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tuesday, june 29, 2004
i never talked about my birthday which just passed, you know the one where i turned age ancient? casey and i had a small private party watching 80's fantasy movies.the latter two helped define my life. if a star fairy appeared to me, tonight, right now, i know what i would wish for in a high cholesterol heartbeat and i think casey, if not everyone in the universe would agree, this is the best song yet written. if i was in music, i would just stop now, because clearly the greatest piece ever has already been composed. maybe if i was mozart or bob dylan... but no, even then i would stop, because even as dylan or mozart my talents would be considerably less when compared to the mastery that so obviously is this bit of divinity in earthly sound.
holy jesus, there is a FANLISTING?
casey and i came to a few conclusions through out the evening, actually, the second evening. the first one, my birthday, we passed out only moments into "legend" as we spent the entirety of the evening reconstructing "labyrinth" video tape.
casey and i: it's broken. we must take it all apart.
screws and all!
our conclusion, however, when we did actually reach it, was this: the brilliant pieces of animation aside, you could see how "neverending story" was actually a decent film when stacked next to the other two films.
"legend" is awful, no matter how you cut it and though the emasculation/castration (wee, cut off the unicorn horn) themes are intriguing, there is a reason we both slept through the film.
"labyrinth," though also painful, was fun. the good kind of bad. i mean any film which has "magic dance" as center piece song is really, just his side of "citizen kane" in cinematic finesse.
"neverending story" on the other hand, is quite great. the story is by far the most entertaining and interesting and the famous, "they look like big, good, strong hands, don't they?" speech is quite frankly, a fine piece of writing, or at least, my tender heart strings were pulled whilst watching it.
here is the text:
Rockbiter:
They look like big, good, strong hands. Don't they? I always thought that's what they were. My little friends. The little man with his racing snail, the Nighthob, even the stupid bat. I couldn't hold on to them. The Nothing pulled them right out of my hands. I failed.
Atreyu:
No you didn't fail. I'm the one who was chosen to stop the Nothing. But I lost the Auryn, I can't find my luck dragon, so I won't be able to get past the boundaries of Fantasia.
Rockbiter:
Listen, the Nothing will be here any minute. I will just sit here and let it take me away too. They look like big, good, strong hands. Don't they?
they really don't make fantasy films like they used to, do they?
despite my complaining about it, there is an interesting backstage story to "legend;" basically, it got the editing room treatment, deluxe edition.
the screenplay is said to be brilliant, the film, somewhat lacking. the article was interesting enough though to prompt me to find the script and read it. who wants to join me? see if it really is wondrous, or if it tanks like i am wont to think it does as all of the positive reviews are from devout fans?
last night i received an email about my screening, attached was the press release for it with a request for me to send it out to everyone i know.
being the moron i am, i literally did this and now i am embarrassed. i literally sent it out to every person i know. i hope now no one notices AND no one ever writes back.
in case you are curious though, here is the notice.
2x4- The Still Image and The Moving Picture
July 9th, 2004 : 6pm-12am
Up The Stairs Gallery
1935 1/2 W. North Avenue
Chicago, IL 60622
2x4 is an event that celebrates the relationship between the still image and the moving picture. The show will consist of 2-dimensional artworks that are highly influenced by the motion picture alongside a
screening of films and videos that analyze the still image in motion. An opening reception of paintings, photographs, assorted 2-dimensional artworks, and video installations will begin at 6:00pm.
Following the opening reception will be the film and video program beginning at 8:00pm and ending at 9:30pm. After the screening there will be an after party in the gallery featuring television theme songs by request and a DJ spinning electronic music.
Artists Include: J. Luca Ackerman, Jerome Acks, Brandon Alvendia, Jacob Christopher, Zachary Hall, Justin Hansch, Lisa Hensley, Al Hernandez, Peter Hoffman, Karen Johannesen, Warren Johnston, Dirk F. Knibbe, Ryan Kortman, Katharine Lion, Caleb Lyons, Bob Major, Dominic Mangila, Benjamin Russell, Justin Schaefer, Emily Shuttleworth, Hyunch Sung, Jason Starr, Inna-Marie Strazhnik, and J. Patrick Walsh
III.
The main purpose of 2x4 is to examine the relationship between moving images and still images. How does filmmaking influence fine art, and how do fine artists influence filmmakers? It is fascinating how
television, filmmaking, and high speed modern devices inspires the 2-D artist to respond in creative ways. Some filmmakers are more concerned with using film and video as a device to present a moving
art form, rather than telling a defined story. We hope for this event to bring the fine art community and filmmakers closer together and inspire more activity between the two art forms. (ZH)
too bad i'm so not there. i'm very intrigued by this "television theme songs" after party business. do you think they would sing the snork song for me?
p.s. i know there is someone bored out there, help me find gump pictures from "legend?"
suddenly i was @ 10:48 am
monday, june 28, 2004
remember children, sarcasm is the recourse of a weak mind.
every once in 10 years i fill one of these things out, but only when i am in the depths of the most absolute boredom.
this came from mah cousbian.
1. If you were an animal, what animal would you be?
a meerkat. or possibly one of my pets, they have it so good. they have no idea.
2. If you could have super powers, what would they be?
jesus powers. no! teleportation. it would be most convenient. i could just pop up any where. bamf, new zealand. bamf, finland. bamf, london. bamf, sergio's party.
3. ... Would you be a villian or a hero?
i too like neutral. speaking of finland, it's like finland in ways. what did the finns ever do to you? i am a force unto myself, though in the end i would probably choose the side of good. i spit at thee, morals.
4. ... Who would be your arch enemy?
the misanthrope.
5. If you won a million dollars, what would you buy first?
go to grad school. oh, and pay off my GINORMOUS HUGE debts. buy my parents everything they want plus a new computer por moi.
6. If you could go on a shopping spree at any store, which would you pick?
borders: movies, books, fun for all!
7. If you could have a conversation with any celebrity, who would you choose?
dead or alive? i want to talk to dickens ask him for help and advice. otherwise... modernwise... i don't know. i'd be too embarrassed.
8. ... What would you talk about?
how to keep those canned cranberries fresh, god bless it.
9. If you could own any vehicle, what would it be?
a mini coup! i love those cars. a red one with black siding and a white top, thank you very much.
10. ... Would you drive it around or keep it in your garage just to look at?
i detest driving, but then that would be silly to own a car and not drive.
Do you...
11. Do you like to take long car trips?
yar, in the right company and when i'm not cramped between two arguing siblings and listening to tim mcgraw on ENDLESS repeat.
12. Do you enjoy spending quiet time alone?
dude, that's all i do.
13. Do you like to be naked?
i'm naked right now.
14. Do you enjoy exercizing?
yes. back in my days of youth i could bench 110 pounds.
15. Do you like loud music?
no. i don't like loud in general (somehow my own voice is not included here).
