Do What You Love and Fuck The Rest (A Blog)
I think every time I was this movie, I post something about this scene, or something about Dwanye in general. He’s my favourite character in that movie by far. And it doesn’t help that I used to have hair just like him when I was 15 too!
It’s such a sad moment when he finds out about flight school and the resulting anger. But when he finally speaks he says things that just resound with any one. This quote in particular always shows up when you talk about this movie.
I can’t remember the first time I saw this movie, but I think a lot of it went over my head, and seeing it again is like watching any movie or show when you’re older, you get more jokes. So it was definitely still a good time! And who doesn’t love Steve Carrell in a role where he isn’t trying to be outrageously funny? Go watch this movie again.
I am the Lorax, coo-coo-ca-choo.
I went and saw the new Lorax movie in 3D yesterday. And while it was visually quite stunning, I’m not sure if it message of the movie coincided with the message of the book. Here are some more of my thoughts.
The movie is visually spectacular. Watching in, what feels like, HD you can really see how stunning it is. You feel like you’re able to reach out and feel the silky texture of Truffula Trees. The Bar-ba-loots (bears), Swamme-Swans (birds) and the Humming Fish are all adorable and cute and make you want one. The 3D elements weren’t over powering or scary, and done in a tasteful manner.
The story of the Lorax is one of conservation and preservation, and I don’t think the movie does a great job of spreading that message. To make a 20+ page picture book last more than an hour, there had to be some kind of backstory. In the Lorax book we never really meet the character that the Once-ler is talking to, but in the movie we meet Ted Wiggins.
Ted, voiced by Zak Efron, is a middle schooler and your normal boy in Thneed-ville. We learn about Ted and Thneed-ville and the evil and comically sized Mr.O’Hare who sells the town fresh air, since there are no more trees to produce it on their own. Ted is in love with Audrey, a tall redhead voiced by Taylor Swift.
One of the first things that bothered me about this movie is that Ted’s main reason to see the Once-ler is to get a Truffula tree for Audrey. That’s right, a story about the importance of saving your environment is prefaced only because a boy wants to impress a girl. I feel this completely undermines the entire message of the story.
So we flip between Ted’s story and the Once-ler’s story, and Ed Helm (voiced by Andy from the Office) does a great job as the Once-ler. As that story progresses we eventually meet the Lorax. Arriving from the stump of a felled Truffula Tree, the Lorax (voiced by Danny Devito) arrives. I do not think Devito was the right choice for the voice of the Lorax, he comes off too harsh and condescending, whereas I always pictured the Lorax to be wise and stoic.
Since this is a children’s movie, it has to have entertainment value for them. So there are lots of physical comedy parts in which Bar-ba-loots and the Lorax take part in. It’s cute and funny yes, but again, changes the characters into less serious roles. It’s hard to believe that the Lorax is the protecter of the trees and the animals when he’s eating marshmallows and pancakes with the Once-ler.
Instead of the typical rhyming nature of Seuss, we get songs. Again, I understand it’s a kids movie, but I think that the tone could have been altered if the actual text from the story had been used. There are 4 or 5 big song and dance numbers throughout the movie and while catchy and what-have-you, it doesn’t really add much to the movie.
All-in-all, I think it was an okay movie. I don’t think that it will replace the book in schools as one of the best kids stories with a message. There would have been many places for improvement, and some core elements needed to be changed.
We still see what a world without nature is like and the how the power of capitalistic greed can change people. I just hope that the kids watching it will see that too. Or at least as much as a kid can understand of that.
The main quote from the movie “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not,” still remains and I think has an odd application to what’s going on now. With the recent exposure of Kony and that whole debate of whether or not it’s a worthy cause – can be answered with this quote. No matter whether you think that the Kony campaign will be successful, it is making people care an awful lot. So as long as it’s making people care and want to make a difference, then I think that’s a good thing.
But that’s just a side note. Back to the movie, if you like Seuss, go see it. If not, wait. If you think you might not like it, go read the book again, and then see what you can do to care a whole awful lot.
Upside-Down Trailer
New trailer from some guy out of Argentina. Looks pretty spiffy.
From the trailer I have learned two things (for you redditors out there) TIL, that
- A) Kirsten Dunst MUST have done the voice for Navi in the Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time – proof? Watch from 50 seconds.
- B) Kirsten Dunst also REALLY likes to make out upside down.
The Sith That Stole Christmas
A great mashup of the Grinch Who Stole Christmas song and scenes from Star Wars.
