dissabte, de juliol 21, 2007
Make New Self
One of the reasons I love living in New York is because people feel free to be themselves here. Live here long enough and the most exaggerated version of yourself will also become the most common. The vast permutations of personalities and backgrounds helps people feel at ease in their own thoughts. The carefree nature that inhabits New York's youth is impossible to deny.
Wait, what the fuck am I talking about? There is no way I could believe that crock of shit I was writing.
Just like the majority of streets here in Manhattan, the inhabitants of this city are highly gentrified. You see most of us showed up as someone else. We closed our eyes the night after we arrived with dreams and fears of what awaited us. At the end of those thoughts there was always a different version of the person those ideas originated from. Like a weird game of telephone played in solitaire the reverberations eventually shake out a picture of what we want to be perceived by the other actors on this stage.
This whole internal combustion that generates a new person isn't something that is unique to New York. It happens to everyone when they leave the place they called home. Just so happens that are a lot of those chums floating around these waters.
As a disclaimer I like to say that I find little joy in judging other people. Those criticisms usually tend to be wrong, and I usually dislike being wrong. The game I do enjoy playing is where I imagine how the object of my attention came to wind up in the situation I found them in.
Obviously the average looking girl in a business suit is not a type that will evoke a cranking of my creative juices. I do get excited when I come upon the guy with long greasy hair, bushy beard, disco tight jeans, cowboy boots, and eyes engrossed in the pages of "Lonesome Dove." I find myself postulating how this Grunge Eastwood I have been presented with found the inspiration to be a cowboy amongst the skyscrapers of New York.
I can already see him learning to roll his own cigarettes. Forcing his bowels to an all chili diet over glasses of warm Knob Creek. And as I, elatedly, imagine him using his those few precious moments he has the apartment to himself to practice tricks with his lasso I realize that I know nothing about this guy.
The weird part is that I enjoy pretending I do. I think I get this from my mother.
I don't imagine myself being the only person who enjoys this sort of voyeur storytelling. Next time you and a friend are sitting in a car or park try filling in the dialogue for a conversation that is going on out of earshot. At least you can learn a little about how you and someone else interpret body language. At worst you can seem like a total weirdo who has too much time on his or her time.
Wait, what the fuck am I talking about? There is no way I could believe that crock of shit I was writing.
Just like the majority of streets here in Manhattan, the inhabitants of this city are highly gentrified. You see most of us showed up as someone else. We closed our eyes the night after we arrived with dreams and fears of what awaited us. At the end of those thoughts there was always a different version of the person those ideas originated from. Like a weird game of telephone played in solitaire the reverberations eventually shake out a picture of what we want to be perceived by the other actors on this stage.
This whole internal combustion that generates a new person isn't something that is unique to New York. It happens to everyone when they leave the place they called home. Just so happens that are a lot of those chums floating around these waters.
As a disclaimer I like to say that I find little joy in judging other people. Those criticisms usually tend to be wrong, and I usually dislike being wrong. The game I do enjoy playing is where I imagine how the object of my attention came to wind up in the situation I found them in.
Obviously the average looking girl in a business suit is not a type that will evoke a cranking of my creative juices. I do get excited when I come upon the guy with long greasy hair, bushy beard, disco tight jeans, cowboy boots, and eyes engrossed in the pages of "Lonesome Dove." I find myself postulating how this Grunge Eastwood I have been presented with found the inspiration to be a cowboy amongst the skyscrapers of New York.
I can already see him learning to roll his own cigarettes. Forcing his bowels to an all chili diet over glasses of warm Knob Creek. And as I, elatedly, imagine him using his those few precious moments he has the apartment to himself to practice tricks with his lasso I realize that I know nothing about this guy.
The weird part is that I enjoy pretending I do. I think I get this from my mother.
I don't imagine myself being the only person who enjoys this sort of voyeur storytelling. Next time you and a friend are sitting in a car or park try filling in the dialogue for a conversation that is going on out of earshot. At least you can learn a little about how you and someone else interpret body language. At worst you can seem like a total weirdo who has too much time on his or her time.
diumenge, de juliol 15, 2007
Why Commando is the best action movie ever.
Over the course of his career Arnold Schwarzenegger has done too many movies to keep track 
of. Heck, he's done too many bad movies to keep track of. Although, I don't think I'll ever forget Jingle All the Way. Yet, early on in his career, somewhere between being a cyborg, killing aliens, and teaching kindergarten Arnie gave us a treat with Commando. If you ask me, its the reason he won the California election.
Since Commando, aka "The Greatest Action Movie of All Time," was filmed during the golden age of action films, this movie is jam packed with non-stop violence. In fact I usually end up with a couple bruises or a sprain by the time the movie is over.
Do not be mistaken though because all the violence isn't gratuitous. Almost all of it serves the purpose of reminding us that John Matrix is a nonstop killing machine.
Something that is very surprising about this movie, other than the pulsating Irish-Calypso jazz score, is that the movie turns into
a buddy comedy out of nowhere! The twist is that instead of the typical two guy pairing we are indulged with an opposite sex combo that is ripe with sexual tension and multi-gender camaraderie. The producers of this film obviously knew that women would flock to see this movie (hence the need to put Arnie in a speedo at completely unexpected moments) so they gave all those women who could represent their fantasies.
A lot of people underestimate the greatness of Commando, but those are the same people who think the theme song of Entourage would make a great ringtone. The lessons in this movie abound, from parenting to female career improvement. Children would be much more prepared to take on the world if they spent some time watching Commando.
