End of the Summer Moviewatching

Sin City- third viewing, love the movie, it could be Kill Bill 3 in my opinion, wish there were more special features

The Perfect Score- some what better than I thought, it's filled with young stars that are making it big as we speak. But at the same time very predictable.

Miss Congeniality 2- similar to the first good for a laugh, rented in Colorado.

Because of winn dixie- nicely made sappy children's movie, but then again it was a book, rented in Colorado.

Fat Albert- rented by my sister, it was ok, sort of stupid, I don't recall how it did in the box office. Guest appearances but Aaron Carter and Joel from Good Charlotte, i bet that sold a lot of tickets.

Bride and Prejudice- from the director of Bend it Like Beckham, Bollywood meets Hollywood, a semi-musical that travels from India to England to LA and back again, has some hilarious characters.

The Upside of Anger- I was surprised to find out the gross radio producer in the movie was the writer and director! He is very talented. Had hilarious moments and sad moments, I felt like I didn't really get to know the daughters and felt like their stories were left unfinished.

The Brother's Grimm- in the tradition to ensemble cast action adventures like The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, it had funny times and really cheesy times. It was ok though.

Constantine- much better than I thought it would be. Keanu Reeves was pretty good, enjoyed seeing the good and evil reveal themselves, I liked it

I Capture the Castle- nice, funny movie. Still have to finish the book, I was disappointed by the ending, I didn't want to be but I was, I felt bad for the girl.

Shaun of the Dead- hilarious zombie movie, the beginning is great and has some really cool shots but by the time the zombie war in going on full force it got pretty boring.

Dogville- it was a play on film, was about 3 hours long. Strange set and Grace's reason for running away was strange, weird ending.

Analyze That- less annoying than the first movie, but in the same tradition, it was ok.

The Big Chill- reminds me of St Elmo's fire but maybe 7 years later. Glenn Close and Kevin Klein and Jeff Goldblum in their younger years, I would suggest it!

End of the Summer Reading

Blink- newer book by the author of the Tipping Point, both were very good but I think I enjoyed Tipping Point a bit more. Read both and tell me what you think.

The True and Outstanding Adventures of the Hunt Sisters- written in the form of letters and emails, sad story of two sister's one trying to make it in hollywood and the other going through cancer, fast read, it was ok.

The Idiot Girl's Action Adventure Club- hilarious set of short articles in the book form from a 20 something's life. It's hilarious non-fiction. I loved the stories about her neighbors, two little girls that would come over to bug her all the time.

The Namesake- great story about an Indian family moving to the US and their American born children.

End of the Summer

Going to Colorado tomorrow for a week and then a few days later back to school. So talk to you all later. Enjoy your end of the summer!

I felt like representing.

Motion City Soundtrack was on Conan tonight, good for them! Let this serve as a reminder of their awesomeness.

Sin City Drops today!

Today Sin City came out on dvd. To me it could be considered Kill Bill Vol. III! If you haven't seen it you should. But if you have a weak stomach for graphic (comic) violence make sure to have your hand ready to put over your face.

My Week of Bookathoning

Lucia, Lucia- enjoyed it much more than I thought I would. Set in the 1950s New York an young Italian girl and the most memorable year of her life.

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince- ooohhhh. So good. I read that thing like there was no tomorrow.

Me Talk Pretty One Day- hilarious, hilarious, thanks so much for the suggestion, you guys know who you are!

Nickel and Dimed- read it in a day in preparation for the Freshman Into the Book Seminar that I am helping with. It was depressing in a sense but also really informative at times even funny.

Thumbsucker- saw the trailer for the upcoming movie and then found out it was a book, set in Minnesota none the less. About a teenage boys addiction to thumbsucking, when it is stopped by his dentist he turns to a variety of other sources of fulfillment.

Now I'm onto BLINK

Recently in Movies

Spongebob Squarepants movie- my favorite part was when someone (some fish) yells out "You're a knucklehead mcspazatron", that was hilarious and when Spongebob and Patrick ice cream it up until they are "drunk". Besides that it was like the show, funny and then really annoying.

Thirteen- freaky, at times I would have liked some narration... it was a messed up movie.

Ella Enchanted- in the sense of Disney cute, the songs were not necessary, that was too cheesy, the Princess Diaries is much better

Vanity Fair- very long, spans several decades in Becky's life, some of the sets were really beautiful and some of the characters were great, didn't much care for the one we were supposed to care for though, the main character, but I guess it was trying to stay true to the book, same director as Monsoon Wedding, I'd suggest that

Elf- probably the 3rd or 4th time I've seen it, Will Ferrell is great, it's for children and adults alike, much better than Kicking and Screaming, plus it's main setting is NYC!

A Very Long Engagement- I've been dying to see this and it was really wonderful. Aesthetically it matches Amelie, the behind the scenes feature was really good as well. I would suggest it!

Envy- it was just as bad as I heard it was. Sort of pointless, funny at times but really stupid.

Get Shorty- I felt like I had seen this before, maybe on tv. Now I'm excited to see Be Cool.

