Last Thursday we had midreview. It was a packed house with 6 critics on our jury. It went fairly well, but I'm not going to get into it too much because hell, 95% of the people on this site have been through it or are going through it. It sucks and no one wants to relive reviews vicariously through others.

Honestly, I can't even remember what I was going to blog about. I haven't really done...no I haven't done any work on studio since midreview. I just worked on printmaking, did some work for a teacher that I'm helping, worked on my portfolio (I will need to start applying around January if I want to work in Japan upon graduation), watched Aqua Teen Hunger Force, and played Legos Star Wars on Nintendo. Monday was my birthday (that's why I got Star Wars and ATHF). I had to go to NYC again for studio to do further site investigation, but it was cold and cloudy so pretty much nothing was happening. It wasn't very useful at all to be perfectly honest with you. I'm a little stuck on my project. The post review slump. I took Amtrak back from NYC.

Being used to 3 months of riding the JR everyday, I forgot how dysfunctional Amtrak really is. First, the station is so poorly marked. I had a better time getting around in the vastly larger, kanji-fied Japanese stations than in Penn Station with its totally awkward signage. Next, the train was an hour late arriving in NYC. The train originates in Boston...it doesn't even take 3 hours from Boston to NYC. It lost an hour that fast? Damn. The Shinkansen makes the distance of Boston to Philly in the time it takes Amtrak to get from Boston to NYC. Then, I'm sitting a few seats in front of some high school girl that is SHOUTING to the guy next to her with this strange voice that was like Fran Drescher with a Spanish accent. “OH MY GOD DID YOU LIKE EVER MISS SCHOOL?!” Finally the thing I noticed that is kind of strange about Amtrak is that they don't announce stations. So the train is running x minutes late. They never tell you if they picked up any time, so you really don't know where you are. The train pulled into a station, I looked out the window and see the tiny text of “30th St” painted in black on a column that was in shadow. I jumped up in an “Oh Crap” fashion, grabbed my stuff and left the train. Even when I got off, I wasn't totally sure I was in Philly until I walked 20 feet down the platform and found a sign that actually said Philadelphia (it's been about 5 years since I took Amtrak). It's no different with Septa really. The displays in the trains are malfunctioning half the time so it say 34th Street when you are on 5th. Stupid.


On Friday I went to see the Grudge 2. Before I get scolded for the poor quality of this movie, I want everyone to consider the genre. Horror. Are there really any GOOD horror movies? Movies that the second time you watch them, it isn't almost entirely laughable? There is what, the Exorcist, Alien, maybe the first Ring (I found the Japanese version silly), a Tale of Two Sisters, that's about it really. Horror movies are fun because they are stupid. I personally find the benchmarks of American terror like Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Nightmare On Elm Street, and the other slashers not to be scary, but rather just incredibly lame. Zombie movies are kinda cool though. You have to check your mind at the door and let yourself be scared to enjoy horror movies. If you analyze the plot, or look for great acting, you've already lost. The more movies I see of any genre, the less I am entertained. I think I'm beginning to like terrible movies better because they don't try as hard to be profound then blow it by either falling way short or just being pretentious and average. I especially hate movies that are just like everyday life. I like books that are like everyday life, but movies suck. I think you identify with a book more because you will insert yourself into the character's role and recall your own experiences. Seeing some unknown actor or Matt Damon struggle to find his way in the world after losing his girlfriend to cancer, blows. It's kind of like how videogames are engrossing because you are the character. You have the “investment” into the story and character being you and your interaction. I think beyond the bad acting and scripts, that's what makes videogame movies so excruciatingly awful. So, back to the Grudge. Some stuff jumped out, you went “Whoa!” a few times and it was over. Anyway, that creepy black haired chick freaks me out. A lot of the reviews I read complained that the “black hair ghost thing is getting old.” The black hair ghost thing is how many Asian cultures represent ghosts. China, Korea, Japan. So, in a movie based on a Japanese movie...it makes sense. So guys chopping people up in dark basements isn't old (TCM, Saw, Hostel, etc)? I enjoyed the movie and had fun. So screw you Rotten Tomatoes.com and the 14 year old trash talkers on IMDB.