there will be a fish

Last night, I saw Enemy At The Gates with Jude Law as a famous Russian sniper in the Battle of Stalingrad. Since it is way too depressing a prospect right now to think serious thoughts about a) WWII, b) the millions of people who died in that battle, c) all the characters who die in the film, or d) melodramatic adaptations of real events, I have some shallow ones for you all instead:

1. Very important observation, this one: Jude Law is a damn good-looking man, even when he's covered in dust/mud/blood/etc. (Maybe especially then, because it makes his eyes stand out all the more.) Also, I don't know how he did it, but he made his face look Russian. I'm not sure how that's possible, but somehow, he made it happen.

2. Rachel Weisz is a damn good-looking woman. I think I would like more films where she is a sniper, thank you. She's also exceedingly likeable; I have yet to see a film in which I didn't like her character, even when there were things I didn't like about the character. That's a great quality.

3. Holy shit, ( that one scene ). *fans self*

4. Ed Harris's character was a bastard, but I do love me a competent antagonist. I sorta wish ( that one spoilery thing hadn't happened ). But then again, I'm biased toward making villains a little sympathetic, thereby to make their villainy the more awful.

5. I admit...I am now left imagining Afghanistan-era Dr. John Watson. And it's not even all Jude Law's fault; the same thing happened to me after the "Bastogne" episode of Band of Brothers, because, well, Doc Roe (♥ he's my favorite!).

( long tangent about Watson's self-narration and his time in the Second Anglo-Afghan War )

All right. I'm off! Katie and I are visting gingerwall for the next couple of days. I am leaving my laptop and bringing books. There will probably be drinking, movie-watching, and general town-painting of the crimson variety. \o/! We drive back in the day before our birthday (Wednesday the 10th), then claudiagray is in town on the 11th, and then SXSW STARTS ON THE 12TH WHOOOOOOO!

It's looking to be a good week, is what I'm saying. :D

So, I'm not the hugest proponent of Twitter -- I have an account and use it occasionally, but for the most part I think it's a huge time-sink with superficial qualities, and that's not something to which I want to devote my time.

However, one very cool thing (which can also be a drawback) is the accessibility that let me ask Michael Cudlitz a question about Southland (he plays John Cooper, for those who haven't seen him be awesome on it) and get an answer. ♥

In other news today, I discovered we have magically unpaid-for HBO! I was flicking channels grumpily, to avoid yet more news about the guy who flew a plane into a building in my hometown, and stumbled across HBO's new movie Temple Grandin, about the eponymous high-functioning autistic woman who has done some really brilliant work on animal behavior in the livestock industry. I knew it had to be HBO because I'd caught an interview with Temple Grandin on NPR where they talked about the movie, and even played a bit of audio (which helped spark my interest in the film, because Clare Danes sounded exactly like the real Temple Grandin did on the air), so I recognized it. Anyway, it was already a good hour in, but I watched the rest anyway -- something I never do -- because it was just that good. Now I have to wait until Saturday to watch the rest...

(On a totally shallow note, I was really tickled to see that TG was a fan of The Man From U.N.C.L.E. in college. It's a scene where she's describing the action to her blind roommate while they watch MFU [loudly, and oblivious to the annoyance of the other people watching], which was great for other reasons but kicked my "I'm fond of people who are fond of things I love" button.)

Aaaand then I got into an utterly pointless argument with my dad about autism (that was really an argument about the way he argues and, IMO, issues he's having with his best friend who was recently diagnosed with Asperger's). So that was fun.

Last January, I decided that I was curious about my own media viewing habits. So I bought myself a little pocket-sized planner and proceeded to record every film, short film, and TV episode that I watched for the entire year. Once the clock ticked over to 2010, I entered it all into a spreadsheet for analysis, which is the entirety of the post that follows (well, not the spreadsheet itself, or any of the calculations, just the conclusions). Some of you may find it interesting, but it's mostly for my own purposes.

Year Overview

Over the course of 2009, I watched 108 feature-length films and approximately 30 short films. I also saw 812 TV episodes (comprised of 734 1-hour format, 71 30-minute format, and 7 HBO miniseries parts) from 40 different programs. This averages out to about 1 film every three days and about 2 TV episodes every day, or 2.6 pieces of media per day.

