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	<title type="html"><![CDATA[NowakFilms Discussion Forums]]></title>
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	<updated>2010-09-10T01:26:42Z</updated>
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		<entry>
			<title type="html"><![CDATA[Masters of Horror: The Black Cat]]></title>
			<link rel="alternate" href="http://www.nowakfilms.com/bb/viewtopic.php?id=1362&amp;action=new"/>
			<summary type="html"><![CDATA[Another recommended viewing, obviously only for those who like horror, though.  Great atmosphere.  Neat lighting.  Jeffrey Combs is awesome.  Yeah, there's some pretty F'd up stuff but, you know... it's Masters of Horror.  Check it out on Netflix Instant.]]></summary>
			<author>
				<name><![CDATA[Al]]></name>
				<uri>http://www.nowakfilms.com/bb/profile.php?id=4</uri>
			</author>
			<updated>2010-09-10T01:26:42Z</updated>
			<id>http://www.nowakfilms.com/bb/viewtopic.php?id=1362&amp;action=new</id>
		</entry>
		<entry>
			<title type="html"><![CDATA[Capturing an Essence]]></title>
			<link rel="alternate" href="http://www.nowakfilms.com/bb/viewtopic.php?id=1361&amp;action=new"/>
			<summary type="html"><![CDATA[While journeying back from my visit to the suburbs, I stopped at Goebbert's Farm, or as I still love to refer to it, Pumpkin Head.  I hadn't been there in ages, and for the past several years, I've been wanting to return, especially around this time of year with Halloween so close.  As I walked into the large barn, I was struck by how much it made me think Edward's Apple Orchard.  It has a number of similar items, from jams and fruits to little trinkets.  Some of the Halloween decorations were already on display, but it appeared as though the bulk of them were still being unpacked.  I ended up getting some fruit, jam, and an ear of corn, and after perusing the Halloween lawn ornaments and pumpkin carving kits, I went along my way.  It started me thinking, though.  I love the change of the seasons.  And everywhere I turn, there's something I love about being out and about at this particular time of year.  From the chilly breezes, even in strong sunshine, to driving by the evening softball games in Cherry Valley and the eventual changing colors that I know aren't far off, it's as though a change in season makes me hyper-aware of my senses.  This idea was driven home as I sat in the Wendy's parking lot at the Hampshire exit eating a Frosty.  Odd place to have a brain flash, I'll grant you, but none the less, I was struck by the way the sunlight was reflecting off the ice cream on my spoon.  It's texture popped in the bright light, and it occurred to me that I've been on a sort of artistic mission (as pretentious as that may sound) for some time now, though I haven't always known what's it's about.  Driving back through Marengo, my thoughts turned back to Goebbert's and then to Edward's, and I started to wonder again, as I have for many years now, whether the Halls would let me spend some time at the orchard just shooting video.  Capturing the people, the place, the work, the apples, the atmosphere - everything.  As I drove, it became clearer and clearer to me that what I've been endeavoring to do is to capture the essence of my feeling about life, the seasons, and Americana - at least, as I understand it right now.  It sounds like a pat explanation, I know, it's true.  I can't quite think of a complete, literate story to represent these feelings, though.  They're much more abstract.  I want to convey all the senses somehow, primarily through sight and sound, as they're the methods I know best.  Ultimately, I want to transport people to a place so fully that they feel they're sitting in the sun, listening to the bluegrass band play and eating a piping hot, pulled porn sandwich as wasps circle the trash cans by the fence.  I want them to feel and taste the crisp tart of a Jonamac apple.  To listen to fallen leaves rustling over gravel.  I want them to smell the cold and feel the wind cut through them, making them put on their jackets.  This is quite the ambition, I'll grant you.  But it's ever with me.  It's been informing my recent non-verbal short films.  It's an ongoing drive to create something that imparts a feeling - my feelings.  And I'll continue to endeavor toward that goal, both narratively and non-verbally.  My guess is that I may never be satisfied with what I produce, but my hope is that I'll be able to express even a tenth of those feelings.  And that fills me with excitement and joy as new ideas come to mind with every sense that's tickled by autumn's arrival.]]></summary>
			<author>
				<name><![CDATA[Al]]></name>
				<uri>http://www.nowakfilms.com/bb/profile.php?id=4</uri>
			</author>
			<updated>2010-09-09T04:14:07Z</updated>
			<id>http://www.nowakfilms.com/bb/viewtopic.php?id=1361&amp;action=new</id>
		</entry>
		<entry>
			<title type="html"><![CDATA[Thoughts on the Passage of Time]]></title>
			<link rel="alternate" href="http://www.nowakfilms.com/bb/viewtopic.php?id=1360&amp;action=new"/>
