Thursday, April 03, 2008

Something Already.

First of all…I’d like to thank the people who have taken the time to click on a button and vote in my poll.

Second of all…23 people?! Piddly! Come on lurkers…vote or die!

Third of all…today is Modest Mouse day. Sometimes I pick an artist in my iTunes at work and just dedicate that day to them. So today is Modest Mouse day…which indicates that I feel like stomping things. Yes. But not in a bad way. Positive stomping. Yesterday was Interpol day…which indicates that I was mellow and introspective.

Something special: I’m going to enlighten you all a little today with something I learned. The Word of the Day today from Merriam-Webster is opmphalos, which means “a central point” or some junk. This is not interesting…but in the description of its origin, we find out that this word: made another contribution to English via the word "omphaloskepsis," which means "contemplation of one's navel. Um. How fucking great is that? I finally know what to call a good 15 minutes of my morning ritual. Really THAT should’ve been the word of the day…not stupid old opmphalos. But that’s all I have to say about that.

So I’ve sort of got the Dictaphone working…but not well enough to post anything with it. There’s a lot of “what’s this button do?” and “Which end has the microphone”? Stuff like that. Non-gripping stuff. So you’ll have to wait for that for more gripping stuff. Just WAIT. God.

Speaking of music (before all this Word of the Day nonsense), there was something I wanted to say about that. Last weekend I finally went to see There Will
Be Blood. It’s disgusting that it took me this long for the mere fact that I LOVE everything Paul Thomas Anderson touches. I still try to sell Punch Drunk Love to people. Sometimes they don’t buy it. And then I hate them.
I know I had to read some Upton Sinclair in school…I don’t remember which book it was, but it was about living in tenements and t’was very stark indeed. So of course I was excited about Anderson’s adaptation of Oil. And Daniel Day-Lewis was to be in it. A man I’ve lurrrved since middle school when I got my giant Last of the Mohicans poster and it stayed in a special spot on the wall over my bed until I was ridiculously teenaged.

Anyway, Marie, MM and I went to go see it at the pub theater on our third bottle of wine. What. It was a beautiful movie from beginning to end. The cinematography was haunting, the performances eerily moving and the soundtrack was second only to Psycho’s in the way that it helped guide your internal reaction to certain scenes. Seriously, at some points it stopped being music a
nd just kind of turned into sound. Plot-driven sound. I can’t explain it...just see this movie. Dude was robbed of Best Picture; Coen Brothers be damned.

I will say that there were two moments where we totally lost our shit in that classic “third bottle” way. At one point toward the middle, the term “brother from another mother” is used. We collectively burst in a very…very quiet theater. And then…the last line was just gold. GOLD. But I won’t write it here and ruin it. Because I don’t ruin things. Not like other people do. I’m not lik
e other people. Let’s just say that if you consider “I didn’t hate it” as a good review of Eastern Promises…you can consider “I fucking LOVED it” as an even better one for There Will Be Blood. And I’d totally go cougar for Paul Dano. He holds his own with Day-Lewis (and he has twice, if you’ve ever seen The Ballad of Jack and Rose). So of course that’s hot. Not quite as hot as Day-Lewis himself, but you know…those are big shoes of hotness to fill. Huge, really.

Uh oh…maybe it’s not Modest Mouse day…the Kinks have infiltrated.





Take my poll, suckas!

12 keep(s) me blogging:

Robert the Skeptic said...

I must be old. All the actors I think are great are either now dead or in nursing homes waiting for it. Except Johnny Depp, and I don't know how much time he has.

Seriously, the little five-star thingies... think about it.

"little Children" - *****
"Rocky (I - XVI)" - *

See how easy that is?

Gorilla Bananas said...

"Omphalitosis" means contemplating what your mouth smells like after eating bombay duck. I can't believe you were the only ones who laughed at "brother from another mother", that's funny without wine.

Anonymous said...

The title "There Will Be Blood" got me going. I like the Old English-looking typography too; the title looks like it would make a good tattoo. Plus, Daniel Day Lewis had one of those handlebar mustaches and when he has a one of those mustaches, it means he's gonna kill the role. He could be an ice cream man, he'll be the most intense, scene-stealing ice cream man ever.

Unknown said...

Methinks another poll is already in order with question and multiple choices to be as follows:

Who's the Hottest?

a. Gary Oldman
b. Daniel Day-Lewis
c. Viggo Mortensen
d. Johnny Depp
e. Some kind of Oldman-Day-Lewis-Mortensen-Depp amalgam/android-type being

I already know my answer.

Me said...

I finally know what to call a good 15 minutes of my morning ritual.

I lol'd.

Mary Witzl said...

I took the poll! Rats: my favorite thing isn't everybody else's: I love those surreal conversations you end up having with people. Not everyone is good at reporting them.

Wool-gathering is what I call that 15-minute ritual. Some might call it lounging around in bed, others might call it waiting for the radiator to heat this frigid tomb of a house up a little. But by whatever name, this is a vital activity and something I cannot do without. It's like I'm booting up my brain so that it will be fully in gear when I finally stagger out of bed and start making things happen. And it really needs booting up too.

Mary Witzl said...

Oh -- and I like the Coen Brothers! I'll have to see this movie if it beats the Coen Brothers.

AxAtlas said...

For me, Interpol was 3 days ago, Elf Power was 2 days ago, and yesterday was one of my client's telemarketing call center calls. The latter was more entertaining. I should throw a listening party at my new pad.
Punch-Drunk Love is an amazing amazing amazing flick. I like the DVD extra where P.S. Hoffman falls off the building and his landing pad.
Is that Clay Aiken in that 2nd pic on the right?

kara said...

dad - i refuse to comment on your comment since you're currently sitting right next to me and i can just tell it to you.

goranas - well, there were prolly some chuckles, but we drowned those assholes out. yeehaw.

c - the old english title drew me in too...though the font doesn't exactly fit. but then...who the eff cares...the movie rocks.

waif - that will be the next poll. though i don't know that johnny can be on it since we all know he'd win.

or - i hope you didn't disturb anyone with the ol portion of your l.

mary - well don't think your vote doesn't count. i'll just have you in mind the next time i post one. and i love the coen bros. too...so you know this shit gotta be good to outshine them.

ax - i don't like elf power. and i don't like clay aiken. the end.

thethinker said...

I thought I was the only one who contemplated my navel.

The Future said...

It appears this is turning into the movie/star critic's corner so I'm going to call you Kara-Jean Shalit, except that you'll have to wear your thick black-rimmed glasses and rat your hair way out all the time. Just forget the moustache.

Anonymous said...

I like a bit of handlebar moustache. Gives you something to hold onto...

(lascivious leer).

I like that Paul Dane too. He was also pretty good as the greasy McDonalds guy in Fast Food Nation.