Well, I’m pretty much at that point in my life where I’m still not really sure what I want to be when I grow up, but I’m done with high school and it’s getting closer and closer and if I don’t figure out soon I may never do anything I want. I’m fixing to go to college and I’m really not sure if I want to throw all that money away on something that I don’t even know if it’s going to make me happy to do, or learn how to do. I’m planning on becoming a Spanish teacher but I don’t really know if that’s gonna make me happy. On one hand, there’s the positive that I get a summer every year for the rest of my life, but the negative is that I have to deal with kids and people for the rest of my life, as well as take a subservient position rather than “being my own boss.” It would be beyond awesome to me if I could actually make a living just doing my hobbies, but I’m almost certain that that’s a totally unrealistic expectation, so I guess I need to find something that will work. Something that will at least make me partially happy. Well, anyways. I’m just sticking with this teaching idea because I think that it will probably give me the time that I need to work on my side projects while actually being a job that I HAD to go to college to be able to do. I just think that it’s the most stupid thing in the world to go to college and then go get a job that you could’ve done just as well before you even spent all that time and money on your schooling.
Well, I don’t even know if that paragraph made any sense, and I’m sure I could go rambling on about my future and my incertainties about it for ever and ever. So I’ll just stop and attempt to stop typing run-on sentences.
In other news, I just recently watched two movies that I’m sure you’ve heard about, even if you don’t really know what they’re about. Flags of our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima. I think they’re a few years old already….geez time passes faster the older you get. Makes me feel like I’m actually getting old. I’m only 18 for crying out loud. Anyways, the movies are both Clint Eastwood films, he did them both at the same time, and they’re both about Iwo Jima, although from different sides of the story. I watched them both this last week, although I kinda sorta watched them out of order. I believe the intended order is to watch Flags of our Fathers and then Letters from Iwo Jima, but I did it the other way around. It would kinda have a different effect if you watched them in the other order. When you watch Flags of our Fathers, you get the American view, which shows a pretty limited understanding of how the Japanese felt about the war and the battle itself. The Japanese are pretty much just a faceless enemy that kills, but is still not powerful enough to overtake the awesomes Americans. Uhm…anyways. I guess the point of Flags, and basically Letters as well, is that War isn’t what people think it is. Which, now that I think of it, is kinda the point of all modern war movies, isn’t it…. Well, anyways. Flags is about that famous Iwo Jima flag-raising picture that we’ve all seen, and how it’s basically just a bunch of crap. Not that it didn’t happen, but that it didn’t really mean anything in terms of the war. The story kinda jumps back and forth between a present narrative, a past narrative during the battle, and another past narrative in-between the two…It’s kinda nauseating, and a bit confusing at first. To be honest, the first time it jumped through time, I thought the movie was going to just skip the majority of the Iwo Jima battle, which…well it sort of did…but sort of didn’t. Anyways, the movie wasn’t really about the battle anyways, essentially the entire movie was just about reinforcing this point that heroes in war don’t really exist… Well, whatever… I guess I’ll give the movie my rating…
Flags of Our Fathers, Overall Rating: 8/10
Not mind-blowing or life-changing, but a decent war movie overall.
Letters from Iwo Jima on the other hand, is one of the better movies I’ve seen in a while. For Flags to be such a simple movie, Letters is much more complex, and consequently about three times as interesting. Although there is perhaps the same amount, if not more, of fighting as Flags, Letters from Iwo Jima still feels like a much more personal story. Well, anyways, if you don’t already know, Letters from Iwo Jima is the story from the Japanese perspective, and thus, the entire movie (or most of it) is in Japanese, and requires subtitles. Initially this may seem as if it would be a distracting or detrimental move, but it really works, and it isn’t that difficult to see why. (especially with other movies, such as Pan’s Labyrinth, seeing success with American audiences despite language barriers) Perhaps the best testament I can give for Letters of Iwo Jima is that it brought tears to my eyes, even though I was essentially reading the entire story. The movie has it’s fair share of gory bits, which you’ve probably come to expect from war movies. Perhaps one of the most interesting aspects of the two Iwo Jima movies is that they intertwine with connections in the story. Although these are few and far between, it is still interesting to see the tiny bits sneak their way between the two. Well, my reviewing skills are perhaps not the best organized in the world, and I’m sure I’ve done more to confuse than I have to give a good impression of these movies, but I guess practice is good. Well, I’ll go ahead and give my rating for this one two.
Letters from Iwo Jima, Overall Rating: 9/10
Probably not going to change your life, but still a damn good movie, and very very moving. Gives a good alternate perspective on a battle, and a war that most of us only know from stereotypes and old photographs.
Oh, and in other news, Dell appears to be adding to their awesomeness with some new “Dell Art House” series. Check it out. It’s basically their same awesome laptops, with even more awesome artwork on them. This first series features artwork from some artist named Mike Ming. Never heard of him? Me neither, but he can do some great designs. Apparently he’s a tattoo artist, or at least Dell would like us to think that. The laptop designs are pretty freaking awesome. So here’s hoping they continue this series and don’t let it end here.
Low Tide Productions 