( and continued )

Television Stats

The 40 TV shows I watched were: 30 Rock, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Bones, Burn Notice, Castle, Chuck, Criminal Minds, Dexter, Doctor Who, Due South, Eureka, Fringe, Generation Kill, Grey's Anatomy, Homicide: Life on the Street, House, Invisible Man, Legend of the Seeker, Leverage, Lie To Me, Life, Mad Men, Magnificent Seven, Merlin, NCIS, NCIS: LA, Numb3rs, Psych, Southland, Sports Night, Star Trek: The Original Series, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Stargate: Atlantis, Supernatural, The Good Wife, The Man From U.N.C.L.E., The Prisoner, The West Wing, and White Collar.

( continued )

( Film Stats )

My top five favorite films I saw this year were probably Let The Right One In, Pickup on South Street, Wendy and Lucy, The Passion of Joan of Arc, and Freaks. (Okay, and Star Trek.)

I really wish I had a work ethic right now.

I have to write this paper (8-10 pages, technically due 8 hours ago...), which is late, which is unfortunate because after I write that paper, I have to write another 8-10 pager due Monday at 2pm. And then I have a take-home final (another 8-10 pages, plus a "short answer question" that is impossibly convoluted, and for a "single question" has about fourteen parts, and could be the basis for a dissertation rather than a short answer) due Wednesday by 5pm.

Which means I have to write 24-30 pages in the next four days (and then 20 pages in the four after that!), and I simply cannot get started on the first one. ARGH. It doesn't help that a) I haven't actually finished reading the book I'm writing about, Nightwood, and b) Djuna Barnes writes in an incredibly intricate way, which is fine and dandy when I can linger over passages like

Nora had the face of all people who love people -- a face that would be evil when she found out that to love without criticism is to be betrayed. Nora robbed herself for everyone; incapable of giving herself warning, she was continually turning about to find herself diminished. Wandering people the world over found her profitable in that she could be sold for a price forever, for she carried her betrayal money in her own pocket.

I mean, isn't that fantastic? She carried her betrayal money in her own pocket, that's such a great line. But you see my problem: the ENTIRE BOOK is like that, and it is exhausting, especially when I don't have time to read it. The novel is also very personal, which is a good quality in that it has the intensity that only comes from truly passionate writing, but can also be incredibly obscure and leave you cold.

Anyway. I'm trying to write this damn paper, and I'm hamstrung by the fact that I need some sources from the library, but the college in its infinite wisdom closes our library at 6pm on the Saturday before finals week (something I did not know until I tried to get into the stacks at 9:30pm last night; they're open till 11pm on weekdays) and doesn't open until noon Sunday. I NEED TO WRITE MY FUCKING PAPER, ASSHOLES. Grrrr. Our prof wants the paper to be ~interdisciplinary~ and have fucking primary AND secondary sources, which is all very cool in theory if I had some motivation or time or had slept. Or had library access.

At least I'm writing about horror films and film theory. That's fun.

I feel bad; I was making breakfast at 5:45am-ish and burned the toast, which set off our smoke detector right outside my suitemates' room. D: I managed to get it off fairly quickly, but still. /o\

So...encouraging words would be nice? Commentfic. Funny pictures. Magic wands that write my paper for me. All those would be most appreciated.

So I was in class today, and we had two major projection fuck-ups, conveniently timed at the two most climactic emotional moments of the film (I Know Where I'm Going).

And then I realized why this was happening today:

Casey: Jeremy, November 23rd. Does that date ring a bell? And don't go to the computer.

Jeremy: Don't have to.

Casey: What is it?

Jeremy: It was on this day in 534 B.C. that Thespis stepped out onto the stage of the Theater Dionysis during a choral song and dance and became the first man to speak words as an actor in a play.

Casey: Tell me I was supposed to know that.

:D

transcript for the episode

Question: Why do people blame Chris O'Donnell for Batman & Robin like it's his fault moreso than a) George Clooney, b) Uma Thurman, c) Arnold Schwarzenegger, or d) Alicia Silverstone?

