Jandy's Meanderings Turbo

faithx5: @Colinnovator Awesome! I saw them in Austin about a year and a half ago, but they haven't played near me since! Hoping to make it Sunday.

Thu, 09 Apr 2009 22:38:41 GMT

faithx5: @Colinnovator Awesome! I saw them in Austin about a year and a half ago, but they haven't played near me since! Hoping to make it Sunday.

faithx5: Club Spaceland » Sunday 04.12.09: HEADLIGHTS http://ff.im/-21F8I

Thu, 09 Apr 2009 21:52:19 GMT

faithx5: Club Spaceland » Sunday 04.12.09: HEADLIGHTS http://ff.im/-21F8I

faithx5: INTERNET. I HAZ IT. And a shiny new smaller modem out of the deal, too. So at least something good happened today. :)

Thu, 09 Apr 2009 18:39:12 GMT

faithx5: INTERNET. I HAZ IT. And a shiny new smaller modem out of the deal, too. So at least something good happened today. :)

faithx5: @nathanielpayne I know, right? I guess all my grousing at Fox over the years finally gave them a vendetta against me. Sarah Connor too, now.

Thu, 09 Apr 2009 18:23:16 GMT

faithx5: @nathanielpayne I know, right? I guess all my grousing at Fox over the years finally gave them a vendetta against me. Sarah Connor too, now.

faithx5: @spidra Thanks, Spidra!

Thu, 09 Apr 2009 18:17:16 GMT

faithx5: @spidra Thanks, Spidra!

faithx5: @RedHeadedRachel @MarkAHorne What the...seriously, Fox? SERIOUSLY? Worst. Birthday. Ever. #dollhouse #sarahconnor

Thu, 09 Apr 2009 18:16:28 GMT

faithx5: @RedHeadedRachel @MarkAHorne What the...seriously, Fox? SERIOUSLY? Worst. Birthday. Ever. #dollhouse #sarahconnor

faithx5: @RedHeadedRachel I was gonna say, I'll subscribe to you, but you gotta post some stuff! Looking forward to seeing you around here!

Thu, 09 Apr 2009 17:37:40 GMT

faithx5: @RedHeadedRachel I was gonna say, I'll subscribe to you, but you gotta post some stuff! Looking forward to seeing you around here!

faithx5: Just realized all this #dollhouse stuff is going down on my birthday. DAMN YOU FOX. http://ff.im/-21qz5

Thu, 09 Apr 2009 17:30:24 GMT

faithx5: Just realized all this #dollhouse stuff is going down on my birthday. DAMN YOU FOX. http://ff.im/-21qz5

faithx5: @themarina Yeah, heard about #kings, too. Saturdays?! Lame. Starting in March can't have helped, either - who starts shows in March?

Thu, 09 Apr 2009 16:29:29 GMT

faithx5: @themarina Yeah, heard about #kings, too. Saturdays?! Lame. Starting in March can't have helped, either - who starts shows in March?

faithx5: @themarina Well, they didn't care about the massive #firefly campaigns or anything fandom has done, so not hopeful. But still. #dollhouse

Thu, 09 Apr 2009 16:28:17 GMT

faithx5: @themarina Well, they didn't care about the massive #firefly campaigns or anything fandom has done, so not hopeful. But still. #dollhouse

faithx5: Doing a Twitter search for @FoxBroadcasting gives PAGES and PAGES of people upset about #dollhouse. Keep it up, it feels good to see.

Thu, 09 Apr 2009 16:18:22 GMT

faithx5: Doing a Twitter search for @FoxBroadcasting gives PAGES and PAGES of people upset about #dollhouse. Keep it up, it feels good to see.

faithx5: @ FoxBroadcasting Let's see, exchanging good original shows just hitting their stride for reruns and reality? Definitely your MO. #dollhouse

Thu, 09 Apr 2009 15:44:35 GMT

faithx5: @ FoxBroadcasting Let's see, exchanging good original shows just hitting their stride for reruns and reality? Definitely your MO. #dollhouse

faithx5: @feliciaday Wait, WHAT? Aaargh. I guess that means it's cancelled? The past few episodes were so awesome, I was starting to get hopeful. :(

Thu, 09 Apr 2009 14:22:23 GMT

faithx5: @feliciaday Wait, WHAT? Aaargh. I guess that means it's cancelled? The past few episodes were so awesome, I was starting to get hopeful. :(

faithx5: @themarina I haven't looked my feedreader in days. Now I'm scared to even start.

