but i thought you loved music?

How do you not know that song? I thought you loved music? 

Someone said this to me yesterday when referencing the song, which I had to Google, Moves Like Jagger.

Audiophiles reading this might wince at the mention of that song, or if you’re like me and had never heard it (now I wince as I listened), it will be met with a blank stare. And I say this not to be a music snob, it’s merely that I do not listen to radio outside of the stations here in Vancouver/Seattle or my own music collection. I don’t have cable, so I don’t watch a lot of television on networks either. Some may call this a bubble, but hey, it’s well insulated and I serve lots of tea.

I dislike statements or questions like the one posed to me; which is essentially saying because you’re a fan of something means you should know everything about that one thing. Same thing used to happen with me when I was a film student; How have you not seen that? I thought you studied film? What do you mean you don’t like so and so – it made Xillion dollars at the box office.

Hey, there is a lot of art out there and I’m a firm believer that it comes into your life when you’re ready for it.  Also, if one spent their days just watching films or listening to music non-stop, it would actually make living your life a bit difficult and if you can’t do the latter it’s going to make your appreciation and understanding of all that art suffer.*

But it’s so popular, how do you not like it?

To me this is the difference between carrots and asparagus. I can never go back to just normal carrots when I’m cooking veggies. I’ve been ruined by the good stuff. I will add carrots, or dip them in hummus when I’m lazing on the couch on a Saturday afternoon, but I will never just steam carrots as a side when asparagus is out there.

This is how I feel about music and film.

Sometimes I wish I could watch a film without the lense of a film student, or listen to music without the ear of having been a lifelong fan of many different genres, it’s very hard to shut those voices off.  They can be subdued in the right moment, to a whisper, and you know, sometimes they need to be. Yet, they are always crawling their way back up.

And man, do they hate carrots.

*My rationale for why I waited so long to watch Star Wars and Lord of the Rings.

the picture is up

Ascending, descending…staircase scenes in films are my favourite. Perhaps it’s the film student in me. Have you seen The Artist?

I’d heard such mixed reviews, despite all the awards it’s been receiving, but finally watched it today. It played out as exactly as I had suspected, and was an enjoyable film.

Wasn’t groundbreaking, or fantastic, but was certainly good and made me smile and want to dance. What more can we ask from a silent picture? I felt the secondary characters were great in the film; both John Goodman and James Cromwell fit their roles perfectly.  Now I’d like to watch Singin’ in the Rain and Modern Times.

he’s right on top of us. i wonder if he is using the same wind we are using.

I was reading this piece on io9, which lists their top ten words of wisdom from sci-fi/fantasy films. I thought it fitting, as I had just started rereading The NeverEnding Story, which made the list.

“Never give up and good luck will find you.”

Well, we can’t dive down a hole of cynicism all the time — especially when we’ve watched The NeverEnding Story at an early age. When a big hairy dragon says good luck will find you, and then helps a skinny little fantasy-reader-nerd terrify his bullies, and then flies him off to a magical kingdom, sometimes even the stoniest heart has to melt.

More often, catchphrases always stick with me from films, “I’d buy that for a dollar!” and the like, but I enjoyed this list.

Still, they left off a piece from Harry Potter I thought should have made the cut. The scene between Dumbledore and Harry at Kings Cross station.

“Tell me one last thing,” said Harry, “Is this real? Or has this been happening inside my head?” Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real? 

Filmic words of wisdom that would make your list?

beginners

The Skin Horse had lived longer in the nursery than any of the others. He was so old that his brown coat was bald in patches and showed the seams underneath, and most of the hairs in his tail had been pulled out to string bead necklaces. He was wise, for he had seen a long succession of mechanical toys arrive to boast and swagger, and by-and-by break their mainsprings and pass away, and he knew that they were only toys, and would never turn into anything else. For nursery magic is very strange and wonderful, and only those playthings that are old and wise and experienced like the Skin Horse understand all about it.

“What is REAL?” asked the Rabbit one day, when they were lying side by side near the nursery fender, before Nana came to tidy the room. “Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick-out handle?”

“Real isn’t how you are made,” said the Skin Horse. “It’s a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real.”

“Does it hurt?” asked the Rabbit.

