This is... the kind of thing I could almost see myself writing... "A list of topics that went through my head last night while watching the Dandy Warhols."
Also, this about James Iha (of the Smashing Pumpkins, which I don't particularly care for, but I digress) which I happened to come across awhile back in the past... it's somewhat quite something else when you read someone else's random writing and think that you could see yourself writing a similar thing, style and/or topic-wise...
Obscure and at least mildly obsessive thoughts about various topics is my jam. (I haven't watched any Peter Sarsgaard movies lately, alas, and "An Education" isn't on Netflix anymore... alas indeed. Maybe I should rewatch Shattered Glass. What a great movie. Are you mad at me?)
To a somewhat lesser extent, the Jake Gyllenhaal newsletter (look it up!) also kinda seemed like something I might do, although her writing style/voice was a bit more different than mine, compared to the first two examples.
What I have been doing lately (rather than watching more Peter Sarsgaard movies) is rewatching copious amounts of Arrested Development and wondering why no one's ever interviewed Jason Bateman about his cycling habits!! Inquiring minds want to know! Or at least my inquiring mind does.
Speaking of the Smashing Pumpkins... back in 2014 (apparently; I had to look it up) they released an album titled "Monuments to an Elegy," which I remembered that I had attempted to listen to, to see what it was like. For some reason I did that. I don't remember liking it. I decided to try and listen to one of the songs now, to revisit it and see what I thought... nope, still don't like it, and wow, I don't like Billy Corgan's voice!! 1979 is an okay song and sometimes I even feel like listening to it, but whoa, his voice is not a particularly appealing one... I supposed you could say that the Smashing Pumpkins are overrated.
Wednesday, September 4, 2019
Monday, September 2, 2019
DIY planner concept for organization and productivity
How to be more productive, potentially. This may or may not work for you, and you may not care to go to the effort of DIY-ing a planner.
In an effort to be more productive, awhile back I decided to start DIY-ing a planner, since the store-bought ones weren't really cutting it for me.
The typical store-bought planner layout has a full monthly calendar split over two pages at the beginning of each month, which I generally never used. If I were going to use a full monthly calendar, I'd use a wall version.
Then, it has each week split over two pages, divided by day with a section for each, where you have a couple inches of space to write. This is the layout distilled to its most basic elements. There might be other layouts out there, but I haven't used those.
The aforementioned layout doesn't organize me in a way that's most effective. I found that it's more useful to me to have a detailed day by day schedule written out, with more general notes/tasks/items written in a weekly section that is on a single page. A couple inches is not enough to write out and schedule a full day's tasks.
There are Cambridge brand planners/appointment books that have sections to schedule out each day, but I'm only aware of these coming in a full notebook size, and I'm used to my planners being more compact. Plus, for something you have to carry around, smaller and more portable is better. I still have enough space to write what I need.
Supplies:
A small notebook (approximately 6"x8" is good for me)
Straightedge (technically optional, but it helps to make things look neater)
Writing utensils
The specific notebook selection will depend on your personal preferences. I prefer only sturdy spiral-bound notebooks with sturdy hard or plastic covers and lined pages. The writing utensils you use to layout the planner also depend on your personal preferences. You can make it as colorful or boring as you want. I find it helpful to use at least one separate color/writing utensil for the general layout markings and another for the actual notes and plans.
Weekly section
Divide one page in half vertically and draw a line. Then draw lines to divide it into thirds horizontally, resulting in 6 boxes. This is the weekly section. The weekend days are combined into one box. Label each box with the date. I use the "Monday [day #] [month, abbreviated]" format. At the top of the page, I write which week it is as "Week of [date] to [date]"
Write general information for each day in the corresponding box. Like if you have a meeting or appointment or task that needs to be done or something that was assigned in class.
Daily scheduling section
Use a separate page for each day. At the top, write the date.
Down the side, draw a vertical line slightly indented from the left side. Along the left side, write times by the hour. I use every other line and write the hours. Depending on when you start/end your days, you can tailor the time range you use. I write only down to 5 p.m. and everything past that is consolidated.
Schedule out your days here. I write when I plan to wake up and when I need to leave to go somewhere, when applicable (usually if it's a change from my normal routine). Write in when your classes are if you're in college. Write in meetings, appointments, social plans, things you want to remember, other things you want/plan to get done at a given time that day, etc. Since there is a full page for each day, you can be specific and go into relative detail here.
