okay…
i am still alive.
feeling a little overwhelmed here… school has started without even consulting me. i’m not quite ready for it to start yet… i still have summer projects in motion… i haven’t had time to set up the studio computer lab… i can’t even imagine taking on a new project right now even though i long to be working on something new…
for now i feel stretched to my limits, but i will resurface soon… brighter and with new focus.
and i need a little more time.
well, maybe that’s not really true. i am feeling like this is the busiest i’ve been all summer. working in the museum, deinstalling work for students who have left, working on the studio… and also trying to get some reading done and some movies watched… forget about the projects i wanted to start or finish this summer for myself they have been left in the dust [ well, i’m sure i will get around to them once school starts ] and then the other day i decided i might be better off living off campus next year, so i have been looking around at some places in pontiac.
on top of that, i will be leaving for ohio next week for my cousin’s wedding and then i apparently have to jetset out to LA for a deposition [ yep, that’s finally rolling around… found out today ]
ugh… and since i’m sort of whining here i’ll just add a little venting into the mix…
so, in california when your vehicle registration is due, the dmv sends you a polite little reminder [ quite a while in advance if i remember correctly ] telling you what you need to show and where to mail the payment and all the things you normally expect to see on a bill… apparently michigan does not believe in this… they don’t send you a reminder and they police who enforce this [ and incidently, the ones who pulled me over for driving with expired registration the other day ] don’t believe in polite reminders or waiving the rather hefty fine for this once the problem is fixed… the only good thing is that you can pay the fines by credit card online… that’s convenient.
doh! so… enough complaints…
the dream cruise is happening tomorrow! i’m kind of excited about that…. we’re going to sit out in front of the school and bbq while watching the classic cars drive by. the weather has been beautiful lately and i don’t forsee any change tomorrow so it should be great.
off to watch the bourne supremacy here now that the hockey camp kids are out of the dorms and we have our lounge back…
i’ll leave you with a little internet find of the day… meet fredryk phox and a peek into his leisure time… [ again, it’s a long video and kind of on the strange side ]
i’ve been watching some movies, not exactly one a day, but this little find is something i just needed to share instead. i found this site [ Scopitones ] through one of my regular podcasts [ Cinema Minima ] and although i have no idea what this kid is singing about, it’s worth watching all the same [ click here ] this one is cool too [ click here ]
i tried to post this the other day, but it didn’t take… guess i have to learn to copyclip before i post…
btw Mr. and Mrs. Smith isn’t really worth paying to see…
a couple movie updates here… haven’t quite seen one movie a day, but i’m pretty close… last night i missed, but the night before i saw Scarface playing at the Main Art Theatre in Royal Oak; it was playing as a midnight movie. it’s really amazing to go back and watch these older pacino films [ like ‘dog day afternoon’ or ‘the godfather’ or ‘serpico’ ] and see how he owns the screen… sometimes i forget because his presense is so much a part of our understanding of film that i have to go back and watch him just to remind myself that he really is that good!
okay, another film i just watched [ on tv again ] is Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me. Now aside from the fact that heather graham is terrible in this movie, it’s just super funny… it’s got the introduction of Mini Me and Fat Bastard… really, it’s hilarious… anyway, watching it on tv just isn’t quite as good, so if you do go out and watch it, get the dvd.
i also watched Wild Zero, a japanese zombie flick that was pretty funny… don’t get me wrong, it was terrible and a little preachy what with the moral of the story being something like it’s okay to be different and being comfortable with who you are is what’s really important, but there is also the japanese punk/rockabilly band that saves the day and the alien space ships that keep flying around and the plethora of people being turned into zombies identified by their discolored skin making them look like drugged out clowns…
the last movie i’ll mention is Primer. i’ve seen this one before, earlier this summer at my mom’s house, but it was so good and i just heard it mentioned again since it was shown at Roger Ebert’s Overlooked Film Festival. It’s a movie about four guys building things in their garage… they are working toward something that they understand, but in a way that opens up other possibilities. they discover some strange properties about what they are making and it turns out to work as a time machine… of course this leads to some seriously hard to understand logic problems and potential paradoxes, but there is a real sense that it is possible and even if you can’t follow everything on the first viewing, you believe that it all fits together… the cinematography is beautiful and the questions that arise are worth thinking about and hey… it’s guys building stuff in their garage; that’s how the personal computer started right?
