November 2011
3 posts
6 tags
"Sunshine" and "The Fountain" – On Spiritualism...
Sunshine, 2007, directed by Danny Boyle
The Fountain, 2006, directed by Darren Aronofsky
Danny Boyle’s “Sunshine” and Darren Aronofsky’s “The Fountain” are two strikingly spiritual films – the former more surprisingly than the latter – yet the conclusions of either film couldn’t be more different than the initial similarities they...
4 tags
In Defense of Digital Readers, and Not
via Poorly Drawn Lines
I recently finished Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall, a historical fiction documenting the rise of Thomas Cromwell in the court of King Henry VIII from 1500 to 1535 (quick Tudor history for those who hate dates as much as I do: things was around the time when Henry was trying to divorce Katherine so he could marry Anne Boleyn). Having borrowed the book a few months ago, I...
5 tags
Script Suggestion: TRON 3
Warning: huge amounts of spoiler below for the original TRON and TRON: Legacy movies
Whenever a movie disappoints me, I have a habit of brainstorming how it could have been improved after identifying what aspect didn’t quite meet my expectations – such is the case with TRON: Legacy. To be honest, I didn’t begin playing around with ideas until recently while I was watching a DIY video...
October 2011
2 posts
4 tags
"Contagion" and Zombies
Warning: spoilers below for the film Contagion
For the first half of geological time our ancestors were bacteria. Most creatures still are bacteria, and each one of our trillions of cells is a colony of bacteria.
Richard Dawkins
Halloween is around the corner and it’s appropriate that these days, zombies are on the rise given that vampires are now about sex or sparkles, rebooted...
2 tags
Steve Jobs: teaching us to be better consumers
“Stay hungry. Stay foolish.”
At the moment, I’ve only owned four Apple products: 3 iPods – a blue 6gig mini, a black 60gig classic, and my current blue 16gig 4th generation nano – and my white Macbook that I’ve had since April 2007. I’d like to believe my still-well-functioning Macbook is a testament to Apple’s business model, which has always aimed for...
September 2011
3 posts
3 tags
Scene Dissection: Harry Potter and the Deathly...
Realism, as usual, is simply a fig leaf for doing what you want. Virtually any technique can be justified as realistic according to some conception of what’s important in the scene. If you shoot the action cogently, with all the moves evident, that’s realistic because it shows you what’s “really” happening. If you shoot it awkwardly, that presentation is “realistically” reflecting what a...
3 tags
3D - the Illusion Ruiner
3D was never meant for movies.
If anything, 3D technology should be pursued for gaming. But movies? Every time I hear a 3D enthusiast insist that 3D enhances film, I feel like I’m hearing the equivalent of someone arguing under the right conditions – if you lived in an area where it mostly sun for the year, if you would willingly lay on your back and drove alone in a incredibly hot and...
4 tags
Soundtracks and Film
I discovered my love of movie soundtracks when I was fourteen years old. If memory hasn’t failed me it was the summer before I entered high school and, while my family and I were at the nearby science center exhibit for how movie’s are made, I stumbled upon the sound booth and put on the massive headphones to see what the exhibit was about.
What I heard was nothing like I’d...
August 2011
1 post
3 tags
Transformers: Dark of the Moon – A Review of the...
I’ll be upfront and say that I did not hate Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011). Foremost, hate is a strong word, and I only reserve it for anything that truly deserves that kind of disdain. Michael Bay’s newest blockbuster is far from good, but it certainly doesn’t deserve that hate label that many have left the theater dropping like seagulls on potato chips. No, I decided to...
July 2011
1 post
3 tags
Minority Report - Individual Autonomy vs...
Warning: this essay contains spoilers for the movie Minority Report.
You can’t run, John!
One of the fundamental questions Steven Spielberg’s Minority Report poses is whether or not individual autonomy weighs more than the collective good. This question is particularly apparent in the finale, which, albeit conclusive, roots itself on a rather open-ended question:
Why exactly was...
May 2011
1 post
7 tags
FLCL and Two Types of Suspense (alternative title:...
It took me awhile to finally get into FLCL, and only recently have I finished the acclaimed six part anime OVA that inspired the creators of the series Avatar: The Last Airbender. The first few viewing tries were unsuccessful, mostly because I couldn’t get past the ten minute mark without growing impatient or irritated. For some reason, whatever made the series so appealing to so many...
April 2011
1 post
2 tags
Dear Mr. Parsons
There are times in life where something is so bad, so utterly, terribly, outrageously bad that it is near impossible to react immediately afterwards. Such was the case a few weeks ago when I saw the video rant posted by Ms. Alexandra Wallace about Asians in the Library, and now again after reading this letter to the editor by a Mr. Jeffrey Parsons about Mr. Roger Ebert’s scathing review of...
