Archive for December, 2008

A Story

December 28, 2008

This was originally going to be a comment response at Stereo Zeitgeist: You Won’t Need A Reboot, but it quickly became too long and now it is it’s own animal.

I was thinking about stories today. Just the nature of the story and the story teller. The first forms of storytelling were spread among small groups of people, villages, or whatever they had. Then as time went on there was the traveling storyteller, who spread his stories across the lands and perhaps became the first famous person. Then time went on and we have rock stars, writers, film makers,painters, etc. who are known globally for their work and their stories.

But anyone can tell a story, and many can tell great stories. And with the evergrowing resources to tell a great story to millions (i.e. Internet) the nature of the story is getting back to it’s roots. Soon there will be so many stories that nobody will be able to be truly, globally, famous.

They will all have what we call a niche. And that is essentially where storytelling started, the only difference being that in the ancient times, a niche was very physical. It was people all in the same area, and one or two storytellers who were well known in that immediate area.

Now we will have a niche that is less physical, and measured in the minds you have captured. The minds will be spread across the world possibly. It seems like this is a great thing. Someones great influence reaching fewer minds, but being spread out they can go out and share with those around them. It still amounts to a larger sphere of influence than the initial birth of the story.

By positively influencing those immediately around you, physically, and then using tools like the internet to influence globally, you can give to the greater collective mind. Something that is very valuable in these times, when the collective mind is flooded with so much darkness and ignorance. When you feel like we are lost as a people, just know that if you realize that, then we realize that too. We aren’t giving up.

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The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

December 26, 2008

I raced to the theater on Christmas night to see “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”. I wasn’t entirely familiar with the story before seeing the trailers, but the second I saw them I had to see this film. The film follows Benjamin Button as he is born physically old, and then grows younger. What I loved so much about this film was that it didn’t matter how long it was. The running time was about 2 hrs and 40 mins. In films of that length, you tend to start feeling the time stretch at about 1 hr and 40 mins when you realize the film isn’t close to being over. But in the curious case of this film(I had to), the length didn’t bother me. Not at least until the last 10 minutes, but considering the entire film I can let that slide.

The supporting cast was also fantastic. Cate Blanchett is insanely hot in this film, and should always be a redhead. Tilda Swinton is also superb in absolutely everything she is in. The film was written by Eric Roth who also wrote Forrest Gump, and you can tell just a little bit every time a historical event intertwines with whats on screen.

It seemed that David Fincher, the director, had a little extra fun in this also. There was a character who would show up throughout the film and would recall the 7 different times he was struck by lightning, each story was accompanied by a 3 second classic film clip of that event, providing a laugh each time. It broke up the somberness in some places quite nicely. There was also a sequence that I found quite amazing, one in which Benjamin is narrating a chain of events that lead up to a certain event. It was just a small pearl to add to the treasure chest of this film.

I Couldn’t Stop Loving
There are a handful of films that can pull a feeling out of me throughout the duration. Benjamin Button held such a constant mood, constant tone, constant feeling throughout. While watching it I was filled with the strong…unexplainable feeling. It wasn’t energetic, but it definitely wasn’t tiring, just comforting. While watching Benjamin Button go through his life, learning, and accepting, and taking in life regardless of his condition, I was thinking of everyone that gives me these feelings. I was in a whole different place, falling in love with the people in the film. There are certain things that I think should qualify a good film, and one of them is the ability to take you places and then leave you better off than you were at the start of it. I love this film for that fact.

The Curious Case of Brad Pitt
Seeing Brad Pitt in a film like this makes me think back to when I was a little 3rd grader. There was a book fair that used to come to school, and they would have tons of shitty unauthorized biographies on the heartthrob actors of the time. Brad Pitt was the subject of many. Years later, I saw Fight Club and all of a sudden I was a Brad Pitt fan. Then Snatch came about and I changed my mind a little, thinking that he was just going to keep playing the muscly hot guy in every movie. The turning point that got me on the fan side of Brad Pitt, The Actor, was in “The Assassination of Jesse James by The Coward Robert Ford”. That is one of my favorite films, and one of my favorite performances by an actor, ever. Then he threw a curve ball with his great portrayal of an amazingly dumb fitness trainer in “Burn After Reading”. The dude can act, and “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” just exemplifies that fact.

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End: Christmas

December 26, 2008

Christmas came, saw, and conquered…and tormented a little…just a little. But I find the moments throughout the day that save it for the memories. I won’t get into some “too much commercialism” rant, but c’mon it’s true and that’s why it is repeated into cliche’ form. I do believe in Christmas gifts though, but I just have one rule: If you don’t know that the person will absolutely love it, and that they will think of you when they look at it, then don’t get it for them.

I’m sure everyone can talk about the onslaught of pointless gifts they receive. Clearly the result of someone who cared more about just getting ANYTHING instead of getting something worthwhile. There were a few people I had in mind when I went shopping, and I ended up getting nothing for some because I would rather not have that scratch on our relationship. When I get my own computer and copy of After Effects, everyone can expect Christmas animations.

In other news, I went to my friend’s aunt’s house on Christmas Eve to see him and his family. They had this DVD playing that was basically 45 minutes or so of a fireplace. Some guy set up a camera, lit a fire, and walked away. Then he came back 45 minutes later and burned it to a DVD, printed a cheap cover, and made money off of old ladies. I thought, “No way more than three people have bought this thing.” I can’t tell you how many times at different places I have seen that thing playing. Mostly different shops, but I’m pretty sure I walked by a house and saw through their window that it was playing on the TV. I can’t believe somebody made money off this.

