Thank gawd for my Cinema/Chicago membership which gave me a pass for the screening of this movie! oh so good!!!
it's quiet and unassuming but you relate because Harvey Pekar (the main character and whom the movie is about) could be any one of us....hell I found myself thinking that if i didn't start getting my act together i would be him....not a pleasant thought. Well be him before he started writing his comics. He's such an unusual person.....he's not a 100% loser....he's like 98% loser with 2% genius that just explodes out because he's finally found an outlet for it.
The movie doesn't take any pains to hide the realities of who Harvey is either.....they show him in all his loser-ish glory. From selling records that he's bought at garage sales to others or collecting them for himself to having an apt so small that there is barely any room for Joyce (his i think 3rd wife) when she moves in. His dead-end job working as a file clerk at the Veteran's Memorial Hospital that Harvey hates yet is reluctant to try and find work anyplace else. His serendiptious meeting and friendship with R. Crumb of the independant comic books fame is what propels him to eventually chronicle parts of his life in comics and find an outlet for himself.
The movie is intercut with scenes that seem like a home movie they're so personal.....Harvey sits and talks about the events as they unfold during the movie....sometimes with his wife Joyce or friend Toby.
The frankness and honesty of the movie is sometimes off-set by the cartoon backgrounds that are sometimes intermingled with the live action stuff that adds a very surreal quality to Harvey Pekar. It's like a quick visual reminder that even though it's real and all true.....it's so bizzarre at times that it seems almost fictional......you just can't believe that some of the things could actually be true. And that fact that many and probably everybody wrote him off as a curmudgeonly lazy-@ss just gives his story more poignancy and depth because as he faces the waning years of his life the desperation to "make a mark" in the world in some way just unleases the potential that he probably had all along.
The fact that I relate so well to Harvey Pekar really freaked me out for like 2 seconds before I realized that it wasn't necessarily a bad thing...as long as I learned what not to do. He's quite the eternal pessimist....or as I like to think of it....a realist. He knows what he likes and is generally angry not just with the world but at times with himself because he is not very dilligent or ambitious. His regrets fuel his misery and anger and has shaped the path his life had taken.....however much he wishes it had been different.
As Harvey faces cancer the heroism shines not because of what he's done but the fact that he survives......he didn't cope very well but he survives.....and surviving no matter how you got there still counts. And the fact that Harvey Pekar lives makes me think there's hope for me yet!
So yes I do consider Harvey Pekar a hero....not because of anything he did or has done or is doing......but just because he exists. For me Harvey Pekar validates the notion that something can very much be made of nothing.....even if only to 1 person or for even a brief amount of time. And without the overly sickly sweet sentimentality either! At least....not on the movie's part.....on mine.....well....I haven't figured a way around all of it just yet......but I'm working on it!
Monday, August 04, 2003
Thursday, July 31, 2003
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
Oh gawd kill me with this movie....this is a really bad movie that happened to Sean Connery who you'd think would know better but doesn't seem to be making the most wisest movie choices in his career right now. The whole time I'm watching this movie all i kept thinking was that he was trying to re-capture the essence of his character from "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade". In that he was the old but wise, lovable but frustrating, who meant well but made life choices that he regrets with everything he's able. As Allan Quartermain he goes for a slightly less stuffy edge to his character which he does convincingly play but the storyline is boring and you really don't care for any of the characters other than Allan Quartermain and Tom Sawyer. Everybody else is just decoration and I must say gawdy and un-necessary.
There's Captain Nemo who looks like an Arabic wanna-be with the turban and fake beard.....Mina Harker whom we're supposed to believe is now a vampire even though according to the book was saved when Dracula was killed. The Invisible Man tends to be nothing but clothes and cold cream for some reason....although he does get some funny lines....but I cared more for his accent then his words.....what IS it about men with accents?!?!?! Dorian Gray who comes off as a effeminate pretty boy who we're supposed to believe is in love with Mina Harker but the whole time I'm thinking "just come outta the closet already!" Then there's the schizoid Dr. Jekyell and Mr. Hyde who is unbelivably ugly as Mr. Hyde and pathetic as Dr. Jekyell. And he's supposed to be attracted to Mina Harker too.....*rolls eyes* And why are all the guys supposed to be attracted to Mina Harker? She's not that pretty and annoying dull and boring.....it's like these guys have never seen a woman before for crying out loud! Then there's M who originally brings the "League" together and is an eye-rolling and retardedly thin reference to Sean Connery's role as 007. Like we really wanted that reminder when James Bond is supposed to be set almost half a century later?!?!?! Please.....
Of course some characters had more faults then others. Tom Sawyer was alright but are we really supposed to believe that he works for the American Secret Service when in the book he barely reads and writes and is barely articulate let alone resourceful enough to be a spy?!?!?!?! I really think the movie should have explained a little of how some of the characters got to how where they were at the time of the movie to make the characters and the movie more believable...if not at least less ridiculous.......
The really absurd part is when M turns out to be the villian.....James Moriarty the mastermind criminal from the Sherlock Holmes series.....and I must say quite the disappointment....I had imagined him as more stately and menacing and insidious.....instead he reminded me more of the villians from silent movies who go around twirling their mustaches, dressing in black, tying the girl to the railroad tracks and muttering "curses! foiled again!" at the end. Or at least that's how i felt the movie potrayed him......*sigh* He comes across as an incompentent villian like Gargamel from the Smurfs rather than like Hannibal Lecter but without quite so much the insanity.....pathetic and annoying.
And don't even get me started on the storyline....please!!!! at the turn of the century the big plot is to avoid a big world war?!?!?! who are they kidding?!?!? it's gonna happen anyway and we're supposed to believe that this is some big apocalyptic event that these fiction superheroes prevent? *yawn* Could care less.....and the special effects...oh gawd you've gotta be kidding!!! We're supposed to believe that a submarine the size of an air freighter goes around the world being undetected? and can navigate through rivers and Venice waterways? Not bloody likey.....I always imagined it as big but not that stupidly big.....there's no way that something that big could stand that much water pressure not to mention the ridiculous decorations...we're supposed to believe this sub can go at amazing speeds through the water without the little statute decorations breaking off or that something that big can stand that much water pressure?!?!?! Again....not bloody likely! Even with my ability to believe in the unbelievable and stretching my imaginiation didn't make this any easier to watch. I spent more time rolling my eyes and wondering if they were kidding then actually watching the movie and that's saying something.....
In the end all I wanted was Moriarty to win and kill them all and start the world war already so that I wouldn't have to watch it anymore.....him winning would have been infinitely better then having to sit through this retarded cheese-fest *ugh* It would have played better if maybe they had done it as some kind of mission from England to steal something that was supposed to be originally English but turns out isn't.....and that the villian wanted that something for his own evil purposes......probably would have played better and given more room for character development and interaction....not to mention probably better dialog and more believability. Oh well.....chalk up another waste of time and money and hope that the actors pick a better movie for their next projects.
