Melancholy for Melancholia

I like reading up on the Oscars to see all the pretty dresses.  I often internally contest the worthiness of the nominees and ultimately I don't care who wins.  Billy Crystal hit the nail on the head when he called the Academy out for the ridiculousity of millionaires giving each other gold trophies.  I may have added the ridiculous part, but it was implied.

That being said, how did Melancholia get completely ignored?  Seriously.  Melancholia was my favorite movie of the year, followed closely by Midnight in Paris, which also got much less attention than the big winner, The Artist.  I saw The Artist and enjoyed it but, in my opinion both Melancholia and Midnight in Paris had much, much more to offer.

I saw Melancholia twice in the theater and could have seen it twice more.  I found it beautiful, original, and impactful.  I've always been a fan of sensationalist end-of-the-world movies, but this affected me in a much different way because it did not take the usual "panic in the streets" approach.  There was a sense of dread permeating the entire film, but it was tempered with a calm that arose partially out of the solitude of the characters. Melancholia perfectly blended depression and dread with beauty and acceptance. Every time I think about Melancholia, the feelings I had in the theater immediately return almost like sensory memories.

The film opens as an opera would with an overture.  The haunting music is from Wagner's opera Tristan and Isolde and plays over a montage of ultra slow-motion, almost still-frame shots that foreshadow the coming events of the film.


Both Kirsten Dunst and Charlotte Gainsbourg were wonderful in the film, but I found Gainsbourg especially so.  She conveyed the internal conflict of the character brilliantly.  Gainsbourg, the daughter of Serge Gainsbourg, is - like her father - a musician as well as an actor.  I leave you with a song...

Top 5, All Time Favorite... or so

I just watched High Fidelity for the first time in a long time.  Ah, John Cusack.  No one does strung out better.

High Fidelity is all music and lists.  So many lists in that movie.  My favorite list (although not itemized and only a list of 3 instead of the movie's standard "Top 5 All Time Favorite" lists) is Jack Black's character's 3 band names at the end of the movie: Sonic Death Monkey, Kathleen Turner Overdrive, and Barry Jive and his Uptown 5.

My friend Patrick has a similar "problem" deciding on a band name.  In his last 3 shows he performed as Skinny P and the Destroyers; Skinny P and the Birthday Bash; and Skinny P and the Handicaps. (See My Talented Friends Part One.)

Band names are fun, but so darn hard to choose.  You want the name to reflect the music, but also the personality of the band members while making sure that it is memorable and of course, clever in some groupie-procuring way. 

Do you remember being asked how many kids you wanted when you yourself were a kid?  Your answer would be directly correlated to the number of baby names you thought were cool.  "I want 6... Peter, Parker, Posey, Punxsutawney, and Bob."  If I could start as many bands as I have cool names to name them, I would have 4 bands:

1. The Sister Karamazov
2. Fifths and Giggles
3. Color Me Wicked
4. Whole Notes from the Underground

Originally, I had 5, but the 5th was "Tequila Mockingbird" which I thought was so clever.  Yeah.  It turns out that there are bands, restaurants, bars, and design companies with the same name.  Not so clever after all.  Thanks a lot, Google.  I was feeling pretty good about myself today.

Goosebumps

I am currently channeling Dostoevsky's Notes from the Underground and peeking out from under the covers to complain.  Notes from Under the Covers?

Before I start the bitching and moaning, let me explain. I'm sort of a wimp.  Scary movies... scare me.  After seeing the made for TV version of The Shining I had nightmares for something like 6 months. And that was only the made for TV version.  Horror movies are obviously out, but I also avoid graphically violent movies such as No Country for Old Men or Kill Bill.  I even had to close my eyes during certain parts of Team America: World Police.  Puppet blood!

Despite my efforts to avoid images that will end up haunting my dreams, I now find myself unable to do so thanks to a digital billboard just outside my bedroom and loft windows that changes ads about every 10 seconds.  The ads have been fairly harmless so far - Dodgers, Vegas - that sort of thing. 

Last week things got a little more troublesome.

Now, I know you will probably laugh at me for this one, but waking up from a disturbing dream, rolling over and glancing out my window to find this looking back at me is unsettling. 

I know it's only a model with some face make-up in a Tequila ad, but when viewed unexpectedly and in a groggy haze, it's unnerving!  And this is only August.  What's it going to be like in October?  Dear god, can someone please tell me what it is going to be like in October?!? 

I am going back under the covers.  Let me know when it's Thanksgiving, will you?