time for you, time for me

"But the true beauty behind Breaking Bad is how euphoric it is to watch a character come to own his..."

Wed, 23 May 2012 12:29:41 -0400

“But the true beauty behind Breaking Bad is how euphoric it is to watch a character come to own his own existence. We get to see a man who realizes that to live is indeed to be free—that we are irrevocably faced with choices of what life we want to lead every single day, and it is up to us as individuals to make these choices. This freedom is scary, and we find routine ways of evading it—ways of tricking ourselves into feeling trapped and even like victims of our own lives. Walter shows just how illusory such limitations are by refusing to act as a slave to the social expectations placed upon him. His bravery extends well beyond the occasional tough guy act: it is existential bravery. And I think perhaps this is why we return to watch his transformation time and time again. Because one can’t help but feel a little awe, seeing someone achieve this rare state of being.”

- a bright wall in a dark room.: TV MONTH: Breaking Bad (2008 - present)

jack white | love is blindness

Wed, 23 May 2012 10:56:26 -0400

jack white | love is blindness

Did Mr. Eko get LOST? (I’ve never seen an episode of Lost...

Tue, 22 May 2012 12:20:00 -0400

Did Mr. Eko get LOST?

(I’ve never seen an episode of Lost or Oz and I don’t know what’s going on. Why are you here? Is it because I am super famous now that my work is published on IMDB? Because if so, then yes, I approve and we are clearly in the same IMDB circle. You and me, IMDB buddies, until the day we die. It was nice being out of the limelight but now that I am veryfamous, I understand you and you understand me and we are both, the two of us, together in the knowledge of what it is like to be wanted by other people. But they can’t have us! We are too famous, we are too elite. Thank you for reaching out to me, friend. FYI, I will have a verified Twitter any day now.)

alexwhines replied to your photo: Here is the oldest picture of me on Facebook,… photo tagging...

Fri, 18 May 2012 14:23:17 -0400

alexwhines replied to your photo: Here is the oldest picture of me on Facebook,…

photo tagging wasn’t around in the first year or two. It was just the profile picture.

How quickly we forget. Or, like, how quickly over 8 years we forget.

Here is the oldest picture of me on Facebook, taken in 2006. I...

Fri, 18 May 2012 14:17:00 -0400

Here is the oldest picture of me on Facebook, taken in 2006. ~~I joined Facebook in 2004 so I don’t know why there isn’t a picture on me from that two-year span, but there you go.~~ Apparently photo-tagging didn’t exist until 2006? This was taken in the apartment Andrea and I shared in Brentwood. What I like most about this picture is that the soundtrack to the moment is displayed on the TV. If you were there, this would make a lot of sense. In the second-oldest picture of me on Facebook, Andrea and I are waltzing on the Santa Monica pier. As Kenny Loggins would say, I miss us.

"I’ve never as fanatically declared my allegiance and disdain for various media as I did in high..."

Fri, 18 May 2012 12:05:37 -0400

“I’ve never as fanatically declared my allegiance and disdain for various media as I did in high school, when making these judgments seemed critical to constructing an identity. Some of these decisions were made arbitrarily. When I found myself nodding along too readily to every song on MTV’s top 20 countdown, I would choose bands to futilely rail against. Presidents of the United States? I hate you, with your one-word-titled songs comparing women to fruit. You are the bane of my existence!”

- a bright wall in a dark room.: TV MONTH: Freaks and Geeks (1999)

mattpatches: Here’s a snapshot from my weekend. Trying to...

Wed, 16 May 2012 11:23:03 -0400

mattpatches:

Here’s a snapshot from my weekend. Trying to regain hearts Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword style.

I took this picture! The hearts appeared in real-time.

distorte replied to your post: I honestly want to know why we have so many… I feel like this...

Tue, 15 May 2012 17:00:00 -0400

distorte replied to your post: I honestly want to know why we have so many…

I feel like this about the entire gamut of reality television, without exception. It has been eating me alive for twelve years. You cannot escape it.

I understand that. I find some shows to be less morally offensive than others. I do hate other reality TV shows for their vapidity and uselessness, The Bachelor just hits those buttons extra hard.

I honestly want to know why we have so many Bachelors and Bachelorettes because I think it is...

