Apparently my email account has fallen off the face of the earth. That's what I get for trying to have my own domain name and everything. Oh well... so if anybody's sent me anything in the past 2-3 days I probably never got the message.
I can still be reached at robhaan at mac dot com.
Friday, December 07, 2007
Monday, November 26, 2007
Crossword Puzzles
Does anybody else do crossword puzzles? I don't know if I've ever completed one yet. This morning I was only missing about 7 letters, but they always throw in one word that's from some other language or some actor from the 1920's or something.
I've been doing them almost every day since I saw the documentary called wordplay on Independent Lens on PBS. I guess Jon Stewart and Bill Clinton, along with a lot of other people do the crossword every day. I wouldn't be surprised if the current president does crossword puzzles too. They'd be easier for him though because he can just make up his own words.
I've been doing them almost every day since I saw the documentary called wordplay on Independent Lens on PBS. I guess Jon Stewart and Bill Clinton, along with a lot of other people do the crossword every day. I wouldn't be surprised if the current president does crossword puzzles too. They'd be easier for him though because he can just make up his own words.
Monday, November 19, 2007
Lately...
Life has been good. Rob finally has regular shifts at his new job, and I can sense that he is a lot happier. My job has been going quite well also. I only have 3-4 kids this weekend because of Thanksgiving, which isn't bad.
A couple weekends ago, Mic was traveling through Chicago. I took him downtown and we went shopping for a new jacket. We met up with Katy later and had a few beers. It was a blast. Thanks guys!
This last weekend, I went to visit Ginelle in Lafayette. I love Chicago, but it was great to have a new scene for once. Her apartment is beautiful, and I had a great weekend. Sunday we had a Thanksgiving meal at church. Our church is so loving and warm. We had some good conversations with some amazing people.
I love holidays, and I can't wait to celebrate them. Even though Rob is staying in Chicago because of his new job, I am really looking forward to seeing my family. It has been a long time since I have been with them, and being a person who has never really lived away from Sioux Center, I can tell. At home, I get to see our new nephew and meet up with some friends that I haven't talked to in years.
Lately, I have been feeling older, thinking about things that I have never thought about before. But it is good. Yeah, life has been good.
A couple weekends ago, Mic was traveling through Chicago. I took him downtown and we went shopping for a new jacket. We met up with Katy later and had a few beers. It was a blast. Thanks guys!
This last weekend, I went to visit Ginelle in Lafayette. I love Chicago, but it was great to have a new scene for once. Her apartment is beautiful, and I had a great weekend. Sunday we had a Thanksgiving meal at church. Our church is so loving and warm. We had some good conversations with some amazing people.
I love holidays, and I can't wait to celebrate them. Even though Rob is staying in Chicago because of his new job, I am really looking forward to seeing my family. It has been a long time since I have been with them, and being a person who has never really lived away from Sioux Center, I can tell. At home, I get to see our new nephew and meet up with some friends that I haven't talked to in years.
Lately, I have been feeling older, thinking about things that I have never thought about before. But it is good. Yeah, life has been good.
Friday, November 02, 2007
Thursday, October 25, 2007
A new job
This is a photo I took with my phone before my interview. I won't disclose any more information so that "so the internet doesn't stalk and kill me." (that quote is stolen from Ross's blog).
Sunday, October 14, 2007
Our camera is on the fritz so when I tried to snap a photo of the movie filming that's going on down the street tonight, it didn't work. So I'm posting a couple of photos that are a few weeks old instead. One is the gorey mess of candles that completely melted in a matter of seconds on Sam's cake. The other is of course our new nephew, Jake.
Saturday, September 15, 2007
New Things
It has been a while since Rob posted about the cowboy movies that he wanted to see, and a lot has happened. Over Labor Day weekend, Rob, Ollie and I traveled back to Sioux Center for a friend's wedding and to visit our families. I didn't tell my mom that we were coming, and it ended up in a big surprise. We went out for lunch and caught up on things that have been happening over the past couple of months. It was great. We spent the whole weekend with both our families, which was long overdue. We traveled back to Chicago on that Monday, stopped in Des Moines and then I traveled on to Chicago in a rental car because mine had broken down. After a few days of stress, Rob drove back a new car.
In other news, Kris and Josh finally got the chance to see Jake. Jacob Thomas arrived this past Monday, and we would like to welcome him. We can't wait to see him next weekend!
Other than a new car and a new member to the family, Ollie got a new haircut! When we were home, my sister Ashley took out her cow clippers and did a number on his long hair. It was quite the task, but we think he looks good.
In other news, Kris and Josh finally got the chance to see Jake. Jacob Thomas arrived this past Monday, and we would like to welcome him. We can't wait to see him next weekend!
Other than a new car and a new member to the family, Ollie got a new haircut! When we were home, my sister Ashley took out her cow clippers and did a number on his long hair. It was quite the task, but we think he looks good.
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
It's about time...
Anybody else excited for these?
Even if one's a remake and one's based on a book, it's about time for another western or two.
Even if one's a remake and one's based on a book, it's about time for another western or two.
Sunday, July 29, 2007
Threadless again...
