builder and career: May 2011

Monday, May 30, 2011

Living at Home in Your Late Twenties Part Six: Playing the Single Friend in Movies

As I sit and wake up this morning I realize, and not in a sad way (well I hope not). I have been living in a house with people in relationships lately. There is my mom and dad of course, and then there is my sister who has been dating her new boyfriend for the last six months. They are a cute new couple falling asleep on the living room floor and couch cuddling together. But, when you are surrounded by couples all the time and you are a single I can't help but wonder how to fit into things. They all do things together, it kinda is a real bummer.

Moving back home has been different. Different because I am used to being surrounded by friends for the last two years who I could call up and they were literally minutes away and could do things with me. Most of my friends in Albany are gone. I have enjoyed doing this writing because it has helped me express myself.

While I was thinking about being the single one in the house this morning, I thought about the two different roles the single person plays in movies: one is the spinster, and well I am not old enough to be that nor will I ever embrace that lifestyle, and the second is the sassy person who always give the great advice and and is full of with. These are all female best friends, the equivalent to a male best friend is nothing I ever related to in movies. I will put out a disclaimer, I do not play the role of the gay best friend everyone want (in a typical way) I am my own person.

If I were to pick one person who plays the best friend well in movies I would want to be Judy Greer. You may not know who Judy Greer is on name alone, but she is one of the funniest women working today who always takes on the role of the best friend in Hollywood films; she of course played other roles but she traps lightening in a bottle when she helps giving that sassy advice. Judy's filmography includes 27 Dresses, The Wedding Planner, 13 Going on 30 and such a long laundry list I could keep going; she plays these roles so well.

Sometimes in life you feel like a supporting player, that what you do only is there because of other people, but you have take control of your own life and be lead. I am going to borrow the words of the character Arthur Abbott in the film The Holiday (2006), and yes this is super corny, but he stated "Iris, in the movies we have leading ladies and we have the best friend. You, I can tell, are a leading lady, but for some reason you are behaving like the best friend." Time to act like the leading lady in my life (queue laughter).

Another reason for my melancholia could be that I have been watching Ally McBeal too much lately and it is time to turn off my Netflix and go outside and sit by my pool. I think I will head out there now, and enjoy the sunshine.

New Music Desktop 2011

Sunday, May 29, 2011

Love Background Wallpapers

Smile Flower Picture

New Green Flower Wallpapers

Cute Baby Picture

Free Unique Wallpapers

New Tulip Wallpapers Collection

Time to Reach For the Tissue: Movies that Make Me Cry

I have to admit a lot of my most recent posts come to me while I am just sitting around. Today was a great day and I was going to write about something that connected films with memorial day, but something else came to my attention. I sat by my pool the whole day and relaxed with my family, then had a great meal (surf and turf-yummy) but my real inspiration came after dinner when Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince was on and Dumbldore had fall from the tower and I started to shed a few tears. There are many movies that make me cry, but they are divided into several categories. This first category in today's edition is about my go to cry movies. Please beware there are spoilers below!

Big Fish (2003) Something about the nature of this father and son relationship and the way it unfolds at the end has me in tears. The film deals with the relationship between a father and son and reconciling how to come to terms with a father wanting his son to be proud of him. Billy Crudup (Will Bloom) and Albert Finney (Edward Bloom) work so well together with their conflict. Edward is dying, and has cancer. The end scene when Will carries his father down to the lake in the fashion of one of his tale tales is a moment that any son would admit he could cry to. Understanding you father, and where he has been is an important thing.

Philadelphia (1993) Tom Hanks plays Andrew Beckett a lawyer who is fired from his firm because he has AIDS. Throughout the film we watch Andrew struggle with his court case, his disease, and balancing his relationship with his partner and family. Tom Hanks is brilliant in this role and there are several different times I cry throughout this film: when he testifies on the stand, but also at the end after he has passed away, and they are at his funeral and you see the images of him as a child in picture and video. The music of Bruce Springsteen also adds to the mood. The scene below is another real tear jerker!

I think everyone (both men and women) have their go to cry sports movie sand mine is Remember the Titans (2000) at the end when Gerry Bertier dies in in the car accident without fail I lose it. This movie about camaraderie is so inspiring.

