brain knows it's not entitled. heart still feels lonely.

at least my appendix isn't filing a resignation.

The talented Mr. Ripley

The Talented Mr Ripley, a college kid who gets mistaken for someone else, cheats his way halfway across the globe and kills a rich fellow to take his place. Con-Artist-Movie 101, right? Been there, watched it.

You think about 'Catch Me If You Can', the fun movie about that great guy who happens to be a con man. Who experiences romance, who humorously exchanges teases with the officer chasing him, who he knows on a familiar first name basis. Of course, there's a happy end for everyone. he gets caught, justice wins. He gets released and a Job helping the police finding more forgers, he wins. Ain't that sweet.

Ripley isn't like this. He isn't enjoying himself for long, and you're a lot more nervous when it's not about bounced cheques, but bodies in the sea. Especially when you're responsible for one of them. The movie manages to make us wish he gets away with it at the end, and technically he does, though he pays a much higher price than jailtime or a nine to five desk job. Call it Karma, but if you lie yourself to a better life, you can't just stop one day. The lie becomes your prison.

btw back again

I forgot that I still have a blog. If you haven't heard, do know that I arrived back in cold Europe about two weeks ago. And already I long for the subtropical paradise that I left for this cold, urban concrete world.

But, now that I experienced that it is not a prison for me, I'll finish my degree, knowing that the world is full of things to do and see, yet still small enough for me to travel wherever I want to.

Also, I might come up with something original to do with this blog, otherwise I might as well post my wisecracking on facebook.

Mobi

kiwiburn photos

I just got the cd with the pictures from my single-use camera from the photoshop. The order is a bit chaotic, but roughly reversed:

 The Burning Man. He broke in half and is lying on his back. Head on the left, his arm pointing at us. His heart is ascending to the sky from his chest.

 Not visible on the photo: The full moon above the fire and the overland powerlines in the background, all of which added to the picture (the one I saw ;-)

 Fire trucks and ambulance. The camera had a really cheap flash.

 Gandalf on a Gyroboard, a skateboard mounted on a spring.

 Valhalla feast with demons.

 The overview plan. Hehe, overview. Wahaha, plan!

 The Greeting area, where I did a few shifts removing people from the 'default world' and providing them with the information and attitude they needed for this.

 The 'recreational vehicle' with sofa space and the most extraordinary things to watch on the tv frame.

 Before the heart surgery. There is an interesting story about the man-crew and the guy who got the idea to build him a heart.

 His heart.

 The trampoline is suspended to the metal frame like a swing.

 Obviously a case of ghost photography.

 In the center of the pallet labyrinth, looking at the original man burning site, which was changed due to the fire regulations. The weather was the hottest in 20 years and there was a total fire ban to protect the million-dollar-timber plantations (=forests). btw the ones in which 'yogi bear' was filmed.

 The pallabyrinth, looking towards the fire spinning area.

 My tent on top of the hill. It got crowded up there once the festival started officially.

 This was before the crowds came.

 The other side. The tarpaulin turned out to be unnecessary, because it didn't rain for the entire week.

 A Were-Vampire, obviously.

The beach at the lake. We even had a pirate ship that cruised along. One night, we were half a dozen people on the tv-trailer, and decided to stop at the lake and take a full-moon-midnight cruise.

It is a collective, but it works if everyone wants to be a part of it for a week. It was only on the last day that someone involved me in a political discussion. Not a good idea, it took me some time of running around and hugging random people to cure my mood.

must cherish english cinematography whilst I can

movies recently watched by me:

Paranorman: Good story, can relate to it, etc.pp. They just really overemphasize the fact that Norman gets bullied by the thick ones. I kinda took their side here, I thought 'They might not know better, but that doesn't mean they're genuinly stupid.' At some point, it feels like the movie makes fun of them for being thick.
But otherwise, a really enjoyable movie, with zombies, a witch and an aesop. I just can't not enjoy an animated kids movie. And the ending to the jock-and-blonde pairing is surprising yet refreshingly satisfying.

Django Unchained: Tarantino nailed it again. His trademark blood amounts are omnipresent, and he gives his own cameo a death that made me laugh out loud in the cinema. I also enjoyed the bilingual bonus by Waltz, who again plays a german fellow. And you constantly have the silent question in the back of your head: just how accurate is this depiction of slavery?