6 tags
Sucker Punch - Postmortem
On Wednesday evening I sat down dead center, facing the giant IMAX projector. I was about twenty minutes early, and looking around I immediately noticed a jarring demographic that was primarily male, the occasional female friend here and there amongst groups of college to post-college men. The advertising for Sucker Punch had certainly hit its demographic mark.
Minutes passed and before I knew...
February 2011
2 posts
4 tags
For the Love of Animation – the Medium
Dear Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences,
If there is anything I’d like to see change in my lifetime, please for the love of Brad Bird, Sylvain Chomet, Satoshi Kon, Hayao Miyzaki, Nick Park, Andrew Stanton, Isao Takahata – please change that damn award category “Best Animated Picture” to “Best Animation for a Feature Length Film,” or even “Best...
3 tags
Falling in Love with an Idea ("Paprika" and...
One of the more subtle aspects of Satoshi Kon’s Paprika is the love triangle revolving around Chiba/Paprika (or love tetramer, depending on how you look at it). Three men are romantically interested in the central female figure – one for the idea of Paprika, one for the idea of Chiba, and one simply for the idea that shapes Chiba/Paprika.
Paprika is explicitly a dream about movies while...
January 2011
8 posts
2 tags
Why Stupid Parents should be Banned from Movie...
Maybe I’m being harsh, but the last straw of my patience snapped when I went to see The Social Network at the local theater last Saturday with my mother. The movie was a great experience – what ruined it was a small little girl who cried and wailed and thrashed and screamed throughout the entire movie.
I understand that it may be hard to get a babysitter, or that you may not get the...
4 tags
The Beautifully Quiet "Somewhere"
Who is Johnny Marco?
At one point a reporter asks the sullen actor this question as he slouches on a table during a press conference. He looks back, empty, unable to answer.
Such is the tone for Sophia Coppola’s Somewhere, perhaps her most personal film to date. It observes the life of a man who finds himself listless, oversaturated with the whoops and bells that is the Hollywood glamour...
Sunday Roundup – 1/16/11
Hello World,
Only a few hours upon writing this I finally (!!!) saw The Social Network with my mother at the local dollar theater, and I can definitely see why the film is considered one of the best of the year (I’ve heard people say it’s the first best film of the century, but I’m hesitant to voice such an opinion having only seen a handful of lauded films up until now...
6 tags
The Playful and Ephemeral Opening of "Paprika"
I rewatched Paprika not too long ago (within a week’s time period, I believe) and couldn’t get over how visually astounding and beautifully done the opening sequence was animated. It establishes the feel and aesthetic of the film in a mere two minutes, introducing us to the lovely and bubbly Paprika and her physical (?) counterpart Atsuko without saying anything. There’s a...
3 tags
Why our Vietnamese Mother kicks your "Chinese"...
After seeing multiple people link this essay by Yale Law professor Amy Chua called “Why Chinese Mothers are Superior,” I finally rolled out of bed this morning and read through the WSJ bit. Unsurprisingly the essay effectively reinforced ethnic and cultural stereotypes; what caught my attention, however, is the fervor in which Ms. Chua writes and explains cultural differences all of...
1 tag
Sunday Roundup – 1/9/11
Watch the trailer for Tokyo Godfathers here.
Hello World,
I haven’t been able to get back into my regular writing schedule this past week, so I apologize for that. Personal matters have gotten the worse of me but I’m hoping they will resolve themselves soon; for now, I have taken great solace in the work of the late Satoshi Kon, primarily Paprika and more recently Tokyo...
Out of Commission
Sorry world, I won’t be able to meet Tuesday’s quota. Personal issues have taken hold and I need to spend some me time before I can get back on track with everything else in my life. However, do take the time to read wordgame’s “The Illusionist.” It’s a wonderful bit that echoes a lot of beautifully melancholic points. I hope to be back by Thursday.
– Q. Le
1 tag
Sunday Roundup – 1/2/11
Courtesy of this link: http://www.slashfilm.com/toy-story-3-oscar-ad-campaign/
Hello there! I’m excited to say that to kick off the new year, I recently finished my 100th tumblr entry this past Friday right before the clock ticked from good ol’ 2010 to spankin’ new 2011 with a new tumblr layout. Again, thanks to everyone who’s been reading all these times. I really...
December 2010
13 posts
17 tags
The Nature of a Comic Strip
Calvin and Hobbes was the first comic series I truly remember reading when I was still a kid. Me, my brothers and mum used to bunch together in the bookstore and giggle incessantly at Bill Watterson’s jokes, the cleverness and absurdity that one boy and his tiger could endeavor upon in the course of four panels and the Sunday special. Calvin and Hobbes effectively opened up my world to...
3 tags
Capes
After seeing multiple commercials for NBC’s upcoming series The Cape, I can’t help but imagine the hissy fit Edna Mode would have if the writers had pitched the premise to her.
