Postule
That's actually really clever. If you think about it.
What to say what to say what to say. Christmastime has came and went, and I enjoyed it thoroughly, regardless of the toil that so many others seem to go through in the process of "buying gifts for others."
It'd been a while since the band had gotten together to jam, and just before the whole Christmas madness got into full swing, we got together and had a little jingle before the Kringle. Let me tell you, we rock. I was surprised at how good we sounded, considering what ridiculous humans we all are and how long it had been since we'd gotten together. Gives me hope for the future, hearing actual music being played for the sake of playing it. No plans of how to market the band, no plans on making a specific kind of music, just seeing what we like and playing it because we like to. People who start bands to be in the music scene, people who make movies to get into Hollywood... they're the worst kind of villain.
My brother took a trip with his friends, who are somewhat known for their ballistic approach to trip planning, preferring the school of "let's see what the hell happens" as opposed to the "let's not starve in the damn Oregon forests" doctrine. Both are respectable, but one has a lot more followers than the other. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't worried about him, but I guess I was younger when I made my first trip to Seattle with my bonehead companions, so he mustn't be that bad off. Still.
Remember Nightmare Before Christmas? And remember Labyrinth? Remember these fantastical worlds these movies created, and created believably, that allowed people to br truly transported, and not just in the conventional "out to the movies" way. Really lost out of themselves and then out of their normal sense of understanding. Wait for Mirror Mask to come out, then we'll see if we can extend this list further.
Rather, we can extend it now. Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events did not dissapoint either in the "fantastical world" genre, or in the "fucking hilarious" Jim Carey role genre. Sorry, people. You can sit there on your high horses and hate till the day is through. You can denounce Ace Ventura and Dumb and Dumber and every other crappy movie the man has ever made but, in the end, I love him. I love him like a man loves a slim-version Playstation 2, and there's nothing, NOTHING you can do to stop me.
Anyhoo, the real triumph of Snickers, as I've come to call it, is the creation of this only-slightly realistic world, which is really where mature audiences derive their fantasy-based pleasure from. A world that is different, but a world of rules is necessary. The land of Tinky-Winky et. al. simply doesn't appeal to us, because none of the questions being posed are answered, and anything is possible. We want most things to be possible, but possible by a set of rules. Nothing turns us off more than utter chaos or total control. We like a happy medium.
In this world that could be London at times, could be Dust Bowl Ohio at others, could be Myst in still others, it's nice to watch as the director attempts to succeed at creating this world. He succeeds through his actors.
Now, normally, I try to avoid doing research on any of these films that I might judge them solely on their own validity, and not on their faithfulness to any other work or whether or not I hate the people involved, but sometimes this is unavoidable, and the director of Lemony Snicket seems, in his cinematic career, to have taken a liking to this "world we hardly know of" approach to film appeal. City of Angels, another of his works, I think, was a fine film, though I may be biased due to my predaliction for anything creatively theistic, and his other notable work, Casper, was... a movie.
So the man enjoys these films where an unknown world is unfolded to the audience. And, when done correctly, so do I, and this director has unlocked the secret to proving to the viewers that, yes, this is in fact a real place, though unlike any you've seen. As I said, this is in his talent. his actors are believable and delightful, and they lend the movie it's veracity. No amount of special effects or make-up or specifically dressed sets is ever going to convince anyone the place is real unless the actors in the scenes know it to be real.
The same goes for the slightly-less-legitimate but none-less-enjoyable Elf, starring Will Ferrel, once of my favorites as far as comedy's concerned. Funny, funny film, taking place a good deal in the North Pole, and it is only through the actors there that the North Pole really comes to life. And you can watch the famn featurettes on the DVD about how long it took to make the place and the sets involved and the forced perspective they used but, I tell you now, none of it means anything save for Will Ferrel and his childlike wonder in every moment on that set. Quite perfect as far as setting the mood goes.
I went and ate at Original Mike's yesterday. I'm not much one for touting restaurants, but this place was great. It takes a lot for me to sit up and notice if a restaurant's anything great, but it has a fantastic atmosphere (saying a lot, coming from me, and being here in the Southern Californian suburbs), a live band (not that great doing motley-vocaled covers of great songs... I'll take what I can get... it wasn't distracting or loud enough to break my conversation, which has a Mohs hardness scale of 10-LIKE-DIAMOND!!!), and the best food I've had in quite some time. I had center-cut swordfish with this delicious rice mixed with coconut, raisins and maybe even peanuts. I'm not one for that kind of cuisine normally ("that kind," here, being anything other than pizza) but it was absolutely astounding. I cleaned my plate. Afterward, in the kitchen.
Because I was grateful.
Anyway, I'm thinking that's going to be the venue for Fancy Dinner, which is an event we've recently cooked up consisting of little more than putting on nice clothes and going out for a formal meal, which we as the younger generation have the chance to do O-too-seldom. We're doing it Superbowl Sunday, my circle of friends and I having the generous faculty of not giving a shit about professional sports (mostly), and it may be crowded as it's slightly sports-bar-sy... but I think later on in the day it ought to clear out, and leave room for the civilized population to revel.
Fancy Dinner. Along with Sundown and Bacchanal (which we're bringing back this year)... we're getting to be some real Event-Goers.
Lucky us.
Post Yule. Get it?