My personal choice of blame for that movie is Joel Schumacher. But Chris O'Donnell? His Robin wasn't that bad.

I've been thinking about it, and I have to say, casting Elsa Lanchester (who played the Bride of Frankenstein) as a mad scientist in Man From U.N.C.L.E. (1.23 "The Brain-Killer Affair") was kind of an awesome move, and maybe the best stunt-casting I've seen -- although if you have other contenders, feel free to pitch them. :) They even made a nod to it with her hairstyle, with those distinct wavy white streaks on the side. I am picturing them giggling to themselves at their own cleverness (hey, it's what I would do).

Well played, show. Well played. :)

***

Unrelatedly, you know what I love? 'A Kiss To Build A Dream On' by Louis Armstrong. I haven't listened to it in a while (and in fact seem to have lost it from my hard drive -- Katie, can you email me a copy?), but it was like meeting a good old friend.

***

On another unrelated topic, I've been thinking a lot about what New York must have been like in the 1960s. This is what happens when you alternate watching Mad Men and The Man From U.N.C.L.E. episodes. I mean, aside from contemplating/writing Mad Men/MFU crossovers, but I already did that. :)

***

And in a final shallow note...don't get me wrong, I love Natalie Morales and I'm enjoying White Collar, but...does anyone else think that her new hairstyle was a terrible, terrible mistake? I mean, really.

Ugh, I should be doing reading for class tomorrow. Unfortunately, this means either a) reading dense film criticism or b) reading James Joyce. So instead I am fucking around on the internet and watching Psych and moaning in pain from my pilates class earlier. Owwwwwww. (please don't tell me that senioritis is setting in already...)

A List of Random Things That Have Crossed My Mind Recently:

- I saw a guy with a "Consent is Sexy" shirt the other day. I really think this would make an interesting fic challenge. *waves magic wand*

- There really should be more Southland fic in the world to tide me over until the premiere in October. But I've been made happy by two pieces recently: the first We Are The Same, a fusion with Homicide: Life on the Street, which is pretty cool. But what really made me clap my hands and twirl around like River Tam a crazy person? copperbadge wrote a Southland fic! He is one of my favorite fandom writers, and has that annoying ability to walk into a fandom and nail it perfectly first time out. I'm not going to complain, though, because Protective Custody gives some amazingly good Cooper POV, along with being a damn nice partnership piece. Maybe I'll go read it again now...

- I saw a bit of this Elizabeth Bishop poem tacked up on some cheesy bulletin board on campus, but I loved the line "have we room / for one more folded sunset, still quite warm?" so I looked up the full thing. It's much more biting than that image led me to expect.

- This video of a group of people pulling off a con (the "Good Samaritan") makes me want to write Leverage fic. Or at least finish that post I'm working on about David Maurer's The Big Con and Leverage and con men throughout the ages.

- I finally watched the Middleman lost episode table read from ComicCon. OMG I'd forgotten how much I love them.

- In the course of my weird project last weekend (don't ask), I may have kinda developed a tiny crush on this YouTube channel host. She's this adorable Asian girl with an Australian accent, and she occasionally makes entire videos about winking. Or maybe I was sleep-deprived, who knows.

- I was super-excited about Tim Burton's upcoming Alice In Wonderland live-action movie just on the basis of Tim Burton being the perfect heir to Lewis Carroll's particular brand of weirdness, but -- dude, I didn't realize he'd cast Mia Wasikowska as Alice! The casting of Alice can make or break this particular story, and having seen Miss Wasikowska (gosh, her name is fun to say) knock the role of Sophie on In Treatment out of the park, well, color me thrilled. She's gonna ROCK. Plus, there's Johnny Depp, Alan Rickman, Helena Bonham Carter, Anne Hathaway, Christopher Lee, Crispin Glover, Michael Sheen, and Stephen Fry as the Cheshire Cat (OMG perfect). Their casting director must've had an orgasm from the sheer cinematic serendipity of that lineup.

