I got my Ford Fiesta!

AHHHH! I'm so tired I don't even know who I am or what day it is!

I am back from Denver training! Flew out tuesday afternoon - hassled at the airport for not meeting the liquid requirements.  Two security dudes held me up forever, afraid I was going to be late.  One was a total jackass the other was really cool - so I told him all about the fiesta movement, he already knew a little bit about the fiesta coming to the US in a year! 

Plane was late taking off nearly an hour - here's where the stress level continues to build - I had my fingers crossed that my driver would be waiting for me!  Made it in only 30 minutes late, we made up for time during the flight.

Hotel.  Was.  Gorgeous.  I got to my room opened the door and saw a huge, contemporary, funky suite.  Was sad I wouldn't be spending more time in there!

We met downstairs, 8 of us total, went out to a delicious dinner, everyone was so laid back and nice!  We learned all about the fiesta movement, how to navigate our online contributions, media, etc.  Let me just say: THIS THING IS HUGE.  I mean, I knew it was when I signed on to do this - but you don't quite grasp the magnitude of it until you get there.  WHAT a once in a lifetime chance! We got some swag which included addidas sneakers, sony webbie (orange for me) cams, and fiesta movement t shirts.  

The majority of the group were guys.  I was the only "youtube celeb/personality".  The rest were mainly car enthusiasts.  Isn't it wild how the fiestamovement has brought so many people together and interested? With the fiestamovement.com site up we're able to share our own personal sites and footage.  We all want to drive this car / be involved in the movement for so many different reasons! Out of 4,000 entries the 100 agents chosen are so diverse - we cover quite a span of ages, careers and interests.  Each training session sounded like it was tons of fun with all sorts of personalities and vibes.  

Totally cool.  Gatherings like these would never happen otherwise.

I never have a spare moment and after working hard all week I was beat by the time we went back to the hotel.  I thought I'd want to hit the town, but I opted for a bottle of red wine via room service and an Ichat with Dave.  

Early morning wednesday.  Breakfast.  Learned more about the car itself.  Checked out & headed to the racetrack.  Everyone had the hot magenta or lime.  Most had graphics, but I had opted for none on "Rosalita"...little Rosie for short.   Lunch then learned how to drive a stick!! I was trained by a professional - and while I learned from the best, I knew I would not want to risk driving it on my own the first day.  I want to be 110% confident before I'm around other cars.  

My instructor drove me to the airport (after 3 laps around the track like bats outta hell where he drove and I tried not to cry, pass out & throw up a little) where Dave had flown in to drive the new car for me and we headed home from there.

I love Rosalita!  She's so tiny - she looks like a little pink space age bubblemobile from the outside, but inside you don't feel like you're in a small car.  It's so comfortable and gorgeous! We stopped for dinner at a Mexican restaurant in Laramie, Wyoming called Corona Town? Corona Ville? It's like the only thing off of the freeway exit with nothing around it and it's huge!  Totally packed with other people passing through.  

Stopped for gas and I accidentally told poor Dave the wrong type of gas (what can I say, It'd been a long day) and we were so confused trying to find a station with the right kind / nozzle.  Duh.  Figured that out.  A few hours later we stopped for gas again, got the see cashier sign and went inside only to wait forever since their systems were down.  Decided to go to the next gas station across the street, drove literally for 10 seconds and right when we pulled up to the pump? Flashing police lights behind us.  Driving with no headlights- which we hadn't realized - but no ticket, got to tell the cop about the fiestamovement and gave him a business card.  He seemed excited to check it out! Ha ha ha.  

By then it was a little before midnight when we realized we were too beat to go through the night and should probably just stay.  Found a Best Western.  Geez, what a downgrade from the night before :)  It was totally smelly but I was so happy to sleep.  When I laid down I felt like I was still moving after being in a car so long.  Good thing I don't get motion sickness! Next thing I knew, alarm went off at 7 am and we were off again.  Stopped for breakfast and finally made it back to SLC.  

I'm totally delirious.  I have so much to do it's not even funny.  I still squeezed in another driving lesson, this time with my dad and it was so much fun.  I felt like I was really getting the hang of it.  Still not ready for the road, but a lot more confident that I will be able to.  I'm not gonna push it, I'm going to take my time and practice! I never thought I'd learn how or want to learn how to drive a stick.  Never say never! 