16. Do you hate being cold?
not if i can get warm.
17. Do you like dressing up?
yes, the new goal of my life is to wear skirts forever. oh, or be naked.
wait, i am naked.
i rule!
18. Do you like to write letters?
sometimes i even like to write sentences.
19. Do you like to take long baths?
indeed. naked no less.
20. Do you dislike office work?
are we talking production office at miramax work? because then yes.
21. Sandwhiches or tacos?
sandwich.
22. Fudge sundae or bananna split?
icecream?
23. Champagne or beer?
blush things are nice.
24. Sleep or watching television?
what if we do both at the same time?
25. Rent or buy?
now this question is vague. are we talking homes or videos? i can't answer this until the quiz god who created this decides to get a little more specific.
26. Telephone or IM?
well let's see, no one is on aim right now and i don't have a phone, so neither currently.
27. Pork or Beef?
turkey or swiss, what is it with these questions?
28. Hardcore or softcore?
HARDCORE.
29. Blackeyed peas or Green beans?
black eyed susans dancin' in the breeze.
30. Video games or anime?
is this measuring my level of nerdness? probably anime, unless it was video in the video game... and someone else played everything so i could just sit back and watch.
Favorite:
31. Website?
don't really have one anymore, but i love my cousbian anyhow.
32. Book/author?
this second? do we have to ask? chest slam for dickens!
(ouch, my booosoms.)
33. Television show (or anime)?
television... i like forensic shows.
and what's with this quiz and anime?
34. Past time?
sitting around. thinking.
35. Children's game (ala "Red Light, Green Light")?
red rover, red rover, when is the quiz quite over?
36. Time of the day?
anytime when i stop to see things.
37. Store?
i don't have one. i'm poor.
38. Piece of clothing?
clothes?
39. Drink?
juice. 100%, thank you very much. none of this red water with sugar crap.
40. Snack food?
jujufish. that's right yo.
Have you ever...
41. Dreamt about flying?
oh yes, once i dreamt about two lovers floating off into the sky, tied to a hang glider.
42. Used an axe?
ye- i mean no. and no i wasn't in thermopolis wyoming last february and i can prove it!
43. Slept under the stars?
well i'm going to have to if they find out i was in thermopolis wyoming last february.
44. Flown over seas?
and how. to spain, to england, etc.
45. Rode a skateboard?
i don't know if "rode" is the correct term to use, but yes, i've been near one whilst it moved.
46. Had a lemonade/kool-aid/beverage stand?
why yes i have. once a man even wrote me a check for a 1.00.
47. Played with action figures/dolls after the age of 15?
the real question is, have you gone on a 9 hour quest to buy an action figure in the past 6 months.
48. Taken pictures you were embarassed to have developed?
only the ones i devoured. try and blackmail me now!
49. Punched/attacked your own computer?
yes. but don't tell social services, we said he fell down the stairs. wait, what was that? is this line bugged? i wasn't in thermopolis!
50. Participated in a chain letter?
once many long years ago. this does not give anyone presently here permission to mail me an e-chain letter, though. if you think you're cursed because you don't participate, try spamming me with one.
Dislike...
51. What celebrity do you despise?
britney spears, hillary duff. those count as one, don't they?
52. What would you have done to them?
nothing. i'm probably just jealous i don't have their millions. frame them for my thermopolis thing.
53. What one thing really pisses you off?
when people tell me to "shush." do it and there is instant angst with me.
54. What is one punishment done to you that you resent?
i don't get punished because i am perfect.
55. What's a food that you will never eat?
hm. never is a long time. who knows what may come up, if i go on the lamb i might be forced to eat crickets or raw juju fish. hm. human feces. there's something i don't fancy nibbling.
56. What place made you feel uncomfortable?
the thickest, darkest "ghetto" in chicago which joanne and i got lost in, my zombie room, the first screenwriting class.
57. What was the matter the last time you were sick?
during november i compleatly lost my voice, but i wasn't really sick; just sounded like i was trying to be satine from "moulin rouge." before that... i was very, very ill with a stomach flu sophomore year. ended up in the hospital, the whole nine yards.
i don't really get sick.
58. What's a small thing that really annoys you?
packing.
59. What's the worst movie you ever saw?
recently? hoo. kenneth b.'s hamlet. otherwise... phenomenon, the modern great expectations. too many to list. i don't approve of many movies.
60. What do you do when you're really mad?
angst, ball my fists into fists of drama and bewail my existence.
Like...
61. What's your favorite smell?
my cat's fur during autumn.
62. What's the last thing someone did/said that really touched you?
someone bought me a present when i graduated.
63. Do you have any cute pets?
are you kidding? and that's only one of them.
64. What's your favorite place?
reading in bed with my cat purring near me.
65. Have you hugged or kissed anyone lately?
are you kidding? i'm so anti social i can't even remember what a human looks like any more.
66. What's something you are truely thankful for?
the education my parents gave me.
67. What's a big turn on for you?
hooooooooooo boy. i know this one! snort.
68. What's something funny someone said recently?
mother: oh dear, you better move i'm going to fart.
me: SWEET JESUS.
mother: oh, now you made me laugh and it came out sooner than i expected.
69. ...Kinky or romantic?
romantic. don't you have to be romantic before you get kinky anyhow? at least in my world you do.
70. What's one belonging that is very special to you?
my white kitty. i love her.
Work...
71. What would be your dream job?
"Cousbian and I running our own animation company. And we'd rock."
need i say more? will you hurry up and graduate all ready?
72. Do you have a job right now? Doing what?
oh, you would get me with this, wouldn't you? you bastard! NO, i don't have a job. here, would you like to poke my eyes out and stab my heart while i'm down too?
73. Do you like your boss?
salt in the wound.
74. Why or why not?
you masochist.
75. Do you think you get paid well enough?
let me check my pocket.
no.
76. How fast can you type?
i don't know, but i'm thinking of a few choice words i would like to type up about you right now that i could probably churn out pretty fast.
77. Would you ever work at a strip bar?
i am right now.
no wait, i'm jobless.
blast.
78. Can you mix drinks?
nein.
79. Have you ever waited tables?
i've waited at a table.
80. What is the oddest job/question ever done/answered by you?
"aren't they both the prince of darkness?"
Play...
81. Do you like to swim?
i float and it's good, so yes.
82. Do you like sports? What's your favorite?
sports? thermopolis? what?
83. Any other favorite outdoor activities?
i like to sit, think and walk.
84. Snow or sunshine?
all of the above. the sun can shine while there is snow, you know.
85. Amusement park or water park?
neither. i want a back massage.
86. Rock, paper, or scissors?
wait, i don't get it, who won? i didn't even go. don't we count to three anymore? we do in my world.
87. When you were little, you prentended to be..?
many things. i'm still pretending now.
