Random Post: Potter, Docs and Posters
Oh look, it's one of those posts where I talk about all kinds of things that are not connected at all but do not really merit their own posts. Like one of those nights when you have soup for dinner because all you have in the fridge is a bunch of leftovers, so you throw them into a pot and voila(!) soup for days! Our Mother Hubbard-like cupboards have us teetering on the brink of "Soup's on!" but I just can't justify it when it continues to be 90+ degrees every day... and some nights. Next stop, grocery store!
All-Potter All-The-Time: You wanna know why ABC Family continues to fill 3/4 of their weekend programming hours with Harry Potter movies? Because people will watch them. I am sure my mom can quote them by now. You should have heard her raging in the other room yesterday because they "cut the Floo Powder scene!" I know this because after her in-room rage, she came in here to share her outrage. Seriously, I own the first four movies, so there is no need for this craziness. Pop in a DVD and take it down a notch, lady!
Let's discuss how, having both watched and read The Chamber of Secrets multiple times, this morning I had the revelation that the reason Fawkes pecked out the Basilisk's eyes was not so that it could not find Harry, but so that it could not petrify him. Clearly this is just something I realized and forgot, right? (This is not a random thought that popped into my head, I am rereading the books. Ma is reading them for the first time. I am a book ahead, which has worked so far, because the first two books are rather short. But now she's on CoS, and I'm on PoA, and I am sure she's gonna finish way before me. Let's not even talk about what comes next when everything is like 800 pages long.)
More Potter. I mean, Pottermore: First I scoffed, then I was like "Why not?" They announced the early sign-up procedure today and I scoffed again, for like 2.5 seconds. Then I lurked around the site waiting for the clue to appear. Disappointment followed. A few hours later I refreshed the page on a whim, noticed the change and immediately went off to Google what I needed to get it. Then I waited for my email to tell me what to do. And waited. And waited. Then I went to bed. It arrived while I was sleep, so I just logged in. I guess this means I need to, you know, look into what this Pottermore business actually is.
More Unsolicited Documentary Reviews
The Bridge [Trailer] was about people who committed suicide by jumping from the Golden Gate Bridge. It was about what you'd expect a doc about such a subject to be... pretty depressing stuff. You know what I can do without in my documentary in which 94 minutes are spent talking to families and friends of some of the 24 people who committed suicide by jumping off of the Golden Gate Bridge in 2004? Footage of 23 of these people actually jumping off of the Bridge. It was slightly creepy when I was watching, but at the time I did not really know what was going on. (Like the interviewees, who were unaware that their loved one's last moments were going to be a part of the film, it was not until pretty well into it -- I am always doing other stuff while watching things -- that I was like, 'Wait a minute! Are they actually showing jumpers?", and not until I'd finished the movie and went to read about it that I found out who the actual people jumping were. I am kind of retroactively like, 'Bad form, filmmakers!" I did not realize how off-putting this was until now... and I watched this about a week ago.
Waiting for Hockney [Trailer] is about a dude (Billy Pappas) who had an idea for an amazing piece of art, which he then proceeded to work on for TEN YEARS. He was so into his project that he wasted spent an entire decade of his life on it, thinking that it would somehow change... something. The art world? His life? I don't know what. I am a Certified Non-Finisher and even I was like, "Really dude, ten years? On a drawing?" Even crazier it was not just any drawing, it was a drawing of a photograph of Marilyn Monroe. so basically just kind of copying something, which should not take all that long. It was a good drawing though, very very detailed. Super precise.
Anyway, his brilliant plan was pretty much: 1.Draw Marilyn Monroe for a decade. 2. Show Marilyn to David Hockney 3. Profit. Did it work? Is he a millionaire artist living it up wherever today's millionaire artists live? Or, did Hockney look at it, go "Wow", wait 'til he left and go, "Really a picture of a picture? Of Marilyn?" and then avoid all calls from Billy? Did Billy get a job as a waiter, making more money in a day than he did in TEN YEARS? Hint: It's the second one. The film was pretty good though, for what it was. I am not really a fan of Capital-A artist types, so there was a bit too much Seriousness and Pretention to go around, but that's Art for you.
Oh, and just put it into perspective: The Sistine Chapel? Yeah, that took four years.
Up next, two docs about dudes who created imaginary worlds (sounds fun!) and then maybe I will start on Boardwalk Empire.
Things Almost Finished: I think I have decided what I am going to do for my Indie Market poster. I really wanted a tree with falling leaves, but then looking over the past posters (here) there was already something like that last November. Then again, every July it's fireworks, so I guess there are just some themes you can't escape. This is a combination of a few ideas that I have been running through my head lately, but I think it works. They hang up all around town, so I always try to do something with a lot of bright colors so that they will stand out when hanging with a dozen other posters for various things in the downtown shops. It's simple, but should still stand out. Theonllydifferences between the three are the text styles, the first one is the original, but I think I'm leaning towards the third.
