![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Entry tags:
Spring Season: Weeks 47/48
I don't know if the last few weeks of work have TRULY been worse than most, or if I'm just finally getting burnt out from the lack of proper sleep, but uuuuuuuuugh. I've gotten fuck all done (save, you know, actual work, ew) for another shift in a row, just overwhelmed with paperwork and customers and organization and bleh. I hate it! I hate it. It's a new year and I want to tag.
There's a hint of lighter night sky at the horizon when I walk to work in the mornings now! I made it through the dead of winter, now I just gotta ride out the back half and enjoy the ever-increasing scraps of daylight thrown to me, om nom nom nom. It has been pretty cold, but it's warming up again in time for my week off to boot!
Back to feeling discouraged about weight loss stuff, mainly due to an offhand comment from my mom that really got under my skin?? Which is very stupid and I'm trying very hard to forget about it, but ugh. I was feeling really good about myself before it, nothing has changed, and yet. It's probably more of a combination of factors that I'm blaming on my mom, honestly, work stress and my period just ending are kind of a perfect storm for binge eating and carrying a few extra pounds of water weight, hopefully I'll feel better on my week off.
I should start doing yoga again. I just really hate physical exertion until it's over and THEN I feel good. Everything until then is such a forever struggle.
Movie spoiler zone! Gonna have to keep things brief this week (at least until I inevitably ramble about wrestling for too long), I'm really up against the wire in terms of free time here today. Themes for the period included Alain Delon, Mia Hansen-Løve, Ron Mann, Stephen Cone, the Australian New Wave, and WAY too much Bill Plympton.
FILMS
The Big Country (1958): Possibly the most beautifully boring movie I've ever seen, I just love LOOKING at this thing, every frame is a work of art, so well composed that it feels more three dimensional than... idk, 3D movies? It feels like VR, shots go in all directions, across all planes, and I just don't see anything like it anywhere else. Fuckin' Wyler, man!
Le cercle rouge (1970): Hnnnnnnnng love me a good, long, wordless heist sequence.
The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith (1978): Colonialism is a hell of a drug. I don't know how to feel about a movie that made me feel satisfaction for the guy axe murdering a bunch of women and children?
Cheatin' (2013): Loved the really... idk, textured animation here? A hard one to look away from, even for a moment. And it's nice to see a dialogue-free story that still takes the pains to make the sound/voicework essential to the storytelling. Actual story was... questionable at best.
Comic Book Confidential (1988): Shallow but flashy and ultimately fun. A few worthwhile interviews, but it gets real bogged down in underground comix circle jerking in the back half.
Le Père de mes enfants (2009): Wish it didn't take half the movie to get to what it's really about, because that part of it is quite good.
Un flic (1972): Michael Conrad's presence in this movie always throws me for some reason. It's all these iconic French actors, and then also Esterhaus from Hill Street Blues is there?? Also HNNNNNNNNNNNG LOVE ME A GOOD, LONG, MOSTLY WORDLESS HEIST SEQUENCE.
The Girl on a Motorcycle (1968): Look, sometimes you just need to get home from work and watch some stupid nonsense because it has very attractive people in it, okay?
Un amour de jeunesse (2011): Self-absorbed, overdramatic children in love turn into self-absorbed, overdramatic young adults out of it. A very well done film that was fundamentally uninteresting to me on nearly every single level. Also, I spent the whole thing wondering why the lead was so familiar, only to go on Letterboxd and realize I'd seen this movie before and straight up had zero recollection of any of it. That should probably say it all.
Henry Gamble's Birthday Party (2015): I watched this right after The Wise Kids, and uh, sensed a few VERY SUBTLE THEMES running through Cone's work, here. Guess he didn't get all of his fucked up gay/mega religious upbringing issues out with the first one. Christ I hate so many of these people so very much.
Hair High (2004): Has its moments, but my attention wandered a lot. Though maybe I was just trying to distract myself from all the gore/body horror, which was a bit much even for me.
