Category Archives: movies

Movie: “Tiny: A Story About Living Small”

24 Saturday Jan 2015

Posted by in entertainment, movies

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Here’s another short movie I came across by searching randomly through Netflix, and Jeff and I were pleasantly surprised when we watched it last night. 

Aside from making us want to sell what little we have and hit the road, I think it brings up some really great concepts about the society we live in, and how your success is measured by how much stuff you have and how big your house is.  I think it’s naive to think that this movement is going to take off and really change the way people live (people love their stuff too much), but I think it can inspire those people that have thought about simplifying their life to actually do it.

It also reminded me of when I was in Haiti and I came to the realization that you really don’t need a lot to get through life.  I had a bunk bed with a backpack of clothes, and it was all I needed.  We get so wrapped up in having all these nice comforts (like my amazing craft desk!) that we often forget we don’t need these things.  Not saying we shouldn’t have them, just that we should all appreciate how much we really do have.

I will say that the idea of retiring into a tiny house with Jeff and settling down on some large tract of land with amazing views is something I could see us doing…

Recent Movie Finds

03 Sunday Jun 2012

Posted by in movies, reviews, Uncategorized, video

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Below are some movies Jeff discovered that we’ve watched lately, and that I find worth sharing.  I’m not sure how he found out about them, probably reddit or something like that, but I know that I, personally, had never heard of them before!

Midnight in Paris

I guess the trailer doesn’t want to spoil what DOES happen after midnight, so it doesn’t convey the “magicalness” of this movie.  It basically goes through difference romance periods in Paris, like the roaring twenties.  Owen Wilson’s character finds himself having conversations with writers and artists that were long gone, and I absolutely loved the “lightness” of this movie.

Bruges

Just a liiiiiiiiiitle bit darker than Midnight in Paris, but Colin Farrell’s character in this movie is quite hilarious, not to mention entertaining.

The Fall

This movie is visually beautiful.  I like how unique the plot is, and the little girl in this is just amazing.  Jeff and I watched the special features after the movie, and it’s incredible what this little actress went through to make it look as real and heart-wrenching as it does.

Do you have any “off the beaten path” movie suggestions?  (Mind you, these might only be off the beaten path to me, haha)

Andre the Giant.

21 Saturday May 2011

Posted by in firstworldproblems, life, movies, venting

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So what are blogs for, but ranting and venting about pointless things that these days are now immediately pointed out as first world problems or white whines? Exactly.

We met up with some friends, had some food, had a couple drinks, and decided to go watch that movie that Courtney told me I had to see (I’ll ask Courtney’s permission to use her name next weekend when she’s in town): The Bachelorette (which from what I saw was indeed, hilarious).
Little did we know it was still packing theaters, so we ended up sitting in the reject seating all the way up front. So…you know when you’re sitting at a movie theater as it’s filling up….and you put your feet up on the seat in front of you…and then someone sits in that seat in front of you and you’re all bummed that you have to take your feet off the seat? Has it ever occurred to you to just never take your feet off the seat? Or to push back when the person wants to recline their seat? Or to kick the seat constantly throughout the whole movie? The W-H-O-L-E movie. Minus the last half hour maybe, because you eventually chose to walk out of the movie theater (thank God–speaking of whom…rapture anyone?).
Well, the girl sitting behind me did all of the above. It takes quite a bit to get me angry enough to say something…I said something’s to this girl a lot of times tonight. And kicking my seat apparently wasn’t enough, so she was also pushing in the middle divider that Jeff and I had lifted…and then moved on to kicking Jeff’s seat. Her defense when Jeff asked if all of that was really necessary? “What, you have something against tall people?” Um, what?! a) She wasn’t that tall. b) Even tall people have common courtesy. c) Tall people don’t do the kind of crap this girl did or require that kind of leg room. So no, Jeff doesn’t have anything against tall people.
The whole time I just couldn’t wrap my head around what was happening…and I was really frustrated that out of common courtesy for everyone else in the movie theater I couldn’t get up and physically remove her Andre The Giant feet from my seat. Obviously this would have been the point where I get all my friends involved to physically defend my honor because I’ve never been involved in anything other than a hair pulling contest with my cousin (she won, I’m sure).
A security guard came in to see why we were causing such a ruckus. At one point I seriously thought we would be the ones to get kicked out, and wouldn’t that be ironic?
After the movie was over (of which I’m pretty sure Jeff and I missed some good laughs thanks to Andre), and after Andre had bailed, her friends tapped on Jeff’s shoulder and apologized for their friend, explaining that she was drunk and angry. My natural reaction was to laugh it off and say “hey no biggie, sorry we were so vocal about her being a bitch,” but then I thought, I’m not sorry at all. But their gesture was still appreciated.

