Filed under: gift guides | Tags: Anusha, Arizona Dream, barbecue, Barbossa, camera, Cameron, computer, Danny Boyle, Deep Roy, Geoffrey Rush, gift card, gifts, ipod screen, Johnny Depp, Mary-Sue, Mika, movie tickets, Pirates of the Caribbean, Pointy Chin Club, road trip, Sean Connery, Shakespearean troupe, Shel Silverstein, sunglasses, tripod
Since I take the time to construct a list of things I would get people if I weren’t lazy/broke, I thought I might as well returrrn the favor. Damn it, Barbossa. Get back where you came from.
Wait. Take me with you! I long to be a Mary-Sue.
Although most of my gift guides are in jest, this one is full of the things I really want. Okay, with a few jests. But since my birthday party has come and gone (more on that later), I’ve gotten all the presents I’m likely to get this year. A gift card and two movie tickets. How creative we are these days. Hush, it’s the thought that counts, right? Well maybe I should get richer friends. Just kidding. Although that is the spirit of these gift guides.
No pictures this time because I have a stone-age computer.
1. camera. A good one, that I can mess around with. Photography, not video.
2. tripod. So that my video camera can be propped up without the use of a mountain of books.
3. a new ipod screen, because I sat on mine and the internal screen broke. 
I see only static. I can’t even maneuver it to be visible anymore.
4. a road trip. If only we could all drop everything and cross the country in a hippie bus. Fine, even an ugly modern RV would be fine. Probably more comfortable too.
5. A Shakespearean troupe. What? Twelve actors, at my disposal and completely dedicated to my project? White actors to appeal to the masses? Because all I’ve ever worked with are Asian teenagers. Not appealing at all.
6. Arizona Dream. I bow to you, whoever gets me this.
7. My barbecue. This would be even greater than “Arizona Dream”. Oh, to have Johnny Depp, MIKA, Geoffrey Rush, Anusha, Danny Boyle, Deep Roy, Shel Silverstein, and Sean Connery, among others, gathered in my backyard gnawing on ribs. And to have the Pointy Chin Club watching from their glass display cases. Cameron, no using your chin to cut a hole into the glass. I don’t care if you can’t breath in there! Eat your chin!
8. A new computer. This one might actually come true. And I canst wait.
How great it is to finally have Johnny Depp sunglasses off this list.
The next gift guide that I am aware of is Amanda’s, in November. Hang in there. Although a back-to-school one sounds good too.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Alice in Wonderland, art, Audrey Hepburn, birthday, change, fascination, Gerald Ford, Home Alone, internship, John Hughes, Johnny Depp, journalism, Knott's Berry Farm, Mad Hatter, party, psychology, Shirley Temple, sweet sixteen, teenagers, Tim Burton, valley girl
August 6, 2009
Dear readers,
The recent explosion of Mad Hatter tea party-themed parties must be due to the upcoming movie, but that doesn’t mean I won’t steal a bit of the fun too. This is one trend I don’t mind following the crowd on.
The party planning is coming along really well. Miya’s going to produce a sure-to-be fun music playlist spanning decades and perhaps genres as well. The games are set and food as well. We’ll be having spaghetti for dinner, because you can’t go wrong with a classic. Also, Sushi is vegetarian so we can keep the meatballs separate. Although it must be depressing just eating noodle.
I’m going to Wal-Mart today to pick up decorations. I’ll be like a kid in a candy shop, just you wait. My parents are being extremely lenient with the budget. I attribute that to the fact that this is my sixteenth birthday. I hate the phrase “sweet sixteen” though. It gives me the image of Hilary Duff and pink and blond hair and ditziness.
The only hitch so far is that there is a giant spiderweb spanning the width of my backyard. I will have to conquer this eventually and run out screaming in all directions to tear it down.
It’s amazing how the vision of this party has evolved. Remember when I was going on and on about six degrees and childhood? I think the word now would be “pretty”. Whatever is pretty is allowed, even if it isn’t six degreed to me. Although we are still being silly.
I’ll ask Miya for pictures and try to have them up as soon as possible afterwards. The day is drawing near – we’re going to be moving soon! I mean that both literally and about my blog. We are moving to an apartment, as I’ve mentioned. On top of that there’s the blog move. I’m excited for a fresh start.
