Before the Fight Takes Us - A Review of Mrs. Miniver (Film #4)

Mrs. Miniver, Wyler, 1943
The thing that stands out most to me about Mrs. Miniver is the sheer propagandist quality of the film. The last bit before Carol Beldon is killed in the car is appalling, though it probably seemed quite patriotic at the time. "Onward, Christian Soldiers," begins and I get an ache in my belly. Can tackiness cause soreness?
The propagandhi song that features it casts the song in a rightfully deplorable light. Don't get me wrong, the allies in WW2 fought in the last "good" war. That doesn't mean a film should be applauded for dragging them into it, especially not 70 years after the fact. Or should it?
Perhaps this film singlehandedly saved the lives of countless would-be victims, and should be heralded as one of the slickest, most effective Capra-esque pieces in the canon? Perhaps it is the opposite as well.
The acting in the film is superb, from the main actors, down to the little girl who tugs at our heartstrings, warms our cockles, add cliche, ad infinitem, ad nauseum.
The plot is stale now and couldn't have been much fresher then. I kept wondering what people saw in this? Killing Carol Beldon surprised me though, for sure.
For old war films, I still recommend Alan Crosland's 1918 film, The Unbeliever. See this to know your history, know your history to critique it.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:W 18th Ave,Eugene,United States

Yob (A Look At The Week Ahead #6)

If this week is anything like the weekend, things are really picking up. Lora is pretty amazing and I think there is something here.

Tonight I am headed to High Priestess to see her get her calf worked on, should be fun :)

Other than the yob show on sunday, I have no other plans. Hopefully hanging with Lora again, and that's about it :)
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:W 18th Ave,Eugene,United States

Memories of underdevelopment (Saturday Life #6)

The once harmonious strings that bind the universe
Have been tuned to dischord

It's a good album, and expect a review of it and the show at the Wow at my next Wednesday music writing section.  

We've all been in love, right?  Maybe not the "Erich Fromm, Art of Loving" Love, but in some shape or form, the bug has all bitten us.  It's a huge part of our lives, our beliefs.  Sure, it's probably pretty Western in the monogamy-only, romantic sort of type, but it exists in its way in hunter gatherer societies as well.  The importance of romantic, monogamous love is difficult to explain, but I think trying is valid and potentially essential.  It's a Victorian concept, engrained, and Puritan torchbearers were not shy in invoking it's morality.  They still aren't.  Sadly, it's not an entirely natural social convention (statistics back this up, along with plenty of anthropological research), so it's adherence is a difficult, though rewarding goal.  

It's not only a wonderful thing, but in a naturalistic economy like capitalism, where we fully admit our inherent selfishness, it may be the most logical.  More on all of this later.  

If the doors of perceptions were cleansed (A Look At The Weekend #4)

Let's see. Friday night will be my last trivia night for a while, and is sandi's going away party. I barely know her, but she is a pretty rad chick. I imagine there will be a good amount of revelry and drinking involved. And rogue pizza and such.

Saturday the ducks take on Tennessee Tech, and Bad Hat and the fam and I will be watching at his place. No plans for the evening, but Sunday is mournful congregation at the wow hall. Looking forward to it for sure. A doom band from Adelaide, Australia, I have grown more and more into them. Amazing guitar tone, crawling songs that seep into the mind. All that I'd want from a slower-paced metal band. Meeting a new friend, Lora, there as well. Should be altogether great.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:W 18th Ave,Eugene,United States

Strike everywhere (Music #5)

Today I am going to write about an album that changed my life: Merriweather Post Pavillion. An album written by the amorphous collective known as Animal Collective, this album singlehandedly allowed me to see modern pop music as an interesting venture. I had previously thought pop music was killed by grunge. The collection of sounds that come from this group is like a Godard film, snippets of noise like some collage of fiction, newspaper reel, stock footage and other 24fps lies built to convey something. Each part is important and difficult on its own though.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Chambers St,Eugene,United States

Mrs. Miniver (Film #3)

1. Krull, Yates, 1983, 5.7/10
I remember this movie from my childhood, and expected it to be horrible upon seeing it again.  I was wrong.. It certainly lacks in some ways, but many television shows have been written around a less complete cosmology.  The acting is solid, and it's still fun.  If I had children, I would show it to them.
2. Hurt Locker, Bigelow, 2008, 6.5/10
Decent movie, don't remember a whole lot about it, aside from it being tense.  I like tense movies, so I'd guess it would have left an impact, but it didn't.

Mournful Congregation (A Look At The Week Ahead #5)

I have a hang out with Shawnte Wednesday, and with Lora on Sunday, for Mournful Congregation. I can't wait until I am caught up in life and set up my weekly goals and ideas.

I am still reading Visionary Vine: Hallucinogenic healing in the Peruvian Amazon. It's good, if a bit academic.


"Altered states of consciousness have various functions in human societies. Their ubiquitous presence in one form or another bears witness to their importance and their ability to satisfy both individual and social needs," from page 24.



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:W 18th Ave,Eugene,United States