Watching Alyssa Milano's turn as Jenny Matirx, John's daughter, just makes me think how fortunate Dakota Fanning is that Alyssa grew up like a normal human being. I doubt there was arole she was completely incapable of.
One of my favorite scenes is one of the more intimate action sequences when bad guy Cook arrives at the Hotel to meet another bad guy who John has just tossed down a cliff. After being fooled to come in John gets into a fight with the dapper
Cook, who we soon find out is a Green Beret. You see, this is one of the reasons why Commando is top notch, there is always time for the back story, regardless if you are in a fight to the death. As John and Cook tussle around the room with Cook's gun going off (sounding like a bazooka over a megaphone) several times Cindy intersperses hilarious one liners at machine gun pace. John throws Cook through the wall into the room next door where we find a naked lovers caught in the middle of filming some sweet love making. In a nod to irony these lovers are in doggystyle mode but the girl is the one taking the man from the behind. Even crazier is that although they are clearly filming this exciting new technique they do this under the covers. I guess the backward facing doggystyle was meant to remain a mystery.
As John storms the island where his daughter is being held up the movie reaches a fever pitch. Taking on at least 17 boatloads of soldiers, who are armed with guns, knives, canons and moustaches John even takes time to go old school. Taking a page from Bob Vila's book Arnie uses common household tools (like a machete, an axe, and circular saw) to make mince meat of an entire platoon. John even scalps a guy to show how he cares about Native American heritage.
The final fight between John and his former friend Bennett is an all time classic. Using just knives and their mitts they show us how real men settle their arguments. Even though John is 8 times the size of Bennett the
fight goes on for a good five minutes. We see the true evil of Bennett as soon as the tide turns in John's favor. Bennett pulls out an Uzi but is unable to make good of shooting John "between the balls" before John rips a a pipe off the wall and throws it, spear style, through Bennett and into the water heater he was standing in front off. As the heated water keeps Bennett's dying body warm and comes out the other end of the pipe John tops it all off with an all time classic line-"Let off some steam, Bennett"
Some of my favorite quotes from this movie are:
"Cutting a little girl's throat is like slicing through warm butter"
"What are you expecting Sargent Kirby?" "World War Three"
"Como esta?"
of. Heck, he's done too many bad movies to keep track of. Although, I don't think I'll ever forget Jingle All the Way. Yet, early on in his career, somewhere between being a cyborg, killing aliens, and teaching kindergarten Arnie gave us a treat with Commando. If you ask me, its the reason he won the California election.Since Commando, aka "The Greatest Action Movie of All Time," was filmed during the golden age of action films, this movie is jam packed with non-stop violence. In fact I usually end up with a couple bruises or a sprain by the time the movie is over.
Do not be mistaken though because all the violence isn't gratuitous. Almost all of it serves the purpose of reminding us that John Matrix is a nonstop killing machine.
Something that is very surprising about this movie, other than the pulsating Irish-Calypso jazz score, is that the movie turns into
a buddy comedy out of nowhere! The twist is that instead of the typical two guy pairing we are indulged with an opposite sex combo that is ripe with sexual tension and multi-gender camaraderie. The producers of this film obviously knew that women would flock to see this movie (hence the need to put Arnie in a speedo at completely unexpected moments) so they gave all those women who could represent their fantasies.A lot of people underestimate the greatness of Commando, but those are the same people who think the theme song of Entourage would make a great ringtone. The lessons in this movie abound, from parenting to female career improvement. Children would be much more prepared to take on the world if they spent some time watching Commando.
Watching Alyssa Milano's turn as Jenny Matirx, John's daughter, just makes me think how fortunate Dakota Fanning is that Alyssa grew up like a normal human being. I doubt there was arole she was completely incapable of.
One of my favorite scenes is one of the more intimate action sequences when bad guy Cook arrives at the Hotel to meet another bad guy who John has just tossed down a cliff. After being fooled to come in John gets into a fight with the dapper
Cook, who we soon find out is a Green Beret. You see, this is one of the reasons why Commando is top notch, there is always time for the back story, regardless if you are in a fight to the death. As John and Cook tussle around the room with Cook's gun going off (sounding like a bazooka over a megaphone) several times Cindy intersperses hilarious one liners at machine gun pace. John throws Cook through the wall into the room next door where we find a naked lovers caught in the middle of filming some sweet love making. In a nod to irony these lovers are in doggystyle mode but the girl is the one taking the man from the behind. Even crazier is that although they are clearly filming this exciting new technique they do this under the covers. I guess the backward facing doggystyle was meant to remain a mystery.As John storms the island where his daughter is being held up the movie reaches a fever pitch. Taking on at least 17 boatloads of soldiers, who are armed with guns, knives, canons and moustaches John even takes time to go old school. Taking a page from Bob Vila's book Arnie uses common household tools (like a machete, an axe, and circular saw) to make mince meat of an entire platoon. John even scalps a guy to show how he cares about Native American heritage.The final fight between John and his former friend Bennett is an all time classic. Using just knives and their mitts they show us how real men settle their arguments. Even though John is 8 times the size of Bennett the
fight goes on for a good five minutes. We see the true evil of Bennett as soon as the tide turns in John's favor. Bennett pulls out an Uzi but is unable to make good of shooting John "between the balls" before John rips a a pipe off the wall and throws it, spear style, through Bennett and into the water heater he was standing in front off. As the heated water keeps Bennett's dying body warm and comes out the other end of the pipe John tops it all off with an all time classic line-"Let off some steam, Bennett"Some of my favorite quotes from this movie are:"Cutting a little girl's throat is like slicing through warm butter"
"What are you expecting Sargent Kirby?" "World War Three"
"Como esta?"