(Film #9)

I've got to say that a few movies have caught me off-guard lately, which I'm going to try to go through in next week's entry. I'm in the process of moving which makes writing more difficult (and thus more necessary), so it's time to take a deep breath and get to it.

I'm nearly finished with Blindness, a film with a couple of heavyweights attached at multiple parts of the process. City of God co-director (and The Constant Gardener) Fernando Meirelles directs the novel by Nobel prize winner Jose Saramago, which has Julianne Moore, Mark Ruffalo, and Gael Garcia Bernal.

It is tough to judge a movie without having read the book, especially one of such magnitude, but this is certainly a movie which requires multiple viewings and I'm not done with the first! Back to that as well. It finishes well and it tells the things about human nature that are true. Some humans will always seek dominance over others. Being blind will make us realize how much we depend upon one another in such a strong way. And finally, having sight restored makes us see how much we take for granted on a daily basis.

The Last Films I've Seen
1. Blindness, 8.2.
2. Looper, 10.0.
Selflessness is often a trait we come upon too late. To see it happen believably and in a new sort of fashion makes it that much more powerful. Couch that in a Sci-fi movie and we have the stirrings of genius. Great movie. I need to see Brick for sure.
3. American horror story, season 2, first couple of episodes. ~7. Fun and twisted, but probably not worth seeing if you're behind on other classic television.
4. Sons of anarchy, pilot, interesting so far.



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Shenandoah Dr,Silverlake,United States

Seed (Saturday Life #12)

So I'm moving back to Longview! I'm excited. I'll be near family and I'll be living on my own. It's going to be intense at first, but I think I can become a pharmacy tech again with relative ease. I'm sad to leave Marie and put the burden of a serious change upon her, but she needs this more than even I do. She needs to be near family if she seriously intends to see this pregnancy through.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:River Ave,Eugene,United States

A Start (A Look At The Weekend #10)

Watching Alfred Hitchcock Presents at my dad's. It's awesome.

I think to need to write again, if only for my sanity.

I've weened myself of inderall and I get headaches again, from time to time. Tonight I have a bit of one. Perhaps it was the banana in the homemade sorbet (banana, blueberry, raspberry, peach, and a bit of mango) that my dad made or perhaps it's the lack of a coffee nudge that my mom has been making me every day :)

Life is good in Washington. The Seahawks lost today, sadly, but it's been good otherwise.

More to come in the future!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Shenandoah Dr,Silverlake,United States

Character II (Saturday Life #11) 29 June 2013

Tomorrow is Father's Day so it feels right to write briefly about the guy.  I just spent a few days with him and my stepmom and their generosity and forgiveness knows no end.  My dad never had a formal education but I still consider him a bit of a genius.  

We took a trip to central/eastern Washington on Monday, June 10th.  We took the scenic route and I believe the above photo illustrates why.  On the way up, we stopped for gas, a quick breakfast, and we finally arrived at our destination of Cashmere, Washington.  The prize, a very nice '57 Chevy pickup that has been the apple of my dad's eye for quite sometime.

Started this a couple of weeks back.  Time I finish.  We started out pretty early and arrived ready to go, purchased the truck, and were on track to get back to Washington about 7pm.

30 or miles outside of Cashmere, with me following close behind the truck, my dad blew a tire out of the new prize, crossed the oncoming traffic lane and we wound up - on either side of the road -with a flat tire, no real way of repairing it it, yet nothing but our pride hurt.  There was no jack (the car's didn't really stand a chance), and as my dad attempted to maneuver, the pin holding the accelerator pedal together with the engine (already very loose) decided it would be a good time to fall off in the crab grass and vanish.  Major setbacks, even in our age of super-technology, yet my dad forgot his cell phone and mine had long since died taking the previous pictures and playing games and having not brought my car charger.  Our lengthy yet potentially fun excursion had turned into a comedy of errors.  We tried to figure out our next step, knowing one of us had to find a towing company and the other had to stay watch over the car and truck.  

It took my dad a while to find a somewhat reasonable tow back to Cashmere, and we finally got back to Toutle Lake around midnight, but I had a great time spending time with my dad.

Sunburned (Music #11) 11 June 2013

Not much to report here.  The new Deafheaven, Sunbather, is quite good.  That's about all I've got.  More next week.

Safe words (ALATWA #12) 27 May 2013

I am at a loss for words. This doesn't happen much. Exposure to okcupid may be the culprit. Being someone who has met people online for over half of his life, this shouldn't happen, but it inevitably does. You talk to someone with somewhat similar interests, in fact more in common than someone you've met in a long time. Sadly, the more you talk, the more you really become annoyed with the motifs that run through their conversational repertoire.

Sometimes you push to see if maybe they're just having a bad week or three and perhaps they'll pull out of it or let you in so you can understand and at least remain friends. Other times they just become tedious and need to be jettisoned. They think they've offended you and they keep apologizing; in reality, their thought patterns are destructive, depressed, or simply old hat. Often, it is all three. But life goes on.

