in which I feel picky
Feb. 25th, 2008 12:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alonewiththemoonIf you really want to, you can hear preview clips of all the songs on Nick Cave's upcoming album Dig, Lazarus, Dig! at this website. I shake my head sadly. A new Bauhaus album comes out next week. I am fraught with tension. I am avoiding any preview clips so that I can have that fan girl moment of rushing home with my cd (I can pretend it's vinyl) and plunking it into the player and really listening. If it's not good I will weep like a 16 year old babybat.
Watched Hal Hartley's The Girl From Monday over the weekend. It was about exactly like what you'd expect from a Hal Hartley film about a not so distant future where sexual activity has become a commodity, sex for the pure enjoyment of it has become a crime and occasionally aliens pop up out of the ocean. It had its moments--the acting was fine, for one thing--but parts were clumsily didactic and the whole thing felt like it was made in a week. It somehow reminded me of Gregg Araki's Nowhere, though I'm not sure the movies were really that similar. Maybe they share a certain air of detachment. Maybe the kids in Nowhere grow up to be the adults of The Girl From Monday. I would recommend the film to Hal Hartley fans, but probably non-fans would not have a lot of patience with it.
Also watched The Place Promised in Our Early Days, an alternate history anime in which Japan was divided between the north and south following World War II, with the south being controlled by the US. It's from the same director as Voices of a Distant Star, which I loved. I think the plot was overly ambitious for 90 minutes of film; it contained political storylines, romantic storylines, parallel universe storylines, nature of friendship storylines, and probably more that I'm forgetting. The friendship and romance probably came across the best, but the other stuff would have been interesting to have in more detail. It's possible everything apart from the relationships was supposed to just be backdrop, but it was too intriguing to be not dealt with more fully. Parts of the movie are very beautiful, and I really liked the English voice actress' work with the character of Sayuri--your heart broke with hers. But all in all, I wish this had been two movies, or perhaps a half hour longer, or that the fundamental relationship story had been presented against a less complex backdrop. Voices of a Distant Star worked well because the backdrop was easy to understand in the context of anime: there's an intergalactic war going on, and talented young people must don giant robot suits and go fight. Quite simple. But The Place Promised... 's alternate history called for a more in depth treatment.
Debating signing up for Asharah's workshop in March. I should find out from her or the sponsor how essential a tribal background is. I'd like to meet her, though, and I do like what she does. If there's a show after the workshop, I might just go to that.
Spent the day pretty much alone at home yesterday. The house is very empty.
Watched Hal Hartley's The Girl From Monday over the weekend. It was about exactly like what you'd expect from a Hal Hartley film about a not so distant future where sexual activity has become a commodity, sex for the pure enjoyment of it has become a crime and occasionally aliens pop up out of the ocean. It had its moments--the acting was fine, for one thing--but parts were clumsily didactic and the whole thing felt like it was made in a week. It somehow reminded me of Gregg Araki's Nowhere, though I'm not sure the movies were really that similar. Maybe they share a certain air of detachment. Maybe the kids in Nowhere grow up to be the adults of The Girl From Monday. I would recommend the film to Hal Hartley fans, but probably non-fans would not have a lot of patience with it.
Also watched The Place Promised in Our Early Days, an alternate history anime in which Japan was divided between the north and south following World War II, with the south being controlled by the US. It's from the same director as Voices of a Distant Star, which I loved. I think the plot was overly ambitious for 90 minutes of film; it contained political storylines, romantic storylines, parallel universe storylines, nature of friendship storylines, and probably more that I'm forgetting. The friendship and romance probably came across the best, but the other stuff would have been interesting to have in more detail. It's possible everything apart from the relationships was supposed to just be backdrop, but it was too intriguing to be not dealt with more fully. Parts of the movie are very beautiful, and I really liked the English voice actress' work with the character of Sayuri--your heart broke with hers. But all in all, I wish this had been two movies, or perhaps a half hour longer, or that the fundamental relationship story had been presented against a less complex backdrop. Voices of a Distant Star worked well because the backdrop was easy to understand in the context of anime: there's an intergalactic war going on, and talented young people must don giant robot suits and go fight. Quite simple. But The Place Promised... 's alternate history called for a more in depth treatment.
Debating signing up for Asharah's workshop in March. I should find out from her or the sponsor how essential a tribal background is. I'd like to meet her, though, and I do like what she does. If there's a show after the workshop, I might just go to that.
Spent the day pretty much alone at home yesterday. The house is very empty.
