I was awoken at 1:00 a.m. Monday morning as every single buzzer in my apartment building roared to life. These buzzers are, at the best of times, obnoxiously loud. Being woken up by a symphony of them nearly gave me a heart attack. My neighbour, Charles, took the initiative to find out what was going on. As soon as he lifted the latch to our main door, he was pushed aside by ten armed police officers.
All I heard was Charles informing the officers that "the stairs only go up one flight" and an officer responding "GET BACK IN YOUR FLAT!". As they clamoured up the stairs I, being half asleep and partially nude, had a sudden moment of panic; convinced I was about to be exposed to several members of Scotland Yard as the burst into my apartment looking for God knows what. Of course, this was not the case. The band of bobbies stopped on the first flight and turned into our strange courtyard (more like an enclosed alleyway) and searched the 5'x10' area much longer than you would think necessary for a 5'x10' area. I then heard them say something to the affect of "All clear, get back to the street" and they were gone.
The next day, I asked Charles if he knew what the hell that was all about. He shrugged and said "they wanted to get to the roof to arrest two Chinese woman in bathrobes".
I can now proudly say I have survived my very first police raid. I live in an interesting place.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Shelley
I've always held that I have a pretty crap name. I mean, Shelley? It's so awkward. It's only half a name, really. Everyone always asks if it's short for Michelle. No! If my name was Michelle, why would I want to go by Shelley? It's a name for a turtle, not a people.
My dad picked my name and has always justified it by saying "it's a proper British name". Didn't do me a lot of good - until now. I usually cringe when I hear people say may name. It always feels awkward to me. But, here in London, spoken with an accent, my name sounds normal! It's kind of nice.
Anyway, that was pointless. Here's a chart I found:
My dad picked my name and has always justified it by saying "it's a proper British name". Didn't do me a lot of good - until now. I usually cringe when I hear people say may name. It always feels awkward to me. But, here in London, spoken with an accent, my name sounds normal! It's kind of nice.
Anyway, that was pointless. Here's a chart I found:
This is sort of hard to read, so I'll summarize. My name has not been popular since the late 50s, early 60s. It's been in steady decline ever since. Way to fight the trend, dad!
How do you feel about your name?
Monday, April 14, 2008
Funny Games U.S.
Has anyone heard of this or, God forbid, seen this? I think it's important to state upfront that it's not a bad movie. I only include the "God forbid" because you are all dear friends of mine who I don't want to see mind-fucked.
Let me explain.
Funny Games U.S. is a shot for shot remake of an Austrian film of the same name (minus the U.S. part, obviously). It opens on a happy little family - Mother, Father, and Son - on their way to their luxurious lake house in a well-to-do gated community. They quickly run into two young men, who are "guests" of their neighbours. The young men climb over their fence to ask if they can borrow some eggs. After what seems like a painstakingly long conversation - just as you start to scream inside your head "GET OUT! Get them out!" - the father's leg is broken and the whole family is gagged and bound. The rest of the movie is a truly disturbing depiction of these people desperately trying to survive. It's not a fun movie to watch. You will not enjoy yourself. You will cringe. You'll feel disgusted. But, it's a well made movie. It's well written, it's beautifully acted and it's well shot.
I hated it.
But, not for the reasons you might think. The theatre I was in started with maybe sixteen people. By the end of the movie, at least a third of them had walked out. I think these people were turned off by the violence and by the nature of the story. I didn't necessarily mind that (though it bothered me (because I'm human)). What really got to me was the way the movie gets into your head. The plot of the movie revolves around these two sadistic kids playing "games" with this capture family. But, what you don't necessarily realize throughout the film is that these guys are really playing a game with you, the viewer. There are a couple of moments where the lead sadistic kid breaks the fourth wall and talks directly to the audience. Asking us "who's side are you on" and inviting you to take part in the bet. At another point, when you think there might actually be hope for the family, he tells you "neither of us want it to go this way". A subtle remark that could be taken as "neither of the young men" or "neither the young men nor the audience" (I'm arguing the later here). At the end of the movie the kid stares straight into the camera with this insanely sick smile and it's not until that moment that you realize you've lost. You sat through the whole movie. You watched them kill that family, and that's what they wanted. Maybe you even wanted them to kill that family. The whole time they are daring us to make them stop, to walk out, to keep it from happening. But, by sitting there and watching it, we let it happen. This is confounded by the fact that it's a remake. A shot for shot remake. It's not like you didn't know what you were getting yourself into, if only you took the time to find out. It's kind of hard to explain, and I don't feel I am necessarily doing a good job. It's the only movie I can think of that has actually made me feel violated. I felt tricked. And I felt dirty.
