Inspiration Comes from the Oddest Places

“"When you wake up in the morning, Pooh," said Piglet at last, "what's the first thing you say to yourself?"

"What's for breakfast?" said Pooh. "What do you say, Piglet?"

"I say, I wonder what's going to happen exciting today?" said Piglet.

Pooh nodded thoughtfully.

"It's the same thing," he said.”

-A.A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh

Tim Burton: Introduction, "Vincent," and "Frankenweenie"

Note: In honor of Alice in Wonderland, which is to be released March 2010, I have decided to do an overview of Tim Burton's work to date beginning with his early career with Disney. Enjoy!

"Vincent Malloy is seven years old,
He's always polite and does what he's told.
For a boy his age he's considerate and nice,
But he wants to be just like Vincent Price."

This opening narration from Tim Burton's 1982 "Vincent" could just as easily be used to describe Burton himself as it could the over imaginative slight morbid main character in the short. His long time love affair with early horror films, especially those of famed director Vincent Price and the exploitative, sensational films of the 1950s, is prominently displayed throughout his work lending his films a unique, distinctive visual style that is both instantly recognizable and highly imaginative. Additionally, his quirky personality and difficult home and school life have led to scripts centered around a lonely, misunderstood outsider with whom audiences both instantly sympathize and relate. This winning combination of style and story has quickly propelled Burton to one of the most popular directors in Hollywood.

Burton started his career as an animator for Disney who recruited him right out of college based on his hand drawn short "The Stalk of the Celery Monster." After being removed from The Fox and the Hound due to his roadkill-like concept art, he was reassigned to The Black Cauldron. He often relates this work to having a piece of his brain cut out and preferred to work on his own, more macabre shorts.

The first of these is "Vincent," a six minute animated short about a young boy who imagines that his life is like a movie by his hero Vincent Price, who actually narrates the short. The piece is set to a poem that Burton originally intended to turn into a children's book. It features black and white animation with stark lighting and harsh, distorted shadows creating an eerie, Gothic feel that would soon become a trademark. It also introduces his preferred heroic archetype of misunderstood outsider while at the same time, making fun of it to give it a lighter, more kid-friendly tone. It went on to screen at several film festivals and to win the Audience Award at Ottawa International Film Festival, but Disney didn't know what to do with it, so after giving Burton a pat on the back they put it to the side and all but forgot about it.

Burton's second short made under Disney is "Frankenweenie," a half hour, live-action short about a child Frankenstein who brings his dog Sparky back to life after he is hit by a car. Shot in the same black and white, Gothic style as "Vincent," this short takes a slightly more serious tone, developing strong family relationships as well as the love between a boy and his dog while managing to both spoof and homage his favorite classic horror films. Although this film is imaginative and charming, Disney deemed it to be too frightening for children and fired Burton for wasting company resources. Of course, this did not stop them from later releasing both shorts on their DVD release of The Nightmare Before Christmas once Tim Burton had become a name in the film industry.

Now free of Disney's restrictions, Tim Burton was free to pursue the promising artistic direction he had established in his early shorts.

Treasure Planet

"Now, you listen to me, James Hawkins. You got the makings of greatness in you, but you got to take the helm and chart your own course. Stick to it, no matter the squalls! And when the time comes you get the chance to really test the cut of your sails, and show what you're made of! Well, I hope I'm there, catching some of the light coming off you that day." -John Silver

Disney's Treasure Planet is a futuristic sci-fi version of Robert Louis Steven's Treasure Island, a tale about Jim Hawkins who is part of a crew in search of Captain Flint's treasure only to discover that the ship's cook, Long John Silver, is a pirate planning a mutiny in order the get the treasure all for himself. In this particular version, Jim Hawkin's is voiced by my future Hollywood bestie, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, which on its own would make it worth watching. However, this also came from an interesting time in Disney animation. Having only intermittent success since Aladdin, Disney was now being challenged by Fox and Warner Brothers as the dominant family animators. And the threat wasn't coming in their typical genre.

In 1999, Warner Brothers released The Iron Giant, a sci-fi adventure film directed by Brad Bird. Though it was poorly marketed and under released, this charming story about a boy and his giant space robot gained a level of critical acclaim that Disney had not seen since 1994's The Lion King. The next year, 20th Century Fox released Titan A.E., a post-apocalyptic sci-fi adventure film about Cale (Matt Damon) and Akima (Drew Barrymore) as they search for a space station that can save mankind. Though this film also underperformed due to poor marketing, it must have been a blow to Disney's ego and consequently forced them to expand into the heretofore untouched sci-fi adventure genre with strong male leads searching for excitement and their spunky female love interests to help them.