I've given up on the fact I won't be up for a workout.  I took a nap instead.  Gotta work on my script later & get back into the swing of things this weekend.  

PS I missed my baby dog so much! My mom stayed at our house with him and I have been kissing and hugging him like crazy all day.  We're bundled in a blanket as I type this and he's sleeping...

(I'll post pictures of the last couple days sometime this weekend!)

Rehearsals, photoshoots and lots of video projects coming up! 

Goodnight! zzzzzzzz

shouldn't be here (poachers part 2)

i'd made my huge find. an actual lost quarry of francis slate's! yet there wasn't anything saying i couldn't make some more!!!

common sense says we should each only be entitled to one major discovery each, but that's not how it works in real life. usually the big finds get made by the same people over and over again... so why not add me to that list?

as i knew that many of slate's operations centered around coal mines, today i set out for the site of the old newcastle mine.

i did find something after a day of looking, but it certainly wasn't not what i'd been hoping for!

a disturbed and churned section of mudstone shale...

i immediately recognized it as a sign of excavation... someone had been digging here, and recently!

which had me a little ticked off, and worried...

`we'd found a similar modern mystery quarry last week! the point of a mystery quarry is that it shouldn't be anywhere near recent or modern, but rather an dig that has been lost due to the passage of time... a mystery quarry from today means that someone wants to keep the dig hidden!

`
for which there is no good reason. it can only mean someone is trying to essentially steal the fossils their digging up. steal them from scientific and public knowledge, and in the case of alberta the public altogether. alberta has laws protecting fossils, and you are only allowed to dig them with a special permit...
`
which based on yumi's inquiring with the people in charge of alberta digs, neither last week's or this new dig site should exist. no excavations had been authorized in the drumheller region this year at all!
`
yet i'd just this one in less then a week then the last, and both were fresh... in fact this dig probably had only been done in the last couple days! meaning someone was out here in the badlands with me, and they weren't just looking for fossils...
`
who could it be? why won't they be trying to go through official channels? more to the point what are they digging up? this quarry isn't very big...
`

only the beginning of this misadventure...

taste of nature #5

the badlands of alberta

Elite point guard Eric Bledsoe will visit Memphis Tigers

Elite point guard Eric Bledsoe will visit Memphis Tigers By Dan Wolken, Memphis Commercial AppealOriginally published 11:12 a.m., April 29, 2009With the nucleus Josh Pastner expects to have in his first season as head coach, the University of Memphis is probably an elite point guard away from being one of the top college basketball teams in the country again.As luck would have it, an elite point

Tigers freshman Simpkins to leave basketball program

Tigers freshman Simpkins to leave basketball programBy Dan Wolken, Memphis Commercial AppealTuesday, April 28, 2009 Matt Simpkins’ basketball career at the University of Memphis is over.Simpkins, a 6-9 forward who was suspended in February for numerous off-court issues, left the program today and will transfer to another school.Coach Josh Pastner said Simpkins’ departure was a mutual decision.“We

Juco Darnell Dodson signs with UK

Junior-college player Darnell Dodson has signed to play basketball with the University of Kentucky, Coach John Calipari announced on Friday.Dodson, originally from Greenbelt, Md., attended Miami Dade Community College last season, where he helped guide the Sharks to a Southern Conference Championship and a 26-2 regular-season record.The 6-foot-7 All-Southern Conference small forward averaged 15.7

my cousin of the week #8

a little horde of ducklings... so cute!

Photo Shoot!

Dave and I took some time the other day to shoot some photos of us with our bikes for promotional opportunities. This is the one that came out best. I've since chopped off my hair, but Dave is still as dashing as ever. We took this at Memorial Court, the iconic entrance to Stanford. For all my friends back east, note the palm trees and be jealous.

A jet plane & elephant dreams

Pic is by my lovie 

Tomorrow is the day I fly out to the Ford Fiesta training! I'm headed to Denver, CO.  Somewhere I've never been.  I don't know how many other agents will be there, or what to expect.  All I know is I get in around 3 pm and the schedule is pretty nonstop until the following day around 4 pm.  I won't see the car until day two when they take us out to a huge racetrack! 

