emma. jane austen. (307)

i decided to read emma, because,  the movie, clueless, was loosely based on it. i i recently read as if, and didn't get any of the emma reference, so figured it was time for me to read austen's classic.

to start, i have to add that the movie did mess with my head as a i read.  i kept on trying to sort out who was who based on the movie.  though i did not see any of the characters as the actors.  i did start watching emma, the mini series, so started to see jonny lee miller as mr. knightly.  also i knew that mr. frank churchill was engaged due to a quote i read in as if, so the big surprise at the end was not a big surprise.  i was also shocked at how blinded emma was to their relationship.  i must add i knew the piano was from frank because really he ran into town for a haircut?!?!

i have to admit that it did take me a while to get into the novel.  it was quite a struggle from to read this novel, especially since all of the good stuff happens in the last fourth of the novel.  other complaints included was mr. woodhouse's neediness, poor miss taylor indeed for having to listen to him whine. how horrible that he could not be happy for her but instead lamented about she was no longer in their service.  i have no idea how anyone put up with that.  and though i might be guilty of miss bates' blabbering on and on, but just reading the descriptions of her talking, bored me.  and maybe it's just because elton was so "so sweet that he gave me a toothache" in clueless (i would listen to the cranberries all day with him), but felt bad that mr. elton married such a dreadful woman!  ps kudos to amy heckerling on the picture fiasco which was a great mirroring of the painting mix up.  also love love loved how heckerling had tai burn her belongings from elton just like harriet did with her mr. elton things.

back to the novel, so though i was bored, i have to admit that just like emma, an darted through my heart when it came to mr. knightley.  austen created the most sensitive, noble, morale, loving men and mr. knightley was rather quite knightly.  she created these moments when her leading men confess their love and her readers sit there wishing it would happen to them! i mean what a dreamboat mr. knightley was when confessing his love for emma.  so sweet was this ending to the novel that i forgave austen for how bored i was in the beginning.

i will close in saying that even though i didn't love it straight off the bat, emma is like the quintessential girl novel, reminding us how naive we were when we were young and when it came to love and life.  how often we fall in love with men we can not have, and at the same time can be blinded to affection of someone else.  or we try to give someone advice and we really should just keep our noses out of their business.  i guess its best to say that, emma reminded me of how when i was younger, i though i knew everything, but really i was just clueless.  

as if! the oral history of clueless as told by amy heckerling, the cast, and the crew. jen chaney

if you know me, you know i love clueless.  so when i discovered that a book about the making of clueless was coming out, i added it to my goodreads to be read list.  and i hit the jackpot when i entered a los angeles magazine for a copy of the book and i won!  totally cool, right?  i was so excited!

so i absolutely loved the book and though i didn't think it was possible, the book made me love the movie even more!  the work is an oral history, some parts taken from previous interviews for television and magazines, as well as interviews that the author, jen chaney conducted.  and it seemed that as much as i love it, everyone loved working on it.  i mean it did hit some bumps along the road, but for the most part, the cast and crew loved working on the film, which is probably, why it is so great.

my favorite parts of the book were:
-slang dictionary
-the casting process
-the fashion
-the breakdown of all of the scenes
-the soundtrack

i have to admit that i did get bored with the last part of the book.  i mean i get the cultural influence of the movie, so that part started to get a little redundant.

so here are some of the fun facts that i learned:

-first, in the "virgin who can't drive" scene, tai doesn't say "i'm outtie", but "i'm audi" like the car!
-heckerling was a genuis when it came to creating slang for the film, she had all of these references

-i need to read emma (also wow gwenyth paltrow hating on clueless!)

