Undergraduate Admissions

Yesterday I saw I Am Legend with a bunch of friends from work. It was a really good movie! I often think computer effects in movies look unnatural and find them distracting, but in this movie things were supposed to look unnatural, so the effects were really convincing. I don’t usually like scary movies because they often deal with the supernatural (I can’t take seriously something that doesn’t exist!) but I Am Legend was quite literally science fiction, so I was pretty into it. Beyond that, I’ve really just never seen a movie like this before–I mean, for most of the film, the only characters are Will Smith and his dog. I grew up in the 90s, so Will Smith is alright with me. (Is that a foregone conclusion for everyone? I’m not sure, but between Fresh Prince, Independence Day, and Men In Black, he sure was pretty prominent.) He does a good job of seeming like a real dude.

One thing I noticed about the movie was that there was tons and tons of product placement. I don’t really know how to feel about that. I mean, it was mostly transparent; products were being displayed because they were being used by people in the movie, so it wasn’t gratuitous or anything. I tend to hate advertising, but is adverting that boosts realism something I should dislike? I’m not sure.

There were some awesome trailers, too: Cloverfield and The Dark Knight. Cloverfield looks like a very modern take on a giant monster movie, and if that’s really what it ends up being (it is directed by the guy that does Lost, so who really knows (not that I’ve ever watched that show, but I hear it’s pretty confusing)) then that will be great. With the modern-day extreme fear of war and terrorism, giant monster movies have a clear shot at having social relevance through allegory, the likes of which there hasn’t been since Godzilla movies were still about nuclear proliferation. From the shots of the Statue of Liberty’s head being blown off in the trailer for Cloverfield, I’d say the people making this movie have a good understanding of this idea. And The Dark Knight, well, if it’s half as awesome as Batman Begins was then it’ll still be ten times more awesome than any other Batman movie. (And it looks like it could be more awesome than Batman Begins was.)

There’s something funny about sitting in a room lit only by a candle and a computer monitor, I think. It’s an odd combination. I’m probably not the only person in the world who does it, though. I think I like candles just because they’re the opposite of what I usually immerse myself in. Nothing more than a little flame moving around randomly, casting shadows that move around with it. It seems so simple compared to LCD monitors, HDTVs, and compact fluorescent light bulbs.

The Cribs - Men’s Needs