My sweetheart is flying out and meeting me for the long drive home.  Thank god.  We'll stop for dinner and listen to music and like always, I'll talk nonstop and make him play all sorts of games I make up on the spot.  Just like any other night at home :) 

I have it on pretty good authority I'll be getting a stick shift.  Um...I have no idea how to drive one.  So...I'm pretty scared.  But I guess it's not everyday you get a free car for six months and gas and insurance paid, right? So I'll learn!  And it's PINK!  What girl doesn't dream of her own pink car? 

Here is the official site http://www.fiestamovement.com/agents find my profile there and be sure and keep tabs - this is just the beginning and there will be so much exclusive content being posted to that site in the next six months!

*A little note about the blog before this one*  Well slap my ass and call me betty, that turned out to be so much more controversial than I thought!  I had many people message me both worried and cheering me on.  Let me just say this; my blog is another branch of my online presence.  It's something I resisted for so long because it's sort of a diary.  It just happens to be on the internet, because let's face it, what isn't these days?  

My online world is now a huge part of me.  It's now a source of work and income.  It's important to me and I liked the idea of sharing a vulnerable and intimate part of me, to show people more of who I am.  I like the idea that we teach one another by sharing life experiences.  That entry was not meant to be threatening or mean or anything other than me sharing some thoughts and feelings.  I'll never apologize for my art, my feelings or who  I am.  

This brings up a whole new conundrum...my online life mixing with my 'real' life.  How to balance that.  How to explain one to the other, when I'm someone who doesn't like to explain herself and has reasons for why I post what I post and write what I write.  For reasons that I may not always be at liberty to say.  

Next topic.  The dream I had friday night:

I was outside and found a pen on an old run down farm, nobody in sight.  No people, no animals...just one little baby elephant.  I knew it was alone so I put it in a blanket and was carrying it around like a baby.  It was resting it's head on my shoulder.  I wanted to keep it but knew it would get too big (duh), so I was trying to find it help or take it to a vet.  I finally found one and they were really busy and said they'd see me as soon as the people in front of me were seen.  One doctor passed by and looked at it and told me "it has a broken heart".  I went outside to find Dave to tell him I was gonna wait at the vet until they could see the elephant, and I woke up.  

Today I was with my mom and told her about this dream & she said that just yesterday on the CBS Sunday Morning show there was a segment on an elephant orphanage in Kenya where they raise baby elephants who's moms have been killed by poachers.  Some make it, some don't.  Some die...from grief.  A broken heart.

WHAT DOES THAT ALL MEAN?!

How did I dream that and why would I dream that without seeing that?!?!

Anyway...enough of this and I can't wait to leave tomorrow and be around new people and new surroundings!  

I need to travel!  I need adventure!

I'm determined to make this summer (except for May, what with "Infantry Monologues") all about it.  And yes, I've booked everything for the Youtube gathering this July.  I say it all the time, how I miss NYC so much and hate that I get farther away from my old life there everyday.

I bought the hotel and flight...and burst into tears :)

xo Deena Marie

The Ride Looms

I'm currently procrastinating on not one but two papers, so I thought it was about time for a blog update. As we come up on the month-and-a-half to go mark, Dave and I are starting to shift the focus of our efforts. While we will will maintain our push for fundraising, some logistical questions begin to present themselves and need to be addressed. 

The most pressing of these issues is lodging. While we have been gifted with a large support vehicle, the thought of curling up every night in there isn't too appealing. Thus, we are starting to contact people along the route who might be willing to put us up for a night. Family, friends, friends of friends, supporters, and well wishers are all on our list. If we are coming through your town (the route will be posted shortly) and are willing to host two bikers and one driver for a night, please contact us as rideagainstaids2009@gmail.com

The other major question we are dealing with at the moment is setting up speaking arrangements. We are dedicated to make this ride about both fundraising AND education. By spreading the message of Face AIDS, we think there will be a far greater impact on various communities than two guys raising some money. So, in the coming weeks we will contact Rotary clubs, churches, high schools, and camps (really anyone who will listen to us!) about speaking opportunities. If you have any suggestions, please let us know! We are grateful for any and all tips.