I Married a Strange Person! (1997): Incessantly horny bullshit.
Idiots and Angels (2008): Nice to see a less distorted/aggressively ugly style in feature length Plympton for a change. Excellent use of music.
Imagine the Sound (1981): I imagine you have to like free jazz to get much out of this, but I do so we good.
John McEnroe: In the Realm of Perfection (2018): My interest in sports documentaries ranks slightly below my interest in sports, an amount too small to easily calculate. This was genuinely great, though?? Physicality, psychology, and filmmaking, all wrapped up in a brisk, compelling package. PS: Christ, what an asshole.
Money Movers (1978): Brutal little slice of crime. Violent, grimy, good fun, done on the cheap.
Mutant Aliens (2001): Excellent animation in service of a thoroughly unpleasant watch.
Newsfront (1978): Can't tell if this was super boring or I just had too much on my mind when I watched it, womp womp.
Ordinary People (1980): Pure impeccable performance. Gonna have to give this one another watch at some point, because it really was great but I just wasn't in the right headspace for something so devoid of action.
Personal Problems Volume 1 (1980): Long, lingering slices of life. Liked this one a lot.
Personal Problems Volume 2 (1980): I think it might low-key be a masterpiece? Visible boom mics and all.
Poetry in Motion (1982): I can't really truck with poetry as a general rule, but the anthology format and diversity of approaches made this an easy pill to swallow, a few truly 'fuck right off' annoying segments aside.
Princess Cyd (2017): How the FUCK did Katie's prom tux fit her, she's got like a foot on her?? Cavity-inducing queer sweetness. Just delightful.
Rafiki (2018): Beautiful. Kinda wish I'd watched it before Princess Cyd, though, so I could end on the conflict-free lesbian romance with the happy ending instead of this downer-but-with-hope-for-the-future one.
Rocco e i suoi fratelli (1960): Gonna have to accept that this is one of those 'all time greats' that just pisses me off more than anything else. Fuck Rocco, fuck 50-75% of his brothers, and fuck their garbage mother, too.
Sunday Too Far Away (1975): "A hard-drinking but hard-working gun shearer leads a group of Outback sheep herders into striking after wealthy landowners attempt to drive them from their territory." Every bit as enthralling as that synopsis made it sound. Woof.
L'avenir (2016): January taught me that Hansen-Løve is an absolute master of sensitive, nuanced interpersonal portraits that completely fail to engage me on any level.
The Tune (1992): Ah, yes, the three emotions: pleasure, pain, and pasta. Quite the representation of the creative process, this. Would be much more charming without the smattering of gross racial stereotypes sprinkled through it.
Twist (1992): Goddamn, the '50s were kind to uncoordinated white people. Shame about all the racism. It's pretty much impossible not to at LEAST do some serious chair dancing throughout this thing, best part was the 50/60-year-old Parkettes TEARING IT THE FUCK UP over the credits.
Unrelated (2007): Still very boring, tiny Hiddles still very hot, probably not great that this is my favourite Hogg film?
La veuve Couderc (1971): Still good, and the ridiculously over-the-top ending isn't nearly as jarring when you know it's coming all along. It also makes the rest of the movie much sadder, though!
The Wise Kids (2011): Weird Jesus teens are truly the same all over, huh.
SHORTS
25 Ways to Quit Smoking (1989): 14 and 18 worked best for my mom. Shame about the super gross racist one really wrecking the fun vibes towards the end!
Across My Land (2017): Amurrca.
Beigels Already (1992): byegles
The Chicken (2020): Verrrrry interesting. I liked it. Hard to pinpoint anything concrete about it after one viewing, though. It's just neat!
The Cow Who Wanted to Be a Hamburger (2010): Don't we all just want to be a Happy Burger in the end?
The Devil's Harmony (2019): The weirdest, most beautiful revenge of the nerds story I have ever seen. Just fantastic. Choir kids rise up!
Diddly Squat (2020): This thing is operating on a whole different level, and it's not one that I'm sure I want to be on.
