As I've written about in a number of my previous posts, I have a love/hate relationship with the Internet. On one hand, it can be a glorious treasure trove of knowledge, but on the other hand it can be a mind-numbing time suck. During my late teenage years I could spend every waking minute on the web without incurring any sort of boredom. But as I have aged I've grown considerably more picky about how and where I spend my time online. I wouldn't call myself an information connoisseur, but recently I've found myself getting bored with a lot of the miscellaneous crap that floats about on the Internet.
Instead of contributing to the problem, though, I thought I'd try to contribute to a solution. I wanted to start sharing more links on my blog of random Internet shit that I think is actually worth your time. Now not everybody's going to be interested in every link I post, so feel free to browse them at your leisure. Depending on how this post turns out and how you, dear reader, respond to it, I might make these types of posts a regular part of my blog. So please leave me feedback.
So without further ado, stuff on the Internet that I have recently enjoyed, along with my own personal commentary on each item:
The Conversations: Wong Kar Wai - I recently used this article as a source for a final paper for school, but don't let that turn you off. Jason Bellamy and Ed Howard's comprehensive discussion of five films (
Days of Being Wild,
Chungking Express,
In the Mood for Love,
2046, and
My Blueberry Nights) from director Wong Kar-wai is an entertaining and engaging read. While the article is intelligent and critical, the back and forth dynamic of the conversation keeps it from drifting into dry or boring territory. Yes, the article is lengthy, but that's part of the charm for me. In a world of "tl;dr", it's nice to read something online that's got a bit of heft to it. In regards to the article I was particularly amused by their descriptions of the (over)acting within
My Blueberry Nights, "...no one is working harder than [Rachel] Wiesz, who by the time she runs out of ways of portray drunken rage and despair is only halfway there", and I enjoyed their debate over the merits of
Chungking Express. Overall this article makes for an entertaining and accessible companion piece to the films it discusses.
Madonna's 5 Best Moments on the Big Screen - As it says, this is a quick and timely rundown of the greatest moments in Madonna's acting career. Yes I am well aware that many will find the last sentence to be an impossible contradiction. Still I am of the opinion that Madonna's film career tends to be a bit unfairly criticized simply because people see her as an easy target (I have had this conversation on more than one occasion with my good friend
El Lobo!) I also love how this article craftily builds upon and capitalizes off the hype for
W.E. That said my only problem with the article is this, where's
Evita?
Crestwood House Monster Books - I ran into this article a few months back and loved it, but I couldn't quite find a good place to mention it on my blog so I'm sticking it here. This is a fantastic rundown of a popular children's book series by author Ian Thorne (real name Julian May). Each title in the Crestwood monster series was dedicated to the films of a different monster. Personally I have a nostalgic fondness for this series as its where I was first introduced to Godzilla. While the series was published in the 1970's and '80's, my elementary school library was terribly antiquated so I grew up reading this series even if it was technically before my time. Reading this article and gazing at the accompanying photos brought back so many fantastic memories for me that I just had to link to this one.
I loved this article- it's a good way to share your discoveries on the web. I agree that the internet is proving to be difficult to use. For every good thing, there's a wealth of boring.
ReplyDeleteI think you should start this feature, I enjoyed it eclecticism. I love the photos- Esther by the dryer and that hair hanging in the face scene with Rachel Weisz!
I loved how that article talked about War's distinct filming style, that whole jittery speed to the footage (like there were frames missing) that bothered us so! And they praised Rob's acting! We actually really loved her role as the gambler with Daddy issues, minus that accent that kept messing up. The part about Rachel's melodrama was funny.
I remember in a class we learned about how people want information succinctly and quickly, hence the tldr phenomena.
The Esther article was great! I had a laugh because they put Truth or Dare has number one on an acting countdown. It's a documentary! But It's obvious she's living it up for the camera. I would put her role as a dominatrix murderess in erotic thriller Body of Evidence on there. And as you said, donde está Evita?!
I loved the monster book article. I'd categorize that in the "nostalgic though I didn't live through it" category. My school library was way outdated too. I always read a book series about legends, like the Loch Ness monster and the yeti.
Great post!
I think you should start this feature - I will then! Thanks for the input.
ReplyDelete"We actually really loved her role as the gambler with Daddy issues, minus that accent that kept messing up." - Norah and I are silly, from the special features.
"I remember in a class we learned about how people want information succinctly and quickly, hence the tldr phenomena." - I just hate the Veruca Salt-ness of that mentality though, if that makes sense (and I'm sure it will to you!)
"I always read a book series about legends, like the Loch Ness monster and the yeti." - I read something very similar (maybe it was even the same thing). I read that the guy who wrote the monster series also wrote a bunch of books about subjects like the Loch Ness monster and the Bermuda triangle under the same Ian Thorne pseudonym, so maybe it was even the same guy who wrote the legends books you speak of!