« Constructing Authenticity | Main | Calvert DeForest, RIP »
March 19, 2007
Four
Somehow I lost track of the fact that this week marks four years of blogging for me. But instead of writing yet another long post about how my blogging practices have changed over the last [insert number] years, I'd rather link to a few of my morning coffee reads:
- Chris at Category D has a reminder about what sounds like a pretty cool conference, "Media History: What are the Issues?" Added bonus: the conference is in Austin, one of the coolest cities in the country.
- That Little Round-Headed Boy mentions that it's Spike Lee's 50th birthday, using that as an opportunity to revisit Lee's masterful Do the Right Thing. I'm tempted to agree with TLRHB that Lee is one of the "most interesting" (and prolific) contemporary directors. Everybody has been complaining for years that Marty had never won an Oscar. What about Spike?
- Twittervision, a Google Maps/Twitter mashup, shows you what the whole world is thinking, one Twitter post at a time
- I watched Inland Empire (IMDB) Saturday night. For a variety of reasons (mostly grading), I don't have time to write a full review, but it's one of the more compelling films I've seen in a long time, all the more so because of Lynch's experimental approach (which included writing the screenplay as he was filming). Manohla Dargis of The New York Times liked it for similar reasons: "Like the surrealist practice of automatic writing, the film feels as if it could have been made in a trance, dredged up from within." Like her, I found the film somewhat less approachable than Lynch's earlier Mulholland Drive, but Inland Empire is definitely a film I'd like to revisit in the future.
Posted by chuck at March 19, 2007 9:29 AM
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.wordherders.net/cgi-bin/mt/mt-tb.fpl/6313
Comments
Ugh, I've been meaning to post something about Inland Empire for a long time, but like so many things it has fallen to the side with all my teaching. I was able to see it in Chicago in January, I think the afternoon after he was there speaking in person before the film.
I agree it was amazing stuff. I haven't seen a number of Lynch's films, but this was the best one for me. I was really impressed how entranced (and completely terrified) I was watching the last half of the movie, where with Mulholland Drive I found myself a little disconnected and confused. The surrealism worked to an extent I don't think it had previously.
Posted by: Dan at March 19, 2007 11:57 AM
Interesting response. I think I may have found a slightly clearer narrative thread in Mulholland Drive. I do know that I watched it on two consecutive nights (there wasn't much else to do in Urbana at the time). And, yes, the final hour of the film had me completely entranced, too.
Posted by: Chuck at March 19, 2007 12:26 PM
I haven't seen anyone point this out, but Twittervision is more interesting if you zoom down on the map to a metro-area level, and watch the map move around.
I've been meaning to post a Twitter roundup, since everyone seems to be talking about it after SXSWi.
Posted by: McChris at March 19, 2007 12:51 PM
So far, I like the global map better, but that could because I'm the only person from Fayetteville on Twitter, at least as far as I can tell. Twitter does seem to be the Current Big Thing, although I'm starting to see some backlash, especially for those who have Twitter hooked up to their cell phones.
Posted by: Chuck at March 19, 2007 1:04 PM
I don't necessarily mean that the story made sense as I was watching it (although after talking it through afterwards, I feel like I have a decent idea), but more that I felt more "convinced" by an intuitive logic that allowed the film to make sense emotionally.
Posted by: Dan at March 19, 2007 1:33 PM
Happy blogiversary.
I'm still a bit too uncomfortable with the twitter concept (despite posting my life on the web) to try it out. What say you -- is it really worth a try? What will it add to my life?
Posted by: profgrrrrl at March 19, 2007 1:40 PM
Dan, I can see that. I think I did more of the sense-making work on Mulholland, which may be why I liked that film better at first. The more I write about Inland, however, the more I appreciate the film's "intuitive logic" (to borrow your phrase). Hope I can see the film again soon.
Profgrrrl: I'm still ambivalent about Twitter (even though I've been discussing it quite a bit). If you connect it to the text messaging feature on your phone, it would probably be annoying (especially if you have more than three friends). I think it could be useful for triangulating with friends at conferences or film festivals. One of my Twitter friends used it to keep in touch w/people at SXSW.
I've been thinking that the "micro-blogging" aspects of it--entries are no more than 140 characters--appeal to me because I can write about the boring, banal stuff that I don't discuss on my blog, like what I had for breakfast. I think I'm more intrigued by the conversation about Twitter than the application itself.
Posted by: Chuck at March 19, 2007 2:26 PM
4 more years! 4 more years! ;-)
Posted by: Chris at March 19, 2007 8:12 PM
Four years. Very cool. Always glad to read your insights, Chuck.
Posted by: Nick at March 20, 2007 8:30 PM
Thanks, Nick and Chris. I'd like to use this comment to announce that I will be seeking a second four-year term.
Posted by: Chuck at March 20, 2007 8:39 PM