There's Captain Nemo who looks like an Arabic wanna-be with the turban and fake beard.....Mina Harker whom we're supposed to believe is now a vampire even though according to the book was saved when Dracula was killed. The Invisible Man tends to be nothing but clothes and cold cream for some reason....although he does get some funny lines....but I cared more for his accent then his words.....what IS it about men with accents?!?!?! Dorian Gray who comes off as a effeminate pretty boy who we're supposed to believe is in love with Mina Harker but the whole time I'm thinking "just come outta the closet already!" Then there's the schizoid Dr. Jekyell and Mr. Hyde who is unbelivably ugly as Mr. Hyde and pathetic as Dr. Jekyell. And he's supposed to be attracted to Mina Harker too.....*rolls eyes* And why are all the guys supposed to be attracted to Mina Harker? She's not that pretty and annoying dull and boring.....it's like these guys have never seen a woman before for crying out loud! Then there's M who originally brings the "League" together and is an eye-rolling and retardedly thin reference to Sean Connery's role as 007. Like we really wanted that reminder when James Bond is supposed to be set almost half a century later?!?!?! Please.....
Of course some characters had more faults then others. Tom Sawyer was alright but are we really supposed to believe that he works for the American Secret Service when in the book he barely reads and writes and is barely articulate let alone resourceful enough to be a spy?!?!?!?! I really think the movie should have explained a little of how some of the characters got to how where they were at the time of the movie to make the characters and the movie more believable...if not at least less ridiculous.......
The really absurd part is when M turns out to be the villian.....James Moriarty the mastermind criminal from the Sherlock Holmes series.....and I must say quite the disappointment....I had imagined him as more stately and menacing and insidious.....instead he reminded me more of the villians from silent movies who go around twirling their mustaches, dressing in black, tying the girl to the railroad tracks and muttering "curses! foiled again!" at the end. Or at least that's how i felt the movie potrayed him......*sigh* He comes across as an incompentent villian like Gargamel from the Smurfs rather than like Hannibal Lecter but without quite so much the insanity.....pathetic and annoying.
And don't even get me started on the storyline....please!!!! at the turn of the century the big plot is to avoid a big world war?!?!?! who are they kidding?!?!? it's gonna happen anyway and we're supposed to believe that this is some big apocalyptic event that these fiction superheroes prevent? *yawn* Could care less.....and the special effects...oh gawd you've gotta be kidding!!! We're supposed to believe that a submarine the size of an air freighter goes around the world being undetected? and can navigate through rivers and Venice waterways? Not bloody likey.....I always imagined it as big but not that stupidly big.....there's no way that something that big could stand that much water pressure not to mention the ridiculous decorations...we're supposed to believe this sub can go at amazing speeds through the water without the little statute decorations breaking off or that something that big can stand that much water pressure?!?!?! Again....not bloody likely! Even with my ability to believe in the unbelievable and stretching my imaginiation didn't make this any easier to watch. I spent more time rolling my eyes and wondering if they were kidding then actually watching the movie and that's saying something.....
In the end all I wanted was Moriarty to win and kill them all and start the world war already so that I wouldn't have to watch it anymore.....him winning would have been infinitely better then having to sit through this retarded cheese-fest *ugh* It would have played better if maybe they had done it as some kind of mission from England to steal something that was supposed to be originally English but turns out isn't.....and that the villian wanted that something for his own evil purposes......probably would have played better and given more room for character development and interaction....not to mention probably better dialog and more believability. Oh well.....chalk up another waste of time and money and hope that the actors pick a better movie for their next projects.
On the Town
The next movie in the Chicago Outdoor Film Festival was truly hilarious and not just cause it meant to be either! 24 hours in New York for 3 sailors on leave can be quite daunting but these guys seem more than up to the task.....all they want is to see everything and find girls to canoodle with along the way.....Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra, and Jules Munshin are quite distictive and energetic in their roles and are so adorable in an 'aw-shucks' kind of way that you can't help but like them despite the cheesy sterilized-ness of what sailors are really like! Jules Munshin stood out in my mind especially because of a previous role of his......the maitre'd Francois in "Easter Parade". His bit with the making of the salad is brilliant and impeccible......expressive and humorous and conveying wit and charm that just reels a person in and makes the most of the short screen time he has.
The ladies on the other hand gave performances with varying degrees of success.....Vera Ellen, more famous for her role in "White Christmas" is unbelievable in the role of a shy small town girl pretending to be a sophisticated urbanite for Gene Kelly's Gabey. She was better as the mischievous-but-well-intentioned sister in "White Christmas"......here her eyes are too knowing to convey a person who is trying to hide their small-town-girl bashful-ness and innocence.....she's supposed to be this girl trying to be cute and endearing in her naivete but comes off stiff and forced in the attempt and completely unbelievable. I even read somewhere afterward that she didn't do her own singing for parts of the movie....how appalling!!!
Then there's Ann Miller who is quite the famous actress because of all her roles as a secondary lead.....she often steals the scenes she's in with her vacuous mega-watt smile and unbelievable dancing. Unfortunately she can't seem to hold the scenes once speaking is required.....which works to her advantage when she played petty, diva-like women...emoting is NOT her strong suit and that comes across in this movie. She might as well have been a sterotypical blond for all her airheaded-ness even though her character was supposed to be an anthropologist...which i didn't buy for a second....it sounded like she memorized sections of a textbook to convince unsuspecting men that she is witty and intelligent when really she's quite the boy chaser......but nobody can argue that she's quite unmatched in her dancing ability......she really lucked out in being at the right place at the right times during the musical-era of Hollywood.....
The ladies I really liked where Betty Garrett as Hildy, the lady cab driver looking to score with Frank Sinatra's Chip and Alice Pearce as Lucy Smeeler, Hildy's room mate. Hildy comes off exactly the way her character is meant to.....smart, street-wise and unwilling to play games when it comes to her attraction for Chip. Her honesty and warmth conveys so vividly across the screen that I don't understand why I haven't seen her in more films before now.....that is until I read a short bio on her saying that she was black-listed for being married to a man who admitted having an affliation with the Communist party during the McCarthy era. Stupid politics! Luckily she had a come-back of sorts as Laverne's aunt Edna on the tv show "Laverne and Shirley" and deservedly so.....I really liked her alot!
Finally there's Alice Pearce as Lucy Smeeler and I must say that she is truly an under-rated female comedic talent.....she had me laughing my head off everytime she came on screen and wished her role had been even bigger just so she could make me laugh some more! She struck me as being familiar and my friends later filled me in as to why......she went on to be the notorious next-door neighbor Mrs. Gladys Kravitz on the tv show "Bewitched" Talk about memorable.....who could forget that chin-less face with the nose that entered a room before any other body part! Or the nasally voice that conveyed bitterness and skeptism with nothing more than a grunt or an audible expelling of air. In my mind she typifies the cranky and gossipy but on the whole-goodhearted and well-meaning old women that alot of actresses have tried to convey but never completely perfected. As Lucy Smeeler she's not an old woman but a young one that knows she's not attractive and instead of being completely self-pitying about it she just accepts what she is and works with what she has. For that she's endearing and wins my heart as somebody who'se felt the same way but haven't acted the same. Lucy comes off as nerdy and geeky but genuinely nice and funny with moments of wit that makes me think "loyal best friend" automatically. Her character is the kind of person you'd want in real life cause you know once you have their loyality it's undying.....betray them and you lose something irreplaceble....
