Tag: film

ATC Cards 2010

ATC Cards 2010 (mleiv.com)
Medium: pencil Size: 2.5"x3.5"
All the ATC cards I made this year (yes, my sketchbook is feeling neglected now, ha). It is mostly Babylon 5 and Labyrinth, with a few other movies/shows I was watching thrown in.

As you can see, I learned about halfway through that it is easier to draw them BEFORE they are cut up rather than after.

And yeah, this was WAY too much fun-! :)

I liked Indiana Jones and the Many Crawly Phobias, so THERE!

I saw Kingdom of the Crystal Skull this weekend, and I know everyone is gonna mock me, but I really liked it. Of course, I liked Stargate and The Mummy too, and I know those are both hated by all you jaded post-modernist cynics. But I hated the Star Wars fiasco, so it's not just that I have low standards and am easily entertained (although that is probably true...).

I watch the trilogy fairly often (I saw Last Crusade a week ago), and it really felt to me that this sequel was pretty much just like the other three (well, better than Temple of Icky Things, which was kinda stupid): it was B-movie fun, fast-paced silliness, no real surprises, and a lot of over-the-top action/acting. Sure, it was missing Tom Stoppard's dialogue in #3 and the small-budget hilarity of #1, but it had its own wacky hijinks.

Personally, I only wished it could have been longer. I felt like the comedy had to take a backseat to the plot, while I would have loved some more pointless bickering and silly car chase scenes.

It does puzzle me that people are so vitriolic in their loathing of this movie. Is this a peer-driven attempt at being cool by pretending nothing is good enough for you? Are American audiences turning into hyper-critical self-important back-seat directors? Can't you just settle in and have a little fun? Or are you one of those miserable bastards that go to Disneyland and spend the whole time bitching about the omnipresent branding and overpriced kitsch?

From the Onion commenters:

>>God literally popped out of a box to melt nazi faces in raiders. if you can suspend your belief for that, interdimesional, poorly rendered, non-aliens shouldn't be an issue.

An Entire Sketchbook – 3 of 3

An Entire Sketchbook - 3 of 3 (mleiv.com)
Medium: Pencil Size: 5X7"
I just filled up my sketchbook. It was a 5X7" cheap-o brown moleskine. I think for my next one I will upgrade to the real moleskine - hopefully it has nicer paper :)

Most of the drawings are from paused TV (a few internet or magazine thrown in). Please don't assume I like a show because I drew it - ha! I just took whatever was on at the time.

None of the drawings has been removed except for the occasional personal doodle, so you can see my mistakes alongside my (much rarer) successes.

An Entire Sketchbook – 2 of 3

An Entire Sketchbook - 2 of 3 (mleiv.com)
Medium: Pencil Size: 5X7"
I just filled up my sketchbook. It was a 5X7" cheap-o brown moleskine. I think for my next one I will upgrade to the real moleskine - hopefully it has nicer paper :)

Most of the drawings are from paused TV (a few internet or magazine thrown in). Please don't assume I like a show because I drew it - ha! I just took whatever was on at the time.

None of the drawings has been removed except for the occasional personal doodle, so you can see my mistakes alongside my (much rarer) successes.

An Entire Sketchbook – 1 of 3

An Entire Sketchbook - 1 of 3 (mleiv.com)
Medium: Pencil Size: 5X7"
I just filled up my sketchbook. It was a 5X7" cheap-o brown moleskine. I think for my next one I will upgrade to the real moleskine - hopefully it has nicer paper :)

Most of the drawings are from paused TV (a few internet or magazine thrown in). Please don't assume I like a show because I drew it - ha! I just took whatever was on at the time.

None of the drawings has been removed except for the occasional personal doodle, so you can see my mistakes alongside my (much rarer) successes.

Surprise Appearances, Courtesy of the Internets

When I first saw Annie Lennox's "Walking on Broken Glass" on MTV, I remember feeling this sort of breathless anxiety: here was something so stunning and gorgeous and heartbreaking, and I could only see it for a few minutes before it was gone forever (this was the early 90s, when MTV couldn't spare time from 24/7 rap music and country to show alternative music). It's hard to explain this to an audience in the Aughts, where everything is so easily available online, where Wikipedia provides all the backstory and sources a person could ever need. But at the time, there was a void, and when you found something beautiful, chances are you would never see it again. And time eventually erased most of those moments from my mind, and even the ones I do remember to look up today seem to have lost their titles and identifying information in the mess that is my brain.
Walking on Broken Glass - screenshot
So when I was reading about Annie Lennox's new album in the NYT this week, it was with some chagrin that I abruptly remembered "Walking on Broken Glass." And technology had finally advanced enough that I could retrieve this particular moment of my past.

"Walking on Broken Glass"

But there was a little bonus. I start the video on youtube and within two seconds, I see a familiar face. I didn't need more than two seconds, because I am, you see, a HUGE fan of Rowan Atkinson's BlackAdder. "OMG!" I yell to the Significant Other (whom, as noted in previous posts, I often torture with my BBC obsessions), "OMG! It's Hugh Laurie! Did you know Hugh Laurie was in this video?!?" And of course he didn't, so we had to watch all 4 minutes and then look it up on Wikipedia to be sure. It was like a real-life DVD Easter Egg.