88. What's your favorite board game?
don't really play board games.
89. What's the best gift you ever recieved?
what kind of question is this?
90. What's the funniest moment you captured on film (or was captured of you)?
my whole animation.
Falling action...
91. So, are you having a good day today?
it's blended into all the days that came before this week, so can't say much about it either way, it was here.
92. What do you hope happens today?
i get an email.
93. What do you hope NOT happens today?
death, illness?
94. What do you think you'll eat for dinner?
i already had this. if i wrote my answer down now that would be cheating.
95. What are you wearing?
nothing on but the computer.
96. Boxers or briefs?
on me or on others?
97. Did you like this quiz?
isn't just like every other one on the entire planet? but yes, it filled a void in my bleeding heart for two point five seconds. here , the quiz gets a cookie.
good quiz.
does anyone know anyone who can get me a job?
suddenly i was @ 12:27 am
sunday, june 27, 2004
when my email doesn't work, livejournal does. when livejournal is out, my email is on. why can't both just function at the same time? don't they realize they are both integral parts of my social existence now that i have absolutely no life whatsoever?i am sitting here right now, being informed my email isn't going to open, drinking a pretty shake i made and prepping to read through my second script so i might start composing a new one come aug. or sept.
i have been very negative lately, very disparaging. i swear people like sayyes think i need self-love seminars and anti depressants. i can't help it, i feel so miserable. i don't like anything about my life anymore and am really lonely and feel compleatly and utterly PATHETIC.
but before i launch into yet another diatribe of how wonderful my mood is, the other night, continuing my on-going, though somewhat feckless in purpose now, dickensian quest, i rented "oliver twist." yeah, the one with fro- i mean elijah wood.
as always, my notes and thoughts.
first thing first, my initial scrawl reads, "elijah top billing" i then have a remind-atory note next to it reading, "fetish." what on earth?
i remember watching this "oliver twist" when it first premiered on the wonderful world of disney. the film opens with a good bang, in medias res with oliver's highly pregnant mother wandering about the northern england country side, intensely in labour. let me tell you, nothing beats rainy, victorian birth scenes.
agnes, aka mama oliver, then gives her new born son a gold locket and promptly dies, as is expected of her in dickensian text. her giving the locket to oliver and making the audience aware of the tiny bauble early on is a good story tightening decision. it brings it closer to oliver, whereas in the book the locket aka all that family crap, crops up later on, having spent 12 years in the possession of some old crone. having oliver and the audience know about it from the get go, cuts to the chase.
this stated, the story moves at an impressive clip. soon oliver is six and the locket device is underlined again.
oh, note: tiny oliver, the 6 year old, has got to be the cutest thing i have ever seen in all my life.
after fortifying our belief in the locket, the film bamfs forward again and oliver is 12. the workhouse scene is accompanied by a soundtrack of wee merry music, which i hereto forth forbid from making itself known in my dickensian story.
ever.
the locket has been promised to oliver if he is "good," which gives some reasoning to oliver's innate pious goodness, which apparently, is problematic to some modern day audiences. i guess.
mr. bumble is cut in favor of... oh what's her maiden name... she ends up mrs. bumble... mrs. mann i think. it was very strange as it seemed to have no reasoning and changed one of the most famous lines in dickensian text from "please, sir, i want some more" to "please, MA'AM, i want some more." a detail i found both irksome and saddening as the change served no purpose and didn't make sense. wouldn't a male run a workhouse in the mid 1800's, not a woman?
i mean, if little dick can make it into the film, you think mr. bumble's role would be safe.
oliver is kicked out from the work house, but he sneaks back inside in a very mission impossible manner to steal back his locket; another decidedly interesting decision for filmoliver's character. noveloliver is so innocent and good, he cannot even fathom the thought of stealing and though this both highly unrealistic and inexplicable, it is how it was written. having oliver creep back into the parish to steal food and his necklace... it goes against the grain of the character established in the novel, which is well, fine and good if it serves a purpose in the film, but i'm not sure what as trying to be accomplished with this decision.
oliver hitches a ride to london, which is what he did in the musical version of the tale. in the book, oliver walks the entire way. i swear other films just take from other films, which always makes me wonder: did the writers read the book, or did they only watch the other versions? are they making a homage to a film decision which works, or are they just ignorant of the original version?
two points about this film's london.
a. old london must have reeked.
b. whoa, was that jesus?
enter cockney frodo, stage left. aaah. that's all i have to say. aaah. where's dick van dyke? the dodger is too old. he always acted older, but he was around oliver's age. it was the point of his character. he seemed much older because he was so street wise. he was the diametric opposite of oliver's character.
not in this film though.
also, wood is entirely too pretty for the part.
sans the hair. the hair looks like mine on a bad day.
and his accent! oi.
dodger: hi, coulds i puts more s's into my speeches there mate? (precious?)
the dodger finds oliver in london when he is trying to steal food; which, again, proves weird. oliver is too willing to steal, or so it seems to me. it may be realistic, but it's not oliver twist.
richard dreyfuss plays fagin.
richard dreyfuss should be BANNED from playing anything english. "rosencrantz and guildenstern are dead" was enough. really.
there is nothing latent about the stereotypes highlighted in this rendition of fagin. prosthetic nose included. we just needed fagin to exclaim, "oy vey" a few times to compleat the picture.
he was really quite offensive.
oh, i forgot to note, the film picture would fade into a fake-y pen drawings of the scene every time a commercial break came along, another gimmick which should be forever banned from filmmaking along with british dreyfuss.
sikes comes into the picture. of the all the oliver renditions i have seen, i enjoyed most the sikes of the musical. he was terrifying, but very handsome (in some weird hindsight, he looks like human shrek in a way sample) and one could see how a young girl like nancy would be attracted to him.
i must return to a topic already established for a moment, as i am too lazy to organize these thoughts and am just hitting them chronologically as they arise in my notes. this film really gives the dodger character something to bite into, builds him up, but i ask you, did i really want to know the dodger was a shivering child found out in the cold by fagin? despite my demented mommy hormones which say "yes!" the more logical side of me says, no. emphatically. the artful dodger is a magical character in ways. he's a mystery, untouchable by exposition. he's the peter pan of oliver twist. you don't really want to know his history because to bring him down to touch reality would shatter the little facade of a character he's created for himself which is so attractive and engaging for everyone else.
still, the little friendship shared between softer-dodger and harder-oliver was cute.
mr. brownlow and rose maylie find oliver. they are decent enough. rose is a bit "masculine" in mind, which is fine for a modern day audience, but compleatly contrary to the dickensian text.
whatever. curse thee, 20th century feminine spunk.
oliver's twisted family backstory was cinched up in a thrice. quite impressively.
rose: you could be his grandson!
me: holy jesus that was fast!
not that i minded, i never liked the monks substory. it never made much sense. this film's version was much tighter.
