Day Six

The days are inching on forward towards my departure for NYC, though in this strange vacuum they don't seem to be moving at all. I do imagine myself sometimes as a sort of dust mite, or one of those eye floaties, just sort of bouncing about and gravitating at a frustratingly slow speed towards the 1st of September, when I will jump aboard a plane for the next chapter of my life.

The next chapter of my life...that sounds like I'm approaching my own story as I would a book. Well, what's so wrong with that? I certainly monologue with myself enough on a daily basis that I could be a character in a story, and my life certainly seems to split into neat "chapters" or "eras" on a routine basis. It truly weirds me out when those different eras or chapters begin to mix and mingle - take for instance next week, when I'm supposed to meet up with a couple of my old friends from my freshman year in High School. It will be bizarre to have Californians with me in my beloved City, though something about that seems incredibly appropriate. To be certain, I'll be meeting up with a few Hoosier colleagues as well, and in this fashion this next chapter just continues in the footsteps of all those that came before it.

The 27th of August has appeared. It says so on my iCal. (I had to click it to manually change it from the 26th to the 27th. I do find an unbelievable amount of joy in manually moving the calendar dates forward. Strange how that works.)

I saw Julie and Julia today, which I found to be a surprisingly enjoyable film. Certainly not the best film I've seen this summer, but also definitely not the worst. As always, Meryl Streep was on top of her game, and though Amy Adams was a lovely addition to the screen, I confess my admiration for her does not go past very shallow levels. (To be clear - she is a fine actress. I just have a crush on her.)

It was a goal of mine to write a brief review of every movie/book/thing I have seen/read/done over the course of this summer, though if I'm ever going to come even close to that goal, I'd need to first make a list. So, here goes. Bear with me, as this may be quite the eclectic list.

THE SUMMER OF 2009

FILMS WATCHED FOR THE FIRST TIME:

1. The Breakfast Club

2. Die Hard

3. The Wrestler

4. Fargo

5. Lucky Number Slevin

6. Sweeney Todd

7. Desperado

8. Once Upon a Time in Mexico

9. City of God

10. 12 Monkeys

11. Reservoir Dogs

12. The Good, The Bad and the Ugly

13. Shenandoah

14. Music and Lyrics

15. Gigantic

16. The Manchurian Candidate (original)

17. Breakfast at Tiffany's

18. The Fall

19. The Untouchables

20. Gangs of New York

21. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian

22. There Will Be Blood

23. Benny and Joon

24. Night of the Living Dead (original)

25. House on Haunted Hill (original)

26. Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World

27. Quantum of Solace

28. The Usual Suspects

29. Rain Man

30. L.A. Confidential

31. Almost Famous

32. Stand By Me

33. The Cable Guy

34. The Reader

35. He's Just Not That Into You

36. Analyze This

37. Ponyo (online)

38. The Bells Are Ringing

39. Bruno (online)

40. The Graduate

41. Dark City

42. Blade Runner

43. Unforgiven

44. Knowing

45. Crumb

46. Running Scared

MOVIES WATCHED IN THEATERS (IN ORDER OF PREFERENCE, FOLLOWED BY NUMBER OF THEATER VIEWINGS):

1. Inglourious Basterds (3)

2. (500) Days of Summer (4)

3. Up (2)

4. Public Enemies (3)

5. Angels and Demons (2)

6. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince (3)

7. The Hurt Locker (2)

8. District 9 (2)

9. Taking Woodstock (2)

10. Moon (2)

11. Away We Go

12. Slumdog Millionaire (2)

13. Julie and Julia

14. Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen (2)

15. The Hangover

16. G.I. Joe

BOOKS READ:

1. The Faerie Queen by Edmund Spenser

2. The Aeneid by Virgil

3. Don Quixote by Cervantes (Currently underway.)

JOURNAL PAGES WRITTEN:

Somewhere between 71 and 80 pages.

CHESS GAMES PLAYED:

160+

COUNTRIES VISITED:

1. Italy

2. Slovenia

3. Croatia

All in all, I can only conclude that this summer has been around for far too long.

I think it's about fucking time I headed to NYC and started something new.

The next five days are going to need to go by fast. Otherwise I might melt in this Floridian abyss.

Day Five

One year later?