The Fan and the Flower (2005): Really, really lovely. I wish Plympton would animate other people's work more often.
Guard Dog (2004): HE IS TRYING HIS BEST
Guide Dog (2006): HE IS TRYING HIS BEST
Hot Dog (2008): HE IS TRYING HIS BEST!!!!!
Horn Dog (2009): relatable dating concerns
Legal Smuggling with Christine Choy (2016): Very charming. Loved the style here. Gosh, am I glad I never started smoking.
Mystery (2011): Far too opaque for my liking, but, well, at least they labeled it properly. Visually striking if nothing else.
Six Shooter (2004): There are aspects of McDonagh's work that leave a bad taste in my mouth, but there are few things I enjoy more in the actual viewing. What a great ride.
Why Can't We Get Along (2018): Pointless artsy bullshit, but also, I love everyone in this bar, so.
TELEVISION
AEW Dark 3x03/3x04: I love how this show just completely exploded in size right after the initial lockdown. They really need a second proper show if they want to keep signing people, the roster is just WAY too big for everyone to get their shit in as it is. More focus on newbies this week, which was neat; I wonder if this Johnson/Solow pairing will be enough enough to get them out of permajobber status at some point. It worked for Pillman and Garrison? At least Lee finally got the first win of his AEW career, even if was in the ridiculous Walk-Off instead of an actual wrestling match. Dude is fine as hell, he deserved it~
AEW Dynamite 3x03/3x04: Still trying to come up with a way to break this up so it's not just a giant wall of text:
IMPACT! Wrestling (December 12th 2020 - January 26th 2021): Bit the biz cliz and just... committed myself to watching all of Impact for now, I guess? Like, seven episodes of the show and two pay-per-views this time around to get all caught up? To be clear, I DO NOT GO HERE, but while I could always just look up the AEW-relevant bits after the fact, that just feels... mean, somehow. It's a fine promotion, with fine wrestlers! So I've been putting it on in the background while I do other things so I can passively absorb it and then pay attention when somebody I care about shows up. I'm picking up the crossover tie-in books even though I don't normally read the comic, basically. And at least these guys do mixed tag matches, I REQUIRE MORE INTERGENDER WRESTLING IN MY LIFE.
Riverdale 5x01/5x02: lol jesus fucking christ i can't believe i'm doing this to myself again
WandaVision 1x03/1x04: GOOD THINGS ALSO EXIST, THOUGH. I feel like all my speculation is scattered across a bunch of different Discord servers and conversations, but there is a LOT of it, and I LOVE it. Those aspect ratio changes, man. Gets me every time. Jimmy Woo Agents of Atlas show when???
There's a hint of lighter night sky at the horizon when I walk to work in the mornings now! I made it through the dead of winter, now I just gotta ride out the back half and enjoy the ever-increasing scraps of daylight thrown to me, om nom nom nom. It has been pretty cold, but it's warming up again in time for my week off to boot!
Back to feeling discouraged about weight loss stuff, mainly due to an offhand comment from my mom that really got under my skin?? Which is very stupid and I'm trying very hard to forget about it, but ugh. I was feeling really good about myself before it, nothing has changed, and yet. It's probably more of a combination of factors that I'm blaming on my mom, honestly, work stress and my period just ending are kind of a perfect storm for binge eating and carrying a few extra pounds of water weight, hopefully I'll feel better on my week off.
I should start doing yoga again. I just really hate physical exertion until it's over and THEN I feel good. Everything until then is such a forever struggle.
Movie spoiler zone! Gonna have to keep things brief this week (at least until I inevitably ramble about wrestling for too long), I'm really up against the wire in terms of free time here today. Themes for the period included Alain Delon, Mia Hansen-Løve, Ron Mann, Stephen Cone, the Australian New Wave, and WAY too much Bill Plympton.