ah, on my notes is a tiny stick figure of the elijah the dodger saying, "hi, i's the thief wiv a 'eart of gold."
continuing the softer dodger theme. the dodger goes up against bill trying to protect oliver. bill beats the dodger, which makes for some nice angst.
as the movie wound itself down, the thief posse came and stole oliver from the loving arms of his rightful family and i wondered, "what the hell is an electric guitar doing in this soundtrack?"
oliver and bill create a conspiracy against fagin, which is all together very, very, weird. the dodger continues to be a strange mixture of novel oliver and charley bates and himself.
i did enjoy the little friendship scene between oliver and fagin at the bitter end, where oliver thanks fagin and promises "not to peach" (another theme of the film) which makes the audience wonder if oliver has learned anything from his thieving experiences. i was glad fagin didn't get it in the end. is there something wrong with me? i was always sad when he died in the novel.
the slew of goodbyes which tailed the movie left me crying, "goodbye-HO!" and thinking, "that tanked."
all in all, a very, very mediocre film. bad music, weird casting, some nice story tightening.
and there it is.
you know, i should tell people what i am going to watch so we might all watch the same film and discuss rather than me just typing up my notes. this has me most intrigued. keira knightley as rose? how old was she, 15? and ANDY SERKIS as fagin?
yes, i have to find this.
also, nancy is played by "emily woof" which is what i am changing my name to asap. hey, she was in "velvet goldmine."
p.s. SHE WAS FOURTEEN!
p.p.s. thank god, no brad pitt.
p.p.p.s. in this version of oliver, the guy who plays monks first name is "pip," now that's just funny.
where the heck are pictures of human shrek? i need them to make my important point.
whoa... harsh.
suddenly i was @ 02:27 pm
thursday, june 24, 2004
make me swear i won't make anymore of these, no matter HOW much i like dickens and the artful dodger.woo... look, it matches my livejournal!
does it please everyone? does it work?
suddenly i was @ 08:15 pm
wednesday, june 23, 2004
so i finally read "the da vinci code."decode this langdon.
to say it outright, not like i am any great prophet on the matter, but this book, quite honestly, was the worst written thing i have ever read this side of being published. its plodding structure, compleat lack of diction finesse and heavy-handed reliance on cliché is enough to drive anyone with two ounces of english or creative writing training to distraction.
i first started this book whilst reading "david copperfield" and whereas i don't exactly consider dickens a master of language (as much as i consider him a master of characterization and social criticism via fiction) i couldn't handle the language. it was so bland and so, 8th grade english class assignment, i had to store it away until i had built up sufficient tolerance for such.
on my way home from california someone had purchased the book on tape. as we had spent the entirety of the initial drive to ca participating in continual argument, inane elongated games of trivial pursuit and loud verbal matches, when the da vinci code manifested itself as an alternative and i was all for it.
me: ha ha! and i won't even have to read it!
this is the only way to go at the da vinci code. in a car. in a desert. with nothing else to do. it comes off as being a very old, dick tracy noir radio program.
the man reading is pretty amusing as well. he sounds like william shatner.
he probably is william shatner.
the only time the artless text was allowed to be so incredibly banal was when brown leapt into one of his straight-from-a-textbook discovery channel moments. when he would ramble on and on about some interesting point. perhaps it is my penchant for the history channel and documentaries, but i could get into whatever he was talking about and enjoyed it immensely, even if the lectures were sometimes clumsily placed.
langdon: hello everyone, i'm going to be your history teacher for today. you may call me "mr. random exposition."
actually, it is these historical lessons which save the book. the ONLY redeeming factor of the novel is the research. i like listening to random connections. i like being able to say, "HEY! i noticed that extra hand at the last supper." i like things that put the roman catholic church in a bad light, because though i'm certain very many good people belong to the church today, its history is not spotless and i think people tend to forget this.
all of these points are interesting and enjoyable to listen to and figure.
the characters and story? meh. they were merely there to act as conduits for the rest of the story. there was nothing to them. i couldn't STAND the silas hi-i-fell-out-from-a-buffy-episode guy. his dialogue was by far the worst and the most riddled with overdone signifiers which, as pop culture and star wars have taught us, equal evil.
did anyone else think he was working for the emperor?
langdon was blah.
you know when this is made into the next summer blockbuster hit, sophie will be yet another hot and sexy starlet.
oh. and many, many kudos to brown for letting langdon and sophie get together. implying they might is ok, implausible love affairs after a night is not.
teabing fell out of an american 1950's film where no one had ever been to england before in their lives and therefore only had hanna barbara cartoons to rely on for models of english character.
what more can i say? the characters were just little paper dolls out there for the sake of spicing up the research.
the story itself was forgivable. it wasn't very interesting. it was a framework for the research. actually, i take that back, it could have be a perfectly fine IF the text has been interestingly written.
so much dependent on style and when a novel's style reminds you of something barfed up in 8th grade english class...
well.
also, if i can figure out the answer to some mystery before the heroes, something is very, very wrong.
sharp inhale.
the timing of the novel was awkward, because i think brown was trying to build suspense, or something but at least, thank god, the chapters were short. there were only something like 89 of them.
all my complaints hitherto made and elaborated upon here though, make one very valid point: "the da vinci code" was created to be a hollywood film.
think of it, simplistic writing, overwrought clichés, hot french babes, shallow characters, suspense, really obvious but tried and true devices (langdon as teacher) i mean, brown even worked in flashbacks for us!
this book screams to be made into a movie.
oh, and wait... it is.
ron howard! how delicious. he's perfect for it.
really, i'm serious. he's the perfect director for the project.
anyhow, all in all, at least i've read the stupid book now. i liked the research parts of it, but otherwise, nothing special. in sum, all i have to say is this: the art of writing novels is truly dying if this is one of the world's best sellers right now.
and now i present to you my OWN da vinci code-like mystery.
did you know ludwig van beethoven, composer of such pieces as "the ode to joy" and "fur elise" actually composed "lou, lou, skip to my lou?"
i give to you this: lou lou by lu. van.
here is the file forward.
these are the types of things i discover at five am.
p.s. the ratio between these notes is phi and they spell sophie.
suddenly i was @ 02:23 pm
must end, full stop, now.
that's it. zip. so stop it already!
though really, when i stop and think, i don't get "bad vibes" from it. i think. i'm not sure. i think it's nothing. that's my forecast. it will be 90 percent nothing today with the slight chance of me wearing sweats. now here's ted with finance. ted?
thank you lostsailors, or shall i call you captain obvious? a-har, har, har.
you know the only thing better than pacing about in circles, clutching my head? leaving bizarre messages in lj at 3 am, decodable only by myself, thus fortifying everyone's already established belief in this new state of life of mine, i have compleatly lost my marbles.
tomorrow's goal: kill the obsessiveness, complain about davinci code.