This week should be fun. The DIVA film is Douglas Sirk's written on the wind, and I get my car keys in the mail. Wednesday I have a date in Corvallis with what appears to be a normal girl (whoa!) and I hope I get to hang with my friend Jannae. Going to play trivia at Murphy's. Then trivia at Rogue for the last Friday. It's going to be weird playing trivia in eugene on Thursdays. Also hoping to take a couple of loads of DVDs to my storage unit. I'd like to see the zombie movie Warm Bodies at the dollar theater as well. Maybe tonight?


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Clark St,Eugene,United States

(Friday Life #7) 10 May 2013

"Then came the five brief, impassioned, jubilant, enigmatic years. At the gates of our own world, there was Vietnam, of course, and the first major blow to the powers that be. But here, inside our wales, what exactly was taking place? An amalgam of revolutionary and antirepressive politics? A war fought on two fronts: against social exploitation and psychic repression? A surge of libido modulated by the class struggle? Perhaps. At any rate, it is this familiar, dualistic interpretation that has laid claim to the events of those years."
Foucault, intro to Deleuze and Guattari's Anti-Oedipus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia

I wander the "stacks," an insider term for the giant bookshelves that create literary hallways out of giant floors stretched-over with industrial office carpet. This is a familiar haunt. I'm trying to remember phrases from poems I read and wrote in and about my time in a library in my youth.

I was a page for two years and my memories of the place are oddly structured. I've yet to the Madeleine cookie to engage the cerebral flood but there are sketches I can produce.

The break room was downstairs, as was the hub, the offices, the central nervous system. Most of my coworkers inspired, at worst, stoicism and oftentimes much better...

More later
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Work and then some more Work (A Look at the Weekend #10) 2 May 2013

I'm pretty sure most week plans got obliterated.  I'm headed to my dad's to work and pay my stepmom back and try and try and raise money for getting caught up on my student loans.  Fun stuff.  I was planning on seeing Broken Arrow with Marie and more maybe and was also looking forward to hanging with Maddie.

"Coming back around.." (A Look at the Weekend #11) 13 June 2013

Friends are on the move, life is super busy, and I am following suit.

New friend Maddie is headed to Europe for nearly a month, Marie has new, if temporary, digs, not sure what Mike and Angie are up to, and I need to get in touch with Loren and Angie.  

There are some pretty amazing films happening in Eugene this week, new films by the younger Miyazaki (From Up On Poppy Hill), Ken Loach (The Angels' Share), Harmony Korine (Spring Breakers), Susanne Bier - who I am not at all familiar with (Love Is All You Need), Steven Soderbergh (Side Effects), Noah Baumbach (Frances Ha), and Sam Raimi (Oz, Great And Powerful), a new version of the film that brought Sam Raimi b-movie stardom (Evil Dead),  along with a just-missed film, Renoir, about one of my favorite film makers, Jean Renoir.  Also some entertaining movies, The Croods, my first Antoine Fuqua film, Olympus Has Fallen, Oblivion, and 42.

Gotta make a point to see a couple of those this weekend.  I have a coffee date at braille's on Sunday.  Should be a fold weekend.  Going to bring loads to storage as well.  

 

Coda (Weekend Review #9) 7 April 2013

I had breakfast with Jim Friday morning and we talked a good deal about life. I've been reading a lot lately and I want to read even more.

Trivia was nice, as usual, and Saturday brought the final four. No real analytical thoughts here though I am wont to express my dissatisfaction that once again two larger schools made it, and Cinderella died. She has a rough time of it, despite her statistical advantage, rendered through ubiquity.

My computer is on the fritz, no longer starting, so tomorrow I bring it in for repair, after Dylan and I give it a go.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Kincaid St,Eugene,United States

Character (Friday Life #8) 14 June 2013

We should be slower to think that the man at his worst is the real man, and certain that the better we are ourselves the less likely is he to be at his worst in our company. Every time he talks away his own character before us he is signifying contempt for ours. -James M. Barrie, novelist, short-story writer, and playwright (1860-1937)

There is much work to be done.  Have no doubt.  "When enough is enough, that's when you know, that you're halfway there."  This was just the first installment of work at my dad's.  How can I characterize my relationship with my dad?

(A Look at the Weekend #9) 21 March 2013

Plans for the weekend? Headed north Sunday to dig a well. Staying through Saturday. Weather? Looks to be good at least Monday-Tuesday :)
Seeing django tomorrow and looking forward to it, then trivia :)
Not sure how I am going to work out gas for my trip north and possibly seeing menace ruine in portland on sunday but I have to figure something out.
Hopefully taxes tomorrow as well.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:W 10th Ave,Eugene,United States

(A Look at the Week(end) #8) 3 March 2013

I had brunch with Jim today at Old Pad.  We're certainly regulars there now, I'd say.  

I went and hid books at St. Vincent De Paul (W11th near Albertson's).

It was an interesting week.  Sounds like my move north is going to be a bit more complicated, as we need to research plans for the garage.  I can't believe it is as expensive as it is.  

I plan to really show my dad and Ada that I'm serious business, and I have the free time to do it now :)

Missed Meek's Cutoff at Wildish theater, but I'm hoping to get to that place sometime in the near future.

