This is greybean.com version 5.0 (codename: keaton).
The live redesign is currently 8% complete.
Archive Page 2
Even more fun than actually going to the annual Xmas Movie, is the months-long nomination and selection process of said Xmas Movie. Normally. This year—the fourteenth year of the Xmas Movie, by the way—was a different story. Not that there’s a lack of good movies in theatres right now, but the three of us just couldn’t seem to come to an agreement about which movie to see. There are criteria at work during the selection process. We try to strive for something light (which rules out Munich and Syriana and movies like those) and not terribly taxing on the brain (ruling out those same movies, coincidentally). We try to pick a movie that hits theatres in December (so we aren’t sick of hearing about it by the time we see it), and one, usually, which is getting good reviews, or which has some characteristic which predetermines our interest in it.
As you know, we have historically had poor luck when it comes to the Xmas Movie. They’re normally pretty crappy. This year we spent a long time arguing about three different movies that met our criteria, and which seemed like strong candidates to actually not suck, with one of us objecting to each one. Alisia was totally opposed to The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe; NEM was totally opposed to King Kong (2005); and I was totally opposed to Brokeback Mountain (tending not to be interested in A. stories set in the midwest and B. stories about cowboys). Having given up on those three films, we started looking at more middle-of-the-road-type cinematic fare. Movies like The Family Stone and Rumor Has It…. Blah. Sounds like the crap we normally go to, right?
But, really, my theory has always been that it matters not what a movie’s about, as long as it’s good. Everything is interesting if you pay attention. And I’m sick of going to movies that I can’t even remember three weeks after xmas. I’d rather hate the movie than just be numbed by it.
So, I gave in and Brokeback Mountain was the official selection. And, boy, am I glad it was. Here are the brass tacks: this is the best movie love story I’ve seen in a long, long time. Probably since The Piano (1993). It’s probably significant that all three of us were crying at the end of the film. It’s probably even more significant that I could cry again right now if I thought about it enough.
Here is, through this year, the all-time ranking of Xmas Movies, from best to worst (there have been fifteen Xmas Movies over fourteen years), in my not-so-humble opinion:
There’s finally a full trailer out for Pixar’s Cars (2006). Check it out.
This is, of course, the first iteration of this year’s template, and this is definitely a proprietary image, but I wanted to show it off anyway, ’cause I like it:
That’s it.
That’s the spirit.
Thank you for your honesty.
Now fuck off and die,
You fucked up slag.
Okay, kids, here it finally is. This site has been aching for the assistance of a content management system for, literally, years longer than there has been such a thing. So, now it has one.
Welcome, officially, to greybean.com v4.5 lite. I’m leaving the ‘lite’ moniker attached despite the fact that this site is already much more richly concentrated with information than it’s ever been. It just doesn’t have the same sort of useless bells and whistles that it has in the past.
The site is powered by WordPress, an open source, and very powerful, CMS. Its look, feel and functionality are based on Michael Heilemann’s incredibly popular Kubrick theme. Expect the look of the site to change semi-frequently over the next few weeks or months as I learn more about WordPress, Kubrick, PHP and CSS. I’ll put up a more detailed colophon in the very near future.
So, what does all of this really mean?
As you may have seen, the cover art for Criterion’s The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou DVDs hit the internet this week, and I found myself terribly disappointed with it. And that got me thinking about just how good Criterion’s covers always are.
The Criterion Collection covers are consistently hands down the best in the industry. There’s no other studio who so willingly eschews commerciality (read: star headshots, standard poster art–usually with star headshots superimposed, taglines and the like) in the interest of compelling design. This might be related to how low the commercial value of some of Criterion’s product is, but it usually follows through to their more widely known titles as well. Here, let me do a little comparison for you of Criterion cover designs and their corresponding Hollywood studio designs (and I’ll just use bigger, more commercial titles to better illustrate my point). The major studio’s art is on the left, Criterion’s on the right:
Okay, here’s a quick rundown of what’s happened since my last update: 1. I started school full-time at Paier College of Art in Hamden, 2. I quit my job (sort of), 3. my dad’s been in and out of the hospital (he’s out right now), 4. I got married (twice) and 5. I had my honeymoon (sort of). Not too shabby, right? And tomorrow I start my new (sort of) job.
Uhh, there’re pictures of the wedding for your perusal. It was basically perfect. Which I didn’t think was possible. I mean, we did cut the wrong cake, but I don’t think that really matters.