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...

My review of Brothers Grimm...

Hey everyone! Jon here just gettin' back from watching Brothers Grimm on the silver screen and let me tell ya, it's a real treat. If you want a precursor to what you should expect, just watch every Gilliam film ever made, this film is an orgy of Gilliam visuals. The comedy in the film is reminiscent to Jabberwocky, the pacing of the film calls back to Baron Munchausen, the comradery of the Brothers is a love hate one not too different from Raoul Duke and Dr. Gonzo. Just throw in a little Jonathan Pryce and those crazy French and you have a film that we are all pre-destined to adore. Give it to Terry to take a big budget production and create something totally original out of the fairy tales that we already know and love. It is such a bizaar film with some very haunting imagery, grotesque humour and some great performances from the actors involved. Heath Ledger is particularly good and seems to connect better with the audience than Damon is able to, considering the nature of his incredulous character. Stormare's Cavaldi is a tortured individual with a loveable/demonic charm who has some great "moments" throughout the film. Lena Headey brings a fresh face to the film (for me anyway) and does a quality job as the leading lady. As for Monica Bellucci, I would really have liked to have more of her, but who wouldn't, right? All in all, I give it 3 1/2 stars out of 4 in comparison with other fantasy films that have been coming out. To compare it to Terry's past films, it's not one of his best and does start out a little slow, but the rest of the film and how it just get more and more psychotic in nature makes up for everything. Go see it, I highly recommend it

Complexities of Jon

Still waters run deep, but I feel a geyser is about to go off, at which point the ambiguity of this posting will be demolished to show the truth. Change is in the wind, but I have a fan to keep me cool until it reaches me. That's all I can tell you for now :)

The start of a new semester in life...

During the summer break I had the hardest time trying to choose what classes I wanted to take this fall. Then finally, sometime last week I narrowed my choices down to 3 courses that I was interested in: Creative Writing, Digital Film Editing and Drawing After careful consideration I've decided to enroll in the latter two of my choices. The Creative Writing class, although I'm sure it would have been interesting, just didn't hold any promise. I think as far as having the ability to write creatively goes, I'm good for now, I'm happy with what I'm creating when I put pen to paper. But my drawing skills have diminished due to lack of practice and I really want to take a crash course in editing so I won't be lost while editing with my new editing software at home. My drawing class started tonight. The classroom is at Fort Mason in the Marina on a beautiful location with a clear view of both Alcatraz and the Golden Gate bridge. I arrived over an hour early so I took to working on my script as I sat at the edge of the dock to enjoy the sound of the bay waters crashing against the pier and the pelicans swooping across the bay in "V" formation. There's a pic up on my profile of me while I was writing. My art teacher is cool, the first thing he told us was that he'd been an Art teacher at CCSF since 1972, which got a good chuckle from the class. I'm not sure whether or not he meant it as a joke, but it was funny nonetheless. When he speaks he shakes his head just like Will Ferrell does when he immitates Harry Carey. And he's missing half a pinky on his left hand. At the end of class he asked if there were any questions regarding the syllabus, I had to bite my tongue before I dared to ask how he lost it. He looks sorta like Geoffrey Lewis, Juliette Lewis' dad, only he has more hair and a white mustache.

How'd I miss it?

Remember that cruddy Raul Midon CD that I hated? Well, I sold it to Raspy's (Rasputin Music) today and got a whole $2 for it. Thanks alot impulse buying bug and Virgin return policy! In return, I got myself a couple of used DVDs. The classic "Better Off Dead" (Gee, I'm sorry your mom blew up, Ricky) and "Panic Room". I only saw the second half of "Panic Room" this past weekend, and even then it was fragmented viewing as I was cleaning my apartment. But what I saw simply amazed me and held me in suspense for the parts that I was able to watch. I was shocked when I saw a used "Superbit" DVD version of it at Rasputin for only $3! How could I not get it! My DVD collection is growing immensely, along with my CD collection. I may have to invest in a good sized "Media Cabinet" sooner or later to house all my "stuff".