Practicalmadness

What follows is a brief rundown of what's going on in Practical-land.

Sleek but affordable

Our first-ever public event, tentatively called PLAY, will be going down here in Chicago on May 3. It's a microcinema screening curated by myself and fellow SAIC senior Bobby Shepherd focusing on works that are aesthetically or thematically playful, and which coincidentally are made by friends of ours. Of course, when those friends include such up-and-coming young mandarins of the Chicago video scene as Haoyan Zhang (who owes me one for all those times I drove him home from high school), who needs a call for entries?

It looks like the venue is gonna be Rodan in Wicker Park, which seems a bit more on the hipster side than Bobby and myself would have preferred, but I think I can liven up the proceedings with some funny lamps and inflatable Godzillas.

If it weren't for art, mind you, I wouldn't dream of questioning Rodan's decor; it gives wood paneling a good name. And their beer is surprisingly cheap, given the neighborhood.

More information (including confirmation on the venue) coming soon.

Killing Kill Bill Billing

Did Kill Bill Vol. 2 really need twenty minutes of end credits? Tarantino's now-completed grindhouse epic is one big act of cinematic masturbation, and he is nowhere more masturbatory than in the mishmash of fonts, styles, music and whatnot that comes after Uma kills Bill. This is not a good thing.

The retro-inflected credits for Kill Bill Vol. 1 were fun and helped to set up these two rather strange movies. These end credits just outstay their welcome. I mean, when you have to sit through a full title card for the gaffer (not that the gaffer, the lead electrician on a picture, isn't important) before you even get to "Written and directed by Quentin Tarantino", someone's having a little too much fun, and I think his name is Quentin.

Especially since Vol. 2 is the more subtle and somber of the two movies. Where the first one was almost nothing but flash, this one is like a long, longing last look between Uma and Carradine. We do get an epic Yuen Wo-Ping-choreographed sword battle between Uma and Darryl Hannah, but really that's just a sideshow to the drama between Bill and BLEEP.

I think this one will require more than one viewing, at least once in a marathon with Vol. 1, to really sink in. The best description I can give is that it's Empire Strikes Back to Vol. 1's Return of the Jedi, in the sense that the focus is not on action fun but rather on character and dialogue. And some Vol. 1 fans who are expecting a repeat of all that wacky carnage will be decidedly disappointed.

Why the lengthy span between postings here?

Chalk it up at least partly to the flu, and partly to me actually using my LiveJournal. Yes, I have one, but certainly not to replace Practical: my LJ is read by my friends Renee, Celeste and Lucy, which makes it a good forum for personal posts, whereas I like to stick to business over here.

No, I will not provide a link to my LJ here. You smell; you're not allowed.