Most Recent Posts
even a pencil has fear to » Moving
So…I’ve graduated. Which means, I think, that I can’t use this blog anymore. So I started a new one! There’s not much there yet, but I promise there will be. You can check it out at: evenapencilhasfearto.wordpress.com Yes, the names of my blogs are the same. What can I say, I loved this one and wanted to carry the same ... [Link]
even a pencil has fear to » My Grand Finale — The Fog of War
So I had a really hard time writing this paper…er, blog post. Its not like I don’t have anything to say, its just the words just don’t seem to come out right. I think I might be a bit burned out, but I’m going to do my best here, so I apologize for a seeming lack of organization, or even ... [Link]
even a pencil has fear to » Some more thoughts on Midge.
So I was thinking a bit more about doubling, Madeline/Judy, Midge, and Scottie. Dr. Campbell said in class something to the effect hat Midge is her own woman and doesn’t need anyone to tell her what do to or how to be, while Judy/Madeline seems to ask to be molded. I don’t buy it. Midge presents herself as willing to ... [Link]
even a pencil has fear to » cummings
So I’m at Caribou again, and after I finished the final proof of my massive (twenty pages of just text!) independent study paper, I decided to read some e.e. cummings. I am the proud owner of 100 Selected Poems, and I found poem 46 particuarly interesting to our discussions of both Portrait of Jennie and Vertigo. The downside to 100 ... [Link]
even a pencil has fear to » A Few Small Thoughts on Vertigo
I’ve been thinking about Vertigo quite a bit lately, mostly because I’ve been trying to find something decent to say about it. It’s been especially difficult as this is my first experience with Hitchcock, and it was everything I thought it would be and so much more. So needless to say, I really enjoyed it. Obviously there’s lots of doubling ... [Link]
even a pencil has fear to » Do Not Fear — I am the Lord…
Last night I went to a praise and worship service before the candle light vigil, and we sang a song called Isaiah 43 that got me thinking about Eben and Jennie’s relationship. I read on several other blogs that Eben and Scottie are pretty much the same character, but I think there is one major and important difference in the ... [Link]
even a pencil has fear to » Thinking
So, I’ve been wanting to post here about the Virginia Tech tragedy, but as this is a class blog, I feel the need to balance that or somehow tie it in with Portrait of Jennie. I think I’ve been able to do that, or at least, it seems fairly balanced in my head. For those of you who don’t know, ... [Link]
even a pencil has fear to » Jenny = Miss Spinney?
So Dr. Campbell mentioned in class today that the film kind of blows the story at the end, and it reminded me of the secret dream I had while viewing the first 50 minutes of the film. What I secretly hope will happen, and please don’t laugh, is that Miss Spinney will turn out to be Jenny. Yes I realize ... [Link]
even a pencil has fear to » Caribou, Love, Penguins, and the Black Plague
I’m writing this at Caribou Coffee, so I probably won’t get a chance to post this to the blog for a while, so if someone else has already discussed these things, I apologize. It seems a lot of us have either experienced ourselves or seen, as Carmen has, a wonderful example of the power of soul mates. I too, have ... [Link]
even a pencil has fear to » I Read It!
I finally finished reading Portrait of Jennie last night. What! I actually completed our work pretty much when it was supposed to be complete? Why yes I did. I happened to get some good feedback on my HUGE paper I’m presenting at the Creativity and Research Forum in 10 days, so it turns out I’m farther along in that than ... [Link]
Das Bolt » Tom and Leo
Film directing over the decades has been a very involved art. When one looks back at the progression from the earlier soviet-style films… Haha. Just kidding. Please don’t shoot yourself. This post is actually about Miller’s Crossing. Specifically how, in my view at least, it did by far the best job of bringing out Ned and Madvig’s relationship to one ... [Link]
Das Bolt » Now and Forever
Today’s discussion on soulmates and the nature of love in class today reminded me of an AP story I’d read about a two neolithic skeletions unearthed a few months ago: Archaeologists have unearthed two skeletons from the Neolithic period locked in a tender embrace and buried outside Mantua, just 25 miles south of Verona, the romantic city where Shakespeare set ... [Link]
Das Bolt » Gender Differences
All the talk about gender in class today reminded me of a book by former LA Times columnist Norah Vincent called Self Made Man: One Woman’s Journey Into Manhood and Back. It’s about the 18 months she went undercover as a man named Ned in order to see the difference in how people treated her. It ended when she suffered ... [Link]
Das Bolt » Misplaced Compassion
While we were talking about the rationality of mole-rat behavior in class today, I couldn’t help but think back to an article I read a few months ago concerning a new mine-clearing robot being developed for the DoD. Interestingly enough, it appears to bear a strong resemblance to the robots being developed by Rodney Brooks. This part of the article ... [Link]
Das Bolt » Bubbling Well 26 Years On…
Curious about what the Harberts family is up to now, I did some searching around the web. The best source I could find was this article about Bubbling Well. Here are some tidbits I found interesting. -Cal Harberts passed away five years ago. (No word on whether he was buried in a giant, Styrofoam carry-out box.) Dan Harberts, the youngest ... [Link]
Das Bolt » The Amygdala and the “Uncanny Valley”
What’s the deal with this woman? Meet Ripliee. She’s an android designed to resemble a human. (For some reason the Japanese are obsessed with building realistic android women…) She’s the result of decades of work, yet it was probably immediately apparent to you that there was something unsettling about her. How were you able to do that? Because she ran ... [Link]
Das Bolt » Women and Film ( A Bilious Harangue)
Today’s discussion on Hansen’s work, specifically in regards to female spectatorship, got me thinking. I don’t think anyone doubts that the vast majority of films today feature women as their “primary object of spectacle.” What I do have questions about is the extent to which making films that “entail the full range of transformations as proposed by Freud” would really ... [Link]
Das Bolt » Camille Paglia
Prompted by today’s class discussion, I decided to look into some of Camille Paglia’s work. I was expecting to find some Gloria Stienem-esque academic talking about how tectonic patriarchal forces compel women to empty the dishwasher. Turns out my conception of her writing couldn’t be further off target. She certainly doesn’t seem to think particularly highly of men, but a ... [Link]
Das Bolt » Yojimbo and Star Wars
Alright, I’m promising myself this is the last video clip I’ll post. It’s just that when we were talking about the similarities between the arm-chopping scenes in Yojimbo and Star Wars, this clip is the first thing that popped into my head. It’s too funny not to post. Seriously. Watch it. For those who found it funny, there’s a whole ... [Link]
Das Bolt » Yojimbo’s Style of Humor
As I watched Yojimbo the other day, I couldn’t shake the feeling that I had seen its style of humor somewhere before. It wasn’t until I was driving home after class that it hit me: it’s the exact same style of humor as is in the movie Army of Darkness. What’s interesting about this style of humor is that it ... [Link]