The Corpse Bride...

Only Tim Burton can take an old Ukrainian fairy tale derived from a dark European anti-semitic history and turn it into something so delightful, colorful and visually gratifying as is "The Corpse Bride". Stop motion filmmaking has truly made some advances since his genius Nightmare Before Christmas, plus with the inclusion of a little CGI for making fog and other effects everything in this film is seemless, beautiful and every frame has the Tim Burton stamp on it (Tim Burton stamp = a spiral or swirl). My only complaints about the film are that for one, there are far too many puns in the script. Sure, some of them are quite charming and creative, but then there's a point where you're like "OK, enough". And second, the ending felt just a little too abrupt, I won't tell you why. True, everything in the end is resolved and makes sense when you remember what the very first shot of the film was, but I guess at a running time of 1hr 15min I suppose any ending WOULD feel abrupt. But despite any complaints, it's thoroughly enjoyable, I nearly had a smile on my face throughout the entire film.

A tiny motorcycle and yellow jumpsuit...

I watched "Bottle Rocket" in its entirety last night for the first time. I'd seen parts of it on Comedy Central before and was intrigued by its absurdity, that and I'm already a big Wes Anderson fan. As I was pointing out to some of my co-workers today, and as other have pointed out to me, Wes Anderson films don't really ever feel like films. There's a quiet reality to them that's mixed with some indescribably surreal elements that almost make you forget that you're watching a movie. He's constantly breaking from formula and showing us the world as he sees it, nearly every shot engages me as do the complexities of all his characters. He's truly up in my top 10 list of favorite directors, and it's not only because it's suddenly hip to like Wes Anderson, I truly admire him as a film artist. "The Corpse Bride" opens this weekend, I'll probably see it tomorrow with my friends Ben & Lela. I'm super excited, which is my typical feeling whenever a new Tim Burton film is released. But I'm also interested to see what kinds of advances they've made in stop motion animation. Telling from the trailers the motion looks somewhat cleaner, as do the surfaces of the animated faces, you'll be reading a review of it before the end of the weekend for sure.

Skippin' school for some alternative inspiration...

I walked out of the office today at 4:30 planning on goin' to my Art class up in the Marina. Well, that plan went out the window when my personal mood and fatigue vetoed that idea and guided me to the land of escapism...the movie theatre. Having seen "City of God" only a few months ago, I was easily amazed by Fernando Meirelles' abilities as a director, and that forced me to place some trust in the fact that "The Constant Gardener" was going to be yet another amazing film. My wife, being quite sensitive when it comes to dramatic and/or disturbing cinema, would not come with me to see it. So I went by myself to the film, which is something I do often as with some films I actually prefer it. It makes the experience of watching the film MY OWN experience, and sometimes it makes it more special. "The Constant Gardener" indeed is a great film. Shot documentary style, using really long lenses nearly the entire time, even on closeups, really gave it the effect it needed to keep our eyes busy and our emotions engaged even during some of the down moments. Now, this isn't a bloodbath like City of God was, but Meirelles really knows how to construct a film where we deeply care for the characters and know almost exactly what they're feeling at any given time. We know that the couple in this story are deeply in love, due to some mysterious findings we have our own accusations that perhaps one of them was unfaithful at any given time, yet the other continues to fight and follow the trail ahead of him to find the truth. Among all the conspiracies with Pharmaceutical companies, the Kenyan and UK governments and the people who are behind a cruelly motivated murder this film is ultimately about love and how love truly does conquer all, whether or not the story is a happy or a sad ending. I walked out of the theatre with a different view on the world that surrounded me. I watched people as I passed them on the street and listened to the sounds of the city in a way I hadn't before. I was spiritually and morally uplifted but also perhaps a bit more cautious as I had a re-realisation that everything that surrounds me is so fragile and can be taken away in a heartbeat. I am indeed thankful. So go see "The Constant Gardener", there's not a regret that you'll have

Mos Def-initely...

