To Do (movies)

This is mainly for me; I always forget films I want to see so I'm making a small list here.

The Motorcycle Diaries: A young Che Guevara in 1952 riding his motorcycle across South America with his friend.

I Heart Huckabees: An ensemble cast and existential troubles. Very excited to see this one.

Around the Bend: Four generations of men in one family get together--skeletons emerge from closets.

Tarnation: A documentary by a fella about growing up with his schizophrenic mother. I guess he made it for $218 using his iMac.

Sideways: By the guy who did About Schmidt. Sounds like people exploring their misery.

The Last Shot: I'm not 100% sure about this one. It's supposed to be a witty comedy and I do trust Matthew Broderick.

Undertow: Rural Georgia, troubled family and Jamie Bell (grown up from Billy Elliott).

Closer: It looks a bit trite, but it could be good. It'll surely be depressing.

I know there's more. In fact, I'm sure I'll end up seeing the new Bridget Jones film and the Meet the Parents sequel, but maybe on dvd. A lot of these films won't be released until December.
Hopefully now that I've made the list, I won't forget. Maybe I'll even manage to see a few in the theater.

Thanks, Brahmins

I'm glad some Brahmins in the 1860s decided to petition the state to start up some institutions dedicated to technology and fine art. So now we have MassArt--a public art school which means it's cheaper than private art schools. This also means I can (barely) afford to take classes.

I started my Drawing for Communication class last week. No one has asked me to draw anything since my Creative Writing Instructor in college asked us to draw a picture of a place we would then write about. I think I was 21. So 10 years have passed and that one exercise is a vague memory.

This past week I've had to replicate a drawing I did in class of a familiar place. I picked a place with many bricks to draw (I noticed this once I was staring in person). This was not easy. I'm so used to using a computer that when I spelled out the words on a storefront and they didn't quite extend the length of the rectangular sign I'd drawn I felt exasperated over having to erase. I wanted to pick the font tool and make it one point larger. When I had to draw some lines for the bricks, I wanted to draw it once and then copy it a few times with one click. But no, I erased and drew lines with my little yellow pencil. I filled in shapes with my colored pencils and stamped some words out with my alphabet stamps.

I think this is good for me, it's making me slow down and focus, but it certainly isn't easy.

Basset Hounds

I've been posting sad stuff lately so I thought I'd upload this silly photo I took in Rockport, MA last weekend:

RIP

I learned about his site from George's blog and today I learned about his passing from a post of George's.

An excellent guy; so sad.

This City

I'm sad about what's going on in Russia; I'm sad about what's going on in Iraq; I'm sad about what's going on in Africa; also very close to home I'm sad about what's happening in Boston:

• 9/5 3 Men Killed in Dorchester: ages 24, 24, and 19.
• 8/28 An 18 yr old killed in Boston
• 8/13 3 people killed, 1 in Jamaica Plain and 2 in Dorchester
• 8/8 A 19 yr old and a 35 yr old were killed in Roxbury
• 8/5 Two men 18 yrs old and 25 yrs old were killed in Dorchester
• 8/1 An 11 yr old shot in the chest during football try-outs in the South End

I just can't list anymore--there have been so many. Seth Gittel wrote in 2002 about the violence in Boston:

As the city looks for ways to counter the new crime wave, it needs to do something new: figure out exactly what is going on. Because without an understanding of what is causing the violence this time around, they’ll never be able to stop it.

It's two years later and it's happening again. Maybe the Boston Police Department's new tactics can help or at least I hope they don't make things worse trust-wise amongst those living in the inner-city.

I remember back in the late 80s and early 90s when all you'd hear about were the gangs: Castlegate, Intervale, and Humboldt. I was hanging out in Cambridge and meeting kids associated with these gangs. My dad, as a cop, had to have special training to identify gang members by their colors or clothes. It just seemed to be everywhere. That was the last time the murder rate rose so quickly in Boston.

Douglas Belkin just wrote a piece in the Boston Globe about a few of the men who were shot and survived during those times.
The scariest thing he reports:

As many wounded as there are in the city, Massachusetts is the safest state in the country when it comes to gunshot deaths, with fewer than three people per 100,000 killed by guns. The nation averages more than 10 per 100,000. In Washington, D.C., the rate is nearly three times that.

I know this would make a lot of people scream about gun control, but I truly do not believe that is the answer. I think it has more to do with jobs, education, and of course, money. I just wish it would stop, or at least slow down, this violence in Boston. Maybe these autumn cool breezes will blow in and cool off the city, even if it's temporary it will at least give a break to those moms, dads, sisters, brothers, and friends who have gotten much too used to burying young men.