I don’t like it when commercials use the valley girl stereotype or the perception that teens think what they look like is the end of the world in order to sell a product to their parents. I hear it increasingly now that it’s back-to-school season. I would never tell my mom that not having a designer jacket was the death of me. Maybe this applies to an earlier generation, but in that case they need to resurvey teenagers. Who even cares whether or not it’s designer. Heck, I hate having logos on my clothing. The more nondescript the better.
Wow. I’m about to turn sixteen – the epitome of teenager. I don’t know what to say. Only yesterday I was marveling over the fact that the 60’s encyclopedia I loved to read said that at 9 I was a preteen. I was so excited. But I wouldn’t go back – it’s nice to say that. I like where I am.
Speaking of teenagers, John Hughes passed away this morning during his morning walk in Manhattan. That’s the strangest place to die, frankly. But with all due respect, rest in peace. I only recently saw his movies for the first time (with the exception of “Home Alone” because who hasn’t seen those?) and I think he was a very special director. I’m still trying to figure it out, but there was something different about his work.
You know those people who you don’t think of as dead or alive? When they die you’re kind of shocked that they were alive in the first place. People like that for me were Gerald Ford, Audrey Hepburn, and John Hughes. Maybe Shirley Temple except she’s still alive.
If I seem to go on about growing up and marvel over the changes that have happened to me, it’s because it never leaves my mind. With such a fascination you might recommend that I go into the field of psychology, but the longer I stay in this class the more miserable I get. Discussing personal theories is fun but frankly when we get technical about it my eyes glaze over. Same with journalism. I get miserable thinking about writing news reports. I’d rather put my theories and ideals inside art.
I struggle with whether or not to continue with this internship, because I don’t like journalism at all. Yet they take us to film festivals and events. Actually we’ve been going to less and less. I wish there was a film internship for high school students. Do I stay because it is right to persevere, or do I leave because it’s right to do what you love?
Enough deepness. I’ve finished the movie charades slips and I’m about to print and cut them out. I love that I’m not going anywhere for my birthday. While a day at Knott’s Berry Farm is exciting, there’s nothing like bringing the fun to your own home.
Just you watch. I’m going to eat my words and have one of the worst sixteenth birthdays in the history of mankind. Oh, there I go exaggerating like the teenagers in those advertisements. My life is over. I’ll have no friends! Like, oh my god.
Love,
Grapes
P.S. Just kidding.
P.P.S. Oh anchor jacket, how I’ve missed you.
P.P.P.S. My butt is the ruiner of things. How many times have I tried to pull something out from under it only to not be able to lift it high enough, thus breaking whatever it is? First my ipod, which I sat on, and now my anchor necklace. Among other things.
P.P.P.P.S. I thought someone was breaking into my house but it was just my printer, hard at work.
Filed under: Happiness is a Warm Gun, Uncategorized | Tags: Across the Universe, architecture, backyards, Baz Luhrmann, candles, Charlotte Gainsbourg, coral, directors, First Five California, French, Grace Kelly, happiness, hedges, History Detectives, Ils Se Marierent et Eurent Beaucoup d'Enfants, Jane Birkin, jingle, Johnny Depp, Laguna Beach, mattress, Mika, mini DV camera, Moulin Rouge, My Best Friend, Otis Taylor, PBS, Prete-moi Ta Main, Public Enemies, purple, romantic comedies, Russian eggs, Serge Gainsbourg, soda, Ten Million Slaves, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, The Valet, We Are Golden
This week has slowly slid into the mundane, but I refuse to let myself go back to eighth grade. Eighth grade competes with fifth grade for the worst years of my life. Here’s the happiness post, reliably on Monday even though they’re supposed to appear on Sundays.
1. French romantic comedies. Yesterday I watched “Prete-moi ta main”, which literally means lend me your hand, but they translated it to “I Do”, or “Faux Wedding”. It’s about a man who grows up in a family of all women, and eventually they grow tired of doing his laundry, etc, and try to get him married. He gets sick of their nagging, obviously, and hires his friend’s sister to pretend to be his fiance and then stand him up at the wedding. It gets a lot more complicated than that, of course. These light-hearted French movies always cheer me up. Others that I’ve seen and can remember the names are “The Valet” and “My Best Friend”. Darn, can’t remember the names of others.