well… back to it… i watched one other thing that probably doesn’t count as a movie, but whatever… Systm just released their 3rd episode online… it’s cool and geeky and techie and teaches us how to make and select A/V cables… it’s a big download, but if you are into it, it’s worth it. [ the previous two episodes are cool too… ]
just in case you are reading this and don’t know the song and are too lazy to search it out, here is a link to a preview… not the whole song [ i was going to put in up, but i don’t want to violate any laws here… i’m sure you can get ahold of it if you really try ] but 29 seconds is enough to get the idea…
from MusicStrands.com [ click here ] and choose your media player from ArtistDirect.com [ click here ] and you can listen to other songs from the album too
hope you enjoy it!
i’m just going to write about this here because i have been listening to this song over and over and over again in my truck and my room [ but mostly in my truck ] and i think it really captures my mood lately… the music more than the words, but the words too… there were a few places where i couldn’t understand the words [ not uncommon ] but one was the last line of the chorus which made me smile when i finally read the lyrics…
the song reminds me of a lot of things, but the one thing that i pulled from way back is the french horn… i don’t think about the french horn much, but when i was in high school my second band teacher was a french horn player [ the first one was a drummer ] i can’t remember his name [ the drummer was perry hall i think ] and it kind of frustrates me when i can’t remember things like that… anyway, he was a french horn player and i really didn’t know much about the french horn or what it could do at the time… i suppose it might not be a french horn in the song, but it reminded me of him all the same… he was a nice guy and i have a lot of memories from my years in the school band… maybe i’ll get to talking about some of those one day in here, but for now, here’s the song…
the past and pending [ [*][] ]
the shins
As someone sets light to the first fire of autumn
We settle down to cut ourselves apart.
Cough and twitch from the news on your face
And some foreign candle burning in your eyes
Held to the past too aware of the pending
Chill as the dawn breaks and finds us up for sale.
Enter the fog another low road descending
Away from the cold lust, you house and summertime.
Blind to the last cursed affair pistols and countless eyes
A trail of white blood betrays the reckless route your craft is running
Feed till the sun turns into wood dousing an ancient torch
Loiter the whole day through and lose yourself in lines dissecting love.
Your name on my cast and my notes on your stay
Offer me little but doting on a crime.
We’ve turned every stone and for all our inventions
In matters of love loss, we’ve no recourse at all.
Blind to the last cursed affair pistols and countless eyes
A trail of white blood betrays the reckless route your craft is running
Feed till the sun turns into wood dousing an ancient torch
Loiter the whole day through and lose yourself in lines dissecting love.
alright, today was the car show at Cranbrook… lots of great looking cars, some of which you can see on my moblog… sorry no pics here… i woke up to serious thunderstorms and i thought they might have to cancel the show, but it cleared up by lunch time and just left lots of puddles and mud. all the collectors and owners were busy polishing up their babies for the judging. it was an alfa romeo from the late 30s that took the best in show. it was a great looking car…
not sure what the reason was [maybe the rain…] but tonight is almost unbearable… i am laying in my room sweating because the heat and humidity are rediculously high… weather.com says 85 degress [feels like 96 degrees] with 77% humidity… at 12:45am!!! how i long for california [ lament, lament ]
anyway the movie for tonight was All the President’s Men and it was excellent… i have seen this one before, but not for a long time. prescient? well… kind of feels that way…
have a pleasant day… be glad you are not in SE Michigan these days… the weather is a killer…
my movies for the last couple of days…
i’ve also been watching the commentaries and making of’s on all these dvds… i love to hear people talk about their work… especially work that involves lots of participants such as movie making.
okay. not for everyone, but on the Chris Cunningham Director’s Label DVD there is a promo for his new short film called Rubber Johnny… now it’s apparently on the internet here among other places [although i can’t be certain this is the actual movie] anyhow, it’s got Aphex Twin music and perhaps the dude from AT as rubber johnny… can’t really tell and i have to go get some gatorade so i’ll have to check back later.
evidently the dvd comes with a 42 page picture book [why 42 pages? maybe it is the answer to the universe… i don’t know] BUT as i have indicated at the top, this is not for everyone… the pictures shown on some sites look like… well, let’s just not discuss it… but if you watch the movie or see the pictures don’t say i didn’t warn you… hehe.
well… now i am back… i should be posting more regularly now [famous last words] but really! and here’s the simple short reason… i bought a cheap wireless router and hooked it up in the dorm… so now i have internet in my room! hooray!!!! anyway, since they won’t give me internet here i have to find my own way around this minor technical difficulty.
but here’s my feeble welcome back post… before i head off to watch The Five Obstructions generously bequeathed to me by scott…
i have vowed, among other things, to watch a movie a night for the rest of the summer… here are the recent list in reverse order:
okay… i think that’s about right… time to watch the movie… i have guests coming at 10… gotta run.