totally unrelated to my last post
the flaming lips are awesome. 'nuff said.
i saw "memoirs of a geisha" last night, and i didn't like it. i don't remember what other people said; those of you who have seen it, did you like it? i'd say maybe a 6 out of 10. it was a very pretty movie, as most big-budget movies are, but the characters seemed shallow to me, most of the acting was bad, i thought(except for ken watanabe, i liked him), and it didn't have an authentic feel. i know some people have complained that it's not authentic to geisha culture, and i went in with that thought, and that might've biased me against it. i think they should've gotten a japanese director, and done it in japanese. since it was in english, zi yi zhang(sp?) sounded like someone who was just learning english and wasn't good at it, and i think that contributed a lot to my feeling that her acting was bad. i know a lot of people would say that authenticity doesn't matter, but i think it does in this case! with a lot of movies it doesn't matter, but this movie is largely about japanese culture, so shouldn't they showcase that culture right? if not, everyone who sees it who doesn't already know about it gets the wrong idea about it, and i don't think that's fair.
anyway, i think i'm becoming a movie snob. a lot of big-budget movies don't impress me anymore. i like independent movies a lot more. if movie producers were like, here's a lot of money, now make whatever movie you want to make, then that would be great. but the more money directors get from other sources, the less control they have over their movie, and in the end you have a product that's less a work of art and more a commercial product. obviously there are a lot of good big-budget movies out there, but generally the independent ones are better and more creative. the same thing happens with music. i'm reading one of the books i got, and it talks about how all these artists(sleater-kinney and ani difranco were mentioned, and some others) were offered contracts on major labels but they turned them down because they wanted complete control over their careers and their music. knowing there are artists like that, who actually care about artistic integrity over money and fame, just makes me like the world more. there's nothing wrong with choosing to be on a major label if that's what you want, but i just like the fact that there are so many artists who go the other way. that's one reason i like sleater-kinney so much(besides the fact that their music is awesome), because i have so much respect for them as artists. if they were on a major label, their videos were all over mtv, their songs were frequently on commercials, everyone knew their name, etc, they would lose a lot of their charm for me.
one of my mom's friends who went to law school with her, and also failed the bar exam, commited suicide a couple days ago. i think my mom is kinda freaked out, understandably. the woman's mother also died a few months before she took the bar, so my mom says it was probably mostly that. but still, there's such a connection between her and my mom, it's surreal. i really really hope my mom passes it when she takes it in february.
edit: changed my layout! pretty.
i saw "memoirs of a geisha" last night, and i didn't like it. i don't remember what other people said; those of you who have seen it, did you like it? i'd say maybe a 6 out of 10. it was a very pretty movie, as most big-budget movies are, but the characters seemed shallow to me, most of the acting was bad, i thought(except for ken watanabe, i liked him), and it didn't have an authentic feel. i know some people have complained that it's not authentic to geisha culture, and i went in with that thought, and that might've biased me against it. i think they should've gotten a japanese director, and done it in japanese. since it was in english, zi yi zhang(sp?) sounded like someone who was just learning english and wasn't good at it, and i think that contributed a lot to my feeling that her acting was bad. i know a lot of people would say that authenticity doesn't matter, but i think it does in this case! with a lot of movies it doesn't matter, but this movie is largely about japanese culture, so shouldn't they showcase that culture right? if not, everyone who sees it who doesn't already know about it gets the wrong idea about it, and i don't think that's fair.
anyway, i think i'm becoming a movie snob. a lot of big-budget movies don't impress me anymore. i like independent movies a lot more. if movie producers were like, here's a lot of money, now make whatever movie you want to make, then that would be great. but the more money directors get from other sources, the less control they have over their movie, and in the end you have a product that's less a work of art and more a commercial product. obviously there are a lot of good big-budget movies out there, but generally the independent ones are better and more creative. the same thing happens with music. i'm reading one of the books i got, and it talks about how all these artists(sleater-kinney and ani difranco were mentioned, and some others) were offered contracts on major labels but they turned them down because they wanted complete control over their careers and their music. knowing there are artists like that, who actually care about artistic integrity over money and fame, just makes me like the world more. there's nothing wrong with choosing to be on a major label if that's what you want, but i just like the fact that there are so many artists who go the other way. that's one reason i like sleater-kinney so much(besides the fact that their music is awesome), because i have so much respect for them as artists. if they were on a major label, their videos were all over mtv, their songs were frequently on commercials, everyone knew their name, etc, they would lose a lot of their charm for me.
one of my mom's friends who went to law school with her, and also failed the bar exam, commited suicide a couple days ago. i think my mom is kinda freaked out, understandably. the woman's mother also died a few months before she took the bar, so my mom says it was probably mostly that. but still, there's such a connection between her and my mom, it's surreal. i really really hope my mom passes it when she takes it in february.
edit: changed my layout! pretty.