🇺🇸Review - "The Undefeated" (2016) - Dir. Stephen K. Bannon🌨

When Bannon was a feminist

This is a bad documentary. 

It is the life story of Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin until 2011. Everything else is wrong about this film too. Especially the title 'The Undefeated' isn't spin; it is a lie. Even The narrative argues that she was defeated. No attempt is made to justify why this film is called the undefeated.

Actually it seems no attempted was made to justify anything creative done in the film which is made with interviews played over stock footage. Compared to some other right-wing populist films (Brexit - The Movie) which are trying to convince people of their policy positions, this film's merchandise is cliche. The movie has a structure like my old secondary school assignments, rushed together to so something can be handed in, content and quality ignored.

But this is kinda why it is interesting. Some of the cliches ("They didn't see us coming") used are the same when Bannon was part of a team manufacturing populism during 2016 Presidential race. But some of the cliches used back in 2011 are the opposite of the ones used in 2016. 

'The Undefeated' is superficially feminist. The narrative the film puts forward is that male establishment (the boys in the playground) disliked the strong, female politician which the film argues Palin was. Apart from her 'conservatism', the major reason her establishment critics dislike her is because she is a woman, the film argues. A Montage  of comedians making jokes (not including Tina Faye) about Palin opens the film and places that argument a the head of the 2 hour onslaught. 

Avoid this film. 

🇳🇿Review - Chronesthesia (2016)⌚️

It is what it is, but it isn't Wellington

I just saw Chronesthesia, a New Zealand low budget drama. It is a sunnier verson of the Butterfly Effect. The film held my interest. The story is decent and although slick in many respects, the major twists are guessable 10 minutes before they film seems to want to reveal them.

Besides the story, the films strengths are its acting and the editing. But even here the strengths arn't quite synced. The lead, played by Hayden j Weal, is described inside the film as a jerk and not getting along well with people. But the role is acted likeable, and always seems pleasant and sociable. 

A similar contradiction exists in the location of the film. It attempts to be the definitive depiction of Wellington and goes about doing this by showing lots of locations around the city. On a low budget, they  use the cities natural light and every day in this film's Wellington is bright and sunny. (The exception is the picture's climax; but even the computer manufactured mother of a storm passes, allowing a montage of sunny again Wellington.)

Anybody can produce good looking footage of Mount Vic. The point of a movie is to dipict what life is like to live there.

🏙Review - "New York to Detroit" by Dorothy Parker📞

Not a lot to say about this one.

It is a transcript of a phone conversation. A woman called Jean from NY is calling Jack in Detroit. They have had a romantic relationship in the past, Jean is still madly in love with Jack. Jack is uninterested, he spends the conversation complaining about the connection and how he can't hear Jean. When is friends arrive, he seems more interested in talking to them than with Jean.

That is about it. 

✉️Review - "Collectors" by Raymond Carver🏡

This was a short, uneventful story which I had to read twice to make sure that I wasn't missing anything. It reminds me of the type that are set as close reading exercises, and I normally like this sort of modernist story where people are just going through life. I didn't click with this one.

The plot is basic: An unemployed man is waiting for letter. A vacuum cleaner salesman arrives at the house, saying that Mrs Slater has won a free cleaning. The narrator claims that Mrs Slater doesn't live there and that he is to poor to purchase a vacuum cleaner. The narrator seems more motivated to make it clear that he can't afford it, rather than out of concern for the cleaner. The salesman proceeds to clean the house anyway, and picks-up the letter when it arrives. Claiming that the letter is for Mr Slater and that he would "see to it." Then the salesman leaves.

Was there any meaning to it? It was just a slither of the daily routine of two people. I guess what is remarkable about it is that another author may have made the story farcical, the story of a man going through the motions of cleaning a house for the wrong person, who had no intention of buying a vacuum cleaner either. But this story here is just mundane. 

🖼Review - Ways of seeing (1972) - John Berger

It is a case of you don't know what you've got until it's gone. I was vaguely aware of John Berger, mostly hearing him referred to as the guy who gave his Booker prize to the Black Panthers. So as a result of the coverage of his death, I was introduced to his 4-episode, 1972 documentary Ways of Seeing. 

This documentary is up there in quality and passion with such great documentaries of the era such as Carl Sagan's Cosmos. It does have a slower pace than something made now, but it never feels dull. 

Aimming to demystify 'high culture' from the chains of heavy terms, Berger covers European painting from 1400 - 1900 and the echoes in mid-20th century culture. 

My favourite episode (or the one for which I took down the most notes) was the third, which discusses art as a commodity, but then looks back at why this is. The European oil paintings of this era, according to Berger, are the 'Images of the things which are desirable." Rich people had painters paint them along side their property, livestock, mistresses, slaves and junk to preserve and show off there spender. It was "a medium which celebrated private possessions."

👽Review - "A princess of Mars" by Edgar Rice Burroughs👾

Review - "A Princess of Mars" by Edgar Rrice Burroughs

(With musings about why I should write a space opera, but probably won't) 

I finally got around to reading A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs. The novel is famous for being mad into a forgettable film by The Asylm and then into an even more forgettable film by Disney. The book is fun, even if times it does get to anthropological. The strange titles which most characters have get a bit confusing at times.

The book is almost a western, but on Mars. It establishes the Si-fi plot where the 'civilised' humans align with the primitive natives to defeat the evil (thing Dune or Return of the Jedi).

So, where does it leave me. I'm thinking of writing a space opera, but probably won't. I have scribbled down a brain storm which resembles Henry IV in space. This could pretty amusing be. A celestial nation ruled by a leader who seized power through force, recently fallen out with his heir. This youthful dauphin has been lead astray by the comic relief, secret hero of this epic. But the prince must redeem himself by defeating a braver verson of himself, leading the revolution against his father. Most likely it will go into the pile and never be developed farther. 

Project Update, because I have nothing Else to say.

I have submitted a bunch of my short stories to a few local literary journals, but that isn't all that interesting.

On Youtube, I've uploaded myself reading some poems. It was a pretty disastrous attempt. The first poem I attempted was Andrew Marvell's The Garden. It was far over my head, with dated rhymes I couldn't pull of saying correctly. So instead I just read them with the current pronunciation, which seems off.

I had better luck with the second poem I attempted. Edgar Allen Poe's Alone is a cute little poem which explores the feeling of isolation and those dark feelings we sometimes feel. However, even here I had two difficulties. I lack decent technical skills, so the video is amateurish with sound quality is bad. My annunciation is also weak, and I struggled with the getting the words to sound right. Still, it was better than my attempt at Andrew Marvell.

I'm not sure why, But I've uploaded some abandoned drafts and my notebook to the internet.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0CmjnJdFuvVR1IyZ1NDbUhwUjg/view?usp=sharing