Thu, 09 Apr 2009 14:02:18 GMT

faithx5: @themarina I haven't looked my feedreader in days. Now I'm scared to even start.

faithx5: @misstripentaxi I'm assuming you know about the Pride & Prejudice with Zombies. And I just saw this and thought of you: http://bit.ly/OoqLg

Thu, 09 Apr 2009 13:51:03 GMT

faithx5: @misstripentaxi I'm assuming you know about the Pride & Prejudice with Zombies. And I just saw this and thought of you: http://bit.ly/OoqLg

faithx5: Okay, going to bed early so I can get up early and go to work early so I can leave early to wait for the cable guy. Again. sigh

Thu, 09 Apr 2009 01:33:41 GMT

faithx5: Okay, going to bed early so I can get up early and go to work early so I can leave early to wait for the cable guy. Again. *sigh*

faithx5: @thelorax417 Yep! Pretty hard to explain one's approach to art in 140 characters. I love Twitter, but it has its limitations. ;)

Thu, 09 Apr 2009 01:20:04 GMT

faithx5: @thelorax417 Yep! Pretty hard to explain one's approach to art in 140 characters. I love Twitter, but it has its limitations. ;)

faithx5: @thelorax417 I like the innovation part, but must art be perfect? Isn't striving for something new artistic even if it doesn't totally work?

Thu, 09 Apr 2009 01:06:36 GMT

faithx5: @thelorax417 I like the innovation part, but must art be perfect? Isn't striving for something new artistic even if it doesn't totally work?

faithx5: @thelorax417 I don't know if I believe in capital A art anymore. I'm not wholly on the "it's completely subjective" train either, though.

Thu, 09 Apr 2009 01:03:04 GMT

faithx5: @thelorax417 I don't know if I believe in capital A art anymore. I'm not wholly on the "it's completely subjective" train either, though.

faithx5: @ScottEWeinberg Sorry, I'm bored and won't leave him alone about it. :)

Thu, 09 Apr 2009 00:41:09 GMT

faithx5: @ScottEWeinberg Sorry, I'm bored and won't leave him alone about it. :)

My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2009-4-5)

Sun, 05 Apr 2009 13:32:47 GMT

My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2009-4-5):

Imported from Last.fm Tumblr by JoeLaz

New Release Review: Sin Nombre

Jandy — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 00:28:05 GMT

Once in a while, a first-time director jumps onto the scene with a film that is so assured and so well-made and has such an air of vitality and realism that it’s difficult to believe he hasn’t made a dozen films already. Cary Fukunaga has pretty much done that with Sin Nombre, a favorite at [...]

The Substance of Style Pt 1: Wes Anderson and his pantheon of heroes

Wed, 01 Apr 2009 19:11:00 GMT

The Substance of Style Pt 1: Wes Anderson and his pantheon of heroes:

The first in a series of video essays written and edited by Matt Zoller Seitz at Moving Image Source delving into the films of Wes Anderson. In this entry, Seitz outlines a few of Anderson’s most prominent influences, from the French New Wave to Peanuts. The text on the page is a transcription of Seitz’s narration on the video, which you play by clicking the video on the right. So I suggest you click the video and watch/listen rather than read the text first like I did. Looking forward to the others in the series!

Hat tip: scanners::blog

Film on TV: March 30-April 5

Jandy — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 02:36:00 GMT

Sorry I didn’t get last week’s up AT ALL. Didn’t get it done on Sunday, and then wasn’t home for more than ten waking minutes on Monday or Tuesday, and then it just didn’t seem worth it anymore. Monday, March 30 1:45am - IFC - The Royal Tenenbaums 4:30am (31st) - TCM - Mickey One I wrote about this [...]