Being bored on a Saturday afternoon makes me go out and buy things, namely "media" products. Therefore, today around 1pm I hopped on the bus headed downtown so I could make a visit to Rasputin Music. When I arrived I immediatly went to the DVD floor and instantly grabbed the new "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" disc, great movie, just thoroughly entertaining in my opinion. I then took the "Transporter Room" aka elevator back down to the 2nd level to look through CD's. It had been a while since I'd looked through the hip hop section, so basically I strolled down the aisle looking for interesting covers. Mos Def's "Black on Both Sides" caught my eye, I listened to some of it at work the other day and enjoyed nearly every track that my co-worker played, so I decided to get it for myself. It wasn't until I got to the cashier that I noticed that I was about to purchase two items that both had Mos Def in'em. I had a chuckle to myself and declared my Saturday the "Jon wide Mos Def day". I also downloaded another one of his albums, "The New Danger", it's definitely a different kind of hip hop album. He takes every influence he could have and throws'em into one piece of modern recording art. Simply awesome. I'd forgotten how much I appreciated true hip hop, and not the thug life talkin' about big booties.

When poor black people are in perile...

...poor black people die. Apparently that's the strongest domestic policy in the Bush Administration. Disgusting

What's really going on?

Wow, it's been a while since my last posting. I guess that's manifest of how busy I've been, because when I'm incredibly busy everything really seems like a blur, at least I have the sense enough to actually come out with some kind of worthwhile result in the end though. So school has started and it's a lot funner than I expected. Three hours a night isn't so bad when you're doing something you love. I hadn't looked at my short films in a while and I've fallen in love with them again as I am at the moment capturing them to my hard-drive for editing in my FCP class. I'm hoping to finish editing at least 3 of my films this semester, maybe 4 if I feel like even completing what I feel is my worst short film. It had disaster written all over it when I cast it, but at least the soundtrack was good, ha ha. Today's labor day. Katie and I decided to visit the SF landmark "The Ferry Building". Honestly, there isn't much there. A couple restaurants, some office buildings upstairs and a nice view of Treasure Island and the Bay Bridge. After looking at a couple of the restaurants that were open today, we really didn't see anything appetizing. It was all greasy fast food fit to fill the stomachs of hungry tourists. So we decided to do something that seemed to me slightly European (although I know very little about Euros or their diets), we went to ACME bread and got a nice long baguette. i was hoping to get the "Sweet Baguette" since it's airier and has the overly floured outside that I'm such a fan of. But apparently they were out of it. No worries. After paying a cold $1.50 for the bread we went next door to the cheese monger (I love that word) and got ourselves a few ounces of the tastiest Gorgonzola I've ever tasted. Our next stop was a little produce shop where we got an Asian Pear and a sweet juicy peach. We decided to go outside where the view of the island was and eat our light meal. We grabbed a couple Italian Sodas from a little refreshment booth and went outside. How was I to know that today was take your loud animals to the Ferry Building day? 3 pugs, 2 other little yappers, a big black lab and somebody's Cockatu were out there all arguing as if some wild racial battle had ensued between species. The pugs were fighting with eachother as if they were all from different economic classes of pug, the yappers were yelling at the cockatu for being so beautiful and getting all the attention. And the cockatu was barking back at the yappers just to mock them. The cockatu should have been called the mockingbird. The cheese we got was so creamy and yummy and succulent. I spread it onto a broken off piece of baguette as I marvelled at the buds of bluish green fungus that had grown inside the flavorful fromage. Once it was spread evenly on the bread I sliced off a piece of peach and layed it on the bread and folded it up like a sandwich. I took my first bite and felt my madula omblangata suddenly relax as I experienced utter bliss from the many flavors that were being welcomed to my lusting palate. The peach balanced out the strong taste of the gorgonzola, the bread served as the tasty utensil and I was the vehicle being fueled. It was glorious. After eating we moved on to Fisherman's Wharf. I find myself more and more bored wit the place the more I visit it. We walked around a bit, dodged tourists, laughed at sea lions then grabbed some chowder at Boudin. I hate that new building of theirs, it's such an eyesore and looks so out of place, but I like their sandwiches so much that I couldn't help but gravitate there and take advantage of the half sandwich & a bowl of chowder deal. Splended it was. All in all, today was a good day. We rented a couple flicks. Katie was in the mood for a good horror flick so as we walked around the horror section I spotted Bill Paxton's directorial debut "Frailty". I was intrigued to watch it back in 2001 when it came out, but never got around to it. Such a great film, many elements of Hitchcock with a great story that gets to you if you've ever existed as a member of a family in any form. Class again tomorrow, let the piecing together of the puzzle begin...