Mix Tape

I'm going to be putting together some mixes. And like all things I do, it's going to take me a long, long while. So I'm going to go through the process here on The Genius Defines.

Mixes planned already:

• Chill mix
• Psych mix
• Squash mix

Chill mix is for chillaxin', obvs. Psych mix will be all rise (some say a good mix should be rise and fall, but this one will be all rise). Squash mix will be designed to play squash to. More to come.

Film Watch List: Winter 2008

These are the films I watched in Winter 2008. It's about 99% accurate as I compiled it retroactively. I plan to track month by month in the future. Stats at end.

*film has been seen previously/rewatching
†watched in theatre

in alphabetical order:

Ace in the Hole (1951)
Akira (1988)*
Alien (1979)*†
Aliens (1986)*†
All the Real Girls (2003)†
American Gangster (2007)
Anatomy of a Murder (1959)
Bad Lieutenant (1992)*
Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (1993)*
Battle Royale (2000)
Beetle Juice (1988)*
Bigger Than Life (1956)†
Big Trouble in Little China (1986)
Black Hawk Down (2001)*
The Blair Witch Project (1999)*
Blue Velvet (1986)*
The Boxer (1997)
Brazil (1985)
Breach (2007)
Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
The Brood (1979)
Caché (2005)
California Dreamin' (Endless) (2007)†
Casino Royale (2006)*
Children of Men (2006)*
C.H.U.D. (1984)
Cloverfield (2008)†
Cop Land (1997)
CQ (2001)*
Danger: Diabolik (1968)
Death Sentence (2007)
Dial M for Murder (1954)
Die Hard (1988)*
Dressed to Kill (1980)
The Evil Dead (1981)*
Fahrenheit 451 (1966)
For a Few Dollars More (1965)
Frankenstein (1931)*
From Here to Eternity (1953)
Full Metal Jacket (1987)*
Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus (2006)
Funny Games (2007)†
Gallipolli (1981)
Gattaca (1997)*
Ghost in the Shell (1995)*
The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
The Host (2006)
Idiocracy (2006)*
In Bruges (2008)†
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)*
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)*
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
Jackie Brown (1997)*
Jarhead (2005)*
Justice League: The New Frontier (2008)
Knocked Up (2007)*
Let's Go to Prison (2006)
The Lives of Others (2006)
The Lookout (2007)
Major Dundee (1965)
McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971)*
Monkey Shines (1988)
Monster's Ball (2001)*
The Mouse That Roared (1959)
My Darling Clementine (1946)
Ocean's Thirteen (2007)
Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid (1973)
A Prairie Home Companion (2006)
Primer (2004)*
Prince of Darkness (1987)
Ratatouille (2007)
Rebel Without a Cause (1955)*
Rescue Dawn (2006)
RoboCop (1987)*
Scanners (1981)
The Searchers (1956)
Seven Samurai (1954)
Shogun Assassin (1980)
Shoot 'Em Up (2007)
Snatch. (2000)*
Stalag 17 (1953)
Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures (2001)
A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
Sunshine (2007)
Superbad (2007)*
Superman: Doomsday (2007)
There Will Be Blood (2007)†
3:10 to Yuma (2007)
TMNT (2007)
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)*
Umberto D. (1952)
The Way of the Gun (2000)*
Witness (1985)
Zodiac (2007)*

Stats
Films watched: 94
Films previously seen: 34
Films watched in theatres: 9 (3 for free, 2 in a double feature)

Average # of films watched per day: 0.76
(term defined as between moving days: January 1 - May 3)

By Decade
1930s: 2
1940s: 3
1950s: 12
1960s: 4
1970s: 5
1980s: 20
1990s: 8
2000s: 40

Conclusion: I love the 80s.

Man in the Mirror: Hyperreal

Does the fact that I act as a parody of my real self make my existence postmodern?

One Line Synopsis

Increasingly, when I plan on making a series of something, I feel like I need to justify and explain what I'm doing. One Line Synopsis (synopses) will be attempting to describe the basics of something in one simple sentence. The something will usually be a film, a book, and hopefully I can manage albums as well (at least, concept albums). Usually, plots will likely be too complicated and the synopsis will hence be a more thematic representation. I will also try to avoid concentrator words like "and" that would allow complication and multiplicity of ideas.

Music Review

Since I have written film and book reviews for this blog, I feel a certain obligation to tackle music as well. I enjoy music and it has become a large part of my life, as a pleasure. I listen to music everyday essentially. Yet, I don't have the ear for music like I do literature and film. So I can know what I like but I don't know that I can put into words why I like something or write something that convinces of some thing's quality.

Silly or sentimental or just meaningless lyrics won't detract a song for me. Yet, good lyrics will certainly enhance my enjoyment and make the experience of listening to a song more memorable. Mostly, in the music I listen to, I look for a particular sound that strikes me. This is to say nothing of genre. I listen to folk, pop, rock, country, hip hop, electronic, and anything else you may subdivide music into (I won't rally about my dislike for the ghettoizing that is genre classifications here).

That said, maybe a project I can put together for myself is the reading and assimilation of music criticism. I mean this 'blog' as a writing exercise, and such an endeavour would certainly be an exercise.