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This is probably the most beautiful thing you will ever see. Vogue. And 300.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNRjzUB7Afo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNRjzUB7Afo
somebody's knocking but nobody's home
May. 30th, 2010 09:26 amSo, hrm. Have not posted in awhile.
I have a job right now. It's likely not permanent, but it's something. My dad works in the office of a family-owned furniture factory in the next town over. Summer is their busy season, since they make a lot of furniture for colleges and such, and they just switched over to a new database, so Dad asked me to come help them do data entry to get it set up. I thought it would be a one-time thing, just setting up the database, but then it turned into on-going. I'm a quick typist and I have a nimble brain and am analytical, like my dad, so I'm very suited for this sort of work. It's more than part-time though not quite full-time, giving me some flexibility, and Dad thinks there will be work for me for at least eight weeks. The pay is good, as good as I've ever had.
I hate it, of course. I want to work with people, preferably children, possibly in an educational setting, and this is about as far as you can get from that. For a while I was getting terrible, ice-pick-in-brain headaches every day, though that probably was a combination of tiny laptop screen, glare, and my horrible, horrible, keratoconus-riddled eyes. Now, with a new monitor (and going into the control panel and making everything ENORMOUS), maybe that will be taken care of.
And, you know, it's a job. I feel better about myself, having something to do, feeling like I'm making a valuable contribution somewhere. Even if it's just helping a furniture factory run smoothly. When I get out of there, my steps lighten and so does my heart. I do a lot more with the rest of my day, compared to when I was unemployed. I go for walks, play with my sibs, go to movies, bake muffins...whereas before I mostly just fiddled around on the internet all day without any purpose. Now my time is more valuable to me, so I take better care of it.
Someone seriously needs to kick me in the pants and make me write more, though. I signed up for![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
spn_summergen AND castielfest AND deancasbigbang, and I am determined to make all of those happen. I still have a few small scenes to write for Big Bang, though I'm happy with how the polishing is going. Got a partial rough draft from my artist and it's looking fantastic, so that's good. But I want--I need--to write more. I haven't been reading very much lately, either, though I've been doing better about updating spngenlove.
So anyway. That's my life lately.
Oh, and I saw both How to Train Your Dragon and Prince of Persia within the last few days. The former is about a hundred times better than the latter, though I DID enjoy the latter, don't get me wrong. Jake Gyllenhaal is very, very cute and I enjoyed watching him flying acrobatically across the screen. It was pretty tired and predictable, though. But the dragon movie was amazing. It's one I'll be happy to watch again and again, while once was enough with Prince of Persia.
I have a job right now. It's likely not permanent, but it's something. My dad works in the office of a family-owned furniture factory in the next town over. Summer is their busy season, since they make a lot of furniture for colleges and such, and they just switched over to a new database, so Dad asked me to come help them do data entry to get it set up. I thought it would be a one-time thing, just setting up the database, but then it turned into on-going. I'm a quick typist and I have a nimble brain and am analytical, like my dad, so I'm very suited for this sort of work. It's more than part-time though not quite full-time, giving me some flexibility, and Dad thinks there will be work for me for at least eight weeks. The pay is good, as good as I've ever had.
I hate it, of course. I want to work with people, preferably children, possibly in an educational setting, and this is about as far as you can get from that. For a while I was getting terrible, ice-pick-in-brain headaches every day, though that probably was a combination of tiny laptop screen, glare, and my horrible, horrible, keratoconus-riddled eyes. Now, with a new monitor (and going into the control panel and making everything ENORMOUS), maybe that will be taken care of.
And, you know, it's a job. I feel better about myself, having something to do, feeling like I'm making a valuable contribution somewhere. Even if it's just helping a furniture factory run smoothly. When I get out of there, my steps lighten and so does my heart. I do a lot more with the rest of my day, compared to when I was unemployed. I go for walks, play with my sibs, go to movies, bake muffins...whereas before I mostly just fiddled around on the internet all day without any purpose. Now my time is more valuable to me, so I take better care of it.