Optional: Monthly section.
Use one page, turn the notebook around so the spiral is at the top. Divide into 4 or 5 sections for the weeks, then 7 sections for the days. Label.
The DIY planner is flexible, so you can also use it for general notes if necessary by simply using the next blank page. I usually only layout the daily pages a day or so in advance to allow for flexibility.
In an effort to be more productive, awhile back I decided to start DIY-ing a planner, since the store-bought ones weren't really cutting it for me.
The typical store-bought planner layout has a full monthly calendar split over two pages at the beginning of each month, which I generally never used. If I were going to use a full monthly calendar, I'd use a wall version.
Then, it has each week split over two pages, divided by day with a section for each, where you have a couple inches of space to write. This is the layout distilled to its most basic elements. There might be other layouts out there, but I haven't used those.
The aforementioned layout doesn't organize me in a way that's most effective. I found that it's more useful to me to have a detailed day by day schedule written out, with more general notes/tasks/items written in a weekly section that is on a single page. A couple inches is not enough to write out and schedule a full day's tasks.
There are Cambridge brand planners/appointment books that have sections to schedule out each day, but I'm only aware of these coming in a full notebook size, and I'm used to my planners being more compact. Plus, for something you have to carry around, smaller and more portable is better. I still have enough space to write what I need.
Supplies:
A small notebook (approximately 6"x8" is good for me)
Straightedge (technically optional, but it helps to make things look neater)
Writing utensils
The specific notebook selection will depend on your personal preferences. I prefer only sturdy spiral-bound notebooks with sturdy hard or plastic covers and lined pages. The writing utensils you use to layout the planner also depend on your personal preferences. You can make it as colorful or boring as you want. I find it helpful to use at least one separate color/writing utensil for the general layout markings and another for the actual notes and plans.
Weekly section
Divide one page in half vertically and draw a line. Then draw lines to divide it into thirds horizontally, resulting in 6 boxes. This is the weekly section. The weekend days are combined into one box. Label each box with the date. I use the "Monday [day #] [month, abbreviated]" format. At the top of the page, I write which week it is as "Week of [date] to [date]"
Write general information for each day in the corresponding box. Like if you have a meeting or appointment or task that needs to be done or something that was assigned in class.
Daily scheduling section
Use a separate page for each day. At the top, write the date.
Down the side, draw a vertical line slightly indented from the left side. Along the left side, write times by the hour. I use every other line and write the hours. Depending on when you start/end your days, you can tailor the time range you use. I write only down to 5 p.m. and everything past that is consolidated.
Schedule out your days here. I write when I plan to wake up and when I need to leave to go somewhere, when applicable (usually if it's a change from my normal routine). Write in when your classes are if you're in college. Write in meetings, appointments, social plans, things you want to remember, other things you want/plan to get done at a given time that day, etc. Since there is a full page for each day, you can be specific and go into relative detail here.
Optional: Monthly section.
Use one page, turn the notebook around so the spiral is at the top. Divide into 4 or 5 sections for the weeks, then 7 sections for the days. Label.
The DIY planner is flexible, so you can also use it for general notes if necessary by simply using the next blank page. I usually only layout the daily pages a day or so in advance to allow for flexibility.
Sunday, September 1, 2019
Music review: classic rock, I guess
Yesterday I watched a marching band performance; the theme for that show was Woodstock, so they played songs that apparently were played at Woodstock. Two of them had eccentric/inscrutable/"abstract" titles, or so I thought. Titles don't really necessarily convey a ton of information about a song, especially if you have no idea what corresponding the lyrics are.
Hence, the titles "Proud Mary" and "Pinball Wizard" seemed very abstract and inscrutable to me. I thought maybe they were supposed to be metaphorical or something, but I was thinking too deeply about it. Neither are actually metaphorical. The phrases are eccentric/unusual enough that I thought they could be metaphorical. More straightforward phrases as song titles are less prone to such thoughts.
"Proud Mary" is actually an impressively boring and sedate song when not arranged for band, i.e., the original Creedence Clearwater Revival version (as a tangent, I had to look up the etymology of that band name. It's on Wikipedia). It was way more boring than I expected it'd be after hearing it played by a marching band. Kind of like how the Killers ripped off part of a Smiths song and massively improved on it! [ETA: the Dandy Warhols ripped off (or, 'paid homage to') part of a David Bowie song and also improved on it]
I thought, "Proud Mary, what the hell is that supposed to mean? Is it a person? Who is she?" I thought maybe it had some weird religious aspect to it also. Turns out in the song it's the name of a boat...