That's all for now.  Good week.

The Illusion of Safety (Music #10) 20 February 2013

Today I am going to write about an album that changed my life:
The Illusion of Safety.

I had this habit of judging an album by its cover.  I must have been 23 or so and I was at Just Music, the local music store in my hometown of Longview, Washington.  I had been playing in a band with friends called Empty Skies about a year before.  Punk was new to me.  AFI, Death by Stereo, Opeth, In Flames, and of course Tool dominated my listening experience although none of them really had the accessibility that I wanted in a band.  Empty Skies was bludgeoning, rhythmically simple, and not what I wanted.  I knew I didn't want to go back to that.  I'd known the bass player for a while (Jason), and I had just met the drummer (they had played together in a band, X-It 49).  I loved the energy and skill from this kid, just 16.  I definitely wanted to play with him more in the future.

Thrice's TIOS completely floored me.  It had a decent amount of technicality, punk energy, short songs that were fairly dynamic, and catchy vocals mixed with screams.  It was the band I'd been waiting for.  It was the band I wanted to be in.  There can be no doubt of the influence this band would have on my musical interests.  I couldn't stop listening to it.

From the opening dissonances of "Kill Me Quickly," to the breakdown and conclusion of "The Beltsville Crucible," I was completely absorbed.  While I loved it for a long time, it's not my favorite Thrice album.  I jogged Lake Sacajawea to this album more than any other, and seconded only by Thursday's Full Collapse and Rise Against's Revolutions Per Minute.

Other music news.
Meh?  The only metal album of note for me thus far is Riverside's Shrine of New Generation Slaves, and it's not amazing to me.    

Some scribblings of late (Film #8)

"The sexual interludes in L'Avventura leave one cold and sad: the early scene with Anna in Sandro's apartment, Sandro with Claudia outside the deserted town and later in the hotel room after his encounter with the young architect, Sandro with the high-class prostitute in the early morning. Never has "sin" looked less inviting. The sensuality, pleasure, guilt feelings and remorse of Fellini's characters are replaced by pervasive ennui and irritability, and the sense of the inability of any person to make contact with another even in the most intimate moments. Sex in Antonioni's world may stem from a desire to communicate, but it frequently takes the form of aggression and tired surrender to habit. Among his characters a life in which the sexual act has meaning or even gives pleasure seems unavailable and perhaps unimaginable."
From Jack C. Ellis' A History of Film, 1976.

Heavy stuff from L'Avventura and I'm currently working my way through another Antonioni film, hellbent on finally updating my film blog.

This is the first year (end of 2012/beginning of 2013) in which I can remember two 10/10 films in such close succession.

The Last Films I've Seen
1.  Amour, Haneke, 2012, 10.0.
It's bleak and brutal, it's so real that it's disheartening, but it's so real that it's inspired and beautiful as well.  Growing old is a very real challenge, and this movie pulls no punches.  I will write about it further in the future.
2.  The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Chbosky, 2012, 10.0.
Another hellish part of American life: High school.  I can honestly say I hated the experience for the most part and this film is brilliant in its humor and reality, and hidden darkness.  Another essay waiting to be written.
3. Colombiana, Megaton, 2011, 4.7/10.
Nothing wrong with a slightly conscious action/revenge flick with a pretty girl in it, is there?  The kids in South America aren't alright, alright? Alas, we get an opaque portrait at best.
4. Hawk The Slayer, Marcel, 1980, 2.7/10.
Yeah, I watched it.  So what?  I've been balancing my heady top 100 cahier du cinema film list with some really dumb action films.  I'm a professed lover of Coscarelli's The Beastmaster, but Hawk is pure crap.  The acting is terrible, Jack Palance is terrible, and the story was usually terrible.
Speaking of Cahiers' top 100,
5. Moonfleet, Lang, 1955, 6.2/10.
I really want to like this film, but it's a bit hollow for me.  I will definitely show it to children when (if?) I ever have any, but for now, I'm not sure I can recommend this film.  Good acting, enough seriousness to be a good adult/kid movie, but not put together well (strange for a Fritz Lang film).

Sign of life (ALATWA #10/11)

This week should prove interesting.  Tonight, I had a meeting with two new friends for a drink at Starlight, a group of  ex-Washington resident, anthropology majors.  Should be a lot of fun, once it happens.  I've been wanting to meet Emilia for a while.  Getting over a cold or bronchitis though, so it's best not to spread it any further than need be.

Here I am one week later ^^^^ and this should have been posted!  Let's see.. what lies ahead this week.  I'm helping my dad dig a well up at his place, where I'll go tomorrow morning at some point.  He's getting the motor fixed on the drill and it should be good by tomorrow.  I'm staying through Friday at his place.  Looking forward to working hard and having some good food and playing some guitar.  Nothing else really on the radar, aside from an essay I'm writing about Michelangelo Antonioni's L'Avventura.

(Saturday Life #10) 2 February 2013

To the ballet I go.  Here, I'll see everyone living their life to its fullest like I should be.  I will be thinking about that as I watch.