Friday, July 23, 2010

winter's bone

i went and saw winter's bone last night. it's about this girl in the missouri ozarks whose absentee father has left her to care for her two younger siblings and mentally ill mother. the story begins right after the father gets busted for cooking meth, puts the family house up for bond, and then fails to show up for court. the movie's essentially about the girl turning private detective and getting deep into ozark meth country/culture to try and find her dad and save her home from the bond company.

winter's bone has long, meditative shots of: little white trash kids playing on a ratty trampoline; a forlorn, forgotten rocking horse with icicles hanging off it; a sweet squirrel-skinning scene; and characters who say stuff like, "don't never ask for what should be offered." as you might expect, the critics came in their collective pants--it's got a "90" on metacritic. to a.o. scott, a movie like this is a travelogue where the characters' stupidity and desperation is ascribed a profundity that just isn't there in real life. one of the lone dissenting critics aptly described it as "southern-poverty porn." i think it's sort of like hillbilly minstrelsy.

i will say, though,that the actress who plays the girl does a really good job. her name's jennifer lawrence. here are some not very ozarkian pics of her: http://www.esquire.com/women/women-we-love/jennifer-lawrence-photos-0610. hubba-hubba! i'm sure she had to get a dialect coach to learn how to talk dumb. she's playing "mystique" in the next x-men movie.

john hawkes is also in this, and he's good, too. he was sol starr in "deadwood." have any of you guys ever watched deadwood? i like it almost as much as the wire.

so, winter's bone is not as good as advertised. it's not as horrible as crazy heart, but you can wait for the dvd. in the meantime, go see inception!

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

American Murder Mystery

Pretty interesting article from The Atlantic, if you're interested in poverty, social policy, etc etc etc.

Sunday, July 18, 2010

omg

gang, inception is amazing

Saturday, July 10, 2010

Recent activities

1. Listening to the new Big Boi album. "Shine Blockas" is my summer song.
2. Cooking, a lot. Sandwiched between a so-so squid curry and a green curry in which I realized, upon tasting it, that the green curry paste I made a few months ago and froze had gone bad, I baked a whole fish for the first time with a Jewish recipe from Kerala, India and actually hit at least a triple, if not a homerun.
3. Finishing up Season 2 of True Blood tonight with JC. I think I need to incorporate the Sookie Stackhouse novels into my summer reading list.
3. Finally watched Jodorowsky's The Holy Mountain. I could write something halfway decent about it I guess, but I prefer this amazing comment from the Holy Mountain trailer on youtube:
WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS!!!!!!! I SEARCHED THE SONG HOLY MOUNTIAN BY SYSTEM OF A DOWN AND I GOT THIS!! WHAT IS THIS FUCKING MOVIE ABOUT!?!?!
The short Jodorowsky primer (below) by a documentarian who is kind of the Kige Ramsey of 70s Chilean cult cinema is also great. I actually like this guy, though the comments are kind of brutal.

4. Getting ready for Vegas (this weekend) and Pacific Northwest (two weeks)
5. Playing my best golf ever. Mastering my serve/learning how to serve in tennis is next.