I cry in Big Fish not because of the cancer, but because of the relationship between the father and son. The Bucket List (2007-although not a great movie) is my go to movie to cry when it comes to the big C, caner. The whole last 30 minutes is like one big sob fest.

Everyone also has their go to tragic love story that makes them cry, and mine is Brokeback Mountain (2005). Watching Ennis clutch Jacks jacket at the end with his flannel shirt from their first time on Brokeback Mountain is one of the most heart wrenching scenes ever!

The first two are my official go to movies for crying, and the next two depend on my mood. I watch Remember the Titans, if i want it to be a manly cry. I watch the Bucket List if I want to be a real masochist, and I watched Brokeback Mountain if I am longing for love. At the end of the day there are certain things that tug at our hearts and make us emotional, whether that be Dumbledore falling to his death in Harry Potter or something else, take the time to think about what gets you, and cherish the movies that have made you emotionally connect with a character.

Sequels, Can they Measure up?: When the Success Started

Well, I just started reading "The Girl who Played with Fire" the sequel to the Steig Larsson book "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo." As I was in Barnes and Noble the other day deciding which book to pick out, I had the sequel debate in my head. Will this book be as good as the first? Can this book bring something new to the table? I am about 60 pages in, and I must go on a book rant before I talk about movie sequels. Mr. Larsson, and current authors if you ever read this (which I doubt you will) stop with the exposition from your first book!! The author is who has done this most is Stephanie Meyer (yes I read the Twilight books); she explained who Bella, Edward, and Jacob were and their qualities too many times in each of her novels. If a person is stupid enough not to read the first book first or not remember the details, then they need to take notes in the margin! In the beginning of The Girl Who Played with Fire, Larsson briefly is guilty of this and reminisces about things that happened in his first book. I hope the whole first part of this book is not retread from the first, otherwise I will be angry.

With movie sequels, there is often a gamble as to how creative they will get or how often they will go into details that make them different from their first film. The best sequel ever, is probably The Godfather Part II. Coppola knows the material well, and creates a continuation of the first part of his story, that makes us enjoy the first film. The Godfather Part II (1974) is the start of the possibility for sequels to surpass their predecessor. Now that American Film Institute has ranked The Godfather higher on their list, but I think this is a mistake because while The Godfather is great, the second film is much tighter and puts the story into perspective.

Then within the Stars Trilogy (the original trilogy) everyone was awestruck by the visual effects, but

they fail to remember that Empire Strikes (1980) back is the best film in that trilogy. The second film has Luke understanding the Jedi ways with Yoda, the revelation of Darth Vader as his father, Billy D. Williams, and Hans Solo frozen in carbonate. Like with the The Godfather II, Empire Strikes back tightens up the story, and does a job of creating more for the characters than any of the other films ever did. I could sit and watch Empire Strikes back over and over again. There may be some debate about this film being the best, but i know many of the people I know state that this film not only surpasses the original, but also does a good job adding to the original.

Here comes the debate in my mind, I want to go the Hangover 2 (2011) but I have heard mixed things from people. Some people have told me it hilarious, some people have told the jokes are the same. My friend Lauren told me that the story was exactly the same, but it was still hilarious. Should i go pay ten dollars to see the same movie I own? Does this film add the story of one of my favorite film trios? Today's discussion about sequels is about posing that eternal question, is it worth it?

Saturday, May 28, 2011

Justin Bieber and Sculpture Candle

Titi Sjuman, Indonesian Woman Drummer Picture

Jerry Yan New Picture

Don't Go There!: Movies that Should Never have been Remade (The Horror Edition)

I was sitting in my living room at 2 in the morning last night a the remake of the film Psycho (Original-

1960, Remake-1998) was on HBO. As I sat and watched (for the first time) I noticed something that I had been told, this is a shot for remake of the original film. That fact was one of the reasons I have always avoided seeing it, but why make that remake? The director Gus Van Sant is well regarded independent film maker and this is a huge blemish on his resume. This film (well what i could watch) was a pointless foray because Van Sant created nothing new and tarnished the bran of a classic (one of the worst crimes a director can commit). This is a classic film that should have just been left alone.