Bad Moon Rising, the only other CCR song I know of -- it's jauntier and therefore somewhat less bad/boring, but I still wouldn't go out of my way to listen to it; the only reason I care is because the Killers have covered this song in the past.
Pinball Wizard I also thought could be a metaphorical title, because it's an odd/unusual phrase, but it isn't metaphorical. The song apparently is about some guy who's very good at pinball... how insipid, I thought.
Admittedly, perhaps a title like "Not If You Were the Last Junkie On Earth" could also be considered insipid, but that song is pretty amusing, to me... and the music video!
"New Dawn Fades," while somewhat abstract, provides concrete imagery. As a phrase new (adj., self-explanatory), dawn, (noun, also self-explanatory), fades (verb, self-explanatory too!) conveys an idea. New dawn fades. A new dawn that's fading. While the title isn't mentioned in the song, I think that it fits with the whole Joy Division theme.
"With or Without You" (U2) is pretty... straightforward as well, I think.
Color me not so big on classic rock. Or at least some of it. "She's a Rainbow," which I heard in a car commercial (I don't really get what this song has to do with advertising cars) is a pretty decent song though.
Hence, the titles "Proud Mary" and "Pinball Wizard" seemed very abstract and inscrutable to me. I thought maybe they were supposed to be metaphorical or something, but I was thinking too deeply about it. Neither are actually metaphorical. The phrases are eccentric/unusual enough that I thought they could be metaphorical. More straightforward phrases as song titles are less prone to such thoughts.
"Proud Mary" is actually an impressively boring and sedate song when not arranged for band, i.e., the original Creedence Clearwater Revival version (as a tangent, I had to look up the etymology of that band name. It's on Wikipedia). It was way more boring than I expected it'd be after hearing it played by a marching band. Kind of like how the Killers ripped off part of a Smiths song and massively improved on it! [ETA: the Dandy Warhols ripped off (or, 'paid homage to') part of a David Bowie song and also improved on it]
I thought, "Proud Mary, what the hell is that supposed to mean? Is it a person? Who is she?" I thought maybe it had some weird religious aspect to it also. Turns out in the song it's the name of a boat...
Bad Moon Rising, the only other CCR song I know of -- it's jauntier and therefore somewhat less bad/boring, but I still wouldn't go out of my way to listen to it; the only reason I care is because the Killers have covered this song in the past.
Pinball Wizard I also thought could be a metaphorical title, because it's an odd/unusual phrase, but it isn't metaphorical. The song apparently is about some guy who's very good at pinball... how insipid, I thought.
Admittedly, perhaps a title like "Not If You Were the Last Junkie On Earth" could also be considered insipid, but that song is pretty amusing, to me... and the music video!
"New Dawn Fades," while somewhat abstract, provides concrete imagery. As a phrase new (adj., self-explanatory), dawn, (noun, also self-explanatory), fades (verb, self-explanatory too!) conveys an idea. New dawn fades. A new dawn that's fading. While the title isn't mentioned in the song, I think that it fits with the whole Joy Division theme.
"With or Without You" (U2) is pretty... straightforward as well, I think.
Color me not so big on classic rock. Or at least some of it. "She's a Rainbow," which I heard in a car commercial (I don't really get what this song has to do with advertising cars) is a pretty decent song though.
Friday, August 9, 2019
Review: part of Netflix's Ozark
A few more episodes in... I'm nearing the end of the first season and I haven't gotten bored yet; I'm still curious about what'll happen with the characters.
The show stumbles a bit in places with the pacing; at times it seems to drag and I think it probably could've been trimmed down to, say, 8 episodes as opposed to 10. Episode 8 is a backstory/flashback episode depicting the initial events from 10 years ago that led the characters to end up in their current situation. While I think it was useful to shed light on this backstory, I think it might've worked better had various bits been incorporated into at least some of the preceding episodes of the season, rather than putting it all in a single episode, nearly at the end of the season.
In episode 7 (I think? Maybe it was 6), there's a scene where Marty is riding a bike, which is somewhat reminiscent of Michael Bluth biking in Arrested Development. However, somehow in AD Michael actually looks sort of cool when he bikes, yet in Ozark, Marty looks kinda dorky while doing it. In AD, Michael rides an 80s Schwinn road bike. In Ozark, Marty rides a contemporary Specialized hybrid-esque looking bike. At least I think it said Specialized. In AD, Michael rides for transportation purposes; in Ozark, Marty rides seemingly for recreation.