Movies of Interest

11 Wednesday May 2011

Posted by in City Island, Four Lions, Hanna, movies, reviews, trailers, video

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A few movies that I never or barely heard of before I watched them, and think they’re worth watching.

Apparently it had better than expected results at the box office, but I still don’t think Hanna got enough viewers. Sure…not a great movie for the kids considering the violence and all, but it’s such a great FILM. I’m not a film expert or anything, but I thought it was an artistically shot movie, not to mention the soundtrack by the Chemical Brothers: awesome. In the day and age when people laugh at other people for actually buying movies, Jeff and I plan on buying this one when it comes out on DVD.
If there were bumperstickers that said “I <3 Hanna,” I would totally buy one. #badass
Then there’s City Island. My likes for this movie, starring Andy Garcia (which Jeff wasn’t too excited about but ended up liking quite a bit), are that it’s just the story of a family, with all the realities and complexities that families have to deal with: lies, deceit, frustration, love, forgiveness, etc. The son’s feeding thing was a bit weird, but comedic relief nonetheless. I wouldn’t buy it, but it’s on Netflix instant watch!
Finally, this weekend Jeff came across Four Lions. I’m still processing this movie. It’s a satire on the quest of four British jihadists. Definitely a funny movie, but most of the funny parts are given away in the trailer and I think I missed out on a lot with the heavy British accents and lack of subtitles. I think it’s worth a watch if you’re not easily offended by this kind of stuff, and have a good sense of humor. I did find it culturally interesting–whether accurate or not, I honestly don’t know–seeing how the wife and child were so okay with the idea of their father planning on blowing himself up. There was no sense of sadness or loss (except for one small scene between the husband and the wife towards the end), which I found really surprising and revealing. It’s an interesting perspective on such a sensitive and inflammatory subject. Again, Netflix instant watch it.

It’s Kind of a Funny Story

05 Tuesday Apr 2011

Posted by in Guatemala, life, money, movies, updates, zach

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For one, check out that movie. It’s kind of a funny story, really. Plus, you can never really go wrong with Zack Galafianakis.

But getting to my point…I’ve written before how just when Jeff and I think we’re on the brink of something going terribly wrong, something falls out of the sky and saves the day. By “something” I usually mean an unexpected amount of cash, that if something hadn’t gone terribly wrong, would’ve been nice to put into our non-existing savings account, or to be able to spend a little more freely, or cover things we can’t usually cover. But alas, it goes to cover the terribly wrong thing…but at least we’re able to cover it with that unexpected cash rather than being SOL.
Case in point: yesterday.
Jeff called me right after 5pm letting me know his car wouldn’t start, so I called AAA so they could meet him at work while I made my way over there. They got it started, but it seems like it’s going to take some cash investment to get whatever it is that’s wrong with it fixed. Might be the starter. Might be something else. Point is: money we don’t have.
I check the mail before getting into my car to go pick Jeff up, and the only thing in the mail is….our CA tax refund! I had to laugh. To myself.
The funniest thing about this is that we had gotten a letter from the California Franchise Tax Board on Saturday saying we didn’t fill out our bank account completely on our tax return, so instead of a direct deposit we’d be getting a check in 2-4 weeks. I thought, hey that’s pretty cool, Sucks that it’ll take longer…but thanks for letting us know. And yet…what are the odds that instead of taking 2-4 weeks it gets here two days later…on the exact date we find out we’re gonna have to drop some serious cash on one of those “terribly wrong” scenarios? Alas, I should’ve known better than to think we’d get that refund and actually be able to spend it on something we wanted :)
In other updated news: it seems that the Guatemala divorce fiasco is having some trouble getting off the ground.
Have a great day everyone.

