| | I think I'll update on Thursdays, around 10 a.m. this semester. Well, this week at least, but I'll always have this awkward break-time and very little to do. I.S. isn't getting this hour of my time. But that does not mean I do not have to write. 50 years from now, I imagine I'll have accomplished every academic goal I could ever have. And still, I will have to write.
I've not seen any of the oscar best picture nominees, but was 2008 really that bad? I've only heard of three of the directors prior to today, none of them are first-time projects, and only Gus Van Sant has shown he has any sort of filmic genius about his movies. That being said, short of Elephant, he's generally given in to theme over form and makes "intellectual" films that don't do his capabilities justice. Unless Elephant was a pure aberration...but I don't want to believe that. And Fight Club is ridiculously overrated as a film, so don't start talking about that...even if it is fun to watch, lets be serious about how visually interesting it actually is...which is not so much at all. I guess this was to be expected, after No Country For Old Men and There will Be Blood. Either of those films could win any year in the past five years...maybe longer. Short of last year, which restored my faith in the "academy," I've been terribly disappointed. Maybe my disappointment truly rests in American film.....
And that's why I'm writing my I.S. on the director(s) I am. As far as I can tell, they're the only ones that make films without catering to politics or societal mores. The Coen Brothers don't need gay characters, race relations, or post-colonialism to be respected, and they don't even care to be respected. If it weren't so hard to make a film, which I must admit it certainly is, I would say they are the only true artists in the business today. I know that's not actually true, but it looks like it, when artistry always falls behind controversy and hipness. This decade (going back 10 years, so, Shakespeare in love to now), "The Departed" and "No Country for Old Men" have been the only great films to win the award. And I even like a lot of the other films, and I certainly love Clint Eastwood (Million Dollar Baby).
This sort of thing has always happened. High Noon lost to "The Greatest Show on Earth" because the Academy felt sorry for De Mille. At least old man Cecil B. is a great director though....even if that isn't his best work by any stretch of the imagination. In 1995, which is this years closest rival for bad film years, Braveheart won. Granted, it was a year bad enough that Babe got nominated, but Braveheart doesn't deserve nomination most years. It's a fun movie to watch, but honestly, it's almost a bad film. In 1990, Goodfellas lost to Dances with Wolves. While I'm not the biggest Kevin Costner fan, Dances with Wolves isn't terrible (although we all known it was nominated and won because of its "sensitive" portrayal of First Nations People, who, at the time, still got called "Native Americans", but Goodfellas lost to something. Goodfellas. That's top ten American films of all time material right there. I'm not going to go on forever with this....but Citizen Kane wasn't nominated because of politics.
It's an historic fact that the Academy sucks at handing out awards and sometimes worse at nominating. That being said, it's right a lot too, and while I can't always agree, it's still a rush to pick a favorite and see what happens. 2008 was a bad year for movies, and coupling that with the political side of the awards makes for one of the least interesting oscar races I can find according to the Wikipedia archives. I know I can't speak much til I see them (and I hope to do my best to see them all between now and the awards, but I doubt that happens, if I see any), but this is looking like 1995 all over again.
I probably should have posted this on my film xanga......maybe I'll simul-post that part. Yes, I will do that.
In the meantime, I'm near the end of my second week of my last semester at Wooster.
As weeks go, it was better than the first.
As days go today hasn't been bad and yesterday was great.
As books go, they go quickly these days. Charlotte's Web yesterday, the House at Pooh Corner today. If I don't finish it today, then tomorrow as well, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory this weekend. I love Children as Readers, but it's going to skew my book statistics for the year in a major way. I guess that will make up for the lack of academic books coming this fall.
Speaking of this fall, I have no idea where I'll be, but I'm excited to find out.
I'm going to the Henry Ford museum Saturday. It should be fun, and my I.S. should duly suffer. It will be okay...it just means I've got to have a great Sunday. And I can have a great Sunday, I'm certain. I don't really know what to do next, but I think I can figure it out. Well, I know what I'm going to do next, even if it's not quite the right thing.
I figured out that I've got like, 40 or so days of class left at Wooster. That's kind of strange.
But exciting.
Strange but exciting is the motto of being a senior in college.
And I'm doing largely better than a lot of other seniors. I don't mean to brag, but to show just how weird being a senior is. I feel it, but there are a lot of people that aren 't even as sure about I.S. and the future as I am, and they've got to be in the state of limbo all the more. Unless it's my relative success thus far on I.S. that lets me take that step back and look to see it all, wide-angle lensed and all.
I'm learning about fire right now. Not anywhere specific, just in my life. It means something, and I'll find out someday what it means. Hopefully sooner rather than later, but certainly eventually regardless of the timing.
I can't decide if I feel like I'm floating through life, riding a runaway mine cart, or prancing about rolling hills. I don't think it matters, as its a metaphor, and a metaphor isn't real. But the feelings are, to quote a friend out of context and a bit off the mark.
I guess we've got a new president too. His going to disappoint. Not that he'll be bad. Well, I don't know yet. But I do know that no human, no set of humans, could live up to the expectations this campus has for him, and thus, probably a lot of the nation.
I happened upon a facebook status Tuesday that read "<name forgotten> has the joy that only hope and Obama can bring" Well, I am sorry, name forgotten, but your joy is incomplete and SO MUCH SMALLER than the joy you could have.
Because it's not even real. Not EVEN real.
Because the only real hope and joy that there are come from Christ.
I'm probably writing that to the proverbial choir. But can you imagine how joyful people that get that excited about a man could get with the true hope and joy that comes from Christ? I'm fairly unexcitable. You could call it jaded or experienced...I just know it takes a lot to make me truly amped. If you don't believe that, you're probably an InterVarsity friend, because I can't help but be totally excited at conferences and in InterVarsity events, because Christ is often present and we're serving him. And that is true joy. All else is so fickle. So very fickle. I guess I've largely lost the ability to find joy in the simple things about life. But I'm okay with that, because I find joy in something so much more free, so much more accessible, and so much greater.
-Zack
"And I'm on fire
Burning at these mysteries"
-On Fire, Switchfoot
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