Since Rob is on his way back to Sioux Center for the weekend, I thought I would write about his new Threadless submission to make sure people go and vote. I like this design a lot, and think a lot of people will, so I think you should definitely see it. If you want to check it out and vote, click this button:
Monday, July 23, 2007
Monday, July 16, 2007
How to Be Dutch in Chicago
Spoon Concert: free
General Admission to Shedd Aquarium: free with pass from library
Movie at second run theatre: $3 each
and that was our weekend.
WXRT sponsored a free Spoon show at Schubas. I was planning on trying to track down the reps from the station on Wednesday night as they went to various Wicker Park & Bucktown locations to give out tickets, but I managed to win a pair of tix off the Schubas website, so I didn't even have to mess with that.
You've probably heard Spoon on the trailers for "Stranger than Fiction". The first song on this trailer is them... they had 6 songs on the film's soundtrack. They were on Letterman last week too.
The show was super-crowded, but good.
The Chicago Public Library has passes to all the major museums that can be checked out for free admissions. The shedd passes seem elusive, so I grabbed it as soon as I saw it was availible.
Logan Theatre is a second run theatre near here. It's really old-school, but for $3, it's a great deal. We caught "1408" there. I like Stephen King short stories. It was no "Shawshank Redemption", but it was pretty good.
Friday, July 13, 2007
Threadless
I submitted my first Threadless submission in a long time. My scores have gotten worse with every design... I suspect I'll probably get such a low score that the design will be dropped before the week is up, but it's worth a shot.
It's kinda disturbing & creepy. Don't say I didn't warn you...
That being said... if you want to check it out (and give it a 5) click here.
It's kinda disturbing & creepy. Don't say I didn't warn you...
That being said... if you want to check it out (and give it a 5) click here.
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
another good thing about this city...
I always kinda assumed that there were no real good FM (as opposed to online, not as opposed to AM) radio stations anywhere. There were 4 main popular stations back home. A rock station and a pop station from each Sioux City and Sioux Falls. I think they all try so hard to be popular that they're always behind. When they do get a good track they play it to death (except of course on Z-98 with the no-repeat guarantee).
However in North Carolina we found a station that seemed really good. We were only there for a few days so I can't really say for sure. Then after we got back to Chicago I started listening to 93XRT (93.1 WXRT). I never thought I'd be such a big fan of an FM station. I still listen to RadioParadise, but in my car I don't even have a CD player, let alone web access.
If you're ever in the Chicago area check out 93.1
However in North Carolina we found a station that seemed really good. We were only there for a few days so I can't really say for sure. Then after we got back to Chicago I started listening to 93XRT (93.1 WXRT). I never thought I'd be such a big fan of an FM station. I still listen to RadioParadise, but in my car I don't even have a CD player, let alone web access.
If you're ever in the Chicago area check out 93.1
Monday, July 09, 2007
Mates of State
Mates of State is a drummer & keyboard/husband & wife duet. We saw them live once when they were here in Chicago in the fall of 2005. Meg likes them a lot. I like them too. You may have seen them on TV and not even known it was them. They are featured on this at&t commercial.
Monday, July 02, 2007
Chicago Loves Food & Music
Regarding the comments from Meg's post...
The "horrific" crab wasn't so horrific actually. His leg span was no more than 5 inches and he was quite entertaining. He looked like a leaf blowing in the wind when he ran and could bury his entire body, except his eyes in a matter of seconds.
The other photo, the purple and blue balloon, on the other hand could have been quite dangerous. It was a portuguese man-of-war. Apparently something had already had his potentially lethal tentacles for dinner. This is probably one of the strangest things I've come across in my life. They are actually not single animals, rather communities of zooids that work together as one unit. Strange.
The people in the top photo are:
• Two fish that my dad caught at the same time
• The fella on the left is the First Mate of the charter fishing boat
• The one in red is my brother-in-law Josh (who is soon to be a father)
• The one facing him is my Aunt Beth from New York
• The one with the beard is Dad
• The one in the foreground is my sister Kris (who is soon to be a mother)
And regarding our "IKEA" house... the shelves in the bathroom & above the oven, the wooden cart next to the oven, and the lanterns in the living room are all from IKEA. I think the frame Brielle put on her print (in the bedroom) was from IKEA too. I think we'll get a table from IKEA pretty soon as well. Then we don't have to eat on the couch and we can play RUMMIKUB again. (I hate playing on the floor).
In other news...
I haven't posted in quite some time because mostly I've just been looking for work. I'm sure that most potential employers will probably come across this blog so I hesitate to write anything about job searching. I'll just say that I've pretty much decided that for the time being I will consider myself a freelance graphic designer who, depending on the outcome of my interview tomorrow, works part time at a department store.
Meg had little trouble finding a job. I'm guessing the industry she's working in is somewhat less likely to dig up blogs and such, but none-the-less I never want to too much about work. As much as I'd like to keep family and friends up to date with our lives, I think we'll probably be posting mostly stuff about the stuff we do with our free time.
