ASSA!: February 2005 Archives

« January 2005 | Main | March 2005 »

February 24, 2005

Went to the gates...

Here is a nice rip about them:

Swaying like 7,500 Hare Krishna in a can-can line, the saffron-colored fabric panels of Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s Central Park gates are a lovely work of choreography designed by the wind. Yesterday, the inaugural day of the $21 million project, breezes made rippling waves or snackfood twists of the panels, sometimes in sequence, sometimes in unison. Thanks to their color, “The Gates” stood up to whatever sky happened to pass on a changeable February morning, be it fluffy white, seal gray, or Paul Newman ocular blue.

This is a project that involved a quarter-century planning but no chance for a dress rehearsal. Things were bound to go wrong. A volunteer confided to me that despite all the media hoopla, the international press corps managed to miss the unfurling of the very first gate at 8:30 a.m. Pity, that, because the cardboard tube that was released as the fabric dropped reportedly conked Mayor Bloomberg on the head.

At 10 a.m., another volunteer, grappling with an extendable rod near the park’s West 106th Street entrance, set free a tangle of nylon that a gust had bunched at the top of a gate. Asked how often he’s been called on to perform such rescue operations, the grappler said, “It seems like every five minutes.” Pressed for an actual number of incidents, he conceded “three.”

A clump of observers with cameras surrounded him. Another clump stationed itself near a gate whose fabric was still wound in a roll like a chrysalis, watching as a volunteer reaching with a pole took hold of a dangling loop, unzipped a Velcro strip, and released a swath of pleated nylon along with the fabric case that contained it. The audience clapped, cheered, and shuffled to the next gate like golf fans at a tournament making their leisurely way from hole to hole. Come to think of it, golf carts were there, too, conducting volunteers and their billowing loads of byproducts from the unfurling. There were security vehicles, driven by park officials. And there was a sound that many New Yorkers can’t help linking to the events of 9/11, especially when it is coupled with flashes of emergency orange: the noise of helicopter rotors. Chop, chop, chop.

Yes, though Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s Central Park gates have been planned with awe-inspiring grit and dedication and are blameless in every way — though they will do no damage to the park and are composed entirely of recyclable materials; though they are constructed with paid, loving labor (except in the case of Jeanne-Claude’s late mother, who insisted on working for free); though they cost the city nothing and are estimated to bring in at least $80 million from tourists; though proceeds through the sale of souvenirs will nobly benefit the Central Park Conservancy and Nurture New York’s Nature; though the saffron-colored fabric is meant to connote peace and comes close to matching Jeanne-Claude’s hair — this miracle of efficiency, this triumph of persistence over municipal bureaucracy, this delicate orange grove, which an acquaintance rightly likened to an evanescent eruption of cherry trees in the spring, cannot overcome associations with hazardous conditions, at least not to my mind.

Something was fishy from the start. As I approached the gates from the Upper West Side near the park’s northern edge, I spotted a bluff topped with orange flags. I had seen all the sketches and early installation photos and even pieces of the project being assembled near Central Park South, but still, my first thought was, “Oh, another construction site up here.” It was Saturday morning. I was sleepy and squinty. And yet.

When I reached the park, I felt a wowza moment seeing the pathways redefined by the billowing fabric radiating in lines and curves. But the elation was short-lived. In contrast to the dancing nylon, the gates themselves have a tendency to plod. They march along walkways and circle ponds in a way that seems leaden and clumsy. They peter out and resume. The eye can only take in so many at a stretch in short, fluttery bursts, but knows there are at least 7,400 more. The urge is to rise higher for a bigger, more complex panorama. One finds oneself walking mechanically to the tower of Belvedere Castle whither all other park visitors have gravitated like the ghouls in “Night of the Living Dead.”

How different is the spell cast by Anish Kapoor’s “Cloud Gate” sculpture in Chicago’s Millennium Park. The biomorphic artwork reflects surrounding towers and people in a silver fun-house surface that is all pleasure without the mockery. You draw closer, closer to the sculpture’s concave heart to see the effect, until you’re entirely swallowed up. (Okay, maybe there’s some gentle ribbing of your narcissism.)

Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s Central Park gates lack that magnetic, landscape-transforming power. Could this be owing not just to the way the gates drive viewers to seek greater heights of sensation, but also to the off-putting emergency color, the subtle grid of the rip-stop nylon reminiscent of quick escapes from troubled aircraft? After the theater of the unfurling, others quickly took the altered scenery in stride. Soon it seemed like any other Saturday in the park with New Yorkers chatting down the newly arcaded pathways, tugging at dogs and children.

“Look at the ducks, they’re all puffed up,” an elderly woman said to a companion, pointing to a huddle of feathery creatures standing on the icy surface of a pond, which was ringed by gates. “That’s how they stay warm,” the companion explained. Neither noticed the gates anymore, or that some of the ducks’ feet were a peculiar color. They were saffron.

