Valentine's Day, yadda yadda yadda
Well, it is the February of the fourteenth, so I suppose I should be wishing everyone a happy Valentine's Day, as I'm sure everyone else on your friends page will do.
For the first time, though, I'm feeling somewhat bitter about the holiday. I blame tv. I've never had the usual "I'm-single-and-so-I-feel-worthless-and-doomed" angst that seems to sweep up most people, and I'm generally all for people being lovey with each other, but I haven't seen much lovey stuff this year: just commercials. And the commercials.... bleh.
Commercials can ruin everything!
The ones I see are mostly aimed at men, and all operate on the same infuriationg assumptions: you, as a man, have no idea what to get your significant other for V-day, but the commercial shall come to your rescue and tell you what to do! And what you must do is buy diamonds or ugly teddy bears, because that is the One True Thing that your woman desires. What you think she might want or not want is irrelevant, because all women want the ugly diamond-studded teddy bear, and that's the only way you'll be able to impress her. And "impressing" her is the only way you'll get her to be remotely pleased with you or give you sex or not yell at you, because women are these things that are only in a relationship with you for mysterious reasons, and you must continually fool them with diamonds and teddy bears to get them to stay.
The few commercials I see aimed at women are similarly depressing: like the one for K-Y warming lubricant, with the message that if you get that, you'll make Valentine's Day special. Because you'll have sex, 'cause like, you don't do that at any other time. Unless you get teddy-bear-mounted diamonds.
Seriously, people in commercials seem to exist in a disturbing world where relationships are not mutually pleasing arrangements that have innate value, but rather tenuous situations that are only held up through manipulation and dissimulation on the side of both parties. So that men are in relationships solely for sex and are forced to put up with the actual personalities of the girlfriends with resigned confusion, and women are in relationships for... well... diamonds, I guess.
And speaking of Valentine's Day, __sunshine__ and I were talking about Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind this weekend, which we saw a couple years ago around this time, and __sunshine__ was complaining about the recent trend of mainstream Hollywood producing "indie" films. Now, I'm not sure where I stand on that, because if independent cinema is characterized by innovation and more complex storylines and characters, I don't see why I'd be against Hollywood making films like that.* An innovative, good movie is an innovative good movie, and I want as many of them as possible. As long as that movie is actually good.
However, I just watched some Punch-Drunk Love, and ugh. That was trying to be a little bit too "indie."
First off, I didn't think Adam Sandler was all that great. He was basically acting the same in all the scenes: the "miracle" is that he wasn't acting like Adam Sandler. Instead he was all withdrawn and crumpled in on himself and mumbling under his nose all the time, which is not really very hard to do. I get it: he's uneasy, uncomfortable, distanced from himself and his surrounding. Great. But really, it gets old pretty fast, and it was too overacted-underacted to be truly realistic.
But that didn't really matter, because the direction ensured I couldn't watch Sandler anyway. There was not one shot of the movie that was left alone to stand for itself, to be easy or neutral to watch. No, every scene was shot with hazy, jarring camerawork--because, y'know, the main character is uncomfortable--blurry, bluish colors, and out of focus panning. It literally necessitated me to stop watching the film because I got a headache. Seriously, let up on it already! You don't have to make every shot crazy to have an "artsy" film! Especially when this ridiculous artsyness seemded to be there for no convincing reason except to stroke the director's ego. It was like the movie was screaming out, "look, I'm an unconventionally shot, artistic indie movie, with a quirky, incomprehensible loserish main character! Admire me for my underground charm!"
And that just made me want to punch it.
*Yes, yes, the downside being that once "indie" cinema gets taken over Hollywood, it becomes just as formulaic in its indie-ness, and also leaves no room for actual independent films, but that's beside the point right now.
Well, to be a little less pissy, here are some cute Diesel Sweeties links vaguely having to do with Valentine's Day! Or not really! (Well, they kinda have to do with my entry...)
http://www.dieselsweeties.com/archive.php?s=1179
http://www.dieselsweeties.com/archive.php?s=1101
http://www.dieselsweeties.com/archive.php?s=1092
http://www.dieselsweeties.com/archive.php?s=1133
I just like bubble tea.
http://www.dieselsweeties.com/archive.php?s=1144
And this is true!
