2.26.2009

Oddity Overload 2

I have some strange attraction to the number 25. I don't understand it so I can't help you with that one.

The month of January I very rarely have an issue with writing the correct date. February I always spend half of the month trying to figure out what year it is every. single. time. I write the date. It's like a mental block or something. Yesterday for the second time this year I found myself about to write '06 instead of '09. What??? So bizarre.

Overheard conversation of the day: "I said, 'God is that a sign that I'm gonna get an A in that class?'" Only if you study, my child. God isn't giving out As for Lent.

Overheard conversation of the week: "NO! Just stupid! Dumb like a jellybean!" Well we DO all know how dumb jelly beans are. Hahahahaha!!

Outfit of the week: Blue Hawaiian shirt, blue Hawaiian shorts (in two different flowered patterns), socks and green and gray tennis shoes. Your closet is so confused.

My feet swing when I sit all the way back in the seats on the bus. I know I'm only 5'1 but this makes me feel like a little person.

The other day I saw this guy having a "stay still and stare" contest with a crane for the entire 60 seconds or so it took me to pass him. He was less than a foot away from the crane. I wonder how long both of them stayed there and who blinked first.

2.24.2009

Young and Carefree

Let's go back to my college days for a moment, shall we? Young and carefree. These are things I never wanted when it came to love. Adventure? That's a completely different story. If any of my friends were going anywhere, I was down. Road trip? Club? House party? Gym jam? The library? The gym to workout? The track to run even though I've always previously hated running? Down, down, down, down, down, down, down.

Minus into a car with a strange man. That is out of the question. Let's be adventurous, not stupid. Though there was one time where one or two of my friends decided to get in a car with a man she'd only met slightly earlier in the week, perhaps in the same night, she asked me to come along and I did only because I would feel awful if something had happened to her the night I refused to come along and I could've stopped it. Safety in numbers, you know? I don't remember what happened that night, something innocuous. I'm still here and no worse for the wear. I don't even remember who the guy was... that means there was probably some sort of alcohol involved. The nights start to run together if nothing meaningful to me happened. I didn't believe in getting drunk to the point of passing out with strangers. Lol. That sounds much more terrible than it is. I didn't mind the heavy drinking, but you have to be careful who you get super drunk around and I was always mindful of that, keeping a crew of friends around who I still keep in contact with and will be at my wedding.

Random tangent over. The point it, I was down with adventure, but I never ever in my life had that desire to go wild and crazy in college. I had a friend who wanted to date more girls his senior year because he hadn't been promiscuous enough in those years where you're "supposed to be" promiscuous. This was the most baffling and idiotic thing I'd ever heard. It didn't work out for him and I was glad. Is that really something you want to be able to look back on and be proud of? Because the kind of man me and my friends want to marry doesn't sit around and reminisce on those sorts of things. Not proudly anyway and certainly not in the company of others, If you don't want to be that kind of guy, do you, but don't expect me to be waiting for you when your days of wild oat sowing are over.

I was always that girl who was ready for the relationship, though not necessarily long-term if it didn't work out that way. I take a sort of laissez-faire approach to relationships. I'm not going to pressure you to do anything. I let you know the standards I expect and if you can't meet them, kindly move along. I don't mind if you can't (or don't want to) meet the standards as long as you're honest with both of us about this and sooner, rather than later i.e. BEFORE we are both in too deep. We can be friends afterward if you adhere to these rules. That last sentence is a theory because I have not ever found anyone who did and am therefore not friends with any of my exes. I do not, however, have a problem with people who are friends with their exes. It can be healthy to have that sort of relationship as long as there are no lingering feelings of the romantic kind.

So young and carefree? Sure! Reckless with my heart, assured that I can just bounce back because I'm young and these things can't possibly impact me? Not so much. BUT all the planning in the world can never fully prepare or spare you.

