Control, in short.

I saw Control last night at Film Streams. I thought it was somewhere between okay and pretty good. I liked Sam Riley's onstage off-beat, strange dancing, his lankiness and his clothing and the way it fit or did not fit him. The cinematography was grainy, black and white, and beautiful.

The visuals were the best part of the film, in my opinion, although Sam Riley's performance was really good. One long shot, in particular, really sticks in my memory as being wonderfully visual, revealing of character, and just overall kind of mesmerizing. The shot takes place soon after Ian has seen the Sex Pistols and joined Joy Division. It is a simple shot, from behind, of Ian walking to his work in an employment office. The camera follows his long stride. A cigarette dangles from his mouth and he has a long black trench coat on, the word "hate" revealed in bold, white letters on his back. The shot stays with him longer than it needs to, as he walks through the streets of Manchester, brick buildings lining the street.

Margot at the Wedding

I saw Margot at the Wedding over Thanksgiving break. I could probably go on and on about this film, but I don't really feel like it at the moment and I don't want to go too much into detail for those of you who may be reading this who haven't seen it. In fact, you may want to stop right now if you haven't seen it. I will create a new paragraph just in case.

What I do want to say is that it was one of the most exciting films I've seen in a long time. I should clarify in saying that it was exciting to me, that it felt free and wonderful, but the exciting "action" in the film is primarily emotional abuse. I loved the performances (JJL is, as always, amazing), style (in both editing and cinematography), and its structure and the world the film created. You could see the influence of the French New Wave, and it was beautiful. The effect is that of taking the most exciting aspects of cinema and leaving out the boring parts (e.g. exposition, rigid structure, continuity, making characters likable).

I've made it a habit to not read reviews before I see a film (which often results in the hoarding of the entertainment sections of newspapers), as I do not want to influence or taint my initial viewing of the film. I have subsequently read some reviews and they are pretty tough on the film. I am sure that there are some that really enjoy it as well, so generally I would say that it is a polarizing film, not one for everyone. And yes, I noticed that the film creates an insular world of self-absorbed people who are well enough off to be so neurotic about such small things. And yes, if I met any of these people in the real world (with the exception of Claude, who plays Nicole Kidman's son, who I adored from the first moment I laid eyes on him in the trailer) I would probably not like them. However many faults I may extract after intellectualizing the film, I can simply recall how much I enjoyed watching the film, being surprised by the film, feeling like this was a real world I was watching onscreen, the small details that the film gets right, the colors, the camerawork, the final shot, Claude, Ingrid, the conversations, the humor, and the many layers of the film and the refusal to pull those layers off for the audience, who is forced to try to find ways to work through them. I want to see it again.

Proof that you can learn something from Who Wants to Be a Millionaire

Did you know that the name Led Zeppelin refers to the band's pessimistic view of how their music would go over with listeners/audiences?

It took a second for it to click, then I thought it was pretty clever.

I'm not like you, and I would like your job

The first line in the review of Control by Bob Fischbach in the Omaha World Herald:

"If you're like me, you've probably never heard of British actor Sam Riley, Dutch director Anton Corbijn or the late-1970s British band Joy Division."

Actually, I am aware of all three, and as a reviewer of film and a purveyor of culture, I would expect you to have at least a base or passing knowledge of acclaimed music video director Anton Corbijn and/or the influential band Joy Division. In fact, my main reasons for wanting see this film are 1) It was directed by Anton Corbijn and 2) It is about Ian Curtis and Joy Division and 3) I have heard and read great things about the performance by Sam Riley and I am a fan of Samantha Morton's work. Why else besides one of these reasons would one want to see this film, besides maybe a recommendation from a friend or by randomly seeing a trailer and thinking that it looked good?

Now to be clear, I realize that most people in Nebraska have not heard of any of these people (and most people in the country as well), and that is fine. I'm not expecting that they do. I understand that these are not household names, and that I am among a minority in the overall population. However, I am expecting that a film reviewer for a paper in what most (including those at this paper) consider a major metropolitan city does not claim total ignorance of these artists, and expect the same of his audience. Can we aim a bit higher?