Thus, Disney released Atlantis: The Lost Empire in 2001. Michael J. Fox voices Milo who, on the eve of World War II, has found a map to Atlantis. However, when he gets there, he discovers that Atlantis may need more help than it can give. Although Atlantis did better than the other two movies in theaters, it still did not make enough in the US to cover its production costs. Unfortunately, Disney could not blame this on poor marketing like The Iron Giant or Titan A.E. as was reinforced by the generally average to poor reviews it received. Accused of having a general lack of character and plot development, perhaps Disney had just strayed too far from what they knew. They were willing to give it another shot the following year with Treasure Planet.

With this, finally, they had done it. By using their already established skills of adaptation, they too had produced an family-friendly animated sci-fi film that had relatively good reviews on par with Titan A.E. Disney even went all out on the animation, layering 2D animation over 3D to create a unique and stunning visual effect. Plus, they made a new first by simultaneously releasing it in regular theaters and IMAX. It was a success! In everything but box office figures that is. High DVD sales and good reviews weren't enough to make up for a box office flop and Disney washed its hands of that crazy fad to return to more comfortable movies like 2003's Brother Bear.

And so the animated sci-fi genre ended soon after it began, but not without leaving a few gems worth watching. The Iron Giant and Titan A.E. of course but I would personally add Treasure Plant for it's stunning animation, well-adapted plot, and charming lead. If you can forgive the feel-good Disney end added to the original Treasure Island story, I think you'll find the lack of romance an interesting twist to the Disney formula. It's an adventure story pure and simple with the most developed relationship that of father/son. These short-lived sci-fi films show a great deal of potential in children's entertainment that could be equal to the Disney princesses given the right marketing. Each of these thrilling tales has it's own cult following and hopefully that will be enough to respark interest in the genre soon.

The Boy With Green Hair

“Please don’t tell why his hair turned green after you’ve seen The Boy With Green Hair!”

The Boy with Green Hair is a sci-fi movie released in 1948 about a boy whose hair turns green the day after he finds out he’s a war orphan. A fairly obvious parable for how wars affect children, this is a pretty average movie which is not nearly as entertaining as its name suggests. However, was is interesting is the theme song for the film, none other than “Nature Boy” by eden ahbez. If you don’t recognize the name, you’ll definitely recognize the song as it is the opening in Baz Luhrmann’s Moulin Rouge! The original recording of the song plays throughout the film creating an odd effect because of its modern associations. Funny how things happen... 2 stars.

“There was a boy,
A strange enchanted boy.
They say he wandered very far, very far
Over land and sea.
A little shy and sad of eye
But very wise was he.

And then one day,
A magic day he passed my way
And while we spoke of many things, fools and kings,
This he said to me,
"The greatest thing
You’ll ever learn
Is just to love
And be loved
In return.”

"Shoot That Motherfucker"

Tonight I was bored. I wanted to watch TV. "Wanted" was on. I heard it wasn't very good, but I though maybe it wasn't THAT bad and figured it would nevertheless be entertaining and action-packed.

Apparently, no one impressed upon me just how bad this movie was. I thought if I had to hear James McAvoy say "oh my God" again or see another close up of his sweaty, vein-popping face, I was gonna flip. His American accent was believable, but it was still weird. And annoying at times.

The part where James McAvoy jumped through a window and started shooting people was pretty badass... I have hard time seeing him as a badass though.

Don't get me wrong, I am a fan of his. But I just didn't enjoy him in this movie.

This movie did keep me busy for about an hour and half or however long it was, but it wasn't worth it. Shucks. I could've watched SVU or House instead.

Well, now I'm kinda tired but I'm probably gonna watch Buffy or something before I go to bed. That way, I will have weird dreams about vampires instead of about killing my father and shooting dead pigs.