			<summary type="html"><![CDATA[I went to South Barrington today to see a movie at the AMC 30.  The movie captivated me enough that when it ended, I'd momentarily forgotten where I was.  I walked out into the bright sunlight and refreshingly cool breeze and found myself wanting to meander down memory lane.  So instead of heading down to 72 and taking a right back towards 90, I instead turned left down Hassell Road.  I drove slowly, so as to look at the surroundings.  They were familiar but changed with time.  When I reached Barrington Lakes, I turned into the parking lot and made my way back around to the second apartment in the complex where I had lived as a child.  The car crept slowly.  The pond was still there.  The space between our old building and the next to the east appeared tiny.  I couldn't believe I used to play there, hurling a tennis ball against the wall, no doubt driving the occupant of that particular unit crazy.  I rolled by the front lawn of the building.  The distance from the parking lot and the front door was no more than 20 feet.  And yet, I used to hit a whiffle ball back and forth on that lawn, dreaming each time the ball fluttered through the leaves of the big tree outside my bedroom window that I'd hit a home run at Wrigley Field.  I couldn't have been hitting the ball much further than 20 yards.  But it seemed so much bigger then.  Everything did.  As I drove around the lot and by the first apartment we'd lived in, I saw that the small sitting area between the buildings was gone.  I made my way over across the street to Erie Lane, where the Erlenbaughs used to live.  I drove by their house and then further down to Georgetown Lane past David Starke's, then around again through the entire neighborhood.  It was so small.  What used to seem like miles to walk from John Muir to those houses was only two blocks at best.  The proportions were all different.  Everything had a new coat of paint.  The people were new.  I thought back to the faces I knew in Kindergarten, trying to remember the names.  The playground at John Muir was completely changed, much safer now I'm sure.  The building looked much as it had, but people parked on the blacktop where we used to line up before school and play at lunch time.  I drove away from the school and found my way to Barrington Square.  There used to be a movie theatre there, where we saw all the Disney movies - most notably in my mind Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin.  But it's not there anymore.  Nor is the collector's store with comic books and baseball cards.  The hair salon is, as is Garibaldi's, where I ate lunch.  A slice of pizza and a Pepsi.  I remember the pizza being better, but it probably never was.  The whole time I drove and walked and looked around, soaking in my memories, I was acutely aware of how different it was.  How detached I felt and how foreign it all seemed.  It was almost as though the passage of time had robbed me of a feeling of home.  It's not my home any more, but a part of me exists there and it exists in me still.  And yet, because of the changes and the distance it has in my memory, I found myself somewhat lost between nostalgia and reality.  Much of it remains, yet in such a different way, as it must.  As I drove back westward, I started to feel more whole again.  When I made my way into Marengo, I started to recognize a more familiar world.  A softer world, not quite so crowded and small, but with more room to breathe.  More room for trees and grass and fields and peace.  Somewhere my mind straddles the divide between the two - the draw of my home in Capron, where I, in fact, spent most of my life, and the fond memory of a distant, simple suburbia.  And as I reached my home away from home, in yet another urban landscape, I thought forward in time and wondered where I'll be in another 15 years and how I'll remember my time here and now.]]></summary>
			<author>
				<name><![CDATA[Al]]></name>
				<uri>http://www.nowakfilms.com/bb/profile.php?id=4</uri>
			</author>
			<updated>2010-09-09T03:00:44Z</updated>
			<id>http://www.nowakfilms.com/bb/viewtopic.php?id=1360&amp;action=new</id>
		</entry>
		<entry>
			<title type="html"><![CDATA[Peter and the Wolf]]></title>
			<link rel="alternate" href="http://www.nowakfilms.com/bb/viewtopic.php?id=1359&amp;action=new"/>
			<summary type="html"><![CDATA[This is technically a cool link, I guess, but it's for a neat movie.  It's an adaptation of Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf on Netflix Instant.  I thought it was brilliant.  The animation is superb and the puppets and sets are astoundingly detailed.  If you have a spare 30 minutes, you should really check it out.]]></summary>
			<author>
				<name><![CDATA[Al]]></name>
				<uri>http://www.nowakfilms.com/bb/profile.php?id=4</uri>
			</author>
			<updated>2010-08-26T19:13:53Z</updated>
			<id>http://www.nowakfilms.com/bb/viewtopic.php?id=1359&amp;action=new</id>
		</entry>
		<entry>
			<title type="html"><![CDATA[We need to save the romanitc comedy]]></title>
			<link rel="alternate" href="http://www.nowakfilms.com/bb/viewtopic.php?id=1358&amp;action=new"/>
			<summary type="html"><![CDATA[[url]http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/04/opinion/04dowd.html?_r=1[/url]