Seeing this scene of another character of Jason Bateman's riding a bike made me wonder if there's something about him and bikes, so I had to look it up. I could only find one or two interviews that mentioned it briefly; apparently he's an avid cyclist. So I wonder if Michael biking in AD was his idea, or if the writers came up with it on their own. Seeing as he's a producer on Ozark, I'm guessing perhaps it was indeed his idea there to have a scene with Marty biking.
I can't believe there hasn't even been a short/portion of an interview of Jason Bateman specifically about biking...
We'll see how the rest of the show goes. At its best moments, it's pretty riveting, although at times it does feel a bit slow and/or slightly poorly thought-out. What's interesting about watching this after being very familiar with Jason Bateman's performance in AD is that he's capable of doing quite a bit of depth with a character, which you just don't really tend to get in a comedy.
ETA: Episode 9: definitely one of the better ones as the show builds up to what presumably will be the season's climax during the final episode. There was a cool song played over the end credits of this episode too. There was one scene that brought to mind "There's always money in the banana stand!" from Arrested Development... pacing/plotting still stumbles slightly in places; sometimes a particular plot point will skip an episode and then after that, the show comes back to it, which makes for a slightly disjointed/hampered viewing experience.
The show stumbles a bit in places with the pacing; at times it seems to drag and I think it probably could've been trimmed down to, say, 8 episodes as opposed to 10. Episode 8 is a backstory/flashback episode depicting the initial events from 10 years ago that led the characters to end up in their current situation. While I think it was useful to shed light on this backstory, I think it might've worked better had various bits been incorporated into at least some of the preceding episodes of the season, rather than putting it all in a single episode, nearly at the end of the season.
In episode 7 (I think? Maybe it was 6), there's a scene where Marty is riding a bike, which is somewhat reminiscent of Michael Bluth biking in Arrested Development. However, somehow in AD Michael actually looks sort of cool when he bikes, yet in Ozark, Marty looks kinda dorky while doing it. In AD, Michael rides an 80s Schwinn road bike. In Ozark, Marty rides a contemporary Specialized hybrid-esque looking bike. At least I think it said Specialized. In AD, Michael rides for transportation purposes; in Ozark, Marty rides seemingly for recreation.
Seeing this scene of another character of Jason Bateman's riding a bike made me wonder if there's something about him and bikes, so I had to look it up. I could only find one or two interviews that mentioned it briefly; apparently he's an avid cyclist. So I wonder if Michael biking in AD was his idea, or if the writers came up with it on their own. Seeing as he's a producer on Ozark, I'm guessing perhaps it was indeed his idea there to have a scene with Marty biking.
I can't believe there hasn't even been a short/portion of an interview of Jason Bateman specifically about biking...
We'll see how the rest of the show goes. At its best moments, it's pretty riveting, although at times it does feel a bit slow and/or slightly poorly thought-out. What's interesting about watching this after being very familiar with Jason Bateman's performance in AD is that he's capable of doing quite a bit of depth with a character, which you just don't really tend to get in a comedy.
ETA: Episode 9: definitely one of the better ones as the show builds up to what presumably will be the season's climax during the final episode. There was a cool song played over the end credits of this episode too. There was one scene that brought to mind "There's always money in the banana stand!" from Arrested Development... pacing/plotting still stumbles slightly in places; sometimes a particular plot point will skip an episode and then after that, the show comes back to it, which makes for a slightly disjointed/hampered viewing experience.
Tuesday, August 6, 2019
Movie review: Equilibrium
This movie happened to be on Netflix and the single-sentence summary (usually those manage to tell you nearly nothing about a given movie/show) seemed interesting. Plus it starred Christian Bale, who's an at least somewhat famous actor. So I thought I'd give it a shot.
It turned out to be a movie that I liked, even almost a little better than I expected. It didn't have a ton of depth, but it was interesting enough and slick-looking. Cool aesthetics. Visually, the aesthetic of the movie I would describe as "industrial minimalist semi-grunge, with slight neoclassical tones." That may be a description that only makes sense to me.
It's a dystopian/sci-fi movie. The settings/architecture were sort of a minimalist industrial look -- vaguely Brutalist in some ways/places, but not all of it was fully Brutalist. Visually it was an interesting-looking movie.
