Dave J

Don't square up on me now

Get right out of here! Peanut butter and ramen! Airplane air makes you crazy, it's like the middle passage! An aside to the one person who has the knowledge necessary to decode that, my paper on Will Smith and the racial structure of Independence Day was very positively received, save a final comment that "this has nothing to do with what we're reading." True, that.

It's been a while since I posted. I got extremely sick, the kind where you throw up every 3 minutes and drink lots of fluids named after colors and weather patterns ("Red", or "Fierce Rain"). Then after two days of diligent and very thoughtful caretaking, Monica finally caught what I had, so then we were both sick at the same time. Very cute. Kinda pathetic, too. That was about two weeks ago. Only yesterday did I really start feeling better.

One thing about being sick is that we saw a lot of movies. One of the single most asked questions among the office at my internship, because we're a movie company, is, "Seen anything good lately?" So here's a simple cataloging and opinioning of some of what I've seen lately, so I can remember to answer that.

Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner - Very good. Not the best boys in a borstal film, but the marathon running as analogy for thuggery worked well.
The Prestige - Good. It occurs to me that Nolan's entire auteur image is derived around the concept of some "WTF" twist, (in the terminology of the film, you could perhaps call it the 'prestige' moments in the tricks) which doesn't necessarily lead to better second viewings. I guess some people get more mileage out of that than I do. Good to see Christian Bale getting work.
Hollywoodland - Meh. Err on the side of good, but certainly not memorable. At least Black Dahlia had the usual DePalma excess to keep things interesting.
The Gang's All Here - One of the best musicals I've seen, further evidence that Busby Berkeley was one of the craziest and most visionary directors in any genre. If you see one finale before you die, see this film's third act, which features a collection of the cast's disembodied heads flying at the screen while singing the big final number. CRAZINESS I TELL YOU.
Gold Diggers of 1933 - Again, more Busby musical magic, which Monica and I watched yesterday night. Lots of scandalously dressed girls and plenty of neon. This is probably how the Great Depression should be taught.
Half Nelson - Sucks. I don't see why Ryan Gosling got all the attention instead of his more interesting pupil, played by Shareeka Epps.
Mutual Appreciation - What a great movie. Movies made for Daves like me.

Spring break is underway, so I plan some quality viewing of the Naruse set I haven't had time for. Lots of excitement for that.

Finally, a really good Craigslist posting I just found for a creative gig:
"i need someone to draw my tattoo for me.. the hulk ripping out of my arm.. plese email me ASAP to talk more about this"

Oh! And we are apartment hunting for a place to stay in New York, and we've settled on a very nice, surprisingly large spread in the Washington Heights (northern tip of Manhattan). I'd say it's about 70% a lock, which would be a big relief to get the search over with. Here's a view from our potential bedroom:

Posted by dave at March 10, 2007 10:45 AM