okay, just dial hell and i'll answer!
on friday, i saw elizabethtown.
i really should have written this on friday when i could still remember everything, but, hmm. some thoughts, in no particular order:
1. when we first left the theater, i said, "50% of this movie, i really, really, really loved. 25% was pretty good. 25% i would prefer to forget happened entirely." four days later, i've mostly forgotten the 25% i didn't want to remember, and am already feeling nostalgic for all the moments, i really, really loved: drew saying, "and then i'm going to get back on that bike," drew slamming his head into the steering after he missed the exit, claire walking out of the hotel in last night's clothes, the flaming bird (!!!), the flight attendant hands. the parts of this movie that i loved, i loved. so there's that.
2. orlando's accent was much better than i expected. unfortunately, because he was trying so hard to maintain his accent, he lost most of his inflection, which meant that he just sounded strange a lot of the time.
3. when i was home sick a couple weeks ago, i watched jerry macguire, so it was in the back of my mind while i was watching elizabethtown, and i think there were a lot of similarities between characters, except that maybe drew gets to learn his big lesson a little bit younger. weirdly, there were moments where it felt like orlando was doing his best tom cruise impersonation, most particularly during the three-way phone call ("i will call you right back.") with claire, his mother and ellen.
4. girlcakes said what is probably the most astute thing anyone could ever say about this movie, which is, "it was sort of like one big long coldplay song -- the parts i liked best were the parts that felt like they were about me." which is to say, hello, a whole movie about what a mess gets made when a life-changing event becomes synonymous with a death in the family. that sort of got to me, just a little bit.
5. no garden state comparison will ever be as funny as the fact that "new slang" by the shins was on one of the mixes that claire made for drew.
6. weirdly, also, the movie made me think quite about of killing yourself to live by chuck klosterman because a) they're both about death but actually about women b) they're both 85% of a true story and c) both are very ambitiously soundtracked, if you can soundtrack a book, which, if you're chuck klosterman, i think you can. also, i'm pretty sure that there are two essays about cameron crowe movies in sex, drugs and cocoa puffs, the one where he talks about how all women really want lloyd dobner and the one that is so masterfully titled the awe-inspiring beauty of tom cruise's shattered, troll-like face. this is really neither here nor there, though, and maybe not of any use to anyone.
7. the problem is that i just didn't like the ending, which colors my entire concept of a movie that was slightly messy but still extremely enjoyable. speaking of the ever-present garden state comparison, i've said before that garden state, with the "what do we do now?" ending at the airport, was really ripping off say anything, with "nobody thought we'd do this. nobody really thinks it will work, do they?" on the airplane. (say anything, of course, owes something to the graduate, and so on, and so forth, etcetera.) anyway, i think the ending could have used a little more self-sampling, a little more uncertainty. i wanted the end to be more about his journey on his terms and less about their relationship on their terms. i think? maybe.
8. when we got home, the pm and i watched most of vanilla sky, which i maintain is really, really not as bad as everyone thinks it is.
eta: OMG I CANNOT BELIEVE I FORGOT THE MOST IMPORTANT PART: dear orlando, thank you so much for continuing to take roles where you can make the confused-by-death face. that is a career stragedy i can get behind in a big way. xoxo, me.
on saturday, i saw franz ferdinand. which, it's funny, at various times i couldn't remember why i wanted to see franz ferdinand in the first place, because i don't own either of their albums, but once i've thrown down the money for tickets to two or three concerts at once, i get on a roll and i start thinking that i need to go to every concert (!) and see everything (!!) because live music makes me fitter, happier and more productive. so franz ferdinand was the third in my four-part fall concert series (beck and the decemberists in the last few weeks, and death cab for cutie tonight) and they were very, very, very good live. i'm very enamored of short, tight, precise shows lately, and the agenda of this show was definitely, "we're going to come out, we're going to play a fuck-load of songs in about 100 minutes, we're going to have fun doing it, but we're here to get the job done." so they were very, hmm, professional is a weird word, but strangely accurate, but they were also clearly having a really good time, and there was lots of strutting about and playing up into the drum kit and at one point alex kapranos stood up on one of the drums and kicked the cymbal with his foot.
on sunday, girlcakes was a bad-ass new god and put my new bed frame together, ending a series of wretched shenaniginations that have been two months in the making, re-enforcing once again that gifts from my parents are always more trouble than they're worth. but now i have a bed in a frame instead of a mattress on the floor and it is GLORIOUS, i tell you, i had no idea how civilized people lived.
other very important things i need to tell you:
1. if you shop at whole foods, the whole kids peach applesauce is really excellent.
2. callmesandy informs that aaron sorkin's next big drug money laundering scheme has been picked up by NBC. smartlikejustin and i are already writing the very first studio 7 piece of fan fiction, with the names of the character who is responsible for their dead relative's death and the character whose parents are getting divorced after 27 years of marriage left blank until they are further supplied. it's going to be a "what kind of day has it been" post-ep.