Someone seriously needs to kick me in the pants and make me write more, though. I signed up for
spn_summergen AND castielfest AND deancasbigbang, and I am determined to make all of those happen. I still have a few small scenes to write for Big Bang, though I'm happy with how the polishing is going. Got a partial rough draft from my artist and it's looking fantastic, so that's good. But I want--I need--to write more. I haven't been reading very much lately, either, though I've been doing better about updating spngenlove.So anyway. That's my life lately.
Oh, and I saw both How to Train Your Dragon and Prince of Persia within the last few days. The former is about a hundred times better than the latter, though I DID enjoy the latter, don't get me wrong. Jake Gyllenhaal is very, very cute and I enjoyed watching him flying acrobatically across the screen. It was pretty tired and predictable, though. But the dragon movie was amazing. It's one I'll be happy to watch again and again, while once was enough with Prince of Persia.
Festivids!
Jan. 17th, 2010 08:04 pmAh! So there is this awesome, awesome thing called festivids that's been all over my flist lately. I've been sort of sucked into the master list, when I'm not working on my BB. Here are a few of the ones I've already watched multiple times because they are JUST. THAT. AWESOME.
Here It Goes Back Again Back to the Future Trilogy vid set to "Here It Goes Again" by OK Go. GLEEEEEEEEEEE. It's so utterly perfect. Brilliantly edited and fast-paced and fun.
In the Ayer Leverage ensemble. It's got these wonderful voices for all of them and it's so well put-together and just so, so fun. They are all so very awesome it makes me want to cry, a little. Out of sheer happiness.
Le Disko Neverending Story vid with music by Shiny Toys Guns. I just... It works. I dunno how, but it WORKS. It actually made me kind of cry the first time I watched it, which is a little crazy, because the vid itself is made of beautiful, beautiful shiny crack. It just made me remember how much I love that movie, and why. And it's so, SO pretty.
Hanuman The Princess Bride. INIGO! FENCING! ::dies of awesome:: The music is so perfect. NNNNGH. It makes me want to watch the movie yet again and I've seen it like a billion times.
Mr. Blue Sky Wall-E. This vid is just pure brilliance. Full stop.
There are lots of other awesome ones, too. Some I skipped because I'm not familiar with the source, things like that. I encourage you to check out the master list.
festivids that's been all over my flist lately. I've been sort of sucked into the master list, when I'm not working on my BB. Here are a few of the ones I've already watched multiple times because they are JUST. THAT. AWESOME.Here It Goes Back Again Back to the Future Trilogy vid set to "Here It Goes Again" by OK Go. GLEEEEEEEEEEE. It's so utterly perfect. Brilliantly edited and fast-paced and fun.
In the Ayer Leverage ensemble. It's got these wonderful voices for all of them and it's so well put-together and just so, so fun. They are all so very awesome it makes me want to cry, a little. Out of sheer happiness.
Le Disko Neverending Story vid with music by Shiny Toys Guns. I just... It works. I dunno how, but it WORKS. It actually made me kind of cry the first time I watched it, which is a little crazy, because the vid itself is made of beautiful, beautiful shiny crack. It just made me remember how much I love that movie, and why. And it's so, SO pretty.
Hanuman The Princess Bride. INIGO! FENCING! ::dies of awesome:: The music is so perfect. NNNNGH. It makes me want to watch the movie yet again and I've seen it like a billion times.
Mr. Blue Sky Wall-E. This vid is just pure brilliance. Full stop.
There are lots of other awesome ones, too. Some I skipped because I'm not familiar with the source, things like that. I encourage you to check out the master list.
You know what movies I like to watch when I'm feeling down or crappy? Kill Bill. Both volumes. So I just did that, and I feel better about the world. It may say something about me, that I prefer stylized violence as a pick-me-up instead of chick flicks or rom-coms.
