Archive for the ‘movies’ tag

Curse your branches.

It’s been a good week. I headed out to San Diego on Monday morning, did a few hours of work and then had the evening to myself. Besides San Diego being a reasonable temperature during the summer, it’s just a great place to be left with some free time. I spent a few hours just hanging out on the beach and found an awesome brew pub to get some dinner. Tuesday I woke up and had a leisurely drive back to Phoenix… it was a pretty good way to start the work week. I don’t mind traveling for work, but it’s great that I only have to do it about once a month. I’m just not cut out for business travel.
On Wednesday I rolled into the office to hear that my project’s release date had once again been pushed back. This time it’s been postponed to next spring. Once again it’s not my fault, which is good, but the delays are only keeping my from renegotiating my contract. Don’t get me wrong, it’s good that I can even use those terms to describe this job. They have been very happy with my work and every indication I get is that I’m there, and on salary, for as long as I’d like to be. It’s a blessing, I just wish my personal budget included health insurance and more savings.

Speaking of health insurance, check out this clip from the Rachel Maddow show over on MSNBC. If you’re reading this via RSS or on Facebook you’ll need to follow the link below to the original post.

In my opinion there is currently no debate between the right and left on healthcare. One side wants to act like everything is perfect and the other wants to actually fix the problem. If you oppose the current healthcare plan (which is still very fluid) please educate yourself about the way other countries handle this and please don’t just accept our current norm as a solution.

David Bazan is releasing a new album next month and it’s absolutely amazing. The lyrics are thoughtful and at time heartbreaking, the music is inspired and well produced. It is at times a bit over produced, this is definitely the Achilles’ Heel sort of sound. After hearing nothing but acoustic Bazan, for what seems like years, it’s a welcome change to my ears. You can stream the whole album with a pre-order, I can’t recommend it more.

I got to see (500) Days of Summer recently. I’m too pretentious (yeah, do the math on that) to call it the best movie I’ve seen all year… but I did really, really enjoy the shit out of it. Go see it.

Thank God for Walkmans

This time of year is great for many reasons, but I especially love it because there are so many good movies… and since it’s awards season there are great copies of them available on the internet. I do pay for movies, don’t think I’m biting the hand that feeds, but I feel the need to see just about every movie that will be up for an oscar, and lord knows I’m not paying $9 for each of them.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is a must see, it’s like Forest Gump 2.0 but really enjoyable and unique. Some of the visual effects were done at a studio that employs some friends, so that doesn’t hurt either. It’s the sort of movie that you could take your parents to, they’ll enjoy it just as much as you.
Valkyrie was alright, for a Hollywood movie it’s pretty accurate and Tom Cruise does a good job. Who ever casted Eddie Izzard as a Nazi is out of their mind though, I spent half the movie just wondering how the hell anyone could have thought he was a good fit. If you didn’t pay attention to any history class ever you’ll be held in suspense… OMG you mean Tom Cruise and an Executive Transvestite killed Hitler?!? But then again if you’re really leaning over to the person next to you to ask if they really did kill Hitler there are a few other movies in theaters that would entertain you.
Revolutionary Road was fantastic, it might just be my favorite movie of the year, although The Visitor is a tough movie to beat. DiCaprio is good but Kate Winslet definitely deserves an oscar for her performance. It’s directed by Sam Mendes, so you know it’s good, he’s the director of Road to Perdition and American Beauty among others.
Frost/Nixon was good, I can’t say that everyone will like it, you do have to be into history. The performances are good, and the Nixon impression looked dead on to me. Although I am twenty four years old and only remember the man’s funeral, so I’m probably not one to ask about that. The actual interviews were released on DVD a few months ago, I’ll have to buy (download) those too.
Gran Torino was a dissapointment. Eastwood is great, but the authentic (inexperienced) actors really brought it down. The plot is only ok, but Eastwood comes though with a great performance as a terrible racist and all around jerk… so it has that going for it. Eastwood’s character does drink a lot of PBR though, and there is some genuinely funny scenes between him and the young male supporting character.
The Wrestler was alright, the performances are the best part. It looks like balls, I don’t understand why directors settle for the look of video. You can shoot on video (which really isn’t much cheaper, that’s a myth) and still have a cinematic feel, there is no reason to just abandon all depth.
Defiance was just a normal movie, I’m not sure why I even downloaded it. Don’t waste your money… netflix it if you’re bored but it’s not really worth the price of admission at most theatres. Not Edward Zwick‘s best work.
Slumdog Millionaire I’ve talked about, it was a good time.
The Visitor I’ve also talked about, it’s still my favorite of the year.
Doubt is the last movie I have yet to see that is getting Oscar buzz, there are no screeners so I’ve been trying to get to a theatre to see it, hopefully that’l happen this weekend. From what I’ve read the performances carry it, I’m not expecting to be blown away by the plot.
Go see some movies in the next few weeks, it’s not that expensive and there are some really great films out there.

All in all 2008 was a good year for me. I read an interesting article last week about how for just about anyone under the age of 70, this last year was probably the worst they had ever seen. The writer argued that all of the economic problems of the last twelve months added up to the worst year since 1938. Coupled with social unrest and the amount of violence in the world I might have to agree. I have no idea how most people can even begin to quantify that, but it does bring up and interesting point. I know so many people who are looking for work, those who had far less then the average American are now in an even worse situation and the world isn’t as peaceful as it’s been even in my short lifetime. I am however optimistic about the future, the economy will come back in time, new and more efficient ways can be implemented to help the world’s hungry and ending America’s own conflicts can only help to end others. There was a lot to be thankful for in 2008. I learned a lot at school, and am now in someways comfortable calling myself an artist. I can now support myself with my chosen profession. I no longer fear living alone or being without friends. I found something in a friendship that I never had seen before… I learned a lot about myself and how to deal with heartbreak. I learned that I miss my family more then I thought. I was able to begin to deepen my faith for the first time in a while. I’ve become a stronger, better person in the last year, I’m proud of that.

