a happy home

So this is what my apartment will one day look like. I got so ridiculously excited when I saw it. I think it gives me false hope that I'll manage to somehow make it so that all my things don't just look like clutter. See, my enjoyment of simple aesthetics doesn't quite outweigh my desire for material objects. Thus, I collect... pretty much everything. I started doing this thing where I rotate all my knick knacks on display. Like a museum.

Seriously, I go crazy when I find rooms like this. I like: unique artwork, mismatched furniture (that somehow go together), brightly painted bookshelves and lamps (etc), and white sofas. And books-- this room is an inspiration alone because of the number of books it holds. Simply lovely.

I also love this person's house. Just give me a bunch of random shit and I'm in heaven.

So I know it's a little early, but the Web Wednesday of the week is apartmentthearapy.com because I am absolutely obsessed with that site.

a sure thing

Can many people still say they’re a Will Smith fan? Yea, he’s literally the biggest movie star in the world (and he’s worked hard for that). Yes, we all love him and think he's a good guy. Most importantly, he is as close to a sure thing as possible in terms of movie blockbusters. The Fourth of July: BBQs, fireworks, and a Will Smith movie. We know we will be entertained. Perhaps even enthralled. Cool one-liners, big explosions. Hoo-Rah. Exciting stuff!

Yet… watching his movies has become more of a habit than anything else. We don’t fervently YouTube clips from his movies the weeks leading up to the premiere. We don’t eagerly covet the DVD to add to our collection. The buzz around his films have nowhere to go but down after the opening weekend. We know that the big screen will provide adequate entertainment for a couple of hours, but beyond that, once the lights go up in the theater, Will Smith will reside in the back of our minds until next summer.

He tried, and succeeded to some extent, in changing our perception of him with In the Pursuit of Happiness. But you know, none of us really doubted his talent to begin with, so the whole undertaking seems kind of moot in the end.

And now, with Hancock, well, here was something that could have been interesting. Since I haven’t actually seen the movie, I won’t attempt to review it, uh, obviously. I can’t help but feel, however, that Hancock is already a disappointment.

It’s one of the first movies of his in a while that had the potential to bomb. Will is a superhero—but he’s a sucky person. Alcoholic, grumpy, mean. Possibly adulterous. (You know, if anyone could pull that off and still manage to be likeable at the end of the film, it’d be Will.) The movie is meant to be a dark satire on the superhero genre… but then with The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man, Hellboy, and The Dark Knight coming out this summer, satire and dark comedy doesn’t seem like it’d sell very well. The Fourth of July is for family-fun entertainment, dammit. So I think it could have bombed, in terms of blockbuster standards.

If it had stayed true to the original script, that is.

Will Smith was really taking a risk with this one. How long had the script been floating around, as something that was brilliant, but could never be made into a movie? (A while.) How many re-writes did it have to have? (Many.) How many directors? (A lot) How many scenes needed to be cut to bring it down to a PG-13 rating? (Uh… you get the point.) Somehow, in the end, the studio managed to turn Hancock, the alcoholic antihero, into an acceptable face to put on kids’ lunch boxes.

So what started out as a risky endeavor will never actually make it to the theaters. Even the trailer makes it more about the funny fluff than substance. (Though I will argue, that whale throwing scene and making a little girl cry is really pretty dark stuff if you think about it. It’s amazing what zippy shots and bombastic music in a trailer can do.)

With great risk comes great rewards. While the movie is now a sure hit in terms of dollars, a rated R Will Smith movie could have been really fascinating. With the amount of scenes reportedly cut, it’s amazing if the story still manages to be coherent, which I guess is something in itself, yet it’s frustrating that it could be so much more.

This weekend, Will Smith will be the awesome action hero we all know and love, and millions will go see him (myself included). I’ll enjoy it, I’m sure, but in the back of my mind, I’ll keep thinking about what could have been.

the event

Just in case you didn't know I was a total geek.

Mark your calendar for July 15th!

A trailer, for your convenience: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ITD03IcRIs

the cutting edge

I'm a cheap person. I steal napkins from McDonalds. When I go grocery shopping, I compare the unit price of items to make sure I'm maximizing my spending dollars (I don't remember how much that bag of cookies cost, but I know each individual one is worth 8.2 cents).

But there are some things I think are worth paying for. Like car washes or going to hair salons without the words "super" or "cuts" in the title. And now, I add to that list, Venus razors. [Or other brand equivalents. I'm not picky.]

