"We blew it, man."
Ahoy! Sorry for going MIA for so long ): I have totally missed you guys.
Um, also, WTF is this new update page. I don't know how to use this o_O
Things that have happened:
1) I got a new "job." I say "job" because I don't get paid. I'm hoping it leads to a job, but given what I've seen of the company I don't know if they can manage it. They will probably do something dumb with a position that's opening up that I would love. If I don't get a job out of it by the end of next month, I will leave.
2) I am looking for a new job. I need to be working full time or more by the end of May.
3) I plan on moving in June. Funny story: I was considering Echo Park as one of the places to move, then my friend's car got shot at in Echo Park, and now I'm thinking that's not such a great idea.
4) I am having a lot of fun on my NSFW Twitter and blog. That's mostly because -
5) I got broken up with.
6) Online dating is odd.
Sorry, apparently I had less and less to say as I went.
Yesterday I finished watching Easy Rider. I'd seen it before in college, and apparently I understood it better then (I found a paper I wrote on it. Crazy!). The film is not about a story, which I kind of like. Roger Ebert describes it as an invisible bird that carries the film, but you never know what it is. Much of the movie is about the relationship between what you're seeing - scenery from the south and midwest in 1969 - and the music. Hopper and Fonda's characters are just there against the background.
The camera work was quite impressive; the making of documentary included on the DVD was actually really helpful in focusing on the synchronicity of the action and the camera. Especially given the incredibly low budget of the film!
The thing about Easy Rider is that it is iconic for a generation that isn't mine. I can see how it is directly related to the end of the 1960s, a decade of incredible change and progress. But those things don't come without a price, and the film quietly shows you this against two very confusing characters. I have no idea what I'm supposed to feel about Wyatt and Billy (Hopper said they were envisioned as Wyatt Earp and Billy the Kid). On the one hand Wyatt is oddly optimistic - he praises the farmer who lives off the land, and believes that the commune will survive. Billy is more pessimistic and sardonic about both. And yet Wyatt is dark and brooding at the same time. He smiles but never seems happy. Billy is always rushing them, eager to get somewhere, and seems to genuinely enjoy himself. But Billy is the one I dislike and fear.
For a film that's easily seen as an indictment of the prevalent culture of the 1960s, this is very confusing. Billy is made happy by money, even though George (AMAZINGLY played by Jack Nicholson) insists that Billy is free. Money seems to make little difference to Wyatt, or to the people he claims to admire. What are they searching for, the viewer wonders. Their only goal is to make it to Mardi Gras, a symbol of freedom of all kinds. But they aren't happy. In fact, an LSD trip brings out the sadness, shame, anger, and fear in them, in a way that facing prejudice and murder does not.
Good and bad are relative; commentary from the actors seems to suggest that George is the one we are supposed to relate to (George is "America's own"), and maybe he is, and maybe you do. Maybe he's what's needed to ground the audience and tie them to Wyatt and Billy. Certainly the movie stops being so idyllic and scenic when he enters - and this is also because this is when the travelling pair begin to enter cities. Maybe, in the end, Easy Rider is just romanticizing the wild west, as every good cowboy movie does.
Um, also, WTF is this new update page. I don't know how to use this o_O
Things that have happened:
1) I got a new "job." I say "job" because I don't get paid. I'm hoping it leads to a job, but given what I've seen of the company I don't know if they can manage it. They will probably do something dumb with a position that's opening up that I would love. If I don't get a job out of it by the end of next month, I will leave.
2) I am looking for a new job. I need to be working full time or more by the end of May.
3) I plan on moving in June. Funny story: I was considering Echo Park as one of the places to move, then my friend's car got shot at in Echo Park, and now I'm thinking that's not such a great idea.
4) I am having a lot of fun on my NSFW Twitter and blog. That's mostly because -
5) I got broken up with.
6) Online dating is odd.
Sorry, apparently I had less and less to say as I went.
Yesterday I finished watching Easy Rider. I'd seen it before in college, and apparently I understood it better then (I found a paper I wrote on it. Crazy!). The film is not about a story, which I kind of like. Roger Ebert describes it as an invisible bird that carries the film, but you never know what it is. Much of the movie is about the relationship between what you're seeing - scenery from the south and midwest in 1969 - and the music. Hopper and Fonda's characters are just there against the background.
The camera work was quite impressive; the making of documentary included on the DVD was actually really helpful in focusing on the synchronicity of the action and the camera. Especially given the incredibly low budget of the film!
The thing about Easy Rider is that it is iconic for a generation that isn't mine. I can see how it is directly related to the end of the 1960s, a decade of incredible change and progress. But those things don't come without a price, and the film quietly shows you this against two very confusing characters. I have no idea what I'm supposed to feel about Wyatt and Billy (Hopper said they were envisioned as Wyatt Earp and Billy the Kid). On the one hand Wyatt is oddly optimistic - he praises the farmer who lives off the land, and believes that the commune will survive. Billy is more pessimistic and sardonic about both. And yet Wyatt is dark and brooding at the same time. He smiles but never seems happy. Billy is always rushing them, eager to get somewhere, and seems to genuinely enjoy himself. But Billy is the one I dislike and fear.
For a film that's easily seen as an indictment of the prevalent culture of the 1960s, this is very confusing. Billy is made happy by money, even though George (AMAZINGLY played by Jack Nicholson) insists that Billy is free. Money seems to make little difference to Wyatt, or to the people he claims to admire. What are they searching for, the viewer wonders. Their only goal is to make it to Mardi Gras, a symbol of freedom of all kinds. But they aren't happy. In fact, an LSD trip brings out the sadness, shame, anger, and fear in them, in a way that facing prejudice and murder does not.
Good and bad are relative; commentary from the actors seems to suggest that George is the one we are supposed to relate to (George is "America's own"), and maybe he is, and maybe you do. Maybe he's what's needed to ground the audience and tie them to Wyatt and Billy. Certainly the movie stops being so idyllic and scenic when he enters - and this is also because this is when the travelling pair begin to enter cities. Maybe, in the end, Easy Rider is just romanticizing the wild west, as every good cowboy movie does.