striderdemme's Xanga

The Story of the Weeping Camel

Thu, 27 Sep 2007 13:43:15 GMT

I just finished watching The Story of the Weeping Camel last night and loved it. It's a Mongolian documentary about nomads in the Gobi desert and their camels. The landscapes are beautiful and the camera is handled in such a way that you barely know that there even is a camera at all. It's a great contemplative film.

You can watch the preview here and read more about the film here.

Halo 3

Wed, 26 Sep 2007 03:53:09 GMT

So Halo 3 came out yesterday (9/25). I had a lot of stuff going on today, so I managed to mess around with it a little bit a few hours ago. I didn't play it enough to review it or anything yet, but there are some really interesting changes to the game.

Speaking of Halo, M.I.T. geeks decided to pay homage to Master Chief.

Source: Clicky!

Movie Stuff

Tue, 18 Sep 2007 02:02:20 GMT

1. Because of Blockbuster raising the prices for their online services (at least $7 more for the plan I was on), I recently switched over to NetFlix. The first three films that I received were Krzysztof Kieslowski's Three Colors trilogy. The three films (Blue, White, and Red) are based on the colors of the French flag, and are about the themes that the different colors represent. The first is about liberty, the second is about equality, and the third and last is about fraternity. Blue (5/5 Stars) is by far my favorite of the three, followed by Red (4/5 Stars) and then White (3.5/5 Stars).

2. Tonight in my Introduction to Film class we got to watch a classic Charlie Chaplain film called Modern Times, which I thought was really good. It's amazing how it can still entertain and enlighten us today, more than 70 years after it was first showed. (4.5/5 Stars)

3. Michael Curtiz is a prolific director who's name isn't known widely today. Over the years I've seen and loved many of his films, not knowing his name.

(Brief) Filmography:
The Charge of the Light Brigade
The Adventures of Robin Hood
The Sea Hawk
Yankee Doodle Dandy
Casablanca
Jim Thorpe: All American
White Christmas
We're No Angels
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
(And that's only a handful of his 172 films...)

4. The poster for The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian was just released recently:

Chapel Bashing and Yuma

Mon, 10 Sep 2007 16:11:15 GMT

Chapel Rant #1:

I'm all for setting apart times of quiet meditation, etc. during chapel services. In fact, I find those times to be quite rewarding. What I do not like is when the worship team attempts to create a personal spiritual experience for everyone in the auditorium. And performing music during those times, at least for me, is more of a distraction than a help. But chapel wasn't all that bad; we did have some great singing today.

3:10 to Yuma

On Saturday I went to Chattanooga with Phillip and Colton to watch the new film 3:10 to Yuma, which is a remake of an older film that I haven't seen. It's a Western film that stars Russell Crowe and Christian Bale, who were very good in this. It was also great seeing Alan Tudyk of Firefly/Serenity and A Knight's Tale fame as the doctor in this.

Near the end of the film, which was full of on-the-edge-of-your-seat excitement and suspense, an older lady a few rows behind us was really getting into the film. Her quiet comments ranged from "oh no" to "shoot the bloody bastard". While the emotional impact and overall experience of the final scene was lessened due to the comments, it was interesting to say the least.

4/5 Stars.

I also (finally) finished reading Through a Screen Darkly by Jeffrey Overstreet. It's a really good book; highly recommended if you're interested in learning more about the ideas that exist in film. I'm not sure if I'll ever get around to writing a more extensive review of the book, but I will probably quote a few passages from time-to-time.

Indiana Jones

And here's the moment we've all been waiting for: The new title for the next film in the Indiana Jones series is...

iPhone Price Drop

Fri, 07 Sep 2007 16:55:58 GMT

Apparently Apple just dropped the price of the iPhone from $600 to $400, and is also offering an in-store credit refund of $100 to people who bought the iPhone prior to the price drop.

Source: Clicky!

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Had a movie night last night, which asurprising number of guys on the hall came to. Surprising because we started the 2-hour film (Hot Fuzz) at 11:30 PM. It's definitely something that we will be doing again...but hopefully at an earlier time.

Matt (roommate) and I got some casting decisions out of the way already for a film that we've been wanting to work on. The basic concept is a series of video diaries, etc. with 2 freshman and 2 seniors at Bryan College. They'll talk about what it's like to start school, what it feels like to be going away, and all that fun stuff in between as well. We've got some great guys that are interested in working on this.

The Man Hug

Tue, 04 Sep 2007 02:13:04 GMT

How to give a man hug.

Indiana Jones IV

Mon, 03 Sep 2007 12:14:43 GMT

Bill Amend's latest FoxTrot has Jason reading the leaked script for Indiana Jones IV.

Clicky!

Enter "Return to College" Cliche Here...

Fri, 31 Aug 2007 23:33:56 GMT

I'm finally starting to get in the college swing of things again. The last week has been a jumble of unpacking...playing some Halo...unpacking some more...and reorganizing my class schedule.

My chemistry lab overlapped Psychology of Communication, so the lab was moved from Thursday to Monday, which is when I have Spanish, so Spanish was moved to the new Tuesday/Thursday class, which is when I have U.S. History, which was then replaced by Introduction to Philosophy, which looks to be a good class. The only real downside to the schedule is that constant 8:00 AM classes, but that could be good.

MMR of the Day:

I recently watched The Elephant Man, an emotionally packed film directed by David Lynch. I didn't know this until after seeing the film, but it's actually (loosely) based on actual events, which you can read about here. I thought it was very poignant and full of societal irony. Great acting and an excellent use of music.

4/5 stars.

Fine Arts: Raphael

Thu, 15 Feb 2007 21:54:10 GMT

I was reading about two pieces of art from the Italian painter and architect Raphael, and thought I'd share them with you. The images are too big to post here, and anything smaller just wouldn't do them justice. Just follow the link and view them that way.

School of Rock

The first is called "School of Athens" and the second is called "Disputation over the Sacrament". Both are across from the other in the Vatican Palace. The first is an homage to the great philosophers, including Plato (center left) and Aristotle (center right). The fresco depicts the different schools of thought and how, while disagreeing, still have harmony. Plato is shown pointing to the heavens, and Aristotle is shown pointing to the people.

Disputation over the Sacrament

The second piece, "Disputation over the Sacrament", also depicts disagreements between different different factions. This time, however, it is theological instead of philosophical. It appears that the two different sides (literally and figuratively) are arguing with each other about the subject. Like in the previous art, the focus should be directed up towards God. The dove between the people and God is a nice touch.

A Good Day

Mon, 12 Feb 2007 19:26:07 GMT

Today is good. I took my first Fine Arts exam after lunch, which I think went pretty well. There was a paper due for Survey of Film tomorrow night on silent films, but since we didn't get a chance to see half of the silent films in class last week, the paper is now due on the 20th. That makes my life much easier, as I can now finish reading C.S. Lewis' Perelandra today without the threat of a paper looming over me head. I've also got around 100 pages or so to read for Survey of Film, but hey, it's reading about films.

It also means that I finally get the chance to watch Peuple migrateur, Le (Winged Migration), which I've been wanting to watch for quite some time now.

Upcoming films to watch: "The Departed", "Marie Antionette", and "Babel". I did watch "Flags of our Fathers" and "Letters from Iwo Jima" last week, so I should have a reveiw of them up at some point.