The premise, as described by Netflix: "In a dystopian future, a totalitarian regime maintains peace by subduing the population with a drug, and displays of emotion are punishable by death." This is actually one of the better/more descriptive Netflix descriptions and is basically accurate.
The movie seemed a bit like a mishmash of two classic dystopian/science fiction novels, Fahrenheit 451 and 1984. Also with a helping of Star Wars on the side. So it was a bit derivative, but it was a perfectly decent movie. There was even a touch of A Clockwork Orange (perhaps coincidental) with some music by lovely lovely Ludwig Van having a part in one scene.
I don't remember if I've seen anything else with Christian Bale in it. I think he's known for playing Batman? Or something like that. [American Psycho, The Machinist, both of which I should watch, The Prestige, also Batman like I suspected] In this movie he reminded me of an assortment of other actors, including Jake Gyllenhaal (think Nightcrawler), Jared Leto (Requiem for a Dream), and Benedict Cumberbatch (BBC Sherlock, etc), among others.
There were a number of artful fight scenes in this movie, consisting of an interesting theatrical combination of martial arts and gun battles. There was one scene involving something somewhat fencing-esque. I do wonder how much the actor(s) (namely Christian Bale) had to train/rehearse/practice the choreography for these fight scenes.
It wasn't a particularly mind-blowingly profound movie or anything, and most likely not Christian Bale's most acclaimed work, but again, it was perfectly decent, visually striking/interesting and the premise about living in a society where people are unable to have emotions was interesting enough.
It turned out to be a movie that I liked, even almost a little better than I expected. It didn't have a ton of depth, but it was interesting enough and slick-looking. Cool aesthetics. Visually, the aesthetic of the movie I would describe as "industrial minimalist semi-grunge, with slight neoclassical tones." That may be a description that only makes sense to me.
It's a dystopian/sci-fi movie. The settings/architecture were sort of a minimalist industrial look -- vaguely Brutalist in some ways/places, but not all of it was fully Brutalist. Visually it was an interesting-looking movie.
The premise, as described by Netflix: "In a dystopian future, a totalitarian regime maintains peace by subduing the population with a drug, and displays of emotion are punishable by death." This is actually one of the better/more descriptive Netflix descriptions and is basically accurate.
The movie seemed a bit like a mishmash of two classic dystopian/science fiction novels, Fahrenheit 451 and 1984. Also with a helping of Star Wars on the side. So it was a bit derivative, but it was a perfectly decent movie. There was even a touch of A Clockwork Orange (perhaps coincidental) with some music by lovely lovely Ludwig Van having a part in one scene.
I don't remember if I've seen anything else with Christian Bale in it. I think he's known for playing Batman? Or something like that. [American Psycho, The Machinist, both of which I should watch, The Prestige, also Batman like I suspected] In this movie he reminded me of an assortment of other actors, including Jake Gyllenhaal (think Nightcrawler), Jared Leto (Requiem for a Dream), and Benedict Cumberbatch (BBC Sherlock, etc), among others.
There were a number of artful fight scenes in this movie, consisting of an interesting theatrical combination of martial arts and gun battles. There was one scene involving something somewhat fencing-esque. I do wonder how much the actor(s) (namely Christian Bale) had to train/rehearse/practice the choreography for these fight scenes.
It wasn't a particularly mind-blowingly profound movie or anything, and most likely not Christian Bale's most acclaimed work, but again, it was perfectly decent, visually striking/interesting and the premise about living in a society where people are unable to have emotions was interesting enough.
Thursday, August 1, 2019
Review: Netflix assortment
Netflix has quite a number of original, Netflix-exclusive shows/movies, most of which I've refrained from watching since a) there are an absolute ton of them and I wouldn't have time and b) the majority of them don't seem to be interesting enough to be worthwhile watching.
Yet: I started watching a recently released animated anthology series, which has been... a mixed bag, but I've only seen a few episodes so far. I also started watching the show Ozark, because Jason Bateman, and by extension, Arrested Development, which I love.
Love, Death and Robots: an animated anthology series; each episode is pretty short and they're all done by different people, so they have wide-ranging plots and animation styles. Makes for nice bite-size watching material. More to say about this once I finish watching all the episodes, most likely.
Ozark: this show isn't that new, but I only started watching it now. I've only watched the first episode so far, which was decent enough that I think I'll continue watching it.