My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2009-3-29)

Sun, 29 Mar 2009 10:03:00 GMT

My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2009-3-29):

Imported from Last.fm Tumblr by JoeLaz

xkcd - A Webcomic - Alternative Energy Revolution. Alt text:...

Mon, 16 Mar 2009 13:50:00 GMT

xkcd - A Webcomic - Alternative Energy Revolution. Alt text: “The moment their arms spun freely in our air, they were doomed — for Man has earned his right to hold this planet against all comers, by virtue of occasionally producing someone totally batshit insane.” Even better, isn’t that Dali’s Quixote? Full of win.

Film on TV: March 16-23

Jandy — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 02:27:25 GMT

Monday, March 16 5:00am - TCM - Henri Langlois: Phantom of the Cinematheque If you like American film since about 1970 or French film since the 1950s, then take a minute to thank Henri Langlois, founder of the Cinematheque Française in Paris. He showed American films from the 1940s, Italian Neo-Realist films, European artsy films, anything he [...]

My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2009-3-15)

Sun, 15 Mar 2009 11:50:14 GMT

My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2009-3-15):

Imported from Last.fm Tumblr by JoeLaz

Featured Video: Sunshine Cleaning Trailer

Jandy — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 00:49:07 GMT

There are two things that I really like in a film: Quirky Sundance-y-ness and Amy Adams. Sunshine Cleaning has both. And I’ve been looking forward to it for long enough now (it premiered Sundance 2008) that I was ready to give it priority over Watchmen last week. Good thing I had my dates wrong and [...]

New Release Review: The Perfect Sleep

Jandy — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 23:49:33 GMT

Near the beginning of indie noir homage The Perfect Sleep, the nameless Narrator drives off after having brutally killed an enemy and his voiceover warns us: “Some of you clever types might think this was one of those stories where everything kinda makes sense in the end. Wrong.” When I first heard that line, I [...]

Henry Jenkins - Locating Fair Use in the Space Between Fandom and the Art World

Thu, 12 Mar 2009 19:01:00 GMT

Henry Jenkins - Locating Fair Use in the Space Between Fandom and the Art World: New Media Professor and Convergence Culture author Henry Jenkins hosts an article by a young artist who appropriates pop culture in her work - something which goes fine in the art world, but gets her into trouble when she posts her work on YouTube. I’ve seen a lot of things from film/television/new media critics and scholars about appropriation and fair use in the YouTube era, but this is an interesting take from someone in the fine art world.

"It was an unforgettable painting; it set a dense golden halo of light round the most trivial of..."

Mon, 09 Mar 2009 16:15:00 GMT

“It was an unforgettable painting; it set a dense golden halo of light round the most trivial of moments, so that the moment, and all such moments, could never be completely trivial again.”

- John Fowles, The Magus (pp 100 in the mass market paperback edition)

Showing What Can't Be Filmed

Sat, 07 Mar 2009 12:42:00 GMT

Showing What Can't Be Filmed:

A really interesting article from David Bordwell about documentary and animated films that could be considered documentaries, including Waltz with Bashir and Persepolis. Click through to read it all.

My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2009-3-1)

Sun, 01 Mar 2009 20:12:56 GMT

My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2009-3-1):

Imported from Last.fm Tumblr by JoeLaz

My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2009-2-22)

Sun, 22 Feb 2009 13:05:42 GMT

My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2009-2-22):

Imported from Last.fm Tumblr by JoeLaz

My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2009-2-15)

Sun, 15 Feb 2009 10:44:07 GMT

My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2009-2-15):

Imported from Last.fm Tumblr by JoeLaz

American Idol Top 36 Revealed

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 18:11:52 GMT

A few things at the close of the American Idol auditions.