I can’t wait to see what the competition for this thing is like. I want to meet the guy who says, “HA! You call THAT a fire? You just wait!”. Then I want to meet the old ladies who walk down the “Fireplace DVD” section and decide which to buy. I want to see them read the back of the case for the description, and I want to see the descriptions for a fire. These people worked really hard on theirs.

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The Lazy Hero

December 22, 2008

November was a bad time for me to realize all these things I want to do. I absolutely have the will to do them and plan on carrying them out. But then good ol’ St. Nick reminded me that December is his month, and I have no time to do anything that I want. So instead of being grumpy and what not at not being able to start certain projects, I have accepted the Christmas time and just THINK about my upcoming projects. Keep them busy in my mind.

Since I decided to put off projects until immediately after Christmas, I conveniently have extra time on my hands. Funny Or Die has filled in some awesome time.
Between Two Ferns

I also did a little bit of Christmas shopping and hit up the local Comic shop that is literally a 2 minute walk from my house, literally, literally. I haven’t been in there for years, and thought I would never have time for comics, and then I bought a LOT. I have found a new something to waste time on.

My Dream
I sit around a lot and watch movies, or go on the internet, read magazines, and soon will be reading comics. I plan to keep doing all these things. But I don’t want to become a fat slob doing it. I wish to set up a room that has a large TV/Projection Screen, and a treadmill, maybe some weights for good measure. I hate exercise, however, I have noticed that I can turn such a mundane activity into awesomeness if I just combine with my movie watching/reading/podcast listening etc.

My motivations for doing so are as follows:
1. I love to read comics/magazines/some books, and watch a LOT of movies. But I do not wish to be a fatass.

2. I feel that one day I will be in a situation in which athletic abilities will need to be on my side. Say my town gets overrun by aliens, or crazy people with guns. The people of this town will need a hero. After all of my adventures in my mind from reading comics and watching The Matrix while keeping in tip top shape I am the perfect hero. I would have the stamina of a race horse, or a horny race horse. I just thought of a third reason:

3. I would have the stamina of a race horse….laaaaaadies.

Alright I’m gonna go back to my comic book heroes. (Currently: The Amazing Spider-Man #581)

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You Won’t Find Me

December 21, 2008

Winter is here. The snow came down all day and night and covered everything. I was watching Kill Bill Vol.2 and then everything shuts off: no electricity. I looked out the window and see that everyone across the street has lights on. I went outside and it was just my side of the street that was out. I walked a little further and it was just about 20 houses that were out in a small area of town. I figured since it was such a small area that no one would really notice for a while.

I went back inside and my mom had a lantern set up and was knitting. I asked her to grab me a candle and she gave me an open flame, left it up to me to make sure I don’t knock it down. I brought the candle into my room and it set a very sexual mood, so I threw on my iPod, blew out the candle, and went to sleep. I woke up in the morning and the electricity had come back sometime in the night. Otherwise I would have had to go take a shower at my Grandma’s house because there would be no hot water in ours. I guess that support bar would be a plus in hers.

Everyone at work has been on my ass about dressing in Christmas cheer. I grabbed a long sleeve green thermal shirt with the “Famous Stars and Straps” logo on it. I got that shirt last year for Christmas and never felt the need to wear it until this year. Thanks for the gift Mom.

After work I called up Alex and we decided we were going to Wendy’s for some disgusting food. I got to my car in the driveway and shoveled that shit out. Twenty minutes later and my arms hurt, my lungs hurt, and my hands were frozen because I forgot to buy gloves this year. Alex, Ian and I went to Wendy’s and ate disgusting food. I told them I wanted to see “Slumdog Millionaire”, and they aren’t big movie types so I went with me and my movie loving self.

Slumdog Millionaire
The first obvious signs that this movie was going to be good was the entire internet saying so, and the Oscar considerations helped. The second sign was all the people walking out of the 7:00 showing discussing how great it was.

As soon as the movie sets its tone it really gets moving. Every scene was incredibly effective in telling the story and developing the characters in as little time as possible. There are films that are written in a slow paced, moody style, and Slumdog Millionaire is not one. The film covers this boy’s journey through life and covers so much ground in such at such a great pace, yet doesn’t feel rushed in any way. Jamal is the main character who gets to be on the Hindi version of Who Wants To Be a Millionaire. He answers all questions, and has to come back the next night to answer the final question to win 20 Million Rupees. He gets arrested the day before he is supposed to answer the question on suspicion of cheating. No one believes a slum kid can get this far on the show.

This film is not about Who Wants To Be a Millionaire, however. This film is about how you do not need to be a genius to know all the answers, you just need to experience life. It is about remaining true to what you believe in and not giving up. Most of the time Jamal was forced to take action, but there were times that he could have fallen under his bad luck and didn’t. Most of us have a lot more chances to not do anything and less chances to actually do something.

I love seeing films like these. There can be so much junk out that is just meant to keep you distracted from whatever is happening in the world. Just movies that don’t inspire, or deliver a new message, or a new take on an old but important message. These are the films that matter, and I guarantee that half the people I ask about it will say they never heard of it.

The best of everything is never mainstream, you’re going to have to look harder.

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