It stars Jason Bateman, otherwise known as Michael Bluth from Arrested Development. He's one of those actors that I have very much the impression of that particular role for him, so I thought it'd be kind of hard for me to watch a different thing where he's playing a different character; I'd just see him as Michael Bluth. Not that he's a bad actor, but some actors are just like that. I think I'd have a hard time watching something with Steve Carrell in it without seeing him as Michael Scott from The Office.
I did see him a bit as Michael Bluth; quite a lot of the delivery of his lines in Ozark was very reminiscent of Michael. Unsurprisingly, I suppose, since that's just how his voice is and there's not really anything he can do about that, since in this show he isn't supposed to have some kind of unusual accent.
The show itself reminded me of a variety of other things I've watched in various aspects. The cinematography was reminiscent of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo; very cinematic for a tv show, I thought. It was also pretty blue, which I also remember TGWTDT being. The tone of the show reminded me a bit of NBC's Hannibal, and/or The Killing -- measured. Plot-wise, it was semi-similar to How to Get Away With Murder, perhaps. One of the characters in Ozark is played by the same actor that plays a semi-minor character in HTGAWM.
In a way, Ozark kind of made me think of an alternative universe Michael Bluth. (Jason Bateman's character in Ozark even has the same initials and name syllabilization as Michael Bluth) An alternative universe Michael who's darker, a bit more grim and more cynical. I guess maybe that impression is just due to the nature of the show; Ozark is supposed to be a crime drama whereas Arrested Development is an atypical comedy. Michael's character seems a bit more... noble. He at least tries/desires to be a good person at least some of the time, even if he's kind of sanctimonious (something you realize a bit into the show, though compared to his family members, he's the least crazy).
This cool song is used at the end of the first episode, which reminded me of House MD since I generally liked the music used in that show back when I watched it. Initially, I thought it was by some indie band, but then I looked it up and it turned out to be by Radiohead... in a way, it's sort of similar to the song Madness by Muse.
More thoughts on Ozark as I continue to watch it.
Velvet Buzzsaw: a movie, starring Jake Gyllenhaal, among others. It has to do with art; Jake plays an art critic. I think it was supposed to be sort of a satire, but it wasn't exactly the most effective satire. Jake Gyllenhaal was alright, but the movie itself was mediocre, which is about what I had expected. I watched it one day because I was bored and wanted to kill some time. I did wonder about the various artworks in the movie; if they were actual artworks that had been sourced to be in the movie, or if the props department conceived of and created all of them.
Ozark, a few more episodes in: Still can't shake the Michael Bluth impression, which isn't so terrible; Jason Bateman's character in Ozark is more or less an alternative universe version of Michael in a darker, non-comedy show. Michael minus the rest of his family, set in the Ozarks, involved with shady business with a drug cartel, instead of George Sr.'s antics.
Part of it is just the way that he talks, and his mannerisms/vocal mannerisms (which I guess falls under "the way that he talks"). It's sort of trippy though, to have AD so in-mind while watching Ozark. But it's also kind of impossible to have it out of mind, if you've rewatched AD as much as I have. Anyways, onward and upward...
Obviously his character dresses a bit differently in this show; it's set more currently so the early 2000s fashions would be out of date. He wears tighter-fitting shirts, as is the trend these days, not the billowing numbers of past decades (see also: Stephen Glass shirt)... He also wears darker colors, I've noticed.
Michael Bluth wore mostly whites and light blue shirts, unsurprisingly given his role as a businessman for his family's housing company. Martin in Ozark wears darker colors -- navy, burgundy, even a dark blueish plaid. Clothing that looks a bit more rumpled/disheveled, somewhat less polished. I assume the costume design was intentional.
Further reading: https://melmagazine.com/en-us/story/with-ozark-jason-bateman-mixes-michael-bluth-with-walter-white
I do maybe sort of wish the show were a bit shorter/faster-paced; as it is, it definitely seems like a slow burn, and I'm kind of impatient. Anyways, we'll see. Assuming the second season is also 10 episodes, that means ~20 hours of watching. Supposedly there's supposed to be a third season at some point, so hopefully the second season doesn't leave off on a crazy cliffhanger and then I have to wait some unknown amount of time for the next one..... another reason why I'm not so big on Netflix-exclusive shows. That means you, Mindhunter. Good show, but I thought there'd be a second season ages ago...