The movie on the whole is fairly cheesey and and eye-roll-er all the way through but the campy-ness and the unabashed "we're in it for the fun of it" attitude makes it bearable to watch and laugh along with. And let's not forget Frank Sinatra's "empty face" or Vera Ellen's "cooch girl".......those lines alone were worth it for me!
The ladies on the other hand gave performances with varying degrees of success.....Vera Ellen, more famous for her role in "White Christmas" is unbelievable in the role of a shy small town girl pretending to be a sophisticated urbanite for Gene Kelly's Gabey. She was better as the mischievous-but-well-intentioned sister in "White Christmas"......here her eyes are too knowing to convey a person who is trying to hide their small-town-girl bashful-ness and innocence.....she's supposed to be this girl trying to be cute and endearing in her naivete but comes off stiff and forced in the attempt and completely unbelievable. I even read somewhere afterward that she didn't do her own singing for parts of the movie....how appalling!!!
Then there's Ann Miller who is quite the famous actress because of all her roles as a secondary lead.....she often steals the scenes she's in with her vacuous mega-watt smile and unbelievable dancing. Unfortunately she can't seem to hold the scenes once speaking is required.....which works to her advantage when she played petty, diva-like women...emoting is NOT her strong suit and that comes across in this movie. She might as well have been a sterotypical blond for all her airheaded-ness even though her character was supposed to be an anthropologist...which i didn't buy for a second....it sounded like she memorized sections of a textbook to convince unsuspecting men that she is witty and intelligent when really she's quite the boy chaser......but nobody can argue that she's quite unmatched in her dancing ability......she really lucked out in being at the right place at the right times during the musical-era of Hollywood.....
The ladies I really liked where Betty Garrett as Hildy, the lady cab driver looking to score with Frank Sinatra's Chip and Alice Pearce as Lucy Smeeler, Hildy's room mate. Hildy comes off exactly the way her character is meant to.....smart, street-wise and unwilling to play games when it comes to her attraction for Chip. Her honesty and warmth conveys so vividly across the screen that I don't understand why I haven't seen her in more films before now.....that is until I read a short bio on her saying that she was black-listed for being married to a man who admitted having an affliation with the Communist party during the McCarthy era. Stupid politics! Luckily she had a come-back of sorts as Laverne's aunt Edna on the tv show "Laverne and Shirley" and deservedly so.....I really liked her alot!
Finally there's Alice Pearce as Lucy Smeeler and I must say that she is truly an under-rated female comedic talent.....she had me laughing my head off everytime she came on screen and wished her role had been even bigger just so she could make me laugh some more! She struck me as being familiar and my friends later filled me in as to why......she went on to be the notorious next-door neighbor Mrs. Gladys Kravitz on the tv show "Bewitched" Talk about memorable.....who could forget that chin-less face with the nose that entered a room before any other body part! Or the nasally voice that conveyed bitterness and skeptism with nothing more than a grunt or an audible expelling of air. In my mind she typifies the cranky and gossipy but on the whole-goodhearted and well-meaning old women that alot of actresses have tried to convey but never completely perfected. As Lucy Smeeler she's not an old woman but a young one that knows she's not attractive and instead of being completely self-pitying about it she just accepts what she is and works with what she has. For that she's endearing and wins my heart as somebody who'se felt the same way but haven't acted the same. Lucy comes off as nerdy and geeky but genuinely nice and funny with moments of wit that makes me think "loyal best friend" automatically. Her character is the kind of person you'd want in real life cause you know once you have their loyality it's undying.....betray them and you lose something irreplaceble....
The movie on the whole is fairly cheesey and and eye-roll-er all the way through but the campy-ness and the unabashed "we're in it for the fun of it" attitude makes it bearable to watch and laugh along with. And let's not forget Frank Sinatra's "empty face" or Vera Ellen's "cooch girl".......those lines alone were worth it for me!
Tuesday, July 29, 2003
A Night at the Opera
Oooh i've been so remiss is keeping up with the movies i've seen.....luckily i've only watched one movie to report on.......and that's the next movie in Chicago Outdoor Film Festival series, the Marx Brothers movie "A Night at the Opera". This is only the 2nd Marx Brothers movie i've seen but i was amazed at how incredibly musically talented the Marx Brothers were....especially Chico and Harpo Marx......I was so impressed with their playing when they crashed the "lower-class" party on the boat.....I'm starting to become quite the fan of the Marx Brothers!
The movie itself was pretty funny...the premise being that up-and-coming opera starlet, Rosa was in love with an unknown opera singer, Ricardo but is pursued by a famous opera star, Rodolfo who helps Rosa with her career with the understanding that there be "appropriate romantic" gratitudes with him even though he knows Rosa is in love with Ricardo......Rodolfo is such a jerk!
Anyway, Groucho Marx is helping a "noveau riche" widow try and "enter" society while Chico and Harpo are trying to help Ricardo find a way to go with Rosa for her big debut in New York. The Marx Brothers end up helping each other other as their purposes cross and hilarity ensues. There's the scene when the contracts are first being hashed out between Groucho and Chico which is pretty funny and lots of deadpanning from Groucho....then there's Groucho's cabin quarters and all the ppl who need to or are invited in.....not to mention the insane-ness during the big finale where the lovers are given a chance to perform together while the Marx Brothers are running around both behind the stage and on stage avoiding the theater manangers, police, and various others wanting them for one reason or another....
Funny and poignant and the music was amazing...not just the piano playing by Chico and the harp by Chico which were amazing and so beautiful but the singing by Kitty Carlisle who played Rosa and Allan Jones who played Ricardo was so beautiful. Gave me such a new appreciation for opera.....
And the story was pretty well played out with the characters fairly well developed even though the emphasis was on the Marx Brothers who had taken what would normally have been supporting characters roles. The purpose and the love between the lovers was real and believable and the machinations of Rodolfo authentic in how he used his influence to get what he wanted. The widow and the theater manager both fairly small roles but conveyed with a surprising degree of understanding and multi-dimensionalism by the actors that portrayed them.
If nothing else this movie is worth a rental for the music.......and for what's become my favorite couple of lines in the movie where Grocho Marx hilariously remarks on the famous aviators traveling by boat.
The movie itself was pretty funny...the premise being that up-and-coming opera starlet, Rosa was in love with an unknown opera singer, Ricardo but is pursued by a famous opera star, Rodolfo who helps Rosa with her career with the understanding that there be "appropriate romantic" gratitudes with him even though he knows Rosa is in love with Ricardo......Rodolfo is such a jerk!