Can it really be so far ahead into the future that I have entirely abandoned my original plan to keep a "blog", an online rant rag, a cyber journal full of my daily pontifications, quandaries and life-altering novel ideas...(note the pun on words)? The simple answer is yes, it most certainly can be an entire year later. And it is.

I left last summer with the grudging determination to overcome the heinous isolation and solitude that had nearly broken me the year before (I sound like a surprisingly narcissistic Charles Dickens character gone rogue), that is to say, my freshman year, and surprisingly the time that has passed between my last entry and this one has not only proved that all my goals could be met, and could be outdone.

I won't make any sort of grandiose promises for this blog, or even go on a really intricate and well written prologue about how I'm going to write things that really make much of a difference in anything...but I do hope that I can at least do SOMETHING quasi-productive with this space to write and rant and think. I do keep a journal, and I'm very private about the thoughts that I jot down in there, but I do think this could be a good place to muse about the thoughts that sort of tramp around in my mind throughout the day that I don't have the patience to waste journal pages on. For instance;

I was watching TV the other day (a dangerous thing, I know) and one of those disturbingly self-indulgent religious programs found its way onto my screen. I admit; my morbid fascination kept me glued to this program for a good ten minutes, and got me wondering - who honestly watches a show called "SALVATION", with the title emblazoned in armored steel font on the bottom right hand corner of the screen? An the preacher, if that was what he was, was fantastically electric - pounding his chest, bellowing at this enormous half-moon crowd of thousands, verbally beating them into accepting and being excited about the "Ways of God" and what it was to be a good Christian. With all the bellowing and shouting and bulletproof title fonts I almost expected a Rambo-Christ to come running onto the stage at any moment. I turned to the next channel to have my screen engorged with one of the less original - albeit equally horrifying - offspring of Jerry Springer's golden child proto-show, and all I saw was two women roughly the size of elephants clawing each others shirts off to reveal tattoos and piercings while one fat guy stood sort of in the middle of them (far enough away that they couldn't consume him) with a comical look on his face. The reason it was comical was because he looked pretty damn proud that these two women were fighting over him. I'm all in favor of a guy being fought over, but I won't lie; if I was in his shoes, I'd be pretty fucking scared. Scared of my life. Scared of how I was barely a candy wrapper when the cosmos judged you on how many gods you could feed. Scared of how since I wouldn't appease the gods with my shaved head and sweaty button up shirt, maybe these two sparring maidens would turn and, you know, eat me.

How did we come to this, I wondered, sitting in my Floridian living room and turning off the television. When did the transition from Edward R. Murrow to Jerry Springer occur? I'm not sure.

Anyway.

Let's see if I can keep this blog going.

Oh, and did I mention I love chess?

Day Four

In front of a crowd of 200,000 screaming Germans, Barack Obama smiled and waved his hand in a firm, yet gentle manner.  Striding alone towards the center stage podium, he was confident and cool, his arms swinging back and forth, a little American flag lapel pin glinting in the sun. Gazing out over the throngs of people that filled the area in front of the Siegessaeule at the Grosser Stern in Tiergarten, Obama began to speak. "Thank you to the citizens of Berlin and to the people of Germany. Let me thank Chancellor Merkel and Foreign Minister Steinmeier for welcoming me earlier today. Thank you Mayor Wowereit, the Berlin Senate, the police, and most of all thank you for this welcome."

Let's pause this mental image for a moment. Does this sound like a Presidential speech? If you're an American and you live in this century, you already know the twist: this isn't a president of the United States. Hell, he isn’t even the heavily favored candidate to win the presidency. Instead, this is a candidate for the President of the United States. 

Before I even begin to speak my mind, I’ll admit that I’ve been swept up in the Obama frenzy in about every way imaginable. Watching his Berlin address, I felt a strange sense of pride in seeing my country’s flag waved enthusiastically in a European capitol. That strange sense of pride was so strong, in fact, that I went and changed my Facebook status to “Ries Murphy is proud to be an American today.” But as the hours have worn on and I’ve been able to separate myself from the joy and the excitement of that moment, I’ve begun to wonder: what will this speech bring to this candidate? Was it really worth it? 

