Snippets

Sorry about the empty post before, I spent an hour writing, pressed “publish” and instead my writing all disappeared. WordPress is perpetually autosaving, don’t know why it didn’t that time.

Showtime

Last Friday was the follow up to my third kyu test of a week before, which I passed provisionally if I taught a class in this technique I didn’t do right in the test. It was a huge class, about thirty people. I was nervous but kept my focus & composure and I passed.

It was an interesting night at the dojo. There’s been a big influx of new students in the last year.  After three years of thinking of myself as a junior student, suddenly I’ve become one of the more senior students, and leading that class was like making that official. Anyway, Sensei was satisfied and people came up and said some really nice & thoughtful observations about my teaching afterwards.

Watching the Watchmen

It was twenty years ago that I read the graphic novel, and I was really eager to see the movie (for my friend Barbara’s birthday night). I’d restricted my reading of reviews but had read that Alan More wasn’t happy with the graphic novel-to-movie assembly line.  While I respect that feeling, I’m still going to appreciate such movies when they’re good.

I thought each of the characters were about exactly as absorbing and compelling as they were in the graphic novel. I was especially psyched to see the characters of Rorschach  and Dr. Manhattan brought to life and thought they were cast and executed brilliantly.

But Zack Snyder’s directorial tics and fixations were annoying & distracting, like his apparent belief that shots of blood spurting, dripping and puddling are inherently compelling and meaningful. And the transitions with blasting high-priced soundtrack selections were really awkward. I think Snyder was trying to add some cultural relevancy with the historical figures and WTC. In the Imax theatre the expanded picture sometimes enhanced the epic imagery but more often was an education in how careful even major motion pictures need to be with makeup.