To be honest, I must admit “Eclipse” movie was a slight improvement. Directing was better, script fas a bit more coherent, and even (even!) acting was a little less horrible. Don’t get me wrong, the movie was bad, messy and embarrassing. But it was more watchable than the previous instalments. Now that’s something, isn’t it?

“Eclipse” has its wonderful, campy, narmy moments, but there are not enough of them to make up for nonexistent story, empty dialogue and overall pointlessness of the movie. There’s also the issue of music- along with indie songs there is a serious (way tooo serious) and “epic” score. Such music is accompanied by trashy dialogue and scenes in which absolutely nothing happens. It tries (badly) to tell us meaningless dialogue along the lines of “Jacob is my friend, I want to see him” is extremely important, but it fails. The effect is somewhat amusing, thought, and it does approach the “trash gem” line.

As for the actors, I must say Kristen Stewart blinked a little less so she was less annoying, but she still looks completely bored (I don’t blame her). Robert Pattinson manages to be strangely absent and unnoticeable, which is a gift, given the fact he’s always there. He is there, but we just don’t see him. I don’t know how they did it, but it’s a good thing, because he still acts like he really, really needs to go to the bathroom every second he’s on screen. Young Taylor Lautner looks a bit older here, so his abs match his face a little better. His acting, which was almost unwatcheable in the previous movie, is a bit better- but only a bit.

All one can say about supporting characters is “blah”. Humans are not important, vampires don’t look like vampires, wolf pack is one huge fan service. Dakota Fanning and Jackson Rathbone are the only one who deserve a mention, and not for the same reason. Fanning can act, and she’s good- as good as you can get here (which is not far). She is the only one who managed to turn an extremely weak material into something “ok”, which means the girl is really, really talented. As for Rathbone, we all know he can’t act, but somehow he does look unnatural enough to pass for a vampire. The “I’m about to crap” face works better on him than Pattinson, that’s for sure.

The worst things

Special effects were embarrassing to watch. Wolf pack, I’m looking at you. But there were other trashy effects so if laughing at those is your thing, “Eclipse” won’t disappoint. And I do admit, they were a bit better than “New Moon”, but still highly cringeworthy.

Also: makeup. It’s bad beyond words. Edward, who is supposed to be the most gorgeous guy on Earth, looks like a drag queen on a bad day (nothing against drag queens, but I don’t think that’s the look they wanted to achieve.)

The plot. Strictly speaking, it’s not filmmakers fault. We all know what was the source material. Simply put: it was boring. All they did in the movie was talking. And since we all know how uninspiring characters are, listening their endless dialogue was not a highly amusing thing to do.

The best things

The best things were the above mentioned narmy moments. No words to describe such scenes as “Edward, I promise, I’ll go to college and I’ll let you buy me an expensive car, and I’ll marry you, just please, fuck me!”. The legend of the third wife is also a gem, and so is homoerotic tent scene. Another good thing was the infamous scene in which Bella orders Jacob to kiss her under the fake mountains, with “epic” music in the background.

Dakota Fanning’s portrayal is the only non-narmy thing that was good in this movie.

The Verdict?

All in all, “Eclipse” is not clever, or ironic enough to pass for camp. It still takes itself way too seriously. It’s not even trashy enough to be “too bad it’s good” in a narmy way. But there’s certainly a potential.

Not to mention, the best is yet to come: “Breaking Dawn”, the ultimate wonder of trash literature, is going to be adapted in not one, but two movies. With a good attitude and inspired crew, we might be having a camp classic on the way.

Rating: ** jefflions out of *****

See also

“Eclipse”: The logic behind a boring mess (my book review)
“New Moon” movie: Not worth the LULZ
… and other “Twilight” spittings

Ok, this isn’t easy for me to admit. I am not even sure if it’s true. I don’t even know if it’s sexism or something else, but there are so many male authors on my favourites list- and only a few females.