Anyway, Groucho Marx is helping a "noveau riche" widow try and "enter" society while Chico and Harpo are trying to help Ricardo find a way to go with Rosa for her big debut in New York. The Marx Brothers end up helping each other other as their purposes cross and hilarity ensues. There's the scene when the contracts are first being hashed out between Groucho and Chico which is pretty funny and lots of deadpanning from Groucho....then there's Groucho's cabin quarters and all the ppl who need to or are invited in.....not to mention the insane-ness during the big finale where the lovers are given a chance to perform together while the Marx Brothers are running around both behind the stage and on stage avoiding the theater manangers, police, and various others wanting them for one reason or another....
Funny and poignant and the music was amazing...not just the piano playing by Chico and the harp by Chico which were amazing and so beautiful but the singing by Kitty Carlisle who played Rosa and Allan Jones who played Ricardo was so beautiful. Gave me such a new appreciation for opera.....
And the story was pretty well played out with the characters fairly well developed even though the emphasis was on the Marx Brothers who had taken what would normally have been supporting characters roles. The purpose and the love between the lovers was real and believable and the machinations of Rodolfo authentic in how he used his influence to get what he wanted. The widow and the theater manager both fairly small roles but conveyed with a surprising degree of understanding and multi-dimensionalism by the actors that portrayed them.
If nothing else this movie is worth a rental for the music.......and for what's become my favorite couple of lines in the movie where Grocho Marx hilariously remarks on the famous aviators traveling by boat.
Thursday, July 17, 2003
It Happened One Night
A great perk to living in Chicago is that they've started doing an outdoor film festival a few years back and best of all it's free to the public! Technically not a movie pass but still free and involving a movie hence the entry.
They show 7 movies, one every tuesday night starting around the 2nd or 3rd tuesday in july and they're usually some old classic.....and to help it along they usually have a short film by some chicago area film student and last year they had cartoon works of Chuck Jones to memorialize him. Of course it helped that I had found out about the festival after only missing the first one (some like it hot) which i had seen almost in it's entirety anyway. So off i went to see dr. strangelove, a hard day's night and carmen jones. Then surgery struck so i couldn't see horse feathers but i was able to rent it later and vertigo and west side story i had already seen so i didn't feel too bad about missing those movies.
This is their 4th one and i haven't seen a single one of the films they've got planned....i'm so excited!!!!
So the first one was It happened one night with clark gable and claudette corbert and i adored it!!!! Clark Gable is charming and charismatic....he's kind but doesn't take any cr@p....*dreamy sigh* The only film I had ever seen Clark Gable in was (naturally) gone with the wind and he's very strong and forceful there too but the jockularity isn't played up quite as much. In "It happened one night", clark gable is much more relaxed and funny....he doesn't mind laughing at himself a little bit but with one quick facial expression can make you feel the few tatters of pride that he tries to cling to when situations become difficult for his character.
The story is very well told with the characters fully developed with lots of moments of interaction so that the audience can see why the two end up falling in love with each other. They even have the all-important "inside joke" involving Jericho and a trumpet between the two that makes you smile in the end for being "in on it". The supporting cast of characters are great with the father being quite eccentric but truly loving towards his daughter and the fellow bus passenger that hits on Claudette Corbert's character....clark gable naturally saves her but makes it seem like it was outta self-interest...you half expect him to turn to the camera and wink he's so charming!
Some of the dialogue is naturally fairly trite and predictable....the movie was made in 1934.....and some of the phrases and idioms used just makes you crack up because they are so dated. Not to mention being able to predict some of the things that happen (example: hitchhiker scene) but I found that I was able to overlook the parts for the sake of the whole and was throughly enchanted with the movie.
When I learned that for the first year of the oscars this movie won in all the categories....well....that just cemented it for me! This movie won because it was well written and well acted....likable characters with true sincerity and a fairly believable scenerio where you root for the guy to get the girl.
Not to mention the fact that I have a bigger appreciation for clark gable and that i'm starting to see why he was so famous and popular! Now all I gotta do is find a copy of DVD....this is definitely a classic I think is worth having in a DVD collection even if it is kind of an older movie. Any true film buff will want to have it I'm sure!
They show 7 movies, one every tuesday night starting around the 2nd or 3rd tuesday in july and they're usually some old classic.....and to help it along they usually have a short film by some chicago area film student and last year they had cartoon works of Chuck Jones to memorialize him. Of course it helped that I had found out about the festival after only missing the first one (some like it hot) which i had seen almost in it's entirety anyway. So off i went to see dr. strangelove, a hard day's night and carmen jones. Then surgery struck so i couldn't see horse feathers but i was able to rent it later and vertigo and west side story i had already seen so i didn't feel too bad about missing those movies.
This is their 4th one and i haven't seen a single one of the films they've got planned....i'm so excited!!!!
So the first one was It happened one night with clark gable and claudette corbert and i adored it!!!! Clark Gable is charming and charismatic....he's kind but doesn't take any cr@p....*dreamy sigh* The only film I had ever seen Clark Gable in was (naturally) gone with the wind and he's very strong and forceful there too but the jockularity isn't played up quite as much. In "It happened one night", clark gable is much more relaxed and funny....he doesn't mind laughing at himself a little bit but with one quick facial expression can make you feel the few tatters of pride that he tries to cling to when situations become difficult for his character.
The story is very well told with the characters fully developed with lots of moments of interaction so that the audience can see why the two end up falling in love with each other. They even have the all-important "inside joke" involving Jericho and a trumpet between the two that makes you smile in the end for being "in on it". The supporting cast of characters are great with the father being quite eccentric but truly loving towards his daughter and the fellow bus passenger that hits on Claudette Corbert's character....clark gable naturally saves her but makes it seem like it was outta self-interest...you half expect him to turn to the camera and wink he's so charming!
Some of the dialogue is naturally fairly trite and predictable....the movie was made in 1934.....and some of the phrases and idioms used just makes you crack up because they are so dated. Not to mention being able to predict some of the things that happen (example: hitchhiker scene) but I found that I was able to overlook the parts for the sake of the whole and was throughly enchanted with the movie.
When I learned that for the first year of the oscars this movie won in all the categories....well....that just cemented it for me! This movie won because it was well written and well acted....likable characters with true sincerity and a fairly believable scenerio where you root for the guy to get the girl.
Not to mention the fact that I have a bigger appreciation for clark gable and that i'm starting to see why he was so famous and popular! Now all I gotta do is find a copy of DVD....this is definitely a classic I think is worth having in a DVD collection even if it is kind of an older movie. Any true film buff will want to have it I'm sure!
Monday, July 14, 2003
The Magdalene Sisters
Another free movie courtesy of my membership to Cinema/Chicago....who are responsible for the annual Chicago International Film Festival.
