So, if you want to see more, there is a link on the sidebar. I'll probably be posting a new picture about once a week, depending on how busy I am this summer.
Saturday, April 29, 2006
My blog thingy
So, I decided to restart my blog, mostly because of Ben's urging. Basically, I decided to post pictures on it, especially ones that I've photoshopped and look really cool, such as this one, of a scrum during the rugby game in England where I split my head open. This was before I went in, so I was pretty much just chillin' on the sidelines taking pictures. My team is the one in black and red, and we ended up losing the game pretty bad, but it was fun. Until I split my head open, but that was still fun.
So, if you want to see more, there is a link on the sidebar. I'll probably be posting a new picture about once a week, depending on how busy I am this summer.
So, if you want to see more, there is a link on the sidebar. I'll probably be posting a new picture about once a week, depending on how busy I am this summer.
If you thought Satan was bad, you haven't met this lady!
The link above is a clip from Fox News who interviewed the leader of an anti-catholic, anti-jew, anti-gay, anti-America, and anti-soldier church. She along with her "church" protested outside of a soldier's funeral who had died in Iraq with signs saying things like, "God hates you", "Thank God for Dead Soldiers" and "Thank God for 9/11." Her father who started the church had said things during a protest at the Holocaust museum in Washington DC such as, "the Holocaust was minsicule" and that "the Jews were the real Nazis."! Watch and be the judge it for yourself.
the link should open up a "windows media player" if it does not work the url is this:
http://media.spikedhumor.com/24864/insane_woman_on_fox_news.wmv
the link should open up a "windows media player" if it does not work the url is this:
http://media.spikedhumor.com/24864/insane_woman_on_fox_news.wmv
UNITED 93
I ended up writing a lot about this movie, around three or three and a half pages, after staying up late reading up on all the reactions it's getting. In the end, though, I stuck with about a page of what I figured was the really important stuff, but if you're interested in the rest of my random musings, lemme know.
Wow. I thought I had steeled myself for it. I thought I was somehow ready, perhaps even read too much and would be numb to the experience. Not even close. United 93 is one of the most visceral, frightening, heartbreaking, gut-wrenching, powerful film I’ve seen in awhile, if not the most.
I can only speak in my own personal opinion, but not a second felt exploitive. To me, it feels like there’s been so much talk and theory and speculation and analysis put into the events of that day that we forget what it was like. I know I do; I think of it from time to time, and honestly my time spent at college has brought it to my attention more than ever, but it’s pretty rare that I truly remember the fear and confusion we all felt that day.
I’m not gonna go into a whole thing about where I was when I first heard about it, because more or less we all have the same story. The story none of us have is the story that United 93 tells at its core, and for that reason I think it’s a film worth making. You can read any number of reports that will tell you all the information they have on what definitely happened on that flight, but what none of those reports will convey is what it felt like. Anyone could imagine it, but what United 93 does, as any great film will, is it puts you right there. I’ve heard the story of the flight many times, as have I’m sure we all, but I was nearly in tears listening to the passengers call their loved ones to say goodbye, and I was inspired by and just as anxious as the passengers who banded together to retake the plane.
There’s more going on in the film, though, as it also explores what it was like for the air traffic controllers and military personnel (largely portrayed by people who do those same jobs, and in a few cases, such as FAA Operations Manager Ben Sliney, are portrayed by the very people who were doing those jobs that day). Those scenes are incredibly tense, which might be surprising as much of it is spent trying to figure out something we as an audience already know all about.
And that’s probably the greatest testament to the film, as it goes with any historically-based story – everyone knows the outcome, but we experience it as though we don’t. It’s a very intense film, difficult to sit through at times (I’d estimate around thirty people walked out), but by the time it gets to the passenger uprising when they attempt to retake control of the plane, I was captivated. Some people in the theater even cheered at this (at the end, nearly the whole audience erupted in applause).
This is not a “larger picture” film. There are no big statements, no long speeches, not even a mention of “Osama” or “Bush” or anything. And that’s what I probably love most about it, is that it sticks with its characters. Those characters are largely unnamed, and if they are it’s in passing, which is something I’m almost always opposed to in films. I often chalk it up to lazy screenwriting, and it tells me that if the screenwriter doesn’t truly care for his characters, why should I? But sometimes, it works. Here, it works because hardly anyone knew anybody on the flight. They were all just people caught in this situation who suddenly had to band together, and that’s how they’re presented to us.
I have a whole defense in my head about why I feel the complaints about big budget Hollywood cashing in on tragedy are misguided and uninformed, but that’s not my job in a review. If you think it’s too soon for the film, I would recommend against seeing it. No matter what, you won’t be ready for what you see, but if it’s an experience you feel you’re ready for, you won’t find a better movie in theaters right now, and you’re unlikely to for some time.
Wow. I thought I had steeled myself for it. I thought I was somehow ready, perhaps even read too much and would be numb to the experience. Not even close. United 93 is one of the most visceral, frightening, heartbreaking, gut-wrenching, powerful film I’ve seen in awhile, if not the most.
I can only speak in my own personal opinion, but not a second felt exploitive. To me, it feels like there’s been so much talk and theory and speculation and analysis put into the events of that day that we forget what it was like. I know I do; I think of it from time to time, and honestly my time spent at college has brought it to my attention more than ever, but it’s pretty rare that I truly remember the fear and confusion we all felt that day.
