Kurosawa and The Criterion Collection

Recently I've started following The Criterion Collection on Tumblr.

I think it's a really great and genuine tumblr to follow because they just have this whole vault to pull such incredible images from. It just makes sense and has a legitimate purpose - it makes you want to see the film and to me - creates a more nuanced and stronger relationship to images and film.

Anyways, I thought one of the entries from today was really cute and hilarious:


"Akira Kurosawa considers an explosion on the set of RAN."

Look at this old Japanese man with his cute white gloves and runners and cap, having the luxury to consider an explosion and whether or not he liked it for his film. So, so, so cute. It's funny to think that explosions are "considered" and that they are considered by this little Japanese man who wears white gloves and runners to work. And it's also funny to think about whether or not he did like the explosion and his reasons for either. Oh, it was too red. Oh it was too big. Oh it wasn't smoky enough - let's do it again.

The Game of Kings

Watched this documentary the other night:

Bobby Fischer Against the World.

The story of Bobby Fischer is such an interesting, captivating, and somewhat cautionary tale. A kid from Brooklyn that starts playing chess at the age of 6, clearly a prodigy, studies it obsessively, destroys chess masters from Russia at a young age, wins the world championship at the age of 29, then stops playing chess at the height of his level, disappears for years and becomes a crazy recluse Anti-American and Anti-Semite (seriously crazy) and ends up and dies in Iceland.





The documentary told the story of Fischer really well (although there were some cheesy unnecessary visual effects acting as chapter breaks). It talked about how Fischer really revolutionized the game of chess not just in terms of play, but bringing it to the mainstream and popularizing it. There are such funny people in the chess world with the strangest mannerisms and it just made the documentary even more entertaining to watch. And there were just so many little things in this documentary that made it so great - the interviewees, the incidents, discussion of the chess plays and everyone was just so into it and it's like, man chess is so cool.

I'm so awful at chess. It is in the truest sense of the word, a game. And I get too nervous, too self conscious, too thoughtful in all the wrong ways that I can't think clearly. One time a friend said I could have used these mannerisms of mine to my advantage - as part of my game. But I can't do that either, I can only play in my nervous and transparent way - and man it is so bad.

I'd like to be better at it though, so uh, who wants to play me? I'm going to study youtube videos in the mean time, so watch out!

mine to use and mine to lose.

Mike Mills has a new movie coming out:

Charming. A dog that gets subtitles!
Some of you may know Mike Mills because of this image:

Others of you may know him because of this other movie he did (which I had only recently found out, thanks Sean), Thumbsucker:

I really wanted to like that movie, but I was just really underwhelmed. Maybe Keanu Reeves (who really oddly stood out to me in the movie) threw me off? Because I feel like that was kind of sort of around his Matrix days and I didn't realize that Keanu Reeves is this weird robotic actor that needs a deeper sense of appreciation that I clearly didn't have at the age of seventeen. It was just a really quiet movie, and I should probably see it again, I've...become more perceptive to quietness. (haha).

Anyways though, what I really want to say about Mike Mills is this, he had this book that he put out through Nieves, Fireworks. The explanation he had for this book was just one of the nicest things I had read in a long time:

Some things that may or may not relate to these drawings: A professional suggested I take anti-depressants. I declined. About the same time I started drawing fireworks. I didn’t know what they meant or why I was drawing them. I was confused and embarrassed by this lack of meaning, but they kept coming. I could draw them no matter how I felt. I read that fireworks were first used in China in the 12th century to scare away negative spirits. I envied a world that not only recognized spirits, but scared the negative ones away with small man made explosions.

So, so nice.

And he ends by saying:

I felt a connection between the Chinese fireworks and the placebo effect, and some relief in all the things we don’t understand. At some point the fireworks grew more and more abstract, and messy, and complicated, and I became if not content then at least willing to make things that didn’t have any apparent meaning.

