Weakness Short Movie

Tonight my husband for the first time in a long time actually tried to talk to me about the break down of our marriage. It might not be a break down in our marriage more I don’t let his stuff get to me anymore. I no longer yearn for his attention. Attention he worked really hard to withhold from me when I would be reaching out to him for years. Tonight he asked why I no longer have time for him. I didn’t know how to say my answer to him even though I know the answer all too well. For years he hasn’t had time for me. He hasn’t had time to listen when I had a bad day or a good day. He hasn’t had time to share much with me about his life outside of our home. So the answer is I am done waiting on you. Done, I am not exactly sure what all that entails but I am done hoping he would be the friend I had wished to have in a husband.  I am done wanting a husband who still took his wife out on dates. I am done yearning for a husband who understood me.  I am learning I care a little less right now.  What a scary place to be in. So this is my weakness right now.  It is just as vulnerable as it feels strong and assured.

From Mike.  I promise that I will have an original thought of my own soon and stop relying on Mike for new content.

The story of how Matthew McConaughey got the role of Wooderson in Dazed and Confused is that after he auditioned he went up to director Richard Linklaterand said, “I’m not this guy.  But I know this guy.”

He was 18 when he died.  Clear, dry autumn day.  Leaving work at noon, in light traffic on the highway. 

On my way back to work after lunch, i was headed in the opposite direction, traffic slowed due to the massive emergency response on the other side of the highway.  MedEvac helicopter parked on the highway near his upside down sport utility vehicle.  There was a large body on the gurney next to the helicopter.  Emergency personnel were standing by, but not doing anything.  According to the news reports i read later, he’d just been pronounced dead.

Reading about the one car accident, which had traffic stopped for almost five hours, i later learned his age, and gained a glimpse into who he was.  He moved to the area with his family in 2005, following Hurricane Katrina’s devastating blow to New Orleans.  He lived with his family and worked two jobs, while going to community college part time. 

Words from friends and those who knew him were moving.  He was a “gentle giant” – 360 pounds, well over six feet tall.  And full of love, kindness and humanity.  Always ready to lend a helping hand or a strong shoulder to a friend or stranger.

Every day i drive home over the place where he died.  The blackened rubber tire marks that cut a swath across three lanes of traffic are beginning to fade.  i think about him. 

No twenty-first birthday party with friends.  No proud graduation day.  No engagement or wedding, shared with a delighted family.  Children not to be… a proud father, coaching and cheering.  No heartbreak as he buries his elderly parents and realizes he’s now the grown up.   No mid-life crisis.  No retirement planning.

Poof.  A future erased.  Just like that…

I know, I know…I’m about two years late on this! But basking in the few hours that’s left of my summer, I decided to laze around and watch a movie (something I probably won’t have time to do in a few weeks). Now I’ve been meaning to see Gone Baby Gone for quite sometime now so tadah! I finally did. I had absolutely no idea what this movie was about prior to watching it…just knew it was directed by Ben Affleck, that my mom loved it, andddd that’s pretty much it. So about two hours later, I’m sitting on my couch completely blown away, trying to wrap my head around all the moral questions that were just presented to me. Holy hell, that was an AMAZING movie. So many…so, so many hard questions that I (unfortunately) don’t have the answer to…

What would I have done? Given the situation, whose side would I be on? It’s so hard to answer…these aren’t simple black and white questions of wrong or right. Now at first glance you’d think it’d be an easy decision. The kid’s mom is a crackhead who leaves her alone while taking a hit. She clearly doesn’t have a proper job to support a family and hangs around drug dealers, pimps, prostitutes…you know, just the kind of people every child needs for a healthy, stable support system. So given that, I’d obviously leave the child with Morgan Freeman and his wife (can’t remember character names, sorry)…a responsible, well-off, supportive couple who actually love and care for the child. Right?

