Our backyard deck, Geek weekend, and Movie review.
After several weeks of effort, the deck is finally complete.
1. Stripped the old worn stain with BEHR Stain stripper. This stuffs chemical make-up is akin to Alien Blood. I accidentally splashed it on my arm and leg and it burnt a hole through my skin within 30 seconds. I'll show you the scar to prove it. Thank goodness I was wearing eye protection during a particularly clumsy moment when I dropped the brush into the tray and a large "plop" flew up right into my eye. It made quick work of the existing stain but the process was a PITA none-the-less.
2. Removed and replaced rotted boards with new redwood 2 x 6 x 12's.
3. Puttied up screw and nail holes to prevent future and further rotting.
4. Sanded down some rough spots and putty over-fills.
5. BEHR #63 Redwood prep and wood cleaner. This stuff was a breeze to work with and completely eliminated the tannin bleed you get with Redwood.
6. And finally slathered on 2 coats of semi-transparent BEHR Wood-toned stain and sealant. It looks fantastic, but a bit too red for my wife's taste.
As for the Gathering of the Gaggle of Geeks, that was this weekend. I managed to get down on Friday night and Sunday night for some gaming. Friday was spent playing a Hero-System game run by The Warden called "Gifts from the Grave". Super Fun! The characters were members of a SWAT Team from a small but well funded Police Force for a Las Vegas bedroom community. Needless to say, the game was about Zombies...and hundreds of them. I couldn't stay for the finish but I had a feeling that none of us were really meant to survive.
Sunday we played some L5R. I rolled miserably and at one point had Zero Void, down 24 Hit Points, and poisoned by Kumo Oni venom. I was in a most dis-honorable state.
Watched a French film with my wife...."The Flight of the Red Balloon". This movie was the epitome of the French Film cliche. After one hour and fifty seven minutes, neither of us had any clue as to what the "F" the film was about. It had no discernable plot, no moral, no apparent meaning, no character analysis, no character journey, nothing!
This one scene will put it all in perspective: a young French boy (the apparent and primary protagonist) and his Korean Nanny walk from left to right on the screen and exit a room via a door on the extreme right panel. The door closes.....the room is empty now but the camera continues to roll unmoving and completely silent for another 40 seconds...WTF! The director did this several times. I mean I GET IT when you do it once or twice in an effort to forcibly convey the emptiness in the space, or to demonstrate the "light" within a character by placing the viewer with them and then have that character leave the panel for an extended period...a method of enticing Want. But its done over and over again.
There were several scenes that went on for close to 15 minutes where the camera rolled one seamless shot, and in the background, the characters went about there daily business; the nanny cleaning, the mother on the phone, the boy reading a book, the blind piano tuner tuning the piano...all of it with no real dialogue, all of it improvisational, all of it with no sense, no meaning as to what the director was trying to convey! I simply did not get this film at all.
When it comes to film, I love the subtle more than most. I revel in symbolic language and enjoy films that require one to be totally focused to the smallest detail and nuance. But this film was completely over the top with regard to directoral self-indulgence. The last scene attempted to insert meaning but I found it to be completely and utterly condescending. I'll describe: I'm convinced that any viewer watching this film would be as lost as the two of us were. The last scene brings you to the Louvre where a classroom of first graders on a field trip are placed in front of a famous painting of a boy running after a Red Balloon. The painting is as cryptic as the movie. The proctor then asks them what the painting is about and several excited children chimed in with their theories. Their answers were decidedly childlike with their use of imagination. Then the camera shows a Red Balloon floating around the screen for a good 4 minutes...then "End Credits"...are you frickin kidding me!!
This movie was a complete waste of my time. I did not learn anything, or grow as a person, or experience any emotions related to the story, or taken for a ride, or entertained in any way, or preached to, or given any perspective on anything. It has, however, succeeded in one thing: pissing me off...and in that regard, this movie did a fantastic job.