Memorable Movie Quotes

“And our bodies are earth. And our thoughts are clay. And we sleep and eat with death.” -Paul, All Quiet on the Western Front

“I love him because he's the kind of guy who gets drunk on a glass of buttermilk, and I love the way he blushes right up over his ears. I love him because he doesn't know
how to kiss, the jerk!” -Sugarpuss O’Shea, Ball of Fire

Vivian Rutledge: “I don't like your manners.”
Philip Marlowe: “I'm not crazy about yours. I didn't ask to see you. I don't mind if you don't like my manners. I don't like them myself. They're pretty bad. I grieve over them long winter evenings.” -The Big Sleep

"I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Time to die." -Roy Batty, Blade Runner

"I'll meet you at the place near the thing where we went that time." -Aaron Altman, Broadcast News

Phyllis: "There's a speed limit in this state, Mr. Neff. 45 miles an hour."
Walter: "How fast was I going, officer?"
Phyllis: "I'd say around 90."
Walter: "Suppose you get down off your motorcycle and give me a ticket."
Phyllis: "Suppose I let you off with a warning this time."
Walter: "Suppose it doesn't take."
Phyllis: "Suppose I have to whack you over the knuckles."
Walter: "Suppose I bust out crying and put my head on your shoulder."
Phyllis: "Suppose you try putting it on my husband's shoulder."
Walter: "That tears it..." -Double Indemnity

"Gentlemen, you can't fight in here! This is the War Room!" -President Merkin Muffley, Dr. Strangelove

"If I'd been a ranch, they would've named me the Bar Nothing." -Gilda, Gilda

"If it weren't for graft, you'd get a very low type of people in politics." -The Politician, The Great McGinty

"L-I-V-E! Live! Otherwise, you got nothing to talk about in the locker room." -Maude, Harold and Maude

"Well, I've wrestled with reality for thirty- five years, Doctor, and I’m happy to state I finally won out over it." -Elwood P. Dowd, Harvey

"Oh, no, it wasn't the airplanes. It was Beauty killed the Beast." -Carl Denham, King Kong

"In my case, self-absorption is completely justified. I have never discovered any other subject so worthy of my attention." -Waldo Lydecker, Laura

"I think people should mate for life, like pigeons or Catholics." -Isaac Davis, Manhattan

"In Switzerland, they had brotherly love, and they had 500 years of democracy and peace. And what did that produce? The cuckoo clock." -Harry Lime, The Third Man

"I've always been myself, even when I was ill, only now I seem myself and that's the important thing. I have remembered how to seem." -King George, The Madness of King George

"We are only as God made us, and many of us much worse." -Narrator, Tom Jones

"Give me wine, I drain the dregs and toss the empty bottle at the world. Show me our Lord Jesus in agony and I mount the cross and steal His nails for my own palms.... I look upon a pinhead and I see angels dancing." -Rochester, The Libertine

Chungking Express

"If memories could be canned, would they also have expiry dates? If so, I hope they last for centuries." -Cop 223

Chinese director Kar Wai Wong's Chungking Express tells the story of two Hong Kong cops both disconnected and lonely in the big city. The first story is about Cop 223 (Takeshi Kaneshiro) who has been dumped by his long time girlfriend and decides that by the end of the month he will either win back his girlfriend or lose her altogether. In the second, Cop 663 (Tony Leung Chiu Wai), recently dumped by his girlfriend, catches the attention of an eccentric waitress (Faye Wong) determined to help his find happiness again.

This beautifully shot, impressionistic film is not plot driven or even necessarily character driven. It is emotionally driven and so powerfully so that you get lost in the poetry of the camerawork and the depth and honesty of the characters. Loss, heartache, isolation, new love, and hope are all brilliantly portrayed with the help of the wonderfully understated but well-written script. With its skillful use of color and motion and its subtle storytelling ability, this poignant film will take your breath away. 5 stars.

It Was All Yellow

Here's why last night was awesome:

Coldplay's amazing and impressive music talent

Kaz

Tim

Chris Martin's rhyme about Texas, accompanied by a harmonica... and the way he inserted "Dallas" or "Texas" into quite a lot of songs

*Included something like "...Texans make a fuck of a lot of noise... everyone we play to is great, but we hear they do it best in the Lonestar state"

Chris Martin in general

*Quotes I remember: "Thank you for giving up your Tuesday to come see us 4 poor Englishmen(I don't think he said poor, but it was something humble like that :] )" after the opening song- "Oh wow, that's a lot of people." before starting the wave- "and you too in the front who are wondering what on earth we're doing in the back. hehe" also "we're gonna start off by the big balloon that says VIVA, whatever the fuck that means... I'm kidding"

Big yellow bouncy balls

Free, live Coldplay album

Cell phone wave

Steak 'n Shake's steakburgers and classic chocolate malts

Being united with thousands of people by one common interest

Butterfly confetti

Really cool video and lighting effects

Mistakingly think I won at Speed. Super Embarrassing. Very funny.