This movie was based off of real stories about women in 1964 Ireland who were sent away and treated like cr@p for the stupidest reasons. The movie focused on 3 specifically: Margaret - who was raped by her cousin and subsequently sent away, Bernadette - sent away from the orphanage where she grew up just for being pretty, and Rose - sent away for having a baby out of wedlock. The women are sent to a type of convent which is more of a concentration camp for girls that nobody wants....the girls are thought of as whores and hookers and are treated with contempt and hatred by the nuns. They spend their days doing nothing but laundry and cleaning and given just enough food to get by while the nuns dine on the finest food that money could buy.
The things that were done in the name of religion and perceived righteousness was appalling and made me want to start beating the nuns and the parents of the girls who sent them away. Many of the girls were sent away for having babies out of wedlock...they're only crime being that they made a mistake. One girl, Crispina, was abused futher once at the convent by the priest who would take advantage of her sexually. Her real name turned out to be Harriet but when the abuse by the priest was revealed, Crispina was the one punished by being sent to an insane asylum.
The hatred and the humiliation the nuns dispense in the name of God and religion was appalling....the hypocrisy of the nuns' love toward the girls sickening and revoltiing. I wondered again how ppl in the name of God could do such horrible things to others....spouting love and forgiveness while at the same time being cruel and intolerant. The ppl of religion take it upon themselves to judge and decide the evil-ness of others and dole out punishment because they believe themselves as God's messengers, believing that anything they do is excuseable while the same actions by others are not.
And the fact that such ppl actually exist and believe themselves to be right is appalling. No amount of arguement or logic or reasoning seem to reach these ppl.....these ppl who claim to have a person's best interest at heart are blind to their own faults and believe themselves to be doing "Holy" work. European history is filled with atrocities done in the name of God, killing and massacring for no other reason then having a difference of opinion.
How does a society become this way? A person learning to hate another for something as simple as a different gender, different ethnicity, different skin color, different opinion or a different way of accomplishing some goal. A person convincing themselves and others of their jusitfication for killing in the name of God or religion or "righteousness". Why are ppl compelled to these extreme acts? How does hatred become so horrible that fathers and mothers turn against their spounses or children.....children against their parents or siblings....how does hatred spawn more hatred without someone wanting it to end? How is one person's pain more imporant or more excruciating than another's? How do we say that pain caused through suffering is justified in ourselves when we would so quickly condemn the exact same actions in others?
I'm amazed at the level of hypocracy that one individual goes through to absolve themselves of wrong and how ppl try not to stay more aware of this weakness in themselves. If I condemn someone else of evil wouldn't I try to make sure that I pay even more attention to myself to make sure that I don't fall into the same trap? If I notice that ppl have done horrible things to one another shouldn't I try to be extra aware of not doing the exact same thing myself? And in so guarding myself am I not able to speak from a place of awareness in trying to warn others? Cautioning others to try and be as aware of themselves as I try to be of myself......to be aware of how they treat others and continue to try and remember how they'd like to be treated by others. Doesn't that awareness bring humility in a person? How does that get turned in do condemnation of others when whatever I'm condemning them for is something that I haven't even condemned myself for?
And the following out of fear and self preservation is amazing to me....I understand it and yet I can't explain it at the same time....how the force of authority can turn the strong into meek and the mouse into a lion......
I just know that this movie will eventually be shown throughout schools and universites as another tool of teaching.....as something that will hopefully show how wrong a person could be if they do not remember to try and always be in control of themselves and to treat others as they themselves would wish to be treated.
This movie was based off of real stories about women in 1964 Ireland who were sent away and treated like cr@p for the stupidest reasons. The movie focused on 3 specifically: Margaret - who was raped by her cousin and subsequently sent away, Bernadette - sent away from the orphanage where she grew up just for being pretty, and Rose - sent away for having a baby out of wedlock. The women are sent to a type of convent which is more of a concentration camp for girls that nobody wants....the girls are thought of as whores and hookers and are treated with contempt and hatred by the nuns. They spend their days doing nothing but laundry and cleaning and given just enough food to get by while the nuns dine on the finest food that money could buy.
The things that were done in the name of religion and perceived righteousness was appalling and made me want to start beating the nuns and the parents of the girls who sent them away. Many of the girls were sent away for having babies out of wedlock...they're only crime being that they made a mistake. One girl, Crispina, was abused futher once at the convent by the priest who would take advantage of her sexually. Her real name turned out to be Harriet but when the abuse by the priest was revealed, Crispina was the one punished by being sent to an insane asylum.
The hatred and the humiliation the nuns dispense in the name of God and religion was appalling....the hypocrisy of the nuns' love toward the girls sickening and revoltiing. I wondered again how ppl in the name of God could do such horrible things to others....spouting love and forgiveness while at the same time being cruel and intolerant. The ppl of religion take it upon themselves to judge and decide the evil-ness of others and dole out punishment because they believe themselves as God's messengers, believing that anything they do is excuseable while the same actions by others are not.
And the fact that such ppl actually exist and believe themselves to be right is appalling. No amount of arguement or logic or reasoning seem to reach these ppl.....these ppl who claim to have a person's best interest at heart are blind to their own faults and believe themselves to be doing "Holy" work. European history is filled with atrocities done in the name of God, killing and massacring for no other reason then having a difference of opinion.
How does a society become this way? A person learning to hate another for something as simple as a different gender, different ethnicity, different skin color, different opinion or a different way of accomplishing some goal. A person convincing themselves and others of their jusitfication for killing in the name of God or religion or "righteousness". Why are ppl compelled to these extreme acts? How does hatred become so horrible that fathers and mothers turn against their spounses or children.....children against their parents or siblings....how does hatred spawn more hatred without someone wanting it to end? How is one person's pain more imporant or more excruciating than another's? How do we say that pain caused through suffering is justified in ourselves when we would so quickly condemn the exact same actions in others?
I'm amazed at the level of hypocracy that one individual goes through to absolve themselves of wrong and how ppl try not to stay more aware of this weakness in themselves. If I condemn someone else of evil wouldn't I try to make sure that I pay even more attention to myself to make sure that I don't fall into the same trap? If I notice that ppl have done horrible things to one another shouldn't I try to be extra aware of not doing the exact same thing myself? And in so guarding myself am I not able to speak from a place of awareness in trying to warn others? Cautioning others to try and be as aware of themselves as I try to be of myself......to be aware of how they treat others and continue to try and remember how they'd like to be treated by others. Doesn't that awareness bring humility in a person? How does that get turned in do condemnation of others when whatever I'm condemning them for is something that I haven't even condemned myself for?
And the following out of fear and self preservation is amazing to me....I understand it and yet I can't explain it at the same time....how the force of authority can turn the strong into meek and the mouse into a lion......
I just know that this movie will eventually be shown throughout schools and universites as another tool of teaching.....as something that will hopefully show how wrong a person could be if they do not remember to try and always be in control of themselves and to treat others as they themselves would wish to be treated.
Thursday, July 10, 2003
The Matrix Reloaded & I Capture the Castle
Today was a 2-for-1 day....where i went to a bargain showing of "the matrix reloaded" and then had gotten a free pass to see "i capture the castle"....quite the extravaganza for me!