2.23.2009

Crazy Movie Lady 5

February 15-22, 2009
95. Broken English. Aimless film about a woman looking for love (in all the wrong places, of course). I wanted to like it. But I didn't.
96. Milk. Oscar-nominated film about the first openly gay politician elected. I liked this movie a lot. There were some structural flaws but overall an enjoyable film. Do I think there's a best actor win in it? No. Maybe Brolin for Best Supporting Actor, though.
97. Frost/Nixon. I'm getting through these Oscar films quite nicely. I liked this one even more than Milk. There was some outrageously slow parts of this film, but I was mostly riveted. I knew little about Nixon but came to dislike him. Lol. SHOCKER!!
98. Waiting for Fidel. I really wanted to like this. I got bored part of the way through. No technical issues, but I was wondering throughout how you could get an honest conversation about socialism from the people who live there. I was also thinking, can you really go into that country convinced that democracy is the only way everywhere and expect to have a real conversation instead of conversion attempts. It did leave the argument open for interpretation which I liked and made me think, which I liked, but I didn't really get any sort of satisfaction from the movie itself.
99. Shelter Dogs. I didn't expect to because I kept hearing animal lovers talk about how hard it was, but I really liked this movie. The beginning was hard but there were lots of uplifting moments. All I know is I don't EVER want to get a dog from anywhere but a shelter. There are too many dogs in shelters who need a home to go buying a dog. And they're so CUTE!! I wanted one really bad. It also made me remember my doggy who we had to put down 4 years ago on February 17th. Awww. Ebony. I loved that dog. I had her from 4th grade until after I graduated from college. Half lab, half husky with a blue eye and a brown eye. All black except for a white patch on her chest. Then when she got old, she had gray whiskers. So cute! And absolutely used to drag me down the street when I tried to walk her when we were both young. Lol.
100. Mighty Aphrodite. A Woody Allen film. It was amusing enough. I was shocked there were no relationships with outrageously young females.
101. D.ream B.ike. I wanted to like this movie... but I didn't. It was about a f.irefighter who died on 9.1.1 and the m.otorcycle he bought but died before he could restore. I didn't like the narration, there were too many interviews with not enough observational sequences and scenes where people were doing something other than just standing there talking. Then the end went off in a completely unrelated direction. Very odd. Unsatisfying.
102. Billy Strayhorn: Lush Life. About the fantastic jazz artist and composer behind many Ellington hits. I love the lighting in the interviews in this film. Truly beautiful and CONSISTENT which is huge. I felt myself yearning to hear more from Strayhorn himself. I assume that's why the reenactments are there with the guy from "Psych" but that didn't do it for me. Dianne Reeves sung in this. LOVE her. Gorgeous jazz voice. I didn't know he wrote "Satin Doll" which my high school marching band played.
103. Tootsie. Sigh. Wow... the music as a transitional device was absolutely awful. The 80s is not a kind period to relive... Perhaps I would have liked it 15 years ago, but it dragged on interminably for me.
104. Secretary. A woman gets out of an asylum because she's a cutter and goes to work as a secretary. It's all downhill from there. Oddly, I'd seen the first scene of this movie somewhere. I don't know where but I remember the opening scene. Very strange. The film meandered unmercifully which I think was intentional on the part of the director. Did I like it? No.
105. Rachel Getting Married. Anne Hathaway is nominated for Best Actress this year for her role in this film. Wow. I really, really did not like this movie. It was like watching someone's wedding home video (that's homage to the loose structure of the script as well as the photography style). If you don't know the people, you don't want to see that many details.
106. Under the Sand. Odd French movie about a man who disappears while his wife naps in the sand and how she deals with his disappearance. I cannot tell how I feel about this film. Detached. But I don't feel too strongly in either direction. Let's use meh.
107. So Much So Fast. Documentary about a man whose family created a foundation to generate a cure for ALS after he was diagnosed with the disease at age 29. It was startling to watch the ups and downs and toll on the entire family. I liked this film. Very few structural issues.
108. Farenheit 911. Like all Michael Moore films, very heavy handed. You never have to wonder about his message. This was one of the better of his films. Full of some great information. I don't agree with his ambush-style, but I understand why he presents things with some humor and shocking behavior mixed in-- to make it more palatable for the general public.
109. Written on the Wind. I liked this movie. A 1956 film in which the woman who played the sister won the Academy Award. The drama shocked me especially at the end! You thought you knew but you had no idea. Awesome.
110. Benjamin Button. Multiple Oscar nominations. It has to win something. I liked it. The "flashback" story line was much better and much more cohesive and interesting than the present day story line. I definitely recommend this one.
111. Revolutionary Road. I liked it okay. I can see why it didn't get nominated for an Academy Award. It wasn't bad but the characters didn't seem to transform enough. Plus the characters could all have been playing themselves. You have to really go nuts and lose it (or in the case of Viola Davis, as I like to say, "Go full crackhead" in her roles (she didn't play a crackhead in Doubt but looked way worse than she does in life) to get an Oscar nod, which is what garnered a nomination for Michael Shannon in this film. But he's up against too many standout roles and of course the favorite in Heath for Dark Knight.
112. The Reader. I liked this movie a lot. Which surprised me since I hadn't heard much about it prior to watching it other than Kate Winslet won an award for it and is nominated for an Oscar. I think she has a good shot at it, but I also really liked Meryl Streep in Doubt. I'm realizing that like watching basketball season all year long not helping you pick for the tournament, watching all the Oscar films doesn't make you any more likely to pick the winners. I'm pretty sure I'm not going to choose many more winners than I normally do. Not that in past years I've ever cared.