And so:



Last time I drew fireworks was in my first year drawing class at Emily Carr. We had to draw a night scene and I drew people watching fireworks. The teacher said that the idea was nice, but fireworks actually look very clean, and mine were too messy. I didn't really take it to heart. And it was in the class that I didn't take much of his criticism to heart as I did with my previous drawing teacher. And then drawing didn't seem like such a terrifying struggle to impress someone.

But a way to feel better.

first time dinners.

The other day Jane taught Andy an easy dish to make for himself and I got to sit and watch and eat the result.

Andy's chopping skills!

The resulting meal: Stir fry noodles. Was delicious. Good job Jane for teaching Andy well and thanks Andy for feeding me.

In other news, this film that's coming out by Christopher Nolan looks like it's going to absolutely kill:

I've watched it like three times, admittedly because I couldn't really get a grasp of what was going on plot wise, the images were so consuming that it was hard to concentrate on the story. And Joseph Gordon Levitt is in this! AHHh. What a babe. It's been so long since I've been truly excited to see a movie, really looking forward to it. 

I have to say, I've been thinking about it more and more and these are my top films as of right now and probably forever:

-Forrest Gump

-The Dark Knight

-Jerry Maguire

OKAYOKAY.

First off, all of these movies, I can watch over and over again, I love when they pop up on TV or on an airplane or wherever. 

Every time I watch Forrest Gump I cry so hard. It is so sad to me, that this man loves this woman his entire life, does anything and everything for her, and she doesn't realize she loves him until way too late, and by the time she does, she's gone soon after. I also just love the times when the movie is set in, from the 50's on until like the 90's and there are just so many great pop culture references and such great play with them. 

The Dark Knight. This movie feels so epic to me! The joker was so great, so many great scenes in this movie, the music adds such great atomsphere as well. 

Jerry Maguire. Okay I've explained why I've liked this movie before, it just has so many lines that just hit you and stay with you. 

Hell yeah.

how one is built.

Okay. So confession. Or not really even. I really like the movie Jerry Maguire. Yes it's cheesy and like, man Ellen, you have no taste, but there's something about it that completely kills me, especially one scene, which I wrote out above (you can read all of the key Jerry Maguire quotes here, the one that I wrote out is like the 2nd last one). I just love the characters, Cuba Gooding Jr. and his whole pursuit of "the kwan" and there are some things that are said in the movie that I completely take to heart! AND YOU SHOULD TOO! Or not. Free will!

I also really enjoy a song from the movie as well, "Secret Garden" by Bruce Springsteen, you don't have to watch the video (in fact I recommend that you don't cause it kills the good movie that is Jerry Maguire), just listen to it. Every time I do it really reminds me of junior high and sitting around and watching movies like this and guiltily/surprisingly (and thus indulgently) really enjoying it and almost saying/thinking, like screw anything that's "cool" this "terrible" movie rules and there's nothing no one can do to change that.

DIAMONDS

An exploration of diamonds.



I was talking to this guy one time about how I really liked the one song by Broken Social Scene, Ibi Dreams of Pavement (A Better Day). And he's like, "Oh yeah, that one's great" and then sang a line from that song, and I don't know if he's completely misheard the song or if I misheard him, but I thought he sang, "Diamonds ain't never turning to dust." Even though it's completely wrong and I don't think there is a Broken Social Scene song with that line, it's quite beautiful to me nonetheless. I find that this happens often with Broken Social Scene (like with KC Accidental, I made up alll the lyrics to that song), but I know it's common to mishear songs and you end up with your own version of your lyrics that you grow to love but eventually forget once you learn the correct ones (and you try so hard to remember what you started with, but can never really get back to it).

Anyways.
Nice weather we've been having?

I saw this movie tonight:

A Serious Man. And there were some parts where I had no idea what was going on and why that scene was there and so forth. It was kind of a choppy experience, there's parts where I could understand and I enjoyed, then it would get kind of strange and I had no idea what the director was implying, and then it would go back to understanding, and maybe that was the whole idea of the film, I don't know. But um maybe if you've seen it you could explain the beginning, end, and a bunch of other parts to me?