Because that extra blade apparently makes ALL the difference between heaven and hell for my legs.

So this discovery came at the cost of my frugalness. I was doing that unit price compare thing at the grocery store the other day and Daisy razors happened to be like 10 cents cheaper. Usually I'd buy Venus anyway, but I always thought razors are overpriced in general (they make the handles so excessively nice for a product you throw away after a week), so I thought, why the hell not try a Daisy? Can't be that much worse, right?!

God! I never realized how spoiled I was with the Venus! The pillowy head would glide over my skin and the triple blade actions would cut smooth and close, leaving me stubble-free for a day or two. Never any nicks.

But this cheap, pink contraption? Inferior in every way and feeling dull half-way through the first usage. It scrapes along unwillingly, leaving your legs feeling itchy and not nearly as smooth after, even with generous amounts of shaving cream. The lack of contouring really makes shaving your knees a nightmare, too. Crazy!

Easier and Better? I don't think so, Daisy.

Like I said, some things, you just can't skimp on.

And since it's Wednesday:



Enjoy!

And stop procrastinating so you can get your stuff done. Or rent "The Cutting Edge" (1992). I promise, 100 minutes well spent if you're looking for a light, summer distraction.

the summer day

“The Summer Day”
Mary Oliver

Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean—
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down—
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don’t know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn’t everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
With your one wild and precious life?

the sequel: part 2

Remember The Fast and the Furious way back when? And then they had that sequel which sucked even more. And Vin Disel was too big of a star for it? And then they had the third movie, set in Tokyo with no one famous in it, to spice things up?

Well, number four's coming out next summer, cleverly named Fast and Furious. With the original cast in all it's glory. Hooray. I guess Vin Disel wasn't too busy making The Pacifier 2 or anything.

School of Rock might have a sequel too.

In the words of brilliantly bizarre David Lynch: "In a way, there's no original ideas -- it's just the ideas that you caught."

Doesn't mean you can't keep trying to catch interesting ideas, Hollywood.

But then again, I am insanely excited for The Dark Knight, so what can I say.

Did I listen to pop music because I was miserable? Or was I miserable because I listened to pop music?

the greatest love of all

So today I watched Aladdin (1992) on the Toon Disney channel. Classic.

I notice that the moral of kids movies are usually the same: Be Yourself. It's the lesson at the end of the last 3 children's movies I've seen-- Penelope, Camp Rock (shut up, you want to watch it too), and Aladdin. Love yourself even though you: have a pig's nose/ are the cook's daughter (?!?)/ are a street rat. It seems that after all these years, no matter what the movies say, we still have a big self-acceptance problem.

You know, people always tell you to just be yourself, but what they really mean is to be your best self. See, Penelope's only problem is her nose (and ears). They make her slightly less cute. But despite her life imprisonment, she is surprisingly well-adjusted and cheerful-- she's a cool, talented, rich girl. So liking herself the way she is... well, we all like her too, already. I won't even touch the ridiculousness of Camp Rock. And Aladdin is a diamond in the rough. That kid goes into a cave full of gold and isn't tempted by any of it? That takes character. Aladdin's so awesome, he can win the heart of a princess. So why the hell wouldn't he want to be himself?

The problem these characters have are always exaggerated or too remote to real problems people face when they're labeled as weird or different.

It's not a bad message to put in movies, but the reason why no one listens to it, and consequently, why it keeps popping up in movies, is because once you exit the theater/living room, you're bombarded once again by reminders of how inadequate you really are. Out of the twelve issues 17 magazine puts out a year, 8 of them have a "Make-over tips!" headline on the cover. The other 4 tell you how to look hot, fun, pretty, and fashionable. You have a wonderful personality, as long as you're happy and nice and talented and come in a pretty package.

It's probably part of human nature; we're always striving to be better, faster, stronger, younger, richer.... And really, it's not always such a bad thing. I think you should always strive to be a better person (while of course being okay with yourself when you slip up along the way).

Kids, I'll tell you what I think the moral of a story should be. Be yourself. Love yourself. Because you are a cool and unique person. And just don't let it bother you if the "unique" side of you outweighs your "cool" portion. Get used to it kids, people aren't always nice as adults either.

If it helps, take Whit's words of wisdom (ooo, alliteration!):

The greatest love of all
Is easy to achieve
Learning to love yourself
It is the greatest love of all

That song... so catchy, so true.