2.20.2009

Oddity Overload

Um... what? I keep seeing these things that prompt that precise statement from me. It's too accurate.

There are two places where the craziest activities happen: the Plaza of the Americas and the Union lawn.
This semester I have seen:
*hammocks set up between trees, 3 at one time -- one was a hammock bunk bed with one up high and one down low. TIGHT ROPES set up b/t trees with people walking on them.
*2 guys walking around with signs stating, "Free Hugs" walking around with arms outstretched. I was stressed out that day and considered it. I only refrained because Rashan was coming to town.
*An obstacle course set up that looked like a giant bounce house the length of a football field.
*Matted jousting area like those things on gladiator except on an inflated bounce house-type thing.
*A rock climbing wall.
*A guy doing planks in the stairwell. Complete with grunting and the scent that told me he'd been doing sweat-producing activities for a while already.
*A guy gently prodding a miniature soccer ball along with his foot while carrying food inside.
*A giggling blindfolded girl being led along by another giggling girl.

The last 6 were in the last 2 days. Um... what?

2.19.2009

Gym Renewal

I haven't given serious consideration to the gym since I left Pittsburgh. Oh I thought about it. But I haven't actually gone more than once or twice a week since August. This after 2 years of going a minimum of 3xs a week (possibly mixed with a day or two of walking outdoors or Taebo if I didn't make it to the gym).

As we start approaching beach time again... (*snicker* I couldn't help that. I live in Florida and like to gloat about the abundant winter sun, however, I don't live nearer than an hour and a half from a beach which technically is a day trip but not one I've put a lot of effort into taking), I want to make sure I have that bikini body I had last year and the year before. Plus I'm less cranky (put away your smart comments) and more energetic when I work out.

My schedule is crazy, but some of that is self-imposed with my outrageous idea to watch 750 fiction and nonfiction films this year (97 down, only 653 to go... LOLOL!). While Rashan and I were communicating this weekend, he said something that annoyed me at the time even though I already knew it, essentially you make time for what you want to make time for. Bah. So I'm going to have to get the gym in despite my movie time, class work, tv shows (an hour of Friends nightly at 11 will likely suffer), socializing, lab teaching life. My fresh start began Monday night with salsa! And continued Tuesday night with the elliptical and free weights. I should buy some weights so I can mix in some workout time with my movie watching. Multitask it up!

2.17.2009

Wait, You're the T.A.?