FILMS
The Big Country (1958): Possibly the most beautifully boring movie I've ever seen, I just love LOOKING at this thing, every frame is a work of art, so well composed that it feels more three dimensional than... idk, 3D movies? It feels like VR, shots go in all directions, across all planes, and I just don't see anything like it anywhere else. Fuckin' Wyler, man!
Le cercle rouge (1970): Hnnnnnnnng love me a good, long, wordless heist sequence.
The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith (1978): Colonialism is a hell of a drug. I don't know how to feel about a movie that made me feel satisfaction for the guy axe murdering a bunch of women and children?
Cheatin' (2013): Loved the really... idk, textured animation here? A hard one to look away from, even for a moment. And it's nice to see a dialogue-free story that still takes the pains to make the sound/voicework essential to the storytelling. Actual story was... questionable at best.
Comic Book Confidential (1988): Shallow but flashy and ultimately fun. A few worthwhile interviews, but it gets real bogged down in underground comix circle jerking in the back half.
Le Père de mes enfants (2009): Wish it didn't take half the movie to get to what it's really about, because that part of it is quite good.
Un flic (1972): Michael Conrad's presence in this movie always throws me for some reason. It's all these iconic French actors, and then also Esterhaus from Hill Street Blues is there?? Also HNNNNNNNNNNNG LOVE ME A GOOD, LONG, MOSTLY WORDLESS HEIST SEQUENCE.
The Girl on a Motorcycle (1968): Look, sometimes you just need to get home from work and watch some stupid nonsense because it has very attractive people in it, okay?
Un amour de jeunesse (2011): Self-absorbed, overdramatic children in love turn into self-absorbed, overdramatic young adults out of it. A very well done film that was fundamentally uninteresting to me on nearly every single level. Also, I spent the whole thing wondering why the lead was so familiar, only to go on Letterboxd and realize I'd seen this movie before and straight up had zero recollection of any of it. That should probably say it all.
Henry Gamble's Birthday Party (2015): I watched this right after The Wise Kids, and uh, sensed a few VERY SUBTLE THEMES running through Cone's work, here. Guess he didn't get all of his fucked up gay/mega religious upbringing issues out with the first one. Christ I hate so many of these people so very much.
Hair High (2004): Has its moments, but my attention wandered a lot. Though maybe I was just trying to distract myself from all the gore/body horror, which was a bit much even for me.
I Married a Strange Person! (1997): Incessantly horny bullshit.
Idiots and Angels (2008): Nice to see a less distorted/aggressively ugly style in feature length Plympton for a change. Excellent use of music.
Imagine the Sound (1981): I imagine you have to like free jazz to get much out of this, but I do so we good.
John McEnroe: In the Realm of Perfection (2018): My interest in sports documentaries ranks slightly below my interest in sports, an amount too small to easily calculate. This was genuinely great, though?? Physicality, psychology, and filmmaking, all wrapped up in a brisk, compelling package. PS: Christ, what an asshole.
Money Movers (1978): Brutal little slice of crime. Violent, grimy, good fun, done on the cheap.
Mutant Aliens (2001): Excellent animation in service of a thoroughly unpleasant watch.
Newsfront (1978): Can't tell if this was super boring or I just had too much on my mind when I watched it, womp womp.
Ordinary People (1980): Pure impeccable performance. Gonna have to give this one another watch at some point, because it really was great but I just wasn't in the right headspace for something so devoid of action.
Personal Problems Volume 1 (1980): Long, lingering slices of life. Liked this one a lot.
Personal Problems Volume 2 (1980): I think it might low-key be a masterpiece? Visible boom mics and all.
Poetry in Motion (1982): I can't really truck with poetry as a general rule, but the anthology format and diversity of approaches made this an easy pill to swallow, a few truly 'fuck right off' annoying segments aside.
Princess Cyd (2017): How the FUCK did Katie's prom tux fit her, she's got like a foot on her?? Cavity-inducing queer sweetness. Just delightful.
Rafiki (2018): Beautiful. Kinda wish I'd watched it before Princess Cyd, though, so I could end on the conflict-free lesbian romance with the happy ending instead of this downer-but-with-hope-for-the-future one.
