I just came back from seeing Indy 4, and holy shit that movie made no sense at all. It’s basically a long chain of chase scenes, which is good fun until you reach that typically “wuh?” Spielberg-ending. One of the strange things about Indiana Jones is that he personally witnesses astounding things that should force him to question the nature of religion, the fabric of reality, the very origin of human civilization itself—I mean, he’s a freakin’ professor—and yet at the end of the day he just sort of shrugs and goes back to teaching Anthro 101.
Anyway, now I’m going to brag about how the chase scene through Indy’s university was filmed at Yale. That’s right, Indiana Jones is Professor Henry Jones, Jr. of Yale Effin’ University. The chase scene’s hilarious because it’s completely out of sequence—they’re warping all over campus. They start at a nonexistent corner burger joint, go down Chapel Street, flip over to on Elm, cut through old campus, go up the steps of Sterling Library, and end up in Commons (a dining hall masquerading as the library’s reading room).
Today was the my first afternoon on site. My arms and fingers are sore—my biceps feel like they’re made of cabbage. I helped raise a wall, measured, cut posts and headers, moved plywood and beams, ate a muffin and a bagel and two apples. It was fun, though I have no idea what I’m doing and ended up standing around a lot towards the end.
I’ve said it before, there’s nothing more amazing than seeing lines on a paper translated into wood and concrete, floors and walls—it’s like watching a baby being born, except nothing like, a lot more like watching a building get built. The accomplishments of architects are physical, real things, and that’s the one thing architects can hold over investment bankers and corporate lawyers who make seven-digit paychecks but nothing actually tangible. I see windows I drew at 2 AM after four beers actually put together in real life and somehow I feel a little like god.
Also, I’m going to let Susan Surface take all the photos, because she’s amazing and someone who’s not me should pay her money:
Notice, once more, that our house is perfectly square. I really love regular Euclidean geometry.
I just watched Knocked Up and holy shit that scared the shit out of me. All the relationship stuff, people getting offended and spinning little things into huge problems, jesusfuck. Look, just say you’re sorry. Fuck. That’s just terrifying, how about we all love each other okay?
Also, Judd Apatow’s the man. All his characters basically speak the same way but that’s fine because they’re using the English language the best way it can be used.
First of all, same-sex marriage is finally legal in California. I’m happy to hear it—I feel it has been a long, long time since I’ve actually been proud of something our government did. Prohibiting same-sex marriage goes against our core rights—namely, the right to pursue happiness as long as that pursuit does not prevent others from the same. If two people love each other then by all means they should be together. It’s really as simple as that, and they did the right thing.
Reading the above article, there were two things I was shocked to hear. The first is that interracial marriage was actually banned up until 60 years ago, when that ban was struck down by the California Supreme Court. I think our societal attitudes towards same sex marriage will, in 60 years, be the same as our societal attitudes towards interracial marriage: largely, blissfully indifferent. The second is that Obama, McCain, and Clinton all oppose same-sex marriage.
On one hand, I think Obama’s missed a chance to be presciently pro-gay marriage. It’s clearly hypocritical—opposing the fundamental right for people to be together is not “change we can believe in,” it’s the bullshit we have. It makes Obama look conservative when he’s representing the closest thing we have to a liberal party.
However, Obama’s making a smart political move. He’s picking his battles. Like abortion and stem cell research, same-sex marriage is an issue the Republicans could use to split the vote along ultimately inconsequential lines. That is, it’s an issue that will decide the vote for a significant number of people at exactly a time when the Democratic Party is trying to reach over and grab some traditionally Republican demographics, and yet it has little to do with the prosperity and future of America as a whole. Contrast that to issues like health care, foreign policy, economic policy, education, things that figure immediately into the future of America and which Obama needs to take a stand on. Obama needs to minimize attempts to distract the voters from those issues, and unfortunately that means putting some socially meaningful movements in the To-Do Later pile.
An excerpt from my portfolio, together with my resume part of my primary pimping package. It’s basically the money shots from three projects.
Recent Comments