2. Charlotte Gainsbourg. This ties in with the above, but indulge me. She plays the “fiance”. I’ve only seen her in this and a few clips of Johnny Depp’s cameo in “Ils Se Marierent et Eurent Beaucoup d’Enfants”. I do know though that she’s the daughter of Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin, and a singer as well as an actress. With my limited familiarity, everything I say here applies to her character in “Prete-moi Ta Main”. I have no idea if she’s like her. Anyway, she gave off this air of elegance and self-confidence, even if she peed with the door open, among other things. I liked how her real character was in the middle of the perfect and the fiance from hell. In one word, I’d describe her as a juxtaposition. It didn’t hurt that she was tall and thin. Definitely boosted her up in my mom’s opinion. I’ve just realized that this sounds like a girl crush. Whell.
2. My mom’s new mattress. It’s memory foam and it’s soft as a cloud. White as a cloud too. It just smells like chemicals, because she’s just bought it. But sensory adaptation kicks in (gahh psych 101) and you forget it’s even there. I always fall right asleep on her bed, except for last night because new developments had occurred with the stop-motion, and not good ones.
3. “We are Golden”. My, this is a very pop culture driven week, isn’t it? MIKA’s new single came out a few weeks ago, but his video premiered last Friday and I forgot about it until yesterday. So much for staying ahead of the crowd. You won’t find the correct version on Youtube, so if you want to see it look around www.mikasounds.com. If you’ve never seen MIKA before, I’d recommend first watching “Grace Kelly” on youtube to ease into his style. The “We Are Golden” video freaked even me out a little. But it’s all good. 
4. Backyards. I may be moving into an apartment for a few months because it turns out my little sister is severely allergic to dust mites, something supremely unlacking in this house. I’m really going to miss my own little patch of green. I lived in an apartment until I was almost seven, and yes, I can still remember it. But I’ve grown accustomed to having some semblance of privacy, maybe taking it for granted. I keep reminding myself that every experience is something to log into my memory for filmmaking/writing reference If I have a nice safe life well then there’d be nothing to write about, right?
5. Coral. It’s my new favorite color. Sorry, purple.
6. Russian eggs. They are so delicate and intricate. I got a necklace this week that had a “Russian egg” on it. Definitely won me over.
7. Mini DV cameras. It’s true, they’ve brought filmmaking to the living room. If it weren’t for my camera I’d have to wait until I was 20-something to start my career. Even if nothing comes of what I’m doing now I’m still learning something.
8. My soda from Taco Bell. It’s emanating coldness and freezing everything within a five inch radius. I’m not kidding.
9. PBS. I watched their celebration of the 50’s music and History Detectives. It didn’t hurt that they used a bit of what sounded like Otis Taylor’s “Ten Million Slaves” in the background. Which is the song they used in a lot of “Public Enemies”. What can I say, history enthralls me.
10. Hedges. I like how square they are and how they make you think of mazes.
11. The First Five jingle on the radio. It’s dorky but pleasing on the ears. “There’s so much I need to knooooowwww. The more I learn the more I groooooooooooooooooooowwwwwwww. Teach me, show me, hold me, and give me loooovvvve.”
12. Inventive directors. I finally watched “Moulin Rouge”, and like “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly” and “Across the Universe” I like how Baz Luhrmann didn’t just tell the story but they incorporated symbolism, colors, and angles to make a beautiful-to-look-at film. Miya will be pleased to hear that I liked the movie. It’s her favorite. Speaking of favorites, a viewing of “Arizona Dream” is long overdue.
13. Laguna Beach. I love all the artsy galleries and stores. It’s the beach that never sleeps, I think. And then there are hidden little beaches next to beautiful coves and behind immaculate hotels. I love the juxtapositions of beach houses next to Tudor houses next to a Mr. Darcy-in-2005’s-”Pride and Prejudice”’s house. It’s a photographer’s dream. I see people with easels painting the ocean, and people with dogs, old ladies reading under a rotunda. I see old people having a picnic at these cute four-person tables and they’ve brought their own tablecloth, centerpiece, and candles. That’s paradise.
14. Candles. I’m trying to get a candlelit dinner for my birthday in my backyard. I can’t wait!
I could go on but this post is already ridiculously long. When are my posts not?
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Ernest, Pirates of the Caribbean, Johnny Depp, Arizona Dream, library, movie, Vincent Gallo, Emir Kusturica, film, bugs, Lilli Taylor, grumpy, bad day, common sense, Iron Man, comic books, Persepolis, Robert Downey Jr., road trips, favorite movie, Faye Dunaway, Jerry Lewis
July 29, 2009
Dear reader,
It started yesterday night, and I had a sneaking suspicion it would follow me to today. I was right. Last night I struggled with last-minute cramming for my psychology exam today, and as the night wore on I grew increasingly frustrated.