Yet: I started watching a recently released animated anthology series, which has been... a mixed bag, but I've only seen a few episodes so far. I also started watching the show Ozark, because Jason Bateman, and by extension, Arrested Development, which I love.
Love, Death and Robots: an animated anthology series; each episode is pretty short and they're all done by different people, so they have wide-ranging plots and animation styles. Makes for nice bite-size watching material. More to say about this once I finish watching all the episodes, most likely.
Ozark: this show isn't that new, but I only started watching it now. I've only watched the first episode so far, which was decent enough that I think I'll continue watching it.
It stars Jason Bateman, otherwise known as Michael Bluth from Arrested Development. He's one of those actors that I have very much the impression of that particular role for him, so I thought it'd be kind of hard for me to watch a different thing where he's playing a different character; I'd just see him as Michael Bluth. Not that he's a bad actor, but some actors are just like that. I think I'd have a hard time watching something with Steve Carrell in it without seeing him as Michael Scott from The Office.
I did see him a bit as Michael Bluth; quite a lot of the delivery of his lines in Ozark was very reminiscent of Michael. Unsurprisingly, I suppose, since that's just how his voice is and there's not really anything he can do about that, since in this show he isn't supposed to have some kind of unusual accent.
The show itself reminded me of a variety of other things I've watched in various aspects. The cinematography was reminiscent of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo; very cinematic for a tv show, I thought. It was also pretty blue, which I also remember TGWTDT being. The tone of the show reminded me a bit of NBC's Hannibal, and/or The Killing -- measured. Plot-wise, it was semi-similar to How to Get Away With Murder, perhaps. One of the characters in Ozark is played by the same actor that plays a semi-minor character in HTGAWM.
In a way, Ozark kind of made me think of an alternative universe Michael Bluth. (Jason Bateman's character in Ozark even has the same initials and name syllabilization as Michael Bluth) An alternative universe Michael who's darker, a bit more grim and more cynical. I guess maybe that impression is just due to the nature of the show; Ozark is supposed to be a crime drama whereas Arrested Development is an atypical comedy. Michael's character seems a bit more... noble. He at least tries/desires to be a good person at least some of the time, even if he's kind of sanctimonious (something you realize a bit into the show, though compared to his family members, he's the least crazy).
This cool song is used at the end of the first episode, which reminded me of House MD since I generally liked the music used in that show back when I watched it. Initially, I thought it was by some indie band, but then I looked it up and it turned out to be by Radiohead... in a way, it's sort of similar to the song Madness by Muse.
More thoughts on Ozark as I continue to watch it.
Velvet Buzzsaw: a movie, starring Jake Gyllenhaal, among others. It has to do with art; Jake plays an art critic. I think it was supposed to be sort of a satire, but it wasn't exactly the most effective satire. Jake Gyllenhaal was alright, but the movie itself was mediocre, which is about what I had expected. I watched it one day because I was bored and wanted to kill some time. I did wonder about the various artworks in the movie; if they were actual artworks that had been sourced to be in the movie, or if the props department conceived of and created all of them.
Ozark, a few more episodes in: Still can't shake the Michael Bluth impression, which isn't so terrible; Jason Bateman's character in Ozark is more or less an alternative universe version of Michael in a darker, non-comedy show. Michael minus the rest of his family, set in the Ozarks, involved with shady business with a drug cartel, instead of George Sr.'s antics.
Part of it is just the way that he talks, and his mannerisms/vocal mannerisms (which I guess falls under "the way that he talks"). It's sort of trippy though, to have AD so in-mind while watching Ozark. But it's also kind of impossible to have it out of mind, if you've rewatched AD as much as I have. Anyways, onward and upward...
Obviously his character dresses a bit differently in this show; it's set more currently so the early 2000s fashions would be out of date. He wears tighter-fitting shirts, as is the trend these days, not the billowing numbers of past decades (see also: Stephen Glass shirt)... He also wears darker colors, I've noticed.
Michael Bluth wore mostly whites and light blue shirts, unsurprisingly given his role as a businessman for his family's housing company. Martin in Ozark wears darker colors -- navy, burgundy, even a dark blueish plaid. Clothing that looks a bit more rumpled/disheveled, somewhat less polished. I assume the costume design was intentional.