good and positive, that's looking up.
p.s. thank you cousbian for helping my inane computer iss-yew, i owe you, just say the word.
suddenly i was @ 04:44 am
tuesday, june 22, 2004
please to ignore the exceedingly dramatic overflow of unhappiness from my last entry. apparently all my misgivings about everything in my life hit a fever pitch yesterday and i was thrown into the depths of despair, but whereas i normally like to withhold these outbursts to be preformed in the closed about space of the privacy of my person, yesterday i felt the intense need to share it with the world and inflict my woes upon my entirely too guiltless friendlist!i will try to spare you next time.
in the meantime, I AM PISSED. extremely angry. i was tricked into selling my functioning computer and am now stuck on this NONFUNCTIONING DYING piece of crap. i can't even burn a cd! the firewire ports are dead, i can't edit my demo reel which means i will forever be BOUND to this pathetic existence i am currently so enjoying.
insane mad question: does anyone out there have aim and a cd burner, who wouldn't mind a mass transfer of files to burn me a cd which you could then snail mail to me?
gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah.
suddenly i was @ 03:58 pm
monday, june 21, 2004
FINE! i will accept the compleat and utter overness of it all and further pitch myself into the vast chasm that which is my life and feelings of dejection. i am an idiot and i am full of regret and i AM NOT HAPPY.
suddenly i was @ 01:49 pm
friday, june 18, 2004
ok, just to update everyone who doesn't know what i am talking about, i have now received dos replies to THE email, the latter of which informed me i actually should be in the possession of three replies, but alas and CURSE everything emailwise, one was untimely devoured and lost for all time.i am actually just writing to tell everyone i finally finished reading my own script all the way through for the first time. the ending worked better than i had thought. i believed its timing was off, but it works just fine as a slow build up.
i think.
i hope.
but i did discover i wrote a sad story. it's very funny. i had to share this because i didn't realize, i wrote a sad story.
is anyone still interested in "critiki tiki hut?"
suddenly i was @ 04:58 pm
sort of.
not really.
but it's really intensely interesting to me(butnooneelse).
message from the future: i am going to reply to this nonreply, but i am very nervous about it and feel, frankly, QUITE FAINT about the whole matter. i doubt i will be able to sleep to night.
- which means MAYBE i will finally finish reading the last crap 20 pages of my script.
...
HA!
suddenly i was @ 01:23 am
wednesday, june 16, 2004
well it's my birthday too, yeah.after my body went through the crippling effects of becoming one year older, my first action was to open my gift from lovely raedances. the dickens encyclopedia! this is why i made an animation of this goddess. i worship her! thank you casey!
and my next action shall take place, right here, right now. live before you all.
i...
am about to send out THE email.
OH MY GOD. i sent it.
wow.
i SENT IT.
oh my god, it's my birthday!
suddenly i was @ 04:39 am
tuesday, june 15, 2004
a few cool points.
a. i got a call yesterday from chicago from someone who had seen my animation at the bfa screening and now wants to put it in another screening! isn't that amazing? the show is about 2d mediums which are made to represent motion. it will feature young artists, ie just graduated ones as well as a few professionals who have shown at moma and the like.
again i ask, amazing, no?
i'm very excited. the curator person also wanted a couple of "casey dances" stills for a display, which i just emailed off.
he also told me he thought i should keep making more, which i have heard before. is it wrong i don't want to? and yet, last night i was bitten with the HORRIBLE urge to start a new animation. i don't know. i shall have to talk to casey, see what she thinks of my plans since i will have to steal her camera to see them through to fruition anyhow.
but yes, july 9th people. go to the screening.
b. speaking of "casey dances" it has FINALLY been conformed. now i just have to process and print it! this means i will finally have a glorious full print, a real (reel, har!) copy of the film.
c. today is my sister's birthday. i hung a nice lifesized poster of johnny depp (also a gemini) as jack sparrow on her door with a little word bubble which reads, "you're hot, savvy? want to put your toe in my pirate's booty?"
please.
don't ask.
but! - it being my sister's birthday, you DO, of course, realize what tomorrow is, right?
d. i composed THE email today. now i just have to send it off.
scary...
suddenly i was @ 02:39 pm
monday, june 14, 2004
woo! ok. let's cover my trip in the most artful and interesting manner possible. i went down and stayed in newport beach (also known as costa del mar in the real world) in my cousin's family's time share. we lived in a lovely resort, just up the way from crystal cove, a beach state park.very. nice.
what am i doing back here? now life sucks on ice again
highlights! feel free to jump in anywhere.
things i discovered on my quest of mini self discovery
also known as "the body language show on the discovery channel."
1. don't cross your arms, smile, be magnanimous. be interested, not interesting.
2. a head nod and eye contact is a social communication, meaning one is now allowed to engage in conversation with a person; as such i may have successfully "missed" such signals for upwards of 4 months whilst at school.
3. being shy is selfish. to withhold yourself from making feelings known to people, is selfish. one is afraid of becoming vulnerable. i am afraid of becoming vulnerable.
random conclusion: WILL WRITE THE EMAIL.
two reasons i am enlightened:
1. one morning whilst watching "bruce almighty" (no, not my poodle) during the pulling-the-moon-closer-to-earth sequence i cried out, "hey, this is from 'it's a wonderful life,' he's lassoing the moon." moments later, what is the aniston character watching on television?
well it sure wasn't joe friday.
2. on the 8 million hour drive home, we, the occupants of the vehicle, listened to "the davinci code" (books on tape, the most brilliant idea, i can't even tell you how the cut down on extraneous back chat). when the book began discussing all the hidden agendas of "the last supper" by davinci i was more than pleased to squeep aloud to everyone, some of the more obvious tricks had been pointed out in my art history class 101 course some 4 years ago.
teacher: ok, this man has breasts. what's a woman doing there? and could anyone tell me who the hell this hand belongs to?
book on tape: who has a glass in the painting?
me: everyone!
so mr. langdon, or whatever the protagonist's name was, some of us normal folks DID notice the oddities.
p.s. < -- har har har. review on this book coming soon.
two reasons i am damned for all time.