1. Stripped the old worn stain with BEHR Stain stripper. This stuffs chemical make-up is akin to Alien Blood. I accidentally splashed it on my arm and leg and it burnt a hole through my skin within 30 seconds. I'll show you the scar to prove it. Thank goodness I was wearing eye protection during a particularly clumsy moment when I dropped the brush into the tray and a large "plop" flew up right into my eye. It made quick work of the existing stain but the process was a PITA none-the-less.
2. Removed and replaced rotted boards with new redwood 2 x 6 x 12's.
3. Puttied up screw and nail holes to prevent future and further rotting.
4. Sanded down some rough spots and putty over-fills.
5. BEHR #63 Redwood prep and wood cleaner. This stuff was a breeze to work with and completely eliminated the tannin bleed you get with Redwood.
6. And finally slathered on 2 coats of semi-transparent BEHR Wood-toned stain and sealant. It looks fantastic, but a bit too red for my wife's taste.
As for the Gathering of the Gaggle of Geeks, that was this weekend. I managed to get down on Friday night and Sunday night for some gaming. Friday was spent playing a Hero-System game run by The Warden called "Gifts from the Grave". Super Fun! The characters were members of a SWAT Team from a small but well funded Police Force for a Las Vegas bedroom community. Needless to say, the game was about Zombies...and hundreds of them. I couldn't stay for the finish but I had a feeling that none of us were really meant to survive.
Sunday we played some L5R. I rolled miserably and at one point had Zero Void, down 24 Hit Points, and poisoned by Kumo Oni venom. I was in a most dis-honorable state.
Watched a French film with my wife...."The Flight of the Red Balloon". This movie was the epitome of the French Film cliche. After one hour and fifty seven minutes, neither of us had any clue as to what the "F" the film was about. It had no discernable plot, no moral, no apparent meaning, no character analysis, no character journey, nothing!
This one scene will put it all in perspective: a young French boy (the apparent and primary protagonist) and his Korean Nanny walk from left to right on the screen and exit a room via a door on the extreme right panel. The door closes.....the room is empty now but the camera continues to roll unmoving and completely silent for another 40 seconds...WTF! The director did this several times. I mean I GET IT when you do it once or twice in an effort to forcibly convey the emptiness in the space, or to demonstrate the "light" within a character by placing the viewer with them and then have that character leave the panel for an extended period...a method of enticing Want. But its done over and over again.
There were several scenes that went on for close to 15 minutes where the camera rolled one seamless shot, and in the background, the characters went about there daily business; the nanny cleaning, the mother on the phone, the boy reading a book, the blind piano tuner tuning the piano...all of it with no real dialogue, all of it improvisational, all of it with no sense, no meaning as to what the director was trying to convey! I simply did not get this film at all.
When it comes to film, I love the subtle more than most. I revel in symbolic language and enjoy films that require one to be totally focused to the smallest detail and nuance. But this film was completely over the top with regard to directoral self-indulgence. The last scene attempted to insert meaning but I found it to be completely and utterly condescending. I'll describe: I'm convinced that any viewer watching this film would be as lost as the two of us were. The last scene brings you to the Louvre where a classroom of first graders on a field trip are placed in front of a famous painting of a boy running after a Red Balloon. The painting is as cryptic as the movie. The proctor then asks them what the painting is about and several excited children chimed in with their theories. Their answers were decidedly childlike with their use of imagination. Then the camera shows a Red Balloon floating around the screen for a good 4 minutes...then "End Credits"...are you frickin kidding me!!
This movie was a complete waste of my time. I did not learn anything, or grow as a person, or experience any emotions related to the story, or taken for a ride, or entertained in any way, or preached to, or given any perspective on anything. It has, however, succeeded in one thing: pissing me off...and in that regard, this movie did a fantastic job.
posted by supergoober at
12:08 PM
1 Comments:
But it's a French Art film....if you didn't get it that means you just aren't artsy enough or something...... ;) Sounds like some of the abstract art I saw at SFMOMA once....guy took a whole canvas and painted one green then glued it to a white one and carved a curve out of the top of the white one and called it "Green canvas with White". WOW!!! How profound!!!!!
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