Well, that's all over here. I've got to get back to essays on the outbreak of WWI and Faulkner's As I Lay Dying. Check back soon!

Loyal Friends & Mean Girls

After seeing some tweets of an online friend about mean girls a few weeks back, and recently having a conversation with a real life friend about loyal friends, I figured it was time to blog it, bitches.  

It's perfect timing, since I was trying to make sense of recent events in my own life having to do with both of these subjects.  Is there something in the air?!  

I had what I thought was a very dear friend at one time horribly betray me right before a very very, very important time in my life.  I have had no contact with her in two years and don't want any.  It's hard for me to forgive, like I've said before.  I don't forget.  I could possibly move past it, given the time and chance, but if an apology was never attempted then there goes that chance.  

Without getting into it all, let me just say this was a person I was always there for, listening too, counseling, etc.  She was a hot mess.  Couldn't keep a friendship, boyfriend or a job.  Yet she always told me how it was the other person, how people were always so mean to her, constantly mistreating her.  I believed it the first few years until I got fucked over and realized, "Wait - the common factor in all of this is YOU!"  

Took me a long time to see it, despite the warning signs and warnings of other people, but I did.  After/during the falling out, she kept contacting me and trying to hash this all out when I clearly couldn't and she knew it was not the time and place.  In order to move on with my life in a healthy way, I had to cut her out.  I blocked her online and she deleted her accounts.  

Time passed and recently she popped up on FB in 'people you may know'.  I was shocked to  see we had more than just a few friends in common.  She had not tried to contact me, but she sure went ahead and mooched off of all my friends...people that I know and am in contact with regularly.  Was she trying to reach out to me? I don't think so.  Trying to look like she has friends? I guess.  Was it creepy? YES!  I contacted those "mutual friends" with a warning she was lurking my sites, requesting my contacts.  They could care less about her, told me so themselves, but there she is.  

For what? To spy on me?! Move on! It's not like we got in a fight over a borrowed outfit, this was a big fucking deal and does she not realize how spooky this is coming across?! And do those "mutual friends" realize the message this sends? That her behavior is acceptable?! This brings me back to loyalty.  Finding loyal friends is HARD!  Really, really, really, really hard. 

There are people I can trust.  More than a few.  But I find myself constantly let down when someone doesn't follow through.  If you say you feel a certain way, or you're going to do something, fucking STICK TO YOUR GUNS! Back it up!  I know I've said this before, I demand a lot of myself and so I demand a lot from others.  

Now, nothing has/would happen in the sense that I'd cut anyone out of my life who's currently in it.  No.  But I still find those moments of, "Arghhh, why?! Why are you being fake to that person when you just said you don't like them?! Why did you end up doing something you'd just been talking shit on!?!"  I.  Don't.  Get.  It.  If I don't like you?  I'm not going to call you.  I'm not going to fucking facebook you with a compliment I don't mean and I'm not going to invite you out with me.  Isn't that much more honest? No? Yes? 

Okay now these two topics are getting a bit more jumbled than I thought they would, but I'm going to keep going.  There was something that happened with another online personality awhile ago and I didn't really talk about it but has to do with all of this, mainly mean girls.  Someone who clearly felt threatened by me and took it upon herself to send me a beyond ridiculous myspace message and then again much more recently post more hateful comments, even here! On this little old blog that only has, what, 43 followers?!  

I'm a tough girl, but I'd be lying if I said it didn't bother me.  Why did it bother me? Because she doesn't know me.  I don't know her.  It's scary that someone takes that time out to leave you nasty comments.  And another girl? It's beyond creepy.  If someone goes out of their way to hate on you, it's clearly because they're threatened by you, they're jealous.  Otherwise they wouldn't.  It's that simple.  God, if I felt that way about someone I would never, ever behave that way.  Why would you want to show your weaknesses so blatantly? Look so childish? Grow up, work on your own art and stop obsessing over me or whoever else you're trying to harass.  Online, of all places.  

Good lord.  

