Thursday, February 19, 2009

Morpeth Rant and the New World

Note to self: Learn Morpeth Rant on the accordion.

This afternoon I watched the documentary Ghosts of Rwanda for my African Literature class. I'm not going to talk anymore about the lack of scruples that some of the African people demonstrated throughout the mid 90's. Instead I would like to bring up the way that our government handled the Rwandan genocide. The American government handles situations similar to the way the mafia handles situations. If there is disorder in a country in which we are invested, we will do something to bring equilibrium to the state of that nation. This is similar to a mafioso making sure that nobody hassles the owner of the bar that he likes to frequent. When we are not economically invested in a country, it probably doesn't stand a chance.

Apart from global interested, I am thinking about going to see the movie Coraline this weekend. It has been getting great revues and I am very partial to the more traditional stop motion animation that the film imbibes. The movie is based on a book by Neil Gaiman (which is a good thing) and directed by Henry Selick (also a good thing). Gaiman wrote the film Mirrormask (about a girl that discovers a new world beyond her wildest dreams) which wasn't too bad. While Selick has directed such films as The Nightmare Before Christmas (about a skeleton that discovers a new world beyond his wildest dreams), James and the Giant Peach (about a young boy who discovers a world beyond his wildest dreams), and Monkeybone (about a man who discovers a new world beyond his wildest dreams).

This semester should be better than the last because instead of getting colder, it should just be getting warmer from here on out. I don't really care for the time between January and April. There is a part of me that wishes I could just retreat to Florida for the winter.

Speak easy,
Neil

4 comments:

kat(hryn) said...

I kind of want to see Coraline. If you don't have anyone to go with I want to see it.

I read the beginning of the book during work one day and liked it. the girl reminded me of me. or something.
sneless

blindmole said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
sarah j. said...

oops! that last one was me. i said:

i'm totally going to see coraline! i was supposed to go today but my stupid boyfriend is too busy drawing his thesis. neil gaiman is pretty damn delightful. you should read some of his books for grown-ups, if you haven't already. you would like them.

i like that you, me, and katie all decide to like the same things without discussing them. also! i was just in florida/the bahamas with my family on a disney cruise, and besides the warmth, i did also see not only goofy, but his son max - possibly the oddest mascot to dress as. i made a mental note to tell you. goof troop.

Neil Everett said...

I recently watched the goofy movie and really liked it but I have no idea if tried to be really campy on purpose or if they thought that kids were just into it. Pauly shore is in the movie as well and has little to no purpose. He reminds me of a more annoying Tom Green. When I was little I was really jealous of his red short sleeved hoodie. That was the first product I ever looked up on eBay.

When I was in Europe I had so much downtime that I sometimes all I could do was read. While I was there (and again when I had a layover in Romania) I read his Neil Gaiman's Smoke and Mirrors anthology. Great read.

We need to go to NY to visit sometime soon.