After this I thought about that scene in Scream 4 where Kirby Reed (Hayden Panettiere) had to list of all the horror remakes as she was trying to save her life. Here is a list of all the films that were Horror Film Remakes (Amityville Horror-Original-1979, Remake-2005, A Nightmare on Elm Street-Original-1984, Remake-2010, Friday the 13th-Original-1980, Remake-2009, Texas Chainsaw Massacre-1974, Remake-2003, Prom Night-1980, Remake-2008, Halloween, Original-1978, Remake-2007, The Hills Have Eyes, Original-1977, Remake-2006, My Bloody Valentine, Original 1981, Remake-2009, House of Wax, Original-1953, Remake-2005, When a Stranger Calls, Original-1979, Remake-2006). to be fair i made sure I went on imdb.com to look at their quote section to catch all of the films Kirby lists. I have seen mostly all of the originals, and avoided most of the remakes (with good reason).

I know some of you will argue with me that Rob Zombie's take on the Halloween films is an original reboot and it gives the viewers more back story on Michael Myers, but I don't need that back story. The lack of knowing makes things scarier, don't over explain things. The original Halloween is a classic. Jaime Lee Curtis is the scream queen, and you can't mess with her movies.

Prom Night is another classic, and the remake was probably one of the worst movies I have ever seen. One of my biggest pet peeves with remake was that I thought the killer was sexy. Now don't laugh at me, but look at pictures of him in that movie, if I were that film part of me would question whether I should run toward or away from him. Sorry, Brittany Snow you just can't hack it the way Ms. Lee Curtis did.

The reason the original films work is because they are iconic in a genre that used to value substance over casting. In the older movies they casted people who were looking to start their careers (and they still do this) but the newer versions tend to steal from modeling world or people who have no business being in a film. Paris Hilton starring in the remake of House of Wax is an insult; she is a talentless hack who doesn't have enough of loyal fan base to pull in major box office numbers.

After watching some of each of these remakes and comparing them to their originals I quickly changed the channel, not because i was scarred (although) but because these original horror films created great scary storytelling, and their reboot has ruined something classic. Each of these films has violated the sacred elements of the horror film genre, and actually dislike this genre, but when I think about the older versions of the films they were solid films (not in the Academy Award winning vein, but they were well made). Today the horror genre is such a mess and someone needs to go into the studios that turn out the schlock that they should take the time to actually invest in creating something worthwhile. Stop remaking all these classics and come up with new things! Another note the new doesn't need to involve the torture, keep scary simple. The Saw series has cast a dark cloud on horror. I think Paranormal Activity 1 and 2 has taken this genre in a great direction. These movies are cheap to make, I get it but put a little more time into them and come up with something new!!

Friday, May 27, 2011

Living at Home in Your Late Twenties Part Five: Time to Dive into Swimming Pool

Yesterday my dad started to open our swimming pool, as we pulled off the cover an unearthed the leaves

and gunk, that clogged the filter and were floating on the surface it reminded me of the best part of summers at home, sitting by my pool. Today I sat out on our deck reading and finishing The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (onto The Girl who Played with Fire). Today was a great relaxing day and as the summer heat takes over, I will continue to enjoy nice days sitting by my pool.

Every time I see a pool being opened it reminds me of the film Swimming Pool (2003) this independent film is directed by Francois Ozon who works with primarily french speaking films. This film stars Charlotte Rampling as Sarah Morton who writes mystery novels in the vein of Agatha Christie; she has a detective series and her publisher wants her to write another one, but she wants to try something else. In her attempt to become inspired her publisher gives her his summer home. While there Sarah meets her publishers illegitimate daughter Julie. Julie is the opposite of Sarah she is not refined at all, and they have an odd relationship. There are several twists and my one suggestion is that you go and see this film. the pacing is slow but the pay off at the end is worth it!

Today felt like my first day of summer, and as our swimming pool was opened, it reminded me of the the scene in that film when their pool slowly is unveiled. As the hazy days of of summer set in, and blockbusters own the movie theaters, take a look at your local video store, or look at you Netflix turn on your air conditioning, and sit back, relax and dive into the well written thriller Swimming Pool.

