Wednesday, January 12, 2011

F.A.Q. About Time Travel (and Garden State)

Recommended: BBC movie "F.A.Q. About Time Travel". Very funny, and has Anna Faris.

While I'm at it, Zach Braff's movie Garden state is very under-rated. Not only does it have Natalie Portman in it, but it's one of those rare movies which really combines a good story with good, maybe even seminal, humor. It's also full of really amazing observations, an outstanding script, also by Braff.  Different and enjoyable, dunno why it was not bigger. Perhaps because it plays at a slower tempo than movies tend to do these days, but I think it was absolutely the right choice.
Oh, and it has a part with the guy playing Sheldon on Big Bang Theory.

Natalie Portman's character is great. She's that kind of person who often just makes stuff up out of thin air when she's talking to people, and they'll believe her because they have no reason not to. I've known a few people like that, and I find it interesting. They'll tell you wild stories about themselves or others, and you don't know if it's true. I tried it once as a kid, simply giving a different name to a new playmate I met, and it was weird, the fear and guilt was too much for me! Funny. Do you know anybody closely who'll do that, invent stuff wholesale? An adult I mean.



By the way, I think I figured out why I got all those double-posts. I had been using the Back button to get back to the Writing page instead of clicking the Edit button under the post. So I guess Blogger got confused, understandably.

4 comments:

emptyspaces said...

I do know someone like that. She'll embellish even the most inconsequential moments for no apparent reason - like if you mention that a certain tree is rare, she'll say something like, "There's a farm in South Carolina with every kind of tree." Wha? Seems benign...but after you hear ten thousand one-upping falsehoods it'll wear you out.

There's lots of name-dropping, too, but when pressed for more info the story falls apart quickly.

I noticed it immediately, and over time it caused me to loathe interaction with her. I couldn't shrug it off, it was so pervasive. Now I doubt every word coming out of her mouth instinctively.

I believe it is indicative of a deep-seated insecurity and lack of self esteem, but I'm no therapist.

Eolake Stobblehouse said...

Thank you. That's actually interesting, and you may have a point there too.

One of my earliest nude models (photos meant for paintings) told me she had been "Pet of the Year", but in the Playboy mansion... (Pet is Penthouse, not Playboy). And she opened a drawer, and it was full of drugs...
And she saw a man with big finger rings in NYC getting his fingers cut off by a mugger! I think that's a popular urban legend, probably.

Russ said...

BTW, the Garden State soundtrack is excellent. There is not a single track on the CD that you would want to skip over. I read somewhere that Zack Braff chose the music himself and that he wanted the music to be an integral part of the movie; not just background music.

Eolake Stobblehouse said...

Thanks. I am hugely impressed that he did all of it on this movie and it's *that* good. For a first movie, that's just insane.