It's pretty obvious that Obama has a heavy advantage amongst European citizens, but if we're being honest, who cares? It's nothing personal against our friends overseas, but let's face the painful truth—Obama's adventures in the Old World yield an unparalleled press opportunity, but prove absolutely nothing about anything except his ability to look...well…presidential. Sure, there's been plenty of speculation about whether or not Barack Obama has it in him to be the face of America on the world stage. After all, he's a 47 year old senator from Illinois, who one year ago was a self-described "skinny guy with a funny name." But in the context of his entire overseas tour, how did the speech, which was obviously the centerpiece of the trip, hold up to American speculation?

Recent Rasmussen polls show that 55% of polled Americans rated Obama’s Berlin speech as “Good” or “Excellent.” While this figure is impressive, I was more curious as to how the speech fared with the crowd that Obama is still trying to actually win over, i.e. the Independents, and some Republicans who aren’t too pleased with John McCain. What I found wasn’t surprising—while only 5% of polled Democrats found Obama’s speech to be “Poor”, a staggering 39% of Republicans fell into the same category.

So what’s up with these Republican party-poopers? Well, to be honest, I can see where they’re coming from. I disagree with those who call his Berlin speech a “political stunt,” but I do realize the dangerous waters you tread when you bring that kind of attention to yourself.  If Obama was using this world tour to convince people that he’s up to par with McCain’s foreign affairs expertise, it probably ended up coming off more like a photo-op than a true sign of political prowess. And it definitely didn’t help at all when Obama dropped his scheduled visit with wounded troops at the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center. As is becoming increasingly obvious, McCain’s campaign was waiting for a slip up like that. I’ll bet when it came it was like Christmas.

Taking all of this into consideration, I’m beginning to realize that while Obama’s Berlin speech may have fortified his reputation overseas and given his supporters a new speech to favorite on YouTube, it probably didn’t do much at all to convert voters who weren’t going to vote for him in the first place. I guess the fence-sitters will probably jump on-board, but really, I wouldn’t expect them not to, even without the multi-million dollar expenses of an overseas prom.

Despite all the negative spearheads that are already spewing out of the McCain battle formations, I can't help but feel comforted by the sight of the American flag being waved by Europeans. Actually, I can't remember the last time I saw America greeted so warmly amongst citizens of a different country. I guess the real question now is whether or not Americans think that his actions were appropriate or not. My thoughts on the matter are simple: he promised us dramatic, fundamental changes. So far, I’d say he’s kept his promise. I don’t know if I’m alone on this one, but I’d like to be loved by the world again, and it seems to me like Obama has an idea how to do it that just might work.

After all, there were 200,000 people there.

Maybe he's on to something.

Or maybe he's still trying to show off that American flag lapel pin.

Day Three Point Five

I don't know about anyone else on this website, but trying something new can be tough. Really, really tough. But I honestly think it's tougher to sit around and watch yourself waste away, and feel the American dream slip through your fingers. I think it's tougher to see the hours and the days of wasted opportunity pile up until at last, you find it staggering to believe that you ever had any hope whatsoever.

I don't want to be that way.

Therefore, I am going to bring about the next great chapter in my life.

Day Three: Meet Joe Black and I'm Not There

I failed miserably in my desire to write an in-depth review of Meet Joe Black and I'm Not There. I'm going to have to forgive this small error, for two major reasons: the first being that nobody is here to read it anyway (lol) and secondly, because at least I put it off to get some more writing done that was a bit more productive in the overall scheme. For anyone who happens to stumble across this blog or these writings for whatever reason, here's a blitz on what these two films are like:

1. Meet Joe Black is, in my opinion, a beautiful film. It's faults arise from the feeling that it occasionally overreaches it's goals. There's a haunting sort of magic that pervades the first half of the film, and in the second half, that darkness comes dangerously close to becoming repetitive, which would be probably the biggest travesty...ever. Think Lord of the Rings if Frodo and Sam almost shared a kiss every 10 minutes. (With the same music.) That being said, Meet Joe Black is a clever, unique sort of love story in which Death (Brad Pitt) decides that he wants to experience life as a human. He picks a multi-gazillionaire played by the wonderful Anthony Hopkins who he decides has lived life to it's fullest to act as his guide during his time on earth. As if this wasn't enough to put on Mr. Hopkins' shoulders, his daughter (played by the beautiful Claire Forlani) falls madly in love with Death in the most non-emo way imaginable. I loved this movie, I found it both touching and thought provoking, and I'd suggest it to anyone who's looking for a great story well told. (P.S. Bring tissues.) My rating: 8.9/10

