Attempts at publishing; Jordan Young.: Compedium of my attempts/ Constantly updating!!!

So this is it.

Check out my previous blogs here, and maybe... just maybe... I can cull the "best" from them and incorporate that and this

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also there are ideas to start a website of my "professional" writing? What do you think? I can't even take myself seriously enough to dress like a decent human being so... I'll let you fill in the blank.

One from an internship at a really cool museum.

WARNING: The following 3 reviews were edited WITHOUT MY CONSENT so they are not 100% true to my writing (aka lame jokes)

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Book review posted at Strand's website! (as of 4/1/10 for the rest of the month.)

Jordan (Art Staff), Training to sit at the table of the gods

William Kentridge
by Hecker, Judith B.
List price: $29.95 Our Price: $23.95

In the Derridean fashion, Kentridge invites you to explore your own interpretation of the palimpsest of his work. He expresses that out of all interpretation, all that you will be left with... is a trace

Also random thought that William Kentridge's Track, thematically dovetails Eula Biss's The Balloonists; one of my favorite books.

Film Reviews at Strand:

State & Main

Alec Baldwin FTW! He is absolutely hilarious as he plays the "troubled actor". And just look at the rest of this cast... William H. Macy, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Can you really even say no to this hilarious and sometimes touching piece of metacinema? I submit that you can not.

The Manchurian Candidate

Angela Lansbury plays one of the most demonic mothers in this film, which has always been one of my absolute favorites. Ol' blue eyes and Laurence Harvey are Magnificent. Also, the last five minutes are the most tension filled moments ever captured on celluloid. EVER. (Published on The Strand website staff picks for 12/09!)

The Purple Rose of Cairo

Woody Allen is recognizably at his best when he focuses in on art as the subject matter. In this film, considering he holds cinema so close to his heart, he succeeds at showing us why we love the medium. And Jeff Daniels' performance is heartwarming, endearing hilarious, and overall magnificent. One of my favorites. And it's pretty cheap here. :)

The Graduate

Would you accept Mrs. Robinson's offer? What would you do if the future held one word (plastics) for you? Ben's future is looking bleak and in this hilarious/depressing adventure we can see and feel his misery. This classic was also the birth of the soundtrack as well. To this day, no one knows if it is a tragedy, or a comedy.

Blade Runner

In Ridley Scott's masterpiece, we journey along with Rick Deckard in this dystopic neo-noir, as he hunts down replicants, and determines if he is capable of truly loving someone. With the myriad of versions of this film, Scott could be suggesting that you can "choose your own ending" and view the movie how ever you'd like. In any case however, it's brilliant.

Lady From Shanghai

Yet another bewildering masterpiece by the auteur, Orson Wells. In this fog-soaked-suspense-laden-who-done-it, Michael O'Hara (played by Wells) gets caught up in a plot-twisting enigma. This film sent shock waves through cinematic history, and has one of the most iconic chase scenes of all time. It also features a stunning BLONDE(!) Rita Hayworth.

Adaptation

This film... is my "alone on an island with only one film to watch" film. I don't even think that my language alone can truly reflect how sublime this film is. At first you think it's about two Kaufmans, then it's about writing, then its about flowers, then it's about everything. Hilarious, transcendent, excruciatingly beautiful; will finally make you feel literally passionate about something.

Match Point

Woody Allen's dark, unnerving portrayal of fate. Johnathan Rhys Meyers plays a troubled Chris, rising his way through the social classes in England. As he climbs and climbs, he gets disillusioned and wants something more... which he ultimately finds in {yawn} Scarlett Johansson. IN SPITE of that fact, this movie unflinchingly zooms in on the reprehensible acts of inhumanity, and leaves you with an aftertaste of nihilism.

Virgin Suicides

"You're a stone fox." When Trip Fontaine says those words to you, how could you refuse his advances, I mean, he's just so... so, dreamy. In Sofia Coppola's unabashedly woeful tale of the Lisbon Girls, we get entirely wrapped up in this precious mood, and moment in time. Also stay focused on James Woods very troubled character as the father. This is a gripping view of an entire family's descent.
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Film thoughts: Serious Man

Finally I watched the new Coen Bros film "A Serious Man"

Very interesting film that revolves around a Jewish family and their struggles, specifically, the problems of Larry Gopnick.

The film opens with "Receive with simplicity everything that happens to you," a quote from Rashi.

Anytime I have seen a film open with a quote like that, you better believe it is going to be dark and foreboding.

It has a central Jewish "agenda" that gets questioned by the protagonist, as well as gets questioned by the creators of the film as we see uncertainty in its authority unraveling through at this film.

The film dropped off unexpectedly at the end. Which I appreciated, I think, in retrospect.

As the problems build and build and build for Larry... it is surprising to me that he is an unsympathetic character. He is not the lamed-vovnik (jew that feels the suffering of everyone and deals with it happily. re:potential messiah.) that Sy Abelman is.

Larry only finds solace in his mathematical principal of uncertainties. (re: everything is screwed up and you don't know why.)

Very well crafted piece of cinema.

One of the kids that I saw the movie with walked out and said, "Sometimes you just got to let God shit all over you." This sounds like a great summation for this film, but in the end of it, like Larry, you just deal with it. It doesn't beat you down and leaves you ungodly depressed.

As is expected with Coen Bros films, you do get your hilarious scenes, juxtaposed with very shockingly violent scenes as well, which is especially interesting to me that even in this dark of a tale, that as a viewer, you don't dwell on it.

Very highly recommend.

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Most Recent Classic Film Reviews

Matter of Life and Death

Umberto D.

Smiles of a Summer Night

(as of 10/29/09, I'll add more later.)

Aguirre=Wrath of God