glitch25

This week, I took an opportunity to catch up with a movie I missed in the theaters that caught my eye back when it came out. Downsizing, staring Matt Damon, Kristen Wiig, and Christoph Waltz, is about a couple that decide to take advantage of the latest technological fad and shrink themselves down to a fraction of their former selves. The idea is that a technology has been found to shrink humans (and other flora and fauna) down in size, and in doing so, a smaller human uses less resources and produces less waste so they sell it as being good for the planet. And because resources suddenly become more abundant, the economics result in average humans being able to afford millionaire equivalent homes and lifestyles in the small world. This is one of the appeals of undergoing the process.

Things, as they do, take a turn for our hero, and suddenly life being small isn't everything it was sold to be.

One of the things I really appreciate about this movie is that the trailer only really gets you started. I can't really elaborate to what extent, but I will say that the movie in total is MUCH more than the trailer leads you to believe. Typical Alexander Payne fare. Middle-age guy wanders into existential crisis and comes out the other end a different person.

As with most things, the science is very hand-wavy, but if you let that be, the story is very sweet. I showed it to each of my partners and they each seemed to like it as well.

Having just finished Watchmen on HBO, I was slightly startled to see Hong Chau in this movie. The role is somewhat different, and yet oddly not all that different, but she was absolutely amazing. Matt Damon is definitely the fool, but he retains a smidge of dignity and a lot of heart, and the characters interact with him wonderfully. Christoph Waltz is once again brilliant. Christoph has a certain intensity and a bit of an over-the-top style without being too unbelievable.

Definitely on the recommend list, and you can find it today on Hulu with subscription, or to rent on Amazon Prime Video.

Ever had a weekend that is both really good and really not good for two strong and opposite reasons? Yeah. That. :-)

Could be worse. And the good was really good. And the bad was not as bad as it could have been. At least. I think so. It isn't quite over yet, but soon. You never really know til the recap, yaknow?

The week was pretty good. Monday I got to hang out with a new friend and be introduced to her two charming kitties. One of which is a bit of a dick, but I'm figuring I'll wear him down. The other recognized my desire to be a kitty-human and took lots of advantage. PIano was played, epic sewing machines and looms were revealed, and great dinner and conversation had as well. Definitely a successful evening. I came home and got some electrical work finished as well that I can only do when parts of the house are vacant. :-) Yay for vacancy and getting to do the thing.

Tuesday involved sitting in on late rehearsal for the Bone Poets concert this last weekend. Always nifty to watch the process of putting it together. I feel a lot of comfort as a performer knowing that it is about hard work and dedication that those who put on such awesome shows do to make it all happen.

Wednesday involved a change of venue for a short time to mitigate some issues that have arisen. It's good when you can figure yourself out enough to consider your own needs and work to make things acceptable all around in difficult situations. One the whole, it meant I got to spend some more dedicated time with S and that time gave us a chance to do some housekeeping and organization that needed to be done.

Thursday was my first outing at Saber Guild! Saber Guild, for those of you that might not know, is a Star Wars cosplay organization that performs lightsaber battles at charitable events and conventions. It is a really nifty group, and they do good work and spread a lot of joy in what they do. I joined strictly as an observer, but it was fun watching the folks do their thing and learn new stuff. Again, as a performer, it is nifty to watch the amount of effort and practice that goes into performance and to learning one's craft. Something else I did was work really hard to find ways to remember names of people I met and re-met that night. I have a tendency to be bad at it, and I made a different effort to work it out and I believe I'm making good progress. :-)

Friday night was date night out, and we had dinner and got to see the latest Fantastic Beasts movie. I'm sure there are bits I've missed being a poor Harry Potter fan, and I haven't read anything since Deathly Hallows, so if there is source material that got brutally fucked with, I wasn't privy, but on the whole, I thought the movie was good, It is lovely that Johnny Depp has taken on definitive bad-guy status so that it makes it easier for me to give to him personally the energy that he, the actor, deserves. Not that he ever made it difficult. Aside, loved the casting, and I'm continually impressed with Eddie Redmayne. Newt is such a fucking Hufflepuff. OMFG. :-)

Saturday was an easier speed day. Nice breakfast, playing with a new toy I got myself for Christmas, and some organization to prepare for the big push on Sunday. Saturday evening was the Bone Poets concert, and despite some situational discomfort, the evening went well, and the concert was good. I got a little bit of time to spend with G, and I got to hang out with some new friends there. We ended the outing a little early, but opted to come home and have long conversations until the wee hours. It was nice.