Maybe. A part of me can’t help but find some credence in Casey Affleck’s point of view. You can’t just steal someone else’s child. Yes, you mean well and yes you are most definitely more well-equipped to take care of this child and she’ll most probably have a 100% chance of succeeding in life…but does that make it right? Is it your life to give? Who are we to decide what’s best? Would we be playing God by giving into something like this? I don’t know…is it idealism by youth to think that this would be the right thing to do? Naïveté to think that it’s possible for Amy Ryan’s character to change? Are we just deluding ourselves into thinking these things? Does the wear and tear of life and of age make this decision so much easier? Make us pessimistic or rather, more realistic? …that there is no hope for the child if left in the hands of Amy’s character. That this is better for her…like Michelle Monaghan said, isn’t it better to know that the child is in a safe place where she can have sleepovers and go to school and basically, have a shot at a normal life? I think these things and then again I go back all over again and ask, who gives you the right to make these decisions? I don’t know, I don’t know…

So I go back and forth, back and forth asking myself what I’d do. But clearly I don’t have the answers…guess I’ll have to keep mulling over it. Hopefully, I’ll never have to make this kind of a decision…

Jag ska fatta mig kortfattat. Jag satte på teven till maten, såg på TV 1000 att Gone Baby Gone körde. En film som jag älskar, men har bara halva. Sett den halvan flera gånger, älskar den. Sedan har jag glömt den.

Problemet var, att det var precis i slutet när jag slog på. Jag ville inte se slutet, jag ville se från mitten. TV1000 är genier. Det finns en till kanal, TV1000+1, som visar samma film fast en timme senare! Visst är det genialiskt?!?! Helt underbart. Detta gjorde att det överlappade perfekt och nu ser jag slutet på den. Fantastiskt.

För övrigt är det Bröderna Affleck som gjort filmen. Ben Affleck, som jag var lite kär i när jag var liten, har regisserat. Hans lillebror Casey Affleck spelar huvudrollen, och gör det BRA.

Se den.

Ben & Casey Affleck - GÖTT MOS

by The Great White Gypsy

Amreeka – Written and Directed by Cherien Dabis
We’ve seen this kind of thing on TV and in movies before. Actually, a lot recently. But this story of a single mother emigrating from Palestine and working at a White Castle in Illinois looks interesting. If you liked The Visitor, you’ll probably enjoy this, and it’s gotten a lot of positive reviews from Cannes and Sundance.
Nisreen Faour, Melkar Muellam, Alia Shawkat
September 4

Carriers – Written and Directed by Alex and David Pastor
Chris Pine (Star Trek, Bottle Shock) has already proven himself to be a versatile actor. Looks like your typical virus-ends-mankind thriller, but since when is that a bad thing? The Pastor brothers are new, but the preview is enticingly vague and eerie.
Chris Pine, Piper Perabo, Lou Taylor Pucci
September 4

Extract – Written and Directed by Mike Judge
The creator of Beavis and Butthead and King of the Hill has been sadly absent from cinema since Office Space in 1999 (save 2006’s Idiocracy). About an Extracts plant owner who thinks his wife is cheating on him, the fact that the preview and the tagline compare it to Office Space could spell trouble, but Judge, Bateman, and J.K. Simmons haven’t let me down so far.
Jason Bateman, Ben Affleck, Mila Kunis, J.K. Simmons, Kristen Wiig, Clifton Collins Jr.
September 4

Gamer – Written and Directed by Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor
Pro: It’s good to see Gerard Butler in an action movie after being in bullcrap like P.S. I Love You, Nim’s Island, and The Ugly Truth.
Con: The Writer/Director team is the same guys who did Crank and Crank 2.
Futuristic story about convicts who are players in a live action video game, controlled by real people. The winner is set free…everyone else dies. Granted, it appears to be a solid movie, but Crank 2 didn’t do anything for Jason Statham’s career (especially after Transporter 3), and after movies like Death Race, The Condemned, and Running Man, don’t expect to see anything groundbreaking.
Gerard Butler, Ludacris, Michael C. Hall, John Leguizamo
September 4

9 – Directed by Shane Acker, Written by Shane Acker and Pamela Pettler
Sure, 9 little rag dolls running around in a post-apocalyptic world might not rattle your cage, but after seeing Sebastian’s Voodoo at the Ashland Festival last April, I can’t wait to see Shane Acker’s animated short come to life as a full length feature. Not only is the voice casting solid, but it’s being produced by Tim Burton and Timur Bekmambetov. I feel like I’ve been waiting for this for 9 years (don’t worry, I already punched myself for that one.)
Elijah Wood, John C. Reilly, Jennifer Connelly, Christopher Plummer, Martin Landau, Crispin Glover
September 9