You might say it’s not surprising. After all, there were- historically- more male writers. Women of the past didn’t enjoy the freedom to write and to get their voices heard. It is, more or less changed today. Still, number of male writers is still higher.

Not to mention most of the so called “classics” are written by men. It’s not surprising for anyone to have more males on the list of favourite authors.

But there’s more. I seem to dislike most of the books written by females. It’s not like it’s impossible to find many books written by female authors these days. But it seems I don’t get them. And I’m not even talking about the so-called “chick lit” garbage that we all know it’s a poor excuse for literature. I’m talking about serious books. Why don’t I like them? Or to say it better: why don’t I like them as much as I like those written by men?

Why isn’t it easier for me, as a woman, to identify with stories written by females? Am I so brainwashed with testosterone-filled world to see anything different as a good thing? But hey people, I do not believe in male vs female writing. I do not believe men write differently than women- I swear, I don’t. I do not think it’s possible to say whether a writer is a man or a woman. I don’t think testosterone or estrogen guides anyone’s heart, mind or muse. I think the whole “men and women are soooo different” issue is rubbish.

In short, I don’t think females write differently than males- but I still seem to prefer literature written by men. (On the other hand, I enjoy academic books and essays written by female scholars. But that’s not the same).

There seem to be only a few female authors I enjoy reading. One of them is one of my favourite authors (and, along with Ian McEwan, my favourite living author). I’m talking about Toni Morrison, of course. Her novels are one of the best I’ve ever read, and “Jazz” is easily in my top 10 books. The way this woman writes is unbelievable and beyond amazing. (The funny thing is, I had no idea author was a woman (or black for that matter) when I first read “Jazz”).

Except for Toni Morrison, I like work of Pearl Buck (ironic, isn’t it? I mean, for these two ladies to be my fav female authors?) I also like, in a very nostalgic way, Charlotte Bronte (but I guess that’s because Jane Eyre was perhaps my favorite book when I was a kid). And… And I can’t think of more authors at the moment. And it’s not like I don’t read.

This trend, I’m afraid, goes beyond literature. My favourite musicians are men. Maybe it could be explained with the fact I prefer deep voices and to give it as a reason for preferring male singers. Maybe. But literature?

So, am I sexist?

PS-As a little gift, here’s one female musician I like. In fact, I’m really into this song these days, it is amazing on so many levels and it inspires me. And only really unique songs can truly inspire an author. A female one, in this case.

I am sorry for not updating in a while. It happens. I was a) busy and b) suddenly sick of the Internet. Yes, yours truly was actually losing interest in the Internet. I suspect it was temporary, but still…

It happens, I guess. I completely lost an inspiration for blogging- and those senior readers know it happens to me from time to time. I don’t like to blog randomly, without any idea or structure within a post, so when I’m not inspired to write something coherent, I don’t write at all. I guess it’s the same for other bloggers, but those smart out there always have an idea for at least 3 posts in advance, so they can always use those ideas. Others simply don’t care about writing randomly. Or not updating often.

All in all, I’m here. Sorry for my late replies to your comments/emails/blog posts. Hope to be more regular these days!

And now, something really cute:

Economic Left/Right: -7.12
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -5.08

It basically means I’m at far left when it comes to economic issues, and I’m a libertarian in social matters. Also, it shows my disgust for authoritarian regimes and right-wing ways of handling economics (whatever that really means).

More or less, I’m close to be an anarchist.

Ok, the graph doesn’t explicitly show these tendencies, so I ended up being on far left and moderately libertarian. But since I show disgust for most of the political ideas, I’m surprised I didn’t end up in a corner of the chart or something. I hate most of the political systems known to man, past and present.

As for anarchism, I do not believe in it, but I guess getting anarchism result is logical. However, I don’t really support anarchy; I don’t believe it could work, so you could said I don’t believe in it either.