In Memoriam: Jeff Conaway

Jeff Conaway who played Kenickie in Grease (1978) has passed away due to complications from pneumonia. Jeff had been in a coma for two weeks; he was sixty years old.

Most of Jeff's work had been on television but was part of iconic and highest grossing musical film of all time. Jeff had great one liners and made such a huge mark on that film.

In recent years the star had been plagued with constant drug addiction issues, but in my mind I always remember him as a lovable hilarious actor who brought smiles to peoples faces.

Thursday, May 26, 2011

Rooney Mara: From Elm Street to being the Girl with Dragon Tattoo

I am currently in the middle of reading the book The Girl with Dragon Tattoo. It has taken me a while to get into, the book but I am just at the point where the main characters meet up for the first time. As this meeting occurred I could tell the book was going to pick up. While reading this book, I thought about the different adaptations that were happening. This book was first adapted as a foreign language film (which I will be watching as soon as I finish the book). The next adaptation is being released this December and it stars Rooney Mara as the main character.

Rooney Mara is a star on the rise. There is not much to write about this young lady; she took a small role in the film Youth in Revolt (2009); she also had lead role in the updated edition of A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010). Neither of these films were a good launch pad for her career, her role was just a blip in Youth in Revolt, and well Elm Street like all horror reboots was atrocious.

Mara happened to land a role in the film that should have won Best Picture in this past year The Social Network (2010). Mara plays the girlfriend and quickly ex-girlfriend of Mark Zuckerberg. Mara may be only the screen for 8 minutes of this two hour film, but she does a great job conveying innocence and pain as she deals with this boy genius. The director David Fincher must have seen something in this young actress because she was cast as Lisbeth Salander in the upcoming (second) adaptation of the book The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. The character in the book is so deep and unique and I think this will help launch her into stardom. Having this role is the opportunity of a lifetime because the book is so beloved it will be seen by many; she will also have a lot of pressure on her, but I think she is up to the challenge.

Living at Home in Your Late Twenties Part Four: Ding! Ding! Everyone to your corners its time for The Fighter

Last night made me laugh because it reminded of my teenage years, with my family. During that time
everyone in the family would be in the respective rooms doing their own thing. My mom and dad flip flopped where they would be, my mom would either be in the kitchen cleaning and my dad in their bedroom, or my dad would be in the living room and my mom would be in their bedroom. My sister would always be in her room, while I would be in my room. We like our space, but when I looked at it last night it felt as though we all went to our separate corners in a boxing ring. I could have thought this because we watched NBCs reality series The Voice, but I think I also thought this because another thing I learned as I came home, is that everyone has their routine.

People have a routine they follow in their daily lives, I had one while I lived in Bowling Green, my sister had one while she was away at school, and without my sister and i living at home my parents created their own new routine. With all four of us living at home for a longer period of time, there is inevitably going to be some tension because we all do things different. With everyone back in their specific rooms it felt as though there was some tension and everyone was going to their specific corner like in a boxing ring.

Now our family is nowhere near as dysfunctional the the family in The Fighter (2010) this film highlighted some great family drama at it's best. After thinking about how crazy and manipulative the family in that is, I almost have to get down on my knees and thank whoever is out there for giving my family. Mark Wahlberg whole Micky Ward wants to succeed and become a great boxer but it always seems like his family is holding him back. His brother Dicky and his mother Alice have such strong opinions that any outsider is seen as someone who is out to get their family. My family is supportive but smothering. The Fighter does a good job of showing how even though family can drive you crazy, in the end they are there for you and care about you. That is the end of my soap box.

My family is nothing like this family, but every family has their moments where they get into arguments or intense debates. Families have their hot button issues, whether that be the value of the family, religion, politics, respect etc. I think I have to go back and re-watch this movie because I am finding a greater appreciation for what it represents as I write this.

I would like to dedicate this to Alice Ward the mother of Dicky and Micky

and seven other daughters who past away this year on April 27th.
She worked to be the best mother, may she rest in peace. Below is video of the actual Alice Ward.