It’s great how they time the soundtrack to this video. So good. Made even better since I recently had a mini-Star Wars marathon this weekend.
Love.
Fabio will be the ruin of Old Spice
So we all remember Isaiah Mustafa, just Google “Old Spice Guy” if you need to refresh your memory, and the ads he did for Old Spice. They were funny, original, and made men want to buy their product. Even though the ads pandered to the ladies as “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like“, most of us guys wanted to be that guy.
Even if it meant just smelling like him. Some people rank him next to the Dos Equis as the Two Most Interesting Men In The World.
The YouTube campaign was unprecedented in it’s use of social media like YouTube and Twitter. and resulted in an increase of sales by 107% for Old Spice (see here). The video has almost 34 million views on YouTube. I’m sure at least a few of us out there edited together the phone message video to have the Old Spice Guy on our answering machine.
Things were going great for Old Spice. Until now.
The new Old Spice Guy is now Fabio. Fabio? Are you kidding me?! Practically no one from my generation even knows who he is! We were all babies when he was gracing the covers of adult “romance” novels throughout the 80′s & 90′s.
One of my friends has a Tumblr dedicated to appreciating Fabio in his once great glory (ironic hipster appreciation of course – http://fabioisawesome.tumblr.com/) So why Old Spice wanted to pull him out of nowhere and start using him for their ads is beyond me.
This is the first Fabio Old Spice ad that I saw. This is definitely not the kind of guy I want to be buying deodorant from. Rolling around on a piano like that? Rubbing his face against the stick of deodorant? No. This is not cool. I tuned out as soon as he started rolling back over to the second girl.
Here’s the second one:
Great, Fabio has long hair. And again with the rubbing on his face?! What is this?!?!?!
What happened to the great single shot ads? Ones that knew they were being ridiculous and fantastic. These new ones were trying so hard that they just end up looking silly.
Hopefully the community explodes with hate for Fabio and brings back the man we all loved.
Look at your new man, now back to me, now back at your new man, now back to me.
Sadly, he isn’t me.
Related articles
- Meet Your Newest Old Spice Guy: Fabio (Yes, That Fabio) (adweek.com)
- Fabio: The NEW Old Spice Guy? (celebs.icanhascheezburger.com)
- The New Old Spice Guy Is an Old, Familiar Face: Fabio [VIDEOS] (mashable.com)
Star Wars ≥ Harry Potter
Memebase: Rage Comics, Forever Alone, Y U No Guy, Troll Face, Foul Bachelor Frog – Page 3.
I SAID this was true, but Girlfriend was all like, Nahhh Harry Potter was better, it’s all just an archetype. Nope! Nice try!
Charlie Chaplin vs. Inception
I never knew Charlie Chaplin did spoken stuff – but man this is good.
Also! Someone who looks good with grey hair! I’ve been getting a lot of comments about it lately and I need to go dye it. Stupid genes.
The Video
Here’s the video for my Operation Unplugged Audition! Hope you enjoy! Take a minute to like it and comment it if you want!
Heartless – The Story of the Tin Man
Here’s the trailer to: Heartless.
And if you click on the link – you can watch the whole thing, as well as download the amazing track “Yours Alone”.
Such an amazing short film about the Tin Man from the Wizard of Oz and how he came to be. So impressive what people are creating out there. Part of me wants a statue of the Tin Man covered in the vines to sit on my desk.
If you’ve got 20 minutes to spare. Definitely stay and check this out. Click here to watch.
Image by cybertoad via Flickr
The Carousel
Nostalgia – it’s delicate, but potent. Teddy told me that in Greek, “nostalgia” literally means “the pain from an old wound.” It’s a twinge in your heart far more powerful than memory alone. This device isn’t a spaceship, it’s a time machine. It goes backwards, and forwards… it takes us to a place where we ache to go again. It’s not called the wheel, it’s called the carousel. It let’s us travel the way a child travels – around and around, and back home again, to a place where we know are loved.
Clearly I’ve been watching too much Mad Men before I got to bed. This is from the season one finale where main character is leading a pitch for a rotating Kodak projector. This monologue is spectacular, as is the entire series. Enjoy.
Tick Tock
Student short film for CMF (Campus MovieFest) – Ien Chi
What would you do if you had five minutes to live? Trace a young man's few minutes of trying to fulfill his highest potential.
One Day the Golden Cow Will Run Dry….
Man, this Justin Bieber guy really knows how to sell his shit.
Known for his stupid girly haircut, he recently went and chopped it all off.