All-Potter All-The-Time: You wanna know why ABC Family continues to fill 3/4 of their weekend programming hours with Harry Potter movies? Because people will watch them. I am sure my mom can quote them by now. You should have heard her raging in the other room yesterday because they "cut the Floo Powder scene!" I know this because after her in-room rage, she came in here to share her outrage. Seriously, I own the first four movies, so there is no need for this craziness. Pop in a DVD and take it down a notch, lady!
Let's discuss how, having both watched and read The Chamber of Secrets multiple times, this morning I had the revelation that the reason Fawkes pecked out the Basilisk's eyes was not so that it could not find Harry, but so that it could not petrify him. Clearly this is just something I realized and forgot, right? (This is not a random thought that popped into my head, I am rereading the books. Ma is reading them for the first time. I am a book ahead, which has worked so far, because the first two books are rather short. But now she's on CoS, and I'm on PoA, and I am sure she's gonna finish way before me. Let's not even talk about what comes next when everything is like 800 pages long.)
More Potter. I mean, Pottermore: First I scoffed, then I was like "Why not?" They announced the early sign-up procedure today and I scoffed again, for like 2.5 seconds. Then I lurked around the site waiting for the clue to appear. Disappointment followed. A few hours later I refreshed the page on a whim, noticed the change and immediately went off to Google what I needed to get it. Then I waited for my email to tell me what to do. And waited. And waited. Then I went to bed. It arrived while I was sleep, so I just logged in. I guess this means I need to, you know, look into what this Pottermore business actually is.
More Unsolicited Documentary Reviews
The Bridge [Trailer] was about people who committed suicide by jumping from the Golden Gate Bridge. It was about what you'd expect a doc about such a subject to be... pretty depressing stuff. You know what I can do without in my documentary in which 94 minutes are spent talking to families and friends of some of the 24 people who committed suicide by jumping off of the Golden Gate Bridge in 2004? Footage of 23 of these people actually jumping off of the Bridge. It was slightly creepy when I was watching, but at the time I did not really know what was going on. (Like the interviewees, who were unaware that their loved one's last moments were going to be a part of the film, it was not until pretty well into it -- I am always doing other stuff while watching things -- that I was like, 'Wait a minute! Are they actually showing jumpers?", and not until I'd finished the movie and went to read about it that I found out who the actual people jumping were. I am kind of retroactively like, 'Bad form, filmmakers!" I did not realize how off-putting this was until now... and I watched this about a week ago.
Waiting for Hockney [Trailer] is about a dude (Billy Pappas) who had an idea for an amazing piece of art, which he then proceeded to work on for TEN YEARS. He was so into his project that he wasted spent an entire decade of his life on it, thinking that it would somehow change... something. The art world? His life? I don't know what. I am a Certified Non-Finisher and even I was like, "Really dude, ten years? On a drawing?" Even crazier it was not just any drawing, it was a drawing of a photograph of Marilyn Monroe. so basically just kind of copying something, which should not take all that long. It was a good drawing though, very very detailed. Super precise.
Anyway, his brilliant plan was pretty much: 1.Draw Marilyn Monroe for a decade. 2. Show Marilyn to David Hockney 3. Profit. Did it work? Is he a millionaire artist living it up wherever today's millionaire artists live? Or, did Hockney look at it, go "Wow", wait 'til he left and go, "Really a picture of a picture? Of Marilyn?" and then avoid all calls from Billy? Did Billy get a job as a waiter, making more money in a day than he did in TEN YEARS? Hint: It's the second one. The film was pretty good though, for what it was. I am not really a fan of Capital-A artist types, so there was a bit too much Seriousness and Pretention to go around, but that's Art for you.
Oh, and just put it into perspective: The Sistine Chapel? Yeah, that took four years.
Up next, two docs about dudes who created imaginary worlds (sounds fun!) and then maybe I will start on Boardwalk Empire.
Things Almost Finished: I think I have decided what I am going to do for my Indie Market poster. I really wanted a tree with falling leaves, but then looking over the past posters (here) there was already something like that last November. Then again, every July it's fireworks, so I guess there are just some themes you can't escape. This is a combination of a few ideas that I have been running through my head lately, but I think it works. They hang up all around town, so I always try to do something with a lot of bright colors so that they will stand out when hanging with a dozen other posters for various things in the downtown shops. It's simple, but should still stand out. Theonllydifferences between the three are the text styles, the first one is the original, but I think I'm leaning towards the third.