Two Thousand Ten

The end of the decade. When we enter out twenties, we have the benefit of actually being mentally capable of looking back and enjoying our memories- all the joys and regrets and all the ups and downs. It's very different from turning 10, and very different from turning 30. It's kind of the point where we can be thankful for all that's passed, yet entirely excited for the next decade to come, which in reality is very very difficult to predict. Once we turn 30, i assume life is pretty much set by then. Haha.

Anyway, here's a list of every movie I watched this year. Ever. This list covers 12 months, 4 countries, a few plane trips, a few Imax trips, and several anime nights. I started out the list by writing a small blurb about each movie I watched, for personal reasons, but I won't go into detail here. Some quality cinema in 2009, but here's to 2010- the year of the DEATHLY HALLOWS!!!!

Kung Fu Panda
Pursuit of Happiness
CJ7
Ip Man
Death Race
Vicky, Christina, Barcelona,
How To Lose Friends and Alienate People
Wristcutters
W
Brave Story
Valkyrie
Bolt
Bedtime Stories
War, Inc
Dark Knight (IMAX)
Heat
Zak + Miri Make A Porno
The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button
Watchhmen

Princess Mononoke
Yes Man
Snatch
Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy
Afro Samurai
A Bug's Life
Changeling
Prince Of Egypt
Dragonball Evolution
Metallica Some Kind Of Monster
Seven
Boy In The Striped Pyjamas
Rain Man
Tokyo Drift
Wolverine
Akira
Howl's Moving Castle
Spirited Away
The Magnificent Seven
Love Actually
The Blues Brothers
Star Trek
Transformers 2
Monsters VS Aliens
Push
Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist
Watchmen
American Teen
RocknRolla
Burn After Reading
Harry Potter 6
Adventureland
Race To Witch Mountain
The Wrestler
Taken
Defiance
Coraline
10 Things I Hate About You
Dave Chapelle's Block Party
Harry Potter 6
Inglourious Basterds
Afro Samurai: Resurrection
Mysterious Skin
A Mighty Heart
500 Days Of Summer
GI Joe
Star Trek
Stop Loss
Up
The Ugly Truth
Terminator Salvation
Red Cliff
The Usual Suspects
Whip It
District 9
The Taking Of Pelham 1 2 3
The Girl Who Leapt Through Time
Inglourious Basterds
Gran Torino
Stardust
The Girl Who Leapt Through Time
Slumdog Millionaire
2012
Elizabethtown
My Neighbour Totoro
Paranormal Activity
Clueless
Mean Girls
Ponyo
Jesus Camp
This Is England
Avatar (IMAX)
Avatar (3D)

http://www.houseofkloo.blogspot.com
http://www.houseofkloo.tumblr.com

We watch all these movies and what do we have to show for it?

I read an interview with director Steven Soderbergh- the director of the Ocean's movies, and sex, lies and videotape (the rare breed to tread safely between commercial success and indie acclaim). And he had something remarkable to say:

...I'm not saying movies aren't influential; I just don't think they're important any more. There was a time when they were important culturally [and] I think they're as influential as ever, if not more, but that's not the same thing.

...It's not specific to films. I feel that way about all art right now. I'm not convinced it does anything any more. I look at what's happening in the world today, and I don't know how many stories about ourselves we need to tell before people stop killing each other. If the works of Shakespeare can't stop the Holocaust, then what is it worth? I'm being serious.

What good has it done us to read all of these great plays about all of these incidents and go, "Oh my God, what a tragedy that this person behaved that way", and there's no translation to what is happening around us. It's just the same thing over and over.

How's that for 21st century cynicism? We pump billions of dollars into the film industry, and spend countless hours being 'entertained'...and what do we really have to show for it? If we don't learn anything from it, whether it be an intellectual lesson, an emotional lesson, a political or social lesson, then there is something seriously wrong with the film culture we live in.

But then again, I LOVE Transformers. So what does that mean?

Just something to think about i guess.


As a post-script....i love Radiohead.

http://www.houseofkloo.blogspot.com

Day 1 and/or 2

It's 1:18am.

All you need to really know is that i'm in California- a city (town?) called Diamond Bar about 45 minutes to 1 hour from downtown LA. We're staying with old family friends (mum's old college mate) and it's been good. Can't say i feel too jetlagged- although i did wake up at 7:20 this morning.

It's really sunny and hot over here. Hit up the Getty art centre and then Santa Monica beach today. It's been fascinating having a local's side to things. Life here seems similar at first but oh-so different upon closer scrutiny. Mostly in the way that LA fuctions as multiracial city. Quite eye-opening.

Even though this is only our first day, it feels like we've been here for a week, because...i don't know why. The familiarity with our lovely hosts perhaps?

In short, we're here for a week. I think we're planning either a Vegas or a San Fran trip in the middle of the week. We're not too sure yet. Which do you prefer- 4hour or 7hour drive? That's the real dilemma. haha. Keep in mind i'm not 21 yet, and it's a family vacation so Vegas just has some nice buildings and shiny lights as far as we can tell...?

I managed to watch 6 movies on the plane. EPIC! They were all of good quality except Monsters Vs Aliens, which wasn't as funny or clever as i thought it'd be. Then there was Push, American Teen, RocknRolla, Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, and Burn After Reading. My eyes were quite red afterwards.

It is now 1:24am. As far as you can tell, all you probably care to know is that i'm in LA.

Cheerio
kevman

I <3 Physics

Note: i wrote this earlier today. Even earlier today, i also wrote a long-ish blog about hanging out in the lab and how amusing it was to be blogging on a computer located in a hard science lab and then discovered that windows 95 just ain't what it used to be...and then i lost the post. Let me recap as best I can:

I'm sitting in a small room located in a larger room known as the medical and radiation physics (computer) lab. I am surrounded by a mass of wires and miscellaneous science equipment i will probably never use. In the corner is a small safe containing radioactive sources. Next door, my experiment is running and i check on it every 10 minutes to read a simple voltage measurement. There are 2 PhD fellows also present who up until now have been speaking rapid-fire Italian as they continue to play with their electrical signals. They are strangely quiet now.

And here i sit blogging.

Ah the life of an experimental physicist!

Because that's right guys...after 6 weeks of 'lit review' (basically bludging around at home watching Battlestar Galactica) i have FINALLY started work on my honours project! So it is with great irony that i have done more work in the past two days of my easter holidays than i have in the entire semester! So far so good ay.

As you can tell however, it is nothing particularly challenging and i have time to sit here read a book and work on a sudoku (which incidentally is rated 'tough' today NOTE: i never finished it...). I even read an article about the new Wolverine movie and found myself less cynical about it. (which leads me to my next topid: allow me to 'geek out' for a minute).

My original cynicism was based on the Hollywood mass-popularisation of a much-loved and revered character and his history. Wolverine's comic history took many decades to unfold and his mysterious background is very much part of his allure. Now Hollywood is going to present it to a largely undiscerning audience and everyone is just going to take his Origin story for granted on a simplistic basis. Which it very much is not.

But then again i realised how fanboy elitist this was and now my mind is slowly changing.

Wow i had no intention to write about wolverine. it kind of just came out. As you can tell, this experiment is most definitely taking up much of my mind. Haha.

Here's an awesome picture i'll always remember: Magneto removing wolverine's adamantium by force. A very painful process i assume...

Thanks for reading.

***************

Katoomba Easter Convention was amazing and it was such an enriching weekend and met many interesting people. We're all BFFs by now. Go Ecclesiastes (life is meaningless people)! Check out my photos on facebook. I made them look all pretty and nice. Maybe i'll draw a comic about the weekend.