plague averted
Jan. 16th, 2005 09:36 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chelidonThank goodness, Casa Chaos did not become a plague house as I had feared. My partner only caught an edge of it (and that was no picnic), but aside from from my relatively minor and still somewhat ongoing unhappy-stomach issues (which could well be stress-exacerbated), the denizens otherwise seem to have been spared. But staying home meant I could go out yesterday with the tractor and salt and sand the icy road (a fun chore), which gave me a good excuse to get out in this gorgeous winter weather.
Last night we all watched Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill part 1 and 2, back to back. Reactions from the denizens ranged from finding the movies rather disturbing to very funny. As someone who grew up culturally immersed in the 1970's kung-fu and samurai movies from which Tarantino drew his inspiration for the movie, I enjoyed them as an over-the-top tribute to that, and other, genres. Having a certain amount of martial arts, swordplay and stage-fighting experience, I enjoyed it very much from that perspective. And I have to admit, after being warped in my childhood by Monty Python and other such influences, huge jets of fake blood spraying through the air as if from a fire hose just make me laugh. Sick, perhaps, but it's a happy sick ;>
I find Tarantino to be so very self-consciously stylistic that it can often distract from the actual storytelling. And there is no question, the man is a world-class self-centered asshole. But he is also unquestionably a talented asshole, which compensates for a multitude of sins, and when he can avoid going too far in geeky self-referential bellybutton-gazing and in-your-face "oh look how clever I am" stylistic excesses (even for a director whose ouevre is all about excess), he does some amazing things. Often more style than substance, but that describes our whole latter-day culture, neh?
Hmm, I wonder what it says that a post which started on gastrointestinal distress ended up talking about Quentin Tarantino.
Some day I'll have to tell the story about how I ended up with one of Uma Thurman's outfits from _Pulp Fiction_.
Last night we all watched Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill part 1 and 2, back to back. Reactions from the denizens ranged from finding the movies rather disturbing to very funny. As someone who grew up culturally immersed in the 1970's kung-fu and samurai movies from which Tarantino drew his inspiration for the movie, I enjoyed them as an over-the-top tribute to that, and other, genres. Having a certain amount of martial arts, swordplay and stage-fighting experience, I enjoyed it very much from that perspective. And I have to admit, after being warped in my childhood by Monty Python and other such influences, huge jets of fake blood spraying through the air as if from a fire hose just make me laugh. Sick, perhaps, but it's a happy sick ;>
I find Tarantino to be so very self-consciously stylistic that it can often distract from the actual storytelling. And there is no question, the man is a world-class self-centered asshole. But he is also unquestionably a talented asshole, which compensates for a multitude of sins, and when he can avoid going too far in geeky self-referential bellybutton-gazing and in-your-face "oh look how clever I am" stylistic excesses (even for a director whose ouevre is all about excess), he does some amazing things. Often more style than substance, but that describes our whole latter-day culture, neh?
Hmm, I wonder what it says that a post which started on gastrointestinal distress ended up talking about Quentin Tarantino.
Some day I'll have to tell the story about how I ended up with one of Uma Thurman's outfits from _Pulp Fiction_.
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no subject
Date: 2005-01-16 03:42 pm (UTC)Usually it's the other way around, for me. ;)