I can't think of anything else, but that was probably the best concert I've ever been to! I have re-fallen in love with Coldplay. Wish all of you had been there :)

The videos are indeed uploaded

These are all the camping trip videos that I should have shared with you ages ago. And now, after uploading all the video, I have realized that most of it is Jordan.

Love, Mary

A Sweet Serenade from Jordan:


The Smile of a Well Digger:


Caleb, It's a Beautiful Day:


Casa Blanca Does NOT Suck:

Cry-Baby

"Juvenile delinquents are everywhere. Right here in this community. Boys with long hair and tattoos who spit on the sidewalk. Girls who wear tight slacks. Hysterectomy pants, I call them." -Mrs. Vernon-Williams

John Water's Cry-Baby is a fun-loving, campy musical set in 1954 about a "square" turned "drape," Allison Vernon-Williams (Amy Locane). Tired of being good, Allison falls hard for Wade "Cry-Baby" Walker (Johnny Depp), named for his ability to shed a single tear, who (crazily enough) has got it bad for Allison. But between Allison's disapproving boyfriend and grandmother and Cry-Baby-obsessed Lenora, the two have some difficulty finding their happy ending.

One of Johnny Depp's lesser known and John Water's best known movies, Cry-Baby is a quirky and original romance that features a wide array of interesting supporting characters and random humor that reminds us why we love musicals. It does an interesting job of retelling the boy-and-girl-from-opposite-sides-of-the-tracks story and is completely charming while doing it. I've seen it a couple times and it has become one of my favorite musicals from sheer camp value and soundtrack alone. If you have any fondness for the 50s and its music, you'll love this movie. 4 stars.

Somebody Hit The Lights

There was a faint scent of cinnamon in the air, candles all around, and near silence. It was eerie, yet peaceful.

This is what my house was like earlier tonight--for about an hour. We don't know why, but the power went out. My dad says it's because of the heat. Seems like the power always goes out at night, never during the day. Weird.

The impervious darkness and unnatural silence are usually rather unnerving to me. I always hurry to find the nearest flashlight and the rest of my family and ask continually when the power will be back on.

Tonight, however, was a little different. After I lit a few candles, I ate my leftover ice cream [didn't want it to melt of course ;) ] and spent some time reading my book about Mary, Queen of Scots.

During this time I realized just how bright a single, small flame is. I find it amazing how powerful the natural light God gave us is and how calming and comforting it can be. [I also discovered that the ice dispenser on the refrigerator is run by electricity. For some reason that seemed silly to me.]

After a while, my dad decided to go out front and see if the other houses were out of power and it turns out only those on our block of the street were. When I went outside with him, I was able to again experience the beauty and power of natural light. The moon. It is a day or two past a full moon, but it still was so bright in the clear sky and rested next to a planet that might have been Jupiter (I don't really know much astronomy). The street looked almost blue and everything else was dimly lit not by the reflection of lights inside the houses or street lamps or porch lights, but by pure, gleaming moonlight.

We both went inside and my dad proceeded to complain that his iPhone was dying and that he wanted to play solitaire on it since he couldn't watch TV or surf the internet like usual. I offered to teach him how to play solitaire with real cards, but since he didn't feel like it, I played by myself while listening to Norah Jones on my iPod.

Even though I did cheat a little by using my iPod, I really enjoyed the simplicity of sitting at the coffee table with my dad, playing cards in the candlelight while petting my dog and reveling in the lack of synthetic light and stream of media that I'm constantly bombarded with. yet also drawn to. I admit I spent a lot of my day on Facebook, surfing the internet, and watching TV. It's not that I don't enjoy them--I usually do--but not as much as I should and there's something about them that makes me a feel slightly empty for wasting time with them.

These things are not bad, but they aren't genuine and I found that I actually cherished the time I spent reading in a hot, dimly lit kitchen much more. It's times like these that I kind of wished that I lived in different era.

When the power came back on, my dad let out a triumphal "yes," but I was slightly disappointed. My dad commented on this and also told me about how when he was kid they didn't have color TV or air conditioning, etc. I find it odd, then, that I appreciated the lack of electricity much more than he did, but perhaps that is why. I have been so spoiled and surround constantly by so many different kinds of lights and sounds and artificial time wasters that getting back to the basics and experiencing things in their natural state is a rare and unusual sight (or should I say gift?).

It must be savored because it will disappear as quickly as it came. And if you don't pause to enjoy the beauty of such things, your life just might be missing something.