Tue, 15 May 2012 16:35:00 -0400

I honestly want to know why we have so many Bachelors and Bachelorettes because I think it is killing us? Like I think we are all dying and I think The Bachelor is responsible for it. I wish I didn’t think this way, but I do, and it’s hard. But I think in 50 years we will all kind of stare at each other and think, “Why didn’t we stop this when we had the chance?” because it is the worst possible thing in the world and I can’t even hate-watch it because I find it to be despicable at a very core level. When I watch The Bachelor it’s like I’m staring into the uncanny valley, except for relationships. These are robot relationships and robot people and they aren’t even interesting or funny and why are we doing this to ourselves? Oh god I hate The Bachelor so much! I hate it so much that I want everybody to stop talking about it! I hate it so much that it makes my skin crawl when we talk about it but because I live on the Internet for a living, I have to read about it. I wish I could drop down a filter like you can on Facebook so I can just filter all posts about The Bachelor from my life, but I can’t. It’s everywhere and I can’t stop it so all I have is this little blog post about how much I hate it and I want it to die and how I think it’s poisoning us all.

"You start by writing to live. You end by writing so as not to die."

Tue, 15 May 2012 15:48:33 -0400

“You start by writing to live. You end by writing so as not to die.”

- Carlos Fuentes

RIP Carlos Fuentes.

(via paperbackgirl)

I somehow received a free gift certificate to a skin care spa. I decided to use it today on a...

Wed, 09 May 2012 23:11:00 -0400

I somehow received a free gift certificate to a skin care spa. I decided to use it today on a facial. If you have never had a facial before, please don’t let the soothing spa atmosphere fool you: it is no gentle ride through the good night. There’s this thing called extractions and they basically pummel your face into submission so you wind up ending up looking like a blotchy mess who has probably been crying for an hour straight. That’s an exaggeration. In fact, you’ve probably only been crying only for a half hour straight as they systematically beat your skin to get rid of all the crap that has been clogging your pores for the past year or so.

At one point, the lady, who we will call Monica (because that’s her name), was working aggressively on my nose. She was pulling it and twisting it and pinching it in every direction. Tears were welling up in my eyes, but I utilized the strategy I call, “Never let the dentist see your pain.” After awhile, Monica paused. “Did you get a nose job?”

I have never been asked this before, probably because my nose is no great thing of beauty, it is just a nose, but I like it okay and I think it does a fine job, all things considered.

“No, no nose job.,” I said.

“Oh, good,” she said. “I heard a crack and I didn’t want to break your nose twice.”

AND THAT’S THE STORY OF MY FACIAL, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!

a bright wall in a dark room.: Reality Bites (1992)

Mon, 07 May 2012 15:09:12 -0400

a bright wall in a dark room.: Reality Bites (1992):

brightwalldarkroom:

I WAS TOLD THERE’D BE NO MATH ON THIS EXAM.

by Bailey Kennedy

I watched Reality Bites for the first time two weeks before graduating college, huddled with my roommates on the giant gray suede LoveSac in our living room. Up until that point, my life felt like a carefully plotted course…

I get so happy when my friends are new contributors to BWDR. Yay Bailey!

Today I saw some 7-year old kid on the subway talking into his fake Spiderman flip phone. He was...

Sun, 06 May 2012 22:08:00 -0400

Today I saw some 7-year old kid on the subway talking into his fake Spiderman flip phone. He was saying things like, “Oh yeah,” and “I see,” and “So there’s that.”

His mom asked him who he was talking to. He covered his hand over the bottom of the phone and said, “It’s my personal business.” And his mom was like, “No, really, who are you talking to?” And he was like, “I can’t tell you.” And she was like, “Seriously, tell me. I’m your mother, you can tell me.” And he was like, “No way, it’s a personal phone call.”

I wonder when that kid is going to realize there’s no reception underground.

I wonder when his mother is going to realize the cell phone is fake.

mattpatches: How Adam Yauch Rocked Hollywood with Oscilloscope

Sun, 06 May 2012 21:45:44 -0400

mattpatches:

How Adam Yauch Rocked Hollywood with Oscilloscope

petitchou replied to your quote: We brought a sorry for your loss fruit basket for… I pull the...