36 people is a lot. I’m curious how they’ll whittle that down. I think they’re doing a more Season 1 / Australian Idol approach this year, right, with a wild card night and everything?
Most of the ones I like made it through. But then, THIRTY-SIX of them made it through. So basically, the only ones I liked that didn’t get through were the punk-rock chick from LA who got cut last week (and whose band I’ve already looked up - Go Betty Go) and Jamar Rogers. I also kinda liked Cody Sheldon, but more because he looks interesting than because he has a great voice.
Ones I really like: Danny Gokey, Anoop Desai, Alexis Grace, Joanna Pasitti, Lil Rounds, Adam Lampert, and Michael Sarver. I’m sure there will be others once I get to know them better.
OMG, they let Tatiana through. She does have a good voice, I’ll admit, but possibly the most annoying person I’ve ever seen in my life.
OMG, they let alter-ego guy through? I may have lost whatever respect I ever had for the show. Wait, I don’t really have any respect for…never mind.
But there is a nice variety of people this year. It’ll be interesting to see what happens.
I want to marry Danny Gokey. And I’m pretty much not even kidding.

My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2009-2-8)

Mon, 09 Feb 2009 03:24:44 GMT

My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2009-2-8):

Imported from Last.fm Tumblr by JoeLaz

My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2009-2-1)

Sun, 01 Feb 2009 07:13:37 GMT

My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2009-2-1):

Imported from Last.fm Tumblr by JoeLaz

"What vexes me most about “Filth and Wisdom” is the economics. Madonna has been a global star for..."

Thu, 29 Jan 2009 06:45:00 GMT

“What vexes me most about “Filth and Wisdom” is the economics. Madonna has been a global star for decades. She has amassed a fortune, much of which presumably remains intact. She can’t have spent all of it on jodhpurs and conical bras. So why, when it came to launching herself as a film director, did she limit her budget to $365.23? Such, at any rate, is my estimate for the funding of “Filth and Wisdom.” If the actors were paid according to their talents, they cannot have cost more than forty bucks. In the case of Richard E. Grant, the one sizable name in the cast, his performance as a tweedy, sightless poet is so embarrassing that I trust he took no payment at all. The only major expense was the lighting: a toy flashlight, I would guess, placed carefully in the corner of each room and angled upward—hence the capering shadows that Andriy casts on his living-room walls. In technical terms, more professional productions than this are filmed and cut on iMovie, by ten-year-olds, a thousand times a day.”

- Anthony Lane, The New Yorker, 20 Oct 2008.

My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2009-1-25)

Tue, 27 Jan 2009 20:06:00 GMT

My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2009-1-25):

Imported from Last.fm Tumblr by JoeLaz

"I don’t like crooks. And if I did like ‘em, I wouldn’t like crooks that are stool..."

Sun, 25 Jan 2009 16:32:00 GMT

“I don’t like crooks. And if I did like ‘em, I wouldn’t like crooks that are stool pigeons. And if I DID like crooks that are stool pigeons, I still wouldn’t like you!”

- Marion, the stoolie’s girl - The Thin Man

Academy Award Nominations

Thu, 22 Jan 2009 03:41:00 GMT

via Cinematical

Okay, Benjamin Button got the most nominations? Geez. One of the least interesting major films I’ve seen this year, and it leads the nominations. (My review.) Not that it was actively bad most of the time, but boring. Not up to any of the participants’ best.

Kate Winslet only gets nommed for The Reader - I’ve heard she’s even more impressive in it than in Revolutionary Road, so I guess I’m gonna have to go see it. And Melissa Leo for Frozen River! Nice surprise there. I didn’t see Frozen River, but I heard fantastic things about it and her.

Michael Shannon in Revolutionary Road - great supporting turn. He won’t beat Ledger, though, and that’s okay.

Only three nominees for Original Song? That’s not normal, is it? Two of them from Slumdog Millionaire. It would be hilarious (and somewhat awesome) if a Hindi song won an Academy Award.