But then, I also like to play the damage-dealers in D&D and similar games, which once led to me musing out loud in a rather soft, dreamy voice, "I like killing things. I guess I've always liked killing things." And now my friends quote me on that all the time, because they find it hilarious. I look so harmless, but I get positively giddy when I get to kill things. In games. When I get to kill things in games.
Played D&D last night as well as Left 4 Dead on the XBox, and I'm finally starting to get the hang of the two-joystick thing. Still makes me nervous, but I did enjoy shooting the zombies. Even though my character didn't make it in the end.
I looked more into doing freelance today, set myself up on a couple of websites, took the "editing skils" test at elance.com and scored in the top five percent, so that makes me feel good. It was a hard test, too, way harder than any grammar/writing test I took in school. I also have a couple of job leads from friends that I'll look into. And my former employers are giving me a little bit of severance pay so I have some time to find a new job, so I'm not quite so panicked now.
And now I want to write. I have one of my prompt fics half-finished, and my big bang is going well. I like writing, too, with or without killing things.
But then, I also like to play the damage-dealers in D&D and similar games, which once led to me musing out loud in a rather soft, dreamy voice, "I like killing things. I guess I've always liked killing things." And now my friends quote me on that all the time, because they find it hilarious. I look so harmless, but I get positively giddy when I get to kill things. In games. When I get to kill things in games.
Played D&D last night as well as Left 4 Dead on the XBox, and I'm finally starting to get the hang of the two-joystick thing. Still makes me nervous, but I did enjoy shooting the zombies. Even though my character didn't make it in the end.
I looked more into doing freelance today, set myself up on a couple of websites, took the "editing skils" test at elance.com and scored in the top five percent, so that makes me feel good. It was a hard test, too, way harder than any grammar/writing test I took in school. I also have a couple of job leads from friends that I'll look into. And my former employers are giving me a little bit of severance pay so I have some time to find a new job, so I'm not quite so panicked now.
And now I want to write. I have one of my prompt fics half-finished, and my big bang is going well. I like writing, too, with or without killing things.
STILL OBSESSED WITH JACKNDEAN
Aug. 29th, 2008 01:03 amI am going to be gone over the next couple of days for a family trip and reunion and junk, but I will be taking my laptop with me, because my mind is still stuffed full of JACKNDEANINTHEWOODSOMGYAY!
I'm just really, really tired right now.
Oh! and I saw Hellboy II, and it was awesome. Pure candy goodtime fun. Can't remember the last time I just enjoyed a movie that much. Went to see it with my Padfoot,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
limegreenjillo (yes, I am her Moony), and her hubby Aaron, also a good friend of mine, and we all squeed and giggled and clapped. And Lord, I haven't laughed that hard at people getting drunk for a long, long, long time. I haven't laughed that hard, period, for quite a while. Every time I'd start to calm down, there'd be a FACE or a GESTURE, and I'd be off again. Aaron, too. Gor filly, we laughed like hyenas.
In conclusion: IT IS GOOD and you should see it if it's in the dollar theater where you live.
Also, JACKNDEAN!
I'm just really, really tired right now.
Oh! and I saw Hellboy II, and it was awesome. Pure candy goodtime fun. Can't remember the last time I just enjoyed a movie that much. Went to see it with my Padfoot,
limegreenjillo (yes, I am her Moony), and her hubby Aaron, also a good friend of mine, and we all squeed and giggled and clapped. And Lord, I haven't laughed that hard at people getting drunk for a long, long, long time. I haven't laughed that hard, period, for quite a while. Every time I'd start to calm down, there'd be a FACE or a GESTURE, and I'd be off again. Aaron, too. Gor filly, we laughed like hyenas.In conclusion: IT IS GOOD and you should see it if it's in the dollar theater where you live.
Also, JACKNDEAN!
