asian chicken salads
i read my post again today at lunch (eating my leftover asian chicken salad...mmm)...so many tpyos! ;)
its gonna be an interesting weekend. Its Atlanta Pride, and all my friends are going to the park and then to watch the parade. I may go for a little bit...but this weekend, i think i'll just largely stay at home. My next project is going to involve some heavy Flash programming, so its time to open my new actionscript book and dig in. I finally get to face my biggest inner demon...Object Oriented Programming...good luck Sumier...i'm sure it won't be as hard as i've made it out to be in my head.
As for actionscript 2, i continue to be amazed by the power Flash's programming language now weilds. This is now a full fledged programming language with the ability to integrate C++ Scripts. The fact that there is now an O'Reilly series textbook for this sucker means that this is now a true contender in the world of development languages. New Media is here to stay. I wonder what Adobe will do with it now that they own Macromedia...they better not fuck it up.
Anyway...few weeks ago i saw this Korean film that everyone has been raving about. Oldboy. Supposedly the most important film ever made in Korea, blah blah, hail the director, etc etc, excellent reviews, great film noir style...hyped to the high heavens. So i dragged two friends to the movie. Lets just say that they're not as good friends anymore ;)
This movie was inexplicable. Good suspense, well made, great cinematography, acting, some of the most brilliant film noir style i've seen of any color film (the award for that however goes to Pedro Almodovar's Bad Education). And then, it turns into a big steamy ripe pile of horseshit at the end. Oh God, i have never ever seen anything so putrid, so terrible, so wasted as what happens to the story of Oldboy. Maybe the best stuff got lost in translation, but hey, from now on, i'm going to take fanboy ravings about foreign films with a pinch of salt. Watch this movie only from a cinematic standpoint, watch it for its incredible weirdness, but don't watch it expecting to be entertained. Chan-Wook-Park, i want my $8.50 back.
Out of those two friends, i took one to another movie the other night. This was a brit thriller called Layer Cake. It was supposed to be directed by Guy Ritchie, who turned it down. Nevertheless, Matthew Vaughn the producer directed it himself, and the movie stars Daniel Craig, who I believe is most likely to be the next Bond. The title is right. This movie is like a layer cake, with layer upon layer of plot being revealed as the movie goes on. Its an excellent thriller, a lot less violent than say, Snatch or Lock, Stock and two smoking barrels, and a bit more sensible too. Of course its highly stylized and very convoluted. Those Brit accents are also near impossible to understand sometimes. But still, I recommend this movie just cause it is so much fun to watch.
Isn't it incredible about movies? How one can step into a theatre, and all of a sudden, his life is on hold. He suspends his reality, assumes another one for a while and then steps back into his own. Of course, usually his own is so much calmer, so much saner than the reality he was just in. But still, if the movie was enjoyable, he experiences a thrill like no other. Almost like he went through something in his own life and came out of it with nary a scratch on his body. Like a rollercoaster ride. People have such capacities to lead a double life. I've always believed that we really want an excuse, a chance to let go and let our imagination take over. To stop doing whats right and mature and whats expected of us. In the REAL real life, for some reason, we can't. In the movie reality, we can do it without a second thought. You know who I envy? those who can do the same outside the movie theatre. You know who I really hate and pity? those who can't do it either inside or outside. I hate them cause they will never miss anything, cause they won't know what they are missing. I pity them for the same reason. Hate is a strong word...i realise i'm talking about someone who I really hate right now...it surprises me and scares me. How much capacity I have to hate. How much capacity people have of being selfish and heartless and cold.
Sometimes, just sometimes, we look at ourselves objectively for a second and realise something new about ourselves. Something we already knew but denied, or something we didn't. Either way, it is shocking and surprising. I'm still beginning to learn to accept my dark half. I'm still beginning to learn to not apologize for it or supress it completely. Often, we gain these realizations suddenly and they come as a shock to us. In my effort to be wildly inventive in my blog and show my deep thinking self, I will now proceed to talk about how a movie i recently saw caused one of these bouts of self realization. Ironic huh?