That being said, I'll try to post more often... stuff like this:
On Saturday we went to check out Linoln Park's Pizzafest. They advertised the event as having every kind of topping and crust imaginable. It turned out that only three pizza vendors were represented and with just cheese, beef, and pepperoni. Apparently this was the first year for the event and they didn't really know what to expect. Oh well... the music more than made up for what the festival may have been lacking in culinary diversity. Over the Rhine played a free show. We snagged seats (on the ground) quite close to the stage and the show was excellent.
Yesterday afternoon we braved the crowds at the mind-bogglingly huge event known as Taste of Chicago. We tried the small portions from various vendors, but the highlight was these crazy homemade potato chips from Harry Caray's. This isn't a great shot, but you can see the drill contraption that they spin the potato on to make one super-long curly pile of chips. The hot BBQ sauce was quite tasty.
After slowly maneuvering through the crowds by the food stands, we headed over to the band shell to catch a few country shows, Craig Morgan and Sara Evans. As much as I enjoy country music concerts, give me the Sioux Empire Fair over Taste of Chicago any day. I think Meg and I were the most "county" people there. And we're not very "county". Don't get me wrong, they put on a good show. It just felt kinda wrong.
The "horrific" crab wasn't so horrific actually. His leg span was no more than 5 inches and he was quite entertaining. He looked like a leaf blowing in the wind when he ran and could bury his entire body, except his eyes in a matter of seconds.
The other photo, the purple and blue balloon, on the other hand could have been quite dangerous. It was a portuguese man-of-war. Apparently something had already had his potentially lethal tentacles for dinner. This is probably one of the strangest things I've come across in my life. They are actually not single animals, rather communities of zooids that work together as one unit. Strange.
The people in the top photo are:
• Two fish that my dad caught at the same time
• The fella on the left is the First Mate of the charter fishing boat
• The one in red is my brother-in-law Josh (who is soon to be a father)
• The one facing him is my Aunt Beth from New York
• The one with the beard is Dad
• The one in the foreground is my sister Kris (who is soon to be a mother)
And regarding our "IKEA" house... the shelves in the bathroom & above the oven, the wooden cart next to the oven, and the lanterns in the living room are all from IKEA. I think the frame Brielle put on her print (in the bedroom) was from IKEA too. I think we'll get a table from IKEA pretty soon as well. Then we don't have to eat on the couch and we can play RUMMIKUB again. (I hate playing on the floor).
In other news...
I haven't posted in quite some time because mostly I've just been looking for work. I'm sure that most potential employers will probably come across this blog so I hesitate to write anything about job searching. I'll just say that I've pretty much decided that for the time being I will consider myself a freelance graphic designer who, depending on the outcome of my interview tomorrow, works part time at a department store.
Meg had little trouble finding a job. I'm guessing the industry she's working in is somewhat less likely to dig up blogs and such, but none-the-less I never want to too much about work. As much as I'd like to keep family and friends up to date with our lives, I think we'll probably be posting mostly stuff about the stuff we do with our free time.
That being said, I'll try to post more often... stuff like this:
On Saturday we went to check out Linoln Park's Pizzafest. They advertised the event as having every kind of topping and crust imaginable. It turned out that only three pizza vendors were represented and with just cheese, beef, and pepperoni. Apparently this was the first year for the event and they didn't really know what to expect. Oh well... the music more than made up for what the festival may have been lacking in culinary diversity. Over the Rhine played a free show. We snagged seats (on the ground) quite close to the stage and the show was excellent.
Yesterday afternoon we braved the crowds at the mind-bogglingly huge event known as Taste of Chicago. We tried the small portions from various vendors, but the highlight was these crazy homemade potato chips from Harry Caray's. This isn't a great shot, but you can see the drill contraption that they spin the potato on to make one super-long curly pile of chips. The hot BBQ sauce was quite tasty.
After slowly maneuvering through the crowds by the food stands, we headed over to the band shell to catch a few country shows, Craig Morgan and Sara Evans. As much as I enjoy country music concerts, give me the Sioux Empire Fair over Taste of Chicago any day. I think Meg and I were the most "county" people there. And we're not very "county". Don't get me wrong, they put on a good show. It just felt kinda wrong.
Thursday, June 21, 2007
North Carolina
Rob and I went to North Carolina for his grandparents' 50th wedding anniversary gathering. Other than missing our initial flight and not have luggage for the entire trip, it was a great time. Here is evidence of that...
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Saturday, June 09, 2007
Monday, May 21, 2007
a haircut
My hair was in bad shape and needed to go.
That's probably okay though, because I'm having a hard enough time getting the pig poo smell out of my short hair after powerwashing hog buildings on Friday.
Meg flew out to Chicago this weekend to check out the public school job fair. You know the price of gas is high when it's cheaper to fly there.
Thursday, May 10, 2007
NCDC Extreme vs. The Condemned
Exhibit A is a poster I made last semester for the Dordt College/Northwestern College spinoff of American Idol.
Exhibit B is a poster for a new movie.
I should sue.
No... not really... it's not thaaat close of a rip-off... plus it may be possible that whoever made that poster and I got the idea from some place else subconsciously. Plus I like Vinnie "Bullet Tooth Tony" Jones. Not so much the other fella'.
Just thought it was kinda funny. I have to admit, the numerals look better. Okay, maybe everything looks better... but they have 10 people... I had a stock photo of a microphone repeated 10 times.
