Hell is freezing over because I got a good chunk of writing done last night that had nothing to do with the navel-gazing of this site. Nine pages. Long hand which I’m guessing will equal six, seven typed pages. Was too knackered to type it in last night.
One character is showing himself to be very amusing. Hoping that I can keep hearing that. You can’t make your characters amusing unfortunately. You need to sit back and catch their quips. One that came along yesterday:
MAX: I’m fairly certain Sarah is just as haunted and beaten down as I. Not a sexist. Think a man’s wife has the right to be just as miserable as he is.
It ain’t Noel Coward, but I’ll take what I can get.
Those that know me, know I don’t often use superlatives seriously. I don’t have a favourite restaurant. I have a list of restaurants I like. I don’t have a favourite movie. I have a list of movies I like. So it is no small thing that I am making the following statements.
Wall-e is the best Pixar film that they have made. This is no small thing. The reason why Pixar is so amazing is not because their films look amazing- which they do. . . but because those images are connected to stellar stories and fully drawn characters.
Wall-e is the best film of the year. Ok. I know we’re only six months in, but I haven’t seen anything yet that has knocked my socks off. Have you? And whatever comes along in the next six months will have to do some serious tap dancing to be in the same league.
So yeah. I loved Wall-e. There are many, many reasons.
1. I love a good spork joke.
2. The statements it is saying about our over consumption and our lives being run by the bigger is better Wal-Martishy Corporations.
3. I’m a sucker for a love story.
4. Hello Dolly.
5. Proof that a story is not about clever, snappy dialogue.
6. Proof that a funny and sad sci-fi cartoon about humans destructive (and creative) urge and a love story between robots can work.
7. Hello Dolly.
8. Curious characters.
9. Good old fashioned Buster Keaton comedy.
10. Proof that cockroaches and Twinkies are indeed able to survive anything.
A.O. Scott’s NY Times review is fantastic and there are no spoilers.
Stole this from Noble Savage. . . The films I’ve seen from Entertainment Weekly’s list of 100 modern classics are bolded.
1. Pulp Fiction (1994)
2. The Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001-03)
3. Titanic (1997)
4. Blue Velvet (1986)
5. Toy Story (1995)
6. Saving Private Ryan (1998 )
7. Hannah and Her Sisters (1986)
8. The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
9. Die Hard (1988 )
10. Moulin Rouge (2001)
11. This Is Spinal Tap (1984)
12. The Matrix (1999)
13. GoodFellas (1990)
14. Crumb (1995) 15. Edward Scissorhands (1990) 16. Boogie Nights (1997)
17. Jerry Maguire (1996)
18. Do the Right Thing (1989)
19. Casino Royale (2006)
20. The Lion King (1994)
21. Schindler’s List (1993)
22. Rushmore (1998 )
23. Memento (2001)
24. A Room With a View (1986)
25. Shrek (2001)
26. Hoop Dreams (1994)
27. Aliens (1986)
28. Wings of Desire (1988 ) 29. The Bourne Supremacy (2004)
30. When Harry Met Sally… (1989)
31. Brokeback Mountain (2005)
32. Fight Club (1999)
33. The Breakfast Club (1985)
34. Fargo (1996)
35. The Incredibles (2004)
36. Spider-Man 2 (2004)
37. Pretty Woman (1990)
38. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
39. The Sixth Sense (1999)
40. Speed (1994)
41. Dazed and Confused (1993)
42. Clueless (1995)
43. Gladiator (2000)
44. The Player (1992)
45. Rain Man (1988 )
46. Children of Men (2006)
47. Men in Black (1997)
48. Scarface (1983)
49. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)
50. The Piano (1993)
51. There Will Be Blood (2007)
52. The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad (1988 ) 53. The Truman Show (1998 )
54. Fatal Attraction (1987)
55. Risky Business (1983)
56. The Lives of Others (2006) 57. There’s Something About Mary (1998)
58. Ghostbusters (1984)
59. L.A. Confidential (1997)
60. Scream (1996) 61. Beverly Hills Cop (1984)
62. sex, lies and videotape (1989)
63. Big (1988)