"The Matrix Reloaded" was visually amazing!!!! the special effects were the same yet with more layers and higher degrees of difficulty and brillance.....stuff that is just worth seeing on the big screen.....story-wise I was completely lost every time any character started speaking dialog that involved any kind of profound-ness.....i just suck as philosophy
I mean i grasped some of the major points like Neo kind of being able to predict the future for himself so that he no longer needs the Oracle.....and how he was not the first "One"because to the machines.....he was not viewed as human as so much an anomoly that the machines just kinda....play with because they know they can.....but at the same time it confused me because it was the theological debate of predestination vs. free will all over again and the question is posed but answered in a non-descript vague dodging-the-point kind of way.......
which is very annoying btw =-P
but the part that really got me was when Neo is able to save Trinity in some kind of weird computer-biological way that i have yet to completely wrap my brain around....
which i didn't mind so much as the fact that the movie totally completely leaves you hanging.....there's no closure.....no sense of a page turned or chapter ending or beginning....there's just.....tbc.....very very annoying =-P
i wanna know....who the heck is that guy at the end?!?!?!? he's upside down and i don't recognize him at all which makes me seriously irritated and not really wanting to be patient *fume* and now i gotta wait 4 months to see what happens which i'm sure the studios are loving but i sure as h*ll could do without =-P worth seeing on the big screen for the special effects but not worth the full price......but then I don't believe any movie is worth full price if I can get in the bargain shows! =-)
"I Capture the Castle"
based off a book by dobie smith whose name i didn't recognize right away until i came home and looked it up and realized that it was the author of the book "101 dalmations" which the disney movie is based off of.....turns out i had been able to get my hands on a copy of the the book when i was a kid and it is to this day one of my all-time favorite books....the characters are well developed and likable with even the villians painted with a very human paintbrush....motivations and complexities are explained and there are even dabs of sympathy for the villians, while at the same time you're shaking your finger in that "no-no" gesture at them.
but i didn't know all this going into the movie....all i knew was an english family meets 2 american brothers and romantic geometric shapes ensues.....the film i must say made more of an impression on me then the matrix did....i don't know if it was because it was the last movie i saw or because i felt more involved with the characters but i found myself thinking and thinking about "i capture the castle" long after leaving the theater and even now pondering points and scenes in the movie.
The sisters cassandra and her sister rose are the the main focus of the movie. They and they're younger brother, stepmother and father live a quiet level of desperate poverty that they would do anything to alleviate. Their father was hailed as a genius with his first novel but hasn't written anything for over 12 years after flying into a rage and killing his wife with a butterknife. Shocking but not the main driving point of the movie....
i haven't exactly figured out if cassandra or rose is supposed to be the elder sister but they are part of the geometric love affair involving the 3 main male characters: steve, the unpaid helper/servant-type person who hangs around because he's in love with cassandra and the 2 american brothers, who upon the death of their father inherits the castle in which our impoverished family lives. The elder brother, simon (or is it simeon?) cotton is a quiet, reserved, sensitive, soft-spoken, stoic guy who is potrayed by Henry Thomas, the now-grown boy from "E.T." The whole time i was watching him the words "elliot phone home" kept running through my head...it was that hard for me to see him as anyone else! But I've got to give him credit.....he played simon to perfection and the look on his face when he realizes that rose does not love him is excrutiating.
his brother neil is played by marc blucas whom i know as riley finn from "buffy the vampire slayer" and at first it was kind of hard to see him as anything other than the character i knew also but as the movie progressed i saw why he had been casted....he very much exudes a heartland-america-ness, an easy-going guy with no major worries in the world as long as he has the simple pleasures in life that he loves. He doesn't pop out at a person in a double-take sort of way but notice is taken when he is on screen.
now the third male, steve was the only young male that was unknown to me and was quite the cutie in my book! He was described as "all the greek gods rolled up into one" but i felt that he lucked out with a pretty baby face that would work well modelling but would never be considered a 'rugged type'. Still very adorable and i felt his yearning with ever glace and blush and frown.
so the geometric pattern starts with steve.....who'se in love with cassandra.....who is in love with simon....who loves rose....who says she loves simon but seems to be drawn to neil and neil seems to be drawn to rose.
the secondary geometric shape develops amoung the parents where james the father and topaz the stepmother are married but an odd attraction seems to develop between james and the american boys' mother, mrs. cotton and between topaz and the american boys' uncle who happens to be an architect and is familiar with topaz's work as an artist.
at first i found myself hoping for cassandra and steve and rose and neil but then as the movie progressed i was torn over who cassandra should be with and it seems the screenwriter or author felt the same because in the end cassandra ends up with neither. She confesses to steve that she is not in love with him even though he proclaimed his love for her but at the same time she will does not take up simon's offer of going to america because she would never be completely sure whether he loved her or not.
I was amazed at the level of self-assurance she had considering she was supposed to be 17-18 yrs. old. If the guy i said i was in love with didn't really love me but enjoyed spending time with me, at that age i probably would have thought "well he'll grow to love me" heck even now i don't know that i would have taken that kind of stand for myself. Because Cassandra takes this stand and walks away from simon even though she loves him, i found myself awed and admiring her....astonished at her lack of immaturity and yet wondering if we are really supposed to believe she's 17-18 or if maybe it was a british vs. american difference that i just wasn't aware of....and if the latter....then all the more reason why i wish i might have grown up in england!!!
Sidebar: my facination with Britian started with men....sue me. Hugh Grant in "Four Weddings and a Funeral" (naturally....doesn't it figure?) then Rupert Evertt followed by Colin Firth over the years. Along with piqued interest in Jeremy Northam and Clive Owen for the few things that i've been able to see them in. Throw in that accent and I swoon every time! Although Australia is doing a very good job with Hugh Jackman I must say! *fans self*
Return: So I wonder...are 17-18 yr. olds in england more mature than in america? or was it the british vs. american thing? or hey! i've just thought of a 3rd thing: might it because the movie was set in the 1930's-40's?
Whatever it is i was impressed.....i doubt i would have been able to walk away like cassandra did if i was in the same situation........even now and i'm almost 30! *rolls eyes*
and in the last moments of the movie where she wisely states that "I love, I have loved, I will love" just tore me apart. She is so sure about her future that the possible loss of her first love doesn't seem to faze her! Me? i'd be a more of a basketcase than i already am and that's saying something!
