Movies I Liked in 2010

I had started a 2010 music post, but realized halfway through that I have a strange taste in music, and so I switched to movies. Ah, that feels better. Also, I warn you that these movies can be from any year, as long as I saw them first in 2010. I know. I'm a huge cheater.

Red Riding Trilogy

I'm a fan of trilogies. Not your standard blockbuster ones, mind you. And Aliens doesn't count, since it's a quadrilogy. No, I'm talking about trilogies like Refn's Pusher trilogy, where we get to follow characters through multiple stories and shifts in perspective. It's the perfect length of time to build an adequate amount of exposition, but not so drawn-out that we couldn't bear a main character's death or have to indulge another filler episode.

The Red Riding Trilogy is loosely based around the times of the Yorkshire Ripper cases in Yorkshire England during the 1970s. What's interesting is that the killings serve as compelling backstory to the main conflict, that is, one or two lonely people in the entire town who are against everyone else, who are either explicity taking part in corruption, or are apathetic toward the general societal decay. Each movie in the trilogy is directed by a different director, but I noticed no change in tone, pace, or quality. Each tale is harrowing, infuriating, and tragic. Once it starts to pick up steam midway through the first story, it is hard to look away from. An amazing set of films.

Brazil

Yes, I am incredibly late to the party on Brazil, but it was a bit before my time. Part of my enjoyment in films like Brazil or Metropolis is seeing what older generations thought the future might look like. It's always unique, intriguing, and rarely accurate. It's difficult to convey the film, besides saying it's dystopian and has elements of 1984. It also has the undeniable touch of Gilliam going for it. This film actually has a commentary I want to listen to, because Gilliam puts so much in the film that would only make complete sense to him. And even better, often times he comments that he has no idea what a certain scene means or where it came from. It's still an imaginative film and makes one contemplate how free they really are in their daily life.

Kick Ass

I don't like superhero movies in general. Which is probably why I enjoyed Kick Ass so much. It deals with how crazy and naive a person would have to be to want to be a superhero, and realistically, what would happen to them. That is, they would be gravely wounded or killed in short order. Despite some problems (like how the film strays from its adherence to quasi-realism at the end), Kick Ass is enjoyable and funny, while never taking itself too seriously.

Flame and Citron

There have been some good films dealing with the French Resistance during WWII, but Flame and Citron focuses on the Danish Resistance, specifically two agents with the handles Flame and Citron. We learn relatively early on that they are not really agents, just two men who stubbornly hold onto the idea of what their country once was, despite the awful things they have to do in order to maintain that idea. The sense of danger and dread in this film is palpable, and it does a remarkable job of not painting the circumstances in strict black-and-white, which is always tempting when portraying Nazis. How the characters deal with moral ambiguity and the sacrifices to their lives and sanity are ultimately the best parts of this excellent movie.

The Baader Meinhof Complex

This film is nothing short of amazing. It is a testament to the notion that real life often gives the best story lines. This film follows a band of revolutionaries, who seek to right the wrongs of the previous generation in Germany. Of course, they overcompensate just a tad. Both sides in the film are quick to result to violence to achieve their aims, making either side an unlikely source of protagonist sympathy. The acting is superb and visceral, and the story always picks up when it seems to be dragging.

The Big Bad Swim

I'll warn you right away that a lot of people won't like this film, which deals with the disappointments in life and how the characters deal with them. I found it to be an engaging drama where I really cared about the characters. The main character was relatable because he dealt with avoidance behavior and anxiety, but some viewers may simply see his character as withdrawn and sulky. Characters like these are hard to portray in movies, because we tend to stick to our archetypes. So with that caveat, you will like this film if you have patience.

Goya's Ghosts

If you see one movie about Spanish painters this year, make it Goya's Ghosts! Seriously though, this film is fascinating. Bardem does his usual job of coming off as intense and vaguely creepy, and his character is a pure mess, a reflection of the world he inhabits. I was surprised I didn't enjoy Natalie Portman's performance more. Her accent was a bit weird, and her crying seemed inauthentic at times. Even so, her character is an interesting one and her acting doesn't get in the way too much. When I first saw some of Goya's works, I wondered how the powers at be thought about them, and what the conflict with the Church was like. This film does a great job of sorting that out, and giving us a nice story with unexpected twists.

So, that's it. I didn't want to include documentaries and Frontline episodes, because I am seriously addicted to those and they are relatively straightforward. Although, I do recommend Heavy Metal in Baghdad. Oh, and TRON was OK. Happy New Year!

Old Books Learn New Tricks

The L.A. Times has another great article in their series looking at libraries and the publishing industry. This one deals with how ebooks have caused an unlikely infusion of creativity in the print world. Now that print can no longer compete in terms of low cost and convenience, print can differentiate itself in new ways. This includes things like making the book extremely rich and colorful, or even making the book itself part of the message of the text, not just a container. The example in the article has a book that resembles human flesh.