Just a thought...

Good night

So I've decided I need to post a blog. Except I haven't had anything blog worthy to blog about yet. Then today this happened and I decide to tell you about it.
I'm going to warn you ahead of time, this is kind of graphic.
Today while I was riding my bike I passed by a tree next to the sidewalk. I thought I saw something on the ground in front of it move, so I decided to double back and check it out. There on the ground I found four baby birds that had fallen out of their nest because of the heavy rains earlier that day. The birds were too young to fly or even walk. A few of them didn't even have any feathers yet. I caught my breath when I saw that all of them were covered in a swarm of ants. But they weren't dead yet; they were still kicking and fighting to get up. It was so sad. I knew there wasn't much I could do. As I stood there, one of them just stopped moving all together. I couldn't just take one home...could I? I mean its mother wouldn't take it back would it? I took out my water bottle and rinsed some of the ants off of the oldest and, well for lack of better words, the least dead bird and then cradled it in my sunglasses. It's eyes weren't open yet and it kept opening and closing its mouth while trying desperately to stand. I stood there for a few minutes without a clue of what I was going to do next. I attempted to brush off the remaining ants as I looked around for the nest. I didn't see one so I looked around for a place to put it off the ground and away from those stupid ants. I couldn't find a good spot. I stood on the sidewalk and finally resolved to put the bird in the bag I had on my bike and take it home. Probably not the best idea but I had to do something I HAD to. Walking away felt like failing to stop and render aid. I'm not sure why I felt so strongly about it but I did. As I turned carefully to go back to my bike, sunglasses cradle in had, the bird struggled a bit too much. I flinched as it fell to the sidewalk with a sickening splat. I turned got on my bike and rode away as fast as I could.
I felt so bad.

Gerry

"Fuck the thing! It's probably just some thing at the end of the trail." -Gerry

And with these words, the two Gerrys who are hiking in a "wilderness area" get utterly lost where they walk and walk and walk and walk and walk and very occasionally talk. That is the entire plot. I'm not summarizing or exaggerating. That's it. This extremely arty movie is directed by Gus van Sant, stars Matt Damon and Casey Afflack, and is co-written by the three. Which couldn't have been that hard considering how little dialogue there is. This is a movie in which nothing happens very slowly. As a metaphor for life, it is interesting enough but it's definitely a movie to watch while doing something else. Like watching paint dry. Then you could double your enjoyment. If someone recommends this movie to you, it's as a joke. Fair warning. 2 stars.

Good Queen Bess

"I would rather be a beggar and single
than a queen and married."

Tonight I watched the movie Elizabeth (prequel to Elizabeth: The Golden Age). I've already mentioned my love of reading about royalty in the sixteenth century, which is now expanding to include rulers from all era's from the 1100's with Eleanor of Aquitaine to the 19th century with Queen Victoria of England.

I'm particularly interested in Tudor England, but especially fascinated with Elizabeth. In my view she is the perfect representation of "girl power." As lame as it sounds, it's true. She was called the Virgin Queen because she was determined not to marry and be ruled by a man (I think it would be naive to believe that she really was a virgin, but who knows?).

Many liked to say that she was not pretty or desirable enough, but as a Queen this would not have mattered. If Elizabeth had wanted to marry somebody for love or alliance, she could have. For those of high birth marriage was a means of improving status or wealth and often resulted in unhappy circumstances, especially for women. Yet it was almost unthinkable for a woman to not be married and therefore under control of her husband instead of her parents.

I do not envy them, which is why I admire Elizabeth all the more. Most of her advisors wanted her to get married because like all men, they believed a woman was unfit to rule.

Proved them wrong didn't she?

As we all know, she reigned for about 45 years, part of which was England's Golden Age. The defeat of the Spanish Armada, English unity and uniformity of religion, and the founding of many English colonies in the Americas (including the lost colony of Roanoke) are all credited to her name and era (and lets not forget Shakespeare). Not a bad resume, eh? She also survived many attempts and plots to end her life or right to rule.

Admittedly, she probably had her fair share of luck in overcoming economic and military difficulties and she had many flaws, but despite all that she did a pretty damn good job of ruling England, a mighty empire, and did so as a lone sovereign.

