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Sunday, June 06, 2004 |
[Interesting] What kind of thinker are you?. [BBC] [Fark]Suprising: I'm an existential thinker. We:
• Like to spend time thinking
about philosophical issues such as "What is the meaning of life?"
• Try to see beyond the 'here and now', and understand deeper meanings
• consider moral and ethical implications of problems as well as practical solutions
Like existential thinkers, Leonardo questioned man's role in the
universe. Many of his paintings explored the relationship between man
and God.
Other Existential Thinkers include
The Buddha, Gandhi, Plato, Socrates, Martin Luther King
Careers which suit Existential Thinkers include
Philosopher, Religious leader, Head of state, Artist, Writer
1:56:14 PM Permalink
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A Two-Jarmusch Weekend
OK, so two Jim Jarmusch movies in one weekend may be a bit excessive. But it was sort of an accident. Last week I Tivo'd Dead Man
on Ken and Katie's recommendations, and got around to watching it
Friday night. I enjoyed it quite a bit, the story of naive Johnny Depp
coming out west after the death of his parents, to a promised job for
Robert Mitchum. Mitchum turns on Depp on his arrival, and almost by
accident Depp becomes a wanted killer. Lots of good performances in the
movie, and watching for odd little touches (Iggy Pop as a
cross-dressing murder, a nice little bit of cannibalism, a character
named Benmont Tench, the William Blake references) is lots of fun. It's
beautifully photographed.
Then yesterday late afternoon I wanted to see a movie, but not a big blockbuster. So we went to see The Saddest Music in the World. But when we were in line for tickets, we spotted Coffee and Cigarettes,
and on a second whim, decided to see it instead. The movie is not an
unqualified success. It's a series of vignettes, filmed over the last
20 years, all involving two (or sometimes 3) people sitting and talking
over coffee and cigarettes. Most of the time the vignettes are really
entertaining, featuring people playing versions of themselves. The
couples are often odd, but sometimes not surprising: Steven Wright and
Roberto Benigni; Tom Waits and Iggy Pop, Alfred Molina and Steve Coogan
(the best vignette); Cate Blanchett and Cate Blanchett; GZA and RZA and
Bill Murray. The relations between the characters follow sort of a
pattern: one character dominates or controls things in a way that is
often not clear to the other, as in the Pop/Waits vignette. In the
best, the Molina/Coogan one, the relationship between the two changes
as one learns something new about the other. The movie was fun, but it
is a bit repetitive. What's fun to watch is the beautiful photography,
the often great acting and good writing.
I also saw a very different movie last night, Adventure,
from 1945 with Clark Gable, Greer Garson, and Joan Blondell. Gable
plays a sailor with a girl in every port. When he meets Blondell and
Garson in San Francisco, things change for him. What was fun was the on
location work in San Francisco: nice scenes on the Embarcadero and at
the old library. Garson and Blondell share a San Francisco
apartment with apparently real views of the city. The performances are
very good, all three of them have some great scenes. But the Gable
character was inconsistent -- sometimes sincere, sometimes more
cynical, with no apparent reason. Watching Garson and Gable fall in
love was fun, but then there's a big transition that leaves a lot of
open questions about what happens in between. A major character is
dropped from the story for a while, only to be brought back when he's
needed. And the ending was really bad, very stupid, very manipulative.
If you have some time late at night, though, the few scenes of San
Francisco are fun, and Gable is almost always fun to watch. Blondell
and Garson are beautiful, but the real beauty is Lina Romay, who has the great line, "tell me that you love me and I'll pretend to believe it."
1:22:18 PM Permalink
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© Copyright 2004 Steve Michel.
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