-the real mr. hall was in the film as the principal.  also he was a real teacher at beverly hills high.  i texted my friend danny, who went to bhhs and he had a class with the real mr. hall!
-i would have LOVED jerry orbach as cher's dad, damn law and order for not allowing that to happen!
-it was crazy to see all the people that were considered for roles, and as much as i love sarah michelle geller, i can't imagine her as amber, also could not see lauryn hill as dionne, though i love the fugees
-learned that donald faison and terrance howard were cousins
-its shocking to think that some of the scenes went on with it raining outside
-mona may, the designer, was a genius when it came to all of the fashion!
-they were so meticulous that they even dressed the extras, which is why there are so many great fashion moments in the background when you watch
-paul rudd wore his own shirts!
-alicia silverstone didn't know how to pronounce haitians!
-heckerling was spot on when she showed up cellphones would take over ie cher and dionne talking on their cells right next to each other
-elisa donovan aka amber didn't get the balls joke initially
-the mugging actor's sotry was really cool
-the party scene with mighty mighty bosstones was filmed at the moca's geffen!!!! i think i know which stairs, tai fell down, get ready for a pic in the future!
-i thought the freeway scene was done in long beach
-i had no idea that "all by myself" was actually a jewel cover
-i didn't realize all of the music that was in the movie
-also no doubt's people really fucked up by not letting them on the soundtrack
-they got lucky cos the beastie boys actually licensed a song to them which they said they never do, which is odd considering all the unlicensed music on "paul's boutique" lol
-also oasis was mean for not giving them the last song

seriously so much good stuff.  if you love the movie, you really need to pick up this book, it is a great and informative read!

taipei. tao lin. (192)

i forgot what inspired me to pick up taipei  but i did.  i have read other works by tao lin but wouldn't call myself a fan.  as i wrote in my post for his work richard yates, i am not sure how i feel about lin.  on one hand, i am never fully engaged in his work, i read it like i read things online, half-focused, but then he is pretty spot on when it comes to the hipster culture.

taipei, is another novel that is actually an autobiography that is framed as a novel (see: shelia heti's how a person should be?) which as i said before, thanks for the honesty but i can't help but feel cheated.  i mean why not just say it's a memoir?

in any case, in taipai, i discovered that tao lin did a shitload of drugs.  i mean a shitload.  and the sad part was that he did them because he felt like he functioned better in the world with them.  to quote the ever wise cher horowitz (which i think i have quoted before for this blog) "it is one thing to light up a doobie at a party, but it's quite another to be fried all day."  doing the occasional drug is kosher in my book but i can't imagine to the point of recklessness that lin did, having memory loss and vomiting all over union square from snorting too much heroin.  though in lin's defense he wasn't too fucked up because he did keep his google document of notes and of course all the videos which helped him create this work.  i am assuming all of the videos were real, i tried to look up the mcdonalds one but saw on his website the listing of the MDMA videos under his work.  i mean in the end he was able to do all of those drugs, not die, and still created a novel. so kudos to him.

but i mean reading about someone on drugs gets old quickly which resulted in my half-focus as a i read.    because in the end, regardless of how interesting these moments were to lin and his friends, they are all "you had to be there moments" for everyone else.  i have often thought that my life could be a tv series (after seeing mtv's "my life as liz") or a novel, well maybe more a collection of short stories, but i feel like i can never recreate the magic of what happen to me because for it to truly be great, you had to be there.  i could describe it but it was only truly worthwhile in that moment.  taipei was just one big, you had to be there story.  paul and erin's filming of tawian's first mcdonalds was great but i am sure it was 100% funnier if you were on drugs and there.  the same can be said for the #xmenlivetweet, i can imagine how incredible it all was for lin but to read it secondhand it wasn't all that amazing.  and i know because i have had ridiculous drunken (not drugged) incidents like lin, but i recognize that i am the only one that truly gets their magic.  like all the times i have snuck booze into the theater, for example my friend cody and i took in a bottle of rum when we went to see "pirates of caribbean" and i turned to him and in what i thought was a whisper asked for the rum, only for him to knock over the bottle and everyone heard the clank of the rum bottle.  or the time that my friends larry, peter and i went to see "jackass" and drank too much, and i had to pee so i decided to run out during an old person skit, and i ran straight into the mens room, apologized to a man peeing and bolted out the door while the concessions stand workers just stood their and laughed at my dumbass.  hilarious but would people want to read it?  my version of taipei would be called cahuenga and would be all about the drunken fun my friends and i had on cahuenga blvd circa 2008-2010.  but i mean other than my friends, who would anyone truly appreciate it or get it?  i mean lin has his celebrity clout to keep his readers reading but i am a nobody.