I just don't understand cruel behavior.  Woman to woman.  Especially as I get older.  Girlfriends are so important.  It's important to invest time and loyalty to the friendships you have.  There's just too many catty bitches out there.  I think it's important to check in on your friends and ask how they are, look out for them.  And support them.  They take the priority over someone you've met a handful of times.  No pretense, no backhanded bullshit.  If it's someone you really honest to god care for, then be in their corner and please, please ladies; remain loyal and knock off the nonsense. 

Not that we all can't use a reminder to practice what we preach and say what we mean and mean what we say.  Lord knows none of us are perfect. 

I'm frustrated.  Sometimes I think maybe I'm too loyal and too passionate for my own good. 

Deena Marie 

Will Josh Pastner Allow Matt Simpkins to Return?

Will Josh Pastner Allow Matt Simpkins to Return?A reader brought up this interesting question that The Commercial Appeal's Dan Wolken also touched on slightly last Wednesday (Memphis Tigers recruit Xavier Henry will sign with Kansas; what else will happen?). Can Matt Simpkins come back to Memphis and, more importantly, will Josh Pastner allow Simpkins to return.As best I can remember, Cal

fossil of the weekend! #23

a cast skeleton of the dromaeosaurid saurornitholestes.

a clue of things coming to the tyrannosaur chronicles soon! wonder what it could be?

Allow Me To Be Cynical for a Moment

Cousins........Dennis........Henry..........and another HenryWill Dodson be next to bolt?Complements to Will Coleman for showing loyalty to Memphis.

Sporting News - Former Memphis hoops signee picks Baylor

Former Memphis hoops signee picks BaylorThursday, April 23, 2009Posted By Brian McLaughlin 1:37 PMBy Brian McLaughlin Sporting NewsThe John Calipari domino effect continued Thursday as one of his Memphis signees from the fall, Nolan Dennis, has now signed a letter of intent with Baylor. When Calipari left his Memphis coaching position to head to Kentucky, Dennis asked to be released from the

Sporting News - Henry brothers make it official: Kansas

Henry brothers make it official: KansasThursday, April 23, 2009Posted By Brian McLaughlin 1:02 PMBy Brian McLaughlin Sporting NewsThe guessing games are over, as Xavier and C.J. Henry are now committed to Kansas' basketball program, the same program their father--Carl Henry--played in more than two decades ago. The Henrys made the announcement at Xavier's high school Thursday.The two had been on

CBS Sports - Top prospect Henry picks Kansas over Calipari

Top prospect Henry picks Kansas over CalipariApril 23, 2009CBSSports.com staff and wire reports OKLAHOMA CITY -- John Calipari's move to Kentucky has cost him one of his prized recruits. Oklahoma City high school star Xavier Henry announced Thursday that he would not follow Calipari after he left Memphis, and committed instead to play at Kansas. 'I've always dreamed of going to Kansas,' Xavier

Dan Wolken - A warning for Josh Pastner and R.C. Johnson

A warning for Josh Pastner and R.C. JohnsonPosted by Dan WolkenWhen John Calipari was at Memphis, the 11 other coaches in Conference USA used to call him “The Commissioner” behind his back because he wielded a bigger hammer than anybody in the league, including the real commissioner Britton Banowsky.There were a lot of things that the other schools in C-USA wanted to do that Calipari flat-out

Dan Wolken - The head-scratcher, Nolan Dennis

The head-scratcherPosted by Dan WolkenOut of all the recruiting fallout in Tigerland lately, the one I still can’t understand is Nolan Dennis.Dennis, the former Memphis signee, made the switch to Baylor today according to Scout.com. This one has puzzled me since Day 1. Every other move out of this makes sense.- Will Coleman staying with Memphis makes sense. He will start at center here for the

March was awesome

Hey, so here's the deal. Last March I had this funny foot surgery which was good for me because a) I got my foot fixed, b) I had sick time off from work and got to watch a lot of movies all day, and c) well, point B covers this subset as well, because like I said, I got to watch a lot of movies!

Some days were slow. In the early, say, two or three days immediately following the operation the doc had me pretty hopped up on pain killers, meaning I spend an awful lot of time knocked out in bed. Still very delightful in its own right, no doubt. I have no shame admitting those little white pills worked magical wonders. Pain and anxiety-free for a full 4-6 hours! I know why only one refill was prescribed.