I’m not gonna go into a whole thing about where I was when I first heard about it, because more or less we all have the same story. The story none of us have is the story that United 93 tells at its core, and for that reason I think it’s a film worth making. You can read any number of reports that will tell you all the information they have on what definitely happened on that flight, but what none of those reports will convey is what it felt like. Anyone could imagine it, but what United 93 does, as any great film will, is it puts you right there. I’ve heard the story of the flight many times, as have I’m sure we all, but I was nearly in tears listening to the passengers call their loved ones to say goodbye, and I was inspired by and just as anxious as the passengers who banded together to retake the plane.
There’s more going on in the film, though, as it also explores what it was like for the air traffic controllers and military personnel (largely portrayed by people who do those same jobs, and in a few cases, such as FAA Operations Manager Ben Sliney, are portrayed by the very people who were doing those jobs that day). Those scenes are incredibly tense, which might be surprising as much of it is spent trying to figure out something we as an audience already know all about.
And that’s probably the greatest testament to the film, as it goes with any historically-based story – everyone knows the outcome, but we experience it as though we don’t. It’s a very intense film, difficult to sit through at times (I’d estimate around thirty people walked out), but by the time it gets to the passenger uprising when they attempt to retake control of the plane, I was captivated. Some people in the theater even cheered at this (at the end, nearly the whole audience erupted in applause).
This is not a “larger picture” film. There are no big statements, no long speeches, not even a mention of “Osama” or “Bush” or anything. And that’s what I probably love most about it, is that it sticks with its characters. Those characters are largely unnamed, and if they are it’s in passing, which is something I’m almost always opposed to in films. I often chalk it up to lazy screenwriting, and it tells me that if the screenwriter doesn’t truly care for his characters, why should I? But sometimes, it works. Here, it works because hardly anyone knew anybody on the flight. They were all just people caught in this situation who suddenly had to band together, and that’s how they’re presented to us.
I have a whole defense in my head about why I feel the complaints about big budget Hollywood cashing in on tragedy are misguided and uninformed, but that’s not my job in a review. If you think it’s too soon for the film, I would recommend against seeing it. No matter what, you won’t be ready for what you see, but if it’s an experience you feel you’re ready for, you won’t find a better movie in theaters right now, and you’re unlikely to for some time.
Monday, April 24, 2006
Who knew? Volcanoes!
Last night I walked down to the First Unitarian Church with a friend and her friend from Missoula who smoked at least 3 ciggarettes before we finally saw Islands. We got to the church and found a long trail of indie kids wrapping around the building. It's really interesting how all indie kids look alike. After waiting for about an hour after the show was supposed to start, they let us in. The first opening band was Snowden who wasn't bad except for the fact that all of their songs consisted of one line that was repeated over and over again. It was fun watching the singer swing his sweaty hair around to the beat because sometimes he'd get off beat and he'd have to stop for a second to get back on track. Anyway, the second opener was Cadence Weapon who rapped and probably only got to perform because he's the guy who raps in Where There's a Will There's a Whalebone. We sat outside for that set and amused ourselves by personifying this pretty white flower amongst the dirt and other coarse plants. It kept getting blown violently in the wind and Kim (the one who smokes) kept making distressful flower noises whenever this happened and I really don't know why we found that so funny but anyway back to the show. Why? played next and had a pretty big following. I could have sworn all of their songs were about sex but I could be wrong. Aaand after much waiting around Islands came on stage.
(this is Phil)
Despite some bad sound quality, Islands were really great. Especially since there are two stereotypical asian guys in the band playing the violin and various other instruments. During one song, one of them played the violin like a guitar. They started their set with Volcanoes and the crowd ate it up, although it might have been because they were on ecstasy. I say this because the group of people in front of us were off the wall. They kept jumping around and swaying and doing strange dances and being generally rowdy but Islands just kept playing unfazed. Someone also managed to crowd surf...That bunch certainly loosened up the audience but after a while they just got annoying. When Islands finished, they walked off stage over to a side door which led to an open room, flipped the lights on and just stood around drinking water and beer while the audience cheered them back on stage by chanting "U-S-A." But when that didn't work they chanted "Canada." It reminded me of Gus and Shakeer and Jack and whoever else was a part of that back in high school. They played Swans and something else. I'm pretty sure it was all just an act, but when the show was really over they just hung out in the same place. I'm really surprised no one went over to talk to them. I kind of wanted to ask Nick Thorburn if he would reveal what was under his long bangs. And compliment the show of course, maybe get an autograph.
Overall I thought I had the most fun at this concert than any others I’ve been to because everyone was so engaged with music and freely clapped and sang along. I only wish bands wouldn't take so long to get started. I'm also wondering how a church turned into a concert venue.
P.S.
I saw Wolf Parade a couple weeks ago too, except in a far more grungy/clove smoking venue. They sounded fantastic live. Every one of the members had a bottle of Heineken and in the keyboardists' case, a very large towel. Spencer Krug (the guitarist/singer) was also smoking something when he wasn't singing. Even while doing all that they managed to play almost all of their songs perfectly, with some slight variations of course. They ended with I'll Believe in Anything and played Dinner Bells during the encore performance.
pictures:
Sunday, April 23, 2006
Article About the Transformers Movie
Really, what more do you want from me? It's gonna be directed by the guy who did The Rock and Armagheddon. Highlights from my memory are the description of the freeway chase (a combination of the Transformers driving AND transforming AND battling all at the same time), Optimus Prime battling in downtown LA...and a kid getting his first car that ends up being a Transformer. That and this movie will even exist, man. Not 'til 2007, but this'll get you excited.
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