I have gotten younger since I walked onto this campus 6 months ago. I get carded incessantly... at 26 years old. (This doesn't bother me much since it will pay off to look 7-8 years younger when I'm 90. I will be the flyest great-grandma EVER!! Plus in a town more than 50% college students, it's to be expected.)

Graduate students have 24-hour access to our department buildings. My access card stopped working at the beginning of the semester. When I went to get it re-activated, the I.T. guy said, "Do you still need access to (my office room number)?" "Yes." "Oh, you're a graduate student?" "Yes." (Thinking, isn't that what your screen says?) "Sorry, you look really young."

First day of teaching a lab, I walk up, say hi and two students respond, then continue their conversation. It includes anecdotes like, "My last T.A. was in a bar at the same time as me once and told my boyfriend to take good care of me. It was soooo weird." "Oh I know, I saw mine in the grocery store and it was so awkward seeing him outside of school." Once there's a break in the conversation, I say, "By the way, I'm Jameil, your T.A." They are SHOCKED. "Oh! I was wondering where the T.A. was..."

Later that week, I'm describing my undergraduate degree and work in Pittsburgh and one girl interrupts me with, "Wow! How old are you??" Lol! Okay I don't look pre-pubescent! Unless you're looking at this picture but whatever!! Lol. That's from when Stace and I went to the Hampton/FAMU football game... in November. Why do we look 14!??! Lol.

2.15.2009

Crazy Movie Lady 4

(This is becoming a horror movie series.)

February 8-14, 2009
78. Shall We Dance. My first Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers film. I really liked it. Shocker since I really like dance, huh? It was amusing.
79. The Oh in Ohio. I only got this because Paul Rudd was in it. Ever since Clueless I've been a fan. The movie was actually not bad minus the barely satisfactory ending. Vaguely interesting and funny at the beginning but toward the end, seemed lost and a bit boring.
80. Foreign Correspondent. Another Hitchcock film. This one wasn't bad but also not one of my favorites. The ending was a bit trite but some of the water shots were amazing.
81. The Night James Brown Saved Boston. Of course the music was fantastic. It was about more than Boston which made the title somewhat of a misnomer and was in turn distracting.
82. Jump at the Sun. Documentary film about the life of Zora Neale Hurston. Her provocative thoughts made me consider in a multitude of ways what it means to be black, which I loved. I got millions of blog and film ideas from watching this as I often do with PBS docs (like this one) about black people. The filmmaker was there for our screening and said the film took 18 years to complete. I really don't know that I could work on a film for that long. Not that anyone sets out to but ACK!! I was really disturbed how many people in that room didn't know anything about Hurston... wow. The educational system is seriously failing when it comes to inclusion of black stars (duh).
83. Dogtown and Z-Boys. A skateboarding documentary which had me enter it with lowered expectations (sing it like they do on SNL) because I don't really know anything about skateboarders. Joy, if you haven't seen this movie, see it. I'm pretty sure you will love it. I really liked this film. Great archival footage, spot on editing and fantastic music. I liked it a lot. My favorite character was Tony Alva. I love when films go above my expectations. Good times.
84. Look Back in Anger. I must admit I wasn't paying this film much attention. The script was so dramatic from the beginning it was hard to get into it. You were immediately dropped into a messy situation which was off putting.
85. Paul Tomkowicz: Street Railway Switchman. The most amazing part of this 9-minute National Film Board of Canada film was the end. Since there's not a huge plot, I'll spoil it for you. This dude sits down to breakfast and eats SIX eggs, a pile of hot dogs (looks like at least 5), half a loaf of bread and coffee. I kid you not. I was SHOCKED!! So funny. My dude, for real??? He narrated his own film but didn't actually talk on camera. He was on camera the entire time but never actually speaking while being filmed at work and finally at breakfast. Interesting and odd at the same time. I wouldn't have wanted to watch a film much longer than that in the same manner but for a while, it was interesting.
86. Murder! Yes, the exclamation point was in the title of this Hitchcock film. Lol. Smashing start! Really cool scene where no one was moving. I liked a lot of the photography in this film. The story flowed and wasn't overly predictable.
87. In the Shadow of the Stars. Documentary (Oscar winner in 1991) about the opera. I like opera and several of the characters were interesting... but this movie didn't really do it for me. I'm not sure why. I think it was because I couldn't really discern a story line. I could watch it again, though to give it another try. Another year.
88. Happenstance. A French movie with my girl Audrey Tatou from one of my favorite movies, Amelie. This one is not in danger of becoming my fave yet but I would watch it again. They pay off frustrated me. It built up and up and up and ended with such a scarce puff of semblance of pay off. ACK!!
89. Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport. Amazing stories of some of the 10,000 children rescued from Nazi-ruled countries. Very riveting. Great archival footage.
90. The Skin Game. Hitchcock again. Not typical of his style but still a bit intriguing. About a battle between landowners over the direction of a small English village. Gets a little gutter which I like. Lol.
91. The Wrong Man. Based on a true story which I always like. It moved a bit slowly but felt even longer because of Rashan's whining.
92. Who The #$&% Is Jackson Pollack? I wasn't a fan of how the premise of this film was set up. I felt like the first 5 minutes positioned it in a completely different direction than the film went. It meandered off in a strange direction that made me lose interest less than 20 minutes in which was weird because some of the characters were very interesting. The music I didn't get at all. It was so seemingly diametrically opposed to the style they portrayed in the title and opening scenes of this quirky, don't care who you are woman paralleled to similar characteristics in the artist that didn't match the music.
93. Stage Fright. I liked it! Another Hitchcock murder mystery.
94. College Road Trip. Martin Lawrence and Raven-Symone'. Why is her name spelled like that? I like her a lot regardless. That's So Raven is hilarious. And he always makes me laugh, too. This movie was amusing. And I'd wondered if there were any G rated movies and this is one! Yay!