64. No Country For Old Men (2007)
65. Dirty Dancing (1987)
66. Natural Born Killers (1994)
67. Donnie Brasco (1997)
68. Witness (1985)
69. All About My Mother (1999) 70. Broadcast News (1987)
71. Unforgiven (1992)
72. Thelma & Louise (1991)
73. Office Space (1999)
74. Drugstore Cowboy (1989)
75. Out of Africa (1985)
76. The Departed (2006)
77. Sid and Nancy (1986) 78. Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
79. Waiting for Guffman (1996)
80. Michael Clayton (2007)
81. Moonstruck (1987)
82. Lost in Translation (2003)
83. Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn (1987) 84. Sideways (2004)
85. The 40 Year-Old Virgin (2005)
86. Y Tu Mamá También (2002)
87. Swingers (1996)
88. Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997)
89. Breaking the Waves (1996)
90. Napoleon Dynamite (2004) 91. Back to the Future (1985)
92. Menace II Society (1993) 93. Ed Wood (1994)
94. Full Metal Jacket (1987)
95. In the Mood for Love (2001) 96. Far From Heaven (2002)
97. Glory (1989)
98. The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)
99. The Blair Witch Project (1999) 100. South Park: Bigger Longer & Uncut (1999)
Of the 100 I haven’t seen 15. Of the 15, there are 8 that I want to see. I ought to put an asterisk by Napoleon Dynamite as I paid to see it, went to see it and walked out on it after 20 minutes because I thought it was complete rubbish.
This list is definitive proof that I am a complete nerd.
There are a few things that I always do each time I come to Seattle. I always stay in the Westin. The only beer I drink is Fat Tire, Moose Drool or Mack and Jacks. I eat at Mama’s Mexican Kitchen at least once and I grab copies of the free weekly papers, The Stranger and Seattle Weekly and read them cover to cover.
The Stranger is rather edgy and has a sense of humour. This weeks letter from the editor begins:
While The Stranger devotes 52 issues a year to the gleeful promotion of immoral buggery, homosexuals have declared America to be in the throes of “Pride weekend,” which means that this could quite possibly be the gayest issue of The Stranger to be produced all year. The only way the paper could be gayer this week would be if it were printed on rainbow paper with glitter ink, and nude photographs of gay icons Burt Reynolds and Rhea Perlman were published in dueling centerfolds.
Gone a long way, gone a long way and never even left Londinium
Posted on June 24, 2008 @ 9:57 am
I was supposed to be in Seattle by now, but there were problems with the plane that was supposed to take me there. Something about a fuel leak. They wanted to fix it before we left, and that seemed like a good idea to me. So it would be a bit later before I had my jet lag killer of Mexican food and a few margaritas.
After 45 minutes of there trying to fix the fuel leak they turned on the in entertainment system which was a bad sign. I had been upgraded to business class so at least I was comfortable.
I watched My Boys, a sitcom that one of my friends is in. The only time I get to watch it is when I am on a plane. I need to buy the DVDs. Then I watched The Other Boleyn Girl, which is so trashily terrible, I found it engaging. I must admit that I enjoyed the book in one of those “I must read this at home as fast as possible so no one sees me with it in public” kind of ways but the movie doesn’t even have that to commend it. If you didn’t understand what a big deal it was for Henry to break with Rome, you certainly wouldn’t gain any insight here. It’s pure soap opera costume bodice ripping drivel.
At least it was free.
We kept getting updates that they didn’t have any updates.
Four hours in, the Captain came back to talk to us. Never a good sign. They were going to take us off the plane as the folks in cattle class were really uncomfortable.
While we were waiting to de-plane, they told us the flight was cancelled and would now be leaving at 11am the next day.
Sigh.
A long day of travel without going anywhere. I found it amusing that I had to go through passport control without actually leaving the country.