The Other Man – Written and directed by Richard Eyre
Liam Neeson suspects his wife is cheating on him. Then she disappears, which makes him…slightly more suspicious. So he sets out to find and meet the man she’s seeing. Then they play a game of chess (if only Ingmar Bergman was alive to collect royalties on that). Kinda looks like Taken 2, but Neeson, Banderas, and Linney are all solid, and Eyre directed Notes on a Scandal, which got a lot of Oscar attention. Also based on a short story by Bernhard Schlink, who wrote The Reader. Unsure about this one.
Liam Neeson, Antonio Banderas, Laura Linney
September 11

The Burning Plain – Written and Directed by Guillermo Arriaga
Kicking off Oscar pre-season is Guillermo Arriaga’s (writer: 21 Grams, Babel) poignant drama about three women searching for happiness. Not only are Theron and Basinger involved, but composer Hans Zimmer (Frost/Nixon, The Dark Knight), cinematographers Robert Elswit (There Will Be Blood, Michael Clayton) and John Toll (Gone Baby Gone, The Last Samurai, Almost Famous), and Production Designer Dan Leigh (The Last Kiss, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) are all present and accounted for. Could be a contender.
Charlize Theron, Kim Basinger, John Corbett, Jennifer Lawrence, Joaquim de Almeida, Robin Tunney
September 18

Disgrace – Directed by Steve Jacobs, Written by Anna Maria Monticelli
Adaptation of Nobel Prize winning author J.M. Coetzee’s (Elizabeth Costello, Waiting for the Barbarians) novel about a professor in post-apartheid South Africa who has an affair with a black student. When he is dismissed, he goes to live with his lesbian daughter, and they are attacked by a group of black teenagers. Films like this are hard for Americans to swallow, because they often forget that apartheid really didn’t start to disappear until 1994. Rookie director and writer, but Malkovich is always brilliant.
John Malkovich
September 18

The Informant! – Directed by Steven Soderbergh, Written by Scott Z. Burns
I’m trying very hard to forget about Ocean’s 11-13, and Soderbergh’s love affair with George Clooney. If I focus really hard on films like Out of Sight, Traffic, and Sex, Lies, and Videotape, then maybe I’ll give this Kurt Eichenwald (Conspiracy of Fools) adaptation of an agricultural businessman turned government informant a chance. I make no promises.
Matt Damon, Scott Bakula
September 18

Paris – Written and Directed by Cedric Klapisch
About a Parisian man with heart disease who is waiting for a transplant. He observes the city, and the people around him as they struggle through life and love. Klapisch looks fairly prolific in France, and I’m a Juliette Binoche fan. Looking forward to it.
Juliette Binoche, Romain Duris, Fabrice Luchini
September 18

Jennifer’s Body – Directed by Karyn Kusama, Written by Diablo Cody
A hot high school girl takes a plain jane under her wing. Turns out she’s possessed, and trying to kill everyone. Normally I won’t even mention high school horror films like this. However, the people involved have me interested. Diablo Cody wrote Juno, which was amazing. Kusama directed Girlfight (good), but she also did Aeon Flux (not good). Probably won’t see it on the big screen, but I’ll look for it on On-Demand.
Megan Fox, Amanda Seyfried, J.K. Simmons, Amy Sedaris, Adam Brody
September 18

Splice – Directed by Vincenzo Natali, Written by Vincenzo Natali and Antoinette Terry Bryant
Again, normally I wouldn’t hype a film that appears to be a rip off of Species. But it also reminds me of Mimic, which was directed by Guillermo del Toro and, interestingly enough, del Toro is producing this sci-fi thriller. I like Adrien Brody, and I liked The Orphanage. Enough said.
Adrien Brody, Sarah Polly
September 18

The Blue Tooth Virgin – Written and Directed by Russell Brown
As an aspiring writer, I’m always a sucker for a film about aspiring writers. Two such people in L.A. have their friendship thrown into turmoil when one of them doesn’t like the other’s new screenplay. I’m interested, but most of you might wait until you see it on cable.
Karen Black, Roma Maffia, Lauren Stamile, Lance Aaron, Amber Benson, Bryce Johnson
September 25

