divine angst

Mr. Angst and I went to see Sin City today while we were avoiding our house (three agents showed today! Whoo hoo!).

As an artistic expression, the movie was amazing. Rodriguez managed to capture the feel of Miller’s graphic novels unerringly. This movie was comic-come-to-life. The use of color was brilliant, particulary when employed as a characterization. Lots of sillouhetting and a few grainier moments reminiscent of halftone printing added depth, and fight scenes had a comic flavor—bodies flying, single-punch knockouts, improbable wounds.

But the stories—they were intense. Seriously intense. Hard-core. Brutal characters, brutal situations, brutal brutal brutal. And there’s no shortage of gore—stylized gore, but gore nonetheless. I’m not totally squeamish, but there were moments that I had to look away. Apparently, the MPA approved it for an “R” rating without requesting any cuts—they “got” the stylized nature of the movie—but it was still almost too hard for me. No real relief—though a couple of comic characters do show up later. (Speaking of characters, Michael Madsen’s line readings in the beginning of the movie were really awful—stilted and with poor timing. When he shows up again, he’s better, but that first scene with him almost turned me off the movie. Oh, and Frodo, when he shows up, is SERIOUSLY creepy. Brrr. Creepy creepy.)

I thought the movie went about half an hour too long, particularly considering the plots. Two hours was almost too much to take.

So I give it a thumbs up—definitely see it, particularly if you like graphic novels. If you don’t do well at gory movies, you might have problems sitting through portions of the film, but it IS very stylized. But it’s worth it to see something new and different on the big screen.

I’m rereading yesterday’s post and I realize I sound sort of…what’s the word? petulant? about the decision we’ve made.

So I want to clarify: no, the school I’ll be attending isn’t my first choice. But for our little family, going east rather than north is the best choice. I am, in general, not a negative person and I hate it when I get bogged down in the bad rather than the good. This means that I am already getting excited about our move. We’ve told my family and they’re all thrilled and I’ve started counting all the great things about where we’ll be in four months. My in-laws will be close—close enough to visit often if we want, and I am certain they’ll come visit us often. My soon-to-be-born nephew will be close, and we’ll get to be the fun aunt and uncle who are around while he’s growing up. One of my very best friends from college lives in the city we’re moving to, as does the little sister of my bestest friend in the world.

All of these social factors will play a BIG part in our happiness after we’ve moved. Again, I like to be happy, so these are all Good Things.

As for the school I’ll be at—no, it’s not my first choice. But it’s not my last choice, either, and there are a lot of wonderful things about it. There’s the scholarship, the excellent faculty (as far as my research indicates), good opportunities for someone who really likes to write and help other people learn to write. And Mr. Angst and I will BOTH be students there. So our personal life will be more stable which will contribute to better academic performance—I know I do my best work when I’m not fretting about my relationships.

I’m getting excited, and that feels good. Sure, right now I’m mostly getting excited about the city and not the school, but I didn’t get to go to Admitted Students’ Day, so I may need a little more time for that.

I’m still, by the way, trying to stay sort of googlenonymous about where I’ll be, but it’s not too tough to figure out. If you go there and have words of wisdom, share them! I’d like to hear some more perspectives (particularly if you’re maybe a little nontraditional. That would be great).