Being Julia- I didn't really care for it, I don't see why it was nominated for great acting. It was a bunch of drama and complaining.

Talk to Her- really strange, it's about two men that meet at a hospital, one a caregiver and another the boyfriend, both of women that were in comas. It's Spanish, I guess I would suggest it if you are up for something out of the ordinary and sort of creepy.

Printmaking 2: The Final Prints

Obsession

My 4th print, for the class project "Obsession". It has 6 pulls (layers) and is a full bleed print meaning when I printed it I printed right off the page. I made 26 of them because the people in the class that are participating are trading with everyone else that participated. So that's kind of fun, I'll have a collection of around 16 prints by other people. (This is actually not the exact version of the edition, its the same but this one has more yellow.)


Isadora and her pet tapir Crystal

This is probably my wildest print. It have 21 pulls so it was time consuming. To say the least its interesting. Basically its a wild rich lady with her exotic pet.
High Voltage

I've shown this already, but you can see at the bottom a hint of a gloss layer that reads "Danger". It was 10 pulls.

Appreciation

The same but with gray line work around the figure. It was als0 10 pulls.

Printmaking: The Progress

I thought since I had my camera out I would take some pictures of my as yet unfinished prints. I guess you could say they are different than what I usually do, but not so much. I'm trying to work more with pattern. They are close to done, the first one more so. All the main elements are present though.

Recently in Books

Bergdorf Blondes- finished this chick lit book a week ago. I had to read it because more than a year ago I almost picked it up for free because it was an advanced copy my local bookstore had received and it was free to anyone who stopped by along with probably 15 other books. I didn't get it and then a few months later it was a bestseller! I thought I owed it to the book to finally read it. It was pretty funny, documenting the fictional life of a rich NYC girl and her awfully annoying friends. The ending was all too cliche but still pretty cute. You'd know it if you wanted to read it, it's one of those books

The Pleasure of My Company- I picked this up at the school library last week while I was trying to kill time before returning to class to talk to my teacher. It's by Steve Martin the actor. I had read his other book Shopgirl and enjoyed it so I figured why not. This book is about a man with obsessive compulsive disorder and some of his daily observations from his window and his struggles to get to Rite Aid and Kinkos. It's really short so I would suggest it.

The Know It All- I am currently reading this book. It's one man's memoir documenting his year long journey through his 2002 set of Encyclopaedia Britannica (he even explains that strange spelling). Right now I am on the J's. He mixes interesting facts, his daily life: wife, friends, and job, with some of his journeys through what is smart. He has a great sense of humor and a lot of commitment! I originally heard him on a panel on C-Span 2 Book TV and am very glad I picked this book up!

UPDATE- just finished the Know It All and it was so great! Fun facts and a memoir. I forgot to mention he is working on a screenplay of his book now!!! Just started Lucia, Lucia, it looks promising.

Any suggestions... dont' worry I will have Harry Potter in my hands very soon

Last Two Weeks in Movies

Smoke Signals- interesting, I thought it was building up to something but it just sort of ended....

Fantastic Four- just what I expected, it was funny and full of action, didn't have a very good plot, but I was prepared for that

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory- better than I expected, it was hilarious, go see it now! look for the new oompha loopma songs

Dodgeball- rewatched this for a second time, funny, but not as funny as Old School but in the same genre

The Graduate- really sort of strange, it's from '67 so I didn't expect to be familiar with that type of filmmaking, although the director is still directing right now. It was strange how two songs were played over and over again like 3 or 4 times. For a PG movie it was interesting what was shown and what was just mouthed instead of spoken, strange....

Bottle Rocket- Wes Anderson's 1st movie, this was my third viewing, I bought it for 2 dollars, even though it was an illegal promotional copy...... i wanted the movie and they were selling it! It's not as great as his other movies but it sticks with his theme of humorous dialogue and situations, I like it more and more everytime I see it

Overboard- classic 80's movie. It's hilarious and sweet. I hope you've seen it

Mean Girls- I can't recall anyone that doesn't like this movie. It's hilarious, has a good message and is based on Non-Fiction, usually those don't turn into movies! Great stuff!

Clueless- it was pretty much my favorite movie until the Royal Tenebaums came along, it still has a place in my heart. After watching Clueless and Mean Girls right in a row they sort of have similar stuff going on. You know what I mean??

Trying out a new feature

Since I'm totally a photography person this could persuade me to intentionally take more pictures we will see. This is right next to my apartment. I think it's pretty.

Have there been any third remakes of any movies?

Because of the overload of movie remakes this summer it got me thinking. Why haven't there been any third versions of movies? Just beat an idea alittle more to death. There have got to be some but I can't recall any. Can anyone think of any. And I don't mean made for TV movies or straight to video.