Sometimes the more tired you are the more restless you are. I was jittery, my eyelids were twitching, and I couldn’t stop shaking my leg. Not that I couldn’t, but if I had stopped I would have been even grumpier.
Even when I get emotional there’s a part of me that stands back and talks sense. It’s weird, but it’s there, like a mini-psychologist or some other scientific/analytical presence. I’m sure you there’s a definition for that but I don’t really want one. Occasionally ignorance is bliss.
After our exam we were let out an hour early. I had to wait for my ride, who didn’t get out of class until 10. My phone was low on batteries (it’s been acting up lately) and all my friends had gone home. Here I am, sitting alone at a community college. Joy to the world.
Finally, at 10:14, he calls to tell me his car broke down. My mother is not picking up her phone. I sit until 11:44, when one of my mom’s coworkers comes to pick me up. All this with a ticking time bomb of a cell phone.
I didn’t want to write about this, because I didn’t want to label today as a bad day. There’s still half the day left. Things can get better. But I thought, bad days don’t happen too often anymore. This calls for some recognition.
Oh yeah, Miya was supposed to come over but she couldn’t. And while I was waiting for a ride I stabbed my palm with a pencil. It bled, and I clutched it, pretending to have paid the blood payment for the Curse of the Black Pearl. I know. Indulge me.
I watched “Iron Man” yesterday. I know I’m late. Eh, it didn’t really live up to the hype, but it was okay. Because I’d seen the Batman movie first, I kept drawing parallels. That aside, comic plots are often too similar.
Tonight I’m going to watch “Persepolis”. Apparently I’m the first person to borrow it from the library. Borrowing movies from the library is hip, okay? Especially if it’s the Cerritos Library, because you can stop by the Children’s Section and marvel at how awesome they made it. T-Rex anyone? Giant aquarium? Lighthouse? Rainforest? Hogwarts Ceilings? CHECK.
I like the Old World section though, if that’s what it’s called. They made it seem like the library of an English gentleman. Big armchairs and a lot of wood. If I’m not mistaken, even banker’s lamps. I’d have loved to have gone shopping for the Cerritos Library.
Enough fantasizing about the library. “Persepolis”. I’m excited to see it, except that today might not be the day for Persepolis. I feel like watching…”Iron Man”, frankly, but I’m not going to watch it again. Robert Downey Jr. has always reminded me of Johnny Depp. Sometimes when I don’t have my glasses on I do a double take.
Something’s been keen on sucking my leg blood. Taiwan has mosquitos. I didn’t stay in America to get bitten.
I was thinking about impromptu road trips. They are suddenly less intimidating. You’d just travel from hotel to hotel. One day.
Let’s talk about favorites. I was so excited when I realized I had a favorite movie. At the time it was PotC, of course. I wanted to go back and fill out all the surveys I had taken before I had had a favorite movie, as if to scream out, “I love something more than everything else!”
So. What’s your favorite movie and why? I’ll go:
My favorite movie is “Arizona Dream”, a 1993 movie directed by Serbian director Emir Kusturica that wasn’t released in the U.S. because it was too weird. How then, did I discover this gem? First, it stars Johnny Depp. Second, I was very dedicated to my obsessions. Third, Youtube was created.
Every synopsis you will find on the Internet is wrong. They interpret Paul (Vincent Gallo) as Axel’s (Johnny Depp) brother, or some other fallacy, when in fact who Paul is is not important at all. And it’s pretty clear they’re not brothers, just close friends. It would be better to watch it for yourself, and don’t be intimidated by the Alaskan opening sequence. Yes, you have the right movie – the camera will migrate to Arizona soon enough.
What I love about it is how complex it is, and with complexity comes multiple viewings. Not that you won’t understand it with one viewing, but layers and layers will be revealed each time you watch. Take, for example, the mariachis at the end of the film. Did you see them wandering the streets of the town in the beginning, before they were even introduced? I like how it uses fantasy elements without making it “part of their imagination”. I like the irrelevance that ultimately builds up to a heart-rendering ending. Why mariachis, for example? And yet they lend to the atmosphere.
Because life is not full of symbolism, there are things wandering about for no reason at all, which makes this film seem even more plausible. We’re so used to seeing dysfunction on screen in the typical “dysfunctional family”. This movie is dysfunction without “dysfunction”. It’s not “The Royal Tenenbaums” (which I want to see). This film cannot be explained, and what I love about it cannot be explained, but I think that’s part of its beauty. And all of this is without even mentioning the acting. Jerry Lewis, Faye Dunaway, Vincent Gallo, Johnny Depp, Lilli Taylor? All excellent here.