2.13.2009

Happy Happy!

Like Aretha, I love Valentine's Day, single or not. I always have. I must admit, it's partly because people around me like to show me they love me on Valentine's Day whether with a call or a card or whatever. I sent my mom, sister, godmother and line sister cards and included a Lane Bryant gift card for my mom.

This year Rashan gave me the sweetest card, 2 dozen TULIPS (red, purple and cream), my favorite flower!!! And guess what? He knows me. Which is probably the best gift of all. I said, "Do you know how I feel about Tiffany?" He said, "Who's Tiffany?" "Tiffany jewelery." "Oh. You think they're overpriced but you want one of those little blue boxes." *insert Jameil's shocked face over the extra precise answer* "How did you know that? Did I tell you??" "No, I just know you." AWESOME!! I love him.

Speaking of precision, we had to do an exercise in our production class where we combined sounds from Soundtrack Pro, not tell any of our classmates, and then have everyone guess what it was. After hearing one of my classmates' project I said, "Crazy mountain man burying his victim alive then shooting himself before the cops come." He said, "Wow!! Alright!" That was it exactly. Hahahahaha. Love it. I knew my crazy, overactive imagination would come in handy! Ow!

2.11.2009

Gloating

I tried to hold it back...


But it must be done.


Do you know what 80 degrees in February feels like? I DO!!! FANTASTIC!!! I LOVE YOU, FLORIDA!!!!

I can do this because a year ago tomorrow, I was miserable. I deserve it!! This was my outfit today... in February... AND I WAS NOT COLD!! Floridaaaaaaaah.



2.09.2009

Blog Understanding

I figured out why (other than my lack of internet at home-- a problem that will have a solution in the near future) I don't blog like I used to.

Drum roll, please.

I finally have a life. I KNOW people who have lives still blog. I, however, have never had that particular issue. I've always been the life of the party (every time I show up) (guess which part of this song is my fave... if you said pose for the picture, you are RIGHT!! OW!!) but I didn't know enough people in Pittsburgh for that to be true. And the people I did know had opposite off days as me and were therefore unable to hang when I could. Now I'm in a situation where the people who are still in my program (we had one drop out) all get along, have the same off days, and create situations where we can all get together and chill or see movies together or whatever.

