Archive for the ‘Christmas’ tag

An early spring

Merry Christmas :)
It’s nothing like Christmas here, except for the little christmas tree that sits on my desk. I got to see my parents last weekend in Vegas, which was great. My father brought me a gift but the problem, well the problem he saw, was that there would be no tree to put the gift under. So Target came to the rescue and I showed up to find a little tree complete with lights and an angel on top. It even survived being shoved in my suitcase and now brings cheer to the whole house… well kinda. Bachelor houses don’t usually have a christmas tree, or any festive decoration. A friend asked why we didn’t have any lights up like our neighbors, and I told her that I would put lights up if she promised to not give me shit about them being up year round. It’s just an unwritten rule that twenty something straight guys don’t decorate. When I brought my tree home it was relegated to my room, that’s just how it is.

If you don’t know who Danny Boyle is you’re a terrible human being. I went to go see his latest: Slumdog Millionaire and no one I went with had any idea who the director was. It’s a shame because the guy has really had a pretty amazing career. He’s just a director that pretty much always makes a great movie, and not just one type of movie either. He stays away from the studios and has to fight for every film but most turn out great. Slumdog is about a young Indian guy who ends up on the local version of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire. He grew up in a Bombay slum and while he was out doing anything he could to survive his slum was transformed with the rest of the city into Mumbai, a center of commerce and industry. After doing well on the show he is suspected of cheating and relives his life to explain how he picked up the answers to questions an uneducated slumdog never should have known. It’s a great movie so go see it, take the whole family.

Things seem to be have new beginnings lately, not just in my favorite topic of discussion, but in most aspects of my life. It’s not cold and barren here in Tempe, and I think that helps. Nothing is dead here, it’s all still alive, the sky is still just as blue as it is in May. It does a lot for one’s spirit. My new contract job is working out so far, school is going to be over before I know it and things are looking up socially. I have a lot to be grateful for this holiday season, and I’m making a point to stop wondering about what could have been and to just focus on what I have.

Just incase you were wondering… this post’s soundtrack (facebook people follow the original post button below) is that Belle and Sebastian song, you know the one we’ve been listening to and enjoying. I’ve been watching High Fidelity just about every other day lately. It’s just what I need right now.

David Hildreth

A movie I liked, another that’s ok and other fun opinions

I saw No Country For Old Men a few days ago, and after having a few days to mull it over I think I’m ready to call it the best movie I’ve seen this year. There was a lot in the movie to think about and while I certainly don’t worship the brothers Coen they have really done a masterful job of telling this story. As is often true, I wasn’t sure of my opinion when the movie ended, but I did know that I liked the ending. The guys sitting in front of us didn’t, I guess things weren’t wrapped up as tightly as they would have liked. It did end abruptly and generally unresolved, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t a good ending. From the reviews I read the ending was most people’s biggest problem, others didn’t like the seemingly senseless violence. Which I’m not a huge fan of, but thats pretty much what the movie was about. So if you are willing to watch a complex movie and pay attention to the characters definitely go see No Country For Old Men, it’s worth $9.

That being said I also saw something very different a couple of weeks ago. Southland Tales is Donnie Darko director Richard Kelly‘s second movie… and man is it complex. I loved Donnie Darko, it’s strange and deep, I’ve seldom had as much fun as I had discussing that movie with people. However, a while after Donnie Darko came the Director’s Cut, which is awful. Southland Tales is basically every bad part of the director’s cut of DD stretched out to three hours. Southland Tales was very long, and I felt every minute of it. The story has lots of characters and lots of dialogue and while it is insightful and funny there was just too much. About an hour into the movie about 10 people in the theatre had already walked out, which is a mistake because if they had stayed for the whole things they might have liked it. Despite it’s length and how tedious the story felt the end wrapped everything up into something that was satisfying. I liked the movie, it’s not the best thing i’ve seen in a while but I liked it and will see it again. The movie could have been so much more though, and that is frustrating. First off the first half of the plot was told in a series of three comic books… I didn’t know this and because I can’t find them for free I still haven’t read them. Expecting your audience to already know half the plot is a mistake. I don’t care how much advertising they could have done for the comics (there was basically none) most people aren’t going to read them before seeing the movie. The second big problem with the movie was what made me hate the Director’s Cut of DD… titles. Kelly used full screen titles to explain plot and breakup the three acts, which is un-needed in a movie and really just made me want to hate the convoluted plot. If the plot of your movie needs to be explained in such a blunt manner you’re story needs to be simplified or shortened.. that’s pretty much it. If you get a chance go see Southland Tales, but it’s probably better to just wait for the DVD.

In other news I’ve finalized my holiday travel plans. I’ll be in Boise from December 20th until January 7th so if you’ll be in Boise too let me know and we’ll hang out. While it’s nice here in Tempe it’l be fun to experience some weather again, maybe even some snow if I’m lucky.

Everyone should also go and check out www.synthar.com. There you’ll find an awesome band who just put out their first record… which you should purchase. I’ve only listened to it once through, so I’ll maybe talk about it later but It’s really solid stuff from some hard working artists and there are no record companies involved… you can’t go wrong with that.

Laters,
Dave

ah, back to avoiding homework

my trip back home was great!

i really had a good time just being back in boise for a few days
it was nice to see my friends and family, and although i dont like flying it wasnt a big deal

christmas was nice, everyone liked their gifts and i got what i wanted. new drive space is always exciting :D
i am still waiting on my new laptop to come in the mail but i’ll now have a shiny new external drive to go with it

dave

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