Jason's Blog, page 146

...and dvds bought in Montpellier

1. Tintin - Secret of the Unicorn by Steven Spielberg
2. Submarine by Richard Ayoade
3. Mean Streets by Martin Scorsese
4. Midnight in Paris by Woody Allen
5. Boy Meets Girl by Leos Carax

It was one of those 5 dvds for 30 euros deals at Virgin Megastore. Together with the ones I got in Paris and Oslo it really should be enough dvds for a while. First up: Tintin!

I think I had an open mind about seeing this film. I knew it would be different from the comics. Film's a different medium. It would be Spielberg's Tintin, not Hergé's Tintin. Spielberg has done some good films, right? But, no, I didn't like it at all. I almost turned it off after the first half hour. Okay, it's visually inventive, but it's just too noisy, with constant movements - a film for the videogame generation, and closer to Pirates of The Caribbean than the spirit of Tintin. I longed for a quiet moment with not much happening. Even Raiders of The Lost Ark had some of those. That seems to be a lost thing these days. The audience will fall asleep or start texting. The silent film slapstick + Hitchcock suspense that you find in the Tintin albums is completely gone, it's all just a rush for the next action scene. And they screwed up the funniest scene from the album, at the pickpocket's apartment where Dupont and Dupond find all their wallets!

Ugh... I need to see a slow Kaurismäki film next.

Stuff waiting in the mail

...when I got back from Norway.

1. Already Dead
2. The Name of The World
3. Tree of Smoke, all by Denis Johnson
4. White Apples by Jonathan Carroll
5. Pete And Miriam by Rich Tommaso
6. Krazy And Ignatz, 1922-24 by George Herriman

I enjoyed Train Dreams by Denis Johnson, from the Stuff bought in Paris post. I'm on page 334 of Chronic City by Jonathan Lethem. I'm debating whether I should continue the book or give up. It's kind of slow. And aren't you supposed to start caring about the characters after 300 pages? Hasn't happened yet.

Hmm...

Cigarette 17

Okay, this is the last one! Enough allready!

Dvds bought in Oslo

1. Le Havre
2. Leningrad Cowboys Meet Moses
3. Crime and Punishment
4. Hamlet Goes Business / Calamari Union, all by Aki Kaurismäki
5. Hiroshima Mon Amour, by Alain Resnais
6. The Killing of A Chinese Bookie, by John Cassavetes
7. Go And See, by Elem Klimov

Paintings

... from my little exhibition in Oslo last year, and that I just now found hidden in a file somewhere (this photo, I mean).

Stuff bought in Paris

... on the way up to Oslo.

Used dvds:

1. They Were Expendable by John Ford
2. Run Silent, Run Deep by Robert Wise
3. Lord of The Flies by Peter Brook
4. Fearless by Peter Weir
5. A Face in The Crowd by Elia Kazan
6. The Cat o' Nine Tails by Dario Argento
7. Kingdom of Heaven, director's cut by Ridley Scott
8. Dances With Wolves, extended cut by Kevin Costner

Books:

1. Chronic City by Jonathan Lethem
2. Train Dreams by Denis Johnson

OCX

I'm off to Norway, including two days in Oslo for the Oslo Comics Expo, for the publication of the Norwegian version of Athos in America.

Cigarette 16

Cigarette 15