiss upon the sky
Like the stone face of your lover
Just before she says goodbye
I was thinkin' that the season could be held between my arms
But just as summer’s hold is fleeting
I was here but now I’m gone
I’m gone
I'm gone, I'm gone
Wednesday, December 07, 2005
say nothing...
The people have spoken
I understand their complaints
I will keep this one short and sweet
For I have nothing more to say...
I came to a horrible realization tonight that my dreams for an epic teen romance to end all teen romance movies have been dashed. say anything... was made 16 years ago and it accomplished everything that could be accomplished with the teen romance genre. Where will I turn? Maybe my unfinished wesley snipes script, or maybe a sitcom about a sassy robot.
Only time will tell...
Seems like a long, long time
Since I've been above you seen and loved you so
You pick a place that's where I'll be
Time like your cheek has turned for me
I understand their complaints
I will keep this one short and sweet
For I have nothing more to say...
I came to a horrible realization tonight that my dreams for an epic teen romance to end all teen romance movies have been dashed. say anything... was made 16 years ago and it accomplished everything that could be accomplished with the teen romance genre. Where will I turn? Maybe my unfinished wesley snipes script, or maybe a sitcom about a sassy robot.
Only time will tell...
Seems like a long, long time
Since I've been above you seen and loved you so
You pick a place that's where I'll be
Time like your cheek has turned for me
Tuesday, December 06, 2005
Can you still do good with it?
I know, this is going to sound all humanitarian and preachy and what not, but this story really got to me when I first read about it. And I got an email claiming there was something I could do, so instead of clogging all of your email boxes with this message, I will instead post it up here and allow you all to do with it what you may. Just one of the many horrible things going on in Iraq right now, and maybe we can do something about this one...
To those who are holding the Christian Peacemakers Team in Iraq, and to people everywhere of all Traditions of Faith and Peace:
We who write you affirm what all the traditions teach that trace their spiritual origin to Abraham: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all teach explicitly that to kill even one human being - even more strongly one who is doing no harm, most especially one who is seeking peace and nurturing human bodies and communities -- is to destroy a world. All other religious traditions agree about the holiness of human lives.
This teaching applies to all innocent Iraqis and foreigners who have been killed or taken away in Iraq out of anger against the US occupation - and it applies with special clarity and strength to the members of the Christian Peacemakers Team who are being held in Iraq. Like us, they too opposed the US attack. They came to serve the Iraqi people. They came not only to urge peace but also to live peace.
We who have opposed the US invasion and occupation of Iraq call on all who live in Iraq to seek the release of these people into safety and freedom. And we call on all people of good will everywhere to join in this call.
No doubt, those who planned and executed the US invasion and occupation of Iraq will cite this action as evidence for the rightness of their action. We utterly reject this logic, and affirm that the war undertaken by the US has multiplied the violence it pretended to oppose.
We hold morally responsible for the lives of these Christian Peacemakers both those in Iraq who have taken them, and those who have brought about the deaths of thousands of Iraqis and Americans by pursuing this war.
Once again, we call for a swift end to the US occupation of Iraq and for peaceful action by the entire human community to assist Iraqis to achieve their own self-government. And we send our loving prayers to those who have become victims of their own loving commitment to peace, justice, and healing.
(Signed by the initial emergency list of signatories below)
Dr Sayeed Sayyid, Secretary General, Islamic Society of North America;
Sheila Musaji, editor of The American Muslim;
Abdul Malik Mujahid, chair of the Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago; that Council as a body;
Anwar N. Haddam, elected Member of Parliament of Algeria (Dec 1991), chairman, board of trustees, Education for Life, Northern Virginia, and member, executive committee, Coordinating Council of Muslim Organizations of Greater Washington Area (CCMO);
Imad-ad-Dean Ahmad of Bethesda, MD; Muhammad Ali-Salaam of Boston; Abdul Cader Asmal, MD, PhD;
Rev. Robert Edgar, general secretary of the National Council of Churches;
Rev. Osagefyo Sekou, Director of Clergy and Laity Concerned about Iraq;
Rev. Peter Laarman of Progressive Christians Uniting in California;
Rabbi Arthur Waskow, Rabbinic Director of The Shalom Center.
Click here to sign the online petition.
"When the power of love becomes stronger than the love of power, we will have peace."
To those who are holding the Christian Peacemakers Team in Iraq, and to people everywhere of all Traditions of Faith and Peace:
We who write you affirm what all the traditions teach that trace their spiritual origin to Abraham: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all teach explicitly that to kill even one human being - even more strongly one who is doing no harm, most especially one who is seeking peace and nurturing human bodies and communities -- is to destroy a world. All other religious traditions agree about the holiness of human lives.
This teaching applies to all innocent Iraqis and foreigners who have been killed or taken away in Iraq out of anger against the US occupation - and it applies with special clarity and strength to the members of the Christian Peacemakers Team who are being held in Iraq. Like us, they too opposed the US attack. They came to serve the Iraqi people. They came not only to urge peace but also to live peace.
We who have opposed the US invasion and occupation of Iraq call on all who live in Iraq to seek the release of these people into safety and freedom. And we call on all people of good will everywhere to join in this call.
No doubt, those who planned and executed the US invasion and occupation of Iraq will cite this action as evidence for the rightness of their action. We utterly reject this logic, and affirm that the war undertaken by the US has multiplied the violence it pretended to oppose.
We hold morally responsible for the lives of these Christian Peacemakers both those in Iraq who have taken them, and those who have brought about the deaths of thousands of Iraqis and Americans by pursuing this war.
Once again, we call for a swift end to the US occupation of Iraq and for peaceful action by the entire human community to assist Iraqis to achieve their own self-government. And we send our loving prayers to those who have become victims of their own loving commitment to peace, justice, and healing.
(Signed by the initial emergency list of signatories below)
Dr Sayeed Sayyid, Secretary General, Islamic Society of North America;
Sheila Musaji, editor of The American Muslim;
Abdul Malik Mujahid, chair of the Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago; that Council as a body;
Anwar N. Haddam, elected Member of Parliament of Algeria (Dec 1991), chairman, board of trustees, Education for Life, Northern Virginia, and member, executive committee, Coordinating Council of Muslim Organizations of Greater Washington Area (CCMO);
Imad-ad-Dean Ahmad of Bethesda, MD; Muhammad Ali-Salaam of Boston; Abdul Cader Asmal, MD, PhD;
Rev. Robert Edgar, general secretary of the National Council of Churches;
Rev. Osagefyo Sekou, Director of Clergy and Laity Concerned about Iraq;
Rev. Peter Laarman of Progressive Christians Uniting in California;
Rabbi Arthur Waskow, Rabbinic Director of The Shalom Center.
Click here to sign the online petition.
"When the power of love becomes stronger than the love of power, we will have peace."
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