Avatar ripped off Dinotopia!

So to counter the effects of Avatar's overblown scenery (seriously) I'm listening to Minutemen. Well not anymore, but they did provide a nice counterpoint. Double Nickels on the Dime was recorded for much less than Avatar's production and marketing budget. I would go so far as to say that DNotD could have been recorded at least a million times over on Avatar's budget.



But anyway that is immaterial.



What is material here is a serious discussion of how much Avatar disappointed while still staying somewhat of an enjoyable film. Sure the plot is flimsy, the imagery overwrought and the acting hammy but still somewhere beneath the mess lies at least the promise of an interesting movie.

Avatar isn't bad per se, it's just not very good. I'm not a huge Cameron fan, but he has his worth. His previous films have all shown that throwing a lot of money at a film doesn't have to necessarily mean it sucks, and I think that with time we'll view Avatar differently than we do now. Cameron halfheartedly tosses a bunch of themes (anti-war, environmentalism, orientalism) into a pot and boils them with a big helping of cgi nonsense, but he clearly does it with some kind of passion. Cameron wanted very badly to make this film good, but he just had too much on his plate to make it worth. For starters the film carries so much detail it almost requires a separate primer. The Na'vi society had the potential to be a very interesting account of a culture, and if the film had concentrated on one man's process of self-discovery in said culture it would have been a much better film. However Cameron has already established that the film's humans must antagonize the natives and rather than balance the two ideas equally Cameron fast forwards through the former and focuses intently on the latter. The idea of humans living on the frontier, especially one as supposedly harsh as Pandora, could have also made for an interesting film. The way humanity relates to its environment, both peacefully and forcefully, would have also provided an interesting (and much leaner) film.


Instead Cameron tries to shove both (and more) into 162 minutes of insincere lushness and mediocre acting. I've read that sequels are more than likely forthcoming, but really I don't see how the story has any place to go.


Oh and Avatar's theft from Dinotopia is totally real. If you really care you can ask me about it, I don't really feel like going into it here.

Jeffrey Lewis is coming to my campus and you are jealous to the point of murder

MY MURDER

I'm going to play bocce with my dad tomorrow, I can't wait. I love afternoons lazing about in the sun hurling large balls at smaller ones and drinking beer, then riding back home. It will be good times.

The River by Jeffrey Lewis and Diane Cluck is a very good song.

I'M DRUUUUUNK

So I totally finally met some sane friends of my brothers tonight it was AWESOME.



they were nice, and jewish, which is good because let's face it if you have to have a good group of friends from a single social group it needs to be jews.



anyway Peter Fox ist fucking toll. Er schnopft die Asche wie Koks, oder wieso man es buchstabiert.



guten morgen Berlin du kannst so heßlich sein und so weiter

I think it's an ß and not ss, you should learn German and tell me FUCKING I AM A GERMAN MAJOR YOU DO NOT KNOW WHAT I AM DOING

oh man we had so many free beers and gardettos tonight guys it was awesome



a stranger commented on my blog, I am getting famous, I might have to delve deeper into myself in order to preserve my INTEGRITY. It would be a shame if I pandered to an AUDIENCE


shit I need to go back to Berlin, it was my favorite city in the world by far


oh shit this song is so good, how do I put my shit on stumble, not my blog but my shit, my actual feces that goes into the toilet. please tell me


YYAAAYAYAYYA JACK DANIELS


ok so for new years I was a fucking idiot, there is a Jack Daniels Green which is totally a different thing than the regular Jack Daniels, sorry Nathan I guess I screwed up. But what I bought was about 3 dollars cheaper AND COULD YOU EVEN TASTE A FUCKING DIFFERENCE I THOUGHT NOT


This is a pretty good article


also this guy seemed pretty exciting

I think if I was ever to become a hobo, or one who rides the rails, I would not be a singing hobo, or even a killing hobo. No, I would be a dirty hobo with shit in his pants rather than a song in his heart. Instead of friendship and camaraderie with other hobos I would go out of my way to ride in cars by myself and bite anyone who rode with me. I'd break whatever hobo code there is, and if it doesn't exist I would create it just so that I could break it.

If anyone asked I would explain what it is I'm all about, but I would never explain it to other hobos. My catchphrase would involve something about breaking all the rules or not doing anything by the book. I imagine that I would think of myself as some sort of rogue hobo/police detective from the 70s who is a reckless driver.


I think what I'm trying to say is that I would be a pretty bad hobo. Definitely not the worst hobo though.

I managed to get through all of today without any alcohol. It was my brother's 21st which makes it even weirder. I guess I just really wanted that iced tea at dinner I guess.

So I had some beer today, it was pretty good. I drank a Stone IPA, which my brother correctly identified as being the same as Hop Stoopid Ale. I also drank a Paulaner wheat because I wanted it and the Stag's Head pub had it. When I got home I had a bottle of coffee porter from Real Ale, followed by a swig of Jack Daniels. At dinner I had 3 glasses of wine.


I say all of this because my brother, who I found out is a hophead like myself (my father's words not mine) celebrates his 21st birthday. He has pledged to begin the night with 2 100 oz drums of (hard) liquor purchased from the Velvet Melvin pub. I sincerely hope that he survives if he does not end up in jail. I worry about him from time to time.


Much to my surprise the Westboro Baptist Church was out protesting in front of the Houston Jewish Community Center this afternoon. I don't know why they were there at that point in time, the JCC has been there longer than I have been alive, as has the Westboro Baptist church. They were waving the standard God Hates Fags signs, as well as some that claimed the Jews Killed Jesus. Though I'm sure the JCC is accepting of all sexual orientations I was not aware that it had any specific homosexual agenda, and we all know that the Jews didn't kill Jesus, I did. (KIDDING).

Anyway they had to leave before 3, because that's when the Jews for Jesus guys set up shop. I don't even want to know how those two groups would have gotten along. At least I'm assuming that's why they had to leave. Who knows, who cares. I'm just worried that we'll get more protest groups in our quiet little Jewish neighborhood.


Also the Menil was pretty cool, if you haven't already you should probably see the frescos in the Byzantine chapel. Rumor has it they were stolen from someone way back when and are being shipped back to Greece or something. I can't verify this but my father seems to think it's true. He's usually pretty reliable so whatever. Even if they aren't being shipped back they're really cool and if you're already in the area it's just a short walk to see them.

Also fuck Cy Twombly. All I'm sayin