For the first time, though, I'm feeling somewhat bitter about the holiday. I blame tv. I've never had the usual "I'm-single-and-so-I-feel-worthless-and-doomed" angst that seems to sweep up most people, and I'm generally all for people being lovey with each other, but I haven't seen much lovey stuff this year: just commercials. And the commercials.... bleh.
Commercials can ruin everything!
The ones I see are mostly aimed at men, and all operate on the same infuriationg assumptions: you, as a man, have no idea what to get your significant other for V-day, but the commercial shall come to your rescue and tell you what to do! And what you must do is buy diamonds or ugly teddy bears, because that is the One True Thing that your woman desires. What you think she might want or not want is irrelevant, because all women want the ugly diamond-studded teddy bear, and that's the only way you'll be able to impress her. And "impressing" her is the only way you'll get her to be remotely pleased with you or give you sex or not yell at you, because women are these things that are only in a relationship with you for mysterious reasons, and you must continually fool them with diamonds and teddy bears to get them to stay.
The few commercials I see aimed at women are similarly depressing: like the one for K-Y warming lubricant, with the message that if you get that, you'll make Valentine's Day special. Because you'll have sex, 'cause like, you don't do that at any other time. Unless you get teddy-bear-mounted diamonds.
Seriously, people in commercials seem to exist in a disturbing world where relationships are not mutually pleasing arrangements that have innate value, but rather tenuous situations that are only held up through manipulation and dissimulation on the side of both parties. So that men are in relationships solely for sex and are forced to put up with the actual personalities of the girlfriends with resigned confusion, and women are in relationships for... well... diamonds, I guess.
And speaking of Valentine's Day, __sunshine__ and I were talking about Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind this weekend, which we saw a couple years ago around this time, and __sunshine__ was complaining about the recent trend of mainstream Hollywood producing "indie" films. Now, I'm not sure where I stand on that, because if independent cinema is characterized by innovation and more complex storylines and characters, I don't see why I'd be against Hollywood making films like that.* An innovative, good movie is an innovative good movie, and I want as many of them as possible. As long as that movie is actually good.
However, I just watched some Punch-Drunk Love, and ugh. That was trying to be a little bit too "indie."
First off, I didn't think Adam Sandler was all that great. He was basically acting the same in all the scenes: the "miracle" is that he wasn't acting like Adam Sandler. Instead he was all withdrawn and crumpled in on himself and mumbling under his nose all the time, which is not really very hard to do. I get it: he's uneasy, uncomfortable, distanced from himself and his surrounding. Great. But really, it gets old pretty fast, and it was too overacted-underacted to be truly realistic.
But that didn't really matter, because the direction ensured I couldn't watch Sandler anyway. There was not one shot of the movie that was left alone to stand for itself, to be easy or neutral to watch. No, every scene was shot with hazy, jarring camerawork--because, y'know, the main character is uncomfortable--blurry, bluish colors, and out of focus panning. It literally necessitated me to stop watching the film because I got a headache. Seriously, let up on it already! You don't have to make every shot crazy to have an "artsy" film! Especially when this ridiculous artsyness seemded to be there for no convincing reason except to stroke the director's ego. It was like the movie was screaming out, "look, I'm an unconventionally shot, artistic indie movie, with a quirky, incomprehensible loserish main character! Admire me for my underground charm!"
And that just made me want to punch it.
*Yes, yes, the downside being that once "indie" cinema gets taken over Hollywood, it becomes just as formulaic in its indie-ness, and also leaves no room for actual independent films, but that's beside the point right now.
Well, to be a little less pissy, here are some cute Diesel Sweeties links vaguely having to do with Valentine's Day! Or not really! (Well, they kinda have to do with my entry...)
http://www.dieselsweeties.com/archive.php?s=1179
http://www.dieselsweeties.com/archive.php?s=1101
http://www.dieselsweeties.com/archive.php?s=1092
http://www.dieselsweeties.com/archive.php?s=1133
I just like bubble tea.
http://www.dieselsweeties.com/archive.php?s=1144
And this is true!