Checking In

Sometimes life takes us in the strangest directions, and sometimes it takes you exactly where you somehow knew you were meant to go.

Cryptic?

A little, I guess.  Things have been so busy at school this week: some of it truly work related and some of it self-imposed.  We are gearing up for our standardized testing soon and that's involved a little extra time this week, what with meetings, in-service training, and coding sessions.  Wednesday was just crazy: I had duty before school and at lunch, a meeting during my planning period on testing, taught three classes, and had a meeting across town after school.  Thankfully, that's not a typical day.

The self-imposed part comes from the fact that I'm behind in grading papers and research papers and grades are due next week.  That's my fault.  Ever since my two friends at work got me tuned in to HBO's True Detective, I got lost for about three weeks getting caught up on past episodes and then down the rabbit-hole of the internet in all the conjecture theories.  It's been a truly fascinating ride and as much as I'll hate to say goodbye to Rust and Marty tomorrow, in a way I'll be a little glad.  Maybe I can get back to my life!  True Detective is an absolutely brilliant show: the writing is amazing.  Just mail the Emmys to Matthew McConaughey, Woody Harrellson, Nic Pizzolatto, and the cinematography people.  That's a lock.  Best show on TV.  Maybe ever.  I'm serious.

Anyway, life goes on.

I've picked up a weekly paid blogging slot at Da Tech Guy's place and so that's another item on my list of things to do.  I'm honored by the invitation and am looking forward to getting to know some new people there.

And finally, I'm in the very early stages of a new project.  I don't want to jinx anything by talking about it much just yet, but I'm very excited about it.  It's a good fit for me.  It will be a quite extensive project and take a lot of time and focus, but it'll be worth it.  And as a very wise woman once said, "you can't tell what you can do till you do it," we shall see!  I'll fill in more details as things progress.

So, if the blogging gets a little slow here, don't give up on me.  It's not burnout this time.  That same wise lady I just mentioned also pointed out that "you can't serve two masters!"  And so I may have to slow down here to keep focus elsewhere.

Have a happy weekend and light a little candle for me as I venture down this new path.  I'll be checking in.

"Let's make the car a place of silent reflection from now on."

Are you watching this freakin' show?!  True Detective on HBO?

I'm so damn addicted!

No spoilers - I'm catching up to the most recent episode, but oh my gosh Matthew McConaughey is mesmerizing!  For those who have no idea, this show is about two Louisiana State Police detectives who were investigating a serial killer in 1995.  The show is framed around current day interviews with the two detectives who are obviously no longer on the job.  They are being interviewed about the case (separately) because supposedly all the files and records were destroyed in a hurricane.  The then-and-now intertwines and intermingles and soon you realize there is more going on here.  The acting is phenomenal, the writing is airtight, and the photography is stunning.  I haven't been this excited about television since The Sopranos.

A couple of friends at work told me I needed to watch this show:  "It's the most tightly written show I've ever seen!", one said.  The other told me she's had to watch episodes a couple of times to catch everything.  I find this to be true.  I'm so caught up with the photography, the scenery, and the filters they're using I miss dialogue.

It is just so Louisiana.  My friend said, "That's what is so cool about it.  It IS Louisiana; it's the flower in the swamp."

From Shane Ryan at Paste:

This is McConaughey in long hair, beat down by life, trying to convince himself and the detectives interviewing him that whatever state he finds himself in is a kind of “victory”; he knows himself, he says, after years of toil he has resolved that he’s a drunk living in the middle of nowhere, waiting for death. But the charisma of this man … this is where words begin to fail, if they haven’t already. McConaughey is almost too goddam massive for the screen. Watching him act, as latter-day Rust, is one of the most intense experiences I’ve ever had with TV. He’s beaten-down, but he can’t hide the life force that struggles to emerge. The medium can barely contain him; he belongs in a spaceship among alien beings. There’s something bursting out, and when he delivers certain lines—“start asking the right fucking questions,” for one—the experience is so visceral your own blood starts to pound. And Fukunaga, who, thank God, is directing all eight episodes, knows the weapon at his disposal. He lets the camera linger on Rust’s face at length, allowing McConaughey to dance from emotion to emotion with a word, with an expression. Working in tandem, they only need a moment to devastate.