3 tags
"Knocked Up," "Revolutionary Road," and Fracking...
For nearly two weeks I have repeatedly sat down at my computer staring aimlessly, hoping for a shred of writing inspiration as the digital clock ticks away, minute by minute, second by second. Multiple drafts have come and go, ideas still circulating within my skull as I try and figure out why Darren Aronofsky and Satoshi Kon have similar and dissimilar directing styles, or why Nolan’s...
1 tag
Sunday Roundup – 12/26/10
My post-Christmas movie.
Hello!
To comedically explain why I didn’t meet my Thursday quota, here’s a video link my friend Justin sent me after seeing my exclamations of fatigue!
More honestly though, I’m a bit burnt out: after traveling back home to be with family and the road tripping subsequently, Christmas Eve and Day approached faster than a TARDIS traveling in the...
7 tags
TRON: Legacy
I had the good fortune of watching TRON: Legacy this past weekend in IMAX 3D, which is probably the best way to watch any film that is otherwise being shown primarily in 3D (otherwise you can call yourself ripped off by what is otherwise a marketing gimmick). Just a year ago I saw some sneak peek clips and pictures of the film, and was blown away by the sheer design of the costumes and sets. At...
1 tag
Sunday Roundup – 12/19/10
How I feel most of the time these day…
Hello world! I am up in a cabin with my family and cousins in Big Bear for a three day snowboarding/skiing trip! The internet is a big jaunty here so there’s a chance I may not have good enough internet to get Tuesday’s post up, but if I can I shall indeedly so!
As I have been writing this the internet has cut multiple times (I count...
3 tags
Pokemon for Microbiology
…
…
I promise tomorrow I’ll have some real writing up. I’ll just need to get some sleep s’all.
4 tags
"Inception" for Statistics
Sometimes when I’m extremely fatigued, my mind ends up piecing together things that otherwise have no relationship to one another. Not in the least bit. In fact, the correlation coefficient r would either be less than -1 or greater than 1, and then Leonardo DiCaprio would shoot me in the head to wake me up, or at least shut me up because at that point I’d be the annoying...
1 tag
Sunday Roundup – 12/12/10
No Q&A this week! This upcoming week will be pretty bad schedule wise, but I’ll try and get something up on Tuesday and Thursday. But if you’d like, check out this Tim Burton TIFF Bell Lightbox commercial bit. Or even the fact that Maru is in a commercial bit because he is a cat god like that. Or play patty cake. Or learn how to traumatize your kid into getting over insomnia. Or...
8 tags
In Regards to "The Other"
*Note to all regular readers who are not tumblr users: Tumblr recently suffered from a major outage due to some database issues, rendering all tumblr blogs inaccessible for nearly 24hrs beginning Sunday, December 5th at 6pm E.S.T. Luckily, none of my previous entries have been loss, but I do apologize to anyone trying to access this blog during the database maintenance.
Having watched Black...
1 tag
Sunday Roundup – 12/5/10
On Friday, I played soccer with a bunch of friends for the first time in six years. The tendonitis in my left knee swelled up, my legs hurt from all the sprinting, and I kept tripping over myself because I wore running shoes instead of cleats. Today, I watched Black Swan even though I ended up being a row away from the screen, and on the side of the theater for the matter (which I will likely be...
4 tags
Why Rated-G doesn't mean Stupid
Having just re-watched Wallace and Gromit and the Curse of the Were-Rabbit, I was reminded that rated G films and programs do not need to entail idiotic gags that cater to the stupidest of stupid. Like Sesame Street, Classic Disney and more recently Pixar, Nick Park and Aardman Animation have proven again and again that just because you’re aiming for a G-rating doesn’t mean your jokes can’t be...
5 tags
Be Human
To be real is to be mortal; to be human is to love, to dream and to perish.
- A. O. Scott
There’s been a lot of buzz on the internet lately post-The Social Network about whether or not the internet is a bane to our humanity. Enthusiast say it allows connection beyond physical limits, and that it is democracy in the dark; detractors say it allows us to release innate bestial behavior that...
November 2010
11 posts
1 tag
Sunday Roundup - 11/28/10
“Me know that many of you think of me as cookie eating fanatic, bordering on glutton.”
This Thanksgiving has been a great experience, family and all. As per usual my immediate and extended family has a habit of mixing American and Vietnamese food all onto the same table (fried rice and pumpkin pie? bomb!) and otherwise, I had a fantastic time – so let’s hope another TSA body...
6 tags
What's in an adaptation?
Having recently watched Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 twice, I sat down to think about some key aspects in a movie adaptation from a book. The visuals were spectacular as expected – director David Yates has become well established in the Potter franchise for dazzling us with colorful action and beautiful landscapes – but in the end, are the cuts to J.K. Rowling’s narrative...
