Day #361 ...
Mar. 16th, 2021 05:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkatI got my binoculars - no not the ones I'd ordered for my birthday and never came. These are the ones I ordered on Sunday. Celestron as opposed to Vortex. They are cheaper and do basically the same thing. Amazon delivered it in their white envelope and I grabbed it right after I got the notice.
Also got a new intercom installed. It took about two and 1/2 hours. One to remove. They disappeared for about an hour. Then installed the new one.
I was advised to push speaker first, then the unlock button. Never just push the unlock button or key first. Also, it won't work until Thursday.
Didn't sleep well last night. My own fault - I went to bed angry. Never a good idea. So as a result, I had weird nightmares where I was fighting with or yelling at people. I don't remember what it was about. But I work up tired, and groggy. And with the weather shifts, I've had a dull sinus headache all day long - plus I want a nap. I kept drifting off this morning, so I got myself some hot chocolate. It helped for a bit. Got lunch, talked to mother - who is frustrated and thinks she's going to immobile and homebound forever. And wonders if she'll ever walk again. Then went back to work.
To stave off boredom, I entertained myself by reading reviews of the Snydercut of The Justice League movie. I would say it was a new movie, but it really isn't. It's just an elongated re-cut version of the previous one released in 2017. The critics don't appear to like it much better than they liked the previous version - actually they like the previous one better - because it was shorter. I have a feeling this version from all reports should be watched over a couple of days and not all at once. It's kind of broken up in a way that works better for streaming according to the reviews.
From what I've read to date? If you are a huge Snyder fan - you'll love the movie. If you are ambivalent or not, you'll be either lost or bored.
Curious to see if it does well.
Also to stave off boredom, I continued my discussions with the folks on scans daily about the movie. Did get one compliment for being rational and logical about it. After everything I've read, and all the information I've gathered on the topic? I've come to the conclusion that maybe the allegations against Whedon were exaggerated or blown out of proportion? God knows. I wasn't there. It doesn't really matter what I or any of us think about it. And honestly, it happened a long time ago. Whedon's moved on. We're in the middle of a pandemic. People are dying. Hello.
Oh well, at least I got my binoculars. Now I can entertain myself watching birds outside my dirty windows.
Also got a new intercom installed. It took about two and 1/2 hours. One to remove. They disappeared for about an hour. Then installed the new one.
I was advised to push speaker first, then the unlock button. Never just push the unlock button or key first. Also, it won't work until Thursday.
Didn't sleep well last night. My own fault - I went to bed angry. Never a good idea. So as a result, I had weird nightmares where I was fighting with or yelling at people. I don't remember what it was about. But I work up tired, and groggy. And with the weather shifts, I've had a dull sinus headache all day long - plus I want a nap. I kept drifting off this morning, so I got myself some hot chocolate. It helped for a bit. Got lunch, talked to mother - who is frustrated and thinks she's going to immobile and homebound forever. And wonders if she'll ever walk again. Then went back to work.
To stave off boredom, I entertained myself by reading reviews of the Snydercut of The Justice League movie. I would say it was a new movie, but it really isn't. It's just an elongated re-cut version of the previous one released in 2017. The critics don't appear to like it much better than they liked the previous version - actually they like the previous one better - because it was shorter. I have a feeling this version from all reports should be watched over a couple of days and not all at once. It's kind of broken up in a way that works better for streaming according to the reviews.
From what I've read to date? If you are a huge Snyder fan - you'll love the movie. If you are ambivalent or not, you'll be either lost or bored.
Curious to see if it does well.
Also to stave off boredom, I continued my discussions with the folks on scans daily about the movie. Did get one compliment for being rational and logical about it. After everything I've read, and all the information I've gathered on the topic? I've come to the conclusion that maybe the allegations against Whedon were exaggerated or blown out of proportion? God knows. I wasn't there. It doesn't really matter what I or any of us think about it. And honestly, it happened a long time ago. Whedon's moved on. We're in the middle of a pandemic. People are dying. Hello.
Oh well, at least I got my binoculars. Now I can entertain myself watching birds outside my dirty windows.
no subject
Date: 2021-03-17 04:14 am (UTC)Fascinating. I don't think I've ever seen a Malick film that I didn't like, and some, to me, are simply stunning, like The New World or Days of Heaven. I do like your observation about "painting pictures with film". That certainly describes Malick, and I'm sure that's why his works resonate with me. I kind of suspect that if I had ever become a filmmaker, I'd probably try to do that.
*******
Unrelated, but I've wanted to ask you for a while now-- have you heard from cjl at all? Is he OK? He hasn't posted in quite a while, I'm becoming concerned.
Thanks.
no subject
Date: 2021-03-17 01:27 pm (UTC)He was, to my knowledge, only responding to other people's posts from about September 2020 to December 2020, then stopped. And he was only responding to my music and television and film memes, along with wendahl and beergood's. When I switched to gratitude and book meme - he stopped responding. He wasn't posting at all - since about July 2020, I think.
CJL is like beergoodfoamy - he comes and goes, like the wind. Posts for a brief period then disappears completely. Then comes back then disappears. He's been doing that since 2004.