I saw this on IMDB and although I disagree with the "old movies are perfect new movies are all trash" sentiment in general, I pretty much agree with this article.  While its true the old films mentioned were cheesy romances with "franchises" involved they seemed to have a bit more something to them.  Especially Woody Allen's romanitc comedies which are a fresh and interesting romantic comedy sub genre all themselves.

But today what do we have?  The Bounty Hunter?  27 dresses?  Failure to Launch? An endless string of J-Lo, J Garner, J Aniston, and whatever flavor of the Kathrine Hiegel month we happen upon?

The romance comedy needs a comeback by injecting the story with some perspective, some realistic point of view and experiences, and just a dash of original voice from someone who cares about more than just the $bottom line$.  Oh yeah and some relationship stories where we actually give a shit about the couple and wonder: will their relationship survive?]]></summary>
			<author>
				<name><![CDATA[jonfree25]]></name>
				<uri>http://www.nowakfilms.com/bb/profile.php?id=5</uri>
			</author>
			<updated>2010-08-07T05:28:41Z</updated>
			<id>http://www.nowakfilms.com/bb/viewtopic.php?id=1358&amp;action=new</id>
		</entry>
		<entry>
			<title type="html"><![CDATA[Hilarious News Story and Remix]]></title>
			<link rel="alternate" href="http://www.nowakfilms.com/bb/viewtopic.php?id=1357&amp;action=new"/>
			<summary type="html"><![CDATA[The story is ridiculously funny.  Apparently, it's become an internet sensation in only six days.  And this music remix is absolutely awesome.

Original
[url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzNhaLUT520&feature=fvw[/url]

Remix
[url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEvNS5TzvwM[/url]]]></summary>
			<author>
				<name><![CDATA[jonfree25]]></name>
				<uri>http://www.nowakfilms.com/bb/profile.php?id=4</uri>
			</author>
			<updated>2010-08-07T05:19:20Z</updated>
			<id>http://www.nowakfilms.com/bb/viewtopic.php?id=1357&amp;action=new</id>
		</entry>
		<entry>
			<title type="html"><![CDATA[Mr. Double Rainbow]]></title>
			<link rel="alternate" href="http://www.nowakfilms.com/bb/viewtopic.php?id=1356&amp;action=new"/>
			<summary type="html"><![CDATA[I'm certain y'all have seen this already, but I just happened upon it.  Very, er... interesting reaction.  He seems to be ecstatic at first, then orgasmic?  At near the end... is he weeping?

