This is us before the X-files premier in 1998. We're in costume, not crazy costume (we're 14 [okay okay I'm thirteen still, I'll be fourteen in a week] we have no disposable income).
From Left to Right: Katie Wills (she's an alien), Estrella Vargas (She's the chess boy,Gibson Praise. If you don't know who he is, I'll forgive you. Read here), me (I'm Langely, that white shirt has an alien on it, I swears), Pam Wise (as Alex Krycek. I also feel obligated to mention that she is Pam Miller now) and Nick Tsurumoto (as the Cigarette Smoking Man. He is actually wearing slacks!). If you're wondering what we're holding, I made everyone small FBI badges out of stock paper, so we could walk around shouting "FBI!"
This is Ed and I before going out to see the movie (okay this part is now for me). Don't we look happy? With expressions of "Oh, man, this is going to Rock!" on our faces we leave for the big disappointment. Two hours later we will walk into the house sadder and wiser people.
Also, the reason Ed is barely in this picture is because he's on his knees trying to get into frame with me. We're so radically different in height it's quite difficult to capture us both on camera.
posted by Amber at 6:43 PM
When I was 13 (almost fourteen) I held my fourteenth birthday party as the X-files premiere. Me and my friends dressed in -costume- (first and only time I've done that), saw it in the big dome, second row center. We would have been in the first row, but our doppelgangers had already taken it.
I went as Langely ten years ago. I DIDN'T WASH MY HAIR FOR THREE DAYS TO GET THE STRINGY LOOK DOWN.
I wasn't even expecting much. I was hoping for a quiet monster of the week thing. I missed my old friends, I wanted to see them happy and together. Instead they have aged as melodramatic self absorbed hams with NO sex appeal. I couldn't watch them have "pillow talk" it was so damn awkward.
I walked out.
You read that right.
I walked out of the theatre with about twenty minutes to go because I COULDN'T BEAR IT ANY MORE.
Sigh.
So I saw one really awesome movie and one AWFUL movie, not bad for two weeks, I guess.
One of the great buy-ins that a movie audience makes is the concept of a soundtrack. The idea that as you are watching action take place there is music telling you how to feel, a sound cue that lacks a source in the cinematic world of whatever movie you are watching. We all accept and expect this soundtrack. When it not around, it's unnerving. For example: No Country for Old Men is a movie that has minimal (and I only say minimal to cover my ass) non-diegetic sound. There is a lot of silence No Country, of course it's thoughtful and meaning-laden silence, but still... it's freakin' quiet (if you want an even more snotty film that addresses and constantly challenges the tacit acceptance we have of non-diegetic sound, see Godard's Une Femme est Une Femme. Or, you could not and save yourself the headache.).
But I don't want to talk about the Coen Brothers, really (and I don't want to talk about Godard [ever]).
I like the soundtrack, I often wish my life were set to a soundtrack. I have a cd called Music for TV Dinners, which is full of 1950s music used to sell Modernity (think film shorts about "Industry!" or Ren and Stimpy). TV Dinners is a cd that is over the top, but so gleefully so, that you buy into it (I feel happy! I want to work faster!). I enjoy a soundtrack done well; one that provokes the feeling it's supposed to without hitting you over the head with it.
I'm talking about The Dark Knight.
I saw it last night, and needed twenty minutes of silence to extricate myself from it afterwards. I could talk about the acting (Heath Ledger was the Joker. I was half tempted to write about the Joker and the "Space Cowboy" from Gerald's Game, but didn't. I loved Aaron Eckhert as Two Face. The casting was dead on.), but I won't.
I will talk about the sound. The film is saturated with a feeling of intense unease. Intense Unease, even. Listening to the score in isolation (by Hans Zimmer) right now is making me tense, but it confirms what I remember (it's long but worth it!):
Lone high pitched sound getting louder and more mechanical, then stopping for a while and building up again. I hear this and it feels like sonic confirmation of what the Joker himself says (rasp/whines, whatever), that they have a case of an unstoppable force meeting an immovable object... and it's pretty clear who is who.
For an expert's review of the soundtrack read here posted by Amber at 3:06 PM
I've been pretty busy lately, and happy. Bad time for blogging. Right now I'm wishing for sleep while watching the X-files. I've made a connection between creepyass dreams and conking out in front of the tv, but, I'm learning to live with creepy dreams.
I swam a mile yesterday, and that was really awesome. I thought I would be exhausted today, but nope today I feel just peachy. Which is -really really- exciting.
Um... I gave a lecture today on the Bear Flag revolt. I did this last week, but last week it was stiff and unfortunate. Then today I remembered what I was good at, which is telling stories, so I did that (with History, of course) and it went much better. So that was a relief.
Man, I wish I had something remotely interesting to write about, but I don't. Life has been... Life. Busy, and that's about it.
Okay, I'm going back to the X-files (hopefully tonight I won't dream about missing limbs or dead/undead people).
posted by Amber at 11:52 PM
For some reason I haven't felt like blogging much lately. I don't know what that is about.
My birthday was really awesome and I had a really great fourth of July, I went on two good vacations and I love my job.
Ah, there it is- I'm too happy.
This theory is supported by the fact that I'm blogging today because I feel ill (sneezing, watery eyes, GI 'troubles' and a migraine), and because Ed has received Mass Effect from his brother (I assume a late birthday gift). I imagine the game is awesome. It must be, he's been playing for something like seven hours at this point (no, not in a row. He took breaks, we went out to dinner. He's perfectly capable of talking about things other than the game while not actively playing the game. In fact, I know nothing about it, other than the name of the main character [Elias Shepard, I think] sounds vaguely biblical).
I've been watching X-files (I have seasons one and three on dvd). It's pretty fun spotting the actors who have become famous. For example "Ice" features a young Felicity Huffman looking... disheveled. Today I found a young Jack Black in the episode DPO (he plays the main character's best friend [the title character currently plays Ralph in My Name is Earl]), and -wow-. I think Jack Black is handsome now, but when he was 27ish, he was something else (a good something else).
Anyway, I think I'm going to bed, I hope Ed makes to sleep before three am.
posted by Amber at 12:34 AM