Rocco e i suoi fratelli (1960): Gonna have to accept that this is one of those 'all time greats' that just pisses me off more than anything else. Fuck Rocco, fuck 50-75% of his brothers, and fuck their garbage mother, too.
Sunday Too Far Away (1975): "A hard-drinking but hard-working gun shearer leads a group of Outback sheep herders into striking after wealthy landowners attempt to drive them from their territory." Every bit as enthralling as that synopsis made it sound. Woof.
L'avenir (2016): January taught me that Hansen-Løve is an absolute master of sensitive, nuanced interpersonal portraits that completely fail to engage me on any level.
The Tune (1992): Ah, yes, the three emotions: pleasure, pain, and pasta. Quite the representation of the creative process, this. Would be much more charming without the smattering of gross racial stereotypes sprinkled through it.
Twist (1992): Goddamn, the '50s were kind to uncoordinated white people. Shame about all the racism. It's pretty much impossible not to at LEAST do some serious chair dancing throughout this thing, best part was the 50/60-year-old Parkettes TEARING IT THE FUCK UP over the credits.
Unrelated (2007): Still very boring, tiny Hiddles still very hot, probably not great that this is my favourite Hogg film?
La veuve Couderc (1971): Still good, and the ridiculously over-the-top ending isn't nearly as jarring when you know it's coming all along. It also makes the rest of the movie much sadder, though!
The Wise Kids (2011): Weird Jesus teens are truly the same all over, huh.
SHORTS
25 Ways to Quit Smoking (1989): 14 and 18 worked best for my mom. Shame about the super gross racist one really wrecking the fun vibes towards the end!
Across My Land (2017): Amurrca.
Beigels Already (1992): byegles
The Chicken (2020): Verrrrry interesting. I liked it. Hard to pinpoint anything concrete about it after one viewing, though. It's just neat!
The Cow Who Wanted to Be a Hamburger (2010): Don't we all just want to be a Happy Burger in the end?
The Devil's Harmony (2019): The weirdest, most beautiful revenge of the nerds story I have ever seen. Just fantastic. Choir kids rise up!
Diddly Squat (2020): This thing is operating on a whole different level, and it's not one that I'm sure I want to be on.
The Fan and the Flower (2005): Really, really lovely. I wish Plympton would animate other people's work more often.
Guard Dog (2004): HE IS TRYING HIS BEST
Guide Dog (2006): HE IS TRYING HIS BEST
Hot Dog (2008): HE IS TRYING HIS BEST!!!!!
Horn Dog (2009): relatable dating concerns
Legal Smuggling with Christine Choy (2016): Very charming. Loved the style here. Gosh, am I glad I never started smoking.
Mystery (2011): Far too opaque for my liking, but, well, at least they labeled it properly. Visually striking if nothing else.
Six Shooter (2004): There are aspects of McDonagh's work that leave a bad taste in my mouth, but there are few things I enjoy more in the actual viewing. What a great ride.
Why Can't We Get Along (2018): Pointless artsy bullshit, but also, I love everyone in this bar, so.
TELEVISION
AEW Dark 3x03/3x04: I love how this show just completely exploded in size right after the initial lockdown. They really need a second proper show if they want to keep signing people, the roster is just WAY too big for everyone to get their shit in as it is. More focus on newbies this week, which was neat; I wonder if this Johnson/Solow pairing will be enough enough to get them out of permajobber status at some point. It worked for Pillman and Garrison? At least Lee finally got the first win of his AEW career, even if was in the ridiculous Walk-Off instead of an actual wrestling match. Dude is fine as hell, he deserved it~
AEW Dynamite 3x03/3x04: Still trying to come up with a way to break this up so it's not just a giant wall of text:
- AAAAGH I HATE BEING RIGHT ABOUT THINGS. I knew Hangman wasn't gonna join Dark Order, it was just too happy an outcome for him, and good things do not happen to Hangman! He will not allow them to! At least it wasn't a total catastrophe, just a fun match, some wholesome birthday celebrations for a nine-year-old, and the crushing awkwardness of a public proposal gone wrong. Those weirdos will be fine after a cheer-up slumber party, I'm sure. Hangman, though, oof. HE NEEDS SOMEONE WHO ISN'T A CARNY FUCK LIKE BIG MONEY MATT TO TELL HIM TO LOVE HIMSELF, BECAUSE NOTHING HE SAID THERE WAS ACTUALLY INCORRECT EVEN IF IT WAS DEFINITELY COMING FROM A BAD PLACE. I trust Hangman not to fall for any of his shit, he's not naive (especially after getting burned so hard by FTR), but I also don't think Hardy's the last person who's going to try taking advantage of him.