That movie is called Crash. More on that, racism and self realization next time.
its gonna be an interesting weekend. Its Atlanta Pride, and all my friends are going to the park and then to watch the parade. I may go for a little bit...but this weekend, i think i'll just largely stay at home. My next project is going to involve some heavy Flash programming, so its time to open my new actionscript book and dig in. I finally get to face my biggest inner demon...Object Oriented Programming...good luck Sumier...i'm sure it won't be as hard as i've made it out to be in my head.
As for actionscript 2, i continue to be amazed by the power Flash's programming language now weilds. This is now a full fledged programming language with the ability to integrate C++ Scripts. The fact that there is now an O'Reilly series textbook for this sucker means that this is now a true contender in the world of development languages. New Media is here to stay. I wonder what Adobe will do with it now that they own Macromedia...they better not fuck it up.
Anyway...few weeks ago i saw this Korean film that everyone has been raving about. Oldboy. Supposedly the most important film ever made in Korea, blah blah, hail the director, etc etc, excellent reviews, great film noir style...hyped to the high heavens. So i dragged two friends to the movie. Lets just say that they're not as good friends anymore ;)
This movie was inexplicable. Good suspense, well made, great cinematography, acting, some of the most brilliant film noir style i've seen of any color film (the award for that however goes to Pedro Almodovar's Bad Education). And then, it turns into a big steamy ripe pile of horseshit at the end. Oh God, i have never ever seen anything so putrid, so terrible, so wasted as what happens to the story of Oldboy. Maybe the best stuff got lost in translation, but hey, from now on, i'm going to take fanboy ravings about foreign films with a pinch of salt. Watch this movie only from a cinematic standpoint, watch it for its incredible weirdness, but don't watch it expecting to be entertained. Chan-Wook-Park, i want my $8.50 back.
Out of those two friends, i took one to another movie the other night. This was a brit thriller called Layer Cake. It was supposed to be directed by Guy Ritchie, who turned it down. Nevertheless, Matthew Vaughn the producer directed it himself, and the movie stars Daniel Craig, who I believe is most likely to be the next Bond. The title is right. This movie is like a layer cake, with layer upon layer of plot being revealed as the movie goes on. Its an excellent thriller, a lot less violent than say, Snatch or Lock, Stock and two smoking barrels, and a bit more sensible too. Of course its highly stylized and very convoluted. Those Brit accents are also near impossible to understand sometimes. But still, I recommend this movie just cause it is so much fun to watch.
Isn't it incredible about movies? How one can step into a theatre, and all of a sudden, his life is on hold. He suspends his reality, assumes another one for a while and then steps back into his own. Of course, usually his own is so much calmer, so much saner than the reality he was just in. But still, if the movie was enjoyable, he experiences a thrill like no other. Almost like he went through something in his own life and came out of it with nary a scratch on his body. Like a rollercoaster ride. People have such capacities to lead a double life. I've always believed that we really want an excuse, a chance to let go and let our imagination take over. To stop doing whats right and mature and whats expected of us. In the REAL real life, for some reason, we can't. In the movie reality, we can do it without a second thought. You know who I envy? those who can do the same outside the movie theatre. You know who I really hate and pity? those who can't do it either inside or outside. I hate them cause they will never miss anything, cause they won't know what they are missing. I pity them for the same reason. Hate is a strong word...i realise i'm talking about someone who I really hate right now...it surprises me and scares me. How much capacity I have to hate. How much capacity people have of being selfish and heartless and cold.
Sometimes, just sometimes, we look at ourselves objectively for a second and realise something new about ourselves. Something we already knew but denied, or something we didn't. Either way, it is shocking and surprising. I'm still beginning to learn to accept my dark half. I'm still beginning to learn to not apologize for it or supress it completely. Often, we gain these realizations suddenly and they come as a shock to us. In my effort to be wildly inventive in my blog and show my deep thinking self, I will now proceed to talk about how a movie i recently saw caused one of these bouts of self realization. Ironic huh?
That movie is called Crash. More on that, racism and self realization next time.
posted by sam i am at 12:34 PM
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