The Boys are Back – Directed by Scott Hicks, Written by Alan Cubitt
The director of Snow Falling on Cedars and Hearts in Atlantis is teaming with Clive Owen for this dramedy about a man trying to raise his young son and reconnect with his older son after his wife dies suddenly. Looks more dramatic-family-dynamic than feel-good-comedy, a good departure for Owen as of late.
Clive Owen
September 25

Brief Interviews with Hideous Men – Written and Directed by John Krasinski
Krasinski’s directorial debut portrays a woman (Nicholson) interviewing men about their relationship patterns. Might not be really innovative, but after The Office and Away We Go, I’ll shell out $10 to support Johnny K. Not only that, it’s based on a short story by David Foster Wallace (Infinite Jest), who is freaking brilliant. Good luck finding this anywhere, though; I can’t even find an actual preview yet.
John Krasinski, Julianne Nicholson, Timothy Hutton, Lou Taylor Pucci, Josh Charles
September 25

I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell – Directed by Bob Gosse, Written by Tucker Max
I’ve picked up Tucker Max’s book several times from the discount table at Borders, but, funny as it sounds, it’s not my kind of literature. However, the subject matter should make for an entertaining movie, and the outlandishly misogynistic things this guy says should be good for a laugh (the first line of the preview had me laughing out loud.)
Jesse Bradford, Matt Czuchry, Geoff Stults, Traci Lords
September 25

The Invention of Lying – Written and Directed by Ricky Gervais and Matthew Robinson
As much as I respect Ricky Gervais (The Office…no no, the original one), this inside-out Liar Liar has the potential to be esoterically dull. That being said, anything with Jeffrey Tambor has my initial approval.
Ricky Gervais, Jennifer Garner, Jonah Hill, Patrick Stewart, Jeffrey Tambor, Jason Bateman, Tina Fey
September 25

Pandorum – Directed by Christian Alvart, Written by Travis Malloy
Unknown meets The Descent meets Event Horizon in this sci-fi thriller about two crewmen aboard a large transport spaceship. They wake up alone, without any memory, and start to see weird monsters and crazy visions. Ben Foster is creepy all by himself, but this film looks dark and tense. Director, cinematographer, and editor each have a respectable body of work in Germany, but few successes in the US. I’ll definitely see it.
Ben Foster, Dennis Quaid, Antje Traue, Norman Reedus
September 25

Surrogates – Directed by Jonathan Mostow, Written by Michael Ferris and John D. Brancato
This is an almost Aasimovian story about a future where everyone just stays home on the couch, and controls a robot surrogate in the outside world with their mind. No one’s supposed to die. Then someone does. How do they never see that coming? Unfortunately, Mostow directed Terminator 3, which, along with Terminator Salvation, was also written by Farris and Brancato. If I see Schwarzenegger once, I’m throwing popcorn.
Bruce Willis, Rosemund Pike, Ving Rhames, Radha Mitchell, James Cromwell
September 25

KEEP YOUR EYES OPEN

Dorian Gray – Directed by Oliver Parker, Written by Toby Finlay
Oscar Wilde’s original novel may have been a bit dry, but it’s a classic. Like most classics, however, this one is yet again being twisted and exploited by the film industry. The effects look cool, but the story seems a bit off, and the shameless addition of lurid sex scenes, while generally enticing, is just corrupting another good book, so today’s teens can read the smutty film novelization instead of the real thing. Not sure when it’s hitting the states, but the UK gets it next month.
Ben Barnes, Colin Firth
September 9 (UK)

Creation – Directed by Jon Amiel, Written by John Collee
The story of Charles Darwin in the midst of his controversial theories on evolution. It’s supposed to be based on a biography, but it appears to have a little church propaganda slant to it. Nevertheless, Bettany and Connelly are generally good, and the genuine emotions in the preview look solid. Not sure when we’ll see this one, but once again the UK gets it next month.
Paul Bettany, Jennifer Connelly, Jeremy Northam
September 25 (UK)

New trailer for the new upcoming Martin Scorcese directed film Shutter Island based off of the 2003 novel by Dennis Lehane (The Wire, Gone Baby Gone, Mystic River)  The film stars Leonardo Dicaprio, Mark Ruffalo, Michelle Williams, Jackie Earle Haley & Ben Kingsley and is set for a October 2009 release.

