knifeforkspoon

very pretty, painting by angela bentley fife

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 23:51:16 -0700

very pretty, painting by angela bentley fife

is she running away or running toward something? a rorshach test...

Sat, 19 Jul 2008 22:01:07 -0700

is she running away or running toward something? a rorshach test of sorts, i think. i see her running away. not out of fear or necessity, but because it’s time to move on. and i don’t think it takes a shrink to figure out what that means. via blackeiffel, via FFFFOUND!

the namesake

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 23:36:00 -0700

The Namesake is Mira Nair’s latest project, a film both small and sweeping in scope as it chronicles the joys and struggles of two generation of Indian immigrants in America. Besides being beautiful, as Nair’s films always are, the film is a great picture of the immigrant experience, capturing the loneliness starting over in a new country, but also the small joys of ex-pat communities, the comfort of culture, and the importance of family.

The mostly Indian cast will be largely unfamiliar to American audiences, save for for Kal Penn, who plays Gogol, the son on the brink, caught between two cultures. All of the performances are really fantastic, honest and moving, but it’s Penn who will get the most attention - and maybe he should. Already generating buzz as a silly college kid on a mission in Harold and Kumar Go To Whitecastle and as a mute goon in Superman Returns, Penn shows here that he’s actually an actor - and a talented one at that. He moves believably from rebellious teenager to struggling leading man. And he’s cute.

An Indian-American friend - not so dissimilar to Penn’s character - saw the film and immediately wanted to see it again with his family. I saw it and immediately wanted to call him. I think he wanted to offer his family the chance to see their own struggles realized on screen, and I wanted to offer him some sense of understanding…some sense of “now I get it.” I thank Nair for that.

shooter

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 23:35:41 -0700

Didn’t want to see Shooter. Didn’t know much about it. Wasn’t really interested. But my dad had read the books and was jonesing to see it, so we went. And man, was it awesome.

I rarely see action movies on purpose. When I do, I generally wish I could have seen the edited version, you know, the one with all the bits about the plot and none of the explosions or fight scenes. They bore me. But Shooter didn’t bore me. There is violence to be sure - many heads explode from sniper bullets - but the violence was often edge-of-your seat good. And the plot - covert government agency, an assassination, old wartime tie ins - keeps you guessing til the end. Beautiful, long landscape shots, a twisty, tasty plot, and yes, a small storyline about a boy and a girl round it out. Vigilante justice, the theme of the film, actually felt really good. I walked out of the theater with a bit of a bounce in my step. A loner sticking it to a corrupt government agency? Feels good right about now.

24 season 2

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 23:35:00 -0700

When I was home visiting my parents, my dad and I watched season 2 of 24 on DVD. We’d watched the first season together when it aired. These were in the pre-tivo days, and I found it to be an overall frustrating experience. The end of each episode was excruciating, our own clocks ticking until the next week’s episode. Missing episodes also became a problem and getting lost with the plot and so much time between episodes. So we watched that season, and then we quit. But dad had borrowed the 2nd season, and so we watched.

Manohmanohmanohman.

My preference would have been to watch it all in one sitting. Or over a weekend. Or in two days. But then my preference is also to eat a tub of ice cream or write a paper in one night, so this is understandable. Dad was more a “two episodes a night” type guy, but I pushed him on that. Three, four. He worked with me. Still, it took nearly two weeks for us to finish. The first 12 hours are awesome. And then I wanted it to be over. I was sick of thinking about it all the time. I was sick of the annoying, horrible, brooding music on the title screen. I was sick of that effing ticking clock. The last episode, which of course is a cliff hanger for the next season, didn’t rile me. It was a finishing point, and I was finished. Done. Jack Bauer saves the day wooo. I’m going to bed.

But now, now I’m wondering what happens. It is sort of exciting to think I have 5 more seasons to watch. But then I think, 5 more seasons of what? Of racial stereotypes? Of fear-mongering? Of improbable plot-lines? Of impossible technologies? Or for myself, late nights and then hours romanticizing being in CTU.

Season 3 is downstairs. In a few weeks I’ll forget how painful an experience it is, and I’ll pop in the disk, just for a minute, just to see how it goes. And then it’ll have me.

prime

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 23:34:00 -0700

I watched Prime three times last week. It’s good, not great, but I’m strangely addicted to it.

Uma Thurman is 37-year-old divorcee who starts dating Bryan Greenberg, a 23-year-old painter. His mom (Meryl Streep) is also her therapist, a b-storyline that could have flipped this movie and turned it into some ridiculous comedy of errors, but instead is revealed before the climax and lets the movie settle into a satisfying act three.

Thurman and Streep give strong emotional performances and do well with their characters. Greenberg, perhaps in a different league as his two leading ladies, is equally likable; his quips are spot on and his eyes are, well, dreamy. There are a few lines that he delivers quite perfectly, really, lines where he steps out of the 20-something kid’s shell and into some larger shoes (“you’re making me nervous in a way that I’m not familiar with”). It’s unclear whether these moments are glimpses of the maturity of the actor or the character; perhaps a bit of both. The other roles I’ve seen him in - the new ABC series October Road and reruns of One Tree Hill - he’s playing a similar character, the smart-alecky, utterly likable guy. I have a feeling that these roles might not be too far off from the real Greenberg, though I suppose it’s just as likely he’s found his niche.