3. i am finished with midterms! i keep realizing that i don't talk about school very much, but at some point i'll probably have some long, rambling thoughts about how i decided to get a master's degree in public health in a very career-oriented sort of way, but i'm starting to have a lot of appreciation for the social justice aspect of things, the way that studying public health is a way to look at a lot of different kinds of inequities, around race AND gender AND sexual orientation AND age AND income status and and and. i'm really enjoying it, so, hey.
i really should have written this on friday when i could still remember everything, but, hmm. some thoughts, in no particular order:
1. when we first left the theater, i said, "50% of this movie, i really, really, really loved. 25% was pretty good. 25% i would prefer to forget happened entirely." four days later, i've mostly forgotten the 25% i didn't want to remember, and am already feeling nostalgic for all the moments, i really, really loved: drew saying, "and then i'm going to get back on that bike," drew slamming his head into the steering after he missed the exit, claire walking out of the hotel in last night's clothes, the flaming bird (!!!), the flight attendant hands. the parts of this movie that i loved, i loved. so there's that.
2. orlando's accent was much better than i expected. unfortunately, because he was trying so hard to maintain his accent, he lost most of his inflection, which meant that he just sounded strange a lot of the time.
3. when i was home sick a couple weeks ago, i watched jerry macguire, so it was in the back of my mind while i was watching elizabethtown, and i think there were a lot of similarities between characters, except that maybe drew gets to learn his big lesson a little bit younger. weirdly, there were moments where it felt like orlando was doing his best tom cruise impersonation, most particularly during the three-way phone call ("i will call you right back.") with claire, his mother and ellen.
4. girlcakes said what is probably the most astute thing anyone could ever say about this movie, which is, "it was sort of like one big long coldplay song -- the parts i liked best were the parts that felt like they were about me." which is to say, hello, a whole movie about what a mess gets made when a life-changing event becomes synonymous with a death in the family. that sort of got to me, just a little bit.
5. no garden state comparison will ever be as funny as the fact that "new slang" by the shins was on one of the mixes that claire made for drew.
6. weirdly, also, the movie made me think quite about of killing yourself to live by chuck klosterman because a) they're both about death but actually about women b) they're both 85% of a true story and c) both are very ambitiously soundtracked, if you can soundtrack a book, which, if you're chuck klosterman, i think you can. also, i'm pretty sure that there are two essays about cameron crowe movies in sex, drugs and cocoa puffs, the one where he talks about how all women really want lloyd dobner and the one that is so masterfully titled the awe-inspiring beauty of tom cruise's shattered, troll-like face. this is really neither here nor there, though, and maybe not of any use to anyone.
7. the problem is that i just didn't like the ending, which colors my entire concept of a movie that was slightly messy but still extremely enjoyable. speaking of the ever-present garden state comparison, i've said before that garden state, with the "what do we do now?" ending at the airport, was really ripping off say anything, with "nobody thought we'd do this. nobody really thinks it will work, do they?" on the airplane. (say anything, of course, owes something to the graduate, and so on, and so forth, etcetera.) anyway, i think the ending could have used a little more self-sampling, a little more uncertainty. i wanted the end to be more about his journey on his terms and less about their relationship on their terms. i think? maybe.
8. when we got home, the pm and i watched most of vanilla sky, which i maintain is really, really not as bad as everyone thinks it is.
eta: OMG I CANNOT BELIEVE I FORGOT THE MOST IMPORTANT PART: dear orlando, thank you so much for continuing to take roles where you can make the confused-by-death face. that is a career stragedy i can get behind in a big way. xoxo, me.
on saturday, i saw franz ferdinand. which, it's funny, at various times i couldn't remember why i wanted to see franz ferdinand in the first place, because i don't own either of their albums, but once i've thrown down the money for tickets to two or three concerts at once, i get on a roll and i start thinking that i need to go to every concert (!) and see everything (!!) because live music makes me fitter, happier and more productive. so franz ferdinand was the third in my four-part fall concert series (beck and the decemberists in the last few weeks, and death cab for cutie tonight) and they were very, very, very good live. i'm very enamored of short, tight, precise shows lately, and the agenda of this show was definitely, "we're going to come out, we're going to play a fuck-load of songs in about 100 minutes, we're going to have fun doing it, but we're here to get the job done." so they were very, hmm, professional is a weird word, but strangely accurate, but they were also clearly having a really good time, and there was lots of strutting about and playing up into the drum kit and at one point alex kapranos stood up on one of the drums and kicked the cymbal with his foot.
on sunday, girlcakes was a bad-ass new god and put my new bed frame together, ending a series of wretched shenaniginations that have been two months in the making, re-enforcing once again that gifts from my parents are always more trouble than they're worth. but now i have a bed in a frame instead of a mattress on the floor and it is GLORIOUS, i tell you, i had no idea how civilized people lived.
other very important things i need to tell you:
1. if you shop at whole foods, the whole kids peach applesauce is really excellent.
2. callmesandy informs that aaron sorkin's next big drug money laundering scheme has been picked up by NBC. smartlikejustin and i are already writing the very first studio 7 piece of fan fiction, with the names of the character who is responsible for their dead relative's death and the character whose parents are getting divorced after 27 years of marriage left blank until they are further supplied. it's going to be a "what kind of day has it been" post-ep.
3. i am finished with midterms! i keep realizing that i don't talk about school very much, but at some point i'll probably have some long, rambling thoughts about how i decided to get a master's degree in public health in a very career-oriented sort of way, but i'm starting to have a lot of appreciation for the social justice aspect of things, the way that studying public health is a way to look at a lot of different kinds of inequities, around race AND gender AND sexual orientation AND age AND income status and and and. i'm really enjoying it, so, hey.