Below are the 4 most recent journal entries recorded in dives' InsaneJournal:

Wednesday, August 12th, 2009
7:01 pm	Damn it I keep forgetting to update. So, uh, I saw Hannibal today on DVD to perv. I was vaguely disappointed. Ridley Scott took my absolute favorite thing about The Silence of the Lambs out of Hannibal completely. What I loved about former was that the scope of the story was extremely narrow-- rainy, everyday Maryland/Pennsylvania. This narrowness, in my opinion, is what elevated the story and gave it an almost heroic quality. The story isn't so great, it's your standard 'rookie cop has to catch a gruesome serial killer' thing. But what makes it so memorable for me is the tone, the fact that you have Clarice/Jack Crawford/the FBI set up as not just heroes, but Heroes that you want to succeed, and Hannibal Lecter as The Villain with Gumb as The Monster (the minotaur, etc.) I'm not saying that this story is as timeless as the Odyssey, but rather the way it's filmed makes me feel like I'm being told a story, rather than watching a movie, if that makes sense. Hannibal however is way more wide-ranging in scope, jetsetting between Florence, D.C., and wherever Gary Oldman lived. Say what you will about his storytelling, by heavens Ridley Scott knows how to make something look beautiful. Everything looked so timelessly, elegantly beautiful that I completely forgot this was shot in 2000. Mason Verger's estate was unbelievably gorgeous, as was Florence. But opening up the scope, for me, showed up the flaws in the story. The sumptuousness of the scenery, the way it was shot, ironically showed the story to be really rather pedestrian and small. ( Random thoughts with spoilers ) Generally there was a strong sense of the Grand Guignol about this film, which...I don't know, I just didn't find it as compelling as SotL for it. There's probably something to be said about contrasting The Gruesome with The Beautiful, and slightly pretentious references to gladiatorial games are there somehow, but I just remember an overwhelming sense of "eh." Watch it if you want to see Italy beautifully shot, or if you hate Ray Liotta, but you could, you know, rent a travelogue to do that. Well, not to hate Ray Liotta, but you know what I mean. Current Music: White Sox @ Mariners (clash of the teams I have a vague allegiance to!) (Comment on this)
Friday, June 26th, 2009
6:42 pm	hit me with your crosspost stick; I forgot how happy that FF icon makes me I feel like posting something random and fannish, but I dunno what. I haven't really gotten into anything new and fannish. I'm excited about the USA (USA! USA! USA! USA!) getting to the finals of the Confederations Cup, though I couldn't bloody watch because of the bloody cable being switched to digital-- the story is so tedious that I don't even want to bother. Anyway I thought of going to a pub on Sunday to watch the final but I remembered I'll be seeing a film, so no national soccer for me, oh well. I've been watching a lot of TV shows on DVD lately because of the aforementioned bollocking cable, making friends with the Movie Madness people-- right now I'm getting in touch with my inner 50-year-old-slightly-boring-white-guy by watching John Adams (zomg john/abigail otp, john hancock is hot. Well, Justin Theroux has always been hot). It's actually really good-- there was a sea battle! a dude's leg got sawed off!come on!!-- but it's not exactly geared towards teens/people in their 20s (besides, of course, sexy John Hancock. And, apparently, Thomas Jefferson, but I ain' into that.). Look, it's a historical miniseries from HBO with less sex than is usual for HBO, I hope that tells you what you need to know about the vibe it has. Actually, there is nudity, but it is with the context of a dude being tarred and feathered, so, you know...not sexy. Gratuitous, though. I also got into Homicide: Life on the Street. The general thread of my tv-watching habits went thus: BEGINNING OF SPRING QUARTER: watch Heroes because friend turns it on while I'm around. Get kinda back into it, half-and-half, though it's a bit silly. Realize that Douchebag Danko is played by that guy who took everyone hostage on House who always looks like he's about to die, good casting call actually, aka Zeljko Ivanek. Get, along with friend, gobsmacked by the randomness of life when freshman walks into lounge and says "Hey, is that Zeljko Ivanek? My dad knows him." Get back into Lost, too, cos now that it's winding up it actually ANSWERS some QUESTIONS, thanks guys. LAST 2 WEEKS OF SCHOOL: watch Damages because it was supposedly good and that guy won an Emmy for it; get completely obsessed with Damages to the point where roommate long-sufferingly listens to me rave about the latest episode and how well everything fits together (levels of ZOMG are only approached by the Jekyll season finale, which was just sheer WTFery). Get mind blown by said Zeljko Ivanek and how awesome his last episode was, nevermind how awesome EVERY EPISODE (barring one, which was only very good ) WAS. Freak out more at the finale and at Heroes friend about how well Danko Zeljko***/Glenn Close/Marisa's dad from The OC/Ted Bloody Danson did. Friend doesn't care but kindly puts on a caring face. AT HOME: Rent Homicide: Life on the Street because this dude is in it from the library (still waiting for the rest of the season, wth). Rent John Adams to boot because I remember that Paul Giamatti won an Emmy too, and it also won like 173489102784 Emmys for other crap. Recall Big Fat Liar, and wonder if Giamatti ever does the same, or tries to forget. Get gobsmacked that Ivanek is also in the miniseries; realize that he is very likely in everything that has ever been filmed, ever, because he was also the one who got hit by the bus on that one episode of Lost. Feel paranoid. But then laugh, because one's only response to Juliet's husband, aka dude who got hit by the bus, is this. So, uh, that's my life. Oh! I also saw a bit more of True Blood (guess who was in an episode. JUST GUESS). I am glad that many agree with me that Skaaaaaarsgaaaaaard's son is a good-looking guy. I feel vindicated. It was hard to say "Alexander Skarsgard is good-looking" for a while because until a couple of years ago, the sentence had to be followed by "he was that blond male model who was in Zoolander who died in the gasoline fight...he was one of the roommates...oh, just Google Image Search it. No, SKARS-gard. S-K." I got into it a while ago because of cleolinda's recaps, but I didn't keep up with it hardcore or anything. It is ridiculous and yet I kind of secretly enjoy its ridiculousness. Ok. Uh. That's my life. ***omg, Ray Fiske is PRECIOUS. I know, he did kind of a lot of bad things for a long time, but still, precious. Example: FROBISHER: Ray, you ever play a team sport? FISKE: Fencing in college. FROBISHER: No, I mean a team sport. Like football. FISKE: ... Oh, Ray. Such a ~tortured soul~. Current Music: birds chirping on a friday evening (Comment on this)
Friday, May 8th, 2009
4:28 pm	I'm Your Villain I watched Disney's version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame last night instead of reading ahead. It was oddly dark for a Disney film, which I...appreciated? Noted. I was surprised at liking The Prince and The Princess, though, they were both quite feisty, and Quasimodo was a sweet kid. But oddly enough, I couldn't stand Frollo. Not in a "Ah such a good villain, he's just so evil I hate him" way, just a "I really, really, really want to reach to the screen and slap you in the face" kind of way. I don't know if it's the way Disney's done him, since I haven't seen the opera. But I feel like it was a bit of an opportunity wasted. ( Ah, Franz references ) Current Music: the bells, THE BELLS! no, really, there's a chapel next door (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, April 1st, 2009
2:34 pm	Whooee! IJ! edit 4/6/09 Hell's bells, how do I crosspost on LJ and here at the same time? I bet LJ won't let me do it, the twonks. Urgh. Current Music: Little Darlin'-the Diamonds stuck in head (Comment on this)