So... I basically fail. Don't even have Whistler as an excuse this time. Or Weezer. Although now I wish I saw Weezer in Whistler. It'd be a wackily wild, winsome, and even whimsical weekend with wanton wanders and whelks whisked wearily from waters washing wistfully.
Pulled that one out of my hat just now. Thank you. Thank you. I'll be here all week. Just not writing each day of the week, apparently. Ah well. I lasted a good week longer than I expected to, so that's cause for a mite less self-deprecation. Maybe.
Anyhoo (I think this is my first time ever using that word. Do I get an outdated slang medal now?)!
Today, I hiked up to Garibaldi lake. It was marvelous. I came to the stupendous conclusion that the best way to refresh yourself in a mountaintop lake, shy of swimming in it and freezing your arse off, is to dunk your head in the water and keep your torso dry. As I learned from Liam Neeson in Batman Begins:
One of many arbitrary movie life-lessons that I quote to others incessantly.
Seriously though. The head-dunk looked ridiculous but felt awesome. After a gruelling 4.5 hour hike consistently uphill? Basically like God in a bottle.
Then I came home, had a lifesaving shower, and read this. Pretty nifty, and certainly not restricted to gifted children. Still a cool issue to draw attention to.
I wish either of those could count as a fact of the day, but, sadly, according to my own arbitrary rules, neither quite qualifies. This is a bummer, as, at this point in the post, I haven't actually come across a fact of the day yet. So. Talk amongst yourselves. And enjoy this:
The other night, Kristy was unfathomably awesome enough to (re)watch the shit-show that is Spider-Man 3 with me. FOR RESEARCH! I swear. Anyway - her moment of the night was quipping, in response to being informed of the movie's $250 million budget (yes, a country could have been saved from starvation on what they spent on this atrocity): "I bet most of it went to Tobey Maguire's dance lessons".
Well played, girl.
There's also a bit in SM3's infamous "emo phase" that I had forgotten (or blocked out, perhaps), where 'Evil Peter' takes Gwen Stacy on a date to the jazz club where Mary-Jane, who has just forcibly dumped him (long story), is working. Since Sam Raimi is a crackpot who has apparently decided that Peter turning 'evil' means a sudden obsession with weird beatnik slang and actions (and, yes, unforgivable '70s dancing), there is a section in this sequence where Peter accompanies/interrupts MJ's song with a jazz piano solo, then whispers into the mike (in a horrifying extreme close-up), "Now dig on this". He then dives into a strange, spider-powers-augmented dance number, during which he stomps on tables, drinks a martini and chucks the glass. What movie is this directly, and likely unintentionally, ripping off?
Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy. Yes, the "yazz flute" scene. AKA one of the most hilarious moments in one of the best comedies of all time. And by most hilarious moments, I mean a moment. Because all moments in Anchorman are hilarious.
The one I quote the most these days? A little throwaway Steve Carrell moment where Brick drinks coffee, and, in perfect deadpan, responds to an unrelated statement with, "Mmm. I just burnt my tongue."
Still stalling, yes.
BRB while I go find a fact.
*Elevator music*
Ooh! I found a fact! It's a film-y fact and everything! Look at me being all appropriate and junk!
#14: A crucial early stage in the process of film composition is called "music spotting".
Basically, it involves reviewing edited scenes with the composer and trying to figure out how the music fits in with the scene. Or, in the words of Peter Jackson, whose facebook page I learned this information from:
"'Spotting' involves talking through edited scenes with Howard [Shore], and figuring out everything he needs to do a first pass at the music composition - where music should start and stop, what mood it should have, themes to use, moments to punctuate. That type of thing. To stay on schedule, Howard needs 10 mins of cut footage every week."
So that's cool. A bit elementary, yes, but a bit more of a specific insight into the actual production process of implementing film composition into the editing process. Or at least a key term I was unfamiliar with. Because, y'know, those of us in Film Studies never actually get to learn anything about Film Production, except on our own free time. But that's a rant for another day.
So there we go! A blog post! Yay!
I'll now leave you, as I go finally allow myself to pass out, post-hike. Goodnight sweet prince.
[I've been very exposed to Shakespeare lately - first Joss Whedon's magnificent and champagne-like Much Ado About Nothing - or, as I coined it, "Josspeare" - then seeing Hamlet at Bard on the Beach with Becky - more alliteration! Yay!
Seriously though. Another spectacular production. Using the drum solo from The Beatles' "The End", one of my top five songs, as transition music approaching the climax of the show gave me tingles of creative joy]
And, for requisite comedic grace note:
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