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May 26, 2005 I confess. I Watch Movies. Really I do. Hard to believe, huh? Like watching a movie is hard on the eyes, strains credulity, leaves no wiggle room. As if anyone had any doubts. Movie watching is pretty easy and pretty common in this country. In our modern world, media is everywhere just as Marshall McLuhan’s "Global Village" said it would be. I mean I could listen to music. Sometimes I do. But I trend toward films. I am more visual that auditory, I suppose. I try to keep my eyes open most of the time. I guess it is mostly that I find more substance in films to feed my mind than most other activities. That is not hard for me to understand. The cost is not great. $100 or more for a tv. $50 and up for a playa. I have a combo DVD and VHS machine because I watch both. Hook’em up and voila! The images start to move on the screen and I am in Hollywood fantasy land. When I think I have a real clunker I can play with the fast forward or reverse or reverse the reverse and jazz up my own version to the point it looks nice even if it is no longer comprehensible. In a relative world, the only thing that is worth my time is the a worthwhile time. No fooling. I can’t do that with a bad book. In a lot of written works, when you stumble on a word you can get lost. Movies just keep on beaming forward on screen at twenty-four frames a second. All in the blink of an eye. Right now, I am watching an old (1929) soviet made silent semi-documentary entitled "Man With A Camera" made by a member of a small group of film makers who rejected fictional story telling in favor of a documentary style, but had to be approved by one of Stalin’s subordinates, if not the Great Commissar himself. It was fairly interesting as a silent because the visual images caught my attention before I clicked on the DVD commentary . Now with a droning voice over it makes a lot more sense, particularly as an effort in film theory, but it has become a monotone, a dreary exercise in didactic bombast. Ah well, better luck next time fella. I may not be as big an expert as Roger Ebert, Richard Roper, Leonard Maltin, Jeffrey Lyons or Richard Schickel or some other famous cineastes, but I have watched a lot of movies and have a very good idea of what I like and where the business end is going. I belong to NetFlix so I have "Landmarks of Early Cinema" and "Visions of Light," compilation documentaries that I have seen a great deal of previously, meaning it is quite easy to see some important silent movies. I used to belong to The Museum of Modern Art because they often show rare cinematic gems like the films of Mary Pickford and D. W. Griffith that are hard to see anywhere else. I have seen most of the movies Hollywood made in the 3D process that requires those cardboard glasses with one blue cellophane lens and the other lens in red. I have seen films in Cinerama which was a wider screen 3D process that did not require those silly glasses and is no longer commercially available. Considering I have also read many books on the subject, probably have expertise but am not currently specifically looking for something in the field because it an overcrowded field and my current talents would be better applied elsewhere. I need less drama, far less heartache and diminished disappointment in my life, anyway. The things actresses do and have done to them! I mean it’s not real anyway! This might not be the best way to ponder the future but this is where I am at. With summer break here, it means there is little in the way of tutoring work so I am looking for work as a writer. I have found some sites like craigslist, The New York Times, freelancewriitng.com, writerswrite and so on that have jobs posted so I am ever hopeful. I am going to have to revise my resume and add Mr. Waldholz, the Biotech Editor at "The Wall Street Journal," who was an Adjunct at Polytechnic when I took two courses with him, our esteemed editor here at "Useless-Knowledge.com," who shall remain anonymous here but whose name is spelled correctly on my resume unless I am informed otherwise. And possibly an article I just submitted at "The Motley Fool" on General Motors and Kirk Kerkorian about selling the comforter to save the baby buggy. And maybe a company that wants short course introductions written. There were 287 applicants. Wow! But at least I have prospects. This is my nineteenth article for "Useless-Knowledge," a fact I am overweeningly proud of. If you want to find out more about me, just read any or all of the previous eighteen essays. ------------ About the author: Mr. Neil Levine enjoys writing and collecting autographed letters: E. I. Koch, D. P. Moynihan, J. Javits, G. W. Bush, B. Frist et al. Email: neillevine3@aol.com Tell a friend about this site! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com and are not allowed to be posted on other websites. ARTICLE THIEVES WILL BE PROSECUTED! |
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