#16

So I have updated my portfolio with a few more things: Straw, Incurable, WWWLBWT, and just updated the images for: C, Great Love/Conquest, Secret History, and The Story I Want to Tell You. All the images for those projects were done by the exceptional Jason Edwards.

A lot of the recent projects that have popped up on my portfolio were helped along with the critique of Tobias Ottahal, and big thanks for that.

During making new projects for my portfolio, I caught up on toooons of TV. Like TONS! But really bad TV. I would have it stream in the background while I worked. Bad TV while I work is really comforting and calming to me, it keeps me focused/distracted in a good way in the sense that it keeps me awake and engaged (but yeah I know, shouldn't I be engaged by the project?), I guess the better word is entertained and motivated, but anyways. With good TV, it's hard to have it streaming in the background because good TV has all these visual cues and hints that need to be watched in order for it to be understood as good, and so it demands a larger amount of attention. And there's also the whole thing with good TV where the characters say something, but their actions speak differently, which gives the scene a whole deeper meaning, whereas with bad TV, what is said is what is meant and its very superficial in that sense.

So enough of this portfolio business.

Saw this film with Jane tonight:
Coco Avant Chanel. It's about fashion designer Coco Chanel before she became mega famous and ubiquitous. The film mainly focused on her love life, and as much as I love love, I thought the film was pretty weak. I guess it didn't help either that one of the characters would sometimes speak in a British accent then go back into French, sounded really awkward and highly laughable. The film just wasn't compelling or engaging for me in any way, it was flat and preetty forgettable.

And it looks like I'll be in Asia for a bit in December. KL and HK yonder!

#15

I was pretty entertained by this movie.
"Feed me woman!"

hahahaha.

VIFF 09

Films I saw this year at the VIFF:

Films that I enjoyed out of the ones I saw:
Mother, Castaway on the Moon, Ashes of American Flags, Breathless, The Exploding Girl, Mammoth, Punching the Clown, and The White Ribbon.

Films that I kind of enjoyed seeing:
An Education, Prom Night in Mississippi (there were some seriously cheesy effects in this movie that made me groan), Air Doll, Cole.

Films that I did not enjoy, in fact I feel asleep:
Eatrip and Cooking History.

It's funny, the films that I thought I would really enjoy (Eatrip and Cooking History) were really disappointing. I've said this to Jane many times, but the Korean Films I saw this year (Mother, Castaway on the Moon, and Breathless) were so strong and impressive, whimsical, bold, and just overall entertaining and enjoyable. I was surprised as well at "Ashes of American Flags". It's basically a Wilco show on screen and I thought it would be kind of boring, but because I respect the band, I felt like I should see it. I was surprised at when it ended, it was so abrupt, I wanted more, and it was just beautiful to look and listen to, and it made me listen to Wilco on repeat afterwards for a few days. Especially a specific minute of their song "At least that's what you said", new goal in life: learn that guitar part in that specific minute of "At least that's what you said". And the "Exploding Girl". It was very much like a hipster movie to me, it was visually beautiful, with beautiful hipster characters set in New York. But it's quietness and smallness won me over.

VIFF was definitely enjoyable this year.

Hello:

Been busy making things.

Saw my last film today of the VIFF this year, The White Ribbon. In the movie, the daughter and son of the pastor have to wear a thick white ribbon in their hair or arm to remind them of their innocence and purity and to stop them from sinning and whatnot. It seemed like a punishment, a way of identifying that this child did something wrong and needs reminding of what they did wrong, but the ribbon was so beautiful that if I had to wear it, I'd probably just think about how pretty it is and not so much about how I was a bad kid. And apparently I guess the son and daughter were like this as well, but instead of thinking the ribbon was pretty, hrm, thought instead that torturing other kids would be actually pretty fun. You need to see the film to understand what I am saying or prove me totally wrong because I am not entirely sure as to what happened, I was wide awake and everything, even gripping my face at the intense scenes, but there was a lot of implied stuff that I can only guess at and would like to hear what you thought of it because I am not so sure and would really like to know.

winona!

Jane and I in front of the buckwheat crepe mobile at the Kitsilano Farmer's Market. Farmer's market is totally awesome.