Julie Lasky is the editor-in-chief of I.D., the international design magazine. A former editor of Interiors magazine and managing editor of Print, she is the author of the book Some People Can’t Surf: The Graphic Design of Art Chantry.

Posted by dimitri at 12:07 PM | Comments (0)

February 23, 2005

T.H.U.G. 2

»
skip intro

Started Playing yesterday a bit. In someways it is great and in other I am not sure what is so great. What is nice is that the game has not changed much but the details are heightened. This is in the game play itself. the story is a line is not that much different.

Posted by dimitri at 02:20 PM | Comments (0)

February 19, 2005

Constantine

Based on the DC/Vertigo comic book Hellblazer and written by Kevin Brodbin, Mark Bomback and Frank Capello, Constantine tells the story of irreverent supernatural detective John Constantine (Keanu Reeves), who has literally been to hell and back. When Constantine teams up with skeptical policewoman Angela Dodson (Rachel Weisz) to solve the mysterious suicide of her twin sister (also played by Weisz), their investigation takes them through the world of demons and angels that exists just beneath the landscape of contemporary Los Angeles. Caught in a catastrophic series of otherworldy events, the two become inextricably involved and seek to find their own peace at whatever cost.

read more comment ripped from IMDB...

Constantine was the Roman emperor who recognized Christianity and made if possible for the Church to move from the underground into the public arena. He did it out of convenience, thinking that it would be easier to work with the Christian church than try to fight it. He lived most of his life as a ruthless leader who gave the orders to kill even members of his family. Constantine accomplished much good in his life, even though he had what most would say were impure motives.

But the Roman Constantine is not the same as the same-named title character of the new film, "Constantine," from DC-Vertigo Comics and Warner Brothers Pictures. Or is he? John Constantine, from the comic novels "Hellblazer," is doomed to hell when he dies. His situation may be hopeless, but he operates as if he could buy his way into heaven by doing enough good by removing enough evil from the world. He's a chain-smoking, hard-drinking, rude and uncaring man who is the hero of our film.

Angela Dodson is a pure-hearted, loving sister who is seeking the truth to her twin sister, Isabel's, death. It would seem she has nothing but the best motives, but conflicted people and incongruous motives are what make this movie interesting.

Interesting questions surrounding the death of Jesus Christ, the existence of demons on Earth, the ultimate destination of our soul when we die and even the perfect lack of all evil in angels are woven into a screen adaptation of a character and story with a cult following. It seems as though this ambiguity regarding good and evil may exist in film as well as real life. In "Constantine," it is not good verses evil -- but rather it is good and evil taking turns messing things up and making them better. In life the rule seems to be strangely similar. John Constantine's ability to do good without pure motives may give hope to the rest of us who regularly do things for all the wrong reasons.

The visuals and the sound presentation in this film are wonderful. Philippe Rousselot's cinematography and Brian Tyler and Klaus Badelt's energetic soundtrack are masterful. The acting, however, is only adequate. Keanu Reaves has long since learned how to play Keanu Reaves. He continues with what he knows best. Shia LaBeouf, after a similar role in "I, Robot," is becoming quite an accomplished "plucky sidekick" too. But the standout in this film is the emotional and endearing performance by Rachel Weisz as Angela Dodson. The movie is one worth seeing aside from her presence, but Weisz's performance take it from a "see it if you like action movies" recommendation to a "see it to admire Rachel Weisz's performance" endorsement.

Posted by dimitri at 12:20 AM | Comments (0)

February 10, 2005

Whisper of the Heart

Whisper of the Heart is a quiet, realistic film from Studio Ghibli, more in the style of Only Yesterday than the studio's action packed fantasies like Laputa. There is not much in the way of plot to the movie, it's more of a character study as we watch the main characters interact and grow with each other.

The story centers on Shizuku TSUKISHIMA, a 14 year old growing up in the suburbs of modern Toyko. She is bookworm who wants to write when she grows up. Over her summer break she discovers that all the library books she has been reading have been checked out before her by someone named Seiji AMASAWA. Through a series of semi-magical accidents, she meets Seiji and finds out he is another student at her junior high. He wants to be a violin maker and is going to try for an apprenticeship in Italy. Struck by the example of someone working so hard to fullfil his dream, Shizuku sets herself a challenge to write a real story. This will prove to herself and the rest that she can achieve her dreams of being a writer. We only see a little bit of the story she writes, while the movie focuses on the typical adolescent struggles to prove that one has some talent or ability that make one a worthwhile or lovable person. In that sense, it is probably closer in themes and spirit to Kiki than any other Ghibli film.

