Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Navel Gazing R Us

How in the hell do you keep the spacing consistent from entry to entry? Is there a way?

I fail at typing.

I saw There Will Be Blood over the weekend with my folks, and I'm still trying to come up with something coherent and intelligent to say about it. You know. Something that doesn't devolve into awestruck, fangirly glee. Just. My god. The story, the cinematography, the acting, the music -- all incredible. Give me a week to collect my thoughts, and maybe then I'll be able to come up with something.

Although...it's been about a month since I've seen No Country For Old Men, and I still can't talk about it without going to the "incoherent and talking with my hands" place. Same thing goes for The Road, which I finished reading about a week and a half ago. Let's face it -- it's a hell of a lot easier to discuss/write about flawed work than stuff that's so goddamn good that it leaves you utterly dumbfounded. I don't know why, but it probably has a good deal to do with the whole "dumbfounded" issue. Plus, I suspect that the sublime operates on kind of a gestalt principle, where the whole really is greater than the sum of its parts...which means it's harder to pick out exactly what makes it good, because everything has to work together just right to make it so. When a few things don't quite measure up, it's easier to examine critically.

Anyway. I'd give my right kidney to be able to write something as incredible as any of those three mentioned above (you can tell I'm serious, because my right kidney is my favorite). Unfortunately, no one has come forward with such a Faustian bargain, and I'm stuck going along as I always do. I crank out the words as best I can and -- like that little kid in The Incredibles who hangs around waiting for Mr. Incredible to bench-press his car or something -- I hope that something amazing will happen.

And when they don't? That's what
Kingdom of Loathing is for. You people can keep your fancy MMORPGs -- I like me some clever puns and strange little stick figures, thank you.

3 comments:

So@24 said...

Haven't seen There Will Be Blood. That's going to have to change apparently.

Ooh! Ooh! Go see The Orphanage. I'd love to hear what you think. Be warned, I lost 5 years off my life when I walked out of the theater.

"I dunno... something AMAZING I guess."

The Charming Hedonist said...

I'm jealous that you west coasters get to see movies that aren't available to me on the east coast. Damn conservatives and their movie limitations!

janegodzilla said...

SO@24 -
You definitely need to see There Will Be Blood. It's epic. Gloriously, amazingly epic. And in return, I'll check out The Orphanage, because I've heard a hell of a lot of good things about it, and the Spanish GET horror films. *shudders* I don't know what they're doing, but they're doing it right.

Hedonist -
I'm surprised that There Will Be Blood and No Country For Old Men aren't playing out on your coast. They're both up for Oscars!