My current life is also outside of my reasons for starting this blog in the first place: connect with people since I didn't really have that in Pittsburgh (this was before I even had work friends). I have a whole knew spate of blog homies (blog la familia stand up!) I wouldn't have known without this space. I know this sounds like a good-bye post. It's not. It's not even a see ya later. More like an explanation. I'd been wondering myself. Life takes over! I still expect all of you to blog daily. Lololol.

2.08.2009

Crazy Movie Lady 3

February 1- 7, 2009
61. Another Thin Man. A b&w film from the 1930s. I really liked it. It was amusing and was a mystery which seems to be a big theme from that era.
62. Murder on A Sunday Morning. Academy Award-winning documentary about a 15-year-old accused of murder in Jacksonville, FL with no evidence to connect him to the crime. It dragged a bit. I would've preferred the trial not broken up by conversations about the case before/after the trial from the attorneys. Overall I enjoyed it because of the huge payoff at the end though at times the film dragged.
63. Faubourg Treme: The Untold Story of Black New Orleans. A PBS documentary. You know I love stuff about black people. And I'm fascinated by New Orleans. This started with the pre-Civil War history where New Orleans was the home of the largest community of free blacks in the deep south. It was also home of the largest slave revolt (500) in America. And let's not forget jazz. GREAT music in this doc. Chronicled the highs and lows and how Plessy v. Ferguson started in this community.
64. Black Is... Black Ain't. About the many splendored search for identity among black people. The producer died partway through the making which made me wonder about how the film would have progressed if he was alive. He was in it a lot, much of it from his death bed... literally... which forced you to constantly wonder if he would have made the film that way. It's possible... but who knows.
65. Lonely Boy. Hilarious film about how crazy girls went over performer Paul Anka. SO funny watching 1960s groupies crying with all their Anka paraphernalia.
66. A Time for Burning. Exploring the explosion of race relations in Omaha, NE when the Lutheran church tries to integrate. I really liked this movie. I'm all for honest opinions. I did want more of them from the white people, though. They were trying not to look bad... which is amazing. How is it that you don't want to be in the same room with a black person but don't want to admit it? If you feel that way, say it. Quit being a punk! Man up!
67. Fight Club. No thanks. Too much blood and gore. Moderately nteresting plot twist (Rashan made me say that)... buried in blood and gore. I'll have to pass. But at least I can say I've seen it now.
68. The Dark Knight. I know this is getting a lot of buzz and is winning awards all over creation but it was way too long for me. (I know I know. I'm beginning to sound like a broken record, even to myself, but SERIOUSLY. NO movie should pass the 2 hour mark. Amelie has been BY FAR my fave movie at or near that length. I never wanted it to end.) Back to DK, I was most intrigued and impressed by Two Faces. WOW! Left very open-ended for a sequel. Sigh. VERY open-ended makes me not a fan. Open-ended okay. But very. I'll have to pass.
69. Georgia Rule. Structurally weak with a very bouncy and loose story line. I just got it because I like Lindsay Lohan ("stop trying to make fetch work," "Word vomit. Wait. No, actual vomit." "If you're from Africa, why are you white?" "I have ESPN, I can tell when it's going to rain. Actually, I can tell when it's already raining." "Cough cough. I'm sick." "Booo. You whore." -- Mean Girls. Man! Too bad my movie viewing schedule doesn't really allow for hitting up the old faves.). Anyway, I wanted to like this movie. But it was very meh.
70. Children of Men. Rashan recommended this one. Doomsday movie about what happens when a woman is the first pregnant person in the world in 18 years. I didn't connect with this film but I'm not sure why, though my adrenaline was pumping a bit during the last 25 minutes.
71. Dead Like Me. I liked the show much better than the movie. Part of the annoyance was the missing Rube. Ugh. That's like having the main character missing. He was one of the 2 main characters. Why make the movie without him unless he actually died in real life. I don't think he did so they should've held out like the Sex and the City movie. This wasn't awful but the comic book look turned me off in the beginning and the end seemed to meander without a real way to end.
72. 6 in Paris. A collection of short films by 6 French filmmakers. The second, Gare du Nord, was my favorite. Very unexpected ending which is what I LOVED about it. The rest of them didn't really capture my attention much or were horribly acted. Actually the one by Godard was mildly amusing, too.
73. Man on Wire. Oscar nominee in the best documentary category this year. I don't think it will win because of the heavy reliance on recreations (in which they had some AMAZING lookalikes!!). The Academy is notoriously strict about that sort of thing. It was kind of distracting because I kept wondering what was real and what was not which is a shame because they had some really great archival footage. Another one of those films that was too long. It was nice to watch a film with most of my classmates. We watched it at the home of one of our professors after dinner and drinks.
74. Doubt. I was captivated. It was about a Catholic school in the 1960s where a priest was suspected of molesting a student. Another Academy Award nominee this year.
75. Promises. Documentary film about the children on either side of the Israeli, Palestinian dispute. Too long-winded on the portion introducing the children. The most interesting part of the film was the dialogue between the children on both sides so the bulk of the movie could have addressed that.
76. Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2. It was okay. I liked the first one better (of course). I still really like the books which, again, are always better.
77. The Constant Gardner. I'm absolutely understanding why this was an Oscar nominee. (A lot of those this week, huh?) Great thriller about the search for a killer. (Ew... rhyme unintended but too accurate to remove.)