Haiti Stories: Presented at the Fowler Museum, UCLA

30 Sunday Jan 2011

Posted by in books, Haiti, movies, thoughts

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“Did you dress up for Paul Farmer?” “Yeah, is that creepy?”

So began Abby and my trip to the UCLA Fowler Museum for their conference: Haiti Stories/Istwa Ayiti. And it only got better. The speakers included some of the most fascinating and inspiring people from all walks of life: poets, writers, journalists, photographers, academics, doctors, human rights activists, anthropologists, film makers, and the list goes on. I was honestly star struck.
Damon Winters, a photojournalist with the New York Times, opened with some amazing pictures from Haiti that brought people to tears. I was truly sad when he ran out of time, since it seemed he had a lot more pictures to share.
Right after Damon, Don Cosentino gave an interesting presentation on Haitian vodoo. He shared some great pictures and stories, but most impressive was something that Abby pointed out as he was getting on stage: his cane was black, with red flames coming up from the bottom. Now here is a man I want to buy a drink for, and just hear story after story…
Next up was anthropologist Catherine Maternowska, co-founder of Lambi Fund of Haiti. Her story brought me to tears. She spoke of a baby who had oral and anal gonorrhea after a man cut through her tent, tied up her pregnant mother, and orally and anally raped her. But she also spoke of the compassionate US military personnel who helped her obtain much needed supplies to provide care for these victimes by reporting the materials “lost in transit, unaccounted for.” It’s insane that she had to rely on conspiring humanists to provide basic materials, since the release of aid materials was/is surrounded by red tape and basically bullshit. But at least she found someone who was willing to look the other way.
Then there was the LA Times writer, Joe Mozingo, who spoke of the increasing responsibility of the media to portray Haiti in its entirety, not only the ghastly stories that create headlines because they’re horrific and shocking to us. He called for a focus on the bigger picture, not just the horror of Haiti. I loved his honesty and clarity.
Here’s a cool piece another presenter, Maggie Steber, worked on, which are photographs of a whole boulevard in Haiti, kinda cool.
David Belle gave a presentation about the only film school in Haiti, located in Jacmel, which allows Haitian students to learn how to make films and commercials. They just received a contract worth millions of dollars to make commercials for an energy drink in Haiti! He showed several clips of the work Haitian students have done, most impressively a documentary that was presented at the Amsterdam Film Festival. You can check out the trailer here. Please check it out. I’m going to do some research to find out where the whole movie is available…
Claudine Michel is a professor of black studies at UCSB, and she used an interesting phrase in her presentation: “how many cups of revolution…” She used this phrase repeatedly, as in: how many cups of revolution until the little girl in the camps doesn’t have to wear a whistle to prevent her from being raped when she goes to the restroom at night? How many cups of revolution until….etc. I might have heard wrong, because I don’t know exactly what “cups of revolution” means, maybe someone can enlighten me, but I liked it nonetheless.
I wish Paul Farmer had talked more, but he did have some good thoughts about foreign assistance; basically: good intentions go astray. He mentioned how much rhetoric has been centered around building Haiti “better,” and he said we need to build back foreign assistance better also, because there are so many flaws in how it’s done. “Good intentions are not enough, actions are what matter.” Personal hero.
Bob Maguire, a professor of international affairs and director of the Trinity Haiti program, also had a good quote: “development is not a matter of changing things, but changing people.” I think I could write my thoughts about that for a while, but I’m growing sleepy and I’m sure readers are growing weary…
Amy Wilentz, the moderator for the event and author of The Rainy Season, mentioned she was reading a book by Erica James. I believe I have found it on Amazon, and it will probably be my next read once I finish The White Man’s Burden, which is proving to be a slow read for me.
This is basically a regurgitation of my notes from the event of stuff I wanted to check out or follow up on; hopefully they’re helpful to someone other than just myself.
On a semi-sidenote: when people are given the privilege to address amazing individuals at a conference during the q&a session, they need to save everyone’s time and just ask the question so the panel will have the time to fully discuss and answer it, rather than spend five minutes trying to impress the panel with what they’ve done with their lives and who they are. I’m sorry, but it’s true :)
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