In other news. I'm done with school. All that's left to do is pick up the diploma at the grad ceremony tomorrow morning. I am glad to be done. I'm going to slip into a coma for 2 weeks to catch up on sleep.
Friday, May 04, 2007
Art Shows & Moving To Chicago
Hi. It's been a while. A lot has happened since I posted. I worked my last shift at the theatre. I didn't think about how much I was going to miss that place until that night. I've spent an incredibly large chunk of the last 3 1/2 years there. Many hours were spent cleaning by myself and I can't say I will miss that. I will certainly miss working with all the people I've got a chance to know while working there.
The art show is down now. All went well. People seemed to really appreciate that we had coffee. I don't know if anybody's done that before. I didn't even have time to grab any though. Oh well... I heard it was good.
Now the "Super Show" is up, the show that features work from all 15 of us senior art majors. Check it out if you get a chance.
The biggest news, however, is that Meg & I recently visited Chicago to find an apartment. Although the mission wasn't accomplished until one of the last hours we had in the city, it was accomplished... so we are happy. We'll be living up in Logan Square.
The art show is down now. All went well. People seemed to really appreciate that we had coffee. I don't know if anybody's done that before. I didn't even have time to grab any though. Oh well... I heard it was good.
Now the "Super Show" is up, the show that features work from all 15 of us senior art majors. Check it out if you get a chance.
The biggest news, however, is that Meg & I recently visited Chicago to find an apartment. Although the mission wasn't accomplished until one of the last hours we had in the city, it was accomplished... so we are happy. We'll be living up in Logan Square.
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Art
Last weekend was the Rock Rapids Art Show. I didn't submit anything, but I told Meg that she should submit the largest piece that she made last semester in her ceramics class. She got second place in sculpture for the piece. I would take a photo of it to put here, but our digital camera died suddenly and mysteriously. It's being fixed now... I don't know when we'll get it back.
Our art show is up. It's the last of three shows, each featuring five senior art majors. Check it out if you're in the area.
Our art show is up. It's the last of three shows, each featuring five senior art majors. Check it out if you're in the area.
Saturday, April 07, 2007
Meg's Birthday
Tomorrow is Meg's birthday. We're going to go to Nitwits Comedy Club to (hopefully) share a few laughs. That is, if she's feeling better than she was today. Seems like some people never get sick unless it's their birthday and/or Christmas.
Anyhow... if anybody reads this yet tonight, they'll know what Meg is getting for her birthday from me before she does... but i just wanted to share this tidbit: A certain local store that may or may not be a part of an evil empire has in stock a CD that is not supposed to be released until next Tuesday. I guess this wouldn't be so strange, except for the fact that their CD selection is usually completely worthless and lacking in anything worth listening to... although they do have a lovely set of hymn CDs that comes in a pink tin with a Thomas Kinkade painting on the cover (I feel like I need to cover my bases here and make sure that everyone understands that I am being sarcastic here). So anyhow... I thought I'd take a look over in the CDs to see if they might have a Natalie Merchant CD that Meg doesn't have yet... or maybe something else that she might like. So there it was... the new Bright Eyes CD.
Strangest thing ever. Maybe that's why I can never find any worthwhile CDs there... maybe they put them on the shelf before they're supposed to be released and then on the day of the release when I go to look for the CD, they're sold out already.
I guess I could be totally off on this and maybe they changed the release dates, but on Amazon and iTunes, "Pre-order" is still the only option.
In other news (can I call my shopping & movie watching activities news?), Mic & I watched the Director's Cut of Donnie Darko tonight. Unfortunately it's been so long since I've seen the regular one, I'm not sure how many of the differences I was aware of. Still a very good movie though. I'm pretty sure I like the Director's cut better, but as I said... it's been a while.
Alright, time for bed...
Goodnight!
Anyhow... if anybody reads this yet tonight, they'll know what Meg is getting for her birthday from me before she does... but i just wanted to share this tidbit: A certain local store that may or may not be a part of an evil empire has in stock a CD that is not supposed to be released until next Tuesday. I guess this wouldn't be so strange, except for the fact that their CD selection is usually completely worthless and lacking in anything worth listening to... although they do have a lovely set of hymn CDs that comes in a pink tin with a Thomas Kinkade painting on the cover (I feel like I need to cover my bases here and make sure that everyone understands that I am being sarcastic here). So anyhow... I thought I'd take a look over in the CDs to see if they might have a Natalie Merchant CD that Meg doesn't have yet... or maybe something else that she might like. So there it was... the new Bright Eyes CD.
Strangest thing ever. Maybe that's why I can never find any worthwhile CDs there... maybe they put them on the shelf before they're supposed to be released and then on the day of the release when I go to look for the CD, they're sold out already.
I guess I could be totally off on this and maybe they changed the release dates, but on Amazon and iTunes, "Pre-order" is still the only option.
In other news (can I call my shopping & movie watching activities news?), Mic & I watched the Director's Cut of Donnie Darko tonight. Unfortunately it's been so long since I've seen the regular one, I'm not sure how many of the differences I was aware of. Still a very good movie though. I'm pretty sure I like the Director's cut better, but as I said... it's been a while.