- Speaking of Stephen Fry, he tweeted this gorgeous link the other day. I think I have to agree with him that #11 is my favorite.

- In the pursuit of happiness procrastination an old LJ exchange I had regarding Sam and Dean dressed in that leg-baring armor the Greeks wore (which is all the fault of this story, which is not really a good AU, but still manages to be a fun story -- the characters are OOC and oddly changed to Roman names. But they're not necessarily badly characterized. Which means it's basically a historical Roman gay romance with two main characters pre-cast as Jensen Ackles and Misha Collins, featuring Jensen Ackles wearing Thracian armor and fighting as a gladiator and the both of them arguing classical philosophy and pining, so I'm not complaining). Anyway, it got me poking around my old journal entries, which is loads of fun. For instance, I found the previously mentioned exchange, which happened to include a rather prescient discussion of Sam and Dean's relationship with their father in light of something my Classical Myth prof said; the time I got to see the total solar eclipse in Turkey because I was up at 5am; an alarmingly thinky response to Pirates of the Caribbean 3; the definition of petrichor, which is the smell of rain falling on dry ground (there are scientific reasons for it!); that post I made trying to figure out Benton Fraser's birthday which is also alarmingly in-depth but was terribly fun; one of copperbadge's old House fics, which made me want to start watching again (worth it, y/n?); and aww, my first impressions of SPN, all the way back when Sarah Shahi was still "Will's girlfriend Jenny from Alias" instead of "completely awesome Det. Dani Reese from Life." :D I have to say, the latter did make me start missing the more grounded elements of S1; they've lost more than a bit of Sam and Dean's connection to the people they're saving. The "saving people" part of Dean's oft-repeated "saving people, hunting things" has become awfully abstract.

Probably should cut-tag, but waaaaay too lazy. :(

I kinda want to read this guy's book.

And the story he tells would make a cool short film, don't you think? :)

Okay, getting back to work now... *sigh*

More Man From U.N.C.L.E.!

( 1.08 The Double Affair )

( 1.09 The Project Strigas Affair )

( 1.10 The Finny Foot Affair )

( 1.11 The Neptune Affair )

( 1.12 The Dove Affair )

( 1.13 The King of Knaves Affair )

I have to say, the only thing I don't like about this show so far is that it's hard to decide whether I want to focus on Illya or Napoleon more when they're onscreen together, because they're both so pretty played with such subtlety. Sometimes I have to go back and watch a scene again so I can watch both, and it's awfully inconvenient (but oh so fun). :D

From a film geek POV, it serves as an interesting reminder of how much more often in TV today they use cut-aways from a master shot into close-ups or inserts, rather than cutting between several different angles on the scene in the mid-to-long-shot range. The direction of the viewer's attention is much tighter (and consequently more manipulative); you aren't often allowed to choose what you look at in a scene, because the camera is always moving, and the editing is too fast for individually-driven contemplation of a tableau. While this is sometimes a good thing, I think, there is something to be said for letting the audience sink into a moment, and for the depth a fictional world gains by everyone in a shot acting as if they were the close-up. Granted, most actors aren't good enough or engaged enough to do the background-acting thing, but I love it when they do, and not doing it out of laziness is just sad.

For perhaps a more specific example rather than a lot of film-student blather, think of SPN. They generally shoot Sam and Dean's Dramatic Angsty Conversations (TM) as shot-reverse-shot; you see Sam's face, then Dean's, then Sam's. While this is fine, I can't help but wonder what it would be like to watch one of those convos in a long-take with both in frame, or even several takes from different angles but always with both in frame, rather than fragmenting it. Things like that are more like theater, in that the viewer's attention is intended or desired to follow certain things (like a dramatic arm gesture emphasizing one actor, or a spotlight follow), but the creators control it no further than a certain extent (i.e., maybe you're "supposed" to be focused on the swordfight, but you can watch the reactions of the romantic interest standing on the sidelines instead). In film, when they cut to a close-up of Dean, it doesn't matter that you maybe want to be watching Sam's reaction at that moment instead.

Anyway. I am a film nerd, perhaps I have mentioned recently? :)