[url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQSNhk5ICTI&feature=related[/url]]]></summary>
			<author>
				<name><![CDATA[Al]]></name>
				<uri>http://www.nowakfilms.com/bb/profile.php?id=4</uri>
			</author>
			<updated>2010-08-02T16:56:51Z</updated>
			<id>http://www.nowakfilms.com/bb/viewtopic.php?id=1356&amp;action=new</id>
		</entry>
		<entry>
			<title type="html"><![CDATA[The 2010 World Cup Openers]]></title>
			<link rel="alternate" href="http://www.nowakfilms.com/bb/viewtopic.php?id=1352&amp;action=new"/>
			<summary type="html"><![CDATA[A link to a photo that sums up the match between USA and England that resulted in a tie.
[url]http://i.imgur.com/4Cj3Y.jpg[/url]]]></summary>
			<author>
				<name><![CDATA[jonfree25]]></name>
				<uri>http://www.nowakfilms.com/bb/profile.php?id=2</uri>
			</author>
			<updated>2010-08-02T13:42:57Z</updated>
			<id>http://www.nowakfilms.com/bb/viewtopic.php?id=1352&amp;action=new</id>
		</entry>
		<entry>
			<title type="html"><![CDATA[Amazon Buys Woot]]></title>
			<link rel="alternate" href="http://www.nowakfilms.com/bb/viewtopic.php?id=1355&amp;action=new"/>
			<summary type="html"><![CDATA[This is the best email that announces a buy out that I've ever read.

[url]http://www.woot.com/Blog/ViewEntry.aspx?Id=13390[/url]]]></summary>
			<author>
				<name><![CDATA[Al]]></name>
				<uri>http://www.nowakfilms.com/bb/profile.php?id=2</uri>
			</author>
			<updated>2010-07-04T22:38:27Z</updated>
			<id>http://www.nowakfilms.com/bb/viewtopic.php?id=1355&amp;action=new</id>
		</entry>
		<entry>
			<title type="html"><![CDATA[Batman: Black and White]]></title>
			<link rel="alternate" href="http://www.nowakfilms.com/bb/viewtopic.php?id=1354&amp;action=new"/>
			<summary type="html"><![CDATA[Really cool motion comic.  This one's awesome.  Alex Ross's art rocks.

[url]http://www.thewb.com/shows/batman-black-and-white-motion-comics/case-study/f56bbdfd-d7c5-4f67-88d3-d089a3dc51ff[/url]]]></summary>
			<author>
				<name><![CDATA[Al]]></name>
				<uri>http://www.nowakfilms.com/bb/profile.php?id=4</uri>
			</author>
			<updated>2010-06-17T20:27:13Z</updated>
			<id>http://www.nowakfilms.com/bb/viewtopic.php?id=1354&amp;action=new</id>
		</entry>
		<entry>
			<title type="html"><![CDATA[Funny Stuff From 4chan]]></title>
			<link rel="alternate" href="http://www.nowakfilms.com/bb/viewtopic.php?id=1353&amp;action=new"/>
			<summary type="html"><![CDATA[If you don't know what 4chan is then you might not want to click the link.  This is an unusual example of intellect on 4chan.
[url]http://i.imgur.com/xFeCU.jpg[/url]]]></summary>
			<author>
				<name><![CDATA[P3]]></name>
				<uri>http://www.nowakfilms.com/bb/profile.php?id=2</uri>
			</author>
			<updated>2010-06-16T23:38:08Z</updated>
			<id>http://www.nowakfilms.com/bb/viewtopic.php?id=1353&amp;action=new</id>
		</entry>
		<entry>
			<title type="html"><![CDATA[Review of Late Spring]]></title>
			<link rel="alternate" href="http://www.nowakfilms.com/bb/viewtopic.php?id=1351&amp;action=new"/>
			<summary type="html"><![CDATA[I had never seen an Ozu film before.  Short clips in film classes, yes, but never an entire movie.  As it were, Ozu was known to me primarily as the Japanese director who a) almost never moved the camera, and b) shot mainly from a height of two to three feet off the ground, or the same height as the eyeline of someone seated on a tatami mat.  I was interested, then, when I saw that his film Late Spring was available on Netflix's Play It Now.