Alright, time for bed...
Goodnight!
Monday, March 26, 2007
robhaan.com
I'm uploading the new version of my portfolio site right now. The content is mostly the same as it was but it looks totally different... I got rid of that Flash deal. I'm probably not quite finished with it yet... but I wanted to get the hosting set up.
My back has been messed up for most of spring break. Consequently I haven't gotten much done other than the website. I did watch a few movies though.
BREACH: Based on the true story of Robert Hanssen, this movie was surprisingly really good. Most of the movie consists of a couple of guys working in an office, but it is really intense.
THE DEPARTED: The video store finally had this one in stock. I rented the fullscreen version because #1: our TV is not that big and #2: our couch is pretty far away from the TV. I know fullscreen is wrong and heretical and unfaithful to the director's vision, but I just don't like having to look at such a tiny picture.... enough about that though... the movie is really good. It was quite a bit better than I thought it would be. Most of the people that watched it here in town said that the end was really disappointing... I thought it was good though.
THE PRESTIGE: Another DVD that was finally available to rent. I have to say I was pretty disappointed with this one. It was entertaining and well done and everything, just not nearly as genius as everyone has been making it out to be. Whatever.
ZODIAC: A three-hour-long movie has to have gotten pretty stinking good reviews for me to see it. Zodiac has an 87 on RT so we figured it'd be worth the long sit. It was. Not once did I find myself wondering when it was going to be over (except when 3 people got up and left about 2/3 of the way through). Jake Gyllenhaal always does a good job (in my opinion). I wasn't a huge fan of the main detective character... he always seemed like an actor saying lines, not a real person talking. But everyone else was pretty convincing. There were somewhere around 85 paragraphs of epilogue at the end of the movie, which I find somewhat sometimes. I think a good movie should come to a good conclusion without spelling out the following 30 years of the characters lives.
STRANGER THAN FICTION: There's a lot to like about this movie, but overall it was also pretty disappointing. There are a lot of cool effects to portray what is going on in Harold Crick's (Will Ferrill's) head. This was probably the best part of the movie. The acting was all pretty decent, but as Mic pointed out, it's really hard at times to tell whether or not your supposed to take it seriously. I dunno. The music seemed really awkward to me... full volume to transition between scenes and then suddenly quiet when the characters are speaking. A lot of critics have said that this movie is "Adaptation for Dummies". I'd have to agree with that. All and all that is the biggest problem with this movie. If you're going to do something that's been done before, at least do it better!
What does everyone think of the new Arcade Fire album? My favorite track is definitely "Intervention" (track 4). That organ is so cool.
My back has been messed up for most of spring break. Consequently I haven't gotten much done other than the website. I did watch a few movies though.
BREACH: Based on the true story of Robert Hanssen, this movie was surprisingly really good. Most of the movie consists of a couple of guys working in an office, but it is really intense.
THE DEPARTED: The video store finally had this one in stock. I rented the fullscreen version because #1: our TV is not that big and #2: our couch is pretty far away from the TV. I know fullscreen is wrong and heretical and unfaithful to the director's vision, but I just don't like having to look at such a tiny picture.... enough about that though... the movie is really good. It was quite a bit better than I thought it would be. Most of the people that watched it here in town said that the end was really disappointing... I thought it was good though.
THE PRESTIGE: Another DVD that was finally available to rent. I have to say I was pretty disappointed with this one. It was entertaining and well done and everything, just not nearly as genius as everyone has been making it out to be. Whatever.
ZODIAC: A three-hour-long movie has to have gotten pretty stinking good reviews for me to see it. Zodiac has an 87 on RT so we figured it'd be worth the long sit. It was. Not once did I find myself wondering when it was going to be over (except when 3 people got up and left about 2/3 of the way through). Jake Gyllenhaal always does a good job (in my opinion). I wasn't a huge fan of the main detective character... he always seemed like an actor saying lines, not a real person talking. But everyone else was pretty convincing. There were somewhere around 85 paragraphs of epilogue at the end of the movie, which I find somewhat sometimes. I think a good movie should come to a good conclusion without spelling out the following 30 years of the characters lives.
STRANGER THAN FICTION: There's a lot to like about this movie, but overall it was also pretty disappointing. There are a lot of cool effects to portray what is going on in Harold Crick's (Will Ferrill's) head. This was probably the best part of the movie. The acting was all pretty decent, but as Mic pointed out, it's really hard at times to tell whether or not your supposed to take it seriously. I dunno. The music seemed really awkward to me... full volume to transition between scenes and then suddenly quiet when the characters are speaking. A lot of critics have said that this movie is "Adaptation for Dummies". I'd have to agree with that. All and all that is the biggest problem with this movie. If you're going to do something that's been done before, at least do it better!
What does everyone think of the new Arcade Fire album? My favorite track is definitely "Intervention" (track 4). That organ is so cool.
Monday, March 05, 2007
The Untouchables
Although our cars were stuck in a mountain of snow on Friday (mine is still there actually) we made it over the the video store to grab some movies.
Last night we watched The Untouchables. I really liked it. It's pretty much like a western that takes place in Chicago. I know... it's not a western, it's a gangster movie... but still... the characters, the pace, the plot, and even the music made the movie very much like a western.