1. as we lived right by crystal cove, i went for long beach walks often enough. the environment was exceedingly beautiful. there are big tide pools with all sorts of critters and during the week no one is around. on sat. my cousin, her friend and i went beach combing.
you need to know two facts before proceeding with this narrative
a. i have a sea glass fetish
b. as crystal cove is a state park, it is absolutely forbidden to remove anything from the grounds.
i can't even tell you how much seaglass was around. i couldn't stop myself. i think i collected 6 or 7 bottle bottoms. beautiful little jeweled items worn so smooth they could have been fantastically coloured rocks. since all vacation i wore my school sweatshirt like a badge of courage, i had a huge front pocket which i had no qualms about filling. shannon, my cousin's friend, likewise was collecting minishells in the dry sand.
we had been successful for hours, that is, "successful" in that we hadn't been noticed by anyone, when suddenly shannon was stopped by a lifeguard who appeared out of no where.
perhaps he was god testing us, we'll never know.
he told her she could collect nothing from the beach, "not even glass."
i can understand shells, rocks and all other walks of natural life, but glass?
me: i have no guilt collecting up after man's mistakes.
the lifeguard further instructed shannon to inform me to toss back my beach pickings. shannon came over to me.
shannon: better pretend you're throwing it all back.
which of course i did, while greedily keeping my stash safe in my front pocket.
we then made a mad bee line to exit the park, shannon and i jingling up the hill. as we approached the top of the hill, we began to expect coup in the manner of "men in black." shannon exclaimed out loud, "that's it!" and shoved her shells into her bra.
we, of course, escaped the park, unscathed and i now have a fine, fine collection of hot seaglass.
2. the same day, i mistakenly stole a pack of gum. i was buying bread with the cousbian (
it was not until the parking lot i realized the full extent of my crime when i found the 69 cent package in my POCKET and not in the bag, where it ought to have been.
it's like i can hear the mouth of hell opening now. so much for limbo for virtuous nonbelievers.
the best day evah!
it's really unfair to peg one day as the best. i had a few, not excluding the day cousbian and i saw "harry potter" on the imax screen, TOGETHER.
p.s. if you want to imagine the cuzz and i in action, see fred and george.
but a day i really truly enjoyed was my misanthropic day of "i'm not doing anything all day with anyone at all."
i gathered up my script and sat by the pool editing all day long.
and that was it.
there i was: it was a beautiful mild, sunny day, i'm sitting there by the palms, editing my screenplay- how californian, eh? and of course i looked the part of a local slathered in 100 spf lotion, under an umbrella wearing my black hoody over my bathing suit and the rest of my body covered with a blanket.
it was so lovely though, i only finished about 100 pages that day, but i loved watching all the people. it was so relaxing.
let's just say, i could easily get used to such a lifestyle.
p.s. harry potter thoughts later.
my x-files moment.
last night somewhere between nowheresville and the middleofnowhere, we stopped in the world's tiniest no name town which consisted of a taco time, an arby's, a tesoro gas station and a wendy's. my food vote went for wendy's or arby's, but as arby's was closed and no one saw eye to eye with me with attending wendy's, i opted to eat the sad remains of half of a cheese sandwich i found in the trunk of the car rather than partake of delectables surely found at taco time.
and thank god i did.
we entered the roadside vestibule and were immediately met by a kid, who couldn't be more than 15, wearing latex gloves, coming from the backside of the building. shannon asked where the restroom was, the kid went into a long winded reply.
kid: oh, well, i just started cleaning it. the night crew last night didn't do it so it's really, really gross.
shannon: oh.
kid: but can i take your order?
the kid looks to his hands.
kid: don't worry, i just put on this pair.
kid wiggles his latex gloved fingers.
to make matters more disturbing, there were flies everywhere. live flies, big flies, little flies and dead flies. all over the ceiling, walls and table.
more and more, i was glad i had my cheese sandwich.
my cousin david couldn't bring himself to eat his order.
shannon and i then went across the street to the tesoro station because a. we needed a restroom and b. i refused to buy and open top liquid beverage which is all taco time had.
INT. FREAKIEST GAS STATION OF ALL TIME - DEAD OF NIGHT
shannon and i walked inside. there was one creepy man running the shop and he has a one of those thick mustaches which look like some sort of furry caterpillar leech which had taken up residence on his upper lip.
shannon: excuse me, where is your bathroom?
freaky man: it's gonna cost you a quarter.
shannon: um.
shannon moves to the restrooms.
freaky man: you'll see. you'll get back there and see then you'll have to come out and get change from me.
shannon went into the bathroom and i waited. the freaky man was making me extremely uncomfortable. he was staring at me waiting for me to steal something (but that phase of my life was over, little did he know) or waiting for me to... LOWER MY GUARD.
at any rate, i found a bottle of apple juice and took it up to purchase.
freaky man: how much do you think i should charge you for this?
me: um... the asking price?
freaky man stares at me.
me: ... which i will go find right now! a dollar nineteen.
freaky man stares at me.
freak man: ok then.
all the while, shannon was in the restroom and i was convinced she was gone for-eh-vur. i was getting so scared (curse you rampant imagination) i went all the way down the hall by the bathroom door, so in case i did die in x-file town, i would at least die near shannon. the freaky man started mopping the floor. he swooshed by the hallway doorway over and over then started just coming at the doorway straight-on, only to swiftly turn away before actually coming down the hallway, making me painfully aware of the fact i had tucked myself into an inescapable corner.
shannon FINALLY exited the bathroom. i darted inside, even the toilets were frightening. inside the bathroom there were no less than THREE doors to get inside the room. two leading from the outside with no discernible lock mechanism. there was also a large green bucket which read, "body parts" no! "ice" on the floor, which i think is a testament to why i refused to get an open lid drink.
after the bathroom i ran from the store, leapt into the car and proceeded to spazz at my cousins while shannon decided to throw away her water from taco time.
we then bolted, sans gas and left forever, the town, with no name.
anyhoo. i have to be off.
a few more points of interest.
a. it's almost my birthday! wee!
b. meet guildenstern, the bravest little frog ever.
c. IMPORTANT. if i took to posted portions of my story every week or so, would people seriously play "critiki tiki hut" with me and give me serious feed back and editing pointers? regularly?
d. i think bruce the poodle really missed me.
suddenly i was @ 02:24 pm
friday, june 4, 2004
i wish it was a trip of self discovery, but it ain't half bad neither. chil'ens, because i can't sit still for more than one moment at any time, i am off to ca. who wants to come find me?
suddenly i was @ 11:32 pm
thursday, june 3, 2004
i am very, very fed up with everything.
here's a note for the universe:
people with bigger dogs, keep them on leashes.
someone's dog attacked my peensy poodle bruce, modeled in my last entry, while he was on his walk this evening. his back is all bloody as he was bit by a medium sized dog who wasn't on a leash when his owners were walking him. the owners didn't even apologize, rather they gave snooty looks as though it was our fault for owning annoying yappy dogs. like my little 6 pound dog can defend himself against anything, especially while he is caught up on a leash! now he's hiding in his little poodle house because my dad tried to look at the injury.
if anyone out there sees a couple, male and female, with two medium sized blond-ish dogs, feel free to take them down. they pick on small babies.
suddenly i was @ 01:40 am
tuesday, june 1, 2004
first thing first: why have i received no new emails in days? WHY? you know my life is dependent on at least one kind/l33tized word from a loved/random one.day after day, no new mails, no new mails.
it's likely to make one bawl into their hands it is.