What to say what to say what to say. Christmastime has came and went, and I enjoyed it thoroughly, regardless of the toil that so many others seem to go through in the process of "buying gifts for others."
It'd been a while since the band had gotten together to jam, and just before the whole Christmas madness got into full swing, we got together and had a little jingle before the Kringle. Let me tell you, we rock. I was surprised at how good we sounded, considering what ridiculous humans we all are and how long it had been since we'd gotten together. Gives me hope for the future, hearing actual music being played for the sake of playing it. No plans of how to market the band, no plans on making a specific kind of music, just seeing what we like and playing it because we like to. People who start bands to be in the music scene, people who make movies to get into Hollywood... they're the worst kind of villain.
My brother took a trip with his friends, who are somewhat known for their ballistic approach to trip planning, preferring the school of "let's see what the hell happens" as opposed to the "let's not starve in the damn Oregon forests" doctrine. Both are respectable, but one has a lot more followers than the other. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't worried about him, but I guess I was younger when I made my first trip to Seattle with my bonehead companions, so he mustn't be that bad off. Still.
Remember Nightmare Before Christmas? And remember Labyrinth? Remember these fantastical worlds these movies created, and created believably, that allowed people to br truly transported, and not just in the conventional "out to the movies" way. Really lost out of themselves and then out of their normal sense of understanding. Wait for Mirror Mask to come out, then we'll see if we can extend this list further.
Rather, we can extend it now. Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events did not dissapoint either in the "fantastical world" genre, or in the "fucking hilarious" Jim Carey role genre. Sorry, people. You can sit there on your high horses and hate till the day is through. You can denounce Ace Ventura and Dumb and Dumber and every other crappy movie the man has ever made but, in the end, I love him. I love him like a man loves a slim-version Playstation 2, and there's nothing, NOTHING you can do to stop me.
Anyhoo, the real triumph of Snickers, as I've come to call it, is the creation of this only-slightly realistic world, which is really where mature audiences derive their fantasy-based pleasure from. A world that is different, but a world of rules is necessary. The land of Tinky-Winky et. al. simply doesn't appeal to us, because none of the questions being posed are answered, and anything is possible. We want most things to be possible, but possible by a set of rules. Nothing turns us off more than utter chaos or total control. We like a happy medium.
In this world that could be London at times, could be Dust Bowl Ohio at others, could be Myst in still others, it's nice to watch as the director attempts to succeed at creating this world. He succeeds through his actors.
Now, normally, I try to avoid doing research on any of these films that I might judge them solely on their own validity, and not on their faithfulness to any other work or whether or not I hate the people involved, but sometimes this is unavoidable, and the director of Lemony Snicket seems, in his cinematic career, to have taken a liking to this "world we hardly know of" approach to film appeal. City of Angels, another of his works, I think, was a fine film, though I may be biased due to my predaliction for anything creatively theistic, and his other notable work, Casper, was... a movie.
So the man enjoys these films where an unknown world is unfolded to the audience. And, when done correctly, so do I, and this director has unlocked the secret to proving to the viewers that, yes, this is in fact a real place, though unlike any you've seen. As I said, this is in his talent. his actors are believable and delightful, and they lend the movie it's veracity. No amount of special effects or make-up or specifically dressed sets is ever going to convince anyone the place is real unless the actors in the scenes know it to be real.
The same goes for the slightly-less-legitimate but none-less-enjoyable Elf, starring Will Ferrel, once of my favorites as far as comedy's concerned. Funny, funny film, taking place a good deal in the North Pole, and it is only through the actors there that the North Pole really comes to life. And you can watch the famn featurettes on the DVD about how long it took to make the place and the sets involved and the forced perspective they used but, I tell you now, none of it means anything save for Will Ferrel and his childlike wonder in every moment on that set. Quite perfect as far as setting the mood goes.
I went and ate at Original Mike's yesterday. I'm not much one for touting restaurants, but this place was great. It takes a lot for me to sit up and notice if a restaurant's anything great, but it has a fantastic atmosphere (saying a lot, coming from me, and being here in the Southern Californian suburbs), a live band (not that great doing motley-vocaled covers of great songs... I'll take what I can get... it wasn't distracting or loud enough to break my conversation, which has a Mohs hardness scale of 10-LIKE-DIAMOND!!!), and the best food I've had in quite some time. I had center-cut swordfish with this delicious rice mixed with coconut, raisins and maybe even peanuts. I'm not one for that kind of cuisine normally ("that kind," here, being anything other than pizza) but it was absolutely astounding. I cleaned my plate. Afterward, in the kitchen.
Because I was grateful.
Anyway, I'm thinking that's going to be the venue for Fancy Dinner, which is an event we've recently cooked up consisting of little more than putting on nice clothes and going out for a formal meal, which we as the younger generation have the chance to do O-too-seldom. We're doing it Superbowl Sunday, my circle of friends and I having the generous faculty of not giving a shit about professional sports (mostly), and it may be crowded as it's slightly sports-bar-sy... but I think later on in the day it ought to clear out, and leave room for the civilized population to revel.
Fancy Dinner. Along with Sundown and Bacchanal (which we're bringing back this year)... we're getting to be some real Event-Goers.
Lucky us.
Post Yule. Get it?
posted by DeadLanguage at 6:11 PM
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