Thursday 31 December 2009

The Decade According to Will pt. 1

This is a pretty special new years eve. Ending of a decade. You know what that means. That means top 10 lists. I've been known to indulge in numeration from time to time. Seems to me this decade is probably the one that defines my generation, although the 10's are the decade that we as a generation will define, and that calls for a bit of numerical summation. Starting today and leading up to getting back to TWU in a week's time, I'm going to try to post a few top ten lists on this blog. I've got five list ideas and the first one that I've completed happens to be the top ten movies of this past decade, so here goes (also, I hate top ten lists that start with 1, it just makes no sense). Also I just had the hugest deja vu.

Top Ten Movies of the 00's
10. 28 Days Later (2002)
Directed by Danny Boyle, this film is good not because it's a vivid re-imagining of the zombie genre (which it is), but because of its brilliant character development. The breakdown of the protagonist into something savage and barely recognizable as human in order to maintain his humanity is immense.
9. Cinderella Man (2005)
There are not many sports movies I enjoy (exactly two), they almost invariably follow a set formula designed for specific emotional responses. They're a cheat. Boxing movies have a natural advantage over other sports movies in that they generally focus on a single man, rather than a team, which opens up the story to a much broader range of development. Cinderella man takes full advantage of this and features some of the best acting from some of my favorite actors, netting it a spot on this list.
8. Juno (2007)
The characters in this movie are intensely human and their responses to their situations are beautifully consistent. Too many hollywood movies fall into the trap of creating characters that can change at a moments notice, but Juno recognizes that for real people, change comes hard. It also tackles a pretty heavy issue with wit and a lack of pretension and comes out on top, props.
7. Gladiator (2000)
Like I said, Russell Crowe is one of my favorite actors and this is where he shines best, in a tale of bittersweet revenge opposite a truly despicable Joaquin Phoenix. Not only is it a fairly faithful recreation of a period of history, it's also just a darn good tale.
6. The Dark Knight (2008)
For such a rich comic book history, Batman has had some of the worst disappointments ever filmed. The Dark Knight is the long awaited realization of what a Batman movie should be. It's a beautiful crime drama that delves into the concepts of chaos and order, with a hero that's darker than he's ever been and villains that are multi-dimensional and fascinating. Add killer music and great cinematography and pacing and we have a winner.
5. Children of Men (2006)
Children of Men looks at what would happen if babies stopped being born. While this will probably not be useful information in the future, it does happen to be a fantastic science fiction film and is arguable an accurate representation of what we would become and what we would do, as humans, should that ever happen.
4. Lord of the Rings (2001-2003)
My Mom read us the books when we were kids and to go see it portrayed so faithfully on screen was a pretty sweet experience. There were so many times during the trilogy that I realized 'hey, this is exactly how I imagined in my head', this is both a testament to Tolkien's incredibly descriptive style and Peter Jackson's skill and courage as a filmmaker.
3. There Will Be Blood (2007)
This is capitalism vs. religion played out in a brutally honest story about an "oil-man" and his rise to power. Daniel Day-Lewis melts your face off with his acting, putting this on my top five of all time list as well. Favorite line: "I... drink... your... milkshake!"
2. No Country for Old Men (2007)
Only the Coen brothers could have turned out this brilliant adaption of Cormac McCarthy's already brilliant book. It's basically a frank discussion of where our society is at with relation to crime and how that compares with our fathers' generations. It's brooding and unsettling, leaving the viewer wishing for some measure of assurance, but finding none
1. Pan's Labyrinth (2006)
Guillermo del Toro's finest creation yet, Pan's Labyrinth is both a violent and moving account of life under General Franco in Spain, and an intricate world, peopled by strange and fascinating creatures, as seen through the eyes of a young girl on a personal odyssey to find out who she is. It delves into the dynamics of family and loyalty, among other issues, as well as delving into the richly populated mind of Del Toro. Over all, however, what gives this the number one spot is the fact that it is just a really good story. A darn good story.

I wrote up a short list of 28 movies before I narrowed it down to 10, but three of the ones that didn't make it, I felt deserved special notice. High Fidelity was our first real introduction to the comic genius of Jack Black and still somehow remains a poignant story thanks to John Cusack. If this list had an 11th place, High Fidelity would occupy it. The Passion of the Christ was an incredibly accurate and well done depiction of what the crucifixion of Jesus would have been like and you cannot watch it without being deeply moved, but let's be honest, the book was just that much better. Moulin Rouge was one of the first musicals I could actually appreciate thanks to its killer use of popular music as story driving pieces, but notwithstanding a really good story and great acting, Moulin Rouge is still more about the music than the movie so it falls short from this list. Anyhow, it's past four right now and I'm needing sleep in a big way, I just thought I might start this thing off right away. Tomorrow I'll tackle the top ten discoveries. Keep it pregnant.