Today is a day
Jul. 20th, 2008 05:31 pmSo, yes. The Dark Knight? Two-and-a-half-hour continual geekgasm. I thought "This is awesome" an average of once every five minutes. I talked out loud in the theater (which I almost never do, especially when going by myself), mostly things like "HOLY CRAP!" and "OH MAN!" and "SAVE HIM, BATMAN, SAVE HIM". I laughed and choked and gasped in shock (all three in equal amounts). The Joker? Totally, totally scary. The movie was just on the edge of How Dark You Can Go without losing me completely--there were moments when I felt literally nauseated. Such a bleak world, that Gotham is, with so few rays of hope.
I also thought, more than once, that this is a Batman, and a Batman universe, who really, really needs a Robin. Archetypically, Robin is the shaft of light in the dank dungeon, the sweet note in the minor-key symphony, the fulcrum on Batman's lever. (And of course, I love Robin unreasonably--that character is what drew me into the Batman fandom back when I was sixteen or so.) I think the Tim Drake kind of Robin would work in this new movie-verse, too, though I'm not sure a Dick Grayson Robin would work. A circus acrobat? Ward of a billionaire? Just a little too sixties to fly in this gray new world. But a Tim Drake who figures out who Batman is and follows him back home and says, "Hey, you need help and I want to help you," and who won't give no matter what, who is just as aggressive and driven and ninja-freak-psychotic as Bruce himself, only a little more optimistic (as well as younger and cuter)? Yeah, that would fit. They could even call him Dick Grayson if they wanted--I would know that it was really Tim.
Oh, and the trailer for the Watchmen movie? Quality stuff.
The T on this keyboard is sticking. So annoying.
I overdrew at the bank. I haven't done that for awhile. So frustrating. And my next paycheck will have to be for rent, so I don't know how I'm going to pay my school loan this month, so I'm a little scared. Oh well. My credit score can't really get any worse.
Hulu.com has episodes of the A-Team. I have just relived a part of my childhood. The cheesy part. I ain't getting on no plane, Hannibal!
The song from Dr. Horrible that goes "I cannot believe my eyes" is stuck in my head right now. I'm so sad that it's disappearing from the internet tonight. I haven't had time to memorize the songs yet!
It's been a week now since I got my ratties, and they are quite tame. Wallace is totally fearless with me now, which is good. Too young to be a good cuddler, though. He protests and scampers off. Oh well, that's why I have mice. Sweet, soft little mice who fall asleep in my hand. Best pets in the world.
And last night I discovered a drawback of the current arrangement, with me on the couch and the cage open beside me, the ratties free to run where they will. The problem? Just because you fall asleep on the couch doesn't mean that the little darlings will respect your rest. Around one o'clock I woke up, fuzzily, still half-dreaming, to the realization that OMG Wallace is in my UNDERWEAR he must have thought it looked like a good little place to explore rat paws are scampering on my bare BUTT this isn't a good place to nap those are my UNDERWEAR. And I firmly grasped the rattie by the middle and removed him. Then I went to my proper bed.
Note that this is how calm my personality is--that waking in the middle of the night with a RAT IN MY UNDERWEAR led to no yelling or gasping or violent movements or freak-outs or palpitations. But watching The Dark Knight did. This should be an indication of what kind of movie it is. Choose your companions accordingly.
I also thought, more than once, that this is a Batman, and a Batman universe, who really, really needs a Robin. Archetypically, Robin is the shaft of light in the dank dungeon, the sweet note in the minor-key symphony, the fulcrum on Batman's lever. (And of course, I love Robin unreasonably--that character is what drew me into the Batman fandom back when I was sixteen or so.) I think the Tim Drake kind of Robin would work in this new movie-verse, too, though I'm not sure a Dick Grayson Robin would work. A circus acrobat? Ward of a billionaire? Just a little too sixties to fly in this gray new world. But a Tim Drake who figures out who Batman is and follows him back home and says, "Hey, you need help and I want to help you," and who won't give no matter what, who is just as aggressive and driven and ninja-freak-psychotic as Bruce himself, only a little more optimistic (as well as younger and cuter)? Yeah, that would fit. They could even call him Dick Grayson if they wanted--I would know that it was really Tim.