“In 1954, two U.S. marshals investigate the disappearance of a patient from a hospital for the criminally insane on an island in Massachusetts.  They run into trouble when they are deceived by the hospital’s chief administrator, a hurricane hits and an inmate riot traps them on the island.”

Jon Hamm and Rebecca Hall have joined Ben Affleck in Boston-set crime thriller/romance The Town. The Mad Men actor will play an FBI agent hot on the heels of blue-collar bank robber Doug MacRay (Affleck), who uses Hall’s bank clerk as bait to snare his man.

The Town, Affleck’s second stint behind the camera after Gone Baby Gone, is based on Chuck Hogan’s novel Prince Of Thieves. Hogan has adapted his own book for the screen, aided and abetted by Peter King and with a polish from Affleck, for whom The Town marks a return to home soil.

The Town’s producer Graham King has a similarly impressive Boston-based crime pedigree, with his mantlepiece boasting an Oscar for The Departed.

Hall, one of last year’s Orange BAFTA Rising Star nominees, has the challenge of swapping her English accent for the New England version, although if her turn as Frost/Nixon’s socialite Caroline Cushing is anything to go by, she won’t have much trouble.

If she and Affleck can produce anything like the smouldering Clooney/Lopez chemistry of Out Of Sight, and Affleck proves as handy directing himself as he was his brother in Gone Baby Gone, we could be in for a treat. At the very least, we’ll get to see the FBI-ed Hamm in more sharp suits.

Filming on The Town is scheduled to start in the Boston suburb of Charlestown in late August.

Most people know Ben Affleck for his life outside of his day-job as an actor, which is too bad because when he is working off a good script he can really shine as an actor. Ben’s latest foray into film hasn’t been acting but instead directing. If you haven’t seen his directorial debut, “Gone Baby Gone”, do yourself a favor and check it out. It is based off a popular crime novel by Dennis LeHane which I’ll have to read after I finish this best poker book ever.  I watched it last night after installing my new acura rsx rims. Ben’s brother Casey Affleck does a great job portraying a morally ambiguous private investigator. Here’s hoping Ben dips his toes back into directing in the near future. I’m off to shop for some mustang shocks now.

Do you love gigantic, shape-shifting metallic aliens from beyond the stars? Excellent! In that case, you’ll love our review of The House Bunny!

Oh, we also talk about this one movie you might have heard of… Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. It’s doing OK at the box office. I guess.

At any rate, you should totally listen to the latest episode of the audio-orgy known as You Shall Not Cast; available now at the link below.

YSNC – Episode 4A

Pat, Alex and Drew also talk about The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Moon, The Brothers Bloom, a shitload of movies available on Netflix Watch Instantly, and a bizarre robo-human relationship with Robin Williams. Then Pat and Drew derail the podcast, and Alex makes light of it by quoting Dane Cook.

We also talk about last week’s Box Office Breakdown, movie news (including who the Green Lantern will be, Spider-Man 4’s third writer, a feature-length Thanksgiving film, and the third installment in a spectre-fighting franchise), and movies we’re looking forward to.

And that’s not all! We need YOUR HELP!

Listeners! We also have a couple of questions we need answered. Please answer in the comments section below:

1) If you have to be stranded alone with a robot voiced by Robin Williams, would you a) enjoy it, or b) want to kill yourself? And if you would want to kill yourself, who would be the better substitute?

2) What show is Alex talking about where some girl loses her memory?

(Ed. Note: since the recording of this podcast, the following facts have been confirmed:

1) Ryan Renyolds will play Green Lantern in the upcoming Warner Brothers film.

2) The Hangover’s budget was roughly $35 mil, and has grossed over $300 mil worldwide. Hot. Shit.)

The song used at the intro and outro of this podcast is “Hysteria” by Muse, off the album Absolution, which you can find on Amazon.com.