Maybe that's just me. Maybe everyone else who sees it won't think twice about it. But I thought it was an interesting psychological commentary. I mean, we're all voyeurs - these movies are made because we like to watch people get hurt (or wrecked, or blown up, or eaten by zombies). But this movie takes that to a whole knew level. It's too real in it's simplicity and straight forward approach. It draws you in. It doesn't necessarily feel like a movie. In the same respect, I find it interesting that the collapse of the fourth wall doesn't take you out of the movie, as is usually the case. It actually brings you into it even more, which I think can be attributed to the over all style of the film.
I don't know. I'm kind of rambling at this point. I'll leave it at this: on the one hand, I did not enjoy this movie and would never recommend it. On the other, I found it very interesting/intelligent and would recommend it to a certain kind of person. That means this review is completely worthless and you'll have to decide for yourself if you want to watch it. If you do see it, let me know what you think.
Let me explain.
Funny Games U.S. is a shot for shot remake of an Austrian film of the same name (minus the U.S. part, obviously). It opens on a happy little family - Mother, Father, and Son - on their way to their luxurious lake house in a well-to-do gated community. They quickly run into two young men, who are "guests" of their neighbours. The young men climb over their fence to ask if they can borrow some eggs. After what seems like a painstakingly long conversation - just as you start to scream inside your head "GET OUT! Get them out!" - the father's leg is broken and the whole family is gagged and bound. The rest of the movie is a truly disturbing depiction of these people desperately trying to survive. It's not a fun movie to watch. You will not enjoy yourself. You will cringe. You'll feel disgusted. But, it's a well made movie. It's well written, it's beautifully acted and it's well shot.
I hated it.
But, not for the reasons you might think. The theatre I was in started with maybe sixteen people. By the end of the movie, at least a third of them had walked out. I think these people were turned off by the violence and by the nature of the story. I didn't necessarily mind that (though it bothered me (because I'm human)). What really got to me was the way the movie gets into your head. The plot of the movie revolves around these two sadistic kids playing "games" with this capture family. But, what you don't necessarily realize throughout the film is that these guys are really playing a game with you, the viewer. There are a couple of moments where the lead sadistic kid breaks the fourth wall and talks directly to the audience. Asking us "who's side are you on" and inviting you to take part in the bet. At another point, when you think there might actually be hope for the family, he tells you "neither of us want it to go this way". A subtle remark that could be taken as "neither of the young men" or "neither the young men nor the audience" (I'm arguing the later here). At the end of the movie the kid stares straight into the camera with this insanely sick smile and it's not until that moment that you realize you've lost. You sat through the whole movie. You watched them kill that family, and that's what they wanted. Maybe you even wanted them to kill that family. The whole time they are daring us to make them stop, to walk out, to keep it from happening. But, by sitting there and watching it, we let it happen. This is confounded by the fact that it's a remake. A shot for shot remake. It's not like you didn't know what you were getting yourself into, if only you took the time to find out. It's kind of hard to explain, and I don't feel I am necessarily doing a good job. It's the only movie I can think of that has actually made me feel violated. I felt tricked. And I felt dirty.
Maybe that's just me. Maybe everyone else who sees it won't think twice about it. But I thought it was an interesting psychological commentary. I mean, we're all voyeurs - these movies are made because we like to watch people get hurt (or wrecked, or blown up, or eaten by zombies). But this movie takes that to a whole knew level. It's too real in it's simplicity and straight forward approach. It draws you in. It doesn't necessarily feel like a movie. In the same respect, I find it interesting that the collapse of the fourth wall doesn't take you out of the movie, as is usually the case. It actually brings you into it even more, which I think can be attributed to the over all style of the film.
I don't know. I'm kind of rambling at this point. I'll leave it at this: on the one hand, I did not enjoy this movie and would never recommend it. On the other, I found it very interesting/intelligent and would recommend it to a certain kind of person. That means this review is completely worthless and you'll have to decide for yourself if you want to watch it. If you do see it, let me know what you think.
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