One of my roommates admitted yesterday that he has no idea what is going on with Isreal and the Palestinians. I shamed him but he didn’t care, I really don’t understand that mentality. We live in a democracy, that means that as a citizen you have to educate yourself to be able to participate in our own government. What’s happening now is the result of a terrible situation but I would really like to see our country take a firm stance against the sort of violence that is taking place. Raining down rockets indiscriminately is wrong, but so is destroying an entire neighborhood to kill one adversary. I’m not linking articles because you should know what I’m talking about. Honestly, if you don’t at least know there has been a rise in violence in the last couple of weeks you really need to shift your priorities, it only takes a few minutes to swing by cnn.com once and a while.

David Hildreth

hope

I’ve talked a little about the upcoming election but I’d like to now make my position clear. I support Barack Obama for president. I do so for a variety of reasons, but the main reason is because I see something different in him. I like the above cartoon because I think it shows a difference in attitude between generations. Barack Obama’s message is mainly just hope, at the heart of his campaign is the idea that we CAN fix our countries problems. I really do believe that it’s time for us to look inward and begin to work on social issues. Say what you want about our role as world police, but I think that it’s time to turn our efforts and money back towards our own shores. Healthcare, social security and our economy have been neglected and I think that a real change in the White House is what is needed to fix our problems. “Socialized” medicine is a must, our government could very well be headed for bankruptcy but it’s citizens are guaranteed it without healthcare reform. I hate how pessimistic people are about it though, how can you change something if you don’t believe it can be done? A lot of the people I’ve talked to say they don’t want socialized medicine because they don’t believe the government is competent enough to run it. They don’t want the government telling them when and where to see a doctor, they don’t want to lose their perceived control of their health. It doesn’t take more then a few minutes of research to find out that in other countries (like Canada or the UK) people aren’t assigned a doctor, they don’t have to go though miles of red tape to visit the emergency room. Doctors make good wages and the overall quality of care is, by virtually every study done, a lot better than it is in the US. There is a lie in our country that says that publicly funded medicine is bad, it’s been around for more then half a decade and it’s time for it to be stopped. We have government run police and fire departments, federal mail delivery and even television, people just don’t like to think about it that way. If something as important as a local police department is overseen by a city, county, state and federal bureaucracy why do we then not trust our government to run our healthcare system? We are basically the only 1st world country without it and our overall standard of living and life expectancy is far worse then most of Europe. We spend more then anyone and get the least in return.

The header of Barack Obama’s website says “I’m asking you to believe not just in my ability to bring about real change in Washington… I’m asking you to believe in yours.” I’ll take that over someone who has only failed in the past, someone who changes his story to get elected, someone who brings up tragedy to scare up votes or even someone who’s ideas sounds good but are without substance.

This is Barack Obama’s response to the 2008 State of the Union address, I think it does a great job of showing who he is. If you don’t want to watch the whole thing skip ahead to about 4:00 and watch until the end. He’ll be here in Arizona on 1/30/08 and I’m looking forward to going and hearing him speak.

I’ve seen quite a few movies since I last posted. One was of course Cloverfield, which I loved. I think you can really tell a lot about someone’s taste in film by their opinion of that movie. Some others were There Will Be Blood, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly and The Lives of Others. I should have seen The Lives of Others like a year ago, it won an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film in 2006 and has been on DVD and Blu-Ray for a while. I really enjoyed it, it’s about a man who works for the East German secret police and how he gets involved in the lives of people he is suppose to be spying on. I highly recommend it, it’s no surprise it’s gotten all the attention it has. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly was also very good, it’s about a man who has a stroke and is paralyzed from head to toe. His only means of communication is to blink, and with the help of others he writes a book. The movie is more about making the book and how the man felt as he lay helpless in the hospital. There are excerpts of the book in the movie but I am excited to read all of what he wrote. The movie is a french film so finding it in a theater might be a bit tough, but it’s definitely worth driving across town for. There Will Be Blood was incredible, people have been calling it the director’s masterpiece and I can only agree. It’s a dark drama about an oil man, who’s greed and competition ruins everyone around him. It’s a must see, just be ready for it, you do feel every minute it’s two hour running time.

It’s day 2454 of the job hunt (ok I made that up, I’m currently too lazy to open up iCal) and things are still going alright. I’ll probably start working something next week to pay some bills, but I’m not giving up on an editing position yet. I have some new leads and I’ve recently tweaked my demo reel a bit so we’ll see what happens. I’m also, once again, trying to get on work study. Hopefully now that I am a little further removed from my old job I’ll meet the requirements. I am also mulling over getting a stipend from my student loan. I can not begin to describe to you how amazing it has been to just focus on school. Is it worth about $6,000? I’m not sure yet, but when you figure I’m going to owe an embarrassing amount of money anyway, I might as well milk that 20 year payment plan for all it’s worth.

I’m not sure if many of the people who read this have ever gone through a photoshop tutorial, but in my years of interneting this is definitely the best and most educational series I’ve come across. You Suck at Photoshop is a real step forward in tutorials, the host is lovable and confident and he always gets across exactly what you need to know. There are three other episodes, and I highly recommend watching them all. The third is one of the funniest and probably the most accessible. enjoy ;)

Until the next time I’m bored enough to write here,
David

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