If there was any downside to the movie adventuring in the month of March it stems from the fact that I didn't get to leave the house often to see new films at the theater, being bound up on crutches and all. Once I was off those crutches the masses got too aggressive for me, elbowing their way through grocery store aisles and sidewalks, and the slick, black boot I wore in place of an old-fashioned cast often went unnoticed to the complacent eye; I began to blend in with the masses more every day, but could hardly keep up. So inside on the couch I sat, Vicodin and Trader Joe's Jell-O cup by my side, and for much of the time peering up at a giant projected version of a DVD on our blank living room wall. (Oh, how I love the access my boyfriend has to his university media library!)

Since April is coming to close and this is a March list (as I type this it is April 23rd which I strangely remember is the birthday of an old childhood friend--isn't that curious?), I will be moving fast through the films below. I'll try to keep the list alive with a sugary observations and a few worthwhile, albeit short, thoughts. But the long back log usually defeats me. We'll admit that now. And onward we go.
-------------------------------------------------------

Old Joy - (2006) - DVD
Seen: Sunday, March 1, 2009

Beautiful, but...? Worth seeing more than once, but something about it left me listless.






The Philadelphia Story - (1941) - DVD
Seen: Sunday, March 1, 2009

It's one of those movies I revisit once, sometimes twice, a year in order to keep up with it's peppery dialogue and happy-making performances. I could marry either Cary Grant or James Stewart in this picture. Yes, either one will do.







WarGames - (1983) - DVD
Seen: Sunday, March 1, 2009

Impossibly, impossibly crazy premise for a movie, and yet, there it is, this delicious relic of Reagan's intense influence on the American public. Really, Matthew Broderick? You really knew how to hack into the most top-secret government nuclear arms launcher? And really, they couldn't figure it out that you were doing it? Even had trouble tracking you down in your dull suburban home? Really? Ah, well. Broderick is still a doll, as is his lady Ally Sheedy, and as I see it, any movie with Dabney Coleman cast is worth seeing. It was also a little strange to see WarGames in the full-length version, uninterrupted by commercials--that's the only way I saw it before as a kid, when it ran as the Saturday afternoon movie on secondary stations. Scary stuff for a seven year old.



Bigger Than Life - (1955) - Film
Seen: Monday, March 2, 2009

On a bright, beautiful 35mm print dripping with saturated red color. Red coats on the kids skipping across the school grounds. Red lipstick on the ladies. Red books and other set accents that look as heavy as oil on canvas. I say, quite a cinema send-off before my surgery just days later. Thanks, Nicholas Ray, you're awesome!



Spirited Away - (2001) - DVD
Seen: Friday, March 6, 2009

Showed a clip of this to my students during our final class period of the quarter. It had been at least a couple or three years since I've seen it, and upon catching up with a few reviews that bemoan its abstract storytelling, it is plain to me this kids' picture is about as cut-and-dry a narrative as you can get. It's there in every sequence, and very easy to follow. And imagine this, none of the animation cells were drawn on a computer. Huh. I love you, Pixar and Dreamworks, but Miyazaki is my bread and butter.


Russian Ark - (2002) - DVD
Seen: Saturday, March 7, 2009

The general consensus at my class screening: no consensus. Half found it boring and an empty show of technical achievement, the other half were sympathetic to its feeling and engagement of Russian history. Naturally I fall into the latter camp. As always, I found it emotionally enthralling and heart wrenching as we watched the final moments of the crowd exiting the palace, knowing full well those characters are marching off to their deaths; the memories of whom to be graced only now as they're brought back to life in this one seamless moment. It strikes me as the utmost privilege to have had the chance to experience this movie, there in the depths of the Hermitage where few have shared face-to-face, uninterrupted intimacy with the museum's collection. And our nameless lead character, steeped in sublime mystery? Dear man, take my hand and keep guiding me forever...


Election - (2005) - DVD
Seen: Sunday, March 8, 2009

Scratch another Johnnie To off the list! I know this is his big film, but personally I much prefer the minor Sparrow (2008).











