CrumpArt

Self-portrait with portrait and self-portrait.

This was my entry, a little late, for the letter I in Alphabet Shoot. It’s the first photo where I’ve really had a plan, and had to think of a way to execute it — the other shots were mostly borne from opportune moments.

I took this one with the tripod and self-timer. The big roll of paper in front of me is a proof from my nude self-portrait woodblock print, and the photo I’m holding was taken seven years ago at one of my 21st birthday parties.

I like this picture a lot.

Monday.
9:10PM.
Melbourne Central Hoyts.
Who’s in?

So far I’ve done fairly badly at keeping up with my New Year’s Resolutions. A skein of yarn and a book every week? Haha. Time as reality? Hahahahahahahaha.

I have been watching more films though. And I kept that up this week with Slacker, The Big Lebowski and The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. All three got a 6/10 rating from me on IMDB.

The first one was to help round out my Linklater oeuvre. I loved the idea behind it, and some of the ideas in it, but my problem was that the characters really annoyed me. I grew up as an enthusiastic person among an almost entirely apathetic generation. I was also shy, so didn’t want to stand out with my desire to actually learn and do things. I finally got over all that, thankfully. Watching a film that pretty much consists entirely of apathetic people was really quite grating. But I guess that’s what you should expect from a film called Slacker. Watching this with the knowledge that Linklater came up with characters like Jesse and Celine was helpful. I think it was even Before Sunrise that cured me of my unwitting slip into apathy — seeing characters that loved learning and saw so much potential in life was heartening. I used to hire Before Sunrise every time we went to the video shop, to the point where my brothers and sisters began to hate it.

For me, The Big Lebowski probably suffered from over-hype. People LOVE this film. I thought it was good, but nothing special. It seemed a bit too smug and self-satisfied, but I probably would have liked it more if I didn’t hate John Goodman’s character so much. On the other hand, I loved Julianne Moore’s performance.

I did quite like The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, but it was really scattered. Although I don’t really know how you’d make a film version of this without it being scattered. There were parts that I loved — the dolphins at the start, the knitted scene, etc., but it just didn’t seem whole. I am really, really looking forward to Garth Jennings’ next film, Son of Rambow, though, but I have no idea if or when it will be released in Australia.

Films on the schedule for next week are My Beautiful Laundrette, Nashville (I did actually watch this a few weeks ago, but I was doing homework at the same time, and really didn’t give it the attention that it deserves), Hot Fuzz and perhaps some David Wenham-y goodness in 300. Mmmmmm… David Wenham…