Like I said, I do not envy the plight of women in the 16th century (well, throughout history really). Many of us enjoy (or perhaps it's just me? :] ) imagining ourselves as overseeing great kingdoms, wearing long, ornate dresses, wearing a crown, owning palaces and castles, and dancing at court. But as tempting as that all sounds, I would never trade my life now for a chance to live like they did back then, especially not as a person of royalty. Privacy, peace, and guaranteed safety were uncommon and I don't even need to go into how much I detest the position of women at the time.

No, I am too independent and creative to have been happy in such a place. I wouldn't mind owning one or two of those dresses or a tiara though...

"They are most deceived that trusteth most in themselves."

"There is one thing higher than Royalty:
and that is religion, which causes us
to leave the world, and seek God."

"Those who appear the most sanctified are the worst. "

-quotes by Elizabeth I, Queen of England, daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, 5th and last of the Tudor line

On another note, I checked out IMDB after watching Elizabeth. Did anyone know that Lily Allen plays one of her Ladies in Waiting??

Public Enemies

"You ain't going nowhere. I'm gonna die an old man in your arms. We're too good for 'em. They ain't tough enough, smart enough or fast enough. I can hit any bank I want, any time. They got to be at every bank, all the time. That's why we're on top of the world. Ain't nobody can lay a glove on us. No ... I ain't going nowhere. Neither are you. What you got to say about that?" -John Dillinger

As we all know, Public Enemies is about the life of John Dillinger (Johnny Depp) starting with his prison escape in 1933 and taking us through his crime spree that drew the attention of the newly formed FBI and ultimately made him into Public Enemy #1. Christian Bale plays Melvin Purvis the FBI agent trying to take him down, Marion Cotillard plays his girlfriend Billie Frechette, and Billy Crudup plays J. Edgar Hoover. Several well-known gangsters from the time period such as Pretty Boy Floyd and Baby Face Nelson also make appearances.

I expected Michael Mann's Public Enemies to be a summer blockbuster but what I didn't expect was gritty cinematography and sound design in a period gangster movie. With handheld camera work, frequent tight facial closeups, and a fair amount of location sound, the action scenes are much more real and startling especially when compared to the highly romanticized style of most period gangster movies. This, combined with the depiction of both gangsters and FBI men as lunatics capable of atrocities makes an interesting variation to the usual noble cops or noble gangster idea. Dillinger himself is of course depicted through rose-colored glasses. Although he is shown shooting guards or cops, he is the most admirable of the criminals and is redeemed of all shortcomings through his love for and devotion to Billie Frechette. Also, for an action movie, it's not afraid to have quiet moments or linger on a person's face as they are thinking. The acting was all-around convincing, the characters engaging, and it never for a second felt like two and a half hours. I highly recommend it. 4 1/2 stars.

Movies to Look Forward to This Summer

In answer to your question Mary, these are the movies we must see this summer:

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Of course. Midnight showing and all. July 15

(500) Days of Summer
Marc Webb. Joseph Gordan-Levitt. Zooey Deschanel. Need I say more? July 17

Adam
Adorable looking movie about an autistic man and his neighbor. July 29

Julie & Julia
Meryl Streep and Amy Adams in a movie about Julia Child and the woman who cooked her way through Child's cookbook. Passion. Ambition. Butter. August 7

District 9
Comedy? Drama? I don't know, but aliens in India equals me in a theater seat. August 14

Ponyo
Looks like another classic from Studio Ghibli! With the voices of Cate Blanchett, Matt Damon, Tina Fey, Liam Neeson, Lili Tomlin, and the Jonas Brothers youngest. August 14

Inglorious Bastards
Quentin Tarantino's World War II epic starring Brad Pitt, BJ Novak, and Mike Meyers. How could this be bad? August 21

Life is Like a Box of Chocolates...And Like Refinishing Your Hardwood Floors

"And it's whispered that soon, if we all call the tune, then the Piper will lead us to reason. And a new day will dawn for those who stand long, and the forests will echo with laughter."

Along with some other random gifts and skills, I have a unique ability to make cheesy metaphors for life out of almost anything. One struck me while working on my hardwood floors today.