And the collective of girls aged 12 – 17,
Shit.
Their.
Pants.
Now, not only can you see a more “distinguished, mature” Justin but the kid is trying to shed his baby image. Personally I think he looks terrible, but I suppose he has to re-invent his “image.” Now that he’s turned what, 16? He’s gonna hit puberty and who knows where his voice is gonna go.
"J-Beebs" new "do"
So the smart people who he employs to keep him afloat have recently put out: a remix of his few terrible songs, a book, and a movie.
These music exec’s definitely know how to cash in on what’s going out. Sooner or later when the girl’s realize that Justin’s fun has worn off they’ll find someone new. Someone who’s good enough to win a Grammy or two.
But just wait! There’s more!
Now that Justin’s lost all his hair, he needs to get some money off that too! So he bottle some up and gave it to Ellen DeGeneres to sell. Albeit it’s for charity, but still. SELLING YOUR FUCKING HAIR?! You’ve got to be kidding me. How brainwashed do these people have to be to want to buy some hair, that’s not even guaranteed to be his, to put in a bottle on your shelf for the next 15 years, and then realize you spent $7 000 on some strands of hair. I’ll put my hair in a bottle and sell it for $2 000! That’s a steal of a deal.
(Just in case you actually want to see that I’m not shitting you – http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=280634735857 – there’s the eBay auction link)
Enough about this.
Charlie Sheen said some more bad stuff about his co-stars of Two and a Half Men today, causing the show to shut down for the rest of the season. What a smart man he’s turning out to be. But this is all according to TMZ – so who knows.
We all do, TMZ is pretty accurate when it comes to this stuff.
In other news:
The manager of the Arcade Fire, the Canadian band who won Album of the Year at the Grammy’s last week, spoke out today to the critics saying that the band should not have won the award. In the New York times this week, a full page ad was taken out by a music exec who apparently said that the Grammy’s are rigged and that a band such as the Arcade Fire wasn’t good enough or popular enough to win. All I have to say to that is, Buddy wait for the fuckin’ People’s Choice Awards, that’s the popularity contest you’re looking for.
Specifically, Stoute (the critic) criticized the snubbing of a Canadian teen idol – “How is it that Justin Bieber, an artist that defines what it means to be a modern artist, did not win Best New Artist?” – and insinuated that the show-closing album-of-the-year win by Montreal indie rockers Arcade Fire was known by show producers in advance, as evidenced by the band having two songs prepared – one before the announcement by Barbra Streisand and one after, as the broadcast closed.
To that, Rodger (the manager) replied: “The reason we got a second song was also simple. No big plot. We had no guarantee of air time, but it was simply to play out the end credits of the show, if we’d even had that much.”
And lastly, Ricky Gervais wrote some opening lines for James Franco and Anne Hathaway’s opening monologue for the Oscar’s on Sunday.
JF
Usually they hire comedians to host The Oscars, but tonight, instead, you get us!AH
No comedians tonight. And do you know why? Because comics are ugly.JF
Especially that rude obnoxious one who played the Steve Carell part in the English remake of The Office.AH
But you can all relax because Ricky Gervais is in London…(Nervous laughter)
He’s doing some charity work.
Yeah, he’s visiting orphans with cancer.
He’s telling them what bald little losers they are…JF
Yeah, cos he’s rude right?(Applause)
Thank you.
No rudeness tonight.
It’s going to be a night of the most privileged people in the world being told how brilliant they are and thanking God for loving them more than ugly poor foreigners.(Applause)
That’s not to say that we don’t care. No, apart from all the great movies we made this year we continued our life-saving philanthropy. Mega stars like Angelina Jolie, George Clooney and Ben Stiller brought light to third world poverty and famine and shocked the world with visions of children so hungry they’d been living off dead beetles all their lives.
AH
Yeah and Yoko Ono said. “What’s wrong with that?”(Laughter)
More at Ricky’s Blog – here.
And now that you’re all caught up in your celebrity gossip – let’s talk about me!
I recorded a demo CD for a band on Tuesday night – I think you should go listen to it! Please? It’s in the post below – so you don’t actually have to go anywhere!
Related Articles
- Arcade Fire manager responds to attacks (ctv.ca)
- Know who Arcade Fire is.. (cantwinforlosing.com)
- Justin Bieber finds a fan in Steve Stoute after Grammys loss (latimesblogs.latimes.com)
- Bid on Justin Bieber’s Hair! (ellen.warnerbros.com)
Samwise the Brave
I can’t do this.