PipeSmokingProfessor


Friday 18 December 2009

Brain Jar

Just as a word of caution, the following blog post tries to chart the strange brain of Will Davies and is full of accounts of dreams, oddities of perception, and other wildness. It was also mostly composed while the writer was in the thick of final exams and his brain was at the time not fully functioning on a normal plane. Well, enough apologizing for myself, I am what I am.
The way my mind works is sometimes a mystery to me. Most of the time. I had a dream the other night (I dream more when I sleep in beds that aren't my own) where I was exploring a warehouse that had gone out of business. Both floors of the warehouse were filled with junk and treasures and all manner of things, it was really fascinating. Now the thing with my dreams is that when I want to fly, I jump while I'm walking or running and pedal my legs. I don't outright fly, but it takes me a lot longer to reach the ground. The thing with this dream is that when I realize I'm dreaming and I try to fly, I can't do it. That's unusual because I can usually control my lucid dreams.
I've now sketched 36 assorted creatures in my fictional compendium. It's a world that really fascinates me. It's populated by four types of creatures; Fauna, Sentientia, Automata, and Lusus Naturae. There are also combinations of those classifications like F.L., A.S., AL, and interestingly even F.S.. These classifications probably wont hold much meaning without the implications behind them. This is another way in which I do not understand my own mind.
I made it thirteen stanzas into my second epic poem (the first, White Trash and Beardo, is still only around five stanzas) before my inspiration ran dry. This time I was sure to lay out where the poem was going, how it was going to get there, and the major themes before I even started, but I still can go no further for the time being. Perhaps the inspiration will come back on the holidays when I have a bit of time to think. I still don't understand how this inspiration gets ahold of me in the first place and why it leaves just as suddenly.
I can listen to a soaringly beautiful aria and be unmoved, but when I hear the strangled growl of Tom Waits singing about a Prostitutes Christmas Card or the fact that Romeo is Bleeding, it sends shivers down my spine. Someone commented the other night that the music I was listening to was offsetting. It's true, Tom Waits employed a couple of tempo changes in the song that leave the listener disconcerted and confused. The thing was that he was doing it intentionally. I dislike when musicians are not good at what they do and therefore their music is jarring unintentionally. When a musician is so good at what they do that they are able to experiment, look at music from new perspectives and apply different laws to how they play, when they try to evoke certain emotions other than joy or sadness (such as contentment or uneasiness), I appreciate their music. That's a bit of an explanation for my strange musical preferences I guess, something that I've come to terms with, but other people maybe haven't.
That wraps up a peek into my strange physche, and in case you think I'm a crazy person now, just take a look at yourself, normal as you think you are. You probably won't find any of the same stuff, but I guarantee you'll find bits you don't quite understand.

Pipesmokingprofessor

Wednesday 9 December 2009

Funeral Wine

Angry wine of Pharaoh's mother
stowed and sealed with dust behind a stone
lust unforgiving for that wine
want it enough to strip a mountains crust
Her tomb wasn't even hidden
they just buried her
some palace Pilate said
"damn her, damn her immortal soul"

On the day you pop the cork
you will slake your thirst
you will stop being self-referential
your mouth will learn to be couth
it will open to spew the seven hundred individual colours of the Nile
and on opening, it will tell the ancients
kneel at my feet

When you scratch a flame
you will hurl fire from your lips
to cool your burning mind
When you are found in the cold
you will spew forth new mythologies
rolling them into logs to burn

All men will not speak well of you
until you are dead
not until they have made your body a fine ash
they will put you in your bottle
pile cold dirt in July
In one hundred years they will remember your funeral wine


PipeSmokingProfessor

Tuesday 1 December 2009

On Stealing Shampoo

I went to buy a razor and shampoo today, only to find out that I didn't have any money in my bank account. I thought about it for a while because I was pretty sure I wasn't broke, but then I realized that I probably never notified the student loans people about being in school again. There's still a monthly amount of money being taken automatically out of my bank account. I feel a little bit silly about this. Fortunately I shaved with my cheap disposable razor last night(before throwing it away because it was super dull and prone to the chewing up of the face) so I should be good for another few days. November is over though, and though I do celebrate no-shave-November, I don't personally prescribe to the whole dirty-December trend.
I know that I said I'd update my blog, and I know that I haven't done that, but I also know that I hate apologizing for not updating my blog due the strange nature of that kind of apology, it would just feel weird to apologize for not blogging, as though the world depended on your blogging. I originally started blogging as a way to write my thoughts out (I find it helps me think), but with the invention of paper and the realization that people read my blog, I began to be more self-conscious in my writing. Of course taking other people into consideration when you are writing publicly viewable things is important. However, taking their image of yourself into account can be a dangerous path. One of the biggest problems with social networking sites, chatting online, or even blogging is that your ego is self-created, you can take the time to edit yourself and portray what you want others to see. Of course in real life this is true as well, people often put on a false front, but it's just that much easier online.
It is also much easier to be honest online. It is easier to tell the truth online, than to a persons face. So I'm not going to lie; while I can live without a shaving implement for quite some time (forever potentially), living without shampoo is a difficult endeavour. On that note it is imperative to confess that I've been "borrowing" the shampoo of the various different people who use our washroom for the last week or so. I'm not proud of it, I just hate washing my hair without shampoo. I'll even switch it up each time so that I'm not using too much out of one bottle. If any of my dormies are reading this, know that I am truly sorry (there, that's an apology I can endorse.)

The Rambler