Meanwhile, ebooks are starting to expand in their own right. Instead of merely being a long text file, publishers are trying to find ways to have little snippets of ebooks ready to share when pertinent world events take place, and I could see great potential in this if it's utilized in conjunction with social media.

Social Media and Libraries

As someone who marvels at the intricate evolution of ideas within our culture, or what Professor Dawkins refers to as "memes," I find current debates in libraries and society as a whole regarding social media intriguing. How much time should we really spend with this technology? Is there a way to do it where you can actually increase visibility in the community, or is it simply a matter of keeping up with the times?

These are important questions, because the success of a trend is impossibly hard to predict. The only surefire way to talk confidently about a trend is in retrospect. Trends almost always are safe, hesitant steps out from the branch of ideas that preceded it: rarely is a trend a whole new tree. I remember panning the Nintendo Wii as soon as the details were announced. A remote control for a controller? Motion control? Didn't they try this with the horrible flop that was the Power Glove? The Wii was such a radical departure from the slow evolution of the video game console that I feared it would be ridiculed and ignored, yet it was an immediate and unmitigated success.

I had much the same attitude towards Twitter when it first launched. I am now on Twitter (all my recent Twitter posts are there on the right side, in all their glory and inside-jocularity), but it's still hard to get the exact sense of what we're supposed to do with this thing. It's a tool with no instruction booklet. And a recent post I read regarding the actual use of Twitter seems to echo that problem. Twitter is seen as a titan in social media, yet only 8% of the people use it. Does that mean we shouldn't bother, or does it mean we can reach part of that 8% to make them excited about libraries?

The obvious upswing regarding integrating social media into libraries is that almost all of it is free. I recently wrote a paper regarding library catalogs and cited a wonderful example of integrating social media using Library Thing as an extremely cheap way to use already extant sources of metadata that easily relate to library patrons. But is there a risk?

Yes. Time is valuable to library staff. Assigning a librarian to tweet and type up Facebook updates might be a casual lunch-time frivolity now, but what if social media starts becoming more of a force in our lives? I believe we are on the precipice of combining the escapism and instant gratification of Massively Multiplayer Online Games with the idea of social media. Second Life and Facebook games are but the tip of the iceberg of the coming age of an almost total online presence. Companies will be there: should libraries be there, too?

It has been posited that this type of total online presence will also spill into the real world, where game concepts like scoring points and completing tasks will be assigned to real world, daily tasks. This mentality has already taken hold to some effect in my generation, where we commonly refer to daily events as either "fail" or "win."

The risk is coming off like, for lack of a more tasteful word, a trendhumper. Five years down the line, someone will write in an academic journal about the disastrous program you implemented, because you took innovation too far from logic and decency. Somehow, you have to have that vision, and make sure you always discern how exactly people will use this tool effectively, instead of getting blinded by flashy bits.

The Half Year in Review

I wasn't going to make a retrospective post, but Jill really convinced me it is an important thing to do to unwind after the semester. So, here goes...

It's hard to imagine just four months ago I was driving across the country, trying to escape the Memphis heat and humidity. It had reached 108 degrees, and felt immensely worse than the 120 degree summer days I've experienced in Los Angeles. This past week, I've experienced almost 4 feet of snow in as many days. Quite the contrast, and a lot of stuff happened in between.

I suppose this is the place where I tell you what I've learned. I think the most important thing for the process that happened is that all my preconceptions of this profession have been shattered. This is a good thing. After initially being fascinated with metadata and digital libraries, I flirted with cultural preservation, and now I want to get involved with gaming in libraries. Prof. Lankes really hit home last night when he told us this profession will just amplify everything we've been been passionate about and interested in. That man deserved his full professorship and then some. I hope I stay in touch with him: his passion is infectious and I think he feels the same way about my class.

I can't forget Prof. Qin. What initially seemed like my hardest and most boring class turned out to be the most practical and the one I most enjoyed this semester. That class made me feel like I can really start to push myself in learning the technical aspects of the profession.

Yea, I could rattle off all the schemas, theories, and facts I learned this semester, but what I really come away with is the strong relationships I feel to my classmates and professors. What I want to work on next is more involvement in ALA and other organizations, and to volunteer more at Bird Library in some capacity. The other stuff is important, but I'll tell you all about it next year!

Winding Down

As I write this, the semester only has a couple days left in it (Looking at the mountains of snow outside, maybe the world is ending in two days also?). I promise not to get all teary-eyed or make vague allusions to the drunken debauchery I will engage in to blow off steam after a tough first semester. Instead, I'll keep it short and sweet.

Let's not forget the year is also winding down, and that always brings us face-to-face with a new year and... resolutions. So I'll start early.

I hope to make this blog more entertaining and readable. It will still have all the classic wide-eyed library student charm, but I hope to add a bit more professionalism and at the same time make it a bit more fun. I'm also working on hopefully getting my portfolio and samples either in here or on a new site.

So if I don't see you, have a great holiday break, and look for some more bloggin' to come!