This is one of the few Ghibli films not directed by either Miyazaki or Takahata. Instead this was directed by Yoshifumi KONDO and was partially done to showcase the new generation of animators coming up at Studio Ghibli. Miyazaki did have a hand in the movie by writing the screenplay (based on a shojo manga by Aoi HIIRAGI) and the storyboards and serving as executive producer.

Only the short (two minutes total) fantasy sequences where Shizuku is imagining her story were directed by Miyazaki. The artist who did the incredibly intricate backgrounds for these sequences was Naohisa INOUE. He was an established artist who invited Miyazaki to come to a gallery show of his fantasy artwork. His work has been influenced by Miyazaki's movies and he puts flying island in the sky that he calls "laputas". Miyazaki was impressed enough to buy one of his pieces for the Studio Ghibli offices, then later asked him to come work with them on the movie.

Ghibli (and Miyazaki and Takahata) had been criticized for only making movies which idealized the idea of country life and the countryside (inaka). So one of the reasons for choosing this story was as a reply to this criticism; to show they could make a movie set only in the urban and suburban life of modern Tokyo, yet still preserve the Ghibli sense of magic and joy in the story. Ironically, (as Ryo pointed out on the Miyazaki mailing list), the "new town" that Shizuku lives in is the one which was built on top of the tanukis' forest from Ponpoko. The opening panarama of the new city at night in Whispers is the same as the closing scene in Ponpoko.

Ryo also pointed out that part of the motivation for this movie was that Miyazaki "felt that children living in the modern day Japan need their own story" as opposed to the nostalgic movies like Totoro which look back to an idyllic country life. In Miyazaki's own words (translated by Ryo) "'For Shizuku, who grew up in the newly founded residential area in the city, the green earth or mountain momma has little to do with her. After many struggles, she reaches the conclusion that for her, this scenery with convenience stores and fast food restaurants is her 'home', and she has no choice but to live here with her feet down to earth."

One of the key elements of the movie is the old John Denver song Country Roads. The movie opens with Olivia Newton-John singing it (her version was a hit in Japan in the 1970s), and throughout the movie Shizuku struggles to write new Japanese lyrics to the song. At one point she does a parody of it called Concrete Roads which describes her city life. Ironically, her spoof is closer to her real life than the cliched images of country life that she keeps trying to use. The movie closes with her new version of the song, but now it is more about her life and her experiences growing up than about country life. Shizuku has finally begun to find her voice as a writer.

Family oriented production studios rarely get the recognition they deserve but Studio Ghibli definitely should. They have been putting out amazing works like Nausicaa, Laputa and Totoro that have not found their equal a decade after their release. They have literally blown away the animation world with their sensational winds. Included in this team are Hayao Miyazaki, Isao Takahata, Yoshifumi Kondo and a few others.

1. Nausicaa: The Valley of Wind (1984)
Nausicaa the princess of a small nation, lives in a world devastated by a holocaust called the Seven Days of Fire. She tries to stop other warring nations from destroying themselves and from destroying the only means by which their world can be saved from the spread of polluted wastelands.

2. Laputa: Castle in the Sky (1986)
Pazu rescues an unconscious girl descending from the night sky with a glowing pendant around her neck. He helps the girl, Sheeta, to escape from the air pirates and the military who are obsessed with Laputa, a legendary kingdom on a floating island in the sky with which Sheeta is suspected of being connected.

3. My Neighbor Totoro (1988)
Totoro is a forest spirit that little Mei, and later her older sister Satsuki, encounter in a giant camphor tree near their new home in the countryside. Although their father, a university professor, is with them when they move, their mother is in the hospital, recovering from some unnamed illness. When Mei hears that her mother's condition may be worsening, she resolves to visit her all by herself. When everyone realizes she's missing, only Totoro knows how to find her!

4. Grave of the Fireflies (1988)
Alternately known as Tombstone for Fireflies, Grave is a very somber film about the struggle of two children to survive during World War II. Seita and his younger sister Setsuko are left to fend for themselves when their mother passes away from severe burns inflicted by the American fire-bombing of their town. Their father is serving in the Japanese navy, but the children have not heard from him in a long time, so Seita and Setsuko try staying with a distant relative. However, Seita doesn't get along well with this relative and decides to leave, taking Setsuko with him, to live on their own.

5. Kiki's Delivery Service (1989)
Kiki is a 13-year old witch. When a witch turns 13, it is traditional for her to move away from home to spend a year in another city or town where there is no witch already living, so that she can learn to be independant and practice her trade. This is Kiki's story of the beginning of her year away from home. She and her black cat Jiji run into a little trouble at first, but they soon make friends in their new city by the sea.

6. Only Yesterday (1991)
Only Yesterday revolves around Taeko, a single woman working a desk job in Tokyo in 1982, taking a vacation in the countryside with the family of her sister in-law. During her vacation, Taeko finds herself looking back at her time as a young schoolgirl growing up in 1966. The film flips back and forth between the two time periods with a lot of nostalgia and beautiful country scenery as Taeko sorts out her flashbacks and tries to make some tough decisions about her future.