4 tags
Synecdoche, New York – Part I of Analysis
Synecdoche (pronounced /sɪˈnɛkdəkiː/; from Greek synekdoche (συνεκδοχή), meaning “simultaneous understanding”) is a figure of speech[1]in which a term is used in one of the following ways:
Part of something is used to refer to the whole thing (Pars pro toto), or
A thing (a “whole”) is used to refer to part of it (Totum pro parte), or
A specific class of thing is used...
1 tag
Sunday Roundup – 11/21/10
You may have noticed I didn’t post anything for Thursday, for which I have a rather simple explanation:
I was worn out and didn’t want to write a mediocre blog again.
So I took the weekend to refresh and recover from a minor cold, as well as to watch Synecdoche, New York (2008); The Losers (2010); and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 – in IMAX!
A few blurbs on HP7:
...
5 tags
"Monsters" – A Cinematic Defiance of Genre...
Gareth Edwards’ Monsters defies genre conventions much in the same vein The Host did back in 2006. It outrages fans of rampant, ravenous beast and excessive gore by going back to classical aspects of fear, where the worst dread is not the cause itself but the anticipation of the cause becoming present.
Looking at the Rotten Tomatoes consensus, I see that it describes the film as...
1 tag
Sunday Roundup – 11/14/10
Sorry for the delay. I slept in until 12pm, then until 4pm because I wasn’t feeling well (plus I wanted to use the term “lazy sunday” for describe a day). I received some great feedback this week, as well as some great reading links:
• The Insanity Virus – there’s recent evidence that diseases like schizophrenia and multiple sclerosis are not caused by bad genes, but by...
5 tags
Alzheimer's and Algernon
If there was one disease that was truly terrifying from a philosophical perspective, Alzheimer’s is an indisputable contender. Neurodegenerative, the disease slowly but surely robs victims of their dignity, destroying the very essence that years of invaluable experience culminated into.
Philosophy takes for granted that the human condition cannot meteorite: presumably our minds continue...
7 tags
Scene Dissection - Haru Introduction from "The Cat...
There’s a common conception that anime productions tend to take short cuts in order to reach deadlines and keep costs to a minimum, thus resulting in rather minimal facial and body expressions as well as jumpy animation as a whole. This isn’t entirely unfounded – I’m sure many of you have had your share of anime where the production team very obviously ran out of money – and...
1 tag
Sunday Roundup – 11/7/10
“As the CoFK approaches 0, productivity goes negative as you pull OTHER people into chair-spinning contests” – courtesy xkcd
I had a bit of a crazy week after having drank over 480mg of caffeine from energy drinks for the first time in over five years (I went cold turkey on energy drinks and had sworn I’d only, and ONLY drink them in the case of a dire, dire emergency – ironic...
10 tags
The Cat Returns (猫の恩返し）ー A Lovely, Absolutely...
If you find yourself troubled by something mysterious or a problem that’s hard to solve, there’s a place you can go, a place where…
There are few movies that are so lovely, so absolutely lovely that you simply can’t find anything negative to say about them once the credits begin to roll in. Studio Ghibli’s The Cat Returns is such a film, and I recently had the good...
13 tags
Time of Eve (イヴの時間) - A Exploration of Our...
In lieu of my discussion on “Ghosting,” a few weeks ago Allan Estrella recommended Time of Eve, commenting that the story was exceptional in exploring human behavior with respect to artificial beings – specifically robots and androids, or artificial “ghosts.”
The premise is this: in the (likely) future of Japan, androids have become as commercial as the cell phone and...
October 2010
15 posts
1 tag
Sunday Roundup – 10/31/10
Happy Halloween! (and Happy Birthday older brother! I’m sure your Catholic OBGYN is having a hayday right now…) I saw The Gorillaz perform yesterday, which was pretty sweet - plus I bought a T-shirt, so now I’m officially part of the awesome group :)
There’s no Q&A this week because I was effectively out of commission this week (ironically, the rain decided to stop...
Sick
It’s been raining quite a bit this past week, and with sniffles getting passed around I invariably ended up getting a bit of a cold, and thus resulted in me missing Thursday’s update. I apologize for the mishap, and plan to use this (Hallo)weekend to recover and get back on track.
- Q. Le
4 tags
Ricky Gervais – You Funny Bastard, You
Man: Why don’t you want to go to Africa?
Goat: Umm… lions?
Man: Come on, why don’t you want to Africa?
Goat: Uh… AIDS?
Man: Well that shouldn’t affect you.
Goat: It shouldn’t …
– Ricky Gervais at “A Night of Too Many Stars 2010: Charity for Autism Education”
If there was one comedian that demonstrated the brilliance of British humor, I’d...