Cupid Returns?

Cupid is my favorite cancelled TV show. I recorded it faithfully to VHS every week it was on the air. And I still break out the VCR to watch it now and again. But if you had asked me in the last decade would they ever bring it back, I would have had to say no. Like Farscape, Firefly, and Brisco County Junior, most shows seem to have that moment when everything comes together - actors, scripts, special effects, humor, current events - and it is impossible to repeat (cv. the Farscape Movie). And networks seem to be like bratty two-year-old children, holding onto the rights to shows which they capriciously cancelled in a pouty "If I couldn't make you successful, then no one else will either."

So color me shocked that it's been officially announced that YES, they are bringing back Cupid. With a new cast and a big rewrite. I dunno, I'm cautiously hopeful. The fact that it is on network television is a big thumbs down for me, but the new casting and writing might make it work (I love Jeremy Piven, but I just don't think he is "Trevor" anymore).

And even if it sucks, BuzzSugar has been kind enough to alert me to another fan who posted all the episodes to YouTube. So I can finally get rid of my VCR.

OMG – THE MASTER!

Note: All UK Whovians who are a season ahead of us here in the States, go away. I don't want your "I know what's going to happen" gloating, dammit!

Derek Jacobi - The Master
I, Claudius
So I haven't been so keen on Doctor Who season three, which has violated many of my rules about Doctor Who (like the Harry Potter reference - hello! no too-current Pop Culture references!). But last week was Blink, which - of course, Stephen Moffat! - was fabulous. And they showed a preview of *this* week and I started screaming, "Oh My God! It's the Master! They're bringing back the Master!" And I began bouncing across the apartment like a two-year-old going to Disneyland on a pogo stick. My Significant Other - who up till now has been putting up with my weird Doctor Who obsession with grace and discretion - just stared at me in bemusement, having never watched the original series and still struggling to come to grips with my need to have a remote control Dalek. "The Master!!!" I screamed at him. "'I,Claudius' is going to play the Master!"*

Well, once my enthusiasm faded in a weekend of binge drinking and playing WoW, I am sure my S.O. forgot all about this outburst. But this weekend at 5:45PM I interupted WoW with enthusiastic screams yet again: "Oh My God! He *IS* the Master! Look, look, he's the Master!!" Because the Master is my favorite. The Daleks... well, they are fine and all. The Cyberman, yeah, I like them. But THE MASTER. And *I* knew he was coming. I was ready.

Dammit, *I* should be writing for this show. I wouldn't make Pop Culture references-!

*Classicist Note: 'I, Claudius' is mandatory watching for all Latin Majors. The Significant Other understands this reference.

Favorite Movies

I love a lot of movies. I don't go see movies, mind you, but I acquire DVDs and watch them at home... over and over and over again. I have tried other categorizations, but here they are under What I Liked Best.

Wickedly Quotable

I love witty reparte and a bit of dark humor.

BlackAdder - "Cold is God's way of telling us to burn more Catholics."

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead - "We're more of the love, blood, and rhetoric school. Well, we can do you blood and love without the rhetoric, and we can do you blood and rhetoric without the love, and we can do you all three concurrent or consecutive. But we can't give you love and rhetoric without the blood. Blood is compulsory. They're all blood, you see."

Army of Darkness - "I got news for you pal, you ain't leadin' but two things right now. Jack and shit, and Jack left town."

Office Space - "It's not that I'm lazy, it's that I just don't care."

Firefly - "Oh, I'm gonna go to the special hell."

The Long Kiss Goodnight - "Are you just stupid or did you take lessons?" "I took lessons!"

L.A. Story - "With a financial statement like zis, you think you can have ze duck?"

Old French Toys

You know those French dolls, with the little painted china faces and 19th century costumes: harlequins, ballerinas, and aristocrats. And complex machinery with big dirty spokes and pulleys and more twists than a Durer labyrinth. If you like Gilliam, you know what I'm talking about. I love that whole look, the grimey, broken, abandoned ambience made all the more shocking by its innocent and playful origins.

Labyrinth - The Venetian masked ball.

Batman Returns - An old-fashioned Christmas, abandoned Zoo, evil circus clowns, and the ballerina with her poodle.

Lexx (Season 3) - The planet Fire.

The Crow: City of Angels - Beautiful, but run-down.

Abandoned Buildings

I am a sucker for scary movies with abandoned buildings... or abandoned ships, or abandoned cities, whatever. This means I also love most zombie flicks. The distinction between this category and the preceding one is often blurred, which is just more awesome, IMO.

The Frighteners - The hospital scenes.

Event Horizon - The abandoned language is a special bonus.

Resident Evil - The progressive nature of abandonment - building, city, planet - is fucking awesome.

Anything with Bruce Campbell

Runners-up in the Will-Watch-For-Cute-Guy are Jean Reno, Jeremy Piven, Scott Cohen, John Hannah, Seth Green, Malcolm Mcdowell, and Danny Elfman (well, I mostly watch movies for his soundtracks, but he was in The Gift).

Cartoons

Lilo & Stitch. Yup, I am a total sucker for cute widdle alien pets.

Invader Zim - "They're made of WAFFLE!"

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