The first thing I noticed about Late Spring was the composition of the opening shots, and indeed, the rest of the movie.  It's very elegantly framed and gently evocative.  It's obvious that Ozu and his cinematographer took a lot of care to present the elements of the image in a very precise way.  Often, there are many lines in the sets creating frames within the frame.  I was immediately taken with his style.  At the same time, I was also very conscious of it.  Because I knew that he seldom moves the camera, I kept wishing that the camera would move.  But Ozu never uses it to actively direct your attention.  I admire the discipline and simplicity of this style and eventually gave in to it.

Not only is the film visually subdued, but so is the drama.  The story is low-key and largely internal.  The main character Noriko smiles almost all the time, even when she's not happy.  There is no melodramatic action or sentimentality.  Scenes are quiet and understated.  Most of the time, you interpret the two main characters' feelings more through their eyes than what they're saying.

Watching the story unfold, I found myself unable to decide how to feel about Noriko's situation.  Almost everyone in her life is telling her she needs to marry, but she's reluctant to leave home and her father.  He's uneager to see her go, but joins the others in encouraging her to find a husband.  On the one hand, I can understand why everyone feels she should start her own life.  It seems only natural.  But on the other hand, she's happy to be at home caring for her father.  She might find happiness away from home, but she knows herself well enough to believe otherwise.  The other characters push a strong assumption that marriage is THE ultimate key to happiness, but obviously that's not true for everyone.  What I pulled most from the story was the conflict between change and the familiar.  Which is right?  For Noriko, Ozu suggests through imagery that staying with her father would be best, but we never see any part of her marriage.  Would more time spent with her after the film's end bring new feelings to light?

I really enjoyed Late Spring.  It's not the type of film I find myself watching often, but it struck me how efficiently it's presented.  I'd recommend it for any fan of cinema.  4 stars.

Number rating: 96]]></summary>
			<author>
				<name><![CDATA[Al]]></name>
				<uri>http://www.nowakfilms.com/bb/profile.php?id=4</uri>
			</author>
			<updated>2010-06-15T17:46:03Z</updated>
			<id>http://www.nowakfilms.com/bb/viewtopic.php?id=1351&amp;action=new</id>
		</entry>
		<entry>
			<title type="html"><![CDATA[Let's See Steve Jobs Code This in HTML5]]></title>
			<link rel="alternate" href="http://www.nowakfilms.com/bb/viewtopic.php?id=1350&amp;action=new"/>
			<summary type="html"><![CDATA[[url]http://mrdoob.com/lab/actionscript/pv3d/dof/05/[/url]]]></summary>
			<author>
				<name><![CDATA[Al]]></name>
				<uri>http://www.nowakfilms.com/bb/profile.php?id=2</uri>
			</author>
			<updated>2010-06-09T05:46:34Z</updated>
			<id>http://www.nowakfilms.com/bb/viewtopic.php?id=1350&amp;action=new</id>
		</entry>
		<entry>
			<title type="html"><![CDATA[Review of Splice]]></title>
			<link rel="alternate" href="http://www.nowakfilms.com/bb/viewtopic.php?id=1349&amp;action=new"/>
			<summary type="html"><![CDATA[Adrien Brody and Sarah Polley are a pair of hip scientists splicing genes for a corporation in desperate need of a product to sell.  They've made a breakthrough that could see the end, or at least a treatment, for several serious human diseases.  They want to go further and splice human DNA into their multi-animal gened experiments to see how far they can go.  The company won't allow it, though, so they do it in secret anyway.  What they create is a weird semi-human creature with a stinger in its tail and a couple other surprises up its sleeves.  Brody and Polley become the creature's "parents" as it grows and learns at an incredible rate.  Of course, things start to fall apart...

