Pier Paolo Pasolini's The Decameron
Pier Paolo Pasolini's The Decameron was funny, but I was so tired that I slept through a lot of it. Oh well.
Woody Allen's The Purple Rose of Cairo was awesome.
I just woke up and am now going back to sleep.
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January 31, 2004
January 29, 2004
Today in Italian Cinema we
Today in Italian Cinema we watched Il Posto by Ermanno Olmi.
It was SO good. It's the film that most influenced About Schmidt and it's very similar to it in some ways. It was a really honest, innocent, and subtle film. It made me involuntarily grin at moments. That's when I know a film is great.
One of the best films I've seen in recent memory.
For my writing class I had to compile a top 10 list for 2003. I checked my IMDB vote database and realized I had only seen about 15 films from the year so it's a pretty weak list, minus the first four films which are just awesome.
1. Memories of Murder
2. Dogville
3. Ping Pong
4. Whale Rider
5. 28 Days Later
6. Finding Nemo
7. Return of the King
8. Invincible
9. In America
10. All The Real Girls
*list edited at 11:24pm
January 28, 2004
Okay, more and more amazing
Okay, more and more amazing musicians being added to the lineup at Coachella. Somebody shoot me or give me a lot of money...
Please...
Trail of Dead
Atmosphere
Eyedea & Abilities
I'm not positive about these, but that's what I heard...
I also heard The Velvet Underground are going to be there...
o
m
g
Snow... again...
It's snowing outside but class will most likely not be canceled tomorrow. It's snowing a lot.
The first half of class tomorrow is shooting on 16mm for the first time, OUTSIDE! Gross.
I'm dreading tomorrow... I wish the snow would go away but I'm pretty sure just wishing won't do much.
Today in figure drawing one of my pens ran out of ink, suck. I refilled it when I got back although I spilled some ink on my hands as well. Eewww.
Today I also met with my boss. Erin from KGM studios. I'm going to be helping her with website stuff, promotional stuff, and eventually I might get to boss around other people that she's hired. We met in the atrium at Trump Plaza today and were unable to find eachother even though we were sitting near eachother. There was a statue in the way, it was silly, like something out of a romantic comedy. Yep.
The meeting went well, it sounds like it's going to be a fun job with hours that I can make on my own. Coolio.
Okay, that's all I think, you're now updated on my life. Sort of.
January 27, 2004
How to become my best
How to become my best friend forever: Buy me a plane ticket to California for May 1st and get me a ticket to day 1 of Coachella.
January 23, 2004
Movies Movies Movies
Movies watched recently:
Friend - Korean, I've seen it, I love it.
The Coast Guard - Directed by Kim Ki Duk, the guy who directed The Isle. It was pretty good. Very bizarre, I liked it though.
Night and Fog - Alan Resnais documentary about the holocaust. Very good, very interesting.
Memories of Murder - It's so good I can't believe it. Possibly better than Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance... still not sure...
Volcano High - The actual Korean version, not the MTV one. This film is as close to live action anime as I've ever seen. Pretty entertaining. Much much much better than the MTV one.
The White Shiek - Fellini's first film that he directed on his own. His later films are much better but this one showed hints of his brilliance.
I watched The White Shiek in my Italian cinema class. The professor is very cool, he curated the Fellini retrospective and exhibit at the Guggenheim and he produced the Criterion edition DVDs of the the Fellini films that have been released by them. He also did the commentary on the 8 1/2 DVD.
I started watching High Fidelity - The book was enjoyable... I started watching the movie and it's possibly the most annoying movie I've ever seen. I stopped it about 10 minutes in. I will give it a second chance later...
School is going well. I think this semester will be fun. I've taught James and Francis how to play Go, good stuff. I need to start playing it more again.
The end.
January 20, 2004
WHOA!
"The University of California at Berkeley can take a course on Radiohead during upcoming Spring 2004 semester. Officially known as Music 98/198, "Appreciating Modern Pop Art Music Through Radiohead" was made possible by the Democratic Education at Cal program, which allows students to start their own classes to study topics otherwise not othwerwise covered
by the regular academic departments.
According to the organizers of this course, students will be asked to look closely at the connections between the lyrics, music and artwork for all six RH albums, in hopes of gaining a deeper appreciation for Radiohead's work, but also to train themselves to listen more critically to popular music in general. More information can be found in the catalog."
January 19, 2004
I dropped my editing class
I dropped my editing class and am now instead taking a "Rendering and Special Effects" class. Coolio.
More friends came back today! Woohoo.
Sort of excited for school to start...
January 18, 2004
Why naps are bad.
It's 5:35am. I'm awake. Ewww...
January 16, 2004
Yesterday was freezing cold. FREEZING
Yesterday was freezing cold. FREEZING COLD.
Unfortunately the trip to Rye was put on hold due to the snow so instead I decided to stay inside most of the day. Or at least that's what I had originally planned...
We (Leonard and I) went to Kim's Video and some other video/cd shop and I got Annie Hall and two Pixies cds yesterday. We also rented Ichi the Killer and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
I didn't watch TCM but Ichi the Killer was pretty bad ass. Sort of. It was just fun for the gore... obviously...