2. I'm Not There is a film that I had been looking forward to for quite some time, ever since the strange and catchy trailer premiered on Apple Trailers. I wasn't exactly familiar with Bob Dylan going into this film, which in some ways hindered my viewing experience, and in others enhanced it. The problem with going into the movie stone cold is that Todd Haynes assumes that you know at least the groundwork about Bob Dylan's life; an assumption that becomes painfully clear as the movie progresses, since the story of his life is told in a manner that makes pretty much no sense whatsoever if you aren't an expert on Dylan mythology prior to your watching this film. My Dylan ignorance played out some winning cards as well, because knowing what I do know about the music legend, I see that there's not really a way to tell Dylan's story in all of it's zany absurdity except the way Haynes and Co. did. The movie is told out of order, starring various actors who play different characters that are apparently inspired by Dylan at different points in his life. The performance of Cate Blanchett is especially notable; watching her perform proves to be such a memorable experience that the rest of the film ends up being worth watching. My overall rating of I'm Not There is an 7.5/10, kept out of the 8-9 range by of the same insanity that makes it interesting at all.

Day Two: The Girl Next Door Review

Today was one of those lazy Saturdays when I just flat out didn't feel like waking up. So, simply put, I stayed in bed until about three in the afternoon. There's a weird sort of guilt that comes with staying in bed so late in the day: I don't know if it's just me that feels this way, but if I bite the bullet and drag myself out of bed by eight or so in the morning, I feel like I'm doing something right. But waking up and then going back to sleep throughout the day makes me feel like...I'm not doing something.

Anyway.

Over the past few days, I've come to love the folks over at Hulu. For those of you who don't know what Hulu is, it's a video hosting site that is completely free to join, and you can watch movies and television shows in High Definition (as well as full screen!). The best part is: it's completely legal. Companies show brief (and I mean max 30 seconds) commercials throughout the program that you watch, and in exchange for their advertising, they pay for the movies to be put online. After my friend introduced me to their wonderful site, I've watched a few movies that I want to talk about briefly so I don't forget what I thought about them.

1. "The Girl Next Door" (R)

Wow. What can I say about this movie. Seeing the trailer, I'll admit that I was barely intrigued (and I mean barely) by what seemed to be a predictable storyline and a relatively low quality film. However, it came as a great surprise when my friend (who's opinion I greatly respect in movies) told me "That movie changed my life." Naturally, I won't go so far as to say that the film will change your life, but I will say that if you decide to watch it, it probably won't be what you're expecting. The story is pretty straightforward: Matthew Kidman (Emile Hirsch), the hero of the film, is a senior in high school with sky-high grades, an acceptance letter to Georgetown University, and not a penny to put towards it. He also lacks friends (save his two best amigos, Klitz and Eli), any sense of confidence (except the guts to raise 25,000 dollars to bring an Asian dweeb-genius out of Cambodia), and perhaps most importantly, a girlfriend. Along comes the stunning girl next door, Danielle (Elisha Cuthbert), entering the film wearing a perfect red outfit that perfectly outlines the curves of her perfect body (imagine that, right?). Things go haywire when Danielle catches Matthew spying on her through her window, and it's soon after this point in the film that the movie begins to veer away from the expected.

As usual, I'll refrain from ruining the whole movie for anyone who hasn't seen it, but it was soon after this point in the movie that I minimized the film and IM'd my friend the Guru and asked him "Is it just me, or is there a really sad undertone to this movie?" The best way I can describe the film is to ask a pretty straightforward rhetorical question: You know how in every single movie about a guy falling in love with a prostitute, the climax of the story is where the hooker decides that she wants to be a regular person, and chooses love over sex? In this movie, I guess you could call it a climax, but it comes about midway through the film rather than towards the end. (Naturally, this rules out the other cardinal rule of the Moulin Rouge genre: neither character dies at the end, which means you can abandon your tissue box.) This unorthodox approach to the classic story results in the hero being only a part of the bigger picture, in which director Paul Greenfield chronicles the journey of not only of Matthew, not only of the boys, but also the journey of Danielle. It's a feel-good movie if I ever saw one, a movie where even the traditionally neglected female character proves by movie's end that she too is a beautiful person worth caring about. Think Risky Business meets Ratatouille, throw in a soundtrack as perfect as the one for Garden State, and you've got The Girl Next Door. My final jurisdiction? A 9/10. Am I overrating it? Probably. But in the words of Eli, as Klitz complains about the awkwardness of watching a porno together, "Dude, learn to like it."