I know. It’s all wrong. By rights we shouldn’t even be here. But we are. It’s like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger, they were. And sometimes you didn’t want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end, it’s only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something, even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn’t. They kept going. Because they were holding on to something.
What are we holding onto?
That there’s some good in this world, Mr. Frodo… and it’s worth fighting for.
via The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) – Memorable quotes.
I’ve been falling asleep to the LOTR series the past week or so, this quote stuck out for me. I always knew that the series had a lot of correlation to real events, but never imagined it would be so true today.
Related Articles
- Elijah Wood Confirmed For ‘The Hobbit’ (mtv.com)
One small step for man, one giant leap of Awesome.
Just like the thousands of other who will soon upload this video to their blogs, Thank you Ricky Gervais for being so ballsy.
Related Articles
Ah Disney, Where have you gone?
Image via Wikipedia
On the heels of the Chip and Dale video I posted last week, I remember the great videos I watched as a kid. These two definitely stood out for me as being some of my favourites. It was this silly slapstick comedy that made (and still does make) Disney great. This is what I consider the best of Disney movies. These shorts play off the characters and the only dialogue is provided by the narrator. I hope you enjoy as much as I do! There will probably be more to follow!
It’s amazing to think that after 60 years – the animation is still so superb. I wish that Disney would go back and look at what made them great before the era of technology and do that. A real animated cartoon would be so superb to watch
Oh and how could I forget this one?! Perhaps the best Disney short of all time. Except it’s kind of terrible to think of Santa pulling a gun on Chip and Dale.
Montauk
I recently spent a very late night watching The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. I guess the caffeine coursing my veins helped me understand the movie. I remember trying to watch it once before, and just could not grasp the concept, but that night everything was clear. So yeah, I thought it was a great movie! Moved up into one of my favourites, great cute ending. And there’s one line right at the end that’s like “Meet Me at Montauk.” And I had seen it somewhere before, and the name Montauk has come up a lot in the music I listen to. There are three bands in particular, Bayside, Circa Survive and Brand New/Straylight Run.
Meet Me In Montauk?
The Straylight Run reference is very obscure and random. But it was the first time I had heard the name actually pronounced correctly. But the other two probably have a deeper connection to the movie. I know for a fact that the Circa Survive song is based on the movie (Clearly because the title of the song is a direct quote from the movie Dur.), and I am not sure about the Bayside one, but I can hazard a guess that it was also written after seeing the movie.
I just think that this is really cool that bands/songwriters/musicians can take inspiration from things like a movie, and write a song about it. It’s almost like an inside joke between the band and their audience, and until you see the movie, you’re on the outside. So for me, watching this movie at like 4 in the morning, and then realizing that this song that I had been listening to all these years is actually FROM the movie, you kinda have that moment, and from then on, you’re on the inside.
It makes you wonder what other songs are written in tribute, or about movies. And not in a blatant way, but kind of pay homage to the style and essence of the movie itself. I know that Bayside and Circa Survive are maybe a little more aggressive than Eternal Sunshine, but they do bring out the eerie and darker moments of them movie.
This is Bayside’s Montauk:
This is Circa Survive’s Meet Me in Montauk:
And now I am going to download more Circa Survive and Bayside! Look for it in my twitter feed @GoListenTo – and follow me if you want to! </endShamelessPlug>
Have a good night! May you always be in my memories.
Faust Arp
Why hello there internet land! Long time no speak.
I feel like I haven’t written a meaningful post in ages. Mostly because my life was rather dull. Let me just check and see where I last left off…Good grief. It was May 5th when I last wrote something that pertains closely to my life. So let’s see, I’ll try and begin from there.
School had ended, it was the best semester I had ever had. My jazz band mark sucked, so I appealed it and got a better one. I decided to go home to Calgary.
The Gap
Found work with the Gap, and eventually the City of Calgary. Applied to countless jobs. Had an interview to be an audio editor with CJSW, the University of Calgary radio station. Didn’t get it. Sad. Missed lover. Was missed by lover. Hated Calgary. Lots of friends who I thought were closer didn’t seem interested. Saw my good friends and that was good. Had fun. Went to a show. Saw my old band teacher (awkward). Went to Thunder Bay to see my grandparents. Drank rye and had es cargo with them. Hated life. Fought with Parents. Folded Jeans @ the Gap. Folded Shirts @ the Gap. Put up tents for the City. Folded more jeans. Put up more tents. Hated Calgary. Decided to move. Fought with Parents. Came to Victoria. Had to deal with psycho mother. Found a place. Living with lover. Happy.