Now, I understand anarchism gets a really bad reputation (and it’s not that I don’t get why). But anarchism, as a political philosophy, is not about violence, or destroying private property, OR listening Sex Pistols and wearing t-shirts with angry messages. The problem with anarchism is that it works much better as a social critique of other political systems, than an actual system that can work. Also, there are many different, even conflicting anarchisms, so it’s not like we’ll see anarchy at work any time soon.

Take the Political Compass test: politicalcompass.org

You can’t go to a Bob Dylan concert in Belgrade (June 6th 2010).
You can’t go to Krapina, see Neanderthal site and visit relatives.

Oh well. I just wanted (needed?) to share this one.

Mentally? I don’t feel old. Is 29 old, anyway? Some say late 20s and early 30s are the times when women become either mature, responsible individuals, or completely spoiled bitches (a la “Sex and the City”). I still feel like a child, but uh, child with responsibilities, bills and real stuff that require maturity. But in so many ways, I do feel like a kid- and yes, like a kid, not even a teenager.

Thanks for being here and reading my rants.

Have fun!

So, what happened? Not much. I just learned that the novel I’m planning to write, and the novel I’m outlining and living for so long (around 7 years, to be exact) is not as original as I thought it was. In other words, someone else wrote a novel using similar motives (and ideas, more or less).

Naturally, I feel like crap now.

This thing should not surprise me. After all, things like this happen all the time, and I am the first to admit there is no such things as a “new story” anymore. All stories have been told long ago; all you can do is to tell them in a different way, your way.

Still… It hurts. It hurts not because I thought my story was, oh, so original an unique; it hurts because it sucks to have many/more particular stories that use similar, yet peculiar motives. I mean, it’s hard to make an unusual mix of elements like that, but to do it twice? What does my novel means if some key elements (or what it looks like key elements in my head) are the same?

My husband says I’m just being paranoid and that there are no new stories after all (the thing I always say to people when they encounter the same problem with their writing- and I know plenty of times when it happens).

Then again, I always knew my chances of getting published were slim. But that didn’t change the fact I had (and I still have) a clear vision of what I want with this book, and how I want to make the strange mix of high and urban fantasy and anthropology work. Like I told my husband, this novel was supposed to be some sort of a literary version of my graduate thesis, in which I’ll explore, in fiction form, all the main themes I learned studying archaeology (and anthropology). (My official paper would be about Iron Age Greece, btw).

So yes, I really want to write this novel. It’s not because I spent years shaping its story. It’s because I need to write; I knew this ever since I was 11 years old. Don’t get me wrong: I can live without it. But it makes my days better and it let me cope with reality and its problems (poverty, political mess, etc) better. I am good at it. I might not be a great writer per se, but I have a passion and patience and this need that makes me want to write even if there’s no one to read it.

The casual sex. The one night stands. Whatever you want to call it. The sex “just because”. What does it mean for women?

In my teens, when I was young & inexperienced, I had a distorted view of sex. In a way, I was always able to distinguish between sex and love, not in a way they can’t or shouldn’t go together, but in a way I know when an attraction is purely physical. And there’s nothing wrong with it per se.

The problem is, I saw sex as something more brilliant, more amazing or, if you want, more romantic than it actually was (for most of the people anyway). I thought sex was magical in a way. That it is all about the physical passion that overcomes the reason, the mind, anything. The unstoppable. That it’s about two people wanting each other so much, they would do anything to touch each other and lost within the passion, even if it means not to see each other ever again. I thought it was about the feeling – and I hope you all know what I’m talking about – the feeling of wanting a man so bad it hurts; knowing that it’s impossible not to look at him, to touch him, to be with him.

Needles to say, it doesn’t work that way. Now, I’m not talking about myself here, but about general human experience with (casual) sex. In many cases, it’s not really about the passion. It’s about boredom. It’s about scoring. It’s about getting drunk and not knowing or caring what’s going on. It’s about being a rebel, or even not having anything else to do at the moment. But mainly, it’s about the boredom. There’s nothing passionate about it.

