Cashback

July 29th, 2008

Last night I re-watched a movie I had sorta forgotten about, a movie that really makes me think about the way I appreciate beauty and time. And for all that, it’s a kind of simple story about a normal, sensitive guy. It is called Cashback because the main character, Ben, gets a job at a supermarket. But he really looks at it as though he’s selling his time to the man and the man gives him cash (back). I won’t tell you any more because I don’t want to spoil it, but I should warn you that if you’re afraid of the female anatomy, this might not be the right movie for you. It is tastefully and wonderfully done (camera, sound, casting) and it won a fistfull of awards, mostly Internationally, but it was nominated for an Oscar (not that any of that really means anything).

Of all the strangely familiar things about this movie, it was the song that played during the end credits that clinched it for me. A hauntingly familiar and yet strange song that was playing on my shuffle and for months while I was loving it but didn’t realize who or what it was.

Royskopp’s What Else Is There?

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The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

January 7th, 2008

I have just seen the best movie of the year.

I am NOT kidding you.

I read this book about ten years ago. The story is poignant and moving just by the fact that it exists, but aside from being unfortunately short, it doesn’t come alive in my imagination. But it does exist, and I had no idea until last evening that it had been made into a movie.

If you can, try to see The Diving Bell and the Butterfly or, in it’s original French title: Scaphandre et le papillon, Le. You might have a little trouble, though. In my area it is only playing in two theaters. Fortunately, one of them is Cinema Arts in Fairfax. As you might guess, the movie is in French with subtitles. So don’t forget your glasses or don’t sit too far away.

I could tell you the whole story here and it wouldn’t spoil the movie one bit. But I won’t, because the first fifteen minutes of the film are so damn well-done. It was well-acted, well-edited, and the cinematography, selection, and directing were all very good. One might suppose that’s why this movie has 14 awards already and 13 nominations. It is a good movie, I tell you, and likely to be the best one this year. Someone (probably Ronald Harwood), read the same book I did and saw the way this story was supposed to be experienced and has made an excellent screenplay.

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Spooky Movie Film Festival

October 12th, 2007

First I have to say that I hate scary . I love the Cinema Arts
theater, but I’m not going to this event. Those of you who like to crap
on yourself in a darkened theater because some mannequin is squirting
ketchup might like to spend this weekend (Oct 12-14) at …

THE SPOOKY
MOVIE
FILM FESTIVAL!

http://thespookymovie.com/

If you do, enjoy. If you don’t, enjoy.

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Screencapture while playing a DVD

April 22nd, 2007

For some reason or other, Apple made the Grab screen capturing disabled when the DVD player application is open. That’s not to say that you can’t use another DVD player or screen capture application, but really why should external software be necessary? Thanks to the tip off by Random Tech I learned that there is a command-line function to execute a screencapture that will work even with the DVD player open.


usage: screencapture [-icmwsWx] [files]
-i capture screen interactively, by selection or window
control key - causes screen shot to go to clipboard
space key - toggle between mouse selection and
window selection modes
escape key - cancels interactive screen shot
-c force screen capture to go to the clipboard
-m only capture the main monitor, undefined if -i is set
-w only allow window selection mode
-s only allow mouse selection mode
-W start interaction in window selection mode
-x do not play sounds
-S in window capture mode, capture the screen not the window
-C capture the cursor as well as the screen. only in non-interactive modes
-t [format] image format to create, default is png
files where to save the screen capture, 1 file per screen
[droplet:~] earlax% screencapture -S ~/Desktop/GFL-rock.png

Of course, that requires a crop to trim off the rest of the screen or the window decoration, but it works well!



That’s Ione Skye from Gas, Food Lodging

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One of those days…

March 12th, 2007

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Fast Food Nation

November 15th, 2006

I got to see a screening of Fast Food Nation. I have not yet read the book, but I didn’t really like the movie. I may spoil the suprise but I won’t tell you everything…

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