Overall, a pretty uninteresting year for the Oscars. There were only about seven or eight films in serious running for any category. Has this been a bad film year? Or just bad for Oscar-type films? I’m thinking the second, because most year-end lists I’ve seen are mostly full of foreign and very small indie films.

25 Things You May or May Not Know About Me

Tue, 20 Jan 2009 13:03:00 GMT

Mostly intended for FriendFeed folks; other people who know me may know quite a few of these things.

I always struggle with lists like this, because I’m simultaneously very open and very private - anything I want people to know, they generally do, and anything I don’t, no one does.
When I was little, I had an elaborate imaginary world in which I owned a stablefull of hunter jumpers. At one point I went so far as to have a registry book listing all the imaginary horses and their showing and breeding history.
I adore making lists. I will turn anything you can think of and find a way to make a list out of it. Even this one I liked once I got going. :)
I can name pretty much all of the Academy Awards from 1928 to now for Best Picture, Director, Actor, Actress, Supporting Actor, and Supporting Actress - the last few years get a little spotty because I stopped practicing. I could do Foreign Film and Song for a while, but I sort of lost track of those.
My name is a combination of my parents names: Jean + Randy = Jandy.
I grew up watching only old movies and listening to classical music. I could’ve counted the post-1970s movies I’d seen on one hand until I was about fifteen, and I was sixteen before I bought a current album (Madonna, if you really want to know).
I’m really glad for #6, actually - I have a much broader perspective on cinematic and musical history than many of my contemporaries.
I have degrees in Communication, Video/Audio Production, and English Literature, and I’m not using any of them in my job.
After graduating last May, I moved out to LA pretty much for the heck of it, no job or housing waiting for me (well, I had friends to stay with). It was simultaneously exciting and terrifying.
My arms are double-jointed naturally, but since I broke it at age eight, my right one bends backwards at a rather disturbing angle.
I first got into the online life through Buffy the Vampire Slayer fandom during the show’s final season.
My handle/nickname “faithx5” is a mashup of the BtVS character Faith and her signature phrase “5 by 5”.
I can’t remember not knowing how to read.
The best four months of my life were January-April 2002, which I spent studying abroad in England - it was my first extended time away from home and my first on-campus living experience (I commuted to college). I grew more as a person during that period than any other time in my life.
I had two years of French in high school and intensive French for grad school, but a year of Spanish in college. I know both just enough to mix them up nicely.
I went down to Juarez, Mexico on mission trips with my church six years in a row during high school and college to help teach English to kids. It’s one of the most rewarding things I’ve ever done, and I wish I’d kept up with the people down there better.
My ears stop up so badly on plane trips that I often can’t hear (or hear very muffled) for the first day after I land. But I still love plane trips. :)
I’ve railed against reality shows for years, and yet I find myself oddly mesmerized by them. Now I shamefacedly watch American Idol, So You Think You Can Dance, The Amazing Race, and Survivor, and if it didn’t conflict with other shows, I’d be watching Superstars of Dance. Mock me now.
I love starting new projects, but routine maintenance can drive me crazy. (Example: coded a site last month for a client, and now they want a couple more pages added, and I really don’t want to do it because I’m mentally done with the project and never want to see it again.)
My idea of happiness is 75 degrees, bright sunshine, cruising on the PCH with the windows down and the volume up.
I’ve traveled in every US state except Oregon, Maine, Alaska, and Hawaii, and all the Canadian provinces between Montreal and Vancouver, plus a bunch of Western Europe.
I used to collect keychains from every place I went. I need to start that again, you know, when I have time and money to start traveling again.
I’ve played the piano for as long as I can remember (a bit out of practice lately). I also played the violin for a while, and I’m trying to pick up the guitar now, but with less dedication than is necessary to actually be successful.
I know enough about tech to make non-techies think I’m a super techie, but not enough to fool anyone who actually knows anything about tech.
I have yet to experience what I would consider a serious romantic relationship.

My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2009-1-18)

Mon, 19 Jan 2009 05:44:00 GMT

My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2009-1-18):

Imported from Last.fm Tumblr by JoeLaz