- The Residents, Gingerbread Man

1: Warhorse

I've been wanting to see this movie since it came out; and I just did. I have a couple things to say about it, that don't exactly pertain to the movie itself. So here they are first:

Old women who talk during movies should be shot. I was watching the movie, were you? Why do you have to ask who a character that's just walked onto the screen is? Why do you clap 10 minutes into a movie? Stop God Damn crying!

People who are me, when watching a movie where an old woman is ruining everything, should likewise be shot. Its not polite to tell them to shut up. Even if they're too old to hear you.

So, War Horse combines two things I like quite a bit; Horses and World War One. The first 45 minutes could be summed up as a boy who talks to his horse. Literally. Just kind of keeps talking to him. A lot of hammed up dramatic bullshit. Its a typical boy and his horse story (like a boy and his dog story, but much more gay).

There's some sweet war scenes, which was at least 45% of the reason I went and saw it. Also, there was also some pretty decent acting. Not great. By no means is it a great movie. It was very specifically aimed at the sap gland of the brain; sappy sappy sappy. After the beginning 45 minutes the horse is given to the army for the great war and from then on the horse is more of a plot device than a character. We see several stories that's only connecting thread is the horse. A great many of these stories are depictions of German's as needlessly cruel, arrogant, monsters. Though, among them, there are a few decent people.

This makes me think that had the German's won the war and the movie was made anyway, I doubt they would portray the limeys as a bunch of limp-wrist-ed ponces. No, I feel that were it other way 'round, the Brits would be the cruel monsters using beautiful sensitive horses to pull artillery, of all things! The Germans were portrayed, not as the desperate hallow army they were, but as insects taking and using up resources without a care in the world. Being mean and evil just for the sake of it. It's not something I enjoy in a movie; I get it, they're the bad guys. They're different from the hero(es). Move on.

Another thing that bothers me with the movie; when we weren't watching a German character specifically, they spoke German. When they became the focal point, they spoke English with a really bad German accent. Also, any girl under the age or 20 should not be allowed to pretend to have a French accent; child actors are always bad, particularly when they're pretending to be French. I just wish they would have gone that extra mile and just made sub-titles. I know their distracting, but so is forcing two people, speaking different languages, to interact and awkwardly having to explain that one just happens to speak English.

My final complaint; the reunion scene at the very end. It was filmed so differently from the rest of the movie; in this really crappy yellow/orange tint, dramatic ass-lighting and dramatic angles. It didn't belong in the film. Take it back, try again. It was just literal took me out of the movie and was like, 'Yeah, its ending now'. Then I picked up my contraband snacks and drink, and left. I didn't have to see the ending close up of the horse, which would have been the nice little bow on top the package of the movie. I get it. He was kind of like the main character, even though he's a horse.

Overall, glad I saw it. Probably don't need to see it again and probably could have waited for it to leave theaters. Overall I think I was looking for something with a little more depth, hoping to explore the consequences of mechanization on tradition, and Warhorse was just not that at all. It didn't strain any brain-cells and kept away from asking questions or making too strong a commentary.

2: Art

So, a friend of mine from college came over recently. I showed him a small sketch book of mine, we watched some movies, and had a good time.

Afterward we spoke online and he told me something really flattering. He's not a believer in art: he thinks people who are professional artists are full of crap. Not in the media and such, I'm talking conceptual artists, gallery artists. This is something I've known since our first class together.

What he told me was that I made him change his mind on that; I'm immensely flattered by that! But it also makes me a little scared, because it means I'm doing something that I am not terribly sure what it is, exactly. Yikes.

3: Art Classes

I'm taking my first painting class ever. For the first time in the last year or two I am actually worried about. With drawing or sculpture (both areas I am considering making my artistic concentration) there's a level of intuitiveness. With Painting, its basically color. Color is one of my weakest areas.

To make matters worse, this professor is one of the first professors I'd ever had at this college, years and years back. I was unprepared for these classes then, and had no idea how lost I really was. Likewise, I didn't have the maturity to shut the fuck up. Realizing that she recognized me, I apologized to her about it. What really makes me so nervous is that she accepted it; "don't worry you were just a kid". It doesn't put me at ease, in fact it makes me feel more on the spot. I feel really anxious going into this class and being the odd duck. I feel like I'm going to be that guy that talks too much and does too little. I'm afraid of that, I'm afraid I'll do spectacularly average, learn nothing and leave these rotten impressions on my peers.

FA what do?

4: Fiscal Concerns

How does one go about sensitively asking the roommate to pay his fucking bills? :/

Then his debt to his fellow tenet?

-Got. Pal.