Sometimes he'll disappear for a year or two.
It's why I'm not all that concerned. He's not a frequent blogger like we are.
I do know that he has a family, his wife is a teacher, and his son goes to school, and he works in a bank - so during a pandemic - that's going to take its toll. And he may want a break from it?
He doesn't tend to use dreamwidth for the same reasons I do - I know that.
Anyhow, no, I've not heard from him since around November or December when I finished my film, music and television and horror memes.
****
On filmmakers like Malick? I admittedly find films that are mainly into the cinematography kind of boring. I need a story - and dialogue and characterization. My brother on the other hand is the exact opposite - he prefers the visual style, and doesn't care about dialogue or story. It was the type of photography/artist/filmmaker that my brother was in school - he was more of a conceptual artist - into the look of the thing. He and his wife are both designers. They are the same way about music - more into the composition or sound of the piece. While I care about the words. Although there is cross over of course.
The only Malick film I've made it all the way through was Tree of Life. The others...I get bored rather quickly and change channels. Snyder is kind of a busier nosier version of Malick - he likes a lot of noise and visuals, but cares little for story or words. Neither are writers.
Christopher Plummer who was in The New World - states he has this long important monologue and various scenes. He sees the film, and realizes that he can barely tell that he is even in it. He just hears his conversation as noise and can make out his voice somewhere in the background, dimly. Terence, Plummer states in the Oscar Roundtable (this was about five years ago? It's on Youtube and I stumbled across it late one night recently), is not a writer or not a good one. He has no idea what story he is going to tell. Just writes reams. Has everyone act it. Then pulls everything out in the editing. The film is basically created in the editing room - with 85% of the story on the editing room floor.
Snyder doesn't go that far, but he is similar.
Lots of pretty paintings, not a lot of story.
no subject
Date: 2021-03-18 07:28 am (UTC)do know that he has a family, his wife is a teacher, and his son goes to school, and he works in a bank - so during a pandemic - that's going to take its toll. And he may want a break from it?
I was thinking along the same lines, and certainly hope that's the case, and that it's not a COVID issue with him or a family member.
If you do hear from him off-line, please pass along that I was asking about him.
Re: Malick...
It's all just more proof how different minds process things differently. One of the more striking moments I've had in my movie-viewing years was sitting in the theater watching The New World when it was released, and about ten or so minutes into the film realizing that there was no dialog! Just a series of images, sounds, music flowing along that for me, told a story perfectly without words.
I enjoy well-written dialog, so for me it's never an either/or situation, which I've come to realize that I'm (once again) unusual. I seem to simply go with whatever flow the filmmakers want to present, and try to shift my mental gears into their viewpoint instead of imposing mine over it. Doesn't always work, since of course some films are not done well, but I always try to give the benefit of the doubt.
In any event, your comments inspired me to locate some old screencaps from DVDs I was into collecting some years back, one set of which was from The New World. I'm posting some of them on my blog, so you may enjoy checking them out! Photographically speaking, they are simply gorgeous, IMO.
no subject
Date: 2021-03-18 12:23 pm (UTC)Re Malick:
Oh I love beautiful cinematography - I just need more in a film. My brother is more like you as is his wife - in which the sound and look...are in some respects more captivating than the narrative or narrative structure. It's not that they don't love a good story or narrative structure - they do, it's just their focus and concern is more on the technical aspects of the visuals, sound editing, etc. It's because they are coming at it from a film or cinematographic perspective. Examples? My brother's favorite superhero film is the Ang Lee film - The Incredible Hulk - which is the one no one remembers that well - but from a visual perspective? It's amazing. Lee films it like he is doing a graphic comic, with split screens extra. My brother also loved Kubrick's 2001 - he adores this film, the sound, the editing, the style, even if there's not much story or narrative structure, and the actors largely don't matter. The visual metaphors, and technique behind it is amazing to him - he took his daughter to see it with a symphonic orchestra. And he felt the same way about the Titantic - the visuals he fell in love with, and how it was scored, not the songs - the orchestra scoring.
All of those films - I can appreciate, but I found them boring, and I had no interest in re-watching. He hated Rain Man - his wife and him ripped it to shreds. The visual style and filmmaking was too simplestic. I enjoyed it - because my focus was on the performances of the actors and the dialogue. My brother loves live concerts - I find them uninteresting, and for the most part not worth my time. I love live musicals, plays, dance or ballet - my brother is uninterested in these art forms. He likes performance art, but he doesn't tend to like musicals or plays at all.
We do occasionally meet in the middle here and there. We both loved Buffy/Angel, and enjoyed Star Wars, and have loved other films. But we also hit divides. He loved the film Bohemian Rhapsody, and I hated it, why? We focused on different things. He focused on the technique behind the visuals and sound, I focused on the story, dialogue, narrative structure and performances. While I admit the visuals and sound were excellent - that's not enough, while in contrast, I've loved films and shows with little visual or sound artistry, and he can appreciate them, they aren't enough for him without the other. It's not really an either/or, just more a preference?