Mr Nobody: a beligian-canadian-french-german coproduction which is scifi-fantasy-mindtwist. It reminded me of 'Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind' and 'The Butterfly Effect'. It is 'Inception' for people who prefer their own theories and thoughts over exposition. As I said before, I don't have THE favourite movie, but this one, while completely different, is competing with 'The Genetic Opera' for the nonexistent throne. It's appealing to me because it has a beautiful science fiction frame, and its themes are choice and consequence, and a personal weakness of mine (which whould be a spoiler).

Jackie Brown: a Tarantino that has escaped me until now. And Tarantino delivers. A stewardess who couriers for a gun trader deceives an ingenious plot to aquire an illegal half million dollar gun payment from Mexico while distracting both the cops and the gun trader. Tarantino takes his time to let the emotions sink in, he uses silence as well as loud segments. And the ending is one of the most intense i've ever seen, though that could be because I am currently returning from an adventure in New Zealand back to University and regular life.

While walking through the city, I saw the cinema at the art gallery screening 'Seven Psychopaths'. The trailer looked good (director of 'In Bruges' and Christopher Walken? I'm in!) and when I saw that the next screening was in ten minutes, I took the opportunity to see it. It's about a writer who is working on a movie script entitled 'Seven Psychopaths' and he is trying to think of psychopathic characters. His friend has a 'dog borrowing' business, i.e. kidnapping and getting the reward. When he snatches the dog of a deranged mafioso, the plot unfolds. There is also a killer running around who only kills high and middle ranking members of the organised crime and the yakuza. Great fun, and personally I liked the many meta-jokes about the movie script in the making.

It amazes me time and time again how many great movies are out there. There is literally no time to waste with the mediocre garbage that is out there. Then again, I always have to keep in mind that it's those movies that finance the studios. Just yesterday I learned that Robert Rodriguez directed 'Spy Kids'. Go figure.

Gangster Squad

Kiwiburn can't be put into words, so I won't attempt it. 'Unfortunately, noone can be told, what a Man-Event is like. You have to see it for yourself.'

I've been to the cinema after one week of Kiwiburn, though. Gangsterstory in post-war America? Tommyguns, hats and suits, art deco architecture? Count me in! (I have to watch that movie about Dillinger again, with Johnny Depp). Interesting setting, and the story is vigilante justice, as made popular by comic adaptations these days. It's a really good movie, with unexpected yet believable twists.

Interesting was the trailer-show. I couldn't help but laugh at the humor of movie 34', but what sold it was the amount of familiar faces in it, and they all had good movies in the past. 'Die Hard' had me snicker when the taxi driver asked Bruce Willis of all people wether he was a policeman. Other than that, it'll be what the franchise ever was, which won't be too bad if they don't fuck it up like they did some Bonds ago. 'Hansel and Gretel' looks like the new 'Van Helsing', with semi-medival steampunk weaponry and other stuff too, I guess. During the trailer to 'Zero Dark Thirty' I couldn't stop thinking 'this might be a Hollywood Blockbuster, but it's based on real events, so stop marketing this like Michael Bay's Military Porn'.

When I left the theater, I found that my neighbors left half a bag of popcorn on the floor and spilled half a bag of Maltersers on the seat. I've eaten stuff of more questionable origin the whole week, so I dug in.

On my way out, I saw a poster that made me say 'Holy Shit' aloud. 'The Host', with the letter O being a blue shining circle that matched the girls irises. Then I read 'From Stephanie Meyer' and thought 'That explaines the two boys to either side of the girl, nothing to see here'. But then I read 'Written and directed by Andrew Niccol'. That's what got me. The man's a genius. Gattaca, The Truman Show, S1m0ne, In Time? Now I have to see this. inb4 there will be an old Citroen and the sea involved.

One last thought: I saw the poster for the re-remake of the Wolverine origin story. I'm just thinking aloud here, but what if 20th Century Fox and Marvel Studios made a deal to include him in the MarvelVerse? It's business, after all. I mean how cool whould it be if after the credits we see figures in the dark and hear the voices of Samuel L. Jackson and Robert Downey Jr.:

SLJ: So, what do you think?
RDJ: What do I think? That guy has some serious issues.
SLJ: Look who's talking. His issues will be in great company.
FADE TO BLACK

back online

I'm back from the Kiwiburn! I took a single-use camera, so the photos will follow later. But have a look how I go from dirty hippie to corporate sellout:

ps. I found the headquarters of tf2's RED team; google pictures of the massive 'Huntly Power Station'. Also, I'll land in Frankfurt on 15.02. at 16:50. Come by, say hi!