Half Nelson - (2006) -DVD
Seen: Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Ick. Ick. Ick. If I believed Ryan Gosling's character, with all of his education, strong family ties, functional relationships, and strong work ethic could ever possibly be as hard off in a drug haze as he is, well, we might have an okay movie. But as it is, we do not. I can't talk about this movie anymore because I reject it's premise. Also, it's not the movie to watch when you're trying to calm yourself the night before surgery.




Shoot The Piano Player - (1960) - DVD
Seen: Thursday, March 12, 2009

Caught up with this one again for the first time.










Aladdin - (1992) - VHS
Seen: Thursday, March 12, 2009

Remember when you saw Disney's Aladdin in 8th grade and thought it was fun and funny and full of neat special effects that seemed to heighten your odd attraction to the nonexistent lead character, the animated "street rat" Aladdin? Yeah, it's not like that anymore. Now it's an Americanized, homogenized version of some un-named place in the Middle East with white skinned characters. Who understand Robin Williams's spastic outbursts of American pop-culture references, too? Yes.



Ghostbusters - (1984) - DVD
Seen: Thursday, March 12, 2009

Yep. Watched it again. First quote that comes to mind as I type right now: "I'm right in the middle of something, Ray!"








Friends With Money - (2006) - DVD
Seen: Friday, March 13, 2009

This is a good movie! A pleasant surprise. See it for some easy watching, and nice performances too.








Silver Lode - (1954) - DVD
Seen: Friday, March 13, 2009

Alan Dwan western that is mostly boring. I don't even remember what it's about.
(UPDATE: Boyfriend says it's a High Noon ripoff, but it still doesn't ring a bell somehow. Oh, yes, he says I was falling asleep. This explains things now.)













Jules et Jim - (1962) - DVD
Seen: Sunday, March 15, 2009

Remember how I said I was going to watch more French New Wave films? Well, la te da, here you go: Truffaut's Jules et Jim is one to live by. It's too bad it took me as long as it did to see it, but now that I finally have I can say in all seriousness, it has changed my entire outlook on life. A movie about life and living! Curiosity and play! Whenever I am blue I'll know what to watch. The Criterion commentary track with Robert Stam and Dudley Andrew is also a wonderful chat to be privy to.







Closely Watched Trains - (1966) - DVD
Seen: Sunday, March 15, 2009

Here's one from the Czech New Wave that's been sitting on the queue for ages. It's beautiful.









The Others - (2001) - DVD
Seen: Monday, March 16, 2009

A really sweet coworker, also a movie buff, lent me his DVD copy of this horror flick, even offered to let me keep it he had watched it so many times. Nice gesture to be sure, so it was a melancholy exchange when I finally returned the DVD to him at his cubicle--I didn't think it was scary! Yes, there were moments of anticipation that gave me a few starts, but in sum total, meh.








The Mystery of Picasso - (1956) - DVD
Seen: Wednesday, March 18, 2009

This movie is incredible. You watch Pablo Picasso paint pictures magically before your eyes. There is one wonderful moment when he's in conversation with director Henri-Georges Clouzot, and he emphasizes his frustration with the condensation of real time into film time: "It bothers me that they see only ten minutes. That took me five hours."




The Roaring Twenties - (1939) - DVD
Seen: Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Bogart and Cagney at their finest. Love the dialogue in this movie--swift! The weight of these two actors sitting in a two-shot is almost too heavy and breathtaking for words.







Fury - (1936) - DVD
Seen: Friday, March 20, 2009

This movie is great. Melodramatic and expressionistic--mwah!











Pierrot Le Fou - (1965) - DVD
Seen: Friday, March 20, 2009

As part of the French New Wave New Year's resolution. Beautiful.













River of No Return - (1954) - DVD
Seen: Saturday, March 21, 2009

Oh, snap! This is the best western I've seen in ages. Otto Preminger is, how do you say it...? Otto Preminger is the shit!











Secrets of a Soul - (1926) - DVD
Seen: Saturday, March 21, 2009

The kick-off of my G.W. Pabst movie marathon! I put all available Pabst films on my Netflix queue, and as of this writing, am about through with them all (there aren't many, so it wasn't very hard). Secrets is another prime example of how clearly the film medium had matured by the time of sound's introduction and has basically not changed since.




