etude.

typostruction:

Galileo (by katiedaisy)

(via prettyclever)

newyorker:

Settling the Score

So, is there a real case for disqualifying “Drive”? For that to be true, the fifty per cent that Martinez wrote by himself would have to be dramatically negligible and the songs that appear in the film would have to be anchoring key dramatic moments. Watching the film three times, I simply didn’t find that to be true. The movie’s opening scene—which you can watch here, narrated by Refn, though without the music or dialogue, sadly—is a masterful layering of sounds that court total discord but somehow remain separate and intelligible, thereby making them all the more nerve-scraping: the pulse of a drum machine, a police radio, a basketball game broadcast, the beeping of an open car door. This music is Johnny Jewel’s song for the Chromatics, “Tick of the Clock,” which he rebuilt from scratch for the movie.

Other than that, the key moments of the movie, several of them wildly violent, are paired with Martinez’s music, a subtly unnerving blend of sentimental and brutal sounds. The pop songs happen during some of the movie’s most slack and generic scenes, like a montage of a jolly trip to a river, complete with innocent child. Those are not the moments that typify “Drive.” Meanwhile, Martinez chose to give his programmers songwriting credit because they deserved it, and so they could be paid as the movie made its way, commercially, through the world. An honest labor practice ends up hurting Martinez, despite having fifty per cent of the movie’s music credited to him alone.

- Sasha Frere-Jones on Drive and the Best Original Score Oscar: http://nyr.kr/AwEQEU

Just came back from the library where they’ve been playing Moneyball on big screen. I heard it was good, and also heard many complains about it. Most of them were from chicks that went to see it just because Brad Pitt was in it, and they couldn’t get the point of the movie. Others were from boys that got tired explaining things to them girls. Gee, my high school mate even created a facebook fan page called “Shut your girlfriend up, man!”

I’m not really a huge baseball fan, but I really liked the film. The fact that is was based on a true story only made it more charming. Tearing up the rules? Spitting on the traditions? That’s rebellious, and we all love that. That’s the fairy tale. That’s what people want to see happening for real.

I’ve always been a sucker for weirdos and freaks and geeks(in the movies, of course). They…stand out. And the Oakland A’s got a first baseman whose biggest fear is a ball hit in his general direction and a relief pitcher that throws funny and prays for your family. Enough said.

I type “baseball, life” on google and come up with 153,000,000 results. Never really played baseball in my life, not even one game. But from everything I read, watch or listen to, I was told more than once that “life is like a baseball game.” Even Humphrey Bogart has a baseball-related quote. Ha! And by my own experience, I say that life IS truly like a baseball game: you don’t have to know what it’s about to love it. And vice versa.

“A tubby ballplayer, always uneasy about stealing bases, decides to go for it. However, his worst fear happened: he stumbles after rounding first and then struggles to tag back up. People were laughing. They’re not, however, cackling at his inelegant achievement. They’re laughing because dude hit a homer and didn’t even know it. He quickly figures it out and bumbles around the bases, grinning like he just won the lottery.”

How can you not get romantic with baseball?

Billy Beane, Moneyball.

Just a little twist to make your heart swell.