I guess the music had more of an urban feel to it, but it had a lot of similarities to Morricone's other work... especially Once Upon a Time in the West. There are some wacky drum synths at times that seem really out of place in a 1930's Chicago settiing and make it all to obvious that the movie was made in the 80's. Other than that, the soundtrack is very effective, most notably so during the tense scenes.
In a comment on my last post Jon asked what I thought Morricone's best work is. I'd have to say for the overall movie, probably Once Upon a Time in the west. The music for that movie was so haunting and beautiful. As far as an individual song... probably "The Ecstacy of Gold". This is the song that Metallica opens with on the album they did with the San Francisco Symphony.
But back to the untouchables... Kevin Costner, Sean Connery, and Robert De Niro all have big parts in this movie and they all did really well. I think a little bit more of De Niro (who plays Al Capone) would have been good, but that's just me.
The one thing that bugged me is the bizarre scene where the nerdy accountant suddenly becomes Rambo or G.I. Joe or something. It was amusing, but completely killed any sort of believability. But as soon as Connery takes over the scene, the story and characters become believable and real again.
Last night we watched The Untouchables. I really liked it. It's pretty much like a western that takes place in Chicago. I know... it's not a western, it's a gangster movie... but still... the characters, the pace, the plot, and even the music made the movie very much like a western.
I guess the music had more of an urban feel to it, but it had a lot of similarities to Morricone's other work... especially Once Upon a Time in the West. There are some wacky drum synths at times that seem really out of place in a 1930's Chicago settiing and make it all to obvious that the movie was made in the 80's. Other than that, the soundtrack is very effective, most notably so during the tense scenes.
In a comment on my last post Jon asked what I thought Morricone's best work is. I'd have to say for the overall movie, probably Once Upon a Time in the west. The music for that movie was so haunting and beautiful. As far as an individual song... probably "The Ecstacy of Gold". This is the song that Metallica opens with on the album they did with the San Francisco Symphony.
But back to the untouchables... Kevin Costner, Sean Connery, and Robert De Niro all have big parts in this movie and they all did really well. I think a little bit more of De Niro (who plays Al Capone) would have been good, but that's just me.
The one thing that bugged me is the bizarre scene where the nerdy accountant suddenly becomes Rambo or G.I. Joe or something. It was amusing, but completely killed any sort of believability. But as soon as Connery takes over the scene, the story and characters become believable and real again.
Monday, February 26, 2007
www.robhaan.com
I've finally got somewhat of a portfolio up and running. I hope. I haven't tried to see if it works on any computers other than mine... the last one that I started to build looked great on my computer but apparently it was linked to images on my hard drive... I don't know how I did that... oh well. Eventually I will have a nice, hand-designed portfolio site, but for right now I'm just using a Flash template thing.
Anybody watch the Academy Awards tonight? I was watching out of the corner of my eye as I worked on my portfolio. I think the Departed took 4 awards. I still haven't seen that movie. I didn't go when it was in town because nobody that I talked to that watched it here liked it. We were going to rent it on Friday night, but the video store was pretty much cleaned out when we got there at 4:45. Everybody knew we were in for some lousy weather this weekend. Every copy of Babel was rented as well... that one was nominated for a handful of awards tonight too.
I was just excited to see Pan's Labyrinth do well. Although it didn't get best picture (I don't even think it was nominated). It got three awards: makeup, cinematography, and art direction. I thought it would take home the best score too, but Babel took that one.
I can't believe I'm even talking about this. I generally think it's pretty stupid that all these big industries think they need everyone to watch them award themselves, but before I end this post I just need to mention the best part of the show... Ennio Morricone got some sort of honorary Oscar. It was as if someone at the academy realized how ridiculous it was that he's never gotten one. Five nominations, but none of them for his best work, as far as I'm concerned. Congratulations Ennio! (oh wait... although he probably does read my blog on a regular basis, he does not speak English....oh well)
Anybody watch the Academy Awards tonight? I was watching out of the corner of my eye as I worked on my portfolio. I think the Departed took 4 awards. I still haven't seen that movie. I didn't go when it was in town because nobody that I talked to that watched it here liked it. We were going to rent it on Friday night, but the video store was pretty much cleaned out when we got there at 4:45. Everybody knew we were in for some lousy weather this weekend. Every copy of Babel was rented as well... that one was nominated for a handful of awards tonight too.
I was just excited to see Pan's Labyrinth do well. Although it didn't get best picture (I don't even think it was nominated). It got three awards: makeup, cinematography, and art direction. I thought it would take home the best score too, but Babel took that one.
I can't believe I'm even talking about this. I generally think it's pretty stupid that all these big industries think they need everyone to watch them award themselves, but before I end this post I just need to mention the best part of the show... Ennio Morricone got some sort of honorary Oscar. It was as if someone at the academy realized how ridiculous it was that he's never gotten one. Five nominations, but none of them for his best work, as far as I'm concerned. Congratulations Ennio! (oh wait... although he probably does read my blog on a regular basis, he does not speak English....oh well)
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Bridge to Terebithia
Although I haven't had time to watch movies this semester, I watch them anyway (okay... so I think I've watched 3 now this semester). Anyhow the three that I have seen I have really enjoyed.
