Blogocentric Formulations

Renfaire Ridiculousness & The Fincher/Nolan Conundrum

PROMPT: Let your mind wander back to the Middle Ages and imagine you are a scribe in the King's Court. Tell us about the goings-on in the castle (accents optional, but encouraged )


Pray pardon me, but if I do not get this written down, surely I will forget. At Her Highness' grand ball this evening, thou woulds't not believe the carousals that transpired! It was bad enough that Her Highness was reduced to being little more than a common tosspot thanks to reckless imbibing of fermented beverages, but to see that knave Sir Eldridge trying to take advantage of her... zounds what a scene! Mayhap Her Highness will realize the offense on the morrow and give Sir Eldridge a proper chiding!

Alas, but I wish that were all I had to pen tonight. But Sir Eldridge, after realizing Her Highness was not a conquest he woulds't be conquering last night, instead focused his affectionate attentions on the nearest maiden he could find. Alackaday! If only he had not been so tossed at to realize he was actually courting that wench Belinda! Prithee ye woulds't never know the depravity to which Belinda has been a party, suffices't to say that even a man of Sir Eldridge's stature would be wise to see past her nonpareil and evince that harlot for who she really is!

I do not sayest these accusations without merit; verily, I write them in faith that both Belinda and Sir Eldridge will be outed for the scoundrels that they are, and perchance finally be ejected from the social circles that would grant them access to Her Highness' esteemed company. Shoulds't they continued to attend, I cannot see'st how anyone of upstanding morals or reputation will be safe from their skulduggery!



This is why I don't go to renaissance faires. Well, there are lots of reasons why I don't go to renaissance faires, but my terrible use of their language conventions just makes it that much worse.

Hey, can we go back to that "embarrassing moment" blog prompt? I think I've got a new one... remember that time I tried to write a blog post in renfaire speak? (That was awful!)

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PROMPT: Who is your favorite director?

DAVID FINCHER
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000399/
&
CHRISTOPHER NOLAN
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0634240/

I had to award a tie to this one. I tried and I tried to pick one or the other, but I just couldn't. For me, Christopher Nolan and David Fincher are both directors at the top of their game. With the rare exception (ZODIAC in the case of Fincher and INSOMNIA in the case of Nolan), I have absolutely loved everything they've done, and even those two movies I mentioned were not bad. I just thought they were both slow and didn't move along as quickly as I wanted them to. But looking at their body of work, between them they've directed some of my favorite movies of all time. Fincher has done SE7EN and FIGHT CLUB, both excellent and the former of which is probably one of my favorite movies of all time, plus he's done the delightfully dark and compelling THE GAME, SOCIAL NETWORK, and the American remake of GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO. PANIC ROOM was also a great little thriller, and I can't wait to see what he does with the highly anticipated adaptation of Gillian Flynn's bestselling novel, GONE GIRL.

Nolan, on the other hand, managed to tell a story completely out of order through an unreliable narrator and have it make sense (MEMENTO), then went on to make one of the hands-down best superhero movie trilogies I've ever seen with BATMAN, and threw in an amazing movie about magic (THE PRESTIGE, also one of my all-time favorite movies), and the delightfully mind-bending INCEPTION. The concept behind his new movie, INTERSTELLAR, isn't necessarily blowing me away, but the fact that he wrote and directed it will have me buying a ticket on opening weekend for sure.

I suppose what it comes down to for me is that there are a lot of directors I really, really like, but quite a few of them have taken a number of missteps. Steven Spielberg, for example, has helmed more of my favorite movies than any other director, and stuff like E.T., JURASSIC PARK (sorry Diane , I just can't quit those dinosaurs!), INDIANA JONES (the first three), SCHINDLER'S LIST, MINORITY REPORT, etc. are all excellent, he's also made movies that I just thought were misses like the fourth INDIANA JONES, MUNICH, and WAR OF THE WORLDS. Similarly, with Martin Scorsese, for every TAXI DRIVER there's a GANGS OF NEW YORK and for every THE DEPARTED there's an AVIATOR. Although both are excellent directors and I will forever be excited about the new projects they're working on, I look at them with a degree of skepticism. I still haven't seen either WAR HORSE or LINCOLN, and although I really want to see WOLF ON WALL STREET, I'm undecided on the upcoming SILENCE. Nolan and Fincher on the other hand, have each only had one movie that I would call simply "okay" rather than "great" and still come up with projects that I will 100% see right away because I'm eager to see their particular take on it. That's why these two are my favorite directors of the moment.