smokingboot (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
smokingboot) wrote2003-12-08 05:37 am
smokingboot) wrote2003-12-08 05:37 am
Brain clutter clean out
Itty bits and pieces, too much to do, too much flotsam and jetsam in my head, and above all, too much work!
Writing begets writing. I decided that I was too busy to do my LJ because of the absurd amounts of stuff I had to get through, and to ‘save’ my writing time for something I am really interested in putting together. The result was that when the time came to write, I felt stale, and couldn't find the info I needed to get going. So I will begin again, writing bits of nothing and clearing my head of the weekend’s clutter…
Friday night we saw the extended edition of Two Towers. Wow. I really feel for Boromir and Faramir, and Denethor is perfect as a prime example of power hungry bad-dad. Rohan is perfect from start to finish, not one thing about it needing change or omittance. The ents are wonderful.
But Merry and Pippin do not endear themselves enough to me to justify their extra minutes, and I detest the heavenly choir that goes ‘Aah-ah-aaaah-ah-ah!’ whenever Gandalf appears on his white charger. We know he’s a good guy because he’s got light shining out of his armpits, so we probably don’t need reassurance from the massed bands of the cherubim. And then there’s his final blonde moment when he talks about the fate of middle-earth resting with ‘two little hobbits,’ As opposed to what? The great hoofing hobbits normally found sporting rings of power? But these are tiny glitches in an astonishing film, especially when compared to the pretty pile of pants we saw with Twinklebrain on Saturday night.
Kill Bill. Very clever. Very cool, very very cool, a collection of cool beyond cool, a demonstration of how cool a film can be without a plot. So many self-references, in-jokes, pop culture bytes, blood and katanas and blood and heads and limbs coming off, and did we mention the blood? Let's mention it again, cos if a film’s calibre can be judged by sheer splurtpower, then this is a work of cinematic genius. Tarantino gives us everything we need to forget that there’s no actual story happening, truly a work of sound and fury signifying nothing.
Of course, Tarantino knows this. The idea is to be cool, sit back and enjoy the joke, enjoy the action and the moment. To some extent, isn’t all film-making a triumph of style over substance? I didn’t mind it too much, because I knew what to expect. I admit, because the opening credits and song had so much pathos, I wondered if Tarantino was going to surprise me and show me something with real heart. But the boy wonder never changes. All moods lead back to cartoon reality. The woman had her head bashed in by her lover. She got shot, she lost her baby. That’s real sad. But look, real blood, lots of it! How cool is that?
Sunday saw us spending quality time with chums in a tapas bar, conversation moving between the serious and the trivial. It was all very relaxing to be able to sit there and talk about all sorts of subjects, cover so many moods and come away feeling happy and refreshed and chilled. It makes monday morning far more approachable!
Sunday also saw the rescue of the Christmas tree, which now has funky copper and golden stars, glass green/yellow grapes and orange and amber balls sparkling all over it. My love says he likes it, and I believe him, I think. At least the poor tree has less in common with Keats’ abandoned knight in the sedge, ‘Alone and palely loitering.’
There, clutter clear. Now I can go back to bed!
Writing begets writing. I decided that I was too busy to do my LJ because of the absurd amounts of stuff I had to get through, and to ‘save’ my writing time for something I am really interested in putting together. The result was that when the time came to write, I felt stale, and couldn't find the info I needed to get going. So I will begin again, writing bits of nothing and clearing my head of the weekend’s clutter…
Friday night we saw the extended edition of Two Towers. Wow. I really feel for Boromir and Faramir, and Denethor is perfect as a prime example of power hungry bad-dad. Rohan is perfect from start to finish, not one thing about it needing change or omittance. The ents are wonderful.
But Merry and Pippin do not endear themselves enough to me to justify their extra minutes, and I detest the heavenly choir that goes ‘Aah-ah-aaaah-ah-ah!’ whenever Gandalf appears on his white charger. We know he’s a good guy because he’s got light shining out of his armpits, so we probably don’t need reassurance from the massed bands of the cherubim. And then there’s his final blonde moment when he talks about the fate of middle-earth resting with ‘two little hobbits,’ As opposed to what? The great hoofing hobbits normally found sporting rings of power? But these are tiny glitches in an astonishing film, especially when compared to the pretty pile of pants we saw with Twinklebrain on Saturday night.
Kill Bill. Very clever. Very cool, very very cool, a collection of cool beyond cool, a demonstration of how cool a film can be without a plot. So many self-references, in-jokes, pop culture bytes, blood and katanas and blood and heads and limbs coming off, and did we mention the blood? Let's mention it again, cos if a film’s calibre can be judged by sheer splurtpower, then this is a work of cinematic genius. Tarantino gives us everything we need to forget that there’s no actual story happening, truly a work of sound and fury signifying nothing.
Of course, Tarantino knows this. The idea is to be cool, sit back and enjoy the joke, enjoy the action and the moment. To some extent, isn’t all film-making a triumph of style over substance? I didn’t mind it too much, because I knew what to expect. I admit, because the opening credits and song had so much pathos, I wondered if Tarantino was going to surprise me and show me something with real heart. But the boy wonder never changes. All moods lead back to cartoon reality. The woman had her head bashed in by her lover. She got shot, she lost her baby. That’s real sad. But look, real blood, lots of it! How cool is that?
Sunday saw us spending quality time with chums in a tapas bar, conversation moving between the serious and the trivial. It was all very relaxing to be able to sit there and talk about all sorts of subjects, cover so many moods and come away feeling happy and refreshed and chilled. It makes monday morning far more approachable!
Sunday also saw the rescue of the Christmas tree, which now has funky copper and golden stars, glass green/yellow grapes and orange and amber balls sparkling all over it. My love says he likes it, and I believe him, I think. At least the poor tree has less in common with Keats’ abandoned knight in the sedge, ‘Alone and palely loitering.’
There, clutter clear. Now I can go back to bed!