Thursday, May 26, 2005
Plenty of fluids.
My life has been eh. A lot of it good, some of it rather not as good. But I can't complain.
Megan and Liz have taken to calling me "stupid fuck." I think it started as Megan's response to me spilling beer once, and it just sort of caught on (ironically, spilling beer was very low on the list of stupid things I did that evening). I don't really mind it, it's always a little special to have a nickname, even an obscene and degrading one. But its use interests me. Lately I've been a "stupid fuck" for disagreeing about the quality of movies. It's no secret that I hate almost all movies that come out, but this is definitely not because I'm stupid. On the contrary, this is because I think about almost nothing but movies, I think about the potential of film as an art form and how almost nothing we see at our local cinemas realizes this potential. But I am starting to wonder if maybe I'm being just a little too cynical about movies. Star Wars: Episode Three and Finding Neverland, two movies which I have watched recently with my friends, both of them I have bitterly panned; were adored very widely by critics (see www.rottentomatoes.com, a somewhat useful and also somewhat flawed source for movie reviews). Am I indeed a stupid fuck? Or am I right: are critics so used to terrible movies that they'll laud any piece of detritus Hollywood casts in their direction?
To back up my point of view, here's a quote from director Alexander Payne, speaking while accepting an award for Sideways: "I think there may be a problem with a world in which making small, human and humorous films is 'an achievement.' It should be the norm."
I think I'm coming down with a cold or flu or something. This will be the second year in a row I've gotten some kind of virus on my birthday. I don't feel too good, and I should go to bed and try not to think about movies.
Megan and Liz have taken to calling me "stupid fuck." I think it started as Megan's response to me spilling beer once, and it just sort of caught on (ironically, spilling beer was very low on the list of stupid things I did that evening). I don't really mind it, it's always a little special to have a nickname, even an obscene and degrading one. But its use interests me. Lately I've been a "stupid fuck" for disagreeing about the quality of movies. It's no secret that I hate almost all movies that come out, but this is definitely not because I'm stupid. On the contrary, this is because I think about almost nothing but movies, I think about the potential of film as an art form and how almost nothing we see at our local cinemas realizes this potential. But I am starting to wonder if maybe I'm being just a little too cynical about movies. Star Wars: Episode Three and Finding Neverland, two movies which I have watched recently with my friends, both of them I have bitterly panned; were adored very widely by critics (see www.rottentomatoes.com, a somewhat useful and also somewhat flawed source for movie reviews). Am I indeed a stupid fuck? Or am I right: are critics so used to terrible movies that they'll laud any piece of detritus Hollywood casts in their direction?
To back up my point of view, here's a quote from director Alexander Payne, speaking while accepting an award for Sideways: "I think there may be a problem with a world in which making small, human and humorous films is 'an achievement.' It should be the norm."
I think I'm coming down with a cold or flu or something. This will be the second year in a row I've gotten some kind of virus on my birthday. I don't feel too good, and I should go to bed and try not to think about movies.