Oh, and the trailer for the Watchmen movie? Quality stuff.
The T on this keyboard is sticking. So annoying.
I overdrew at the bank. I haven't done that for awhile. So frustrating. And my next paycheck will have to be for rent, so I don't know how I'm going to pay my school loan this month, so I'm a little scared. Oh well. My credit score can't really get any worse.
Hulu.com has episodes of the A-Team. I have just relived a part of my childhood. The cheesy part. I ain't getting on no plane, Hannibal!
The song from Dr. Horrible that goes "I cannot believe my eyes" is stuck in my head right now. I'm so sad that it's disappearing from the internet tonight. I haven't had time to memorize the songs yet!
It's been a week now since I got my ratties, and they are quite tame. Wallace is totally fearless with me now, which is good. Too young to be a good cuddler, though. He protests and scampers off. Oh well, that's why I have mice. Sweet, soft little mice who fall asleep in my hand. Best pets in the world.
And last night I discovered a drawback of the current arrangement, with me on the couch and the cage open beside me, the ratties free to run where they will. The problem? Just because you fall asleep on the couch doesn't mean that the little darlings will respect your rest. Around one o'clock I woke up, fuzzily, still half-dreaming, to the realization that OMG Wallace is in my UNDERWEAR he must have thought it looked like a good little place to explore rat paws are scampering on my bare BUTT this isn't a good place to nap those are my UNDERWEAR. And I firmly grasped the rattie by the middle and removed him. Then I went to my proper bed.
Note that this is how calm my personality is--that waking in the middle of the night with a RAT IN MY UNDERWEAR led to no yelling or gasping or violent movements or freak-outs or palpitations. But watching The Dark Knight did. This should be an indication of what kind of movie it is. Choose your companions accordingly.
Two Movies I Saw Last Weekend
Apr. 9th, 2008 02:44 pmSometimes I find it interesting, the little similarities and contrasts that occur in simultaneous events. For instance--the two movies I watched last weekend. Both had been recommended to me by various people who thought I would like them, and I knew, knowing myself, that I would. One was written and created by Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean, who I admire with every geeky bone in my body. The other was a little indie film about two musicians in Ireland who create heartfelt acoustic melodies together. These movies are, of course, MirrorMask and Once, and I don't think that it's possible to see two movies back to back that are more different and more the same.
MirrorMask, now. This is so very much a triumph of style over substance that I think even the stupid critics noticed it. Every image is gorgeous and arresting and imaginative--you could pause the movie at any moment, make a full-color print of the screen, and have an amazing poster for your wall that every visitor to your home would stare at in befuddlement. It's awesomely weird and weirdly awesome, a modern Wizard of Oz, an impressionistic whirl of fantastic creatures and confusing landscapes. But the story isn't much to speak of and the characters are tropes, the dialogue fails to sparkle, the emotions fail to feel real. That isn't just because it's fantasy, either. Good fantasy is good because it's so real, because the impossible situations and surroundings highlight the humanity of the people inside them, the gut-wrenching reality of being a hero in a dark world or a princess without a prince--both entirely genuine roles that people everywhere in the "real world" find themselves in. MirrorMask, though . . . not quite. It's a shiny bauble, beautiful but cracked. I do adore it--I can't help that--but I don't love it.
Once, now. Here is a movie that has so much substance, the substance becomes the style. It's about these two people, so entirely ordinary, outside of their passion and talent for music. Almost everyone is calling this a romance, but I don't think it is, really. Two people can connect deeply and intimately without being romantic--it's called friendship, and it's more powerful than the world knows. Much of the movie was improvised, and so it is entirely natural, a tender and moving portrait of two lives that intersect at just the right moment, each changing the other in only the best ways.
Oh, and the music is fantastic, did I mention? You can listen to it, here. http://www.foxsearchlight.com/once/ Not my usual cuppa, yet I cannot not love it.