oh and before i drop all the drug talk (though it is like the defining theme of the novel), i did appreciate the irony of paul's disgust with erin taking prescription drugs.  erin started taking a pill as prescribed by her doctor and paul lectured her on not needing it and her becoming dependent on it.  this fight then escalated to the point in which paul left.  it was brilliant because the druggie recognizes the harms of prescription drugs.  society condones the recreational use of drugs yet drug companies are constantly trying to fix ailments that a) either don't exist or b) manageable without drugs.  i mean the number one side effect of most prescription drugs is death.  might as well take drugs for fun then.

though i have to add lin does not believe in drug problems as seen in this excerpt:

“They began talking about a Lil Wayne documentary that focused on Lil Wayne’s “drug problem,” which Lil Wayne denied. Paul felt it was bleak and depressing that the filmmakers superimposed their views onto Lil Wayne. Calvin seemed to agree with the documentary. Paul tried, with Erin, who agreed with him, he felt, to convey (mostly by slowly saying variations of “no” and “I can’t think right now”) that there was no such thing as a “drug problem” or even “drugs” – unless anything anyone ever did or thought or felt was considered both a drug and a problem – in that each thought or feeling or object, seen or touched or absorbed or remembered, at whatever coordinate of space-time, would have a unique effect, which each ever-changing person, at each moment of their life, could view as a problem, or not, for themselves.”

this is an interesting reasoning, everythinf outside of this notion of "self" is essentially a "drug" because it has some effect on us.  so i guess drugs really aren't a problem just another stimuli of life.

aside from drugs, there is also paul's relationship with erin, his wife.  i still don't know how that marriage happen though i will say i have, at least twice, tried to get two sets of my friends to marry when we were in vegas.  sadly it didn't happen both times.

erin and paul's relationship interested me because it reminded me of my best friend and i during my cahuenga years (maybe i should write this book).  we had alot of fun together but we also had these random fights.  my friend was also passive aggressive like paul, expecting someone to read his mind when he was upset instead of communicating or saying he wasn't upset when he was.  but part of the issue for us was just like erin and paul was that most of the fights happen when we were really drunk so that caused alot more drama than was necessary.  for me, it was interesting because i didn't know how authentic paul and erin's feelings truly were, everyone likes to believe there is more honesty when one is on drugs but at the same time your mind is so fucked that it might be true but it's definitely askewed. in the end, it just demonstrated how drugs can ruin relationships in addition to people.

as i mentioned earlier, lin is spot on when it comes to hipster culture.  i will admit that i loved the random asking of "do you like rilo kiley?" (for these that are curious, i do).  i also loved that marina abramović's "the artist is present" was mentioned because i sat with her for that piece.  goodreads was also namedropped though i don't think it's hipstery, i just use it.  but i guess everything felt very relevant but then again it was just his life.

i read it, not sure i would recommend it but at least i can say i read it.  which i guess is the point of reading tao lin.

spartacus.

as i was watching, i had planned on writing this cute little introduction about how surprised i am with myself for not seeing this sooner since it was referenced in my all time favorite movie "clueless". (chee and christian watched "spartacus" on their first date because christian had this thing for tony curtis. and yes, curtis was dreamt in this with those blue eyes! swoon).

i had also planned on writing how disappointed i was by how the film looked and felt very hollywood. and very un-kubrickesque. it looked more like "the ten commandments" and "ben-hur" than "a clockwork orange" and even "barry lyndon." as i was watching i was certain kubrick didn't direct it, it was so mainstream. (i just read on wikipedia that there was a previous director and kubrick did not have complete artistic control. so that explains that.)