If you took nothing away from that, at least read this: There are flying machines. There are mariachis, gut balloons, flying fish, and Johnny Depp. Go see it on Youtube. Or on tape, if you’re in Europe. I look forward to seeing more of Kusturica’s work.
One of the best presents I could get would be this movie. Hint hint. Of course it’s not available in the US. And it’s only on VHS. No matter, I’ll accept even that.
Love,
Grapes
P.S. Apparently Ernest is a bad-boy name and naming your child that contributes to a higher chance of landing in jail. I don’t think we’ll have that problem with our little paper bag.
P.P.S. I sound mentally ill in the above statement. Remember, mini-psychologist. At least part of my head’s still clear.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: blog, decision, grapes, Jack Sparrow, Johnny Depp, Katherine, Kevin McNally, letter, Mr. Gibbs, Pirates of the Caribbean, proposition
Hey guys – there is a dilemna.
I really like the letter format from the previous post. Plus, I’ve never like the name of this blog. I started this only less than a year ago, but you know how it is when you can’t think of a screenname. On top of that, I’ve changed a lot in this less-than-a-year. Some aspects of the personality of this blog no longer apply. So, I have a proposition.
“The man who did the waking buys the man who was sleeping a drink. The man who was sleeping drinks it while listening to a proposition made by the man who did the waking, savvy?” That’s much shorter when not spewed from the mouth of Jack Sparrow. In any case, repeat after me: Aye, that’ll about do it. Hmm. I suspect Mr. Gibbs to secretly be a Canadian, from the way he says “about”.
I propose that I move this to a new blog. I’m still deciding whether to move everything or to start anew and leave this one. The one thing I’m worried about is losing the number of views I’ve already collected.
The new blog would be called Letters From Katherine and would continue with the letter format.
There. I’ve said it. I feel better for it. Reference. There’s my name blatantly for the world to see. I’m worried that this will be a decision I’ll regret, but then again isn’t that a part of every decision-making process?
Let’s be honest though. Letters From Grapes just doesn’t have that charm.
Thoughts? I’m still thinking it through. For now I’ll keep trying the letter thing, and we’ll see how it works out.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: behemoth, body image, camera, dead mosquito, dresses, Dustin Hoffman, fashion, females, five words, gardeners, girl, insecurity, It's a Shame About Ray, Johnny Depp, Mika, orange, pink, prints, purple, radio, stop the wedding, stupid, sunday best, symbolism, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, The Graduate, the Lemonheads
Let’s try something new.
Dear reader,
I may pick up the habit of radio-listening again, what with each Youtube video taking two hours to load and my ipod almost dead. Also my dad took itunes with him on his computer, leaving me with this stone age behemoth.
Huh, there’s a word I haven’t heard in a while. Behemoth behemoth behemoth. I used to love this imposing and hilarious word. A behemoth should be furry, like a woolly mammoth. Woolly Bullies! Reference.
There’s something very nice about the thought of the whole family gathered around the wooden radio, and then going out for a Sunday afternoon drive.
I bought a whole new set of MiniDV tapes . Playtime with the camera is a go!
That might have come out wrong. But what else do you call it? I’m going to go wander around with my camera zooming in on various objects in my backyard? Can’t today anyway – the gardeners are coming around. Tuesdays are the closest to air raids I’m ever going to get, I hope. The gardeners are already terrifying enough.
I’ve taken video of the dead mosquito on the windowsill, the inspiration for this morbid act being many movies I’ve seen recently. Namely “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly”. I’m learning not to make a movie that is only the literal telling of a story. Symbolism rocks when you’re not analyzing it. It’s very stealthy. Now that the mosquito has been immortalized on tape, I suppose I should clean it out. Believe it or not I’d rather watch it decay.
The other day my mom and I watched “The Graduate”. Excellent movie. As a side note, Dustin Hoffman’s earlier works are never intimidating like other older movies are. There’s a compliment in there somewhere. I love how it’s a movie about an affair and yet there aren’t any sex scenes. Everything is implied.
My mom said, “It’s interesting how in Chinese culture, if the girl is getting married they let her go. But in America they always go to stop the wedding.” I’d grown so used to the concept of stopping the wedding, at least in movies, that I rarely remember that people often give up too.