Further reading: https://melmagazine.com/en-us/story/with-ozark-jason-bateman-mixes-michael-bluth-with-walter-white
I do maybe sort of wish the show were a bit shorter/faster-paced; as it is, it definitely seems like a slow burn, and I'm kind of impatient. Anyways, we'll see. Assuming the second season is also 10 episodes, that means ~20 hours of watching. Supposedly there's supposed to be a third season at some point, so hopefully the second season doesn't leave off on a crazy cliffhanger and then I have to wait some unknown amount of time for the next one..... another reason why I'm not so big on Netflix-exclusive shows. That means you, Mindhunter. Good show, but I thought there'd be a second season ages ago...
Monday, July 1, 2019
Movie review: Platoon
This movie apparently was recently added to Netflix, I think. In any case, I hadn't seen it in the past and now I have. Save for The Deer Hunter and The Things They Carried, (I think there's a movie of that? I know there's a book) I think I've now seen all the major Vietnam War movies. My personal favorites of those have been We Were Soldiers and Full Metal Jacket. I've intentionally tried to forget Apocalypse Now; it was an awful movie and I hated it just as much as I hated the source material, Heart of Darkness.
Anyways. This one, Platoon, I'd been aware of for some time yet only now got around to watching. I wasn't entirely sure what exactly to expect, except that the movie was set during the Vietnam War. Initially, the movie didn't seem to have much of a plot, but the plot becomes clearer as the movie progresses. Perhaps you could say the plot is a little more abstract than in the other movies. It basically begins with a cold open as the central character arrives in Vietnam, minimal exposition in the traditional sense.
It stars Charlie Sheen, who vaguely resembles Tom Cruise, and also I think a mix of him and Jason Bateman. I think it was Charlie Sheen's father, Martin Sheen who was in Apocalypse Now, so I guess in the back of my mind, son resembled father (unsurprisingly).
It's interesting how each movie depicts a different slice of/take on the events of the Vietnam War. We Were Soldiers I'd describe as artful, almost, in a way, particularly due to the score/soundtrack for the battle scenes. Platoon was more raw, more brutal, in a way. No graceful/artful flourishes like in We Were Soldiers. Full Metal Jacket was different in a Kubrickian way (admittedly, the only other real reference for Kubrick's work I have is A Clockwork Orange, having also disliked and intentionally tried to forget The Shining), in that it definitely feels like a Kubrick film.
War is hell, as having watched all these various war movies has confirmed for me (I think "War is hell" is a quote from Full Metal Jacket somewhere). Platoon takes place entirely in Vietnam, unlike We Were Soldiers and Full Metal Jacket (and Born on the Fourth of July, the other Vietnam War movie I've seen yet haven't mentioned here yet).
Although this movie had a slightly abstract front end and I couldn't initially really tell where the plot was going, in the end. I did end up liking it. It depicts and focuses on the group dynamics within the group of soldiers portrayed, particularly conflicts amongst them as well as camaraderie (in some cases). It's perhaps a bit more character driven, in that the focus of the plot deals with the individual natures of the various characters and how they do or don't get along with each other while fighting the war.
I'm not sure if it was based off real events, and if so, to what extent [edit: yes, it was based off the director's experiences]. In the somewhat abstract beginning, the pacing seemed a bit slow, but when it came to what I assumed (correctly) was the climax, there was some brief falling action afterward as you'd expect to occur based on a traditional plot arc.
The focus on internal conflicts within the band of soldiers was interesting since none of the other war movies I've seen have had that be such an integral part of the plot. Full Metal Jacket perhaps touches on it a bit (particularly in the first act during the boot camp, where Joker becomes responsible for making sure Vincent's character improves) and I think there's also a scene or two in Jarhead regarding such things, but it's not the focus of those films.
There was a character named Elias in this movie, who had an interesting and important role, although so as not to spoil anything I won't say more about that, except that I think that's a nice name, although Ian is still my top favorite.
Although I've said in the past that I don't exactly like war movies, maybe I do like them after all?? (gasp) At least some of them. My main focus with regards to war movies would be: about the Vietnam War, very famous (even if they're about other wars, such as Saving Private Ryan) and/or starring an actor I like (such as Peter Sarsgaard and Jake Gyllenhaal in Jarhead [maybe I should rewatch this... it's been awhile since I last saw it]).
At the moment, I think I'd rank my top favorite Vietnam War movies in this order:
We Were Soldiers (I thought it made a particularly unique impression due to the music/score/soundtrack)
Full Metal Jacket (the Kubrick factor)
Platoon
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