Torture...

I think that I need to officially declare this a very bad year for movies. Aside from the genius that is Brokeback Mountain, I can't think of one movie that has really made a huge impact on me. And not only are there a lack of non-impact films, there is a plethora of trash. #1: Munich...a jolly romp around Europe featuring Israelis trying to take revenge on some terrorists. #2: Crash...I'd rather stab myself in the eyes with a spoon over and over again than watch this movie. Watching Crash was a painful experience...I had my doubts before watching it...I saw 20 mins of it yesterday and was not impressed...I just finished it off. I have to say, that at the end, when the music started up I literally had to hold my right hand down, because if I hadn't, I would have been slapping myself in the face...it was really that bad. Focusing on race relations the movie features several groups of people all having their own racist issues and troubles...their stories cross paths in various ways usually coming together at a "crash moment." The movie doesn't really seem to know where its going and ends up not really going anywhere, it is content just to acknowledge that racism is a problem and doesn't really do anything but that. The cast is huge and full of movie stars (many of which seem to be trying to rescue their careers) and none of them give a real stand-out performance...but how could they? The writing is so terrible that none of them really had anything to work with...STAY AWAY FROM CRASH...IT IS A HUGE WASTE OF YOUR TIME... In other news: I have my first audition of the season tomorrow for Youth Orchestra of the Americas...I am not expecting much from it since I have to play Mendelssohn Scherzo (easily my worst excerpt) but if nothing else, it will be good audition prep for Tanglewood on Friday...Tomorrow also marks my first New York trip of the semester...and I'll be staying with Dawn! Wish me luck in all my auditions in the next two days...and good luck to Paul on his recital...and good luck to Sunny on her Phil Concert! I'm missing so much while I'm gone!! But no worries...I'll be here for the party on Friday night when I get back!!