this was amazing.

Also watched Objectified as well. I've been putting this off for awhile for some reason. Not sure why, but last night I finally sat down and took it in. I guess I expected it to be a film about designers gushing about their achievements and why they're so great--but what I got was more of a humanist, philosophical look at design. A lot poignant quotes including one which said basically that we have all these modern gadgets in our lives, but then go back to our wooden dinner tables to eat dinner. The mismatching of design is incredible in our lives. Also, that today's gadgets are not designed to look like what their function is--in other words, if an alien came to earth and looked at the iphone, would they know it was a phone?
The idea also was breached as to why we are designing things that will be knowingly outdated in a year (or less), and making them out of materials which will last 1000s of years. As one designer said, shouldn't we be making cell phones out of cardboard or something? Intriguing, and highly rec'd.

In which case, also: DEM TIGGIES.

I really liked Objectified as well.

And as far as recent design films go, have you seen Art & Copy and Helvetica?

That Hosoi shit is dope. I remember him being the coolest dude on the planet back then.

Maria is a White farmer who runs (with her ex-husband, his father, and their son) a failing coffee plantation in an unnamed African country in the present day. Civil war has broken out and rebel soldiers, many of them child soldiers, are advancing on the area. Rebels on the radio advocate attacks on emblems of colonialism. Maria's workers leave, but she refuses to abandon the plantation, and searches for men to finish harvesting of the coffee. As she and her family await the inevitable, the tensions in their personal relationships, and in their relations with the African community, become exposed. Maria puts the farm in even more danger when she looks after a wounded rebel officer known as 'The Boxer'.

This sounds interesting, and yr summation that this is the best film of the year is echoed by a lot of critics. I see its playing in DC. Might have to try to get down there.

I saw In A Better World as well a few weeks ago, which beat out Incendies for the Best Oscar for foreign film. Incendies is much better, in my opinion. Although I enjoyed In A Better World as well.

The Hangover Part II was better than I thought it would be going in based on the reviews I had read. It is what it is, and that's pretty entertaining. ...I enjoyed it and don't regret seeing it in the theater.

All that said though, I saw the twist coming WAY too early. Pretty much right after she meets with the Janitor at the school.

tree of life was life changing

Hobo With a Shotgun... completely f'd up. Enjoyable for what it was, I guess (a midnight movie which for some reason in Milwaukee, started at 11:00 PM... ). Not highly recommended, but had some funny & ridiculous moments going for it.