Now, I’m one of those people who do not believe in some “principal” differences between women and men. “X are from Venus, and Y are from Mars” is crap, if you ask me. I do know there are differences, but they are mainly cultural, and, while culture is very important, I do not believe women have different (sexual) needs nor that they are biologically less promiscuous than men. In case of casual sex, I don’t think women are unable to enjoy it, nor I think all women seek love and long term relationships first.

But here’s a fact (or a general rule): women do enjoy casual sex less and it often leaves them unsatisfied on all accounts. Why is that?

In short: it’s their culture’s fault. Not matter what they might think, subconsciously, women still buy double standards and believe in the old society rules that clearly say casual sex is not for women. The worse case is for the ones who try to fight double standards and the old morality.

These women don’t involve in casual sex because of the sex itself, but because they want to make a statement or rebel against their parents, society or double standards. In these circumstances, the actual sex becomes unimportant, and the quality of it is diminished.

And there’s another dimension. There are, indeed, plenty of women who don’t believe in double standards and who don’t see anything wrong in casual sex. The problem is: they are not alone here. Which brings us to the other main point:

It’s men’s fault.

Ok, ok, before you shoot me, here’s what I mean: it’s not just female upbringing that stands on the way of women enjoying casual sex. There are also people they enjoy casual sex with: men. And men have their own upbringing. Needless to say, many of them still embrace double standards in all their “beauty”.

I’m not saying all guys are double standard loving assholes. Not consciously anyway. But at the end of the day, when it comes to casual sex, it looks like most of them don’t really get that it takes two people to play this game. Two equals. That’s why you get all those guys who disrespect women involving in one night stands. Yes, even if said women involve in one night stands with them.

Many men do not wish to see the situation as such (as my male friends like to point), and many claim they, in fact, don’t think badly of women who like casual sex. But at the end of the day, it does seem only a selected number of them are able to fully respect women who do it.

Also: boredom. Like I said, many people involve in one night stands not in passion, but out of boredom. In these circumstances, the quality of the actual sex is diminished. However, it looks like it has worse effects on women. While men hate bad and uninspired sex like anybody else, in the morning they can comfort themselves with the thought that “at least they got laid”. But women tend to feel used after a bad sex, especially if a guy showed no actual interest in their needs during the intercourse. That’s why, instead of “well, at least I had sex” she thinks “what have I done?” in the morning.

These are some of the reasons why casual sex rarely works for women. They do it to make a statement, and they do it with men who don’t respect them. As sad as this sounds, if a man doesn’t respect a women enough (not in the morning but during the actual intercourse), the sex would suck for her. Not to mention she’ll probably feel used in the morning. That’s why many women decide that “casual” sex and one night stands are not for them.

And that’s exactly what I did. See my page: Jefflion Randomness

I was completely unaware of Tumblr until a few days ago. Another bogging platform? No thanks.

But then again, I realized it is a handy little thing if you wish to post small, random things that simply do not fit into your main website. Random pictures, or short news you found somewhere. So I took it as a cross between regular blogging and Twitter.

The best thing about Tumblr is the fact you can reblog anything you like without much effort. Needless to say, I tried it and it’s useful for collecting interesting stuff all over the place.

I don’t really have a plan for that blog/website/account. All I want is to post quick, interesting and RANDOM stuff that don’t really fit in here- but are too “big” for Twitter. Sort of things that would fit my “Trash” section here- which brings me to question: what to do about it? Any ideas?

If you are a tumblr.com member, feel free to add me. Expect WTF content, stuff about archaeology and astronomy, animals, and posts about my favourite actors, musicians and movies.

jefflion.tumblr.com

I’m in my Jeff Bridges phase right now. I don’t know how it started, probably after his Oscar win, but the real reason that I’ve been sick and had to rest, and what’s better than watching the movies in your collection (or, in this case, my husband’s collection).

I really liked Bridges before, but I haven’t seen many of his films. Well, that’s something that needed to be changed.