Fri, 04 May 2012 16:09:05 -0400

petitchou replied to your quote: We brought a sorry for your loss fruit basket for…

I pull the “I’m allergic to melon” (false) card whenever I order a fruit plate. FUCK MELON. What a soul-sucking, do-nothing fruit.

GENIUS. Taking notes.

brightwalldarkroom: COMING VERY SOON TO BWDR: TV MONTH! After...

Fri, 04 May 2012 12:34:19 -0400

brightwalldarkroom:

COMING VERY SOON TO BWDR:

TV MONTH!

After nearly three years of covering films (over 500 of them, by last count), we have finally decided to go small for a bit, so to speak. By which we mean finally turning our attention to the smaller screen for a few weeks to provide you with essays and commentary on some of our favorite television shows, past and present.

Don’t worry, we are still a film site and film will always remain our primary focus. However, if these TV essays are well-received, there’s a good chance we will continue to weave at least some small amount of television coverage into our regularly scheduled programming going forward. We’ll see. The point is: BE EXCITED. You’ll finally get to read BWDR essays on Louie! Breaking Bad! Freaks and Geeks! Seinfeld! The Dr. Phil Show! And many, many more.

So, stay tuned. May is TV MONTH on BWDR.

"We brought a sorry for your loss fruit basket for Bobby. And it is very classy — no melons and..."

Fri, 04 May 2012 11:18:00 -0400

“We brought a sorry for your loss fruit basket for Bobby. And it is very classy — no melons and no apples.”

- Lesley Knope is my fruit basket soulmate.

MAY May always seems to be about transitions for me. It’s...

Thu, 03 May 2012 14:58:00 -0400

MAY

May always seems to be about transitions for me. It’s kind of the month equivalent of bracing yourself. June is when everything happens, really (end of the school year, graduations, weddings, etc), but May is right before you take the leap. My most memorable May was a few years ago when I was preparing to leave Atlanta for Ireland. There were so many emotions tangled up in that month: excitement, fear, uncertainty, longing, determination. I made this mix as a sort of tribute to that time period, mixing a bit of Atlanta’s grittiness with the Euro pop of Ireland with a layer of antsy, dancey energy. Let’s begin.

TRACK LISTING

Richard Hawley - Tonight the Streets Are Ours
Grouplove - Tongue Tied
Yeasayer - Ambling Alp
Geographer - Verona
A Tribe Called Quest - Can I Kick It?
Dum Dum Girls - Always Looking
Stereophonics - Dakota - Decade in the Sun Version
Phil Collins - Sussudio
Royksopp - The Girl and the Robot
Gotye - Easy Way Out
Django Django - Default
Bear Lake - Scissors
The Crystals - Then He Kissed Me
Otis Redding - Try A Little Tenderness
Sea Wolf - You’re a Wolf
Alabama Shakes - Hang Loose
First Aid Kit - Emmylou
Patsy Cline - Walking After Midnight

LISTEN

(via Spotify)

We Need To Talk About

Wed, 02 May 2012 11:41:42 -0400

Charo
Sega Genesis vs. Super Nintendo
Almond milk
Healthcare costs
The best way to get to Brooklyn when the L Train is down
Gak
Will they ever give another Pulitzer prize for literature?
Anthropomorphism
Why did my people list disappear on Spotify?
Ashleigh Aston Moore
How much is too much Vitamin B
Fifty Shades of Grey vs. Twilight fanfic
Fifty Shades of Grey vs. Flowers in the Attic
Fifty Shades of Grey vs. The Pale King
Camus
The New Deal
Justin Guarini

a bright wall in a dark room.: Tiny Furniture (2010)

Tue, 01 May 2012 13:43:26 -0400

a bright wall in a dark room.: Tiny Furniture (2010):

brightwalldarkroom:

I’M REALLY MATURE, BUT EVERY TIME I COME INTO YOUR ROOM I WANNA SLEEP IN YOUR BED.

by Letitia Trent

With all of the various reactions to Lena Dunham’s series Girls (from adoration to hate to claims of class blindness and racism), it is useful to look back at Dunham’s film Tiny Furniture, a movie that, in 2010, created a mini-version of the uproar that