Good God, it's an update!

[deathpixie]

Yeah, I know, I've been slack in letting people know what I'm up to, but hey, I've been busy doing it...

Edited highlights of the last couple of weeks...

Trip to London. Ontario, that is. *grins* Hung out with Dex's offline friends, pretty much all of whom I've met before, had a good time, saw The Exorcist: The Beginning which was bloody awful, and got many, many backrubs, thanks to Lee.

Dex's birthday. The actual day was Tuesday, the party was on Wednesday, at the Griffin, with the band. Again, a very good night, and I seem to have exorcised a particular demon. Very quiet day the day after. ;)

Hero. Saw it this past Friday, and was slightly disappointed. Great action scenes, but somewhere along the way I didn't get the same sense of engagement as I did with Crouching Tiger. The narrative style was interesting, telling the same story from three different views, using different colour schemes to differentiate, but in the end it was a tad to distant for me. Perhaps seeing the same characters die, over and over again, made it hard to accept the 'reality' of the ending... Still, _very_ pretty, and the actors were amazing, as always.

The Ex. Short for Exhibition. Like Melbourne Show, really. We went yesterday and walked our feet off, and Lee and Mel conspired to feed me fairy floss/cotton candy and make me hyper. Oh, the crash later was not fun. Hate sugar headaches. But still, had a great time.

Rain! It started raining yesterday, and Mel and I had fun walking back from the restaurant last night in it. Got totally soaked, but hey, Australia's had a drought for two years. Mel laughed at me for bouncing in puddles and I cheerfully admitted that no, I'm not really that grown up sometimes... I blame residual sugar.

Next week: Long weekend here. We're going back to London for Murder Mystery fun.

Miss various people, mainly because they're stressed and I'm over here and can't help. I'm thinking of you all, tho'.

And Bounce, you're adorable when you're drunk. ;)

Comments

Sounds like fun

[redhawk.livejournal.com]

Yaay on the demon-exorcism!

Do I even want to know why the winky-smiley? ;)

Hero was OK, but didn't light my world on fire.

Redhawk

[ion-duck.livejournal.com]

Hero. Saw it this past Friday, and was slightly disappointed. Great action scenes, but somewhere along the way I didn't get the same sense of engagement as I did with Crouching Tiger. The narrative style was interesting, telling the same story from three different views, using different colour schemes to differentiate, but in the end it was a tad to distant for me. Perhaps seeing the same characters die, over and over again, made it hard to accept the 'reality' of the ending... Still, _very_ pretty, and the actors were amazing, as always.

I've seen that 'same story, different POVs different visual and aural element change to represent it' technique used many times. I saw the reviews for Hero and decided to skip it because while the technique is always interesting, no film or television show has done it as vividly, creatively, or intelligently as Kurasawa did in Rashoman. (Though Darin Morgan's script for The X-Files episode 'Jose Chung's From Outer Space' came pretty close.)

[philf.livejournal.com]

I cheerfully admitted that no, I'm not really that grown up sometimes...

Only sometimes? ;)

Phil

P.S. - don't know if you've heard, but The Gnome has announced the date for the Federal election - October 9th. So you should be back in the country in plenty of time to vote the Evil One out of office...

P.P.S. - your grill on the cooker is strange and confusing and it scares me. However, your microwave is fast becoming a close personal friend.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_bounce_/]

*hugs* Glad you're having a good time over there.

And Bounce, you're adorable when you're drunk. ;)

Um. Thanks? Of course, I still don't remember what I said to your answering machine. :)

[quixotic-sense.livejournal.com]

considering that the duke of qin *did* win, historically, the reality of the ending (as far as his victory is concerned) is a foregone conclusion. that the characters died is not the point -- it's *how* they died. it's whether they died in dishonour, for personal honour, or in service for something larger than their brief existence. the colours too serve as metaphors and not just convenient storyline markers. red for passion and decadence, blue for nobility and coolness (note the way this plays into the way the duke of qin sees the characters), green in that flashback to denote youth and new love.

zhang yimou's portrayal of the duke of qin is actually a radical departure from recent fictional versions (cf. chen kaige's the emperor and the assassin). the emperor united china and introduced a single writing system, yes, but he burned books and buried alive scholars who didn't agree with him on that second issue. he was one of mao's heroes, incidentally, but even the party faithful were not keen on him. he was a villain, albeit a necessary one. this is the kind of historical background that zhang yimou expects his audience to know. which is probably why the film took so long to be released in the west.

crouching tiger, hidden dragon is too westernised. it's not a true wuxia film. neither is hero (way too arty), but it's closer in spirit. right now, i'm waiting for zhang's most recent film, house of flying daggers.