Jeff Bridges was never really a huge movie star, despite being a good actor and getting a few Oscar nominations early in his career. Plus, it’s not that he was unpleasant to look at. In his 20s and especially 30s, he was reasonably attractive: at 6′ 2” and slim, he made many women swoon after him, despite the fact that, definitely, he was never what is called “conventionally handsome”. But there’s something incredibly sweet and charming and almost innocent about him, something in his eyes, maybe, and those are one of the rare things, things that make people look like good beings.

Later, he gained weight and embraced The Dude in him- and became even more awesome than he was before. And he kept sweetness and innocence in his eyes. Truly a rare gift.

Older, chubby Jeff was even more loved and appreciated among fans- and critics liked him too: even if reviews of a movie were bad, most of them praised his acting skills. We all know I am not crazy about the Oscars, but I am happy he won this year.

Unforgettable

Some of the memorable performances I like the most.

First, often forgotten “American Heart”. The movie is not for everybody, but I liked it, and Jeff was amazing, so the fact nobody knows about this movie makes me a bit angry. In case you want to know, this is where one of the most popular Jeff’s images comes from.

There is also “The Fisher King” and again, it’s not for everybody, and it’s made in a distinctive style, and I liked it and I loved Jeff’s performance. Some focus on Robin Williams, but to me, Jeff’s portrayal was the key. It was subtle (while not appearing as such), and complex. There’s a scene early in the movie, when he hears a terrible news on TV. The focus is on his face, and his eyes are terrified, and he speaks with us with just his eyes; and we can read all the fear and all the shock and all the emotions in them. Simply unforgettable.

And of course, there is Dude, legendary Dude- and don’t say you didn’t expect this. He virtually lived the Dude and I am sure this one doesn’t need an explanation. But as much as I love “The Big Lebowski” and Jeff as the Dude, there is one performance and one movie I like more.

“Starman” stole my heart, so to speak, with its innocence and unforgettable characters. The story of a gentle alien who clones himself into a young widow’s husband is not original, and the film itself has a B-movie touch. But this is a fairytale, a road movie fairytale, and it’s so touching, poignant and nostalgic that it makes you forget about all the imperfections in the film.

It’s about the characters, and Jeff and Karen Allen made such a strong and believable couple, one of the best I’ve seen. But more than anything, this movie owes its quality to Jeff’s acting. He is simply incredible here, no other words to describe it. His take on alien who is adjusting to his new body and new environment is so believable, it’s impossible to even imagine there’s anything but an alien in the body that resembles young Jeff Bridges. He really deserved his Oscar nomination and, while there are many other great roles, and more legendary ones (read: The Dude), this is definitely my favourite.

While watching this film, you can only admire his acting… And then forget about the acting and you connect to the characters strongly, and in the end the movie gives you hope and fills you with sweet nostalgia and even makes you remember some dear moments you thought you forgot a long time ago. Definitely my favourite Jeff’s film.

Random (but important) bits

Jeff Bridges’ official site is the most original official site I’ve seen, full of doodles, amazing photographs and random stuff. Truly unique.

The Dude’s “Yeah, well, that’s just, like, your opinion, man” gotta be one of the strongest inspirational quotes in movie history.

I never payed attention before, but now I see there are tons of Jeff fans in Serbia. Female fans, if you know what I mean. I knew he was loved as an actor, but I had no idea so many Serbian girls and women had a thing for him. Yes, even now, and he’s in his 60s.

He is Jeff and this website has a special love for all Jeffs that rule. Edit: I just found out his full name is Jeffrey Leon. I’m shocked and amazed!

Links

JeffBridges.com – Dude’s website.

Jeff and Karen Allen singing “All I Have To Do Is Dream” from “Starman”.
- Some people say it’s the most embarrassing music video ever made (and it’s not like I don’t see their point), but I think it’s sweet.

The Top 10 Jeff Bridges Performances – A very good list, even without some memorable performances. But generally I agree with the list (top places especially).

5 For the Day: Jeff Bridges – One of the most beautiful things ever written about Jeff Bridges.