It definitely left me wanting to know more about Cassandra and what happens to her and her life....finding out it was written by the author of one of my all-time favorite books just makes me want to go and get the book this movie was based off of to see what was different and to re-experience the characters until the DVD comes out. This movie is definitely a movie I would want to keep on DVD......definitely falls under the category of 'chick flick' in the very cliched sense of the word but then i'm a girl....sue me! =-)
"The Matrix Reloaded" was visually amazing!!!! the special effects were the same yet with more layers and higher degrees of difficulty and brillance.....stuff that is just worth seeing on the big screen.....story-wise I was completely lost every time any character started speaking dialog that involved any kind of profound-ness.....i just suck as philosophy
I mean i grasped some of the major points like Neo kind of being able to predict the future for himself so that he no longer needs the Oracle.....and how he was not the first "One"because to the machines.....he was not viewed as human as so much an anomoly that the machines just kinda....play with because they know they can.....but at the same time it confused me because it was the theological debate of predestination vs. free will all over again and the question is posed but answered in a non-descript vague dodging-the-point kind of way.......
which is very annoying btw =-P
but the part that really got me was when Neo is able to save Trinity in some kind of weird computer-biological way that i have yet to completely wrap my brain around....
which i didn't mind so much as the fact that the movie totally completely leaves you hanging.....there's no closure.....no sense of a page turned or chapter ending or beginning....there's just.....tbc.....very very annoying =-P
i wanna know....who the heck is that guy at the end?!?!?!? he's upside down and i don't recognize him at all which makes me seriously irritated and not really wanting to be patient *fume* and now i gotta wait 4 months to see what happens which i'm sure the studios are loving but i sure as h*ll could do without =-P worth seeing on the big screen for the special effects but not worth the full price......but then I don't believe any movie is worth full price if I can get in the bargain shows! =-)
"I Capture the Castle"
based off a book by dobie smith whose name i didn't recognize right away until i came home and looked it up and realized that it was the author of the book "101 dalmations" which the disney movie is based off of.....turns out i had been able to get my hands on a copy of the the book when i was a kid and it is to this day one of my all-time favorite books....the characters are well developed and likable with even the villians painted with a very human paintbrush....motivations and complexities are explained and there are even dabs of sympathy for the villians, while at the same time you're shaking your finger in that "no-no" gesture at them.
but i didn't know all this going into the movie....all i knew was an english family meets 2 american brothers and romantic geometric shapes ensues.....the film i must say made more of an impression on me then the matrix did....i don't know if it was because it was the last movie i saw or because i felt more involved with the characters but i found myself thinking and thinking about "i capture the castle" long after leaving the theater and even now pondering points and scenes in the movie.
The sisters cassandra and her sister rose are the the main focus of the movie. They and they're younger brother, stepmother and father live a quiet level of desperate poverty that they would do anything to alleviate. Their father was hailed as a genius with his first novel but hasn't written anything for over 12 years after flying into a rage and killing his wife with a butterknife. Shocking but not the main driving point of the movie....
i haven't exactly figured out if cassandra or rose is supposed to be the elder sister but they are part of the geometric love affair involving the 3 main male characters: steve, the unpaid helper/servant-type person who hangs around because he's in love with cassandra and the 2 american brothers, who upon the death of their father inherits the castle in which our impoverished family lives. The elder brother, simon (or is it simeon?) cotton is a quiet, reserved, sensitive, soft-spoken, stoic guy who is potrayed by Henry Thomas, the now-grown boy from "E.T." The whole time i was watching him the words "elliot phone home" kept running through my head...it was that hard for me to see him as anyone else! But I've got to give him credit.....he played simon to perfection and the look on his face when he realizes that rose does not love him is excrutiating.
his brother neil is played by marc blucas whom i know as riley finn from "buffy the vampire slayer" and at first it was kind of hard to see him as anything other than the character i knew also but as the movie progressed i saw why he had been casted....he very much exudes a heartland-america-ness, an easy-going guy with no major worries in the world as long as he has the simple pleasures in life that he loves. He doesn't pop out at a person in a double-take sort of way but notice is taken when he is on screen.
now the third male, steve was the only young male that was unknown to me and was quite the cutie in my book! He was described as "all the greek gods rolled up into one" but i felt that he lucked out with a pretty baby face that would work well modelling but would never be considered a 'rugged type'. Still very adorable and i felt his yearning with ever glace and blush and frown.
so the geometric pattern starts with steve.....who'se in love with cassandra.....who is in love with simon....who loves rose....who says she loves simon but seems to be drawn to neil and neil seems to be drawn to rose.
the secondary geometric shape develops amoung the parents where james the father and topaz the stepmother are married but an odd attraction seems to develop between james and the american boys' mother, mrs. cotton and between topaz and the american boys' uncle who happens to be an architect and is familiar with topaz's work as an artist.
at first i found myself hoping for cassandra and steve and rose and neil but then as the movie progressed i was torn over who cassandra should be with and it seems the screenwriter or author felt the same because in the end cassandra ends up with neither. She confesses to steve that she is not in love with him even though he proclaimed his love for her but at the same time she will does not take up simon's offer of going to america because she would never be completely sure whether he loved her or not.
I was amazed at the level of self-assurance she had considering she was supposed to be 17-18 yrs. old. If the guy i said i was in love with didn't really love me but enjoyed spending time with me, at that age i probably would have thought "well he'll grow to love me" heck even now i don't know that i would have taken that kind of stand for myself. Because Cassandra takes this stand and walks away from simon even though she loves him, i found myself awed and admiring her....astonished at her lack of immaturity and yet wondering if we are really supposed to believe she's 17-18 or if maybe it was a british vs. american difference that i just wasn't aware of....and if the latter....then all the more reason why i wish i might have grown up in england!!!
Sidebar: my facination with Britian started with men....sue me. Hugh Grant in "Four Weddings and a Funeral" (naturally....doesn't it figure?) then Rupert Evertt followed by Colin Firth over the years. Along with piqued interest in Jeremy Northam and Clive Owen for the few things that i've been able to see them in. Throw in that accent and I swoon every time! Although Australia is doing a very good job with Hugh Jackman I must say! *fans self*
Return: So I wonder...are 17-18 yr. olds in england more mature than in america? or was it the british vs. american thing? or hey! i've just thought of a 3rd thing: might it because the movie was set in the 1930's-40's?
Whatever it is i was impressed.....i doubt i would have been able to walk away like cassandra did if i was in the same situation........even now and i'm almost 30! *rolls eyes*
and in the last moments of the movie where she wisely states that "I love, I have loved, I will love" just tore me apart. She is so sure about her future that the possible loss of her first love doesn't seem to faze her! Me? i'd be a more of a basketcase than i already am and that's saying something!
It definitely left me wanting to know more about Cassandra and what happens to her and her life....finding out it was written by the author of one of my all-time favorite books just makes me want to go and get the book this movie was based off of to see what was different and to re-experience the characters until the DVD comes out. This movie is definitely a movie I would want to keep on DVD......definitely falls under the category of 'chick flick' in the very cliched sense of the word but then i'm a girl....sue me! =-)
Tuesday, July 01, 2003
Trigun
Okay it's strange that my posting for the movie "28 days later" isn't on here but whatever.... onward and upward....
okay the anime series trigun......so good!!!!!
Granted i didnt see it because of a movie pass but it's movie-related so sue me! It's still very funny and cute and it gets you hooked on the characters before piling on all the drama but even the dramatic parts are good.....i adore the little cat...it's so cute!!!! The series is 8 dvds long and averages about 3 episodes per dvd. i recommend watching it subtitled cause there's some phrases done by the japanese voice actors that are hilarious and totally worth a listen....plus it helps you to pick up basic japanese phrases like "arigato" *grin*
did i mention that the cat is adorable?!?!?!? =-)
okay the anime series trigun......so good!!!!!