I find this picture hilarious. Ignore the bitemarks. Jane and I shared this crepe, which had goat's cheese, carmelized onions, black olives, and greens. I don't normally like black olives but eee! They were definately more than good here.

There were so many wonderful dogs at the farmers market!

I bought these shortbread cookies from a lady at the market, and OH MAN. Okay, so get this, it's a shortbread cookie...with swiss chocolate...and then INSIDE the swiss chocolate are honey nougat pieces! Ah! And cookies with icing sugar on top tend to be really appealing and pretty.


Movies I saw this week at the VIFF:


This was a french movie about a dysfunctional family who have Christmas together for this first time in ages because the daughter/sister was a total bitch and banished her brother from her life, and of course that affected the relationships between everyone in the family. The movie had nice moments, but I think for most of it I was trying to place where I've seen the actors before. And when I did place it, it was the most satisfying feeling ever. The theater was also insanely hot and I wish I had not worn socks.

I really enjoyed this film. The music was absolutely awful for it, like clip art music, or really bad pied piper music. And the titling for it was really bad as well...brush stroke! Anyways. But it was about this german chef from Ontario who goes with his wife, son, and 4 apprentices in this bus to the Vancouver Islands and he cooks meals in each island using only the produce available. What I really enjoyed about him, was it was obvious that he wants people to respect the earth, food, and to eat well and to not harm the earth in the process, but he didn't do it in a sort of lecturing or obvious way. He gave people an experience, a dinner that highlighted what the people had and to show them the possibilities of what their produce can turn into. The food looked amazing, AND VIKRAM VIJ WAS WATCHING THE MOVIE TOO!

This movie was hilarious. It's one of my most favorite of the film festival so far this year. It's a documentary that follows three guys who recently graduated from stuntman school. They are so surprisingly funny, charming, and endearing. The guy in the above picture used to be a hairdresser before he went to stuntman school, and the reason he said he wanted to be a hairdresser was because of Winona Ryder. But it was the way he told the story that was so funny, that really, you have to have to have to see it.

habits.

I got this Lykke Li (Youth Novels LP) album in the used section in Zulu Records. I feel incredibly happy when I find cds that I want to buy in the used section. I guess anyone does. There's other times where I wonder why people give up such good cds, I know it's that they don't like it for some reason, but I really wonder what the reason is, most of the time I just think that they bought the cd impetuously and realized it was shitty and returned it. But sometimes things need a bit of sticking out.

These are the books that I am currently 'reading' at the moment. Whenever I go to the library, I always go to the graphic novel section and find books that I haven't read yet. allllwwaaays. You can count on that.

I visited UBC farm and I thought this was the most fascinating thing there (aside from chickens and nice plants and whatnot). PIPECLEANER BUGS!



The movies I have seen so far at the VIFF. They were somewhat enjoyable.

I was talking to Andy today about how exhausted and busy I have been lately. And he asked why and I told him about my days and it kind of felt like he didn't believe me. And I was also telling a teacher how busy I felt and she just sort of nodded and smiled. And I thought about it, and I realized that whenever someone else tells me that they've been busy, I kind of only half believe them. I always thought you're never really 'busy' and you can make a choice to make time for stuff. And with these past few weeks, I realize I was a sort of an unsympathetic non-understanding jerk and that people do get busy because they take on things that they really want to do and there's just not enough time to do all the things you want to do when you want to do it. And I guess that's when values come into play, you have to really know what you want to do so that you don't spend time on things that are just well, a waste of time.

This week I have decided has been a big jumble. And I know that parts of it have been great, but I want to remember weeks more than as a jumble.

Oh and friends visited from Calgary, AB and we sat at Tim Hortons and played Dutch Blitz and it was a nice way to start the day. My friend was saying how another friend is absolutely 'bonkers' for his new girlfriend. And for some reason that sentence just stuck in my head the whole day. I haven't heard the word 'bonkers' in a sentence in...forever, or ever. I thought it was endearing and so...goofy.

I hope you have a good start/end of the day.