In the past year I’ve become such a girl. I thought it would become a long and difficult struggle to be okay with it, but I barely even notice the changes anymore. It’s just who I am now. There’s something epic about the fact that this personality will be me for the majority of my life, and who I was will have only been a small percentage of my life. It’s weird because that was such a strong personality too.
Occasionally I’ll see it again, when my mom tells me not to wear that dress because my legs are the size of small tree trunks. Not in those terms, but with the same meaning. And I think, “Screw it,” and go to change into frumpy jeans and a t-shirt. Is this the root of the problem? Body-image? I believe so.
Only with the support of my friends and parents have I become brave enough to step out in shorts or a dress, to cry during movies, to label something as cute, and to hug without faking a cringe. Here’s how I visualize it. Before I was orange. Now I’m leaning towards pink. And in between there was purple.
As a side note, my favorite color is still purple, but pink is catching up in small doses.
This is all leading up to: I love love love love love love love love dresses.
Never have I loved dresses so much since before preschool. What have dresses represented to me but the petty concerns of females and the pressures of violin?
Explanation: I wore dresses mainly for church and violin recitals, and it was my mom who pushed me into wearing frilly dresses to church along with my sisters. I’ve always considered myself to be an adult (silly, yes). And to be bunched in with my sisters as the only people who really dressed up for church (wearing our “Sunday best” is not a priority at my church), that was mortifying. I did not want to be seen as a baby too.
This need to be seen as an adult goes along with the “petty concerns of females” thing. Girls have been portrayed as caring about what men think, about what we look like. I thought that was stupid, and to wear a dress was to lump me in with the girls who stared off into space twirling their hair, constantly reapplying their makeup, doing stupid things because a cute boy was in the room.
Whatever. Dresses are cute, they’re liberating, and they give you the feeling of being light in the air, without a care in the world. Skirts included. And bright bold flower prints don’t hurt.
It’s not logical to forever wear dresses, but if I could I would. What am I talking about, of course it’s possible. I’m just not ready to be “that girl” who always dresses up just yet. Because no matter how plainly you wear a dress, it’s still a dress and that’s being dressed up.
You have my word, I won’t be making faces in every picture anymore. Only some.
Let’s play a game. List five words that describe who you are or who you want to be. I’ll go first.
Playful, intelligent, elegant, beautiful, passionate.
Haha I feel more exposed with those five words than I have with all my blog posts. Your turn!
Love,
Grapes
P.S. I’m not into neon plaid and neon skinny jeans. Too many people walking around in it. Except on MIKA. It works for him.
P.P.S. Polka dot/Flower print > plaid.
P.P.P.S. KATHKAWERKEJWWJWKEJR!!!!! “It’s a Shame About Ray” by the Lemonheads is on the radio! I love you, Rewind Tuesday or whatever it’s called. Guess who was “Ray” in the ”It’s a Shame About Ray” music video? Johnny Depp, yes. I can still remember the haziness of the video and how he was being emo on a bed smoking and stuff.
Filed under: Happiness is a Warm Gun, Uncategorized | Tags: 80's, breakfast burritos, Finding Neverland, frilly, green tea, happiness, happy, J.M. Barrie, Johnny Depp, lace, makeup bag, Michael Llewellyn-Davies, mochi ice cream, mosquito, Porthos, smoothie, tweezers, vintage
Happy happy happy day. I may soon have to move happiness of the week posts to Monday, but I won’t. Even if I do keep posting them on Mondays.
1. My mom’s makeup bag. It’s frilly, it’s lacy, it’s black, white, and blue. Logically, it’s hideous. But to me it’s beautiful. I told her yesterday, and she told me that she was thinking about getting rid of it. I asked, “When did you get it? Like in the 80’s?” Yes. YESSS. So I (stupidly) said, “It’s vintage.” And now she loves it as well and I will have to wait more years to inherit this floppy thing.
2. Michael & Porthos. Alright, I’m guilty of watching “Finding Neverland” again last night. That movie never fails to make me temporarily relapse into obsession. That said, Michael, the smallest Llewellyn-Davies boy in the movie, is so cute. “Is he in trouble? Because I’ve been alone with grandmother and I know what it’s like.” What a cute little boy.
J.M. Barrie’s dog, Porthos is cute too. A big fluffy mass of gray and white. I love the bloopers where he poops. It’s a lot less crude than it sounds, but still hilarious. Whatever, in the actual movie he’s adorable too.
