November 20, 2009

Full-time permanent job.

I guess I should mention here that yesterday I was finally offered a permanent full-time position as an assignment editor at my current company. I accepted. After temping here for 7 months, it’s a little anti-climatic to make this announcement now, but, ultimately, it is very exciting news.

What does it mean?

It means I finally get some real job security, a little more $, health insurance (dentist, dermatologist, allergist - here I come!), 2 weeks of vacation, sick days, and even an unpaid furlough that (surprise!) I have to take in the next month.

Matt and I are currently researching places we could go and so far I’m leaning towards a trip through Arizona and New Mexico. Neither of us has seen the Grand Canyon before, both have friends in the area, and it will be a nice follow-up to our 2008 Kansas road-trip/precursor to our Fall 2010 San Fransisco adventure.

•

Edward Norton on Modern Family??

wow.

BONUS: They’re watching The Gunfighter towards the end - a really wonderful Western Elliott screened a few weeks ago.

•
November 19, 2009

Be my Netflix friend

•
November 18, 2009

OHMYGOD

The Red Shoe Diaries (the movie AND the show, but most importantly THE MOVIE which you can see above) is on Hulu RIGHT NOW

•
(Boldtype) a note card from Nabokov’s unfinished last novel - The Original of Laura. Out now.

(Boldtype) a note card from Nabokov’s unfinished last novel - The Original of Laura. Out now.

•

(link) Mom finally posted photos of her playing the Wii!

•
(etsy) A sweater very similar to mine is currently on etsy for about 4x the price I bought it for. Conversation starter!

(etsy) A sweater very similar to mine is currently on etsy for about 4x the price I bought it for.

Conversation starter!

•
November 17, 2009

(flickr) The many hats of The Brothers Bloom.

The story meandered at times but overall it was a very thrilling and pretty film. Prettier than Brick (thanks to a much bigger budget, obvs) but showing a similar love of symbols and philosophical questions like ‘what is truth? what is performance? etc’

It had the aesthetic of a Wes Anderson production (the costumes! the fonts!), yet was pleasantly messy in its display of emotion.

I’m a little worried that a bigger budget will distract Rian Johnson from continuing to do that thing I so loved about Brick, but I’ll give him a chance and in the mean time enjoy the pretty.

•
November 11, 2009
“ I don’t want your strange cake from Brooklyn!

(Interview with Lee Daniels and Gabby Sidibe) One of my favorite AV Club interviews in recent memory. And not only because of the funny but because of revealing insight like this, too: (on hiring Gabby Sidibe for the role of Precious)

I felt that if I had hired one of the girls that I was trying to be authentic with, that would have been exploiting them. Really not putting on a movie, but rather just exploiting this girl that is the ultimate truth, and it would have been a documentary, as opposed to acting.

•

Well.. you can go see this (I haven’t) or you could see The Messenger (saw it last night), which actually handles the topic of soldiers coming back so delicately and even-handedly it’s dumbfounding how emotional it is. There’s no (real) violence in it and the stern brooding and mania are so realistic that in contrast Tobey Maguire in the Brothers trailer seems utterly ludicrous.

I was initially hesitant because most political films frustrate and depress me, but The Messenger let me cry without leaving me feeling too lost. It never over-shared (cutting the scenes that we could guess or estimate), rarely went in the direction you’d expect, but nevertheless wrapping up every story line in a way that offered relief, if not complete satisfaction.

For a movie that could probably be retold in a single sentence, I haven’t seen something that triggered so many thoughts about death, war, mourning, and masculinity in a very long time.

Please see it.

•