Sunday was the great push, and we managed to accomplish a lot! It was nice to devote the time and to see very clearly the progress made. Good breakfast was had, and we took appropriate breaks. Then we shuttled around running errands and doing a little shopping. If you haven't made it to Sky Nursery in Shoreline to see their Christmas ornament sale, you totally should. They are fantastic! I'd also highly recommend Swanson's as well. As S lovingly made a fantastic dinner for us, I dipped my toe very briefly into Elder Scrolls Online. As expected, that could be a dangerous place. It was free this weekend,and I finally got a chance to see what the fuss was about. If I can find time, it will be interesting! Dinner and media had, and then the night ended early since I have to get up and 0-dark-thirty to get to work, but it was a good night.

Tonight will be the Jim Henson's Holiday Special from Fathom Events. On the docket is Emmet Otter's Jug Band Christmas and, I am led to believe, some abomination with the Fraggles in it. I'm told to be dubious. I guess we'll see. I'm sad that it is likely that Emmet Otter won't contain Kermit. I think a lot of folks may forget that Kermit was originally in Emmet Otter's Jug Band Christmas. Fortunately, this being the internet age, I have obtained a fan-generated copy where the footage in question was lovingly restored along with bits that got removed in order to make the movie more main-stream acceptable. I really hate it when people retcon or otherwise fuck with shit. I had enough people fucking with my childhood to be happy with you doing it too, Disney. Either way, I'll enjoy getting to see it on the big screen. Are you going?

Tomorrow I shall be settling back into what will be a crazy holiday season. I have some piano to practice in anticipation of G's album and need to get some tracks laid before the trip to The Engineer. G's heading up early and I'm following over the weekend. I'm excited to watch the process and to see The Studio. And as it turns out, I'm also rather fond of J and M and looking forward to spending some time with them. That will take us to Christmas Eve. And it's all down hill after that. :-)

Happy Monday, y'all. Hope your weekend was good! Have a good day!

As a reminder, you can find me also at Instagram and Twitter as @glitch2500

Now that I've had a chance to spend the requisite time to see the new Pixar movie Coco, and to have bawled all three times, I thought I'd express some thoughts about it.

Firstly, I wanted to address the issue of Mr. Lassiter. I'm happy that the lastest mess with the head of Pixar doesn't seem to be deterring much from the movie. I was a bit worried given the specialness of this movie and knowing how things go that the asshole-ness of the head would impact it. Thankfully, it appears so far that it isn't. Kills me though. There is something about a man who otherwise followed his dreams and built something as awesome as Pixar and took it back to his roots at Disney who then also had been making a large history of making women near him uncomfortable. Reading stories about how new women would get indoctrinated by other women about how to avoid him and situations with him. Such a prime example of a man in a high position using that position to completely disregard the rights and well-being of women working for his company, and really most likely women all over. I'm happy that most of his role these days is as executive and not as a creator of the latest rounds of content. I feel particularly grateful of this with Coco. I also feel like taking him out back and re-arranging his physical anatomy.

Coco is an epic movie. I can't emphasize that enough. It feels to me to be the best movie they've done to date. The attention and respect to the cultural detail and the nods to the culture that are most likely reserved for people who are well steeped is fantastic. The animation is their best so far. The textures and the motion and the incidental details are so perfect. There are lots of times it is breath-taking to realize that what you are watching on the screen at any given moment is entirely created art in a machine and not in any way real. And I'm so pleased that they got their water detail right!! Long been a struggle, and it is amazing to not be taken out of the story by it. Watch for it! And the music... OMG... Pulled together from sources across Mexican origin and culture, the styles all seem represented and well integrated with a beautiful score from Michael Giacchino.