3. Breakfast burritos. They are delicious in a stupid way. Meaning you should just enjoy its eggy, sausagey, cheesy, peppery goodness. It’s comfort food, not a gourmet dish.
4. Tweezers. Because armed with a pointy thing you can squish between your fingers, you can pluck anything. Plucking is fun except when it’s done on a violin.
5. Green tea. I haven’t had actual green tea in a while, but artificial green tea flavoring’s good too even if tastes nothing like real green tea. Green tea mochi ice cream, green tea smoothie. Guh, it is all so delicious.
6. The dead mosquito on my windowsill. It’s gruesome but beautiful, especially in the early morning because of the sunlight.
That should have cheered you up. Have a great week!
Filed under: Dr. Frank, Uncategorized | Tags: Alice in Wonderland, bank robbery, Big Fish, dentist, Dr. Frank, fanfiction, Johnny Depp, Mad Hatter, Norther Winslow
Norther lay his head back as he drove, laughing maniacally. Dr. Frank anxiously reached for the wheel, but his hand was slapped away. “I drive,” Norther warned possessively. The wind whipped their hair back, exposing their almost identical wrinkled foreheads as the red sports car raced East toward Texas. “We need to find us a place to sleep,” Norther said, looking around them for a rest stop. But the flatness of the desert stretched out uninterrupted for miles.
The sky slowly darkened above them until it was a deep champagne red. Accepting his fate, Dr. Frank let his guard down and rested his head back. The car swerved dangerously and he sat up, alarmed. Norther’s chin rested on his chest, and a loud snore erupted into the air. Dr. Frank slammed his hand down onto the steering wheel and maneuvred the car to the side of the road.
He was afraid to sleep, but could not resist the downward pull on his eyelids. Soon the two men were sleeping like babes, their snores scaring away the wildlife. It was enough to protect them through the night. Their jackets, however, were not enough to protect them from the desert’s harsh nights, and they eventually slept closer and closer until they were holding each other to keep warm.
The next morning, Norther awoke screaming. “What is this?”
Dr. Frank snorted awake, “What?”
“We’re in a ditch! More than that, what the hell were you doing hugging me in your sleep?”
Dr. Frank chose not to answer that, because he didn’t know. “We should probably push the car back onto the highway.”
“Damn right we should.” Norther scrambled out of the car and leaned on the back-end of it. Dr. Frank followed, albeit at his own much slower pace. “Hurry up! Is this how you’re going to be at the robbery, because if yes you’re gonna get us killed.”
Dr. Frank didn’t know what had gotten into Mr. Winslow making him so snappy, but he hurried nonetheless. The two men pushed against the car with all their might until it moved slowly upwards and onto the main road. Sweating, they rushed back into their seats and drove off.
“That was a good workout,” Norther said.
“Keep your eye on the road please,” Dr. Frank reminded him nervously.
“Don’t worry about it, Doc. I’m a bank robber. I can take anything.” Dr. Frank stayed quiet, although his mind was still racing with worries.
“How many times have you robbed a bank?”
“Once, last year. I told you, it’s how I got this shiny car.”
They drove on for several days, with nothing uneventful happening because Norther miraculously managed to find a rest stop each night, successfully eliminating awkward nights spent huddling in the sports car. It was as if that traumatic experience had made him determined never to spend the night in his car with Dr. Frank again.
At the end of three day’s drive, they reached Texas. Norther’s land of opportunity. It would be another three days until they reached their target.
Side note: I can’t think of the Mad Hatter as Johnny Depp. Is this the second Jack Sparrow?
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Alice in Wonderland, Comic-Con, Dark Shadows, Helena Bonham Carter, Johnny Depp, Mad Hatter, Patton Oswalt, pictures, trailer
Apparently Johnny Depp surprised everyone by appearing at Comic-Con. A much needed visit, because the trailer had been leaked yesterday and the panel’s awesomeness depended on how much you wanted to know about what Tim Burton was saying.
Really, people need to stop leaking things before the movie comes out. Think of the eventual effect on the moviegoing experience. It takes away so much, even if it is exciting when you watch illegal videos.
That came out much worse than I intended. Here’s the trailer anyway.
Apparently that’s not the trailer they showed at Comic-Con. Errrrr. I’m gonna go look for that one. …My quest for the Alice in Wonderland trailer has led me to various videos of skinny white guys talking about how excited they are for the movie. I always feel ridiculous for those people who talk about trailers. I’d rather get the actual trailer, thank you, without your interference. No…the video is frozen on his excited face. And his Aeropostale shirt. Deeeaaaath. GAHHHHH. “I posted it on my blog so why don’t you go check it out?” NO. No I will not check it out on your blog. I’m not giving you traffic, person who won’t just post it on youtube.