What also annoys me is that there is no shame, no apology to his admittance. It's not as if he should know any of these, but doesn't. It's just simply that he is unaware, and we are assumed to be in the same equally unaware boat. Well, what if we are not? He should be knowledgable about these things, it's his job. I want a film reviewer to be (and sound) knowledgable, insightful, intelligent and aware, even more so than me. It reminds me of Bush and some of his supporters (especially around here): "Well, he sounds like me. He mispronounces words. He isn't so smart." I don't want the President to sound like me, mispronounce words, or be on equal footing and intelligence as myself. I want them to be more intelligent, more aware, more well studied and well spoken than myself and same for my film reviewers and other writers I read.

I'm coming to the end of my rant, don't worry. Okay, my last point: if you didn't know anything about these people or this movie to be begin with, you could've done a little research or at least not claimed ignorance. I mean, it's really not that hard to do a little cursory research these days. A 10 minute Google search could have helped. In fact, you could have even watched some of Corbijn's videos online...get a sense of his work, style and sensibility. And if you had a few more minutes, you could've listened to some Joy Division songs online. Perhaps both could have provided some context, insight, knowledge and/or familiarity. Just a suggestion.

Hail to the Victors

In honor of tomorrow's game:





Update: I may have been cursed by the Buckeyes. As this video was uploading I took a shower and in the shower I cut the back of my knee while shaving, which has not happened in about 4 years or so. The placement is horrible. It is near a vein, seems to be U-shaped, both of which have added to the blood loss. It really burns. We will get revenge...

Also, if you have HBO, you might want to check The Rivalry out, HBO's first college football documentary about the rivalry between (I think you can guess it) Michigan and Ohio State. I watched it last night. It's an hour long and it's pretty interesting, entertaining and definitely gets you pumped for the game. The schedule for the rest of its showings is here.

Go Blue!

Second Update: I was cursed again! I uploaded the wrong video. I guess I will keep that one there and add the one I intended (the second one). More maize and blue!

p.s. The video is from last year's Rose Bowl game.

You don't need a car to drive.

On music and thumbprints

Let me start with the thumbprint. So I had to get get a thumbprint...and no, I was not arrested. It was for the much less glamorous task of getting a form notarized. Anyway, I was super excited when she told me, because I love giving thumbprints. She opened the pad of black ink and my thumb dove right in. Before I was able to flip my thumb over and see its ink-black skin, the notary informed me, "It wipes right off." I flipped my thumb over and it was already gone. My thumb looked exactly as it did pre-dip. I looked back down at my print, the swirling lines in black ink. It was amazing. It doesn't even just wipe off, it just disappears. I have never seen this before, and I am stunned and wondering about who developed this technology and how it works. It's like an advanced form of disappearing ink, I guess (which, I also love and can be sometimes found writing in -- courtesy of my pen from the D.C. International Spy Museum).

Now the music: I've been listening to the new The New Pornographers album, Challengers, lately (yes, I am aware of the word repetition). I felt like writing about it for some reason, I guess because I like it a lot. I don't really want to write about the music itself or what's great about it, but I must say that it seems to fit perfectly with the season and place that I am at right now, both physically and figuratively. It's nothing groundbreaking or electrifying, but I find myself playing it over and over again and loving the melodies, lyrics and the feeling of it all. It's one of those albums that is a great listen all the way through.

Here is a sample of some of the lyrics that have been playing in my head as of late:

From "Go Places":

Yes a heart will always go one step too far
Come the morning and the four corners I see
What the moral of the back story could be
Come with me, go places

And a heart will always stay one day too long
Always hoping for the hot flashes to come
For the glue to dry on our new creation
Come with me, go places

Come head on, full circle
Our arms fill with miracles
Play hearts, kid, they work well
Like classics play aces
Stay with me, go places
Once more for the ages

... (this verse comes later)

Come one now, come all ye
This story breaks free here
Tales from the back pages
From somewhere, Encida
Deus ex machina
Good morning, Christina

It's much better to actually hear it and the way these words come out, the cadence of the lyrics and music...but I love the "Come with me, go places" line.