Screenprinting: A Love/Hate relationship

This is my second time around in screenprinting, this time I'm considered advanced although all problems remain. It's been keeping me very busy the last two weeks hence no writing in the blog. So far I've almost completed two prints. I have like 2 layers (pulls) for the first, and about 6 for the second. So actually a lot more time and then after that 2 more prints. I'm pretty happy with my prints except for things refusing to line up, leaking ink, and a disgruntle screen that needs "surgery" everytime I take off the emultion. After every set of stencils is washed off more and more emultion is refusing to come off, creating clogs in the screen and not allowing ink to flow through in the future. The teacher has already used haze remover on it once which is supposed to help that. I'm going to have to use that stuff again. I think my screen hates me. I'll have to show you guys more work sometime. It's pretty different in some ways for me which is good. But you can still tell it's me! Hopefully in two weeks I will have 4 prints I have happy with, I wish there was more time to do more prints

Vera Drake/ I heart Huckabees

Since class isn't until 5, haha now 8 I had some time for some movies.

Vera Drake-I woke up early and started with Vera Drake before 9am. A bit strange and early I know. The movie keep me awake, now I'm tired of course because of it. It was a lovely story. Vera is a kindly British woman that helps people in all sorts of ways. One day in between calling everyone "Dear" she is taken in by the police for one of her acts of kindness. The rest I can't tell you. Do I have you interested???? Good movie.

I heart Huckabees- second time viewing, I watched it a few months ago when I was half asleep. That time around I wasn't really sure but now I know I like it. It's hilarious and fits perfectly with my other movies I love (Wes Anderson). I think you, the readers might enjoy this movie with its existential comedy and detectives. It's better with subtitles you can catch everything!

Do da Do Da Do

I was just told I don't have to go back to class for 3 hours because I already know the printmaking process. I figured I could kill an hour or so but 3! So I'm spending some time at the library, the closest air conditioned location to the art building. I went in search of the only David Sedaris book the library has and its no where to be seen, it's not checked out and I saw it on Saturday! So I've grabbed another book. I'd just go back to the apartment for my stack of books but its way way way way way to hot for that. I wanted to start reading but I fear either I'll fall asleep or lose track of time. So maybe just a few pages? I'm going to attack the video/dvd section in search of some new movies. But for now I thought I'd do some writing here. We will see how that goes. I'll probably end up going back early out of boredom.

This Weekend in Movies (July 8-10)

I Shot Andy Warhol- Got an inside look at the "Factory" and the lady that shot Andy Warhol. I hear there is another Factory movie in the works. If you like 60s-70s culture and Andy Warhol watch it. It's based on a true story.

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas- The beginning was hilarious but it just got sort of repetitive and annoying. I loved all the cameos and Johnny Depp was pretty funny. I was disappointed because I heard it was great.

High Fidelity- decided to watch it again, saw it a few years ago and didn't really like it. I liked it more this time. I guess I "got" it better. I like Nick Hornby's "About A Boy" as well.

Bad Education- I've seen two of Gael Garcia Bernal's other movies. They are always what I like to call "different", except for the Motorcycle Diaries. It was like a Spanish Hitchcock, even the music. I suggest this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory- trying to not get too excited by the new Charlie and the Chocolate Factory I tried to distract myself with this movie. I had forgotten a few of the details so it was nice to watch. If you haven't seen this don't talk to me until you do.

Charlotte Gray- better than most war movies. Takes place during WWII a women sets out to find her lost love and joins the war effort.

The Manchurian Candidate (the remake)- pretty good. I enjoy movies like this, I can't say like what or I might ruin it for you. The ending was a little confusing but besides that good!

2 classes done 1 to go

Done with Nutrition online and Principles of Marketing, starting Printmaking tomorrow. I'll be gone 5-10 Monday through Friday. It will be interesting.

Response to Kelly

5 Things I enjoy even when no one around wants to go out in play, or something that lowers your stress level.

1. Going to a library/bookstore (actually this makes me overly excited)
2. Reading a book (or at least thinking about reading the stack of books that is sitting in my room)
3. Watching a movie I know no one would like (Wes Anderson films)
4. Going to my school library to read back issues of graphic design magazines
5. Doing "research" on imdb.com

This Weekend In Movies (July 1-3)

War of the Worlds- awesome! Tom Cruise I'm still mad at you and I think the movie would have been awesome with a different leading man. I can't talk much about the movie without giving anything away. I loved it, my sister didn't freak out as much as my friends did so for you it depends I guess it might be scary it might not be.

Old School- haha. I never thought I'd like this movie but in the past year I've seen it at least 6-7 times. It's crude almost to the point that I would hate it but not. The actors redeem the movie at least for me.

The Motorcycle Diaries- it's a journey movie. Nothing monumental happens. It's about the younger years (age 23 or so) of Che Guevara.

Madagascar- funny. funny. Short and not the best of that type of film. But still funny. I loved the Lemur King!

Legally Blonde 2- seen this a few times. Watched it with Emily again because we felt like being lazy. You would know if you wanted to see this.

Batman Begins- wow. It was great. You've all seen it by now so I'm just agreeing with what you already told me. One of my only problems was the title, he's not a epidemic or a talking doll. Batman Begins what? Even the cliche Batman: The Beginning would have made more sense. They spent so much on effects and what not they could have thought through the title a little more.