Gone Baby Gone (2007)

5 stars – * * * * *

Director - Ben Affleck

Cast - Casey Affleck, Michelle Monaghan, Ed Harris, Morgan Freeman, Amy Harris

——————–

Gone Baby Gone follows a young detective couple as they try to track down a young kidnapped girl in Boston. The plot is a tad convoluted, but both Ben Affleck’s direction and the editing of the film give us what we need to know.

When we think of Ben Affleck we don’t usually think of a director. We think of an actor, and one whose films have not necessarily been received that well critically. This film is not actually his directing debut as has been hyped, (he has directed two others, but neither found their way to theaters). However, it certainly forces us to re-examine how we see this star. If asked before seeing this movie if he was capable of thoughtful, meaningful, tense cinema, I doubt many would have thought it possible. Yet here we have exactly that.

The script is based of a book by the same author as the critically acclaimed Mystic River, so it should come as no surprise that the story is great. Ben Affleck co-wrote this screenplay, as he did with his Oscar-winning script for Good Will Hunting. It tackles some major issues here. The climax is not, as in most cop thrillers, a shoot out. Instead we get a moral dilemma, and a doozy of one at that. I will not go into details, but suffice it to say that the ending will undoubtedly keep you thinking and debating with others who have seen it. It is truly moving.

The acting is great. Ben’s younger brother Casey (who is fast becoming a name of his own) is pitch perfect casting in the lead role of a spunky yet conflicted detective. Michelle Monaghan is surprisingly effective, and Morgan Freeman continues with his warm mentor thing. But Ed Harris and Amy Ryan really delivers the knock-out performances here. He plays a character who is tough, yet human, with a clear sense of his values. She plays a grieving mother who just happened to be a “white trash” crack addict. All the characters here are wonderfully rounded, with not one of them being a stereotype.

I should mention some of the “action scenes” as well. There is one particular scene where Casey Affleck and Ed Harris raid a house, and some gun play ensues. It is an extremely good scene, compact and tense, with not a shot wasted. It holds interest without going on too long, which some gun fights tend to do.

OVERALL

This is a great crime thriller, one of the best. Some may find it’s language and harsh violence off putting, but it is presented in an extremely realistic way, giving the film weight and honesty. Be prepared afterwards to talk about the tough moral issues it raises. Definitely recommended.

——————–

TRAILER

“Gone Baby Gone” on other websites:

IMDB —– Rotten Tomatoes —– Wikipedia

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Gone baby gone är otäck. Till och med med Lehaneska mått. Läs den inte om du har små barn, för man blir så ledsen då.
Huvudstoryn är om lilla fyraåriga Amanda som blir kidnappad från sin värdelösa/elaka morsa. Hennes moster tjatar på Patrick Kenzie och Angie Gennaro att de ska ta sig an fallet. Det blir väldigt slitsamt, framför allt känslomässigt.
Det här är en väldigt bra bok, och jag konstaterar att Dennis Lehanes och min hjärna på nåt vis är i synk. På annat sätt kan jag inte förklara att jag alltid, i varenda bok, fattar hur det hänger ihop långt före Kenzie/Gennaro. Jag brukar inte kunna gissa sånt särskilt ofta, nämligen. Inte i så här intelligenta deckare. Det betyder förstås också att han är en jävel på att placera ut ledtrådar.
Har blivit film också, den törs jag nog inte se. Inte ens fastän Ed Harris är med.
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Läs även andra bloggares åsikter om Dennis Lehande, Gone baby gone, deckare, barn som far illa

In honor of the newest coolest accessory for this summer and fall: gaybies, I have gone ahead and re imagined some Hollywood favorites to be more gayby friendly. Enjoy.

* * * * * * * * * * 94%

Patrick Kensey (Casey Affleck) searches for Amanda McCready

I loved this movie. It can be sad at times, as it is about a missing child, but the quality of this movie just reminds the viewer that it will be remembered. Ben Affleck directs as his little brother stars in this drama set in Boston. The scenery, acting, and story are amazing and if you are looking for a suspenseful mystery, this is for you. Reviewed by Mr. Fallglass

Watching “Gone Baby Gone”, I was fascinated by Casey Affleck’s bone structure and how the lighting in the movie accentuated his cheekbones and eyebrows.  I made this painting of the scene where he and his partner meet with the drug dealer “Cheese” to discuss the ransom for the missing girl.