"Adventures in Solitude" is a beautiful, sad song with simple lyrics full of meaning, and the contrast of the sweet harmonies with the lyrics is wonderful:

More than begin
But less than forget
But spirits born
From the not happened yet
Gathering there
To pay off a debt brought back from the wars

We thought we lost you
We thought we lost you
We thought we lost you
Welcome back

Sleeping for years
Pick through what is left
Through the pieces that fell and rose from the depth
From the rainwater well
Deep as a secret nobody knows

I know you want to
Run far away from one more
And that it’s comin’ at a bad time
Some cold place
Heartless ways
For all we know

I know you need to
Breathe through
Come back
Come too
But it’s comin’ at a bad time
Tangled day
For all we know

I know you want to
Run far away from one more
And that’s comin’ at a bad time
Some cold race
Heartless ways
For all we know

I know you want to
Breathe through
Come back
Come too
But it’s comin’ at a bad time
Old scarred face
Survivor’s guilt
For all we know

The switch from "We thought we lost you, welcome back" to "We thought we lost you, it will all come back" is heartbreaking and gets me every time.

Killer of Sheep

I saw Killer of Sheep tonight at Film Streams. It was a very interesting and also very inspiring film, a film that makes me want to go out and make a movie (which I have already been SERIOUSLY itching to do...it's time, I just got to get it together). The film was completed by Charles Burnett in 1977, and shot mostly in Watts, the South Central L.A. neighborhood he grew up in, during the 1970s. It was his M.F.A. thesis project for UCLA, shot on grainy, beautiful black and white 16 mm and operated, edited, produced, written and directed by himself. He made it for a reported budget of $10,000 and without the intention of having a commercial release, and thus had a ton of music in the film but not the rights. I'm just glad that it's out for people to see it, finally.

It's a striking film. It doesn't have much of a narrative plot, but rather captures a specific neighborhood during a specific time so well. The mood and tone is what drives the piece, and some of the images are stunning. The film has this great scene of the daughter, who is about five years old, singing the words to a soul song that she doesn't quite know to her doll. She tries to keep up with the song and emphasizes the words she does know, and seems totally unaware of the camera. It was SO good. I loved all the scenes with neighborhood kids just doing what they would do on a normal day in the neighborhood, whether it was playing by train tracks or in abandoned lots, having standing on their head contests, or leaping across roofs. Burnett captured that world so well...I'm sure just by going out and shooting was what actually going on.

Burnett had this to say about his experience in film school: "At UCLA in the Sixties, you thought about World Cinema - whether it was films from Poland, or Czechoslovakia, or Japan. It was like your backyard; you were as aware of Kurosawa, Truffaut making films as you were of some local person. You were waiting for the next film by these people. That doesn't exist any more, for a whole bunch of reasons. At that time at UCLA you looked at film as an art form, as a means of expression. Not so much for entertainment, it was to do and say something. Now, when you go back there, it's "How can I get into Hollywood? How do you get an agent? How do you sell your first script?" The whole culture has changed. It's a business now, and I think people are more aware of it as a business. I wasn't aware of it as a business."

Space Shuttle Re-entry

I just watched the space shuttle streak across the sky, on its re-entry path to the Kennedy Space Center. It looks like a faraway streak of white smoke, but it's still really cool to think that you're watching the space shuttle fly back into Earth. And it's pretty crazy how fast it's going.

This from the news: Discovery will make a one-hour descent across the heartland of America in broad daylight for a 1:01 p.m. EST (1801 GMT) touch down.

So if you read this soon, go outside and see if you can catch it, it's awesome.

The talented Ms. Brownstein

Carrie Brownstein, guitar virtuoso from my favorite band, Sleater-Kinney, appears to be pretty busy these days.

She is writing a blog for NPR, titled Monitor Mix (thanks for the tip, Laura). I can now count on 15 minutes of my day devoted to checking and reading her blog. She also has a sketch comedy web show titled ThunderAnt with Fred Armisen. Such exciting developments!

The joys of XM radio

4 consecutive songs (not on the same station, I must admit, but lucky surfing): Avril's "Happy Ending", The Cranberries "Dreams", Rob Base's "It Takes Two" and finished off with Sunset Rubdown's "The Taming of the Hands That Came Back to Life." It doesn't get much better than that.

Also heard: Paul Weller, Van Morrison, Georgie James, Richard Marx, Outkast, The ShopBoyz and Michael Bolton.

Let me tell you, it feels pretty good to be rolling in a huge Suburban listening to rap. Especially when you're 5 foot 3 and a half inches, white and living in Nebraska.

What we do in Nebraska

This was taken at Vala's Pumpkin Patch, a delightful place.