The story is sweet and very respectful of the concept and history of Dia De Los Muertos. And it really does tug on the strings. And it also makes fun of itself in the right ways.

One of the things that got me deep besides the story arc unto itself (which will totally get you too if you let it) was a particular song that was in the movie. A well-known and established ballad, this piece centers around the character of the Matriarch of the family, and when they first tease at it, I recognized it immediately because it is a piece I know well. One that I grew up listening to because my father played and sang it often. Given the struggles of this character and my own personal struggles which are not too dissimilar, just that teaser hit me like a baseball bat to the face. When that song reprises later, and with the ensuing plot, I was deep on the emotional rollercoaster. Add to that the fact that most of the cultural references and ties to Dia De Los Muertos came to me second hand because our family being staunch Catholics had long since abandoned the pagan-y Mexican practices. And while I know that other families managed to integrate things better, I felt at a loss for all that cultural existence for which I'm once again reminded that is not a part of who I've grown up to be. Obviously it doesn't stop me from picking it up now if I so choose. But to see how much we lost and how the culture of having a strong family unit was totally lost on my nuclear family is really sad and frustrating. Coco truly paints a picture of the sentiment of family and how even when there are struggles to build one's own identity within an established unit, family bolstered by love always comes first.

I love collecting media and this movie will be no different. Even after having seen it three times, I know there are things I've missed that I will enjoy when I see it again and again. I'm not always usually one for the pre-order on things, but this one will be without a doubt.

If it isn't obvious, I'm saying I'd highly recommend you see it. Multiple times. :-)

Some time ago, upon learning that one of my favorite movies is on the top 250 list on the IMDB, http://www.imdb.com/chart/top?ref_=tt_awd, I decided that I should see how many of the 250 I've seen. It turns out, I've seen a lot of them.. which either suggests that the people who rate have very similar tastes in movies, or that I genuinely like and have seen a lot of really good movies. I tend to think it is a mix of the two. :-)

As you might imagine, the top part of the list tends to remain the most static. That is to say that the top 20 or so usually are the same as time goes on. Sometimes they trade places with one another, but generally they are the same. The bottom of the list seems to be in constant flux, and the middle kinda varies depending on what is currently hot. It is always interesting to see a new movie that gets brilliant reviews wander through the list and find its place for either a short time, or for the long haul.

I took a snapshot of the list back in 2013, and I've chiseled through a few of them since then, but I keep forgetting to look back at it.

Today I realized I have some time when I can work on it, and I'm going to take one off the shelf and watch it tonight so I can not only knock it off the list, but also to see why today it is ranked as #9 (and maybe why it was ranked #5 in July of 2013. :-) )

Relatively zoomy weekend this time around. Friday I spent working on cleaning up house some including laundry, dishes, and a few other things. I also spent a good part of the night in the kitchen making Green Chile Chicken Enchiladas for a potluck on Saturday. Coupled with some English muffin pizzas for dinner, it was a busy night in the kitchen. :-)

Saturday, I hung out with

sheistheweather for most of the day, first hanging out with the Dancing Hands crew filming the latest ASL cover (and, as it turns out, offering my services as tech crew. I'm just a good button-pusher), and then hanging out later at the Moonstone Samhain circle. Good day all-in-all and got to see a bunch of people I haven't seen in ages.

Sunday started with more laundry and household stuff along with some piano time. Then

vixenesque93 and I spent the day together enjoying kitty time, Gone Girl (which is a very fucked up movie), and then, after a detour at work to check the continuing status of things post-windstorm, we had dinner together with

solcita.

solcita and I continued the evening with a viewing of an old favorite of mine, French Kiss, and an otherwise mellow evening.

Pretty good stuff!

This week will be a little crazy. Two anniversaries back to back including a couple of weekend get-aways coming, and lots of other shuffling both home and at work.

Zoom!!