I'm kind of like this reviewer: I'm almost speechless about this show.

If you aren't watching this show, get HBO, find a friend with HBO, something, but watch.  It's amazing.  But don't leave any spoilers in the comments if you're already watching!  I'm going now to get all caught up.

Twelve Years Amazing!

This year my son (he's 22) has invited me on a quest to see the top Academy Award nominated movies with him.

I'm honored that he wants to spend that much time with his mother and there aren't a lot of things we have in common to do together anymore, so I have accepted his invitation.  Some mom/son time is pretty awesome!

We are three weeks into the quest and so far we have seen three films:  Wolf of Wall Street, Dallas Buyers Club, and today we saw Twelve Years a Slave.  

I'm not sure why Wolf of Wall Street was even nominated; it was an orgy of excess, an unlikable protagonist, and I think the lead was miscast.  I found Leo to be irritating.  I know the character was not supposed to be likable, but I didn't see anything particularly memorable or award winning about that one.

Dallas Buyers Club was our second movie; I started to get interested in this odyssey with that one.  If Jared Leto does not win for Best Supporting Actor there is no justice.  He was amazing as a she.  I thought Matthew McConaughey was great as Ron Woodruff but I suspect the fact that Mr. McConaughey is a native Texan will work against him.  Voters will probably think that playing a Texan wasn't much of a stretch.  Even though he lost 40 pounds for the role and by all accounts he nails the portrayal of Woodruff as he battled both AIDS and the FDA.  

McConaughey would have a better shot at winning his Best Actor category if Twelve Years a Slave had not been made.  Chiwetel Ejiofor was absolutely riveting as Solomon Northup.  When I learned today that Slave was the next film on our list I inwardly groaned; "Not another Hollywood movie about slavery..." I thought.  

Boy was I wrong.  Twelve Years a Slave is definitely not just another movie about slavery.  It was painful to watch, naturally.  But Mr. Ejiofor's performance was like nothing I've ever seen.  Based on a true story, Solomon Northup was a free man working as a musician and living in New York when he is hoodwinked, kidnapped and sold into slavery in 1841.  

Mr. Ejiofor's eyes speak more about his plight than his words.  Throughout the film he continues to hope that somehow he will be freed from this injustice once word reaches the right people that he was a free man.  At one point there is a long, lingering shot of his face; he is all the way to the left of the screen and the landscape behind him is empty.  As the shot lingers, Northup casts his eyes downward, then slowly to the left and right.  Very slowly.  Then he brings his face back to the front and he stares directly into the camera, not just breaking the fourth wall, but shattering it.  He's staring right at you.  And stares.  As the shot lingers, you can see the confusion and pain in his eyes.  Then he looks ever so slightly downward again.  It was an amazing scene.  In that moment, it seemed to me, the director challenges the viewer to confront slavery, to see it as it was.  No Hollywood caricature or romanticizing here.  

The entire film was amazing.  There were many excellent performances (including Brad Pitt!) and were it not for Jared Leto in Dallas Buyers Club, I would pull for Michael Fassbender for the Supporting Actor category.  His performance as plantation owner Edwin Epps was just psychotic.  I was also pleasantly surprised to see Sherlock (Benedict Cumberbatch) as one of the plantation owners.

While we haven't seen all the movies on our list yet, I can't imagine anyone beating Mr. Ejiofor's performance.

I think American Hustle is on our list for next week; and I really want to see Nebraska.

For someone who has a pretty low opinion of Hollywood, I'm really enjoying this quest!  But it could also just be that I love the mother/son time!

Matthew McConaughey's PSA for Veterans

Via Instapundit, a chance to post a hot picture of Matthew McConaughey.

No, seriously, Big Hollywood reports that McConaughey is taking part in a series of PSAs in support of veterans.



I'll take that over any anti-American Johnny-Depp-Gwyneth-Paltrow-type celebrity, any day.