2.04.2009

Oops... My Bad

I kind of forgot about you guys. Not really. You're ever present in my mind BUT I didn't have time to write. The girl was extra busy. Between teaching a lab (two on Tuesdays, none Wednesday, 1 each Friday and Saturday), working on my thesis idea, going to class, doing the work for class and watching at least 2 movies daily, YIKES!! My mind is spinning and I can't wait to get home and do next to nothing today. Vegetating is love.

2.02.2009

Crazy Movie Lady 2

January 25-31
47. No Direction Home: Bob Dylan. A Martin Scorcese documentary film. You can definitely tell this was done by a Hollywood director (with a large budget-- LOTS of archival footage), not just because of its epic length (2 discs, 2 parts, 207 minutes), but also because of the camera shots. I don't know what it is about a camera shot that moves around and in front of a person smoothly that really gets me going. I love it. Circling and passing them, too. I like historical films but it helps if you like the person featured. I had no familiarity with his music before watching this and did not come to like it. I like the instrumentation and some of the lyrics. I do not like the way he sings and that he sounds so different in speech and in song. Very odd. If someone else sang it, in a different way and articulating, I'm pretty sure I would love his music... I do like that he refuses to not transform his sound despite how many people are angered by it. That said, I had to force myself to watch the last 45 minutes of this film. I liked that they played most of his influences in this film. I liked them better than him.
48. Human Remains. In class movie. Amusing. I liked it actually though it became a bit repetitive to see the dictators.
49. O Dreamland. British Free Cinema film about a tacky little amusement park. There was some hilariously raucous laughter.
50. Mama Don't Allow. British Free Cinema. Also in class. About the mixing of classes in a jazz club. I liked the dancing and music but it dragged on a bit too long to have no dialogue. And this was still only 25 minutes or so.
51. King Corn. Followed 2 east coast guys who moved to Iowa to grow an acre of corn and track the change in the corn industry since their great-grandfathers were farmers and tractor creators in that same small town. A lot more interesting than you would think though it began to drag toward the end. When they talked about how bad corn-fed diets are for cattle, it was the first time I considered not eating beef. The consideration was brief because I then thought all food has some crazy practices and you can never know where any of it comes from. Yeah. I definitely want to work more vegetables and meat-free meals into my diet and I eat less beef than I did as a kid (subbing ground turkey for burgers, meatloaf and Mexican food, and eating more chicken), but I cannot ever see myself eating NO beef. It would shake my whole world and I'd probably die. Lol.
52. The Good German. SO melodramatic. Bad acting all around. Disappointing, really considering the cast, Skip this. Do not ever watch it. I did so you don't have to. Accept my sacrifice.
53. The 39 Steps. Another Hitchcock film. This one was about spies and a man falsely accused of murder. I liked it because I didn't expect the ending. The love stories are getting a bit boring and predictable. Way too much like Saboteur, though. Too many similarities.
54. Hurricane Katrina: The Storm That Drowned A City. It didn't really present any new information for me as a person who engorges herself with Katrina information. I prefer films less about the mechanics of the storm and its effects and more about the people impacted. There was also a huge mix of tenses which annoyed me more than anything. Some people were obviously asked to speak like the storm hadn't come yet and others asked to speak about it in past tense. You can speak about something as huge as Katrina in past tense because we all know what happened. So those who were speaking in present tense felt stilted and false.