This movie made me want to write. It made me want to revive my own dusty piano skills, and make music the way I used to. No, the way I never really have. Only the best movies make me feel this way, make me feel motivated to create and do and feel and live. It really is extraordinary.
There were moments of such intense musicality in that movie. The camera lingered on the musicians, the song built, and I was there, goosebumps everywhere. I felt that high that I sometimes get when I'm jamming with other people, and it's just so perfect and wonderful, a floating feeling, but still entirely in control, fingers and lips doing exactly what they're supposed to do, exactly when they should do it, and everyone working exactly in sync, intense and right and euphoric. It's a marvelous feeling, and I'm astonished that they managed to capture it, this alchemy, this magic. I'm getting the feeling again just writing about it, listening to the soundtrack.
I think perhaps I might have gotten that feeling with MirrorMask, if I was a visual artist, instead of being entirely preoccupied with words and, occasionally, music. Because there are moments like that, in that movie, when you are aware that you are watching an artist at their absolute peak, the perfection of their craft. This movie also made me want to write.
All in all, I feel entirely motivated, but I'm not sure what I want to write. Something cool. But what?
Well, I wrote this little ramble. That must count for something.
MirrorMask, now. This is so very much a triumph of style over substance that I think even the stupid critics noticed it. Every image is gorgeous and arresting and imaginative--you could pause the movie at any moment, make a full-color print of the screen, and have an amazing poster for your wall that every visitor to your home would stare at in befuddlement. It's awesomely weird and weirdly awesome, a modern Wizard of Oz, an impressionistic whirl of fantastic creatures and confusing landscapes. But the story isn't much to speak of and the characters are tropes, the dialogue fails to sparkle, the emotions fail to feel real. That isn't just because it's fantasy, either. Good fantasy is good because it's so real, because the impossible situations and surroundings highlight the humanity of the people inside them, the gut-wrenching reality of being a hero in a dark world or a princess without a prince--both entirely genuine roles that people everywhere in the "real world" find themselves in. MirrorMask, though . . . not quite. It's a shiny bauble, beautiful but cracked. I do adore it--I can't help that--but I don't love it.
Once, now. Here is a movie that has so much substance, the substance becomes the style. It's about these two people, so entirely ordinary, outside of their passion and talent for music. Almost everyone is calling this a romance, but I don't think it is, really. Two people can connect deeply and intimately without being romantic--it's called friendship, and it's more powerful than the world knows. Much of the movie was improvised, and so it is entirely natural, a tender and moving portrait of two lives that intersect at just the right moment, each changing the other in only the best ways.
Oh, and the music is fantastic, did I mention? You can listen to it, here. http://www.foxsearchlight.com/once/ Not my usual cuppa, yet I cannot not love it.
This movie made me want to write. It made me want to revive my own dusty piano skills, and make music the way I used to. No, the way I never really have. Only the best movies make me feel this way, make me feel motivated to create and do and feel and live. It really is extraordinary.
There were moments of such intense musicality in that movie. The camera lingered on the musicians, the song built, and I was there, goosebumps everywhere. I felt that high that I sometimes get when I'm jamming with other people, and it's just so perfect and wonderful, a floating feeling, but still entirely in control, fingers and lips doing exactly what they're supposed to do, exactly when they should do it, and everyone working exactly in sync, intense and right and euphoric. It's a marvelous feeling, and I'm astonished that they managed to capture it, this alchemy, this magic. I'm getting the feeling again just writing about it, listening to the soundtrack.
I think perhaps I might have gotten that feeling with MirrorMask, if I was a visual artist, instead of being entirely preoccupied with words and, occasionally, music. Because there are moments like that, in that movie, when you are aware that you are watching an artist at their absolute peak, the perfection of their craft. This movie also made me want to write.
All in all, I feel entirely motivated, but I'm not sure what I want to write. Something cool. But what?
Well, I wrote this little ramble. That must count for something.