I must say however, that British Airways was fantastic in how they handled everything. They let us know what was going on, kept us as comfortable as they could and were very professional.
So here I am waiting to board again. I’m on my third coffee trying to estimate when it would be not too unseemly to have a cheeky airport cocktail.
Part of my sickness is hearing bits of dialogue in my brain, or lines. If I am lucky, I have a notebook to write it down otherwise– Zip. Bupkiss. Gone.
If I am deep into writing a play, characters will act out scenes in my head and I just have to get somewhere to transcribe their banter, but it’s been some time since that happened.
Today I took my brand spanking new notebook and myself to lunch at Bodean’s. I have a play- a horribly derivative kitchen sink poor man’s Albee, Ayckbourn and Gurney, but a play nonetheless in my little head and I want to start to get it down.
I looked over at one of the waitresses and snorted when I heard what one of the male characters (in my head) said.
I wrote down, “Yes. She is very pretty. In a transvestite kind of way.”
Wonderful post (as usual) at 37 Days about imagination and children and allowing for possibility.
Patti’s post reminds me of a phrase written on my First Grade report card. If I were to pull out this 32 year old document which I’ve saved somewhere in the loft, you would see that Sister carped, “Uses inappropriate colors.”
If she is still alive, which is entirely possible as she was evil, I am certain she would consider it a sin that I salute my six year old self.
“…“The Love Guru” is downright antifunny, an experience that makes you wonder if you will ever laugh again.”
Posted on @ 7:42 am
A.O. Scott has been one of my favourite film critics for a while. His style is clear, he doesn’t get all uppity and snobby and sometimes he makes me laugh. His review for The Love Guru has a couple of inspired paragraphs.
Which might sum up “The Love Guru” in its entirety but only at the risk of grievously understating the movie’s awfulness. A whole new vocabulary seems to be required. To say that the movie is not funny is merely to affirm the obvious. The word “unfunny” surely applies to Mr. Myers’s obnoxious attempts to find mirth in physical and cultural differences but does not quite capture the strenuous unpleasantness of his performance. No, “The Love Guru” is downright antifunny, an experience that makes you wonder if you will ever laugh again.
And this is, come to think of it, something of an achievement. What is the opposite of a belly laugh? An interesting question, in a way, and to hear lines like “I think I just made a happy wee-wee” or “I’m making diarrhea noises in my cup” or to watch apprentice gurus attack one another with urine-soaked mops is to grasp the answer. Please don’t misunderstand: I’m not opposed to infantile, regressive, scatological humor. Indeed, I consider myself something of a connoisseur. Or maybe a glutton. So it’s not that I object to the idea of, say, witnessing elephants copulate on the ice in the middle of a Stanley Cup hockey match, or seeing a dwarf sent flying over the same ice by the shock of defibrillator paddles. But it will never be enough simply to do such things. They must be done well.
I have a feeling they won’t be using his quotes for the poster. . .
I just want to say one word to you. One word. Are you listening? Plastics.
Posted on June 19, 2008 @ 8:30 pm
I’m flipping around in Monster looking at job ads not out of any huge wish to leave my gig- but I’ve always tried to keep my eye open for what’s out there as you never know.
In my surfing travels, I come across an ad that may have the most inspired sentence EVER.
Are you looking for an international oriented and challenging career at one of the leading global engineering thermoplastic companies?
How did they know? Just this morning I thought, “I know! Thermoplastic Engineering!”
Not that I think that anyone would be silly enough to steal my ramblings, but in case you may be thinking about it. . . the very act of my writing this means that I own the copyright. Really. Look it up.
So, please don't plagiarize. It just ain't cool. And what I say just isn't that interesting. Trust me. Most of my friends don't even read this.
That being said, I do subscribe to the T.S. Eliot philosophy of "Immature poets borrow, mature poets steal." There is a difference between Stealing and stealing. . . This is not to say that I am mature. If anything. . . I'm rambling aren't I? That's what I do. I ramble. So, yeah. I'll shut up now.