I started with a 12″ x 12″ canvas primed with purple acrylic paint and sketched out the subject’s facial features in oil paint.  As usual, I mixed ultramarine blue, burnt umber, and a touch of alizarine crimson to make black paint (rather than using black out of the tube).  I used Gamsol to thin the paint for fluidity.  This first step in painting a portrait is very important for getting the proportions of the features right.  Look at the eyes, mouth, parts of the nose, shadows on the cheeks, etc. as simply shapes that fit together to make a whole image.

Still using thinned oil paint, I brushed in the skin tones.  I used a mixture of raw sienna, burnt sienna, cadmium red and cadmium yellow with lots of titanium white for his pale skin.  For the warmer areas, I added more reds.  In the shadows, I added burnt umber and ultramarine.  I kept the paint fairly thin and washy.

Developing the painting further with the darkest areas in thick black paint.  I continued to mold the shapes of his face, looking for highlighted areas where the light hit his face.  I also painted the background a medium bluish-grey and his jacket green.  Some of the purple acrylic paint still shows through from the underpainting.

The painting is basically finished at this point.  The cropped photo at the top of this post shows more contrast and greater color saturation.  I like to let the brush strokes show in my paintings rather than blending them smoothly.

All images (c) Shelley Aikens.  Noncommercial distribution permitted with attribution.

SBux – 39th & Sandy / Portland, OR  This weekend I watched the documentary The King of Kong (1 hr, 19 min), the movie Gone Baby Gone (1 hr, 54 min); Game 5 of the NBA Finals (1 hr, 53 min); and the entire first season of The Sopranos (11 hr, 16 min).

Total: 16 hours, 22 minutes

I’m a role model for the kids.

Adapté d’une oeuvre de Denis Lehane, dont les romans Mystic River et Gone Baby Gone ont déjà inspiré au cinéma respectivement Clint Eastwood et Ben Affleck , ce film – qui ne sortira que dans quelques mois en Belgique – plante son décor et son récit dans l’univers asilaire du milieu du 20è siècle, avec ses patients, ses soignants mystérieux,  ses cellules et ses ombres !

Martin Scorsese se frotte pour la première fois (ou peut-être la seconde – si l’on se réfère à son remake de Cape Fear/Les nerfs à vif ) au film de “genre”… en l’occurence au  “film noir” as they say in english et aussi en français, qui mélange thriller, mystère, action.

Shutter Island conte l’histoire de deux marshalls dans les années 50, envoyés sur l’île de Shutter Island, ancienne forteresse datant de la guerre de sécession et transformée depuis en asile psychiatrique pour malades mentaux criminels,  afin d’y retrouver une criminelle mystérieusement disparue.

Voici la première bande-annonce (en anglais) de ce film, qui donne déjà un aperçu de la représentation de la maladie mentale, de l’enfermement et de la crainte que cela inspirait à cette époque, magnifiquement filmé et orchestré par un metteur en scène passé maître dans l’observation de l’âme humaine.

I’ve been up to a lot these days. As the new Art Director/ Designer for the online publication Mixture Magazine, I not only get to do plenty of design work, but I have gotten to interview some pretty cool people, such as actor Jay Giannone (known for his roles in The Departed and Gone Baby Gone) and “Godfather of Boston Comedy” Dick Doherty. Both were featured in the newly released May issue of Mixture Magazine (check out www.mixturemagazine.com for more info).

As far as the design work goes, I try to create bold designs that reflect the subjects’ personalities. The design for Mixture would be lacking without Jaymes Leavitt’s photography of course; I take inspiration from the photographs and use them to create my designs. The most recent issue of Mixture was using mostly black and white photos, so I decided it would be cool to do the entire issue in black and white, with minimal highlights in red.

After wrapping up Mixture this month, I have been doing some freelance work for Visual Communications in Lowell. Principal and Creative Director Glenn Ruga has been really great to work with. He is also a great photographer; his photo documentaries on the Balkans are really amazing.