Ah whatever. Find the trailer yourself, like I did. Something is off because I can’t find it anywhere.
But. I love this article from Fused Film.
“However many fans and screaming girls had a simultaneous orgasm when Johnny Depp walked out on stage to greet everybody.”
Allow me a moment to laugh my head off.
I’m not going to post any pictures of Johnny Depp’s appearance, because I want to save my upload space and it’s more celebrity news than movie news. Although I am excited and looking at every picture of it I can get my hands on.
Apparently he whispered into the microphone, “Hey. Happy to be here.”
Here are some Tim Burton quotes for those who care about the thoughts that went into the film.
“All his material, the Jabberwocky poem, all the elements of Wonderland that had movement and emotion, weird dialogue and stuff, we tried to use the material so there would be a new and true look to the universe. This one felt good to me, a weird journey, thematic nature, Wonderland will be hard to top.”
“Actors always bring something to it. If an actor connects and feels passionate, you should get something meaningful that they grasp on to. I just felt that with the material and the medium, it was just a good mixture of elements.”
“It’s a mixture of things. One was the element where we didn’t really have 5 or 6 years to make it. Also, techniques that were usable gave me more freedom, depth and layering. For me, I couldn’t really see the difference. With what we were doing, this seemed the right approach.
It’s a much more pleasant experience. 3-D used to give you a head. Now you don’t walk out of the theater with a headache. It enhances and puts you in this world more. It just helps with the experience. I think the gimmick elements have fallen by the wayside. It’s more about an experience that puts you in it more. You feel things that you actually felt on the set which enhances the experience. You feel what you feel in real life.”
On Alice: “She’s just a young girl. We wanted to give her some gravity, someone who has an internal life and you can see the wheels turning. A simple life, not flamboyant. That’s why I picked Helena and she’s got a big head (laughs).”
On “Dark Shadows”: “Yes, if I ever finish this one. (laughs) That’s the plan.”
This is from thewrap.com:
“Next up was Burton, presenting the trailer from his “Alice,” which panel moderator Patton Oswalt prompted him to play twice.
“Looks like a freak show, doesn’t it?” Burton said, looking up at the images of the characters on screen.
“Johnny (Depp) and I had worked together many times, but he’d never done a character with orange hair, so we scalped Carrot Top and took his hair,” Burton joked — adding that Depp helped create his character’s wardrobe.
The director said he attempted to take the traditional fairytale and Jabberwocky poem and turn it into a moving story that was “not just a series of weird events.”
But with a green screen, Burton said “speed and energy” was important because the screen “can start to freak you out after a while, and you don’t know where you are or who you are.”
To the audience’s surprise, at the end of his Q&A segment, Burton brought out Depp, who plays the Mad Hatter. The crowd erupted as Depp flashed his winning grin and waved for a few moments before departing the stage.”
There are also pictures of props taken at Comic-Con, but apparently people aren’t supposed to post them up yet, so I’ll put them up Friday. Because if I did right now I’d be a hypocrite for what I just wrote about leaks. But I can still describe them to you, can’t I? Ooh, an exercise in descriptive writing. But I’m lazy so I won’t really try.
There are a lot of tarts in the tea party. Gah, reminds me of the French Club banquet. That tart was very sour. Anyway, the tea party is very mix-and-match of silverware and plates but it’s neater than I imagined. Neater than it looks in the trailer to be sure. Maybe I’ll keep the picture and model my birthday after it. It’s two round tables and one long one connected, with white tablecloth and a huge green velvet wingback chair at the end. Lots of cake.
The hat. The hat looks beautiful, and of course you’ve all seen the hat from the pictures and trailers.
My descriptions couldn’t do these justice. The Mad Hatter’s suit is also on display. I hope they will be when it plays at the El Capitan theater like it was for PotC 3 because I want to see these for myself. I love the flower print of the bowtie. Again, same as posters.
The little door’s pretty nondescript. A wooden door kind of like the ones you’d see in missions. There’s this giant fake Alice head next to it to show the size difference, I guess. Also if the head wasn’t there it’d just be a door.
The eat me cake is yellow and squareish, in an old black box. Excuse me, glass with a brownish black frame. Again, these pictures are low quality. I’ll wait until Friday and see if there are better ones.