I Love You, Man - (2009) - Film
Seen: Sunday, March 22, 2009

I loved you, too. A few awkward moments a la SNL skit gone on too long, but funny! I did wish for more Joe Lo Truglio. But I'm tempted to say this was Favreau's best role yet, he was fantastic.











Le Samorai - (1967) - DVD
Seen: Sunday, March 22, 2009

I don't know how to impart on you my overwhelming attraction to Alain Delon. Directed by Jean-Pierre Melville, this film with almost no dialogue, showing the dreary side of Paris (unlike earlier Godard and Truffaut pics), is a new favorite.




La Jetee - (1962) - DVD
Seen: Monday, March 23, 2009

I have not watched this since the film school days! A screening was long overdue, and my, did my memory fudge so many of the movie's scenes. I had almost completely forgotten how little of it was presented in moving images; just a long series of stills instead. A short and sweet refresher to gear me up for the Chris Marker marathon I've been trying to start up.




Sans Soleil - (1983) - DVD
Seen: Tuesday, March 24, 2009

This might be my favorite movie ever made. Phrases like "amnesia of the future" stream everywhere. I love that!












The Puffy Chair - (2005)
Seen: Wednesday, March 25, 2009

It wasn't fair to this movie that I watched it right after Marker's masterpiece, Sans Soleil, but it is definitely one of the better "mumblecore" movies. Actress Kathryn Aselton is one of its greatest assets.










Diary of a Lost Girl - (1929) - DVD
Seen: Thursday, March 26, 2009

Louise Brooks! More about her here.












L'Enfant - (2005) - DVD
Seen: Saturday, March 28, 2009

From the Dardennes brothers. Man do I love Paris-set pictures, there's such energy--gritty energy, yes--but a kind of movement you just don't see in American movies. Also, the bonus materials included a nice interview with the brothers.









Cattle Queen of Montana - (1954) - DVD
Seen: Saturday, March 28, 2009

Speaking of Ronald Reagan (a la WarGames), here he is again in another dull Alan Dwan picture. Who's that strawberry blond dame next to him at right? Barbara Stanwyck--hurrah! Sadly, the fact that Ms. Stanwyck holds a part in this film is really the only redeeming quality it possesses. This was also at a time when Stanwyck's career was winding down and the woman had to take what she could get. She's still as strong and bright as ever, and is clearly putting above par here.


Gomorrah - (2008) - Film
Seen: Sunday, March 29, 2009

I asked my Italian friend if he could understand the dialect spoken in this movie, and he said no. That made me feel better, because even though I don't speak Italian I am trying to learn the basics, and I didn't either. This is besides the point. I'm ready to see more politically-charged pics like this from Italy. We need to see how this country has changed since the original era of Neorealism, but it seems there aren't a great many films out there in the ether that show this. Correct me if I am wrong, please!



La Chinoise - (1967) - DVD
Seen: Sunday, March 29, 2009

Again, more French New Wave grist for the 2009 resolution mill. Haven't read much about it yet--was it made as a sequel to Pierrot Le Fou? They're so similar.







Summer Hours - (2008) - Film
Seen: Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Playing for two nights only at the Gene Siskel Film Center, it was of the utmost urgency that I see this film from director Olivier Assayas. It ran as part of the Film Center's nicely curated European Union Film Festival, Assayas's film being the crown jewel of the event. I loved this movie from start to finish right up until now this second; I seem to carry it with me everywhere, in all of it's light, lovely meditations on life and the inevitability of death.



Hannah Takes the Stairs - (2007) - DVD
Seen: Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Sometimes I think I like this movie better on paper than I do in practice. I feel at odds with the characters' unrelenting inarticulateness, to the point of confusion at times. But it can't be denied that this movie from director Joe Swanberg--aka King of Mumblecore--is speaking to and thus helping define a generation. Now here's something I am over the moon about: its opening credit sequence! It's really good!






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Wow--that's 34 movies in one month! Hats off, PK, you make me proud of me.

The Autobiography Tag