On Friday afternoon Meg got out early due to weather so I thought it might be our best chance to watch a movie without the crowd and without having to stay up too late. So we went in to watch Bridge to Terebithia.
Just as with the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, the trailers are deceiving in that they make it look like the movie takes an entirely different approach than the book and have different themes. At first when I see this I get a little upset, but after seeing that the movie is quite faithful to the book I can understand why they would want to have such a preview for marketing reasons. If everyone knew what the movie was really about, nobody would go, although everybody should.
I am surprised at the number of people who haven't read the book. It was required reading at my school in fourth grade. I thought it was required in a lot more schools (for 4th-6th grade reading). I will say that the fact that I read the book 12 years ago and all the characters have existed in my head for some time definitely had an role iin my thinking the movie was very good. Reading the book was a huge experience for me when I was 10 and I returned to that watching the movie. For anyone who didn't read the book when they were young, the movie may not have as much impact.
There are a few things I wasn't a real big fan of... mainly the crass commercialization of the soundtrack. The vocal tunes that pop up throughout the movie are awkward, and though the words suggest they were written just for that use, they do not seem to fit.... and I just didn't like them. I also wasn't too in love with the CGI characters, but they don't really have a very big role in the film. Unlike what the trailers suggest, most of the movie takes place in "the real world" much like Pan's Labyrinth.
I dare say that the faithfulness to the book is probably in large due to David Paterson who worked on the film as a writer and a producer. His mother, Katherine Paterson, is the one who wrote the book. The character Jesse is based on David. The character, or at least the incident involving Leslie, is based on David's best friend Lisa Hill, an 8 year old. Only in real life the girl was struck by lightning. Katherine didn't think that that would be believable.
With a story with such a powerful theme, I am glad that the filmmakers were, for the most part faithful to the book. That being said, "faithfulness to the book" is not always something I'm concerned about. The best example I can think of is Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I don't care that it is truer to the book than the movie Willy Wonka was. I think Gene Wilder made a much better Willy Wonka and I think it was a much better movie over all. Books and movies are different mediums, and I don't think they should always be treated the same way.
On Friday afternoon Meg got out early due to weather so I thought it might be our best chance to watch a movie without the crowd and without having to stay up too late. So we went in to watch Bridge to Terebithia.
Just as with the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, the trailers are deceiving in that they make it look like the movie takes an entirely different approach than the book and have different themes. At first when I see this I get a little upset, but after seeing that the movie is quite faithful to the book I can understand why they would want to have such a preview for marketing reasons. If everyone knew what the movie was really about, nobody would go, although everybody should.
I am surprised at the number of people who haven't read the book. It was required reading at my school in fourth grade. I thought it was required in a lot more schools (for 4th-6th grade reading). I will say that the fact that I read the book 12 years ago and all the characters have existed in my head for some time definitely had an role iin my thinking the movie was very good. Reading the book was a huge experience for me when I was 10 and I returned to that watching the movie. For anyone who didn't read the book when they were young, the movie may not have as much impact.
There are a few things I wasn't a real big fan of... mainly the crass commercialization of the soundtrack. The vocal tunes that pop up throughout the movie are awkward, and though the words suggest they were written just for that use, they do not seem to fit.... and I just didn't like them. I also wasn't too in love with the CGI characters, but they don't really have a very big role in the film. Unlike what the trailers suggest, most of the movie takes place in "the real world" much like Pan's Labyrinth.
I dare say that the faithfulness to the book is probably in large due to David Paterson who worked on the film as a writer and a producer. His mother, Katherine Paterson, is the one who wrote the book. The character Jesse is based on David. The character, or at least the incident involving Leslie, is based on David's best friend Lisa Hill, an 8 year old. Only in real life the girl was struck by lightning. Katherine didn't think that that would be believable.
With a story with such a powerful theme, I am glad that the filmmakers were, for the most part faithful to the book. That being said, "faithfulness to the book" is not always something I'm concerned about. The best example I can think of is Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I don't care that it is truer to the book than the movie Willy Wonka was. I think Gene Wilder made a much better Willy Wonka and I think it was a much better movie over all. Books and movies are different mediums, and I don't think they should always be treated the same way.
Friday, February 02, 2007
Pan's Labyrinth
Tonight we watched Pan's Labyrinth. More than anything else on this blog I've probably mentioned how every time I think a movie is going to be really good I am disappointed and whenever I think a movie is going to be terrible I am pleasantly surprised. Not so this time. I've been wanting to see this one for a few months, thinking that it would be really good. And it was. The movie is very dark and somewhat disturbing, yet very beautiful. I can think of nothing to say about it that wouldn't ruin it for anybody who might want to watch it. If there was anything wrong with it, I missed it... possibly due to the fact that it's in Spanish and requires reading subtitles. I will give one warning about it. It is gory. Very gory. With normal movies if your stomach can't handle the visuals you can look away. If the movie uses a language other than your own, this doesn't work so well.
