Category: uncategorized

~ Mark

My Review of Tony Robbins Unleash the Power Within Seminar.

What was very interesting is that the words Tony writes are 90% illegible. He is expressing ideas and scribbling with the marker but does not have time for accuracy. For example, on one slide that I remembered, I saw that the word FINANCE was not even slightly legible, SUCCESS looked like a jumbled signature, then there were lots of swirly lines and arrows. Without the context of Tony, it would have made no sense. But the ideas were conveyed better with the aid of these notes.

30 Things We Learned from the ‘Thief’ Commentary | Film School Rejects

~ Mark

Caan comments on Frank’s manner of speaking and how he never uses contractions. He and Mann determined Frank was a man who was trying to make up for lost time, and his way of speaking slowly, methodically, and clear makes it such that he never has to repeat himself. […] “You knew he didn’t say anything he didn’t mean”.

Awesome.

30 Things We Learned from the ‘Thief’ Commentary | Film School Rejects

Heat

~ Mark

Heat. Michael Mann, man. This still blows my mind on second viewing. (The first). I love (Pacino’s) Vincent Hanna so much in this one. He truly does not give a shit. And he drives like a cop. I also finally realized that Hanna’s sidekick Cassals (Wes Studi) is so familiar because he also plays Magua.

Los Angeles Review of Books – What Would DFW Do: Maria Bustillos, Eric Been, And Mike Goetzman On “Both Flesh And Not” And All Things Foster Wallace

~ Mark

Perhaps we ought to be a little more understanding of the compromises involved in creating art, and that getting bent out of shape once certain liberties are exposed (when just a minute ago we were so thoroughly enthralled!) seems a reaction based more on our uneasiness with our own vulnerability and credulousness than any serious authorial wrongdoing.

Los Angeles Review of Books – What Would DFW Do: Maria Bustillos, Eric Been, And Mike Goetzman On “Both Flesh And Not” And All Things Foster Wallace

The Keep

~ Mark

The Keep. I’m sure there’s a cult following for it somewhere. Some of the photography and the Tangerine Dream soundtrack are worthwhile. Otherwise, it’s not quite Michael Mann’s best work. That said, if you want to see gothic-scifi-horror with Nazis set in 1940s Romania, it’s your best bet. This is what I get for being a Michael Mann completist. The only ones I haven’t seen yet are Ali and The Insider. Here’s how I rank the rest:

  1. Heat
  2. Thief
  3. The Last of the Mohicans
  4. Public Enemies
  5. Manhunter
  6. Miami Vice
  7. Collateral
  8. The Keep
~ Mark

Chuck Close photographed by Bill Jacobson, while Close works on “John, 1992, oil on canvas, 100 x 84”. (via) Featured in Lisa Yuskavage’s interview with Close:

I think of my work as what used to be called women’s work: knitting, quilting. Women were busy cooking, raising children, so they had to have an activity that they could pick up and put down. A quilt may take a year, but if you just keep doing it, you get a quilt. Or if you knit one and pearl two, and you believe in the process, eventually you’ll make a sweater. There’s some aspect of that in me.

We’re Not Louis C.K. – Indie Game: The Movie – A Video Game Documentary

~ Mark

Our version of working a small comedy club in Idaho was spending 5 minutes responding to an email about what type of camera we were using or a tweeted questions about the film. Little by little, it added up. We don’t want to push the analogy too hard. We’re not trying to say we’re just like Louis C.K. Not even close. But we do want to make the point that you don’t need throngs of ready-made fans to make this type of distribution effective and worthwhile. You can build towards it.

I really should have watched the movie by now. (via)

We’re Not Louis C.K. – Indie Game: The Movie – A Video Game Documentary

Easy Rider

~ Mark

Easy Rider. Two rebels made their compromise and try to live with it. Nicholson’s square tag-along is a nice addition. The cuts between scenes were so strange at first–I don’t think I’ve scene anything like it. Solid soundtrack, and you can laugh at hippies. A buddy and I are working through some notable road movies we haven’t seen. Previously: Two-Lane Blacktop (my favorite so far) and Thunder Road (second).

~ Mark

Dre likes to work in an environment where you can create. [Where] everybody’s on the creative atmosphere and not about what’s goin’ on in the ‘hood, how many niggas you shot and how much shit you did. He didn’t want that.

Me and Dre both. That’s Snoop, talking about the making of The Chronic. Life was simpler then:

I was just happy to be workin’ with Dre. I had my own apartment. I was getting a thousand dollars a month, had all the best weed I wanted. My girl was lovin’ me, I was lovin’ her. It was all just crackin’.

Lincoln

~ Mark

Lincoln. The best movie about the legislative process released this year! For real, historical biography isn’t my thing (Lawrence of Arabia excepted), so I liked that the condensed timeline here moved it more into political drama with horse-trading and cajoling and backroom negotiation. I have my complaints (over-teaching; soft-focus soap opera lighting; lens flare; tokenism; etc.), but still… DDL is the man. His storytelling, along with the other individual performances, make it worthwhile.

~ Mark

I love the South. The mud and the creeks and the moss and the lightning bugs and the oak trees and the pecan trees. Climbing trees and looking for snakes, I really miss all that. That was the best part of my childhood.

Chan Marshall. Hell yeah the South.