Crossposts: http://glitch25.livejournal.com/971287.html

Popular music for me is a funny thing. For as long as I can remember... as long as I've gotten to enjoy movies, popular music has taken an association to movie soundtracks. Music in movies is one of my favorite things, and it is no surprise that my favorite American composer scores movies. Along with scores are the tracks that get thrown in, either for ambiance, or effect, or sometimes there is a collaboration between artist and composer to write themes that make up a pop song but also lend to allusion and form of a score too.

One example I think of with that is Don Juan deMarco. Bryan Adams' "Have You Really Loved a Woman" gets torn apart and reconstituted into a really nifty score for the movie. It was written for the movie, and while the movie itself left a lot to be desired by many, I really enjoyed how the score developed.

http://youtu.be/hq2KgzKETBw

In general though, score and added music live together but separately in a movie. And I find that those songs/tunes stick with me in their association to movies. Too many examples to count, but typically when I hear a song on the radio, particularly something from the 60's, 70's, and 80's, since most music collaborations go for established music, I know the movie where I heard it. Sometimes, the movies lead me to the music itself, and getting to broaden my tastes and my collections is one of my fun past times.

For example:

The Breakfast Club - http://youtu.be/CdqoNKCCt7A

Playing By Heart - http://youtu.be/IJWlBfo5Oj0

Shawshank Redemption - http://youtu.be/CQ8ZHilxdm8

Scent of a Woman - http://youtu.be/A1oUeWzaLEE - though this one is in other movies too

Fast Times at Ridgemont High - http://youtu.be/M6pT_BDpnog

Road House - http://youtu.be/CszwkG0ilXI

Ferris Bueller's Day Off - http://youtu.be/0m_giioppT4

So so many more. But you get the idea. :-)

Crossposts: http://glitch25.livejournal.com/968029.html

One of those "formative" moments in my life occurred while hanging out with my best friend in grade school. We were, as I seem to recall, 10-11 years old.. Maybe 12..

He had a love of "B" faire slasher flicks. The more campy the better, and his father, being more open-minded, having talked with his dear son about his obsession and determining that, for all intents and purposes, his interest was not turning him into a psychopathic serial killer, occasionally catered to it by renting what would otherwise be direct-to-video movies.

The one chosen for this day was "The Gruesome Twosome". A tale of a demented old lady who has her mentally deficient son entrap and scalp coeds from the local girls college in order to stock her wig shop. Fun stuff.

My friend's father peeked in a few times and rolled his eyes.

After it was over, in what I'm sure was a planned maneuver, he sat us in front of the tv again and had us watch something else, claiming that it was important that we watch it. :-)

Thus was I introduced to the death-obsessed Harold and his near-octogenerian lover Maude. I don't know that my friend ever got the point. But I did. And I have loved the movie ever since.

Also, from that moment onward, his father made an effort to periodically sit us down for more wholesome cinematic experiences including Casablanca and Key Largo. Apparently he was a Bogie fan. :-)

If you want to sing out, sing out. If you want to be free, be free. 'Cause there's a million things to be. You KNOW that there are. :-)

Crossposts: http://glitch25.livejournal.com/958655.html

So with the production of the Rite of Mercury this last fall, I picked up a set of spade bits to use while building props and sets, and didn't have a good place to store them, so I kept them in the original plastic shrink packaging. Not ideal, but ok for the time being.

As I spent even more time on the sewing machine for the production as well, I ended up deciding to take an old pair of jeans and fashion a roll-up case for them. I put the jeans aside, made mental note of the design, and figured I'd get to it eventually.

Well, the spade bits and the jeans have sat around in the way for.. what.. 5 months now..

Today, in my efforts to continue to clean up and organize, I opted to break out the sewing machine and whip out my little carry case.

I cut a strip that I hemmed and used as the top layer, and then took a whole leg of the jeans, split it open, and attached the strip at various intervals to make pockets for the shafts of the spade bits. The flaps fold back over the tops of the bits with the reinforced jean hems acting as reinforcement for the sharp points of the bits, and the whole thing rolls right up.

Seems to work rather well. I just need to fashion a tie for it, but overall, I am pleased.

Time spent? About a movie's length. Elizabethtown to be exact. Cute movie, though kinda strange.