This summer I have been redecorating (and mainly cleaning) my room in my parents' house. It started innocently as repainting my walls (a blue appropriately titled “Enchanting” by Bher), gradually moved to sanding and repainting the baseboards and trim, and now has encompassed taking out the carpet and refinishing the hardwood floors underneath (3 ¼ inch real red oak—absolutely gorgeous). After enlisting my younger brother who stands 6’ 0’’ to help me remove all the furniture from my room and taking up (hopefully) temporary residence underneath our baby grand piano in the living room, I realized the hard work had only just begun. I won’t bore you with the details of the process we must go through to finish these precious planks, but instead explain exactly what you need to know to be able to understand the metaphor. Carpet is tacked down along the perimeter of the room with double sided nails I like to term “evil spears” on strips of wood that are in turn nailed into the ground (or in this case, the wood floors—unfortunate, I know). So my first job is to go around and remove these strips of wood without mauling myself or scratching the wood underneath. It is not so much a delicate process as it is a simple “correct methods” process (once you’ve figured out the trick, it can be easily repeatable and produces the same result each time). But either way, care must be taken and attention given at all times for this seemingly simple and repetitive act. I go to my Dad to obtain the necessary tools, which consists of a hammer and a flat piece of metal with specifically shaped holes and v-shaped slices taken out of it for the nails to fit in (I don’t know the proper term for it). I laugh to myself that there exists a tool specifically for this purpose—and of course, my Dad has it (my Dad loves tools. Notice the emphasis. That’s the sole reason things get done around the house—because he gets to use some random tool he bought. Hah.) He shows me how to do the first one, watches me do the second, and then leaves. Now, this is a very primitive set of tools I have here. Sometimes, simple is the best way to go, and the only thing you need.

Simple is best.

I brought my iPod player into my room and began to play some piano music that is very relaxing. However, with the room being empty, everything echoes. Now remember, I have a metal hammer and metal device thingy. It’s loud. So my eardrums scream as do my arm muscles while I pry the evil spears out of their residences, and in between turns I hear the faint sounds of Chopin’s Prelude No 4 in E Minor in the background. In a way, though, the repetitive simple act is liberating. My mind is free to wander to an extent, while my body sweats and labors to accomplish a task. At this point, I start thinking about this metaphor…

Sometimes in life you have to put yourself in an uncomfortable position or stretch yourself in ways you didn’t know possible to accomplish the task at hand.

Life requires that you put a little muscle into everything that you do. Otherwise, you’ll get a bunch of stubborn nails and some damaged wood.

Sometimes you have to step on a few nails and evil spears before you realize that you should have swept the area prior to deciding to walk around barefoot.

Hard work, sweat, time, and your bare hands can get you just as far as some overpriced fancy device. You save money and get to spend some quality time with your thoughts uninterrupted (for that ear-splitting sound isn’t quite party music to all of your friends and family).

When I was halfway finished, my Mom poked her head in to see if I needed anything. She helped me clean up and swept everything while I worked. Another thing I realized: Dad gives you the tools to succeed (literally) and even shows you how to use them (the intel). Mom is there to help clean up and provide the moral support and encouragement. But when all is said and done, you can walk across that beautiful red oak floor and know that it not only glistens with the oil-based polyurethane protective coating you layered on it, but also with your dreams, sweat, hard work, and even a little of your blood. It is the fruit of your hard labor. So thank you for sitting through this long and completely random explanation. Cheers.

“Your head is humming and it won’t go. In case you don’t know, the Piper’s calling you to join him. Dear lady, can you hear the wind blow? And did you know your stairway lies on the whispering wind? And as we wind on down the road, our shadows taller than our souls, there walks a lady we all know, who shines white light and wants to show how everything still turns to gold. And if you listen very hard, the tune will come to you at last. When all are one and one is all—to be a rock and not to roll.”

Stairway to Heaven-Led Zeppelin

The Pups helping me out

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

"My father was a wheel! The first wheel! And do you know what he transformed into? Nothing! But he did it with honor!" -Jetfire

Micheal Bay's Transformers 2 was just as hilariously entertaining as the first. The plot is loosely that the Transformers' ancestors landed here during the caveman days with some huge machine that would gather power presumably by destroying the sun, but while all the other Transformers wanted to leave humans alone so that they could flourish and thrive, the Fallen wanted to blow up the sun out of laziness so that they wouldn't have to find another energy source. So, they incapacitated the Fallen and put the "Matrix of Leadership" under protection so that no one could operate the machine. But in present day, the Fallen has resurfaced and only Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf), under extraordinarily slim reasoning, can find the matrix and SAVE THE WORLD! Of course, he has the help of his attractive girlfriend (Megan Fox), conspiracy theorist college roommate (Leo Spitz), some racially stereotypical Autobots, and his government nemesis from the last movie (John Turturro).