Jimmy, Sue, and Sue's friend had come over to watch that and afterwards we watched really bad celebrity shows on E! while Jimmy left and played Counterstrike. Then we came up with the foolish idea of going to get Gyro.
It was windy. It was cold. And it felt weird to move my face because it only felt like my mouth was moving. We did lots of running. It was all worth it in the end though. Since there were too many people to be signed into Third North we instead ate in the lobby there and ended up getting home at seven. Ewww... It was fun though.
I woke up today aroun 2ish, I think, to help Lee move in. I am now done with that and will probably be going back to sleep soon...
the end
January 15, 2004
La Strada, Girls at Fat Camp, Pumas, and Snow
My flight here was very pleasant (Jet Blue is quite nice). It only took 4 1/2 hours and we arrived half an hour early. I got to the dorm at around 10am and immediately unpacked all my stuff then hung out with Lee for awhile then got back to my room to find Leonard sitting at his desk! Woohoo!
L-dogg and I braved the cold and got ourselves some gyro which we brought back home and ate while watching Jurassic Park. It was tite. Werd.
Today was fun, I hung out with Sue and we saw La Strada at the Guggenheim and a Diane Arbus exhibit on campus. I also got a new pair of white shoes. They're Pumas, they're black and white, and they're pretty. Okay, that's about as much as I will ever gloat over an item of clothing or shoes. Unless it's something bad ass like a pin-striped suit.
La Strada isn't as great as I remember it being but I still like it a lot. I think 8 1/2 and Nights of Cabiria are definitely better although the characters in this are so great. The print was really clean but had a few weird moments where it seemed like there were a couple frames of just black in it.
As we were walking back it started snowing.
I thought I had escaped it all by leaving Washington but NO, it followed me here. It's supposed to keep snowing too and tomorrow's temperatures are highs of 15 degrees and lows of 0. Oh joy.
If somebody knows how to make the snow stop, please do. I hate it.
I was supposed to go visit Lee in Rye tomorrow too but it looks like that's not going to happen thanks to the stupid snow. I guess I'll just sleep in and then watch movies.
Awesome news. Alex IMed me yesterday and he's probably going to visit here towards the end of my spring break. Hopefully with Andrew too. Apparently his girlfriend also has a friend here at NYU and she will be here as well. It's going to be a party.
I'm almost done with High Fidelity, I just haven't had a chance to read since I got back.
I need to buy a DVD rack, I have DVDs and books piling up all over my desk. It's not pretty. Well, actually it kind of is, but it's becoming ridiculous. I'll make a trip to a furniture place or Circuit City or something sometime soon.
The End.
January 12, 2004
S-A-F-E-T-Y SAFETY DANCE
My computer has been packed away so I'm sitting at my brothers computer. I was going to pack the laptop in a suitcase between some shirts and a pillow so that I wouldn't have to carry it on to the plane, but it made me nervous. I decided I'd carry a bag onto the plane since I need to take some books with me also.
Lunch today was at Todai inside the Pacific Place shopping center downtown. They took over the place where the Seattle International Film Festival office was. Wtf. Anyway, sushi is good but now I'm disgustingly full.
I'm getting new shoes today. I don't have any white shoes because the white ones I had turned blue thanks to the dye in my jeans. Ugh.
Snow tonight and wind tomorrow in New York. Oh joy.
So today I was talking with my mom and grandma about how I'd love to just become a film proffesor or something but then I realized what I was saying. I can wait another ten years or so before I entertain such thoughts. I disappoint myself. I figure I need to do some suffering though if I ever want to become a good filmmaker. I've lived too comfortably and I told my mom that. She was cool with me suffering a little, she just didn't want to hear about it. I figure heartbreak, poverty, and losing a limb are enough to make a decent artist. If anybody else can think of stuff let me know.
the end
January 11, 2004
Packing
I'm packing my stuff right now. So far my big suitcase is layered like this:
pillow
dvds
shirts
dvds
shirts
dvds
shirts
go board
pants
then in the side pocket are a bunch of books.
As more and more clothes comes out of the wash I need to keep packing it, I still have more books to pack too and my computer, and shoes, and jacket. damn.
Tomorrow I have an orthodontist's appointment and am going shopping with my mom. My flight is at 1am Tuesday morning and I arrive in New York around 9am. I'll probably sleep the whole way since it's timed so perfectly.
If there's snow in New York when I get there I will be pissed. I've had enough snow for the winter. I HATE THE SNOW.
*edit*
Ow... I have an orthdontist appointment tomorrow and my retainer barely fits. It's been so long since I've worn it that I tried to put the bottom retainer in the top of my mouth. No joke... it's been at least four months... my teeth are going to hurt so much in the morning...
