Top Shelf

Top Shelf

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Baraka

I'm including the description that someone on IMDB so graciously bestowed upon this movie because I suspect some of you have not seen this movie. For those who have...you know what I'm in for.  For those who haven't, I urge you to add to your Netflix queue.

Without words, cameras show us the world, with an emphasis not on "where," but on "what's there." It begins with morning, natural landscapes and people at prayer: volcanoes, water falls, veldts, and forests; several hundred monks do a monkey chant. Indigenous peoples apply body paint; whole villages dance. The film moves to destruction of nature via logging, blasting, and strip mining. Images of poverty, rapid urban life, and factories give way to war, concentration camps, and mass graves. Ancient ruins come into view, and then a sacred river where pilgrims bathe and funeral pyres burn. Prayer and nature return. A monk rings a huge bell; stars wheel across the sky. 

Call Me, Al. No Seriously, Call Me, Al.

I know I have yet to make it past the A's on my DVD rack (I swear, Baraka will be forthcoming and well worth the wait!)...but once we get to the D's, I get to gush about how much I love the movie Defending Your Life.  Well, along with his marvelous performance as Daniel, Al Brooks wrote this movie. He wrote it and its brilliant.

So late last week, Sir Al was on my imaginary husband's show, the Daily Show with Jon Stewart. He was there to plug a movie which I've now forgotten, but also a book...2030: The Real Story of What Happens to America.  For all the reasons I love, with my whole heart, Defending Your Life...I instantly picked up an old Borders Gift Card (thanks Mary Cannon--its from 2 Xmas' ago!) and order that puppy right up.  It should be here in a couple of days.  And its the first hard cover book I've read since the Twilight Series and Harry Potter.  I don't think they necessarily all fit into the same genre, but they definitely let your imagination run wild in a specifically-tailored world. And the ride is a blast!

Friday, May 13, 2011

Not Writer's Block--Writer's Open Floodgates



So I watched Anchorman awhile ago. Like probably over a week ago. I can’t begin to describe how amused I still am at that movie.  Like from word one, I laugh.  And I have to be honest—at the time of its release, I don’t think I was a Will Ferrell fan. This was before I recognized my love and adoration of Elf…and Stranger than Fiction.  I think he might be a bit crazy, might look like what I remember my Uncle Vick looking like, but Will Ferrell is most assuredly talented. (As is evidenced by him receiving the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor.) 

As I was watching the movie, I was trying to “live-blog” or “llog” (pronounced yah-g’), as it shall henceforth be named.  I made it not even half way through the movie and realized I was really transcribing the movie—and that’s not what I was aiming to do with the blog.  So here we are—all these days later—and I still haven’t finished up the entry! And damn it,  I want to watch Baraka this weekend. It will be done, oh yes, it will be done.

Thursday, May 5, 2011

Anchorman

I'll start with this: I honestly believe that Will Ferrell was born with one of many specific purposes on this Earth. Making this movie, was one of them.


Once again, my movies are true representations of my loves. Laughter and music.  This soundtrack is bangin' and think it arguably ranks up there with my top comedies of all time.  I did make this an actual blog because I love sharing my love of movies, much the same way I love sharing music that moves me.


Instantly, you are hooked.


"MMMM, I look good. I mean really good. HEY EVERYONE, COME AND SEE HOW GOOD I LOOK!"

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Amelie

Words can't describe how excited I was for the movie to begin.  The pig lamps that move. The whimsy of it all.  Just pure smile.  Wow, I feel like it has the same vibe as The Science of Sleep...which will come up much later, but all the same, is a fantastic movie. Aren't imaginations a wonderful thing? What would human kind's existence be like without the ability to imagine. I, for one, find it a daily habit.