That’s more or less the last two months of my life. In a nutshell. Calgary just doesn’t suit me that well. I dislike the lifestyle, and just the atmosphere of the city. It was good to see a couple of my close friends, but they’ll still be my friends no matter where I am so coming back to Victoria didn’t matter. I left playing on a ultimate frisbee team, which I’ll miss, but I’ll survive. It was good being active again. I just have to get out running. I finally finished my book (The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova) and it was good, the ending was a little unexpected. I’m going to start reading The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon which I mentioned in a previous post.
The last week has been hell though, but it’s looking up. I was here with my mom looking for a place to live. I used mainly Craigslist, Kijiji, and the UVic housing site to scope out places. It sucked trying to remember what each place offered and who lived there and stuff. I saw a lot of really shitty places where 9 other people lived and some with owners that wanted to be my parents. And I didn’t want that. I wanted to be independent in a nice household, with ceilings that weren’t so low that I hit my head.
I ended up finding a great little character home close to my lover. The owner is a 49 old mother of three who has a little shitzhu. The bathroom has been converted to a splash room, which as most of you don’t know, is a room where everything can get wet. The shower head hangs from the ceiling, which means I will have no problems washing my hair on the top of my large 6’4″ frame. And a vintage oven/stove. So I’m pretty stoked, I move in sometime this coming week.
My mother drove my absolutely crazy over this week. Hell, the entire time I was home, both my parents drove me crazy. I think my mom asked me 4 or 5 times if I was depressed. Had me rate my happiness levels from 1 – 10. Pestered me why I wasn’t eating a lot or why I didn’t go out or whatever. I just didn’t want to be around them. They continually asked me if my lover was the only reason why I wanted to move and they questioned her character which was insulting to me and her. When in Victoria, my mother was indecisive, emotional (she cried at least 10 times over the course of 3 days), and just overall really stupid. It doesn’t make sense to me that she would be this emotional over me moving. This has happened twice before when I’ve had school. You’d think she’d be used to it by now. And I’m not one who is emotional or shows very much emotion, so it’s hard for me to be sincere about it. Sigh, she’s gone now so I can relax and enjoy myself in Victoria.
Tokyo Police Club's new CD: "Champ"
But I have to find a job now. I’ve already applied at quite a few places and the Gap might hire me back as well. So things are looking up and I’m trying to stay busy, without spending a lot of money. That being said, I am going to the casino tonight. So shush. Maybe I’ll win $100 in blackjack or something. That’d be pretty awesome.
I’ve been listening to a lot of new music lately. The new Broken Social Scene CD = not good. The new New Pornographers CD = good. Citizen Cope = really good. New Deftones CD = really good. New Secret and Whisper = good. The new Tokyo Police Club CD = really good. Go check them out now!
Pixar's best new short: "Day and Night"
I saw Toy Story 3 yesterday! It was really good for a 3rd movie. Not sure if it’s good as a stand-alone film. But still really great. I loved the short Day and Night at the beginning. May be one of the best ever, behind the chess player of course. Pixar really knows how to get things done.
I’ll leave you with that short! Hopefully I can start posting more now that I feel up to it. Have a good one!
Graffiti
A few of Banksy's pieces
I’ve been looking at a lot of graffiti lately – makes me want to go see the new Banksy movie – Exit Through the Gift Shop (http://www.banksyfilm.com/). For most of you who don’t know, Banksy is an iconic graffiti artist who originated in London. He does mostly stencil graffiti which is famous for it’s political and social commentary. The movie is about a guy who is trying to find and befriend Banksy, but somehow Banksy turns the cameras on him or something else. I just want to see it for the graffiti.
I’ve read that recently Banksy has been altering some 25+ year old installments of another famous Londoner – who goes by Robbo. Apparently Robbo didn’t take too kindly to this and has started somewhat of a graffiti war. I’m kind of interested to see how far it will go. And whether or not these guys are taking themselves seriously.
So yeah – I love graffiti. When it is more of an art than of a gang sign or tag or whatever. Which is common to the areas I reside in. I think it’s a great thing and a good expression. The guys and gals who do it are super talented as artists. I think there should be designated areas in urban centres which are the graffiti zones. So that the artists won’t have to be vigilante’s trying to get their art out. I also really like this picture – took me a while to figure out what it actually is. Maybe you can too!
Can you see it?