[quick random sidenote but wikipedia also told me the movie was based on a novel, which upholds kubrick's movies being based on literary works.]

i was also going to complain about how
long it was! 3 hours and 15 minutes! actually i will still complain about that. seriously 3 hours and 15 minutes?!?!

anyway, all on judge-iness went on the window with the last 45 minutes and that ending. my god! that ending!

how beautiful and tragic the last 15 minutes were! the irony of the fight between spartacus and antoninus. they actually fought due to their love for each other; spartacus wanted to save antoninus from a slow and painful death, and antoninus did not want the romans to crucify spartacus! but at least they were able to declare their love and appreciate for each other.

and then the ending!!! i was so unprepared. spartacus still partially alive and hanging on the cross, while varinia introduced him to his son. so compelling yet so weird. i mean i still cannot get my head around it. it was beautiful but spartacus was literally hanging on a cross with his newborn at his feet. though maybe my issue with the scene is due to the sacredness of the cross due to my christian upbringing. (mormons do not recognize the cross as a symbol of christ which makes it ultra taboo which might be why i was uneasy with the last scene. uneasy is the wrong word, just surprised. it did pull at my heartstrings.)

since we are on the topic of shocking scenes, i was surprised by the showing of the curfixiaions along the road. but then i guess i got my wish of the film being more kubrickesque. also the battle scenes with limbs being chopped off and sword fights. also those fights scenes were good considering how low tech they were. like how did they do the fire scenes unless they just fired up people? also all of those extras?!?! how did they do that.

and of course, one of the most memorable scenes, "i'm a spartacus". i first hear that phrase in "that thing you do!" (the drummer). and kinda wished i didn't cos it kinda killed the scene. but again so compelling, all of the slaves. standing by spartacus' side. and in a way, they were all him. and of course just single tear down douglas' face, so powerful!

seriously though i was not enjoying "spartacus" at all, but that last hour just reinforced how amazing of a director kubrick truly was.

and one last thought, how lovely was jean simmons? very.

the fairy tales of oscar wilde. illustrated by p. craig russell. (73 &74)

just like christian from "clueless", i'm oscar wilde-loving, no i'm not gay (though i am friends with a lot of friends of dorothy), but i adore oscar wilde. "the picture of dorian gray" is one of my favorite books because he is so damn witty! so when i saw that he wrote fairy tales, i had to check them out. his wit in fairy tales, they had to be brilliant.

to my surprise they weren't. the special thing about these volumes are that they are comics and illustrated by p. craig russell. but even this element does not make the fairy tales more interesting.

the fairy tales featured were "the selfish giant", "the star child", "the young king" and "the remarkable rocket". the first three stories mentioned were kinda jesus-y, and that was the reason i did not enjoy them. not that i have anything against jesus, i just don't like stories that are blatantly preachy. the first is about a selfish giant that did not want to share his garden with the village's children. as result of his selfishness winter was all year round, but the children had the ability to bring spring. one day he saw a child in a corner with winter and goes to help him and this warmed his heart. he then decided to share his garden but never saw that child again. until one day the child appeared with wounds in his hands and feet and then the giant died but in peace. the moral is good, but really jesus showing up like that?

the other two stories are about princes. the first prince is jesus-y in that he falls from the sky like a star, and two woodcutters find him. the second prince wears a crown of thorns. both have similar morals about being humble and losing your ego and loving thy neighbor and all that jazz. no offense, but wilde was on trial for sodomy, i mean i can't handle him
being christiany. it's like how katy perry used to be a christian singer, the girl wore a bra that shot out whipped cream!!! seriously. all of this jesus talk, didn't feel like the oscar wilde i love. i'm not saying that he (or gays) can't have morals, but when i read wilde i want to be entertained, not lectured. he does have wonderful lessons and morals but i prefer when he presents it as food for thought versus forcing a bible down my throat.

i did enjoy the firework tale, which was about an egotistical firework. it was filled with little quips that reminded me of "dorian gray". for example, one of the fireworks said "any place you love is the world to you, but love is not fashionable, the poets have killed it. romance is a thing of the past." or how when the egotistical told the other fireworks, "you should be thinking of others. in fact you should be thinking about me." so clever and funny . . . and not about jesus.

but one out of four, kinda bad. as much as i am oscar wilde-loving, he needs to save the fairy tales to the grimm brothers and hans christian anderson.