I liked Splice quite a bit.  My main complaint right off the bat is that Brody and Polley are just a little too cool.  They do both have a certain nerdy quality that gives them some credibility, but from Brody's sci-clever t-shirts to their choice of music to work to, they're just too slick to feel totally real.  Director Vincenzo Natali seems more concerned with making them hip rather than believable as scientists.  But c'est la vie.  I can look past that.

It's a good-looking movie.  The design and photography really help to establish the sleek sci-fi tone.  The farm set later on helps balance the glossy tech of the lab with a slightly unnerving "natural" environment.

Some of the dialogue felt a little clunky, but it's hard to write sci-fi language that sounds both technically correct and natural.  The ideas behind the story are very cool.  Of course, they hearken back to Frankenstein and early Cronenberg in some ways, but Natali has fresh spin on it.  There's one scene nearing the end of the film that's a bit uncomfortable.  In fact, people at the screening I was at starting laughing, I think to make the creep factor a bit easier to take.  Still, the scene makes you wonder what you'd do in the same situation.  The ending falls apart a little, but not because the idea isn't good.  It is.  It's just the plotting that sinks it into the oh-so-familiar monster movie action climax.  When all was said and done, though, I immediately thought that this is a movie like we'd make, complete with the somewhat creepy ending.

Splice is an interesting movie, and nicely presented.  It falls a little short of sci-fi greatness, but at least it's concerned with ideas instead of just blowing shit up.  I found that refreshing.  3 stars.

Number rating: 75]]></summary>
			<author>
				<name><![CDATA[Al]]></name>
				<uri>http://www.nowakfilms.com/bb/profile.php?id=4</uri>
			</author>
			<updated>2010-06-08T21:27:16Z</updated>
			<id>http://www.nowakfilms.com/bb/viewtopic.php?id=1349&amp;action=new</id>
		</entry>
		<entry>
			<title type="html"><![CDATA[Review of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time]]></title>
			<link rel="alternate" href="http://www.nowakfilms.com/bb/viewtopic.php?id=1348&amp;action=new"/>
			<summary type="html"><![CDATA[Mark (K2) and I saw this on Memorial Day.  Based on some of the trailers I'd seen, I had some doubts, particularly about the CG being a bit dodgy.  Some of these doubts were confirmed.  But as I watched the movie, I found myself being sucked into it, ignoring some of the grievances that I might normally have.  The story was satisfactory - familiar but with a few twists to keep it interesting.  I also enjoyed some of the restraint taken with dialogue.  It wasn't too much or preposterously stupid.  There was even one recurring line that I quite liked the use of.  It said a lot without pounding the point home too clumsily.  The action was a little lacking, if only because it seemed too assembled.  I realize that most action is, but some of the cuts felt like band-aids used to cover awkward moments in otherwise fluid shots.  Still, it got the job done.  I really liked the sets in the movie.  They were rather detailed and created a nice sense of place for the story.  The acting was decent.  I thought Jake Gyllenhaal would be awful, but he performed adequately.  Gemma Arterton was appropriate.  I like seeing her more and more.  The best part of the whole movie, though, in my opinion, was Alfred Molina as the hilarious, motor-mouthed ostrich race entrepreneur.  Overall, I think Prince of Persia had a sort of old-fashioned feel to it.  The way it was structured and the scale of the story seemed to hearken back to adventures of yesterday, and I quite enjoyed that.  It wasn't my favorite movie of the summer, but it was decent.  2.5 stars.

Number rating: 68]]></summary>
			<author>
				<name><![CDATA[Al]]></name>
				<uri>http://www.nowakfilms.com/bb/profile.php?id=4</uri>
			</author>
			<updated>2010-06-08T20:56:23Z</updated>
			<id>http://www.nowakfilms.com/bb/viewtopic.php?id=1348&amp;action=new</id>
		</entry>
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