“Sometimes,” said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. “When you are Real you don’t mind being hurt.”

“Does it happen all at once, like being wound up,” he asked, “or bit by bit?”

“It doesn’t happen all at once,” said the Skin Horse. “You become. It takes a long time. That’s why it doesn’t happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don’t matter at all, because once you are Real you can’t be ugly, except to people who don’t understand.”

“I suppose you are real?” said the Rabbit. And then he wished he had not said it, for he thought the Skin Horse might be sensitive.

But the Skin Horse only smiled.

~Excerpt from The Velveteen Rabbit

***

This was a great film. You should watch it.

he lit the room

George was always my favourite of all The Beatles.

This week I watched George Harrison: Living in the Material World, the HBO documentary on his life directed by Martin Scorsese. It was lengthy, nearing 4 hours, but it came in two parts and I didn’t feel like it dragged. Part 1 mainly dealt with The Beatles, and Part 2 on his solo career and life post Beatles. I had no idea he was so closely involved with Monty Python. He financed their first film, and subsequent others. Quite an extraordinary life.

If you enjoy watching rock documentaries, it’s a good one to check out. But bring a snack.

What’s your favourite Beatles song?

everyone is slipping backwards

One of the key players in the new film Drive is without a doubt the soundtrack.

I can’t recall being this taken with a soundtrack since seeing Lost in Translation.

Maybe it’s because I do some of my best listening in the car, and I’m sucker for synthpop. I also kind of like when the sun bounces off the windshield and blinds you.

Do you have a favourite film soundtrack?

Here’s the Chromatics new song, Kill for Love. Their song Tick of the Clock was featured in Drive.

popcorn and m&m’s

Even though I favour the books over the films, I am still a little bit excited to see the final Harry Potter film, which was released yesterday. I will admit I didn’t care for the last few, but I have hopes they didn’t mess it up, and from what I’ve been hearing it sounds as though I won’t be disappointed. I only wish I didn’t have to wait another week to see it.

A film that’s exceeded expectations recently? Or one you were disappointed with?

not a pirates life for me

Last night I went to see Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, the fourth installment of the film franchise.

Before entering the cinema I had not seen a trailer, or read a review. I was going purely on the fact I had enjoyed all other three films (the first two especially). I shall not make that mistake again. It’s rare I start to nod off in the theatre, and I definitely fell asleep for a little bit last night. Even the previous three films – given their length – all kept a relatively lively pace. This one did not, and it was only 2 hours.

As the story really didn’t keep me interested last night (quest for the fountain of youth), I started to ponder other successful franchises and wondered has there been a solid franchise that’s kept it up after the first three films? Even the Harry Potter series I would argue has been slipping since the fourth film. Star Trek was the only other series that came to mind where my favourite is past the first three.

What about you, what’s your favourite film series? What do you think makes it work? Keeping with the same director? Writer?

trumpets and balloons

I’ve been missing my writing class.

It challenged me in a way I wasn’t expecting, and since it ended, I just haven’t been feeling the same.

Not that I ever needed the class to write, it just provided an excellent head space. That space is sometimes hard to recapture, and nothing that can ever be forced. Yet I’ve been trying to jump-start things a bit, in hopes a spark will ignite a full flame. So the re-watching of favourite foreign films has commenced.  We touched on Godard the other day, tonight it was Fellini.

I love that feeling – the knowing what’s coming next, but still being excited. I watched La Dolce Vita without the subtitles this eve, and it still had the same effect. Perhaps this is because I studied it in school, and one doesn’t forget having to write a 20 page paper on a 3 minute scene. Yet it’s because of that very fact I pick up on the subtleties in every film I watch now. Watching movement unfold can be just as important as catching the dialogue.

I pick up on the subtleties in everything I write now too. The sitting up until 2am in the morning rewinding the VCR to catch the almost unnoticed hand gesture manifests itself into how I construct my words.

And sometimes when you get it right, like a good piece of music, or a universal gesture, no translation is needed.

Your go-to film? Or the last film to inspire you?

everything and nothing

One of my all time favourites.

Godard’s Bande à part

You should really watch this if you have a penchant for French cinema. Or just good cinema, really. I mean there’s handclaps even.

Last good film you watched?