January 10, 2004
muhahaha, as if i would
muhahaha, as if i would actually stop writing about movies. if i did, i'd have nothing left to write about. i'm going to watch something tonight just so i can write about it.
oh yeah, i had a dream i was holding some sort of film festival type thing and i was choosing movies. in the dream a graduate film student took me to the secret vault where the graduate program keeps their collection of dvds and i got to pick stuff from it. totally awesome, i don't remember what i picked but i do remember that there were Twin Peaks posters all over the walls. so cool.
January 9, 2004
the wedding video has finally
the wedding video has finally been finished and I feel so relieved. Woohoo. The soundtrack consisted of the following.
Milli Vanilli - Girl You Know It's True
Radiohead - Meeting in the Aisle
The Cash Money whatevers - Bling Bling
RjD2 - The Horror
Joe Budden - Pump It Up
Master P - Make Em Say Ugh
Travis - Flowers in the Window
Radiohead - (Nice Dream)
pretty bad ass soundtrack no?
yes.
sue has a live journal now. wooha --->
i watched Raising Victor Vargas yesterday. It's very weird because a girl in some of my classes has a large role in it. Very odd seeing her on screen. It was good. I'm going to refrain from only writing about movies in my live journal because I was made fun of for doing it. Hmph.
i also rented Takeshi Kitano's Dolls and Lars Van Trier's The Kingdom. Okay, enough film talk. I'll talk about something else now.
um...
the end.
*edit*
Jumping on the bandwagon many years too late according a friend, I've started reading High Fidelity. It's pretty funny but sometime it feels like the author is trying too hard to be funny. He's lucky he's actually funny. I'm still reading Franny and Zooey as well. I'm such a book slut. At least I've started reading again...
*another edit*
turns out the murder in Korea was a copycat.
January 7, 2004
What do people really think
January 6, 2004
Got lots of sleep and
Got lots of sleep and watched Errol Morris' Fast, Cheap and Out of Control. Morris' filmmaking style is brilliant. The subjects were engaging and the way he seamlessly edited all four people together and incorporated stock footage was great. Very few other filmmakers have ever excited me as much as he did through their sheer style alone. Wong Kar Wai and Terrence Malick are the others that immediately come to mind...
In other less exciting news, my mom was telling me that in the town where Memories of Murder takes place, that a body was recently found killed in the same manner as the infamous ones over a decade ago. Eeek! Whether it's the same guy or a copycat killer, it's freaky...
January 5, 2004
Yesterday was Eric and Angel's
Yesterday was Eric and Angel's wedding and it was fun stuff. I spent 7:30am to about noon running around downtown taping them getting their hair done and frolicking around the city. Fun. The wedding was fun too and Eric took all the people who helped out to a really baller restaurant later. Werd.
Trip to Best Buy today ended in my purchasing Rambo III (because it was $5.99) and 28 Days Later. I accidentally bought 28 Days Later in full screen though and had to exchange it which was a pain in the butt.
I have so much footage to edit for Eric's video now... Booo.
LAME entry. It's over. Now.
*edit*
Oh yeah, in my ongoing saga to become a hipster I started reading J.D. Sallinger's Franny and Zooey. I've finished "Franny" now I just have to read "Zooey" which is way longer. I will finish it in the next couple days.
January 2, 2004
It's turkey time...
I hung out with Andrew and Alex today which was awesome. We had dinner at a Thai restaurant in Woodinville and then went to Coldstone's to get ice cream.
Afterwards we went to the Hollywood Video Andrew and I worked at for years and saw a former coworker. She's probably worked there for about five years now... wow... Well, while we were there we rented Gigli... Yes... the Ben Affleck and JLo movie...
Nothing, I mean nothing, can prepare you for how bad the movie is. It was so painful to watch yet I couldn't stop watching. We were playing Boggle Deluxe while we watched so maybe that distracted us a little but I'm pretty sure the movie was horrible.
Possibly the worst movie I've ever seen to come out of a major Hollywood studio. I've heard there are worse out there but I won't believe it until I see it.
My head hurts just thinking about the movie... man... I promised some people I'd watch it with them back in New York so I'll have the pleasure of sitting through it again. Oddly enough... I'm looking forward to it.
Some foosball was also played afterwards. I got rocked hardcore by Andrew. Multiple times. That was weak.
We read Roger Ebert's review of Gigli, he's a fool.
Elephant was a bad film because it aestheticized a horrible event while not bringing anything to the table in terms of thoughts or answers. It was just a bunch of pretty images depicting a school shooting. The film is of no value except for an aesthetic one which doesn't warrant the use of school shootings as a topic. It's not entertaining, it's not thought provoking (at least nothing that wasn't brought up by the media), it's just not a good film. Just thought I'd throw that out there... I keep seeing it on year end best film lists. Uggghhhh!
AND, wtf is with Lord of the Rings: Return of the King being named best picture!? It was entertaining but definitely not best picture material. Peter Jackson deserves best director nods but the movie had problems. I still love it though.
On the other hand Elephant gets no love from me.
It's 3:47am now and I should probably go to bed. Hopefully I can sleep in tomorrow. Peace.
January 1, 2004
The Seattle P.I. has the
The Seattle P.I. has the best cartoonist...