So I guess I should say at least something about the actual movie. The basic idea is Ofelia, a young girl, is taken to live with the father of her soon-to-be-born brother. He is not a very pleasant man. Her head is full of fairy tales and stuff and she escapes to these magical adventures to avoid her terrible reality. Other critics have put it in a category with Alice in Wonderland and Spirited Away. I would say it's much more like the Neverending Story (anybody else love that movie when they were a kid?) except the main character is a girl and the special effects look like they used more than $100.
This is probably the best movie I've seen in the theatre since Return of the King.... oh, and one more reason why this is a great movie... as far as I know it's original. It's not based on a book, not a remake of an old movie, and it's not a sequel. So if you've got the time, the money, and can stomach a little gore, definitely watch this movie.
On the way to the movie we stopped by Jon Schmidt's apartment to pick him up. His apartment is pretty amazing. It's in an old mansion that's been turned into seven apartments. One of his rooms is round. I think he has pictures on his blog... you'll have to go back a few posts to when he moved in i think. (The link is to the right where it says "Jonathan").
After the movie we grabbed supper at a big restaurant/bar called MacBehr's. The decorating there was terrible. It may well be the only place that is fancy enough to use tablecloths and cloth napkins and sloppy enough to have a 5' cardboard standee of a bottle of budweiser wearing a football helmet. Anyhow the food was really good. We all had sandwiches of some sort. Meg told me to be sure to mention that we had sweet potato fries and that they were really good... or at least Meg and Jon did... sweet potatos are not my thing. So I guess what I'm trying to say is if you like Sweet Potatoes, go to MacBehrs in Sioux City.
I was going to try to be smooth and edit more into my paragraphs about the movie, but I want to go to bed so I'll just make this post extra long instead. Anyhow... I should also mention that the movie is quite intense. I think Meg had her hand over her mouth for about half of it. I just thought I should mention that as another disclaimer so that nobody who can't handle real intense movies (hi mom) sees that I recommended this and goes to watch it.
So I guess I should say at least something about the actual movie. The basic idea is Ofelia, a young girl, is taken to live with the father of her soon-to-be-born brother. He is not a very pleasant man. Her head is full of fairy tales and stuff and she escapes to these magical adventures to avoid her terrible reality. Other critics have put it in a category with Alice in Wonderland and Spirited Away. I would say it's much more like the Neverending Story (anybody else love that movie when they were a kid?) except the main character is a girl and the special effects look like they used more than $100.
This is probably the best movie I've seen in the theatre since Return of the King.... oh, and one more reason why this is a great movie... as far as I know it's original. It's not based on a book, not a remake of an old movie, and it's not a sequel. So if you've got the time, the money, and can stomach a little gore, definitely watch this movie.
On the way to the movie we stopped by Jon Schmidt's apartment to pick him up. His apartment is pretty amazing. It's in an old mansion that's been turned into seven apartments. One of his rooms is round. I think he has pictures on his blog... you'll have to go back a few posts to when he moved in i think. (The link is to the right where it says "Jonathan").
After the movie we grabbed supper at a big restaurant/bar called MacBehr's. The decorating there was terrible. It may well be the only place that is fancy enough to use tablecloths and cloth napkins and sloppy enough to have a 5' cardboard standee of a bottle of budweiser wearing a football helmet. Anyhow the food was really good. We all had sandwiches of some sort. Meg told me to be sure to mention that we had sweet potato fries and that they were really good... or at least Meg and Jon did... sweet potatos are not my thing. So I guess what I'm trying to say is if you like Sweet Potatoes, go to MacBehrs in Sioux City.
I was going to try to be smooth and edit more into my paragraphs about the movie, but I want to go to bed so I'll just make this post extra long instead. Anyhow... I should also mention that the movie is quite intense. I think Meg had her hand over her mouth for about half of it. I just thought I should mention that as another disclaimer so that nobody who can't handle real intense movies (hi mom) sees that I recommended this and goes to watch it.
Monday, January 22, 2007
More Photos from the DR
Hopefully I will get some of my film photos scanned in... then I will put some up here, but for now here are 3 more digital photos from the Dominican Republic. One is of a little friend that was on the wall of our bedroom when we arrived at the ministry center where we stayed. Another is of Meg and others in the group using a pulley to bring buckets of sand to the 2nd and 3rd floors of one of the schools we worked on. Most of the work we did was moving sand, gravel, water, and cement mix; mixing sand, gravel, water and cement mix; and carrying mixed cement to the guys who were hired to lay the floors and cover the walls. The other picture is of Jesse and Meg teaching the workers a little English during lunch break.
And a quick movie review: FREEDOM WRITERS
Meg and I went and watched Freedom Writers on Friday night. I feel like the same/similar story has been done so many times (Dangerous Minds, The Ron Clark story) but maybe that's not such a bad thing. Especially because this one is based on more recent events and may be a little more relevant than a movie in the era of Coolio's Gangsta's Paradise. One thing that really bothered me is the teacher's husband. I didn't really understand the character... he just didn't make sense to me at all. Other characters seemed to be a little exaggerated, namely the rest of the faculty at the school, but it is a movie after all. I think Freedom Writers presented enough things to think about for me to say that I recommend watching this movie, especially if you are a teacher... or maybe even married to a student who hopes to be a teacher next year.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)