7. Porco Rosso (1992)
Porco Rosso (the Japanese title Kurenai no Buta literally means The Crimson Pig) was first planned as a 30-45 minutes in-flight movie on Japan Airlines. It's been described as a movie which tired businessmen on international flights can enjoy even with their minds dulled due to lack of oxygen. As Miyazaki's imagination took off, it became a feature-length movie about an Italian Air Force pilot who left the service due to the rise of fascism. He became a bounty hunter, assuming the name Porco Rosso.

8. Ocean Waves (1993)
Ocean Waves is the official English title (from Japan) for a film more commonly known as I Can Hear the Sea (the literal meaning of the Japanese title). Set in Kochi (on the island of Shikoku), Umi tells the story of a love triangle that develops between two good friends and the new girl in school who transferred from Tokyo. The new girl, Rikako, is at first arrogant and distant, but eventually makes friends.

9. Pom Poko (1994)
In Pom Poko (the Japanese title literally means Heisei-era Raccoon War Pom Poko), Tanuki (animals native to Asia which look like raccoons) living in the forest near a government construction project, are being threatened by the destruction of their habitat. Banding together and seeking help from other tribes of Tanuki, they live up to their traditionally mischievous reputation by changing their shape and trying to sabotage the construction effort. When this fails, they stage one last great illusion, hoping to alert the city folk to the natural wonders being bulldozed to make room for yet another Tokyo suburb, before it's too late...

10. On Your Mark (MTV) (1995)
This music film, directed by Miyazaki for the Japanese pop music artists Chage & Aska, is by many accounts the seed of an idea for a film in its own right.

11. Whisper of the Heart (1995)
Mimi wo Sumaseba, which literally means If You Listen Closely, tells the story of Shizuku, a junior-high school student who is struggling to find out who she is. The movie takes you on a journey through her imagination and daily life as she makes decisions that will ultimately decide her future.

12. Princess Mononoke (1997)
Set during the Muromachi Period (1333-1568) of Japan, Mononoke Hime is a story about a mystic fight between the Animal Gods of the forest and humans. On the side of the Animal Gods is San (Mononoke Hime), a human girl raised by the wolf god Moro. On the side of the humans is Lady Eboshi, building a kingdom for oppressed people by cutting down the forest for her iron-making operation. In the middle of this fierce fighting for survival, Ashitaka, an Emishi boy, struggles to find a way for both sides to co-exist. But the fighting just becomes more and more bloody and all hope seems to be lost...

13. Spirited Away
Miyazaki's newest Movie !!!

Posted by dimitri at 11:41 PM | Comments (0)

February 05, 2005

Cell Phone Jerks

So Last week-end I went with baby to Seattle. While we were there we stopped off at ElliotBay bookshop. Beautiful space and lots of great books. There on a shelf was this quick reader... The jerk With the Cellphone... That's for me I thought well, My writing is not great infact it is terrible, but I write this for me and never thought of writing a book. Well, it is a terrible book! I guess i had too high an expectation.
In anycase, it was funny, because the writer starts the book off saying her writing is not great... but after the book has gotten better... wish I read that line in the book before buying it.

Posted by dimitri at 01:02 PM | Comments (0)

J2ME blogging software test

SO i understand that I have a non conventional cell phone (Motorola e680) but I am amzed if this is the reason. I have been testing mobile blog software, BlogPlanet, Kablog, and MIDLog. all of them have problems except an older version of MIDLog. The others either don't connect or connect then send the entry into space never to be heard from again. I have noticed that most of these programs have been tested and verified for Nokia hand set so I will hold my opinion to personal experience.It make me wonder about technology and how we are on a daily basis moving away from standards. It seems that the way around standards is to make more standards so everyone has their own standard... Seems like it sort of defeats the purpose don't you think.

Well until further development in these softwares I will stick to trust old MIDLog 0.3 to get my mobile thought online.

Posted by dimitri at 12:48 PM | Comments (0)

The Forgotten

Plot:A grieving mother, Telly Parada, is struggling to cope with the loss of her 9-year-old son. She is stunned when her psychiatrist and her husband tell her that she has created eight years of memories of a son she never had. But when she meets the father of one of her son's friend who is having the same experience, Telly embarks on a mission to prove her son's existence and her sanity.

Thoughts:What a weird movie I am not sure what to think about it. it is one of those movies which at first you don't like it. The next day your thinking about it alot. Well, it is one of those. I am not too sure could ever think of it as a good movie merely because it gets quite corny from the middle on. I had no idea what the movie was going to be about I imagined it to be more like Six Sense. It had it moments and thrilling too but when people started getting sucked into the sky... the movie lost me. It is a good blah rainy day movie.

ASSA!