Japanese Cinema Pt. 1
My interest in movies really gained momentum after watching Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai. I knew nothing about the film when I bought it, except that it was highly reccomended and directed by a man who has influenced so many other people. Most of us have hopefully heard the name Akira Kurosawa before, but I don't know if you know the extent to which he has influenced the film industry. He himself was influenced by American westerns when making Seven Samurai and others, so it's a bit ironic to have Seven Samurai remade into a western called The Magnificent Seven. The same with two other of his films Yojimbo and Sanjuro which was the basis for Sergio Leone's Fistful of Dollars, and For a Few Dollars More.Kurosawas' Hidden Fortress influenced George Lucas to make Star Wars and specifically the characters R2-D2 and C3P0. There is also a touching scene in Saving Private Ryan where a man is looking for his arm which was cut off, and picks it up. This is an exact replica of a scene from the masterpiece Ran.So why am I mentioning any of this? It's because Kurosawa has had major influences on my life and my future. I have such a strong interest in making movies and I owe this all to watching Seven Samurai. From there, I continued to watch other Japanese films and learned how great they were in comparison to those of Hollywood. I find the Japanese style is less focused on action and more on the overall aesthethics of our enviornment. Most Japanese directors take advantage of their surroundings, filling the screen with the most beautiful and sometimes surreal images. Here are just a handful of images that I want to show you. Many of them are what I thought were memorable from each movie, and others are to portray Akira's influence.Here is a shot from the movie Dreams, which is based on Akira's dreams. It's a beautiful shot of young Kurosawa in the middle of a field of flowers looking up at the rainbow appearing after the bountiful rain.
posted by psychobabbler @ 9:36 PM
More from my city
Not everything in my city is costly, which is a good thing if you know me (I'm rather thrifty) For just 2.00 (train fare) you could see some of the coolest places. It's an advennture to just take the train to some random station and get off not knowing what you may find there (although it might help to know the "bad" areas ahead of time). Anyways here are some pictures for you ADD people.
A shot of some ferries that take you from Manhattan to Staten Island. They're bright orange and are free! You get a great view of NYC's skyline and of the Statue of Liberty.
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This is the famous bull by Wall Street. It represents the stock market (bull market). I remember hearing that they wanted to remove it for some stupid reason, but thankfully they haven't. This is a great landmark that I can remember vividly loving from the first moment I saw it as a kid.
This is another place I remember seeing when I was a kid. It's just a regular office building or something, but I always found it cool that the shades were all green. Some open, some closed, it makes for a sort of mosaic that changes throughout the day.
This is one of the last remains from the World Trade Center. It was in front of the towers and used to be a golden globe atop a water fountain. I remember sitting by the fountain when I was younger looking up at the tall towers surrounding me. It looks very different now of course, and is it just me, or does it look like a face?
For me this is one of those perfect pictures that represents the direction society has headed in. The stone walls behind these people are filled with thousands of names of soldiers who lost their lives in wars of past. You see a man and his wife bargaining with this guy over some fake Gucci bag. I was disgusted when taking this photo. I just couldn't believe the lack of respect that they all had. It just feels like you could tell the type of people those buyers were just from looking at them. Money over morals it seems.
posted by psychobabbler @ 3:50 AM
For you and for me and the entire human race
You know, the pocket edition to the Idiot's guide to oral sex is the most useful book I ever bought. There are so many incidences when I'm out and I come across an opportunity to have oral sex. Since I'm no expert in this area, I just whip out my handy dandy pocket guide, read up on the pointers and I'm on my way! The ladies don't mind me pausing in between because I'm a pretty fast reader and they know they'll benefit from my advancing lessons. When it's my turn to receive, I just give the book to her and wait patiently for a few minutes. Sharing, it's what life is about.
posted by psychobabbler @ 4:39 PM
And the anchorperson on TV goes... La de da de da de-dadedade-da
All photos taken by me, with some post processing done to some. They're all from all around my hometown of nyc.
Song of the moment: Sixteen Military Wives by The Decemberists
posted by psychobabbler @ 4:34 AM
This just in...
Speaking of Matt Good. Details have been released for his upcoming album. It's better than even I could even imagine. Big City Life is going to be on the album, and a video for While We Were Hunting Rabbits!Here are the track lists of both releases:
Disc One (regular versions):
"Oh Be Joyful" "Big City Life" "Alert Status Red" "Weapon" "In AWorld Called Catastrophe" "Hello Time Bomb" "Load Me Up" "Strange Days" "The Future Is X-Rated" "Everything Is Automatic" "Rico" "Apparitions" "Indestructible" "Symbolistic White Walls" "Haven't Slept In Years" "Alabama Motel Room" Pony Boy" Disc Two (acoustic versions plus lo fi b-sides and loser anthems):
"Truffle Pigs" "Tripoli" "Generation X-Wing" "Apparitions" "North American For Life" "Advertising On Police Cars" "Hello Time Bomb" "Strange Days" "Prime Time Deliverance" "Flashdance II" "Man From Harold Wood" "My Life As A Circus Clown" "Intermezzo: M.Good v M.Trolley" "Flight Recorder From Viking 7" "Life Beyond The Minimum Safe Distance" "The Fine Art Of Falling Apart" "Born To Kill" "Enjoy The Silence" "Fated" DVD: Music Videos
"Alabama Motel Room" "White Walls" "Everything Is Automatic" "Indestructible" "Apparitions" "Rico" "Hello Time Bomb" "Load Me Up" "Strange Days" "The Future Is X-Rated" "Carmelina" "Anti-Pop" "Weapon" "In A World Called Catastrophe" "Alert Status Red" "It's Been A While Since I Was Your Man" "While We Were Hunting Rabbits"Via Chartattack
posted by psychobabbler @ 6:08 PM
Commonly misheard Matthew Good lyrics
I've been a part of a few MG(B) online commmunities and from time to time we'd come up with lyrics that we heard that were either completely wrong, or just badly misinterpreted. Here are some of the ones I can remember. I've provided you with the exact time at which you hear it, so try and listen to these songs with these lyrics in mind and tell me if you hear them. Tell me if there are any lyrics that you misheard.
1.)Song: Suburbia, Beautiful Midnight, at 1:15Misheard: Baby if I was into men, you would be mineCorrect: Baby if I was in demand, you would be mine2.)Song: Avalanche, Avalache, at 2:52Misheard: Taco bell shoes (C'mon tell me you don't heard that!)Correct: Can't tackle, can't shoot3.)Song: Deep Six, Underdogs, at :22Misheard: Deep six come to bedCorrect: Deep six come to bare4.)Song: She's Got a New Disguise, Last of the Ghetto AstronautsMisheard: She's got a nudist guyCorrect: She's got a new disguise.5.)Song: Carmelina, Audio of Being, at 1:54Misheard: Well it hides my clean cellsCorrect: Well it hides my clean selves6.)Song: Hello Time Bomb, Beautiful MidnightMisheard: Dirty enough like hot meatloaf (hahaha, my all time fav.)Correct: Dirty enough I got me a love7.)Song: Tripoli, Audio of BeingMisheard: Where is my handgun? (especially at the end when the kids are saying it)Correct: Where has my head gone?8.)Song: Suburbia, Beautiful Midnight,Misheard: Who's coming with me? (like the line from Jerry Macguire)Correct: Hells coming with meFinally my friend Kate once told me that she went to a concert with her brother. Her brother didn't know anything about Matt Good or his music but was aware that his latest was titled "Avalanche". While MG was performing "Appartions" her brother thought he was singing appalachians, assuming there was some sort of mountain theme. Appalachianssssss
posted by psychobabbler @ 11:37 AM