to live

Ikiru: 9.0

if a movie ever explained my current mindstate and the overwhelming anxieties that monopolize my time, this would be it. A movie about a man who realizes he's about to die and at the same time, that he hasn't really been living, it's yet another wake-up call to me that, as the movie states, i have only been passing time, and not living, hence, not alive. even though i have more than at least a year left in me, there is that urgency still. perhaps i am reminded of my mortality through other means, but that's getting off topic. After he finds out that he's wasted a whole lifetime, we're taken through a journey to find some purpose or meaning to life with this poor man. The journey is colorfully told through an excellent combination of camerawork and editting, and a key moment is ironically conveyed through the use of a certain song. Also, underlying his struggle is a similar theme to tokyo story of the changing times that bring with it general alienation and conflicts between generations.

My only complaint with this movie has to do with its structure. This movie is divided into two parts, the first told through the subjective view of the main character. The second part of the narrative switches to the viewpoint of others. Much like Rashomon, the administrators that the main character works with try to piece together how the great change in his personality came about. In doing this, we get pieces of what happened after the first part and how it was viewed by his peers. The bigger effect that this produced was to create a unnecessary(though well done) sort of social/political commentary on the bureaucracy. I think the movie could have been more cohesive as a whole if it had continued in the vein of the first story, but I have to admit that the second part did add a worldly dimension to his struggle. That is, the protagonist's personal struggle is minimized in light of how it affected (or how it didn't affect) most everyone else; it didn't change how the rest of the characters lived, but it focuses on the point that each struggle is your own, and in the end, what really matters is whether your own self is happy.

we love drugs

does one really have to dope to be effective in curling?

some of that secession talk

there's some interesting revisionist history on lincoln and the motivations for his actions during the secession erahere.

movie review: school of rock

i picked this up on netflix as an ongoing project (yes, i'm reduced to calling entertainment work) to watch all of richard linklater's work (he's done before sunrise, before sunset, slackers, dazed and confused, waking life). i pretty much got what i expected. this was one of linklater's hollywood movies, and it was successful in it's goals to just be funny and entertain. that's not to say that it didn't exist on any other levels. throughout the movie, linklater treats the kids as if they were adults, in terms of trust and respect. there is an underlying message that even though adults may know more than kids, they have the upperhand in being pure, naive, simple, honest, basically the ideal that we should all seek to achieve. and if the children represent some aspects that we should once again acheive, jack black, who plays the role of teacher/slacker hilariously, is the one that points it out to us. he's the child-adult that is the link between us and the children. he explains what it is that we should be aspiring to, when he is teaching the children, and music is the medium with which he explains it. and what we should aspire to is doing things for the things themselves and not for someone else. you love music for the music and not for the popularity, drugs, sex, or whatever else. fuck posing and pretense, just be your pure self. don't get bogged down by stereotypes and presumptions, but keep your mind open.

okay enough of that bullshit. really though, the movie was good. jack black is a riot. joan cusack is funny in her usual understated psycho role. actually, all the supporting characters were quite good, except for the parents. the kids were good in the sense that they didn't annoyingly play out that 'cutesy kid' thing that's in disney movies. meaning, they could realistically be kids.

7.0

tom

i'm sad to inform you that your beloved prince is a nazi.

is this really happening?

past few years, i've had the sickening feeling that history was repeating itself over again, and nothing could be done to stop it. here's another item that adds to that sickening feeling.

west vs. east

Great timing...a movie about the crusades. I wonder who wins in the end.

ashleeeeeeeee

This is funny, especially the part about ashlee simpson at the end.