Saturday, June 21, 2008

new piece in the works + Magnolia

i started a new piece tonight. it's kind of fun to watch things change from week to week, so i thought i'd post a pic. here's the very humble beginnings after one night - basic composition and color playing. it's one of the larger paintings i've begin in a long while:
















(click on image for a larger view)


i've been spending money on DVDs lately, slowly building a collection of my favorite films. i went to see Magnolia when it first came out, and it hit me in the gut tremendously hard. i actually think i remember crying a slight bit in the theater, with my girlfriend at the time wondering what was wrong. i couldn't believe the reaction the film evoked from me. i suppose it all relates to a pretty strange, introspective self-sequestering i went through after i finished up my BFA.

here's some eye candy. first, the official trailer; then, the famous musical interlude scene.






3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I found Magnolia to be a pretty powerful movie, but I did not like it all thats much. A movie I would say "you have to watch once," but not one I will probably ever watch again.

I do love the soundtrack, though, especially the Aimee Mann songs.

Matt said...

i finally bought it a few weeks back, and managed to watch it this past saturday (after i posted this). i tend to agree with you - it's a really moving film, but... it's a very hyper-maudlin story by nature, and just how often can you watch something like that and have it affect you? yup... at most, once a year, or every few years, or - in your case - once.

as i watched it, i realized that as a whole, i still enjoy the film, but the emotional responses i described are more related to individual scenes - not the overarching theme of the movie. Phil Parma's (Philip Seymour Hoffman) facial expressions as he takes down the bed that Earl Partridge (Jason Robards) laid alive in just a couple hours earlier. the coke addict's verbalization to herself "you're so stupid.. you're so stupid..." and near the end, the new whiz kid walking up to his father and saying "dad?... you have to be nicer to me. you have to be nicer to me, dad."

all that stuff hits my gut harder than the convoluted, oft-repeated theme of "we may be doe with the past, but the past is not done with us."

Matt said...

and hey - thanks for stopping by, moe. if you ever get good video of one of those red-headed house finches doing their song, please post it and let me know. my wife and i are completely blown away by those little fellas.