Granted i didnt see it because of a movie pass but it's movie-related so sue me! It's still very funny and cute and it gets you hooked on the characters before piling on all the drama but even the dramatic parts are good.....i adore the little cat...it's so cute!!!! The series is 8 dvds long and averages about 3 episodes per dvd. i recommend watching it subtitled cause there's some phrases done by the japanese voice actors that are hilarious and totally worth a listen....plus it helps you to pick up basic japanese phrases like "arigato" *grin*
did i mention that the cat is adorable?!?!?!? =-)
Wednesday, June 18, 2003
Alex & Emma
Ok so today.....got a free movie pass to see "alex & emma" starring luke wilson and kate hudson.
Very cute....instead of the "love at first sight" premise where the 2 main characters go through hoops to realize that they're meant for each other, the 2 main characters learn about each other over a period of time that makes them realize the beauty of the other. Something they never would have noticed because it wasn't a thunderbolt....it was a slow subtle thing that snuck up on them and they both recognized it for what it was....a love that was based on substantial reality instead of the etherial dream.
it's nice to think that love doesn't always have to be big and ostentacious but quiet and simple. That it's not always about what the person looked like but how because of how they think they've changed your life and you can't live without them.
Wouldn't that be nice in real life? Lord knows my life sucks enough as it is....i'm 28 yrs old and I still live at home with my mother. Granted she's the only family i've got but it still sounds stupid.
I was in a car accident 2 yrs ago that I'm still recovering from.....right now there's an external fixator on my right thigh that has been on for 10 mos. and doesn't look like is coming off any time soon.
I would have had a job if they hadn't laid me off 5 mos. after my accident. My only income source is my disability checks which were a part of my severance package. Well no that's not true....working part time for Blue Man Group i guess can be considered a source of money... although right now it's pretty much only good enough for spending money.
I have no degree and am apparently too lazy to try and finish my degree so there's no help there. Part of me desperately wants to finish my degree just for the sense of accomplishment but another part of me just doesn't want to work so much or that hard for something that I only want because it'll get me what I really want....a chance to become a entertainment magazine editor.
Am I just being delusional? I mean aren't I too old to be trying to break into the publishing business? I don't know but I wonder all the time whether I should just give it up and just get any job for the $$$$
And of course I can't forget my lack of a love life....I'm so socially inept that I've never been in love or had a romantic relationship with a guy ever! Part of me dreams of the perfect guy.... the guy who is perfect for me....the one who loves me despite my flaws and accepts me for who I am.....and another part of me dreams of the soulmate....the man that takes one look at me and knows in his heart that I'm the one he was meant to be with for life.
Then reality knocks on my brain and starts laughing.
Cause goodness know that's just a movie....and really the most I could ask for is a decent man who shares a similar sense of humor as me and enjoys alot of the same things that I do but is able to look at me and see that I'm more than my parts and love me for it. Cause goodness knows I'm in love with many characters from tv and movies:
Mr. Darcy from Pride & Prejudice and Briget Jones' Diary
Hugh Grant's character from About a boy and his character in Briget Jones up until he turned out to be a jerk.
Benjamin Bratt's character from Miss Congeniality
Angel from the Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV series
Or it could be I've just got love on the brain because i saw a romance movie. Goodness knows life is not like the movies.....but how much easier would life be if it was?
And it's not as if we're not all trying to get our life to emulate the movies or TV anyway.....life is so much easier if we could find a way to resolve things with in 1/2 an hour or an hour or could edit out the useless parts of our life that had nothing to do with telling the story.
Something for me to think about......
Forgot to mention that I thought "alex & emma" was worth seeing at bargain matinee price or on dvd.....but not really worth the $10 for the big screen. The big screen is usually good for special effects and majestic scenery anyway.....
Very cute....instead of the "love at first sight" premise where the 2 main characters go through hoops to realize that they're meant for each other, the 2 main characters learn about each other over a period of time that makes them realize the beauty of the other. Something they never would have noticed because it wasn't a thunderbolt....it was a slow subtle thing that snuck up on them and they both recognized it for what it was....a love that was based on substantial reality instead of the etherial dream.
it's nice to think that love doesn't always have to be big and ostentacious but quiet and simple. That it's not always about what the person looked like but how because of how they think they've changed your life and you can't live without them.
Wouldn't that be nice in real life? Lord knows my life sucks enough as it is....i'm 28 yrs old and I still live at home with my mother. Granted she's the only family i've got but it still sounds stupid.
I was in a car accident 2 yrs ago that I'm still recovering from.....right now there's an external fixator on my right thigh that has been on for 10 mos. and doesn't look like is coming off any time soon.
I would have had a job if they hadn't laid me off 5 mos. after my accident. My only income source is my disability checks which were a part of my severance package. Well no that's not true....working part time for Blue Man Group i guess can be considered a source of money... although right now it's pretty much only good enough for spending money.
I have no degree and am apparently too lazy to try and finish my degree so there's no help there. Part of me desperately wants to finish my degree just for the sense of accomplishment but another part of me just doesn't want to work so much or that hard for something that I only want because it'll get me what I really want....a chance to become a entertainment magazine editor.
Am I just being delusional? I mean aren't I too old to be trying to break into the publishing business? I don't know but I wonder all the time whether I should just give it up and just get any job for the $$$$
And of course I can't forget my lack of a love life....I'm so socially inept that I've never been in love or had a romantic relationship with a guy ever! Part of me dreams of the perfect guy.... the guy who is perfect for me....the one who loves me despite my flaws and accepts me for who I am.....and another part of me dreams of the soulmate....the man that takes one look at me and knows in his heart that I'm the one he was meant to be with for life.
Then reality knocks on my brain and starts laughing.
Cause goodness know that's just a movie....and really the most I could ask for is a decent man who shares a similar sense of humor as me and enjoys alot of the same things that I do but is able to look at me and see that I'm more than my parts and love me for it. Cause goodness knows I'm in love with many characters from tv and movies:
Mr. Darcy from Pride & Prejudice and Briget Jones' Diary
Hugh Grant's character from About a boy and his character in Briget Jones up until he turned out to be a jerk.
Benjamin Bratt's character from Miss Congeniality
Angel from the Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV series
Or it could be I've just got love on the brain because i saw a romance movie. Goodness knows life is not like the movies.....but how much easier would life be if it was?
And it's not as if we're not all trying to get our life to emulate the movies or TV anyway.....life is so much easier if we could find a way to resolve things with in 1/2 an hour or an hour or could edit out the useless parts of our life that had nothing to do with telling the story.
Something for me to think about......
Forgot to mention that I thought "alex & emma" was worth seeing at bargain matinee price or on dvd.....but not really worth the $10 for the big screen. The big screen is usually good for special effects and majestic scenery anyway.....
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