second thing first: my poodle bruce just barked at the initial laugh which sets off "when i see an elephant fly" from dumbo.
many kind thanks to betsy for the grand random disney song trade which took place last night.
third thing first:
me at casey for 3 hours straight: weeeeeeeee, misanthrope!
you put a quarter into me and i just don't shut up! sorry m'love.
now, onto our most important entry. the other night i had a dream involving the titanic and a scottish jude law which was very steerforthish. i- or my equivalent in the dream, played our most beloved "daisy." it was actually very nice and sad. the scottish jude law figure would ask me (or the "me figure" in the dream, for i was male), "i really am a hero to you, aren't i?" in a very poignant voice.
i think this dream was reminding me to a. relate to you my deep thoughts on the "david copperfield" mini series i just most recently witnessed or b. to actually start my editing process on the dickensian script.
and, of course, since the former is the most important thing ever, i am deferring to it.
let's talk copperfield
(warning very long)!
let me whip out my pile of notes, still ripe from the windy city.
crumple, crumple. ahem.
all in all, a highly mediocre effort i would say. not because of the acting or writing or anything, but simply because of the stunted timeline. the beginning, with david's childhood, was wonderful. it was nicely paced, it was slow but it moved along. david's youth and adulthood though- schwee. dickens does wrap up intricately built up novels in a short span of time, but in this series we weren't made or allowed to savor a moment of anything for any amount of time.
this said in sum, i will now plod my way through my nice chronological notes.
the first thing of this series, a tiny, persnickety thing for me to pick up on, but that drove me insane: they got the date of david's father dying wrong. instead of 6 months before his birth it was 3. now this is a total nitpick, i know this, but what possible reason could the writer have for changing the date of david's father's death, when throughout the rest of the film he strove to be true to the book? does it... forward the plot? fill in some blank?
no...
it's just very strange and it drove me crazy and i just had to share.
this having been said, let's get to bidnezz and be serious.
the evil voice over made its presence known in this adaptation. i know david copperfield was written in the first person, but i am much more impressed when voice overs aren't used in film versions. my favourite "great expectations" miniseries didn't use a voice over, though the novel too was written in first person.
i know a voice over supposed to act as a device to give us information we are not otherwise privy to, but points like: "and so i passed from childhood into my youth..." are such i think i MIGHT have been able to catch onto them, on my own, without being told.
i don't think the voice over served itself very well in this film. it's nice to hear dickens' own words, sure, but if i wanted to hear them i'd read the book, i'm watching a film.
i'm also saying this from the modern-day viewpoint of recollective/nostalgic voice overs being quite passé in movies. it's... been done.
repeatedly.
if you are going to use such a technique, one is required to make it amazing (better or on level with what has come before) or add a twist to it, to make ever so slightly different.
i mean, dude we can't all be "the sandlot!" har har har.
oh my god, that is sad.
another interesting point of this production was the casting. everyone played the parts wonderfully, but only a handful seemed to match their book counterparts visually.
you know how when you watch adaptations, there are always a few key points about each character which bleed into every version because such is implied in the original text?
they were lost in this adaptation. it was just... strange. for example, correct me if i'm wrong, but isn't mr. peggotty supposed to be this robust sort of fellow? booming around, laughing saying "yar" and "gorm" every five seconds? because in this film, he may say "yar" but he looks like a swarmy, frightening beggar (dude, in some other dickensian dimension, he plays squeers in "nicholas nickleby").
both davids, young and grown, were wonderful. daniel radcliffe's best work to date, i assure you. on this note, i was so bemused by mini harry potter, i thought certainly i began hallucinating when i found myself thinking, "hey... she looks like mcgonagall. hey... she looks madam hooch!" but wouldn't you know? it really was maggie smith and zoë wanamaker playing those roles. it's like half the harry potter cast is in david copperfield! then ian mckellen as creakle, it was wizards AHOY!
but yes, daniel was a very fine mini david. looked the role, played it right. he was splendid in the scenes which followed his flogging from murdstone. same when he sat around with swollen hands after an assault from creakle. daniel does "sitting around piteously" schtick very well.
how wrong was it, though, i wanted to see murdstone actually hit small david? the scene went for the artful slow camera shots.
head shot: screaming david
whip noise
head shot: angry murdstone
slo mo head shot close up: screaming david.
just pull the camera out and let us see. i want to be horrified. don't hide the fact if it's there. make me wince (this is how i talk when i work as a sadomasochist).
we were shown creakle hitting david's hands, give us the more dramatic scene. really.
the older david, played by ciarán mcmenamin, was fabulous! he had the most delightful, fresh and youthful face; i wanted to call him daisy! granted, he became gradually more terrifying as he got older. i think they were trying to match his appearance to dickens', i really do and it was very scary, his sweet face which once provoked "awws" from me in the audience suddenly had me thinking, "aaah, badger!"
but very few people can wear long froofroo victorian hairstyles accompanied by facial hair and look normal.
maggie smith and zoë w. were fabulous. uriah, despite his magic "i never age" issue, was great fun. ian mckellen, always fab, eh? he was the novel character incarnate. i found micawber much more easy to swallow in the film. he drove me to distraction in the text, but i found him very becoming and kind on screen.
young agnes was possessed but elder agnes, i thought was very lovely. a pretty woman i think. let's see if can get a visual. ah, here. hmm. a bad picture of mr. fresh face. what is an "enniskillen" accent? irish, i would guess given the kid's name?
here's this whole site. the blurbs are great. i like radcliffe's mother talking about his short term memory problem.
oh my god i am addicted to this site. YOUNG STEERFORTH is the great great great grandson of dickens. how for awesome!
and the uriah actor is my new hero: "I was terrified when they said Maggie Smith was in it. Then they said Bob Hoskins ... aaagh ... what the hell am I doing here?"
gasp. screenplay excerpts.
moving on!