There’s some cliche and some pretty uninspired scenes. A c-storyline wherein Greenberg’s best friend throws pies at women’s faces is wholly silly and pretty absurd. But there’s some stuff to think on in this little film - family, religion, loving and losing and letting go - and some smiles to be had.

cleaning up shop

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 23:33:03 -0700

i was looking at my old blog on blogger earlier and when i signed in i found another blog project that was totally short-lived. i started it with the intention of doing a write-up on all the media i consumed: movies, tv shows, magazines. i wrote four posts and moved on (this was about a year ago, and i was moving and a bit topsy turvy). anyway the posts aren’t totally horrible, so i thought i’d give them a home here.

"As happens at the opera, one usually laughs (if one laughs at all) not because something is funny,..."

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 22:45:00 -0700

“As happens at the opera, one usually laughs (if one laughs at all) not because something is funny, but because one has successfully recognized that it is supposed to be funny.”

- from the nyt’s 1991 review of rosencrantz and guildenstern are dead. i watched this last night for the first time and was a bit underwhelmed. i liked the theory behind it - what is going on with the peripheral characters in a great story? - much more than the execution. there were some fun scenes to be sure (the opening scene with the coin, the fact that one of the men keeps accidentally uncovering the laws of physics) but they are overplayed and feel gaggy, and then are overly philosophized. based on the review, the author was trying to do much more than show a background comedy of a drama. he was trying to be poetic and literary and deep. the play is successful, so he must be reaching someone, but he wasn’t reaching me. i would have preferred a straight forward, bumbling idiot savant type comedy: hamlet meets the man who knew too little meets monty python. perhaps i will write one.

i don’t know about this vid, but this song is rad. the...

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 22:31:28 -0700

i don’t know about this vid, but this song is rad. the tiny: another swedish band to love.

musicphobe

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 20:54:00 -0700

my ipod went kerplunk about a week after my laptop got stolen - such luck! - and it’s really thrown a wrench in my music consumption, which really mostly consisted of listening to jams via my ipod dock or walking around with earphones or intunes while on the comp. my cd collection is pretty lame, mostly compiled during high school with a few mixes or burns from friends added in. i’m the type to wear a record out, and these have all been long since worn out, so it’s been a lot of pandora lately, a lot of muxtapes. i’m discovering a lot of new shit, and i like it. i suppose this is what many people do all the time, but it’s new to me, i guess i’m a person of habit. anyway now i just wish i had money to buy all these new records. it makes me a little nervous to have all these new favorites only exist on the net. i want to own them. i am not the future, apparently.

courtesy of justin. so the movie was basically awesome, yes? i...

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 20:41:30 -0700

courtesy of justin. so the movie was basically awesome, yes? i love superheroes. i want to be one and i want to makeout with one. predicament! batman is my favorite. he is such a badass. lovelovelove.

this is rad

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 14:13:18 -0700

riotrepublic:

What’s the difference between a million, a billion, a trillion?

A million seconds is 13 days.
A billion seconds is 31 years.
A trillion seconds is 31,688 years.

A million minutes ago was - 1 year, 329 days, 10 hours and 40 minutes ago.
A billion minutes ago was just after the time of Christ.

A million hours ago was in 1885.
A billion hours ago man had not yet walked on earth.

A million dollars ago was five (5) seconds ago at the U.S. Treasury.
A billion dollars ago was late yesterday afternoon at the U.S. Treasury.

That certainly puts things into perspective.

"We are not the same persons this year as last; nor are those we love. It is a happy chance if we,..."

Sat, 05 Jul 2008 17:18:59 -0700

“We are not the same persons this year as last; nor are those we love. It is a happy chance if we, changing, continue to love a changed person.”

- William Somerset Maugham, via misscedar

me, by botticelli, maybe. via some website that does this and...

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 00:21:23 -0700

me, by botticelli, maybe. via some website that does this and other things to you. didn’t save the link, oops.

a squirrel and a blackbird are having an argument outside my window

Sat, 28 Jun 2008 13:53:33 -0700

oh, hello ryan gosling, man of my dreams, via claudia

Sun, 22 Jun 2008 00:50:06 -0700

oh, hello ryan gosling, man of my dreams, via claudia

the two things you need to know about the film TEXAS RANGERS (2001) in order to understand its artistic value and cultural significance

Thu, 19 Jun 2008 22:51:54 -0700

1. texas rangers is a historical drama about the group of young men who banded together to clean up the west after the american civil war

2. STARRING
James Van Der Beek
Rachael Leigh Cook
Ashton Kutcher
Dylan McDermott
Usher
Randy Travis
Alfred Molina

i just spent two hours reading old "vows" columns in the nytimes. some observations:

Sun, 15 Jun 2008 00:11:00 -0700

—many people don’t fall in love for the first time until their 30s or 40s
—at the couple’s first meeting, one is usually indifferent and one is sure this is it
—even ivy-educated women hang around for years waiting for a ring
—if a man won’t commit, a terrorist attack or hodgkins disease have both been shown to do the trick
—a surprising number of women reconnect with ex flames after a divorce or death of a spouse. if i end up walking down the aisle as a little old lady with an ex boyfriend, stop me, because i’m surely senile

hha, via eec, zoee, pibity

Fri, 06 Jun 2008 13:43:09 -0700

hha, via eec, zoee, pibity

leanne shapton did one of the rfk portraits in the nyt...

Fri, 06 Jun 2008 00:08:00 -0700

leanne shapton did one of the rfk portraits in the nyt yesterday. a look at her site shows she also did the art for noah baumbach’s kicking and screaming, and then also the squid and the whale. my brother and i spent a week stalking the video store to get this because we were told we had to see it. it was okay, a few gem scenes (oh, i’ve been to prague) but certainly not the best of the angsty post-university genre. i would suggest funny haha, mutual appreciation, quiet city, or hannah takes the stairs instead.