Day One: Autumn, X-Files, and The Dark Knight

In about three weeks, I'm going to be leaving to head back to school. I'm wondering how this year will be, since I transferred schools mid-year, and the transition proved to be far more difficult than I imagined it would be. I do have some reservations about this upcoming year, but I've decided to be excited for it mostly because of Autumn, which is my favorite month. I think spring is beautiful, with it's flowers and everything else, but there's just something electrifying about the fall. There's something haunting about the way the leaves fall off the trees and land in those enormous piles on the grass. You'd think it would have something to do with mental images of me jumping into them. To be honest, I never did much of that when I was a kid-I never cared much for the dewy wetness that drenched my clothes for hours afterwards. I guess there's something even more elemental about fall that captivates my imagination. I love seeing the world bloom into frozen fire.

In other news, I went to see the film X-Files: I Want To Believe today. I think the biggest thing I want to say about it is that I feel very bad for the filmmakers and the actors that took part in creating this movie. By any normal gauge, it was a fun movie that was without doubt worth the price of admission, but let's be honest: right now, America's movie gauge is anything but "normal." It's safe to say (I think) that we can blame this unfairness on the thunderbolt that ripped through the sky last week called The Dark Knight. Whatever the reason, the point is that the folks over in X-Files country made a good film that offered plenty of action as well as difficult questions, but overall, the film left me feeling somewhat unsatisfied. I'm always infuriated when people post spoiler filled reviews without warning me before hand, so if any X-Files people are reading this, don't worry, I won't spoil anything, but I will say that the picture of the werewolf that was floating around the internet was definitely a fake. The film dealt more with a religious theme; a theme that while interesting and a good source for material didn't feel like it fit as well with the X-Files as, say, a crocodile man, or a guy who likes his arm extra crispy. Anyway, my final call on the film was that it was good, a solid 6 or 7 out of 10, and definitely worth a visit if people are looking to burn a couple hours for six dollars and fifty cents.

Concerning The Dark Knight...to be honest, I'm not sure I need to post much of a review on this movie, and instead can call it a job well done with the following statement. "If you haven't seen The Dark Knight yet, you're one of the 5 people who has not, and you should go." So what do I have to say about the big details? Well, let's see. The storyline? Complex, dark, and grittily realistic, I haven't been so compelled since the first time I sat curled up on the couch in L.A. watching The Godfather for the first time. The special effects? Christopher Nolan and Co. are brilliant, simply put. If this film doesn't win an Oscar (or at least get a nod) for Best Cinematography (is there even an award for that anymore...?) I think I'll move as far away from civilization as I can. CGI is replaced with old school props being blown half to hell, and I'm thankful for it. I've always preferred the real thing. The acting? Well, to put it simply, everyone brought a performance to the table that normally would have electrified people had they been on an individual basis. However, they were all overshadowed by (you guessed it) Heath Ledger. For those who have seen it: the pencil trick changed my life. For those who have not seen it: the pencil trick will change your life. Without a doubt my favorite film I have seen this year, The Dark Knight gets a 9.5/10 from me, as well as a hard earned spot in my top 10 films of all time. This summer has been fantastic for me, since Wall-E earned a similar score from me, as well as a spot in my top 10.

Well, it's running on about four thirty in the morning in these parts, so I'd better be getting off around now. 

SparkNotes: Day One

1. I leave for school again here soon. I'm nervous, but I'm looking forward to the fall.

2. X-Files: I Want To Believe was a good movie that falls under the painfully overwhelming shadow of The Dark Knight. 7/10

3. The Dark Knight: A spectacular film that redefined the superhero genre and captured the essence of the Caped Crusader. 9.5/10

Look here tomorrow for the following:

Movie Reviews:

1. "I'm Not There"

2. "The Girl Next Door"

3. "Meet Joe Black"

4. "Hellboy II: The Golden Army"

Thoughts Concerning:

1. The Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf

2. Barack Obama

3. John McCain

4. Maybe some CoffeeTalk, if I'm really up to it.

On that note, have a good one, everybody.

-Dodger