STEERFORTH!
well now that you have a visual on everyone, i need not say much more on this mute point. save i was gravely disturbed by the fact ham was more of a fox than steerforth and that emily was a red head. true, it brought it all closer to home for me, but-
a. it was ham, wasn't it, who was the red headed peggotty creature? if dickens makes a point mention something you think you'd follow through.
b. uriah and emily? why red heads? we are COOL people, not evil; (tears out heart of baby bambi and eats it raw) i mean, what's up with that, yo? (blood)
aw... this is rambling on and on.
the scenes of this film were amazingly short. at first i was wildly impressed as i am wont to LINGER forever in a moment, but in this, a scene would consist of 4 lines then fade out.
me: way to move along!
but after a while, it was very annoying. they wouldn't let you soak anything in. to me, personally, you never got a grasp of the on-going, enduring love between agnes and david. when aunt betsy says, "blind, trot, blind." she is really speaking to all of us, because we don't have a clue from this film either. when his big "epiphany" comes, it seems quick and forced. you don't feel the utter relief of the matter because you weren't ever made to "endure" it.
same goes for the meeting of steerforth. some of the sequence is nice and one is certainly made to admire him, but he is never quite as amazing as in the book. his relationship with david feels slighted. it is a wonderful scene when steerforth comes over and takes off the "careful i bite" sign from david's neck. it begins the process of cementing their friendship, but then the film cuts their storytelling. in the book it was a big deal because it was the first inkling hint which was given david had a knack for stories. i know in the film, david's voice over told us he liked stories, but i rather be shown than told. also, since it was cut, we didn't get to see young steerforth dosing with his head on his arm, so when he is dredged up from the sea drowned onto the beach at the end and his head rests in his arm, the parallel is lost.
the scene there mentioned was beautiful, a very visage of the novel, but only those who have read the novel could enjoy it and that is a sad loss.
it was the subtle "novel visage" scenes in this film which were so wonderful. when young mrs. copperfield-murdstone holds up her tiny baby as david rides the carriage away from blunderstone, it is magic. again, a small glimpse from the novel, but the visual is so strong. i was moved.
if only it had been sans voice over describing her holding up the baby, it would have been perfect.
agnes entering the room after dora's death and lifting her hand up. she looks like a stained-glass window saint (which she is semi associated with in the novel).
p.s. jip a pug? you know he was a yorkshire terrier.
oh, and uriah with the horse. jesus. he was so incredibly creepy and that image, ooh, just sends shivers up my spine it's so weird. i love how in the film he seems to inhale the horse's breath. wonderful shot for a character's visual introduction. after you've seen uriah snort pony breath, you know nothing good will come of him.
i think dora was lost to the fast pacing however. you never really got to know her. she was always only silly.
oh, and i was beyond mildly frightened when her "withering" was attributed to her being pregnant.
me: nooooooooooo!
i favor the nondescript, fade-inducing, unnamed maladies opposed to child bearing reasons when it comes to killing off the delicate pretty creatures.
what was interesting with dora was her close, close parallel to david's mother. it was there in the novel, but it wasn't until this film it came to me as it was heightened. the two actresses even looked alike. both were silly, young, pretty girls and with the addition of dora's "condition" both died "with child" in ways, eh?
dickens gets all... freudian on us.
i do a little snazz dance.
shazam.
i have been writing for hours here!
on things which were cut or changed:
we lost amigoarawaysoo. i know. i know. it was the most important scene in all the novel. how this film EVER got off the ground without it, i'll never know.
i kid. the strange bit about its being gone however, is without it the reasoning for agnes' mistrust of steerforth's character is ambiguous. in the novel, steerforth encourages an inebriated david to go along the theatre, steerforth is lackadaisical about everything and all the while david is devoted to him; thus it makes sense agnes might feel some impending danger emanating from steerforth's character and is wary of david's blind fascination for him.
in the film, steerforth manifests out of nowhere (wearing the same coat from the salem house, i swear) and agnes gets snitty about him for no reason.
traddles was axed compleatly. i can see why, his character doesn't serve much of a purpose beyond making the character roster richer, but i missed little proto-herbert pocket. it was sad, traddles wasn't even given a cameo. even julia mills was given that gratuity and she barely served a purpose either. if miss dartle's mysterious love subplot with steerforth was allowed to exist- a subplot which never pans out in the novel or movie- surely traddles could have wandered around in the background, right?
it was inspired though, shifting dora's oyster faux pas to micawbers' company instead of traddles'.
i didn't like how david cried out, "steerforth!" during the storm. i know why he did, because even upon hearing the name, after the "wrongs" steerforth served him, ham swims to sea and his most certain death, to save his old love-rival. such creates an emotional drama and adds to ham's character, but it loses the slight suspense offered up by the novel which i enjoyed; the shock of it being steerforth in the end, proving he and ham's fates were always going to be crossed even when neither were conscious of it.
off things which were added:
i liked how from the get-go david is very outright about his wanting to become a writer. it was one of the "flaws" i saw in the book. his fantastic career as a popular writer is so downplayed, one wonders why it is even mentioned. i personally think it was some sort of self-conscious thing on dickens' behalf (you know, because we're so tight i know exactly what he was thinking); maybe since the "david copperfield" story so closely mirrors some of dickens' own life experiences, maybe he didn't want to make a such big deal about his fame. i don't know. all i do know is in the film, writing is all david ever wants to do. it sounds a little blunt and obvious, but you really must be so in films sometimes. i liked it. in the novel it's a little out of no where.
to conclude:
as maudlin/sentimental/sappy/whathaveyou as this may sound, because you know i love love, i feel this film lacked it. my last note to myself reads, "not enough love."
to me, "david copperfield" is not so much the story of a life as it a story about love in all its various incarnations; from motherly, to infatuation, to true. every character has some sort of love story to tell: loyalty with the micawbers ("i'll never desert him!"), or passion with emily and steerforth- go through the list of characters! it's amazing. ham for emily, mr. peggotty for emily, barkis with peggotty, aunt betsy and her husband, mrs. copperfield and mr. murdstone, dartle with steerforth, david with steerforth- even uriah, the villain of the novel has an unnerving love obsession for agnes.
the whole novel is a series of love tales. sweet ones, friendship ones and stories of what happens when love is gone, when it has gone awry or has spoiled to bitterness. david's story begins with the untainted love of his mother and concludes finally, with the realization of the "true love" story of the novel, when david and agnes finally fulfill their destinies and come together as the veritable soulmates they so apparently are.
to not play up every instance of love in this story, is to miss the very point of all of david copperfield's exploits.
extra notes:
the ending of the film, the birth of david and agnes' daughter betsy and the child being placed into aunt betsy's arms, was too sweet for words.
here are my two favourite hand written notes to myself
"let me live on the peggotty farm"
"steerforth not engaging/dora possessed ballerina"
random other notes:
1. this was up at sundance last year. it's a local production and it has a character named KIP.
no! that name is mine!
ho ho. thank god there is no felix!
2. anyone can purchase the dvds of disney's "peter pan" or "dumbo" for me for my birthday. i promise. it's ok. the baby mine sequence in dumbo is inspired and i would wager to say one of the most touching in all of film history.
3. why is zac sluser credited as the set intern on "bad santa" and i am totally ignored as the production intern on imdb, eh, EH!? should i update them of this "omission"? remind me to do this.
4. i had a discovery this weekend. we have a collection of old dickens books. they are... my great-grandfather's i think? we had a guest over who was looking at them and she pulled one out and yelped, "this is a second edition!"
they're from 1890. no wonder my mom was pissed when i took "nicholas nickleby" to bed with me.
now i am off to read about homosociality, david copperfield and red hot pokers here. i'll tell you how it goes!
darts away!
suddenly i was @ 01:21 pm