- JUSTICE FOR PROUD N POWERFUL. Jericho and MJF were always gonna win, it was always gonna be bullshit, Santana & Ortiz were always gonna deserve so much better, and the inevitable Inner Circle implosion is gonna be AMAZING, I cannot fucking wait for it. I also know who I'm pulling for in the Beach Break battle royal~
- Kingston v. Archer was a banger and I'm just as hyped for round 2 at Beach Break. Babyface Murderhawk seems weird as hell, but... I think I'm here for it? Where does that leave Jake, though.
- Legit think that Jungle Boy v. Dax might be my favourite match of the year so far? Their styles mixed well, JB has needed a big singles win for a while now, and Dax is just the right mix of seasoned veteran without being a solo star to put him over nicely. It really could have gone either way! During that long series of near-pinfalls near the end, I was on the edge of my goddamn seat. Also really liked that the whole 'handcuffed to Luchasaurus' gimmick actually worked exactly how it was supposed to! No shenanigans! A clean win! By SUBMISSION, no less! Between Dax's performance in-ring and Cash's SUPER DRAMATIC posing and straining at ringside, I think this match was the most I've ever liked FTR, even if the threat to cut off Jungle Boy's hair at the end was A BRIDGE TOO FAR.
- The Young Bucks/Good Brothers team up went... better than expected? To the point where it might have been kind of a boring main event if Dark Order wasn't absolutely on fire throughout? Stu is so fucking underrated, man, I could watch that dude wrestle forever. Anyway, they seem to be angling for the Bucks to win the battle royal and then let the Good Brothers challenge for the title, so I've got all my fingers crossed that it's gonna be a swerve, because snoooooooze. Besides, they won the last tag BR (and it RULED) and they gotta save that particular bro-down for a six-man with Kota and Kenny, YES I'M STILL ALL AFLUTTER FROM TWITTER DRAMA. C'mon, Santana & Ortiz with the upset~
IMPACT! Wrestling (December 12th 2020 - January 26th 2021): Bit the biz cliz and just... committed myself to watching all of Impact for now, I guess? Like, seven episodes of the show and two pay-per-views this time around to get all caught up? To be clear, I DO NOT GO HERE, but while I could always just look up the AEW-relevant bits after the fact, that just feels... mean, somehow. It's a fine promotion, with fine wrestlers! So I've been putting it on in the background while I do other things so I can passively absorb it and then pay attention when somebody I care about shows up. I'm picking up the crossover tie-in books even though I don't normally read the comic, basically. And at least these guys do mixed tag matches, I REQUIRE MORE INTERGENDER WRESTLING IN MY LIFE.
Riverdale 5x01/5x02: lol jesus fucking christ i can't believe i'm doing this to myself again
WandaVision 1x03/1x04: GOOD THINGS ALSO EXIST, THOUGH. I feel like all my speculation is scattered across a bunch of different Discord servers and conversations, but there is a LOT of it, and I LOVE it. Those aspect ratio changes, man. Gets me every time. Jimmy Woo Agents of Atlas show when???
no subject
no subject
Edit: And by weight I meant impact and not, you know, actual weight. It's been one of those days. Sorry. <333