With plot holes left and right, an overabundance of action scenes (with plentiful explosions, of course), lots of revolving cameras, and some incredibly cheesy dialogue, this movie is worth watching only if you're willing to laugh when you should gasp. After all, what other movie would have the US military putting all of their trust into a college freshman with whom they have had little to no communication over the past two years or, without explanation, bring back the protagonists parents so that they too could in slow motion outrun explosions in the desert or have soldiers using standard military guns as their only weapons against giant transforming alien robots or have one Transformer that can look like a human while all the rest look like cars with bad paint jobs. The funniest parts of the movie come from a pair of Mexican-style Transformers who are clearly there for comic relief but if that's not enough Bay throws in Sam's roommate, who seems to appear and disappear at random, and Agent Simmons just in case you got bored for a second. And although Bay prides himself on his action scenes, it is rather difficult to know which Transformer is winning in hand-to-hand combat when you can't tell where one starts and the other ends. One of the funniest movies of the summer for all the wrong reasons. Here's to a trilogy! 1 star.

Je N'ai Pas Un Titre Créatif

After reading the Young Royals series by Carolyn Meyers I decided to read the Royal Diaries series which are written by Kathryn Lasky, Carolyn Meyers, and Anna Kirwan. I have a fascination with royal families from hundreds of years ago, especially the Tudors of England. The Young Royals books I own include the stories of Anne Boleyn, Catharine of Aragon, Queen Elizabeth I, and Bloody Mary. Of the Royal Diaries series I own the books about Kristina, King (yes, King, long story...) of Denmark; Queen Elizabeth I of England; Anastasia, Grand Duchess of Russia; Mary, Queen of Scots; Queen Victoria of England, and Marie Antoinette, Princess of Versailles, which is the only one I have started reading. I could go on and on about how much I enjoy these books and how terribly interesting court life and European history is to me, but that is actually not the point of this post (ha! fooled you, eh?)

Anyway, I was reading about Marie Antoinette and was inspired to study French some more (I had already done so earlier this week) because I'm starting to forget what little I've learned. I intended to do that and then read some more (after checking facebook quickly. heh) and then planned to go to bed early so that I could enjoy spending the next two days straight with friends with the hopes that I won't collapse from exhaustion.

INSTEAD, however, I discovered that my sidebar had been added to the blog and spent a good 20 minutes at least attempting to figure out how to add to it/use it. After fruitless searching and searching and opening a bunch of windows and logging in and out, I realized that Rose told us how to in a facebook message (something involving a wrench). Great. I'm annoyed at myself, but relieved that I can at least add something and not have it irritating me from that little corner in my brain that doesn't like to leave things unfinished. Of course I then spent another 10 minutes trying to figure out Rose's directions and find this elusive wrench, but no luck. Curses... Actually, I'm convinced it doesn't exist.

*Note to Blogger: You should really makes things less complicated for the common sense-less. Merci*

Eh bien, back to French I guess. At least I finally posted something.

P.S. I apologize to Rose for my elementary and probably grammatically-incorrect French :)

The Brothers Bloom

"Trick to being cheated is to learn how to cheat" -Penelope

In Rian Johnson's second feature length film, Adrian Brody (Bloom) and Mark Ruffalo (Stephen) star as two brothers and con artists who, as their last con, fool eccentric millionaire Penelope Stamp (Rachel Weisz) into believing they are art smugglers and take her on a trans-Atlantic adventure. Younger brother Bloom is tired of the life and becomes more and more angst-ridden as he falls in love with Penelope, while older brother Stephen looks at each con as a chance to tell a story that will give everyone what they want. With the help of silent explosive expert Bang Bang (Rinko Kikuchi) and fellow con man The Curator (Robbie Coltrane), The Brothers Bloom successfully tells an entertaining story with some witty dialogue and well-developed characters that is definitely worth watching.

Or at least that's what I thought until the last half hour. Johnson's mistake was that he had two endings and the first was better than the second. Just when I thought it was over a new problem arose that was annoying, repetitive, and unsatisfactory. Also, the inclusion of mentor turned villain, Diamond Dog, was both unnecessary and unexplained. While the characters were charming, the majority of the plot was interesting, and the numerous references to James Jocye's Ulysses thoughtful, these story problems caused the film to be a let down after feature debut, Brick. However, I do not give up hope that Rian Johnson is in fact a talented writer/director to keep an eye on in the future and I will definitely being seeing his next film, Looper, a sci-fi thriller expected to come out next year. 3 stars.

Interesting bit of trivia: Joseph Gordan-Levitt and Nora Zehetner, the leads from Brick, have a cameo in the bar scene in the beginning.