55. Recycled Life. Oscar-nominated short film about Guatemalan trash pickers at the most toxic dump in Central America. Surprisingly uplifting. I expected it to be more depressing than it was.
56. Chronicle of a Summer. Experimental French cinema verite film where filmmakers ask their characters questions on camera, then film them watching the film and ask them how they feel about it. Then the filmmakers talk about it. Taxing at times but sometimes interesting.
57. The Devil Came on Horseback. Another Oscar nominee. About the genocide in Darfur with a lot of extremely graphic images. Focused on a military observer who took a lot of photographs in his 6 months in the Sudanese region. I couldn't connect with his character.
58. Iron Man. Amusing. The ending was a bit trite. The last fight scene I should say but a pretty exciting film up until that point. I also liked that the ubiquitous "love story" in American action films (Which, really, can we stop this, please? I don't need thrillers, romantic comedy style! *and face*) wasn't overly forced. It would've been even nicer if it wasn't there but I will take what I can get. The villain was too obvious, too. Overall, though, not bad.
58. Incident at Loch Ness. HUHlarious. The producer looked sooo uptight in this editing of the film. Werner Herzog (famous documentarian whose film was the subject of this movie) looked absolutely annoyed by most of the things his producer did. The music heightened the bumbling feeling of everyone scurrying to get in favor with Werner. HILARITY!!! I loved Russell Williams, the Oscar and Emmy award-winning sound guy who was working on this film. At first because he was black, then because of his personality. AWESOME! I have to stop and guffaw at this movie every few minutes. So funny!! And then the fact that they all showed up the first day (except Werner of course) wearing these RIDICULOUS day glow orange and grey (yes, as ugly as you think, probably uglier with the white reflectors) neck to ankle jumpsuits. Utterly ridiculous. The suits and the film. Lolololol. What category do you even put this film in? So insane. I'm going with fiction. Too funny and still I'm just so I don't know how to put this into words. Now that I'm reading the dvd cover I'm realizing this is the fictionalized making of the making of a documentary directed by Herzog. Even funnier and odder.
59. Me, You and Everyone We Know. It was odd, but not in a way that bothered me oddly enough. Rashan didn't like it at all. There were definitely parts I was appalled by but I didnt hate it. Would I watch it again? Yes. If I had the option of watching something else? Probably not. The movie was just there for me.
60. I Remember Me. Fast opening then a slow pace with one person talking. It seems kind of boring and a departure from the open which makes it odd. I'm not a fan of the photography. Lots of unnecessary panning and tilting and zooming in interviews, some bad focus. Planned interviews looked very odd with the huge white background. I wanted more observational scenes, more fact, and fewer anecdotes from people impacted by the disease disparagingly called Yuppie Flu to the chagrin of those who have it.

*Number 48 was supposed to be The Future of Food but it was so BORING that I couldn't even force myself to get halfway through the 88 minutes. Sigh. Disappointing. How am I supposed to reach my goal when the most I can't even FORCE myself to watch the most boring of films because it's not worth the investment.