So...
now...
What do I have left to say.
Ok. well.
I know I haven't been writing here much this spring. That's normal enough... given that I don't have my work-imposed 20 hours of weekly computer time to spur me on. Except... this spring... or at least over the last few weeks, it's been because my quasi-work imposed 40+ hours of weekly computer time has been consecrated to way too many other portals of communication.
For the last month I've been sitting at the computer doing the following:
Typing/transcribing an interview/review with Nick T. from the Islands.
Doing any number of other reviews for Exclaim! (the same reason I was doing the above).
Setting up a Facebook page for Surgery (slow going) and Backstreet (fast going).
Keeping up posting to Backstreet blog and MySpace.
And editing and relaunching the Goose Lane-related blog, Branta.
In the meantime I got drawn into helping out at a dance/improv show called
Uranium and Uranus.
This is not from the show... Just JB doing homework hiding in a closet:
For the performance I purchased a fun little doo-hickey... Kaoss Pad. Or at least the junior version of it:
The show went better than it had any right to... given the limited prep/rehearsal time... from a technical standpoint. Lucy May, the dancer in charge of staging, had a lot of great ideas... which was actually frustrating, because with more time to link the ideas to actions rather than a large portion of "winging it," it could become a really impressive multimedia show. Who knows. Maybe it still will.
I've also been on a peculiarly unplanned movie buying kick lately.
An acquaintance has started working up at HMV and I mentioned having seen a box set of Alejandro Jordoworsky films at the store back before Xmas that had disappeared since. He mentioned he might have seen it back in the stockroom so I, without much thought said, "well, put it aside for me if it is." Which it was. So now I have it. Yay?
I don't know how to explain these films.
Holy Mountain is probably the most famous of the three full lengths (there's also a short "long thought lost" film and two soundtracks to round the set out). Within ten minutes of the mostly visual, dialogue-free film you're show a monk-like character in a comically wide-brimmed hat shaving two naked women bald in what appears to be a white tiled steam room; a Christ-Like figure pelted by S. American Indians rescued by a multiple-amputee'd dwarf who he smokes drugs with then carries into a marketplace. There they are set upon by similarly dressed prostitutes age-ranged from about 8 to 38. The Jesus guy destroys a showroom of plaster Christ's then pretends to be a frog looming over a minature model of an Aztec(?) city that is then overrun by actual frogs dressed in Crusade singlets and showered in blood from above. That's the first ten minutes. I turned it off and napped for about six hours and haven't gone back since. But I'm sure I will.
My "less challenging" purchases have included:
A proper version of Cloverfield. (see below post for some further description).
The Mist... an adaptation of a Stephen King novella by Frank Darabont who also helmed adaptations of King's The Green Mile and The Shawshank Redemption. The Mist isn't set in a prison... and it has giant pan-dimensional monsters... so it's a bit different.
About a Son... the image-poem to Kurt Cobain narrated by the interviews he did with Michael Azzerad for his book Come as You Are.
30 Days of Night... a vampire film adapted from a graphic novel of the same name... set in Barrow, Alaska, the "northrernmost town in US." The story occurs during the town's yearly month-long sunless stretch.
The Assassination of Jesse James... because Brad Pitt being quiet and spooky is just as much fun (and maybe moreso) than Brad Pitt being loud and herky jerky
Once... Indie Irish film about finding love out of writing heartbroken songs... starring the singer from The Frames... if that's relevant ot anyone. I read good things about it.
Margot at the Wedding... Noah Baumbach's follow-up to The Squid & the Whale. Stars Jennifer Jason Lee... who I usually like, but can be a loose cannon... Nicole Kidman... who I'd like to like more, but you get the feeling a wax figure from some British museum took over from her about 5 or 6 years ago... and Jack Black... who'd I'd like to not ever like, but he somehow gets in the way of that every now and then. Whatever psychic Baumbach (and his pal Wes Anderson) endured from their parents growing up, their film career is benefitting from it now.
Rodger Dodger... I've had this for a while on VHS. I like this kind of morally ambiguous movie... recently jilted by his (older) boss (played by Isabella Rosselini) Rodger (played by Campbell Scott) has his teenage nephew unexpectedly show up, supposedly checking out College campuses but in reality to gain Rodger's insights into the female psyche. Campbell's Rodger is an effective predator when it comes to spotting weak spots... except when it comes to his own. So it's one night of many bad decisions in NYC.
The Eye 2... Pang Bros. Chinese horror. Adultery. Botched suicides. Unexpeceted pregnancies. Old Ghosts. Mayhem.
There's more... you can be sure... but that's enough for now.
