(no subject)

[moonwise]

I haven't updated in a while. All right, here goes:

Movies

Every year, I try to see as many of the Oscar nominees as I can/want to. Gosford Park and Moulin Rouge don't look too interesting, but In the Bedroom and A Beautiful Mind did. In the Bedroom was particularly appealing because it's set in Camden, Maine, and Downeast Magazine gushed left and right about how lovingly the movie was filmed and how accurate it is in its depiction of Maine.

We saw that one on Wednesday. And... it was beautiful. It was stark and realistic - no "Hollywood Moments" to soften the film's punch. And, oh... it was Maine. It was the sounds, the set of the light, the darkness of the woods. One scene where the characters are driving down a dirt road had me mesmerized; it was like we were driving down to the cottage after going out that night. I'd love to see this movie take Best Picture, but I don't think it will.

Rounding out the list of Oscar Nominees Set In Places I Personally Have Been, we saw A Beautiful Mind Saturday night. Wow. Just... wow. The movie does an incredible job of showing Nash's schizophrenia, and you come out questioning your own reality and whether what you see is really there. It also made me think about Princeton, seeing it up there on the big screen like that. I've been here five years, and I have turned my back on the campus and the community out of anger and frustration. It makes me think that perhaps I should take a walk around and try to see it without the qualifications.

Weekend

Saturday was loaf-around-the-apt and play FFX day, much to hubby's dismay. Got my new dj with the yummy cover. Not much else besides the cover, but heck.

What else... we went down to the shore yesterday to visit the boat. Then we went to Point Pleasant to play some skeeball and walk the boardwalk. I tried to take Ocean Avenue north all the way to Sandy Hook, but it's discontinuous around Asbury Park. We did go into Asbury Park to see all the lost, sad buildings. Drove by the Palace Amusements with its peeling paint and leering faces; it always gives me a chill. We ended up in Long Branch and dropped by my friend Ari's for a quick chat, then hiked on to Red Bank to finish the pilgrimage. It was a nice day and I got a caramel apple with peanuts on it out of the deal. Boardwalk candy is best. :)

Aside from that... ack. Fooling with websites and new story chapters, not much there. The art muse made her every-other-year appearance and gave my pencil the skill long enough to cough out a self-portrait for the upcoming page.

That's all for now.

Comments

[ssilverfish.livejournal.com]

I'm looking forward to both In the Bedroom and A Beautiful Mind, though I sense we'll save our pennies and catch them when we can rent them. (I can't believe how expensive theaters are these days! Why, back in my day...).

I've heard Princeton's campus is gorgeous. I saw Ann Arbor on the "big screen" once... it was in a student film, which was pretty funny (unintentionally, I'm afraid). We went to see it because we were actually in it, if you can believe that... One Friday evening, my friends and I were at a lab-warming party trying valiantly to finish the keg of very good beer that had been provided, and a couple people showed up in the hall and asked us if we could help them. They were film students, and needed some extras. Sure, we said drunkenly. As we followed them to the auditorium, toting plastic cups of beer, I asked what the movie was about. The girl said it was about a scientist who makes a discovery and then "everyone is after him!" (Hehe... yeah, that happens to me all the time.) I asked who we were supposed to be (what's my motivation?), and she said we were to be scientists in the audience, listening to him present his breakthrough research. I said, "Want us to go upstairs and get our labcoats?" She said yes, looking like she wanted to hug me. Heh... unfortunately, I did not receive film credit for the wardrobe contribution.

So, we got our labcoats, and sat our drunk asses in the audience along with a bunch of janitors that the film students had also rallied to be non-labcoat-wearing scientists (including a guy with the Charlie Batch jersey on). We were told to just sit there and look "interested." It was a riot. Anyway, at the end of all of it, we went to see the movie, and although I personally ended up on the cutting room floor (I think you can see my arm in one part, and that's about it), a couple of my friends had close-up shots of them looking very "interested" (or drunk, you choose). The scientist's discovery, by the way, had to do with regeneration of living tissue. He demonstrated his finding by cutting a bagel in half, and then two whole bagels grew from each half. Uhhh...

They completely chopped up Ann Arbor in this movie, especially in the falling-in-love montage between the the leads. They would walk hand in hand by the Chem building, turn the corner, and then appear on the opposite side of campus. They'd get to the end of the block, and suddenly appear downtown. There was a lot of "how'd they get there so fast?" from the audience during this part. (Now if this kind of travel had been his scientific breakthrough, that would have been something!). But, the best part was where the leads met... it's one of our favorite bars. In the scene, the girl was sitting alone at a table, and the guy came up and said flirtatiously, "is this seat taken?" She batted her eyelids and said, "it is now." Then, they ended up in the sack. After the movie, my friends and I all went to this same bar, and in walked the lead actress with a bunch of her friends. We couldn't believe it. They sat down at a table in the back, and I dared one of the guys to go up to her and ask her (flirtatiously) if the seat next to her was taken. Our friend actually Jack did it!! Her friends cracked up, but she didn't get it at all. She looked at him earnestly, and said, "no, you can have it." Heh...

Ok, I've rambled in your journal long enough. I'll go ramble in mine now. :)

I look forward to seeing the self-portrait!

[arafel.livejournal.com]

I'm still chuckling at the thought of a bevy of loaded graduate students looking "interested" at a seminar. Guess they took just about any warm body they could find. What a hoot!

Is this film you mention in release somewhere, or was it just a film student's project at Ann Arbor? You'd think that if it were shown there, they would have done a more conscientous job of not chopping up the campus! :)

Too bad the actress didn't get it. That would have been pretty funny. :)

[ssilverfish.livejournal.com]

I must have looked too trashed for them to keep me in there. I can only imagine how hard they laughed trying to piece that scene together later.

The guy who directed in (and starred in, and wrote, too, I think) this movie was a film student here at some point, but I think he'd already graduated by the time he was doing this movie. I'm not sure if the movie has been shown anywhere else or not, but I doubt it. It was pretty crappy. I imagine that if he tried to enter it into any kind of festival, it would never get selected. Which reminds me... right before the movie, there were previews of upcoming student films. *shakes head* I know these people are trying really hard, and I respect that they are pursuing their dreams on a limited budget, but ... I've never laughed so hard.

As for the actress, I'm just grateful her friends understood, so we didn't have to explain it to her. Heh...

Anyway, if you ever want to see my labcoat-covered arm on the silver screen, definitely see Mark Marabate's Chess if it comes to your town. It's a winner.